Chapter 16: Envy; Thy Name is Rush
"WOOOOO! Party!"
Everyone laughed as Guan ran around the fire with his robes reconfigured to look more like a toga and two twigs with a few leaves tucked behind his hears. "Who knew Guan was such a party animal?" Rai joked.
"And who knew Italian ladies were so fine?" Rush added, wrapping one arm around Jess's shoulders.
"Oh, stop it, Rush." Jess giggled, pulling Rush close and giving him a kiss on the cheek.
About three months had passed since Lust's palace had been destroyed and Rush had returned. A lot had happened since then. First and foremost, the Sins were keeping a low profile now. As far as anyone knew, none of the seven had shown their faces more than once or twice since the battle. Second, Rush and Jess had started dating… why, no one could be sure. For some reason, even though Jet's death was still fresh in her memory, Jess couldn't help but be happy whenever around Rush. It just sort of happened. And finally, out of shear boredom, parties were thrown at least once a week now. Jack had gone back to one of his labs and brought back a few old speakers and a few CDs so they could have music. Other than that it was mostly just talking with some dancing thrown in.
All and all, things were great. The only problems were still having to stay in hiding from the Sins and the few people where were too serious to party (Chase, Chief, Hannibal, Panda Bubba and his two lackeys).
"Say, Rush, you never did tell us why it took you so long to come home." Saya said. Rush just laughed and explained.
"I ended up in India after we tried to fight the Sins… bad idea by the way… so I bummed around there until I heard about what happened at Lust's palace. I hightailed it out of there and, batta-bing batta-boom, here I am."
"Well, lucky you." Omi said, using sarcasm correctly for once. "We've been fighting chimeras and wars for the past nine months!"
"Much better on the sarcasm, Omi." Jermaine complemented.
"You can thank me for that." Mimi laughed.
"Say, has anyone seen Julia or Elena?" Clay asked.
Everyone glanced around quickly. Sure enough, the Spanish and Australian girls were nowhere to be seen. "I think I saw them making out in the woods a few hours ago." Kim pointed out.
There was a sudden, awkward silence.
"Ok… change of subject, please." Om suggested.
"No, no," Rush broke in, "I like this subject."
"Dude, those are your friends!" Rai snapped.
"Doesn't mean I can't think they're hot." Rush laughed.
"Hey!" Jess said, elbowing her boyfriend in the ribs playfully.
"Relax." Rush chuckled. "You're way better, baby."
"That's more like it." Jess giggled, pulling the African boy into a kiss.
The party continued for a few more hours, the conversation going from topic to topic as time went on. It wasn't long before Jewel and Elena quietly slipped out of a grove of nearby trees and joined their circle… no one made any mention of their messed up hair or exhausted appearances. Occasionally one of the girls would drag their boyfriend out closer to the fire and join some of the other rebels dancing. Everyone was happy and having fun. It seemed like the perfect night… except for one minor detail right at the very end.
"Is something wrong, Rush?" Jess asked as she watched her boyfriend stare blankly into the fire. "You seem sad."
"Hm?" Rush mumbled, turning his attention to her. "Oh, it's nothing… just a little tired is all."
She looked at him sternly as Rush turned his attention back to the fire. Jess may have only known him for a few months, but she'd gotten close enough to him to know when something was on his mind. She quickly grabbed his arm and stood up. "C'mon." she said, pulling Rush to his feet. "We're talking."
"Ugh! Do we have too?" Rush pleaded.
"Yes! Now c'mon!" with that Jess dragged Rush into the woods.
"Whipped!" Jermaine called, making everyone else laugh.
Once Jess was sure that she and rush were deep enough in the woods that no one could hear them they sat down on a log. "I'm not taking no for an answer, Rush. What's going on? It's not like you to be quiet and deep in thought like that… usually when you're quiet I usually think you're brain dead or imagining me naked… but I could tell your mind was on something this time, so spill it."
Rush sighed and looked away from her, up to the sky through a small opening in the tree tops. "You ever get the feeling that something really bad is about to happen… and it's gunna be all your fault?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Rush…" Jess said softly, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Jess… but we can't be together anymore." Rush blurted. "I hope you understand."
Jess went wide eyed in shock and slid away from him a little. She hadn't been prepared for this at all… but for some reason she had expected it. "I… I think I do understand." She said.
Rush nodded to her, got up, and started walking away, deeper into the woods and farther away from the party. "Tell the others not to come after me." she said.
Jess waited until Rush was out of sight before running her fingers through her hair and starting to cry.
Unknown to either of them, Omi, who had left a few minutes before them to take a leak, had heard the entire conversation. As much as he wanted to go over to Jess and comfort her, something drove him to follow after Rush. The short monk quickly jumped into the nearest tree and started following after his friend through the branches, careful not to be noticed.
~LATER~
Omi followed Rush to the entrance of the paradise, staying low in the grass to not be noticed. Rush glanced over his shoulder quickly to make sure he wasn't being followed before walking through the hole in the wall and going up through the vault. Along the way Rush accidentally bumped into a Shen Gong Wu drawer and it opened. He didn't bother closing it, so Omi took advantage and grabbed the Wu inside: the Shroud of Shadows. He quickly wrapped it around himself and continued to follow Rush.
Once outside, among the cold, charred boards and bricks that used to be the Xiaolin Temple, Rush stood for a few moments in silence. Omi waited at the entrance of the vault to spy on him. He noticed that Mala Mala Jong lay in a scattered heap of Shen Gong Wu while Cyclops was on its back, unconscious and bruised. Rush glanced over his should one last time before raising his hand in front of his face and snapping his fingers. A dark portal instantly opened before him…
…And Wrath and Sloth stepped out.
"What took you so long?" Wrath demanded. "We've been waiting for damn near three months, Envy."
"I had to gain their trust." Rush said coldly. "They're not stupid. I had to prove that I was the real Rush before I could move among them freely."
"Well, you are the real thing…" Sloth chuckled. "…But you're not exactly their friend anymore, are you?"
Rush had no response.
Omi had heard all he needed. He immediately took off down the vault stairs, dashed through the paradise entrance, and raced back to where the others were. But by the time he reached them it was too late. The sky of the paradise had already ripped open, letting thousands of Sloths Robots and Skeletal soldiers invade.
Everyone was already looking up to the tear in the fake sky when Omi returned. Omi was relieved to see that Jess was with them now, but he had other things to attend to. "Omi! There you are!" Mimi said joyfully as she kneeled down next to him and hugged.
"But where's Rush?" Jermaine asked.
"Who cares?" Jess grumbled.
"Rush is with Wrath and Sloth!" Omi blurted. Everyone turned to him immediately, completely shocked and in disbelief. "He's the Sin of Envy!"
Those were the last words spoken before they were surrounded.
An army of Robots and undead, Roman soldiers stood around them with Wrath, Sloth, and Rush standing just inside the circle, looking more sinister than ever thanks to the lighting of the fire. "Looks like we've finally found you." Wrath chuckled. "Lucky you, Lust is my superior and she asked me to bring all of you to her alive so she could pass judgment personally… however…" He quickly pulled out two pistols and took aim at Clay and Hannibal. "… That doesn't mean I can't have some fun, now does it."
There was a brief silence. The only noises were the occasional clank of rusty swords against hovering steal along with Wraths constant snickering. "Why are you doing this, Rush?" Omi finally asked.
Rush looked at him. It wasn't a look of hatred, contempt, or even pleasure at the rebellions impending doom… it was more like he was trying to apologize. "It's the only way." He said.
And that set the stage.
"Attack!" Sloth shouted. The Robots and Skeletal Soldiers charged and the rebels ran at them as well, ready for the fight of their lives. Twenty something against an army… the odds didn't look good.
And they weren't.
Almost immediately Jess, being the pacifist she was, was subdued and carried off. Guan and Jermaine had tried to protect her, but in the commotion they'd lost track of her almost instantly. Jessie and her Black Vipers tried to jump on their bikes so they could fight better, but only Jessie and one other managed. They other three shared Jess's fate. It wasn't long before Panda Bubba's two lackeys were carried off as well.
Guan and Jermaine stood back to back as a small group of Sloths army surrounded them. Three of the skeletal soldiers raised their swords into the air, shrieked and charged at them. Guan took out the first with a punch to the rib cage and stabbed the second through the head with his spear. Jermaine took out the third by steeling its sword and stabbing it through where its heart should've been. Two more soldiers came at them followed by a few robots blasting lasers wildly. The master monk and the New Yorker quickly took out the two soldiers and then tricked two of the robots into crashing into each other, followed by hacking the third robot into three peaces together. One more soldier came at them and they both stabbed it through the chest, but at the same time a second soldier came up behind them and tackled Guan to the ground. More and more of the skeletons dog-piled on top of him until he could barely move. Jermaine would've helped, but before he could he was blasted simultaneously with three electrified nets by a trio of robots.
Mimi jumped off the ground, using the robot before her as a step to get into the tree behind it. The robot whirled around and started blasting at her, but the French girl swung through the branches with ease and eventually jumped back down, landing on the machines back. As second robot nearby started blasting at her and the robot she was riding, not caring about its mechanical brother. The first robot was quickly torn to shreds and Mimi used a large shard of its body as a dagger to slash through the second robot. It was then that she noticed Julia and Elena nearby, struggling to take down four skeletal soldiers. She quickly grabbed a second metal shard from the ground and threw them both, sending them straight through two of the soldiers. Julia and Elena got the message and used them as weapons to tear through anything else that came their way. Mimi went back to grab another shard, but before she could something bragged her shoulder, swung her around, and punched her across the face, hard. Mimi fell to the ground, conscious only long enough to witness Julia and Elena trapped in a robots electrified net.
Panda Bubba roared as two robots came at him, grabbing them from the air and smashing their bodies together, using them as shields as a pair of soldiers came at him with their swords. He knocked the two soldiers away and then threw on of the trashed robots to the side. It was caught by Vlad who used it crush the skull of an oncoming soldier. He then took its sword and used it to slash a robot in half. Unfortunately, Vlad and Panda Bubba were too worried about their fronts to cover their backs. Luckily Tubbimura with his katana swords and Katnappe with her claws came in and tore through a pair of soldiers coming at them. The four former villains stood back to back as they were quickly surrounded. There was a brief pause in the battle before four robots shot up from the crowd and threw their nets at them. All tried to hack through the nets with their weapons, but they were electrocuted. Only Katnappe, since her claws weren't metal, escaped. She watched as Panda Bubba, Vlad, and Tubbimura were dragged away and the rest of the army waited, savoring the moment before they took her out. The girl just hissed before shouting, "Bring it on!"
Hannibal ripped a robot in half with the bare hands of his armor while Chase shattered a skeletal soldier with a single kick and Chief stabbed another with his spear. The three of them, like everyone else, were surrounded but they had one distinct advantage over everyone else… al three of them had battled armies like these plenty back fifteen hundred years ago. Hannibal grabbed a robot from the air and a soldier from his side and threw them at Chase. Chase flipped through the air and kicked them straight up. Chief them took his spear and threw it, piercing the two in mid air. The spear with the robot and soldier still on it dropped to the ground and Chief quickly retrieved it, using it to stab through another soldier coming at him. At the same time Hannibal ripped open a robot and grabbed the net inside, throwing it into the air. Chase then threw two robots and five skeletal soldiers under then net and they were trapped and electrocuted underneath.
"Looks like you three require my own, personal touch."
Hannibal, Chase and Chief looked to where the voice had come from and found Wrath pushing his way through Sloth's army towards them.
"If you want us you'll have to kill us." Chase growled.
Wrath shrugged. "Fair enough." He agreed, pointing a pistol at them. "I only need one of you alive anyway."
Jessie and her one remaining Black Viper raced through the war zone, running over skeletal soldiers with their bikes and knocking robots from the air with their chains. Yes, it was difficult to ride and fight with so many trees in the way, but they pulled it off. They seemed unstoppable… but nothing really is. Out of nowhere came a crash and an explosion. Jessie turned her head to find that her last Black Viper was gone and her bike had crashed into a tree, exploding afterwards. She saw a robot flying away, holding onto the girl's limp, unconscious body. Jessie swung her bike around and tried to chase after, but another robot grabbed her under her arms and lifted her off her bike as well. She struggled to get free, but the robot quickly let a small spike pierce her back and send electricity through her body, knocking her unconscious.
Jack quickly unlatched the hand from his robotic arm and a blade shot out of the metal cylinder. This was a little trick he'd built into his arm just in case something like this ever happened… it could also be a Gatling gun, but due to lack of bullets this was his only choice. He quickly slashed through a pair of soldiers before swinging around and bringing his blade down on a robot. He saw Nina fighting nearby with a shard of broken robot and was pleased to see she was taking care of herself. He turned away for one second to hack a soldier in half and then turned back to find a robot going after Nina from behind. Acting instinctively Jack ran for her, barely managing to tackle her out of the way and take the hit for her. He fell to the ground and was caught in the robots net… the electrocution was intensified due to his prostatic arm. "Jack!" Nina shouted after realizing what had happened, but it was too late… they were already carrying Jack away. "… You just pissed off the wrong girl." She growled before stabbing an oncoming skeleton with her robot shard and then kicking the head off of a robot.
Saya threw lightning bolts at a few robots while Kim tossed fireballs at oncoming soldiers at her back. A few feet away Rai and Omi were hacking and slashing through robot after sin soldier and so on with blades of air and ice. They couldn't see Clay, but they knew he wasn't far off as they could clearly hear "Yeeha" nearby. Omi and Rai worked together to take out one last robot before Clay finally appeared, charging through the crowd like a rhino on steroids. He stopped between the two duos, kneeled and punched the ground. A wall of rock and earth shot up around the five of them, protecting them for now. "Whaddo we do?" Clay asked. "Counting the five of us I don't think there are many of us left."
"What can we do?" Kim asked. They've got us outnumbered one hundred to one and I've seen more than half of us get carried away already."
"We need to keep fighting!" Rai shouted.
"No, we'll be killed or worse if we do that. We need to escape somehow." Saya said.
"Not happening." It was Sloth, standing on the edge of their shield with Rush at his side. "Now come along quietly and we've only cause minimal damage to your faces." Sloth continued.
"Just cooperate." Rush insisted. "None of you are going to die."
"There are fates far worse than death!" Omi shouted before leaping at Rush and tackling him to the ground. They rolled a few feet before stopping, Omi on top and hitting Rush repeatedly in the face. "Why did you do it?" he demanded. "Why did you join them?"
"I told you…" Rush choked. "It was the only way."
"The only way to do what?" Omi demanded.
Rush just glared at him before throwing the short monk off of himself and standing. He glanced over to where Sloth was still standing. Four robots were flying away now with Rai, Kim, Clay, and Saya trapped in their nets. He looked back to Omi. "Go… before I change my mind and tell the robot that I know where you are."
Omi hesitated for only a second, taking one last look at his former friend, before running away, disappearing into the woods. He stopped eventually, looking back at the battle field. He looked for only a second before a hand clapped over his mouth. "Quiet… come with us."
Omi nodded and the hand removed itself. He turned back around to find Chase standing before him. Behind Chase were Hannibal, Chief, Nina, and Katnappe. "We are the last." Chase explained.
"And I assume you have a plan for what to do next." Omi grumbled.
"No." Chase said, pointing his thumb at Hannibal. "He does."
Hannibal nodded back to him. "We're going to take the fight to them."