//------------------------------//
// Chapter 157: Gunsmoke 
// Story: XCOM: Ranger 
// by Wanderer D 
//------------------------------//


Ranger


Chapter 157: Gunsmoke


By Wanderer D






"Angel's down!"

Sunset didn't even hesitate. The blood around flared into a maelstrom around her as she jumped off the building. It was instinct.

All thoughts of blood-bonded friends who she could torture or pleasure at will; all thoughts of the Path of Madness, her powers, the gems, what the Siren's relationship with forbidden magic was… it all disappeared in an instant.

On the way down she realized she should probably shoot her hook, try to swing or she'd be a splatter of blood herself, but… she wasn't falling. She was gliding.

Too preoccupied to really care, she angled her body so that she moved towards the building she had ordered Angel and Trojan to hide at.

It was a reality of war… especially this war… that good people, or aliens died. She knew that on an instinctual level even. But even that knowledge wasn't enough to remain calm. It was Mox all over again.

Her bond with her companions was something she treasured, the one thing keeping her away from the madness and despair… the one thing validating her toning down her desire for power. Maybe she had made an error… maybe she needed the power. 

Maybe she needed to take more risks with her magic. Maybe she should use the other spells she had learned now that her magic was stronger after that brief symbiotic moment with the Element of Magic.

If she had kept the Element… she could have just blasted the Hunter from anywhere. She could have summoned Blood Golems from the fallen ADVENT soldiers. Made the Hunter's blood boil until it cooked her from the inside out. She could have forced the ADVENT soldiers and aliens to fight for her by controlling them from within.

She would have made them suffer before taking their lives away for the audacity of attacking her friends!

Buildings rushed past her, and she could hear Elena swear in surprise at whatever was happening. Sunset ignored her for now, eyes narrowing as her thoughts turned darker by the second, but soon enough the ground was coming close and Sunset shifted her body so that she landed already running. She didn't have time to think.

She didn't have time to hate. Not right now.

She felt a tug behind her, but she ignored it, pushing forward, barely registering a large splash, but she didn't let either thing stop her. 

Flashes of her Mox, lying still against the cavern wall flooded her mind. Thoughts of her inability to move, her magic draining her as it healed her but not him. 

She wasn't going to lose another one of her friends! Not again! Not when she had blood magic. Not when she had saved her Jane! She would do it again! Who cared about the Blood Bind? If it saved their lives it couldn't be bad, could it?"

Sunset dashed past Annette and Fridge, who called for her. She ignored them, knowing that they'd follow after her. She didn't have time to waste on explanations. Her Angel was in danger, and she'd be damned if she let death take her.

Just as she reached the last few feet to the building, she shot her grappling hook, and was pulled off the floor, flying over the edge of the roof and landing into a roll. 

In a second she was up and hurried over to where she could see Jane leaning over two bodies, one of them with a long, copper-colored tail.

Jane's unnamed GREMLIN hovered over them, applying spray and injecting them.

"Angel!"

Jane held her back. "Sunset! Sunset, look at me."

Sunset gulped, then turned to face her Jane. She shook her head. No… not her Jane. Jane. Jane the specialist, who looked at her all seriousness before she slowly smiled. "She'll make it."

Sunset staggered, dropping to her knees, completely exhausted. Her senses slowly told her that it was true. Angel was breathing, her heartbeat erratic, but slowly calming down. "I was so sure…"

"It's okay," Jane said as they approached. "They're both going to make it. Trojan got real lucky… the wall he was behind took the brunt of the attack, Angel saved his ass from being double-tapped and I managed to get to him and stabilize him."

Sunset nodded as Jane went to check on the downed Dragon member. She kneeled next to the viper, biting her lip. "Oh Angel…"

"She managed to dodge the direct hit," Jane explained, looking over her shoulder. "Something got in the way of the shot too, and it was all the warning she needed to react." She sighed. "A human would have never been so fast."

"What did the Hunter shoot then?"

"It was one of our seekers," Sashssa said into the comms. "We saw where the Hunter was aiming and moved one of the cloaked units to block the shot… we didn't expect it to go through."

"It might be a blessing still," Vikass' voice added. "The Hunter probably never saw what she hit, as you killed her just as she was taking her shot."

"We need to make sure to recover the pieces of the Seeker. We don't want ADVENT to know what's going on."

"Yeah," Sunset said, rubbing her nose. "Yeah. We'll get on it. Our part of the mission is done."

"Noted. I'm glad you were able to kill that bitch before more damage was done… we're all alive, unlike Eagle." Jane nodded. She then looked from the building where the Hunter had died to Sunset, and back. "How the hell did you get here so quickly?"

Sunset blinked. "I… I don't know."

"You flew," Elena said as she pulled herself over the edge of the building, followed shortly after by Fridge and Annette.

"I don't have wings."

Elena rolled her eyes. "You did after you killed the Hunter. Bat-like."

"Or demon-like?" Annette asked, looking at Sunset straight in the eye.

"I didn't transform!" Sunset snapped. "I felt a tug but… if I had grown wings," she argued turning around and pointing at her back with her thumb, "I'd have ripped my armor off!"

"She has a point," Fridge said, earning looks from the others.

"Look, I don't know what happened, alright?" Sunset said, "I just knew Angel was down and I needed to get here fast. Sonata said something about giving me a gift. Maybe that was it."

There was silence from the others.

"Who's Sonata?" Fridge asked. 

"The Hunter," Annette replied, "before she was converted into that thing, her name was Sonata Dusk."

"I see."

"Anyway," Sunset said, pulling up her comm. "Skyranger, this is Menace. We have two injured, but our mission was a success. We have taken down the Hunter."

"Roger that, Blood Witch," Rainbow Dash's voice reached them all. "Heading over to pick you up."

"What's the plan now?" Annette asked, leaning her gun on her shoulder.

"We get the Seeker pieces, and take them, Angel and Trojan to the old XCOM base. Then the rest of us will be on standby in case Dragon needs help."

Sunset clapped her hands. "Alright people, only Jane needs to be up here right now. Let's clean up and get the fuck out of Dodge."


o.0.o End Chapter 157 o.0.o