Story Hub: [link]
\\~~~\\
I //~~~//
Maia 29th 758
The war room in the New Celene
palace had seen scant use in recent years. In times of peace, it felt needless
to plot for more violence, so the nobles of the high council let the room go
unused. The round table had room for twelve seats. Two placed next to each
other were branded with the royal family’s emblem, and the rest were numbered 1
to 10. Although all of them were now covered in a thin layer of recently
disturbed dust. Seated in the first chair was Lady Aphros, her emotions running
wild and unchecked. Lady Aré sat beside her in the second chair, her face stoic
but fierce. Across from them in the seventh and eighth chairs, respectively,
were Lady Ze and Lady Herme. The former’s expression was obscured under her
ever-present armor. The latter was quite frazzled and still in her lab coat as
if she was pulled here in the middle of an experiment.
Aphros was in a frenzy, the simple
power station tour she organized as public relations fluff for the princesses
had turned into a hostage situation in less than an hour. The only silver
lining was that the media hadn’t figured it out yet. But it was only a matter
of time before someone from the paparazzi caught wind of the situation. It was
half a miracle they got in touch with the power station’s exterior security to
warn them not to go back inside. They had to figure out how to stage a rescue
without alerting these extremists or the media. It doesn’t help matters that
the only person they have on-site who wasn’t captured was Orpheo, sitting
outside the fence line, and something told Aphros that ordering him to ram the
station with the Moon Machine would only cause more problems in the long run.
“This is my fault, I should have
been there,” Aphros blamed herself. “I’ll go there right now and skin that
Jasper myself!” She jumped to her feet
“Hold it, cowgirl,” Aré stopped her.
“Running out there without a plan will only make things worse, you know that!”
“I know, but…” Aphros struggled to
find the words. “You’re right,” she sat back down. “Ze, what’s the status on
the rescue team?”
“They’ll be ready to go within half
an hour,” Ze answered. “I’ll lead them myself. The only problem is the
approach. We still don’t know what level of surveillance they have, and
approaching from the sky is not an option with the media gathered there.”
“Can’t you just teleport in? Or use
cloaking?” Aphros pointed out.
“Long-range teleportation, both
magical and technological, is unreliable when targeting a location like the
Multiversal Power Stationtm,” Lady Herme spoke up. “Cloaking would
be better, but most of our stealth specialists are deployed elsewhere
currently. And due to the de-escalation laws passed in recent years, cloaking
and similar technologies of war and espionage have been slowly dismantled and
removed from use.”
“Oh right, I signed those bills,”
Aphros recalled. “But we couldn’t have gotten rid of everything. Chrona
wouldn’t stand for it.”
“Correct,” Ze nodded, “we are
retrieving the few we have on hand right now as my team considers their
options. Although, I’m still concerned our enemies may have some method of
detecting our approach.”
“That brings to mind another concern
of mine,” Aré added, “if these are the same people who sent that initial threat
last week, how did they know so much? And how were they so ready to seize the
power station?”
“Well, they must have a mole or
something,” Aphros suggested, “we only got the threat after we sent out the
announcement to the media. So, they’ve got someone leaking information to them
from the press, power station, or both.”
“It still feels too convenient and
far too fast,” Aré continued. “This had to have been planned months in advance,
but if what you theorize is true, they’d have at most a week.”
“Then maybe,” Lady Herme considered,
“they have a different overall goal, and taking the princesses hostage is a
distraction?”
“That or the princesses being there
was a golden opportunity that fell right into their lap,” Ze commented.
“But that doesn’t explain why they’d
send a threat then,” Aphros pointed out. “Wouldn’t that make their goal
needlessly harder? Or maybe they want us to tunnel vision on saving the
princesses so they can achieve this supposed real goal? If so, what could they
want so badly that taking royalty hostage is their distraction?”
‘Damn it, this situation just gets
worse the more we think about it,’ Aré thought. ‘Your Majesty, where are you?
Why’d you have to pull one of your disappearing now of all times?’ A loud and
repetitive tone filled the room, enhancing Aré’s sense of frustration. “Whose
phone is that!”
“Oops, sorry, didn’t want to put it
on silent in case that crazy guy called me back,” Aphros pulled out her phone.
“Huh, that’s…” Her eyes lit up as she saw the caller ID, “What’s happening? Is
it safe for you to talk? Good, tell me everything.”
\\~~~\\
II //~~~//
Serena dashed through the catwalks,
Princess Irene in her arms, narrowly avoiding a steady barrage of bullets from
Sniper. The maid had become faster since her first few brushes with gunfire,
but this man was far more skilled than the chumps who attacked her then, so it
balanced out. She ducked around another concrete pillar, hopefully out of his
line of sight. However, within seconds, she could hear the distant echoes of
his footsteps as he swiftly changed position.
‘Dang it, I need to close the
distance, but I don’t even know where he is,’ Serena lamented. ‘Heck, I hardly
have time to catch my breath with how fast he can reorient himself. I thought
sniping was supposed to be hard and take prep time, but this guy moves perches
faster than a fickle bird being chased by an army of cats.’
The maid glanced around and realized
she had gotten herself lost among the labyrinthine catwalks of the Multiversal
Power Stationtm. By some miracle, she hadn’t run into any more of
those puppets, but she assumed that might have been on purpose. Maybe the hot
shot up there doesn’t want the puppet lady getting in the way of his hunt.
‘If only I could get close, then
maybe I could take this guy down,’ Serena thought. ‘Wait a minute…’ She looked
down at the little girl in her arms, the one who loved pulling disappearing
acts. “Princess, when you do your usual teleport trick, can you take other
people with you?”
“Nope,” Irene shook her head, “but
Momma can.”
“Great, Plan B then,” Serena
declared. ‘While I haven’t gotten much in the way of real training with Aré, I
have gotten a little more familiar with her favored weapon. If I could just
make a copy of her crossbow with my magic.’ Serena tried to focus her magic,
but like usual, it fought tooth and nail to not respond to her will. ‘Damn it,
I can visualize it, but it’s hard to make something from scratch under
pressure. I need a focus or…Shit!’ Her danger sense blared, and the maid dashed
away, narrowly avoiding another bullet.
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
The Ninja drew a short blade as he
danced around the roof of the master control room, constantly staying just out
of Caenia’s reach. The maid held her ground but couldn’t even consider going
for an attack because of how fast he was moving. Then, in the blink of an eye,
the Ninja struck. Caenia narrowly avoided a deep cut on her shoulder, but the
strike still drew blood. And mere seconds later, he struck again, forcing
Caenia on the defensive.
“Do not even entertain the thought
of a counterattack,” the Ninja threatened, “the moment you drop your guard is
the moment your life ends.” He darted around the entire roof before coming in
with another strike from a high angle. However, Caenia predicted his trajectory
this time and deflected the strike with her bare hands.
“Please, you’re fast, and that’s
about it,” Caenia scoffed. “All your fancy footwork is a waste of energy.”
“Mock my speed after one lucky
break, will you?” The Ninja rebutted from a safe distance. “Then I won’t drag
this out. The next strike will be at your neck,” he sped up, becoming almost
invisible.
“Try me,” Caenia grinned as she reached into her pocket.
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
Serena moved as fast as she could,
but it wasn’t quite enough as the last bullet grazed her shoulder. It was a
shallow wound and thankfully didn’t render her arm numb this time, but she
could only get lucky so many times. As Serena rounded another corner, the maid
desperately tried to conjure a weapon again. Alas, she still couldn’t get the
spell to work. After failing the spell again, she looked up and realized, much
to her horror, that the Sniper had led her to a dead end. It was a narrow
hallway sandwiched between two concrete walls. The catwalk was so close to the
sides that even Irene couldn’t slip through the gap. Her only way out would be
to retrace her steps, right into the Sniper’s line of sight.
“Darn it, he played me like a
violin,” Serena cursed her luck. “Now we’re trapped in here with no weapon and
no recourse. I’m sorry, Princess, I’ve doomed us. If only I could get this
stupid spell to work.”
“Serena, don’t you still need a
focus to conjure things?” Irene reminded her attendant. Suddenly unfazed by
their situation.
“Yes, but I don’t have anything on
hand to use as a focus,” Serena admitted. She was taken aback by the sudden
change, but it wasn’t out of character for Irene to have these moments of
clarity. The maid wondered if the little girl knew far more than she let on.
“Yeah, you do,” Irene presented the
water gun. Serena stared at the toy for a second before sighing.
“That’ll work,” she took the water
gun and tried her spell again. With a proper base to work with, Serena pictured
Aré’s crossbow in her mind’s eye and overlayed that image over the water gun in
her hand. Her magic sparked to life, consuming the toy in a puff of flame
before it morphed into a crude replica of Aré’s favored weapon. With that done,
she placed Irene down and drew her concealed dagger. “Now, how to shoot back at
him without dying?” The maid considered her options before hitting on an idea. “Well,
I’ve pulled a lot of stupid and dangerous stunts before, but this might be the
most suicidal thing I’ve ever willingly tried. Better hope I don’t miss.”
“Don’t worry, Serena, I’ll help,”
Irene gave a childish salute.
“Okay,” Serena snorted. She had her
problems with Irene, but it was nice to know the princess was in her corner.
The maid turned around and, against her better judgment, stepped back out into
the Sniper’s line of sight.
Right on cue, another shot ripped
through the station, but this is what Serena was waiting for. Using her danger
sense, Serena saw the course of the bullet before it was even fired and started
dodging before the bullet had a chance to leave the barrel of the gun. Even
then, the maid only avoided the projectile by the skin of her teeth. But she
also spotted a muzzle flash in the dark upper area of the power station.
Perhaps the Sniper had sabotaged the lights above to grant himself a cover of
darkness, but if that was his plan, it backfired as it made his muzzle flash
more obvious.
“My turn,” Serena fired a crossbow
bolt of fire magic in the direction of her assailant. The world seemed to slow
to a crawl and the maid could practically see the face of the Sniper as she
pulled the trigger. Another perk of the danger sense, it seemed. However, as
the world began playing out in front of her like a slow-motion movie, she
realized her mistake. “Drat, it’s going to go wide!” She cursed under her
breath as her projectile began to veer off course.
“Nope,” Irene snapped her fingers,
and the bolt, as if compelled by an invisible hand, course-corrected and flew
right into the Sniper’s face.
\\~~~\\
III //~~~//
Giles thought it would be their end
when those thugs, who were apparently giant puppets in cloaks, swarmed them.
Then Penelo charged through the swarm like a rampaging rhinoceros, knocking the
automatons aside like bowling pins. Sensing opportunity, he, Jace, and Medy
followed in the short girl’s wake. After a few minutes, they successfully
navigated to another side of the power station with fewer killer puppets.
“I’m liking Penelo more and more by
the minute,” Medy commented as she looked around for more of the puppets. “With
her on our side, victory is assured! Hey, Jace, do you think we could talk your
mother into adopting her into the Regas family?”
“Could you focus on the task at
hand?” Jace snapped as he held up the radio, which he silently retrieved before
they ran after Penelo. “We still have five bombs to disarm and no idea whether
they’re on timer or explode on command.”
“Or even where to find them,” Giles
added.
“Actually, the Idiot on the radio
kept yapping about where the bombs were located because he’s so afraid of
getting caught in the blast,” Jace revealed. “He sounds awfully skittish for a
hardened extremist on a plot to kidnap royalty.”
“I didn’t know you had a long-lost
brother, Jace,” Medy sniped.
“Oh, shut up!” Jace growled. “Let’s
just find the bombs.”
“Bombs, where? I’ll smash them!”
Penelo declared as she ripped the only nearby puppet in half.
“Before you get too gung-ho,” Giles
chimed in, “even if we disable a bomb, what’s to stop them from realizing that
and setting off the rest?”
“We’ll just have to disarm all five
at once,” Medy proclaimed.
“With four people?” Giles pointed
out. “Also, I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t know how to disarm a bomb.
Can you?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Medy brushed him
off.
“I guess I could, in theory,” Jace
admitted.
“I’ll smash it,” Penelo declared.
“Uh,” Giles looked at Penelo with
concern.
“Well, if it’s a plastic explosive,
I’m sure that’d be sufficient,” Medy scratched her chin, “but if it’s
nitroglycerin based…no, it should be fine. As for you, Mr. Reporter just cut
the red wire.”
“Will that work?” Giles asked.
“Hopefully,” Medy shrugged.
“That still doesn’t solve our
problem of being one person short,” Giles reminded them. Then, as if the
universe decided to rebut him, Penelo pointed above.
“Incoming!” She shouted as something
shining fell towards them from above. The four leaped out of the way as
something slammed into the ground and bathed them with a blinding light.
“What now!” Jace jumped behind
Penelo as the light faded. Emerging from the newly formed crater was none other
than Orion, followed by the second princess, Anax and Carus.
“I must apologize in advance, Your
Highness,” Orion looked to the princess, “I appreciate you aiding us in our
descent, but we’re never doing that again.”
“Oh, it’s you,” Jace rolled his eyes
and tried to pretend he wasn’t hiding in Penelo’s shadow.
“Jace, Medy, Penelo…some guy I don’t
know?” Orion looked at the group.
“What was that about?” Medy gestured
to the hole in the ground that Carus was dragging a dizzy Anax out of.
“We needed to evade a group of those
puppet creatures, and Her Highness offered to aid our descent,” Orion glanced
at the second princess, who smiled back at him wordlessly.
“Right,” Medy looked at the royal
with uncertainty, “but if you’re here, where’s the screwup, the sourpuss and
the kid?”
“Huh?” Orion looked at her in
confusion.
“Serena, Caenia, and Princess
Irene,” Medy rolled her eyes.
“Oh,” Orion realized, “Medy, you
shouldn’t use such language to refer to your fellow workers or a princess but
to answer your question. Caenia went to save Princess Atlanta and Serena…” He
trailed off.
“Let me guess, Irene decided to go
on an adventure in the middle of a hostage situation?” Medy asked.
“Yes,” Orion sighed.
“Well, normally, this would be
annoying, but you came just in time,” Medy grinned, “we know where the bombs
are. We just need a fifth person to disarm them simultaneously.”
“I was wondering why you guys were
here,” Orion commented, “but I really should be leading the princess to
safety…oh, and Director Anax too.”
“Well, there’s still a swarm of
puppets between us and the entrance we used to get in, so good luck guiding
those three through that mess,” Medy warned.
“But Penelo-” Jace began and was
quickly silenced by Medy’s hand over his mouth.
“But sure,” Medy chirped, “leave
your poor, defenseless Princess Atlanta in this bomb-filled power station. I
mean, what’s one life to save three? Unless you count the rest of us, then
you’re only sacrificing eight lives for three, a fair trade, I’m sure.”
“Ummm,” Orion sweated. He wanted to
heed Caenia’s advice, but it was his job to protect Atlanta, but Caenia was the
most capable person to save her right now, but the princess was in danger, but
he shouldn’t do anything rash, but if he did nothing and something went wrong…
“What’s happening?” Penelo watched
Orion freeze up like an overburdened laptop.
“Orion’s goody-two-shoes nature is
at odds with itself,” Jace whispered back, “his orders are conflicting with his
standard duties, and he can’t decide what the ‘right’ thing to do is. But in 5,
4, 3, 2…”
“Ohhh, you’re right,” Orion folded
quickly. “I apologize, Your Highness,” he bowed to the second princess, “but I
cannot, in good faith, attempt to lead you to safety when so many lives are on
the line.” The princess just smiled and shrugged in reply.
“Well, that was easy,” Medy mumbled.
“Now then, time to take out those bombs! Jace, you know where they are, right?”
“Wait a minute, what about me?” Anax
raised an objection but was ignored.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jace nodded, “one in
the women’s restroom on the first floor, one is by the second-floor security
station, one in the janitor’s closet on the first floor, one by the main
reactor, and one is on a support column deeper in the facility.”
“You learned all that from the
radio?” Medy exclaimed.
“I told you that guy wouldn’t shut
up,” Jace shrugged.
“Whatever, I’m off to the bomb in
the restroom,” Medy declared.
“I’ll take the security station,”
Orion nodded.
“I call the main reactor!” Penelo
jumped.
“Penelo, not to be rude, but are you
sure you can…find it?” Orion asked, aware of Serena’s many stories about Penelo
being directionally challenged.
“Sure, it’s the biggest and hummiest
thing in here, right?” Penelo answered.
“…” Orion opened his mouth to reply
but failed to find the words at first, “You’re not wrong.”
“Great, that leaves the support
column and the janitor’s closet,” Jace sighed. “Let me guess, I’m stuck with
the-”
“I’ll deal with the support column,”
Carus announced, causing everyone to jump. Most of them had forgotten the
engineer was even there.
“Carus, you can’t go, what’ll I do?”
Anax panicked.
“I’m sorry, boss, but if it’s the
column I’m thinking of, you need a passcode and fingerprint to get into that
area, and I’m the only one here with access,” Carus explained.
“Janitor’s closet for me then,” Jace
was relieved.
“I’ll go with you,” Giles stepped up
to Carus. “I know these kids can handle themselves, but this bomb sounds too
important to leave to just one person.”
“I don’t even know who you are. How
can I trust-” Carus began to refuse.
“Take him,” Medy interrupted. “He’s
an intrepid reporter, and he already took out one of the goons for us,” she
slid up to Carus and whispered, “Think about it, a first-person account of how
you saved the day on the front page.”
“I…” Carus stumbled over his words,
uncomfortable with everyone’s eyes suddenly on him. “Fine,” he threw up his
hands. “Everyone, just follow me really quick. There should be another security
station near here with spare radios. It’s the only way to communicate around
here,” he jogged off. Everyone else began to follow.
“I can’t believe you’re going to let
him take credit,” Jace whispered to Medy near the back of the pack.
“Of course not. Those guys have
screwup written all over them. This way, even if one fails, the other might
not,” Medy admitted.
‘Dear Lord, this girl,’ Jace
cringed.
“Wait up,” Anax lagged at the back
of the pack, frustrated everyone dismissed him. He was the administrator, gosh
dang it! But, in mid-stride, he realized something was up. “I can’t believe
they’re leaving us…behind?” He noticed that the second princess had seemingly
vanished. He could have sworn she was just behind him. What he didn’t see was a
small wooden spider with a single telescopic eye, which had watched the group’s
every move.
“My, my, seems we have more guests
and runaways,” the Puppeteer noted.
\\~~~\\
IV //~~~//
The Ninja had lied, he had no
intention of striking Caenia’s neck. Instead, he attacked her from behind,
intending to cripple her with a deep slash and then finish her off while she
was reeling from the blow. It was a simple plan, but with his speed, he only
needed Caenia to buy his lie for a second for it to work. Having appeared
behind her in the blink of an eye, the Ninja made his strike with intent to
kill, but then the smallest thing caught his eye. Held in the maid’s hand was a
simple compact mirror, and in the mirror, the Ninja could observe his own
reflection for a split second. In the next instant, the Ninja realized his
folly as Caenia backhanded him and sent him tumbling across the roof.
“I figured you’d try something
sneaky, but lying about how you were going to attack me, do you have no shame?”
Caenia laughed. “Unfortunately for you, I have a certain talent with mirrors,
so don’t get any more wise ideas about sneaking up on me.”
“Do not waste your time speaking so
frivolously, child. You have precious little of it left,” the Ninja spat. He
shed his cloak, revealing a stereotypical ninja garb colored in a dark blue.
The mouth area of his hood was stained red from the inside. “Ninjitsu Art:Doppelganger,” the
Ninja made a brief hand sign before splitting into five identical clones.
“Oh, how original, a ninja who
duplicates himself,” Caenia rolled her eyes. “You could at least say the name
right,” she scoffed. ‘Damn it, this guy actually has a modicum of skill. He’s
either a magic user or knows how to use ki. It’s
probably only one real guy and four illusions, but it still complicates things.
Oh well, if he’s going to bust out the big guns, I guess I will too.’
“It would do you well to close your
eyes, for soon you will know only peace,” the Ninja threatened.
“Nah,” Caenia refused and leaped off
the roof, running away.
“You are a fool if you think you can
outrun me,” the Ninja snapped as he and his four copies gave chase.
Surprisingly enough, Caenia did manage to outpace him initially. It infuriated
the Ninja to no end that the speed he was so proud of was being so easily
outmatched by this young woman. However, as Caenia rounded a turn in the
catwalks, her speed drastically dipped. ‘Ah, a great sprinter, but you lack
agility,’ the Ninja grinned as he closed the distance. Even better, as he
effortlessly turned at full speed, he realized that Caenia had chosen a
dead-end path wedged between two concrete structures and a low ceiling. It was
barely anything more than a utility corridor with a water pipe at the end.
Unless Caenia could phase through the mesh floor of the catwalks, she wasn’t
going anywhere.
‘The is the end,’ the Ninja affirmed
to himself as he began to dart down the corridor. He and his four clones closed
in on Caenia in a shifting arch-shaped formation, making it impossible for the
layman to predict where the attack was coming from. “You have made your final
turn on the road of life, child,” the Ninja declared as he pulled up his blade
for the death blow.
“As if, I just needed to force you
into somewhere you couldn’t easily dodge this,” Caenia held up the compact
mirror, which glowed with a sea-green energy. “I call it: Mirror
Tidal Gun!” The water pipe behind her burst open, with all the water
forming around Caenia initially before being channeled into the compact and
then fired forward with the force of a geyser. The Ninja had nowhere to dodge
and was sent spiraling through the torrent of water that consumed the whole
corridor and dispelled his copies. With the wind knocked out of him, the Ninja
slammed into the catwalk’s railing, which bent under the force of the impact.
Then he fell forward and landed with a wet thud.
‘Must…get…up…’ The Ninja’s thoughts
swirled around his head as he spat up water and his ears rang louder than a
hall of ancient telephones. ‘I deduced she had magic, but nothing like this,’
he stumbled onto his hands and knees, oblivious to the fact that Caenia was now
standing over him.
“Stay down,” the maid stomped on
him, sending the Ninja into the inky black void of unconsciousness with an
unsettling crack. “Target neutralized,” Caenia declared before turning back
towards the master control room. “Hehe, I was starting to miss this feeling.”
\\~~~\\
V //~~~//
The Sniper snaped out of his haze as
he managed to stand up on his knees. He discarded his cloak to reveal he was a
young man, roughly in his 30s, with short black hair and a freshly burned face.
His black clothes were a mix of bulletproof fibers and casual urban clothes.
One might mistake him as an edgy gun hobbyist if it weren’t for the malicious
look in his eyes.
‘I don’t know how she made that
shot,’ the Sniper reached for his sidearm, ‘but whether it was luck or not, I
can’t afford to take any more risks. That girl is probably racing over to
finish me off right now, little does she know...’ He reached into a small
pocket and retrieved a single bullet carefully tucked inside. ‘I loathe to
waste this on some kid, but at this point, it’s use it or die,’ he loaded the
bullet into his modified pistol. ‘Starting to wish I could have afforded some
Azure Stone bullets for my rifle, but that’s not a luxury I can afford.’
“Drop it,” Serena announced from
behind him, her crossbow in one hand and her dagger in the other.
“You got me,” the Sniper gently
placed his pistol on the floor before slowly raising up his hands in surrender.
‘She must not have any spare ammo, or else she would have shot me dead. What an
amateur. In that case, I only need to worry about the dagger.’
“Who are you guys really? What do
you actually want?” Serena demanded.
‘Interrogation, really? Doesn’t she
realize there’s no time?’ The Sniper noted, ‘She must be Princess Irene’s maid,
the one who ‘saved’ the princess from assassins at least twice now. I always
figured that story was nonsense.’
“We’ve got no stake in this mess.
We’re just doing what we’re hired for,” the Sniper answered, “If you want
answers, talk to Jasper.” He eyed his pistol and charted a course for his body
to follow.
“Is that your final-?” Serena began
before a chill went up her spine, but this one was just a bit different from
all the others. It terrified her, but she knew immediately what it meant, and
she gripped her dagger tightly in preparation.
‘One shot, one kill,’ the Sniper
thought to himself as he flipped around, snatching his gun off the floor,
cocking it and aiming at Serena in one swift motion. However, as he pulled the
trigger, he realized, to his horror, that he had been outplayed. A blade of
flame emitted from Serena’s dagger had crossed paths with his gun, cutting and
melting the weapon into a useless state. It was almost as if the maid had
predicted the exact arc of his spin and spawned the blade at just the right
moment to get him to destroy his own weapon for her.
“Checkmate, jerk,” Serena kicked the
Sniper in the face, knocking him unconscious. ‘That gun,’ Serena shuddered, ‘it
felt like my future was blank if he fired it.’
“Serena!” Irene appeared behind her
maid.
“Gyah!” Serena jumped. “Princess
Irene, don’t do that when I’ve been fighting. I might have hit you!” The maid
scolded her charge.
“Lookie, my big sister is up there
with the big bad guy,” Irene gestured above, revealing the master control room
was nearby on the level above them.
“Princess, we should really be
fleeing right now,” Serena shook her head. “It’s weird though, I don’t see
Caenia-” The maid spotted a torrent of water above, followed by the sound of
someone being stomped on. “I’m guessing that was her.”
“Save my sister,” Irene batted at
Serena’s legs in the way only a small child could.
“Princess, I can’t…well, I guess if
he’s hiding up there, it might be the one safe place from the explosion,”
Serena reasoned, “or he’s crazy.”
“You also beat up his friend, so he
might blow everything up anyway,” Irene pointed out.
“Fine,” Serena conceded, “just
stay-” Irene started bouncing away towards the master control “-Here.” Serena
sighed and chased after her charge.
\\~~~\\
VI //~~~//
Jasper was in a frenzy. This whole
operation had gone so smoothly, only to go belly up in such a short amount of
time. He definitely heard something concerningly loud nearby, Port wasn’t
responding, Starboard sounded suspiciously unlike himself, Adaman was nowhere
to be found, and the Idiot was still out of position. He had been told those
three were stellar mercenaries, the best in the business. This is what he got
for believing the Idiot’s brother.
“Sniper, Ninja, Puppeteer report in
right now!” Jasper ordered but received no quick reply. “Sniper? Ninja?”
“Puppeteer reporting in,” the lanky
woman replied. “I’m following a group that’s a mix of escapees and uninvited
guests. They intend to split up and disarm the packages. Shall I confront them
now?”
“No, wait for them to split up and
pick them off one by one,” Jasper answered. “In the end, all we really need is
our fallback. The rest are bonuses. Besides, I still have the detonator.” The
extremist brandished the item and put his finger on the button.
“Very well, I’ll focus on the small
one then. She doesn’t look very bright and is heading to the central core by
herself,” the Puppeteer declared. “My stronger puppets can handle the rest.”
“Good to see we have at least one
reliable person on this team,” Jasper commented. “On an unrelated note, Idiot,
get in position and protect the other packages! Better yet, seize one of the
escaped princesses as a hostage.”
“I don’t know, boss,” the Idiot
muttered, “those kids look tough, I don’t think I can take them. Also, I lost
sight of the princess that was with them.”
“That’s why you have a gun, you…what
do you mean you lost sight of her?” Jasper blustered.
‘Lord, what a moron,’ Atlanta rolled
her eyes from the corner before noticing Jasper had his back to her.
‘That’s the guy who caused all this
heartache?’ Serena thought from below, spying on Jasper through a grate at the
bottom of the master control station. She could barely reach her hand through
it, but the most she could do on short notice was trip him up. Which might be a
bad idea with his finger on the detonator.
‘Target in sight,’ Caenia smiled
from above, watching Jasper fume through a skylight. She couldn’t hear what he
was saying, but he seemed mad.
‘Well, I could wait for someone to
save me, or I could deal with this idiot now,’ Atlanta considered. ‘I choose
now,’ the princess broke her handcuffs with surprising ease and stood up to
confront her captor.
“Adaman, where are you? This
operation is going to…” Jasper was saying before he heard the click of the
princess’s heels behind him. “If you’re trying to sneak up on me, you’re
wasting your time,” he flipped around, although he flinched when he realized her
hands weren’t bound. “Wha? I don’t know how you broke those cuffs, but it
doesn’t matter,” he put on a brave face.
“I just have to knock your stupid
ass out before you hit that button,” Atlanta lunged at Jasper with startling
speed. The cloaked man narrowly avoided her grasp, saved only by his cloak,
which Atlanta tore off, revealing the man inside. Jasper was a young-looking
man, barely older than 25, and had short but fiery red hair. He was attired in
well-worn, high noble clothing with all the patches and emblems that might
signify his family, faction, or position torn off. “What’s the matter, tough
guy? Afraid of a little girl?” Atlanta sneered.
“So, the rumors were true, you
really are a bi…ahem, no that’d be beneath me,” Jasper scoffed at her threats
and pressed down on the detonator’s trigger. “Now, back off. This is a
Deadman’s switch, so if you knock me out, we’re all going to the next life in a
fiery blaze of glory.”
“You coward,” Atlanta hissed but
wisely backed off.
‘Shit, shit,’ Serena’s danger sense
went into overtime, but it wasn’t just the detonator, something else was about
to happen. From her position, she could see straight up and noticed Caenia
standing on the skylight. ‘I don’t think Caenia heard the bit about the
Deadman’s switch. She’s going to burst in and kill us all. What do I do?’
‘Blast it all,’ Caenia huffed as she
prepared to make her entrance. ‘Princess got impatient and now the situation
has turned sour. I’ve got one chance to make this right.’ The maid smashed
through the skylight and sailed inside the control room with a flying kick.
“Who the-?” Jasper looked up to see
Caenia’s foot collide with his face and then felt his whole body go limp.
“Caenia, no!” Atlanta shouted as
Jasper fell to the ground, his finger slipping off the trigger.
“What?” Caenia looked down and
realized, to her horror, Jasper’s finger had already pressed down on the
detonator.
“No,” Serena’s heart stopped as she
briefly pondered how much of the facility was about to blow and whether or not
her end would be instant or slow and painful.
“Serena,” Irene tugged at her maid’s
side and gestured with her hand.
“Huh?” Serena looked back at her
charge before suddenly understanding.
To be Continued…
>>>~~~~<<<
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
