Bad Blood Chapter 2
Whoever was supplying Jack with information was worth every cent they were paid. Jack Morrison had been surveilling the facility when all of the facility lights went off. A telltale sign of the tactical EMP that had been foretold. Soon afterwards, two dropships darted through the sky. Although they were as dark as the night, the red hot engine and thrusters made tracking them easy in the open outback sky.
Then the shooting began. One transport landed and deployed its shock troopers to take the backup generator. The second deployed at the barracks, opening fire on the security within before they had any idea of what was happening.
Like a fury set free, Fareeha raced through the sky, her jump jets hovering in the air and then launching her further into the sky at a whim, dodging enemy fire and returning in kind with a volley of rockets. Her missiles, while much slower than normal projectile rounds, caused havoc among the Talon troopers, dispersing and disorganizing their push into the facility, making movement across open ground dangerous, and return fire sloppy.
While the impromptu strike team held air superiority, the other four members of the team held the ground, further locking the raiders at bay while the Ishtar Collective's security forces regained control of the situation.
Angela floated behind the younger woman like an angel taking her monster out to exercise, the yellow trail of Nanobiotic medicine bonded the two together like a dog and its master's leash. Every time a stray round found its way to Fareeha, the nanobiotics would immediately expel the bullet, mend the flesh, and make the wound disappear. The doctor's wings gave her a gentle descent as she hovered in the air, but with a push of the controls built into the palms of her gloves, the automated boosters built into her armor would lock onto her tethered target and jet up to her side, commencing a dance of fireflies in the night bobbing and coasting through the dark sky.
From her perspective, a dense fog began to cover the ground, covering the battlefield with a thick opaque smoke.
"They're deploying smoke grenades!" reported Lena over the radio. "I'm moving in, but I could use a hand."
Angela activated her radio, "I'm coming, Lena," She replied, and then turned up to see Fareeha nearby in the sky and ordered her to take care of herself.
Angela folded her wings in, allowing the air to flow past as she descended, moving faster and faster as she reached terminal velocity, only to open up once more and slow her acceleration to a crawl, landing squarely on her feet.
Like an Angler Fish's lure, Lena's chronoal Accellerator glowed in the thick cloud, acting as a lighthouse for her allies, and a decoy for her enemies. The woman ran through the smoke, grabbing the attention of the Talon soldiers as the light pierced the dark, and by the time they had aimed their rifles, it was too late, her time abilities blinking her off in an unpredictable direction or rewinding back to where she was a few seconds earlier.
Dr. Ziegler followed after the bobbing blue light, doing her best to keep the connection between her and her charge constant, knowing full well that her glowing wings and halo revealed her position as well, but having faith in Lena's abilities to keep her safe.
Although mostly blinded by the opaque smokescreen, Angela could still hear in the darkness, mainly using the low drumming of Lena's machine pistols to help home in on the English woman. But what came as both a relief and a worry was the sound of new weapons added into the fray. A rising hum, as if it were coming from an angry swarm of hornet or the distinct whine of automatic power tools began to buzz in the ambiance. It was the distinct report of the weaponry of choice of Ishtar Defenders, a hard-light based particle lance, locking onto enemies in its effective range and hitting them with a barrage of radiation. It was good to see that there were survivors from the attack, but they would see Angela and her team no different than the Talon insurgents that they wished to stop.
"Tracer," Angela called out, "We're going to be in a cross fire, we need to get out!"
Lena's guns charged their internal batteries and unleashed another quick volley into the flank of the Talon forces, but through the luminescent bullets, Angela caught a glimpse of her ally's target. He wasn't holding his rifle, he was reeling back his arm, pumping up a throw and the unexpected bullets that hit him stopped him short, dropping a flashing red object on the ground.
"Oi! Hit the dirt!" Lena shouted. Angela turned to run, but no sooner had she turned around that she felt a gust of wind, thick like a brick wall and as hot as a fire slam into her back, lifting her off her feet and slamming her into a wall.
The doctor fell off the wall and slid onto the ground. Her head was spinning, ears were ringing and the world itself was a large cloud of dust. She rolled over onto her front, then tucked her legs in and pushed herself back into the wall to reorient herself. She could hear people talking, but couldn't understand them. The grenade seemed to have dissipated the smoke, but the dirt it kicked it had taken its place. Angela squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hand against her forehead, trying to squeeze her cognitive chaos back into working order.
Unlike the smoke, the dirt was heavier, and luckily was beginning to settle back down on the ground. Unfortunately, the vertigo she was experiencing wasn't going away as quickly as her vision was, and she knew that she was completely exposed against the wall.
She wasn't the only one afflicted by the clumsy explosive. One of the Ishtar's Fold Brides, Hardlight folding engineers who were responsible for the upkeep of their facilities, had landed nearby. Luckily, she had not been better off than Angela was after the shared attempt on their lives.
A dark shroud cut through the airborne debris. It made no sound or recognizable report that Angela had heard before, but the Bride's cries of agony were universal. As the dust cleared, a shadowy mixture of dark red, black, and purple energy surrounded the worker, causing her to writhe in pain as she thrashed around in the dark, trying to force away an attacker that she couldn't even feel. She kept throwing her arms and legs out until it seemed that she ran out of energy and collapsed in the dirt, dead.
Angela focused, watching for assailants approaching through the debris of the battlefield, and through the remains of the dust she saw a figure approaching. Whatever it was, it was slender, with thin legs and short boney arms, but at the same time supporting a large and bulky yellow tank on its back and covered in glowing tubes that lead around its body.
As the figure came closer, the doctor could make out more of the enemy, but each detail only brought another mystery. Thin straight arms were extended all the way at its side, each one leading to boney hands and long, talon-like, fingernails. The gear looked strangely like an old medical robe but built out of flex armor and horn like protrusions on the side of her head, very much like the doctor's own Valkyrie suit.
It wasn't until the smoke finally cleared and the figure was standing over the shriveled up corpse of the Ishtar Collective member that she finally saw the catalyst that put all of the pieces together, a short haircut full of striking red hair.
Seeing, but not believe it, Angela asked, "Doctor O'Deorain?"
Hearing her name, the woman looked up from her kill and turned to the source of the question, seeing Angela against the wall. The intruder, recognizing who had called out her name, smiled, revealed sharp and pointed canines within her mouth, "Well, isn't this a treat." She said.
