“Deflect that shit, now,” Lott bellowed, raising his arms. Vin, Hami, and half a dozen of the younger Green Bones hastily threw up a patchy but adequately effective wall of Deflection that veered the shrapnel away from the crowd.
When the dust cleared, the helicopter with its cargo of jade was lying on its side a hundred meters outside of the ruptured fence, twisted and smoking, the Anorco logo clearly visible on its upwardfacing surface. For a prolonged moment, no one made a sound. Then a victorious roar exploded from the crowd. For months, they’d been watching the fenced compound hatefully, seeing deliveries of jade enter and leave the processing facility, unable to do anything besides exact minor sabotages and make their unhappiness known. The sight of the crashed helicopter—brought down by only four of No Peak’s top Green Bones!—seemed to light the protestors on fire. Like a flood wave through a broken dam, they ran shouting toward the wreckage and the open fence.
GSI soldiers were also sprinting toward the helicopter, on a collision course with the crowd. Other security guards ran to defend the gap in the destroyed fence, rifles raised.
“Get in front of those people before they get themselves killed,” Lott shouted to the Green Bones. He was barely heard over the collective clamor. The Horn took off running, Vin right behind him. Hami, the youngest, quickly caught up and passed them. With their Strength, they outpaced the rest of the crowd, but they couldn’t catch up with the bouncing off-road vehicles some people were driving toward the Anorco soldiers like charging cavalry troops.
The orange-haired Finger and her companions reached the helicopter first and tore into it triumphantly like wolves on a carcass, pulling out the dead pilot and dumping him in the dirt, then pooling their Strength to yank open the damaged doors, hauling out the cargo of sealed metal containers.
“Get away from there!” hollered a running GSI soldier. He skidded to a halt, aimed, and fired his R5. The sound of bullets zinged off the helicopter’s metal body. A few people dove for cover behind the machine. Green Bones threw up Deflections. One of the men from the Mountain clan hurled a powerful wave that knocked the soldier to the ground and sent his rifle flying out of his hands. Shouting curses in Espenian, other GSI mercenaries opened fire into the rampaging crowd.
Hami, Lott, and the other Green Bones closest to the soldiers tried to Deflect the gunfire away from the civilians, but Hilo saw two people—an Abukei man and a woman holding a placard—both go down. The man screamed and clutched his leg. The woman didn’t move. Green Bones drew handguns and returned fire. Maddened protestors grabbed any weapon they had on hand—knives, sticks, rocks. They continued running heedlessly and throwing abuse and objects at the soldiers, who balked and retreated toward the fence, responding with rifle bursts that sailed into the crowd or struck approaching vehicles, puncturing tires and breaking windshields.
Hilo jogged up to the scene as it turned into a pitched battle. Deflections, bullets, rocks, and profanities were being thrown every which way. Some protestors were charging ahead to fight; others pushed frantically in the other direction, trying to flee the gunfire. It was a noisy, disordered frenzy, like a fighting pit packed full of gamecocks. The GSI soldiers were panicking in the face of the enraged mob. Gunfire hit one of the young No Peak Green Bones and three additional civilians. Lott hurtled forward in a blur of Strength and Lightness; two throwing knives left his hand and sank up to their hilts in the neck of the soldier who’d fired, right above the collar of his bulletproof vest. His companions dragged the body backward, screaming for assistance and still firing.
Talon knife in hand, Hilo pushed and Deflected his way through the melee. He called out to Vin and pointed back at the helicopter. “Don’t let any jade from there go missing in this shitstorm!” Spotting Jirhuya, rumpled and muddy, eyes wide with adrenaline and fear, he seized the artist by the arm and ordered harshly, “Don’t you fucking break my little cousin’s heart. Get behind something, now. That truck.”
Jirhuya gaped at the Pillar, who’d always seemed tolerant and friendly with him, as if seeing him for the first time. Hilo gave the man a shove toward safety, then continued in the direction of the fighting. “Stop firing!” he demanded, spreading his arms. His Perception was jangling discordantly from all the frenetic energy and emotions swirling around him, but he still sensed the nearby murderous intent of the GSI soldier aiming for his head. With a snarl of angry impatience, he shoved the man’s aim upward with a snap of Deflection and was upon him in an instant, wrenching the handgun away with a surge of Strength that unpleasantly tweaked something in his shoulder joint. Hilo smashed the soldier across the temple with the butt of the Corta 9 mm and kicked him in the side of the head as he went down into the wet dirt.