JASMINE and the other escaped purebloods had stolen Crowley's warbird, the Basilisk, and escaped from his crazy secret facility. They were now making their way towards the 1st branch.
"I've been meaning to ask," Ryan said, "Where's Ryd?"
"Ryd tte daredesuka?" Mira asked, "Kare mo anata to issho ni torae rareta hitodesu ka?"
"No," Jasmine said, just then thinking about Ryd, "He was a friend and traveled with us, we lost track of him when we got captured. I hope nothing bad happened to him."
"You hope nothing bad happened to him? I hope he fell down a well somewhere," Mac said
"That's harsh," Ryan said, "I mean I never really clicked with the guy, but why are you mad?"
"I have my reasons," Mac huffed
All of a sudden the warbird trembled,
"What was that?" Jasmine asked
"Tsuiseki sa rete iru," Mira said looking at her console
Some distance behind them, a warbird hornet, m was in pursuit. The crow piloting it, opened fire on them.
"Dammit," Jasmine swore as she swerved and ducked, returning fire with their own torrents, but it was clear that they were outgunned.
"Kono jōkyōde wa Bal-amhr ni tadoritsukemasen." Mira said as she read off the list of damage sustained.
"Scan for a vent." Jasmine said
"Anata wa shokidesu ka?" Mira snapped, "Sore wa watashitachi o kono yō ni hikisakudeshou."
"Just do it!" Jasmine yelled
"Kekkōda, kureijīna amerikahito."
"I heard that," Jasmine hissed
Vents were small naturally-occurring pockets that opened up, bending space and forming bridges. They were usually unstable and as such do not stay open long and because of their instability, vents were often unpredictable and have been known to open and close at random. Vents were the original phenomena that inspired the technology for portals. ARGUS engineers have developed means for predicting vent activity and it was often used for travels by warbird.
"Sukyanā ga funki kō no keisei o kenchi shimashita. Sorehodo tōkunaku, ikidomarinanode, watashitachiha gake no naka ni iru hazudesu." replied Mira.
"Let's do it." Jasmine ordered as she pulled back on the controls, peeling away from their meager attempt at air combat.
As they gunned straight for the shimmering vortex that appeared out of thin air, their attacker didn't follow, instead firing off a predator missile at them.
Just before they were sucked into the vortex, the missile impacted with the rear of the ship, exploding and ripping apart on of the rear engines. Unlike the vortex of a portal, the vent vortexes are unstable and unpredictable, warbirds are built to withstand the turbulent force within the vortex. However, they weren't fully shielded with all the battle damage, so they had a very bumpy ride.
As they burst through the other side of the vent, alarms started blaring.
"What's wrong?" Jasmine demanded
"Kihontekini subetedesu." Mira retorted looking at flashing red screens.
"Uh, guys…" Ryan called, pointing out the window, "Is that gonna be a problem?"
Ahead of them, a barricade of warbirds was waiting, with their massive cannons and torrents aimed at them, getting ready to fire.
"Can we hail them, convince them we're not a threat?" Jasmine suggested
"Dekimasen. Tsūshin shisutemu ga ofuraindesu." Mira cried,
"What is she saying?" Mac demanded
"Everything's kaput!" Jasmine translated
"Is it standard procedure for ARGUS to fire at crashing warbirds?" Ryan asked
"Watashitachi wa damasa rete kita," Mira said "Kurourī wa watashitachi ga 1-nichi ni kuru koto o shitteita ni chigainainode, maemotte denwa o kakete watashitachi no koto o keikoku shita."
"And I've got more bad news," Jasmine said, "the controls are shot, I can't slow down."
"We are so screwed." Ross said as the others started to panic.
"I really want to punch this Crowley guy in the face." Ryan growled
"What do we do?" someone pleaded
"Kiss our asses goodbye!" Jasmine yelled as the barricade warbirds opened fire on them. Without their shields, the rounds ripped through the hull like toothpicks through tissue. The sturdy construction held up, but the sheer magnitude of ammunition flying their way, riddled the warbird with holes the size of plates. [Thank god they didn't use any explosive rounds] Piece by piece, the Basilisk were ripped off by the impact from the barricade guns.
By some insane miracle, no one was seriously hurt, but they now faced a new problem.
"Ori chaimasu yo!" Mira yelled as the engines holding the large craft in the air finally failed and the warbird came apart as it plummeted below the clouds.
… )]≥( …
Back at the 1st branch, Vlad was getting worried. During the siege, the Keeper's summit was postponed until order could be regained, now the rescheduled summit would commence in a few hours and Stephanie was nowhere to be found. The warbird she had commandeered had returned ages ago and she was reported leaving the terminal. Where could she be?
He had just gotten back to his office and was about to open the door, when he heard a commotion inside. Instantly on guard, he burst into the room, his wand outstretched, ready to engage the enemy. What he saw was Stephanie, sitting on his desk with her shirt removed trying to treat a bloody gunshot wound in her left shoulder.
"Put that thing away and come help me," she hissed, "And close the damn door."
"Stephanie what happened?"
"Someone just tried to kill me,"
"What? Who?"
"One of your garrison captains, Jackson."
"Well, we need to find him and question him,"
"That's going to be a bit difficult, seeing as how he's currently missing his face." Stephanie said,
"You killed him?" Vlad said, taking over her treatment with the first aid kit open on his desk.
"He was asking for it," Stephanie defended, "Jackass was literally trying to provoke me by bringing up my sister. He had a bit of a crush on her."
"Everyone had a crush on you sister."
"For the life of me, I still can't fathom why," Stephanie chuckled, "she wasn't the fair maiden you all think she was. When we were sixteen, she told me she wanted to become a porn star."
"What? Her?" Vlad exclaimed, "why?"
"Because, as she put it; 'she's hot enough for people to pay to watch her have sex'." Stephanie sighed,shaking her head, "thank god I was able to talk her out of it. The life of crime we led before coming to ARGUS was much less of a questionable life choice."
Stephanie then hissed as Vlad applied the cleaning solution over the open wound.
"It's a through-and-through, I should have it cleaned and sorted in no time." he said, "So, back to your attempted murder, why would this Jackson want you dead?"
"Because he's working for someone else," she replied, "and they don't take rejection very well."
"He was compromised?"
"You have to be clean before you can get dirty," Stephanie said, "he was a plant. And whoever planted him probably has others infesting ARGUS. And if they could put more of their people within ARGUS, who can we trust?"
He grinned, "Well, I'm glad you believe you can trust me."
"Well, I needed help treating this bullet wound, and I remembered you kept a first aid kit in your office from your time as a field medic." Stephanie said, "And you were also the only person I ever considered marrying, I'd trust you with my life." She smiled at him and caressed his hand.
"The summit reconvenes in the morning, if there are other moles among the Keepers…" Vlad started
"I don't think so, Keepers are basically chosen at random, there's no way they could plant a member in a chair. But Crowley's definitely involved, Jackson told me so."
"We could bring that up at the summit, but it's a heavy accusation, do you have any evidence?"
She pulled out one of her wands and played an audio recording of her conversation with Jackson, "there was a reason I kicked Jackson out of the rangers."
"Well, seeing as he'd dead, we can't really corroborate his testimony, but it should be enough to launch an investigation." Vlad said,
"Damn beaurocracy." Stephanie seethed,
"Don't worry, your," Vlad said, "Crowley has been making suspicious moves, so a vote of No Confidence and suspension from duty is more than likely."
"I'll take what I can get," Stephanie shrugged, before wincing at the pain in her shoulders.
"Well, I'm just about done here." Vlad said as he applied the healing balm onto both ends of the wound and wrapped them in enchanted gauze.
She groaned as she put her shirt back on, after which Vlad helps place her Keeper's coat over her shoulders. "Shall we, Lady Fairchylde?"
She smiles up at him, "Lead the way, Mr. Enstein, and don't call me 'lady'. I'm anything but."
"Don't I know it," he retorted,
… )]≥( …
The next morning, Stephanie and Vlad make their way towards the Great hall, where they find Stephanie's attendants, William and Amanda, waiting for them.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" Amanda asked trying to help her stand upright
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Stephanie said waving her off,
"What happened?" William asked
"We'll discuss this later, for right now, we just need to get to the summit hall."
As they were walking into the Great hall, Stephanie noticed quite a lot of crows patrolling the corridors and garrison.
"What are all these Branch 0 crows doing here?" Stephanie wondered
"Apparently, they're taking over security for the summit. They've been coming in since last night." William informed her
"Just act casual," Stephanie ordered, "but as off this moment, you are to consider every Branch 0 personnel a hostile and are authorized to use lethal force if necessary, am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Amanda and William said in unison as they kept their posture neutral even as the rested an arm on their wands, "Should we engage?"
"Not yet, they're up to something, and I want to know what first."
"But how are we to take on this many?" Vlad asked
"You have a lot of pull here right?" she asked him, "well, start throwing that weight around. One of your heads of security is dead; they'll probably need a replacement. If you can get that, taking down these upstarts will be child's play."
"I'll see what I can do." Vlad affirmed before he went off.
The Keeper and her attendants made their way into the summit hall. The other Keepers were in attendance and all eyes turned to her when she entered.
"Sorry for my tardiness, there was an attempt on my life."
That sent the room into an uproar, as different comments filled the air
"What? Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
"How are you still alive?"
"Why couldn't they finish you off properly?"
The comments and questions continued as she found her way to her booth and took her seat as graceful and dignified as all who knew her expected.
"I thank you all for your concern. The attempted assailant was one of the heads of security."
The murmurs reached a new height. It was brought to heel by the Keeper King banging his cane on the floor.
"Why would this head of security want to kill you?" the King asked
"I discovered that he used to be a ranger at the 45th that I disavowed because of conduct unbecoming and attempting a coup as retaliation of my ascension to the title of Keeper."
"So you think he tried to kill you out of some personal vendetta?"
"I think he'd have liked that, but discovering the true motive revealed a conspiracy that threatens all we stand for. I discovered that security chief Jackson was placed here, and continually serves another unknown master that call themselves the High Table."
"What? A mole? That's absurd."
"And troubling still is the fact that he wasn't alone. There was another who serves the same masters."
"Who?" The King demanded.
Before Stephanie could answer, the doors burst apart, spraying the back rows with debris. From the wreckage, Crowley struts in, clad in combat armor and followed by three crows with blood red eyes wearing combat gear.
"Crowley, what is the meaning of this?"
"It's him, sir," Stephanie said, "He was the other person conspiring with the people behind Jackson." Without hesitation, she transmuted a Gatling gun and opened fire on the intruders. The rounds never even made it to their target as all three red eyed crows with him created a cloak of red lightning that vaporized bullets.
Crowley chuckled, "Keeper Fairchylde, always so clever. I assume that by you standing there defying me, you rejected the offer of the High Table? And by the fact that you're here alive means that fool Jackson is dead?"
Stephanie was speechless, she stared in disbelief as the crows with Crowley used a similar style of magik as Ryan, it even gave off the same eerie feeling.
"What have you done?" she demanded, as her fears started playing in her mind
"Oh, you noticed?" Crowley smirked, he cleared his throat and boomed his voice, "Allow me to formally introduce my new elites Ares troops. Infused with gifts harvested from several powerful purebloods, they are now efficient, powerful and lethal soldiers."
"I forbade this, Crowley. You crossed a very dangerous line" The Keeper King scolded
"Oh spare me your rhetoric, you senile old fool!" Crowley roared, "It is because of your archaic philosophy that I was forced to do this. Do you think I wanted to do this by force?"
"Who else do you work for?"
"People who understand that this is the time for action, swift merciless action. You would rather waste time debating rather than take action then sort the rest out later."
"This is wrong." The Keeper King said, "Seize them."
Several attendants sprang into action, including William. They all drew their wands and weapons and went to engage the rouge Keeper and his troops, but then, the Ares troops released their bastardized magik, slashing, burning, choking and electrocuting all the offending rangers.
Stephanie held Amanda as she screamed and tried to go to her dying brother, "No, you'll just get killed too."
"As you can see, my Ares troops are completely invincible." Crowley bragged as he and one of the red eyes crows made their way down to the stage where the Keeper King stood. "Now, you will yield to me, old friend, or I will order this Ares warrior to strike you down."
Just when victory seemed in Crowley's grasp, something terrible happened. The Ares warrior with him started coughing, then the other two by the entryway started coughing as well. As they continued to cough, blood started to seep from all the orifices of their face. They dropped to the ground and started convulsing.
"What's happening?" Crowley demanded
As their heads started shaking as if possessed, they start to bleed more profusely as wounds open all over their bodies. Their pain filled screams became distorted roars as their bodies became twisted and deformed. The Keepers and their guests watched in horror as the warriors became more monstrous. They suddenly donned an aura that was thick, menacing and murderous, an aura that every ranger who had been in the field knew well.
"Ravagers," Stephanie breathed in shock as the realization dawned on her, "They've turned into ravager."
[If you didn't know, ravagers are those terrible monsters that attacked the 45th six months ago around the time I first got there. They're monsters, creatures of chaos that crawl out from the abyss.]
When the transformation was complete each of the Ares troopers was horribly deformed, over ten feet tall, with gray skin, bulging muscles and shrouded in a thick black presence. Their mismatched red eyes were filled with murderous intent. They immediately charged into the crowd of Keepers and attendants with the skill and training of elite rangers as well as the berserk brutality of mad ravagers.
As one bore down on Stephanie, all she could do was think about what happened with Ryan.
It was then, in the din of battle that a startling cry echoed through the great hall. The summit room watched in silence as another Ares ravager was thrown into the hall, without a head.
From the entryway, one figure steps in, Ryan. Except dark veins were visible underneath his pale skin, his eyes were red, and he was shrouded in the same dark aura as the ravagers. In one bloody hand he held Draxonn, in the other, the dead ravager's head.
"WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!" He roared.