Ella had to tuck herself deep behind the rear end of a car that rested on the side of the building she was scaling. The trunk had already been looted a long time ago it seemed, which was unfortunate. Bubblegum’s little camera droid was a lot more nosey than Ella expected. As the Siren attempted to hide the best way she knew how, her leg slipped and extended from behind the car for just a second. It was a classic mistake and Ella cursed underneath her breath. The camera droid did not investigate further, but returned to its owner instead.

There were many ways in which one could conduct combat, and it seemed as if most outlandish and peculiar individuals had a specific niche when it came to it. Ella had heard rumors of other Sirens before and that they adapted their style to their phase abilities. Most of them were quite aggressive, ‘in your face’ type tactics, but not Ella. She had embraced a stealthier and more ranged combat style, as her phase ability pushed her enemies away from her. Her weaponry primarily consisted of sniper rifles and revolvers, which utilized the shock and fire elements. Her favorite ‘move’ was to have casual conversation with someone, suddenly push them away, draw her sidearm, and then shoot them in the face when they landed.

This psycho, however, seemed to be a lot more brutal than Ella. It did not inspire a lot of confidence in the Siren, and the mine itself meant close quarter combat, which was not one of her strengths. As the psycho shouted, Ella realized that the mistake when hiding had revealed her presence to the camera droid. Even worse was what the crazy bitch was about to do—collapse the entrance to the mine. Ella was astounded as to the lack of planning and graceful execution, but then again, the antagonistic woman was mentally unstable and probably did not know much about what she did.

“Shit,” Ella muttered to herself. There was not much time to think. The Siren had to act fast, if she did not want to squander the opportunity of exploring the mine. However, considering the circumstances, there would probably be a lot more fighting than quietly investigating the potential clues to the Vault. It was in that moment that Ella emerged from her hiding spot and jumped off of the building. She dashed towards the entrance, seeing the back of Bubblegum disappearing into the depths. In the heat of the moment, the Siren thought of something that she had to do to get inside, as she would otherwise not make it.

Ella propelled herself off of the ground and turned her body around. In that moment, she used her phase ability again, but directed it at a container next to her position, which caused the impact to extend to her as well. The Siren’s body rocketed past the entrance to the mind just in time, but the explosion also hit her like a wrecked buzzard falling from the sky. Her shield absorbed most of the damage, but it was not nearly enough. She had taken a beating for sure, but Ella was still alive. She knew that Bubblegum would not wait for her, so she forced herself up, still dizzy from the explosion moments ago, and moved further into the mine.

It was not until a minute or so later that Ella caught a glimpse of Bubblegum again. The Siren quickly raised her sniper rifle and squeezed off a shot. The shock elemental bullet traveled fast, but it was too recklessly executed. Ella’s intention was to scare the psycho and slow her down, if anything, and if that was even possible. Did psychos even know fear? Ella severely doubted it.