Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Four

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Four

~The Great Oasis~

After the Fall

“Pineapple or peaches?”

Zara looked over her shoulder, “What?”

Deontay raised up two cans, “Pineapple or peaches?”

Zara rolled her eyes, “I’m not hungry.”

“Suit yourself,” Deontay shrugged. He opened the can of peaches with a knife and ate while he walked.

Zara narrowed her eyes as a gust of wind blew through the desert throwing sand into the air. She took a swig of water as she tried to think. There was a storm coming. She could just feel it and it wasn’t a thunderstorm either. If they were caught out in the desert during a sandstorm they probably wouldn’t make it through.

“How much further?” Zara asked Miwa.

The robotic dog turned his head, “A few more hours maybe, until the oasis.”

“Come on, Deontay!” Zara called, “Lift those legs! Make sure to keep up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Deontay said as he ate.

They were running out of supplies and decided to stop through the oasis. Miwa said that their way off the Island was near there so taking a slight detour wouldn’t be any problem.  There were several oases that lay like peals in the desert sand but there was one that was unusually large. It was large enough to support several vacation hot spots. In fact, really it was several large oases clustered together in the same area.

Zara wasn’t sure what to expect. There weren’t many people living in the desert but the desert could have attracted several people from the city after the Tower fell because of the fact not many people lived there. The people that came to the desert would need to find water and since most of them didn’t know the ins and outs of the desert the only source of water they would know would be the Great Oasis, where they were headed.

There wasn’t anything she could do about it now. All Zara could really do was to wait until they reached the Great Oasis to figure out what to do from there.

The wind grew gradually stronger as the group of three walked toward the Great Oasis. Zara struggled through the sand. After a few hours, the traveling group crested a large dune they saw the tourist attraction ahead of them in the distance. The buildings in the distance looked abandoned and empty. Zara made it within a mile of the resort type. She ducked down and the others took notice and crouched beside her.

“What’s up?” Deontay asked.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Zara said.

Deontay looked over at Miwa, “Why don’t you ask Miwa?”

“I don’t need to ask Miwa,” Zara stated.

Deontay rolled his eyes, “So Miwa, what is the say on what’s ahead?”

Miwa looked ahead. He scanned the area of the Oasis, “There are a lot of hostiles in the area.”

“Great,” Deontay sighed, “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.”

“How many oases are there?” Zara asked.

“Seven,” Miwa stated, “Five of them are large bodies of water while the other two are simply smaller connecting lakes.”

“That is a lot of drinkable water,” Deontay nodded.

“The water level has dropped 20% since the Tower fell,” Miwa reported

Zara got back to the problem at hand, “How many resorts and hotels are there?”

“A lot,” Miwa answered. Zara looked at him and scowled. Miwa shrugged in a doglike manor, “What? I just like Deontay better.”

Deontay shrugged, “You are a little rough around the edges.”

“Says someone who likes me,” Zara muttered.

Deontay shook his head, “I told you! I don’t have a crush on you! Someone else does!”

“Right,” Zara didn’t believe a word he said, “Come on, we’ll have to sneak in.”

“What’s the plan?” Miwa asked.

Zara looked at Miwa, “Get ourselves a share of the water here and maybe take over a building while we’re at it.”

Zara crept forward through the dust and grime that blew in the growing wind. Deontay and Miwa looked at each other for a moment. Deontay shrugged and followed close behind Zara. Miwa walked beside Deontay. They reached one of the resort buildings. The building was made almost entirely of glass. The large swinging pool was a buddy brown instead of a crystal blue. People with guns walked into the building as the wind blew in their faces.

“Come on boss!” a grunt complained, “Let us in! A sand storm is coming!”

“Stay there until I say you can come in!” the boss yelled over the howling wind.

Another grunt groaned, “But boss! No one’s going to try to take out turf in the middle of a sand storm!”

“I’ll leave all of you out there if you don’t shut up and maintain the perimeter!” the boss yelled, “Do you want that!? No? Then shut up!”

The door slammed shut and the grunts that stood guard grumbled quietly to themselves. They walked toward their posts and stood guard. Zara looked at Deontay.

“So what’s the plan?” Miwa asked.

“Do we really need this building?” Deontay asked.

Zara shrugged, “I’ve always wanted to visit this resort. Never had the time though.”

Deontay cracked his knuckles, “Alright.”

“Really though,” Miwa sat in between them, “what’s the plan?”

Visibility was bad so Zara decided to use it to their advantage. Zara vaulted over the wall of dried bushes with Deontay’s help. She landed on her feet and couched in the sandy haze. Zara ran low to the ground toward the nearest grunt. She crept up behind him and pulled his legs out from under him. As he fell, she grabbed his gun and struck the man in the jaw with the butt of the gun.

She threw the gun over the bush for Deontay before turning to deal with the rest of the look outs. Zara ran toward another hazy figure in the sand.

The man took notice of a noise, “Don, what was tha—”

Zara ran up and kicked the man in the jaw. He dropped to the ground unconscious. Zara sighed. It wasn’t as stealthy as she had wanted but she could adapt. The rest of the men on the outside knew that she was there. They just still couldn’t see her. She darted toward another man and knocked him out. Then she grabbed his gun and aimed it at the others.

“Drop your weapons!” Zara called.

“There’s like five of us and only one of you!” a man called, “Why would we do that?”

Zara shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Miwa lunged out of the swirling sand behind the men. He tackled one of them and quickly turned to take down another. His tail lashed out, grabbed a man’s leg and gave a short electrical shock enough to knock him out. Another man raised his gun at Miwa. Deontay hit the man’s arm upwards then hit him in the stomach with the butt of the gun Zara tossed to him. As the man boubled over, Deontay stuck him in the side of the head with the same weapon. In an easy movement, Deontay slung the weapon onto his back and raised his empty shot gun at another man.

“Not so fast, man,” Deontay stated. The man had raised his weapon. Upon seeing the sawed off double barrel shot gun, the man thought twice. He placed down the weapon in his hand and raised his hands. Zara walked up to him.

She looked down at the man, “It’s empty.”

Zara hit the man in the back of the head. She motioned to Deontay and Miwa to head to the door. The class door was covered in a sand film. Deontay walked up to the door and knocked on the widowed glass.

“I TOLD you! You come in when I say you do!” the boss yelled.

Deontay looked at Zara. She motioned to the door. Deontay shrugged and knocked again.

“You bunch of idiots! How many times do I have to say it?! You are not getting in!” the boss yelled.

Deontay nodded, “Challenge accepted.” He grabbed the handle.

“Don’t break my door,” Zara stated.

Deontay looked at her, “I got it, sheesh.”

He pulled on the door handle. The door remained closed, locked from the other side.

“Deontay,” Zara said with a hint of a threat, “I want a door by the end of this whole thing.”

“I know, I know,” Deontay waved a hand at her.

He took a stance and yanked on the door again. The door flew open. Zara ran in and raised her weapon. Miwa ran in beside her. The people in the lobby looked up and got to their feet. Zara looked at Miwa and pointed to the balcony. Miwa ran up the stairs, his tail tazed the men he passed by. Zara ducked down as shots flew passed her. She darted forward and jumped behind the info desk. Zara reloaded her weapon and fired at arms and legs; nonlife threatening injuries. Deontay walked in as the wind blew the door closed again. He sighed and got to work.

Deontay made his way through the resort looking for something in particular. He spotted his target. The leader noticed Deontay’s interest in him and turned to run down a hallway. Deontay rolled his eyes and followed him. The leader ducked into an office with Deontay close on his trail. When Deontay neared the room the man let loose a string of bullets. Deontay crossed his arms and waited a few seconds until he heard a click. He entered as the leader tried to reload his weapon. His fingers fumbled with the clip as Deontay simply watched him.

“You done?” Deontay asked.

The man dropped his weapon and raised his hands with an unsure smile. Deontay grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him back out to the lobby. He raised the man to his feet and pressed his empty shotgun to his back.

“Alright!” Deontay’s voice boomed. Everyone quieted down to look at him, “I’m only going to say this once! The lady wants the resort! So everybody else, get out!”

For a moment everyone just looked at each other, wondering what to do.

Deontay raised his weapon, “I mean it! If you go now you should be able to get to the hotel down the street before the winds pick up to much.”

The men started running out the door. When the door closed behind the last man, Deontay let the leader go who dashed for the door. Miwa and Zara walked to Deontay’s side.

“That went well,” Deontay propped the gun on his shoulder.

Miwa sat down, “That was fun! I really should join your guys’ team!”

“No,” Zara said. She turned around, “Come on. Let’s barricade the resort and make it storm ready. I don’t want those guys coming back. That and I don’t want sand getting in my new resort.”

The Turn: Chapter Twenty-Four

The Turn

Chapter Twenty-Four

~A Beautiful Performance~

Two Years before The Turn

About five days later, Zara stepped out of a taxi in front of the Tower steps. She walked into the building and passed the reception desk. The same woman took sight of her.

“Hello, this is the Tower, hold please,” the secretary chimed. She suddenly stood in up and extended her arm in a dramatic point, “YOU THERE! WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON TOWER PROPERTY!? GET OVER HERE!”

Zara turned around. She smiled awkwardly and walked over to the circular desk. The other secretaries barely flinched. Apparently this was a usual enough occurrence.

When Zara walked up, the head secretary glared at her, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you on vacation?”

“Well, yeah—”

“So aren’t you FORBIDEN from being within 100 feet from the Tower?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then I suggest, and by suggest I mean “DO IT OR YOU’RE FIRED”, that you leave now.”

“But I left something upstairs and I was hoping to just get it really quick—”

“No.”

“It would take five minutes flat!”

“No.”

“Could you call Sirius and ask if I could?”

“If I had to call Sirius for every Agent that was on Tower property when they weren’t supposed to, he’d never get a break.”

“Come on—” Zara glanced at her name tag, “Bridget!”

“No.”

“PLEASE! It’s really important!”

“No.”

“WHY?!?

The front doors opened and Chaud walked in casually. He walked past the reception desk behind Bridget’s back. He walked up a balcony and down a hallway. Chaud appeared to be counting steps when he came to a broom closet. He walked inside and found a small electrical box. He reached in to his pocket and pulled out an array of cords. He started pulling out cords and replacing them left and right. A small transmitting device flashed silently and showed that it was working. When he was done he closed the box and left the room.

Some ways away, Naru sat at a computer in a library. A lap top lay open beside him. On the library computer, Naru glanced at time at the upper right hand corner. He had an hour and a half, more than enough time. Naru typed in a series of keys and suddenly the screen went black. He waited patiently and the picture came back. The screen read, The Tower: Unauthorized Access.

Naru keyed the name Sirius Galaxy. He then inserted a flash drive into the computer and waited. Once the drive was installed it started figuring out the password. It took a short time for it to figure out the right combination and Naru was in. He navigated his way to the security videos.

Chaud headed down another hallway and entered an elevator. He pressed a button down in the basement. The elevator asked for a name and password. Because Chaud spent so much time watching his family he knew Kaiba’s password. He typed his name and password in. Then the elevator asked for an ID. Chaud opened a small electric box and swapped a few wires. The elevator started moving.

When the doors reopened Chaud entered a dark room. Chaud stood in the dark room.

“Hey, Miwa! You in here?” Chaud called out into the darkness.

For a moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, a single square of blue light turned on in the darkness. Soon more and more squares of lights turned on giving Chaud just enough light to see. Smaller lights turned on on the ground, showing Chaud a single walkway. In the center of the room there was an array of computer screens all showing different things. Cords snaked around the room connecting to different monitors or into the wall. Suspended several feet off the ground surrounded by screens was a human like object. Its gender neutral form glowed a nebulous blue in color as it hung suspended in the air, wires flowing out of it. Chaud walked up and waited.

Blue electronic eyes looked down at Chaud. A smile even seemed to appear on its face. Slowly, the object descended. When its foot touched the floor the cords connected to its body detached. Steam filled the room for a moment as Chaud waited patiently.

A boy around Chaud’s age walked toward Chaud through the steam. He looked different from the glowing humanoid that had descended. He had blond disorganized hair. As for his clothes, he wore a short sleeved red sweatshirt with an orange t-shirt underneath. He also wore tan cargo shorts and sandals.

“It’s been a while, Chaud,” the boy said with a wide smile, “I was beginning to think you forgot about me!”

“You’re a hard person to forget, Miwa,” Chaud nodded. He looked around, “Back in punishment?”

Miwa shrugged, “Apparently infecting the Tower system with a virus is frowned upon. What can I say? Is it so bad for a humanoid like me to experiment? Anyway, I like it here. It gives me time to think.”

“What have you been thinking about?” Chaud asked.

“Well, usually I think about all the practical jokes I could play when I get out but this time I was thinking about why your team mate Naru would hack into the Tower’s system,” Miwa winked, “What are you up to?”

“How did you know about Naru?” Chaud asked, ignoring the question.

Miwa jerked his thumb toward the array of computers and wires, “I’ve been connected to the system for days. I can feel when someone isn’t where they are supposed to be.”

“I need your help,” Chaud stated.

“Naturally,” Miwa laughed.

“I need you to send a message to the supply craft that’s headed out this afternoon. Tell them that they will be transporting six civilians and quite a few guns and ammo. On top of that, I want the information that was on Naru’s laptop from the mission sent back to him.”

Miwa looked to the ceiling debating the request. He knew Chaud since he had been activated. Together they caused a lot of trouble. A smile spread across Miwa’s face.

“I don’t see why not,” Miwa shrugged.

“I also need you to be my eyes and ears,” Chaud smiled.

“And cover you tracks, right?” Miwa rolled his eyes, “What are you guys going anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Miwa placed his hands in front of him, palm out, “I get it! But you owe me! I need to get out of here and breathe. Then maybe we can see how your brother reacts when his computer suddenly crashes.”

Chaud paused a moment then smiled, “That sounds like fun, actually.”

“Do you need fake ID’s?” Miwa asked.

“We have a friend taking care of that,” Chaud turned around, “I’ll see you around. Do try to get out of punishment while you’re at it!”

Miwa smiled ecstatically, “Oh! This feels even better than the time I made all the computers in the Tower freeze up! Sirius was so ANGRY!”

Chaud walked back the way he came. Zara was still desperately trying to persuade the secretary to let her fetch an item. Momentarily, their eyes met as Chaud walked out the door.

“Fine!” Zara shouted with frustration, “I’m leaving! Gosh!”

“It’s about time too!” Bridget stated, smiling with victory.

Zara walked out the door and down the few steps to the sidewalk.

“We are so getting fired after this,” Zara muttered.

Beside her Chaud shrugged, “Depends on if we do a good job or fail miserably.”

Zara glanced at him, “To think you came up with this way to execute the plan. It’s actually pretty decent.”

Chaud smiled, “See what happens when you give me enough time. I can make wonderful pieces of art. I should have been a movie director.”

“Shall we head for the terminal?” Zara asked.

“Might as well,” Chaud nodded.

IOIOIOIOI

“Is this the place?”

“No! It just says Puppetmaster for effect!”

“Oh, do we go in?”

“Of course not! We just stand out here and wait for something to happen!”

Puppetmaster looked up from his work and looked outside his shop door. He watched for a moment then turned to Shuppet who was sitting by his side.

“Do you think they will ever come in?” Puppetmaster asked.

Shuppet shook its head.

“They are rather loud aren’t they?”

Shuppet nodded.

“Well, we might as well let them in, don’t you think?” Puppetmaster said. He reached up for a thin string, it was barely visible. He pulled it and slowly the door opened putting an end to his visitor’s conversation at the door.

“Hello, ladies,” Puppetmaster smiled.

Vicky and Hina looked into the shop. Vicky entered first while Hina followed after her.

“Hello,” Vicky said politely.

“Good day,” Puppetmaster greeted warmly.

Vicky looked up at the dolls on the shelves. They were all still but they were all looking at her with a certain degree of curiosity.

“Have you sold anything today?” Vicky asked Puppetmaster.

“Four,” Puppetmaster said as he looked down at his newest creation.

“Only four?” Hina raised a shocked eyebrow.

“It’s quite a feat considering that I do barely any advertising,” Puppetmaster laughed.

Shuppet moved suddenly.

“Bless you,” Puppetmaster responded to the sudden jolt.

Vicky looked confused, “What?”

“Can we have the fake ID’s now?” Hina asked, “We’re on a tight deadline.”

Puppetmaster pulled out a wooden box similar to the ones that he placed his sold dolls in. He handed it to Hina. She looked inside with Vicky looking over her shoulder. Hina held one up to the light and whistled.

“These are really good,” she stated, “I mean they aren’t Tower good but they are up there.”

“Where did you get them?” Vicky asked Puppetmaster.

“You know that mansion up the ways a little? Nice people. I think they used to work for the Tower at one point,” Puppetmaster shrugged, not giving it a second though.

Hina placed the ID inside the box again, “Thanks! We’ll be seeing ya!”

She turned around and headed for the door. Vicki hesitated a moment. She bowed her apology silently before following behind Hina.

Puppetmaster smiled and waved after them, “They are going to get in so much trouble.”

Shuppet nodded as it waved as well.

“I really need to make dolls out of them,” Puppetmaster chuckled to himself, “The trick is getting their hair.”

In the library, Naru typed away at the library’s computer. He had five minutes left to finish what he needed to. His laptop chimed suddenly. He looked over at it. Computer gibberish scrolled across the screen followed by an animated character carrying a note. It had blond hair and wore a red sweater and cargo pants. The character opened the letter and disappeared.

“Chaud said you would need this! X3”

Naru smiled. With that done, he closed out of his computer and walked off with his laptop under his arm.

IOIOIOIOI

Deontay headed toward a large plane. People were already loading large crates of things into the plane. He smiled slightly as he saw the crates. Hopefully Chaud was able to get some weapons on the plane.

He walked closer and smiled at the pilot who was telling people where to put different boxes, “Hey! Need any help?”

The pilot looked at him, “Who are you? You one of the people I’m supposed to drop off?”

“That we are,” Zara said as she and Chaud walked up.

The captain looked at them all skeptically, “There were six of you, right?”

“They’ll be here in a bit,” Chaud answered.

“They better be,” the captain said through clenched teeth, “We leave in ten minutes.”

After the captain walked away, Naru walked up a satchel bag over one shoulder carrying his laptop. Soon after, Hina and Vicky showed up with a wooden box. The captain called them into the airplane and the six of them sat in the cargo section of the plane. The plane took off and the six of the teens dealt with the annoying air pressure building up in their ears.

“Alright,” Chaud said, looking at his watch, “I think it’s been long enough.”

“You think?” Zara asked.

“What do you expect of me? I can’t help it if the captain flies off course 10-15 miles! It’s all about the air currents!”

Zara rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Deontay. He stood up and walked toward the captain’s door. He hit in in a way that it would be very difficult to open again. The captain could be heard yelling at them but they ignored his cries.

Hina opened one of the crates. She handed out parachutes to her other team mates.

“I don’t need one,” Zara said, she looked at Chaud, “You had better catch me.”

“Believe me, I want to. I can’t imagine the torment I would suffer if I let you die,” he rubbed the back of his head, “The worse thing would be I couldn’t fight back. Ghosts are kind of hard to hit.”

“Grab some weapons,” Zara said.

Naru opened one of the boxes and gripped one of the sniper rifles. He looked through the scope for a moment before taking it off and throwing it back into the box. Deontay shook his head and muttered something along the lines of ‘Show off’.

Zara walked to the back of the plane and pressed a button. The back of the plane opened, revealing the sky and the ground far below. She looked down briefly before turning to the others.

“Okay,” she started, “as of now, we have to assume that the Tower is after us as well as the New Order. We’re going to have to be very careful, more careful than usual. Our goal is to find out as much as we can about the New Order and find them before the Tower finds us. Ready?”

She got confident looks from everyone. Zara nodded satisfied and turned around. She jumped off. One by one, the others followed after her. Chaud was the last one. He looked around himself for a moment and nodded.

“Don’t think anyone else in the family could have done better,” he said admiring his handy work. He walked off the edge and followed the others.

Insanity Chapter Twenty-Four

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Four

~Operation Fang – Part Two~

Day Twenty-One

“We’re losing altitude!” Raven shouted as the helicopter engines failed.

The helicopter took a sickening tilt to the left. It fell to the earth as it flipped upside down. Raven tried repeatedly to restart the engines. As the helicopter fell its blades drew dangerously close to Alister and Penelope.

Penelope fell after Alister. She reached out to him and he grabbed it. The propellers sailed for them. Penelope fell into Alister and as the blades dew closer they both disappeared.

They reappeared in the helicopter as it tumbled upside down. Alister managed to close one of the doors. Both he and Penelope slammed it to it.

“Uh, guys,” Alister groaned, “I don’t think it’s safe to see the fishes from a helicopter, is it?”

Penelope punched him in the shoulder, “Just shut up!”

She crawled over him and over to Raven as the helicopter turned upside down. Penelope stood as she grabbed the wires and tried to fix them. It took several attempts through the kayos and commotion but eventually it started. Raven immediately took hold of the controls and piloted the helicopter. They were basically skimming the water.

“Let’s not do that again, shall we,” Shadow said breathless.

“Aww, but that was just so much fun,” Alister said sarcastically.

Fang found himself breathing again. He wasn’t sure when he had stopped breathing, he just knew that he needed air. Edonya looked disappointed. She made a motion like she was picking up a large gun and propped it on her shoulder.

“Give it everything you got, boys,” Edonya said.

Riff pulled the whip from his belt. Lire laughed as he jumped around. Vise balled his fists in anticipation. Ibid just nodded. She looked board beyond belief. Thae had no expression on his face. He glared at Fang.

Edonya smiled, “Their bugging me. We’ll have to kill them.”

She raised her imaginary gun and fired.

The others ducked while the helicopter was being riddled with invisible bullets. Raven maneuvered the best she could but since she wouldn’t see the bullets it was difficult to dodge them completely.

“Just get us close enough,” Shadow got out of his seat, “Come on, Penelope!”

Raven nodded and steered for the boat. There was a flash of light and a beam of light shot past the helicopter. Shadow sighed.

“I need a raise,” then he smiled, “Oh wait, I don’t even get paid.”

“W-w-we get room and board,” Penelope said.

“Then I could use a bigger room,” Shadow looked out of the helicopter.

“When you’re down there deal with the invisible bullets! They’re tearing us up here!” Raven shouted.

“Got it,” Shadow said.

The helicopter veered over to the boat as it slowly gained altitude. Leaned out, he smiled.

“Come one, Penelope,” Shadow said as he jumped out.

Penelope followed behind. Shadow pulled three daggers from his sleeves as he fell. He landed on the roof of the boat. Penelope landed near him. Vise crated a ball of light in his hand and threw it. It hit the roof of the cabin that two stood on. There was a large explosion but before that Shadow and Penelope jumped apart. The explosion blew back Edonya and Lire.

As Shadow jumped off of the cabin roof he threw the three daggers at Edonya. Edonya noticed and managed to dodge all three through a series of flips and twirls. Penelope vanished and appeared in front of Vise. Her eyes were narrowed as she punched him squarely in the jaw. There was a crack of a whip and a sharp pain as it wrapped around her neck. Ibid clapped her hands together and two other hers appeared. She went after Shadow.

Shadow grabbed a rope and jumped off the side of the boat. He sailed above the water and appeared down the ship. Shadow jumped over the railing again and pulled out a dagger that was hidden on his ankle. He threw it at the whip. The whip was snapped as the dagger passed through it. Penelope dropped to her knees and gasped for breath. She unwrapped the remaining piece of dagger from her neck. Penelope rolled out of the way as Vise created another ball of light.

Ibid and her two copies went after both Penelope and Shadow. Fang slightly turned to Thae.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where mu gun is, do you?” he asked.

Thae smiled, “I thought I’d be a nice little memory piece after you were killed.”

“I’d like it back,” Fang stated.

“You’ll have to kill me for it,” Thae smiled.

The helicopter passed again. Alister opened a black bag and pulled out a shot gun. He leaned against the metal door post.

“You better duck, Fang,” he said.

The weapon fired. Fang and Thae heard the shot. Fang ducked and rolled away as the boat raining splintered into shards of wood, leaving a large hole in the wooden railing. Thae surprisingly grew black wings and jumped back onto the lower deck of the boat. Fang quickly got to his feet. As Thae descended, he saw the silver gun in Thae’s belt. He had to get that gun back. Fang got up and ran toward the edge.

Shadow threw a dagger and one of Ibid’s copies vanished in purple smoke. He ducked as he felt something sharp brush his face. His right cheek was bleeding from a slanted scratch. He looked at saw Edonya as she made a motion of carrying a gun. Shadow wasn’t sure what it exactly meant but he knew it hurt. He rolled behind a solid surface as it became riddled with bullets. Invisible bullets. It was as if whatever she was miming was actually was there. He heard the helicopter start to fly over again. When the firing stopped he got to feet.

When Penelope got to her feet she reached into her pocket and pulled out a circular object. She threw it at the coming Ibid copy. Spikes shot out of it and gripped on to the copy. A red light shined three times before detonating. Penelope ducked to one side as the copy disappeared into flame and purple smoke. She cartwheeled out of the way of one of Vise’s attacks. It passed her and crashed into the water creating a large explosion of water that towered high above. She pulled out another contraption only this one was a rod. She pointed it at Vice and pressed a button. An electrical current shot from it. But instead of hitting Vise she hit Shadow in the leg on accident.

Shadow fell to his knees, “What the heck!?”

“Sorry,” Penelope said. Then she aimed again and shot the weapon. This time it hit Vise, “Looks like it still has a few glitches”

“You think! I can’t feel my leg!” Shadow complained.

“You’re a strong guy,” Penelope twirled the weapon and put it back where she stored it, “Just rub it off. Unlike him, you can move the rest of your body.”

“Barely,” Shadow muttered.

Penelope rolled her eyes and ran off to where more of Ibid’s copies were gathered. Shadow stood up with great effort. He saw the helicopter

Fang ducked down as Alister riddled the boat with bullets, hitting several of Ibid’s copies. Someone was a little trigger happy. He made a mental note to address that later. Thae vanished into the floor similar to how Shadow would. Fang sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. When the firing stopped he stood up and ran to the edge. Thae appeared again right below Shadow. Shadow stepped back in surprise as Thae’s hand gripped his neck.

Fang watched as Thae slowly strangled Shadow as he rose into the air. By now Thae and Shadow were at a good distance. Fang backed from the edge and cursed under his breath. He ran toward the edge again. When he jumped, he transformed.

In his wolf form he could jump much farther and higher. When he tackled Thae out of the sky he transformed back in to a human. Quickly, he located his gun and grabbed it. He aimed the gun at Thae’s head. Thae let Shadow go, grabbed the back of Fang’s neck and turned his body just as the deck of the boat came suddenly. The deck splintered but the impact wasn’t strong enough to send Fang and Thae through it. In the pain of the impact Fang cried out in agony. His gun was thrown from his hands. With his ears still ringing, he vaguely heard the sound of the helicopter again.

Thae, who was much less hurt than Fang, looked at Edonya, “Where’s Lire?!”

Edonya propped her effective imaginary gun on her shoulder and pointed. Thae followed her point.

“Lire, shoot that helicopter down!” Thae yelled at the clown.

He grunted as Fang hit him in the jaw. Thae spread his wings and flapped. He soared up about ten feet and landed on his feet as Lire continued on with his job. Lire looked at the coming helicopter. Then he looked down by his feet comically smiled. He picked up a rocket launcher. Lire propped the device on his shoulder.

Fang looked at Shadow. He wasn’t in any condition to be doing anything suddenly.

“Penelope! Rocket Launcher!” he shouted as he turned on his side.

Penelope looked Lire and ran at him. She reached for her rod contraption and aimed. Lire laughed and aimed at the coming helicopter. Penelope pressed the button and the current charged forward. The electricity short forward but missed. Lire launched the rocket.

Raven gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Alister said.

“Can you swim?” Raven asked.

Alister shrugged, “Enough to keep alive. Why?”

“Good,” she said before tilting the helicopter.

Alister lost his footing and fell out. Raven flipped the auto pilot. She got out of her seat and ran to the door. Her cloak unclipped as she jumped out of the helicopter. It exploded just moments before she had jumped out. She was blown forward as she fell toward the water. Raven touched the water, she started running. Using her powers for the first time in a long while she raced across the water with incredible speed. She looked around for Alister.

Raven found him treading water. She slid on the water, not stopping, and in a wide arc she skidded over the water with her hand out to reach his. Their hands clasp each other’s and Raven started running again. She ran for the boat.

Thae landed near Edonya. He looked over the edge of the boat into the water. For a moment he saw something.

“I need to get you out of here,” he said to Edonya.

She just looked at him, “What? Why? We’re just having fun!”

“She’s right, you know. It’d be a shame if you left so early,” Fang said.