Metal Whispers
Title: Red Carpet
Word Count: 1464
The limo pulled up to the front of the theatre and even though the tinted windows the flash of the cameras was near-blinding - Keelin peered out at the throng with her bottom lip pinched between her teeth, twisting the fabric of her dress in her fingers.
"There's so many of them," she murmured, only mildly comforted when Theo put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. "Is it always like this?"
"We haven't done a group outing in a long time," Daxen told her. He was sitting on the bench seat across from her, going through the familiar process of wiring up - even in the confines of his closely tailored tux, he made it look easy. "Not since Reagan, at least." He nestled the nearly invisible earpiece in place and tapped it on, covering his ear for a moment as he listened for the sync notes, and then nodded at Tony - their enormous bodyguard sat across from Daxen, his hands folded in his lap, looking entirely serene.
"Corporate kind of thought we should lay low after that whole mess," Theo added, nodding thoughtfully. He leaned up against the window, taking in the crowd. "There's a lot of people out there, Dax."
"We're good," Daxen assured, and looked to Tony for affirmation. The man nodded and smiled peacefully.
"You kids ready?" he asked, and slid his bulk across the plush leather seat to the door. He rapped his knuckles on it, and the security detail outside the limo swung the door open, letting in the anticipatory chatter of the crowd. Tony pushed himself out of the car first, and before Keelin could react he reached into the car and gently took her hand to help her stand - the second her heels hit the red carpet, she was dazzled by the flashing lights and the cheer of the horde pressed up against the security gate behind the velvet ropes. It left her dizzy and breathless, and she cowered against Tony like a startled kitten until Theo joined them on the sidewalk.
"Just keep smiling," Daxen's voice hummed in her ear. "Walk slow, wave to the people, pose for pictures. Sixty feet and we're inside the building." He climbed out of the car then, his last words drowned out in the approving roar of the crowd as he smiled and waved at them - his mere presence seemed to drive them into a frenzy.
"Still the rockstar," Theo cracked. "You should see what happens when he starts taking his clothes off." The comment made Keelin burst into laughter, and her tension eased somewhat as the three of them posed for their first photos, her standing between Theo and Daxen with their arms around her waist and the crowd cheering frantically. After a few seconds she started to feel like a genuine movie star, and the idea made her giddy as they slowly made their way down the red carpet, pausing every foot or so for the photographers who called their names in a constant chant. Here and there they moved close to the gate, posing for quick selfies with fans and signing autographs, always with Tony just feet away and the rest of the security crew fanned behind them and watching the scene like hawks. It was overwhelming, yes, but it was oddly a lot of fun - so outside the norm that she was tempted to pinch herself, and being that she piloted an enormous sentient robot for a living, "outside the norm" was pretty substantial indeed.
They were halfway down the the carpet when she noticed that even though Theo was prancing around, talking to reporters and hamming it up for the cameras, Daxen never left her side - just like at the coronation ball, he kept his hand in the small of her back and stayed right at her shoulder, not close enough to be suffocating but enough to lend some much-needed support. When she walked away of her own accord, to hug a fan or to answer a quick question from a reporter, he stood back and waited for her, smiling brightly when she returned to his side. She was so caught up on the moment that she reacted without thinking, leaning up on tiptoes to brush her lips across his - the reaction from the crowd was a mix of shock and hysterical glee, and when she pulled away he smirked at her before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "That's going to have them talking."
"Let them talk," she replied, offering him a dazzling grin.
"After Coronation Day, you're already the couple of the century," Theo said as he trotted back to them. "Might as well fuel the fire, eh?" He elbowed Daxen in the ribs, to which the latter responded as if he'd been mortally wounded before putting the shorter man in a headlock. "Besides!" he added, laughing as he escaped and stuck his tongue out before fixing his mussed hair. "I'm sure Dax wants off the Bachelor of the Year list, don't ya, Dax?"
"You just want to crawl up the ranks," Daxen accused, giving Theo a shove toward the door. "Come on. We've given them enough for one day. Let's -"
A loud popping sound echoed over the crowd, and the screams suddenly shifted in tone and pitch like a swelling wave, excitement replaced by confusion and terror. In an instant, the security detail collapsed around the three pilots like a safety net, voices filling their earpieces as they relayed with the crew stationed through the crowd.
"Multiple shooters, repeat multiple shooters, moving south to main entrance."
"Are we contained?" Tony asked, one of his huge hands falling on Keelin's bare shoulder and steering her toward the limo. She moved like she was in a dream, the distance down the car back to the car seeming to go on forever.
"Negative, too many civilians, we are moving to -" A battery of gunfire rippled through the crowd, much closer than the initial shots had been, and people began to panic - they turned en masse and started to run, pushing and shoving each other to the ground in the process. Seconds later, the back end of the limo lifted clear off the street in a billowing cloud of fire. Keelin skidded to a halt, Theo crashing into her back.
"Get me some fucking eyes!" Tony roared. "Where are they?"
"Six ghosts moving to your location," a disembodied voice called over the earpieces. "Five more streetside, at least one-four inside building."
"We need to get out of the crowd!" one of the officers in front of Keelin yelled to them. "There's too many people, we can't -" The side of his head suddenly exploded across the front of Keelin's dress, and the shot following it took a chunk of flesh from her upper arm as she staggered back, tripping over her own feet and falling heavily to the carpet. Her clumsiness saved her life - the bullets meant for her head embedded themselves in the enormous statues that lined the side of the theatre - but the two officers that collapsed to her side were rapidly taken down by shots to the head and neck that left them lifeless and bleeding at Keelin's feet.
The world was a hum. She stared at the blood streaming from her arm, then at the pools of it soaking into the carpet and them hem of her dress, and something inside her shut down completely. She blinked owlishly at Theo as he grabbed her good arm and tried to haul her to her feet, blood dripping from a deep gash across his forehead that left a flap of skin hanging loose and grey-white bone exposed beneath, and as much as she tried to will her legs to get under her she simply couldn't make them work.
She could see muzzle flashes all around her, the security team striking back as the crowd thinned and they were better able to see their targets. Voices either spoke or screamed in her earpiece, the wounded calling their positions and successful kills slowly filtering in as the extraction team arrived. A collection of boots marched across the carpet toward her and she was suddenly hoisted into someone's arms behind the unmistakable hum of a pulse shield, the surface rippling like an oil slick as bullets peppered it. The movement caused the world to tilt and roll around her, she gagged on a sudden rush of bile up her throat. When she touched her lips, however, her fingertips came back bloody.
"What..." she whispered. "Am I... am I okay?"
"Not right now, miss," the soldier said gravely, jogging up to one of the armored evac trucks that waited. "But we'll take care of you, promise you that."
Word Count: 1464
The limo pulled up to the front of the theatre and even though the tinted windows the flash of the cameras was near-blinding - Keelin peered out at the throng with her bottom lip pinched between her teeth, twisting the fabric of her dress in her fingers.
"There's so many of them," she murmured, only mildly comforted when Theo put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. "Is it always like this?"
"We haven't done a group outing in a long time," Daxen told her. He was sitting on the bench seat across from her, going through the familiar process of wiring up - even in the confines of his closely tailored tux, he made it look easy. "Not since Reagan, at least." He nestled the nearly invisible earpiece in place and tapped it on, covering his ear for a moment as he listened for the sync notes, and then nodded at Tony - their enormous bodyguard sat across from Daxen, his hands folded in his lap, looking entirely serene.
"Corporate kind of thought we should lay low after that whole mess," Theo added, nodding thoughtfully. He leaned up against the window, taking in the crowd. "There's a lot of people out there, Dax."
"We're good," Daxen assured, and looked to Tony for affirmation. The man nodded and smiled peacefully.
"You kids ready?" he asked, and slid his bulk across the plush leather seat to the door. He rapped his knuckles on it, and the security detail outside the limo swung the door open, letting in the anticipatory chatter of the crowd. Tony pushed himself out of the car first, and before Keelin could react he reached into the car and gently took her hand to help her stand - the second her heels hit the red carpet, she was dazzled by the flashing lights and the cheer of the horde pressed up against the security gate behind the velvet ropes. It left her dizzy and breathless, and she cowered against Tony like a startled kitten until Theo joined them on the sidewalk.
"Just keep smiling," Daxen's voice hummed in her ear. "Walk slow, wave to the people, pose for pictures. Sixty feet and we're inside the building." He climbed out of the car then, his last words drowned out in the approving roar of the crowd as he smiled and waved at them - his mere presence seemed to drive them into a frenzy.
"Still the rockstar," Theo cracked. "You should see what happens when he starts taking his clothes off." The comment made Keelin burst into laughter, and her tension eased somewhat as the three of them posed for their first photos, her standing between Theo and Daxen with their arms around her waist and the crowd cheering frantically. After a few seconds she started to feel like a genuine movie star, and the idea made her giddy as they slowly made their way down the red carpet, pausing every foot or so for the photographers who called their names in a constant chant. Here and there they moved close to the gate, posing for quick selfies with fans and signing autographs, always with Tony just feet away and the rest of the security crew fanned behind them and watching the scene like hawks. It was overwhelming, yes, but it was oddly a lot of fun - so outside the norm that she was tempted to pinch herself, and being that she piloted an enormous sentient robot for a living, "outside the norm" was pretty substantial indeed.
They were halfway down the the carpet when she noticed that even though Theo was prancing around, talking to reporters and hamming it up for the cameras, Daxen never left her side - just like at the coronation ball, he kept his hand in the small of her back and stayed right at her shoulder, not close enough to be suffocating but enough to lend some much-needed support. When she walked away of her own accord, to hug a fan or to answer a quick question from a reporter, he stood back and waited for her, smiling brightly when she returned to his side. She was so caught up on the moment that she reacted without thinking, leaning up on tiptoes to brush her lips across his - the reaction from the crowd was a mix of shock and hysterical glee, and when she pulled away he smirked at her before leaning down to whisper in her ear, "That's going to have them talking."
"Let them talk," she replied, offering him a dazzling grin.
"After Coronation Day, you're already the couple of the century," Theo said as he trotted back to them. "Might as well fuel the fire, eh?" He elbowed Daxen in the ribs, to which the latter responded as if he'd been mortally wounded before putting the shorter man in a headlock. "Besides!" he added, laughing as he escaped and stuck his tongue out before fixing his mussed hair. "I'm sure Dax wants off the Bachelor of the Year list, don't ya, Dax?"
"You just want to crawl up the ranks," Daxen accused, giving Theo a shove toward the door. "Come on. We've given them enough for one day. Let's -"
A loud popping sound echoed over the crowd, and the screams suddenly shifted in tone and pitch like a swelling wave, excitement replaced by confusion and terror. In an instant, the security detail collapsed around the three pilots like a safety net, voices filling their earpieces as they relayed with the crew stationed through the crowd.
"Multiple shooters, repeat multiple shooters, moving south to main entrance."
"Are we contained?" Tony asked, one of his huge hands falling on Keelin's bare shoulder and steering her toward the limo. She moved like she was in a dream, the distance down the car back to the car seeming to go on forever.
"Negative, too many civilians, we are moving to -" A battery of gunfire rippled through the crowd, much closer than the initial shots had been, and people began to panic - they turned en masse and started to run, pushing and shoving each other to the ground in the process. Seconds later, the back end of the limo lifted clear off the street in a billowing cloud of fire. Keelin skidded to a halt, Theo crashing into her back.
"Get me some fucking eyes!" Tony roared. "Where are they?"
"Six ghosts moving to your location," a disembodied voice called over the earpieces. "Five more streetside, at least one-four inside building."
"We need to get out of the crowd!" one of the officers in front of Keelin yelled to them. "There's too many people, we can't -" The side of his head suddenly exploded across the front of Keelin's dress, and the shot following it took a chunk of flesh from her upper arm as she staggered back, tripping over her own feet and falling heavily to the carpet. Her clumsiness saved her life - the bullets meant for her head embedded themselves in the enormous statues that lined the side of the theatre - but the two officers that collapsed to her side were rapidly taken down by shots to the head and neck that left them lifeless and bleeding at Keelin's feet.
The world was a hum. She stared at the blood streaming from her arm, then at the pools of it soaking into the carpet and them hem of her dress, and something inside her shut down completely. She blinked owlishly at Theo as he grabbed her good arm and tried to haul her to her feet, blood dripping from a deep gash across his forehead that left a flap of skin hanging loose and grey-white bone exposed beneath, and as much as she tried to will her legs to get under her she simply couldn't make them work.
She could see muzzle flashes all around her, the security team striking back as the crowd thinned and they were better able to see their targets. Voices either spoke or screamed in her earpiece, the wounded calling their positions and successful kills slowly filtering in as the extraction team arrived. A collection of boots marched across the carpet toward her and she was suddenly hoisted into someone's arms behind the unmistakable hum of a pulse shield, the surface rippling like an oil slick as bullets peppered it. The movement caused the world to tilt and roll around her, she gagged on a sudden rush of bile up her throat. When she touched her lips, however, her fingertips came back bloody.
"What..." she whispered. "Am I... am I okay?"
"Not right now, miss," the soldier said gravely, jogging up to one of the armored evac trucks that waited. "But we'll take care of you, promise you that."