"This is dreadful after so nice a chat, but needs must," Guntha's knife pressed against her throat, just under cutting pressure "Now, be a dear and open the door"
The jail guard twitched, reaching for a weapon.
"No, no, you got it wrong," the blade pressed harder "You are supposed to free me, maybe insult me if you want to spice things up. Not to try something unpolite like that"
"There is-" she coughed, and the blade gave just enough space for her not to cut her own throat "There is a war outside, you idiot"
"I may have noticed it, yes. And by the way, isn't dried protein just dreadful to clean from nice uniforms like yours?" The blade pressed harder "I'd open it myself but, you know..." he pulled painfuly the claw he had twisted behind her back.
With an angered snarl, she took the keys from her belt and unlocked the door.
"Thank you," he freed her claw, and in a few swift movements took the handcuffs from her belt and attached one end to a metal bar and the other to one of her claws, not letting go of the dagger.
Before she had time to scream, he walked out of the cage and hit her throat with an elbow.
"Don't worry, don't worry," she made choked sounds, and he took a water glass from a nearby table and gave it to her "You'll be talking again in a few days, miss..." he read her plaque "Diane, and I'll make this up to you as soon as the situation is resolved. Goodbye, and I hope your cousin gets that promotion" He walked out of the room, trying to recall the way out of the building without much success.
It had taken him hours to get out, too. He was getting sloppy.
-ยบ-
"I needed that" Quibra threw the bottle away.
Mariela's eyebrow raised just so, but she made no comment.
"I am not-" he hiccuped "I can hold my liquor just fine. The trail of destroyed war machines should make it obvious"
"You nearly lost an eye not a minute ago" Mariela sighed "I liked you better sober, if you hadn't guessed already"
"Alright. And what's up with the bag?"
Her wing pressed tighter over it, "Something I may, but wish not to, need" she said under her breath.
There was a crash behind them, and they turned to see a different golem having been thrown to a wall, Spike running toward it with a flaming sword in his hands.
The gollem wasn't a heavy one like the others, but a light-looking one-- a square frame with round corners, completely covered in what seemed like several layers of ceramic shielding, with an eye-like crystalline structure in the center of each of the square's faces and four identical limbs, thin needle-like legs that ended in four claws each.
The golem moved before Spike could reach it, shaking in epileptic fits for a moment before climbing to the ceiling ot the building it had been thrown to, and jumping high into the air to fall on Spike in a shower of claws. Before it had reached its peak, several junctures of Spike's armor shone with green sparks and he threw the flaming sword up to the machine like a javelin. The weapon made a clean cut across the machine and flew into the sky, but the golem kept falling, all claws aimed at Spike.
"Shouldn't you help him?" asked Mariela.
"He'll be fine"
Spike took a deep breath, his chest bulging, and with his armor shinning a phosphorescent green breathed flame up to the falling golem, a cone wide enough to envelop a buffalo. The machine fought it for a moment, trying to claw at Spike, but the metal melted and ceramics cracked under the heat.
"And that-" Quibra hiccuped "That's what a modern augmenting armor can do" he said, feeling a mix of awe and envy "In a good user, of course. Kid knows his stuff"
With a loud hum that reverberated annoyingly on his ears, the sword fell again, its handle helping itself to Spike's outstretched claw.
"Is it done with?" asked a gryphon, approaching Spike, once molten slag had stopped falling.
"Yeah, took more-" Spike took a look around and noticed Quibra for the first time "What are you doing here?" he walked to them, annoyed "Mariela, you are a VIP. You aren't supposed to be anywhere without an escort"
"I have one," Mariela shot Spike what Quibra was surprised to realize was a mocking grin "A dashing paladin, to assist a lone lady"
"But- He is-" Spike growled, rubbing the bridge of his snout "Some day, some freaking day, I'll meet a woman who doesn't try to save the world every five minutes. Come," he gestured for them to follow, clearly annoyed "Join the main group. And Quibra, if you drink anything else you are fired"