CHAPTER 20

Lumiea

Year -20 (L.D.)

That couldn't be. Why would anyone set a trap? This was not a hotspot where battles raged or a place where anything was to be won. What would rebels who managed to get their hands on mods want to do here? But it had to be. How else would they have projected a heat signature that matched a person into this alley?

"Call it in," Aeryn said to Trin. They were not ready to fight against rebels with real equipment.

"Back to camp," Alix said. "That's protocol."

"Lyon!"

The warning had scarcely left Jace's lips when a hunk of concrete Trin had thrown flew through the air over Lyon's face. A thin beam of energy shattered it.

Their boots scraped against the ground as all five of them flattened against the wall of the building for cover.

The combat soldiers already started firing their guns, providing cover so no one could pursue while they bought precious seconds to gather data about their attackers.

Aeryn unclapsed the protective flap covering the vials of fuel at her hip and latched her laser over her arm so she could have both hands free, opting to leave her gun on her back.

Instructions came in through Aeryn's earpiece immediately. Information Trin analyzed and had sent out to them in mere seconds.

Trin thought that there were three attackers based on the laser shot, a shadow she picked up, and some noise a slight distance away, though the attackers were actively camaflouging thesmelves from her sensors. This time the fear that Aeryn had wrestled with snapped out of her mind. There was no time to think or feel.

A woman launched through the air from a second-story rooftop and landed on her feet with a boom. Blades already flew in four separate directions from her hands, with the unnatural speed and accuracy possible only with body mods.

The combat soldiers easily knocked them from the air. It was only the beginning, though. The woman fired her laser while twisting to lob a small ball at Nikka. At the same time, shots fired from two different directions outside of the alley.

Nikka knocked the ball away as it exploded with shards of shrapnel that shot in all directions. The only one within range of it, she threw herself backward and managed to evade the damage.

So many things happened at once that Aeryn couldn't hope to keep up on her own. She followed the voice in her ear with total faith as she scanned her teammates for injuries. Nikka and Lyon disapeared from the alley as they went after the two snipers who were still firing well-timed shots. She wanted to yell after them to be safe.

"Three steps back," the voice in her earpiece said. She leapt back just as a laser shot into the ground in front of her.

A boom erupted beside her. The thrusters from Jace's palm mods shot him toward the female close-range attacker. Alix fired a small blast of concussive force from his hand to knock away the bullets meant for Jace as the other man swiftly dragged a blade Aeryn hadn't seen him retrieve for the rebel's throat.

The rebel evaded and Jace pursued. Alix provided cover from the snipers.

And behind them, Trin studied the entire battle with sweat beaded along her forehead.

Jace was going through his fuel fast as he used his mods to power his assaults. Aeryn unclipped a fuel tank from her belt and rushed for him.

Alix gripped his wrist as he aimed his sparking palm for the woman, preparing to hurl a shock wave at her. Jace threw a punch for her solar plexus, his hand glowing from the energy of his mod. Aeryn was about to use the opportunity to replace Jace's fuel when the woman clapped her palm mods together.

All three of them twisted as they rushed away from her. But the strong force of the concussive blast she'd sent slammed into Aeryn and threw her against the wall. It was far more powerful than anything Alix had thrown her way.

Jace caught himself, slid across the ground, and ran into Aeryn as she pushed herself to a crouch. Alix was on his knees across the alley.

Jace reached for Aeryn without taking his eyes off the woman.

"I'm fine," Aeryn said and quickly unhooked his fuel. In the second it took for her to slide the new vial in place, the warning came over her earpiece. Aeryn had just enough time–maybe–to roll away. But Jace needed the fuel. Now.

Aeryn twisted the vial twice to screw it in place as the laser shot clipped her elbow in a burst of white-hot pain. She didn't falter.

The female attacker rushed toward Jace and Aeryn.

Jace immediately lunged for the woman. But he was looking behind himself as he fought, trying to catch a glimpse of her wound. "Aeryn," he said. Worry pinched his expression as he blocked a hit to his chest.

"I said…" Aeryn lifted the arm she'd attached the laser gun to, slid her finger through the trigger, and aimed, ignoring the hot rush of blood slickening her arm. "I'm fine." Aeryn took the first shot she could without hitting Jace, but the woman dodged. Damn, these rebels were fast.

Forced to defend them from the entrance of the alley, Alix called back to them, struggling to knock away shots.

The rebels must have had an analyst of their own somewhere. A fourth person they hadn't detected. This woman's evasions and counterattacks were too perfect.

Trin grabbed Aeryn's arm as she aimed again and started to wrap a patch around it. How bad was the wound? She had no idea. It could have been a scratch or she could have just lost a chunk of her arm. Couldn't feel anything except the rush of a battle none of them were prepared for.

Ahead, the woman's elbow connected with Jace's temple. Her palm pressed against his chest, glowing red and hot.

Fuck.

Aeryn ripped away before the patch was sealed and rushed for him. Too late. But she couldn't stop.

Aeryn expected Jace to minimize the damage by evading as best he could. Instead, he didn't attempt to avoid the blast that shot from her palm. Leaving himself entirely vulnerable, he grabbed the thin veins that wound from her palm mod up her arms and beneath her shirt.

Jace ripped her mod free just as her shot hit him at close range.

It knocked him from his feet.

Aeryn slid onto her knees where she expected Jace's body to land and ripped the half-applied patch from her arm. He flew back, bounced when he hit the pavement, and slammed onto his side.

His shirt sizzled. Behind them, the woman gripped her arm, screaming in pain. Removing a mod like would immobolize a person, at least for a few seconds. It wasn't just the nerve pain, or the physical damage, but the powerful connection to the central nervous system being suddenly severed. Even a seasoned fighter would be dysregulated.

While Aeryn grabbed Jace, Trin raised her gun to aim at the woman.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Aeryn couldn't worry about anything except for getting this wound covered. Hand mods were small and the damage was only the size of a palm, but it was deep. Blood gushed from the wound, pulsing with his heart. Jace anchored his elbow on the ground, gasping as he tried to push himself up.

Trin fired three times in a row, but the woman managed to use her other body mod to knock the shots away with a concussive blast.

Jace took aim with his own mod, forcing blood to pump faster from the movement.

"Hold still." Aeryn cringed at the chunk of flesh hollowed out from his chest and the charred skin on the edges of the injury. She ripped the hole in his shirt wider so she could press the patch firmly against his skin.

He fired once and distracted the woman so she couldn't pursue Trin. It jostled them enough that Aeryn had to reseal the patch.

"It'll hurt," Aeryn warned.

As soon as she sealed the patch fully against his skin, the tan color snapped to red, and Jace threw his head back, screaming through clenched teeth. The powerful sealant mixed with medication and antibiotics would swell against his wounds, stopping the blood loss, while also helping to speed the healing process once he made it back to a pod for proper treatment. But like all things worth it in life, it hurt like hell.

Jace breathed heavily as he forced his way to his knees. Aeryn twisted to aim her laser at their attacker as well. It was unbelievable they still hadn't taken her down.

And what was happening with Alix, Nikka, and Lyon? Trin should have given them an update on their comrades. She was as overwhelmed as the rest of them, wasn't she? Struggling to keep up. They were outmatched.

This was bad. They hadn't had time as a team to learn to work together with their analyst guiding them. Patrol was meant to be a glorified training exercise. Look for signs of life and scare away unarmed rebels. Not take on highly trained enemies.

Even though their squad outnumbered the rebels, these fighters knew how to move like one body.

Panic swelled in Aeryn's chest so it felt like her heart exploded.

Before they could start their next attack though, a siren blared, and tires squealed.

The rebel they had fought lifted her hands in a show of surrender.

Really? After all that? She wouldn't try to fight the reinforcements?

Afraid it was a trick, Aeryn kept her weapon aimed. The others did as well.

At the mouth of the alley, an instructor that Aeryn vaguely recognized entered, smiling.

"Look at this." She surveyed the scene and planted her hands on her hips. "You held up nicely. I'd call this a successful trial.

"It wasn't real?" Trin's eyes widened.

Aeryn suddenly felt very small. Successful? She'd never lost a trial but this felt a lot like losing.

While Aeryn gaped at the instructor, Jace pulled a patch from her bag. She was still frozen in shock when he wrapped it around her elbow.

Aeryn turned her head to look at him just as he sealed the patch against her skin and the white-hot pain erupted over the wound. Jace grabbed the back of her neck, holding her eyes as the burning deepened. She clenched her teeth, grunting through it.

His head settled against her forehead, his ragged breath hot against her face.

"A few more seconds," he said. "Better yet?"

Aeryn nodded as the burning lessened and the medication began to sooth the wound. "Are you dizzy?" She swallowed hard and grabbed his arms to help steady him if he needed it. "Do you need to lie down?"

"I'm alright," he said.

"Not really. You have a hole in your chest."

They looked at each other again and then they both laughed once, but soon after he winced. "Guess that doesn't sound so good."

The others returned, looking haggard. Blood ran from a cut on Lyon's lip and scrapes covered Nikka's right arm. Alix seemed to be the only one unharmed and for some reason that Aeryn didn't fully understand, that made her want to laugh. Or cry. Maybe scream.

The instructor helped the woman who they had falsely believed to be a rebel while Aeryn's friends came to her and Jace.

Nikka knelt and clasped her cheek. "How bad is it?"

"I got grazed. That's all." She nodded at Jace. "He's hurt though."

Her friend didn't look away yet. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes."

Finally convinced, Nikka turned to Jace, but he was already shaking off her concern by waving his hand at her and Lyon as they checked on him.

Their friends helped them to stand, Alix and Nikka holding onto Jace, while they all looked up to the instructor.

Rage burned deep within Aeryn. She'd thought they could all die and it had all been made up?

"You did well." The instructor nodded and looked each of them in the eye. "Very well. This isn't something you were meant to win. Accept that and move on. Go back to camp and get yourselves treated."

Without saying anything else, the instructor left, followed by the woman who had fought them so well.

"I couldn't take down my sniper." Nikka wiped the sweat from her face. "Wasn't even a close match."

"Same," Lyon said. He looked at Jace. "I don't know if you should walk."

But Jace didn't respond. He was staring at the retreating form of the instructor, the muscles in his jaw bunched. "We failed." The low rasp of his voice echoed in Aeryn's mind.

No one disagreed with Jace's curt judgment.

Failure had never been an option. It couldn't become one now.