Me And My Sister Become Wanted Fugitives
When we got back to the office, Nikai was excitedly discussing new targets to capture with Dan.
"...there's Karen Sharen, she's a target for blowing up a temple dedicated to Notch, and she's worth around 500,000 emeralds. Not much compared to Fisherman, but still decent. And look, this target came in 30 minutes ago. Her price is..."
I walked with Seu and Ben to her space, which was considerably cleaner than Dan's space, with multiple neat stacks of papers in one corner, a lamp and a notebook, and framed pictures of Ben and Seu in one corner. I noticed her discreetly slip one picture off the wall, and I thought I saw Ben kissing Seu's cheek. At this I smirked.
Before I could tease them about it, Nikai walked into the office with Dan trailing behind him.
"You wouldn't mind a hundred thousand more emeralds, right?" Nikai said to Seu, ignoring me.
"More is always nice," she said, straightening.
"We haven't decided yet, Seu." Dan said wearily.
"Well, this target came in 30 minutes ago, and she's worth another hundred thousand emeralds. And it's an easy job!" Nikai said enthusiastically.
"One hundred thousand emeralds and the phrase 'it's an easy job' don't go together." Seu said skeptically.
"Well, they do now! It's a twelve year old, for crying out loud!" Nikai cried.
I straightened at the exact same time Seu said sharply, "You want us to hunt down a twelve year old?"
"Yeah, the morals of kidnapping a twelve year sound questionable." Ben agreed.
"Okay, but it's easy money! Her name is Toni Deniara!"
Time seemed to slow down, and I turned to look at Nikai.
"...and apparently she's headed for Hiemx, which is only 40 minutes away—"
"Nikai, what was her name?" I asked, even though I already knew.
Nikai ignored me. "And apparently she's traveling with two other—"
"NIKAI!" I screamed, and everyone stared at me. "What…was…her…name?"
Nikai frowned at the terrible expression on my face. "It was Toni Deniara. Were you not listening?"
Toni Deniara.
Shock literally floored me, making me collapse to the ground in shock.
Dan walked towards me, alarmed. "Cal? Are you ok? You look sick."
"She...that's..." I could barely speak. "That's...my...sister."
Dan's jaw dropped. "What?"
"That's my sister." I said, dizzy with shock. I didn't know how to feel about this. This meant that somehow my sister was alive and kicking. But why did she have a bounty on her head? A hundred thousand emeralds? Why? And how?
Nikai looked from me to Dan with an expression like someone that didn't get a joke. "That's…not funny. That is a joke, right…?"
Seu stared at me. "This girl is your sister? But then...why—"
"Dan!" Someone shouted.
Ender ran into the office block holding multiple papers. "You have to see this!" She shoved a paper into Dan's arms.
Dan's eyes skipped down the paper, and he blanched.
"Cal," he said in a strangled voice.
"What?" I ran over to Dan's side and read the words:
CALLIOPE: WANTED BY KLITH
PREFERABLY ALIVE
REWARD: 50,000 EMERALDS
Underneath the text there was a picture of me at school, grinning at the camera.
"Wanted by Klith..." Seu mouthed, then looked up at me in horror. "What? What?"
"That's not all," Ender handed Dan the other papers.
On one of them were the words:
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
REWARD: 1,000 EMERALDS
And there was a picture of Dan on the bottom.
Dan frantically flipped through the papers. They all said the same thing, but with pictures of all of us on each one.
"Why am I worth less than the girl?" Nikai cried.
Seu scorched him with a look that could burn through bedrock. "Is THAT honestly the only thing you're worried about now!?"
There were multiple shouts, and everyone ran into the office space.
Durham looked pale. "Did you see—"
"Seu?" Ender asked. "How many people saw you in the cafeteria? And how many people saw you go down the elevator?"
Seu turned even paler. "Um...the whole cafeteria?"
Ben bolted over to the circular elevator and hit the button to open the door. It made a buzzing sound and turned red.
"The elevator's not working!" he yelled.
"But it was working thirty minutes ago!" Dan pushed Ben aside and punched the button. It buzzed again.
"Carlos." Seu realized. "He has access to all of the elevators. He must have turned this one off."
"What about the other elevator?" I asked.
"That's a public elevator, so he won't be able to turn that one off." Dan said. "How long ago did you get those papers?"
"About three minutes now." Ender said.
"Well, it'll take two more minutes for them to figure out that we're literally in the middle of them!" Nikai yelled. "We need to get out of here before they find us!"
Everyone nodded and sped off, including Dan.
I ran after Dan and asked, "Do you have a better weapon than an iron sword? Because I'm kind of defenseless at the moment."
Dan pulled a netherite axe out of his inventory. "Use this. It was in LHM's inventory." I took the netherite axe. It felt heavy, but somehow right in my hands.
"Thanks," I said.
"Hurry up, Ender!" Durham shouted.
We all huddled in together, and Ender threw down the potion of invisibility. It splashed over all of us, and we turned invisible.
Not a moment too soon, as the elevator door slid open and multiple people charged into the office. We all quickly backed away, and Dan pulled me out of the way of a bounty hunter with a harsh scarred face.
"Go," Dan whispered. "Go go go."
The elevator doors started to shut, but I stuck my foot out and the doors shut on my foot. I hissed in pain, but the doors slid back open.
We all crowded in, but someone saw us. I'm not sure how he did. Maybe there was shimmering in the air, or maybe he saw the elevator doors slide open, but he shouted "Hey!" and ran towards the elevator.
The doors started to slide shut, but the man grabbed the doors and forced them open.
Someone must have kicked him, because he staggered backwards, and the doors shut.
?-V-?
Carlos was readying himself. He pulled off his silk glove and flicked a few switches on his mechanical arm, and it clicked and whirred. A gleaming dagger popped out of a slit in his wrist, and he smiled at it.
"Nice arm, Carlos." Fisherman said.
"Thank you," Carlos said. "In fact, I might even thank you for cutting off my arm. This titanium arm is much more productive than a regular arm, I must tell you."
"You're welcome." Fisherman said in a dry voice.
"Now if you may excuse me, I have business to attend to." he stood.
Fisherman spotted the papers on his desk and smiled. "Yes. You go do that."
"I don't like your tone of voice, Fish."
Fisherman's expression quickly turned annoyed. "Don't call me Fish ever again."
Carlos chuckled. "Sure, Fish." As he left he told the three guards at the door, "Take them to the temporary jail."
As Carlos left, the guards handcuffed Fisherman and his still unconscious henchmen, and escorted them out of the room. They were headed towards the elevator when Fisherman looked at LHM and said, "Now."
LHM's eyes snapped open, and he backed up, crushing one guard into the wall with his back.
The other two guards pulled out their weapons, but LHM snapped through the handcuffs as if it were made of sticks. He broke Fisherman's handcuffs, and he snapped, "Easy on the wrists!"
LHM grabbed one of the guards and bashed him into the wall, making the guard crumble to the ground. He slapped the other guard back, sending him flying back into the wall.
Among the chaos, Fisherman discreetly pulled an obsidian ring out of his pocket and pushed the ruby that was on the ring. It clicked and glowed red. He smiled and dropped it into a potted plant nearby.
The last guard had got back up and was aiming his crossbow at LHM's head. "Don't move, or I'll shoot!" he yelled, his voice quivering.
Fisherman rolled his eyes. "Is that really all you could think of?"
LHM brought his palm crashing down upon the guard, crushing him into the the floor.
RHM, who was now conscious, glared at LHM. "Showoff."
"You're welcome," LHM said as he opened the handcuffs with the keys that he'd taken from the guards.
"So what now, boss?" RHM said eagerly.
Fisherman smiled. "Now we wait for the next stage of the plan."
?-V-?
The elevator doors slid open, and we quickly walked out of the elevator.
"Okay, everyone check in." Dan whispered.
Everyone whispered individually 'here'.
"Okay, good. Let's head out."
We all snuck out of the elevator successfully, avoiding people and dodging people who got too close. One person nearly slammed into me, but Dan pulled me back.
"We're going to make it," I whispered.
Wrong.
Someone burst out of the elevator, followed by multiple people with glasses. That someone was Carlos, who was also wearing a pair of glasses.
"You really need to stop giving away your invisible glasses, Orca!" Dan snarled.
"There!" Carlos roared. "Throw the bottles!"
I felt a sense of deja vu as bottles filled with a cloudy white liquid flew towards us. They smashed on our bodies, covering us with milk.
And we became visible.
"How did they see us?" Ender shouted.
But there was no time to talk—we were being surrounded.
"Hey, look! It's the guys that caught Fisherman!"
"Wait, don't these guys have a bounty on their heads?"
"Yeah, they do! I just got the papers!"
"Hey, look! It's the girl!"
Everyone glanced at me, and I drew my axe.
We all drew our weapons, and so did everyone in the crowd.
"Come on, Dan!" Carlos shouted. "You'd really do this to your old pops?"
I stared at Dan, who flushed with fury. "Go die," Dan snarled.
"Fine, then. GET THEM!" Carlos screamed, and everyone charged at us, screaming and swinging their weapons.
Ender threw a potion into the crowd that exploded, sending a wave of green gas over the crowd. In the chaos that ensued, Dan shouted, "THE EXIT!" and pointed his sword to a gate on the other side of the hall, right next to the entrance.
We pushed through the crowd, pushing back people who got to close to us. It was chaos: we were hopelessly out numbered, but we were putting up a good fight.
Orca pulled out something that looked like an umbrella and flicked a switch on it. A large transparent dome-like shield spread out over us, forcing the crowd back. Everyone furiously attacked the shield, but it shocked anyone who got too close. We slowly but surely started pushing towards the exit, though Orca looked like he was about to collapse. Durham helped hold the 'umbrella', which was twitching in all directions with every blow that struck the shield.
Multiple people rushed to block the exit, people barring the gates with metal bars and people guarding the gates.
Someone smashed through the crowd and slammed into the shield, nearly blasting the umbrella out of Orca's and Durham's hands.
It was Carlos, who did not appear to be affected in any way by the electric shock given by the shield. He slammed his artificial arm into the shield again and again, making the umbrella shake.
"I can't—hold it—" Orca gasped, his face laced with sweat.
"SHELL, WE NEED YOU!" Dan bellowed.
I stared at Dan like he was crazy, but he turned towards Carlos, who stopped attacking the shield and grinned at him.
Dan screamed and charged.
My eyes widened in horror as Dan tackled Carlos just as he was about to break through the shield. Dan and Carlos disappeared into the crowd of people.
I screamed and tried to follow Dan, only to be pulled back by Seu.
"You won't last two seconds out there," she said in response to my desperate expression. "You have the highest bounty on your head out of all of us."
I knew she was right, but I couldn't let Dan be swarmed by money-hungry bounty hunters.
People grew even more desperate to stop us from escaping as we got within fifteen blocks of the gates. They bashed the shield with pickaxes, swords, and even their fists. But Carlos had taken most of the shield's durability, and it was starting to flicker and diminish.
We struggled three more blocks, Nikai, Ben, and Seu slashing people away from inside the safety of the bubble.
"Come on...come on..." Orca groaned.
And then all hell broke loose.
It only took one more strike from a diamond sword to shatter the shield.
And shatter it did.
The umbrella burst into flames, and Orca dropped to his knees, sweating buckets.
The crowd of people roared and rushed in, but were stopped by us.
Everyone was fighting, chaos everywhere, and injured people were lying on the ground, having either been stampeded by the crowd or injured by us.
But we were vastly outnumbered, and we were forced to fight back to back as the crowd closed in on us, pushing us into a tight circle. There was no time to speak, for every second wasted was a chance to be captured by the money hungry bounty hunters.
We were not going to make it. The exit was too far.
And then the roof above us caved it.
I experienced a major sense of deja vu as Shell lifted off into the air, throwing people everywhere with Dan riding on top of him, disheveled but still alive.
Shell swooped down, bowling over a horde of people. Arrows sailed through the air, but were swept aside by Shell's tail right back into the crowd. Shell dived at us, and snagged Seu, Durham, and Orca in one foot, and grabbed me, Nikai, and Ben in the other foot.
Shell lifted off into the air, blasted through the speculum above that was still broadcasting and into the stone roof below with violet colored flames, and blasted through the opening he had made as the crowd of bounty hunters shouted and screamed in protest behind us.
?-V-?
It goes without saying that hanging from the underside of a dragon with only a single talon holding you up and half-melted stones the size of garbage trucks falling around you will give you a bigger adrenaline rush than any rollercoaster ride.
Nikai looked terrified and was probably screaming, but I could barely hear anything over Shell's roars echoing through the artificial cavern and the sound of flames blasting through stone. To be fair, I was probably also screaming, so I can't really criticize him for that.
Eventually we made it to the surface and immediately shot away towards the sun, a huge burning hole left in the desert behind us.
It took Nikai a moment to stop screaming, though that was probably because he was too tired to keep screaming.
We flew like this for what seemed like an hour but was probably only around ten minutes. Eventually we flew into a large plains biome, and Shell began to fly closer to the ground. Shell eventually dropped us on the ground when he was sure we wouldn't break our bones from the fall.
I probably laid there for a long time, and when I did get up, everyone else wasn't much better.
Ben was smacking Seu's back, who was hunched over and looked nauseous. Orca was still semi unconscious and was lying on his face in the grass. Nikai was busy vomiting into the bushes. Ender and Durham were probably in the best condition among all of us, as Ender looked pretty normal after downing a vial filled with a storm cloud colored liquid, and Durham was just pale.
Dan slid off Shell, and nearly collapsed when he hit the ground. "Ha," he said weakly. "you guys look like crap."
"We look like crap?" I said. "Look at you—you look like you just jumped through a glass window!"
It was true—Dan was covered in cuts, and there was no other word to describe his clothes than ragged.
"What were you thinking?" I fumed. "Why would you do that?"
"Hey, I'm alive, aren't I?" Dan smiled wearily. "Though I can't say the same for you. You look half dead."
Nikai finally straightened, gasping. "You—" he gulped, then continued. "You're insane."
"You're welcome." Dan said sarcastically. "And anyways, I couldn't wait for all of you guys to get on Shell's back, could I?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that I nearly vomited as we flew." Ben said. "And God Nikai, I'm half deaf cause you screamed directly into my ear."
Nikai looked insulted. "Well, what did you want me to do, stay quiet? It was involuntary."
"Yeah, I can't shame Nikai on that one." Seu said. "Even you screamed a little, Ben."
Ben pretended to look outraged while everyone chuckled.
Dan's small smile faded when he looked at me, deep in thought. He knew exactly what I was thinking about.
"So..." he started.
"Yeah." I sighed. "My sister has a hundred thousand emerald bounty on her head. And I have half that bounty on my head. We're both wanted by Klith."
"But hey, at least that means your sister's alive." Dan said.
"Yeah, but what did my sister do to get herself on the Wanted list?" I put my head in my hands. "I'm just worried for her. She's only twelve."
"Well, Klith is one of the bad guys, right? If Klith wants her, it's pretty likely that she's only wanted because she's a threat to Klith in some way." Seu said.
"Even worse," I moaned. "Then Klith will want her dead."
"Not to mention that Klith will probably want to go for you more than your sister herself." Nikai added. "I mean, to use you as leverage against her."
Dan glared at Nikai. "Ever heard of looking on the bright side?"
"I find that it's good to know all the cons as well as pros." Nikai shrugged.
"Well, that's good, cause I can't manage to find any pros in this situation." I put my head in my hands again.
After that there was silence.
I stood. "You know, I only came here for one reason. And if you guys don't like that reason, I'm not gonna force you guys to go with me."
"Wait, but why would you still want to raid that place?" Dan cried. "You wanted revenge, but now that you found out that your sister is alive, so why would you still want to do it?"
"My parents are still there, remember?" I remind Dan.
This time, Dan was the one who put his head in his hands. "Of course. You're never going to give up, are you? Even if it makes your life a million times harder."
"Well, I'm not gonna let an inexperienced sixteen year old with no supplies raid one of the world's most secure prisons, am I?" Seu said, stepping towards me.
Nikai's head shot up. "Wait, what? I thought we agreed not to—"
"You don't speak for the whole group, Nikai." Ben reminded him.
"Not you too!" Nikai said in dismay.
"You know, we don't really have anything better to do, now that we've been outlawed." Durham said.
"Now, hold on—" Nikai said.
Ender snorted, "This idea sucks."
"Has that ever stopped you?" Dan asked.
Ender thought about it. "Nah. Fine, I'm in. But only because like Durham said, I have nothing better to do."
"What about Orca?" Nikai persisted.
We all looked at Orca, who was still unconscious.
"Let him rest," Dan decided.
"Yeah, let's sleep on it." Seu said, smiling.
?-V-?
Klith was sipping wine from a silver goblet when Fisherman walked into the throne room.
Klith looked down at Fisherman. The throne was specially designed to look as if Klith was towering over the people that stood before him. He'd always been one for symbolism.
"Well?" Fisherman said. "You said I could wipe out the bounty hunters. Why are you stopping me?"
"I can use the bounty hunters," Klith said as he drunk from his goblet. "They are foolish, and easily manipulated by money. And there are certain tools in the bounty hunter community that I can use."
"Then when?" Fisherman demanded.
"If they don't capture the girl within a month, you can blow them to pieces." Klith said impassively.
"Fine," Fisherman snapped. "Now, what did you want me here for? I'm busy, you know."
"Would you not address me with more respect?" Klith stared at Fisherman, his expression neutral.
Fisherman scoffed. "Listen here, Klith. Your undead 'subjects' may fear you, but I am not them. And though I understand that I am not equal with you, I am still not some peasant that cowers before your might. So get on with it."
When he was younger, Klith probably would have killed Fisherman on the spot, but he was older and wiser now. There were things he could use Fisherman for.
"I suppose so." Klith said coldly. "Now...to business. I assume you have seen the paper requesting the capture of Toni Deniara?"
Fisherman smiled. "Why, yes. Yes I have."