I watched in horror as two columns of something dark and pulsating burst forth from ballerina’s eyes. The writhing pillars slammed into the translucent aircraft. The arched plane became visible almost instantaneously. It lurched to the side from the force of the impact. Smoke began gushing from the two collision points.

I was in a daze and from his lack of response I could tell Mateo was too. Suzuka had taken the full brunt of the attack.

I could hear the buzzing of broken equipment over our intercom. Our communication line to Suzuka had been destroyed.

Somewhere inside myself, I knew I was supposed to help her. Somewhere deeper, I knew how futile that was. My exoskeleton is fireproof, but if I got stuck inside the plane’s wreckage, I wouldn’t be able to get out. I was left with a single melancholy thought – Suzuka was young, and this was how her life was going to end.

Seconds later, I saw a small figure propel through the top of the slowly descending plane. In my panic, I had forgotten about the emergency ejection seats that were fitted in our aircrafts.

The ballerina seemed to be taken by surprise by all of this. As she rubbed her eyes, Mateo snapped out of his stupor. He caught the parachuting Suzuka in one giant mechanical hand and most of the crumpled wreckage in the other. He brought the discharged seat up to the windshield of his mecha and studied it.

I couldn’t see anything from the angle I was at. My head buzzing, I flew closer to the large robot that the protector was in.

“Mateo. Mateo what’s her status?”

Mateo didn’t say anything. I felt dizzy. What was he looking at?

“Mateo answer me. Mateo!”

“…she’s alive. She’s screaming, I-I think she might have gotten burnt.”

His voice sounded emotionless. I didn’t have time to think, I had to act. I sent a message to headquarters requesting an emergency carrier plane.

“Mateo, don’t move.”

He didn’t reply. He just continued to gaze down at Suzuka. It took all my strength not to look down at her.

With great care, I approached the ballerina once more. The spotlight that had once been on her face was now tilted towards her feet. Whoever had been manoeuvring the light must have evacuated when the client attacked.

With the light beam directed at this angle, I realised why her leg looked so strange before, and why she was consistently bouncing. While one of her ribbon entangled legs stood strong and upright, the other bowed under her weight. It reminded me of a bent pool noodle and it made my stomach queasy looking at it.

“Lilliana, are you hurt?”

“I am fine! I am just trying to dance in peace!”

Despite her mouth not opening, the answer came back as a roar. The ballerina’s eyes began to flicker open and I felt my mouth grow dry. I was going to take a chance at something that could kill me.

“I’m not sure you are fine. How are you feeling right now?”

The ballerina began to wobble unsteadily. Her boneless leg bobbed in response. Fresh tears started to flow down her haggard cheeks.

“You can talk to me Lilliana, I’m here to help you.” I said to her in a gentle tone.

“…nothing matters to me anymore.”

The client’s mannerisms were different now. The regal tone had been replaced by a dry, cracking voice. She was no longer a refined lady. Now she sounded like a tired and broken woman. The mask had been fractured and it was time to dive in.

“Can you tell me more about why you think that nothing matters?”

I probed her carefully. As this was happening, I heard the emergency carrier plane arriving. I didn’t take my eyes off the client. She needed my full attention while she was disclosing her catalyst.

“A few weeks ago, I took a bad fall. I broke my leg in three different places.”

She gestured to her pliable leg.

“I thought I’d be able to recover after a few months. Sure, I’d miss a lead role, but it’d heal, right? I knew someone who was back after less than a year…”

The client’s shoulders shook. I drew closer to her.

“I’ve been dancing since I was five. I gave up university for it. I left my boyfriend for it. I have nothing left to live for.”

The ballerina’s glow was beginning to grow brighter. Without losing eye contact, I turned up the afterglow absorber on my exoskeleton. I could feel my body beginning to tingle. In a few days, my skin would have a temporary ethereal glow to it, but there was nothing I could do about it. Without the help of our rounder, I’d have to take the full force of it. Well, almost the full force of it.

I could see from my control panel that Mateo had turned his up too. That wasn’t the only thing he was doing now. Even without looking at him, I knew Mateo had his weapon aimed at Lilliana. It was protocol for protectors to go into an offensive stance after the injuring of a crew member. If the client made any other movement that seemed aggressive, he would shoot, whether I asked him to or not.

“Lilliana, it sounds like dancing means a lot to you. Is that why you feel like you have nothing to live for now that you can no longer dance?”

The client covered her face with her hands and nodded, choking out a few words.

“I just want to die.”

There it was. This conversation was leading down a road that filled me with dread. I took a deep breath and continued.

“Do you think that’s a one hundred percent true statement? If you could theoretically die right now, would you want to?”

Sweat was dripping down my forehead. Mateo wasn’t in my presence, but I could feel his dark eyes glaring at me. There was a long pause before the ballerina spoke to me.

“…no, no I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

I heard a strange noise come from within the ballerina. It took me a few moments to realise it wasn’t just crying. The client was chuckling too.

“My cat, Cobalt. The dumbass is locked up inside and he needs someone to feed him, or else he’ll try to choke down my succulents.”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Good, that’s good Liliana. How old is Cobalt?”

“He’s eight, I think. I got him from a shelter so I’m not really sure.”

As she talked, I noticed the client’s body was starting to grow dim. The fluorescent shine was all but gone.

“Cobalt sounds like he’s lucky to have you.”

“God, he really is. They were this close to putting him down, you know? I can’t imagine life without him.”

The ballerina began to fade. Inside her transparent chest was a slowly twirling figure. The shape was covered from head to toe in hospital bandages. Quickly, I switched to the private intercom.

“Mateo, get her now.”

“On it.”

The protector’s automaton flew over me. Just as the ballerina waned out of existence, Mateo caught Liliana’s bandaged body in the same giant hand he had used to rescue Suzuka.

“Thank you.”

Mateo paused before replying to me.

“It’s my job, Maggie. You don’t have to thank me.”

I opened my mouth to speak but the words I wanted to say wouldn’t come out.