The first punch sent Van sprawling. Before the second could land, he was already rolling, gun in hand, eyes sharp. Chandra saw the glint of metal and froze. Even in self-defense, even with all of Van's boasting in his skill, that gun terrified her.
A second group of men surrounded Chandra within an instant. They were armed with knives. Her voice cracked through the chaos, words of prayer spilling out as her fingers dug into the earth.
Gunshots echoed. A tall, thin figure melted from the shadows, blade gleaming as it struck true. He moved like a phantom, efficient and silent. By the time Chandra saw him clearly, the bodies were already at his feet.
She hopped up euphorically to meet her savior, crying out, "You saved me!"
But she was thanking the air.
"Where-?"
She looked back and forward and all over as the dust settled over a still forest clearing. Not even the wind blew. Van popped up out of the dirt and called back to her.
"I—did?"
"No, that man! He saved me. Cut down these people who attacked me."
"Who--Oh," Van almost stumbled over a corpse. "Someone did this just now?--What a silent assassin. Oh, there are so many! Hey, where did the guy go?"
"I don't know..."
They stood looking at each other.
"Well...great then. Are you okay?"
"Yes! I'm fine."
"Thank God for angels. Please stay close and quiet until we figure out what's going on here."
Chandra grabbed the edge of Van's cloak in her hand and followed him closely on autopilot, her mind preoccupied by the mysterious hero. She liked Van's description of him - an angel. Dark, beautiful, mysterious, invisible, good. Her guardian.
She hadn't expected this shard to be inhabited at all. Of all Earth's remnants, this shard had drifted out the furthest, nearly reaching Mars. It didn't seem to have much in the way of natural resources, either. Really nothing special. If you needed lumber, there was no lack of forests closer to civilization. And the last thing Martians need is more red clay and rocks.
"Maybe it was just a small gang of misanthropic squatters. I really am not seeing any infrastructure for much more than a small village."
"There was still that angel, though..."
"Your angel...Maybe a merc on a mission."
"Didn't bother taking trophies..."
"Regardless, he seems to on our side, or at least neutral. Let's scout straight across the length and width, making sure we aren't bringing back anything strange."
"Like what?"
"Know it when you see it," Van winked.
Chandra rolled her eyes, trudging along behind him.
It was a beautiful cut of land, like Kentucky or Tennessee. Surely nowhere else in the world looked quite so beautiful. The rolling green hills against a galactic vista, outpouring with clean streams and murmuring forests.
"Has to be America."
"I felt the deep heritage and lore of these puzzlelocked black trees and hills as European. Maybe Germany."
"Europe!" Chandra fretted a little. "How are we going to piece it all back together?"
"I'm not sure we are," Van confessed. We do the job we're hired for and respond to updates and surprises. You know. Flexibility."
Chandra shrugged at his wisdom. "If it's not America, I'm sure Europe won't miss it."
"--Look there, in the water! Oh my gosh, it's a girl."