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Umbri waited two beats after the shadow of the monster passed over her head, following the Rogue. Then she pulled herself out of the vent.

Like HELL was she sticking around, waiting for the return of a robot programmed by a psychopath. He’d drawn the thresher’s attention from her, now wasn’t the time to hide, it was time to go [i]home.[/i] Jahannam would eat her alive once the ‘big guy’ realised she wasn’t coming, and she feared being devoured by that gang more than the monster. 

She hobbled her way across the roof to the fire escape ladder. The view down stretched and warped in front of her unstable feet. Shit… she couldn’t make it down the ladder. Not with two of her limbs compromised. Her hand clenched over the dislocated arm, scrunching the jacket. Slowly her eyes trailed to it. Her palm shifted to a few positions until she settled on one. Her breath sped up, whistling through her nostrils. [color=#A4303F][b]“Mmf,”[/b][/color] she cringed, her voice slipping out and protesting what was about to happen. [color=#A4303F][b]“Mmmghh…”[/b][/color] She made her move. A crack split the air.

[color=#A4303F][b][i]“Eyaaaaaghhhhhhhhh!!!!”[/i][/b][/color]

[b]Thud.[/b] Umbri’s heels crunched back down to earth. She let go of the ladder, which she had slid down with two working arms (though the elbow of one still throbbed like a bitch) and went back to limping as fast as she could down the street. She could still hear the thresher’s shrieks, distant as they were. She couldn’t see it, but when she looked up, the smog lit up with distant flashes of fire and laser green. The robot was battling it alone. [i]Don’t look. [/i]

She turned her third corner when the uneasy groan of metal pulled at her. Like an old ship, wailing before it keeled. Umbri slowed to a stop, watching the skies uneasily. [i]Something[/i] was preventing her from pressing forward. [i]Back. Back. Go back.[/i] A rumbling grew closer. A beam struck the ground twenty feet from her. The writhing body of the snake cut through the smog, tumbling with a water tower cleaving its path down the skyline.

The boom of impact almost toppled her. The water tank smashed over the building on the right, sending a spray of shrapnel, but found its resting place through the condemned apartments on her left. The ones she leaned against. Water sloshed over the streets and lapped at her ankles. Suddenly, it was quiet. [i]Dead?[/i] She almost looked.

[b][i]FWWWWWWOOOOOOOSHHHH.[/i][/b] Fire blasted against the walls. They melted away, curling, an orange glow spreading like magma from metal so hot it turned white. Umbri pulled her hand away as pieces dripped off and the heat sapped all moisture from her face. [i]It is not dead it is NOT dead not dead NOT DEAD![/i] The stream of fire cut off with a hiss.

Umbri flattened herself to the wall, slowly, slowly inching herself towards a corner to slip behind as the monster’s head poked through. Its neck extended up above her, putting Umbri in the perfect blindspot she was not going to take for granted. She almost fell over as she reached the corner, but caught herself and lowered in a controlled manner to the ground then pulled her legs in after her. She was an injured flea hopping around in the middle of a fight between David and Goliath, and she had almost survived it. She had to be careful now... Something brushed her leg. A long tail explored beside it, stretching out, [i]feeling,[/i] and wielding a nasty, dripping stinger. 

Umbri instinctively jerked her foot away.

Mistake.

It reared up like a second head and shot out, whipped around her left leg before she knew it and YANKED her. Her scream echoed into the night.

Umbri’s face hit the pavement. She kicked against the tail with her good foot, stamping her heel into it. The powerful tail surged upwards, throwing her onto her stomach. She tried crawling away but it wrapped around her, dragging her by both legs through the flooded street. Its stinger glinted above her thrashing body.

Agony burst from the nape of her neck. Her vision flashed white. The world lurched. [i]What…[/i] There was nothing she could do as the tail coiled around her body and took her.