Flurry's concentration nearly shattered. A ridge -- out of nowhere! Oh, for godsakes, why me? She veered the bike as hard as she could to get away from it -- the thing steered like a pregnant whale. Straining with every inch of her will, she leaned into the turn, and smiled savagely at her success. Once she was certain that the bike was well past the ridge, she moved to turn back onto the course. And screamed in utter horror.
The gorge seemed to suck her in, despite every effort to steer away from it. Still howling, she fell to what she knew would be her doom --
And the sim ended.
Furious, she ripped the helmet from her head and threw it across the room. It bounced against the wall with a slight crunching of mechanisms and rolled back to her feet. She kicked it into the air and punched it twice, punctuating each hit with a shriek of rage. The offending device finally dropped to the floor, badly dented and irreparably damaged.
Tourian winced and took his own helmet off, staring at his counterpart. "Um, Flurry -- I think you were supposed to jump the ridge."
"SHUT UP!"
"Hey," Zero interjected sharply, "that's an expensive piece of equipment!"
She spun to face him, a growl rising in her throat. He ignored it completely, walking over to them, with his usual, easy swagger. Oh, how Flurry hated it.
"Now," he remarked, "you didn't -- ungh!"
Taken completely by surprise, he didn't even try to block Flurry's second blow to his midriff -- and her third and fourth landed, too. The fifth, and final, was aimed at his face. His head snapped to one side and he dropped to the floor with a clank and a thud.
"What was that for?" he yelled at her.
She stood over him, fuming, and didn't reply.
Still sitting, he muttered, "I was just gonna say that you two did really good for you first time on the SIMULATION!" He finished up shouting, and she turned away in a huff, stalking to the other side of the room with her nose in the air.
Tourian just groaned. Had there been a tree nearby, he would have been beating his head on it. Zero got to his feet and dusted himself off.
"She'd be good in hand-to-hand combat, but we don't do much of that." He nodded quickly. "You both did really well -- and yes, you should have jumped that ridge." Flurry sniffed, but he continued. "We'll run through the sim a few more times. I figure you'll have it mastered by then -- and then we'll move on to the next level."
"And what level's that?" Flurry asked acidly, leaning against the wall.
"Combat situations," he replied bluntly.
Tourian grunted in surprise. "I thought we weren't any good for combat, though."
"You'd be surprised how many ways that bike is weapon." He grinned. "Shall we try again?"
Flurry sighed and gestured at another helmet, which he tossed to her.
Flurry glowered wearily at the hoverbike resting on the ground in front of her. The second simulation had gone much more smoothly, and they had only needed two more runs to pass. Battle training had been just as easy -- she thought Zero had been impressed, although why that mattered to her she couldn't fathom.
But now -- an actual, real, in-the-arena test. She hoped the disgusting vehicles handled better in the real world.
X was to oversee this part of their training while Zero got the next part ready. He had stalked off, muttering under his breath, so she wasn't expecting anything pleasant.
"What's with him?" she asked bluntly.
X grimaced. "He just hates setting up sims, that's all."
She grunted, not quite satisfied, and gave him a rather sharp look.
"Oh, and do these things always steer like an obese hippo?"
He winced. "Well --"
"Thought so. I've piloted skids that handled better than these hunks of junk." She kicked the hoverbike out of sheer spite, glaring furiously when it didn't topple over.
"Flurry, will you just shut up for once?" Tourian demanded sharply. "You have one bad morning on the test run --"
"Bad morning?" she shouted at him. "I'm having a bad life, Tourian! Why don't you just keep your nose out of it!"
"Because I have to live with you," he responded acidly. "Every frickin' day, the same crap -- nonstop PMS!"
"You watch your mouth, buster!"
"I would if I could, but it's kind of -- impossible," he informed her rudely.
"Wouldn't be impossible if slapped I your jaw off!" she snarled.
"Like to see you try it," he taunted, "considering you'd have to get a ladder first."
"I can still get you where it counts, sweetie," she retorted, smirking.
"I'm reconsidering why I ever --" He stopped.
"Just WHAT are you laughing at?" they both yelled simultaneously.
X took a gulping breath. "You guys," he gasped, "sound just like -- me and Zero! With a few alterations, of course." He caught his breath grinning at them. "This is definitely going to be interesting."
"I'll show you interesting, you --"
Tourian caught her arm before she got any further. "I'd, heh, watch it, if I were you, X." Which I may well be, make no mistake. "She pounded Zero to the ground this morning."
X looked amused. "She did? No wonder he's so pissed. Bet no girl's ever slapped him in the face before." He laughed again. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
Tourian grinned insanely into the wind, marveling at the sheer speed he felt. These bikes are great! I don't care what Flurry thinks! The field-training was set to take most of the morning, stopping at noon for -- lunch? They didn't need to eat. Nor did they really need to sleep, but rest did systems good, as far as he was concerned. He saw X zip past him and shouted a greeting. X tossed him a wave over his shoulder, and suddenly his radio crackled.
"Tourian, we're coming up on a rough patch -- get your bike set up for off-road."
"Right." How? The thought flitted only briefly through his mind, immediately answered. Repulsors at high, lift ratio --
"Huaaagh!" He kicked the bike into a jump just in time to miss the hedge that seemed to spring out of nowhere. Once on the other side, he skidded the bike to a halt, glaring at X, who had already dismounted and was leaning lazily against a tree. The training grounds were forested in some places -- pretty thickly -- and tracks ran through them with both natural and man-made obstacles dotting the areas. He had no idea whether that hedge was real or synthetic until he saw the grin on X's face.
"You set that up this morning, didn't you?"
"Sure did," he said, nodding at Tourian's perception. "This is an advanced course, Tourian. You and Flurry zipped through the toughest sims this morning, so we decided to let you have a spin in the real world." He shrugged, standing straight. "I figure you can handle the terrain around here. Flurry -- well. . . ."
Tourian shook his head sharply. "Flurry can do anything you tell her to, X. She just has a bad temper."
X's glance was skeptical, but he nodded anyway.
"So," Tourian said slowly. "What's left of this course?"
They had been out for an hour. Flurry was probably spinning her gears back at HQ, and she was probably royally pissed off at both of them.
"Um, nothing, I think." X shook his head, looking ashamed of himself. "This isn't a course, actually. It's a part of the forest I hadn't been through too many times, so --"
"What!"
"Just promise me one thing -- you won't tell Flurry until I'm out of range."
Tourian snorted. "I'm not going to tell her. What do you think I am? Stupid?"
X grinned. "Never mind, then. Let's head back."
They exchanged mad grins as they hopped on their bikes and headed back to Maverick Hunter HQ.
Flurry paced furiously back and forth in front of the hoverbike. Two hours they had been gone. TWO HOURS! Of course, the time she had spent pacing had given her ample time to think of the best ways to kill them both.
Zero stopped in once, to ask how it was going. He had finished setting up the sims and was waiting impatiently for them to get done. She screamed at him rather rudely until he left.
She was on the verge of marching inside and turning in for the day when the other two bikes swooshed up. Tourian was grinning like an idiot. X was totally expressionless.
Her eyes narrowed, and she tossed her hair forcefully over one shoulder. "And what are you smiling about, Tourian? I'll have you know --"
"Hush up, Flurry. It's your turn already." Tourian, still grinning, dismounted, leaning against his bike like a trophy winner.
X nodded hurriedly. "Hop on. We don't have that much time to get this done. Hey, Tourian. If Zero shows up, tell him to kick back for a while." He almost turned to go back on the road, but he stopped. "Tell him to run through the sim and see if it really works."
Tourian nodded.
Flurry, frowning, climbed onto her hoverbike and tapped tentatively at a couple of buttons. The machine purred into life, bucking a little until she adjusted a few of the settings. X nodded approvingly. He had set the bikes to be adjusted in the hopes that they had been paying attention in the sims. Flurry gunned the engine.
"Let's get on with this."
"Sure," X shrugged and took off, Flurry in close pursuit, swearing softly about men.
Well, it's been okay -- so far. As a matter of fact, she was rather enjoying the ride. Nothing had popped up that hadn't been on the sims, and she had come close to outdistancing X on several occasions. I wonder what he's got up his sleeve . . .
Her radio crackled. Maybe I'm about to find out.
"Flurry, set up your bike for off-road. We're entering rough territory."
She didn't even respond. Her fingers danced lightly across the controls, and --
"Eeaaagh!"
She jumped the bike over the hedge, nearly startled senseless. Once on the other side, she saw X standing near a tree -- laughing, well, grinning at her. Furious, she punched the speed up and shot into the forest. He couldn't have taken the same route and beaten her. COULDN'T HAVE!
X stared numbly after her as she vanished into the woods, kicking up a trail of dirt and leaves behind her. He shouted suddenly.
"Flurry -- wait!" He cursed, jumped onto his own bike and jamming after her.
Flurry's face was fixed in a snarl, rage bubbling from every joint.
The bike was getting some rough treatment. She barely missed crashing into several trees, and the bike whined as she gained on its maximum speed. Heeding her surroundings not at all, she slammed the brakes viciously and spun it sideways, stopping right next to a set of bushes. Once there, she slumped over the handlebars, wondering almost incuriously at her sudden burst of rage. Why can't I control my emotions? Why am I losing it so -- She looked up at the sound of another bike approaching. So you think you can keep up with me? We'll see.
She spun the bike back on the path and zoomed through the forest again, this time paying more attention to where she was headed. She noted briefly the encroaching darkness of the woods and adjusted her vision to compensate. She kicked the repulsors up and her bike lifted higher off the ground. Maybe that wouldn't help her go faster, but it certainly kept the dust from getting quite so bad.
The bike suddenly veered sideways with a slight crunch, and Flurry bit her lip worriedly. Was the thing malfunctioning already? Without another thought, she made to turn the bike, and given the tight quarters, it was no easy task.
She never completed the turn.
The hoverbike bucked violently, and she nearly lost her seat. Glancing back to see what she might have run over, she saw four long gashes running down the side of the bike, exposing this insides to dirt and grit.
But that was not her main concern.
The wires were slashed, spewing sparks everywhere.
In the next instant, she vaulted from the bike, slamming into a tree, and watched it careen about crazily before smashing into something and exploding. She shielded her eyes from the fireball and lay still for a moment.
"Well, what have we here?" asked a rasping voice. "A human? What is a she-human doing this far out in the woods?"
She felt something reach over and grasp her hair, yanking her head up.
Her mouth opened to form a soundless scream. A tiger, a huge tiger, had her by the hair and was grinning madly into her face.
"No, not a human -- a she-robot! Ah, they'll like this one, they will." On reevaluation, the voice was more like a rough purr than a rasp.
"Let me go." She was surprised at how even her voice was.
"Ah," he purred, sending a slightly metallic breath of air her way, "she even talks. Yes, they'll like this one."
"Let me go!"
"Urr?" He leaned back a bit, settling on his haunches and pulling her farther forward. "No, I don't think so. They would not like that, I think."
"I don't care what THEY will like," she snarled, pulling back. "You will let me go -- now!"
"Definitely not. I think you cannot make me."
"Watch me," she said flatly.
Without another word on the matter, she surged forward, knocking him back hard enough that he released her hair. She immediately rolled to her feet and pressed her advantage. The tiger staggered up, snarling, and claws of pure energy flickered into being on his hands. Flurry darted forward, delivering a smashing kick to his torso and another to his belly. The tiger stepped back, slashing at her, and she dodged him easily. She charged in wildly, fists flying into his face, belly, and wherever else they happened to land. She paused for a split second, backing away slightly.
It was all the tiger needed. He charged forward, slashing his claws at her and slicing her from shoulder to waist. She gasped, falling back yet more and clutching at the wounds with her right hand. The left groped for her dagger.
Grinning, the tiger came at her again, and the dagger blossomed in a chink of his armor right at the waist. Completely startled, the beast stepped back, feeling at the strange object somehow implanted in his systems. He tottered back a few more steps and collapsed, every joint wheezing released energy.
Flurry stared at him, wincing slightly as her wounds started to throb. My dagger -- I want it back. She limped toward him cautiously, wondering if he might be faking it. He didn't even twitch.
She reached down hurriedly to snatch her dagger -- and screamed.
Energy ripped through her, tendrils of light dancing across her vision and slithering to the ground. Her eyes seemed to glaze slightly, but she maintained her grip on the dagger. I won't give this up -- NEVER! And suddenly it was over. She stumbled back against a tree, dagger clenched in her grip. Whips of energy trickled up the hilt and her arm, but they no longer pained her.
A millimeter at a time, she peeled her fingers from around the hilt, and the knife dropped to the ground, energy fizzling in a couple of sparks. Her hand, still curved in a semblance of a fist, sparked with the lightning.
For a moment, she forgot her pain, mesmerized by the flickering light. Unconsciously, an image arose in her mind. The lightning formed a five rings of energy, curving easily around her arms. She opened her hand, staring wonderingly. Her jaw dropped.
Almost of its own choice, the rings disintegrated and reformed a whip of light energy that slashed through to the treetops, turning leaves and branches that were in its way -- to ashes.
Flurry clenched her fist again, crying out. Her wounds throbbed again, streaming lubricants and other necessary fluids to the ground. She sank to her knees, opening her hand again.
The energy was gone. Her head slumped back against the tree.
"Flurry! Where are you -- come on, answer me!"
She lifted her head slightly. "Over -- here!" she called weakly. "X --"
Her body went limp, and she collapsed on the forest floor like a rag doll.
X brought his bike to a halt, staring at the two bodies lying on the ground. Flurry and -- Neon Tiger? What's he doing alive? Or dead, now as it appeared.
"Flurry? Are you --" He cursed. "We need a med unit out here!" he snapped into the radio. "And hurry up with it!"