Amongst the chaos, Sibylla rushed to the forward position. They were her troops now. And she had to make sure that they knew where they were going.
"Koda," Sibylla said through the com. "What your status?"
"We're taking heavy fire."
"And Yumiko?"
"She's pinned down. I see her. But she's too far ahead to get to."
Sibylla cursed. Yumiko's impulsiveness was a costly variable. If they weren't careful, it could cost Koda's safety. Already, she was beginning to feel the casualties.
Soldiers fell around her one-by-one, dropping to the ground in painful convulsions as electrical charges clawed over their bodies. She couldn't worry about Yumiko anymore. She had to focus on the exercise, end it before more of her soldiers got hurt.
"Koda, how many are still up there?" she asked.
"I count ten."
"Can you hit them with an electrical grenade?"
"I could, but they're spread too thin. And with only one grenade, I'll have to time it right."
"Do it," Sibylla said.
"And Yumiko?"
Sibylla paused. "She can cover her own ass."
The fighting continued as Sibylla and her troops rushed up the mountain. Up ahead, a line of enemy soldiers raised their rifles and shot into the advance. On instinct, Sibylla raised her blade at the last second, able to deflect the shell with a single swipe. Stunned, Sibylla came to a stop.
"How the heck did you do that?" Anais asked, staring over her shoulder at the blade.
Just as dumbfounded, Sibylla could only reply with, "Lucky, I guess." But as she replayed the moment in her head, remembering how she’d been able to follow the electrical shell through the air, she knew that that wasn’t true. “Let’s go!” she said. “They need our help.”
The tide of battle was turning. Enemy troops had embedded themselves to a fault. Once their position was overrun, they were stuck.
But the success had cost Sibylla dearly. Most of her troops were out of commission, disabled from the rounds of fire that they'd sustained in the advance. They shivered on the ground as electricity ruled their bodies, shocking them to the point of losing their bodily functions.
With only a handful of soldiers left, Sibylla needed to chase down the enemy stragglers before they could mount a counter attack. Assembling her troops, she noticed a body solidifying out of the darkness.
"Hey," Koda said as he strode out to meet her. His right cheek had been cut pretty bad, while his left sleeve had been torn around the wrist. Other than that, he appeared fine.
"Where's Yumiko?" Sibylla asked.
"She went after the retreaters," he answered.
"And you let her go?" Anais asked.
He shrugged. "Hard to stop a dog once it picks up a scent."
"She'll get them," Tayshaun assured, resting the barrel of his rifle over his shoulder.
"I don't doubt that," Sibylla said. "I just hope she doesn't do anything crazy."
"Yumiko?" Anais asked sarcastically. "Are you kidding me? That chick's the epitome of reason."
Behind them, came the sound of mechanical legs trekking up the rocky ground. Sibylla turned and saw the Spider Tanks moving into position.
They rested their long bodies against the cold ground as their systems went into temporary hibernation. The fight had gone hard on them. Black stains marked the outer hulls where shells had sparked with electricity, while smoke lifted from the joints of their legs, signaling the damage underneath. Regardless, they'd done their job.
"The enemy might've had the advantage of surprise," Anais said with a grin as she slapped one of the Spider Tanks in the rear, "but we had the artillery."
“That’s strange,” Sibylla said, suddenly realizing that they’d yet to meet the enemy’s artillery. It was then, as Sibylla began to look around, that she suddenly noticed the giant mech staring at her from the shadow of the forest.
Stumbling back in fear, her gaze lifted to the head of the mechanical cyclops hovering around the tops of the trees. "Take cover!"
Soldiers dove out of the way as the Iron Enforcer ripped itself from the thick forest, snapping the trees before it and shaking the ground with its large, metal legs.
The Spider Tanks lifted to life at once, their internal systems activating with an audible hum. But the Enforcer was too fast. It caught one with an elbow to the head, then rammed the other with a fist through the neck. Puffs of smoke lifted from the damaged areas, the wiring systems sparking and fizzling out as the two tanks finally toppled to the ground.
For a moment, Sibylla teetered on the edge of panic. She wanted to run, to scream. But her time in the holodome had taught her to be strong. She couldn’t just run from the enemy. She had to hold her ground, keep them from advancing, even if it meant getting hurt.
"Watch out!" Anais screamed.
Sibylla calmly stepped to the side as the Iron Enforcer brought a fist down onto her position. It smashed the ground like a giant hammer, lifting a wave of dirt into the air that caused Sibylla to momentarily look away.
"What are you doing?" Anais asked. She lifted her visor and gawked at Sibylla in shock.
"All units fall back," Sibylla ordered as she held her ground, glaring up at the Enforcer who was towering before her. "And take up positions along the flanks. We have to hit this thing with everything we have."
"What about you?" Anais asked.
"I'll keep it distracted."
"Are you crazy."
"Just do it." Sibylla lingered in the mech's path, bating it to attack her. And attack it did. Jumbled-up fists of metal and iron pounded the earth, as the robotic cyclops tried to catch her.
But Sibylla's ability to elude was surprisingly effective—even to her. She feinted to the side, rolled underneath, causing the Enforcer to stagger back and glance over its shoulder.
From the flanks, recruits, hunkered down behind trees, fired at the giant mech, peppering its outer shell with a constellation of gooey shells that covered it in web of electricity. But the firing had little effect, as if the Enforcer had grown immune to the damaging surge.
Stepping away from the fight, Sibylla closed her eyes and tried to imagine the internal circuitry, examining every possibility.
The wiring, she realized. The insulation had been reinforced, hardening it to external damage. They were improving the equipment at a rapid pace.
On her visor, Sibylla noticed that Yumiko had reconnected to her com. "Yumi?" Sibylla said. "Where the hell are you?"
"Cleaning up the last of the cowards," she said proudly.
"Oh really? Great. Maybe when you're done, you could get your ass down here and help out?"
Sibylla ducked as the Enforcer swung for her head. It was like a wrecking ball; big metal fueled by momentum.
"Help out?" Yumiko asked. "That's all I've been doing. Heck, I just risked my life coming out here."
"Yeah? And who's fault was that?" Sibylla knew that she was being hard on the soldier. But the rush of adrenaline and fear was pushing her over the edge.
"What I do is my choice," Yumiko said. "Nobody else's."
"And that's why you're dangerous," Sibylla said. "You want to be a leader, but you don't care about your troops. You just care about yourself."
"Oh, forget this," Yumiko said. "When we get back, I'm writing you up for insubordination."
"Go ahead," Sibylla said, rushing through the mech's legs and slicing one of the hoses around its ankle. Steam hissed out of the metal tubing, nearly burning her neck, and the Enforcer turned around, trailing Sibylla with its eye as she raced away. "I wouldn't want to serve under you anyway."
"Go to hell!" Yumiko spat. The spite in her voice was like acid. "You think I'm a crappy leader? You think I'm selfish? I'll show you selfish."
Sibylla gazed up at the mountain, stricken by the tone of Yumiko's voice.
"We've almost got it!" Anais yelled as she emptied out a cartridge at the mech. "Concentrate on its knees!"
Blue light flickered up th
e mech's legs as it struggled against the overwhelming current blasting its joints. In one last effort, it raised a foot into the air and aimed it over Anais who was still holding her position before it.
The speed of the foot betrayed all logic, but Tayshaun caught her in the nick of time, shoving her to the side and sending her feet away, where she rolled along a stretch of dirt.
The mech fell to its hands and knees, landing directly over Tayshaun who was lying on his back. He aimed his rifle at the mech's head and drilled it with an entire clip of ammo, but the mech kept moving.
Raising a fist into the air, it readied to slam it onto Tayshaun. It was then, as he was about to die, that Yumiko rushed out of the forest and jumped onto the mech's back. "I've got you, bro!"
Yumiko stabbed at the mech's neck, digging her blade into the electrical circuits that were exposed just above its back.
The mech's hands reached behind its head, trying to grab at its attacker, but its circuitry was already malfunctioning. Its legs stuttered. Its arms flailed. Sibylla shuffled to the side as it fell over.
Without her weapon, Yumiko was left with only her hands to continue the fight. She dug through the circuitry of the neck and ripped out a spaghetti of wires. Voltage surged up her arms, and she fell to the side, sliding off the mech's shoulders and into the air.
Sibylla raced out to catch her with her arms, but as she did, she felt the sizzling heat of Yumiko’s exo-suit. Forced to let her go, Sibylla watched as Yumiko's body hit the ground with a thud.
"Yumi!” Sibylla ditched her helmet and dropped to a knee, examining Yumiko through frightened eyes.
Her body was trembling. At the corners of her mouth, foam bubbled out in puffs, sliding down her cheeks and seeping to the dirt. She was barely holding on.
Tayshaun grasped her by the hand and stared into her eyes. "Hold on, Yumi!"
But the voltage had run its course. After a few seconds, the convulsions ceased, and Yumiko's breathing stopped. She was gone.
31
First There are Kisses
The sky was a dome of white clouds, that muted the air and made Sibylla feel trapped and alone. She marched across the Practice Field with crossed arms, braving the cold night that was getting worse by the second.
Even the suit's internal warming systems were struggling against the sudden freeze, warming for just a few seconds, then dying out as it fought to re-power itself. But this was the least of her problems.
Yumiko was still in critical condition, her body tied to a team of machines, that were fighting to keep her alive. Her death had only been temporary, caused by a sudden heart attack that had stopped her breathing.
Fortunately, Anais had been able to sustain her with CPR, keeping her alive until the medics could arrive with their equipment.
Sibylla shook her head as she tried to rid the image of it all from her mind. But just like the cold, it was relentless.
Up ahead, the Forge loomed in the darkness, its glass entrance flanked by a pair of holographic torches flickering in the wind. So much had happened over the last twenty-four hours that Sibylla barely had time to think about the escape, not to mention Atra's proposal. What was she going to say? And more importantly, what was she going to do?
Atra had thrown her mind out of balance. She’d been thinking about him ever since their last session, wondering what her life would be if she accepted his invitation. She wouldn’t go, of course. Her very purpose, her very reason for being there was to save Marco. Leaving the country to go with Atra was ridiculous, if not impossible. Yet still, she wondered.
When she reached the entrance of the Forge, she was met by a pair of military police standing guard before it.
"No one goes past this point," one of the guards warned, raising a hand for her to halt.
Sibylla frowned. "But I have a training session."
The guards exchanged a glance.
"Are you Sibylla Cross?" one of them asked.
She nodded.
They quickly stepped aside, creating a path for her to walk through. The gesture put her on edge, and she suddenly felt like she was being led into a trap. Worried, she glanced at the men and entered.
The halls were filled with the sound of chatter as military police—men and women with grave faces—worked to contain what appeared to be a crime scene. They dusted for fingerprints, examined security doors, double checking each invisible marking with computer devices Sibylla had never seen before. Up ahead, outlined in chalk, Sibylla was terrified to find the bodies of three dead Eagles. No…
The investigators turned as they noticed her, their eyes lighting with precision focus. They'd been waiting for her, she realized, her stomach turning in waves. Was there still time to make a run for it? Could she get away from them, even under these circumstances? She was just about to turn to leave when she heard a voice behind her.
"Hello, Sibylla."
Sibylla spun around to find General Murdock standing behind her. He was in his dress uniform, his dark eyes tired, but welcoming.
"General, Murdock," Sibylla said, snapping to attention and offering the old man a crisp salute.
The General seemed pleased by the greeting. He nodded. "At ease, soldier."
Sibylla's gaze shifted back to the outlines of chalk on the floor. "I was…what happened here?"
"We were hoping you could tell us." Captain Kahale appeared from behind the General, leading a trio of M.P.s behind her. They carried shock cylinders in their meaty grips, their jaws hardening as they stared at her.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Atra had clearly escaped. And in the process killed a list of people. The sudden guilt was crushing.
Dazed, Sibylla managed a response. "I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered in a lifeless voice.
Captain Kahale cocked her head to the side, her eyes tightening in suspicion. "Of course, you don't. But regardless, it's my duty to ask you about your trainer's whereabouts. Where is he?"
Sibylla shook her head slowly, unable to speak as she stared at the body bag passing next to her.
Kahale nodded to one of the M.P.'s, and he quickly brandished a pair of magnetic cuffs from his belt. He was already slapping them on Sibylla's wrist when Murdock stepped in.
"I think we can be a bit more civil to Private Cross," the General said, waving the cuffs away and motioning to one of the nearby rooms in the hallway. "Wouldn't you agree, Captain?"
Kahale sighed, then nodded.
* * *
The room was a tiny office that was barely able to fit a small metal table and four chairs. It was the perfect metaphor for the space in her chest; a cramped hole with no room to breathe.
If they discovered her involvement with Atra's escape, she and Marco would be tossed back to Division, where they'd be doomed to a life of imprisonment and torture.
One of the guards, a big man with broad shoulders, kicked out a chair from the table and motioned for Sibylla to take a seat. As she did, he moved in behind her, locking the door to the outside and standing guard in front of it.
Kahale waited for the General to take his seat before sitting across from Sibylla. Taking off her cap, she laid it gently to the side, then leveled a stare at Sibylla.
Sibylla swallowed.
"You know," the Captain said, steepling her fingers together. "I told you we'd be back here again."
Stay calm, Sibylla told herself, holding the smug woman's gaze. She's just trying to rile you up. Don't take the bait. But it was hard. Already, her mind was swimming with anger. Damn you, Atra. Why? Why'd you do it?
"Not in the mood to talk?" Kahale asked. "Fine. Then why don't we start with what you were doing last night?"
Sibylla's gaze lowered to the table. It was hard to think. "I was…at the infirmary. I've been there all day."
"The infirmary?" Kahale's eyes narrowed in judgment. "That's interesting. You don't look hurt."
Murdock cleared his throat. "One of her platoon was injured last night,
" he explained. "They're not sure if she's going to make it or not."
Kahale looked back at Sibylla. "My condolences." Her voice was dry and callous.
Sibylla took a breath to calm herself.
"But regardless," Kahale continued. "That still doesn't excuse her from this investigation."
"I don't know where he is," Sibylla finally said. "I don't even know where he's from."
"But you know how he escaped, don't you?" Kahale quickly shot back.
Murdock shifted uncomfortably in his chair, clearly bothered by the implication. "Why don't we just stick to the facts, Captain. I'm sure there'll be enough time for speculation in your report."
Kahale struggled against the order, her jaw tightening as she bit down a reaction. "Of course," she managed, her gaze turning back to Sibylla. "According to Guard testimony, you and your trainer shared conversations on a daily basis."
"He was my trainer," Sibylla answered. "Of course, we did."
"In secret?"
"I don't follow."
Kahale rolled out a data scroll across the table and began reading from one of the guard's testimony. "They were usually talking low so that we couldn't hear what they were saying.'"
Sibylla scoffed. "Of course, we were talking low. We were always at least a foot apart. That was how we trained."
"Really?" Kahale's brow furrowed. "So, this constant physical contact, was there anything specific you'd like to mention?"
"Like what?" Sibylla asked in defiance.
"I don't know," Kahale answered, her eyes searching the room as she feigned ignorance. "Anything…inappropriate?"
Murdock cupped his face and cringed.
"Are you asking me if we had a sexual relationship?" Sibylla's fear was beginning to be replaced by a feeling of anger. Talking about sex had never bothered her before. But the suspicion in the woman's voice, the mocking look in her eye…it was intolerable.
"Did you?"
"Where are you going with this, Captain?" Murdock growled.
"I'm trying to show motive," Kahale answered, her gaze never veering from Sibylla. "A gorgeous man. A young, impressionable woman. It wouldn't be hard for him to manipulate her into helping him."
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