SteelCorp

Chapter 13

As Thalia steps through the hole with her hands up to show she is unarmed, Steel shifts uncomfortably in the bag.
    “Stop there and drop the bag.” Orders Extroyer, still in the shape of a scorpion and tail poised under Lena’s chin once again.
    Stopping and placing her bag on the ground while still keeping her hands visible, Thalia responds. “Alright, I’m here and I’ve done what you want, now let her go.”
  “Hey are sure this is a good idea kid?” Asks Steel through the mental bond.
    Thalia hides a shrug. “Not really, but I have to play along if I want to save Lena.”
    “No! Now we fight to the death!” Roars Extroyer as he quickly changes into a saber-tooth tiger and lunges at Thalia. 
    Thalia just barely manages to roll out of the way in time. But Extroyer is already spinning around and lunging again. This time Thalia doesn’t manage to dodge and takes the full force of the attack sending her sprawling.
    In an attempt to press his advantage, Extroyer shifts into a massive cobra and rushes forward. In his haste, he fails to notice the chunk of rubble that Thalia has thrown hitting him in the face. As he falls, Thalia quickly scrambles back to her feet and tries to run over to the web holding Lena. Before she can do more than remove the webbing from Lena’s mouth, Extroyer wraps his tail around her leg and flings her into the far wall.
    “Thalia! Stop it! You are going to kill her!” Screams Lena as she struggles harder against the web.
    Dazed, Thalia sits up wincing from a surge of pain from her ribs. She immediately knew that she had broken several ribs. Before she could utter any reassurances to Lena, Extroyer drops from the ceiling in the form of a spider. Thalia quickly rolls out of the way biting back a scream of pain. Getting back to her feet, Thalia grabs a piece of broken pipe and squares up across from Extroyer brandishing the pipe like a sword.
    In an attempt to hide her fear and pain, Thalia shoots Lena a smile over her shoulder. “I’m okay Lena, don’t worry I’ll finish this up soon.”
    “Look out!” Shouts Lena as one of Extroyer’s many legs lashes out at Thalia.
    Parrying strike after strike, Thalia continues to try and free Lena from the web and land a decisive strike on Extroyer. Enraged at his lack of progress, Extroyer changes into a rhinoceros and charges. Thalia stumbles out of his path at the last moment causing him to crash into the wall. The noise of the collapsing debris and crates drowns out Lena’s shouts of terror as the dust obscures her line of sight.
    Moments later, Thalia appears beside Lena seemingly out of nowhere. Lena let’s out a startled yelp. “Thalia! Oh my god, are you okay? Did you beat him?”
    “I’m fine, I’m more concerned with getting you out of here while he is tries to recover.” Responds Thalia, using the sharp edge of the broken pipe to cut through the webs.
    Once free, Lena drops the two feet to the ground and immediately wraps Thalia in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you are okay. I was so scared when he threw you into that wall.” She says with a shaky voice and burying her face in Thalia’s shoulder.
   “Ugh. I’m fine, my armor absorbed most of the impact. Definitely got a few broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder, but I’ll live.” Replies Thalia with a light chuckle and a wince.
    Pulling back with a gasp, Lena responds. “Oh no! I’m so sorry. I was so relieved that I hugged you without thinking.”
    “It’s okay Lena I’m fine. We really should focus on getting you out of here and to safety.” Says Thalia as she grabs Lena’s hand and starts leading her to the hole she made in the wall.
    Lena suddenly stops in her tracks and refuses to move any further. “No, I’m not going without you. I know you can’t transform right now and that you are at a serious disadvantage because of it. I refuse to leave you here with him.”
    “Lena you need to go, it’s too dangerous for you to stay. Please I’d never be able to forgive myself if you got hurt.” Responds Thalia desperate to get Lena out of the warehouse before Extroyer recovers from slamming into the wall.
    Shaking her head vehemently, Lena digs in her heels and fights Thalia’s attempts to get her to leave. “I’m not leaving without you. Why can’t you understand that? I can help you I can stay behind a stack of crates or something. Plus, I know your gun is in your bag and you know I’m a good shot.”
    “Lena there is no guarantee we can even reach my bag and as you have seen, the crates aren’t exactly the safest place to be. Besides I won’t be alone long, once you are somewhere safe, the raid team will be cleared to enter and assist in apprehending Extroyer. So please get to safety outside, I’m begging you Lena.” Replies Thalia earnestly, trying to convince her to leave.
   Just as Lena finally relents and starts making her way to the hole, a large web suddenly blocks the opening. Looking up, Thalia and Lena see Extroyer on the catwalk on the ceiling in his spider form. “Crap. Of course he is between us and the only other way out of here.”
    “What do we do now?” Asks Lena, clinging to Thalia’s good arm attempting to hide behind her.
    Before Thalia can answer, Extroyer roars and lunges at them from the ceiling. Thalia reflexively pushes Lena out of the way moments before he lands on her pining her on the floor beneath him.
    Horrified, Lena frantically searches for a way to help Thalia who is currently holding back Extroyer’s snapping mandibles with nothing but her hands. That is when she notices Thalia’s bag moving towards her all on its own. When it reaches her feet, Steel waves to her from the inside. Lena quickly grabs the bag and dashes behind a crate and opens it.


    Steel floats out holding Thalia’s N-Tek pistol. “We need to get this to Thalia quickly.”
    “Why? I can just shoot him from here.” Responds Lena confused.
    Steel replies with an urgent edge to his voice. “Because it’s programmed to Thalia’s biometrics, so only she can fire it. I can tell you the activation sequence for setting it for stun but that’s it.”
    “Alright how do I set it?” Asks Lena taking the gun and glancing over at Thalia still wrestling with Extroyer.
    Steel quickly explains how to activate the gun and Lena follows his instructions as fast as possible. Once done, she moves from behind the crate and waves frantically attempting to catch Thalia’s attention without Extroyer noticing.
    When Thalia finally notices Lena’s waving, she braces her good arm under Extroyer’s jaw and reaches out with her other hand as Lena slides the gun across the floor. Once the gun is in her possession, Thalia wrestles for space to move it under Extroyer’s midsection his mandibles snapping mere inches from her face. Thalia pulls the trigger sending a stunning jolt through the abdomen of the giant spider.
    As Extroyer loses consciousness, he reverts back to his human form. Lena quickly rushes forward to help Thalia push him off of her and get back to her feet.
    “Are you okay? That was really close.” Says Lena still holding Thalia’s arm, afraid that if she lets go, Thalia will fall.
    Thalia shoots Extroyer a second time when he groans and begins to shift. “Yes, I’m okay. You’re not hurt at all are you?”
    “Just a headache from being hit by a gorilla, but other than that I’m fine” Replies Lena supporting Thalia when she suddenly stumbles.
    Using the laser setting on her gun, Thalia cuts through the webs blocking the hole and walks out with Lena as a team enters the warehouse to restrain Extroyer. “Then you might have a concussion. Either way I want you to get checked out by the paramedics.”
    “Me? I’m fine. You just went head to head with a psychotic shapeshifting animal man! If anyone needs to be checked, it’s you.” Says Lena shocked and trying to insist Thalia get medical attention.
    Waving over one of the paramedics, Thalia responds. “They are just regular paramedics they can’t do anything for me and they certainly can’t know that I’m not fully human. Although, I promise I will get checked out once I know that you are okay and that you are safe.”
    “I…o-okay as long as you do get medical attention soon.” Replies Lena blushing at Thalia’s words.
    Lena sits patiently as the paramedics check her for other injuries. Once cleared, she makes her way back over to Thalia who is currently discussing something with Forge.
    “Lena? Is everything okay?” Asks Thalia concerned when Lena walks up and takes hold of her hand.
    Threading their fingers together, Lena answers. “Everything is okay, just a few scratches and bruises here and there.”
    “If you say so. Let’s get you back to your hotel, it’s getting late.” Responds Thalia, noticing that Lena is shaking and gently guiding her into the passenger seat of Forge’s truck.
    Once on the road, Lena begins to relax more and turns to Thalia who is driving. “Hey. Thank you for coming to save me…again.”
    “Of course. I care about you, I’ll always do whatever I can to protect you, and, or, rescue you if need be. But now that we are alone, be honest with me, you’re not really okay are you.” Replies Thalia, concern lacing her words as she keeps her eyes on the road.
    Looking down at her hands, Lena answers. “You’re right, to be fully honest I’m a little shaken by what happened. I was so scared he was going to kill you and I couldn’t do anything at all.”
    “Hey, it’s okay. I’m fine, I had Uncle Forge reset my shoulder and my ribs are already healing themselves. Besides the guy is in his seventies at least, so with my armor and my healing ability, there is absolutely no way he could have killed me.” Says Thalia placing what she hoped was a comforting hand on Lena’s arm.
    Leaning into the touch, Lena sighs. “I know, but it was still scary to watch. You couldn’t transform which put you at a serious disadvantage and you got tossed around several times.”
    “I’m sorry.” Is all Thalia manages to say before pulling into the hotel’s parking lot.
    Thalia walks Lena up to her room neither of them managing to speak the whole way. Once outside the door, Lena turns to Thalia to thank her when Thalia speaks first. “I’m guessing you want to go to bed now, so I’ll just head out now.”
    “Actually, I uh…I was hoping we could talk…about…what happened before.” Replies Lena nervously, grabbing hold of Thalia’s hand to stop her from leaving.
    Blushing from the sudden contact, Thalia answers. “Oh! Um… yeah sure. With everything that happened, I kind of forgot about that.”
    Entering the room, they sit down on the couch. There are few moments of awkward silence before Thalia speaks. “So…um…I don’t really know what to do. Like do you have a question or something or do I just silently wish I could crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment?”
    “What? No! I…uh…I guess what I really want to know is…did you really mean it when you said you love me?” Asks Lena fidgeting nervously.
    Taking a deep breath and looking Lena in the eyes, Thalia answers. “Yes, I really did mean it. Also, I don’t think those freaks from the Fifth Dimension would have let me go if I didn’t. But yeah, I do love you.”
    “Like…you love me romantically?” Asks Lena with a blush rising to her ears.
    Blushing deeply, Thalia stammers. “I…uh…y-yeah…I do…”
    The rest of Thalia’s answer is cut off by Lena’s lips suddenly connecting with hers. Thalia gasps, surprised, but kisses back the moment she recovers.
    When Lena pulls back, she rests her forehead on Thalia’s whispering. “That’s good. Because I love you too.”
    Before Thalia can respond, Lena suddenly yawns. Thalia can’t help but chuckle. “It really has been a long day. Let’s get you out of those dirty clothes and in bed.”
    Thalia respectfully turns away when Lena goes to change her clothes. Once Lena is settled in bed, Thalia places a light kiss on her forehead before turning to leave. However, before she gets far, Lena grabs her hand stopping her.
    “Can…can you stay with me? At least until I fall asleep?” Asks Lena shyly avoiding eye contact with Thalia.
    Chuckling at how cute Lena looks, Thalia answers. “Sure, I can do that.”
    Thalia settles onto the bed and holds Lena close while stroking her fingers through her hair. She lays there just holding Lena until she feels her breathing even out, indicating that she is finally asleep. Thalia gets up, careful not to disturb the sleeping Lena and places a gentle kiss on her temple.
“Ta’ama am’ar, I love you. Sleep well Lena.” Whispers Thalia before leaving the room and heading home for the night.