But she intercepted it with her hand, catching the foot. She slowed it down, but still wasn’t able to keep it off her face. The top of her hand pressed into her cheek, hard; the combined strength of her hand and arm was the only thing keeping her metal skull from collapsing beneath her opponent’s weight at the moment.
“Do I have to rip off your other arm?” the Scorpion asked. “Fine.”
He reached beneath his foot with one hand and grabbed her wrist. He pulled, attempting to rip her hand out from under him, but she knew the movement had put him off balance. She twisted her head and body to the side, shoving her hand out quickly. The sudden movement slid his foot outward, causing it to slip off her face and hit the wall; the rest of him quickly came tumbling down upon her.
But Rhea was already moving, and she rolled clear before he could pin her with his falling body. She scrambled to her feet and raced to the window.
“You little…” The Scorpion was already on his feet behind her. She kept an eye on him and was prepared when he leaped again.
He flew across the room. She waited until the last moment, then slid out of the way, letting him crash into the floor-to-ceiling window beside her. She spun her body at the same time, adding in a roundhouse kick that she instinctively knew. She hit his back above the tail quite hard, adding to his forward momentum.
He burst outside and tried to grab onto the sill with his longest appendage, but was too late, and plunged helplessly down toward the street below. He landed among the lurking bioweapons, who instantly perked up at this treat tossed into their midst.
The Scorpion fled, dodging between those deadly, stilt-like feet. One of the Tasins dripped acid onto him, and he screamed, increasing his pace. He leaped forward, bounding across the debris, until he reached a nearby skyscraper. He started to climb, but then plasma shots smashed into his hands: Horatio was firing at him from the windows of the adjacent building.
The Scorpion shouted in pain and let go of the building. He landed among the Tasins, and somehow avoided being chopped to bits. He fled down the street, rounding a bend with the creatures in hot pursuit.
The door behind Rhea kicked open, and she started.
“Prepare to die, Cyborg Monkey!”
She was never so happy to hear Will’s voice in her life.
She turned around. Will was standing there, pistol in hand.
When she met his eyes, she smiled wanly, and collapsed.
13
Rhea hit the ground hard and crumpled.
“Rhea!” Will rushed her. “Are you all right?” He held her in his arms and lifted her upper body.
“Yes,” she said. “You’re a bit late, but I’m fine. If a little tired.” She glanced at the stump of her right shoulder. “My X2-59…”
“What about your arm?” Will asked.
“What about it?” she said in retort.
“You seem more concerned about the loss of your weapon, than your arm,” he said.
To that, she merely shrugged.
She noticed Renaldo and Chuck standing at the entrance; the pair warily scanned the surroundings with their pistols.
“Did you see what happened to it?” Will asked, glancing at the rubble.
“My arm?” she said. “He tossed it aside. Should be around here somewhere.”
“There,” Chuck said. He stepped over to a broken desk and retrieved her dismembered limb. The X2-59 was still attached to the wrist, though it had retracted when the arm was pulled loose.
He tossed it to Will, who promptly shoved it into his pack. “I’ll work on it later, when we have more time.” He switched to the comm. “Horatio, you there?”
“I am,” the robot replied.
Rhea heard a distinct buzzing coming from beyond the broken windows.
Will pulled her behind a desk and ducked. Renaldo and Chuck also took cover.
She instinctively glanced at Gizmo’s feed. The drone had perched on a nearby rooftop and had a good view of the street beyond. But the feed promptly cut out before she could spot anything.
The buzzing increased in volume, and then receded again. Will peered past the edge of the desk.
“Aradne security drones,” he whispered.
She nodded. They would be investigating the bioweapons that chased the Scorpion. And perhaps the Scorpion himself, if he didn’t take cover soon. She doubted the Aradne forces would drop more of their expensive bombs, not now, considering the water was already lost.
“Just an FYI, but the forces have surrounded a building three blocks to the east of here,” Horatio transmitted.
“Searching for the tankers…” Rhea said.
Will nodded. “Sweeping the neighborhood, moving from building to building, like we guessed they would. We can’t stay here.”
“No,” she agreed. She instinctively pulled her hood low with her remaining hand. “Horatio, status on their eyes in the sky?”
“They have three spy satellites midway up the northern horizon,” Horatio transmitted. “Giving them a partial view of the street. I’d suggest hugging the southernmost walls of the skyscrapers during our retreat, as those areas are completely occluded to them. The Aradne forces also have drones patrolling the neighborhood… I’m retrieving their positions from Gizmo now and aggregating the data feed with that of the satellites: I’ll highlight the ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ areas on the map.”
She received a share request and accepted. On her overhead map, swathes of green appeared, rotating to follow the enemy scouts, and the distant satellites. The rest of the map was painted red. Like Horatio promised, there were sections on the southern sides of each skyscraper marked in green. Those sections slowly grew thinner as she watched, as the spy satellites made their way up the horizon.
“We don’t have much time,” Rhea said. She highlighted a mid-rise structure on the map, three streets away in a different neighborhood. It would give them a good view of this building, so they’d be able to plan their next move in case the security forces didn’t depart after
