Ch 5. Blades

The updraft whipped their cheeks with the same ferocity of a flock of swift tiny birds, scratching the skin with their wings. Eury’s forehead felt a moist flowing line streaming down to the tip of her to color the handle of the blade red. As soon as she felt the sting from the cut, she pulled Sammy's hoodie over his face.

Behind her the Hunter was desperately trying to grab on to a wall, or the floor, or anything that could keep him grounded. The girl’s crushing of the guardrail gave him an idea; he also had prosthetics instead of his legs, maybe he could dig into any surface with them. So he started to smash the tip of toes with the metallic plates covering the room.

He lifted his right foot, swung it behind him, almost above the head like an axe and plummeted it with as much force as he could. The deafening noise the two materials made was eaten by the tornado, but the flying sparks couldn't be ignored. Unlike how the Hunter ignored the hardness of the plate, until he saw three of fingers flying upward and his foot cracked all the way to the heel.

Sammy only tucked his face further into his hoodie at the minuscule portion of the man’s screams of pain, while Eury immediately turned around to see the horror show. This made her jumpy when she felt the handle of the blade twist and a switch being pushed.

The blade started to vibrate and glow with a bright, orange tint. More concerning, though, was the screaming harpy shriek it let out and how it seemed to sink even deeper into the floor.

Eury- “ No, no, no, no, not a fucking smelting tool!” She tried again and again to switch the handle back, but the updraft became more intense then before, enough to make lift even her now up into the air. The girl wanted to ask Diaz for help, but her voice could barely get a meter in front of her; still, the fact that he seemed desperate while scrounging through the panel at least meant that he was trying to save them.

The hunter repeated his previous action, but now tried with the wall and it resulted in the same outcome. He scratched and crawled, trying all matters of options until he felt the liberty of being able to hold onto something slip through his fingers. He was floating peacefully for only a second, though, until as if violently pulled out by a hook from the ocean, he felt his entire being pushed into the sky, level after level, quickly disappearing from his target's sights.

Diaz, who found the problem with the panel, waited with ends of cables in each hand for the right time, counting each ascent. “1…3…7 meters”, she whispered under his breath, while his eyes darted up and down, keeping count on Eury and Sammy as well. He wanted for the Hunter to reach at least 10 meters, but once the kid had to be catched to not float away, Diaz immediately connected the cables.

The turbine slowed down, slowly rotating back into a neutral, non-spinning position. The worker rushed toward the two and wanted to ask if they were fine, but he was surprised to find the kid running down his tears and boogers all over his lap. He just stood there, idle like a virtual character.

- “ Pat him on the shoulder at least”, Eury suggested with coarsed voice, dry and wistful for air.

Diaz- “ I…ugh…right”, he replied, doing as she suggested in the most alien, robotic tap of hand possible. Eury couldn’t help laughing at it, but then coughed from the pain. Before she could reach her pouch for a bottle of water, Diaz was already sharing his flask with her.

Eury- “ Oh…thanks.”

Diaz- “ No problem…”, he flustered out a response before remembering to hold out a hand to help her get up. Sammy was still sniffling in his lap, bailing his eyes out, but his shivers died down. The trio were just happy to get a moment of peace.

-”Hands in the air!”, cried out a voice from the darkness of the corridor. A group of heavily armored security guards had them at gunpoint, a bit caught off guard at the sight of three young people running around. “ Why aren’t you on your shifts?!”

Diaz and Eury gave a forced smile, and deep sighs after a falling body yelled as it plunged to the bottom of the tunnel.

….

Sammy was kept under the scrutiny of a bulky nurse bot, while Diaz and Eury found themselves buried under the avalanche of questions the security had for them. Fortunately for them, the engineers and mechanics brought on site confirmed that the damage was the fault of the now deceased bounty hunter. Which in turn brought them to the question of “why were you fleeing from a bounty hunter?”

Neither of the teens knew how to explain that to get them scott free. Diaz was more than free to just say the truth and get himself out of this pickle. Eury looked at him and was prepared not to blame him for that, but then she saw his trembling fist, with his fingers more than ready to cut into his palm. She hadn’t paid attention to his grimace until now, but has he blinked in a while?

Security- “ Well?”

Eury- “ Well, you see, we-”, but an interruption made her body flinch.

Diaz- “ We’ve known each other. For a while now…”

Security- “ And?”

Diaz- “ And…”, he tried to adlib, but whatever energy he had left was used to bottle up his ire, leaving nothing else on the table.

Eury- “ AS you might now, I’m a worker from the middle level. But my family wants to rise higher, which in turn means favors and the such.” The girl came from one of the countless orphanages above, brought up to cover her current station at work.

The interrogator was still side eyeing the two, but his hands were already typing in the report. It wasn’t visible to them, but a timer was counting down how much time he had left until his next interrogation. Which was in 10 or so minutes.

Eury- “ So, I was technically contracted to serve the “whims” of another merchant. You know how it is.” The officer only nodded, typing at will. “ Until I met my dashing prince over here.”

The base dweller almost choked on a mix of spit and air for how suddenly she put that out there, and even the keyboard taps had suddenly stopped. Besides the girl’s grin and attempts at dragging her chair closer to Diaz, the rest were left speechless and stuck in shock.

Security- “ Ca-ca-can you repeat that?”

Eury- “ Yes, well you see, my parents are a strict bunch, and they wanted to leave me in the care of a good, rich, old partner. And get a sweet deal for themselves out of it. But alas, you know how it goes. You work a few shifts overtime, meet people from other departments and in the end you find that funny goober that just speaks to you. You know?”

The interrogator still couldn’t believe it, and he even turned towards the equally shocked Diaz who stood motionless for a while now. Once the two met their gazes, the dweller was cuffed to the plan.

Diaz- “ Yes…I am the goober.”

The keyboard tapping returned to its normal pace.

Security- “ So where does the bounty hunter come into play?”

Eury- “ Oh, right, that. I tried to elope and my family hired him to bring me back.”

The instant lies the girl managed to put out impressed and scared the base dweller; but at the same, it calmed him down, gave him hope that they might get out of this intact and with their jobs still intact.

Security- “ Alright. Love and teens are always a weird mix. One last question, what’s with that kid?”

For this one, Eury was outstaged in how fast someone could pull off a convincing lie. Diaz named him his new intern, brought there to “learn a bit about the job on site. Kid’s small enough to fit through the smaller vents and clean them nice and good…You know?”

A few hours later, the trio found themselves with only a warning to their names and left out with a few disgruntled messages from their job sites. And pay reductions for missing their shifts.

Diaz- “ Fuuuck. Gonna have to tighten the belt next month…” His complaints were genuine, but at the moment his mind barely registered that as a loss. Especially after seeing Sammy and Eury smiling and giggling in the middle of a crowded hallway. He couldn’t help but smile as well.

Diaz- “ Nice work in there with the security”, he complimented Eury, impressed by her performance.

Eury- “ Thanks. Experience with working with people. Thanks for the support, I wasn't yet sure how to explain Sammy.”

Diaz- “ Eh, no problem. Was about his age when I became an intern…Anyway, I’m going now. Have a safe trip.” His face made the deepest, regretful grimace when he felt a tug on his oily shirt. Like he feared, Sammy was on the other end, but to his surprise Eury was also enlarging his shirt.

Diaz- “ No”, he replied quickly, knowing exactly what the two wanted from him.

Eury- “ Pleaseeee? Are you seriously so cold hearted to leave your intern on his own?” She kneeled to the kids ears to whisper something. A second later, Sammy was dropping a storm of tears on the base dweller, begging him to take them with him and making a scene as well.

Diaz’s vexed frown told the girl all that she needed to know. “ Oh, like you weren’t expecting this from me at this point.”

Diaz- “...Do you have any credits or things to trade on you?”

She nodded, and even pulled out a bulky device to prove it.

Diaz- “...Fine. You can stay at my place. For a few days…You’re gonna have to share floor space, though. We’re crowded as it is anyway.”

Eury- “ Sir, yes sir. Sammy, thank the nice young man for his help.”

Sammy- “ Thank you mister. And I promise to become the best intern you ever had.”