In the privacy of his own thoughts, Ryan would be willing to admit that this wasn't the best plan he'd ever come up with.
It wasn't the worst, either, but... certainly not his best plan.
The enemy team leader had a known flaw: he didn't place any value on preserving the lives of his subordinates. As the man had demonstrated in training, time and again, he only cared about accomplishing the assigned objective, losses be damned.
How can you take advantage of an opponent like that? It didn't take a genius to come up with the obvious answer. You wave the objective in front of his face, and you let the man's own tactical shortcomings take care of the rest.
The objective, in this case, being Ryan.
Anyway, you're committed, he told himself sternly. No sense in second-guessing.
Besides, it was working!
Sort of.
He needed to figure out where the enemy Forward-Commander was hiding. Now he knew.
He needed to create some sort of distraction so that Syd and Amy wouldn't get buried by the unexpected mob of enemy reinforcements. Now he had one.
He needed to survive the battle.
...whether or not he'd accomplish that last part still remained to be seen.
"Get him! Go up there and get him! What are you idiots waiting for?" Forward-Commander-Five... no, Forward-Commander-Two, screamed, his voice cracking with rage. Spittle flew from his mouth as he withdrew in the direction of the portal, gesticulating wildly. "GET HIM!"
First to respond to the shouted stream of orders were the Canid Brutes. Backing away from their opponents, the pair of monstrous, red-eyed wolves turned as one to face in the direction Forward-Commander-Two was pointing. Without hesitation, they immediately bounded off, their loping gait carrying them up the steep slope towards Ryan in a worrisome burst of speed.
Suddenly finding themselves alone, the summoned pack of wild grey wolves began to mill about in confusion. A few continued to press Syd and Amy. Others abandoned the attack to follow after the departing Brutes, a wave of teeth and claws that Ryan had no interest in tangling with. Individually they were less dangerous than their transformed cousins, granted, but (as Amy had so eloquently pointed out) there were a whole lot of them.
Left behind in the rush, the enemy commander's bodyguard wore a conflicted look. Behind the visor of his helmet, his eyes darted back and forth between the pair of hostile War-Forms standing in front of him and the distant figure of the Forward-Commander he'd just been instructed to attack.
Ryan didn't wait around for him to make up his mind. It was time to go. Ducking back into the brush, he pushed his way through the low-hanging branches and grasping shrubs until he reached the game trail running parallel to the ridgeline, then broke into a sprint.
He'd draw out the chase as long as he could.
There's your opening, he sent to his team. The rest is up to you two.
At the foot of the ravine, the recently-promoted Forward-Commander-Two continued to berate his subordinates.
"Useless!" he yelled. "I don't care what your orders were before! I'm countermanding them! Attack!"
The man was so angry that he'd totally abandoned any pretense of using the neural network to communicate with his team, a classic amateur mistake. How embarrassing.
Finally goaded into action, the enemy Juggernaut's expression hardened.
Focusing his gaze on Ryan, he muttered, "Intercept."
"Oh, no you don't, buster!" Amy's hand flashed out, clamping around his ankle as he hurtled past. "You went and ruined my night, now I get to ruin yours!"
An oddly-specific complaint, but Ryan was a little too preoccupied at the moment to dwell on it.
Amy's interference had altered the man's trajectory, changing it from a straight line to a parabolic arc. A moment later, she was yanked off her feet in his wake, the Ability sending them both careening into the churned-up mud of the hillside with tremendous force.
Entangled with one another, the pair began rolling back down the slope, exchanging blows with fists and elbows as they went. Strikes impacted against armor in a clanking, clattering racket.
Um, do you... need a hand with that? Syd asked hesitantly, watching them tumble towards her.
No, I'll be – Amy slammed a knee into the man's side. – perfectly fine. This guy has no ground game. Go make sure Ryan doesn't get himself eaten.
Nodding, Syd vaulted over the scuffling pair, then dashed away in pursuit of the Canid Brutes. The rough, broken terrain allowed the Assassin's enhanced Agility to shine, her feet skipping lightly over protruding rocks and tree roots as she practically flew up the steep ridge.
Catching up to the Canid Brutes, she wavered briefly, her face locked in a mix of fear and determination, then vaulted onto the broad back of the nearest monster with a wordless shout.
The horse-sized creature lurched under the added weight. Hardly slowing in its galloping pace, it twisted its head to snap at the unwanted passenger. Syd, with both of her hands entangled in the Brute's black fur, hung on for dear life as they careened through the trees.
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She yelled again. Her violet blade flared, then plunged into the transformed animal's spine. It yowled in pain, nosediving into the dirt, and she was thrown clear – kicking away from the sliding animal to go flying in the direction of its partner.
Following the action on his display, Ryan was amazed. He could hardly recognize the fighter he was watching now as the frightened young woman he'd met a bit more than a week ago.
It's okay to be scared. That was the advice he'd given her, and it seemed that she'd taken his words to heart. After all, anyone could see she wasn't any less afraid now than she'd been that night.
But, afraid or not, she was putting up a fight... and she was winning.
She was doing her part. He needed to do his.
Consulting his area map, he turned at a fork in the trail, taking care to stay away from the middle of the cleared path. The pack of wolves crashed through the undergrowth behind him, the sounds of their pursuit drawing steadily closer.
They hit the tripwires stretched across the path at ankle height with a chorus of startled yips.
Never know when rope might come in handy, he thought, just a touch smugly, without stopping to see how many had been taken out by the trap. Changing course again, he headed towards the nearest pit they'd dug. Let's see if I can get a few more –
Turning the corner, Ryan came face-to-face with a mud-covered Blaster that had just finished levering himself out of the hole.
– shit.
He had no idea how the man had escaped from the trap. The holes were deep enough to prevent a Level 1 War-Form from getting out without tools or help, he was certain. They'd even spent some time testing them, just to be sure. Could the Enforcer have blown handholds in the side without him noticing? Maybe one of them had climbed onto another's shoulders, or something like that?
Not that it mattered anymore. There was a Blaster stomping towards him, and that was a more pressing issue to deal with. Fortunately, the Enforcer hadn't shot him on sight, seemingly intent on capturing him alive instead. Was that something he could work with, he wondered?
Lacking a better immediate option, Ryan raised his hands. The man roughly grabbed him, placing a threatening fist against the side of his head, and began marching him back towards the ambush site.
"Surrender!" The Enforcer's distorted, mechanical voice carried clearly over the sounds of fighting. "Surrender immediately, or your Forward-Commander will be destroyed!"
His team didn't take the news well.
With a frustrated scowl, Amy released the headlock she had the enemy Juggernaut in. Pushing himself to his feet unsteadily, her battered-looking opponent quickly put some distance between them.
Syd, crouched beside the fallen, smoking heap of the second Canid Brute, looked up with an alarmed expression.
Ryan? she asked worriedly. Ryan, what do you want us to do?
I don't want you to do anything for now, he sent back. Just... stay calm, okay? Don't worry. I'll figure something out.
"Perfect. Wonderful!" Forward-Commander-Two gloated. At the sight of his captured rival, he clapped his hands excitedly. "Yes! Yes, this went exactly as I planned."
The Blaster holding Ryan must have sent a message to him over the neural network. Receiving it, the Zorvax officer frowned in an exaggerated display of confusion.
"Where should you take him...? What kind of question is that? The mission we were assigned was to kill the traitor Ryan Wright, not to capture him." He made a dismissive gesture. "Get rid of him!"
Well, Ryan thought, that's unfortunate.
He'd been hoping that they would bring him a little closer to the enemy commander first.
"NO!" Syd shouted, surging to her feet.
She wouldn't make it in time, but he did appreciate the thought.
Time seemed to slow, as it often did when he found himself in truly life-threatening situations. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a glowing corona of energy beginning to accumulate around the cold metal gauntlet that was pressed against his temple.
In less than a second, a plasma blast was going to cook his good side, with almost-certainly fatal results... if he allowed it to happen.
Which he didn't intend to.
Writhing out of the man's grip, Ryan pulled Syd's purple Glock from his waistband and opened fire first. The initial point-blank shot caught the Blaster in the lower torso, follow-up rounds walking up his armored chest as he was thrown backwards by the impacts. Sent off-target, his retaliatory Energy Beam went wide, carving a gouge through a nearby tree stump.
The first few shots had probably done the job, but Ryan proceeded to empty the rest of the magazine into him anyway. Just to be safe.
Steam was rising from the Enforcer even before he fell. Eating that many 9×19 rounds from that close a distance would do a number on anybody, Ryan mused, even if they're in War-Form.
After the echoes of the gunshots had faded, a long moment of stunned silence followed.
The much-abused enemy Juggernaut was the fastest to react to the suddenly-altered tactical picture. Grabbing his officer around the waist, the Enforcer fixed his gaze on a distant tree. With a barked "Intercept!", he rocketed off into the sky with the enemy commander in tow.
His burn throbbing in pain, Ryan let himself slide to the ground. That had been way too close for comfort.
"Ryan!" Syd was at his side a moment later. "Oh, thank God. Are you okay?"
"Never better," Ryan assured her. "I'm just going to lay here for a minute, okay?"
Should I go after them ? Amy asked. I've still got a few minutes left on my transformation timer...
No, let them go. If you chase all the way to the portal, they might be able to call up more reinforcements, and then we'd really be screwed.
So... Amy eventually asked, as the last of the enemy disappeared from view, ...does that mean we won?
That means we won, he confirmed.
"We won!" Syd shouted. "In your face, you Zorvax assholes!"
Amy cleared her throat pointedly.
"...Zorvax buttholes."
"So, what's next?" she asked, rolling her eyes at the dance Syd was doing.
"Battlefield clean-up and salvage, for a start." Propping himself up on his elbows, Ryan began to mark positions on his team's displays. "There's two Mark-I Onyx Changers out there from the Brutes that Syd took down. A bunch of Mark-I Silvers from the Blasters that are still stuck in our pit traps, and the one that grabbed me, too. Then we need to talk about what we should do with all these bad guys that we've captured. After that, we can pack up the campsite, head back to your apartment and –"
"And throw a party!"
"– sure, and throw a party. Why not?"