Delta's Path/Slip

She could still feel the buckshot embedded in her skin like thick scorching needles but these were dialed up to a thousand degrees Celcius. Andra could feel her damaged organ-tissue. Her blood draining endlessly. She felt her ruptured armor above shredded skin.

Her IEDs failed her. Sergei had grown up since their training, he read Andra like a book. Like the perfect hunter, he bypassed her traps altogether.

Andra's sniper rifle proved useless. Sergei swarmed her elevated position with decoys and drones - wasting her ammunition. All her precious anti-tank rounds spent on robots and thin air.

Her tactics and desperation proved useless. Grenades, C4, close quarters combat. He pushed through it all. Sergei never faultered, never blinked behind that emotionless silver visor of his.

He barely made a sound as sporadic gunfire and crashing titanium was traded within the bombed-out ruin of a home on a hill. Andra was far more winded, grunting and wincing with every punch and every kick.

Her left arm directed her submachine gun towaed Sergei as he lifted his fist to meet her. Fire and metal escaped the weapon's barrel in rapid succession shredding everything with a half-meter radius of Sergei's right arm. His energy shields absorbed the inertia and sent the crushed bullets flying wildly across the room.

His fist came up and shattered the firearm with a single strike. The impact sent Andra reeling as she used the backwards momentum to put distance between herself and the advancing Sergei-D167. Once her comrade, now her dutiful executioner.

Andra drew her automatic magnum and let loose with suppressive fire. She charged wildly, allowing the small-caliber bullets to bounce off his shields till they popped, losing form. Andra threw her entire weight into her tackle, pushing Sergei and his ton-heavy exoskeleton four meters back before his momentum returned. Andra threw her empty pistol aside, wasted.

In close proximity, Sergei's beefy hand locked around the rim of Andra's ODST helmet - crimping it under the pressure. He drew his up-sized Magnum service pistol and pressed it into Andra's chest. He got off two shots at point blank, obliterating her own energy shields as his own reformed. Before he could fire off a third gut shot, Andra smashed her helmet into his and smacked his pistol to the side splitting it into three distinct pieces against the rotting floorboards below the supersoldier duo. Their bodies clashed together, pushing against one another with their helmets and elbows.

The two former Delta Company graduates were out of firearms. Their magazines were exhausted. Their explosives were exhausted. Andra could feel Sergei's superior arm strength as he slowly overtook her inferior grip. He was simply stronger and heavier than her. It had always been like this, even in training.

The voice of a breathless Merlin-D032 called out to Andra over her comms array. "Andra! Hold up! I'm coming!"

Andra's response came out as a choked, "Hurry!" She needed Merlin here now, more than ever.

Her grip finally gave and Sergei threw her over his head and shoulders, assisted by his suit's thrusters and power distribution systems. Andra's body crashed through the floorboards below her, forming a crater in the house's concrete foundation.

Letting go of Andra's arms, Sergei left the girl disorientated and on her back. Stars twinkled at the edge of her vision. "Fuck..."

Sergei shuffled back into Andra's field of vision, armed with his devilish M45E shotgun with a menacing shuffle-wheel below the loading chamber. His armor was scarred and dented and beat up. Blood leaked from his suit in some places but he looked a lot better than Andra in her disabled state. She was too weak to move.

Sergei spoke, sounding tired but fierce. "D054. You have my permission to die. Consider this a blessing."

He racked the shotgun's pump and pointed it at Andra's chest. He pulled the trigger, splashing a second wave of across Andra's body. A heart-wrenching cry escaped her lips.

Her eyes could barely focus through the pain. Sergei's voice was distant, calling out to her in barely a whisper. "Huh? Buckshot? Could've sworn it was set to Slugs. Whatever, next shot won't fail."

Gunfire from an automatic rifle could be heard nearby. Sergei's shadowy sihlouette disappeared from view as the slug meant for Andra was discharged elsewhere.

"Merlin! Fucking back off!" Sergei screamed. Merlin's response came out muffled and incoherent as their gunfire and yelling grew more and more distant.

Andra could feel the blood draining into her lungs. It was dark. She felt cold. She couldn't think properly - the pain was there but everything was so dull now. She could feel herself slipping.

A voice mumbled to her in a panic faraway. It sounded like a caring friend, or a parent, maybe even a lover. His voice was full of desperation. "Andra! Stay with me! Please!"

Andra, she felt so tired. The voice kept slipping away - into the inky black. "Andra..."

She didn't know what happened next as she was rushing forward, toward a star of an unseen horizon.

There was no sight. There was no anything. No nothing.

Andra didn't know how long she'd been here. Or where here was.

A male voice called out from somewhere afar. "Hey. It's me, Merlin. You in there?"

Andra felt herself being dragged once more forward. The next thing she saw was in full clarity. There was a lot of machinery laying around. A lot of people at computer stations and there was a familiar hum of electronics. The face of a brown-haired boy with hazel eyes looked down at her. His eyes were wrapped in thin bags - a sign someone was neglecting sleep.

Andra looked down at her hand. She was smaller than last time it seemed. A lot smaller. Her hand was see through, holographic - it had form but no substance. Like a ghost.

She looked back up at Merlin-D032 quizzically.

"Andra?" He asked, staring down at her in uncertainty.

"Who's Andra?"