Chapter 14: Talisman of the Sun
There was an extremely long pause.
'You're crazy,' Sakura informed her.
Tomoyo shrugged and glanced at Meiling who was just staring up the engine. Shifting slightly in her seat to make herself more comfortable she turned back to the laptop she had in her lap.
"You got a better plan?" Tomoyo asked, "Spinnel Corporation mustn't get the location, no matter what happens you have to stop them."
Meiling eased out of the driveway as Tomoyo looked through the windshield at the busy Hong Kong road and sighed.
"Sakura?"
'Yeah?'
"You think you can pull it off?"
'I have to,' Sakura said darkly.
"Good luck."
Sakura sighed.
'I'm going to need all the luck I can get.'
Tomoyo nodded and turned to Meiling.
"When can we get there?"
"With this traffic?" Meiling sighed and resisted the urge to smash the steering wheel in frustration, "Twenty, thirty minutes."
Tomoyo barely resisted the urge to swear on the top of her lungs.
Come on Sakura, you have to pull it off...
You just have to...
Or all is lost
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura sighed.
"What is it?" Xiaolang asked her tersely, quietly.
"One of my co-workers just had a brainwave and came up with a dangerous, possibly suicidal plan but we have to do it."
"Why?"
"Spinnel must not get the location of the dig that Ryan funded."
Xiaolang nodded.
"So that's why they're here."
Sakura sighed and nodded.
"What's the plan?" Xiaolang asked.
Sakura smiled at him crookedly and told him. He was silent as she finished.
"It's dangerous."
Sakura shrugged and opened her mouth to reply.
"Shut up! No talking!" one of the commandos yelled pointing his gun at their direction.
Wisely they quietened down as Sakura studied the commandos closely. This was going to take an Oscar winning performance...
Suddenly with no warning at all her hand shot out and slapped Xiaolang loudly across the cheek. Everybody's eyes turned to her as she glared at Xiaolang.
"How dare you?" she spat, "So what now you bring up the fact that you are engaged? Just because we're going to die doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you!"
Sakura sent one last venomous glare at him and stalked up to the nearest commando, he hefted his weapon at her but Sakura continued strolling towards him.
"Can you take me away from that..." Sakura narrowed her eyes at Xiaolang, "That two-timing, cheating, lying scum bag? I want to get the hell away from him!"
The commando hesitated as Sakura got closer to him.
"Look, don't worry I'll just stand over there," Sakura pointed at a relatively empty corner.
She could see the man's eyes flick over to where she pointing. That one-second distraction proved costly as Sakura lashed out with her fist. Her knuckles slammed into his temple and he collapsed immediately. The other commandos immediately reacted pointing their weapons at her but Sakura grabbed the man before he fell to the ground and held him in front of her using him as a human shield. The man's body and Kevlar gearing should protect her from any bullets but if they all fired at her at once she was dead... literally.
She had to act fast. Seeing the man's automatic rifle, which hung from his shoulder on a strap, her eyes lit up as a wicked smile spread across her face. Before anybody could react she grabbed the weapon and pointed it at the ceiling.
She squeezed the trigger.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
Some of the people on the ground screamed as bullets screamed through the air and smashed into the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. In a massive explosion of sparks and shattered glass crystals the chandelier plunged down to earth. Sakura leapt back as the chandelier smashed into the hard marble ground. The effect could only be described as explosive: metal crumpled as shattered glass chips shot out in all directions sparks burst from the broken chandelier like out of control firework rockets as Sakura smiled admiring her handiwork.
Sparks rained down from the exposed cables hanging from the ceiling, choking, blinding smoke filled the air as some of the people held captive screamed adding to the confusion. A shard of glass sliced into her arm but she ignored it instead opting to shove the man out of the way and whirling around sprinting towards the stairs. Below her the commandos were still disorientated from the exploding chandelier and smoke.
"SHOOT HER!" one of the commandos yelled.
Sakura cursed and put on an extra spurt on speed as commandos fired in her general direction. Bullets tore the carpets, walls and ceiling as Sakura ran as fast as she could, after what seemed like eternity she finally reached the landing. Sprinting across the exposed walkway she ran into the relative safety of the corridor.
"AFTER HER!" the same commando commanded.
Five of heavily armed men raced after her Sakura didn't waste any time instead ducking into the warren of corridors. She headed in the general direction of Ryan's office.
"What the hell?" one of original three commandos that had followed their leader suddenly appeared out of a hallway in front of her.
Sakura cursed as he hefted his weapon and fired. Her specially trained eyes and reflexes seem to watch the bullets in slow motion, she saw the individual bullets shrieking through the air. She immediately reacted leaping into the air flying above the path of the bullets. Her legs straightened as she lunged straight for the man, he realised what was happening and began to bring his weapon up but it was too late. Both her foot slammed into his chest as the weapon jerked out of his hands. She landed in front of her and leapt into a flying kick. Her high heel shoes slammed into his face as he went flying backwards. She landed nimbly and crouched there for a few seconds worried that their fight would draw unwanted attention.
No shouting, no footsteps racing towards her.
Sakura stood up slowly breathing heavily.
She paused for a second catching her breath before sprinting off.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo sighed in relief as Sakura took out the commando.
"Good job," she murmured.
'Thanks.'
"Turn to your right," Tomoyo ordered as she studied the map of Ryan's mansion that had appeared on her laptop screen.
"How is she?" Meiling asked worried.
"She's getting closer but I'm worried," Tomoyo said quietly.
"Why?"
"I think around six commandos are going after her."
Meiling growled in frustration and turned back to her driving.
"Turn left," Tomoyo murmured into her com-link.
Meiling turned the corner and sighed in relief sighing the relatively empty straight.
"We'll be there in five minutes."
Tomoyo breathed a sigh of relief and relayed the message to Sakura.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
'We'll probably get there in five minutes.'
Sakura nodded and felt faint with relief.
"Hurry up and get here," Sakura muttered.
'We're going as fast as we can.'
Sakura nodded and continued running down the hallway.
"FREEZE!" a voice yelled.
Sakura sighed in frustration and disappeared into another hallway as the commando raced after her. Sakura took as many turns as she could but somehow the commando managed to stay on her tail.
She saw an open door and took the risk ducking inside. A few seconds later she heard the sound of footsteps running past the door but it faded away as the commando disappeared deeper into the house. Stealthily she opened the door and retraced her steps.
"Thought you could get away, didn't you?" a sinister voice murmured behind her suddenly.
Chills shot down Sakura's spine as cold metal touched the back of her neck.
"Put your hands up," the man snarled.
Sakura followed his instructions slowly raising her hands.
"Walk!" the man snarled pressing the barrel hard into her neck.
Sakura took several small steps forwards, the man snarled in frustration and grabbed her hair and tugged sharply.
"Walk faster," he growled letting go of her hair.
The Angel quickened her steps as the man continued to stalk after her the gun pressed firmly against her neck. They made it to a flight of stairs.
"Go down," the man commanded.
Sakura slowly descended down the stairs appearing to be silent and withdrawn the whole time but inside she was busy calculating and figuring out how to get rid of her opponent.
"Hey," she said suddenly, "You know Humpty Dumpty?"
"Shut up and keep walking," the man snarled.
"He had a great fall," Sakura turned around and grinned at him, "And so will you."
Before the man could react Sakura suddenly leapt down to the ground and grabbed his feet. With a powerful jerk the man went sprawling, panicking he pulled the trigger and bullets ripped giant holes in the ceiling. Plaster and dust descended on them as Sakura punched the man in the face.
Without bothering to find out if anybody heard them she ran up the stairs and disappeared back into the labyrinth of corridors and rooms.
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Tomoyo winced as she saw the man go down hard.
"Oooo... nice one," Tomoyo murmured into her com-link.
"We're almost there," Meiling announced as she turned a corner.
"Sakura, we're almost there," Tomoyo relayed to their fellow Angel.
'Good, it's about time!'
"Sorry."
Meiling swore as she saw a roadblock ahead. Two police cars with their blue and red siren lights flashing were parked horizontally across the street preventing anyone from going through. A policeman looked up to see them approaching and began strolling towards them. Tomoyo quietly clipped her laptop shut and casually slid it down to the car floor as she watched the man approach.
"Sorry, marm but this road is blocked."
"Can't we get through?" Meiling asked barely hiding her impatience and frustration, "It's really urgent."
"Sorry miss but we have orders."
Meiling sighed and toyed with the idea of ramming her car through the block for a few seconds but she knew that the officers were only doing their job and she couldn't injure them.
"I guess we have to find ano..." Meiling began.
Suddenly she narrowed her eyes as she noticed something unusual. The man's clothes had suspicious bumps beneath it; she glanced casually up at his opened collar and caught the sight of black Kevlar gearing. That was a bit unusual since police didn't usually wear Kevlar but then again if they were here because of the takeover at Ryan Trong's mansion... as Meiling inspected him more closely she noticed he was wearing a shoulder gun holster but the weapon inside was hidden behind his back. She casually opened her car door and got out. Pasting a fake smile on her face, she grinned at the man.
"Sorry but I've got to get my mobile phone out of my bag, which is in the trunk," she smiled at him apologetically, "My friend tends to get a bit annoyed if I don't tell her we're going to be late ahead of time."
"That's okay miss," the man smiled at him.
As she walked to her trunk, she casually glanced back and glanced at the gun slung across his back. Her smile froze as she recognised the model immediately. It was a semi-automatic, definitely not something a normal policeman would carry around in any circumstances.
She opened her trunk and pretended to rummage around. She closed it and walked back to the car door.
"Thanks officer," she smiled at him.
He smiled back at her as Meiling moved. Her fists whipped around with no warning smashing the man in the back of the head. He fell forwards as his face smacked into the car door, he slumped to the ground out cold.
"What the hell?" Tomoyo demanded, "Meiling!"
Meiling sighed.
"Tomoyo, he's carrying around a semi-automatic."
Tomoyo blinked at her not quite understanding. Meiling sighed, Tomoyo was a computer expert but she knew absolutely nothing about guns.
"No police carries around that particular model," Meiling gestured at the weapon, "And I bet you any sum of money that the model he's carrying is the same as the commandos inside the mansion."
"So this is a fake set-up?" Tomoyo asked pointing at the police cars.
Meiling nodded.
"Probably to make sure that people who hear gunshots thinks the police is taking care of it."
"So what do we do?" Tomoyo asked, "We've got to get through the roadblock."
Meiling grinned at her. Tomoyo sighed.
"You've got a plan?"
Meiling nodded.
"Yeah but we better hurry before he's missed," Meiling pointed at the fake policeman.
Tomoyo listened carefully as Meiling explained her plan.
"If we pull it off it'll make Sakura's job a lot easier," she finished.
Tomoyo nodded.
"I like it."
Meiling grinned devilishly.
"Then let's get to it."
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Sakura resisted the urge to panic as the faint crackling that indicated the com-link was working suddenly disappeared. She kept calm thinking that Tomoyo must have stopped transmission for some important reason. At least she hoped that was what had happened.
No longer guided by her friend's instructions, Sakura relied on her instincts and headed roughly in the direction of the computer room.
She slipped into another corridor and stealthily padded down the carpeted walk away. She came to the familiar ebony door and gently pressed her ear to the wood. She could hear talking or more precisely shouting from within the room.
"Access your computers," a harsh voice commanded.
"I... I... can... can't!" Ryan spluttered.
"Do it," the voice growled again.
"Why?" Ryan asked, "I've got nothing precious in my computer!"
"Just do it or you're dead."
She could hear the sound of a chair creaking as Ryan sat in it. She could hear the soft hum of the computer as it began booting up. Sakura straightened and took a deep breath trying to figure out how to get inside and stop Ryan from giving the Spinnel commandos the location of the second book.
"Stop right there," a soft voice said behind her, "Turn around. Hands in the air."
Sakura froze and slowly followed the man's instructions. The man she thought she had beaten at the stairs stood behind her a little way back his weapon levelled at her head.
"Open the door and step inside," he commanded, "Don't try to fool me again or you're dead."
Sakura slowly turned around and twisted the doorknob and stepped inside as the man followed.
"What the hell?" the leader growled.
"This woman got away and tried to get here," the commando smirked as a mocking tone came into his voice, "So I thought I'd help her."
The leader was silent for a few seconds.
"Kill her," he commanded coldly.
Sakura's eyes widened as she whirled around ready to fight the man off but he was too far way for her to do anything. All she could was watch in horror as he aimed carefully and pulled the trigger.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Three bullets ripped into her stomach as she collapsed to her knees. She could dimly hear Ryan's panicked screams as the commando who shot her smirked at her in satisfaction. She looked down slowly and saw that her dress was soaked with blood; in stunned horror she looked up and stared into her killer before collapsing.
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Meiling smiled in satisfaction as she rammed the pseudos policeman's head into door and winced as she heard the loud crunch that resulted from the bone-on-metal contact. Tomoyo finished off her victim with a swift jab to the gut and knelt down onto the hard concrete and rummaged around in man's pockets and belt.
"Got it!" she said triumphantly holding up a set of keys.
Meiling rummaged around in other man's pockets and came up with a similar set of keys. Without batting an eyelid, she unlocked the false police car door and casually slipped in. She settled herself into the leather seat and hummed softly to herself as she started up the engine.
In the other car opposite her Tomoyo did the same. With expert ease, Tomoyo backed the car away slightly not really caring she was crushing some rich man's fence and garden in the process. She spun the hand wheel to the left and hit the gas, with a loud screech and leaving behind a black skid mark and the overpowering stench of burning rubber Tomoyo's car shot down the street closely followed by Meiling's car.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura was still very much alive.
But the pain...
It was as though every nerve in her body was on fire, as though needles had been punched through every section of her body.
The world around her was spinning around crazily but strangely Sakura felt very calm.
Her vision was blurring, She could taste the coppery taste of blood in her mouth and she could felt with frightening clarity her whole body slowly going limp and cold. She could felt the blood-soaked fabric of her dress cling against her rapidly cooling skin and thought ironically this was how her mother had probably died. Gunned down by enemy fire.
Wait what was that?
Sakura could felt a burning sensation against her spine. Had the bullets somehow hit her spine column as well? She could feel the burning sensation become more intense as she slowly flexed her fingers.
Half-dazed and slowly dying, Sakura moved her hand slowly. It was as though her hand had been encased in a block of concrete. It was so hard to move... so hard to breathe... so hard to think. Using all her will power, she slipped her hand beneath her dress and scramble around until she felt the secret pocket. Now that her sensitive fingertips were close to it, she knew that the burning sensations was radiating from there.
She frowned slowly and wondered dimly what it could be.
With shaking fingers, she slowly pulled the flap open and reached inside. Her fingers closed around the strange key she had stolen from this very office before.
Strange.
The metal was warm.
Not overly hot but several degrees warmer than it should have been. As her hand closed around it, it became even warmer. Sakura wondered if she was hallucinating now.
Just how much blood had she lost?
She felt so tired... so very, very tired. She closed her eyes to rest, to sleep.
'No, you cannot sleep,' a voice murmured to her.
Sakura's eyes fluttered open as she mumbled something weakly.
Who was that talking to her? Oh god, she must have lost litres of blood to be dreaming of voices now.
'Awake, power of talisman! Talisman of the sun, awake and heal your wielder!' the voice continued.
Sakura closed her eyes and could feel blackness claim her mind.
'AWAKE!'
Sakura's eyelids snapped open as she let out a strangled gasp. The key, which was still clutched in her stiff fingers suddenly heated up.
Power.
Pure power.
It flowed through her body chasing away the pain and numbness. Sakura could feel her mind slowly reawakening becoming more active as she wondered briefly what had brought along this change. The key! Sakura ripped it out from the hidden pocket and stared at it, it was now glowing brightly, throwing bright golden light on her palm and the floor. Entranced by the light and ignoring the cries of surprise from the commandos in the room, Sakura slowly looped the chain over her head and let the key hang around her neck.
She felt rested as though she had just had a good night's sleep. Energised if she had just consumed a swimming pool full of coffee and sugar. It pulsed through her body heightening her senses chasing away the pain and numbness that had invaded her body just moments before.
She slowly stood up balancing on two unsteady feet. She straightened and could feel the key becoming even warmer than before. The gold light became brighter making Sakura's green eyes glow and dance. She looked up and stared serenely into her almost-killer's eyes.
He panicked as this strange woman with the glowing necklace continued to stare at him, studying him but not doing anything else. Unnerved and feeling an incredible overwhelming sense of fear he hefted his weapon and jerked the trigger.
"DIE!!" he screamed suddenly.
The gun jumped to life spitting out dozens of metal bullets at a time. The bullets shot through the air aiming straight for Sakura's body.
It was strange.
She didn't panic.
She didn't even feel concerned.
She simply raised her hands and spoke.
"No," she said clearly, "No."
The key around her neck seemed to become even brighter than before as Sakura continued to stare at the bullets screaming straight at her calmly.
Just as they were about to hit her a glittering golden barrier suddenly burst to life in front of her. The bullets slammed into the barrier and exploded into harmless chips of metal.
"What the hell?" the commander screamed, "SHOOT HER! ALL OF YOU!"
The two other commandos in the room who had remained silent before jumped into action firing at her with an expert's aim and skill.
"Stop," Sakura commanded calmly not even knowing what she was doing.
More glittering barriers of gold light appeared and deflected the bullets.
"KILL HER! KILL HER!!" the leader ranted.
"No," Sakura's voice became louder, "STOP!"
An invisible breeze danced through her hair and ruffled her dress as Sakura glared at one of the commandos. An invisible force slammed the commando in the chest and sent him flying into the wall. His body smashed into wall punching through the plaster and insulation beneath. He fell forward and slumped to the ground completely defeated.
"Your turn," Sakura's trademark grin appeared on her face as she flicked her hand at the two other commandos.
Like before an invisible force grabbed the commandos and crashed them into the walls. Both collapsed as Sakura turned and walked up calmly to the leader. The leader backed away hurriedly staring at her in fear as he hefted his weapon, his shaky hands causing the weapon barrel to point in all directions.
"Sleep," Sakura commanded her voice calm and cool.
The commando blinked owlishly at her before collapsing to the ground. A few seconds later soft yawns filled the air. Sakura stepped over the prone man's body and walked to the mahogany desk.
Ryan stared up at her in fear.
"No! Please! Don't hurt me!!" he screamed in fear.
Sakura looked at him coolly.
"Sleep," she commanded.
Ryan immediately slumped forwards and was soon snoring as well. Sakura gently placed a hand on the back of his head and murmured again.
"Forget," she commanded as her key glowed brightly again.
Once that was done, she turned to the computer, which was still on. After a few second's pause, she touched the computer screen with her fingers.
"Melt," she simply said.
Suddenly the screen exploded showering Sakura with sparks. She didn't even flinch as she watched the screen and the rest of the computer equipment, even the mouse, slowly melt into a sludge of plastic and metal.
Sakura looked around the room at all the knocked out commandos and slowly slip a hand around the key hanging from her neck. She looked at it in wonder before slowly slipping the chain over her head. As soon as the key was away from around her neck, the metal suddenly stopped glowing and the metal went cold.
Sakura gaped at the harmless looking key and glanced down at her stomach. Her dress was still blood-soaked but as she poked a finger at the holes in her dress she was shocked and stunned to find no wounds. No, torn skin. No blood. No exposed muscles.
She gaped at the key.
"What the hell are you?" she asked the artefact as though it could answer her.
She looked down at her hands in wonder.
"What the hell am I?"
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Meiling smiled in satisfaction as her hijacked police car rammed through the metal gates surrounding Ryan's mansion. She winced slightly at the sound of metal screeching on metal and wondered how the paintwork of the car was holding up against the protruding metal bars of the fence.
Probably not very well.
Suddenly right in front of her a troop of commandos appeared. She swore loudly as they all hefted their weapons. She ducked as they opened fire. Bullets zipped past overhead shattering the windshield and ripping giant holes in the hood of the car. Praying a stray bullet wouldn't find the fuel tank and cause an explosion Meiling floored the gas. Behind her she knew Tomoyo was doing the same.
Great minds think alike! she thought gleefully.
Meiling suddenly swerved to the left as Tomoyo's car swerved to the right. The commandos who were obviously expertly trained kept their weapons trained on them. A rain of bullets tore the metal of the side doors but luckily none actually punched through it.
In the other car Tomoyo winced as bullets shattered the side windows spraying her with shattered glass. But a small smirk appeared on her face as she swerved off the paved path and crushed a small row of hedges and countless flowers under her wheel. She hurriedly spun the hand wheel around and smiled as her car faced a small hill in the garden that led up to the front of the mansion just right of the front door. Meiling was on the other side, which was similarly landscaped but she was heading towards the left of the door.
Ignoring the bullets that was hammering into the trunk of the car and shattering the back window, Tomoyo floored the gas as the hill came rushing towards her. As though they had choreographed it, both cars hit the hills at the same time.
They shot up along the slope, the rubber tyres ripping away at the grass leaving behind muddy trenches in the ground.
Meiling was grinning like a maniac as she saw the front of the building approach. She floored the gas and watched with satisfaction as the speedometer shot up to hit the hundreds. The car hit the very top of the hill just before the ground evened out and Meiling's grin grew even wider as she achieved what she wanted.
The tyres left the ground as the car shot into the air.
Slowly, every so slowly the nose of the car tipped forwards until the whole machine was pointed at the large floor to ceiling windows lining the walls still doing well over a hundred. Meiling slid down into her sit as the car shot through the air like a giant metal spear as Tomoyo's car did exactly the same.
The window came closer... and closer... and closer... until...
"Bwissssshhhhhhh!!" with a loud crash metal hit glass as glass crumpled and shattered.
The car smashed through the windows with devastating force shattering the plasterboards of the walls nearby. With a sickening crunch the tip of the car hit the hard marble floor inside before gravity yanked the car and the whole thing shot forwards through the room tearing up more of the wall and anything unlucky enough to stand in its way. Meiling kicked open the door and smiled as she stepped out of the ruined car into a giant dust cloud of plaster dust, shattered marble and god knows what else. She waited calmly as she heard screaming and panicked voices from the room to her right.
"Hmmm..." Meiling noted with interested she had just slammed the whole car through the wall into the exhibition room where most of Ryan's collection of artefact had once been proudly on display.
She noted with sadness that many of those artefacts were now probably destroyed but hey, it was for a good cause.
She grinned devilishly knowing that the commandos would have a horribly time trying to figure out who to get her or Tomoyo. Not that she minded either way, those commandos were going down no matter what happened.
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Tomoyo grimaced as she surveyed the destruction in the room she had rammed through. It appeared to be an empty ballroom but now the whole thing was a giant demolition site of shattered marble, twisted metal and glass chips that crunched under foot as Tomoyo calmly sat on the hood of the now almost destroyed police car and waited.
She could hear the commandos yelling to each other and wondered which one of them would they come after. Maybe they would split up and go after both of them...
Tomoyo grinned.
That would make them weaker and easier to beat. Tomoyo smiled happily and waited. She could hear the sound of boots hitting hard marble as the voice became louder and clearer.
She stood up and dusted her hands on her jeans.
"Showtime!"
As soon as they kicked the damaged door open, Meiling was already in motion. Using the dust that still hung in the air as a smokescreen, she attacked quickly and viciously taking out two of them with quick jabs to the chest and head. Before anybody could react another commando was sent flying into the hard wall as Meiling smirked.
"K.O.! Game over! Try again!" Meiling dished out more punishment with quick fists and feet as more commandos poured into the room.
She smirked seeing that there were only a dozen commandos at most.
"Too easy," she yawned as she flipped a commando onto his back before kicking him in the head.
She ducked a wild swing from another commando before kicking him into a stomach with her right. Once again close quarter combat proved to be their downfall, being too close together they could do safely use their weapons without hitting their own team mate.
"You boys get a A for attempting but..." Meiling grinned evilly at the last commando, "...a F for actual performance."
She finished him off with a flying kick to the chest before landing lightly and running into the main hall.
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Tomoyo slammed the final commando's face into the hood of the car and winced hearing the sound of bone crunching against metal.
"Ouch!" she smirked, "I bet that hurts."
She dropped him and quickly checking that everybody was truly down and out she ran out of the room and into the main hall.
"Upstairs!" she yelled to Meiling seeing her appear out of another door.
Meiling nodded and began pushing past of the crowd of terrified people to the stairs.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a voice yelled.
Tomoyo and Meiling whirled around in shock.
"FREEZE!!" a whole army of commandos were at the door their weapons all trained on them, "Go the centre of the room or we'll shoot!"
Meiling cursed loudly as Tomoyo growled in frustration. Slowly with great reluctance both Angels made it to the centre of the room as people backed away from them staring at the commandos in terror.
"They almost caused us this mission," the leader of the new batch of commandos snarled, "SHOOT THEM!!"
Meiling and Tomoyo watched with wide eyes as each commando took careful aim. Meiling's body tensed but even she couldn't dodge this many bullets.
"NOW!!"
All the commandos squeezed their triggers.
"NOOOOO!!" a familiar voice from somewhere behind them, "NOOOO!!"
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Sakura sprinted down the stairs and sighed with relief as she made it to the stairs that led down into the main room. She froze as she saw her friends standing in the middle of the room.
"Meiling? Tomoyo?" she murmured.
She looked and gasped seeing the army of commandos standing in front of them.
"SHOOT THEM!!"
"NOOOOO!!" Sakura screamed, "NOOOO!! STOP!!"
She watched in horror as bullets shot out from the weapons each one aiming straight for her friend. She closed her eyes as she tried to beat down her terror. Her friends would be killed... just like her... her... mother.
"NOOOO!! STOP!!" Sakura cried again.
Suddenly her body stiffened.
What the hell? Sakura looked down and to her shock saw the key was glowing again.
What the?!
She looked up and to her shock saw a familiar glittering gold shield sprung into existence repelling the barrage of steel bullets. Meiling and Tomoyo gasped and looked around in confusion looking for the source of their saviour. Their eyes fell on Sakura.
"SAKURA?!" they both gasped.
"SHOOT HER!!" the leader ranted as all commandos aimed and fired at her.
"STOP!" Sakura screamed.
A golden shield appeared in front of her as bullets slammed into it, gold energy flared and vaporised the metal as Sakura glared at the commandos.
"HOW DARE YOU?" she snarled, "GO!"
An invisible force slammed all the commandos to the ground pinning them there as Sakura's green eyes began a brilliant gold.
"SLEEP!" she commanded her voice rumbling with power.
And to everybody's astonishment the commandos' body all relaxed as soft snores punctuated the air. Sakura's gold eyes faded away revealing her normal emerald as she looked around in shock.
"Sakura?" Tomoyo murmured softly, "Wha... wha... what did you do?"
She looked at them in horror as they slowly backed away from her afraid of her. She looked around and saw that everybody else was doing the same.
"Forget," she murmured, "Forget this ever happened."
Gold light flooded the room and all was forgotten.
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Xiaolang Li picked himself up off the ground and looked around in confusion. The whole mansion was a giant ruin, he gaped at the destruction that was spread out around him. Slowly he turned around and gasped seeing a group of people dressed in Kevlar gearing and night vision goggles lying on the ground, seemingly fast asleep if their snores were anything to judge by.
He frowned.
What the hell just happened? he wondered as he looked around for Sakura.
He had brought the Angel here but now she had disappeared. Did that mean the mission had been a success? If that was the case...
Xiaolang... Syaoran had to get back to his headquarters. Quick.
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"So you got it?" Tomoyo asked as they drove back to Meiling's mansion.
"Yeah," Sakura said distractedly.
Meiling frowned.
"What happened?" she wondered, "I remember fighting through the commandos and entering the main room but after that it's one giant blank. I mean I just suddenly seem to snap out of a trance and there they were... the commandos all asleep."
Sakura blushed.
"Umm... tha... tha... that was me..." she began hesitantly.
Tomoyo looked at her in surprise.
"What did you do?"
"Sleeping gas," Sakura lied, "One of the commandos were carrying canisters of them so I hurled them at the commandos. The fumes must have affected you."
Tomoyo nodded.
"Oh," she said before turning back around and staring at the road in front of them.
Sakura leaned back and sighed before ever so stealthily bringing her hand up to her neck and gently tracing the outline of the key through the fabric of her dress.
She knew what had happened.
She knew what she had done.
But how?
How did she do it?
Sakura wondered briefly what else the key could achieve and shivered as she thought what would happen if people like Malus Harrason ever got his hand on this artefact.
The damage he could do...
She shivered and knew in a sudden bright moment of realisation that she was meant do find it.
She was meant to wield it as the voice had said.
It was meant to be...
This was her destiny.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Next chapter:As Sakura puzzles over what the key actually is, Tomoyo reveals the location of the second book and the three Angels are on their way. However not all is smooth sailing, the book is located within the site and the site is heavily guarded. Will the girls be able to infiltrate the site and retrieve the second book? But there is still one last obstacle standing in their way... finding out what happens in Destined Angels.
A/Note: Sorry for the massive delay in between each chapter but school had started up again and the homework has been pouring in! Since my exams are coming up you can unfortunately expect more delays.
A MASSIVE SORRY! But thanks for all your support!KEEP REVIEWING!!
