I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Bitch Hunt
I follow the others up the staircase, exiting last and seeing Marina glance back at the stairs, probably not even seeing me, her face serene, despite the tears in her eyes. I walk over next to Six and look out at the world around us. Completely unchanged. Terrific. I'm not sure what I expected to happen. Maybe the entity would generate Loralite weapons for us that would supercharge the Garde's legacies. Maybe send bolt of Loric energy to blast the Mogadorian ships into oblivion. Maybe just a way to get to the others before the battle started, if it hasn't already.
But there's nothing. The jungle is just as ungodly hot and humid as before. The insects are still a problem. I freeze, not even swatting at them. Insects? Shouldn't the barrier keep them out? I shake my head, swatting a mosquito before it can bite me then notice the others walking away. I follow, stopping as we near the barrier but they keep going, looking around when the barrier doesn't flare to life as they pass where it should be. I walk over, carefully stepping across the line but it is, in fact, gone. I sigh in relief then look to the others.
"Guess it doesn't need protecting," Six guesses.
"Or it just diverted its power," Marina says. "When I kissed Eight, I saw inside the thing in the well. I could see its energy spreading outward, but now it's spread thin. Maybe it just can't power its defenses here."
"What exactly do you mean spreading?" I ask.
"It's hard to explain," Marina said. "It's kind of like it spread a blanket over the planet, then the planet absorbed it."
"Does that mean new Garde?" I ask.
"Probably," Six nodded. "Hey, maybe you have powers."
I quirk and eyebrow at her before snorting in laughter.
"I doubt it," I snort. "I'm not so lucky."
"You never know," Six shrugs. "You did get through the barrier."
I shrug then look to Adam.
"We should go meet up with the others," I say.
He nods and we all head to the ship. We stop just outside, however, and Adam looks around.
"Where's Dust?" Adam asks.
I blink in confusion before remembering the Chimæra we left to guard the ship. I look around as well but there's no sign of the animal.
"Maybe he went after that Mogadorian woman," I suggest.
"He wouldn't just run off like that," Adam says. "Dust! Come on Dust!"
He and Marina fan out to search and Six and I climb onto the skimmer to search, me using my rifle's scope. After a moment, I spot a small grey bird scrambling out from under a log, except, it's twisted as twitching, like it's having a seizure.
"Is that him?" I call out, pointing to the bird.
Marina and Adam sprint over, then Adam returns, carrying the bird.
"I think it's him," Adam nods.
"What the hell happened to him?" Six asks.
"I don't know," Adam said shaking her head. "He looks like the Chimæra did after I saved them from Plum Island. They were experimented on."
Marina heals Dust but it only effects the scratches covering his body. He's still paralyzed.
"We can't do anything more for him here," Six says. "Let's get in the air and out of this jungle."
I can't help but agree. We all climb into the ship, Adam wrapping Dust in a blanket to try and make him comfortable, then sitting behind the controls as Six pulled out the satellite phone, calling John, who didn't answer.
"How worried should we be that he's not answering?" Marina asks.
The Skimmer's engine suddenly makes a strange stuttering noise as the lights begin to flicker erratically. I block out Six and Marina's talking, focusing on deciding whether or not the ship's about to explode.
"What's wrong with it?" I ask, Adam glancing at me, Six and Marina doing the same, noticing something's off for the first time.
"I don't know," Adam says turning the engine off.
Below us, something clangs as though it's not catching.
"Sounds like something's broke, or missing," I suggest. "I'm not an expert on Mogadorian engines but it sounds like something's not catching."
Adam nods, opening the cockpit again and he and I climb out, dropping to the ground under the ship and looking up at it. There's a bent panel and it practically falls off when Adam touches it. He stares up at it for a moment, less than pleased. I look up into the opening and whistle. The engine is slightly bigger than that of a pickup truck. However, it's much more complicated. As in, what I'm looking at is a bunch of overlapping spheres on one side, a gap, and a bunch of exposed wires and cables.
"That's...impressive," I mutter. "If it was a human engine, I'd say there was something missing because there are exposed wires."
"Good guess," Adam smirks. "There's supposed to be a conduit here."
He waves his hand through the gap.
"One guess who took it," I snort.
He nods. It was Phiri Dun-Ra. We both wordlessly move to two more Skimmers, both apparently missing the same part, because I see a gap and when I move on to another, so does Adam. After a few minutes, we've checked them all, and they're all the same. Or at least, all the ones I checked are.
"What's the problem?" Marina asks as we get back.
"They're all missing a conduit and can't run without it," I summarize, since I really don't understand or need to understand.
It's missing a part and it won't run. All I need to know.
"The Mog bitch?" Six asks.
Adam nods.
"Can you rig something up?" Six asks.
"Depends on what we can scrounge up," Adam sighs. "But I'm not a mechanic."
"Well, guess that leaves option B," I shrug as I feel cold radiate from Marina.
She's got the idea.
"Let's go hunting," Marina growls.
It's starting to get dark already so I grab us each an electric lantern, making sure they all work, then return to the others.
"Every warrior in her class is trained in surveillance," Adam is saying.
"We know," Six says dryly. "Your people have been following us since we were children."
"If we go in after her, she'll move," Adam says. "Stay ahead of us. She has a lot of jungle to hide in. But it'll be her instinct to stay close. Keep an eye on us."
"So we draw her out," Marina says.
"You know a good way to do that?" Six asks Adam.
"Bait," I speak up, setting the lanterns down. "We'll give her the one thing she can't resist. A vulnerable Garde."
"And which of us do you expect to risk our lives?" Marina asks, sounding somewhere between incredulous and hurt.
"Me," I say. "She remembers my display and believes I'm the eleventh Garde. I'll branch off from the rest of you and draw the bitch out. Then, when she comes to get me, you three catch her. And, on the off chance she gets a lucky shot in, you'll be able to heal me because you're not being shot at."
Marina nods, staring at the ground, seeming guilty for getting mad. I smile at her and stand, picking up the light then grin.
"Alright," I say, speaking louder than before. "Let's go get this bitch!"
I spin, sprinting into the trees, whooping and cheering as I run. Then, I carefully trip myself so my lantern smashes.
"James?" Marina calls out from off to one side.
"Here!" I call back.
"Quit yelling!" Six scolds from Marina's direction. "Where are you?"
"This way!" I shout back, beginning to walk.
I know they'll stay close enough to react, but I need to be separate enough for Phiri Dun-Ra to attack me. Quite the positive thought that. Suddenly, a twig snaps behind me and I spin. A bird flies into the air, squawking then dive bombing a bush, coming away with a rat. I sigh, chuckling to myself then turning back around. As I do, a blaster shot flies out of the brush in front of me, hitting me in the shoulder, making me shout in pain as I fall. The reaction is instant. Phiri rushes forward to finish me but before she can, Marina sprints out of the shadows, tackling her and knocking the blaster away before securing her with ice restraints. Then, she hurries over to me, healing me. I stand as the others rush out of the trees. Phiri spits at me and I shake my head, walking over and gripping her by the face.
"Where are the parts Phiri Dun-Ra?" I growl. "Where'd you hide the conduits?"
Phiri spits on my hand but her eyes flash to a log off to the side. I turn to look at it and grin then turn back to her.
"Why thank you," I grin. "Now, it's about time you die."
"No," Marina says. "We've already captured her. Don't execute her."
"If she lives, she'll cause countless problems in the future," I state.
"We'll deal with her later," Marina says. "We're not executioners."
"Alright," I sigh, dropping her and wiping the spit off my hand on her shoulder before walking over to the log with Adam, pulling the duffel bag out.
I reach for the zipper but stop as Phiri Dun-Ra screeches about war having already reached Earth. I step away from the duffel bag, glaring at her.
"She's lying," Adam says, now kneeling beside the bag, struggling with the zipper. "It's what she does."
He tugs again but its caught on something. I could swear I see something sticking out of the zipper. Hairs. Or copper wires.
"Wait, stop!" I shout, taking a step forward just as Adam yanks the bag open.
Something in the bag clicks, a timer being engaged. Adam reacts instantly, shoving the bag away, the ground beginning to rise up around it, even as he slams his shoulder into me, throwing me away from the bag, someone's telekinesis pulling me at the same time. Then, the bag turns into an orange fireball. I crash into someone, not sure who. My left palm suddenly feels like its on fire, and I can feel something solid and cold against the front of my neck. My head is swimming from the blast. I can barely even think. I know I can't breathe, though, and react by kicking off the ground, driving my head up into Phiri's nose. She shouts in pain and I scramble out of her grip before kicking her in the jaw, knocking her out.
"Stay with me!" Marina shouts.
I tun, looking around. Six is struggling to her feet, a large chunk of metal buried deep in her thigh. Marina is crouched over Adam, trying to heal him. I stumble over to Six, allowing her to support herself on me, taking a moment to inspect the deep gash across my palm. Then I help Six over to Adam and Marina. Adam, having remained in front of the bomb, was eviscerated. His abdomen looks like someone had scooped it out completely. He was conscious, miraculously. He couldn't speak, and blood kept bubbling out of his mouth, but he was conscious. Marina places her hands down, Adam's body beginning to knit itself back together slowly. Then, a piece of him sparked and hissed before disintegrating. Marina flinched, pulling back, shouting in surprise.
"What was that?" Six asks.
"I don't know," Marina says. "Something's fighting me. I'm afraid I'm hurting him."
The moment she pulls away, he begins to bleed again. I grab her hands, placing them back on the wound instantly.
"Don't stop," I say. "No matter what. You can save him if you don't stop."
Marina nods, beginning again. She screws her face up in strain, clearly putting more effort into it than normal. Another section sparks and disintegrates, then another. However, after that, the rest heals as though it had never happened. When she's finally finished, Marina falls back onto her hands, panting and drenched in fresh sweat. After a moment, Adam pushes himself up, staring at his abdomen that had been completely missing a moment earlier.
"Thank you," Adam said finally.
"Don't mention it," Marina sighs.
"Now that that's over, do you mind?" Six asks.
Marina groans but nods, turning to Six. Before anyone can even consider pulling out the metal, Six grabs it and wrenches it free, throwing it aside and shouting in pain. Marina quickly heals her, her leg sealing up much faster than Adam's abdomen. Then, she heals me, my hand healing faster still. Once she's finished with all of that, I help her to her feet and we start to make our way back to the skimmers.
"What was that?" Marina asks as we walk. "Why was it so hard?"
"I don't know," Adam says.
"You disintegrated a little," Marina says. "Like you were dying."
"I was dying," Adam points out. "But that shouldn't happen to me. The vatborn you've fought disintegrate because they're made entirely from Setrákus Ra's genetic experimentation. Some trueborn get augmented by it but I've never had it done. At least..."
"Nothing you know of," Six finishes.
"Probably when you were connected to Number One," I guess.
"Maybe," Adam nods.
I look back, thinking about the conduit, only to be greeted by the sight of Six floating Phiri along with her telekinesis. I raise an eyebrow at her and she shrugs.
"We'll keep her where we can keep tabs on her and we'll decide what to do with her once she's awake," Six explained.
I nodded, still feeling like we should kill her and be done with it, but I knew Marina wanted to spare her so I didn't say anything. I had a feeling it'd be a long night.
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