Secret Relic

Tasha Nimitz knew her assignment by heart, which was a good thing because she’d already fed the paper memo to a shredder. She had coordinates for a secret relic with unknown powers; she was to go in and get the thing before anyone else could. “If you can’t get it, smash it,” her Director had said. She knew him long enough from her time at the Department of Engagement with Risk-identified Persons to know that he meant it.

Cautiously she edged into the underground cavern. She thought a command and the drone keyed to her brain did a rapid scan. The pictures it relayed showed her nothing inside save for a small piece of bone at the far end, recognizable as an ancient kneecap for those who knew the history. Next to it, the scan showed a suit of armor, the remnants of a cloak clinging to its rusted metal shoulders. “Fancy,” Tasha said, smirking. “Not much of a guard, though. Talk about all dressed up-”

The armor suddenly lurched forward and threw its sword headlong at Tasha. She barely had time to throw her drone in front of her and dive for cover. The drone fell beside her spraying sparks, the sword embedded in its side.

The armor stepped forward and set itself in a fighting stance. Tasha rose to her feet. “Okay, magic relic, magic guard, makes sense. You want to dance? Fine.”

She set herself in her own fighting stance, which included a surprise laser blaster hidden up her left sleeve. “Let’s dance.”

Note: this was inspired by

Scoot

‘s prompt: “All dressed up and nowhere to go”. As for who Tasha is, what the relic is, what happened to both of them, and what’s going on with the Department, all that will be revealed in future tales.