Storm of Shadows and Fog

The flare overhead cast everything into a sharp contrast of harsh red and solid black shadows. The faint glow of the Ruqin's eyes and accents made their movements blur in the flare's light as Jin swung her sword over and over and over, cutting down the smaller robots that had led the charge.

Claudia's pleasant voice boomed over the sounds of fighting. 'Attention all citizens. Attention all citizens. Immediate evacuation in sectors D1, D2, and D3. All available soldiers to converge on the front door.'

But the ever-rising mass was still pushing Jin and Yuan back, further from the door and further from any chance of stemming the tide. The cannons boomed overhead, huge blasts tearing pieces from the mechs still pushing the massive doors open, but there were always more to replace them.

What had to be soldiers in hard, blue armor, carrying guns and swords and all kinds of weapons waded into the tide of Ruqin all around Jin, cutting and stabbing and bashing and being pushed back just as steadily by the sheer numbers. Floodlights blasted across the incoming Ruqin, only making the shadows starker.

The ground rumbled and shuddered. A huge foot nearly crushed a small group of the blue-clad soldiers nearby. A mech with a spinning minigun for one arm and an almost-human hand at the end of the other. But there was something wrong with it.

The mech moved wrong and stepped wrong. Not to mention its blazing gun was firing down into the Ruqin.

'Oh, she got them working,' Yuan muttered from beside Jin.

Jin just barely dodged a stab from one of the robots in front of her. She needed to concentrate. The friendly mech was intercepted after a few steps by a Ruqin mech almost twice its height.

A huge blade crashed through the friendly mech and something launched from its back. The mech collapsed into the flood of Ruqin and stayed, not dissolving like the Ruqin mechs that the cannons were whittling away at.

Despite the near-deafening clatter of gunfire, the blue-armored soldiers, and two more friendly mechs crushing their way into battle, the tide of Ruqin was pushing further and further from the wide open front doors of the tower.

There was a crash from somewhere to Jin's right. She glanced over to see one of the bigger Ruqin mechs wade through part of one of the big row buildings. Any non-combatants must have listened to that pleasant voice and evacuated, though, since there was no sign of people in the debris.

Too late, the mech was hit with a cannon shell just before another friendly mech with a mech-sized sword charged in and reduced the Ruqin to parts and Cubes. A blade scraped Jin's side and she refocused on the fighting. It wasn't that it was hard as much as it was endless.

That solid, blue armor of the city's soldiers was holding up without trouble against the onslaught of blades and strikes. No Ruqin were firing on Jin and the other melee fighters, they must have been tied up with the gunners in the back.

Another wave and the tide surged deeper into the city, overtaking the tram stop where Jin had disembarked to get here in the first place. Cannons started hitting the floor in front of the door, blasting big swaths of Ruqin into pieces and Cubes. The friendly mechs tried to divide their attention between the Ruqin mechs and the flood of smaller fighting robots.

Jin found herself pushed and pulled along with the other fighters, like the crest of waves lapping against a beach. As quickly as the Ruqin were destroyed, more took their place. The tide was still coming in, still pushing further into the city.

An uppercut where Jin expected a right hook drew blood on her cheek. A downward slash while Jin was too pressed in by the crowd to block properly left a gash on her shoulder. And all the while, the Ruqin pushed the line of soldiers deeper into the city.

More and more crashes and booms reverberated through Jin's chest as more mechs marched their way through buildings and infrastructure, friendly mechs too few in number or too distracted by the little robots climbing them. The cannons couldn't keep up with the numbers. The guns couldn't keep up. The soldiers couldn't keep up.

As if fighting a wave of entropy itself, Jin could see that blue armor starting to crack in places. She could see people bleeding. She could feel her own blood running down her body. She could feel the mechanical strain in her arms and legs and she had to just keep on fighting.

It was instinct more than thought. Something Jin had only ever used way up in the snow. Something to keep herself from dying. If she'd thought about it, Jin probably wouldn't have tried it at all. There was no snow here. Surely it wouldn't work.

Jin stepped back out of the line and the air swirled and swished around her, her long coat flapping in the breeze as, much to Jin's own surprise, the gem in her chest started to glow and purple fog twisted from the cracks and lines in the streets.

The fog swirled into the ball of wind around her until she was encased in an opaque wall of purple light. Jin pointed her sword ahead and with a rush, the wind and purple fog blasted away from her, spreading through the Ruqin tide and obliterating sight beyond the end of your arm.

Someone shouted. 'What is that?'

Jin wobbled on her feet, sweating and panting. But she waded back in before the fog could start to disperse. The Ruqin were still, barely reacting when Jin's sword swung down on them. Even the mechs she had caught in her fog had stopped moving, stopped shooting, stopped anything.

A hatch had opened on one of the friendly mechs and a human wearing a helmet that trailed wires back inside was looking around. Jin had no idea if she could specifically exclude the mech from the effect of the mist. She didn't know how to try.

Over it all rang a humming sort of static that Jin had never heard before, like a radio tower producing only signal and no sense.

The other soldiers joined in soon enough, tearing through the suddenly motionless Ruqin and coming out the other side of the fog in moments. Suddenly deep enough to lay sword and spear and club on those Ruqin with guns and cannons and energy weapons.

Jin stumbled along with the suddenly retracting wavefront, doing her best to help with shaking arms and blurring vision. It would certainly be unfair to say she wasn't doing anything, but she wasn't doing much.

The front lines of Ruqin turned back to attack this sudden spear of soldiers, and the mechs who had been fighting them pushed through the weakened lines. The cannons, free to focus solely on the Ruqin mechs, pushed them back from another row of buildings. Freeing the mechs defending the buildings to start wading into the tide of robots.

Jin couldn't make out the words of the pleasant, female voice over the haze in her head and the thundering, rattling, and shrieking of Ruqin. But a minute or two later, fresh soldiers pushed in behind and around Jin.

Finally, she could stop and have a break. Her arms and legs were shaking, she felt cold, and her blood dripped onto the ground. But all around her, the Ruqin were being pushed back.

Yuan put an arm around Jin and helped to guide her back through the slowly dwindling purple fog. Back through the rubble of buildings destroyed by mechs, toward a line of medics.

Between the back of the fighters and the medics was a short woman with green and purple hair, dressed in a plain t-shirt and tan jacket, holding a microphone to her mouth. Jin either couldn't make out what she was saying, or she was talking silently.

The medic gave Jin something to drink, and patched up her cuts, then gave her another delicious meal to eat. Jin sat there, eating and drinking and taking deep breaths.

She watched the city's soldiers and mechs slowly push the tide of Ruqin back toward the open front door of the tower. Beyond the open doors, there was nothing. An empty void that Jin found difficult to describe or even look at for too long.

Thankfully, Jin was distracted by Dr Li approaching. 'Jin, you're in luck,' he said.

Jin blearily looked up from her meal. 'It seems like it,' she said. 'I didn't expect that to work without any snow.'

Dr Li frowned at her, then looked back toward the barely perceptible purple haze in the air. 'That was you?'

Jin nodded, too busy eating to say anything.

'I think we're in luck more than you are, then,' Dr Li said. 'But what I meant is that Claudia wants to talk to you.'

'Oh, the voice from the tram?'

'She is an actual person, but yes.' Dr Li kept on frowning.

Dr Li went over to that woman with the microphone and toolbelt while Jin finished eating and watched the city's fighters crush the Ruqin back toward the door.

Jin wasn't totally convinced it would help if the door stayed open after the Ruqin were pushed back. It seemed like it would create a massive vulnerability that the city might not be up to dealing with if she had been the catalyst of the whole fight.

But as the last of the Ruqin disintegrated into parts and Cubes, the symbols around the door started to glow and shift again. The soldiers readied themselves and even Jin stood up and put a hand on her sword.

The doors just swung themselves shut.

Jin let herself relax a bit. Dr Li came back from talking to that woman.

Jin put her empty bowl down. 'Let's go talk to the tram voice, shall we?'

'It is me!' the tram voice announced loudly from the mouth of the woman with the microphone. 'I speak for the trams.'

Claudia wrapped her arms around Jin. 'Thank you for saving the day, Jin Feng.'

She was cute and soft and smelled nice. Jin blushed. 'I… um… it wasn't just me.'

'No it wasn't just you,' Claudia said, retreating to arms length, hands on Jin's biceps. 'But you helped a lot. Without that fog… well, it wasn't looking good.'

'I…' Jin was too busy blushing to think of anything to say.

'You did amazingly and I'm so happy you're here,' Claudia said.

'Um…' Jin was sure she looked like a tomato by now. 'Those mechs… they helped a lot too.'

Claudia's face managed to light up more. 'I know, right?' she grinned. 'Pretty good for a first field test.'

'First…'

Claudia nodded. 'I've been designing those things for ages,' she said. 'Wanted to test them on the second floor, you know. But desperate times, right?'

'I suppose.'

'Speaking of…' Claudia punched Dr Li in the arm and he winced. 'Thank you, Doctor Minghao, for shooting off that flare so fast. No chance we would have had the mechs running in time to help if not for that.'

'Well, I wasn't going to fight, was I?' Dr Li smiled gently.

'And sully those hands? Not a chance!' Claudia punched him again and he winced again.

'Should you…' Dr Li waved vaguely at the soldiers and mechs standing aimlessly around the closed front door.

'Oh.' Claudia's eyes widened. 'Quite right.'

She spun around and held the microphone up to her mouth. Her mouth moved, but the voice took a moment to come from all around and through the city. 'Defenders of the First Nation, we rejoice in your bravery and strength. The whole city thanks you for your heroic effort. To fight back such a sudden and dastardly invasion from the great enemy, to pilot untested weapons in defense of your fellow citizens. It is nothing short of awe-inspiring.'

Cheering and clapping erupted as Claudia lowered the microphone.

'And then probably tell them they can go and rest?' Dr Li suggested. 'So they don't try to find a new fight immediately?'

Claudia pointed at him. 'I've heard worse ideas.' She raised the microphone back to her mouth, but this time Jin couldn't hear her voice at all.

Dr Li stared intently, like he was trying to read her lips. 'I'm pretty sure she's getting builders to come down,' he told Jin.

'You're getting good at that,' Claudia said, lowering the mic for a moment. This time, when she raised it, her voice came from all around again, but not from the rest of the city. 'For now, tired defenders, rest and recuperate. Reinforcements and builders are on their way to set up a new position in case something like this were to ever happen again. Dinner is on me.'

A much more subdued cheer and the soldiers started to disperse, chattering amongst themselves. The mechs either stayed where they were or started toward Claudia.

'I want to talk to you two,' Claudia said. 'Can you just stay here for a few minutes while I finish tidying up?'

In an orderly line, all the mechs came over to Claudia, who produced a large wrench from somewhere and, with the judicial application of torque or, more likely, magic, collapsed the mechs into briefcase-sized boxes that the pilots carried away.

Only once all the mechs were collapsed and carried away did Claudia bring the microphone back to her mouth. This time, her voice sounded from further into the city, but not the immediate vicinity.

'Thanks to the hard work of our heroic defenders, the crisis has been averted. Rejoice, citizens of the First Nation. You are once again free to go about your normal business. Unfortunately, residents evacuated from near the front door will not be able to return home or to work until reconstruction is complete. In the meantime, rest assured that your needs will be taken care of by the rest of us.'

Claudia lowered the mic and sighed, before flicking a switch and stuffing it into her toolbelt. 'Jin, would you say you're an adventuring sort?'

Jin frowned at her. 'Not really.'

Claudia immediately deflated, sagging until her hands almost brushed the floor. 'Jin, do you want to go back up the tower?'

'Oh, sure,' Jin said. 'I'd like to get back home and make sure everyone's not dead.'

'Oh.' Claudia looked very convincingly sympathetic and reinflated enough to give Jin another hug.

Jin blushed.

'Doctor Minghao?' Claudia said, still hugging Jin. 'Would you say you're an adventuring sort?'

Dr Li crossed his arms. 'No,' he said. 'I'm not.'

Claudia sighed and leaned away from Jin to glare at Dr Li. 'Well, you're just a liar, then, aren't you?'

'Why are you asking, Claudia?' Jin asked.

'Oh, you know my name!' Claudia beamed. 'Even after I completely failed to introduce myself. Amazing.'

Jin was approaching tomato status again.

'I want the two of you to head up the tower,' Claudia said. 'And investigate whatever caused that.' She pointed at the front door, where a couple of the symbols were still glowing faintly.

'Oh, in that case, I'm definitely the adventuring type,' Dr Li said.

'See, I knew it,' Claudia said, and punched him again for good measure. 'Jin, would you? Do you want to?'

Jin frowned. On one hand, it felt like there was no point and she'd be too late getting home anyway. On the other hand, she did want to know what was going on. This was still the sort of thing everyone was interested in back home.

'Sure,' she said, slowly. 'But I would rather go all the way home, not come back here. So…'

Claudia dug in the same pouch where she'd stuck the wrench. 'Take this with you, then,' she said. She pulled out a rectangular thing that looked like a miniature version of Dr Li's intercom from his surgery.

Jin accepted it awkwardly. 'What is it?'

'It's a mobile phone,' Claudia grinned. 'You can call me from anywhere in the tower. So we can keep in touch and you can let me know how it's all going and I can maybe give advice and the like.'

'Oh,' Jin said. 'That's cool.'

Claudia nodded a bunch. 'Isn't it? In the meantime, I'll put Yuan and Yunlong onto research here and we'll let you know if we find anything.'

Dr Li nodded a few times. 'Sounds perfect. We'll leave in the morning.'

As they headed back to Dr Li's surgery, Jin was surprised to find the trams were still running from the next stop down. She was less surprised to have to wait at the tram stop for a stream of soldiers and people in garish and reflective clothes carrying construction equipment.

'Doors closing, please stand clear,' Claudia's voice instructed over the tram's speakers.

'She's still doing announcements? After all that?' Jin asked, sitting down across from Dr Li.

Dr Li grinned. 'Those are pre-recorded, she doesn't have to say them every time.'

Jin blushed. 'Oh, that makes more sense.'

Dr Li's house, or apartment as he called it, was above his surgery and offices. He occupied a thin slice of the row of buildings, only about four meters across, but four stories tall. The bottom level was triage, where Jin had woken, the second level was his consultation room, the third level was his office, and the top was his actual apartment.

It was much smaller than Jin's family house, but the furnishings were much nicer, or at least more modern. A single bed took up one corner, a little kitchen took up another, and the space was dominated by a large bookshelf, couch, and plush chair.

'I only have one bed,' Dr Li said, by way of apology. 'You can sleep on the couch. I expect it'll be more comfortable than the amenities we'll have in the tower.'

Though the sun was only just starting to edge toward the floor that served as a horizon in the First Nation, Jin laid herself out on the couch with a blanket provided by Dr Li and fell asleep quickly.