Chapter 3 Unsettling Revelation and Journey to the Nakhiti Deserts
Chapter 3 Summary: The group finally makes it into the caverns. Rescuing the civilians and stopping whatever their unknown adversaries are scheming is the primary goal. What they would discover however would lead to a chain of events that none of them would have predicted nor been prepared for.
"Do concepts such as good and evil exist in a war? That can only be answered by the victors and to them, go the spoils"
"Quote from Brotherhood of Bleak Hour member Kayn or Muroroku Shieda Kayn"
Unknown: Perilous Cave Network
(Into the tenebrous: Metroid Prime 3 Puzzle theme: watch?v=caviDHLTqO4 )
"Trying to round us all up to take us out in one fell swoop would have probably worked if it would have been a different group and may have been a good plan. Sucks for them that it won't work like they think it will," Luna said quietly and being the first to talk as they started their trudge into the purple illuminated caves. Kai'Sa was the next to speak up.
"Still, we don't know their numbers or current strength level of our adversaries. Those were just foot soldiers. Their masters may be the real problem, not to mention that they are holding some of the village folk hostage here and may try to use that to their advantage," Kai'Sa said knowingly which Luna readily agreed.
"Good point," she said before looking at the two boys ahead of them. They had made a quiet dash behind a wall with the both of them peaking over. A finger and one look from Irvine along with a hand motion was all the visual cue that they needed. Over yonder, two darklings were standing in front of two large monitors and wide terminals below them. Slowly, Irvine drew his katana. Alex watched him before speaking.
"So how do you want this to play out?" he said to him. The grand master ninja peeked over his shoulder then back to the two darklings.
"You and Luna stay here. Kisala and I will take them out. Once that's taken care of, we'll see if we can pull anything useful from those consoles," he answered. With that, Alex clasped a hand on his shoulder, silently confirming that he understood while Luna whispered that she agreed. Irvine then looked back towards Kai'Sa. She nodded, going into a translucent purple while he formed one handed hand signs in a blazing fast motion and disappeared into a cloud of smoke, his frame resembling that of glass.
Slowly, the two crept on their unsuspected prey, clueless that their impending demise was imminent. There was no wasted movement once prime time came in full throttle. In an instant, both were upon them. Irvine brandished a hand to the first's mouth from behind and brought his blade sickeningly across it's throat, opening it up like a fountain as warm black blood flooded out from the gaping wound, spattering against the cold hard rock like floor with a sizzling sound, plus smoke, escaped from the dark fluid. It then spun around harshly and was met with a nano timed cleave across its breast plate, piercing the armor and tearing fleshy sinew, felling the creature for good. He then brought two fingers up until it was parallel to his chest with an imaginary kanji appearing in thin air. It was a practice many of his former clansmen did whenever they performed a stealth kill to honor the dead, no matter how vile they were.
Kai'Sa kicked the other in the back of the leg just above the knee and thigh, breaking it before catching the creature in a crouched position. Void pistol already pressed against it's back and where the heart was, she squeezed the trigger. A purple thin ray like veil of energy hammered and made an opening from the other side, keeping the creature from letting out a pained howl from its broken appendage. With quick foot work she redirected herself in front of it and shot it in the head, sending it into a cold oblivion. This all happened in a quick time span on both ends. Luna and Alex always marveled at the two's brutally efficient display whenever they dispatched their enemies from the shadows. They almost made it look like art.
Currently, all of them were in front of said terminal.
"Alright this will go a lot faster if you jack me into the system instead of you doing it manually," Ma3a said appearing and getting a nod out of her user. She looked over at Luna which got a raised eyebrow out of her. The AI let out a disgruntled sigh. "As much as I hate to say it, I'm going to need that little butt nugget's help too, could you call him out for me?" She asked and causing the group's faces to fall, including Aniu's, hilariously.
Luna ran a hand down her face. Already knowing how this was going to go. "Someone shoot me now...," she said before balling a fist. A blue rune like ring formed on her right forehand as she began speaking to it. "Exuberant! Initiate protocol DRL-506-TP! pass phrase, Durendal," she said speaking into the device that answered her in a woman's voice and accepted her request.
"Acknowledged Mother Wolf, beginning digitizing sequence," the AI stated. Little by little blue fragmented bits of the little robot began to piece themselves together until it completed Durendal's bulbous body. The automaton floated in place and eyed the others who met his stare with blank expressions. An open mouth, smiling expression then bleeped in front of it's eye causing the rest of them to blanch at it, knowing what was going to come next.
"Ha haaaaaaa! I ascend! I'm free, freeeeeee! No kind of security lock can keep a good robo down!" he squawked. He then caught sight of Ma3a. The smiling expression he had before turned into one of perverseness, causing the AI to grimace at it.
"Oh, for Petes sake, someone save me, please..." she said trying to inch away as if she were trying to escape something repugnant, (namingly Durendal). He obviously didn't take the hint too well as he got closer.
"How's it going there thickness? Say, when are ya gonna let plug my usb into your 3.0 port?" the little robot said slyly. Well, if you could consider it sly since its cheerful voice made it hard to discern any other emotion at times. Ma3a on the other hand stared at him, no emotion plain on her features and responded in kind.
"How about I reconfigure Irvine's arm here to blow you up instead?" she threatened and causing the robot to make a thoughtful expression.
"Uh...no," it simply stated while Irvine looked down at her, offering his input as well.
"Yeah... let's not do that," he interjected.
She looked back at him then to Durendal, a bored yet annoyed expression on her face. "Not even if I went rampant, smalls," she said in disgust. He still wouldn't give up however.
"Oh, come on, I got magic fingers...err wires!" he protested. This caused Ma3a to become even more irate.
"I'm not so much as sharing binary code with you so you can just float and sputter!" she barked. Durendal tried to poke her some more, until Luna walked over and rapped a fist over its metallic topside causing an image of face with x eyes and a squiggly line as a mouth to appear.
"Ow..." was the only thing he managed to get out. Luna had her arms crossed and gave the robot a death glare that made it instantly clam up.
"Knock it off and keep your damn voice down. At this rate you're going to have the entirety of this place bearing down on our heads," she said before focusing back on the console. "Get your ass over there and help her. We don't have all day to be messing around," she commanded. He silently obeyed as the others watched the two constructs get down to business. When Durendal wasn't goofing around and being an outright nuisance, he could be extremely helpful.
"Hmm, yes, yes of course," Ma3a said bringing up five security feeds and causing the other four, plus the hound to walk up. They all had their eyes narrowed as they scanned the video images. The terminal kept alternating between hallways, rooms with an assortment of objects scattered about and a larger, darker room with a fluorescent blue glow illuminating the center of it. Irvine then spoke up when two of the images caught his eye.
"Wait go back, yeah, those two," he said. Kai'Sa was the next to say something.
"Bingo... well, we know where they're keeping the hostages," she said, relieved that most of them looked relatively unharmed. Alex had then brought up something that had been bugging him.
"So, care to explain what this middle one is about?" he asked.
Ma3a entertained his response.
"That my friends is the room that the Dae Crystal is currently situated in," before any of them could ask any other questions she spoke up again. "Before you ask, I managed to go digging with butt nugget's help and found out what they're using it for. Apparently the fuglies have been extracting human souls from it to power something. As to what? I can't say. I couldn't break the encryption they had set in place to figure out what exactly. It's in a language that I'm not able to decipher," she said as she typed on a large pad that she materialized. Luna looked to Irvine.
"Speedy, we need to get those people out of there. There's no telling how many of them they may have sacrificed already to that thing to power whatever," She said before becoming thoughtful for a minute, remembering the middle-aged woman's daughter. "I just hope they haven't gotten to that lady's daughter yet," she said worriedly before Irvine clamped a hand on her shoulder to sooth her doubts.
"Hey, we got this girl. We'll get everyone of them out of this safely. Judging from the screens, they may not have had the time to round up a large number of people and process them so we're still in the clear. Just go to remain hopeful that she wasn't one of the initial ones to be absorbed. We got this Ophie, kapieche?" he said putting his forehead on hers like he use to do when they were kids. He hadn't used her real name, or that pet name in a while either, causing a small patch of rose to dot her cheeks. She gently pushed him off her before smiling.
"Yeah yeah, I got it, keep your cooties to yourself," she said. He smiled back at her before she said something again. "Thanks, Speedy," which then earned her a nod. Over back on the console, the other Kai'Sa and Alex were transfixed on watching Ma3a and Durendal work.
"You don't seem like you've been meeting too much resistance from being in their mainframe, aside from not being able to get that piece of info about the crystal," the worgen stated inquisitively. Ma3a gave a prompt nod.
"Indeed. Their security is so painstakingly, hilariously, pathetic to the point of tears," she said making a light chuckle. "Well, given who we're talking about, I'm surprised they've been managing something that would probably be considered too complex for them. I haven't even had to put up my firewall or activate my defensive suite," she remarked. Durendal decided to make a little statement of his own.
"Pshh amateurs," he said snidely. "Even if their security matrix didn't suck swamp doodee, they wouldn't have made it past these gonads of steel ha haaaaaaaa! And uh…of course, the lovely Ma3a. Can't do it without you lover, eh, wink, wink." He proclaimed and causing them to share looks of disbelief before Kai'Sa brought up an interesting point.
"Ma3a? I do have one thing I want to ask though?" her English accent always got slightly thicker whenever she tried to narrow something down or get to the bottom of something.
"Talk to me," Ma3a replied which the void woman complied.
"It's kind of odd that we were able to get these other tid bits of info and even pull up their security feeds with little to no difficulty but we weren't able to retrieve anything about what they're using the Dae Crystal to power... like this was deliberate..." she finished. Alex agreed.
"I was about to say the same thing," he quipped. Ma3a stopped typing. Something dawned on her.
"I think you two may be on to something. This is way too easy. Wait you don't think they're trying to..." she was starting to say until Irvine laid her suspicions to rest.
"They're trying to divide us up. They probably knew we were coming and are trying to pick us off a few at a time," he said before putting a hand on his chin, eyes focused on the floor as if he were searching for something. "And it's obvious they specifically made it so we wouldn't be able to get information on the Dae Crystal," he finished before his lips formed a thin crease. "They don't want us finding out something," this caused Alex to walk next to him.
"Sounds like they have a doom's day plot cooking up and they don't want us exposing them and possibly putting a damper on their plans," the worgen warrior mused. Irvine shrugged and walked over to the left of the room where five different entry ways lay. Beckoning them to go through them and possibly into danger. The rest of the group watched him. They knew he had something cooking in that brain of his.
"To answer your question, it won't do us any good speculating," he said, face growing stoic as he stared on at the darkened hallways. "We'll play along with their little plan so here's what's going to happen," he said, turning to meet all of them. "Alex, since we only know that one pathway leads to the hostages, I want you to take one while I take the other. One of us may find the room where the Dae Crystal is located. If one of us does then we'll wait for the other to link up before we carry out a plan of attack," he explained and getting a prompt nod from his best friend.
"And if I encounter any roadblocks along the way?" he questioned and getting a slick grin from his shorter friend.
"Then I trust you'll show the rat bastards exactly who they're dealing with, won't you?" he said taking Alex's arm in an arm lock and getting a wolf like toothy grin from him.
"Heh heh, I've always liked the way you thought." he said before the both of them disengaged and Irvine speaking again.
"It doesn't seem like they have that much security here since the morons sent what seemed to be half of their forces to those woods. I'm guessing they were hoping it'd slow us down but it left their asses wide open and vulnerable so even if you do end up in a confrontation with some of the darklings, they'll at least be manageable. Still, don't let your guard down," he said with Alex agreeing. He then turned his attention the girls. "Ladies, I want you guys to get the hostages. The longer we wait, the more time those fiends have to do whatever to those people," he said sternly and getting curt nods from them. Luna started with another question.
"Okay so what's the move after that? What do we do if we run into anyone while setting them free?" she asked. The shinobi had to think for a couple of seconds. Contemplating the safest and most optimal route to go about this.
"If you guys get to them and are able to get them out without a hitch, then you're both to escort them safely outside. After that, one of you, doesn't matter who, will make sure they make it out of the woods and back into Darrowmere safely. The other is to come back and link up with the both of us. By the time you get back, we'll have coordinates for both of you to link up to once we've located the Dae Crystal," he said. Kai'Sai probed him for the second half. The more difficult half if it happened.
"Okay so what about Luna's second question? That'll undoubtedly make securing their safe passage more difficult," she said. He sighed.
"Yes, it will and I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. If it does, then you guys are going to have to manage the best way you can to get them out of the caves and into the woods. Anyway you can hold who or whatever back. It won't be easy but I know you two can manage it," he said confidently and getting smiles out of the two of them. The four then looked back to where Ma3a and Durendal were. They had noticed that Ma3a's behavior was strange. Durendal's also as he kept looking from the interface and back to her. Irvine walked over.
"Uh, Ma3a? Everything okay?" he asked curiously. She didn't seem to be paying attention as her eyes darted to and frow from the interface, hands moving at lightning speed.
"No, no this can't be right. Maybe I misread...oh, oh sweet lord...," she said in absolute terror. Causing her user to become slightly nervous.
"Ma3a, you're kind of making me jumpy, did you find something?" Irvine said, in hopes that he'd get an answer. Durendal was the next to pipe up. Even if the thing's voice modulator forced it to be cheerful, they knew something was wrong if even he, was taking this seriously.
"Man... that thing is lit up like smelted iron..." the robot stated. Everyone reacted in alarm when Ma3a cursed something fierce to herself.
"Those damn, destructive, darkling fools!" she yelled in panic. She snapped her attention to Irvine, causing him to become even more perplexed at her sudden behavior. "You, in that vent, now!" She said pointing at said object above them and causing the rest of them to share bewildered glances. The void woman was getting tired of the suspense.
"Ma3a what's going on?" she said, fearing that she wasn't going to like the answer one bit. If the AI's expression could be described then it'd be dread.
"A mana bomb... one with enough power to wipe out this entire area.." she said fearfully. Everyone's faces were stunned as they processed the information with Alex making a head motion to show his surprise.
"You have got to be shitting me..." he said slowly, while Irvine whispered obscenities as he ran toward the vent and looking back at them.
"We're still sticking to the original plan! Ma3a! Have you pinpointed it's exact location?!" He said hurriedly. While Ma3a wasn't really trying to, her impatience was showing.
"Yes, I'm already doing that now, just go! Now! There isn't much time!" She yelled which got a nod from him as he began a wall run up to said vent. She then had inner monologue with herself. "Urgh... how in seven hells did I not pick up that the energy readings were actually this damn bomb...? How did I overlook this? Irvine... you can't mess this up. The entire capital is finished should you fail..." She thought drearily.
Over on the far side, Luna walked up to Durendal, promptly clanging the side of her knuckle with his backside and also prompting the tiny robot to turn around with a face that had slanted lips, pressed together in a thin crease.
"Go with him," she said with a head motion and jerking a thumb towards the vent and causing the droid to gasp.
"WAT!" Durendal squeaked. Seeing as he wasn't moving quick enough, Aniu started to growl and let out a deafening bark which caused his sphere like frame to shake in fear. "HOO NOES! NOT RABIES! I JUST GOT INCOCULATED! Err wait... wouldn't this be technically called robot rabies?" The bot stated. Before it could have it's musings answered, Luna grabbed him and pulled him deathly close to her face with a finger jammed almost in it's eye. She said every syllable in a slow, creepy fashion.
"Get...in...that...vent...A.S.A.P...or...I'm...going...to...kick...your A.S.S," she said chillingly. The robot processed at what she was getting at before speaking again.
"But I don't have butt cheeks?" He said innocently before narrowly dodging a whistling dagger strike from his agitated owner. "YIKES!" He blurted out before zipping away to avoid possible deletion. Luna sighed with a hand over her forehead.
"I swear there's something screwing with his programming," she groaned before looking towards her compatriots and getting silent nods of agreement and heading toward the hallway that had the hostages at the end of it, with Aniu close behind her. "Well you heard the man, we got a job of our own to do so we should get going," she worgen set off in his while Kai'Sa paused and looked back to Ma3a.
"Ma3a are you going to be alright by yourself?" She asked. Ma3a smiled at her.
"Yeah hun. I need to coordinate here so that I can direct brando to the bomb and I need to be inside the system to help with the disarming of it. He just needs to be there physically to hit the button once I do all the technical mumbo jumbo. Should someone come, I have ways of protecting myself and getting away so don't you worry," she said winking. Satisfied with that, the two girls set off themselves. Ma3a looked back at the console, with a frown. "He isn't the only one I'm worried about. Even if we disarm this bomb, it's still dangerous for you all to separate like this. Even if you all can handle it. We got caught unawares by this so there's no telling what else these fiends have concocted," she said closing her eyes before opening them again, hard eyes set in determination. "Wouldn't be the first time we got in a pickle. Guess I just got to have faith in these kiddos like I always have,"
XX
The girls and the wolf had been keeping a steady pace and covering a lot of distance but they had started to wonder if they'd ever get there. They would stop every now and then to catch their breath and get their second wind before breaking off into another sprint. They had stopped again and began fast walking. There was light in the distance coming up so they figured they were getting close to their destination which meant that they'd have to take it slow anyway, especially, if there were goons guarding the hostages. They also couldn't take too long.
"Hey Kai, hold up a sec, I want to ask you something?" Luna started off and causing her brunette friend to eye her back curiously.
"Yes? What is it? It's probably not a good idea that we tarry for too long," she replied. Luna made a motion with her hands.
"Yeah yeah, I know but we probably won't get another opportunity like this until this is over," she said and pausing before continuing on. "So, you know...," she stopped again and began twirling a tiff of the ocean blue hair around her fingers. Kai'Sa's expression went blank, wondering why her friend was being so dodgy.
"What is with you? Just spill it already," Kai'Sai said growing impatient. Luna let out a gust of air. Looking as if she was mentally preparing herself.
"How do you feel about Irvine?" She said deciding to be forward. The void woman blinked a couple of times, blood flowing to both her cheeks.
"D-do we seriously have to talk about this now?!" She stammered. This only got a cheeky grin out of the Norse woman. Seeing as she probably wouldn't stop bugging her about it, she decided to entertain her friend. "I... I honestly don't know. From one perspective, he's brave, strong, reliable, a good leader, a good brother and just overall a good man," her face began to turn even redder. Luna's shit eating grin got even wider as she leaned forward some more and causing Kai'Sa to slant her mouth upwards, finding the ceiling nice to look at.
"Yeah go on," she coerced and prompting the guild's infiltrator to squeeze her eyes shut, mouth resembling squiggly lines before she screamed out,
"ARGH! Look I don't know, okay! I mean, I won't say I haven't looked at him in that kind of way but….. the both of us are always so busy. I don't think we'd have the time to consider something on a relationship type of level. Besides, I don't think that bozo has the capacity or understands what romance is," she said coming to a mental stop and putting one of her curled hands towards her lip. "I don't even know if he feels the same way that I do about hi….," she was about to say before cutting herself off, eyes growing so wide that they were liable to burst out of her skull.
Oodles of sweat began pouring down her forehead comically as she waved her hands in front of her frantically at what she was about to say, especially at the look Luna was giving her. The guild's sniper's pretty teeth were showing as she grinned cheekily at her best friend.
"Dude… you're totally crushing on Speedy aren't you?" Luna teased. Kai'Sa was quick to try to come up with an excuse.
"N-No I didn't say anything, I…," she spluttered. Luna's face relaxed before she closed her eyes and sighed.
"Kisala….. how long have we been best friends for?" The Norse girl questioned. Kai'Sa looked perplexed at what she was getting at.
"Several years now… but don't quote me on an exact estimate," she said offhandedly. Luna decided to continue.
"Right, so quit acting so embarrassed. It's not like I'm trying to bust your balls about it," she said before stopping. Being thoughtful for a few seconds before speaking again. "Kisala, to tell you the truth, I've always liked him too. Since the first day we met," she said and getting a thoroughly shocked reaction out of her longtime partner.
"Really?!" she blurted out and causing Luna to put her hand up. This was a cue to let her continue.
"Yeah. Just like you stated, we were all so busy and there wouldn't have been time for personal feelings to come into play, especially with what he's been through. For all I know, I was probably friendzoned a long time ago or he sees me as that close confidant or sister from another mother, e.t.c e.t.c, blah blah," she said laughing before speaking some more. "However, the other reason why I never tried to make a move or even bring it up is because I noticed how you'd act around him. Probably before you even did," Luna said with a thoughtful smile and causing her friend to watch her with a look of wonder then appreciation.
"Luna… I don't, I don't know what to say? Was it really that obvious?" she inquired. Luna nodded.
"Yep, big neon sign, like a love-struck dork," she chuckled before speaking again. "Kisala, I did what any best friend would do, well any true best friend anyway. I didn't want to get in the way of that despite my own personal feelings. Hell, all those times I joked around, I was actually trying to push the two of you closer together. I'm always going to be in your corner for things to work out. Both of you, no matter what corner of the Earth we're on. It doesn't have to be now or a week to even a few months out. Eventually, you should tell him how you feel. I mean, there's never a good time for these kinds of things and it's better to do it when the opportunity presents itself rather than when it's too late or impossible, you know?" she said, walking up and placing a hand on her shoulder. Kai'Sa scanned the floor for a second for something to say, processing everything she heard before looking up with a bright smile and clamping a hand on hers and squeezing it tightly.
"I will eventually, when things calm down. Thank you Luna, not only for that but always being there for me and being my friend like no other," she said sweetly. Luna mirrored her smile before thrusting a finger up in the air which got a raised eyebrow out of Kai'Sa.
"Always love. As I said, don't take too long or I may just swipe him right from under ya. I was thinking maybe getting him drunk one night and having my way with him would do the just deserts," she joked and her tone sounded a little too affectionate which prompted a tick mark to appear on her brunette friend's forehead.
"Want me to punch you?" Kai'Sa said flatly and causing Luna to laugh. It didn't take long for her to join in on her friend's laughter. They noticed the were coming to the end of the long hallway and got back into work mode as they started their silent sprint towards the end of the hallway. They along with Luna's wolf hoped they weren't too late or that no one heard them coming up. It was one of the downsides of getting too into something, a conversation being one of them.
XX
"Can't believe how stupid we were...," the dark-skinned shinobi said frustratedly as Durendal and he ran through the expansive vent network.
"Well, it makes sense. Divide you guys up, make sure you waste time trying to find out information that you wouldn't obtain easily, all to wait out the time for that mana bomb to blow yall up like someone who drunk an Atomic Martini and shatting their guts out on the can somewhere," the robot replied.
Irvine's brows furrowed as he stared back. "Yeah… uh, think that pretty much sums it up," his internalized computer began buzzing. Both of them focused their attention to it. An image of Ma3a came up in a film grain like holographic rectangle.
"Irvine, you there, come in," she said through slight static. He brought his arm closer.
"I hear you, what's wrong?" He said, picking up the urgency in her voice.
"How close are you to the bomb?" She said, hoping they were indeed close. He noticed they were coming to the end of the tech and purple light lit vent.
"It looks like we're coming to an opening that leads down. Not sure how far it…," He said trailing off. A look of alarm washed over the AI's face.
"What?" She asked before he maneuvered his arm downwards to show her. "Shit…," she cursed.
What they had their attention drawn to in the gaping hole were what looked to be trip lasers. What they did would be anyone's guess but they narrowed it down to two things. One, they were either linked to explosives that'd blow anyone up to kingdom come if they touched it. While Irvine used his helmet's vision mode to see what the lasers were linked to, all he saw were small ports of where the light was emitting. There was no telling whether or not the explosives were hidden elsewhere. Two, it was an alarm and that would be the last thing they needed. Both were extremely bad.
"Well, seeing as the fuglies were smart enough to give us the run around, it's not surprising that they'd have traps setup," Ma3a said. Irvine took a step forward, observing the layout a bit more.
"And with you there, you can't run a scan to see whether or not they got explosives hidden somewhere. Oh well. I'm off. The more we sit here the less time for that bomb," he said preparing himself.
"That's a lot of lasers to maneuver through Speedy… it's crazy," she said worriedly. Irvine on the other hand let out a snorkel of air with a smile.
"What? Think I'll trip one of them? Come on Ma3a, I wouldn't be the grand master of my clan if I couldn't manage this much. I'll make it," he said confidently. From how she was sounding, she still didn't sound too sure.
"Yeah, but still…," she said pensively. It wasn't obvious whether or not he was listening as he got ready again.
"You're free to disconnect if you don't want to watch," he said dismissively and crouching low in a stance and getting ready to launch off the platform they were on. Expecting her to blab her concerns some more, she smiled.
"Well, fortunate for us both, I like crazy," she chimed which got her a grin back in return.
Irvine spared one last look at the droid. "You stay here until I get to the bottom. I'll contact you when it's safe for you to come down. That's an order Durendal," He said, saying the last bit with emphasis. If the little droid could salute, then he sure he would have in that instance.
"SIR YES SIR!" It beeped and causing both the shinobi and AI to shake their heads. Ma3a and the droid couldn't help but process and marvel at what took place next.
As quick as wind, the guild's leader lept from the place he stood on and like a human shaped spear, began his decent. With each laser he passed by, he'd maneuver his body with such grace and fluidity that it was almost otherworldly. Time slowed down for the AI, as she observed what little her processor could take in. She had to admit to herself, she would get a little excited each time it looked like the small trickle of plasma would touch even the faintest piece of metal that made up the armor he wore. She managed to catch a glimpse of his face behind the helmet as he freefell. Literally, as calm as a body of still water. Not the slightest sign of distress or any emotion at all. Yes, this is what it meant to stand on the annals and apex of ninja. Unflinching in the face of adversity. His master had indeed honed him into the blade and stealth assassin that he'd be today. This is what cycled through the AI's equivalent of a brain as she watched him plummet to the bottom. All at a speed that no normal mortal would ever be able to follow.
He was nearing the bottom and as he got closer, with skillful finesse, he tucked his legs under him and began maneuvering his body into a backwards twirl. He landed with a stylish pose before raising up and dusting himself off. He saw Ma3a staring and gave her a thumbs up.
"Impressive…," she said simply which he nodded.
"Told you, we'd make it," he said before raising his arm up and imputing a set of commands to transmit to Durendal's voice transponder and also bring up another image. "Alright smalls you're on," he said but unfortunately it didn't seem like the small droid was listening and was lost in his own little world. He tried again. "Hey, quit dicking around and get your scrawny ass down here!" Irvine said forcefully albeit while trying to keep his voice down.
Time was not on their side right now and they really didn't need this. As he watched, a cold uncomfortable shiver ran throughout his body. The robot was trying to mimic him. It must have gotten too excited, watching him freefall from the height they were at. Durendal showed no signs of stopping, causing both to become highly jittery.
"By the divine sword saints, why does he have to do this crap now?!" Irvine said through clenched teeth. Ma3a shared in his unrest.
"W-Why is he doing that?! Oh my god please you little shit! Don't mess this up so far into this! Irvine? Throw something at him, disable him, DO SOMETHING?!" Ma3a said, panicking as the robot's movements became more spastic.
XX
Durendal's POV
The droid was having the time of his life at the present moment. It seemed to have forgotten that there was a life ending wad of explosive mana energy slowly ticking away below them and that every waking moment was of the essence. It instead decided that trying in it's tear inducing, funny attempt to air jab in place with it's small floating spherical body and make all sorts of uncoordinated movements that didn't remotely resemble what the Azuma ninja had did.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HAAAAA CHAAAAA!" Durendal bellowed.
"Wheeewoooooh, che che che, poof poof poof," It said thrusting its body forward and back some more. It then tried to put on an abysmal Asian voice but failed miserably. "Oooooooh, I'm Kung Fu Big Lee, you darklings gonna be in big trouble, hoooooooaaaah," It said as he began slowly spinning around in a full circle.
XX
The other two watched in terror as he literally spun himself down into the hole. It didn't take long for everything to unfold. Didn't even attempt to even try to make it past one laser.
*BEEEEEP*
Was the blaring sound the laser made as Durendal's metal body collided with it.
"Whoops…" Was the only thing he managed to squeeze out. Ma3a slapped both hands to the side of her head, while Irvine fanned his eyes with a hand. They didn't even react to the sound of the alarm as it echoed across the entire vent network. Before Durendal could have a chance to breathe, (in a manner of speaking) once he got to where they were, he was instantly snatched into the ninja's grip. If looks could kill then Ma3a and he would have nailed it perfectly.
"Guess those lasers were so amazed by my slick moves that they chose not to avoid me instead of the former, huh, huh?" He said proudly and causing the AI to nearly reach out from her screen to strangle him.
"Ooooo, I'm so going to # &$! you u…," she froze for a minute. "You hear that?" She said. Irvine and the other two started to look all around them. Even though the alarms were drowning out most of the noise, there was no mistaking the clicking, clanking skittering noise that was coming closer to their location. As they stared on, they started to make out dozens of small shadowy blobs. The bot started to visibly shake as it looked left and right at what was making the loud skittering. Small, purple spheroid like creatures immediately poured out from the darkened pathway. They resembled a horrible cross between a tick and spider. Small crystalline protrusions made home on various parts of their bodies. Hungry 8 light blue eyes and foul dribbling mouths had their sights on one 5'6 foot drumstick and small robotic snack in anticipation as they got closer. Darkmites, literally swarms of them. They were coming from above them as well.
"Gosh darn it, just what we freaking need right now!" Ma3a said angrily before speaking quickly. "Listen, you're not too far from the bomb now but you need to move! We are literally almost out of time!" she said frantically. Irvine abruptly tilted his head forward before yanking Durendal close to him again.
"Go find a way to shut this alarm off, I know you can do that much," he said. Durendal looked at the encroaching darkmites and back to him.
"But I can't…" he slowly before getting crushed by a tighter grip. The calmness in the ninja's voice told a tell-tale sign that he really reached his threshold for the antics.
"Durendal…," he started slowly. "I swear by my master's honor. If you don't get your narrow self moving. I need you right now man, now more than ever and this is something only you can do, I'm begging you," Irvine said looking at the robot so intensely that it honestly didn't even feel like cracking one of its usual witticisms.
"Okay, okay Stratos, I get it, I'm sorry. You owe me some oil when this is over! And don't forget it!" It yelled before speeding off to find the nearest location with a console he could jack himself into to stop the alarm. They heard him yelp. They assumed that the mites probably tried to make a lunge for him but seeing as he started yelling some obscenities out and hilarious one liners, they knew he was okay and was still making his way. With a satisfied smirk, Irvine turned back around, eyebrows lowered into a deadly glower.
"Ma3a, maintain radio and vid silence until I'm through this and at the bomb. Don't worry, I got a plan and I'll get to that bomb before the timer expires," he said summoning three of his light forge kunai as he began walking forward. At stunning speed, he began forming handsigns. As he finished the last of the complex hand motions, he put one finger up, kunai glowing a bright, blinding white. Whispering an incantation, he was almost ready to unleash the magic he was preparing.
"GLINT RELEASE!" he said fiercely. The sound of energy crackled and hummed as the spell reached maximum power. With a whoosh, he made a swiping motion, letting loose all three kunai. He aimed for the center where the concentration of darkmites were thickest. As they flew, he allowed a small wiry smile to grace his lips.
"Boom," he said silently. In a great white flash, the kunai's exploded into numerous tracer like, molten hot rays of light as they bounced from surface to surface. Shrieks from the dying creatures filled the air as the beams tore the small creatures' bodies apart like paper. It was one of his small fry techniques called White Maelstrom which was good for crowd control. However, it only put a marginable dent in their numbers. It did clear a path way of some sorts. Not wasting any time, he unsheathed Onimaru from his back and with speed akin to nearly breaking the sound barrier, he began running forward.
Shaking themselves off from the confusion, the creatures renewed their assault with mindless fury. The creatures by their lonesome, were stupid. Basic animalistic like functions. Wouldn't pose any type of threat for up and coming adventures or budding champions. Together however? They begin to function in a state similar to a hive mind which can make them extremely dangerous. They had been known to bring down even the stoutest of summoners in rare circumstances. It's what they were attempting to do to the young shinobi as they closed in around him like a tide and preventing him from reaching his goal down below.
Seeing what they were up to, the armored assassin began twirling his beam katana. It was at such an intensity that the blade was making copies of itself. Using the spinning as a makeshift saw, it diced the wall of mites that got to close to him. It was as if he was dancing as he made all sorts of awe-striking movements as he made his way through while obliterating the insect like darklings in his path. He was getting close to the exit and to make sure they wouldn't follow him down below to the bomb, he prepared another glint infused explosive kunai. This time this one had enough power to wipe the hungry flood of bugs that were tailing him out. Or at least he hoped this would finish off the rest of them. Once he got to the hole, he jumped and twirled himself until he was facing backwards and threw the kunai.
XX
He dropped out of the tunnel as quickly as he was in it while narrowly missing the explosion of his own making. Not bothering to spare a glance at whether or not the bugs had followed him out, he instantly located the mana bomb and an erratic Ma3a that hovered over it.
"Me inside your suit, NOW!" she urged. He wasted no time and with delicate timing, she shut it off.
"How much time did I have left?" he asked curiously even though he could see that she was visibly distressed and annoyed but somewhat relived that he made it.
"You don't want to know….," she said. and before both of them could get into any further conversation they both tensed up. She sensed it from the bio scanner he never used since he relied on his ki while she was sure he had picked up their presence as well with said thing. "I swear, it's one thing after another," she said exasperatedly.
"Well, at least the robot got the alarms shut off," he said as he looked at the large group of new comers with open hostility.
"That's what I was going to tell you about, that they were on their way and I'm glad you got to the bomb before they did," she said as she watched them come closer. The group of darklings they had left in the cave had heard the alarm go off and were already on route, figuring one of the heroes were making their way towards the bomb. Unlucky for them, they got beat to it. They all had dark, sinister grins plastered on their ugly features as the began inclosing the shinobi in a tight circle.
"Well, boss Veigar is surely going to kill us now…," one said. Another piped up as well.
"We were all going to be dead anyway since he wanted us to set off the bomb," it said in a voice only a mother could love.
"We're not getting paid enough for this," one behind the two stated offhandedly which got him rebuffed by a colleague.
"We don't get paid at all you stupid," it said before focusing back on Irvine, a nasty toothy grin on it's face. "If we kill this human then I'm sure Lord Veigar will forgive us for our screw up, eh boys?!" It said getting laughs out of the rest of them. Irvine and Ma3a's faces didn't change from the angry gate that they wore as they both got themselves ready. A Darkling Cheiftan then walked forward, making his way and dispersing some of the group.
"Wait, none of you clowns are a match for him," he said before moving out of the way and shoving his arm with an open hand towards another dark hallway. Heavy footsteps that shook the room could be heard and felt, causing the other two to adopt a look of tension.
"We'll let Marcellus play with this little hero…. OH MARCY!" he cooed disgustingly.
Irvine immediately got in a ready stance, sword pointed horizontally as said person got closer. While they had disabled the bomb, the assassin had a large group of darklings to deal with along with their chieftain. Then there was this Marcellus thing to contend with as well and there was no telling how powerful it was. The other 4 were faring no better as a picture frame of them came into view in third person as they found themselves in situations of their own. A large image of Veigar holding a crystal ball and observing them all with a dark cackle could be seen and heard. Only time would tell if they would make it out of the situation that they found themselves embroiled in.
Upcoming chapter: Chapter 4 Strangulation, Cavern Fever Showdown: Journey to Nakhiti Deserts 2B
That's it for this chapter. I actually wanted to add the girl's and Alex's part before I ended this but this would have made this longer than it already is so I'm wrapping up this arc in the next chapter. I am going to do a segment on Kayn before I do chapter 4 to get some of his backstory in because it's something I wanted to do for awhile. Just a few more things before I end this off. I'm also probably going to do a little quick thing sometime in the future, explaining magic powers and affinities which will be another throw away chapter on it's own rather than litter my authors note with it.
I am using OPMS disaster level system and hero ranking system which I state, don't claim credit for. That goes to Muruta the man himself. I will be using it to describe certain antagonists, heroes and monsters throughout the story. I'll list the disaster levels though with two being a spin of my own take and integration into the LoL universe.
Inconsequential: Literally requiring no effort to take down to the point that even non-combatants, (namingly civilians) could handle one with no problems. It's rare that anyone is killed by a monster or person holding this disaster level.
Wolf: Usually, regular armed forces and militia can handle wolves no problem in most cases. Larger groups may prove troublesome for certain cities or country sides.
Tiger: A stronger variant of wolf and may require a summoner's aid to take down. Especially if groups of Tigers are present.
Demon: This is where these specific disaster levels start coming into their own. Some demons have been known to be able to handle at least small groups of summoners on their own. Way superior to wolf and tigers. Demons have been known to rampage and do quite bit of damage, whether it be a city or whatever force their fighting before going down. Caution is advised when engaging anyone with this threat level.
Dragon: Dragons are rare. It's even rarer that most would be champions come out alive or unscathed. More dragons have retired heroes than anyone can keep track of. Some have been known to wipe out an entire populace. This not only serves as a testament to their strength but as a good reason for any aspiring heroes to quit. Only the most hardboiled can go toe to toe with one and live.
God: Not much info can be given on god level threats since they haven't been seen on Earth in centuries. The only thing that can be said is that these beings can potentially have enough power to wipe out an entire species should they be engaged.
Transcendent: Another threat level I can't give much info on except that this threat level would doom a quadrant of a space and the universe as a whole since I do plan on some parts of this story taking place in space and different galaxies.
That's all and hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'd love feedback on how this story is turning out. It isn't required but I'd greatly appreciate it so I can see if I missed anything because I proof read on my own. I don't mind criticism but I emphasize don't be a flaming douching troll or I will ignore you. I can tell the difference between giving actual helpful criticism and just trying to be a dick. That's all, thank you.
Giorgio~