Alice frowned as the armor cinched down on her, but she was impressed at how little it impeded her movement considering it clearly wasn't made for her. Tim was smirking at her and she realized she was pulling on the chestplate.
"You knew it was gonna be tight." He said, amused. "How's everything else? Five by five?"
She nodded, feeling her cheeks and ears burn.
"How're you feeling? The water and food help?"
She nodded again, not meeting his gaze as she walked out of the blown out building with him right behind her. Her job was to carry Eve, who was barely conscious, toward their extraction point. She knew she could've done it without the armor, but with how light everything felt now, it was less of concern for her.
Tim had initially wanted to use a stim, but then he'd had the idea to use the armor and it's strength enhancement instead when the others pushed back. Which she was grateful for. She would've taken the stim if it came down to it, but Clint picked up on her reticence when he spoke to her about being the mule and was saying that they wouldn't force her to do it when Tim called over to them.
"Ready?" Rebecca asked as they approached.
The atmosphere was going more tense by the second. While she and Tim were assembling the armor, there had been a short firefight and Veronica had a close eye on the time. She nodded and knelt next to Eve, who looked blearily up at her and smiled weakly.
"You my noble steed?" She asked, slurring the words.
Nodding, she helped her loop her arm around her neck, then cradled her body and stood up. Alice would've guessed her weight at around sixty five kilos, but with the armor, it felt like lifting a five kilo weight.
"She can handle the jostling, just don't drop her. The stitches won't hold up to that much of a shock." Sebastian said.
"The extraction point is the pontoon on the south shore. You'll know it when you see it. Don't worry about us, just pull ahead and blitz through, okay?" Tim added. "When you get there, hold position. We shouldn't be more than a half hour behind, assuming we don't run into trouble."
"Be safe." Rebecca said.
"We'll see her soon, just go already." Veronica said, checking the time. "All of us."
Alice took a step, turned, and began running. She tried not to stumble as her legs pumped awkwardly in the armor, but the further down the street she got, the more she was able to coordinate with the armor's systems and put on more speed.
It was tough to navigate the destruction, but she was moving so fast that the few soldiers she saw didn't react to her as she was in and out of the area too quickly. Soon, she broke free of the megacity's structures and could see the blue of the ocean coming up quickly. She knew she'd have to turn soon, but slowed to a halt as she saw the transports in a hold pattern a few miles off the coast.
"They're gonna nuke the place, aren't they?" Eve asked, groaning in pain.
Alice nodded, and began walking forward until she reached the beach. She frowned and looked to the south.
"You'll kick up too much running on that. It'll draw attention to the others." The woman said. "You've gotta backtrack to the road and head south that way. Those transports won't fire on a group of people running, they'll save that for the ground troops."
Alice sighed and jogged back until she was on tarmac again and found an open enough road heading south and began running again until she heard a boom from the sky.
"Don't stop!" Eve shouted. "It's just the ORG charging! There's still time!"
Alice put on more speed, but barely had time to react to the impediments in the road. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she slowed back down until a building stood in their way. With no other plan, she jogged through the doors and navigated to the other side, which opened onto a street where all the GA soldiers seemed to be gathered.
"Fuck." Eve sighed.
Alice froze, not sure what to do for a moment. But when weapons raised in their direction and shouting began, she tensed her entire body and the armor made a whining noise, almost like a howl. When she pushed off the ground to run, glass shattered behind her and the tarmac blew apart as she exploded forward.
There was no instant stopping as she watched the blue of the ocean get closer and her body screamed in pain as she forced it to slow down much faster than it should've. The city was nearly half a mile behind them by the time she slowed to a jog on the sand and they weren't being pursued.
Seeing the pontoon, she made her way to it and set Eve down inside it where the woman immediately curled and stifled a scream of pain. Alice felt dizzy and collapsed onto the sand, vomiting. Her body roared in pain and felt like it weighed a ton.
"Get in here before you pass out." Eve called weakly.
It took all of Alice's strength to climb over the side panel and fall onto the floor, banging her head on one of the seats. She held her thumb up to show she was okay and Eve sighed.
"That's got parts from armor she made for Fuse on it." Eve said, sitting up. "He always focused on speed and stealth. Didn't know it could do that, though."
Alice nodded and tugged on the chestplate, trying to draw a full breath.
"One reason I'm glad I didn't get that big." Eve muttered with a wry laugh.
The teen shot her a grin and sighed, closing her eyes. She'd accomplished her mission. She'd finally been useful in a way that didn't require her to kill anyone.
"I think we've earned a nap, huh?"
Alice nodded and took a deep breath, relaxing her body as much as she could. So long as she didn't move, the pain wasn't as bad. But she needed to keep an eye out for the others. Tim had told her they'd be half an hour behind, but thanks to the explosive speed, that put her well ahead of the initial estimate.
Sitting up, she leaned over the side of the pontoon and kept watch on the direction they'd be coming from. Eve groaned behind her, then grew quiet, finally passing out. After ten minutes, the teen was growing restless and began examining the armor.
The undersuit had been made to fit Eve, but the armor itself was designed specifically for Fuse. It was mostly cobbled together, so it lacked the cohesiveness that a finished armor would likely have. But Alice was interested in the overall lack of plating covering it. It really had been designed for maximum output. And the lack of protection showed an absolute confidence in the wearer to not get hit.
She didn't know Fuse all that well, even from the Program, but she'd heard about some of his exploits from Rebecca, and the others spoke highly of him, almost reverently. But something had broken inside of him when he was injured. And despite the words of praise she'd heard, the way they looked at him was the same way others looked at her. The only one who didn't seem affected was the girl, Lin. There was an unwavering loyalty in the way she handled him.
Alice sighed and returned her attention to the beach, ignoring the questions that had begun to form as she thought about her former squadmate. They weren't her questions to ask, and she certainly didn't need to know the answers.
She heard cracks and a much louder pop, then saw a group hurry around from the side of a building. There was a muzzle flash, and she knew it to be from Tim's rifle. Her body didn't want to cooperate as she tried to stand up, but gritting her teeth, she forced her knees and back to straighten. Once she was vertical, she leapt over the seats and started the motor as the group closed in. Eve's head jerked up as the gunfire drew closer.
Bullets pinged off the side of the pontoon and Alice ducked her head. Veronica threw herself over the opposite side of where they came, using the vessel as a shield. "When we're all aboard, get us out of here!"
The teen nodded, ready to throttle up the second the last person was aboard. Tim tossed the empty rifle and put on a burst of speed, leaping into the pontoon just as Clint fell in. She did a two second headcount to make sure everyone was there, then let the boat's engine roar as it spun dangerously in the water before surging forward.
Panting, Clint offered to take over so she could rest, but Alice shook her head, knowing if she sat down, they'd never get her on the freighter they were racing toward. He clapped her on the shoulder and dropped into the seat behind her.
As the freighter drew closer, there was another boom. Alice pushed the throttle upward and urged the pontoon to move faster. They needed to be aboard the heavy ship before the ORG fired.
"Good thing we turned it around." Tim said getting up out of his seat. "I'll head up first and get things moving."
Veronica nodded as he caught a handle and was pulled out of the pontoon while it slowed down. Alice did her best to line the boat up with the ladder on the side of the ship, but the waves were too rough so Clint and Sebastian quickly looped a rope in one of the rungs and tied the pontoon to it.
"I'll get Eve up top. Doc, you go first." Clint ordered.
Sebastian nodded and scrambled up the ladder. Veronica followed, then Rebecca. Alice climbed up next just as another boom sounded. Much louder than the rest.
"Probably about thirty seconds left." He said, hauling Eve over his shoulder.
Alice shot up the ladder and helped pull Eve onto the deck while Clint threw himself over.
"Everyone below!" Veronica shouted.
Since she already had Eve, Alice jogged over to where the woman was standing and followed the group down. The freighter was moving, but it hadn't built up any speed yet, so everyone was nervous when they heard a final boom.
There was nothing for a few seconds, then the ship began to rock. It wasn't as bad as Alice thought it would be, but given the weight of the freighter and the distance they were from shore, it could've been much, much worse.
"Found some clothes. Might be a little big for ya." Tim said to her as Sebastian, Clint, and Rebecca tended to Eve. "C'mon, let's get you out of that armor."
She nodded and followed him into an area closed off with a simple curtain. He took her arm and tapped on the bracer until the pieces fell away, hitting the floor with heavy thuds. She undid the clasp at the neck, and the undersuit loosened slightly. Pain shot through her body instantly and she would've collapsed had Tim not caught her and set her on a cot.
He quickly undid the clasps that held the undersuit on her and pulled it down her torso, grimacing once her arms were free. "Goddamn, Halo. What happened?"
She looked down and saw that her body was a mass of bruised flesh and burst blood vessels. They worked the undersuit the rest of the way off and she covered her mouth when she saw her knees and feet. Tim's face was grim as he helped her pull the large shirt on and button it up.
"I'll go get the doc. Don't move, okay?" He said, waiting for her to nod before bolting through the curtain.
It looked like the muscles and tendons had all exploded around her knees. The flesh on her feet was split open and she couldn't move her toes at all. Sebastian burst through the curtain seconds later and sighed as he knelt down in front of her. She heard Tim warn everyone away and was grateful to him for it. She didn't want them to see her like this.
"You should've already recovered from these injuries. Your cellular regeneration is nearly at the same level as Fuse's." Sebastian muttered. "But these wounds are healing at all."
Shaking his head, he pulled open the briefcase he'd kept with him and began to work.
~
"She doesn't want to see anyone." Tim said. "I asked her and that's what she told me."
Clint and Rebecca nodded as the teen walked from the cafeteria with the two trays of food he'd made up. Veronica gripped the metal cup tightly. "I had no idea how dangerous that armor was."
"The helmets help regulate output." Eve said. "Lin was working on a way to eliminate the helmet and have the undersuit perform those tasks. But Lin hadn't reached that stage of development yet. It only had the bare minimum required to run the armor itself. And Fuse's armor wasn't designed to be compatible with the new undersuit."
"So, what? There was no safety limiter or something?" Clint asked.
"Fuse's armor was special. Lin designed it specifically for him. The one she built in the Spire was only supposed to serve as a foundation she could use to improve the new models she was working on." Eve explained, taking the cup from Rebecca with a nod. "She inherently understood what we barely knew from years of being around him. How he moves, fights, what he prioritizes in combat and designed the armor to cater to those specialties. Without his undersuit or helmet, that armor's like wearing a hurricane. The ones she planned for me and Yolanda weren't going to have anywhere near the output."
Rebecca felt a tightness in her chest. "So Alice..."
"It's not any one thing, Rebecca. She's barely recovered from brain surgery, was already exhausted, not to mention she's spent most of her life dead or asleep in a healing tank." Veronica said sharply. "Then we put her in an unstable armor with pieces that aren't compatible with one another. Armor, apparently, only one person can wear without destroying their body."
"Did we do this to her?" Rebecca asked quietly.
"You already know the answer to that." Her mother replied. "She wanted to be useful to us and we made use of her."
"Lives spent, not wasted." Eve said bitterly. "All because I got hurt."
"There's enough blame to go around without inventing more." Clint said. "Doc's not sure what's going on with her healing thing. The only thing he knows for certain is it's not working right now. So let's stop focusing on what's done and start working on what's next. HQ. Caspar. Rinku."
~
"Doc said you need to eat." Tim sat down on the stool next to the cot. "It doesn't look great, but it's better than the stuff they gave us in the Program."
Alice smiled weakly at him, but shook her head.
"Hey, after all this, I'll take you out for a real meal. Right now, this is the best I could do for a date, okay? Cut me some slack."
"Date?"
"Alright, you caught me. I'm trying to impress you a little bit, here." He said with a grin. "I, uh, used to think you were cute back when we were little. It feels weird saying it like there wasn't this timeskip where we went from being seven to... however old they made us, but I guess we're a little more age appropriate for me to be attracted to you now."
"It is weird."
He set the tray down and scooted the stool closer. "D'you remember all those times in mess where you'd eat your cookie and there'd be another one on your tray when you looked back down at it?" She nodded. "I had Porter slip you mine cuz I knew you liked them."
"I know. Porter told me."
"That rat bastard!" He said, laughing. "I told him to keep it a secret. What, did you catch him?"
She nodded, smiling. "I knew he always gave his to Lucy. So I asked him and he told me."
"Porter and Lulu..." He muttered. "They're trapped. I took off before I could learn any details, but when Caspar was telling me these grand plans, it felt wrong. Porter kept looking at Lulu every time he'd start to open his mouth."
"Avery's gotten worse, too."
"She was always loyal to him. Hated you for being higher on the card than her, though." He said.
"Gave me that awful nickname, too."
"Halo? No way, that's an awesome nickname!" He cried. "C'mon, I'm just Tim. I mean, I get that it was meant to be a dig at you after... after, but I always liked it."
"I don't mind if you use it."
"Well, thank you, I will." He said triumphantly, making her laugh. "Oh, good. I got you to smile for real. I was worried for a while, there."
"Thank you for taking care of me."
"You're welcome. Alice." He said, picking up the tray. "Now, c'mon. I bet it tastes just as bad cold as it did hot."
She smiled and took the tray from him while he picked his up. As she stared at the food on it, a cookie dropped into the open slot next to the other one. She looked over at him as he chewed and stared at a monitor before picking up her fork.
~
"I've been listening to the radio chatter and it's finally gotten out that the Spire has fallen. Their remaining troops are advancing on Rodinia to join up with the North and the Markets. Not sure how, but it's looking like HQ's winning this war." Clint said. "But there's some good news. The overloaded the ORG firing that shot. Whole satellite's dead."
"No word on Kurokawa?" Veronica asked.
"None. Wherever they are, it's outside of HQ's reach." He replied.
"Thank God." Eve sighed.
Veronica gave the woman a withering look, but kept her mouth shut. Rebecca watched this and walked over, sitting down across from her. "What happened, mom? At Coast City? You said you'd explain."
Veronica looked around the room and sighed. "Alright, fine."