Hey guys, sorry about the long wait. Stuff just kind of piles up. Anyways, this was written really quickly, I hope you enjoy it and please review, if you like, tell me what you think. All mistakes are mine, no beta, and again, enjoy :)
Myka backed into Claudia, shielding the young red-head with her body as five samurai appeared from three different aisles up ahead. They fanned out, strategically spacing themselves out so Myka couldn't get an effective shot. Myka aimed at all of them in turn, watching to see which would attack first. Claudia's Tesla was also drawn, but she sneakily pulled out the grenade, secretly glad she had remembered to take it.
"Myka…" she hissed quietly as they backed away. The samurai had their swords drawn, each one moving identically to the next like a mirror's reflection as they crept slowly closer. Myka didn't take her eyes off the samurai as she whispered:
"What?" through gritted teeth. Claudia primed the grenade.
"Grenade," she replied calmly. Myka gave a slight nod. They backed away a few more paces before Myka saw one samurai move a little out of sync with the rest – indicating he was getting ready to attack.
"NOW!" yelled Myka. Claudia chucked the grenade from between Myka's legs where it rolled to a halt in the space between the samurai and the pair. Myka grabbed Claudia and threw herself into the corridor from whence they came, covering Claudia with her body. Myka heard the grenade go off, saw the corridor light up with blue light. Once it had dissipated, she rolled over just in time to see the two remaining samurai running towards them. Myka fired a shot just as the samurai came within a metre of them, Claudia quickly knocking the other one out seconds later. Myka and Claudia got up, brushing themselves down before they hurried into the fork in the aisle. Myka looked to Claudia for directions, but her eyes were wide with fear. Suddenly, Myka felt a warm hand on her waist, breath on her neck as a pale hand slipped down to her hip, drawing the pistol from its holster and there was a loud bang. Myka whirled round to see a samurai falling.
"You really should be more careful, darling," said a familiarly smug voice in her ear.
Myka's lips left hers as her vision flickered – she blinked, trying to keep herself awake as she lay back against the cold floor. Breathing heavily, she didn't try to move as her arm stung, the blood pouring back in. She wasn't entirely sure what the ball contraption was, but it was now safely in the bag, so that was a plus at least. After a short while, Helena finally regained enough strength to ease herself into a sitting position. Running a hand through her hair, she wiped the sweat from her forehead as her vision swam, but settled again quickly. Her breathing evened out and she reached up with her better arm, gripping a metal shelf and pulling herself to her feet. She stumbled forwards the first few steps before following the way Myka and Claudia went. Chest still heaving slightly, she let out a tired breath as she leaned against the shelves, dragging herself along as she realised she hadn't quite recovered fully yet. She reached the end of the corridor at last, and realised she didn't know which way they had gone. Kicking the shelf, her problem solving kicked in and she hunted down the nearest computer port that Claudia had set up. Accessing the data was simple for her, once the young techie had talked her through it. She called up the correct scans with slightly shaking fingers until she found the fastest pathway to their destination. Her brain committed each turn to memory for a minute before she turned and hurried as fast as she could down the corridor. She was exhausted, but she had to keep going, she wouldn't forgive herself if either one of them was hurt when she could have prevented it. Movement was growing difficult – as well as exhaustion, she felt pain all the way down the left side of her body, even her head – probably due to the blood being lost in the artefact encounter.
Entering an aisle groggily, she discovered a samurai sword. She had been in this very aisle doing inventory not long before she left the Warehouse, and there was no record of a sword in this area. Hurriedly, and with shaking hands, she bagged it – it didn't react. Shrugging, she decided to take it – Teslas were all well and good, but one never knew when you needed a decent sword. In her haste and confusion, she had dropped one of the Teslas, but she still had the other and the grappler. And now the sword. She was about to move on when a small wooden box caught her eye. Reaching out her trembling, pale, clammy hand, she opened it as carefully as possible, checking the screen as she did so. It was a short length of purple ribbon. The screen said it was some ancient warrior woman's charm in battle, that it had been imbued in a potion that allowed it to sustain a warrior in battle for much longer than a regular person. The air seemed to feel warmer as soon as she opened the container and Helena felt better as soon as her finger grazed the material. The downside wasn't too bad, she decided. It would be worth it, to help Myka. Hastily, she tied it around her wrist and energy flooded through her body, alleviating the pain and fatigue. With a small grin, she continued on her way, slowly regaining her strength as she strode through the aisles. Blue lightning still cracked overhead, the ground shook slightly, but it didn't deter Helena. She strode until she could jog, and jogged until she could run and just trusted her gut and the Warehouse to save her from any traps.
Helena paused by a corridor – she could see a dark figure with a sword much like the one she was holding. She stepped back silently behind the shelves and tensed her muscles as she watched them sneak down. Helena waited a moment before following them, drawing closer and closer as quietly as a mouse. This was very risky – she was out in the open. One sound from her would alert the curious fellow a few metres in front. Barely even breathing, she caught movement from the next aisle. There was another one, exactly like the first in the next aisle. Helena heard voices approaching – Myka and Claudia. She crouched down low as she stopped, waiting for the samurai to make their move. Myka and Claudia she could now see coming out of another aisle, in front of her, and the samurai began to move slowly, deliberately towards their prey. Helena, though surprised she had caught up with them so fast, then guessed that Claudia must have taken a safer route – Helena had more than once noticed at the last minute that there was something wrong, the blue lightning striking the ground and not allowing her to pass. Now though, she watched as the samurai began to close in, Myka shielding Claudia as best she could. Helena could hear them muttering to each other, and was reluctant to move – Myka always had a back-up plan. Helena didn't want to mess it up. She would only act if she had to. Staying crouched where she was, she saw Claudia roll the grenade as the samurai were about to attack. However, only one was caught by the blast – the others jumped out of the way quickly. Two darted away immediately after Myka and Claudia while the other two held back. Helena decided now would be a good time to act. Blue flashes came from the corridor and Helena leapt forwards, hoping to get a silent kill using the sword – the flash of the Tesla would tip off the other one. However, the samurai heard her and whirled, blocking the killer blow and following it up with a counter-attack. Helena dodged back and darted forwards, slicing with the katana. She nicked the samurai's stomach and they faltered a little. Helena drew her Tesla and aimed, but the samurai swatted it out of her hands before pinning her against the shelves. Helena drove her foot into their stomach just as Myka and Claudia appeared back in the intersection of corridors. Helena saw the other samurai darting towards them, sword trained on Myka. For Helena, time seemed to slow down as she sprinted forwards, aware of the other samurai who was getting up behind her. She tossed her sword into her left hand as she reached around Myka's waist, drawing the pistol in one fluid motion and firing, the bullet sinking into the samurai's chest. She could feel Myka's body tense as she processed what was happening.
"You really should be more careful, darling," she smirked as her lips brushed Myka's ear. Turning around, she sliced the katana in an upwards arc, slicing the samurai's chest open. Instead of blood pouring out, golden sparks erupted instead and took over the rest of the body until it had disappeared like the rest. Helena spun back around, proud of herself, a wide grin on her face as Myka and Claudia gawped.