Through her cyber-helmet's optical sensors, Fii gazed upon the surreal spectacle in the distance. The sound of gunfire and shouts pierced the air, echoing through the dilapidated streets. Streams of thick black smoke curled into the dark sky and clouds of dust hung above the burning rubble.
Red and orange flashes from gun muzzles strobed against the buildings, occasionally silhouetting a figure ducking or firing from cover. In the distance, the engines of armored vehicles whined as they navigated the terrain. The violent chaos that enveloped the streets made her blood run cold.
And she was about to walk straight into it.
Unbelievable. This can't be real. This can't be happening.
Her legs felt unsteady beneath her, and her heart thudded hard and fast. But she had no time to let her fears paralyze her. She had to push forward and hope for the best.
"Stay sharp!" Virgil barked from beside her. His pace quickened. He darted ahead and disappeared behind a corner. Fii picked up her own pace to keep up with him. He wouldn't wait for her. That wasn't the kind of man he was.
After another half block, he took a right and brought her along a deserted backstreet. Judging by their bearings, Fii figured they were close to the outer reaches of the Ironclad Legion's turf.
The staccato gunfire drew nearer by the second.
"Virgil..." She adjusted the audio sensitivity in her helmet to better isolate his voice.
"Save your breath. We're almost there." Virgil grabbed the pipe rail lining the steps in front of her and hurled himself forward with a strong push. The motions and execution were textbook. Fii mimicked his technique and sprang forward in pursuit.
Soon, they emerged on the street's far end, and Fii glimpsed the trail of destruction before them. A pair of upturned trucks rested on their sides, blocking the path. Debris littered the street along with charred bodies. Stray bullets buzzed around the wreckage. A thin plume of smoke rose from a crackling blaze, the source obscured behind the crates and barriers erected ahead.
The inhabitants of the area scattered like roaches from a sudden light. Dozens of people darted and wove through the debris in an effort to get as far away from the fighting as possible. Others scrambled for whatever meager cover they could find.
Not everyone made it. One man was too slow to rise when the gunfire had ceased and crumpled lifelessly. Two people hiding behind a wall glanced around the side of their barrier to snatch a better look. Bullets laced the wood and buried themselves into their skulls.
No!
"We have to save them!" Fii surged past Virgil, using her gravikinesis and rollerskates to quickly weave around obstacles. She left him behind as she worked her way closer toward the active combat zone. She couldn't let more innocent people die.
Virgil yelled at her from somewhere behind. She wasn't listening.
Before long, she approached a rampaging Humvee rolling up the street and spraying the area indiscriminately with gunfire. People screamed and scrambled out of the way. Those who fell under the machine's path didn't have enough time to cry out before being run over.
The sight threw Fii into a frenzy. With a scream of anger, she planted both feet against the pavement and unleashed her powers. An invisible wave rippled outward and struck the vehicle. It launched upwards as if a ramp had jutted beneath its undercarriage. The driver ejected through the top windshield, along with his partner riding shotgun. The vehicle kept arching its climb, eventually flipping onto its top with an explosive crash.
Screaming, the gunmen fell from the sky. Fii watched in detached silence as she increased their weight, letting gravity bring them down hard. She crushed them beneath a column of force, splattering the concrete with red. Her stomach churned with disgust and horror, but the urgency of the situation prevented her from vomiting.
The people who recognized her rushed past her with cries of gratitude and thanks. To her horror, not all of them were unhurt.
A woman cradling her son hobbled past her. Most of her son's head had been blown away. Blood soaked their clothes and shoes. Other children trailed behind them.
Shouts and cries drew her attention to another cluster. She turned to discover the remains of a family huddled behind the safety of a brick wall. All four were covered with wounds and injuries. All were moaning or screaming with pain.
One kid yanked her hair out from underneath a car tire. Three men strained to lift a jagged slab of concrete from a pile of corpses. A girl collapsed into the arms of her mother, blood oozing from her crushed legs.
Several called for help, many clutched their wounded and dead, and all seemed to gravitate around Fii.
So many voices filled the air in a cacophony. It overwhelmed her and drew tears from her eyes. She could barely listen to one without another one seizing her attention. Panic threatened to engulf her mind. Her trembling legs wanted to give out beneath her. Her fists clenched until they went numb.
Virgil finally arrived and shuffled beside her. He knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled.
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"Breathe." His calm, deep voice cut through her daze.
She exhaled, unable to produce any words. What could she say?
"Focus on getting people out. Anyone you can. If you spot any Adrenomancers, deal with them quickly then move on. Start small and work your way from there."
"Got it," she answered hoarsely.
The fact that she'd acknowledged his command comforted her somewhat. Virgil seemed to sense this and gave a curt nod before running into the fray. She watched him leave before gathering her nerves and setting to work.
Moving among the stranded and wounded people, she focused on moving them from the safety of their barricade and evacuating them further into the slums. She guided people through backstreets, calming the panicked with reassurances and instructions. When an arm was required, she provided it.
"When we get past this section, you guys are free and clear," she said, her voice bolstered by the cybernetic modulations of her helmet. "Keep your heads down and stay in the shadows. I'll make sure we get—"
A trio of Adrenomancers bounded around the corner, heavily-armed with rifles and faceplates. They caught sight of her instantly, raising their guns to open fire. Fii leaped between the strangers and the gunmen.
Her helmet's HUD honed in on the type of rifle they possessed—military-grade submachine guns. She had already experienced the force they generated and now knew much much force she needed to exert against them.
The moment their guns flashed with fire, she erected a gravity field large enough to encompass the injured and prevent any bullets from reaching them. They dropped harmlessly to the ground and pinged off the pavement.
After adjusting the force of her field, the incoming bullets swerved around her as if guided by invisible hands. Each lead-loaded projectile orbited in the air before shooting back at her attackers. They jerked and convulsed as the rounds she reflected drilled through their body armor and ripped into flesh.
"Go, now! Get out of here!"
They obeyed and darted off. When they were well out of harm's way, Fii augmented the gravity around her adversaries until they doubled over from the effects. In their weakened state, the increased force flattened them against the road. When Fii finally released her hold, they lay still and bloody, with rib cages and bones protruding through their clothes.
Fii blinked numbly at the remains and proceeded onward. Another pair of gunmen raced out from her peripheral vision and spun their guns at her. The same reaction. They met the same fate.
Each death numbed her. At one point she had to retch behind a dumpster. Another time she tripped over her skates and vomited onto a corpse.
She was getting tired of taking off her helmet each time to hurl.
Each encounter left her staggering and nauseous. Guilt weighed heavy in her stomach, yet her instincts told her to push on and keep helping those she could. She knew she couldn't stop until the situation resolved. If she allowed herself to ponder her actions or even assess how she was doing, she would be forced to come to grips with her choices.
No. That had to wait. Focus on rescuing and saving people. Get them away from here. Stop those bastards.
Nothing else mattered right now. Not the part of her screaming within her psyche, not the quakes wracking her body and tears running down her cheeks. Just keep moving. Move!
Fii scaled up a building with her rollerskates and leapt high in the air, altering her gravity to slow down her descent as she surveyed her surroundings. Flashes and popping noises sounded from a two-block radius ahead. Cries and pleas rang out from the far end where a multitude of people huddled on the ground, trapped.
Closer to her position, she glimpsed two silhouettes leaping toward her position. They dropped on the rooftop in front of her. In a blink they pulled their triggers and began sending a storm of lead her way. Fii narrowed her eyes and sharpened her concentration. Each bullet deflected.
She extended her hand towards them. Several baseball-sized pieces of broken concrete levitated in front of her palm and with a sweeping gesture, sent the stones hurtling at them with the same velocity and force as a rifle shot.
The first rock nailed one of the Adrenomancers in the head, bursting his helmet like an eggshell. The second slammed into the chest of the other Adrenomancer and sent him sailing across the rooftop. She didn't relent until the debris pulped them into unrecognizable mush.
She barely had time to catch her breath.
A metallic whine brought her head swiveling around in time to glimpse the incoming RPG. She generated a gravity field a hundred times the usual magnitude in order to offset its acceleration and slow it to a near standstill. Next she pushed outward on its gravitational vector and flung the payload skyward. The rocket detonated hundreds of meters above with a burst of thunder.
As the loud boom echoed throughout the streets, Fii sailed towards the building housing the launch tube. The rocketeer dropped his launcher and produced a pistol. Three bursts of plasma fizzled from its muzzle and exploded the exterior concrete around the windows. By the time she was upon him, he'd jumped out of his position and skirted along the side of the roof.
Oh no you don't! Reach him!
The hazy ripples in space marking the range of her influence stretched and grew. With a hoarse groan, she extended the range a bit farther—forty meters...fifty meters…sixty meters! Her mind burned from the exertion. Almost there!
"Come...onnn..." The space warped and distorted unnaturally. The man leaped from the rooftop and continued sprinting along a hanging terrace. The scenery rippled as she delved a final ten meters.
Gotcha!
Her power wrapped around him and slowed his descent to a crawl. The gunner gawked at his situation in bewilderment, apparently uncertain as to whether he was simply falling or not.
Fii pulled him and herself towards each other, flying faster and faster in the space between them. As she neared, she built up her speed and spun to deliver a devastating somersault kick to his chest—augmented by the combined forces of momentum, centrifugal energy, and altering the local vector of gravity. She broke through his body armor and shattered his sternum. He spiraled and crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.
She pulled herself to a nearby building and stood on its side. Taking a few steady breaths to ease the tightness in her chest, she roller-skated back toward the clustered group. There had to be at least fifty people; too many for her to move on her own. She'd need backup.
"Edith! Can you spare some drones to guide these people out?" Fii asked aloud.
Helix informed her.
"Roger that. Thanks, Helix. Also...have you heard from Virgil? Where is he?"