Nadia watches as the Wyrm launches towards her- She tries to move out of the way but her body is in too bad a state, and she finds herself stuck in place.
As the Wyrm winds up its tail, it throws its body at her. Moments before connection with her head, the Wyrm splits in half and falls out of her field of view. She looks beside her to see Cassie, hunched against the side of the train with one of her blades primed.
“That was close,” Cassie exhales, “Still alive?”
“Yes, Heir,” Nadia stammers in her frazzled state.
“Can you fight?”
“No, Heir… My back, it’s-”
“Don’t worry about it, just get inside the Drill beam train. You’ll be safe there,”
“What about you?” Nadia asks.
“I still have some juice,” Cassie says, with a grin on her face.
“That’s a negative,” Preston’s voice responds over comms, “Get inside the Drill beam,”
“Preston, I don’t need-”
“Your lifeline says otherwise. From here on out, you’re both on recovery,”
“I’m telling you I don’t need recovery. There’s more I can-”
“That’s an order, Cassie!” He yells, surprising Nadia to realise this is the first time she’s heard him display even an ounce of frustration. “Get in the drill beam.”
“Ah!” Cassie kicks the ground, “Yes, Sir,” She grunts in response. “If that fucking humanoid didn’t show up this would have been smooth sailing,”
“You heard what it said. You won't win round two,”
Nadia listens to the disagreement with more intrigue than she would have expected- She’s impressed by how accepting of orders Cassie is, and she definitely isn’t in the right frame of mind if she thinks she can keep fighting.
Flesh and blood need to heal, the Krix can just replace a few parts and keep up the tempo. If that humanoid comes back, and Cassie isn’t in a safe position it will kill her. The long game is what Preston is playing.
Nadia climbs the ladder of the drill beam, using the remainder of her strength and willpower to overlook the pain accompanying each step. Cassie follows her, occasionally moaning in pain amongst the mumbling of her frustration.
“Good job, by the way,” Cassie says with frustration still in her voice, “We got the job done,”
“Thank you, Heir,” Nadia responds, with a slight smirk spreading on her face.
She arrives at the hatch, atop the Drill beam train and she works with Cassie to twist it open before they both nearly fall inside as they barely find the strength to climb down.
“Shit,” Rebecca stammers as she jumps from her console to grab the first aid kit.
“Are you alright, Heir?” She says, taking a knee by Cassie.
“Treat the recruit first,” Cassie says, rolling over onto her back.
“Yes, Heir,” Rebecca responds, stepping over to Nadia before checking her vitals, “How are you feeling?”
“Great,” She sighs, “The brink of death is an interesting state of mind,”
“You think that’s crazy, you should try death,” Cassie chuckles, prompting Nadia to chuckle alongside her.
“Thanks, you two,” Captain Hammond salutes the both of them as he towers above them, “Drill beam train is safe and moving,”
“What about the drill?” Cassie asks, “Are the others still up there?”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“They are. They ran into some resistance but if I’m not mistaken, they should be near completion,”
“Good shit,” Cassie closes her eyes.
“These two need serious medical attention, Sir,” Rebecca tells the Captain before stepping over to Cassie and tending to her wounds, “I can’t do much with what I’ve got,”
“Hmm, has the non-offensive garrison split off yet?”
“That’s a negative,” Preston responds, adding a note.
_NOTE: 43 hours to relocation site.
“How long until the split?” The Captain asks.
“Approximately six hours,” Preston responds, “Are you suggesting we get Nadia and Cassie to the Med team?”
“Yes, Sir,” Hammond responds.
“Sending a vehicle for pickup,” Preston responds before disconnecting,
_PICKUP ETA: 12 minutes
“Copy that,”
“All this effort,” Cassie slurs, throwing her hand in the air, “We’re fine,”
Nadia and the drill team laugh, but the pain brings her joy to a sudden halt.
“Has the Heir been drinking?” Siv jests.
“Only the motor oil of my enemies,” Cassie raises a fist with pride.
“What’s wrong with her?” Nadia asks in concern.
“As funny as this is. Delirium is a bad sign,” Rebecca responds, “She lost a lot of blood and suffered severe trauma to the head. She’ll live but she needs treatment before it causes any permanent damage,”
Nadia nods, somewhat pretending she managed to process what Rebecca just said- Nadia’s vision is dipping in and out as she struggles to keep her eyes open, despite how much she wants to considering she may not wake up again.
“Hey!” Cassie calls out at Nadia, waking her up from her drifting slumber. Nadia looks over to Cassie to see her glaring back with an intense energy. One that almost feels disciplinary.
“No dying,” She orders.
----------------------------------------
“Get to the gyro!” Kabela yells to Clint as they climb the drill beam,”
“On it,” He responds, opening a hatch to enter the base of the weapon.
Dante climbs up after them, looking towards the swarm of vehicles and gunners engaging ahead of the Drill beam unit. He readies his shield when a few lasers whizz past the train, one of which ricochets off the machine's armour.
_HP: 36 (-64)
_MANA: 0% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 0/230
_NOTES: Multiple broken ribs. Muscular damage from stab wound to leg.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 100%
If he takes one of those lasers to any part of his body he’s a goner. His shield was formed using just under forty percent of his mana, so it should be strong enough to handle a couple of those shots. Cassie and Nadia are making sure none of those Krix get up close so he just needs to focus on defending.
“Where do you want me?” Dante asks.
“At the base of the drill beam- I doubt they’ll be hitting the barrel and if they hit the core of the damn thing we’re screwed,”
“Copy that,” Dante nods, stepping to the front side of the drill beam’s base as Kabela opens up a large panel.
He glances over his shoulder to see an intricate series of wireless panels and sockets that almost look more like magic than technology, each one seamlessly slides into different parts of the weapon, seemingly too clean for anything that has this much field time.
His foot suddenly shifts as three lasers crash against his shield, he grunts at the impact before looking at his lifeline.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 88%
“You good?” Kabela asks, looking over her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about me,” Dante says.
“We aren’t worried,” Clint chuckles, “Certainly not about you,”
“Our only concern is ol’ Bee here,” Kabela adds.
“Bee?”
“Short for beam,” She chuckles.
“I would like to make it clear that I did not approve of the name,” Clint mumbles.
A sudden barrage of lasers hit Dante’s shield- nearly throwing him off balance before he resets his stance.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 77%
“That shield of yours is going pretty quick,” Clint shakily comments.
“They focused fire on it last time I used it in the field,” Dante comments, “I think they’re doing it again,”
“Well shit,” Kabela sighs, “Of course they would,”
“How much time do you need?” Dante asks.
“More than we’re gonna get,” Clint comments.
“Just stick through it,” Kabela says, “We’re going to work until you have five percent. Then we head out,”
“Five percent?” Dante stammers nervously.
“It’ll be close,” She says, “But we can make it work,”
“Alright,” Dante says, “Let’s do it,”