Chapter Text
You know, as much as she complained about the claustrophobic atmosphere of the place, Laura could get used to the feeling of the hot, smoky air of the Industrial District brushing against her face on the back of Akira’s bike; the dimly luminescent pink and red hues of the Hub and factory sites weren’t as big of an eyesore when she simply closed her eyes and immersed herself into the ongoing hum of the finely-tuned engine rumbling beneath them. The still, humid, cloying air felt more tolerable when it was whipping her hair behind her and whistling against her ears, almost drowning out the sound of the various metallic clanks and bangs synonymous with the place, along with the usual sounds of roaring engines, hustling workers and pedestrians, and the ever-increasing volume of drone sirens that, now that she thinks about it, aren't as common as-
“Atlus to ‘Space Cadet’, in case you’ve somehow forgotten, we still have drones on our back - mind taking care of those?” The request sounded more like a command coming from the feisty, violet-eyed girl in front of her, but Laura supposed she was the one to blame for getting lost in her thoughts mid-getaway.
“Ah, you have a point- I’m all over it, Hotshot!”
The gunslinger says this with a stylish flourish of her dual pistols. They were bound to be low on energy by now, considering the brunette was struggling to recall the last time she charged them, but whatever, she’ll just make every shot count. Twisting her body to get a better shot of the pursuing drones fixating their obnoxious red light on them, Laura took a couple shots at the one seemingly charging up to fire on them. Two neon blue shots whizzed past the intended target, one of them striking an unsuspecting light-pole in the process, but a third shot managed to strike it right in the middle of its stupid metallic dome.
Nice. First try.
“Hey, can this thing go any faster?” Laura called out, momentarily glancing over at her partner who was evidently fuming behind the wheel- obviously a very reassuring sight for someone who is prone to making very risky, if not stupid, mistakes when under pressure.
“Oh, i don't know, can you shoot better? I’m trying my best!”
Akira says this as she just barely manages to navigate the cycle around a very sharp turn into a narrow alleyway, the screeching skid of the cycle’s tires against the uneven concrete below instinctively causing Laura to grab onto her for support. The drones were caught off guard by the sudden change in direction, and lost time as they were forced to backpedal and follow the duo through their unexpected detour; as annoying and ineffective as they were, one couldn’t deny their persistence when in pursuit. Their stubborn nature instinctively reminded Laura of a certain swordswoman she knew, one that was currently giving her a heart attack with all the jittery motions she made to navigate the motorcycle through the trash-lidden alleyway they were trying to escape through. Although, despite all the reckless maneuvering, Red’s revving hardly seemed to strain under the rider’s rough handling. Laura supposes all those hours Akira spends mindlessly tinkering away at the thing had to count for something in times like these.
“Okay, I’m just going to give you fair warning here, don't scream.”
Well, that couldn’t be good.
“Scream? Why would I scream!?” Laura retaliates. The unease was causing her voice to waver and pitch to rise, but Akira paid the girl little heed as she revved Red up once before no-doubt pushing the cycle to its absolute limit and ramping through a gap in the Industrial District’s guardrail, sending them momentarily free-falling off of the platform. The bottomless abyss beneath Atlus’ gravity-defying city platforms and highways sprawled out beneath them for what felt like an eternity, causing Laura’s stomach to drop as she forced her eyes shut and buried her face into Akira’s red leather-clad back even more as she internally cursed the half-Galra in front of her for making her endure this stunt. With her eyes closed, the only indication that she received that they had not in-fact wound up dropping into the endless pit below was the cushioned jolt of the motorcycle meeting the highway that had to be 40 feet below and 80 feet across from the platform they had launched from.
Whether or not Laura screamed throughout any of that is still up for debate.
“I tell you not to scream and you go and nearly shatter my eardrums; you know how hard it is to drown out the noise of a motorcycle revving at top speed? Pretty fucking hard.”
Akira’s bitterness was no-doubt laced with an exhilarated awe that was so misplaced that Laura could swear to the moon and back that the girl probably had the stupidest smile on her face as she raced past the traffic, no doubt breaking records for how far over the speed limit she was. Laura instinctively went to look behind them, checking if there were any Highway Patrol drones they had alerted with their presence (considering there was no way the previous drones could have followed them over the gap) and was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no more flashing sirens or obnoxious red spotlights tailing them as they continued racing through the array of vehicles, until they eventually took the exit corresponding to the Slums. The sign that indicated it was horribly defaced with all sorts of vivid neon imagery and graffiti, so there was no doubt where they were headed, even despite the speed with which they past it making it impossible to read.
Also, speaking of their breakneck speed...
“You wanna try slowing down before we dive headfirst into a dumpster or something?” Even despite her lighthearted words, the urgency with which she spoke them made Laura’s anxiety very clear in Akira’s ears; or at least enough so that the girl’s shoulders visibly drooped as she slowed down for the remainder of the ride through Atlus’ slums, eventually coming to a complete halt at the entrance to Kerboros Junction. Laura looked up at the disheveled, neon sign hanging above the entrance with a few of its letters still persistently flickering- better than other letters, which had long since lost their color and blending in with the drab, dirty and desaturated building they were attached to. Still, despite this, the brunette couldn’t help the nostalgic smile that spread across her face while Akira raised her goggles back on top of her head and whipped her unruly, dark locks out of her face.
“Hey, dopey, get off before I push you off.” She says suddenly, not waiting for a reaction before she takes out her keys and presses a button.
Although, having become increasingly adapted to Akira’s habits, Laura had barely managed to fling herself off the bike before it could rev up once more and drive itself off towards the garage, leaving behind more skid marks in its wake. While Laura found it in herself to breathe a sigh of relief of sparing herself another minute on that daredevil bike, Akira seemed more so disappointed that she wasn’t able to scare the living daylights out of her just one more time before sending it off.
“One of these days, that thing is gonna get us killed.”
“That’s a possibility, but it’s an absolute certainty that Red has saved our lives a couple times by now.”
“Hauling us over the abyss of Atlus sure doesn’t count as saving our lives.”
“Oh please, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t nail that jump everytime I’ve done it.” Akira had this sort of lazy, nonchalant confidence that totally didn’t do anything to quell her partner’s frazzled nerves; it was to be expected- even though the latter was pretty laid-back, and occasionally spitballed a couple harebrained schemes of her own, she didn’t get the same sort of ‘Daredevil’s High’ that Akira got from all manners involving risk and danger. Hell, the girl probably gets antsy if she hasn’t had a near-death experience at least once a week.
“You know what? Whatever, we’re not having this argument, let’s just get these parts to Pidge and before I get gray hairs because of you.”
The shorter girl had seemingly no problem with this suggestion as she wordlessly crossed her arms and followed in after the talkative gunslinger. Although, just prior to entering, Akira gave the alley a sideways glance and flipped the shop’s sign from “Open” to “Closed”, not wanting potential to interrupt them passing along recently stolen robot parts to their friend gambling in an illegal, underground, robot-fighting arena:
You know, wholesome totally-legit stuff.