31Disclaimer: I don't own WITCH. It's the property of the mighty Disney Company.
A/N: Well, look at that, if it isn't good old Wondertown9 back in his WITCH fanfic. So… hey everyone, how's it going? A lot of time since updating this one, eh? But that's irrelevant, because I suppose that you all have been waiting for this one, so here it comes. I promised you all an action packed chapter, and here it is. Truth be told, I had to debate myself with various decisions with this chapter, but I think that the end result will be satisfactory. Let's go.
WITCH
A different story
Chapter fifteen
Riddle Arc. Part eight
New Year of Flames and Surprises
Heatherfield, December 31st. Ludmoore manor
Jonathan Ludmoore had never thought about parties while creating his mansion in Heatherfield. Albeit spacious, the man had designed his home as nothing more than a place where pursuit his research. Thus, the building wasn't accustomed to many guests at once, to parties or large meetings. And that was exactly what was happening right now, due to the manor's new owners' little charity party. The manor felt incredibly weird due to this, you could even say that it felt uncomfortable.
And it wasn't the only one. Dean Collins, dressed in an elegant suit, was awkwardly standing upright in the middle of the large room where the guests were having a little cocktail previous to the main dinner of the night. Susan was standing next to him, but she was chatting with a small group of her co-workers, and Dean felt rather… awkward. Yes, the word was clearly awkward. He distanced himself from Susan, who he had to admit, looked spectacular that night, into a long, waving and elegant deep blue dress that conjugated with her hair and accentuated both the dark of her skin and her curves; and served himself another cocktail from the bar, a figure approached him then, taking another glass for himself.
"Something the matter, amigo?" the old man at his side asked, dressed in an even more conventional and traditional suit than Dean. "You look pretty down for this being a party."
"Well, it's not my kind of party." Dean answered.
The old man looked at him, then at Susan, who was approaching the pair once her conversation had ended, and then to Dean again. "Ah, acompañamiento para la dama." he said snickering.
"What?" Dean asked, clearly not understanding Spanish.
"I mean that you are here to accompany her."
Dean chuckled. "Yes, basically."
The old man laughed bombastically then, gaining the attention of various attendants. He extended his hand towards Dean. "Ricardo Herbosa."
"Dean Collins." the teacher answered, shaking his hand. After that the history teacher took a couple of glasses and headed towards Susan, who took the drink Dean offered her in a gentle manner.
"Thank you, dear." Susan said. "Did you finally socialized here?" she asked, gesturing towards Ricardo.
"A little," Dean answered. "Seems to me like the only normal man here. The others are either people with aristocrat complexes, or bootlickers hopping to gain Doomstad's favor." Dean took a couple of sips from his drink. "And let's not start with the fact that our hosts are people trying to murder your daughter." He whispered.
"I know," Susan said, and her face headed in another direction. Speaking with Heatherfield's Mayor no less, Victor Doomstad was standing there in one of his usual burgundy suits, one of the blue roses that could be seen outside in his lapel. Sephiria was only centimeters behind him, clearly bored by her husband's political conversation, but she had to oblige. She was dressed into a short yet elegant bluish dress, her arms covered by large, white gloves. Susan took her eyes from then, better not think too much into whom they really were and what they had done to her daughter. Of course, avoiding became an impossible task when the guests started to pass to the dining hall… and the Doomstad marriage started to greet them politely before entering.
Calm down. Relax. Don't let them see that you know who they are, and stick to the plan. Those had been her daughter's words. Susan didn't know how she could be so calmed about all this, so meticulous in her planning. But Will had faith in her and she won't disappoint her. Not again, not after the reveal of all the things she had been through.
"Mrs. Vandom, correct?" the deep voice of Victor took her out of her thoughts. Standing so near to him, she could have sworn that the man was imposing, not in a frightening but in a respectful way. His deep blue eyes looked at her and he took her hand and kissed it. Classy, too much to her liking, if she had to be sincere. Sephiria, in the other hand, gave both her and Dean the widest smile in the world, and then hugged them both; insisting for them to pass to the dining hall. Once they had done so, Victor pointed out to a couple of men a few meters away from him.
"Bruno, Robert." Doomstad called, and the two, plain-looking bulky men approached. This were Bruno Caster and Robert Mercer; heads of Prometheus Industries' Security Staff, and from time to time; Victor's and Sephiria's personal henchmen. "Keep an eye over those two." Victor ordered, pointing to Susan and Dean.
"Do you want for us to go to the factory?" Bruno asked.
Victor pondered this for a moment. "In fact, yes, go down there and make sure that no one enters." he said as he handed a keycard to them. "Sephiria and I will be enough to watch over those two."
The hosts of the charity party entered the hall, and then Victor prepared himself to make an announcement once the guests had sat down. "Gentlemen, ladies; I hope you enjoyed the cocktail previous to this, because the dinner you will be having tonight will be quite special." Victor took a remote control from his pocket and pressed a few buttons in it. From the door the staff should have come with the dishes, instead appeared ten of the P.H.I.L automatons, each carrying several trays. "Tonight, your dinner had been prepared and will be served by the P.H.I.L units, in order to test and put to use their primary function, helping the normal man of the street."
The majority of the attendants clapped in approval, while the likes of Susan, Dean or any man that was hiding his envy and hatred towards Doomstad clapped in fake amazement. The only two people that weren't clapping were Ricardo and a pale, dark haired woman at his side. The two of them were looking at the robots with clear concern, as if they could see something that no one else could.
Victor didn't pay mind to this fact, his mind instead focusing into what he and Riddle had set in motion that night. "I wonder if Daniel is doing well."
In front of the Chacon residence
"THEN I WILL KILL YOU!"
Taranee's angry scream filled the night as more fire enveloped her already flaming body, her hands becoming overheated fists, and her eyes narrowing at the enemy in front of her. Burn him… burn them all…; continued to echo the voice in her head. Enemy, she had called Danny just now. Of course he was her enemy, it was so simple! What does a dragon do with her enemies? Burn them to crisps.
But the iron human wasn't going to let the threats of the Guardian to get to him so easily. Danny narrowed his eyes too, and gave an indication to his suit's IA in order to put all the reserves of liquid nitrogen to use in the moment in order to cool his armor the most possible. He cracked his neck, the metallic sound giving away that it hurt every time he did that.
"You're going to kill me, Cook bitch?" Danny let a cruel laugh out of his throat. Away, he could see how the other four girls still battled with the Mk. II, and if everything had gone as planned, Macbeth and the other three should have taken the girl as of now. Everything was going as the good Doctor had envisioned, and now he had the perfect opportunity to take the thorn that the Cooks had been in his family's side during all those years. He raised his metallic hands and adapted a combat position. "Bring it on!" he yelled.
And human and Guardian ran towards each other, anger driving them to their fullest. And in this conflict leaded by pain, who dies and who wins? Who wins and who loses? Can really someone win?
Taranee dodged the first of Danny's punches, the one directed to her face. She wasn't able to dodge the hook fist that came next to that one, though. Damn it all, even with all the flames around her body, Danny was far way from being the less physically mighty of the two, and his punches hurt a lot even in that form. She raised her flaming arms just in enough time to block the majority of blows that Danny directed towards the upper half of her body. Some of them slipped and impacted in her ribs, even if she tried her hardest. The ribs, always the damned ribs. And for what had she been punched, and hurt and humiliated? For Kandrakar, who was nothing but a rotten organization built upon lies and dead bodies? For her mother, who had never been better than any criminal? For what was she fighting? For her friends, Nigel, the innocents… it all seemed so vacuous now…
If you don't know for what fight, little dragon… There it was the voice again. Then fight for the sake of fighting; fight to conquer the enemy in front of you. After all, wasn't he the one who hurt you?
Taranee blocked the next incoming punch, taking it within her palm. Then she was the one to punch, an animalistic roar leaving her mouth as she did so. Her first collided with Danny's stomach, sending the man a few meters away. She didn't stop there. She flew and rushed towards her foe, slamming onto him and sending him to the ground. There, her body over his, she started to punch him repeatedly in his face, her fire knuckles hitting the metal, making it to become red hot. It hurt punching metal, but she didn't mind.
"That's all you got?!" Danny yelled. Apparently he wasn't really feeling the punches. But the heat, he must be feeling the heat. "Fair enough, let's give him heat"; Taranee thought, and then roared, a full torrent of flames leaving her mouth and striking Danny's face at point blank range.
Danny screamed. Taranee didn't know if his eyes would withstand the heat she was producing with those flames. His mask seemed as if it was melting, and that must hurt a lot. Good, she wanted it to hurt; she wanted him to suffer each blow, each burn as if it was delivered by Hell itself. She wanted to enjoy this before he died. Danny struggled against her grip, and in one moment he brought his claw-like iron fingers to the back of her navel, nailing them against it. Taranee let out a scream and took flight immediately, landing shortly after that. Her flames moved fast and covered her wounds, cauterizing them. It wasn't real healing, but it had to suffice, her logic telling her that her Guardian's enhanced healing would be enough to heal them later.
Meanwhile, Danny had got to his feet and was now clawing at his own metal face as more screams surged from his throat. It really had hurt; good, that was good. Taranee smiled. Danny's fingers nailed in the heated metal, and in one single move, tore it away, ditching the metallic mask and helmet and revealing his face underneath.
The work of Victor Doomstad always looked for effectiveness, not beauty; and that showed on Danny's face. The black hair of the young man was long gone, the only think resembling it some wires that shut from the back of his head to the back of his armor. The skin was pale due to the fact that being covered for so long, except for two large burns under the eyes that ran all the way through the cheeks until his neck. Just under his eyes, where eye bags usually form were a series of little piece of metal, as one big one inserted in the left side of his head. He spat blood in the ground and, before it evaporated due to the heat her body was emanating, Taranee saw that the blood was black, and that his teeth were too.
Danny looked at her defiantly, arms open wide. "THAT'S ALL YOU GOT, TARANEE?!"
"ARGH!" Taranee condensed her flames around her fists, making them incandescent. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT I GOT!"
And flames clashed with iron once again.
The Hales
Running across the streets of Heatherfield at night, Harold, Elizabeth and Lillian Hale were trying to put the most distance possible between them and the monsters (for lack of a better term) that Matt and the others were facing against. Of course, they couldn't outrun a cybernetically enhanced human, and Helena Renard caught them in a matter of minutes, jumping over their heads and landing in front of them, her claws scratching the ground as she landed in all fours. That, added to her maniacal grin, clearly made her look demonic, or at least it did in the eyes of the Hales.
Harold was quick to put Elizabeth and Lillian behind him, the mother hugging the daughter tight to her chest, clearly not wanting for Lillian to see what was coming.
"there, there; little Lil." Helena said into a disturbing tone of voice. "That's your name, isn't it? Lillian, right? Don't you wanna come with Helen and be friends with me?" the woman licked her claws. "I bet that we would be pretty good pals."
"Leave my family alone!" Harold shouted, clearly afraid of the woman in front of her. "If you dare to touch one single hair of her hair I will…!"
"Charge at me and die, probably." Helena replied nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"What do you want?!" Elizabeth yelled now. She could feel Lillian trembling now that she was in contact with her little body, and Elizabeth fought back her inner impulse to cry out of pure terror.
"Wasn't I clear?" Helena said as she started to circle the Hale family. "I want that kid to come with me," she made one of her circular chainsaws to come out of her forearm, "and I promise you that I'll be a good girl and let you go, mommy and daddy."
"Why her?!" Elizabeth shrieked again. This time it was Lillian who tightened the hug, and a whispering 'Mom...' came from the child.
Helena laughed at the little misery show she was causing. "Don't you know? Your pretty little daughter is the Big Prize!" Helena stopped moving and her expression changed yet again to one of maniacal glee. "And damn it all if I'm not the one going to win this game!"
"You are insane if you think that we will let our daughter go with you!" Harold exclaimed, to which Helen just laughed, swinging her rotating chainsaw from side to side.
"Insane, yeah; never heard that one before." Helen stopped walking around them and pointed her weapon towards Harold. "You know... the bosses said to take the girl and no harm her in any means." Helen gave a few steps and raised her weapon. "But, surprise, surprise!" Helen punched Harold in the stomach, making him kneel in the floor, growling in pain; and she raised her weapon as her eyes became injected in blood due to her fury. "They didn't say anything about not reducing you two to a couple of FUCKING BLOODY PULPS!"
The chainsaw descended towards the man's head, and he closed his eyes as if hoping that not seeing it would soften the power of the blow, or maybe made it so it's effects were fast and painless. "Take Lillian. Take Lillian and leave, Elizabeth." Harold thought. He should have said it aloud... but he couldn't.
The chainsaw was now mere centimeters from his head...
CLANCK
But it didn't touch him in the slightest. Instead, when Harold opened his eyes he found the cyborg woman's weapon stopped in mid air by a... medieval sword? And the man's surprise just became even bigger when he looked at the person holding the sword. None other than his own daughter's boyfriend, Caleb. What was he doing there? How was he there?! Why was he carrying a sword?! How in the name of God did he...?
The former rebel leader parried the woman's attack, forcing her into redirecting it to the ground by changing his sword's direction. As soon as the chainsaw was directed to the ground, Caleb rotated over himself to gain impulse and kicked Helen in the face (the only place where she wasn't wearing metal) without much of a problem, sending her tumbling away. Caleb looked back at the Hale family then. "Are you alright?"
"Wha... Yes, I think." Harold answered. "How're you here? How did you do that?"
"Training." the young man answered.
"But you are a waiter in Yan Lin's... oh God you aren't, right?" Harold said as he remembered how their pet cat and Matt had turned out to be... he didn't know what they exactly were.
Caleb put in the best smile he could. "Sorry. I know that this must be a little shocking for all of you. Cornelia never wanted for you to learn... GET DOWN!"
Caleb parried another of Helen's incoming attacks, this time unable to counterattack. As he blocked the attacks of the cyborg woman, he did so their battle was taken away from the Hales. "Blunk! Fold them away!" Caleb instructed as he and Helen exchanged blows, the blade of his sword clashing with her claws and chainsaws.
"Who is Blunk?" Elizabeth asked, just to be interrupted by quite the strange and disgusting smell... coming right up from the small green creature that, apparently, had appeared alongside Caleb. Talk about shocked senses. From where had the two of them appear?
"Hello!" greeted the green, goblin-like creature. "Blunk will give you a ride home!" he then swung something that Elizabeth and Harold interpreted as one of those relic horns that appeared in museums, except that this one opened something in the air. Something similar to a blue, wavering tear in the air.
"Cool..." Lillian said, the fear of before haven't straightly disappeared, but yes mellowed down.
"Enter the Fold, now!" Caleb said, and considering how this day had turned out to be; Harold Hale considered his options. Either enter the weird looking tear in the air that his daughter's boyfriend had made that weird looking thing to open... or face the totally crazy bitch that had threatened with killing him and his wife, and take their daughter away. Yes, the answer was clear.
Harold took both Elizabeth and Lillian by their hands and, not wanting to think very much into what they were going to do, they rushed inside the Fold letting the battle behind as the Passling closed it; appearing right inside their home, as if they hadn't gone out in the first place. Of course, the first thing that happened was for Elizabeth to threw herself at Lillian and hug her between tears. Harold kept staring almost in a catatonic manner to the spot where the Fold had closed, trying to find a logical explanation to what had happened, to find no one. And Lillian, little and curious Lillian stared into the same direction as her father, but her expression was more one of awe. "Magic," she thought happily. "That was magic!"
In the other side of the Fold, things weren't so calm. "Do you have any idea of what you have done, you asshole?!" Helen shrieked her lungs out as she looked beyond enraged at Caleb. Their exchange of attacks had ended when Helen had seen her prize disappear inside something taken out of Stargate. "Jack's gonna kill me for this fuck up, and it's your entire fault! I'm going to tear you to shreds, kiddo!"
Caleb pointed his sword towards the cyborg woman, cutting the air in a menacing manner. "When you are ready."
Helen raised a confused eyebrow and looked at the young man's offer. "You're kidding, right? C'mon, look at me. I'm beyond humanity now, and you're just a kid with a sword." Helen remarked cockily as she put her claws in her hips.
A dry chuckle escaped Caleb's mouth, that after a few seconds evolved into a full mocking laughter, to Helen's stunning. "Yes, I'm just a kid with a sword. But this kid with a sword has been fighting monsters, surviving with the water that he took from the rain and striking blows against a tyranny and individuals with the power to blow up mountains for more than three quarters of his life. And you? I have seen the likes of you before; I have killed the likes of you before. You are one of those that get their hands in a little piece of power and think that they are justified in doing as they please. Demanding higher and higher taxes, killing and pillaging because they have an army... or breaking families just because they can." Caleb's mocking smile disappeared. "Do you want to know something that I had learned lately? I hate people who break families. And here I am, come to this world to see the woman I love, just to find that a crazy monster was pursuing her family. I will repeat myself," Caleb swung his sword once again, pointing it at Helen. "When you. Are. Ready."
Helen Renard wasn't someone that had too much patience or known for reacting well to taunting. She rushed at Caleb with her claws and circular chainsaw extended, the intention of seeing the soldier's guts flying out of his body clear in her eyes. Caleb, meanwhile, waited with a calm position, sword held up with both hands in defense. When Helen reached him and attacked Caleb jumped to the side and rotated over himself once more, adding the strength of the rotation and gravity to his blow. Unfortunately, he was forced to hold his weapon just with one hand in order to balance himself, and the impact wasn't as strong as it should have. Sparks flew from the clash between the metals, and albeit Helen was the one losing in that exchange, her body didn't crack.
"I have to found a weak point and strike with everything if I want to cut through that metal..." Caleb thought. "Blunk! Search for the Guardians or the Regents, they shouldn't be far away!" he instructed the Passling, who obediently started to sniff the air and follow the familiar trail of odor that belonged to Matt and the others.
"Good luck with that!" Helen yelled at him. "My brother and the other two are with those freaky beasties!"
"So there are three more opponents. Better deal with this one fast then." Caleb thought again. "Damn it Matt, what's going on?" Caleb looked around and spotted a cracked wall in a building. That would be enough to deal with this whore.
He and Helen engaged in another exchange of blows, though Caleb was obviously in the defensive, her attacks making him move back towards the wall. This woman was an idiot, and an untrained idiot at that; Caleb knew that much. She was full of openings, charging at him like a rabid dog. If she would be wearing nothing than a normal armor, Caleb would have defeated her already, but it was clear that her body had been (somehow) remade to withstand attacks like the ones he could deliver. But if the metal of her body worked in the same vein that an armor suit did, then the young soldier also knew that it must be weaker in her joints.
Caleb found himself trailing back towards the wall he had spotted before and towards where he had directed his battle against Helen. The woman gained more confidence as she thought she was cornering Caleb, when in reality it was the other way around. Years and years of fighting a foe with clear superiority in both numbers and resources had made Caleb and the rest of the rebels to found other ways of fighting. Use the terrain in your advantage, and also the confidence that better equipment gives your foes in their disadvantage. Caleb's back touched the wall and Helen smirked, their fight stopping for a moment. "You done goofed, boy!" she exclaimed triumphantly as her claw was directed towards Caleb's heart as strong as she could throw it.
This time there wasn't any flashy pirouettes, nor complicated and practiced movements with the sword. This time Caleb just slipped to his left, letting Helen's right claw to impact against the wall, piercing the stone and getting trapped in it. Helen's mind needed a few seconds to process what had happened, seconds that Caleb used to raise his sword high with both hands, jump in the air, and deliver a descending blow with the strength and rudeness of a Galhot lumberjack towards the woman's unprotected elbow. The sword hit metal, but this time there wasn't any sparks, as it slipped between the junctures of the plates and this time cut deep. There was a mix between rasping and wet sounds, a scream of pure pain, and then Helen was in the ground, while her right arm was still attached to the wall.
"FUCK! Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" Helen cursed in pain as she rolled in the ground, blood pouring from her new wound, albeit Caleb noted that it was less than the wound resulting of the cutting of an arm should have let out. "Asshole, what do you think you are…?!"
Caleb kicked the woman in the face, breaking her nose. "I have cut your arm, that's pretty obvious. Tell me, were you going to kill Mr. Hale back there?"
"What if I was?!" Helen yelled in anger. Caleb stomped in her new wound, making a splash of blood mixed with some strange liquid that Caleb interpreted as what the Earthlings called 'Fuel' to exit it.
"If you were, then I'm going to cut off your head." Caleb remarked coldly. "But, if you tell me what your three companions can do, and what they're up to, then maybe I will feel merciful. Now, listen carefully here; if you lie, you die. If you refuse to talk, you die. If you try to attack me again, you die. I know how the likes of your work, you don't probably even know the people you're working with for much; so tell me," Caleb said as he put the tip of his sword against Helen's throat. "It's worth dying for them?"
Helen looked at the man who was now in the verge of cutting her throat. "My… my brother Jack is with them, with other two. Jack is almost the same as me. Then there is some really strong guy, and the old man, who just uses weird guns. They have the freaks, the Regents, I mean, with them. Doomstad gave us something to block their powers. I swear it's everything I know!"
"Thank you." Caleb said, and kicked her again across the face. Who was this Doomstad? With that kind of name, only an enemy, the same trash as Phobos. "Don't follow me or I will finish what I started."
He let the wounded cyborg woman stirring in the ground, rolling and rolling in order to keep the pain away. Good news, the Hales were now in a safe place. Bad news, he was now in a numeric advantage against people with ways to subdue the Regents. Well, he never was someone to let schematics to bother him; so he ran in the same direction he had seen Blunk heading into.
"Looking for peace and I stumble in another war…" Caleb thought with sarcasm as he ran. "Cornelia, where are you?"
The Guardians
"Stay still, you mechanical monster!" Cornelia shouted to one of the Mk. II, as it jumped and evaded another one of her rocks. Hay Lin was having exactly the same problem with striking it with air currents. This was frustrating! These iron creeps kept jumping and dodging everything they threw at them, attacking the girls at every opening they had. And the worst of all? Their telepathic link had ceased working when they had let Taranee face Danny all alone. She still saw the flash that her friend's flames produced from time to time… so death wasn't the answer. That made Cornelia just a bit more relaxed, and she supposed that the other three had come to the same conclusion. Still, without telepathic link, communication and coordination was harder, but not impossible. After all, she had got probably the person that better impersonated the sentence 'Made of imagination'.
"Hay Lin!" Cornelia shouted to the Guardian flying above as she made various rocks to converge in one point and form an enormous ball. "How about playing a little catch the ball game?"
Hay Lin smirked after understanding what she meant and started to prepare a circling current of air around the area, and Cornelia threw the 'ball' against the MK. II. Of course, the mechanical being dodged the attack like it had done with the rest, but this time, the 'ball' ended in Hay Lin's circle current, and she redirected it towards the robot, making it impact in its back and sending it to the ground. There, Cornelia didn't lose a second and wrapped the being in the tightest vines and rocks she could find from underground, even adding a bunch of electrical wires to the mass. Lifting the being from the ground, she launched it towards the one that Will and Irma were facing, both robots clashing and falling some meters away.
"Oh, thanks Corny!" Irma thanked as he prepared the biggest blast of water she could create. "I was getting tired of not giving these guys a shower!"
The blast of water impacted with the two robots, not only hitting but making them wet. Will didn't need to think more than a second in order to charge a blast of Quintessence between her palms. "Let it go, Will." she thought. "Don't limit yourself, let it all go…" she thought as she tried to tap in every bit of strength she had inside of her.
Let it go, child… this is freedom…
Then something happened. Something inside of Will moved in its sleep, slowly at first in order to get off itself of the dreams of the long night, until it awakened, stretched its arms and shouted to the heavens as if wanting to break the world. The sensation, burning as magma expanded from the deepest insides of Will until it was over her whole body. Little by little, the sparks and lightning product of the Quintessence she was amassing in her hands started to darken and change color, from a bright blue to a dark, crimson and blood-like red of a similar tone to Will's eyes and hair. She unleashed the blast with a roar-like scream, striking the pair of robots and electrocuting them to such an extent that this time, in opposition to the result of their fight in the mall, there was not trail left from the targets of her attack.
"Finally!" Irma stated as she, Will and Hay Lin descended to ground level and Cornelia approached them. "I think that they were trying to annoy us to death! But seriously Will, good one there, even if a little overkill."
"Yeah, and what's up with the red lightning?" Hay Lin asked, but Will wasn't listening to them.
Instead she was looking at her palms, where tiny streams of red lightning were running from her wrists to her fingernails, as sparks of the same scarlet color were circling around her hair and the rest of her body. She felt the Quintessence in the lightning, but there was something more in it. It felt… new, but welcomed, right, appreciated. It felt good.
"Will! Hey!" Cornelia said as she shook her friend by the shoulder, getting her back in reality.
"Whoa! Sorry, sorry; lost myself a little there." the redhead answered. "As for the red lightning…" Will said as she clenched her fists and let one last stream to ran through her whole body, from head to toe. "I don't know, but I like it."
"It goes well with your hair." Cornelia pointed out.
"Thanks." Will said, and then breathed deeply. "Anything from Taranee?"
The other three shook their heads. "The telepathic link has been off since we left her," Hay Lin remarked with concern in her voice. "We shouldn't have let her go alone, Will."
Will sighed. "I know. But now we can go and give her a hand." She looked at where the fuming paste that the robots were laid. "And then get in contact with the Regents to know if everything has gone well with your sister Cornelia. I think that this is just a distraction."
Three Guardians flew and one made a piece of the street to levitate with her over it towards the point in which Taranee and Danny were fighting. It wasn't hard to find, it was the spot in which the temperature of a cold, winter night of New Year reached almost fifty degrees in the Celsius scale. Literal waves of flames were dancing in the air as if they were lamenting spirits, and the only thing the quartet could do was stare in borderline horror at the show that was displaying in front of them.
Taranee and Danny were fighting, that was no surprise. The way they were doing it, and the state they were in? That was the cherry on top of everything that had transpired since a metallic monster had dropped from the sky, crashing their peace and tranquility in an instant.
Danny had lost his face, well, the metallic case that enveloped the real one, the mask of black iron. Other parts of his armor were lacking too, one of the forearms was gone, and a side of his chest's plate had melted too. Taranee, however, was in no better condition. Her body, albeit almost being fire had several and severe bruises all over itself, complemented with various slashes product of Danny's claw-like fingers, no doubt.
And right now, both of them were just punching each other as if there was no tomorrow. Albeit both of them were tired, their mutual anger towards the other kept them in their feet, fighting even when their bodies and minds were clearly yelling at them to stop. Breaking bones, tearing muscles, melting metal and lashing wounds and deep cuts. What had started as a battle between projectiles and swift movements between the two had now devolved into a bare and primal fight of punches, both of them shouting and yelling pure guttural growls. Looking from a distance, the other four girls couldn't avoid thinking that it looked more like a fight between animals than between persons.
"What are they doing?!" Cornelia yelled in concern. Hay Lin had taken her hands to her mouth, suppressing a gasp of horror, and Irma wasn't able to look directly at the battle unfolding.
"Fighting," Will answered plainly.
"They are going to kill each other!" the blonde yelled.
"We promised Taranee to leave this situation to her," the redhead explained. "If we see that this gets out of control, we will intervene."
"Will, you can't be serious!" Cornelia complained again, with all the reason in the world. "Look at her!"
"I'm looking Cornelia!" the quintet's leader yelled too. "What I'm supposed to do?! What are we supposed to do?!"
At that moment, the sound of a shot cut the night. The four girls stopped all their movements, knowing that it couldn't have come from them or from the combatants. Hay Lin pointed to the battle of Fire against Iron, with a surprised expression on her face. "Look!"
The fight between the two combatants had stopped too, and a third one had joined them. Holding a gunshot, and positioning himself between the two opponents, had appeared no other than Nigel.
Cook residence. Hours before
Lionel Cook leaned against the frame of his house's door. In front of him was someone he had not expected to see knocking at his door. He had gone quite slowly, preparing a gentle yet quick response for any reporter in order to dismiss him, or a welcome if it was any lawyer with any new; but the big man had been rendered speechless at the sight that had greeted him. The kindly face of Nigel Ashford, one hand raised in friendly greeting, expression crowned by a little smile and an awkward 'Hello' leaving his mouth. Lionel had asked what the boy wanted. As if he didn't know already, it was pretty obvious. And Lionel had answered sincerely, not wanting to really lie to the boy.
"Are you sure she's at this Chacon's house?" Nigel asked. Of course he would believe the big man. Of course they would talk like that. Both men knew that the other was not at fault in anything related to this situation, yet neither did the teen mention the man's wife, neither did the man mention the teen's brother. And of course, none of them mentioned Peter. Nigel just wanted to talk with his girlfriend; and Lionel… Lionel was too tired to really get himself into any type of discussion.
"That's the only place she could be, if she's not at the Dragon." Lionel clarified. "I'll give you the direction, don't worry." Lionel went inside his house for a moment, and came back to the door moments later, carrying a paper in his hands. He handed it to Nigel. "If she's not there, I don't know where she could be."
Nigel took the paper and read it silently. After doing so, he raised his head and looked at Lionel. "I'll be going now, Mr. Cook. Thank you very much."
The teen turned around and walked away from the house, just for Lionel to call him one last time. "What is it, Mr. Cook?"
Lionel shook his head. "Nothing, take care."
"Sure." Nigel answered and head into the address' direction. Walking through the streets in this specific night wasn't a very pleasant experience, considering that everyone else was either in their homes with their families, laughing in the streets, or heading to some club in order to party. Why couldn't everything just stay the way it was? If that had been the case, right now he and Taranee would probably be one of those laughing teens whose only preoccupation was to find a place into where make out without peeking eyes.
As he got nearer and nearer to his destination, Nigel noted how the number of people decreased and decreased until there was no one but him out in the streets. He supposed it was normal, since this Cassidy's house was far away from the city's center. And surprisingly, he somehow noted how the temperature raised and raised too as his proximity to the house. Now that was strange, but he didn't really thought much of it... until he reached the place he was trying to get into and he stumbled into a literal war zone.
The elements flew violently into every direction, robots jumped at every chance trying to land an attack over fairy-like figures that were clearly fighting them. Fairy-like figures that looked too familiar not to recognized. Yet when one of the projectiles that was being used in the battle, a rock of his size, landed few centimeters away from him, Nigel ran and entered the nearest house out of fear. Fortunately, the house seemed emptied when he rushed inside; Endarno, Kadma and old Mrs. Chacon long gone.
He was beyond confused now, the whole structure of the house trembling at any time due to the fighting, the sounds from the clash outside getting easily through the crystals of the windows. Was he sleeping, having a dream? He pinched himself in the arm almost in childlike manner, and it clearly hurt No, clearly not a dream. Then how in the name of God looked as if the outside of the house had become something out of the mind of Michael Bay?!
Nigel was walking erratically inside the house now, his body moving in its own due to the nervousness it had in storage. "Calm down Nigel, calm down;" he thought to himself. "You just need to calm down, figure out what the hell is going on, and find Taranee and… Augh! What the-?!" Nigel had stumbled upon something in the ground, something that couldn't be quite seen due to the darkness of the insides of the house. Maybe he should have turned the lights on upon entering… He took the object in his hands, trying to find what it was by touching it and identifying its form.
"A gun?" he thought. "Why would be a gun in a house?! Oh God, I have to calm down unless I want to beat the record of youngest man with a heart attack…"
The house's structure trembled again, and this time the majority of the windows cracked, if not outright shattered. Nigel couldn't avoid the impulse of looking outside of using one of the windows, and what he saw almost made his mind to shut down. Because in the storm of flames and blows, he could heard them shouting; because he could heard their names, even recognize their faces.
His grip around the gun tightened.
Now
Nigel stood silently between what he supposed was Taranee and what he supposed was his own brother. The two of them had stopped in their tracks and where looking in disbelief at the teenager's appearance, carrying a gunshot, no less.
"Nigel?" Taranee asked weakly. It was hard for her to recognize him; everything looked like ashes in her eyes at this point, and the voice sounded louder and louder at every second that passed…
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Danny yelled, but the only response he got was for Nigel, for his little brother to point the gun into his direction.
"I could ask the same to the both of you!" Nigel yelled. "What the hell is going on?! Why do you look like that?! Explain to me why everyone has told me that you are dead when you aren't, Danny!" He then turned to Taranee. "And you! Why do you look like that too?! What were you two doing beating each other to death?!"
None of the two combatants answered. They just remained silent, their gazes focused in the dark-brown haired boy between them. Nigel's eyes, meanwhile, shifted between the two, growing angrier and more desperate at every second that passed, the situation clearly picking in his already disturbed nerves. "Answer me! Talk to me! Explain to me!"
He received no answer.
"EXPLAIN!"
The Regents
As the battle between the girls and Danny came to a halt; Matt Olsen and his Regent companions were trying to do exactly the opposite, fighting with all of their strength in order to escape from the dome of energy in which the auto-proclaimed Macbeth had put the three of them. It didn't matter how much the winged humanoid tried, he couldn't either access his magic, neither could he change forms, nor talk to Shagon inside his mind. Whatever this energy was, it was completely canceling their magic, leaving only their physical strength. And if one of them came close to get free of the dome of energy, Macbeth would shot them with a blast of his gun, and they would be again at the start point. Matt had never felt so damn useless, even when he was nothing but a normal, untrained human being trying to help the girl he had a crush on with their adventures in Meridian. He wondered where Will would be at that moment, what was probably keeping her busy while they were there. Was this the trap, or the distraction? Or was whatever Will was doing instead? Were both situations traps? Or were both distractions? He really wasn't the best for this strategic stuff… But Lillian was in the verge of being captured, and he couldn't allow that, so he kept fighting and struggling After all, that was the thing he was best at! Unfortunately, Macbeth shot him one more time as he tried to rise, sending him back to the ground.
"If I were you I would have stopped doing that by now." Macbeth told the winged Regent. "Can't you see that that you can't escape from that? This weaponry was designed to specifically contain you."
"Oh, we are really stubborn guys." Matt answered coldly. "You will learn that is our best strength."
"I seriously doubt that," the old arms dealer answered with a small grin in his lips.
"Why can't I at least skin one of the animals?" Declan protested, his muscles still bulging since he hadn't dispelled the effects of his augmentations.
"Because that's not necessary, and we won't get more profit by doing so." Macbeth answered. "Think and try to be a little pragmatic, Declan. Our objective here is the girl, and nothing else."
"I signed up in order to have a good fight!" Declan protested again. "Not for just wait with my arms closed until that crazy woman gets her hands in a little girl!"
"Well, you may reconsider it, since I was the one put in charge." Macbeth answered in an angry tone this time. "When we have the girl, you can do as you please with them."
"Speaking of my sister," Jack spoke next. He was standing a bit away from the other two, metallic arms closed over the chest, looking in the direction his sister had gone too much time ago. "Do you really think that she's okay? I'm starting to worry."
"The Ashford boy is with those Guardian-girls, so is impossible for your sister to encounter anyone that could prove a threat to her." Macbeth explained, quite confidant on his own strategy. Of course, he was proved wrong when he started to hear an incoming sound from the other side of the street, the unmistakable sound of something metallic hitting the concrete of the ground. Looking in the direction the sound was coming from, Macbeth was met with the sight of a man in his late teens with auburn clad in a long brown jacket and carrying what Macbeth identified to be a typical medieval sword.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Caleb said from a distance.
"Caleb!" Matt shouted from his position, albeit he was extremely grateful to see a friendly face. "Be careful, these guys are stronger than they look!"
Caleb nodded to his friend's counsel and then pointed his weapon into the trio's direction. Macbeth raised a confused eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Jack and Declan, however, burst into laughter.
"You have to be kidding, kiddo!" the cyborg man answered mockingly as he approached Caleb with his claws ready to slash him. "We're three against one, you are in a complete disadvantage, whoever you are."
"I think I can turn it into a two against one." Caleb remarked calmly.
"Ahaha!" Jack laughed again. "Yeah? And how so?"
"You are that crazy woman's brother, aren't you?" Caleb asked as he pointed into the same direction Jack was looking at moments ago. "I let her with one arm cut off and bleeding out from the resulting wound about four of five streets into that direction.
Jack's expression changed then, from one of mockery of superiority to one of anger and concern. "What? Kid, you better start making better jokes for your life's sake, because that one wasn't funny."
"It wasn't a joke." Caleb said as his green eyes took on a cruel light. "I cut her arm, and I let her bleeding. I also rescued the girl you were planning to capture, sending her home." That one was more for the Regents than to his opponent. Matt, Napoleon and Huggles sighed in relief, albeit both cat and teenager were slightly worried about the totally cold way into were Caleb had described Helen's fate. There was something there, a tranquil, cold fury running in Caleb's eyes, that Matt found incredibly dangerous. He was sure that, if still in control of Shagon's abilities of feeding in hatred, he could be gaining quite the amount of power right now.
"So if I was you and I wanted to keep my sister alive, I would be running by now." Caleb remarked coldly.
Jack eyed Caleb for a few moments, trying to discern the least bit of doubt or deception in the former rebel's eyes. He found no one, the green eyed bastard was being serious, or he could lie with the same ease he breathed. Everything considered, the augmented human couldn't make take any risks. "Fuck you." Jack uttered in total despise as he turned around and rushed into the direction the young soldier had pointed at. That left Caleb with only Declan and Macbeth to deal with.
"See?" Caleb said as he redirected his attention to the pair. "Two against one."
"You think that changes anything?" Declan boasted as he made his fists collide with each other. "I'm still able of smashing you like a bug."
Caleb rolled his eyes. "Oh no, a brute whose only advantage is a lot of strength, never seen that one before." Caleb mocked into a deadpan tone; clearly enraging Declan and making Macbeth restrain a chuckle.
"Oh, I'm so going to beat you into a pulp, boy..." Declan threatened as he prepared a charge, but got interrupted by Macbeth, who put a hand in front of him.
"Control yourself, Declan." the old arms dealer said. "He's playing you."
"Ah, smart one. Probably in charge." Caleb thought. His gaze shifted from Declan to Macbeth and back various times, and he contained a smirk. It was like seeing Frost and Raythor all over again. He knew exactly how to exploit that.
"Yes Declan, we wouldn't want you to hurt your little head." Caleb remarked. "Obey your leader."
"He's not my leader!" Declan shouted, putting Macbeth's hand aside. "I'm going to make a splat out of you!" he said as he charged towards Caleb, to which Macbeth grunted and pulled his weapon just in case he needed to shot the boy down.
Caleb awaited the incoming attack, evading it by heading onwards himself and lowering in just the exact second Declan threw a curve punch, successfully sneaking behind the hulking human. However, as Caleb prepared to cut the man's back, Declan jumped backwards; forcing Caleb to run out of the way as the hulking man fell in his back with the intention of smashing him.
"Just because I'm the brawns doesn't mean I have no brain," Declan remarked. "Counterattacking sneak attacks is the first thing that you learn in pro-wrestling!"
"Damn, he almost got me there." Caleb thought with blame. "I got too carried away; I'm still tired after that fight with the woman..."
Caleb adopted a more defensive position in order to wait for Declan, but instead his sword was blasted out of his hands by one of Macbeth's blasts. The old arms dealer looked cockily at the young soldier. "Sorry, but I don't like losing my time. Declan?"
"With pleasure." The hulking beast of a man charged towards Caleb, and this time he landed a punch in the young man's stomach, sending him to the ground. Declan put a foot over his chest and Macbeth approached, pointing his gun to the boy's head.
"This has to be the least impressing rescue of history, boy." Macbeth said as he scratched his beard. "Unless it's not a rescue..." Macbeth thought as he looked at Caleb and how he was smirking at him.
He turned around and cursed internally as he saw how the three Regents were up again, the devices that casted the dome of anti-magical energy was gone, and at the three magical warriors' side stood a small, green, goblin-like creature that was currently toying with the devices responsible for the Regents' previous incapacitation, scraping it and tossing at its cables as if investigating it.
"Uh! Blunk could get pretty benefits from these!" the Passling said tearing the devices apart.
"It's payback time." Matt stated in a deadpan tone.
"Agh, swizzle sticks!" Macbeth said as he noted his soul falling to his feet. "There goes my easy way of reclaiming my little empire…"
"What?!" Declan exclaimed, while Macbeth was quick to draw his weapon against the Regents, just for it to be blasted away from his hands thanks to one of Matt´s eyebeams. The winged man shot other three beams; one obliterated Macbeth's gun, the other two struck him in the chest, sending the old arms dealer flying and then to the ground, albeit he got to one knee shortly after. "Tough bastard." Matt thought.
Meanwhile, Huggles and Napoleon rushed towards Declan and punched him at the same time, sending the man away from Caleb. Matt flew a few meters and offered a friendly hand to the former rebel, helping him to incorporate.
"Took you long enough," Caleb grunted as he stretched his limbs.
"Sorry, I just enjoy when they beat you up." Matt retorted funnily, albeit he was clearly preoccupied by what Caleb had said earlier. There was something wrong with the meridianite, something wrong in how he moved, how he acted. Every Regent present could feel it.
"So, where's Cornelia?" Caleb asked. Ah, of course he would ask for her first.
"Protecting the old members of CHYKN, I think." Matt answered. "Or out there fighting a cyborg that is out for revenge… I'll explain later."
"The kid's right, Rebel-Boy," Napoleon dry and deep vice came next. "Now we should focus in these two," he said as he pointed towards Macbeth and Declan. "Thank you for saving Lillian and our asses, by the way."
"Come on!" Declan shouted as he punched the ground and got up. "Me and the old man are enough for all of you."
"No we aren't; you idiotic brute." Macbeth thought. He looked at the three Regents, Caleb (now with his sword again) and Blunk. He saw how Napoleon extended is claws and how Huggles cracked his knuckles. His weapon was gone, and Declan hadn't stood a chance against one of these beasts, so clearly he couldn't keep with three. And on top of that, the girl was gone! That Riddle bastard, showing off his planning ability to get played out by a boy with nothing but a stick of metal in the end! "But I still have the money Doomstad got for me in my accounts…" Macbeth thought. "And the boys I called while the others were being transformed should have got the weapons out of the country now…"
"Okay, you pair of talking fur coats!" Declan said as he eyed both Napoleon and Huggles with determination. "Who's first?"
But before Declan could launch his suicide attack, Macbeth positioned himself at the brute's side, throwing his remaining weaponry to the Regents' feet and raising his hands. "I surrender!" he said.
Declan looked confused at the old former arms dealer. "Wha- How- You- Coward!"
"Pragmatic, Declan. It's called being pragmatic." Macbeth said with a sly smirk.
"Pragmatic?!" Declan protested, turning his back in the Regents and the meridianites. "You stupid old timer… I should've known that you were going to betray us!" Declan turned his attention towards his adversaries again. "Well, you will have to do only with me and forget about the coward… Awk?!"
In the time Declan had denounced Macbeth's behavior, Caleb had crossed the distance between the two of them and shoved his sword in the hulking man's chest as soon as he had turned around. "Or maybe he's not a coward, and he's being intelligent." Caleb taunted coldly as Declan fell to his knees, blood pouring from his wound and coloring Caleb's sword. "It seems your musculature doesn't compare to a piece of armor." Caleb said as he got his sword out of the man's chest and with a swift movement he cut Declan's throat. The last thing the former pro-wrestler saw before hitting the ground were a pair of cold green eyes.
"Christ…" Macbeth muttered in surprise.
"CALEB!" Matt shouted in anger, approaching the former Rebel Leader and taking him by the shoulders so he was forced to look at him. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"A killing," Caleb answered tranquilly. "That's obvious."
"Why did you do that?!" Matt asked, his eyes almost bulging, a blood vessel could have exploded there if he wasn't in his Regent form.
"Because he would have fought to the end if not," Caleb explained coldly. "And I think none of us had time to loss here. We have a prisoner, and I doubt that the other two will come after what I did to that woman. Now, take your hands from me, and we can go back to Cornelia's home, so you can check in her little sister."
Matt looked at Caleb, and the soldier looked back at the Regent. For a moment there was a small battle of wills there, something unspoken that passed between the two men. Matt ended getting his hands out of Caleb and directed to his fellow Regents. "Let's get back to the Hales' home. I don't know how they may have reacted to all… this."
Huggles made sure that Macbeth always walked at his side and in front of Napoleon, the old arms dealer cooperating as best as he could. Caleb directed the March, while Matt looked down from the dark, cold skies of the night. Inside his mind, he could hear the unmistakable laughter of Shagon.
"Hahaha… Boy takes after his mommy, it seems."
And for the first time, Matt couldn't avoid giving his inner demon all the reason.
"Sis! Sis!" Jack called in the streets. "Helen, where're you?!"
"Jack!" the female cyborg called. "I'm here!"
The male sibling searched for his sister, just to see that the boy hadn't been kidding, she truly was missing an arm; though the augments had made sure she didn't bleed out after the cut. Jack kneeled and helped Helen to her feet. "Okay, were are good. Are we good?"
"He cut my fucking arm! How I'm supposed to be good?!" Helen complained.
"Sorry, it's what you usually say in these kind of situations." Jack answered. "We'll get your arm, then go to Doomstad, and get you patched up." Jack's expression devolved into a sneer. "And then we will find that medieval kid, all his friends, and we will make them into a fucking piece of modern art!"
"Amateurs."
Jack and Helen looked at the exit of the alley they were currently in. There, standing with the arms crossed at his back, clothed in an elegant suit, Tony Vandom was looking at them with a cruel smile. Jack and Helen looked at the newcomer with surprised gazes. Who the hell was that? When did he get there?
"You couldn't kill a rabbit even if it was in front of you, offering you a loaded gun that pointed to its head."
"What the hell is today?!" Jack yelled. "Who the hell are you, another friend of those freaks?!"
Tony chuckled. "Well, not exactly. But you know the one with wings? Matt? That's my daughter's boyfriend. Not that I really care for him, but my daughter holds him into great esteem, and I actually would enjoy having grandchildren one day, so I suppose I would be a terrible father if I let you run away when you have tried to kill him."
"I think that you don't know with whom you are dealing with here." Jack threatened as he distanced from Helen and approached Tony. "And I'm getting tired of your crap!" the male Renard sibling said as he launched himself towards Tony, trying to strike him in the neck, which he actually did, as the redhead wasn't trying to defend himself. However, as Jack's claws did impact with the man's neck, they shattered into nothing but tiny pieces, letting both Jack and Helen looking in surprise and slight fear at that, and Tony laughing.
"No, no… I know exactly with whom I'm dealing, with a pair of idiots that think themselves the worst of the worst just because they have killed a few persons and raped another bunch. Me?" Tony said as his eyes lighted in red. "More than a century ago I terrorized the whole city of London with my own presence. Six hundred years ago, I took control of Valaquia and my men and I held back the one that at the time was called Ultimate Empire just by the fear we inspired in the hearts of the enemy. Raping? Pillaging? I was doing that before I learned how to talk the insufferable gibberish you call language. And that's just counting the things I had done in this world. I have destroyed so many people in so many ways that it has lost almost all the fun. Almost."
"Who… who the hell are you?!" Helen shrieked as Tony's body started to change. Leathery wings sprouted out of his back, and twisted horns grew from his forehead. The suit let place to a reddish skin, the teeth let place to fangs, the hands to claws, the feet to talons.
"Tony Vandom, Richard Pickman, Jack the Ripper, Nosferatu, Mephistopheles, Vladimir 'Dracul' Tepes, Sammael…" the redhead cited as if he was reading a list of names. "I am the Count, born of the flesh and blood of the Third One." The monster eyed both Renard siblings with a predatory gaze, and his mouth opened revealing a set of powerfull and long fangs. "And you?"
"You are just humans."
Iron, flames and a boy
"EXPLAIN!"
Nigel's shout echoed through the night, only the crisping sound of the flames emanating from Taranee's body accompanying it until it melted and disappeared in the air of the night. The petition of the boy fell in deaf ears, as neither Guardian of Fire nor cyborg answered to his plea. Nigel looked between the two of them, and for a moment Danny could have sworn that there were tears in his brother's eyes.
"It's... it's too much to explain it now, Nigel." Danny remarked with a small smile in his face. His voice had stopped from sounding metallic time ago, now he sounded completely normal again. Human.
Weak...; the voice said again.
"Then make an effort!" Nigel yelled again.
"This is a waste of time." Taranee remarked just to take Nigel by the throat, elevating him from the ground and looking him in the eyes. "Stay out of this." she said as she threw him into the air. Nigel landed a few meters away, and Taranee launched a fireball to Danny, successfully throwing the cyborg out of balance and making him hit the ground in his back.
"Is this when you kill me, Taranee?" Danny asked.
"Of course!" Taranee yelled, her eyes flashing with flames wrath. She shoot two thin flame bullets to his chest just to see if it was as resilient as it was beforw, and then charged a ball of flame by extending her palm towards Danny's head.
"Yeah, shot me with that fire of yours; go on and kill me." Danny thought. "At least Nigel will see what kind of monster you all really are."
But contrary to his expectations, a red lightning stroke the ground between the Guardian and him. The other four girls landed in front of him, albeit the blond one had to be carried by the brunette.
"What?" Danny thought confused.
"What are you doing?!" Taranee demanded, her eyes now expressing shock and disbelief alongside wrath. "Get out of my way!"
"No." Will answered plain but defiantlly, authority reeking from her voice. "I won't let you, we won't let you."
"You don't have any word in this!" Taranee replied furiously, as she stomped the ground with her feet, provoking a miniature wave of flames. "This is my fight! My enemy! My revenge!"
"Have you listened to what you just said?" it was Cornelia now. "Taranee please, see reson, there is no more need for this. You have won here."
"Won?! WON?!" Taranee almost hissed. "I won't have won until he's nothing but ashes!"
"Taranee, chill out! Look at yourself!" Irma shouted. "C'mon, you're better than this!"
At that Taranee chuckled, then let a huge laugh to escape her mouth. "Says the one who wanted to kill Sylva in cold blood!" the Fire Guardian said histrionically, a statement that made Irma to finch slightly.
"Taranee, I understand from what you are passing..." Will said in order to make her friend to stop, but the only thing she got was a small fireball thrown in front of her feet. Too close to her feet.
"Why? Because your parents got divorced?" Taranee asked in a tone that bordered in cruel. "Yeah, that's pretty comparable to having one of them turning out to be a criminal. Don't give me that shit and get out of my way!"
Will stared at Taranee for minutes, unable to utter a word. Yet neither the redhead neither none of her companions made a move. After the silence, the leader of WITCH breathed three times and spoke again. "Taranee, listen..."
"NO! SOMEONE HAS TO PAY!" the Fire Guardian yelled at the top of her lungs, and for a second, small flames started to drop from her eyes and roll over her cheeks, as if they were tears. After all, wrath is fuelled but nothing but pain. "For my tears! For my father's! For Kandrakar, for these corpses at the mall! Someone has to be guilty! Someone has to be at fault! Well for me, He is!" Taranee roared to the sky, a torrent of flames escaping her mouth, her teeth becoming flamed fangs. "And I won't let you get in my way! I'll have my revenge!"
"GOD DAMN IT, TARANEE, I WON'T LET YOU BECOME A KILLER JUST LIKE THAT!" Will shouted too, a current of scarlet lightning running through her body as she clenched her fists.
"None of us will." Hay Lin said next.
"Neither will I;" Nigel's voice irrupted in the conversation, the teenage boy positioning himself at the quartet's side and eyeing his girlfriend, the weapon still in his arms. "Taranee, I know that… well, no I don't know what's going on here. But I know one thing, and that's the fact that this isn't who you are, what you are. I don't know how my brother had become that thing, but please, stop this madness. This isn't the girl I fell in love with."
"You are speaking as if you have a word in this," Taranee spoke, the flames of her body heating even more and dancing violently.
"So are you." Will stated as she took the jewel that hanged around her neck and held it between the four of them and Taranee.
Taranee's eyes bulged and she roared as she launched one of her flaming hands towards Will, but she was unable to get to the Heart before the pink flash enveloped all five of them, reverting to their original selves. An angry shriek crossed Heatherfield's night skies. Something akin to the sound that a defiant beast utters as it dies. The voice, the whisper of harm and anger disappeared then from Taranee's mind, leaving behind nothing but the thought of disappointment.
Taranee fell to the ground in midair, the wounds product of her battle prominent now even if cauterized by the fire, the bruises abundant and large. The girl looked enraged at her friends and got to her feet slow and with difficulty.
"You have… changed nothing," Taranee said, albeit panting. Without her Guardian form it was clear that the exhaustion of the battle and the pain of the wounds inflected to her by Danny were taking its tool in her. "I still… I still…" Taranee tumbled before making a fireball in her palm. "I still… can…"
"No you can't."
Turning around the four remaining Guardians looked into Danny's direction, the cyborg had just sat in the ground; his legs closed one over the other; arms over his thighs. He was panting too, the adrenaline of the fight long gone, and his body hurting. "You are too tired to continue, Cook- Taranee." Danny said as he raised one of his hands and looked at it. Where did the metal end and where did the flesh start? Under that black armor; under the cables, and vials connected to his nervous system, where did they separate?
"But…" Danny took air and passed his armored hand over his shaved head, carefully noting the metallic parts that remained as his hand travelled all the way over his head and down the back of his neck. He came to a conclusion: too much metal. And the words of the girl still echoed in his mind, her expression as she confronted her friends still constant. The eyes ready to kill, the suffering in them; the lack of complete humanity that they possessed for a moment. "Did I look like that when I attacked her?" his eyes looked at Nigel, his brother looking at the scene with a heartbroken expression, still clutching the gunshot. "But you have won this one." Danny muttered as he turned around and started to leave.
"Oh no… you don't dare to…" Taranee said, just to stumble with her own feet and fell to her knees, the fireball in her hand disappearing, her body too weak to continue. Her vision started to blurry and, unable to continue to cope with the tension, she fell unconscious; her head would have hit the ground if not for Nigel's and Will's intervention, the two of them holding the girl in order to prevent her total fall to the ground, Will letting Nigel to hold the girl in his arms, the gunshot thrown aside. Danny looked at his brother for another moment, but he didn't say anything.
"Is that all?" Cornelia asked from the cyborg as he tried to leave, Danny turning around to face the blonde. "You threat our elders, our friends; you torture Taranee and almost drive her insane; and now you just leave? Doesn't your own brother deserve an explanation?"
"Let him go, Cornelia." Nigel spoke to the blonde.
"But…" Cornelia protested, just for Nigel to deposit Taranee completely in the ground, stand up and walk to in-between the girls and his own brother. "What is he going to do? He's nothing but an idiotic coward."
"Nigel…"
"No! Now you listen to me, brother!" Nigel shouted. "That's the girl I love, and you almost killed her! For what? For revenge? Everyone that has spoken to me about you since all this shit with Mrs. Cook and Peter came into the light has told me that you were dead! Did you ever think about what mom and dad have been passing since that?! Have you ever thought about telling them that their son, who they haven't seen in years, is still alive?!"
"Nigel, I…" Danny started to say, but he was cut by Nigel once again.
"I said that now you listen!" Nigel yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Attacking innocent people like that…"
"They aren't innocent." Danny replied, thinking about the Purges Khor had informed them about, thinking about what they did to Mr. Riddle, about what they did to him. "It was I who had to spend years inside a prison because of what that woman and Peter did."
"And you attack Taranee because…?!" Nigel spoke. "You aren't any different from Theresa, Danny. Just blaming innocents for the failures of others, the pain you feel and your own egoism."
"Nigel, brother…"
"Don't 'brother' me!" Nigel shouted. "Get the hell out of here before I let the girls to vaporize you." the teenager spitted in anger as he turned his back to his brother and returned to Taranee's side, the other four Guardians forming a circle around them. Danny sighed and walked away from the almost melted and trashed street, the shadows of the night enveloping him and making his form disappear.
The girls and Nigel remained in silence after that, looking at Taranee with concern. "Is she going to be okay?" Irma asked at last.
"She's still breathing, that's for sure." Hay Lin answered.
"She just needs to rest, and get healed." Will stated. "Do you think that we could use the link between Halinor and us now?"
"Just one way to find out," Cornelia answered her leader.
Will thought, tapping in their telepathic link with the former Fire Guardian. "Halinor?"
"Will? Oh, thank God! I have been trying to contact you since we get out of there!" Halinor's thought process came. "Where are you? How are you?"
"We are okay; we won, more or less." Will thought back. "But Taranee needs assistance; we could use some of those healing spells of yours right now. Where are you exactly?"
"We were leaving Mrs. Chacon in the Silver Dragon when we received a call from the Regents." Halinor thought. "Apparently there has been an attack."
"What?!" Cornelia's thoughts echoed violently. "Is my sister alright?"
"I know that Doomstad and Riddle were playing with us…" Will thought. "Good thing we have been also playing with them too. Is Lillian alright?"
"Yes, but…" Halinor's reply sounded troubled. "I think you should come to the Hales' residence, Will. There is a lot to talk about."
The telepathic conversation ended, and Will looked at her unconscious companion and the boy teen holding her. "Nigel, can I ask something from you?"
"Of course," Nigel answered.
"Good, I need you to carry Taranee and stay still very close to us four, okay?" Will asked as Nigel nodded and took Taranee in his arms. "Good. Be ready, the first time you teleport always get your head dizzy."
"Wait, tele-what?" Nigel asked as Will clapped her hands and the six of them were enveloped into a green light and let the street alone.
There, in the melted concrete, were the remaining pieces of Danny's black iron mask. Around it, flames of a platinum color started to converge and cast a shadow that shortly after took the form of Moloch, the Conqueror, who looked disappointed to the spot where the Guardians were just a moment ago.
"I almost got her. I suppose I should let the manipulations and mind-games to Ba'al and Qetesh; she seems to have much more luck with the Keeper, but then again she is family." Moloch spoke to himself, his bombastic voice cracking the ground even more and making the windows of every nearby house to shatter. His shadowy self started to fade away, no longer able to hold itself together. It didn't stop the prideful demon to utter one more sentence. "Still, to be able to influence a physical world like this again… Just a bit longer."
Hale residence
The girls and Nigel teleported exactly in front of the entrance to the building where the Hales lived; taking care that no one was there to see them. The six entered and mounted in the elevator as best as they could, the device lifting them to the floor where Cornelia's home was. When they entered, they were presented with a sight that none of them was expecting.
In the main room of the Hales' home, were Cornelia's parents, sitting in a couch with clear tired expression. At the other side were Kadma, Halinor and Endarno; clearly uncomfortable with this situation, as it was shown when they turned directly to aid Taranee's wounds, Nigel taking Taranee with them to another room. And at the other side of the room, Lillian was cheerfully hanging from one of Napoleon's arms, Huggles and Matt standing nearby. The three of them in their Regents forms.
What was the cherry on top of the situation was that no other than Blunk was also in the room, side by side with a handcuffed old man garbed in a black long coat that for his expression was clearly enjoying the situation.
"Oh, shit." Cornelia cursed, making her presence clear.
"Cornelia!" Lillian cheered and dashed towards her sister, jumping at her. "Why didn't you tell me that magic was real? Can you do magic too? Can I do magic?"
"Lillian, listen…" Cornelia answered, but then Elizabeth stood up from the couch and approached her eldest daughter.
"No Cornelia. I want to know the answers to those questions too." Elizabeth demanded, eye-bags had started to form under her eyes and were now quite appreciable even under her glasses.
Cornelia looked back at the trio of her friends that remained in the presence. Will nodded, clearly giving her permission to speak. The blonde took a lot of air deeply. "Yes, magic is real. Yes, I can do magic, I'm a Guardian, and I can control everything that is connected to the element of earth. And yes, Lillian can do magic too, or she will when she is old enough to control it and we give her permission. Until then, Matt and the pets hold control over her power." Cornelia breathed then, having spoken too fast.
"I'm a witch!" Lillian cheered again with all the power that her young lungs were capable of.
"More like a goddess, but whatever." Irma remarked, just to get a scold from Cornelia and an elbowing from her girlfriend. "Sorry, have to say that one."
Meanwhile Elizabeth stared at her daughter cryptically, as if trying to discern if everything that had come out Cornelia's mouth was true or not. She decided that it was, and reacted how every mother would react. "No." the woman said.
"No what exactly?" Cornelia asked, confused.
"No to all that." Elizabeth continued, arms crossed over her chest. "I want you to stop it. Turn it off."
"You can't do that, mom." Cornelia replied. "I tried once, it didn't work."
"Of course you can!" Elizabeth replied. "Just… renounce to it!"
"No, mom; I'm not going to do that." Cornelia continued in a calmed tone.
"Why?!" Elizabeth asked.
"Because it's my responsibility." Cornelia answered. "Do you think that I asked for this, that my plan to enjoy high school was to be a warrior fairy, fighting monsters and crazy people across the universe? Do you think that I asked for my little sister to be the most powerful being of this planet, to be the target of madmen?" Cornelia made a pause and took her mother's hands into hers. "This is something that you just can't let go, that you can't ignore. I know it can be too much, but it's how it is."
"But, but…" Elizabeth mumbled. "We almost died tonight! Some crazy bitch appeared and tried to take my daughter from me! What if… what if that happens and then there is no one to do anything?" Elizabeth hugged Cornelia by surprise. "What if I lost you…?"
"Mom…" Cornelia muttered and hugged her mother back, Harold joining afterwards. Something then pulled from the older woman's clothes. Looking down, Elizabeth spotted Lillian, smiling at her.
"Don't worry mom, I'll protect Cornelia!" the little girl cheered.
"You sure will do, pipsqueak." Cornelia answered. "And besides the Regents can protect you all fine."
"Which reminds me…" Will stepped in. "What happened?"
"Some people with cybernetics appeared and tried to capture Lillian." Matt explained. "They had some kind of anti-magic weapon that almost cost us three our heads."
"The static sound…" Will muttered, to which Matt nodded in agreement.
"Your boyfriend kinda saved our lives there," Harold said to his daughter, rubbing the back of his head.
"Caleb?" Cornelia asked, and for a moment her eyes brightened.
"And Blunk! Don't forget Blunk!" the Passling said from his spot in the room. "Blunk folded Blondie's family away, rescued Regents, captured prisoner!" the small green dwarf said pointing to Macbeth.
"Technically, I surrendered…" the old arms-dealer said; a statement that passed unperceived.
"But why was Caleb here?" Hay Lin asked. "I thought that he had enough to handle in Meridian, with Tracker and Cedric…"
"Who?" Harold asked; a part of him curious.
"Evil zombie hunter and manipulative bastard that can turn into a giant snake respectively, Mr. Hale." Irma answered and then glanced at Lillian slightly. "Sorry for the bad language."
A shadow passed then over the Passling's face, clearly there was something that he was not telling. Matt was the one to talk, though.
"Caleb is not alright, Cornelia." Matt said as he started to revert to his human form, the peril now gone that the girls were here. "Something is wrong with him."
"And that is?" Cornelia demanded from the Regent.
"Let's say, for the maintenance of the little girl's innocence," Macbeth said mockingly. "That I was accompanied by three people. Two escaped, the third one… wasn't that lucky."
"What?" Cornelia asked almost in a whisper.
"Blondie should speak with Caleb," Blunk spoke. "Something very bad happened in Meridian, and Caleb is not the same as Blunk knows."
"What does that mean?" Will inquired too.
"Caleb's dad, he… Phobos killed him." the Passling answered finally, not masquerading the reality with half-truths and sugar; and before anyone else could say anything, Cornelia asked where Caleb was, and when her father told her that in her room, the blonde was gone.
In Harold's and Elizabeth's bedroom, meanwhile, the healing spell that Endarno and Halinor had casted over the Fire guardian was ending doing its job, and Taranee, lying in the bed of the Hales, started to woke up slowly. At her side, Nigel was sitting in a chair, looking tired and worried at his girlfriend.
"We have done everything we could," Kadma spoke. "We will let you two alone."
"Thank you," Nigel said to the three of them as they left the room.
Taranee mumbled something incoherent before waking completely; her dizzy eyes looking for something relatable, and finding her sweet boy, smiling at her as if nothing could go or had gone wrong.
"Nigel?" she asked slowly.
"Yes, it's me." Nigel answered in a soft voice. "How are you feeling?"
"Bad, both in and out." Taranee answered, the memories of the whole night coming back to her slowly. "Oh God, I said something horrible to Will…" Taranee breathed softly. "How do I look?"
Nigel rubbed her hands with his fingers. "Beautiful."
Taranee laughed then. "You know what I meant, silly."
"You look okay, that Endarno guy and a blond woman healed you." Nigel answered. "I think that they are going to Hay Lin's grandma's restaurant now. What's that, like your HQ, or something?"
Taranee laughed again. It felt good to laugh. When was the last time that she had tried that? Right, before the factory…
"And Danny?" Taranee asked.
"What with him?" Nigel asked. "He just walked out."
"He's your brother…" Taranee said, weakly. It was clear that she was extremely tired.
"And he was trying to kill you." Nigel answered.
"And I was trying to kill him." Taranee said. "I was just… so angry at him, at everyone. At mom, at Peter, at the girls…"
"And now?" Nigel asked.
"I don't know." Taranee answered. "Can you…," Taranee started to ask as she incorporated. "Can you accompany me home? My dad could be getting worried about me."
"Sure." Nigel said as he helped Taranee to get out of the bed and walk by leaning against him. "I know that, if you apologize very hard, Will will teleport us to your house."
Taranee laughed again. "What about your brother?"
Nigel frowned slightly. "I don't know. I suppose he's angry too But he will come back, I know. He's not so bas as to let our parents suffer like that for such an egoistic reason."
Taranee didn't make him speak more. Once they had exited the room, she would apologize to Will, to all of them. She really had been an idiot, letting her emotions take the best of her. Right now she didn't want someone to pay. Right now she just wanted to stay with Nigel, sleep, and let all this to pass.
Cornelia's room
As one couple abandoned one room, another reunited in another one. Cornelia closed the door to her room silently, making sure that she didn't make a fush. Previously to enter she had stopped in front of the closed door, her rush ending drastically, the blonde calming down and thinking before acting. What was she going to say? What could she say? What could she do?
His father, Julian, the man who just wanted a place free of corruption and tyranny. The man who always stood silent and humble in the back of the lines, taking care that not even one soldier was left behind. The man who had supported, cared for and loved the man she had fallen in love with.
Julian, the man who didn't give up, the man who believed in the good of the people even after discovering that the woman he loved had practically raped him. He was dead.
Julian was dead.
His father was dead.
"Caleb's father is dead."
She had crossed the door almost in an impulse of bravery, and now was looking at the insides her room; inside was only one thing that looked different from how she had let the room that morning, and that was the brown-haired, green-eyed boy; sitting in her bed, reading a thin bunch of papers. Ah, one of her old history redactions, clearly encouraged by her father. He really was kind of obsessive about history, no wonder why he had bonded so well with Collins. Caleb seemed incredibly concentrated in reading the thing, so Cornelia thought that he hadn't sensed her arrival. She was wrong.
"I didn't know that there was a King with the name of your cat." Caleb said. Not a hello, not a greeting, much less a kiss, or even a simple look. Yes, definitely something very wrong with him.
"Well, the cat has the name of the man, not the other way around, and he was an Emperor, not a King, though I don't know exactly what the difference is." Cornelia explained. "Do you like it?"
Caleb lasted quite before answering. "You don't seem to outright state if you find him bad or good."
"Well, that's not how you're supposed to do a history redaction." the blonde continued to say. "It's supposed to just tell the information and facts, not judge them and that stuff. Also, Napoleon is a pretty controversial figure, or so my father says." Wrong word. The worst word, why had she said that word?!
Caleb didn't say anything, closing the redaction and tossing it aside. Good, he hadn't noticed. Wait, was it good that he hadn't noticed? He seemed so far away, even if he was just not more than a meter from her reach. Centimeters even. Cornelia sat at his side in the bed. "Blunk…" Cornelia took air and mashed bravery inside her. "Blunk told us about your father."
At first there was no response, just an awkward, tense silence. Caleb reclined a bit over the bed and looked at the ceiling, while Crnelia looked at the ground. Man, this was hard. Was this the same kind of mix of emotions that Will had felt when Matt's grandfather had perished at Sylva's hands? There was sadness there, pity too; but also anger, and frustration. Yes, frustration over all else. It felt like there was a thick barrier between Cornelia and Caleb right now, separating them even if Cornelia knew that if she tried to move her right arm she would probably collide with Caleb's.
"He really did that, didn't he?" Caleb asked. "I told Blunk that I wanted to tell you myself."
"Caleb…"
Something happened then there. Cornelia raised her sight from the ground, while at the same time Caleb took his from the ceiling. Both their gazes met, and Cornelia was presented with the face of her beloved, sporting a broken smile at her, and his eyes teary to the point that she knew that he only needed a little push in order to start crying. "I don't know what to do, Cornelia." Caleb said, his voice trembling. "I… I… Everything that I have passed, just for my father to be taken away from me; it's just unfair, don't you think? I was in front of him, if I had only been faster… he told me, that he loved me, and I couldn't say anything…"
A sob came from the boy's mouth, and then tears rolled down his eyes. Not being able to take it anymore, Cornelia threw her arms around the boy, taking him in an embrace and holding his head close to her chest. The rhythm of her heart could be heard by Caleb, such a comforting sound, to hear something next to him that wasn't the whistles of arrows, the roars of monsters, the laughing of maniacs or the impacts of swords against one another.
"You silly rebel boy…" Cornelia whispered into his ear as he kissed his cheek as tenderly as possible.
And Caleb cried. He cried, cried like he had not cried in years, for the first time since too much time ago. Rebels shouldn't cry, soldiers shouldn't cry, men shouldn't cry; much less the ones that lead others. But it's impossible not to cry, not for someone that still has heart, not for someone that still feels. So the boy cried.
An image, a memory from distant past flashed then in his mind. A brown haired boy was in the middle of a field of grass, practicing his swings with a sword against a Galhot child of the similar, if not the same, age. Few meters away, under the shadow of a tree, there was a bearded man supervising the spar. At one point, the Galhot child fell to the ground, result of the other kid's maneuvers, and the kid pointed his weapon to his friend's throat, proclaiming 'you're dead', in a funny manner. After helping his friend up, the boy ran to his father and asked if he had seen that. And the father smiled, ruffling the boy's hair in approval. These memories, these brilliant images these were calm in between the numerous storms.
"Dad…"
The boy's cries weakened after a while, and the embrace of his beloved around him tightened. It felt warm, incredibly warm. A part of him thought, if he alwayshad that warm, if everyone had that warm; could there be wars? Could there be monsters?
Caleb separated from Cornelia bit by bit. Something inside of him wanted to remain there, like that, without worrying about anything outside that room, without worrying about dead bodies, about petty tyrants, about lost comrades. Just Cornelia and him. But then another part of him acted; a part that reminded him that he hadn't come here just to appeal to his girlfriend's pity, something that he thought that he really didn't deserve. He breathed in order to calm himself even more.
"Better?" Cornelia asked, as she wiped a few tears of her own from her cheeks.
"Yes, better;" or at least calmed. Caleb supposed that was better than nothing. "Cornelia, I… I need to talk with you. About what happened with my father, about Meridian, about… everything."
"Okay." Cornelia said as she rubbed his back. "Do go on, I'm all ears for you."
"It's not so simple." Caleb answered. "I don't even know from where to start."
"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Cornelia asked of him.
The beginning? When did all this begun? There was a part though, a part that he wanted to speak about with Cornelia, and that was very close to being the beginning. "Do you know Sonder Hill, in Meridian?" Caleb asked, and Cornelia nodded. Of course she would know, Tynar and the girls were pretty close. "Cornelia, the Rebellion… I…"
Caleb trailed again, the memories of that first night at Sonder Hill, of his first night commanding anyone, were coming back to him, and they weren't pretty.
"Cornelia, we did something horrible."
Ludmoore Manor
Night was coming to an end, and so was the party that had followed to the dinner in the Ludmoore manor. The guests were all abandoning the enormous residence of the Doomstad marriage, and that included Susan and Dean. From the entrance to the big house Victor and Sephiria bid farewell to their guests and saw how all of them abandoned Villa Ludmoore, some driving their own cars, some others carried in limousines or taxis. Victor's blue gaze followed the car that belonged to Susan until it disappeared in the horizon, and then both him and his wife headed back inside.
There, Sephiria took her shoes out of her feet and threw them in the air. "Finally! A whole night without being able to move comfortably, geez!"
"Sephiria please, it was a very enjoyable night." Victor said in a quite tired tone.
"The only good thing is that I got to make out with you at midnight to celebrate the New Year!" Sephiria protested, pumping her cheeks.
"Did everything go well?" the voice of Theodore Riddle took both of them by surprise. The marriage turned to him, the bald psychologist approaching them.
"How the heck did you… Nevermind, teleportation, right." Sephiria answered her own question even before the question itself was asked. "How did the night develop?"
"The girl got away, and Macbeth let himself to be taken by the enemy." Riddle answered, as he had been surveying the two ongoing main fights of the night, more or less, thanks to a pair of Victor's drones. "your tech worked fine, but there was an outside interference, a man from one of those 'Folds', I think."
"Well, at least we now know that those 'Regents' can be easily subdued." Victor said. "It's normal for a part of the plan to go wrong if we don't know about an improbable appearance. What about Daniel?"
Riddle shook his head. "I don't know, I lost contact at one moment of the fight. It seemed as if the lenses of the drone had melted. I hope that Mrs. Vandom ere didn't try anything."
"Nah, she was cool." Sephiria answered. "She had dinner, she drank, and she kissed his man at midnight like tradition demands. For hating our guts, she really didn't try a thing…"
"Hating us?" Victor asked, surprised.
"Something instinct is better than intellect, dear." Sephiria answered, poking Victor's head slightly. "Theo was right, she knows; and frankly I can understand her being angry at us, as we almost killed her daughter and all."
"The factory and the final stage of the project weren't threatened, right?" Riddle asked.
"No, don't worry." Victor reassured. "I have Bruno and Robert down there, they can take care of everything."
Riddle raised an eyebrow in sheer confusion. "Who?"
"You know; Bruno Caster and Robert Mercer." Sephiria spoke next. "The chiefs of security from Victor's enterprises."
"You don't have… you don't need…" Riddle started to say, just for realization to hit him. "Those manipulative witches!" Riddle shouted as he extended both his hands to his associates' heads, his eyes glowing as he seemed to retire some kind of helmet from over the two of them. Both Sephiria and Victor tumbled after that, almost falling.
"What was that just now?" Sephiria asked.
"Do you know someone called Bruno Caster or Robert Mercer?" riddle asked.
"No… no I don't." Victor answering, his face paling as realization hit him too.
"BLAST!" Riddle cursed in anger.
Heatherfield's streets
As the sun started to rise slowly in the horizon, Bruno Caster and Robert Mercer walked happily, just for the glamour that was covering them to fall apart, revealing the forms of Cassidy Chacon and Mera Lin under them. They both were carrying a bunch of USBs and CDs, each one of them containing data extracted from the underground factory.
"Still got it." Cassidy said, smirking while swing her hips slightly. It was good to be winning again.
"Please, you only got to brainwash those two because Will gave us a power-boost with her Quintessence." Mera told her teasingly. "And it only lasted due to my acting skills."
The two of them laughed as they walked side by side. They had to admit that it was a shame that they couldn't have teleported nearer to the Dragon, but enjoying the, as Cassidy called it, 'Victory Walk' was nice.
Back at the underground factory
"They took everything!" Victor complained as he checked one of the computers at the factory. "Well, just copy it, but still…!"
"Where was Khor during all this?!" Sephiria shrieked.
"Probably sleeping, and since we keep him in the lowest levels I suppose he couldn't smell them." Victor explained. "That or he just ignored them, the bastard. Unless I order him to move, he won't lift a claw, will he?"
"That redhead played with us," Riddle explained. "We should change our priorities to dispatching her first. If we cut their strategist, then the team will follow afterwards." Riddle sighed. "I underestimated her even after our meeting, it won't happen again."
"Do we move now?" Sephiria inquired. "They are probably tired, and maybe Danny has been able to strike one of them down."
Riddle pondered that statement. "If that was the case, he could have contacted us already. Still, you are right about their tiredness. We should strike now that we have an opportunity. Take Khor from the lowest levels and…"
"I'm sorry, but I won't let you do that, amigo."
A purple barrier formed then around the three of them, Sephiria clashing with it as she tried to jump out of the reach. The barrier formed a purple dome around them, taking they by surprise. "Magic…" Riddle whispered with spite.
"All my lovely magic," Ricardo said as he entered the scene, accompanied by the woman from before. A glamour around the woman fell too, revealing the form of a slender, pale faced woman of an unidentifiable age, curly hair of a light shade of black that looked similar to a cloud in form adorning her head, her clothes strange ones, remembering to the ones sported by the white harlequins of Italy, a cylindrical and quite big hat over her head to top it all.
"Who are you?" Victor asked. "If you are more associates of Kandrakar, I'm sad to inform you that you are transposing my private property."
"Nothing in Villa Ludmoore is your property." the woman told him. Her voice was soft, but strong. "From the house to the blue roses, to the stone that surrounds this iron castle of yours, all of Villa Ludmoore serves only one master. Be thankful that he isn't here, he always was a cruel man with the ones that touched his domains." the woman walked around the dome, touching it in order to see that it had been well casted. "And answering your question, neither I nor the boy work for Kandrakar. This is Ricardo, and I'm Arkaam, the White Queen of the Fast World."
"Fast World?" Riddle demanded to know, while he tried to teleport he and his two companions out of the dome, to no avail.
"Try as much as you want." Ricardo told him. "No teleportation while inside of that. It was made to contain things much stronger than you."
"Is not that there is love lost between Kandrakar and me," the woman continued speaking. "But letting you harm them is something that the well being of this universe cannot afford." She then turned around and started to leave Ricardo following in tow.
"The spell I casted will wore off in, I don't know, give it five hours;" Ricardo explained as a green glow enveloped him and Arkaam, making them dissapear. "Until then, you all will have to wait, personitas."
"Damn it…" Victor cursed. "Sephiria are you alright?"
Sephiria looked at Victor and then at Riddle, who continued to inspect the purple dome. She blushed slightly after that, her legs rubbing against each other. "There exists the slight possibility that I may need to pee. Right now."
Riddle cursed internally.
Tony Vandom's apartment
"So your plan went as best as it could go?" Matt asked of Will, the two of them having gone to her father's apartment, or more precisely Matt had flown her there in his regent form; after they had exited the Hales' home. Will had teleported Taranee and Nigel to her home, but instead of doing the same for herself, the redhead had opted for flying with her boyfriend.
"Yeah, and I'm really glad for it." Will answered. "I wasn't expecting for all the fronts to be turn out in our favor, but I suppose that chance made a good point in our benefit. Don't you agree?"
"Did your mother and the girls know that they were a decoy?" Matt asked. "For Cassidy and Mera, I mean."
"Of course they did!" Will said, a bit offended. "Matt, calm yourself; I'm not going to turn into Nerissa from night to day." the redhead explained. "I just knew that Riddle and Danny wouldn't let pass the chance to harm us if they saw the whole WITCH in patrol. What they did in order to separate us from you and the Regents took me by surprise, but in the end everything turned well."
"Because we have luck." Matt deadpanned.
"Luck is as important for a strategy's success as planning." Will told her boyfriend. "I mean, you can't plan to control all the variables. Remember when I planned for Phobos to basically screw himself with the Seal a year ago and then Cedric swallowed him? You can't see those things coming, unless you're omniscient or something."
"Alright, everything well then." Matt said, starting to flat his wings and taking flight. "I think I will go home now."
"You sure you don't want to stay a little?" Will pleaded, but Matt shook his head.
"No. It has been a pretty intense night, and it's daytime now. I need to sleep."
"Okay," she said, and the two kissed as a farewell. "See you tomorrow."
As soon as Matt flew to the skies, leaving nothing behind but the enjoyable view that was for Will to see him go; the redhead entered her father's apartment again. She started to walk around the main hall, and all the rooms. It had been a very, very complicated night. If not for Caleb, they would have lost Lillian, and Taranee almost lost herself. And worst of all, even if the black girl had apologized to her from the bottom of her heart, her words to Will still hurt.
She stopped by her father's dormitory. She hadn't checked it out before, but now it seemed pretty plain. Was that how all adults were, too focused in their responsibilities that there was no time to decorate or personalize their own room' She still had her old and faithful from stuffed animals, and her posters… and her job consisted into saving the universe!
Will walked in circles around her father's and Serena's bed, bored and yet unable to distract herself until she spotted something in one of the room's shelves. She extended her arm and took it, a small, old yet apparently functional Puzzle Box now in her hand. Hey, she remembered this thing! Back in Fadden Hills she and Tony used to play a lot using that! Had Tony kept it as a memento from his old life? Or maybe as a memento of her childhood with him? Even now that the two of them had their own couple, Will sometimes asked herself how her life could have been if her parents hadn't divorced, if she had stayed in Fadden Hills. Could she have maintained all her friends there? And what could have happened with WITCH? Would have another girl taken the position of Keeper? She didn't want to think about it, so instead she decided to try to solve the Puzzle Box.
She found herself in her bedroom, clad in her pajamas as she tried to solve the damn thing. It turned out that it was really difficult, and she proud herself into being pretty good with puzzles. "C'mon stupid box, you're supposed to be the only thing related to math I'm good at!" she thought.
After several intents and failures, Will decided to stop, instead turning to sleep. She was thinking that she also needed to rest after the events of tonight. For the first time since the attack at the mall she was certain that she had won. That they had won. It felt great to win again!
It wasn't long until the Keeper of the Heart was deep sleep, lost in dreams about a half naked Matt Olsen ridding a black unicorn across a field of golden camellias. Just at that moment, the Puzzle box, which had remained at one side of the bed, opened slightly, a shadow exiting it and taking the voluptuous form of Qetesh, The Tempter. The succubus ran a claw-like hand over the girl's cheek and silhouette, making her giggle.
"There, there." the Third One said. "The jewel I myself crafted, the element of Quintessence of my dear Xi Jing… Ah, I'm so proud of you." The shadow body started to disappear shortly afterwards. "Don't worry, my little girl, blood of my blood," Qetesh said as she licked Will's cheek with her worm-tongue.
"You will meet grandma very soon."
Heatherfield at dawn
Danny had been wondering through Heatherfield for hours, since his fight with Taranee had ended. He had ended into one of the industrial sectors in the outskirts of the city; the factories silent, rising around him as spears into the sky. He looked back at the city, the mantle of lights that Heatherfield was at night giving place to a silhouette of skyscrapers that reflected the first lights of January, the first lights of a whole new year.
"A new year comes, another one goes." Danny thought as he walked. It hurt to walk, his whole body hurt. He doubted that his armor was functioning normally, or that they could maintain running much more. He had thought about going to see his parents one last time, but he doubted that his image as a cyborg could let a better impression as the one of him behind a crystal. Or maybe it could, he didn't know.
Danny stretched his arms, or at least tried to do so. He felt as if moving was becoming harder and harder with every minute that passed. And so, he decided to sit in the ground, leaning against one of the walls of the nearer edifications. He breathed heavily and with difficulty, sometimes spitting black blood in the ground.
"At-t-t-tention." the AI called for him. "Ener-gy at risky-y-y low level. Vitals activity decreas-s-s-sing. Redirect energy-y-y to self-preservation?"
"No," Danny said. "I want to send a message, to Mr. Doomstad."
"But the pro-o-o-otocol of self preservation says..."
"Ignore the protocol!" Danny yelled as he coughed more black blood.
"Ignoring protocol… redirecting energy…" the AI told him. "Ready to transmit message."
"Hey, Mr. Doomstad," Danny said, his armor's AI recording his message. "How did the night go? Mine turned out pretty bad, you know. I think… I think…" Danny coughed a couple of times more. "I think I'm going to die."
Danny tried to breathe slowly in order to calm himself, but he wasn't able to fight back the tears forming in his eyes. "Man, I really was an idiot. I almost killed her, you know? That Taranee girl, who hadn't raised a finger against me… I almost drove her insane, doc. And I did it for what? For revenge? You were right doc, revenge is a sucker's game, but I think that your wife understands that better than you. I'm not…" Danny coughed again. "I'm not blaming you for this doc, really. You were the first one to believe in me and give an opportunity, and I'm glad for it. But don't blame those girls… for something… they didn't do. That's exactly how I ended like this."
Danny found himself unable to keep talking. His throat had become dry thanks to the battle he had with Taranee, the walk to the outskirts, and the talking. "Message sent," the voice of the AI said before shutting down definitively. Danny was breathing with even more difficulty right now. He leaned back against the wall supporting him completely, closed his eyes and let the tiredness to take him.
"I was stupid, so stupid… I'm sorry Nigel, for everything."
And with that last thought, Daniel Ashford exhaled his last breath, and died alone.
As life abandoned his body, a Fold opened in front of him, revealing the form of Yua of Arkhanta crossing it. The banshee stood silently over the dead body of the young man, and after several minutes of just gazing at it, she lowered and closed his eyes.
"It's astonishing to what extents we are able to go in order to take revenge from the ones that have caused us harm, that have made our family suffer." Yua spoke solemnly. "I was surveying your fight with the Guardian of Fire boy; I'm quite impressed; your lost is only due to your own arrogance and the intervention of one of the Four themselves. I have to attend a meeting later, and well, I suppose that it would be good to assist with a present, don't you agree?"
Yua raised her hand and a sphere of light enveloped Danny, making his armor to rebuild itself and turn from black to marvelous white with golden adornment. His face was covered by a helmet not much different from the ones that the knights of old Europe carried in their tournaments and wars. It was too of white adorned by golden, and from the holes that served as visors, two lines of blue started to glow, indicating that there was life inside the metal again, albeit not as free willed as before.
"You are now… let's see, I never was good with names…" Yua said rubbing her chin before snapping her fingers and pointing to the being in front of her. "Ser, Ser Daniel Coldheart, my Clockwork Knight. You may serve me and my allies and annihilate everyone that dares stand in our way."
The knight nodded silently, the ability to speak gone from him.
"Good," Yua approved. "Let us depart, Meridian and a lovely meeting with the Egg of the Abyss awaits us. You will be such a splendid present!"
The Fold closed at their backs as they walked. Yet, even with the banshee's intervention, the New Year let one irrevocable change in Earth. Daniel Ashford was dead.
January 3th
Two days passed without Riddle or any of his peers making a move against them, which let the girls to have something that they had been missing for too long; time to relax, stay with their families and enjoy their Christmas vacations, something that some of the girls had forgotten that they had.
Everything considered; Will still tried day and night to use her Quintessence into computers in order to find something important into the data that Cassidy and Mera had taken from the underground factory. Cornelia had been quite evasive these last days, preferring to employ her time with Caleb. As for Irma and Hay Lin, who currently was scrubbing the floor of the dining hall of her family's restaurant; tried to plan dates from time to time, basically enjoying their mutual company. And Taranee was currently accompanying her father to Heatherfield's prison.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lionel asked as they entered and checked with one of the officers. "You don't have to if you don't want."
"No dad, I want." Taranee said as the two of them were guided towards the front of a lonely door in the prison. "Really, I need to do this, everyone does."
One of the guards of the prison positioned himself at the side of the door, in case an emergency happened. Lionel opened the entrance and let Taranee in; they had agreed that they would enter alone, each at one turn.
Inside, Taranee found nothing but a table with two chairs; someone already occupying one of them. The girl and the person meet with their gazes, and for a moment only uncomfortable silence reigned over the room, until one fot he two spoke.
"Hello Taranee." Theresa cook said to her daughter.
Taranee closed her eyes, searching for something to say. Yeah, that was an easy one, something with which start and then build upon.
"Hello Mom."
And now we welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been. Rainer Maria Rilke
A/N: There you all go. What? You thought that this story was gone because it hadn't received an update in a long time? WRONG! But just for all of you to know, this was a very hard chapter to write. Since the moment I started with this fic, I have intended to deconstruct some of the aspects of the WITCH universe. I set things in motion in order to do so in the Riddle Arc, and then I found myself unable to know how to close them. Taranee's and Danny's confrontation was one of them. At first I thought, well, let the girl kill him, I have no problems with killing characters… but then I thought that someone like Taranee couldn't recuperate from doing that. In order to ease my mind, I started to write another story that I had planned for a long time, but that turned out to absorb my time and blah, blah, blah… but here we are again now.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please let a review to let me know your impressions, and see you all in the fourth and final Meridian Interlude, Hierophatns; next time. Man, I'm actually thrilled for that one, basically because I finally want to return to the Meridian setting, even if it will delay as much as this one, I think.
Bye, Bye!