Chapter 26
Varen fell backwards clutching his side where a Chevalier volt weapon stabbed through piercing his ribs. Chiffon moved quickly releasing her volt weapons catching him before he could fall bringing him down to the ground on her knees. Arnette, Attia, Ticy, and the remaining two E-Pandora left standing shifted in front to shield them. More Chevalier Pandora had arrived and they were now outnumbered two to one.
"Are you insane we're on the same side!" Arnette shouted at the enemy Pandora who slowly advanced on them.
"You are traitors, and will be dealt with accordingly per Chevalier's orders." One of the Pandora answered.
"We're all Pandora here are you ready to kill one of your own!" Ticy answered back.
"We've been purposely avoiding fatal blows, but they are going all out." Attia said quietly.
"You are not Pandora anymore, you are enemies. Surrender now or forfeit your lives." The same Chevalier Pandora ordered.
"Stay with me ok?" Chiffon said softly as Varen's eyes fluttered a bit his breathing becoming shallow. She moved his hand away seeing the sword wound along his left side.
"My lung…can't breathe." He answered. Chiffon ripped off a portion of her skirt and pressed it against the wound tilting him slightly. Her pants were already soaked with blood from where he lay on her and internally she fought off the urge to panic. The wound was nothing life threatening with genetics medical facilities, but she doubted Chevalier would be allowing them to simply seek medical attention.
"It's not that bad keep your eyes open." She lied.
"Yes it is, I can hear your thoughts remember?" He answered forcing a smile.
"I mean we'll get you to the medical wing and then it'll be fine." She answered back.
"Chiffon, get him out of here now!" Arnette shouted over her shoulder. Chiffon saw a small trail of blood dripping down Arnette's body where she had been injured as well. She noticed that everyone was bleeding from mostly superficial wounds. She could carry him and get him out of immediate danger, but it would mean leaving the rest behind.
"You can't…" Chiffon trailed off looking over at Arnette.
"Doesn't matter anymore! Get out of here!" Arnette yelled slashing her scythe in a wide arc trying to keep the Chevalier Pandora back. Attia stifled a scream as a spear cut into her thigh bringing her to a knee. She stumbled back to her feet backing up wobbling heavily unable to put much weight on the leg.
"There's too many!" Chiffon yelled and Arnette turned to look at her. Chiffon had never seen a more dangerous look on the red headed Pandora's face. It was one of pure rage.
"Get up Captain! Do your job and protect your Limiter! Stop sitting there watching him die like we had to!" She screamed shaking Chiffon from her shock. Chiffon looked down at Varen once more and she felt his hand hold hers.
"No one…left behind." He choked and she nodded setting him down on the ground gently. Arnette's rage disappeared as Chiffon approached her from behind. Ticy's eyes widened fearfully as her friend called her volt weapons once more. Arnette fell aside her anger replaced with uncontrollable feeling of dread.
"No…not again…" Attia said terrified as she backed up against a wall.
"Chiffon no!" Ticy pleaded as one of the Chevalier Pandora raised her weapon. Before anyone could react Chiffon appeared behind her and wrapped one of her claws around her head pulling her backwards.
"What does fear feel like?" Chiffon said quietly bringing her other gauntlet down onto the Pandora's midsection. Bones snapped as the girl tumbled to the floor in a heap.
"You monster!" A Pandora roared raising her polearm high. Chiffons crouched low accelerating faster than the Pandora could see enveloping her face with a claw. In one fell swoop she slammed her head down backwards onto the concrete cratering the floor. She spun grabbing the haft of a spear racing towards her head and crushed the weapon with ease shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces.
"Please no!" The owner of the weapon begged as Chiffon grabbed her arms and ripped them free of her torso tossing them aside carelessly. The girl fell backwards crying incoherently against the pain. Attia's eyes were wide with horror and her body shook violently in fear watching as Chiffon unleashed her wrath.
She had seen the aftermath of the carnival Chiffon had participated in. Dozens of Pandora were torn apart by her. All would live, but many opted to leave the facility giving up on being a Pandora out of fear. Others were forced to leave, their injuries too severe to be healed enough that they could function at a hundred percent. It was not the first time they had seen her fight, but it was the first time seeing her hold nothing back.
"Get away from me!" A girl pleaded waving a sword in front of her defensively. Chiffon vanished only to appear nose to nose with the girl impaling her claws into her stomach. She coughed up blood sliding off of Chiffon's talons onto the ground where she lay moaning.
"You Pandora are such pretty things." Chiffon said ominously accelerating again sliding along the ground grabbing a Pandora by the leg and using the momentum to throw her against the wall. The steel buckled under the weight of the Pandora caving in slightly from the impact. She bounced off the floor once and ceased to move.
"Die!" A Pandora screamed bringing her axe down towards Chiffon's chest. The blade cracked and exploded into fragments from the backside of one of the gauntlets Chiffon maneuvered to intercept the blade. Chiffon's face turned towards the Pandora who cried out turning to run.
"Make sure to beg, or else I never know when to stop." Chiffon giggled racing ahead slashing her talons low cutting the Pandora's legs off at the knee. Her body tumbled forward hitting the wall and she wailed clutching at where her legs once were. Arnette and Ticy's mouths hung open too scared to move as Chiffon's carnage continued. Unknown to everyone else, it was Ticy who had stopped Chiffon during her last murderous rampage. Once more she fought off the fear enveloping her and took the first step towards Chiffon.
"Don't!" Arnette yelled grabbing Ticy's arm.
"I have to, she's losing control." Ticy answered. Arnette looked over at Chiffon shaking her head.
"She's already lost it! We aren't safe!" Arnette argued, but Ticy pulled her arm free.
"I'll stop her, whatever that takes." Ticy said setting her blade forward. "Acceleration!" She called out rocketing ahead towards Chiffon. Ticy focused on her weapon manipulating the physical properties of it to force the metal to strengthen before she brought the blade around towards Chiffon. A clawed gauntlet raised high blocking the sword cleanly. She took another step forward pushing up against Chiffon shoving her body back.
Chiffon brought her second gauntlet ahead trying to catch Ticy off guard, but her zanbato angled down pushing the gauntlet away from her body before it could connect. So far it was holding together against Chiffon's strength. She ducked low as another claw swiped overhead and no sooner had she stood back up and was forced to leap high rolling through the air to avoid another set of talons cutting through the air.
"Chiffon!" Ticy let one of the claws come close drawing a series of shallow cuts over her forearm in order to send her off hand across Chiffon's face. Her friend's face and neck twisted from the blow. They stood there for a moment until Chiffon's face slowly turned to face her again.
"Ow." Chiffon said releasing her volt weapons and reaching up to run her cheek that was quickly turning red. Ticy breathed a sigh of relief and let her blade dissolve into the air. The remaining Chevalier Pandora had already retreated to escape Chiffon's grasp.
"Varen!" Chiffon turned and ran back towards where he was lying on the ground. His skin was getting pale and his breathing sounded like he was gasping to get what little air he could. Arnette and Attia eyed her cautiously as they began to check on the fallen E-Pandora and Chevalier Pandora that were littered around the room. Attia wrapped a piece of cloth around her thigh limping to try and avoid putting weight on it.
"Did you?" Varen asked not able to finish the sentence. Chiffon understood what he was asking and looked back at the girls trying to help the Chevalier Pandora.
"They'll live if they receive medical attention right away." She answered and could feel the relief pass through him.
"Thank you." He whispered.
"They wanted to kill us, but you were trying to make sure we didn't deal fatal blows. You can't always be so nice." Chiffon said her voice shaking slightly. A tear fell from her eye landing on his hand.
"Thanks." He repeated.
"Sometimes people have to die. You can't save everyone!" She sobbed. The girls stopped and looked over at Chiffon whose body shook while she cried. Attia looked over at Arnette who swallowed hard trying to keep her composure.
Everyone looked up as the walls shuddered slightly and a low rumble emanated throughout the facility. The lights dimmed before returning to normal. A few more series of sounds echoed through the room sounding like distant explosions. Ticy put a hand up to the wall feeling the reverberations passing through before stepping back.
"What is that?" Arnette asked out loud looking around nervously.
"Oh my god, in here!" A voice called out causing everyone to turn.
"Roxy!" Chiffon cried out as Roxanne came running into the room kneeling down where Varen was. A second later half a dozen Limiters and Pandora from various schools jogged into the room carrying medical kits and supplies. Roxanne took a moment to look around the room while she removed the makeshift bandage Chiffon had put on Varen's wound.
"This doesn't look good." Roxanne said choosing not to address the devastation around the room. The other Pandora and Limiters who came with her began helping the wounded as best they could. Some had to be carried to get them out. Roxanne opened a case she had brought with her rifling through for a few items.
"What are you doing here?" Chiffon asked incredulously. Roxanne shrugged pulling out a large syringe.
"Whole place is going to hell. Last hour the whole student dorm section has been shaking like nothing I've ever felt. Chevalier is all over the place on combat alert. Apparently some group of Pandora and Limiters decided to pick a fight." She answered looking at Chiffon out the corner of her eye.
"Rox…" Chiffon started, but she raised a hand stopping her.
"Doesn't matter. Never took you for one to rebel against authority so you must have your own reasons. Tell me the story another time. Was easy to follow where you all have been with all the injured so we grabbed what we could and are trying to help." Roxanne answered. Shi-Jing ran through the doorway holding another medical container.
"Oh…" He said seeing the shape Varen was in. He instantly kneeled down opening the container grabbing a large amount of gauze.
"I have to push to drain it, then inflate it. If we don't you'll drown on your own blood." Roxanne said removing the plunger from the syringe.
"Ready." Shi-Jing said holding the gauze above the wound.
"Small pinch." Roxanne said rolling him on his side and pushing along the chest. Blood poured out of the cut making Varen cringe in pain. He held back from yelling out but gripped Chiffon's hand tightly.
"I meant big pinch." Roxanne corrected leaning him back and jabbing the syringe into his chest. At the same time Shi-Jing pressed down on the wound putting a lot of his weight behind it to try and stop the bleeding. Varen gasped feeling the syringe puncture his long and allow air in.
"Hang on!" Chiffon said cradling his head.
"We're not out of the woods yet on this. His lung is pierced and won't hold properly. Shi-Jing, fourth rib we gotta do it here. No time to get him to medical." Roxanne said and her Limiter nodded freeing one of his hands and grabbing Chiffon's
"Push hard alright?" He said. Chiffon pressed down on the gauze as he retrieved a long curved needle.
"We can shut it, but nothing permanent. He'll need to get to medical and have it properly healed." Shi-Jing explained.
"How do you two know all this?" Chiffon asked in astonishment.
"Never played doctor as a kid?" Roxanne asked with a wink.
"We cross trained as field medics." Shi-Jing answered. He pulled Chiffon's hands away and began closing the wound hastily with the needle. He wove it quickly stitching it shut over the course of a few minutes while Roxanne monitored his breathing.
"That'll do, how we looking over there?" Roxanne called out. A Limiter from the Lowlands looked over towards her.
"They are alive, but in really bad shape. Need to get them out of here right now." He answered and she nodded.
"Whatever we have, or whatever you can find use it as a stretcher and move them to medical right away." Roxanne answered.
"Yes ma'am."
"Help me up." Varen said closing his eyes for a few moments and then opening them.
"Not so fast champ you're not going anywhere like this." Roxanne said putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Please?" He asked and she started back at him a few seconds before sighing.
"You lost a lot of blood and that stitch won't hold. Sure I can't convince you to stay down?" She asked and he forced a grin reaching up shakily towards her.
"Don't have to act all tough just for me, takes a lot to impress me." She joked taking his hand and standing up.
"I'll try harder next time." He said holding Chiffon and Roxanne's hands to pull himself up. He held onto them for a few moments while he stood making sure he was steady. Shi-Jing put a hand on his back until he nodded and let go of their hands. Roxanne pulled the syringe free and he took a slow breath that still came out a bit ragged.
"All we did was stitch the open wound. Your lung is still in bad shape and can give out at any moment. Ready to get over to medical?" Roxanne asked reaching out and grabbing his arm.
"Not yet, we need to find Amelia." He answered. The girls from West Genetics and stopped and looked at him hard.
"Varen, you need…" Attia started, but he interrupted her.
"Thank you for everything. I owe you, but we need to go." He said to Roxanne. Attia shook her head angrily slapping his arm.
"Hey! Don't ignore me! You're going to kill yourself!" She shouted.
"It didn't stop you from saving me last year. I'm not going to let it stop me from saving her. You were in just as bad a shape and still managed to bring me back." He said turning to regard the small Pandora. She opened her mouth to argue, but could not find any words.
"Alright, let's go then." She said giving up and hobbling away.
"Get the wounded down there fast as you can, we're going with them." Roxanne said to the other students.
"Rox, you can't this isn't something you need to be involved in." Chiffon argued, but Roxanne waved her off.
"Eh, I'm curious now so I'll tag along. If for nothing else, but to see how long he lasts until he collapses." She answered making Chiffon shake her head in defeat.
"So stubborn." Chiffon answered making Roxanne laugh.
"That's me! You know I love…" Roxanne trailed off as the room began to shake violently accompanied by the thunderous roar of what sounded like explosions. Cracks ran through the sections of concrete and the metal riveted walls began to buckle. A piercing screech howled through the facility causing everyone to cover their ears instinctively. Chiffon turned towards everyone a look of terror on her face before she spoke.
"Nova."