Chương 155: 68 - THE STAND

The Gracelandian refugees sat helplessly on a beach as their battles were being fought for them. It was a daunting task, just sitting around, yet it was their role. To worry. Ellie continued comforting the poor mother who had lost her young son. She felt for her, as she had lost her own boy. Acelin had disappeared not long after they had docked on the beach. He was likely off playing knight or vigilante, whatever it was he did. She knew the boy wasn't helpless, but he was still her responsibility.

And if this was the line where they were going to continue on, she wouldn't know if she could if something happened to Acelin on the island.

"I'm going back," she said, her lack of patience getting the best of her.

"But Ellie," one of the women had said.

"You can't fight. Think about your child."

"I am. But what kind of mother would I be if I let one child go because I was too worried about another?" At this point, Acelin was her own. It was all she could call it: Hers and T'balt's. For the past months, they had raised him together. She never thought to call herself his mother, but she felt the same drive to protect him as she did her unborn. For that, she sympathized all too much with the crying mother and her young boy.

"I'll stay away from the fighting," she told the others.

"I'm just going to find the kids and come back." She didn't have the tools to fight anyhow. T'balt had her Holy Bow and the evacuees only had a small bag of loot for emergencies. Stuff to deal with errant demons but nothing strong enough to turn the tide of a battle. But she did keep one special. One that she usually kept on her from the church: The Wing Loot. Two radiant white angel's wings sprouted from her back on the moonlit beach.

"I'll be right back." The great wings flapped, lifting her off the ground, and she flew the way back to the island. She could hear the distant sounds of battle, which only amplified her worry. However, halfway there, something zipped by her, ripping through the water. It moved so fast she could hardly see, but it was a blur of blonde hair and a short black cape.

"Acelin?" She was sure it was him and that damned speed loot he always loved. And it looked like he might've been carrying a boy with him as well. She supposed she shouldn't have been so worried about him.

"I guess I should go back then…" But the sounds from the island kept drawing her attention.

"Back to just doing nothing." The children weren't the only ones she worried for. T'balt and all the people she had grown to care for over the month were still there. There had to be something she could do. At the very least, she had to know. Sitting in the sand and waiting for her mind to disappear was torture more than she could bear. So she continued on towards the battle… The Bestower statue was crumbling to rubble after the umpteenth explosion at its feet.

Half of the stone holding it up had been torn to shreds, leaving it on a faulty foundation. It looked like it would tip over at any moment as the three sentient bombs kept blowing it up, and Mauve looked on like a crazed lunatic. Tyene looked up at Uriel, who seemed content to accept his fate if he plummeted to his death. Any other time, Tyene might've just let this happen, but she was feeling particularly invested in seeing this fight through. She didn't know if it was T'balt or German that got to her. Maybe both.

But she supposed she should do something about that Mauve woman.

"Hey, calm down." She said, suddenly appearing behind her. Mauve jumped, surprised. The bombs shifted their attention, zooming to blow Tyene up where she stood. The Wanderer moved her to safety, putting Mauve more in danger of blowing herself up rather than Tyene. Tyene stood in front of the statue, hands in the pockets of her black romper.

"You done yet?" Mauve aimed her arm, and a tiny shot sounded from her. A poisoned dart whizzed across the air until Tyene caught it with her index finger and her thumb. She stared into the tiny dart as a thick violet liquid oozed out of its tip.

"That wasn't very smart," Tyene said.

"Who in the hell are you, now?" Mauve seethed.

"I'm one of the ones you're not supposed to kill." She discarded the dart.

"I don't give a damn who I can and can't kill. All I care about is ending this farce."

"Then leave… Corlander is gone. You're kind of just wasting your time here. If I were you, I would've walked away a long time ago."

"Pfft… you're delusional if you think that man is gone."

"I'm not seeing him anywhere." She pretended to look around. Stolen story; please report.

"I've been dealing with powerful people all my life… long enough to know which ones will stand out, which ones to crush, and which ones to stay the hell out of their way. As soon as I first laid eyes on the man, I knew to attach myself to Corlander. He is not a man who will be destroyed until he gets every last drop of what he wants. If I betray him, what he'll want is to see me dead, and I'm not taking that risk." Tyene grimaced.

"Just another drone… Fine then. Guess you'll have to go too." The two women locked eyes at the bottom of the Bestower.

"Careful, Tyene. The woman is somehow using four loots, but somehow she isn't overloading," German said.

"If one of them is those poison darts, then you're wrong," she thought.

"Those things aren't loot. I saw it when I slowed down time. They're coming out of her bracelet. It's just a gun of some sort."

"Hmm. A wonder she was able to hide that from us for so long."

"Money says she was hiding that fact in case you hunters decided to turn on her."

"Likely."

"Tear her to shreds, my darlings!" Mauve yelled it, and the sentient bombs reformed themselves to charge at Tyene. She teleported away from the first bomb and then again from the second and third. All the while, she couldn't get a strange feeling of familiarity out of her mind, particularly when it came to those sentient beasts. When they charged her a fourth time, she instead dilated time to get a look at them. She slowed the little creatures down just before their forms shattered into a plasmic explosion.

But she could see it smiling with its little gray bomb face.

"Are those my boomas?" she suddenly asked.

"Your what?" said German. When time resumed normally, Tyene pointed an accusing finger at Mauve.

"You stole my Boomas! How in the hell did you get them!?"

"Stole? How dare you suggest I… that's not even how loot works. If my babies were yours, you'd be dead."

"They're not your babies. They're mind… from a past life, but still." Mauve petted one of the little bombs near her face.

"Don't worry. That mean woman is just spouting nonsense. You will always be momma's special little ones."

"No, no, no. I can't think of a worse existence than to have my boomas serving this prosthetic bitch."

"PROSTHETIC!? KILL HER! KILL HER NOW!" When Tyene uttered those words, a switch flicked in Mauve's mind, and she became incensed, screaming expletives and shouting for her to die. Tyene didn't expect the visceral reaction. After all, she can't have been the first person to tell her those surgeries made her face look like a botoxed cartoon lizard. Nonetheless, the boomas attacked with extra speed and fervor. The entire island in one swoop exploded with her mist as it attempted to cut off Tyene's sight.

Dozens of clones appeared within it, all flying towards the space where Tyene had been. They screamed with the same intensity as the original, which meant an ugly choir of Mauve's deranged screeching. It looked like the woman had just committed to an all-around dogpile on a person with a teleportation loot. It wasn't the smartest idea, but Tyene supposed she had completely lost her sense.

After the thirtieth explosion, the mist cleared, leaving a desolate crater full of rubble and ash in the middle of the city square. Mauve seethed, but eventually she calmed herself when the little boomas came to float next to her.

"Good…" she breathed heavily.

"Good job, my babies. Come here." She beckoned the bomb's smiling face. It landed in her hand as the other two watched. She began to pet it, but the fuse on its head sparked.

"Wait! What are you doing? Not in momma's hand. No!" Mauve suddenly tried to throw it as the fuse ticked down, but she was too late. The bomb exploded, completely eviscerating her hand into a burning red stump. She screamed. And then the other two exploded right next to her head. And the woman fell over dead. The mist quickly cleared, as did the clones and the coins once in her neck, which had clattered on the ground. Though it was only two of them, for the Booma loot was not there.

Tyene was sitting on the ground, legs crossed, with all three Boomas resting in her arms. All that mist and rage ended up blinding Mauve. It was almost too easy for Tyene to use her time dilation and get behind the only clone not attacking her. She used the loot thief to take the boomas back, replacing the mirror loot with them. And just like that, Mauve was dead, and the Boomas were Tyene's again. The little grey bombs paraded back and forth as if they were disembodied heads dancing for joy.

"Sorry, guys," Tyene said.

"I know I've been neglecting you all, but it's been a crazy few lives. I'll tell you about it later." She stood up.

"Alright. That's one problem solved." She looked up at the Bestower. Uriel looked back down, almost disapprovingly. Tyene could only shrug back at him. But he turned his head. She followed it to see Lila, desperately healing David and the others, raising them from their injuries with the power of prayer.

"I've seen that loot before." Meanwhile, Vienna Misling was desperately hiding from her former commander. She was hiding in shadows, her only loot. Her only form of defense. Her guns were useless. Her knives were doing her no favors.

"A pain exchange loot." What was she supposed to do about that? Any damage she did to him would only reverse on herself. The seering pain inside her chest was proof of that much. It was right where she stabbed him. She felt like she was bleeding internally even though it wasn't her who was stabbed. But when did it happen? It wasn't that way when she first attacked. Otherwise, she would've been dead when she first shot him in the head.

That's when she noticed a mark on her arm, a strange glowing circle right on her forearm. He put it on her when she lost her temper and slammed him to the ground. Since she started this fight, she had been caught in his trap.

"How pathetic…" Hobbs paced in the open street as Vienna took shelter in an abandoned restaurant.

"It's really no point running away. You and I are tied together. Bound by an invisible thread called fate… So while I'd love to play around. I've got a mission to do." He picked up his knife off the ground and proceeded to slit his own wrist. A waterfall of blood pooled by his feet as he grimaced, but almost as soon as the wound opened, it began to close, from the vein to the skin. In horror, Vienna watched the skin on her wrist rip itself apart, and the arm around it turn purple like it was filling with blood.

She immediately got lightheaded, and she fell over, knocking over a dining table as she tried to steady herself. Hobbs heard it, pinpointing her location. He was only a few yards away, but it likely didn't matter. She was lying flat on the ground, as the blood seemed to seep through her pores and onto the ground.

"I'm sorry… Tyene. I wasn't strong enough… Ger… German… I need… help…" Hobbs stood over her as her vision began to fade. He equipped his knife.

"Sweet dreams, my girl." And he put it to her throat.

'CANNNON BUSTERRRRRRR!!!" Just like that, Cannon burst into the building, throwing a clothesline right at the commander. He didn't see it coming, meaning it hit him directly in the chest and tossed him through several walls due to Cannon's massive strength.

"Looks like I'm just in time."