Chapter Text
Ling hadn't forgotten what it was like to attend a strategy meeting. She had forgotten what it was like to sit in the audience.
She arrived early and had a seat on the front row. Brimstone and the acting leads, Sova and Omen, were already there. The men greeted her professionally, but she could sense their varying degrees of anxiety. The three of them then went back to discussing who would present what.
Ling did share some of the anxiety. She had only seen four of her fellow agents since her release. Did the rest of the group even know that she was out of containment?
Were they afraid?
She got her answer as the other agents filed into the room.
Kirra was among the first to arrive. She didn't hesitate to take a seat right next to Ling and greet her casually.
Tala arrived some time later and took the seat on Ling’s other side. The Duelist seemed apprehensive, considering the nature of their last conversation, but not so much that she couldn't smile.
Everyone else stayed at least three seats away. Even with all of the overlapping noise, Ling could make out how their hearts pounded and fluttered . She told herself that they would come around eventually. She was sure that she could face them.
She then noticed the unsteady chiming in the back of the room, hanging as far away from her as it could possibly get. She wasn’t so sure that she could face that one.
But, with the meeting starting, she happily set this thought aside and listened closely.
Omega Earth was back. It seemed that they needed time to regroup after such a devastating loss.
There were energy readings around Icebox, Bind, Ascent, Split, Haven, and Lotus, indicating that Omega Agents had scouted all six locations.
The leaders explained that Omega Earth could strike at any of these locations at any time, or maybe all at the same time. Because of this, Brimstone thought it too risky to try and guard all four at the same time. With twenty four agents and six locations, they would have to send a squad of four to each, leaving them at a great disadvantage.
So, the solution was to play retake instead.
Each location was heavily surveilled and, at the appearance of hostiles, a team would be deployed to meet them. It seemed simple enough. It always did.
But the missions change. They always do.
With nothing else to cover, Brimstone gave orders to remain on standby and adjourned the meeting. The crowd dispersed quickly and, when Ling turned her head, she caught Zyanya in the back corner of the room.
For a moment, there was nothing but despair in that violet stare. She frowned with puffy eyes but, when Sage met them, her expression shifted into something more neutral and vaguely angry, no doubt trying to look unbothered. The Empress kept up this staring contest for an uncomfortable few seconds, then turned to leave.
Ling, on the other hand, found herself frozen, still staring, but at the wall instead. Kirra nudged her with an elbow.
“One thing at a time.” she said.
Tala didn't really know what to say, but she offered a soft smile and her comforting closeness. Ling took one look at the young Duelist, sensed her stress, and figured that Zyanya must have confronted her too.
They could cross that bridge later. There were more pressing matters to worry about, like Omega Earth’s offensive, for example or, even closer, sleep. Ling was tired. She had trained relentlessly for the past few days and it was late, so she excused herself to her quarters and fell into bed. She only hoped that there was time for her to get some rest.
It was mere hours later when she jolted awake to the sound of a base-wide alarm. She hastily dressed herself in her training gear and hurried to her door. Opening it, she found a clear plastic container on the floor just in front of her.
Her suit was neatly folded within, clean and mended.
After a moment's hesitation, she pulled it into her room and shut the door. It fit just like she remembered, possibly even better, and had its dispensers refilled.
Dressed and ready, she sprinted down the hallway and found herself in the meeting room, where the leaders had hastily prepared an emergency briefing.
There was no need for flair or fanfare. Omega Earth had taken Bind and she was to join Fade, Raze, Neon, and Omen in retaking it. They armed themselves and boarded their flight without any further delay.
It was an uncomfortably quiet trip. Raze tried to breathe some life into it with jokes and laughter but failed.
Ling was fine with that. As usual, she sat quietly, manually loading her magazines and gathering herself. That same excitement from before bubbled up within her and fluttered her radiant heart, but she pushed it down. The stakes were high. She couldn't allow herself to run amok.
When they landed, Omen, as the acting lead, gave concise orders for their attack plan. The team would split up. Raze would lead Fade and Omen through A Showers. Neon would lead Sage half through A Short. There was no time to waste.
Fade led with Haunt, spotting Omega Brimstone on site. Omen used Dark Cover on Lamps and Tower. Raze followed this up with her Boombot and a Paint Shell into the middle of the site.
Neon ricocheted a Relay Bolt through Showers, stunning the cubby to the right. Sage ricocheted a Slow Orb, halting the path to the left. Neon used High Gear for a burst of speed, slid around the corner, and found both ways clear.
Skysmoke halted the team's advance.
Sage held out her hand to stop Neon’s advance. Neither of them were insane enough to go in blind.
So they waited.
It was difficult to make out over the noise of smoke, wind, dripping water, and the beeping spike but, if Sage focused, she could hear a quiet scraping, followed by what sounded like light machinery firing up.
Her eyes went wide.
“Move!” She cried.
She shoved Neon just in time for the first shot of Hunter’s Fury to cut through the wall where her head would have been.
Instead, the beam burned through Sage’s shields, armor, and flesh alike. She screamed and hurried Neon out of showers, narrowly avoiding the remaining two shots.
There was a cacophony of noise then. The unmistakable beep and boom of a Blastpack started it all. She figured Raze would be brave (and stupid) enough to make such a risky move.
Overlapping bursts of rifle fire followed by heavy thud made it clear how bad of a move it was.
“We’ve lost Raze.” Sage said.
“Your–your arm.” Neon stammered.
Just above the elbow, much of her upper arm was missing, the flesh scorched away and cauterized too badly to bleed.
It hurt terribly . Sage tried to pretend it didn't, with her steely eyes and knit brows, but her ragged breaths and twitching fingers betrayed her.
“It’s fine.” She said, “Let us move to support our remaining teammates.”
“But–”
With a second look down, Neon saw shimmering radiance mending the flesh much quicker than it should have been able to. Sage shouldered her rifle.
“Come.”
“Right, okay.”
Neon followed and saw Sage make a quick turn to look down A Link. She fired a two-round burst from her phantom.
“Enemy removed.” She said,
When she passed the doorway, Neon saw Omega Iso laying flat on his back, with one bullet hole at his heart, and another just between his eyes. Teal light poured from his body then beamed its way to Sage.
She was fully healed.
Reunited with their teammates, both agents took quick notes of the combat situation.
Raze’s corpse lay crumpled against the crate, full of bullet holes.
Omega Brimstone lay dead in a splash of paint and blood, next to the triple crates.
Omen and Fade were still standing, but injured. Sage healed them both.
Omega Sova was last seen in Tower. Omen refreshed the Dark Cover that blocked his sightline.
Omega Iso was accounted for.
The second agent that shot Raze was still somewhere on Site.
Sage considered these facts. They outnumbered their enemy four to three, but they were all grouped together. They had many tactical options, but hadn't identified two of the remaining enemies.
That, and time was running out. The spike’s beeping timer grew faster, pressuring them to act.
So, they acted
Neon dashed into Lamps and took cover.
Fade sent a prowler around the corner and only followed when she heard gunfire strike it.
Omen went with her and, together, they shot Omega Jett dead, with Fade only suffering a wounded shoulder.
Omen knelt to diffuse the spike, but two shock bolts flew from the Dark Cover and embedded themselves in his back. The combined voltage killed him in seconds.
Sage had already made her way into the tunnel without a sound. As the Dark Cover dissipated and Omega Sova fired his rifle at her remaining teammates, she crept closer.
That was when she heard it; the distinct ringing of a Resurrection. Her Resurrection.
Her copy was present.
Ling, knowing her own weaknesses, changed her approach. If her copy intended to revive her allies, she would have to work with broken, mutilated bodies with mangled organs and extreme blood loss, and she would sacrifice every bit of time and energy needed to mend them.
So, when she caught Sova by surprise, she drew her knife and thrust it into his stomach, then cut out, imagining the havoc that the serrations wreaked on his organs. She thrust again into his chest, slipping between his ribs and into his heart, then drew it out to watch the blood pour from the wound. She thrust one more time under his chin, watched the blade exit the back of his neck between two vertebrae, and nearly decapitated him on the drawback.
It was an ugly, gory death.
As she looked out of the doorway, preparing for a newly–revived Omega Iso to step into view, she instead saw his purple radiance blanket the area and consume Fade. She reappeared a moment later with a hole in her head and crumpled to the ground.
He had narrowly missed Neon, and the young Duelist took this chance to defuse the spike. She knelt next to it, hands shaking, wary of the timer getting faster and faster.
There wasn't enough time. It was mere moments from detonation and there just wasn't enough time.
Neon squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth. She braced herself to be blown away and, all at once, the spike stopped. A puff of smoke poured from it as it went still and quiet. Her brows knit.
“It's…it's a dud?”
The pair stared at each other in complete bewilderment.
Then they heard a spike plant in the distance. Their hearts dropped .
“We've been had .” Ling said.
As the pair rushed through the teleporter, Ling cursed herself. She should have known something was wrong when there were no defenses. There were no alarm bots, no tripwires, no sensors, nothing.
Why would a defending team not have a Sentinel set up a perimeter? The answer was obvious.
Standing in B Exit, guns ready, Sage and Neon nodded to each other and stepped through the automatic doors.
Neon looked left, and saw Omega Iso peeking from B Lobby. She narrowly avoided his shots and the pair returned fire, forcing him to step back into cover.
Sage looked ahead and found no resistance in B Window. She trained her sights on Iso’s position a second time. That's when Neon spoke.
“Go.” She said, “I've got him.”
Sage considered a retort, but saw that confident glint in Neon’s eyes and the subtle smirk on her lips.
She had him.
The Sentinel rushed ahead, needing every spare second that she could get. Looking out of the window, she could see the spike there in the open, just in front of the container. She stepped forward and a shot whizzed past her head.
There were no tracers.
Her copy also wielded a phantom, and she was clever enough to fire as the spike beeped. Sage flattened herself against the wall, with the window to her left, and waited. She could hear Neon and Omega Iso fighting behind her. Unsuppressed gunfire rang out like thunder and she couldn't hear her copy very well over so much overlapping noise.
She thought this was good. She refused to solely rely on her new abilities
More suppressed shots came, punched through the wall, and barely missed her head. She stepped out of cover to return fire and saw the very end of a black ponytail slip out of view of the doorway. She dispensed a Slow Orb, cast it straight ahead into the doorway, and watched it spread over the floor.
This was her chance to move.
She vaulted out of the window and slid to a stop next to the spike. She tapped it then shouldered her rifle to watch B Elbow. She heard hurried footsteps on a metallic floor and, a moment later, saw a familiar white robe come into view. She fired and her copy dipped back into cover. They traded fire this way, trying to catch each other exposed for a decisive kill. Sage knew she would lose this way. Her copy only needed to stall. The ticking spike would do the rest.
She also knew that, despite her new abilities, trying to close the distance was a bad idea. She would die within two shots and three steps. She racked her brain for options.
Another Slow Orb wouldn’t do her any good. Her copy could wait that out too.
A Barrier Orb wouldn’t help either. It would only block her vision and provide her copy with additional cover.
Her fallen allies were far out of Resurrection range. She wished that she had taken the time to bring them back before coming to Site B.
She kept thinking until another arguably stupid idea came to her.
What if she simply stepped out of cover?
She was faster than her copy. She knew this without ego. If her copy stepped out to do the same, it would come down to who fired first and she would win. It wasn’t much of a strategy but, with time slipping away, she made her choice. She stepped out, took aim and waited.
Her copy stepped out too, clearly startled, but not detered.
Sage’s finger teased her trigger. Time slowed for her.
‘One to the chest, one to the head.’ she told herself. ‘ One to the chest, one to the head.’
A bolt of electricity hit the wall and ricocheted into Omega Sage, too fast for her to react. The following shock stunned her, her muscles suddenly and painfully stiffening against her will. In a flash, Neon slid into view, fired, and came to the stop. Omega Sage fell to her knees, her white robes stained red, and came to rest face-down in the sand.
Neon nodded and Sage took this opportunity to defuse. She clenched her jaw. The timer always made her nervous, even when she knew for a fact that there was still enough time. She didn’t then, and her heart pounded. The ground cracked beneath her and an impossible blackness grew there. All the while, the handle spun and the mechanical parts rose so painfully slow that she considered doing it by hand.
Then, the noise stopped and the spike folded itself back to its original shape. They were safe.
Sage allowed herself a massive sigh of relief as Neon came over to join her.
The duelist fell to one knee just below the window.
“Tala?” Sage scrambled closer, dropping her weapon as she went.
She was bleeding. Her left arm was a mess of cuts and an especially nasty graze that left blood running thick down to her fingertips. Another wound wept at her right side, just below her ribs.
“Oww.” Neon chuckled.
Sage smiled at her and raised a gentle hand to heal the wounds, but she coughed. Her blood spattered across Neon’s screaming face as shock came over her own features. A fresh bullet wound ravaged Sage’s throat, but she still drew her ghost and turned to her right.
Her copy knelt there, aiming through the sights of her phantom.
A second round pierced her forehead and made its way through her brain and out of her skull. Her head whipped back with the force and her eyes went to the clear blue sky as her body failed to support its own weight..
There was this horrible reverberation between her ears and the worst pain that she had ever experienced, but only for a moment.
Then, there was only darkness and peace.
And she was so very tired.