Navigating the tracks became difficult quickly, as they looped back on themselves and cut across one another often. Kurt quickly became lost, with no idea how to get back to the surface. He didn’t much care, as his main goal was running out the clock, but this became more difficult as more vehicles found their way below ground with him. The first time he encountered the APC, they drove past each other on opposite sides of a subway platform. A flame thrower sprayed molten fire across the passenger platform at him and Kurt accelerated away, leaving the liquid fire as a hopeful deterrent for the motorcycle following him.
Within moments a dune buggy had joined the chase. Remembering the kind of havoc he and his friends had caused with something similar, Kurt slammed on the brakes and allowed the chasing vehicles to smash into his rear end, before turning in his seat and spraying the stunned players with a full drum magazine of incendiary rounds. Leaving them screaming and on fire, he pushed the car back into gear and raced down the twisting tunnels, trying to avoid his enemies and lose those in pursuit.
It didn’t take long for him to realize the underground was a losing battle, as more and more vehicles began to hunt him on the tracks. But it was the shining white motorcycle that brought him the most frustration, appearing on the tracks behind him once again.
Sitting up with a glare at his rearview mirror, Kurt used one hand to load the Glock in his lap with another magazine of incendiary rounds. He whipped his head around, steadying the wheel with his left hand while seeking the gleaming motorcycle with his right. Kurt lit up the tunnel, his focus on the biker, seeking the swerving vehicle as his opponent desperately dodged and weaved across the tracks. Realizing he wasn’t going to hit this man, Kurt stomped on the brakes again instead, causing the bike to swerve into his back end and clatter across the tracks. The biker surprised him, though, launching into his backseat and whipping up the SMG to point at Kurt’s face.
Kurt ducked down, scrambling at his door and falling sideways out of the stationary car. He raised the Glock and desperately squeezed the trigger as the biker dove into the front seat in pursuit. Both weapons tore the interior of the car to shreds. Kurt’s Glock made a solid click, and the magazine fell loose, collapsing into silver dust against his chest. He lunged backwards, rolling under his open door and giving it a solid kick.
The biker grunted in pain, and Kurt slammed both of his feet into the door again, clicking it shut this time. He rolled under the car, scrambling to get a fresh magazine into the Glock. The tower mag clicked into place, and with the flick of a finger, the slide release clicked shut. Kurt gave a grim smile and unleashed the full auto pistol into the underside of his own car, suddenly happy he hadn’t upgraded it with ballistic plating.
Without warning, the car was ripped off from on top of him, and the heavy metal underplating of an armored vehicle passed by overhead, inches from his face. Kurt rolled over after it had passed, watching as the heavy APC shoved his crumpled car with the biker still inside down the tracks.
He shook his head and scrambled to his feet, darting over to the white and chrome bike and hauling it up. As he was about to hit the kick starter, he noticed a blinking red light directly beside it and crouched to hurriedly inspect it. A quick scan identified the long block of clay as C4 plastic explosive, and Kurt backed away from the bike immediately. For good measure, he put a magazine of fragmentation rounds into the gas tank from a safe distance, a grim smile on his face as the bike went up in a small but fiery explosion, lighting up the tunnel around him. In the light of the fire, he was able to see a utility door tucked away into an alcove. A sign over it stated, “Illusion Plaza Shopping Center”.
As he crouched to pick the door’s lock, he could hear the APC rumbling towards him again, likely drawn by the explosion of the bike. It was too wide and bulky to turn around, so the driver had reversed the entire way back, bumping up against the concrete walls as they came to a stop blocking the alcove in which Kurt was hiding. The team piled out of the large back door and started spreading out in the tunnel.
“Where’d he go?” One of them was clearly upset.
“Shut up! He’s hidin’ around here somewhere.” Sounded like maybe the leader. “You’ll scare him off!”
Kurt shook his head and held his breath as the lock pick gun completed its work, popping the door open with a loud snap. He ducked inside, closed and locked the door, and turned to wait, Messenger pointed at the door. The rumble of the APC moving was audible through the door, and the players hunting him approached noisily.
“He musta ducked in here!” one of the Hounds yelled.
Kurt rolled his eyes and waited, as a hushed grinding sound emanated from the lock. The moment the door unlocked, he stepped forward and yanked it open, firing the Messenger into the people clustered in the doorway. Three of them fell to black smoke, looks of shock on their faces, as their friends scrambled around the back of the APC for cover. A small smile on his face, Kurt closed the door again, listening for the solid click of its lock before turning and walking away. He pulled up his map and started moving through the utility area, a vague goal in mind as he fished out the ECM device. Signage in the room indicated it was the electrical substation for the entire city block that housed the mall, and it took only a cursory search to find the power box.
He pointed the ECM device at it and hit the button, causing an eruption of sparks as the lights all around him flicked off and left him in complete darkness. Following his map led him through a maintenance door to a subway station, where he was fortunate to avoid a fire fight over the wreck of his Ferrari. The biker was still going, using his SMG and stunning aggression to fight off another faction in the tracks. Flames from the Ferrari lit up both sides of the station and gave stark relief to the bikers' action.
Kurt vaulted over the center and kicked an armored opponent to the ground before unloading into the prostrate fighter, and Kurt slipped past the battle, heading towards an exit escalator. As he ascended into the darkened building above, signage all around him lauded the shopping center he was entering and its grand values. Kurt cautiously approached the main lobby of the shopping center, the flashlight on the Glock his only source of light as the air was filled with the muted sounds of gunfire and explosions.
He peeked around a corner shop front to see a minor war taking place in front of the building. The various gangs and crews had figured out that he was inside and were engaged in a battle for control of the massive parking lot outside the doors. One of the gunners on a technical fired a flare into the air, a silver streak that burst with green smoke. An answering flare was visible across the top of the buildings in the distance, reinforcements en route.
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Kurt began to sneak across the lobby, using a kiosk as cover and moving towards the main escalator bank at the back of the large, round room. Before he could make it, angry shouting and the tromp of booted feet sounded from the lengthy hall of shops behind him. With a sigh, Kurt turned and faced the sounds, his back to the kiosk as he leveled his Glock and the Messenger at them. Caution was not on the minds of the responsible Hounds with the heavy boots.
Accuracy wasn’t much of a concern as Kurt emptied both of his guns at the crew clustered together in the corner. They dropped into piles of dust, gear, and thick black smoke. He turned and headed towards the escalators again, satisfied to see another block of players removed from the enemy icon. He was about to ascend, but a series of loud explosions rocked the foyer behind him and blew out the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the front of the building. The Harrier had made its return and laid waste to the gathered vehicles and players with a lazy, hovering fly by and a rocket barrage. More vehicles poured into the parking lot out front of the building, blasting away at any and all players as groups attempted to lay claim to the area out front.
Kurt crouched in hiding on the escalator, watching the drama unfold through what was left of the glass front of the lobby. A single, half-ruined technical with no gunner sped towards the building front, making a mad dash for the partial cover of the shopping center. It ramped on the steps leading up, smashed through the bank of doors, and skidded across the lobby on only two intact tires. The technical slammed to a stop against the kiosk and Kurt raised his Glock to fend off the player who emerged from the ruined vehicle. The door fell off as it opened and a hulking figure in heavy, overlapping plated armor stepped out, hefting an M60 machine gun in his arms.
“You better not shoot me,” Jimmy yelled. Kurt could hear the smile in Jimmy’s voice.
He ran over to his friend, quickly grasping his forearm. “Damn, it’s good to see you.” He breathed out the tension of the last few minutes, leaning against the beat-up truck. “You weren’t kidding about this mode.”
Jimmy flipped up his wrist and shrugged. “You’ve done well. Not the best move going underground, but you made it further than most Foxes ever do.” He climbed up into the back of the truck, hauling on its minigun and facing it towards the open front of the shopping mall as more vehicles arrived outside. “Let’s see if we can’t get you past that thirty minute mark, huh?”
“Right, I’m heading upstairs. You okay with the whole last stand scenario?” Kurt started moving away. The minigun spun up and spat fire and lead as Jimmy swept the area out front of the building. Ignoring the incoming fire striking his armor, he focused on a rival technical, shredding the metal and occupants within seconds.
“I think you know that’s a stupid question,” Jimmy yelled. He turned the minigun to the darkened section of the mall Kurt had come through originally, turning several emerging players into piles of silver dust. “Gadot said — and I’m quoting here — ‘I’m not losing a vehicle for that jackass.’ But she is around here somewhere. She went to go find something to help.” He took a high-powered sniper rifle round to the faceplate, a puff of dust rising into the air as small chips were thrown free. “Sonofa—”
“Okay, you have fun!” Kurt cheerily waved over his shoulder as he left to the sound of Jimmy’s minigun raining death and destruction across the street.
“Hang on. You’ve got a Smerch after you.” Jimmy still clung to the minigun, but his mask was twisted to face Kurt.
He stumbled to stop, taking in the scene out front as more vehicles poured into the fray. They didn’t seem to be fighting with each other anymore. “A what now?”
“A BM-30 Smerch. Dedicated large, and I mean large, rocket launcher platform on the back of a fairly impressive truck. I’m just letting you know there’s pretty much nothing I can do about it if that thing comes for you. I’ll hold the lobby as well as I can, but if the Smerch comes calling you’ll have more problems than you might think. Good luck, dumbass!” Jimmy turned back to the task at hand, roaring a challenge before raking the parking lot with the minigun.
Turning away, Kurt started running again, taking the steps two at a time. The escalator bank turned back on itself on the second floor, leading up to the third, but a large standing map of the building stopped him. A shopping mall took up the bottom three floors of the skyscraper, the wide base of the building that covered most of the city block. Above that was a more classic skyscraper design, a circular building that rose roughly fifty floors above the ground. With the elevators out, Kurt began searching for the stairs that would lead up into the higher levels. The map indicated that an emergency central staircase had entrances on the third floor, in the food court.
Kurt decided to head that way and was about to turn when he saw movement through the windows that made up the outer wall of the building. A long-bodied APC with six oversized tires lurched into view as it smashed through the railing of the parking garage directly opposite. It sailed across the short distance and blasted into the second floor of the mall, smashing through the large bay windows, across the open floor area, and into a clothing store. He turned and ran up the escalator bank behind him as the vehicle’s back ramp dropped to the floor with a sharp, metallic clang.
Kurt began taking fire as he darted up the stilled escalator, ducking down and drawing both guns. He grimaced as the enemy fire increased dramatically, but began crouch-walking the rest of the way up the stairs. At the top, he moved quickly to get to better cover behind the guardrail beside the stairs. He held tight to both guns and glanced over the top, opening fire as he did.
Standing behind the APC was a heavily armored woman wearing a grim-faced, steel ballistic mask similar to Jimmy’s. She shrugged off his fragmentation rounds and lifted a monster shotgun at Kurt, unloading twenty rounds of steel buckshot in his general direction as her eight man squad ran from the APC behind her.
Kurt saw her raise the shotgun and fell, scrambling backwards against the floor as the steel shot blasted apart the overhead lighting fixtures and pinged off the guardrail he had vacated. Scrambling to his feet as she reloaded, Kurt sprinted away from the escalators and deeper into the food court. The third floor was circular, with long broad halls of shops branching out to the east and west. Tucked into the center of the donut shaped level was the food court, with darkened restaurants along the walls and kiosks dotting the walkways.
He entered a coffee stand in the center of the floor, ducking behind the counter for cover as the enemy team mounted the top of the stairs and formed a defensive wedge. Their heavier armored troops swept weapons back and forth while searching for him, flashlights casting stark shadows across the level as their team filed in from the escalator. The woman in heavy armor was last up, taking in the area for a few seconds before making a series of hand motions to her gathered team. Three of them stepped forward and lifted M79 grenade launchers, pointing them at the nearest restaurants and kiosks, his included.
Kurt dove for the back of his kiosk, rolling out onto the hard tiled floor and scrambling into a run. The explosions saved him, as the rubble and smoke gave him enough cover to make the sprint around the central ring of restaurants while only taking a few rounds in the back. He needed to balance the terms of this engagement, and with his health blinking at twenty-five percent, he had to hide to do that.
“Spread out!” The woman seemed to be in charge, her armored mask turning to face each of her team as they moved to follow her orders. “Find him, and I don’t care who brings this guy down. He’s dangerous. Just kill him.” Her braided hair swung as she turned her head back and forth, following the beam of light thrusting from her automatic shotgun.
Kurt felt strangely proud of her assessment and decided he should live up to his reputation. He moved into a semi-fancy burger, pizza, and salad restaurant, purposefully knocking into tables and shoving wooden chairs around as he moved through it. Once he had created a clear path to the kitchen, he hurriedly searched out a microwave oven and tossed a drum magazine of incendiary rounds inside. He closed the door and pressed the highest setting he could find on it, turning to leave and muttering to himself. “Hope this works like the movies.”
