Artificial

Home Turf

Operator Reach

Shockwave leads me into the courtyard.
"Where are we going again?"
"To lunch," she responds with a smile. "Vel's treat, for saving her relationship."
She walks with a spring in her step, almost skipping toward the dropship depot.
"That's nice of her."
"I know, right? I got to stomp her into the pavement, and then she buys me lunch? She needs to have relationship issues more often!"
I laugh.
"Let's hope she doesn't."
"Of course."
I catch sight of Evo and Vel, and we jog to catch up to them.
"Well shit, you're dressed up nice."
Vel is wearing a full-on dress. And heels. I take a look around at everyone else.
Evo's in his dress uniform, probably a compromise between fatigues and a suit.
Shockwave is wearing one of my hoodies and sweats (but still looks amazing), and I'm wearing another hoodie of my own, as well as some black jeans.
"I thought you said this place wasn't fancy!" Shockwave blurts out.
"It's not," Velox answers. "But I am."
Shockwave sighs.
"You're so over the top, I swear."
We approach the depot, and find Riot behind the counter.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
"Vel's buying lunch for us," Shockwave responds.
"Cool, what's the occasion?"
"She helped me out with a personal issue," Velox replies before anyone else can.
"Alright, alright, I get it. You want to keep it on the DL, that's fine. Where y'all headed?"
"Aran's," Velox answers. "On Tallon IV."
"No kidding? I love that place! Mind if I come with?"
We look to Velox.
"Yeah, I don't see why not."
"All right!"
"Well," Evo interrupts. "I mean, you can come... if you can move us to the front of the line."
Riot lets out a hearty laugh.
"You sneaky bastard," he says with a smile, then turns to the intercom.
"Jeffries, fuel up your dropship. Got a group of VIPs here going to Tallon IV."
"Alright, alright," a voice answers through the speaker. "Don't get your panties in a twist." There's the sound of the pilot drinking, then of an aluminum can clattering to the floor. He belches. "I'm on my way."
"Yo... is he..?" Evo starts.
"Drunk? No," Riot reassures us. "It's soda. Goes through tons of the stuff. I think he might be addicted."
"I mean, caffeine has been known to be addictive," Vel contributes.
I look back at her, surprised at her possession of this knowledge that, as far as I know, can't be used to kill anyone.
"What? I was training to be a medic."
"Really? What happened?"
"The higher ups realized I was better at creating wounds than fixing them, and I couldn't argue," she answers with the remorseless, confident smile of a cold-blooded killer. She then turns and wraps her arms around Evo, who smiles and slips an arm around her waist in return. He's certainly braver than I.
Pilot Jeffries joins us, and we begin walking toward the ship. As we approach the craft, it explodes in a fiery ball of shrapnel.

Jeffries hits the ground, hard, a jagged chunk of metal protruding from his chest. The base alarm blares.
"Holy shit!"
Jeffries groans, writhing in pain. Riot runs up and grabs the shard, but Vel yells at him to stop.
"Don't remove the shard, it'll just cause more bleeding!"
"I don't think there can be more bleeding! This fucker's already soaked through his flight suit!"
"Just try to carry him!"
Captain Ayala's voice comes over the loudspeaker.
"To all security detail members and armed personnel: the base is under attack by the Saclarians. This is not a drill. Repeat: this is not a drill."
Evo, Riot, Shockwave and I draw concealed sidearms.
I turn to Shock.
"Whoa, you're packing now, babe?"
"Yeah," she answers with a nervous smile. "Riot and Evo taught me how. It feels really good to be able to defend myself."
I drape my arm over her shoulder.
"Well, you know I'll always protect you, but, I have to admit, it's nice to know you can protect yourself."
She blushes, and presses her head into my chest.
"Thanks."
I look up to see Velox shove Evo away.
"I don't need your protection, I'm perfectly fine on my own!"
Evo had instinctively pulled her closer when he drew his pistol, something she didn't like at all.
"I know, except that you're in heels, with no weaponry, and this could be a fucking invasion."
"Just because I'm in heels does not mean I can't fight."
As if on cue, a Saclarian soldier bursts into the hangar, gun ready. Before any of us can react, Velox grabs the barrel of his rifle, pointing it toward the ground, and spins around, forcing her heel into his stomach. We watch in awe as the heel of her shoe glides through the Kevlar in his vest, and she rips the weapon from his hands. He stumbles backward, pressing his hand over the puncture. When he takes it away, it's stained crimson.
We all point our weapons at him, and he struggles to hold one hand in the air as he slumps to the floor, his other hand keeping pressure on his wound.
"Why are you here?" Evo demands. "What's your endgame?"
The soldier groans.
"It's simple, really."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes."
Vel steps up.
"Jesus fucking Christ, this isn't a movie. At this rate, he's gonna fucking bleed out before we get anything useful out of him."
Velox stomps down her heel on his hand, and he cries out in pain.
"Why are you here?" She roars, patience nowhere to be found.
He whimpers, then finally answers.
"We're here to stem the flow of reinforcements! Command said to raid your training compound and destroy as much as we could to slow you down!"
"You're despicable," Velox spits, venom apparent in her voice. She jams her heel into his leg, and twists it around. The soldier screams, and begins crying. She removes her shoe, then turns and hands the soldier's rifle to Evo.
"You deal with him. I'm sick of looking at him."
Evo walks up, and removes the soldier's helmet, tossing it to the ground.
"Please, I cooperated," he pleads.
Evo pulls back the charging handle of the weapon, and then releases it.

You know, you kind of forget Evo's an AI after a while. He really does act like a normal person. But seeing him in combat mode, as a stranger, is completely different. His blood-red eyes burn unwavering, and the cold steel of his face never looked more unforgiving.
"I'll tell you whatever you want, I don't want to die!"
"Jeffries is dead," Riot announces. "Blood loss."
Evo raises the rifle.
"No! Plea—"
A single shot through the head silences him. He slumps over, leaving a crimson spatter on the wall behind him.
Evo moves on, unshaken, but I'm frozen by the brutality of the kill.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm not cut out for soldiering after all.
Sure you are, man. You made this far, haven't you?
I guess.
That training was hard, bro! But you pushed through then, and you'll push through now. You at least have to try, don't you?
Yeah, I suppose I do. Thanks, Livewire.
It's what I do.
Shockwave takes my hand.
"You good, babe?"
A smile crosses my face.
"I am now."
She leans into me, and I wrap my arm around her as we catch up to the rest of the team.

We find them hiding inside the dropship depot. Saclarian soldiers patrol the training yard.
"We need to get to the armory," Evo whispers.
"I mean, we don't need to," Velox counters. "Clearly we're not defenseless."
"Babe, you're a badass. I know it, you know it, we all know it. But this is war. There's no reason to make things more difficult than they need to be. When we can score an overwhelming victory, we should take the opportunity."
She takes a breath, puffs out her chest, and raises a finger, preparing to scold Evo for his "cowardice", but she freezes in place and goes silent when she catches a glimpse of Shockwave, who casts the most disapproving scowl I've ever seen.
"You— you're probably right, Evo."
Evo remains silent, with no idea how to respond. Gotta bail him out.
"I have a question, Vel. How'd your heels get through that guy's armor?"
Vel turns to the group and excitedly informs us that her high heels are constructed of tungsten, an incredibly strong metal that, with a little effort, can project a lot of force. Evo turns to me and mouths "thank you", and I nod in acknowledgement.
"Now," Riot begins, getting everyone's attention. "How are we going to get to the armory?"