Ikki

I slammed the auxiliary maintenance door shut, gasping for breath as the cool night air filled my lungs. My heart was racing, and my body was drenched in sweat.

I leaned against the wall and tried to steady myself, the sound of the fight echoing through the walls behind me. I was exhausted, running on pure adrenaline.

The proxy drones that I had taken over were a dozen floors up and several floors over from my physical position on standby. It had taken me a bit to get used to them. It wasn't like the mech where it felt natural and easy, almost like it was an extension of myself.

But my ploy had worked, and it gave me the edge I needed. I'd executed on a crazy idea, and I was still in disbelief that it'd worked.

I was able to remotely bounce a connection off the various electronic devices in the building and maintain full control of the proxy drone's systems, using them as relays. Rai-chan had listened in on their communications, mimicking Falcon's voice, and lured them out. Neutralizing their links after that was as simple as making them think I was one of their own and patting them on the back to establish the link.

The whole thing took a minute or two, and the rest was history. They hadn't even seen it coming.

And then they were gone.

Rai-chan said she'd made the ejection unpleasant enough that they would have one hell of a migraine for days, if not worse. I'd left their drone bodies slumped against the walls in a small office, sitting down like lifeless mannequins while I focused on running away. I'd kept a single drone with me as an escort, just in case I needed some firepower in a pinch.

The sensation of being essentially split-screened in my own head was creepy as hell. It was a bit jarring seeing the world through two simultaneous perspectives, and I couldn't say it was comfortable, but I could manage. I was still adjusting to it. But it worked, and it had worked flawlessly.

I took another deep breath, steadying myself.

But that wasn't my focus. I was still terrified of the fact that there was a bomb in the building. Rai-chan had estimated that even one of them would have a blast radius that covered this entire block.

I could barely hold a pistol right, let alone put up a fight against hardcore mercenaries and terrorists. I wasn't cut out for this. This wasn't a fight I should be a part of.

Celestial Sonata was alone up there, fighting for her life. And for the lives of innocent hostages and who knows how many people that would die if this place blew sky high.

I checked my MP gauge on my HUD — I was down to 71 units, which wasn't too bad all things considered. But if we needed to find and neutralize several more teams... Well, it would probably be tight.

"Rai-chan—"

"Ikki. You're going to want to get further away, just in case," she warned.

I nodded and took another deep breath. My legs felt weak, my body ached all over.

I started running away from the building, trying to put as much distance between myself and the fight as possible. I dragged Falcon's drone with me, not sure what to do with it in the long haul. It wasn't a bad little machine, and the gun it carried would be useful. I didn't know what would happen if the building went down. But it might not be safe for me to keep it.

"Uh..." I paused, turning back to look at the camo-painted humanoid killing machine that was dutifully trailing after me.

"Yeah, I don't think keeping it is a good idea. We should ditch that thing..." Rai-chan agreed.

I sighed and looked around the empty alley. There were some dumpsters lining the wall of the building. Then, I looked back at the machine.

"Sorry about this," I muttered and rapped it on the back as it obediently stood at my side.

"Who are you talking to?" Rai-chan asked.

"Nobody."

A loud crash suddenly rang out from behind me, and I turned around to see the shattered window of a room on the fourth floor. I could hear muffled screams and gunshots coming through the broken window.

The figure of a girl with pale skin and bright green hair appeared at the edge, her body silhouetted by the dim light inside the building. She looked like she was in her early twenties, tall and lean with an athletic build.

The girl had a pair of large guns strapped to her legs and wore a tactical harness loaded with grenades and ammo clips. She had an unconscious woman in a trench coat slung over her shoulder and was struggling to keep the weight of the limp body from dragging them both down.

Her arm was covered in blood and she was panting, trying to catch her breath.

I could barely make out her features but I could see that she was covered in blood and was on the retreat, firing back into the room behind her.

Then, she jumped backward through the window and out into the open air, her long green hair fluttering in the wind as she began to fall. Her legs were braced as she clung to the unconscious redhead on her shoulder.

I gasped.

She hit the ground with a thud, landing in a perfect three-point pose. I stared in awe, unable to comprehend what I had just witnessed.

I watched as the woman in the trench coat groaned and slid from her shoulder. The green haired girl was holding her own side and seemed to have been wounded as well.

Her eyes darted around frantically until she spotted me standing next to Falcon's drone, and her emerald green eyes narrowed into a glare. I gulped as her gaze fell on me and then she looked at the proxy drone I was standing next to and poking.

Her expression darkened as her lips twisted in disgust and she bared her teeth. Her hand reached to the back of her harness, grabbing at a pistol holstered on her leg.

"I'm not with these guys!" I blurted, flustered. "I swear I'm not!"

It looked bad. The drone had been standing in front of me like a loyal guard, so she had to assume I was on their side. And the last thing I needed was a pissed-off mercenary trying to gun me down because they thought I was a hostile.

She fired a shot, her gun flashing with red lightning. It whizzed by my head and collided with the drone. The machine slumped over as the bullet shattered its head dome, its body going limp and falling to the ground.

"Explain yourself! What are you doing here!" she demanded. Her voice was low, raspy and cold as ice.

"Look at me for fucks' sake!" I shouted back.

I was a teenager in a hoodie and sweat pants, unarmed and defenseless. The only thing that even vaguely resembled a weapon was the smartphone I had clipped on my waist. There wasn't a single piece of tactical gear on me.

There's no way she thought I was with those guys, right? Right?

She glared at me again but didn't fire. She glanced down at Falcon's proxy drone and then back at me.

"That thing was awfully friendly for someone that says they're not on its side."

"I'm a fucking civilian! We're in Greenhaven and I'm clearly not a Terran if you catch my drift."

She raised an eyebrow. "So? That's what, sixteen? You're plenty old enough to be in this shit. And frankly, you look like you're dressed for a heist."

"I'm in a fucking hoodie and sweats, lady. The only thing remotely military on me is a cheap pair of running shoes. I live nearby. I'm a student for crying out loud."

She glanced back up at the broken window and cursed as a red flash of light glowed in the darkness.

"Dammit. These things are relentless. You, boy. Take my friend here and run. Get the hell out of here and don't stop running."

"What?! What the fuck am I supposed to do about her?!"

"I don't care. Ditch her at a train station if you have to. You don't wanna get involved with this shit."

I stared at her incredulously.

"You're getting me involved just by asking me to do that! What the fuck is going on?!"

"Just... you know what? Nevermind. Forget about it and leave us. Just run."

I was about to protest when three giant mechanical sentry drones jumped from the window and landed in a triangle formation around the unconscious woman covered in ammunition and guns, their legs unfolding around them with their weapons pointing inward. They looked like they'd come straight out of a Star Wars movie or something, but a lot less clunky and with more of an emphasis on agility.

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"Fuck! You assholes never give up!" The woman cursed and took aim at them, firing off a few rounds at one before it raised a shield.

"Wha..." I trailed off. I didn't even have time to react to what happened next. The green-haired woman suddenly leapt at me and pushed me back.

"Run, you idiot! I'll cover you! They've triggered their damned contingencies!"

My eyes went wide and I nodded, taking a step backwards and stumbling over the rubble on the ground.

I heard her yell at the other woman who was lying on the ground in the center of the sentries.

"Kumiko, get up dammit! We gotta go! I'm not carrying your lazy ass any longer!"

"Uhhn..."

The green-haired woman glanced over her shoulder at the groaning red-head on the ground. Her expression darkened further and she turned away again.

"Dammit. Why do you have to be such a pain in my ass, Kumi?" She turned her attention back towards the drones and fired off two shots. It raised a metal plate to block, the bullets ricocheting harmlessly off of its shield.

One of them fired a shot back and she dove out of the way, blurring as a surge of red lightning engulfed her for an instant.

The woman landed hard against the asphalt, skidding for a few feet.

"Get up! I don't want to leave you behind! For fucks' sake!" The woman shouted angrily, her voice hoarse from exertion and frustration. She staggered to her feet and leveled her gun at the drones again.

A flash of red electricity arced from her arm and crackled against the side of the gun.

Then, she fired again.

This time it struck true, blasting through its armor and shattering its metal torso. A burst of red lightning arced out on impact and it collapsed into a smoldering heap. She fired again at another of the drones and its head was vaporized instantly, the rest of the body slumping forward and hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Another pair of sentry drones crashed out of the shattered window above us, landing near their fallen comrades and raising their shields, the third firing back at the woman as she dove to the side, cursing loudly.

The red-headed girl was starting to stir, her head slowly lifting off of the ground, and her eyes fluttered open groggily.

"C-Celest..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know that bitch gave you an ass-kicking," she retorted, her voice thick with disdain and contempt. "Get your tits off the floor, I'm in a firefight here."

The redhead's head snapped around, taking in the scene of carnage. Then, she quickly jumped to her feet, drawing a katana and raising it in a shaky fighting stance.

"Ikki. Time to get out of dodge."

"But Hellhound is still running rampant in there and—"

"Are we going to stop that woman with this clusterfuck going on around us?"

I bit my lip. The only way I would have any chance against her would be with a mech or something really sneaky. Something I didn't have time for.

"I can't. Even if I had the equipment, I'm nowhere near that skilled or fast."

"Then there's not much else we can do. You took out one of their squads and they were none the wiser, which means we did our part. It's a job for the authorities or a Magical Girl at this point."

"R-right," I stammered.

I felt like I should do more, but Rai-chan had a point. At this point the risk was way too high for what was already an insanely stupid stunt. I'd managed to hijack the proxy drones by being sneaky. I'd managed to get out unscathed so far.

But I wasn't going to be lucky forever.

I turned and started to run away when a strange shimmer of light appeared on the ground and began to rise upward. It stretched across the ground like a sheet, shimmering in an iridescent glow as it moved, slowly but steadily expanding.

I felt a sudden rush of wind as the shimmer passed me and rose, rapidly closing into a purple dome over the building. Then it stopped expanding.

The red-head's sword was glowing, and she was standing with her back to the other woman, both of them panting heavily and staring at the shimmering wall of energy. The redhead looked like she'd seen a ghost, and she was staring at the barrier with her sword raised.

"Ikki, I'm picking up communications to the proxy drones in the building linked up to our mesh network. Seems like Hellhound and her friends have thrown up a magical barrier to try to lock everyone inside."

I watched as the shimmering light continued to stretch up towards the sky, slowly enclosing the building in an ethereal shell. The light flickered for a moment before becoming a solid dome.

"I think I'm going to be sick..."

"I don't think you're going to have time to puke," Rai-chan chimed in dryly.

I groaned, my stomach churning at her words as I stared at the barrier in front of me.

I needed to take cover, to hide. But there wasn't anything here to hide behind except for an empty alleyway that led into a dead end. I looked back towards the two women who were now surrounded by three giant sentry drones. They were both standing defensively and the red head's katana was glowing.

Suddenly, the redhead threw her coat to the ground. Underneath she was wearing a white, sleeveless button-down blouse, and a long skirt that reached to her knees. The whole ensemble was a crisp black with white pinstripes. She looked like an office worker who'd been dragged through the dirt. Or, perhaps, like a schoolgirl who'd been caught up in an explosion or something. I could see blood seeping from her side.

Her eyes glowed with an eerie, inhuman blue light, her pupils constricted to narrow slits, almost like those of a cat's. The green-haired woman grimaced, glaring at her.

"Kumiko. What are you doing? We're going to get through this without that."

"I... I... We're out of time. One of us needs to live through this."

The green-haired girl looked away.

"Dammit," she whispered.

"Sorry, Atsuki," the red-headed girl replied sadly as she turned to face the drones and braced her sword in front of her, its tip pointed towards the ground. The red head's eyes softened, her pupils returning to a more human shape as tears formed in her eyes. "I guess Venice is out of the picture now."

Atsuki, the green-haired woman, looked back at her, her expression hardening as she readied her guns.

"No. No, it isn't. We'll make it. We always do."

Kumiko's expression softened slightly and she nodded. "You're a bad liar."

Atsuki laughed. It was a dry, mirthless sound, devoid of humor or happiness. "Shut the fuck up. I'll give you enough time to use your thing. You better not haunt me when it burns your life out if it doesn't work."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I stared at the drone's in horror as the red-headed woman, Kumiko, charged forward. Her movements were so quick and fluid, she practically blurred.

Panic set in.

"The hell are we gonna do now, Rai-chan?!"

Rai-chan didn't respond for a moment. The silence dragged on for a nerve-wrackingly long time.

"We're going to be just fine," Rai-chan said calmly. "Don't worry about a thing."

Her voice was so reassuring, so confident that it made my blood run cold.

She knew something. She always knew something.

But that tone of voice was full of her gremlin-like trickery and it scared me to my core. She knew that this was a situation we'd be able to get out of, and she had something in mind that she wasn't telling me.

And that terrified me.

Before I could question her, a sudden loud boom shook the air.

I turned around and saw something hurtling through the air, coming at us like a meteor crashing down to Earth from the stars.

"What the flippity heck is that?!?!"

"It's a bird. It's a plane!"

"Rai-chan, please don't do this to me."

She was giggling. I wanted to throw up.

The stress and the adrenaline and the anxiety and the fear and the relief and the confusion was too much.

I'd never wanted to strangle an AI so badly in my life. Even if I didn't have a clue how I'd even begin to go about that.

I looked up and watched as a small speck in the sky above me grew larger, coming closer.

"Is... is that...a...?"

My father was a mechanic. I grew up surrounded by vehicles of all shapes and sizes. I knew my way around a car. And the thing that was hurtling down towards us....

"Is that a fucking—"

The hurtling projectile crashed through the barrier, leaving a massive hole in the iridescent dome and landed on top of a drone that was pointing its guns at the two women. Its weight crushed it instantly, and a spray of sparks shot out of the shattered metal. I caught a glimpse of a red blur and long, slender legs before the dust settled.

I coughed and covered my mouth and nose, shielding myself from the debris cloud.

"When the night is closing in and you feel the darkness growing..."

A husky, sensual feminine voice began to speak from inside the cloud. It echoed through the area, a low and sultry purr.

"And you feel your hope fading, when your dreams start decaying, and your world is crashing down..."

A hand emerged from the cloud, followed by the rest of a leather-clad arm. The dust cleared in a gust of wind, and there was a tall woman standing on top of the destroyed drone with one leg on its crushed torso.

She wore a German-style bodice with a matching skirt, and knee-high combat boots that came up to her thighs. She wore fingerless black gloves that matched her pants and the body suit that she wore underneath.

Most striking of all, was the red, flowing hooded cape that flapped behind her in the breeze. The cape was lined with gold trimming and was held together with an intricate gold and silver clasp in the shape of a picnic basket.

She pulled back her hood, revealing long, wavy strawberry blonde locks that flowed down to the small of her back. Her eyes glowed like molten lava, and she had a confident smirk that seemed to radiate a fiery passion. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties to early thirties and had a toned body with an athletic build.

She was holding a large red basket with a long, cloth-covered handle.

She was standing in front of a...

"Dang. You look like a kid in a candy store right now. Not that I can blame you."

I ignored Rai-chan and kept looking at the object that she had used as a projectile to destroy the sentinel drone.

It was a motorcycle.

A big one, a Harley Fatboy that had been painted red. Loaded to the brim with magitech. The exhaust pipes had the same orange glow that the Magical Girl's eyes did. There were runes that glowed on its gas tank and engine.

The motorcycle was completely undamaged from its plummet from the sky.

I couldn't help but let my inner mechanical nerd gush at what I was seeing. She had just thrown her own motorcycle from a distance that had been far enough that I couldn't even see it in the sky until it crashed through the barrier.

The Magical Girl hopped off of the drone she had crushed and landed lightly on the ground. She approached the women, who were staring at her in disbelief.

"Ikki? Eyes upstairs. Seriously."

I flushed and tried to pretend like I wasn't staring at her chest. But it was impossible not to look at them. The woman was hot and her bodysuit did little to leave that up to the imagination.

It wasn't even that her assets were the largest I had ever seen, although that wasn't the wrong idea. I mean. God dammit. They're breasts, okay? And she's pretty and they're very noticeable and. I just... gah.

But it wasn't that.

No. The real kicker was that her outfit had the absolute audacity to leave her midriff exposed in spite of the bodice. That wasn't even fair. That was cheating. You couldn't do that.

Her eyes were still burning as if lit from within. She looked at the pair of girls and grinned, winking playfully.

"Set your souls ablaze! And never give up on the ones you love."

She reached into her picnic basket, her smile never faltering.

"Because when you call for a hero..."

Her hand reappeared with a massive two-handed sword. It looked like it could take down an elephant with one swing. She struck a dramatic pose, the red cape fluttering behind her in the breeze as she bent her knees in a one-handed fencing stance.

"I will be there."

She was grinning widely, and her smile seemed to light up her whole face. The smell of sugar and freshly baked pastries wafted through the air as the sword glowed and a red light began to gather around its tip. I could practically feel the raw power of the thing.

The two girls exchanged glances and then looked at the woman who stood between them and the remaining two sentinel drones.

She looked radiant. Confident. Unafraid.

There was a brief silence.

The moment didn't last long as one of the drones raised its guns to fire. But before it could do so, the hooded heroine disappeared from sight in a blur of speed. There was an explosion of concrete dust behind the drone and a spray of sparks shot out of its back as its torso was cleaved clean from its waist. It collapsed in a heap of metal and wires.

The second drone tried to get a bead on the woman but was cut short when the hooded figure appeared again in front of it and slammed her massive crystalline sword through its chest, sending it hurtling backward, crashing to the ground with a loud crash of steel and sparks. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Red Riding Hood turned around and grinned at us.

"Veteran S-Rank Magical Girl, Little Red Riding Hood, at your service," she declared with a smirk. "So, I've got some questions for the both of you..."

She turned towards Atsuki, and looked like she was about to open her mouth to ask them something when she froze.

"Ikki, get down!" Rai-chan suddenly blurted into my ear.

I immediately dropped to the ground as all the windows in the building seemed to light up at once.

And then a flash of white light engulfed my world.

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