Absent Link

Chapter 21: Illusion

As the ersatz began running toward Amelia, she leaped in the air, taking hold of one of the racks as she reached the peak of her jump and landing on top of it. The ersatz climbed up after her, but at least this way she could deal with them more individually. She kicked one as it was making its way up, knocking it off of the wall, then retreated further inside the platform she was on. She had to push a large box out of the way, knocking a few off the other side, but they didn't seem to break or explode when they hit the floor. 'Kinda wish they did', she thought, taking a few cartridges from a nearby box and flinging them at the incoming ersatz. As they began reaching the platform, she turned to the wall of boxes behind her and placed her hands against them, then began pushing. They slid a bit, then quickly gave in and began to fall away, massive piles flowing from the rack.

As soon as these hit the ground, they did explode, sending a cloud of fire and red dust into the air. Amelia looked behind her at the ersatz who had just climbed onto the platform and gave it a powerful kick, which knocked it to the side and into another wall of boxes. Without thinking twice, it jumped away from them and swung again at Amelia, who took its flying claw and dragged it into the ground, dislocating it from the shoulder. In a swift move, she tossed the beast off the platform, which took out another ersatz who'd just made its way onto it. She turned around to face the rising flames of the explosives, and without hesitating, she jumped into them.

Meanwhile, Dylan was sandwiched between a load of moss-powered explosives, a furious Layla at his feet. She reached to grab his leg, but he spun around to grab a small grenade he'd glimpsed near his head and threw it at her. She deflected the shot, but this gave him just enough time to grab another one and actually light it, tossing it in her direction and leaping away from it, over the stacked boxes. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. She ran forward and grabbed his ankle, spinning him around and launching him onto the hard concrete floor just as the grenade exploded between them. It stung his ear as he tumbled over himself, feeling his skin be torn off under him. The boxes behind him immediately lit up in flames. Dylan skidded to a hard stop, taking a moment to catch his breath before looking up weakly, only to see Layla strut out of the burning stacks of boxes untouched. Dylan quickly got to his feet and started running away, toward the wall.

"Where are you— sir??" Layla shouted in an annoyed voice.

Dylan fell onto the steel pipes surrounding the warehouse. He took hold of one that was thin enough for him to grasp and tore it off, spinning to face Layla.

"You know I literally can't be killed right?"

Dylan tilted his head, "Who says I'm trying to kill you?'

Layla looked him up and down, "You definitely are."

Dylan shrugged and started running forward. "We don't always get what we want in this world, do we?"

Layla started muttering to herself, "Well... you don't always get—" Then she saw Dylan make an unexpected right turn, quickly hiding behind a stack of boxes. She grunted and took off after him, running down the length of the rack next to her. She was near the end of the rack, unable to see where Dylan had gone because of the tall boxes to her side, when suddenly, the pipe Dylan had taken broke through the boxes, bashing her on the side of the head and knocking her off her feet. Dylan himself emerged from the boxes, knocking them off the rack and scattering weapons all over the floor. There were handguns, bombs, grenades, small daggers, and more unrecognizable machines of death. They were definitely just his mind's frantic idea of what random weapons an organization codenamed "The Dark Cast" might be in possession of, but they worked. Before Dylan could get to them though, he needed to use this opportunity to land another hit while Layla was thrown off. He ran to Layla before she could get up and swung the pipe at her head, an attack she tried and failed to block. It reverberated off her skull, causing Layla to fall again and lose her wind for just a moment, enough time for Dylan to wind back the pipe and strike it into her heart.