The metal safety rail crumpled like tin foil before Rethar's momentum and the man landed with exaggerated grace. Taking a moment to dust himself off before he strode over towards Phanya, Rethar adopted an oddly cocky swagger and said, "Looks like someone conquered a shop! How was the loot?"

"I almost died, asshole! You threw me to those freaky mannequin things!" Phanya rose to a more dignified stance and glared at Rethar, whose smile only widened in response.

"Ah, but you didn't! And look at what you got for it! Okay sure, you look a little silly, but next time you might get something even better!"

Phanya stopped the slow circling pace that she didn't remember starting. "What's that supposed to mean, Rethar?"

Rethar spread his arms in a distastefully familiar way, like any time any adult wanted to be condescending and say, 'Isn't it obvious, you silly child?' Meanwhile, his voice said, "I want you to join us, of course! You're going to waste your life away in that nothing town, but here you can get the good stuff!" Rethar looked over his fallen comrades on the ground floor with a raised eyebrow and added, "And it looks like we'll have a few openings, too. But that's how it works everywhere in the world, you either make something of yourself or you get left behind. You don't need to prove yourself when you've already been blessed by the Hand! That loot feels good, doesn't it?"

Phanya's retort died on averted eyes and Rethar laughed. "I know, I can feel the power on you! And that's just the start, see my exosuit? Better than what Belvidere cages his haulers with, this is a real relic! That old bastard would shit himself a new hoverchair if he saw me now."

"And what about Fableton?" Phanya still hadn't looked up, but her steady voice stopped Rethar's gloating cold.

He recollected his wits and just shrugged. "Everyone will get a chance to prove their loyalty. Otherwise, well... the Mall takes tribute both in money or blood."

Phanya's head snapped up to look Rethar in the eye as her center of gravity shifted ever so slightly. "I see, thank you. Here's my counter-offer: how about instead you go fuck yourself." A burst of speed, and two long strides flowed seamlessly into a long jump kick aimed directly at Rethar's center of mass. He barely had time for the look on his face to turn into utter bewilderment, let alone react, and her heel impacted dead center with all the force she could muster.

Well, that was almost really cool, Phanya idly thought as she bounced off the exoskeleton. For all of her ass-kicking earlier, Phanya couldn't even smudge the paint job on the supposed relic. The only thing she did manage was forcing Rethar to take one single step back in recoil, and once the surprise evaporated he stomped down with finality.

Rethar might've said something, but Phanya didn't care to listen. Her back hit the floor and Phanya's body naturally tucked into a roll, while Rethar brought one fist down in a sledgehammer slam that Phanya dodged with ease. He was just so dang slow compared to Phanya now, his missed slam punched a hole clear through the walkway and she still felt confident. She just had to dance around the brute until Phanya found a weak point.

Tapper had other plans. He kept a portion of his attention split between watching Phanya and Rethar, watching the battle below, steering the cart, and searching for the cart's integrated speaker. His processor handled the load because Tapper was programmed to juggle multiple drink orders at once, but he had to pass over all fine details. Finding and crushing the speaker to silence the salesperson offered some relief, and allowed him to hear snippets of panicked yelling from the raiders:

"These plinkers are useless! Who's got the damn ion rifle??"

"Oh gods, they've got Hudson!"

"My leg!"

Tapper felt a bit of humor towards the panicking raiders, but word of the situation was spreading and reinforcements were starting to show up with proper combat gear. This needed to end while they still had a chance, and when he saw Phanya's conversation escalate into a fight he marveled at her superhuman agility. She didn't seem interested in directly damaging Rethar, but the ease with which she pivoted around and stayed out of his reach was the missing piece in Tapper's undergrown plan. He was currently on the far side of the circular balcony, but his cart was almost back to full speed and he urged it forward.

Rethar never saw it coming. He knew how to deal with sample carts, and aside from the boss he was one of the only people who had the gifts to catch a cart head-on and topple it like a raging bull. They never carried the loot to make that worthwhile for Rethar, but it was an excellent way to impress the newbies.

But this damn ungrateful girl kept buzzing around like a fly, and although his relic protected him from harm it couldn't save him from growing sloppy with annoyance. Rethar was off balance, both physically and mentally, when the sample cart struck him from behind at full speed and panic lanced through all that annoyance. The relic saved his life and his spine, but something in the exoskeleton cracked and his legs drained of all enhanced strength. His gift was damaged, this shouldn't be possible!

Rethar's existential crisis kept him quiet while Tapper whooped in adrenaline-fueled victory. The collision sapped most of the momentum from the cart, giving Phanya a window to jog up alongside from a safe distance. "Holy shit Tapper, that was crazy!"

"Thank you, I believe the same will dampen Zero's spirits."

"Look Tap, I feel for the guy but we can't go down there —"

Tapper shouted, "I have to save my friend, Phanya!" Shame filled the void left after Tapper's outburst, and he fixed his eyes forward to avoid hers. "I shall handle it, please get yourself to safety." Five seconds passed and Tapper thought Phanya had left without saying a word, but she was still keeping pace in deep silence.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then, she smiled. "And let you have all the fun doing something so stupid? No way. But you need to listen to me, I'll try to keep the mooks off your back, 'cuz you'll only get one shot at this. And when you do, aim for the legs. I bet that's his weak spot." Tapper made an odd sound, a quick burst of a tittering modem screech. Did it just laugh?

"The weakness of legs is a lesson I have already learned twice! Thank you, Phanya."

Phanya gave a casual mock salute and slowed to a stop, giving herself a second to catch her breath and stretch. It didn't make a difference, she wasn't winded and the effect of her Aerobic Set had worn off an hour ago back in the spa. But she needed a moment to double check that the plan was really the best her external instincts could come up with. A second look didn't change anything, the escalators were still the choke point and she still had the high ground, but a steady stream of raiders were almost to the top now. Phanya bent and splayed her fingers on the ground, it was do or die time now.

"Come on girl, let's go let's goooh what the hell am I doing AAAHHHHH!"

Phanya shot off and her terrified war cry carried her over the lip of the escalator, right into the waiting faces of raiders just a handful of steps down from the top. They were so crowded that Phanya couldn't tell them apart if she wanted to, and it just made her job easier. Some poor sod received a mouthful of shoe rubber and all of Phanya's flying kick momentum behind it, knocking him back into the throngs of his comrades packed along the entire length of the escalators.

A few of the raiders saw what was coming and tried to run away, which only quickened the avalanche of mooks, and Phanya just rode the wave down. She didn't bother attacking anyone, instead focusing all her efforts on keeping her balance with her arms windmilling and feet constantly moving. She hopped on heads, bounced off backs, skipped along skin, and let gravity do the rest.

The rolling carpet of flailing raiders unfurled at the base of the escalator and scattered those still waiting to get on, giving Phanya enough room to land and marvel. She really pulled it off! Phanya couldn't count how many faces she stepped on, but that group was at least out of the fight until they could untangle from each other.

One raider from elsewhere on the floor made a lunge that Phanya sidestepped and tripped in return, reminding her not to linger in any one spot. She didn't need to stop and punch every mook into unconsciousness, she just needed to keep them all occupied and distracted, so it was time to do what she does best:

Phanya ran headlong into fights to break them up.

If they didn't see her coming, Phanya would punch somewhere soft and kick their weapon away. If they did see her coming, Phanya would trip them up and kick their weapon away. If they saw her coming and they had a gun, Phanya wouldn't give them a clean shot. She never stuck around to trade blows; if a raider didn't go down in two hits then she'd outrun them and find someone else. Just needed to keep up the dance, and everything would be fine.

Phanya watched the situation turn away from fine when Zero changed up his tactics. Previously his hostage was a forgotten plaything dangling from his hand as Zero used his improvised hammer and back-mounted cannon to blow away the securibots, but now he was using Tapper's friend to bat away anything that got too close. This wasn't the plan!

Even that bulkhead would think to block Tapper's one shot with his hostage's body, Phanya had to risk it to take away that option. Luckily Zero was still standing proud in the middle of an open stage, so she practically waltzed up behind him to wait for an opening. Phanya didn't expect to do any real damage herself, but surely her new level 2 ability could help...

[Secondary class features:

Commanders can use a special Trick die of (1d3) to replace any direct attack with an indirect maneuver: physical status buffs and debuffs, repositioning, and commanding. You can use a trick in tandem with an attack for called shots, and enemies can make a contested check to negate the effects of the trick.]

The message was vague, but the raiders provided plenty of practice and Phanya was already getting the hang of performing tricks. Before, in the maintenance hallway, she knew how to punch and kick people without killing them, and after she leveled up those strange external instincts expanded to do so much more. Now she just needed to clearly picture what she wanted to do — say, tripping and disarming — and her body answered with alarming clarity, flowing into pivots and redirects like it was second nature.

But some raiders out-maneuvered her, and this massive bulk needed Phanya to be more careful. She focused her mind on making Zero drop his hostage and felt metaphorical tendrils of attention spreading over Zero, examining him, prodding his armor for weak points. A small pressure formed in Phanya's head, not unpleasant but intensely focused as her mind tried to find any scenario where she wouldn't just bounce off of him like Rethar.

There. Right when he reels back, he reveals a jumble of sensitive wiring in the elbow joint. Phanya dashed forward, bumped off a securibot to get the correct angle, and lashed out with a jab-and-grab. Whatever wiring she pulled away controlled something important, and with a twitch of static the arm went dead. Tapper's friend fell free and landed on his head, saved from any lethal injury by his fancy helmet but still left in a daze. Great, now she'd have to drag him out too.

Phanya halted mid-step, everything on her body freezing except for her lungs, and an old speaker crackled to life behind her. "Assault and battery detected zzt two counts. Restraint authorized." Floating a few inches centimeters in the air let her watch the securibot out of the corner of her eye, splitting down the middle to open wide and trap her. A thin red line burned across her vision, piercing straight through the robot and leaving a fist-sized hole of molten metal in its wake.

The entirely new problem of not falling on the slagged robot and burning to death required an awkward roll from Phanya, leaving her strangely off-balance. As if she had strained a muscle by using it too often, for a second Phanya entirely forgot how to center her stance and her legs wobbled violently. Despite that Phanya was very aware of the world happening around her; Tapper's friend gave Phanya a goofy half-wave before frantically pointing off to the side, where Zero's hammer was already coming down for a sideways swipe. Phanya tried to roll and deflect some of the hit, but there isn't much you can do to mitigate an entire wall slamming into you.

Phanya gasped when a shock of cold water doused her entire body and she thrashed against a floor of... sandy dirt? As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting Phanya confirmed that she was indeed laying in sandy dirt, that was now also wet because Phanya was wet. A massive waterfall took up an entire wall, filtering the light and drowning out all sound in a dull roar, and the other surfaces looked like random formations of natural stone. A cave? Phanya groaned against a sharp pain at her side and worked her way through the puzzle pieces: Zero hit her like a truck, sent her flying, and must've knocked her through the waterfall decoration in the lobby.

But it didn't look this big from the outside. Right? And it was odd to use up this much space for a cave that's empty except for a treasure chest in the middle of the floor. Dark wood banded with metal straps and an exaggerated, almost cartoonish design and brightness that made it stand out in the gloom.

Phanya's gulp echoed off the cave walls. Was that always there? She wasn't sure, but despite the need to get back into the fight Phanya couldn't tear her eyes away. It called to her just like the shoe box in the sports shop, but this was twice as large so surely it could help her twice as much...