Shadow Runner [LitRPG]

It took Amelia nearly twenty minutes to finish wiping away all of my injuries. In spite of my frequent hints throughout the process that I would like the drones to release me, neither they nor my very angry girlfriend reacted.

In fact, when she was finally done, Amelia spent a solid minute glaring at me while I did my best to project cheerful innocence.

Then she shook her head and spoke briskly to the drones.

"Now pick this idiot up. Don't let him squirm away."

I blinked, and that one moment of hesitation cost me. The next thing I knew, the drones had unceremoniously gripped my arms and legs and hauled me up, like I was a particularly misshapen sack.

At least this gave me a good view of the hallway. It was a mess of collapsed ceiling, crumbled walls, blood splatters, scorch marks, and squished bodies.

Interestingly enough, I actually spotted Mr. Gorilla on the ground a short distance away from us. The Zerx guard captain was plenty scorched himself, but all his cybernetics meant that his injuries were actually much less serious than mine, at least when it came to the fire damage.

His jaw still looked absolutely shattered, though. He was also out cold, not to mention half-buried under some rubble. Four drones stood around him, the barrels of stolen automatic rifles pressed against his skull…

…which was great and all, but none of it could quite distract me from the fact that I was being treated like luggage.

"Can we talk about this? Love? Amelia?"

"Follow."

"I really don't think — watch the corner! Watch the corner!" I squealed as the drones almost brained me, much to Amelia's cold amusement.

"Oh? So it's fine when you risk life-ending injury, but now you're worried about a little bump on the head?"

"Oi, I never hurt myself on purpose! It just… happens. Frequently, sure, but it's not entirely my fault!"

"Of course," she scoffed. "Now hush."

I did, but only because I was pretty sure she had some level of passive mind control over the drones. The way they were swinging me perilously close to a wall felt like a threat.

Even upside down and being swung like a toy, I couldn't miss the results of all the combat. The corpses of drones and Zerx alike were strewn about the hallways and stairs. A truly frustrating number of drones that looked to be on the verge of death were standing there at attention. Unless ordered otherwise, they would ignore their own injuries until they just died on their feet.

Amelia paid no attention to them. She looked tired and annoyed, and entirely indifferent as to whether or not they would expire.

I didn't exactly disapprove, but I found her attitude interesting. It was becoming increasingly obvious that she was affected by her Medic cybernetics as much as I was by the Stalker and the Shadow. Yet the drones seemed to be consumable tools to her, rather than any kind of follower or even servant.

"So… where are you taking me?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she kept ignoring me until we hit the ground floor and Mela came into view, anxiously pacing back and forth.

Well, I say pacing. Mela was barely hobbling. Every step brought a grimace to her face. Her left hand was pressed against her hip like she was trying to hold that part of herself together.

"Amelia! Is he… oh. Yer awake. What's —"

"We're going to take a nap now," my lover declared imperiously, walking right past Mela towards a pile of stuff against the wall. I blinked when I realized it was a nest of blankets, complete with a few pillows. "Don't wake us up unless someone important is dying or the world is going to shit."

"…okay?"

I just shrugged at the confused redhead, giving her my best grin as the drones shoved me into the blankets. Then Amelia collapsed on top of me, driving the breath out of my lungs. She was out like a light the very next second. I barely had enough energy to throw my arms around her.

Maybe it was a good thing they carried me down…

That was my final thought before I passed out myself.

—

When I opened my eyes, it was to a startlingly deep darkness.

I'd forgotten how dark the slums could get. I could still see in darkness, obviously, but I'd gotten used to light. Even when we turned off every last light inside our apartment, there was always a bit of neon glow shining in from the inner district world outside.

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The wonder of having windows, really. It was a novel home feature for me. My old apartment in the slums didn't even have windows. The slums were dark and dreary, anyway.

But now that I was back in that environment, the oppressive darkness felt almost… claustrophobic.

I could feel Amelia's weight pressing down on me still, her warmth providing comfort and reassurance. That's probably why I didn't freak the fuck out when two shining orbs suddenly appeared to my right, hovering there like malicious ornaments of some demented, forgotten holiday.

The sudden appearance of the eyes also heralded movement, which in turn allowed me to make out the looming silhouette of the monstrosity Amelia had created. I was more than a little disturbed that I hadn't noticed it prior to that moment. My eyes were, after all, exceptional.

"Aha. And what exactly are you doing, hmmm?" I asked conversationally, expecting and getting absolutely no response.

Well, that's a lie. The monstrosity did unhinge its jaws and let out a positively rancid, rattling breath, allowing me to see the bits of meat stuck in its many, many mouths. I also noticed that it was back to peak health, all limbs whole and accounted for and chest very much un-squished.

"So, you've got a healing factor. Nice. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Mmmmhmm. Because obviously she'd give you one…. How the fuck are we going to hide you?"

Amelia chose that moment to stir, groaning as she slowly woke up. I turned my attention to her, glad to look away from the eldritch-crafted monster watching us like a particularly grotesque puppy.

"Morning, lover. Are you still upset with me?"

"Adrian? What time is it?" She shifted until her lips found my jaw, and then my own lips. "I'm not angry. I was just scared. And, you know, sleep-deprived."

"Mmmm," I hummed into the kiss, loving every second of it before I forced myself to pull away. "Half past eleven, according to my optics. I think we slept for about… twenty-eight? Yep, twenty-eight hours."

"Uuuurgh, how much did we miss? Where's Mela?"

"Let's find her and find out?"

She made a reluctant noise of agreement, and then we went about disentangling ourselves from the blankets and each other.

To be honest, neither of us was a pretty sight. We were covered in all sorts of stains. My clothes were… a mess. Both of us were a bit smelly.

I still found her achingly attractive.

Funnily enough, Amelia just about jumped out of her own skin when she turned around and came face-to-face with her creation. The string of curses that left her mouth made me cackle. I refrained from teasing her only because of the heart-crushing look of regret and mild terror that surfaced on her face every time she let her eyes stray to the 'hunter', as she'd called it.

A quick look around revealed the ten drones I'd originally ordered to keep an eye on Amelia as she slept, along with another ten scattered around the room.

Approaching the collapsed section of wall, we spotted our van. Two drones were standing in front of it to keep watch. We could see a bit of light shining out of the vehicle through the mangled doors, despite the fact that those doors were currently closed.

Taking my claws to them during our little missile accident… had its consequences.

The sound of Mela's voice hit us long before we had eyes on her. She was inside our mobile HQ, rattling off orders and questions. She actually missed our presence until the van's doors groaned in response to my attempt to pull them open.

Then she whirled around, guns pointed at us, like the two drones she'd posted outside wouldn't have stopped intruders.

At the sight of us, though, she froze. Her arms dropped. A look of relief briefly stole over her face.

Then she was bellowing a quick order to "HOLD!" as she pretty much launched herself out of the van. She pulled both of us into a crushing hug, making me genuinely worry for my ribcage.

I felt Amelia stiffen next to me, but only for a moment. When she relaxed into the hug, I caught a startled but pleased smile on her face.

"Ye two have no idea how worried ya fucking made me!" the redhead hissed.

"Sorry?" I groused. "It's honestly not my fault those idiots decided to bomb us when they started losing!"

"That they bombed us? Sure. Ain't yer fault at all. For trying to play hero instead of ducking away yerself? I can bloody well be annoyed! Ya know I'm tougher than ya!"

"Well, that's debatable. If you use your Behemoth Skills maybe, but — erk!"

She tightened the hug with a glare, daring me to say anything else.

Amelia started giggling, the traitor. Mela instantly rounded on her.

"Dontcha think yer in the clear either! What the fuck, little ripper? Don't work yourself into insanity, please."

Amelia looked a little overwhelmed to have Mela's worry aimed her way, too. I honestly wasn't sure why. Sure, I'd been the link between the two of them at first. But once Mela had decided to take Amelia under her wing, too… well, there was no escaping the older sister treatment.

"I-I'll try not to?" Amelia ventured.

"Oh no, there's two of them!" Mela released us and threw up her hands in mock despair. "I know people start picking up each other's habits when they're together, but ya could have picked something else! Why's it gotta be reckless endangerment of self?"

I narrowed my eyes and decided to be a little shit. "You're an imposter, aren't you? Those are mighty big words for Mela to be throwing them around."

The glare she gave me was totally worth it. Even when followed swiftly by her knuckles grinding into my hair, to the accompaniment of Amelia's encouraging giggles.

"Ack! Fine! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I finally managed to wiggle free, feeling a grin creep onto my face to match the ones the others were wearing.

Unfortunately, I really couldn't ignore our general circumstances forever.

"What's going on out there? We haven't been out of commission for too long, right?"

My question did a frustratingly good job of wiping out the lighter mood we'd been enjoying.

"It ain't great, but we're making progress," Mela said gruffly. "Apparently, the shit they pulled here is not their usual kinda response. I warned the others, but the Zerx have tried to pull their exploding trick a couple of times now. Always after being nearly wiped out."

My fleeting and completely unrealistic hope that the fighting would be done by now died inside of me. I cursed. "How much progress did we make, exactly?"

"Come on, I'll show ya."

We finally climbed into the van. Ignoring the still form of Patch, who was waiting blankly for more orders from our redheaded dictator, we approached the screens. I noted that Mela must have had them replaced somehow. Instead of the cracked and flickering mess of displays left by the explosion, we were looking at a steady glow and proper resolution.

Mela pointed at various spots. "We're starting to push against the inner parts of their territory, as ya can see. They've only been fighting harder, though."

I squinted at the map, then failed to hold back a smirk. The massive marker that indicated the Zerx territory had shrunk significantly. They were down to about a third of the area they used to hold. Still, the thickness of the troop placement markers worried me.

"So… plenty of work left?"

The redhead nodded grimly. "Yep."

"Great." I sighed. "Let's see what we can do about whittling them down."