Onward!: Pt. 5

Smith could feel the fiber bundles on his vertebrae straining to stay together. The body armor that all Operators wore underneath their clothes saved him countless times before, but now, under the heel of an alien warrior, the suit was failing him. There was a loud pop and crunch followed by Smith losing consciousness.
When Smith finally came to three Operators were standing over him, one carrying a hand-held rail gun that had just been discharged. He shook his head and tried to get up. The three Operators helped him up and told him not to move. The smell of ozone was in the air. Smith managed to get a glimpse of the warrior crushed into the wall of the building they had been standing next to.
"You're lucky to be alive Smith," said the female Operator closest to him. She smiled.
"Yeah, I've never seen something like your back before. She basically squeezed the fiber bundles out of your suit. You're gonna be paralyzed while you're in your suit. We already called the Company and told them the situation," said an Operator Smith knew
"Drake? That you? It is isn't it? Where the hell am I?" said Smith.
"You're in Low Town, you got stomped, literally, by a Neekreshi Warrior. A female one at that. Don't know why you were down here though," Drake said.
Smith nodded his head and tried to move his arms, but they didn't move.
"Why did the suit paralyze me?" Smith said. He turned his head to the female Operator.
"It's part of the emergency process. You aren't supposed to be able to move in case any of the fiber bundles breaks or tears. In your case, they were squashed out of their netting and that caused the suit to stiffen. You're lucky your back is not broken," she said.
"What's your name?" Smith said. He tried to crack a smile through his lacerated face.
"Gwen, Larissa Gwen," Larissa said.
"I'm Smith. Deacon Smith, nice to meet you Larissa Gwen," Smith said. He smiled and then passed out again...

Previously on Onward!...

The buzzing started up and Smith covered his ears. His tear ducts would have spilled liquid if he'd still had the ducts to begin with. the enhanced eyes that the Agency had given Smith did many things but they did not shed tears. Besides, he was an Operator for the Agency and he didn't do things like cry. Even when an female Neekreshi Warrior was speaking with the voice buffer turned off. His ears began to bleed and he could feel reality slipping away from him rapidly. He crashed down onto the concrete amid the remnants of dirty old shoes, rancid meals in plastic bags and broken phials and discarded needles. The last thing Smith felt before the lights went out was the Neekreshi Warrior slamming her good foot down onto his spine...