Chapter Fifty: It's the 50th Chapter
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Blade willed his coat disarm Six Shooter but the sound of the six guns being cocked he changed it to deflect and the coat shot forward and pushed all six arms upwards and the bullets went through the ventilation shaft. One bullet had gone through a few wires, disabling a few of the security measures and continued onward and crashed into a rusted bolt, cracking it.
Blade had the coat wrapped itself around Six the same way he was wrapped in spider webs back at the cabin. Nice and tight.
Six struggled to free himself and fell over, sending out vibrations on the vent's surface. Blade sent out a pulse to trail both directions on a three second interval to make sure he wouldn't be caught by surprise and then leaned over Six.
"The kid had a feeling about you, as did I, and it was only confirmed by the brother last night that someone has been pulling your strings." Blade said and walked ahead of Six, hooked the collar of his coat and proceeded to drag his brother down the vent. "We agreed to let you out when the totems made a large scale attack so that you could stretch your legs for one. It also helped to give the kid some space to finish his project with Torch and it put a great distance between you and Torch."
Six struggled to get loose. "What do you mean someone has been pulling my strings?" Six asked, fighting with the coat as it got tighter around him.
"The kid found something inside you in the form of a red demon. Both of the brothers seem to know who this demon is because they kept saying it was such a girl." Blade said and looked back to see the look on Six's face.
"A GIRL demon?! I'm possessed by a GIRL?! SAY IT AIN'T SO!" Six sobbed.
"By the way the two brothers describe her, she planned this whole thing to get herself a husband. The only girl in a large family which she used to get whatever she wanted. The mother didn't see any faults, just the fact that she was her daughter. The girl tricked one of her brothers into servicing her for her own goals. She sounds like a real piece of work." Blade said. "And she apparently got the whole idea from some old man who tried to use children for his war."
"Ugh! Maybe I ought be locked away until this . . . THING is out of me." Six said. "Do you mind if I continue my mantra? Maybe I can draw it out." Six asked.
"I s'pose. We're safe enough for now." Blade said.
"I don't need Torch. I don't need my war. I don't need my revenge." Six mumbled.
Blade thought the mantra a little weird but said nothing of it. It could possibly help draw the demon out with Six's determination to leave Torch alone, finally. He reached the end of the vent and knocked on the metal guard. A black scorpion three times his length (45 inches long) came up and used its tail to drill out the screws and let him enter. Blade hopped out of the vent and let the scorpion take Six and carried him over to a work desk where another large scorpion grabbed Six by its tail and heaved him up onto the desk.
Blade was hoisted up by the two scorpions in a similar fashion and placed on the desk where he could retrieve his coat as a large dark brown tarantula crawled down from wall, stopping before what looked like some sort of shrine-temple-looking stone bed. The tarantula had to be two feet long. It grabbed Six from the scorpion and placed him on the stone bed.
"What's going on?" Six asked, feeling himself panicking. He could see the tarantula's pincers and the fangs that were underneath. "You're not gonna leave me here with these things, are you?" Six asked, his voice quivering.
"For now, yeah, I need to get back out there." Blade said and left through the vent again. "But I'll be back."
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Jester and Tunneler were finishing up putting the halved scorpion back together when the lights went out, stopping their progress.
"Great, now how are we going to finish wielding this guy back together?" Tunneler asked, putting his tools down.
Before Jester could reply they heard a screech near the entrance of the kitchen and went on the defensive. Tunneler signed to a mouse that he was going with Jester, grabned a couple of scalpels and left.
"What was that?" Jester asked.
"What?" Tunneler asked.
"That thing you did with your hands." Jester said.
"Oh, that's sign language. It was a mandatory part of my medical classes because most of the little mice on the team are deaf." Tunneler answered.
"Oh, what do you tell her?" Jester asked, having learned the different sexes between the rodents.
"Just that I was going with you." Tunneler said.
They heard the screech again but it was coupled with three more.
"You think we can take on four by ourselves?" Tunneler asked.
"Oh, yeah, sure, one for you three for me." Jester answered, removing his katanas and spun them around.
"At least lend me your dowel." Tunneler said and removed the wooden stick from Jester's back.
The screech was heard again and they stood back to back, keeping up their guard when the emergency lights flickered back on, dousing everything back in a red light. But it seemed they were losing power because it began to flicker at irregular intervals, making it seem like there was red lightning flashing.
"Could this night get any more spooky?" Jester asked and heard a loud screech from above and was attacked. He easily ran it through with his katana and kicked the dead carcass off when he was attacked from behind. He turned his left katana around so that the blade ran along the his arm, the dull edge lying under his arm and he elbowed the creature on his back. It let go and he did a high turn-kick to its head and threw a few silver eight-point stars at it, aiming for the head.
"Since when did you do any killing?" Tunneler asked, fighting off two creatures with the dowel.
"Since I learned there was really no point in keeping these things alive." Jester answered and sliced two creatures in half by crossing his blades in an outward motion.
Tunneler had been equipped with two scalpels for his defenses and stabbed each creature in the eyes, or somewhere on the head with it, and then swung the dowel downward with full force, managing to crack a few necks, but mostly just knocking them out long enough for Jester to get to them. He looked over at his little brother and watched him twirl one katana to have its blade run along his arm and whip it out like a bull whip against the last one, severing its head completely. The blood splash was a sight to behold to say the least. Jester was no longer the little weakling anymore, that was for sure.
He was about to say something when the red lights flickered, revealing three shadows coming around the corner. "Jester, we've got more coming." he said quietly.
"I see them." Jester replied and handed one katana over to Tunneler and took his dowel back.
The creatures turned the corner and had a brief stand-off with the two puppets. But their number was soon added by four.
"Cripes, we can't handle seven by ourselves." Tunneler stated.
But the red lightning showed another shadow coming down the corner. It walked on all fours, had a reptilian-dragon-like head, two large horns at the back of its head, four little ones along its jawline and small spikes on its head that went down its neck and tail, leaving its back bare for possible riding. It made a mechanical growl, catching the other totems attention and making them turn around.
Jester and Tunneler sighed in relief when they heard Torch's familiar growl.
But it wasn't Torch that came around the corner, in fact the shadows showed just the new creature walking up to the totems. The totems stayed in their group, having no idea if this new creature was with them or against them. They screeched at it to intimidate it but the new creature just growled louder, its eyes lighting up in an orange glow, took a deep breath, opened its jaws wide and blew fire out at them, torching every single totem and melting them down to their feet.
Jester and Tunneler backed up and sought shelter from the fire and poised their weapons in defense as the new creature walked up to them. It stood about ten inches from the shoulder, two feet long from nose to tail, had a long, dinosaur-like tail with little spike down the way and clawed feet as the clacking sounds on the tiled floor indicated.
The lights went out again, showing that the creature had eyes that greatly resembled Torch's own. It stopped five inches away from them, a low mechanical growl like Torch's emitting from it. When the lights lit up again, Jester noticed that it was wearing a collar and that there was a gold, rounded-rectangle tag attached to it.
He reached out to it carefully, smiling when the new creature lifted its head for him to reach it and read the tag. His face spun to his surprise expression. "Torch?"
The creature nodded its head and barked.
"Oh my god, Torch, is that really you?" Jester asked.
Torch nodded his head and pranced around in the kitchen in a playful manner.
"So, is this what you and the kid's private project was about?" he asked, reaching a hand out and Torch went to him and shoved his head under his palm. Jester started scratching behind one of the large horns on his head and Torch started trilling and rolled onto his back for a belly rub. Jester complied and started cooing.
"Jester, if you don't mind, our hotel is under attack and you're sitting here giving Torch a belly rub." Tunneler said, but eventually joined his little brother in giving Torch a lot of affection.
"Who's a good boy?" Jester cooed. "Who's a good boy? Did you set those nasty totems on fire? Yes, you did."
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Blade walked down a hallway sending out pulses every two seconds, making sure he was alone. He was told to head back to the second floor near the east elevator. He remembered that that elevator was broken, but he couldn't fathom why he was being sent there when he wanted to be near Jester. He knew Jester could take care of himself and Tunneler knew how to fight pretty well, but he still worried. He had looked over Jester for sixty years now, he couldn't just drop an old habit like that in a span of four months, no matter how much reassurances he got from the others.
At least the brother knew how he felt with his own protectiveness towards his own little brother. The brother had looked over the kid for nearly two hundred years and often caught himself getting too over-protective and would head out to the ocean afterwards. Blade sometimes joined him down on the beach when he had Jester on his mind. They would talk about them, practice a bit of magic, he would learn a new technique, and then they would fly around in the air for a while and head back once dawn broke.
He paused in his patrol when his pulse sent back an echo of ten totems heading his way near the hall of the broken elevator. 'Oh, that's why I'm here.' he thought and quickened his pace. He made it too quick when he crashed right into Jester and Tunneler, landing on his hook in a certain area. He was very grateful to be a wooden puppet just then or else he would have been in great, terrible pain.
"Blade!" Jester called out and helped his brothers up.
"You know, I have never been so glad to be made of wood just now." Blade said, switching his knife to his hand and unhooked himself, causing Jester and Tunneler to burst out laughing.
"Very nice, laugh at the hooked man." Blade said in a sarcastic manner, but really, it was funny. He turned around to make sure the totems weren't going to sneak up on them when he came face to face with a scales and bright orange eyes. He freaked and fell flat on his back and pointed his knife at it.
"Blade wait! Don't! That's Torch!" Jester said, standing in front of the scaly creature with his arms out.
"Torch?! Wha- what do you mean it's Torch?! Torch is with the kid!" Blade yelled, standing up real quick and going face to face with Torch.
"It says so on his tag. Look." Jester brought up the gold tag and showed Blade the name on it.
"Is it really Torch?" Blade asked.
Torch nodded, waving his tail like a little puppy.
"Yeah, ain't he cute! He still has his torch abilities. I think his fire is a lot hotter than the last one though because he-" Jester was silenced when Blade placed his hand over his mouth and hissed at him, his sharp eyes sticking out.
"There are about ten totems heading this way and I don't need you making a loud ruckus just yet." he whispered harshly.
Jester removed Blade's hand none too gently. "The hell didn't you say so?" he whispered back just as harshly and kept close to Torch.
The red flickering light cast the totems shadows on the wall ahead of them and they got into positions.
The totems came around and looked around. The puppets waited for all of them to be halfway down the hall before they sprang into action. Torch covered the end and set any that ran in his direction on fire. Blade sprung out from a shadowed area and went, "Have at you!" and swished his blade around, slicing, dicing and smiting away. Jester popped out shortly after him and used his katanas to decapitate and de-limb the remaining totems.
"Is that all of them?" he asked.
The lights all suddenly came back on, brightened, flickered, some bulbs busted and then went out again.
"I don't think so." Blade said and headed towards the elevator.
"By the way, what happened to your coat?" Jester asked, sheathing his katanas and followed Blade, Tunneler and Torch as well.
"It's wrapped around Six." Blade answered.
The lights flickered on again and flashed like a strobe light before plunging everything in darkness again.
"I think the brothers' are working on Six right now." Blade said.
"What are they doing to him?" Tunneler asked.
"It seems that someone on the outside has been using Six as their own personal lackey. Saying he's been possessed or something by some demon or demoness and has been in control of him for who knows how long." Blade answered.
Jester thought about that for a moment. "Could that be the reason why he wants Torch so bad?" he asked.
"It could be. Whether Six himself or that thing inside him want Torch is entirely debatable." Blade said and reached the broken elevator's doors. "Um, . . . how are we suppose to get it open?" he asked.
Torch's eyes glowed and out shot some lasers and he cut out an entrance for them.
"Ooh, that's a new feature." Jester cooed and patted Torch's neck.
Blade peeked in and looked up at the dark, empty shaft. He could hear the echoes of some of the hotel's hidden rooms and then he looked down to the equally dark abyss.
"Okay, we got in, now what?" he asked and brought out his screen. Jester and Tunneler did the same. Blade scrolled through his inbox for anything new, looked down in the abyss and checked again. 'Wish I had my coat right about now.' he thought.
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Up on the fourth floor, a folded black coat came to life and slithered down and through ventilation to reach its owner.
"Blade's getting stronger if he can summon his coat from this distance." said Chug and ran another scan over Six Shooter who was strapped to a metal slab, all six arms and his legs were held down by leather straps so that he wouldn't move too much. He was wearing a white medical gown that went halfway down to his legs, all of his clothes and belongings were put inside a little popscicle stick box.
"Yes, he is." Kokiri replied and went back to sorting through Six Shooter's mind. "You ready?" he asked.
Six nodded and braced himself for another painful run-through.
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