Two days had passed since Colin and Dwayne had agreed to help find her, and Slywyn had mostly recovered from the illness that had gripped her. She didn't know it, of course, but she'd survived a bout with the flu. Barely, it seemed.
Her whole body still ached, but it was dull rather than acute, and didn't affect her at all unless she really pushed herself. As she'd done on a run through the woods this morning. She'd woken up, checked the can next to her bed to see if anyone had approached the house, checked the 'traps' near the front and back door, and found nothing.
Spirits higher than they'd been in days, she felt as if she'd practically been overflowing with energy just begging to be used. She checked the direction of the sun's flow during the day, measured the length of a day, and using the timepiece on her gauntlet, had compared it to the length of day she was used to the day previously. Strangely, they seemed to be nearly the same. The day here was at most an hour shorter than what she was used to.
Using that, she'd assigned directions based on the facing of moss on a rock nearby, and had drawn a rather rudimentary map of the area. Just streets she remembered and a ballpark estimate of where the large road with all the vehicles had been.
Now, it was nearing noon, and she was making her way back through the woods. She'd worn her armor in an attempt to really push herself, and she was glad she did. Something wrong was tickling at the back of her neck, and she just couldn't place what it was.
She knew better than to discount her intuition. It had saved her life before. But she just couldn't place what was wrong. She was getting the feeling like someone was watching her, but even though she'd scanned the woods around her several times as she walked; she just hadn't been able to find anything.
Then, her alarm level rocketed up several notches as she realized just what was bothering her. The woods were silent. Just a few minutes ago they had been full of noise. Some wildlife noise, wind, rustling, things like that. Now there was nothing. The air was still.
She raised her head a bit, sniffing. And there was an odd smell on the wind. It reminded her of... leather, and plastics that the Gnomes had begun using in some things. She crouched, growing even more alarmed. She began creeping through the underbrush, still smelling.
She could detect a few other things, but her nose just wasn't sensitive enough to pick up anything other than faint hints. She couldn't get a direction or distance based off of it. She'd give anything for a Worgen.
Then, she froze. Her ear twitched. She'd heard something, but it was so faint that she couldn't remember what it was. Then she heard it again. A quiet, faint, rasping sliding sound, followed by a click. It was metallic. Definitely not natural. She drew the sword from her back, going into a fighting stance.
Then the woods around her practically exploded.
Taggart and Talbot were examining maps in the Police Station, bent over one of the woods, with several large red rings drawn upon it. Taggart pointed at several of them, apparently explaining them to Talbot.
"This one, around the edge," He motioned toward the largest ring, with the thickest outline, "Is the distance she could have covered within two days of hitting ground if she was able to sprint as fast as she did for four hours a day. As you can see it covers a gigantic area."
Talbot nodded, pointing to a much smaller ring. This one was covered in hatch marks. "This is the area you searched initially?"
Taggart nodded, placing a meaty finger in the very center of that ring. "And what we keep searching daily. This is the area she would have covered if she went to ground with her injuries almost immediately."
Talbot frowned, looking over the map. "This is a huge area. With several towns within it." He gestured to one of the smaller towns. Which happened to be the one that they were based in. "Have we searched the town?"
Taggart nodded, though he looked disappointed. Or frustrated. "We have. Several times. But we didn't think to do it until the second night, when we realized she'd escaped our initial net. She could have gone to ground anywhere. We just have no id-" Taggart stopped suddenly, the radio on his belt crackling to life.
"This is HK-2. We have movement just north of Newburg."
Both Taggart and Talbot stared at it. It had been days since they heard anything at all from one of the teams. They'd been instructed only to call Taggart if they had a hit they suspected to be the alien. That one of them called now could only mean something big. Especially when they were just outside of the city.
Taggart quickly unhooked the radio and spoke quietly. The team leaders all wore earpieces, but if what information they did have held true, as unlikely as it seemed, the alien's hearing could be incredibly acute. "You watch, and you report. You do not engage. I repeat. Do not engage."
The radio remained quiet, and both of them just continued to stare at it. Talbot was actually sweating, his face glistening with sweat born of extreme excitement. The tension in the room simply grew, and when the radio crackled again, Talbot actually jumped he'd been so tense.
"This is her. Repeat. We found her. Alien subject, roughly seven feet tall, long pointed ears. Wearing metallic armor of unknown origin. Carrying large sword roughly five feet long. First spotted running at a speed we were unable to match. Tracked nearly a mile before spotted returning along the same path taken. She seems to be heading back- Hold."
Both of them continued to stare at the radio. Several other scientists, agents, and other personnel had noticed them, both within and without the little plastic command room. They stared openly, either directly at them or through plastic. Every single person in the room had their eyes locked directly on the radio.
It crackled again, and the voice coming from it sounded like it was on a hair trigger. "She's stopped. Subject looks alarmed. Sniffing the air. Crouching. She's drawn a-" And then there was gunfire from the radio.
Talbot's face paled considerably, and he looked up at Taggart. "Oh no."
As Sly pulled her great sword free, a flash of light from almost directly in front of her startled her. It was followed immediately by an incredibly loud crack, which was in turn followed by several things at once. For one, she felt almost as if she'd been punched in the chest by a Titan, being thrown off of her feet and into the brush. She felt pain, though it was dulled. Something had struck one of the thickest parts of her armor.
Secondly, she heard someone... no, scratch that, several someones yelling loudly in that language she didn't understand. Someone was very upset. And she heard more of those clicky-raspy sounds she couldn't place.
She lay there on the ground, catching her breath from where it had been knocked entirely out of her from the hammerblow to her chest. Her armor felt indented, though not badly. She was feeling very, very angry, but didn't have the breath to do anything about it.
At the same time, perhaps this was some kind of warning? It had hurt, yes. But she wasn't dead. Didn't seem to be injured. Caution tempered her anger. She had the feeling that these Humans around her had the capability to kill her if they really wanted, so she waited. She seethed, yes. They had shot at her. They had dented her armor. But she wasn't injured, and they hadn't done anything else to her just yet.
Her ears twitched, and she heard just one voice. Someone was speaking. Very quietly. He had a curt, businesslike tone to his voice. She'd heard that same tone from a Goblin describing a business deal to her once.
Then, someone got close to her. She felt more than she heard it. The ground nearby vibrated softly, the loam of the woods bending and denting as a foot settled into it. She took that as her opportunity, sweeping the flat of her blade across the ground as fast as she could. At the same time as it would knock whoever was closest to her off of their feet, she was hoping it would throw dirt and plants at whoever was near them. Maybe it would disorient them. Maybe even get them to avert their eyes for a moment.
At the same time as she swept her arm, her other hand went to her shoulder, pushing against the ground. She arched her back, throwing her legs into the air, pulled tight against herself. She pushed with her arm at the same time as she seemed to make a jumping movement. The two forces combined were enough to throw her onto her feet, low to the ground and in a crouch.
It took less than half a second to complete both movements, and the Humans around her were only just beginning to react. Dimly in the back of her mind she realized they were much, much slower than the Humans she remembered. They weren't likely raised in a world like she was. And the fact that she was an Elf didn't hurt.
She let out as loud of a feral growl as she could manage, aiming to startle. As she did, she brought her sword arm in a flat arc across her chest. The flat side of her blade cracked against one Human, and she felt something in his chest give. She planted her feet for balance and spun her sword back the other way, just as hard and fast. She'd noticed this particular Human raising what looked like a rifle. She instinctively knew she couldn't let this happen.
The sword connected first with the weapon, which shattered under the blow. Several screws went flying as the thing came apart under the sheer force of the blow, metal bits flying everywhere. Then her sword's blade swung into his shoulder, and she felt rather than heard the crack that accompanied it. He wouldn't be using that arm any time soon.
Then, she felt another punch hit her in the side. This time accompanied by pain. A lot of pain. Something hot, sharp, and very fast rocketed into her middle, and Sly's back went straight. The pain of it almost whited out her vision, but she willed herself to stay conscious. She turned again, gritting her teeth against the tearing she felt in her middle. The gloves were off. She was in a lot of pain.
She led with the edge of her blade... but the other Humans were out of range. She was facing several more rifles. There were more of them than she'd realized at first, and there was nothing more she could do. She dropped the blade in her hands, letting it dangle from the weapon chain connecting the hilt to her hand.
Then she dropped to her knees, her insides feeling like they were on fire. She instantly knew something vital had been hit. Sly coughed once, vaguely registering the taste of blood in her mouth as her world went black and she slumped to the ground.
Back in the control room, everyone had gone as still and quiet as statues as noises rang out over the radio. There was a gunshot, the sound of metal clanging violently on metal, and then silence. Then there were the sounds of fighting. In particular, several almost feline growls and screams had shocked even Taggart, followed by a loud shattering sound. Then there was another gunshot, and everything went quiet.
When HK-2's voice came back over the radio, they knew more than ever things had gone terribly wrong. The normally cool voice was shaky with what seemed like fear, and actually sounded incredibly worried.
"Alien subject has been subdued. Several men need immediate medical attention. She's been shot."
Taggart looked at Talbot, and the scientist spoke. "This is bad. Very bad."
