The Void -2- Charge

Butterfly nerves. Like standing on the edge before a big jump. Making peace with the fact that I might not come back alive, yet certain that I will. The illusion of control over my own destiny.

Will that ever get old?

"We should be closer." Ashfall's voice is hardly more than a whisper, pressed flat against the ground. 

"We follow the plan." I shift, the boulder is blocking my sight as well as hiding me, but I don't need to see right now.

"Charge," Ashfall starts, the familiar annoyed growl setting my teeth on edge.

"We trust the team. Don't mope just because you're not the spearhead."

"I'm not moping." A deep breath, forcibly lowering his voice once more. "I just think I should have been there. I don't trust..."

"Sidestep and Anathema can handle it." I stress the last name because Ashfall has picked up on it too. The way Anathema was acting. "If I can be patient, so can you."

"Fine." He looks down at his wrist, the cheap digital watch counting down the numbers. Cheap, because it will be abandoned when he shifts form.

I'm grateful he abandons the argument. It's too late to change anything; I know he knows. No outright accusations. Not yet. Not that it would help. I can lie well enough to make him shut up. Besides, it's not really Anathema that bothers him. It's the inaction.

I can sympathize.

The skies grow darker, deep reds and blues as the air goes cold. I press the control on my neck, and the skinsuit shifts from desert tan to deep black. A nice toy; too bad it will probably be ruined after tonight. They keep telling me I'm too hard on my toys, and I keep telling them to build them better. One day perhaps.

In the distance, lights come on, a small pinprick in the emptiness. It reminds me of the ranch. Of being on horseback all day, returning as the coyotes come out. Sore but happy. Good times.

Not like this. The Tesseract is nightmare country, every bit of intel agrees on that. I'm not exactly thrilled to send Sidestep and Anathema in alone either, but it was the smartest choice. Chen didn't protest, and I know he would have. Even if he doesn't know the whole truth.

The truth. I hate that I can't entirely trust Anathema. Not to betray us but to keep their head in the game. If we are walking into a nightmare, they are walking into their personal hell. But I asked, and they assured me they wanted to do this. No, they needed to.

I get that.

"They're late." Ashfall, once more unable to shut up.

"Not much. The schedule was always an estimation."

Elsewhere, Sentinel must be thinking the same thing, but he's more professional about it. Waiting for the call. Waiting for my call. Trusting my judgment. Does he ever regret not accepting the Marshal title? I can't lie. It feels weird to give him orders. I can see he thinks the same. Something's gonna break eventually, but it won't be tonight. Too much at stake.

At least I can trust Chen to have my back. It's a relief to know that, at least. Whatever arguments we have are not taken into action. Here, he will follow the plan. Be the backup. Move in last. Stay at range. Even if he argued differently. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would be smarter to move in as a group. Overwhelming force.

Except for the Void. Too many unknowns. If we all got caught in their voidfield, it would be bad. A staggered approach. Hit and run. Take out the cultists. Some of them are boosts in their own right; we can't win a game of numbers. Remove them. Then deal with the Void.

"Down!" Ashfall's voice is an excited hiss as the lights in the compound go out.

"Charge to Sentinel." I don't wait for a reply. "The power is down. We are moving in. Give us ten minutes, then clear what's left outside."

"Roger that." Sentinel's voice is filled with static, and I force myself to calm down. Don't blow the connection. "I'll coordinate with Steel as planned. Over and out."

"Alright." I turn the communicator off. It will probably not survive what we have planned. Normally Sidestep would handle that bit, but Ashfall has as many problems as me when it comes to tech. "Time to light this place up."

"Finally." Ashfall breaks into a run, but I catch up without effort. 

This is my favorite moment of a fight. Unlocking the breakers, one by one. Feeling my nerves light up like landing strips, air tasting ozone in my lungs. Control waiting to be released fully. My night vision goggles paint the landscape simulation green, but no test run could ever come close to what this feels like in real life. The spring in my step, as if the cracked ground was rubber, adding power step by step. I have to slow down; we need to be a team.

"Ready to try this one live?" I sound breathless but from excitement, not exhaustion. 

"Of course." Ashfall's voice is hard. "The moment I change, I'll be blind. I'm following your lead." 

His goggles won't change with him, and I can't promise mine will last long either. They are insulated, but I'll put them through more than they were made to handle. It doesn't bother me much. I can make my own light.

The wind is picking up around us, a precursor of Sentinel's arrival. The compound is visible now, as are the people on the wall, scanning the horizon. Our skinsuits are good at depressing our heat signature, but this close, they will pick us up any second.

"Alright, let's go!" I pull my filter mask on. It covers my nose and mouth, muffling any communication. But I'm gonna need it for this.

Next to me, Ashfall discorporates, leaving his goggles and camouflage suit behind. The cloud of ash is warm as it surrounds me, slightly hotter than my body temperature. He isn't fast in this shape, but I've got a cure for that. The faint crackle as I urge my emitters to life is nearly inaudible, but the surge of static I produce is enough to make Ashfall cling to me like a second skin.

I smile behind my mask as I really begin to run,  picking up speed with every step. Visibility is shit through the cloud, but I don't need any details. A shot rings out, then another. But the bullets fly straight through Ashfall, unable to pinpoint the solid kernel at his center that is me. I can feel him struggling to cling on, so I increase the voltage as I leap, grabbing the top of the wall and swinging up. 

Two sentries close to me. I don't bother fighting them. Instead, my spinal ports light up as I pump residual charge into Ashfall, feeling the static tickle. The Faraday shielding embedded in my skin keeps me safe as the charge builds, and Ashfall expands into a cloud of volcanic thunder. A crack, a hiss, and two lightning bolts leap for their rifles. The discharge is blinding, but I don't stick around to see if they are down or just stunned. Sentinel can handle them, and I have bigger fish to fry.

I leap down, relieved that the compound looks like what Anathema described. The buildings above ground should hold some of the acolytes, as well as the main entrance. Let's see if anybody wants to pick a fight with me. No. Us.

I can't stop smiling. Ashfall has spread out as far as he's able, still clinging to me as I keep feeding power into him. It hardly drains my batteries. Just like he theorized, my power can charge his particles, and his output will be far more than I put into him. No precision, but it doesn't matter. I don't have any friends here I can hurt. Anathema is invulnerable, and Sidestep knows how to stay away.

Just me and the Green Sky.

I kick in the door as the wind strengthens, stepping inside the common room, instantly transforming it into a death trap. Electrified ash fills the area, lightning discharging into the cultists that try to attack us. One by one, they fall. They don't even get close before they collapse, their weapons magnets for the powers unleashed. With Ashfall spread this wide, I have no issues finding the door to the stairs leading down. 

Just in time for the storm to pick up outside.

The night vision effect on my goggles has given out by now, but the darkness is parted by bluish lightning arcs, playing inside Ashfall's cloud. My filter mask is barely keeping up, but at least I don't have to run now that I'm inside. Instead, I walk cautiously, prepared for the inevitable ambush. As I head down, the stairs spiral downwards, and the metal railing lights up like an electric snake.

Down. The stairwell shaft is smooth sandstone, as if someone had melted a hole into the earth. I wonder if Ashfall is connecting the dots or if he's busy concentrating on his thundercloud shape. Hopefully, the latter. The drawings on the walls are lit up by lightning. Stylized. Bold colors. Telling a tale as I descend. I don't fall for the distraction. I'm no cultist needing otherworldly approval. 

I'm here to tear this place down. To finish what Hood never managed.

The stairwell ends at another door. I try the handle, and it's unlocked. Almost like an invitation.

I smile as I kick it open anyway, rolling through the opening as Ashfall billows inwards. The blast of fire just misses, flickering red clinging to the floor like napalm. Alright, can't get hit by that.

Maybe I should say something snarky, but instead I step closer, enveloping the hulking figure in Ashfall, pumping a massive charge into his... no, her body. I get a scream in return, but no collapse. Instead, her arm swings in my direction, glowing vents erupting like gills in her arm as she fires again. 

Close. I can feel the heat through my skinsuit and Ashfall's insulation. She's at least a head taller than me, so I keep close to her body, landing a blow on her kidneys. No effect, like hitting rock. I only hurt myself. Even though the corridor is spacious, it feels too cramped to fight freely. The lingering flames are a nuisance. The longer the flight goes, the more it turns into a deadly game of the floor is lava. On my own, I'd be in trouble. But I'm not.

You hear her gasp, then struggle for breath as Ashfall forces his form into her mouth and nose. Thickening, sucking moisture, turning to a painful sludge. Her arm flares open, and I barely dodge another jet of flame, but her knees are buckling, and she collapses on the floor as reinforcements arrive.

Two men, identically dressed but unmasked. Their eyes widen as they spot me, bereft of my Ashfall cloak. I leap across the fire, feinting a kick to get a read on their abilities. The first one clenches his fists, and his skin erupts in thorns, tearing his clothes. The second steps back, eyes turning green and nauseating. I ignore him for the moment, flexing my wrist to send a thin wire toward Mr. Untouchable. The thin spike at the end hits hope, and I send a lightning bolt down the line. The impact is loud, accompanied by the stench of charred flesh as he flies backward into the wall. 

"Ashfall," I shout, but he's still fighting with the woman, who is refusing to go down, clawing at her mouth and throat. That could take a few minutes, so I'd better focus on...

on...

I could have sworn there was another man here, but the tunnel is suddenly dark and empty. No fire. No light. Nobody.

The ground twists under my feet and only a lifetime of acrobatics let me keep my balance. The sounds echo strangely, invading my brain, but I bite down hard and open my ports wide. An electrical cocoon surrounds me, and I scream as I let it erupt in all directions. The darkness falls away in an instant as the green-eyed man collapses.

That. That took more than I had planned. My battery levels aren't looking good. At least Ashfall wasn't hurt, and the woman has stopped struggling. 

"Are you okay?" As he detaches himself from the body, I look on, but the ashy cloud can't nod. And Sidestep is not here to interpret. I just have to trust that he is. I'm going to need his help. 

It's only a matter of time before we face a proper attack. We haven't exactly been quiet, which was the point. Draw everybody's attention. Sentinel should have arrived now. With the radar down, there is no risk of anti-air missiles. He's not at his best underground, though. And that's where the Void is.

I hold out my arms, and Ashfall envelops me once more. 

"We should move cautiously," I say, mostly to myself. The flames have died down, so the only light is the faint lightning inside the cloud. "By now, they will have had time to react."

That's when the scream rings out. Loud. Desperate.

Familiar. Sidestep.

My feet start moving as soon as the sound registers. Fuck caution.

That was never my thing anyway.