Darik bit down on the gel as it fell into his mouth. It crunched as he also got a healthy handful of dirt mixed in, but he kept chewing anyway and swallowed the muddy paste. There was another crushing sensation as the bone and cartilage were pulled together. They knit and reattached to his sternum, but just barely. He would need more time or gels to fully recover.
Darik pushed weakly with his feet, sliding on his back in retreat as Razor stabbed with frenzy, narrowly missing his shin. He tried kicking out but Razor flipped the knife and almost stabbed his foot through the open slice in his boot tip. With a surge, he pushed back with a foot and his head cracked against concrete. Looking up, he saw one of the supports at the base of the signal tower.
Encouraged, Razor scuttled more quickly, stabbing and pulling himself with the knife. Razor let loose a triumphant yell, and Darik answered with a shout of his own. They roared at each other. Then Prime was there. She flicked her sword and turned to gauge any other threats. The knife flipped into the air from his grasp and landed in the back of his thigh. Razor briefly paused his yelling as he twisted and stared dumbly at the blade protruding out his leg, then began yelling again.
Seeing that everyone was down, groaning and rolling on the ground, Prime collapsed the sword and attached it to her forearm.
“Can you walk?”
Darik shook his head, unable to hear with Razor’s screaming. A quick kick from Prime ended that nonsense.
“Can you walk?” Prime repeated.
Darik tried but he found he still couldn’t put any weight on his arms. Moving them wasn’t agony though. He shook his head and wiped his eyes, clearing tears of agony. Prime tossed three more red gels at him.
“As fast as you can. We need to get the others.”
Darik nodded and scarfed the gels, licking his teeth to clear out the grit. A few uncomfortable moments later, he gave Prime a thumbs up.
“I lost them,” he said after checking his display. He gave Razor a kick. “‘Cause of this idjit.”
“No worries. Follow me.”
They skirted the edge of the compound, where groups were accumulating, watching the conflagration. Others still fled in panic, while a few were taking measures to control the flames. Using tactical signals, Prime communicated when to wait, and when it was clear to proceed. They turned a corner and Grimdark was kneeling by Harmony as she rubbed one of her ankles.
“She twisted it,” Grimdark said without emotion, but pointed accusingly at Harmony’s high-heeled boots. Prime checked her belt and pulled out a gel.
“That’s my last one. We need to meet Seneschal in the hangar. The others are already on their way there.” The group followed Prime until they reached the hangar. The group was crowded around someone lying on the ground.
“What happened?”
“Something happened to Yuki while we were on the rooftop. She screamed like nothing I’ve ever heard and just went totally stiff. She’s been like this ever since.”
“Feedback backlash. She told me of it once, but it was a long time ago. It should pass, but it means she failed her hack into Purple Faction. It could be hours, maybe days before she’s conscious again,” Harmony explained.
“Great, so we’re totally exposed. Unless you made those scramblers, Aurora?”
“Some, but not enough for all of us—not enough time.”
“Does anyone have any good news?”
“I think I found our ship,” Seneschal said, rounding a corner. “I’m locked out, so someone with Tier 2 will need to unlock it.” Rory raised his hand and then froze like a statue. He began to tip and fall forward and the others rushed to catch him. They slowed his fall so he was gently laid on the ground, but he was a big guy, so they couldn’t move him easily.
Aurora rushed to his side and Rory looked up at her, his eyes the only thing he could voluntarily control.
“Are you okay?” She caressed his stubbly face with a hand.
“Let’s carry him. As top technician, Rory should have access, but we’ve got to get him to the scanner.” They struggled to hoist him up and carry him where Seneschal directed. Grimdark whistled as they approached the ship Seneschal had chosen.
“A corsair? Are you sure? We’re going to piss off a lot of people!” Harmony gasped.
“Oh, I’m sure. I’ve always wanted to drive one of these babies,” Seneschal countered. “I like to think of it as a going away present.”
Darik grumbled as someone stepped on his wounded foot in their shuffle to carry Rory. “BoJack better be coming with us.”
“He is, I’ve already met with him. We’re picking him up after we leave here. Tempest is staying with Gwen, whatever the Faction decides to do,” Seneschal retorted bitterly. “We’re here; lean him up to the scanner.” It took some acrobatics, but they managed to get a retinal and hand scan done to unlock ship controls.
They carried Rory inside, and Seneschal ran to the cockpit.
“Strap in, this is going to be unlike other transports. Especially Rory,” Seneschal ordered.
The ship lifted unexpectedly, with almost none of the vibration and noise of a typical transport, especially one of this size. Inertial dampeners quickly kicked in and the only evidence of motion was through the windows as they sailed out the hangar doors to pick up BoJack.
“I’m afraid you lost the pinky toe completely, and about half of the next one. That can’t be regenerated. I doubt it will affect you that much in the long term though,” BoJack explained. He put his hands on the top of Darik’s foot and skin flowed over the crusty cauterized tissue. “How did you manage this, anyway?”
“I didn’t have time to invert the portal edges. Mostly because I was being buried alive and vastly outnumbered!”
Harmony turned to Prime who was grooming herself after removing her helmet. “But you took
