Ace and Razor lead the way.
There's no hesitation to them, no pause to collect their thoughts, no time to evaluate a thousand different strategies and decide which one is best. There's caution to Razor, but there is no fear to temper her speed. There's boldness to Ace, but there is skill in abundance to make it pay off.
The two of them seem to forget about me as they advance toward the drone factory complex. Without any fanfare, trouble, or issue, they wipe the icy ground with more than a dozen anklebiters along the way. The scavengers are hardly there–only an afterthought, gone the next second after they make their presence known.
It's interesting to see how far they've come…
I stay quiet and stay out of the way. I'm not like them. Even with Fearless active, it doesn't change the extent of my utility. Maybe I am too sensitive, because that joke Ace made at my expense is still rattling around my mindscape. Zero times anything is still zero. Even Tune is fighting, but I know if I tried it would only hinder their flow.
I'm just useless.
Ace gets a nasty bite from an anklebiter. Bashing it with her pistol, she pries its pincers off her and throws the limp corpse away. "Little help here, Witch!"
"I don't–What? Me? I don't know what to do!"
"Attack them! Just like before!"
I wail nonsense, waving my hands around. "How? That was different! They're right in front of me now and I'm–"
"You're scared?" she snarls, getting in my face, taking a fistful of my hair, and yanking it to the side. It hurts! "Fine! You're scared! Be scared of me!"
"Wh–Wha–"
Her pistol barrel presses at my ribs. "If I get bit again by a biter that you could have easily kept off me, I'm going to fucking shoot you, Witch. Hear me?"
I gape and gawk, fumbling for words. "You're going to shoot me?"
"Her too," Ace adds, jerking my head by the hair again to throw me forward to my knees. The gun pushes my head forward from behind. "If either of us get bit, you get shot, Witch. Simple as that."
"Help me, damn it!" Razor shouts between slashes. "What the hell are you two doing? I'm getting maimed!"
With my lips pressed together I scream, then blurt, "Okay okay okay okay! Get that thing away from me!"
Ace slips past me, going right back into the fight with her pistol blasting.
The Precision Gunner's aim is lethal.
Taser zaps three and Tune crunches a few more and I frantically get my CleanTech going to shoot another green Prism Bolt at an anklebiter just about to snap its jaws shut on Razor's face. The shot intercepts the insect mid leap and pops its sulfuric acid canister, doubling the corrosive decomposition's rate.
"Thanks!" Razor huffs with a flicker of a smile, diving right back in.
Ace calls out, "That's more like it, Witch!"
I did it! I killed it! Shit, it's much different up close! After feeling good about myself for about one second, it all comes crashing down the second after.
The biters are now coming for me.
I manage to sustain my Fearless Tech and take initiative, clearing the distance between myself and the others. "Heads up! Loud noise!"
After waiting for a brief beat I clap my hands together and emit my Shockwave CleanTech. The booming force thumps hard in my chest and staggers me–too weak to do any damage to machines our size, but the biters aren't so fortunate. The blast sweeps a dozen or so in a three meter radius away from me. Ace fires five shots in all different directions, a few of them without even looking, and pierces holes through six different biters in mere seconds. Razor slices through two in a single slash, follows through to catch a third, turns to walk away, and sheaths her sword–all in one beautiful fluid motion that leaves a fiery indigo arc in the air for a second or two.
Done. The immediate area is clear.
Ace tosses her head back and laughs, her knife now coated in plasma from an Energize Blade, and Air Burst pressure hissing from her other forearm. "Too easy, you little insects! Too easy!"
Strutting toward us Razor says, "If it's a real fight you want, Ace, you can go find it on your own. We're scouting. Not besieging."
"You move like you're made of damn water, gorgeous. It's way more beautiful seeing it from my own perspective."
"Thanks, handsome. I know." She pulls Ace in for a kiss then stands in front of me, checking me over. "Not hurt, are you? Don't lie to us."
"I'm fi–I'm fine," I choke out, checking myself too. "Fine. Are you hurt?"
"No. I'm clearly made of more graceful material than Ace over here."
She's nursing the bite in her bicep. "Yeah, well, when you're counting on someone and they don't deliver…"
"Well, whatever you said to her sure worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it did. Worked wonders, didn't it!"
"What did you say? I'm curious."
"Uh. I threatened to shoot her."
"You what?"
"I do not want to hear it from you, who shot Zenith in cold blood."
"It was a telemetry malfunction! I was just about to offer Badeep's help with that bite of yours, but forget it! More coag gel for me."
I reach to address the wound using my last L1 Charge.
Ace pushes my hand away. "Save it. It's barely bleeding; I'll manage."
Letting Badeep help her anyway, Razor asks, "How did you get so chomped up anyway? They got through your overshield awfully fast."
"Think my right knee is a bit corroded. Feels… sticky. Kind of slowed me down, I think."
"That sounds like a lame excuse."
"It is a lame… statement. Because lame is–like a lame leg–"
"I get it. No need to embarrass yourself further."
I remind them, "Your hardware replacements were sourced from the best I could get my hands on, but that doesn't mean they're in ideal condition. Ace, your right knee is from Nep-67, and it is a little jammed up, you're not wrong. So… Be careful."
"Noted," she sighs, lifting her leg to try working out the stick.
Razor watches her for a little while then hums. "We don't have any good armor plating built or equipped either, and you're already out of handgun bullets. I think we should consider bagging our kills and collecting some scrap so we can RTB."
I don't know what that means but Ace replies, "Not yet, it's too early to go back."
Oh, go back to the Station? RTB? Realtime… benefit?
Razor scoffs. "Early on what timeline, exactly?"
"The damn day-night cycle! It's two in the afternoon, Cipher time! We finally got into the basin an hour ago and you want to turn around already? We'll be fine. I have another Tech–No, I don't. Damn it, forgot I used Energize Blade. Can you please spare me a hit of Overshield?"
"I would, since you asked so nicely, but I'm spent on Featherfooted and Suppression Field."
Slotting the L1 Salts into place in my right forearm, I let the energy drain into my Tech reserves. Ejecting the empty vial, I again reach for Ace and she lets me revamp her Overshield, no worse for wear and no less on our capability to keep going.
"The Witch hath spoken," Ace muses, outlined in a fresh layer of pale blue shielding.
I meet eyes with Razor and nod.
Turning away, she says, "Still, let's cube up the bodies and stay wary of our vulnerability. Looks like there's an airfield up ahead and a landing zone for orbital shuttles. It's a long expanse with no cover and I see lots of movement."
"Any sign of that spider, Miss Tracker?"
"Not yet. We'll find it, Ace. Sooner or later."
"I'm hoping sooner." She claps me on the shoulder. "Keep at it."
Flushing, I nod. "I um. I'll try. Were you serious? About shooting me?"
"Dead serious. Still am. Also dead certain you wouldn't give me reason to." She pats my head as she goes, drawing her plasma coated knife again. "Stay frosty, Witch. I'm watching you."
A wordless whining whimper drags its way out of me. Tune is giving me a blank stare so I take her hand and keep moving. Whatever Ace intended to instill in me–it's working. I'm now more afraid of getting shot by her than I am of getting attacked by ferals.
The airfield runway is coated with fresh snow, powdery and low in moisture, so every small disturbance or breeze whips it up into the air. I keep my head down and keep marching onward through the white fog, keenly aware that our problems are soon to multiply. Biters are bad enough for me, but there are far worse things lurking in the wasteland than those. I'm not sure I have the heart to face off against an armripper. Or anything of substantial weight and threat, for that matter.
But… I suppose that's how I viewed the anklebiters until mere minutes ago. Too scary, out of my control, too much for my ability. I was horrified by them, but now I'm dismissing them as threats.
How strange is that?
Maybe it will be that way for the other feral machines.
Maybe I can do this.
The first armripper that appears makes my heart jam up as my sustain breaks and I flee for my life.
"Damn it, Witch! Get back here!"
"Keep your eyes on it, Ace! Help me!"
"Fuck yeah, Taser, good sting!"
I cower behind an inert truck, shielding my head with my arms as I try to catch my breath. Terrifying! Lanky and narrow and oddly angled, with its rotted deteriorated chassis and its dangly arms tipped with those disgustingly rusted claws! The way it moved will stick with me forever–Its gait is a slinking limp instead of a run. It's too fast, too dangerous.
I cannot stand to face it. I will not.
Hugging my shoulders, I can't help the memory data streaming past my eyes of Razor getting her arm ripped off. The ghost of her pain is like lightning across my circuits. I steal a glance around the side of the truck. They're fighting it, everyone but me. Even Tune is in the fray. Ace swipes her Energized Knife but the superheated blade clangs off of Razor, destroying her Overshield.
"Watch it, Ace!"
"Maybe get out of my way, Razor!"
"You're in myway!" To prove it, she slashes with both her weapons, dealing near lethal damage to the machine and severing its right leg.
"Wow! Consider me impressed, damn it!"
"Thank you! What happened to being our sniper today?"
"Maybe I wanted to spend some time closer to my girlfriend!"
"That's sweet! Finish it off before the next one shows up!"
Ace brains the machine with her knife, stabbing straight through the cranial chassis. The armripper's single red optic light flickers out and it goes limp, the corpse lifting a little as Ace removes the blade. All done. We're safe. No thanks to me… I'm sure I'm about to receive a lashing.
Or maybe a beating.
"Now where did that little Witch of ours run off to?"
"Tracks show behind that truck. Don't be too harsh."
"A little harsh then? I'm hearing a little harsh."
"Be appropriately harsh. Use your best judgment. I'll keep watch."
As she comes marching toward me I bolt off into the snow, running for my life. Not a few seconds later I feel her gaining on me, and the horrific primitive itch at the back of my neck screaming that I'm about to get caught. Her weight slams into me, tackling me into the snow face first. She lands hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs.
Scrambling to fight her off, desperately failing, I wail, "Don't hurt me! Please, don't hurt me!"
Without any effort spared she pins me down and shoves my face harder into the ground. "Stop struggling."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Ace! Please!"
Tune, my savior, arrives. "If you harm her, Ace, I will be forced to–"
"Stand down, Tune."
"Affirmative, Ace."
"So much for that!"
Her weight is crushing me, both our white hair tangled together as she lowers herself on top of me, speaking directly into my ear. "Stop. Fighting. Now."
I go still, though I can't help myself from trembling. She's going to kill me. I think she's going to kill me. I'm going to die. She's going to kill me.
After waiting for me to tire myself out, Ace demands, "What are we going to do about you, Witch?"
"I told you!" I wail, face full of sharp snow and ice. "I told you I'm useless! Just let me stay at the Station and pilot Tune!"
"No, see, we need your Tech, and that won't translate to Tune. Not an option, Witch."
My eyes sting and blur and I start to cry. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm useless, Ace! I'm useless! Useless…"
With a sigh, she rolls me over. Sitting down in the snow, she drags me into her lap and holds me. "Shh. Slow down. Go ahead and cry. Get this out of you."
I cling to her, arms around her shoulders as I hide my shame in the crook of her neck. My words have devolved into nonsense by now, incomprehensible strings of syllables gasped between my painful sobs. She strokes my hair, holding me around the waist, gently rubbing my back and rocking me side to side.
"It's okay. It'll be okay. I'm not your enemy."
"It sure–It sure f–feels like it!"
"Then maybe I am the problem here. I keep coming at you with brutality and force, so of course you think that. Listen. Hey. Shh. Can you hear me, or do you need a second?"
"I'm–listen–ing," I choke out between sobs.
"I'm wrong. Okay? You don't need brutality, you need encouragement. Right?"
"I–don't–knowww…"
"I think I know what might really help. Have you ever gotten to use either of those L3s of yours?"
"No…"
"Problem is you've atrophied in the way you see your own ability. All you're seeing is what you can't do, so you should do the complete opposite. Like we talked about in the Station, I want you to blow something up. Next chance you get. I don't care if it's a lone anklebiter, I want you to use an Overclocked L3 Tech on it. Show us, and especially yourself, just how powerful you really are."
I swallow the lump in my throat, still clinging and crying. "I don't know. Maybe… Tune said the same, but... I'm not sure I… understand."
"Let me put it this way. Why would you be afraid of an armripper if you know for a fact that if the fight goes wrong you can reduce it to fried solder with the flick of your wrist? I'd bet being a part of the fight will look much less daunting with that in mind. Make sense?"
"I… think so. Maybe…"
"Let's give it a shot." She effortlessly stands while lifting me up with her, carrying me back over to Razor. "Can you find us an easy target? Keep back though–Witch is going to show herself what's in those capacitors of hers."
"Okay. I'll play the distraction if necessary."
She gives me a short, empty stare, then turns away. I notice then that she's changed the resting location of her blade sheaths. Now they're horizontally across the small of her back, and her right hand is resting on Logos's hilt. She looks so cool…
"I see a duo of armrippers off to our right. They're the closest."
Ace is still carrying me, and she holds me out to the side to trade a look with me.
"Not armrippers."
"Next."
"Biters with a headsmasher that way."
"No. No headsmashers."
"What are those?" she asks, pointing skyward. A flock of black shadows are darting in and out of the gray clouds, circling overhead like vultures. "I've never seen those before."
"Me neither," Ace replies, and I shake my head. She hums. "Better check with our bestiary expert. You do it, Razor."
"Messaging him now. You'll have to get past your rivalry with him sooner or later, Ace."
"Only when he apologizes for being wrong about me. And drawing his rifle on me too."
"It's none of my business, is it? He said those are skyswarmers. They're flocking machines, so we'll need to watch for reinforcements. I'm not sure we want to test Witch on something none of us have ever seen before."
"No, we do not, but I'm excited to wrangle with them after."
Razor scans the area, looking past us, then pointing. "Some burrows moving there. Looks like a handful of Biters."
"Perfect. Let's go." Ace sets me on my feet, dusting the snow off me and giving me a determined nod. "You can do it. Remember, Overclock it. Overkill."
I'm gradually recovering my sustain on Fearless, so I manage a nod. The idea she presented follows a logical line of thinking, one I hadn't considered. I think it just might work to help give me some genuine confidence. Why would I be scared of something if I know for certain I can instantly destroy it?
I nod. "Overkill."
With that, Razor leads the way over the short distance. When we get near she keeps her sword sheathed, approaching the disturbances in the snow with a casual air of unbothered intrigue. I ask Tune to join her and keep Ace close, hugging myself around the middle as I watch the biters start to surface. Their mandibles click and snap, then they start launching themselves at the two of them like normal. Tune stands still, their bites doing nothing to her quicksilver armor, and Razor dodges and dances, impossible to touch.
Ace puts a hand on my back. "Ready?"
I take a shaky breath, bobbing my head. "I think so."
"Fire away, Witch. Oh–Hold on. What is that?"
Something else has surfaced from the snow. A mechanical serpent of sorts, built of the same tarnished metal segments as the biters are. It's twice my size and as thick around as a pipe, built like a giant python. A set of jaws dislodge at its head, a chilling hiss rising from its throat as it sizes Razor up with hungry red eyes.
"Well," she sighs, head tilted back. "Hello there."
Ace gives me a soft push. "It changes nothing. Kill it."
"But Razor is–I might hit her too–"
"She'll move. Trust her. Are you going to let that thing have a chance to attack her?"
I shake my head. Refusing to think twice, I lift my hand and activate my Innate Ability, burning two Amps to Overclock my L3 Tech Charge. The venous tubing in my right arm glows red as my Conduit flashes the same harsh shade. The air in front of my hand sparks and flares. A second later, a force erupts from my Conduit like a cannon firing and the recoil throws my arm up skyward. A streak of fire like an arrow clears the distance in a heartbeat.
Boom.
The resulting explosion dwarfs me. The fire swallows a ten meter radius of space, as high up as a two story building. Tune and Razor manage to slip away in time but the biters and the snake machine vanish in the blast, obscured by smoke and flame. The shockwave jolts through me like a clap of thunder, making me stumble back a step into Ace's waiting arms.
My breath is taken.
I have never seen a thing of such beauty.
"Fuck yeah, Witch," Ace snickers, holding me steady.
Razor dashes over, Tune at her heels. "I'm in awe. Are you?"
I'm speechless, only able to nod.
Incredible. I made that happen. I did that.
"See that look?" Ace asks, pointing at me. "See that twinkle in her optics?"
"I see it. Seems we're three strong for combat at last."
I nod again, feeling like a bobblehead. "Amazing…"
Ace takes my shoulders and jostles me around. "Ready to put all that Tech of yours to use?"
"Y–Yes. Yes. Did anything survive?"
Razor draws her sword. "The snake will need some more coaxing. Zenith calls it a bodybinder. Watch for its tail, he says, and its namesake constrictions. I'm going in. Come on, Tune."
"Affirmative."
Ace faces me down, hand firm on my shoulder, blue eyes locked onto mine with her head lowered. "You can do this."
"Are you still going to shoot me if I–"
"No. But I will tackle you again if you run. Stand and fight, Witch. You're so not useless to us. Not in the fucking slightest. You just have to do the damn thing. Are you ready to try?"
"R–Ready. Sort of. I–I won't run."
She lightly pats my cheek twice then moves, chambering a round in her rifle and circling wide. "Draw it south! That blast brought us some attention!"
Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Another fight…
I have to stand strong.
I want to fight for them.
I will fight for them.
I join the fight for them.