Fortification
Phesx checked the surroundings, his eyes darted left and right before taking his hand radio out. “Get out and protect the limousine!”
Afterwards, he walked forth, not caring about the other footsteps he heard from off-road, fleeing from the vicinity after only his gunshots rang in the distance. Phesx walked to the front limousine. He was too late. Everyone who went in it were either dangling with deformed corpses from their seats, or shot dead and lied on the ceiling.
It wasn’t much different from the armored limousine, but only the drivers and those in the room after Yoali were impacted. There weren’t many to begin with, but 10 workers and guards died just in the armored limousine, let alone the front, which had most of the supplies and a good portion of the convoy’s people.
The rear limousine’s guards walked out, each wielding a small submachine gun with a holstered handgun at their waist. Phesx looked back once before touching his left lobe, pushing it against his head. “Yo, I will go scouting. Keep the miss inside there until I return.”
“Got it, Fox,” a breathy Yoali responded as she peeked from a window. She was a bit afraid, as that window had 2 shots webbing the glass, but she still looked to check Phesx’s wellbeing. Then, she crouched to Roroa across the separate rooms, passing by some scared workers before crouching beside the hidden compartment, tapping it a few times.
“Miss, Fox has gone out to revise the perimeter. Stay there for now. He will return, alright?” Yoali loudly voiced. Roroa’s small voice sounded from it, “Yeah, I got it. Is everyone okay?”
“… He will return soon, miss.” Yoali lowered her gaze. She didn’t know how to answer for a while. In the end, she could only say those words. Roroa didn’t add anything else.
… Phesx went off-road. His nostrils flared up as he chased the criminal shit who ambushed him. He looked upwards and found a few drones trying to identify him. He didn’t use his submachine gun but grabbed a large stone that he could hold with his hand and threw it with his left arm.
The drones were wracked down after a single try and hit, with Phesx remembering where they dropped, and keep on chasing the criminals. Since they couldn’t notice him anymore, Phesx wanted to take his tie and jacket off, but kept it as his body went ultra.
His nails were ready, and his teeth gritted against each other. Phesx silently quickened his pace and caught up with some people running with their backs up and their arms even higher. He impulsed his body after stomping against a tree trunk, lunging at a criminal with his hands stabbing into the shoulders.
The others only heard more leaves rustling, and dirt stomping. Phesx kneed the top of the back of the criminal’s head, cracking it open before weighing his weight down onto the criminal, forcing his body down face first, with whatever remained from it.
Stomping on the brains from behind, Phesx went after the others. His nails scratched necks, and his hands held and broke necks again. Needless to say, it felt incredible. Fulfilling.
His form was concise and fast. He was only seen by 4 people towards the end, and he didn’t give anyone the chance to ‘confess’ anything about them. He knew for a fact it was mostly useless to interrogate these people, at least in the majority, and with his appearance.
After 15 minutes, Phesx returned to the road, with the vehicles that stopped before not daring to come close still. The guards and workers formed small groups in a wide circle, waiting for further orders as Yoali stayed beside the hidden Roroa.
Who knew what some guards or workers would’ve done if Yoali was either missing or taken down in his absence.
When Phesx returned, he watched a small group of guards chatting with each other. One of them was pretty young, unlike the rest, but still older than Phesx. He walked past them before arriving at the armored limousine’s door. Everyone grew quiet. What happened, in the end?
K-tomp. Phesx opened the door, welcomed by Yoali, who aimed at his nose with a submachine gun she spent a few minutes assembling, perhaps, and a handgun to the other workers in the limousine. Phesx stopped and smiled, saying in a slightly deep tone, “You are prepared.”
“I’m a security chief,” Yoali said with a helpless tone. She lowered her submachine gun. Phesx looked at her before nodding. Only then did she lower her handgun, with the workers looking at the exchange with fully open eyes.
Yoali made space for Phesx to open the compartment. He crouched and pushed his left thumb in, still with his sharpened nails, but only from his thumb, making it appear to be a gut bion. The metallic hatch dented, allowing Phesx to pull and safely open it.
Phesx grabbed a shin with white stocking before pulling his princess out of the compartment. He didn’t give her enough time to take her oxygen mask off, ending up dragging the oxygen tank out with her. Her hair was still elegant and didn’t messy, as she looked at him and said with a pair of ragged breaths, “Hey.”
“Hmm,” Phesx Caolia hummed and nodded upwards before complimenting her with a caress to the top of her head, completely unlike what he did before, “You did well, too.”
“My heaven!” Roroa didn’t smile, maybe she couldn’t, but she did notice his left-handed bloody fingernails as he caressed her with his right hand. She grabbed it and pinched his fingertips. Looking at him, she inquired, ‘frowning’ beneath her mask, “Are you wounded?”
“No. Come out, you need to see this.” Phesx said, rubbing her left lobe before retreating out of the limousine. Yoali waited for her at the side. Roroa thought he found something interesting, but revising his tone and face, it didn’t seem like that.
Sure enough, when Roroa stepped out, she watched every worker and guard become stressed. Yoali followed behind her, with the armored limousine’s personnel also coming out with nervous faces.
Phesx Caolia walked to the back of the limousine, he checked the workers and guards from the around it, as those in the front were exterminated, and returned to those from the middle.
Phesx remained silent and walked past Roroa and Yoali, as the latter held the former’s wrist and placed her behind her body to protect. Meanwhile, the Chief Security Officer walked to the workers who were in another room before Roroa and himself in the limousine, now forming their little group outside.
A young man and woman looked at him, feeling weirded out. Meanwhile, on the other side, the small group of guards Phesx saw before walked forth after one of the guards suggested to the others, “Hey, we should go closer to the limousine in case more appear.” - “Yeah.” - “Right.”
Phesx’s predatorish walk with his shoulders moving up and down and slightly back and forth felt threatening to the young man. Before he could even open his mouth, briefly looking at the side to calm down, Phesx pushed him down, kicking his shins.
The young man was just putting a pained, screaming expression as he fell, when his face met the pavement in a brutal manner. Yet, that was alright compared to what came next. Phesx grabbed a nearby guard’s handgun faster than anyone could see before firing four times.
Bang bang bang bang. Phesx was prepared to rapidly reload, but it wasn’t a ‘secure’ handgun like those he’s dealt with before. Noticing this in a moment’s worth of notice, he shot the thighs and arms of the young man in one go. He couldn’t shoot too fast for its firing rate was limited.
“Aaaah!” The young man rightfully screamed, sounding rough and sobbing. Phesx bent a little as everyone, including the guard whose handgun he took, watched with shocked eyes. He pressed the hot muzzle against the young man’s head.
“Ah! I’m sorry, please!” The young man shouted, shutting his eyes as the armored limousine’s guards became flabbergasted. Was what they were thinking really happening?!
“Grab him. Go and pick the weapons the criminals dropped. Just leave some, so the cops can investigate a little.” Phesx returned the handgun to the guard before instructing the other guards. They nodded, wearing stern expressions as they moved the wounded young man away.
Roroa was a little shaken, but she seemed capable of processing this much. Yoali, however, continued to put her behind her body. Phesx didn’t stop there. Instead, he suddenly turned to the young woman and placed his right sole on her left knee. What happened next was as expected.
Crack. “AH!” The young woman screamed with all her lungs put to work. Her mouth overly opened, somewhat inhumanely even, but she didn’t look hurt. Well, at least not from opening her mouth wide. Phesx pushed his foot down, doing the same with his right hand on her upper back.
Phesx grabbed her hair from behind as she unnaturally knelt, awkwardly tumbling about with her left knee broken, wailing as she held his wrist with both hands but couldn’t do anything to him. She cried out in desperation, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
Phesx let go of her hair and threw her head to the ground, she hit her nose, but only bled a little, nothing more. He gave the guards a look before turning around, heading towards the ‘princess’. The guards didn’t need to be repeated what to do, they grabbed the young woman, not feeling chivalrous after seeing Phesx’s treatment, and carried her to the rear limousine with that other young man.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Seeing this, Roroa, who was initially not as altered, became fearful. She was almost entering into shock when she saw the woman’s ordeal. Yoali didn’t offer words to Roroa, as she, for who she was, had to learn of the world she wanted to venture into if she really wanted to.
Phesx dusted his hands off before stopping beside Yoali. She stepped aside and pulled Roroa to meet him head on, slightly shaking. Phesx didn’t try to touch her or appear soft, directly saying with a grin that was not a grin, “Have you seen? These are your people.”
“Ah… I- I see…” Roroa opened her mouth, suddenly finding her courage to lift her chin up, but she stopped and lightly called out. Phesx looked at her without parting his eyes for some time. It was a bit of a silent stare lock. They would talk later.
“Yoali, come to my room at night, before sleep, after we return,” Phesx said. Yoali had just begun her single nod, when Phesx lifted his left arm holding a submachine gun and shot towards a group of guards that came far too close to the armored limousine’s rear.
Tr rrr rrr. A guard to the young guard’s left was shot from the chest to the forehead, falling backwards without another thought processing in that head. Everyone was flabbergasted, and the guards doubted if to take their handguns out or not. In their doubt, Phesx aimed at the feet of the other guards, firing at the ground. The bounce hit no one, not even the corners of their boots.
“Ah, hurry!” A guard reacted, his eyes widening. Everyone in that small group of guards began rushing away, but the young guard wasn’t attentive. He only looked at Phesx in fear.
The guard closest to him tried to pinch his sleeve and grab him away, but the guard was too panicked to pay attention, or do things right. As a result, the young guard only looked to his side in response, wondering what the hell was happening.
“Sigh,” Phesx looked as the young guard looked to his left and finally caught what was up. As Phesx lowered his arm, the young man started running away, but the guard’s corpse, which had been left in the ground for at least 5 seconds, exploded with a loud sound. BOOM!
The explosion was small, with more white than orange in its expansion, but it was very lethal. Phesx didn’t expect it to be this powerful also. He ran back to Yoali and Roroa, bringing them behind the limousine to crouch, safe from the few pebbles shooting towards them. Needless to say, the road had a sudden crater form in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit deep, too.
The young man who barely initiated a run for it, for his life, whose face nobody could see as he crouched to run like a crazed survivor, was gone. Only his arms remained, flying across the air, high up 10 meters above the pavement, before falling flat on the ground.
A third of their remains were burnt charcoal, with the fingers so loose they seemed to never have bones formed inside. Furthermore, some hair strands fell near them, adding to a grotesque result.
“…” Phesx looked down as he felt Roroa’s eyes look up at him. He observed the small holes hiding her eyes, feeling at ease, seemingly conveying his something into her eyes. After a couple of seconds, he stood up and took his hand radio out. “All guards, hurry to search every person, even yourselves. This is nobody’s fault but yours.”
After that, Phesx stood up and walked around the armored limousine. Yoali helped Roroa stand up. He wanted to check everything in case he missed something. He already did before departing from the villa, twice. But he was gone for 15 minutes and only then he found some moles.
There should also be accomplices, in the known or not. But all in its due time.
After everyone was checked, and Phesx confirmed the safety of the 2 limousines, he ordered a retreat. Phesx left 2 guards and 4 workers to explain what happened. If the cops could help, his client wouldn’t have moved so far from the city. It was just to record information of the attack.
Thus, what remained of the convoy returned to the villa. Picnic day was cancelled.
… As soon as they arrived, with news having been transmitted back beforehand, the guards left behind all moved to inspect the personnel again, opening Roroa and Yoali a path into the mansion with Phesx following suit. Yoali brought Roroa to her room, while Phesx took care of things in his.
Immediately, the guards ‘took power’ and arranged everyone to form a vast line leading to Phesx’s room. First were the guards that went with them to the trip. Once they were revised and they passed, Phesx put them to keep anyone from walking near Roroa’s bedroom either on the same floor or below it, with others watching the mansion’s surroundings and rooftop.
As more guards were cleared, their number increased, and their efficiency flowed along.
Phesx Caolia kept briefly interviewing the workers after the guards were cleared up. Some weren’t, though, and were sent to an empty storage facility’s underground section to be imprisoned.
For the rest of the day, Phesx talked, asked, and received answers from the workers. Virtually all workers were clear of suspicion, but only half were revised. Then, in the evening, he questioned some people who gave their answers with sudden, quick heartbeats, producing nervous sweat.
Phesx made a pause. The guards closed his bedroom tight, which was prepared to receive an influx of people nonstop, with a desk in the middle facing an open space at the side. He looked at 3 workers, of which one began sweating in abundance.
“So you knew that giving information of the supplies and the limousine’s fixing for long trips wasn’t appropriate to tell, but you did anyway? And when the suppliers came, you talked to them a bit too long. That also didn’t seem inappropriate to you?” Phesx asked with upturned eyes, looking casual and a little baffled.
The worker, barely a young man, rubbed his fingers together after being caught lying. He sweated, compelled to say something after seeing Phesx’s expression. “No, sir. It was just 5 minutes, that’s not-”
“Most only spent 20 seconds or even a minute talking with them, waiting for things to get unloaded before focusing on work, as instructed in their labor codes. Why didn’t you?” Phesx Caolia’s words silenced the worker, with the others starting to sweat, glancing at their comrade with blaming in their gazes.
“I- ah… I’m sorry, they paid me 50,000 credits for every time I talked to them, and 10,000 whenever I brought someone else to do the same.” The worker confessed, feeling like the world wasn’t pulling down the weight of his surrounding anymore.
Phesx stood up and slowly stepped towards the worker. His voice could be heard throughout the room, “You’ll talk of those matters later. For now, you’ll follow this guard with the others and wait.”
Phesx placed his right hand on the worker’s back and directed him to the door, which a guard opened. He continued, “You’ll be fined 300,000 credits, but you won’t be reported. The others will receive a similar fine. The time to paid yours can be increased widely with every new name, alias, and piece of information you can remember.”
“Mn, you should also understand something else,” Phesx stopped the worker at the door, turning him slightly around, grabbing the left shoulder. The worker looked at Phesx in silence, acquiescent. “You have seen the first time my face was shown to the world, remember it?”
‘First?’ The worker felt strange upon hearing this wording, but he would naturally not express it. He slightly nodded towards Phesx. Phesx returned the small gesture with his lips closed, the upper atop the bottom one, and lightly said, “You should also remind yourself I was bloody then. Have you heard? I left to meet those who attacked us after the ambush, and I returned alone.”
“Go,” Phesx tapped the worker’s back before watching him and the others leave. Returning to his seat, he called for the next workers. He has discovered moles, but not all of them. It would be fun if one of them answered incorrectly after reuniting information from everyone.
… Time passed. Night fell.
Unlike before, with dim and soft lights, and when the crickets’ stridulation could be heard in one side of the villa. From tonight onwards, bright lights would illuminate the dirt paths and the outside perimeter of the villa would be on, scaring some small wildlife a bit away.
Phesx finished going through everyone’s profiles and interviews. The guards who gained respect not watching him go nuts after weeks of leisure were also gone. Just as Phesx checked the blueprints of various areas in the villa, and the map detailing the surroundings, his door opened.
His bedroom remained ‘office mode’, with his furniture pushed to the side, and only his desk and a few lamps facing the open space in front of the door.
Yoali walked in, wearing a long, white camisole only. Phesx looked at her, blinked, and went to the point, still seated at his desk. His voice was direct, but broken and soft still, “Yoali, is that screening you spoke about enough? Do you still think so?”
“You said it took time to do it correctly. Is that all you did? No further precautions to someone who is supposed to guard the life of your miss? It isn’t fair, but I’ll ask it. If I wasn’t there, what then? Your guard was lower than poor. You’ve failed your miss.” He stopped there, giving her a chance.
“… Foremost, thank you, Fox, for not addressing this in public.” Yoali expressed before her face grew stern. “I have thought about it since then. Help me revise these procedures. While I have ideas on how to improve, I wish for your assistance. I should’ve ensured a higher level of safety earlier, not remain inflexible, as I did. Having a notorious person watching over her dazzled me. I couldn’t feel more guilty. It is with reason.”
“…” Phesx looked at her for some seconds, rubbing his chin with the middle of his open index finger and thumb. Then, he stood up. Phesx walked before her and nodded, “I blame you, but this is just to be expected. I was there, so I didn’t bother reminding you. It’s my negligence at play.”
“Mn,” Yoali nodded. Then, they stared at each other in silence for some time. Phesx blinked before bluntly asking, “Did you expect me to coerce you tonight or something? Why do you stay here?”
“Scoff, I do not. But miss said I should favor you.” Yoali said with relief. Phesx lifted his eyebrows a bit. “Oh? So you are willing to do something like this because Roroa petitioned it to you?”
“… I trusted your manliness of not seeking casual pleasure, Fox.” She said with a damned straight face after losing her breath. Phesx chuckled, forcing some guttural sounds stuck at the back of his throat. Yoali smirked, “Fox? It seems you’re human, too.”
“Yes,” Phesx shook his head, further stating in a condemned tone and a neutral expression, “Unfortunately.”
“She won’t sleep easily tonight,” Yoali said after turning around, looking at him over her left shoulder. Phesx looked at her with his eyelids drooped by a third. Yoali left with a little smile on her lips. Phesx could feel her excitement as she walked to her bedroom.
Looking around his ‘office’, Phesx felt like not giving a fuck. But only for tonight. He picked the documents and blueprints, and stored his pens, before walking out. He walked by the maid and Yoali’s bedrooms, hearing light moans in the latter despite the excellent soundproof.
Creak. Phesx entered Roroa’s bedroom without knocking. Even if he wanted to be tactful, which he naturally didn’t want to tonight, his habits acted first.
Roroa stood before the lower end of her bed, vacantly staring at the wall. Remaining silent, he walked to her back and hugged her from behind, placing his left hand on her tummy while his other moved to her chin.
She looked up at him, twisting her neck and lifting her chin, quiet and awaiting. Feeling like it, Phesx smooched her forehead, the mask’s material, before whispering his breath against it. “I saw them crouch after Yoali, looking at your absence with furrowed frowns.”
“That’s not enough to recognize them as ‘enemies’, or whatever…!” Roroa loudly exclaimed. Phesx held her waist gently, sighing as he knew he’d have to do some convincing first. “Sigh…”
…