originally posted in:The New Dojo
The boy she shot screamed as he fell off the table in pain. The other soldiers recovered from the strike and aimed their bows at Sera, but the one that hung out of a window had a dart that pierced his chest. The boy fell the short drop and landed on his feet, before he collapsed to the ground.
As the other figure, a girl by what Sera saw, aimed her bow, a tranquilizer dart was shot into her neck. The arrow however flew from its string towards Sera
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Her eyes glowed white as she raised her hand and a holy shield formed in front of her, which caused the arrow to harmlessly ping of and fall to the floor.
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The inn seemed to be cleared now. All that remained were the wounded or unconscious children. "Hey, guys?" Anne said as she stood up. She slipped the blow gun into her belt strap. "I think we found our leads!" "Ya! No kidding!" Alex commented. "Let's round em up. Sera you can bound em afterwards ya?"
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Holy chains floated around her as she put away her bow and hovered a bit off the ground. "Just let me know when."
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Anne and Alex quickly moved everyone to the centre of the Inn. There were five, total. They all were dazed, and the ones who were injured didn't have enough strength to fight. "Tie em up Speedy." Alex told Sera.
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Sera raised her hand and the chains floated around the kids, then tightened so that they couldn't escape. They glowed white for a second, then the glow went away. "There, in addition to binding them they are now forced to tell the truth. Go ahead and ask away."
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"Well. That's incredibly convenient." Alex vaguely complimented. He walked around the kids, before targeting one. It was the tallest of the group. He took off the clansman's hood to reveal a young boy with blond hair and hazel eyes. His face was scarred but couldn't hide the red bumps a teen would have on their face. He looked to be thirteen at the most. "Alright ya little bastard." Alex said as he knelt down. "Why are you here? Besides killing us, of course." "But we are here to kill you." The boy said. His voice was high, and clearly had not dropped yet. "That was the whole point of why we are here. We used the kidnappings and the sabotages so we could lure you here and take you down!"
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"Huh....Looks like this was a trap after all... Mind telling us who gave the order?"
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"Why, the mistress and the master of course!" The boy said. "The mistress and the...seriously? You're leaders are actually called that?" Anne asked in disbelief. All of the kids nodded quickly. "And who is the master and the mistress?" Anne asked them. "We don't know." A soft feminine voice replied. "They never revealed their faces or names. But we fight for them. And we'll die for them!"
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"Next question then, how did they find out we were here?"
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"Well, us!" Said the blond boy. "Like I said before. They had us sabotage the infinite corporations assets here to attract Alex Coldbourne himself. Then, we would capture him and use him as leverage to shut down infinite corp! We found out you were here as soon as you entered! But we forgot about the twilight princess...."
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"Hm, and what does the clan have to gain from shutting down infinite Corp?"
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"Alex Coldbourne made him and his company an enemy of our clan on the day he flew his helicopters over the bridge to the docks and captured our people! The clan sees him as a threat, so we aimed to dismantle him." Alex remained silent for a moment, then spoke. "Well. It makes enough sense." He said casually.
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"Guess so, looks like you pissed off the Master and Mistress. What about this town, is it under your control?"
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"No. We can't control people." The boy said. "We don't occupy and control. We eliminate and deceive. But by now, they already know that all of us have been captured and have this entire building surrounded!"
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"Figured as much, this place have a secret tunnel or something like that at all?"
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"A secret tunnel? What is this the goonies?" Alex asked Sera. "No...its...just an inn." The boy answered. "Well. This is really just...great." Anne commented.
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"Well shit.....How do you wanna play this guys? We have hostages but like the kids said they have us surrounded."
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"I...I'm not sure! Wait! We need to ask another question!" Anne exclaimed. She walked over to the boy. "Your leaders. Are they here?" "No." "Are they close by?" "Yes." "Where are they?" "They have a small base set up at the foot of the Nozama mountains." "Thank you very much!" Anne finished. "Wait..." alex started. "Speedy. Think you can tie each of them up individually then hold them at the same time?"
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"I should be able to do that. Why, what do you have planned?"
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"Well...here's what I'm thinking." Alex whispered as he brought the two girls closer to him. "Sera. You band these kids together, and have them stringed up so they form a barrier around us. That way, we can use them as hostages as we make our way out." "Seriously, Alex?! Child soldiers as shields?! That's how you wanna do this?!" Anne questioned angrily. Her blue face almost turned red with anger. "Ya. I mean, no! No! The kids will be perfectly safe! There's now way the clan would fire on its own people!" Alex said. "How would you know?" Anne questioned again. "It's...well it's a leap of faith, really. Haha?" Anne looked at Alex with quite the furrowed brow. Alex seemed uncomfortable with it as he adjusted the tie he didn't have on. It seemed Sera would have to decide what to do here.
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Sera let out a sigh as she began to think. These children were younger then her, yet Alex wanted to use them as a shield? That didn't sit right with her, so using them wasn't an option. "I'm not really comfortable risking the lives of children, so I might be able to use my magic to form a barrier around us."
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"Might be?" Alex asked. "Well i am more for that idea then the alternative." "I'm telling you they wouldn't be at risk! Most likely anyways! Why would they fire at their friends? Fellow brothers and sisters in arms?!" One of the children spoke up suddenly, likely due to the chains. "Nightingales cannot risk or harm other nightingales unless ordered to by the mistress or master. That's only in extreme cases as well."
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"That may be so, but remember, they want you dead Alex. I think they'd make that risk if it meant they eliminated you..."
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Alex let out a sigh as he saw the girls point. "Ya. No you girls are right. It's too risky." He admitted. Anne let out breath of relief. "Thanks for realizing that Alex." She said to him. "Ya...now it looks like our only option is to fight our way out of here. If they were using bullets or magic I could use my blade as a small force field. But these freaking kids are using arrows for crying out loud! Not only that of we're surrounded our non-lethals will only last so long till we're out of ammo. Especially because as soon as we're out there we'll be in an open plaza with next to no cover...." Alex looked grimly to Sera. "Have you been able to pull of a barrier before?" He asked her.
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"Only in front of me for a short time, but I'm sure il be able to hold it around us."