[2-5] Exodus from the Nose Crash

[Gildarts]

Red was no more. The waves had eaten him, and now, despite his sacrifice, it was taking the beach. The invasion of unstable steps made the behemoth appear to waddle like a wind-up toy, and as he ascended, water streamed from the crevices, creating steam with a sizzling hiss! as some of the ocean was returned to the bursting waves below him. It seemed all the water had done was make the titan angry, for before it took a drink of air victoriously, it released another purely destructive war cry. She all but bowed as she flinched at the echoing sound and covered her ear with increased madness, for a creature with no internal organs, damn did it have lungs!

Christa shook off the last echoes of the sound, eyeing the mighty titan’s ember hollows which had raked claw marks all around them. It was uncertain whether or not the lion had accomplished his goal to steal his sight, but she wouldn’t let the cat’s sacrifice be in vain and had already fixed her cross-hairs at the enemy, the sniper’s butt settled in the natural grove of her shoulder. In came a single breath, as her other ear numbed out the ringing blaze of battle, while the tingling burn of pain tickled her everywhere, Christa focused on only the saline air sweeping over her tongue. The enormous ebb of water pooling at the thrashing monster’s feet seemed to distract the freak of nature, when it finally would emerge, the sniper was staring it straight in the face from a little ways up the beach, she’d be his target when he made it out. And Christa always shot a little better when something was on the line.

There was an imprisoning tightness in her chest. Fear fluttered in her heart, pumping the necessity of focus to reason with the limp in her leg. It wasn’t enough, and the lack of balance made the sniper weakly stumble before she caught herself. There, standing more or less tall, she stared at the fate-delivering creature blank in the face, searching for the chinks in his rocky armor, until she settled on the only shot that made sense. There were few things keeping the creature’s mountainous design together, she reflected, but there was a single binding fortifying thing’s chest plates. Maybe he’d crumble and fall apart if she shot right through them, and since there was dense stone nearly everywhere else, she figured at least it didn’t seem like a wasted shot.

Along her arm, she felt the scorching wound that its claws had given her, and she’d make sure it felt the same agony. Over in the water, she saw the young girl, floating over waves, and Cyborg was fighting it one-on-one with his arm canon, until she gave him the okay to get clear of the shot. A wordless agreement, made by warriors and no less. Her jaw clenched, the snout of her gun pointed downward into the cyborg’s back, and she bared her teeth just slightly, as her finger hovered over the trigger.

Just... Like... Target practice... her eyes looked at the surreal enemy, and finally she was ready. “Move!” she shouted down her barrel and Cyborg did as she asked, while a sweep of the creature’s hand delivered a shower of sharpened rock hurdled into her flesh. Before she could feel the pain, the trigger was sprung and the beast of a bullet spiraled at her enemy. POW! her rifle smoked, and Christa shifted, wavering under the gravity of the pain and falling onto the soft cushion of the sand below her. It was hard to find where there wasn’t blood. And it drooled out of her, Christa’s nerve had snapped, between it all, hope seemed like a distant dream. Sick, she was sick to the stomach, and dully, she heard a voice shouting at her, something bright about hitting it in the head. Everything fell to the fog of war, the tides had shifted. Still, her shivering fingers went over to her pouch, it chimed with a lack of bullets, and her heart remained crestfallen as the sticky gore of blood smushed over the next golden bullet as she reloaded the next in the chamber.

Her body was fighting her now, shutting down. Her humanity had descended on the battlefield, shaking her concentration and telling her it was time to remember the good days, that there wasn’t much time left, and memories came cascading back, ones where she was smiling, reunited with her sister or looking at a certain jerk ex-stormtrooper. Tch. Life was so simple now. Pale eyes rolled upward, reminding her of her prize and she assured herself that she wasn't done yet.

Click. It loaded into the chamber with the force of her gooey hand on a steel lever, again, Christa looked down her sights, and again, her mind was serenaded away. It was foolish, to think you were going to die when you already had made your peace with the reaper. But before she'd even think about it, she’d make sure that this giant fucking bastard got his piece too. The woman’s head tilted, her cheek brushed against the sleek metal, and her eyelids drooped, but she had propped up her knee to assist her arm into holding the rifle steady. It was time to pull the trigger.

Waves crashed at its feet in an amazing frothy explosion, and Christa grit her teeth to numb the pain, feeling the uneven surfaces file themselves smooth. She'd decided that the only death here would be wherever she delivered the bullet, and this time it would hit the creature dead center, because this time, her memories haunted her. This time, she had everything to lose.

"Hey you big piece of rock! Let me show you what I'm made of!"



[spoiler]

2 x T1 Supermove used. SP used 2/9

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