Step 3.6
Know what else Hollywood doesn't do justice to?
A man blowing himself up two feet in front of you.
I threw my legs forward on reflex, arm rising to cover my face as the shock wave rolled through me. Bile rose in my chest as the pieces came apart. Arms came off from his shoulders, legs from their knees, and his eyes just kept looking ahead with this soulless look right before the vortex of air and ash slammed into me. I shot back, my ears ringing from the echoing sound of the blast.
A new Oni Lee dropped on top of me, knife stabbing at my face. The blade bounced off the armor, and I reached up to pull him down right before he pulled the cord with his other hand.
My feet pressed the pedals, thrusters firing and keeping me in the sky. Another knife slid over my back, and I swung my shield back into the next Lee's chest. Right before the gut wrenching sight of his chest twisting apart.
I understood it then.
A flick of his power and pop! A new him to carry on, or an old him to take whatever insanity he left behind. I didn't know which and it didn't matter. Oni Lee didn't care about dying, and why should he?
And that's terrifying.
The ground hit me hard. I fell to one knee, leaning against the shield to keep my body upright. I tried to rise, only to slip and fall onto my back.
Something felt completely wrong.
I'm not talking about the sight of a man being blown apart right in front of me. That was wrong too, but not the immediate cause of why up suddenly felt right, left felt backwards, and down felt like being in two places at once.
A fist smacked my head, which I followed by sweeping my bazooka across my chest. Instead of throwing Lee off me, I hit him in the back with my knee. Oni Lee fell back, thrown a few feet right before he exploded again. I ignored the gore, my head already awkwardly turning to find the next clone.
I lifted off the ground only for one Oni Lee to fall onto my shield. I swept my arm toward the ground, trying to shake him loose. One hand stubbornly clung to the lip, and the other pulled that damn cord.
Something crunched underneath my foot. Another explosion hit me from behind. The front. Behind. Front. Behind. I tried to trip him, hit him, block him. Too fast, and my body never went the direction I wanted. I needed to think about every move before I made it. Took too long. I'd find a Lee and work my body into readying for him, only for the Lee to fade away, or explode.
I didn't prepare for this.
Any limit to how frequently Lee could use his power? Range? Did it go through walls? I didn't know off the top of my head and I forgot to fly.
Damnit Dinah, you knew this was going to happen!
I lifted off, pushing the pedals as hard as they went. Oni Lee dropped on me from above, the resulting explosion throwing me back to the ground.
Front. Back. Front. Back.
My body wanted to go the wrong direction, and only went the right way when I "moved" in reverse. After taking another explosion to my back I threw a foot forward, keeping my balance and aiming dead ahead. Oni Lee appeared just a foot off from my rocket. The blast rippled over him, knocking his hand away from the cord and throwing him to the ground.
Then he turned to dust, and blew up beside me.
Self duplicating teleportation is bullshit!
I stepped back, with my arm somehow, falling to the ground and taking another explosion to the side. I cursed. Maybe if my body moved like I wanted, I could do something, but the explosions kept coming one after the other. Even if the effect only lasted a few seconds, it wasn't enough time to—
Two dots flashed on my mini-map.
Haros.
"Veda—Gah!"
"Taylor?"
"Where is he?"
I took aim at an Oni Lee, ready to fire when he faded away. I cursed, staring at my raised shield arm. I heard the sound of metal against metal, turning my head back. Why is he trying to stab me? He has to know the armor is bulletproof. Looking for a weak spot? A slit to slide the blade into?
I knew there weren't any. I threw my shoulder at him, the wrong shoulder. I cursed, watching as Lee blew up again.
And my arm screamed in pain or is that me?
I buckled against another explosion to the left. No. behind? I kept my balance by leaning on my shield. Debris, glass, and dust billowed around me, my sight completely blocked. No explosion? I lifted my head as one second became two, then three, and four.
Still no explosion.
"Veda!"
I cycled the camera to the sonic setting. A wave of infrasound pulsing around me and bouncing back in a microsecond. Oni Lee ran through the debris cloud, sliding along the ground and turning back towards me.
"I need the Haros to circle me! Three sixty-degree coverage!"
"Confirmed."
The dots moved on my mini-map, all of my robots forming a circle above me and switching their camera modes.
The Oni Lee pacing on the street dissolved after a few seconds, another forming on the rooftop watching me. No. Not watching me.
Looking left and right. He looked to the side, far off to the side. Following the line of his eyes, yet another Oni Lee, who promptly crouched and started surveying as well.
I stood quickly, the sound of my suit drawing Lee's eyes right to me. Still no explosion. I switched back to my normal cameras.
Nothing but green lights flying in a slow falling wall of dust. Couldn't even see my hand a few feet in front of me.
He needs to see where he's going—Why am I still here?
5:32
I could fight Lee another time, fully prepared. Especially now that I knew a simple smoke bomb prevented him from using his power.
The vertigo got better with each passing second, but still lingered. Didn't matter. Just get the direction right, and at the moment up felt…left?
I went "left," breaking through the debris cloud and heading for the sky and Oni Lee tackled me.
The bomb went off again, and my arm started screaming in pain.
Or that might have been me.
Again.
Pain shot down my spine and through my whole body. Lost sight of my path for merely a second, and my sense of which way was which. The suit careened right into the wall, and through the desk on the other side. An Oni Lee landed on his feet by the door, knife out and hand on the cord.
My shield refused to lift, the slightest strain enough to send more jolts of pain through my entire body. My other hand jerked. The bazooka spilled smoke along the length of the tube, the round exploding into the floor at my feet.
My body only got a numbing sensation as the vibrations rolled over my armor, but Oni Lee stumbled back. He stayed on his feet somehow, but not cleanly. He stumbled like a drunk, one hand reaching out while the other pressed to the side of his head.
After a moment getting my directions straight I swung the tube. Oni Lee grunted before exploding and taking the ceiling out with him.
Dust filled the room, and I switched to the sonic camera again. The second Oni Lee scrambled back, head snapping back and forth. My hand shot out, covering his eyes and pinning the back of his head against the wall. His knife swung forward, pricking the armor at my neck and sliding past over my armor covered clavicle.
My elbow met his chest, knocking the air from his lungs and quickly grabbing his head in my hand. He made a noise, legs flailing against my chest, hand on my wrist, and knife stabbing, or trying rather, everywhere he could reach. My palm pressed firmly against his face, the robot hand's grip tight enough to keep a firm grip without crushing his skull.
I needed more than a few breaths to realize I'd just captured Oni Lee.
"Taylor," Veda called. "Are you well?"
"I'm okay," I heaved. "Just catching my breath,"—breathing surprisingly hard actually—"and making sure I know which way up is."
"Up is, up?"
"Right now it's feeling more like my lower intestine."
Not a pleasant sensation.
My head still felt like my body was on its side, staring up at the floor, but I managed to keep myself upright and my hand firmly over Oni Lee's face.
"I think I caught Oni Lee."
The villain in question continued his squirming. So far no one took one of my stun rockets and stayed capable of fighting. Did his power make him tougher? Maybe his pain threshold was simply absurd.
Mine on the other hand, wasn't.
Everything fucking hurt, mostly from being tossed around, but also from the glaring pain in my arm. Lacking faith in my armor's sturdiness I might suspect he managed to get a knife through it.
"I can't move my left arm." I tested it again, my shoulder screaming in pain as my muscles tensed. "Not sure if it's the suit or me."
"Running diagnostic…Arm functional. Armor impacted on the rear left quarter."
Well maybe my arm isn't broken then. The armor's just dented and pressing into me.
I checked my clock.
4:02
What do I do with him in four minutes?
"Where's the van?"
"Two miles north of city limits."
Stupid question. I wanted to keep my transport a secret as long as possible. Bringing Lee to my pick up spot and letting valuable information like that out? No deal.
"I'm guessing the PRT isn't going to be here in the next four minutes?"
"Negative."
Standing around in the middle of the Docks waiting for someone to come pick up my prisoner sounded like a rotten idea.
"Where are they now?"
Veda highlighted the area on my map. Orange's cameras helped. A row of dark colored trucks, and one person on a motorcycle. A red white and blue motorcycle. I didn't see Dauntless. In the sky somewhere?
I pulled Lee from the wall. Doubt he found being held by the head very comfortable, but oh well. He'd live. I didn't need any more of whatever the fuck that bomb was going off near me. Knowing the PRT, they'd utterly fail in holding him. Still.
Time with him off the street meant time I, or anyone else for that matter, didn't have to worry about him. Fair enough trade. Not like I had a prison to stick him in anyway.
"I'll fly him over to the PRT real quick. Let's throt—"
A sharp ping echoed in the ruined room. I leaned over, glancing down at a cylinder as it smoked.
"Wha—"
I only saw the white.
My entire body recoiled, muscles tensing and recoiling from head to toe.
My hand slipped.
Oni Lee fell free, saying something I didn't understand through the blinding pain seared into my eyes.
I fired another rocket immediately. What if he already cloned himself? Where? How far away? My vision cleared slowly. Just dark shapes at first. I reached for the one that moved. Lee stabbed at my armored arm with a knife, and faded to dust.
Another shape moving.
The explosion sent me to falling upwards, and a little to the back. No. That's down, and around. The floor gave out, my balance going completely as I fell. Rubble and wood swelled into a tide of debris, at least three Oni Lee's falling into the pit with me.
I heard a scream somewhere. A shout? Couldn't make out the words. Did anyone live in this building?
"Veda?"
"The PRT is eight minutes away."
Eight minutes?
"Getting up," I mumbled.
Harder than you'd think to get up after falling down in a suit as bulky as mine. Especially when you've reached the point that ripping your left arm off starts seeming preferable to the fucking pain.
Using my still mobile arm I wedged myself up. One leg slid forward, then the other. I got a foot on the ground, from there it's a good thing I didn't need my muscles to do any actual standing.
I turned at a thud. One Oni Lee fell to the ground, another flailing on the floor. The standing clone stumbled back and forth. Still disoriented?
I could catch him again. Block his eyes and make sure I keep them blocked this time…
2:12
Defeat sucks.
It's a pit in your stomach that sinks deeper and deeper. I hated that feeling. The way Emma made me feel. I didn't want to feel that way every again, and I really hadn't since setting out on my own. However much the past hurt, or the present frustrated me, I'd never felt defeated. Not even after the fire.
That wasn't defeat. Not like this.
The hairs all along my arms rose, fingers tightening on the controls.
At least, I knew I could endure it.
"Veda…I'm on my way."
The side of the building lay in a heap around me. Everything felt sluggish. Heavy, like moving through water. Or wearing several tons of robotics.
No.
I pulled up a diagnostic and ran it.
sys.0G GN Field 21%
sys.0G -critical error
sys.0g antenna unresponsive
A ping echoed around me, and I turned to find Oni Lee, back on his feet, trying to stab my leg. Futile, but his other hand slapped around looking for that damn cord.
"Do you ever quit?!"
I locked my arm at my side and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Right. I'd already fired three rockets.
I swung my foot and threw him off me. Standing, right? I just kept myself straight and slammed on the pedals. Dust and debris spilled from my feet, the thrusters throwing me into the air. The Lee clones responded by falling, and fading to ash.
I kept my feet pressed, ignoring my own impending sense of the ground getting closer. I plainly saw it getting further away beneath me, so for the first time I flew by the gauges in my HUD. Knew I built them for a reason. Something about fighter pilots getting turned around in the sky and needing instruments to help them determine which direction was ground.
Things got smother as I got higher. The vertigo started to fade, but then, so did my velocity.
sys.0g armor infusion 67%
"I'm losing the infusion on the armor."
No GN particles to reduce the weight of the armor, and I'd hit the ground at terminal velocity. Which meant falling to the ground in two tons of E-Carbon. Swiss cheese on impact.
"Eject the shield. Bazooka too!"
I felt the latches snap, and some of the weight lifting from me and slowing my descent back to the ground.
"Eight thousand feet," Veda warned.
I fell slowly, about a dozen feet a second plus a foot every five or so seconds. A few quick button presses set the compressors in the legs to fill as much as possible. With enough propellant I could land somewhat smoothly—crap I need to land.
Can't land in the Docks. If Lee tracked me down I'd have no GN particles to enhance the E-Carbon plates. Would the armor survive another round of explosions without the extra protection? Didn't feel like testing it. Not to mention all the other villains I pissed off tonight who might come looking.
I pulled up my mini-map. Anywhere secluded enough would have to do.
"There's an abandoned gas station at—"
A hand grabbed onto my arm.
Impossible!
I swooped to the side, the explosion rippling through the air and throwing off my balance. The vertigo set in again. The suit went end over end, another explosion catching me in the side and stabbed into my pained shoulder.
"He followed me up here?!"
I imagined a line of Oni Lee clones falling to the ground, each a little higher than the last.
"Fucking bullshit!"
"Haros in position," Veda said.
The screen windows opened, a single crack running the length of my right eye. I saw my suit, a wild trail of green spraying around me. From multiple angles.
The Haros! "Thanks Veda."
My hand slapped against my shoulder. Fingers traced forward, and then back to take hold of a hilt. An explosion rocked me, but for once I barely felt it. I watched the screens, heart beating in my ears. I waited and watched. Watched and waited.
There!
The moment the next figure appeared, my saber burst to life. I swung back. Spinning around and cutting into him. Oni Lee's arm came off his body from the collar down and I kept swinging. No thought, no real consideration. It didn't hit me till the blade cut halfway through his chest that I'd killed a man.
Or not.
I flew back as he turned white and collapsed. The tip of the blade slashed into the pouch on his chest setting off whatever insane bomb Lung's tinker built for him before that managed to follow.
Already seeing the next Lee in Navy's sight, I dove and swung, this time aiming for the leg. Oni Lee turned to ash again, but I threw my feet in front of me and pressed on the thrusters. I shot back, the cone of the GN drive striking Oni Lee in his left side.
A scream. A crack.
Ash fell around me, but when the new clone appeared below me he appeared short one right leg.
My eyes went wide.
I assumed he made a new body each time he used his power.
The clones are literal clones.
He turned to dust, and the next one I saw fell through the air several feet away. Then that one turned to dust, and I it took a few seconds to find the next one.
He's running away…
He followed me all the way up here, and now wanted to run away?
I snarled, throwing myself into a dive. Lee looked back moments before my blade smacked him in the side. Maybe he expected to die, but my thumb turned down the power just before impact.
The heat seared through his costume and cut the strap for his bomb, throwing his body off moments before it turned to dust again.
I halted my descent for a moment, the Haros catching up and searching the sky for him. We cycled camera modes, and at one point I thought I saw an ash cloud.
I didn't find any other traces. Too dark, and the ground kept getting closer. Diving might not have been my brightest idea.
Didn't get to lament it for long.
The wind howled around me, the lights of the city growing closer.
"Eight hundred feet," Veda warned.
I picked a long street adjacent to the Boardwalk. My chest constricted as I pressed the thrusters as hard as I could. The suit jerked back, my speed rapidly dropping to a number with only two digits.
"Five hundred feet."
The last of the propellant threw me right, back on line to crash into the street rather than a rooftop.
"One hundred feet."
I took a deep breath. The ground went right through me, the force knocking the air from my lungs. My legs rattled, one giving out as the weight of everything slammed down to one knee. Dust and light billowed behind me, the armor whining against the asphalt and—Car!
My eyes snapped shut against the light of the high beams. With a split decision I shouted, "Emergency shut off!"
"Powering down," Veda responded.
The humming at my back slowed to a stop, and I twisted my heel. The suit spun to a stop, all motion halting and slamming my whole body to one side. The pained one. I bit back a scream, pressing in the series of button presses necessary to open the hatch. The chest popped up, and I fell forward.
Naturally, I hit my injured arm.
Again.
My scream echoed along the road.
Okay. Maybe it is broken.
"Newtype. Newtype!"
Lifting my head, Green and Orange rolled out of their cradles beside me.
Veda's normally even voice actually shook a little. "Taylor?"
I glanced down at myself. No limbs missing, right? Right.
"I think my arm might be broken…Maybe." Really starting to hate that word.
Green rolled behind me as I sat up, his ball bracing my back. I looked ahead. A car sat in the middle of the road, driver standing just behind the open door.
The woman looked shocked, shouting, "Are you okay?"
I recognized the attire of a nurse under her jacket. Night shift?
"N—" I pressed a hand over my shoulder, the jolt in pain brief. "It's not safe here! Go home!"
People in the Docks didn't need to be told twice. She glanced at my suit, and just got back into her car. She did a quick three point turn and went back the way she came. The street lay remarkably quiet afterward. My head snapped back and forth. Not one of the parts of town the city didn't keep the lights on in. The lamps illuminated everything fairly well. Still the Docks though.
"The suit?"
Veda read off a quick rundown, while I used Green's ball to steady myself and stand up.
"Eighteen core components damaged. Fifteen armor compromises. One armor breach. Left clavicle antenna lost."
Smoke and steam rose from the suit. It looked…not bad actually.
The right leg appeared worn down after sliding a hundred feet along the road, but the armor still seemed to be in one piece. Dented to hell and back, but in one piece. Save for a section of the left pauldron that lost a fight with a can opener. The one lucky blast that managed to get through and mess up my arm?
I'd have to repaint it again. Fabricate new armor plates. At least I didn't need to rebuild it. The eye wasn't even cracked, just the visor on my mask. Much easier to fix, and the shie—
"Veda. Shield?"
"Retrieving," Veda answered.
My mask showed a camera feed, low to the ground of course. Red and Pink hooked their arms into the edges of my shield, cradles pushing harder and louder than ever to get them back into the air with it. From what little I saw through Pink's eyes, the shield landed in a parking lot.
The bazooka on the other hand…
A crowd gathered in a semi-circle, taking pictures and talking to each other as Navy and Purple grabbed hold of my weapon. A tall woman in a suit stood at the front, men in black turtle necks and jeans holding the crowd back.
A nightclub?
The sign over the door said Palanquin. Sounded familiar, but at the moment I didn't have time to remember why.
Stuck in the Docks with no GN Field, a worn down suit, and a useless arm.
"How far away is the van?"
"Thirty-eight minutes."
…fuck.
My head twisted left and right. I saw a few shadows in some windows, and on the edges of the sparsely spaced street lights. No gang claimed territory this close to the Boardwalk, but I wasn't far from the ABB or the Merchants. I also doubted that the gang's didn't frequent the area.
Need a plan.
"Orange, keep an eye on things."
"Okay okay." He rolled back into his cradle and took off, while Green stayed beside me.
I stumbled back to the suit. Even without GN particles actively strengthening the E-Carbon, the armor trumped my costume for durability. I checked the time and cursed. I normally got up before Dad, so he wouldn't notice anything amiss for another forty or fifty minutes. Any number of excuses might explain me running late. Too much though and he'd start to worry and what if he put the pieces together?
I didn't need to add coming clean to Dad to this rotten morning. And to think everything started so well.
Undersiders.
If you asked me before tonight what I thought of the Undersiders, I'd say "what about them?" Grue wasn't trying to establish the great white utopia. Hellhound, however dangerous she might be, wasn't dragging women into brothels at needle point. Sovereign didn't pump drugs onto the street. Tattletale was a bitch but a fairly harmless bitch.
They weren't the gangs. Petty thefts and some assaults didn't compare. I'd give up a lot to make the stakes of heroes versus villains that low.
After tonight?
Fuck. The. Undersiders oh and Dinah you are in so much trouble.
Half tempted to open Level Seven and shove that smug blonde's smug Emma-smile down her throa—
Bigger problems Taylor.
Stuck in the Docks. Lung could literally be around the corner right now, or Hookwolf might decide he really didn't like the taunting and this is a lot scarier when I can't just fly away from the ground-bound villains.
Veda would arrive, but more than half an hour? Too long. Finishing the process of forming a new GN Field took less time, but down one antenna it might not even form right. Could I run to the workshop and pick up a new one…or send someone to get it for me.
"Veda. How long to fabricate a new antenna for the left clavicle?"
"Eighteen minutes."
I took it as a sign of how flustered I was that I needed both hands to do some basic math.
Twenty minutes to flush out the residual particles still infused in the suit. Then another seven or eight to recharge and put up a new GN Field. Maybe four minutes in there for a Haro to bring me the antenna, and two or so to install it.
Twenty to twenty-five minutes?
Better than thirty-nine.
Not enough to get out of here before anyone else might come looking. I could abandon the suit, blow it up…along with all my work. I'd need to start over, and not just on a new Gundam. The gangs would more than recover from the damage I'd done in the past week in the month or two I'd need to rebuild.
Last resort.
"There's a gas station just north of the train yard. Looks pretty abandoned. Red and Navy can do a fly by to make sure there's no one around. Pick me up there."
I pulled the diagnostic panel from its place on the inside of the chest plate. Connecting to the workshop didn't take long. The fabricator fired up and started printing, and I got to work on purging the residual particles in the armor.
"Purple, go back to the garage and pick up the antenna. I'll install it here and take off."
"Fine then, fine!"
"Pink, get over here. You and Orange keep an eye on things from above. Warn me if anyone comes."
"This process will take no less than twenty-two minutes," Veda informed me.
"Better than the forty you need to come and get me."
"…Confirmed."
The GN drive started a slow spin behind me, a slight static filling the air as shimmering green dust lifted from the surface of the suit. I'd ignored the technical limitation preventing the formation of a GN Field, and that felt short sighted. Now.
I'd redirect my productive streak towards solving the particle decay problem. Later.
I stepped back and looked around. Still nothing, but there must be people watching. Any of them might be an ABB member making a phone call. With any luck Oni Lee kept running, but if anyone else showed up…
"I've started purging the particle build up." Stepping around the back I pulled the carbine from its holster. Nearly fell back on my ass, but Green jumped up, hitting me in the butt and keeping me on my feet.
"Thanks."
"No problem problem!"
"It'll be okay." I hefted the weapon with one arm. Maybe design a compact pistol to fit somewhere?
"No. Problem! Problem!"
The solution to that verbal tick continued to elude me, and not for lack of trying.
Green spun on his axis. "Problem problem!"
"Incoming! Incoming!"
I raised my head, when Orange started talking. "Where—"
The streak of red flashed in front of me well before I could guard myself.
"Hey, kid."
Red with black racing strips, two of which formed a V over his chest.
"Velocity?"
"That's me." He smiled, mouth the only visible part of his face. "You alright?"
My shoulders relaxed, and then tensed up again from the pain. "F—fine."
"What happened to Oni Lee?"
"He ran away…I think."
He vanished for a moment. Left me a few seconds to contemplate which was worse, being absolutely alone without a fully functioning suit, or having the Protectorate come to my rescue.
Ah, defeat my old friend. There you are again.
But Velocity? He might be fast, but I also knew he didn't hit particularly hard. If he managed to track down where I landed so could others, and I'd still be pretty screwed.
He reappeared seconds later to say, "The area seems clear. For now."
I pointed up. "I know."
He turned his head back. "One of your little robots?"
"Yeah."
"Neat."
"What are you doing here?"
"Checking on you, obviously." He stood of straight and tapped his ear. "Console. I've found her. She seems alright. Just a little off from the Boardwalk. Pretty nice cr—Hm." He lowered his hand and looked at me. "Does this count as a crash landing?"
I shrugged.
He shrugged back. "We'll go with yes." He raised his hand again. "Crash landing. Tore up the street quite a bit, but doesn't look like anyone got hurt. Well other than Newtype. Looks like she busted up one arm pretty bad."
My fingers twitched, a frown forming on my face.
"Yes, I noticed." He turned his head. "Yeah. Think so. No sign of him. What? Got it. We'll be here." He lowered his head. "Okay, kid. Bad news, Dauntless and Miss M got tied up with the Undersiders, and until anyone else gets here it's just you, me, and the Skittles."
He pointed at himself and me in turn, and then at Green.
"Good news! We've got a truck on the way to get you and your super suit out of here before anyone else shows up, plus some troopers and Stratos in case anyone does. Ten minutes tops."
I flinched. "Not necessary." I circled back to the front of the suit. I checked the progress of the purge, which seemed to be going slower than normal. At least to me. "I'm just waiting for a spare part."
"You want to sit here and wait. For a spare part?"
"I can get myself back in the air in twenty minutes."
"You want to stand here, in the open, within reach of the ABB and everyone else you've pissed off tonight, for twenty minutes?"
"That's what I said."
"And that shoulder? You have something for that?"
"I'll figure it out." I hope.
Velocity stared. "That is a terrible decision."
I looked him in the mask. "It's my decision to make."
Velocity watched me, and I watched him. After a brief silence he sighed. "I can't force you to—"
"I prefer that you ignore Newtype's decision in this matter."
I flinched and turned towards Green. "V—Stargazer?"
"I request that you remove Newtype and the Gundam from this position until repairs are possible."
I grabbed the diagnostic pad, almost forgetting the pain in my shoulder as both hands went to work.
sys.t/ what are you doing?
sys.v/ protecting you
sys.t/ h
sys.t/ how is this protecting me?
I blinked.
sys.v/ you are not safe
sys.t/ I'll be fine
sys.v/ not if Lung arrives first
sys.t/ we have plans for that
sys.t/ what if they want to arrest me?
sys.t/ or steal the Gundam?
sys.v/ then I will rectify my error
sys.v/ and their duplicity
My fingers went to work on a reply, but obviously an AI can type faster than my thumbs.
sys.v/ contingencies depend on harm befalling you
sys.v/ I prefer not to reach that point
Velocity stood behind me hesitantly. "I'd love to help, but I can't really do anything if she doesn't want me to."
"She will go with you."
Guess I didn't get a vote. After a momentary silence, I guessed Velocity agreed.
"You should sit down kid." He pushed me down, his hands going to my back. "Where's the pain?"
I answered his questions and waited.
"Looks like you might have dislocated your shoulder," he mumbled. Louder, he said, "I got some first aid training, but I'll leave this to the pros."
The pad remained in my hand, my fingers occasionally moving to type out a message only to delete it a moment later. Nothing I thought up worked.
I wanted to argue with her. Just couldn't. The words and lines went through my head left and right, but I didn't know what to say or how to say it. Everything sounded insufficient to describe the sensation of my chest shaking in anger, and my eyes watering in…pride?
I heard the engines approaching, and lifted my eyes as the line of vehicles pulled up. Two armored trucks and a larger van.
"Hey." Velocity waved the troops over as they got out, but he watched me. "Sure you're okay?"
I raised my head. "Losing sucks."
"Just get back up and try again. Besides. Still alive. Can't have lost that bad."
Velocity helped me up, and together with Green I got into the van.
