Drifter

Eli found himself battered and bruised, laying belly up on a table. He hadn’t hit as hard as he had thought he would. Rolling off of the table, he discovered that this was because the table had a good amount of paper money on it.

He assessed the situation. There was Yorai, being helped away by two employees. Aydem lay in a heap nearby, still somehow intact, chest still moving up and down as he breathed. No sign of the brute that had carelessly brought the walkway down.

There was debris everywhere. The last few stragglers jogged out of the room, taking quick glances back at the damage.

Eli started walking toward Aydem. He saw the blur just in time. He blocked the sword and stepped back, spraying energy blasts out of the spear. One struck her. The field that cloaked her spattered and popped, failing in a burst of electric arcs as her energy shield absorbed the attack.

Undeterred, she pressed the attack, moving forward. Eli thrust the tip of his spear at her belly. She dodged, pointed her left arm at him. He spotted a protrusion on the outside of her armguard, a place where a curving line ran the length of the piece. Something had been mounted on the vambrace. And there was a borehole at the end.

Something shot out of the hole, a quick glint of black metal against the light. Pure instinct moved his hand in front of his eye. For the first time he was glad that the appendage was artificial, as a needle tipped spike had penetrated it, becoming stuck in the palm, the tip nearly touching his eye.

Eli stared his opponent down as he pulled the dart out of his hand. He made a show out of dropping it. The metal rod clattered around on the ground.

A pile of rubble began to move. The two combatants disengaged, turning to face the greater threat. Eli pointed the spear at the shifting stones. The mysterious woman sheathed her sword, and drew her SMG, extending the collapsible buttstock.

The bubblegum-colored thing burst out of the debris, sending hunks of metal flying. Eli and the woman ducked. They popped back up, firing at the fiend as he ran. He reached a big machine, a monstrous exhibition of gratuitous lights and empty promises. From this strange piece of cover he returned fire with a pair of heavy pistols. These weapons sent a barrage of Gyrojet-style mini rockets at the two rival bounty hunters.

Eli dove behind a table. The game it was designed for was unfamiliar to him. One thing was certain, it involved countless colorful cards and tokens. These were scattered in all directions when a rocket exploded nearby.

The incoming rockets ceased. Figuring that he had run dry, Eli crawled to a new position. He quickly discovered that his foe hadn’t run out of ammo. He’d switched targets. A fresh wave of syndicate goons charged in. Several were blasted to pieces by the salvo of rockets.

Eli joined the fray, blasting and stabbing his way through a group of thugs. Alien blood flowed. His shield ate death rays. More explosions rocked the casino.

The mysterious woman cartwheeled past a row of something similar to slot machines. Stray rounds struck them. A deluged of coins flowed out of the mangled games. As she tumbled along, she fired. Bullets ripped open the torsos of her opponents, bringing forth bursts of blood. She ended the cartwheel and drew her sword, slicing the arm off of a man as he leveled his pistol at her. The armored woman proceeded to slash apart another group of goons, firing whenever a target presented itself.

The pink thing scooped up Aydem and bolted away. He smashed through a set of doors, signage identified them as the exit that led to the parking garage. Eli followed, charging into the cavernous area. Even after so many patrons had fled, it was still packed with cars.

The human cautiously made his way up the closest lane. He ran his eyes across the long lines of vehicles, making sure to check between them. He hunkered down low and then got back up, trying to see over into the other lanes.

A powerful engine revved. Eli dove as a vehicle shot out of a parking spot, narrowly missing him. Behind the steering wheel, he could make out the face of the pink brute, its mandibles locked in a vicious snare.

It was a truck with an enclosed bed. Eli guessed that it was some analog of the kind of combat utility vehicles he had operated in the army. The vehicle tore out of the exit, almost causing an accident when it joined the traffic on the adjoining street.

Eli searched for a vehicle that he could take. After about a minute, he began to wonder if he should give up the pursuit and return to his ship, try to pick up the trail from there.

A car sped into the garage, a convertible with an extra set of wheels at the front. The vehicle’s handsome lines were complemented by a sexy purple and black paint job. It stopped in front of Eli. Two men got out of it.

The duo were sharply dressed. Their attire contrasted with their hideous, horned heads. One of them spoke in a pointed tone, “Where’s Yorai?”

Eli smirked, “She took a little tumble, had to walk it off.”

“She told us that Aydem was here. You will take us to him.”

***

Yorai limped into the parking garage, flanked by underlings.

Two men lay dead. One had died from a massive stab wound in his chest. The other had been shot in the forehead, his hand frozen on the holster, forever in the act of drawing his gun. She immediately recognized them. There was no sign of their vehicle.

Yorai turned to one of her escorts, “Contact the Lashua syndicate. Tell them that their representatives were killed by that bounty hunter. Contact the nearest Sad’Daki base too. Get images of him off of the security system so that they’ll have something to go off of.”