“What is that?” Ares demanded.
“It appears to be one of the Na’thrim moons,” The Alecia behind him answered.
“How did we not know it was here?”
“Well it only just arrived, and space is very big,” Ares glared at her, “also stealth tech.”
“It’s a moon, how do you miss a fucking moon.”
“Mag Mell appears to have helped hide it for the approach; it’s behind the moon.”
“I thought you said Mag Mell was gone.”
“No Sir, that was my sister.”
“Are you just saying that because I can’t tell the two of you apart?”
“Maybe Sir.”
“So now we have a Na’thrim moon, and Mag Mell. Next I assume you’re going to say your counterpart in this universe is still alive.”
“The odds do seem to be in her favor on that count.”
“My bitch of an ex-wife planned this.”
“Probably Sir.”
“How do I not know about the Na’thrim?” Ares asked.
“Usually by this point in history their empire has collapsed, I couldn’t tell you why it hasn’t this time around. Either my counterpart or your Ex seems the most likely reason.” Alecia answered.
“So why don’t I know about them?”
“My sisters and I like fucking them, and we were worried you might take that away from us.”
“Well fuck me sideways.”
“No Thank you Sir, but my sisters might oblige.”
“No, they won’t.”
“No they won’t,” Alecia agreed, “but I thought I’d offer.”
“Where did your parents go wrong?”
“They never spanked me as a child.”
Ares grimaced, of the three this one was the worst. Skills wise she was the closest to Sophia, pure science, direct answers. The other two were pure magic, and mad science respectively. “Do you enjoy making every conversation as painful as possible?”
“Yes Sir, it makes me happy.”
“Just give me a tactical assessment will you?”
Alecia nodded and looked down at her tablet. “The Na’thrim moon has enough firepower to match us for about a month before they start running low on resources. They shouldn’t have the firepower to breach our defenses, but if they combine forces with Mag Mell, we might not be able to breach theirs directly. While they do have ground troops, they will not be able to effect our expansion.”
“And the bad news?”
“If Mag Mell commits their forces, Blackbird, Firebird, and Bluebird could hold the line. This world’s Alecia if she is still alive will then have the time to work on breaching the defenses of the dome. Historical data indicates she could match my two sisters still on the surface. Also with the Moon providing the support we’re stuck up here.”
“How does this affect our overall strategy?”
“It doesn’t, like always we keep shooting till there is nothing left to shoot.”
“Well then, open fire on the moon.”
It normally wasn’t possible to get to the edge of Mag Mell, it would loop around, or you would just come out the other side, or just end up walking out of gardens. As far as Blackbird was aware Nightingale, and he were the only ones capable of doing it.
So naturally she was waiting for him as he arrived at the edge. “Have you come to talk me out of this?”
“What, jumping off burning up repeatedly on reentry, reducing yourself to a bloody pulp on the landing before standing up to get shot in the face several times? Why would I talk you out of it?”
“Because you’re my sister and family is supposed to look out for each other.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t land miles away from the fighting.”
“Thank you, sister, will you be taking part this time?”
“You’ve noticed it too haven’t you?” Nightingale asked.
“Something is different this time,” Blackbird answered.
“This is the first time our brother wasn’t born as a weapon.”
“Your world was special too,” Blackbird said referring to Nightingale being female.
“I’m just a perfect weapon this way, now go you’ll miss the fun.” Nightingale pushed Blackbird over the edge with a gust of wind; he didn’t resist falling to several deaths.
Dying in space wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t cold, there was no explosive decompression, and his eyes didn’t pop out. His blood did, however, boil, his organs ruptured, his brain shut down.
He piled on several layers of bodies, falling faster into the atmosphere. With so many of him in one place he was generating enough friction to burn through a body every fifteen seconds. Then he felt Nightingale take hold, the air pushing him on a new course.
A dark circle appeared on the ground once he was moving slowly enough to be able to keep a pair of eyes. It was surrounded by fire and crawling figures, that grew bigger and bigger till they were recognizable as human, then as individuals. He crashed into the ground next to a girl in orange.
The impact killed the four overlapping bodies, so he got rid of them, taking a new one and pushing the pain onto another; it died of shock. Blinking the dust out of his eyes and considering switching to a new body to get rid of it, he took a look at the girl in orange.
She looked tired, her visor cracked, her suit burned and ripped in places. Her hands had blood on them, and so did the makeshift bat she was holding. “Hey boss, you look good.”
“What?” Koi asked as she looked down at the man she considered to be unstoppable. He was in a self-made crater surrounded by bits that use to be him, seemingly not worse for wear and smiling.
“Sorry, back in the old days I worked for a girl who looked like you. Enough about the past, actually wait, how’s my brother doing?” Blackbird asked switching to a new body to get rid of the dust as he stood.
“Your brother?”
“Keanan, sweet kid, pink. How’re his grades?” He asked smiling as if they weren’t in the middle of a battlefield. He was clearly aware as he positioned himself between Koi and the enemy shielding her from fire. He didn’t even bother to notice the shots that hit his back.
Raising Angels & Defection 