Fighting for Change

1. The End

Normally, Lily's reflexes were beyond superb.

But the warning whoosh that preceded the burst of sound and light was so infinitesimally short that she barely even had time to register what it meant. Unfortunately, this particular threat was one of the most destructive: a plasma bomb.

Lily had just enough time to leap sideways. Not nearly far enough, but any distance was better than standing right on top of the thing. The lieutenant didn't have time to come to the same conclusion. Lily's last image of Lt. Drosser was of him bending down and picking up the foreign, metal sphere with a dumbstruck look on his face. Then she turned, both to avoid the imminent blinding burst of light and to guide her fall.

The explosion came with a blast of paralyzing pain all over and a high pitched whining in Lily's ears. Despite having a high pain tolerance, Lily was reduced to writhing in the dirt like an insect, pounding the ground with her fists in a futile effort to reduce the agony. She couldn't have done any more if she'd wanted. It filled her brain, overloaded it with so many alarm bells and warnings that the gears stuck. Life was pain.

Lily realized she has been holding her breath, and released it in a few sharp, sudden bursts. She drew in new air in similar fashion, catching the scent of blood and burning along with it. With the influx of oxygen, her head cleared just enough to sort through some of the emergency signals flooding her brain. It was more like wading through a sea of papers, and occasionally picking one up to read before tossing it away than any kind of organized thought.

Hang on, she thought to her stalling mind. Some of these messages were different. Something was very, very wrong; there wasn't enough pain. Like a kind of void where pain was meant to be. Not that Lily was complaining, or could really handle any more at the moment. She started down the 'injury checklist' she had developed over several years. Head: Surprisingly unscathed, save for the ringing in the ears and the sting of a few burns. Hands: yep, they hurt. Torso: The front felt relatively okay, but the back was seared with heat. The pain was nearly sickening. But that was good in this case. Now for the legs. Upper: Seared and charred, as everything else. Lower:...No signal. Nothing.

That wasn't good. Her ailing brain tried to make sense of it.

Burned and aching arms pushed slowly against the scorched and bloodied earth, so painfully slowly, ever accompanied by the high pitched whine emitted by unseen voices.

There was definitely nerve damage. If 'completely missing' could be considered nerve damage. The heat and force of the blast had disintegrated Lily's legs just above the knee. What remained was excruciating pain.

The agony was already beginning lessen. The burns on her back and arms blistered and scabbed over remarkably quickly, like a time-lapse film. There were some benefits to being a superhuman war machine trained specifically for situations like this from a young age. As the wounds and the pain faded, so too did the fog in Lily's mind. She carefully sat up, waiting for the remaining scrapes and burns to heal.

Unfortunately, she was still left with stumps for legs, effectively ending her military career as soon as it had started (officially, at least). Luckily, she had another skill in her repertoire. A quick blurring of Lily's edges and she was restored to perfection, her legs once again ending in perfect pink shins and feet. All other wounds from the explosion had also vanished. The only evidence that the blast had occurred were the tatters of her uniform, hanging torn and charred around her figure. The score stood at Superhuman Abilities: 2, Enemy Weaponry: 0.

"Well, that kinda sucked," Lily griped under her breath, allowing a few seconds for some deep breaths and a quick survey of the scene; there was no sign of Drosser. Rather, there were no signs of his continued sentience. Bits of him were scattered at the edges of the crater. Not enough to send home. And now there was no longer an official commanding officer. Battlefield succession rules were a bit vague here.