Post by Aegle Vitus on Mar 4, 2019 21:34:28 GMT
She'd barely made it three steps before, quick as a viper, Solomon's hand snaked out and caught her around the neck. There was a moment of wholesale disorientation, the a throb of thought annihilating pain as that had fastened itself tightly around her throat and, with as little effort as it would take to swat a mouse, hauled her upright. Aegle let out a croak of surprise and reflexively grabbed hold of the Commander's wrist, trying in vain to pull herself free of its iron clad grasp.
"Helping me?" Solomon spat, spreading his footing and hoisting her higher still, till her back was made to straighten and her boots left the ground entirely. "While I am trying to kill you?"
She tried to answer him, but the tightening bowstring that was her spine, crushed reed that was her throat, would not let her. Aegle could do little more than kick and struggle in his grasp, arms straining to take the weight off her neck, eyes shrunken to emerald slits as she gulped at the air, fruitless as a landed fish, unable to take a single breath.
Still, she saw the fury and the bewilderment on the Commander's face, a paroxysm of abject disbelief. It twitched across the living half of his face and seemed to spill over onto the unliving side like the overflow from a rippling pool.
"How will you help me if I kill you?" He demanded through gritted teeth, "Why would you?"
Shaking his head, the Commander hissed, "It doesn't make sense."
It didn't make any sense at all.
Aegle squeezed her eyes closed, as the numbing cold began pressing in on the corners of her vision. Slowly, her struggles came to an end, her feet coming to dangle and swing lightly to and fro. With gritted teeth, she heard the roaring in her ears, the panicked pounding of her heart the grew faster with every beat, that grew weaker with every beat. She focused on that sound, the sound of her heart, and the whole world poured away, running paint on a wetted canvas, scattered snow in a storm. Voices seeped away, subsumed in the oceanic roaring between her ears, and with them fell away all sense of herself. Her weakness, her pain, her exhaustion, it all evaporated as a rain puddle before the mid-summer sun.
She could give up. She could stop. She didn't have to do this. She didn't need to keep going.
But then, nobody needed to do anything.
Aegle's eyes snapped open, cutting a streak of emerald through the air, a slash of green above a bloody smile. Muscles screamed, and motors screamed with them, as she swung both her feet up in a sudden whip-crack that brought her whole body up at the fulcrum of her captured neck. The steel tipped toes drove themselves up, up, up into the Commander's jaw, then her leather soles planted themselves across his throat, and she started to push. She wrenched herself straight, back arching with the effort, then raised one foot and stamped down on Solomon's face. Hard. The motors beneath her clothes shrieked defiance as she strained harder and harder against the iron barbed fingers cinched around her neck, stamping down again and again, struggling like a mad thing in the Commander's grasp.
With one final stamp, the fingers loosened enough that she was able to tear herself free of that icy iron hand. Thrown back by her own struggling, she hit the floor with a resounding thud that rebounded through the training hall, what seemed like sparks erupting up from where she landed. She sprawled for a moment, eyes closed, teeth bared, deep scratches scoured into the sides of her neck. Then she made herself breathe.
After a few breaths, Aegle drew herself up, one hand holding the bruises around her throat, and fixed Solomon with an emerald eye that seemed alight with some inner fire. It smoldered and left trails hanging in the air as she found the Commander's face.
"If y'got killin' to do, best not spend time talkin' 'bout it, yeah?"
A small buzzing, barely at the edge of hearing, momentarily drew her lambent gaze off of him. Her watch was vibrating, its face displaying a bright red screen with a very, very large number on it. She grinned, coughed, and staggered her way back to standing.
"But y'not tryin' t' kill me, I don't reckon..."
Stumbling for a moment before she found her footing, Aegle slipped off her watch, examined its face for a moment, then turned her burning green eyes on the Commander.
"Ain't hard t'kill, y'know?" Standing tall, her shoulders almost square, her back almost straight, she tipped her head to the side and tossed the watch disdainfully over one shoulder, "All y'gotta do is not give up."
She rolled her shoulders, swung her hands up, and showed him a grisly red smile in a pale, bruised face. Her wounds weren't healing.
Maybe it really didn't make sense. Maybe she was crazy for trying, but Aegle had never been all that concerned with being sane.
This time, she did not tip towards him and rush blindly forward. Instead, she sprang forward, feet screeching across the rubble strewn floor, and loaded up the exact same punch she had started with, when this whole insane ordeal first began.
"Helping me?" Solomon spat, spreading his footing and hoisting her higher still, till her back was made to straighten and her boots left the ground entirely. "While I am trying to kill you?"
She tried to answer him, but the tightening bowstring that was her spine, crushed reed that was her throat, would not let her. Aegle could do little more than kick and struggle in his grasp, arms straining to take the weight off her neck, eyes shrunken to emerald slits as she gulped at the air, fruitless as a landed fish, unable to take a single breath.
Still, she saw the fury and the bewilderment on the Commander's face, a paroxysm of abject disbelief. It twitched across the living half of his face and seemed to spill over onto the unliving side like the overflow from a rippling pool.
"How will you help me if I kill you?" He demanded through gritted teeth, "Why would you?"
Shaking his head, the Commander hissed, "It doesn't make sense."
It didn't make any sense at all.
Aegle squeezed her eyes closed, as the numbing cold began pressing in on the corners of her vision. Slowly, her struggles came to an end, her feet coming to dangle and swing lightly to and fro. With gritted teeth, she heard the roaring in her ears, the panicked pounding of her heart the grew faster with every beat, that grew weaker with every beat. She focused on that sound, the sound of her heart, and the whole world poured away, running paint on a wetted canvas, scattered snow in a storm. Voices seeped away, subsumed in the oceanic roaring between her ears, and with them fell away all sense of herself. Her weakness, her pain, her exhaustion, it all evaporated as a rain puddle before the mid-summer sun.
She could give up. She could stop. She didn't have to do this. She didn't need to keep going.
But then, nobody needed to do anything.
Aegle's eyes snapped open, cutting a streak of emerald through the air, a slash of green above a bloody smile. Muscles screamed, and motors screamed with them, as she swung both her feet up in a sudden whip-crack that brought her whole body up at the fulcrum of her captured neck. The steel tipped toes drove themselves up, up, up into the Commander's jaw, then her leather soles planted themselves across his throat, and she started to push. She wrenched herself straight, back arching with the effort, then raised one foot and stamped down on Solomon's face. Hard. The motors beneath her clothes shrieked defiance as she strained harder and harder against the iron barbed fingers cinched around her neck, stamping down again and again, struggling like a mad thing in the Commander's grasp.
With one final stamp, the fingers loosened enough that she was able to tear herself free of that icy iron hand. Thrown back by her own struggling, she hit the floor with a resounding thud that rebounded through the training hall, what seemed like sparks erupting up from where she landed. She sprawled for a moment, eyes closed, teeth bared, deep scratches scoured into the sides of her neck. Then she made herself breathe.
After a few breaths, Aegle drew herself up, one hand holding the bruises around her throat, and fixed Solomon with an emerald eye that seemed alight with some inner fire. It smoldered and left trails hanging in the air as she found the Commander's face.
"If y'got killin' to do, best not spend time talkin' 'bout it, yeah?"
A small buzzing, barely at the edge of hearing, momentarily drew her lambent gaze off of him. Her watch was vibrating, its face displaying a bright red screen with a very, very large number on it. She grinned, coughed, and staggered her way back to standing.
"But y'not tryin' t' kill me, I don't reckon..."
Stumbling for a moment before she found her footing, Aegle slipped off her watch, examined its face for a moment, then turned her burning green eyes on the Commander.
"Ain't hard t'kill, y'know?" Standing tall, her shoulders almost square, her back almost straight, she tipped her head to the side and tossed the watch disdainfully over one shoulder, "All y'gotta do is not give up."
She rolled her shoulders, swung her hands up, and showed him a grisly red smile in a pale, bruised face. Her wounds weren't healing.
Maybe it really didn't make sense. Maybe she was crazy for trying, but Aegle had never been all that concerned with being sane.
This time, she did not tip towards him and rush blindly forward. Instead, she sprang forward, feet screeching across the rubble strewn floor, and loaded up the exact same punch she had started with, when this whole insane ordeal first began.