She couldn't be more than 18. Yet here she was with a knife and a pistol leading Silver Fang, a seasoned Templar, through the cramped alleys of ShieldTown towards some unknown shelter with "Paul" on one shoulder. Yue swallowed a lump of guilt: she shouldn't be the one following, yet this "Jade?" definitely knew the city way better than she did. Then there was the autonomous psionic defenses the girl had? She couldn't let anyone touch her, let alone carry a wounded person. Might be trauma related. What kind of trauma would cause someone to form automatic defenses that prevented others from touching her? Yue shuddered. She could guess.
Focus. We're not out of the woods.
Jade led them quickly around corners and between buildings as if she could see through walls. Without her HUD Yue would be hopelessly lost. Finally they emerged into a large open area that might have been a market if all the stalls weren't packed up. Jade pounded on a door
"Open up, we have Paul! Um. Alive! Um. I'm from The Den!" There was a tangible pause before the door opened and Yue stepped forward carefully with Paul. Jade moved aside so that Yue could lay the man on a sofa. She spent a couple of tense minutes administering first aid to the man's lacerations while the sounds of battle echoed outside. Just enough to stop the bleeding and prevent infection.
"He's been drugged. Little banged up, but he should wake up in a couple hours," Yue announced.
"I need to leave and assist Aegis. Can you shelter this girl in the meantime?" The woman, Paul's wife Yue guessed, nodded quickly.
"She has automatic Psionic defenses she can't control, please be cautious about about physical contact with her," Yue instructed.
"Crap. Thank you. Almost forgot," Jade exhaled a shuddering breath. She was shivering. Shock.
"Are you injured?" Yue stepped towards the girl. Jade shied away like an abused dog, driving a spike of guilt into her chest.
"Few scrapes. I'll be fine."Yue nodded, leaving a small bottle of medical alcohol, gauze, and some bandages on the counter before striding out the door. She paused, taking a breath and studying the map on her HUD. She needed a vantage point to find Alex. Most of ShieldTown's buildings weren't that tall, unfortunately. It might be hell on her knees, but she could just leap towards the apex of the dome... one of the enhancements Forgemaster had made to her armor was "improved areal control," though she didn't really have any idea what exactly that entailed. Time to find out.
She crouched, taking a breath and bracing with her core. Braids of [Silver] wove down her legs and... Yue went down hard as some immense weight slammed the side of her head into the concrete. Her face was numb. Taste of copper in her mouth. The HUD shuddered, discolored in her vision for a moment as she swung a fist up reflexively. [Silver] threads braided along her arm in that tangible moment of impact. She felt metal yield against her fist before Force rippled through its structure.
The ruined object launched into a reinforced building corner and shattered like a cheap plate as Yue threw herself to her feet. A dark shape dove from above, silhouetted by the glitching, flickering psionic dome. Beastly, taloned cybernetic feet kicked out at the last second, catching Yue in the stomach before she had a chance to get anchored. The ground hammered her spine, knocking the breath from Yue's lungs. The world became a blur of dizzying impacts as she was dumped back into realtime.
For a terrifying moment Yue couldn't differentiate up from down and gulped an awkward breath to slow things down, ignoring the splatter of blood on her visor. She needed to disrupt the blitz long enough to find her feet so she could fight back. [Silver] threads braided across her whole body as she spun the weapon wheel on her HUD. An impact glitched Alex's spear into her hand in a flash of white. Not what she wanted but... something
[Green] vibrated beneath her fingertips, intermingled with the
[Blue] that resonated inside the weapon. Experimentally, she pulled on it with a [Silver] thread.
Yue lurched, pulled by the spear awkwardly. Shoved by pure kinetic energy. Her shoulder complained as she impacted concrete and tucked maladroitly into a roll as a dark blur ripped past her face. Whatever it was had to have been moving
FAST to be a blur while she was accelerated. That narrow miss was enough for Yue's feet to finally find purchase.
The spear came down and swatted another blur, knocking it into the ground. It slid in a shower of sparks, twisting itself around to gain purchase on the concrete. It was a vaguely bat-shaped amalgam of salvage and cyberware. Ice poured down Yue's spine as it's "head" split open and a lance of heat and light ripped the moisture out of the air. Yue flinched, touching something
[Red] in the spear inadvertantly. It locked into place like an Immovable Rod, wrenching her wrist and catching the beam. It deflected at an ungainly angle and raked across one of the merchant stalls, cutting down an awning and leaving a molten gash across the armored wall.
"Fuck," she muttered, regaining control of the spear in time to parry another drone rocketing for another head shot. The blade of the spear scraped against the slabs of armored plating protecting its wings.
"Double fuck." Space. She needed space. The weapon wheel spun as she stepped, careful not to lose contact with the Earth lest she get juggled again. The spear dissolved into white light as she dropped it and closed her hand around the hilt of the Sword of Justice.
She swatted the flying battering ram with the sheathed blade, knocking it into a dumpster. The sword sang a crystal tone as she ripped it from its scabbard, and a staccato beat of lightning scattered a number of dark shapes. Force rattled her shoulder as the sword's quantum locked blade clashed against a mono-molecular vibro-sword, throwing sparks fluttering into the air like angry fireflies. An eyeless, black and red Kitsune mask was suddenly in her face.
What the fuck was Violet Glass doing here?!
Jade watched from the doorway. It sounded like a train hitting a mini-van. She just disappeared out of the door, leaving a gouge in the concrete outside. By the time Jade had ran outside to see, Fang had found her feet and was fighting back. It was a tornado of motion, sparks, crackling lightning and shrieking lasers.
Jade was paralyzed, bombarded by strict focus and
hate-rage-death. Rippers couldn't fight like that... could they? Motion in the corner of her eye snapped her head to the side. A dumpster crashed onto its side, dispensing an armored ball that unfurled into a vaguely bat-shaped robot. It loped towards a pile of shrapnel that jerked and spasmed, vomiting sparks. The heavy set upon the destroyed drone, discarding damaged parts and integrating anything that still worked into itself in an unsettling display of electronic cannibalism. Jade shivered.
It was Vi? It was Vi! Jade screamed at the whirlwind until she was hoarse, trying to get them to stop. It was no use. They couldn't hear her while they were moving like that. Maybe she could use her powers to separate them? No. No. No. Jade couldn't control it like that: she might hurt one of them, or herself more likely. A thruster roared to life and the Heavy rocketed back into the fight.
Would they carry on until one of them died?
Hate-rage-death. Yes. Vi would. Probably. Fang was all steely concentration and laser focus. Whatever thoughts and emotions she was having flickered by too fast for Jade to catch.
What should she do? They had to stop. One of them would get hurt, and there's still rippers, and Aegis who needs help!
"Dammit dammit dammit!!" Jade puffed herself up and ran towards the tornado of clashing blades, lightning, lasers, and certain death. She clamped her eyes shut and shielded her face. This was dumb. She would definitely get yelled at if she survived.
Noise, crashing thunder and shrieking heat all paused. Vi skidded to a halt and Fang vaulted over Jade's head, slamming the cyborg into the ground with a clothesline she only just managed to block. Jade found herself picked up despite the thrashing of her psionic wind slashing at any crevice in Fang's silver armor it could find. Jade stumbled, finding herself standing behind Fang, who crouched in a defensive posture between her and Vi.
"Wait! Wait!! Vi is my friend!" Jade yelled into the deafening silence.
"Vi, stop! Fang rescued me!! ...and Paul!" Fang was a statue, one hand gripping a scabbard, the other open, resting gently against the hilt of the sword, ready to draw. streaks of red were seeping out of some of the armor's seams. Jade winced. Her psionic winds were most likely responsible.
"What are you doing here, little gem?" Vi asked as she pulled herself to her feet. Her drones circled overhead disconcertingly.
"One of Wolf's drones fell. I went to see why, and then...," Jade gestured to the flickering dome.
"I... I was just trying to be helpful. I-I'm always such a burden." After a while Vi laughed slowly, making Jade frown. She didn't remember saying something funny.
"Are you injured, little gem?""Some scrapes. Got lucky. Fang pulled a collector off me. Saved Paul.""Is that so? Did you rescue my little gem, Silver Fang?""I did.""And are you here to arrest me?" Violet asked as her swarm of drones began to land and gather around her. Fang paused for an uncomfortably long time, unnaturally still. Coiled, like she could be a flash of death if Vi moved wrong. Vi did not feel concerned... though her hate-rage simmered below the surface.
"I'm escorting civilians to safety and assisting local defenses with the protection of ShieldTown," Fang answered, coldly. It wasn't a "no." More like an "I have larger fish to fry at the moment." Vi shrugged.
"This one is under my care. So is ShieldTown, after a fashion. Can we agree to settle this another, more appropriate time?" Long pause. Fang's thoughts were static. It was kind of nice actually.
"Please? Aegis needs help. He's not okay," Jade pleaded. Fang very slowly lifted the sword. Frustration. Resignment. Concern.
"I'll be safe with Vi, promise." Fang let go of the sword, and it dissolved into white light, though she did not relax her posture. Jade knew the woman was terribly strong, even without a weapon.
"Another time then, Chiroptera.""Another time. But don't keep me waiting, Princess," Vi dismissed. Fang flinched. Vi let her swarm of drones climb up and nestle into her torso. The Heavy perched on her shoulders and draped its armored wings across her shoulders.
"Promises are binding," Fang warned, and slowly uncoiled. Jade nodded.
"I'll come check on you after I see to Aegis," she asserted.
Leaving felt wrong, but Yue also couldn't help Aegis while tied up with Violet Glass. If they continued, neither of them would leave unscathed. Amazingly, Forgemaster's armor was undamaged. Yue, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She flicked her eyes towards the biomoniter readout showing the contusions, bruises, lacerations and fractures.
Triple fuck.
At least the girl seemed at ease with Vi, and Yue knew the cyborg had a strict "no-kids-hurt" policy. It wasn't a lot, but it was something. Air hissed out of the armor's vents in a sigh after what felt like an eternity, and she turned away. Yue felt Violet's threatening presence tingle against her spine. Suppressing the urge to whirl around and lunge, Yue crouched and leapt towards the apex of the dome.
ShieldTown shrunk below her as she climbed, careful not to get too close to the flickering psionic dome. Control surfaces flared out, and she seemed to glide a short ways. Taking a deep breath stretched those scant seconds, and for a minute Yue just closed her eyes and floated in the void with her thoughts. Just long enough to clear her head.
Her eyes opened and she used the suit's telescopic optics to scan the city. Pockets of Rippers were still moving about, though most inside the city had been subdued and the overall swarm seemed to be losing steam. Violet had done a number on the Rippers gathering at the wall if the number of bats she had with her was any indication. The flying armored battering ram and the laser bats were new, and there had been a large number of smaller flying razors as well. They'd have turned Yue into hamburger if not for Forgemaster's armor.
The Erling twins were rounding up stragglers, and other pockets of resistance were keeping the Rippers under control, which just left... There! A beacon of
[Blue], though it seemed off. He was all jagged lines and didn't appear to be wearing a helmet, which struck her as odd. The spear flashed into her hand, and she tugged on that
[Green] with a little more intent.
It was less... "shovey" this time. A pulse of momentum and she was flying towards Alex and dragging afterimages. The suit's control surfaces flared to steady her. She tapped it a second time to "bounce" as she neared ShieldTown's rooftops. Yue landed a few meters down the street from Alex, dropping the spear and letting it dissolve back into white light.
"Aegis, I-" Her breath caught in her throat. Icy dread poured over her. Her hands trembled as Alex held a Ripper up and tore their limbs off.
Not a Sayan
Scrawl Banditta