Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Seven

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~Game~

After the Fall

“You are getting on the bus,” Chaud’s voice was serious and strained.

Amber crossed her arms in front of him and scowled, “No!”

“Ouch,” Hina muttered over to the others.

Zara and the others sat at a table outside. They watched as Chaud and Amber had an intense argument. Chaud was telling his sister to go onto the bus with the others so they could be kept safe. However, Amber wasn’t having any of it. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to help and keep an eye on her brother. The others stayed out of the sibling rivalry. It seemed obvious that they both inherited a strong will from their parents.

“You aren’t staying here,” Chaud pointed at his sister, “Once we finish up this little issue, I’ll come and get you and we’ll get off the Island.”

“Well, there is a little problem with that!” Amber stomped her foot on the found, “Because I’m not going!”

“Arrg!” Chaud groaned, “Why don’t you just listen! I’m older than you so just do what I say!”

Amber put her arms on her waist, “Oh, so you’re playing the age card now?”

“What? No!” Chaud looked at her, “Just do what I say! That is all I need you to do right now!”

“No!” Amber glared at her brother.

“Ooh,” Hina muttered, “Outright defiance! Neither side is willing to give in!”

Chaud put a hand on his forehead, “Okay, what can I do to get you to get on the bus?”

“Interesting,” Naru said, “He tries a very diplomatic negotiation. Let’s see how this turns out.”

“Nothing!” Amber yelled, “You aren’t getting me on that bus!”

“Denied!” Hina laughed. “That has to hurt his ego!”

Chaud crouched down to meet her eye to eye, “If you get on the bus, I will buy you whatever you want after all this is over for the rest of my life.”

“Bribery!” Hina exclaimed.

“Has he been forced to stoop so low?” Naru said.

Hina looked at her brother, “Are you kidding? I’m amazed that he didn’t try that first!”

“Usually he’s a lot less obvious about it,” Naru responded.

“True,” Hina agreed, “The question now is, will she accept?”

“I would,” Naru said quietly.

Hina nodded, “We all would.”

“I wouldn’t,” Zara said.

“Right,” Hina looked at her skeptically.

Amber narrowed her eyes, “I don’t want anything you offer! I am not leaving and you can’t make me!”

“She has a will of steel,” Naru stated.

“I would have done it,” Deontay said, “I could have gotten a private jet.”

“Private jet?” Hina shook her head, “On the first year I would have gone all out and asked for an awesome car!”

“I’ve always wanted one of those high-rise apartments,” Naru said.

Vicky shrugged, “I don’t really want anything. I’m happy with my apartment, my car, and am more than happy to travel commercial if I need to air travel. I’m pretty content right now. At least I was. Still. I’m very happy right now.”

Everyone looked at Vicky. She shifted awkwardly under everyone’s gaze. Kew was unsure about what was going on looked at all of her friends. Chaud and Amber continued their argument while the others continued their silent shunning. Vicky smiled sheepishly.

“I mean, I’ve always wanted a rock garden,” Vicky twiddled her thumbs, “It’s kind of expensive. Right?”

“Anyway,” Hina looked at the two siblings again.

“Fine!” Amber stormed off toward the bus, “I hate you!”

“Fine!” Chaud shouted back, “See if I care!”

Naru sighed, “It seems we missed something important.”

“Dang it!” Hina pouted, “Thanks a lot Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes!”

“Sorry,” Vicky said quietly. Kew kewed trying to defend Vicky from all the negative energy he was sensing.

Amber walked onto the bus pushing past Fang and Shadow. Fang rolled his eyes and sighed. He walked onto the bus with Shadow close behind. Shadow simply smiled and followed after Fang. The caravan started to drive away as Chaud stormed back in to the resort.

Zara got up and ran after him, “Chaud! Wait up!”

Chaud got to the door and turned around, “What!” He sighed and tried to get a handle on his anger and irritation, “Sorry, look, I’m just not in the mood to talk right now.”

Zara shrugged, “It’s alright. Just wanted to say that what you did was the right thing. She’ll understand when this all blows over.”

Chaud looked at Zara, “I know.”

Zara crossed her arms, “You still owe me that pizza.” She walked passed him into the resort, “Come on, I’m starving.”

Chaud couldn’t help but smile, “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

<<<>>> 

Dante yawned as he lay on the hood of a pickup truck. He put down the binoculars that he was using and stretched. Dante sighed. He then turned to look over the edge down at Ai. She sat with her arms around her legs by the front tires of the truck. Reassured that he knew where she was, he returned to his reclined position.

“So Ai,” Dante said, “how should we go about this?”

“So it’s true,” Ren said from the back of the truck, “Ai is the one who comes up with the battle plans.”

Dante looked over his shoulder, “Shut up.”

“What are they up to now?” Ai asked.

“Uh,” Dante looked into the binoculars again, “Looks like they know we’re here. They’re moving out.”

“Let me see,” Ai raised her hand for the binoculars. She brought the binoculars to her face and looked out. For a moment, Ai looked in them then handed them to Dante, “They aren’t leaving. They are just moving the civilians. Our target is still there at the resort.”

“He is?” Dante asked, “How do you know?”

“Is the girl with him?” Yin asked as she walked up, “They may keep her with the civilians to keep her out of harm’s way.”

“We don’t have to worry about that,” Ai said.

“They are keeping her at the resort?” Ren asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Ai stated.

“Then they are keeping her there,” Yin concluded.

“I never said that either,” Ai looked at the taller woman.

Yin bent down to eye level with Ai, “And what is that supposed to mean little princess?”

“Hey,” Dante looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “Leave her alone. We have more pressing matters.”

Yin looked at him, “More pressing matters? What could be more pressing than getting a hold of the girl! If this is about your bruised ego and that boy then you’ve forgotten why we were hired in the first place!”

“Hey!” Dante sat up, “I’d like to tell you Ai and I have figured things out!”

“Wonderful!” Yin said with sarcasm, “Care to share?”

“It ain’t any of your business!” Dante said, “We’ll get the girl! You just need to worry about sticking to the plan!”

“What is going on!?” Zathura walked up, hands on her hips, “You two are making enough noise to wake up the dead! Or worse give away our specific location!”

“Just a disagreement on tactics,” Yin stated.

“A tiff?!” Zathura shook her head, “You both were about ready to rip each other’s heads off!”

“How about we all calm down?” Sanya walked up. “Let’s just go over the plan that we have, okay?”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Dante and Yin reluctantly agreed. Dante looked down at Ai, “You want to start princess?”

“We need everyone to be a distraction while Dante and I go after the target,” Ai looked at Yin to see if she was going to interrupt. Though it looked like she wanted to, Yin didn’t say a word. Ai continued, “First we are at a disadvantage since we have to cross a large area with limited to no cover. They will see us before we see them and will likely go for an overwhelming assault. Just try to get to the resort as quickly as possible. Once we get there, the odds will even out. Fortunately there are only going to be about 15 people we need to fight. The civilians were moved like we predicted. Unfortunately, the ones that are left are Others and will likely use Blue Gold.”

“So we’ll have to deal with some new powers,” Ren smiled, “That sounds like a grand time.”

Ai continued, “I’m not sure how many vials they have but I assume that they have two per person. Better to overestimate than underestimate.”

“As we learned on the Panama mission,” Zathura muttered.

Dante looked at her, “I thought it was agreed we never ever talk about the mission at Panama.

“Sorry,” Zathura said quietly, “keep your trousers on.”

Ai sighed, “When we get to the resort, it is everyone’s job to keep everyone busy and distracted while Dante and I finish off the mission. Once Dante and I finish, we will give the signal. At that point, everyone retreats. We’ll meet again at the designated location three days from now. Same thing if we were to fail. Once you see the signal, scatter and regroup. For now, get some rest, we attack early tomorrow when the sun is at our backs.”

“Her highness has spoken!” Ren said over dramatically.

“And what she says goes!” Sanya smiled.

Zathura shrugged and turned around, “I wonder if Dante and Ai really come up with the plans together. I get this vibe that she makes things up on the spot.”

Yin followed her, “I happen to agree.”

“Hey!” Dante called, “It’s a joint effort! I contribute to the plans! I’m not as stupid as everyone would like to believe!”

Ai said nothing but she nodded. She stood up and brought the binoculars to her face. Ai looked out at the resort ahead of them. She stayed like that for several moments before slowly putting down the binoculars.

“I’m getting rather tired of this game,” she said to no one in particular, “I think it’s time we put it to an end. Let’s see who is going to win this little game.”