The guns on the harness’s shoulder came to life. They rattled as they spun up, barrels twitching to follow the men around the scrap. Eyes high on the harness’s faceplate gleamed a murderous red. Streaks of red light lit up down the lines of the harness’s body, almost as if it were dripping with blood. The light from her harness dyed the entire scrapyard red.

The remaining men, looped loosely behind the harness and splayed across the scrap in front of it, backed away instinctively. A few in the rear turned and ran, then more and more, until they were all running, white-coated men running for their lives. There was no fighting against a war harness, not as a mere human. Their bullets would bounce off its armor. Their grenades would barely rock it. It wasn’t possible to defeat it.

Despite that, the black-coated men stood steady, still in formation. The few men who’d been knocked free reformed. One limped over, barely able to walk. Both of his legs were twisted, one so broken it was hardly recognizable as a leg. He tried to step on that leg and tumbled to the ground. Even that didn’t stop him. He crawled to the formation and used his gun to prop himself into place.

June sucked in a breath and reached back. If I have to…

Three tensed. His fingers twitched.

“Fall back!” Chunk shouted suddenly.

“What? Now? I haven’t even—”

“Fall back,” Chunk repeated, and the black-coated men obeyed.

Three glanced at them, then Chunk, and shrugged. As he turned away, he glanced over his shoulder at Sasha, still hunkered behind the car, one hand protectively on Arelia’s shoulder. “You got lucky today, Sasha. Maybe next time, huh? Let’s even up that count. Two more losses until twenty!”

Sasha bounded up over the car. A blade materialized in the palm of his hand.

“Oh? Still ready to fight?” Three turned, arms spooling out.

Bam!

Black metal descended, a wall between them. June curled her harness’s hand around Sasha and glared fiercely at Three, herself clinging tightly to the edge of the cockpit. “Your friend there has the right idea. Leave. Now.”

Three’s eyes went wide with anger. He laughed derisively. “You think you can threaten me? Do you think we’ve never killed pilots before? You should ask your friend Sasha there—”

“Three,” Chunk warned, voice low.

Three shuddered and froze. After a moment, he turned, face wiped of emotion. “I’m coming.”

Sasha jumped at June’s hand and scrambled over it, unimpeded despite having use of only one arm. Before he could climb to the top, June scooped him up into the air, turning her hand to capture him the way she’d turn it to keep a spider from running off her hand. “Don’t be stupid, kid.”

Her heart raced. Go. Just leave already. Please.

Down below, the men messily piled into their helicopter and cars, desperate to get away. Her eyes lingered on the two in the rear, Three and Chunk. Three never looked back. He slumped into the helicopter’s passenger’s seat, long arms crossed.

Chunk paused, hand on the driver’s side door. Inscrutable lenses studied her, metal face utterly motionless. At last, the final dark-suited man climbed into the helicopter. Chunk climbed into the driver’s seat, and the vehicle took to the air. In the distance, Regis Group’s signature white-and-gold cars sped away, back toward their headquarters.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Only when they finally vanished did June sigh, exhausted. For once, everything went according to plan.

“Put me down,” Sasha demanded.

Startled, she remembered she was holding him and knelt, carefully lowering her hand to the ground. He jumped off her hand and ran a few steps away, scowling the whole time.

“I could’ve beat him, if you hadn’t stopped me,” he muttered.

“Sure you could’ve. We were in a tight spot, kiddo. Best to let them go for now.” The harness knelt, then climbed into a resting position, knees folded above its head, arms tucked along its side. Once it had settled, June disconnected the wire and stretched. She eyed the distance from the cockpit to the ground, and started to climb out.

Sasha looked at her. “You could’ve killed them all. Ended everything, right there.”

“Could’ve accidentally squashed you and Arelia, too. Wasn’t worth it.”

He nodded at the harness. “There’s still time. Shoot them down.”

“I’d love to, kid, but, one, I’ve already committed enough war crimes in my life. Two…” She paused in her climbing and reached up to bang on the ammunition drum connected to the gun on the harness’s left shoulder. It rang out hollowly. “I don’t have a single shell left.”

Sasha scowled. “It was a bluff?”

June grabbed onto the harness’s leg and slid her way down it. “Not completely. I could’ve fought, if they hadn’t ran. But I’m glad they did. Didn’t want to risk hurting you.”

His expression turned darker than before. “I’m not that weak.”

“Never said you were.”

“Then… it’s Arelia’s fault?”

June shook her head. “No matter how strong you are, if my harness steps on you, that’s it. I would never put you or myself in that situation. Or anyone else, for that matter. Let’s look on the bright side. We’re all alive, and they’ve retreated.”

“They’ll be back,” Arelia said. Her voice was raspy, but the grim note in it still came out. She looked behind them, to a distant tower in white and gold. “Father won’t give up that easily.”

June followed her gaze. A dry smile spread across her lips. “I wouldn’t expect him to.”

“You’ve lost the element of surprise. They’ll be prepared for the harness next time,” Sasha said. His voice was flat, emotionless.

June turned away from the tower, back toward the Block. “But we’ve gained something, as well.”

Arelia’s brows furrowed. “What? What have we gained? I—no one followed me. I don’t have any support. You brought out the harness… I don’t suppose you have another?”

June shook her head.

“Then what? We’ve played our hand. They’re going to destroy us.”

Arelia and Sasha both stared at her, fear in one’s eyes, resignation in the other’s. Arelia clenched and unclenched her fists. Sasha shook his head slightly, hair dancing around like silk.

June laughed gently. “Let’s sleep for now. We can worry about that in the morning.”

“In the morning, we might be dead!” Arelia snapped.

“I very much doubt that. She’ll watch over us.”

“Who?”

June glanced at the harness. Its eyes lit with a faint light in response.

“Can she build us a hut, too?” Sasha asked, glancing over his shoulder. The blue tarp was strewn across the scrap. The foundations of the hut remained, but there was no longer a ceiling, and most of the walls were gone or reduced to scrap themselves.

“Alright, alright, cut me some slack,” June said. She shook her head and stomped back over to the hut, dragging the tarp over some of the nearer supports to make a smaller hut, or maybe a tent. “Good enough?”

Sasha nodded and climbed inside.

June glanced at Arelia.

She hesitated, on the brink of opening her mouth.

Rather than let her speak, June took her shoulder and drew her in for a hug. “It’s been a long night, okay? Let’s go to sleep. Whatever you need to say, you can say it in the morning.”

Arelia stiffened, then relaxed. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She smiled and let go. Arelia followed Sasha into the hut.

Only when they were both gone did she finally answer her comms. The tablet had been vibrating madly the whole time, since she’d climbed off Nightmare.

“June. I’m packing right now. Where are you? I’ll pick you up.”

She stared at the harness, at her Nightmare. Bathed in the white and the red moonlight, it cast two shadows. One pale, one blood. Two paths. Two futures.

June sucked in a deep breath. “I’m not running. Not this time.”

Silence. “June.”

“I can’t hide forever, Tooly. And I’m not going to sit back and watch as the Asteri mess around with us again.”

Tooly grumbled incoherently to herself. “Dammit, June. This isn’t Oubring. We aren’t in the Wilds. The war is over.”

“It’s not over. It’ll never be over, not until I drag those Asteri down from the sky.”

One last sigh. “Dammit, June.”

The line cut off.

June stood in the darkness and at her harness in solemn silence. Time passed. The moons crawled across the sky. Finally, she shook her head and turned away, over to the hut she’d constructed.

It’s too late to regret. Too late to turn back. I’ve made my stand.