The temperature drops thirty degrees below the freezing point, the snow begins to drift in a slow fall. Agnessa shivers in her heavy winter parka, even with the boy and Rhan huddle close to her , them both wrapped in blankets and parkas , she is still freezing cold.
Talutah stops , Vartan slows and turns around , she whispers, “Autocannon fire,” Vartan watches the country side through the haze of snow fall, Talutah turns back around, she breathes, “I hope those Russians are ok,”
Vartan tells Agnessa, “Angle deeper to the woods,” they had been riding just outskirts of the woods for now, but Vartan decides to take them deeper in the woods. Talutah says to Vartan , “Want me to take front,” Vartan begins to speak.
Agnessa hears a soft low whisper , she turns , then she feels her horse lurch forward , then it explodes , as a shell from an autocannon , a thirty six inch smooth barreled magnetically accelerated rifle, races through the animal and explodes several yards away.
Agnessa , Rhan and the boy are thrown in every direction, as another autocannon shell is sent screaming towards Talutah’s horse , Talutah kicks the horse , it races forward as the shell races pass them. But the shell causes a tree to explode in a shower of sharp wooden stakes, cutting her horse to a bloody mess, she barely escapes being trapped under her animal as it slumps over in into the snow.
Talutah lies still listening , Rhan is a few feet away, Talutah , calls softly to her, “Stay down,” but Rhan has already gone still , even her breathe is control, allowing no cloud of steam to escape.
Vartan pulls himself behind a tree , checking his AK-47, he looks for his horse , that he slid off of when Agnessa’s horse had been killed. He watches the forest, looking for his friends, but the snow causes anything more than a few feet to be a blind spot.
“Oh God , let us go VI mode,” The woman named is Christobela, she is a one of the youngest lance corporals among the Outriders. She sighs , as her pilots chant for the “Virtually In-person” mode of combat, developed by the Nightshade founder, whom she had never seen. She turns to them , “Zinerva orders are kill on sight, anyone that sees you , or has seen them,” She looks back to the bodies of Russian rebel soldiers, then says, “Don’t damage the head if it is possible,”
Virtually In-person is a favorite tool for pilots , it allows the pilot to use the full ability of the machine , by merging man and machine, allowing the pilots to react with heighten reflexes and combat ability.
The pilot was called ‘Night Tiger’ and loved going “VI” with the Ichtaca series , lightly armed with two machine guns, a blade weapon , and two small rockets, the warmachine was built for speed , quick attacks , it stood seven feet tall, humanoid , and could wrap light around its frame making it invisible.
While the other pilots of the Ichtaca , ‘Grey Dust’ ‘Chainmail’ and ‘Blue Eyes’ liked the heavier units such as Xiuhcoatl, with its three energy blasters , twin autocannons , and five machine guns. Xiuhcoatl is the size of tank with four massive legs.
“Mistress Christobela, we have no life signs,” ‘Grey Dust’ whispers over his radio, he watches ‘Blue Eyes’ fire a burst of machine gun fire into a horse. He sighs , to his group, “Stop wasting ammo this is very serious,”
‘Blue Eyes’ remarks to ‘Chainmail’, “Think it would be ok for some friendly fire?” ‘Chainmail’ replies, “The old timer is getting annoying,”
Agnessa pushes herself up off the ground , her thoughts scrambled, the she gasps , at the amount of blood on her body, she touches herself looking for wounds. Then begins to stand up , as she does , she turns to face an Ichtaca warmachine.
Vartan watches Agnessa stand , begins to move , when an Ichtaca Warmachine decloaks in front of her, he takes aim , when an Ichtaca decloaks beside him , he rolls as a Ichtaca unloads a burst of machine fire towards him.
Agnessa isn’t so lucky , she covers her face , as the Ichtaca Warmachine open fires , striking her in the chest, arms, and thighs, she screams, as the machine gun fire riddles her body. She drops in a heap , covering the ground with blood. The Ichtaca Warmachine rears back with its bladed arm, to deliver a death blow.
“GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRooooooooowwlllllllllnnnnnnnnnnnnwwwwwr”
Talutah watches as Rhan sits up , her finger and toe nails grow into bone claws , producing five hulking thick claws , with backward swept spines, and her big toe cover by a massive claw. Her soft belly and face are cover by bone plates.
She is moving like a bat out of hell, as another Ichtaca Warmachine behind an to the left, begins to fire at her, she easily evades. Then she takes leap into the air,
“Blue Eyes turn your ass around , incoming” Rhan jumps on Ichtaca standing over Agnessa, its toe nails sinking into the machine’s skin, then she rears back and begins to wildly striking and hammering the Ichtaca Warmachine. The forest is filled with Rhan howls , and screams , as the Ichtaca attempts to throw the wild creature from it back by twisting and turning itself.
Rhan blows are so strong , that it drives the Ichtaca into the ground , she continues to hammer around at the thing.
“I got a lock! Tak..” Vartan pulls the AK-47 at a point blank range against the machine’s ammo supply , he pulls the trigger , the light armor does little to protect against the AK-47. The ammo explodes , throwing Vartan aside, taking the Ichtaca down.
“What the hell! Mistress Christobela we are taking loses..” ‘Night Tiger’ screams into his radio , as Talutah lifts from the ground, then launches herself into the Ichtaca Warmachine that is piloted by ‘Chainmail’.
‘Chainmail’ tries to defend himself, the girl tears away his arm , then collapses the Ichtaca Warmachine’s chest , causing its body to fold. Then the world goes blank , “get up” , Mistress Christobela shakes him , “Get up,”
Mistress Christobela , shakes her head, “Two dead , three Ichtaca Warmachine gone, and one retreating , this isn’t going to look good in my report,” She turns around to three Xiuhcoatl sitting in the middle of snow, she asks, “Why aren’t you firing?” Another pilot , a fat short one with beads for eyes, says, “We lost them.”
Mistress Christobela , picks up radio , “We need backup and few Warmachines with Evacska Eztli sensors,” A voice speaks back , “Ok we got your location, any reports over developed powers.” Mistress Christobela, “One of my pilot saw flight , they have ‘early Sylph’ with them too. I think we killed one as well.”
Talutah hovers watching Agnessa, she says as Vartan approaches, “She is still alive,” Rhan comes to them, she growls, and shakes Agnessa, Vartan pulls out the medical kit. Opening the medical kit , Vartan picks up a pen, Talutah whispers, “You know how to use that?” Vartan doesn’t answer he traces the wounds, one by one, with the pen, he breathes, “No major damage, through and through, but she lost a lot of blood.”
Vartan removes patches from medical kit, begins to tear her clothing to cover the wound. The patches a Ghiest Inc. applies pressure to wounds, removes infections, and recycles blood. Vartan gently picks her up, she groans , softly.
It is night fall , when Mistress Christobela gets additional units, the forest isn’t very wide, maybe five miles, and it dead ends at a cliff that drops a hundred feet into a rocky valley.
She smiles as when she sees Zinerva, she drops to a kneel, “Lord Zinerva ,”He grabs her by back of her hair , she lets out a scream , he slams her into a Xiuhcoatl, she feels his fist pounding into her body.
“Gather around everyone , now,” Zinerva orders, soldiers begin to appear, three soldiers appear dragging ‘Chainmail’, he looks as though he got beat up as well. Zinerva paces back and forth, “This is lesson in how to deal with suspected Sylph units,” Zinerva draws on a pistol , begins shooting Mistress Christobela, hitting her in arm , shoulder , hip and foot. Zinerva reaches over pulls a blaster rifle from a soldier , then he fires it into ‘Chainmail’ screams in pain, the wound causes him writhe.
Zinerva, paces, “A Sylph, can have any number of powers. When dealing with them , on Shoot to Kill order , you use energy weapons. The bullets while can kill a Sylph , energy and heavy weapons are better choice. Gun wounds can be patched , and Sylph can be ready to fight in a few hours. ‘Chainmail’ here will be unable to fight for a few months…”
The snow and darkness , was blinding, Vartan had lost track of Talutah, Rhan was at near him. The boy who they didn’t even know his name, was buried as best as they could with stones , and rocks , as he had no vital signs.
Rhan turns suddenly , Vartan turns and watches her, she growls deeply , as a sphere object paints them with a blue light. Vartan whispers, “Christ, Evacska Eztli Scouter,” Rhan leaps into , her claws extending , the sphere , turns to liquid just as Rhan strikes, catching one hand in its body. Then the scouter , begins to shock Rhan.
A bladed arm , suddenly strikes at Vartan he turns his back , protecting the Agnessa, the blade bends and twists. Vartan turns , pulling the AK-47 up , firing from the hip , the steel jacketed bullets of the assault rifle , shreds the Ichtaca’s light armor.
Another Ichtaca appears from no where, decloaking, firing light laser based blaster into Vartan back , knocking him forward, causing him to stumble, another Ichtaca appears it to fires a light laser based blaster into Vartan , shredding his jacket.
Vartan stumbles , pass the Evacska Eztli Scouter, to set Agnessa down, he gets up , turns, two Xiuhcoatl break from the snow. Vartan lifts his AK-47, but before he can fire, a boulder smashes into one Xiuhcoatl , causing it to shake its body like a wet dog. Both Xiuhcoatl turn on Talutah.
Talutah puts up both hands , as three monestrous blasts, of deep purple, strike her , she is sent fly , slamming into trees , and rocks.
The Xiuhcoatl turn , just as Vartan is getting under their body, he draws out the rocket launcher with a quick move , and fires the rocket into the belly of the Xiuhcoatl one right and closest to him.
The Xiuhcoatl explodes into a shower of sparkles, Vartan rolls clear , pulling the rocket launcher up , quickly jamming a second rocket into chamber. Just as Vartan begins to bring the rocket up , a burst of machine gun fire , strikes him , knocking him to one side.
Elsewhere,
“Night Tiger, I lost contact with base.” The voice belong to Morning Crest, she whispers now, “What is happening?” Night Tiger , Ichtaca remains cloaked , he’s breathing is slow and even, he replies, “I don’t know , we lost contact with the main group too and our Evacska Eztli Scouter flew into a tree.” Morning Crest calls , “Doc , how are is the Xiuhcoatl holding up,”
The medical tech , known as Doc , replies as one , “Safe and sound.. Wait we have something,”
The boy who had been with Vartan, Rhan, Talutah, and Agnessa, raises out of the snow, engulfed in black and gold energy, he begins to speak , “AND WHEN GOD CALL FORTH THE ANGEL OF DEATH, HE SPOKE THE NAME SETH!” The boy, named Seth , hovers towards the Xiuhcoatl, slowly forming black and gold armor out of energy, drawing a two handed sword from thin air, composed on black energy.
“AVENGER OF CHILDREN, DEFENDER OF GOOD, DEATH TO YOU,” The Xiuhcoatl, begin firing , its autocannons , machine guns , and blasters struck the boy , but only the bullets punch holes into the boy he still comes.
“AND GOD SAID UNTO THE ANGEL, LET NO MORAL WEAPON CEASE YOUR VENGEANCE, FOR YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD,” The Xiuhcoatl begin to walk backwards, the pilot screams , “NIGHT TIGER I CAN’T JACK OUT, I NEED HELP , THIS SYLPH INSANE!”
“THE VOICES!” The black energy blade strikes through the Xiuhcoatl, trapping Doc’s mind inside the dying machine. The boy rears back , striking , cutting through the machine, he turns , lifts a hand, “AND GOD SAID THAT EVIL SHALL NOT ESCAPE MY SIGHT!” A black energy blast strikes Morning Crest’s invisible Ichtaca, crushing it into a mass of stone not to far away.
“COWARD! I CALL DOWN THE WRATH OF HEAVEN UPON YOU!” A huge black energy rips from the sky , crushing the invisible Ichtaca of Night Tiger. Then the boy begins to laugh, “Mmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhwwwwuuuwwwwwuuuuuuhhhhhaaaaaa” to himself “the voices.”
“Zinerva?” Zinerva watches Night Tiger’s camera , recording the boy, Zinerva turns , “There is a Sylph mercenary team closer than our Warmachines. You want me..” Zinerva turns back to the boy , saying “Hire them, I want to see what this boy can do. Then get air support unit to level the area , while the mercenary team holds them.. Be sure to write the contact with the ability to kill the mercenary…” Christobela ducks her head, having been patched , and given drugs, she admired Zinerva once , now she is hoping that the Sylphs would kill him.
Talutah shakes her head, pushes the debris from her body, she rises into the air, then use a movement that a mixture of super speed and teleportation , to instantly appear next to the second Xiuhcoatl.
“Silver turn around,” Talutah smashes the Warmachine’s body, then begins to rapidly punch it, she is barely aware that the Ichtaca, she rears back , drives the Xiuhcoatl earth.
Vartan lets a rocket fly into the closest Ichtaca knocking to the ground in a mess of wires and metal. Another Ichtaca decloaks behind him, he gasps in pain , turns around moving away from the bladed weapon , that is glowing energy and spinning at a rapid rate.
Vartan moves, dodges the attack , until he hit a log , and trips backwards. The Ichtaca thrust its bladed energy weapon into him, causing him to cry out in pain, it begins to dig and burn into his flesh , he pulls the AK-47 out , but the Ichtaca steps on his arm pinning it.
“AND THE ANGEL SAID UNTO THE BROTHER, FEAR NOT FOR THOU SHALL NOT PERISH BY BLADE OR BULLET.” Seth suddenly appears , he lifts a hand , “UNTO THE EVIL SOUL, THE ANGEL SAID THOU SHALL SCREAM MY NAME IN YOUR DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES!” A huge blast of energy consumes the Ichtaca Warmachine.
Seth turns but unaware of an Ichtaca, which stabs him through his energy armor, in the back , just above his heart and just left of his spine, the boy screams , as the blade pins him to the earth. The Ichtaca levels a blaster to the boy’s head, and he begins to laugh , making himself cry.
“AND THE EVIL ONE STRUCK DOWN THE ANGEL OF DEATH, ” Seth smiles, then begins laughing, “THE ANGEL OF DEATH WATCHED AS GOD CALL FORTH THE CREATURES OF THE FOREST, AIR , AND , SEA..” Rhan hand still in the Evacska Eztli scouter , she slices off the Ichtaca’s arm , and then bashes the Ichtaca with the scouter.
The Ichtaca stumbles back firing just above Seth’s head, then Rhan guts and bashes the Warmachine until it stops moving.
Talutah lands by Seth, the boy lies face down in the cold snow, Talutah strokes his head, thinking he is dead. When he whispers, “make the voices stop,” Talutah watches , then Vartan kneels beside him with the medical kit , the pen in hand, Talutah reads the data in the pen,”He has twenty five bullet hole wounds but isn’t bleeding, and the blade went straight through. I am not sure if he will bleed to death if we with draw it.”
Talutah hovers over to Agnessa, gently picks her up, then flies back to Vartan. Rhan sits with Vartan trying to get the Evacska Eztli scouter from her hand. Talutah motions for Rhan to bring to her, without much effort , Talutah pulls the Evacska Eztli scouter apart as if it was made from hundred year old paper.
Vartan inspects Agnessa , “She has fever, or something her body temperature is rising quickly.” Seth whispers , “And the angel was told pagan angels would come..” Vartan looks at Talutah, “What do you think he is talking about?” Talutah shrugs, “He’s been complaining of voices for a while,” Vartan turns to Rhan , “I am not sure if you understand me , but I need you to put these , ” He showed lesser patches that protects from dieses and lessens pain, he continues, “Over the holes,” He showed her the bullet holes. He watched her , “Understood?” She nods.
Talutah watches , she begins to slide the blade from Seth’s body , being very careful , until the blade slides free. Vartan covers the edges and the blade slice , a vertical wound about three inches width and nine inches in height, with varies patches.
“AND the angel swept through the forest,” Talutah , put a finger over Seth’s mouth, she was flying in the branches of great pines, watching the forest. She hears the boy breath becoming labored and she sheds a tear for him.
In the little encampment , within a large metal, stone and ice cabin, built by the local peasants, in exchange for sparing them from a fate worst than death. The room is darken, Zinerva, sits watching the Evacska Eztli scouter following them down wind and invisible to most.
“Do you see why I need the Evacska Eztli research?” The voice which had spoken in his spaceship speaks now, Zinerva, “Yes master, the machines even with ‘VI’ are weaker than Sylph.” The voice whispers , “Metal armor is too heavy , even the plastic-metal alloys are too heavy.” Zinerva nods, “Ghiest Inc. is yours now,” The voice whispers , “Not all of it, I still want her daughter, she looks like her mother,” Zinerva whispers , “Master, chasing Sylph for their genetic coding, what will the Guild when they learn what we are doing?” The voice whispers , “The only care about money, they are easy to deal with.”
The huge golden jet, streaked with blue paint , filled with the Vala mercenary team, drops from the clouds,
“Serpuhi?” The man, known as Serpuhi , in silver armor, mixed with bright blues , turns to face a girl , with deep blue eyes , dressed in a tight fitting body suit , and her hair a faded blue. “Yes Ellette?” He touches the girl’s face, moves her hair to reveal her sharp pointed ears.
“Yak.. Yak.. Yak.. She complaining about the fact we are going to attack a wounded animal,” another girl walks into the room, very beautiful Japanese features, wearing a black body suit, she turns to Ellette, “You complain one more time , I am going to toast you in battle,” Serpuhi turns to Japanese girl , saying , “Save it for the battle Ysbail,” The Japanese girl, named Ysbail, snaps, “How many contracts have we had were had an advantage! I am tired of getting zero points in the Guild standing , and ” She turns to Serpuhi, “I am tired of you defending your girlfriend.”
“Calm down people , Zinerva sent us a bio report, we are dealing with some tough opponents,” The armored figure , in green and gold ‘Nightshade Anti-Sylph gadgeteer’ suit, has the data file yanked from him, by Ysbail, “WOW this girl is worth 50 individual points!” Another armored figure , in bulky suit of plain brown steps in the room, “Dai? Are you sure about this suit.” The first armored figure nods, “Yes Sinew, just don’t get into middle of a fight with any of the targets I told you about. That riot suit is all I can afford, mother keeps pestering me about letting you do something on the mission.”
Serpuhi , “Ok lets get Panda, and that stupid android you made Dai,” Dai turns away , saying, “You’re just pissed cause it has more individual points than you do,”
The forest ended at the end of a cliff , Vartan watches Talutah land, “Sorry Vartan there is no place to go, they had a lot of soldiers on either side,” Vartan is about to speak when , the Vala jet hovers , then Ellette, Serpuhi, Sinew, Ysbail, Dai jump down and land in the snow.
The jet rumbles as it lands, the back slides open, Talutah whispers, “Now what, a circus?” A huge creature , walking on all fours like an ape , with massive bulk of muscles rippling down its body, it appears in body, face and coloring , like a stuffed panda. Following the creature is a small robot , with a laser.
“I got that one ,” Serpuhi points to Vartan , then he points to Talutah, “Ysbail that one,” He turns to Panda, points to Rhan, “That is food, taste good,” Panda growls and beats it chest. Serpuhi turns to Dai, Sinew and Ellette , “Get points, and,” He gestures , to the wounded, “Kill them when you get a chance, though they are only worth 5 points being half dead.”
Serpuhi turns to Vartan , Rhan and Talutah , “We will give you a minute to get ready,” Vartan sets Agnessa, down, taking his coat and covering her, Talutah sets Seth down. She takes off into the air and hovering waiting.
Ysbail makes fists , then draws her arms down quickly , her body instantly becomes fire , she rises into the air, then rushes towards Talutah. The second before Ysbail impacts Talutah , she vanishes.
Talutah turns around looking for her , then suddenly , a gaseous Ysbail grabs Talutah , wrapping herself around Talutah’s arms , grabbing Talutah’s hair , and then kissing her deeply. Ysbail tongue becomes real , as she kisses Talutah.
Slowly Talutah’s airway is cut down to a trickle, as Ysbail forces the air within her Talutah body to become heavy and dense. Talutah struggles , Ysbail breathes, “Relax babe,”
Within the same heartbeat ,
Serpuhi moves in blur , he brings his knee into Vartan belly, then smashes Vartan nose, Serpuhi lands blow after blow, bringing Vartan down to his knees. Serpuhi smiles, pleased with himself, then kneels down, “Lights out,” Serpuhi spreads a black cloud over Vartan.
Serpuhi , moves around Vartan, “Did you know your body armor doesn’t prevent me from crushing your bones , or damaging an organ?” Serpuhi , kicks Vartan , then smashes a blow against his neck and ears, Serpuhi continues , “I bought this armor from a friend within Nightshade, it enhances my strength and speed ,” Serpuhi lands another blow, then another.
At the same time as Vartan is being beaten and Talutah being suffocated,
Panda stalks Rhan , the two ‘early Sylph’ dance about each other, then Panda is moving, causing Rhan to jump back from heavy blows , then as Rhan moves for a counter strike, Ellette lets out a Electric impulse , knocking Rhan aside. Panda moves in, Rhan catches a heavy blow in the face , then another heavy blow, Rhan lets out a low whimper, she struggles to get up, but Ellette holds to the ground, with a magnetic field.
Agnessa, opens her eyes, she hears Rhan , long before she see Rhan being beaten to a pulp. She pushes her self off the ground, gets up, she closes her eyes.
Ellette watches the girl appear from no where, Agnessa smashes Ellette nose , then tosses her aside. Dai, and Sinew lift their blasters , as one , but a sound causes them to turn , and look sky ward.
Talutah seconds from blacking out , rockets into the air , at her near instant teleportation speed. Ysbail turns back to normal and locks herself around Talutah , she screams , as they rocket into a part of the sky above the clouds. Ysbail , closes her eyes, her flames spurt and die , she begins to have trouble breathing.
“Serpuhi, guys help,” Ysbail watches Talutah , she whispers, “Don’t drop me!” Talutah coughs violently, and opens her eyes. “What is the problem, Ysbail?” Ysbail whispers, “She took me super high , I can’t change to flame , or air , not enough oxygen. I am having trouble breathing,”
Dai, and Sinew rocket into the air, Ellette watches Agnessa , she grins to her seeing how badly the girl is wounded. Ellette lifts a hand , discharge a Electric impulse, throwing Agnessa backwards. Ellette walks towards the girl , she whispers , “This will teach you..” Agnessa vanishes , and appears behind Ellette kicking her in the back , throwing the girl forward.
Ellette gets up , shaking , another kick knocks her down, Agnessa turns to Rhan, screaming , “Blind the stupid thing , baby,”
During this, Rhan limps and jumps, its arm is broken , its leg is hurt bad , she swipes Panda , cutting its chest open , but the wound closes in an instant , Rhan slashes again , again the wound closes. Panda misses its heavy attacks, as it stalks the wounded Rhan.
Rhan hears Agnessa, scream , and plunges a claw , into Panda’s left eye, the creature screams and stops. Rhan watches in horror as the creature rips its own eye out, and another quickly grows in its place.
“You can’t kill , that is one of the strongest ‘early Sylphs’ around,” Serpuhi taunts, then he notices Ellette being beaten by Agnessa. Serpuhi moves in a blur , as he does , Agnessa teleports behind him , he misses her completely , Serpuhi curses Agnessa , “Goddamn teleportation,”
“Agnessa, put me in front of Rhan, and teleport her out of there, ” Agnessa vanishes , grabs Vartan, vanishes , she kneels and picks up Rhan. Agnessa teleports to Seth and drops to the ground exhausted.
Panda beats it chest , then throws a heavy punch , Vartan takes the hit , he hears his jaw break , then he pushes himself up. Panda goes to land another punch , Vartan just barely side steps it, backing up.
“What the hell?” Serpuhi watches Vartan, each punch that Panda throws causes Vartan to become slightly faster. Just enough to keep him from getting killed. Serpuhi pulls Ellette into his arms, he is entranced by the fight.
High over head…
“Hey, girl , come fight me, and let..” Dai begins then he watches Talutah’s eyes focus on him, she moves in a flash, Dai feels his armor being bend into his body crushing his left side from shoulder to his belly. He screams into the radio , then Talutah pries Ysbail, from her body.
Ysbail has no choice but to be pried , she can feel her skin and bone being twisted. She watches Talutah , she begins to plead , “Please.. Don’t.. Please..” Talutah holds Ysbail by the girl’s thin arm, extended from her body, she lowers to grab the screaming Dai, rips apart his armor.
“Normally,” Talutah smiles, “I would kill you , leave you to fate or God,” Talutah watches her, “But Vartan would have a spared you, I think,” She smiles , “Put your hands together,” Ysbail puts her hands to together , Talutah crushes scrap metal and bone together at Ysbail elbow , then crushes girl’s knee. Talutah pulls her close , and kisses her deeply , pulling back , “Learn to kiss some time,”
She tosses her to Sinew, who barely is able to catch her, he has to use a lot of fuel to get Ysbail and Dai down lower. Talutah drops out of the sky.
As Talutah comes into view , Vartan , is lifting his hand towards Panda, the creature freezes. Then Vartan whispers, “My turn,” Panda begins to scream, as its wounds tear open , its arms and lessen in mass.
Vartan , whispers, “This is for Rhan!” Vartan lands a heavy punch , knocking the creature backwards , it attempts to counter , but Vartan moves in with a series on jabs , round house kicks , open palm hits , then knees. The creature holds it body, as Vartan lands blow after blow , the sickening sound of bone breaking echoes through the night.
Vartan continues to beat creature’s body, it lands a few blows , but Vartan keeps coming. Then Vartan stops , he watches Panda, it begins to crawl away, Vartan closes his eyes ,
“GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRooooooooowwlllllllllnnnnnnnnnnnnwwwwwr”
Claws spring out of Vartan’s fingernails , he goes into a berserk rage, slashing and hacking Panda to death. It screams , tries as it might it can’t get away. Then Vartan stops , he lifts his hand, Panda muscle mass shrinks , as Vartan’s body pumps up slightly.
He looks up to Talutah,
“She is next,” Vartan points at Ellette, Serpuhi steps in the way. Ellette whispers, “What happen to Panda?” Serpuhi , replies, “Some kinda of vampirism,” Serpuhi calls over his radio, “We need help,”
“Ysbail , and Dai are hurt really bad, its taking all my fuel to just get them down , I don’t think I will be able to move when I get down,” Sinew replies. Serpuhi looks around , he calls over the radio , “Android,”
“AND GOD TOLD THE ANGEL OF DEATH, CRUSH THE MINIONS OF PAGAN ANGELS,” Seth rises from the ground, he watches Serpuhi, “AND THE PAGAN ANGEL OF DARKNESS WAS TO FACE THE ANGEL OF DEATH, THE TRUE MASTER OF THE DARKNESS” Serpuhi backs up, Seth watches him , “COME I WISH TO GIVE YOU A RELIGION EXPERIENCE” Seth hovers towards Serpuhi, “I AM GONNA MAKE YOU SEE GOD.”
Serpuhi moves in blur , he attempts a kick but a black energy wall absorbs it, he presses both hands forward , to blind the Sylph. Seth blocks that as well, Serpuhi backs up , Seth forms the black energy armor , and huge axe of black energy , he strikes Serpuhi down.
“Uhhhhhh,” Serpuhi drops to the ground, has his armor falls apart , Seth rears back to finish him , but suddenly Talutah appears before him, “But the Angel of Death could not kill , for he was but a puppet of the Angel of Darkness.” Serpuhi passes out. Seth watches Talutah, “a puppet not worthy of death,”
Ellette just gave up, she closed her eyes, Vartan kneels down before her, “I am not going to kill you, but I am going to leave you the same way you did Rhan.” Vartan lifts a hand draws out her power , Ellette feels the power slip away slowly then faster and finally it vanishes.
“And God told the angel of death , that great winged beast would rain hellfire down on the earth and consume the angel.” Talutah whispers “Jets?” Vartan nods , “I reckon so,”
Zinerva watches , the video screen in his small room, “You are sure they are dead,” Sinew’s image nods, “They are, they killed Panda, though.” Zinerva turns the video screen off, he speaks to the voice , “Master what do you think?” The voice whispers, “Evacska Eztli Scouter would have been a better source, but the Guild’s camera are good enough,” Zinerva reaches over, “Call off the air strike, and allow the Vala group to leave.”
Hours later…….
“I don’t know what to tell you, we got beat.. You got tricked.” Serpuhi states, sitting across from Zinerva. “And you were removed from the Guild for producing a fake proof of contract completion,” Serpuhi , nods, “Sinew did the right thing, not tricking you I mean, but saving lives,” Zinerva nods , “You going to be employed by us , until the contract price is repaid , and you gonna work very cheap. As for your teammates , only Ysbail is worth our time, but she need time and money to repair the damage. Which falls on you being the team leader.” Serpuhi nods, “Ok, so how many months, ” Zinerva smiles, “Three years for you and two years for Ysbail , or you can sold be to the bounty hunters looking for you , for bank fraud.”
Serpuhi sighs, he gets up to leave, when Zinerva asks, “Is there anything you want to tell me?” Serpuhi shakes his head, “No, there is nothing left to tell,” Serpuhi opens the door , and leaves.
“I believe he is lying my Master,” Zinerva states, the voice whispers, “Yes the one that is called Ellette, had power now has none.” Zinerva whispers, “The one they called Panda had the strength to juggle railroad cars , but when we inspected his Sylph code, it showed nothing more than normal ape strength, no trace of Sylph code.” The voice whispers, “It doesn’t matter, we will find the answers , there is more troubling issues to deal with, return to the Locust,”
