A/N
So, this story is officially one chapter away from it's halfway point, which is slated for release this Sunday. With the Sunday chapter, I'll be including an extended author's note explaining what my future plans are with Tigress. Chances are that there will be a short hiatus with this story, but only because I need to gather my notes and decide what needs to happen for the other half of this story. I already know what the ending will be, I just need to make sure that the path to it is logical.
Chapter 32…
Although she had spent two years sleeping in a shack and swigging cheap alcohol, Ashley wasn't in bad shape. Her inconsistent diet in that two year period had helped stave off the worst of weight gain.
Upon taking Blisk's offer and returning to the IMC, Ashley had been quick to create a new workout regimen for herself. Becoming a pilot again hadn't been all that difficult, she already had the relevant experience; and in the last few weeks was slowly becoming like her pre-Demeter self.
Why was this important?
Because if Ashley had been even a millisecond slower - the town at the bottom of the mountain would have been a smoking crater.
The black and yellow clad pilot hadn't moved with the full understanding of the consequences of what she was about to do. Only when she had wrapped her arms around Cozbi's chest to wrench her away from the firing button did Ashley's brain begin to catch up with her body.
"Ishikara!" Cozbi snarled in a mixture of shock and disgust. Ashley had Cozbi's back pinned against her chest and was holding her in a lock. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
A good question… but not one Ashley could give a clear answer to…
What was she doing?
Going against orders? Interrupting the mission? Assaulting a teammate? All of them could be used to describe the current situation…
The sensible, logical side of Ashley's brain was really starting to catch up now, but she wasn't exactly cognizant yet… her body was operating seemingly on auto-pilot.
"Knife!" Blisk crackled through Ashley and Cozbi's helmet radios. "Where the hell is my explosion!? Hey!?"
"It's- Ishiskara!" Cozbi struggled against Ashley's hold. "She's holding me back… I think she's gone Militia on us!"
Their helmet radio's were silent for a long, worrying moment. Ashley held her ground, still thwarting Cozbi's attempts to break the hold. The holo-pilot's left leg swung backwards to strike Ashley, but the black and yellow clad pilot squeezed her legs to trap Cozbi's foot, keeping her off balance.
"Tigress, you there?" Blisk growled. "What the hell is going on up there!? Answer!?"
There was something… grating… about Blisk's voice. Had Ashley's stomach always felt sick whenever she heard him speak? Or was this just a new sensation…?
It didn't matter… the mere sound of his voice made Ashley's blood feel as if it was boiling.
'Gleeful murder, excusing war-crimes, no thought towards needless collateral damage…' An unfamiliar voice rattled off in Ashley's head. In a moment of stark realization… Ashley realized that the strange voice - her deeply buried consciousness - was speaking about Blisk.
Ashley hated Blisk… she despised his every word, his every motion, his every being.
She hated Cozbi… that was for sure… maybe even the IMC too…
But most of all, Ashley hated herself for taking this long to realize that… she had been a hypocrite for far too long…
"Stand down…" Ashley hissed at Cozbi, the holo-pilot still struggling against her. "I'm not going to let you do this…"
"So…" Cozbi half-spoke, half-chuckled. "Made your choice? In all honesty… I thought you were going to plant a bullet in me the first chance you got… how long?"
"How long, what?"
"How long have you been with them?" Cozbi jerked her helmeted head in gesture to the dead Militia soldiers lying on the floor. "Since the attack on the base? The data heist? Or before then…?"
"I'm not with anyone…" Ashley hissed, still doing her best to hold Cozbi back. The holo-pilot was getting bolder by the second as Ashley's muscles were starting to burn from the exertion.
"Bullshit…" Cozbi chuckled darkly. "No one changes on a dime…"
"Couldn't have said it better myself-"
Ashley was cut off when the holo-pilot finally broke free from the hold. Cozbi lifted her free leg and donkey-kicked Ashley straight in the gut. Spit shot out from Ashley's mouth as she crumpled to the floor, staining the inside of her helmet visor. Thankfully, her constant breathing exercises staved off the worst of the kick's effects.
The black and yellow clad pilot jumped back to her feet with incredible speed. Once again, Ashley was thankful for her good physical health; because if she had been a second too slow Cozbi would have put a rifle round straight between her eyes.
The other woman had drawn her R-201, but the longer barrel of the rifle gave Ashley the chance to lash out a kick that smacked the barrel away. The three-round burst that had been intended for Ashley's head instead impacted the glass wall of the control room, leaving large cracks in the bulletproof material. Ashley pressed her advantage and surged forwards, reaching out her hands to try and wrestle the gun from Cozbi's grip.
"Fuck you, Ishikara!" The holo-pilot heaved out. "Traitor!"
"Murderer!" Ashley screamed back, her grip on the R-201 not faltering.
Cozbi surged up her knee and it struck Ashley's groin. In the brief moment of shock, Cozbi wrenched the gun to the left, carrying Ashley along with it and flinging the black and yellow clad pilot into the air. Ashley's back impacted painfully with the cracked glass of the control room's wall, making the spider web fractures even bigger.
Once again, Ashley surged back upwards before Cozbi could land a hit on her. She brute forced her way into the holo-pilot, using her thrusters to increase the momentum of the hit. Cozbi flew backwards and off her feet, her R-201 flying from her hands.
Turning her attention to the main control panel in the few seconds that she had, Ashley reached forwards and grabbed the hilt of Cozbi's data-knife. She wrenched the knife backwards like she was pulling on a plane's throttle; slowly, the swiveling head of the gigantic missile rack began to tilt itself upwards, it's crosshairs no longer sitting on the bae below.
An animalistic roar of rage to Ashley's left told her that she was out of time. Cozbi barreled into Ashley with the force of a titan's punch, knocking both of them off of their feet. Ashley's hand was still wrapped around the data-knife and the impact wrenched the weapon from the console's port.
The data-knife clattered to the floor… only a few feet away from the struggling pilots…
"Knife?" Blisk continued to yell over the radio, although Ashley was tuning him out. "What the hell is going on up there!? Is that fighting!? What the hell is Ishiskara doing!? Answer me dammit!"
Ashley crossed her arms across her face as Cozbi slammed her fist down several times. The holo-pilot was straddling her and doing a fairly good job of keeping her pinned down. A single punch got past Ashley's defense and her helmet slammed backwards into the floor, rattling her head around and making her see stars. In a hasty act of retaliation, Ashley flung her own fist upwards to strike Cozbi on her solar plexus. The holo-pilot grasped at her throat for a moment, giving Ashley the chance to break the straddle and kick her off.
Turning over onto her stomach, Ashley crawled towards the data-knife and succeeded in wrapping her hand around it's hilt. Her victory was short lived when she felt a sharp, burning pain in her left shoulder blade.
In a rush of realization… Ashley realized that she had been stabbed. Cozbi had pulled one of her throwing knives from it's belt and jammed it into Ashley's back. The holo-pilot used the knife as leverage to wrench Ashley upwards, eliciting a sharp scream of pain from the dark haired woman's lips.
Knowing that it would cause more damage to her shoulder. Ashley pushed herself lower to the ground so that the knife slid out from her back; this action freed her from Cozbi's grip but also caused another wave of pain to flow through her body. Flipping herself onto her back, Ashley dropped the data-knife and flung her hand downwards to pull the looted Mozambique from it's holster.
Cozbi roared in shock and jumped backwards to avoid the stream of energy projectiles that would have ended her. The three energy projectiles continued forwards, striking the sensitive control panel. In a flurry of sparks and melted slag the console fizzled and burst into flames, completely disabling the missile tower's offensive capabilities.
"NO!" Cozbi screamed in a mixture of shock and rage. She turned her head to view Ashley, who was still lying on the ground. Even though Cozbi's shining visor concealed her face, Ashley could imagine the look of hatred in her eyes.
Ashley moved to squeeze the trigger of the Mozambique again; but Cozbi was faster, she lashed out a kick that knocked the weapon out of Ashley's hand. The cluster of energy shots meant for Cozbi instead slammed into the badly cracked glass of the control room's wall. The already damaged glass exploded into a shower of sharp splinters, leaving a giant gap in the bulletproof glass.
"Ishikara, you bitch!" Cozbi seethed, her voice muffled by her helmet. She momentarily straddled Ashley, drawing another pulse blade with the intention of shoving it into Ashley's throat. "I'm going to show you why they call me Knife…"
"Fuck you!" Ashley croaked out, shooting her hands upwards to wrestle the knife away.
Using one hand to hold the knife, Cozbi raised her other hand and curled into a fist. Like a hammer driving down a nail, she smashed her fist repeatedly into the back of her pulse blade to drive it closer to Ashley's chest.
One hit… Ashley's arms were beginning to burn…
A second hit… the knife was getting closer…
A third hit… the knife was inches from Ashley's chestplate. With enough force, the blade would be able to pierce through and hit her heart.
Ashley couldn't let that happen…
Without warning, Ashley activated her jump-kit thrusters. The sudden blast of motion shot both her and Cozbi forwards and sent the two women tumbling.
Now freed, Ashley scrambled to her feet. Out of the corner of her vision she spotted the stock of Cozbi's R-201. In the fray, the still-loaded rifle had been kicked under the smoking control console.
Ashley made a mad-dash for the rifle, her arms already outstretched in anticipation.
But she never made it… Cozbi once again barreled into Ashley from behind, flinging her forwards and leaving her sprawled onto the smoking control console. She was quickly thrown to the side and Ashley could hear the sound of a rifle being picked up off the floor.
So, with no other options left and the weapon under the control of her enemy… Ashley did the only thing she could do…
Ashley bolted straight for the hole in the glass and leapt out of the control room completely!
For a moment, while in free-fall… everything felt very still…
The battle was still raging below and the IMC titans were clearly being pushed back. Blisk had been gambling on Ashley and Cozbi's success… but thanks to Ashley that gamble was now a failure.
The ground was beginning to catch up… the cracked and riddled pavement below her was getting closer by the second…
Far down below, a familiar blue titan was in full sprint, clearly trying to position himself under Ashley…
Cain was reaching out his big metal arm now… but at Ashley's current velocity she would be ground into a pulp if he caught her.
Tilting herself so that her feet were pointed down, Ashley activated her jump-kit thrusters. Cain neatly caught her in his hand and cracked open his hatch to shove Ashley into his cockpit.
"Ashley!" Cain growled in a voice that was so unlike him. "IMC radio communication indicates heavy losses! Requesting immediate situation report!"
Ashley was still discombobulated from the fall and squeezed Cain's seat for a moment. She heard stomping and out of the corner of Cain's viewscreen she could spot Cozbi's red and white Ronin approaching them.
"Ashley…" Cain grumbled in a lower tone. "A monitoring of radio chatter indicates treasonous activity…"
"Cain…" Ashley ground out. "I'm sorry…"
"This is Pilot Mentirosa…" The cockpit radio crackled. "Ishikara has gone rogue… I repeat, Ishikara has gone rogue and we've lost the tower…"
In a flash of red and black, Cozbi fell from the sky and landed neatly atop her Ronin titan. She popped open the cockpit hatch and slid inside before Ashley could stop her.
"Knife, this is Blisk," the radio crackled again. "Get your ass to the evacuation ship, we're buggering out."
"Roger, I just have one thing to take care of…"
Cozbi's red and white titan turned to view Cain directly. In a smooth, deliberate motion the Ronin reached back to draw it's broadsword. With slow steps, Cozbi's titan began its approach, angling it's broadsword out to neatly jab it into Cain's cockpit.
Ashley grabbed Cain's controls to move out of the way; but to her shock the titan did not move to obey her.
"Cain!?" Ashley warbled out, her voice crackling from the stress.
"I'm sorry, Ashley… but you have been marked rogue."
"But-"
"I have been placed into a logical paradox," Cain muttered. "I am unable to attack a fellow IMC titan, but I am also unable to harm you. Therefore, the only way to achieve the aims of Protocol's Three and Two in this scenario is to stand down and let you be detained…"
