Half as Long 3

[b]Now for the finale. Hope you guys liked this.[/b]

[size=4]Chapter 3: Walking Wasteland[/size]

Some time passed before Cole and Naito made it to one of the tile roofs, looking down at the parade of trucks. They had gotten Cole some power on the way, sapped from power lines. Three, one on front, one in back, one in the middle with the cage of police officers. Those in the front and back had Militia members on top and inside of them, the sides open so they could cheer and laugh, as well as a pickup truck in back with two more on it, and a helicopter in the air. There were a few on top of the cage too, a visible mechanism there to keep it locked as the police officers sighed in defeat or tried to get out by shaking the bars.

Cole spoke. "Sure packing a lot of heat just to humiliate some police."

Zeke on the other end. [i]"It'll be worth it. The cops in those cages are just a fraction of what they've got back at the plantation. You bust those boys out, and you're gonna have a hard time holding them back."[/i]

"Yeah, we'll see," Naito agreed.

Someone out on a loudspeaker as the trucks came around. [i]"Good people of New Marais. These men swore an oath to protect and serve, but when things got tough, did they accept the help of fellow citizens? No, they turned their arrogant backs on the Militia..."[/i]

Cole and Naito were no longer listening as they dropped down to the street level at the former's insistence, and stood, ready as the convoy turned the corner, right in their path.

It was time to start working.

===

It wasn't long before Naomi found a red trolley street car perched precariously near the edge of a long, steep hill leading down to the plantation. She quietly whistled as she walked along the side of the car where several lines of explosives were attached, "Damn..." She muttered to herself, only to jump when Nix appeared on top of the street car in a burst of black smoke. The Conduit chuckled softly as she jumped down in front of Naomi.

"I had a feeling you'd come, firecracker." She said, grinning.

Naomi shrugged, crossing her arms with a sly smile, "Yeah, we tend to think alike, right?"

Nodding, Nix turned towards the street car as Naomi came to her side. The two were silent for a few seconds as they inspected the explosives. "We're packing enough heat to give the Militia a bit of a headache." Said Naomi, and her eyes met Nix's.

"You know what they say, bigger [i]is[/i] better." The Conduit said with a grin.

"My thoughts exactly..." Silence, "Others went with Zeke's plan, think they'll get the cops out before the bomb hits?" Said Naomi, her apprehension was clear, she wasn't becoming any more comfortable knowing that Nix's bomb would likely end up killing quite a few bystanders. Though she was quietly reassuring herself that Naito and the others would break the prisoners free before the street car killed them all.

Nix seemed to notice the firebender's hesitance when she rolled her eyes with a scoff, "You need to get one thing in your head, firecracker. Cops are just as bad as Miltia. Bunch of a**holes who think they in the right because they got guns. Ain't nobody gonna miss them." She said with a frown.

"Yeah, right." Said Naomi, laughing nervously. Nix scoffed again, louder this time, as she jerked her head towards the front of the street car.

"We need to get this thing rolling. The Demon been teaching you some of his moves, think you can give it some juice?" She said, keeping her eyes trained on Naomi as she climbed to the roof of the street car.

"Yeah, I think so..." She muttered, walking to the front of the street car, where a small generator stood exposed. "Here goes nothin'..." She held out her hand and focused intently, and almost instantly, a dark blue bolt of electricity shot out of her palm faster than she could blink. The generator then began to hum from it's new power source, and the car vibrated as it slowly moved forward.

"Ni-i-i-ice!" Shouted Nix, who began to sprint ahead of the street car, "Keep that thing running, firecracker!"

"Got it!" Naomi shouted back, trying her best to balance herself on the car, which was vibrating violently.

This was going to be a bumpy ride.

===

The convoy slowed a bit, the speaker still going on about how the Militia were needed more than the police, but some other member looking over the side. "Hey, outta the way!" He aimed his assault rifle down at the two heroic males, as if wanting to drive them off... and realized something.

"Oh, crap, it's the Demon!" he shouted.

Not another word. The Ionic Vortex tornado ripped through the street, the wind throwing Militiamen everywhere. They all were laughed from their places, crashing into walls, cracking into the street, no deaths, but all knockouts.

The helicopter didn't fare much better. The electrical energy overloaded its engine, causing an explosion. It spun wildly, crashing into one building, on fire, then another... Naito's eyes widened as he had to dive away from the crazily flying hellish-copter, so to speak, rotor tearing up the pavement as the entire thing basically fell apart.

The angel gasped, standing up once more as Cole jumped up, landing on the cage car, forcing his Amp under the lock and pushing, pushing like a lever... it was released! The whole thing cracked open with a small explosion at the top of the door, the bars falling off as the police all jumped out, cheering as he stood on top.

Naito spoke to them, relieved to be alive, but hoping to do something to help, anything. "Alright, who's gonna join us in attacking the plantation; freeing your friends?" he called out, heard by them as he summoned his wings to show he was indeed powered, but giving the impression of an "angel" as well.

More cheering, and Cole grinned, pointing at the Militiamen around them on the ground. "Grab a rifle off one of those Militia!"

====

[i]"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"[/i] Shouted Naomi above the roar of gunfire all around her. Civilians were running all over the street, panicked and trying to get away from the Militia, who were too focused on the speeding trolley car smashing through anything unlucky enough to be in it's path. The unlucky ones were mostly Militiamen who tried to stand their ground in their flatbed trucks which had gatling guns fixed at the ends. Sometimes it would be an unlucky civilian who wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. Naomi was trying her best to warn them, but the chaos meant her voice went unanswered in all of the panic. Eventually, she gave up and flattened herself on the car's roof while she kept a steady flow of electricity surging into the generator. Meanwhile, Nix teleporting to the roof and streets as she took out several attackers that were firing at the car from all sides. Nonetheless, Naomi always tensed up when she felt the rumble of automatic gunfire striking the car close by.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car picked up speed down a large hill. Then it swerved left to another street on it's way down. Everything became a blur to Naomi as the car turned several corners downhill in rapid succession. All she could do was hold on for dear life, that and shouting a series of swear words that would go unheard.

Another turn, this time Naomi saw the large gate at the very end of of a large hill. "Jump, Firecracker!" Naomi heard Nix say, at least she thought she did. [i]Gotta get off. Gotta get off.[/i] She thought, but when she tried to stand, she nearly slipped off the side. Paralized in fear, she gripped the sides of the car. [i]I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna di-[/i] An audible popping sound. Two hands gripped her shoulders. She was pulled backwards into the air, and she found herself landing roughly on her back.

Ahead, the car smashed through several lines of gatling gun trucks and finally collided with a large gate. The explosion easily blew the gate to pieces, and the heat from the fire could be felt from several feet away. Once the smoke cleared, all that remained were several charred bodies, ruined cars, and the gap where the gate was moments before.

Staring out the destruction in wide eyed shock, Naomi suddenly remembered who saved her. Looking back, she saw Nix kneeling beside her.

"Than-" A hard slap to the back of her head stopped Naomi short.

Then she was grabbed by the collar of her jacket, and her face was mere inches from Nix's. "When I say 'jump', you JUMP! Don't make me have to save your ass again!" Nix shouted, then she roughly let go and stood. Leaving Naomi as she ran through the destroyed gates to meet up with Cole and Naito.

Wordlessly, Naomi got to her feet and followed. [i]Stupid stupid stupid...[/i]

====

"Cole!"

A cough. Another cough.

Naito stumbled to his feet, picking up his swords.

The police seemed to still be helping, though Cole was doing most of the work, mopping up most of the Militiamen. The explosion of the now-destroyed husk of a bus, while immediately helpful, was not good in the long term. She was ruining it! Both of them! What was [i]wrong[/i] with them?!

He turned, swiftly knocking a rocket launcher to the side from aiming at him, sending a rocket being fired straight up at the balcony behind him. The sniper on top was sent flying, and a Moon Wave did the same to the assailant in front of him, the former dead, the latter incapacitated.

Finally Cole was back, looking over at Naomi coming closer to them. "You two keep them busy. I'll go get that last gun." And he was off running again, to get the final cannon around the perimeter keeping them from getting inside.

Meanwhile, Naito glared at Naomi. "Are you even a heroine at all, or are you just in it to blow stuff up?" That question asked, he was summoning his wings again, flying through another group of Militia, the final one, to slam down two members suddenly, one with each sword hilt, followed by the police gunfire wounding them to the point of being out of the fight.

Crackling electricity could be heard from a nearby warehouse on the plantation, higher frequency than normal. Perhaps Cole had found a way in? For the time being, however, it was probably best to just keep things steady here.

Naomi was again at a loss for words, and she let Naito's words sink in. She knew that she wasn't a heroine, but was she really just a psycopath who loved to blow things up? Bullets striking near her feet broke her thoughts, and she resolved to answer her questions later if she survived the rest of the day. Her palm raised, Naomi shot off several bolts of electricity towards the Militiamen on the rooftops, and one by one they fell back as they were incapacitated.

Nix teleported in front of a group of three soldiers, and they were instantly consumed in three separate streams of oil. "Hit it firecracker!" She shouted.

Naomi was about to do so, but she hesitated. "I can't get a clear shot!" She shouted, ducking behind a nearby car.

Nix was dumbfounded, "You're [i]right there[/i]!" When Naomi didn't respond, she gave a shout of frustration and used the oil streams to fling the soldiers into nearby buildings.

Naito noticed the change, but shouted to Nix. "Hold them off, I see someone coming out of that warehouse!" He spread his wings, flying quickly to avoid gunfire and rockets as he approached the aforementioned building.

Cole was indeed coming out, a Korean woman with her arm over his shoulder near him, presumably Kuo. She had short black hair, a brown and black shirt, and her arms seemed as though they were partially iced over. Still, the electrokinetic spoke.

"That machine you were hooked up to... what the hell was that?"

"Not now," she told him, pained and obviously upset.

The angel landed. "Is she okay?"

"Later..." she said, ignoring whoever it was, probably one of Cole's friends, a Conduit. She pushed herself back, screaming as someone landed in from to f her on a burst of ice. He looked to be in very thick armor, a hulking beast of a man who jumped again on a large platform of ice to launch further in a jump.

"You okay?" Cole asked, concerned.

"Let's get out of here," she said as a non-answer, and began, weakly, walking down the path toward the gates.

Naito looked to the roofs around them. Many smaller people with similar white body suits were landing from jumps, propelling themselves again. What had Cole [i]done[/i] in there? "Cole, we need you to protect her! Is Zeke getting here?!"

"I damn well hope so!" he shouted back, firing two Bolts at nearby Militia soldiers for "head shocks" before continuing forward.

They would need help if they were going to get her to safety.

Naomi saw Cole reappear with Kuo, bringing with him several more Militia that were firing from the rooftops. Standing out of cover, she extended two fingers from which a long stream of fire protruded. Thrusting her wrist forward and swiping to the sides, the whip hit a line of Militia. They bagan to panic when their clothes caught fire, and several slipped off the edge of the roof as a result.

Nix assisted as well by using several streams of oil to swipe at anyone on the rooftop unlucky enough to be in their range, and the impact sent several flying through the air and to the street below.