Who knew the end of the world could be so chaotic?
Their shuttle dropped out of warp space, signals flaring up across the pilot's screen almost immediately. Sasha squeezed GT, everything flowing around her from the legionnaire signals to those of graduates to the soldiers fighting down below. And considering Athena's bright purple glow, she doubted the battle would end anytime soon. Even if she tried to go for the Stem & Root portals.
“Looks like they’ve got their hands full,” one of the pirates said.
Gabriella stood up, returning to her drill sergeant persona.
“Alright, everyone, get ready," she said. "We’re going in hot!”
The ground team all saluted in unison, blasters and grenades at the ready as the shuttle plunged forward. Sasha watched from the window as the war for Athena raged on.
Where there had once been clear blue skies, there was now only a haze violet magnified by the many different portals lying open around them. So many, in fact, that the shuttle had to swerve to avoid both them and the flying legionnaires pouring out. Sasha held onto her seat.
Cripes. Was Shiny this bad too when it fell?
Gabriella signaled the pilot and the doors flung open.
“Beetle, Bloodred, Finch!” Gabriella shouted.
They all ran to the edge, Bloodred and Finch raining blaster shots on anything that so much as looked in their direction. Beetle did the same on the other side, though his weapons of choice were an assortment of grenades he threw out at random. All of which exploded with deadly accuracy.
“Paulina, Neptune, Ben," Gabriella said. "You three take the South. Olive, take Finch and sweep the North.”
They all saluted, Beetle and Bloodred stepping aside so their allies could make their jumps.
Given they were in an active warzone with both sides hostile against them, having a safe landing was naturally going to be just a pipe dream. Instead, Gabriella had opted for something simple. Barrier generators. When the teams jumped out, they would huddle together and use flat disks which produced temporary fields. Something only she and Sasha could do naturally. The only issue was the fact that it left them easy targets for the duration of the jump.
But Beetle and Bloodred did their part to draw as much attention on themselves as possible. Enough that the barriers wouldn't break until after the groups had landed.
“That leaves the East for us, Sasha,” Gabriella said, looking to her. “Figured you’d wanna take the prison yourself.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Sasha nodded, taking up position near the doors.
If the endless horde of fliers was any indication, she fully expected to be fighting for her life the minute she dropped. But for once, the thought of being overwhelmed didn't quite scare her. Quite the opposite, in fact. She gave Gabriella's hand a squeeze, the human raising their barrier disk at the ready. With a final nod to the three remaining with the ship, they dove forward.
"Take no prisoners, sir!" Bloodred shouted over her own blaster shots.
Gabriella clicked on the barrier disk and a field sprung up around them.
Sasha squeezed even closer to her friend, the dome much smaller than she'd thought it'd be looking at everyone else's. And compared to the barriers she could make, it felt much less solid. Like they were falling with a flimsy plasma shell. But she endured anyhow. Better to save her strength for the fight to come. As they passed by clouds and more portals, she spotted the city of Artemis coming in fast below. Along with what would be their ticket to Fort Zeus.
Even with all the legionnaires wreaking havoc, they hadn't touched the teleporters. In fact, some were even coming out of them.
"Figures they'd invade the Crial Zone too," Gabriella muttered. "It's gonna be a messy fight, Sasha."
"Isn't it always?"
She braced herself as they finally came crashing onto the street, the barrier distributing the impact, but cracking almost moments later. Sasha pulled away, fully embracing the newfound freedom as she stretched her arms and tail. Though she had no idea how far they'd fallen, she couldn't even see their shuttle through all the haze of purple above.
Gabriella loaded her blaster, wasting no time in making a break for the nearest teleporter.
"Let's go!"
"Right behind you!" Sasha called running after her.
It didn't take long for the White Legion to notice their presence.
Sasha thrust out with her staff, deflecting a giant arm needle arm that came flying towards them while Gabriella snipped the attacker into mist. Others came bounding on all fours, but a few quick staff swings turned them into fine powder. Sasha purred, watching as more and more monsters descended. This was it. This was what she'd done all those annoying volcano diving and geyser meditations for. With every monster she killed, she felt more and more confident. Smiling even.
Sure it was technically a stealth mission, but she wanted to scream out to the world.
Bring it, tail brains! Sasha the Panther is here and she's gonna knock your teeth in! Come at me!
Instead, she had to settle with screaming in her mind.
"Here we go!"
Gabriella plunged forward, the two having already made it to the teleporter. Sasha had to dive in on account of a legionnaire coming out at the same time. The powder flew around her face, but the stuff thankfully didn't seem to have much physical presence. It blew away with the wind, Sasha managing to run right through it without problems.
The Crial Zone was surprisingly intact, all things considered.
Gabriella blew apart monster after monster as she navigated the ruined landscape, not even bothering to check a map or her commpad. As if she needed to. This was the place where she'd spent the most time as a kid, though the girl never liked going into detail about it. Even going so far as asking Sasha not to press when she'd wondered about what her Papa had taught her.
"Fort Zeus should be dead ahead," Gabriella said as she shot down a flying legionnaire.
Sasha nodded, picking up the pace.
The exit teleporter was just as crowded as the others, but it was nothing the two of them couldn't handle.