Chain Me

Ups and Downs

     I scale the broken down building on the fringe of the gun fight and take direction from one of the male members of the strike team across the street on the roof of his own building. He's covering me and telling me where the shooters are that he can't get.
     Slithering to the roof, I push off the shooter there and let him tumble to the ground. He lands with a thud and I move on, jumping from here to there to get to the the second shooter on the other end of the roof. When I reach him I push him to the ground, too, then look down to see how Cas is faring. She's in the thick of things, using a huge chunk of concrete as a shield. The strike team is helping her but their shots aren't true. Squinting, I hunker down and study the scene below, trying to find a way in without getting shot, or at least not shot so many times.
     "Don't just sit there," Cas says, her voice in my ear. "Get me out of here."
     Eyes moving quickly, I find a shooter on the ground that the strike team can't get, then rear back and leap at him. I fly through the tainted air and land directly on his concrete cover, shattering it and trapping him beneath the rubble. I feel great though.
     "Opening," the leader of the team shouts into my earbud, everyone's I assume, and another member runs where I am to take up my spot.
     He nods at me then starts shooting. "I've got you," he says over the gunfire. "One across the street, to the left."
     Shaking dust out of my hair, I find who he's talking about, then throw myself once again into a pile of rocks. This time I bruise my hip but otherwise I'm okay, and the shooter I was aiming for is stuck on a piece of rebar. I leave him there to die and look for Cas. She's still behind her concrete shield but the bullets whizzing past her aren't as frequent. Then, in an instant, they stop. The strike team must have finally gotten their targets.
     "That was hardcore," Cas says as she pops up from her hiding spot to look at me. "You look like a ghost."
     Smiling, I wipe off the white dust from my clothes the best I can. "It was all I could do."
     The strike team jogs out into the open, some of them coming out of buildings, others leaving the safety of dusty jeeps, and they approach Cas and I. The leader, the woman, pats my shoulder approvingly. "You gave us the in. You did well. Thank you."
     Before I can answer, Mariam's voice seeps into my ear. "The subject is on the move. Probably spooked by all the commotion."
     "Let's move," the leader commands. "Johnson. Hotwire."
     One of her team members runs to the nearest jeep and gets into the driver's seat, then disappears under the steering wheel. The rest of us get into the open back and hold on to the metal skeleton, Cas and I hanging off the sides.
     "Northeast," Kahlan says as the vehicle hums to life. "He's moving quickly."
     The jeep rumbles and eventually starts off, kicking up dust and rocks. I pull up my bandana to cover my mouth and nose and I hold tight as the jeep bounces around, dodging fallen pieces of buildings and bodies. The blood riding the night air tickles my nose just right and I find myself smiling, enjoying my time out.
     "North," Kahlan says, bringing me down. "You're close."
     The team in the back of the jeep readies their weapons, using the metal skeleton of the car to help steady them.
     "Up there!" Cas yells, pointing toward the roof of a building. The jeep swerves to reroute it's position and I squint to better see the failure. He seems human, if obviously unnaturally fast and athletic, but his proportions appear... wrong. That could just be the shadows and moonlight, though.
     "Only tranks from here on, boys," Team leader shouts.
     "Even out," Cas demands of the driver. Then she pounds the side of the car with her hand and gets into the back to stand by me. "Throw me," she says.
     "Oh, my God..." Mariam groans.
     "You can aim, right?" Cas goes on to me. "Throw me at him."
     I think about it for a second before getting into the back of the vehicle and putting Cas on my shoulder. The strike team hunkers down and gets out of the way the best they can, and I aim for the failure. Then, when the jeep evens out, I grunt and launch Cas into the air. She flies true, a laugh coming out of her mouth, and she crashes into the failure, putting them both out of sight.
     The jeep skids to a halt in a ring of angry dirt and I jump off the vehicle to run towards the building Cas was aimed at. The strike team waits behind on the jeep with their guns cocked while I climb the building, reaching halfway up in just a second. But I stop as Cas's body comes flying back to crash into the structure across the way, her back hitting stone and barreling through it.
     "Cas?" Mariam says in a panic. "Cas, honey...?"
     The failure comes a half second later, his form falling to the ground directly before the jeep, uninjured. The vehicle shakes from the impact and the failure roars in absolute anger. Quickly, I let go of the rubble beneath my hands and throw myself at the failure to land directly on his back. The jeep throws itself in reverse as I growl and hook my leg around one of the failure's and push us both to the dirt. He scrambles and fights in my grip, and I find that I was right before. The proportions of his body are all wrong. His biceps are too big while his forearms are too small, his thighs are thin while his calves are muscled and toned. He feels slimy in my hands.
Snarling, he hits my side with a boney elbow and I release him, the strike actually hurting me. He's not as strong as me but he's definitely on Cas's level, which is still pretty damn strong.
     I roll to the side as the failure smashes the ground where I just was with his misshaped fists, then I kick out to send him tumbling backwards.
     "Again!" Team leader shouts. But she's not talking to me. Her and her team have been shooting tranquilizers at the failure, yet he's not going down.
     Finally bothered by it, the failure focuses his attention on the jeep and its occupants. I grab his ankle before he can get too far and tug, pulling him to the ground with me. He shrieks like a trapped animal as I stand, still holding his ankle, and swing him around to throw him into a nearby, unoccupied car. The metal machine groans and topples over by the force of my toss, and the failure wiggles to try to dislodge himself. Just as he gets himself up right, Cas shoots straight down from the sky, yelling all the way. She lands onto the failure fist first and pounds him into the ground. The crater they both create sends the world into the shakes and I hurry to the edge of it.
     "Stay... Down!" Cas snarls, then she's tossed up and crashes directly into me. I go down with her and we both push at each other to stand again.
     The failure climbs out of the crater and Cas immediately kicks him in the face. "Someone give me a gun," she shouts. But none is given to her, and the failure comes back up to throw himself into her. They roll to the ground, and I strike down hard on the failure's side. He slides off Cas and I jump on him, connecting my fist with the side of his head. It feels like I'm punching layers of metal. Then, as I lift my arm to strike again, something cool slips into my belly. I blink, confused, and hear Cas shout in panic, "He has weapons! No one told us he had weapons!"
     The familiar scent of my own blood seeps into my nostrils and I snarl, both hurt and livid. The failure tosses me off of him, leaving his knife in my stomach, and he takes Cas head on next. Cas moves quickly, assessing the situation, then throws a swift, head high kick. The failure blocks the kick and lashes out with his fist, just missing Cas's head. Her training in combat is truly helping her right now.
     Growling, I lift myself from the ground and pull the knife from my belly. Blood dribbles out from the wound so I put my hand over it and apply pressure. A little blood loss won't hurt me.
     Then, holding the tip of the bloody knife, I chuck it at the failure and it slides perfectly into his back, right into his kidney. He falters from shock and Cas uses the opening to headbutt him with all her might. He collapses to the ground then Cas sits on his chest, sending the knife further into his back, and she keeps him still. I plop down on his legs just in case as the strike team finally comes forward. The leader kneels down beside Cas then stabs the failure in the neck with a thick needle and injects a colorful liquid into him. He convulses wildly for a few seconds, but eventually goes still. For a moment I think he's dead but he still has a heartbeat, if not very strong. That would be my fault, though, with my strike to his kidney.
     "That was easier than I thought," Cas breathes as she stands. Then she turns to me. "Thanks. We worked pretty well together, huh?"
     I smile shakily and wobble to my feet. I don't think the knife sliced anything important but I'm losing more blood than I thought. It's my worse flaw- being able to take a pounding but only if my injuries are outside my body. I can go down just like any other human if I'm stabbed or shot, or anything in between.
     "Hey, are you okay?" Cas asks. "You can heal like me, right?"
     "Like you?"
     "Yeah. My wounds close up within minutes, hours. Do yours... not?"
     I shake my head and press my hand harder into my belly. "I'll be fine. Let's bring this guy back."
     Cas looks at me sideways but picks up the failure by the shoulders while I take his legs. We haul him into the back of the jeep then get in ourselves, and the driver turns the car around so we can head back where we came.
     "How were you hurt?" Kahlan asks, scaring me. I had forgotten she was there.
     "Stabbed in the stomach," Cas says for me. "The guy had a blade. We're lucky it wasn't a gun."
     There's a moment of silence, then Kahlan says, "Hurry back, please."