Losan shot the second man he’d knocked down, then turned his attention to Vanaka.
“You are bleeding.”
Vanaka looked at her cut arm and experimented with clenching her fist tightly.
“It’s... it’s nothing,” she replied, and couldn’t help but notice how high her voice was. “Really. I’ll heal.”
“They were following us,” Losan said, as he collapsed his baton and put it back in its sheath. “They split up as we entered the tunnel, hurrying each way. It could only mean one thing.”
“W-well done,” Vanaka said and put her good arm around his shoulders. He reflexively exposed his neck for a bite, but she kissed him instead. “Well done.”
She stepped away and let out a sharp exhale in an ongoing effort to regain control of herself.
“This was no mugging,” he told her meaningfully.
“No. N-no.”
She looked around. There were still no other people in sight, and no voices nor police alarms. It seemed reasonable to assume that this location for the ambush had been chosen well.
“Stand watch,” she said, and grabbed the first man Losan had stunned. His weight was nothing to her, and she dragged him into the poorly-lit tunnel like an empty bag. He groaned as she put him on his back. Losan took up position outside the entrance and Vanaka ripped the man’s shirt collar away.
She plunged her fangs in with no preamble. There was an unpleasant tang to the man’s blood; hints of dangerous substances and less than stellar health. But she didn’t care. She drank greedily at first to replace the blood that was oozing out of her arm, then slowed down a bit. The lessons that had been hammered into her all throughout childhood until they’d become instinct wanted her to slow down even more. She was always to be careful with this, never to take too much from a single person. Bloodless corpses put her entire kin at risk, aside from just being evil. Fighting that kind of instinct was an awful feeling, but she needed to get a whole lot of her venom into this man, and she needed to do it fast.
Finally she withdrew and let the bastard recover a little bit before speaking.
“Why did you attack us?” she demanded, foregoing the usual sweet whisper for a harsh hiss. “Why?”
“Hired,” he mumbled deliriously. “They... hired a bunch of... us to hit that hideout.”
“Hideout?” Vanaka repeated, and felt a pit open in her already upset stomach.
“We... saw you leave,” he went on. “What did you do to me?”
“I did nothing.”
“You did nothing.”
“You saw us leave?” she pressed him.
“A few of us followed. It was... we were supposed... to kill everyone. For the outfit.”
“Losan, call them!” Vanaka said. “Call the cell!”
She patted the confused man’s clothes until she found the hard bulge of a comm, and then fished it out and forced it into his hand.
“Turn yourself in,” she ordered him. “Turn yourself in to the police and admit to everything.”
She stood up. It seemed unlikely that a single bite could force him into such self-destructive action, even with her venom getting more potent with maturity, but one could hope. Vanaka turned to Losan, but before she could inquire about the call he was making a noise made her look to the left.
It was a machine-made wail, and preceded the appearance of one of the atmospheric flyers the local police used. It was armed, armoured, and just small enough to be able to weave in between the pillars at respectable speed, which was exactly what it did. The pilot either didn’t notice the scene by the entrance or chose to ignore it, continuing on in the direction of Pillar 99.
“No answer,” Losan said.
“Ahhh...” Vanaka said, and put both hands on the back of her head. “Ah, shit.”
She broke into a run, going back down the tunnel. Losan didn’t complain, though she suspected he wanted to. Vanaka took out her own comm and tried contacting Unta as she ran. It was an awkward thing to do while sprinting, and got her nothing at all. The other end was terribly silent. The air, however, was not. The wail got louder as they got closer to the flyer, and another one seemed to be converging on the first from another direction.
By the time the two of them reached the platforms of Pillar 97 they could glimpse two police vehicles outside of 99. One was hovering and disgorging officers. The other was circling, and Vanaka got the feeling that more vehicles were out of sight, perhaps all the way down on the streets.
“That’s it,” Losan said as he caught up with her by the rail. “We can’t do any good over there. Either they were killed in an attack or the cops have a lot of questions for them.”
“Warden Nara was with them,” Vanaka said. “I... I don’t believe it could have gone...”
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She looked around, up and down, and remembered something.
“The storage!” she then said, remembering a mention from one of the talks. “It’s right on this pillar, at ground level! That’s where they would go if something came up!”
She found the stairs leading to the platform down below and descended it in a series of jumps, then did the same with the second set of stairs, and finally rushed down to the ground. There was definitely ground-vehicle traffic, although out of sight at the moment. Fortunately it was also quite dark, and Vanaka put her hood up. She waited just long enough for Losan to catch up, then began running along the outside of the pillar. She had neglected to ask where exactly Unta’s rented storage was, but luck was with her and she hadn’t gone far before a hint of light shone on a group of people. It also caught on a long sword blade that was smeared with blood.
“Hey, it’s me!” she shouted, rather than risk being shot. “It’s me! Hello?!”
“Vanaka?” said Kiris, to her immense relief.
Vanaka came to an unpleasantly sudden stop before the group.
“What is... is everyone...”
Everyone was not alright, that much was clear. Hemut was injured and she thought she smelled burns, although he could stand with Reylo’s assistance. Klenna was less fortunate and her leg was bleeding from what seemed to be a dreadful cut. The Veroki woman was slung over Nara’s shoulder and held there with one hand, while the other gripped the sword.
“We were ambushed on the way!” Vanaka told them. “But we won!”
She glanced inside. Unta was pulling a tarpaulin off a decent-size groundroller car; a sturdy model that seemed to have been designed for wilderness travel.
“They attacked the apartment in force,” Kiris told her. “The Warden cut most of them down, but they had explosives. It was a mess.”
“Well, better get in since you’re here!” Unta said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “All that kerfuffle brought the police in force. We need-”
He was cut off by the sound of an engine coming around a small row of buildings that had been squeezed in between the pillars. It was a police car, and on top of a small platform stood four armoured officers. Only a moment behind them was one of the armoured atmosphere flyers.
“I think we may need a black card right now,” Unta said meaningfully.
“One of you take her,” Nara said to Vanaka and Losan, and Losan stepped forward. The Warden handed him the woman and he carried her towards the car. Reylo helped Hemut further into the storage and Kiris fell back as well. Vanaka pushed herself into a shadow that was close enough to observe as Nara sheathed her sword and approached the cops.
They stopped their vehicle. Those on the platform dismounted and more emerged from within. The flyer hung up above, shining a light down.
“You! Get out here! All of you!”
The agitated tension somewhat deflated from their bearing as they got a good look at Nara, but one did walk up to face her from an arm’s length away all the same.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked her in a tone that matched his words.
“We were attacked,” she told him evenly. “By agents of a human trafficking ring operating beneath your noses.”
“So you just killed them all?”
“I did most of it, yes.”
“I said step out!” he shouted over her shoulder at the Chainbreakers.
“What we did was self-defence,” Nara told him.
“Well, you all have a lot of questions to answer, and I SAID STEP OUT!”
“Human trafficking victims are being held within your jurisdiction. We know where. Either help us...”
Nara drew that Goronian club from her belt.
“... or stay out of the way.”
“You don’t tell me what to do!” the officer shouted, accentuating his words with a jabbed finger.
“Yes, I do.”
Her calm, determined manner seemed to shake his confidence a little, and the officer looked over his shoulder.
“Backup?” he asked.
“Coming any second,” a subordinate told him.
“You hear that?” the leader said to Nara. “You, all of you, are going to stand down, put down your weapons, and explain yourselves to a magistrate, and then we’ll look into your damn explanations!”
Nara turned her head.
“Go. Save those people. I will provide distraction.”
“You will-” was all that the officer got out before Nara jabbed him in the mouth with the stick. It was hardly a massive blow, just enough to cut his lip open and send him back a step, but she followed and jabbed him again. The other officers shouted and raised their guns. It was a terrifying sight, but all of the weapons failed to fire as Nara drew on that strange power of the Wardens.
“I will not kill any of you,” she said. “But I will teach you how weak you are. Perhaps it will lead to some humility.”
She thrust her palm out as if punching at the air, and the armoured car flipped over backwards. It landed with a loud bang and a cloud of dust. The surrounding officers scattered with a chorus of yelps.
“Perhaps you will be better for it.”
A couple of the officers had given up on their guns and drew batons. Nara rushed one and swung the stick into his leg, then rushed the other and broke the woman’s arm. Next she simply vanished from the spot, only to instantly reappear on top of the flyer. She smashed the searchlight, then stomped on the main gun hard enough to dislodge the barrel.
More cops were coming, and with that Vanaka had seen quite enough. She rushed into Unta’s vehicle by a door on the side of the main body, and slammed it shut behind her. Unta hit the acceleration like it had insulted him and the car blasted out of the storage. It lifted off its left-side wheels for a couple of seconds as he sent them into a sharp turn and then sped from the increasingly chaotic scene Nara was making.
“They’re going to know this attack failed,” Unta said. “And word of a Kalero Warden fighting the capital police is going to spread fast. The slavers are going to move that container off-world first chance they possibly can. Hell, they may even decide to just purge the whole lot, hunker down, and start over once things quiet down. So we’re hitting them now!”
To Vanaka’s great discomfort he took his eyes off the road to turn around and look at the rest of them.
“I know a place where we can drop Klenna and Hemut off to get treated. But then we need to head straight for Salss Fanru. Kiris, Vanaka, Losan, this may not be your thing but me and Reylo need you. Those people being held in a big metal box like animals for the slaughter need you!”
“Alright,” Kiris said. She wasn’t any more animated than usual, but there was a sharp cast to her face that made Vanaka take the woman seriously.
“Yes,” Vanaka said, because what else could she say? “Yes, we’ll...”
She looked at Losan.
“We’ll come along.”