Ballistic Coefficient

"Pale! Pale, wake up!"

Groggily, Pale cracked both eyes open, groaning as she did so. A wave of pain radiated throughout her head, and she winced, bringing a hand up to rub at her temples as her blurred vision began to clear. After a few seconds, she could see clearly, and found herself staring into Kayla's eyes.

"You're awake!" Kayla said, sounding relieved. "What happened?"

"Got into a fight," Pale said with a scowl. "I lost."

"I can see that. How did you lose?"

"Didn't expect two completely different kinds of magic. Probably should have; he was clearly a noble's child, if the outfit he was wearing was any indication." Pale patted herself down, frowning when she recalled Joel had taken her pack. Slowly, her eyes narrowed. "I lost my pack."

"I still have mine," Kayla offered. "Here, take it."

She shrugged off the pack, and Pale accepted it, slipping it over her shoulders as she stood up. It was much lighter than her old one, likely because Kayla was carrying half the spare ammo she had been. That thought caused a wave of annoyance to pass through her, but she decided not to dwell on it.

Her creators had a saying about situations like this – it was better to get even than to get mad. And she intended to hold true to that sentiment.

"How long was I out?" Pale asked, turning back to Kayla.

Kayla shook her head. "About thirty minutes, if I had to guess. You were one of the first ones to get pushed out, and I was one of the last."

Pale nodded. "And nobody tried to bother you on your way out?"

"One did," Kayla replied. "But I managed to beat her."

"I'm not surprised," Pale mused. "Somehow, I suspect most of these people don't have the same level of combat experience you have." She shook her head, letting out a small, pained hiss when the dull throbbing in her head began again, though she was quick to power through the pain. "Did you get a tome from the person you defeated?"

Kayla let out an irritated sigh. "...No. She'd already lost hers to someone else."

"Again, I'm not surprised. How many people stayed behind to try and pick someone off right at the entrance like I did?"

"A fair amount. Most of them were already fighting someone else, so I just ran past easily enough."

Pale nodded in understanding. "Smart move. Something tells me it'll pay to preserve your mana as best as you can."

Something glinting on the nearby floor caught her attention; Pale stepped over to it and realized it was her knife. Amazed, she bent down to pick it up, turning it over in her hand.

"Surprised I wasn't robbed of all my gear instead of just most of it," she said.

"Nobody but me even knows what your gear does," Kayla pointed out. "I imagine that most people just left you alone once it became clear you didn't have a tome or anything else they could use. Same with the knife – everyone's already got a martial weapon of their own."

"Makes sense, I suppose." Pale slipped the knife into the sheath on her belt, then turned back to Kayla. "Your call – do we stay here and try to rob anyone who comes out, or do we keep moving? I can see an argument for both options."

"You can?"

Pale nodded. "Either one brings us closer to our goal in some way. Staying is obvious – we get the opportunity to claim some more tomes for ourselves if we win. The only problem is that I'm currently next to useless in a fight against people I'm not supposed to kill, which means you'll be pulling most of the weight at the cost of your own mana."

Slowly, Kayla nodded in understanding. "And as for leaving?"

"We can start making our way to the destination that was marked on the map," Pale explained. "I've got the route memorized, or at least memorized as much as I could based off a map that crude. Of course, the downside is that we'll have to hunt people down instead of letting them come to us."

Kayla brought a chin up to his hand in thought, biting her lip as she considered their options. "...We should probably stay, at least for a bit," she decided. "Try to get at least one or two people, then split once more of them start coming out."

"Makes sense," Pale said with a nod. "Okay, how do you want to-"

Footsteps caught their attention, and they both turned, Pale drawing her knife and Kayla conjuring flames in each hand. Pale had expected a fight of some kind, but was unprepared to see a young woman running at the two of them, her hands covered in sharpened stone. Pale went to take a step forward, but an arrow soaring past her and embedding itself into the wall next to her leg stopped her.

"Kayla, get the archer!" Pale shouted. "I've got her!"

"Right!" Kayla called back, running past her as the girl with stone-covered hands drew closer to Pale. Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to care that Kayla had just run past her, and was instead focused on Pale.

The two of them circled each other, Pale switching her knife to a reverse grip while the girl flexed her fingers, curling and uncurling them, each movement punctuated by the sound of stone grinding against stone.

"It doesn't have to be this way," Pale offered. "I don't have a tome."

"No, but your friend does," the girl across from her sneered. "And something tells me neither of you are going to hand it over without a fight."

Pale's eyes narrowed as she sized up her would-be opponent. She was tall, standing about six feet, and had long black hair tied back into a ponytail. She was around twenty years old, if Pale had to guess, and also quite athletic – she had a build similar to Pale's, but a bit more muscular. Finally, the few patches of her skin that Pale could see through the gaps in her purple cloak and the hood pulled over her head showed that she was very tan.

"What's your name?" Pale asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"Call me Pale."

"Alright, Pale – why should I listen to you?"

"Humor me for a moment."

The girl let out a small chuckle. "No, I don't think so. Tell you what – you care that much? My name's Valerie. Remember it while I grind you into the dirt."

And then she charged at Pale, one hand full of sharpened stone cocked back. Pale tensed, waiting for the right opportunity, and the moment it presented itself, she moved. Deftly, Pale moved into Valerie's guard, barely managed to avoid being struck by the handful of stone, and as Valerie overextended, Pale grabbed hold of her outstretched arm and used it as a pivot point to wrestle her to the ground.

And then, before Valerie could react, Pale had her knife pressed against the side of Valerie's throat.

"Don't move," Pale warned. "I've got it pressed against your carotid artery. One little flick of my wrist, and you'll bleed to death within seconds."

"Bullshit," Valerie growled. "The instructors said no killing."

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Pale asked. She drove the blade of the knife into Valerie's throat, just enough to draw a trickle of blood. It had worked before on Nasir, so hopefully it would work here.

Valerie paused for a moment, then gave a heavy sigh.

"You know what?" she said. "Yeah, I would."

And then, before Pale could react, Valerie moved. She shifted away from Pale's blade, and in the same motion, brought her other arm around, intending to hammer it against Pale's skull. Pale was just barely able to disengage in time to avoid being struck, Valerie's fist busting a crater in the ground where she'd just been a split second before.

The two of them separated from each other. They both stood there in silence for a moment before Valerie let out another chuckle.

"Knew it," she taunted. "You don't have what it takes to kill me."

Pale's brow furrowed. "Don't confuse an unwillingness to kill with an inability to kill."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Pale didn't answer, instead rushing in, knife at the ready. Valerie was unprepared for the sudden assault and backpedaled a bit, giving Pale time to close in. Her natural instinct was to go for a killing blow, but instead, Pale held herself back, and settled on a sudden gouge to the outside of Valerie's arm. Valerie reeled back, her hood falling down to reveal her face, etched with surprise. Pale flicked her knife, scattering blood droplets across the ground, as Valerie stared at the crimson leaking from her hand and dripping onto the ground below.

"Give up," Pale demanded. Off in the distance, she could see Kayla's fire being cast, as well as arrows soaring through the air. A scowl crossed her face; she was going to have to make this quick.

Valerie, meanwhile, stared at her arm, still dripping a thin trail of blood, with her expression still carved into a look of shock.

Unfortunately, it didn't last. He expression soon contorted into one of sheer rage, and she charged at Pale once more.

Pale let out an irritated huff, realizing that Valerie was going to keep coming unless she did something drastic. Another series of shallow cuts, perhaps – enough to draw blood and be painful, but not enough to permanently maim her or kill her.

She never got the chance to do so before a black aura suddenly surrounded Valerie's hands, and she snapped one of them forward.

Pale was taken by surprise when a large chunk of rock tore itself from the wall and was hurled towards her by some unseen force. She jumped out of the way, but was left off-balance when Valerie closed in on her, and was not prepared for the rock-encrusted fist that made impact with her stomach, just underneath what her plate carrier covered. Pale's eyes widened as the air was driven out of her, but she managed to stay standing.

This was a mistake, as Valerie brought her other hand around, bashing her across the head.

Pale flew backwards several feet, reeling from the blow as stars flashed through her vision. A rivulet of blood began to run down her head, and she grunted as she tried in vain to stop the world from spinning.

Her vision straightened out just as Valerie began to advance upon her once more, and by now, Pale knew she had to do something to end this fight before she was left even more wounded.

And so, despite every fiber of her being screaming at her not to do it, Pale yanked her pistol from its holster and fired. Two .45 caliber slugs went screaming downrange, making impact with each of Valerie's kneecaps. She fell to the ground, screaming bloody murder as the twin gunshots echoed throughout the halls like a thunderclap.

Pale froze for a moment, but it didn't last. She decocked her handgun, then stowed it back in its holster and began to approach Valerie, who was writhing on the ground in agony, a pool of blood forming around her and tears leaking from her eyes as she sobbed. She was in so much pain that she didn't notice Pale approach until it was already too late, and by then, it was too late for her to get away.

Still, she tried to scramble back, lashing out blindly, but in her pain, the rocks covering her hands began to crumble and fall away, leaving her with nothing but bare-handed strikes that merely glanced off Pale's slung rifle and plate carrier. Still, Valerie fought, until finally, Pale had enough. She grabbed Valerie's hand, then with her other, reached for her belt.

Valerie began to hyperventilate as Pale pulled something from the pouch at the small of her back, and began to scream for help. Pale, meanwhile, simply let her.

She didn't even notice when Pale uncapped the syringe with her own teeth, then stuck the needle into Valerie's arm and depressed the plunger, sending the medicine flowing into her body.

It was over in just a moment. Pale let go of Valerie, then recapped the syringe and stowed it back in her IFAK before standing up.

"Your legs will repair themselves in a few hours," Pale reported. "By then, you won't even be able to notice you've been shot, save for the scar tissue, which will heal over time. Now where's the tome?"

Valerie didn't say anything, instead staring at Pale with wide eyes. Pale rolled her eyes, then stepped back over to Valerie and began to pat her down. Valerie screamed like she was being manhandled, but Pale ignored her. To her dismay, Valerie didn't have a tome on her; Pale let out a grunt of annoyance as she stood up once more and glared down at Valerie.

"Next time, when someone offers you an out, take it," she advised.

"Pale!"

At the sound of Kayla's voice, Pale turned. Kayla was running towards her, a worried expression on her face, which turned to horror when she saw Valerie writhing on the ground. The medicine Pale had used on her had already worked to stem most of the bleeding, but she was still in obvious pain.

"What… what happened?" Kayla muttered. "What did you do…?"

"Something desperate," Pale said. She reached out and took Kayla by the hand. "Come on, we have to leave."

"But-"

"Now, Kayla. Let's go."

Kayla offered no argument as Pale began to pull her away, leaving Valerie by herself, crying from fear and pain as she continued to slowly bleed on the stone-covered ground.