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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 21:48:45 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER ONE: NOTHING LEFT - Luke lumbered his way out of the sprawling mass of a city that had imprisoned him with an air of resounding lethality and a punishing magnitude. He looked around as the backpack weighed down on him, like memories did to his own mind. With the sword gripped in hand, he slashed at the bushes, and leaves that blocked his pathway in the greener outskirts of Heartania. Whenever he needed to, he would take a long walk to rest his mind, to calm himself down, to stop the frantic worries for James, the city, for himself. He could sense a different air, similar to the city, yet all the more dangerous. He continued to walk by, allowing sharp twigs to scrape at his forearms that revealed themselves with burns and cuts from his rolled up sleeves. It was then out of the greenery of leaves that soon swooped down towards the ground, he saw her, a young but gentle frame that was tall and lean in stature and long hair drooping down to cover their naked back. Her skin was as pale as lily and her hair as dark as a raven. Luke furrowed his brow, stepping forward towards the figure before they suddenly vanished into the trees, out of his grasp.
After steeling himself, tightening the grip on his sword, he rushed through, trying to find any trace of the woman. Raven feathers and lily petals that sprung through the branches teased him with a glimpse as he wildly ran in any direction. The moment he finally went out, his boots stomping towards the ground as his legs burned and ached, his arms reached out to touch the woman who now stood, perched in her place, and with a gentle touch, she was gone. Cold winds began to blow through the air around him as he turned to see a katana, bloodied and stuck in the ground. Luke glanced around once more, shivering from the cold as his hands grasped the blade and watched as it simply broke into shards of ice that rained down onto the now icy floor.
Cracks had begun to make their mark underneath him as Luke saw blurred figures underneath. His mind raced with temptations as he got down on all fours, his hands pressed against the freezing ground as the figures floated, the raven black hair, the bulky figure, the slender face, it was his family. As Luke continued to watch more figures rose, Sarah, David, Custos, Ezekiel, and one final figure with blonde hair and familiar hazel eyes gazed at him, unblinking; James. The man cried out, his breath caught by streams of water that burned at his lungs as he pounded at the ice. Luke, looked towards the sword in his hand, shocked to realise it resembled Lilly’s older katana and nonetheless slammed down into the ice. As he did, he blinked, and soon the cold was gone, melted away by the warmth of reality. Luke’s own katana which glowed a blue hue at its razor edge was stuck in the ground beneath him, pulling it out only made his weaker body stumble as he blinked again.
Ice came to greet him once more as his back collided with a tall body, Luke turned instantly and swung as he recognised the Viper green colours, watching as Lilly’s katana collided with the neck of the Viper who only smiled back at him. The moment a blink of blood appeared at the head, Luke saw his sword stuck in the large bark of a tree, yanking it out as he suddenly fell to his knees, dropping the sword. He clutched at his head, feeling a searing pain as James’ dead face and open eyes stared back at him through the ice.
A row of blurred green adorned by dark faces were fast approaching, marching like they did through the snow covered streets as Luke saw the familiar figure of Acchilleus leading them towards him. He reached to his side, looking down towards his gun as he tried to avoid James’ eyes, only to find a revolver, James’ revolver, now clutched in his shaking hands. He looked towards the horde of men on the large rock of ice, the winds howling a chorus of demonic chords that only furthered the haunting experience Luke was going through. As he glanced down at the gun once more, he pressed it against his head, feeling his finger only a small distance from the trigger. Luke closed his eyes, the barrel of the gun pressed against the side of his head was the only comforting feeling he could find in this miasma of disparity.
But he couldn’t do it. He threw the gun down in front of him, watching as it landed on soft icy grass in front of him, and now was his regular dark pistol once more. Luke looked up once more, the figures had sunk from his view but instead stood a lone figure that was growing closer, and with his stare, now stood motionless. Luke’s eyes widened slightly as he continued to stare at the figure, his breath being caught in his throat as he watched the silhouette.
His mind scoured his body, for his emotion, for his fear, it simply found that there was simply nothing left.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 21:51:03 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER TWO: UPON BROKEN TIDES - The morning sun embraced the calm and cool waves that flowed throughout the outskirts of the city of Heartania. Buildings panned against the morning sky, shadows against the white clouds above. On a ship, a rickety but sturdy ship that sailed away from the city and lingered softly on the trembling waters. Two figures came together on the ship, both of them resting on the railing as they looked into the distance, the view of the everlasting sea and the rising sun to greet them. One was older, thicker and larger in every aspect, his skin was darker and his hair was a light brown, tied together in tight knots. All the meanwhile the other was younger, their figure was instead lean, his hair was a golden blonde and his eyes a dark blue. The both of them wore nicer clothing than to expected, the older one was adorned in a fur coat whilst the younger was wrapped tightly in a blue sweater, jeans for both of them as they spoke to one another for another hour, still keeping their eye on the rising sun.
“It’s nice to see the city finally doing some good,” commented the older one, he let his dark eyes drift from the waters to the perched skyscrapers behind, smiling as he looked back at the younger. “No doubt, these past couple of weeks have been quiet.”
“Quiet?” questioned the younger man, raising a sharp eyebrow as he glanced at the other. “Between everyone planning for Christmas, me with this sailing trip, and the new one-”
“Hunter,” interjected the older.
“Yeah, him. It feels like everything has been but busy,” reminded the younger. “I know you wanted to help him, but Hawk, you literally told us you found him in the middle of the woods swinging at nothing.
“I managed to convince him to come out here with us, didn’t I?” Hawk smiled, looking back again at the sea, something beginning to worry him as he contemplated the younger one’s words. “Besides, how has be doing?” The younger sighed.
“Well, he still doesn’t seem to really, I don’t know, connect with us. He’s been getting better for the past week but…” His voice trailed off.
“What?” asked Hawk.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s been training with me a lot. I have to admit it’s nice to know someone else who can control water, even if he’s not as good as me,” smirked the younger one.
“Alright calm down there, Sail,” laughed Hawk, “Maybe it’d be good if we woke him up.” Sail simply nodded, turning to lean back on the railing and watch the waves, as Hawk glanced towards the stairs leading below deck. “Hunter!”
* ‘Hunter’ groaned as his head hit the low wooden ceiling that supported the makeshift bed above him for the third time this week. He rolled out of his own bed, allowing his thin blanket to fall onto the pillow as he wiped his eyes, yawning and taking a moment to stretch in order to ignore the deep voice of Hawk from above. It had been an odd three weeks, but one of safety and in some ways, community. It felt good to be around people again, and ‘Hunter’ never got the opportunity to train with other superhumans before, especially some that had his powers. He started walking up the dusty wooden stairs and glanced up at daylight, and so he came out into the world.
Luke narrowed his eyes at the sunlight, opening them again as he moved his hand out of the way of his face. His face was cleaner, the scars still there but fading and the bruising had cleared away. He scratched at his beard, one that had grown from the following weeks and had managed to be well kempt, not thick. Luke wore a tight white shirt, a brown leather holster keeping his pistol to the side, with lighter brown cargo pants with a belt. His own shoes had been replaced instead with dark boots as his katana was still strapped on his back, sheathed, for now. All the meanwhile, his own dagger was gone, instead a climbing axe with no hook was at his side, a gift from Hawk, as well as the brown fingerless gloves that he wore to help with his grip and the cold. Luke glanced at the two men, Hawk and Sail.
“Hey,” greeted Luke.
“Hey,” the two of them spoke. It was Hawk who decided to speak further. “How have you been doing?”
“I’m okay, getting better,” replied Luke and the truth was he meant it. It was nice to get away from the city, and Lilly had always wanted to go sailing, meaning that a part of him wanted to go as well. The way the boat slowly drifted made him slightly nauseous. “How have you two been?” Luke stepped closer, taking a look at the water in the distance.
“We’ve been good, just talking about the city,” explained Sail. Luke nodded and walked towards the other side of the ship, looking away from the city as he could still see the docks out of the corner of his eye. Things had certainly changed in the last month, and not for the better. James came back after a week of staying in Scarlet City with Luke being allowed to leave and spend time with him in Heartania before they parted ways for a second time, James needing more time, and Luke needing the Outsiders. It was nice, but knowing he was back in that city made him worried. He hadn’t heard from him in weeks, and the training and preparations he had done made him simply feel alone. It wasn’t until the lumbering figure of Hawk joining him in his view that Luke stopped worrying, at least for now.
“Y’know, I never asked how you were finding us. I mean, has everything been good?” questioned Hawk as he looked down at Luke, being at least a head higher than the man. Luke nodded.
“It’s better than what I expected, and I’m guessing you’ve heard me thank you enough for taking me here,” said Luke, realising the harshness of his tone, he paused and sighed, turning to face Hawk. “I mean it, seriously. It’s been good, I guess. It’s nice to have people there. Echo is a lot of fun to talk to, Scope taught me how to properly shoot a rifle, and Cyber has been teaching me about hacking. It’s just...good, I guess.” Hawk nodded.
“I’m glad to hear that. How long do you think you’re staying?” asked Hawk, and it was at this point Luke turned away and pretended to still be enjoying the view. He had no idea, maybe a week, a month, a year, or the rest of his life. He was better now, he had been training and improving, he wasn’t injured anymore, and yet he still hadn’t been doing his duty and trying to help the city like he wanted to. Who knew what else had happened? How many crimes and murders had been going on? An awkward silence fell over them and just as Luke thought about what he wanted to say, his eyes narrowed. He stopped and glanced at Hawk, knowing he saw it too. Luke looked again, because in the sea, was a lone wooden lifeboat sailing upon broken tides.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 21:57:41 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER THREE: THE RUNAWAY - It was only a few moments when a young brown haired boy poked out of the lone sailboat that drifted mercilessly on the calm waves. The shivering and shaking figure was helped onto their own ship, as Sail lived up to his name, making sure to tie the sailboat to their larger vessel. Not even a minute later, the boy, was wrapped in a thin blanket, a quick sandwich haphazardly made as Luke waited on the deck of the ship, simply peering down the stairway where noise and talk erupted. Ten minutes later, both Hawk and Sail revealed themselves from the shadows as they stepped up shallow stairs with an air of desperation and worriment.
“So, who’s the kid?” Luke asked, raising an eyebrow as he tried to look behind them to spot any sign of the stranger, only to be greeted with shrugs and downcast gazes the only other two on the ship.
“We don’t know,” confirmed Sail, who looked more perturbed than anything else. The winds that bounced from the waves grasped at blonde hairs that strayed from the others that were more clean and combed.
“I tried talking to him, but he isn’t saying anything. He looks like he’s been sailing for a while, and in this cold,” muttered Hawk as he glanced up at the winter’s white clouds that still rested atop the city and the world that surrounded it. “Maybe you can try talking to him?” Luke’s eyes widened at the prospect.
“I’m not exactly great with this kind of stuff,” answered Luke with a sliver of honesty, as interested as he was in the newcomer, he didn’t want to push himself to actually questioning who he was. But one glance at Hawk’s pleading expression that had been convinced him too many times for too many different things caused Luke to sigh and concede. “Fine, I’ll see if I can talk to him I guess or just, keep watch.” Hawk smiled as Sail nodded, and Luke watched as the both of them disappeared out of sight, beyond the view of staircases and rooms kept under.
* The one room that they were staying in was as uncomfortable as it could be, cobbled, it had four available beds, all of them far too small and Luke was happy that the bottom bunk was empty as opposed to Sail and Hawk who had to endure each other closely throughout the night. Bare necessities for survival, for eating and half empty water bottles scattered around the room between Sail’s personal paraphernalia. The wooden deck rocked gently with the waves as Luke stepped up to immediately see the blanked adorned and shivering pale figure of the boy. He narrowed his eyes, from what he could tell the guy was in his late teens, probably just turned sixteen or so but Luke wasn’t always the best at guessing ages.
“Hey there, I’m Luke,” He greeted, Luke tried his best to smile as he stepped up to the teenager with as warm a tone as he could manage. The boy’s large brown eyes met his as he acknowledged his presence, albeit barely. “What’s your name?” Luke cringed slightly, the lack of response allowed an awkward atmosphere to settle in. Luke simply leaned on the bunk beds of Sail and Hawk, as he looked at the boy, his eyes flitting up and down. “You’re clearly not from here…” The boy glanced up, his expression interrupting Luke for a moment before he continued. “If you were, you wouldn’t be sailing on your own on a sailboat in the freezing cold, especially when you clearly don’t know how to paddle. What happened? Did your ship sink or something?”
“No,” the young man’s voice was weak, raspy and hurt.
“Then what happened?” Luke stepped closer, his curiosity and his concern growing. The young man still shivered as he continued to keep his eyes on Luke.
“I was trying to run away,” he explained.
“Run away from what?” Luke stepped closer once more, and suddenly, as the young boy’s mouth opened, the loud sound of a ship roared nearby, interrupting the both of them. The boy flinched as Luke’s eyes widened, turning to look back at the stairs behind him that led to the deck and the salty seas.
“Stay here, okay, I’ll go see what’s going on,” instructed Luke, the boy nodded, and with that, Luke started to rush upstairs, leaving nobody left in the room besides the runaway.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 22:00:35 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER FOUR: DROWN - The wind seemed to grow wilder, howling throughout the day as Luke quickly scampered up onto the deck of the ship, a much larger vessel that was almost the size of a yacht now fast approaching as its shadow threatened to overtake them. Luke’s eyes widened as he met Hawk and Sail, both of them concerned and confused at the presence of the enlarging ship that seemed to taunt them with its size and steel.
“Sail! Get us out of here!” commanded Hawk as he busied himself with other parts of the ship, Sail only nodded before the wind grew in its power, gusts now dancing from his arms that spiralled and focused in setting all the wind in the sail’s location. Luke saw the sails rivet and wind bounce from them, the sound of the wind clashing with the thin material growing louder as the ship was suddenly hoisted upon the waters and start heading back towards the city at great speed. Luke was far too busy, watching as his eyes focused on the vessel which had started to notice the smaller ship’s rebellion and started turning to sail towards the ship at a speed of its own. He didn’t even notice the boy, still shivering but now paler than ever as they stepped onto the deck of the ship, their blanket falling to the floor as their wide eyes gazed at the larger ship.
“It’s t-them!” The boy cried and Luke glanced over, just in time to see the first spray of bullets unleash themselves onto the ship bouncing by and hitting the nearby staircase behind them as Luke felt the bullets whizz by. In a split second, Luke grabbed at the younger one and threw him down onto the floor, joining him in time as more bullets cast themselves overhead and they watched as other bullets began to make their mark in the deck of the ship.
“Just stay down and get below deck!” ordered Luke as he dragged the boy with him, ducking at the sound of more bullets and terrified, for himself, and for Hawk and Sail who were still focusing on having to sail the ship away. Luke almost shoved the younger one into the room as he quickly dived towards a nearby table, picking up his pistol, before turning to the younger one, trying to ignore the sounds of shouting, more bullets, and the raucous rage of wind and water above as the larger ship howled once more. “Look, we’ll get back to the city and try to figure out what the hell is going on, but if they’re shooting at us I don’t trust these guys already. Just stay down here, and don’t...don’t do anything stupid.” Luke hated how much like Lilly he sounded in those last moments, and he didn’t want to talk down to the kid, but right now bigger things were at stake. The teenager nodded in rapid agreement as Luke rushed back into the havoc. He immediately ducked beneath cover closer towards Sail as the shooting paused for just a quick moment, Luke rose up from behind cover and began to shoot at one of the nearby figures that stood, mounted on the other ship that just came closer.
“Hunter, what are you doing?” cried Sail as he flinched as the sound of more bullets nearby caused him to almost join Luke in hiding behind cover, but he still carried on with steering their own ship.
“You drive! I shoot! It’s not a complicated relationship!” answered Luke as he rose once more to shoot at the same figure, watching as that shooter suddenly seemed to fall back, but it was only one of many. The shooting then all seemed to sound together at once, creating an odd symphony of raucous applause to their inevitable deaths.
“Oh shit!” Luke heard the distant voice of Hawk and watched as he stepped back from the sail, bullets now having cut the material and their own ship seemed to slow down as the other kept coming.
“Oh fuck,” muttered Luke as his eyes came to look at the larger shape and shadow of the yacht that was still mounting the waters faster than ever as he rushed towards Hawk, raising his hand as he watched with some satisfaction as water joined the deck of the ship and created a block of ice behind Hawk. It was just in time before the ship collided into theirs, wood splintering as the sound of wind and destruction surrounded them and Luke watched as Hawk only collided with the ice behind him, surprised as it was only cracked. However, not before Luke’s own view was pushed to the side, the force of the ship causing him, unlike Hawk, to smash into the railings. His screams of pain as he barely holstered his pistol were cascaded by lungfuls of freezing water, his vision almost feigning the sight of frozen ice overhead. But now as Luke was perched, drifting in an endless sea of darkness as he found himself inches from the surface. The only thing he knew now as his body started to stiffen was that in one way or another, he was going to drown.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 22:03:24 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER FIVE: ASHES TO ASHES - Lungfuls of water soon escaped Luke’s body as he coughed when reaching open air, only feeling as if his body was being dragged up by a pair of arms before moments later, he felt the familiar sensation of wood underneath his fingertips. Through blurred vision, he saw shadows, colours such as black and orange blurred themselves together as Luke’s vision began to slowly become clearer. As water continued to drip from his ears, he could hear voices and panicked shouts in the distance. Luke looked up, seeing his katana, equipment all around scattered on light wooden floors. As he groaned, his hand reaching towards it, he was stopped as a booted foot suddenly came to rest on his arm, causing him to grunt as he saw a face out of the blurred surroundings reveal themselves, before everything became black.
*
Luke awoke at once, his hands numb as he found them forced behind his back, cold metal tightly wrapped around his wrists as he glanced around the room, his breath heavy as the room was large, spacious with little to nothing inside it. A lone window across the room revealed a stream of morning light as Luke glanced underneath, seeing the body of the brown haired boy that had docked their ship earlier. He had no idea how much time had passed as water continued to drip from his body. Luke only realised now he was confined to a pipe behind him, as was the younger one across from him who started to groan, shifting ever so slightly.
“Hey!” Luke tried his best to be quiet, hearing the boy groan in response as his eyes began to open, blood dripped down his forehead as he focused on Luke. Luke could only watch as the onset of panic started to set in, the boy tugging at his own confines, Luke now noticing they’re handcuffs. “Hey!” Luke repeated and finally seemed to get the attention from the stranger who glanced at him.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I-” The younger one started.
“What the hell did happen?” interrupted Luke, far too concerned now to endure more of the boy’s panicking, wondering where Sail or Hawk were as he noticed their absence.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you earlier. These were the people I was running away from. I didn’t mean to be with these guys, I was part of s-some other gang and they took over and everything went to shit and I’m so sorry,” The boy continued to panic, his breathing rapid and shallow as Luke tried to shush him.
“Okay, take a breath and tell me who these people are,” said Luke meticulously as he took a glance towards the door, hoping nobody was nearby. The boy seemed to slow down, taking a few moments to collect himself.
“They call themselves The Ashes, and they came into Scarlet City a week ago. They took over some gang I was in called The Cobras and-”
“Wait, you were in a gang?” questioned Luke, narrowing his eyes, he shifted and felt the handcuffs almost tighten against his wrists.
“It’s a long story. Things got complicated and I was always planning to run away. They said either I could join them or well...I could end up like the rest of, well y’know. They’re just a group and the way they kill people it’s…” The boy paused for a moment, looking as if he was going to be sick. “But I finally got away. I thought I was gonna be safe and…” Luke sighed.
“Look, whoever these people are, they’re clearly not the best of people. Do you know where they might took my friends?” inquired Luke. The boy shook his head.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you into this,” The boy revealed. “God, they’re gonna kill me.”
“You’re gonna be fine, hopefully,” replied Luke, glancing towards the door. The two of them sat in silence for a few mere moments as the sound of heavy footfalls lingered outside.
“I’m Gale, by the way, I’m...Just thanks for bringing me on your ship, even if it ended like this,” murmured Gale. Luke simply nodded, opening his mouth to speak before the door suddenly began to shift open. In the doorway, now stood a tall figure dressed in the similar black and orange outfit, a leather jacket with cargo pants and boots. The man was middle aged, with short hair and a rough beard along their chiselled jaw. Their green eyes lingered on Gale before moving towards Luke. His grip on the gun in his hands tightened as they stepped closer.
“My boss wants to see you” The man noted, by now Luke could clearly see an odd necklace of teeth and fangs around his neck, nearly ducking beneath his jacket.
“Who the hell are you?” growled Luke. The man smiled down as he started to handle the handcuffs.
“It doesn’t matter, not now. If you try anything, I’ll shoot you and kill your friends,” The man warned, Luke nodded as he kept his eyes on Gale who simply sat in silence, looking worriedly as Luke felt the handcuffs fall from his wrists. He barely had time to stand up before his hands were confined once again behind his back. “Great.” Luke felt the end of the gun shoved in his back. Luke took one final glance at Gale before he was forced out of the room, the city in the distance beyond the sea, before he was shoved forward again. “You can call me Fang. Now we’re just going for a friendly chat, hopefully soon as Ashes to Ashes.”
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 22:06:49 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER SIX: IN HARM'S WAY - The cuffs felt like heavy chains that weighed him down as he already felt tired and almost despondent from how quickly sailing had turned into simple survival. The wind that rushed through his air from the salty sea no longer relaxed him but instead only irritated the goosebumps that prickled up from his skin, the end of a gun still jabbing painfully into his back as he glanced up at whatever room he had landed in. The ship was large and yet it didn’t take long for Luke to find himself in what appeared to be the captain’s quarters. The only thing that met his mind were far more questions, such as why this group had such a large ship, and why they were so close to Heartania.
Had they come this far in hopes of just finding Gale?
No matter how much Luke tried to focus on finding a way to Hawk and Snail or finding a way out of here, the questions persisted and Luke knew the man that set at the seat behind the wooden desk opposing him had all the answers. The man’s hair was dark and yet he was younger than Fang, his hair was longer and he seemed to be of Asian descent, his skin smooth and his frame tall and wiry, weaker than the others and yet evoking a commanding presence. His clothing was the same as the others, a leather jacket striped with orange and cargo pants with military boots. The way the man carried himself as he inspected the weapons, which Luke recognised to be his own, on his desk, it almost seemed to be in a militant fashion. He marched over towards Luke, a unique handgun wrapped around his long fingers as Luke was soon shoved into a seat close towards the desk.
“So, you’re involved in this little incident of ours, is that right?” The man’s voice was deep and authoritative, Luke nodded, glancing towards the desk where his weapons were draped over the wooden, his hands unfortunately still forced behind his back. “Good. I want you to tell me the whole truth, because if you don’t…” The man’s voice trailed off as he slowly placed the gun under Luke's chin. In a moment, Luke's heartbeat almost stopped as his eyes widened when he saw and heard the man pull the trigger, the gun’s click was the most relieving sound he heard as he almost flinched in his seat, whilst a smile spread across the man’s thin and frail face all the while he made the mock sound of a gun going off underneath his cold breath. “I’m sure you understand, so let’s start with an easy question. What’s your name?”
“Luke,” He replied, allowing regret to sink in a moment later as he realised the most likely answer was ‘Hunter’, if they had spoken to Sail or Hawk. The sound of the gun’s safety confirmed his suspicions.
“Funny, your friends say otherwise, Hunter,” The man pressed the gun towards Luke's throat once again, furrowing his brows. “Your friends seem to call you Hunter at the very least, so I already know you’re a liar. But I’m a person who believes everyone deserves a second chance, like Gale, the kid we found you helping to escape.”
“That wasn’t-” Luke was interrupted by the gun pressing deeper into his throat, starting to find it more difficult to draw breath. He could almost sense Fang behind him having his gun raised, most likely waiting for the man in front of him to give him the signal if he wasn’t going to pull the trigger himself. Luke feared for his life, his heartbeat out of control as the gun against his throat wasn’t the only reason he found his breathing more difficult than ever. The gun eased slightly.
“You’re not exactly proving yourself to be trustworthy, that’s almost two lives now, two chances gone,” The man revealed. “Now, I’ll ask you something different, what did the boy tell you?” Luke paused for a moment.
“He just told me that you people were called The Ashes, that you killed some gang in Scarlet City and took him, that’s all,” explained Luke, he saw the hazel eyes of the man study him for a few moments before pulling the gun from his throat, still keeping it aimed towards him.
“Well, that’s partly true,” The man’s voice now dripped with a menacing cadence, he spoke slowly and softly as he began to explain. “I am the leader of the Ashes, some people like to call me ‘The Dragon’, for what we do but I prefer my real name, Li. We didn’t take him like some kidnappers, we’re just a group of mercenaries that are paid for what we do, it’s a job, and right now we’re expanding our operations right to Heartania.” Luke's eyes widened slightly. “I mean, a new government with a city that’s been dominated by superhumans has got to breed some bad blood, and what a better way to handle that blood through a more peaceful way than a civil war. We didn’tga kidnap Gale, he came to us when he had nobody, we spared him and he was now with us. Look at Fang here. A deadbeat father and a whole host of problems and I saved him from his life and in turn he’s now with us. We aren’t the bad people here, Gale escaping from us was something we couldn’t accept in case he went telling people that we were coming, especially the police or new High Council. And then we see you helping him on that boat of yours, and you killed one of my men.”
“They were shooting at us,” exclaimed Luke.
“They were shooting at your sails and your engine, figuring out a way to stop your boat. Now I’ll admit, we didn’t mean to knock you off into the water or destroy your boat, but we fished you out when we could have easily left you to drown,” growled Li, sensing the sharpness of Luke's tone and immediately seeking out to put an end to any inkling of defiance. His expression softened however as the gun was lowered slightly. “Are you dangerous?”
“When I need to be,” admitted Luke. Li simply nodded in response.
“Well, we can still make this right. If you can help convince your friends to simply let Gale go and we can forget this whole mess, that is of course coming with a condition.”
“What condition?” said Luke, looked concerned, wondering what grievous torment Snail and Hawk must have endured so far.
“We know about your little community, Oberon is it? And we expect a community like that must be well protected with plenty of guns, and more,” revealed Li, Luke reminded himself of the gun poking the back of his head as he avoided eye contact. “If you help convince your friends to cooperate, then we won’t have a problem. All you’ve gotta do is lead us to your place, we take our share for not killing you, and we’ll be out of your hair - no problems.” Luke furrowed his brows.
“And how do I know you won’t just kill us all and take everything?” questioned Luke. The gun was aimed at his chest as Li stood up, towering over him.
“Or I could just kill you all now, and find the place anyway. I’m giving you an opportunity here to prevent any more bloodshed, one way or another, we’ll find your place eventually and take what we want,” warned Lin. “Or you could help us, but if you try anything…” Li nodded towards the gun in his hand.
“Fine,” Luke nodded, containing a smile as he found his wrists free from the cuffs, dragged up and shoved forward once again as he was led by Lin whilst a gun continued to poke him in the back, as he moved forward. He had no idea what would happen now, the world around him falling apart as he realised evermore that he, and everybody else was still in harm’s way.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 22:11:09 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER SEVEN: UNTAMED EMBERS -
Luke came to find himself staring at Sail and Hawk, the both of them bruised in one capacity or another, whether of body or of mound, for Sail it seemed to be both. The room was small, with no bedding, no furniture, nothing but cheap wooden chairs that supported the handcuffed hostages. Hawk and Sail exchanged looks of concern as they seemingly recognized Li, the man that walked besides him.
“Leave us Fang,” Li’s voice called out, the room empty otherwise with minimal movement or breath from the trio as Luke kept his eyes away from Hawk or Sail, the reluctant footfalls fell behind him and faded into the distance as another pair of heavier footfalls replaced them, two men entering the room, one with a bag that fell to Luke’s feet before the men stayed by the doorway, away from the seats that were planted in the centre of the room. “I figured you’d like the option, but in the meantime you may find this more useful.” Li forced Luke’s gun back into his hands as Luke glanced towards Sail for the first time, fear and panic beginning to form over his expression as Hawk was simply stoic, glaring up at Luke with fury behind his brown eyes. “Neither of them want to talk anymore, so consider this a test. Shoot the one on the right first.” Luke barely listened, simply raising the gun and aiming it towards Hawk’s chest as he felt his grip tighten, almost forcefully as his breath escaped him. A few moments passed by and nothing could shake the room from its stillness as Luke glanced at Hawk, the same expression held between the both of them. “I’m waiting.” Li added, calling attention back to his presence as Luke pulled at the safety, keeping the gun aimed, before he suddenly swung at Li. Before the two men towards the back of the room could react, Luke felt the gun smack the side of Li’s head, blood beginning to drip from his forehead as he stumbled back before Luke grabbed him, keeping the gun underneath his chin and his body pressed against his.
“Drop your guns,” commanded Luke as he aimed his gun at the two men who had their pistols aiming towards him. Luke’s entire body and mind was overtaken by the rush of adrenaline, the gun slightly shaking in his hands as terror swept him. Nevertheless when the first guard failed to comply, Luke could feel his finger at the trigger, watching as a bullet collided with the man’s chest causing him to clutch at it, his breath becoming mere drawls at best as his gun dropped.
“You had your chance,” growled Li as Luke suddenly felt an elbow collide into his face, he barely stumbled before he shot again, this time towards Li who rushed towards the door only to barely get out stumbling as he grunted, gripping his now bloodied shoulder as the other guard barely got his own finger to the trigger before Luke shot, twice, one in the stomach and another in the chest. It was in the brief reprieve between the dead or dying men in the room and Li’s absence as shouting was heard from outside, that Luke realized what he had just done.
“What did you just do?” exclaimed Sail as Luke quickly rushed to the bag, muttering to himself as he quickly placed his equipment back into their respective holsters and carriers, almost panicking as he rushed towards Hawk.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” repeated Luke, he took a breath trying to calm down as he suddenly raised his gun at the presence of another figure that quickly rushed in the door, closing it behind them. Luke lowered the gun with an iota of relief as he recognised Gale, noticing his own wrists were scarred with the marks of handcuffs. “We need to get out of here.”
“I heard gunshots and people are running around, I was gonna escape anyway when there was nobody around but what the hell happened?” Gale quickly spoke as he quickly rushed to begin helping Sail and Hawk out of their own handcuffs, surprisingly with ease as their hands begin to start somehow slipping through, the handcuffs themselves loosening as the shouting outside only grew worse and far more barbaric.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” Hawk spoke as he massaged his wrists, getting up as he reluctantly took the guns from one of the dead man’s hand, offering one to Sail.
“There’s some speedboats, they’re the only boats left on the ship. I tried to get to one last time but there was too many people,” Gale explained. Luke started walking, trying to calm himself down as he opened a cabinet to the side of the room, it was old and rusted but thankfully to his surprise it contained something that could be useful, a flare gun.
“Okay, then we’ll just have to fight our way through, and hopefully lose them on the way back to Oberon, then we explain everything and just hope Smoke or whoever can help out if they show up again, that’s the plan,” replied Luke, Sail and Hawk nodded as Gale looked more nervous and frantic than anyone, sticking close by as Luke pressed his ear to the door. People were coming nearby. Oh great googly moogly. Luke opened the door and at once was greeted to a barrage of men off towards the side, quickly shooting the flare gun towards them as he watched it immediately plunge into the stomach of a man who soon started to scream as fire began to spread across his chest. “Come on!” Luke rushed towards the other direction, bullets coming after them but the men far too distracted and clotted to one side before they skidded to a stop, two members of the Ashes aiming towards them. Hawk shot one as Like swiped at their neck with the sword, it was more of a reaction than any plan and he quickly dug it further as their eyes widened, their trembling hands raising and still poised to shoot despite a sword being embedded into their neck before it cut at least a quarter of the way through, their body falling limp as blood escaped them.
“It’s over there!” Gale shouted, all eyes towards him as Hawk and Sail continued to provide cover for the group, shooting before Luke watched Sail summon a great tide of water, quickly deciding to help him as they washed away another set of members that had just kicked down another doorway. Hawk, bloodied and tired, a tomahawk that had appeared in his hand now stuck in the head of a man that was behind him, ready to shoot, before the weapon disappeared altogether. Luke was grabbed as Sail and Hawk continued to back up, shooting at the men surrounding them, smoke trailing into the sky from around the corner on the main deck of the ship as a man shoved Luke to the ground, his weapons falling from his hands. As the barrel of a gun came to face his head, the spray of bullets that shortly came after barely missed as his would-be killer was shoved by Gale, giving Luke time to quickly grab his gun and fire. The final bullet from the group smashing into the man’s arm, as Luke grabbed his sword and jumped into the speedboat. Sail backed up, a wall of ice barely covering them as he was the last to finally make it. Hawk’s tomahawks made an appearance cutting the ropes as they fell at a great distance into the sea, barely hanging on as they crashed into the waters below.
“Move over, now!” urged Sail, quickly starting the speedboat as the engine roared with life and soon they began to quickly start making their way over the sea.
“Oh god, what are we going to do?” murmured Gale, glancing towards the group.
“Is anyone hurt?” asked Hawk.
“Oh god, I can’t believe we-”
“Just calm down, we’ll be okay,” claimed Luke.
“I doubt that!” snapped Sail.
“Oh damn it, I didn’t mean for-”
“Shut it. Just shut it. I asked if anybody was hurt!” reminded Hawk. Luke glanced around, looking at his own somewhat blood covered body.
“No I’m fine, Sail? Gale? How about you guys?” asked Luke.
“I’m okay,” replied Gale.
“I’m fine, barely. Maybe we’d all actually be fine if you hadn’t gotten so trigger happy-” started Sail.
“They were going to force me to kill Hawk and you before turning on Oberon and probably kill me too eventually. I did what I had to,” exclaimed Luke. “We just stick to the plan and get back to Oberon, and we’ll be fine. At least we’re not dead, not yet anyway,” answered Luke, he sighed with relief. Luke and Gal both turned to watch the ship became ever so consumed with fire, the smoke now darker and larger than before as trails of the fire could be seen even with the growing distance, the ship was nothing more than a denizen of bloodied bodies to be consumed in untamed embers.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 22:13:52 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER EIGHT: BLOOD ON THE SKYLINE - A flurry of water mingled with the broken bodies of fire and smoke in distorted reflection as the speed boat continued on, carving a path through the water, endless in its appearance as the group of four looked on, an uncomfortable silence dawning upon them similar to light that filled the white cloudy sky. Snow slowly drifted down, the cold air contrast to the fire that burned brightly behind them, the flames dancing on the water and casting shadows across their silhouettes as they continued to speed towards the city of Heartania, the steel buildings beginning to overpower them. All the while as soon as the calamity settled in, it broke apart. Gunfire, short and sharp, rang out as the familiar whizz of a bullet struck pass Luke, ducking immediately with the others as he glanced over to see several speed boats addled with the occasional eminence of muzzle flash begin to pour their way forwards.
“Fuck!” cried Sail as a stream of bullets barely missed him, striking the glass window of the speed boat causing shards to soon fly into the sea below. The boat’s engine was a mangled cry, a chorus to the sharp shots of the situation, mingling away from the once serene view it represented and now wholeheartedly supporting the chaos that it reigned, it almost seemed to get louder and louder with each moment the boat sharply moved towards the city. It was only a moment later as Luke looked up, he could barely cry out as the boat crashed into the nearby docks, ones he was all too familiar with as his body flew towards the ground, concrete grinding against his back which was already bleeding from the scars as he reflexively protected the nearby passenger who flew with him; Gale. Hawk and Sail were the first to get up from the crash as they instantly wished they hadn’t ducking back down as the boats were getting closer. “What do we do?” Sail’s voice echoed around the absent docks as Luke lead the way, immediately dragging Gale up as he rushed into the concrete jungle, with the others following all too quickly, the Ashes of the fire coming towards them.
“Over there!” noted Luke, he pointed to a nearby car and like the vultures to a carcass, the group swooped in to their only salvage, the window being broken and the door being opened as the car alarm was the new chorus for the wreckage. Gale jumped forward, immediately beginning to mangle wires with one another in odd precision as he muttered instructions to himself. After a few moments, the car alarm died and the engine roared in its place.
“How the hell did you do that?” questioned Hawk who jumped into the car seat.
“A friend taught me,” Gale explained in a hurried and panicked tone, watching as he suddenly rushed behind the car, Luke taking cue as Sail had already joined the passenger seat. Men and women dressed in black came pouring out the nearby corner, gun in hands.
“Just go! Get out of here! I’ll meet you at the outskirts!” shouted Luke as he pulled at Gale, running and ignoring the shots that followed as the car tires screeched and barely moved in time to avoid the bullets piercing them. Luke only rushed in further to the steel tendrils that made up the city, before a block away led to a nearby run-down apartment building, leading into the city proper and Luke would have sighed with relief if he wasn’t so afraid. “Can’t catch a goddamn break.” In the nearby alleyway, Luke motioned for Gale to move a nearby trash can, quickly hopping onto it and onto the ladder for the fire escape. He climbed up, but as he reached the top of the metal railings, amongst the heavy footfalls came the whimpers from below as Gale mounted the shaky bin, balancing himself and jumped in time before it topped over grabbing at the ladder, his legs wriggling as he climbed up in a panic. “Come on, come on, we have to go!” It was only about two floors up before the Ashes came, shooting up at them, a bullet tearing at Luke’s arm as it barely grazed it, causing him to flinch as they both quickly made it to the rooftop, exchanging horrified looks as they heard the son of metal clanging with footfalls.
“What do we do now?” cried Gale as he looked around at the rooftop, Luke handed him the climbing axe which he reluctantly grasped in his hand, clearly being heavier than he expected. “Oh fuck I’m so scared.”
“Gale, listen to me, just calm down, we’re going to be fine,” Luke almost whispered quickly as he stared Gale in the eye before pointing towards the climbing axe itself. “Just push that button and try to catch a roof with the pointy end, stay with me.” He warned as he started to step back, eyeing another rooftop that wasn’t too far.
“What are you gonna do?” questioned Gale.
“Jump!” shouted Luke as he rushed, flinging himself from one rooftop to the other as he watched with heavy reluctance Gale follow, his jump missing before he barely caught the edge of the rooftop with the climbing axe, being pulled up by Luke before bullets rushed up overhead. “Come on, we can do this, just follow my lead.”
The journey was a rough one as Luke quickly began running, bullets whizzing by as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop with Gale closely behind, helping him with ice made from water made from snow, the Ashes were relentless following Luke’s methods as they ran from walls just like he did, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, sliding under pipelines as they continued. At the very least it was rare for shots to be fired as they continued in their endless pursuit, sweat upon both their brows. Luke stopped as Gale called for help, jumping immediately as he saw him hanging from the climbing axe, slowly slipping as Luke caught his other hand, reaching down and started dragging him up, only for blood to suddenly cascaded his vision for a split second as Gale yelled in pain, a bullet piercing his shoulder, dangerously close to his chest as Luke pulled him up, his arm around his neck as he pushed forward until Luke and Gale stopped, skidding to the end of an apartment building with only the street before them.
“Fuck, I thought there’d be a lower building,” muttered Luke as he turned, only a handful of the Ashes left behind and an injured Gale who was already looking weak, blood trailing down his back and staining his shirt, Luke watched as the familiar man, ‘Fang’, as he was called approach, fire blazing around him and onto the rooftop.
“It’s the end of the line, asshole! You fucking burned our boat when we were being reasonable,” growled Fang. Luke slowly put Gale down, his sword clutched in his hands, as a ball of water covered the other. It was fire that dashed at him first, realising that most of the men were likely out of bullets as he dodged to the side, watching the snow converge into one point, almost sucked like the wind drifted it there towards his hand as he sprayed water over the fire near him and Gale before rushing forward, his sword piercing one of the men who were expected to shoot.
The man, Fang, had a dagger in his hand that was slick with some sort of thick substance as he came at Luke, swiping at him as steel met each other, Luke jumping backwards and dodging to the side, yet stabbed at the shoulder blade from another one of the Ashes from behind before he turned and swiped at their neck, quickly having to take the blade out of his arm that dangled in front of him. He panted with his every breath, growing somewhat weary as he could see the blood trickle down, as he continued to be on the defensive he suddenly watched, backing up towards Gale as the fire continued to spread across the rooftop. Just as Luke slashed at another foe through the flames, he watched as Fang took the opportunity to strike ready to stab him before suddenly, as if gravity itself shifted, a lurching sensation filled the air as Luke and Gale and all the denizens upon the rooftop fell, as flames licked against crumbling stone, Luke fell back down, watching Gale fall with him, staring up at the open sky and his bloodied arm as he continued to fall; the rooftop collapsed, and flames smeared across the city rooftop like blood on the skyline.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 15, 2017 23:59:48 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER NINE: ONLY CLOSER TO DEATH - Crumbling rock was all around as Luke felt the air beaten out of him as his back battered the fallen ground, open air letting snow trickle down onto his brow. His vision bleary and black at best before the colours of the world faded in, slowly rekindled to the visage of Gale and the fire that surrounded him casting a hellish heat in the room they were in. The walls had broken down the once humble abode that was this comforting home, that kept its inhabitants from fire and snow. Now, Luke grimaced as he rose, the blade still clutched in his hand though loose and limp was his stature as he felt bones pop and crack as he stretched, realigning himself with the correct stance. He needed to focus, now more than ever, and despite the wild winds that swept the white flakes and black ashes through the open air of the broken wall, he could see the figure of Ashes and their leader fast approaching.
Before he knew it, Luke had to duck to avoid the swing of the knife that dripped with an odd and thick liquid that coated the steel, Gale was murmuring in the background, hard to hear over the sound of fire and bullets that began to fire. Luke quickly rushed over to Gale, as he could feel the presence of the Ashes fast approaching, ready to reload and fire again from the few shots that barely grazed both him and their crazed leader, Fang.
Words couldn’t express what Luke was even thinking of doing, feeling the blade on his back in its rightful place as he carried Gale with much of his effort and found himself jumping out of the opening in the wall, loose brick and stone falling with their flight as he felt himself stay close to the wall, his climbing axe in hand as he plunged it into brick. It didn’t stop, it barely slowed them down as the edge of the axe grinded against the wall, feeling both he and Gale continuing to fall, starting to slow down ever so slightly as they trickled down the edge of the building before finally Luke let go. They fell five feet down onto the ground with the young boy who had still been shot, blood seeping onto the ground.
“Let’s go!” cried a familiar voice, the sound of a car horn filling the air over the rambunctious rattling of curses, bullets, and fire from above, Sail and Hawk were in the front seat, as Luke placed Gale’s arm over his shoulder, almost limping from the heavy weight as they tried to get to the car, stuffing themselves into the back immediately and barely closing the door as the window was smashed from the spray of bullets striking the side.
“Drive!” cried Luke as the car began to jet down the street, almost causing him to fall as he struggled to keep Gale upright, looking at his wound and seeing the bullet embedded in his chest.
And so with it, through all his effort, he now found himself being shot at in the back of a car with three people who may as well have been strangers, the strangest bleeding out on his lap. He watched with bated breath as the car seemed to stream out of the city streets, heading towards greener pastures as they headed towards the outskirts of the city. Luke realized through it all, they were all only closer to death.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 16, 2017 0:02:33 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER TEN: HOME SWEET HOME - The car ride took a dangerous turn both figuratively and literally as Sail continued to allow the car to keep skidding through the corners, to continue racing down the roads as Luke cringed at the thought that they would be stopped by police, blood in the backseat from the bleeding boy who had been sprawled halfway over Luke’s lap as he tried to stop the bleeding.
“The bleeding has slowed down, but we won’t get to Oberon at all if you keep speeding, slow down,” started Luke as he turned to see little to no cars in sight by this point of the city, now in the lowly neighborhoods as they started to head towards the outskirts. “They’re not following us.” Sail simply glanced at Luke in the rear-view mirror, catching his gaze as he exchanged a worrisome look before starting to slow down. One of the last roads heading outside the city now making itself clear. Silence swallowed them all, as they could neither look nor care for the homes that were at their side, the people who would sometimes glance at them or the sounds of Gale’s low whimpers of pain, one of them cursed at a time, mostly Luke as he continued to try and keep pressure on the wound, feeling the blood on his hand tempting him to slip.
“What the hell just happened?” declared Hawk, his face no longer in his hands as he glanced at Sail. Sail simply kept his eyes on the road, continuing the solemn drive ‘home.’
“What happened is we got ourselves in a shitshow and now we’re getting out of it,” confided Luke as he pressed down harder against Gale. He had torn off some of the boy’s shirt to wrap itself around the wound, only after checking the bullet had gone through. However it barely stopped the bleeding if anything and now he had to press both hands down as a barely conscious Gale was growing paler and paler by the moment. “How close are we?”
“We should be getting there soon,” mentioned Sail as he continued to drive, it was only after a few minutes where time seemed to eclipse everything, as they counted the minutes, the seconds, preparing for everything before “We’re going to have to walk the rest of the way, it should be quick.” The moment they all stepped out of the car, slamming its doors, they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere a distant way from the city as Luke let Gale rest on him, giving Hawk a worried look. The four of them set themselves on their path, walking as quickly as they could under such circumstances.
“Gale?” Luke was worried, weighed down by the boy as he tried to walk quickly, looking at the half-conscious Gale as he slowly rose his head as confused mutters slowly made their way out. “We’ll be there soon.” Luke sighed as he glanced up to see it, Oberon. The munitions factory turned into the home of heroes, large and imposing in its size yet abandoned with a makeshift fence and gates through some odd repairs from its previous incarnation. A sniper could be seen on the balcony before the gun was raised, calls starting to make their way through the icy air as snow continued to drift down, the outskirts of Heartania, the green fields that Luke never thought of touching before, were covered in a blanket of snow. They continued to walk through the wild winds before the shouts grew louder, the gates being opened by two men in long coats and gloves, pulling them open with rope as they all walked inside the large steel doors.
*
“What’s going on?”
"You're covered in blood!"
“Is everyone okay?”
“Where were you all?”
“Sail, I-”
“Worried as hell!”
“It’s okay!”
“Who is he?”
“What happened?”
“Hunter, who is he?”
“Will someone-” “Enough!” The voice of Smoke rose through the air and caused everybody to freeze in place as Luke managed with the weight of Gale. “Someone get this kid to our doctors, the rest of us will come to my room, now!” Smoke immediately started to walk away as a man came and took Gale away from Luke, watching as the boy fainted once more, blood dripping before one of them put pressure onto the wound, still leaving behind a trail, a trail Luke was worried made its way into the snow outside. It was that before he started to find himself dragged towards the a large room that oversaw the main floor, where the supervisors would be in this factory and now had been recreated as an office of sorts.
“So, does someone mind telling me what the hell happened?” Bolt was the first to speak, commanding in every way, dressed in a casual sweatshirt she stood next to Smoke, the leader, similarly dressed for the winter weather he was a rough man, tall and strong but weather beaten skin who had seen some worser days in the city. Echo joined the room, striding with a hair that was dyed with blue and red highlights, she stood close to a bloodied and tired Sail, protective of him, just like an older sister should be, just like Lilly. Cyber and Scope were last to join them, Scope having the tied back hidden underneath a cap as Cyber smiled, his cybernetic body appearing normal, almost as if he was a human, though there was just the odd tint that showed otherwise. All of them piled together into the room, as Bolt waited.
“We were on the ship when we got attacked, that kid, Gale, came asking for our help, and before we knew it, they had us tied, blinded on their ship,” Hawk started, the others were looking perturbed glancing at one another, not realising how serious this situation just was. “When we got off the ship, it was a bloodbath, they chased us and we got separated from Luke and Gale.” All eyes were on Luke, still covered in blood as he glanced at the others, before realizing.
“Oh, right. Yeah, we were on the rooftop, we got chased before the roof collapsed and Sail saved us, we took off in a car and drove here,” explained Luke.
“Well, great. Fantastic,” snapped Bolt. “Who are these people?”
“They call themselves The Ashes, I met their leader and for the most part I think they’re just superhumans but they’re strong,” exclaimed Luke sharply, glancing around, unappreciative of the silence in the room.
“So what are we going to do?” asked Scope, stepping forward, sweat upon their brow as they looked around nervously towards the small group.
“Well, Hunter this sounds suspicious,” started Echo. “Why did you get to meet who was their leader? How did you get separated?”
“I don’t know! He didn’t seem to know me and wasn’t even mad when I…” Luke’s voice seemed to break off into a murmur, causing Echo and a few others to raise an eyebrow.” I shot some of them when they started to get close.”
“Why the hell did you think that was a good idea?” questioned Bolt.
“What would you have me, do? Their ship was coming right for us and was going to knock it into the water,” justified Luke, furrowing his brows.
“You should have sailed away! The last thing you needed to do is start shooting, no wonder they wanted to kill you all!” cried Bolt, now glaring at Sail and Hawk both of whom looked guilty.
“Sooner or later, we’re going to have to do something,” Cyborg spoke up, his voice had a steely edge to it, almost lower in a non-human way. “I’ve never heard of these people but maybe-” Then the sound of static flooded the room, the radio that was on Smoke’s desk started coming to life as an odd fading voice started speaking.
“Found it,” a voice boomed in between the static as the others exchanged worrisome looks.
“Right, here’s what we’re going to do. Scope can you go take first watch, I’ll come with you after. We keep someone on watch as usual, is there any way they could track us?” questioned Smoke.
“Gale was bleeding a lot, he might have left a trail,” said Hawk.
“He might, or he did?” questioned Smoke, Hawk shuffled uncomfortably.
“He did, I saw it, I tried to cover some of it up when we were walking,” answered Luke, Smoke nodded.
“It’s settled, we keep on watch. I’ll send someone to cover the trail the best we can, and we sit tight and wait, I don’t want anyone to worry but the moment we see anything, then we get ready. Stay on alert people,” declared Smoke as the others nodded, piling out of the room one by one. Luke wondered as he wandered down the stairs from the office, if this ordeal was his fault, knowing it couldn’t have been and without him, there would just be a dead Hawk and a scared Sail possibly leading the way, or maybe they would never have been caught to begin with. He shook his head, glancing around at his new abode. Oberon had been a place which took him in after the madness that was Acchilleus, and now to see people walking and conversing around, safely, without tension, it was nice; home sweet home.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 17, 2017 14:41:24 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER ELEVEN: GALE - Luke glanced at the simplicity of Oberon, watching all the other members begin to walk through the large room that used to house shelves and runways for machinery, now most of it dormant or missing as the large and well lit hall was decorated with Christmas decorations. A stream of colour strung up across the walls as people talked and enjoyed themselves, as Luke walked through the groupings, the faces that faded into vision starting to become familiar as they leaned, relaxed in seats around tables , laughing, humble, happy. It was odd, a cathartic experience almost in his mind to see people so happy after seeing others so bloodthirsty and bloody.
“Hunter!” The familiar deep voice of Scope cried out, causing Luke to spin on his heels. He never told anybody here his name, usually people don't unless they were close, seeing as they were all heroes, they had their own names and their own creed. Luke started to walk towards the tall and thin form of Scope, a rifle perched in his hands as he was chewing gum, smiling to Luke as Cyber stepped out from behind. Both of whom were stood in front of the door to an office on the ground floor, remade now as the “medical bay”. “Hey, I just wanted to check on how you were doing.” Luke gave a weak smile.
“I’ve been better, usually fiery mercenaries and being shot at was a daily routine,” joked Luke, crossing his arms. “Not that I enjoy it, especially now.” Cyber looked slightly saddened.
“Yeah, sorry to hear that,” Cyber’s robotic voice sounded out. “Usually we’ve had troublemakers but nothing like this.” A smirk grew on Scope’s face, as he raised an eyebrow at Cyber.
“Do you remember Steelport?” He laughed. Cyber looked almost as if he was planning to punch Scope but then reconsidered.
“I’d rather not,” Cyber’s laugh sounded somewhat odd with his metallic tone.
“Anyway, I know Echo and the rest of us appreciate Sail and the rest of you guys coming home safe,” said Scope, glancing behind him. “I’m worried about the kid though, he isn’t really trusting the doctors.” Luke peered inside, a slither of the room being revealed through the ajar door.
“I get it, thanks,” replied Luke as he walked by into the room, watching as Gale sat down, despondent on a desk, his breathing tired and laboured as he was left alone in the room, his shirt hanging loosely onto his body as his stomach was bandaged. “You’re looking better.”
“Thanks,” exclaimed Gale, avoiding eye contact as if he didn’t even notice Luke came into the room. Luke sighed, as he took a nearby clean rag.
“Hold your head up,” ordered Luke as he watched Gale comply, starting to wipe some of the blood from his face, glancing around at some of the bruises. “These cuts and bruises will hurt for now, but they’ll heal soon.” Gale simply looked at him.
“Thank you, really, for everything,” replied Gale. “I’m sorry, I’ve just been shocked after...everything.” Luke was silent, continuing to try and lightly rub away the blood from Gale’s cuts as he heard him wince in pain. “It feels like you’ve done this before.” Luke had a small smile.
“Yeah…”
“And the way you were beating them on the roof and shooting at them on the boat. I didn’t realise you guys were superhuman,” admitted Gale.
“Aren’t you happy that we are?” asked Luke, as he started to deal with the blood that was on Gale’s arms, noticing a lot of older cuts as he glanced worriedly at the boy.
“I guess so,” said Gale. “I can’t believe you do stuff like this.” Luke paused for a moment before continuing, sighing as he recalled a lot of moments which he regretted. The Vipers, the time he spent in the stadium or in The Citadel, the Insurgency of Acchilleus, waves and waves of memories came crashing in his mind all of which threatened to drag him down and drown him.
“I can’t either,” agreed Luke. It was only after a while, that Luke checked the rest of Gale. “Well those doctors are good, you should be okay. If you ever want to...talk or anything…” Gale simply nodded, and with that Luke gave a smile as he left the rag on the table and left the room.
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Post by iCaramelBird on Apr 20, 2017 22:02:17 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER TWELVE: SWEET SISTER OF MINE - “Hunter!” Echo’s voice called out over the conversations that bubbled among the multiple people, seeing the bright haired slender woman so close to Sail who looked so short in comparison, her arm wrapped around his shoulder. The way Echo still glanced at him with some disdain, she had always seemingly had some problem with him ever since he stumbled his way into Oberon. But at the same time, he had learned to forgive and forget, in one way or another, not like he had much choice. As he walked over, he could see Echo’s arm rubbing Sail’s shoulder, comforting him, reminding him of Lilly.
“Hey Hunter,” Sail’s voice seemed despondent as if he wasn’t really here, his eyes were unfocused, staring at the ground as Luke could still see the patches of blood that stained his skin.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” started Echo as she glanced down sadly at Sail, still rubbing at his shoulder. “Sail told me what happened and I shouldn’t have pinned the blame on you - it wasn’t fair. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Luke nodded.
“It’s okay,” replied Luke, not really knowing what else to say, he knew that the others would obviously be worried and tensions were high when it would come to bringing in a bleeding boy when the last time they saw them, they were all excited for what they thought to be a simple sailing trip. Echo sighed.
“It’s just this isn’t the first time we’ve had this scare before, losing each other, it’s the one thing I’m scared of since coming here,” admitted Echo, a silent Sail seemed to slowly break free of her grip as he simply glanced around at the others, the streamline of happier conversations behind them. Luke nodded again.
“I understand, it was the same for me and my- my sister,” Luke furrowed his brows slightly. He never realised it was still so hard to speak about her after all this time, though not much time had passed and maybe it was the way she fell or the finality of it all. But Luke knew there was no coming back, not now, not ever - and without James, he was still alone. It was the Outsiders that saved him from himself, Luke pondered.
“Where is she now?” Sail glanced up, staring at Luke as he awaited an answer.
“She’s gone.”
“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” gasped Echo, for the first time Luke saw her look genuinely saddened. Whereas before he could perceive mostly anger and some sort of betrayal when it concerned Sail’s safety, almost as if she was looking for someone else to blame. Here, her warm eyes glistened and her lips trembled, if only for a moment. Luke couldn’t help but feel the world around him blur as he took in this visage for the first and hopefully only time, almost as if his powers seized him, itching to be used once again after such a short time already, putting him on edge. “Hunter? Hey, Hunter?” The snapping of fingers brought Luke back into warm reality, blinking his eyes fluttered up to meet Echo’s. “Hey, you just blacked out there for a second. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure, everything’s fine,” lied Luke. “I think I’m gonna check on how they’re doing on watch, I’m probably just worried.” Echo just nodded with understanding, as Luke gave a small smile to both her and Sail before starting to walk away. He hadn’t thought of Lilly in a long time, or at least it felt like a long time, and the memories resurfacing made him feel dissociated from reality, from everything, it all felt like a warped dream to distract his idle mind. All the Outsiders didn’t feel like people, their skin was porcelain and their eyes were glass, peeking into a vision of nothing, or what seemed like nothing, but Luke knew that wasn’t true. His mind was playing tricks on him again.
Tricks won’t stop me, Luke thought. Not now, not even for you sweet sister of mine.
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Post by iCaramelBird on May 7, 2017 3:13:11 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER THIRTEEN: EYES SEE YOU - Wind swept through skin allowing goosebumps to spring up on Luke’s arms as he started to walk up the stairs, working his way towards the balcony where he could see the black and bobbing hair of Bolt and the laughing visage of Smoke next to her, leaning with his back against the rails. The both of them laughing, as their eyes lingered on one another, their arms touching, as they continued to watch the snow fall into the fields. A walkie talkie buzzed to life in Smoke’s hand as they all looked down suddenly, a crackling voice sounding out.
“We should be...can...have to take a shot at this...We...” The voice sounded out, weak and dispersed amongst the static and wild winds that seemed to distort the sound around them. Both their eyes raised to meet Luke’s who stood in the open doorway.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got someone out there covering the tracks,” started Smoke as he gave a lukewarm smile.
“We’ll be ready for them if they come here,” said Bolt sharply.
“Okay calm down Rambo,” chuckled Smoke. “How are you doing, Hunter?” He turned as Luke joined them on the balcony, watching the white fields that only had minuscule footprints in the snow.
“I’m okay, thanks,” smiled Luke, as he glanced at the others. “Is everything okay?”
“No, but when were we ever really okay?” joked Smoke. His hands gripped tightly on the railings, as he glanced out into the fields. His eyes traced the treelines and for a moment, everything in the world seemed to stand still, everything blurring out as he seemed to focus on in his own world. “No matter what, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost this place.”
“Yeah, I kinda thought about that too,” said Luke, gazing at the city in the far distance, the tall buildings that he were once perched on for different reasons over the years. He had a weak smile as he wondered what was happening in Heartania, how everything was doing, but most of all, he hoped that the city was still pinching on to the small benefit of peace that it had managed to attain after Acchilleus and the scorching scars he left behind. “I was with a...community I guess of people. We were all homeless but we had each other. Not that it really worked out.” Luke recalled the denizens that they stayed in, the people that they were with, even the decayed body that he slept close to on the one night everything seemed to go wrong.
“What happened?” asked Bolt, glancing at Luke.
“They’re gone,” explained Luke.
“Sorry to hear that,” replied Smoke, he sighed. “We’ve all lost people. I guess that’s the cost of people like us, heroes, superhumans, whatever they call us.” Bolt nodded.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about all of this, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, we were just attacked and-”
“Stop, it’s okay,” interrupted Bolt. Luke looked at her surprisingly, as she simply gazed back at him with a serious look. “What’s done is done, whether or not it’s your fault isn’t important right now. We just have to be on the lookout for a few days and make sure everyone is alright. Until then, stop blaming yourself.” Bolt stood from leaning on the railing, stretching slightly. “It isn’t helping any of us.” With that, she simply wandered away, stepping back inside and disappearing in her descent downstairs.
“She’s right, you know,” commented Smoke. Luke nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, I guess she is,” admitted Luke. “I think I should head back inside.” Luke smiled, shivering slightly as he started to walk back towards the doorway.
“Hunter,” said Smoke. Luke spun on his heels, turning to look at the man who was no longer focused on the outside world, glancing down with one hand on the balcony and the snow sweeping behind him.
“Yeah?” responded Luke.
“Just - take care of yourself,” advised Smoke, his stern expression softening slightly. “We’ve had people like you come before, and some have stayed, others have gone their own way. I don’t know much about you, or what you’re planning. But over here, the only advice I usually end up giving is that, take care of yourself.” Smoke paused for a moment, gauging Luke’s reaction who seemed to follow his words, staying neutral and thin-lipped, not saying a word as he paid attention. “The next few days are going to be intense and I just want you to know that-”
Smoke’s eye blew up in a vitriolic spray of blood and flesh, his mouth hung open as chunks of his head collapsed along with the loud sound of a thunderous boom in the air, his other eye grew hazy and unfocused as the colour drained from it, no longer fixated on Luke but almost seeing through him.
And with that, he collapsed as the blood spread over the tiled floor, the walkie talkie falling from his clutches and sliding to Luke’s feet as he stood, horrified, bleeding and behind the standing body was the treeline where a glint of light could be seen. And one lone voice sounded out in that moment.
“I see you.”
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Post by iCaramelBird on May 8, 2017 1:49:11 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A SEA OF ASHES - Time froze in that very moment, in the glacier world of Heartania and all its surroundings, the snow stilled, the wind paused, and the blood failed to drop. The falling body of Smoke, his eyes either blood ridden or forsaken slowly fell, descending only to never rise once again. His breath was preserved in the air, the last wisps of whatever life he had before recklessly being dragged out of him was in front of Luke. His mind forced him to confront the short shimmer of light, the glint of the rifle that hid in the trees and as everything restored itself back to whatever fragments of normality was left in this icy world, Luke ducked out of the way, rushing downstairs as he could feel a bullet whizz by him.
“What the fuck is going on?” cried a voice, only to see Scope, blonde hairs falling from his hat to the front of his face. Luke looked at the gathering crowd of people all turned from their conversations, now perturbed as they looked up to see him bloodied. His breath got away from him, trying to confront what happened didn’t have telling the others what happened in mind but Luke braced himself.
“Smoke has been shot! Someone is attacking, we have to check the doors! Who’s on watch?” shouted Luke at the denizens of people, all glancing at one another quickly as they started to get up, a stream of panic as everyone rushed to their rooms, gathered their weapons, speaking to one another in hushed whispers.
“Oh my god. No...No!” cried Bolt, as she looked around, horrified as she glanced around. “Bloodline was on lookout! He was helping cover up the-” Bolt started. However, she stopped and stood, as the sound of bludgeoning metal echoed throughout the large hall. People close to the buckling metal frame of the double doors slowly backed away as everyone simply stared on in fear. “Everyone...get back.” Bolt warned, the people scurrying behind her as Scope and Cyber crept further out of the shadows, standing close to them, even the bloodied Luke who had descended the stairs and watched the door. He unsheathed his sword, and in that moment, all hell broke loose.
Through the double doors, four men clad in black and orange burst into the large halls, fire jetting out of their hands as they scorched men and women alive who faltered and fell at the hands of their infernal reckoning. Scope leapt into action, immediately shooting at them as Bolt rushed forward with her crossbow in hand, materializing from nothingness and now in her hands.
“We found i-” shouted Fang before the walkie-talkie in his hand cascaded with static and fell forward as bullets whizzed by.
As a masked man with a ball of fire in his hands came rushing to Luke, a stream of metal suddenly smashed into the man’s head as Luke realised a walkie-talkie had flung across the room, hard enough to cave the man’s head. Cyber nodded to Luke as he continued forward, watching Bolt shoot at another, the bolt of her crossbow piercing another man’s neck.
Fang skidded to a halt in front of Luke, grinning as he held a dagger in one hand, and fire in another.
Luke dodged the first swing as the butt of his sword struck Fang in the chest, knocking the man back, as he came to kick him, his foot was grabbed and pushed away as Luke swung at him with his sword. It sliced through the air, barely managing to cut some of the short hairs on Fang’s head as he ducked down, swiping at Luke’s legs as he barely managed to back away, using the weight of the swing to help his momentum.
They continued, swinging and striking, at one point Luke sliced through Fang’s chest with the sword, tearing through the leather as Fang cut Luke’s arm, not once but twice. Luke tried to remember Lilly’s lessons and his training, hearing multiple voices command him through the fight, almost distracting and overwhelming him at the same time as he tried to focus on Fang’s movements.
They continued, the edge of Luke’s sword and the brunt of Fang’s dagger slicing and colliding with one another over and over again as fire swept by before Luke butted the man’s nose in with the sword, blood dripping down his face as he kicked him in the chest and watched him fall to the floor. Before he could even think of getting back up, the edge of the sword was at his chest. The others circled him, the
“So, what are we going to do with him?” asked Scope, the others exchanged looks.
*
In only a few moments, the group found themselves now all huddled together, “Fang” as Luke introduced him to the others was tied down in a chair, with the most rope they could find, which wasn’t much. The others circled him, glancing down at the disgraced and disgruntled mercenary as all was quiet. Scope was on the balcony, now on watch as the walkie-talkie remained away from the group.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” asked Bolt, stepping up to the man, glaring down at him with a fury that Luke and from the reactions of the others, none of them had seen before.
“Hunter,” Luke heard a soft voice, whispering closely as he glanced to see Gale beside him. The shoutings in the background starting to blur out of reality despite Luke’s need to pay attention. “What’s going on? Are they gonna find us?” Luke shook his head.
“No, don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” murmured Luke, trying to give Gale his most reassuring smile, however weak it was as he looked back at the perturbed Fang.
“You don’t get it, do you? Your people fucked us over, and it’s your fault. We just want what we’re owed, but now…” Fang seemed to pause, smiling at the people surrounding him. Hunter, Gale, Bolt, Cyber, Echo, Sail and Hawk, all glancing down at the man as the other Outsiders lingered on, or cleaning up, continuing to speak to one another in broken voices. Bolt seemed to be the one to who started to guide the group away, ebbing them together.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Echo, crossing her arms as she took one glance at Fang who seemed to be smiling at them all, as if he knew something else, something more malicious and meticulous than they could ever imagine.
“I don’t know, we could maybe try and do a trade,” started Hawk. Bolt raised an eyebrow.
“A trade?” questioned Bolt.
“Yeah, we could always just give him back to the group in exchange for them just leaving us alone. Too much blood has been spilled already,” explained Hawk, some murmurs of agreement emanating from the group.
“It sounds good,” commented Echo, nodding in agreement as she glanced to gauge the thoughts of the others.
“What about me?” asked Gale, stepping forward. “I’m sorry so much has happened, but they’ll be wanting me back.”
“After everything that’s happened, we could easily blame you for what happened,” mused Bolt.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” declared Sail.
“Sa-” started Echo.
“No,” interrupted Sail. “This was all just a big misunderstanding and what’s happened has happened. “And he’s right, they’re just going to come asking for him too and we don’t know what’ll happen. These people are dangerous.” Luke and Sail both glanced at each other for a time, before Luke nodded in agreement.
“He’s right,” said Hunter. “I don’t trust them anyway. When I was on their ship, their leader, he calls himself Li or The Dragon. He told me he wanted some weapons, a pay for killing his men. We can’t trust these people.” Luke glanced at Gale. “But Gale, you’re going to have to tell everyone how exactly you got into this mess. We can’t all agree on this if we don’t know what happened.” Gale sighed.
“I was with a group of guys before in Scarlet City and...Then they came, took over and basically forced me to join them or die. I didn’t have a choice!” explained Gale, he shifted slightly feeling uncomfortable as if he was waiting for someone to say something, anything. But there was a silence that overtook everything. “And...I tried to get away, a lot, but they kept dragging me back. If I go back to them, they’re going to kill me.”
“And if they don’t give you back, we’ll kill all of you!” warned Fang, only a select few taking the time to look over their shoulders at the man, none noticing how his demeanour seemed to change. “In fact, why wait?”
A storm of fire suddenly surrounded them all, every one of them ducking out of the way as screams of pain and shock soared through the air. Luke looked up from the ground to see Fang tackle the buckling stature of Sail, his fingers pressing against the man’s eyes as Sail wailed in agony, his body trying to push the man away. It was only then that the sound of a gun cut through the air, Sail’s screams dying down almost instantly as Fang collapsed, his grip on Sail eased, and with the bullet now lodged in his bleeding head, he collapsed to the ground, the hint of a smile on his face before it relaxed as life ebbed away from him. Sail was still breathing, heavy, and scared, whimpers and whispers coming from him as everyone got up, slowly making their way to the collapsed man.
“Sail?” Echo, the one with the gun in her hand, slowly walked up to her brother who was coiled on the ground, hugging his own knees as he shivered and he shaked. “Sail, it’s me. Are you okay?” Sail shook his head, slowly turning to reveal himself out of the shadow, and where there were once bright blue eyes, now there was nothing, empty holes where ash slowly trickled down his face like tears.
“Oh my god,” breathed Scope, who now looked down at the ground from the stairs. “I came here when I heard the screaming and…” Luke glanced up at her and then at the chair where Fang once sat, the rope at his feet and some of it black and burnt.
“Get back on watch, quickly!” commanded Bolt, Scope nodded quickly rushing away as Bolt slowly walked towards Echo, now hugging the blinded Sail as the sound of trickling ash could be heard with every movement. “Echo...I’m so sorry, I…”
“Stop! Please, just...stop!” snapped Echo as she glanced up at Bolt, tears in her eyes as she hugged Sail, the two of them comforting each other on the ground as Luke blinked, for a moment the room becoming an icy vestige of nothingness, mist replacing the walls and himself in Echo’s place hugging the dead and broken form of her sister, like Sail’s eyes, now lifeless.
“Fang!” A voice cried out, and Luke turned, blinking once more as reality came back to him, he was back, with the Outsiders in Oberon, with a blinded Sail and broken Echo and a dead body at both their feet. He felt sick as he walked up towards the walkie-talkie, picking it up whilst everyone else tried to reel away from the panic and pain of the situation in their own mind. “Fang! You’ve got ten seconds to tell me what the hell happened or I’m storming down that place right this second and getting you! Do you hear me? Fang!”
The others now looked at Luke as he stood there with the walkie-talkie in his hand, and he glanced at them.
He held the button down, bringing it closer to his mouth.
“It’s Hunter,” said Luke, as he steeled himself, furrowing his brows slightly. “Let’s talk.”
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Post by iCaramelBird on May 8, 2017 4:22:12 GMT
LEAD NO SHELTER - CHAPTER FIFTEEN: AN EYE FOR AN EYE - “Hunter?” The voice sounded, calmer, but at the same time more alert and suspicious, an aggressive tone just oozing from the very word itself, as Sail’s whimpers and the hysteria of the group around him died down ever so slightly. Bolt simply looked at Luke and nodded, as Luke’s fingers pressed down on the button of the walkie-talkie, static sounding to life once again. “Where’s Fang? He went forward and hasn’t reported in. I know he’s found it. If you’ve hurt him or any of my men, then we’ll be storming that place at a moment’s notice.” The familiar voice of Li warned.
“Your guys are gone. We had to kill them, they tried to kill us. But...” Luke paused as he glanced at the corpse of the older man known as Fang, his grey hair now messy and his muscular body covered in blood that dripped down from the hole carved into his head. “He’s alive. We have him tied up and gagged.”
“That man is like a son to me, and you better not hurt him,” warned Li. Luke sighed.
“We’re not planning on doing anything, we just want to clear the air and talk things out, we just want you to leave us alone,” announced Luke, the others slowly nodded in agreement, watching the conversation go on and hearing every word with bated breath.
“Well that is fine, if you hand over Fang...and Gale,” declared Xiang. Luke exchanged a saddened look with Gale before speaking.
“When I said us, I meant all of us, that means Gale. He’s with us, now,” replied Luke. There was a long pause, Bolt closed her eyes, muttering to herself as Cyber stared at Luke.
“You’re playing a dangerous game. Fine! I don’t see why this much time and men over some stupid boy, but fine,” snapped Li. “But we’ll do this exchange, one hostage for another.” Luke furrowed his brows, glancing around at the others, confused. They were all here, Scope was on watch.
“Other hostage?” questioned Luke. “What other hostage?”
“Luke,” A voice sounded out and Luke flinched, his finger no longer pressing on the walkie talkie as he took a deep breath, there was no doubt about it, that voice belonged to James. He sounded broken, unkempt, and worried from that word alone. “Luke, are you there?” Luke held up the walkie talkie, ignoring the somewhat shocked or confused looks from the Outsiders.
“I’m here,” said Luke. “James, what-” The sound of some struggle caused Luke to step forward, glancing down at the device in his hands, his heart thumping.
“So your name is Luke after all. Your friend seems to know a lot about you, maybe even a bit too much. I’ve had him since Scarlet City, the one that you and your people burned down,” noted Li. “So, there you have it. If you’ve done anything to Fang, then I will do it to your friend here too, do you understand? An eye for an eye.”
“Yes,” replied Luke. “Look for the abandoned munitions factory outside of Northridge Valley, you can’t miss it, big building with a fence around it.”
“We’ll be there in an hour, and Luke, make sure to make good of our promise before, on the ship,” informed Li. Luke let go of the button, breathing a sigh of ragged relief though it felt undeserved. He didn’t know how or why or if James was even there, but from the looks of the others, the worried and scared expressions of them all, they didn’t know what they were dealing with. Luke walked over to Fang as he pocketed the walkie talkie, and slowly started dragging up the body towards the chair.
“Lu- Hunter, what are we going to do?” asked Gale. Luke stopped for a moment, before glaring up at him.
“What are we going to do?” repeated Luke sharply. “How about what you explain to me, why the hell you never told us there was someone else that was a hostage on board the ship?” Luke glared at Gale. “After I just defended you, after I told the that you were one of us!” Gale flinched, as the others were silent, even Echo now glanced at the both of them as Luke continued to slowly drag Fang’s body.
“I’m sorry, we met in Scarlet City and I thought they killed him,” admitted Gale. “So much happened, I just didn’t know anything that was going on. I’m so sorry.”
“Who was that on the radio?” questioned Bolt. Luke sighed.
“He’s just someone’s who’s close to me and I’d appreciate it, if we got him back safely,” replied Luke as he continued dragging the body.
“Okay, what are we going to do?” asked Echo as she continued to console the murmuring and whimpering Sail, the sound of the trickling ashes slowing down and growing more quiet.
Luke plopped the dead body of Fang onto the seat, tying his hands with what little rope was left before covering his face with a nearby paper bag.
“We plan for the inevitable,” said Luke.
“And what’s that?” asked Bolt. Luke turned to the others.
“We fight," answered Luke. "They're villains, we're heroes. He said it himself; an eye for an eye."
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