Chapter 21: The New World: Part Two
Fifteen years ago. Zaun. Military Lab Compound. Chamber 6.
Down a steel boxed hallway, a Zaun soldier pushed a large steel crate on wheels. Behind him strode a short man dressed in a lab white-coat. The soldier positioned the crate against a chamber marked, 'CHAMBER 6' and awaited a signature from the white-coated short man. As he waited for the signature the soldier remarked, "I'm not so sure that these two are a good fit for each other, I mean, I saw what this one did-."
"Well then," The short white-coated man exclaimed, cutting the soldier off, "it's good that we don't pay you to be the one to be sure of things. Otherwise we'd need your signature on here. But since mine is the required signature let's assume I am sure. Okay?"
The soldier nodded and locked the steel crate to the door of 'CHAMBER 6' before pressing a button to open the crate door and the chamber door simultaneously. A slot was on the side of the crate facing the two men. The soldier revved up a heat wand and stuck it inside to prod the creature in the crate forward. A slight 'EEEP!' sound was made and it walked into the chamber. Once the soldier was satisfied that the creature was all the way in, he pushed the same button to close both doors, and unlocked the crate to move it back to the storage room it came from.
The short white-coated man stayed behind. He had three tiles in his hand, similar to the tiles that read out 'CHAMBER 6' above the door. He slid each one in place until the sign read, 'CHAMBER 6/18' instead. Then he opened the sight-slot on the door to say, "You two play nice now. You're sisters, after all." Closing the sight-slot he made his way to leave the area.
The inside of 'CHAMBER 6/18' was dimly lit. The creature who had exited the steel crate was shaking cold. It was a very small female humanoid, with short blue hair, pale skin, and pink eyes. It wore nothing, or at least it must not have needed clothes where it had been before.
Out of the darkness strode another female humanoid, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and a little larger than the blue-haired humanoid. The blue-haired humanoid felt frightened of the orange jumpsuit humanoid. It couldn't make out any real feature in the darkness. Then without warning the orange jumpsuit humanoid vanished. The blue-haired humanoid started looking left and right, up and down, it was terrified. What would the orange jumpsuit humanoid do to it? What place is this? Why is it so dark in here?
All of a sudden the orange jumpsuit humanoid appeared on its left, dragging something with its right hand. The blue-haired humanoid glance to a nearby table with sharp objects on it, it grabbed the nearest one with its left hand to lash it out at the orange jumpsuit humanoid.
The orange jumpsuit humanoid grabbed the blue-haired humanoid's left wrist and twisted its arm to force the release of the object. Then it brought what was in its right hand up and onto the blue-haired humanoids shoulders. The blue-haired humanoid felt powerless as it struggled in the grasp of the orange jumpsuit humanoid's hands. The orange jumpsuit humanoid started to force the cloth object it had been holding around the blue-haired humanoid's body. It forced each of the legs and arms into different parts of the cloth. When the orange jumpsuit humanoid was done it released the blue-haired humanoid, which fell to the ground in a thud.
The blue-haired humanoid stopped panicking when it noticed that it was wearing an orange jumpsuit as well. When it looked up at the other orange jumpsuit humanoid it could see more features. It had short pink hair, white skin, blue eyes, and a pleasant look on its face. The blue-haired humanoid got on its feet to face the pink-haired humanoid.
The pink-haired humanoid spoke, pathetically simple, "Suit. Warm."
On the pink-haired humanoid's jumpsuit were two markings that the blue-haired humanoid had never seen before. It pointed at them.
The pink-haired humanoid looked at them and spoke each one's sound as it pointed at them, "V. I."
The blue-haired humanoid struggled with the sounds. "Bbbbv. Aaai."
VI shook its head. "No. V. I."
The blue-haired humanoid replied, better. "V. I."
VI smiled and said, "Yes." Then it pointed at the blue-haired humanoids jumpsuit saying, "X. V. I. I. J."
XVIIJ looked at the markings of its jumpsuit and said, "Eex. V. I. I. Hay."
VI shook its head and said. "X. V. I. I. J. J-J-J-J, J."
XVIIJ replied, "X. V. I. I. J."
VI smiled at XVIIJ and said, "Yes."
XVIIJ pointed at VI's mouth. VI noticed this and said, "Smile."
XVIIJ looked confused. So VI grabbed XVIIJ's cheeks and set its thumbs on XVIIJ's dimples to pull them to each side. "Smile." VI said smiling.
XVIIJ found itself using muscles it had never used before. It made a smile much like VI's, and then a little bigger. XVIIJ put its hands on VI's face to do the same to it. "Smile." XVIIJ said. They both started to giggle, holding each others faces in smiles.
Present. Zaun. Military Lab Compound. Special Cell 006.
Jinx woke up like she was dreaming, but it was just a memory that had crept back into her life. She had decided long ago to forget about VI, but with the fact being VI was still alive, memories like this last one were coming back from nowhere. In her mind she dwelled on it, to keep it private, 'That was when we first met. I though she was going to kill me, but she just wanted to help me get warm. – So, anything new come up? – Yeah, more great memories. – Of VI? – Yeah, Fishbones, who else do you think it was about? I mean they have all been about her. What makes you think this one would have been different? I swear you are so stupid sometimes. – I'm sorry, I just wanted to know more about her. We've never met, and I wanted to know her like you do. Not like that fake VI. That was so mean of her to say she loved you, just to hurt you. I hope the real VI isn't like that. – Say what you will about the fake VI, but I loved her too. – What?! – Shit! Did I say that to you?! No I meant…ugh never mind. – Wait, did you really love her? – I…I fell in love with her. – But you killed her, in a really cruel way. – I know, I feel horrible. I was angry and felt betrayed and I…I'm sorry Brittney, I really did love you. – Wow, this is such a great side of you that I have never seen before. – SHUT UP! – No this is great, maybe you really should chase after the real VI. – Yeah, but they'd never let me get away with it. They never want us to meet again. – They don't want you to fight again, that doesn't mean you can't love her. – SWEET FUCK! Fishbones you're a genius. Love. Yeah, I don't want to kill her. I want to love her. – So what's stopping you? – Just the stuff you don't like me to do. – Oh, right. The bloodbath fighting it would take to breakout of here. Maybe-. – Don't even say it Fishbones. You've already convinced me and made me like you today; don't make me hate you again."
An hour later. Piltover. Caitlyn and VI's apartment.
"Should I just carry you, or-." VI asked Caitlyn.
Caitlyn exclaimed. "Just don't touch me and let me walk in, okay?"
When the doctor first walked into Caitlyn's room at the hospital she nearly broke her cast to try and run up and punch them. She was right in the middle of having a moment with her brand new fiancée and they walked in like it was nothing. But when it was made clear he was there to say she was free to go home, she cooled down some.
Now the real challenges came. VI had to wait patiently at every single door between Caitlyn's hospital room and her bed room. This was because Caitlyn's cast looked like a big fluffy crop top coat, and forced her to side-step through any small passage. Balancing was the hard part, she had to go slow, mostly because VI didn't understand the meaning of a 'light touch' when giving Caitlyn balance. What should have taken ten minuetes, took two hours, and on top of that she wouldn't fit in a car, and couldn't walk well down the street, so she had to sit in a wheelchair as VI pushed her around. VI might have been too enthralled in her positively replied proposal, because on the first down-slope she stood on the back of the wheel chair to ride it to the bottom, scaring the living shit out of Caitlyn all the way down. The last hour she had spent apologizing profusely, but Caitlyn wasn't having any of it, she was pissed-off.
VI was forced to just 'be there' standing in her Class-B uniform. Point of reference: Class-A's are formal uniforms for mostly ceremonies; Class-B's are semi-formal uniforms for standard wearing.
As Caitlyn made her way inside, she paused to essentially catch her breath. VI strode in after her, carrying all the bags of medical things in one hand. "So, this will work, yeah."
Caitlyn shot VI an angry glare. "How will this work? You're horrible at handling your own room. How will you take care of me?"
"Uh…" VI started realizing that she would rather avoid the next few moments altogether.
"Uh…what?!" Caitlyn demanded of her.
"Uh…" VI started again. "I won't really be here for much of that, but I got Zachary to convince Greta to help you out."
Caitlyn's faced showed her angry confusion. "What do you mean? Why won't you be here?"
"I got to report back for duty." VI said as she motioned to her entire uniform.
Caitlyn closed her eyes tight and fell to the floor on her butt. VI must have feared the worst because she dropped everything to rush and hold Caitlyn up from lying on the ground. "Cait! What's wrong?!"
"What's wrong?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Caitlyn sounded like she was about to cry. "You drop the best and worst news of my life on me today, and you ask what's wrong?! What's wrong is that I can't decide which one outweighs the other."
VI closed her eyes as she realized what Caitlyn was talking about. VI's involvement in the war. Her decision to join the military and lead a team into combat. How her life will be in danger each day and how Caitlyn won't even know each day if she is still alive. Plus how she just promised Caitlyn a life together. How much that must have meant to put her fears at rest. To know VI wants to be there for every moment of Caitlyn's life. The two things she was doing in her life were not meshing up well, but they were both things she believed she had to do. The question remained, how would she convince Caitlyn to see it all her way?
It was either the emotion in this moment, or VI had suddenly learn how to do it, but either way she gently lifted Caitlyn up and skillfully carried her princess style into Caitlyn's bed. Once Caitlyn was comfy, VI climbed in next to her setting her cap on Caitlyn's chest. Caitlyn stared at the ceiling, continuing to refuse that any of this is right. VI moved her head up to start pecking Caitlyn's chin over and over again. She didn't stop until Caitlyn turned to face her for a real kiss.
When Caitlyn pulled back to speak, VI beat her to it. "I want a life with you. But I can't ensure that life from here. I don't want Zaun to take from me what I can't protect from the sidelines. I promised you I would never go unless you told me to, so I beg you now. Let me go fight for our life together, please. VI moved in to lock her lips with Caitlyn's again.
Caitlyn was so conflicted and annoyed. She was annoyed by the inability to hold onto any part of VI with her own hands. But she was conflicted because she wanted to believe in everything VI was saying, while still trying to find a way to prove VI didn't need to go. 'Why should she go,' Caitlyn thought. 'there's plenty of soldiers. What is she going to change by going out onto that field? Nothing. It just puts her in harms way. I won't let her go. Damn everything she isn't going. I…I…I want her safe. She's safe here. She's happy here. No…she's not happy here. Here is where she is most scared. I can feel it. She's scared I won't let her. And if she stays she'll only feel like she can't keep me safe. I don't want to let her go. I'll give her the choice or I'll tell her do what she wants.' Caitlyn pulled back to say, "Do what you want VI."
"I only want to do what you want me to do." VI replied moving into Caitlyn's lips once more.
Caitlyn fell back into her thoughts with anger. 'On me? You're going to place this on me? It's your life. Why should I have to decide how you live it?' Caitlyn suddenly remembered the metal ring on her finger. 'Yeah, you made it our life, and I agreed, now it's something we both have to want, but we both just want to stay here. Right here, together!' Caitlyn pulled back from VI, tears forming in her eyes. VI reached her left hand up to cup Caitlyn's face, with strands of hair inside her grasp. VI moved her thumb in to wipe Caitlyn's tears as they rolled down her cheeks. "VI." VI gave Caitlyn her full attention. "VI, if I let you go, then you have to promise me you'll come back. No matter what happens to whomever and how, you must come back to me. Do you understand?"
VI nodded. "I promise." The she gave Caitlyn one last kiss, before retrieving her cap to get up and leave.
Caitlyn cursed herself. 'I should have waited to tell her that. Just a few more minutes. I should have waited. Oh fuck me!'
A half hour later. Piltover. Fort Stone. Gauntlet Company Barracks.
As VI made her way across the base to her company, she took notice of the fifty-one mining rigs, much like the one she dismantled in the Taric Find Mine, situated on the grounds outside her barracks. She was surprised in how serious the military was in getting her the equipment, and realized that by the speed in which they were delivered, the military wanted to get her company out in the field as soon as possible.
VI entered her barracks at a brisk pace, paying little mind to the pink-magenta robotic fist recently painted on the company wall. In her office she found a bag of patches with the same symbol, only miniature. All she needed now was to make the men match the weapons.
Her men were at ease, and quickly came to attention as she strode into their area. "At ease, gentlemen!" She said aloud. On the floor in front of her was all that remained of her original suit and gauntlets, including the engine that still functioned. A thought came into her head of how this suit had caused Caitlyn so much pain, but she forced it out quickly. "Today we are going to play 'follow the leader' because as I rebuild my suit, you will all be making new ones. Is that understood?"
All together. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
"You each have a toolbox at the foot of your beds. Heft them up and file out to the fields!" VI commanded.
All together. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Then they all filed out with their toolboxes to line up outside. Five rows of ten stood at attention outside.
VI pointed at the rigs. "Each one of you will pick a rig and stand next to it."
All together. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
Once each soldier was standing, at attention next to a rig, VI walked up to hers and said, "This is how it works. I do something and you all watch me. When I stop, you do it exactly as I had. Understood?"
All together. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"
VI reached into her toolbox to pull out a handheld electric saw with a metal-cutting blade on it. She set it on the mining rigs left arm, right before the gauntlet and started cutting through. When it fell to the ground she paused to look up. The men followed suit, and loud cutting sounds started in a round like a musical course. Once every gauntlet had made it's thud, VI moved to do the same to the other side of her rig, and when she stopped, they all followed suit once more.
These mining rigs weren't like the one she had taken apart in the Taric Find Mine, they had working engines, but VI knew they'd need to be cut down, a lot. Because these men had to move in them as well as she would. She had decided that this new model of suits would have to be made over from scratch so the humans could use them in much of the same way she used her original suit. Also that she would need to use it anyways, because this new design had to be paired with the suits that disabled the Institute of War's ability to use magic to stop them. Still though she felt an upgrade would do her good.
Climbing up onto the Back of the rig, VI did a quick look-over of what would be needed and decided to cut it all out as on big piece. It took her two minutes to get through half of her desired cut, and signaled her men to just start now anyways. They took longer than her, mostly because they had to be cautious to do it right. After half an hour, and VI assisting many of them, the engines were all separated from the rigs. VI had a soldier request a moving crew to come pick up the remaining rig parts and started orchestrating the men to haul the parts they cut free into the barracks activity area inside.
VI started with having them watching in groups of ten and getting them to do the work as she pointed and instructed their actions. The waiting soldiers were instructed to do whatever they want, almost like free-time. VI started with showing them how to hollow out the gauntlets to fit their hands, or more importantly to fit the armored suit's, they each had, hands. They had all been trained in basic concepts of wiring so getting them to setup the inside of the gauntlets to VI's preferred style was easier than VI had originally feared. VI had decided to show each group one step at a time, giving them verbal hope that they would study up on what she taught them in their free-time as they waited for each step. These men were committed one hundred percent, and in their free-time they did just that. Once she had finished with the rounds of training on the gauntlets she moved on to downsizing the engine, but soon realized she'd need a day to figure out how to make it light enough for the men. So she let them go back to free-time, which they used wisely, as she started tinkering with her rig engine.
VI spent all night designing, dismantling, redesigning, dismantling, and re-redesigning the engine. The gauntlets weight was an easy fix. Take out the bulkier metal and replace it with a skeletal frame to keep its structural strength high, but the engine had a lot of essential components that were quite heavy. She soon found herself redesigning the parts themselves in the barrack's workshop. By the early morning she had finally got the engine to function at a forth of the weight of her original engine. It would have to do.
She went to rally her men awake and got the first one ready to try it on with the suit. Movement was limited, but VI knew she couldn't find much of a way to reduce the engine's weight anymore. She made five platoon leaders from each group that she had from the day before. She instructed them to take copies of the engine designs, and begin their construction, while she got cracking on a way to fix the weight issue. VI told them to ask her for pointers, but that she needed time to make the suits hold the weight and not limit movement. Over the course of the day these bright young men barely needed her help, which she found to be a blessing.
Spending all day into the night inside the barrack's workshop, she started finding a way to counter the weight. After trying to reduce the suit's weight and the engine's weight, which was pointless, she decided that upgrading the suits with hydraulics might do the trick. As she started to take a suit apart, a horrible realization set in. She knew this metal, she had made it. It was the C-metal she had improved on.
She felt sick as she fell back into her chair. 'No…no…no…this can't be! Why would Piltover have his metal armor?!' She started to carefully look over the metal, hoping she was wrong, but she wasn't. This was the 'C' thief's metal.
The next morning. Piltover. Grand Senate Hall. Minister of Defense's Office.
"What? What now? More signatures? If it's just simple things make a stamp of my signature and plant it on there, I have more pressing concerns." Marshall exclaimed.
His new aide, a young and gangly man, stood in his doorway. "Sorry sir, but there is a man who is urgently wishing to see you. He won't give a name, and he is wearing a cloak. Should I call security?"
Marshall had to fight to keep his face from showing his surprise. "No, no, let him in. I'll handle this. Leave us, and hold my meetings, and any calls I get."
"Yes sir." The aide said, signaling the cloaked man to enter Marshall's office.
When the aide closed Marshall's door, the cloaked man removed his cloak saying, "Minister of War now, how lovely."
Marshall almost forgot to correct him, "Its Minister of Defense. What are you here for?"
"Business." The man said, very casually. Then he pulled a device from his pocket and started to wave it all around Marshall's office, before taking a seat.
Marshall made a 'humph' noise and exclaimed. "Yes we did our business with you, and then you took it over to Zaun as well. We have no more need of your business."
"That's supply and demand. I had plenty of supplies, which you demand in one quantity and with the rest, Zaun had more demand. Its not war, just business." The man replied.
"I suppose you plan to do the same thing again. No sale." Marshall shot back.
"Its business. I care for my customers, whoever they are. But don't be so hasty, I suppose that given a higher price I may delay giving my next offer to Zaun by, let's say a week." The man said, still very casually. "Think about Minister, a whole week of having an upper hand before going back to a stalemate. Think what you could do with that time."
"No." Marshall replied.
"Well then I suppose that Zaun may be interested in my new suits if they were to learn you weren't" The man declared with whimsical delight.
Marshall's face went flat. "Suppose I had you arrested as the 'C' thief."
The man's face went flat as well. "You would be wise not to threaten me." Then he put on a smile. "Besides, I know you Piltovians don't have enough to pin that on anyone."
Marshall's anger was showing. "I would be interested to now how you would find out that, if it were true?"
"I have my ways." The man continued casually.
Marshall realized he needed a way to win the war, no matter the cost. "Wait two weeks and you have a deal."
"No sorry, that's horrible for business." The man said in fake sorrow. "But I suppose I could wait a week to go over there. It took me two days to work my way through Piltover to get here. I can imagine it will take four days to get through Zaun to the High Council. How's about it? You buy the new suits, throw in a nice stiffen, and you buy yourself eleven days before they even know about the new equipment, besides how long it takes for you to demonstrate it on them, of course."
Marshall realized this was his best bet. "Deal. How long before the delivery?"
The man smiled. "That was why it took two days. "The equipment is in an abandoned warehouse in the northern business districts. You know; the place where those missiles touched down on."
Marshall suddenly found himself wondering about that. "Was it you who supplied the missiles?"
"Just the explosive materials. They made their own weapons and put my product inside themselves." The man exclaimed in an uncharacteristically honest manner. "But fret not; they hadn't actually planned to use them. It was their fiery female weapon that dropped those bombs. Speaking of which, I hear you have one of those fiery weapons all your own. Bravo!"
Marshall felt the discomfort in the pit of his stomach start to boil over. "I don't even want to fathom how you know all of this."
"Lighten up." The man declared. "Look, I'll give you some information, free of charge. Their particular weapon is locked away, and they have no plans to use her right now. How does that make you feel?"
Marshall had to admit it, even to himself. "Better."
Present. Zaun. Military Lab Compound. General of the Military General Jason Travers' Office.
Travers sat at his desk with Dr. Parson sitting across from him. The general had called him in to discuss, 'things' as he had put it, but was still finding it difficult to put it all into words. He knew he couldn't discuss what was deep in the ground, under the compound. Only there could they speak so freely. He thought about discussing the next step for Jinx, but he didn't even think he wanted to. Thoughts of different topics swirled around in his head, and he was finding it hard to figure out which one he wanted to go with.
Dr. Parson decided to take the reins of this unopened conversation. "Jinx needs to be discussed."
Travers looked up and conceded. "Yes."
Dr. Parson kept going. "We have to use her. But more importantly we have to use her for precise missions. Ones where we know VI won't be."
"Yes." Travers didn't have much to reply, but he had a lot in his head that he wanted to argue.
"I'm going to need a bit more than yes, sir." Dr. Parson stated.
Travers sighed and replied, "I don't want to use Jinx anymore."
Dr. Parson looked confused.
"Look," Travers started, "I am a general and I command soldiers, not loose cannons. This war will be won by my men. The fighting in the fields will decide this war, not her small missions. I can see using her to disrupt things in Piltover, but not being a soldier. I still wish to use the clones, but not under her command. I know this doesn't give you much room to argue, but I have made up my mind about this."
This was a lot to take in for Dr. Parson. He didn't think the general ever felt like this. He feared it was because he had shown the general the secret, underground. "Sir, with all due respect, we need her in the war."
Travers shook his head. "No we need soldiers for war. Not her. I don't consider her a soldier anymore." Travers pulled open a file on his desk. "As such I've made orders to reassign her to our counter-intelligence operations."
Dr. Parson looked over the file before looking up at Travers with a weary expression. "You want to make her a 'spook' sir?"
Travers nodded. "I feel she will be a better fit for-."
THOOM! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
"Sweet fuck! What was that?!" Travers stood up to roar.
The source of the noise had come from the prisoner wing. Soldiers and officers had already started amassing to see what was going on, and Travers and Dr. Parson were right along with them.
Travers pushed through his men into the surveillance room. On the monitor for Special Cell 006 was Jinx holding a man by the throat, as he wriggled in her grasp. Travers pushed a button to talk to her. "Jinx, we won't open that door, put him down!"
On the screen, Jinx pointed at the encasing she had released herself from. It was a jumbled mess of steel. It looked like a heatless explosion had gone off from the inside. Her voice came through the speakers. "What makes you think I need you to open the door for me? Haha!"
Travers looked at Dr. Parson, who had just finished forcing his way into the surveillance room. They both had somehow come to the same conclusion, without a single expression verbal or otherwise, that this was really it. Jinx was breaking free. Their loose cannon was running away.
Travers hit the compound-wide alarm, which forces all unnecessary staff to get to safe areas while trained personal storm the entire compound, weapons drawn. "All personal, this is General Travers. You have been given clearance to capture the target known as Jinx, by any means necessary. Repeat, by any means necessary."
Travers knew his duty. Jinx couldn't be allowed to escape. And this time she had to be stopped. But luckily, he had remembered that the stone would kill him if he had ordered her death. Giving the order for her capture meant that if she died in the process, it wouldn't be him the stone would kill.
He signaled four men to take himself and Dr. Parson to a safe area. As he filed out he gave his men one last word. "Good luck, and be safe."
Ten men found their way, in armored suits, to Jinx's cell. They had fully automatic weapons, and were ready to shoot her as soon as she got out.
Leveled weapons waited at the door. They heard the door start to creak, getting louder and louder. Then the door burst forward with incredible force and speed. The four men in the doors path were crushed against the wall. Their suits were bent inwards so quickly that blood oozed from their orifices and came out the clits in their armor as a mist around the edges of the door. The other six opened fire immediately, but stopped when they notice nothing was in the doorway.
Then a body dropped down to hang in the doorway, but before they took notice that it wasn't Jinx and that it was already dead, they opened fire, shredding it to pieces.
"Wow!" Her voice came from inside the cell. "You guys are really jumpy today. I'm just curious, because I haven't heard it yet, but how many of you have already reloaded?" Then Jinx let herself down in front of them, they pulled their triggers, but nothing came out. "None of you? I thought as much." Jinx smiled as she ran to the nearest soldier, who was kneeling, and kicked his head straight back with a solid hit. She stiffened her right hand and drove it into the front of his neck with enough force to act like a knife. Driving her arm deep into the man she took hold of his spine and lifted him up. She used him like a melee weapon to smash the other soldiers around her. After beating four of the six who weren't behind the door, she reached the fifth who had just reloaded. "I'll take that." She said, swiping the rifle out of his hands with her left hand. She spun the weapon around and caught it to level it on his head. "Any last words? Ha! No, just die." She ripped a burst of lead into his faceplate that bounced around inside the helmet, scrambling his brains.
Then Jinx tried to shake loose the man her arm was stuck in, but she had to shake him a lot to get her arm out, she actually found it annoying. "C'mon, let go!" She finally got her right arm free as the mangled corpse fell to the floor, and grabbed another rifle, reloaded and cocked it in one hand, and was now ready to duel-wield her way through the next wave. In which she found very soon around the next corner.
Four men were waiting down the hall; two kneeling and two standing. One yelled, "There she is-."
"Fire!" Jinx yelled before him, firing each of her rifles twice with single-shots. The rounds sunk between the helmet and chest-plate of each of them, and before any of them had pulled a trigger they found themselves on the floor, making loud gurgling noises as their throats filled with their own blood. Jinx was pleased so she started to skip her way down the hall and past them. Each time a steel door slammed down in her path she gave it a solid kick to break it down. To her, she was just taking a stroll.
Jinx suddenly turned around to hear a rumbling coming at her. When the noise got close, fire whipped around the corner at her. "Yeah! Fire!" Her eyes glowed pink and a field of energy surrounded her before the wave of fire reached her. She watched the pretty colors surround her, and then it stopped. The entire hallway was black with burn marks. "Again! Again! Do it again!" As if someone was listening to her, another wave of fire came, and again energy formed around her. When it passed, Fishbones spoke up, "Aren't you trying to escape? – Oh shut it! Now where was I? Oh, right, wreaking havoc!" Jinx could hear another wave coming so she memorized the path directly ahead of her. When the fire surrounded her she made her way, blindly, through it. Each time she heard it coming she would memorize the path, so she could keep going. Mostly she realized that with all this fire there wouldn't be anymore soldiers until she got outside the compound.
She only found the exit because on the sides of the door were huge suction slits that were drawing the fire in on each wave. She suspected they'd be waiting for her. So she waited before approaching the door. Right before the next wave of fire came she shot the circuits on the suction slits and rushed forward to break the door down. Her inertia forward plus the explosive force of the fire launched her out the door and into a vehicle. Her body acted like a wrecking ball, indenting deep into the vehicle. The soldiers behind it were instantly crushed and the exit-door sailed through the air to crash through the front gate. Someone made a bad call, because the fire burned the life from the soldiers near the exit. Some ran around silently in pain, with burning lungs. Jinx got herself into the nearest intact vehicle and made her way out of the compound.