Aiden screamed as well, in horror. He wasn't sure if he was worried more about losing his gunner or Lana, or both. Or maybe the fact that, in the relatively confined space of the bridge, the DNA-scrambling retrovirus would hit him as well.
Either way, he couldn't believe Barix had done it.
Apparently, he was the only one shocked by the crazy move; in spite of the incredible speed and fury with which the Dormant and Construct fought, an endless flurry of attacks, defensive movements, and counterattacks that looked more like a dance than deadly intent, neither of the two were caught by surprise by the sudden grenade.
Although, to be fair, the slight man had basically shouted a warning at them like a moron.
In any case, the gunner was already throwing himself backwards into the bridge and towards the protective barrier, responding to the danger. Lana, on the other hand, didn't try to dodge aside at all. Instead she drew something from her own pouch and hurled it with inhuman speed and accuracy, hitting the bio grenade in midair.
Immediately, the object she'd thrown expanded in a cloud of gel, which quickly congealed into an elastic shell around the Ishivi's grenade to contain the blast. The shell bulged as the grenade detonated, and Aiden felt his stomach churn as he watched to see if the membrane ruptured anywhere, allowing out the deadly biological agent that would seal his doom.
Lana had already turned away, not even pausing to make sure the threat was dealt with before launching herself at the gunner again. The young man met her halfway, the fury of his charge backing her towards the corridor until they both disappeared down it.
“You stole a containment grenade from me?” Barix yelled, even more furious. “You thieving mutt! I can't believe . . .”
Aiden felt slightly guilty for thinking, just for a moment, that it was pretty inconvenient that the young woman had waited until after betraying the ship to show all these useful skills. Although come to think of it, she had slagged that combat android during their last brush with the Vindicator.
Maybe he should've paid more attention to that. At the moment, though, he needed to pay more attention to the other deadly killing machine in the room.
So he ignored Barix, who continued his tirade even though he was about to have his own problems to worry about as Fix closed in on him. Unfortunately, the rogue android would be Aiden's problem immediately afterwards, so it was probably a good idea to stop it now.
Also, you know, the entire bit about saving his crew member. That was something he should probably do.
So he ducked down beside his pilot's chair and reached into the storage compartment, fingers groping among the water bottles, pads, and other items inside. They finally closed around a slender chain, his old dog tags from during the war, as well as the device strung on the chain with them.
As soon as he had it in hand, without even bothering to take it out, he fumbled aside a safety cover and pushed a button inside.
Immediately afterwards, Fix's AI circuits exploded, turning the combat android's chest into a molten ruin and spraying shrapnel against the barrier surrounding the workstations.
* * * * *
Lana swayed aside as Dax abruptly lunged forward, the stiffened fingers of his injured hand jabbing at her throat.
It was an all-in move, compromising his own balance and position in an attempt to surprise her. It probably would've worked, too, since he'd been distracting her with a flurry of kicks and punches at the time.
But its near success also precipitated its failure; he'd pushed off with his bad leg, knowing she wouldn't expect it. But because he had, he'd been just a fraction of a second too slow.
The Dormant snapped the heel of her left hand out, catching the young man brutally on the outside of the elbow. The joint bent the wrong way with a sickening snap, and Lana screamed inside the prison of her own head at what she'd just done to the man she loved.
She wasn't sure what happened in the desperate flurry of movements that followed, but the next thing she knew she was entangled with the young man on the ground. Unlike the more enjoyable times they'd been in positions like this, however, there was nothing romantic or playful about it; she had Dax in a solid hold with her knee at the small of his back, inexorably bending him backwards towards the point his spine snapped the same way his arm had.
He was obviously struggling to draw breath, and had to be in incredible pain, but in spite of that he managed to gasp out a last message for her, voice almost tender. “I love you, Lana. I'm sorry I failed you when you needed me most.”
Something snapped, but it wasn't Dax's back.
Somehow, Lana's frantic clawing inside her head for something, anything to hold onto, to fight, found purchase. Her anguished scream finally tore free of her throat, and she abandoned the unfamiliar wrestling move and threw her arms around the man she loved, clutching him protectively.
The force that had taken hold of her fought wildly to regain control, even now trying to turn her attempts at intimacy into a killing attack. Lana didn't know how long she could hold it off. “I love you too,” she choked out, voice shaking with the strain of her internal battle. “Dax, I can't . . . you have to-”
Her boyfriend's knuckles slammed against her temple, not all that different from how she'd taken down Belix, and both sides of her warring mind faded away in a sudden rush of blackness.
As unconsciousness took her, Lana blessed the young man for being able to
