Sure enough, just as she thought that, first one Shellhead, then the other, came around the ship into view.
Stacia’s heart sank when she saw the first one.
It leaped for joy, however, when she saw the second.
Both of them pointed their 808s at Stacia from close range. From here, there was no way they would miss her head, and even if they did, the bullets would be concentrated enough to wear down her armor rather quickly and then rip her apart. Stacia thought she heard a scream or a shout from just over the hill that was abruptly cut off, but that was not the problem immediately in front of her face.
“Hands up,” the first Shellhead said.
Stacia did nothing of the sort. She didn’t even look at the first. All her concentration was on the second, who had her weapon not quite trained on Stacia at all. Instead, it was pointed roughly halfway between her and the other Shellhead.
“I said hands up, or I’ll blow your head off!”
Stacia again ignored him, instead speaking to the one off to his side.
“Do you remember what we said to each other on the cliff?”
The first Shellhead looked confused. He didn’t even seem to understand that Stacia wasn’t addressing him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You said thanks for not shooting you in the head. And you remember what I said.”
The first Shellhead raised his weapon. “Okay. That’s enough of this. You know…”
Stacia never found out what she was supposed to know, because that was when Kendara shifted her aim and blew the Shellhead’s brain clear out of his body. As bits of skull and gray matter showered down around them, Kendara lowered her weapon.
“You said maybe I could return the favor someday,” Kendara said.
“So I guess that makes us even.”
“Not the way I see it.”
“Oh?” Stacia asked.
“The deal was that I not shoot you when I had the chance. Shooting Lucifer here, though, I figure that means you still owe me something.”
“And what would that be?”
“Take me with you. I want off of this gods-forsaken hellhole of a planet.”
Even though Kendara still could have shot her at any moment, Stacia hesitated. Her mission all along had been to rescue Stanton, and taking Skin was a no-brainer, considering she was an innocent that had never done anything to deserve being her. Kendara, however, was here for a reason.
“What were you sentenced to Leviathan for?” Stacia asked.
Kendara tensed before answering. “That doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does.”
“I’m here for murder.”
Before Stacia could say that no, she wouldn’t take her under any circumstances, Kendara sheepishly added, “I’d take it back, if I could. A guy in a market tried to sell me something, and I just snapped. Completely lost it.”
“What did he try to sell you?”
Kendara paused, then mumbled something incoherent.
“What was that?”
“A banana, all right? Some poor schmuck of a fruit salesman in the market got too aggressive in trying to sell me a banana, and I snapped, okay?”
It wasn’t funny. It really wasn’t. But Stacia couldn’t keep a smile from her face.
“I swear,” Kendara said, “if I ever get a hold of that implant programmer…”
“Drop your weapon and you can come with,” Stacia said. “I can’t guarantee what might and might not happen to you after we leave, but…”
Lexton jumped out from a hiding place alongside the ship and slammed Kendara in the head with both hands balled into one fist. Kendara dropped to the side, unconscious but still breathing, leaving Lexton to stand over Stacia. Lexton might not have been armed while Stacia was, but Lexton’s implants were probably still working. That made the two of them about evenly matched.
That wasn’t good enough for Stacia.
“You know, after careful consideration, I have definitely decided not to let you go,” Lexton said. Stacia barely listened. Instead, she looked up to the top of the hill where the Shellhead had vanished when the engines started. Now that she thought about it, that was the direction that random scream had come from.
Just over the edge of the hill, several stalks of grass disappeared from view.
“Okay then,” Stacia said as she stood up. “Let’s finish this.”
Lexton took a defensive stance, ready to defend herself against Stacia’s initial attack. Stacia rushed, but instead of going right toward Lexton with her knife, she dashed around the confused woman and ran up the hill.
“Wha… You’re not supposed to run!” Lexton called after her. “That’s not how these things work!” Then, in a quieter voice as she gave chase, “Damn it.”
Stacia didn’t go far. She stopped just short of the top of the hill, where she saw more grass vanishing. She didn’t want Lexton to see that, though. If she even so much as glanced in that direction, her tactical implants, as old as they were, would still pick it up and alert her to what Stacia had planned. So instead, Stacia lunged at Lexton, knife aimed right for the woman’s throat. Lexton parried the attack easily, and without the benefit of her implants, Stacia couldn’t quite make the next decision quick enough to avoid Lexton grabbing her by the wrist. They locked in an embrace as Stacia tried to get the sonic blade close enough to stab Lexton, while Lexton did her best to twist Stacia’s wrist and turn the blade back on its owner.
“Your implants are malfunctioning, aren’t they?” Lexton asked. “You want to know something? They always do, at some point. That’s why I always win. Because eventually, whoever I’m up against, they reach this point and don’t know what to do. It’s a crutch that I don’t have.”
Stacia, straining against Lexton’s strength, couldn’t help smiling through her grimace. “You don’t have tactical neural implants?”
“Mine permanently failed long ago. I don’t need them.”
“That’s actually good to know. It means you can’t predict when I do this!”
Stacia used Lexton’s own strength against her, letting the sonic blade come down to nick her own armor but using the momentum to throw them both off balance. They hit the ground, and Stacia felt the sonic blade slice through her armor and into her abdomen. Lexton was so surprised by the maneuver that she let go as Stacia rolled the two of them over the edge of the hill.
And right into the Wet Lisa that had been waiting on the other side.
They both splashed into the slimy green puddle, but Lexton’s removable armor proved less capable of preventing the ooze from getting in the cracks of the armor’s plates. Lexton screamed as the tender flesh in her joints dissolved in the Wet Lisa’s acid, but she regained control long enough to keep rolling until she was on top and Stacia was beneath her. Stacia held her head up, keeping it from falling back into the slime, but she was sure her hair was dissolving as it hung in the goop.
“This was your plan?” Lexton asked as she held Stacia down, trying to shove her head back into the Wet Lisa. “It doesn’t seem to be working out very well for you.”
“Actually, I just needed to get you into a good position to do this.” She yanked her head to the side, again letting Lexton’s own force work against her as her hand slipped from Stacia’s face and plunged right into the Wet Lisa. Her glove kept most of the corrosive substance out, but the sudden shift allowed Stacia to get out from under her, grab the woman by the back of her head, and shove with all her might.
Half of Lexton’s face, the side that hadn’t long ago been a Wet Lisa’s meal, plunged right into the creature. Lexton didn’t even get a chance to scream as the right side of her face became a sizzling ruin to match the left.