The unexpected turn made the blade bounce off Den Cal Vor’s jaw, cutting a gash across his chin, before it sank into his chest. Sindika drew it back for another strike, but her aim was thrown off by a wild howl of pain and a flailing strike from Den Cal. The blade slashed across Den’s shoulder, and that was the last cut she got to make before she got tackled by Corey.
Sindika hit the ground, and Corey hit right after her, as his panicked tackle took him at an odd angle. He fumbled with the saber hanging at his waist and ignited it, watching the intense light reflect off Sindika’s bewildered eyes for a second before stabbing it down. The trigger of the energy blade forced him to hold it in a forehand grip, which made a downward stab awkward, and he narrowly missed as Sindika squirmed to the side. The near miss with the searing blade was enough to make the skin of her neck crack and turn red, at least until she kicked Corey away.
The knife Sindika still clung to scratched a groove across the kitchen floor as she struggled to her feet. She slashed at Den Cal again, cutting a thin line across his broad chest, and got slashed in return, as Den’s flailing panic sent his claws right into her face. Corey tried to follow up with his lightsaber, but stopped when he realized that Sindika and Den Cal were practically on top of each other. Any stab would go right through her and straight into him. He cursed his stupid useless lightsaber and went for a normal punch to the face. The blood from the gashes on Sindika’s face splashed across Corey’s knuckles as the hit sent her sprawling.
“To Ru!” Den shouted, as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. He looked right past Corey and Sindika, down the hall. “Where’s To Ru!”
“To Vo’s got her, she’s fine,” Corey snapped. “Focus on the- Fuck!”
The expletive was the first thing that came to mind as the knife slashed across Corey’s calf. Sindika had stabbed at him from the floor, and managed, mostly by blind luck, to get him right in the leg. Her flailing strike and the thick boots Corey wore meant the blow only barely broke skin, but it still hurt like hell, and slowed Corey down enough that Sindika could get to her feet and dash for the door. Corey took one limping step forward and let the adrenaline blind him to the pain as he dashed after her.
The door slammed open, and Sindika ran out, trailing blood behind her. Corey dashed past and got grabbed on the arm, and nearly stabbed the person who grabbed him. He only hesitated when he saw it was one of the EmSolo corporate guards, looking frightened and confused.
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“Did someone attack you two?”
“No, you, useless- god damn it,” Corey said, as he tore himself free. He wasn’t going to waste time with these company shitheads right now. “Den Cal’s hurt, help him!”
Corey kept on running. Thankfully Sindika hadn’t gotten too much of a lead while Corey was getting held up by morons. Corey had been hoping that the wounds on her face would slow Sindika down, but curiously, she didn’t seem to be affected at all. She would occasionally swipe at her face to keep blood out of her eyes, but showed no other signs of being in pain. Now that Corey thought of it, she also hadn’t showed much reaction to her skin being scorched by his saber. He filed that way for later and focused on the chase.
The suburban unit on Centerpoint mimicked what the average planetside neighborhood looked like, to an extent. Every housing unit had a small “outdoor” recreation area, but everything was ultimately constrained within what was, effectively, a very long hallway. There was nowhere for Sindika to go except in a straight line, for now. Thanks to his occasional patrols (and more frequent snack runs) Corey knew there was a maintenance corridor/emergency exit up ahead. If he had to guess, Corey would say that was where Sindika was headed. The main exit would take her to a crowded thoroughfare where bystanders were more likely to get in her way, so the maintenance corridor was a safer exit. Corey hugged the left wall and prepared himself to close the gap as they approached the hidden exit.
With the finish line in sight, Corey took a deep breath, bit his tongue to help distract him from the pain in his leg, and broke into a dead sprint. Sindika vanished around the corner, and Corey was there just a few steps behind him. The strategy was more effective than he’d expected, or rather Sindika’s strategy was ineffective. Corey nearly tripped on Sindika as he rounded the corner. The door to the maintenance hatch was wide open, but she was lying on the ground just outside it.
Corey drew his saber and ignited it, but Sindika wasn’t moving. After a few seconds of observation, he assumed that blood loss must have caught up to her and cause her to pass our. Just in case, he kept the saber ignited while he reached down, grabbed Sindika by the shoulder, and flipped her over.
As soon as he grabbed on, Corey realized something was wrong. Her body was unusually cold -not quite deathly cold, but still cold enough to be abnormal. He could also feel a sluggish heartbeat thumping through her, far slower than would be expected for someone who’d just been running for their life. The final twist came when he turned Sindika over to look at her face.
It was completely untouched. Corey did a quick double take at his own hand, and confirmed that Sindika’s blood was still all over them. Den Cal Vor had cut massive gashes across her face, but now there wasn’t even a scratch.
Corey recited a few of his favorite swear words. Nothing was ever fucking simple.