Kathryn ducked behind a car as another energy blast flew past her. Another car was struck and exploded in a rain of fire. Wincing away from it she stood up and looked over the top of the car as the robot worked its way forward one step at a time. It separated it’s arms and started firing a steady stream of bullets. She ducked down the car taking the brunt of it.
“Come on Kathryn. How do I stop this thing?” she whispered to herself.
Darting backwards she watched as the robot came forward again raising itself up but then paused. Its head swiveled around and it looked over at Seth and scanned him slowly. “Human. Consciousness returning. Danger level high. Termination required.”
It raised its arms and fired but Kathryn ran over throwing up her shield. The bullets were stopped in their tracks and she stumbled forward. The Taq-Law continued its barrage of bullets before pausing. It pressed its arms together and started to warp the energy together.
The last time she tried to block that thing she almost got knocked out. Planting her feet in the ground, she grit her teeth and shoved both her hands forward. Her shield came to life around her and also Seth on the ground.
“You better appreciate this shit,” she glanced over her shoulder and then back at the robot.
It fired and she felt it hit her shield like a sledgehammer between the eyes. But she didn’t stumble back this time. The energy missile drilled into her shield and she felt it crack but stepped forward. Slowly she pulled her hands together she felt the shield warp and wrap around the energy drill.
Staring at it she blinked and then stared at the Taq-Law which also seemed perplexed by this. Stepping forward and turning on her heel she spun around and swung the energy back at the robot letting the shield fade.
The energy flew right back to its sender and drilled into the torso of the robot before exploding and tearing the upper body of the robot off entirely. The legs wobbled and then stumbled before sinking to the ground in a heap of metal. Staring at her handiwork she looked at her hands for a moment and then sighed.
Looking over her shoulder at Seth he was still not moving and she frowned hard. Watching the rise and fall of his chest she saw that he was still alive and that quelled the immediate worry. Walking over to him she pulled him up slowly and lay him against the car before tapping the helmet.
“Come on Seth,” she mumbled.
Groaning softly, he shook his head and raised a hand to his forehead. Rubbing it slowly his eye blinked open and he looked at her then groaned. “Ow. What hit me?”
“An energy cannon,” she replied and sighed sitting beside him.
“Oh shit. Did you get it?”
“Yeah I did,” she replied nodding to him. “Apparently there’s some stuff my shields can do that’s not exactly obvious.”
“Heh you’re worth more than me at this stuff then. Maybe I should leave things to you guys and go back to my desk job.”
She turned to face and just shook her head, “What’s your deal?”
“What’re you talking about?”
“You’re snide, sarcastic, kind of an asshole but you took a hit for me. And since we don’t know how tough we are you could have died. Why?”
He shrugged and after a moment let his armor fade away and just stared at the ground. His body ached, too tired to move after everything that he’d just been through. “I don’t know. Maybe I felt guilty for being an asshole.”
“You know you could just not be an asshole,” Kathryn let her suit fade away as well and pressed her head against the door. “I’d appreciate it more that way.”
“Yeah. Jeff says the same thing.”
“Jeff?”
“Coworker. There were only so many ways to say fuck off in a week. Now he’s my work friend.”
“Wow, you having friends. I think I’m impressed.” He snorted back a laugh and shook his head. “But why default to being an asshole all the time? You could probably have a whole two friends instead.”
“Looking like I do that’s not likely. Rather keep that circle as small as possible.”
“Looking the way you do?”
He turned to face her then and raised his eyebrow. “Come on now. I’m an albino. Most people think I’m white but I’m a good old fashion negro. Except not looking the part means other black people don’t see me that way. And white people think I’m some weird thing. So imagine growing up with that.” He shrugged again. “So, fuck people, right?”
He smiled at her but she was frowning hard at him. “I get it. Doesn’t mean you being a shit is fair but I get it. I’m Asian so I definitely understand it a bit. People are assholes and growing up with that is shitty.
“Jack and Sarah seem like decent people and I know Cal. He’s my best friend. Me and him don’t care what you are. We just care if you’re not an asshole to work with. We’re supposed to be some kind of a team and that means we gotta be able to do that much. You don’t even have to like us. Just work with us.”
Seth looked at the ground and then turned to look at her again. She wasn’t begging, she wasn’t accusing him, she was just looking at him. Really looking at him. Looking away and toward the ground he nodded.
“Yeah fine. I can do that.”
“Thank you. And can you apologize to Cal too?”
He raised his eyebrow, “Pushing it.”
“It’s a step forward.”
He rolled his eyes. “Tonight.”
“Good.”
Pulling herself to her feet she held out her hand to him. He took it and she pulled him up as well but before he could talk they both felt their stones vibrating again and this time far more furiously than before and even to the point of almost glowing.
“What now?” Seth mumbled.
Kathryn shook her head frowning. “No rest for us in this job. Come on.”
The Harlequin Library 