[2] Rescue Operation

[Friend or Foe]

Kaden

Szar
Piper



Trisha was an excellent driver. She had never told Kai this, but back when she was a teenager, nobody could take her on when it came down to drag racing. Now here she was, going full speed with a jeep, blasting over the harsh terrain of the island and heading south towards the Sand Trap with two heavily drugged and sedates warriors in the back.

Szar and Piper were mildly awake, just enough to be stuck to listening to the horrible music blaring from the radio. Trisha was your typical spoiled rich girl, talking on a cell phone to a friend in the mainland as music blasted. It was almost as if she wasn't transporting two people to certain death.

Of course, not everything was perfect for Trisha. Kai Demolic was a smart man, and he knew exactly how to manipulate things in his favor. Which is how Kaden had come to find a motorcycle near the exit that Trisha had taken.

Kai Demolic wanted a car chase. He wanted people to watch as Kaden rode that motorcycle to save his friends from where ever Trisha was going to abandon them.

Sure, Trisha was his wife and it was dangerous. But who could argue with ratings?

[Piper Juunanagou]

A soft groan escaped Piper’s bloodied lips as she slowly cracked open her weary eyes. All around her, some form of ghastly, musical torture was blaring—causing the wounded, blurry-eyed woman to cringe as she tried to shake off her delirium. As the seconds dragged on, Piper slowly came to the realization that she could barely feel her arms and legs. Even worse, there was something that was holding her arms and legs together.

With a faint moan of pain, the red-haired woman twisted her neck at and awkward angle as she tried to look down at her ankles. Her foggy eyes grew wider as she caught site of two thick, black cuffs clamped around both of her ankles. All at once, Piper felt like she was back in a hospital and tied down to one of those terrible beds.

Haunting memories began to strangle her thoughts as she lied on the plastic floor of the vehicle. Flashes of abusive doctors and uncaring nurses light up in her head as she slipped further into the delirium that the cocktail of sedatives had created. If Piper was able to scream, her shouts would have eclipsed the terrible music pouring from the speakers. But try as she might, all she could do was twitch and gasp erratically as the myriad drugs coursing through her bloodstream acted to keep her in check.

“…stop or you’ll hurt yourself,” the weak, almost wavering voice of Szar managed to wrench Piper out of her hallucinations and anchor her to the even less comforting reality of the situation. Rolling her head to look behind her numb body, Piper could—despite her blurred vision—make out the purplish figure of Szar lying just a foot or so away from her. “Are you okay?” He added frailly, his voice barely audible over the wailing singer in the background. Piper winced as she struggled to keep her head at an angle where she could see the fuzzy frame of the alien.

Opening her mouth, the woman tried to make words come out, but just as earlier with her attempted bout of screams, all she could formulate was a series of unintelligent gurgles and groans. Frustration began to swell up within the woman as her weak neck muscles gave out and her head rolled away from the changeling and back down to the other side of her body. With a grunt, the woman clenched her eyes shut and tried to make sense amidst the chaos of her mind and the abuse of the terrible noise coming from the front of the vehicle.

Szar? Piper thought as she tried to focus her erratic, unorganized thoughts into some sort of coherent design. Can you hear this? She added as she tried to project the words into the mind of the alien. After a few seconds of nothing but the pounding of her head and the screaming of the music, the woman got a reply.

“How…how are you doing that?” The changeling whispered, trying his hardest to talk above the music but not loud enough to let the driver hear him. Piper smiled on the inside as she once again tried to clear her head of the jarring, ambient noise.

I genuinely don’t know. Piper replied. I had a friend who could communicate telepathically…I guess I picked it up from her.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Szar said, punctuating his mark with what sounded like a weak laugh.

If it’ll make you feel better, a lot of my life hasn’t made sense lately. Piper replied telepathically as she wrenched her head up to try and see if she could pinpoint the driver. Although the redhead’s vision was starting to clear up, her muscles were still numb to the point where it took her a good half a minute to angle her head. When she managed to position herself, she found herself frowning on the inside as she stared through the small crack in the back seats at the woman driving the car.

“It’s that incorrigible woman, isn’t it?” The changeling muttered, straining once again to be heard over the driver’s loud, painful music. The redhead frowned as she realized that the woman was actually talking to someone on a cell phone.

Trisha Demolic. Piper replied after taking a few beats to remember the name of the woman who had beaten her down like she was a redheaded stepchild. He left his wife to cart us away. She added with a weak mental laugh.

“Can you see where she’s taking us from that angle?” Szar asked as his newfound companion tried to life her head a little higher. Unfortunately, she only managed to get a couple of inches before the numbness got the best of her.

No…but it’s rather sunny. Piper replied awkwardly as she turned her eyes back to the driver. Although the two prisoners were only a couple of feet behind Trisha, they couldn’t hear her conversation due to the jarring volume of the music. What do you think they’re going to do with us? She asked as she tried to move her extremities. Although they were slightly more responsive, it was evident that the pair of prisoners needed more time before they could try anything on their own.

“I don’t know,” Szar whispered, his tone betraying the frustration that boiled within his barely responsive body. “But I will bring those two to justice,” he seethed. Piper would have nodded her head had she the strength to do so, but unfortunately, all she could muster was a weak smile as she narrowed her eyes at their driver.

You’re a stupid cunt. Piper rasped—directing the remark toward the blonde woman driving the SUV. Almost immediately, Trisha’s entire frame jostled as she lowered the volume just slightly and shot a fleeting glance toward her sedated cargo. By that point, Piper had managed to pull her head so it wasn’t facing the woman.

“Did you just say what I thought you said?” Trisha shouted into the cell phone as she turned her attention back to her driving. After a short pause, Piper heard one last remark before the volume went back up to full: “Oh…well then I must be hearing things.”

[Kaden]

A mix of emotions tore at Kaden. At first, the young courier had been excited to be able to help a cop in his investigation. The thought that he might have a hand in helping bring a criminal to justice was exciting and filled Kaden with a surprising sense of... purpose. What came next, though, dashed the courier's hopes, filling him with concerns that such emotions, such purpose, may have simple been fleeting excitement.

The power, the speed, the brilliance of Trisha's power shocked Kaden. Things happened quickly, far too quickly for the courier to be of any real help. One second he was standing on the side of justice, trying to do what he felt was right, and then next moment he was all but paralyzed. First Szar was dropped, an experienced cop trained to fight the bad guys. After that went Piper, a woman who, as far Kaden could tell, had some at some combat training.

Vaguely, Kaden was aware of Kai saying something to him. He wasn't really sure what, his attention was locked onto the two unconscious figures of Szar and Piper. When Kai paused, a expectant look on his face, Kaden's body did what it knew it had to do. The shattering of the window, the sound of air rushing past, and even the violent impact of hitting the ground... none of it registered with Kaden until it had already happened.

While Kaden's mind reeled to keep up with what was going on around him, his body didn't miss a beat. When the courier actually stopped and took a second to breathe, he found himself back in the Hunter's camp, alone. The guards that had been incapacitated by Piper and Szar were gone, and the other Hunters had already left. Rarely had Kaden ever felt so alone.

Though he was sure that there was no one in the camp, the courier decided to look around while he attempted to figure out what to do. He had not been under the impression that anyone was chasing him, which was odd, but he also did not think it would be best to simply continue on with the game as thought nothing had happened. It was during his search that Kaden happened upon a nice shiny motorcycle.

It was certainly possible that the bike had been there the whole time, but Kaden definitely hadn't seen it. Equally surprising was that the key was in the ignition and it was positioned at the end of the camp on a small road leading south. Inspecting the bike gave Kaden a moment to slow down and focus his thoughts and, as he was doing so, he felt a familiar sensation tugging at the back of his mind.

Looking up, Kaden caught a small plume of sand rising up in the distance. Kaden knew it was Trisha, he could feel her moving away from him. The small road, two lanes at best, looked recently laid, but it didn't look like Kaden would have much say in what route he took. The bike's sporty appearance gave Kaden the distinct impression that it would not handle the sand very well. As he hoped onto the bike, Kaden could only hope that the path before him would take him in the right direction.

As Kaden revved the bike to life, he took in a deep breath and steadied himself. It had been a couple years since he had actually ridden a bike; when Kaden had first began working for Greg, at his delivery service, he had to borrow the run-down bike that the service owned. Kaden had tried to block out the memories of making deliveries in that thing, never entertaining the thought that such experience might actually prove useful someday.

Unfortunately, for the courier, the bike he had stumbled upon was much more... potent than the bike he had learned to drive. It took several minutes before Kaden found a speed that he was actually comfortable with. Despite the absolute absurdity of going after someone like Trisha, Kaden had already resolved to do it. Both Szar and Piper had gone down trying to bring someone to justice while Kaden had simply run away. If there was anything he could do to help or make up for his cowardice, he was ready to do it.

[Piper Juunanagou]

As the minutes had piled up toward the hour marker, Piper had struggled to maintain her composure. It wasn’t an easy objective, seeing as Trisha’s music seemed to go on without end and her incessant shouting and squealing every four seconds was enough in and of itself to cause anyone to snap. Unfortunately for the incapacitated redhead, she could do little but lie on the floor of the SUV’s rear cargo.

From what Piper could tell, the truck had reached some rather tumultuous terrain. Every bump on the apparently uneven road caused the redhead’s numb body to hop up off the bed of the truck, only to land painfully a split-second later. By all means, it was a painful way to travel, but at least it was a sign that the sedatives streaming through her system were starting to dissipate.

“Where do you think she’s taking us?” Szar whispered, prompting Piper to turn her head to face him. It was the first thing the changeling security officer had said since their earlier conversation.

I don’t know. Piper replied as she narrowed her eyes and turned them upon Trisha. We need to do something, because I vote we don’t lie around to find out. She added as she turned back to Szar.

“Can you move?” He whispered as he tried to edge closer to his fellow prisoner.

A little. Piper spoke as she bit down on her lower lip and proceeded to try and move her shackled feet. Despite the strain evident on the woman’s pale, flushed features, she only managed to drag her incapacitated limbs across the uneven bed of the vehicle.

“Impressive,” Szar scoffed as he turned his attention to his backside. A smile spread across his face as his hooked tail slowly lifted up off the floor. “I suppose there’s an upside to being a changeling,” he said with what sounded like a faint chuckle.

I don’t get it. Piper shot back as the alien glanced over his shoulder and down toward his hands. With a faint grunt, he swung his tail up around to the pair of handcuffs, and although she couldn’t see what exactly he was doing, Piper had a pretty decent idea. After a rather tedious period of struggling behind his back, Szar let out a soft snicker and pulled his now unshackled hands around to show Piper.

I suppose there is an upside to being a changeling. The woman conveyed with a telepathic laugh as Szar let out a grunt and tried to push himself up to a kneeling position. Unfortunately for the alien, the sedatives were still impairing his muscles, and instead of defiantly rising from the brink of defeat, the vehicle hit a bump and he slammed painfully into the roof before collapsing back to the floor.

“What the hell was that?” From the front of the car, the music died down and Piper heard Trisha apologize to her friend as she turned her attention toward her two prisoners. The wife of Kai Demolic scowled heavily as she tilted her head to between the two back seats. What she saw was two seemingly unconscious ‘warriors’ lying face-down on the hard plastic bed of the trunk. “I think I’m starting to hear things,” she muttered angrily as she turned her attention back to the front of the vehicle.

I guess everything has its downsides, too. Piper said sarcastically as Szar clenched his teeth and struggled not to yell. After a few moments, the redhead glanced at the front of the SUV and let out a telepathic sigh of relief. Clear. Piper replied as Szar nodded his head and started to drag his still mildly unresponsive body toward the back seat. Using it as a prop, the changeling managed to pull himself up into a seated position.

“Get… ready,” he remarked as he used his hooked tail to quite literally stab his way through the chain links that connected the shackles around his ankles. Once he had managed to splinter enough of the metal, the alien used his tail as a hammer to smash the weakened metal.

That was far less impressive than I thought it’d be. Piper said with a telepathic chuckle as Szar shuffled forward and began to work on her cuffs.

“What?” The changeling inquired as he gingerly stabbed at the iron links. From the concentration on his countenance, it was evident that he was trying not to slip up and accidentally stab his newfound comrade. “Did you think I was using it as a lock pick?” He asked with a light chuckle as the chain that connected Piper’s handcuffs broke apart.

Maybe… The woman replied sheepishly as a faint shade of pink began to spread across her normally pallid cheeks. Szar simply laughed and shook his shoulders as he quickly began to pick apart Piper’s leg shackles. As he tinkered away with his own special form of precision, the redhead flexed her terribly numb arms in an attempt to get the blood circulating correctly.

“Done,” Szar said as his tail split apart the steel chain binding Piper’s ankles together. The woman smiled warmly as she propped herself up against the interior wall of the SUV. “What now?” The alien whispered as he crouched behind one of the back seats.

Get ready to jettison. Piper remarked as she reached between the backseats of the vehicle and grabbed a small roadside repair kit resting on the floor.

“What are you going to do with that?” Szar asked as the woman let out a faint groan and hoisted the small metallic box up into her lap. “You cooked up an escape plan with a bunch of flares and some shoddy tools?” He inquired as the redhead set her eyes on the still oblivious driver.

Nah. Piper shot back as she awkwardly hoisted the box up over her head. I'm going to take the Szar approach on this one. As Szar watched in mild horror, the woman sent the metal box hurling toward the front of the vehicle.

The effect was quite imminent.

Even with numb muscles and diminished motor skills, Piper managed to lob the small crate right at the driver. Although the box missed Trisha, it gave her enough of a scare that she let out a hoarse scream and swerved the car just a little too hard to the left.

In that moment of panic, the woman’s talent behind the wheel left her, and the SUV’s right wheels left the ground. Before Trisha could right the vehicle, it was already rolling across the dune-covered wastes of the Sandtrap.

[Kaden]

The blistering wind whipped against Kaden's face as he sped down the road. Sand and dirt were kicked into his face, making it difficult to see and annoying to breathe. Beads of sweat that attempted to trickle down his face became mired in sand and crusted into unsightly trails. Fortunately for Kaden, the decision to continue onward was an easy one. He could either follow the road he was on and hope to catch up to Trisha, Piper, and Szar, or he could turn around and head back to the mansion that he had just escaped from.

It was difficult for Kaden to tell how long he had been driving. He knew he wasn't going particularly fast, and he knew that he was having trouble feeling out Trisha's location, but that was it. As the sun continued to beat down on his back, the courier tried to distract himself with thoughts of what he would do when he caught up to his partners in crime. Trying to devise such a plan, however, only brought a single fact to light: Kaden had no clue what he was doing.

So what if he caught up to Trisha? What could he hope to accomplish when she had felled both Piper and Szar without breaking a sweat. Kaden had some degree of confidence in the raw destructive powers he once possessed, but unleashing them in full force was something he had not attempted in years. Perhaps he would be able to grab Piper and Szar without anyone noticing and escape... on his motorcycle...

Luckily Kaden was spared any more depressing thoughts. In the distance, a short distance off the road Kaden was traveling on, a large cloud of sand was kicked into the air. With the wind in his ears, Kaden was unable to catch the faint sound of Trisha's SUV rolling through the desert. As the courier neared the dissipating plume of sand, though, he could faintly feel Piper and Szar tugging at the back of his mind.

With a frown, Kaden brought his bike to a stop. The road had taken him as close as it was going to. To actually approach Piper and Szar, Kaden would have to travel through the sand itself, something he had been going out of his way to avoid. Gripping the bike tightly, the courier steeled himself and shot off the road.

The instant the bike hit sand, Kaden could feel its tires lose their grip, spinning wildly. On instinct, the courier twisted the handlebars, but that proved to be a very poor idea. The body of the bike twisted, throwing the unprepared Kaden from its seat before falling to the ground. Kaden himself rolled through the sand for several feet, leaving a shallow trail in his wake. His body flopped to a stop, but Kaden was slow to actually move.

"Well that was a dumb idea..." he mumbled to himself

Pulling himself slowly to his feet, Kaden glared at the motorcycle that lay several yards away. As he removed his jacket, the courier kicked a small plume of sand at the fallen vehicle before starting his trek into the desert. The energies of Szar and Piper were still tugging at the back of his mind, so tracking them down would be a relatively simple task. Kaden could only hope that his sixth sense was trustworthy.

Climbing to the top of a nearby sand dune proved to be a much more difficult task than Kaden had anticipated. Stopping to catch his breath, Kaden surveyed his surroundings. Sure enough, in the direction of Piper and Szar was an overturned SUV. Fortunately, it looked as though it would only take a few minutes to arrive on-scene. With a deep breath, and a renewed sense of excitement, Kaden leapt off of the sand dune, sliding down the sand with relative ease.

While the journey took longer than Kaden had guessed, it wasn't long until he was standing next to the SUV, trying to figure out what, exactly, had happened. To Kaden's surprise, the vehicle looked to be in relatively good shape, with the exception of several cracks in the windshield. If it ran, and Kaden guessed it would, that would solve his transportation problem. Trying to carry three people on a motorcycle was just asking for trouble.

As he rounded the back of the SUV, Kaden's pulse quickened. The door to the trunk, as it were, had been thrown clean from the rest of the vehicle, and Szar's upped body lay on the desert sand. Rushing to the changeling's side, Kaden felt a wave of relief as he heard the alien groan -- at least Kaden assumed it was a groan -- and try to pull itself forward. Reaching down, Kaden grabbed ahold of Szar and helped pull him free of the SUV. To Kaden's surprise, the changeling was much lighter than he appeared to be.

"Thanks..." the changeling managed to say.

"'Course," the courier replied. "Piper in there too?"

In response, Szar simply nodded. Kaden couldn't really blame him. While there didn't seem to be any severe injuries, Szar looked more than a little banged up. That both Szar and Piper had been drugged was something that Kaden was oblivious to.

Ducking into the back of the SUV, Kaden caught sight of Piper almost immediately. The vehicle lay on its driver side, and Piper looked unfortunate enough to have been thrown against the backseat window. Crawling over to the woman, Kaden managed to hook his arms underneath Piper's and drag her towards the back of the SUV. It was a slow and awkward process, since Kaden had to do the entire thing hunched over, but eventually Piper had been pulled free of the wreckage.

As he lay the woman down, Kaden thought he heard a small yelp escape her lips, but pushed it out of his mind. Just pulling someone out of a car was probably not the safest thing to do, given the potential injuries they could have sustained, but Kaden didn't have much of a choice. For what he had planned, being inside the SUV wasn't a great idea.

Leaving Szar and Piper to their own devices for a moment, Kaden made his way towards the front of the SUV. He stopped as he came upon a sun roof that had been shattered. Fortunately, that gave Kaden fairly good access to Trisha, who was slumped against the driver-side door.

Once again, Kaden crawled his way into the overturned SUV, and managed to get a decent grip around Trisha's torso. Less concerned with Trisha's well being, Kaden managed to wrangle her out of the vehicle significantly faster than he had Piper. The courier felt very fortunate that Trisha was out of comission as he dragged her several yards away from the SUV.

With everyone pulled clear of the vehicle, Kaden approached it once again. Trying to push the SUV back onto its wheels would be a waste of effort and time. Instead, Kaden took in a deep breath, dug his heels into the sand, and thrust his hands toward the vehicle.

A flash of light burst from the courier's hands as he released a wave of energy. Heat washed over Kaden as his ki crashed against the roof of the SUV. The vehicle slid along the sand from a moment before the wheels found purchase and it rocked up into its intended position. The car's momentum continued, tipping it up onto the opposite pair of wheels. Kaden grimaced as the SUV threatened to fall back onto the sand. Fortunately, it never came to that. The SUV crashed back onto all four wheels.

At the flash of light, both Szar and Piper had looked up in time to see the SUV returned to a driveable position. Kaden returned to their side and helped them onto their feet. As Kaden helped his comrades climb into the SUV, he noticed that most of the vehicle's roof had been evaporated, letting the sun beat down on its occupants. While it was unfortunate that the courier had been slightly overzealous, he was simply happy that his energy hadn't torn through the entire car.

As Kaden hopped into the driver's seat, he grinned at the sight of the keys still in the ignition. His grin widened as the car slowly came to life. As the SUV rolled slowly through that sand, Kaden steered it back towards the road. In the back of his mind, the courier lamented that they had simply left Trisha laying in the sand, but bringing her along would be as close to suicidal as Kaden cared to get.

"So," Kaden craned his neck towards the back seat, "where are we headed?"

"Still need to get Kai," came Szar's response.

Made sense, Kaden thought. At the very least, they could be sure that Trisha wouldn't be at the mansion to take everyone out for a second time. What worried Kaden, though, was the possibility that there would be someone at least as strong as Trisha. The courier wasn't sure who Kai employed to protect him, but he probably had more than one bodyguard.

As Kaden turned his attention back to the proverbial road, something caught his eye. Something was wedged between the passanger's seat cushions. Reaching over, Kaden pulled it free and held it aloft to inspect. It looked to be some kind of dagger or knife. Though it was in a small leather sheath, it was easy to tell that it had a curved blade that was probably five or six inches in length. Shrugging, Kaden tucked the blade inside his jacket.

The SUV rolled to a stop as Kaden came upon the road that he had followed on his motorcycle. Running a hand through his hair -- which caused an annoying amount of sand to fall free -- Kaden looked up and down the road. He knew he wanted to get back to the mansion, but had no idea which way he had come from.

"Need to ask for directions?" Piper quipped.

"Something like that..." Kaden replied.

With a shrug, Kaden turned the wheel to his left and hit the gas. The SUV jumped onto the road without skipping a beat and the three would-be Hunters could breathe easily. For a few minutes at least. Both Piper and Szar still looked sluggish, to say the least. If they were going to break back into the mansion, Kaden was the last person they wanted to be at full strength; despite his desire to make up for his earlier cowardice, he barely knew anything about fighting and even less about making arrests.

The three Hunters rode in silence for quite a while before Szar spoke up again. The changeling had been surveying the land, presumably to try and figure out whether they were headed in the right direction or not. Kaden felt a pang of guilt that he was unable to sense which direction Kai was in. Some day he might have such a mastery of his sixth sense, but for now driving was about all he could do.

"Hey Kaden," came the changeling's serpentine voice. "What's that?"

Squinting into the SUV's side-view mirror -- the rear-view had managed to dislodge itself during the crash -- Kaden saw what Szar was talking about. Off in the distance, quite a way from the Hunters, was something on the road. Before Kaden could actually discern the figure, though, the answer came to him. Swallowing hard, the courier turned his head towards Szar and Piper.

"It's Trisha."

Sure enough, it took no more than a few seconds for Trisha to come into focus. She was perched atop Kaden's motorcycle and did not look particularly happy. Unlike Kaden, who had only been comfortable riding at a relatively slow speed, Trisha seemed more than comfortable on the bike and was gaining on the SUV quite handily.

"I've got an idea," Kaden said to his comrades. "One of you guys come take the wheel."

"On it," Piper responded.

Though her movements still seemed clumsy, Kaden made way for Piper as she crawled into the passanger's seat. Releasing the wheel, Kaden hopped into the back as Piper traded places with him. With most of the roof having been torn from the SUV, there was plenty of room for Kaden to stand and his view out the back was unobstructed.

Taking in a deep breath, Kaden held his hands to either side, summoning forth his energy, the courier created a ball of ki in either hand. Taking aim, Kaden hurled one of the balls of ki out the back of the car. Just as it looked like the blast would collide with Trisha, the woman leaned to the side, pulling the motorcycle clear from Kaden's attack. Loosing his second attack brought about a similar result. With a frown, Kaden realized he would have to try something else.

As Trisha crept closer to the SUV, Kaden conjured up two more balls of energy. Taking in a deep breath, the courier made sure he was steady before throwing his first attack. To the surprise of his comrades, Kaden threw the blast almost straight down, barely missing the back of the SUV. The blast collided with the small road in a small explosion of dirt and sand.

"Careful with that!" Szar warned Kaden.

The courier, though, was oblivious to the changeling's warning; he was focused on road behind them. Throwing out the second blast of energy, Kaden swallowed deeply as he waited to see what would happen.

The first blast Kaden threw had left a sizable hole in the road, making half the road all-but impassable. With no other choice, Trisha was forced into a narrow path. The woman's eyes widened as Kaden's second blast came streaking towards her. With the road damaged, she had been left with no room to dodge.

From the SUV, Kaden couldn't help but laugh as a second explosion rocked the road behind them. The resulting cloud of smoke and sand made it impossible to tell if he had hit the motorcycle, like he had been aiming for, or if the attack had simply struck against the ground. Either way, he had accomplished his goal. Trisha wasn't making any dramatic exit from the smoke, and by the time it cleared, the Hunters would be too far away for it to matter.

Dropping into the back seat, Kaden reclined and wiped the grim and sweat from his forehead. Szar seemed to relax a bit as well, reclining as Kaden had. While Kaden's truimph had been a minor one, at best, he felt a surprising sense of satisfaction at having found Piper and Szar.

"So guys," Kaden said with only a slight tinge of sarcasm, "should be clear sailing from here, right?"

[Szar]

Szar, still weary with sedation and melting from the intense desert heat, slumped back in his seat. The world was a sandy mess, and Szar loathed it. There was a reason Changelings were raised on planets with bitter cold climates: their bodies were designed for it. As such, the polar opposite was having an extreme effect on the Icer. His body was dripping sweat, and his ability to focus was wavering. Nausea had set in even before the car crash, and had only worsened since then. However, despite all of this, Szar was elated. He’d escaped Trisha’s clutches, for the most part, unscathed. Piper had too. And, to make things even better, they’d stolen the car she’d been driving in. The music she’d been blaring had immediately been turned off, and the car rumbled over the dunes in silence. Well, Piper and Kaden might have been talking, but Szar hadn’t noticed.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the SUV began to shift. Jerking upright, the Icer immediately was punched in the face by inertia. Resting his head on his knees, he tried to keep from vomiting. Piper turned from the driver’s seat and looked him over.

“My diagnosis is…you look like shit.” She joked, quite uncharacteristically, before turning back to the road. Had she not noticed the tremor that had rocked the makeshift convertible? Turning to Kaden, Szar noticed that his expression was that of complacency. Either Szar was insane, or his companions were too out of it to notice the earth shaking. The former was most likely, but given the current state of things, the latter was equally likely. Too tired to waste energy thinking that he could use to sleep, Szar let his eyes close and submitted himself to slumber. It set in quickly and the Changeling began to snore.

“…Can’t stop…this is bat country.” Szar droned drearily, still asleep. Kaden raised an eyebrow, and shrugged his shoulders when Piper turned to him for answers. Stifling a laugh, she turned her eyes back to the road. There was something dotting the horizon, a trio of black dots. Squinting to make them out, the redhead sighed angrily when she determined what they were.

“We have company!” she roared, jerking the wheel to the left. Kaden braced himself and Szar grunted sleepily. The car jerked to the left, and Piper floored it, kicking up a cloud of sand as she pressed back in the direction they’d come from. Kaden craned his neck and strained his eyes, trying to see what Piper had. When normal vision proved inadequate, he let his second-sight kick in, and he spotted them. There were three, large concentrations of light trailing them, the one in the center shining the brightest.

“It’s never easy, is it?” Kaden complained to Piper. She didn’t respond verbally, but her shoulders were visibly tense. Turning to Szar, the courier found him sleeping soundly, oblivious to everything. For a moment, Kaden thought of waking him, but he decided against it. The lights weren’t too bright, meaning their sources weren’t all that much of a threat. Igniting his hands with an orb of ki, Kaden lobbed it behind him. The blast rocketed towards the row of SUVs, its target being the middle car. The driver proved his mettle by swerving to avoid it, and it shot past, erupting in a burst of fire and glass, as the sand was superheated. Clicking his tongue, the blond loosed a second orb, followed immediately by a third. The second one struck the ground in front of the SUV at the left of the group. Turning the wheel too late, the car and its contents flipped into the air, before crashing to the ground, upside-down. The third slammed into the hood of the middle car, igniting the engine in a surge of fire. The remaining SUV began to swerve to and fro, hoping to avoid the fate of the other cars. Kaden was beginning to tire, the desert heat and the stress of the situation made concentrating on his ki a difficult task. To worsen matters, the sun was at their back, and it was shining right into his eyes. Turning his attention to Szar, he found something curious. The light that had been dulled by what Piper had revealed to him as tranquilizers was now glowing as sharply as ever. Gripping the Icer tightly by the shoulders, he shook him awake.

The visions of snow-covered gumdrops faded from view as Szar was rustled awake by an exasperated Kaden. Yawning, he gave the human an angry glower.

“What was that for?” Szar grumbled, cranky from being forced awake.

“That,” Kaden wheezed, pointing to the approaching SUV. Following the courier’s finger, the Icer realized what was going on. His mind clicked into full alert, and all signs that he’d been sleeping left him. Staring at the car, he reached out of instinct to his hip, but gripped only air. Remembering that his gun had been lost in the scuffle at the mansion, he bit his lip. Quickly he formed an alternative plan. Straightening his arm, he faced his palm in the car’s direction. An orb of cyan fire bubbled to life in his hand, and he hurriedly flung it at the car. Its small size made it impossible for Kai’s henchmen’s untrained eyes to follow, and it pounded through the windshield, striking the driver in the chest.

With the threat dealt with, Szar sat back in his seat, falling back asleep almost instantly.

[Piper Juunanagou]

For a fleeting moment, Piper glanced at Szar’s reflection in the car’s rearview mirror. Having dashed the group’s foes across the sun-scorched sands, the changeling had quickly settled back to sleep. The woman didn’t know whether to chuckle or raise her brow in mild horror at the alien’s nonchalance. After a moment or two of contemplation, she simply shrugged her shoulders at set her eyes on the blinding sea of sand stretched out before them.

“Well that was unpleasant,” Piper sighed as she shot just a fleeting glance over at the sweating man sitting in the passenger seat. “You all right?” She asked with a somewhat uncharacteristically warm smile. Kaden let out a deep breath and then shot back a short smile before glancing back over his shoulder at the clouds of smoke slowly vanishing into the backdrop.

Wow...he genuinely cares about those goons. The woman mused as she wiped the schoolgirl grin off her face and tried to concentrate on her driving. Although Piper had been acquainted with Kaden prior to being shipped into the desert, his touch right after the car wreck had unwillingly given her a deeper look beneath the surface. It was that very glance into the courier’s memories that had revealed one of the warmest hearts Piper had ever seen in a person (it also didn’t hurt that the man was attractive, either),

“Do you think those people are okay?” Kaden asked as he wiped away the sweat from his brow with his forearm. “Do you think they worked for Kai?” He inquired, referring to the vehicles that had attempted to chase down their stolen vehicle.

“I don’t think anyone else would willingly be on this island,” Piper muttered after a few seconds of silence. “Kai probably sent them out to ensure we wind up where he wants us,” she added as she reached up to lower the sun visor.

“Where do you think he wants us?” Kaden asked, raising his brow as he squinted to see in the brilliant sunlight. Unable to think of an answer, Piper just glanced over at the blonde and shook her shoulders. With a light frown, the courier let out a sigh and tried to relax against the stiff leather of his seat. Except for a few intermittent grunts and the gentle roar of the jeep’s engine, Piper was bathed in a most unnerving silence.

After a couple of minutes of driving in silence, a small sand storm began to roll across the Sandtrap. Almost immediately, the redhead’s visibility dropped drastically to the point where she could barely see five feet in front of the stolen jeep. Narrowing her eyes, Piper leaned a few inches forward and tried to keep the strong winds from pushing the car into a sand dune.

Having driven a convoy truck in worse situations, Piper managed to steer the beaten up jeep through the worst part of the storm. A few miles after the storm began; it slowly began to loosen its chokehold on the woman’s visibility. After a few seconds, Piper relaxed enough that she released her tense grip on the steering wheel and allowed her mind to drift to other topics.

God this is uncomfortable. Piper mused as she glanced over at Kaden. Although she could tell he wasn’t asleep, he was nevertheless lying halfway down his seat with his eyes shut and his arms crossed over his chest. I wonder what he’s thinking… Piper asked herself as she continued to stare at the courier. Before the woman realized what she was doing, Kaden must have detected that he had someone staring intently at him.

“Can I help you?” He asked as he cracked open his left eye and turned it toward the woman. Piper let out a light gasp as her cheeks flushed pink.

“I, uh… thought you had some sand on your face,” she lied as she sharply turned to look outside her window. With wide-eyes, she stared at the seemingly unending sea of sand that stretched to the horizon.

“There’s something in front of us!” Kaden suddenly gasped, prompting an already frantic Piper to turn her eyes toward the still mildly sand-obscured path unfolding before them. Clenching her teeth, the redhead slammed on the breaks in a desperate attempt to avoid colliding with the black object that had frozen right in the middle of their path.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Piper screamed as the brakes of the SUV squealed like torture victims.

Despite the woman’s attempts at the contrary, the jeep was jostled into the air as it barreled over whomever or whatever had been unlucky enough to wander in front of it. A couple of yards later, Piper finally managed to bring the vehicle to a grinding halt.

“What the hell was that?” Szar shouted. Glancing behind herself, the redhead saw the changeling crumpled in a mangled, uncomfortable heap on the floor between the front and back seat.

“Piper hit something,” Kaden said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and hastily exited the car.

“I tried to stop...” Piper muttered dejectedly as she turned off the stolen car and followed the courier. With a heavy sigh, Szar pulled himself up onto his former seat. A knock on his window made him nearly jump out of his skin.

“What?” He yelped as he turned to see that it was Piper who had startled him.

“Are you coming?” She asked, her voice muffled by the glass window that separated the two.

“Out into a sandstorm?” Szar chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m fine in here thank you very much,” he added as he cast an unsatisfied glare at the small gusts of sand-laden wind still swirling across the desert. Before Piper could say another word, her attention was diverted elsewhere.

“Piper…you need to see this!” Kaden shouted, effectively and effortlessly prying Piper away from the sweaty, disgruntled changeling.

“What is it?” The woman asked with wide eyes as she lifted a forearm to shield her face and rushed over to where Kaden was squatted.

“…it’s a giant scorpion,” the courier gasped as he poked at the obviously dead creature. Piper, who looked visibly disgusted by the broken, fluid-encrusted corpse, began to retch. “You all right?” Kaden asked as he turned his attention away from the crushed creature slowly being buried in sand.

“Not a fan of insects,” Piper mumbled through the fingers clenched over her mouth. As the woman slowly began to back away from the corpse, the sand behind her suddenly began to collapse into itself. As the woman toppled backwards, her eyes caught a glimpse of several ripples moving across the sand toward their group. Kaden, who was now moving to ensure Piper hadn’t hurt herself, hadn’t noticed the shapes surfing beneath the surface toward him.

“Are you—”

“Duck!” Piper screamed as several black shapes erupted from the sand around them.

[Friend or Foe]

"Duck!"

Szar's head popped out from behind the SUV he was leaning on. He couldn't see exactly what was happening since there was a hill of sand between him and his comrades off of the road. Even though he didn't want to get involved, he couldn't very well leave the people who had helped save his life.

He didn't know, of course, but a camera just inside the hood of the jeep was following him as he moved to the edge of the road, looking down to see what was happening with Kaden and Piper on the sand below him.

In the monitor room in Kai's Manor, the man himself was sitting in the center chair with the tall, lanky Sebastian behind him. He put his hand to the mic and raised it up. "Balrog," he said, "Do it."

"Aight, boss," he heard in a whispered, rushed tone from the burly man on the other side of the headset. "The changling?"

"Yes," Kai said. "His friends are bumbling fools. They'll make good television as they run around in circles. He is too dangerous. Remove him, and their vehicle."

Back on the scene, Szar crouched down, ready to jump down the sandy hill to join in on the action his friends were sharing. However, in mid-jump, he heard something.

Immediately he spun around just in time to see a large black human cradling a giant, over-the-shoulder projectile weapon. The huge cannon blasted, a blue light shined bright, and Szar was gone.

Balrog grinned and began to walk away, off of the road in the opposite direction, down an equally steep sandy hill. On his way down, the grenade he set on the ground exploded, destroying the jeep in a fiery display.
















(Szar has been forcibly teleported out of the game.)