New Blood
by Saber Alexander McConnell
Rated PG13

CHAPTER 25: Refuge

Amaya appeared on a dark street, astonished and exhilarated. She was shaken by her battle and mildly injured, but gratified all the same; she had managed to escape her attackers with a little help from Yasuo Toshitada.

She'd been flung to God knew where, ambushed by an American youth who'd addressed her as "babe". Not impressed, Amaya had fought him, the fight joined moments later by an Italian man in feline-looking armor. She'd held her own well enough, but understood that she didn't know where she was, and even if she got away from them, she'd be vulnerable.

Then the voice: "Use your armor," it had said. She recognized the voice, and was grateful for its presence, but she did not understand what it meant. Bewildered, she'd paused in her fight to ask, "How?"

Think! he urged, as Amaya distractedly dodged a spear hurled by the Italian. "Your armor is of the night! When the barrier between worlds is at its thinnest! Use your power to escape!

The impossible realization came then; she could transport. By concentrating, willing herself to be in San Francisco, she had somehow managed it. Elation burst through her mind; she had finally found out what her armor could do! She also realized that if the others had been flung to the four corners of the globe, they would have difficulty getting back. She realized she could concentrate on a person as well as a place, and thought of Xander.

The sensation was strange; a falling, bottomless swoop in her gut as if she'd fallen from a great height. There were moments of blackness, and then new awareness.

The stone beneath her feet was hot, the sun bright overhead, and two people battled several meters away on the flat expanse of rock. As Amaya adjusted her sight from night to day, she realized that the combatants were Xander and the warlord who'd introduced himself as Tai Shuang. Xander looked exhausted, his cracked helmet lying on the ground nearby, the side of his face badly burned. Shuang was weaponless, laughing as he circled the boy, clearly liking the altercation.

Anger and concern raced through Amaya as she sprinted at the combatants, calling out a challenge in Japanese to the Warlord.

Shuang stared for only a moment before turning around and sprinting, and for a moment Amaya thought he intended to flee. But he only grabbed his chain and weight weapon and attacked.

Amaya yelled in fury, dodging the deadly weight, and narrowed her eyes. "Try that again, barbarian," she hissed at Shuang, who only grinned, and obliged. Xander didn't look shocked to see Amaya, but did not seem like he cared at that moment if God himself were to appear in the middle of the fight and pull out a couple of longswords. He only dove back into the fight, as tired as he was.

The fight was close, but Amaya and Xan were the victors, driving Shuang off with a weapon that Xan had improvised seemingly by sheer instinct, a sort of spear made from a very thin energy shield. He thrust it into Shuang's mask, and was rewarded by the man's shriek of pain. And then he was gone in a flash of orange light.

Shaking, Xan watched the place he had been, then turned to Amaya, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Amaya lunged at him as his knees bent and his eyes closed; she only barely caught him and lifted him up so he would not fall to the searing rock. "I must transport again," she muttered to herself, bending awkwardly to snag Xan's helmet. Closing her eyes, Amaya concentrated once more on San Francisco.

---

Suisei was lucky. His energy was waning quickly, and Sekhmet fearsome sword-chain whip had struck him more times than he could count. Its poisons began to sink through his armor, and he was at the point of being overcome when he got in the lucky shot.

The surface was near; Suisei could feel the pressure of the waters lessening, could imagine the winds that played across the waters. His arm trembled badly as he drew back the string of his longbow yet again, his hoarse voice crying out the powerful mystic attack. "Arrow Shock Wave!"

Sekhmet did not dodge in time, and the arrow caught him full in the face, wedging in the opening of his mask. The warlord screamed, recoiling, dropping his sword whip to clutch at the arrow as its energy burst, flashing brightly in the dingy water. Suisei gaped for a moment, and then there was cool wind on his face; he had broken the surface of the water.

Giddy relief overcoming him, Suisei felt the winds brush his skin, giving his exhausted body a small surge of energy, and felt the mask retract into the helmet. Astonished, he realized he was still in San Francisco, and had simply been submerged in the nearby bay!

Suisei laughed, a bray of harsh laughter from a very sore throat, and struck out for the land, forcing his arms and legs to work just a little longer. It was fortunate that the land was close, and soon he was crawling up onto the beach.

The sky overhead was dark, and the beach deserted. Suisei gazed around as he stood, swaying on his feet, and saw the beach umbrellas and towels that had been left behind by fleeing citizens. "Or perhaps captured citizens," he murmured, taking a big breath of the life-giving air. Never had he ever been so grateful to breathe real air, to feel it blow onto his face, even if it was a little too chilly for comfort. For the moment it was the only thing he felt.

A sudden flash of light startled Suisei badly; there was no way he could fight in his condition, and he looked quickly around for cover, but there was none. He realized a moment later he didn't need it. "Amaya!" he cried in relief.

"Hai," said Amaya in answer, reverting as she often did when speaking to him to Japanese. She had Xander clutched in her arms, and Suisei could tell they'd both had their own battles. Amaya only looked tired and bruised, but Xander had a nasty burn all along one side of his face, bad enough that Suisei flinched at the sight of it. "We need to tend him," said Amaya worriedly, kneeling on the sand and laying Xander on it.

Suisei staggered over, removing his helmet and looking at Xander's face. "I know little first aid," he said, biting his lip. "How—how'd you get here?"

"I'll explain later," said Amaya, shaking her head. "Suisei—your virtue is Life. Life—do you think you might be the healer? I know that one of our armors can heal, but I don't know whose!"

"I...can try," said Suisei doubtfully, kneeling next to the unconscious boy. He noticed peripherally that Amaya had Xander's helmet in her hand, and that something had managed to crack it almost in two. He noted the bruise on the opposite side of Xander's face and winced. "He must have come across a vicious bastard," he murmured, gently touching Xan's face.

"Yes," said Amaya, quieting as Suisei closed his eyes.

Suisei knew he was nearing collapse himself, and if he did have any healing powers, he might not be able to summon them. He tried to calm his mind, put his worry for Tarun and the others out of it, and concentrating on taking the injury.

All that happened was that he got a headache, but a sudden intuition struck him as he calmed his mind, and he drew back, shaking his head. "I can't heal him," he said. "Life—my virtue is life. He's is no danger of losing his, so there's nothing I can do for him. I'd bet just about anything that Killian's the one."

Amaya looked doubtful, but said nothing. "Come on," she said, grabbing Xander once more and with difficulty hoisting him over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Suisei would have helped, but getting himself to his feet and staying on them was taking all of his energy.

"Yes, let's find cover," said Suisei.

The two youths staggered through the streets, hiding in the shadows, and avoiding the patrols of armor-soldiers that clomped up and down the streets. Suisei wondered later why their power hadn't been sensed by any of them, or any or the warlords, or even Talpa himself; he came to the conclusion that both of them were nearing exhaustion, and Xander was actually out cold. Maybe their armor had been too weak to locate.

What Amaya found seemed to be a godsend to Suisei, though it also sent a very chilling message. What she found was a public shelter, one of several built beneath the city to protect its inhabitants from warfare, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. It was one of the shelters Nohano said he had hoped the citizens had gotten to.

But it was empty.

Suisei and Amaya approached the gate, hanging from a half-ripped chain-link fence, and looked in dismay at the facility. The guard booths were empty, the parking lot bare. When they slipped through the entrance and located the door leading into the shelter itself, it pushed open easily, revealing only silent air. "God help them," Suisei whispered as he and Amaya crept in, greeted only by silence.

Amaya firmly shut the door, which was solid and undamaged. The thick latch made a very satisfying clunking sound, and Suisei realized this was probably the safest place they could possibly be right then without leaving the city. A steep flight of stairs descended below them, with a rubber-coated ramp next to it. 'For wheelchairs,' Suisei thought suddenly. He and Amaya used the ramp, thinking it would be a little easier to manage.

The stairs led into a large, open area, and the two Ronin were amazed that when Suisei located the light switch, the lights actually came on. 'They're on generators. Of course they are,' he said. 'These are energy-efficient lights, probably part solar, designed to work for years on end if need be.' He wondered if here, so far underground, the Dynasty's power could not affect the technology.

There were cots and chairs, and Amaya set Xan on one of the former, looking as if she wanted to collapse, too. Suisei certainly wanted to, but he didn't do it, not just yet, but he did remove his unwieldy helmet and set it on a cot. He had been a bit revived by the desolate wind outside, and he wanted to look around a little bit first.

"There should be food here," Amaya said suddenly, with a tired smile.

"And first-aid supplies."

Amaya and Suisei searched the vast room they were in, but found nothing except cots, bedding, and some basic clothing. But that was not all there was to the shelter; there were several rooms. Among the rooms they found they discovered one large restroom with several stalls, two different shower facilities, a kitchen and food-storage, and, at last, a first-aid room. Amaya, who knew more of healing than Suisei, grabbed several packages of supplies and hurried back to that first, main room.

Suisei knelt next to the cot Xan was on, helping her however he could, but his mind was elsewhere. He was not use to being afraid, but he was. The eerie, waiting silence was getting to him, and the room seemed too big. Their metal boots echoed and clanked alarmingly on the floor, though he doubted the sound could be heard through the meters of ground. He was used to living in the city, and not used to a city being this empty. The vastness of the room, no matter secure he knew the facility to be, seemed like it could hold any number of unknown threats.

"I've discovered a new talent," said Amaya once she'd cleaned and bandaged Xander as well as she could. "I can teleport."

Suisei banished his armor and had lain down on one of the cots, before he asked if she was referring to her appearing out of nowhere.

"Yes," she said. He listened intently as she told of how she'd fought two of the warlords, and how, when frantically seeking a way to escape, had heard a voice in her head. The voice of the man Suisei recognized as the one that had brought Tarun to him a year ago. "I teleported here," she said. "And I thought, well, maybe I can find the others. So I concentrated on Xan, like I'd concentrated here, and appeared to where he'd been thrown, where he battled one of their enemies. "It was the burly warlord," she explained. "Shuang. Xander was doing damned well for not having any weapon at all, and it was his shields that finally finished the warlord off. He sorta made a spear out of the shield energy and got him in the face."

"But it finished Xan, too," said Suisei anxiously.

"Yes. I think he overdid it, drained too much power from the armor." Amaya took in a big breath. "It drains our energy, too. We're linked, our armor and our...spirits? I think. It's a link, we get power from one another. That's why the armor can only choose certain people, I think. But this teleporting—it takes a lot from me. I can barely stay awake."

"Do you think you can find Tarun?" asked Suisei, almost afraid of the answer.

"Not now," said Amaya. "I don't think I could teleport a stick two centimeters right now. I must rest some, and recharge."

Suisei nodded, not happy at all, but determined not to let it show. It certainly wasn't Amaya's fault! "If they've hurt him, I'll kill them," he said grimly.

"As will I, my brother."

Suisei blinked and looked up at her words, and smiled a little. "Thank you..." he said, "...sister." That Amaya had broken her formal facade enough to call him "my brother" both touched and surprised him. It had been very easy to call her sister in return, and mean it sincerely.

Amaya smiled also, then lay back on one of the carts. "We must rest," she said. "All of us. In the morning, we will be refreshed, and better able to help our friends." Agreeing, Suisei lay down on his cot, his feet hanging over the side. The two youths were asleep before the motion sensors shut off the lights.