The Retaliation of Seven 14
Sandor's P. O. V.
Six moves before any of the rest of us, slashing out at our intruders with a blade she's apparently been keeping in her boot this entire time. The largest of the three shadowy figures isn't slow, though, because he catches her arm before the blade can cut through his chest and constrains it there. She instantly goes to punch him with her free hand but it's quickly constrained above their heads, making her emit of a sound that's something between a grunt and yell as she starts kicking at him. Like my own Garde, she's an impulsive and brute fighter, which is why this guy's strategy is so easily conquering her.
Eight telaports behind them as Henri and I grab our own weapons, but the other two intruders are quicker. The first whirls around to face Eight and their hand flies out, suddenly freezing him in place. I can see his muscles strain but it's too no avail; I'm about to shoot the tazer I 'borrowed' from a cop upon arrival to England, but the second throws their own hands up in a surrendering fashion.
"Please!" It's a girl, and by the sounds of it she hasn't even hit puberty. "Please, we come in peace! Don't shoot!"
"Show yourselves," Henri barks, still gripping his dagger. It glows lightly with a green light, which probably means it's more lethal than any average dagger.
"Gladly, my son." The serene voice speaks from the largest of the three, the owner of the person who called himself Pittacus Lore. He steps forward, still gripping a struggling Six, and the lights come on, obviously from someone's telekinesis flipping the switch.
We probably would like one of those really awkward moments on television to anyone who could be watching; 'Pittacus' is standing, constraining one of our most powerful Garde with seeming ease, a chick with long, uneven blonde air is holding Eight in place with her hand outstretched, Henri is clutching a glowing dagger, I'm pointing my gun at nobody particular, a mousey girl with red curls is standing in the middle of it, her hands up and tears in her eyes. I move first, long enough to pull back the hammer on my gun and lower it by half an inch.
"Let Six go." I speak through clenched teeth.
"Lower your weapons and I shall." 'Pittacus' says it so casually, like we're just talking about the weather.
I exchange a glance with Henri and we slowly comply. If we does anything, Eight and Six can defend themselves, and it's not like we put down our gun/dagger. As promised, he lets our Garde go and watches with the same expression as she reels back and looks to him with fury.
"Relax, my children." He doesn't move to touch her, but his words sound so soothing all of a sudden it's practically impossible not to listen. "Brandon, Sandor, please set down your weapons fully. Tabi, release Jonah."
"Sure, you tell them please.." The blonde grumbles but Eight suddenly moves again, gasping a little and looking to her with something just short of rage.
Henri and I glance to each other again and very delicately place our weapons on the bed in front of us. 'Pittacus' smiles serenely and slowly sits on the bed opposite of us, being quickly joined by the little redhead and even the blonde. Henri and I remain standing, but Eight and Six slowly walk over themselves, Eight sitting stiffly on the other edge of the bed we're in behind while Six stands at my side. I hope I can constrain her if they say something to make her angry.
"How can I prove to you that I am Pittacus Lore?" The old man asks calmly.
"Do you truly posses all of the Legacies?" Henri demands, like he was waiting for that question.
"Indeed I do, Brandon." He gives a small smile. "I also happen to know that you were one of the youngest in your class, and you took that as challenge. You passed with a perfect grade point average and became a Cepan much more quickly than your fellow classmates."
Henri's face loses color and I feel my own do the same. If he knows all that stuff about my 'Fearless Mentor Cepan', then he probably knows all the shit I got into and caused. Pittacus merely smiles and continues on with saying something about a Kloutus and from what programs he honored, and by the time he gets done, I earn some respect for Henri's brains and he looks he's about to cry.
"S-sir.." He says weakly.
Pittacus smiles again and I slowly lifts up our weapons with his telekinesis, setting them on the bedside table while I try not to gawk. I always thought this guy was so overrated, but there's something all powerful and knowing about him. If he really has the Legacies and he defeated Setrakus Ra long ago like all the stories said, well..
"Sandor." I jump a little when he speaks to me and he chuckles softly. "At ease, my boy. You have improved much since the last I heard of you."
"Yo-you heard of me?" I repeat, not able to wrap my brain around it. I mean, I screwed up a lot back on Lorien, but so badly that the Elders got involved?
"Your work as a grid repairman was remarkable," he responds. "As you and the other young man were the only ones, it was significant information that could be found in the reports."
"Why did you call me 'Jonah'?" Eight finally musters out very quietly.
"That is your true Loric name, Number Eight." Pittacus reaches out and lightly pats his knee, and the guy practically quivers. "Do not be afraid, my child. I have returned to help you."
"Who are they?" Six mutters, glancing at the redhead and the blonde. "And why didn't you come sooner?"
Henri looks like he wants to scold her, but he's too nervous in front of our only living Elder, not to mention that none of us could really blame her for asking. His expression becomes slightly more clouded at her questions.
"These two girls are Numbers One and Two, their true names being Tabi and Sadie. And I would have come sooner, but an Elder's body takes much to regenerate, and I was dead the first night I arrived on Earth, which was only one day before you all were to arrive." He sighs quietly and closes his eyes. "I am very old as it is, so there is only so much I am able to do for your combating skills. None the less I can tell you vital information concerning your survival, but I must also inform you that time is running out. Your victory must come swiftly, as a soul may only be preserved so long, especially if there are a large quantity harvested."
Everyone's faces become more grim. That means it's even more vital we find John, Nine, and rescue Ella, as they are part of the Garde as well. It's great news that Numbers One and Two are alive, at least, though they obviously differ in appearance as young children in more than one way.
"Do you know where Numbers Four and Nine are?" I ask quietly, my heart aching a bit at the reminder of my Garde; he hates me at this point. "Or...Number Ten?"
He nods once and his face clouds further. "I can sense Number Four is very close to where they are imprisoning Adamus and Number Ten. We must go there quickly, but Number Three has also been revived."
"Then...Then who do we save first?" Two asks quietly, her eyes large and afraid.
"Just because I am an Elder does not know that I know simply everything." Pittacus gently pats her knee. "We do not need to separate further, this is all I know for certain in these regards."
"Where is Nine?" I ask tensely, and I'm met with a sad gaze. "Where is he?!"
Nine's P. O. V.
I sit on the bench mutely, staring straight ahead. This isn't how I intended for this plan to turn out, not exactly, but I'm going to have to make this shit work. Beside me Katarina's cries have finally ceased, and even though they weren't that loud originally, I could still pick it up faintly with my sensitive hearing. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I tense on instinct, so they retreat.
"How did you know we would be here?" Number One's Cepan asks me- Heidi, I think she said her name was. Her voice is older than the others, at least from what I've heard, but that could just be because they've been down her for Lorien knows how long.
"Johnny was convinced that Cepan wouldn't show up on the tracker." I chuckle bitterly. "Well, if you look really closely, some of the lines were closer than the others. I noticed the line in Canada getting darker, like there were other lines, and so when we ditched another I came here."
"That was very brave of you." The guy who introduced himself as Ella's Cepan, Crayton, says from where he's been staring out of the bars of this cramped prison cell. "But you should not have left your fellow Garde. That's a very risky move."
"Yeah, would have, could have." I grunt and roll my eyes.
"We haven't been in here that long." A new voice pipes up, and by squinting a make out the form of a thin man, one that's been starving. I think he sees me better than I see him, because he ruefully chuckles. "I didn't always look this, but I can't fatten this body up when we barely get fed here."
"How long have you been here?" I mutter.
"Probably a couple of weeks." Heidi sighs. "I didn't know what hit me. All I remember is waking up, then suddenly going back under and waking up here. Apparently the Mogodorians knew my revival was coming."
"It's probably my fault." Katarina sounds miserable, just as bad as the others do when they hound on themselves. "I was here first. They found me while I was looking Brandon, just outside of Dallas, Texas."
"Don't blame yourself." The bone-thin guy puts a hand on her shoulder. "It could have- and did- happen to all of us."
"He's right that you shouldn't feel guilty, but we can't stay here." Crayton sighs restlessly. "Have you tried your Legacies again, Jaidev?"
"You were here the last time I tried," I grumble. "I don't know what the hell they put in that damned shot, but it got me good."
When the Mogs found me, I was just coming out from taking a crap somewhere in Quebec. One walked right past me and stuck me with something sharp, and even though I snapped his neck, I was still down for the count. I woke up in this prison cell, surrounded by the people I wanted to find but in really bad circumstances. My original plan was to just bust in and lay low until I could get them out, but like I said, this is going to have to due.
Loud footsteps quiet us all down and I mentally curse myself for that. I can't be like I was two years ago, just having to watch my Cepan be tortured horribly and eventually having to kill him out of mercy. A form appears to shove a tray under the one weak point in the forcefield in front of the bars, which is along the bottom and two thin for a mouse to fit through. We all grab the boxes on it and I kick it back to the guy, successfully nailing him just below the waist. I know he glares and curses us all before he stalks off, but I'm too busy grinning to care.
"You really shouldn't do things like that, Jaidey." Two's Cepan, Conrad, comments, sounding really worried. "That kind of stuff will only make it harder on you."
I just chuckle bitterly and sit back. No matter if I have to break us out or if somebody is coming to the rescue, this is going to take a while.
"They're always going to make it harder on me." I shrug and sigh.
You were the reason I went as it was, Sandor had said to me at the airport, which feels like it was a lifetime ago.
He had a point and I knew it. Katarina blames herself for us all ending up here, and even though I know it's stupid, maybe our all dying will have something to do with me. If I could screw up my own Cepan's lives, what makes me think I can actually save theirs?
Ella's P. O. V.
"Happy birthday, my precious heir." Setrakus Ra is being nice to me tonight. He strokes my cheek and sits me in his lap, crooning over my body with compliments and telling me all about his plans for humanity and his rising empire.
I sit there quiet, trying not to flinch with every motion and breath he takes. I wish I was strong, like Nine, so I could snap his neck, or that I was fast, like Marina, so I could just run out of here and never have to look back. Setrakus is always going back and forth between lethal and loving, and it's got me so confused and scared I can hardly do anything anymore. I've lost a lot of weight, more than I know is close to healthy, and I'm tired all the time. I don't think I'll be able to resist at all soon, and I can't do anything about it.
"I am aware you are wondering how your former allies are doing." He strokes my hair down my back. "I have wonderful news regarding them."
My heart lifts a little. I know his 'wonderful' and mine are two completely different things, but it's still a better word than 'horrible' or 'gruesome.' I've heard those words a lot lately.
"I have Number Nine in custody along with the Cepans," he croons. "And I am allowing you to decide how they will be executed."
I don't remember anything after that, because by the time I hit the floor I am out cold.