if anyone of you guys is interested, I do draw pictures and the characters to this story. you can find them on my DeviantART page. my username is the same as here.
and if you have any mission suggestions, feel free to write them to me.
Enjoy the story!
"Steady, steady" Lawrence muses as he steers the airship down towards one of the many rivers of the Amazon. The moment the ship touches water, Dell deactivate the helium tanks and let the balloon fall back into the cavity where it will stay until it is time getting up in the air again.
Lawrence activates the motor to the underwater rotor and sail the now water ship towards the coordinates Antoine gave them. About a half hour later, the ship steers towards a small dock and with it properly strapped to the dock, the two men head towards the town; dressed as civilians. And a good thing too for this seemly backwater town sure has a lot of security. Lawrence glances over his aviators towards one of the Magisterium guard's armed to the teeth watching the completely unarmed civilians. "This is some shonky business right there; those wankers are practically prepare for war."
"Yeah." Dell frowns at the scene of the many guards walking about, "question is now: who are they expecting to cease war against?" Hopefully, the Magisterium hasn't yet realized about three of the resistance are already here, if they do then he, Lawrence and especially Antoine will be screwed.
Lawrence opens his mouth to answer but stops when his eyes catches a familiar shimmer at one of the buildings, he nudges the engineer on the shoulder. "Over there." He leads Dell over to the spot where he saw their third member. At the place, a man dressed in a bluish colored suit and face hidden by a balalaika appears, on his shoulder is a yellow logo of a knife. "Gentlemen." Antoine greets them both before turning Dell, noticing the still apparent wounds from the attack back at Boston. "I see the Mexico team didn't hesitate putting you to work-" he remarks and pulls out a cigarette from his chest pocket.
Dell chuckles lightly. "They sure did but these scratches are not from Mexico: I got them in Boston." The Frenchman eyes him but shows no sign of what the man is thinking. Dell's smile drops, he hates being the one giving the man this news but... "You're right; the Magisterium does not take punishment toward traitors lightly." He removes the top of the glove over his right hand, showing Antoine what now lies behind.
Antoine's eyes wide for a moment of what he sees, Dell's hand and part of the arm has been replaced with a robot hand. Clearly, he has missed a lot after he and Lawrence split up, but asking such questions out in the open can compromise everything. He signs for the two to follow and leads them into his small hideout of a rented house. Inside and away from prying ears, he asks Dell. "What happen?"
The Texan tells him about the attack, how the guards' primary goal had been stealing all his gear. Antoine dread the thought of facing the enemy carrying Dell's weapon inventions but knows it will only be in matter of time before all Magisterium soldiers will carry guns that shoot bolts of electricity instead of bullets. And when Dell tells him about how Lawrence had to cut his hand off, the spy find himself impressed of how well the engineer dealt with the whole situation. In fact Antoine has the suspicion that this "incident" saved Dell from doing it himself and thus gave him the perfect excuse installing the gunslinger. "I'm glad you survived the whole ordeal." He tells the Texan sincerely, losing one of the few who actually knows his name and he considers a friend would be a huge blow. So yes, he's glad Dell survived and jumped back into action this fast.
Dell smiles, but it quickly fades; for now, it is time for the bad news "there's more, and... well, you're not going to like it." The spy sends him a look, Dell would've like to ask him to sit down, but he doubts Antoine will do it anyway. "It's about Nathan he—"
"Was he with you when they attacked?" Antoine interrupts, already fearing the worst that Dell will say his son is dead.
"No, he's still alive so far we know. Someone took him the same night under the attack." And Dell stops the Frenchman from interrupting him again by lifting his right hand. "Let me finish. We have the suspicion it is the same people who take the other children."
Antoine feared this would happen; he had hoped that his son wouldn't get the same anomaly. "His daemon hasn't settled."
"Nope," Dell replies and Lawrence adds with a grin. "She changed as often as you change your fancy suits."
It's not like the bushman who walks around in the same clothing for over a month would understand the word 'hygiene,' Antoine takes a slow drag of his cigarette; thinking- more like worrying what the Magisterium will do to his boy. God, he hopes they won't put Nathan the same thing he went through when they trained him to be their spy. And the situation here isn't much better. It seems that they need the Alethiomist alive and on their side, whatever she wants it or not. "We are in luck; the Facility nearby holds an Alethiomist under their custody."
Dell blinks, the word Alethiomist sounds familiar, but he can't exactly say what this person does. "What kind of person is that again?"
Another drag from the cigarette. "It's a person that can read an Alethiometer; a device that can tell the reader anything they like, what I hear the device cannot tell lies. Not everyone can get the message out from the Alethiometer, and those few who can have to spend most of their lives studying how to read it."
"Ah," the shorter man nods understanding, he has never seen an Alethiometer but he sure would like to tinker with one and see how in tarnation it is able revealing practically everything the user asks it about.
Lawrence leaves the wall he rests up against, handing the spy a big piece of paper, "show us what you know." Letting the other man draw the building's layout from his sharp memory. While Antoine does that, Lawrence glances to Dell but none of them speaks as they do not wish break the Frenchman's focus.
About a half hour later, Antoine has made a rough blueprint of the building, the masked man points at specific points he found the most interest. "This building is very alike to the one we broke into at Dustbowl" the two others frown deepens, the mere mention of that name brings up bad memories but the mission in hand makes them all push back the memories and focus on this issue.
The spy points at the section filled with cells. "The prison cells are located here, however," he straightens up, taking a drag of his cigarette, his mask hiding a deep frown of what he witnessed in there. "I'm afraid they have refined the horror, none of the prisoners made any sounds."
"You're sure they were still alive?" The sharp-shooter asks after all the ones they found at Dustbowl were dying from whatever those bastards did to them.
"I'm sure" Antoine replies, pointing at the room placed nearby the prison cells. "I encountered a small platoon, very much alive-"
"but something was terribly wrong with them." Sabrina finishes for him, the feline shudders of what poor state those people's daemon was in.
Dell and Lawrence did not like the sound of that, less so when Antoine's daemon actually shows discomfort of the situation. Like her human, that daemon is incredible good hiding emotions so when she finally does, then they know it is a big deal.
Tthe engineer turns his attention back to the map. "What's in here?" He asks, pointing at one of the biggest rooms, Antoine has made a rather poor drawing of what looks like a machine.
"That's, my dear toy-maker is the placement of their generator." Antoine hands Dell what looks like very colorful sphere glasses. "I took a few pictures of it for you to study the machine." The engineer takes out a small and bit strange looking projector from his backpack and puts one of the glasses into it. Lawrence turns off the light so all three can see the picture of a spinning generator appearing from the stone. Antoine glances to the engineer already intensely looking at this machine. "From what I could tell; this machine powers most of the facility. Sabotage it and the whole building gets thrown into chaos."
"It looks like the one we found is Dustbowl" Lawrence remarks, wondering why Antoine hasn't slapped one of the Sappers onto it like they did to the one in Dustbowl. Eyeing the spy, "run out of Sappers Spook?" He asks the other male with a smirk.
Antoine rolls his eyes and opens his mouth, but Dell's voice stops him. "I'm glad you didn't, this machine might look like the other one, but it holds a lot of power compacted into such a small frame. If damaged incorrectly, this thing would've taken more than a building with it— Why would they have such a powerful machine- let alone an Anbaricity generator in the middle of a jungle?" He wonders out loud.
"Do you think you could short-circuit it?" Antoine asks the engineer.
Dell looks at the pictures again, Anbaricity generators are powerful but so darn unstable that if the engineer did not know what he or she is dealing with, then they can kiss their behind and the whole area goodbye. Luckily Dell is one of the few people who know how to work with these Anbaricity generators, in fact, he's put something like this into those weapons that got stolen— except they were way more stable that this big mother hubber. Scratching his chin, he replies. "I reckon I can- at least there's a smaller chance I blow up the darn place."
Lawrence frowns but does not say anything that he did not really fancy the thought of Dell going inside the facility, sure the man can fight and all but that is by using his machines. Going in there means he has to be undercover as a mere Magisterium engineer and he cannot bring any big weapons inside and this Australian has seen his friend shoot. It's not something he would brag about. He isn't sure if Antoine is aware about Dell poor aim, he probably did so that only means that the former Magisterium spy would not ask Dell doing this if it wasn't important. The man might not show it, but this Aussie knows that Antoine cares very deeply for those he call friends. "I'll go with him."
Dell gives him a surprised look while Antoine simply nods.
"Alright, but you can't go in there as the rugged bushman you are."
"Thanks for saying the obvious you bloody piker." Lawrence retorts dryly; he doesn't like doing the dress up game Antoine does on every mission they have been on over the years. Admittedly this Australian is not very good acting like someone else he's not. But he will make an expectation this time. Glancing at the spy. "Do you have some guard uniform lying around?
Antoine smirks, and Lawrence knows that whatever the masked man is thinking will not sit well with him or his pride. "I was thinking on something else more useful."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Early the next morning, after having spend all night planning this. Dell and his now blond and pale-skinned 'apprentice' heads towards the facility.
it takes a lot from the disguised Sniper not to scartch his itchy skin from whatever that Spy put on to pale it. This is why he hates doing dress up. "I'm going to strangle him when we're done," Lawrence grumbles beside the both amused but also highly nervous engineer.
Dell feels almost naked not having any of his weapons or machines on him and he does not feel comfortable having merely a small hand pistol if— or rather when it comes to a fight. The Aussie notice the tension coming from the shorter man and his anger towards Antoine fades "breathe Truckie, it will be fine-"
"Easy for you to say..." Dell muse back, almost tripping over Naira who stays incredibly close to him and wishes he can take her up in his arms, but he knows that the Magisterium guards will just find that suspicious. The higher-ups from the Church doesn't see daemon as someone closest friend, mere a sign of the person's personality. "You at least have a weapon you are comfortable with."
True, the submachine gun hidden on his back might not be as great as his beloved sniper rifle, but Lawrence still knows how to make head-shots with it. "You can always use the hand." He suggests with a smirk before he shifts into his persona being the actual apprentice and thus not the one coming with advice.
His usual stoic Laraine pretends to be nervous by tipping around on his shoulders, which did make the guard turn his attention to them instead of the real danger.
"What's wrong with him?" The guard asks, nodding to the disguised sniper.
The Texan smiles at the guard. "Never mind him, it's his first time on the job." And hands the guard the papers Antoine gave him to enter this facility as the engineer. He is not going to question how the man created these pretty much flawless counterfeit documents this fast.
The guard accepts his explanations, turns away from the now pretending to be curious looking around Lawrence and looks at the papers.
After a few painful moments, the guard nods and returns the papers. "I didn't know the generator needed repairs." He remarks in wonder why he hasn't heard of this.
"The last guy didn't like the noise it made," Dell says and is happy he for once can speak about something he feels comfortable speaking about. "And trust me, if your generator makes other noises than a soft humming, then you're lucky this place haven't blown sky-high."
The guard eyes wide and his bull terrier daemon lets out a small whimper, the man shift a little nervous. "Th-then I won't keep you waiting; go on inside." And he moves so Dell and Lawrence can go inside.
"Nice touch." The sniper muses, very certain the Texan did not lie about that last part. Dell is not a spy that's for sure.
Dell lets out air he did not know he held, "thanks." Happy they have gotten so far without much trouble. Another guard meets them and leads the two down a long hallway, filled with metal doors that reminded Dell about a prison, but as Antoine said; no sounds comes out from the doors. He tries not to think about what had happen to these people; it would just make him unfocused. Halfway down the hall, two other guards guide a awfully calm and almost blissful looking man into one of the cells. Dell glances at the man, trying his best not get grossed out at this disturbing sight that meets him— or rather what he doesn't see anywhere around this man. Naira lets out a whimper, he wants to comfort her but can't in their current situation.
"Here it is."
The guard lets them inside the room where a big generator stands and if Dell hasn't been so preoccupied about that person they passed on the way, he might have been more fascinated in this fine piece of machinery. Instead he merely nods to the guard and begins packing out his tool box; pretending he is repairing the machine. With the guard out, Naira no longer can hold herself together and jumps onto his lap in desperate need for comfort. "That person didn't have a daemon." She says, pressing her body against his. Dell wraps his arm around his beloved beaver. "I know." He is horrified and furies of why someone in their right mind would try and remove a daemon from a person. A daemon is the soul of a person. Removing it would be like removing a part of someone. He hugs Naira tightly, not afraid to admit he still does that from time to time as an adult. In Dustbowl the people didn't survive for long, but they were very aware of that they had lost. The man they met in the hallway wasn't aware. Dell cannot call these people alive anymore. "Why would they do such a thing?" He asks, not really aiming the question to anyone.
"I don't know, mate," Lawrence replies, also trying to wrap his head around this gross discovery. He cannot comprehend living without his daemon and it angers him knowing what these people do towards the locals, just because they have a different living style. "But at least we can make sure no one else in these parts meets this fate."
Yes, that they can. Dell lifts his own and still scared daemon on his shoulders and says with a hand on the side of her head. "Darn right, so; let's blow this place up." She nods in agreement, sharing his determination to stop anyone else losing their daemon. The man takes out a very big wrench and with precision only an engineer of his caliber can, he whacks the machine hard; breaking it beyond repair. The generator's former soft humming transforms into a loud screech with sparks flying around. That's not enough for them though, Naira jumps off his shoulders and with her powerful teeth; sever several wires, making the generator blow up and send the two men flying into the nearby wall.
Dell laughs at his handiwork. "I like to see them repair that!" It's the first time he's actually happy destroying a machine.
"Reminds me never to piss you off." Lawrence remarks and gets back on his feet, a ruffled Laraine lands back onto his shoulder as her human eyes the screeching machine. "You sure you didn't go a little overboard with this?" He asks a bit disrupted by the sound it makes. He would like if it didn't blow up and take their asses with it thank you very much.
"Nah!" Dell laughs.
"Right, better get out before—" but before Lawrence can finishes his sentence, the door to the engineering room slams open and three guards storms inside. Only one look at the scene of the half-destroyed machine and the two men standing before it tells them everything of what made the whole building run out of power and thus control of the building.
The guards pull out their guns, "kill them!" one of the shouts, but before they can Dell cries; "Don't! One shot and the whole place going to blow!"
It made the men hesitate, which gives Lawrence just enough time to pull out his own submachine gun and fill the three men with bullets, he only stop when the three dog daemons disappears; the clear sign these men are death. Dell walks over to the three dead guards, searching them briefly for anything useful. He let out a small grunt in disappointment and pulls out his small handgun.
Lawrence leaves the room. "Stay close." He tells the Texan and takes the lead down the now red flashing hallway; their job is done; now they merely need to check the place for possible survivors and kill every guard they meet on their path so their third member can get their true objective out..
Meanwhile and a bit deeper inside the building, one of the guard's fall with a bleeding throat, the daemon gone before he hits the floor. Antoine retreat his knife back under his sleeve and moves on with a snake shaped Sabrina wrapped around his left wrist. Even with the alarm of intruders ringing and people on high alert he still keeps to his cover. A small flock of guards, unaware of the cloaked spy of the Resistance and pass by the hidden man. They head towards one of the hallways; probably going to where Lawrence and Dell are at the moment. Antoine lets them pass before he pulls out his gun and shoots all four of them right in the head. The recoil of his weapon makes the cloak shimmer for just a moment. With them dead, he restarts his cloaking device when again hidden, moves over to the cells. With the lack of power, it is easy getting the doors open, he calls for the people to get out, they follow his command, but none of them shows any awareness of the situation, merely waiting for another order... Antoine lets out a sneer; all of these people have been lost to the Magisterium. He shoots the prisoners right in the head and moves on.
That woman the Crow was interested better not be another Interception victim or taken away already.
Through his memories from yesterday's visit, Antoine easily finds the room where they held the woman but just to his luck; she is not there. Great. He starts searching for her, hoping this woman hasn't gotten herself killed.. or worse. Down at the laboratory section, a scream made from pure terror catches his attention, and he moves over to check. He finds a pitiful excuse for a doctor crawling over the hospital room floor, unable to run thanks to the scalpel stuck into his leg. Still he does a worthy try getting away from his former victim; the same woman that can read the Alethiometer. And the look in her eyes is straight out disturbing.
"No, no stay back!" The man cries up to the person but is completely ignored by the sinister— by being too joyful of this situation woman. The woman's daemon appears from behind a table— to Antoine's shock and surprise finding it in a different form. Instead of that big otter Sabrina descried to him, he is now in form of a... well Antoine can only describe that as a monster- a hellhound perhaps. This... hellhound is about the same size as a shepherd; covered in black scales, revealing a red-fiery glow underneath the raised scales on his neck and back, the eyes and inside of the mouth has the same fiery color. He lets out a demonic snarl before lungs at the man's daemon. The rat daemon tries to get away but she has no chance getting away from this terror and soon caught in between his jaws and trashed around like a real terrier would've done to a real rat. The doctor screams in pain his daemon suffers through, begging for the human to stop. But all the former victim does it watching him suffer from her daemon's ferocious attacks on the rat while humming some happy melody with that almost joyful yet terrified look of hers. The cheery humming woman reaches out for a fire ax placed on the wall in case for fire, but she is clearly not planning on using it on what it supposed. She plays a bit around with it for a moment in her scarred hands. Then with a ferocity equal to her daemon; swings the ax right into the man's face watches fascinated half of the head rolls away from the body, and to Antoine's dumbfounded shock; she starts poking to the body like a child poking to a shored jellyfish.
The hellhound shakes his body like a dog just gotten out from water, and in a moment shimmer, he is back to his big otter form. With softer chatter walks over to his human who seems to snap out from this eerie joyful behavior and behaves closer to how a normal person should be acting by taking her daemon up in her arms, hugging him tightly in the form of self-comfort.
However the second she realizes they are not alone, the otter begins making aggressive squeaks and shimmer like he's ready to turn back into the hellhound again in her arms.
Antoine decides that he better make his intentions clear that he mean her no harm before he get an ax to his face. "I mean you no harm—" but before he can explain, the woman let out a battle cry and attacks him, forcing him to action. Seeing this one is not up for talking, he moves in, easily dodging this woman attempt on putting that ax into his face and hit her over the neck, knocking the woman to the floor but not unconscious.
Her daemon cries seeing his human down and when Antoine gets too close to her, the otter; without a second thought turns into the hellhound and lungs at the spy, completely ignoring the untold rule that daemons shouldn't touch another human. But this soul beast is too upset that this man might hurt them like the others did to bother about that taboo and lashes his sharp teeth into Antoine's arm, shaking his head and only the spy uniform spares a large chunk of flesh getting torn off.
Antoine lets out a yelp; both in pain and shock this daemon broke the taboo for his human's sake. He did not try getting the dog off by hand though; he is too professional for that.
Sabrina quickly steps in, she lungs at the pissed daemon, biting him in the head and forces him off her human. The two daemons land on the floor, hissing at one another. The dog jumps a bit back and forward, eyeing his smaller opponent up for a moment, then attacks Sabrina. Sabrina's superior agility makes her dodge his first attack and bite him in the face again, but one jerk from him makes her slip up and he does not hesitate put his teeth into her scaly skin. Sabrina hisses in pain and to the other daemon's shock she changes shape and throws him off. Now he is facing a bigger daemon in the form of a sneering white wolf. The dog stares wide eyed at the other daemon; a typical reaction when people realizes that Sabrina is not like any other daemons. With the other one no longer in the offensive Sabrina can finally speak to him "We're not your enemy!" She tells him hard.
The hellhound hesitates for a moment, then shimmer and is back at his otter form. He quickly returns back to his human who has recovered from Antoine's defensive attack. She sits up, stroking her sour neck with her amber eyes warily on him. "What do you want?" She asks him, her daemon barring his teeth at the man.
"The same what the Magisterium wants," Antoine answers her, thinking it will probably be for the best being honest with this one, whatever those people did to her clearly made part of her snap; hence why her daemon can take such a grotesque form. The woman shoots him a death glare and he does not really blame her. "However for a different reason."
"They all say that!" She snaps, getting back on her feet, still glaring at him. "I'm sick and tired being their puppet, so you better kill me before I kill you!" Her daemon grows and from how he shimmer it is clear she means her words.
He has fought people like this woman before, people that has lost everything, even part of their sanity. Those people are very unpredictable and just as deadly. Better play nice, for he seriously cannot risk either of them dying. "I merely want to know where my son is and then you are free to go."
"Bullshit!" She snaps. "You're not much different from that woman I met yesterday. You have the same coldness in your eyes."
"I ensure you, I will keep my words."
But she does not believe him and after have reclaimed the ax, she leaves the room. Every part of Antoine wants to stop her but he restrains himself from doing it as that will only prove her point and her daemon looks ready to pond him again if he tries.
He does slowly follow her out from the room, and to his relief, she stops.
"...if I survive this then I will consider helping you." and with those words, she runs off.
Seeing that there is no way persuade this woman unless he wants to risk a fight there probably going to end with one of them dead, the spy leaves the area to find his two other teammates.
It did not take long before Antoine find- or rather hears where Lawrence is.
"You bloody piker!" A wave of shots, followed by a bark of laugher; "Thanks for standing still wanker!"
Antoine heads towards the yelling of an Australian that enjoys the situation maybe a bit too much. And Lawrence calls himself a professional. "Sniper," He calls near where his two comrade are, sneaking up on Lawrence is usually a bad idea since the Aussie will punch or shoot someone right in the face if getting startled; he learned that the hard way.
Lawrence and Dell turn to the corridor behind them and smile seeing their French friend, the smile fade slightly though when they realize he is alone. "Where is the Alethiomist?" Lawrence asks frowning.
"She has major trust issues," Sabrina replies sullenly.
"Oh, doesn't that remind you of someone." Lawrence smirks,
Ignoring that allusion, Antoine continues, "and since we need her fully cooperation, I was forced to let her go."
"Where is she now?" Dell asks worried.
The Texan did not have to, though. That demon of a woman has shown she is more than capable protecting herself. "My guess; she is killing everyone who has held her prison in this place." Taking out a cigarette from his chest pocket. "Do not worry, she is not defenseless." He lights the smoke and after a brief drag he suggests they should leave." She will join us when done steaming off."
"Alright, but it doesn't feel right just leaving her." Dell muses, leaving a comrade behind doesn't sit right with him.
Lawrence glances to the spy, reloading his submachine gun with a grin the other man knows far too well. The spy groans but gives in, "fine..." and pull out his own revovler. "Might as well clean up while we're at it."
And that is exactly what they did, tThey kill everyone on their path even those who has lost their daemon; they saw it as a mercy kill more than anything since these people did not have a life worth living anymore.
"This is too easy. I'm actually feeling I'm getting worse." Lawrence remarks after have killed three soldiers with barely no effort. Glancing to the spy. "Are all Magisterium soldiers this easy?" For if they were then he is surprised why the resistance; who train their newest members has so much trouble defeating the world power.
Ignoring the insult to his own training, "I do not think the Magisterium trained these people." Antoine gives one of the dead guard a extra glances; noticing that he looks very much like the local population. "My guess: these guards were former farmers and fishermen that couldn't say no to a good paycheck."
"Don't make us feel bad for killing them..." Dell muses darkly, he would prefer not thinking about what family these men are leaving behind.
Taking another drag from his cigarette. "I won't, only the reminder what war does." The former Magisterium spy reload his revolver, "and how far our enemy is willing to go." Which does kinda makes him happy that the past generation of the resistance made unambiguous rules of what lines Team Fortress never should cross. One of them is dragging unaware civilians into the battle. Every member that joins will get the cold hard truth of what the resistance is doing and fighting with them can get them killed.
Lawrence eyes the hallway filled with people he and the two others has killed, slightly wondering if these people truly knew what has been going on in here? Unlike the two others, he hasn't ever been part of the Magisterium so he cannot really say if this is normal for those people. It didn't really matter in the end for him though, "we should get moving." He tell the two others. Dell and Antoine merely nod and they head deeper into the buildings.
However they cannot get much further, they have to stop when they find one of the many hallways engulfed in fire. A guard flees out from one of the room's, he turns and shoot at something which quickly reveal itself being the woman. The guard falls with a gaping hole from the ax in his chest, one gurgling sound and his daemon disappears. The woman leaves the body in search for more she can kill, She walks through the fire in a way it's like not even there.
The spy clears his throat, catching her attention. She stares at them for a moment, but when it's clear they won't follow because of the fire she turns and walks down the on fire hallway.
"Wait!" Dell calls, wanting to go after her but he won't risk his life going through those flames.
The woman's daemon notices that the masked man hasn't tried to follow themand mutters up to his human. "He seems to keep that promise." She stops and turns her attention back to the three men in the middle of the burning hallway. The scouring heat does not bother her, fire in fact made her feel safe. Gives her control she hasn't gotten for years. This fire will help her take this hellhole down. "You better leave." She tells them, the first people who has shown her just a gram of humanity after what felt like a lifetime being imprison and tortured. "I'm going to burn this whole place down."
"I can help you with it." Dell offers, much to his friends and the woman's surprise, ignoring the odd stares from the three, the Texan points over his shoulder. "There is a generator that can make this place blow sky high: nothing will be left behind."
The man sounds sincere but she has been lying to for so long that she does not trust people's words anymore, the woman narrow her eyes. "And why would you do that?"
Dell can't help but chuckle. "Well, I want this place gone as much as you miss. Also.." His smile grows wider. "It's not every day I get the chance see a Anbaricity generator overload. I hear it can make quite a spectacular fireball"
Lawrence laughs, thinking people underestimate how destructive Dell can be when he really wants to. "As long I'm not part of that fireball." He eyes the wary woman. "You coming Sheila?" and leaves with a face palming Antoine close behind.
Dell gives her a weak smile. "If not, then you better get out." Before heading back to the generator as well.
The woman hesitates, not sure if she can trust these people. Her daemon returns to his otter form and takes out the only thing she has from her bit more innocent childhood: the Alethiometer. "Ask it." He tells her hard. Again she hesitate, she does not find the same joy asking the truth device as she did back when her family were still alive. Before those Magisterium bastards took her away, forced her to watch them slaughter her family and to asks the Alethiometer anything that will strengthen their grip around the world. Yet, her need to be around people again and her curiosity about these three override her dislike using the device. She takes it from Dahanain and turns the first pin to the anchor, the second to the hourglass and the last on the caveman. With the question: 'can I trust these men' in mind the needle begins to move, giving her the answer.
'They need your abilities if they wishes to save more people who soon will meet same fate as your friends and family. Joining them is your only chance for survival. Trust can come with time if you let it.'
"A simple yes would do." She grumbles that the device always needs to make a whole speeches. Still the answer calms her wariness and makes her follow the three men. However, she does not leave her weapon behind as the Alethiometer did say between the lines that she cannot trust them fully right away.
**
The remaining soldiers still in the town and not heading towards the Facility all flinch when a huge explosion followed by a bright fireball appears right where they know the Facility is located. All of them know it can only be the terrorist, only those people would be insane enough to blow up a whole building and murder everyone on their path. A few of the soldiers have fought and survived an encounter with the terrorists and knows that if they do not kill these people, then they soon will have a bigger problem on their hands as the terrorists have a habit staying where the Magisterium is trying to spread their influence. The bit more experience soldiers command the rest shooting at everything that moves, yes even at the civilians. The terrorist will try getting the civilians on their side, and the chance many from this village will is too great for the soldiers. They just can't risk having their enemy raise their numbers.
The soldiers start shooting at the terrified civilians, one of them chases down a mother and her two children; completely ignoring her begging not to kill her children. He aims but before he can shoot, his head explodes, and the scared mother spots the person who did it. A bit oddly skinned man with yellow glasses and crocodile teeth decorated hat. "Run Sheila!" He calls with a strange accent, aiming his rifle again and another soldier ends up dead.
He did not have to say that twice, the woman and her children run past the man, but stops when she sees a familiar face. The scarred woman with the otter daemon gives her a weak smile before telling her to leave. The mother thanks her and with other survivors; flees into the forest with the cries of dying soldiers.
When the backup from the Magisterium arrives, only a town filled dead people will greet them. The survivors, terrorists and most of the useful supplies will be gone.
I am starting to see why so many writes about Sniper and Spy being friends; those two are really fun to write about.
to those who haven't read The Golden Compass book. Anbaricity is that world's word for electricity, I did however take the liberty widen it a bit by turning Anbaricity into machines that can hold the power of a lightning storm. I cannot say in numbers how strong the generator in this chapter was. all I can say that the Magisterium soldiers only will find a big hole in the ground.
again, if you have any suggestions to a mission in form of a chapter. I very much would like to hear it.
and sorry if there's not enough accent in the story, but I can't write accent even if my life depended on it. so if any of you dear readers can help me out on that part: I would be very grateful.
till next time