Wen leaned over the root in front of her, balancing her rifle as she lined up the shot. The blonde man in the gold suit stood out like a massive beacon, even with the massive robot at his side. If she could get a clean shot, she could end the entire fight and free up Alex to grab Ikal.

The only problem was that Benbeck wouldn't sit still.

His massive robot looked like a giant toy, but its movements were as fluid as an acrobat. Every time she thought she had a shot lined up, it would move itself so that Benbeck was covered from a shot. For a moment, she thought that it could sense where she was aiming at, but she knew that couldn't be true.

Shooting a rifle was nothing like it was in games. Her ex-fiance used to play a lot of shooters, and the bullets would hit the target instantly if the crosshairs were on it. However, in real life, bullets had a travel time. Shooting was more than just a point-and-click exercise.

"How am I supposed to cover people when I can't even get a clear shot?" Wen sighed, pulling away from the scope and squinting over the dark ruins. "Where are Sayed and Jean at anyways? They should be there already running interference."

The plan had been for Alex to be the distraction while everyone else in the group did their own jobs. Erin and Artur were trying to get Ikal out, though that plan had run into problems. Jean and Sayed should have been in the melee that Alex was at, but something had held both of them up.

"So it's all up to me." Wen sighed as she looked back down the length of her scope.

Alex had been thrown into the air and was falling toward the robot, one arm outstretched with a mechanical replacement. She lined up a shot on one of the robot's joints. Her ice might seriously affect it if she could land it on a weak point. The machine's joints would need to be able to rotate and move. It was her best shot.

Flutter.

As she took in a deep breath, the air above her shuddered with a whispered movement. It was a quiet sound, something she wouldn't have noticed if the area around her hadn't been deafly quiet. Wen pulled away from her scope as a shadow passed over her. For a moment, she was sure it had to be an owl, except she hadn't seen an animal like an owl the entire night they had been on the island.

Thump.

A heavy form landed behind her, and she spun, rifle ready, as she lined up the barrel with the target. A shadowy figure stood behind her, wings furling wide around it as it towered over her. Wen pulled the trigger on her rifle without a second thought. She already knew that it wasn't one of her crew members.

Hiss. Bang. Thwoop.

A cartridge imbued with pure cold shot out from her rifle, and the side of the barrel let loose a hiss of steam as it accelerated out and toward the figure. The figure brought up its wings, and Wen smiled. All her bullet needed to do was crack across it, and it would be covered in ice. While her curse was weak in close combat due to how long it took to freeze an object, it was all over if she could hit it with one of her prepped bullets.

Crack. Flap.

The wings shot out and hit the bullet mid-air, the shot cracking across the feathers just as it was designed to do. Ice should have immediately begun their inexorable crawl across the wings. However, the ice crumbled around falling feathers as they molted off instead.

Wen lined up a second shot, aiming past the wings and pulling the trigger.

Bang. Bang.

She threw herself off to the side just before the muzzle in the mass of wings flashed. Her rifle clattered out of her hands as she dove over the nearest root and rolled. She couldn't stop for a second. Otherwise, she would give whatever had just attacked her a clear shot. She slammed into the trunk of a tree and scrambled around it to put cover between herself and the assailant, her hands immediately going to her revolvers.

Bang. Thunk.

"What in the hell are you?" Wen yelled as a bullet slammed into the trunk.

She held her guns up beside her head as she listened for another shot, but the assailant had stopped. Wen knew that it would be trying to find a better position to shoot from, whatever it was. She took a breath to calm her racing heart, but she could only take in short gasps.

Crrk.

A long, sharp object scraped across the trunk behind her, and Wen shuddered. She thought of Benbeck's crew, but none were winged creatures. It could have been a curse, but she had no idea what it was. It was like she was in a horror movie, and a monster was stalking the tree behind her, ready to kill her the moment she was in sight.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Except you have guns," she reminded herself, steadying her breathing and focusing on the feel of the guns in her hands. "Stop psyching yourself up and just do it."

They weren't perfect, but they had seen her through many situations. While she was still doubting the strength of her curse, she didn't know if she could effectively fight without them, and she had them right now. That was what mattered. She just needed to fill herself with the courage to get around the truck and land a few shots on the thing that had attacked her.

She might have stayed trembling behind that tree if it had been when she first came to Erth. However, she wasn't that person anymore. She stood up, immediately throwing herself to the side and bringing up both of her guns to shoot around the trunk. She landed hard on one foot as she tracked where she thought her assailant should be, but it was already gone.

Wen spun around the area, her guns lining up with the trees as she searched for the assailant, but it was like it had never been there at all. Wen focused on her hearing, her eyes darting at every noise in the forest around her—every twig that might snap or every leaf that might rustle. She knew the assailant was there. The only question was where.

The jungle remained silent around her.

Flutter.

The sound was quiet. It was like a soft summer breeze in the middle of a warm night. Wen had a moment to locate it. It came from above her head. She spun, her guns tracking up and toward the canopy as she searched for the figure in the night sky. A winged menace descended upon her.

This time, she got a good look at it.

It was a mixture of a woman and a bird. While a normal person might call it a harpy, Wen immediately thought of the Erinyes or Furies from Greek literature. Large wings stretched out from her back as she sailed down toward Wen, and her feet were partially feathered, ending in long clawed legs, just like a bird of prey. The woman had one arm in a sling, but the other was free and holding a pistol.

As she flew toward Wen, the pistol was lined up with Wen's guns. The only question was who would pull the trigger first. Wen pulled down on both triggers and steam hissed out the side of her guns as she fired two quick shots. At the same time, the owl-woman fired her gun.

Hiss. Bang. Twoop. Bang.

In the cacophony of the shots, Wen's right shoulder buckled. She spun like she had been hit in the shoulder with a sledgehammer, twirling off to the side. However, she knew her shots had hit. That was all that mattered. The fire that now burned in her shoulder was a small price to pay.

Crack.

As she landed on the ground, cold crept across the wound, freezing the blood as she rolled. Dirt and debris stuck to her as she rolled. The cold also numbed the pain, reducing the burning heat to a cold burn until she came to a rest a few meters away. Wen had fumbled her pistol in the roll, but she still had her second one in her good hand. She forced herself up from the ground, her arm sagging as she turned to confront her assailant.

Her assailant lay off to the side, a thick sheet of ice slowly covering her body. The woman's gun also lay discarded on the ground nearby. Wen stumbled over, her head swimming as her body adjusted to the lack of a right arm. She would have to get one of the other crew members to help her fish the bullet out later. So long as she kept her gate open, the bleeding would slow from her ice-cold veins.

Cold white air spilled from her mouth as she stood over her opponent. It was a woman, as she had seen before. She wore a body-conforming pair of black tights that reminded her of old spy movies. It was horribly impractical, and she couldn't imagine herself wearing anything like it. Two holes were open in the back of the suit, and long wings covered in brown feathers stretched that out of it as she tried to crawl up from the ground.

She reached for the gun, but Wen just kicked it away as she pointed her revolver down at the woman.

"I take it you're Artemis," Wen said, hissing out another stream of cold mist from her mouth.

Thump.

"Twice now," the woman whispered as she fell against the ground, the ice slowly wrapping further and further down her chest and up her arms. "I won't let you get a lucky hit again."

"What?" Wen leaned over her, lining up another shot right at her head. "Speak up. I can't hear losers who are freezing on the ground."

"Feather Burst!"

Poof.

Wen had a second to realize what was about to happen. Her gun slammed to the side as a torrent of brown and white crashed into her and sent her flying. Feathers exploded out from the woman, and even though each individual one was light, it didn't matter because of the sheer mass of all of them together.

For a third time, her gun clattered out of her hands as she brought her arms to her face and slammed down hard on the ground. Air rushed from her lungs in a white mist, and her vision blanked as her nerves lit up with pain all up her back and even into her freezing shoulder.

She opened her eyes to the winged woman looming over her. Only shreds of ice remained on her body. Wen immediately guessed what she had done with her own curse. She had grown a layer of feathers and forced the cold off her body, sending the ice flying off in a sort of molt.

It made sense, except for the sheer force of the feathers. However, curses modeled on creatures didn't have to have direct comparisons. The woman was cursed with the powers of a bird, which meant that she could fly, grow claws, and have feathers. Everything else was a product of some strange, twisted interpretation of the Surreal.

"I've got you now."

Claws crashed into Wen's shoulders as she stepped onto Wen. Her cold shoulder heated up as the claws pierced through the right shoulder, and the left felt a new surge of pain as the talons pierced through flesh. Wen grimaced, but she was too entrapped by the woman's eyes to scream.

Yellow-slitted orbs stared down at her as the woman's face transformed. Feathers sprouted out from her cheeks and up her head, and her long brown hair was quickly replaced with feathers down her back. Even her arms disappeared into her body as she took on a more bird-like shape.

A short beak stretched out from her nose as she leaned down to peck at Wen's face.

"You won't escape me now, 'Cold Shot!'" she screeched as she came for Wen's throat.