(DS Roleplay / Finley 1 , Finley System)
Part Fifty Nine of Teir -
-Teal and Alpha and Stant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwFvHazbvts
Sere-
Day to Die -
November 26th, 2287 (11.26.2287.08.12)
She lay on the rooftop, her eyes already glassing over, blood running from the back of her black hair and spilling down the edge of her cheek and down, where it dripped onto the ground.
The sun shone directly overhead.
Shadows of clouds moved over the rough surface of the roof, flitting at the edges like birds taking flight.
Her cheek pressed into the gritty tar papered surface, her lips partially open.
Her unseeing eyes staring...
into the blue,
blue,
sky.
*
*
*
Two Hours Earlier -
“Lets get some beers over at that Hotel down there? What say?” Tucker grinned.
“Long as it doesn't taste like luke warm piss, normals just don't know how to make good beer.” Chappam cracked back.
“Yeah I-”
“Can it! We've got a little down time, but don't go wild on me. We've still got a de-briefing when we get back. Keep together and don't piss off the locals.”
Tucker bowed his head and pursed his lips.
'My bad...'
'You and Onder are fine, but Chappam will have the newbies on a pub crawl the moment the opportunity presents itself, and I can't rely on them to be rational at the moment.'
Tucker nodded.
They pushed through the crowd slowly, helmets off, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, which was not difficult given that the people in the crowd didn't seem to pay any attention to anything other than trying to get to their destination.
That meant some of them were shoving hard.
Cena pushed out with her mind, radiating a small area around her, as people approached her, then they would suddenly veer off in another direction.
It wasn't perfect, but a small mirror shield did a lot with those unaccustomed to it. Providing just enough distance to freely walk toward the hotel without jostling anyone in the process.
She also didn't want anyone getting too close as well, in case someone decided to go crazy and grab for one of their guns.
People were unpredictable, even at the best of times. Any more than that was simply too much to have to deal with while trying to juggle a section of soldiers as well.
'Nice trick.' Onder commented psychically from the back of the group as they moved toward the hotel.
'My first NCO was a smart one' She turned and checked on the section as they trailed her, Tucker on the other side didn't say anything as he scanned the side of the street as they all moved forward, Orgenz at her back, Corld between her and Dilles with Beethoven trailing, weapons slung on their backs or holstered, but still uneasily watching the flow of the mass of refugees around them as they moved forward and the hotel hove closer. The buildings all pushed side by side along the cramped and crowded street.
As they came up the steps Cena stopped, putting a hand to her ear as the mic in
her ear clicked.
“Ethereal Two-Two, this is Ethereal Actual, we have new orders for you. We've been tipped off that two individuals, I repeat, two individuals are closing in on an Advent VIP in a hotel at these co-ordinates," Cena hastily donned her helmet as the feed updated, "the individuals have been confirmed as Unity's Hand operatives, are armed and are using up-to-date adaptive optical camoflage. I have direct orders from Viceroy Garr to prevent them from succeeding in their goal, and you're the closest Advent military element we have. Get it done Corporal."
Cena shook her head in amazement.
Political infighting.
God! And how was she supposed to stand up to special forces?
It all made sense that Mantis couldn't be seen, they had to be the people they were now trying to stop.
Viceroy Garr. Did that mean the Viceroy Representative of the High Psintegrat was involved?
Surely he could tell them to stop? Someone that important must know what the Unity's Hand is up to?
And had the RFT been told?
Or was this all an... in the dark operation?
One hand fighting the other for dominance.
Tucker looked at her but said nothing, motioning for the other soldiers to put their helmets on too, even though he couldn't hear the words being said to Cena.
Her body language was enough.
"What's happ-" Chappam started on helmet local channel, the norm for when wearing a helmet, like a spoken version of psychic communication, stepping forwards, but Tucker reached out a hand and slapped it against the man's chest.
"Shut up."
Cena turned, her voice low, her mind a blur of static, as she spoke to the platoon's lieutenant.
“Sir, with all respect how... I mean, how can my squad stand up to special forces? I've already lost a soldier, and I have three inexperienced guys with me. That leaves only four of us that have any real combat experience and we aren't trained for this sort of thing. I don't see-”
“Your orders stand Cena. I don't like this anymore than you do. Just... Look, if you're lucky you'll see cameras if they're close, because they've got to see with something, and there'll probably be a disturbance visible if they get near you. Just try and get to the VIP before they do and they shouldn't attack. That's all I've been told. Remember, top floor of the hotel, the big suite at the end of the hall. That's all I can do for you. Out."
The connection broke.
Cena stood there a moment shaking her head as she turned back to her squad.
"Ok, we got new orders. Sorry, downtime is off. The VIPs we were tracking before have been relocated to this hotel. We need to get to the top floor, don't ask questions, just keep it tactical, we've got hostiles after them too," she relayed the information from the lieutenant, to the disbelief of the section.
"Tucker and Chappam stay in the lobby and try to explain all this to the receptionists, Orgenz, Beethoven, you take point and keep tactical, and Dilles and Corld, you two stick with me.'
She opened the door to the hotel,
and froze.
Something touched her mind.
Something she...
recognized...
Shit!
"Go!"
She and the section barrelled into the hotel, and sprinted to the stairs, with weapons in hand, disregarding the screams of those in the lobby.
“Chappam, Tucker, get talking, everyone else with me, top floor!"
"Shit!" Chappam cursed, then looked at Tucker already shouting for everybody to calm down.
"I got an ID on one of the VIPs. One of them is here. Chappam and Tucker hang tight and keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary other than the screaming guests. You see the bad guys, you let me know,don't take action."
"Why us?" Chappam shot back.
"'Cause I need good people on my perimeter that's why. You don't like the orders I give? Fine, but you bring it up AFTER we get de-briefed."
Chappam leaned back against the wall of the building and shook his head. Smacked the gum in his mouth and blew a slow bubble and reached down and lay his hand on his holster.
"Damn!"
"Can it!" Tucker said, then continued shouting about a terrorist threat and for everybody to stay calm.
It wasn't working.
"What the fuck are we supposed to do if they come through the windows?" Someone asked, but Tucker just shook his head.
"Right now what we need to focus on is getting everyone clear and keeping calm, talking about what if's isn't helping that. So we need everyone out of the lobby now, please leave the hotel, just stay calm and we will try to get things back to normal as soon as possible."
He kept his eyes moving.
The entryway was clear. Nobody had taken the initiative to run away from the soldiers, assuming that the worst would occur. Anything that moved in that area was what he was looking for, waiting for.
Probably got there quick enough.
They'd give up with seven soldiers guarding the target.
But you couldn't be sure.
Best to be ready if they made a run for it.
"Keep your eyes peeled," Tucker thought at Chappam without looking at the man. The guests were quiet now,
"And don't screw up."
*
*
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RExgLKS7rS8
"Sir." a marine states as he walks into Command. "We are getting reports of a small group of soldiers attached to the Garran Collective entering a hotel and taking an aggressive posture with the people." he continues while handing over some documentation.
"Thank you Sergeant." Major Navarro states dismissing him.
The sergeant salutes and walks away.
Over the comms, Major Navarro relays some orders. "Captain Cooper. I'm receiving reports of a Garran Collective team causing a panic at the Skylinks Hotel, could you send a couple squads over there to check it out?"
"Yes sir, Major." Captain Cooper replies over the comms.
*
*
*
The clock read 11:00 AM when Sere came out of the shower and padded across the room naked and stood at the side of the bed watching Seigel sleep, his cheek pressed into the pillow, his lips partially open, eyes closed.
A thin stream of light penetrated the curtains and fell across the edge of the bed and struck the floor in a pool of soft amber light.
She towelled off her hair standing at the edge of the bed.
And smiled.
Sleepy head... she thought and turned back from the bed to the bathroom again when a light knock came at the door.
Was breakfast so late here then? She wondered and crossed the room quickly to keep Seigel from waking at the sound, but it was too late as he stirred and rose up on his arms, shaking his head slightly to clear his eyes and turned toward the sound.
She shook her head as she,
Damn, well too late...
wrapped the towel around her body and cracked open the door.
Hotel staff should know better than to-
Soldiers in black and red armor pushed into the room as the door opened, weapons up.
"Get down! You're in danger!" the point man shouted.
Sere stepped back from the door in a blur, a buzzing in her head, but nothing intelligible, just static.
She braced her feet as she stepped back and bent forward, then slammed into the door and into the soldiers, a muffled expletive the response to her efforts.
Seigel staggered from the bed, his hand reaching over the edge and down to the gun in the holster of his pants and half bent brought up the barrel when the window behind him exploded with a shattering sound of breaking glass.
Something hit the bed and rolled, unseen, only the impression left in the bed covers indicating anything at all.
Sere half turned away, glancing back at the spray of glass that rained over the bed, as the soldiers fell back and then she pushed forward slamming into the door again.
“Its Mantis, get out!' The girl in the red-black armor yelled as the door slammed into her and she fell back, as the point man beside her made a renewed attempt to batter the door down, expecting resistance this time.
Sere spun back toward the window.
Her hair a black streak swaying, as she turned in a blur.
The bells in her hair ringing softly as they spun.
“Matt! Its some sort of-”
“Yeah I got that, watch yourse-!”
Something hit her knocking her off her feet, as she went down she reached forward and felt her hands grasp something she couldn't see.
Couldn't...
Matt stood next to the bed trying to get a target to shoot at, when the soldiers came back through the swinging door, their guns not trained on him or Sere that lay on her back on the floor, but trying to track something else.
“What is-!” He yelled.
see...
A thin wavering distortion in the air above her pulled back.
A blue-ish flicker crossed the distorted space a few times, as one of the soldiers opened fire with a laser weapon. Another beam crossed the space between the man and the apparition, but instead of scorching the walls of the room this beam bounced back from the apparition towards the firing soldiers's helmet.
She brought her knee up hard and slammed it into whatever... whoever it was.
There was a sharp groan as whatever it was released her and fell to the side.
“They are Advent Special Forces! Get out!” Cena yelled as she tried to get a mental grip on the SF soldier, but her mind kept sliding off.
Shit!
"Spread out and try to track him!" She spun, tracking the back of the room, then back toward the window, where her mind began to-
Yes!
She could target them when the slide reached its peak.
"Don't shoot the girl!" She screamed at the others, as they moved out into the room around her.
Corld glancing nervously back and forth constantly.
"Wha- what- what do I do-?" She stammered.
"Help me get this helmet off,"
Onder was shouting out loud, his helmet saving his life but becoming useless in the process,
"can't see!"
"Help Beethoven Corld!" Cena screamed,
"Dilles, cover her, Orgenz, help the girl!" as she kept watching the window, her mind reaching out and feeling that sliding feeling begin again...
Not another one!
Orgenz, judging by the position Sere was in, delivered a running kick to the ghostly figure, not risking weapons fire so close to the girl.
Sere felt the pressure of the thing on top of her that she couldn't see, as it groaned and released her and began to fall to the side.
She kept her hands on it and rolled as it fell away from her, pushing up onto her feet and diving, over the unseen assailant and pulling it with her as she rolled and slammed it into the table with the remote, the wall screen falling from the wall mount and smashing on top of whatever it was, shattering and breaking apart.
"Chappam! Tucker! Up here NOW!"
"His helmet's stuck! It's... melted!" Corld yelled at Cena.
Static buzzed in Sere's head, distracting her.
What was...?
Were they thinking at her...?
“Talk! I can't hear your thoughts! Talk to me!” Sere yelled at them.
“Doesn't matter, we need help!" Cena yelled back at Corld.
"Get in the fight! I'll be fine!" Beethoven looked at Corld, backing away as he brought his burnt face up, trying to see through the red haze of blood in his helmet.
"But-" Corld stammered back at him as he stepped away, bringing up his rifle and trying to track the SF soldier.
She stood in the center of the room with her gun holstered watching him, not knowing what to do.
"Get your gun out Corld! Watch yourself! Don't worry about me, cover Orgenz." Beethoven yelled as he turned away, his eyes searching the room.
Sere rose to her feet in one smooth quick motion as her towel fell away and she felt something hit her in the stomach, she fell back losing her balance and her grip on whatever it was. She rolled when she went down and came back up on her feet her back to the soldiers as something else unseen came through the window, landing on the bed and Matt jerked back, his head turning as something grabbed him.
He twisted slamming his elbow back and into whatever it was and felt a solid connection. As whatever it was released him with a grunt, he turned as he fell and caught a thin wavering distortion in the air in his vision and pulled the trigger on the gun twice.
BAM! BAM!
Red blossomed in thin air and then spattered as whatever it was struck the wall and stumbled, catching its balance and slid to its feet against the wall, a red smear sliding up the white wallpaper as the unseen thing grabbed Orgenz as the soldier approached to assist Siegel.
Orgenz twisted in unseen hands, then bent with a grunt as something hit him.
He tried to get his gun up when his head jerked hard to the right and a harsh snapping sound broke the air as Orgenz slid down against the wall to his knees with his neck broken.
His eyes already glassing over.
“You Son-of-a...” Cena cursed as she brought her gun up and fired a burst into the wavering outline of the SF soldier knocking him back against the wall.
Blood pooled on the floor around the now still figure.
“They are Advent Special Forces! You have to get out!”
*
*
*
As the two squads of RFT soldiers converge on the hotel people are seen exiting the lobby with no small amount of confusion and panic after Chapman and Tucker abandon their positions.
"Sir, confirmed we have an issue at the Skylinks, we're investigating further." the task leader reports back to Captain Cooper.
"Copy that. Proceed with caution, we don't need any friendly fire incidents with civilians around." Captain Cooper replies.
"Copy, sir." the task leader confirms.
They're greeted by hotel staff once they enter the front doors. The staff is quick to direct them to the floor where guests are claiming soldiers are shooting it out.
"Task One Three Eight Leader to Command." the task leader reports.
"Command, go." Major Navarro states.
"Civilians are complaining about soldiers shooting it out on one of the floors here, do we have permission to intercede?" the task leader requests.
Major Navarro pauses for a second to consider the outcomes of his potential answers. "Affirmative. Order them to stand down and take all necessary actions required to end whatever conflict is happening."
"Copy sir. Task One Three Eight is now hot." the task leader confirms.
*
*
*
The SF soldier Sere had slammed into the wall slowly stood, silent, waves of distortion marking it's rise. Sere sprinted forward and brought up her hands in a quick blur and slammed her fists into it, trying by feel to locate its mid torso, but it was too heavily armored, her fists struck thin hard plates and did nothing.
Damn!
"We can't help you if you're in the way!" Cena yelled at the girl.
She struck harder.
Her hands striking at the unseen foe in front of her.
As her fists slammed ineffectively into the thin plated armor.
She wanted to scream!
In desperation she turned then and grabbed one of the things arms and spun out and then slammed the unseen foe into the wall again.
There was a satisfying smack as the body hit the wall and went down.
The weave of distortion around it broke and a figure wavered into view, its smashed helmet dangling off the side of the red web crossed armor of the soldier who turned his blond head back to her and she saw-
White eyes!
The girl had said they were Advent Special Forces, but still the thought hadn't really had time to register completely.
The Special Forces soldier smiled through bleeding lips and brought his hand up, a blinking disc in the center of it, he moved his fingers over the disc and then pressed.
Sere turned in a blur and ran as his fingers connected and a burst of light blossomed out of the center of the soldiers hand, engulfing the room and everyone in it.
“Get-!” Cena yelled, turning as time seemed to slow down, seeing the fear on even Onder's burned face, obscured by the shattered helmet, as the man tackled Corld to the floor and Cena attempted to shelter Dilles behind her, but her voice was cut off as the room exploded.
*
*
*
As the teams are preparing to make their move on the Advent soldiers the building shakes and trembles.
"Task One Three Eight, Command, there's been some kind of an explosion... We're moving in."
"I Copy. Proceed with caution." Major Navarro states. "Can someone get me the Revenge!? NOW!"
*
*
*
Tucker and Chappam took the steps two at a time and came up to the top of the landing as the room at the end of the hall exploded in a wash of light and sound. The rush of pressure and air pushing them back and knocking them off their feet.
"Shit!" Chappam cursed as he scrambled to his feet.
"Keep it together!" Tucker yelled as he stumbled to his feet and started down the hallway. Doors began to open as people staggered from their rooms.
“Keep back, get back inside!” He yelled at them.
Several doors closed, but others remained open as shaken and scared people sleepily stared down the corridor toward the end where smoke and debris littered the end of the hall.
Onder lay crumpled against a wall his helmet smashed and part-melted, blood seeping out from where the ragged edges of the helmet tore into his flesh.
A few feet further on Dilles was laying on his back, unconscious, a broken bone in his jaw jutting through the skin and bleeding.
"Look after them! I'll get the others!' Tucker yelled and staggered forward.
Beyond Dilles, Corld lay slumped half sitting in the doorway to the room, a piece of wood from some shattered timber piercing through her stomach and into the wall.
"Shit!"
Corld turned and looked at Tucker and then down at the shaft of wood that protruded through her.
"Ge- get... get... get Cena... Get Cena..." she managed still staring at the shaft of wood and trying to get her hands up and into her lap so she could get at it.
But...
Her mind drifted.
Her hands didn't...
Didn't...?
She didn't understand.
What was...?
Her hands...
She remembered.
Her hands....
They didn't seem...
to want...
Her mind drifted.
Her hands didn't seem to...
want to seem to work...
Why couldn't she get her hands up...? Why couldn't she get...
Tucker touched her shoulder and patted it with a hand, "It's going to be ok Corld..." he saide as he moved by her and into the room...
She grimaced, but nodded back as he moved past her and into the room...
What was left of the room...
Shattered timbers, the ceiling had caved in, in a rain of ceiling tile and plaster and wood.
The outside wall and window where part of a bed lay smashed in a corner was completely gone. Only tatters of wallpaper flapping in the wind and jutting wooden frames.
Halfway along the inside wall lay Cena, half propped up on her left arm.
The right arm and right leg were gone.
Her face was a mass of blood and cut skin.
She peered at him as he came up and knelt beside her.
"Shit!" She said, her lips bleeding.
"This is.... is... is really... really the... the... shits eh...? God... what... a... fucking... mess..."
"It's ok, just hold on,"
He keyed his communicator and heard the click through.
It was taking too long...
too long...
too...
“Go ahead Ethereal Two – Two.”
“There has been an explosion, we have badly injured here, get someone ASAP on these co-ordinates!”
“Ethereal Two-Two, we have no other squads on the surface, we will have to drop a Med Shuttle. I am signalling them now. It will take seven minutes to drop from orbit, though we may be able to raise RFT medics. Please stand by. Out.”
“Shit!” Tucker swore under his breath and looked at Cena, yanking off his complex body armour to get at the shirt he was wearing underneath and yelling at Chappam.
“Get the others stable! I need some help with this!”
“This … this really is the... shits... eh...?” Cena half smiled at him through bleeding lips, the right side of her face already starting to swell.
Her eyelids fluttered as she fought back the black flecks that swam in her vision.
Tired.
She was so damn tired.
She just wanted to rest.
Just for a minute or so.
Just for...
She closed her eyes.
“God damn it DON”T YOU DIE ON ME!” he yelled and slapped her face hard.
She blinked and looked at him, her lips pulled back in a angry snarl.
He finished pulling off his armour and tore at the sleeves of the under uniform ripping them out from the inside.
“We got to stop this bleeding, God in Heaven Cena we gotta stop this...”
He wrapped the torn sleeves around her shoulders and over the bleeding hole where her arm had been and pulled it tight, pulling a knot in the fabric and pulling harder.
“Shit! That hurts... Tucker you son of a-”
“I know it hurts Goddamn it!, You think I got any fucking choice?”
She half smiled at him.
Blood dripping from her lips.
“Got... you... cursing...?”
She smiled again, her lips quirking up in a bloody lopsided grin.
“Thats... -”
She coughed as she tried to laugh.
“Stop That damn it!” Tucker hissed at her.
She coughed, her chest heaving, blood pulsing from the wounds in her shoulder and hip.
Finally subsiding.
“Thats... thats... funny... you... you... think...? I... I...”
Her mind drifted.
Tucker pulled hard on the sleeve straps again,
She winced as he pulled them tight and the blood flow underneath slowed.
Then he tore another sleeve from the uniform and ripped it in two pieces that he tied together and leaned down and wrapped around her waist.
She blinked her eyes.
“Y...ya... you...?” She mumbled through swollen lips. “You... getting... you getting... fresh...? With... me...?”
He folded the edges of the makeshift bandage over the bleeding hole where her leg had been and pulled on the strips, pulling them hard against his chest as he fought to get some pressure against the wound.
She didn't even wince at the movement.
Her head lolled back against the wall, her eyes blinking open, closing, opening.
“Yeah sweety, yeah, its me getting fresh. I always thought you were sexy, you know that?”
Her eyes blinked open and she looked at him, for a moment her eyes clearing.
“Oh yeah...?” she managed.
“Yeah.” he tied off the bandage and watched carefully as the blood flow slowed.
He nodded to himself then and looked back into her eyes.
They were clouding over.
She looked at him and the black flecks in the room swarmed in around her, until she almost couldn't see at all.
Couldn't...
“Tuck... Tucker...?”
She tipped her head back trying to get some more breath into her lungs.
It was hard to breath.
It was getting hard to...
He leaned in over her then and tried to smile, it twisted in his guts just trying to smile, but he forced it.
How can you smile at a time like this? He wondered to himself.
"Hey sweety...” looking at her face, watching her eyes... “Hey sweety...”
She gulped at a mouthful of air and blinked her eyes, Tucker's face just inches
from hers.
“Hey... Tucker... this is really the shits... … … eh... …?”
He cupped her face in his hands and leaned his head against hers,
“I'm not a Healer, but you can't die, I won't let you die!” he hissed through his teeth as Chappam came through the doorway and knelt beside Corld.
Chappam glanced over at him, panic on his face, but didn't say anything, just mouthing "they're fine" and bending over Corld and trying to examine the wound in her stomach.
“I can't move my hands Chapp, I can't move my hands...” Corld looked at him as Chappam bent over her.
“Its gonna be ok girl, just hang on, ok? Its gonna be ok.”
His voice trembled as he tried to just talk to keep her awake.
“I'm... I'm... hanging...” She leaned her head back against the door frame and tried to smile, "the others... okay? I couldn't... Beethoven's helmet... he okay?"
"It's all fine. Dilles is awake, Onder's got him. We're all fine, don't worry," Chappam comforted her.
Shouldn't it hurt? She wondered?
Shouldn't it...?
*
*
*
Tucker reached out with his mind...
*
*
*
The RFT soldiers make a fast but cautious run up the stairs being sure to cover their firing angles as they go. People are grabbed and highly encouraged to head to the lobby as they are passed. When they approach the floor with the activity, they see the same sights Tucker and Chappam saw when they arrived, only this time, they order everyone to leave the floor immediately. They maintain their position at the end of the hall to make sure the civilians are covered as they escape. They're interrupted by radio traffic...
"Task One Three Eight, friendlies are reporting casualties, you are now a rescue operation, secure the area immediately. Medical is on approach, stand by for their arrival." Major Navarro orders from Command after speaking with the Revenge.
"Copy, sir. Task One Three Eight is rescue." the task leader confirms over his comms before turning to his teams. "You heard the man, let's get in there. Corpsman, assess the damage immediately."
All of the squad members grunt in acknowledgement sending them sprinting down the hall to the destroyed room.
*
*
*
PAIN!!!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh God!
Tucker gritted his teeth as the pain wracked through him, his stomach clenched and he wanted to wrench his face away from Cena and throw up, but he held her face in his hands and pushed his mind deeper, letting the pain flow out of her in streams and into him. Feeling his bones twisting, the muscles knotting underneath his skin.
God he wanted to scream!
He pushed his mind deeper.
And felt the pressure of her body against his go slowly slack.
NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!
But her mind was still there,
pulsing softly in the background.
She wasn't...
My God she wasn't dead...
She wasn't.
He pushed his mind deeper and felt her mind flicker against his.
'Tucker...? What are you...?'
'Just here, that's all love, just here, that's all...'
She smiled in her mind and felt his mind warm around hers.
It was nice.
Tucker kept holding her, fighting to keep the pain he was feeling away from her,
trying to draw it off and let her body rest for a bit.
She wasn't going to die.
He wouldn't let her.
She wasn't going to...
Damn if he would let her.
Two squads of RFT came through the doorway then.
*
*
*
Matt lay on the roof with his face bleeding, his head ached, and there was this damn ringing...!
He slid his hands underneath his chest and pushed up onto his hips and shook his head.
Where was...?
He shook his head again to try and clear the black flecks that swam in his vision.
He turned, shifting his weight and tried to slide his feet up underneath him, trying to get a purchase.
His foot slipped and went slack.
He pulled again, but the leg didn't respond.
Other leg then.
He pulled the other leg up underneath him and pushed, sliding up into a half kneel, then slid his knee up and then down onto the hard gritted tar papered surface.
He turned looking over the roof and saw Sere ten feet from him.
She was laying on her stomach, naked. Not moving.
“Sere!... Sere!...” He yelled with hoarse lungs, a voice that seemed too diminished to carry over the push of wind across the rooftop.
She stirred,
Her arm moving, sliding down to her side as she pushed up with the other hand and turned her head towards him.
He looked into her cut face, blood dripping down along a long cut from her hairline down along her cheek. Blood matted her hair and coated the silver bells that dangled along her cheek that fell back as she tried to straighten.
A rising screaming roar came out of the sky as a ship dropped.
A crystal ship.
White and gleaming in the bright light.
An Advent ship then.
A blue cross painted on the sides as it lowered itself into the street below with a dying whine of engines and then was silent.
Doors snapping open to reveal a team of Advent Healers, as they run down the descending ramps and across the cleared street and through the blockade where RFT squads have cordoned off the entrance into the smoking hotel.
A shifting distortion in the air moved across the surface of the roof then, wavering as the distortion bled away to reveal a gleaming shield faced helmeted figure in red and black webbed armor.
“They will be here in a few minutes, we have to end this now.” the figure said as he pulled his boot back and kicked Matt in the face, then turned without looking back as Matt fell back on the hard surface and didn't move.
A red and black ship at the edge of the roof suddenly shimmered and appeared.
Hovering in the bright light.
It's engines completely silent.
Like the soldier that crossed the rooftop toward her at an even, almost casual gait.
“You're pretty popular, you know that?” The figure said calmly, evenly as he strode towards Sere, leaning down and gripping a handful of her dark hair from behind her.
Pulling her body back off the roof.
She screamed as he yanked her back and tried to twist around.
Tried to get within striking distance.
But he put a boot in the middle of her back and pressed down.
“Orders say dead or alive. With taking out two of us already I'd say alive really isn't an option. Don't you think?”
The soldier pulled a gun at his hip and brought it up.
Sere struggled to move, watching as the soldier pointed the gun at her.
Was this it then?
After all of her...
plans...?
“Pris...”
“The little one? She's next. I don't expect she'll be half the trouble you've been.”
The soldier laughed behind his gleaming mask.
She hoped Pris would be ok.
She hoped Pris would be-
She heard the shot as the gun went off.
That was the last thing she thought of.
The last.
Last.
La-
*
*
*