by Parker, Jack
Ray drew the sword from its sheath and prepared to jab it into the circuit breaker. This was her only option. She would only get one chance at this, so she had to hope that the spot she picked would disable it. She'd have to be quick not to get electrocuted.
In one swift motion, Ray jammed her short sword into the switchbox, and a stream of electricity instantly traveled through the metal weapon into her body. She fought back a scream and quickly pulled away, nursing her now burnt hand. She'd just have to put up with it though. It wasn't just her life on the line this time. She had to take care of Chris as well. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him.
The lights in the room buzzed, dimming slightly and then brightening up. However, they then went completely out, and it was as if she could hear the base shutting down. Mission accomplished.
Ray made a mad dash across the hanger and then fumbled up the stairs, trying not to make too much of a racket while on her skates. She had to keep them on. She needed to have at least one advantage over the attackers, and speed had always been something she enjoyed. However, this still wouldn't be easy. There were probably about twenty to thirty of them, and she was the only one who could defend the base. She wouldn't give up though. It wasn't her style. She was the ace knight, and no one beat her, even without her Geno. Besides, even if she was going to go down, she'd go down fighting.
Ray threw open the door, happy to be greeted by darkness. Her eyes were slowly adjusting, but she still couldn't make out exactly what was in the room. It didn't matter though. She had lived in the base long enough to know the location of every object. She would have no problem moving around.
"Hey Chris?" she whispered.
"What?" came the soft reply.
"Just making sure you're still here," she told him. "Stay quiet, okay? They'll be coming soon. I'm going to get a few weapons. I'll bring one back to you just incase you have to use it." With that said, she took off towards her room, and just as she disappeared inside it, a loud crash echoed through the hanger. That was it. The battle had begun.
* * * *
It was about nine thirty by the time Dr. Solaris and Leon arrived back at the Solaris base. They were a little surprised to see that all of the lights were off, evident by the fact that they could see the living room window from outside the base. Everything appeared to be just the way they had left it though. They didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Dr. Solaris walked over to the side of the base and found the small box shaped device that would open the hanger doors for them. However, when he flipped up the lid, he wasn't greeted by the glowing keypad. In fact, the small red flashing light wasn't alit either.
"Hey Leon," he called to his son, who was waiting by his brand new car. "Grab a flashlight and get over here." Leon obeyed, making sure to grab two while he was at it. He walked over to his dad and handed one to him.
Dr. Solaris quickly turned it on and flashed it over the control box. Just as he had suspected, there wasn't any power coming from it. It looked drained, as if the battery had died. There was only one problem though. It didn't run on batteries.
"Strange," he said mainly to himself. "If this thing is out, then the whole base must be shut down."
"Well, let's just use the door on the side then," suggested Leon. "We'll just ask Chris and Ray what happened later." Dr. Solaris nodded, but the solution didn't quell the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. He had been around the GRC for far too long to be able to just brush this off as something like a power failure.
They walked in through the side entrance, which had already been opened. Dr. Solaris quickly went to the switchbox, only to find that he couldn't get near it. There were sparks coming from it, but they didn't provide enough light for him to see just what had happened.
As Leon walked across the hanger with his flashlight in check, Dr. Solaris turned his back on and shined it on the switchbox. His eyes widened as he saw what appeared to be one of Ray's short swords. It had been jammed into the middle of the controls. What disturbed him a little was the sight of blood specks on the hilt. Someone had jammed it in there, and whoever had had paid the price. He knew for a fact that it had been Ray. She was the only one who was fast enough to avoid a lethal electrical shock like that.
Dr. Solaris turned and ran across the hanger, passing up Leon. However, his son quickly began to run after him, curious as to why his father was in such a hurry. He hadn't seen, however, what his father had. He didn't think that this was anything out of the ordinary, just a power failure. He soon realized how wrong he was when he realized that the door to the kitchen had been completely removed, now lying on the tiled floor.
The two of them stood in complete shock at what they saw before them. Their kitchen was a mess. Chairs had been knocked over, two had gotten broken, and a few of the cupboard doors had bullet holes in them. Their shock only got worse as they stepped into the living room, not bothering to use their flashlights to show them what had happened. They could see clear enough in just the lighting of the stars and moon shining through the window.
The first thing they noticed were the bodies on the floor, all of them being men dressed in black uniforms. Some of them were still clutching their rifles, only getting out one shot before being taken down. Some probably hadn't gotten to use any.
"My God," whispered Dr. Solaris in utter shock and horror.
"Chris!" called Leon as he walked further into the room. "Ray! Answer me!"
"Leon?" questioned a soft voice from behind their couch. Leon and Dr. Solaris quickly walked over to it, and there was Chris, leaning against the side closest to the window. He was holding his right shoulder, a small stream of blood running down his arm. His sandy blond hair had a few flecks of blood on it, and by the looks of it, he had gotten pretty beaten up. There was a small pistol sitting next to him, still partially loaded with ammo.
"Chris, what happened?" his father quickly asked him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he answered before looking up at the worried expressions on the faces of his two remaining family members. "We were attacked," he began, answering his father's first question. "Some of Ramirez's men came, so Ray smashed the circuit breaker with her sword. She decided it would be easier to fight in the dark. She had me hide in here, but I was discovered after a while. They only got in one shot at my arm before Ray took out five of them. I didn't see her after that." A rather sad expression crossed his face as he realized that he really hadn't seen or heard from Ray yet. He began to wonder what had happened to her.
"Chris, where's Ray?" asked Leon, noticing the worried expression on his brother's face.
"I don't know," he said. "She ran down the hall towards the weight room. You should go find her. I heard a lot of gun shots, and I haven't seen her since. It's been nearly a half an hour since they got here."
Leon and Dr. Solaris got up and began to head down the hallway. Leon continuously called out for Ray, but he never received an answer. As they walked, they'd occasionally stumble upon a bullet ridden body, but it was after they turned the corner that their hearts stopped.
The walls of their hallway were now painted red with blood. There were handprints on the walls and tracks on the floor. It was obvious that Ray had come through. There were wheel tracks in the blood that now stained their carpets. It was hard to believe that this all happened in the course of a half an hour. Everything was happening too fast for them. Their home had been attacked. It was then that they realized they were no longer safe. Ramirez knew where they were, and now he wouldn't hesitate to send more men after them. Everything was falling apart.
"Ray?" called Leon as he carefully stepped over the bodies that littered their hallway. They didn't bother counting to see just how many had been taken down. They only hoped that Ray wouldn't be among them.
They eventually stepped into the weight room, which was indeed the bloodiest of them all. There were at least ten men in there, some strewn over the exercise equipment. The walls were stained in blood
, as was the thin carpeted floor. Their eyes quickly wandered through the room, their eyesight now far adjusted to the darkness. In a matter of seconds, they spotted the still form of Ray. She was slumped against the far all, her head down and a pistol still clutched tightly in her hands. She was soaked with blood, and it was hard to tell how much of it was hers.
"Ray!" called Leon in worry, hoping to get her attention as he made his way hastily across the room. Dr. Solaris followed after him, but he walked a little slower. As soon as he was sure if Ray was alright, he was going to return to the living room and check up on Chris again. He had to know first, however, if the ace knight was even still alive. It was hard to believe that she could be taken down, but if that blood was indeed all hers, then it was a possibility.
Leon reached Ray quickly, and he tried to get a look at her face. Her silvery blue hair hid most of it, but he could tell that her eyes were closed. She was as still as death. When he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, the pistol she had been holding slipped from her hands. Just by moving her a little, she began to fall towards the floor sideways. Leon was quick to catch her though, now cradling her gently in his arms.
"Ray," he called, shaking her a little. "Ray, wake up." He tried again, still receiving no answer. "Ray, please," he begged, the worry hanging heavy in his voice. "Open your eyes. Please Ray." He shook her just a little more, and her eyes slowly opened. She turned to face him, looking up into his worried face.
"Hey Leon," she greeted softly with a small smile present on her face. "Welcome back."
"Ray, what happened?" he asked out of pure concern. "You're…covered in blood."
"It's not mine," she assured him right away, not wanting him to worry. "Well, maybe a little is, but I'm fine, honest." She was happy to see that he believed her. She watched as some of the worry washed out of his eyes.
"What happened?" he asked her.
"They attacked us," she stated. "There were probably about thirty of them. Some managed to escape. I was able to draw away most of them, but…tell me, is Chris alright?"
"Yeah," responded Leon. "Just a shoulder wound. He was worried about you, so he sent us this way."
"Us?" questioned Ray, glancing around the room. "I don't see anyone else." Leon seemed a little confused, but he took a glance around the room only to find that his dad had left.
"He probably went to check up on Chris," he explained.
"Let's go then," Ray said as she began to stand up. She was a little unsteady on her legs, but that's why Leon was there. He held her up as she regained her balance.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, still a little concerned. There was rather a lot of blood on her. It couldn't all be from her enemies. Quite a bit of it had to be hers. The only problem was that he couldn't see any injuries. Then again, it was next to pitch black in the room. He could only make out the silhouettes of most of the objects in the area now that his flashlight was lying off on the floor. In his haste to see if Ray was alright, he had dropped it.
"I'm fine," she assured him as she skated towards his discarded flashlight. She quickly picked it up and turned it on. She then shined it towards him, flashing him a small smile that he could see. "Let's go."
They walked down the hallway, being careful not to trip over the many bodies that littered the hallway. Leon had never experienced a massacre quite like this. It was hard to believe that his brother and Ray had managed to hold back all of these men. The darkness of the base had probably played a big part in their victory. After all, no one knew the base quite as well as they all did.
Just as Ray and Leon were about to turn another corner in the hallway, they heard a gun fire. They froze dead in their tracks. Only when a frightened cry sounded from Chris did they both break off into a sprint towards the living room.
"Dad!" they heard him shout, and they both feared the worst. Ray reached to her side where she had another pistol, similar to the one she had dropped back in the weight room. She prepped it, and the second they reached the living room, she aimed and fired. The bullet pierced the last remaining soldier in his back just before he was about to shoot at Chris. Instead, he dropped the gun and fell to the floor, never to rise again.
"I can't believe one of them was still alive," said Ray, sounding a little disappointed in herself.
"Dad!" shouted Leon as he saw his father lying on the ground, covering a hole near his shoulder. The man had shot him near his right shoulder but closer to his chest. It was a pretty bad injury, and it was pouring blood onto the already stained carpet.
"I'll call an ambulance," began Chris fearfully as he went to the phone.
"That'll take too long," stated Ray. "A Geno can get there much faster. We'll take him ourselves."
"It's not safe out at night," Leon reminded her. "What if we're attacked?"
"What if the ambulance gets attacked?" Ray questioned back, knowing that her plan was better. Leon obviously knew that too, but she couldn't blame him for questioning her. His father's life was on the line. "You have to trust me on this," she told him softly.
"Alright," he said, "but we're all going, alright?"
"Fine," she said as she began heading for the kitchen door. "Pick him up and let's get going. Torran is a good hour away from here if we use the humanoid form."
"What exactly do you want us to do?" Leon asked as he and Chris lifted up Dr. Solaris, who was now barely conscious.
"I'm taking my Geno, and I want both of you to as well," she stated. "I'll carry him, since my Geno rides the smoothest. We don't need to risk putting him in any discomfort."
"Alright," said Leon, seeming to agree with the plan.
Ray ran down the stairs to get her Geno ready. They had to hurry. Time was of the essence here. She had to keep Dr. Solaris alive. After all, she couldn't help but feel that this was all her fault in a way. If only she had been more cautious and had paid more attention, she wouldn't have made the mistake of leaving one of the men alive. If it hadn't been for her carelessness, Dr. Solaris wouldn't have gotten hurt. Just hang on Dr. Solaris. You can't die yet.
* * * *
Leon, Chris, and Ray sat in the waiting room of the hospital in Torran. This was the second time this week they had been there. It was kind of depressing really. Someone they knew was always getting hurt, and it could all be traced back to one man. Ramirez. He was like a thorn in their side. He just couldn't leave them alone, could he?
Out of the three of them, Ray seemed perhaps the most depressed. She sat there in a new pair of clothing, one that wasn't marred with blood. Her elbows were propped up on her legs, and her head was resting in her hands. She was staring at the floor as hundreds of thoughts tried to filter through her mind. Unfortunately, only the bad ones kept returning to her. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her fault. In fact, everything was her fault. It just wasn't fair. Why couldn't Ramirez just leave her alone? Why did he have to make her and everyone she knew suffer so much?
Ray sighed deeply as realization finally hit her. Everything that had happened to them could easily be blamed on her. If she had never met them, if she had never gotten so close to the family, Ramirez never would have found out about them. They'd still be at their base, living normal lives. They'd still be just your normal battling team, one without a madman after them. It just wasn't fair. This was all her fault. She was to blame for all of their misfortunes. Why did the people closest to her have to suffer?
Ray looked over at her two companions. Leon was also staring at the floor, but Chris had his eyes closed, his head lulled in a deep sleep. It's not like she could blame him. His day had been anything but boring. He had nearly been killed at least twice within the course of the evening. He currently harbored a few bandages on his right arm where a bullet had just grazed him. Nonetheless, it had probably hurt pretty badly. He wasn't used to being shot. In fact, Ray was probably the only one who was used to it.
Leon and Ray both looked up as a nurse approached them. She was familiar to say the least.
Then again, after all the times they had been there, they knew the staff pretty well. She was currently flipping through a few pages on her clipboard. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she just sighed.
"Never mind," she said. "I know who you are, so I'll just tell you. Dr. Solaris will be fine. In fact, he's awake right now if you'd like to see him. I know it's past visiting hours, but we can make an exception."
"Thanks," said Leon as he and Ray stood up. They would let Chris sleep for now. He needed it. If his father would be alright, then there was no point to wake him.
"Follow me," said the nurse as she began leading the two of them down the hallways. The hospital was probably one of the biggest complexes in the city, and yet for some reason, whoever they were visiting was always stationed on the first floor. Perhaps it just made things easier, or perhaps it was separated into different sections. Maybe the upper floors were used for less critical conditions or something like that.
They arrived at an open doorway, and the first thing they saw was Dr. Solaris sitting in his bed, reading a magazine. It was as if nothing had happened, as if he had never gotten shot.
Ray and Leon walked in, and Dr. Solaris quickly noticed them. He put down his magazine and smiled brightly. Both of them returned it.
"Hey dad," greeted Leon. "Glad to see you're alright."
"You really scared us for a moment there," added Ray.
"I'm sorry I worried you," he told them, the same smile still playing on his lips. "Where's Chris?"
"He's sleeping in the waiting room," Leon answered. "We decided to let him rest for now."
"That's probably for the best," Dr. Solaris said with a small sigh. "He had quite an adventurous night." Ray looked just a little ashamed. She knew that this was her fault. If she had never met any of them, this never would have happened. Then again, if she hadn't met them, where would she be? She'd still be miserable and alone, and she wouldn't have Leon. Then again, if things kept going the way they were, the Solaris family wouldn't live for very long. Ramirez and his attacks were becoming more dangerous and a lot more common.
