Eternally Bound: Part 20
----- Obstruction -----
"Ember! Get the hell outta there!" Harid ordered.
The armored woman reared back the ax, preparing for a killing blow, when a necrotic minion leaped at Fifteen's head, promptly exploding on a command from Paige. The green cloud left would have choked the Number, had the armor not sucked in the toxin, expelling it with a hiss. Kievaa's voice came from the suit. "Filtration system activated."
The diamond abruptly turned its attention to the source: a small puffy-haired woman. In an instant, Fifteen charged, her fire sword silently intent to slice the woman down.
The group had been in shock, frozen from the appearance of the being. Ari was busy comparing Ember's sword and the one Fifteen carried, as well as scrutinizing the asuran designed tech-suit. Ember, in turn, stared up in disbelief: had the asura cloned her? Paige was caught on the realization that this was a new Number: those extraordinary experiments Lennk made his puppets; their sheer power was beyond compare.
Sylas was the first to react, a bullet from her gun striking its mark precisely in Fifteen's helmet. She glided over behind Paige as the Lady brought up a shield of magical sand to protect them and the shadow team of a downed Tressa and nursing Kimura behind her.
"Father, it's too powerful! Fall back!" Paige shouted through the wall of magic.
Harid wavered. "I… I can't," he struggled beneath the armored woman.
"Then I can!" Ember bellowed as she landed upon Fifteen's back. She wrapped her small body around the armor, her arm intent on choking through the neck-piece. "Your flames can't affect me; I am fire incarnate," Ember shrieked as she again started to ignite.
Harid rolled away, ducking behind the protective shield, cradling his arm. The skin had melted, burned and fused to the now cooling arm-plate. The pain would have made a lesser person fall, but Harid had seen his share of injury in the field, did his best to push through. He stood, assessing the situation. "Ember, that's not going to work. You got to remove the helm to access the flesh underneath. Focus on her head!"
Fifteen suddenly flew straight up in the air, Ember holding on now for her own safety. She paused a moment at the apex, then pointed her sword to the ground. She descended rapidly, slammed into and cracked the floor of the lab, burying her sword in rubble. Ember flew backward from the force, landing with a loud thud; the others braced themselves behind Paige's shield. Where each crack had formed, came a magical cauldron of magma.
"Look out!" Ari yelled as she tackled both Harid and Paige, pushing them from away from a forming rift. The shield of protection fizzled, sands falling back to the ground.
"Uh oh," Sylas muttered.
"I gotta get her outta here," Kimura said, trying to pick Tressa's limp form. Paige saw their predicament, stood upright with Ariadne's assistance, then ordered her to assist. Without hesitation, the soldier gathered the assassin's unconscious body, hoisting the Black Rose over her shoulder and spirited her away with Kimura in tow.
A small voice screeched from a archway leading out of the lab. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for, Fifteen? Demolish them!" Kievaa irritably ordered. She continued hobbling through debris of golems, down the ramp leading to the central complex. "I'll collect the data later. There's more important things to do."
Fifteen Omega charged, barreling for the Lord, Lady and the engineer. She quickly jumped forward with her sword resolutely, ready to impale her victims. Her descent, however, was abruptly halted by a small woman, whose hair was on fire. Ember sprung up defiantly, sword clashing with the woman's replica sword and sent lava spewing and magical flames exploding from the impact.
The blade-lock lasted for only a minute. Ember pushed up, hell-bent on forcing the Number over, or at the very least, pushing her a few steps away from Paige and Harid and Sylas. So intent was she, that the woman didn't noticed Omega's ax. The hilt of the weapon came between them, striking the bottom of Ember's helmet, knocking it off, and sending the woman hurling back. She landed with a boom, barely breathing from the impact.
Harid picked her up clumsily, using only one arm. He regarded the woman a moment before slapping her. "Get up, dammit. The troops are behind that wall of golems; we need you here, Ember! Knock her damned helm off already!"
"Bolster others…" Paige whispered as Demitra's voice filled her mind. Her eyes lit up with an epiphany; She brought a dagger to her own hand and promptly sliced into it. She held her bloody hand over Ember, then clenched her fist until a drop of blood dripped from it. Where it landed abruptly rippled a soft green glow over Ember's body as the magical pact was formed, gifted from Paige. Ember felt her power restored; her body renewed, with strength and speed.
The woman was instantly on her feet, almost flashing to Fifteen Omega, where their blades met again with a loud boom. Ember dug her heels into the broken floor, the force of the clash sinking her. She looked up at the diamond-faced figure with a scowl. "I won't let a copy beat me!" she screamed. In one motion, Ember grabbed the ax-wielding wrist, forcing the woman's own blade into her abdomen.
Fifteen made no cry, no sound from the pain, infuriating Ember. Instead, a ghostly voice echoed within the suit. "I won't let a copy beat me!" Omega echoed Ember's words.
Ember blew up, her hand igniting. She brought the fiery fist to the woman's head, growling as she punched, over and over again. Sparks flew from the helmet, with each blow until it finally began to fall apart from the woman's fury.
Fifteen stumbled back, lost her footing on the rubble, landed substantially hard onto the lab's broken flooring, with Ember on top, still punching.
"She's going to explode!" Harid yelled. "Everyone, get to the main complex! Troops outside: fall back and let the golems die in the fire!" He stood upright with the help of Sylas, turned to see his daughter's vacant eyes. Her skin was a pale brown, sunken in making visible the bones beneath. Any amount longer transferring her vitality to Ember would surely kill her. He scooped her up, began making their way to the ramp toward the main complex and out of the lab. "Snap out of it, Paige; Ember's gotten what she needed to have the upper hand. Break the bond before you die… I… I can't lose you again."
Ember growled a guttural primal growl, continually pounding on Fifteen's face, until finally, the woman's helmet released its hold, went flying from her head. Ember's eyes grew wide, the fire of her hand and the fury she felt only moments ago dissipated. She stared down at the woman with shock.
"Shiera? What… You're Fifteen?"
Shiera was Kievaa's servant; the woman Ember had promised to rescue from a captivity that she herself had felt from the vile asura. Ember had looked for the woman to fulfill her promise after having reunited with Demitra. Yet, she had gotten caught up in the War in Kourna, and upon returning had been admittedly lost. Paige came to the woman then with open arms, embracing her and giving her a home. The memory of Shiera and their mutual captivity had haunted her dreams though, and now, here, when she least expected it, staring back at her was the red and black-haired woman.
Shiera's eyes were solid orbs of obsidian, hidden in the scorched blackness of her eyelids and cheeks, in stark contrast of her skin of ghostly white. Her expression was just as blank.
"S-Shiera?" Ember's voice wavered.
Kievaa's voice came from the intercom in the suit. "The one thing I expressly programmed you NOT to let happen! Get back to me and get your damned visor, Fifteen! I swear sometimes I don't even know why I keep bringing you back. Damned fookah!" The speaker buzzed with a few more obscenities before turning off.
"Help me take that monster out; she has my wife and my love…" Ember stopped abruptly, her words betraying her.
Shiera used the distraction to roll out from the woman, throwing her off. "Monster…" came the echo of her voice, before she turned on her heel, and hastily retreating further into the lab.
"Wait!" Ember called out, but the woman had already gone. She looked at the replica flame sword, then retrieved the real artifact. Her nose wrinkled as she walked, heavy-footed, toward the exit ramp. A fist and sword of fire blazing, leaving a trail of flames to decimate the lab behind her. The woman's hair caught aflame as her armor glowed as her namesake suggested. "I am Ember Naja Drakenfist, and I'm going to kill that little shit for all she's done."
[To be Concluded...]
