Kihonne: Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing well and are staying safe. I know it's been a while since I've posted. Sorry about that. As you can imagine, things have been crazy over here. But I'm back now, with another chapter, so I hope that makes up for it. I won't waste too much time with chatter, so let's just move straight onto shoutouts, shall we?
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LabGirl2001: I'm so glad you liked the chapter! Kameron and Charlotte are definitely one of my favorite couples to write, they're just so cute and, like you said, strong together. I hope you like this chapter just as much!
Arrowverse Fan 217: Thank you. I will get to your story when I get the chance. As you can imagine, things have been busy and I haven't had much of a chance to work on my fanfiction, let alone read other's. I hope you can understand. I will try to read/review your story as soon as I have a chance.
SzymonS: Happy really late Easter! My response is on PM too :)
Guest: I love them too! I'm so glad you loved the chapter. I hope you like this one too!
Guest: Thanks for the suggestion, but I already have a Wiki account! I don't use it often, but it's also under the name Kihonne.
Amazingchichi741: I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I hope you like this one too!
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Kihonne: Anyway! On with the chapter!
Naomi's POV: Kihonne doesn't own Lab Rats, Mighty Med, or the Elite Force. She only owns this story, all the OCs, and anything else you do not recognize.
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Sera's POV
Hours of walking later, and it still felt like we were making no progress. One of the stars was nearing the top of the sky while the second was just beginning to start making its descent from the top of the sky, making it around midday, according to Emily. We'd walked all night and all morning, trying to get back on track towards Caelus City. We'd gotten lost in the middle of the night, but Emily was sure she'd found the way using the two massive stars as a guide. Naomi nor I'd had a better sense of the direction in which we were heading, so we'd gone along with it, hoping, praying, that she was right.
"Do you think any of the others found Kameron?" I wondered out loud as we made our way through the trees. The sky had changed from a soft periwinkle color to a stronger shade of mauve since the day had begun, the faint, purple light breaking through the leaves in a pretty fashion. Under any other circumstances, I'd be struck with awe at the sight – I'd been stunned by the beauty of Earth's nature and its ecosystem, but this blew that out of the water – but I was too focused on our mission to pay too much attention to it.
"Probably. He just has that kind of luck, you know?" Emily replied, stumbling over a fallen log. I offered my hand to help her, only for her to push it away with an appreciative smile and a slight shake of her head. She grimaced as she continued but didn't make a single complaint. She hadn't complained all day, to both my and Naomi's surprise. Her ankle, still badly sprained from last night, had to be killing her, and she wasn't usually known for keeping quiet about annoyances or pains like that. But she'd stayed mostly quiet throughout the day about it, not saying a word about it.
"If they haven't, we can track him using his suit's tracker." Naomi added, giving me a reassuring smile. I nodded.
"I know. Just worrying." I mentioned. "I hope the others made it to Caelus by now."
"Well, I'm pretty sure Kira's with Ben and Noah. Noah had the map on them, and Ben had the compass, so I'd be willing to bet that they're there, together. Hopefully, Kameron and Charlotte are with them." Naomi reasoned. I nodded.
"Yeah, hopefully." I agreed. I glanced at Emily, who was leaning against a tree. "I think we should take a break."
"No, we're making good time." Emily insisted. Naomi hesitated, seeming to agree with me. "I don't want to spend another night out in these trees. Do you?"
"Fine." Naomi agreed reluctantly. "But if you need a break, you speak up."
"Will do." Emily saluted her teasingly before starting to push forward. I'd started to follow her when, suddenly, a sharp crack hit my ears. I stopped instantly, spinning around towards the source of the noise, though I could tell it was a bit of a distance away.
"What's wrong?" Naomi hissed, pulling out her blaster instinctively. "You hear something?"
"That way." I nodded towards the source of the sound. "It sounded too far away for whatever it was to see us, but it sounded large." I heard another crack, almost immediately echoed by a third. "I think there's more than one." I added, making my judgement off the frequency of the sounds and how loud they were getting. I looked back at her, then at Emily, who was leaning heavily against the trunk of a tree, her blaster out. "They're definitely getting closer."
"How far?" Emily questioned.
"Hundred feet?" I guessed. Emily glanced at Naomi.
"What do you want to do?" She asked uncertainly. Naomi hesitated, then glanced at Emily and nodded to herself.
"You two stay here." She instructed. "I'm going to go check it out."
"What? No!" I protested. Emily nodded.
"Sera's right. Splitting up is why we're in this mess!" She agreed. Naomi sighed.
"I know, and I agree. Splitting up? Terrible idea." She agreed, kneeling down while she pulled out her second blaster, quickly double-checking its load. "But Em, if that thing turns out to be dangerous, you can't run, and that can turn out really badly if it turns out to be a dangerous creature. Alternatively, things could go really wrong if it is a dangerous creature and we don't check it out. Splitting up is the only option."
"What if you get lost?" I argued. Naomi smiled and waved the blaster before re-holstering it.
"The plasma my blaster shoots are blue, right? Now that practically blends in with the sky on Earth, but here, where the sky is purple..."
"It'll be two different colors. It'll be like a flare gun." Emily realized. I hesitated, having never heard of a 'flare gun', but Emily seemed pretty on board with the plan. "My blaster shoots green plasma."
"Exactly. Once I've determined whether or not what's following us is a threat, I'll shoot into the sky. You shoot yours once you see it, and I'll follow the light back to you guys." She explained. She sighed. "I wish we'd thought of this last night."
"It was kinda chaotic, and it would have alerted the creatures to where we were." I assured her. "But that brings up a good point - what if whatever it is turns out to be dangerous? Is shooting the sky a good idea?"
"Obviously, I'll shoot it first." Naomi explained. I gave her a concerned look and she sighed. "Alright, fair. If you hear shots but don't see them, and I don't shoot up a flare within 20 minutes, then go onto Caelus City without me. Track me like we plan on tracking Kam."
"But-" I began to protest, but Emily cut me off.
"Cool. Have fun killing the monster." She told her aunt, taking a seat on a large root nearby. Naomi rolled her eyes and bid us farewell before marching off towards the source of the sound.
As soon as she was gone, I spun around to confront Emily, furious with her. "Are you really that flippant? You can't seriously expect that we'll leave without her!"
Emily rolled her eyes, leaning back on the root to rest her back against the tree. "Of course not. If she's not back in ten minutes, we're tracking her down and dragging her ass to Caelus, monster or no monster." She placed her blaster in her lap, then brought her hands up to place them between her head and the tree trunk. "Sometimes it's just easier to agree with them to their faces and then do whatever the hell you want once they're gone."
I stared at her for a moment. "I don't know if that's crazy or genius, but it's definitely what Kira would call 'chaotic'."
She cracked a smile at that. "I prefer to think of it as all three."
Naomi's POV
I glanced around, taking care of where I stepped, not wanting to alert whatever creature was following us. Now that I was closer, I could hear what Sera had - movement, multiple creatures, large enough to be of concern for us. I couldn't quite see them yet, but I was getting close.
I had both my blasters out, ready to fire, but I hoped I wouldn't have to use them. I could probably handle whatever creatures were following us - now that it was light enough to see and the initial panic of last night had faded, I was fairly sure I could at the very least scare the creatures off - but I didn't want to waste too much ammunition on them. My blasters' plasma cartridges were full, but they only held so many shots before they'd have to be recharged and I couldn't be sure I'd get a chance to do so before rescuing Bree, Chase, Jaden, and the others. I'd have to be certain of my shots and to use as little as possible, just to be safe.
I stopped suddenly, hearing one of the creatures move very close by. I pressed myself up a tree trunk and glanced around it. I could see a couple of animals sniffing at the ground. They weren't the same creatures as last night - these were pale brown, not black, built more like deer, but obviously heavier-set, and they had odd-looking snouts that reminded me sort of pig. It was certainly an odd sight, but they also didn't seem too dangerous. Still, I couldn't be sure.
I raised my weapon, intending to shoot near them, not at them, to scare them off. They didn't look like predatory animals, but just in case they were, it would be better to get rid of them than let them follow us. But before I could shoot, I heard a noise come from behind me.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
Sera's POV
"She's been gone too long." I decided, still pacing in the dirt. Emily sat up properly, pulling her leg off the nearby root.
"It's been fifteen minutes." She pointed out before sighing. "I know she said to wait twenty, but she should have been back by now. Or we should have at least heard a shot."
"Exactly." I agreed. She stumbled to her feet, wincing when she put weight on her bad ankle. "That looks bad. Are you sure you didn't break it?"
"Nah. It's just worse because we've been walking all night." She let out a slow breath, carefully adjusting her weight from one ankle to the other. "I'll be fine. Let's go find Naomi."
I looked around, then smirked. "Hold on." I told her before walking up to the base of one of the trees. I looked until I saw what I was looking for her, then raised my hand and blasted a shot of ice straight up. I jumped back as a branch fell from the leaves, landing on the ground in front of us with a heavy thud. I smiled to myself, picked it off the ground, and held it out to Emily. "Walking stick." I explained when I saw the confused look on her face. She let out a soft laugh and accepted it.
"Let's go." She replied, gesturing for me to lead the way. We began to walk through the trees, taking it slow both to accommodate for Emily and to ensure that we didn't walk into any surprises. However, as we got nearer to where Naomi had been headed, I began to hear a surprising sound.
"What is it?" Emily demanded, picking up on my surprise. I frowned and glanced at her.
"She's...talking to someone." I frowned. I couldn't tell who she was talking to - either they hadn't spoken or were basically whispering - but she was definitely talking, and loud.
"Maybe she found the others!" Emily grinned and picked up the pace. I sighed and followed her, but once we got closer, it became evident to both of us that she was not talking to one our friends.
"...just lost, really. My ship crashed a few miles away." She was saying, her voice unusually loud. I nodded in the direction that her voice was coming from and Emily and I carefully made our way through the trees, keeping low to avoid being seen.
"Oh no." Emily hissed at one point, dropping down very suddenly. I pressed myself up against the nearest tree and dared to look past it.
Naomi was standing in a clearing, her hands raised and her weapons missing. Surrounding her were three, tall, pale-skinned people: two men who were holding spheres with silver, almost glowing, blades, and a girl with what looked suspiciously like a machete. One of the men had deep blue hair with what looked like purple streaks throughout it, cut short, while the other was completely bald. The girl, or at least she looked like a girl, stood between them, her light blue and purple hair in milkmaid braids (a style Kira had introduced to me only a couple of months before). They all appeared to be wearing some dark-colored armored vests or tunics over gold shirts. If I had to choose one word to describe them, I would say they were warriors.
"Shit!" Emily hissed, eyes wide from where she crouched. I motioned for her to come my way, where she'd be less likely to be seen. She crawled over to me and pressed her back up against the large trunk. "Those are Venusians!"
"I know." I muttered, trying to come up with a plan. Naomi was captured and there were three of them. Between us, we only had one weapon, and Emily was injured. Running wasn't an option, but I didn't feel confident about our chances against the three of them. Even if we won that fight, if any of us got hurt, we were miles from any real help. "We're outnumbered..."
"Surprise attack?" Emily suggested. "Take them while they don't know we're here?"
"Search the forest." The girl ordered just then. "There's no way she's alone."
"I am, I swear." Naomi protested, taking a step towards her, only to have a spear shoved in front of her face. The girl ignored her.
"Go." She ordered her men. They nodded and started towards the trees, while the girl aimed a blaster, one of Naomi's I was sure, at our friend's head. "Don't try anything, and they won't be harmed."
"There is no 'they'." Naomi growled.
"They're looking for us." I hissed. Emily closed her eyes.
"Shit!" She cursed.
"We could...um..." I panicked.
"You should run." She murmured. I looked at her sharply. "I can't outrun them, and Naomi's caught. You can get away and get help. Find Ben."
"No way, I'm not leaving you guys." I refused. She gave me a look.
"Sera." She said sternly. I matched her gaze.
"Emily." I insisted. We both flinched as the sound of footsteps got closer. "We should surrender, then escape later. We're stronger together."
Emily glanced towards the trees, where the Venusian soldiers were getting closer and closer by the second. She swore again and started digging through her pockets for something. Before I could ask what she was doing, she literally tackled me.
"Hey!" I instinctively exclaimed as she shoved me down. I felt her hand slap across my neck as I tried to get her off of me.
"Hey!" Another set of hands pulled her off of me, and suddenly, we were both being pulled apart by the two Venusian soldiers.
"Look what we found." One of them chuckled to the other from behind us. They started pushing us through the trees, back to Naomi.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed at Emily. She glanced at me, then at the soldiers pushing us forward and didn't respond.
We were shoved into the clearing, where Naomi and the girl were waiting. Naomi's eyes widened in shock and confusion when she saw us. It was the Venusian's eyes that caught my attention more, however. While they weren't all that different from human's or Calderan's in shape, their coloring was incredibly unique. They were sort of multi color, a swirl of blues and whites behind the pupil that reminded me of the toy marbles my dad had bought me when I was younger.
"Alone, huh?" The girl mused, giving Naomi a look before looking over us. I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest when I realized how dangerous this could get. I may not be as identical to my Calderan sisters as my mother is, but I was still very clearly of Calderan blood. Even if they went easy on Emily and Naomi, this would not go well for me. But to my surprise, she only examined me for a moment before moving onto Emily. After a moment, she turned to the two men.
"My father's going to want to see them." She decided, turning to them. One of them aimed their sphere at me.
"Get moving." He ordered as the girl, clearly the leader despite appearing to be closer to my age than Naomi's, started to lead the way. The soldiers kept a steady pace behind us, not directly so but close enough that running wasn't an option, while the girl stayed a bit ahead.
As we walked, Naomi glanced at us. "Where's Sera?" She hissed, keeping her voice down. "Are the others with you?"
I frowned at her. "Um...I'm right here?" I responded, as confused as she looked.
"No, no, no. You're Kira." Emily whispered, glancing over her shoulder to see if the soldiers were listening in. Satisfied that they couldn't hear her whisper, she ducked in a little closer. "Cybermask, makes you look like your cousin. Didn't think they'd be so nice to Calderans." She explained in a rush.
"So that's why you tackled me." I hummed. She smirked a little.
"That's genius, Em." Naomi complimented, but the technopath's smile faded.
"You say that now; the mask won't last forever." She warned. Suddenly, one of the soldiers pushed me from behind.
"Quit whispering!" He snapped. We made the rest of the trek in tense silence, Naomi sending angry glares at our captors, Emily trying to keep up without putting too much weight on her bad ankle, and me wondering just how long this mask had bought us.
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We walked for nearly an hour under the cold, Venusian sun, all of our captors silent the entire trip. But eventually, just as we broke through the thick foliage, we saw where the soldiers were taking us. A little way in front of us, past a river, sat a tiny village, a little under 2 dozen cabins and small wooden houses all sitting in a circle with a tall post sitting in the middle.
The girl led us up to a plank bridge that led across the slowly moving water. "Watch your step, the water's cold." She warned, not unkindly, before leading the way across it.
We were watched from the moment we entered the village, a few Venusians stopping what they were doing in the circle to stare as we approached. One of them rushed into the house directly opposite of the village's entrance, and quickly emerged with another Venusian man.
"Father!" The girl greeted with a smile, increasing her pace to meet up with him in front of what I figured had to be his house. The two soldiers grabbed us from behind, stopping us from moving as she went to speak with him.
I watched him carefully, trying to get a sense of how dangerous he was. Clearly, he was in some sort of position of power here - otherwise, we wouldn't have been brought to him. Perhaps he was some sort of village elder, like the ones we had back home? He did appear to be older than the soldiers who had captured us, but they all seemed pretty young so maybe I was off. He didn't dress like an elder, that's for sure - his clothes, consisting of a gold, sleeveless shirt underneath a black vest, along with black pants, and a gold bracelet around his wrist, and his hair, purple with blue wisps in it and cut into a short mohawk, all seemed too out of place for an elder.
Eventually, he and the girl stopped speaking and they approached us, his grey-swirl eyes now looking at us critically. He looked between us before addressing Naomi, correctly guessing that she was our leader. "My name is Jeremiah Jewel. I am the leader of this village. Jillian here says she and her hunters found you in the woods, about to kill a fawglet."
"A... fawglet?" Naomi asked, unsure of what he meant. She frowned. "You mean that animal?"
"It's a nearly dead species. They're protected." Jillian explained, giving Naomi such an offended look that I could only be reminded of the time that Emily made the mistake of insulting the color pink in front of Kira.
"I wasn't going to kill it, just scare it off. We didn't know what it was." Naomi explained quickly. Jeremiah nodded thoughtfully.
"How are we supposed to believe that, when you lied about the number of accomplices you had? Who are you really?" He demanded sharply. "We don't take kindly to poachers here, or off-worlders for that matter."
He thinks we're here for the animals, I realized. "We're scientists." Emily piped up before Naomi or I could come up with an explanation. I nodded quickly, following her lead.
"Biologists from Malmarn." I added, feeling that more details would make us seem more legitimate. "Our ship was damaged in a meteor shower and we were forced to land here on our way home."
"We crashed a few hours south of here." Naomi added. "I explained this to your daughter."
"And yet you lied about your compatriots." He noted. Naomi nodded, adopting an apologetic look on her face.
"They approached me with weapons, I was scared they would hurt my friends. This is their first space journey. I'm responsible for them." She lied before looking at Jillian. "And I'm sorry for threatening the creature. I didn't recognize it and thought it might be dangerous. But I really was only trying to scare it away. I wasn't going to hurt it."
Jeremiah looked us over, skeptical, while we tried not to fidget. He'd called Jillian and her companions hunters. Maybe this wasn't a military camp. If we were lucky, really lucky, we might just be able to walk out of here.
"You're scientists?" He questioned.
"Well, I am. Dr. Natasha Rose." Naomi offered her his hand, but he didn't shake it. She lowered it awkwardly before glancing at us. "And these are students learning the field."
"Emma Chase. She's Olive McLean." Emily added, following Naomi's lead and not giving him our real names. "Biologists-to-be."
"Hmm..." Jeremiah considered it, then looked at Naomi. "How'd you get through the barrier? It's around the entire planet."
"Professor Slime," I layered on the spite in my voice for extra effect, "had all our ships installed with his own tech, which including phasing cloaks. He's gone, thank the skies, but the ships are still in rotation. Ours still had the tech, I guess."
He looked at me and I had to force myself to breathe, praying that he'd believe me. Enough of it was based on the truth – Professor Slime had imposed his technology all over the planet during his nearly 80-year dictatorship, and I knew phasing technology was on the list because of my classes with Hapax. I just hoped that I'd been convincing enough to make them believe.
When Jeremiah didn't say anything at first, Naomi cleared her throat. "We were heading to a city south of here to see if we could catch a ride on a cargo ship or something back to our planet." She lied. "We'll be happy to leave and not bother-"
"Tie them up." Jeremiah ordered and suddenly, the soldiers grabbed us from behind. I was pulled back, my hands forced together as the soldier tied a thick rope around them.
"Hey!" "You can't do this!" We protested. After my hands were bound, I was pushed to sit in front of the post in the middle of the clearing. Emily and Naomi were sat down as well, before the three of us had our hands further tied to the post.
"I want to believe you." Jeremiah began.
"Then do so! Let us go!" Naomi protested, struggling against the restraints.
"We are at war. We can not afford to take chances or accept information lightly." He told us, his tone stern. He raised his chin. "You'll stay here tonight. In the morning, one of you will take me to your ship. There's a supply ship coming in tomorrow evening; if I'm satisfied with what I see at your ship, I'll ensure that the three of you have seats on the caravan heading back to Caelus City."
"And if you're not satisfied?" I dared to ask. He fixed me with a cold look.
"Then I'll personally escort you to the Venusian High Council." He assured us. I felt a chill run down my spine, and I wondered if that was what had happened to our parents.
Naomi's POV
Unfortunately, it was very clear from the start that escape was not going to be easy. The rope bindings were tight, but not overly so, so they would be easy enough to escape given some time (and, if time wasn't something we had, Sera could break through them with her strength or freeze them until they were fragile enough to break through easily), so the one thing we really needed was opportunity. But with Jeremiah's guards watching us constantly, and us sitting in the middle of the small but busy village, it didn't seem like we were going to get a chance to make a break for it. Stealth was essential here, given their weapons and that they clearly knew the woods better than us.
I couldn't help but think that Sera and Emily should have just left without me. That'd been my intention back in the woods - I knew Sera would have been able to hear my voice with her heightened Calderan-senses - but I hadn't counted on them being captured too. I wasn't sure if it had been intentional or not, though I suspected the former. And while I appreciated their effort to stay together and understood the logic behind it, it did make things trickier. Alone, I might have been able to convince the village leader of my intentions or would have been able to wait until I had a good opportunity to escape, but with them here, it would be so much more difficult. I just hoped it wouldn't be impossible.
"Hey, Em? Any idea how long that cybermask will last?" I asked, trying to figure out exactly what I had to worry about. I made sure to keep my tone low in case any Venusians were listening. They didn't appear to be - aside from the guards, most of the village appeared to be going about their day as usual - but I didn't want to take any chances.
Emily raised her head, leaning it against the post. She was quiet for a moment, then hummed to herself. "It's at 68% now, so...5 hours, 26 minutes, give or take."
"Give or take what?" Sera asked rhetorically, surprised by Emily's very specific number.
"24 seconds." Emily responded anyway. I could just picture Sera rolling her eyes at her.
"Why'd you even have the cybermask on you, anyway?" Sera hissed, fidgeting in her restraints. "And why was Kira's face already programmed into it?"
"I don't like not having something tech on me at all times, and we weren't bringing our Davenwatches. Also, you're welcome." Emily retorted defensively.
"That doesn't explain the Kira already being programmed into the mask." Sera argued.
"Well that is between Kira and I, isn't it?" Emily snapped. I let a breath out through my nose, losing my patience with them.
"Quit it! Now is not the time for fighting." I warned.
"She started it!" Emily protested, sounding all of five years old. Sera sighed.
"No, she's right. I did. I'm sorry, Emily, I am grateful for the mask." She apologized with a deep sigh. "I just..."
She trailed off, but Emily nodded in understanding. "I know." She offered softly. "It's okay. We'll get out of here before it dies."
The 'before they find out you're Calderan' went unsaid, but we all heard it anyway. I didn't know what they would do to Sera if they found out, but I knew it wouldn't be good.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Sera murmured. I sighed.
"It's not going to be easy, given that we're being watc-" Emily's elbow suddenly connected with my ribs, cutting me off.
"What do you want?" She said loudly, before I could question it. Turning, I could see Jillian approaching us with a small box in her hands. She'd changed out of her armor and undid her bun so that her hair, a nice mixture of blues and purples, hung down just past her shoulders.
"No need to be so defensive." Jillian pointed out as she continued to approach.
"You'll have to excuse her. She doesn't like being tied up." Sera apologized sarcastically. Emily shot her a smirk before scowling up at the Venusian.
"What do you want?" Emily repeated her question. Jillian opened the box and lowered it so that we could all see inside. It was filled with what looked like rolls of fabric and cloth.
"You were limping earlier." Jillian noted. "I'm guessing you rolled your ankle. I thought you might want it wrapped. It's got to hurt."
Emily looked at her for a moment, then glanced at me uncertainly. I nodded slowly. "Just wrap it. Nothing else." I decided. Emily nodded, still seeming unsure but following my lead.
Jillian knelt down in front of Emily and unlaced her boot before carefully working it off. I grimaced sympathetically when I saw how bad the swelling was. Emily sure downplayed the severity of it. It didn't look so bad that a ligament could be torn, but I definitely wouldn't have been keeping the pace that Emily had on it. "Polu," Jillian swore (or at least it sounded like the Venusian equivalent of a swear), "how long have you been walking on this?"
"Since we crashed." Emily lied, wincing as Jillian began to tightly wrap it. I watched her hands as she did, wanting to ensure she was doing as she said she was and not doing something weird to my niece.
"I know it doesn't seem like it, but we're not the enemies here. Ever since the war started, we've had to be careful with outsiders." Jillian explained as she worked, glancing at us. "Calderans have invaded before."
"They have?" Sera looked at her sharply. Jillian frowned, but nodded.
"A few months ago, a Calderan soldier was arrested in the city." She explained. "Ever since, things have been twice as tense as they were before."
"What happened to the Calderan?" Sera questioned. Jillian shrugged.
"No idea." She replied nonchalantly. Sera looked like she was about to demand more information, but Emily subtly stopped her with a hand on her knee.
"Just because Calderans invaded doesn't mean we should be treated like prisoners." She pointed out, looking meaningfully at Sera when she spoke. Thankfully, Sera took the hint and quieted down, though I knew she couldn't have been happy about it.
"We have to be careful." Jillian simply replied as she finished wrapping Emily's ankle.
"Is that what your father says, or what you think?" I asked softly. Jillian stopped what she was doing and looked at me sharply.
"My father is doing what's best for our people." She told me, glaring at me. I nodded, but she continued. "We already saw our first village destroyed before the barrier went up. Do you really think we're going to take chances with this one because a few off-worlders didn't like our security measures?"
"I understand. You must protect your people." I responded quietly. Jillian went to get up in a huff, clearly upset.
"Wait." Emily called, stopping her. Jillian paused and looked back at her. "Thank you."
Jillian nodded once. "I'll bring dinner in a few hours." She replied stiffly before walking away.
"At least they don't plan on starving us." Emily commented dryly once Jillian was out of earshot.
"My mom's in Caelus!" Sera hissed.
"At least we guessed right about one thing this trip." Emily commented. "Our dads and the other parents should be with her."
"Hopefully." I agreed. "Alright, I have a plan. Well, part of a plan."
"What percentage of a plan?" Emily asked. I rolled my eyes, recognizing the old movie reference (Calla had instituted an 'old movie' night once every couple of weeks around the same time that I'd moved in with them and Emily had just loved those weird superhero movies with the talking tree).
"We wait until Jillian brings us dinner, break out of these bonds, and take her hostage until we can escape into the trees." I decided. "We'll be cutting it close with the mask, but I think it'll work."
"I don't have anything better." Sera admitted. Emily glanced between us.
"You want to take a hostage? Um..." She trailed off before letting out a sigh. "I really wish I had a good argument against that right now."
"We're not going to hurt her, and they won't attack if we have their leader's daughter." I explained. Emily nodded slowly.
"Alright. I...I think I can maybe disable their weapons." She offered after a moment.
"You can?" Sera looked at her in surprise. Emily nodded at the guards standing nearby. They were talking to each other quietly, a little more relaxed than you would think of two guards. Neither was paying attention to us, but they each held a large sphere in their hands with a plasma blade on the end.
"The plasma spheres have some sort of power bank, in the lower base, I think. They can shoot as well as stab." Emily explained, cocking her head to the side a little as she used her powers to get a 'read' on the tech integrated with the weapons.
"Your powers work on their tech?" I asked. She nodded.
"Enough that I can sense it. I don't think I can control it, but I do think I can deactivate them." She replied.
"Insane." Sera shook her head, impressed. Emily smirked.
"Alright. That's what we'll do. Be ready when Jillian comes back." I ordered. The girls both nodded and were silent for a moment.
"Okay, seriously, why were you and Kira messing around with the cybermasks?"
Sera's POV
While we'd all hoped that dinner would be served sooner rather than later, it was a long time before Jillian, or anyone else in the village for that matter, interacted with us in any way. The guards seemed uninterested in us, more focused on discussing either of their chances with some woman named Julia. Naomi, Emily, and I talked at first, first about our theories about how the others were faring, then more about the plan for the rest of the trip. I tuned them out about then - everything they were coming up with would have to be rehashed anyway once we met up with the others - and started looking around the village curiously.
It was odd to see how...normal the village looked. I could see a couple of adults talking to a group of children just beyond two of the houses, one of them drawing something out on a large slate of wood that was leaning against the side of the house. It reminded me of Hapax's classes, his lessons taught inside his cave and the important things scratched into rock plates. There were a group of Venusians bringing in cut logs from the woods, setting them up near the wooden houses. It soon became clear that they intended to replace the temporary shelters with sturdier, better protected log cabins like the rest of the village was made of. An hour or so after Jillian bandaged Emily's ankle, we saw a group of hunters bring in prey that, from what I heard, was to be cooked and distributed later in the evening amongst the entire village.
"These are just like the camps back home." I murmured mostly to myself. Naomi looked over at me though.
"They've been hit hard by the war too." She agreed. I shook my head.
"If their people are suffering, then why don't they end this?" It didn't make any sense to me at all. "Why'd they break the peace treaty if this was going to hurt their people as much as ours?"
Naomi was quiet for a long time before finally responding. "War isn't simple, Sera." She murmured quietly.
"It's just so...so wrong." I murmured, shaking my head. I was angry at the Venusians, so very, very angry, but these were children and innocents suffering here. They didn't deserve this anymore than the children and innocents back home. Naomi nodded quietly, agreeing with me. "We have to stop this."
"Hey, I hate to be that person, but...is that something we can even do?" Emily spoke up, glancing between us. I looked at her.
"Excuse me?" I questioned.
"Don't get me wrong, I want to help. I do, but…this is a war, and we are children." She pointed out. Naomi let out a sarcastic laugh.
"Oh, are you just now realizing that you're way in over your heads?" She asked. Emily and I both looked at her and she paused, realizing how that sounded. "Sorry, Benji's been rubbing off on me."
"We can tell." Emily commented. Naomi rolled her eyes, but Emily continued. "I'm just saying that we have to be realistic about what we can do. Saving our parents, that's possible. Ending a war? I'm not so sure."
"We can't give up." I argued. Naomi nodded.
"She's not saying that. No one's giving up. Emily's just trying to be realistic. Like I said, war isn't simple, neither is ending it." She explained. Emily nodded in agreement. "But right now, that isn't our priority. I'm not saying it won't become our priority," she added quickly before I could object, "but we need to take this step by step. We save the Elite Force, then we focus on the intergalactic war. Alright?"
I sighed. "Fine." I agreed. Saving our parents was important, I knew that. I just hated seeing people suffering.
"Hey." Emily murmured gently, elbowing me for effect. I looked up at her and she was giving me a sympathetic smile. "I didn't mean that the war couldn't be stopped, just that we might not be the right people for the job. Our parents might be."
"You think they can end this?" I asked softly. She smiled.
"They've done the impossible before." She reminded me. She started to say something else, then paused when she saw a group of the hunters from before beginning to take trays of food to the individual cabins. Most of the people were inside now; there were a few stragglers in the circle, but the center of the village was quieter than it had been all day. "I think it's go time."
"I think so too." Naomi agreed. "Sera?"
"Watch your fingers." I warned as I released a small burst of icy mist from my fingers. It coated the ropes around our hands, making them slippery, just enough that I was able to work my hands through them without too much damage to my hands. I froze the ropes around Emily and Naomi's hands next, being careful to limit my movement as much as possible to avoid getting caught.
"Alright, be ready." Naomi warned. Almost as if on queue, Jillian walked out of the house where they'd been preparing the food, balancing three plates on top of a long wooden board.
She walked up to us and knelt down in front of me. "How am I supposed to eat if my hands are bound?" I asked innocently, as we'd planned. Jillian gave me a skeptical look.
"Don't try anything." She warned before nodding over at the guards nearby. They were new guards - the ones from earlier had been replaced an hour or so ago - but they seemed no better armed than the ones from before. She looked me over again, then carefully placed the tray on the ground next to us. She leaned in to untie my hands at the base of the post, and when she did, I acted. I twisted my legs around hers, using mine to pull her off her feet. Naomi and Emily both pushed up from the ground in one fluid motion, the older of the two swiping Jillian's sword right out of its sheath on her hip. She grabbed Jillian's arm before the Venusian could untangle herself from my grip and pulled her back to hold the blade against her neck.
The guards reacted instantly, raising their spheres to point them at Emily and me. The blades of their spheres began to glow for a moment, then the color died all together. Looking at Emily, she had two fingers pressed to her temple and one hand outstretched towards the guards and their weapons. "Stand down!" The guards ordered, despite the technopath having disabled the ranged abilities of their spheres.
"Release me!" Jillian demanded, glaring at Emily and I from where Naomi was holding her.
The commotion was loud enough to bring the attention of the people from within the buildings, Jeremiah Jewel himself bursting out of the biggest of the houses in a rush. His eyes narrowed when he saw what was happening.
"If you hurt her, I will destroy you." He threatened.
"We don't want to do that. We're just going to walk away." Naomi told him. She glanced at us and jerked her head towards the bridge. Emily and I slowly started to back away towards it, keeping our eyes locked on the soldiers. Two more emerged from the house alongside Jeremiah but were unarmed. To our surprise, no one else drew a weapon against us. "If you let us leave in peace, we won't hurt your daughter."
"I'll kick your ass." Jillian threatened.
"Shh." Naomi silenced her before continuing to address the village leader. "We'll let her go once we're free. Do not follow us, or you won't like what happens."
"You first." I said to Emily. She nodded silently and stepped onto the bridge, one hand still outstretched towards the weapons. One by one, we made it across the bridge without an issue.
"They're following." Emily said to Naomi, still focusing on the bridge. Sure enough, the two guards from before were crossing the bridge, but they weren't moving so fast that they were a problem. "You were right about them not attacking the village princess."
"I'm not a princess!" Jillian snapped. "But you can be sure that if you hurt me, my father's going to raise an army against you."
"With what weapons?" Naomi challenged, tightening her grip. I looked at her in surprise. "The only weapons we saw all day were the hunter's machetes, and the two spheres the guards had. They switched weapons when the new ones took over, you didn't notice that?"
"No." I admitted. Naomi nodded, pausing when Emily stopped her and motioned for her to move to the left to avoid stumbling over a fallen log as we broke through the tree line.
"I did. I'm going to guess that aside from the hunting machetes, you guys don't have too many weapons, do you?" She questioned, looking down at Jillian. The girl's silent scowl was all the answer we needed. "Alright."
Naomi suddenly released Jillian and pushed her away from us. Jillian started forward to attack, but Naomi held her at bay with the machete.
"Go home, Jillian." She warned. "Turn around and walk away."
"Why are you doing this? Why-" Jillian stopped suddenly, staring at me. I frowned, confused, until I saw Emily's grimace.
"We did say we'd be cutting it close." She mentioned.
"You're Calderan." Jillian realized. I sighed and pulled the now dead cyber mask off my neck where Emily had attached it.
"We should go." I told Emily and Naomi without paying Jillian any more attention.
I turned to follow Emily deeper into the trees. Then, I heard a sharp gasp from Naomi. I didn't stop to find out what was wrong, instead spinning around immediately, creating a shield of ice as I moved. A blast of energy coming my way instead hit the ice shield, leaving me unharmed. Jillian stared at me, surprised by my actions.
"Don't." I warned Naomi, who'd started towards the girl. I jerked my head at Emily, and to my surprise, Naomi followed my lead, walking over to Emily's side. I looked back at Jillian. "I understand you're trying to protect your home. But we mean you no harm. Go home."
She took a step towards me and I raised my hands, releasing a wave of ice. Jillian flinched back, raising her hands to protect herself as the wave charged towards her, but I'd never intended on it hitting her. Instead, the wave rolled upwards in front of her, freezing and solidifying into a thick wall that prevented her from following us. She looked at it, startled, and I took that as my chance to follow Naomi and Emily into the trees.
Naomi's POV
We left Jillian and her village in our wake, moving as quickly as we dared through the trees. I didn't think that her people would follow us, even after finding out that Sera was Calderan - their number of weapons, basically confirmed by Jillian's silence, would make hunting us through the woods difficult. Their machetes were impressive, but long-range weapons would be more useful, and I suspected they only had the two.
Eventually, we felt it was safe to slow down. We'd been running for nearly an hour now, putting as much distance between us and the village as possible. "Okay, okay." I motioned for the girls to take a break. "I think we're safe."
"We had good timing with that escape." Emily cracked a smile, hands on her knees. She elbowed Sera playfully. "Nice handling of Jillian, by the way."
"Thanks." Sera smiled back at her. "How's your ankle?"
"Not so bad." Emily stretched it and I winced at the audible crack. "Swelling's gone down, and the rest did it good. I hate to say this because we took her hostage, but that Jillian knows how to wrap an injury."
"It's not like we hurt her. And she was close enough to find her way home." I pointed out. I did feel kinda bad for doing that to the girl, especially since she seemed to be a genuinely nice person, just trying to protect her home. But it was the only way to escape without anyone getting hurt. "Okay, now how far are we?"
"Well..." Emily looked around, using the giant stars in the sky to guide her. She turned a little, then pointed in the direction we'd been running. "If I remember the map correctly, and if I'm right about how far the village was from the path, we'd been taking...we need to continue going in this direction. We should hit a big river in a few hours I think, and that'll lead us into the city."
"That's a lot of 'ifs'." Sera pointed out. Emily rolled her eyes.
"I'm not wrong." She promised our friend, beginning to walk in the direction she'd pointed out. "I know exactly what I'm-ah!"
Suddenly, Emily disappeared from view as a sinkhole opened up beneath her. "Emily!" I shouted, running up to the sinkhole. It was fairly large - even if Emily hadn't stumbled upon it, Sera or I would have certainly - but more worryingly, it was incredibly deep, leading into what looked like a cave system.
"Are you okay? Say something!" Sera shouted. There was a moment where we heard nothing, then:
"Why does this keep happening to me?!" Emily's shout sounded more annoyed than hurt. I dropped my head in relief.
"Are you okay?" I called down. I couldn't see her, the cave below too dark.
"I'm fine. I landed in a mud puddle, but I'm not hurt." She replied. "I hate the environment."
"And environment definitely hates you." Sera laughed.
"I think I see an exit. Give me a minute!" Emily called up.
"No! Stay where you are!" I ordered. "You could get lost!"
"Yeah, sure." Emily's response was dismissive, distracted.
"I'm serious, Em! We'll find a way to pull you up!" I shouted before looking around. I glanced at Sera. "Maybe we can find a vine or something?"
"Uh, Naomi?" Emily called up, her tone no longer annoyed or distracted. "Don't pull me up. You guys need to come down here."
"Why? What's wrong?" I demanded, turning back to the sinkhole. She whistled up at us.
"You're definitely going to want to see this."
Xxx
Kihonne: Alright, what did you guys think? Any theories about what Emily found at the end of the chapter?
Alright, as for the next update, I intend to be back very soon with another chapter. Things are slightly calming down on my end, so I'm getting a bit more time to write. In fact, I'll make you guys a deal: if the next update isn't up by the end of the day June 21st, then I'll have a special offer for any logged in user who reviews on this chapter.
Anyway, here's the next couple of updates:
Chapter 24 – Separated Part 3: Caelus City
Chapter 25 – Reunited
Anyway, I'll see you all really soon! Until then, stay safe!