Everything goes to hell, very fast.
There's another explosion, closer, and Adam's shades are down but he seems to be staring through her. She's charging up her speed boost, and the door to the mechanic's shop bursts open. She scrambles out of the way of a large man with equally large alloy arms, and he doesn't notice her, eyes on Icarus.
There's some kind of growl in the man's throat as he charges for the assassin, and Jensen changes targets. Another nanoblade appears and it shears right through the man's arm, half of it landing in a sparking mess at her feet.
Malik gets to her feet, ready to run, thinking Adam is still after her-
There's a gurgle behind her, a thud, and she realizes the man who'd rushed out is dead. Adam has already refocused, not a glance to spare for the body and oh. He's definitely not in control, not with the way his augs too-loudly wind up an Icarus dash.
Less thinking, more moving. She boosts off her aug, giving herself a little extra momentum and – if she gets a car between her and Icarus – he's not Adam, not like this – then he won't be able to reach her on a dash alone.
Step one, make some space, step two, find out what the hell is going on.
She vaults over a car, thinks she should make a break back for the main street, but if she throws other bodies between her and the assassin he willshred them. She's not quite willing to throw dozens of innocent lives at his feet for her own sake.
It's a good thing she clears the car and makes for the middle of the street, because the next instant, a shower of sparks falls from his legs, glittering gold and he slams into the car with one foot out. It goes flying, and she thinks 'holy fuck' in some mixture of fear and awe.
It explodes when it lands behind her, and the impact brings another scream to her ears. The street isn't empty, and she sees people running from augs, from the main street here to this side escape.
Augs.
Malik hopes the crowd moving between her and the assassin is enough to give her a moment – hopes that somehow he keeps her as the target in mind and doesn't rampage off. She's not sure she could stop him if he did – hell, she's not sure she can stop him now either.
The moment of calm buys her enough time to call Vaclav, as she takes off again, heading further into the city.
He picks up, thank fuck.
"Vaclav," she bites out, glancing back to make sure Adam is still on her. The aug at the back of the last pack seems to have focused on him- shit.
"Yes?" he sounds confused, worried.
"You're okay?" she pauses, jumps onto a car and whistles sharp. Hopes she catches Jensen's attention. "Hey! Was it the sugar thing?"
There's another groan, something angry, and yep, that worked. He throws aside the aug – she watches their body crumple into a trashcan – and charges for her again.
"Mal? What's going on?" His voice pitches high.
"Thank god you're okay. Something's happening – Icarus is trying to kill me and augs are losing their minds-" The assassin can only dash in straight lines, so she boosts at the last moment to dodge aside of him. She'd lash out back but she doesn't want to be anywhere near arms' reach of him, knows he can rip her apart the moment he gets a hand on her.
"Icarus is-"
"Not of his own volition!" She hears a nanoblade pop out and pulls out a gun. Being nonthreatening isn't going to do shit for her if he's not in control, and she wonders if his augmentations have any weak points she can try and hit.
"He's lost control?" There's a clattering, and a quiet "oh god" as she hears several newsfeeds light up on his side.
"Barricade yourself in there, don't let anyone in, and get Pritchard-" she hears the sizzle of the nanoblade superheating, barely manages to duck to the right and out of the way as it slices for her head.
"Malik-" Pritchard's voice cuts in suddenly, and she wants to sob in relief. Both of her closest friends hadn't been taken over by…whatever this was.
"Please tell me you know what's going on," she begs, firing a shot at one of Adam's shoulders, hoping to hit a gap in the plates. It glances off, and he doesn't even notice, reaching for a gun from one of his shoulder holsters. His augs scream loud, grating, far louder than they should be, than they ever have been. She can't let him get that gun out- backs up further and shoots at it, anything to distract him. Doesn't keep a tally of how many bullets she has. Doesn't matter.
"No- are you out there?"
"Yes," she bites out. "Icarus is- shit-" he's given up on the gun for a second and tries for the nanoblade again, slicing easily through her flightsuit and grazing her side.
"Jensen's gone crazy?" she doesn't even notice the furious keysmashing as he works, hopefully at finding the source of this.
"I don't know what-" the glass windows of the bar she'd stumbled near shatter, a mob shoving to get out, to tear or escape and she dashes into it, through it. There's no makeshift weapon she can pick up to block those nanoblades, the only thing that could remotely stand up to it would be her leg, but she'd seen how that man's arm came off like he was slicing warm butter.
"Working on it. Vaclav, give me a hand." Vaclav just makes a wordless sound, and she thinks she just has to survive this- outlast him. She can't kill him and she can't beat him, but she can't just- hide behind others either.
"He's fighting it, I think- fuck, I think he's in there." How else could she explain his masterpiece augs suddenly malfunctioning so drastically? Those whines at each movement, the incremental slowdowns before firing, like he's trying to warn her of each attempt on her life he makes.
There's a snarl through the crowd, a body goes flying. Two gunshots ring out, the screams grow louder, and she glances into the bar, sees it go out to the other street. Malik hops through the broken window, ready to dash again. She just needs to get his attention-
"Icarus! I thought you were the best assassin, aren't you supposed to be hunting me?" Another body goes flying and- ah, there's his dark coat. She vaults over the bar, ducks as the nanoblade fires out – how many does he have? She hopes he runs out soon – and makes for the other exit. Any hell she walks into can't be worse than the one chasing her, this she knows with certainty.
"Faridah Malik, are you goading him?!" that's Pritchard, sharp in her ear as she ducks under a whizzing bullet – fuck, did he pull out a gun? – and makes for the other door.
"I can't just let him loose against all these innocents – they won't stand a chance."
"And you do?!"
"More than them- just, get him back to me-" Something's wrong, she knows he's not in control she can tell in the guttural groan that tears itself from his throat as he dashes through the bar's front door, splintering what was left of it off the hinges.
"Pritchard there's something-" Vaclav interrupts before the hacker can yell at her again, and Malik is throwing herself out the other side of the bar and into Brest's main streets.
There's cars on fire, screaming in the distance, people rushing away from others, and while not all those out of their minds look like they're augs- she has a fairly sinking feeling the only ones affected are all augs.
So why was she spared this?
She hears the pop and slide of another nanoblade, but instead of trying to dodge, she whirls, lifts her gun, exhales, and- there. The moment it launches she fires, and is rewarded with a shower of sparks and a grinding screech as her bullet lodges into the open space in his arm and he's down one nanoblade.
Which meant she hadn't had time to get out of its way, as it slices through and embeds neatly in her leg, metal grating as her HUD screeches a 'Foreign Object Lodged' warning at her. It still works, mostly, complaining as she pushes off on it and into the street.
"There's a broadcast-" Vaclav points out, and for once she's glad they're too busy to be keeping an eye on all her warnings. She needs them focusing everything they have on giving her back Adam.
"Vaclav, ping his infolink," Pritchard almost speaks too fast to hear, but Malik knows Vaclav operates at the same speed, and she tunes them out. She can't afford to be distracted.
A scream on her left, a window shattering on her right, an explosion behind, and she's glancing back and forth, looking for something to use.
She hears the Icarus dash charging up too late, and the impact drives the breath from her chest and sends her flying. She hits the asphalt, rolling, feels the grate of loose gravel against the back of her head. Her gun clatters away, out of reach. Stunned, her diaphragm refusing to function despite her knowing she needed to get up-
Malik tries to roll over and drag herself to her feet-
There's a weight on her aug stopping her- too late- Icarus looms over her, his boot grinding hard on her knee. The flickering firelight, the reflections of the chaos around them in his shades, the fury wound tight in his skin. The stars above frame him, glittering cold.
He points a gun at her head.
Everything slows down, and she thinks, Ah. This is it.
She closes her eyes. Braces herself.
The instant her instincts register the whine of his augs she surges, kicks all the power she has into her boost and shoves at his leg. Knocks him off balance and the gunshot cracks-
The road explodes by her head, a blinding wave of agony as she feels something shatter, her momentum carrying her over, catching herself on her knees, the nanoblade grinding into the street. A heavy thud and something slams hard into Icarus.
"Augh-" something drops with a wet noise onto the asphalt as she moves. "Fuck, bitch, motherfucker," trying to haul herself up. She thinks her leg is dead, no power left to run it.
"Faridah!"
"Pritchard, I need him back-"
He doesn't even answer her. "Vaclav, you get in and you hold that channel open-"
She doesn't hear the next thing he says, because there's another wet gurgle behind her and before she can turn, move her gun, stand up, there's a hand on the back of her throat.
Icarus flings her into a wall like he's throwing a baseball, and she hears ribs crack loud in her ears as she slams. He dashes, he's there before she slides to the ground, and his hand catches her just under her jaw.
Pinned above the ground, her leg's dead, and he-
Squeezes
"Pr-itch-"
He's holding her with the sparking, broken arm, and she hears more than sees the nanoblade slide out from his other arm. Her hands claw at his alloy arm, trying to lodge between his fingers and her throat, weaponless, her last knife stuck in her leg. Holding that nanoblade back, poised to strike, and the servos in his arm are screaming-
He lunges forward-
The blade sinks half a foot into brick just inches from her head, his shades flick off, and the hand around her throat releases all in the same heartbeat.
She drops to the ground and crumples to her knees, her aug leg falling to the side, choking inhales and a hand around her throat. He stumbles away as if burned.
"…Adam?" she grates, her voice as shredded as the night, barely managing to look up at him. Everything's hazy, too sharp and too out-of-focus in one.
"Oh god." The quiet words fall from his lips and she barely catches them. His dash lights up and she thinks he's about to go-
A passing aug makes a lunge for her and his hand is on the man's throat. This time he crushes it in an instant.
She's afraid for a moment- thinks he's been swept under again, but there's- she can see his eyes.
He reaches for her, and she nearly flinches back away from him- nowhere to go, with the wall at her back and-
"Faridah-" the name slices through her chest harder than her ribs ache, and all she can do is sag in relief.
Thank fuck. "Adam-" she reaches back, and he looks horrified for a moment – she sees it in the way the lenses of his eyes widen in just the slightest.
He lifts, helps her to her feet, and she leans heavy on him, her dead leg dangling between them.
"Pritch, you did it," she finally manages, and hears a groan of relief from both her hackers.
"We can't manually override every aug who's gone crazy-" Vaclav interjects, frantic again.
"No. Can you get into the broadcast servers?"
"No, it needs a physical override-" They work in a rush, fixed one problem and moving onto the next.
Malik feels heavy. It doesn't hurt overmuch – not yet, but she knows the adrenaline has to go some time or other.
Adam makes some choked noise in the back of his throat, some remnant agony, and bends to pick her up. Gently- so gently and she lets out some pained sigh of relief as the weight's taken off her legs, curling into him.
"You're back." A soft murmur into his chest armor, half dazed.
"I almost- I almost killed you-" like he can't believe she's in his arms but it's not as if she has much choice and even if she did she'd still put herself here.
"But ya' didn't."
"Your eye-" it's choked, and she looks up at him. He makes another pained noise as she does.
"What-?" she reaches a hand up and-
Oh. Feels the wet, the empty space, the pulverized skin. Thinks back. The thing that had fallen must have been-
She puts that thought to a screeching halt, immediately. "Only need one to see," she answers. Studiously ignores the blood she can see on her hand as she pulls it away, because if she recognizes the blood it's going to start hurting and she could really do without that-
His arms curl just slightly tighter around her. Like he can't believe her.
She's…mostly lucid. Probably.
Also in shock. Probably.
"We've gotta- get out of here," she says, because maybe stating the obvious will get him to stop standing in the middle of a street full of chaos.
He says nothing, sweeps into the nearest dark alley and heads for the edges of the city. Every once in a while, he shifts his grip on her, pulls a gun and fires. Never for long before he has both arms on her, and she starts to drift, closing her eyes-….eye.
"Malik, stay with me," a low murmur near her ear, a desperate sound clawed from his throat.
She makes some kind of noise, thinks she's telling him she's tired, and he's back- she's safe, it's fine.
"Faridah-"
She doesn't hear anything else.
Vaclav is digging, triangulating the exact location of that broadcast – is it really in the middle of the ocean?- and he's so focused that he almost misses Icarus calling, patching in.
No- he doesn't miss it. Icarus doesn't call him, he calls Pritchard. Vaclav doesn't understand, hands stilling for the smallest of moments before he picks up the work again. All his expertise with augs had given him a good in for hacking, and with a skull plate like his he'd have been a fool to never give it a try. Especially when dealing with the underground every day. Never hurt to have some kind of protection – dirt, hidden connections, whatever – against the person breathing down his neck.
He gets the location, double-checks and triple-checks, sending it over to Pritchard as he hears the assassin speak over the line.
"I've got her. She's unconscious." His voice is cold, hard, and Vaclav chews on his cheek at the sound. He hadn't looked for footage, for intellicams, he'd been hellbent on unscrambling that frequency, forcing it to switch to what Vaclav's chips ran on, forcing shutdowns on all the warnings of visual glitches that would come from the wrong frequency. Better a headache than a murdering rampage.
He hadn't even had a chance to look at her readings, make sure she was okay.
"She going to be okay?" Pritchard asks, multitasking to hell and back and Vaclav can see him trying to claw holes in the servers an ocean away.
"She's going to need an eye."
Vaclav makes a noise without even realizing it, some choked thing.
"Koller?" Icarus sounds surprised, like he didn't expect him to be on the line. "Where are you?"
"Prague- the- Mal's safehouse," he's still sorting through that information, shoving it down and away. He could be horrified later. They had to try and stop this first.
"I'll call when we're close." He disconnects, sudden and abrupt.
Vaclav needs to be brought back to focus with a snap of his name, and a frustrated growl from Pritchard.
"All the other connections there don't reach the broadcast. That thing has some kind of manual override. Fuck, who would do this?"
"If we can't stop it without being there-" Vaclav swallows thick. Looking at all the screens, the chaos and carnage, the screams. Blood and burning and bones snapping the world over. "We could always try and set off an explosion?" Wonders if there's anyone there. How many. How many would there need to be to offset the horrors happening now?
"I'll see if there's anything I can get at from here." A pause. "Or we could send the coordinates to some world leaders. I'm sure we could convince one or two to send a missile on over. Maybe the President."
Vaclav hums. "Would they? Might call us terrorists and come after us instead." Even still, the cost might be worth it. Anything to stop this-
"I'll work on getting them the location- they'll never be able to track me. I've got some powerful friends and I'll call them if I have to. See if you can get in that ocean and find a power source."
"Yeah- yeah, okay Pritchard." He sees another name pop in the corner of his HUD – ShadowChild - watches it try and prod at the same systems he's in, and then immediately shift course. "Will they even believe us?" he's asking, tracing through, trying to find some security system he could overload and cause a power surge- anything.
"Who knows? That's why I brought help. If they don't want to fire, and you can't get in, we'll do it ourselves."
"We'll what-"
"Relax kid, they're not nuclear missiles. Can't be that hard to send one off." Pritchard sounds so…unfazed. Vaclav envies him.
Doubles down on the work.
Malik wakes to the feeling of soft pressure on her face, something going around and around, soothing. Hazy, half here and half…somewhere, and she tries not to move, not to let whatever is doing that know she's awake, afraid it might stop.
She must make some kind of noise, because the movement stills, there's a hand on her jaw-
"Malik?" the word is soft, pitched low.
She opens her eyes- ow. Eye. Bites down on the groan as she looks up.
"Adam." There's an aching relief in her chest, that he's here. Some part of her thought that if she was waking up then he was dead or gone. She realizes the hand on her is his, that he'd been cradling her head and- must have been wrapping something around her eye.
"I've got a ride coming," he starts, and she's moving to sit up despite the ache in her chest and the fire in her side. She wonders if the tightness around her lungs is her ribs or. Something else.
They're in the woods outside of the city, an orange fog rolled in, blanketing the trees and curling over them, blocking the stars and muffling the screams.
Malik sits up, feels his hands start to drift off of her cautiously, and all she can think is you're here and she kisses him.
It's the shock, probably.
He's rigid, frozen against her but warm. His hands twitch, hovering and not touching and she can't quite categorize the look in his eyes but she thinks it might be afraid.
"You saved me," she says when she pulls away, smiling soft.
He chokes some noise of incredulity. "I nearly killed you and you almost let me-"
"You fought it." It's a soft sentence, made softer by the fog. She remembers, though. The sounds of his augs screaming ragged and furious. They'd never sounded like that, not in the whole time she'd known him. Whenever he'd killed for her it had been liquid, silent and as smooth as glass. This had been different. Dragged bloody and torn from him and he'd done his best to refuse. "I've never heard your augs sound like that."
He opens his mouth to say something, and she just reaches up, aching and slow but resting a thumb on his cheek. She'll blame the bloodloss later for letting her get so close, the bloodloss and the dance and how he'd made her question everything about who he was-
"If you hadn't fought it with everything in you, I'd be dead on the pavement, would have been the moment it caught you." How does she tell him that she's only alive because he gave her instants, single moments of warning that she could use? She'd known she couldn't fight him off at full strength, certainly not with just her pistol, and he'd known that too. He'd clawed at whatever it was that was tormenting him and refused to give it her. "No one else did that." No one else could. She'd seen the others- tearing gleeful and impervious to any screams.
"You taunted me," he's looking at her like she's insane, and, well, maybe she is.
"I couldn't very well just let my one-man-army loose on a terrified crowd. You would've ended up with hundreds of bodies at your feet." My one-man-army. She'd taken him back for a single day and she was already thinking of him as hers.
She wonders if he thinks it would've been worth it to spare her. She doesn't. Had tried to not let him hurt anyone but her, and she's still breathing. A smaller body count than she's sure many others could claim.
"Is it over?" she asks, dropping her forehead against his alloy shoulder, the arm she hadn't ruined and left stuck open.
"No." His hands still hover, and she exhales slow, leaning heavy against him.
"If you were planning on killing me, you can just do it," she mumbles against alloy, wonders where his coat went if she's on his arm- oh. It's wrapped around her. When did that happen?
"Malik-" it's a strangled sound, and if she didn't know better she'd say he was horrified.
"What? You're not gonna go under again, they pulled you out. The only way you'll kill me know is if you actually want to."
She'd seen his eyes. The wide-eyed look of disgust and horror and yet. She still feels safe with him. Despite everything. Because of it. He was the only one who fought that rage, that screaming jagged thing that demanded he kill. It sang for blood and he said no. For her.
"No wonder you picked Phoenix," he finally says, his hands alighting to rest lightly on her shoulders. The touch is grounding, keeps her here, and she tries not to sigh. "Your recklessness will get you killed and you'll need that resurrection."
"That's why I have you, isn't it?" she smiles, doesn't even bother lifting her head to look at him.
He doesn't say what she knows he's thinking, that perhaps it's her recklessness with him that will get her killed.
She doesn't care.