CHAPTER 140: Taken

“What do you mean Adam was taken?!” shrieked Andrea after Lashtam gave them the news.

“My apologies for my failure, Lady Andrea,” said Lashtam with a quiver as he bowed to her.

“How could they have taken Adam?” demanded Brittney.

“Please, my ladies, take out your anger on me. Spare Ashtala, I beg,” continued Lashtam, bowing deeper.

“What do you mean, spare her?” questioned Alissa. “Spare her from what?”

“From your wrath, Lady Alissa. I beg you to punish only me. This is my failure alone.”

“What’re you talking about?” asked Randall, confusion clear on his face. “Why is this your failure?”

“Because his excellency was taken,” said Lashtam hesitantly. He dared to lift his head while in a bowed position, eyeing them uncertainly.

“I don’t see how that’s your fault,” said Joseph.

“Adam is a big boy,” said Lucas. “Not your fault he ran into a bigger boy.”

“I’m still not sure how that makes it your fault,” Joseph added.

“Chiefy, quit that groveling and sit with us. No one blames you or your people. We don’t even know what Adam was doing out there,” said Tom.

Lashtam slowly stood and looked around to make sure no one really was angry at him. When no one glared or scolded him he took a seat on a sofa with them. They were currently in Adam’s living room. The sofa was softer and more comfortable than most chairs he had experienced, so he sat up on the edge of it to show his respect and alertness.

“I still don’t understand the things he did. He set fire to an entire base and then would just hold the Anthromanti until they died? Weird,” said Lamar.

“Probably trying to activate some new power,” said Elias flippantly.

“Probably,” agreed Carlos.

“Makes sense,” nodded Lucas.

“Based on the descriptions of his encounters and actions, I can’t tell if he succeeded or not,” pondered Brittney.

“That’s beside the point,” shouted Andrea. “We’ve got to go get him!”

Alissa stood up and Abbey nodded.

“We do not know where he was taken,” explained Lashtam. “Our scouts were killed by the Scyrric berserker when they tried to follow. It will be improbably difficult to find him. He may not even be alive.”

“Nah, guy. He’s in that direction,” said Joseph, still slouching on the sofa, pointing to the west. “Still alive.”

Everyone nodded and pointed as one. Lashtam’s nose scrunched up.

“How do you know?” he asked cautiously.

“He gave us appointment titles. That lets us know where he is,” said Brittney.

Lashtam gasped. “The [System] says he’s a sovereign?!”

“Yes, he’s a sovereign. Why the surprise?” asked Elias.

“Very few can become sovereigns. It means the [System] considers him royalty among that race. Most races don’t have a single person that qualified. Sovereigns have more rights and support under the [System].” Lashtam rushed as he described it, uncertain why no one in the room felt the weight of this.

“That might be, but it hasn’t stopped him from getting beat on or stopped the invasions, now has it?” exclaimed Randall.

“No, Lord Randall, but…” Lashtam couldn’t think of a way to finish that. Usually, sovereigns were respected and immune from attacks while they had the title.

“But nothing! We need to rescue Adam!” insisted Andrea again.

More nods went around this time. They stood up and started moving towards the exit, intending to get their gear. A body blocked them from leaving though.

“No,” said Tom.

“No?” asked Alissa, looking angry.

“Yes, no,” responded Tom.

“Which is it, yes or no?” asked Randall.

“We can’t go after the boss,” Tom said, more serious than they were used to. The mirth in his eyes was gone. The perpetual smile that seemed to taunt everyone he spoke with was now a frown. He seemed almost disappointed by his own words.

“Why not?” asked Brittney, glaring at him.

“Because it isn’t what he would want. In fact, it’ll undo everything he has been doing.”

“Explain,” ordered Lucas.

Tom let out a breath. “The boss doesn’t do all this for himself. He hasn’t set up this city or base because he needs a safe place. It’s for us. The people who can’t survive what he does. If we go rushing into danger, then we’ll undo everything he has done. You have to know that the next step is the invaders attacking us, right?”

Everyone looked over at Lashtam who was nodding, then back to Tom.

“Right, so they’re going to attack us. We also know that besides the mind control witch, they now have a level 74 berserker that just laid out the boss with one hit. Not sure how he did it, but how can we stand against that?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We can’t just leave Adam to their mercy,” wailed Andrea.

“Look, I feel as bad for the boss as anyone. But we just can’t do anything without being stronger. Nicky-boy might have had the right of it. We need to get stronger.”

“What if they do terrible things to him? Or kill him?” asked Brittney.

“Then we’re screwed,” nodded Tom. “Without him, as we are, we’re doomed. But if we attack their base and some of us die, even if we rescue him, do you think that’ll leave the boss in a good place? Do you think he’ll still be able to lead us? Or will he drop us as dead weight?”

“What do you suggest?” asked Lucas with a sigh.

“Lamario and Carlisimo should take a few of the bunnies to locate the base,” said Tom. “Then we need to notify the colonel and the boss’s parents. It won’t be safe to pull a lot of our troops, since that’ll alert general asshat and the mind witch that we’re doing something. We’ll need to focus on fewer people rather than spreading the wealth this time.”

“Then what do the rest of us do?” asked Andrea.

“We’ll need to hit bases. Get more titles to boost our stats as well as XP. We’ve found a few around Pickwick Dam. I’ll select 20 from the General’s Guard and Lashtam can pick 20 bunnies, since their absence won’t be noticed.”

Hesitantly the others agreed. They went off to get prepared. Alissa picked up Fido from where he was eating and drinking and whining. Two of his heads allowed Adam’s friends to pet him while the third would try to threaten them away. However, even the third head seemed a little lonely without Adam here. Alissa could commiserate.

***

“Adam isn’t here?!” gasped the colonel.

“No. He’s been taken,” responded Lucas with a scowl.

“We need to get him!” shrieked Mrs. Clemens.

“That’s not possible right now, boss’s mom. We’ll find where he is, but the rest of us need to leave the base to level if we want a chance to save him.”

“How are we supposed to do nothing?” Adam’s mom wailed.

Colonel Davian put a hand on her shoulder.

“We won’t be doing nothing. If they have Adam, then that means we’re next. We need to begin preparing for a full siege.”

“Haven’t we been doing that this whole time?”

“Certainly, we have. Now we’ll see whether it was enough or not,” said Davian. “Oh, and Jordan, I know you’re listening. Not a word of this to anyone.”

***

Carlos stood on a fire escape, halfway up a towering building. He used [Clear Sight] to view the distance. With the title appointment he knew exactly where Adam was.

The Rift that Carlos was drawn to was sitting in the middle of a large intersection, on the road. There was no attempt to hide the black bubble of the Dimensional Convergence Rift. It was placed there to taunt them, or to tempt them.

A shiver went down Carlos’s spine. He frowned at the black bubble. From experience there was no way inside. Though even if there was, Carlos wouldn’t be confident in assaulting it. They would just need to go ahead with their plan to get stronger.

He descended the loud, metal ladders, hoping he wasn’t making too much noise. Hoping he didn’t draw attention. They were almost two miles from the rift, but who knew what other traps would be set for them.

“Any chance?” Lamar asked when Carlos reached the floor he was waiting on.

“None,” answered Carlos.

“I guess we’re on the clock then. Let’s get back.”

***

A loud siren began blaring. It wasn’t exactly coming from the Sentinel Army’s base that they were set up near. The sound felt like it was coming from the very air.

General Carmichael looked up from the maps of the table that he and his officers had been discussing.

“What the blazes is that?!” he shouted, waving his hand in the air as if he was trying to swat away the sound.

The other officers shrugged or went to check outside of the window.

“Nothing unusual happening outside, general,” said one.

Another one added, “The walls are being manned as usual. No one is moving differently.”

Then the general noticed one of the men sitting on the side of the room. He was a civilian that they found more cooperative than most of the others. There was the same amount of deference shown when he spoke about that kid, but he had struggled less when they had conscripted the civilians. The general liked to include him in some of the meetings so he could get quick explanations and opinions about the so-called Sentinel Army.

Right now, he couldn’t miss the way the man became jittery and began looking towards the door. No doubt the man wanted to leave. Then the sounds stopped, but the man didn’t calm down.

“What was that?” the general demanded of him. “What did that noise mean?”

The man jumped when he realized someone was speaking to him. He was bouncing in his chair, gripping the edges until his knuckles were white. Sweat was on his forehead.

“Evacuation sound. Not immediately dangerous but they’re expecting an attack,” explained the man nervously. “I think we should get into the base as soon as we can.”

The general stared at the man, stony faced. The man became more nervous and was unable to hold still.

“How do they know an attack is incoming?” asked an officer.

“They have scouts going out all the time,” said the man, unsure if there was supposed to be more to the question than that.

“Had! They had scouts,” snapped the general with hostility. “We haven’t let anyone in or out of those walls in days. So where are these scouts to notify them?”

The man paled at the anger. He looked around at the officers, all focused on him now, scared to respond in the wrong way to these people though they gave him no indication of what they expected from him.

“Don’t they have radios?” he suggested before eying the door in desperation.

“They do,” said the general, thinking while chewing on the words. “However, I don’t think that is it. They must have other ways in or out of the base. Spitz, get a group of trackers and try to find tunnels or hidden paths.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Shouldn’t we evacuate?” asked the man hesitantly.

The general once more stared at him, eyes full of confidence. “Of course not. I won’t be chased out again by some traitor’s plot!”

***

It had taken half a day for them to be ready. Lamar and Carlos had only needed a few hours to scout from the Bobomon base. Everyone else had prepared their supplies and equipment. Their core group was standing in a warehouse along with 22 from the General’s Guard and 25 from the Leputi.

Lucas gripped the handle of the new sword at his belt. The cache of weapons that Adam had gotten from the Scyrric base had been reshaped to equip their main group. For a while now the Testudinate metal hadn’t been strong enough to go against the Tier 3 enemies they had been facing, barely able to damage them. The metal used by the Scyrric was several steps up, so Lucas hoped that would be enough.

A portal opened and the different groups went through. First went the General’s Guards. All in their upper 20s of Tier 2. Next went the Leputi.

A few of their warriors had worked with Garrett on designing weapons that they could use more effectively. In the end most Leputi fighters went with a Tekko Kagi, fist claw like design. It had to be modified due to the Leputi hands not closing into fists the same way. They had a thumb like digit, but the width and size of their fingers couldn’t close all the way, making gripped weapons too difficult for them to use. A base was developed for their wrist and ring like attachments to their fingers.

Several of them also had a blade like a reverse shark fin attached to their forearm guards, giving their natural movements the ability to become weapons.

These new weapons gave the Leputi confidence and an edge that they hadn’t had in combat before meeting the humans. Lashtam had spoken proudly more than once at the way the warriors were rising in levels since getting the claws. The bunnies were becoming tigers, in the mid-30s for their levels.

They even went out on their own to find enemy bases and kill invaders outside of the territories. Based on the communications they were monitoring, the invaders hadn’t thought to blame the Leputi and were accusing various races that had natural claws for the kills.

After the Leputi went through the portal, the core group went in. Lucas stayed until last, along with Brittney and Tom.

“Think we can do this?” asked Lucas, still gripping the sword.

“We don’t have a choice,” responded Tom.

“All this time, all this fighting. We always had Adam as a safety net. Even when he wasn’t with us, he would find a way. Now it’s just us,” said Lucas, in a surprisingly hesitant moment.

“Will we be enough?” asked Brittney.

“We’ll have to be,” nodded Lucas, standing tall. He walked into the portal.