Gwen continued to shake Hope's limp body as she shouted her name. The stench of a menacing presence alerted Gwen to an approaching foe. She sensed their footsteps getting closer and chills crept down her spine. Gwen cradled Hope to her chest as she attempted to stand up. They needed to get out of the red zone. Too late, the beast was already upon them. Her breath hitched at the close cold aura. How'd they get so close without me noticing? Gwen asked herself.
"Tch, she was able to get that healing spell off after all," a stern voice stated.
Gwen turned to see a boy no older than her but his cold blue eyes held years of horrors. The mysterious attacker had a mystical look to him with his unnatural snow white hair and the gold star ornaments swinging from his ears.
"You can let go of her, she looks pretty dead to me and you'll need your arms to fight anyway," he commented.
The hunter whistled as the girl's body disappeared due to Gwen's teleportation spell. He was impressed by the magic prowess that his target showed.
"Why wouldn't you teleport yourself as well?"
"Because I intend to kill you for what you did," Gwen threatened.
The man threw his head back in a dark chuckle, "I, Crisis, accept your challenge".
"Crisis? What a childish bounty hunter name," Rojo mocked.
Horus and Rojo stood atop the highest skyscraper in the area waiting for their moment to step in. A whisper came from the radio in his ear telling him of the weakened Charmcaster's location.
"He was given that name after killing a king at the age of 15 and throwing that entire system into a galactic crisis," Horus praised subtly.
"Kid gets one lucky hit and gets a big head. You should've sent my team after the magic duo, I know the targets the most."
"No," Horus said sharply as he turned towards Rojo. "Crisis is on a whole different level than any of the hunters here."
"Sounds like you don't trust me to get the job done," Rojo accused.
"You would be smart to get out once the job's done."
Rojo sucked her teeth as she watched her "boss" enter the elevator. Nobody had any right to doubt her abilities, she's been bounty hunting since she was in diapers. It was true that she had versed Gwen before and lost, but that was only due to Ben Tennyson being present at the time. If anyone could take him down then she'd be impressed. That's why she had to raise an eyebrow at the news of him being executed soon. Something was fishy but it wasn't her job to care.
Horus exited the elevator quickly with his guards trailing behind him. He requested that they stay and keep watch over Rojo, and inform him of any trouble. The man jumped into the back of a vehicle and let his driver know he was ready. Horus stared out the window as he went over prior events. Commander Rick had informed him of a top secret mission that even the rest of the squad knew nothing about. Horus hadn't expected to be assigned a new mission, especially a confidential one, after the mishap he caused on his previous mission. Rick trusted him to get rid of the "competition" that continuously sought out Ben Tennyson. Gwendolyn and her little posse has caused never-ending trouble for the Plumbers, and the sooner they disappear than the sooner they get to continue their primary mission.
Such fools for thinking they could rescue Ben. The Plumbers crushed the strongest person in the galaxy; what made them think they had a chance. But his research on the Tennyson girl proved that group was a force to be reckoned with. Like the old saying goes, throw enough money at a problem and it'll eventually go away. He placed some expensive bounties on their heads and rounded up the most dangerous hunters to play a deadly game of cat and mouse. Gwen and her friends may be powerful but everyone makes mistakes, and he was waiting for that mistake to occur.
Horus stepped out of the vehicle and made his way over to the doors of an abandoned factory. He glanced back at the now dim lights of the city and smiled. Nobody would see what he was up to all the way out here. He slipped in and greeted the "lovely" scene before him; Eighteight was leaned against the wall and in the center of the room was Charmcaster. She already appeared dead with the blood covering her, but the slow rise of her chest told him otherwise.
"Excellent. It seems that you're able to follow directions after all," Horus complimented the masked alien.
He had requested that the hunters bring back the silver haired witch. Now he could get his revenge on the dumb bitch for serving him up that platter of embarrassment on the HQ space station. Not only was Aidan and him scolded at by Commander Rick for "failing", his own teammate had insulted his skills in the battle. They'll all soon learn how useful he really is, and then everyone will understand that being a simple meathead like Aidan doesn't cut it.
"Wake up," he demanded.
The last thing Charmcaster remembered was collapsing onto the sidewalk beside Gwen. Her heart ached hearing the redhead scream the witch's name and she could do nothing but stare outwards. Hope wasn't dead. Whatever she was pierced with had sent her into an immediate paralytic state. But if her wound continued to bleed like a red waterfall then it would be a different story. Hope couldn't say anything as she was teleported away by Gwen and ended up in some ditch alongside the road. She could hear the cars zooming by as the witch passed out from blood loss.
Charmcaster was an idiot for allowing herself to begin healing Gwen in the middle of a fight. That decision went against every instinct in her body, but for some reason when she saw Gwen's limp body every thought was thrown to the back of her mind. When she came to, the woman was almost completely surrounded by darkness, except for the orange flame nearby. She recognized the aura.
"You foolish girl…"
"For once I agree with you."
"Your want to care for your friends is going to kill you," Drak spoke coldly. "What happened to being the strongest sorcerer? It's not too late to release all that hatred and rip this place apart."
"I can't. I promised Gwen that I'd change."
"Your weakness disgusts me."
Hope blinked awake to a dimly lit room. Dizziness plagued her head from the lack of blood and pain from her chest. She tried to move and realized that her body was tied to a chair. Charmcaster was getting tired of being tied up while she was unconscious. As her eyes got used to the small amount of light, she noticed a shadow standing nearby. The blindfolded man looked familiar to the witch but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then it hit her; he was one of the guys she fought at the Plumber's HQ.
"About time. Did you have a good sleep?" Horus chirped sarcastly.
The soldier turned back to the hunter with a scowl on his face.
"Why are you still here? Get the fuck out! You'll get your money tomorrow!"
Eighteight nodded and left the room without a word. Horus faced his target again with a sinister smile. When she was this close to him, there was nothing she could do without him knowing. Horus pulled a thin blade from his utility belt and held it up maliciously. Hope was still feeling the aftereffects of the weapon used against her. A blanket of lethargy covered her body, she couldn't even chant a spell without feeling a drowsy spell take over.
Horus started by giving the woman long shallow cuts along her arms, she wasn't bothered by the tickling. He gritted his teeth when she didn't beg for him to stop, so he began carving 'witch' slowly into her left forearm. There was no reaction from Charmcaster that was worth noticing. Hope knew that after everything Hex did to her body, this wouldn't cause her any immediate distress.
"Ya know that you're supposed to ask questions too," Hope mocked.
Hope winced from the slash he delivered to her cheek. Horus placed the blade against her throat and inched it to the left enough to draw a drop of blood. Hope gave him the straightest face she could. Death didn't scare her, disappointing her friends did.
"Well I never was good at this."
"You said it, not me," Hope groaned.
Horus grabbed the woman's hair and yanked her head forward to be eye level with him.
"That doesn't mean I don't know how to break someone," Horus insisted as he removed his blindfold.
Tetrax and Lucy pushed past the crowds as they made their escape from Kraab. She never knew the ex-Plumber to run away from someone, so this person must be extremely dangerous. The blonde followed him into a nearby building. Lucy's eyes widened when she saw the massive club they had entered. Random strobe lights and the boom of music attacked her senses. Tetrax quickly flashed a card at the bouncer and the man waved them inside. The music got even louder as they entered the main floor, and erratic multi-colored lights flashed overhead.
Tetrax pointed to a set of double-doors on the other side of the dance floor, they would need to swim in a sea of people to reach duo started their trek without another thought, they had no indicators to show if Kraab was nearby or not. Lucy ignored the drunk suitors that asked her to dance and kept the black doors in sight. On the other side was a stark white hallway that extended in both directions. Lucy heard a commotion coming from, behind the corner, on the right side. A body flew against the wall and slumped down with a hole in his chest, Lucy recognized him as the bouncer at the entrance. Kraab walked around the corner and stared at his victim, before turning to his targets down the hall.
"Stop running please. I would rather not spend all night chasing you," Kraab complained.
He proceeded to raise his massive claw and a capture net shot out at break-neck speed. Lucy's hand shifted into a large axe blade and sliced the thin wire net in half and the two pieces fell at her feet.
"Well the Lenopan blood does make it all worth it in the end. You're basically a walking gold mine for breeders but let's not get into the details."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at the approaching assassin for his distasteful comment. She decided then and there that running around wasn't going to get them anywhere. The best way to deal with these types of people is to put them down like the dogs they are. Lucy launched forward and stretched her arm out in front of her. Kraab dodged the incoming arm and chuckled at her frail attempt of an attack. People always forgot her sludge state was also adhesive to all surfaces. Lucy's hand stuck to the wall behind Kraab and reeled her towards the hunter at an intense speed. She transformed her free hand into a huge spiky ball and swung at Kraab, mid-air, like a determined baseball player looking for his next home-run. The bounty hunter could only cross his arms across his chest to deflect the extremely fast attack. The impact caused the cyborg to smash into the wall behind him, sending him straight through into the VIP room on the other side.
Club-goers screamed at the violent scene and scrambled to exit the room. Lucy sprung backwards in time to avoid the laser beam aimed at her chest. Tetrax jumped through the hole in the wall and into the fray, he drew his laser pistol and sent a couple beams in Kraab's direction. The hunter activated a yellow energy bubble to block the harmful beams. Tetrax recognized it as the shield that strictly deflected energy shots; Kraab was still vulnerable to physical attacks. Tetrax bounced on his feet as he threw quick jabs and powerful hooks at the cyborg. Kraab's large body was overwhelmed by the punches and stepped back to escape the pounding. His mistake was stepping right into Tetrax's disorienting uppercut. The hunter let out a roar of frustration and swung his big pincer at his foe's chest, tossing the diamond alien aside with a grunt.
Lucy shaped the ends of her arms into a shield and double sided ax blade. Kraab shot small balls at the blonde's feet, which ignited into clouds of smoke. Lucy scanned her surroundings as she tried to gaze through the thick clouds. She could hear the taps of his legs moving around, but she couldn't pinpoint his exact location. A shadow appeared behind the woman and Lucy spun around with her ax at head level. The blonde's eyes widened when her blade didn't make contact with anything. Yellow eyes appeared from behind, revealing the hunter's true location, paired with the downward swipe of Kraab's pincer.
The loud bang of Lucy's shield colliding with the open pincer of the hunter filled her ears. She had to revert the ax and use both of her arms to keep from being crushed by the cyborg's immense strength. If it wasn't for the reaction time training with Verdona then she would've taken a nasty blow to the back of her head. Kraab released a gas from his pincer that forced Lucy to jump back to safety. She tried not to breathe it in, but it was already too late as the sinister fumes entered her lungs. The blonde went into an immediate coughing fit as the toxin entered her veins giving her the feeling of extreme nausea.
Lucy backed up on her heels before dropping to her knees and scratching at her throat wildly. Tears piled at the corners of her eyes and snot ran from her nose, while her coughing turned into dry-heaving. Tetrax watched the hunter approach the woman from his position on the floor. He was dazed from hitting his head on a pole when he was tossed to the side. The alien kicked a table in Kraab's path and caused him to stop his movement. The hunter glanced at Tetrax and scoffed at his futile attempt to get his attention.
"You're starting to annoy me, Shard," he growled.
"That's the point," Tetrax chuckled.
His laughter was cut short by Kraab, who launched a small explosive at him. Tetrax crashed through the glass panels and rolled onto the dancefloor, inciting screams from club-goers. Kraab returned his attention to Lucy; she was struggling to warp her arm into a weapon. The hunter simply slapped away her enlarged purple arm with his pincer, splattering sludge against the wall and onto the floor.
"You're gonna die now."
Kraab aimed his claw at her and an off-white foam exploded all over the blonde's body like a broken fire hydrant. Lucy tried to get away from the unknown substance but found movement becoming very difficult with every passing second. The foam was hardening around her body. Panic set in and her heart was pounding, afterall she was already trapped with no means of escape. Lucy cursed at the cybernetic hunter, ignoring the extreme burning sensation in her lungs from the gas. The foam spread to her face and entered her mouth to block her airways. Lucy Mann was completely encased in the alien concrete within 30 seconds.
Kraab looked at his handiwork before using his smaller arm to rip off the headpiece of his "art". He glanced back at the dancefloor where Tetrax was laying and made his exit through the hole in the wall. A few minutes later, the sludge that was previously splattered on the walls and floor began to inch closer to form a purple puddle. The gooey structure grew as every drip clumped together until a human outline appeared from the mess. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin came next. Organs were rebuilt in mere seconds. Her legs and arms grew in quickly, thus completing the girl's regeneration.
Lucy breathed slowly as she tried to understand what just happened. The woman knew she could clone herself and regenerate but this was a different level of her powers. She just essentially died and formed out of discarded sludge. Did that mean she was a clone? Lucy didn't have time to figure out the philosophical factors of it; all she knew was that she was alive. Alive and tired. She felt a draft and glanced down to see that she was completely naked. The blonde scanned the room and noticed a blanket on the couch, which she grabbed immediately to wrap around herself.
"Any particular reason why you're only wearing a blanket?" Tetrax asked, as he limped back into the room.
"No time to explain."
Tetrax saw the headless stone statue that looked very similar to Lucy's body.
"I don't think I want to know. Let's go and see if the others had as much luck as us."
Lucy nodded weakly and grabbed the hand that Tetrax offered her to stand up.
"And maybe we can get you some new clothes," Tetrax added.