Artificial

Fading Fast

Operator Velox

I have Katya placed atop my shoulders, waiting to make a break from the armory to the infirmary. She's actually rather light, and I can hold her up with one arm, allowing me to use my pistol in my free one. My aim's not as good as Evo's or Wraith's, but one-handing a gun is better than not having one at all. Riot deploys his shield, and we're mobile. Straight ahead of me is the infirmary. To my left is Riot. At the right side of his shield is Evo, paving a path for us with lethal accuracy. At the left, Wraith cleans up anything that gets past Evo. To my right, Phoenix launches grenades that arc over Riot's shield to destroy clusters of enemies. Reach and Shockwave protect me the best they can while Apex runs ahead to inform the medics. It seems like a simple, effective plan. It doesn't sound like one.
Automatic gunfire drowns out almost everything except for the occasional yell, or scream.
"Reach, take out that sniper!"
The claw lashes out, clamps down onto the sniper's shin, then drags him violently off the roof and in front of Reach, who executes him with a single shot to the head from his sidearm.
Damn, he's gotten good with that thing.
Still a jackass, though.
One problem at a time.
As we reach the halfway mark, the enemy doubles down, and pushes their advance even harder.
"Shit! There's too many!" Evo warns between bursts of gunfire. "We're surrounded!"
A medic peeks out from the infirmary, and tosses a smoke grenade. It lands between us and the infirmary, but it's too small to obscure all of us.
"Reach," the medic calls. "Grab me!"
Without hesitation, Reach turns and fires his grappling hook, and it latches on to the medic's forearm.
Reach orders the medic to jump toward him, and he does as he is told. As his feet leave the ground, the line retracts, pulling the medic through the air, obscured by the smoke, until Reach catches him and shoves him toward me. I set down Katya, and he gets to work. Apex appears next to me, and we watch in silence, unable to do anything else.
After a few tense minutes, the medic sighs.
"I'm sorry guys...it's fatal," he announces. "I can keep her alive for a little so you can say goodbye, but there's no coming back from that wound."
Riot sniffles, and I place a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait," Evo orders, interrupting our mourning. "How long can you keep her alive?"
"How long do you need?"
"Fifteen minutes."
"I can do that."
Evo slings his rifle and kneels over Katya, across from the medic.
"Vel, I need something to wake her up and block the pain."
"Got it."
Boost?
Already on it. One second...done.
The syringe pokes out above my wrist, and I push it into Katya's neck. Her eyes snap open, and she starts breathing hard.
"Easy does it, hon, easy does it," the Medic coos as he sets up the stabilizing equipment. "Katya, I need you to focus. I need you to remain calm, and listen to Operator Evo, Okay?"
She nods.
"Excellent." He turns to Evo. "All yours."
Evo leans in, and begins tapping the side of her helmet.
"Tell me about you," he says casually, seeming to ignore the grim circumstances.
"W-what?"
"Tell me about yourself. Whatever you think it's important people know about you."
"Oh god, are you writing my obituary?"
"Hardly."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I'm—"
A burst of gunfire landing too close for comfort interrupts him.
"Fuck, I need more time!"
Riot raises his arm above his head, and the shield extends to directly above us. Then he drops his rifle and throws both arms out to the side with a dramatic flourish, and he shield becomes a protective dome. He remains in this stance, crouched slightly, arms outstretched to both sides, and turns to Wraith.
"Take them out," he orders with grim determination.
She picks up Riot's rifle, and motions for us to lie down. We do, and she begins firing in all directions, jumping and twirling gracefully over and around Riot to avoid shooting him. Everywhere she shoots, a tiny hole almost exactly the size of the bullet opens in the shield, and closes immediately after. Everywhere she shoots, a Saclarian dies.

When the weapons go empty, the enemy force has either been halved or is retreating. She takes a deep breath, and reloads the weapons.
"You can stand up now. They're running."
"Goddamn you're hot," Apex says as he gets to his feet.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"Sorry to kill the moment," Katya interrupts. "But...should I be saying goodbye right now?"
Evo continues tapping the side of Katya's helmet.
"No. No goodbyes. I'm gonna bring you back. Just keep focused on my questions."