Bell, Maze, and Toko rushed through the empty, abandoned, decrepit halls of the airport, as the reflection showed many things shattered and broken. Everything either looked mossy or waterlogged, and occasionally they saw a tree growing through the floor. The further they went, the more change they saw, although the incline was subtle. Still, it was clear this was no longer just a normal reflection, but something else.
"What is going on?"
Toko kept watch as he answered. "This sort of thing is normal for Reflections and Boundaries. It's the Veil, influencing them, blending our reality with its own. Taking root".
"...that sounds kind of creepy and terrifying".
"It is" Maze mentioned. "And it can also sometimes be an indicator of a powerful force at work as well".
"However, its also entirely normal as well. Especially with the dangerous ones. We just took you to the safer areas mainly cause, you know, bounty hunters and all".
As they talked, they were still running at full speed. Maze had used some sort of boosting adhesive to the boots, so they were able to go at a much faster speed. However, Toko was growing more and more concerned. He looked out of a window, which now showed this strange complex labyrinth of an airport that looked neither normal or physically possible. Hallways and terminals tilted and turned, stacked on top of each other. Compared to the original airport, it had to be at least four times as big now, and possibly growing even more.
"Its also something that happens when someone performs a ritual" Toko noted. "Depending on the ritual, and how its performed, it can have long lasting and reaching effects".
"Wait, do you mean mine..."
"No, if it was the Ritual Site, we would have noticed. You would have become a centerpoint. This is something else, something done here if I had to guess. And given the fact the change is still ongoing, its recent. Someone deliberately did this, and got that plane trapped. The question is why, and what is with all the resources? Airports are protected, and there is typically hell to pay for violating that. Something like this shouldn't happen, not without a lot of weight behind it. But it makes no sense to target the plane...especially since they don't even have your name, so they cant have your father's either".
"Unless, there was another reason to target the plane" Maze added. "But that is about all we can say for sure about this. Without more pieces and information, we cant put anything more together".
The conversation was then interrupted, as more corrupted security robots appeared. Bell quickly unleashed a powerful electrical attack to fry them, but others came in from behind. Goblis appeared as well, as well as something with two horns that held a large club, looked ugly as hell, and had red skin.
Maze deployed some sort of barrier by tossing a sphere onto the ground, and Toko quickly froze the new thing in its place.
"Ogre!"
"On it! Keep the small fry off me!" Maze shouted, as he brought his large rifle around and targeted the big guy. It began to charge up, Toko cut through a Gobli with his Clockhand Sword, and Bell used magic from the rear to cover them both. Anything got past Toko, and Bell turned it away or turned it to ash. Their formation was more refined now, and they had better teamwork even without the Golden Thread being active.
One security robot got behind Bell, but his dagger moved into the way and parried it, before slashing it to bits.
The Ogre managed to break free of the time stop, and charged at them, only for Maze to finish charging. He fired a power round right through it, carving a hole into its chest and blasting it backwards, defeating it. Maze then proceeded to help them deal with the others, but the other creatures and robots retreated on their own suddenly.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"It appears that someone is commanding them, or something. Perhaps the Ogre was keeping them together, but...this situation is too weird and abnormal. There might be something more that we have yet to find. We should keep looking, but...I definitely sense something up ahead" Toko mentioned. Maze pulled out his phone and confirmed as well, picking up magical readings ahead of them.
"It really is making no effort to keep themselves hidden at all" Maze muttered.
As they ran into the next room, they found themselves face to face with something rather abnormal. Corpses, a lot of corpses. It was truly a massive amount of them, and all of them had apparently been skewered, bitten, or turned to stone.
"...we should leave" Maze muttered.
Toko shook his head. "But I doubt we can. This place is shifting around, and the enemy still has the plane".
"...the plane. There must be something on the plane! Something they don't want getting off of it!" Maze shouted. "Of course. If it is something too powerful or strong, something they feared, then perhaps its the plane itself that they don't want landing! They want to take out the plane while its still vulnerable!"
"That...makes sense. So there is someone or something that is on the same flight as Bell's father, and that is their target? We...we are sure Bell's father is human right? I am just saying, that is far too weird of a coincidence".
"Not necessarily. Not if Maybell or Bloody Bat decided to bring in someone to not only help deal with the situation, but also to keep an eye on Bell's father on the way here...and if I had to guess, it was probably the latter".
Maze eyed a bat that flew overhead in the shadows, just barely visible.
"...well, it's nice to know we have reinforcements".
"Yeah, but we cant be certain Maybell will show up this time. And the more we wait, the more that plane will be in danger".
As they made their way around the corpses, Bell couldn't help but wonder about something.
"Hey wait, wont everyone notice that a whole plane disappeared?"
"Time is significantly slower inside of a Boundary or Reflection. I doubt it would look anything more then a blip for half a second" Toko explained. "I am more concerned with this room full of corpses. Someone strong is here. And I have no idea who these people even are".
"Maybe part of the FBL?"
Bell tilted his head in confusion. "FBL?"
"Federal Bureau of Logistics. Officially, they are just in charge of managing and making sure everything runs smoothly and works properly, transportation, management. They also deal with "overflow cases" other agencies are too busy to deal with, at least officially. In truth, they manipulate it so they get supernatural cases while making it look like they dont even choose them at all, allowing them to investigate and deal with magic and supernatural based cases. They are probably the ones who set up airport protections too" Maze said. Toko seemed as surprised as Bell by this.
"Hold on, I heard those guys were only a rumor".
"I have actually seen them first hand. Its true".
"...so you think this might be them?"
"This is a major attack on an airport. I am sure they would respond in kind, but someone wiped them out. However..."
Maze knelt down and looked at the wound.
"...I think they were attacked by two different groups. The Snakes would be responsible for the poisonings and the turning to stone, but the stabbings? That takes brute strength, and it looks like the ones who were stabbed died hours before the others. They got attacked by something, somehow fought it off, and then got attacked by a second group passing through before they could recover".
Maze noticed something on the ground, which he happily picked up. It looked similar to his rifle and handgun, but was a shotgun instead. He put it into his bag.
"Make sure it doesn't have a tracking device" Toko warned. Bell wasn't sure that was the issue, but at the same time, he didn't object to having more methods to defend themselves either. Maze also saw a few other pieces of tech that he snatched, apparently quite pleased with himself.
"You sure that is okay?"
Maze just nodded, giving it the okay. "We need them, and we might even end up using it to avenge them. Besides, it never hurts to save money".
They finally made it past that room, and even Bell could feel the magical energy growing. As they all took another step, they briefly appeared on the island Bell always saw in the spirit world, but then snapped back to where they were. Maze quickly checked himself.
"Okay good, all my stuff is still here...everything in my pockets too. What was that?"
"The spirit world" Bell said. "That was what I saw when I had my visions".
"Well, at your home is one thing, but I would rather not have access to my stuff elsewhere" Maze said. Even if it was only for a moment, he was worried he had lost his stuff for a moment. After all, being the spirit world, you cant bring material objects there. Bell thought the lack of clothes would annoy someone the most, even if they were there alone, but Maze seemed more focused on his gear.
"Why did we end up there for a moment?" Toko asked.
"I don't know. I dont fully understand it either" Bell mentioned, as they made it closer to the source. And that was where they came face to face with evil snake lawyers. "...well fuck".
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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At the same time, Ruu was facing off against several on his own. They had taken out shock batons and closed in on him, with one shooting poison from his mouth at Ruu. Against so many, Ruu would end up being disabled and helpless.
At least, that was what the snake lawyers thought. But reality was not being kind to them.
Ruu dodged another one while using his own shock baton to shock them, before kicking him into another one of them and they crashed into a trash can. He then ducked and weaved through the legs of another, shocking him in the process, before picking up a trash can lid and using it as a shield as poison spit came at him, throwing the lid back at the guy which caused him to duck reflexively. In that moment, Ruu moved close and shocked him as well.
Ruu backed up as another attacked him from the side, getting some distance again.
"Seriously, no matter how many times I shock you with it on the max setting, you guys just get back up" Ruu muttered, clearly annoyed. Yes, rather then it being a one sided beatdown on Ruu, he was matching them and made it a stalemate. They weren't even bothering to hide their supernatural abilities, but Ruu either wasn't shocked by it, or simply didn't have the wiggleroom to be shocked. Then again, he was in a weirdly demented looking airport that was entirely crowded up until ten minutes ago, so he might already have reached his limit on being shocked.
The snakes meanwhile were annoyed as well. One child was giving them so much trouble. The electricity hurt like hell, although not enough to fully disable them, but it could build to that eventually.
But the fact an eleven-year-old boy was currently kicking their collective asses was just straight up embarrassing for them.
The snakes charged in again, planning to overwhelm him, but he jumped up onto a wall, pushing off of it instantly, and then landed behind almost all of them and shocking the last one by putting his shock baton to his neck. That seemed to hurt a lot, but it still was not rendered unconscious so he had to evade as the others tried to surround him. He hopped backwards, and then sidestepped the one in the front as he delivered another max charge electric shock to his neck, before hopping away again. They tried to follow his footwork, but then he just disappeared from their vision, reappearing on the side and proceeding to deliver yet another debilitating shock. He even managed to grab one of their own stun batons, so now he had two.
A woman's voice then came over their earpieces. "Report?"
"...we are still trying to detain him" the snake said, his voice still as monotone as ever.
"How?! He is a normal kid you said! How is he giving you so much trouble?!"
"I would like to revise my statement...no normal kid would ever smile like that in these conditions" he muttered, seeing Ruu's smiling face. It was seriously irritating him, and most of all, it was actually rather concerning.
"Oh? Are you saying I am not normal? That is rather rude you know?"
"I would really like to know who trained you to be so tenacious" the snake grumbled, or at least what sounded like grumbling for his monotone voice.
"Just my dad is all. He is really skilled at fighting after all".
The snakes moved in to attack again, but Ruu managed to jump over their formation, diving into a roll as he went under another's legs, and then shocking him with both at the same time, delivering a powerful charge that finally took one down.
"Finally...odds are a bit better now" Ruu muttered, as the other snakes looked incredibly annoyed.
"...we sure he is not using magic?"
"...unknown. If not, it would be even more concerning if he did get it. We should eliminate him".
"But orders?"
"Let's see what happens first then" the leader replied. Ruu got a bit concerned though.
Part of my advantage was that they were avoiding lethal attacks. If they start going for the kill, I might actually get pressured like this...
Ruu got a bit concerned, but he decided to handle it as best as he could. He took out something from his pocket, and threw it on the ground. It broke open, and smoke filled the area.
"Its a wonder what recipes you can find in books, you know?" his voice echoed around them, making it difficult to pinpoint him. They were all on guard, but then the leader went and attacked right behind him. Ruu dodged the attack, a bit surprised as he blended back into the smoke. "...I dont think you heard or sensed me".
"But you are clever enough to go after the leader once you figure out who it is" he replied, causing Ruu to click his tongue.
"Bell, so help me, I will make you be my pillow at our sleepover for this situation" he said jokingly, his concern growing a bit as their battle continued. He moved in to strike one of hte others before the smoke cleared, but then poison came right at him and he ducked to dodge. He then sidestepped another attack, only for a bang to cry out and a horrible pain to emerge from his shoulder. A bullet had gone clean through, and he fell backwards to the ground.
"She said not to kill you yet, but I suppose if you don't bleed to death, this should be fine" the leader said as they surrounded him, while he called his superior. "We have the brat, we are bringing him now. A bit wounded, but he will survive long enough...probably".
Well fuck.
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At the same time, Bell's group had finally made its way to where they sensed the magical energy.
"I must say, I did not expect you to arrive here, at this time" a woman said, standing on an upper observation level of the room, where there was a huge machine present. "But I suppose this is convenient too".
"You! You are responsible for freezing the plane?"
"Hmmm? Oh, no, that was not us" she said. "That is far too troublesome. We actually came here for the person who did this, but it appears they already are moving towards the plane now. It appears they intend to board it while it is frozen for...whatever purpose they have".
Maze frowned. "Then why are you still here?"
"Well, we heard you lot were here after all. A Foxkin, Code Blue, and a Timekeeper? What a wonderful prize. Perhaps rather then going for the bounty, I will just sell you all to Carneval?"
Whatever she was referring to, Bell doubted it was a normal Carnival. It even sounded like it was pronounced or spelled differently. However, he was not the one to have the strongest reaction.
"You monster!" Maze glared, enraged. What she had said had pissed him off most of all.
"Oh my, so the rumors are true then. The famous Code Blue was indeed sold to Carneval...and if I had to guess, perhaps by The Auction House no less?"
What she had said had clearly pissed Maze off a lot. Bell wanted to ask about those things, but this didn't really seem like the time. Still, from what it sounded, it must have been quite the ordeal...and a major point of Maze's past.
Toko and Bell had to stop him from charging straight in and attacking her.
"Still, I must admit, a ritual combined with technology to cause all of this...this will be quite valuable to me as well. Perhaps once I turn in that bounty, and sell the rest of you to The Auction House, I can get a profit for this thing as well".
She moved her arm behind her head and undid her pony tail, letting down her hair. It then proceeded to turn into snakes as she turned towards them, but they ducked behind some objects as cover.
"I suppose the legends of the Gorgons are rather well known these days. How annoying" she muttered as her lawyer snakes moved in. They were closing in on them, making it difficult to keep cover while fighting back.
However, that was when the wall on the other side of the room suddenly exploded. Everyone went to look at what caused it this time. Bell thought it might be Phantom or Bat, but...it wasn't anyone he knew. A girl around his age with red hair came charging in, as smoldering rubble crumbled around her.
"Finally! Found you, Foxkin boy!"
"Oh come on! Seriously?!"
"Tsk. So you finally arrived" the Gorgon said as she clicked her tongue.
Her snakes moved in to attack, but she punched the air in front of her as fire emerged from her fist. Incinerating all in front of her, it turned a snake to ash instantly, and another got serious burns.
"You dare harm my snakes, you fiend!"
"Your snakes got in my damn way!" she replied as they locked eyes. The gorgon smiled for a moment, however then it contorted into annoyance.
"Yeah, I am not some weakling your power can impose itself upon. I am a bit too powerful for you to turn to stone so easily".
"Tsk. Know your place, little girl!"
Bell considered trying to escape the situation while they were looking to fight each other, but there were more snakes entering the room and they found themselves as surrounded as well. Bell unleashed a sheet of ice to keep them from being able to get their footing, while Maze proceeded to use his new shotgun for such a close range battle, showing off his ability to be acrobatic even while holding it. There wasn't much kickback either, although there was still some. It probably helped it was firing magical energy based projectiles, rather then physical ones. Either way, it let them hold their own and perhaps have a chance against this new threat, as the Gorgon and the girl seemed to trade blows with each other. One conjured snakes as weapons and could even deploy barriers, while the other utilized fire to incinerate anything that got in her way, as well as everything else around her. It didn't seem to be random or out of control however, as her own hair or clothes never got so much as singed as the two proceeded to fight and go all out against each other.
One might think the Gorgon to have the advantage, but the girl was either strong, talented, or some mixture of many things as she was able to go toe to toe with her. As the Gorgon had snakes bite her legs, she incinerated the snakes, and then a bit of sparks even came out of the wound.
"Poison wont work on me".
"Tsk. You freak! What are you, part Fire Elemental?!"
"I would think what I am is obvious! I am better then you!"
Bell proceeded to drive a spike of ice through another snake.
"What the hell are these things?"
"Snake drones".
"Snake drones?"
"Yeah. Think of them as organic, snake like robots. Eventually they can become independent minded with free will, but none of these guys are showing any of that".
"...wait what?"
"Yeah, this is more like destroying robots then killing people for that matter".
Bell DID think they were acting oddly...cold and inhumane. So they just weren't human at all, they were basically robots right now.
That actually helped Bell to move faster and easier. Maze noticed this as well.
He knows that he might need to kill at some point, and was able to defend himself before he knew...but as expected, that's not something you can just do so easily. He has been lucky so far, but...at least this battle shows he likely will be capable when the time comes.
Maze quickly threw what appeared to be a sphere of some sort, and when it made contact with the ground, it unleashed a power pulse wave that knocked everything around with lethal speed and force, before flying back into his hand and he put it away. He then took out the shotgun again and proceeded to open fire with it, taking down a few more as Toko and Bell dealt with the others. At this rate, they might just be able to escape and run off ahead, but Maze wasn't so sure.
"I think we need to destroy that machine!"
Toko shook his head however.
"It was abandoned because it already did its job. The plane wont leave until the conflict is settled".
"And because of that guy, that means we do have to make it to the plane. Well that is just perfect".
"Hey, at least you can still keep your weapons right?"
"...fair enough. Alright, let's go".
Right as he said that however, suddenly a snake tail shot out of the shadows and wrapped itself around all three of them. They tried to struggle and get out, attempting to break free so they could emerge and escape, but the tail had bound their arms and legs as a rather large serpent came out of the shadows.
"Now now, don't struggle. Its not like we plan to kill you....yet at least. Who knows though, at least one of you has many, many enemies. That alone might warrant an auction".
Maze went into a rage, but they couldn't really do anything as the trio of boys were restrained completely by the tail.
"Besides, I got a report. Apparently, your friend put up quite a resistance, but in the end he fell and we captured him as well".
"Ruu...no, you are lying! You just want us to give up and lose our ability to fight! It wont work, we wont submit and let you get your way!"
"Even if that means us cutting the throat of your friend? Oh, looks like your friend is here. Prepare yourselves to meet despair, after all I am sure our forces didn't give him any VIP treatment when they captured him and dragged him over!"
As he cackled, the door opened and they saw a snake lawyer come through. The trio fell into shock and dismay, however, what happened next shocked everyone present. The snake lawyer collapsed onto the ground, a giant gaping hole in his chest as a boy stepped over the corpse, holding a blood red spear in hand. In an instant, the tail was cut through, freeing the trio as they were shocked before the figure hopped back, staying fast and agile on his feet.
"No way!"
"Woah woah woah woah woah!"
"The hell?!"
"How! But they...they said..."
"The fuck is this farce?!"
"No way! That kid looks fun to fight too?!"
Yes, the one who had arrived was not The Bat...but instead it was Ruu, holding a blood red spear. He looked over at the trio and the giant snake.
"I think we are going to need to have a long conversation once this is over, Bell" he said as he readied his spear. But it was clear this fight had only just begun.