Rin flashed me a glance at Katie’s words, his eyes sweeping over my injuries and the current broken state of my body. His face was a blank mask that I couldn’t read at all, but he kept his gun trained on Katie and turned back to reply to her. He must have sensed I was too out of it to reply myself.
“Bullshit, I’ve known him for too long. Nick is what he seems, he’s just involved in something way beyond your limited scope. You don’t see far enough Katie, you’re too focused on your city, a big fish in a little pond.”
He glanced back over at me for a second, his eyes now showing more trust than I expected. When he turned back to Katie, her voice was steady and authoritative as she replied.
“No tech can do what I saw him do, you need to listen. I don't hyperfocus on the politics, but I do keep track of what gets imported to cause problems for me on the streets in the real world. There is nothing that can let an unarmored man shrug off what he just went through, I’ve looked for it before. I watched his whole assault through Jorn's…"
Her voice cut out when she noticed that Jorn remained disjointedly knocked over among the other bodies that lay around us on the gravel. He stood out like a sore thumb in his pockmarked armor, but she must have been too focused on the gun in her face to notice him until then.
Her eyes widened and she stared at his still form for a moment before she swallowed hard and composed herself to continue. “I might have believed it possible until the end, with stims and training. But nine near point-blank range shots to center mass, in a tight grouping, and he's still conscious and barely bleeding? Shrugging off well aimed blows to the head? Then that whole stunt with the vehicles back at the ambush?” She spat out the last words, seeming to grow angrier as she continued.
“Your friend was swapped out for something that took his place. Whatever that thing that you’re bandaging is, Ali, it’s not human. It has outside help, and a supporting network capable of on-the-fly remote hacking like nothing we’ve ever seen. I’ve pulled Nick's records, his file, and run down every connection. I know what you’re capable of too, Ryan.” She gazed at Rin, using his actual name as she tried to sway him to her side.
“There is no way you pulled off everything with that little portable that you’re carrying around. I don’t think you’re in on this, but I had to include you as part of his entourage. Give me the gun and let me sort this out when the cavalry arrives. You’re right that I don’t have the perspective for this, I like my little pond, but neither do you. You’re just as bad as I am with your narrow focus, you can’t always rely on stats and reports. This is so big we have to kick it up the chain.”
Ali looked over at the pair as she tied a bandage around the through and through I’d taken on my leg. “Can you just shoot her? If we’re burned, we’re burned. We’re allowed to fight back against a rival's entourage should they threaten us or our charge. The council does not want weak leaders who would not stand up for themselves.” She clenched her jaw as she shot another glance at the other woman.
“See? This is why I like this girl. Straight to the point.”
Katie bristled at her words, and Rin gave her a disapproving look. “You should not have taken the combat patch after the painkillers, Ali. We can’t just shoot her.”
I decided that I’d let this go on for too long, and pushed myself up to a sitting position, shrugging off Ali when she protested and tried to push me back down. “Shoot her, don’t shoot her, I don’t care. We need to go before anyone else comes looking for us. I can’t let them take me in.”
Ali gave me a brief look of confusion, before jerking her head in one of her hasty nods and jumping up to help pull me to my feet.
“Uh, what? No man, she’s gotta die. She’s an even worse loose end than Kaylee was!” Max whined at me, his imaginary form standing up next to us as Ali stood me up and helped me limp back towards the van. Max was probably right, but Ali had changed the situation by killing Jorn before I gave in to Max’s plan. I was sick of how he manipulated and guided me, giving me information when he decided to let me pretend to have some control, and conveniently leaving out bits and pieces he did not think were important enough to bother telling me.
I was still hooked up to the medkit that was strapped to her, and I held the cables and tubes coming from the kit in my one good hand so they wouldn’t be pulled back out of me. Ali tried to get under my arm to help me walk, but my legs were whole enough to let me shuffle along effectively enough, so she just stayed closed to my side after quickly snatching up and reloading the handgun that she had set down. My first goal was not far anyways, and where I had been heading at the end of the fight when Jorn came around the corner.
I dragged my locked up leg to the side of the truck where I had fought the driver woman. I dropped the tubes and wrenched open the door with my working hand, looking to retrieve my plasma knife before we hightailed it out of there. I’d already had to replace the expensive little thing once, and it was far too effective of a tool and weapon for me to want to leave it behind.
I did my best to avoid looking at the still smoking body of the woman as I rummaged around on the floorboards for the little metallic handle that was the powered-down knife. The image of her wide eyes as I vaporized her from the inside out was already seared into my memory, a vivid snapshot that I already knew I would mentally dredge up again and again. I did not need to add another image to that memory.
I was surprised when Ali let out what I can only describe as a yelp and pulled me away from the open door with surprising strength. Gunshots rang out again, fast unaimed slugs blasting right over us as we hit the dirt. I’d failed to notice the kid that I’d stolen the rifle from in the passenger seat had regained his faculties and grabbed a pistol from the center console. Ali’s first action was to get me out of the line of fire by knocking me down, before she crouched over top of me and leaned away from the wildly shooting young man.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
One of the shots still caught me in the forehead before she dragged me away, snapping my head back as he emptied his magazine. He scrambled out of his door on the other side of the truck at the same time. He was crying, his thin face showing tear streaks running down dusty cheeks, and shouting in rage as he retreated. “You killed Ma! You killed her!”
Ali popped up after the rest of the bullets zipped past us and shot him in the back through the open door as he reached down to pick up a dropped rifle. Another gunshot went off behind us and lodged into the side of the truck. Feeling thrown right back into the heat of the fight, I turned my head and saw Rin and Katie fighting over Rin’s handgun. She had taken advantage of the distraction that the kid provided, closed the distance, and grabbed at the gun.
Rin’s face twisted up in anger and fear, showing more emotion than I’d ever seen on him as Katie jerked him around. She clawed at his fingers and swung the weapon closer to us, forcing the trigger down again and putting a bullet into the door only a few feet from where Ali and I were taking cover.
Ali pointed her own gun at the struggling pair, her teeth bared in an angry snarl as she hesitated. I heard her breathe out a curse as Katie got an arm around Rin's neck and pulled him in front of her, already having wrenched the pistol out of his hand. The two women kept their guns leveled at each other, Ali crouching over me, and Katie hiding behind Rin.
“You insubordinate, arrogant, traitorous peasants! Alianora! Step away from that thing and fall in line! If you help me take these bastards in, I’ll make sure you get to keep your position with a more deserving client." Katie screamed in anger, her lip bloody from her short struggle with Rin.
Ali held still, her extended hand shaking a little from the mix of drugs that she had taken to get through the fight. She rose to her full height, never taking her eyes off Katie or lowering her weapon. Not one to mince words, all she replied with was a steady, “No.”
Katie huffed, pointing her stolen pistol at me at first, and then changing over to Ali when she rose. Her angry tone from a moment ago disappeared, and her voice took on a new, almost soothing cadence as she spoke. “Your oath is to the council, your loyalty is admirable but misguided, Ali. Can’t you see he’s not human? He’s a spy that’s tricked you, lied to you!”
“No.” Ali said again, taking a step to the side as she kept her pistol up. Rin pulled at Katie’s forearm, struggling to get a breath through the chokehold she had on him.
I tried to push myself up, I needed to do something. I’d retrieved my plasma knife, which showed that it only had about a quarter charge left, but that was next to useless as I discovered I couldn’t stand on my own. I clipped the knife to what was left of my abused jacket, and tried to pull myself up the truck’s door with my one good arm.
Katie’s eyes softened even further. “Ali, please. Remember, I pulled you out of the pool, I gave you your life. You would have been traded away, a pet to some foreign diplomat in a far-off country. I saw your value when no one else did, you have to trust me.”
“No!” Ali yelled back this time, anger and hurt leaking through into her voice. “You made me an ornament, a toy, a cog to further your own influence. That’s what I am to you.”
I finally managed to drag myself back to my feet, leaning heavily on the open door of the truck before wobbling up onto numb and weak legs. Katie switched her gun over to point at me for a second again, dragging Rin a step away from us before swinging the pistol back to face Ali.
“Look! He’s a freak! You’re going to throw everything away to serve that thing? He should be dead!” Katie shrieked, waving the gun back at me for a moment. “Look at him! A shot to the head, and he barely even flinched!”
Ali did not waver, only taking a step closer to her while Katie had her weapon pointed at me. “He’s shown me more humanity than you or any of the bosses, managers, or officers I’ve been assigned to.”
Katie swung her weapon back in Ali’s direction, her eyes growing increasingly wild as she failed to convince Ali to back down. I found myself watching Ali, both impressed and worried. I was relieved that she had sided with me, but suddenly found myself terrified as my brain caught up with the situation and realized what exactly was currently blazing with flame. Our bridge, our link to our home country, was a comforting weight I had worn my whole life. It came with a sense of duty, pride, and obligation, and a sense of comfort and belonging.
Being an Arktrian citizen and helping our collective cause was part of my identity, a badge of honor that I wore as armor while I walked past the failed and hard-lived transients that had dropped out of society, or the burned out buildings of my neighborhood.
I enjoyed being a part of the cause, working hard and striving for more, but the bridge to that part of me was engulfed in flames and crashing into an impassable ravine that lay below. There would be no rebuilding after this. Katie had sent our citizen ID patence numbers in that first burst transmission, and there was no way my modified body would stand up to the scrutiny that would bring.
While I watched the bridge burn, I found myself filled with both gratitude and sorrow that Ali and Rin had chosen to stand with me, taking action as the fire spread and destroyed their connection right alongside my own. Then there was Tevin. Tevin... I was dragging him down with me and he was not even aware of it.
“Useless! Fucking useless!” Katie shouted, dragging Rin back a step again as a loud noise drifted in on the wind. Far off in the distance, the roar of something large signaled that we would not be alone on the bloody stretch of country road for long.
“What a load of balls. As epically dramatic as this is, we’re going to have to get moving before they get close enough to get a visual.” Max interjected while everyone tensed up at the new noise.
‘Who is it? More rebels, the army?’ I questioned Max internally.
“What’s it matter? We need to run before either camp shows up.”
‘Just tell me, asshole.’
“Bah, fine. It’s the quick reaction force, a flight of helicopters being escorted by a couple of dropships. So I’m just gonna wrap this up.” Max said, back to being bodiless but still somehow giving me a sense of direction with his words.
Maybe it was part of our minds being entwined and sharing a body, but I instinctively knew that whatever he was planning had something to do with Jorn. I stumbled away from the door, turning my stiff neck to look at where the downed armored soldier was laying in the dusty road between the two trucks. Jorn was no longer just laying there, but had pushed himself up into a sitting position and unhooked his rifle. He was partially obstructed from view by one of the trucks, and neither of the two gun-toting women noticed him in the midst of their standoff.
He leaned out, clearing his angle of attack and giving me a better view of him before he pulled the trigger. His cracked faceplate was coated in gore, bits of skin, bone, and brain that had leaked out from the hole in his helmet and ran down his chest plate and pauldron. His hollow and bloody helmet swiveled mechanically. The suit adjusted it’s aim slightly, and fired a single round from the huge battle rifle.