Should have done this earlier…
She retreated down the stairs beneath that attack. Meanwhile, she activated the nano machines in the stump of her forearm, focusing on creating a new blade, one made from the armor of her limb. While she deflected those relentless hatchet attacks, her forearm and bicep shrank as the nano machines transferred material forward, to the tip, where they slowly created a blade.
She retreated two flights before she felt that blade was long enough to be of use. And then she tried to press the offensive.
She shoved forward, slamming her shield into him. He couldn’t stop the rush with his plasma hatchets, which bounced away harmlessly, and it was his turn to retreat. The plasma disk caught the hem of his robe, burning through it and cutting away some of the boot—and likely the toes—within.
She momentarily slid aside the Ban’Shar and lunged at him with her newly created blade, but he sidestepped and bashed at it with one of his plasma hatches, breaking off the upper half.
From around the next flight above him, an octocopter buzzed into view.
He spun around and threw one of his hatchets at it and the drone crashed into the wall.
He turned back to face Rhea, just in time to meet the jagged remnant of the blade that she plunged into his belly. He staggered, and before he could strike at her with his remaining hatchet, she swung the Ban’Shar around in an arc, cutting his head from his body.
She slid the blade free, and the headless form collapsed.
She deactivated her Ban’Shar and dropped to the steps beside the body. She rested her head against the concrete wall and instructed the nano machines to begin retracting the blade.
She realized she’d forgotten to check for security cameras first. In the heat of battle, she’d deployed her nano machines without a care for who might be watching, wanting only to save her life. But now she could afford to be cautious again… she wanted to keep the machines to herself, at least for the time being.
She halted the transformation and glanced at her overhead map. She was relieved to find no security cameras on this flight: her nano machines hadn’t been witnessed by any prying eyes.
She restarted the blade retracting process.
Will and Horatio arrived. Renaldo was behind them, panting.
“Another one of Khrusos’ assassins?” Will asked.
Rhea nodded. “Has to be. This has to stop.”
“It will,” he told her. “You’ll see to that, soon enough.”
She smiled weakly. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. I do appreciate it.” She heard the stamp of robotic feet and the buzzing of drones and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like you brought company.”
“Uninvited,” Will agreed.
Three octocopters flew into view above, at the top of the flight of stairs. They trained their laser turrets upon her and the others.
At the same time a group of combat robots appeared below, at the bottom landing. They, too, had their rifles pointed at the party.
The nano machines had finished retracting her temporary blade by then, leaving her with an even smaller stump of a forearm than before. She raised it in surrender, along with her good arm.
2
Rhea sat in the confinement area with Will, Horatio and Renaldo. She stared past the bars at the blank wall of the hallway beyond. She considered replacing it with some augmented reality background, but there were none she really liked any more. The Ganymedean lake held no comfort for her—that world was long dead, and she was permanently banned from setting foot on the moon. Nor did she wish to look at the portrait that portrayed her standing victorious atop a pile of dead Hydras, as she hardly felt heroic at the moment. No, a blank wall was just fine.
“Arrested for harboring a concealed weapon,” Will said. “And disturbing the peace. Gotta love it. Considering I didn’t do either.”
“Our charges are slightly different,” Horatio said. “We’re accused of being accessories.”
“Same diff,” Will said. “An accessory to disturbing the peace, and harboring a concealed weapon? Never heard of such a law.” He sighed and glanced at Rhea. “We seem to find ourselves jailed often when we hang around you, Dude.”
She shrugged.
“The Warden has friends in high places,” Renaldo said confidently.
“Also enemies,” Will said, giving her a significant glance.
Renaldo seemed to have missed that glance, because he insisted: “The mayor will get us out.”
“Really?” Will said. “How do you know her mayor friend hasn’t been mind-jacked by some other crime lord? Aradne is chock full of them, I hear, and Veil was only one of the major players. If you thought Rust Town was bad, try looking up some of the outstanding arrest warrants in the Aradne police database.”
“Last time I was in a cell like this, I was scheduled for a mind jacking myself…” Rhea commented.
“Ah, the good old days, huh?” Will quipped.
She shifted, putting her arms down to reposition herself, momentarily forgetting that one of those arms ended in a stump. She glanced at it. Still wanting to keep her nano machines hidden, she was waiting until she returned to Rust Town to initiate repairs.
“The mayor will get us out,” Renaldo said again, more for his own benefit than anyone else, Rhea thought. “She was acting in self-defense. There’s nothing illegal about that. And besides, the Warden eliminated a dangerous assassin for the city!”
“An assassin that she drew here by virtue of her mere presence,” Will said. “And killed with a concealed weapon. We’re lucky she’s not charged with manslaughter. She might be, yet. Then we all become accessories to that.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t frighten the human,” Horatio said. “You’re causing his stress levels to spike.”
Will glanced at the Wardenite. “Sorry bro, wouldn’t want to make you feel stressed out or anything.”
Renaldo wiped the sweat from his forehead, revealing wet
