Lina attaches her harness to one of the elevator's cables
and locks it tight. Seraya watches as she pulls out one of her
handguns and shoots low at a cable. It snaps and the elevator drops a
moment as the weight balance changes.
They look at each other as she moves closer; both wrap an
arm tight around the other's waist then look up. "There is no spoon,"
Lina whispers as she holds the smaller blond closer, then looks down
and shoots the last cable. It breaks and the elevator sinks away below
them, the counterweight pulling them up quickly.
At each floor, sparks fly as the emergency brakes try and
fail to stop the elevator. When it hits the bottom floor the bomb
explodes; the doors are blown off and the lobby fills with fire.
The entire building shakes and the Dragons sway a little as
the lights go out. A moment later, the sprinkler system goes off. All
three look up.
Lina hands Seraya the gun she used to break the elevator's
cables, and they both nod before swinging over and kicking the door to
the roof open.
Valgarv's teeth clench before he looks at Milgasia, "Find
them and destroy them!" The taller Gold looks miserable from the
freezing cold water as he holds a hand over his earpiece.
"I repeat, we are under attack," the helicopter pilot
shouts into his headset. One man is down on his face with a fiery bolt
sticking out of his back. Seraya whips the gun across another cop's
face, causing him to drop. Lina holds two more officers' weapons as
icy magic spills into them, causing one to stumble backwards and the
second to cry out, grip loosening on his gun.
One dazed cop gets back to his feet and lunges at Seraya,
knife he's holding reflecting the sunlight. She ducks low and he
gurgles when an icicle embeds itself in his stomach.
The pilot watches in horror as the two women pound on the
rest of his unit, but his horror becomes worse when he has a waking
nightmare. A shining gold ghost of a dragon roars as it sweeps towards
him. He screams when it bites down on him and Milgasia appears in his
place inside the helicopter.
Lina takes the gun from the officer's hands and sweeps the
butt of the weapon up, cracking it into his chin. He slumps to the
ground but Lina's already turned, firing at an officer running towards
Seraya. He goes down. Behind her the last remaining officer pushes to
his feet, aiming at the redhead's back. The knife Seraya's holding
gets a burst of speed from a wind spell and thuds into the cop's
forehead. He falls back.
Milgasia steps out of the helicopter as Lina tosses down
the gun. She then looks up at Seraya and notices how tense the blond
is. Guessing what's behind her, Lina turns her head away. She then
turns around quickly, two handguns firing at the Dragon.
Milgasia's body seems to blur as his hands move, small
bursts of energy hitting each individual bullet and disintegrating it.
Too soon Lina's handguns both click, empty. "Seraya," she calls out,
tossing the guns down. "Help!" Milgasia draws his gun and fires.
Time turns to syrup, Lina's limbs moving at only a fraction
of their normal speed. She lifts her hand in front of the first bullet
and a small fireball burns it away. She starts to lean back as more
shots are fired, each one being stopped in a similar fashion as
Milgasia used. After the fourth bullet she can't move fast enough, a
fifth grazes her right shoulder and a sixth tears through the outside
of her left thigh. She's leaned back too far and falls onto her back,
time moving normally as she gasps for breath, hardly noticing the
burning pain in her shoulder and leg.
A shadow looms over her and she looks up, Milgasia lifting
his gun and blocking out the sun. "Only human," he says grimly, ready
to put the last bullet into the woman's head.
Suddenly a cold metal barrel is behind him and he turns his
head to the left, Seraya's handgun against his temple. "Dodge this,"
she says up to him and fires, the Dragon falling back. His body glows
bright gold and Seraya looks away as the ghostly image rises from the
pilot's dead body then disappears back into the building.
Releasing a breath of relief, Lina tugs her sunglasses off
and sets them aside. Seraya offers a hand and pulls the redhead to her
feet, and she winces a bit at the graze on her thigh.
"How did you do that," Seraya asks.
"Do what?" Lina looks at the blond as she pulls off her
trench coat and starts to unfasten the empty harness, last handgun
tucked into her belt at the small of her back.
"You moved like they do," she nods at the dead pilot. "I've
never seen anyone move that fast." Lina looks at the cut on her right
shoulder then back at the smaller girl.
"It wasn't fast enough." Ser watches Lina thoughtfully
while the taller woman looks over at the helicopter. "Can you fly that
thing?" Seraya pulls off her sunglasses and looks at it.
"Not yet." She pulls out her cell phone and dials as Lina
watches.
"Operator."
"Hawk, I need a pilot program for a B-212 helicopter." He
nods and finds the program, quickly loading it up. "Hurry." When he
finds the program it starts to load, Seraya's closed eyes on the
Dragon Slayer fluttering.
Inside the Matrix Lina watches the blonde's fluttering
eyelids then blinks when they open. "Let's go." They start walking to
the helicopter.
---
Valgarv and Filia look up as Milgasia steps in, the floor
flooded with water from the sprinklers. Then they all look out the
window as a helicopter flies into view, Lina standing behind the large
gattling gun mounted on it. Valgarv narrows his eyes at the sight.
"No."
Lina pulls the trigger and the large weapon starts
spinning, spewing out dozens of bullets. Filia falls just after
drawing her weapon and her ghost leaves the officer's dead body, going
through the wall. Milgasia drops down and tries to get to the door but
he's not fast enough, long bullets pounding into him. His own golden
ghost joins Filia's in going out of the office. The wall and floor get
chewed up as more and more bullets fly.
Valgarv gets the most shots off as he tries to kneel behind
the office's couch. Lina follows his movement and sweeps the weapon
down from the two dead cops and up towards Valgarv, the couch
exploding with each hit. The Ancient falls back and his ghost is black
as it leaves.
The tingling of spent bullets stop and the smoking cylinder
slows down to a halt, Lina looking through the huge hole in the window
at Xelloss sitting alone in the room. "Xelloss, get up," she urges him
quietly. "Get up, get up!"
Her leader slowly lifts his head, water dripping down from
his soaked hair. He blinks several times before his purple eyes
reappear, clear and alert. He sees the helicopter and starts to pull
at the handcuffs with a shout, the metal chain slowly giving away
before breaking apart.
Seraya watches out of the pilot's window as he starts
pulling the various sensors still attached to him and the laptop off,
and then stands. The sound of the door opening makes him look to his
left. All three Dragons are back with newly possessed bodies. At the
sight of Xelloss standing, Valgarv draws his gun and starts firing at
the running rebel through the office wall.
The bullets break through the wall and streak through the
air, but the last one embeds itself in Xel's leg and he stumbles in
running towards the window before jumping out.
"He's not going to make it," Lina says quickly to herself
before getting out from behind the gattling gun. She jumps out towards
Xelloss, long safety strap attached to her back. They both fly towards
each other then collide in midair, falling quickly and trying to keep
a grip on each other.
Lina's harness comes to a sudden stop and jerks her out of
Xel's grip, but she grabs his wrist at the last instant. "Gotcha!"
Xelloss looks up at her, then down at the street far below.
Seraya sees they're both safe then starts flying the
helicopter away, careful about how far below Lina and Xelloss are. In
the building Valgarv moves to the window, watching them leave. He
lifts his gun and fires.
Two bullets impact the helicopter and fuel starts spraying
out. Alarms go off around Seraya as fuel pressure quickly drops. She
tries to get a safe distance away from the Dragons as she looks around
for a safe place for Lina and Xelloss to land.
Further downtown she sees a building with two levels of
large, flat roof. Aiming for that even as the helicopter's blades spin
slower, she forces it to stay low enough so Lina and Xelloss can jump.
Looking up as she and Xel dangle, Lina sees smoke pouring
from the helicopter as it gets harder and harder to fly. Noticing what
Seraya's doing, she waits until they're close enough then lets Xelloss
go. He falls onto the top roof level and rolls to a stop, eyes on the
helicopter and the redhead hanging from it.
The alarms get more frantic as the rotors slow down enough
to not be able to keep the helicopter up and it starts to fall towards
the next building. Lina lands on the level of roof below Xelloss and
rolls back to her feet, gripping the safety strap in both hands. She
looks up when the helicopter passes overhead. "Seraya," she whispers.
Looking down, she throws the strap up and wraps it around
her hands. The helicopter passes below the edge of the roof as the
rotors slow more and more. Once the slack runs out, Lina gets pulled
off her feet and starts sliding towards the edge of the roof. Xelloss,
back to his feet, watches anxiously.
The building filling her view and controls not responding
at all, Seraya climbs out of her pilot's chair and goes back to where
the harness is attached to the helicopter's floor. She grabs hold of
it and, using the same gun Lina gave her, shoots it. She jumps out of
the helicopter after dropping the gun, swinging towards the building
Xelloss and Lina landed on top of.
Lina hits the lip of concrete at the edge of the roof and
uses her feet like a fulcrum, being pulled up into standing. She looks
down and sees Seraya falling away from the helicopter as it crashes
into the next building. When it hits, the glass ripples strangely
before exploding outward.
As fire engulfs the destroyed helicopter, Seraya hits a
window that spider-cracks from the impact. The heat and light forces
Lina to look away for several moments, then looks down and starts to
pull Seraya up.
"I knew it," Hawk whispers, staring at the Matrix code.
"She's the One."
Lina finishes pulling the strap up hand over hand and takes
Seraya's, pulling her up onto the roof. Once they're safely there,
their grip on each other remains, both women trembling from the close
call, light blue eyes staring up into crimson eyes.
"Do you believe it now, Seraya," Xelloss asks after getting
down to their level of the roof and moving to beside the two. The
smaller girl looks up and nods slightly.
"Xelloss," Lina starts, not looking up immediately from
Seraya. "The Oracle. She told me I--"
"She told you," Xelloss interrupts, meeting her eye,
"exactly what you needed to hear. That's all." Lina doesn't like the
answer and shakes her head a little. "Lina, sooner or later you're
going to realize just as I did, there's a difference between knowing
the path, and walking the path." She looks into his purple eyes,
considering.
---
"Operator," Hawk asks hopefully.
"Hawk." Xelloss. Alive. Safe.
"Goddamn, it's good to hear your voice, sir."
"We need an exit."
"Got one ready," he replies with a grin. "Subway station,
State and Balbo."
---
The Dragons push the roof door open and find it empty. A
safety harness is on the ground but nothing else. Valgarv goes over
and picks it up, gripping it tightly between his hands. They got away
once more. "Dammit!"
"The trace was completed," Filia notes as she looks up at
Milgasia.
"We have their position," he notes.
"The sentinels are standing by," Filia adds, and then she
and Milgasia look at Valgarv.
"Order the strike." He then turns with Filia and they
leave the rooftop.
"They're not out yet," mutters Valgarv as he looks at the
city's skyline, fire and police sirens echoing from the streets below.
Back to The Slayers Matrix Index - Back to Slayers Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction