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Maia woke to the blaring klaxons and, without wasting so much as a second, made her way up the stairs to Royal Deadfire Command.
“Atsura,” she saluted. “What’s the crisis?”
Her commander shook his head as he studied the wall of screens in front of him. Each monitor was a visual into the city of Neketaka. “I had heard reports, but I didn’t believe it could be true. We’ve got zombies. This is a job for The Royal.”
Maia nodded, quenching the fear inside, “On it, commander.”
Her routine for suiting up was efficient. Bodysuit. Boots. Visor. Cape. Check. She examined the wall of weapons available to her and carefully grabbed her favorite gun, then gestured to the nearest officer to open the hangar door. “It’s showtime.”
With the hovership at full throttle it only took a few minutes to arrive at the scene. Zombies swarmed the docks, but were currently preoccupied with an assault by the ocean waves - and not a natural one by the looks of it. Curses. Maia radioed in before hopping out of her vehicle, “Atsura, The Omen is here.”
That cheesy Huana hero was smiling - smiling in the middle of an undead invasion of his city. Sure, he could probably wipe them out with a few casual dance moves or whatever it was that helped him control water, but no, he’d rather show off - make some waves for dramatic effect, knock a few heads together, and smile for the camera. What an idiot.
Maia found a secure spot behind a boulder, took careful aim, and sniped a few zombies. There were too many and she couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Time to clear the immediate vicinity and fast. She pulled down her focusing visor and activated her laser vision, carefully burning through the shambling corpses until she had a clear view of the cave under the city from which they were pouring out. Of course they were spilling out from the Old City. As much as she hated to admit it, she’d need help with this one.
Jumping into the hovership and aiming its guns towards any enemies in her way, she pulled up next to The Omen who was levitating about twenty feet off the ground. Her superior was yelling through the radio, but she didn’t have time to explain herself.
“Omen!” She yelled.
“Why, hello, Royal,” he greeted her with a languid smile.
She rolled her eyes and pointed towards the cave, “They’re coming from the Old City! Recent storms must have changed the water level. I’ve got enough fire power to push them back, but I need you to flood the entrance over again.”
The Omen’s brow crinkled as if trying to determine what scheme the Royal Deadfire Company was playing at this time, but eventually he shrugged. “I suppose I could help you out of this one, Royal.”
“Help us out?” she sputtered. “Your own government is to blame for this mess!” But he had already flown off to punch more zombies.
It was slow work, but the two of them managed to push into the mouth of the cave. Maia readied a grenade. “Three!” she looked at The Omen. “Two!” he nodded back, “One!” She threw it far and throttled her hovership out of the way. The Omen followed her out, shaping the ocean so that it once again filled the entrance to the underground ruins. All was silent.
Atsura’s voice broke through, “Royal! Report. Were you able to push them back? And is that oaf still at the scene?”
“Yes, commander. City’s safe. And the oaf helped.” She smiled at the Huana. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
Scowling, the flying hero splashed a length of water into her open ship and zoomed away. A soaking Maia blinked in annoyance. Then again, maybe he was.