Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 214

I managed to find his bag with the help of the shark sprite. To no surprise, it was buried under a mound of rubble. It had been a pain to clear, though once I did, I returned to the Inquisitor’s side.

The stim shot he talked about was easy enough to use. It was already loaded up in a needle. I just needed to point and click for it to shoot into his veins. Medtech Stim BB-31 is what it said on the side. Unlike what I expected though, it only made the Inquisitor start bleeding even more.

He groaned through the blood loss, seemingly trying to make conversation. He failed horribly. The blood loss had long gotten to him, turning his words into a scramble of incoherent mumblings.

It seemed the stim just helped generate more blood, not actually healing any external injuries. It was useful- in the right situations, that is. With him so heavily injured, the stim just made him bleed even more.

It was a stressful fifteen minutes until the canteen produced enough Pervider venom to put the guy into stasis. I’d long run out of bandages, most of them pooled around the downed Inquisitor and absolutely soaked in blood. His vitals were also extremely weak, his heartbeat coming erratically as he became short of breath.

It couldn’t have been a moment later—cause he’d be dead—that I finally had enough venom to pour into his wounds. A minute later, as the stasis effect of the venom took hold, the bleeding miraculously stopped. He still wasn’t out of the woods, but the situation rapidly improved.

He had at least thirty minutes of stasis, assuming the venom faded away after that long. Potentially longer though. I’d long noticed that fluids from the canteen had a weird interaction when consumed. Heck, I abused it as my main source of sustenance. He had potentially longer if the same held up. If not? It’d be enough time to dose him again.

With the venom taking effect, he went entirely still. Breathes, weak and infrequent, came and went. If I were to just take a glance at the guy, I’d have thought he flatlined.

I gathered up the stuff, tried to put his mask back on, and then began the long process of carting the downed Inquisitor to safety. He was heavy, extremely heavy. The guy weighed enough that it was a struggle to move and carry him with my already injured legs, though my morning exercises were finally showing off as I half-dragged him to the exit. The shark sprite worriedly circled me as I staggered along. I really needed to get some stims of my own. Could I duplicate a stim with the canteen? Hmm...

Moving an injured person was usually a bad idea. I could see why as he started to slowly bleed all over me, even through the stasis effect of Pervider venom. I tried my best to keep him stable, though, mindful of his injuries. The shark sprite tried to help, but it hadn't been materialized in a combat form. It was too weak to do much of anything, though watching it try to support me was strengthening in its own way.

Thankfully, nothing happened on the way to the exit. Getting out was a slight problem, but not a major one. I used an ingenious method with the ropes to make lifting him out much, much lighter. Course, that meant I had to go up and down several times to set it all up, draining me even more. It was a nice break for my legs if nothing else.

Once we were both finally out, I stumbled to the side, my worn legs finally giving out. The shark sprite swam around before lying down next to Inquisitor Varus, seemingly not wanting to leave his side.

I struggled to get my phone out. Missed messages from an unknown phone number flashed at me. I blinked tiredly and then scrolled through my contact list to look for Inquisitor Ligh. It rang a few times before he picked up.

Several loud screams came across, though they cut out as he spoke. “Hello?”

”Hey, boss. I need help. Varus is down. Severely injured. Heavy blood loss.” I tapped the phone, sending a location ping to him as well as a picture.

A voice came from the background, asking Ligh what was going on. “I don’t know yet, sir. Can he speak?”

”Negative, sir. I gave him Pervider venom to stabilize his condition.” I took a deep breath, finally managing to get some strength back into my legs as I forced myself up. I walked over to my downed companion and checked him over once more. Still in stasis. The stim was doing its job with the whole blood loss, and color was somewhat returning.

”Hmm…” He paused as a voice faintly came through again. Probably the commander considering Ligh's demeanor. He was most definitely still drunk, but his slurring was somewhat under control. “Yes, sir. We can do that. Squire, can you get him to the roof? We're calling a Medevac. Sheven minutes.

Medevac, eh? Those were hella expensive. Assuming it wasn’t coming from Varus’s check, getting Medevaced was quite the benefit. Too bad I’d never be able to use one. Medtech would definitely lock me up on a black site to investigate Quick Healing. Seriously, I was actually quite terrified of going to a hospital now. “Chek.”

”Call me as soon as he’s with them.”

I shook out the numbing cold arcing through my legs as the phone call ended and moved for the Inquisitor. My legs trembled fiercely as I threw him on my back and started dragging him up and out of the abandoned pumping station.

Above the pumping station sat an apartment building, one with four floors. The halls were empty as I dragged my bleeding superior to the elevator. The few people that stepped out immediately went back inside upon seeing not only a heavily injured Crusader, but also a 'menacing' shark sprite.

I pressed the button for the elevator and leaned against the wall to help support all the weight on my shoulders. Time passed. With each passing second, a frown etched itself deeper onto my face. The building was only four stories, so it should be here by now-

“It- it’s out of order, m-ma’am.” A timid voice called out to me. I looked back to see a kid about seven or eight years old peeking out of his apartment door.

”Course it is.” My head thunked against the wall as I sighed. I turned around for the stairs. I hefted the deadweight back up into position and trudged for them. I flashed a what was hopefully a calming smile with Honest Face. “Thanks kid.”

Climbing stairs on a normal day was annoying. Climbing stairs while carrying someone on the verge of death was even worse. Each step made every blood vessel in my legs throb in pain. I kept telling myself just one more. One more.

By the time I realized it, I was up at the roof’s door, entirely drained of energy. So tired. I shook my head and stared at the fire-alarmed door. I shifted the Inquisitor on my shoulders, nearly stumbling as his weight pressed down on me. With my free elbow, I tapped the door.

A pulse went through it, revealing the door's internals. It was just a normal door. There was barely even a lock in the first place, let alone a fire alarm mechanism. The sign was just for show.

I nudged it open with my shoulder and carted the Inquisitor out into the hot summer air. It was humid outside, in the tail-end of summer. It wasn’t unbearable thanks to a gentle mist that fell from the storm-clad sky and my poncho's climate control, but it was a near thing.

Should I set him down? Hmm… I looked around, spotting the flashing lights of the Medevac long before I heard the siren. It flew through the air, ignoring the typical air lanes that flyers stuck to. Then again, this was Little Yukoto. There weren’t that many flyers out and about in the first place.

Maybe a minute out? If I set him down, I doubt I’ll be able to pick him back up and hand him over. I watched the Medevac as it approached, shifting from foot to foot as I patiently waited.

Guess I’ve moved up in the world, eh? It technically wasn’t for me, but this was an entirely different situation than when I’d interacted with Medtech's stooges in the past. No longer just an outsider peering in, for better or worse. Worse, probably.

As it closed in, I got a good look at Medtech’s LRAT. It looked like a mouse- a heavily armored mouse the size of a bus. Four thrusters sat where tires would’ve been, propelling the entire thing forward as it raced toward me. The entire thing was covered in turrets, most of them non-lethal, I think. They were more so to discourage aggressors in case they needed to evacuate someone from a combat zone than anything.

The entire thing flashed with bright lights, alerting those around to get out of its way. It was painted a sleek gray with black and red highlights. Red holographic crosses sat all over the flyer, leaving no doubt of its affiliation.

Gah, what it must be to fly and operate one of those! So cool! They’re practically flying tanks. I want one… but they're soooo expensive. No chance I could afford one in this life. Its cost could make even the Crimson Company’s APC look cheap. And where would I store it? Ugh, I'm not feeling to well.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts as it started to descend toward us. A commanding voice came out through its speakers. “Clear the landing area! Back away! Clear the landing area!”

I was the only one up here, so it was probably an automated message. Still, as it lowered itself to the edge of the roof—opting to hover next to the building so the pilot could quickly take off once more rather than actually landing—red holographic lights lit up the immediate surroundings of the Medevac. The ‘danger-zone’ of a Medevac.

I’d been told in the past that anything in that zone would be shot indiscriminately. Or something like that.

The hatch on the side of the LRAT popped open, making a landing ramp that smacked down onto the roof harshly. From the inside of it poured out several armed Shock Troopers, their rifles raised and at the ready as they cleared the immediate landing zone.

Their armor was seriously badass. It was a nice mix of neo-technical and clinical, all of which were colored in dull greys and flamboyant reds. And it was good armor to boot. I’d heard tales of Shock Troopers single-handedly clearing combat zones to get to their patient, all without taking an injury.

I shook my head forcefully. So tired… my mind was drifting. I flicked on Cold-Blood, the jolt of cold helping wake me up a bit.

Two just as armed medics moved out a few seconds later, carrying a stretcher between the two of them. They set it down and then backed off. “Set him down here!”

I struggled forward, following their commanding voice as I carefully laid the injured Inquisitor down. With his weight finally off of me, I staggered backward, giving them some space to work. I took a deep breath, falling to the ground as my legs finally gave out.

The medics wasted no time hooking him up to a machine and checking his vitals. One of them called out to me as their hands blitzed across a small data slate. The voice was heavily modulated, announced through a speaker on their helm. “What’s he on?”

”Pervider venom for stasis. Um-“ I tried to think back to the stim I used on him. “Medtech Stim BB-31 too.”

”Roger.” They did something, injecting the downed Inquisitor with a fluid, and then both hefted the stretcher as they retreated back into the LRAT.

The shark sprite swam after them, pausing as all three of the Shock Troopers’ rifles aimed at it. A low growl erupted from the shark. “Unsummon your sprite!”

I shook my head tiredly, ignoring the glares I felt. So unfair. “It’s the Inquisitors. I don’t know how.”

They looked at each other, seemingly having a conversation. Their helmets probably had internal comm systems to talk amongst the team without outsiders eavesdropping. A moment later, they dropped their rifles and retreated back into the LRAT alongside the sprite. Looks like they decided to take it with them.

Then, just like that, the hatch closed and the Medevac was off, flying through the sky. I stared after it, feeling a bit of my stamina return as I sat on the roof. So cool.

In another life, I think I would’ve liked to be part of a Medevac team. Still could, I guess. They start hiring at eighteen, I think. I could probably power-level First-Aid by then. I had… about a year and a half? Somewhere around there. Then again, who knows where I’ll be in a year in a half?

Still... First-Aid would be nice. Maybe I should start investing a bit more heavily into it... Shinobu's girl, what's her name, runs a clinic with the cathedral right? I could go volunteer... Once all this was over, there was so much I wanted to do.

So much to do, so little time. I really needed a break. It's just been going and going and going since I got the interface.

Once I felt slightly better, I swapped my canteen back to water and rang up the boss. He picked up after the first ring. “Medevac get him?”

“Chek…” I sighed as I looked out over the city. “Any chance I could get a day off to recuperate before handing in the report?”

”Can you shtill move?” He asked.

”Barely.”

”Then no. We need to know what happened down there. It was supposed to be just a short investigation, right? What went wrong? Come meet me. I’ll send you the address.” My phone buzzed a moment later. He was somewhere in Downtown, near the Corporate Quarter.

Ugh! This sucks… seriously, why’d Varus have to get injured and leave everything to me? So much work… “Fine. But I’m going to need an extension to my 'solo investigation'.”

“Hmm… we’ll talk about it.” His voice left no room to argue as he hung up.

My head dropped as I swapped the canteen for an energy drink instead. I slowly stood up and made my way up the stairs as I checked the missed message.

'A bird told me you wanted to talk about your pay...'

At least some things were going right.