Zero Sum Game, page 25
All action ceased for a moment.
Belatedly, as time resumed its normal speed in her mind, she struck a superheroine pose: her legs spread apart, hands balled into fists and on her hips, shoulders pushed back. She smiled at the gathered men, who were realizing they were dealing with something they hadn't been trained for. Her simile dropped when she saw the man tighten his grip on the pistol. She put her hands behind her head. "What's above me?" she whispered.
"The deck we came from. The corridor is much like this one," Voice replied.
Hina kept her eyes on the man with the gun as she squatted down. The gun barrel followed her movement but couldn't match her speed when Hina leapt straight up, her hands held above her like a high diver's. Her invulnerable body tore through the metal ceiling and deck floor. She landed on her feet, then stumbled to the deck. Beside her, a hole marred the floor, jagged metal edges pointing skywards. She paused for a moment to peer down through it. Several soldiers appeared, including the gunman, his forgotten weapon pointing at the floor. Shocked faces stared up at Hina. She smiled, then jumped to her feet and ran.
Only her enhanced reflexes saved her as a red shape aimed at her head burst out from a door. She planted one foot forward to stop her momentum and arched her torso backwards; the fire extinguisher missed her nose by centimeters. It clanged against the metal wall. The man holding it stepped out from the doorway he had been hiding behind. Hina backed up, wondering what this new menace had planned. I don't have time for this, she thought. I need to find Shimizu.
The soldier held the nozzle end of the red metal canister and jabbed it at her like a spear. She twisted her head out of the way. He stepped forward, and each time he did, she took a step back. He rammed and she ducked. He continued, thrusting the fire extinguisher like a lance. Every miss made him angrier, and his shots became more erratic.
As the game of thrust-and-dodge continued, a thought occurred to Hina: I'm invulnerable, why do I keep backing up? He couldn't hurt her, and she figured a demonstration of her ability might end the stand-off faster. She thought it was normal human instinct to retreat from an attack, but she had to remember she was superhuman.
Hina tensed herself for the next blow. The metal canister struck her face with a dull metallic thud. Her head didn't move; the impact felt like a newborn's swat. He went for her stomach, and the effect was like slamming into a concrete wall.
Hina grabbed the bottom of the canister in one hand and jerked it out of the man's grip. She palmed it in her right hand, then squeezed. At first, nothing noticeable happened. Then metal popped and screeched; her fingers sunk into the metal case as Hina crushed the pressurized can. Unable to withstand the strength of the fourteen-year old girl, the canister exploded with a deafening boom, spraying fire retardant foam in all directions.
The man fell to his knees from the force of the explosion, and the painful stinging of the foam in his eyes. He yelled and clawed at his face, trying to wipe the foam off. It didn't stick to Hina. By the time the pressurized contents had exhausted themselves, Hina was dry and foam-free. The chemical covered the kneeling man and splattered the walls and ceiling. She dropped the canister and jogged past the man.
"Voice, where are the stairs?" She needed to get to the main deck and make her way to the captain.
"Ten meters straight ahead," he replied.
At the foot of the stairs stood another soldier, his firearm strapped in its holster. Hina gave an inward sigh at the next fight coming up. When the man spotted Hina, he didn't draw his weapon. She approached him in small, non-threatening steps.
The man had a youthful face and close-cropped hair, and he kept his hands at his sides. A radio hung from his belt. Hina heard shouts and orders. Girl, intruder, and monster were repeated several times. She took offense to the last word.
A meter from the stairs, and the young soldier did nothing to block her way. "Aren't you going to try to stop me?" Hina asked, curious.
The man shook his head and stepped away, offering her unobstructed access. "I saw the extinguisher bit, and I've been hearing the reports on the radio. If a bullet can't stop you, there's no way I can." His demeanor wasn't afraid, more like a gentleman offering a lady to go through the door first.
She almost laughed out loud but thought it would be inappropriate. "You'll probably get in trouble from your boss," she said. The young soldier shrugged, as if that was the least of his worries. His nonchalance amused Hina, the man seemed genuinely friendly and she didn't want to get him in trouble. "Give me your gun," she said, holding out her hand.
He paused, suspicion clouding his expression, he shrugged and complied. She grabbed the grip in her left hand and the barrel in her right. With minimum strength and a slight squealing of metal, she bent the barrel downwards. She handed it back to the stunned soldier. "If anyone asks, you tried your best to stop me. It will be our secret."
The man chuckled and smiled at her, which she returned. She climbed the stairs to the landing on A deck. She stopped at the sealed door. She put both hands on the door and pushed. Her fingers sunk into the metal like it was a pillow, the steel rectangle now concaving. The screech of metal rose in pitch, followed by a snap as the lock busted, then the pings of breaking hinges. The door rocketed away. It landed a second later with a distant crash.
Voice said, "Hina. I have to explain. Shimizu has kept the crew alive. He needs them to operate a vessel of this size, and so shall we. No one knows we are off route. This vessel was designed to operate for almost a year before returning to port. The original mission duration was over six months. Our best bet is to retake the sub and pilot it home. There is also the added danger of what will happen if this vessel is damaged. I'm a battle suit, not scuba gear. The temperature and pressures will not kill you. A lack of oxygen, however, will."
Voice likes to lay it on thick, doesn't he? Hina thought. Out loud she said, "Don't punch any holes in the sub. Got it."
"Hina, I'm serious. If—"
She cut him off. "We'll make it, Voice. Won't we?"
His tone held hope and affirmation. "Yes, we will."
Halfway down the corridor she encountered Fujiya.
CHAPTER 29
Shimizu and Ekimori stood around the lighted table. "Take us to these coordinates." Shimizu pointed to a spot on the topographical transparency of the ocean floor.
"What's there?" the captain asked, confused. It wasn't anywhere near the Arctic.
"A one-hundred billion yen hole in the Earth," he said. "Go there." He gave the captain fish credit when his coordinates weren't questioned a second time. Ekimori relayed them to helm and navigation.
"And then?" the captain asked.
"We'll go down," Shimizu said.
— — —
Fujiya's bulk took up most of the corridor, she couldn't slip pass him. The alien stiffened his back and stood at military attention. "Volon Tru was my friend. He would have done his absolute best to try to stop me. Honor him, by doing the same."
The heartfelt message surprised Hina. It drove home an important point: this was the final. What happened next with Fujiya and Shimizu would determine the fate of her planet. There would be no second chance. She was trapped on a submarine, she couldn't run away like she had in the forest. Fujiya's words gave her an odd sense of comfort. She would do her best to save her planet.
He charged. Hina grabbed the pipe overhead and swung both feet out, catching the large alien in the chest. He sailed across the corridor. He flailed to catch hold of something. He hit the floor, but Hina was already on her feet. She sprung from her crouch and ran down a side corridor. She heard metal crashing and loud cursing. Such human language, she thought. She careened around another corridor.
The advantage of a submarine, even one as large as the Kaiyou Infinity, was that it was still cramped with limited space. Sound traveled well. Hina had no problem finding Fujiya. She saw him at one end of a corridor; he spotted her too, yelling as he rushed her. She did the same, leaping at the last moment. She drew her knees up and leaned back. She caught him in the upper chest, and they crashed to the floor. She straddled him and held his head in a vice grip between her thighs. He planted a boot in her upper back and pitched forward. She rolled onto the floor and shot to her feet.
Fujiya swung around to face her, the claws of one hand gouging long jagged trails into the wall. He uppercutted, but she dodged, and he hit a pipe, putting a massive dent into it. His roundhouse swing missed as well, and the impact off the metal hatch echoed in the corridor. He jabbed and she blocked it, then followed with a quick punch to his stomach followed by an uppercut of her own that snapped his head back. With Fujiya distracted, she twisted herself between him and the wall and maneuvered behind him. She blocked his elbow jab and kicked him in the knee. He went down to one leg, and she roundhouse kicked him in the head. His battle suit, as well as the natural thickness of his Noigel physiology, absorbed most of the impact, but it still sent him into the wall.
Hina wanted to run, but she couldn't. She needed to face him because she feared him. To overcome him, and that fear, would save her world.
Instead of running, she waited for him to get back on his feet. He charged and swung, she blocked and countered. The fight continued like a dance: they moved and shuffled, swinging their arms, kicking their legs, blocking and thrusting. The dull thuds of bodies hitting each other filled the air, along with the occasional clang of metal being dented and bent.
Hina wasn't a martial artist, she owed much to Voice. His battle programming directed her movements. She swung her arms, but his guidance made her strikes more precise. Her kicks were more lethal under his control, her blocks better timed thanks to his lightning-fast processing. She and Voice were working together.
Fujiya swung his upper body forward, his left hand shooting out in a forward punch. As Hina twisted out of the way, the door behind her swung open. She heard a voice call out, "What's going on?"
Fujiya couldn't stop. His momentum carried him forward, his arm level with the door's round window and the human man's head. The man was looking to his left, unaware of the punch coming his way. She pushed him out of harm's way a split second before Fujiya's fist exploded through the glass, sending shards and fragments tinkling onto the floor and against the walls. The man had been tossed to the other side of the room and lay on the floor in a tangle of limbs. Two other men were in the room as well, pressing against the walls to get as far from the door as possible.
Hina grabbed the top of the door and bent it down. The topmost hinge broke off the wall like a pretzel. The brief cry of metal was followed by Fujiya's yell of anger as Hina slammed the metal on his forearm. He stood there, left arm outstretched, trapped in the broken window like a cigar in a cutter. Before he could pull his arm free, Hina grabbed the top of the deformed door for support and swung her body up and to the side. She sidestepped against the opposite wall and pushed off, her right leg extended away from her and her left tucked in close. Her leg swung around, and her knee connected with the base of Fujiya's neck. His head slammed into the top edge of the door. The door couldn't handle Fujiya's weight and the power of Hina's super kick, and it broke away from the frame. Fujiya fell forward, his left arm crushed between the floor and the door while his body mass fell on top of it. His yell of pain boomed throughout the corridor.
She stepped back, having landed on her feet thanks to the battle suit's lightning-quick reflexes. She warily watched Fujiya extradite himself from the now-ruined door. He clutched his shoulder in his free hand. His left arm hung limp at his side, like a flag with no wind to move it. Hina had never seen a dislocated shoulder, but she knew that was what it was. Fujiya's lips drew back in a grimace, exposing his pointed teeth.
What should she do next? Even injured, he wouldn't give up. He was too dangerous to leave alone; she needed a way to render him immobile. He was willing to destroy her world, but Hina wasn't a killer. She needed to either tie him up or get him unconscious. She realized the futility of her first choice; he had the same superhuman strength she did, no bonds on Earth would secure him. But she had another advantage: she was smaller. As they had battled, Fujiya barely fit in the corridor. Hina recalled how she slipped past him several times. She could fit places he couldn't.
Fujiya clenched his right fist and glared at Hina.
She smiled. "Catch me if you can." Then she ran.
As she had predicted, Fujiya followed. She ran to a launch room. She had passed it earlier, and a plan formed in her mind. She recalled how cramped the room had been and now she meant to use that to her advantage. The hatch was still open. She didn't need to turn around to know Fujiya chased her, the heavy thumps of his footsteps bounced off the metal walls.
Hina grabbed the round door and ripped it off the hinges. She threw it down the hallway, not horizontally like a disc, it was too wide for the narrow corridor, but vertically; the large door was impossible for Fujiya to avoid. It crashed into his left shoulder and he went to his knees in a howl of pain. He yelled when he saw Hina smiling at him. She ran down the stairs and turned around when a solid impact hit the launch room deck.
Fujiya's fist connected with her face and she reeled backwards. He swung and missed. His left arm hung useless, he could only fight with his right. Hina jumped over the safety railing, holding onto one hand while Fujiya swung and missed again. Hina used the railing like a gymnast's uneven bars. Fujiya tried to punch, jab, and kick, and she avoided him, flipping over the top rail, slipping through the middle spaces, sliding between the bottom rail and the floor, coming up behind him to punch, then slipping away again. She twisted and turned like a snake, getting potshots in while he struggled to hit her.
Her luck didn't last, and Fujiya grabbed her hair and jerked her over the railing. He slammed her onto the floor. He stomped on her stomach, and the impact drove her into the floor, causing the metal to bend downwards like a bowl. She rolled away from the next attack, into a narrow space barely big enough for a human on all fours to navigate. Above her several pipes ran the length of the wall. Fujiya tried to grab her, but a kick to the face changed his mind. He punched the pipes instead, bending them downwards and blocking her way forward. She replied with a kick to the shin. He punched again, but Hina was already out of the way, scrambling like a rat, never in one place too long.
A well-placed but unintentional kick drove the tip of Hina's shoe into the back of Fujiya's knee. He went down, catching himself with his right hand. It was her chance. She scrambled behind him and tackled him, driving him to the floor, slamming his dislocated shoulder into the metal grating. Fujiya screamed in pain and anger, but Hina didn't stop. She grabbed his right arm and maneuvered herself so she had a grip on his arm with both of hers, and her legs wrapped around his neck. With his right arm locked and his left useless, there was nothing he could do. Hina struggled to keep the large alien from loosening himself. His teeth tried to bite her leg but couldn't penetrate her invulnerable skin.
Yells and roars gave way to grunts and snorts, then to silence. His thrashing lessened and weakened, then ceased. A minute after becoming entangled in Hina's strong legs, the large alien lost consciousness.
She held on a few moments longer. When she was positive Fujiya wasn't moving, she untangled herself and backed away on her hands and feet. She sat there and watched him. She was relieved he was breathing and not dead.
"Well done, Hina," Voice said, and she almost jumped. The battle suit hadn't spoken since her fight with Fujiya had started.
"Thanks," she said. But her plan wasn't finished. "Can he fit in one of those tubes, Voice?"
"Yes, but why?"
Hina didn't answer. Instead she asked, "How do I get his battle suit off?" Fujiya still wore his military shirt and pants.
"Like any other clothing. Simply take them off."
She bent down and began unbuttoning his shirt then stopped. "Is he…" the word itself embarrassed her, "…naked…under there?" The question brought redness and heat to her cheeks.
"A battle suit can assume most forms of clothing. As such, it would seem unlikely he would need anything under it. So, yes."
"Ohhh, gross," Hina said, scrunching her face. But she needed to do it, she couldn't let him have any part of his battle suit. Not one bit must remind on him. "If I take it off, will any of the catoms remain inside him?"
"No," Voice said. "Fujiya has no control over the suit now. As you remove it, the catoms will collect into a central mass, to remain as close to each other as possible."
"How strong will he be without it?" Hina hoped it wasn't anywhere near his previous levels. It had never occurred to her to ask how strong normal Noigel were.
"Humans are about one and a half times stronger than a Noigel."
"You're lying," Hina said in surprise. She remembered all the rough hits and punches she had sustained. "He beat me every time."
"The battle suits enhance a wearer's natural strength. Although you are, in fact, much stronger than Shimizu or Fujiya, he was a trained soldier. He knew precisely where to hit you. Military combat training can have great advantages over mere brute strength," Voice said.
Hina couldn't resist the bait. "Are you calling me a brute?"
"Albeit a very fashionable one."
Hina looked at the nearby railing. It should be enough, she thought. She unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, then took it off him. She carefully slid his left arm out of the sleeve, she didn't want the pain to wake him up. He grunted, and she paused, holding her breath. He didn't make any other movement.
