Chapter 13: Alpha's Lost Assets

The Same Day – Wednesday 19th July Age 798

Kayu Village

The peaceful serenity of the southern mountain range had done a lot to help settle Yaiko's mind and allow him to reflect on some of the issues he had buried beneath the surface. Coming to terms with how his life had been up until the fight with Noca and accepting that only now was he really in control of his own fate, it had all been proving very difficult, but eye-opening at the same time.

Yaiko had spent a fair bit of time in the Kayu Village at that point, taking the time to get to know some of the people, and even hearing some stories about his father as a youngster. As well as hearing some stories about Noca, and the mother he never knew. While it wasn't difficult to put his past at Alpha behind him, it was still difficult to forget. Those times had never been good, despite the bright spark that was Sofia, and those memories had forcefully ingrained themselves in his memory.

He knew he couldn't run from his past. He needed to learn how to accept it as a part of himself.

Despite Sofia's regular protests for Yaiko to stay put within the village, the young man often found himself wandering into the wooded areas of the mountains, and he found a lot of solace in those places. It offered him reflection and allowed him chances to train by himself. Although, it was rarely combat or energy training, he understood that he could draw unwanted attention that way. The kind of training he opted for was mental, internal.

It was a nice day, so when Yaiko went for his wander that morning he moved through the woods and out on the other side, arriving at a ridge that overlooked a forest valley deep below. Yaiko peered over the edge, standing as close to the ledge as he could, using it as a chance to test his balance. He leaned over, keeping one foot down on the ground as he did.

He knew that Sofia would hate to see him doing that, and it amused him. He chuckled as he gently set his feet down again. He took a deep breath, taking in the fresh air. He turned around and moved towards a large, flat rock, perfect for sitting. He lowered his hood and approached the rock, taking off his headphones as he moved. He set them down to the side of the rock and climbed up, taking a seat.

Yaiko perched atop the rock, cross-legged, facing out over the mountain range from the ridge, and he closed his eyes. He found peace there, peace in the sounds of nature, the gentle breeze, and he slowly took a deep breath and released it, sinking into a calm and comfortable state. A gentle smile crossed his face and there was a tiny sense of satisfaction.

Unaware of where Yaiko was spending his day, Sofia was busy working on the farmland with some of the other farmhands, pitching in whenever she was needed, which was often. As Noca had said when he found them a place to stay, they would be expected to help occasionally, they couldn't stay there unconditionally.

Of course, Sofia was happy to help. In fact, she was more than happy to have something that resembled a normal life.

The young blonde woman was working in a fenced off part of one of the larger fields, alongside another young woman who was very much dressed for farm work, sporting a hat to shield herself from the sun, workers boots, and proper gloves, the whole works. The other young woman was kneeling down on the ground and pulling some stuff out, showing it to Sofia.

"Ah, would ya look at that," the woman said, showing Sofia what was in her hands. "The crop is lookin' extra fine today."

She handed what she pulled from the ground to Sofia, and she put it in a large mechanical wheelbarrow like machine, which was probably about a fifth full.

"The day's good when the crop's good, that's what I always say," the woman said with a chuckle and a wink up at Sofia.

Sofia just scoffed and smiled, before getting stuck in on her own side again. The two young women continued working for a further twenty minutes or so, moving on through the fenced area, placing crops in the wheelbarrow, which was getting more and more filled as time went by. Once the duo reached half an hour of work, they took a quick water break.

"Woo, it's a warm one," the young woman said.

"Yeah, but humid, there might be a storm coming," Sofia said, wiping her head with her forearm.

"At least we'll get some rain for the crop," the young woman replied, chuckling before taking a gulp of water.

"Hey!" A man's voice called from behind the two women.

They both turned around to see one of the young men who worked with them on the farm, gently jogging towards them.

"I already told you, Ross, I won't go out with you," the woman called out, turning away and sighing.

Sofia chuckled quietly to herself.

"It ain't 'bout that, Lily," Ross said, slowing his run as he sauntered up to the fence that the women were leaning on. "It's Sofia that I'm meant to speak to."

"Well, she don't wanna date you neither," Lily snapped, with a little sass.

Sofia shook her head as Ross started to get a little flustered, and frustrated.

"We just need help up at the barns," Ross said.

"What is it?" Sofia asked.

"It's no big deal, really, just the tractor ain't working right and we need to drag some food out for the animals, but no one can get here to fix the tractor 'til tonight 'cause he's all the way down in Rinjin doing something," Ross explained.

"Oh, so what you need is this here little lady's muscle?" Lily asked, with a smirk on her face. She winked at Sofia again.

"Well, yeah, she's heaps stronger than all the men," Ross replied.

"That's all I needed to hear," Lily said, slapping Ross on the arm. "Sofia, you get on and help those poor little boys with their tiny problem."

"No worries," Sofia said, shaking her head and scoffing as she hopped the fence and followed Ross back up the field towards the barns.

Once she arrived at the barn with Ross, she saw that there were a couple of men standing around, hoping that they wouldn't have to carry all the stuff out one at a time down the fields. Their hopes were fulfilled when Sofia showed up, ready and willing to pull their trailer full of food out into the fields for them.

When doing this task, Sofia had to make sure she used enough strength to ensure she did so without any struggles, but also had to limit the amount of power she used to avoid the risk of making herself a signal. She didn't want to raise her power level higher than it needed to be. Essentially, it meant that she couldn't utilise flight and should only rely on her physical strength, with just a tiny bit of added energy to take the edge off.

The task was a simple one. She got the trailer out into the centre of the field and then the men got about spreading out the food for the animals, and they all gathered fairly quickly. Sofia took a moment to stand there and watch the animals in the field, and the farmers at work. She put her hands on her hips and stood with a smirk on her face.

Life wasn't perfect, it never had been, but at least she had a chance to live one in the safety of the small mountainous town. Although Sofia didn't believe that safety could last forever. How could it?

There were two paths that led through Rinjin, one of them went further down through the mountain valleys, while the second path led up along the mountainous trail. The second path would take any travellers on through the neighbouring villages, further along, until one was to reach one of the three entrances to Kayu.

One of the paths approached from within the forested areas, which would take travellers through the mountainous caves should they travel that way. Then there was another path on the opposite side of the town that continued further up, but unlike Rinjin, Kayu had an alternate entrance path that would take any visitors straight into the town centre, a common gathering place for residents and visitors.

The latter of the three paths was the one that Zala and Avure found themselves travelling along, as they approached from further down the mountain. They had travelled quickly, avoiding any unnecessary stops at the neighbouring village that lay between Rinjin and Kayu, which meant they were keeping good time.

As Zala and Avure were coming within view of the entrance, they began to notice they weren't the only people travelling to and from, or through the town. They bumped into the odd traveller along their own journey, but they kept themselves to themselves, avoiding any contact that would serve to only make them seem suspicious.

Upon a first look, most of the people travelling to the town were doing so for trade, often leading a pack animal, pulling along a cart, or in some cases there were people using mechanised produce transport, or even small vehicles. Those people were focussed on their own jobs and journeys, as were Zala and Avure., so no interaction occurred between any of the travellers. It was ideal.

Despite the journey they had taken, and the mission they were tasked with, Zala and Avure opted to not bring with them any weaponry. It wasn't like they really needed it. They had everything they needed, and it was flowing through their veins. Although, having it holstered on his hip, Zala retained his pistol.

For some reason, the duo never suspected that their entry to the town would be quite so simple, but it was clear that nobody was bothered by their presence, or they had no way to tell that something was off. This significantly boosted Zala's confidence as he strolled through, paying no attention to the people around him. He headed straight to the fountain in the middle of the town's central square.

He stood for a moment, observing the people passing by, and the people behind the stalls, and it seemed like everyone was going about their day just as casually as any other. Which was why Zala's next action drew the attention of every single member of the unsuspecting public.

Zala unholstered his gun and raised it to the sky, firing off a single shot that roared through the sky and silenced every single person, for a moment. It was abrupt, shocking. Some people fell silent and remained silent, others began to murmur with the person beside them, some even dropped to the ground or screamed from the surprise and fear.

But Zala responded with a yell of his own.

"SILENCE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, and he fired off another shot into the air.

That did the trick.

Off in the outskirts of the town, through the woods, and out on that mountainous ridge overlooking the deep valley, Yaiko was still sitting peacefully on his rock.

Until the sound of a single gunshot echoed through the air and brought the youngster from his thoughts immediately. His eyes snapped open, and he almost fell from the rock when he turned to look towards the trees, in the direction of the sound. In the direction of the town.

He could see that birds were flying out from the trees as they too reacted to the sound of the gun. Yaiko's brow furrowed as he tried to determine whether or not what he had heard was actually real. His clarification arrived when a second gunshot reverberated through the area.

The second one caused him to flinch and react. Immediately, the youngster began sprinting through the trees, towards the town.

Over on the other side of the town, everybody in the farmlands had stopped working upon hearing the gunshots ringing out. A few of the farmers rushed to grab their own weapons, hunting rifles and the like, and anybody who couldn't or wouldn't use a weapon rushed inside the house or the barns to hide.

Sofia, immediately thinking about her friend, started to follow the farmers who were ready with their weapons, but she noticed somebody approaching her. It was an older woman, it was the older woman that sometimes gave Yaiko flowers to leave by the memorial, one of their neighbours.

"Flora, what are you doing here? You need to get inside," Sofia said, rushing towards her.

Flora gripped Sofia by her arms and held her still. Sofia could easily break free from that grip should she wish to, but she didn't. She remained still and looked into Flora's eyes.

"No, you need to get inside. You need to find Yaiko and hide," Flora commanded.

"Why? What's happening? Who is it?" Sofia asked.

"I don't know, but it's important for you to hide," Flora reiterated. "Where is Yaiko?"

In all honesty, Sofia genuinely didn't know where Yaiko would be. Flora could see that from the look on Sofia's face and sighed.

"Go, you find someplace to hide," Flora said, turning Sofia around and pointing her towards the barns.

Sofia started walking backwards as she watched Flora turn away and follow after the farmers with their weapons. She felt guilty for staying put but soon felt a pull on her arm. She turned around to see that it was Ross, with Lily standing not too far behind him.

"Come on, we gotta hide you," Ross said, trying his best to pull Sofia along.

She took one more moment to look back as Flora and the farmers headed towards the town centre, but their group was moving quickly, even Flora had picked up some pace. Sofia cursed and followed Ross and Lily. The least she could do was help keep the people in the farmlands safe should anything come their way. But she hoped Yaiko was ok. That was the main thing on her mind during all of it.

Nobody in the town centre had moved an inch, especially after the second gunshot. The first had scared most people into submission and some others had started to run. But the second gunshot halted everything, and silence befell the entire square.

Zala lowered his arm but maintained a firm grip on his gun as more people started to gather in the square, people with guns. Zala chuckled and looked over his shoulder at Avure.

"Show them what we can do," Zala ordered.

Avure nodded and stepped forward with his right hand beginning to glow with energy, and as the new arrivals brought their weapons up, ready to defend their home, Avure sliced his hand through the air, sending a wave of energy blasts at the ground a few feet ahead of them. The blasts weren't impossibly powerful, and they were mainly just being used as a deterrent. It worked.

The farmers who had come to intervene with their weapons slid to a halt as the blasts shot towards them, and they scurried back, just about managing to avoid any impact from those blasts.

Avure lowered his hand and stepped back beside Zala, and the latter chuckled again.

"I wouldn't try and fight back against us, if you know what's good for you," Zala said, clearly threatening the residents.

Zala holstered his weapon and stepped forward, which caused the people gathered around to step back out of fear, or self-preservation.

"You have something hidden in this town, something that we need," Zala explained, but he took a moment to ponder what he had said. "Well, actually, it's two things."

There were a few, very quiet murmurs in the crowd around them, and with the terrified silence that had fallen upon the residents those murmurs were noticeable. Zala smirked and scoffed, turning to face Avure again.

"Yep, they're here," he muttered.

Zala took a few steps forward, which the people of the town saw as an intimidating enough action for them to back away a few steps, wishing to find safety from whatever Zala was threatening to do.

"Hear me," Zala called out, making sure that every single person in the square was listening. The silence that followed was clear. They were listening. "I implore you to give up the two people you are hiding here in this peaceful little town."

He paused to look at the faces of the people, to gauge their reactions.

"Especially if you want everybody to come out of this situation unscathed and alive," he continued.

The use of the word alive spurred a few more quiet murmurs, and a smirk from Zala.

"We only want what we came for, nothing more," Zala continued, "there's no honour in harbouring known criminals."

The murmurs continued, and confusion was growing amongst the people, but still nobody came forward. At least, nobody came forward in the initial seconds after Zala had finished speaking. However, somebody started to push through the crowd and stepped out into the open, coming into Zala's view.

Zala's eyes fell upon an older woman, standing in front of the people, and there was purpose on her face. There was no fear in her eyes.

It was Flora. She continued to move forward, avoiding the hands of the people in the crowd who tried to stop her, and she stepped out in front of Zala. She was still a fair distance away, about five metres or so, but she stood out from the crowd, literally.

"You two are the only criminals in our town," Flora spat, pointing at the men. "I recall it was you two, along with some others, that once terrorised our small town. You controlled people, harmed the young and elderly," she continued, getting emotional as she remembered the events. "And you tormented poor Noca and hurt his friends."

There were a few more murmurs in the crowd. The people were just starting to recognise Zala and Avure.

"We all know good from bad, and we will not be helping you," Flora explained, as if a cry intended to rally the people.

It worked, to an extent. They weren't openly charging forward to attack, but they were completely in agreement and behind Flora.

Zala looked around at the faces of the people. A small smirk grew again, then he scoffed and rolled his eyes. He was thinking only about his own reasons for doing what he was doing. It wasn't to hurt anyone, it wasn't for Teki or Alpha; it was for his crew, his friends, himself. They needed their freedom, and this was the only way they could get it. Zala didn't like being drawn into this situation, but he couldn't deny how naturally he took to the lifestyle.

"I'll get what I want," he said, looking down to the ground. "And you'll make a fine example to your people."

Zala swiftly whipped out his pistol again and aimed at Flora, firing a shot without hesitation at the defenceless old lady. The gunshot rang out through the mountain range once more, shocking the people in the square, and carrying all the way to the farmlands.

Sofia hadn't been able to relax the entire time she remained inside the barn. She didn't feel like it was helpful to anybody that she stayed hidden like that. All she could do was pace back and forth, ignoring Ross and Lily as they both tried to talk her into sitting down and relaxing. Any chance of relaxation was blown away by the sound of that gunshot.

It had been a little bit since anything had happened, and another single gunshot was not a good sign. Sofia, knowing there was no one to stop her, decided to make her move.

"I have to do something," she exclaimed, turning back to face Ross and Lily as they jumped to their feet after hearing the gunshot.

"Stay here," Sofia commanded, "I'm sorry."

And then Sofia thrust open the barn doors and started sprinting along the path towards the town square, towards the source of the gunshot. She had to ignore the calls and pleas from the people who remained in the barn, knowing that if things were going to turn sour, she was one of only two people currently living in that village that could actually do something to stop the situation from progressing to a dangerous point.

The gasps, yells, and cries that came following the firing of the gun were very quickly followed by a confused silence, that soon turned into realisation. People who had looked away to avoid seeing something potentially upsetting, had slowly turned to look back at the scene again. More murmurs returned to the crowd.

Avure had stepped forward when Zala took his gun out, feeling like his ally was making a very rash and dangerous decision, and he was prepared to berate his friend.

"What are you thinking?" Avure said, standing up beside Zala and looking right into his face.

Zala's arm remained raised, his gun still locked on target, but his eyes widened for a moment. They slowly narrowed again, and Avure, confused, wore a frown. He turned to see what Zala had seen, and then noticed what everyone else was looking at.

Flora, the elderly woman who stepped up to speak in defence of her town and her people without an ounce of fear, remained standing, safe and sound. However, in front of her, stood a young man. A teenager, with his arms out wide, and his back to the duo. Yaiko had shot in at the very last moment to protect Flora and had done so just in time. He blocked Zala's bullet and saved Flora, but the bullet had impacted just below his right shoulder, and there was blood slowly seeping from a wound and running down his back.

"Yaiko?" Flora questioned, feeling an initial sense of relief that soon turned into concern.

She noticed as he winced from the pain of the shot. He hadn't been able to defend against the impact of the bullet, instead he had focussed on getting in the way and ensuring Flora's safety.

"Well, well, well," Zala said, pulling his arm back and holstering the gun again. "Here you are."

Yaiko's face moulded into a fierce glare, and he slowly lowered his arms. He turned around to face up to the two large men.

"What do you want?" Yaiko questioned.

"You're needed back at Alpha," Zala stated, taking a couple of steps forward.

Yaiko shuffled back, half expecting to hear that they were planning to kill him. Somehow, this suggestion was worse. He moved into a fighting stance.

"I won't go!" Yaiko exclaimed, dreading the thought of going back there.

"You don't have a choice," Zala replied.

The large man started to close the distance between him and the teenager, cracking his knuckles in his hands, and cracking his neck at the same time. Yaiko removed his hooded jacket and threw it to the ground, then took a single step forward. He brought his hands down by sides and stood with his legs slightly apart, his hands clenched into fists, and there was a spark as an aura burst around his body.

The aura was accompanied by a very brief, yet swift gust of wind, which rippled against his clothes and forced his hair to wave slightly, almost as if it threatened to stand on edge. The gear that Zala was wearing appeared tactical, yet lightweight so that he could move efficiently, but it was Yaiko that looked far better dressed for a traditional fight. His baggy t-shirt, a pair of ripped skinny jeans, and shoes typically used by skaters, which appeared worn and overused.

It truly looked like a child standing up to fight a solider, but from the narrowed eyes of Zala, the child maybe held the advantage in such a conflict. Zala had stopped moving when Yaiko powered up, clearly taken aback by the sudden show of force from the teenager.

"Find the other one," Zala said, turning his head to glance back at Avure over his shoulder. "Get the people to talk if you have to, use any means necessary."

While Zala was still talking Yaiko saw that as his moment to act and made the first move. He charged at his opponent, yelling as he moved, but Zala was able to show the effects of his power-up and reacted quickly. He turned and caught Yaiko's right arm with his left hand and then used his free right hand to grab Yaiko's front and swung around. He launched the teen through the fountain that they were standing mere metres from.

Yaiko smashed through the structure of the fountain, falling into the small pool of water. Zala took another look at Avure while the people that had gathered around had started to disperse and run away.

"Get on it," Zala ordered, and then he stepped into the pool that remained from the destroyed fountain, and he bent down to lift Yaiko out of the water.

Avure, meanwhile, got to work and started to approach the townspeople that were running away. The ones with guns had remained, and they lined up ready to fight back, aiming their weapons at Avure and firing on him, intensely. Avure had to put his arms up to shield against the gunfire, luckily his power-up helped make the impact less of a problem, yet still annoying. He pushed through the bullets towards one of the gun-wielding townsfolk, and he thrust them backwards, forcing them to drop their weapon.

As he turned to move towards one of the others, Avure spotted the old woman out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her and realised he could use her to get them to stop shooting, and hopefully speak. He started towards her, with his hands raised to continued blocking bullets.

Flora had stuck around to help people, and couldn't move as fast as everyone else, so she was an open target. The farmers that were firing on Avure noticed where he was going and one of them called for the rest to seize their firing, so they didn't hurt Flora.

Avure was a couple of feet away from Flora and just reaching out to grab her arm, but he was stopped. Sofia had rushed into the square, saw what was happening, and spared no time in making a move to attack Avure. She leapt up and crashed a strong flying kick against the side of Avure's head and sent him crumbling into the ground. Sofia dropped in front of Flora and quickly moved her towards the farmers.

"What are you doing?" Sofia questioned.

"You should have stayed hidden," Flora replied.

"Why? So that they could start killing people? Not a chance," Sofia said, defiantly, coming to the realisation that they really were prepared to kill everyone just to get to Yaiko and herself.

She knew who they worked for. She knew what they were capable of. Sofia sighed.

"Yaiko and I aren't safe here anymore."

Flora wanted to protest.

"You have to go with the others and hide, stay safe. Yaiko and I will lead them out of town," Sofia suggested, and she looked up towards one of the farmers who rushed over tried to help lead Flora away.

"Fight hard," Flora demanded, still holding Sofia's hand.

Sofia nodded and pulled her hand away, turning around to see that Avure had already been standing, ready and waiting.

"What are you waiting for?" Sofia asked, walking towards him.

"We only need you and the boy, nobody else needs to be harmed," Avure stated.

"Wow, a goon with morals, I never thought I'd see the day," Sofia retorted, and then she charged towards the large man.

Rinjin Village

While his allies were engaged in combat with the target in the town of Kayu, Dole remained at his post and watched over the hostages in Rinjin, within the relatively small family home. Holline was still bound and laying on the ground, unable to move due to the fear of another intense shock running through her body. Beside her, Kiera sat up against the small fireplace, with her knees up close to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, and she was rocking ever so gently.

On the other side of the small living space, beside the couch, Anna was still on the floor, cradling her father in her arms. The older man was drifting in and out of consciousness, his body was extremely cold, and there was still blood coming from an open wound on his head. Something was very wrong with him, and Anna was doing all she could to keep the man from passing out.

Anna would speak to him, softly, but she couldn't stop the sobs that came every now and then, and those were louder than her voice and frustrated Dole, who still had that submachine gun in his hands.

"Quit making all that noise, would ya?!" Dole snapped.

Kiera looked over to Dole, glaring at him as he moved over Anna, the gun tightly in his hands. She could only glare at the man, but Anna would huddle closer to her father, scared of what Dole may do to them.

"Please," Anna muttered, her voice muffled slightly because of her position. "My father really needs medical attention."

"I don't care, I'm not a doctor," Dole said, "as soon as we're out of your hair you're free to do whatever, take the old man to see whatever quack you want, but right now you need to stay here and be quiet!"

Dole leaned in to emphasise the last part, raising his voice as he did so. An obvious attempt to frighten the woman further.

Through quiet sobs Anna could only tell her father to hang in there, while Holline was in such a position where she had to look at her mother, seeing the awful situation they were all in, unable to do anything. Anna did look up again and met Holline's eyes, and she could see that the young woman was devastated and hurt by everything that was happening.

"I'm sorry," Anna muttered, but speaking loud enough for her daughter to actually hear her.

However, Dole heard as well, and he had only just started to move away, but his frustration was high. He moved towards Anna again.

"I said to shut up!" He yelled, raising his hand, as if he was about to strike the woman.

Anna flinched, but before anything happened there was a sound that took everyone by surprise. It was a knock at the door, a rather soft knock, but still loud enough for the occupants to hear.

Dole looked over his shoulder towards the hallway and slowly lowered his arm.

"They're back already?" he questioned to himself, and he moved towards the door to the hallway, peeking his head around the corner and looking towards the front door.

He couldn't tell who was on the other side, but he also wasn't thinking that it could be anyone other than his allies. He scoffed and walked down the hall to the door. Kiera looked towards the doorway, confused, and then looked over at Anna.

"Why would they knock?" she asked, but then her eyes went wide as she came to a realisation, and she moved away from the fireplace, onto her knees. "Wait, he left us alone…"

Kiera turned and moved beside Holline again, realising she had far more time to inspect the bindings that had been used, and she tried to find some sort of release, without touching them or Holline as she was frightened of causing her girlfriend more harm.

"Wait…" Anna muttered to herself, a confused frown on her face.

She looked at Kiera, who met her eyes.

"I might know who it is," Anna said.

"Who?" Kiera questioned.

Before Anna could reply or say anything else, without warning, Dole was sent flying back through the hallway, smashed into the doorframe and fell to the ground in a heap. Everyone looked to the doorway with shock, but there was an almost knowing expression on Anna's face. And then, stepping into the hallway, was a man with shoulder length black hair, and he was recognisable to all the occupants of the room.

"What's going on here?" asked Android #17.

He quickly rushed into the room and went straight towards Anna as she remained on the floor holding her father.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" #17 asked Anna as he looked over her and held her face with both of his hands.

"Oh, Lapis…" Anna muttered, "My dad, he needs help."

#17 looked down at Nevis and he was still struggling to keep his eyes open. Both Holline and Kiera watched on as #17 was trying to help Anna get her father up off the ground and back onto the couch. It wasn't lost on them that the familiarity between the two was new, and interesting. And Anna called him Lapis, which sounded odd.

Kiera had turned back to check on Holline again, still trying to figure out what she could about the binds and how to get them off.

As everyone in the room was occupied, Dole had managed to find his strength and pulled himself up off the ground and rushed to try and reach his gun, forgetting that he was powered up enough to try and fight by himself.

"Look out!" Anna yelled, pointing in the direction of Dole.

He hadn't managed to get to the gun before #17 turned around and very swiftly darted towards him, and he punched Dole in the head, knocking him into the wall.

"Hey, #17!" Kiera called out, grabbing the Android's attention. "Help me with Holline."

#17 turned around swiftly again and rushed over to the red-head's side, and crouched down beside her, inspecting the bindings.

"They shock her if she tries anything, she can't even speak, and I can't figure out how to get them off," Kiera explained.

The Android looked over the binds and then reached over, grabbing them and he very quickly crushed them in the middle and ripped them off, and then moved to the binds by her feet and ripped those off as well.

Holline was relieved to be free and tried to stand up right away, but her body had gone numb, and she nearly collapsed, but Kiera quickly grabbed her into a tight embrace.

"It's the wizard's thugs," Holline exclaimed, looking at #17.

"I know," #17 replied, and he looked back to the hallway, where Dole had been, but the small man had disappeared. "Damn it."

"He'll be going to Kayu," Holline added, as she gently pushed out of Kiera's embrace, managing to stand on her own, but feeling strange as her body adjusted back to normality.

"Why?" #17 asked.

"They're after Yaiko and Sofia, the two people that fought with me, Noca, and Pan last year," Holline said, but #17's brow arched up. "They're good people."

"She's telling the truth," Anna added.

#17 looked to the woman and nodded.

"Ok, well, then we need to go and stop them," #17 said, and then he walked over to Anna again and held her hands in his own. "Get a doctor here for your father quickly, Holline and I will go stop these guys."

Holline was paying close attention to the closeness between the two, which had distracted her from a thought she was having the entire time that she couldn't move, but it was coming back to her.

"Kiera, you need to call Noca and tell him what's going on," Holline explained.

"Shouldn't he already know?" #17 questioned. "He can sense energy."

Holline looked back to #17 and shook her head.

"I can sense energy too and I can't sense anything from here. I can't even sense those guys and they're definitely not androids, they're powered up by some serum they injected into themselves," Holline explained, pointing to the vials and needles on the table. "And I can't sense Yaiko or Sofia either, I can't sense anything."

#17 frowned as he contemplated it.

"They're blocking us somehow," Holline added.

"I'll call him," Kiera said, taking out her phone.

"Thanks," Holline said, "but first I need you to help my mom. Go into town and get the doctor to come here with you."

"Ok, yes, that first," Kiera said, and she was prepared to rush off right away, but Holline grabbed her girlfriend's wrist and pulled her into an intense kiss.

Even though it was intense, it was over quickly.

"I love you," Holline said, then she turned away, ready to rush off with #17, but she had to step next to her mother and grandfather first. "I love you both too."

Holline embraced her mother, and Anna hugged back tightly.

"Be safe," Anna whispered.

Holline broke the embrace, nodded to her mother, and then leaned over to give her grandfather a quick kiss on the forehead, then walked to the doorway. Before going any further she looked back in time to witness Android #17 lean in a kiss Anna on the cheek, and there was a subtle smile between the two. The situation was awkward as Holline and #17 rushed out of the front door and took to the sky, flying side by side towards Kayu.

"We have to talk about what's going on between you and my mom, as soon as this is other," Holline stated.

"Sure thing," #17 said, with a scoff.

Kiera and Anna remained standing in the living room, with Nevis still laying down on the couch, but then Kiera swiftly turned to face Anna.

"I'll go into town. Do I need to ask for anyone specific?" Kiera asked, basically bobbing on her feet, ready to start running.

"Doctor Short, he'll be the one to ask for, he'll come quickly," Anna replied.

Kiera nodded and then started moving, but Anna called out for her.

"Please, you be careful too, and stay safe," Anna pleaded.

Kiera stopped and nodded back, but then her eyes widened ever so slightly, and she looked around her, spotting something on the floor. It was a handgun. She picked it up and checked to see if it was loaded. Anna watched her with confusion. Kiera noticed.

"Oh, considering the kind of stuff that happens in our lives Bulma taught me how to use one these, in case of an emergency," Kiera said, bringing the gun to her side. "And this seems like an emergency.

"Ok," Anna said, nodding.

"I'll be quick," Kiera assured Anna, smiling weakly.

Then she turned around, heading for the doorway swiftly, making her way down the path towards the town centre.