“Okay.”
“Tell Mason to cut the engine.”
“Cut the engine.”
The van shudders off.
“Nobody moves. Radio silence.”
“Nobody moves. Radio silence.” The soldiers nod at my words. “Good. No matter what happens, nobody engages the Lightbringer. If I am unable to subdue it, you are to abandon mission and return to the pickup point, no questions asked. Am I understood?”
“Y—yeah.”
“Good. Repeat that.”
“She says if she’s unable to subdue the Lightbringer, we’re to abandon the mission and return to the pickup point.”
Javier clearly wants to object, but Alisa places a hand on his thigh and nods to me. “Tell her we copy.”
“They copy.”
Taylor sighs. “Okay. Going dark.”
The Lightbringer approaches with heavy steps; spindly, skeletal titanium legs stretch up almost a full story. Much larger than I was told. Its sleek, steel-blue metal body catches the lights of the streetlamps. Two burning eyes like panic buttons scan the mostly abandoned street. It can’t quite see the tops of the roofs, but Taylor is in imminent danger. So are we, out in the open like decoy ducks on a pond.
“Holy shit,” Javier hisses. “That Bringer is huge.”
The hummingbird camera feeds us the video of Taylor crawling across the roof of the building, out of sight. She snatches the camera and flicks it off, and the van goes as quiet as a tomb. Our only indication she is alive is the fact that the Lightbringer hasn’t seen her. Streetlights flicker and tremble with each step, quaking the streets, forcing rats into the sewers.
“We have to get out there,” I whisper to them. “Provide distraction.”
Javier gives me a stern look. “It will take us out in seconds if it thinks we pose a threat.”
“So, we wait here and hope it doesn’t kill her?”
“Nobody is going to die,” Alisa says, trying to will her words true.
Together we watch the monstrous robot skeleton scour the street. On its right, Taylor bounds across another roof. She’s going behind it, I think. That would be the only option. Coming at one straight on is suicide. I don’t know if it has any weaknesses, my father never told me. It must, though. There is a weakness to all things.
“We can’t sit here.” My anxiety grows with every shake of the van, and I shimmy toward the exit.
Alisa grabs my arm. Her eyes are sympathetic, but firm. “We must. That is our order. She’ll be irritated if we disobey her orders.”
I shake her off. “Well, her orders are stupid. Rather her be mad than dead, right?”
As nimbly as I can, I snag one of their rifles and climb out, using the back door as cover. I keep my eyes on Taylor, who emerges at the top of a building behind the Lightbringer. She’s barely visible against the sky, but her figure blots out a star or two. Her gun is gone, and in its place, a bow.
Swiveling slowly, its head creaks as blood-red eyes move in the direction of Taylor. A low, metallic crackling sounds down the street. It raises its rifle at the ready, eerily human as it scans the roofs for an enemy. It’s going to see her. It’s going to kill her. There’s nowhere to hide.
A horrific noise emits from the rifles as it blindly sprays laser fire across the rooftops, pinging old satellite dishes, which quickly erupt into flames. It shoots directly over Taylor’s head, only barely missing her. I wouldn’t be surprised if it singed off her hood.
Steeling myself with three quick breaths, I sprint down the road and crouch against the backside of a sedan. The Lightbringer snaps its head in my direction; a loud whir fills the streets when it lifts the rifle toward me. An arrow whistles across the road and nicks a rusty metal pole. The Lightbringer whips to its left and fires into the sky. Taylor leaps off the roof from the right, bow and duffel bag around her back, arms and legs flailing. She lands on its shoulders, dwarfed by its incredible size.
Awareness, agility, accuracy, and…whatever the other one is.Take down any foe, no matter their size.She’s exploiting a weakness I hadn’t considered: it isn’t sentient. A Force member in a control room pilots the robot, confined to the scope of the eye lenses. The Lightbringer stumbles back and forth, crashing into a lamppost and showering metal and live electricity to the street below. Taylor is flung out in front of it, and her body skidsacross several feet of asphalt. Injured but clearly determined, Taylor gets to her feet as the robot tries to recover. She tears off her bandana, shrugs the duffel bag onto the ground, and cocks a pistol.
Finally, she sees me in her peripheral vision. I wave. “Hey.”
Taylor pushes me backward and takes cover with me behind the car. She doesn’t seem angry. Mostly exasperated, and, perhaps, worried. “What are you doing out here? Why do you have a gun?”
