Wanna hear something stupid?
Reaper looked up from his drink. A faint smile flickered over her face. A cute girl sat across him, violet hair, chapped nail polish that somehow looked insanely cute on her, eyes that didn't flinch. I mean, they quite literally couldn't, because she was a Synth.
She traced on his wrist, what seemed like circles, but when Reaper looked down, it was as clear as day:
6 6 6
"They say if your heart stops for six minutes and sixty-six seconds," she laughed, twirling noodles, "You don't die."
"What actually happens then? Wait, that's not how time even works. A minute stops at 60 seconds, what kind of-"
"That's not how life works either," she broke him up.
"But we still wake up every day and try again like idiots. Every single day. Without stopping, or for taking a break."
He almost smiled at her pathetic attempt to flirt.
"You look like the kinda guy who'd test it, you know." she said quietly as she downed whatever was remaining in her glass.
He leaned forward. "And if I do?"
She leaned in with a mean glare.
"Then you better have a good reason for coming back."
The numbers faded deep into his skin with a gentle hiss
A jolt. Static across his nerves.
Reaper's eyes snapped open , he realized he was still on the rooftop, bleeding, drowning in red.
His HUD flickered.
HEART STATUS: FLATLINING — 4.5s
A spotlight hit him.
"REAPER! WE SEE HIM!"
A dropship roared overhead, his crew, or whatever what was left of them. Harsh voices cut through comms:
"Stay awake! We gotta move!!"
Pain surged. His vision split into two parts; one complete darkness because half of his face was blown into smithereens by the drone. He coughed blood looking at the drone shutting down quietly, having spent enough energy to prompt for a recharge. He smiled anyway. His lungs barely rose. He couldn't feel his legs anymore. The pain was excruciating, like the pain of Childbirth times 10, maybe even more.
Reaper gripped his neck gently, finally realizing it would be better to activate the kill-switch and deny giving the Pseudo-Government information about their crew. His hands ruffled through a piece of his scalp, blood and hair as he put his finger on it, which was thankfully still in tact.
Maybe this was the only way to protect them.
He pressed down.
A hand stopped him.
"Wrong choice, dumbass."
Reaper blinked through one working eye.
Lyra knelt beside him, soaked in rain and blood, her gloves burned black from the heist.
She held his wrist tightly. Ironically exactly where the Synth girl touched him months ago.
Behind her, the dropship touched down with a violent hiss. Vex sprinted across the gravel, almost slipping on cracked tiles.
The dropship screeched away with Reaper and between the ruined skyline, with five police squads on their tail. Anti-air turrets locked in.
Static screeched over the comms.
"Evasive route! Hang on, Vex, jam their electronics!"
Vex slammed his console. "Trying! They're switching to a new frequency every time damn it!"
Inside, Lyra knelt beside Reaper. Her gloves slick with his blood.
"Come on. Don't fade on me. Stay awake. Keep your eyes open, talk to me!"
1 minute.
His breath shallowed.
"He's not responding to pain stims anymore. Heart rate dropping…we're losing him."
Sentinel-4 scanned calmly.
"Life expectancy: Five minutes. Suggest disposal."
Lyra glared. "He's... he's crew."
2 minutes.
Outside, lightning cracked between skyscrapers.
Police drones swarmed like vultures, weapons charged.
Reaper twitched.
Vex saw it.
"He moved, he's alive!"
Lyra's voice shook. "For how long?"
They hit turbulence, the ship slammed sideways. The ship spun. Sentinel-4 held the controls steady.
Anti-air missiles rose from the bridge below, three of them launched by tracking the ship's heat signatures.
"FLARE! FLARE!" someone screamed from the cockpit.
BOOM–BOOM–BOOM!
Sky turned to fire.
3 minutes.
Reaper's eyes half-open. His vision fractured — violet lines running across reality.
Reaper's POV:
He heard old laughter.
Her voice again.
That stupid bar.
That stupid mark on his wrist.
Crew POV:
"Lyra, what's that smell?!"
Lyra froze. "It's burning circuits. His neural link is overloading."
Then, the hum.
Faint. Growing.
Sentinel-4 scanned.
"Warning. Electromagnetic spike detected. Source: Reap "
Lyra stared down at Reaper.
"…What the hell are you doing?"
4 minutes.
The dropship shook. Bullets ripping through the tail section.
Radar flashed red. FULL SURROUND.
Vex cursed. "They've got us boxed in, there's no exit route!"
Sentinel-4:
"Incorrect. One possible route. 7.3% survival."
Lyra: "That's a death run!"
Sentinel-4 tilted its head.
"All routes lead to death."
They dove straight through the barrage.
Sirens howled.
Traffic lights went haywire.
People screamed on the streets below as the ship ROARED overhead.
His heart rate was slow at the 5th minute mark. Too slow for a functional human to come out alive.
A warm boiling tear spilled from his working left eye and Lyra snapped her head to see Reap with a faint gazing at him.
Should've just left me dead on the roof, silly.
That's what that look meant and Lyra immediately caught up on that.
"…he's not unconscious."
Her voice shook.
"He's… still alive. With us. I don't know where, but he's still in there."
A police gunship matched their speed.
Heavy railgun loading.
Sentinel-4:
"Evasive protocols insufficient. Recommendation: Pray they miss."