Fortnite: Project Mecha

Chapter 13: Shanta

The itching feeling to use the Drum Shotgun died on Drift's electrified fingertips. With a little help from his secret, anomolous weapon he could clear out these guards as if he was a magnifying glass and they were ants on a sunny day. Did that sound serial killer-y? Yes, of course. Would it also be such a satisfying form of revenge? Again, yes, of course.
The Origin gestured for the group to stop moving, and they did, ducking down behind a short wall. Three guards were hanging around outside a set of shops, including the Bao Bros where at least TnTina but possibly others were being held hostage. They had black sets of armour, with metallic plates as well as a black gas mask; it had been cheaply put together for mass production purposes. For Drift, easy work.
"Wait, no-!" the Origin yelled for a second as Drift leapt over, alerting the guards.
Using a little burst of vivid magenta electricity as a boost, he launched his foot into the face of one of the IO guards, sending him back and into a wall. The impact of the skull on the restaurant's brick exterior caused an instant death, melting the man into holographic blue cubes.
"I gotta get in on this." Drift heard Lynx say behind him, enthusiastic as she equipped her Neuralynx II suit.
Drift thought that he'd help her out. He picked up a guard and shocked him while he remained trapped in his fist until his smoking suit became ash and then became the same blue cubes as before. He turned around just in time to see Lynx drive her electrified foot claw into the eye of the last guard, shattering the purple lens and causing him to fall down, slowly... slowly... slowly... and then he was gone.
"We are efficient, aren't we?" Lynx walked up to Drift.
She had transformed from the girl in the blue hoodie to a sort of superhero in black and white techwear, a hooded veil over her darkened mask. Blue holographic ears poked out above the hood, and pulsating tail bomb and claws sparking and buzzing every once in a while from their recent use.
The others all surrounded the couple as they stood there and the Origin decided, "Let's split up. Me, the Imagined, Guff and Mothmando will keep lookout while Drift, Lynx, Raz and Shanta save the prisoners."
"Murder... my favourite." Shanta shook her forever glossy black hair from her eyes, "We'll try to be quick."
"I know you will." the Origin nodded, arming a new, long shotgun known as the Ranger, which Drift hadn't seen before.
Drift and Shanta took to one side of the door whilst Raz and Lynx went to the other, Lynx's claws bared an ready to strike. Raz nodded to the two of them and Shanta nodded back; a que for the squad to break in through the door. Drift didn't feel afraid when he wore the mask, but his heartbeat still sped up. Perhaps he was more afraid of running out of his time with the mask? But as he burst through the door... Drift expected to be a barrage of guards to plow through. Alas, there was not. The mask had done its job, perhaps a little too well.
Five people were stood in the middle of the room. There was cut rope surrounding them and they found it had been cut... but by the prisoners. TnTina's hidden knife. She was always the survivor, and now it was paying off for not just her but the others she was with.
Tina looked up at them. The short, messy brown hair she always sported bounced around as her blue eyes darted between the room's new occupants. She wore a red crop top with a comic yellow BOOM written across the middle of it, with leather trousers on which reminded Drift of the patterns which grenades had in them. They called her TnTina for a reason.
Then, joining her was DJ Yonder. His face was hidden by a llama helmet made entirely of silver alloys that glittered in the sun. He also wore a dark teal shirt with pale blue jeans and funky boots. His helmet was actually attached to headphones and Drift could tell that he was vibing to a certain tune because his head bobbed like a child bouncing on a trampoline.
"Are you with them?" TnTina growled, holding her around.
Drift wondered why she'd say this and then remembered that he was wearing his mask, "Tina, it's me."
"Is it-?" TnTina's arms fell to her sides.
"Drift! Dude!" DJ Yonder walked towards him and locked him in a tight hug.
TnTina soon joined them and hugged them, partially suffocating Drift. It was air that he was willing to lose, and would be willing to lose a million times over, just to make the moment last forever. But the island was an hourglass, and their sand was slowly slipping away.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Drift we need it go." Shanta tugged at his arm lightly.
"Oh, yeah! Of course." Drift felt his voice getting caught in his throat.
"Come on, you three! We're getting outta here!" TnTina shouted at the other three captives, all of them nodding.
DJ Yonder nodded to the others as him and Drift left the door, "So, who's the troop?"
Drift pointed to each in turn, "The one without the shirt is Raz, the woman in the gold armour is Shanta and the woman in the blue and black in my girlfriend, Lynx. There's more outside."
"What? You, a girlfriend?" DJ Yonder guffawed.
"I know! We're so happy together, it's great. Anyways, there's also the moth man Mothy, the woman in the red armour is the Imagined, the pink pom pom thing is Guff and the dude in the cobalt armour is the Origin. If he gets on your nerves, just ignore him." Drift gestured to the others. Mothy was the only one who made any acknowledgement - a little wave. DJ Yonder waved back.
"This is so sick! For so long, I thought you were dead, and-" DJ Yonder stopped talking and turned to TnTina as she joined them, "Hey!"
"This is a nice little group ya got here." Tina grinned, "And Yonder's right. We thought you were dead, like dead-dead, not that coming back thing."
"The actual term for it is looping. I forget how many people don't know that." Drift notified her.
"Looping..." DJ Yonder whispered.
"But I'm happy to see you alive. That's what I was trying to say." TnTina shook her head.
The Origin closed in, "We're not out of the woods yet."
"When?" TnTina interrupted.
The Origin chuckled confusedly, "Whe-"
"When did I ask?" TnTina rolled her eyes as she strode straight past the Origin, the man just standing there, not knowing what to think.
Over the tops of the buildings, Drift could hear fighting. Mostly gunshots, but also what sounded like a metallic punching sound. Drift had flashbacks to the BRUTE mechs and acted as if it wasn't there. And yet Drift got the itching feeling that, for once, the Origin's grumbling was actually useful.
The group began to sneak their way around Condo Canyon, back the way they had come. Things seemed like they were going to be ok but Drift kept his hands charged just in case of emergency. The guards seemed pre-occupied fighting another person. He was tall with army green armour, and he seemed very familiar to Drift... was he one of the people they'd interviewed?
Drift was so focused on the far away fiend that he and the others all forgot to see the closer threat. Dressed like an IO guard but with more muscle and chunkier plates, an IO member came running towards them. Drift panicked to try and hit him with his shocks but despite the man's size, he was very evasive. His dyed white-blonde hair remained perfectly still as he came in for the kill. He smiled, and Drift's skin crawled.
"Go!" the Imagined yelled at everyone else as herself and the Origin shot out a barrage of bullets.
Everyone else started to run, but Drift found himself, Lynx and Shanta staying behind. Raz and Mothy shouted something unintelligible over the gunshots and then ushered the others away. They must've said something like they were getting to safety.
"This doesn't look like going!" the Imagined took down an IO guard.
"We have others problems!" Lynx used her tale grenade. It flashed red before blasting out a massive shockwave, killing many guards.
"It's funny to think that it was less than an hour ago when we were talking about your suit's functions." Shanta smiled.
Drift turned to her, smiling back. Bullets still fired around them but they all missed. Drift looked briefly to the right. The blonde man was not firing yet. Then, he lifted his gun (a Ranger AR) and shot it. Drift looked at Shanta. He looked at the bullet. Then, the world seemed to go in slow motion as he tried to push her away from it, but it was too late. The bullet impacted Shanta's stomach, knocking her back into a stone and leaving her unconscious, but not dead.
"SHANTA!" Drift shrieked.
"NO!" Lynx yelled.
"We have to fall back, there's too many of them!" the Origin stored his MK-Seven with certainty.
"What about Shanta?! We can't just leave her!" Drift began to panic, finding his legs pulling him away. He suddenly began to not just think of himself and of a chance of saving her, but also if the Scientist and a knot formed in his stomach.
"Origin, he's right." the Imagined tugged at his arm.
"Do you want more of us to die?! WE ARE LEAVING. NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!" the Origin roared.
Drift, with no other options left, forced himself to pull away from Shanta's sullen figure as she was blotted out of sight, as was any hope of saving her. He closed his eyes and wished for the day to have been a dream.