by L. Fergus
“What is a shocker round?”
“A round that releases fifty thousand volts of electricity. One is usually sufficient to incapacitate someone.”
“So the three that followed the first one were for fun?” Kat grumped.
“I tried to stop them,” said Rabbit.
“I know it’s not your fault. It just hurt like the Crushing Depths.”
“I can put a bandage on them later,” Rabbit teased.
“You might not like going where one of those rounds hit me.”
“If I’m giving first aid it doesn’t matter.”
Kat pointed between her legs.
Rabbit grimaced. “It didn’t hit your…”
Kat laughed. “No. A little to the left, in the crease. Still, tingles a bit. I hope that’s a good thing.”
Rabbit shuddered.
Kat laughed again, then put her head on Rabbit’s shoulder and sighed. She felt Rabbit flinch, so she sat up. “If I could get tired I’d be exhausted,” she commented, as the darkened expensive homes and estates passed by.
“You don’t get tired?”
“Not physically, or at least I’ve never found that boundary, even when I had an arrow in the side and neck.”
“Are you serious?” Rabbit exclaimed.
“Yeah. I even took the arrow from my side and put it into an enemy archer.”
“Damn. You’re insane. That must have taken forever to heal.”
Kat shrugged. “It happened a few days ago during my last job.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I heal rapidly, never get sick, and don’t tire. I don’t know how or why. It’s just more of my curse.” Kat sighed heavily.
“What did I tell you about that?” Rabbit said gently.
“I know. It’s hard to change a lifetime of thinking in a few hours.”
“I understand. I’m right there with you trying to change my thinking. A part of me still wants to arrest you, and putting the cuffs on you made me feel good.”
Kat chuckled. “It’s too bad you weren’t attaching the other end to a bed post.”
Rabbit smiled. “Flattery will get you nowhere. I will attach it for you and leave you to your own devices.”
Kat smiled. “Maybe I should take you to dinner first.”
Rabbit laughed. “It’ll take more than that.”
“So there is a chance?”
“No, that’s for me to come free you later.”
Kat laughed and gave Rabbit a warm hug. “This is fun. I’ve never had this much fun before. I actually feel happy.”
Rabbit’s smile faded a bit. “I don’t know if I’d classify this as fun. Definitely stressful, but exciting too, I’ll admit. Maybe if I had the combat experience you have.”
“You’ve done well so far.”
“And what have I done?”
“You’ve gotten us this far.”
“Without you, I’d be dead.”
“Without you, I wouldn’t have discovered parts of myself. I owe you for that.”
“You don’t owe me anything. You’re my friend and so far it’s been unbelievable.”
Kat blushed. “I’m just doing what I normally do.”
Rabbit giggled at her. “You’ve set such a high standard, you can’t let me down.”
“I haven’t done anything yet,” Kat said with a sly smile.
“You’ve been talking a good game. I will definitely question whoever comes out of your bedroom to find out if it lives up to the hype.”
Kat winced playfully, impressed Rabbit had made the leap and run with it. “You won’t have to question her. You’ll be able to hear her.”
Rabbit rolled her eyes and shook her head. “There is no winning this game, is there? Keep watching. The city guards are going to be after us. It’s possible they got word ahead of us, or we stumble into another patrol…” Rabbit paused as a patrol came out of a side street. “…like that one. Get ready, there’s no bluffing our way past them.”
Kat had left her seat before she finished.
Kat landed on a unique sign pole above a door. The pole was a giant sword. It had a few shark’s teeth stuck in the blade. A groove in the blue steel blade hinted that the teeth were its cutting edge. The handle looked to be made of pink stone. The panel that hung below read THE ARCONIAN. Ahead the guards moved toward the wagon.
“Jess, get your gun!” Kat yelled. She hopped onto the handle, dropped, and grabbed the handle to swing herself into the patrol. A black tendril of fog snaked from the handle to her nose.
“What the blazes does this piece of junk have to do with us?” Kat demanded.
“This sword, Great White, belonged to someone we know,” said Kita. “The memory of him is still fuzzy. I have one clear memory of his voice. He said, ‘Easy, easy. You’re not a monster. You’re a warrior, a beautiful tormented fallen angel. You have what others may call dark gifts and talents, but I believe your intentions are good. You are not a monster, just young and undisciplined. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the two apart.’ ”
“Good. It’s comforting to know someone believed we could do good things after everything we’d done.”
“And all the things we wish we could do and desire to do,” Kita added.
“Yeah. I’m glad we’re getting a steady supply tonight to satiate the appetite.”
Kita sighed. “Too bad we don’t have more time to savor one of them.”
“We need to start killing a bit more intimately. So close we can taste them,” Kat purred.
“That would be so much more fun. Do you think Jess is right about us being an Angel? The other person we know called us a fallen angel.”
“Do you think we are?”
“I don’t know, but…” A new memory appeared. “A giant room filled with cats in tiny cages, another full of mothers and cubs. It’s a factory, a meat factory. There’s a figure wearing a cloak with two red lights shining out. ‘I am the Fallen Angel,' the figure said in our voice. The hood comes off, but nothing’s there. Whoa,” Kita exclaimed.
“What is it?” Kat demanded.
“It’s us. We just appeared in the cloak, our eyes red. We push open the door and go inside. Giant pig men are working the production lines, butchering the cats. We slaughter them all. Some of them die slowly and painfully in the factory’s machinery. The shadowy woman with the tail is a prisoner here. We free her and leave with her. That’s it.”
“How can we turn invisible or make our eyes glow red?”
“I don’t know. But, if we did it once, we can do it again.”
“We’re the Fallen Angel,” Kat repeated the part of the memory.
“It has a nice ring to it,” said Kita.
“And describes us well and gives us a guide.”
Kat’s grip on the sword’s handle slipped, and she crashed into the guards, instead of landing behind them. Still feeling the effect of the flood of memories, her reaction time was off. A sudden burst of pain in her side and thigh brought her back to reality.
She rolled to dodge a strike by a spear and caught another spear tip in the spikes of her bracers. She wrenched her arms apart, breaking the spearhead from the shaft. Drawing Dusk and Dawn, she stabbed the spear wielder under the chin and sliced through his legs. She spun up to her knees while blocking a sword strike on her right and disemboweling another guard on her left. The head of the guard she’d blocked exploded, and the body landed on top of her.
“Kat, how bad are you hurt?” said Rabbit, trying to control the fear in her voice.
Kat pushed the body off her. After sticking the tip of her finger into the guard’s wound, she popped the finger in her mouth and sucked it clean. Mmmm, yummy. Off to the side, Rabbit vomited. Kat rolled to her knees and grabbed a flask on a guard’s belt. She offered it to Rabbit, but she waved it off. “It’ll get the taste out of your mouth. You don’t have to swallow it.”
“What was that?” Rabbit demanded when she finished. “That was disgusting. You have no idea wha
t diseases and crap are in someone else’s body.”
“It was absolutely delectable, and I don’t get sick, remember?”
“Just, don’t do it again. Lie back down and let me look at those wounds.”
Kat shrugged. “I’ve had worse. It’ll heal.”
“We don’t have time for you to heal. So, sit back and let me bandage it.” Rabbit pulled off Kat’s chest protector and undid the belts that protected Kat’s midsection. “Damn, that guard got you good.”
“She knew what she was doing,” said Kat.
Rabbit took a first aid kit from her belt. Peeling off a sheet of the plastic-like film, she pressed it over the wound. “Ok, I’ve got to open your bodysuit, so it might hurt.”
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that?” Kat said with a goofy grin.
“Such a child,” Rabbit grumbled. She placed the healing film over the wound in Kat’s thigh. “I’m going to have to put a pressure bandage on the outside. It’s bleeding a lot. Ok, you can close your bodysuit.”
Kat made a disappointed noise but did as ordered. Rabbit tore off strips from a guard’s cloak and used them to bandage Kita’s leg. While Rabbit worked, Kat examined the holes Rabbit’s rifle had left in the guards. “Nice shooting.”
“This is the first time I’ve shot and killed someone.”
“So you weren’t puking over me, then?” Kat said with a smile.
“No. What you did was disgusting and disturbing.” Rabbit pulled Kat to her feet. She went to help her to the wagon, but Kat shook her head.
“I can walk.” Kat knelt down and collected a black cloak from a guard.
“What’s that for?”
“Theatrics.” Kat returned to The Arconian and looked up at the giant sword. How am I getting it down?
“Come on. We need to hurry,” Rabbit urged.
“Give me a minute.” Kat jumped up and grabbed the handle. Swinging her legs against the side of the building to brace herself, she pulled, but the sword refused to move.
“Why on Earth do you want that thing?” said Rabbit. “If you wanted a souvenir of this place I know of better things.”
“It belonged to someone I know. I’m not leaving without it.”
“Who’s carrying it? It’s bigger than both of us.”
“You let me worry about that,” Kat said as she picked the lock on a window. She slid inside and saw her problem. A giant metal clamp attached to a support timber held the tip of the sword in place. Two quick strikes from Dusk and the clamp clattered to the floor. She returned outside, and this time, the sword came out with ease.
She picked up the sword. It was too long for her to wield properly. Grumbling, she strapped it to her back with a quick release in case she had to fight again.
With a slight limp, she walked backed to the wagon.
Kat climbed up the wall separating Catalina district from Ana district. The pair had decided Rabbit would have an easier time getting through the gate without her. After ditching the wagon, they’d gone separate ways. Once they were in Ana district, the city gate wasn’t far.
She grunted at the pain in her middle and thigh. Normally, the adrenaline kept her going through a job and she didn’t notice the pain. She’d then go home and sleep. There would be no sleeping the pain away tonight. Kat was beginning to regret her decision to get up close and personal with the enemy.
Leaping out and up from her hiding position under the wall walk, she grabbed the top edge of the stone rail. Above her two guards’ boots thumping on the wooden decking.
She let them go by, and then pulled herself up. As she went to jump across the walk, Great White caught the stone rail with a dull, metallic clunk. While she fought to get Great White unstuck, the two guards turned, saw her, and attacked. As she twisted the big sword free, she blocked a sword with her bracer. She bent over and spun, hitting both of them with the big sword. Drawing two stars as she stood up, she threw them at her attackers. One star found its mark. The other was turned aside by the guard’s helmet as he ducked instinctively.
Kat jumped backward as the man took a swing with his sword. She hopped to one side, catching Great White on the corner of the floor and rail. Tumbling to the floor, she rolled, narrowly missing the guard’s shield coming down on her. She reached between the guard’s legs and grabbed his flapping cloak. She sprung over the man’s head. The guard fell, tangled in his cloak. Grabbing Great White’s crossguard, she jumped, driving the giant sword into the man’s chest.
“I believe that is a first,” Kita chuckled.
“I have to work with what I’ve got,” said Kat, trying to sound modest.
She jumped over the stone railing, climbed down, and made the long leap to a neighboring building. The timber she landed on collapsed. She fell through the roof, catching a cross beam before falling into the room. Cries of alarm came from several places in the building. She pulled herself on top of the beam and made her way to a deep shadow at the back of the room. A couple came out of a doorway on the far side.
“Trapped,” Kat hissed.
“We’re never trapped,” said Kita. “Hack a hole through the wall.”
“Won’t that make a mess?”
“Not if you make sure it all falls outside.”
Kat drew Dusk and thrust the sword into the mud brick and plaster wall. She cut out a circle. With a swift kick, the cut out section of the wall fell away. A yell came from outside.
“This just isn’t our night,” Kita muttered.
Kat didn’t say anything as she squirmed through the hole. As she attempted the short jump to the next building, Great White caught in the hole, sending her tumbling through the air. She crash-landed in a pile of crates and trash.
A pair of vagrants came to inspect her. “Money’s falling from the sky,” one said to the other.
Kat groaned, not from pain, but from frustration.
“That guard can’t be feeling too good from a fall like that. Let’s see what he’s got.”
As they reached for her, Kat sprang to life. She backhanded the closest vagrant with her bracer while driving an arrow into the throat of the second. She kicked the first one down the alley onto his back. Picking up a broken barrel, she drove the splintered circle of wood into the man’s chest.
“Thanks,” Kat said down to him, “you made me feel better.”
Kita sighed happily. “Killing always makes it better.”
Kat hurried down the alley and made her way to meet Rabbit in New London square, just outside the city’s main gate.
Kat made her way through the darkness along a boulevard that intersected New London Square. She stuck her head around the corner of a building. She spotted a group on the far side of the fountain. It was easy to identify Rabbit. She was six inches shorter than everyone else.
Torches lined the edges of the square and the fountain, creating no deep shadows in which to hide. Kat thought about going to the rooftops, but after her earlier experience, she wasn’t too keen on the idea. Except for Rabbit’s group, the square was empty. So, what are you up to, Jess?
Kat darted between shadowy areas. Skirting the building fronts, she used doorways, stairs, benches, and anything else to obscure her. Hiding in a darkened doorway, she picked up a tiny pebble and flicked it at Rabbit. Hitting the girl in the back of the neck, she turned around, looking. Kat fired a second pebble, hitting Rabbit in the chest. She stepped into the light to wave at Rabbit. The girl waved back.
“My informant is here,” Jess said to her group, and then hurried over to meet Kat.
“What’s all this?” Kat hissed.
“Ana station sent them out to help after one of their embedded people reported me passing through the Ana District gate. I explained what happened to my group and told them you were an informant with information on who attacked my station. They want to turn the city upside down. I’ve been stalling them until you got here. Where have you been? Are you ok?”
“No. I want to go home,” Kat said
firmly.
“Home? We can’t go home. We don’t even have a home to go back to.”
“I don’t care. I can hide. My brain is tired, I hurt, and I just want to go to sleep and make this all go away.” Tears slid down Kat’s face.
Rabbit put a sympathetic hand on Kat’s arm. “It’s not that bad, and going to sleep won’t make it go away. If you need some time to rest, we can take a couple of minutes. I told them it’d take me a bit to talk you into coming in.”
Kat tried to sit on the doorstep. When Great White got in her way, she took it off angrily and tossed it into the street, then slumped down on the doorstep. She put her head on her knees, crying quietly.
Rabbit sat down next to her and put her arm around Kat. “Kat, we’ll make it. We have to. Neither one of us wants the alternative.” She reached up and stroked Kat’s hair. The effect was almost immediate. Kat quieted, sniffed, then raised her head and wiped away the remaining tears.
“Feeling better?” Rabbit said softly.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Kat said, embarrassed.
“Don’t worry about it. If I’d been through what you have tonight, I’d want to cry, too.”
Kat gave her a small smile.
“Are you ready to go?”
“I guess I am. What’s the plan?”
“They want to take you to Ana station, but I’m going to tell them we’re going to headquarters, which is outside the city gate. I’m going to have to cuff you again, but if I put them on no one will check them. You can keep your gear that way.”
Kat groaned. She was tired of cuffs. “Fine.”
“Really, no innuendo?” Rabbit asked with a smile.
Kat shrugged. “It’d just be wasted.”
“Come on,” Rabbit urged playfully. “It’s not wasted, I just get embarrassed by it. But, don’t get your hopes up over me. I have my own dreams of my first time.”
Kat rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Kat smiled. “A word of advice. Dream of it, but don’t hold out for it. You might miss a dream you never realized you wanted.”
“I…Ah, ok. Didn’t you have a dream?”
Kat chuckled. “I just wanted someone to love me for me. I’d long given up on any first-time fantasy. Maybe that’s why I allowed myself to get played by Sarah. But, your first time with sex and love doesn’t define you. All you can do is learn from them.”