You will ALL pay dearly for killing my friend" I warned them all in apathy, separate from my usual tone. "But I want them all to know that I'm coming for them. Do me a favour and tell your superiors. It all ends tonight"
"And that is my reason for calling a meeting of this magnitude. We need to discuss just what we're going to do about this threat" The blindfolded woman explained while standing before the supposed leaders behind the organisation as a whole. Several women dressed in formal expensive clothing, sat around the table with their attention focused on the presentation held by the same blindfolded woman that killed Erin.
"Mirabelle.." One of the noble women said, taking off her spectacles and setting them on the table so that she could fumble the area between her eyes in frustration. "When you told me that this meeting not only deserves my attention but all of the other executives, I expected a dire problem that required an immediate solution ... not the idle threats of one girl"
This affluent women was "Ella Bramford", CEO of Bramford industries and one of the leading executives of the Monarchy in charge of high-profile security management. Mirabelle -the blindfolded woman- worked directly underneath her as one of her most skilled taskmasters for her company. Bramford Industries is a multinational industrial company and the largest tech conglomerate in the world and a great pioneer in different types of technology, constantly helping the Galearian Armed Forces with different and innovative weapons but who would've guessed that she supplied one of the greatest criminal empires in the country with powerful weaponry and skilled security operatives.
"I can see why you wouldn't be swayed by this lady Ella but I assure you.."
"No. This requires none of my time and I have more important matters to attend to" Ella explained when she placed her glasses on and stood up from the roundtable, preparing to take her leave. The pair of women in suits then stepped forward to escort their boss out of the building.
"She's right. I had to reschedule and important business meeting regarding the recent recession around Nino Town. You should seriously take care of your underlings Ella. It's encroaching on our time" Another affluent woman remarked after she sat back in her seat and sighed.
This women was a leading rival of Ella Bramford and current CEO of the rivalling company, Aislè. Her name is "Catalina Aislè" and she is the youngest daughter of "Henry Aislè", the founder and current owner of the company. Aislè is a multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered here in the Primrose Metropolis.. It is the largest food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since CXXIV. Both Catalina and Ella are hardworking women born and raised in difference circumstances which led down this corrupted path.
"Excuse me? Have you forgotten that you're only here because your father couldn't make it?" Ella asked her when she stopped to belittle her rival. "Or has your arrogance boosted so much from your time here at the top, that you forgot your place amongst the actual adults?"
"Don't get me wrong old lady .. I admit, my father couldn't make it but regrettably, I was just as busy as everyone else. Instead of fighting me, why don't you reprimand your employee so that she doesn't waste the rest of our precious time?" Catalina advised with the same smug that Ella grew to detest.
"Enough!!!" One of the more senescent woman exclaimed in aggravation. "I cannot stand your immature bickering any longer! Lady Ella, please tell your employee to finish up whatever nonsense she bothered to share with us"
This agitated elderly woman was the oldest executive and because of the age, the most respected individual amongst the five executives of the Monarchy. Her name was "Adelaide Redwald" and she wasn't just any wealthy conglomerate owner, she was the chief of one of the wealthiest houses in the entire kingdom, second only to the royal family. Does her last name sound familiar? Well it should. House Redwald is the second richest family in the kingdom simply because of their ties to the merchants guild that manages all imports and exports into the kingdom, all while supervising the exports of other major businesses.
"Uuuurg, can you all keep it down. It's so late and I'm so tiiired..." Another woman complained after she was woken from her slumber. She raised her head and scratched the side of it while ignoring the alarming state of bedhead she was suffering from.
"What's wrong with you?" Catalina asked out of curiosity.
"Work ... work .. oh and guess what, more work so can we just wrap all of this up quickly. My bed is calling me" The woman implored before her head collapsed onto the pillow that her servant neatly set out for her.
This fatigued woman wasn't as pernickety as the others but she was the most intelligent of them all in terms of science. "Gloria Hill" is currently one of the most brilliant woman in the entire world in the fields of physics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Gloria however isn't some glorified industrialist or philanthropist which is why instead of trying to affect the world and its future through entrepreneurship, she uses her families money to support her many scientific experiments. She has the deep bags beneath her eyes to prove it.
Gloria then happened to open her eyes and noticed that only four executives actually arrived and lifted her head again. "Wait, where's Cassy? I thought she was gonna be here too?"
"Lady Cassandra hasn't answered her phone and all communication protocols has failed to work" Mirabelle explained.
"Well that's a shame" Catalina commented after staring at Cassandra's empty seat.
"Mirabelle, please continue" Ella calmly ordered before she sat down amongst the other executives.
"Right. I didn't call this meeting because this girl was delivering an idle threat. She wasn't much trouble for me when I detained her but that's only because I held her friend hostage and eliminated her" Mirabelle explained which seemed to have surprised some of the executives.
"Oh my god" Catalina bellyached while rolling her eyes. "You killed an innocent civilian?"
"Hold on. Tell us miss Mirabelle, why did you kill this girl?" Adelaide questioned to see her side of the story.
"As you know, Subject #92153, otherwise known as Nulara Kincade, escaped our prima institute this morning." Mirabelle explained before the 3D-generated holographic projection displayed a large image of Nulara's ID-photo along with her public details.
||NAME: NULARA KINCADE||
||SEX: DEMIFE||
||AGE: 11||
||BIRTHDATE: 03-01-CXIX||
||BLOOD TYPE: AB+||
||HEIGHT: 144cm||
||WEIGHT: 36kg||
||HAIR COLOUR: AUBURN||
||EYE COLOUR: BLUE||
"She's been on the run ever since and our intel suggested that Novatarius was the furthest she would get before succumbing to fatigue. My women and I tracked her down to the deepest depths of Novatarius but after finding her, two individuals ambushed us and tried to save her. Our research suggests that they're students attending the Primrose Academy of Arts in the Chivalric Arts Course" She continued to explain before the projection displayed various video footage from CCTV security camera's throughout Novatarius.
"So they're both aether-practitioners?" Ella wondered.
"Yes but that's not all. We did a deep-routed background check and found absolutely nothing before December, last year which was when they enrolled. Not only that but despite them being only first years, they were skilled enough to rival professional aether-practitioners with years of experience and training"
"And that's why this .. Madison is a problem?" Adelaide asked after taking a glance at the debriefing report in front of her.
"Correct. Both attackers are Erin Mercer and Madison Heath" Mirabelle continued before the holographic projection changed, now displaying public details of the two attackers.
||NAME: MADISON HEATH||
||SEX: DEMIFE||
||AGE: 14||
||BIRTHDATE: 22-09-CXV||
||BLOOD TYPE: O+||
||HEIGHT: 156cm||
||WEIGHT: 45kg||
||HAIR COLOUR: BLACK||
||EYE COLOUR: GREEN||
||NAME: ERIN MERCER||
||SEX: DEMIFE||
||AGE: 15||
||BIRTHDATE: 18-01-CXV||
||BLOOD TYPE: O+||
||HEIGHT: 159cm||
||WEIGHT: 45kg||
||HAIR COLOUR: AUBURN||
||EYE COLOUR: AMBER||
"There are no physical or digital documents that state where they came from or what they're even doing in Primrose but based on the way Madison handled the situation, she was experienced in the matter"
"So you think these two have dealt with something this severe before?" Catalina asked out of curiosity.
"Quite possibly, yes"
"So ... Erin is currently deceased. Then where is Madison right now?" Ella questioned, getting to the point.
"Up until two hours ago, 66% of operations were halted. Special operatives, thugs, enforcers and even other taskmasters were killed. Arms trafficking, bank fraud, bid rigging, bookmaking, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, internet pornography, loansharking, prostitution etcetera etcetera, all of these operations were either permanently stopped or temporarily put out of commission for the time being" Mirabelle continued which shocked all of the executives involved in those criminal activities. Even Gloria woke up from her slumber after hearing what Mirabelle had to say.
"Wait what?! You're kidding!" Catalina exclaimed when she slammed her hands onto the table.
"What happened?!" Ella demanded to know.
"I'm sorry did you just say that arms trafficking was stopped? Permanently?" Gloria questioned as well.
"Thankfully no. Only 59% of the weapons caches in Primrose were destroyed but the night's still young"
"This is impossible. How the hell could she have done so much in a span of two hours?!" Ella demanded to know.
"Yeah! And where is she getting this intel?! Do we have a mole?" Gloria questioned.
"Oi you don't seem so tired anymore" Catalina remarked after noticing Gloria's sudden excitement.
"Madison is a dangerous electrokinetic. So far, she has been able to travel around the entire city in a matter of two hours, taking down every single operation under our control and I don't think she's somehow stumbling upon each underground operation. She's pulling the information out of every operative, thug, sex worker, enforcer and taskmaster under the Monarchy"
"Well, I guess we can put excellent interrogator under her list of skills" Gloria joked.
"This is why I brought this to the board of executives. Only your next move can put an end to this potential crisis. So .. what will you do?" Mirabelle asked, turning to the four executives sitting around the large roundtable, with each of their servants and bodyguards standing around the conference room.
MEANWHILE...
SOMEWHERE IN NINO TOWN, HYENA CITY, PRIMROSE METROPOLIS
Behind one of the many poverty-stricken buildings on the edge of Nino Town, I was surrounded by an entire school of bloodied corpses that were either burned to death or beaten to death. Blood dripped off of my knuckles, onto the floor when I dropped one of the half-beaten thugs onto the ground and stood up.
Some of the half-beaten women groaned in excruciation while I passed them, on my way to the supposed leader behind this underground operation. The suspicious-looking woman tried to crawl to safety, towards one of the passageways leading to the exit. A blood-filled trail lead from her body to her initial position but when I stepped into the blood and generated an enormous amount of electricity that passed through the blood trail and electrocuted the woman.
She screamed out in torture in the middle of her electrocution but so as not to kill her, I stopped generating more lightning.
"The amount iron in blood is relatively low so naturally, blood isn't conductive but I guess you ferrokinetics really are special as well. Too bad you're using it for the wrong reasons" I lectured her before I stepped onto her broken legs which made her wail out in even more pain then before.
"Please ... please, don't .. it hurts. It hurts too much.." the thug begged but I grabbed the end of her brown hair and pulled her head to the back so that she could listen to me.
"Violet. Tell me where this woman is now" I demanded when I showed her the image of a dangerous taskmaster going by the codename, Violet. She was dressed in a black tactical uniform with all of the dangerous utilities and weapons kept close to her for intelligent killing however the large afro sticking out behind her helmet was a distinguishable feature.
"I-I .. I-I .. I don't know! I really don't!"
"Alright. Guess we're doing this then" I said when I released her hair and walked away. The thug tried to recover from the agony but when she finally did, her first objective was to try and crawl to safety again. Her efforts were stopped much to her displeasure when the unbearable weight of a wheel pushed her head against the floor.
She screamed in pain but for her safety, I carried the arch above the front wheel of a transport truck and slowly lifted it just high enough so as not to put a burden down on the side of her head. I then crouched down by her side while keeping the truck just above her head.
"I won't ask you again. Tell me where this taskmaster is and do it now" I demanded once again.
"Aaaahhh!! I'm serious, I really am. I don't know" She answered me again before I gripped the arch tightly and generated a small amount of electricity, enough to turn on the ignition so as to scare her. "Shit! Okay okay okay! I'll tell you! Just .. please, don't kill me"
"Then speak .. and if I find out that you're lying, I will crush your skull like a watermelon"
"I don't know where she is, I'm serious but I can tell you how to find her" She explained.
"Then talk"
"After you started messing with the Monarchy, our orders were to redirect all .. weapons trafficking to distract you. Right now, The boss is trying to figure out where you hid that little girl" She finally answered me but was that really what I was looking for?
"That doesn't answer my question" I remarked when I lowered the truck by a few more inches, putting some pressure onto the side of her head.
"SHE'S IN RHINO CITY!!!" She immediately answered me which allowed me to gently lift the wheel from her head. "There's a .. um, a research lab located beneath the Dinestro Park! The entrance can be..."
Before she could finish her sentence, I released the fender and allowed the truck to slowly and agonisingly shatter her skull to pieces. The pained shrieks were the last thing I heard before her blood splattered all over my face but instead of worrying about that, I wiped the her blood off of my face and stood up from the floor to continue with my mission.
"Rhino City huh ... alright. Soon..." I said before I looked up at the night sky and enjoyed the blissful sensation of the cool wind on my skin. I then crouched down to build up some strength in my legs and when a burst of green electricity radiated from my body, I propelled myself up into the sky and took off.
SOMEWHERE IN NOVATARIUS, SERPANT CITY, PRIMROSE METROPOLIS
"What?"
Nulara curiously raised the laptop monitor to see what this mysterious device had to offer but as soon as the monitor switched on, it gave off a bright luminescence that easily frightened the little girl. She gasped in shock and nearly kicked the laptop out of fear but an unfamiliar image stopped her.
Nulara crouched down out of curiosity and stared at the laptops desktop screen which had the wallpaper of an unfamiliar but beautiful model staring back at her. She then pressed a random button on the keyboard which brought up a darker, more translucent panel with various icons and captions beside the confusing icons.
"What is this?" Nulara questioned before she heard footsteps from the stairs leading up to the store above. Obviously she was terrified but I reassured her when I casually walked down the wooden stairs and scratched the back of my head. "You're back!"
"Come on, we need to move" I said when I reached the bottom of the stairs but before much else could be said, she ran up to me. Most probably to scold me.
"What do you mean we need to move?! It's been an a whole hour! Where were you?!"
"Calm down, I was busy. Grab your things, we need to find someplace else to keep you" I explained when I looked around and noticed that she was looking through the owners laptop.
I didn't personally know the owner of this maid café but it was pretty well hidden amongst all of the other stores and businesses here. After closing hours, the Novatarius district can be dead silent which makes it the perfect hideout and the safest place to keep Nulara while I search for the leaders behind the Monarchy. The basement of this maid café also had a comfortable resting area which I assume was a second staff room. Breaking and entering is a crime, I know but technically it's not breaking and entering if the door was already unlocked(the lock was broken) and the alarm system never went on(I disabled the alarm system and motion sensors).
"What? Where are we going?"
"Somewhere else. One of those taskmasters are looking for you and it won't be long until they find you, especially if you stay in one place the whole time" I answered her.
"Can't I just come with you? I don't .. I don't like waiting here for you. It's scary" Nulara tried to explain but her own fear of isolation seemed to be embarrassing for her.
"You're not coming with. You'll only be a liability"
"What does that mean?" She asked me in bewilderment.
"Oh my god, it's like I'm dealing with Sarah all over again. Look, just grab your laptop or whatever and let's go"
"Urg. Fine but where are we going?" She demanded to know but as soon as I was about to answer her, I heard the bells above the front door jiggle which was alarming enough considering that we should've been alone. I quickly put my index finger up to my lips and looked up at the ceiling patiently, waiting for the creaks in the wooden flooring.
Nulara and I immediately remained quiet after hearing an intruder before I quietly turned to the child and whispered. "Come on, I have an idea"
"Location is empty lady Violet" One of the enforcers said after having a look around the maid café. The entire store was completely dark but the flashlights and red-dot sight scopes created an adequate amount of light for them to investigate the room. Three more women in tactical uniforms entered the store with their assault rifles trained on anything that moves.
"Hey, shouldn't we be quiet? That girl was able to hack into our comms network the last time" One of the enforcers suggested.
"Not this time. Her electrokinesis can't hack into our comms network this time. Consider it a courtesy from the higher ups" Another enforcer explained after she checked behind the counter for any suspicious activity.
"Has anyone actually seen the higher-ups? The executives is what they're calling them"
"Pfft, nobody but the taskmasters might have. If you're feeling brave, go ask one of them"
"Lady Violet? Screw that, she'll have us hanged if we ask her that question"
"Keep your head in the game ladies, that electrokinetic could be anywhere" One of the enforcers suggested when they all finished searching the entire café. Two enforcers entered the staff room upstairs while the others stayed behind to chat some more.
"How do we know that electrokinetic is actually here? She could've bailed already" One of the enforcers that stayed behind, asked.
"No, we'd know"
"What? How?"
"Because we're not idiots. Aether-practitioners are tough to kill but not impossible, especially electrokinetics. The second she creates a spark, our sensors will pick it up"
"Jesus. The executives really want her dead don't they?"
"The dumb bitch apparently threatened to kill them all. If that's not stupid, I don't know what is"
"I bet she isn't even that tough. She's a freaking kid"
"We'll get her. There's no way she's getting out of here alive"
"Hey, there's a basement down here" One of the enforcers alerted them all after finding another door inside the staff room which leads directly down to the basement. When she prepared to open the door, the other enforcer stood back and kept her rifle trained on the door in case anything pops out.
"You found a basement?" Another enforcer asked when the rest of them entered the staffroom together but as soon as they entered the room, the door suddenly slammed shut behind them.
"What the?!" An enforcer yelled just before all of their sensors went off simultaneously. The electrolocators in their helmets started beeping consistently before one of the enforcers were suddenly pulled into the ground followed by her frightened screams.
By the time all of her comrades turned to see her being dragged through the floor, I leaped out from the floor behind another soldier. The noise brought all of their attentions focused on me again but a loud crack echoed throughout the room when I snapped her neck and proceeded to use her body as a human shield when they started firing at me.
A ear-splitting barrage of gunfire could be heard throughout the entire area when the last two enforcers left began firing at us. The bullets easily penetrated the body of my human shield and unfortunately, one of the bullets happened to strike me in my left bicep but to prevent another bullet from hurting me, I kicked the meat shield in the back with enough might to send her crashing straight into one of the enforcers.
Terrifying glimpses of green flashes under the dark created a confusing environment for the enforcers.
As soon as one of the enforcers were distracted, I gripped the barrel of the rifle belonging to the other enforcer and bent it upward which instantly created a minor explosion within the barrel of the rifle, enough to leave the enforcer alarmed and burned. Now that she was wide open, I stomped my foot onto her left knee as hard as possible.
Her left leg bent agonisingly in the opposite direction and when the other enforcer pushed her dead comrade away, she aimed her rifle at me again. This was why I pulled the rifle out of this enforcers hand and quickly threw it into the face of the other enforcer which destroyed the glass window in front of her helmet and drove into her face with enough force to send her body flying up against the wall.
The final unarmed enforcer then collapsed onto her ass while in pain and tried to ignore the overwhelming sensation of having her leg broken in real time. Obviously she tried to pull herself up against the wall for her own safety and I decided to let her since she was now all alone.
"Please ... please don't kill me. I'm sorry, I was just following orders. I didn't .. I didn't know that you were..." before she could finish that poor display of regret, I crushed her skull in with my right foot and created an unruly painting of blood on the wall behind her head.
Now that it was finally finished, I could grab Nulara and get out of her before more enforcers arrive to take her away.
Unfortunately, when I proceeded to return to the basement, the unbearable pain of these fucking bullets burrowed their way into my left upper arm which forced me to drop onto my knees and grit my teeth in agony.
"Fffffffffuuuuck. I need to get this thing out of me" I muttered to myself when I quickly proceeded to hover my right hand above the bullet's era of entry. Sparks of electricity went off again until they morphed into violent streams of green lightning that surrounded my upper arm. Thanks to the bullet being ferromagnetic, I managed to make the bullet move before that same unbearable sensation grew tenfold. My face started turning red due to how much I tried to hold it all in but eventually, my screams escaped and I couldn't keep it together anymore. Finally, the bullet was pulled out of the area of entry and flew right into my hand. The fluctuating illumination acting as a layer of defence around my body, slowly returned to normal now that the pain wasn't bothering me.
Finally. It was over.
"They .. really shouldn't have included magnetic materials in their ammunition" I muttered in relief just before my electroreceptors started going crazy.
I quickly looked around and heard multiple beeps coming from the uniforms of the enforcers that I just killed which sounded very much like multiple bombs attached to their bodies.
These enforcers are seriously willing to wear bombs?! Fuck!
"Commencing plan B. Stand back" One of the enforcers waiting outside, announced before she looked down at the remote in her hand. Multiple other enforcers were stationed on the rooftops of all surrounding buildings and to make matters worse, there were armed enforcers waiting outside of the maid café, for the perfect moment to strike.
The leader behind this whole operation then pressed the button and just like that, the entire building exploded in a hellish blaze that lit up Novatarius. Thankfully, the entire district was empty, the monarchy made sure of that but it doesn't look like the owner of this café is gonna have a welcoming morning.
The enforcers all watched in awe as the entire building started crumbling within the heat of the blast.
"Lady Violet ... if we're trying to retrieve the subject, why did you want us to destroy the entire building?" The leader asked while watching the beautiful fireworks before them all.
"Because the electrokinetic wouldn't let that happen sugar. Run inspection on the entire vicinity, they're around her somewhere" A digital voice responded through the communication within her helmet.
"O-Of course lady Violet. Everyone! Secure the area! Make sure no one leaves!"
With that, all of the enforcers followed their orders and started securing the entire area. Everyone took formation and started investigating every passageway, roads and intersecting alleyways while keeping their eyes peeled and guns trained on anything suspicious.
Two enforcers investigated one of the narrow alleyways and analysed every single aspect of the alley from the piles of black trash bags to all of the garbage cans. Nulara and I stood atop one of the buildings on either side of the alley and looked at the enforcers below, still searching for us.
"There are so much women patrolling the rooftops. How do you know they won't find us up here?" Nulara asked me after having a look around. I understand why she'd be scared because so many enforcers were patrolling the rooftops but I was sure that we'd be safe here.
"Because they're human. I can see them all and these are one of the building furthest away from them. We have some time here" I explained while surveying the entire area from up here.
In case you aren't aware, my electroreceptors grant me some advantages over the battlefield, some of which include tracking the location of every person within 3 miles of me right now. Every person generates weak bioelectric fields due to the activity of their muscles and nerves which I am able to perceive and if I wanted to, I could filter out active electrolocation so that I could only focus on the enforcers searching for us.
"Hey, your arm. You're bleeding again. Were you shot?" Nulara questioned when she noticed a bloodied rag tied around my arm.
"I'll be fine"
"No you won't. You were already shot before and nearly fainted because of it. Can't you just superspeed us out of here?" Nulara suggested but even that was impossible right now.
"I can't. You wouldn't understand it but if I generate any electricity, they'll know where we are and I can't dodge everything they throw at me, much less protect you in the middle of it. We need to sneak out of here" I explained it as simple as possible while looking around for an opening. Unfortunately, Aether energy is finite and if I waste all of mine right now, I'll have a hard time killing the leaders later tonight.
"Then use me!" Nulara suggested after getting an idea.
"What?"
Nulara then closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Her face started turning red when she clenched all of the muscles in her face and held her breath. To me, it looked like she was trying to force a fart out but to my surprise, her thin eyebrows started developing an unusual incandescence, much like metal turning red when enough heat is passed through it. Each and every strand of her ridiculously long hair developed the same fiery glow which produced the same amount of light as a bonfire.
As soon as her whole head of hair turned into bright strands of fire, she opened her eyes which revealed the same incandescent glow like her eyes. When she stopped pushing, her eyes, eyebrows and hair started losing their magical glow but before that could happen, she quickly grabbed a small strand of her hair from her roots and pulled it out despite how much it probably hurt.
She yelped in pain after pulling that single strand out but even though it wasn't connected to her scalp anymore, it was still glowing. "H-Here.."
While some of the other enforcers were investigating every inch of the vicinity, they all witnessed a gigantic explosion going off for the second time tonight. Everyone stopped searching after the explosion alerted them all.
"What? What's going on over there?" One of the enforcers demanded to know after seeing the explosion go off nearby
"I don't know. Was a second explosion set to go off?"
"Come on! Let's check out!"
While all of the enforcers changed their tactics and ran towards the explosion to investigate what was left of the crumbling building. Thankfully, what they didn't know is that the explosion was just an accidental diversion that we used to break their formation. I leaped up from the next rooftop and proceeded to jump from rooftop to rooftop with Nulara in my arms.
Nulara held onto me as tightly as possible when I landed onto the edge of the next rooftop and looked behind myself at the dying explosion which was slowly extinguishing itself. It's a good thing Nulara was here otherwise I may have had to resort to a more destructive alternative but who would've guessed that she was able to conjure up explosions of that magnitude? It was enough to annihilate an entire building in a manner of seconds and that was only one small strand.
"Just one strand..." I whispered to myself while staring at the magnificent explosion behind us.
When I snapped out of it, I then held Nulara closer to my chest and leaped up further into the sky with all of my might. Even without my electrokinesis, I'm still stronger and faster than your average person and this is all done with the help of my aether energy. Lamentably, my electroreceptors picked up something dangerously close by and like before, my accelerated perception allowed me to see everything from a 360 degree range of vision.
What didn't make sense is that I couldn't see anything around me that could prove dangerous or suspicious. I couldn't sense anyone within the vicinage either. What the hell is my head trying to warn me of?!
Admittedly, I wish I could've seen this coming but not even electroreception can save you from something so indirect. I noticed that the temperature dropped tremendously all of a sudden before something struck me against the side of my head with so much force that it nearly made me black out. A black mass of darkness exploded from the area of impact but after it extinguished, Nulara noticed that we were now plummeting instead of hovering.
"M-Madison?" She called out to me after I subconsciously released her during the fall. Finally, she came to the realisation that we were both falling from heights leading up to 17 feet that would certainly kill her.
Her eyes widened in shock when she looked down at the great distance between us and the empty road in between the rows of buildings. Tears slowly started escaping from the corners of her eyes and floating upward before she quickly grabbed the ends of my sweater and pulled herself up to my face.
"Madison! Madison, wake up! You need to wake up! Please wake up" She begged of me when she grabbed the neck of my sweater and pulled my head towards hers but that was when she noticed that I was unconscious. "No ... no, come on. Madison, we're going to die. Please wake up!!"
MADISON!!!!!!
Finally, I woke up from my temporary slumber to the sight of Nulara calling out to me and begging me to save her. When I looked around, I realised that we were falling from a great height and quickly grabbed Nulara before we disappeared and reappeared in the middle of an clear road devoid of any activity. Unfortunately, this was outside of Novatarius so there is sure to be some activity out at a time like this so I better be careful.
After Nulara realised that we were finally safe, she looked around and sighed in relief. "That was so close.."
Instead of wondering whether she was okay, I quickly looked around the area for suspicious activity. From here, I could see all of the activity taking place within many of the apartment complexes in this neighbourhood which was slightly overwhelming. This whole neighbourhood was bustling with activity within all of the homes ranging from people going about their businesses in their own homes to all of the electrical appliances being powered by the power lines standing erect in the area which all had electricity coursing through them. Unfortunately, this made it difficult to find out who attacked me earlier even if I filtered out all of the inanimate objects giving off an electric field.
"Madison, are you okay? Did someone attack us?" Nulara demanded to know while still in my arms.
"I don't know. Someone attacked me but I can't find them"
Nulara then looked around as well out of fear but the dark empty road with only street lights lighting the path made it difficult. The moonlight supplied us with an adequate amount of light to see where we were going but the silence was dreadful.
Unbeknownst to me, the shadow behind me was being tampered with. Instead of remaining absolutely static and replicating my movements, it began quivering like still water being disturbed. This blackened arm then slowly started reaching out of my own shadow with thin dark tendrils stretching out between the arm and the shadowy surface. When the tendrils snapped, the darkness began peeling off of the hand, exposing the dark skin of a human hand. The rest of the darkness continued peeling off which exposed the rest of the dark skinned arm but as soon as my electroreceptors picked it up, I quickly tossed Nulara up high, turned around and grabbed onto the wrist of that mysterious arm.
Nulara screamed.
I quickly pulled the arm right out of my shadow and when a woman came out, we both were quite surprised to see each other. My left foot immediately connected with the side of her face when I kicked her as hard as possible. To my shock, her entire head exploded into a splatter of some black liquid and soon, her body morphed into the same liquid.
I then leaped up and tried to catch Nulara but when I was inches away from catching her again, the same black liquid enveloped my entire right hand before it exploded right in front us with enough force to send me crashing back down to the ground.
Someone else then caught Nulara out of nowhere and landed a couple of feet away from me.
I wasn't entirely sure what happened there but when I recovered from the fall, I looked down at my right hand and only saw what was left of it. Then again, I guess I only saw what was left of my right arm because the entire hand was gone and an small puddle of my own blood had begun to form beneath the residual limb.
All of the adrenaline mixed with the layer of light enveloping my body must've kept me from experiencing the actual pain that comes with having the entire half of your arm removed by some nocturnal force of nature. As soon as the realisation came in, my heart started beating even faster than it usually does which caused a bucket-load of blood to burst from the residual wound and so came the enormous unrelenting pain.
"Heeeeeaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggg!!!!!!!" I bellowed in agony before I gritted my teeth to stop myself from panicking. Beads of tears started flowing from my eyes but I closed my eyes as well and quickly generated an enormous amount of electricity from the palm of my left hand -my free hand- which interacted with the residual wound of my right arm. The blood soon started gushing from what was left when I used the electricity to speed up my regeneration even faster than it was already processing. Obviously it couldn't bring my arm back, I'm not a lizard but it should at least stop the bleeding.
When that was finally finished, I looked up at the assailant and calmly tried to normalise my breathing rate. I don't know how she took my arm but I'm gonna have find out if I want to get Nulara back.
"Careful now .. you wouldn't want me to take your other arm too do you?" The assailant warned me but as I expected, Nulara struggled but tried at least to break free from the woman's grasp. Obviously it wouldn't work because the defensive layer of light radiating from her body made her fifty times stronger than any ordinary child.
"Let me go!! Don't hurt Madison! Don't you dare!" Nulara screamed at the top of her lungs in the middle of her daring struggle but this mysterious woman wasn't going to let that happen.
"Calm down kiddo, you're in better hands now" The dark-skinned woman tried to reassure her but it wasn't going to work, not with what Nulara already knows about the Monarchy.
"No!! Madison!! Don't let her kick your butt! Stand up!"
"Kids today huh? They just don't know how to show respect" The woman joked before she grabbed Nulara's ankle and lifted her up higher by her leg. Nulara however continued her struggle despite her being upside down.
"Let her go .. I'm .. warning you" I managed to say while ignoring the painful sensation passing through what was left of my right arm and picking myself up from the road.
"You're warning me? Well then sugar, how about you prove to me that you can actually touch me" The woman said when she tossed Nulara aside like a ragdoll and prepared herself for a fight where she probably had the advantage. Nulara screamed in fear when she was thrown and despite the fall being rough, she still picked herself up and tried to ignore the scrape on her knee.
"You're going to regret that! Madison is the strongest woman I know! She can take you!" Nulara exclaimed which only made the mysterious woman laugh at us.
"Nulara .. run. Run away as fast as you can, I'll come and get you after I'm finished here"
"Oh no honey. This here is my house, you're in my hood now. Wherever that little kid goes, I'll find her and don't think for a second Imma let you get outta here. You killed a lotta women and for that, I can be thankful but that's fightin words on this side of the monarchy" The mysterious woman said in a ridiculous accent that I definitely never heard before. Oh well, I guess there's a lot of different accents out there. No point in discriminating one right now considering that she was going to kill me. "Get outta here kid but you better bring your ass back here in five minutes. Should be enough to put this white bitch in her place"
"Nulara .. go"
Nulara nodded her head before she quickly ran passed me, down the sidewalk. The woman and I watched as she ran away so as to make sure there weren't any innocent bystanders that could get in the way of our fight.
"Now who are you"
"Me? You can call me Violet sugar. My superiors told me that you're the one causing a ruckus around here but you made a big mistake comin here. You can't hide from the shadows because wherever you go, the shadows will follow Madison" She explained which gave me a brief idea of what sort of abilities she was using earlier. I'm not sure how her aether energy took my whole arm because I've never seen it do that before.
She's Umbrakinetic. In other words, she's able to manipulate darkness and shadows, basically anything with an absence of light and of course I'd have to fight her after sundown. Just my luck...
TO BE CONTINUED...