You say horrors can be done for good reasons, but horrors they remain.
The forest's red leaves fell down around her as she watched the sun setting. It was pretty enough, she supposed, but was spoiled by their lack of choice. Just another hiding spot for those the world labeled monsters.
She heard his footsteps crunching on the twigs. She hurriedly put on her mask. He got mad when she wasn't wearing it on missions, and she wanted to keep him happy.
The skull-like visor covered her eyes, but she was still recognizable. The point was not to hide, but to instill fear.
"Blake," his voice came. "It's time."
She turned to look at her love. Adam's mask was on, of course, and his crimson hair stood up in spikes, folding around his bull's horns. He wore his black blazer and pants, with his red wilting rose emblem on his shoulder.
She got to her feet. "Let's get this over with," she said and followed him.
The cliff was nearby and offered an excellent vantage point on the tracks. Intel was spot-on: the train came roaring through the woods at exactly the time they predicted. Blake glared at the snowflake emblem emblazoned on it.
Adam gave a nod and unhesitantly, she leapt off the cliff, falling towards the cargo train. Adam was a hair's breadth behind her as she plummeted towards the vehicle's roof.
Tucking into a roll, she yanked her scabbard off her back and hurled it at the train, holding on to the long ribbon attached to the hilt. It wrapped itself around a pipe and she was yanked forward. She kicked through a panel in a roof and landed inside a car. At the same time, in perfect unison, Adam whipped out his scabbard and fired the gun built in. The recoil sent him flying backwards, onto another car. He fired a couple more shots to slow his fall as he disappeared
Within the train car, Blake stood up slowly, her long legs encased in black tights. Her short dark hair pooled around the large cat ears protruding from the top of her head. Black ribbons coiled around her arms, leading up to the black vest covering her torso. Her midriff was left bare. A purple cat's-claw emblem was emblazoned on the bottom of her vest.
All around her lay crates emblazoned with that same damn snowflake. Guns. Bombs. Things meant only for killing.
Also, two dozen white-plated robots aiming battle rifles at her. Those were there too.
One of them was reciting something in its grinding monotone. She'd heard it all before- "trespassing on official SDC property", "place your hands above your head", ect. Honestly, robots weren't nearly as fun as normal human guards.
She grabbed her sheath once more and flipped a switch, and a handle extended from the tip as the weapon transformed into a pistol. Blake opened fire, her opening salvo cutting down six robots. The rest opened fire from their rifles, but Blake, with lightning speed, leapt over them and rained down lead as she fell. She landed behind one and it spun around, deploying the blade in its arm. She retracted the gun-handle and slashed the robot in half with a single stroke of the sheath's razor-sharp edge.
Three robots unleashed hell from their battle rifles, but when the bullets struck the Blake standing before them, she merely vanished into shadow. The robots stood in silence for an instant, their coded brains trying to process it, when Blake melted out of the shadows behind them. In a single stroke, she bisected a robot, the force of the blow hurling the two halves at its fellows. She shifted her grip to the ribbon and swung her weapon in a broad arc, slicing several of them apart in a single swing. Spinning on her heel, she cut down more. Then another swing. By then, she was the only one still standing.
She could hear violence in another car as Adam made his landing. She hurried towards him, rushing through the cars. A few robots activated to stop her, but were quickly dispatched with a couple strokes of her sword.
Blake burst into the car Adam had landed in just in time to see the conclusion. The shattered pieces of several robots lay strewn about the floor, cut apart with lightning speed. A few robots were shooting at him, but moving like a whirlwind, he was slicing the bullets out of thin air. She watched in awe as his sword began to glow red with stored kinetic energy. Adam grinned as he spun around into a slash. An arc of crimson energy rushed through the room and struck each remaining robot, reducing them to dust.
He turned to her and gave a nod, and they sprinted down the train. They'd already destroyed most of the robotic sentinels, and they quickly made their way to the engine car.
Adam grabbed the metal door and, with a grunt of effort, ripped it off its hinges in a massive tearing of metal. He stormed into the room, the human engineers instantly raising their hands in surrender.
"Get on your knees," Adam commanded. Their faces pale with terror, the men did as they were told. Adam smiled. She knew how much he loved to make humans afraid. They were a weak people, he always said.
Adam tossed Blake a bag of charges. "I'll plant mine on the weapons cars. Should blow 'em all to pieces."
"Where should I plant these?" said Blake.
His jaw tightened and she knew she had angered him. The apology was already on her lips as he barked out "Here! Obviously!"
"What?" said Blake, turning to look at the engineers. They were cowering under their control panels, barely even aware of the two terrorists' conversation. "But they're just workers! They're not like the guards or the overseers! They're just carrying-"
His foot shot up into her stomach. The blow sent her sprawling and she gagged as she got to her feet. "Never question me on a mission!" Adam roared. She murmured her apologies frantically, even as she struggled to breathe, and he grew quieter as he continued his speech.
"These things… they're not like us, Blake. Even if they don't hurt our people, they could any time they choose to, and their laws wouldn't punish them. Their existence means that they can hurt us whenever they want. It's time we hurt them back. Do you understand?" With his last sentence, he helped her up.
She nodded, her mouth still sputtering out apologies, as if automatic. "Good," said Adam, his voice once more kind. "Now plant the charges and let's get back to base."
With that, he turned to walk away. Blake looked at the bag of charges in her hand, then the engineers huddled on the ground, trembling.
She knew that she had crossed a line. She shouldn't have questioned him, he knew more than her.
But… she just.
Couldn't.
Do it.
She was a coward. Weak. She never deserved her ears. But there simply wasn't any other way.
As Adam walked back into the weapons car, she crept after him, her movements utterly silent. She stared down at the connector between the engine-car to the rest of the train. Between her and Adam.
Blake unsheathed her sword and prepared to cut her life away. She closed her eyes and slashed downwards.
He must have heard it instantly. As the rest of the train pulled away, he rushed to the edge of the train. He screamed; threats and pleas and appeals, but Blake didn't hear a single one.
The engineers got up to thank her, but she had already vanished into the shadows.