Aranea decided to avoid using the street. Instead, she was charging in a zigzag path through ruined buildings, charging toward the tall tower ahead. Just a few months ago, this would have been a nearly impossible task for her. Now she barely felt the stone walls crumbling against her armor.
I am weak no more. Aranea suddenly understood. Something moved inside her, asking to be let out, promising to make her so much stronger. Aranea forced this feeling back. She will no longer accept anything from her power. No way she will end up like her mother. She was good as she was right now. As she was closing in on the building, the wolf hag changed her approach, leaping from windows and hiding in shadows to try and fool enemy snipers.
She reached the skyscraper just as Olesya and her pack reached the square, helping to drag the injured away from battle. The unit of the Reclamation Army was closing in to help, and scout Siri with her pack began cleaning the south tower. Meaning that only the north tower still had unattended enemies, and Aranea sped up. As she ran up the stairs, her enhanced eyesight caught sight of a wire that connected several grenades. She leaped over the wire and sent a warning to Siri. The scout thanked her for the information but told her to worry for herself. The former wolf hag was sure that she wouldn’t fall into ambush.
"We need to leave!" Aranea's ears picked up on words from five floors above her.
"Shut it! They will soon be here! Why didn’t you fire?"
"But the enemy was surrendering! By the laws of war, we must spare the ones who give up!"
Aranea chose not to go on the floor with the enemies, there was little doubt in her mind that the door leading to them was trapped. She pointed at the enemy's location with her ears and moved on the floor below, positioning herself under the owner of the second voice.
"You stupid bitch, they are all will be de…" The words stopped as Aranea jumped up and crushed through the ceiling. The adversary in front of her was the same adversary who had killed her warrior. Behind him was the slick form of another enemy in a silver mask. Both of them were dressed in uniforms of black and gold, and both had silver masks underneath the cowls of their cloaks. Aranea felt anger rising in her but forced this feeling to go back, punching the man in the stomach and sending him back, causing him to fly to the back of the room and drop his weird silver rifle. Aranea felt a metal underneath his clothes. On a floor lay the dead form of another silver mask. A laser shot hit him through the scope of his rifle. Someone moved in a nearby room, and Aranea ducked low, ready to charge.
"Surrender or die, I don’t care which." Aranea forced herself to say. No matter what sort of weapons they use, these enemies need to aim at her first. She was not in danger. No matter what they have done, the rules of war are the rules of war. Obeying them here, might save the lives of others. Personal hatred and anger were irrelevant to the duty.
"We surrender, of course we surrender! Please sh…" The fallen man quickly said in a pleading tone, yet Aranea heard movements in the nearby room and in the man’s sleeve.
She jumped from the location, landing on the ceiling and holding on with her paws' claws. A round hole appeared in both walls to the right and left of the room. A projectile would surely have injured her had she not jumped away. A pistol came from the sleeve of the man, while a smaller enemy lowered her weapon in confusion.
"Kill her, you idiot!" The bulky man snapped at his partner, aiming at the wolf hag. Aranea wondered what he had hoped for, No matter. Aranea decided upon landing on him, her leg turned his head into paste, breaking through metal and collapsing the bones, killing the foe instantly. Ignoring the still-twitching body under her feet, she crashed through the right wall, coming face to face with another silver mask. The woman began lifting her weapon, her finger was on the trigger. And yet, this foe was simply too slow. Aranea managed to strike forward with her paw, using a single claw to pierce the throat of the enemy, all before the sniper could press the trigger. Grabbing the gurgling body of the enemy, she threw her into the doors behind her, breaking them. Hidden grenades went off, and a bright explosion crashed through the wall and ceiling, leaving Aranea alone with the last enemy, who was lifting her rifle in panic. Briefly, Aranea wondered how the woman was still standing, she was sure that a shockwave would knock her off her feet.
"My offer still stands," The wolf hag said in a tired voice. These senseless killings of each other made no sense to her anymore. All who died here, her soldiers, enemy soldiers... What did any of them achieve? Stopping the supply of food? "No need to die. Surely someone, somewhere, will miss you."
"Just like someone will miss my teammates." The woman snapped back, raising her weapon, and Aranea's eyes widened as she dove to the left. Her adversary was quick! Not as fast as her, but she was clearly one of the new breeds.
Aranea's ears were filled with screaming sound as her foe pulled the trigger, narrowly missing the wolf hag by a hair. Aranea kicked the rubble on the ground, sending it into the barrel of the weapon and deflecting it upward. It was just enough for the next shot to miss her shoulder. Not wanting to give her foe any more chances, Aranea charged forward, grabbing the barrel of the gun with her right paw and striking with her left, aiming for the head of the foe. The halfbreed blinked as claws passed through the form of her foe, making the barrel turn ethereal and escape from her grip, and the foe slid forward, passing through Aranea's body. She could still see the silver mask, but the form of the enemy was now murky, as if she were not fully present in reality. The wolf hag felt a tingling feeling across her own body, almost as if she had come into contact with an electric current while the enemy body passed through her. The sudden disappearance of the foe forced Aranea to fall forward. She landed on her arm, standing on it and looking back. The enemy shifted back to solid form, turning around to take aim on Aranea. The silver mask was just as fast as any warrior of the Wolf Tribe. This could only mean that she was too slow for the wolf hag. Aranea pushed her arm and jumped backward, striking with her left leg. The enemy's form became murky once more, and the wolf hag flew through her, leaving her with tingling all over her skin.
Stupid. What am I doing? Aranea snarled at herself. If one way does not work… She hit the floor with her right paw, grabbing her shardgun with her left hand. The floor cracked, and Aranea fell, using her right paw to grab onto the ceiling of the room below and position herself for a shot. She based her shot on a simple guess, assured that the enemy would try to hit her through the floor. She guessed right based on the scream in the room above.
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She broke through the ceiling in a new place, appearing before the wounded silver mask. A shot from the shardgun injured the enemy's left leg and arm, leaving large wounds on them. The silver mask still tried to lift her weapon before Aranea knocked her aside, grabbing the woman by the throat with her right paw and pressing the silver mask against the wall of the room, a wall that led outside of the building.
"Try and phase through this." Aranea pressed her shardgun to the stomach of her foe, finger on the trigger.
"Wait!" The silver mask screamed with a panic in her voice. "Please, wait! I give up, I surrender!"
Aranea frowned under her helmet. Today, silver masks lied to her; they dared to attack her allies; they dared to kill... Anger was boiling in her, demanding to be let go, demanding that she stop fooling around, demanding…
She put the shardgun behind her back, telling anger to shut up. I am me. Aranea stubbornly said to herself. She promised to be better, and it was her duty to uphold this promise. Decent people do not murder surrendering enemies.
"Dare not to resist." Aranea said to her foe, pushing her claws into the silver mask of the foe, tearing the faceplate of the silver mask, revealing a scared face beneath. The wires hissed, and Aranea tore the remains of the enemy helmet away, the communication device inside the helmet fell on the ground. A scared brown-haired woman was looking at her with blue eyes, a single scar was over her nose. Her long hair was tied up in a knot behind her head.
"Name and rank? One of your fellow silver masks mentioned someone arriving. Who will arrive and when exactly?" Aranea demanded, but the silver mask was silent. Her lips were trembling with fear, yet she forced herself to speak.
"I am not telling you anything." The woman spoke in a resigned tone, her breath hardened from being exposed to the harsh weather of the Ravaged Lands. Aranea nodded, reaching for the thing at her waist, while the woman looked at her in fear. Aranea reached for the respirator and pushed the thing into the woman's mouth.
"Here. This should help you breathe." She forced the prisoner to sit down and tore half of the prisoner's cape, using it to bandage the wounds of the silver mask, "This would all be so much easier if you and your people just accepted our offer from the start."
"You are the ones who came to invade our lands. Can’t you just leave us alone?" The woman mumbled through the pain.
"Alone? And for how long? Hundreds of years have passed since the Extinction and you are still living like savages, fighting with each other for scraps like dogs." Aranea responded, working on the wounds of the prisoner.
"Regulators are not savages! We are heroes, ones who keep raiders from preying upon our people," The woman reacted angrily, almost causing the respirator to fall from her mouth, "We protect people, from…"
"Oh, you did a great job here," Aranea responded sarcastically, working to stop the flow of blood on the leg of the captured enemy, "I saw how many dead people were on the square. Surely, the death penalty is the correct price for accepting food from the hands of enemies. Assholes."
"We tried to avoid casualties among civilians…" The woman whispered.
"Surely. This is why you looted your own people, attacked caravans that brought food to them, attacked neutral traders, and why you allowed your people to live in ruins," Aranea mocked her, "Sure. No malice here. Heroes, saints even."
"You… you lie and twist things. Regulators would never attack traders. Yes, our people live in harsh places, but this is only because we lack funds to build proper towns, and this stupid conflict drains us of what we have. Yes, we took some things, but this is only to prevent them from falling into your hands! You are invaders here, no matter how you try to justify your invasion. All deaths and blood are on your hands, you bastards!" The woman snapped back passionately, but Aranea ignored her, finishing bandaging wounds and tying up the hands of the prisoner. After this, she stood up and heard a series of loud explosions that were coming toward a square.
"Olesya, what the hell is this?" asked Aranea.
"Just our backup! Ari, hurry up here, you will miss all the f… Sly, to your left!" Aranea heard sounds of movement and the sound of claws tearing through flesh, "Careless fool! If you can't protect yourself, stay behind warriors!"
"Wolf hag Aranea?" A new voice asked, "Lieutenant Marveni Ursico here, I reckon that since you saved my girls and boys here, drinks are on me now when we get back to base."
"Thanks for your offer," Aranea smiled, "I trust that this heavy fire is your doing? Will you assist us in mopping up the enemy force?"
"Yes, my tanks and heavy teams are flushing out foes from buildings as we speak. As for assist, I am not sure if this is the right word for our help. Your packs seem to have everything under control…" The roof of one building near the square exploded, and several broken bodies of greenies and silver masks flew upward, "This was not my work, by the way, your fellow wolf hag seems to have unleashed her claws."
"You can still make up for this, sir," Aranea spoke with respect, keeping an eye on the prisoner, "I captured one of the enemy combatants and overheard the news about possible enemy reinforcements. Size and whereabouts are unknown."
"I will dispatch a team to keep an eye on possible movements of the enemy," Ursico responded with a concern, "Worry not, they will not sneak up on us again."
"Thank you, sir. Wolf hag Aranea out," She looked at the prisoner and said, "For your own sake, I hope you're not afraid of heights. If you throw up, I will make you clean my armor later." The silver mask was slung over the halfbreed's right shoulder, and one of the silver rifles was stowed behind her back. Aranea looked down on the small buildings below. She felt good for the first time in a long time. Ashamed as she was to admit it, she actually felt something today when she saw dead civilians. It may have been anger, but finally, she was starting to grow into a proper person.
"What are you…" prisoner began to ask as Aranea jumped out of the building. With her left paw, the halfbreed slammed her claws into the side of a skyscraper. Nearly stopping her fall, Aranea stood up and ran down the wall, jumping from the wall at the last possible moment and landing on the roof of a nearby small building. The stone floor underneath her broke, and she fell to the floor below, causing the prisoner to grunt.
"Wheh, this was wild. You are still alive?" The wolf hag asked the prisoner.
"My ribs hurt… use the stairs next time, please." The woman groaned, and the respirator fell out of her mouth.
"Too long. You are one of the new breeds, you can take it," Aranea said as she caught the device and pushed it back into the prisoner's mouth, "Hold on, we still have a way to go." Aranea walked toward the wall and knocked it down, jumping down the street. She came face-to-face with a few scared people in rags.
"Please don’t eat us all!" A man in front of her screamed in horror and fell on his knees, "If you need to eat someone, eat me, just let others…"
"Relax, I'm not a cannibal. Citizens, please evacuate the city for the time being. There will be more fighting, but the army will arrive soon, and everything will be fine for you to return. " Aranea gave the man a pat on the head, before charging past them. The sounds of battle had already died out, Siri reported that the south tower was cleared of enemies. Olesya granted the former wolf hag permission to lie in ambush in case new enemies appeared. Aranea felt safe as she charged toward the square. Three wolf hags were present, even if one was former. Help arrived, everything was going to be fine. They finally apprehended the prisoner, and the Resistance's involvement was all but confirmed.