Waking Up, Then Sleeping.
All around her, Natastach could hear talking, but could understand a word of it. She recognised it as English though and that alone made her mind snap awake, though she kept her eyes closed, for the moment. After a few seconds, she attempted to throw herself up and at the nearby insurgents, but the moment she exerted any force she was stopped, not even falling backwards, because she hadn’t even moved. She could taste fear in the air and, despite the language barrier, understood that orders were being given. Her mind began to race as she finally started to open her eyes. As soon as she did, the room was silent. No more orders, no more idle chat. She saw someone gesture with authority at the edge of her vision.
[Where…am I?] Was the question that crossed her tongue first.
[Safe, you’re safe.] Came a familiar voice, also in ADVENT Standard. Incredulous due to the bindings, the Viper looked around for the speaker. “Malcom!” [What’s going on?!]
[We’re with XCOM, Natastach. The Commander convinced them to bring you on board after you saved my life. Remember, you were patrolling an old residential district with Advent and ran into me, armed and armoured. Then a Stun Lancer attacked me, not only did you take the hit, but you slammed the Lancer against a wall, then you looked like you were having trouble breathing and then passed out. The Doctor thinks it was the IFF that made you drop. Natastach? Are you okay?]
Natastach was not okay. She realised that she hadn’t heard a word after “XCOM”, but couldn’t bring herself to care. Then she stopped panicking about that and started panicking about something else. Something was missing. As soon as she heard XCOM, she should have got a kill or be killed order. Then she felt it and it was like someone had taken an Earth powertool to her skull. Her head was pounding violently for attention and while panic had let her ignore it, now that she was aware of the pain, it was deafening. Malcom stood up when he saw her features twist in pain, but his voice was distant. Suddenly, there was no pain, no touch at all. She flopped her head towards the small human, the edges of her vision misty.
“Malcom…” [Why…does my…head hurt? Where…are my…orders?]
[They took it out, Nat. The biochip. You’re…] “Free.” She didn’t know what the last word meant, but she remembered talking about it with him. She liked the sound of it. Her mind was emptying and she let the sound of that last word accompany her.
“Free.”
aaaaaaaaaaaaa THANK YOU!
ahem.
This was in my submission box today, and this is absolutely wonderful. Many thanks to @sora112 for creating it!
I can’t exaggerate how much I love reading this. It nails my style down, gives a satisfying excerpt of the story while raising enough questions to want to see more, and above all, it really feels like it’s just a new chapter of the work it was created for (gee, where’s that new chapter, Pop?). But it’s more than a vignette to me.
I write for myself, yes, but I also write for you. I want my readers to be as enamored with my stories just as much as I am. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my words give an audience member a genuine emotional reaction, or give them a question they demand answered, or inspiring them to make something new (as seen here). All of the above spurred me into writing in the first place, and it’s a legacy I hope I can continue. And it’s moments like these that remind me it’s worth it.
Thanks again, Sora. And thank you all for sticking with me. Next chapter will be coming… sooner.