| 7: Love is a Battlefield Dive was throbbing with loud music and the partonage of the Bombers. Tim was behind the counter, serving up drinks to a slightly-humbled gang; and as Nosferatu, Tim and a few other gang leaders were debating the night's target, a brown-haired girl in a bomber jacket and an improvised St. Chronos' Cross came up to them. "What's the latest from Earthbound?" asked Nos. "Is Chronos holding up all right?" "Vanana's making sure of it. She's superceding her lieutenants in the prison to ensure that Chronos and Alice don't die. But he says it's far from pleasant." Nos nodded. "Was there anything else, Angel?" She hesitated, and then offered, "I intercepted a transmission from Vanana to Colonel David of the Columnian Army. She wants to go further than martial law-she told him to establish a military occupation of the city within twenty-four hours." Tim's eyes widened. "That's gonna kill our raiding abilities, but if we fight our own army that'll leave this land open to conquest." Nos added, "Ever since the Lebensacrafeiz War in Pendinmortua, St. Markhos has led a legion of Moderonlei's forces in a guerrilla campaign near Seditav. That's only three days from Columnia if Markhos' forces decide to swing south and grab this land for themselves. And he'd do it, to-Columnia is a signatory to the CCM Alliance." "We need to bust Chronos out of Earthbound NOW," one of the other gang leaders offered. "He'll know what to do after that." "How do we bust him out? It's the most heavily fortified compound in Columnia besides the Lady Protector's palace." They squabbled and argued for the next few minutes. "Ahem." They all turned and noted a brown little rabbit standing in the doorway, his left paw covering his mouth in a rather polite fashion. "Gentlemen, it does seem that you are in a bit of a quandary," the rabbit declared. "Fortunately, as the scion of Chronos I do believe that I have a rather smashing plan. My good sirs, perhaps you might care to hear me out?" They were too dumbfounded to argue, and the rabbit hopped onto a barstool and began to elucidate. *** In the abandoned warehouse district of Columnia, a rental truck pulled up next to a building. One girl, with brown hair and a determined look on her face, got out of the front cab and walked away. Three minutes later it exploded in violent fury, and seven more trucks pulled up and unloaded infantry into the hazy chaos. Where a warehouse once stood, there was only rubble and a snapped elevator shaft. "Here we are," declared Nosferatu. "Let's roll." They clipped ropes onto a bar sticking out of the concrete floor, holstered their flamethrowers, and rappelled down the side of the elevator shaft. Tim radioed to Virgil "We're in." *** Eterniu heard the boom and was terrified. "What was that?" he demanded. "Fools..." cursed Vanana. "They're assaulting this place to free him. Deploy the guards at the main hallway, lock up and chain every single prisoner, and fight to the last." They were interrogating Chronos at the time, and Eterniu snarled at him. "This is your doing, isn't it?" he demanded as he bludgeoned Chronos with his billyclub. However, this time Chronos grasped it with his hands and yanked it out of Eterniu's with amazing strength. "I think it's about time for you to sod off and die, my friend." And he proceeded to kick Eterniu in the gut. Now it was Vanana's turn to snarl. "Sit DOWN, you trash, and don't do a thing while we fend off your insurrectionist friends. Or maybe I WILL let Eterniu have his way with you." "It's the side effects of the healing spell, that's all... makes people stronger than they are for a brief time." And Chronos complied with her, smug as an umbrella salesman during a rainstorm. "You actually think that they're going to succeed, don't you..." Vanana remarked. "Actually, I do. It's nothing personal." She shook her head. "Well, that's your prerogative... but I hope you're wrong." "Consider it an agreement to disagree." *** In the very walls of the main hallway were nestled machine gunner pits. With an anti-magic field hanging like a shroud over the compound, the only threat was from the physical realm. And for that they were well-prepared. At least, they would have been if not for the flamethrowers. Recently-developed technology that Chronos had learned from the land of Gottica, the flamethrower overcame the gunnery nests with little problem. Hugging the walls and pouring flames into the thin openings for the machine guns, guards fell by the dozens and it wasn't long before the Bombers had Alice in sight. Virgil hopped forward when he saw her, wearing a little belt clip around his furry shoulders and a black bandana around his forehead. "My good Alice! It is a relief to learn of your safety!" he cried out in his quaint little manner. Alice, for her part, smiled and accepted the rabbit lickings on her chained hands. A pale man with dark shades looked over to the rabbit. "Where's Chronos?" "I do believe that he is down the hall in the interrogation room," Virgil answered, going back to licking Alice's hand. They rushed that way. *** "You hear those footsteps?" asked Chronos of Vanana. Eterniu had left the room to direct the defensive operations of Earthbound, but not before placing Chronos' hands in chains. "I hear them." "They're getting closer, no?" "You're ever the smug one." "You do know that we win if you're captured, right?" Vanana nodded. "Yes... and that is unacceptable." Chronos smiled another smug little smile. "Black pawn to white queen. Check." "My move, eh?" "I've heard that you know quite a few decent teleportation spells," offered Chronos. "Only thing is... you're going to have to raise the magic jamming field momentarily to do that." "Leaving you free to do whatever magic you can to destroy or coerce the Columnian Army with your cursed magics." "It's a fork. Are you going to let me take your queen or your rook?" She laughed a bitter little laugh. "Fine." And then she whispered something under her breath, and things felt slightly different, as if they had goosebumps. And then she blinked away. Chronos remained in his chains, whispering pyrotechnic spells as the vanguard of revolution entered. *** Two men stepped out of the doorway and into the darkened room. As they did, their faces resolved from silhouettes. One was a pale man with sunglasses, a trenchcoat and a gun, and Chronos didn't recognize him. The other was a big man whose face was instantly remembered to him. "All behold the second coming of the Timmah..." chuckled Chronos. "Caese the mighty, turned to a saint or a martyr or something kick-a$$ like that. How's it been?" "How do you think? But it's good knowing that I have friends with big guns. Thanks for the rescue." "Anything we can do for you? The rabbit said that you wanted to hold onto this place." "Yeah... it's one hell of a fortress with our flamethrowers. We can use it as a base to operate against the city, so long as we can get enough of the Columnian Army to defect." "That's our next job?" "The defection of the Army? Yes. Do what you can." "Of course. Oh, and Caese?" "Yeah?" "It's good to see you again, you little bastard." "Likewise." Timotheus, former generalissimo of the Ander-Brethed in the Second Vocamancer War, walked out of the room. "Chronos?" asked the other. "I am Nosferatu, commander-in-chief of the Bombers. I co-led the assault on Earthbound." "Thank you for all your help, Nosferatu. Is there anything else?" "A girl named Angelique says that she wanted to be the one to unlock your chains," he reported. Chronos nodded. "Let her in here, then." A shapely figure strode in the room then, wearing a trench coat and, a key in her hand. �Can I have a minute alone with him Nos?� He nodded and walked out Angelique stood there staring at Chronos for the longest time. �Well, aren�t you going to unlock my chains?� �Not yet, be patient, Ima give you a free ride first.� Unsure of what she was about to do he sat quietly watching her. Angel put the key in the pocket of her coat and slipped it off. Underneath she was wearing nothing. �I know your God would not approve, but I can�t resist you anymore.� Kneeling on the floor next to him Angel began to kiss his neck and his lips. �Are you going to stop me?� �No, I won�t.� Angelique crawled over to her coat and took the key out and unlocked Chronos. Immediately he pulled her close and held her tight. Never being held before she was over whelmed with feelings never experienced before. She pushed him away �Lay down,� he ordered her She laid back and watched him undress. Chronos, shaking nervously, got on top of Angelique. They made love to each other, after they had both climaxed -when most men threw money at her- Chronos laid next to her holding her in his arms. |