Xera

24|Embers

Zaren 's pursuit of Solise had not lessened in its intensity. He chased her around the course as she desperately tried to evade him. She was nearly delirious from the constant mental effort required to stay alive in this endeavor. Even diverting to separate paths had stopped proving effective. The Inquirer was wise to her moves by this point. If she happened to venture somewhere that Zaren could not, he had plenty of firepower to scare her back into the open. Through all of this, the Inquirer had remained blind to his soldiers' continued attempts to alert him. They had resorted to shouting and waving when his craft passed by the now-empty audience seating. In his rage, he blocked them out of his vision, every time.

Solise wasn't sure how much longer she could escape his wrath. The fear that she had underestimated how driven he was by his anger was becoming more present. He won't stop. He's not getting tired. He's not letting up. I can't keep this up much longer and he's just rolling along. This was a bad idea. I don't want to die. She frantically expressed, within her head. A blast of fire from her pursuer pushed her out of her spiraling thoughts and back into survival mode. She attempted to divert to a separate path but was blocked by a large flow of flames. She was close enough for this inferno to singe her hand. As she rushed away from the wreathe of fire, a peculiar sound drew her attention.

"S...Solise...are you still out there?" Gurd's voice emerged from her earpiece.

"Gurd?" Solise could hardly believe what she was hearing.

The Gurdish was gravely injured, but still alive. The flames and collapse of the tower had left him a scorched and broken mess. The terminal had fallen onto him and pinned him to a large piece of rubble. His exposure to what was happening outside was reduced to a patch of light beaming in through a hole above him. From here he had no view of Zaren and Solise's battle. He had used some of his last ounces of strength to turn grab a microphone that was attached to the terminal. Miraculously, it still functioned. It was here that Gurd noticed an alert. The capitol had dispersed high-speed crafts to provide law enforcement.

"Help is on the way." He began. "You just have to keep the Inquirer from getting away." His scarred voice was growing fainter.

Solise dodged a charge from the Inquirer and spun around to travel the opposite way. This allowed her a chance to see the terrifying expression in Zaren's mechanical mask. "I don't think he's going anywhere." She said, with fear present in her tone. Zaren quickly spun back around and continued to pursue Solise. Over the earpiece, she heard Gurd's moan of pain. He clearly didn't have much longer. "Thank you. For everything" She said with a deep sincerity.

"You're something special, kid...now stay alive!" Was all Gurd managed to get out before the life left him.

Solise had no time to dwell on this exchange. The Inquirer had caught up to her. He was close enough that he resorted to swatting at her with his blades. She attempted to dodge the charge but was still sliced across her shoulder. A second slice missed her person but struck the engine of her bike. This caused a piston to come loose. The bike kept rolling without issue but Solise knew it couldn't take much more damage like that. She braked suddenly, sending the Inquirer rushing ahead of her. Her eyes shifted focus to a separate path. Without so much as a thought of strategy, she sped toward it.

There was a sudden BOOM outside the complex that nearly stole her focus. This was the result of a soldier who had attempted to throw a grenade at encroaching combatants and dropped the explosive right next to him. Other soldiers ignored this sight and continued to fire on the two approaching foes. Bix and Meg had made their way to the complex in record time. The Inquirer's soldiers attempted to fire on them but their inexperience with actual combat was becoming apparent. Bix struck a soldier who attempted to charge at the speed needle. This instantly knocked the man out and allowed for Bix to salvage some ammo from him. Meg provided cover by retracting her windshield and firing blasts from her stolen rifle.