John knew he was not exactly the smartest person in the galaxy. Maybe that’s why all these powerful people wanted to use him. Tactics were his forte but not strategy. Coming up with a plan to rescue the two information couriers was mentally exhausting. He considered going in Rambo style and killing everyone in his path, but quickly dismissed it. This was not a computer game. Lots of innocent people would die, and besides he had to stay invisible to make sure the Empress’ executioner stayed in the dark. What to do? What to do? He studied the plans of the Duke’s prison intently. There were many weaknesses in the perimeter guard. He could get in and out easily, but not with two people who’d just been tortured.

John hired an air speeder for two days. He’d got the escape car. It would be so much easier if there was another person to help him, and maybe even think for him. How nice it would have been to have an AI companion like Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S. He took a walk through the city to get a feel for the atmosphere. Things had quietened down a lot. People were off doing their regular work and the guards were nowhere to be seen. This was good. Maybe they’d blamed the information couriers for Sandar’s murder.

The Duke’s prison was a small underground facility next to his palace. John wondered why the Duke hadn’t built it in his palace compound. It would have been so much easier, both for the duke as well as for him. There were air vents, but they were too small for John to fit through. If only he could find a magic potion like in Alice in Wonderland and transform into a smaller version of himself.

John waited for nightfall. It was a dark night. Every night on this planet was dark. The moonlight was too feeble to make it through the smog in much luminescence. He parked his speeder one block away from the prison facility. It was more accurate to call the prison a torture room. John had seen pictures of the devices within. They sent a shiver down his spine. How could such a sadistic madman become a duke. Had he turned into a sadistic madman because he was a duke? With great power came great temptation, and the duke had succumbed to his.

John cloaked himself in darkness. It was not as good as a stealth suit, but it would do. Most people weren’t alert enough to detect him. He activated his stealth, speed and agility circuits within his body. Dark energy took its toll on John’s aura reserves but there was more than enough energy to keep them pumping for a long time as long as he didn’t overdo it. He was now the perfect assassin.

Only a small shadow could be seen moving through the roads towards the duke’s prison. He’d timed it perfectly. The guards were changing their rotations. He zoomed past one as soon as the door opened, making it through with the skin of his teeth. All they would have seen was a black shadow darting past them, if they saw anything at all. They would think they had imagined it, or that some small creature like a bat had gotten in. He remotely hacked the cameras and looped the recordings.

John navigated through the corridors of the prison. The duke had many prisoners. It was a miserable sight. The duke really was sick in his mind. John wanted to free all the prisoners, but they wouldn’t fit on his speeder. They were too weak to run away, and would just be rounded up by the guards again. He could put them out of their misery, but his mission came first. He wouldn’t jeopardize it.

He passed one of the rooms and heard a cry of pain from within, soon drowned out by the buzz of a drill. John took a glance inside and felt sick. The duke was there in person, laughing like a crazy person as he held the drill. Luckily, the prisoner within was not one of John’s targets.

John soon reached the cells. He knocked out the two guards sitting there. It was easy to knock ordinary people out. All he needed to do was revolve his aura in a certain pattern and come into close contact with the target. Luckily, none of these guards were aura users or martial artists.

John looked through all the cells and found Sola and Datna sitting in one towards the middle. They were together, which was good. John unraveled the darkness surrounding him and hacked the prison cells’ lock.

“Who are you?” Datna asked. His voice was husky and his eyes bloodshot. It didn’t look like he’d been tortured yet, but the anxiety of waiting had taken its toll on his body, mind and spirit. This was good. They were still fit enough to walk.

“I’ve been sent to rescue you.”

“By who?”

“Who do you think? Come on. There’s no time for this.”

He weaved darkness around the three of them. It took some time for them to get used to their new cloaks. He showed them how to move while wearing it. His explanation took five minutes but there was no other way. Luckily, nobody came to check on the prisoners. Luck had played a major role in John’s life so far, but luck could also be considered part of one’s strength. He would never have been able to survive after his third year on his lonely planet without massive amounts of luck. He hoped that he hadn’t used up too much of it.

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“Let’s go,” he said.

Three shadows made their way towards the exit. A man was standing by the door. John cursed his luck. The man was the duke’s master of security. He was a strong martial artist and he was looking right at John with a curious gaze.

“I can see the both of you. Come out.”

John unraveled the darkness weaves on Datna and Sola. His stealth circuit had ensured that he was still undetected.

“Why, if it isn’t the two traitors,” the master of security laughed. “Which one of you can use aura energy? I can’t detect a trace of it on either of you.”

“We, we, we...” Datna stammered while John crept closer to the master.

John unsheathed his imli dagger as soon as he was within range and leaped at the master’s throat. The master was quick, and fended off the blow.

“This is interesting,” the master said. “I’ll enjoy killing you.”

The master was over confident. He didn’t bother calling for help. This worked to John’s advantage. He wrapped aura around his dagger, turning it into a long and strong needle. Weaving might alert any aura user in the building. Except for darkness the other elements were easy to detect. Fire revolved around the needle’s point, fueled by the imli dagger’s power cells. The master’s veins turned blue, and John could detect an immense amount of energy exploding within the master’s body. His energy was nowhere near as strong as John’s. This was easy. He didn’t even need any weaves. Could other martial artists detect internal energy? John wasn’t sure. He’d have to finish this quick.

He phased behind the master and struck. The master jumped forward just in time, and John’s dagger made nothing more than a superficial wound.

“Not bad,” the master said. “Whoever trained you did a good job. Why don’t you show me your real face? I hate to kill a man wearing a disguise.”

John laughed. This master of security was a clown. He didn’t know how close to death he was. John lunged forward once again, but the master twisted his body so that John’s dagger didn’t penetrate anything vital.

“A human child who can phase like the Elven Arbiters. I know of only one person like that. I have been wanting to meet you, Wild Child. It’s too bad that this will be our last meeting as well.”

“Too bad,” John nodded. He lunged again. The master caught his aura dagger between his palms. John couldn’t withdraw it. There was some strange energy that was sucking the aura away from him. No, it wasn’t sucking his aura away, it was neutralizing the aura. John kicked the master and phased three feet away. This master was much stronger than the champions in the Arena.

The master threw the imli dagger to the ground and charged at John. John couldn’t phase in time, his body still too full of aether to handle any more safely. He got caught by the master and smashed into a wall. The master unleashed a flurry of strikes and blows. John groaned. He didn’t care about being undetected any more. He unleashed lightning at the master who grimaced and then fell convulsing on the ground. It was that easy. The master was totally unprepared for it. John stabbed him with the imli dagger and then wove darkness around the three of them again.

A security guard came in that minute, looking at the master’s dead body. He started screaming and running down the passageway.

“Run with me,” John said to the information couriers. Just on cue, the alarms blared, but John had already reached the exit and opened the door. He unleashed lightning on the guards outside, and remotely activated his air speeder to meet them.

The three of them got onto the air speeder and flew into the sky. John looked down and saw many guards rushing out. Some started firing their guns at him, but he took manual control of the speeder and took evasive action. It was not easy driving through the smog. Their aim would be affected too. He called down the stealth ship the next instant. When it landed two minutes later it sent John its coordinates. It was too far away. They wouldn’t be able to make it. He called the Empress’ Spymaster.

“Give me remote access to the stealth ship’s controls. I need it to meet me in the city.”

“That would create too much of a spectacle,” said the Spymaster.

“There’s no other way. Besides, we’ve already created enough of a spectacle. A little bit more won’t be a problem.”

“Very well.”

John could see military warcraft coming towards them, like growing silhouettes in the smog filled air. The stealth ship arrived a moment later, decloaking above them. A boarding ramp extended outwards. John matched its speed with the speeder.

“Jump,” he told the two passengers.

“What? I can’t...”

John hurled them off the speeder and jumped onto the stealth ship. The two were lying on the boarding ramp, still in shock. He threw them into the ship and hurriedly closed the door. The ship cloaked just as the duke’s warcraft fired their first missiles. John activated the ship’s countermeasures and then took off into space. The warcraft tried to follow them into space. It took a minute for the stealth system to kick in. John maneuvered the ship through the laser fire and sighed with relief when the ship eventually cloaked itself. They’d escaped by the skin of their teeth.

There were three hyperspace tunnelers on the ship, and John didn’t have an issue getting to the hyperspace beacon. The duke’s ships had set up a blockade outside the beacon but they couldn’t detect his stealth ship at all. The ship traveled into hyperspace and John laughed in relief. Finally, mission accomplished.