Dangle, Do, Then Die

As the first line of defaults fell, the spools released their cables at a fast rate, then slowed the descent until the pilots came to a complete halt midair. Below them, the simultaneously blood-freezing and boiling sight of a wall of Aud climbed higher. The pilots pushed their arms out above their heads, beginning to swing.

After a couple seconds, they drifted close enough to the walls' outer face behind them for their HUDs to activate a newer feature. The soles of the suits' boots began to hum, though none of the pilots heard or felt the change. What they did feel was the sensation of drifting further backward than they should've, and seconds later clunking hard against the walls, jarring their legs with the impact.

Above them, the second line, composed of light WAVs, repeated the same process of lowering, then swinging back and forth until their boots drifted close enough to the walls to utilize their magnetic function. Within one such suit, Hu-5 swallowed a mouthful of spittle.

Despite her boots, the harness keeping her from falling further, and the anti-grav modules integrated into her suit offering the illusion of standing on solid ground, the sight before her dispelled that too well. Her HUD picked up her rising unease. "Notice: BPM past one-hundred twenty. Advisory: Injection of anti-anxiety cocktail. Proceed?"

"Yes." A small pinch in her arm was the only indicator preceding the forced relaxation overcoming her. She took two large breaths and tried for a smile, even if there was no one to show it to but her HUD. "Thank you."

She flexed her fists in experimentation, feeling the finger and hand plates clink around above the endoskeleton. When the Aud were close enough she could make out their eyes, her HUD beeped in her ear. "Advisory: Begin ranged assault when whites of eyes become visible."

Without replying, she lifted one wrist and angled it downward. The cylinder launcher integrated into it cycled in an orb and fired as soon as it was ready. The external layers peeled back and were flung into the air, while the contents continued down until they collided with the leading Aud.

Once they attached to fur and lit up, explosions racked the shifting wall below. It didn't raise her spirits; rather, seeing her enemy obscured by the smoke only served to reignite her tensions.

Her shoulder mounts joined in too, one firing a steady stream of sonic rounds and the other sending into the smoke burning beams that turned the gray wisps brighter from the heat alone. She had her vision switched to thermal to address her visual handicap, reminding herself to fire cylinders further down and away from herself after that.

From the slots above her wrists, the WAV's pairing blades emerged. She took a stabler stance as the last meters protecting her whittled away. She checked her rear camera, relieved to see two lights angled on either side of her. It acted as mild courage to help remain in place as the first Aud lunged forward.

One boot remained in place, but the other kicked forward at an angle, pushing aside a claw aimed for her hip at the cost of sacrificing its sole. Her two arms punched forward, aiming for the whites of the eyes. And with the Aud continuing as it was, she succeeded in using its forward momentum to skewer its eye sockets with her blades. She withdrew as it flailed from the pain, quick as a pebble, forgetting where it was and dislodging its supporting claws. It fell, fast to vanish from view as three more took its place.

Despite training in simulations offering combat scenarios in all environments possible, Hu-5 remained unaccustomed to fighting on a vertical plane. But at least she had more aids than the Aud, forced to not only support their own weight but contend with the jostling of their brethren.

She had little worry of falling, especially when the Aud were more preoccupied with going through her as opposed to around her and severing her cables in the process. The anti-grav modules and magnetized boots worked wonders to keep her suit lightweight and stable, though she'd argue it was the harness performing the real miracle.

The different cables reacted on a combination of her suit's sensors and her HUD's deductions to determine when was the time to offer slack, to become taut, or to move in another direction. She had the illusion the harness was perusing her thoughts and reacting ahead of what she knew she was going to do.

She had heard the scientific explanation back in one of the pre-deployment briefings, but that wasn't as exciting, not near enough to distract her from the terrifying straits she was in now.

One of the Aud came to close for comfort, maw wide and ready to tear a chunk from her suit's arm. The rear feed caught one of the light WAVs disconnecting its boots, descending, and planting the full weight and force of its fall onto the Aud's skull. It yowled and flung its front hooves at what was likely a pest for it, but by then the light's harness had pulled it back up out of harm's way.

On her other flank, the other light repeated the action, but its was more successful in that it dislodged its target. Hu-5 allowed herself a strained smile before thrusting her pairing blades through another pair of beady eyes.

The three of them maintained the status quo for a few more rounds in their tiny space on the wall's outer face. She attracted the bulk of the attention and had to juke and dodge in midair--in an armored suit definitely not designed for such an activity--while the two above her dive-bombed the Aud and did their best to remove as much pressure from her as they could, whether as distractions or saboteurs. Then she made a mistake, though she wasn't the one that paid the price.

She had kicked away another Aud after pressing down on its muscled shoulder, the action resulting in her remaining foot becoming untethered from the walls. The magnetized boots could only remain affixed to the walls against so much force, and without realizing it, she had passed that threshold.

It left her swinging, helpless in midair, desperate to try to push forward with enough inertia to return. She wouldn't be stuck there; if she had the time, it would only take a couple more swings to become planted again. But she didn't.

The Aud, despite their size, the plane of orientation the skirmish was on, and how gravity worked against their favor, were fast enough to take advantage of the chink in her defense. They rushed up in a tide of fur and flesh, ready to sever her cables and tear her down into their madness.

One of the light WAVs guarding her flanks swung down and slammed into her, utilizing their momentum to press her back to the walls. Before she could open a communication and thank the daring pilot, her heart froze as she realized the momentum had only carried one of them back.

One of the faster orange Aud had flung out a barbed limb, digging into the heel of the light's armor and stopping it from swinging to safety like her. It tugged once, and the cables preventing the pilot's fall strained. 

"No, damnit, no!"

She directed every last one of her ranged armaments at the orange-fur, even her cylinder launcher. She snapped off three shots and a single cylinder before she needed to disengage and move upward. Time had not frozen, and the Aud wanted to tear her apart with as much vigor as the other pilot.

The orange-fur withstood the electric and sonic discharges, was lucky enough that the cylinder missed it, and tugged again. With the light WAV trapped in the air between its cable harness and the Aud below, it was a lamb dropped to slaughter. Two Aud launched themselves up at the same time, each biting or clawing into a side of the suit.

It lurched down, and even as the other light WAV was descending to offer its aid, the cables snapped. Hu-5 couldn't even watch what happened to her fellow pilot, forced to dodge back again and again without the same support she'd enjoyed before, with fewer opportunities for counterattack available. "Damnit!"