Chapter 3 Actions
When Saphir and Brad arrive to pick up Crystal and Arrowny, their clothing is burnt around the edges. Apparently, after killing the Minotaur, they went to inspect the malfunctioning grenade... only to find that it was not malfunctioning... it just had a longer delay than expected.
After a quick stop in Spain to pick up Justin, the Dragoon Warriors return to their home. Almost immediately, Ryan locks himself in his study. Justin and Saphir go back to the drawing board on their ‘magical grenade’ idea, attempting to figure out how to correctly trigger the spell. Crystal takes a few of the library books down to her room for some relaxing research.
The next day... Arrowny calls the group into his study.
Arrowny sits in a chair behind a desk, with Crystal and Saphir sitting on the other side. Brad and Justin are standing near the door... actually, Justin’s standing... Brad is leaning against the wall.
Arrowny takes a deep breath...
“Okay... I assume that Crystal filled you guys in on our mission.”
They all nod...
“Good. So...” Ryan sighs... and reaches into one of the desk drawers. He takes out a small wooden box, and sets it on the desk. Slowly... he opens the lid, and turns it so the others can see.
Crystal gasps...
Inside the box, is a small crystal vial filled with silvery reflective liquid.
“Ryan...” Crystal glances up at him... “That’s exactly the same as the vial we found on the dead guy in Halifax.”
Arrowny just nods...
“...and... it’s the same as the one that I saw on Bastian in my vision.”
Again, he just nods...
“Want to explain that?”
“Sure...”
He takes a very, very deep breath.
“The vials are filled with unicorn blood. They are a trademark of Protectors.”
“DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!”
Everybody glances over at Brad... who just gives a little smile...
“Sorry... it just seemed dramatic.”
“Anyway...” Ryan closes the box lid, “What this means is that Bastian is a Protector... and he killed a Protector.”
Justin shrugs...
“Then... can’t we just get all the info we need from the Protectors?”
Ryan nods...
“I’ve already been in touch with them. They sent somebody to help out the dead guy’s charge... and they told me all about Bastian. Apparently, he’s one of only three Protectors to fail in their mission in this century.”
Brad stands up straight...
“Yeah, I read about them. One was sent to protect a whole town against some demons... but it turned out to be an entire army of demons... he lost.
The second one lost his balance on the edge of a cliff during a fight. The girl he was protecting was dead before he hit the bottom of the cliff.
I never was able to find out what happened to the third one... just that there is a record of the failure?”
“Well... they told me. Bastian didn’t just fail in his mission... he actually killed the girl he was protecting.”
This statement causes some uneasy feelings among the group. Although Arrowny hasn’t really talked openly about the Protectors... but he’s always been pretty adamant about the fact that they are good guys... honourable... noble... all that good stuff. To learn that one of them actually killed his own charge... it’s quite a shock.
Brad steps forward...
“So... let me get this straight. Protectors are just good guys, who know how to fight. And, they know that at some point in their lives, they’ll be called up to protect somebody or something that’s really important for the good side of the world, and they know that they’ll probably die doing that.
And this guy killed his own charge?!
Why?”
“According to the Protectors... he just went evil one day... and chased her down... he hunted her... and then killed her.”
Saphir leans forward in his chair...
“So... what do the Protectors want us to do about him?”
Ryan shrugs...
“Nothing. The rules say that only one Protector is allowed to be involved in a mission. They’re willing to accept that my being present during another Protector’s mission was an act of an independent person... they realize that I was acting as a Dragoon Warrior and not a Protector.”
“Okay...” Brad slowly nods, “... so, that means they won’t sue you or something. But, what do they want us to do about Bastian. He might be a Protector... but he’s a former Protector, right? They won’t mind us killing him... cutting him... breaking him... kicking, stabbing, slashing, bludgeoning, decapitating, poisoning, and bloodletting him... maybe not in that order... right?”
“Actually... they’re asking us not to specifically hunt Bastian. They want to deal with him themselves.”
“And, are we going to listen to them?”
Arrowny nods...
“Yeah... we will NOT hunt Bastian down.”
Brad frowns... but Ryan smiles...
“BUT... if we just happen to run into him, we’ll kill him dead.”
Brad smiles...
“Alright!”
Ryan stands up, and pushes the box aside.
“Alright then. We’re all up to speed on the situation? Good. Let’s get on with business... okay?”
* * * * * *
Brad and Ryan are standing across from each other on the training mats in the basement, each with their weapons out, ready to attack. Crystal is upstairs in the library, doing some research or something. Saphir is sitting down in the corner, with a few open books laying around him.
Since his magic failed during the fight with the Minotaur, Saphir has been attempting to build his knowledge of regular battle tactics. Brad gave him a list of books that he could read... ‘The Art of War’ and things like that... things to make him a better fighter since he can’t rely on his powers alone.
Justin is standing near the side of the training mats.
“Okay guys... GO!”
Brad swings his axe, but Ryan dodges to the side, and slams the flat of Sky Render into Brad’s knuckles, forcing him to drop the axe. Arrowny kicks him in the ribs, and turns to face Saphir.
“So, anyway, I was fighting Bastian, and I was winning... then, for some reason, I just stop kicking his ass.”
Saphir looks questioningly at him...
“What do you mean, you just stop?”
Brad kicks Ryan in the back of the knee, knocking him down, and then slams his elbow into Ryan’s stomach. He gets up, and grabs his axe from the floor.
“Yeah, what do you mean?”
Arrowny punches Brad in the stomach, kickflips up, and catches the axe wielder with a kick to the chest. He reaches down, grabs Brad by the front of his shirt, pulls him back up to standing, and knees him in the stomach. Still holding on to the shirt, Ryan performs a tricky little flip throw, sending Brad to the ground.
“I mean, I switched to a defensive style... I could’ve beaten him. Funny thing was, I didn’t even realize it until Crystal pointed it out to me.”
Brad sweeps at Ryan’s legs with his axe, and rolls over, pushing his forearm against Ryan’s throat...
“Well, you were protecting the other guy?”
Ryan punches Brad in the ribs, forcing him off of his throat.
“What in our history together makes you think I gave a damn about that guy? Crystal’s vision didn’t involve him... why would I care?”
“Good point! So... what happened when you switched styles?”
Ryan wrestles Brad back to a standing position. Brad tries to smash him with the handle of his axe, but Ryan grabs his hand, and quickly pulls Brad’s arm in a swinging motion, forcing the axe to fly from his hand.
Justin takes a calm step to the side as the axe buries itself in the wall behind where he was just standing.
“Well, Crystal had just tried to shoot him... and he looked a little mad... and he kinda started to take the fight closer to her.”
Justin and Saphir give a knowing glance at each other...
“Oh.”
“Yeah, makes sense.”
Ryan and Brad stop fighting. They both turn to face Justin and Saphir...
“What oh?”
“What makes sense?”
Arrowny turns to Brad.
“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?”
“No... no I don’t.”
Justin and Saphir start laughing...
“Ryan... heh... you were protecting Crystal.”
“Um... what?”
Saphir repeats...
“You were protecting Crystal!”
“Um... guys...”
Brad and Ryan turn to Justin, who taps the spot on his wrist where a watch would be, if he didn’t have that wonderful internal sense of time that comes with being a technomage.
“You’re coming up on seven minutes.”
Brad looks confused...
“What?”
Ryan does not look confused.
He punches Brad, rather hard, in the head. Brad falls to the ground...
“Oh... stars!...”
Justin nods...
“Match called at seven minutes, two seconds. Ryan wins... again.”
Arrowny turns back to Saphir.
“What do you mean, I was protecting her?”
“Well... you were worried that Bastian wanted to hurt her after she tried to shoot him.”
“I did no such thing.”
“You did... it may have been a subconscious action... but that’s why you went on the defensive.”
Brad stumbles to his feet, holding his head. He turns to Justin...
“You’re supposed to stop the timer if we both stop fighting.”
“There’s no rule that says that.”
“But, I’m supposed to kill the bad guy, why would I feel the need to protect her?”
“Maybe not, but it’s common sense. No fighting means no clock!”
“It’s pretty obvious why, isn’t it?”
“Again, I say, there is no such rule.”
“If it was obvious, I’d have gotten it already!”
“The only rule to the fight is ‘no killing’.”
“Exactly.”
“You’ve got to be blind not to see it.”
“What do you mean ‘exactly’?”
“Well, Brad doesn’t get it either!”
“I mean, there are no rules, simply because there are no rules in a real fight.”
“Okay then. You’ve got to be blind, or a moron when it comes to human emotions, not to get it.”
“Even so, you could have been nice enough to stop counting! And, did somebody just call me a moron?”
“I didn’t call you a moron!”
“Justin, do you have any idea what Saphir’s talking about?”
“I heard you say ‘moron’.”
“Of course... and I’m barely more than an emotionless computer.”
“I said you were moronic about emotions, that’s all!”
“What does that mean?”
“That’s still not nice to say!”
“It means, if I can see it, you must be able to!”
“I wasn’t insulting you... per say.”
“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!”
Brad, Justin, and Saphir turn to Ryan... who is holding his head in his hands, and staring at Saphir.
“Just tell me what’s going on?”
Saphir shrugs...
“You like her.”
Ryan drops his arms to his side... and tilts his head sideways...
“What the bloody hell are you on about?!”
Justin nods...
“It’s true man. You like her. When she’s around, your heart rate increases... and your pupils dilate.”
Everybody casts strange glances at Justin...
“What? It’s a technomage thing.”
“Hey guys!”
They all jump a little at the shock of Crystal’s voice. She’s just reaching the bottom of the stairs by the time they gather their composure.
“Did I interrupt something?”
“No!” Ryan snaps...
“Apparently not.” Saphir shakes his head...
“Don’t think you did.” Justin sighs...
“I honestly don’t know if you did or not.” Brad just looks confused.
“Okay then...” She glances worriedly around at them. “We’ve got a job.”
Ryan steps forward.
“Vision?”
“No, paying! Apparently, there’s a Kraken in San Francisco... hiding under the Golden Gate Bridge. The mayor hired us to take care of it.”
“Cool.”
Saphir stands up.
“Guys... I’ve got a new charm that needs trying out. It should alter probability fields around us, so that random events will occur more to our favour than simple chance would allow.”
Justin nods in understanding...
Brad, Ryan, and Crystal are looking like they were just asked to land a spacecraft on the surface of Mars.
Saphir sighs...
“It’ll make us lucky.”
“Oh!”
“Right!”
“There’s no way in hell I’m trying out something else that you invented. After the major time delay problems on your grenades... I’ll just go without it.”
Ryan and Crystal nod.
“Sorry man, I’m not going to be a guinea pig.”
“I don’t want something blowing up in my face.”
Saphir glares at them... and turns to Justin... who shakes his head.
“My personal force fields pretty much protect me from random events. I’ll be fine with just that.”
Saphir shrugs...
“Fine! Let’s just get geared up, and head to San Francisco... but if something happens, don’t cry to me!”