They hit and rolled, and a large -56 flashed in red along the side of her display. Fortunately, she had managed to steer towards a gently sloped meadow amid the trees. Yuki held on to her computer, tucked in the fetal position as she bled off momentum and rolled down the hill. Despite the landing zone being softer than usual, Aurora hit her shoulder hard on a rock before she came to a stop and pain shot down her arm. Another -118 flashed, along with an Incapacitated debuff to her left arm.
She finally rolled to a stop and shook as the pain intensified with her arm akimbo, straining the already wounded area. The impact drove the air out of her lungs and she gasped desperately until she could pull in some ragged breaths as she stared up at the overcast skies.
Miraculously, Yuki was unscathed and ran to her side after ensuring her laptop was intact and seeing that Aurora was hurt. As gently as she could, Yuki pulled Aurora’s arm down next to her body, wincing as Aurora gasped in pain. After panting briefly, Aurora visibly settled.
As the adrenaline burned away, she felt fatigue set over her like a lead blanket. She closed her eyes and tried to manage her pain using a focusing technique they had been taught at the academy. An out-of-place high-pitched whirring caused her to snap her eyes open. Three drones approached out of the sky, flying directly towards the women.
Yuki forward rolled and deftly picked up her laptop. She began typing, staring at the drones approaching ever closer. Aurora tensed as she saw the beam guns underneath the drones begin to cycle up as they charged. In unison, a red light burned to life and they fired.
Chapter Twelve
Cruel to be Kind
Aurora flinched as the superheated rock near her exploded, pelting her with debris and kicking up a plume of dirt. The tang of singed hair and dust filled the air. Just as she was about to cough, a hand slid over her mouth. Blinking away the grit she saw Yuki there with her finger over her lips. Turning back to her screen she continued typing, occasionally wiping dust away from the screen. The whirring of the drones dropped in intensity. A slight breeze began to clear the haze around them.
Yuki sent a party invite and Aurora accepted. It was customary to drop all party links when a mission was over so people could relax on the trip back to base. Unfortunately, that meant they were on their own until they found the rest of the Crew.
“Okay, we should be in the clear now,” Yuki replied, the edge evident in her voice. “I altered their targeting and have changed their checksum algorithms to show mission completion and targets eradicated. We should follow them to see who is behind all this.”
Yuki turned to her laptop and three tracking dots appeared on Aurora’s minimap.
She whimpered as she sat up and the weight of her arm stressed her dislocated shoulder.
“There’s no way we’re going to keep up with them,” Aurora gasped as the drones sped off into the distance.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve installed a file that should ping us when they get to anywhere there is a free connection. We’re tuned in on their frequency, and I’ve set them to track even when we get out of direct transmission range. I just love the connectivity the satellite matrix allows.” She looked up at the ever-darkening clouds. “Those could be a problem though. I’m only at 37% battery life on the laptop. I can use solar to recharge but with this much cover, it’ll be harder to get a satellite link as well as recharge my laptop. Without it, it’s going to be a lot harder to get back to civilization. First, we have to see who attacked us and why.
“Who even knows where we are? And they only brought drones to a super fight? Seems more like a delaying tactic rather than an attack. We should be on our guard for what comes next.”
Aurora had to agree. A glance at her display showed that it was a little past 5 PM, and that it would soon be dark and cold. Snow capped the tops of the mountain ranges nearby and the sun was almost slipping behind one of the large mountains. A stab of pain drove out any attempts to plan for the future.
Aurora got to her feet, brushing off the dust as much as possible. Her shoulder was clearly dislocated, and Yuki’s eyes followed hers as she assessed the damage.
“Let me know when you’re ready,” Yuki acknowledged, shaking her arms to loosen up before getting herself in a balanced stance for the gruesome task ahead. The academy was good at getting you trained to expect the unexpected. Especially with challenges that fell outside your power’s skill set.
“Can you pull some of those gels out of my pocket? The red ones, they’re on that side.”
“How many?”
“Two. No, three. Take any if you need some for yourself.” Aurora winced as she had to hold her wrist and support her arm, the mere weight of it caused stabbing pain all around her shoulder socket. “It feels like… hot icepicks are jammed in there,” she grunted through clenched teeth. She instinctively clutched her arm closer to her
“Here.” Yuki held out the gels and Aurora opened her mouth for Yuki to put them inside. She bit the corner of one and slowly sucked out some of the gel. Her breathing slowed as it eased the edge of the pain.
Aurora knelt down so the shorter woman could get into position. Finally, she released the protective tension on her arm, allowing Yuki to put firm hands on her inner bicep and outer forearm. With a grim look, Aurora nodded to Yuki.
Aurora had to fight back the scream that wanted to rip through her, but she had to keep
