Ultima Ratio

Chapter 34: Starstruck

"Aegis One, this is Aegis Two. We have eyes on one enemy device, six-zero-zero meters southwest from your location."

"Copy," Akira replied. Her eyes followed Danya as she scanned the ground for a "present" to throw at the three-meter-tall metallic cone protruding from the dirt fifty meters away from them. "Eliminate target at your discretion. And yes, that means you can blow it up. But don't get too close."

Jivan's giddy squeals were mildly unsettling, but they assured Akira they would be just as careful as they always were.

"Was that supposed to be comforting?" Quyen mumbled off-comms from next to Akira as she also watched Danya pace around in her search.

"Just be on the lookout for a distress call," Akira said, just as Danya dug out a half-meter-wide rock from the ground and raised it above her head.

"I've found it!" she exclaimed. "The perfect gift!"

"As destructive as they both are, it's a wonder that they don't get along," Quyen muttered.

Akira merely grunted in restrained agreement. While Jivan's desert confrontation against Danya a week ago had successfully forced feelings out into the open, the rift between the two had grown more hostile than before. The reaction had even strained Jivan's relationship with Navin, and Akira feared that physically splitting up the siblings would worsen the situation. As such, the Guptas and Elodie made one squad, and Quyen accompanied Akira and Danya in their search for Concordian tech.

If there was any silver lining from the attack above the Sahara, it was that everyone walked away with nothing more than minor injuries. That, and Akira found herself somewhat relieved Concordia finally showed their face again, but she kept that detail to herself.

"Has your aim improved, at least?" Akira asked Danya, deadpan.

Danya, with her face masked by her digital disguise of the day, frowned at the reminder. For the last two devices she took down, her initial rocky gifts had missed the one-meter-wide top of the conic contraption, ultimately setting off the machine's defensive lasers. Thankfully, all nearby civilians had already been evacuated, but one bicyclist was going to inevitably return home to a unicycle.

For some reason, none of the Concordian devices had hit major populations. Instead, they were focused on a small town five kilometers northwest of Istanbul, Turkey. While the settlement didn't have the luxury of the neighboring city's high tech defenses, they were relatively spared by Concordia's strange choice of attack: a heat wave. If anything, the only thing Akira and her team was breaking was a sweat, but she didn't want to get too hopeful either.

"You think you're funny, huh?" Danya grumbled, tossing the boulder between her hands like it was a toy ball. "I'd like to see you try throwing this."

"Thanks, but I'd prefer a grenade. Want me to try? Though I'd hate to steal your shot at redemption."

"You always have an answer for everything, don't you?" Danya sighed, gripping the rock firmly in her hands. "I'll do it, so get back already."

They did, taking shelter behind a brick wall nearly two hundred meters away from the inverted obelisk. Even Danya stepped back, positioning herself about a hundred meters away beside a large tree she could hide behind.

Just as she was winding up for the pitch, her game was halted by a shrill scream.

"Stop!" the voice demanded. "Don't do anything! This is the perfect shot!"

"Not again," Quyen grumbled, vocalizing Akira's thoughts perfectly.

Danya pivoted around with the rock still poised behind her head, and she closed one eye to aim at the approaching interference. "It really is the perfect shot."