"Hey, Princess," Adel busts through my door and throws something heavy that hits my ass, nearly knocking me off the other side of the bed. "Get up, they want us in gear in 60. Sorry I didn't come in sooner."

"Fuck.... off...." I groan, struggling to wake up, pushing the heavy object off to the ground with my foot. It's so heavy it thuds on the floor and rattles the hollow tubes of my bedframe.

"Bring it to breakfast, I'll be in the mess hall."

I growl at her as I roll out of bed and fall on the floor.

"Oh shit, Beth, where are you?"

Beth fell under the bed. I grab her by her long, floppy ears and hug her. "I'm sorry, Beth."

She's been through so much. I still haven't bothered to find a new button for her right eye.

I put her under my blanket and make my bed before getting dressed.

~~

"Alright, what's in here?" I loudly slam the armored briefcase on the table. Adel calmly looks up from her tray of food.

"Whatever's in there, you probably just broke, you jackass," she raises an eyebrow.

I probably went pale for a second before Adel reassures me, "Nah, just kidding, you'll probably fuck it up way worse on today's mission. It's a hydraulic booster for your upper body exoskeleteon and joint system. It'll boost the leverage of your extension and retraction, and you can flip this switch in your HUD to-"

"Uhm?" I turn my head to side-eye her.

"Hold up, cowgirl. You flip this switch," she clicks some small lever on the device, "to redirect the power from either your arms or legs when something fails. The Suit adjusts automatically, but the override is through your MIRCS, and the manual override is right here, you can switch it as you so please."

"Thank you, Adel," I sarcastically chime in a sweet tone.

"Pfft. Don't break it."

"I might, just to spite you for this boring lecture."

"Alright, no food for you, then."

I grab her fries. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Brat."

~~

The two MIRCS nodes click into place as I stick my ponytail through the hole in the back. The Suit's breastplate folds down and secures me in place, and Adel flips on the switch for a pressure test. It stirs the fluid, rushing up and down like a second circulatory system.

At least this thing's heart isn't rotted out like mine.

"Alright, Princess, go kill some shit," Adel slaps the hydraulics and ammo rack on my back.

"Sure." I walk to the end of the hangar. The van starts up, with the two guards impatiently waiting.

Van bumbles along like always. A few minutes go by, and I decide to ask,"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

Left side guard kind of turns to me and waits 30 seconds before grumbling, "Pistachio."

Right guard waits another 10 before chuckling.

Today the van took us to some kind of jungle. Thankfully the suit shielded me from the humidity but the HUD said 100%. Really glad there's an air filtration system in the helmet.

"...and let the slaughter, commence!" Three Jackals this time, one larger, flanked by two smaller. They crouch and spring, waiting a few seconds before charging.

"Forget not to mix it up this time," PIPPA chimes to me through my Earworm.

As the largest comes straight towards me and the two smaller ones trail behind it in a triangle, I Rabbit Kick the biggest's head to launch myself in the air, front flipping before landing behind all of them. Big's head slams into the ground, dislocating its jaw. All three flinch as I pepper them with some gunfire from my right arm.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"I caution you not to become too reliant on your firearms," PIPPA pings me again. "Be sure to vary your attacks."

"Whatever," I grumble.

The three come again, and I launch myself with a butterfly kick and slash the loin and back of Jackal Major. The two Minors skid and do a 180 on the grassy floor. I fire my left FMGH, it wraps around the front right leg of Major, and I jump and sling myself forward by reeling back in. Big mistake, I realize, as I fly past and have nothing on my right arm to hit any of them with.

I fire my right FMGH and it sloppily wraps around the neck and ribs of Biggy. The smalls come to my sides, and I jump to dodge them both, reel myself in onto Jackal #1, and land with my blade in its back. It squeals while trying to bite at me by twisting its neck backwards. Barely able to pull the blade back out in time to slash at #2 coming at my rear-left, I make a decent cut across its mawl while folding my right hand's claws, making a fist, and dishing #3 across the snout with my right.

#2 manages to knock me down and start biting at my left shoulder. I feel its teeth trying to work through my left shoulder plate, but thankfully the armor is holding up.

Might not be so lucky next time.

I peck #2 in the eye with the snout of my helmet, earning myself another miserable Jackal screech as it flinches back. "What a gruesome response from the beasts! In spite of the spills, Ms. Kruger, of course, is nonetheless resourceful. Bra-a-a-vo!" the announcer chimes.

Wish I had a little more weight and maybe some spiked knuckles on my right hand, but I guess we'll find out later. Guess Adel will have to straighten the wrist brace a little. Sorry, Ade.

These fuckers are making me break a sweat today. Okay. Fine.

"Right as our heroine succeeds, it seems like trouble is abound! Who are these new contestents entering the battle?"

Two more of those ugly things jump from the trees, one in some kind of blue dress and jeweled collar, the other in a pink one. They both even have fake eyelashes glued to them.

Is this how Elin passes her time?

"It seems we have a beauty pageant on our hands! Now, a battle of the babes, between Ms. Kruger, and Ms. PonPon and BonBon!"

Pageant? Now that seems personal.

Foliage above my head is the only new thing I can try which I haven't already. With both left and right, I harpoon and tow myself to the top of a tree, and watch BonBon and PonPon crawl up the tree. They swing at me as all 3 of us bend the pitiful wood. They release the tree and lunge for me. I split-kick both away and roll upon hitting the ground, and reel the FMGHs back up. Both of them swat away the hooks I shoot at both of them.

What well-trained pets. Wonder what and who they killed to get here.

I drop the heads of BonBon and PonPon on the table.

"I mean, cool, I guess," Adel mutters, looking at the gaping faces with their tongues out.

"Feel remotely bad for them," I mutter back. "I think they were Elin's pets."

Adel tilts her head to me and raises a brow.

"Yeah," I nod.

"What makes you think that?"

"Only Elin would be smart enough to come up with a joke like this. Oh, and sorry I busted the knuckle bracket again. Probably busted my flesh and bones hand too."

PonPon's face twitches slightly.

Shit, I'm hungry. I whinge, holding my right hand looking at my bruised hands.

The mood gets a bit more melancholy in the mess hall during dinner today.

Adel munches on a fried chicken wing while glancing over to me as I play with my vegetables on the plate.

"You skipped breakfast and now you don't wanna eat?" she asks through a mouthful.

I slowly shake my head. She looks at me for a few seconds while chewing.

"What"?

Shrugs, and swallows. "Dunno. You probably should eat. You burned like, what, 2000 calories in that hour of the show?"

"I could be leaner."

"Disagree." Adel grabs another piece and waits a moment to bite. "The doc says 12% is lean enough."

"Did she?"

"The doc-"

"You're not the doc."

Adel rolls her eyes. "We can go ask her tomorrow since you get a day off."

"Fine. But I'm not hungry," I pick up my tray and try to walk away, before a large hand grabs my bicep and stops me.

She takes yet another bite, stares at me, pulling me back slowly, then carefully removes the tray from my hands.

"At least feed it to me before the trash can," another mouthful.

The rest of my evening goes by in my barracks bathroom. In spite of the extensive appliances within it, I style my hair manually. Tonight I try a pompadour with this elaborate multi-ponytail concoction I don't really understand myself.

I pose to and fro, examining my work in the mirror rig, not missing a single angle. Slowly, my lips creak to a feeble smile.

Then I immediately undo it all. I have so much hair. Seldom do I know what to do with all of it.

With my right hand outside the blanket, I lie staring in the darkness towards the ceiling, clutching Beth on my left side. Her fabric skin has worn through all the years to produce a fuzz and pills all over the surface. Although I can never get enough of feeling her soft body, at times I wish there was more than just her here.

So you're a TV celebrity, you kill everything, people fear you, you have more money than you know what to do with. Why are you dissatisfied? What else do you want?

My lifestyle is asinine to me now. I want something more.

Like what?

A better question is what's even out there. Let alone for me.

Not much, Lori.

Tomorrow's another day of killing Jackals, then another weekend to do exactly this except sitting upright. Or VR sparring. Or doll myself up for not really anyone to see except myself.

And? Are you just going to do this for the rest of your life?

Probably.

Really?

I can't even answer my own question.

Whinging in pain from my right hand, I stopped myself from making a fist.

You're mad at your own thoughts now, huh?

You're damn right, Lori.

Shut up and go to sleep.