"Well would you look at that, you were right. She did leave you behind." The man said, stopping his count.
Through teary eyes, Tess squinted and spotted a mass of earth like the platform that Grendolyn made to bring them up here, only this time it was heading down.
She probably figured it was she was a lost cause and decided that retreat was the best option. Despite how they were, Tess felt a little hurt by this.
"This is just great. I lose half the men in exchange for a single half dead 'Neuman', we're probably gonna be the laughing stocks of the capital once we get back." He spat, understandably pissed by everything that had just happened. "Well. maybe Mototsune will give us some extra credits for compensation. Any of you want her?"
He held up Tess towards his companions, as if offering a piece of meat. "I think we'll get more money selling her if she doesn't die, compared to using her while she's bleeding out like this."
"Yeah... Probably right, don't think we'd be doing anything else here with these numbers. Bo call Oscar and have him reel us back up."
"Yes eunuch." Replied one of them.
"What the hell'd you call me?" He turned to face the subordinate.
"Huh? Co.[Eunuch] of course." The guy tried to reply.
"You want to say that again?" The commander stood close and stared him down.
"Hey Eunuch!" This time Tess shouted clear as day, gasping after she did so, her attempt pulling on her gun shot wound.
He glared at her almost immediately, wondering what guts the captive had to continue insulting him. "Look down." She said with a smile.
There, right between his subordinate's feet was a small hole in the ground, just about enough for a palm to fit through. At first he could only hear whispers like that of passing wind coming from it, but as his eyes focused, he could see that the grooves on the inner wall of the hole were wriggling around, as they did from time to time he could feel like someone had spoken in his ear.
The second he realized what it was it was too late, the shifting had stopped and a clear female voice spoke almost as if she was next to him. "Haha, you looked."
A barrage of bullets came from behind him, his men's screams almost immediately filling his ears. Turning back, he saw the other woman, the one he thought had decided to escape. But the worst part was what she was holding in her hands.
It was a gun, not just any gun, it was one of theirs. And while she had no technique or accuracy in using it whatsoever, in such a place none of them had anywhere to dodge.
With her spraying the bullets around with abandon, she was bound to hit something. And she did, some of his men had their legs shot or arms shot, while some had their torsos grazed by the bullets, nothing fatal so far, only those who hadn't landed upon her platform had the luck to avoid being a deposit for bullets, but not for long.
"What are you waiting for! An invitation!? Shoot back!" He commanded, those who weren't hit knelty quickly and began firing while the others tried to push themselves up, some of those that were
"Gyah!" A panicked Grendolyn fell back, falling into a trench she'd reactively formed. Being the amateur she was though, her finger never left the trigger as it's barrel aimed upwards. Those who were hanging covered their vitals with their arms, which did little against bullets really.
But as the gunfire stopped, they had found themselves wholly intact. Their equipment however was another story. By some crazy luck, she'd missed their bodies, but hit those wires that were holding them up. The luckier ones fell amidst their comrade in arms, eliciting only some groans from those whose injuries had been aggravated. But the less lucky ones got their tickets straight to the ground and the underworld below.
Some of the more able bodied men, their commander included, decided to bring the fight to her, advancing on the little hole she'd decided to dig for herself.
Tess, as stubborn as she was decided her fight wasn't done either as she used her legs to scissor the commander's legs in between, tripping him down to her level. She didn't wait for the others to react before she tried to bring down the only weapon she had on her, her teeth.
Frantically, he tried to push the psychotic woman's face away from his own, her weakened fingers digging into different parts of his body, trying to find a grip to pull herself towards him while one of his men tried to carry her off.
The rest had reached Grendolyn's hiding spot fairly quickly, only to be dumbfounded after realizing it was empty. As they looked down, the person in question had already climbed up behind them, with how their bodies were lined up, all she needed was a short running start to ram into them, turning their formation into a human domino, dropping them inside and quickly closing the top before they could even decide to jump out.
Now there was only four people left for the other team. The commander who was down, two men who had come in to try pull Tess off and one more guy who was confusing himself trying to figure where he should grab the crazy woman.
Despite being shot, as a person from the other world, she was still physically stronger than them.
"Hey guys!" She shouted at them.
All of them, the crazy lady included, faced up to see Grendolyn standing there while pointing a gun at them. "Back away from the animal now." She spoke concisely.
"Who the heck you calling an animal!" Tess shouted.
"The one who decided to jump around like a monkey and got herself shot by the hunters." Grendolyn replied, keeping her eye on the men.
"Here's a better idea." The commander spoke. "How about you drop that gun." As he said that a confused Tess was about to look down, just before she felt the cold end of a muzzle up against her skin.
Before when she was trying to get at him, it was taking all he had just to keep her from biting his neck. But once she stopped, it was a simple deal for him to reach down and pull a hand gun out of a holster on his hip.
"Or better yet, why don't you just pull the trigger."