Write to Rank 2: Shadow City Under Fire

Round 5: 'Ride or Die'

Gravel crunched underfoot as Chelsea Freedom walked to the top of the bluff. Hundreds of feet below sat Northern Shadow City. Pillars of thick black smoke clawed at the skies, joining fat storm clouds. Tiny figures ran through the streets to a song of screams and small arms fire. Her home was under attack.

"What's the situation, James?" she asked, stopping beside the sentient machine standing sentinel at the rock's edge.

"Collecting data from drones 11 and 20..." His head was raised high, his processors satellite-linked to Cyber.Red and her other electronic marvels. "The Shadow Bay is on fire as are the neighborhoods bordering the Citadel."

"But the Citadel still stands?"

"Affirmative."

"Lady Shadow still breathes."

She pulled out her high powered binoculars and tried to catch a glimpse of the great fortress at the city center. All she could see was fire, smoke, and a grotesque dragon making circles above it all.

"Did Mer make it? Is she healing Lady Shadow's wounds?"

"The data is inconclusive," James explained. "Commander Reade was last sighted at the head of a large column of animated corpses."

"Orcs, zombies... all we need is for the machine barons to break the truce and we'll be fully fucked..."

"We could be out of beer," chuckled a bulky elf as she joined them at the bluff. In each hand was a tall can of hops.

"Is getting drunk all you elves think about?" grumbled the man behind her carrying the rest of the six pack. His skin was black as night and his eyes sparkled like stars. He tossed Chelsea a can.

She snatched the can out of the air, popped the top and took a deep gulp, the foamy drink cleaning away some of the travel dust from her throat.

"That and sex," the elf responded. She smashed the cans together and guzzled down the resulting wash of beer.

The dark man smirked despite his usually dower disposition.

"How bad is it, Free," he asked, drinking his own can.

"It's worse than I've ever seen it, Black Jack." She gestured for another as she tossed the empty can off the side. "They say Shadow City will never fall as long as Lady Shadow lives... I think we're about to find out."

"That's bullshit, Free," the barrel chested elf hissed. "Lady Shadow is invincible."

"False," interrupted James. "Lady Shadow is half-avatar and half-human. Her lifeforce is tied to the city. If the city falls, she will die."

"Blasphemy!" The elf pulled out a massive blade too big to be a knife, but just shy of being a sword.

Black Jack and Free moved between her and the robot.

"Chill, Lisa," Jack said, easing her blade back to her hip sheath.

"James meant nothing by it," Free assured, though she knew the machine was prone to bouts of mischief.

James knew Monalisa and her fellow Mafian Elves worshiped Lady Shadow and her city as a divine entity made flesh, he often mocked the idea.

"Tsk, tsk. Irrational elves," James taunted. "It would be best if we made haste. The city's defenses will fail in 18 hours if we do not get these parts to Cyber.Red."

Chelsea Freedom again looked over the bluff. Shadow City was under fire and she was about to drive right into the heart of the inferno.

The Wonder Women, twenty of the toughest Mafian riders to ever live, gathered as the four descended the rocks. Monalisa had been their leader for two centuries and had only been unseated by one person, Free, a human woman who rode like an elf born in the saddle. The Wonder Women gladly followed her, her strange ebon-skinned companion, and the often unbearable robot who never seemed too far away.