Break out

By the time the cart finally came to a stop, Avea still hadn’t figured out a plan. The portal would close at the zenith tonight, and she didn't have much time left. She sat in the creaky cart as it screeched to a halt, in an dark abandoned warehouse. Where, rust had slowly crept across the metalworks, steadily eroding its once-sturdy foundation. The only sign of movement was the metal crates rumbling in on the train tracks, their screeching echo haunting like a ghost train.

She couldn't take her eyes off of the electronic wristband, she knew that it would work, the truth of the Rats word was the only thing that kept the feral snitch from being dragged out of his little hole and slaughtered by the Valent masses. However, despite this, Avea couldn’t swallow the guilt clawing its way up her throat.“What’s wrong?” Bebop asked, the bots oversized lens whirring, as they zoomed in on her grim expression."I gave up my mother's moonstone Bebop, it was the last thing I have of her, and now its in the hands of the Rat!" she spat, disgust curling in her gut, though deep down, she wasn’t sure if it was the Rat she hated, or herself. She'd made mistake after mistake, and now Cyrus Elrod might get to the portal before her. She’d traded her moonstone for an electronic key, but hadn’t anticipated how heavily guarded the border passes were. Sneaking past the guardwatch by flashing her wristband wouldn’t be enough.

"You mean this moonstone?" Bebop said, opening its hatchet and there inside was a glowing stone. Avea's eyes lit up at the sight of the stone cradled in Bebop's bodice, her chest almost cracking open with relief. "I don't understand ... how?" she asked, not believing that she was seeing the moonstone before her. "You're not the only one who picks pockets" Bebop said, letting out a chirp, which passed for smug satisfaction. She wasn’t exactly sure when the bot had lifted the stone, but she remembered catching a glimpse of Bebop hovering near the shelves, while she was deep in negotiations with the Rat. The sneaky bot must've switched the stone with one of the creepy artifacts on the shelf. Now, nestled in its hatchet, the glowing stone pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.

"Nice work, Bebop" Avea replied.

Now that she had the moonstone, she could find her mother. She just needed to come up with a plan to get the guardwatch to abandon their posts, at least for a few seconds. "Bebop, give me a push," Avea said, awkwardly draping half her body over the side of the cart. "Are you even pushing?" she said, as Bebop grunted, struggling to shove her over. "You're heavy," the bot muttered. Just as she was almost over the edge, voices echoed from below. "Pull me back in! Pull me back in!" Avea hissed, urgently. Bebop yanked her back hard, and she tumbled back into the cart, landing on top of the bot in a tangle of limbs. She froze, hearing the approaching voices.

"So what you thinks down there?"

"Boss says it’s some relic from the Genesis mission, some deepcore ops, black file stuff."

"Genesis? Thought that mission got wiped clean ages ago."

"Boss says whatever’s down there is emitting some kind of frequency, he can feel it through those steel rods. Says it’s strong, strong enough to challenge the Council."

"Sounds like his implants glitchin."

Avea held her breath, lying flat at the bottom of the rusted cart. The voices belonged to Izar and Vexor, the two numbskulls that had chased her in the tunnels. Elrod had no clue about the portal. He thought, the frequency was just echoes from some long-forgotten Genesis tech. An operation that ran before T'alli even existed, that many now believed to be a buried myth.

Avea heard rummaging through crates, the clatter of valuables being pocketed as they moved closer. Veils of glass shattered against the floor, spilling toxic liquids. "The Core Council cleared out the tunnels years ago. There’s nothing down there," Vexor said, his shadow looming across the wall, razor-edged hands magnified, casting long shadows over the crate. Avea stifled a gasp, if they turned and looked inside her crate, she’d be trapped. To her relief, they stopped at the crate in front of hers, pulling out illegal grenades, definitely outlawed by the Core Council. "What about the wristbands?" Izar’s voice crackled through the machinery clamped over his mouth. "Councils got em locked down," Vexor said, his voice cold and clipped. "So what’s plan B?" Izar replied. Vexor leaned closer, and held up a large grenade. "After the last changeover, we strike."

The Skulldagger's worked quickly, snatching their illegal gear, and sneaking out of the crumbling warehouse. Their footsteps faded, and Avea peeked out of the cart. Her heart pounding, Elrod was planning to blow up all the border security panels."V, if they blow up the security, the guardwatch will swarm. We’ll never get past the border," Bebop hissed. Bebop was right, If Elrod fried the panels before she passed the border, her electronic pass wouldn't work, and she’d never reach the portal in time. Without hesitation, Avea leapt from the crate and started raiding the nearby crates."Bebop, grab whatever you can. I have a plan." Her bot looked at her skeptically.

"Is it a good plan?"

Avea paused, considering.

"I have a plan."

......................................................................................................................

"This is your plan?!" Bebop hovered above Avea's shoulder looking down at the unremarkable pile of metal objects she'd gathered from the crates. Avea glanced at Bebop, and then back to the pile of unremarkable metals. "If Elrod is going to blast through the Border with his rods, then all we have to do is redirect the electrical current". It was a risky plan to intercept Elrod's current, before it hit the security panels. She didn't have a choice, the guardwatch were too coordinated, activating tight security measures around the border. She needed a distraction, and what could be a better distraction than setting up Cyrus Elrod? It was two birds with one stone.

Bebop didn't say anything noticing a smaller pile shoved to the side, "and what's that for?" Avea turned to Bebop, a wicked grin on her lips, "that's a surprise". The sun was beginning to set when Avea got to work on the rooftop overlooking the border, fashioning all the metal objects together with a rigorous application. Bebop was on lookout, reporting changeovers of the guardwatch patrols. The colours in the sky changed slowly, the bright colours bleeding to darker shades, until the black night had finally taken over.

"Done" Avea said, standing back to examine the four contraptions in front of her. They were small enough in stature to appear relatively inconspicuous, resembling satellite dishes with pointed antenna's in the middle hiding powerful magnets. The magnets would create a strong charge attracting Elrod's electricity away from the security panels, joining together and shooting upwards into the sky. Distracting the guard-watch long enough for her to slip past the border. "The formations are changing lets go" Bebop said, breaking the tense silence.

"Alright" Avea breathed, trying to calm her mind. She needed to focus, sliding down the side of the building, she carried the contraptions under her arm. Slinking off into the night, her sharp eyes tracked the movement of the guardwatch patrols, chest plates branded with the emblem of the Core Council. As they marched past Avea, their biometric scanners surveyed the terrain around her, the data feeding into their helmets that shifted color depending on alert status. They were no different from military drones, deployed by the Core council to keep the Valent underlings in line.

She carefully placed her magnetic contraptions near the border stations, as the clouds began to spit out droplets of water, making her vision blurry. As she tried blinking away the beads of water skittering down her face. She put her own helmet on shielding her face, and checked that the electronic wristband was fashioned securely. The gloomy drizzle of rain continued to fall, while Avea and Bebop sat perched above on a slanted rooftop to get optimal vantage point of all the guardwatch. Biding their time for the final changeover. The Guardwatch patrols stood in the rain looking stiff and uncomfortable. Their spec-op helmets concealed their faces making them all the more intimidating. Their batton weapons in their holsters ready to be dispensed upon anyone who dared approach. There was too much distance between her and the border openings. She couldn't run out onto that clearing without the guardwatch taking her down.

Avea couldn't help, but think that Elrod was right to suspect the Core Council's sudden extensive security measures. The border was swarming with guardwatch officers, and from the rooftop Avea could see they were heavily armed with Core commissioned devices. The Core had to suspect something past the border too.

All the more reason for her to get there first.

......................................................................

"It's time" Avea muttered, as the full-throated growl of engines emerged out of the dark alleyways of the streets. The sleek pointed hoverbikes, that she knew all too well moved like black shadows beneath her. The Skull-daggers riders were small in numbers, but they'd split, no doubt planning to strike from all sides at once to overwhelm the guardwatch posts. They remained out of sight from the unsuspecting officers, seemingly waiting for their Clan lord to give the command.

Puddles of rain began plinking down on the small crowd of riders, Avea shifted uncomfortably, as the wet droplets began soaking through her thick layers. The Skulldagger clan below were ragged and battle-worn. Jagged spikes jutted from patchwork armor, cybernetic limbs hissed with mechanical precision, and streaks of war paint ran like blood across their grim faces. They snarled and twitched like caged beasts, begging to break free. None of the Skull-Daggers however, seemed to notice Avea's magnet dishes that had been strategically placed out of sight.

Fear fluttered in her stomach, waiting for the Skulldagger clan lord to show himself. As though summoned by her thoughts a black hovercycle cut through the crowd like a blade through smoke. "There he is" Avea murmured, as Elrod dismounted his bike, walking out into the clearing towards the guardwatch, like a king walking through his court. In an instant, every guard watch officer drew their weapon, barrels snapping toward Elrod, as he stepped into the clearing, hands raised in mock surrender.

Avea gritted her teeth at the Clan lords arrogance, but she couldn't ignore the confusion twisting in her gut. He was just standing there, wide open, not even bothering to conceal himself. She could hear the Skulldagger clan beneath her growing more untamed, itching to break out. Avea didn't divert her eyes, crouching low on the rooftop. As Elrod approached the guardwatch officer standing in front of the security panel, his massive rifle was drawn, its barrel glowing faintly, while humming with dangerous power. Elrod simply stared down the barrel of the weapon, eyes steady, seemingly unfazed by the threat.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the senior officer snarled.

"Thought I'd drop by and see what has the council so rattled?"

"Nothing that concerns you" the officer growled, voice laced with warning.

"See that's where we have a difference in mentality" Elrod replied, his tone didn’t rise, but the threat was unmistakable. "I find that this very much concerns me" Elrod stood in the center of the clearing, while one by one, the rest of his clan emerged from the shadow-choked alleyways. The sleek black hovercycles growled low and steady, the engines humming with menace as they hovered inches above the cracked pavement. They were summoned, forming a Skull-Dagger army behind their clan lord, the entire clearing in a standoff, each side drawing their weapons.

"I suggest you move out of the way" Elrod said, cold and unfeeling. "Stand down Elrod" the senior officer barked. All of the guardwatch officers positioned on the watchtowers directed their weapons at Skull-Dagger's clan lord. Avea could feel the danger thick in the air, and yet she bided her time. Gambling on Elrod's ego, betting that he'd strike the main security panel with the highest amount of officers stationed. "Ready Bebop" she whispered to her bot who'd attached onto her back."Ready when you are" Bebop replied.

"Last chance, Valent filth," the officer spat, before launching himself at Elrod. The guardwatch officer didn't even have time to draw his weapon, before a spear of green lightning tore through the air, hitting officer who immediately went down. "I did warn you" Elrod murmured, his voice barely rose above a whisper, but it carried across the clearing. The steel rods protruding out of Elrod's skull crackled with green lightning, growing wilder and wilder until there was a hellstorm of sickly green lightning swarming between the steel rods. "I won’t say it again... OPEN THE BORDER!" he roared, and the green lightning split the air with a deafening crack. Behind him, his clan erupted in a thunderous cheer, their voices rising like war drums.

"HOLD FIRE," the next commanding officer shouted over the rising tension, his voice like a whip crack. Elrod fired another wave of lightning, hitting the next line of officers, disarming them in an instant. Sending them falling to the ground twitching uncontrollably. The shouts of commands from the guardwatch officers bellowed outwards, they'd barely jumped out of the way before the next one came hurling towards them.

Avea snuck past the Skull-daggers taking her position on the edge of the clearing. She watched her magnet dishes, as they began to twitch sensing the charge of electricity being discharged from Elrod, whose green lightning was unravelling in a violent outburst above his head. He threw a direct bolt of lightning at the main security panel to break through the border, but at the last second it deflected. Elrod face twisted in a moment of silent confusion watching the string of lightning fling out into the distance behind him. Avea smirked seeing her contraption snatch the lightning. His head snapped slightly to the side, mouth twisted in a grimace of disbelief. Elrod threw another bolt of lightning, and unleashed a savage scream of rage seeing it swerve at the last second, but out of the corner of her eye Avea saw another one of her contraptions catch it. The trap had closed in around him, and he didn't even know it. The scattered whispers of the Skulldagger's were building into a rising tide of uneasy noise. Avea's chest tightened as her heartbeat thundered against her ribs. Keeping to the shadows, she moved swiftly across the clearing, never taking her eyes off the main security panel.

She waited, breath held, for the split-second window she needed.

Elrod fired bolt after bolt of green energy at the panel, trying to land a hit, but each one veered off course at the last moment. One of the guardwatch officers had managed to crawl to the station and sound the alarm. The blaring noise echoed across the Valent, and Avea threw her palms over her ears, as did many of the Skull-dagger riders. The roar of war cries of the Skulldagger riders were unleashed, as they collided with the Guardwatch ranks. The swarms of officers poured in from every direction and in that instant, chaos erupted. Shouts cracked through the air, weapons flared to life, and the ground trembled under the thunder of boots and blasts. The Skull daggers came charging, engines shrieking as their black hovercycles tore across the ground, launching themselves straight into the line of officers.

"Now?" Bebop asked, "no not yet" Avea said. Sirens wailed, orders were drowned in noise, and the clearing dissolved into a storm of violence.Her eyes boring into Elrod's back, come on, she thought, take the bait. Elrod was unraveling, teetering on the edge of hysteria as waves of raw energy surged from him, wild, volatile, and unrestrained, hurling blast after blast at the panel with no abandon. The air was an explosion of noise and panic guardwatch officers barked frantic, overlapping commands, their voices drowned beneath the screech of engines and the roar of disruption. Skull Daggers on hover cycles tore through the ranks of officers, laughing maniacally as they weaved between bullets and bodies. Their cyborg limbs swung wildly, slicing through armor, shattering visors, leaving sparks and screams in their wake.The Guardwatch remained unable to get close to Elrod, as a violent storm of electricity crackled and spiraled from his steel rods, in all directions, lashing out with reckless fury. "LET. ME. THROUGH," Elrod's voice a wild, throat-shredding cry born of desperation.

Bolts of green lightning arced through the air, striking walls, ripping through signage, and shattering streetlamps like glass ornaments. Extracting any electrical current, as the headlights of the Skull-daggers hovercycles burst in flares of blinding light, and every device with a circuit sparked violently before shorting out. Avea inched closer and closer to the main security panel, but there were still officers surrounding it. Each heartbeat came faster, sharper, like a drumbeat of panic. Her eyes burned with focus, almost there, she thought seeing the exhaustion creeping into Elrod’s movements, as his every attempt to hit the security panels was diverted. All Avea's contraptions snatching away the bolts of green lightning and each one was getting fuller all the while Elrod was exhausting himself. He staggered, his body faltering, and for a moment his face looked hollow, drained like the energy holding him together was finally slipping away

The magnet dishes were now almost full, slowly tilting up to the sky, but then suddenly halted midair. "What no?!...wha" and then Avea spotted the furthest dish was stuck. All four needed to be tilted upwards to connect otherwise it wouldn't work. "Are you kidding me?" Avea cried, there was no choices left, she ran onto the battle ground. Her helmet her only disguise, as she ploughed through the madness towards the dish.

The tides of the battle had changed, and suddenly Avea was running through the chaos, ducking left and right as guardwatch officers surged past her tackling and dragging Skulldagger's to the ground to make their arrests. While the rest of the Skulldagger's sped off on their hoverbikes, engines screaming. Deserting their clan lord who was still left in a blaze of his own fury, while the others were left in the thick of the fight.

From the edge of her vision, she caught Vexor savagely tearing into the guardwatch officers closing in on them. His razor-sharp arms shredded through helmets, while Keres brutal metallic fists smashed into chest plates, with a devastating blow. The flashes of green lightning tore relentlessly through the writhing mass of bodies, she only needed to divert Elrod's lightning strike just long enough to give the guardwatch a chance to capture him, while she quietly slipped past without being seen.

"...Over...On your left...On your right...no the other right!"

Avea’s hands finally grasped the dish, yanking it back with a fierce tug. Instantly, the Elrod’s electricity sparked to life, arcing out and connecting to the other three dishes in a brilliant cascade. The surge blasted upward, and a glaring solar flare tearing through the dark sky. Just as she had hoped, every eye was drawn to the green sky above. The guardwatch surged toward Elrod, their movements urgent and alarmed, while the rest of the Skull-daggers took their opportunity to melt into the shadows, retreating swiftly. Without hesitation, Avea raced away from the dish, her legs pounding the ground, as she sprinted toward the border opening. "RUN V, they won't be distracted for long" Bebop cried. Elrod’s gaze snapped to the dishes, his long neck jerking from one to the next. The realisation hit him, his own lightning was being weaponized against them, crackling through the air while sweat and sleet clung to his skin. Gasping for breath, he bellowed to his crew, “THE DISHES! DESTROY THEM!” His voice was raw, desperate, carrying over the tumult. But Avea didn’t dare glance back. Her mind screamed one desperate plea, please, please work. Behind her, Elrod’s anguished cries were abruptly cut off as the guardwatch tackled him to the ground in a sudden, brutal clash. No strength left to fight back.

She'd made it to the main border, silently pleading as she closed her eyes tightly and slid her wrist into the slot. The border gate groaned as it began to open, the sound sharp and unsettling in the still air. A few scattered Guardwatch officers nearby snapped to attention, their voices rising in urgent commands to shut the border immediately. But it was too late, and too few to stop her. Without hesitation, Avea burst forward, sprinting into the desolate outlands. A quick glance over her shoulder, her heart stopped, there was Cyrus Elrod, collapsed on his knees, being handcuffed by the officers. His face was ashen, drained of all color, his body limp from sheer exhaustion. Yet his cold eyes snapped directly to Avea, locking onto hers with an piercing intensity. Hidden beneath her helmet, she met his gaze from across the rapidly closing threshold of the border.

Determined to claim victory, Avea slowly removed her helmet, revealing her face. Their eyes locked in a silent battle, and she saw the dawning realisation wash over Cyrus Elrod, Clan Lord of the Skulldagger's face. Rage exploded within him as he thrashed against the grip of the officers, his glare seething with bitter hatred."Got you," she mouthed, just as the border slammed shut, sealing their fates apart.

She could still hear Elrod's furious screams echoing faintly beyond the border, trapped and powerless on the other side. As the border wall stood before her as a solid impenetrable fortress, Avea drew a few shaky breaths, her chest rising and falling as she stood safely beyond the barrier. "We did it," she whispered, the words trembling with disbelief. Bebop’s voice broke the moment, "Yeah, now all we have to do is walk all the way to the tunnels." But Avea wasn’t about to settle for a slow, tedious journey. With swift, practiced fingers, she pulled apart hidden compartments woven into her outfit, unfolding a massive sail with a flourish. Her hands moved in a blur, assembling the pieces until a sleek sand skiff stood ready before them, its sail billowing eagerly in the wind. "Who said anything about walking?" she declared, leaping onto the board. Leaning back, she felt the exhilarating rush beneath her as the skiff caught the breeze and surged forward. They were off, gliding fast, riding the wind toward the portal.

"I'm coming for you mum," Avea whispered into the wind. The moonstone glowed, as if answering with silent approval.