Chapitre 59: - Pantha
Ignoring the pulses of pain that shot through his body in protest, Gus forced himself out of the window and back onto the roof.
He rolled onto the roof as he pulled himself up, his body slowly becoming numb to the pain that engulfed his back.
As he slowly rose back to his feet, he looked towards the opposite end of the residential area. The end of the area was slowly drawing closer, and so he was slowly running out of time.
Suddenly, a large explosion caught his attention. Looking back, he saw that the number of attackers that closed in on him seemed to have risen, and the hoverjet was nowhere to be seen..
'I guess that was an EDF ship. But their numbers are not a bad sign,' he thought. 'Means that the others have probably got out of danger now, at least I hope.'
He unmuted the communication channel to his squad as he prepared to continue moving.
"Listen up. I'll be able to buy you a few more minutes, assuming they haven't already caught on to you. After that I'd imagine they will start coming towards you."
Taking a running start, he leapt across the next gap to the closest rooftop. While he made the jump, his body was definitely feeling the effects of the glass by now with every large movement.
'Just a little more, make sure they definitely had the best chance to get out.'
After pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he leapt across to the next roof. He landed awkwardly on his right foot, and toppled over before he could regain his balance. His weapon skidded away from him, and Gus threw out an arm to try and catch it.
A sense of dread washed over him as he saw the weapon plummet into the street below.
'Damn it!' he thought, as his hopes of survival dropped along with his weapon. 'I was running out of time, but I could have still… No, I can still survive this. I just need to keep my focus and find a way out.'
"We're out!" Joel's voice called out. "We're out, and Aliti's with us. We're safe, Gus. Now get over here."
"That might take a little while," Gus weakly responded. "Don't wait for me. Get her out of here. I'm going to close the channel again, because I'm going to be fighting from any moment now, probably until I can get back to you all."
"Gus, wait. There's people fro-" someone began as Gus cut off the communication device. Although he heard the words, his mind never registered them being spoken.
As he pushed himself up once more, he noticed small patches of blood in the area where his stomach had been. Placing his hand there, he felt small amounts of a warm fluid leaking over his hand and running in between his fingers.
'I can't run. I have to fight.'
Rising to his feet, he looked at the oncoming attackers.
The closest one landed on the roof near him, on all fours. He had bright hair and a messy beard. His face showed many signs of battle, including a prominent scar down the side of his face and and a burn mark over his right eye. His arms were purely cybernetic, and his hands were replaced with larger paw like appendages with a joint that looked like it would function as a thumb. Behind him, a long, metal tail that was tipped with a sharp edge stood behind him, bouncing from side to side. His legs were also cybernetic, and contained thick engines designed to power him through as he travelled, similarly to an animal. With everything considered, he was more machine that he was man, at least on the outside.
"Go easy on him, Pantha!" one of Gus's pursuers called out. "He looks like he's been through enough as it is."
"I want to go easy on you," the one called Pantha said to Gus. "I don't like hurting people who might help our species in one way or another, like you academy kids. But I'll be forced to if you do not tell me where she is. And you have no way to defend yourself from me, so you will die."
"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," Gus replied. "By now she could be in any corner of the planet, or halfway to the frontier for all I know."
"Why would you lie in this scenario? You're surrounded by us, with nowhere to go, on the precipice of death. Cooperate, and you might just live to see another day."
"I'm not lying, I genuinely do not know," Gus said, wincing through the pain of speaking. "Did you think I was running away for any reason other than to try and give my squad the chance to get her out?"
"Oh, we'll find them soon enough. But, I wanted to offer you the chance to avoid a whole lot of suffering."
"I doubt you will," Gus said, preparing for his opponent to strike.
Pantha leaned back on his legs before leaping at Gus, using his cybernetic legs to cover the distance in an instant.
Gus dodged to the right, narrowly avoiding a claw but receiving a torn shirt. Seeing his exposed side, Gus threw out a punch in the man's direction, connecting with his ribs.
He drew back his hand as it exploded with pain. His ribcage seemed extremely tough, and Gus felt like he had actually been hurt more by the blow.
Slamming his hand into the roof, Pantha turned himself around to face Gus again before he could fall off. He smiled at Gus, revealing a mouth full of razor sharp metallic teeth.
"Just give it up," he said. "You can't beat me, you're too green. Give her up, and you might have the chance to try to beat me sometime in the future. Keep on protecting her, and you die today."
"That's not going to happen," Gus said, holding his stomach. The blood pouring out had begun to increase in volume, and his vision had become blurry.
'He's right. There's no way I can win this. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to give them up, even if they think they're safe."
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone