Prompt: Stabbed

Focus character: Jett
Featured characters: Phoenix and Yoru

Timeline: Yoru is the most recently joined agent at number 15.

Summary: In an attempt to stop a spike attack on Bind, Jett feels what it's like to be hit by her own knives.

By Her Own Blade

  "I'm pinned down on B site!" Jett shouted into the comm over gunfire. "I could really use some backup if either of you two knuckleheads can give it."

  "Cool your jets, Jett." Phoenix's voice filtered through unashamed. "We're working on it. They have us cornered on A site."

  "What are our odds?" Jett peeked around the Radiantite storage case, then ducked just in time for Killjoy's bullet to whizz past where her head used to be.

  "I count three. What about you, Yoru?"

  "I count three as well," the riftwalker confirmed before the comm filled with the bangs of his pistol.

Jett waited for the enemy to reload before peeking again. She had Omega-Killjoy and... oh great. Her double.

  "I count two. They have a full strike team."

  "Shit. We're outnumbered."

  "Aww, man, don't be like that. We got this!" Her best friend's optimism—or what Brimstone called overconfidence—was usually appreciated and shared. Perhaps it was the presence of her mirror that made Jett lean more towards Yoru's realism.

  "Has anyone spotted the spike?"

  "Not on A. Jett?"

At the fire Radiant's request, Jett dashed to the other side of the Radiantite container to get a view of Omega-Jett. Sure enough, her mirror reflection was planting the spike while mirror Killjoy covered her.

  Jett cursed in Korean before opening the comm. "Yeah. I got sights.

She aimed through the scope of her Phantom and sent a wave of bullets at her double. Jett was good, but the annoying thing about fighting yourself is that they are just as good as you. In a blink of an eye, mirror Jett planted the device and dashed away before any of her shots hit.

  "Spike planted!"

Shrapnel flew too close to her face and Jett ducked behind cover again. Now both Killjoy and Jett were trying to kill her. Fantastic.

  "Hold on, Jett. We'll rush the portal."

  Phoenix's whoop filtered through the comm. "Their Viper's down." The rush of flames filled her ears. "Come on, let's go!"

  "Phoenix, wait! I can't cover you from here."

  "The spike's down and Jett's in trouble. We have to–ah!"

  "Phoenix!" Jett screamed. The grunt of shock and pain was all too familiar to her.

  A beat, then a sigh of relief. "I'm good, Jett. Just set me back a bit. I can't die, remember?"

  "That's only because you haven't yet, idiot."

  "As much as I would love to test your theory, I'm with Jett. Let's push together this time."

Pride rippled through the wind Radiant despite the dire circumstances. Although Yoru hasn't been with the Protocol long, the lone wolf has made a great improvement in his teamwork.

Frantic beeping brought her back to her current situation. The spike was a glaring red now and black matter was beginning to collect around the device. She could already feel the absence of gravity, a sensation she was very familiar with.

  "We're running out of time. I'm going to rush the spike."

  "Jett, no. Wait for us."

She had never heard Phoenix sound so serious, not even when proving himself better than Yoru at sharpshooting or preserving his flame jackets from battlefield damage. If the hotheaded, reckless, caution-be-damned Radiant was telling her to not rush headlong into danger, she should probably listen to him.

Jett was never a good listener.

Taking a deep breath, she set her Phantom and its nearly empty cartridge pack onto the ground. Jett summoned her winds around her and her kunai blades laid out neatly in a row before her, billowing in mid-air. Her arms glowed blue and her white hair danced around her face.

  "Let's go," she murmured to herself before dashing into the open.

The first knife she threw hit its mark perfectly, and Omega-Killjoy went down. If this had been at the start of this struggle, Jett would have felt remorse for killing one of her best friends. Practice taught her how to compartmentalize, harden her heart, and remember that these were only mirror doubles of her friends. Besides, they had an annoying habit of not staying dead with their Sage still operational.

One of her cloud covers blocked her sight. Jett threw a knife into the wind, hoping the other Jett was hiding behind it. It passed through cleanly.

Jett kept her winds and knives at ready, scanning the site for her double. Out in the open, she could be attacked at any angle.

She sensed wind gathering behind her and caught the sound of a kunai whistling through the air. Jett dodged to the side as one of her knives zipped past, piercing the wall. She spun and launched one of her own blades, which missed by a mere centimeter.

Omega-Jett was smirking, overconfident and relaxed. Now Jett understood Sage's warning about her cockiness. Every fight was a gamble, and Jett was too fond of risk.

  "You!" she seethed as the pair faced each other in a stand off. "I'll make you pay for Venice."

  Her reflection laughed. The familiarity of it sent a chill down her spine. "Come on, Jett. I know you don't actually care about a city on the other side of the world. While you were tearing apart Seoul with powers you can't control, I was trying to save my home. Between us, who's the real hero?"

  "I can't go home because of you!" she nearly screamed. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall. But she wasn't going to allow her enemy to see her cry. "My family shunned me for the things they think I did. I'm always on the run, hiding from the world." Her winds swirled stronger around her. "But now I'm trying to defend it against you."

  Her double grinned. "Hwaiting."

The kunai sailed towards her, glinting menacingly in the sunlight. Jett gathered her winds about her and jumped high into the air. The knife passed harmlessly beneath, and Jett drew her arm back in preparation to return fire.

She aimed for her double's head, a killing blow until mirror Sage fixes that. She sent her blade spinning at the other Jett with perfect accuracy.

Before her knife landed its mark, something hit her stomach with a wet schunk. She jolted and her wind suddenly died. She heard someone scream her name, faint and distant.

She felt the wind on her way down. Instead of billowing her up, it abandoned her, slipping through her fingers and rushing past her skin. It refused to obey, and Jett found she lacked the strength to command it.

The impact of hitting the ground vibrated through her small body. With the wind knocked out of her lungs, Jett never felt more alone and powerless as she did now when she couldn't draw breath.

Lying still on the gravel, the shock gradually left and was replaced by pain. Despite the throbbing in her head, back, and limbs from the fall, it was nothing in comparison to the agony in her middle.

Against her better judgement, Jett slowly raised her head to find the source of the pain. A very familiar hilt protruded from her stomach. She recognized its silver edges and blue leather she specifically picked out to match her outfit; a blue outfit quickly turning red. Her sleeveless hoodie was already soaked with blood and more was oozing from the wound, slipping down her waist and dripping onto the ground.

She had been stabbed by her own blade.

She heard her name again along with the sound of gravel crunching beneath boots. Jett let her head fall back, unable to bear the sight of her own kunai buried deep into her flesh. She squinted against the brilliant sun as her eyelids grew heavy. Jett was gifted some mercy when the glare was blocked by two worried faces.

  She smiled up at them, though it physically hurt to do so somehow. "Hey, idiots." Her croaky voice grated her ears.

  "Jett. Oh man, Jett..." Warm hands enveloped her right one, squeezing it gently. "You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

  "Did I get her?"

  The blue-haired Japanese glanced up, eyebrows drawing together. "Yeah. You got her. Headshot between the eyes."

  She grunted. "Good."

While Phoenix squeezed and rubbed her hand, Yoru kneeled down and pulled her head onto his knees. Pain flared at his attempt at comfort, causing her to wince and grind her teeth. Her left hand leaped to her injury as if applying pressure would make it hurt less.

  "Don't–don't touch it." The normally cocky, quick-fire agent was for once lost on what to say or do. Aww, he does care.

Damn, it even hurt to breathe. A sob of agony bubbled in her throat. Even at the end, surrounded by her best friends, Jett refused to cry.

  She chuckled instead, her mouth dry. "Remember, pretty boy, viking funeral all the way."

  "Don't say that," Phoenix snapped, almost angry. "You're going to be fine. We called for an evac. We'll get you to Sage or Skye and you'll be just fine."

Jett was startled to find tears pooling in the fire Radiant's eyes. Despite their close friendship, she had never seen him cry before.

With her head cradled in Yoru's lap, Jett mustered the courage again to look down at the knife in her stomach. Her shirt and hoodie were a dark crimson mess now. The blood dripping around her had become a puddle. Her hand pressed against her side was slick and warm. A blurry copy of the hilt split from the original and both wobbled in her vision.

  "She's loosing a lot of blood," she heard Yoru whisper. She could barely feel his heavy fingers combing comfortingly through her hair. She felt as though the world was drifting away.

  "What's taking so long?" Phoenix muttered anxiously, staring into the sky.

Jett followed his gaze into the vast blue. She became lost in it as it swallowed her up, becoming darker and darker until it was completely black.

Her blissful darkness was interrupted by rhythmic beeps, harsh and unforgiving.

   What is that?

  The spike.

Heart pounding in her chest, Jett's eyes snapped open painfully. Her arms felt like cooked noodles as she tried to push herself up. The ground beneath her was soft and dipped to her weight. A strangled sound of desperation escaped her throat.

A hand on her chest gently pushed her back down. The sharp ache in her abdomen encouraged her to comply.

  "What–" Jett was cut off by a cough from her dry throat. Cool glass touched her lips and Jett drank the water greedily. The glass retreated before she was finished, but it was enough to bring her clarity. The hand holding the glass was wearing a fingerless blue glove. Yoru's face came into focus, confirming his identity.

On the other side, Phoenix leaned in close, elbows leaning against the railing of her bed and a concerned expression on his face.

  "You good, mate?" His voice was soft and his British accent soothing.

  She nodded, ignoring the throb beginning to build behind her eyes. "What happened?"

  "You don't remember?" Yoru exchanged a frown with Phoenix. "Sage was worried you might have a concussion from your fall."

Fall. Bits and pieces came flooding back one at a time. The spike had been planted. She had been fighting her double. They both activated their blade storm. She hit her mirror in the head, and...

  "My double stabbed me." Her words came out in rough whisper. Jett threw aside the sheet, revealing the soft, cream cotton shirt and pants patients wore in the med bay. She lifted her shirt to expose the white bandages wrapped around her torso. Her skin was cleaned of any blood and the bandages were still white. A good sign.

  "Sage patched you up," Phoenix was saying. Gently, her friend took the hem of her shirt away and pulled it back down, covering the injury from her view. "She had to use some of her power to keep you from... you know."

Dying. She nearly died from her own blade.

  The British agent cleared his throat and continued, "It'll still be a week or two before it's fully healed. So take it easy. Sage's orders."

Jett collapsed against the pillows and sighed. She noticed Yoru and Phoenix sharing worried glances yet again.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" Yoru asked softly.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Really," she added to their unconvinced expressions. Jett smiled genuinely. "Thank you for being there with me. I thought I was gonna die, and it would have sucked to be alone."

  "We always got your back, Jett."

Yoru didn't verbally respond. He simply nodded with a smile tugging the corners of his lips.

  "I just have one question: Who the hell defused the spike?"

  Phoenix made a grand gesture towards Yoru. "This guy rift-walked to the spike and managed to defuse in time by sheer force of determination alone."

  Jett raised a fist for Yoru to bump with his own. "Thanks, man. I don't know what I'd do if I was blamed for yet another spike incident by my double."

It wasn't that funny, but they all chuckled anyway. It hurt to laugh, but at the same time it felt good.

  When the laughter settled, Jett waved to an imaginary stack of reports on Brimstone's desk she knew they would have to add to eventually. "Another win for the books. The Phoenix, Yoru, and Jett mission record continues to be flawless!"

Not even her own blades could stop them.

Translations:
Hwaiting - Good luck (Korean)