Learning to Dance

she hit ground and bounced, her body crying out in protest
as it was thrown back again, the sound of tearing muscle
and breaking bones resonating in her ringing ears.
A moment’s stillness, and then she yelped and rolled out
of the way as the great, hollow body of Metal Gear landed
with an earth-shattering crash beside her. Everything was
silent.
“Up?” she called, her voice sounding as broken as the
rest of her felt.
The sound of movement somewhere nearby. “I’m here.”
He came crawling, blackened and bloody, picking his
way carefully through the debris and reddish dust. Taz
struggled to sit up, stifled a gasp, touched her torso lightly.
Broken ribs for sure. Hopefully nothing important had been
punctured.
Up reached her, and helped her sit, both of them leaning
in exhaustion against the remains of the walking tank. The
metal was warm to the touch.
Rrrr. Rrrr. Rrrr.
They looked at each other. Then, Up raised himself up
high enough to peer over the top of the tank. The smoke
was starting to clear.
“Shit, Taz, we’ve blown a hole through the roof! And
there's a cave-in along the path we came in, too - we’re
lucky the whole thing didn’t come down on us!”
Wincing, she pulled herself to her knees and looked over
the top of the robot corpse. Greenish light streamed through
where none had been before, illuminating the depths of a
black pit where shining red mineral had once lay. Taz felt a
brief moment of jubilation. They’d done it. Now the
G.L.E.E. would stand a fighting chance -
Her joy was quickly replaced with a realization. They’d
gotten the job done, but they’d also announced their
presence loud and clear. Just down the gaping main tunnel,