Echoes Long Forgotten, Part 14: Love Is A Battlefield

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(October 10th)


Mayfly ducked behind another girder as a fiery blast blew around it, speaking into her comm. system. “Don, would you stop firing missiles everywhere? You’re going to bring this whole building down. That’s a lot of money.”

“Worth every penny if it deals with you.” The reply was delivered with a laugh.

“Uh-huh. I don’t remember you being this crazy. Also, where did you get another suit?” Mayfly risked a glance around the girder, looking for more signs of movement. For a moment, she caught the rippling shape of a powersuit flying through the air, then she dove for cover as a volley of flechettes tore through the area she was covering in. “And who the hell thought it was a good idea to give you missiles?”

“Some people appreciate me, Mayfly. They understand me like you never did.” Outside, the air rippled once again, and Dragonfly’s armor stood revealed. Gleaming green from helmet to toe, it was superficially similar to the one that he had once worn – but this one featured the slight telltale bulks of a dozen concealed weapons, and its wings spread twice as far, batlike against the sun. Looking at the building through his helmet visor, Dragonfly laughed again. “You always held me back. I just never realized it.” He raised his left arm, and a slim tube folded out from the armor, glowing for a moment before it delivered a sonic blast that shook the building’s foundations. Mayfly grabbed a beam for stability.

“Of course I held you back!” Her reply was incensed. “You kept trying to run off cliffs!” Kicking off from the beam, she sailed backwards away from the building, looping upwards into the air.

“It seemed that way to you. You just never saw that I could fly.” Engines flared from the jetpack at the centre of the new Dragonfly wings, and he rocketed in pursuit of Mayfly.

“Hah! When I let go, you flew all right. You flew straight to hell, and then… uh… you know what, I’m going to go ahead and stop the analogy before it goes totally off the rails.” Mayfly looped elegantly around a blast of energy, wincing as it nearly struck her. “The point is, you’re going way overboard here. Again.” She twisted suddenly, plummeting towards Dragonfly. He dodged quickly to one side, sending a pulse after her, which she evaded as she leveled off.

“Better to have done nothing, eh? You used to like my drive.” Dragonfly’s lips curved into a sneer. “You said it made you feel special.”

“Oh, I feel special. How many girls have their exes fire off this many weapons at them? You must have really missed me.” Mayfly swerved around another missile as she spoke, chewing her lip as she heard it explode below. The whole area was too urban. Kicking every ounce of speed out of her wings, she flew to the west, towards the nearest area still ruined by the Antihero invasion. She could hear Dragonfly gaining from behind, and dodged and weaved to avoid the blasts he sent towards her.

“Only because you keep dodging.” Dragonfly’s engines blazed as he gave chase. Mayfly dropped suddenly, crashing through the roof of a derelict building. Watching her descent, he banked, considering the façade.

“I see you kept your sense of humour.” Trying to conceal her heavy breathing, Mayfly took stock. Damn, he was fast in that suit. And heavily armed – for the first time, she wished she carried one of Jim’s guns around. “Seriously, Don. I realize you were pretty pissed off, but you’re packing some serious firepower over there. If you’re not careful, you’re going to kill someone, and then you’ll be in trouble that makes that jail sentence look like community service.”

Don snorted. “Your concern is touching. You should have thought of that before you made the mistake of fighting me last time.” His voice shifted. “I trusted you, Mayfly. You betrayed that trust, and I can’t let you get away with that.” He lowered towards the building.

“Don, let me be clear. Fighting you, helping bring you in? That was the first thing I did right since I met you.” Mayfly’s voice was tight. “You were dangerous, Don. Sort of like now, actually. You’re going after what you want and you don’t care who gets hurt.”

“I care very much, Nadia.” Dragonfly glanced at his visuals and smiled wider. His arms gradually rose, pointing at a section of the building. The stupid girl didn’t know that he could track her communicator. He could see her moving towards the far wall. “After all, you getting hurt, to the point of death, is the point of this whole operation.”

“I don’t believe it.” The voice was firm. Dragonfly blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Don, I know you. We were together for what, four years? You’re a lot of things, half of them unprintable, but you’re not a killer. You’re just really angry right now, and you want someone to hurt.”

“There, you are wrong. I want someone to die.” Dragonfly smirked.

“I don’t buy it.” As Mayfly spoke, she moved. The wall between her and Dragonfly exploded outwards, sending dust and powder cascading into the air. It concealed them both from view, shrouding them until nothing was visible. It was enough to completely ruin Dragonfly’s sight.

It was not enough to cover the transmitter triangulating Nadia’s position from her comm.

Dragonfly lined up the shot, switched to his most devastating rounds. Better safe than sorry. As he aimed, he saw a glimpse of a figure, and he let loose.

The explosion was everything he could have hoped for. His own suit, already retreating at top speed, was caught in the edge, tumbling out of the cloud as he struggled for control. The building behind it shuddered and collapsed, raining debris as it fell.

Dragonfly grinned, although he knew there was no one to hear it. “Did you buy that, Mayfly? I think you did.”

"That is a terrible joke."

Dragonfly was still turning when Mayfly's fist caught him on the chin.


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