One World: Many Souls
Chapter 59: Beliefs Under Fire
Arial's Point of View:
The report we got I hoped was wrong the second I received it.
It had taken much time and effort, but there was a break into some of the attacks that had taken place. There were reports of suspicious figures coming and going from the nearby town of the northern coast that led back to the large mansion like home on the water. I didn't want to believe it as the home belonged to that of a branch family of our own that we hardly saw. Mom and Dad knew of them, sometimes they visited some family functions, but they were never warm or inviting when I was a kid.
The house belonged to a Silke Terians, apparently a distant cousin of my mother's. From the report and the analysis done, the woman was Mom's second cousin. GG and her grandfather were siblings. To know there were more of the family around beyond that she knew of was shocking, especially since the woman in question seemed to want nothing to do with them.
Yet still, I wanted to believe that this woman that was of Terians' blood wasn't involved in all the madness that had taken place over the years.
"What do you see, Boss?"
I led a small team of myself, Lexi, and a few others under my command. We were supposed to be a reconnaissance team to gather information, but we were prepared in the case we needed to fight. Dressed to the nines in dark armor as the night settled in around the area, packed with weapons and tranquilizer darts should we need to take out those we couldn't handle or take into custody, we would. We weren't honestly sure what we would find out. The information gathered was by my house, from Mom's personal intelligence staff.
Our job was to go in and prove what was found.
With the group before me, I let my magic do the talking as it stretched out over the compound as far as it could. We were scaling along the side of the beach that led up to the home to avoid as much detection as possible. Hugging the rock wall as it slowly flattened in the dark, moonless night, I carefully kept the magic in my chains low to feel for anything, quickly getting an outline of the area around us. I could feel along the beach that there was a sensor about a hundred feet from us, closing in on the dark.
Beyond that, over onto the grass of the lawn that led up to the mansion, I could sense several bodies around. Most of them felt human from the way they responded to my magic. I also felt no magic from them, only weapons on their bodies.
"So far, I feel nothing out of the ordinary. Security along this path further up along with guards on the front courtyard. All human."
"How do you want us to proceed, Commander?" Lexi was right at my side with her own weapons at the ready.
"We'll knock out the security along this path and get in close. Alpha, Beta, Delta, use your darts to start knocking out the guards. Keep it quiet. We still don't know if we have probable cause to do anything destructive yet. Bravo," I motioned to Lexi. "You're with me as we investigate along the coast. Keep the radios quiet, and once the yard is cleared, radio me for further instructions."
"Roger, Commander."
The three men with us carefully darted off into the grassy area above while my magic moved silently to snap the device watching the area in half. With it gone, Lexi and I were able to stealthily sneak up further along that coastal path toward the house. My magic kept giving me readings of the situation as I tried to keep an eye on my men. With Lexi close to me, I felt the guards go down one at a time, being knocked out by darts with powerful drugs in them, or by force. As they were taken down, they were dragged back to where we once we and tied up and gagged. There was little chance of them escaping, at least for a while during the time we investigated.
Approaching slowly on the water side, my chains felt something different as we came in closer. Magic. It was small, barely noticeable, but it was something I noticed toward the back of the building once it was finally in my field of sensitivity. Feeling the magic back to its user... I felt them behind a door that my chains slipped under to reveal a child. I could feel them... using water magic. They hardly felt the same age as her youngest sister of fourteen. They were most likely younger.
And I could feel the fact that they were... part monster. I could feel a tail.
My eyes widened at the notion and I looked to Lexi quickly. She noticed the gaze I gave her and she nodded, ready for whatever was about to happen.
I pulled out my radio to message the others. "Be on your guard. I've caught something in my field. A half monster, water variety toward the back of the house inside. This may be related to the kidnapping attempt we were made aware of. Radio HQ and request backup while we investigate further."
There had been a small string of kidnappings during the last decade. Most of them were homeless people that we'd noticed, which a lot of them often do go missing. But there was one in the most recent attacks that had made its way all the way up to Mom and Dad. The woman who helped give birth to all my siblings in the past, she heard a rumor among the poor patients she took care of and her niece decided to get involved. Ms. Angelica Havarti pretended to be a homeless woman that was pregnant and she was snatched, under the watchful eye of some of the guards that served Uncle Asriel and Aunt Frisk.
And that included our lovely Aunt Undyne. Even at almost fifty years old, she could still suplex a van when she wanted to.
It was the beginning of a long event of Angelica being saved as well as her discovering that the kidnappers who took her were after women pregnant and abandoned by others with half monster children. They were to be used in some sort of project and studied. And it didn't sound good.
"Understood Boss. Moving in."
Carefully, we approached closer. Following slowly down the sandy path, I could see the sensor I'd destroyed. It probably blinked with a red dot with a camera before I snapped it. I wasn't sure if that would alert us there or not, or send someone out to investigate.
With our crew, we began to creep in. I kept my magic up to feel along the lawn for more sensory devices. I managed to deactivate two more on the path we were on along with three in the lawn space, hidden in the bushes to be unnoticed.
Getting to the end of the path, I noticed how the back side of the mansion was coated in cameras. Constantly watching the space before the door and out to the sea. I could feel something directly behind that door, that child I felt. It wasn't a large room. It honestly felt like a hallway that they were standing before, perhaps looking out the small window at the moon?
Before I stepped into the area before the door, I let my chains carefully reach around the cameras and slowly destroyed them. As they laid limply against the side of the house, I slowly crept up on the side of the building. My chains reflected back to me that the door was heavy duty, but I couldn't feel it locked up to an alarm system of any kind. But the child... I could feel something akin to a large heavy caller on their neck.
Carefully using my magic, I snapped the lock of the door and it quietly creaked open.
Right behind the door, I saw her. A young girl that was hardly a teen that held a ratty toy in her hands, oily hair of jet black coloring, and scales all over her body. From under the tattered clothes she wore I could see scales of a pale blue coloring and fins growing out of the side of her head between her hair. She was clearly part siren or fishmen.
I quickly held up a finger to my lips before I whispered to her. "Are you okay?"
The little girl stared at me with wide eyes, unmoving as I sat there. I let my magic carefully feel through the area while I tried to talk to her. Just a few feet away, I could feel almost thirty children all of varying types of half human half monster children. Along with a small handful of human women that I could tell were pregnant as well from their protruding bellies.
Lexi hung back behind me while I slowly tried to approach the girl. "Does that collar hurt? Did someone hurt you? Where's your mom?"
"A-are..." The little girl hiccupped before me. "A-are you... an angel?"
"An angel?" I tilted my head at her. "What do you mean?"
"A-are you... gonna... save us? From Mr. Doctor... and the bad people?"
"Yes." I waved her closer to me. She still didn't move. "Do you have a name?"
"A... name?"
"Yeah." I sat carefully before her. "My name is Arial. What do they call you?"
"Um... Number Five?"
I paused at that. "Are you all called numbers here?"
"All kids are." The little girl held her toy close to her face. "The moms have babies, but Mr. Doctor makes us do things. He names us when babies are born. The moms all do what he says."
It honestly sounded like mind control, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure. It was an issue for another time. Turning back to the little girl who was called number five, I pointed to her collar. "That collar on your neck, do all kids have them?"
"Yeah... and the moms too when they're not here. The strong man too."
"Do you know what the collars do?"
"When we're bad... they hurt us. And make a lot of noise if we go outside."
"Okay. Is everyone together?"
"Everyone but the strong man. He over at the lab with Mr. Doctor."
"Okay... can you take me to the other kids and the moms? I and my friends are going to get you out of here. Okay?"
"The commander has found victims trapped here on the back eastern side of the mansion." I could hear Lexi whispering into the ear pieces we all had to communicate with the other members. "Get into position along the coastal path to assist with removal of children and women trapped inside. Abort any other part of the mission. Direct order from the second in command. Report back to base."
"Ten-four, ma'am. We're moving our positions to where instructed. We will be there in t-minus five minutes."
Knowing that they were getting into position, my gaze focused on the little girl who watched me listen and put a finger to my ears.
"My friends are getting ready to help you. Can you and the other kids run?"
The little girl nodded quickly. She reached out hesitantly for my hand and began to pull me. "This way, Ms. Arial."
Number Five led me over to where the first room was. She opened the door quietly and there were about thirty children lying about on beds with mothers on dedicated beds and the youngest of the babies around them. Some little ones were toddler ages, some as old as number five. Hardly any of them looked alike other than some bunny looking kids covered in fur.
One of which shot up from the bed, a male from the sound of his voice as a nightmare took over. His eyes filtered all over the room, seeing the others around him before he noticed myself and number five in the doorway. Obvious anger and fear were all over his face. "Who are you?"
"Shh!" Number Five was actually the one to hush him before hurrying to his side. "She's gonna save us! She came from the outside!"
"From the outside?" He looked at me, seeing the different attire I wore. I could see him shift his collar, as if trying to take it off himself, but was unable to.
"I plan to get all of you out, and take off those collars." I carefully looked around the basic room, stark of much other than a small handful of toys, clothes in a pile in the corner, cribs, or beds. I noticed the youngest children that couldn't walk yet didn't have collars on, only those perhaps of three years of age or older. "We need to get everyone by the door I came to, and then I'll take the collars off all of you. My friends are going to get you to help, but you have to run. Can you do that?"
The little boy nodded, eagerly waking his siblings and trying to explain the situation to them as they hurried about. Little kids were woken that were tired, but alert the second they woke up. The babies were handled gently by the older children. Other children pulled the mother's from their beds until they were beside me. The women thankfully didn't fight the children and allowed themselves to be pulled along.
"Okay, now here's the plan." I kneeled down before the older children as we stood back before the door I'd opened before I met them. "I'm going to take your collars off at the same time, and then you need to run down the coast. Do you see the large person waving way over there by the rocks?"
"Alpha, raise your hands for the kids to see you, wave to them. They need to know where to run."
Our companion did that just as he waved his arms widely to the kids. I could see the older ones nodding as they pointed in his direction.
"Good. You run to him and follow whatever he says. He's going to take you to a place where they'll give you warm food, better clothes, and a calm place to rest. He won't hurt you, so trust him."
"But... how will you take our collars off at the same time?" It was number five who asked that as she hung by my side, a little baby rested in her arms that looked like a white wolf. I almost couldn't tell if the little one was a kid, if it wasn't for the collar and the ratty clothes.
"I have magic too." I spoke softly to them. Carefully letting one of my chains slowly pulse with magic so they could see it, the children gasped when they saw it. "I'm just like you guys, part human, part monster. I'm part skeleton."
"Wow..."
Most of the kids were in awe as they stood before me, but we needed to move. There was a high chance that once the collars were removed that the doors would try to shut to keep them in. I expected that, which would be why the back door didn't have so much security.
"Okay, line up so you don't get stuck in the door, and when I could to three, you run. Okay?"
"Yes, Ms. Arial."
The kids began to move to be in a line of two at a time. The mothers filtered between them, but kept toward the front to try and prevent any mind control from keeping them in the building. My magic came to life and the kids nervously watched as inside the collars were multiple chains ready to pull them apart.
"Okay... one..."
I could feel the kids tense below the feeling of my chains. I made sure to move myself out of the door, and Lexi was on the outside to help me keep that door open or keep people off the kids when they ran.
"Two..."
I could see the eldest children at the front, the rabbit children, they all held the smallest of kids, some holding two at a time to dart out. I could see their toes trying to dig into the floor to fly.
"Three!"
At the same second I called out the number and the first of the children ran, their collars were ripped off their neck, shattering to pieces and landing against the floor as the first of the kids made it outside and rushed down the coast.
An alarm went off the second that happened and some of the children stopped in their worry. Younger ones screamed in their arms as they were woken up.
"Go! Go!"
My holler got them moving again just as I felt some incredible force come down on the doorframe trying to keep the children inside. Almost all of them escaped by the time that door tried to come down, but my chains kept them at bay.
"Keep running kids!" Lexi called out from outside, trying to push them along. Her own magic trying to keep them going. "Keep running!"
We watched as the first of the kids made it to Alpha, and he kept urging them along the cliff side, out of sight. The rest of the children bolted toward him. Once all were past him, he darted backward to follow them.
"I've counted thirty children, and seven women, including the mole, Commander. All are with the three of us and we're heading toward the support vehicles called."
"Good, get them all to safety, Bravo and I will investigate the home." I motioned to Lexi to step inside the building with me while my chains held the door still open. "There is apparently at least a doctor here who's been 'taking care' of these children, as well as a stronger male individual helping to keep them in line. The children were afraid of them and 'other bad people' here."
"Commander, I highly advise against that. Our orders were reconnaissance only, and we are well beyond that with saving thirty half monster children. They know we were here."
"Exactly, they know we're here so they can't hide anymore." I sighed as I slowly made my way down the hallway. "The other factor is that we don't know if Silke Terians has been harmed or captured by those using her home. We need to be sure of that. Angel Terians will approve it, and I will keep radios active as much as I can."
"I'm with her as well, Alpha." Lexi whispered from only a few feet behind me as we made our way up the hallway past the room where the children were kept and moving further in. "I won't let anything happen to her. Now get those kids and the women to safety. That's an order."
"...Very well, Arial, Lex. Be safe."
"We will."
Lexi and I darted inward after that, making our way down to where we saw another door in our way. My magic unlocked it quickly before we stepped inside. I hardly got a look at what seemed to be a research lab of some kind before an arm hurled itself in our direction. My magic flew before me, and I jumped back lightly. Looking upward as the lights flashed with the alarm, there was a man standing there with large muscles. He was in just as ratty of clothing as the children and their mothers, and his eyes were unwavering.
He must have been hypnotized as well.
"Keep them back, you brute!" Another voice called from in the back of the area.
"Lexi, can you get him out?"
"On it, Boss."
Chains erupted from my partner and the male was wrapped in multiple of them. He struggled against them before Lexi lifted him from the ground and put him outside the door we sent the kids out of, once he was out, I felt Lexi pulling back my chains so the door would slam shut from the alarm. The male couldn't make his way inside, but that also meant we couldn't go out that door.
A risk we were willing to take.
"What the-"
Stepping into the research room, I noticed there was a single male in his fifties hanging in the back of the room, messy black hair, cracked glasses, and a white lab coat soaked in different solutions. He darted away from us the second he saw the two of us walking in, looking at the cabinets and his laptop that he dove for.
"Get away from my research you hell spawn!"
"Well that's not very nice." I took to approaching him slowly. Stepping before him after passing many tables covered in papers, notes, test tubes and the like, I kneeled before him. "And who are you?"
"That's none of your business!"
"Oh it is, and it's going to be. You're on the hook for kidnapping women and mistreating all those kids. That's thirty plus counts against you. And those adults, they're all hypnotized. I'm guessing you might be working with Lucas Madden, aren't you?"
The male didn't say anything, but he clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Boss, I got a name." I didn't dare let my eyes leave those of the crazy man before me, but I stayed silent while I heard Lexi rifling through some papers behind me. "Dr. Baldeth, isn't it?"
"Baldeth... I've heard that name before..." There was a personal anger that grew hearing that name. I'd heard the story at times, but I had to hear it from my great grandmother. "You're the man who tried to take me and my brother away from my mother before we were born, weren't you? Wanted to experiment on us because we were part monster? Part skeleton? Couldn't get us so you went after other innocent people instead?"
The male paled at my words. He took a few careful moments to look me over, and when I pulled back the hood to my armor, he became almost as white as my hair. "Arial Terians...?"
"Bingo." And with that my chains came surging forward to lift the man up by the scruff of his neck. "Now then, we've got questions for you. And your research is coming with us to see how many charges we get to put against your incredible mistreatment of those people. But first off, where is Silke Terians?"
"She won't appear for you."
I narrowed my eyes at that statement. "What do you mean by that?"
"She wants you dead after all!" The doctor laughed before a crazed look came to his eyes. "She's the one of us who wants you dead most of all!"
Before I could say another word, his hand reached for a button in his pocket. The alarms became even louder, screeching as a self-destruct sequence began.
Five seconds...
I hurled the male away. I wouldn't be able to save him for interrogation or anything. I had to save Lexi!
"Lexi!"
My magic dove for her, along with an arm and leg that darted away from me mid spring to get back toward her. She was too startled by the alarm and what was happening that her magic didn't have a chance to coat her. My magic reached out-
Everything turned white.
Witch's Note:
(The alarm was blaring as the timer had finally reached zero. All crews were being mobilized. The army that remained in the base were outfitted with weapons and were being sent in small waves to the surface to begin the march.)
(Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl were watching over their troupes with worry in their stomachs as they prepared for the march themselves, outfitted in armor and weapons suggested by their troupes, they prepared for the travel while many of their members were already making the trip to the surface.)
(Chaos and Shadow were already destroying supply lines and taking out enemy members left and right to clear a path as much as possible. Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl knew their window would be short if they were to make it back to their own base. They rushed to prepare, to get the jump on them. Especially with the main characters of the story leading the charge.)
Halloween: Alright, it's about time for you to head out.
Mystic Girl: Yeah... I know. (The woman pauses to look back at Mystic Boy's room one last time before sighing.) You coming with the final wave?
Halloween Witch: I will be, take the troops and make your way through the forest and desert. I'll join up with you after I make sure the few that are staying behind are good here.
Mystic Girl: Okay. Good luck.
(Mystic Girl then joined the next batch of troops to head out, but not before handing over to Halloween Witch the key to Mystic Boy's room. Even if the woman would not be using it, she would pass it to the staff that would guard her body while the others were gone.)
(Mystic Girl left into the submarine with the next batch to go and lead the troops, and that was when Halloween was surprised by something that sounded like muffled screaming. It was almost unnoticeable under all the marching and items moving, or shouting happening in the base that echoed.)
(Halloween darted away from her office and headed toward that of Mystic Boy's sealed off room to preserve her body, where light and sound were going off inside. Looking through the window of her door, Halloween saw that of a dark light moving inside, the body of Mystic Boy convulsing. She watched her body struggle and strain, contorting into ways that shouldn't be possible for a normal person while screaming.)
Halloween Witch: Holy fuck! Is she alive?! (She immediately raced to slam her hand over an emergency button beside her, while also unlocking the room.) Emergency! Mystic Boy! I think she's alive somehow! I need medical personnel and muscle! She appears to be convulsing and having what could be a seizure! Screaming as well! Remaining medical staff to her room!
(Once the room was unlocked and Halloween felt how the cold air blasted at her figure, she darted inside to try and hold her down. Doing anything she could to hold Mystic Boy down as she saw the body moving, despite being shot to end her own suffering as she teetered on life and death.)
Halloween Witch: What the fuck is happening?
Oh? Does a spark still yet burn?
Does their determination still yet grow?
Perhaps... you have not yet lost what you thought you did...
Oh no... this is only the beginning...
Prepare...
Come...
Let the war begin...