I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Attack
When Craytan said he was going to call for help, the last thing I was expecting him to do was light an entire mountain on fire. He had burned a massive symbol into it, one I doubt anyone will think is anything more than a random mark, except Mogadorians and Lorics. Both will recognize it as a Loric symbol. All we could do now, was wait for the Mogadorians to arrive to take Marina. I had tried to explain to Craytan that we needed to get out before then, and he claimed he tried to go and find Marina the night before but she had thought he was a Mogadorian and fled from him. He had tried to find her again in the morning, but she had been missing. To complicate matters further, a young girl who looked a lot like Marina was strangled at some point during the night.
Now, Hawkeye, Rookie, and I are stationed throughout the city, watching for Mogadorians while Craytan and the man that had told us about mass, a man named Héctor Ricardo, tried to find Marina. I sigh, looking up as something moving through the air catches my eye. It can't be a bird. And it certainly doesn't look like a plane. It's a UFO.
It flies low, hovering above the orphanage. Then, something extends down from it, pointing at the roof. I rip my radio out instantly radioing the others just as it fires, blasting a hole in the roof where Mogadorians begin to climb in through from the ship.
"She's in the orphanage!" I shout before dropping my radio, sprinting toward it.
The ship fires again and a Mogadorian climes onto the hole then points inward. A moment later, a pair of metal bed frames fly out, one of them hitting him in the head, dropping him into the hole, probably killing him. I can't help but grin. Then, I reach the door at the same time as Hawkeye and Rookie. All three of us have our pistols out. I kick the double doors in and we step in, me aiming down the hall in front of us, and the other two spinning into side rooms.
"Go!" I say and we all take off.
I hear shooting on my left, then my right. I continue straight, heading for the room where mass was held. I reach a door on my right and spin into it, clearing the corners and head deeper in. At the other end is a door and I head toward it. Just as I near it, it flies open and a Mogadorian charges me. I squeeze off a shot into his head but before I can shoot the one behind him, the Mogadorian swats the gun away and tackles me to the ground, drawing a dagger. I catch his wrist as he tries to stab me. His other hand slams into the knife's pommel and I jerk my head to the side as the knife thuds down into the floor. He wrenches is back out and I grab his wrist with both hands as he puts his full weight and all his strength on top of the knife. After a moment of me holding him at bay, he slams his head into mine. I grunt in pain, jerking my arms sideways and the knife carves a scratch in my side instead of stabbing me in the heart. I bring my knee up into his groin and he shouts in pain before I roll us over, punching him in the nose twice then grab the dagger, driving it down into his face. I fall to the side, groaning before standing and grabbing my pistol, hurrying out of the room and starting back down the hallway. The only door left leads to the main room and it's already open. I sprint in, seeing a Mogadorian in a black trench coat with a glowing green sword slash at the nun Marina had spoken to after mass, Adelina. Adelina rolls under the blade, slashing the Mogadorian's left leg with a kitchen knife. Marina, who's running toward me, sees me raise my gun and drops to the ground. I squeeze off two rounds into the Mogadorian's back but he simply grunts, holding Adelina up by the throat. I fire again and the Mogadorian goes down on one knee. Adelina slashes his throat with the knife, the cut so clean and fast that it takes a second for blood to start spraying out. Then, the Mogadorian falls into ash and Adelina turns on me. Marina stands, smiling at me then back at her.
"¿Quién eres tú?" Adelina demands, asking who I am in Spanish.
"My name is James," I say. "I'm a human, and a friend."
"Where's your proof?" Adelina demands, her Spanish accent gone along with her change of languages.
I press my hand firmly to the cut on my side, wincing, then holding out my hand, showing my crimson blood. Marina gasps, hurrying forward to heal me.
"You don't seem surprised by the Mogadorian turning to ash," Adelina comments as Marina works. "How?"
"About two months ago, my helicopter crashed," I begin. "I had both legs crushed beyond recognition, a broken arm, and a metal pole through my heart. Marina found us, and saved us."
"Us?" Adelina asks.
I turn, looking back just as Hawkeye and Rookie walk in, lowering their guns upon seeing we're safe.
"This is Hawkeye, and Rookie," I introduce. "Back when Marina saved us all, they were unconscious when Marina explained who she is, and how she healed us, they were unconscious, so beyond the fact that we were healed, they were in the dark about the whole thing until yesterday. Yesterday, I saw my first three Mogadorians get turned into dust. I'm going to keep Marina safe from Mogadorians in exchange for saving my life. That's why the three of us spent two months trying to get ourselves discharged, or else I'd have been here sooner."
"Wait, you killed those Mogadorians?" Marina asked. "Ella said she saw three of them turn into dust but she said she didn't know how."
"Technically we each took one down," Hawkeye stated. "Of course, that's absolutely nothing compared to being healed by an angel."
"Cool it Hawkeye," I growl. "This isn't the time for that crap."
"Did you just not swear?" Hawkeye grinned. "Oh dear. James. I'm so sorry. You really f-"
"Shut up!" I snap, turning away from him as he sits down on a pew, laughing hard. "Anyway, there's someone you need to meet, Marina. And, I promise you, he's not what you think."
Just then, Craytan walked into the room. Marina gasped, backing away from him, looking at me confused and hurt.
"He's not a Mogadorian," I say. "He can get us out of here. But, if you want, I can put these on him while he leads us to his proof."
I pull our a pair of handcuffs and Marina nods. Craytan turns away from us and I bind his hands then nod and he walks to the northern hallway.
"This way," he says.
I walk over to the dead Mogadorian's remains and pick up his sword then we all follow, Marina keeping me between herself and Craytan at all times.
"Why did you bring that?" Adelina asks, pointing at the sword.
"I like blades," I shrug. "Besides, I'm the only one here, except maybe you and Craytan, with sword training. Swords don't jam or run out of ammo."
"But guns require less energy," Craytan says. "I prefer range."
"So don't I," I agree. "But it's good to have a backup plan."
I have my pistol out again, in case any Mogadorians decide to charge out of the doors we're passing. Finally, we reach the stairwell to the belfry and the door opens, Ella sticking her eleven-year-old head out and smiling at us.
"Hi Marina," she greets. "Come on. Quick."
We all hurry up the stairs, closing the door behind us. Then, we stop at the top of the stairs. Just as we arrive, the tower shakes. Dust falls from the ceiling and walls. Then, it shakes again, large stones falling toward us, but Marina catches them with her telekinesis and hurls them out of the tower.
"We don't have long Craytan says, setting down a suit case and opening it, displaying numerous guns and ammo. "Ella is the tenth Garde, she was sent on a second ship from our home world, after yours. In a sense, I am her Cêpan. She is an Aeternus. She can change how old she is."
"I didn't even know that was possible," Marina says.
Craytan pulls out a pair of sub machine guns and I stare at the guns then my pistol.
"May I?" I ask.
"Help yourself," Craytan nods.
I set my stolen sword down, pulling out an M4 for both Hawkeye and Rookie, along with eight magazines full of ammo a piece. Then, I pull out a Tavor CTAR-21.
"Hello beautiful," I grin, grabbing a dozen magazines before spotting something under them. "No friggin' way."
I reach in and pull out an AA12 fully automatic shotgun.
"May I?" I ask.
"I thought you'd like that," Craytan grinned.
"Please tell me you have FRAG-12s," I ask, grinning like a child on christmas.
"In the pouch on the back," Craytan says.
Just as I reach for it, there's a banging on the door. I curse, grabbing a drum out of the pouch and grin, slamming it into place before grabbing several more. Thankfully, we all grabbed out backpacks after the Mogadorians showed up the night before, so I shove five more drums in the pack and throw it on my back. Then, I turn to the stairwell as the door crashes inward. Hawkeye holds a metal cylinder out to me and I accept it, looking to Marina.
"Get everyone down from the tower, now," I instruct her. "I'll hold them off until you do then jump."
She nods and I pull up my Tavor as the first Mogadorians appear. I light them up, dropping them rapidly.
"We're out!" Marina shouts from the bottom of the tower.
I drop the next group then pull the pin on the cylinder, grinning as I throw it. Our own special non-lethal grenade. As it falls, it clicks and my eyes widen.
Shit! is all I can think before the cylinder breaks apart, exploding and sending its contents shooting through the door onto the Mogadorians, but also up onto most of my front.
Pain erupts from everywhere it touched. I hear myself shout in pain and swear loudly as I stagger back, falling from the belfry. I feel myself slow down at the last minute and hear Hawkeye laugh and Rookie swear.
"You moron!" Hawkeye laughs.
"We gotta go!" Rookie says.
"He's burned!" Marina gasps, kneeling over me, judging by how close her voice is.
"We don't have time to worry about it now," Rookie says. "We have to go. We don't even know how effective it'll be on them."
In the background, I can hear screaming. For a moment I had thought it was mine, but I know I'm not breathing well enough to scream. That horrible shit got into my nose and mouth, swelling my wind pipe almost completely closed.
"Where do we go?" Marina asks.
"Your friend should be waiting," Craytan says.
I feel myself lifted by the arms, probably Hawkeye and Rookie, and we hurry along, my feet dragging due to me being light headed from pain, lack of oxygen, and nausea, which was also from the pain. Hell, getting stabbed wasn't even as bad as this. Finally, I'm lifted onto something metal and it shifts with a loud creak as two people climb up next to me. Pickup truck. I hear the door close and a moment later, we're speeding a long. The wind helps a little, but the pain is completely unbearable all the same.
"Marina!" Rookie shouts. "You need to get the stuff off him and out of his nose and mouth!"
After a moment, my pain intensifies rapidly as the stuff begins to move again, rising off of me. Then, it's over, and I'm just left with the chemical burns.
"I'm really, really sorry about this," Marina asks, and I realize exactly what about half a second before she starts healing me and I black out from the pain.
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