Jemma loved that split second of calm when she flew in the air. The sound of the battleground below gets drowned by the wind whirring in her ears, and there is a moment of soothing weightlessness. For that split second, she is back at home with a mother who was healthy and a father who never left. But then the sounds rush back all at once, and the pull of the maneuver gear whips her back into reality. Jemma's brow furrowed as she locked her sights on the monster rampaging through the street. Eight and a half meters, slow, with a tendency to use its mouth more often than its hands. The Titan in question stupidly dove headlong toward the base of the building, leaving strewn bits of concrete and a cloud of dust in its wake. This was her chance. She aimed and shot the left grappling hook at a nearby building and twisted into position as she reeled herself in and up onto the roof. The Titan was still on the ground, chomping away at something—at a leg, she noticed after a while, clad in the standard white of the Military. Her heart leaped into her throat, but she stubbornly swallowed it and forced herself to focus.
It would be her first kill, she realized. Jemma shot both grappling hooks at the Titan and watched as they dug into its back. The Titan writhed in discomfort and moved to take the wire out, but its hands couldn't quite reach. With blades at the ready, she reeled herself in and released the hooks after getting the momentum she needed. She swung her blades just as the Titan began to rouse, but before she could reach to cut at its nape, it had already turned around and she cut a chunk of its cheek instead. Unfazed by its cut, the Titan responded by opening its mouth and leaning in to get a bite out of her.
Shitshitshit. Jemma hurriedly pressed on the trigger and blindly released the hook at the building behind her, barely dodging the Titan's bite as she was pulled away. She braced for impact, but misjudged the distance of the building. It was closer than she expected, and she ended up crashing against its walls hard. Her whole back ached at the impact, and her leg started to sting where the Titan grazed it, but she gritted her teeth and readied her blades once again. She kept herself hooked on the building wall, even as the Titan raced toward her with its mouth opened wide in a twisted smile.
Wait for it, wait for it, she chanted, fighting the instinctive urge to dodge the oncoming attack. Jemma stayed rooted until the Titan bared its teeth, then fired the hooks at its shoulders right as it bit down. The Titan collided against the wall as it missed her, with enough impact that part of its head went through the building. It gave her just enough time to move about. Pressing on the trigger for the gas, she released enough to allow her to swing around its body and to its neck. This time, she moved faster, and swung wildly at its nape. Her cut was sloppy and wide, taking out a chunk bigger than necessary, but it had done the job.
Her first kill. It wasn't as epic as she imagined it to be, and she came out more bruised and battered than she would like, but there it was. A soft, slightly sardonic laugh escaped her lips. It seemed like a fitting graduation present, a taste of what she would be dealing with for the rest of her life. She lingered only for a second to watch as smoke rose from the Titan's rapidly decaying body, then started moving toward where the smoke was densest. After the attack, it had been pure chaos and she had been separated from the rest of the squad before she even realized. Jemma couldn't see anyone or anything through the thick smoke, but there was a familiar figure moving away from it that caught her eye.
"Sven!" she cried out excitedly, grinning despite the pain she felt all over her body. The thrill from her success, however ever meager it had been, strangely filled her with energy and a spark of hope. Her whole back was probably bruised and her right pant leg was turning red from the gash on her leg, but she was alive. It wasn't impossible to kill them. Slim as it may be, they had a chance. Jemma picked up the pace to match his, and smiled again, this time in relief. She always felt safer around friends. "Where are we off to?"