The ship crashed into the water sending foam and waves into the air. People who watched it from the sky screamed and scattered away, memories of the attack from two years prior still fresh. Though there were those that ran toward it with their phones raised, trying to get a good look at more potential aliens before things got bad.
But people cheered the moment Sarah and Jack passed over their heads. They remembered the colorful armored saviors that had protected them from the robots. They remembered the fighting that had happened with the dark knights in the streets. And many people saw their actives across the world in the past year. The name of the Celestial Knights was definitely household now.
They landed side by side and they could see the damage to the ship that had landed. It had maintained most of its shape, only spitting off shards of metal here and there into the lake. But the smoking had not died down at all. As Sarah looked a small explosion went off sending another plume of smoke into the air. Through the depths of the smoke they could barely see a person climbing out. They were standing for a second and then fell over.
Sarah’s eyes widened and looked back toward Jack. “Someone just came out and they’re hurt. They need our help.”
“On it.” Jack shot his arm up and his guardian manifested behind him. It reached out and Sarah took the massive hand. It picked her up, turned and then threw her at the ship. She flipped through the air coming down and sticking the landing on the wing of the ship. It shifted under her feet into the water but she kept her balance.
Her vision shifted to pierce through the haze of the smoke. Red outlines came up and she could barely see the outline of three shapes. One was hunched over on the ship, another pulling a third out of what was left of the ship. But there were scatted tiny red particles in chunks that hovered around the trio of them. Sarah moved toward them then stopped as one looked directly at her.
They raised their arm and she saw a quick glow. Her instincts and visor flashed her a warning and she dove across the slick body of the ship. She saw a blast of lightning race through the air and into the sky.
“Great more hostile aliens on my planet. Not in the fucking mood,” she said and brought her axe into life. Darting through the smoke she lunged at the shape that had fired on her. Breaking through the other side she swung at the highlighted shape. But her arms shook as she felt the solid meet her blade along with the loud clang of metal.
Her eyes widened and then she was blown backwards by a sudden gust of wind. She covered her face shouting and the smoke disappeared as well. Sliding backwards she dug her axe into the ships floor to keep her foot. She watched as the trio were already moving to the end of the ship.
Picking up two of the others the one that fired on her glanced her way and Sarah paused. They were wearing a yellow helmet with a cracked black visor. She saw an eye and it looked almost human. That hesitation was all it took before they jumped off the ship and were in the air.
“Dammit,” she stood up quickly and the ship lurched forward. “You guys are not getting away!” Crouching low she jumped after them.
Jack and his guardian were soaring through the air, doing their best to catch up to her. From his side of things he saw the trio jumping from the edge of the ship. He looked up at them quickly, then saw Sarah leap after them. But there was another flash of lightning, an explosion, and suddenly she was falling from the sky.
Sarah winced feeling her body charge with lightning and she couldn’t control her limbs. Her helmet was flashing all sorts of warnings and alerts but she was barely conscious. The water was coming up quick and then she saw it in the corner of her eye. A blur of lightning, jagged and fast that raced toward her.
She assumed it was whoever was in the ship that attacked her come to finish her off. But before she could hit the ground she was whisked away. She felt heat in her armor and body and couldn’t track where she was going. When the world stopped rocking she was jolted and then hit the ground. Except she wasn’t on the ground, something was holding her up.
“Jenny what the fuck are you doing?”
“I couldn’t just leave her there.”
“You’re the one who blasted her.”
“I thought I was holding back!”
“We agreed on keeping ourselves hidden!”
“Ya’Cahin stop,” a third voice said. “What’s done is done. Hell, we may even be able to make it work in our favor.”
“Seh’hun. Walk me through that one cause I’m not seeing it.”
“Well our presence is hidden still. Wait. My friends. She’s coming to.”
All four of the voices stopped, going into a hushed quiet and Sarah began to sit up. She rubbed her head and felt her armor fade away. Her stone pulsed in her chest and it felt warm, healing whatever damage she’d taken. She was in an alley way, the end of it opening up into a courtyard. The apartment’s looked pretty upstanding. They were even on the other side of hand painted gates.
But she focused on the four in front of her. They all wore similar black pants, shirts, gloves and boots. There was a woman, who looked older, except her skin was a bright blue, she spikes on her head and her eyes were glowing. Well were glowing. As they settled down it turned out they were a dark blue like the ocean. Beside her was a being wrapped in bandages, with four arms, at least five eyes, and where the cloth wasn’t visible was something coarse and drifting around like dirt or sand. The other two women looked very human and couldn’t have been much older than eighteen. One was taller than the others, dark hair, and sharper features. Sarah would have guessed that she was Asian. She wore a choker with the white yang symbol in the middle.
But it was the final girl. Rich brown skin, a softly curved nose, curly black hair that looked like at a point in time was dyed blonde. Around her neck was a choker with a black yin symbol. But it was the way she smiled at her. The same crooked grin that she’d seen years ago in college. The one that used to piss her off but now it made her day. She couldn’t imagine life without it no matter how mad she was. Why did this girl smile like Jack?
“Who are you?” Sarah asked carefully.
“Well,” the girl looked at her, glanced the others then spoke. “It’s a long story mom.”
The Harlequin Library 