Yotto – Summer – Mune – Fin (4th Month 51ˢᵗ Day) Year 827 GE

Anton shifted uncomfortably, his shoulders wedged in the small alley, he was crammed into. He could see his closest friend and lover Zizi Rin across the street from his hiding place. Zizi used her skills that morning to talk the flower shop owner into letting her help until they completed their mission. Anton shifted again, a pipe from one of the buildings was stabbing into his side. With a grunt, he found another angle that was slightly less painful than the one before, but still gave him a view down the street. He was nearly invisible in the early morning light, jammed into the alley way shadows as he was.

A motion from the flower shop caught his eye; Zizi was signaling the mission as a go. Anton looked down the street, in the opposite direction from where Zizi indicated the target was coming from. Callen and Lur, two more of their comrades, were just coming out of the coffee shop down the street, arms linked and joking as they wandered in his direction.

Anton readied himself, getting his nerves in order just as Zizi signaled “six,” starting the countdown. Hiding her hand alongside her body away from their target she signaled, “five.” Anton started to relax his muscles, shifting his mind for the task before them, “four,” he tightened the strap on his left glove, “three,” then the strap on his right. “Two,” Zizi signaled, a pot now in her arms as she moved the plant to another location in the shop, closer to the street. “One,” she placed the pot down, Anton couldn’t see their target, but trusted Zizi’s directions.

Just as Zizi signaled “zero,” Anton launched out from the alley, colliding into their target, a Katovian Kander with glowing yellow Zitta on her face and shoulders. Not having given the Kander enough time to respond before he barreled her into the alley across the street.

With a cry, she tripped over a crate in the alley. Having placed the crate in the alley just for this purpose earlier that morning Anton followed her over the crate, purposely shoving her harder as they landed. Causing the Kander to crack her head on the street dazing her, but not knocking her out as they had hoped.

“Move on,” Anton heard Lur call out from the opening to the alley, guiding any onlookers on.

Anton pressed his knee into the Kander’s back as he pinned her to the cobblestone, groping for her arm. Even dazed and confused the Kander had enough presence of mind to move her arm to keep him from grabbing it. She started to get her legs under her, trying to get Anton’s weight off her back.

Callen noticed Anton’s struggles, and rushed into the alley, grabbing the Kander’s feet. Zizi rushed into the alley in Callen’s shadow, grabbing for the Kander’s free arm.

Zizi cried out. Anton turned to find Zizi had deep scratches down her forearm where the Kander’s claws had sunk into her arm. With a grunt of pain, he found he too had been raked by her claws. Doubling his efforts, he finally managed to pin her arm at the elbow. Zizi started to search the Kander with her free hand.

A snap rang through the alley. Anton, Zizi and Callen all stared in horror as the ground was no longer below them, they were falling through the air toward cobblestone that looked much like the alley they were just in.

Anton had to release the Kander to land properly, rolling to lessen the damage from the impact. Zizi and Callen had fallen hard, Zizi on her knees, and Callen on his backside. The Kander had recovered, the fall, giving her time to right herself. She had landed on her feet and was jumping toward Callen, claws raised. Anton without thinking pulled his small knife from his belt and threw it between the two, trying to redirect her attention.

“Go!” He called out to the other two as the Kander turned her attention toward him. When she was close enough, he swung his fist at her. She nimbly avoided the impact by dancing back, changing direction as easily as she had been moving toward him. With a grumble he set his mind for a hard fight.

The footsteps from Zizi and Callen trailed away as they escaped from the place the Kander had transported them. “We’re still in Suthen at least,” he could just hear Zizi say as she turned the corner.

The Kander didn’t give him time to breathe, she attacked relentlessly. Using only her claws, she struck from the left, then right. Anton pulled the short blades he kept snapped under his baggy hoodie. The blades were long daggers with just enough reach to not get him caught up in the tight space they were fighting in. The Kander’s claws scraped down his right blade as he defended his body from her sharp claws. He swiped his left blade out, causing her to defend against his attack. With her distracted, he rammed his knee into her side, knocking the air from her lungs. She stumbled back, her arms up for defense as she tried to catch her breath. Anton could see the hate in the Kander’s eyes as he ran toward her, grabbing her head, pinching one of her ears against her skull and ramming it into the nearby building.

She let out a cry of pain. She thrust her elbow out, catching him in the ribs just as he pushed back and moved away from her. Anton grabbed his side, checking for damage as she leaned against the building wall. When she turned toward him a fresh stream of blood was running down her face from a cut she had gotten from the stones in the wall. The Kander’s glare could peel paint, but Anton could tell she was having a hard time keeping her eyes focused. She reached behind her back and spoke softly, “Sonic Pistol.”

His eyes opened wide as she pointed the sound weapon in his direction. When she pulled the trigger, he dropped to the ground, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat at the sight of the deadly weapon. The crumbling of the building’s wall that came from behind him confirmed his fears. The sound from the pistol was breaking down the components used to create the brick in the wall. Sound naturally created vibrations, which were usually harmless, but in pistol form they had found they could concentrate the vibrations, causing matter to break down. Anton did not want to see what that weapon could do to flesh.

Getting to his feet, he heard a high-pitched hum coming from the weapon in the Kander’s hands.

Did it have a reset time, he thought as he came up with a strategy. He started toward the Kander again, the whining from the weapon lessened and she was pointing it directly at him again. Cursing, he now knew the weapon’s recharge time was short. Suddenly a stick came around the corner just behind the Kander, cracking her hard on the head. The Kander crumbled to the ground the pistol falling from her grip.

Callen popped around the corner holding the stick, Zizi at his elbow. “Did we make it?” she smiled at Anton when she found him standing there a bit surprised by the change.

“Perfect timing,” he panted, just realizing how exhausting his fight really was. Sweat had drenched through his hoodie around his chest and back. How long had the fight drawn out he wondered.

A high-pitched beeping sound started to chime out from the Kander’s body. Anton jumped at first; until he realized what they were hearing, someone had told him about this before. When a Kander loses consciousness, a signal would be sent out to their Home Base, calling for help. Without another moment's hesitation Anton started forward, grabbing the pistol where it dropped, then ran toward the end of the alley and his two friends. “Get out of here!” He shouted as a portal opened up on the street behind him. “Move, move, move.” With that, the three of them were running away from the scene as fast as they could. Anton risked a glance back just as a young male Kander walked through, their eyes met for a moment before Anton turned the corner.

They ran as hard as they could, dodging people whenever needed. It took some time to get back to Sector 7, where Lur was waiting for them in the hideout.

“I didn’t know if you guys were going to return,” she commented as they entered the basement. When she noticed the look of panic on their faces she asked, “What happened?”

Zizi and Anton collapsed on the couch; Callen leaned against the counter. “It was supposed to be an easy job,” Callen put in, “If she hadn’t created that portal.”

“Yeah, where did you guys go?”

“Sector 4, near that old fountain.” Zizi added, her breath still ragged.

“What are we going to do?” Callen’s eyes were wide, not really expecting an answer as the shock set in. He had smashed a Kander in the head, knocking her unconscious. “We didn’t even get the ring the customer hired us to get.”

“No,” Anton added, his breath back in control. “But we did get this,” he pulled the sonic pistol from beside him. “We can sell this to the customer instead.”

“When did you?” Zizi asked as she curled into his side, “I didn’t even see you grab it.”

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“Just as we started to run,” Anton smiled, putting an arm around Zizi, “We may not have had an easy time with the job, but with this we did get some results.” Callen did not look reassured, instead he looked sick. “Callen, what’s bothering you?”

It took some time before he finally responded, “I struck the Kander,” it was a whisper at first. “I struck a Kander,” he said a bit louder, his face white, “Anyone who strikes a Kander doesn’t live to talk about it.”

“And yet here we are,” Anton smiled at his friend and fellow colleague. “They didn’t get our names, how are they going to track us? Besides, if they think the residence of Suthen will help them find us, they’ll be surprised.”

“Right…” Callen was clearly having a hard time believing it.

“Now everyone, clean up, if you have visible cuts, you’re not leaving the hideout. The clothes we have on now, burn them, we leave nothing to chance,” and with that Lur grabbed Callen’s arm and toted him into another room, and Anton followed Zizi to their’s.

Lur set up the meeting with the customer, as the other three nursed whatever aches and pains they had received from that day's mission. Zizi had taken the worst, the cuts in her forearm from the Kander’s claws were deep enough at least two of them would require stitches. Anton was disappointed in himself for not even considering a Kander using their nails as their main weapon in combat. As for Anton had only found the light claw marks on his forearm and a small cut on his throat, he couldn’t remember her getting close to his throat, let alone scratching him.

That afternoon, as planned, Anton and Zizi were the only two in the office when the customer arrived. Warren was a stocky Duran with wirey light gray hair. He was getting up there in years, and it was starting to show. He took the seat meant for him across from Anton.

“Did you get it?” He asked, looking between the two of them.

“No,” Anton got right to the point, the look of disappointment on the Duran’s face was not a shock, “But we did get something else, something better.”

Warren’s glare could make his adrenaline rush with anticipation if he hadn’t known that Lur and Callen were in the side alcoves, crossbows pointed at their visitor. “What could be better than a Kander’s ring? A ring, that mind you, would alert the resistance to the movements of all the Kanders, as that is how they all get their orders,” He grumbled at the two, his fist clenched.

“This,” Anton placed the pistol on the desk before him, “If this doesn’t have at least some comparison to a Kander’s ring, I would be surprised.”

Warren stared at the weapon a time before he finally said, “How much?”

Anton held up five fingers, “This much.”

“Three,” Warren countered.

“Four and a half,” Anton countered again.

“Four is my final offer,” Warren looked at the pistol again, Anton could see his mind ticking with possibilities. Sonic pistols were usually only held by the Goren’s people, to be able to get their hands on one as a citizen was rare.

“Done,” Anton pushed a machine toward the Duran across the table. He grunted, then scanned a ring of his own. A ding rang out and Anton pulled the device back toward him. The screen read, “4000 credits transferred from Warren Long to Anton Reed.” And with that Anton pushed the weapon across the table. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He gave the older man a businesslike smile, not too much, but enough to show he appreciated the business. “Hope we can look….”

“This will be our last time working together,” Warren cut in, “And I’ll offer you this bit of advice for free.” He touched his neck where Anton had been scratched, “You would do well to disappear, that mark shows that they can identify you. That ring you failed to get takes a blood sample when the pin on it scratches someone, identifying them to the other Kander. Chances are they are hunting you right now,” with that, he pushed up from the table and headed toward the door.

When he was out of the space Callen rushed into the room, “Hunting us,” he wailed in a higher voice then was expected.

It took a moment before Anton responded, he had to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat, “No, not us.” It was a long pause before he looked up into his friends’ faces, “Just me.”

He could feel the eyes of the other three in the room staring at him, “You should all leave, I would rather face this challenge alone.” Anton lied as he walked toward the switch that turned on the lights. Callen was white as a sheet as he stared at Anton, Lur was looking down at the crossbow she still held in her hands.

“No!” Zizi cried out, “We won't abandon you when you need us,” her voice cracked on the last words.

“Zizi,” He didn’t turn to face her, Anton was afraid to see his friends faces at that moment. “There is no need for anyone else to be hunted by the Kander, if any of you help, chances are we’ll all die.” Or maybe I can take down this Kander like the one in the alley, he thought to himself as he braced an arm on the wall.

No one behind him moved, none of his friends headed toward the exit. It took his mind time to realize they were all silently staring at him. When he turned around it was Callen who spoke first, “We started this, we’ll all finish it together.”

“Yeah,” Lur agreed, moving to wrap an arm around Zizi, “We’re friends, we won't abandon you in your time of need.”

“We’re family,” Zizi placed a hand on her flat stomach and looked up toward Anton. His mind went blank, was she, no it wasn’t possible he told himself.

Lur grabbed their two remaining communication devices from the desk, they didn’t like using these, they were old and clunky, and every now and then they would shock the one wearing it. Lur strapped one around her neck, extending the second one toward Anton. With a feeling of shock, and a sense of being loved by those he had endangered just that morning he stepped forward and took the last device, strapping it around his neck. “What’s the plan?” He asked.

Lur smiled, “I’ll watch the street and keep you informed with this,” she pointed at the communication device. “As for you three, you should fortify the hideout here. Having only the one entrance, you’ll know where the Kanders will have to enter, and with my forewarning you’ll know when they’re coming.”

“That’ll work,” Anton responded, looking toward the other two, Callen was clearly shaken, his mind battling with his decision to stay.

“I’m off,” Lur said as she exited the office area, the room beyond was where they would make their stand. It had been something of a waiting area with dim lighting and only a couch and a bar in the space. The stairs beyond lead to the street in Sector 7. “Testing, can you hear me,” her voice came across the communication device as vibrations passed into his skin and translated by his ear drums into words.

“I hear you loud and clear.” He responded, Lur yelped on the other side of the line. “What was that?” He asked a bit worried, but suspecting what it was.

“Damn device just shocked me is all.” She grumbled, “I’ll be in touch again when I get into position.” And with that the device went silent.

With Lur on the move Zizi left the office, going to gather weapons from their hiding places throughout the rooms. When she came back, she was carrying two more crossbows, and Anton’s Batons. Callen lifted his, forgetting he was still holding one. She handed one to Anton, and a roll of bolts to go with it, and strapped on her own roll of bolts before heading into the entryway. “We can do this,” Her conviction was strong as she disappeared into the other room.

Callen followed behind her, moving with less confidence than Zizi. When both were in the entry room Anton sighed, could they do this? Could they really beat a group of Kander hunting him specifically. Maybe he should try harder to get his friends to leave, if not Callen then maybe Zizi she seemed to have been trying to tell him something.

He shut the light off in the office, a chill ran over him as if something had just brushed against his skin. With a chill down his spine Anton walked into the light of the other room. He couldn’t just brush off the strange sensation, it was like the shadows in the room had been feeling him, inspecting him and found something before disappearing.

“I’m in position,” he heard Lur over the communication device, knocking the thoughts of strange shadows from his mind.

“Right,” he looked at Zizi who was sitting stiffly on the couch. “Be safe and keep your eyes open,” Anton advised his friend as he looked over at Callen, who was staring down at the ground, his face white. They had both taken a place that gave them opposing angles at the stairs. So, Anton decided to stay in the center of the room, looking straight toward the stairwell. He would not hide, he would stay where they could find him first, and hopefully lose concentration.

“I see something,” Lur’s voice chimed in, “It’s only one Kander, she seems to be headed toward the hideout.”

“Just watch the Kander,” Anton advised.

“I’m going to take the shot; she hasn’t noticed I’m here yet.” Lur was silent a time, the thwack from the release of the crossbow’s catch echoed through the device. She must have left the transmit on this time. “Oh no…” he heard her voice; it was higher pitched than he was used to from her. “I missed…” He heard her stand, “Oh, how could I miss,” her voice was sounding frantic. Lur screamed, there was a loud crash, and the sound of struggling as she continued to scream. With a loud thud and a grunt Anton knew she had fallen a good distance. Something had pulled her from her hiding place, likely throwing her to the ground. Suddenly her scream rang through the communication device again as the sounds of dragging continued. She grunted through pain, “Watch the shadows,” before there was a splash, more struggling, then just the sound of water crashing into the communication device.

Anton tore the device from his throat and threw it into the corner. He pushed back the need to vomit and looked at his other two friends, they had been staring at him, waiting for an update. Regardless of how loud her screams had sounded to him, they were silent to those who didn’t wear the communication device. “Prepare for company, they are headed here,” was all he said as he lifted his crossbow to his shoulder, the other two doing the same. What did she mean by watch the shadows?

No one spoke, all eyes were on the staircase, only the sound of heavy breathing broke the silence in the room as they waited for their fate to come down those stairs. Anton tried not to think about Lur’s screams and the sound of her being dragged and struggling but unable to escape her attacker’s hold. She had said there was only one Kander in the street, only one headed toward their hideout. Then who was it that had pushed her from a building and dragged her what he assumed was down the street. His mind halted when he heard the scrape of the door above, opening. It was a subtle one, but one he knew well.

The shadows flowed in an unusual manner toward the other two in the room, just as a small pink haired girl came into sight. Anton released the bolt he had knocked in the crossbow. Just as he did, she leapt down the stairs, rolling out of the way of his shot. His heart sank, he knew this was no fight, they could win. He cast aside his crossbow and readied himself for the battle of his life.

END