(Disclaimer: I don't own the Lorien Legacies series or any of its characters.)
1
Six
The city is furious, bustling with the roars of angry Loric, both Garde and Cêpan. They scream and rage, nearly shaking the street with their fury. A massive flow of boiled-over resentment aimed at the forces of oppression. Sixteen Mogadorian soldiers keep control of the mob and push them back with their rifles, screaming warnings over the roar of the crowd. Four others make the actual arrest, savagely shoving several ringleaders of the riot to the ground and striking them with the butt of their rifles. One of the Loric struggles to his feet and tackles one Mogadorian to the ground, swinging his fists relentlessly. Another soldier immediately breaks away and assists the other Mogadorian as the man struggles and fights amidst the roar of approval from the crowd as he drags the second man down with him. It's a hollow victory though, as both soldiers recover and begin bashing him until his face is purple, with several bloodied teeth knocked out on the pavement beneath him.
From the relative safety inside the depth of the crowd, I clench my fists as I watch the Mogadorian bastards restrain their new prisoners. The crowd's roars are deafening to my ears, hundreds of Loric, mostly Cêpan, screaming hatred. I pull my hood farther over my face as the rain pours down and attempt to weave myself through to the opposite side of the street. I don't want to stick around to see how all this chaos plays out. Next time I see a mob like this I think I'll skip shoving my way to the center to see what's going on. I keep my head low and try to avoid eye contact, though I keep stealing glances at the arrest in progress. In the past two months it hasn't been good to be recognized as one of the Ten, and the last thing I need is the crowd's fury turned against me. They hate us nearly as much for the Mogs these days. I step in a deeper puddle than the rest and curse under my breath as people shove me around to move forward towards the arrest. I want to stop and give them a piece of my mind, not just sit here and take this, but I just grit my teeth and move forward.
What no one here understands is that the Mogadorian Occupation is not our fault. In the two months since Pittacus Lore and Matoran's death, millions of Mogadorian soldiers have stood guard in our cities, enforcing martial law to "protect against acts of terrorism from the inside." Nearly all of Lorien hates them, and we all know they're blackmailing the Elders somehow. But somehow, ever since the ridiculous accusation that Four killed the two Elders, Lorien has still believed them all. And since Four is God knows where, they've turned the blame on us in the interim. I hate it, but right now I'm all too pleased to see Lorien resisting its real assailants, not rioting against us like they sometimes do.
One of the Mog soldiers bashes a civilian in front of him and fires several warning shots in the air. Several people from the crowd catch the man and haul him back to his feet, and then they all resume screaming at them. The soldiers in the center of the protective ring formed by the Mogadorians finishing cuffing the ringleaders, and shove them to their knees in a line. I bite my lip as I hear the wail of several sirens as multiple Mogadorian convoy vehicles pull up on the street. The trooper bay of the trucks open and riot-armored Mogadorian soldiers spill out the back armed with shields and pulse rifles. They instantly form a ring around the mob, cutting us off from any form of escape. I realize that this is getting out of hand, and I redouble my efforts to get away before the chaos erupts. But I'm locked in, trapped as the protesters all move forward, closer to the arrest.
Several of the mob turn their attention to the ring of Mogadorian soldiers, who stand passively with their rifles leveled at the crowd. In the center of the ring one of the soldiers is barking something into a radio, and I hear a small whine over the sound of the pounding rain. Up ahead steadily moving towards us through the city's skyline is a Mogadorian Skyret. It hovers above us, its twin rotators encased in its wings blowing the wind around us furiously. My hair slips from my hoodie and flies into my face, and water from the puddles springs forward as it is blown away from the aircraft. The mob just roars and points their fists in the air as its searchlights snap on, roaming the crowd and blinding me with its pure white hot beams. I make one last attempt to break through the crowd, but I get nowhere. I'm left where I am, stuck with this crowd oblivious to the danger this situation poses.
A strong, powerful voice snaps on through the Skyret's speakers, commanding the crowd with stern authority, "Disperse. Disperse immediately. Disperse or be punished. You are violating planetary martial law, and will suffer the according consequences if you do not deviate from this course of activity. Disperse immediately, or prepare to be punished."
The crowd just roars back, pushing forward, and trapping me from escape yet again. Up ahead, I spot a man climbing one of the cars through the rain. A group of protestors ring around him, calling out their support. He staggers to his feet on top the roof of the car, holding a bottle of ampule at his side, obviously drunk. He hollers profanity at the Skyret, and when its searchlight moves to illuminate him against the rain and evening sky he flips it off with his left hand. Then he roars and hurls his bottle of ampule through the air. A single bolt of sizzling, green, sickly energy erupts from one of the Skyret's cannons and meets the projectile in mid-air, shattering it into tiny pieces of glass that fall down onto the crowd below. The man just jeers and brings up his other finger as well, standing there above the crowd.
The voice snaps back on through the speakers, this time resonating with barely contained fury, "DISPERSE IMMEDIATELY. This kind of action will not be tolerated. Disperse immediately. This is your final warning."
The crowd does nothing, and I resign myself to the fate that things are probably about to get very, very ugly. Off to the side, I watch nervously as the mob hurls insults at several of the guards forming the ring around us. One man, braver than the rest, picks up a stray rock from the gutter of the street. He screams and hurls it at one of the soldiers. It catches him square in the face, and he stumbles back, momentarily lowering his rifle. He pauses for a minute to bring a pale hand to his mouth, and then stares in disbelief as it comes away sleek with blood. His eyes slowly turn from shock to fury, and he turns his head and raises his gun to empty a single pulse of energy into the Cêpan's chest. The entire crowd goes silent as the man falls to the floor, clutching his smoking heart, and then dies. I watch it all in slow-motion, rendered immobile with both shock, rage, and horror. The crowd watches the man pass away in the gutter of the street and then lift their eyes to the Mogadorian soldier. Then they roar and rush forward, and suddenly he's shooting again, all the soldiers are shooting, and the Skyret is opening fire on the crowd as chaos erupts.
I push towards the streets and escape, along with the rest of the mob as we all run for our lives. All of the Mogadorian soldiers are firing their weapons now, mowing down the crowd as they run for escape, but enough make it through that I think I'll have a chance, especially if I us my telekinesis as a shield. A brave few Loric don't run and instead remain to hold their ground and fight, clustering around the soldiers on one edge of the outside ring. I see the drunk man standing on the car explode along with the rest of the vehicle as the Skyret peppers it with pulse cannon blasts. I briefly consider using my Legacies and joining them, instead of running away like a coward. Four would. But then from somewhere inside the crowd a Garde decides to be a hero and starts to raise a convoy vehicle with their telekinesis and is instantly mowed down as the Skyret turns all of its power and cannons upon the poor man, obliterating him. Off to the left I also see another woman spraying ice from her hands collapse to the ground as her corpse is ridden with bullets and energy blasts, and I decide I'd just be getting myself killed.
I move with the rest of the crowd toward safety, running alongside a mob of men and women. One of them nearly shoves me to the floor as I stumble and nearly slip on the rain-slicked ground. I shove him right back, but another person shoves us both to the floor in their haste to get away as I'm off balance. We both tumble into a puddle and instantly struggle to get to our feet to avoid being trampled by the mob. My clothes are now completely ridden with mud and sopping wet, and as I feel the rain pound against my head I realize my hood's fallen off.
The man growls and glares at me as he gets to his feet, but then stops and stares in first shock and then anger as he recognizes me, "Hey! I know you! You're one of the Ten! You freakin' killed-"
I don't let him finish, and instead punch him in the face to cut him off as I lurch back to my feet. I readjust my hood as I run off, and see him fall back into the mud in the corner of my eye. This time I turn myself invisible, and use my telekinesis to wedge myself through the crowd, shoving people to the side. Then I use it to create a subtle frame-fitted shield around my body, using it to protect myself from harm as I push through the crowd. No one's playing nice now, it's every man for himself as everyone shoves one another out of the way in their panic to escape. The crowd actually stampedes over some people, and I even see a fistfight between several Loric as I barrel past them. I nearly lose my footing and slip amidst the rain and the jostling crowd, but I manage to stay up this time. I'm desperate, just like everyone else as the Mogs and Skyret continue firing behind us, killing Loric after Loric. I'm terrified, but my Legacies and inherit athleticism give me an advantage over everyone else as I pass people by. Then a stray bullet catches my shield near my shoulder, and I almost drop it as I panic and push forward even harder.
I pass by a pile of ash that's all that remains of the soldier that was blocking our way earlier as I rush into the side street, and then suddenly I don't see the Skyret anymore, and no bullets are flying over my head. I'm just one horrified girl rushing along with hundreds of other survivors towards safety. But I still hear it all going on behind me, the hum of the Skyret's engine, the sharp sounds of Mogadorians firing their weapons, and above all, the panic and screams of over a hundred innocent Loric as they're mercilessly mowed down as they try to escape. It makes tears sting my eyes as I barrel forward with the rest of the crowd, and I can tell I'm not the only one as I hear the wails and sobs of several others as we all rush along. But above all, I know what I'm feeling in the pit of my gut is also fury. I've never felt this much anger, and every last being of my body hungers for revenge against those Mogadorians back there.
Everything that follows that horror happens in a blur. The crowd continues to move through the streets amidst the pouring rain and sirens ringing through the city, and I spot several more Skyrets rocketing over the city with their searchlights scanning the streets. The mob breaks up into different groups, and at some point I find myself running alone towards the Elder Gardens to my house. I dash through the quiet streets, noticing the lights on in most of the houses. At one point I spot a young family watch a news reporter broadcasting the story about the riot in their home through a glass window, and I find I'm nearly sick when I recall what happened. But I keep going, though the images of the man and all the others being shot down by the Mogadorians stay in my head, haunting me.
Finally, I reach my own house and pause at the gate. I take a deep shuddering breath, relieved at the sight of home. I finally release my telekinetic shield, and drop to my knees when I do. I feel the instant rush of exhaustion, and realize it must have taken a lot more out of me than I thought to maintain it all that time. I take several deep breaths and then haul myself back to my feet. I rush up to our front porch and turn myself visible before crouching down to grab the key under the mat. My clothes are muddied and ruined, and my hair is sopping wet, but I don't care as I turn the key and step into the hallway. I see my grandparents rising in both worry and relief from the couch where they were watching the news unfold, but my vision instantly darts to Katarina who's standing by the doorway. I rush to her, and her to me, and she crushes me to her chest as she folds her arms around me. I bury my head into her shoulder as she makes comforting noises, and I dimly recognize that my grandparents are embracing me as well, my family surrounding me in a massive hug. Words are coming from their mouths, but I don't want to listen, I don't want to tell them what happened. So I hide from them and shut my eyes, wishing away the nightmares of my life. And then I try to forget.
UP NEXT:
Riots and chaos shake the streets of Earth 2 as Lorien adjusts to its new world order!
What exactly happened two months ago?
Where do the Ten stand now, and what next?
A/N: Well. I wasn't really expecting to post this so early, but thanks to the release of the new Lorien legacies novella and the multiple PMs I've received asking about the status of book 2, I was inspired. This may be it for a little while, because I'd like to get a couple more chapters done so I can give you guys a consistent release schedule, but (shocker!) I haven't been as productive as I've liked over the summer, so I still have a little ways to go before I feel ready to start posting again. That said, I know some of you guys really want to know what happens next, so post a review on whether you'd rather have me start posting the little I have done or wait until I have enough for that consistent release schedule. Thanks for being patient, and to everyone who's following me from the first book, and hopefully it won't be too long before you see me again. As always, reviews and PMs are welcome.