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For all intents and purposes, it was a normal day in Lungmen. Texas and Exusiai were out performing some fairly routine work; there was a shipment of Originium that needed to be transported from a warehouse, and of course, given the volatile nature of the materials, the handling of the cargo had been entrusted to Penguin Logistics.
“Texas, you totally should’ve joined us for movie night last night!” Exusiai was babbling away as she bent over to pick up another crate, halo glimmering brightly as always and wings aflutter. The fact that she was holding a substance that was known for ruining lives in her hands, even with packaging barriers, didn’t seem to bother her at all. “It was Sora’s pick this time, and even Mostima was there!” She giggled breathlessly, and Texas would have to be blind not to notice how the light of her halo glowed an intense pink, just for a moment. The angel was not good at hiding her crush at all. “You were the only one absent… C’mon, what could be more important than your buddies?!”
Texas only shrugged, carefully shifting a box of her own into her arms. “Avoiding Lappland,” was the only explanation she gave.
This, in turn, caused Exusiai to pout – the only thing that probably kept her from bounding to the Lupo’s side like an overexcited Perro pup was the fact that doing so would risk the delicate materials she was carrying exploding. That would certainly cost them a paycheck – if not their lives. Even cheerful, carefree Exusiai knew to be delicate when Originium was involved in the job.
As it were, the angel was left to trail behind Texas as they headed out to their vehicle, whining pitifully all the while. “She could have joined us! Come onnn, Texas, she can’t be that bad, can she?”
Hearing those words, even the normally stoic Lupo couldn’t help but snort a bit, ears twitching in amusement. No, Lappland wasn’t that bad, if Texas allowed herself to be completely honest – and that was exactly the problem. The broken bridges with her ex-partner weren’t something she was ready to begin repairing just yet – perhaps someday, but certainly not now. She wasn’t interested in a night of having to fend off Lappland’s advances in front of her colleagues, inevitably getting distracted from the film, if not having to excuse herself entirely as the white-haired Lupo got under her skin in the most devastatingly attractive way possible. “You don’t know her like I do,” she answered simply, which was the truth.
She could feel Exusiai’s pout rather than see it as she deposited her cargo within the van. Turning around only proved it – the angel’s mouth was slightly downturned, lower lip jutted out ever so slightly, caught between her teeth, and her eyes were wide and wobbly. It was the perfect picture of puppy dog eyes, accentuated by the soft flickering of Exusiai’s dimmed halo. “Then tell me why she’s so bad!”
Luckily for Texas, she had more than enough experience resisting such heart-melting expressions, and she brushed past the other without a single second of hesitation, heading back inside the warehouse. “Sorry, Exusiai. Maybe another day, when we’re not on the clock.” She had no intention of following through, but getting distracted by thoughts of Lappland had never boded well for her. She certainly wasn’t going to let it happen while she was handling Originium.
“Texas-!”
Exusiai didn’t get a chance to finish her plea. A shrill alarm suddenly began blaring throughout the warehouse’s perimeter, the speakers crackling to life with a droning emergency announcement. “Attention, all personnel. We are currently under attack by Reunion forces. Please do not panic. Workers, remain calm and make your way to the nearest emergency exit. Guards, please be mindful of Originium–”
“Exusiai, cover me!” Familiar words fell from Texas’s lips as second nature, her swords already in hand as she clicked the activation stud on their hilts. Her thermite blades blazed into life as she settled into a combat stance, ears alert.
The angel was already scrambling to find a good vantage point for sniping, gun in hand. “I always do! Just leave it to me, Texas – I’ve got your back!”
Texas had no cause to doubt Exusiai’s statement – nor did she have the time. No sooner than the words had left the Sankta’s lips did the forces of Reunion begin spilling into view; at a glance, they appeared to be nothing more than the common grunts and foot soldiers, unruly thugs without a commander to guide them.
“Secure those crates! And don’t leave a single one of these Lungmen filth alive!” a voice yelled from the backlines, forcing the Lupo to quickly redo her assessment. Sharp eyes scanned the crowd of Reunion thugs, searching – there. A thug clad in the robes of one of Reunion’s elite casters, barking orders. More dangerous than she’d anticipated, then, but still not very much of a threat. Particularly not if…
“Exusiai,” Texas began, bringing her blades together for a moment to quickly trace a sign with her fingers. Originium Arts answered her call, power burning through her body and flaring through her veins; she quickly let it burst out before it could become overwhelming. The act of casting alone couldn’t cause an individual to become Infected, but there was no denying the non–Infected were not natural conduits. Overhead, swords of glowing golden light, blazing with heat, materialized, raining down on Reunion’s frontlines. The attack easily wiped out a significant portion of insignificant goons, leaving them collapsed on the warehouse floor, the unlucky ones gasping for air as they choked on their own blood. Texas paid it no mind; this was a sight she had seen before many times, and would certainly see again. “That caster in the back. Can you snipe him?”
There was a short pause before she got an answer, the telltale sound of gunfire ringing in her ears. A moment later, Exusiai sighed, huffing. “No dice! The coward’s hiding behind some Originium crates. I can’t take a clear shot at him without blowing this place sky-high!”
“Right.” Of course, Reunion wouldn’t make this a quick and easy job for them. Texas shifted her stance once more as the remnants of the angry mob – still sizable, even after her opening attack – drew closer, shouting and banging their weapons, hungry for blood and vengeance. “That’s fine. Just cover me. I’ll handle this.”
Combat, to some, was a dance. The ex-mafioso wouldn’t dare to begin to describe it in such poetic terms, but the fluid, practiced movements she used as she began to cut a path certainly resembled a ballerina twirling across the stage. A flash of her blades, a scream, a spray of blood as she drew the weapon out of flesh with a sickening squelch; these moves came to Texas with clockwork ease, darting amongst their foes like a fleet-footed Liberi, never staying still for long. Even outnumbered ten to one, she left devastation in her wake; lacking a commander with any strong presence, many of the Reunion troops began to panic, pushing and shoving one another in their urgency to flee. Anything to get away from the terrifying Lupo; if their hasty retreat left their comrades to become more fodder for Texas’s blades, they didn’t show any signs of caring.
Exusiai, too, was doing her best to thin Reunion’s ranks. She’d found a precarious but nevertheless effective perch atop a stack of crates, and the hail of bullets she fired down into the crowd was nothing short of death from above. Every single shot pierced the target’s heart, and within a matter of minutes, Reunion’s numbers were only a third of what they’d initially been.
“Sir!” A panicked cry suddenly rose up from one of their foes. “T-The Lupo and Sankta! They’re Penguin Logistics! They–” The rest of his sentence was cut short as he, too, fell prey to the sniper’s deadeye aim.
“Damn it!” The Reunion commander was still in hiding. Texas swiveled her ears towards the sound of his voice as her blades sheared through the meager armor of yet another foot soldier, deaf to their dying screams. He was close by… “W didn’t say a damn thing about Penguin Logistics being here! Fall back! Retreat and regroup! The damned cargo isn’t worth dying for!”
Texas growled low in her throat. She had no intention of letting Reunion escape – and that meant finishing this now. The instincts of a hunter guided her steps, the metallic tang of spilled blood filling her nostrils as she almost sprang towards the sound of the caster’s voice, seeking her quarry.
Sure enough, the caster was in the exact position she’d predicted, alone and isolated – ripe for the kill. Swords in hand, Texas pounced, deadly thermite blades flashing, thirsting to steal away just one more life.
The caster was already choking on his own blood, convulsing, eyes wide as he processed what happened. “You–” He coughed once more, red dribbling from the corners of his lips, as he raised a shaky hand. A wordless incantation formed on his tongue, purple-black energy pooling at his fingertips – and with a final breath, he released that building power.
By all rights, the attack should have been devastating, and instantly lethal – but Texas had seen it coming with ease. The Lupo sprung back from her fallen foe, neatly dodging out of the blast radius as she clicked her thermite blades off. With their commander dead, it would be quite some time before Reunion regrouped, and by then, the Originium in the warehouse would be long gone–
BANG!
The sudden explosion sent shocks running down Texas’s spine, her sensitive ears completely unprepared for the loud noise. She came to her senses again in time to abruptly twist her body around, eyes widening at the sight before her – the caster’s dying attack had collided with the crates of volatile material behind where she’d been standing, triggering a reaction and sending shards of Originium flying through the warehouse. Texas immediately dropped to the floor, knowing there was no way she could get clear in time, covering her head with her arms, closing her eyes, and bracing for the inevitable.
A scream.
“TEXAS!”
…
The dust settled without pain, only a sudden weight on her back. Slowly, as she realized that there was no burning agony of being impaled by Originium shards, Texas dared to open her eyes and process her situation.
…Exusiai was draped over her back, arms curled around her as she shielded Texas from the blast. Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, face twisted into an uncharacteristic grimace, her whole body shuddering with agony.
The source of the pain was quickly obvious; three large shards of Originium lodged into her back and weeping blood.
"Exusiai!" For the first time in years, Texas's voice cracked with panic and desperation. No, no, this couldn't be happening – memories of a day long ago bubbled to the surface of her mind, of a panting and injured Lupo smiling through the pain to deliver the news that she was Infected. Back then, Texas had been so afraid of seeing her most beloved one expire that she'd ran away – and the paranoia of it had never left her. It couldn't be happening again. It couldn't.
"Texas…" Just like the white wolf haunting her past, Exusiai was smiling, even as her breath shuddered and the light of her halo flickered. She was clearly in immense pain, no matter how much she tried to hide it, her skin already growing flushed. No – no. An acute infection? "You don't… ha… need to worry about me. I'm j-just glad, glad you're safe." Her sentence ended with a cough which sent blood splattering on the floor and Texas's heart rate spiking higher.
“Exusiai, don’t…” Texas took great pride in the fact that she never lost her cool, always staying calm in the most stressful of situations. All of that was shattering into dust with every passing second. How could she remain stoic right now? Worst case scenario, her best friend was going to die right here in her arms, all because she protected the black-haired Lupo. The best case scenario was hardly better – she’d live the rest of her life as an Infected. To some, Texas knew, that was a fate worse than death. Damn it all, why did she keep losing the people she loved to Oripathy?! When the infection reached Exusiai’s brain, would she lapse into insanity, just as Lappland had? “Don’t say that. I’m going to call for help.”
“O… Okay.” Unlike that frustratingly beautiful white wolf, Exusiai didn’t try to fight Texas’s attempts to help. But… that smile. That damned smile. Even though she must have been in unimaginable pain right now, the Sankta didn’t stop smiling even for a moment. “I’ll trust you, Texas. I’ll…” Her sentence was broken up by another series of coughs, splattering her clothes with yet more blood. The Lupo’s heart squeezed tight. “I’ll always trust you.”
Texas tried her best to ignore how those words made her heart skip several beats. She needed to stop letting herself get attached; it only ever ended up with her getting hurt. Hands shaking, she reached for her transceiver, sending an emergency message to Rhodes Island. “Hello? This is Operator Texas. Operator Exusiai and I were caught in a Reunion raid on an Originium warehouse in Lungmen, and Operator Exusiai is in need of emergency medical care.” She took a deep breath, forcing her voice not to tremble as she added, “Operator Exusiai also displays signs of an acute Oripathy infection. Over.”
“Copy.” The affirmative response from the Operator on duty didn’t make her feel any better. “Tracing your coordinates now, and an emergency dispatch team is being sent to your location. Stay on the line and notify us of any changes in Operator Exusiai’s immediate condition. Over.”
Texas had never been a religious person. Still, Exusiai must have rubbed off on her, because as she gathered the injured and Infected Sankta into her arms, she found herself praying to God that her partner would survive this tragedy.