Chapter 25: What I've Done

Skye did a back flip.
Her feet sliced through the air and hit an Eraser square in the face. His model-like features buckled as his nose broke, and blood spurted through his fingers. Unfortunately, this didn't stop him.
He morphed and lunged at her, but she quickly side-stepped him and brought her foot down on his back. That did it.
Skye looked up to see Max in combat with another Eraser. Max broke apart the man's fingers where they clutched at her throat, and swiftly dived through his legs. She nimbly whipped around and pulled back on his wings. Hard. He didn't have a chance. Before Skye could give her the thumbs up however, another Eraser tackled her.

"Squirm like you mean it!" Greg hissed as she went limp from shock. She quickly complied, miming trying to throw him off. "You need to send coordinates tonight, the Senior Scientists are angry that you haven't sent any for two nights. Now punch me!" he whispered fiercely. She did, but a little harder than she had intended. He rolled off her with a groan, cupping his mouth. "You didn't have to do it that hard! I'm pretty good at acting! Now pre-TEND to strangle me!" She swiftly straddled him and encircled his throat with her fingers, bending close so that her hair fell like a curtain around their faces. She smiled sheepishly at him,

"Sorry."

"It's fine. But we need to talk about that dream of yours–TOO TIGHT!!" he gasped as Skye's fingers tightened involuntarily at the thought. She hastily loosened them again, and gave him an apologetic look. "But not tonight." Greg went on, "I've got other Institute business to take care of." Skye blinked in understanding.
Without warning, Greg threw her off, and slipped into the woods unseen. Skye sputtered in indignation, but returned to the battle.

Five exhausting minutes later, all of the Erasers were either unconscious at their feet, or had fled into the surrounding woods.
"U & A everyone, let's find something other than cold ground to sleep on."

-+-

The Flock touched down near a deserted barn in the middle of a field. The barn was large and warm, and despite being abandoned, had a good supply of hay. Everyone was glad for this; late March was turning everything into a sodden mess.

After eating a mashed McDonald's hamburger, 3 hotdogs and water, Skye pretended to be asleep. Tonight, Nudge had her first watch since, by Max's standards, she was 'nearly old enough anyway.' In fact, Nudge's chosen birthday was next week. She would finally be 11.

"Not that she hasn't acted like a pre-teen since the day we met her." Max had muttered to Skye, and gave her a wry grin. Skye grinned back, being on Max's good side again felt, well…good.

When Skye could distinguish every member's snores, she slipped away, taking care not to draw Nudge's attention.
Yeah, she could have lied to the younger girl and said she was going to the bathroom, but Skye wasn't up for a lengthy, one-sided conversation.
So she slipped out of the broken hay door, and landed lightly on the ground.
She listened for a moment for movement inside; any indication that someone had heard her. After hearing nothing, Skye set off towards a tall patch of grass, making sure not to step on any twigs. Once she reached her destination, she took out the transmitting button. She pressed the button, and spoke softly into it.

"Skye here. Sorry I haven't responded in two days. Oh God, save me." She whispered, sarcasm dripping from her words. "Anyway, the Flock took out a couple of your Erasers, Erasers that were pretty lucky to find us considering you people don't know where we are. Despite that fact, we're now camping out in an old barn. Coordinates are as follows: 39.129 longitude, and -75.834 latitude. Out." Skye finished and sighed. She hated doing this. She knew however, that she owed the Institute, and she knew that they could easily kill Arcane if Skye didn't do what they wanted her to. She stowed the button in her bra, and stood up. She stretched her legs and turned around, only to stop dead.

Nudge stood before her, mouth open and eyes full of shock and fear.

"What have you done?!"