"We've been expecting you, Khonsu." As the demon god closed the door to the abandoned hunting lodge behind him and set down the backpack he had found on a body, two of Joram's men accompanied by two Tailors emerged from the skin room, where previously they had been hiding. "We've analyzed your strategy, and we know you would chose to wait out the pursuit. We also know about the Red Order, from our last conversation with the girl you impersonated. Joram had always been very interested in collecting it, and you led us straight to it." Needles of iron and granite barely missed Khonsu as he dove out of the way. The man did not stop talking. "This is the nearest hiding place, based on where the Red Order was hidden. Our only guess is that you intended to arm either yourself or the entire building." Khonsu acted quickly, confined and in unfavorable circumstances. At full speed, he flew across the room, narrowly missing the Tailors and crashing into one of their drivers, gouging out his eyes with Andy's fingers.
"You are out of your element, Khonsu!" shouted the iron Tailor. Three metal needles lodged in Andy's leg as he attempted to leap out of the way, having seized the weapon from the injured man. "And my element is in you!" Internally wincing at the terrible and poorly timed joke, Khonsu killed the iron Tailor, unloading two rounds into his chest. That'll teach you. But as the other Tailor yanked his own thin red cords, the demon god felt them drain his power. He staggered away, rolling free of more ranged attacks, but the man with the gun seized him and plucked the weapon from Andy's fingers and the Red Order from where Khonsu had hidden it. Laughing, he placed it against the ceiling and activated it, something the god still did not even fully understand.
"We have you Khonsu. The truth is, fool, we can't take you cross-country without your being able to recover and escape. We'll wait it out here, where you've got nowhere to run." Khonsu fell backward, unable to stand as the injured man barked from across the room at the rock Tailor, ordering him not to kill Khonsu. Angered, the Tailor shouted back that he must avenge his brother for him to be able to go on to the next life. "You'll get your shot. Joram wants him alive, but he won't be necessary forever. Besides, we have what we really want, other than White Wyrm. Tell us Khonsu, what did you do with him?" The moon god was barely able to speak. With the building surrounded by the Order, all hope of the moon was abandoned.
"He…escaped." Khonsu choked.
"We're assuming you helped him."
"I was…making a run for…Angela. I'm not Daeva. I told you that to… make you not like…her." Nine times out of ten, someone who believes himself of superior intelligence will believe you if you act stupid. The trouble is, this is killing me.
"How is that going to hurt her reputation? What do you mean?" His tone grew sharp.
"If…she shows…up in a bunch….of….different disguises, you'll…think she's a liar."
"I don't believe you." Yes, you do. Khonsu was beginning to recover somewhat, powers far from returning, but Andy's lungs began to function properly once more.
"Look, we…arrived at the same time… right? I'm not even kidding, we showed up in the same car… and you guys didn't… even notice." Khonsu struggled to a standing position as he spoke. On the inside of the Red Order, a scarlet light filled the room, protective yet painful. Fortunately, it seemed the light was starting to hurt. The injured driver slumped over once more, clutching his head. If I remember correctly, I heard a small click with the gun I used. It's possible the clip had only two rounds left when I picked it up. The demon god noticed the pistol in the standing driver's right hand. I have a small amount of moonlight left… there's no time to decide. Apparently, the Tailor had grown angrier with the disturbing light and was now rushing toward Khonsu. He leapt out of the Indian kid's path and seized the left hand and gun of a shocked driver. As the super powered youth came back with a needle in hand, Khonsu burned through the man's hand with moonlight and fired the pistol, bullets deflecting harmlessly off the remaining granite needles. Seeing the other pistol was empty having tried to use it on Khonsu, the driver brought it down on Andy's shoulder, dislocating it. The god dropped to the floor as the Tailor pounced, shooting the youth on the bottom of his foot and rolling under the needled monster as he flew through the air, only to land hard on an injured foot. The driver yelled in pain as Khonsu shot him in the chest, finally out of ammunition. Now at a crawl, Khonsu searched for an iron needle to use as a weapon. The injured driver had beaten him to it, and kicked the moon god in Andy's ribs while he was on the ground. With whatever remained of strength left to Khonsu, he stabbed the man in the leg and dragged him to the other side of Andy's supine body as a returning Tailor launched eight spikes, most missing but possibly three sticking into the last driver, presumably killing him with an inarticulate groan.
"No tricks remain to you, Raksha. Most of your power is inside my body, and when I kill you with my last needle, I'll have the rest of it. Don't struggle." As he spoke, Khonsu pulled the needle from where he had stabbed the driver, noticing that the red cord had broken somehow, possibly weakened by their owner's death, and broken when the god leapt from the attack of his avenger, and that the cord now leaked blood that turned white when it landed on Andy's palm. As said avenger arrived, Khonsu sliced a needle free of where it was lodged in the dead man and grabbed the now free cord, stuffing it into Andy's mouth. "What are you doing?!" the Tailor shouted as he slashed at the god, now upright and dodging his attacks, strength returning. Khonsu grabbed his needle wielding hand and stabbed him in the wrist with the iron needle, whose cord he had just placed in Andy's mouth. The Tailor fell to the ground after a few more attempts at the demon god's life.
"You see, Tailor, I figured it out." He kicked his enemy in the head. "I shouldn't have been surprised at how quickly these things work." The Tailor struggled for a needle, but Khonsu kicked it away. "With three in me, your brother drained almost all my power in seconds. That's why you specifically were sent after me, isn't it?" Tears welled up in his opponents eyes as Khonsu destroyed his hand with a foot of Andy's . "Joram's probably got more than just the- five of you, I'm guessing- but he sent you to drain my power and make me unable to resist when you dragged me back." The god dragged the boy older than Andy to his feet from behind, holding a knife to his throat. "One more thing- I'll let you go if you get this right- was the base being hidden under a hot dog stand some sort of bizarre reference to the one in the middle of the Pentagon that everyone thought Communists were using to spy on the United States?" The Tailor probably couldn't understand the question, but Khonsu slashed his throat anyway and went about the hunting lodge looking for survivors, reasoning that even if he did understand it, he probably wouldn't know the answer. In truth, Khonsu had only learned of the hot dog stand fiasco by chance, overhearing it long ago. With all enemies sufficiently dead, Khonsu fixed Andy's shoulder and crawled into a stack of skins in the corner, intending to sleep until significant time had passed. The world would go on without him for months, perhaps years. He didn't like the idea.
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"-think she's here." Khonsu blinked awake as a snippet of conversation caught Andy's ear, probably something relevant. Remembering the structure was invisible, the god stood without fear and pressed an eye to the interior surface of the Red Order, here exposed by an open window in the lodge. Three or four squad cars were parked on a thin dirt road not too far from the small skinning cabin where unseen he caught also a glimpse of officers pressing against the invisible Red Order. In all probability, he could retrieve the Order and fly away immediately, but would be seen unless he applied it. Even then, he would not get far, for wearing the armor would block access to the much needed moonlight if he wanted to stay in the air. The conversation of the officers continued, from what he could tell, and he wasted no time. Seizing the backpack, he rushed to the other window, opened it, and pressed Andy's eye against the invisible wall, seeing through it no officers on the opposite face. The god leapt out the window, taking the Red Order with him, pulling off the house as it wrapped around Andy's lean body. Khonsu raced through the woods unseen as the officers breached the visible and accessible hut, searching for any sign of an explanation. Though Khonsu had not recovered any moonlight, Andy's body had had significant rest, and now he used it to climb a large tree. Fortunately, he had woken with the sun setting, and in perhaps an hour, he would be able to take off without fear. From the Baldcypress, indigenous to swampy Louisiana, the demon god could see the officers surface from the structure, having searched the small building in seconds. As the moon rose something around thirty minutes later, Khonsu retracted his armor, receiving light. For the first time in what Khonsu could only guess to be years, though he knew he had planned to wake before 2010, the white light filled every cubic inch of Andy's body, recharging and repairing. With that, he was off. Click.
"Got her! Fire!" Rapidly formulating some sort of plan, Khonsu righted himself in the air as bullets whizzed past, probably rubber from the sound.
"Damn Jetpack!" Khonsu shouted as close as he could get to Andy's voice. Perhaps the officers knew Andy swore frequently. If not, she's a bad girl anyway. Holding onto the straps of the pack on Andy's back and discharging moonlight to simulate propulsion, Khonsu flailed around in the air, having imaginarily been hit. He then scooted around supine and in random directions until he was too high up to see. The officers racing on the ground attempted to get under him, but he flew off to the south at full speed and dropped, falling right in the distance in front of them, pretending furiously to try to get the "jetpack" working again. They continued their pursuit but slowed when they saw they were too late. Seconds before hitting the ground, Khonsu would stop, unseen behind a swamp tree, and fly off the minute he had finished scaling it. His plan to lay low would have failed, but he would succeed in escaping pursuit for a moment. It would only be when, in a certain oil refinery explosion, he would alert police presence around him. It would only be then that Andy would wake.
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Sorry for the wait, it's just finals week.
