The Kota

by Sunshine Somerville

  It was a replica of C block. The only difference she noticed was that the cells here had been unlocked, their doors hung open, and every cell was empty. This she noted with a quick glance, but her focus was pulled to a small crowd in the center of the room. She’d found Revenant.

  A broad-shouldered, ugly Dominion operative stood over Revenant, who was tied, bloodied, and kneeling on the floor. A female operative wearing a stealth suit and metallic facemask stood behind Revenant. Six soldiers stood at attention behind her.

  Bullseye, dematerialized, approached on alert.

  “I won’t ask again,” the ugly operative was saying. “Who else is with you?”

  Revenant’s right eye was swollen shut, but he looked up and glared at the man.

  “Where are they?” The operative kicked him in the gut. “Should I let Silver Eye use her flamethrower on you? Ever imagined what it’d feel like to have your flesh burn off your bones? You’re about to find out, unless you start talking!”

  “Surge,” said the woman operative, presumably Silver Eye, “we need to know if they came for the prisoners we’re here to escort. They’re secure for now, but if that’s what these rebels came for, we’ll need backup on our way to the Capitol.”

  Surge glared at Revenant and grabbed his head by his ponytail. “Is that your mission? Rescuing the un-factors?”

  What? thought Bullseye. There are un-factored prisoners here? If they’re taken to the Capitol…

  Surge let go of Revenant’s hair with a shove that toppled the barely conscious man. “Prepare to roast, rebel.”

  Silver Eye reached around her back for a rifle-looking device. This attached to a tank hanging on her hip.

  Bullseye moved to stand behind the soldiers and Silver Eye. She materialized and shot two soldiers before dematerializing again. The other four soldiers turned in alarm but found nothing. After stepping clear of their guns, Bullseye materialized again and shot another soldier, but she had to throw herself to the floor and dematerialize as the three remaining soldiers fired at her.

  Surge’s eyes were wide, and he pulled Revenant against himself like a shield. “Silver Eye!”

  His partner stood back-to-back with him and activated her flamethrower. She looked in every direction to spot Bullseye the moment she materialized again.

  Great, thought Bullseye. Fire’s always given me trouble.

  She got to her feet and positioned herself behind the three remaining soldiers. She made sure they were between her and Silver Eye, then materialized and shot two. Silver Eye swung the flamethrower and pulled the trigger, and Bullseye dematerialized and ran just in time to miss the jet of flame. The spraying fire caught the remaining soldier in a burst. He screamed, fell to the floor, and died beside the soldiers Bullseye had killed.

  Silver Eye seemed unfazed by the fact that she’d killed one of her men. Her gaze was tense behind her metallic facemask. “Hold him, Surge.”

  “I got him.”

  Silver Eye continued to aim the flamethrower back and forth. Bullseye walked within a meter of them unseen and examined her options. Surge had his arm around Revenant’s throat, and Revenant looked too battered to fight him.

  I might be able to take out Surge, thought Bullseye, but Silver Eye will use the flamethrower on Revenant once Surge goes down.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are,” Silver Eye taunted as she swung the flamethrower. “More soldiers will be here any second. What ya gonna do, Bulls?”

  Bullseye almost materialized in surprise. The woman knew her? Cruelthor had announced to the world that the Kota Warrior Leader was the Dominion assassin operative known as Bullseye. He’d even gone so far as to expose her citizen name as Loree Kandoya. But only operatives she’d known personally would call her Bulls. Did she know Silver Eye?

  No time for this, she thought.

  With a step forward, Bullseye positioned herself between the operative’s backs. With a heave, she used the space dimension to shove the other woman to the ground. Silver Eye lost her flamethrower as she went down. At the same moment, Bullseye materialized and punched Surge in the back of the neck.

  “Ugh!” The big man dropped Revenant in surprise and stumbled forward.

  Bullseye rushed to guard Revenant and lifted her gun at Surge.

  But she was too slow. Actually, Surge was too fast. He must’ve been a MOB because he moved with unnatural speed and slapped the gun from Bullseye’s grip. Then he pulled the ropes tying Revenant free only to throw them around both Revenant and Bullseye before she could do anything to stop him. Pressed against Revenant, she didn’t even have time to struggle before Surge threw the end of the rope over a ceiling pipe. He pulled the rope to hoist them in the air. Bullseye and Revenant were swung off their feet and flipped to dangle in the air, upside down, suspended like bats from the ceiling pipe.

  Ow, ow, ow, thought Bullseye. Shit.

  It’d be quite a drop if Surge let his end of the rope go. But, the big operative seemed content for now to stand below with the rope wrapped around his arm. He laughed up at them.

  Silver Eye walked over to look up at Bullseye. Even under her facemask, she was clearly smiling. “You can’t dematerialize now, can ya? Revenant will fall to the ground and smash his head open.”

  Bullseye tried to ignore the squeezing rope. “Yep. Nice move. Good idea with the flamethrower, too. Have we met?”

  The woman glared. “Yeah, we’ve met, you cocky bitch. I used to idolize you. Now, I don’t know why we were so impressed.”

  Surge asked his partner, “What do ya want me to do with them?”

  Bullseye tried to look around for ideas as she and Revenant swung slightly.

  Silver Eye walked over to retrieve her flamethrower. “Keep her up there, for now. When the soldiers get here, we’ll figure something out. Cruelthor will give us a huge promotion for this. Did he say dead or alive? I’d vote for dead.”

  Surge grinned.

  Straining against the ropes, Bullseye knew she couldn’t get loose. The blood was rushing to her head, but she tried to think. She couldn’t let Revenant die, even if she could dematerialize and save herself. But what could she do? Soldiers would arrive any minute. She had no weapon… Then she remembered her knife. Twisting, she looked up at her feet and saw the handle protruding from her boot. She looked around and noticed that the second level’s balcony railing was within reach if she swung just right.

  I have to be quick, she thought.

  Bullseye lurched from side to side so they began to swing. After three pumps, she reached the full extent of their swing away from the balcony. She used all her strength to twist in the ropes and reach the handle of the knife in her boot.

  “Knock it off!” yelled Surge.

  In a single motion, Bullseye straightened to look below at Surge as they swung over him. She flicked her wrist to throw the knife into his throat. Surge gurgled a scream before falling dead, and the rope slipped loose from his arm.

  Bullseye felt a jerk as the rope pulled free from the pipe overhead. Immediately, they began to fall as well as swing toward the balcony. The loosening rope also allowed her to get an arm free just as they reached the balcony rail. They hit with a sharp smack, and Revenant’s weight slammed her against the rail. She felt a rib break, but she used her now free arm to grab the rail before they completely fell. She was nearly yanked free as Revenant’s added weight pulled her down, and she felt her shoulder dislocate. She gasped in pain and got her other arm free to hold on.

  “Hey!”

  The whole thing had taken maybe ten seconds, and Silver Eye had looked away to examine Surge before returning her attention to the prisoners. Now, she stood from Surge’s body and hurried over with the flamethrower.

  Quickly, Bullseye checked that it was a safe drop to the floor. Satisfied, she dematerialized, and Revenant fell with the loosened ropes the rest of the way to the floor. Bullseye dropped right on top of him but used the space dimension to cushion the fall.

  “Why you…” S
ilver Eye aimed her flamethrower at Revenant.

  Bullseye jumped in front of the woman and materialized, at the same time using her good arm to yank the flamethrower from Silver Eye’s grip. She threw it across the floor and kicked Silver Eye in the gut.

  “Ugh!” Silver Eye staggered back. But she recovered. She lifted her arms in a fighting stance. Her gaze swung over to Surge, remembering the knife.

  Bullseye saw it too and dove with the other woman over to Surge’s body. They landed in a heap, each grasping for the knife in the man’s bloody throat. Without thinking, Bullseye tried to use her dislocated arm, and she cried out in pain. She kneed Silver Eye instead. Silver Eye got hold of the knife and flipped it around to jab down on Bullseye’s chest. But Bullseye dematerialized, the knife struck the floor instead, and she got to her feet and materialized again to kick the knife away. Silver Eye dove at her, and together they fell back to the floor and kicked and swung at each other. Bullseye took a kick to the head and fell over, but she stuck a leg up and shoved Silver Eye back. Again Bullseye jumped to her feet. She winced in pain and held her useless arm against her broken rib, waiting for the other woman to attack. Silver Eye also stood in a defensive position, panting, with fists raised.

  We’re evenly matched, thought Bullseye. All she has to do is hold me off until soldiers show up. I won’t be able to get Revenant out of here unless I take her down!

  Bullseye caught a glimpse of movement behind her opponent. Revenant had come to. Silver Eye had her back to him, and Bullseye moved to turn Silver Eye a little more so the operative wouldn’t notice him. Bullseye kept her eyes on the operative but moved her head subtly, hoping Revenant would see. He did, and he looked over where she’d indicated. Her knife lay on the floor a few meters from him. Creeping, he slid in his remaining bindings toward the knife.

  Silver Eye shook her head. “You have no idea who I am, do you?” She sounded annoyed, maybe even a little disappointed.

  “Well, if you want, we can go chat over coffee.” Bullseye continued to move, keeping Silver Eye’s back to Revenant.

  “You don’t drink coffee. At least, you didn’t before.”

  Bullseye scowled at this.

  She really does know me, she thought. Who…

  Revenant was cutting his ropes now.

  “Bringing you in will be so rewarding.” Silver Eye flexed her fingers and made tighter fists. “Cruelthor will probably give me whatever I want.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Never wanted to be an operative, for starters. That wasn’t my plan.”

  “You’re pretty good at it,” Bullseye said honestly.

  Revenant rose and held the knife, and he looked at Bullseye as he took a few steps toward Silver Eye. He was within a meter.

  “Thanks.” Silver Eye didn’t sound like she cared for the compliment. “I suppose I am.”

  To Bullseye’s surprise, the woman spun and kicked Revenant in the chest. He fell backwards to the floor, and Silver Eye spun back around before Bullseye could take advantage of the distraction. She charged the woman just the same, but her broken rib shot a bolt of pain through her body and she lost her balance.

  Silver Eye timed a perfect jump kick that connected with Bullseye’s head.

  Everything flashed black. Bullseye fell to the floor. Her vision recovered, but the only thing she saw was Silver Eye’s blurry form as the woman ran to get her flamethrower.

  Soldiers entered from the back doors.

  “Get them!” Silver Eye screamed.

  Revenant scrambled to his feet and ran over to Bullseye. “Come on! We have to get out of here!”

  Every sound shot pain through her head.

  The soldiers ran into the cellblock, but Bullseye lost sight of them as Revenant picked her up. Holding her, he ran in the opposite direction. Bullseye clung to him like a child, her good arm around his neck. Revenant kicked open B block’s remaining entry door, ran up the main hall to a branching hall, then kicked open an exterior exit.

  Bullseye squinted from the bright security lights outside, but she had no time to look around. Revenant ran across an open space. Shouts and gunfire reached her ears from the front of the building where the prisoners still fought the soldiers. Farther away she heard loud booms, she guessed from the armed vehicle the prisoners had stolen.

  I hope the others are okay, she thought. Tigris? Tigris?

  Bullseye didn’t sense the telepath in her mind, but she didn’t have much time to worry. They’d reached the prison wall. Revenant spun in a small circle, still holding her, and Bullseye’s head continued to spin until he set her down and ran away along the wall. She wondered briefly if he’d abandoned her, but he returned a moment later and scooped her up again.

  Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

  She looked back the way they’d come and saw Silver Eye and a group of soldiers emerging from the main cell house. Bullseye couldn’t hear Silver Eye’s orders, but she guessed what they were. The soldiers started running straight for them.

  Revenant held her tight and ran along the wall.

  Bang! Ping! A shot struck the wall a meter away.

  Bullseye closed her eyes. She felt Revenant adjust her in his arms. She sensed something different in the air, and she opened her eyes to find they were in darkness. Revenant was shuffling sideways through a narrow space, and Bullseye realized he’d found the prison’s back door.

  Sure enough, they soon passed through the wall, and now Bullseye saw only dark openness around them. Revenant set her against the wall, then disappeared back through the wall’s doorway. She heard a heavy creaking sound and Revenant grunting, so she assumed he was closing the door before Silver Eye and her soldiers could follow.

  Bullseye used the time to caress her arm and examine her surroundings in the dark night. Because Pittsburgh was dead, no light shown from the skeletal city on the far bank, and the river looked black.

  “Hold on,” Revenant said when he returned. “Just a little farther.”

  Before she could ask his plan, Revenant picked her up again and descended a steep bank of stairs. Bullseye heard water lapping against the concrete shore, and her eyes focused enough to see a short dock with a few boats tied.

  Revenant ran to a speedboat and helped her climb aboard before hurrying to untie the dock fastenings. Bullseye sat on the long rear seat of the speedboat, and Revenant jumped in to start the engines. The loud gurgling of the propellers shook Bullseye’s skull, and she lay across the seat to hold her aching parts. Revenant swung the wheel and steered out into the river, and they left the prison island behind them.

  Once they were well out on the dark river, Revenant slowed the boat. He leaned on the controls and cut the engine, and with a wince of pain he stepped back to where Bullseye lay. The boat hit a swell, and he steadied himself before kneeling in front of where she lay on the seat.

  Don’t cack on him, she thought.

  Even in the dim light, his swollen face was obvious. “Your shoulder’s dislocated. This is going to hurt.”

  Bullseye braced herself as he took her arm, and before she could prepare for it he yanked her arm with a jolt. Pain shot through her body, but she felt her shoulder pop back into place. She didn’t cry out. Her eyes were watering, however. She clutched Revenant’s arm and sucked in air.

  “Can you contact the Seer?”

  It took Bullseye a minute to remember this was how the rebels identified Tigris. She looked back up at him and didn’t dare risk the pain of shaking her head. “No. I think she’s out of range. That must mean they aren’t at the bridge anymore.”

  “Then I’ll head for the rendezvous. They’d go there to wait for us, wouldn’t they?”

  “Yep.” Bullseye hoped this was right.

  Revenant stood and restarted the engine. He steered the boat downstream, increasing their speed. His dark ponytail flipped around in the wind.

  Bullseye made herself sit up, and she looked across the water at the land farther into the city. Revenant, she noti
ced, also looked over with frequent glances. Whatever they did, they couldn’t land there. Hopefully Silver Eye was afraid of the factors too, and that might stop her from pursuing.

  The boat hit a swell, and the jolt sent fresh pain. She had to lie back down.

  Revenant looked back at her. “Don’t fall asleep on me. You’ve got a concussion.”

  “Okay.”

  I’m going to cack, she thought. I’m lucky to be alive… Revenant saved my life. I don’t think I could’ve gotten away back there. Silver Eye had me. She really did. And now a guy who should absolutely hate me is saving my life…

  A few minutes later, Revenant slowed the boat. Bullseye managed to sit up and she saw the demolished bridge, their original rendezvous. As Revenant pulled the boat alongside the rubble at the shore, Bullseye saw movement in the shadows.

  “It’s us!” Revenant shouted. “I need help! She’s hurt!”

  Rave was the first to run forward, followed by Anya, then the others, including the three rescued commanders. Bullseye felt immediate relief at the sight of her team. She stood with Revenant’s help and stepped over the side of the boat to shore. When they both stood on solid ground, Anya rushed up and hugged her brother.

  Rave helped Bullseye stand. “You okay?”

  “I’ve been worse.” She tried to remember if this was true.

  In the dim light, Bullseye inspected Rave, Whitewolf, and Tigris. They were dirty, but aside from a broken light on Whitewolf’s suit, they looked fine.

  Then Anya stepped forward. She glared at Bullseye. “You bitch! You almost got Vadim killed!”

  “Anya,” Revenant said sharply. “She saved my life!”

  Anya spun around on him. “No, you saved hers! Why?”

  “That’s enough!” Revenant looked at his sister. He shook his head, then stepped to Bullseye. He pulled something from his coat pocket.

  It caught the moonlight in a familiar way. He had her knife. Revenant spun it to give her the handle, and Bullseye hesitated. She looked him in his good eye, then took the knife with her good hand. She lifted her leg to put it back in her boot. Her head was pounding, and she was sure she’d vomit any minute, but she focused her attention on Revenant.