- Whoever sent those guns is not fooling around. - Ronnie said and scanned the house. He saw the assassins, one on each floor and told the brothers to each pick a floor and fight them, once they're inside.
- It's those three snakes that accompanied the Overlord.
- We're still stealthy, right? - Garret whispered.
- Yes. - Ronnie answered and quietly opened the gates.
- When do we begin fighting, Ronnie? - Tyler had a valid question.
- You'll recognize the signal very quickly. Don't worry, Tyler. I'm taking the top floor. Balls out and don't hold back, understand?
The brothers agreed wholeheartedly. That was really all they wanted to hear. Just like the ship that the assassins used, the new Trinity had active camouflage of their own and immediately switched it on. The front door screeched open. Kunala was in the living room and quickly hid behind a sofa and a knocked down drawer. Garret walked into the living room, whilst Tyler headed for the second floor and Ronnie walked all the way to the top floor. The thumping of their footsteps was eerie, not just because of the silence, but because the assassins could not see them at all. The females were not as heavily equipped as the Trinity. However, they had an ace up their sleeves; among the equipment Huklin slipped in bracelets that could summon clones of certain representatives of the Hordes. These clones were made of plasma, so that they could cause as much damage to an adversary upon death. Ronnie entered the bedroom on the third floor and upon scanning it he found Helaka hiding behind a couch. The assassin could not see who walked into the room. Garret and Tyler found the remaining two assassins and began searching for hidden traps. Helaka's long blonde, red and brown hair was on the floor and was visible from an angle and Ronnie, upon seeing it, slid the couch to the side through the use of telekinesis and exclaimed:
- Man, is someone having a bad hair day or what?
Mintelk became concerned about her sister. Helaka stood up and unsheathed her daggers, which she immediately covered in plasma, thanks to the bracelets. The opportunity finally presented itself again.
- Why are you by yourself?
- I believe the right question is: what are you doing in an old and dilapidated house that is strangely fortified like a bank safe - turning it into a holiday resort?
- It's none of your business, Ankonian. Your days will be numbered anyway.
A brief moment of silence ensued, which was broken by Ronnie's words:
- You won't live long enough to see them numbered, bitch!
After that he shot a bolt of lightning, sending Helaka into the wall. Tyler and Garret immediately came to the realisation that that was the signal Ronnie told them about. Tyler lifted the bed Mintelk was hiding under, though she dashed before he could stomp her with his foot covered in acid. Garret wasn't luckier - he attempted to freeze Kunala, but his attempt failed, because she knocked him down by kicking the back of his calf and twisting his arm. He broke free by setting himself on fire. Kunala's shield activated; her tunic was slightly singed. It was time for the boys to break out the guns once again and put them to good use. Ronnie wanted to see how useful a pair of M249s would be. After seeing Garret perforating the Akeruns at the stadium, he believed that it would be very cool to spit lead at a higher rate of fire. His aim was almost non-existent: the only damage was in the form of pierced walls and furniture. Helaka dodged all of the shots. Tyler did something similar: he perforated most of the floor and the bullets that hit Mintelk were absorbed by her armour. He grew frustrated:
- Stay still! Lead is good for your bones! - he said.
There was no way she could stay still for someone she despised and wanted dead. Her armour absorbed the lead and allowed her to focus on fighting Tyler. Somehow Tyler disabled her armour with an electric shock. He thought:
- "Ah! So it is possible to brake through their armour!"
Thrilled by his discovery, he yelled through the intercom to Garret and Ronnie. Mintelk unsuccessfully tried to stop him and Tyler countered that attempt with a pistol shot to her arm, followed by a kick that sent her against the wall. Garret was having some difficulties. Kunala used her bracelet and summoned a Numeks, a creature that looked like a werewolf crossbred with a snake. He had scales, a reverse bite coupled with sharp teeth and claws. His intestines were hanging out and the Numeks could throw them at his victim like a lasso. Garret, being caught off guard, could not react adequately to defend himself and the Numeks scratched his belly and his face. Then he proceeded to bite his right arm. Fortunately Garret broke free with a well aimed punch at the Numeks' jaw. The resulting explosion burned some of his skin, which regenerated fairly quickly. Kunala summoned another Numeks, which tackled him. This time the Numeks had the upper hand. Its claws contained teeth, much like the ones in its mouth that the real Numeks could use, in conjunction with the claws, to inject its victim with a lethal venom. The artificial ones could inject plasma. Upon thrusting its claws into Garret's chest, it injected a certain amount of plasma, until he used a Saiga 12 shotgun to break free.
Meanwhile, 20 miles away from the house, the Gossip Crew and Ashlynn were speeding. Sharon asked Ashlynn whether or not she was sure that she saw Ronnie fly in the direction they were going.
- Yes, I'm absolutely positive about it.
- Are you messing with us? Cause if you are, I'm kicking you out of this car, you understand? - Zoey was loosing her patience.
- No, I'm honest. They went in that direction. - said Ashlynn, after which she remained silent, hoping that they appear before their eyes as soon as possible. She was desperate and wanted to see what he was doing and find out why he has been so distant and silent. Disgust was building up at the thought of him cheating on her with another girl. There was not a hint of worry related to a possible accident that could lead to his death; after all, she did not know what he was capable of and the possibility of him cheating was far more believable.
Ronnie was on the ground in pain. Helaka's daggers sliced a lot of his body and it took him a while to recover from them. The assassin was not convinced that he was genuinely crippled:
- Stand up and fight me! One of the most fearsome warriors in the Universe cannot be this weak in a time like this! Are you hiding a secret, Ankonian?
Helaka then went on about the time she spent preparing for this encounter, while the Overlord was scanning the Universe trying to find the remnants of the Immortals and the nightmares she had had about the tortures on the Immortals' home planet. Ronnie's wounds were deep, but they were healing. The shock was the bigger problem for him. He rarely had to fight for anything in his life; everything was handed to him on a silver plate. In that tense moment Sable contacted him:
- Stand up and fight, Ankonian. You can endure far more than that. She's technically weaker than you. Fight!
Ronnie filled himself with rage, pounded the ground with his fist, stood up and pierced Helaka's hipbone and forearms with a few rounds fired by a quartet of Mac-10s. The bullets were more than capable of making Helaka fall lame. Her shield was malfunctioning and the only form of self-defence was summoning a minion and retreating to the ship.
- We need to go! I can't hold him off! - Helaka yelled through her intercom as she summoned a few Ptulens and jumped outside. Garret attempted to take Kunala down with a Barret M82 sniper rifle. That attempt resulted in a number of scatter shots with little to no accuracy, which allowed Kunala to escape. Mintelk did the same, once she summoned a Zyset to hold Tyler off. The Zyset was a creature that could split its head and jaws into two separate halves and thus could rip off much more flesh from its victim. With roughly the size of a fox and the agility of a rabbit, it was also difficult to shoot down, as Tyler found out, regardless of the fact that he used a FABARM S.A.T 8 shotgun coupled with two Scorpion VZ83s. The Zyset dissolved on it own, which confused Tyler - none of his shots hit it. He found out the reason for that; the Zyset was merely a distraction, which allowed Mintelk to jump through the window and run to the ship.
- They're making a run f
or it! Sable, what do we do?
Tyler received no answer.
- Sable, wake the fuck up!
- This is Stromak. Follow them and board the ship. Make sure they don't see you.
- But how do we do that? - said Tyler.
- It doesn't concern me. That's an order!
Garret and Ronnie heard the order, but had no idea about how to achieve that. Garret suggested using active camouflage and running down the stairs, followed by jumping on top of the ship.
- Can't we just jump down from the window? - Ronnie said.
- What if we leave craters? We need stealth! - Garret said.
- Fuck this, I'm jumping! - Tyler busted through the window and landed on his shoulder. Garret and Ronnie ran outside the house with camouflage on. Ronnie scolded him for the jump:
- Great idea, genius. Now follow the orders.
Mintelk and Kunala helped Helaka board the ship. She was experiencing a lot of pain and difficulty walking due to the nature of the injuries, but she kept walking. Mintelk jumped in the pilot seat and started the engines.
- Are we leaving equipment behind? - Kunala said.
- No. The two turrets were the only equipment that we drew out until the Immortals arrived. Now go to your seat! - Mintelk responded. With a few frantic movements she ignited the engines and prepared for takeoff.
- How do we latch onto it? I'm not sure telekinesis would work; I'm not adept at it yet. - Tyler said.
- Grab onto the flaps and then hold onto that antenna, or whatever it is! - Garret suggested and the boys supported his idea. The Trinity leapt by using the thrust of their engines. The resulting thud alerted the assassins and shook the ship ever so slightly.
- How do we shake them off the ship? Can we open a hatch and fight them? - Mintelk suggested.
- No, we can't; the ship has a safety feature that disables the engines upon ignition, should a hatch remain open. If we open anything, we will be unable to fly and those fiends will murder us on the spot, so keep flying and try to loose them! - Helaka said.
- Helaka, this is a bad idea. We have to somehow pry them off!
- You try it then, Kunala, and see if you can do it before all of my blood spills on the ground!
- She has a point; Helaka has fractures and is loosing blood. The more acceptable option is to fly as quickly as possible to headquarters and have the medics heal her. Kunala, see if you can do anything to seal the wounds as much as you can. - Mintelk said.
She opened a box that she took from one of the crates and sprayed Helaka's hipbone with a chemical called juten. It could not reconstruct tissue and bone, though it could seal blood vessels and temporarily stop blood loss. Despite the eased pain, Helaka was still infuriated and yanked the glass aerosol from Kunala's hand.
- What is wrong with you? I'm simply trying to help.
Once she emptied the aerosol onto her forearms, she threw it onto the crate and broke it.
- Calm down already! I'm trying my best to lose them! - said Mintelk.
Kunala was concerned about both the wounds and her friend's wounds, her sister's pain.
- Just relax. Let me heal your wounds.
- You can't.
- What makes you say that?
- The real wounds are in my head, not on my body. My arms and legs will be healed..., but my mind will remain scarred for the rest of my tortured life. You know exactly... what will happen once we return to headquarters - more... sexual punishment and humiliation from Ren'ul..., mockery from his bastard son..., scolding on behalf of Retion... and despicable gazes from the Hordes.
As she uttered those words, Kunala spread a gelatine-like substance called manot to isolate the juten from exposure to oxygen and extend its effect.
Meanwhile, the boys were holding onto the ship as much as they could. The top half of the antenna gave in to the weight of Tyler and bent, but oddly enough didn't break. A nearby support beam to one of the engines was a better alternative and Tyler used it.
Sable told Stromak:
- This is a risky strategy; they won't know what to do there, all by themselves, without prop...
- Enough with your worries. This is a perfect opportunity for them to receive insight on their future worst nightmare. Such an experience will serve as a jolt to them and a reminder not to underestimate the task at hand. Those boys are green, immature, irresponsible and inadequate at present and they've been blessed with the most sought after piece of technology in all of the Universe. If this doesn't wake them up, nothing will.
***
The Gossip Crew missed all of the action. They only witnessed the ship taking off and did not find anything in the house upon inspection. It was a thorough disappointment for them not to see anything. The only thing they could do was come up with theories as to why they decided to go to an abandoned house. The most reasonable and believable theory was that that location was far away from Frankfort, which meant that there was less chances of anyone recognising them.
- Do you think they knew about us arriving? - said Zoey.
- What makes you say that? - said Sharon.
- That UFO in the sky; it could be theirs. - said Zoey.
- Do you know anything about Ronnie flying a UFO, Ash? - said Sharon.
Ashlynn had no knowledge related to that, though she deemed it possible for some reason.
- What makes you think he has a UFO? - said Abigail.
- He could do anything, for all we know. - said Sharon.
She realised that the house was empty and that there was no use searching for people who weren't there, so she headed back to the car, dragging Zoey and Abigail along with her. Ashlynn stood before the gates and stared at the house, then the sky.
"What the hell are you doing, you imbecile?", she said to herself as if Ronnie was there with her and they were talking to each other.
- Move it! I'm not going to waste any more time in this dump! I've got cooler things to do, like partying and getting wasted with my girls! - said Sharon and sat in the front passenger seat, while Zoey started the car.
Chapter XI
In the guts of the steel beast
- "Where is that kid? It's not normal for him to be late for dinner." - Ray could not quite enjoy his dinner, though he did his best not to seem like he's pondering. He did not want to bother Macy with it, because he was aware of how hysterical she could become. He mustered up the courage and said:
- Ronnie's once again going to ruin his sleeping pattern.
- Winfield gave me a call and told me that everything is fine and that he won't be here for dinner.
- Ah, very well. Did he say anything else?
- Sadly no.
Macy was unusually calm about her son, unaware that at the moment of speaking, he was digging his nails into the assassins' ship and was leaving the stratosphere of the planet.
***
- Sable! What do we do?
Stromak answered Tyler's call:
- Listen up! Whatever you do, don't let go of that ship! You have a new assignment.
- Are you insane? Can't we just call it a day and go home? We caused enough destruction for one day. - Garret objected.
- You three are going to obey my orders, because you chose to! Now see where the vessel will take you. Once it boards Ren'ul's ship, you'll stay in the shadows and extract as much inside information as possible, so we can use it to our advantage.
Sable did not support that idea:
- It's too early for them to be charged with such a daunting task.
- This is as close as we've ever been to the Overlord and we have soldiers with technology from the Immortals. Now we can take the upper hand... by stealing weapon prototypes and sabotaging whatever they can. Besides, it's useful experience for them. - Stromak replied.
- I have no doubts about the benefits, but at what potential cost? What if Furot imprisons them and finds out...
- This decision is non-negotiable, Sable. You're not in charge.
It was the only sensi
ble and smart decision for Sable; to walk out of a potential conflict and pray that the boys walk away without too much trouble. He had physical altercations with Stromak before and they ended badly for him every single time. Now that a fraction of the spirit of the Immortals is known to be still alive, Sable was hoping that one day the boys would support him and change the order in New Hope. But until then he could only train them and hope that they improve and become just as skilled and deadly as their predecessors. Patience had to be his biggest and ally, which would be difficult considering how unstable Ronnie was during their first training session.
- What else do you want us to do? - Ronnie asked.
- Wait until you board, find a temporary hiding spot, steal as much information as you can and sabotage any and all primary systems. This is my last transmission. Contact me once you're out of there. Over and out.
Sable was still adamant that it was too early for them to be thrown into the lion's den. To that Stromak responded with nothing more than a disdainful look as he left the communications room and uttered the words:
- Don't do anything stupid; you know what the consequences are for that.
- "One day there won't be any consequences for my disobedience - mark my words". - Sable said to himself.
***
Despite the fact that the sky was mildly cloudy, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning, the anticipation and the unknown were torturing Ashlynn.
The Immortal Trinity: Inheritance Page 15
