by Ali House
Kit lowered her hands, swayed on the spot, and then collapsed. Akola caught her before she hit the ground, calling out for help. Erikson had asked Kit to do a lot in the past thirty minutes and she’d preformed beautifully. Akola wasn’t surprised that it had taken a toll on her.
Saburo helped her carry Kit to the back of the Tecken base, out of harm’s way. They found some blankets to lay her on and then Akola went to tell Erikson about Kit’s condition. He had come over with the second wave of soldiers and had already set up his command post.
He nodded at the news of Kit. He didn’t seem concerned about the strain she was feeling – he simply told Akola to keep an eye on her and make sure she was ready to get back in the fight soon. He was going to send his army out in a matter of minutes and he wanted her to help if they came across any resistance.
Akola could tell that he was preoccupied with his plans, so she left and went back to Kit. She’d been ordered to keep a close eye on her during the attack, which meant watching her almost every second. Although Akola was confident that Erikson could win the war without Kit, she knew that it would be a lot easier with the Six-Elemental. As much as she wanted to get out there and fight, someone had to make sure that their greatest asset was protected.
She played with one of the two daggers she was carrying. The tech team had designed side holsters for her so they were always within reach.
“How’s she doing?” Nathan asked, walking up behind her.
Akola turned around to face him, holding out her dagger. “She’s still unconscious.”
“Erikson is sending the first wave out. I’m going to cause some trouble.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” she replied.
“I just wanted to tell you in case she asked about me.”
Akola rolled her eyes. This whole pretending-to-care-about-Kit-thing was getting old. If he really cared about her, he’d wait until she woke up before joining the fight. He just wanted to make sure that she was still obsessed with him.
“I’ll let her know,” Akola said icily. “Better hurry before the army leaves without you.”
Nathan glared at her and walked away.
Akola tried a few moves with her daggers, pretending that Nathan was on the receiving end. When she saw Kit finally start to come to, she stopped and put the daggers back in their holsters.
“What happened?” Kit asked, trying to sit up. “How long have I been out? How’s the army doing?”
“Relax for a minute,” Akola told her. “Erikson sent the troops out twenty minutes ago. You need to take some time and get your energy back.”
“No, I should join the army,” Kit said. She felt weak, but she didn’t want to let anyone down.
“Relax,” Akola repeated. “Once you’re at full strength, we’ll get out there and kick some ass.”
“That sounds good.” Kit smiled and lay back on the blankets. “So is... I mean, do you know...”
“What?” Akola asked, playing stupid.
“…Is Nathan still around?”
She sighed. “He’s gone to join the fight. You might have some trouble finding him.” The disappointed look on Kit’s face made her angry. She cursed Nathan and his bastard ways. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll meet up with him after we take Stanton.”
The smile that broke out on Kit’s face made her even angrier, but Akola said nothing. Maybe she’d luck out and someone would kill Nathan during the fighting.
When Kit finally regained her strength, Erikson allowed her to rejoin the army. Tecken’s army had reached the first barricade and was slowly pushing through. He warned her to take it easy and save her strength – they couldn’t risk her passing out near the enemy – but she was to help in any way she could.
Akola didn’t need any help with her fighting. She was switching effortlessly between her daggers and her element, trying to make up for not getting into the fight earlier.
After only a few minutes of fighting, Kit realized that she was the main target. She couldn’t relax for a second. Any enemy that had the chance to attack her was doing so.
It would have been easier for her if she was willing to deal a life-threatening blow, but she couldn’t. Even thought this was a war, she didn’t want to outright kill anyone. The other soldiers had no problem killing, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her only hope was to injure the enemy badly enough to force them to give up.
The ground under her began to shake and Kit quickly moved to another spot, dodging enemies on her way. They were starting to attack her in groups of two or three, trying to catch her off guard.
Injured soldiers were being carried off on both sides, but the sides never seemed to lose numbers and the battle didn’t slow down. Kit was still trying to keep herself safe when she noticed an opening in the Cambrian barricade. Ducking low, she sent a blast of air towards the opening, knocking the wood, sandbags and a few soldiers away. The others noticed the weak point and Tecken pushed towards it. The enemy rushed back to their barricade, more concerned with keeping their ground than attacking her.
Kit managed to get a few more attacks to the line and with help from other Elementals the line started to crumble. A cry of retreat was sounded on the enemy’s side and they pulled back. Tecken’s soldiers followed, refusing to give their enemies a rest.
“You coming?” Akola asked as the army rushed forward.
“I’m going to report to Erikson,” Kit answered. “I’m too much of a target right now.”
“Try not to take too long,” Akola said before rushing off.
Kit paused to make sure that Akola had disappeared from sight before heading west. She’d heard that Nathan had been hanging around the north side of the city and she wanted to make sure that he was okay. The army could handle things without her and Erikson could last a few more minutes without a report.
She hadn’t been given any real orders by Erikson, except to stay alive. Mostly he needed her to make an appearance every once in a while, to have the Forces remember what they were up against. As much as Erikson wanted to walk all over the Forces, he didn’t want her to do all the work. He wanted to show the Forces that he deserved this victory and that even if the Six-Elemental was not on his side, he would still win.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rumors of a yellow-haired Tecken soldier with a gun had spread throughout the ranks. A sighting on the north side of the island confirmed that it was Nathan, so everyone in the area was to be on guard.
As soon as Vaughn heard the rumor, he headed straight for the north side. His plan had been to get close to Kit, but she was either nowhere in sight or constantly surrounded by Tecken soldiers. There was no way that he’d be able to talk to her while she was in the midst of the fight, and he had no idea how to get her alone.
If he couldn’t get to Kit then he’d go for the next best thing – getting Nathan’s head. If it hadn’t been for that bastard, Kit never would still be on the right side. Vaughn had no doubt that Nathan was behind Kit’s kidnapping, and he wanted to make sure that Nathan got what he deserved.
As he walked along the west side, he kept an eye out for enemies. He passed the odd Cambrian solder, but not many people were out this way. Vaughn listened for gunshots, but he couldn’t hear anything suspicious. He moved closer to Tecken’s territory, using alleys to keep himself out of the main streets. He went as far as 3rd Avenue, two blocks from where Tecken’s line supposedly was.
There were sounds of a fight ahead, so he checked around the corner to see if anyone was in the street. Near one of the buildings, Nathan was fighting a Cambrian soldier. Nathan pushed the woman back against the wall before smacked his gun into the woman’s head, dropping her to the ground. She was unconscious, but he still aimed the gun at the woman’s head.
“Nathan,” Vaughn yelled out as he stepped into the street.
The blond-haired man looked up. He was confused at first, but then he recognized Vaughn. He smiled and pulled the trigger on the unconscious woman.
&
nbsp; “Red. Fancy meeting you here.”
Vaughn should have known better. He’d sacrificed the element of surprise in his hopes to save the other soldier, but Nathan had no honor.
“What did you do to Kit?” he demanded.
“I just gave her something that she was missing.” Nathan smiled again. “And she was very thankful, believe me.”
Vaughn’s hand tightened around the handle of his sword. For once in his life he needed to control his anger instead of letting it get the better of him. He moved closer, keeping an eye on Nathan’s gun.
The gun remained at Nathan’s side as he walked towards Vaughn. The smile never left his face.
“You seem really angry, Red. Is it possible that you had a thing for her? Is that why you’re so mad at me – because I succeeded where you failed?”
Vaughn growled and lunged forward, drawing his sword. After leaving the Forces he had still continued to practice with the sword, and this was the day that his practice would pay off. Nathan dodged, moving to the left. The sword cut through air, but Vaughn retained control and swung it around towards Nathan’s new position. Nathan dodged again, the smile falling from his face and a look of concentration taking over. He hadn’t expected Red to be so good.
Nathan used his gun to block the oncoming sword, but he was unable to keep his position and had to back up to stop from being sliced as the sword came down. Vaughn swung the sword back, preparing for another attack. This time Nathan moved forward, tackling Vaughn around the waist and shoving him to the ground.
The impact caused Vaughn to let go of his sword, but he shoved Nathan off of him and jumped to his feet. Nathan aimed the gun at Vaughn’s chest and fired, but the bullet missed and went through Vaughn’s right arm.
Vaughn ignored the pain in his arm and his eyes glowed a bright red as he focused all his power on Nathan’s gun. Before Nathan was able to pull the trigger again, the gun became red-hot in his hands. He dropped the weapon and jumped to his feet.
“I hate fighting Elementals,” he growled.
“If you want a fair fight, you shouldn’t be using illegal weapons,” Vaughn countered, rushing at him. The fighting went on as the men aimed punches and kicks at each other. They were almost evenly matched, except for one thing. While Nathan wanted to win the fight to prove that he was better, Vaughn had to win the fight. In Vaughn’s mind there was no option of losing.
He kicked Nathan in the stomach, hitting him in the solar-plexus before aiming a punch at Nathan’s head. While he was momentarily disoriented, Vaughn dropped to the ground, taking Nathan’s legs out from under him.
Vaughn reached out for his sword, rose to his feet and placed the blade at Nathan’s neck.
“You should never have gone near her,” he said as he applied pressure to the blade.
“Nathan!”
Vaughn turned his head towards the familiar voice. His mouth dropped open.
“Kit –”
He had barely said her name when he felt a sudden burning sensation on his right hand. He yelled and dropped his sword, but not fast enough. The bindings on the handle had caught fire and burned his hand. Worse still, the flames had jumped up to the arm of his coat, traveling towards his shoulder.
Backing away, Vaughn tried to remove the coat, but he was hit with a huge gust of wind that slammed into him and threw him up against the wall. He hit the wall like a rag doll, his head smacking into the bricks hard enough to make everything to go dark. When the wind died down, his body landed in a heap on the street.
“Nice job,” Nathan said as he rose to his feet. He casually walked over to Vaughn’s body, stopping to pick up his gun on the way. There was no need to be fast about this one. He pushed the body with his foot, turning Vaughn onto his back.
“Are you all right?” Kit asked as she ran over to him.
Nathan nodded. “You got here at the right time.” He felt a sudden urge to put his arm around her waist and pull her close, but he turned back to the body instead. He lifted his gun and aimed at Vaughn’s face. Better safe than sorry.
“Wait!” Kit said. “Don’t.”
“What? Why?”
She looked at the body. The wind had blown out the flames, but the right arm of the man’s coat was charred and bloodied. She could faintly smell burnt flesh. A pool of blood was forming around the man’s head, which was never a good sign.
Kit couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. No matter how careful she tried to be, sooner or later she’d end up killing someone. Maybe this man would be her first.
“He’s down,” she said. “You don’t want to waste bullets.”
“I’d prefer to be sure. Besides, I think he’s still breathing.”
“Can you please leave him? I don’t think I could watch you...”
Nathan sighed. If he shot Vaughn in front of her, she wouldn’t take it well. She might start to remember that she once cared for the guy. Besides, she was spending too much time looking at him. Nathan had to get her away from here.
“Look, you should go back to Erikson,” he said, maneuvering her away from the red-head. “Ask him where you’re supposed to be. I can do whatever I want, but you should be in the middle of it all, winning this war for us.”
She tried to smile. “Sure. I’ll go back to camp.”
“Thanks. I’m going to see if there’s any more trouble I can get into.”
“I wish you wouldn’t.”
They walked down the street. When they reached 42nd Street, she turned east and he turned west.
“Nathan,” she called out.
“Yes?”
“You won’t come back for him, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“Promise?”
He sighed. “I promise.”
“Thank you.” She turned and hurried away.
“Are you sure he went this way?” Zenyth asked as she followed her brother down the side streets of Stanton. They had heard the same reports as Vaughn and assumed that he’d go looking for Nathan. Both of them agreed that they had to stop Vaughn from doing something stupid.
“I’m going this way because I’m trying to avoid the main streets,” Naydir said. “There could be Tecken soldiers anywhere.”
“Mainly because you’re leading us further into Tecken’s territory.” She hated to admit that Tecken was gaining ground, but there was nothing she could do about that. Well, she could try to find Kit and pound some sense into that thick head of hers, but she doubted that it would work. The Forces had a good enough plan for dealing with the Six-Elemental, so she’d rather leave it up to them.
“The city’s not that big,” Naydir muttered. “Where the hell is Vaughn?”
The army hadn’t given them radios or anything else that would help them. Naydir hadn’t bothered to ask any of the soldiers for help because he’d heard about the army losing their first barricade and being pushed back to the second. The Forces had enough to concentrate on without worrying about one man who was no longer a soldier.
Zenyth and he walked down a back alley, moving towards one of the main streets. Naydir paused halfway down the street as someone walked past the opening of the alley. The person hadn’t noticed them, but Naydir had recognized them immediately.
“Shit,” Naydir said quietly.
“Come on,” Zenyth instructed, grabbing the tazer attached to her belt.
Naydir reached for his tazer, but Zenyth was already out of the alley. As she approached, the person turned around, but Zenyth was too fast and she hit her hard, tackling her around the waist.
They fell together and Zenyth pushed her tazer into the person’s side, giving it almost everything it had.
“That’s enough!” Naydir yelled as he caught up with them. He looked down at the person. “Kit? Are you okay?”
Kit’s eyes flew open and she glared at the two people above her. How could she be so stupid to let herself get ambushed? These people weren’t even wearing the full Cambrian uniform, just the jacket. She did
n’t want to think about what might have happened if an actual soldier had found her instead.
It was all because of the red-haired man. She had gone back to make sure that Nathan didn’t finish him off. She had a feeling that something personal had happened between that man and Nathan, although she had no idea what it could be.
Her stupid weak heart was her problem, but she wouldn’t hold back anymore. She tried to get her hands free, but they were pinned to her side by the girl sitting on her stomach. Remembering the fight with Calypso a few months ago, her anger rose to the surface. Her eyes glowed red, but the girl slapped her.
“Don’t you try that crap with us,” Zenyth said. “If you do, I’ll give you another jolt.”
“Then do it, because I’m not going down without a fight.”
“Why are you fighting us?” Naydir asked. “We used to be on the same side.”
“When were you ever on Tecken’s side?” Kit asked.
Zenyth slapped her again. “Not Tecken’s side, you idiot. You used to work for the ISS.”
“Before or after I grew up on Tecken and joined their army?”
“What the hell happened to you?” Naydir said. Why would Kit think that she grew up on Tecken?
Zenyth turned to look at her brother’s reaction, but she quickly turned back. Kit’s eyes were glowing white so she slapped her again. For good measure, she jammed the tazer in Kit’s side and gave her another jolt. If her brother wasn’t here, she’d be able to get the job done.
“I told you what would happen if you tried that again.”
“What are you going to do – sit on me for the rest of the war? Is that your plan?”
“Don’t you remember us?” Naydir asked. “We lived together for almost six months.”
Kit let out a frustrated cry. “I don’t know you and I’m sure that if I knew one of you, I’d remember you both since you two look alike.”
“That’s because we’re twins,” Zenyth said, fighting her frustration. “You know this already.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t make it true!”
