Does no one like bloody, violent things anymore? Of course not-it's all
yaoi and romantic these days, eh? With so much profanity you might as well
replace those words with and, but, the, and a, right!?
Oh yeah, and this chapter has been brought to you by Animelover! We all owe you a big, huge, gigantic thank you, but none more than me! To Temagami- you had better thank her, considering you're too lazy to review yourself, so don't go complaining to me about the fact that you can't read my story!
20. Commence Attack
"Boris, my old colleague..."
"Likewise, Gilepse," Boris replied with a sneer.
The two men began to circle each other as if looking for an opening. They scowled at each other as they did so, stepping in front of each other's army precariously. The trainees and deploys from each company watched with determined eyes.
"Biovolt deploys, hear me," Boris said after a long silence. "Today is the day that Biovolt shall be victorious in the defeat of Goadbwa. Just take a look around, Gilepse-my side outnumbers you five to one."
"Yes, there is strength in numbers, but there is often skill in lesser numbers. My side will take out all five they're worth!" Gilepse countered.
"Why not put your fist where your mouth is?" Boris quipped, lunging forward with lightning speed and tackling Gilepse to the ground.
Kieran, seeing this, all of a sudden moved over to the side that Goadbwa stood on, calmly and quietly.
"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Mariah from the front lines.
Kieran fought Toutalis inside of him but lost. "It's obvious Biovolt's going down. I'd prefer to be on the winning side, thank you very much."
"Traitor! Boris! You tell him!" Tyson yelled, turning to Boris. Boris wasn't paying attention, too busy holding a dagger to Gilepse's throat.
"It just goes to show how pathetic Biovolt is. Even Biovolt's own deploy can see that!" Telesto mocked. He glanced smugly to Kieran. "Right, Temagami?"
Kieran nodded, the nonchalant smile not faltering from his face.
There arose a yell from Samson, who stood on the front lines of the Biovolt crowd. He threw his hand into the air and charged forward at Spica, who was in the front of the Goadbwa throng. He fired his new Beyblade, hitting Spica on her cheekbone. The spin of the blade grazed her skin and lacerated it, creating a fresh wound through which blood oozed.
Spica drew back out of surprise and backed into Kuiper's arms. She lay there a moment, staring at Samson in horror and anger. Then she pulled away violently from Kuiper and fired her blade at Samson. He dodged the blade and ran of in one direction, his Beyblade following him.
"Let the war begin!" Spica and Samson both yelled in unison at which both sides charged at each other, firing their Beyblades at the opponents they challenged.
Almost immediately, the field was filled with separate battles, yells and spirits flying everywhere.
*
"Right. They've left and defences detected are minimal. Should we move in, Director?"
"Affirmative, Victor. Move your troops in," Judy ordered into her microphone.
"Yes, ma'am. Let's go, ladies," Victor told the Biovolt and BBA troops as he moved closer to the large wooden Goadbwa entrance.
*
"Revenost, slam his blade!"
The black Beyblade made an unexpected swerve back around towards Samson's blade. Samson was in no condition to command it, though as he was preoccupied with a severe pain in his stomach. The impact of Revenost against his Beyblade threw him to the ground with a yell of pain. He crunched into a defensive ball around his stomach.
"Oooh, hurt are we?" Spica taunted and she continued with relentless attacks. Hit after hit, yell after yell, Samson couldn't take it anymore. Slipping in and out of consciousness, he finally gave in to the pain and passed out entirely.
Spica smirked evilly. "Well, you had it coming, attacking me like that." She wiped the new blood away from the wound on her cheek as she called back her blade and stepped forward towards the comatose Samson on the ground.
She watched as his new brown blade spun to a stop beside him. She stared at it in wonder before picking it up. She gasped on seeing the form of the Bit Beast. "H-Hans...But how did Samson get this Beyblade? It's from Goadbwa!" Tears began to well from her eyes but she squeezed them shut and held the Beyblade to her chest. Her tears ran down her cheek and mixed with the blood of the wound, creating a pinkish liquid that trailed onto her uniform.
"Molphin, let's get physical!" Anya exclaimed as she commanded Molphin to attack. The red Beyblade shot forward around Telesto's grey one and launched into the air. Telesto flinched and put his hands up to cover his face but Anya's Beyblade passed through the gap in his arms and headed straight for his left eye. Fortunately, his eyepiece blocked the way. The strength of the blade hit the eyepiece, shattered it, and then ricocheted back to Anya.
Telesto took his arms away as shards of his red eyepiece fell to the ground. "Well there goes Goadbwa's visual..."
"Shoot! We missed, Molphin! Let's try again! Go get 'im!" Anya ordered, pointing her finger straight ahead at Telesto.
Again, Molphin shot forward, once again aiming for his head. This time, though, Poltost rose from its blade and stood in the way of Telesto. Molphin barrelled right into the Bit Beast. It flew back to Anya, who dodged it as it flew for her head.
She looked back up to the Bit Beast towering over her and Telesto. She stared at it in horror, seeing the figure that it resembled. "I- It's...But...how?"
Telesto took his hands away once again and snickered at the petrified look on Anya's face. "What is it, Anya? Finally recognized my Bit Beast for who he really is?"
"T-Tala never told me...th-that Poltost was..."
"Of course not. He never knew. He thought it was just another Bit Beast shaped like the soul of any old human, little did he know exactly which human it was. And since Poltost doesn't remember you anymore, it'll just resume its attack, now. Poltost!"
"Your apathetic and calm manner don't scare me, Rhea. Why not give it up?" Kuiper called as he ran with Rhea to catch up with their blades.
"If you're telling me to stop, you obviously are afraid," she countered.
Kuiper froze in mid-step and stared at her with a stunned look. Rhea stopped too and Kuiper gulped. He pointed at her, indicating the direction for Doppelgost to go. "You're creeping me out, girl! Why don't we return the feeling? Doppelgost, Double-Go!"
Doppelgost spun around from the metres it was away and split into two blades. The two Beyblades began to then attack Rhea's Moel from opposing sides. Rhea watched solemnly, not showing her fear or surprise-if that was indeed what she felt.
Moel finally began to wobble at which the two Doppelgosts pulled away. "Moel, Charge," was Rhea's command.
Blue sparks began to fly around Rhea's blue blade. Almost instantly, Moel regained its spin. It then took of after the real Doppelgost. It slammed into it and the copy Doppelgost disappeared.
Kuiper growled as his blade started to slow. "Oh yeah? Well, then, Doppelgost, let's see if this will show her how we feel. Doppelgost, show yourself!"
At Kuiper's command, the blue spirit rose from its bit piece. Rhea stared up at it with the same emotionless glance, trying to see the features of the figure. She surveyed the body, working her way up from the feet and finally showing emotion when she got to the face. She made a slight gasp and her eyes widened. "It's...it's my...my..."
Spica cast shifty glances around the battlefield before her. She noticed some souls flying through the air and blood spattering from a few locations. "There's only one way that Samson could have got this Beyblade-I smell treason among someone I know. Someone's been leaking things to Biovolt, and I'll bet it's vice versa, too."
She let her hand drop to her side, still holding the Beyblade containing Hans' soul. With her left hand, she reached into her belt and pulled something out. She brought her hand to the level of her head and glared down at Samson angrily. She bit her lip. "This is your punishment, Samson, for using Hans this way. Hans, I hope that you will finally be at rest knowing that the opportunistic user of your soul's power is dead." She knelt down and raised the object in her hand higher. "Don't worry, Samson, I'll kill your sister, too, so that you won't be alone. Once you're gone, the Hilanovs will fall apart, seeing as the Langleys are the strongest link!"
She brought the dagger in her hand down, aiming for the chest of Samson's cataleptic body. Moments before impact, she was hit and tackled to the ground so that she lay stunned on her back staring furiously up at the one pinning her to the ground.
"That's right, Spica! Us Langleys are the strongest, and I intend to use some of my magnificent power on the annihilation of you!"
Spica looked into the green eyes of her attacker and recognized them instantly. She struggled to free herself or at least throw them off. "Sarah! I thought you weren't to participate in the final battle! What's this? The goody-too-shoes disobeying her dear uncle?"
Sarah fought to keep Spica held down. "Yes, that's right! I'm not listening to him anymore if he won't let me take you down! Kill my brother you won't, Spica. He's always been there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for him! Of course, you wouldn't know feelings like that, you cold- hearted transgressor!"
"Ooh, you know, that touches me so, Sarah. But I'd just like you to know that I do have feelings like that. Such as the feelings I have for the dead human soul in your brother's new blade!" Spica countered, finally managing to throw Sarah off.
The two clamoured to their feet and charged at each other with their daggers. They met in the middle with a clash of steel. "'Dead human soul'?" Sarah repeated questioningly as she struggled with Spica.
"That's right. You don't know Hans, but he's a German Goadbwa trainee. Revenost took his soul and Telesto shot him under the orders of Gilepse and Hans' own master, Commander Kurt Brandez!"
Sarah made a slight gasp and pulled away from the bladelock. "That's terrible! And you were the one that helped in the slaughter!"
"I had no choice. If I disobey that fool of a man Gilepse he'll have me hanged," Spica replied, bringing her dagger back down only for Sarah to block it. "And if your little boyfriend, Kai was to see the human souls that lurk within my blade and Kuiper's, he'd feel the same surprise along with his emotionless sister!"
"What do you mean by that?" Sarah demanded, withdrawing and then striking again.
"I mean that Revenost, my Bit Beast, is the soul of the Hiwataris' mother, Xenia Hiwatari!"
***
"Intruders in the castle!"
"You know what to do! Exterminate those pesky insects," Ophelia commanded to the technicians and scientists in the control room.
"Things aren't looking good for Telesto, ma'am. We've lost visual and audio is faltering," reported one of the female technicians, Lori.
Ophelia rushed over and peered over Lori's shoulder at the monitor. It was full of static, and only ever so often did it flash a quick glimpse of Telesto's view of the battlefield. Ophelia snatched up the microphone from the counter beside Lori. "Telesto! Can you hear me?"
"Yes...wh-...I'm...can't...-ou..." Ophelia could hear through rounds of thick static. She growled and slammed the stand back down on the counter.
She turned away, folded her arms and sighed. Lori swivelled around in her chair to face her. "Well...? What do we do, Ophelia?"
Ophelia raised her head to yell through the busy room, "Do we still have contacts with Spica, Kuiper, and Gilepse?"
"Yes, ma'am," came the majority of replies.
"No-audio and visual are failing, Ophelia, ma'am. It must be all the struggling he's doing. Either that, or Boris has found out of our system and has attempted to sabotage it. I'd say he's doing a rather good job," one of the male technicians reported, looking up to the middle where Ophelia stood.
Ophelia massaged her temples ruefully as she groaned. She drew a slow breath in through her teeth in annoyance. "That's it. Our concern at the moment isn't the battlefield. We'll have to trust that the deploys will know what to do on their own. What we should worry about is the intruders- Ryan-how many are there?"
The man that had reported the intruders' presence looked to his computer monitor and then back to Ophelia. "Approximately a score, I'd say."
"Okay, then. Lori, Ryan, Kerry, Marc and Josh-you are to stay here in the control room. I want you five to stay in contact with the battlefield and back up the others," ordered Ophelia.
"What do you mean back us up?" one of the ones whose name hadn't been mentioned.
Ophelia whirled to face him and grabbed a headset from the counter nearby. "You are going to incapacitate the intruders, John."
"With what?" John questioned.
Ophelia reached under the counter and brought out a black object about the size of her hand. She threw it to John, who caught it and analyzed it oddly. "Guns," Ophelia answered simply. "You've had target practice and should be able to get rid of them quite easily."
"Maybe not," Ryan voiced, glancing at the monitor again. "They're Biovolt deploys, and if I know Boris, he wouldn't send them out unless they were top of the line. You know him-he won't accept failure. The odds of us triumphing over them are a million to one!"
Ophelia and the rest stared at him for a moment, some determined, some frightened. There was silence and tension among them all until Ophelia broke it. "Then there's still a chance," she said softly, lowering her head. They all turned to her.
"We may not win, but at least we'll go down knowing that we tried our best. Gilepse will be proud, and unlike that evil man Boris, he'll accept our defeat if it was for a good cause. He'll know that we tried our best to hold them back, and an honourable death is the best way to go, especially if we succeed in the defence of Goadbwa." She raised her head and thrust her clenched fist in the air. "We'll either defeat Biovolt or die trying!"
She immediately turned to Lori. "You're in charge."
"Me?" Lori questioned, stunned as she pointed to herself. "Why me? What about you? You know how to command way better than I could ever dream of doing and where are you going?"
"To the battlefield. The president needs my help," Ophelia replied, motioning for the others to follow her to the door. "Don't worry-I'm wearing a headset so that you will be able to keep in contact with me. I would leave Deneb in charge, but he is no where within the Castle's vicinity. We have no idea where he is. I'm sure you'll do a better job than him, anyway, Lori."
The ones that were told to do so reached for their guns under the counters and loaded them. They followed Ophelia out the door to leave Marc, Lori, Ryan, Josh and Kerry to stare dumbfoundedly at their exit.
*
Judy stood positioned in the control room watching the monitors before her flash images of what the Blade Sovereign and Boris were seeing. She was eyeing Rhea's screen display when something that flashed in front of it made her do a double take.
"What was that?!" Judy exclaimed, taking her hands from her hips and beginning to type something on the keyboard over the shoulders of Kenny.
Kenny glanced up at Rhea's monitor, which she had not been surveying, though he was in charge of. He saw something make a quick appearance on the right side of the screen. He gasped and looked anxiously up at Judy. On seeing the same surprised expression on her face, Kenny covered his face and buried his head in the counter. "Oh Kai..." he muttered.
"I'm sure that I saw Kai in Rhea's monitor," Judy said, leaning backwards and running her hand along her jawline thoughtfully. "But that's impossible because he's in the Abbey..."
"My thoughts exactly, ma'am. I can assure you that he's no where near the battlefield," Kenny reassured her.
"Judy, I'm picking up unusual signals from Tala. His brainwaves seem to be processing too much information for him to simply be in his room," Nikita reported, appearing in the doorway.
"What?" exclaimed Judy, apparently confused. She rushed to the door and followed Nikita down the hall a little ways until they came to the room that contained all of Tala's cyborg contacts and equipment. "First I think I see Kai, and now we have reason to be suspicious of Tala, too?" Judy muttered as she entered the room and examined the brainwave screen.
Sure enough, there was too much activity going on in there, and censors also indicated an increase in heart rate. Then came the dead give away.
"Anya! Anya, what is it? I-" There was a gasp and silence. Tala had seemingly stopped talking, too surprised to do so.
"Give me a visual," Judy ordered Nikita, who immediately obeyed.
On one of the overhead monitors appeared Anya and a Bit Beast rising before the two Romanov siblings.
"Just as I suspected!" yelled Judy. "What's he doing out there? What is Kai doing out there? Is Sarah there, too?!"
Kenny cringed as he heard these comments echo down the hallway and into the main control room. He sunk down into the counter. "Oh great...now what? I don't want to be around when they get back... If they get back..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So the Hilanovs have been discovered and the final battle's begun. Which side will bring about the change to the world and what shall happen to the other?
Oh yeah, and this chapter has been brought to you by Animelover! We all owe you a big, huge, gigantic thank you, but none more than me! To Temagami- you had better thank her, considering you're too lazy to review yourself, so don't go complaining to me about the fact that you can't read my story!
20. Commence Attack
"Boris, my old colleague..."
"Likewise, Gilepse," Boris replied with a sneer.
The two men began to circle each other as if looking for an opening. They scowled at each other as they did so, stepping in front of each other's army precariously. The trainees and deploys from each company watched with determined eyes.
"Biovolt deploys, hear me," Boris said after a long silence. "Today is the day that Biovolt shall be victorious in the defeat of Goadbwa. Just take a look around, Gilepse-my side outnumbers you five to one."
"Yes, there is strength in numbers, but there is often skill in lesser numbers. My side will take out all five they're worth!" Gilepse countered.
"Why not put your fist where your mouth is?" Boris quipped, lunging forward with lightning speed and tackling Gilepse to the ground.
Kieran, seeing this, all of a sudden moved over to the side that Goadbwa stood on, calmly and quietly.
"What are you doing!?" exclaimed Mariah from the front lines.
Kieran fought Toutalis inside of him but lost. "It's obvious Biovolt's going down. I'd prefer to be on the winning side, thank you very much."
"Traitor! Boris! You tell him!" Tyson yelled, turning to Boris. Boris wasn't paying attention, too busy holding a dagger to Gilepse's throat.
"It just goes to show how pathetic Biovolt is. Even Biovolt's own deploy can see that!" Telesto mocked. He glanced smugly to Kieran. "Right, Temagami?"
Kieran nodded, the nonchalant smile not faltering from his face.
There arose a yell from Samson, who stood on the front lines of the Biovolt crowd. He threw his hand into the air and charged forward at Spica, who was in the front of the Goadbwa throng. He fired his new Beyblade, hitting Spica on her cheekbone. The spin of the blade grazed her skin and lacerated it, creating a fresh wound through which blood oozed.
Spica drew back out of surprise and backed into Kuiper's arms. She lay there a moment, staring at Samson in horror and anger. Then she pulled away violently from Kuiper and fired her blade at Samson. He dodged the blade and ran of in one direction, his Beyblade following him.
"Let the war begin!" Spica and Samson both yelled in unison at which both sides charged at each other, firing their Beyblades at the opponents they challenged.
Almost immediately, the field was filled with separate battles, yells and spirits flying everywhere.
*
"Right. They've left and defences detected are minimal. Should we move in, Director?"
"Affirmative, Victor. Move your troops in," Judy ordered into her microphone.
"Yes, ma'am. Let's go, ladies," Victor told the Biovolt and BBA troops as he moved closer to the large wooden Goadbwa entrance.
*
"Revenost, slam his blade!"
The black Beyblade made an unexpected swerve back around towards Samson's blade. Samson was in no condition to command it, though as he was preoccupied with a severe pain in his stomach. The impact of Revenost against his Beyblade threw him to the ground with a yell of pain. He crunched into a defensive ball around his stomach.
"Oooh, hurt are we?" Spica taunted and she continued with relentless attacks. Hit after hit, yell after yell, Samson couldn't take it anymore. Slipping in and out of consciousness, he finally gave in to the pain and passed out entirely.
Spica smirked evilly. "Well, you had it coming, attacking me like that." She wiped the new blood away from the wound on her cheek as she called back her blade and stepped forward towards the comatose Samson on the ground.
She watched as his new brown blade spun to a stop beside him. She stared at it in wonder before picking it up. She gasped on seeing the form of the Bit Beast. "H-Hans...But how did Samson get this Beyblade? It's from Goadbwa!" Tears began to well from her eyes but she squeezed them shut and held the Beyblade to her chest. Her tears ran down her cheek and mixed with the blood of the wound, creating a pinkish liquid that trailed onto her uniform.
"Molphin, let's get physical!" Anya exclaimed as she commanded Molphin to attack. The red Beyblade shot forward around Telesto's grey one and launched into the air. Telesto flinched and put his hands up to cover his face but Anya's Beyblade passed through the gap in his arms and headed straight for his left eye. Fortunately, his eyepiece blocked the way. The strength of the blade hit the eyepiece, shattered it, and then ricocheted back to Anya.
Telesto took his arms away as shards of his red eyepiece fell to the ground. "Well there goes Goadbwa's visual..."
"Shoot! We missed, Molphin! Let's try again! Go get 'im!" Anya ordered, pointing her finger straight ahead at Telesto.
Again, Molphin shot forward, once again aiming for his head. This time, though, Poltost rose from its blade and stood in the way of Telesto. Molphin barrelled right into the Bit Beast. It flew back to Anya, who dodged it as it flew for her head.
She looked back up to the Bit Beast towering over her and Telesto. She stared at it in horror, seeing the figure that it resembled. "I- It's...But...how?"
Telesto took his hands away once again and snickered at the petrified look on Anya's face. "What is it, Anya? Finally recognized my Bit Beast for who he really is?"
"T-Tala never told me...th-that Poltost was..."
"Of course not. He never knew. He thought it was just another Bit Beast shaped like the soul of any old human, little did he know exactly which human it was. And since Poltost doesn't remember you anymore, it'll just resume its attack, now. Poltost!"
"Your apathetic and calm manner don't scare me, Rhea. Why not give it up?" Kuiper called as he ran with Rhea to catch up with their blades.
"If you're telling me to stop, you obviously are afraid," she countered.
Kuiper froze in mid-step and stared at her with a stunned look. Rhea stopped too and Kuiper gulped. He pointed at her, indicating the direction for Doppelgost to go. "You're creeping me out, girl! Why don't we return the feeling? Doppelgost, Double-Go!"
Doppelgost spun around from the metres it was away and split into two blades. The two Beyblades began to then attack Rhea's Moel from opposing sides. Rhea watched solemnly, not showing her fear or surprise-if that was indeed what she felt.
Moel finally began to wobble at which the two Doppelgosts pulled away. "Moel, Charge," was Rhea's command.
Blue sparks began to fly around Rhea's blue blade. Almost instantly, Moel regained its spin. It then took of after the real Doppelgost. It slammed into it and the copy Doppelgost disappeared.
Kuiper growled as his blade started to slow. "Oh yeah? Well, then, Doppelgost, let's see if this will show her how we feel. Doppelgost, show yourself!"
At Kuiper's command, the blue spirit rose from its bit piece. Rhea stared up at it with the same emotionless glance, trying to see the features of the figure. She surveyed the body, working her way up from the feet and finally showing emotion when she got to the face. She made a slight gasp and her eyes widened. "It's...it's my...my..."
Spica cast shifty glances around the battlefield before her. She noticed some souls flying through the air and blood spattering from a few locations. "There's only one way that Samson could have got this Beyblade-I smell treason among someone I know. Someone's been leaking things to Biovolt, and I'll bet it's vice versa, too."
She let her hand drop to her side, still holding the Beyblade containing Hans' soul. With her left hand, she reached into her belt and pulled something out. She brought her hand to the level of her head and glared down at Samson angrily. She bit her lip. "This is your punishment, Samson, for using Hans this way. Hans, I hope that you will finally be at rest knowing that the opportunistic user of your soul's power is dead." She knelt down and raised the object in her hand higher. "Don't worry, Samson, I'll kill your sister, too, so that you won't be alone. Once you're gone, the Hilanovs will fall apart, seeing as the Langleys are the strongest link!"
She brought the dagger in her hand down, aiming for the chest of Samson's cataleptic body. Moments before impact, she was hit and tackled to the ground so that she lay stunned on her back staring furiously up at the one pinning her to the ground.
"That's right, Spica! Us Langleys are the strongest, and I intend to use some of my magnificent power on the annihilation of you!"
Spica looked into the green eyes of her attacker and recognized them instantly. She struggled to free herself or at least throw them off. "Sarah! I thought you weren't to participate in the final battle! What's this? The goody-too-shoes disobeying her dear uncle?"
Sarah fought to keep Spica held down. "Yes, that's right! I'm not listening to him anymore if he won't let me take you down! Kill my brother you won't, Spica. He's always been there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for him! Of course, you wouldn't know feelings like that, you cold- hearted transgressor!"
"Ooh, you know, that touches me so, Sarah. But I'd just like you to know that I do have feelings like that. Such as the feelings I have for the dead human soul in your brother's new blade!" Spica countered, finally managing to throw Sarah off.
The two clamoured to their feet and charged at each other with their daggers. They met in the middle with a clash of steel. "'Dead human soul'?" Sarah repeated questioningly as she struggled with Spica.
"That's right. You don't know Hans, but he's a German Goadbwa trainee. Revenost took his soul and Telesto shot him under the orders of Gilepse and Hans' own master, Commander Kurt Brandez!"
Sarah made a slight gasp and pulled away from the bladelock. "That's terrible! And you were the one that helped in the slaughter!"
"I had no choice. If I disobey that fool of a man Gilepse he'll have me hanged," Spica replied, bringing her dagger back down only for Sarah to block it. "And if your little boyfriend, Kai was to see the human souls that lurk within my blade and Kuiper's, he'd feel the same surprise along with his emotionless sister!"
"What do you mean by that?" Sarah demanded, withdrawing and then striking again.
"I mean that Revenost, my Bit Beast, is the soul of the Hiwataris' mother, Xenia Hiwatari!"
***
"Intruders in the castle!"
"You know what to do! Exterminate those pesky insects," Ophelia commanded to the technicians and scientists in the control room.
"Things aren't looking good for Telesto, ma'am. We've lost visual and audio is faltering," reported one of the female technicians, Lori.
Ophelia rushed over and peered over Lori's shoulder at the monitor. It was full of static, and only ever so often did it flash a quick glimpse of Telesto's view of the battlefield. Ophelia snatched up the microphone from the counter beside Lori. "Telesto! Can you hear me?"
"Yes...wh-...I'm...can't...-ou..." Ophelia could hear through rounds of thick static. She growled and slammed the stand back down on the counter.
She turned away, folded her arms and sighed. Lori swivelled around in her chair to face her. "Well...? What do we do, Ophelia?"
Ophelia raised her head to yell through the busy room, "Do we still have contacts with Spica, Kuiper, and Gilepse?"
"Yes, ma'am," came the majority of replies.
"No-audio and visual are failing, Ophelia, ma'am. It must be all the struggling he's doing. Either that, or Boris has found out of our system and has attempted to sabotage it. I'd say he's doing a rather good job," one of the male technicians reported, looking up to the middle where Ophelia stood.
Ophelia massaged her temples ruefully as she groaned. She drew a slow breath in through her teeth in annoyance. "That's it. Our concern at the moment isn't the battlefield. We'll have to trust that the deploys will know what to do on their own. What we should worry about is the intruders- Ryan-how many are there?"
The man that had reported the intruders' presence looked to his computer monitor and then back to Ophelia. "Approximately a score, I'd say."
"Okay, then. Lori, Ryan, Kerry, Marc and Josh-you are to stay here in the control room. I want you five to stay in contact with the battlefield and back up the others," ordered Ophelia.
"What do you mean back us up?" one of the ones whose name hadn't been mentioned.
Ophelia whirled to face him and grabbed a headset from the counter nearby. "You are going to incapacitate the intruders, John."
"With what?" John questioned.
Ophelia reached under the counter and brought out a black object about the size of her hand. She threw it to John, who caught it and analyzed it oddly. "Guns," Ophelia answered simply. "You've had target practice and should be able to get rid of them quite easily."
"Maybe not," Ryan voiced, glancing at the monitor again. "They're Biovolt deploys, and if I know Boris, he wouldn't send them out unless they were top of the line. You know him-he won't accept failure. The odds of us triumphing over them are a million to one!"
Ophelia and the rest stared at him for a moment, some determined, some frightened. There was silence and tension among them all until Ophelia broke it. "Then there's still a chance," she said softly, lowering her head. They all turned to her.
"We may not win, but at least we'll go down knowing that we tried our best. Gilepse will be proud, and unlike that evil man Boris, he'll accept our defeat if it was for a good cause. He'll know that we tried our best to hold them back, and an honourable death is the best way to go, especially if we succeed in the defence of Goadbwa." She raised her head and thrust her clenched fist in the air. "We'll either defeat Biovolt or die trying!"
She immediately turned to Lori. "You're in charge."
"Me?" Lori questioned, stunned as she pointed to herself. "Why me? What about you? You know how to command way better than I could ever dream of doing and where are you going?"
"To the battlefield. The president needs my help," Ophelia replied, motioning for the others to follow her to the door. "Don't worry-I'm wearing a headset so that you will be able to keep in contact with me. I would leave Deneb in charge, but he is no where within the Castle's vicinity. We have no idea where he is. I'm sure you'll do a better job than him, anyway, Lori."
The ones that were told to do so reached for their guns under the counters and loaded them. They followed Ophelia out the door to leave Marc, Lori, Ryan, Josh and Kerry to stare dumbfoundedly at their exit.
*
Judy stood positioned in the control room watching the monitors before her flash images of what the Blade Sovereign and Boris were seeing. She was eyeing Rhea's screen display when something that flashed in front of it made her do a double take.
"What was that?!" Judy exclaimed, taking her hands from her hips and beginning to type something on the keyboard over the shoulders of Kenny.
Kenny glanced up at Rhea's monitor, which she had not been surveying, though he was in charge of. He saw something make a quick appearance on the right side of the screen. He gasped and looked anxiously up at Judy. On seeing the same surprised expression on her face, Kenny covered his face and buried his head in the counter. "Oh Kai..." he muttered.
"I'm sure that I saw Kai in Rhea's monitor," Judy said, leaning backwards and running her hand along her jawline thoughtfully. "But that's impossible because he's in the Abbey..."
"My thoughts exactly, ma'am. I can assure you that he's no where near the battlefield," Kenny reassured her.
"Judy, I'm picking up unusual signals from Tala. His brainwaves seem to be processing too much information for him to simply be in his room," Nikita reported, appearing in the doorway.
"What?" exclaimed Judy, apparently confused. She rushed to the door and followed Nikita down the hall a little ways until they came to the room that contained all of Tala's cyborg contacts and equipment. "First I think I see Kai, and now we have reason to be suspicious of Tala, too?" Judy muttered as she entered the room and examined the brainwave screen.
Sure enough, there was too much activity going on in there, and censors also indicated an increase in heart rate. Then came the dead give away.
"Anya! Anya, what is it? I-" There was a gasp and silence. Tala had seemingly stopped talking, too surprised to do so.
"Give me a visual," Judy ordered Nikita, who immediately obeyed.
On one of the overhead monitors appeared Anya and a Bit Beast rising before the two Romanov siblings.
"Just as I suspected!" yelled Judy. "What's he doing out there? What is Kai doing out there? Is Sarah there, too?!"
Kenny cringed as he heard these comments echo down the hallway and into the main control room. He sunk down into the counter. "Oh great...now what? I don't want to be around when they get back... If they get back..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So the Hilanovs have been discovered and the final battle's begun. Which side will bring about the change to the world and what shall happen to the other?
