A/N: This bears repeating: I don't own anything seen here. Wish I did, but eh. Thanks to KisaragiKei for editing this over.
xXx
Yanking her head away from the scope, Hex involuntarily let out a yelp as she turned away. Prickling spikes danced in her eye, patches of random colors floating across her vision. She rubbed the aching eye to sooth it, which proved pointless. Despite the pain she peered down the street again; The CIA operative had to hold an arm over her forehead, squinting hard to see the cause of the blinding light. She heard the curses from Steve and Bobby, but ignored them.
It was like staring into a sunrise. By the second the white light grew in intensity, completely obscuring the target she was after. After a moment she had to look away, the light too great to look at directly.
"What the fuck is that?" Hanover demanded, standing up while protecting his eyes. Hex had no answer.
In seconds the light dimmed, though it seemed to retract backwards than fade away. In the center, she could just barely make out a lone silhouette rising from the ground. By the time the light decreased enough for Hex to safely look down her M107's scope again, the figure was already on her feet. What she saw made her pause; whereas anyone else would have been silenced by awe, Hex had to use every scrap of her willpower to stop herself from screaming.
With a last flourish Black Rock Shooter stood up fully, her long jacket rippling behind her. She was unharmed, possessing all four limbs and showing no hint of the blood from moments ago. It was more than the catastrophic damage being undone, as Hex began to tell.
Her outfit had changed: her boots had grown upwards, matching the now lengthened hot pants so only half of her pale thighs were visible. The jacket was done up, the knee length flaps now billowing behind her. White trim circled the edges while also running down the sleeves to her now bare hands, all save for the lowered hood. Both of her pigtails seemed thicker as well, the color of her skin no longer so deathly pale. The changes made her look older, more mature. The only reminder of her Insane form was the severed arm and the machine gun, which were breaking down into dust as she watched.
When Hex looked at her face however, she tensed. The girl was breathing deeply, puffs of breath leaving her mouth every time she exhaled. Her determined expression was fixated on something at an incline, far away from her.
Four hundred meters apart, Hex and Black Rock Shooter made eye contact.
"What in the fuck?" Bobby exclaimed, awed yet nervous.
When the girl started to walk forward, Hex grabbed a replacement magazine and quickly slammed it home. Her entire plan was tossed out in a heartbeat, replaced by a sole overriding objective. She had her attention focused on the girl, at that moment wanting nothing more than for her to die.
"Fire at will." she commanded. Lining up her crosshairs, she didn't bother waiting on the Kentuckian to get ready. A controlled squeeze made the heavy rifle kick against her shoulder.
Black Rock Shooter jerked her body back with the impact, but she didn't stop marching forward. It looked as if she were just punched more than anything else, the attack barely slowing her down.
"Steve, shoot already!" she barked, realigning her sights. As the man scrambled, she fired again. And again.
Each BMG round, a minute ago possessing enough force to knock the monster off her feet, just made the impact point jerk back slightly. Not one, from hers or Bobby's when he started firing too, got her to stop marching forward, resolutely staring at Hex the whole time. Finally the woman snarled, turning towards her underling to fling him away. If he wasn't going to do anything, then she would put his rifle to better use.
Steve only just saved himself. Finished by inserting a fresh 14.5mm round, he racked the bolt and settled in again. He let out a breath, emptying his lungs to steady his aim. Steve squeezed with more force than he preferred, but he was in a rush. For the third time the enormous NTW jerked against him, the shooter feeling like he was kicked by a horse. It didn't matter though; the high velocity bullet was flung downrange, going directly towards the girl's chest.
Black Rock Shooter took the hit dead center, the sheer power behind the bullet enough to finally halt her relentless movement. Her boots skidded over the pavement, the girl reflexively grabbing the injury as she was pushed back almost two meters. But she stayed on her feet.
Hex watched numbly as she saw the girl breathing deeply, before looking back up. Her arms lowered back to her sides, the girl's footing more steady than ever. Through the scope, she saw the flattened bullet drop to the pavement. Then she saw the small smirk come over her features.
Steve needed no encouragement, ignoring his shock while he quickly reloaded. The second shot had the same result as the first, driving Black Rock Shooter back another couple meters. Hex observed the emotions flitting across the girl's face: some pain, plenty of amazement, and no shortage of vicious happiness. Cursing, the ex-ranger racked the bolt and fired the NTW for a fifth time, ignoring his bruised shoulder.
Hex blinked once. In the split second she didn't have eyes on the target, she had suddenly moved about five meters to the side, missing the incoming 14.5mm round entirely. Gaping, she saw Black Rock Shooter whip her head back and forth, the look of amazement she sported looking eerily like Hex's own. The girl glanced down at her body, giving it a stunned look.
"Steve, what's the hold up?" Hex demanded loudly, after a minute of ear ringing silence.
The ex-ranger gulped. "I'm out of bullets."
"Out of- the fuck you mean you're out of bullets!" Bobby screamed at him, the bulky ex-marine jolting to his feet.
"I only packed five of these fucking things, one should've worked!" Steve screamed right back.
Behind them Hanover snorted, reserving a powerful glare towards Hex. The CIA operative promised him the death of the girl who murdered his friends, but instead it looked like she created something far worse. Whether it was incompetence or her true goal that caused this wasn't important in the end. The former SEAL made up his mind: he would kill Black Rock Shooter himself, then extract payback from Hex for deceiving him.
"Beast, get the mortar ready" he turned to order, his hard expression momentarily breaking.
Black Rock Beast stood on the ledge of the building, briefly turning her body around when she heard him. As always, ever since he first laid eyes on the Witch, her face was blank. She regarded him emptily, without so much as a hint of satisfaction or regret.
"You. Fucking-" Hanover ran as fast he could, unable to reach Beast before she daintily stepped into open air. He slammed into the ledge to peer over, just in time to catch the large black sphere, placed low enough to be out of their sight, fade into wisps. "Bitch!" he screamed at last.
Black Rock Shooter started to walk faster, in seconds breaking into a run. Faster and faster she moved, picking up speed. Her target was close, she wasn't going to let her get away.
Hex rose up, her features pinched into a grimace. "Fall back."
"Say what!?" Steve yelled, Bobby and Hanover snapping to her incredulously.
Continuing to stare down the street, Hex swallowed her pride. "Get to the helicopter. Leave everything behind, just go." Turning to look at them, she saw their shock. "Go!"
Bobby needed no encouragement, quickly beating a hasty retreat towards the stairs. Steve backed away, working his stiff limbs before stumbling to his feet. Hanover made a show of following Hex as she darted to the exit, but paused when her back was to him. He was feeling the grip of his USP, but only just stopped himself before she was out of sight. Instead he dove for the Javelin, originally set aside in case they needed it.
Steve made the mistake of glancing back down the street; for a second he hesitated, confusion on his expression. "Where the hell did she go?"
There was a whoosh of something moving, lasting for a second. In the time it took the sniper to register the object, she was upon them.
Trackplay: Andrew Wk - Ready To Die.
Hanover and Steve paused, both men staring at the girl suddenly perched on the roof. Crouched over with one hand on the ledge, Black Rock Shooter lifted her head. She was breathing heavily, although not from strain. The amazement on her expression faded away, the girl's azure eyes narrowing at the closest man. All Steve could do was whisper, "Fuck me."
She hopped from the ledge, her boot landing on the expensive NTW. The heavy duty rifle stood no chance against her kick, immediately shattering in an all too brief clatter of splintered metal. Its owner had no time to even feel shock at his pride and joy being destroyed before the girl was in front of him. Drawing back a fist, Black Rock Shooter threw a punch at his midsection.
The former Ranger died from the impact alone. The power behind the blow was such that his ribcage was turned into fragmented bone, shredding his organs in an instant. But it didn't end there; the dead man's body was flung away, his legs catching on the ledge as he was pitched from the roof. The girl needed a second to process what she had done, unable to believe she managed to kill someone so easily.
A flash came from the periphery of her senses, her mind given a split second warning. That morning, she would have been dead without ever knowing the cause. A short while ago, her life would have been claimed regardless of what she did.
Now, Black Rock Shooter whirled her body around, her flattened palm held outwards. A grunt escaped her when she felt the burning head of the projectile, but she didn't waver. With the object ghosting along the top of her hand, seemingly all she had to do was push. The 127mm guided missile's fuse didn't allow it to detonate this early, sending the package of armor piercing destruction spiraling away from the building. Leaving behind a trail of white smoke, the missile spun twice before exploding, the shower of shrapnel flying in every direction. Some of it pattered on her back, flicking off harmlessly.
She wanted to stop and look, to see the impossible stunt she just accomplished. But right now, there were more important concerns. Black Rock Shooter narrowed her eyes at the African American, who let the Javelin fall to the ground in order to draw his USP. In response she held her hand to the side, the white lights swiftly forming an elongated black sword.
The second it was fully manifested, blue fire crawled from the edge of the grip down the blade's length, roiling like her inner fury. Black Rock Shooter paused to look at her sword, blinking in surprise as her jaw opened a little. Unlike her, Hanover didn't let the sight distract him. He aimed at her head and fired, jerking the trigger back even as the .45 rounds bounced off the girl to no effect. He kept firing even as she rushed at him, only stopping when the USP clicked empty. He never got the chance to reload.
Turning to the door, Black Rock Shooter set her gaze into a hard line. Her look only lasted a few seconds however; when she yanked on the door, its simple handle was completely ripped off. Peering at the crumpled metal in her grip, the girl was forced to rethink her plan. Grabbing the new hole in the door, she was able to swing it wide open, albeit with enough force to bash it against the far wall. She mentally shrugged at the noise, since there was no way they didn't know she was coming.
Striding into the office building, the girl dismissed her flaming sword as she opted to take the steps three or four at a time, each footfall shaking the stairs. She cleared the flight in a couple seconds, using her momentum to kick open the next door she came across. Watching the door get torn from its hinges to slam into the other side did make her wince, not intending to hit that hard. But she darted through anyway, following an unseen path. She knew Jonah was close.
Black Rock Shooter heard shouts and cries, the men inside the cramped office building scrambling to flee. A pair of men made the mistake of turning around, both raising their M4s to fire. As the bullets pelted off her, she swatted one into the wall, and delivered a punch to the other which sent him tumbling. Though she heard more, the girl stopped and moved on, leaving them be. The men here were not her objective. Instead the girl turned away, darting down the hallways in a blur.
Room after room she passed, following the faint call. What she sought was so close...
Coming around a corner, she had to stop for a second. A strange blend of residual fear and confusion halted the girl in her tracks, raising an eyebrow at the two men who froze at the same time as her. She used the few seconds of motionlessness to realize there was a rather large machine gun by the two men, the weapon rigged up on a tripod while it faced her. It dawned on the girl that it was an M2 Browning, before the man behind the triggers opened fire.
Each boom from the M2 was deafening, loud enough to shake the very walls. Grunting, Black Rock Shooter threw her arms in front of her, feeling each .50 caliber bullet slam into her. The constant patter of impacts was rough, forcing her to cede ground under the strain. While she grimaced, the man known as Connely was wide eyed, watching the heavy machine gun fail to kill the intruder. His shanghaied assistant Bobby didn't have such concerns as he fed in belts of ammo into the hungry gun, in part because he was now firmly deaf.
It took her several seconds for her to have an epiphany: the barrage of firepower wasn't harming her. The shots stung when they hit, and she couldn't hear over the thumping roar. But the pain was actually more negligible than she thought it would be, never mind the fact she wasn't even bleeding. Then the thought occurred to her; why should she just stand in place?
Both men faltered when Black Rock Shooter started to advance, every step forward careful but inexorable. The 12.7mm bullets loudly pinged off her, ricocheting and fragmenting into a tide of sparks. One such fragment bounced off in just the right way, sending a sliver of lead through Bobby's temple. The Kentuckian slumped over the glowing barrel, his flesh starting to sizzle against the red hot metal. Now slack jawed, Connely kept his fingers mashing the triggers, freezing at the wrong time.
When the M2 fell silent, the girl lowered her protective arms. She met the eyes of the gunner, her calm gaze a noticeable contrast to his wide eyed look. Finally letting go of the clicking machine gun, Connely raised his shaking hands into the air while he started to hyperventilate. She merely smiled, dropping her arms to march to him.
He tried scrambling to his feet, the girl kicking the M2's barrel to get it out of her way. Again she winced, this time because of the shriek of tortured metal from the ruined stand. The body on the weapon tumbled limply, beneath her attention. Catching the man's leg, she dragged him around to throw his flailing body down the hall she came from. His scream was abruptly cut off when he hit the floor, but she wasn't sure if he was dead or unconscious. Shaking her head, she decided it didn't matter, and moved on.
After another minute, she came to a stop once more. Even if Black Rock Shooter didn't have the feelings guiding her, the sight of a door with a thick set of locks on it would have telling enough. Before she tried entering, she realized there was a pair of hoops on both sides of the frame. Glancing to the side, she saw a steel bar on the floor nearby. Like someone had tossed it aside. Her joyous mood shrank away, and she couldn't help grabbing the knob to rip it open. The unlocked door fell before her might.
She blinked; the rest of the bare room didn't matter, nor did the table of implements nearby. All Black Rock Shooter saw was the back of a thick chair, and beside it a woman in fatigues facing the door. The orchestra-tor of all this had her arm extended towards the chair, a Beretta in her grip. On her face was an expression she couldn't identify.
"I planned for this" Hex said quietly.
Black Rock Shooter stood in the door frame, the only movement she made was the increasingly faster rise and and fall of her chest. What narrowed down her entire world was the arm on the chair, the brown skin evident despite the leather restraints.
"I had everything ready. I was going to leave you for that bitch, reap the rewards, and make the world a better place" Hex shook her head slowly, her gun unwavering. "I didn't know this would happen. I had truly no idea."
When Hex looked Black Rock Shooter in the eye, the girl saw no fear. Hate, anger, betrayal, but no grace of terror. "She played me. The deal was too good, so of course I didn't realize it was a trap. All this time, I was just a pawn. I did exactly what she wanted me to do while thinking I was the one in charge."
When puzzlement crossed the girl's features, Hex snorted. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I can't kill you, can I?"
After thinking it over, Black Rock Shooter carefully shook her head. Hex snorted. "Then I'm going to die here, while the dragon lives. All I can do now." her eyes narrowed. "Is hurt you."
It was impossible for her to save him. She was several meters away, while Hex had her gun pointed at Jonah's head. A twitch of her finger would put an end to his life, forever. Black Rock Shooter saw what she had to do, but she wasn't capable of reaching her in time. In that moment, all she wanted was to save him. She had to stop Hex from shooting him, by grabbing her-
Boom.
The bullet flew wild, burrowing itself into the wall. At the same time Hex screamed, her arm suddenly bent at a wrong angle. She didn't have time to do anything else, since the bare hand holding her forearm clamped down hard. The sickening crack of shattered bones was loud in spite of the gunshot, as her arm was crushed beyond repair. As the gun fell from limp fingers Hex's scream rose in pitch, even as her attacker let go. It finally stopped when a jab into her midsection sent her flying backwards, bouncing off the wall before hitting the ground.
Breathing heavily, Black Rock Shooter paused. She looked at the several meter gap between the door and where she was now, incapable of understanding how she did it. Setting her mouth in a hard line, the girl decided she didn't care how it happened. She turned around, briefly stomping on the gun first. The lump of metal crumpled under her boot.
At last her hand began to shake, grabbing the restraints and tearing them away. With bated breath he watched her, red eyes wide as he saw her free him. Once she tore away the leg straps, Black Rock Shooter brought herself up to hover over the chair. Her arms were held at chest level, silently offering to help while he leaned away from the seat at last. Taking shallow breaths, he raised his head to look at her.
Then Jonah smiled. "You're here."
The faint worry in her mind vanished. Black Rock Shooter threw her arms around Jonah, unable to stop the ragged gasp. Tears stung at her vision, the girl starting to bury her head into his neck. But a gasp of pain caused her to withdraw, fear written all over her. Jonah coughed hard while he winced.
"Too hard" he groaned, mustering a smile anyway when he saw her crestfallen expression.
Backing away, she held a hand for him to grab, helping Jonah back to his unsteady feet. The teen groaned while he worked stiff muscles, moving for the first time in hours. When he looked over her new appearance, he shook his head in wry amusement. He didn't say anything, since he didn't need to. Instead Jonah smiled, quickly enveloping her in a hug of his own.
Though nervous about hurting him, Black Rock Shooter hesitantly raised her arms to wrap around him, wanting to hold him tightly but knowing she couldn't. When she let her face fall into his neck, some tears leaked from her eyes. Inhaling deeply, the girl simply basked in his presence, knowing beyond a shred of doubt he was here. The girl exhaled, happy for the first time in a long time.
Jonah backed his head away from her, stopping to give Black Rock Shooter a surprised look. But before he could say anything, a sputtered gasp caught both their attentions. Hex had pushed herself off the floor, clutching her crippled arm while she put her back on the wall. Despite her twitching features, she glared at the two as they parted.
"Fuck both of you" she all but hissed at them. Black Rock Shooter returned the glare in full, turning to the woman with clenched fists. A hand on her shoulder stopped the girl in her tracks, its owner shaking his head.
"Don't. She's not worth it." As Hex sputtered a curse, the girl tilted her head to the side.
"Look at her" Jonah nodded in Hex's direction. "What's the point?" Black Rock Shooter gave him an annoyed frown. He tugged on her shoulder, unable to make her budge.
"Its the worst thing you can do to her" he offered instead. She didn't agree, but when she spared a look at the injured woman, she thought his idea over. It did make a sort of twisted sense.
"Not a bad idea kid" Hex rasped, leaving her crushed arm alone to dig into her pocket. The girl was prepared to finish the woman off if she pulled out a gun, but when she held up a small remote like device, she was left confused. Hex adopted a vicious smirk. "This whole buildings wired with C4. Supposed to cover our tracks when we were done here, but this works too. Lets see you bullshit your way out of this one" Hex gloated, clicking the detonator.
The floor rumbled, not unlike an earthquake. Jonah nearly fell, saved only by Black Rock Shooter grabbing him. Beneath their feet the shaking was increasing exponentially, the walls fracturing. Wrapping him in her arms, the girl thought only one thing: escape.
Hex's smirk died, fading into a puzzled frown as her retinas burnt out. The brilliant white light filled the shaking room, blinding in its intensity. Suddenly the light vanished, as the ceiling above them seemed to explode. Debris pelted off the blind woman, who could only stay where she was. When the floor gave out and buried her underneath several tons of broken concrete, Hex uttered the last four words of her life.
"That's just not fair."
The building was collapsing, the ever expanding cloud of dust and debris threatening to envelop the small civilian helicopter as it frantically tried to get away. From the rooftop there was a seemingly tiny blast, allowing a glowing sphere to race out. The light raced skyward, escaping the death throes of a madwoman's plan.
It slowed once it hit the clouds, resting for a moment before it chose a direction. Then the light surged ahead, rushing by at incredible speed towards a destination only it knew. Countless citizens saw the zooming light as it passed overhead, those who believed in God recognizing what it was. Two F-15Js and one F-18 saw the speeding light in the sky, but their instruments could not track it.
The light cared not for them. It knew where it had to go, and getting entangled in their affairs was a waste of time.
On one roof, a party of nine finally arrived. The entrance door was kicked open, Lehm on point as he quickly surveyed the abandoned area. Motioning for the others, Wiley followed him in. Next was Valmet, her hands on Koko as she moved the smaller woman along. Tojo, Lutz, and Mao were after the pair, each man with a gun out as they checked their surrounding. Ugo and R were the last, watching the area behind the team warily.
"Okay, now we need to call for a ride" Lehm called out, searching over the group as they too kept scanning.
"How? We got two armies coming in!" Lutz pointed out, hearing the distinctive sound of faraway rotors growing louder.
"I dunno, Koko would you be kind enough to pull a miracle out of your sleeve?" R asked wryly, even as Valmet and Wiley gave him annoyed looks.
Mao was the first to see it; he was busy spotting an increasing number of aircraft when he saw the glowing light in the sky. Once he realized it was coming at them, he yelled, "Guys!"
Almost in unison the eclectic group turned to the direction he was pointing at, nearly all of them widening their eyes. Without a word Valmet pushed a struggling Koko behind her, the pale woman staring amazed at the incoming object. She braced herself when the object veered off from its course, unmistakably coming right at them. The light was barreling at the group at high speed, looking like it was going to crash into their position. Only Lehm didn't suck in a breath out of instinctive panic.
When it was a few meters away the light suddenly paused, coming to an instant stop. It was too bright for any of them to look at directly at first, even as it began to dim. Once it was no longer blinding, the men and women risked peeks, in the process discovering the human sized sphere of glowing light had drifted closer. As the nearest, Wiley and Mao took a couple measured steps backwards.
Once it was firmly over the roof, the light's identity was revealed to them. The edges of the sphere broke away, unfolding from a tucked position into two arching limbs. Dimming more, details could be picked out from the arches; the surface wasn't flat, but a shimmer of rippling patterns. The top seemed to be relatively flat, although the bottom was more uneven. When the pair was extended wide, the humans finally realized what the objects resembled: unmistakably wings. Vibrant feathered wings that had a span of eight meters wide from tip to to tip, flaring outwards before curling to a rest.
In the center of the glowing wings, a pair of boots tapped on the roof. As her weight settled to the ground, she gently let go of Jonah, who slid from her grasp to land unceremoniously beside her. While he stumbled for a moment, the girl finally planted her feet on the ground, bending her knees as if she were uncertain about landing. A gust of wind blew, rippling her cape-like jacket backwards while her wings stood defiant before them. A lone hand of hers stayed on the teen, whether it was to steady him or her couldn't be said.
Lifting her stunned expression to her equally awed comrades, Black Rock Shooter took a deep breath.
"I saved him."
Black Rock Shooter theme: The Cab - Angel With a Shotgun.
xXx
A/N: You hear that? The weird ripping noise coming from your screen? Its the sound of my goofy self breaking my own rules. It's either that or a really lazy Deus Ex Machina. Your call on which it is and which one is worse.
xXx
"This! Is! Bullshit!"
The barely restrained scream caused both Jonah and Rock to flinch, while seven heads turned to a panting Tojo. Expressions consisting mainly of annoyance fell on the bespectacled man, while he stabbed a finger at the winged girl.
"Um, Tojo? Happy moment?" Lutz warned carefully, though he backed away to avoid being associated with him.
"You're being a buzzkill" Ugo told him, likewise putting distance between him. He saw the narrowed gaze of Valmet and paled.
But the Japanese man was unbowed. "No! I am not taking it this time!" he snapped his head to the girl, who raised her eyebrow at him. "Strength limit to body index don't even pretend to match up, fine, whatever. Spawn weapons out of thin air? No one else cares. Turn into some batshit crazy killing machine that's apparently bulletproof? I'm the only one wondering how the hell it works. But this" he paused to breath, seething in rage.
"Um, Tojo?" R warned, wincing as he left a path open.
"You show up out of the blue, having apparently flown here like fucking superman, and now all of a sudden you can talk" Tojo dug his fingers through his hair, his face turning purple. "How long have you been able to do this?" he snarled.
Nervous throughout his rant, Rock coughed into her fist. "Um, since five minutes ago."
"Really" he said dryly, unaware of the woman standing behind him.
"This is new to me too" she offered weakly, shrugging defensively.
Just as Tojo opened his mouth again, a firm clap came from behind him. Turning around, he met Koko's annoyed expression as she stared dangerously.
"Tojo. Shut up" she ordered simply.
Steadying himself, Tojo was all but pleading when he spoke next. "I can think of a dozen situations where this would have been useful, you're just gonna-"
"Shut. Up. You're ruining it."
The bespectacled man clamped his hands over his face, a quiet hiss of a muffled scream leaving him. Nodding in satisfaction, Koko brushed by him to approach the teens. Her expression softened, sparing a wry smile at the pair.
"So, this is new" she said cordially, making Rock glance away with an embarrassed smile. Turning to Jonah, she huffed. "You should avoid getting hurt in the future, every time you do your girlfriend gets leveled up."
Both teens snapped their heads to her, blushing furiously while they seemed to shrink back. Someone behind her giggled, which a sharp jab put a stop to.
"C'mon, it was so obvious" Koko rolled her eyes, crossing her arms while she settled on the winged girl. "In all seriousness, think you can dial that down? Its a little obvious."
Rock frowned in thought, looking at one of the wings. The glowing protrusion obediently curled inwards, making a rustling sound. As she seemed to concentrate, the wing grew translucent; when she started blinking again, it was gone. Just in case Koko gestured for her to turn, nodding satisfactorily when she saw no trace on her back. She whistled admiringly.
"Neat party trick. Just to be sure, you remember everything now?" Koko checked, noting how Jonah was looking at the girl.
Rock nodded, suddenly frowning. She inhaled, apparently wrapping her head around the new options. "Yeah. Brussels, Dubai, Dead Master" she suddenly scowled, clenching her fist as the air itself seeming to vibrate. Koko stifled a giggle, bemused when Jonah quickly approached her with his arms up. The way the two looked at each other, it was a wonder how she ever thought it wouldn't work out.
But alas, all things came to an end. The optimistic mood died when Lehm loudly coughed, causing the trio to turn towards him.
"This is great, we should have a party. But first, how about we get the hell out of here?" he suggested with a jabbed thumb at the exit. "Our luck with avoiding the army here isn't going to last-" The aged operator didn't get the chance to finish his sentence.
Growing louder by the second, the distinctive whump-whump of beating rotors got the attentions of all eleven members of the group. The cold wind picked up into a gale force roar, heralding the arrival of the pile of weapons masquerading as a helicopter. Grabbing her coat, Koko struggled to stay on her feet as the AH-64 'Apache' gunship rose up to hover over the squad of arms dealers.
Only Rock didn't have a problem staying on her feet, as the chin mounted machine gun of the Japanese marked Apache swiveled towards her. All the blood remaining in Koko's expression drained away; she knew the gunship most likely wouldn't kill the girl, but the rest of them were fair game. Rock risked a glance at her, to which the pale woman nodded. Nodding forcefully back, she held her arms wide in preparation.
Koko only just caught a faint whoosh ghost over the Apache. Immediately thereafter the gunship went up in a colossal fireball, the concussive boom deafening. The blast wave carelessly brushed Koko off her feet, along with everyone else. By a strange coincidence Jonah managed to land on her, driving out what little air was in her lungs. Rock held her hands in front of her, she alone weathering the explosion on her feet. As she lowered them, the girl looked at her hand, dumbfound.
Groaning loudly, Koko shoved Jonah off her to check on her men. Her men were all fine (albeit cursing and groaning), as was she when she patted her body over. The fact had her confused: the explosion should have killed them all in a heartbeat, the burning shrapnel turning their bodies into perforated mush. Why didn't it?
The answer landed on the roof much like Rock did, slowing down at the last second to gracefully touch the ground. While the black smoke behind her roiled, she turned to face the tensing Black Rock Shooter with her silver toned scythe in hand. On her back multicolored lights sprouted, swiftly creating a black and silver construct which rankled loudly. The construct was a set of curved silver, the ribbed metal forming an array of even spikes.
They were wings, mechanical devices as if to match the feathery wings Rock bloomed out in an instant. As the black haired girl snarled, White Rock Shooter coolly regarded her opponent.
"You."
Her voice was devoid of emotion, but the hostility radiating off her was almost thick enough to touch.
"You are an abomination, the scion of a forgotten god. Before you were merely an annoying pest. But now" White Rock Shooter raised the scythe to grab it by both hands. "You will die here, before this world pays the price."
Jonah was already struggling to get up, ready to attack no matter the odds. He was almost on his feet when Koko cried out in pain, grabbing her arm.