TEAM RELIC

Chapter 1 - Mission Failed

Electra grabbed the holes of the ivy-covered chain link fence, climbed to the top — her green hair and braids swishing — and vaulted over it. She landed perfectly on the cracked concrete below, dust and dirt clouding around her impact. She kept running down the alley, past clusters of grass that were growing out of the concrete. The alley banked left at the corner of an old red brick building, probably from before the war.

People were shouting behind her, chasing her, but she wasn't worried — she'd been chased before, so she knew how to put on a good show. She giggled as she glanced back and saw her assailants struggling to get over the fence. Electra rounded the corner around the brick building.

"Bug, what happened to you?" Marion's robotic, straight-to-the-point voice came on over her earpiece. Electra raised her hand to the earpiece and pressed the microphone button.

"I'm fine. Exiting the alley at the corner of Reed and Stark," she responded, jumping over piles of trash and broken concrete in the thin alleyway.

"Affirmative, we're on our way," Marion responded. Just as Electra was nearing the end of the alleyway, a tall man with short brown hair and a white uniform walked out before her, holding a standard-issue gun pointed at her head.

"Ms. Yang, stop in the name of the law!" He yelled, confident that she would stop and throw up her hands in compliance.

No. Way.

Pfft, I've dealt with worse. She thought before springing herself towards a large metal dumpster on the left side of the alley. Bouncing off the lid, she somersaulted over the man. In mid-air, she grabbed her own gun off of her belt and revved up the battery pack strapped to her back. As she hit the ground, she turned on her heels and used her stun gun to fire a bolt of electricity at the man, not enough to hurt him, just to stun him.

A dented, black car pulled up behind Electra on the street. Marion: always punctual. As the uniformed man was still flailing on the ground, his reinforcements — Electra's assailants in the alleyway — bowed down to check on him.

As she turned to get in the car, one of her assailants — a young woman with dark, braided hair — grabbed her own gun from its holster and shot at Electra. She jumped out of the way, but the bullet hit her stun gun and got lodged in it. With a spark and a fizzling sound, Lightning-Bug was now broken.

NOOO!! She felt like falling to her knees and yelling at the sky in anguish. Her poor baby... The gun she'd built. But she had no time to think about this. The woman fired another shot, which she dodged again, and it flew over the car. As the woman raised her arm to shoot a third time, Electra opened the car door as fast as possible, crammed into the backseat with Koji, and the car sped off.

"Lightning-Bug..." Electra said between sniffs, cradling her dented, sparking weapon in her arms. Koji put a reassuring hand on her back.

"You and Finch will fix her," he said calmingly, in his sweet voice. In the driver's seat, Marion turned back to look at them. She stared at the broken gun with her glowing green eyes, then at Electra.

"What?" Said Electra. There was a pause.

"You're sad. I'll speak about your blatant disregard for your teammate's safety later." Marion turned forward to look at the road; not like she needed to look in front of her to drive. Marion's robotic metal hands clicked on the car's steering wheel as she turned onto a side street. Marion raised her hand and spoke into her earpiece.

"Clara, we're here," she said.

"It's about time!" Electra heard Clara's posh English accent come over on all of their earpieces. Within a minute, she saw Clara's bouncing blonde curls and stern glare as she sauntered over to the hover car and got in the passenger seat, sitting her giant, black leather purse between her feet. She turned back to look at Electra, and her face changed from a glare to a disappointed frown. Without saying anything, she huffed and returned to the road. Marion stepped on the gas, turning into a secluded-looking alley that opened up to a dirt road.