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Alex watched the two Enhanced from a distance for a while, noting their daily route out of the hotel as they went to search for the base. They were heading to the same place, mostly, to look for local records of any strange, abandoned buildings.
Gus stood beside her the whole time, radiating unhappiness and concern.
It was getting on her last nerve.
She thought about saying something. Snapping and demanding to know just what exactly he wanted from her.
But she didn’t.
She needed him to believe that she could do this. That she had a cool head on her shoulders.
That they could win this fight without calling in any damn backup...
So, she stayed silent, and once she was reasonably certain that the Enhanced wouldn’t deviate from their route, she and Gus found the spot on said route that would provide the best conditions for an ambush.
A small, quiet street, with a narrow road that could be easily blocked.
Once they had that information, it was just a case of waiting.
Alex perched at the top of a building, looking down from the roof through the scope of a sniper rifle. She didn’t necessarily want to kill the other Enhanced if she could avoid it, but then she remembered how her monitor had fully intended to slit her throat as soon as she was no longer useful as a way to cause Freya pain. The man who was supposed to have been looking out for her had been more than ready to kill her, so she didn’t see why the other Enhanced who shared his views should be spared.
That just seemed like causing more trouble for her.
Alex checked her watch, knowing that the Enhanced always arrived at the same time.
Two minutes past the hour.
They were a minute late.
“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Gus told her. “Maybe we should call this off. Figure out a different way to approach them.”
Alex shook her head. “No,” she said, as Gus got up and started scouting around the rooftop. “There are hundreds of reasons why they might be a minute late. They could have hit traffic or anything...”
“Or they suspected that they were being followed,” Gus said, his voice hard. “If they thought someone might be after them, this is the most likely place on their route for an ambush.”
Alex frowned. “But we’ve been following them for days. Why today? How would they know that today would be the day we would strike?”
“Because they installed sensors up here to see when we would try and ambush them,” Gus said with a sigh as he picked up a small, metallic device.
Alex cursed as she recognised the Enhanced sensor.
“We should go,” Gus said quickly. “Hopefully, they decided to avoid us entirely, but if they decided to face us instead... We need to leave before they find us.”
Alex clenched her fists at the idea of just walking away from their one opportunity to get the scouts. “No, they still don’t know that we’re onto them. They will be expecting to catch us by surprise. We can use that to our advantage.”
Gus shook his head. “Alex, I wasn’t happy about this plan when they didn’t know we would be here. Now that they do-”
Gus was cut off by a shower of bullets, aimed right at them.
Thanks to their quick reflexes, both Gus and Alex managed to duck down, out of the line of fire.
“We need to leave,” Gus told her firmly.
Alex shook her head. “Even if we try to leave, they will just follow. Better to stand our ground here, where we were expecting to fight, than have them give chase.”
Gus groaned but nodded. Even if he felt that they should have left before, staying was truly the best option now.
Alex waited until the Enhanced firing at them ran out of bullets, before launching herself down from the roof, to land in front of them.
She couldn’t see the second Enhanced but trusted Gus to take care of them as she focused on this one. She couldn’t tell who they were under their black armour and mask, but she decided it was no matter. She’d figure it out soon enough from their fighting style.
Alex grabbed her baton and used it to knock the empty gun from the Enhanced’s hand.
She heard fighting from behind the Enhanced and assumed that Gus had engaged the other beyond her line of sight.
The Enhanced whose gun she had knocked away responded with a kick to Alex’s middle, but Alex deflected the blow with both hands either side of her baton.
She tried to strike at the Enhanced, but they blocked her blow with their forearm before slamming their other hand towards her stomach.
Alex spun out of the way of their strike, bringing her legs around to sweep under the Enhanced and knock them off their feet.
Alex straightened, but before she got fully upright, she found herself knocked back by a sudden blow.
She flew back onto the hood of a car, hitting her head as her breathing went short and sharp with shock.
She looked in front of her to see the Enhanced that Gus had been fighting with a gun aimed right at her.
Alex felt the world swim around her as Gus struck the Enhanced who had shot her.
That was the last thing she saw before the world went dark.