first sortie.

[unbr8kable]

[Six hours previous, everything had been so much simpler. The Eta cohort had made it to live combat training, out in one of the few areas the Tenno had claimed back from the invaders. Xia had been vibrating the whole day, grinning wide as she suited up in the boring steel training mech (hers would be blue, she decided, or maybe black, with bold red stripes on the limbs) and deployed to the field, not even cracking on Wimperson, the Support (not his real name, but it may as well have been).

The Heralds didn't come up on radar until they were practically on top of the trainees. Maybe if there'd been more lead time, it would've been less of a shitshow, but who the hell knows.

The grimy details aren't important, but they aren't great. Damage to all suits, with two damaged beyond repair; the Leader froze under pressure, the Shadow couldn't keep up with the speedy Heralds. Wimperson actually came through. Johnson the Medic went down right there, in front of them.

Xia and Jacob have only just gotten out of their debriefing, another unexpected first for the day.

She and Jacob did good, Xia knows. They kept their heads, were barely hurt, they moved together well. "You'll make a good team," Corporal Kuwahara tells them before turning towards the medical ward to check on Johnson's surgery. "Go get some rest."

But no, rest is pretty much the opposite of what they need right now, Xia thinks. She turns to Jacob, giving her best attempt at a normal expression.]

Wanna get out of here?

Comments

[unbr8kable]

[good thinking, she does the same with her leftovers and flips the bag up against her back, zipping closed her jacket to hold it in place. Then she stands and stretches, limbering up as best she can in the cramped space]

Bet I can make it to the platform faster than you can!

[crossmyheartandhope]

You got a bet.

[And he grins, and ducks his head, and steps right off the ledge.]

[unbr8kable]

[watching, and counting off since if someone was supposed to have brought a stopwatch it isn't her]

One...two...three...

[crossmyheartandhope]

[He comes down in a crouch, right leg first, and the impact when he hits sounds like someone dropped a kitchen sink onto a bed of concrete. He's not quite as on center as he was planning on being - gin'll do that - and he tips, curses, puts his left leg back for balance and finds open air.]

[He lunges forward, grabs the edge of the track with his hand before he can slip off, and yanks himself to his feet. Then he's beelining for the station, off-balance due to the weight of his leg and the free-hanging bag at his waist, beating an ungainly rhythm at his thigh with every step.]

[He doesn't slow as he comes up on the station - just tucks his head and puts on more speed, so he's got the momentum for a running jump. He hits the platform at a full-on dash, staggers, and turns around to face her, waving his arms.]

[Even at this distance, it's plain he's grinning.]

[unbr8kable]

[The whole point of competition is to beat the other guy into submission, but she can't help but give a whoop when Jacob hits the platform, because that run was pretty sweet.]

Thirty-five! Nice work, Blondie!

[She bends down to stretch again, and--woo, that's pulling some g's, but just a couple--backs up before going for as close as she can get to a running leap. All four limbs pinwheel before one of her sneakers finally finds purchase on the rail long enough to lurch her forward before skidding off the edge, just as her other foot meets the beam and she leans hard to keep from going off the side.

Too hard, in fact; she knows she's overbalanced, but with slowing or stopping not an option, she can really only throw her arm out wide and keep running in the hopes that the weight of the metal limb will help even her out. But the forward momentum isn't quite enough to undo the pull to the side, and even as she tightropes the last few meters before the platform, suddenly there's nothing underfoot. With an abbreviated yelp, she goes down, over the edge.]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[There's a certain feeling, when a day goes from normal to horror-inducing, an icy sort of sick in your stomach. Jacob knows that feeling, and for just a beat he stands there, frozen to the spot, flattened by it.]

[Then he moves, not stopping to think, not wondering what the hell he's going to do if she's eighty feet below on the ground, smashed open like a watermelon. He just moves, catapulting back onto the rail, damn near overbalancing but not bothering to slow down.]

[He skids to a stop where she went down, searching for - what? Some sign of her. Something.]

Xia?

[unbr8kable]

[Luckily, he doesn't have to go too far--the place she dropped was just close enough to the platform to be considered part of the station. She's only ten feet down, flat on her back on metal grating that apparently spans the width of the station, probably to prevent incidents like this. Still panting from all of the--everything, she blinks wide-eyed up at him as her name is called, gives him a crooked smile.]

Guess I gotta concede, this time.

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Just stands there for a beat, poleaxed, looking down at her while his face tries to decide exactly what expression it wants to make. He manages quite a few, all in a row, before settling on a shaky smile.]

Let's just... let's just get you out of there.

[todorable]

[She has to look away, and hey!]

...There's a ladder, hold on.

[she gets to her feet, shaky with adrenaline, and makes her way back up]

Next time, I've got it, though?

[shes not sure why that ended up as a question, it was meant to be a definitve statement, but?]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Guess it would be a good idea to get off the rail before the monorail comes back. Going to retrace his steps back toward the platform, then make the jump and circle around to where the ladder comes up.]

Yeah, sure. But, uh... Let's wait awhile till then.

[todorable]

...It was pretty awesome, though.

[because what else would a heart-pumping thrill like that be? once they're both on the platform, she shifts her feet before abruptly grabbing his hand. her grip is a little clammy, but she squeezes tight.]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[I'm sorry, were you trying to be cool about this? Not in the cards. Just going to. Pull you into a hug.]

[He may still be shaking a little.]

[unbr8kable]

[But-- Well. She sags into the hug, burying her face in his shoulder and squeezing him tight, tighter]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[That sounds like a pretty good plan, tbh. Holding on right back.]

[unbr8kable]

Okay. It's okay.

[Whichever of them she's trying to convince it doesn't matter. After another two breaths, she loosens her death grip, then attempts to pull away, though not very hard.]

...How do we get out of here without tickets?

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Lets her go when she makes to pull away, even if it is a bit reluctant.]

...uh. Say we lost them?

[unbr8kable]

[she doesn't go very far, keeping a much smaller personal bubble than usual, but the rest of her demeanor seems more-or-less back to normal]

That should work, you're foreign enough. Or we could just bust through the gates and hope no one notices.

[crossmyheartandhope]

I stuck em in my pocket. Not sure where they could have gone.

[Body language going back to normalish here, too. Not quite casual, yet, but not anywhere near so tense.]

[unbr8kable]

C'mon, maybe we'll get lucky.

[she starts towards the gates, casual. Maybe no one will even be there! Either way, it will be good to not be here anymore.]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Not being here anymore sounds like a great plan.]

[But sure enough, there's a dude in the ticket window. Jacob makes a face, but:]

I got this, gimme a sec.

[And he's going to head on over. There are a lot of apologies, in Japanese worse than his Japanese actually is, and a stilted explanation that they got on two stops ago but he can't find the tickets.]

[unbr8kable]

[leaving this to the pros--he is the only one who looks foreigner/charming enough to pull it off, it is a skill she respects--though she does her best to look like a confused nisei and back him up]

[crossmyheartandhope]

[The ticket window guy tells them they need to be more careful next time, and Jacob looks appropriately contrite and says he's sorry. And then - victory! - the guy waves them through the ticket aisle and they're free and clear.]

[unbr8kable]

[she gives the ticket guy a butchered "arigato" before tripping through, patting Jacob on the back.]

Easy peasy! You're a real grifting pro!

[crossmyheartandhope]

[Making sure they're out of range. Then:]

What were we gonna say?

Hey, we came in on the track without the train? [Handwaves.] We just made that guy's night way easier, that's all.

[unbr8kable]

Ours, too. They'd probably call the cops and the immigration guys AND HQ, what a drag.