"Street-trained little dabbler," he panted, glaring in the direction of the unscathed elven sorceress. "Let's see how you match up with that."
Despite Lothan's display of power, the Ancients were not deterred. They opened fire again, and Orion and the Street Deacon laid down covering fire to keep the bikers dodging, prevent them from aiming, so their shots went wide. Kellan stayed down and fired off a few shots of her own.
"Remind me again what your plan was?" Lothan muttered sidelong to her.
"I wanted to keep the Ares guys from walking into an ambush and getting slaughtered!" she said, popping up to fire off a couple shots, then ducking back down when her pistol clicked empty. She ejected the clip and grabbed another from the pocket of her vest, slamming it home and working the slide to chamber a new round.
"Oh, well, it seems to be going very nicely, then," the troll said dryly. Then he swung himself up, bracing himself with the handhold and pointing his staff at the bikers as he spoke a word of power. A bolt of lightning arced out and struck one elf square in the chest, blasting him off his bike. The lightning continued to play over the sleek racing bike, which erupted in an explosive boom as the spell touched off its fuel tank. Another biker was blown over by the force of the blast, the rest racing around the boiling black cloud of smoke.
"Mind telling me just what your plan was?" Kellan shot back at Lothan.
"Just here to help, my dear," he replied mildly, evading the subject.
"Max, how much longer?" Kellan said into her throat mic.
"Coming up!" the dwarf replied. "Everybody hang on!"
Kellan repeated Silver Max's warning to Lothan, but didn't heed it strongly enough herself. The dwarf rigger barely slowed down as he angled the cargo truck for the off-ramp, causing it to bounce and sway. Kellan lost her grip on the handhold and tumbled across the floor, trying to keep hold of her pistol. She managed to regain her feet at the very edge of the platform as the front of the truck hit the bottom of the exit and Kellan tilted backward, windmilling her arms.
Orion leapt forward and grabbed Kellan by the vest with one hand, holding on to a cargo strap with the other as they dangled over the pavement. He hauled her back into the truck as they hit the bottom of the ramp and tumbled toward the front of the truck. Kellan was dimly aware of a reddish light behind them as she scrabbled for a handhold along the wall.
"Take cover!" Liada yelled, and Kellan glanced back to see a massive ball of fire barreling down on the back of the truck. She instinctively closed her eyes and threw up a hand to shield herself as she heard Liada and Lothan call out. There was a roar and a wave of heat, but no more than opening an oven door. Kellan opened her eyes to see the reddish flames harmlessly dissipate all around the truck.
The remaining Ancients came roaring down the exit ramp in pursuit as the shadowrunners changed clips and readied for another assault. When the bikers reached the bottom of the ramp, there was a burst of gunfire. It ricocheted off the pavement and mowed down one of the elven gangers. Kellan glanced toward the Street Deacon, but saw that the samurai hadn't fired. None of the shadowrunners had.
When she looked back, she saw a collection of powerful Harley Scorpion motorcycles roar out of a side street, carrying nearly a dozen powerfully muscled troll. riders. Each of them was armed with a heavy-caliber pistol or submachine gun, and they were firing on the Ancients.
Lothan levered himself up against the side of the truck again as the Ancients turned their attention toward the troll bike gang. He made a pass with one hand in front of him, then reached out as if plucking something out of the air with his thick fingers. A blue shimmer surrounded the Ancients' sorceress and she flew off the back of the bike, as if picked up by a giant invisible hand. She rose about four meters into the air and hung there, suspended, as the Rapiers of her fellow Ancients rode on. By the time the driver of her bike realized there was something amiss, he was a good twelve meters ahead.
Then as the sorceress shouted something Kellan couldn't make out and raised her hands, Lothan brought his hand down, palm flat toward the ground, and the elf woman dropped onto the street. She didn't even move before the heavy troll bikes roared right over her. Kellan closed her eyes tightly and tried to shut out the sound of her scream.
"Amateur," Lothan said with a derisive snort.
Without their spellcaster, and now trapped between two dangerous foes, the Ancients broke off their pursuit, veering onto one of the side streets. The troll bikers followed after them, showing the symbols on the backs of their jackets as they roared off in pursuit: a cartoonish image of an elf's head, with x-ed-out eyes and a spike driven through it.
"The Spikes!" Orion said, recognizing them instantly. "What the frag are they doing here?"
"I invited them," Kellan said. "I told them I had information that said the Ancients might show up around here about this time. I thought they might be able to provide us with a distraction, if we needed one.
"Well, I think they're doing a marvelous job," Lothan said, slumping against the side of the truck and sliding down to sit heavily on the floor with a sigh, leaning his head back and closing his eyes for a moment.
"How did you convince them?" Orion asked.
"G-Dogg set things up. We showed them a picture of Brickman, and told them it looked like he was cutting a deal with the Ancients. Apparently, Mr. Brickman has been working both sides of the street, supplying weapons to the Spikes and promising the same to the Ancients when the Spikes started wiping out their enemies. I figured the Spikes wouldn't care for being used any more than we did. I just didn't think it would turn into such a big mess," she said regretfully.
"Well, what did you think would happen?" Orion snorted, and Kellan shrugged.
"I don't know, that the Ancients would take off once things went sour, I guess. That they'd both realize they were being set up and they'd call things off."
"Maybe if it was anyone other than the Spikes," Orion replied ruefully, "but the Spikes have been our: have been the Ancients' enemies for way too long. It doesn't matter who's getting used or who's getting set up any more. It's blood for blood."
"Everybody okay back there?" G-Dogg said over the comm.
"Yeah, Dogg," Kellan replied, shaking off her other thoughts. They weren't done with business yet.
"Looks like the Spikes bought us what we needed. Great idea, kid. Max is headed for the drop-off so we can get off the streets."
"So ka," Kellan said. "Jackie, what's our status?"
"I think you're in the clear," the decker replied. "I'm going to massage a few things online to convince Lone Star this is just another outbreak of gang violence between the Spikes and the Ancients; their response will focus on the gangs, so we can use it as cover. Odds are Ares won't report anything to the Star in a hurry, if they bother to report it at all. Max is going to want to sweep the truck for tracers, like we talked about, but, other than that, it looks good. Oh, and I think I've got a buyer who's very interested in some quality Ares merchandise."
Kellan smiled and rubbed a dirty hand across her jaw. "Nice work," she said. "Set up a meet."
"Already taken care of," Jackie replied. "The buyer will join us at the stash site."
The cargo hauler clattered off into the darkened streets of the metroplex and Kellan listened to the roar of the bikes, and the sounds of gunfire, fading into the distance behind them. She glanced over at Orion. He was looking out into the dark, maybe thinking about the people who used to be his surrogate family. Were any of the Ancients who attacked them going to survive the night?
Her plan had worked, but at what cost?