Chapter 6: Eye's Aimed at You
12.03.10 AW, 01:47, CHROMATICAN CITY // JACQUES' APARTMENT
"Aaaand we're done."
"What- why?! Come on! One more episode, please?"
"We've been watching since 9."
"We were just about to get to the good part!"
"It's the first episode of this season and nothing ever happens until the fifth."
"We- That's why we should keep watching! Come on, stop being such a wet blanket!" scowled Signe, throwing one of the couch pillows towards Jacques. "One! More!"
"Sleep! I'm tired. I'm old!"
"You're 30…"
"28, actually."
"Tomahto, tomayto."
"Let's get you to bed."
"But-"
"Bed."
"…Okay."
In his pocket, Jacques felt a buzz. Someone was calling him.
"…Weird. It's one of the guys from Ultraviolet."
"Why would he call you this late?"
"No idea…."
Jacques answered.
"H-hello, Jacques? It's, uh, it's Jack- it's Jack Hayes. You remember- we met before during that, uh, that one Balaur attack, a few months ago?"
"Yes, and at some other times before and after that… What's up?"
" I-I-I just wanted to see if you- if you were… home?"
"Like... right now?"
"...Yes?"
"Yes, I am, why-"
A gunshot rang from the speaker's phone, loud enough to startle Signe. What followed was the sound of something, or someone falling on the ground, gurgling and gasping for air.
"That seems bad."
A faint static sound followed. Before he could react, the phone burst into a spray of magenta spikes, driving straight through Jacques' hand. He dropped the phone, his hand bloody, backing away. The spikes began moving, quickly gliding and merging into each other. The last remaining spike moved into place, pointing directly at Signe. Jacques grabbed her, pulling her away just as the volley of crystals launched at once towards her previous location.
"Out!"
The two rushed out into the stairwell. Jacques grabbed Velos' handle, swinging him onto his back, Jacques' posture immediately worsening.
"W-where are we going?"
"Away from here."
Jacques rushed down the seemingly endless stairs, with Signe just behind him, suddenly no longer bothered by them. Reaching the ground floor, they stepped outside, looking around for any signs of being followed. In the distance, they could see a figure slowly approaching. Jacques shielded Signe behind him, reflexively grabbing Velos' handle, getting ready to slash away.
The figure was humanoid, having the same metallic shell as that of a Soma. Her clothes appeared torn and tattered, impossible to determine if the shirt and jacket she was wearing were always crop tops. The gaps in her clothes allowed one to see the large tears and gaps in her metallic skin, crystalline shards growing beneath the surface, especially visible in her stomach area, a torn-open hole patched with magenta crystals. Her face and a large part of her head, or at least the face and head of the shell, were completely torn off, the last signs of their presence being a lower jaw hanging beneath the mass of petal-like spikes now spilling from inside. Within them, luminous rings within rings spun, further crystalline rings spinning in front, rotating and moving like the lenses of a camera down the barrel of a gun. A Vulture.
Niki.
From her back, a single arm emerged, like a single crippled wing of metal, twisting itself into an enormous claw, dragging its sharp nails across the concrete as it approached.
"…I say we try to bait her and run," whispered Jacques.
"How?"
"I'll try to attack her. Meanwhile, you break into one of these cars and try to hot-wire it."
"I don't know how to-"
"Then just hide there until I get her pinned and can get in."
"Why do I have to break into one? Why don't you have a car?"
"A Balaur flattened it a few months ago, and I didn't have time to go buy a new one."
"Well, it could've been real handy just now!"
"Shhh! She's getting close. Get into the oldest one you see!"
Jacques grabbed Velos and—
Niki pulled out a gun.
Suddenly, Jacques felt lighter. He couldn't pinpoint why, though. It was as if a real, physical weight had been lifted off of him. He connected the dots only once he glanced back at Velos, currently in free fall. The hand that held him still gripped his handle, but it had a noticeable lack of connection to an arm. She hadn't even finished pulling the trigger.
"Huh…"
The sound of a gunshot finally rang across the street. Jacques felt something pulling him to the side, and before he knew it, he was flat on the ground, hidden behind one of the parked cars. He looked up to see Signe, still clinging to his shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Pulling you into cover."
"I need to get Velos."
"Wha- No! I'm not letting you! You've seen how fast it shot you!"
"As a matter of fact, no, I didn't. Now please let go; I need to get Velos."
Effortlessly, Jacques got up, shrugging Signe off.
"Y-you're not going out there!"
"I run out, pick up Velos, then get back into cover. Easy."
"W-wait, DON'T-"
Jacques got up, getting ready to run. But just as he did, Signe lunged towards him, trying to pull him back in, her hand rising above the hood of the car they used as cover. She tried to grab Jacques, but her hand didn't respond. After all, it would be really strange if she could still use it, blown off of her arm, moving only out of pure inertia. She screamed.
"You, uh… you good?" asked Jacques, jumping back between the parked cars.
"NO!!!"
"Okay…"
Jacques peeked above the hood of the car, seeing Niki, who appeared to be… worried? She stood still, holding her fist to where a mouth would anatomically be, before grabbing her in both hands. Not a second after that, she appeared to have come to her senses, because she began running towards them.
"Stay right here; don't move from this spot," whispered Jacques, trying to comfort Signe, obviously having no effect. "Velos! Starter!"
Jacques quickly grabbed from his pocket a blue Starter charge, throwing it towards the ground as fast as he could, ricocheting directly into the chamber of the weapon as it was being reassembled. Velos spat out the loaded Drive Starter directly into Jacques' other, unamputated functional hand. Without a moment of hesitation, he pointed the gun upward, pulling the trigger, the bullet travelling through his skull—
Niki raised her own gun, sending Jacques' head flying, every single bone and muscle in his neck turned into a red mist… before reconnecting to his body. Veins and tendons lashed outward, hauling his head back onto a regrowing spine. Muscle and skin followed, sealing the gap. A veil of smoke engulfed him as layers of scales began covering his head and arms, cold blue lights sparking to life across them.
"Let's see what you're capable of n-"
Niki plunged her claw into Jacques' stomach mid-monologue. And just as fast as she picked him up, she threw him across the street, the sound of his reinforced skull scraping the concrete echoing across the street. She then turned her sights to Signe. Or rather, where she was supposed to be.
Niki walked between the cars, each step heavy. And when she peeked around each vehicle, there was no one. Signe was always one corner away, trying to muffle her crying with her remaining hand. She crawled around as fast as one could with an actively bleeding stump, zig-zagging through the column of cars, hoping she was fast enough not to let Niki catch up to her.
But what she didn't account for was the blood dripping from her blown wrist. The second Niki saw it, she stopped moving. Signe froze, confused about the silence.
Until she heard a pebble rolling. Niki was still advancing, slower, quieter, able to use the pattern of blood to pinpoint Signe's location. And as they were about to get face to face…
A loud roaring sounded across the street. Signe heard her, the sound of heavy footsteps suddenly appearing just beyond her line of sight, then getting further and further as Niki walked away. Signe peeked from between the line of vehicles, ducking just in time to not be seen by Niki, looking around the street for the source of the sound. She approached Velos, sparks flying from within hum. Niki looked on for a second, lost in thought...
Then she raised her head as she heard a car approaching, getting fully acquainted with the bumper of a hatchback. The car moved a few metres forward, stopping near Signe, the door already open.
"I thought I told you not to move!"
[Signe could barely form a sentence, failing miserably in forming something even slightly coherent.]
"Tell me later. Get in!"
As Signe got in, Jacques peered into the rear-view mirror to see Niki squatting, large gashes leading directly to her claw, embedded deep in the concrete. She got up and started running. Jacques pressed the accelerator pedal as far as it went. Niki gave chase.
Signe sobbed, her breath hitching with every syllable.
"Deep breaths now. Inhale 3, hold 3, exhale 3, come on."
"…How did it even find us?" Signe's breath still skipped occasionally.
"No clue… Hey, how's the… arm?"
"B-bleeding…"
"Hold on. I should have one left…" Jacques scoured through his pockets, finding a red Starter charge. He loaded it into the Starter, noticeably scratched but still functional. "Found it. Shoot yourself."
"W-what..?"
Signe looked at Jacques, holding the weapon, waiting for her to pick it up.
"Your pop was a Redliner, right? Shoot yourself; I already put a Regenerator charge."
"N-no! I'm not-"
"No, it's fine, I get it. I can shoot you myself if you don't want to-"
"W-wait, wait! I'm not a Redliner!"
"…You're... not?"
Signe shook her head slowly. Jacques lowered the Starter, storing it in the elbow rest, before punching the steering wheel as hard as he could.
"Are... are you-?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine! It's just... ugh, your dad's going to kill me..."
"You know I'm still-"
"Yes I know you're still bleeding!"
Jacques pulled out his belt and started tightening it as hard as he could around Signe's arm, trying to fashion a functional tourniquet out of it. He didn't stop driving, though. One elbow rested on the steering wheel, one eye fixed on the road to make sure his madman driving didn't kill anyone as he disregarded every single traffic law, while the other eye was searching through the glove box for anything sharp enough to pierce the cheap but still surprisingly strong material of the belt, along with finding…
"Who keeps blood bags in their glove box?"
"…"
"…Your arm's done, by the way. The belt should hold until we can cauterise it."
"And that will be when, exactly?" Signe's voice was flat, as monotone as can be.
"Just hold on a couple more minutes. I need to shake the Vulture off first."
"Where are we going?"
"To get Velos."
"Can't you just… I don't know, shoot yourself again? Don't you have more of those bullets?"
"That stunt I pulled earlier drained pretty much all of my blood. I'm barely above the amount that would classify me as medically dead."
"Well, you can drink these blood ba-"
"I'm not drinking that."
"What."
"Do you have any idea how the blood given by the Pale tastes like? Worst thing I ever put in my mouth."
"That's… what blood tastes like."
"No, it doesn't."
"Yes, it- What does it taste like then?"
"I don't know! It still tastes like rust, but.. I don't know, it's better than that stuff, okay?"
"And YOU have the right to complain right now."
"Just wait until I get Velos. That thing is still after us."
And she really was. For all the traffic laws and barely avoided crashes, they were still only a couple of metres away from Niki. She ran after the moving car, using everything in the environment, from the power lines to the street lights, to close the gap. It was only a matter of time before she was directly on top of them. The vehicle entered a tunnel, and suddenly, she was gone.
"You know, I've been thinking… So the Vulture wants you dead, right?"
"Yes?"
"Why doesn't it just… I don't know, shoot the tires?"
The car reached the halfway mark of the tunnel, and its hood bent from the force of Niki jumping on it. She clung to the edge of the windshield, her claw dragging across the roof of the tunnel, strangling the engine as the vehicle was forced to decelerate. The rings projecting from her face spun faster, her entire face shivering as her eye rotated out, morphing into a crystal barrel, looking directly at Signe, getting ready to shoot.
Jacques had to act fast, slamming the car into the tunnel wall, trying to overcome the force of the metal talons trying to stop its movement. The recoil was just enough to make Niki miss her shot, even if barely, breaking through the windshield, the headrest, the back glass, and 15 centimetres of the armed concrete that made up the walls. Niki then turned her sights to Jacques, who, before she could react, threw a blood bag through one of the newly made holes, the plastic breaking immediately as it touched Niki's face, splattering her in very low-quality blood, forcing her off. The engine began roaring again, as if relieved of the tension holding it back, the car immediately racing to get out of the tunnel.
"We need to get back to Velos."
"We need to not let it get this close- Wait, why 'we'? You're driving!"
"Don't worry, I've got my sights on-" As Jacques attempted to look in the wing mirrors to confirm Niki's location, they locked eyes for just a millisecond, after which both mirrors were instantly shot off, what remained of them rattling under the car's tires. "I've got nothing."
Niki attempted another assault, grabbing onto the power lines hanging above, her body jolting forwards, landing on top of the car. Deep gashes formed on the roof of the vehicle as she used her claw to carve a hole through it, but as she did so, another sound, that of loud explosions, began closing in on them, and fast.
Seconds later, something was heard hitting the ground. And then the gashes in the roof became wider, the metal getting bent as it was pulled away to reveal—
"Hey."
Velos was peering down into the newly made sunroof, his bluish metal skin as reflective as ever, sparks flying out of the engine in his chest.
"Velos! We were just about to come get you— Wait, how did you get here?"
"The blood from your hands. They landed right next to me."
"...There wasn't enough blood in them to fuel you up enough to get here…"
Velos signalled to Jacques to open up his palm. He opened his mouth wide, a silver locket dribbling down the tip of his tongue, directly into Jacques' open hand.
"…Are you for real right now?"
"In my defence, that guy tried to attack me first."
"Do you have ANY idea how much will Mihaela dock us?!"
"Come on! For all of this, the pay's gotta be huge! The girl agrees with me, right?"
"I lost one of my hands."
"She isn't a Redliner."
"...We're not getting paid anything then. I say we cut our losses and leave her to the Vulture."
"YOU'RE NOT LEAVING ME!"
"Try to get rid of that thing for the time being."
Velos got up, his engine roaring, sparks swarming out of his chest, a dim light glowing at the back of his mouth, getting ready to confront Niki, regaining speed.