It wasn’t long at all before the speeding jeep was already rapidly approaching the turn to head up to the cabin. Which meant they had an important decision to make. As she watched the turn get closer, Paige let out a breath, then sent a silent message to Sierra through their connection. It was faster than speaking. She asked if the other girl wanted to take the jeep in loud to get the attention of those people away from wherever Irelyn was, or stop earlier and go in quietly so they could get an idea of what was going on before just announcing themselves for everyone to hear.
There was a very brief second of nothing while Sierra seemed to consider the question. Then she sent back a response, pointing out that they could do both. The jeep wasn't exactly super highly advanced, but it did have the ability to be put on autodrive. There was, of course, a safety feature that was supposed to stop it from doing anything if there wasn't a person sitting in the driver seat with their hand on the wheel, but they could override that and send the jeep right up to the cabin while they went in more quietly to see who and what reacted to its arrival.
It was a good idea, Paige had to admit. So she took a moment to program the autodrive, while the other girl disabled all those safety features. It was one benefit, among several, of having another Biolem as a partner, as a sister. They could split up the work like that. Without Sierra, she wouldn't have had the time to set this up without stopping briefly. And in this sort of situation, stopping, even for a moment, could have ended up with truly catastrophic consequences.
Then it was done, just as they reached the spot to head up the even more narrow road to the cabin itself. Paige turned the wheel, set the jeep in the right direction, then opened her door as the autodrive took over. Sierra did the same on her side, and both girls gave each other a brief look before bailing out. They hit the mix of weeds and grass lining either side of what amounted to the cabin’s long driveway, and rolled end over end for a chaotic couple of seconds before coming to a skidding stop. Laying there on her side, feeling bruises already starting to form, Paige looked up to see the jeep disappearing around the corner that led right to the front of the cabin.
She and Sierra picked themselves up, even as the sound of shouting filled the air. Obviously, those people had noticed the incoming vehicle. Without another word exchanged between them, even through their connection, the two girls crouched low and began to move closer. The first step, before whatever was going to come next in this whole thing, was finding Irelyn.
The sound of angry men finding the empty jeep was already audible even as Paige and Sierra moved through the thick trees and bushes as silently as possible. They could hear one of the men shout to check the road and for others to spread out just in case it was that stupid cunt again. Which did, at the very least, tell them that Irelyn was both conscious and making herself a pain in the ass for these people. The thought made both of them smile a bit grimly. They had known that it was very unlikely that the Star-Touched would have been taken by surprise by these goons, but it was still nice to hear for certain. And the idea that she had pissed these people off so much already was even better. Now they just had to find her and get out of here.
As several of the clearly heavily-armed troops jogged past them down the dirt road, Paige and Sierra continued to slip through the bushes right up to the edge of the treeline. They got as close as they could without exposing themselves, staying low to the ground and moving slowly enough to avoid stepping on leaves and twigs. From the sound of things, there were still plenty of people left in front of the cabin who hadn't gone to check where the jeep had come from.
Sure enough, as soon as they were close enough, both girls could see no fewer than five vans all arranged in the space around the cabin, leaving barely any room for anything else. There were a dozen armed men standing right there in plain view, as well as at least three up on the roof keeping an eye out on things. And from the sound of breaking glass and things being thrown around inside, the best guess was that there were at least as many within the cabin.
Standing on the porch was someone who definitely stood out from the others. He was clearly the one giving the orders, wearing what looked like brown and black powered armor over his entire body. It made him stand just over seven feet tall. His helmet had a demonic shape to it, with horns and eyes that glowed bright orange. The visage was like that of one of those Asian demon masks. He also carried what appeared to be a giant minigun over one shoulder, as well as a sword hilt on his hip. Well, it looked like just the hilt, without any visible blade. But there was no doubt in either girl's mind that it would project some sort of energy or something when needed. Either this guy was a Touched himself, or he had been thoroughly outfitted by one.
Whatever the truth, he was definitely in charge, barking orders with a booming, clearly magnified voice in every direction about how to track down the bitch who lived here before she did any more damage. While the two of them crouched there and listened, he talked about bringing in the drones for an aerial view of the area. Which was just terrific. They really had to find Irelyn and then get the hell out of here.
Even as that thought came to mind, the man was getting a report from one of his troops about the commotion down by the shop and closer along the road. It sounded like he was finding out just who should have been in the jeep that had just arrived. or at least, what they looked like. There was vanishingly little chance that any of his people could actually tell him what he was dealing with.
Still, it was enough to let the man know that the woman he was sending his troops to look for had help. Help that was clearly able to fight his troops, which only convinced him even more that they were in the right place. Yeah, that was a thing. He immediately announced that whoever was staying here must have been security for ‘those nerds,’ and that finding them would lead to the real prize from… someone. It sounded like he said ‘Mr. Pause,’ whoever that was. It didn’t sound good. Well, not to them anyway. His goons disagreed, giving a raucous cheer at that and redoubled the search.
Sierra took a moment to try contacting Irelyn again now that they were within what they hoped was a much closer range. Unfortunately, even though they had been able to connect to Haley’s phone from within a couple hundred yards, they still couldn't reach the other woman. They were still working on extending their range past the jamming signal. Either Irelyn wasn't anywhere around here anymore, having already left the area, or the people here were using a more advanced jammer that was completely cutting off any phone signal at all. To test that, Sierra tried calling the house and again got nothing even from this distance. Stronger jammer it was then.
Well, this made things harder. How were they supposed to find Irelyn without getting into a huge fight with these guys? Granted, getting into a huge fight would be fun, and the bastards obviously deserved it, but still. The two had no idea what they were dealing with when it came to the guy in the power armor, or any other real threats there might be. The fact was, Irelyn had far more experience, and she wasn't fighting these people straight on. There had to be a reason for that. No, as much as Sierra wanted to break all their heads, they had to be smart.
Whatever they chose to do, they had to come up with it before those drones came in. From the sound of things, they would have thermal vision and all sorts of shit like that. Which would make it rather difficult to hide in the bushes. Actually, thinking about it like that, it was a bit strange that the man in the power armor didn't have any sort of enhanced vision that could--
Oh. Paige and Sierra both managed to come to the same thought and focused that way in time to see the man looking right at them. He already had his massive gatling gun off his shoulder and was aiming it that way. But in that second, just before he would have opened fire, a figure leapt all the way over the cabin from the far side. A man who had been standing by the chimney let out a yelp as he was grabbed by the arm and neck. Irelyn practically flew over the cabin, grabbing that guy on her way past. Before landing, she hurled him into the guy with the power armor. Her makeshift living projectile slammed into him, making the man stumble forward a step and throwing off his aim so the hurricane of lead that came in the next second tore through a dozen trees several yards to Paige and Sierra's left. The shots were enough, even after only what amounted to barely two and a half seconds of firing, to completely cut down several of those trees, leaving them to fall with a set of heavy crashes. So clearly, being anywhere near the path of that weapon was a very bad idea. Both girls made a quick mental note of that.
By that point, Irelyn had landed just to one side of the big man. Apparently at some point she had managed to change into her costume, so at least her identity wasn't completely blown. Not yet, anyway.
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As for the angry guy himself, he was already sweeping the gun that way while continuing to fire. Thousands of rounds tore through even more trees and even hit several of the nearby vans. He didn't seem to care about that damage, keeping his full focus on killing the woman who had just jumped into his line of sight. But it wasn't going to be that easy. Even as the bullet hellstorm began filling the air right where she had been, Irelyn had already flung herself into a sideways flip that carried her right over their path. She had one of her swords out and swung it at the barrel, but just before it would have cut into the weapon, the man had already snatched his own seemingly empty sword hilt off his waist. As it swung up, some sort of liquid metal blade emerged and solidified just in time to knock Irelyn’s sword out of the way. She was still in the air, so the impact sent the woman flying sideways toward one of the already bullet-riddled vans.
Just before she would have collided with the vehicle, Irelyn flipped over so her feet hit the side. Instantly, she launched herself off of it and back toward the big guy. He was still trying to bring that massive gun back around that way. As strong as he clearly was, or as strong as that suit made him, he couldn't completely ignore the laws of physics. The weapon was gigantic and could only move so quickly through the air. He wouldn't get it in place before the woman got to him. But it wasn't the only weapon he had. That sword was still in his other hand. Or rather, the weapon that had briefly been a sword. By the time Irelyn had crossed half the distance back to him, it had changed into a massive axe with a blade at the end that was suddenly about half the size of the van she had just launched herself off of. So maybe he could dismiss a few of those physical laws.
But then, Irelyn wasn't exactly completely beholden to them either. Even as that giant shapeshifted axe came swinging up to meet her, she flipped over in the air so the blade passed directly underneath her. It came close enough to practically skim along her back before she finished flipping over and planted her feet against the side of the weapon while it was still in midswing. Her own smaller weapon snapped out while she was balanced there on his axe, and that time there was nothing to stop it from cutting through the ends of the gatling gun barrels.
Even as the blade heavily damaged his ranged weapon, the big guy was already heaving his axe up as though to throw the woman off of it and directly into his line of sight. Or rather, his line of fire. A blast of powerful concussive energy erupted from those glowing orange demon eyes in his helmet. He was trying to throw the smaller woman right into the path of that blast.
Irelyn, however, jumped at the last second, just as she was thrown off the weapon. The blast of energy passed by underneath her, while she snapped her free hand out to send a small pellet of some sort right into his helmet just as the beam stopped. The pellet exploded into a quick burst of foam that quickly hardened. It was stuck there, and was just large enough to cut off his vision. And, the other girls knew, hopefully enough to stop him from blasting again for a moment. He couldn't risk simply trying to shoot it off with those beams just in case they failed and he ended up doing catastrophic damage to his own helmet. Not to mention his face right behind that helmet.
He was reeling backward while Irelyn landed several feet away in front of him. But she didn't stay there for long. While the man was still reacting to his vision being cut off, she took one step forward and then leapt that way. Her supernaturally-powerful legs took her off the ground like she was shot out of a gun, and she flipped around in the air so that both of those legs collided full force against the man's armored chest. The impact rocketed him off the ground and sent him crashing through the front window of the cabin. They could hear the sounds of dramatic crashing as he slammed through several pieces of expensive furniture in there.
Of course, the man wasn't by himself. Not by a long shot. By that point, the rest of the troops had recovered from their obvious surprise. They clearly hadn't wanted to shoot directly at their boss. But now he was out of the way, at least for a second or two. And they didn't waste it, already taking aim with their own smaller guns. Yet even as they started shooting, Irelyn was moving. She just wasn't there anymore, taking two quick hops that carried her immediately away from their line of fire. At the same time, the three nearest men, who had been close enough for her to almost reach with her sword, began to collapse. The girls knew that effect. In the midst of that fight, Irelyn had been using her other power, the one that drained stamina from people. Those three guys had clearly been affected enough to put them on the ground. It was just too bad that there were still so many others to take their places. And more reinforcements coming.
The last of those quick hops carried the woman right over to where Paige and Sierra were. As the troops were adjusting their aim, her hands snapped out to catch the two girls by the arms. Without a word, she launched herself once more, much further that time, and carried them along with her. They rocketed off the ground, tearing through the tree foliage just before more shooting started up again. That single jump, even though she was carrying both girls along for the ride, took them another fifty yards deeper into the forest. Still close enough to still hear the gunfire and shouting, but far enough that they at least weren't within immediate line of sight.
Nor did Irelyn stop there immediately. After giving the girls just a second or two to collect themselves, she gripped them tightly once more before jumping again. They did that twice more, cutting to the side away from the direction the first jump had taken them. Hopefully, that would actually give them enough space to stop their pursuers from immediately catching up.
The three listened to the sound of those guys going the wrong way for a moment, until it was clear that they weren't in immediate danger. Then they all breathed out. Irelyn looked at the other two, and both of them expected her to lecture them about coming right back into danger. But even though it briefly looked like she wanted to, the woman visibly pushed the words away in order to focus on what was important. Instead, she asked, in a quiet whisper they could barely hear, “Where’s Haley? Do any of you know what's going on around here?”
Taking turns and speaking quickly, the girls told her what they knew, and what had already happened. They told her that these people were here looking for Gilbert Saunders and the rest of his so-called Galileo’s Adherents. Whatever their reasoning, it was obvious that these people were more than a little obsessed with tracking down that group. And they were willing to hurt or kill anyone in their way. It was no wonder that the Adherents had apparently taken to hiring Sell-Touched like Haley to keep those fucks away from them.
Once she had the gist of it, Irelyn glanced back the way they had come and made a noise deep in her throat. “Right, I've already tried my own emergency signal, but it's not going through. Whoever these people are, they definitely have access to very advanced blocking technology.”
Sierra offered a shrug. “I mean, that just makes sense, doesn't it? If they want to have any chance of taking over an entire group filled with Tech-Touched, they’d need the most advanced ways of blocking that technology. So, of course they can block a phone call. Or even your super special emergency signal. From what Haley said, they’ve been at this for a long time. If they think this is their best shot to finally find these people, they ain’t gonna take any chances of reinforcements screwing up their party.”
With a short, distracted nod as most of her attention centered on watching for pursuit, Irelyn muttered a curse. “Yeah, which means they’ll be all over us. Now they think we’re the security for those people or something. It’s just luck that we happened to be here when they showed up.”
“Good luck,” Paige wondered quietly while listening to the men shouting in the distance, “or bad?”
“Good for those Adherent people since they get more time and some sort of warning, plus help,” Sierra put in. “Bad for these guys. For us… guess we’ll find out for sure when we’re done, huh?”
With a heavy sigh, Irelyn pivoted and started to walk again while beckoning for the other two to follow. “Come on, we need to put a bit more distance between us and where they bring those drones to start the search. And we’ve got to find Haley. She can take care of herself, but I don’t--”
“Don’t what?” That was, unexpectedly, the voice of Haley herself. All three other girls spun that way, as she emerged from behind one of the nearby trees, brushing herself off. “Oh don’t you all look shocked. Like you said, I can take care of myself. And I know the layout of this area, plus how you think.” That last was directed toward Irelyn. “You’re right though, they’ve got some pretty advanced-looking drones coming this way, plus a chopper. They’re pulling out all the stops for this. You really pissed them off.” She sounded rather proud of her old friend at that moment.
Irelyn snorted, but Sierra and Paige could both tell she was blushing a bit under that insect-samurai mask. “Fine, they’re pissed off and focused on us. But we know their real target.” Even as she said that, the woman started to walk once more, leaving the other three to follow.
“Yeah, the Adherents, and I can’t contact them,” Haley confirmed. “Those cell blockers are cutting off absolutely everything.”
“You know where they are though?” Irelyn asked, glancing over her shoulder. “I mean, where the teleportation entrance to their little island is.”
Once again, Haley confirmed, “Yeah, I can take us there. Maybe they can turn off the portal or something. Either way, we should probably warn them. They’re good people. I’d hate to see anything happen to them. Especially anything these fucks want to do.”
“Great, then lead the way,” Irelyn urged with a gesture.
“But just for the record, if we actually end up having to go anywhere near another tropical island I am going to seriously damage these assholes.”