The Girl From The Middle Of Somewhere

Part 7

Quest: The Oppressor

So yeah, this is the first Quest chapter. These are fillers, so skipping Quests is ok if you just care about the overall story. In Quests, I just explain where did Kinessa got her gadgets. Enjoy.

"Hostile One is on the move. Approaching line of sight."

"Wind?"

"East, 3 MpH."

"I've got the hostile. Permission to fire?"

"Permission granted. Execute."

A stifled gunshot was heard coming from the woods, but no one at the camp seemed to notice it in the dead of the night. Nobody noticed a man fall down, dead, and not a single soul saw a shadowy figure drag the body out of their sight.

"Perfect shot, S. T, did you get him?"

"I did. He won't be found until morning. Just waiting for confirmation from our rear guard. K, what's the situation down there?"

"I'm spotting five hostiles, one with high explosives. He's coming your way."

"Got it, hold on a sec."

The sound of suppressed gunfire could be heard through the intercom. Other team members were holding their breath, waiting for confimation. Finally, it came.

"Hostile is down. Gotta stash him somewhere safe, these nades look like they could really do some work."

"Yeah, I suppose it would be a minor setback to have our boots on the ground get blown up because she couldn't handle a guy with such an exlosive personality. Nice one, T."

"Thanks, V. How do we go from here?"

"According to the plan. You and K will meet up at the courtyard, while S and myself will provide overwatch. Start advancing to position Bravo.

"Copy."

"Copy."

11 hours earlier

Barely a day had passed after Kinessa moved in, when her first mission as a team member came in. And as usual, it was something not suitable for any normal just-graduated cadet. According to the intel, a small town near the southern border had been taken over by a warlord, who was now controlling the entire region. All other infiltration mission had been unsuccesful, as the warlord's men executed a civilian every time they even thought of the army. So, the higher-ups had decided to send in a special team to lay the groundwork for much bigger strike. And that just so happened to be Viktor's team. So, without any further questions, Strix attached a suppressor to his sniper and Tyra grabbed her custom-made stealth rifle, which she had dubbed "Stinger". The journey took less than a day, as the team arrived at the hill overlooking the village just as the sun was starting to set. Strix and Viktor set up a scouting spot at a nearby cliff, while Kinessa and Tyra donned their camo gear. The plan was for the women to insert quitly and map out the area and enemy combatants, as well as sabotage any key locations of their defence while Strix and Viktor kept watch. Which brings us to the present.

Kinessa was sweating hard. Not because the situation was stressful. When she was 12, Strix heard her sneaking to the cookie jar in the middle of night. Instead of just dragging her back to bed, he called Viktor and Tyra for backup. Then they set up patrol routes around the house and tried to catch Kinessa for about 4 hours as a surprise test until she finally made it back to bed unnoticed. After hiding in a closet for 40 minutes, waiting for unusually murderous-looking Strix to pass, no stealth mission could get on her nerves. No, the real reason was because three enemies had suddenly walked just in front of her. Somehow they had managed to avoid their surveillance grid, and had decided to stay and chat just on the other side of the dumpster, behind of which Kinessa had ducked as she noticed them approaching. A minor setback, but it could cost them valuable time if she wouldn't figure out a way to sneak past them soon. She tapped her ear to activate the intercom. "Do you read me? Three hostiles are blocking my way, got anything for them?" She thought she heard Viktor cursing from the other side. "Can't you use your little trick on them?" he asked. "Negative. I don' think I could take them all out, and even if I did, I would probably be too tired to go on," she replied. A momentary silence followed, but lying there waiting it felt like forever. Just as she was starting to think that the comms had broken up, she heard from the other side: "Take out the guy nearest to you when you hear the signal." "Copy."

And then she waited some more. Minutes felt like days, until finally she could make out the form of approaching Tyra. She was concealed in darkness, but still visible if focused on. She took aim and started to wait for the same signal as she did. A few seconds later it happened. Viktor whispered "Execute" through the intercom. After that, three things happened at the same time. First, a sniper bullet came from behind her. Strix had changed positions so that he could have a clear shot on the guards. It hit the man in the middle right through the skull, and he fell down. Even before his allies had registered the hit, the Stinger fired a short round which took down the second one. When the last guy figured out, it was already too late. Kinessa rose from her hiding spot and struck fast as a snake. Her skills in close quarters combat had been witnessed before, but even Viktor felt a bit of pride when he saw the A+ performance of his student. Kinessa opened up with a kick to the diaphragm, followed with a quick punch to the throat. As the man fell down, gasping for breath, she swiftly unslung her rifle and used the buttstcok to deliver a finishing blow so powerful it broke the back of his neck in one hit. After all the adversaries had stopped twitching, Kinessa and Tyra put them into the dumpster. Kinessa nodded to Tyra, before calling Viktor once more. "Thanks for the help, guys. Shifting to position Bravo now."

"Copy. We'll cover your approach," came the asnwer, as the two women once more stuck to the shadows and started to make their way to the center of the town.

Position Bravo was pretty much in the middle of a marketplace. a large fountain provided them with cover from which they could observe the area. And it did not look good. Armed thugs were everywhere, their numbers exceeding fifty. The villagers were mostly in their homes at this time of the night, but the few residents they saw looked defeated and hopeless. Some of them had been beaten up quite badly.

"By the gods," Tyra gasped. "What have they done to this place?"

"According to the intel, they came only a week ago, instantly taking control of the local law enforcement and then the whole area. The villagers have since been forced to work at the nearby crystal mines with minimal supplies, and unstable crystalline ore explosions have killed atleast three of them. The rest is refined and used to power their weapons. I have also heard that they are researching new tech," answered Viktor. Kinessa shuddered. The idea of these guys holding crystal-powered weapons was not a fun one, especially when she had seen a couple night patrols dropping their guns out of sheer clumsiness.

"So what's our objective from here?" she asked.

"Your job is to check out their three main buildings: Their HQ, the town hall, their research facility, the library, and the upper-class residence zones which have been converted to barracks. Anything significant you see, report. And if you can do some inconspicuous sabotage to help when the real assault comes, go wild," Viktor responded.

"Copy."

"Copy, moving."

A few minutes later, Kinessa was making her way to the library. They had decided to split up, because Tyra was sure she could poison their water supply. So while Tyra went to the barracks, Kinessa herself had decided to check out their research lab. As dangerous as they would be in the wrong hands, she was curious to see if these goons had made any significant discoveries. Crystal magic was still quite new, so it was not impossible to stumble upon something unheard of with little experimentation. The roads were littered with guards, but she made managed to make it to the destination by utilizing rooftops, a couple of sneaky shortcuts and one convenient cardboard box.

The library was pretty unremarkable, especially when considering the Magistrate's Archives at home in the Capital. But still, those crude wooden walls were known to hold some important pieces of infomation, and some researchers came to visit the village for weeks at a time just to get their hands on some rare books. Also, the cellar was quite roomy, big enough to conduct dangerous experiments in. Not hard to guess where their lab would be. But the only problem was getting in. The front door was heavily guarded. A quick scan of her surroundings, however, revealed that someone had left a top window open. It was only a quick climb, and nobody would notice her from the shadows of the building. Kinessa felt almost dirty for using such a cliché entrance, but that guilt was quickly foreshadowed by the fact that beneath her were dozens of mercenaries eager to gut her if she fell. She thought about it for a seconds, then continued climbing.

A few minutes later, she had made her way through the window and down to the bottom floor. The inside was pretty lightly guarded, but she did have to knock out one guy who almost spotted her outside the window. The cellar door was now right in front of her, an inviting silver doorknob almost shining in the dim lighting. "Let's take a peek," she thought to herself and pushed the door open. As soon as she did, strange noises echoed in the stairwell. She listened. It sounded a bit like….. buzzing? Kinessa wasn't sure, so she carefully began to make her way downwards. The noise grew only stronger, and as she got closer, pained grunts started to join in. Finally, she reached to bottom, and peeked quickly past the corner. The sight took her breath away.

She had seen a lot of strange devices before, but this one was in a class of its own. Behind a couple of guys dressed in white was a high-tech cannon-like thing with a large crystal glass covering the barrel. What was more alarming, however, was that the thing was pointed at a group of frightened civilians in the corner. Before she could do anything, one of the men flipped a switch. Instantly a beam of some sort shot out of the cannon and hit the civilians. Kinessa was just about to run out to help them when she noticed something: apart from mild discomfort, the beam didn't seem to hurt them. Then, to her dismay, the men threw swords in front of the captives. They looked surprised for a second, but eventually they grabbed the weapons and ran towards their captors, overpowered them, freed everyone capable of fighting and started a revolution which liberated the village of the opposing forces in just a couple of hours. Kinessa and her team were congratulated for their effort, and then everyone went on with their normal lives. Well, it might have happened, but as the vllagers started to make their way to the men in white, they found they were unable to. No matter how hard they tried, the beam stopped their movement on the spot. Harder and harder they pushed, until eventually the testers got bored and shut the beam, causing every civilian stuck in the beam to fall flat on the ground. The captors laughed as they took the swords away and led their prisoners through a door which Kinessa suspected lead to some kind of a holding cell. The event left her stunned, until she realized everyone had left. Quickly, she made her way throught the room and inspected the machine. It was a mix of high-tech and shoddy handiwork, probably only a prototype. She shuddered, thinking of how many test subjects they had went through before getting it to work. Well, no time to think about it now. Deciding that it was time to report, she moved back into hiding before calling Viktor.

"Hey, V, do you copy?" she asked.

"Loud and clear, K. What's the matter?"

"Well, a lot of things, but at the moment I'm concerned about this suppression cannon they are testing on civilians. Apparently it stops anyone on their tracks without causing any major damage. I suppose they're planning on using it to keep the workers in line at the mines."

A slight pause ensued when Viktor processed what he had just heard with Strix. Eventually, the answer came.

"All right, good thing that you found it. Now get out of there and meet T at position Delta, we need to think about the situation."

"Copy that, K moving."

But at the same time, universe seemed to decide that it was time for something to go wrong on a seemingly perfect mission. In this case, that was a simple, little mistake. Before any infiltration, one should identify every possible hazard on the way to their objective. Kinessa had knocked out one guard when coming in, but guard patrols usually travel in pairs, and these mercenaries were no exception. As soon as the pair of the downed guard saw his partner stashed away in the dark, he started to look out for the intruder. He spotted the slightly opened door to the basement and caught a sight of Kinessa sneaking away from the cannon as he entered. Careful to avoid making sound, he snuk towards her as she was distracted making the call. As soon as the call ended, he struck.

Every guard on patrol was equipped with a factory-made Crys-Tech MK II Electro-baton. They were cheap and unreliable, but they usually had enought charge to take out a couple of fully-trained soldiers trained to be resistant to slight electric attacks. They were banned after a couple of incidents where the victim's eyeballs had exploded, but illegal mercenary groups had somehow managed to steal every baton sent to be dissassembled and spread them around the Realm. Now they were a common sight anywhere where bandits and mercenaries had taken hold, and many special-ops members had fallen to them when forced into melee. Kinessa didn't even have time to turn around, when an unimaginable shock coursed through her, paralyzing her muscles and sending her brains into chaos. The shock seemed to last forever, her sense of pain starting to dull. Then, suddenly, it ended, and she fell, falling happily into unconsiousness even before she hit the floor. The guard stared at the lifeless body of the young woman on the floor. This one was going to get him a raise for sure.

Once, when she was 6, little Kinny fell down from a tree and broke her ankle. She had shouted like crazy all the way to the healer. After her ankle was fixed, Mars had told her: "Kinny, I know that you were in pain, but that is no way to announce it. Everyone thought you were seriously hurt. You better not behave so again." And now, years later, she still remembered his stern face and despite the worst pain she had ever felt, she kept quiet. Instead, she tried moving, but found out she couldn't. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Well, hello there, beutiful."

Her eyes snapped instantly open, as she took in her surroundings. She was chained to a chair, with both her hands and legs tied together. She was in a well-lit room, with beautiful, wooden furniture. She guessed, if she hadn't been moved out of town, that she was in one of the town hall offices. And in front of her stood a man. And what kind of man. His wild, unkempt hair and bulbous eyes were enough to give him a crazed look even without all the burns covering his face and a grenade launched strapped to his back. His other ear had been sliced off, and she could see that his burns and scars went all the way down to his hands. He had tried to cover up his worst features with makeup, but failed miserably. He was wearing an expensive suit, probably taken from one of the wealthier townspeople, but it didn't fit well and made him look even more horrendous. And the worst part? He was looking at her, eyes full of poorly-contained lust. It wasn't hard to guess the situation.

"Well, hello there, mister Weirdo. I'm guessing you're the leader of this boy band around here? I've seen their work. The lights are good, but the bassist could use some work. You're not gonna get good vibes with those things down in the basement," she shot back with a laid-back attitude. She wanted to test her adversary, to see how he would react. The man looked offended.

"Are you mocking me? Me, The Great Alzwel? The leader of these fearless warriors?"

"Oh, did I? I just thought you could use some contructive critisism. And maybe a few plastic surgeries. You know, for a guy called All's Well, you don't look so good. You know, I know a good healer who could improve your features, maybe start with your head, replace that for a Sewer Crawler Worm's. It would sure be an improvement. But I have bad news: The only thing capable of saving that outfit is a full-body invisibility spell. Actually, maybe we should start with that, no need to work on your face. And as for your name…"

"Enough!" he snapped. Kinessa smirked. If this guy was this easy, she would be out of here in no time. But he clearly wasn't done talking yet. "Your jokes amuse me, soldier girl. But what I'm wondering is: How did you get into my secret testing facilities?"

"Oh, it was quite simple, really," she answered. "I just helped the guards tie their shoelaces. They were so amazed by my intellect that they begged for me to come and help with their waffle iron. They can't seem to place the crystal right way up."

Alzwel looked at her murderously for a second but then he switched back to the needy look which made her more uncomfortable than anything else. She tugged at her bonds, but they didn't budge. He didn't seem to notice as he started pacing around the room and continued.

"When my men told me they had caught a southern soldier from the Kingdom's Army, I thought they had gone insane. Even more so when they told me that the soldier in question was a woman. but when they brought you to me, oh, how could I have been so blind? At the moment I saw you, I knew it. This was all meant to happen to me! This is my future, YOU are my future…"

Kinessa was starting to show slight signs of panic. "Ok, let's slow down, You might want to reconsider you next words, because if I like them, I might save you a few bones to move your limbs with…" she tried to cut in, but the man didn't listen her anymore.

"Just look at you! How else could such a tough sweet thing land to my kingdom if not by the will of the gods? Your beautiful, tan skin, your short, soft hair, your silky smooth but tough muscles, your fierce attitude, your soft round, supple…" he was saying, but just then Kinessa struggled so hard that the chair fell down and she managed to headbutt him.

"Ok, that's it, weirdo!" she shouted from the floor. "You just lost your living rights! Do you know what I did to the last guy who tried the same thing? I suggest you cut me loose now and I'll show you quickly, so we can all get out of here faster." The man chuckled at the struggling woman on the floor.

"Playing hard to get, eh? I like that. I will need a strong, beautiful woman such as you to rule by my side, as my queen! After my weapons project is completed, everyone will know the Great Alzwel, the owner of the Realm's most advanced arsenal, and his fair but lethal wife, capable of killing everyone his husband wants dead! I will rule in the brightest light of the gods, while you, my talented sniper-ette, will fight from the shadows to deliver swift and subtle fear to my enemies. The southeners were always known for their fighting skills, and you will reawaken that side of your culture. I saw your work on my men, and it's clear: You were brought here today to start the expansion of my great empire!"

Kinessa was speechless. Out of ALL the possible maniacal power-hungry warlords in the world, she had to be stuck with THIS one? Her worst wooer up to date? She was really starting to hope that someone had noticed her being dragged here. Strix and Viktor were supposed to be watching the courtyard, so they must know where she was. Tyra was probably already setting breach charges on the door. Right? Right?

"You will be my spear, my sharpest weapon. Who knows what secrets you hide? I have a specialist here who's talented at uncovering hidden skills. Maybe you are more powerful than even you know?" he speculated. Kinessa's panic only grew. Considering the surprising technical advances she had seen, it wouldn't take long for them to notice her innate ability. And then what? Maybe they could weaponize it somehow? Transfer to their soldiers? Or just somehow make her follow their orders? The outcome would be bad, whatever it was.

"Well, that can wait for after the wedding. I have already picked out a dress for you. Oh, how beautiful you will look in it!" he speculated.

Before she had the chance to object, two goons came out of the door, confirming that Tyra wasn't indeed about to breach & clear the room. They grabbed her from the floor and started to drag her to the hallway.

"You will all die! I'm gonna rip your limbs off with my bare hands and feed them to you with a pitchfork! I will…" her shouts died out as she was dragged down into the hallway, but her captors got to experience the full scope of her colorful vocabulary. Alzwel smiled to himself. "Oh, my fiery flower, we will be the perfect couple. And you will be a perfect addition to my invincible arsenal!" he smiled even more as he heard the distant cries of his soon-to-be wife, who seemed to be screaming select comments about their mothers and something involving dragon vomit and reinforced bathtubs.

Red flames of rage were burning in Kinessa's eyes as she was dragged to one of the fancier buildings. The mercenaries had finally gotten tired of her verbal assault and shoved a gag in her mouth, so now all she could pretty much do was mumble and look menacing. Which didn't seem to affect her adversaries, considering the amount of catcalls she was getting from other patrols. The sun was rising, and its first rays illuminated the unfortunate village. She couldn't help but wonder what the villagers had been through under the oppressor's rule, and where her squadmates were. They must have already noticed that she wasn't answering her intercom, since it had been confiscated along with her gun. They were probably scouting the streets now and would spot her any second. She just hoped it would be before the ceremony.

The house she was taken to looked like it belonged to some rich noblewoman, atleast if you looked at the size of the wardrobe. All manners of dresses, skirts, heels, hats and sort had been neatly sorted on the shelves. The guards cut her bonds and quickly threw her inside before she could claw their eyes out. They shouted to her from the outside:

"Boss wants you to be ready in 40 minutes! Your outfit is in the back. And don't try anything funny, the room is reinforced."

Then they left.

"What kind of idiot reinforces their wardrobe?" she thought to herself. Just to be sure, she tried to break down the door and the windows and even tried out one of the chairs against the wall. No damage.

"Well, considering the situation, I could as well get dressed. Maybe an opportunity will arise later," she told herself and went to look for the dress provided to her. It wasn't hard to find, as it had been put clearly on display in front of the window. It was long and straight red qipao, with flame patterns. She sighed. She wasn't a fan of dresses to begin with, and being forced into one was just plain cruel. Well, atleast it wasn't some ultra-girly white with barely any room to move in, she thought as she started to undress. Her uniform and camo suit didn't fit under the dress and All's Well-guy wouldn't probably take it kindly if she tried, so with gritted teeth she gave up the protection of her breatplate and slipped the garment on. Surprisingly, it was a perfect fit. Shivering at the thought, she decided not to think of what had been done to her when she was out cold, and blame the perfect measurements on sheer luck and guesswork.

Ten minutes later, she was all ready to go. She had stashed her clothes to a safe place to quickly grab them from when she escaped (She refused to think of the possiblity of failing) and after 25 more minutes of trying toget out of the room, she surrendered to waiting. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door, and she heard the familiar voices of the guards that had escorted her.

"Get against the opposite wall. We won't open up before we hear you're there." She couldn't help but smile. Apparently, she had made quite an impression. She walked to her designated place, ready to strike. As soon as the men got close to her to tie her up, she would use her innate ability to incapacitate them and get out of there, fast. However, her plan was ruined when they kicked down the door and shot at her without even looking. The projectile flew through the air, emitting a blinding light as it went. Uncapable of seeing, she couldn't focus enough to slow down time. In the blink of an eye the men had captured her and were walking her out of the door. Cursing their surprise attack, she couldn't help but walk towards her impending doom, as she would be forced to be some crazy warlord's wife/personal hitwoman. The thought alone made her shiver. Married life wasn't for her, much less one that grim, but she was powerless to stop the men escorting her. As they turned the corner, she was surprised to see that an altar with dozens of benches in front of it had been put up in the middle of the town square. Many elite guards had gathered there, along with some frightened villagers who were being held at gunpoint. Alzwel was there already, dressed in a black tuxedo, locked in deep discussion with a man she assumed was the priest. His misshapen eyes light up as he saw her approaching, and he practically skipped down the stairs to greet her.

"Oh, my love," he said, "How beautiful you look!"

"We can discuss that "love"-part more after I've pulled out your heart and dissected it. Then we'll surely see if that's the case," she struck back with cold fury. Alzwell just smiled.

"Oh, you are getting me even more excited with your fiery temper. I can't wait until this is all over so we can begin our honeymoon!" He didn't seem to noice the steel mask which had become of Kinessa's face after she heard the last few words. "However," he continued, "I must attend the priest about the details. You make yorself comfortable while I set things right. You don't need to worry your little head, honey! I'll be right back!" He walked off as Kinessa was put to sit on a throne-like chair, with almost an identical one right next to it. Alzwel's ego didn't seem to have bounds.

Minutes dragged on, as the "guests" started to gather and sit on the benches. Most guards were still wearing their gear, but some were sporting same kinds of tuxedos as Alzwel. The civilians were still wearing their dirty and sometimes ragged casual clothes, indicating they weren't allowed to wash or change them. Kinessa was starting to sweat, her eyes bouncing everywhere, looking for an opening to escape, but there were none. Guards were everywhere, and her bonds probably wouldn't be taken off before they trusted her, and that would take weeks, maybe months, and she wasn't planning on being here for that long. With nothing else to do, she waited and hoped that her friends would bust her out at the last second, preferably with a full strike team and several armed zeppelins playing the national anthem of the Kingdom and sporting the flags of the Magistrate. It would a pretty cool rescue operation. Or maybe they would tame the wild boars roaming the woods surrounding the village and make them stampede over the mercenaries. So lost in her fantasies, she didn't notice the ruckus around her cease to exist, as the wedding music she had feared of started playing. Her throne, along with her, was lifted and carried to the middle of the altar before she could object. Facing straight ahead, she saw Alzwel appear with his bestman and several armed guards. As he approached, the guards dropped off one by one to frame the red mat leading to the altar. Suddenly, the priest she had seen earlier appeared, smiling at her nervously. He was probably grabbed from a local church to perform the ceremony, with his reward being keeping his life. Alzwel and his bestman, whose hair was so long it almost completely concealed his face, approached, with Alzwel beaming with joy and his friend seeming rather gloomy. All the eyes were locked on the pair rising up the stairs towards the woman seated there. As they approached, Kinessa felt the familiar poke of a gun on her back, telling her to stand up. Reluctantly, she rose, looking at her husband-to-be with disgust. As they all had stopped moving, the music paused. The priest started to spoke.

"My friends, we have gathered here today to witness the beginning of a beutiful and powerful union of our beloved leader, Alzwel, and a Fiery Flower from the Southern Parts of the Realm…"

He went on, as Kinessa looked at Alzwel with a look that said "Are you seriously going to marry someone whose name you don't even know?"

"…No challenge too hard, no canyon too deep for them to cross with the power of their love…"

Kinessa had a funny feeling that Alzwel was behind most of the dialogue. At least she hadn't heard this version before.

"…The Great Alzwel traveled many lands, before finding his beloved, the sure shot fired from his rifle…"

She was seriously starting to sweat now, with ceremony nearing its end and no rescue in sight. Every fiber of her being wanted to get out, but sadly, teleportation wasn't in her repertoire.

"...And so, with the rights bestowed to me by all the True Gods and Goddesses of the Realm, from Azharm to Nyx, I shall connect these two souls. The rings."

With these words, Alzwel's bestman moved towards them, holding a velvet pillow with two rings on top of it. Both were made of gold or maybe enchanted gold, and were adorned with perfectly cut blue crystals. He gave the other one to Alzwel, who eagerly grabbed it, and directed Kinessa to take her own. But as she reluctantly reched her hand, the man didn't give it. The crowd murmured shortly, and Alzwel looked confused.

"What are you doing? Give it here, so we can get on with this!" he told him.

The man looked at the ring for a momnet, and then, to everyone's dismay, threw it away as hard as he could. Then he faced the stunned Alzwel. Slowly connecting his eyes, he growled with a voice that was far too familiar to Kinessa:

"This girl marries whoever she wants and whenever she wants, and I happen to know that she won't need a man in her life."

And then, before Alzwel could react, the man threw back his fist and punched him in the jaw with a blow so powerful it knocked him off the altar. The crowd stared at them for about three seconds. Then all Abyss broke loose.

Civilians were screaming as guards drew their weapons, but they didn't have time to take aim before a sniper shot flew above their heads and hit one guy in the middle of the group, killing him instantly. Then, Tyra popped up from somewhere and started to pick off the guards from the backlines. Viktor threw off his wig and grabbed Kinessa as they ducked to cover behind some fallen benches. He signaled Tyra, who threw him his assault rifle over the mercenaries's head, which he grabbed and opened fire upon the dazed hostiles.

"What took you so long?" Kinessa asked.

"Had to come up with a plan, get the disguises, take out the real bestman, that stuff. Besides, Tyra couldn't resist the chance to see you in a dress. She's probably taken pictures." he answered.

"Remind me to kill her later. They have my gear stashed somewhere, and I left my clothes at the house."

"Don't worry," Viktor assured. "T picked up your things on the way here. We just have to get through these guys first."

She nodded. Slowly, they started to crawl their way to Tyra, who had attached a drum magazine to her gun and was now raining death to every enemy who came close. Once one guy tried to grab Kinessa from behind, but she flanked him and broke his neck with one swift movement. Viktor took shots on any guard who come close, until eventually they reached Tyra's improvised cover, two garbage bins and a bench. She was clearly enjoying herself.

"Oh, hi K! I must say, you look stunning in that dress. Wait until everyone sees these pics!"

She said, showcasing a crystal-powered camera.

"I'll save you for later. Did you have something for me, or was the whole point of this meeting to make me want to hate you?"

Tyra laughed. "Oh yeah, I broke into their armory where your rifle had been put to, and picked up your clothes from that house."

"And why, exactly, couldn't you save me there?" Kinessa asked furiously.

"Well, they were more exposed here and easier to take down, so why would we have? Relax, let's just kill these guys and get out of here. No need to dwell in the past. You have 25 seconds to gear up. You too, V. It would be a shame to ruin a suit that good-looking."

Kinessa didn't look convinced, but wasted no time getting changed. (Viktor looked politely away.)

As soon as she was done, the group members nodded at each other before getting to work. And soon the poor mercenaries witnessed the true potential of the special forces.

Strix was of course one of their biggest fears. Loud, powerful shots, coming from somewhere they couldn't identify, his kills got some to run for their lives, before they too fell to his rifle.

Tyra was lost in the fight, only stopping to reload and slapping on her drum magazine whenever she could. Rifle grenades and firebombs littered the battlefield as she strode her way past dozens of corpses. Reinforcements started converging against them from the other parts of the city, but soon they were all regretting ever setting foor there. Higher-ranking enemies fel a chill as she marked them for Strix, who was more than happy to assist.

At the same time, Viktor was reducing their battlements to dust. He flung grenades anywhere he could, and chased down any enemies attempting to regroup. Whenever he came across a cannon or a bunker, he called his friends manning he nearest long-range-cannons for a couple artillery barrages.

Kinessa fought like a whirlwind, her pent-up anger fueling the killing spree. Enemies hardly ever saw her, as one second, a powerful sniper shot took down one of them from the rooftops, then the other, a round of laser pellets struck down two more. The last guys could only surrender to their fate as a murderous figure appeared before them and took them down in seconds with her bare hands or rifle. Some of the battle reports told of a woman, appearing out of nowhere and dissappearing again in the blink of an eye without even doing anything, but then any guard who spotted her twisting into unimaginable shapes and screaming in agony as their bones broke without even understanding what caused it.

This went on for a few hours, until the village was clear of enemies. The streets were full of bodies, with blood flowing everywhere and only a few pained cries remained. The culprits of the mass murder gathered at the altar, where just a short while ago a wedding was about to take place. Now reduced to splinters, only one figure remained, whimpering pitifully behind the structure where he had landed after a powerful punch caused him to black out. He stuggled to get on his knees, but eventually managed. Just then did he spot the four figures who had reduced his budding empire into ruins even before lunch. He watched in fear as the shortest of the four, the woman with tan skin and serious eyes whom he had intended to marry, started to make her way to him.

"Oh, my sweet, thanks gods you're here! Please, save me from these barbarians, so we can start rebuilding our glorious…"

His voice faded away as the silent figure stopped right in front of him. She said nothing, just stared. Alzwel felt his death growing nearer as the air around her grew colder.

"Kinessa."

She spoke.

"W-What?" he asked.

She just stared at him, with dead eyes.

"Kinessa. That's the name of the person you were going to marry today. Kinessa, the survivor of Easthaven, Daughter of Mars, The Girl from the middle of somewhere. Don't forget that."

"No, I don't, I promise I don't, I'll never bother you, you'll never hear from me again, I promise!" he shouted with a pleading tone.

"Good," she said. Then she knocked him back with the butt of her gun and emptied the clip to his stomach. Extreme pain struck the man as thirty bullets carved a hole through him. Then she reloaded, extended her rifle and fired five powerful sniper blasts through his head. The Great Alzwel never bothered anyone again.

Kinessa made her way back to her friends, who looked at her with worry.

"You okay?" Strix asked. Kinessa stared at him, but her gaze was returning to normal.

"Sure. Let's rescue the villagers and call the specialists. I have a feeling these guys had some good gear in the making."

She staggered a bit, exhausted from using her ability so much, before Strix came to support her. As the group made their way towards the library, the other two walking behind Kinessa gazed at each other. They made a silent promise to never speak of this day again, especially in front of her. Without anyone looking, Tyra grabbed her camera and threw it into a fountain.

High noon rose above the village, free from oppression.