Radioactive: Chapter Eight

Radioactive

Chapter Eight

~Welcome to the Circus~

A hush fell over the crowd as the spotlights fell on the center of the ring. A woman in scarlet red posed in the center, a red top hat covered her eyes just above a large red lipstick smile. She waited a beat before cracking her whip and whisking her hat off her head. Arms outstretched she welcomed the crowd. The scarlet ringmaster already captivated the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” her voice carried without any need for a microphone, “Children of all ages! The circus is about to begin! Welcome,” she paused for effect, “to the Greatest Show on Earth!”

She cracked her whip and the music from the band picked up. Lights shown on the upper rafters reviling the three trapezing sisters stood and waved on one of the platforms. On the others platform was another group of tight walkers. The elephants entered from one side and walked across to the exit on the other side. A pair of clowns ran back and forth in an exaggerated game of tag. There even was a man in a motorized little train filled with trained dogs in the other train cars. The ringmaster stepped forward toward the crowd.

“We have just a fabulous show for you today! A show of wonder and amazement, of laughter and joy! I present to you…the Island Circus!”

With a crack of her whip she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As the introduction continued, there could be singing heard. Behind the preforming stage, behind the curtains the ring master walked through the different nooks and crannies. Different performers looked up from their warm ups and got out of her way. She looked different off stage. Her smile gave way to a serious scowl. She grabbed someone’s wrist and looked at their watch. The introduction lasted about five minutes. She had that long before she needed to be back out on the ring.

The ringmaster walked out of the main tent and toward the animal cages. Usually the cages were open for viewing but there was now a sign that said that the cages were closed for cleaning. A big man stood guard and got out of her way. The lions and tigers all stood up and walked toward her as far as the bars would let them. with a crack of her whip they retreated sensing she had other business to deal with besides them.

Near the end of the row of cages, there was an empty one. A woman clad in blue with a blue top hat turned to see the ringmaster approaching. Several other performers who weren’t scheduled to perform that month were standing around as well. The scarlet ringmaster cracked her whip and the crowd of people slowly began to scatter. They stayed within eye sight as to see what was going to happen next.

The ringmaster looked into the cage and saw the two people tied up inside. “What the heck is going on here? We have an honest business to run and I don’t have time for this nonsense. Narumi!”

The girl in blue stood up straight, “Reba, they were found wondering around in our camp!”

“Walking around like they owned the place, they did,” her partner, a boy with shaggy red hair walked up and smiled, “Going around saying they just wanted to talk to the Master.”

The ringmaster placed her hands on her hips and looked at two tied up in the cage. They were blindfolded and gaged. She looked back at Narumi and her partner.

“Give it here, Kotei,” she said with her hand out.

Kotei looked shocked, “I haven’t a clue what you are talking about!”

The ringmaster sighed with annoyance, “Narumi! Fill in for me! The introduction should be finished any second now! And for Pete’s sake Kotei, give me her wallet!”

“Yes, Ringmaster!” Narumi saluted and ran off in the direction of the main tent.

Kotei sighed and rolled his eyes, “Fine.” He reached into his pocket and gave up the wallet, “Can I keep the cash?”

“Was there any?” the ringmaster asked him.

“Kotei smiled, “No.”

“Well, you can’t return something that wasn’t there,” she pointed to one side, “Fine then. Now open the cage!”

Kotei opened the gate. The ringmaster let herself in and looked down at the two tied up prisoners. She looked to Kotei.

“Take off their blindfolds and gags,” she instructed.

Kotei did as he was told. He took off Kiri’s blind fold first. She recognized him from when he had bumped into her. Her brow furrowed into a scowl in the face of his smiling. After that, Kotei took off Kaiba’s blindfold and gag.

“I told you to keep track of your wallet,” Kaiba muttered.

Kiri turned her head, “Can we not talk about it?”

The ringmaster cracked her whip, “I happen to agree. Let’s get down business shall we? What do you want with the Master?”

“I never said that we were looking for any ‘Master’,” Kaiba said, “But I did say we were looking for a black wagon. I can only assume that this ‘Master’ lives in the black wagon we were told about.”

“We just want to ask a few questions,” Kiri stated.

The ringmaster leaned forward, “Well, he’s a busy man. If you Tower idiots even thought to call first and make an appointment I’m sure we would be more accommodating. But instead you walk into our home violating our personal space. Even five-year-olds have more sense than you.”

“You hear that?” Kotei smiled, “Even the kids around here don’t go running off to the wagons.”

“Shut up, Kotei!” the ringmaster shouted.

She paused and looked up. A man stood at the entrance to the gate. He wore a grey coat over his black shirt. His white hair fell on his shoulders from under his grey hat. On a strand of braided hair was a purple sphere. In his arm was a doll crafted to his likeness. Though it had no eyes it had shallow indentations of where the eyes would be. Its head was larger than its body.

The man looked at the scene with his purple eyes. He smiled and looked at the ringmaster, “What is going on here, Reba? Everyone seemed very excited for some reason so I decided to check things out for myself. Why do we have these two people tied up in the tiger’s cage?”

“Puppetmaster!” Reba stood up straight, “I didn’t realize that you were standing there.”

Puppetmaster walked in, “It’s alright; I’ll just invite myself to this encounter.” He crouched in front of Kaiba, “Hello. You’re that Kaiba kid aren’t you? Sirius’s son, right?”

“I assume you’re the one who lives in the black wagon,” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster nodded, “I am.”

“Do you know anything about mutants?” Kaiba asked.

Puppetmaster smiled, “I think about three-fourths of the Island are mutants, unless I’m mistaken.”

“No, I’m talking about mutated others,” Kaiba explained, “There’s a case where there are creatures that strongly resemble humans but are different on a cellular level. Their appearance is different and their behaviors. I was told by a mutual friend that you might be able to help.”

Puppetmaster placed a hand to his mouth with thought, “Hmm, interesting. Sounds like you have an interesting predicament. Quite honestly, I haven’t any information to give you. Have you tried tracking down where these people came from?”

“Is that all?” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster looked down at the puppet in his arms, “What was that? Oh, yes! I almost forgot.” He looked up at Kaiba again, “If you’re seeing genetic changes, you might be dealing with an Other who is turning humans into Others because of something they went through.”

Kaiba nodded slowly. It was an interesting thought. Puppetmaster looked up at Kotei and motioned to the ties that bound Kaiba and Kiri. Kotei untied the two hostages and allowed them to get up to their feet. Kiri got to her feet herself, even as she was offered a hand by Kotei. She looked at Reba. Reba had her hands on her hips. Kaiba straightened out his shirt and coat. He looked at Puppetmaster.

“Thank you for meeting with us,” Kaiba said.

Puppetmaster smiled, “Be sure to stop by anytime.”

Kaiba turned to Kiri and motioned for her to follow him, “Come on. We’re leaving.”

Kiri turned and followed Kaiba out of the cage. She stopped a moment to say hello to Puppetmaster then ran after Kaiba. Puppetmaster looked after them and smiled. Reba walked up to him and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re just going to let them go?” Reba asked.

“Yep,” Puppetmaster nodded.

Reba shook her head, “You’re too much, you know.”

“Thank you,” Puppetmaster said, “Well; we should get back to running this circus, shouldn’t we?”

“I agree,” Reba walked out of the cage, “I hope you’ll actually do some work today.”

Puppetmaster shook his head, “Don’t I always?”

Iridescent: Chapter Eight

Iridescent

Chapter Eight

~Fail Safe~

After the Fall

Miwa created a rectangular opening in the fence. When he was finished he turned and looked at Zara.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” he asked.

“No,” Zara stated.

Miwa sighed, “Well, this goes in to the ‘Crazy things to do before you die’ category. I never got to make an origami crane yet. Not those ones that just sit there, those flying ones that flap!”

Zara looked at Miwa, “Are you serious?”

“Very,” Miwa looked away, visibly unhappy.

“Well come on,” Zara motioned to what she was working on, “Get into the box.”

It was a metal box that Zara had managed to pound together with scrap metal that Miwa brought to her. Miwa walked over and Zara placed the box over both of their bodies. It was a little cramped inside but it was the best Zara could do with the tools available at the moment. She began to understand what Chaud meant when he said he needed more time planning and getting things in order. Miwa’s blue spots glowed in the darkness. At least they weren’t completely in the dark.

“Where are the peep holes?” Miwa asked.

“Could risk the turrets seeing us,” Zara said, “We’re depending on your memory.”

“Okay…” Miwa didn’t sound so sure, “Are you sure this will protect us?”

“Hey, Chaud does this all the time! It can’t be that hard right?!” Zara looked down at Miwa.

“He has an IQ of 130. What’s yours?” Miwa asked.

“130?!” Zara dodged the question, “Let’s get going.”

They shuffled their feet as they walked forward through the hole in the gate that Miwa created. The turrets turned their attention to the moving box once it crossed the threshold. Their laser sights were fixed on the foreign object but since it wasn’t human they didn’t fire and simply waited for further instruction. Since the system was out they had no secondary procedure.

“Ow! You stepped on my foot!” Zara explained.

“Sorry,” Miwa muttered, “There’s a robot coming!”

“We’ll be fine!” Zara whispered back.

“This is so not a good idea!” Miwa shuffled forward.

The small robot came up to the metal Trojan horse. It scanned its directions and determined that it was a box of supplies. It wasn’t supposed to blow up supplies. The robot turned on the spot and wheeled away. The missile launchers turned slightly as and aerial shot of the storage area was taken showing a box in the vicinity. The missile system was designed to be a little more cautious. It decided to count from ten and if the box was still there it would fire.

“Alright! Hurry those feet!” Zara urged, “Unless you want to die with your tail between your legs!”

“Hey, it’s a fear response! It’s like telling you not to be sarcastic! You just can’t help it!”

They hurried until they were under the awning in front of the door out of sight of the turrets and the small robots. More importantly they were out of sight of the second picture the missile system took of the sky. With the box, gone the missile system calmed down.

Miwa walked up to the door. Two lasers came out of his shoulders crating a door for him and Zara to walk through. Zara pulled a spray bottle from her bag. She looked at Miwa and nodded.

“This way,” Miwa led the way.

When Miwa came across any lasers Zara would use the perfume to expose the lasers and make her way through. Eventually, and slowly, they made it to the storage room.

“Here we are!” Miwa stated when they had entered the room, “What are we getting?”

“Anything,” Zara opened a panel and started pulling cords out disabling the pressure plate system.

Zara walked through the isles an opened box after box. She felt a little bad. After all she was essentially robbing the Tower. Zara told herself that she would pay it all back when the Island and Tower fixed itself. Right now, at the moment, she was doing all she could do to survive.

She opened one of the boxes. It was filled with medical supplies and she grabbed as much as she could.  Zara found another box full of ammo and guns. She grabbed two hand guns and lots more ammo.

“I need a hand,” Miwa stated, “literally…”

Zara wandered through the aisles and looked for him. She found Miwa sitting in front of a box. Zara unlatched the box and opened it. There were disks inside similar to computer disks. They were different colors. She looked at Miwa.

Miwa turned his back to her and sat down. His back opened up and the circuitry rose to the surface. He looked over his shoulder.

“Could you put them in the right slots?” he asked.

Zara shrugged and placed the disks in their respective slots. When the last disk was placed in its slot Miwa’s armor replaced the blue glowing circuitry. Miwa shook himself similar to how a dog would.

He looked at her, “Thanks! Now that I’ve been upgraded I can actually help more.”

“That’s great,” Zara turned and opened another box and started filling her bag with food goods.

There was a loud thud somewhere in the large storage room. Zara froze. She looked over her shoulder at Miwa. His usual blue lines turned red and he crouched low to the ground. He scanned the area on a low frequency.

“I don’t see anything?” Miwa reported.

Zara asked, “Are you in thermal reading?”

Miwa nodded. There was another thud but it was closer to their position. Miwa took a few steps back.

“Do you have like x-ray vision or something?” Zara asked.

Miwa looked at her, “Who do you think I am? Superman?

“Are you picking anything up on your other censors?” Zara looked at him.

Miwa nodded his head, “I can pick up anything.”

Zara grabbed her back pack and looked at Miwa, “Where is the Blue Gold?”

“This way,” Miwa said as he crawled away.

Zara followed him to a door. She hacked into the door and walked in. A chill went down her spine as she walked onto the cold room. There was another thud followed by another closing in on their location. Zara grabbed a box and left the room. She got out and looked at Miwa. He was looking at something, his tail between his legs. She looked up and saw and armored robot standing at the end of the room. The robot raised a hand cannon in their direction.

“INTRUDER ALERT! MUST ELIMINATE!” the robot cried.

“Can we run now?” Miwa muttered.

Zara darted down the aisle, “Way ahead of you!”

Miwa dashed after her moments before the cannon fired blasting a hole in the wall behind them. Zara looked briefly over her shoulder and saw the robot pursuing them.

“What way?!” Zara asked Miwa.

Miwa ran a head of her and darted to the left into a hallway. He slowed down so they ran side by side. They ran through a stream of lasers. Somehow they managed to stay ahead of the explosions that detonated behind them. The robot ran right into the explosions but didn’t at all seem fazed.

“I didn’t know Lynx made a successful mech!” Zara said breathlessly.

“Technically, it isn’t a mech,” Miwa explained, “It’s just a normal robot with an arm cannon. You know, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you don’t have an IQ of 130, do you?”

“Shut up and keep running!” Zara cried.

They somehow made it to the entrance and Miwa tried to get under the metal box. Zara looked at him with disbelief.

“Are you kidding me!?” Zara pointed back the way they came, “Did you forget about the angry robot?!”

“Did you forget about the certain death out there?” Miwa whipped his tail toward the path they would have to take.

“INTRUDERS! MUST ELIMINATE!” the robot cried.

“I’m gone!” Miwa ran out into the courtyard they had to cross.

Zara quickly followed. The turrets stopped the threat and started to fire upon Miwa and Zara. The robot barged through the door and tossed their box off to one side and ran after them. The missile system stopped the appearance of the box and the intruders and snapped a picture. It started a countdown to the next picture.

Ten.

“Don’t run in a straight line!” Zara shouted as the turrets fired at them, “And watch out for the flat robots!”

“We are so dead!” Miwa cried.

Nine.

Miwa jumped over a flat robot moments before it detonated. It was times like this that he was glad he had four legs. He could run a lot faster. Zara rolled out of the way of a blast from the armored robots and got to her feet as the turret caught up with her.

Eight.

Zara darted to her right to change her running pattern. Miwa was blown off his feet from a near direct attack from the pursuing robot. He scampered to his feet as the turret fired at him. His metal deflected most of the bullets luckily.

Seven.

The gate was so close yet with all the gunfire and explosions it was so far. Zara looked over her shoulder and saw a flat robot blinking a few paces behind her. It blew knocking her to the ground. The robot ran up to her.

Six.

Miwa turned. A Gatling gun formed from his back. He fired at the robot to distract its attention while Zara got to her feet. The turrets fired at the robots back trying to get at Zara.

Five.

Angered the robot fired a cannon blast at Miwa. He jumped to one side narrowly dodging the attack. The blast struck the gate they had entered engulfing what was left of the fence in flame.

Four.

“TARGETS MUST BE ELIMINATED!”

“Run!” Miwa cried.

Zara ran toward the fence making sure she kept her path unpredictable for the turrets. More and more flat robots reported to the area and were exploding left and right. With one hand, the armored robot fired at Zara with its own Gatling gun.

Three.

Miwa ran toward the gate. He had to avoid the small robots. The turrets were focused on him as well. With its other hand the armored robot fired cannon blasts at him. Miwa whimpered as the explosions seemed to surround him.

Two.

The two of them ran toward the half folded and melted gate. Fire clung to the metal like flees to a dog.

“You ready?” Zara asked as they ran.

Miwa was practically crying, “I want my motherboard!”

“Jump!” Zara called.

Both of them leaped over the fence. Zara could feel the flames licking at her heels. She landed awkwardly and rolled onto the ground. Miwa landed firmly on the ground and looked back at the chaos. The Gatling gun disassembled on his back.

One.

Click! The unidentified box was still there. Missiles fired off from the top of the building and into the air.

“We need to go!” Miwa looked at Zara.

“I can’t!” she rubbed her ankle, “I think I sprained it!”

Miwa walked up to her, “Get on my back! It’s about to get a lot hotter!

Zara pulled herself onto Miwa’s back. When Zara was situated he ran away from the facility.

The armored robot was confirmed to the perimeter of the facility. Therefore it could go beyond or fire beyond the perimeter.

“YOU ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW! I HAVE CONTACTED POLICE! POLICE RESPONSE: 999999999999999999999999999999999999—”

The missiles that were launched turned around and landed on the facility. An enormous explosion rocked the neighborhood. The already damaged buildings began to crumble and fall. Miwa ran through the streets avoiding obstacles. Soon they reached a square safe enough to stay awhile. In the distance, buildings falling could be heard crashing to the ground and other buildings.

Zara lay on the ground and sighed. Miwa sat beside her. They sat in silence for several minutes just listening and thinking. Eventually, Zara turned to Miwa.

“You think they will take that out of my pay when this has all been fixed?” she asked.

Miwa dog shrugged, “If they have proof, maybe.”

“You wouldn’t tell anyone, would you?” Zara glared at him.

Miwa looked at her, “If you don’t tell anyone about the whole being a fraidy cat bit.”

“Not a word,” Zara looked back up at the grey sky.

Miwa nodded, “Deal. But you can tell anyone! Including Chaud…especially Chaud!”

“Alright, alright!” Zara waved him off.

“I wasn’t made for combat!” Miwa defended himself, “I mostly deal with surveillance and media control! Not explosions! That wasn’t ever in my original programing!”

“Miwa?” Zara got his attention.

Miwa looked at her, “Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, sorry.”

The Turn: Chapter Eight

The Turn

Chapter Eight

~Capture the Flag~

Three Years before the Turn

Zara jumped over a fallen trunk and ran through the woods. Her katana hung from a twin back scabbard in the form of an ‘X’. She wore a tight black sweater and tight fitting pants. Her feet seemed to skim the ground and she barely made a noise. She saw movement in the trees to her left and a flash of white to her right. A brown sack sailed for her head. Zara unsheathed her left katana and cut the sack on its string, spilling its sandy contents onto the forest floor.

She landed in a crouch and raised her right hand in a fist. There was silence as she tried to listen for what might be ahead.

4-34, 4-35, 4-36…

Zara dropped her hand and proceeded forward. She slid under a tree log into a small clearing surrounded by rocks. Cautiously she walked around inspecting each stone. Eventually, she felt more comfortable and whistled. There was a pause before the whistle was repeated. When she heard the echo she crouched down in the nook of one of the rocks, hidden and able to observe what was going on. After that, she waited.

It had been a little over a week since the day they first started training. Now they were in team training with less than two days to the team assessment. As the team leader, it was Zara’s job to know each members weakness and strength. It was far harder than she had anticipated. She had sat in on Deontay’s training Vicky in the school boxing gym. Vicky had vastly improved not only in strength but in confidence. As time went on, she was actually a very friendly and bubbly girl.

There was a rustle in the trees. Zara stayed still as to not be noticed. Suddenly, Naru dropped down from the trees into the small clearing. He stood up slowly, looking around carefully. Zara could see three needles in each hand. She knew it was safer to let Naru find her than for her to come out of her hiding spot.

Naru’s strength: his speed and his pin point accuracy. He was like a tree snake in the trees. You could look but you wouldn’t be able to find him; until it was too late, that is. He was their best sniper. Chaud had been helping him learn to use the weapon. From what she heard, there were a few close calls on Chaud’s part. Naru’s weakness: he didn’t have the best arms strength. Granted he could climb a tree like no one’s business but if he were to fight in hand to hand combat, there was a strong possibility that he would lose.

His blue eyes fell on her hiding spot. He had no trouble making her out. She stood and Naru retracted his initial weapons. There was a noise behind Zara and she turned suddenly, grabbing the handle of her weapon. She sighed with a hint of annoyance. Chaud looked down at her with that obnoxious smile on his face.

Chaud’s strength: give him a gun and he can clear a path for you in less than thirty seconds. He was also resourceful. If Zara came up with a plan, Chaud would be the one to get his hands on what they would need. And also he was crazy rich. Chaud’s weakness: that darn smile that made everyone wants to kill him. Or was that just her?

Vicky peaked around one of the smaller rocks. Her strength: she certainly had a healthy kind of spunk. Other than that, she looked average. But as it turned out, she was almost as good at boxing as Deontay. She was a force to be reckoned with. Her weakness: she still lacked some confidence. At least she didn’t have a smile that one would want to slap off of someone’s face.

Deontay and Hina clamored over one of the rocks one after the other. Deontay’s strength: what wasn’t he good as? He was a rock. Try moving a boulder one day and you get a hint of how great his defense was. After that have someone push a boulder off a cliff with you under it to get a sense of his attack strength. The best offense was a great defense, unless the defense and offense were exactly the same wrapped into one person. His weakness: speed. He could keep up with the others but if he was up against someone like Naru…it wouldn’t be pretty.

Hina’s strength was by all means her power. It was awesome; good for offense and defense. Her weakness however was her temper. As long as she kept that in check, they should all be fine.

Zara took a deep breath, “Okay, how are we going to get that flag?”

“It’s just over the next ridge,” Naru commented, “I saw it from my perch in the trees.”

“See anything unusual?” Zara asked.

Naru nodded his head, “It’s out in the open in the middle of a field.”

“That’s unusual?” Chaud asked.

“How many times have you known something to be that easy?” Zara rolled her eyes.

Chaud rolled onto his heels, “I’m not going to answer that.”

Zara looked up at the sky in an attempt to control herself, “Alright, I guess we’ll charge it.”

“Isn’t that what you don’t want to do when it seems too easy?” Hina looked board.

“Exactly,” Hina nodded, “We’ll do the very thing they don’t expect us to do.”

“Unless they expect us,” Chaud stated, “Then we’d be doing exactly what they expect us to do then it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”

“Exactly,” Zara said after running through what Chaud said one last time.

“May I suggest partners?” Vicky said quietly, a nervous smile on her face.

“What do you mean?” Deontay asked.

“Well, if we have a partner to watch our back, and vice versa, it would be easier and safer to rush them,” Vicky was rubbing her hands together nervously, “But the partner would have to be almost opposite, you know, to cover the others weakness.”

Zara thought about it for a moment. It seemed to make sense. Why not give it a try? She opened her mouth to assign partners when Chaud interrupted her.

“So who wants to partner with who?” he said with a smile.

Zara rolled her eyes.

Deontay put an arm around Vicky, “I guess we’re pretty opposite. Don’t you think Vick?”

“I guess,” her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

Hina stretched, “I guess that means Naru and me are partners. Who can be more opposite, right?”

“It’s Naru and I,” Naru muttered.

Hina shrugged it off.

Zara felt Chaud fist bump her arm, “I guess that leaves you and me, partner,” he said.

“Okay,” Zara ignored him, “Chaud and I will take lead. We’ll be a distraction while Naru and Hina get to the flag. But don’t actually get it, make an effort and make it look like your trying to get the flag while Vicky and Deontay make their way unnoticed. Deontay I want you to stay back and keep an eye on things. Just don’t let your partner down. Vicky, you will be the one to get the flag. Make sure you avoid as much fighting as possible while the rest of us make a scene. Everyone understand?” Everyone nodded. “Chaud and I will come from the center, Hina and Naru from the right, and Vicky and Deontay take on the left. Let’s go.”

Everyone scattered into the forest. Zara felt Chaud’s presence to her right. He kept up with her pace easily. She glanced at him for a brief moment when she heard something on her left. Zara looked to see another contraption shoot up from the bushes. A crossbow released a bolt before she could register what the device was. She felt someone grab her by the waist and pull her to the ground. The bold smacked into a tree with a loud thwack! For a moment, Zara lay on her back registering what had just happened.

“Could we go now?” Chaud asked. He lay on his back, propped up on his elbows.

Zara took one look at him and rolled her eyes.

“What? I did just save your life!” he exclaimed as he stood up.

“I saw it,” Zara lied.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Shut up.”

“Fine.”

Zara and Chaud reached the edge of the field. The rest of the journey was uneventful. They stayed in the uncertain shadows of the trees and waited. Zara crouched down. She could see the green flag easily on the top of a small rise. It didn’t look like there were any guards or anything like Crow said there would be. The wild grass swayed in the wind and was about as tall as the average man’s waist.

After a moment of assessing, she looked up at Chaud. She was about to tell him what to do when he brought his finger’s to his lips and blew. A series of notes echoed into the forest. It was the exact notes of a local woodland bird. There were a series of other birds that responded but there were two in particular that Zara was looking for. She smiled. The others were in position too.

Chaud brought out one of his guns and checked his supply of bullets, satisfied he held it loosely in his hand.

“Don’t kill anyone,” Zara muttered.

“Don’t worry,” Chaud smiled, “Their blanks.”

“What good are blanks?”

“They scare the heck out of people.”

Zara waited for a few more seconds, “Start the clock.”

Chaud whistled again. Then the response. They started counting after the last whistle.

0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5…

“Ready?” Zara asked.

0-6, 0-7…

“When you are,” Chaud responded.

0-8, 0-9…

Zara sprang out of the tree cover with Chaud hot on her heels. Learning from before, she didn’t risk a glance to her sides to see if the others were following suit. They were half way across the field and still hadn’t run into any opposition. Something flew past Zara’s head from behind. She looked quickly and saw several of the shrine residence with arrows behind them.

“Get down!” Chaud shouted.

Without question, Zara dropped to the ground just as a bolt flew overhead. Several devices had risen from the tall grasses and fired their supply of bolts in rapid succession. She glanced behind her at the coming line of people. Zara started crawling low to the ground. Their best bet at the moment was to disable the crossbow because if they waited, they would be found and killed already.

She reached the tripod on which it stood. It was staked into the ground. Chaud caught up and got one of his guns and made it a sword. He hacked at one of the three legs nearly cutting it through and through. Zara got into a crouch, still below the grass line and waited. When the device tipped to one side she got to her feet. She met face to face with one of the ones after them.

Zara swung her weapon from its right sheath. Her opponent drew a weapon of his own. His darker clothing told Zara that it was Crow. She grabbed her other katana and swung it at his midline. Crow jumped back. For a moment, Zara heard the clashing of swords as Chaud engaged in battle with another person. The ground shifted slightly. A few of the attacking force fell to their knees but Crow and Zara stayed on their feet. Zara rushed at Crow, attacking overhead. Crow raised his weapon and blocked her attach. Zara’s katana slid off Crow’s sword as she dropped to her knees. She thrust forward her left katana and Crow avoided it by moving easily to one side. He spun and elbowed her in her right side. The unexpected counter attack sent her on her side in the grass.

As she hit the ground, she looked to the flag. She saw the green flag in Vicky’s hands; the girl had managed to go unnoticed so far. Zara fought against the urge to call out to her but something caught Crow’s attention. He couldn’t see what Zara saw but he knew something was up. He called the attention of three others that were close by. The three men saw Vicky and started after her.

Vicky swung the flag in a horizontal arc. A blast of wind struck the three men, blowing them back. With her path temporarily cleared, Vicky started running. Two other men were after her but fell suddenly to the ground with needles sticking out from their legs. She vanished into the tree line with a line of men on her tail. Deontay ran into the forest from a different route.

Zara kicked out her leg hitting Crow in the shin. She then hooked her foot behind his ankle and retracted her leg causing him to fall onto his back. She jumped to her feet and grabbed one of her katana. Zara leaned over Crow with the tip of her blade at his neck.

“Alright, I give,” he muttered.

Zara looked to Chaud. His back was to her as he too finished his opponents with the loud pop of his guns. Of course they were blanks but as they had discussed before, they scare the heck out of people. He looked back at her to see how she was fairing.

Zara started, “I think we—”

“Check on her?” Chaud finished, “Yeah, it’d be a shame for her to have a heart attack right about now.”

They both ran back into the forest to see if they could find Vicky. There was a trail of pained bodies throughout the woods, presumably Vicky’s doing. Eventually, they reached a large tree. Deontay stood at its base looking up into the tree. He looked back at his approaching team mates.

“She’s up there but she won’t come down,” he stated.

Zara looked up. She couldn’t see anything, “Where?”

Deontay pointed, “There.”

Again, Zara couldn’t see anything. She shrugged and left it up to Deontay. Naru and Hina walked up just then with Crow not too far behind.

“Interesting tactic,” Crow began his assessment, “You all could be a little less reckless but I guess that’s asking a little too much. You all did know that your odds were like 4 to one right?”

Zara hadn’t taken that into account.

“Anyway,” Crow continued, “Your fighting has improved after the balance training, strength training, defense and offense training and flexibility training. I’m sure you have lovely memories of that to last you a life time. You all could use to drop the double cheese burgers in your diet, but then again, who doesn’t. Other than a few minor things,” Crow paused, “I think you’re ready for the assessment in a few days. You won’t need to come in tomorrow.”

“Won’t need to come in?” Hina couldn’t have been happier.

“Why?” Deontay asked.

Crow shrugged, “I can’t sand any one of you.”

“Awe, Crow!” Chaud laughed, “You love us, you know you do!”

“Would that still apply if I made you run around the Island a couple of times?” Crow raised an eyebrow.

Chaud shook his head, “Maybe not.”

“What do you want us to do for the next few days?” Zara asked

Crow shrugged, “Relax, practice, I don’t care. At this stage, I’ve done all I can for you. It’s about time you figure out who you want to be and the steps to get there. Good luck,” Crow said before turning toward the shrine.

“Will you be watching us?” Naru asked as Crow was walking away.

Crow stopped a moment and seemed to be thinking over how to answer, “I guess I could venture into the city a while.”

“Sounds good,” Deontay smiled. He looked up into the tree, “Are you coming down or what?”

The sun started to set by the time they managed to get Vicky out of the tree. Apparently, she had gotten stuck and didn’t know how to get down. Naru, Zara and Deontay all had to climb the tree to get her down while Hina and Chaud stayed at the base to catch anyone who would be unfortunate to fall.

“Nothing like getting a team member out of a tree to build a team,” Crow sighed as he walked toward the shrine.