"Come on."
Ekko's voice cut through the quiet later on in the day. Atlas didn't move, still sprawled on his sleeping sack, staring up at the ceiling.
"We need an extra body," Ekko added, stepping closer. "You can't lounge around all day."
Atlas exhaled slowly, lifting a hand just enough to jerk his thumb behind him. "I'm not trying to. I'm trying not to move so my wounds don't split open again. Especially after this morning."
"I'm sorry about that," Ekko said apologetically. "But we need your help. Shit went down. All we need is someone to signal for us."
"Great," Atlas said sarcastically, gesturing while lying down. "What kind of shit? The hard or soft kind?"
"The... hard? Whatever, man." He shook his head, irritation creeping into his tone. "Just come outside when you're ready."
"I'm a little cripple- nope, he's gone," Atlas flopped his hands back down. "Alrighty! I guess here we go again! Eugh!"
Groaning, he slowly sat and then stood up, feeling the stiff crackling of dried blood.
"Motherfucker." Atlas winced, feeling a sharper pain as he readjusted his walk from a waddle to a slow, uneven step.
Outside, the air had cooled. Evening settled in, washing the tree in softer light. It should've been the kind of hour people relaxed but instead a group of five Firelights, including Ekko, were geared up with hoverboards and gathered at the base of the tree.
"So," Atlas called out, gingerly stepping down the steps, "why not ask a kid to signal for you? Y'know, instead of the cripple?"
"Because a kid can't fight back," Ekko answered, nodding toward the young red-headed man with the busted nose glaring at him. "And you're still able even if you're hurt."
"None of us have the luxury to relax," Ekko continued. "Not if we want to keep everyone here safe. And if we start using kids then we'll be just like Silco and his thugs."
"So... use the cripple. Got it." Atlas raised his hands when they looked ready to respond angrily. "Look, I know I'm complaining. I'm just getting it out of my system before we start."
Taking a deep breath and looking at their hoverboards, Atlas felt an unpleasant feeling growing in his stomach.
"What happened?"
Surprisingly, the Chirean spoke for the first time. His voice was a deep, gravelly kind with guttural, growling sounds between certain syllables and words.
"Silco's men attacked a supply run. Our people are being held."
"Obviously it's a trap. They would've killed them already if it wasn't," Ekko echoed in frustration. "But if we do nothing then they're dead. And that's not something we live by, so..." He met Atlas's gaze. "We're going to at least try."
Atlas frowned and nodded, understanding Ekko's little jab but also his determination.
"Since we know it's a trap," Ekko continued, tapping his pipe on the ground, "we can get the surprise on them instead."
"It's going to be a clusterfuck," Atlas interjected. "We send guys in and they'll spring their trap. We're going to ambush their trap, assuming they're too stupid to know their trap isn't obvious."
"So they'll trap the trap," Ekko finished, then gestured at the Chirean, then at the red-headed man and a masked red-headed girl, and finally the dark-haired masked man and Atlas. "Me and Scar will go in first. You two next. You and Atlas last."
"What's my signal part in all this?"
"You signal us to get the fuck out with this flare if shit looks too dicey," Ekko smiled thinly, tossing it to him.
Right... so last in, first out, but still expected to engage if possible, Atlas thought, tossing the flare in his hand.
Like hell I'll engage in my condition. I'll make sure I'm a last resort.
Atlas's gaze then moved to their hoverboards.
"Whose my ride?"
"You got your own," Ekko answered, gesturing at one he hadn't noticed leaned up against the wooden post along the treehouse along with a thin metal pipe.
Atlas sighed, already imagining the unpleasant strain in his back. "Can someone teach me how?"
"Scar."
The Chirean smirked, stepping forward.
"You must learn quick."
------
~The Sump~
"Where is your hideout,"Sevika snarled, her voice low and impatient Her left mechanical arm swirled angrily with Shimmer coursing through it, its metal fist painted with fresh blood.
"Fuck you!"
In an abandoned building right next to where they caught them, with most windows boarded up, a few bloodied Firelights lay tied up in the center.
After tracking Atlas down to the Sump, his trail went cold.
Her and her men spent most of the night and then the morning hours searching for him when they stumbled upon a kid wearing a Firelight mask. It was her great fortune to then have these ones try to save the kid and, while they succeeded, sacrifice their own freedom after being beaten to a pulp.
Sevika had her suspicions about the Firelights and Atlas. She remembered the Firelights, years ago before they became a serious issue, visiting Atlas's stall repeatedly and getting into heated debates with him. When she approached, they'd scatter like roaches but Silco instructed her not to touch Atlas.
All because of Jinx.
It left her in a frustrated, suspicious state of mind so to her, this was killing two birds with one stone.
"Trust me," Sevika smirked, snapping his leg with a sharp crack and the Firelight let out a terrible scream. "I have all day. It would be easier for both of us if you talked now."
"You're a damned traitor," the Firelight screamed through tears. "You betrayed Vander and ruined the Undercity!"
"I can't believe there are people still bitching about Vander," Sevika snorted, picking him up by the throat with her good arm. He thrashed uselessly, trying desperately to breathe.
"Ruined the Undercity? I'd say we made it better. But there can still be improvements."
Smirking, her mechanical arm hissed and began to thrum violently before the hand retracted and a red-hot blade emerged.
She was about to swing when a strange, echoing noise caught her attention overhead. The thugs around her raised their weapons and she dropped the coughing, wheezing man to the ground.
"We've got more company."