Throbbing agony coursed through Indra’s body with every breath. How many ribs had that hit broken? Would she still be able to fight? 

 

Phantom jaggles of chains accompanied the sharp pain, bringing her further into the darkness that haunted her mind. Insect-like, pin pricking sensations slithered across her body, she could feel his hands on her, reaching beneath-- 

 

Pull yourself together! 

 

Starshit. Now was not the time to fall apart. Hiam taught her better than to be weak. Weep when the doors are closed, not on the battlefield. Even if it means losing a part of your soul, leave your tears unshed. 

 

Pungent body odor wafted from the surrounding false fugitives, it was as though they had bathed in a pool of sweat. Stars, did pretenders ever bathe? This was taking the whole act a little far. 

 

Pressure on Indra’s leg jerked her back to the situation with full force. Her hearts thrummed loudly in her ears when it increased. Time. She needed time. Indra was still trying to figure out where she was. Without knowledge, she was helpless. 

 

“Tell your leader to surrender, and I will let you keep your legs,” the elder hissed. 

 

Indra forced herself to laugh to hide the fact that she was shaking. Allowing a smirk to pull at her lips she propped herself up on her elbows. “Do you think that she’d care enough to give up everything for one measly pawn? As a soldier yourself, you should know better than to think our movement comes without willing sacrifice.” 

 

A loud crack echoed off the canyon walls. 

 

Crying out, Indra fell back to the ground, trying not to pass out. The bone pierced through her skin. It was a compound fracture. Starshit, she couldn’t stand on that. But, at least they had chosen to attack the same leg that her ankle had already broken beneath. 

 

They would pay. Indra would make them regret their decision to hurt her. 

 

For every bone they break, I’ll break three.  

 

“How much pain I cause is up to you, little Se’li,” he said, his footsteps coming beside her. 

 

Two more approached, getting uncomfortably close. One brushed against the thigh of her injured leg. It was as if the world became a box, a prison, an inescapable hell the instant they surrounded Indra on all sides.  

 

Her chest rose and fell in erratic pants. This wasn’t good. She had to get out of here. She wouldn’t allow herself to be weak. Why couldn’t she make herself move? 

 

Starshit move! You weak piece of mamock feces. 

 

Weakness brings suffering to those too foolish to be strong. I have to be strong. There isn’t a choice. 

 

There was always a way out, she would never be trapped again. Indra reached for her breast bone, her fingers grazing the self-inserted capsule. The temptation to rupture it grew with each passing moment, but what about Akio? 

 

A hand reached out, roughly grabbing Indra by the forearm, nearing pulling her shoulder from the socket as they pulled her hand far away from her escape. “We know exactly who you are. The weapon will surrender if she knows we have her girlfriend. Call her off--” the butt of a gun slammed into Indra’s forearm, shattering the bone. “Now.” 

 

Indra bit her tongue till it bled to keep from screaming. “Well, you see--” she paused simply to breathe. “We’re in a rough patch. She might actually thank you if you got rid of her problems.” 

 

It was a half-truth, but more convincing than a full lie. 

 

Reaching out her other arm, Indra slowly felt around the ground. 

 

“You expect me to believe that? Our intel sai--” 

 

“Your intel is wrong. If your spy isn’t clever enough to get beneath the bed of our shared room, then whatever smack talk and gossip they acquire is going to be as inaccurate as your feelings of victory,” Indra spat. 

 

The tip of her gloved hand came into contact with the hilt of her cane. 

 

In a swift arc she slammed the hilt of the cane full force into the hand that gripped her forearm, earning a quite lovely crack. Indra then flicked it back, severing the opposite hand that held the gun, before kicking the elder in the shoulder and popping it from the socket. 

 

The resulting pain in the waiting period was horrid, but it granted her enough time to slowly adapt and learn what she was up against. 

 

Indra quickly slashed the stomach of the traitor to her left, then stabbed the other in the chest as she awkwardly leapt to her feet. They would all die tonight. No one would be allowed to escape and blow the whistle that led these bastards to the mansion. 

 

In a delicate dance of agony, she balanced on her unbroken leg, dragging the other along the ground, only daring to put the slightest amount of weight on it for balance. 

 

“I doubt the death of the entire Lizz species would be enough to satisfy you, you’re bloodthirsty, Indra, if you don’t stop killing now, you never will.” 

 

Nanon’s words echoed in her head. It had been an attempt at a scolding, but it was only a confirmation. Indra knew, and she intended to make the entire planet acknowledge it. She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t useless. She was the embodiment of vengeance. Every wronged girl’s screams echoed in her head, urging her to stop any and all who got in her way.

 

 Indra would flood the world in blood to bring about its rebirth. 

 

Ten footfalls scraped across the sand. 

 

Her oi’ek twitched, absorbing the surrounding emotion. Smugness radiated from five individuals. 

 

Five.

 

That’s all she needed to face. 

 

That’s all she needed to kill. 

 

It was not enough to silence the tormented rage burning in her soul. 

 

Warm gunfire flew through the air toward her. 

 

Indra leaned backwards to evade, screaming when one of the broken ribs punctured her skin. She fell to the ground from the loss of focus, but quickly recovered with a less than graceful shoulder flop; it didn’t have the smoothness to be considered a roll. 

 

Prior to a fight, Indra would study the structure of where it was to take place, whether as an ecstatic tourist, or through the notes made in brail of the entire buildings lay out. She knew the exits, the contents, the corners, every passage. Knowledge was what gave her the advantage, planning kept her safe, being prepared was the difference between life and death, and for this, she was not prepared. 

 

All she knew was that two shot at her from in front, and three attempted to attack her from the sides. Finding their location now that the laser fire singed the air, tossing up sand and stone, was almost impossible. The dissonance of noise made Indra want to scream if only to drown it out. It was too loud. 

 

Indra couldn’t roll for cover because she didn’t know where it was or if there was any. She couldn’t flee because she hadn’t any idea which direction went to the check point. 

 

As she evaded for the third time, leaping into the air and spinning to land on her good leg again, Indra forced herself to ignore the hopelessness threatening to free itself from the back of her mind and paralyze her. 

 

If she projected failure, she had already failed. 

 

It was better to die in a showcase of strength than surrender in weakness.

 

Indra ducked, rolled, leapt, and continued moving in a constant dance of agony, it was the only thing stopping the lasers from burning through her flesh. 

 

A slammed step alerted her to a soldier coming up behind her.

 

Indra ducked forward as their knife grazed the side of her neck. She thrusted the sword behind her, before grabbing the bleeding Lizz’s coat and stabbing through their back to their stomach. She held their skewered body in front of her to shield the fire from the group of three. 

 

Burnt flesh filled the air when hit after hit sailed through the Lizz’s body. It was almost sickening that it smelled like dinner. . . 

 

In a swift motion, Indra tore her sword from the corpse and threw it forward. The group of threes breathing was close enough that she could hear it. Indra rushed at them with awkward hops and leaps. 

 

One attempted to swing at her. The air disturbed by the whistle of their fist. 

 

Indra stabbed them in the arm, slicing open the muscle from their forearm to bicep. Blood splattered her face, dripping down the side of her neck. 

 

Indra froze. 

 

Even as the butt of a gun slammed into her injured rib cage, she couldn’t move. 

 

Phantom droplets of blood slid down her body, made all too real by the blood of her attacked on her skin. Metal clasps dug into her neck and wrists, suffocating her, pulling her deep into the darkness. She couldn’t handle the darkness. Each sensation, the pain, the wind, the sand, the scratch of her clothes on her skin crashed over her in a nightmarish wave of despair. 

 

Sound faded to silence, leaving Indra alone in the prison of her mind. Her body shook as if the ground beneath her feet was moving, bile rising up her throat, when an arm snaked around her neck. 

 

“Indra! Get down!” Chester shouted from a distance away, breaking the temporary silence. 

 

Snapping back to reality, Indra threw her elbow back into her attacker and dove forward.  

 

A gentle ting followed by a gust of sand and stone slamming into her body threw Indra backwards. She impacted with the rocky surface of the ground, her broken bones mercilessly beaten upon, bringing forth another crack in her spine. 

 

Indra screamed, unable to hold it back any longer. When she finally stopped rolling, she couldn’t get up. This couldn’t have gone worse. Her starshitted bones made her vunerable, weak, useless. 

 

If not for Chester coming to her aid, she would’ve died. 

 

“Why do you keep fighting, little lovely? You’ll never be strong enough to fight anyone” 

 

Indra forced her trembling body to its side, heaving into the sand. 

 

Get out of my head. 

 

The bile burned a path through her throat, each heave worsening the pain in her body. She growled. Angry at herself, angry at the foolishness she displayed in blindly trusting these innocents. Angry that she froze on the starshitted battlefield like a newbie to first blood. She was better than this. 

 

“It doesn’t matter where you go, you’ll never escape me.” 

 

Indra hated how true it was. Hated that he ruined her life. And that she let him. She wasn’t normally this weak, this affected unless. . . The date-- she wiped the remains of the vomit from her mouth with her sleeve, it was best not to dwell on it. 

 

“Indra? Oh stars,” Akio’s weak, rasping voice tore through the cloud of self-pity. “Can you--” 

 

Coughs and splatters overtook her girlfriend's voice. That wasn’t good. But she was alive. 

 

Tears threatened to fall from the corners of Indra’s useless eyes. Akio was alive. “I’m fine, just a little beat up.” 

 

Two vigilantes came beside Indra, gently lifting her off the ground. 

 

Indra gasped, almost passing out. The movement caused everything to throb in steadily increasing agony. 

 

“Liar, you look like a gnawed bone of a wild animal,” Akio spat. 

 

A trembling hand gently grasped around Indra’s gloved hand. “I didn’t know if I’d find you alive after the transmission cut out.” 

 

Indra laughed wryly. “Right now, I’d rather not be.” 

 

Soft, wet lips gently grazed hers, pressing in further to chase away the horrors of the day. If only it remained pleasant. Half-way through the kiss, Indra’s hearts started racing. She no longer felt Akio’s gentle lips, they warped into his. 

 

Pushing off, Indra collided with the vigilantes holding her up, their grip on her body only adding to her rising panic. “Let me go, please.”

 

“You’re in no con--” 

 

“Now,” she growled. 

 

“Indra, wha--” Akio started. 

 

“Don’t touch me!” Indra snapped, harsher than she meant to, but firm as it needed to be. 

 

Footsteps retreated, giving her space. 

 

Despite being outside, Indra could feel walls rising around her. This couldn’t be happening, not here in front of everyone, stars. She inhaled deep calming breaths to chase away the panic and slow the beats of her hearts. 

 

“We need to get back to the mansion,” Sali stated. “There are a lot injured, and Akio looks like she’s on a ticking clock.” 

 

Indra nodded, trying to stand. When the weight settled on her injured leg, jarring the side of her body, she fell back to the ground and passed out.