Hey everybody, sorry that it took two months to upload. The chapter was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. This is the largest chapter I ever wrote.
Spyro's POV
I've been soaring around the area for ten minutes finding nothing that represented what Jack called a helicopter. The sky was a vast, abandon void. The skies in Skylands are filled with life and curiosity. Here on this world it is filled with nothing except emptiness, I really miss my home.
In the horizon I saw three tiny objects flying in the direction of the bank. I decided to get closer to them. The objects got bigger as I was closed the gap between us. The objects looked like great metal beasts, the kind of machines that Kaos would make. I heard the people in the aircrafts shouting and yelling when I came in site of them. Some of them pointed their weapons at me, while others were confused at what to do. I was flying on the side of one of the helicopters; I'm still too far away to do anything. If I try to get closer they'll start shooting, and I can't blast a fireball at them because it will miss due to the fact of how fast they're flying, it's hard enough keeping up with them.
The people in the chopper that I was close to started firing bullets. I dove down near the ground to avoid getting shot. Now I was 100% sure that these were the guys I was supposed to find, like Jack said, the people who would shoot at me would be the Dultras. I looked and saw the large steel hulls of the aircrafts. I had an idea on how to take down one of the aircrafts, but it isn't a smart one. Then again, this whole trip has been filled with Jack's brain-dead plans. Maybe some of his luck rubbed of me.
I soared back up into the sky, managing to avoid the gunfire and found myself chasing the chopper from behind. I saw the 2 other helicopters disband and go into different directions, I was worried of what they were going to do, but at least I will only have to deal with one. I started to aim at the helicopter since of the good position I was in; I started to blast two fireballs at them. Both of them horribly missed and dispersed shortly after they past the helicopters. I saw a part of a man's body come out the helicopter. One hand was on a handle while one foot was on the landing skid. In his other hand the man was carrying a large gun, kind of looked like one of the guns that Jack took out of the trunk of his car. The Dultra started firing his weapon at me. "Whoa!" I shouted. I veered to the right; I was surprised of how close the bullets came to me.
I flapped my wings harder to try and catch up with the helicopter. I managed to dodge all the gunfire that was coming for me. I kept pushing myself and I was able to grab onto the underbelly of the large aircraft. My claws keep trying to slide off the large, tough metal exterior. I started to hear the conversations from the people inside the helicopter, even with the loud, vociferous sounds of the blades that keep this thing from falling to the ground.
"Where did that thing go? Did somebody hit that thing?" I heard from the shouting above. He sounded like the leader of the group. I remember seeing about six or seven people in aircraft.
"I don't know. Does anybody even know what that thing was?"
"No. Could it have been a drone?"
"Since when was the last time a drone has been able to breathe fire!"
I looked down from the chopper to see that the giant buildings and people looked like tiny ants from this great of height. I saw dozens of people run from the buildings below, and I'm also seeing an enormous amount of picket lines with what looks like the law enforcement. Some of them were in cover, while others were had their guns trained at the entrances. There weren't many officers at each of these buildings. Jack was right; the good side was going to be on the short end today.
I'm trying to figure out a way to take down this chopper. I know Drobot would know how to destroy these things; I'm going through a lot of trouble to get him. I began to carve a small square on the chopper with my claws. When I was finished, the small square fell to the Earth below me. I looked around and saw a bunch of wires and cords go to different places, I started pulling them and suddenly the helicopter stopped dead in its tracks. We weren't plummeting to the ground, but the helicopter was hovering in the same spot.
"Damn it! I lost all pressure in the pedals and the controls aren't responding," screamed the pilot.
"What do you mean?!" shouted another Dultra.
"I don't have control of the chopper dumbass! If the autopilot didn't engage we would all be dead."
"You're gonna be dead in a second if this chopper doesn't start moving!"
I don't know what I did, but I knew that this is my only chance to destroy this thing. I let go of the aircraft and flew up high above it. "Let's do this," I said. I started to dive towards the helicopter. I curled up into a ball, and then fire consumed my entire body. It was like my body was turning into a meteor, sort of the same way I came onto this planet, except much bigger.
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Jack's POV
I looked out into the sky and saw a large explosion. What is Spyro doing? I looked up from cover and started to fire back at the bank. The last living Dultra that had come out earlier went back into the bank after his last friend died.
"How long has it been since you called SWAT?" I shouted as a hail of gunfire came at me.
Grapard looked down at her watch. "About 25 minutes."
"Damn it, they should be here already!" We've been holding our line for now, but we're going to eventually run out of ammunition. It's amazing that we're still alive; the Dultras haven't tried anything since the four came out. They're probably going to wait until they can airlifted out of here, at least the dragon is dealing with that for now. The Dultras are holding all the cards; they have superior firepower, more men, and better cover.
"Grapard get ahold of dispatch and see what's keeping them." I said. She began to into her walkie talkie.
"This is Officer Erica Grapard requesting an ETA on assistance." I fired my gun over at the bank; I was aiming towards the broken windows near the doors where some of the Dultras were held up. One of them shot back at me, I ducked back into cover. "Officer SWAT assistance was sent out about 20 minutes ago, but they have encountered heavy resistance on the ground and are taking causalities. We are currently dispatching helicopters from Taos, ETA 15 minutes," he said. I got back up from cover and fired my gun back at the Dultra; he ducked and then sent bullets back to me. I dodged to the right and sent what was left in my magazine back at him.
"If they don't get here soon we'll have to go in ourselves," I said
"What?! That's suicide!" Grapard shouted at me.
"It's suicide if we stay out here, and the Dultras won't kill hostages just yet. If we go in they'll care more about killing us than about killing them. Besides if the Dultras leave they'll just kill all the hostages anyway."
"We're only doing that as a last resort, we're not risking their lives!"
"Listen if you have a better plan, I'm open to it." Grapard just looked at me a second, and then got up from cover and was able to shoot one of the Dultras that was out from cover. It must not be easy for her to take orders from a teenager, but I unfortunately have to be the expert on the Dultras. I wonder how many lives will perish today because of them.
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Spyro's POV
I kept breathing fireballs at the helicopter, I was chasing another one of the Dultras helicopters; they kept firing large rockets at me. I found another the helicopter a few minutes after I destroyed the first one. I managed to dodge all the enemy projectiles coming at me, but I have been cutting it pretty close. A couple of minutes ago I thought I felt one of their bullets come scrape against my skin. I can still feel the pain, but pain is something I have gotten used to.
I realized, ever since I became a Skylander, that I and the other Skylanders have to endear the pain of others so they don't have to. This isn't the first time that Kaos has attacked Skylands; every time he attacks he gets stronger. His technology advances and his forces grow stronger with each passing attempt. With each battle I fight I can feel the pain from acid being blown into my face, an enemy tail-whipping me, falling of a 20 foot drop, or, in this case, a bullet grazing my skin. But the worse pain of all is the one you can't protect people from. It kills me every time I hear a child cries over seeing everything he had being destroyed right in front of him; the only thing he has left is a family and even that sometimes is decimated. That has happened to more than once. I shook my head to try and forget uncomfortable memories that had popped up in my head.
"WOAH!" I shouted as I barrel rolled to the right. The Dultras had sent another rocket towards me. I attempted to get closer to the helicopter, but the chopper was picking up speed. My wings are starting to get tired from this constant flying. I know that I'm a dragon, but even dragons need a moment's respite from flying. I looked out into the distance and noticed another helicopter coming out into the distance. At first I thought it was another one of the Dultra's choppers, but this one looked one different. This one is colored blue and white while the Dultras are colored fully black. I peered into the aircraft and saw 15 or 20 people. They're all wearing heavy armor and a few wearing helmets. They're also carrying a bunch of heavy weapons, but they weren't using them like the Dultras. I'm going to guess that this was the SWAT team that Jack was talking about.
The Dultra's helicopter began to change its course towards the white and blue helicopter, and instead of firing on me, they started shooting at them. The SWAT helicopter began to attempt to sway from the Dultras, but they weren't letting up. The SWAT team than began to try and dissuade the Dultras by firing back at them. One of the SWAT members was firing a long rifle with a big scope. A shot from the large gun had impacted itself into one of the Dultra's chests. He fell out of the chopper and his body started the long decent towards the ground below.
"Sir, we just lost Jerome!" shouted a Dultra.
"Bentsen set up and use the M2 Browning, I want you to saw them in half," shouted the captain looking person. The one he called Bentsen had mounted a large chain gun onto the side of the Dultra helicopter. The SWAT sniper took a shot at Bentsen, but missed and the bullet lodged itself into one of the cabin doors. Bentsen than began to fire the 50 cal at the SWAT helicopter. The SWAT pilot swerved their helicopter and was able to avoid the oncoming bullets from the Browning. The Dultra loaded a new belt of ammunition into the gun. He then, with aid of the rest Dultras, fired back at the SWAT helicopter. The sniper from the SWAT helicopter was hit in the arm. He dropped his sniper and clutched a hand to his injured arm. Another SWAT member went to his aid.
"Sir, if we keep this up we're going to miss the rendezvous time. Requesting permission to use the FIM-92," said a Dultra as he picked a large object. It looked like a rocket launcher.
"Permission granted."
"Firing Stinger missile!" A burst of smoke came from behind the Dultras rocket launcher and it launched a missile towards the SWAT helicopter. I blew a fireball at the missile with the hope that I could hit it, but I missed.
The Stinger missile soared through and impacted itself into the SWAT helicopter's tail rotor. "NO!" I screamed. The helicopter began swerve around in a circle and it quickly started to descended towards the ground. The aircraft crashed into a building, and a large ball of fire engulfed the helicopter and the building. I hope there wasn't anybody inside, there is already enough dead today. Sadness was soon replaced by rage when I looked at the Dultra's helicopter. I dashed toward the helicopter ignoring the safety of my own life so I can take theirs away.
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Jack's POV
The Dultras weren't letting up on their ground. A couple of times I tried advance on them, but they kept me back with their firepower. Erica wasn't happy that I tried; she even asked me if she wanted her to put a bullet in my head to save the Dultras the trouble. But it has been a long time the Dultras have made any attempt at us.
"Grapard, we have to go in," I said. She looked at me with anger in her face.
"If we go in, the hostages die and we die," she said.
"We can't wait any longer; it's been over an hour since you called SWAT the first time. The squad car can't keep being our cover for much longer. If we go in together we'll have a shot," I said. I looked over my shoulder and saw 5 Dultras come out of the doors of the bank. "We've got company." I loaded another magazine into my gun, and so did Grapard.
Grapard got out of cover and so did I and we began to fire simultaneously at the Dultras. I was down to my last clips of ammunition for my M4A1; I'm not sure how much Grapard has left. My gun was on semi-auto and I sent a few rounds at them as they exited the bank. The Dultras went behind the pillars in front of the bank while the rest went in front of the parked cars using the same tactic they had done earlier. I thought this time we would have the upper hand since we had been through this before, but this time the Dultras came packing. All of them were wearing body armor which our rifles won't be able to penetrate, meaning that a headshot would be the only way to finish them. A few of them were armed with high powered shotguns that would be able to shred through my and Grapard's armor. The rest were still armed with their deadly AKs.
"Watch out for them. It won't be to long before they attempt to rush us," I said.
"Alright, how good are you on ammo?"
"Fine for now. I'm running low on my M4 but I'll make do."
"Switch to your Glock if you have to."
"I will."
The Dultras with AKs began to fire at the squad car. Grapard and I ducked lower into our cover. "Damn it, they're trying to suppress us! Keep an eye on our flanks." I yelled over the roar of gunfire. My warning came too late. The two Dultras with the shotguns came running for us. One went to my side and the other went on Erica's. The Dultras weren't next to us yet. I peered around the corner of the car and saw them coming. I fired a few times at the one coming for me. The Dultra jumped back and fired his shotgun at me. I dropped flat to the ground as the buckshot pelts pierced through the car. I looked under the car and saw the Dultra's feet. My rifle was under my chest with the barrel pointed towards the Dultra, and I aimed as best as I could and pulled the trigger four times. One of the bullets shredded his ankle, and he fell to the ground. I got up off the concrete, being careful not to put my head above the car, and went to Grapard's side. She had her ACR trained and ready for the Dultra and waited for him to come around the corner. I'm aimed my gun next to her shoulder being ready to help her out if she needed it. A few seconds the Dultra came around the corner, Grapard and I fired at the same time. Our bullets met his forehead, and he fired his shotgun in the air while he was falling to the ground.
"Thanks," she said.
"No problem," I said. Although that is sort of an understatement.
I looked over our cover and saw another Dultra pulling back the one I shot in the ankle to safety. "Grapard, help me out with this guy," I said. The Dultra on has one hand pulling his shot friend and in his AK-47 other hand that was aimed in our area. The other two Dultras were still shooting at us.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Suppress the two near the bank while I finish the others."
"Okay."
Grapard switched her gun to full-auto and started to shoot at the two Dultras. One of the Dultras went into cover while the other switched his aim to her instead. Grapard directed her shots towards him and he dodged her shots and went into cover as well. I looked over cover and immediately sent a bullet between the eyes of the Dultra who was dragging the injured one. I stood up fully this time and sent four shots at the Dultra on the ground.
All of the sudden I heard a familiar voice around me, I looked around for the source of the noise but all I saw was Erica and her partner that was killed, John Leftward. "Dispatch can you repeat your last, over," said Officer Grapard. At that moment I realized it was the same person over the radio earlier, not some ghost.
"Officer Grapard we've just received word that your SWAT assistance has been killed in action," said the person over the walkie talkie. "WHAT!" shouted both me and Grapard. "We cannot wait any longer for backup, we're already being overwhelmed by enemy forces as it is," I said into the walkie talkie. Our ammunition was depleting fast, and the Dultra would be soon executing the hostages in order for us to back off. We've already killed about eight of them. The longer we were here, the sooner the Dultras start to kill off the innocents to save themselves.
"Hold them off for now, there are several others requesting additional assistance. We are currently attempting to coordinate getting additional units from out of county, but lines of communication are currently severed."
"What about our SWAT backup that was arriving on ground, did they make it?"
"We attempted contacting them earlier. We received no answer."
"Damn it. What about the local Nation Guard."
"The nearest bases are currently under attack. Units that have been dispatched are currently tasked elsewhere. Hold your ground for now, we are currently receiving many distress calls and our resources are stretched thin."
I looked over to Grapard; she knows what we have to do even if she doesn't want to admit it. I can understand where she is coming from. All she cares for is the lives of the hostages. None of us would imagine today that the Dultras would be robbing all of Santa Fe.
"Grapard you know what we have to do."
"Ashburn shut up! If they die I don't want their blood on my hands."
"Grapard, their blood won't be on yours it will be on mine! You're not the one choosing to do this, I am!" Too many people have died because of me. Because I made a wrong call or missed an opportunity. She looked at me with guilt in her eyes, but the pain will live with me if this goes wrong. Her look went from anger and guilt to passive.
"Alright let's do it," she said.
"Okay, if were gonna go in, let's do it now. It looks it only those two guarding the door. Once there dead we charge the door once we're in we go room to room. Clear out any Dultras you see. Once we find the hostages, stay with them. Shout if you need anything."
"Don't you think lethal force should a last resort kind of situation?" she asked. I looked around the area. I saw the ocean of bullet shells that littered the place and the dead Dultras at the opposite ends of the vehicle. "We don't have the time or manpower to watch over prisoners," I said the rather cruel, but true fact. Besides, the Dultras don't deserve the luxury of living.
"Let's take these guys out!" I shouted. Grapard and I peered over the hood and saw the two Dultras had their sights trained on us, just waiting for the moment that we come out. At least this time it's sort of an even fight. I went to the other side of the car with Grapard. "If you give me a distraction I'll take them out," suggested Grapard. I looked down at my M4A1 and checked to see how much ammunition I had left in the magazine. I only had four bullets left in it and after that I would only have one clip left. "Alright," I said. I went over to the hood of the car.
"HEY WHY DON'T YOU GUYS COME OUT AND WE SETTLE THIS LIKE MEN!" I shouted over to the 2 Dultras.
"YOU KNOW YOUR NOT GOING TO LEAVE HERE ALIVE!" shouted one of the Dultras.
"I BEG TO DIFFER!" I got up out of cover and fired at them. Once I was out of ammo I quickly ducked back into cover. Both of the Dultras started to focus and fire on me. Grapard began to fire at them and quickly picked them off before they noticed her. I slid in my last M4A1 magazine into my gun.
"I'm down to my last clip for my M4," I said.
"Why don't you just pick up an AK?" Grapard asked.
"If I do I would still only have one mag in the gun. I don't want to scavenge more clips off of dead Dultras and leave myself out in the open. Besides we don't have time," I answered. I peered over our cover and it was clear. Now's our chance.
"On three we haul ass towards the door," I said.
"Alright."
"1…2…3…CHARGE!" I shouted as we sprinted towards the door. I expected a shower of bullets to come at us, but no such thing happened. We reached the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Grapard and I instead climbed through a shattered window that the Dultras had been shooting at us from. When we entered we saw no one except the dead Dultra that Grapard had shot earlier. "They must've gone back farther into the bank," whispered Erica. The Dultras probably went to regroup; after all we did take out half of the forces they have here. Although that is not saying much since they still outnumber us five to 1.
The area was a mess, the lobby was filled with knocked over chairs, and destroyed computers. Trash littered the entire place, and I noticed some weird substance on the floor. I went closer to it and it put my fingers to it. The weird substance was sticky and red. What went on here? I hope we aren't too late to save them. I wiped hand off and returned to Grapard.
"Alright let's split up," I said.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she questioned.
"No, but we need to find them fast."
On the each end of the bank are two hallways, each were filled doors that led to the employees' offices. Both hallways were connected at the end with a passageway. In the middle of the passageway is the large vault that keeps all the money and other valuables. "Grapard you take the one on the left and I'll take the on the right. She nodded and went off. I went to my hallway and saw that there is about a ten rooms I would have to clear out. Some of the doors were open while others weren't.
I went next to the first room on my left, and I peered through the door's window. I saw one Dultra rummaging through files and opening up drawers. His back was turned to me and I slowly and carefully opened the door. The Dultra didn't notice me as I entered through the threshold. I aimed my gun at him and delivered three shots to him. He grunted as he fell on to the desk. "Room clear," I whispered to myself just out of habit.
The next two rooms I checked out were empty. I heard the sounds of Erica's gun as I was checking out the rooms. She better be careful. I went to the next door hugging the wall. I tried to look through the window, but the blinds were down. I cautiously turned the knob on the door and slowly gave the door a push to reveal the whole room. I pointed my rifle in front of me and stepped through the threshold of the room. As I entered into the office, a masked man grabbed the barrel of my gun with both of his hands and threw me against the wall. I had one hand on the handle of the gun with my fingers still on the trigger and my other hand on the barrel with the Dultra's. I accidently pulled the trigger and the bullet went and shattered a picture frame that was hanging on the wall. I used my arms and the M4A1 to thrust me and the Dultra to the ground. Now we were both on the ground wrestling to try and get control of my gun. I first was on top, but the masked Dultra was able to roll over on top of me. I could feel the weight of his enormous body crush my chest. Another Dultra entered the room pointing his fully loaded shotgun at us. I pulled the trigger on my assault rifle and it fired a hail of bullets at him. It continued to fire until the clip was empty. Bullet holes appeared all over his body as he fell to the floor. I reached out to grab a shard of glass from the broken picture frame. I grabbed it and sliced across the heavy Dultra's cheek. "AHH!" he screamed as blood poured out of mask. He took his hands of my gun and began to cover his face. He was still on top of me. I punched him in the chest and he rolled off of me. I got up off the floor. I picked my M4A1 and bashed the Dultra in head with the stock on my gun. His screams continued as he fell onto his back. His hand went down to his side to take out his handgun. He pointed at my head, but I was faster on the draw and shot him with my Glock.
I dropped my assault rifle seeing no point in keeping it with me since I'm out of ammunition. I wondered how the gun turned on the full-auto. My only guess it must've been switched on by accident when the Dultra and I were wrestling. I began to exit the office; I made sure to scan the hallway to make sure no other Dultra was coming. As I was leaving I started to pleas for help. I thought they were from the hostages, but the sounds came from the office behind me. Maybe there is a closet where they were all shoved into. I looked around the whole room and I saw no doors except the one leading out into the hallway. Then I noticed something protruding out of the Dultra's coat pocket. I went over to him and pulled out a toy, but this was no ordinary toy. It was a green, robotic suit wearing dragon. I had forgotten that this was the reason I came here because I was being sidetracked by saving a group of hostages from a gang of gun toting Dultras.
"Are you okay?" I said to the meteorite, again feeling like a total moron. A part of me never truly wanted me to accept that I'm talking to these things. As if Spyro was just a part of my imagination, but as each day passes it is hard to dispute the evidence that is in front of me.
"I'm fine. Wait you can hear me? Everyone else I try to talk can't hear me," said the dragon that is frozen down into a small toy. His voice sounds really low and synthesized, kind of like how robot would sound.
"Yeah I can. I know you have a lot of questions, and I'll explain later but right now I have to go take care of something."
"What do you have to do?"
"You know those men I just killed."
"Yeah."
"Well a lot more of them are here, and they've taken a lot of innocent people hostage. They'll kill them if I and someone else don't get to them soon," I said as checked over my shoulder to see if anyone was sneaking up on me.
"Oh yeah I think I saw those people who you are talking about."
"Wait you have?"
"I was being taken from the box that I've been locked in for a couple of days. As we left the vault I saw them take a bunch of people into a large room directly in front of the vault," said Drobot. Finally, I get some kind of good news.
"Good, that'll help me out," I said. I looked over my shoulder and put the figurine away with me. I exited the room and continued down the hall checking each room just as I did. I kept hearing Erica's gunshots on the other side of the building. I checked my gun's ammunition. I had only brought a few magazines of it thinking that I would only use my assault rifle. One of things that I kind of regret it now that I think about it, but luckily this is almost over.
I approached the corner, and I looked over it. The area was clear and I saw the vault was partially open. I decided first to go to it and see if any of the Dultras were still in there. I peeked into the vault, and saw no one. I did see power tools in and a lot of broken locks on the safety deposit boxes. It seemed as if they have left many valuable items. I saw unzipped duffel bags lying on the ground. Some of them were filled with cash and jewels, but they were being poorly cared for. As if they cared more about getting into the deposit boxes rather than what's out in the open. It would also seem like they should keep ahold of the duffel bags if they needed to make a quick escape, not keep them back here.
I didn't want to waste anymore time so I went towards the room directly in front of me. The blinds were down again so I can't tell if anyone is in there. The lettering on the glass said that this is the conference room. It would definitely be large enough for everyone. I was against the wall and I slowly began to turn the door knob. I slowly pushed the door forward. As soon as the latch was inside the room, a bullet whizzed by and nearly missed hand. "CRAP!" I shouted. I immediately bashed the door and went inside. I saw one Dultra without a mask. He had two pistols in his hands. One pointed at me and another pointed at a teenage girl who was on the ground crying. I pointed my gun at his head.
"Drop the gun!" I demanded.
"I don't think so," he said back. I looked to my right and I saw the rest of the hostages. A few of them were employees of the banks. One looked like the mom of the girl. Next to her was another mother holding her young child in her arms. The rest of them of them were covering their eyes. They were just people who were going amongst their business before the Dultras showed up. The Dultra looked about as old as Grapard. I inched my way closer to him.
"Move another step I will shoot both her and you where you stand!" he shouted.
"And I'll send a bullet into skull if you do! The rest of your friends are dead and it's just you. The only way you're leaving here is either in handcuffs or in a body bag."
"You don't think I will shoot her, I will if I have to!"
"No I don't think you will shoot her. You would've shot her the second I came in."
"I shot at when you tried to come in!"
"At the distance you're at, only a blind man could've missed."
"DON'T MAKE ME KILL HER!" he shouted. He picked up the girl and shoved one of his guns into her head.
"You don't have the balls," I said.
He let out an enraged scream and tossed the girl over to the conference table. He began to aim one of his pistols at me and began to fire. I dove to behind an office chair that is next to the large table. I readied my gun for the moment he came by. The office chair wasn't made to cover bullets. I saw them burst through the chair above my head. Each bullet was getting closer.
All of the sudden Grapard blasted into the room and sent a barrage of gunfire at the Dultra. He was dead before he landed on the ground. "You came at a good time," I said.
"Well they put up a fight, nearly got a hit a couple of times," she said.
"Same here."
I went over to the girl to check on her. "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded her head. She only had a couple of bruises, but other than that she was fine. She went over to her mother and hugged her being glad that she is alive. I think all of us are glad to be alive at this point.
"How many Dultras did you find?" I asked Grapard.
"7. What about you?" She had gotten a lot of them in a short amount of time. I guess she must've got some them when I was wrestling the Dultra that ambushed me.
"3. So the 9 at the entrance, plus my 3, your 7, and this guy makes twenty. That's all of them right?"
"Yeah, it should be."
"Good." I can't believe. We survived and took back the bank from the Dultras. Although it was a high cost. Grapard lost her partner, but at least his death helped the innocent survive. "I'm going to go do a sweep of the building, stay with them," I said. I put a new magazine into my gun just in case. "Okay," she said. I dragged the dead Dultra's body out into the hall so they didn't have to look at it.
I still don't know why the Dultras targeted this bank. I knew that this was their main target, but what did they hope to gain? I don't think I'll be able to answer that question for a long while.
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The National Guard finally came and secured the area after about an hour after we took back Henderson Bank and Trust. My sweep of the building revealed no Dultras were in the building. I was standing in the lobby of the bank, the first room we entered when we came into the bank. The Chief of Police came up to me. "Son, the city of Santa Fe owes you a great debt," he said.
"You don't owe any me anything. There was nothing I could for the other places or Officer Leftward."
"He was one of my closest friends. I knew him since high school. He will be greatly missed."
"Do you have the causality reports for the other places?"
"Yes I do. Unfortunately there's more bad news than good. 267 either killed or wounded, most on our side. About 50 of them were hostages."
"Was Officer Daniel Scheffler among those?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Yes I heard he was ambushed by them. He suffered a couple gunshot wounds to his legs. Doctors say he'll make it, but he'll in a wheelchair for the next six months." That is the least that bastard deserves. He could've helped us or any of the other people that needed help.
"Were any of the Dultras able to escape?"
"Sadly most of them did. We couldn't secure the airspace in time. They made way with about $45,000,000 worth of stolen goods. Numbers could've been higher though, we found the wreckage of two of their helicopters. We also found the wreckage of the SWAT helicopter that was supposed to come to assist you."
"I'm truly sorry about this. I wish there was more I could've done to stop this."
"Don't be sorry, without you we would've lost Grapard and ten more hostages."
"Thanks. Listen if you don't mind sir if I could finish doing some business and then leave. I already gave my statement to the other officers."
"Sure, you've already done enough."
I walked back into the office where the large Dultra tried to kill me. The bodies of them have already been removed, but the room was still destroyed. I picked up my M4A1 and sheathed it onto my back. I cleared a part of the floor that was littered and sat down onto and I looked out to office window to see the sun beginning to set. It has been a really long day. First involving me to break in to a part of the museum only to learn that a portal to a planet doesn't work, then having to deal with a dirty cop, and lastly battling it out to stop the Dultras from escaping and murdering hostages.
I pulled out Drobot and pondered about taking him. I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but was it necessarily the wrong thing to do. I knew that he was a life form, but to everyone else he's a meteorite, an object. I know that people say two wrongs don't make a right, but can doing something wrong be justified as doing something good. "What do yeah have there?" said someone. I turned my head and Erica Grapard. I wonder what's going on in her head. Is she still mad that I gambled our lives and the lives of the hostages?
"It's a meteorite," I said seeing no point in lying to her. She deserved some kind of truth. Although I'm not going to tell her I'm harboring an alien. She sat down next to me.
"Isn't that one of those that fell down a few days ago?"
"Yeah."
"You know, I don't think I saw you come in with that," she said. I knew she burned me on it.
"So are you gonna arrest me?" I asked. Grapard thought it over for a few seconds.
"You saved my life and if you didn't show up a lot more people would've died. I think I can leave this out the report."
"Thanks. Grapard you mind if I ask you something?"
"Not at all."
"When I first gave you the ACR you said you've been using guns your whole life. What did you mean by that?"
"When I was a kid my dad took me and the rest of my hunting all time. I always had a good shot so I always competed in shooting tournaments. So using guns has always been second nature to me."
The night was beginning to come; I saw the first few stars come out of the sky. I got up and so did Grapard. "I believe it's time for me to leave," I said. We shook hands and Grapard returned my ACR to me. "I think you'll need it more than I do. Stay safe Special Agent Jack Ashburn," she said.
"And you too Officer Erica Grapard. And for the record I'm sorry about your partner."
"Don't be, he took the bullet for me and besides you made sure his death wasn't in vain. That's all he would ever ask for. May you have safe travels Ashburn."
"I can't promise you that, but I will try," I said.
I left the bank and walked to my car. There are still many questions that are left unanswered. Like why did the Dultras target the bank, when are Spyro and Drobot gonna be able to save their world and get off my mine, and how are we going to get the portal to work. Even with these questions there is one thing I know for sure. Our mission is going to be a lot bloodier than I thought.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I want to take a second to thank you all for the positive reviews. Next chapter shouldn't be as long as this one. Again please review if you like it. If you have any suggestions you can message me.
