Air Strike by McDead

Aisha was scared to admit that it was her first time piloting one of the Godslayers' fighter jets, so when her captain called to her over the radio asking about what experience she'd had, her response slipped out of her mouth before she'd even considered the words.
"Enough for this mission, sir!" She returned: "So don't worry about me!"

All she got in return was an amused snort from the other side of the line; she glanced out the windshield to her side to see him looking back at her, standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier, though his helmet hid his expression.
"Let's hope so, this one's a violent one. She's already taken down one of our airships, so upper levels recommended to send us in -- we're smaller targets."

"Right..." Aisha returned, swallowing her nerves: "And what is it we're dealing with, sir?"

"All you need to know is that this giant has one powerful conduit - big range and big AOE. So be ready to dodge and weave when we get close. We're to take her out and let the others bring her in. If you can figure out her conduit and destroy it, that'd be even better."

There was a pause.

"And keep calm, Aisha. Remember, it's the giants that should be trembling, not us."

"Yes, sir!" Aisha returned quickly. As much as she wanted to believe otherwise, she hadn't quite managed to push aside her worries yet. But... there was a whole flight ahead of them. Plenty of time to calm her nerves.



An hour later, and her captain's voice barked in her ear again.
"Eyes up, cadet! Our target's up ahead."

"Huh?" Aisha glanced forward and, sure enough, he was right: they were approaching a city, heading down the way of a wide river running through it. Spanning that river was an impressive looking bridge and upon that bridge... well, it was obvious even from so high up.

"I don't think she's noticed us yet," The pilot to her right - Aisha remembered him introducing himself as Ray - told the other two as they approached.

"Maintain altitude for now. When I say, we'll dive and fire some draining rounds. Don't get cocky - we're not certain what her conduit can do yet." The Captain told them.

"It's just a big energy ball, isn't it?" Ray replied: "Sounds pretty simple."

"Let's hope," The Captain returned with a dull grumble. Aisha swallowed down some spit.

"Ready yourselves... Three... two... DIVE!"



Aisha's muscles tensed as the three of them all dipped one at a time, maintaining formation as they stabbed through the clouds and into open air. She saw the giant noticeably tense up, too. She knew their organisation was called the 'Godslayers' for a reason but, still... given how anxious she felt right now, she couldn't help but empaphise just a little bit.

"Oh, shit--" The Captain's voice sounded through Aisha's helmet: "There are still civilians on the bridge! Nobody shoot! Back up, back up!"

Seriously? Aisha thought to herself as they followed their captain, zipping over the bridge without firing a shot. Why had nobody told them that? So much for the element of surprise.



"Ready yourselves, she's charging something!" Ray warned as they rose. Aisha tried to look over her shoulder, and saw the giant glaring up at them, mouth open, with some kind of glowing golden ball forming at her lips.

"What the hell...?" She whispered, her grip tightening on her controls. The ball grew in size until it looked about as large as the giant's own head, sparking and simmering with energy, before the giant released and it came hurtling towards the three jets with surprising speed.

"Evade, evade!" The Captain shouted and the three jets dispersed, the ball of energy rocketing past them and into the distance.

"Well, I can tell why the airships would have trouble with that," Ray noted: "It's big and fast. But we can deal with it, just don't get too close while she's charging, yeah?"

"Right," The Captain agreed, the three jets turning to return to formation. However as Aisha turned in the air, she saw a glitter in her peripheral and quickly spun her head to meet it. Her eyes grew wide and her face pale: "Shit--Eric!! Look out!!"

"What--" Eric began down the radio, but his voice was abruptly cut off as the golden orb slammed into the jet. Aisha could only watch from a distance while the jet violently shuddered in the air as the powerful energy overcame it. There was a high pitched shrieking sound and Eric screamed in Aisha's ears before the jet exploded into a fiery ball, the remains tumbling down into the water below.



"What the fuck?!" Aisha screamed, unable to take her eyes off of what just happened.

"Shit!" The Captain shouted in return, "That fucking thing locks on target!"

"What?!" Aisha shouted: "How-- how does that even work??"

"Ask questions after we take down this freak! We can't afford to wait anymore, she's dangerous!" The Captain shouted. His plane tipped into a dive and Aisha followed, though at this point her mind was going at a hundred miles per hour. She'd never heard of any conduit that could do that - how advanced could they possibly get? Could their jets even keep up??

Aisha's panicking thoughts were knocked out of her head when her Captain shouted into her ears, making them ring painfully: "Aisha!! Fire, now!"

Aisha let out a shrill shriek and the two began firing at the giant, their rounds zipping through the air. The giant cried out and staggered backward as the rounds hit her chest and her arms as she raised them to protect her face, leaving her standing precariously against the rocky edge of the bridge.

"If we keep firing, we can knock her off!" The Captain shouted to Aisha as they swooped up again, gaining distance as the giant charged up for another attack: "First we're gonna have to shake that damn attack. It has to putter out eventually."

"But what if it--"

"It will, Aisha! Just evade, evade!"

Aisha shivered and bit her lip, but managed a meek: "Yes, sir," in return.



The giant let off another blast and the orb rocketed toward them. Aisha watched it, trying to see who it was directed to.

"Oh, God..." She whispered, before shouting to her Captain: "Captain, it's on me! It's on me!"

"Aisha, keep it busy! We don't know if she can fire more than one!" The Captain shouted as Aisha was forced to swerve to the right, the orb careening past the jet. It was slow to redirect, the sheer velocity it was going at working against it. "I'm going to fire at her while she has no way of retaliting!"

"I-I'll try!" Aisha shouted back.

"No, Aisha! You'll do or you die, understand? Keep evading!"

"Yes, sir!" Aisha shouted, trying to force some confidence out of her throat. She kept her eyes deadset on the orb as it flew back toward her. She tensed up and waited as it came closer and closer. forcing herself to wait until the very last second before her jet swerved out the way, the orb flying past her again, while her Captain swooped down to fire on the giant. When she looked back to see where the orb went, however, her heart skipped a beat when it had seemingly disappeared from its path. Her eyes darted round, desperately trying to figure out where it went. Eventually, she found it, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Captain!! Look out!!" Aisha screamed, but it was too late. Before he could let loose any rounds, the orb smashed into the Captain's ship, the impact causing it to stall in the air before it exploded into shrapnel, its remains tumbling into the ocean below.

"No... no, no, no..." Aisha whispered, her heart pounding in her chest. What just happened?? Wasn't it aimed on her?? Why did it change target?? Was there two?? She couldn't figure it out, but what she did know was that the giant was charging a third one. She knew she couldn't do this forever and was forced to pull up as the golden orb began chasing after her again, her attempts to dodge resulting in it barely missing her wings as she swerved and spun.

"What do I do?? What do I do??" Aisha shouted to herself. She'd tried to contact someone - anyone - but for some reason she couldn't get through to a single person back at base, or anywhere else. Whatever happened, she was alone, and she had to deal with it herself. She had to think!

Aisha noticed the giant hadn't fired another orb the whole time - so there had to be only one at a time! So how could she get this one off her tail...?

An idea popped into her head, and she didn't give herself much time to think about it. She flinched as a spark from the orb charred her wing. Shit, she didn't have time to think about it! She made a hard turn to face the giant waiting for her on the bridge and grit her teeth. Pushing her engine to the max, she began charging right toward the giant. The giant stepped back in surprise, her eyebrows furrowed with anxiety as the jet led the orb towards her. So close to just tumbling off the edge of the bridge. The orb was still following her - good. She was gonna give this giant a piece of her own medicine. She careened toward the giant, not able to stop a cry of anger to escape her lips. She began firing rounds, the giant having to raise an arm to shield her face again. Closer... closer...

Suddenly, the glow behind her faded. Aisha looked over her shoulder to see no orb chasing her down.

"What the hell...?" She turned back around, just in time to catch a glimpse of something right in front of her. Only time for one word to run through her mind.

Hand.



A moment later and everything around her was red. It was almost like everything was going in slow motion - there were two fingers either side of her, tearing the wings off of the jet and ripping through the windshield, missing her body by inches. A moment later, the floor beneath her was gone, a red glow and chunks of metal flying through the air with her as she sailed past the giant's outstretched hand.

Huh?

Aisha's body careened through the air as the jet fell apart around her, flying forward and smashed into one of the metal poles holding up the bridge. Her face shattered instantly against the hard steel, blood spurting everywhere as her body ragdolled and she fell. Her back cracked against the railing before she slipped off and tumbled into the raging river below.