...
Act II
A Christmas to remember
Chapter 13
FUBAR
The firefight within the palace's walls only lasted for seconds. And so did the guards. They were by no means incompetent, but no one had trained them to deal with an enemy like Specters. And the outcome of the battle had already been determined before the first bullet had left a rifle. Dee had witnessed her fair share of firefights. She had killed people and people had tried to kill her. Her body still showed the marks of war, right where the enemy's bullets had pierced her skin all those years ago. But no matter how many fights she had witnessed before, she had never seen a battle this brutal that lasted less than four seconds. When Dee stepped out of the palace and into the delivery area, she could see how the last guard fell to the ground, his head blown apart.
The six men that belonged to her were utterly shocked and surprised. They turned around and tried to realize what was going on. Only when their leader saw Dee, he started to relax.
"Whoa. Close call there." he managed to mutter before he made a gesture to the other five men to calm down. "Relax, boys. They're with us. I hope." Dee walked over to her comrades with a cocky smile on her lips. She had removed the clunky night-vision-goggles and they could see her sweaty hair clinging to her forehead. Her muscles ached and the weight of her rucksack was finally starting to take its toll. Thankfully she was about to lose that weight anyway. Dee reached her comrades and offered the leader her hand.
"Good to see you, Lloyd." she said.
"Likewise." the leader of the team replied and nodded at the black-clad figures. Right now, the Spectres were swarming out in order to make sure no one had survived and no one had sounded any form of alarm. "So, who are your new friends?" Lloyd wanted to know. Dee opened her mouth and wanted to say something that consisted of both "mad skills" and "highly psychotic", but she managed to swallow that down. But even then...
"Hihihi, hey T! She thinks that you're a psycho!" a female Spectre giggled while walking up to the dead body of a guard. This woman wasn't the leader of the unit, but it was hard to tell them apart with their faces still covered by their strange masks. The big and bulky Spectre with the finger-necklace turned around and growled something very unflattering.
"Shut up and do your job!" the female leader of the Specters suddenly barked and walked over to Dee and Lloyd. She didn't introduce herself, she didn't offer any of them her hand. She just stood there and waited for orders. Lloyd looked around and frowned.
"That was too close. We nearly blew the whole mission. Even though I'm glad you saved our asses..." he then said. "...you took your sweet time, Dee!"
"Yeah, yeah, good to see you too." she replied, immediately regretting that she had told him that it was good to see him. Truth to be told; the only thing Dee and Lloyd had in common was the fact that they were both Zappers (well, used to be Zappers) and they both hated the Dominion. While that is enough for people to go to war, it isn't enough to become best pals. "You're lucky that we got here in time. And why the hell did you have rotten meat inside the truck?"
"Good question. Is this part of the plan, or did someone screw up?" the leader of the Specters agreed. Her voice was barely a whisper, and it caused Dirk to shiver. Behind them, the Specters started to drag the bodies out of sight. They decided to throw them into the meat-truck and closed the door. Kinda fitting if you think about it. Lloyd shrugged his shoulders when he heard the women's questions.
"We stole the truck last week, it was supposed to take the meat inside the palace. But a certain genius forgot to keep the cooling unit switched on." There was no word to describe what Dee felt right now. Frustration? Anger? Fury?
"Goddammit!" she hissed. "This has to be a stupid joke! You nearly blew the whole mission because one idiot forgot to keep the meat cold?!" There was no doubt that the amount of incompetence needed for this kind of behavior was spectacular. Should they succeed in this mission, should they SURVIVE this mission, they would never speak about this little "mishap". The look on Dirk's face showed that he wasn't really interested in continuing this conversation.
"Yeah, well...tough luck." was the only thing he had to say. It was typical Zapper-behavior. If you screwed up, shrug your shoulders and blame it on the weather. You either accepted that kind of behavior, or you better tried to find a different profession. Instead of wasting any more time, he pointed his chin at her backpack. "You got the gear?" Dee decided to drop this conversation and just nodded. When she pulled the rucksack off her shoulders, she sighed in relief. The muscles in her back felt like they were about to cramp and she flexed her shoulders once they were freed from all that weight. She put the rucksack down and opened it.
"Yeah, everything's here. Now-" The moment she opened it, the leader of the Spectres finally started to take a more active role.
"Hate to spoil the reunion." she said. "But we're on a tight schedule here. So get inside and do your thing, so we can do ours." She then turned around and joined her brothers and sisters, who were still busy cleaning up the mess they had caused.
"Such a charming person. Where did you find those bunch of freaks anyway?" Lloyd whispered to Dee, who only shook her head.
"Trust me, you don't want to know that. Oh, and you better not call them freaks. And try not to think about that either. They are crazy in ten different ways, but you don't want to screw with them." Her voice was equally filled with respect and despise. She grabbed into the backpack and pulled something out.
"Here, have a little gift for you. Forgot to wrap it up though." she said and handed the sub-machine gun over to Lloyd. A cruel smile appeared on his face when he checked the gun. Her other comrades walked over to her and she started to give everyone a gun. These sub-machine guns were relatively small and packed one hell of a punch. They were perfect for engagements in confined spaces, yet when she handed everyone two spare-magazines, Lloyd frowned.
"Could have brought something bigger, like your shotgun. At least one machine gun would have been nice." he growled.
"Sure." Dee replied. "The small girl has to carry the heavy guns for the guys. You know, next time you can crawl through the sewers with all that stuff strapped to your back. I bet you could fit that machine gun up your own ass."
"Noted." Lloyd just said and looked at the rest of the team. "Okay, check your guns. It's go-time, ladies!" The team did as they were told. They opened the zippers of their overalls and revealed gray uniforms and bulletproof vests. Some guys grumbled when they realized that everyone had only three clips in total, two spares and one inside weapon, but no one dared to complain about that.
"Ready?" Dee asked. Lloyd nodded, but then said "Just one more thing." He looked at his wristwatch, which was actually a transmitter. A cruel smile appeared on his face.
"Let's give the boss a heads-up." He pressed a button and a red light started to blink. He then gave Dee a nod and the members of their team turned towards the entrance. The Spectres were still busy when they passed one black-clad man kneeling down next to two bodies. Those guys didn't look like guards though. More like civilians.
It didn't matter. This was the enemy's territory. And the only thing that existed between the Dominion and the Combine was hatred. But even then...
A whimpering sound caught their attention. Lloyd's eyes widened in disgust when he saw how that big, dark figure cut off the finger of the man buried under his co-worker. The cook was done for, that much was certain. But even then, this was just wrong. It's one thing to kill someone, but...
"Damn, that guy is still alive. At least put a bullet through his head before you cut off his finger!" the leader of Dee's team said. The Spectre grunted something, but he didn't stop. The dying cook opened his eyes and he looked around in both pain and confusion. It was as if he was pleading for help. Or mercy.
"Can't believe that..." the leader of the Spectres hissed and walked up to her man. Instead of scolding him, she pulled her sidearm out and pointed it at the cook's head. His lips parted and he tried to say something. Something like "...I have a family..." But then the female Spectre just pulled the trigger and ended his life. Silence filled the whole area before the female Spectre looked at Loyd.
"You're ready to go?" she just asked. Both Lloyd and Dee exchanged glances but decided not to say anything about the Specters behavior. Or their state of mind.
"Lady Samson, may I be the one to introduce you to the Ambassador of the Kel-Morian Combine, Ms. Leila Curtland." Valerian said and bowed his head as a sign of respect. The moment he had said that Valeria's eyes widened in shock (and disgust).
"You are the Combine's ambassador?" she asked with a disbelieving tone in her voice. Curtland's eyes wandered over from Valerian to the smaller woman. Slowly, as if she was some kind of killer-robot covered by a layer of flesh...very pretty flesh. Valerian had to take a deep breath and make sure not to stare at her...assets.
Leila Curtland was pretty much the exact opposite of Valeria Annabelle whatever Kunigunde Samson. She was half a head bigger than Valerian and her whole stature wasn't exactly what you would call "feminine", but that dress was... was...
Whoa...
"Is there a problem that I should know about, Ms...?" Curtland growled as she looked down at Valeria. The smaller woman didn't like the fact that she had to look up, but she then simply decided to turn her attention towards the smaller man next to Curtland.
"Forgive me, but I assumed that you were the Combine's Ambassador. Aren't you Curtland?" The smaller man started to chuckle and shook his head.
"Me? The Ambassador? Oh, hell no!" he announced. He offered his hand to both Valerian and Valeria, completely ignoring the strict protocol. Valeria looked at his hand as if it was covered with something dirty and disgusting, yet the Emperor didn't hesitate one second and grabbed it. The smaller man had a strong handshake, but it wasn't too forceful.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr..." Valerian asked for the man's name, who gave him a friendly smile.
"The name is Jasper Neusser, head of the embassy's security." he told them. It caused Valerian to blink in surprise and he looked over to Curtland.
"Head of security? I understand that you don't have much trust in the Dominion, but is that really necessary?" he said half-jokingly. Sadly, it seemed that Curtland hadn't learned how to figure out jokes since their last meeting.
"Trust me..." she snarled. "...it wasn't my idea." That statement caused the small man next to her to laugh out loud.
"The Ambassador is greatly exaggerating. I simply asked if it was possible for me to accompany her. Call it a form of "professional interest"."
"You wanted to see the Imperial Palace from the inside? Or how our security works?" the Emperor wanted to know. There was no suspicion in his voice, just pure curiosity.
"Both, I guess" Neusser said with a somewhat mysterious tone in his voice. But even as Valerian tried to get some more information out of the man, Valeria made a step towards Curtland and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"That is a lovely dress." Valeria then said. The way she pronounced "lovely" sounded like she meant the exact opposite. Well, at least she wouldn't piss off Curtland on purpose, so Valerian probably didn't have to worry about those two.
"Thanks." Curtland replied, but her voice too sounded like she couldn't care less about that compliment. Then Valeria tilted her head to the side and gave the bigger woman a smile that was so cold that even an Ursadon-matriarch would freeze in an instant.
"I didn't know that they make dresses out of tent cloth. Let alone in kingsize."
Nuclear strike detected.
"I beg your pardon?" Curtland snarled, and even Neusser made a step backward. Suddenly it felt like the temperature inside the throne room had dropped way below zero.
"Oh no, never mind me." Valeria replied. "I'm just admiring the craftsmanship needed to cover those mountains of muscles." Considering that she was supposed to be a prodigy and a member of the upper class, Valeria sure could be brutally honest. For a second Valerian wondered if Curtland would just stomp the smaller woman into the ground, but much to his own surprise she didn't go all siege-tank on Valeria. Instead, she just crossed her arms in front of her chest. And boy, those were some muscles all right!
"What would you know of muscles, little girl?" Curtland snarled. "Those arms of yours look more like toothpicks than actual arms."
"Funny that you're talking about wood since your arms look like logs." Okay, that wasn't exactly subtle. Though Valerian had no idea why Valeria had started to insult Curtland like this in the first place.
"Maybe..." he tried to save the situation. "...we should all calm down and maybe have a drink. How about-" However, he didn't get very far. Instead, Valeria made a step towards Curtland and looked up to her. It was a sight to behold; on the one hand Valeria Samson, a short woman with pale skin and long, black hair who wore a pristine white dress. On the other hand, Leila Curtland, a big woman with a dark tan and blond hair, wearing a black dress. Seriously, they were the exact opposite. How was that even possible?
"Perhaps it's a strange sight for someone who has never worked one day in her life." Curtland growled, which caused the other woman to giggle.
"Oh, there are more ways to work than push stones around. Some of us use their brains instead of their muscles and achieve much more with that."
"Uhm... ladies...?" Valerian tried to defuse the situation. But it was about as successful as trying to stop a train only by asking "Pretty please".
"I like to see how that brain of yours tries to push a stone around. You would probably only break off a nail and run back to daddy." the ambassador said. Now Valeria's eyes widened in surprise.
"You know who my father is?" she asked both surprised and with a threatening tone in her voice.
"Of course. Unlike some people here, I prepare by informing myself who will be at that party." the Ambassador said and you could actually see how Valeria's eyelid started to twitch when she heard that comment. For a moment it looked like she would just throw herself at the bigger woman, completely disregarding the fact that Curtland was probably double the wei...well, she was bigger than Valeria, let's just leave it at that. But instead of going all crazy, Valeria took a deep breath and finally calmed down. Valerian could see how Neusser started to remove himself from the small group and he could understand why.
"I must say, that it is nice to finally meet someone from the Combine." Valeria said with a voice that was dripping with venom. "I always wondered if the rumors about their women were true." One of Curtland's eyebrows wandered up when she heard that.
"And what kind of rumors would that be?" she asked. But Valerian knew that this had to end in a tragedy.
"Oh, you know what I mean." Valeria then replied. "The rumors that the women inside the Combine use their clubs to knock their men out in order to drag them into their caves." You know, Valerian didn't like Valeria, that much was probably obvious. However, he had thought that she was dangerous and greedy, not stupid and suicidal. Curtland made a step forward and looked the smaller woman straight into the eyes.
"Maybe you want me to hit you with my club. I'll even find a cave where you can spend some time alone. How about that, hmm?" The whole scene was really surreal. Like little red hood facing the big bad wolf. Only that Valerian was on the wolf's side.
"A fair word of warning:" Valeria then added with a cocky smile. "I used to be a professional tennis player and I have a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu." Oh. Oh, that could turn out ugly for Curtland if she-
"Six years wrestling." the Ambassador just snarled and pushed her hands together until her knuckles cracked. "Undefeated." she added. Suddenly Valerian imagined how it would look like if Curtland would powerbomb Valeria right here and now.
This wasn't a catfight, this was close to all-out war. From the corner of his eyes, he could see how Neusser turned away and walked over to the entrance. Perhaps he should ask the man for help, he seemed to know Curtland better than anyone else after all.
"Wrestling? Like in those fake shows you can watch on the holo-net?" Valeria chuckled. "Yes, that is really impressive." But Curtland just started to give her a cruel grin.
"Olympic wrestling. They called me the "Terminator"." the big woman explained. Well, Valerian could see where that name came from. Still, he couldn't allow this to go on.
"Ladies, please, there is no reason for this kind of-"
"YESSSSSSSS?" both of them looked at him and hissed at the exact same time. He could see the madness in the women's eyes. They looked like two Hydralisks that were about to devour each other. He opened his mouth and raised his index-finger, ready to say something incredibly smart. Only to realize that he valued his life too much.
"Nothing. I think... uhm... I'm going to see what's Mr. Neusser is doing." Perhaps the Emperor should be able to deal with such a situation, but he just wanted to get out of the blast radius. Seriously, he had faced the Queen of Blades, but this show right in front of his eyes was on a whole different level. When Valerian turned around, he scanned the area for the small man called Neusser. When he found him, the Emperor frowned. Was he checking the entrance of the throne room? Valerian sighed and made his way to Neusser. When he walked towards the other man, some dignitaries tried to approach him and ask him for an appointment or something like that. He only gave them a friendly smile and replied that they should ask some staff members of the Imperial Palace to solve that problem. If he remembered correctly, those guys were supposed to work for him anyway, not the other way round.
Yes, he still held a grudge against those guys. Now after he had met the "lovely" Valeria Samson more than ever.
"...do you know that I can trace back my pedigree all the way to Ancient Earth?" he could hear Valeria's voice behind him.
"You know, there's something called "pedigree" in wrestling too. Want me to show it to you?" Curtland hissed back. Oh boy, better get the hell away from those two.
"Mr. Neusser. Mr. Neusser, please wait!" But Neusser didn't really notice him. He was too busy looking at, well, something? When Valerian had finally reached him, he put his hand on the man's shoulder. Neusser turned around, and for a second it looked like something had scared him. But he immediately regained his composure and bowed his head.
"Emperor. You startled me. Is there anything wrong?" There was some nervousness in his voice. Valerian just smiled and shook his head.
"No. No, everything's fine. I just wanted to, uhm, avoid getting between those two ladies." A frown appeared on Neusser's face, but it lasted only for the fraction of a second. He took a deep breath and looked at the two women in the distance.
"Yes, the Ambassador can be quite a handful. She certainly has a strong...opinion on most things." Neusser declared. He then looked back at Valerian.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" he wanted to know. Valerian shrugged his shoulders when he heard that.
"Well, I just hoped that we could have a little talk." he said. That caused Neusser to pull up his brows.
"Talk? Forgive me my bluntness, but what could the Emperor of the mighty Dominion want to talk about with the head of security from the Combine's embassy?" the smaller man asked and looked back at the entry door. Valerian followed his gaze and could see how Neusser analyzed the door itself.
"A lot. At least I hope so. And I hope that I'm not talking to just the head of security, but to a citizen of the Combine." Now Neusser started to chuckle and looked back at Valerian.
"They said that you know your way with words." he told Valerian. "Guess next thing is that you just want to have a friendly chat with me. I'm sorry, but I want to be honest with you; I'm not interested in any of that." He then turned his attention back towards the door and looked at it. There were no guards on this side of the door. The guests wanted to stay among themselves, and any additional person would just be a potential security threat. Suddenly he felt a vibration around his wrist and looked down.
"What is that?" Valerian asked. "Someone is trying to call you?" he wanted to know and pointed at Neusser's wristwatch. There was a red light blinking and the Emperor could see a smile on Neusser's face. It almost looked...cruel?
"It's nothing." Neusser then declared. "Just someone who wants to tell me something. But I can call him back later." He then pressed a button on his wristwatch and the red light turned green and continued to blink. So they had entered the building. He looked back at the door and tried to figure out how to overcome the safety mechanism. If only...
"You seem to be very interested in our security measures." Valerian then said. Neusser pulled his shoulders up.
"I guess you could call it "professional interest"." the man lied. But it was a damn good lie.
"I see. Well, if you want I could answer your questions." Valerian then offered. It caused the smaller man to look at him in surprise.
"You know how the door works?" Now it was Valerian who had to chuckle.
"Well, in theory anyway. Mat... Admiral Horner forced me to learn how all the security-systems work, should there ever be an attack on the palace." It was somewhat sad that the Emperor would never realize the irony behind those words. But Neusser knew better than to let this opportunity pass without using it for his cause. He looked at the door and pointed a finger at it.
"So, what is this? It's not a blast-door from a battlecruiser. I heard that those things were used for security." the small man said.
"You are awfully well informed, Mr. Neusser." Valerian replied. "And you're right, the security-doors of the palace used to be modified battlecruiser blast-doors. They were reinforced so they could withstand even large armor-piercing ammunition and high explosive devices."
"But this isn't a blast-door," Neusser said. Truth to be told, he had no idea what this mechanism was. "What happened?" he wanted to know.
"The Swarm happened." Valerian replied with a cold tone in his voice before he sighed. "The blast-doors used a hydraulic system, just like those doors on a battlecruiser. It offers good protection against a conventional attack, but against the Queen of Blades? She ripped through those doors as if they were made out of paper." Even though Valerian hadn't been inside the palace when Kerrigan had, well, claimed his father's life, he remembered walking through the devastated rooms of the palace afterward.
"And then you installed this thing? What is it?" Neusser asked again. Valerian shook his head, trying to get rid of those unpleasant memories.
"It's... ah... what's the exact name again? An "electromagnetic fortified protection system." And yes, that's its official name. We haven't come up with a nickname, you're free to make a suggestion though."
"Electromagnetic fortified protection system? I have never heard of anything like that before. How does it work?" As a former Zapper himself, Neusser had studied all sorts of defensive systems, if only to know how to blow them up. But if he could learn something vital about this system before the rest of the team arrived, well, that could be a game-changer. He put his hands behind his back and started to press the buttons on his transmitter in rapid succession.
"See this?" Valerian, of course, didn't know any about this when he showed Neusser how the system was supposed to work. He was just glad that he had finally managed to find a topic he could discuss with the other man. He truly wanted to prove to him that he was a reasonable person. To Valerian, it was not just a wish, it was a mission.
"It's part of the wall?" Neusser asked, but Valerian shook his head.
"No, it's the other way around. The wall is part of the door. It's basically a two-meter thick piece of specially reinforced steel, the same material we use for the armor-plating on our newest battlecruisers. It is so heavy that once an alarm goes off, the magnetic field shuts down and the whole thing slams down." Now Neusser looked at Valerian in confusion.
"Magnetic field? Okay, you lost me." It caused Valerian to grin. He pointed at two blue lights on each side of the entrance.
"Those are magnetic field generators. They are so powerful that they keep the door from crashing down. Should anyone sound the alarm, those generators-"
"...will go offline and the whole door will slam down." Neusser finished. "Nifty." And bothersome. But when he saw the grin on Valerian's face, he had to frown.
"What?"
"It's even better than that. The generators don't just go offline, their polarity is reversed so the door slams shut and both sides are magnetized. That way not even an atom can pass through. The whole system is incredibly tough. And it's battle-proven. It was able to withstand the onslaught of two Ultralisks when they tried to storm a research base on Char."
"But Char is lost. The Zerg retook it years ago." Neusser said.
"True. But that door is probably still there and still standing." Valerian could see the mixed emotions on Neusser's face. He thought that the small man was simply impressed. But in reality, he was worried. This system was a real threat to their plans. If this door would close, they would probably not be able to achieve their goal.
"Must have cost a fortune to install such a system. And I don't even want to know much energy these doors use." Neusser said and continued to press the button on his transmitter. He made sure that the Emperor wouldn't notice anything.
"Door, singular. That is actually the only one. The other entrances still use the old system. They are slated for replacement, but that takes time." Valerian said. "I'm not too fond of it, but I guess it's better to prepare for another attack. Though after dealing with the Swarm and Mobius, I don't know what else could surprise us." The grin on Neusser's face became wider and more menacing.
"Oh, it is always good to be prepared." he told Valerian. The finger on his transmitter never stopped pushing that button. Short. Long. Long. Short. Short. "Still, it seems somewhat odd that the Emperor of the Dominion would bother with such trivialities."
"They are not trivialities to me." Valerian said. "In fact, I believe it is my duty to learn as much as I possibly can in order to be the best Emperor my people could ask for."
"Ha!" the smaller man suddenly burst out in laughter. It sounded as if he was truly amused. It caused Valerian to frown.
"Forgive me, but I fail to see what's so funny about that statement." he declared. Neusser turned towards him, and for a short moment, Valerian thought that he would attack him. But that was of course absurd. No one would dare to attack the Emperor inside the walls of his own palace. Well, no one except the Swarm and Amon's minions. He didn't notice how Neusser stopped pressing the button on his transmitter.
"You truly believe that, don't you?" Neusser then asked. "The whole "building a better future"-stuff. To you it's not just a fancy hobby, you actually think that you're doing something good here." It was then when Valerian finally realized that Neusser was in fact not happy to be so close to the Emperor to the Dominion.
"I guess you too lost someone because of my father's doing." Valerian then mused. "Someone close to you?" It was a personal question, and Valerian didn't expect to get an answer. But much to his own surprise...
"We've all lost someone thanks to your father." Neusser said with a cold tone in his voice. "I lost a brother. He died on the battlefield. And I lost a niece. She died because your father thought that starving us out would be a great idea. So forgive me if I'm brutally honest, but the name Mengsk isn't exactly one the people like to hear in the Combine."
"Fair enough." Valerian replied. "I will not defend my father or what he has done. There is no excuse for what he did anyway. All I'm asking for is a fair chance to prove that I'm not my father." Suddenly something changed inside Neusser's whole appearance. He shifted from one leg to the other and looked up to Valerian.
"What makes you think that you deserve a chance to prove yourself?" he wanted to know. "What makes you think that we want to see how you try to outdo your father?" Valerian opened his mouth, willing to give Neusser an honest answer, only to realize that he had no idea what to reply. For a long moment, he didn't say a word. But when he did...
"Because I think what I do is right." he then explained. And it was what he truly believed.
"Your father thought that he was right too." Neusser replied. "Guess we have to see if you're truly different from him." Valerian wanted to say something, but he knew that he had lost this argument. He wasn't angry at Neusser, how could he? That man had lost family because of Arcturus Mengsk. Valerian sighed and made a step backward.
"Forgive me, Mr. Neusser. I won't continue to bother you anymore. Please, accept my apologies. I didn't mean to cause you any form of discomfort." He then turned away, ready to leave the man alone. Neusser looked at Valerian's back and had to frown. The transmitter on his wrist started to vibrate. The others were close.
"Emperor Mengsk!" he suddenly said and Valerian turned around one more time.
"Yes?" Valerian asked.
"You can't just tell people that they should listen to you and do as you tell them to do because you want that. It's not how the world works." There was a hint of sarcasm in Neusser's voice, but not that much. It sounded more like he was truly curious. Valerian pulled his shoulders up.
"Maybe so. But I believe that the people deserve to live in a better world. That's what I hope to achieve."
"If it would be that easy..." Neusser then said. "...someone would have already done it." Then a faint smile appeared on Valerian's face.
"Perhaps everyone else just hasn't tried hard enough then." With those words, the Emperor finally turned around and decided to leave Neusser alone.
"Well, good luck with that!" he could hear the smaller man saying behind him, but then he was already gone. Neusser, on the other hand, just shook his head. He had more important things to worry about. Like to make sure that the Emperor would never forget this day.
The team moved through the corridors as fast as possible when Lloyd suddenly raised his hand and gestured them to stop.
"What now?" the female leader of the Spectres hissed, but Lloyd just looked at the transmitter wrapped around his wrist. When Dee looked at the transmitter, she could see how the green light started to blink.
Long Long, Short Long, Long Long Short, Long Short, Short, Long, Short Short, Long Short Long Short...
Even though her Morse-skills were somewhat rusty, Dee was still able to decipher the message.
Magnetic lock around throne room. Act quick otherwise move on to plan b.
Plan b. Oh, that was just great.
"What's plan b?" the female Specter wanted to know and both Dee and Lloyd looked at her in anger. She just chuckled when she felt their distaste for her ability to read their minds.
"I don't have to scan your thoughts, I know morse-code." But then she looked at the transmitter again. "So, what's plan b?" Both Lloyd and Dee exchanged looks before the female Zapper finally gave him a nod.
"If we are not able to reach the Emperor in time, we're supposed to turn this party into an example." He then turned around to his men. "Tiv, Ulysses, Marx, proceed to the ballroom. If we fail to get to the Emperor, you will have to buy us some time." The three Zappers nodded and prepared to leave when the leader of the Specters spoke up.
"You'll send only three to deal with those guards inside the ballroom?" she wanted to know. Lloyd gave her an angry look.
"They are soldiers of the Combine, they know how to achieve the impossible." he just snarled. It caused the Specter to chuckle again.
"Oh, so much bravado. And here I was about to offer you our help. I guess you don't need us then..." she said and turned around, but she could sense how Lloyd clenched his hands into fists. He knew that he needed their help, even though he had all sorts of strange feelings when he looked at those dark figures. He looked over to Dee, who gave him a frustrated nod.
"Fine..." Lloyd then growled. "...guess we don't have much of a choice." The Specter laughed again before she gave a nod to two of her warriors, another woman and the guy who liked to wear a necklace made out of fingers. She didn't say a word. She didn't have too. The finger-guy snorted and shook his head as he walked over to the three Zappers that were supposed to take the ballroom.
"Won't promise a thing..." the male Specter just growled as if someone had said something to him. Lloyd looked at his men and gave them a nod.
"Marx, you're in charge. Stick to the plan. Should anything happen, you know what to do." All three of them saluted and turned around. The leader of the Specter and her two minions exchanged looks one final time before they too turned away and followed the Zappers. Lloyd waited until they vanished behind a corner and then turned back towards his other soldiers. The faceless head of the female Spectre was directed right at him and he looked at the strange helmet.
"What?" he hissed, but the woman chuckled again.
"Nothing. Let's go. Lead the way, we follow." she said and Lloyd only snorted before he decided to continue. They had to hurry. If anyone would sound the alarm, they wouldn't be able to grab the Emperor. And then this whole mission would turn into one huge bloodbath. As they moved through the corridors, the Zappers checked their surrounding area with keen eyes. The Spectres, however...
Two of his men pressed against the wall and tried to peek around the corner when the leader of the Spectres just said "Clear!" and walked around that corner. Lloyd hissed in anger when he heard that and looked over to Dee.
"Who are those guys?"
"Trust me..." Dee replied. "...you don't want to know."
"That's not what I asked, Dee." he hissed again when suddenly the leader of the Spectres stopped and raised her hand.
"Contact incoming!" she just whispered and made a strange gesture with her hand, one Lloyd had never seen before. Dee, however, knew what that gesture meant, and her stomach started to revolt, remembering what had happened earlier. The other three Spectres moved forward and pushed Lloyd and his team to the side.
"What the hell you think you're doing?" he snarled, but Dee just grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"No, wait. Let them deal with it. Don't look though, it won't be pretty." she explained to him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd asked, but Dee just shook her head and pulled back around the corner. She pressed her back against the wall and looked into the other direction.
"Dee, what's the matter?" the leader of the Zappers demanded to know.
"Look yourself, but don't say that I didn't warn you." she just whispered. That was not part of the plan, so what was this all about?
Suddenly his thoughts were cut short when he heard steps. It sounded like heavy combat-boots. Damn, guards!
"Back! Back, back, back!" Lloyd hissed. They couldn't afford to be discovered now! They would lose the moment of surprise and then things would turn into a disaster. He could see how his soldiers chambered a round and gestured them to lower their sub-machine guns. Even one shot would probably be enough to sound the alarm. This wasn't good. Only Dee seemed to be in her own world. She leaned against the wall and had her eyes closed.
"Dee, what the hell are you doing? We need to get out of here!" he hissed. Dee opened her eyes and shook her head. For the first time ever, he saw something inside her eyes that he had never seen before; pure, undiluted terror.
"Dee, what's the matter." he wanted to know, but she just turned her head away.
"Can't watch this again," she whispered and he frowned. What was that about? But before he could do anything else, he heard the voice of the female Spectre.
"This should be fun." Her voice sounded like she was looking forward to what was about to happen. No, that wasn't right. It sounded almost... aroused? Dear God, where had Dee picked those guys up? Lloyd pressed against the wall and moved towards the edge of the corner before he peeked around it. He could only see the leader of the Spectres, the other dark figures were gone and nowhere to be seen. His eyes widened in shock when he heard how the footsteps came closer and closer. He raised his SMG, ready to do the one thing he knew he shouldn't. But then he felt the grip of Dee on his arm and looked over to her. Her head was still turned away, but he could see how her whole body was shaking.
"Don't look. Trust me, you don't want to see this." But Lloyd had no time for that. Instead, he peeked around the corner and froze in terror when he saw how two guards came into view. They carried only handguns, but if only one would fire one shot then this mission was over.
"Hello, boys." the female Spectre moaned and raised her hand. "So lovely of you to come to this party. Here, I have a gift for you."
"What? Who are you?!" the man on the left side barked. His comrade was not as slow though.
"Freeze!" he shouted and tried to grab his gun. But the moment his hand touched it, he started to gag. His comrade opened his mouth and grabbed his own head. It looked like he wanted to scream in pain, but only a choking, gurgling sound left his throat. Lloyd's eyes widened in shock when he saw how the two men started to tumble to the side and smashed into the wall. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there.
"Ghhhhhaaaa...!" the slower man started to gurgle. His eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he seemed to not know where he was. His facial expression was one of pure pain. He turned around like he was looking for something that could help him. And when he found it...
"Oh my God..." Lloyd whispered and he could hear how Dee started to whimper next to him. The gurgling sound of those two men was more horrible than screams of pain. The second man dropped to his knees and started to convulse. His fingers dug into the skin of his face and his nails managed to rip it open. Blood streamed down his face, yet his throat still wasn't able to produce any scream. The first man, however, was still on his feet. He turned towards the wall...
...and smashed his head against it.
Blood spilled all over the wall and he stumbled backward. What the hell was going on here?
However, Lloyd's shock grew only bigger when he saw how the man rammed his head into the wall again. And again. And again. More blood was spilled and soon the face of the guard was nothing but a bloody, fleshy mess. Lloyd could see teeth, he could see bones, and then he could hear the cracking sound of a breaking skull. He watched in horror how the man smashed his own head so hard against the wall until he finally died. The last smash managed to break the front of his skull. The pieces of bone penetrated the poor man's brain and he simply fell against the wall, before his dead body slid down and left a trail of blood and brain.
His comrade, however...
"GHHHAAAA!" he gurgled while rolling over the floor. He pulled his own hair out, scratched his skin off his head, all in order to make more room. The pressure! The pressure inside his skull was too much! He had to open it, had to open his skull and let that pressure out or...or...
With a disgusting sound, the man's skull simply exploded and both blood and gray matter were scattered across the floor.
"What..." Lloyd only managed to whisper. "What...was that?"
"The skills we need for this mission." Dee whispered next to him before he could hear her gag. He had seen his fair share of violence, but this? This was a whole different kind of madness.
"Hmmm." the leader of the Spectres moaned. There was no doubt about it, to her it was more than just a kill. "Never gets old." she added and Lloyd could see how she shuddered in delight. This was a goddamn nightmare. After a few moments, the Specter regained her composure and turned around.
"Get rid of the bodies." she just said and suddenly the other dark figures stepped out of shadows that Lloyd hadn't even noticed before. He saw how the woman's helmet turned towards him and he felt how a cold shiver running down his spine.
"Come on, the throne room is that way. I can sense it." Sense it? Were those guys Ghosts? The Spectre chuckled when she read his thoughts.
"Oh, Ghosts are nothing compared to us. Now let's go, I want to do that again." she told him. Loyd looked over at Dee, whose head was still turned away. But he could see her nod and knew that it was too late to have doubts. He tightened the grip on his weapon and took a deep breath. Well, all he had to do was to not look down.
It was easier said than done. As he moved past the dead bodies, he could feel something squishy beneath his boots. Like said, he had seen his fair share of violence. But this? This was on a whole different level. As he passed the bodies, the one who had smashed his own head was still twitching.
"Oh God." one of his men whispered behind him when he saw the carnage.
"No time for that!" Lloyd hissed. "Keep moving, we have a mission to complete!" He knew that he could rely on his men, yet sometimes he had to tell them to focus on the task at hand. The smell of blood was revolting, but he managed to keep his stomach under control. The female leader of the Specter joined him and so did the rest of his team. The other Spectres, however, grabbed the dead bodies and looked for a place where they could hide them. However, they could only hide the bodies, the scattered brain and blood were a whole different story. Sooner or later someone would find out, so they had to hurry.
No one said a word as they moved towards the throne room. The female Specter led the team and this time no one dared to question that decision. It only took them a few minutes to reach another corner and much to Lloyd's relief they didn't encounter any other group of guards. However, they finally reached the entrance to the throne room...
"Two more guards." the female Specter whispered. "Hmm, I'm still hungry." Loyd shuddered when he heard that, but managed to pull himself together. He peeked around the corner and could see two figures only armed with handguns. They could deal with the guards quickly, but even one shot would activate the security system. So, they had to get closer in order to avoid detection.
"Or you let me use my little trick." the Spectre moaned. He looked at her, then at the guards. No one deserved that fate, but...
Alert! Alert! Gunshots detected! a computer-voice suddenly shouted. Security-system activated! Loyd looked over to Dee and could see the shock on her face, the same shock he felt. But how? No one had discovered them yet!
"Close the door!" the guard at the entrance yelled. Then a familiar voice reached Lloyd from the inside of the throne room.
"What's going on?" That was Neusser! The boss was close.
"We need to move, go!" Lloyd yelled and jumped out of cover. He ran towards the door, but he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough. Still, he raised his gun and when the guards spotted him, he didn't give them any chance to react. When he pressed the trigger of his weapon, a stream of hot bullets was released. The men had no time to scream when the projectiles hit them. The Zapper next to him opened fire as well and when the guards' bodies fell on the ground, they were already dead.
"Run! RUN RUN RUN!" Lloyd screamed and dashed towards the entrance. He could see how the heavy door was still open. Maybe they could make it. The Zapper next to him was faster than he was. He was close to the entrance and could see how the blue lights next to it turned red.
"Get inside! Get the Emperor!" Lloyd screamed and the man next to him threw himself forward. He was so close. If only one man could get inside, they would succeed! The soldier reached the entrance and his upper half was already beneath the door.
...that's when the door was activated and the heavy steel-plate rushed down. The Zapper had no chance. The plate weighed more than 50 tons. It was supposed to withstand an Ultralisk. Within less than a second it slammed down and reduced lord's comrade into a bloody mess. Lloyd, who had almost reached the door, raised his hands to protect himself when the blood practically exploded right into his face. He looked down at himself and could feel the hot, sticky remnants of his soldier on his skin. Behind him, one of his men started to curse and another one had to throw up. That's when Dee reached the door.
"Who's responsible for that?" she screamed and pressed her hand against the door. A door that they couldn't hope to open from the outside. "Who fired a bullet?" Dee shouted again. But no one had fired a bullet. That meant that the other team...
"YAAAARRRGHHH!" the female Spectre suddenly screamed in pain and fell down on her knees. The remaining Zappers turned around, too shocked and confused to realize what was going on. Lloyd had just lost one good soldier, and now this freak grabbed her head and started to howl as pain consumed her whole body.
"What's going on?!" he demanded to know, but the Spectre was too busy screaming in agony and Dee only shook her head in disbelief.
"MAKE...MAKE IT STOP!" the Spectre gurgled. "SO HOT...LIKE THOUSAND STARS..." What the hell was going on here? Lloyd rushed over to the woman, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back to her feet.
"Get a hold of yourself! What's going on? What are you talking about?" However, instead of answering, the woman tried to find a button on her helmet. When she did, the dark metal-plate moved upwards and revealed a pale but beautiful face. Her features were soft and delicate, and Lloyd had no doubts that she could be a very pretty lady...
...except for the blood coming out of her eyes.
"Too much..." the leader gurgled, yet before Lloyd could ask what she was talking about, she leaned forward and started to vomit. Lloyd made a step backward and managed to avoid most of the mess. The woman dropped back on her knees and moaned again, but this time her voice was filled with despair and agony. For a moment he wondered if her head would now explode as well, but that didn't happen.
"What's going on, dammit!" the leader of the Zappers demanded to know. That's when the Spectre finally looked up to him while tears of blood streamed down her face. Her voice was but a whisper.
"It knows that we are here..."
The other half of the team knew what they had to do; get to the ballroom, secure the area and make sure to buy Lloyd and his men as much time as possible. No one had any illusions about this, they all knew that this could turn into a suicide mission within seconds. Truth to be told, not a single one of the Zappers actually thought that they would survive this night. It wasn't about survival anyway. It was about hurting the enemy. And if they wanted to hurt the enemy, if they wanted to shake these damn fascists to the very core, they had to attack them where they expected it the least. But even though they had already achieved the impossible (infiltrating the Imperial Palace), they hadn't achieved their overall goal. As they approached the ballroom, they were able to avoid the remaining guards. And even though the Zapper called "Marx" would never admit it, they had only managed that because of those dark figures that accompanied them. He had heard stories of Ghosts and their skills, and he figured that they were some kind of Ghost-unit. But he had never heard that those guys worked as mercenaries. Augustgrad surely was a scary place if you could recruit a bunch of freaks that easily.
The thought of being able to kill someone with a mere thought was scary as hell. What if you would make a mistake? If you were angry at someone and can't control this power for the fraction of a second?
Marx's thoughts were cut short when the male Spectre next to him tackled him to the side.
"Better hope that we freaks know how to control our powers, punk." Marx knew better than to fall for that trap. But not all of his men could control their emotions like that. The soldier called Tiv stopped and turned towards the male Spectre, the one with the necklace made out of fingers.
"What did you say, you fr-" But it was their third man who knew what to do. Ulysses grabbed Tiv and forced him to move on.
"Not now!" the old soldier barked. "Head in the game!" Getting all worked up during a suicide mission was probably not the smartest thing to do. "Focus your anger on the enemy!" Tiv wanted to say something, but he was cut short when the female Specter in front suddenly stopped and raised her hands. Both the Zappers and the finger-guy stopped as well and raised their guns.
"We're close!" the female Spectre whispered.
"Any guards?" the finger-guy wanted to know. The woman raised her hand and looked like she was concentrating on something. That's when she started to shudder.
Marx couldn't help but wonder what she was feeling right now.
"Several." she whispered.
"How many?" the finger-guy asked. But then they could see how she shuddered again.
"Jian, how many?" he asked again. But she didn't give him a straight answer.
"It's...hard to tell. There's something blocking my senses. It feels as if there's some sort of... light." She made a few steps forward and walked towards a door that was only a few meters away. You could hear many people chattering on the other side of that door. So that's where the ballroom had to be.
"What's the matter, Jian? Is it a trap?" the finger-guy wanted to know. "A psi-disruptor maybe?" But she shook the head and moved closer to the door.
"No... it's something different. Something faint. Almost as if it tries to hide from us." She reached the door and pressed her hand on it. It was Tiv who decided to say something.
"What's she doing?" he wanted to know.
"Doing your job. Now shut up." the male Spectre shot back.
"What did you say, you big piece of shit." But their little argument was of no importance to the woman. She reached out with her senses and tried to figure out what was going on on the other side of the door. She could sense the people, their thoughts, their emotions. Most of it was useless garbage, empty thoughts by empty people. But she could sense something else. There were guards, yet she couldn't tell how many. And there was something else, something different...
It was impossible to describe it. Like a small light, floating through the darkness. And whatever it was, it tried to evade her. Maybe her comrade was right, maybe it was some kind of psi-disruptor. But it didn't feel like a cold machine. It felt alive and... sad?
Perhaps she should have been more careful, but right now she was attracted to that light like a moth to a candle. Whatever it was, it seemed so pure, so innocent. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, unlike during those trips she had when Tosh made her inhale that Terrazine. And she just knew that she had to touch it, had to explore it with her own mind. She tried to grab it, but it managed to evade her one more time.
"Very well, if you want to play hard to get..." she mumbled to herself and prepared to use all of her strength. Behind her, she could hear the voice of her comrade.
"Jian, what the hell are you doing?" he wanted to know. He was so impatient. But she had other things on her mind. She could feel how that light started to become slower, as if it was distracted by something else. Something that caused the light to feel sadness.
"Finally got you. And now you will show me what you truly are." Jian whispered when she finally managed to grab it with her thoughts and tried to force this presence to show her its true form. Her mind wandered over the light and she could feel many little cracks on the surface.
"Don't want to show me who you are? Then I'll have to use force." she said to herself and found a crack that felt especially promising. She gathered all her strength and poured it into that crack, ready to split this light open and see what hid inside and...
"AAAHAHHHHHH!" Jian suddenly screamed out in pain when pure light and fire engulfed her senses. The light, which had just been a spark in the darkness, exploded into pure energy. It felt like the Big Bang all over again. One moment the entire universe was concentrated in one tiny point, the next it exploded with the strength of a billion stars. The female Spectre could feel how her mind was flooded with so much energy, she could feel how her neurons started to dissolve into nothingness. Suddenly she felt something new, something so powerful, something so mighty that she was nothing compared to it. And then it turned her attention towards her.
Who are you? the voice echoed through her mind. She stumbled backward and her screams of pain turned into terror. Blood was dripping out of her ears, and behind her, she could hear choking sounds coming from her comrade. That's when the leader of the Zappers realized that something was wrong.
"What's going on? Why are you screaming like mad? Shit, stick to the plan!" But she couldn't listen to those demands.
Who are you? the voice asked again, but the female Spectre was unable to answer. She dropped to her knees and screamed when she realized that this thing wasn't human or a psi-disruptor. It wasn't even Zerg or Protoss. It was something else. Yet all she could do was to scream as she felt how her brain started to turn to mush.
Drinking wasn't fun, at least when you had no one else you could drink with. That's why Captain Brent had decided to leave that wine vault. Perhaps he should return to the ballroom and tell Mr. Raynor about all those delicious stuff they had inside that room. Even though most of the stuff tasted like crap. Still, he wasn't enjoying himself one bit. It had been fun at first, but after he had won the yelling-contest against that guy that had shown up earlier, nothing else had happened.
Yes, drinking was boring if there was no one else around you can share stories with. Brent wanted to be brutally honest with himself; he knew that this Zerg-lady and the Protoss-guy had been nothing but hallucinations. But those hallucinations had been fun! Seriously, he had enjoyed himself more than during his time in school or the academy. So yeah, maybe he had hoped to have another hallucination. Only, there was no such thing happening. Right now, he was just regular drunk. Drunk like a sailor, but without any hallucination. He looked around and frowned. Perhaps it was time to go somewhere else. Maybe he should go and look for the Admiral. He hadn't seen the boss for quite some time now and wondered if he was already looking for the Captain. Heh, that was probably the case. The Admiral was lost without Brent.
Well, that was probably a bit exaggerated, but still...
With a sigh, he finally decided to stand up and walked over to the door. He looked back and could see that he had caused quite the mess. Hmm, he should probably apologize to those kitchen-guys and tell them that they could now return to the kitchen and clean up, well, his mess. Not his brightest hour, that much was for certain. He opened the heavy steel door and stepped outside. The kitchen was completely empty and the food was starting to get cold. Well, that wasn't good. He just had wanted to enjoy himself, he didn't want to ruin anyone's party. And no matter what people thought about him, Joseph Brent wasn't a jerk.
All in all, he felt terrible. He started to realize that his actions had caused problems for others. If there was one thing his parents had taught him, then it was to not cause any problems to other people. Though to be fair, this had been Mr. Raynor's idea, so Brent wasn't really to blame for any of that. However, knowing his luck, no one would care about that. So, he knew what he had to do to; clean up the mess his superiors had made.
Great, even at a Christmas-party he had to work. This job was starting to get bothersome.
Brent walked out of the kitchen. Well, it was more of a wobbling, but he somehow managed to walk forward. Still, when he passed all those tables with food on it, he had to fight the urge to puke. Ugh, he had consumed way too much alcohol, and now the very sight of food caused him to feel horrible. He should probably never drink anything with alcohol inside for the rest of his life. As he walked through the corridors, he was too focused on his own dizziness to realize that there was no one around. Usually, the palace was brimming with people, yet a small part of his mind simply thought that it was because of Christmas. Normal people had to get some time off too. You know, normal folks, like Joseph Brent.
"Ah, to hell." he muttered before he continued to go...somewhere. He had no real idea where he should go, and while he knew his way around inside the palace, he was still too drunk to care. However, even then he couldn't shake that strange feeling, the feeling that something was wrong and something horrible was about to happen. Like a tragedy that was about to hit him. He could feel it deep on the inside, like a fire that was about to go nuclear. The last time he had felt anything like that had been...
"HURRRRK!" He managed to press the hands against his mouth and searched for a place where he could "unload" the tragedy that was about to happen. He looked to the left, he looked to the right, but there was no goddamn toilet nearby. The only thing he saw was an open elevator shaft. He felt how he was close to panic. If anyone would see him puking down an elevator-shaft...
"HNNNNGGG!" Well, nature didn't care for what he wanted. Unable to control his stomach anymore, he hurried towards the open shaft and let nature do the rest.
"HUUUFFFF..." Oh God, the taste of vomit and liquor filled his mouth and the smell only caused his stomach to contract even harder. There wasn't much inside that stomach, though. He didn't know wherever he should be glad or not that there was only liquid inside his belly. In any case, what excited his mouth lacked a certain "chunkiness". He didn't know how many times he had to throw up. But while he was busy evacuation the inside of his stomach, he swore to himself that he would never drink again.
Did that whole show last for minutes? Or hours? He had no idea, yet when his stomach was finally empty, he had to gag a few more times before he had finally calmed down and could take a deep breath. Oh boy...oh crap...oh hell...
But like always when you're drunk and have to vomit like crazy, you sober up really fast. At least that's what it felt like. Brent shook his head while leaning against the open door and brushed the drool from his chin. This was certainly not his brightest hour and he was glad that there was no one around to take a photo and post it on the net or anything like that. When his stomach had finally calmed down, he opened his eyes and looked into the dark abyss of the elevator shaft. He couldn't make out any details, but he could see that the elevator shaft was very deep. He felt how he stepped into something wet and looked at his own feet. Oh no, so he hadn't managed to keep the floor clean after all and...
Ah, to hell with it. He felt like trash and had to thank both Admiral Horner and Mr. Raynor for that. Why did he have to play drinking-buddy for both of them anyway? This whole party was one huge disaster.
The one thing about puking your guts out; once you're empty, you can actually start eating all over again. Yeah, that was a good idea. Get back to the ballroom, find Mr. Raynor and embarrass him in front of everyone. Who knew, maybe the Admiral would finally show up to, he still owed that man one hell of an embarrassing moment. Brent took a deep breath and straightened himself.
"Off to the buffet then." he groaned and made his way back to the ballroom. He didn't notice that there were no guards around or any other staff members, yet at the same time, he didn't care about any of that. No, instead he just wanted this day to end as fast as possible. It just couldn't get any worse than this.
When he was close to the ballroom, he took a deep breath. The corridor that led to the ballroom was long and when he stepped around the corner and stopped right in front of one door, he could suddenly see-
"AAAHAHHHHHH!" a dark-clad figure screamed in pain and a group of armed soldiers looked at her in confusion. Even in his current condition, Joseph realized that those guys weren't Dominion soldiers.
"What's going on? Why are you screaming like mad? Shit, stick to the plan!" one of the soldiers yelled and Brent understood that this wasn't just part of the show.
"Oh no." he whispered. The palace was under attack! Aside from the woman, there was another black-clad figure that started to scream in pain and fell to his knees. That's when-
"Contact! There's an enemy soldier!" one of the men screamed and Brent knew that they were talking about him. He could see how they pointed their guns at him and so he started to run. He threw himself through the closed door that was busted open and ran into the ballroom.
"GET HIM!" one of the soldiers yelled and he could hear their footsteps behind him. He stormed into the ballroom and could see the shocked expressions on the faces of all those juicy celebrities.
"EVERYONE DOWN! THEY GOT GUNS!" he screamed, right before he could hear how a shot was fired right behind him. There was a strange, tugging sensation below his chest and suddenly he could feel how something hot exploding inside his guts. Then his whole world turned into pain...