I'M YOUR PUPPET; invincible

chapter 4

    She is on him, then, fist after fist. She hits him hard enough, for a moment, that the floor beneath him caves beneath the weight. His world spins, bleeding red into his vision. He sees nothing but her braced atop him. A little girl. A machine.

    She leaves him there. Turning, she stalks back to the center of the room where War Woman waits. Where she stands with wide eyes, mouth agape. Startled.

    "You fight like a soldier," she says, hefting her mallet into her hand. "Good."

    The girl shrugs a shoulder.

    War Woman pushes herself forward, then. A rapid attack. She jumps into the air, throwing her body weight forward with every ounce of energy coursing through her.

    But she watches, then, in horror as the girl jumps from the ground. She wraps her arms around the woman, turning their bodies, holding them still in the air for a moment. But with a glance towards Immortal's slowly moving figure, she drops. Drops both of them towards the ground, crashing them into the metal.

    As they land, the world folds around them, conforming to their presence. It is not a moment later that War Woman's mallet is torn from her hand, brandished in the girl's. Lifting it above her head, she swings it down, crushing it against her face again and again.

    She gasps. A hand is in her hair, tugging her back, dragging her along the floor. A path of blood follows—not her own blood, however. She is thrown, then, sliding across the floor.

    Both Guardian's attack her simultaneously. They are on top of her, punching her, pulling at her limbs as if they can restrain her wholly.

    Breaking her arms free of their hold, the girl lifts them, finding any part of the Guardian's that she can. Grasping onto them, she breathes. Feels the energy course through her body, thrumming as if it were a second heartbeat.

    It floods her. Fills her with something that only machines have been able to truly harness. But she controls it as if it had always been a part of who she is. A conductor to untouchable energy.

    She fists her hands, feeling how it crackled throughout her entire being. Threaded into the very fabric of her soul, of who she was at her core. The unknown unfurling, aching to eat the world raw.

    She presses her hands onto their faces, shoving them back. Bracing herself over top of them, she bears down, pressing her weight forward. Heat rushes to her hands, warming her body. It rushes forward, crashing atop its barrier as if it were the crashing waves of the ocean meeting the rocky shore.

    "Loren, stop!"

    She startles awake. Body jolting, she sits up, brown hair creating a curtain over her face. Chest heaving for air, begging for relent. When she lifts her gaze, then, she finds Mars just ahead of them.

    Leaning back, she pushes Mark's shoulder. "Mark."

    He draws in a breath, startled awake. Immediately following her gaze, he pushes to stand. "Whoa..."

    They part from the ship as it lands atop the dusty surface of the red planet, pushing into the air. Landing far enough to remain unknown, yet close enough to maintain their presence.

    Mark groans. "Ah, maybe not the best color scheme for this mission." He tips his head, looking at Loren. "We're both wearing the opposite colors to the planet."

    She laughs. "Pretty much."

    They watch the astronauts, seeing how they began collecting items and setting up their temporary camp.