"Alex, take the left. If you see anything at all, whistle." Leo whispered lightly as we approached a dark maze that I knew would lead us deeper into the heart of the Curser's home. We had a team put together of Leo, myself, two more male Blessers and Lara, despite the fact that both Leo and I had attempted to get her to remain back in Sky City.
But that didn't happen and so here she was with us. I growled at the thought of the innocent girl being in danger; no matter how manipulative or scheming she was, I still found that I cared about her. This mission was just a scouting expedition. They would use me as a backup plan if we found ourselves in trouble with the Cursers, but I hoped against hope that would not happen and things went smoothly.
Of course I never get my way, now do I?
"Hold!" A squeaky voice called out as I entered a wide expanse of twisted metal. "What do you think you are doing? This is a restricted area!" The Curser glared at me, hands on his hips. I knew that this close to the main quarters, where they'd possibly hide a Level 5, there would be only Level 3 and Level 4 Cursers. Dangerous stuff, especially for one without any power at all.
Like me.
"Um yeah, I seem to be lost. Looking for my dog. Have you seen him? Little brown thing. Scruffy. Ugly as my face." I chirped, grinning at the younger man with a devious smile. This one was young, but looked competent enough. I blinked a few times, hoping the flame-ringed contacts we wore were still in place. To him I would look like a Curser. I hoped.
"No and you had better move along or I'll bring you in for questioning." He barked at me, pointing to the way I came. I nodded with hands up to show him I meant no harm and turned my back as if I were leaving. But at the last moment, I pulled out my stunner and down he went. I squatted beside his body, resisting the urge to rob him, and patted his coat seeking a card to let me into the deeper part of the complex. As I stood with the card in my hand, alarm bells began to chime.
"Crap." I muttered and turned on my heel, dashing away. I flicked the card in a trash bin, knowing they'd change the code making it a worthless piece of plastic, and dashed backwards, heading to the rendezvous point. This had been a bust. We all made it back to the meeting point except for one. Can you guess which one did not make it?
Lara.
Right.
The fool girl had gotten herself caught. I grumbled angrily under my breath and then froze when we soon found ourselves approached by three Cursers. There were four of us, which would normally mean victory, but they had me so it was pretty much even.
"You aren't Cursers." The ugliest one of the bunch snapped, pointing to each of us, despite the fire-rimmed contacts in our eyes and the black clothing we wore. "Your contacts are burning your eyes." His command was a curse and I watched in mild alarm as the three Blessers beside me yanked the contacts from their eyes as if they were in pain. When Blessers and Cursers fight, you do NOT want to be within a mile. Things get a little ugly. Especially since Ugly-face was clearly at least a Level 3.
"Tell us what you are doing and we'll let you go." A lie of course. It was at that moment when the black bag that was at their feet began to move. What the heck did they have in it? Mumbling from within made me think it was alive. I felt my eyes grow wide when I wondered if they had put Lara inside. The Blessers and Cursers began to hurl words at each other, sharp as barbs and rocks from the street began to fly around, sometimes hitting targets, sometimes missing. Things were getting as ugly as the guys face; this obviously was not their first battle with Blessers. I took time to edge my way around the fighting men, dodging rocks, garbage and anything else that was free and liftable, and carefully slid the zipper back on the bag.
"You jerk! Let me--Alex?" It was Lara. "Get me out of this thing!" I grasped her arms and pulled, letting her legs come free and helped her to her feet. As I did, a chunk of concrete, stray from the fight, smacked her squarely in the head. Ouch! That'll leave a mark.
I caught her easily and held her unconscious form to my body, running for the shuttle we had used to fall to the earth. It was set to go back up in intervals of hours and I wondered how soon it was due to return. I did not want to wait if it had just returned, but could not think of a better place for Lara. I dashed inside, dodging anything that flew our way and placed her gently upon the padded floor of the shuttle once in it.
"Lara?" I patted her cheek, but she was still out solidly; I wondered if it would be more helpful if I exited to check on the Blessers or just remain inside with the girl. I was resolved of my deliberating when all three Blessers, blood streaming from many wounds, jumped into the shuttle as it began to float up to the sky. It shook a few times as the Cursers hurled their angry words, but held firm and soon we would be back in Sky City as the higher the shuttle got, the faster the speed improved.
"Is she all right?" Leo asked, pointing to Lara's prone form. All I could do was shrug. I studied the men as they doctored each other and their own wounds and could not help but feel as if I had been a hindrance to them instead of help. Another Blesser would have been much better and they might have won instead of having to make a run for it.
"Well, that was sloppy, but it worked." Leo stated dryly as he pushed a bandage against one of his arm wounds and blessed himself, "I'll heal fine. I see that my skin is forming and molding to the wounds so nicely." Removing the bandage, new skin had begun to grow from his blessing. I wondered if he were a Level 4 and stared as he did the same for the fellow beside him, but watching his subtle movements, I realized he had to make symbols with his hand and it wasn't truly healed, but more like on the way to being healed fully. That'd mean Level 3. Only a Level 4 could do things with just a word or sentence, like Ugly back on the surface. Or me.
Once upon a time.
"Wait, worked?" I questioned him, looking at him in disbelief. "Last I checked, we had our butts handed to us." I did not mean to be antagonistic, just honest. I think Leo saw that, as his reply was mild.
"I had a few moments where I gleaned the information we needed. The Level 5 is not in the security of the Cursers." I blinked at his words. That meant the Level 5 was not in Curser care? There was hope after all then. But how would we find him or her?
"So what's the next strategy then?" I leaned back, realizing that Lara was resting her head in my lap and her hand had began to press against my crotch, stroking as if my package were her pet. It was probably a good thing I could not get aroused as having her so intimate with me there would have done funny things to my body for sure, causing me serious embarrassment with her brother and the other Blessers with us.