Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

6. Nerves

Four guns in the room. Two trained on her and one on each of them - it was a stalemate.

The raider had been caught off guard when he had turned around the corner, barely able to raise his gun in time. His partner had followed, sensing that something was wrong. Now the woman had one gun pointed at each of them, just like they had their weapons pointed at her. The air in the small storage room seemed to cackle with latent electricity as her strange, mismatched gaze darted back and forth between them.

"Isn't that the lamb that Kib and Graeme brought in?" his partner asked. He didn't dare to open his mouth to answer, for fear of being shot on the spot.

"Listen, gentlemen," the woman said with an upbeat voice, her expression suddenly softening, "I believe we can come to an agreement here. I don't think you want trouble, do you?"

His partner eyed her skeptically over the scope of his rifle with a raised eyebrow.

"Trouble? Who the hell do you think you are? How did you even get into this room? Why aren't you dead and in pieces already?!" he asked gruffly.

"I happen to have a talent for not dying," she stated casually. "What about you? How certain are you that the odds are in your favor today?"

Her lips curled upward in a self-assured smile as she tightened the grip around her strangely shaped guns.

Despite her size and stature, that woman definitely had moxie. She was covered in blood that clearly wasn't hers, and it must have gotten there somehow. And then there were these weird guns of hers. Perhaps they weren't even guns, just fakes. Perhaps she was bluffing. But then again... what if she wasn't? Even if she was a crappy shot, at this distance, with handguns, she would probably be faster than them with their heavy rifles. If just one of them lost their nerve, they'd probably all die in this storage room. And he really didn't want to die.

Neither of the three of them was so much as batting an eye lash. He could feel his finger begin to tremble on the trigger, as a droplet of sweat ran down the back of his neck.

Suddenly, the expression on her face changed within the blink of an eye. Her organic eye reflected fury, and in the dim light, the black augment looked like a bottomless well.

"Enough with this bullshit. Move over or I'll blow off your ugly mugs," she growled. Even her voice sounded somewhat different now. He swallowed hard, but next to him, his partner didn't budge. He tried his best to remain calm too.

"You have two options," the woman said, her voice laced with disdain. "Either you move to the side and let me leave, and I will do so in peace without causing trouble. Or I'm gonna send this whole shithole to hell once I'm out of here. Your choice."

"Yeah, sure. You and what army?" his partner asked, grinning. "Seriously, who the hell do you think you are?"

They never heard the answer. One moment, she had her eyes fixed on his partner, then her gaze darted past him, and two shots rang out from behind them in rapid succession.

It was over. The stalemate was broken. Blood splattered on her black-and-white combat suit, adding fresh red to the numerous dark, half-dried stains. Before her, the two guards sank to the floor, their blood quickly joining in a single puddle around her feet.

"I am legion," she answered, staring down at the lifeless bodies with an empty gaze, "for we are many."

~ ~ ~

Three hundred sixty-eight, he could hear Null mutter behind the veil.

That's not correct, he interjected. It's not our fault the Butcher decided to kiss us. And those two just now were shot by Heisenberg.