So Irelyn had taken off with the bastard in power armor. That removed a major threat, but Paige was still left there facing plenty of problems in the form of heavily-armed troops. Heavily-armed troops who were pissed off about their leader being abducted. In that moment, all Paige could think was that this meant Irelyn trusted her. She didn't try to take on everything by herself. She removed the biggest threat and trusted the other girl to handle what was left. She trusted her to survive.
Was it strange that the realization of that made her feel more accepted than anything else Irelyn had actually said? Sure, Paige understood that Irelyn didn't hate her, and even that she wanted her around. She understood that Irelyn cared about her. But this was more than that. This showed that Irelyn didn't just care about her, she trusted her to deal with this, and that meant… a lot.
Sure, there hadn't been much of a choice in that moment. The two of them would have been torn apart if they had to face that guy and all his troops at once. But still, it meant something.
Unfortunately, it would quickly stop meaning anything if she let herself get killed by these guys. Even if she only lost this body and her orb survived, they didn't exactly have any replacements. And she happened to like this body in one piece.
Even as the remaining troops decided to take out their frustration by shooting her, Paige was already throwing herself into a dive that carried her near the porch of one of the cabins. From there, she pivoted, rising enough to catch the railing with one hand. Her strength was sufficient to hoist herself up and over the railing one-handed like that before pitching herself feet-first through the window and into the cabin itself with a loud crash of shattering glass. All while hundreds of bullets chewed up the ground and wood around her. They weren't playing and they weren't taking prisoners. Apparently they were entirely too pissed off for that.
After landing inside the cabin, Paige rolled sideways along the carpet to get out of the immediate line of fire. She stayed low while bullets tore through the cabin and ripped into every bit of furniture in sight. She could hear orders being given to bring up grenades, and cursed under her breath. Okay, these guys definitely didn't care about prisoners anymore. Maybe they thought that because there was only one of their potential targets here, they could motivate the others to surrender by killing her?
Whatever their thinking was, Paige needed to get out of the building before those grenades made it in. She raised her head enough to take stock of where she was and saw a back door. Unfortunately, there were still far too many bullets heading that way. The door itself looked like Swiss cheese. Worse, she could see figures out there. These guys weren't only in the front of the house. They were in the back as well. Going through that door would only put her directly in their line of fire. It was almost a miracle that none of them had spotted her through the holes they were making with their gunfire. Which was a bit of luck that probably wouldn't last much longer.
So, she wouldn't be going that way. But there was also a second floor to this cabin, and she could see part of it from where she was laying, an upper landing wrapping around the living room. The stairs nearby led up to that second floor, and then there was that wraparound walkway with a safety railing leading all the way across that area. It overlooked the living room below.
Doing a quick kip up to get back to her feet, Paige turned to the nearby wall and leapt, catching hold of a lamp there to pull herself higher before using it to swing off in the direction of the stairs. She hit the banister for just a second before bouncing off that and jumping the rest of the way over the railing across that walkway. All while those bullets continued to tear through everything.
They hadn't realized that she was on the second floor yet, judging by the lack of bullets up here. But she didn't expect that to last. And even if it did, explosions notoriously didn't tend to stick to one level. She had to keep moving, no hesitation. No worrying about what was happening with Irelyn and her own opponent. Survive this, deal with these fucks, then she could focus on her big sister.
Sprinting to the nearest door, Paige kicked it open. It led to a bedroom with a window on the other side. Even as calls went up to throw the grenades, she was already racing toward that window. She heard several soft thunks downstairs as the bombs were tossed in just as she threw herself that way. Her form crashed through the glass. Behind her, the grenades activated, but instead of a loud boom, she heard a violent whistling and crunching sound.
Unable to focus on that for the moment, Paige found herself diving straight toward one of those soldiers with his weapon aimed at the cabin. He caught sight of her falling form at the last second and started to lift his aim, but it was too late. She crashed into him, taking the man to the ground from the impact. He crashed hard against the dirt while Paige ripped the rifle from his hands. A quick pull of the trigger while it was turned sideways hit the next man standing a bit to the left in the chest. He was wearing body armor, but it was still like a sledgehammer blow, knocking him down as well. Paige was already pivoting, catching the gun by the barrel in order to swing it like a bat to smack another man across the helmet with enough force to put him on the ground just as quickly as his two companions. Then she spun back the other way and hurled the gun hard into the face of yet another who was a bit further away.
Just like that, faster than those four mercs could react, they were on the ground. Paige snapped a foot out to kick the man she had crashed into just as he started to lift his head once more. Then she glanced over her shoulder to see what had happened to the cabin. The lack of any concussive blast had left her confused.
Immediately, she saw the reason for that lack of any blast. The grenades were obviously Touched-Tech. They had created some sort of vacuum effect that pulled the entire cabin in on itself and crushed it all into splinters. Which left behind a dark cloud of dust and debris, but that cloud was already drifting away, leaving a view of what amounted to the foundation, chimney, and a few incredibly dense balls of compressed materials.
Oh, and because the cabin had essentially been removed, when the dust cloud cleared, she and all the troops out front could see each other. They were taking in the sight of their fallen companions, and none of them looked happy about it.
Adding to that, some helicopters had arrived. Now there were three of them hovering all around Paige with powerful and dangerous mounted mini guns aimed out the side of each by troops who looked very eager to open fire and obliterate her. Not that that was any different than how every other person there looked, these ones just had the biggest guns.
Angry as they were, it was obvious that the troops there thought they had the upper hand. And why wouldn't they? She may have just barely escaped their special grenades and managed to put several of them on the ground, but she was essentially facing a firing squad that included several hovering helicopters with mounted guns that could easily turn her into a smear across the forest floor in about two seconds flat. They had every conceivable advantage and she was completely helpless.
It really was understandable that they believed that.
Before any command could go up for them to open fire, Paige was already reacting. She took in that entire sight in an instant before her hand snapped out. She had stripped the magazine from the rifle before throwing it at the other guy. And now, she threw that straight into the forehead of the gunman on the nearest helicopter. He reeled backward as the sturdy piece of metal slammed into his temple, hand reflexively jerking the gun so that as he pulled the trigger, the bullets went safely off into the ground. Well, relatively safely. Several of the nearby troops down there had to dive for cover. Which hadn't been intentional on her part, but she would gladly take it.
Already, the other two helicopter gunmen were starting to open fire, as were those still on their feet on the ground. Paige ran straight toward that nearest chopper and lunged as hard and as high as she could. It was low enough, hovering about ten feet off the ground, that she was able to just barely grab hold of the gun barrel while it was firing. The metal burned her hand, but she could deal with that later. Her system was already warning her about tissue damage and demanding she release the barrel. She ignored it and used that to haul herself up into the chopper. She made it inside, grabbing the collar of the gunman while he was still reeling from taking that piece of metal to the forehead. Before he could recover, she threw him out of the chopper and let him fall on his face ten feet below.
The pilot of the chopper was twisting in his seat, grabbing for a pistol nearby. Before he could aim it at her, Paige stripped it from his hand and pressed the barrel against his neck. “Get out.” When he hesitated, she added, “A one-story fall or a bullet to the throat, which one do you think you're more likely to survive? We can always test it the other way if you prefer.”
Below them, the troops were shouting, trying to figure out what to do about her suddenly being in one of their helicopters. Meanwhile, the gunmen in the other two vehicles were adjusting their aim, waiting for word to go ahead and destroy this one. Being in here wouldn't buy her that much time. Her main advantage was that she was able to plan and react to things faster than they could. Especially when they had to wait for orders every time she changed the situation.
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As the pilot made his choice and unfastened his harness to jump out, Paige took his place. But she didn't try to escape. Instead, she locked the helicopter in a collision course with the next one. By the time the pilot there realized she wasn't trying to fly away, it was too late for him. The choppers collided just as Paige took a running jump and threw herself back out into open sky. That jump carried her far enough to catch hold of the landing struts of the third helicopter, just as the one she had been in crashed into the second. There was a terrifying sound of screaming metal followed by an explosion. That one sent a rush of heat and force that very nearly tore her away from her grip on this last helicopter. But with some effort, she barely managed to hang on. Her body would need time to heal the burns and cuts all across her back once this was over, but she could put that out of her mind for the time being. None of the injuries were life threatening, and the pain wasn't enough to even slow her down right now. Her Biolem body could regenerate to a limited extent. Faster than a human, at least. Given enough time and fuel, it could repair damage like this.
What could slow Paige down pretty effectively would be the troops below her, who were trying to shoot her. They were being careful, not wanting to hit the sole remaining chopper, but a few bullets were coming close to the dangling Paige. And the pilot was swinging the thing around to give them a better shot. Cassidy would probably have something jokey to say about that, but Paige mostly just wanted to break his arm. And maybe a couple other bones while she was at it. She really didn’t like being shot at, especially when she was hanging here like a pinata. Time to change this.
Using the helicopter’s landing strut like a parallel bar, Paige hoisted herself up so that her arms were straight down, elbows locked while her hands gripped the strut. She reached up then, easily keeping her body lifted with just one hand while the other grabbed the ankle of the gunman there before ripping him off his perch. He yelped as she dragged him out of the chopper and let him fall to the ground. The gunshots from below had tapered off a bit, the troops afraid to try to hit her when she was so close to the helicopter itself. Unfortunately, that probably wouldn’t last. This may be their last chopper, but if they knew they didn’t have a chance of saving it, she had no doubt they would blow it up to get to her. She was going to have to make this quick.
To that end, Paige finished hoisting herself inside the chopper, falling onto her side on the metal floor. In this case, the pilot already had his pistol ready and pointed, but she managed to snap her foot out, kicking the man’s wrist so his shot went wide. Not that it was the only shot. Already, the troops below had apparently given up on getting the chopper back in one piece, and their bullets were pinging off its metal body. The thing had some armor on it, but not enough to stand up to a full bombardment. Especially if those fucks used another of those same grenades that had reduced the cabin below to ruins. Somehow, she didn’t think they’d hesitate to do the same thing to this chopper. Especially considering how pissed off at her they were right now.
Rolling back to her feet, Paige caught the pilot’s extended wrist before he could adjust his aim again. The pistol in his hand fired three more times, even as he tried to swing a knife at her with his other hand. Her head snapped backward just enough to avoid the blade, letting it whistle past her nose. Then she twisted his wrist, breaking it easily so the pistol fell from his grasp as he howled. The whole time, more bullets were rebounding off the helicopter’s armor, a couple actually managing to go through the open door on the side, narrowly missing the girl herself.
Right, she couldn’t take the time to shove the man out of the pilot’s seat. Instead, Paige shoved him forward against the console, forcing his body to hit the controls that would send the chopper forward and down, straight at the ground. The chopper had gained some height while she had been clinging to the strut, as the pilot tried to spin it around to give his companions a better shot at her. But they were still close enough that they would collide with the ground in a mere couple seconds.
In one motion, Paige yanked the pilot out of his seat and threw him out the open side of the chopper. It was already plummeting toward the ground, and she barely had time to throw herself out the other side before it was too late. She did, however, have time to grab one more thing.
By that point, they were already throwing another of those Touched-Tech grenades at the plummeting chopper. As Paige hit the ground and rolled, she heard that familiar whistling and grinding sound, catching a glimpse of the whole vehicle compressing in on itself until a small ball of metal about the size of a suitcase bounced across the ground a short distance from her.
The thing she took out of the chopper was the minigun, having managed to unhook it from its stand and pull the thing out with her as she jumped. It fell a few feet away as she landed, but she was back on her feet while the troops were still adjusting their aim. She grabbed the weapon, rising with it in her grip as she pointed it that way. Standing there with the minigun pointed at the assembled troops, she called out, “How many of you do you think this thing can rip through before you put me down? Who wants to be the first to try it? Who wants to draw my attention so the barrel swings your way?” She kept her finger close to the trigger, her other hand gripping the handle near the other end to keep the thing level as she let it drift back and forth.
The troops hesitated. They outnumbered her, sure, but it was very clear that even if they managed to cut her down, she would take a hell of a lot of them down with her. And these guys weren’t mindless first gen Biolems. They were people, living, thinking people. No one wanted to be the one to ensure that she opened fire not only on them, but on everyone around them. Whoever started shooting first would easily be condemning themselves and those closest to them. All she had to do was pull that trigger once and several hundred bullets would rip into whoever was stupid enough to make her aim the barrel that way. They were in a standoff.
At least they were for a moment. Then something collided with Paige hard enough to make her drop the gun. The next thing she knew, her body was being thrown through a window and into one of the still-standing cabins. It all happened at once, the minigun left behind as she went through the window and crashed into the wall with enough force to almost break through it.
Before she could recover from that, the same person who had crashed into her and dragged her that way caught hold of her neck and arm. Paige had a brief glimpse of a silver and green mask before she was dragged up the stairs in a blur of motion. One second she was rebounding off the wall he had thrown her into, and in the next, she was all the way upstairs, her body having been dragged violently up the stairs, bouncing off each one before he threw her out the window there, sending her crashing heavily into the dirt below. Then he was there, having gone all the way down the stairs, back out the door and around to where she was laying. She barely had time to lift her head before his foot collided hard with her face and knocked her sideways. She had that helmet on still, thankfully, but it was still enough to do some real damage. If she had been human, it would have knocked her out, at the very least. She would have been down.
Even for an enhanced Biolem like her, this is a lot to deal with all at once. This was a speedster, there was no doubt about it. Where the hell had he come from? He was just suddenly there, dragging her around and throwing her through windows, kicking her helmet, running circles around her. Apparently that guy in the armor wasn’t the only Touched in this group. This was bad. She had to figure out how to stop this guy, had to collect herself and react before he--
In most cases, Paige’s Biolem computer mind meant she could think faster than humans. But this was a speedster. Even as she was adjusting her thoughts and planning her next move, he was already reacting. He was suddenly on the other side of her, his foot colliding with her stomach with enough force to knock her onto her side and drive the wind out of her.
He was there, standing over her. The speedster wore a sleek silver bodysuit with dark green highlights, along with a matching mask with the green visor across his eyes. His mouth was uncovered, and he gave her a smirk before suddenly moving again. He was a blur of motion, yanking Paige to her feet before putting a fist in her stomach several times in rapid succession, twisting her arm and throwing her into a tree hard enough to crack it. As she stumbled backward, he was suddenly on the other side of her, his foot kicking her leg and knocking her to her knees before his arm collided with her throat, knocking her solidly onto her back. All of it happened faster than even she could process.
“Okay, guess that’s enough,” the man decided as he stood over her. “Time to take out the trash.”
He raised his foot, but just before he could bring it down, the sound of a rushing engine getting closer made the man twist the other way. He looked in that direction just in time to be hit by a small, flying figure that had just thrown herself off an incoming ATV that had literally launched itself off a nearby incline.
Sierra collided with the speedster before he could use his power, knocking him backwards into the dirt as she snapped, “Get the fuck away from my sister!” She hit the ground, rolling before popping back up.
The man recovered quickly, of course. He was back on his feet, facing them with a snarl of anger. “Two of you at once? Fine, show me what you’ve got.”
“Well,” Sierra noted, “I’ve got one of these.” She started to lift something in her hand. But before she could do anything with it, the speedster had already torn the thing out of her grasp, speeding past them in a blur. He moved so quickly the object was gone and the man was a good twenty feet away before she could so much as blink. That was followed almost immediately by the blurted first syllable of a curse, interrupted by an explosion that sent bits of… well, the man himself in every direction. He literally exploded a second after grabbing the thing out of her grasp.
From her place on the ground where she had thrown herself the instant the thing was taken away from her, Sierra mused. “You think I should’ve told him it was a live grenade?
“I probably should’ve told him it was a live grenade.”
Joke Tags: Boy The Death Tolls Just Go Wild When Cassidy Isn’t Involved In What’s Happening Huh?
