Story Hub: [link]
\\~~~\\
I //~~~//
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.[1] 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…
[1] Same thing as Inner Strength, Caenia just refuses to call it that because she thinks Ze is being too poetic.
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Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
