by Meco Brown
This is a nasty situation we're in. Payton is right, we do need a plan. I thought to myself.
“Well, well...” A hard-robotic voice said from behind.
Payton and I quickly turned around, both laying eyes on what looked to be a member of the Red Throne Society. His armor was much more developed than the ones I saw over in West Fall, yet wasn't as impressive as the general's armor. His purple cybernetic armor covered most of his body, and within both of his hands are two blades“Look what we have here.”
Payton immediately pulled a shroud of darkness around her body, summoning lashing tentacles, preparing to attack.“Give me one reason, why I shouldn't end you right here.” Payton threatened.
He simply nodded, and put his weapons away. I felt he was smiling behind his purple helmet.
“Now, I do believe it is your turn, to strip away your... shadow... tentacles... weapon thing.” He said, poor guy sounded so baffled.
Payton refused to do so and kept her power active. As she concentrated her energy, the shadows pulsed with a dark force.
“Payton,” I said. My tone of voice let her know, she needed to stop.
“Fine.” She gave an annoyed sigh and allowed her pull over the shadows to diminish.
“Okay, so talk. Who are you and why aren't you attacking us?” I asked, watching the cyborg cautiously.
“In order to protect my identity, I will decline giving out my real name, instead you may call me, DJ.” His voice, although robotic, sounded courteous and kind.
“DJ? Is that a combination of your first and last name, or-”?
“DJ, as in disc jockey.” He said quickly.
Payton and I exchanged a look.
“So,you play music in bars and kill witches on the side? That should look good on a resume.” I told him.
He stepped closer to me, angry.“I do not kill witches!” He shouted.
Payton stepped between us.“Easy there fella, I gave you an opportunity to keep your life, you may want to take. Now back the hell off my cousin.” Payton threatened him for the second time. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and they both stepped away from each other.
“What did you mean by saying you don't kill witches?”
“I will deny this to my dying day, but the very thought that this faction would rather kill witches, both infuriates and scares the living hell out of me. Instead of punishing truly evil witches, they wish to kill them all, and that doesn't sit well with me.” He said, and continued,“So, I use my position as lieutenant, to undo what I can, when I can.” He told us, and as he talked, I couldn't necessarily tell if what he was saying was the truth or not. But his story did make me wonder, if he could help us get what we came here for.
“You really expect us to believe you?” Payton asked, then turned to me.“Airius, look, it's only a matter of time before his people come to him, so we need to leave. He's doing nothing but playing with our heads.” Her body twitched a bit upon saying that.
I wanted to leave, just to put Payton's mind at ease, but I couldn't. I would choose Taideo over anyone, even family.
“Do you have any idea what they would do to me, if they figured out what I am doing? They'd throw me aside, kill me if they chose it. I need your help, and I'm sure you could use mine.”
“Payton, go home. I'll stay behind.”
“Are you insane, I'm not leaving you here, alone!” She crossed her arms, and after a few seconds, stepped back, watching DJ with cautious eyes.
“I promise you, I don't want any trouble. I'll prove it-”
“How?” Slipped from my lips before he even finished speaking.
“Look there,” DJ says, pointing upward. My eyes scan up the warehouse, to the tallest window. I notice the bars are glowing, which means the blood of a dead witch was used to coat them, keeping any witch from accessing the room from both sides.
“You guys use our blood for everything don't you?” I asked, and he ignored me.
“Inside are two prisoners’, whom I've been unsuccessful at getting out on my own. One of them is definitely a witch, I've talked my people into keeping him alive for his blood, but the moment he becomes tooweak, they'll kill him, quickly. The other prisoner, isn't a witch, we found him not long ago. Not sure what he is, but witch and demon can be scratched off the list. They are being held in the tallest room. I can distract a majority of my people, but the others on patrol will be left up to you.”
Frowning, Payton turned to me.“Airius, this doesn't sound like a good idea.”
I ignored her.“I'll help get them out, but I need that crystal. The one Ms. Neely has in her possession.”
“Take whatever you need, just get them out. After what went down in West Fall, I honestly can't bare the sight of any more death. This isn't how I pictured my life. I've lost so much already; Saving people is all I have left, this is what feels right.”
I managed a small, comforting smile. Maybe, just maybe he was telling the truth. Still, there was something inside of me, that was holding on to the fact that this could be a trap. Even so, I knew I had no other choice. I needed that crystal.
“I will disable all the magnetic locks on some of the doors, and get who I can to come outside. That should give you a few extra minutes. Just please try to hurry.”
As he spoke, a holographic keyboard appeared over his wrist, and he typed a sequence of codes.
“What are you doing?” Payton asked him.
“The doors are now unlocked,” he said, and suddenly put his index finger against the side of his helmet.“All available, report to the training grounds, I repeat, report to the training grounds.” He nodded, faced me and dropped his hand.
“So?” I asked.
“That should do it, it's up to you now.”
On the right side of the warehouse, I could see part of an outside elevator. An alarm vibrated within my ears, as the cranky elevator pushed its way down. Since I couldn't see the individuals riding it, there's no chance of identifying who they were. The alarm was silenced for a time, until it's pesky noise rang again as the elevator went back up to the fifth floor.
“I suggest taking the side entrance.” DJ said, pointing in the direction he told us to go.
“This better not be some trick; Because if it is, I will kill you and everyone in this building.” Payton warned.
He nodded slowly, as Payton and I headed off and to the left of the warehouse, entering the only door we saw.
The room was filled with giant, silver containers and rusted vertical pillars that held the stone-like texture of the ceiling, keeping it from crumpling. In the back of the room, I could see another elevator and within it, were two members of the Red Throne Society, I suppose they're on patrol. The two of them exited the elevator and walked out of my field of vision. Payton and I dropped to our knees and focused on our hearing.
“Stay alert,” One of them said, his voice rocked with confidence.“I'll head back up and join the others in the training grounds. Make sure you stay away from those containers. There's no telling what that much witch blood will do to a person.”
“Witch blood? That's what's in these?” Payton whispered angrily. The elevator alarm vibrated loudly as it rose back up. I lowered my head, looking below one of the containers, I saw the skinny legs of the lonesome ninja.
“Payton, you empty the containers, I'll take care of him. Just be as quiet as you can, we can't allow him to hear anything and alert the others.”
She nodded.
I pushed my stomach face down on the hard, smooth surface of the ground and stealthily crawled under the humming container. The ninja held a semi-automatic weapon, no doubt it's bullets have been dipped in the blood of a dead witch. The ninja scanned the area, and after seeing things as safe and normal, he turned and casually walked to the other side, his weapon still close to his armored chest.
Acting quickly, I crawled out from beneath the space, and ran towards a bricked wall, putting my back against it, I peeked around the corner to see the ninja walki
ng straight to the other side. I stealthy followed him, strolling behind, nearly within reach of the illiterate ninja. My hands went up, inching closer to his neck.
When suddenly, an alarm sounded and he turned, barely seeing me, as I blurred around the corner.
The elevator was coming back down. The ninja I was following, headed for the elevator, which was my and Payton's destination. It was literally the only way out of the room, and up to the next level. Across from me, I saw Payton, who pointed to the elevator.
“Take them out,” I mouthed silently to her.
She nodded, and stretched out her hands, dangling her fingers as if operating a stringed puppet. Payton's hands were suddenly trapped within black energy. Two shadowed tentacles emerged underneath the two ninjas, resulting in the ground beginning to crack, and whipped across their torso, throwing them backwards against the opposite wall. Needless to say, they were quickly knocked out.
“Nice job,” I said as we ran inside the elevator.“did you take care of the containers?”
The alarm blurted violently, as the elevator went up.
“Yeah, there was a valve that releases the blood from the containers. So,we're all good here, that'll cut off their supply, or at least here in Olah. No telling how much they have elsewhere though.”
At one point, Payton was someone who I never truly relied on. Sure, her sway over darkness and shadows were highly useful, especially when demon hunting; But in situations like this, I'm proud to call her family.
“Let's not be rash about this, Airius. We move when it's safe, retreat when there's danger.” Payton demanded. I nodded and looked forward, as the elevator doors opened, revealing yet another large, brightly lit room.
“No way!” she exclaimed.
Directly within the center of the room was a massive armored tank.
“Come on, Payton, let's move.” I said, grabbing her hand, and stepped to the left, catching sight of yet another large tank.“This is ridiculous.” I let out, as we moved up in front of the tank, and saw a ninja walking across another elevator, patrolling.
“We need to go up, so that elevator is our next move.”
Nodding, Iused my power and pushed the button which called forth the elevator.“Once it opens, head straight for it, we need to hurry, not sure how long DJ can keep everyone busy.”
“I can't believe we're actually working with that guy.” Payton said.
Humming filled the elevator doors as it came up, and the doors quickly opened. She and I blurred over, stepped inside and pushed the button.
“One step closer, I guess.” Peaking over, I smiled at Payton. The elevator doors opened into an empty but rust-colored hallway. Stepping out of the elevator, Payton surrounded her hands in dark energy, as we stalked the halls. If my heart was beating it would probably be hammering against my chest right now. I just might actually get to Ms. Neely and get my hands on the crystal. I just had to keep it together until the right opportunity presented itself. I couldn't let Ms. Chestnut down, not after she put faith in me to find a way to bring Taideo back to us all.
Payton and I made our way to the sleeping quarters, without any problems. DJ- the cyborg with the purple metallic armor, did wonders in distracting the others. He was relatively certain that while he could help, there would be other members of the Red Throne Society, who were on patrol, some who Payton and I would most likely have to take out. Luckily, so far, we've only dealt with two. But I couldn't help but wonder, it all seems a little too easy.
“Are you sure it was a good thing that we trusted him?”
“Payton, we don't trust anyone. But, we needed to get in here and this seemed liked the only way.”
“Something doesn't feel right. This has trap written all over it. Why would he turn against his own people? I don't buy his story, undoing whatever he can, saving whoever he can. You can't possibly believe him, Airius.” Payton let out in a hysterical panic.
“Listen, I honestly don't know what to believe right now. All I do know, is that the one thing I need is here, and I'm not leaving without it. I told you earlier, to go home, you didn't, now we're here. So be quiet, before you alert someone with your constant cacophonous bickering.” I turned from her and made my way through a door, and up a flight of stone steps, where I encountered my first true problem- A blood barrier, sealing the door ahead of me. I knew immediately how bad this actually way. The witches outside, on those spikes where drained of their blood. The Red Throne Society, used it to create this barrier.
“Well, there's no way of getting through that.” Payton said from behind.
“There has to be a way around it, Payton.”
I reached the door and frantically studied it, hoping to see some way to disable it. My gaze leads up to the ceiling and I saw an opportunity. I pointed up to an open vent.
“Look, maybe we can get through there.”
“Oh, no, not happening. I'm not crawling through a vent. I'm not a rat.”
I took a few steps toward the vent.“So much for sticking together.”
“Look, you go on ahead. I'll stay here and make sure no one comes in here.”
“Obviously someone's in that room. What if they come out? If it's the general, you won't last long with her. She's a beast, Payton.”
She smirked.“I have no intention of going up against her, Airius.”
“Payton,”
“Just go!” She demanded.
“I'm sorry?” I formed it as a question, but it was really my way of telling Payton to piss off. I thought showing kindness would allow her to see that I care, that I wanted to stick together, that I worried about her being alone. I shook my head, and leaped high into the open vent.
My eyes promptly adjusted to the darkened vent, as I slithered my body inside the tight space. Doing my best to allow three small, black rats to scurry past me. Turning to the right, I crept slowly along the metal vent. The path separated into three different ways. A soft murmur caught my attention, as I sharply turned and headed to the left, stopping when I spotted a vent shaft below me. Peeking through the shaft, I realized down below, it was a prison cell. A brown-haired man was doing a series of push-ups.
Wait, is that who I think it is? I questioned myself.
“I’ve got toget out of this bloody room.” He told himself.
“Gregory?”
He froze for a moment, and peeked up at me. Rushing to his feet, he made his way over.
“Airius? Boy am I glad to see you. Get me out of here.”
I nodded,“Stay calm, Gregory, I'll come back for you. Hang in there.”
Of all people, I never thought the Red Throne Society would catch him. How on earth did they even get their hands on Gregory? Running is supposed to be his specialty. Guess he's not as smart as I thought.
“Wait, hold on mate, where you going? Help me out!”
“I'll be back, trust me, I won't let anything happen to you.” I promised him. I knew eventually, Gregory will ask about Lydia, and things may not go so smoothly. But, I couldn't just leave him in here. I will save him, but right now, my priority is finding Ms. Neely and that crystal. DJ said there was one more prisoner, and I couldn't help but wonder who it might be.
I crawled over to the second ducked, and took a look through the cracks of it. Down below was Mr. Littleton, Eamie's grandfather who has been missing for some time now. Why would the Red Throne Society have him?
Mr. Littleton was chained to the wall, sitting on a small and stained mattress. I could sense pain slithering through his body. Sniffing the air, the scent of burnt flesh stung my nose. They've been torturing him. Poor guy.
The door clicked and opened in a flash. A ninja escorted Ms. Neely inside the room. She turned to her escort,“Please give us a minute alone.”
The ninja nodded, and left the room, closing the door behind him. Ms. Neely's hands went on her hips, and she stared at the half-beaten man, chained to the wall. Her face was unreadable, yet she seemed to have this glow that surrounded her.
Ms. Neely's presence was so incredibly strong and enamoring. While looking at her, I realized that her fragile appearance would make a person highly underestimate her. I honestly never noticed it before, it was strange, and dangerously confusing. I'm just happy to know Taideo isn't here to see this, it would break his heart to know someone he trusted lies in bed with the enemy.
“You come to beat more answers out of me?” Mr. Littleton announced weakly. Ms. Neely placed a corner chair a few feet away from him, and dug into her purse.
“You know I've never done anything to hurt you, Andrew.” She said, and sat down in the chair.
“Then why have you betrayed me like this?”
Ms. Neely examined the him. “Tell me about this crystal, Andrew.” She demanded, as she pulled the crystal from her purse, showing it to him.
He stared at her nervously, and pulled himself up and against the wall.
“The crystal.” I whispered to myself.
“Sorry, you're just going to have to kill me.”
“Whoa, slow down. I'm not going to kill you, Andrew, I'm trying to save your life.”
“Save his life?” I whispered to myself. I couldn't tell whether she was telling the truth or not, and neither could he.
“Listen,” she rose to her feet and sat next to him.“They are threatening to kill you, and anyone related to you, if you do not cooperate. Andrew, I didn't betray you or your son, I promise you that.”
“I don't believe you.” Mr. Littleton sounded hurt.
“When your son and I started to see one another, it was just something innocent. But they figured out you were in possession of this crystal, and knew I was the only one close who could take it. Now that it's here, the Red Throne Society can't figure out a way to access itspower.” She explains.
“Power?” Mr. Littleton question.
She nodded,“They have already figured out how to harness the power of witch blood, if they can access the magic within this crystal. They could possibly gain absolute power.”
“Power corrupts, young one. Never forget that.” Mr. Littleton shook his head somberly, and looked away from her.“I'd rather die, than give away the secrets of that crystal; And if you and your people choose to fight my family, then I will pray for you all, because death will soon fall upon each and every one of you.”
