Crossing the Wasteland- Part 1
WARNING: The following may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. _______________________Dream Team Cast Line Up:Christopher Thorndyke- Michael Sinterniklaas Minority- Heidi ShepardLucia Roguelstein- Carrie KeranenSamara - Alexa VegaSupreme Justice Ahgden- Kelly ManisonAdditional Characters- N/A(Voice reference for Chris’s teen voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7blfEcxZ_U8 (skip to 12:32))(Voice reference for Minority: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgLvYylOSJ8 )(Voice reference for Lucia: https://youtu.be/MAU72Ocez54?si=rmo-BaVlitIdaK5o )(Voice reference for Samara: https://youtu.be/d1QZZTfDiGM?si=1thxxY83u5RgbEvC )(Voice reference for Justice Ahgden: Still can’t find one. TT~TT Go watch FMA: Conqueror of Shamballa.)_________________________Previously: https://www.deviantart.com/ceraisian-alchemist/art/1002888269_________________________[SEPTEMBER 2011 (EARTH TIME). CITY ZERO, CRITONA. LATE AFTERNOON.]Our four protagonists Chris, Lucia, Samara, and Minority just finished their gas chamber experiment and are about to exit on to the next part of the test. Still standing in the chamber with the door open, they see a set of red arrows painted on the rusty walls in an unknown direction, maybe even leading out of the building.“Come on guys!” Lucia said, pointing to the walls, “There’s arrows pointing somewhere. We should follow them.”A few more words were exchanged before Chris announced that they should depart on their next adventure. “Let’s go.” He told the group. As the group left, Lucia stayed behind. She looked back at the floor with the lifeless and headless body of Dr. Kurdghen. She had a flashback in her head of how he was going to kill her as a means to selfishly save himself. How she pleaded for her life. The anti-Semitic comment he made. “We need to decide who dies now” followed up with “eeny, meeny, miny, JEW!” It played back in her head over and over again. She then looked at his gun. The Glock glistened from the light of the single florescent bulb in the chamber. “Lucia, are you coming?!” Chris called back to her, not being able to see what she was doing. “I’m coming! Just give me a second!” She called back. Then she squatted down and used the back part of the doctor’s coat to pick up the gun and started wiping off the blood spatter and brain matter that had gotten on it. She was extra careful that she didn’t come in contact with any of the blood, since the doctor was also infected with IPI. The last thing she needed was to be infected too. “Hurry up! We don’t have all day!” It was Minority’s voice and she sounded very impatient. Lucia was able to get the blood and brains off the gun. As she stood up, she lifted up the back of her shirt. She tucked the gun into the back part of her light blue jeans, lowering her shirt back down to conceal it. And just as she finished, Chris came back into the room to get her. “You okay?” he asked her, sensing her hesitation to continue on. “…Yeah, why?” “You seem a little…out of it. You sure?” “I’ll be fine.” She tells him, hoping he didn’t know about the heat she was packing. The two left the chamber and met up with Samara and Minority in a different hallway.“About time.” Minority stated. “This way.” They follow the arrows and eventually they start seeing daylight through gaps in the metal walls.When they finally exit the building, they’re greeted with an apocalyptic hellscape of a massive city in ruin. “Wow.” Lucia says, holding her hand out to block the sun. “Where are we?” “Welcome to the Wasteland of City Zero.” Minority introduced. Everyone took in the awe of the ruins that lay before them. There were still arrows pointing to an unknown location. “We should follow them.” Samara says. “Wait a second. How big is this city? And where are we in it?” Chris looked around at the carnage.“I don’t know exactly, but all I know is that it’s big.” Minority explained. “Dr. Kurdghen would sometimes take me outside and we’d walk around. This looks like the Judicial District.” She pointed to a building down a major street. “That over there looks like the remnants of a minor courthouse. Which means the building we just left is one of the many execution buildings. And considering we just came out of a gas chamber, it must mean this is one of those buildings.”“What was this city like, mom?” Samara asked. As soon as Minority heard the word ‘mom’ she flinched. A flash of unpleasant memories came into her mind. The flash of the machinery that inseminated her, thrusting again and again into her. The cries of a newborn infant after Dr. Kurdghen insisting her to push only to congratulate her afterwards. She clenched her fists and took a step back, turning herself to face Samara.“Don’t call me that!” She sneered. “Don’t EVER call me that! EVER!!” The rage in her voice was palpable.“I-I-I’m s-sorry.” Samara flinched in return to Minority’s fury. “Hey, calm down!” Chris intervened. Minority was absolutely seething. “I warned you about this, Chris. This is why her and I can’t be together.” Minority was using anger to hide other various emotions. “She is a weakness to me. You’ve seen how other homunculi react to things such as their own bodily remains, certain words, etcetera. This is why I can’t take parental responsibility for her. It hurts too damn much. It hurts! It physically and mentally hurts!”“I get that,” Chris told her, trying to acknowledge her feelings while bringing the situation back to the forefront, “but right now we all need to work together.” He knelt down and placed a palm against the broken ancient asphalt. He focused. “What are you doing?” Lucia was confused.“Trying to determine how big this city is.” A white light flowed from the palm of his hand and streaks of it went into the earth. After about 30 seconds, the light retreated back into his hand. “Holy shit.”“What is it?” Minority asked. “Did you find something?”“This city…it’s MASSIVE! It’s about 3 times the size of Los Angeles!” Lucia whistled at how impressed she was.“Is there anyone alive here?” Minority wondered out loud. “Surprisingly, yes.” Chris stated. “I can sense their energies.” “Are they people we know?” Samara asked with some fear in her voice. “No,” Minority stated. “Those people are all dead, either due to disease, me killing them, the mystery bombs, or God forbid old age. These people would all most likely be their far-removed descendants now.” “Did you find out where the arrows lead?” Lucia asked another question. “Yes. They lead downtown.” Chris told the group. “Due north-east.” He points in the obvious direction of the arrows.” “Well, no time like the present to move forward.” Minority announced. “Before we go though, let’s get one thing perfectly clear. You will either refer to me as my homunculus name or you will not refer to me at all. This ESPECIALLY goes for you, Samara. Are we clear?”“Yes, ma’am.” Samara replied. Chris and Lucia agreed as well. “Fine, then let’s head out.”The group started to head in the direction of the downtown district, following the arrows of course. It took about an hour of walking when they finally reached what was the downtown area. What was confusing, though, was that the monitors on the buildings and electronic billboards seemed to look newer than what should be for a city hellscape. Vines overtook entire vehicles, bicycles, even buildings. Trees were growing out of parts of the asphalt. They came upon a kiosk in the middle of an intersection. It was clean, so they assumed it was newer, possibly for the next part of the test. There was one bangle on each of the four sides of the kiosk. “Try me on” is what the signage said in bright red neon letters. “Looks like the next part of the game.” Chris stated as he approached one of the sides of the kiosk. “A game? That’s what you’re calling all this, a game? Really?” Minority was offput by this comment.Lucia picked up one of the bangles and looked over it. It had a hinge where it opened to insert the wearer’s hand. She opened it and placed her wrist into it. “NO! DON’T DO THAT!” Chris called out. But before anything could be done, the bangle closed and locked, a red light on it turned on. When it did, all of the monitors around them came to life, including the ones at the top of the kiosk. There was a figure sitting in a chair shrouded by shadows. The figure began speaking in English, a woman’s voice. “Greetings, survivors!” The woman announced. “Welcome to the next part of your test.” It then became apparent that she could see them through a set of cameras at the very top of the kiosk. “It seems not all of you have your bracelets on. I’ll wait.” “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US?!” Chris called out to the woman on the monitors. He was pretty sure this was the voice of Justice Ledka Ahgden. “You’ll find out soon enough…if you manage to live that long.” The woman said cryptically. “Now, put them on. Best not to keep me waiting.” “Just do it.” Minority told Chris, putting one on her left wrist, just like Lucia was wearing hers. Samara and Chris followed suit. “Good. Everyone is ready.” The woman on the screen was pleased. “Now, for your next test, you have from sundown, which is now, to sunup tomorrow morning to get from one end of this city to the other. You will need to reach this location and to this building on the map.” A map was shown, the major downtown being in the center. It was a building at the very far end of the city. Minority recognized that as the power grid district, which included nuclear power plants. “But be warned, the Wasteland is a lawless land. You will be hunted by the locals as well as hundreds of sentry androids. Failure to do so will result in the bombs attached to your wrists exploding. Oh, and Chris, no cheating by flying. We have anti-aircraft guns. Best of luck. LET THE BLOODBATH COMMENSE!” The broadcast then ended, and many of the screens turned into a countdown timer of 12 hours. Others turned into a map with the location they needed to go marked as well as their current location. 11:59:59. 11:59:58. 11:59:57.Suddenly there was a male’s voice speaking in Critonian Mamodo. “HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!” It said, then ten people came out to the group holding various weapons in their arms, mostly guns, and wearing bullet proof vests. Chris, Minority, and Samara could understand what they were saying, so they put their hands up. All Lucia knew was that they had guns, and they outnumbered her group, so she also put her hands up in compliance. Chris then found the barrel of an AK-47 in his face. The deformed face of what was probably a young 20-something-year-old man behind it.“Do you speak English?” Chris asked the man back in the man’s native tongue, trying to stay calm. “What’s it to you?” The man asked.“Not all of us know what you’re saying. We’re willing to follow your orders, but please make sure we can all understand you and your subordinates.” Minority and Samara knew what the two men were saying to each other. The other man didn’t lower his gun, but he then switched to English. “As long as you all follow our orders, everything will be fine.” The deformed man answered. “Now, on your knees! All of you!"The four of them got down on their knees with their hands behind their heads. The group of ten with guns came closer. “Which faction are you working for?” Another man asked. This one had a face covering over his mouth and nose. “Faction?” Minority asked. “Is that what you’ve all resorted to?” “QUIET!” A woman with another AK-47 said, pointing it at her. “We’re just foreigners.” Chris told the deformed faced man.“Heh, foreigners?” The man laughed at the ridiculous-sounding answer. “We don’t have foreigners in these parts. We’re all part of a faction here. Ever since the Draikon Empire fell thousands of years ago, we became nomadic people until we were able to get remnants of technology back online within the past hundred years. Then various groups formed into factions. We’re the New World Order faction. We want to unite the people of the Wasteland. And the way that woman on the screen spoke to you, you must be part of the Old Regime faction.”“On the contrary,” Minority answered. “I’m one of the ones who freed you all from the old regime.”“Oh really?” The man questioned the legitimacy of her statement. “What’s your proof?”“I’m Szegaida Draikon.” She mentioned. The deformed man’s eyes widened. “Her?” He asked, taken aback. “The one who simultaneously freed us all and doomed us to this retched existence?”“The very same.” She answered. The deformed man began to panic slightly. “You couldn’t be. She’s dead! She died in a helicopter crash with other people. There were no survivors!” “I’m the monster that broke into the walls of this city and destroyed everyone and everything inside it. Along with my comrades. I go by the name Minority now.” The woman noticed Minority’s ouroboros tattoo on her lower back. “You should see this, Gjehrauldt [Gair-alt].” She told him. The deformed man, apparently known as Gjehrauldt, came behind her and noticed that strange red marking of the dragon eating its own tail. ( https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fma/images/0/0c/Ouroboros_Tatoo.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20090812152422 ) “That marking,” Gjehrauldt began, “so the legends are true!” He lowered his weapon. “EVERYONE LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!” Apparently, all of them knew English because they all obeyed his orders. In addition, they all got on their hands and knees, bowing to her in a Dogeza manner. ( https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOmbJVuNU0HPiVQpo_XODM_kyEMWyMLNo3jw&usqp=CAU ) This made Chris and the others very confused.“How did you guys know I was a Draikon princess in the first place?” Minority asked as the four of them stood up and lowered their hands. Gjehrauldt looked up at her. “There was a hidden file in top secret government documents that spoke of an illegitimate child of the emperor.” He explained, “We all know about Prince Ezakeada [EE-zuh-KAY-duh], he was the one who established the Old Regime faction, but he disappeared one day without a trace. And then somebody else took over not long after. Seems like that woman is a probable candidate for that position.” [Author’s note: Ezakeada Draikon, Minority’s half-brother and a demi-demon, was a villain in Saga 1 and is presumed dead at some point in Saga 3.] Gjehrauldt stands up along with the other nine members of his squad. “Perhaps we could team up to defeat her?” Chris suggested. “I can’t speak for all of us. You’ll have to speak with the head of our operations.” Gjehrauldt told him. “We should be taking you prisoner like we were expected to. But I guess we can take you casually to our base.” Somebody drove up in a vehicle, what looked like a normal jeep, but Chris recognized it as one of Eggman’s vehicles. But then he noticed some of the weapons were Eggman’s as well. He decided he was going to keep this little fact to himself for now.“Get in.” The driver commanded. The four of them, including Gjehrauldt, got in the vehicle. They began heading to the west end of the city, opposite of the direction that they needed to be going. The others got in another military-style vehicle and drove alongside the jeep.Once the timer was down to 10 hours and 35 minutes left, they reached the base of the New World Order faction. Minority recognized this as a residential area: District 57. The car came to a metal gate with armed guards. The guards opened the doors to what looked like a decently kept city center. The car came to a stop once it pulled up to another set of guards. Gjehrauldt got out of the car and exchanged some words in Mamodo to the other man. “The boss wants to speak to the man and you Szegaida.” Gjehrauldt told the group in English. “The other two women in your group need to be taken prisoners, just as a formality.” “I see.” Chris told him. “Then I guess we don’t have a choice.” Chris and Minority exit one side of the vehicle and Lucia and Samara exit the other side. Each set of two are led in opposite directions. “Stay safe, you two.” Chris called back to the women as they were escorted away. Lucia and Samara are escorted by two gentlemen into a building with holding cells. Possibly an old police station. “Search them.” One of them said to the other. Samara could understand them, but Lucia couldn’t. Samara put her hands up for him to pat her down.“What did he say?” Lucia asked Samara. “They’re doing a strip search. For weapons.” Samara answered. Lucia was now worried since she was carrying a gun. Once the gentleman found nothing on Samara he came over to Lucia and began to frisk her for weapons. He almost immediately found the gun she was carrying in the back of her pants. He pulls it out and holds the Glock up. “What the hell is this? Where did you get this from?!” The man angrily badgered her. Since it was in Mamodo, she had no idea what he was saying. The other guard then pointed his gun at Lucia. “I don’t understand you!” Lucia told the man. But before Samara could answer, the man switched to English. “WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS OLD GUN?!” He asked her directly. “I-I took it from our last test. This man, he tried to kill me. And then Szegaida- I mean Minority killed him and then she was alive again, but he was dead and-“ Samara stopped Lucia before she could say more. “She brought it with us from our last test for protection. She has no intention of hurting anyone. Right, Lucia?” Samara had no idea that Lucia had gotten a hold of Dr. Kurdghen’s gun. So even she was worried about Lucia’s intentions.“Y-yes.” Lucia answered, still very nervous.“Well then why is the safety off?” The guy holding her Glock asked, inspecting it, hoping to test her knowledge. Lucia knew absolutely nothing about guns and didn’t even know that it had such a mechanism, if it did at all.“Safety?” Lucia asked with fear in her eyes. “You mean you’ve been carrying this weapon with you, and you have NO IDEA how to even use it?!” The man was in awe that she hadn’t shot herself by accident yet.“Well, no.” Lucia answered honestly.“Then when and if we give it back to you, I will show you how to use it. But until then, we will be confiscating it.” He ushered the women into the cell and closed the door behind them, locking it.The two women were now locked in one of the prison cells. Lucia slumped against the back wall of the cell and Samara wasn’t far behind. “What the hell are you doing carrying that around? Are you TRYING to get yourself or us killed?!” Samara was quite upset. She herself was just freed from the grasp of Dr. Kurdghen’s authority, but now she was somewhat afraid of making decisions for herself. She made the bold decision to question Lucia. Lucia was embarrassed that she even got caught. “You all have it easy.” Lucia began to explain. “You have telekinesis and Chris is a demigod. And Minority is a homunculus just like Dr. Kurdghen explained. I’m just a simple human with one life to live. And I should do whatever I can to protect that life. You yourself being mortal too should understand that.”Samara could at least understand that. “But why HIS gun?”“It was readily available.” Lucia answered, “Besides, I never want to be weak to someone like him ever again.” She turns her head to Samara, “Please don’t say anything about this to Chris. I need this.” “Okay.” Samara answered. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”“Thanks.” Lucia said, slightly relieved. Meanwhile, Chris and Minority were escorted by three guards in addition to Gjehrauldt at the lead. Gjehrauldt has a walkie talkie in his hands.“We have two of the prisoners coming in to speak with you, boss.” Gjehrauldt said into it. “They speak our language as well as English.” Chris looked over to Minority with his one working eye, his other eye covered with white cloth. “You ready for this?” He asked her. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Minority answers. They continued forward.“Let them in.” The voice on the other end spoke. They enter the remnants of a bar and are escorted to the back end of the building. Before long they were brought to a set of doors. They were opened, and inside revealed a brunette man, about early to mid-40’s in Earth years, at a seat behind a desk at the far end of the room.“Greetings,” the man spoke in English. “The name’s Prehzleih [Prez-LEE]. And you are?”“It’s Szegaida Draikon. And the man here calls himself Christopher.”“Christopher? As in the false prophet Kieuse-Shtoeh-Farre [KEYUSE-Shtoe-FAR]?” Prehzleih enquired.“False prophet?” Chris asked confused.“The idea of gods and other divine beings, as believed by the rest of the Mamodo, are nothing more than a fallacy to us. But the idea that Szegaida is even alive is…something else entirely. The fact that barbaric sorcery can bring back the dead is hardly believable. The only reason we believe you both is because she bares the mark of the serpent eating its tail, the mark of the beasts that tore down the old regime thousands of years ago.” Prehzleih made it apparent that he was going to be difficult to sway in their favor. “But, since we’ve all seen the monitors around the city come to life, you four must have something to do with it. Is that correct?”“Yes.” Chris answered. “We were captured over a year ago and we’ve been trying to figure out what’s been going on. To the best of my understanding, we were kept in some kind of laboratory for almost a year and kept medicated to be in a dream-like state. Then an arcane Mobian artifact would cause whatever happened in the dream to become reality. I lost my eye because of it.” He lifted up the makeshift eye patch to reveal the glass ball in his eye socket. Prehzleih looked into that lifeless glass ball. “More sorcery. But it’s Mobian so it’s not completely surprising. The Mobians are more mystical than outright god-worshipping. Still archaic sorcery though.”Chris put the cloth back over his eye. “Speaking of Mobian, I noticed some of your guns are Mobian. Where’d you get them from?” “The black market.” Prehzleih replied. “We have a syndicate on Mobius that’s been supporting our efforts.”“Well, sure enough, I know the guy who makes those. His name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He’s also my doctor.”“ROBOTNIK?!” Prehzleih shouted out loud, “That madman? Daaaamn, I didn’t know he made good quality stuff like this! Some of the best weapons we’ve ever laid eyes on! Whenever you see him again, give him our finest compliments!”“Sure.” Chris said reluctantly.“Now, back to business.” Prehzleih brought the conversation back around. “What do these tests have to do with that woman on the screens?” “Her name is Supreme Justice Ledka Ahgden. She’s one of the Critonians from the old regime over 7700 years ago. She came to Urantia and has been hiding among us all this time. She-““Urantia? I thought that place was a myth.” Prehzleih interrupted. “No, it’s real. Lucia and I are from there. We call it Earth.” Chris rebutted.“Wow. You kids are full of surprises!” Prehzleih commented. “Now please, continue.”“She and two other members of the ancient regime Doctors Chaco Bankissy and Yulescee Kurdghen, both of whom are now dead, made it into my country and lived among us for decades. She tried to recruit other people into her cause, but I don’t know how successful it was. Who knows what she’s doing now. All I know is that these things on our wrists are going to explode if we don’t get to the location on the map by sunrise.” “And it’s about 8pm now.” Prehzleih said. “But what can we do for you? And more importantly is why should we help you foreigners anyway?”Minority cut her hand on a piece of glass she picked up secretly earlier. She bloodbends black tendrils into the air, lifting Prehzleih out of his seat and slammed him against the wall. The other guards behind her and Chris pointed their guns at them. “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! SHOOT THEM!” Prehzleih told the guards in Mamodo. The guards fired shots at Minority and Chris. Chris set up a white force field, so all the bullets stopped in midair, and they dropped harmlessly to the ground. Gjehrauldt panicked and shot one more time at Chris. This time Chris caught the bullet between his thumb and index finger, then pulled it into his fist, and when it opened it was crushed.“MONSTERS!” Gjehrauldt shouted. “Don’t bother. It’ll do nothing now I guess.” Prehzleih ordered. He then turned his attention back to the woman pinning him against the wall. “Both of you, get out! We don’t need you or your archaic sorcery!” But then the black tendrils slammed him against the wall again. “Now you listen to me,” Minority began, “we don’t have time for your bullshit. You WILL help us, or I will end all of you! I have enough of the Black Elixir to destroy entire cities! I won’t hesitate to eliminate you and your men!”“You really shouldn’t do that-” Chris told her. “SHUT UP CHRIS!” She demanded. “Drastic times call for drastic measures! Do you want to save your friends or not?!” “Yes but-“ “Then lead, follow, or get out of the way!”Prehzleih now had to make a decision. Either risk the lives of his men including himself or help this group of sorcery-wielding teens. He took a long moment to decide, but just couldn’t. Minority decided it was time for some psychological manipulation. She switched to Mamodo.“Heh, you call yourselves freedom fighters when you don’t even know what freedom is. You’re rebels without a cause.”“What is that supposed to mean?” Prehzleih asked through gritted teeth.“I’m saying you and your people are nothing but weak chumps. If you want to win this war, then you have to know what you’re fighting for.” Minority went on. “I didn’t die because I gave up. I died because they killed me before I could join the resistance. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to let the Ceraisians [KUR-ace-EE-ans] take me as a POW if I was to survive. But then my father resurrected me. Then I had a reason for revenge. Not just revenge, but to free those who didn’t have a voice. Those who couldn’t fight back had it not been for me. I gave you all your freedom and yet now the word has lost all meaning to you. To me, freedom means I don’t need anybody's authority to tell me who I should be. What about you, Chris?”Chris looked up at Prehzleih. He spoke in the same tongue. “For us Americans, our definition of freedom is being able to do whatever you want to do without tyrannical rule. But I guess for me, freedom means…” he lowered his head slightly and brought his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment, “hmmm…” He then looked back up and lowered his hand. “As a child, I was blinded by the human condition and wallowed in self pity when I got sick with IPI. Not being able to breathe for the better part of my childhood gave me newfound appreciation for life after I came back from my experience with the great divine. ( https://www.deviantart.com/ceraisian-alchemist/art/New-Age-Messiah-997812964 ) But now that I see the world through different eyes, once the truth was revealed to me, freedom means not turning away from the truth, but acknowledging its existence and doing something about it if able to. I think what Minority is trying to say is that you’ve lost your way into what you really want in life. We offer you this opportunity to overthrow the other faction and destroy what remains of the old regime, yet you refuse to work with us because you don't understand our existence without your understanding of our ‘sorcery'. People who would manipulate the innocent, not only physically but psychologically for the sake of their demented ‘progress’. A regime that would use people as weapons of mass destruction by infecting them and letting them loose on the enemy. People so innocent, children even, being forced to copulate and give birth to the next generation of experimentees. Is that a truth you choose to run away from?! If it is, then you don’t want to do a damn thing about it, thus don’t know what freedom really is and are absolutely nothing more than a bunch of cowards!”Prehzleih didn’t like their implications.“You don’t scare me!” He said. Then Gjehrauldt spoke up. “They’re right, boss.” Gjehrauldt says, lowering his gun. Prehzleih turns his head to the deformed-faced boy in disgust.“Are you really going to listen to this drivel, Gjehrauldt? We don’t need the help of these ‘magical beings’ and their fallacies!”“Are you even listening to yourself?! Our ancestors have passed down this bigotry for thousands of years along with these genetic mutations and deformities. These have been our punishments since the bombs fell and maybe even for millennia to come. Maybe there is something about this divine business that we don’t completely understand. Maybe this is our chance at redemption. Would you even be willing to put our ancestral bigotry aside and take a fucking chance?!” As he finished his explanation, the other guards lowered their weapons as well.Prehzleih knew that he was now outnumbered at this point. He decided that even though he didn’t agree with the idea of alchemy and divine power, he knew he would have to trust these foreigners if he wanted to get a leg up on this other faction. Through gritted teeth, he swallowed his pride. He switched to English.“Alright, fine. I’ll help you.” Prehzleih told Minority and Chris.“Aww, now was that so hard boys?” Minority flirtatiously taunted as she lowered Prehzleih to the ground. The boss was now standing back on the ground as the tendrils retreated back into Minority’s hand. He then pulled the walkie talkie from a pocket on his bullet proof vest and talked into it. “Free the prisoners.” He said to whomever was listening on the other end. “Roger that.” A guard said on the other end. He then turned to the two girls in the cell. He put the walkie back on his belt, got out his keys, and unlocked the cell doors. “You ladies are free to go.” Lucia and Samara got up and sauntered over to the open door. Samara exited and Lucia not far behind.When Lucia exited, the man extended his hand out and was giving her the Glock back.“I told you that when you get it back, I’d teach you how to use it.” He held it for a moment to show her where things were located. He pointed to the trigger. “This gun is an antique. First rule about this type of gun is that the safety mechanism, ultimately, is to never put your finger on the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot. There are locking mechanisms on the trigger, and they get unlocked at certain depths when you pull the trigger back. And remember to never point this gun at anyone unless you’re ready to shoot, especially don’t point it at yourself.” He then hands the gun to her. “Please don’t tell the others.” Lucia asked him as she took the gun and put it back in the back part of her pants with the shirt over it.“I overheard,” the man said, “don’t worry about it. Your secret is safe with me. The name is Jhekehn [JEH-ken], you?”“Lucia.” She smiled weakly. “Wish we could’ve met under better circumstances.”“The feelings are mutual.” Jhekehn agreed.“Come on, Lucia!” Samara called out.“Coming!” Lucia called back, heading towards the entrance of the police station with Jhekehn not far behind.The four met back up with Jhekehn, Gjehrauldt, Prehzleih, and several other men and women in uniforms. “Everyone! Here me now!” Prehzleih began, “Our new mission is to get these four to their destination in the power grid district. The building they need to go to is an old nuclear warehouse. It should mostly be fine, but the condition of that warehouse is unknown at this time. In the meantime, gather all of the units we possibly can from throughout the city! Tell them to watch out for sentries. They will be everywhere. I’m surprised these kids weren’t attacked by any on their way here. Regardless, prepare yourselves. Get as much fire power as we can! For those who are allowed to be relieved from their duties for the time being, sleep! We ride at 2am!”“Are we going to get there by car or on foot?” Chris asked.“That depends, by car is the best I can think of for now.” Prehzleih answered. “Why don’t we take the train? Those are much faster than going by car.” Minority suggested. Prehzleih looked over at her like she was insane.“The trains are all down. There’s no way those are even usable.”“Chris, can you hotwire a train using your power?” Chris looked over at Minority.“I don’t see why not.” Chris answered. Prehzleih was fighting the urge to say anything about the teen’s powers.“I…guess that’ll be helpful then.” Prehzleih said, with an idea in his head. “So, we go back to the downtown district and get down to the subway and get the trains going. You might have to take several different train lines to get to the power grid district. I don’t have a map of the train lines on me, but there’s got to be maps down there. That sound like a plan?” “Sounds good to me.” Minority answered. The other three also agreed in addition to the other members that were present. “Then this is what shall be done come time. EVERYONE, DISPERSE AND PREPARE!” Prehzleih announced once more. The other members of the unit gave out a hardy “YES SIR” before they went their separate ways. He then turned to Chris and his group. “You four should get some sleep. You have a long night ahead of you.”“I think that’s a good idea.” Chris agreed. “You can bunk in our barracks. We have spare cots.”“Sounds good.”The group then made their way to the barracks for a much-deserved rest. They had much of the night still to come and only the gods knew what was to come next.
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