Bionica: Origins

Chapter Five

"Gayge!" Ratchet shouts and goes to help me up.

I've been thrown back by the sheer force from Siren's fist. I get up, holding my jaw. "Siren?"

"She's had to go away for a bit," says Siren. But there's another voice layered on top of it- a deeper, more sinister voice. "In the meantime, I'll be here in her brain for a bit. Seeing over things."

I know the voice. And it's not one I want to hear again.

"Tronyx, you bastard!" I yell, knowing he can hear me. "Let her go!"

"Oh, now, that's not very nice." The Siren voice is becoming quieter and quieter, overpowered by Tronyx's drawl. I'm getting worried.

"I don't think you're in a position where formality can be expected," Ratchet says. "Now let her go."

Tronyx sounds shocked. "What? Give up my plaything before I've had any fun? You might as well ask me to stop breathing." At this Siren lunges at me and I dodge fairly quickly. Of course, then Ratchet jumps in. Siren throws him off her onto the ground and steps on his shoulder with her bionic foot. I hear bone crunching, and I try to ignore his cries of pain. So I punch at her face once on each side, but she's too quick. I can't hit her. That leaves only one thing: the element of surprise.

I don't swing out the scythe because I don't want to kill her, just get Tronyx out and avoid dying. So I continue dodging and punching back until I've got her thinking I'm fighting in a certain pattern. Then once she goes for her strongest punch, I duck like I'm going to avoid it, but brace myself on one knee and nail her in the gut. She's taken aback, and I take advantage of her moment of weakness, landing a roundhouse kick to the chest and sending her sprawling on her back. She gets up, spitting blood from a cut on her lip.

"I hope you realize that this is not the way to extract my consciousness," Tronyx's voice plays back. It's odd hearing Siren say these things in that voice.

"Yeah, but I also realize that this is the way to keep you from beating me senseless," I reply.

"Would you prefer that I not beat you?" Tronyx asks.

"Depending on the alternative, yeah."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," Tronyx says. Next thing I know the world is exploding in fire around me, and I'm turning to the side to avoid it. But it doesn't work; there's a sharp pain in the left side of my bare abdomen and I go down clutching it.

I hear Tronyx laughing as I try to get up. Siren holds out one of her homemade grenades. "How do you like the alternative?"

I get up and wince. "I think I prefer the beating."

"If you insist," Tronyx says. Siren puts the grenade away. We go back to fighting, and I can feel it sapping my strength. Siren is not so gracious with the pattern this time around. It's always something different, and having to think about it is wearing me out even more. I'm holding out, but eventually she slips in a lucky kick to my gut and I go down. She stands over me, pinning my bionic arm down with her human foot. Her bionic one raises to split my skull, and-

BAM!

I see Siren fall to reveal Ratchet standing over her with his rocket launcher. He must have hit Siren with it. "That needed to be done a while back."

"Agreed," I say. I try to stand up, but the pain in my side gets me.

"Oh my god," Ratchet says, sitting me down against a piece of metal. "You're so pale." He looks down at my wounds, which are spilling blood everywhere. "You've gotta be mental, taking Tronyx on like that."

"What, I've gotta be mental to try and save my best friend?" I retort, trying to get up. "I'm fine; we gotta get her back to base." I reach down to pick her up, but Ratchet grabs my hand.

"You're in no condition to be carting around unconscious bodies," he says.

"And what, you think you are? You've got a broken shoulder. It's better if I do this."

I've got him. He gives in and I take Siren, feeling more short of breath and more like passing out with every step. Once I get her on the motorcycle, everything's fine. I'm just not sure how long I can focus on the road. When we finally stop, it's because we've run out of gas. Cursing under my breath, I stumble to the side of the road and look at my wounds. Jeez, I didn't know a person could lose so much blood. But we try to take care of it, waiting to pull out the grenade shrapnel until I can get to a medic. I tear away part of Ratchet's shirt for him and make a sling.

"There," I say, "it's done."

"Thanks," says Ratchet. I get up and get Siren off my motorcycle, carrying her as far as I can. Just when I think I can't go any longer, I hear footsteps on the rocks and see someone running over the hill.

"Sprocket?!" I can't believe it. We just got really lucky.

"Do you have Siren?" he asks immediately, and rushes past Ratchet straight to me. He starts stroking Siren's face.

"Good to see you, too," I mumble, rolling my eyes

"Siren?" Sprocket looks at us. "What happened to her?"

"Well, that's kind of a long story..." I start, but just then Siren starts to stir and I reach up to hit her upside the head. She's out cold for real again. But Sprocket turns and slaps me in the face. I lean on Ratchet, who winces as he helps me back up.

"What was that?!" Sprocket yells.

"What was that?!" Ratchet retorts. "Can't you see she's hurt?"

"She just hit my girlfriend in the head!" Sprocket says, obviously distressed. "You wanna explain that to me?"

"Gladly!" Ratchet nearly yells. "Tronyx took over Siren's brain and she's the one who hurt both of us. We didn't hurt her because you're not the only one who cares about her. Gayge may be sacrificing her life for your girlfriend, and what do you do? You slap her! Now why don't you take your girlfriend back to base while I try and make sure the person keeping your ass intact doesn't die?"

At this, Sprocket stares at Ratchet for a bit, then takes Siren off my back and runs with her back to the compound. Ratchet picks me up and tries to carry me fairy-tale style, but his shoulder can't take it. I swing my legs around and just put my arm around his good shoulder. "You can help me that way," I say. He nods and we stagger into base. Crescent greets us, worry on her face.

"You're gonna want to see this," she says.

A/N: Thanks to @jirraathalia for doing the text on the cover! It makes the drawing that much more awesome! One more thing: 23-hour car trips suck! But I'm writing, so yeah! Thank you, readers, for liking me enough to give me something to do instead of killing my three little siblings!