With the amount of energy that Rek'Sai collected a week ago, even after the battle left her almost dead, she was able to be healed but not without cost. Now, in order to get a distraction to allow Malzahar to attack the barriers without the possibility of a rebuild, or repair. The Guardians have been on constant watch, but nothing has happened, but things are starting to get weird.
Chapter 19 – Move in Shadow
Lux was struggling to keep her eyes open, and given the boring lesson that Ms. Teller was teaching today, it was extremely difficult. Looking over to Poppy, she seemed to be having the same problem. Given Janna's lax of returning texts, she was feeling it too. The amount of void energy was ever present, and given the level of intensity, all three of them were freezing, but given the tired feeling they were also fighting constantly, it was an ongoing battle.
With no solid threat for over a week, it was getting more and more difficult to
justify the level of void energy that was ever present now. All of them knew something was happening, but so far, there have been no adverse effects, and it seems no energy draining going on. Repeated searches had turned up nothing, and they could no longer tell if the tired feeling is from the void energy, or from running around so much. Either way, they appeared to be the only ones feeling the effects of this continual presence.
In her cave, Rek'Sai was still moving around rather carefully. The injuries from the last fight were extensive, and while the physical injuries were gone, the pain of them was still there. Rek'Sai had come up with a plan while she was being healed, but it would take time, and given the fact the last battle would set the guardians on point for another attack, going passive was the better option and so far, it was working. With still no solid identity of who the guardians were, it was difficult to pinpoint them, and Malzahar had given up on trying to find them for now.
Rek'Sai, instead of trying to seed another seeker, decided to do something unconventional. In their natural form, seekers were more like worms, it was easy to place a lot of them over the city so they could slowly start emanating void energy for her plan. It was almost right, but she would need one more day to put it in place. That made Rek'Sai extremely nervous, she knew that the guardians would be able to resist the effect she was trying to create for a little while, but sooner or later, they would catch on, and she needed all the time she could. Also, she wasn't in a position to fight, and while she could appropriate a Zz to help, it would only draw attention at this point.
Back in school, Lux took another look around at her class, and noticed that many of them were asleep. Ms. Teller didn't even seem to care, given she knew that the subject was boring and there was little she could do, without fireworks and explosions, to make it interesting. Also the fact that they got it every year didn't help. As the bell rang for lunch, it jolted everyone out of their stupors and they headed outside. The void energy was almost to the point where normal people could feel it, but it wasn't there yet. Lux and Poppy quietly made their way to an isolated table where they quickly made busy eating some hot soup to try and keep themselves warm.
"This void sense or whatever it's called is annoying." Poppy said, after she downed her soup in about 4 gulps. Lux just look shocked and took a few seconds to respond.
"Yeah, but on a day like this, does help with the hot temperatures." Trying to keep the tone positive, but really not succeeding much.
"Well they could turn the temperature up a bit in the school as a compromise. Why did it have to be like this on our first day back?" Poppy put down the carrier and went for the salad she also packed. Lux was about to say something, when she started adding meat on top of it.
"I was worried there for a second." Lux tried to keep a straight face, but Poppy just pulled this 'You aren't my mother face' that got both of them laughing. Once they calmed down a bit, Lux finally got to the point. "Still it is worrying. It's almost to the point where everyone can sense it and that is what worries me."
"Yeah. But I mean what can we do? We've searched high and low and nothing. Maybe Vel'Koz will have an answer for us when we are done here today. Or at least I hope he does." Poppy said as she carefully ate the salad she was picking on. Lux went back to her lunch of a sandwich and chips before they noticed Amy and a few others coming over. Moving quickly, they made their soup containers disappear as they sat down.
"Why is the first day back always the hardest?" Amy said as she sat down next to Lux.
"Well, if it wasn't the first, then it would be another." Poppy replied between mouthful. Once again the table broke into laughter as that got all of them laughing.
"True enough Poppy. True enough." Ariel said from next to her. "So has anyone else felt cold lately?" Lux and Poppy immediately started listening intently but kept neutral faces.
"No. Why? Have the chills?" Sara, one of the new girls at school, said.
"Yeah a bit. And I'm not the only one. I've talked to a few people and it seems to be going around, but no one is sick. Think it's related to…what's it called?" Ariel was deep in though trying to remember. Lux and Poppy knew full well who and what she was talking about but saying anything now would be bad.
"The void?" Amy finally said after she was clearly thinking for a bit as well.
"Yeah that's it. What to do they want here?" Ariel asked.
"Do you not remember history class a year ago?" Lux asked, rolling her eyes in the process. She shot Poppy a 'I know what I'm doing' glance as her face turned to a bit of panic.
"Oh yeah. No need to reiterate." Ariel said, clearly trying to not get a history lesson from Lux, who also just resigned herself to knowing she kept up her ignorance of the real point.
"That does bring up a question however" Amy said as Lux immediately rolled her eyes, knowing what was coming, "are the Star Guardians now the same ones as before, or are they different?" That wasn't what Lux was expecting.
"Well they would have to be difference. It's been, what, a few decades since then and there are no surviving photographs or anything like it." Sara pointed out. Poppy was clearly uncomfortable, but after turning to Lux, who was just rolling with it, knew to just keep her mouth shut and let her handle it.
"Still they look our age don't they." Amy pointed out. "We've had lots of discussions about this haven't we Lux?"
"Yeah. And how many have you won?" Lux replied. Amy just glared at her while everyone else started laughing. As Lux looked up, she saw Garen crossing the field and after he noticed her quickly began running up to the table they were at. Lux got up and went to meet him.
"Calm down Garen. What's going on?" Lux asked, her voice betraying the nervousness in her voice.
"I've been ordered to take you home. They are shutting our school down. Twenty students have now fallen asleep and nothing we are doing will wake them up." He said. Lux was now very panicked as she probably knew exactly what the problem was. "Anyone here been like that?" Garen asked, jolting Lux out of her thinking process.
"No. Well not that I know of." Lux turned back to her friends when a teacher ran up to them and Lux could guess what they were saying. After a minute, Poppy and Amy came over to her.
"I'm assuming Garen told you, but they are shutting down both the high school and ours. Everyone is being sent home as a precaution." Amy said as she looked nervous. Poppy, seeing this, quickly walked away, knowing Amy and Lux would want to walk home together. "Lux would you?"
"No problem. But I'm assuming Garen isn't just here for me." Lux said.
"No. I'm waiting for Jayce and Janna, they will be going home with us. They won't let us leave without a group. Ah, here they come." Lux looked to where Garen was pointing and saw Janna and Jayce crossing the field quickly. "You to get your things and we'll wait at the front door." Garen said as he waved the two over. Lux and Amy quickly went back inside, and through the mass of students to their lockers, grabbed their things, and met the rest at the front entrance.
As they headed for their homes, it was readily apparent that there was more going on than originally thought. While Lux and Janna wanted to talk about the events, being in a group, and Lux walking with Amy to keep her calm didn't allow for that. They first let Jayce go at his place, then Janna. When they finally got to Amy's place, Lux walked to the front door while Garen stood at the fence.
"Thanks again for talking Lux. I know it must be a burden at times." Amy said as she opened the door.
"No problem. What are friends for? Even if we haven't seen each other much of late." Lux said, immediately regretting her words.
"Well, you are busy all the time it seems and well so am I. Also all of these attacks recent haven't helped." Amy said, making Lux calm down.
"They sure haven't. I hope soon we can put this all behind us." Lux said, turning to go.
"Hey Lux, honestly how long do you think this will last? You always seem to have a good sense about these things." Amy asked, her voice betraying her panic a bit.
Lux thought carefully for a few seconds before she answered. While she knew the actual answer of "not soon", she also knew Amy expected honesty, to a point. "Honestly Amy, I have a bad feeling it will get worse before then. I get the feeling this is just getting started." Lux knew that would send Amy into a bit of a panic, but was surprised to see her relax a bit.
"Well, I guess we had better learn to live with it then. I know you wanted to say something else," 'That's an understatement.' Lux thought to herself, "but thanks for being honest. Well get home safely." Amy went inside and Lux heard the sound of the lock, and she rejoined Garen.
"I was worried there for a second." He said as Lux rejoined him.
"So was I, but it seems she just wanted to hear it, rather than some lie." Lux said as they set off towards home. "I'm more concerned about what you said. So what did you all try?" Lux was probing for information, but considering everything, it just made it seem like the usual 'event probing.'
"I think the better question is what didn't we try. We tried shaking, water buckets, yelling, high pitched noises, nails on a small chalkboard we found, one of the girls even slapped someone across the face." Lux just turned at that and knew there would be a much bigger problem. "Nothing worked. There were a few other things that some wanted to try, but for the most part, everyone was set against it." Garen concluded as they moved closer and closer to home. Lux kept close to him, letting him play the big brother part, despite the fact she knew that if it came to it, she could be the one defending him.
As they finally got home, they were both pulled into an immediate, almost strangling hug. "Mom get off, we can't breathe. We are both fine." Garen managed to say. Lux's mouth was covered by her mother's arm, but she let go, and Lux managed to catch her breath.
"Sorry I was just so worried about you two. This is pretty scary and hopefully there won't be a spread." She quickly sped into the kitchen and continued making, well something. Lux and Garen just stood there for a few minutes before both of them realized that they wouldn't be going anywhere, at least until she fell asleep. As they started moving upstairs, the phone rang. Lux waved at Garen and he went upstairs while Lux grabbed the phone.
"Hello?"
"Lux? Please tell me your mother isn't going crazy." Her father was clearly stressed out.
"Well she almost killed me and Garen with a hug so nothing out of the ordinary." Lux responded, trying to keep things lighthearted.
"It's amazing that she can still keep calm considering what she does. But then you have never really seen her work have you?"
"Not really dad. She keeps us away from the hospital. She never wants us coming around." Lux said as she took a seat on the couch.
"Well at least the two of you are home. Hopefully nothing more will happen. Well I just jinxed that didn't I?"
"Yes dad you did. See you home soon." Lux said and she hung up the phone and headed upstairs. Once she was there, she checked her phone to see if there was any messages from Janna or Poppy, which there was just saying they were home and they couldn't get away until later in the evening. Lux just settled in to her usual afterschool routine, except for the fact it was still well before a school usually got out.
Once dinner was over, Lux made her way back to her room, and considering her father wasn't home, he wouldn't be home for quite some time. Once Lux heard her mother go to bed, she pulled out the pen and quietly slipped to the tower. For about an hour, it was just her, Dorcha, and Solas in the tower until Poppy arrived and they quietly agreed to wait for Janna before they discussed the day's events. Janna arrived shortly afterward.
"Ok so Janna did you actually see any of this?" Poppy asked as she entered.
"Yes. They were just out. But there was something else that probably wasn't communicated. They were cold. Their heart rates were slow. According to the medic, it was like they were in a coma rather than asleep. It was really creepy. Not to mention the fact I was shivering the entire time thanks to that stupid void energy. I'm sure they are connected but I can't figure out how." Janna said as she took a seat at the counter.
"You would be correct about that statement. I believe that Rek'Sai is doing something that we tried the last time but it failed because the ruse was detected before it could be finished." Vel'Koz said as he entered with a tablet clutched under one of his tentacles.
"Well what was it?" Poppy asked.
"It was an attempt to gather energy from people by putting them to sleep and then absorbing all of the energy that they would generate while they slept. It would more often than not end up putting the individual into a permanent coma which would also cause issues so it was discontinued. If they have resorted to this again, then there are even more issues than I realized." Vel'Koz "paced" around while he talked and thought.
"Or it could be something else." Janna said and everyone turned to her. "It could be a distraction for something. Something big." Everyone went silent as they all sank into thought, but then it hit them all.
"Great this is nothing more or less than a distraction for the upcoming barrier assault. This is just perfect. It will give Malzahar the energy he needs to do more damage than previous. How can we find what is causing this?" Lux asked as she also paced and then turned to Vel'Koz. Vel'Koz turned for a few seconds then shrugged.
"I honestly can't say. Last time we used voidlings to generate the field but given Rek'Sai, I would say she is using seekers in their natural form which look like worms. Here's the other problem with that, they are common enough to be overlooked in plants, trees, and bushes. Finding them will be difficult, but if there is any indication of the level of void energy, it won't be difficult in a little bit." Vel'Koz said as he resumed pacing.
"Why is that?" Janna asked.
"Um you don't remember? Oh right, sorry." Vel'Koz quickly added as he saw the look on Janna's face. "Because the temperature drops will be so dramatically localized, that locating them will be easy with modern technology. Look for an extremely localized temperature drop. Easy enough to spot. However, I do believe that the police need to be notified about this. It will be a problem very soon."
"I'll do it." Lux said, getting to her feet. "I'd better check at home first to be safe, then I'll head to the station." Janna and Poppy just nodded and with that, they all headed home knowing the next day would be bad. When Lux got back to her house, she noticed it quiet and after looking around, she noticed both her mother and brother fast asleep. After making absolutely sure, she headed back into her room.
"So you going then?" Dorcha asked.
"Yeah I mean they have to know sooner or later. Hopefully there will be something they can do. But I still feel like there is something else with this attack that we are missing. Well anyway," Lux pulled her locket from her bag and headed out the window. After she landed on the ground, she once again checked the area, and quickly realizing that transforming here would be a bad idea, moved away a bit to a cluster of trees in a neighboring yard, then pulled her locket again.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" Lux pulled the cloak out of her bag and then headed towards the police station. Keeping herself hidden was no easy feat, especially given the fact there was almost no one out and the fact she was wearing a cloak didn't help with not blending in, but transforming near the police station, given the last few weeks, was not a good idea. Once she was there, she noticed a flurry of activity and Caitlyn standing outside the station watching officers being loaded into waiting ambulances. Lux carefully made her way over to the Chief.
"Guardian. I can assume that this latest incident is due to the void." Caitlyn said as Lux made her way carefully to her side. What she said however, wasn't a question, rather than a statement.
"I get the feeling you already know the answer to that question ma'am." Lux replied, careful to keep her voice low.
"What can we expect this time?" Cailyn kept her voice neutral, but Lux knew better. As long as she knew what was coming, she could prepare for it. Even an asteroid plummeting to the planet and zero chance to stop it would still have her calm.
"It is similar to something they tried last time they were here. Basically plant voidlings, we guess they are using seekers, all over the place, and slowly release void energy enough to make everyone fall asleep. Then drain the energy from them while they sleep and are trying to regenerate it. They went too fast last time, but this time, it seems there are more of them and they are moving a lot slower." Lux was careful to not speak faster, or she knew Caitlyn could pick up on her own panic.
"At least you all share information or you found records." Caitlyn said.
'Yeah records. That would be nice.' Lux thought quietly to herself. Remembering to try and unlock Janna's memories at some point.
"There is another problem. We have no idea what precisely they look like. We know they look like worms but they also like to hide. We do have an advantage that we didn't last time." Lux said keeping the good news for now.
"Oh. What would that be?" Caitlyn asked, clearly interested in whatever Lux had.
"You have thermal imagers right?" Lux careful to keep the hood covering her face, especially her tiara, raised her head. Caitlyn nodded in response. "Well soon, it will be so easy to spot them. With people already falling asleep, the worms will be easy to spot because of the highly localized temperate drop."
"Well that will make it easy. Can they be destroyed by us?" Caitlyn, letting her voice betray the fact she was impressed with their resourcefulness.
"We don't know. I wish we did. We might have to get each one, but who knows. We'll just have to see. We'll let you know in the morning. That is when we will know for certain." Lux said, again making every attempt to keep her voice steady and at a decent pace.
"Let me guess, based on how many people don't wake up right?" Caitlyn asked.
"Unfortunately yes. We'll keep an eye on the situation during the night." And with that, Lux made her way out. Caitlyn didn't even try to follow where Lux went instead choosing to look after her officers. Lux made her way back home, transformed most of the way to keep her speed up, finally arriving in her yard. She jumped into her own room, powered down and had just crawled under the covers where Dorcha and Solas had been making it look like she was still sleeping, when her door opened. Lux careful to keep her eyes closed, heard her mother come across the room.
"I hope you can still wake up in the morning little one." Her mother gave her a quick kiss on the head, and quietly made her way out. Lux who had been starting to drift off, was now fully awake again. Her mother usually never talks like that. Lux turned to look at Dorcha and Solas, who both also looked alarmed. Lux gave it a few seconds and then stuck her head outside her room. Garen likewise opened his door and his face showed concern. They both heard their mother's car starting and she sped off.
"That isn't good." Lux said as she turned to her brother.
"Nope. Want to…" he said.
"Yes. Grab something warm." Lux replied and quickly changed into some more warmer clothing, more for her sake than anything else. They were both just about to walk out, when they heard a door open and they both turned to see their father struggling in.
"Dad. What's going on?" Garen asked as Lux quickly hid both of their bags. And by hid, she tossed them into the dining room.
"People are falling asleep and not waking up. Your mother is on the way to the hospital to try and help some of them. She's hoping she won't come home to either of you two affected by this condition, but you know her and panicking. Either way, the best thing the two of you can do is just stay here. So take those bags and head back to bed." He said. Lux just blushed and Garen headed back up the stairs. Lux tossed his bag into his room, then proceeded to finally lay down, and fall into an uneasy sleep.
The following morning did at least start off good as Lux finally crawled out of bed and saw both her father and brother at the table. Both of them looking like zombies though nonetheless. "She's still not home, and probably won't be until this is over."
"Great, well it is freezing this morning, or is it just me?" Lux asked, seeing the two of them at the table in long pants and long sleeve shirts.
"No, it is freezing, and considering this is the middle of the summer, and we are wearing winter clothes. This cold if from the void and the Guardians, at least from the Chief's telling, this will get worse. Hopefully it won't affect the two of you, but it probably will. It seems to be affecting children more than adults, or so we thought until I got a call earlier this morning, which said differently." Her father replied.
"But there are still more kids than adults falling asleep?" Garen asked.
"Yes, but there is still some reasoning behind it. Hopefully it will slow down soon, because this will soon overwhelm the city. Well I need to get to work. Stay safe you two." And with that, he got up and left, leaving Lux and Garen looking at each other. They both shook their heads and headed back up stairs. With school still out, they both just settled down and waited for the day to pass. Well Garen anyway.
As soon as she got into her room, Lux grabbed her phone and texted Janna and Poppy to see what was going on.
'Nothing here yet. Both of my parents left this morning and told me to stay home, but they doubted I would.' Janna replied.
'My dad is out of the city, and my mom has already left. Advised to say home, but not held to it. If I go out, they told me to go out with friends. Want to meet?' Poppy replied, clearly wanting to get out of the house. Lux leaned back into her bed and thought about it. She knew she could survive the void energy, but eventually it would consume everything and them as well. She made up her mind. Grabbing her bag and her phone, she texted the two to meet her at the Library. Lux knocked on Garen's door, and went in.
"Garen I'm heading out. Don't fall asleep." She said as she looked around only to see Garen also packing.
"Same here. I can't be stuck here. I'll let mom and dad know. Where are you going to be? Or do I need to ask?" Garen said as he also grabbed his bag. Lux just looked at him. "Guess not. I'll be with few friends at the mall." Again, Lux just looked at him with that look that said 'Really?' Garen was blushing at this point. "Ok I'm going to see a few girls. Nothing wrong with that." He blurted out.
"Just be careful, your track record isn't good lately." Lux quickly sped out of the room as Garen threw a pillow at the stop where she just was. Lux made her way to the Library and was only in the tower a few minutes before being joined by Poppy. Janna followed about 5 minutes after that. As they sat making plans, Vel'Koz burst into the room, clearly looking for them.
"Good you are all here. We have a problem. The local medical facilities are almost overwhelmed and I've been invited to scan a few of the people to see the results of the seekers actions and I would like you to come with me. More for security than anything." He said as the three looked at the crate behind him. "Oh just some equipment. Very sensitive and very delicate."
The Guardians turned to each other, and nodded. "Ok. Let's go then." Lux said, and the three of them rose to their feet.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" As they touched back down, Vel'Koz quickly grabbed the crate and headed to the library dock where Nasus was waiting. The Guardians grabbed their cloaks, bags, and followed. Once they were in the van, Nasus carefully made his way through relatively deserted streets to the hospital where Lux's mother worked. Lux knew that her powers would hide her identity, but it still made her uncomfortable. Leaving their bags in the van, they followed Vel'Koz in. They were all quickly shown to the ward where people were being treated and Lux quickly noticed her mother as the head nurse. She rolled her eyes. Her mother was always the front and center when it came to things like this, once she got used to all of this craziness.
"Once she adapts, she can quickly put a lot of things out of her mind." Lux said under her breath as they made their way into the ward.
"Mr. Vel'Koz come here please." Mrs. Crownguard said as they approached. Vel'Koz paused and floated over to her.
"Yes Ma'am?" He asked, careful to keep neutral.
"Let me be clear. I do not support this for many reasons, and I'm sure you can understand why," Vel'Koz just nodded in reply. "However, the families consented, so I do not have an issue, but scan someone who didn't consent, I will not hesitate to throw you and your friends out. Either way, who are they?" Vel'Koz turned to the three and nodded. The three Guardians lowered their hoods, and caught everyone off guard. "I asked them to come so we could hopefully learn more about this and hopefully find a way to counter it for the future." Lux just nodded in reply, and put her baton on her back and they followed Vel'Koz into the ward.
A few families were surprised by the Guardian's presence, but many of them accepted Lux's explanation of they were using more modern technology to better understand their enemy and it is something Guardians usually do. No one apart from their small group knew the real story of everything related to their powers. While they were scanning, suddenly there is a scream and Lux and Poppy run to the front of the ward pulling their gear in the process. When they got there, Poppy had to put her hammer in front of Lux to stop her from falling to the ground in panic.
Coming in on a stretch was Garen, who had clearly fallen to the same thing that everyone else had. Lux barely managed to grab onto Poppy's hammer to keep from falling to her knees and breaking her cover. Her mother was clearly in a panic and given the look of the staff, it seemed to be a rare occurrence, but then this didn't happen every day. Her mother somehow managed to pull herself together and give a few orders before setting down in a chair. Poppy looked at Lux, who just nodded and Poppy headed back to Janna and Vel'Koz. Lux carefully approached her mother, while keeping her own persona.
"I'm guessing that was your son?" Lux asked, full well knowing the answer but kept it up for appearance sake.
"Yes. I have a daughter, probably close to your age, but she's with friends, and this group came in together they said. I'm sorry, that was just…" but she stopped as words seemed to fail her.
"I know this is hard to hear, but I have to ask. Scanning someone who has recently been affected could help us find the cause, but we also need to know where they were found." Lux said. She was having a hard time keeping her voice neutral since she was so worried about Garen.
"They were found at a park near one of his friends. I'll get the details for you. I guess now I see why people said yes. It's different when it hit someone you know." Lux just nodded in reply. "Go ahead. Finish, but remember what I told that friend of yours before."
"I understand." Lux took to her feet and calmly walked back to the rest of the team.
"You ok?" Poppy asked, keeping her voice low.
"No, but now it's personal." Lux replied. The anger in her voice took Poppy back a bit.
"Just calm down and don't do anything rash." Janna said.
"I know. Either way, she consented. We might have enough after this anyway." Lux said turning to Vel'Koz who quickly packed up and headed over to Garen. While Vel'Koz was scanning, Lux kept a careful eye on her mother, who despite everything, somehow was holding it together, probably more for the staff's sake than anything. Once Vel'Koz finished, he carefully packed away his items and pulled Lux over.
"From the scans, and the descriptions, it seems that all of the seekers are drawing at different rates, and that is a good thing. Some of these people will recover and won't slip into the deep coma but others, unfortunately your brother included, will not. If we can't find all of the seekers, or at least most of them, well you can imagine how this will end. We need to get in contact with the police and get as many seekers as we can." Vel'Koz told Lux, choosing his words carefully.
"Does this mean I can hang out the window of a police car again?" Lux said, barely containing her laughter as Vel'Koz just frowned at her.
"I know you need to lighten the mood, given everything, but really bad joke." Vel'Koz rolled all of his eyes in response. Lux still smiled and she returned to the rest of the team. She nodded to them and they headed outside, followed quickly by Vel'Koz. Lux turned to her mothers and kneeled down next to her.
"Ma'am. I do not know if this will be a comfort or not, but we will bring those responsible to justice." Lux stood up, but turned as her mother grabbed her arm.
"Tell me you will stop this." She said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"We will ma'am. I promise you." Lux said. She was now almost breaking and in the back of her mind, something was telling her to tell her mother who she was, but she held, barely. Lux stood up and walked out to join the rest of the team in the van. As Nasus pulled away, Lux heard her phone buzz from inside her bag. Pulling it out quickly, she quickly powered down and answered it.
"Mom? What's wrong?"
"It's Garen, he's currently in the ward. I just wanted to make sure you are ok. Where are you?" Lux could hear the terror in her voice, despite her trying.
"I'm at the library with some friends. Nothing unusual here. I'm sure Vel'Koz's presence and other things should keep us safe. Well hopefully." Lux replied, careful with the amount of information she let loose.
"Ok. He was just here by the way. I'm not going to make you leave, but do not leave the library until you know it is clear. Promise me that."
"I will mom. I won't leave. I'll stay where it I safe." Lux let the statement hang, knowing she was making a bold face lie. But considering her mother hung up a minute later, after the two sat in silence, she knew that she believed her. Janna and Poppy turned around to look at her, and Lux had more than a few tears in her eyes.
"I know that wasn't easy, but you gave her some peace of mind." Janna said. Lux looked up to take stock of the situation. Nasus in the driver's seat, Vel'Koz hovering in a spot cleared where the passenger seat would have been, Janna and Poppy still powered up staring at her, and Lux was now the one who was weak. Lux just put her head back down, took a deep breath, then raised her head again.
"Now, they have just made me mad. Let's get them." It wasn't fury, or anger, or frustration in her voice now, it was determination, purpose, and focus. Janna and Poppy both just smiled as they pulled up to the police station, well on the road behind it. Lux was about to jump out when Janna pointed something out.
"Um Lux, you might want to transform again." Lux paused, giggled a bit, then pulled her locket again. After finding a secluded location nearby, she was ready.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" Lux touched back down and joined up with Janna and Poppy as they headed towards the police station. Caitlyn seemed to be expecting them as she was waiting outside for them.
"Well you all have a plan? Things are starting to get out of hand." She said as the team approached.
"Yes we do. Have thermal imagers?" Lux asked. Caitlyn seemed to be taken aback by the question but recovered quickly.
"Yes actually. How many are we going to need?" Lux thought for a moment, before realizing that the three of them should be the only ones allowed to destroy the seekers.
"Just three, and we have a list of locations where there are probable seekers that are causing this. Because it is now affecting people, we can seek them out easily. There we be an extremely localized temperature drop that anyone with a basic thermal imager can detect. If your officers have one, then tell them to go around and mark locations but do not approach. We don't need anyone else falling asleep right now." Janna said as she gripped her staff a little more tightly. Caitlyn just nodded in reply and quickly ordered the supplies brought up.
"We will use this list first and try to at least force a temperature change on a massive scale. It will be rather obvious, but because the local temperature will be mostly unaffected, it will make it easier over time to find where they all are." Poppy added as she shouldered her hammer waiting for the vehicles to be prepped. Caitlyn used her radio to make a few more orders while Lux divided the list between the three of them. After what seemed to be no time at all, everything was in place.
"You three ready?" They all just nodded. "Good. Just pick a vehicle and the officers will drive you there. At least we can help with this." Caitlyn herself stepped into one of the cars, hers of course, followed by Lux, Janna hopped into one of the other cars, while Poppy picked a van where getting in and out with her hammer wouldn't be an issue. "Ready?" Lux just nodded. "Ok then hold on." Caitlyn floored the cruiser and the three vehicles tore out of the police lot with sirens blaring as they raced for their first objectives. Lux picking the one which got her brother first.
When they got to the park, they both noticed it was almost freezing. Caitlyn carefully pulled the thermal imager and it didn't take long to locate the seeker in a tree. Lux threw and exploded a singularity and the seeker turned to dust. Immediately the temperature in the area shot up to a more seasonal temperature, but it was still a bit chilly given the prevalence of void energy everywhere.
"So answer me this," Caitlyn asked as they climbed back in and headed to the next destination, "why do they have to release void energy to cover their plans?"
"2 reasons. First to try and hide them from us. Second, because the energy they pull isn't right for them. They have to refine it a bit in order for it to be useful to them. So mixing a bit of void energy with that makes the process go faster. Given everything, they need as much as they can as fast as they can so take the shortest route that also give another bonus." Lux responded as she somehow still held on despite Caitlyn's exacting, but extremely fast driving.
Over the next few hours, the three Guardians eliminated their entire list, and a list that other police units, and civilians, managed to obtain. The temperature for the most part was almost back to normal with only a handful of seekers remaining. As they were driving to their next destination, word came over the radio that most of the patients at the hospital had either woken up, or were responding to stimuli.
With only a few cold pockets left in the city, it was easy to track down the remaining seekers and destroy them. With only city hall remaining, the three converged on it and found an abnormally large signature inside. Lux took a thermal imager from Caitlyn who had the rest of the police surround the building to make sure that hopefully nothing got out. The Guardians carefully made their way around the building but finding nothing, they eventually moved into the council chamber, and it became rather obvious what was causing the problem. What they also noticed is the fact they were getting sleepy.
After quietly entering the chamber, in the middle was a rather large seeker in the middle of the room, surrounded by smaller seekers. The three of them carefully looked around the room before quietly backing out. They knew instantly that fighting could be a bad idea because whatever they were putting out was enough to overpower even them, so they had to fight another way. Exiting the building, they approached Caitlyn and Vel'Koz.
"So we have two problems. First, there are about 10 seekers, including one big one, in the council chambers. Second, the energy in there is so massive, that it started affecting us." Lux said, keeping her voice neutral, and her anger repressed. "Basically this won't be an easy solution."
Everyone stood around for a few minutes before Lux remembered something. She was about to say it when she realized that she needed to pick her words carefully in order to keep the relationship between them and Vel'Koz a secret. However, before she could say anything, Vel'Koz spoke up.
"If one of you would escort me, I might have an idea that it unusual, but might work." Lux nodded and the two of them proceeded inside. "I could sense your struggling with the idea so I figured I would speak up. I can tell you remembered that in this state, seekers are asleep, but if there are enough of them, or they are large enough, it can problems even for you." Lux again just nodded.
"If I can get close enough, then I can figure out just how strong we need to set things up." As they neared the council chamber, Lux started to feel the wave come over her, but was still able to fight it. Vel'Koz carefully opened the door and a sense of calm fell over him. "I haven't feel that in a long time, and now I remember why I hated it." He carefully floated inside and took all of 5 seconds to determine the results. Carefully floating back outside, he turned to Lux.
"Well, that was overwhelming. I'll have to be very careful with how we do this. But the first thing we are going to have to manage is to get everything right. It will be tricky but we could do it. Let's go." Lux started looking around for a suitable room. Vel'Koz waited a few more minutes before heading out, Lux, having found a suitable room, followed.
"Ok we have an idea, but it's risky and we will need some of your officers. Ones who are good marksman." Vel'Koz said to Caitlyn as the approached.
"Well then what's your plan?" Caitlyn asked.
"Basically we are going to have to put the Guardians to sleep to allow them to fight the seekers in a dream world. Once they do enough, your officers will take out the other seekers and that should be enough to force the big one into the real world, allowing the Guardians to fight it directly. This is really our only option." Caitlyn looked at Lux, who had an annoyed face, mainly to keep with the tune of Vel'Koz.
"Ok. How will we know?" Caitlyn asked.
"Trust me you will." Vel'Koz said. Caitlyn just looked around and nodded. She moved her officers into position, while Lux, Janna, and Poppy followed Vel'Koz into a room. Nasus already had the equipment needed into position and the three of them sat down and waited while Vel'Koz briefed the police. Once he floated back into the room, Nasus picked up his staff, and moved to guard the door.
"Ok you three, ready?" He asked.
"Ready." They said. They relaxed into the chairs and Vel'Koz filled the room with void energy, enough to put them to sleep. Once he was sure they were ok, he floated over to Nasus and both stood ready to defend should something happen.
"Ok this is weird." Poppy said. Lux and Janna could only nod. The dream world they had punched into was not only creepy, but also highly reminiscent of their own city. Except most of it looked destroyed.
"We shouldn't linger, we need to find out what is going on. I'm guessing that's where." Janna said, pointing to city hall, which was about the only thing standing and undamaged. "Be careful, we don't know what will happen." The three of them passed inside and the building, which they were semi familiar with, was now just a mess tunnels and was clearly a maze.
"We should split up, that way we can not only do more damage, but we might be able to force everything out at once. We just need to figure out how." Lux said, as they rounded a corner, they found a void crystal. Janna threw a twister at it, shattering it. Immediately they noticed the maze destabilize before it restabalized. It was then they noticed a rumbling and behind them, emerged a swarm of Zzs.
"Well that does it, RUN!" Janna said, and the three of them fled in different directions, with Janna throwing a twister behind them, and Lux a singularity, instantly destroying a large amount of them, but another wave was quickly on their heels. The three of them tore off through the maze, dodging around obstacles, smaller Zz swarms, and shattering crystals, the maze would change, but somehow they all knew the route they had to take. Which they translated to void energy. As they destroyed more and more crystals, it became easier to find the new crystals, and smaller the Zz swarms became. Eventually they made their way to a central room where more crystals existed, along with the 14 seekers.
Lux, Janna, and Poppy entered from different entrances and immediately the 14 smaller seekers took up positions around the crystals and the larger seeker.
"Ah so the guardians have made their way here. Vel'Koz help you? I'm sure he did. Well now, how will you force me into the real world? Figured that out yet?" It taunted as the three Guardians stood there and realized they don't know what to do. Lux, never to stand around, threw a singularity at one of the crystals, but it was surrounded by seekers, and it rendered it useless. Janna followed by another attack which was also blocked.
"Ok this isn't working." Poppy charged the main seeker and swung her hammer. It was blocked, but the seeker that blocked it was knocked to the ground. That got Poppy thinking and she regrouped with Lux and Janna. "I think I have it, just watch that seeker." They turned and saw it rise again. "I'm sure that enough damage onto them individually will send them into the real world for a few seconds. Hopefully long enough for police to deal with them. We just need to be patient, but I'm sure we are going to have to combine attacks against the seeker and the crystals." Lux and Janna nodded, and they fanned out.
Meanwhile outside, Caitlyn watched the thermal imager, and saw a brief warm spike for a few seconds, but it disappeared quickly. That is when she got the idea. "Get every single thermal scope in the arsenal now" she ordered over the radio, and a few minutes later, the 5 officers in there, not including herself, had them attached.
"Right, so here's what I think happened. The Guardians did enough damage to one of the seekers to force it to wake up. When that happens, which was probably that warm spike, we need to take it out. Everyone clear? Ok move out." The officers made their way into the council chamber, and kept themselves awake due to the cold, and waited.
In the dream world, the Guardians kept up their attacks and found small openings, but eventually they did a person attack against a crystal. Janna threw a twister which knocked a seeker to the ground, Poppy then charged with her hammer and knocked another two out, which left just a large enough opening to allow Lux's singularity to get in and shatter the crystal. The big seeker roared in anger, but it seemed to do little damage.
In the real world, Caitlyn and her officers took notice of the first seeker drop and fired, but their weapons no damage. When the next two dropped, they again took shots, but nothing happened. Then as the last one became cold again, one of them fired a shot, and it connected and clearly did damage. It was clear then they would have to wait until the Guardians did more damage where they were.
Lux noticed the last seeker to get back up did so slowly and noticed what was a clear wound on it. "Ok that's what we need to do. Poppy, keep up your attacks on the crystals, Janna, the seeker itself, and I'll poke when needed. We need to those crystals down." Poppy and Janna nodded and quickly set up. Janna threw a twister and a few bolts from her staff at the seeker which were blocked by the smaller ones, but Poppy hit a few to the ground, with Lux throwing a binding at the giant one, and a singularity at the exposed crystal shattering it.
They saw the two seekers that were knocked out get back up slowly, but they clearly had a few more injuries. However, getting a third crystal proved to be more challenging. With fewer targets to defend, the seekers were able to defend them better. Their attacks were clearly doing damage to the large seeker, but not nearly enough. Getting another crystal would be challenging. Lux and Janna kept hammering the large seeker to try and get as many seekers defending the large one as possible, while Poppy probed for a weakness in crystal defenses.
"Poppy, we need another crystal downed quickly" Lux said. Poppy just frowned as she was blocked from getting at another crystal, but then she saw something.
"Lux, singularity there." Lux looked for a second, nodded, and Poppy charged another one. Janna and Lux at the same time threw attacks at the large seeker, and then Lux let a singularly lose at another crystal. The result was Poppy throwing her buckler, knocking out a seeker, then shattering a crystal. Lux knocked a seeker out with her binding against the large seeker, but her singularity made it to the crystal before a seeker, which not only shatter another crystal, but knocked out another seeker. This time, the two seekers didn't get back up.
In the real world, Caitlyn saw the two seekers drop, and they again opened fire, but this time, they also didn't cool back down when they opened into them. "There we go. They are doing it. Keep an eye out. Take out anything that warms up, quickly." She ordered her officers. She could feel the sleepiness try to overtake her, but with the elimination of the two seekers, it had stalled, but wasn't backing off.
Lux knew that it had worked, and the giant seeker roared again. Lux threw more attacks at the large seeker, and while they were being absorbed, seekers were clearly moving slowly and they were trying to burn energy to keep in the fight. Poppy kept having to deal with at least one while trying to shatter more crystals, but eventually got the upper hand. After shattering 3 more crystals, it was now almost impossible to get another one. But at least the number of seekers had dropped to 10.
Getting frustrated, even with Lux and Janna helping, the remaining 4 crystals were untouchable. So Poppy spun up her Hammer, and the jumped from a ledge and brought it crashing down into the large seeker and the swarm around it. Lux seeing the jump, threw her Spark at the same time, and the damage it did was apparent. All 10 remaining seekers were knocked to the ground, and only 5 of them got back up this time, abet really slowly.
"We're almost there." Poppy charged around shattering the 3 remaining outlying crystals before the remaining 5 seekers drew on remaining energy to defend the last large crystal and the seeker itself. Lux, Janna, and Poppy charged around trying to find an opening, but they couldn't. Eventually Lux saw a pattern in their own movements, and she just stopped in place. Janna and Poppy stopped as well, and so did the seekers. Lux just stood in place and Janna and Poppy seeing what was about to happen, spaced themselves out, but not evenly.
"Give up guardians?" The Seeker taunted.
"Nope, just waiting for that." Lux threw a binding directly at the seeker, a singularity at the crystal, and charged up for another Spark. Janna threw a twister at the seeker and then threw a few bolts from her staff. Poppy threw her bucker the crystal as well and then charged at the seeker with her hammer. They couldn't defend against everything. While the seekers few up to defend the crystal, because of the odd angles, they were hit with Lux's singularity, knocking 3 of them to the ground, but Poppy's buckler made it through, shattering the crystal. The seeker roared, and the remaining seekers dropped and it finally came down from the small platform it was on.
"Fine. I'll deal with you myself." But as it charged, it turned as it saw Janna dive out of the way. Turning around, the seeker saw Lux jump into the air.
"Final Spark!"
In the real world, Vel'Koz and Nasus were waiting for Rek'Sai to show up, and she did, as expected. As they noticed more and more seekers being destroyed, there was a presence rapidly approaching, and it was clearly angry. "Ready" Nasus asked.
"Indeed." Vel'Koz answered. He lashed out with his powers, and there was a loud bang from the corridor outside. Nasus and Vel'Koz exited the room and found Rek'Sai recovering from being slammed into the ceiling.
"So you will still defend them, even though they would destroy us?" Rek'Sai snarled.
"Here's the difference between you and me. I came to understand things, you refuse to see anything but your own aggression and anger." Vel'Koz replied. Rek'Sai, not taking that well, charged and tried to attack Vel'Koz, only to be slammed into the ground by Nasus' staff. He quickly summoned his own powers and Rek'Sai was now in visible pain as she tried to get away, but only to be further slowed, and then the floor became like lava for her as she jumped to a wall. As soon as she grabbed onto the wall however, Vel'Koz shot out his own powers and slowed her further and did some more damage. Rek'Sai roared and charged again, connecting with Vel'Koz, but then getting slammed by a void rift he summoned.
"That actually hurt. Hmm, you have been learning." He taunted. Rek'Sai charged again, despite being wounded, she again lunged at Vel'Koz only to be stopped by Nasus, who was now as tall as the hallway and looking very upset. He brought his staff down on Rek'Sai's head and hit her a few good times while he slowed her escape. Now in a lot of pain, Rek'Sai roared and vanished, but just as she leapt at Vel'Koz, emerging from her shroud, she was hit with a bright light.
"Oh Sorry did we interrupt something?" Lux said as she and the rest of the team emerged from the room that they were hidden in. Lux threw a few bolts for good measure and Rek'Sai dove, while taking them, but disappeared.
"I see you were successful." Nasus said as he turned to Vel'Koz, who just shook off the scratches.
"Now to go and deal with it." Lux and the rest of the team charged into the council chamber where the seeker was not moving. With Caitlyn and 5 other highly trained marksman watching it, it was scared to move.
"So now what guardians? Do you mean to end me?" It asked. Janna and Poppy flanked around to make sure it didn't get away.
"Yes actually." Lux charged her powers but just as she was about to focus them, Rek'Sai reappeared and knocked Lux into the air, then managed to get quite a few hits in before Janna could throw a shield on her. Lux tumbled to the ground, but missed the landing, doing further harm. Janna threw a twister to try and slow Rek'Sai, but she missed, and when Poppy charged to try and do the same thing, she also missed. Rek'Sai was clearly desperate but somehow managed to dodge everything. Well almost.
As soon as she appeared, shots rang out as Caitlyn and the rest of the marksman took shots at the void creature, and while some missed, they did enough to slow Rek'Sai down after Poppy missed, giving her another chance. Poppy charged again, but that seemed to be exactly what Rek'Sai wanted. Poppy knocked her into the seeker, which Rek'Sai grabbed and then she summoned her remaining strength and launched into the air, ripped open a void portal, and was gone.
"Well that won't be good." Caitlyn said but then she saw Lux on the ground. "Get a medic!" Caitlyn managed to climb down from the second level quickly but as she approached Lux, Janna just held her back.
"A medic won't be necessary. Anyone else injured?" She asked. Two of the officers raised their hands, and Vel'Koz floated into the room along with Nasus who also joined. "Ok then, come closer and don't be scared." As the small group formed a circle around her, Janna channeled her powers and produced her Monsoon. The healing rains were a welcome after the long day and even before she was finished, Lux rose to her feet.
"Thanks. Now we have to deal with that seeker. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until it shows up again. Rek'Sai won't take this defeat lightly and the seeker was wounded. For now however, the danger is past." Lux said turning to Caitlyn.
"Good. Hopefully we can have a few days without another crisis, but I probably just jinxed it didn't I?" Caitlyn said in reply. Lux just nodded her head and gave a quick chuckle as a reply.
"Hopefully a few days rest then. Let's go. Thanks again." Lux said to the team and Vel'Koz respectively as they headed out of the building and to the library. Making use of routes they knew well, they were able to beat Nasus and Vel'Koz back, and were waiting for a half hour before they arrived.
"You all should be proud of yourselves after what you did today. Hopefully we can indeed get a few days rest but I doubt Rek'Sai will give us that. Still, with just three, you have accomplished a lot. Hopefully a fourth and fifth aren't far off but for now, we seem to be ok." Nasus said as he entered. Vel'Koz held up a tentacle, but just nodded in agreement.
"Hopefully so, but that means less things for me to hit." Poppy said in reply. The room was dead silent for a second, before everyone burst out laughing. It was exactly what they needed after the long few days. After they all calmed down Lux stood up as she noticed her phone.
"I need to get into the main library, and so do you two. My mom is here to get us." She said. Vel'Koz and Nasus stood aside and let them pass through one of the concealed entrances.
"I hope we do find more soon, but I sense that is closer than expected." Vel'Koz said turning to Dorcha and Solas who weren't following as they were "still at home".
"Hopefully. There is something, but we can't pin it down. And of course this lazy cat won't help us search." Solas said, poking at Zephyr, who just took a casual swipe at the poro. Solas playfully hopped out of the way. "Anyway, hopefully we can find them before another chaos storm breaks out.
"Somehow I don't think that will happen." Nasus said.
"Ok you three, I'm going to take you all home. Sorry you have to cram in the back though." Lux just rolled her eyes at her mom as Garen, who was clearly still recovering sat in the front while the three of them were crammed in the back. They all wanted to talk, but given present company, that just wasn't an option. As they all got dropped off, Lux just figured it was probably for the best as they all just needed to spend a bit of down time, however long that may be.
When they arrived home, Lux helped Garen into his room, where he collapsed onto the bed. "Thanks. Man whatever that was really hit us hard." He said as he pulled a pillow close.
"Who was with you?" Lux asked.
"Oh Darius, Jayce, Robert, Juan, and a few others. We all just collapsed apparently near the park. I heard that one of those Guardians dealt with whatever hit us, but still they said it would be a few days before we are all back to normal. So I'm just going to get some rest. Thanks again sis." And with that, Garen promptly fell asleep.
As Lux went into her room, a thought crossed her mind. She quickly got on her computer and pulled up Janna and Poppy and invited them to a chat room.
"What's up?" Poppy asked before Janna could even say anything.
"Either one of you notice the distinct lack of Debonair at today's events?" Lux asked. Both Janna and Poppy were silent for a minute before Janna spoke up.
"Now that you mention it, yes I did. Maybe he got hit with the seekers before we could find them all. Why?"
"Just a thought. I need to put a few things on paper. I'll talk to you two about it tomorrow. Or whenever. I think we could all use some rest." Lux said, pulling a stack of paper and began writing.
"Sure. See you sometime." Poppy said. Both she and Janna logged off as Lux continued scribbling with a few theories but didn't get very far before tiredness overtook her and she went to bed. Well she stayed up long enough for Dorcha and Solas to come back and the three of them just decided to sleep the afternoon and evening away.
In her cave, Rek'Sai was cowering, because she knew that she had failed, and failed badly. As a portal opened, Malzahar floated through, but he didn't look mad. In fact, he looked positively delighted.
"I'm sorry Prophet, but I have failed." Rek'Sai said, hoping for a bit of mercy.
"Failed? I would hardly call your recent actions a failure. Sure you didn't get the Guardians, but otherwise I would call your recent actions a success!" The enthusiasm in his voice made Rek'Sai look up for the first time.
"I'm sorry Prophet, I don't understand." Rek'Sai was now every confused.
"Well the amount of energy you managed to collect before those pesky guardians stopped you was immense. We have more than enough to launch another attack on the barriers, and still have a plentiful reserve. You failed only part of your mission, but given everything, I would have to say you came out on top." Malzahar genuinely looked pleased with the results and Rek'Sai relaxed a bit.
"Prophet what are you here for then?" She asked.
"I need you to provide a distraction one more time. I know your seeker is wounded, but even wounded, it would be a great distraction while we prepare another assault. Is there a target you had in mind?" Malzahar asked as he turned to the seeker in the corner, clearly recovering from the wounds that were inflicted on I during the fight.
"I did have one more target that I could get to, but I will need a day for the seeker to recover enough to be able to do anything." Rek'Sai said through a timid voice, clearly afraid of angering Malzahar despite his attitude.
"Very well. You said you needed time with your last plan and even though we didn't get as much energy as the last time we tried this, the energy was beyond expectations. I have confidence in your plan and therefore you will have your day. But no longer than that." He said with an extremely firm tone.
"Understood great Prophet." Rek'Sai said, finally relaxing enough to calm down.
"Remember though, the purpose of this is to distract not, get energy, though that would be nice. Primary mission first Rek'Sai." And with that, Malzahar summoned a portal and vanished. Rek'Sai turned to the seeker, nodded, and finally curled up to get some sleep, knowing that the guardians would find out the results quickly, so she had to plant a lot of small fires. Just enough, but not too much, least they sense what is actually going on.