Enhanced

XIX

"They were a group of eight. Bleak and hubristic fools who could've survived as long as you all have if they weren't so senseless and naive." Vidar mocked without any respect for his opponents, "We watched as they gathered round their little hideout somewhere in this very building. Every step they took, another step to their decimation." He added on, salting the wound in the Sixth even more. "Freedom was within their horizon and they chose not to lavish their odds, so far as to not even equip themselves with the gear necessary to endure combat." He laughed. "As they barely scrapped the tip of their objective, we finished them off at their final frontier." Vidar drew closer to his conclusion, "All but one of them lasted the onslaught." He reminded himself, Lily's suffering materializing into all their heads. "Word by word I could repeat everything she said when I made sure she suffered through what her friends did." He taunted, pausing for a moment as he turned to the open gate of the armory and stood still. His right bracer lit up with a multitude of diminutive lights, a weapon that none of them had seen before. 

Miles' hand parted from Clea's, returning to the grip of his rifle as he toughened up with torment. What he told himself now was far from what mattered in his own mind. This bastard deserved to pay, but he knew he couldn't pierce his armor. His rage would come to no use, even if he were to simply vent it all out in a flurry of bullets. In a sudden change of thought, he realized that even if it didn't hurt him, Vidar would still feel the force of the impacts. His promise stayed and his mind stayed in focus. Both his hands were at trigger ready; his soul was ready for the reminded Vidar was to give. He turned over to gain Katherine's attention to inform her that after he spoke what he would, he was going to lunge out for a strike. She returned the favor and nocked the concussive arrow.

Preparing to engage his unidentifiable weapon into the armory, Vidar scorned the Ninth one last time. "Nothing, all she did was scream." He derided as Miles pulled himself away from cover and knelt down to his knees. Firing at Vidar's shin guards with a couplet of bullets to each one, his partnering Strider followed his lead and stood behind him with her aim true. Katherine drew her shot as the brute was befallen to his knees, she loosened her hold of the string and set the arrow free. Colliding with the metal of his helmet, the spherical head was sentenced to a bevy of miniature fireworks and further driving him against the wall.

Vidar stumbled onto his ass and was left dazed as he readjusted his helmet, trying to realign his focus. The bigger they were, the harder they indeed fell. The Striders gestured for the others to follow behind as they exited the armory and went the opposite direction of where the previous four had navigated. Without knowing, they protected themselves from a potentially fatal attack. Turning right as they left the room, they rushed for the left corner that would lead them back through the glass bridge. Katherine, presuming there would be a similar group waiting for them at the end, stopped, before they were out of cover and halted. Instead of peeking like someone normally would have, she reached out her drawing arm and received a fusillade of pellets attempting to disarm her. Keen eyes, she thought, though none of them had hit their target.

Being reminded of Vidar, she knew he wasn't going to stay down for long. The others waited for her next choice of action as she selected another arrowhead. Another charged arrow wasn't going to cut it this time, she needed something that would ensure he stayed down longer. An shocker arrowhead. It was at a base voltage of fifty-thousand and could be continually charged through the converter flaps on the frontal lobe of the arrowhead. It was designed to be lethal at incredible speeds, but judging on how close they were to Vidar and the insulation of his armor, it was only going to stun him till they managed to get out of their dilemma. Her arrows were going to be their prime method of escape from this point onwards it seemed.

Katherine drew the arrow, swiveling backwards and firing it onto the mercenary. The volts instantly bypassed his armor's insulation and sent shocks that would paralyze him for the moment. Instantly following her initial tip selection, she chose her third arrowhead. This time, something non-lethal and impairing was needed to bring the soldier's attention away from them as they retrieved a grenade and flung it to them. But then she visualized what would happen if they did. It wasn't going to matter if the only entrance into the camp was where they were trying to return to. Even if they could kill the oncoming soldiers after the ones that guarded the bridge, there were the other mercenaries than Vidar that stood.