Author's Note: I've decided that I WILL NOT disable my private messaging. I've blocked all of my harasser's accounts (all 17 of them...) so hopefully this silliness will stop. I also don't like my readers not being able to contact me. Just for the record, I never called this girl stupid or insulted her. I simply told her I no longer wished to continue a discussion with her and when she kept messaging me I told her I'd report her if she continued. She then got angry and well, the rest is history.
So sorry for all the notices and false alarms lately :C Also, I even surprised myself with how quickly I turned out this chapter! I hope you've all enjoyed it so far. I think I'm writing faster because we're getting towards one of my favorite parts of my story. X3 Happy reading!
Chapter 12
It hit Noelle like a swift kick to the gut. She nearly choked on the air she drew in. So that's why they hate my family so much. My several times great grandfather was the one loose end they could never tie up. Noelle couldn't hold back the proud smile that crept across her face.
"Lucas I, knowing he had to go large scale to see him goals met, had Altman start the Church of Unitology over 200 years ago. He needed an army, and he made himself one. Lucas saw to it that Altman won himself countless followers who were willing to do anything he asked, and since Mr. Osiris controlled Altman, he controlled every single Unitologist as well. But even then he knew it wasn't enough."
"So you had Altman killed." Noelle stated what seemed obvious to her, despite the sickening nature of the subject.
"Altman was innocent." The blond explained with a haughty snort, "He truly believed what he preached and didn't know the true goals behind Lucas' plans, which made him… disposable."
"Blind faith like what Altman preached fuels obedience and loyalty. So does tragedy. Lucas had Altman killed so the Unitologist followers would be brought to an even higher level of fanaticism." The brunette continued, "They pledged their lives to him, vowing to protect the organization they valued, that right then seemed to be under constant attack thanks to Altman's untimely demise. He gained even more influence when he bribed and blackmailed his way into control of the CEC."
"How good for him." Noelle's sarcasm was so icy one would be shocked she couldn't see her breath. The men ignored her.
"Lucas' plan would have been successful quickly." The brunette's voice grew a tone of life to it, an anger; he had been nearly deadpan before, "Your ancestor, Dr. Clarke, made it his life's goal to stop Lucas. It's because of him that we've had to work so hard just to continue our experiments. Unfortunately, even after Alexander died he passed along his mission to his children. Everything he had learned of Lucas' plan was sent down the line for two centuries until what we see standing here before us today." The man crossed his arms and used a single hand to give a flippant gesture towards Noelle.
"Your family's ultimate purpose was, is still very much so is, to bring down and eradicate the Osiris family." The blond stated darkly.
"And vice versa, I'm sure." Noelle retorted. The grim smiles that swept onto the trio's faces told her all she needed to know; she was right.
"So why are you guys here?" Noelle asked with an almost casual tone, trying to play off her shock, "Why does Lucas need little minions like you?"
"We're kind of like… insurance." The blond replied smugly. "We make sure people like you don't try to stop people like us."
"So what are you planning on this ship?" Noelle asked. She knew she was pushing it, but the more information she wrung out of these three stooges the easier it would be to take them down.
"Typical Clarke." The brunette said to Noelle condescendingly, "Nosy, asks too many questions. Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'." He punctuated his last statement by cocking his gun.
"Obviously from all your questions, you don't know as much as we thought you did. So why did they leave you out of the loop? You're of age. You're not unintelligent. You have the skills of a fighter and spy trained into you." The brunette's question was thought provoking, but Noelle refused to allow it to fester anymore in her mind.
"I don't have any training." Noelle replied shortly.
"Don't lie!" the black-haired one cried at her with a ferocity of a guard dog on a chain. "You carry that wretched sword! We saw the glass you broke!"
With a sharp gesture the blond cut off the lunatic and said to Noelle, "What he's trying to say is that no one knows how to use a sword in this day and age. No one also knows how to break glass the way you did… unless they've been trained."
"Do you know why your grandfather has been missing?" The brunette asked her smoothly.
"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't. What makes you think I would ever tell you?" Noelle stared them down. She didn't, but they didn't need to know that. Her arm was beginning to weaken from pointing the gun for so long and her exhaustion in general, but she was beginning to grow suspicious. She had a hunch there little discussion was coming to an end and it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Well, we were going to simply put a bullet through your head so we could finally be rid of a very annoying obstacle to our cause," the blond stepped forward, "but you may have information that could be vitally helpful to our plan."
"I'll never talk." Noelle was very aware that she did know things. Things they wanted. But she now had even more information her family would want to know since the Osiris idiots were arrogant enough to tell her; or dumb enough. It made her worry though. Their willingness to allow her all that information spoke of their confidence that she would not live to use it.
"Pity." The blond's facial expression was a poor mockery of genuine disappointment, "We thought we might be able to educate you and bring you to your senses. Too bad you can't be more like your dear grandmother."
Noelle knew instantly he was referring to her father's mother, Octavia. She had married Paul Clarke, so she was not born a Clarke. They had had a long and happy marriage, but the two inexplicably separated some years after they had both Nathaniel and Isaac. They did not divorce- they were still technically married- but no one had seen Paul Clarke in years. Octavia used most of her and Paul's money to buy a vested-level position in the Church of Unitology. She had been there ever since and kept to herself.
"So what are we gonna do with her?" The twitchy one grew a sadistic grin that nearly gave Noelle terror-chills.
"She's either gonna talk," the blond took a step forward with a smile to match his raven-haired partner, "or she's going to look a lot worse for wear after we're done with her."-he then addressed Noelle-"The Osiris' taught us how to do that well."
Noelle examined the men closer after that. They had hardly any injuries or even any dirt or blood on them. From that she began to form a plan that might allow her to win this fight.
"Well, I can tell you guys were taught to be pussies too." Noelle looked the men directly in the eyes and allowed it to sink in.
"What did you say?" The blond lowered his voice, but his tone lost its cruel playfulness. Now it was just dangerous.
"You guys don't have a scratch on you. You sat and hid while all of us fought those Necromorphs." Noelle's tone was short and sharp, making the sting of her words all the worse, "You call yourselves soldiers? More like little boys that hide in the corner and piss their pants whenever there's any danger."
"Little boys, huh?" The blond growled. Noelle glanced at the other men and found that the smiles had been wiped off their faces as well. The blond suddenly took another step forward, placing him only about ten feet from Noelle, and fired a shot at point-blank range.
Noelle flinched a second before the man pulled the trigger, so the bullet glanced off an armor plate on her left shoulder. The sound bounced off the walls and rebounded several times, making her ears ache. Noelle didn't even get a chance to thank her lucky stars that she hadn't been hurt. A second later the man that had fired the shot grabbed her wrist and tried to wrench the gun from her hand, but she held fast knowing if she let go it would be the last thing she would ever do.
Quickly getting her bearings, and before the other men could even react, she grabbed the arm of the blond that held his gun and put him in an arm-bar hold. With one swift motion she held his arm steady and snapped the bone of his forearm with ease gleaned from years of training. His scream rang out a half second later as Noelle easily snatched the gun before it hit the ground as he dropped it in pain. The two other Osiris followers had hardly even moved by the time Noelle pressed the man's own gun to his chest and pulled the trigger.
The other two were after her the minute their leader's body hit the floor with a solid thud. The raven-headed psycho reached her first. Noelle grabbed the gun he had pointed at her, jerked his aim away from her, then pistol-whipped him with her gun. A swift kick to the gut sent him sprawling on the floor.
Since the psycho was too stunned to get up, Noelle took the opportunity to focus on the brunette. As she turned to face him, Noelle was barely able to dodge the swipe of a force blade. A short handle with fanned blade, it had a nearly clear blade made of ions that could cut through extremely solid objects. Noelle thanked God that it hadn't touched her. Blades like that cut though flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter.
In a smooth succession of movements, Noelle unsheathed her sword, disarmed the man with a single swing of her blade, grabbed the man and his blade, than buried it in the side of his neck. Blood drenched the front of his suit even before he hit the floor. The blade clattered to the ground next him a second afterwards.
The scrape of metal and a low groan sounded to her right. The dark-haired lunatic was back on his feet, despite his newfound wobble and stagger, with his own gun in his hand. It looked like he had modified it himself. Noelle quickly sheathed her still soiled sword and pulled her own gun. She had thrown aside the blond's gun so that it was out of reach of her attackers and also so she had a free hand. She needed to be able to survive a hand-to-hand fight if it came to that.
"Clarke!" The injured man growled at her. He turned his head and spat out blood. Noelle kept her guard up even though the man didn't look stable on his feet. He suddenly sprang towards her with an ease that would have surprised anyone else not trained in combat like her. Noelle caught the man's outstretched arms, spun his around, and pinned his arms behind his back. She tried to force him to drop the weapon by jerking his arm up sharply above his head, but the determined man jerked his arm loose and tried to spin around. Noelle struggled to keep a hold of his arms. He was very strong and obviously had had training.
Knowing she had to do something quickly or she would be killed, Noelle pushed the barrel of her gun to the man's back on the left side right behind the heart, and fired. The man's body went limp instantly, but Noelle didn't let it fall. She didn't have to worry about an attack now so she gently lowered the body to the floor. She laid the man on his back, shut his eyes, and placed his hands over his abdomen. She did the same with the other two men, but did not move them other than that.
Noelle stepped back and made sure everything looked correct. She had been taught by her parents that when in combat one always has respect for their opponent, even after they have been defeated. It only seemed like the right thing to do. She couldn't imagine leaving the bodies lying disgraced on the floor, despite the fact that these men had shown no respect for her.
Her gloved hand were covered in blood from her work, but she would have to wait to clean herself and her sword later. She was just thankful her sheath only came in contact with the sword under the horizontal bar of the handle to support its weight. There was nothing worse than trying to clean the inside of a full sheath. She pulled off her gloves and put them in her inventory to toss away later, seeing that they were too torn up with too many holes to offer her any protection anymore.
Noelle didn't have time to move the bodies from the hall and felt bad for whoever discovered them, but she had to keep herself alive for the sake of her fellow survivors. She had to keep moving.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I know there's a lot of blood in this one! Yikes! D: I smiled too today because some people have been referring to me as a 'he'. I can totally understand why a person would think a guy wrote this, because its kinda a guy video game. Believe it or not, I'm actually a girl. X3 Happy reading!
