With a loud stump from Hotaru's foot, the penultimate survivor of the Branwen tribe massacre was now dead. As Raven was now being carried by two of the robots towards the now oily red platform, she only prayed that Vernal's plan happened sooner than later.
"Raven Branwen!" Hotaru said. "You are accused of conspiracy to kidnap, robbery, terrorism, damage of public property and damage against public officials and associates to the realm of Seido. How do you plea?".
'Here goes nothing…' Raven thought. "Not guilty!".
Not surprised in the slightest, Hotaru just smiled before addressing her again. "Very well. You deny your involvement in the kidnappings of both Mr. Carline Vevento and myself then?".
"Yes!".
"Even though you confessed to your crimes when speaking to me earlier today?".
"Do you have any record of what was talked about in that meeting or that it even took place?".
This caught Hotaru's interest; Raven knew how to hold herself for the moment in court. But it didn't matter. "As a matter of fact, I do". He then stood up and removed the top of his armor, pulled out a small knife and made an incision on his sternum. He then reached inside and pulled out a small metal cube. "I present audio recordings of my time as a prisoner in the Branwen camp. Seidan Guard protocols adopted a year ago require all members to be recorded permanently, as per seidan legislation". He then handed the device to one of the robots who inserted it on his nape and then played the audio in question.
"… Plus, those ten million liens that are missing are still useful".
Her recording said. The robot then fast forwarded it.
"… Before we had a pawn. Now we have the king…".
Another fast forward.
"… And the spy you tried to sneak into our tribe? Very cute detail; poetic in a way. We take one of your men by infiltration, and you try to do the same. But the trick only works one way. How else would you explain we knew how much dust to use to blow up your protection glass?"
The robot stopped playing the recordings and stepped back in place. "Sounds to me like you were prepared to take me prisoner, and you also knew a lot about a company that you had no clearance to know about. And who would this 'King' and 'Pawn' be that you are referring to? Could it be related to the roles of Myself and Mr. Vevento in our organization? And who else, if not Mr. Vevento when speaking of having taken, quote, 'One your men by infiltration'?" Hotaru questioned her.
That last statement gave Raven an idea to give Vernal some more time. "If you are confessing to be working with other criminals, what gives the right to judge me? Wouldn't you be a criminal as well?".
Hotaru froze in place. She could see then how his fists were now balling and shaking. He then turned around and punched the marble table strong enough to dent it. "I AM NO CRIMINAL YOU DELUSIONAL BROD!" he yelled at her, gritting his teeth after the insult. After noticing he had just lost his composure, he tried to calm himself before speaking again. "If you wish for the prosecution of my 'crimes', you can do it after you prove your innocence here, that is". He returned to sit behind the desk. "From that recording, it can also be determined that you were the intellectual architect of the destruction of five motorized vehicles property of the Orderrealm. Is that correct?".
"Well… if you think about it… it might have been a service. You know with the planet, and dust-based gas, we might have just saved a few…" Raven babbled as Vernal was giving her a signal with the mirror and went quiet when Vernal moved again.
"Miss Branwen…?" Hotaru asked for her attention. Noticing her eyesight was not on him; meaning something else was distracting her.
"Huh!?" she finally said looking his way once again.
Hotaru was no fool. She had seen something that interested her… or someone! He stepped out of his desk and yelled orders to his men. "Guards! Search the perimeter!".
No sooner than that, one of the robots felt a pellet of red dust hitting him on the head and then falling on his feet. "enemy presence confirmed, begin protocol-" he was unable to finish as the pellet exploded. Then another, and another until a total of four charges went off. Leaving a curtain of smoke as a result.
Vernal then managed to take down both of Raven's captors before cutting her restrain. Both women then ran away. "Hope you have a plan!" Raven said.
"I do, but we have to be fast!".
They were already being followed by the robots and Vernal then turned and fired on the ground, creating an explosion and taking one of the robots while the others were stunned by the lack of vision. Part one of her plan consisted of leaving well placed raw dust packs in certain parts of the camp to offer bot a distraction and an offensive mechanism that would allow them to clear the path.
"That was easy" commented Vernal.
"Infrared mode activated!" they heard the machines say before running straight through the smokescreen in their direction. 'Too much for good luck…' she thought.
They were then surprised by one of the robots who landed in front of them. Vernal blocked his attacks while Raven dived under him to then stand behind him; she then grabbed his right arm and proceeded to hit the place where his forearm should be with a well-placed elbow smack. This not only broke his arm but also made the buzz-saw appear and start spinning. Not one to throw away opportunities, Raven then used the saw to cut the head of the robot.
Their victory was short-lived, however, as more robots began to catch on with them. Vernal then took Raven to a hole she had dug and covered with remains of the fires before firing another round in the opposite direction that blew up what was left of the main gate. They both entered the covered hole and waited for the robots to follow the fake trail towards the wall.
A loudspeaker was then turned on shortly after, and Kollector made an announcement. "Raise the dome! They will not escape!". Sure enough, walls made from translucent blue hexagons surrounded a bigger area around the camp. "Initiate alarm mode!".
Hotaru then made an announcement himself. "I want them dead! We've had enough of Raven and her games".
Once the guards had left and their proximities were cleared, Vernal was able to explain her plan to Raven. "I checked the camp areas; they found the tunnel under your tent and the other escape routes. We are stuck".
"Great, any new ideas then?".
"How is your aura? Enough to transform?"
"No, they kept beating me as soon as I gained some, I regained some, but I don't know how long it will last".
Striking out options, Vernal then climbed to the border of the hole and used the mirror to look in the direction of a hill in particular. "Yes!" she whispered excitedly. "Their shield covered the cliff area just outside of the camp!".
"And how does that help us?".
"There is a cave not far away from here. We can use it while you get your energy back. With any luck, it'll also have an exit".
"Sounds like a plan then?".
Vernal just nodded and they got out of their hiding spot once the coast was clear and began their journey towards the cave. The way there was trickier than expected, though, with the robots on constant patrol and shooting fire blasts at the slightest movement or sound, even those of animals. Nonetheless, they managed to leave the camp and bypass some of the robots before reaching a path blocked by a squad of at least five robots patrolling it.
The women were slowly moving through the vegetation but were taken out of their concentration when they heard Kollector's voice getting closer and giving orders to his own squad. They kept moving at a slower pace but, unfortunately, one of them stepped on a fallen branch and it snapped, alerting all their enemies. "They are here…" the blue monster growled. "Scout the area!".
Although a relatively large sector, they would be found eventually if they didn't move; but moving could alert them of their location. Time was running out, and Raven decided to play a wild card. "Do you still have dust explosives?" she whispered.
"Well… yes… but why?".
"Give them to me".
Vernal did not question Raven's orders. She gave her the hand-sized bag and had no time to question her before she saw a corvid flying up in the air.
The robots wasted no time in shooting fire at the bird who barely managed to dodge the incoming projectiles. Thankfully, no one noticed an exact moment in which the corvid threw the package into a blaze of fire and then grabbed it again, flying up and in the direction of the camp.
The robots and Kollector dismissed the bird, but Vernal was worried as she was able to notice how the flapping of her wings was too rapid. She knew Raven was already getting tired; Raven, on the other hand, not only was aware of that but also that the package was getting hotter and hotter. It was ready to go out at any second and she needed to be as high as possible and over the camp in order to not be seen and to get their attackers as far away from the cave's trail as possible.
Raven could feel her wings getting heavier and she started to notice how she sometimes began to lose altitude. As the bomb was getting unbearably hot, she managed to see Hotaru patrolling the other side of the camp. 'Here goes nothing!' she thought and dropped the package. Sadly, physics was never her strength; but the bomb did manage to land some feet away from him and the blast was enough to push him into the ground.
Deciding to not waste any more time, she immediately turned around and glided back to Vernal and noticing all the robots running towards Hotaru. She felt relieved when noticing Kollector heading in the same direction as the others. Relief turned into a feeling of tiredness, however, and her gliding was slowly turning into a freefall. She was then abruptly awakened when Vernal yelled her name and she managed to glide again for a few feet, and as she was now at a survivable distance from the ground, she changed back into a human. She fell on the ground and then rolled for a few moments, but thankfully no severe damage was done.
"Need some help?" she heard Vernal say behind her, the relief on her voice revealing she was thankful.
"I'm fine… but I could use a shoulder to walk".
Vernal did not say anything else and just placer Raven's arm over her shoulders before both resumed their way to the cave.
They finally arrived at the cave and immediately went inside. After some time, they reached a wider section in which Vernal then quickly kneeled and began to dig while talking to Raven, who had managed to find some edible berries and was now resting against a stalagmite. "We don't have a long time, if we wish to fool them and make them go away, we'll need to-" Vernal was explaining before being cut-off by Raven when she placed a hand over Vernal's mouth.
"Shhh" Raven whispered as she looked around the cave. Vernal was confused as to what she was doing, but then saw her move around until she reached the opposite wall and then was able to hear a faint clanking step. Slowly, Raven took out the knife and quickly threw it towards the entrance, effectively hitting one of the robots on the head who then went stiff while producing electric shocks; and after a few seconds, it finally fell on the floor with a loud thud.
At that moment, two other robots fell from the roof and remained in a crouching position. Both women took a fighting pose but were not expecting explosions coming from the entrance that made giant boulders fall and block their light source and emergency escape route. The permanent darkness was interrupted when both robots began to produce light and their faces produced a holographic replica of Hotaru's.
"Very impressive, Miss Branwen. Your diversion might have allowed you to get this far, but do you really think Kollektor did not notice this cave while looking for your little friend some hours ago? Or that we would not send security over there when we realized that our force field would encompass it as well?".
"And let me guess, you wanted to trap us until we run out of air, kill ourselves or you have to come to pick us up? Guess what, genius?". She then grabbed one of the robot by the 'chin' and turned his head towards the hole that the Death Stalker had made previously that day. "By the time you get the boulders out of the way, we'll be long gone" she commented, with a mocking tone.
Hotaru laughed at her statement. "Then I suggest you work fast, Raven". As he finished his sentence, both of the robots and the one on the floor opened their chests and the bandits were able to see a bright yellow core that was turning whiter and hotter; they then understood his plan: bombs.
As Hotaru began to laugh once again Raven took a rock and destroyed one of the robots' head. "Oh, Miss Branwen. I may no longer see or hear you. But I do know it is finally over for you. You have no weapons, no aura, nowhere to go. You and your friend are done! Justice has finally caught on with you!" he managed to say before Raven crushed the head of the other robot.
Outside of the cave, Hotaru, Kollector and a cuffed Shay, along with a battalion of robots, were waiting behind an improvised metal barricade.
"How long Kollector?" Hotaru asked. They were told that it would take around ten minutes for the cores to overheat and that the explosion range was of around two miles. With three cores in that cave, they would at least have to die by being crushed under who knows how many rocks if they managed to go down a tunnel.
"Overheat in… four… three… two… one…!".
A giant pillar of light was then seen on the distance, a fraction of a second later the booming noise came, and finally a current of wind that blew dirt and leaves on their direction. "Scouts!" Hotaru shouted. Ten robots then ran towards the remains of the cave.
A few hours later, Hotaru and his lackeys arrived at what remained of the cave. "Progress?" he asked.
One of the robots stepped next to him, bowed and showed a holographic map. "We are reaching the cavity where the explosion originated from, sir!".
Soon after, one of the diggers sounded an alarm. "Remains detected!".
Everyone but Shay ran towards the digger, and sure enough, there it was. A burnt skeleton lied on the ground with burnt remains of what must have been a skirt and something on her head. A few minutes later, a second and shorter skeleton was found along with the metal remains of the exploding robots and the remains of whatever sort of weapons they had until this point.
"Analyzing remains. Remains match to the chemical composition of the clothes worn by the fugitives". Happy with the results, Hotaru extended his arm on Kollector's way and opened his hand. The Naknada then gave him the microphone to control the robots. "Mission status: Success. Begin clean up and return to base" he said with an air relief and pride. Immediately, all robots began to march back to the remains of the Branwen Tribe's camp. Hotaru then removed the top of his armor as Kollector took what remained of his shirt from his bag and gave it to him.
Not sure about what to do next, Shay then approached them carefully. "Mr. Hotaru, sir. I helped you as I promised I would. Am I free to go?". Both of his captors turned around and looked at him with disdain.
After a short while, Hotaru addressed him once he was nearly done buttoning the shirt. "Not yet. You still have one more thing to do for us before you are free" he told Shay as he did the last button of his shirt. Hotaru then extended his right arm once again and Kollector grabbed him by the wrist with one of his right hands while one of the left hands retrieved the mace. A horrible crunching noise was made once Kollector used the mace to break Hotaru's radius, but he merely took the pain and bit his lips. "You know your orders, right?" he asked Kollector while grabbing his now broken arm.
"Wait in Atlas until you come out of the forest. Pick you up and return to Atlas in time for the councilman's re-election announcement party".
"Good work Kollector. Where is my prize?".
"Safe with my collection," the Naknada said while patting his bag and giving him a hideous smile.
"Good. Now go!". He bowed to Hotaru and a red portal opened behind Kollector and he left without saying anything else. After the portal closed, Hotaru then turned his attention towards Shay who stepped back in fear as Hotaru extended his open hand towards him. "Bandana!" he told him. Shay understood immediately and gave him the piece of cloth which Hotaru then used to make an improvised arm hanger.
Shay stepped away slowly and then gave him an awkward smile while Hotaru just looked at him with a frown. "Should we… be going…?" he asked before he started moving again.
Hotaru's arm snapped towards him and grabbed Shay by the collar of his shirt. He then pulled him towards his face before talking through his teeth. "Don't think for a moment that you are free, yet. I have had to fight out of worst places with more than just a broken arm so if you do anything against me, know there are at least five different ways in which I can end your pathetic life! And when we are back in civilization, you better not tell, mention or even suggest something of what has happened today outside of what we tell you to say. If you do, we'll know. And if we meet again, under those circumstances, you'll be wishing for me to burn your head off. Is that clear!?".
Shay just nodded and gave an affirmative whimper. Hotaru then unhanded him and began to walk for a moment before stopping and slowly turning towards Shay. "Are you coming!?".
Shay then sprinted towards Hotaru and both men kept walking towards the hidden road and outside of the woods. They would arrive at a village in a couple of days and the deterioration of their clothes in the meanwhile would be an excellent coverup.