Chapter 3: A Story Long Forgotten

[stardust]

Stardust climbed up at the stairs and found herself boiling in annoyance at the sight of the ugly DotNA soldiers before her. DoTNA? she thought to herself as she moved away from the trapdoor to stand beside Jun.

"Heh, they're back," said one of the goons, exposing his crooked teeth.

"What the hell are you still doing here?!" she spat at them and was going to attack when they pressed the barrel of their guns on the Shumi Elder's head.

[Blaze Sanaku]

Before the dotNA could fire at Stardust, Blaze lunged at him and severed his arm. The bloody limb fell to the floor, still twitching. Blaze pried the gun from the stiff fingers of the arm and pointed it at the other goon who was dealing with Hadrian.

"better thank me. I saved your sorry ass," Blaze smirked at Stardust while the guy withered in agony. She looked back at Hadrian and grinned. "He's all yours." she said, grinning at the goon she was pointing the gun at.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

In what seemed like a split second, the goon aimed at Stardust the moment she advanced to them and the next thing he knew, Blaze was on the move. One of the goons was taken down, and the other one...well...

Hadrian matched the grin Blaze had and reached inside his pocket. "Don't mind if I do," he drawled and quickly stuffed a coin-sized time bomb on the goon's mouth, punching him out the window. A few seconds had passed and a minor explosion was heard together with the thick blood spray on the broken window sill. Hadrian thought he saw several more people outside the window but cast it away when he saw nothing but trees.

The remaining goon inside gazed at the SeeDs with terror and ran for the doorway screaming.

"That's it for them." Hadrian said, brushing his hands. "Is the Shumi Elder, all right?"

[Diego Stanton]

Deo was surprised at the utter brutality of the seeDs. The girl, who Deo remembered was named Blaze, didn't even bother to kill her victim. She just let him sit there and scream in agony. But that was pretty merciful compared to Hadrian punching his guy out the window and blowing him up.

Impressive. Deo thought in regards to Hadrian's coin-sized bomb. He wanted to ask if Hadrian had used an oxidizer or possibly silica or sawdust as a stabilizer. However, judging from the amount of blood on the window the thermally expanded gases would have been be dissipated in the medium, and there would have been no explosion. Were the chemicals rapidly reacting?

I guess now's not the time to ask that.. Deo seemed to snap awake from his daze.

"Well... he's breathing. I guess that means he's okay," Deo replied to Hadrian's question. "Sorry about your floor..." he said to the elder.

[miyavi]

"Sorry about your floor..."

Sho's bright blue head popped up from the trapdoor. Hoisting himself out of the hole from the Shumi Elder's floor, he dusted off his jacket and stepped up beside Deo, bowing low and respectfully to the Shumi. "Aa, we deeply apologize for blowing up your floor, Master!" he said quickly and cheerily. "And I heard lots of screaming, so there must've been violence before I got up here, too." He looked saddened for a moment but crossed his arms and grinned. "So I'll say sorry for that, too."

[vanesse]

Vanesse climbed out of the hole after everyone had made it on the surface. She swore she heard something explode just now. Seeing the small hut before her, the Shumi elder, and the...bloodstains?

On the floor and on the window? She blinked.

"What happened here?" she asked noone in particular.

Vanesse thought she saw Stardust frown at her, but concluded it was probably just how her face was.

"All right, Elder's fine, let's just go back to Garden immediately." Vanesse heard Stardust say, making her crease her forehead. But weren't the SeeDs going to help them get their friends back, first? The pinkhead didn't waste any time and strode out of the door.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Vanesse said and sprinted towards her, leaving the door open for the others. "I thought you're going to--" She froze in her tracks as she almost bumped on Stardust's back. Something seemed to be the matter.

"DotNA..." she whispered harshly, eyes fixed ahead. Swinging her gaze from Stardust's head to their surroundings, Vanesse's eyes grew wide. There ahead of them were numerous DoTNA soldiers surrounding the whole hut.

[ST]

"Thanks for making so much noise," a familiar voice was heard, "You saved us the trouble of searching the village for you."

Waverly's heels clacked as she walked towards the seeDs with her pistol aimed at Vanesse. She was followed by Mitch, Xu's secretary and.... Governor Arland. It's not a surprise that he and his freakish girl companion are on the side of the dotNA.

"Which of you has the ruby?" Waverly demanded, her eyes darted between each seeD as they emerged from the hut. Nobody replied.

"Don't worry, they'll tell us. Bring them out," Governor Arland commanded a few dotNA soldiers.

A few moments later Lawric, Signe and Able were dragged out, bound and gagged. They immediately recognized Jaime, Deo and Vanesse and their eyes pleaded for help.

"So.. where's the ruby," Arland repeated.

[miyavi]

"So.. where's the ruby."

Sho raised his hand and waved it around to catch the attention of the Governor. "I know, I know!" he shouted rather loudly. "The ruby is up your---"

<Stop that.> Zephyr sounded cross.

Sho grinned. "Kidding!" he said cheerfully. The DotNA soldiers, however, looked murderous. "The ruby is here."

There was a silence, and the Governor looked as if he wanted Sho to further explain.

Sho shrugged. "You never asked us to specify where the ruby is," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Guess you'll just have to frisk all of us for it." He looked excited at the prospect. "Wanna try?" A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, exposing sharp white canines.

[ani]

Vanesse shouted her friends' names as she saw them being dragged out in the open. She couldn't bear to see them like that. It was crystal clear to her now. Governor Arland was one of the lowest, nastiest DotNA scoundrel she had ever seen. They were going to give them the ruby--atleast that was what she thought that was going to happen.

Vanesse caught Sho's animalistic grin when he asked the soldiers to frisk him. That same grin of his was making her worry. "Please don't try anything funny," she told him, a tinge of pleading was evident in her tone. "That's our friends over there." She pointed at the three prisoners behind the governor.

The DotNA soldiers hesitated at Sho's suspicious request earning an earful from Arland.

"Now I know what is wrong with this picture!" the chubby governor started, catching Deo, Jaime, and Vanesse's eyes. "Am I or am I not seeing the Opps working side by side with the SeeDs?" he paused for a second before exploding in a fit. "I have orders for you to take care of them and get ME the ruby!! I should've killed you all like worms in that..putrid prison cell!" he spat.

"Arland, what's the meaning of this?" Waverly looked at him, not really following what he was saying.

"Y-you see...."

"But don't you want the ruby?!" Vanesse exclaimed. "Just chill! We'll give you the ruby if you would just stick to your promise."



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LOL x.x I don't think Van is in the same page as the SeeDs...

[waterlily43]

"Arland, what's the meaning of this?" The spoilt princess of Dotna looked at the fat Governor. Rayden looked between them. Looks like something to exploit. He mused to himself.

"Hey, sweetcheeks." He said, looking intently at Waverly to let her know he was addressing her. "Looks like Arland here has an additional agenda. Are you sure it's safe to start standing next to him?"

Rayden wanted to start manipulating his acting chops only to have his plan marred by the Opposition girl.

"But don't you want the ruby?!" Vanesse exclaimed. "Just chill! We'll give you the ruby if you would just stick to your promise."

Is she for real? He frowned, but decided against saying anything, just to see what Arland would say. As he bit back his words, Rayden noticed someone clench a fist from the corner of his eye.

Jun's face looked like it was pulled back by several strings. Pursing her lips she too decided not to run her mouth although it was getting too tempting.

What sort of stupid plan is this? Save her friends by giving Fattie the ruby? She ranted furiously at Sapphire, shooting Vanesse a look of disbelief. First sign that it leaves our hands I'm gonna stop it, lives at stake or not.

[Polaris Lyn]

"Just chill! We'll give you the ruby if you would just stick to your promise."

Polaris crossed her arms and glanced at Vanesse thoughtfully.

"Do you honestly think he'll surrender your friends once you give him the Ruby?" she asked quietly, turning her attention to the DotNA soldiers that were surrounding them. "He doesn't look like the chivalrous sort."

"Aa, I agree. He looks overweight and ugly," Sho commented with a mockingly serious expression that matched Polaris's. "And I think he has bad hygiene, to boot."

Polaris felt a smirk tug at the corner of her mouth, but quelled the feeling. "And I don't think he's planning on staying loyal to the DotNA, either." She addressed Waverly. "I say kill the fat bastard and give these guys," she tilted her head in the direction of Van, Deo and Jaime, "back their friends before they do something stupid...like try to give you the Ruby. We'll be keeping that."

[Blaze Sanaku]

"I thought we had a deal!" Deo yelled at the seeDs.

"Our deal was keeping you alive if you showed us the way to the ruby," Blaze shot, "you should be happy that we even agreed to that. Besides, Pol is right. They're not going to let us go free after we give them the ruby, so what's the point? You think they're just gonna let us walk out of here after the exchange?"

Deo clenched his jaw. He knew Blaze was right.

There was the familiar sound of Blaze's claws chinking out. The dotNA raised their guns. Deo's eyes widened.

"what are you-!?"

"tch, like there's any other way out of this," Blaze dug her right foot back into the ground to get into her fighting position.

[ST]

"One move and we'll shoot them," Waverly said calmly. "There's no way you can win. We locked down Shumi Village. There's nobody but our soldiers surrounding the entire place. You're not getting out of here alive"

Arland was fuming. As a man of power, he was not used to being verbally attacked. "You three, kill the seeDs," he ordered the Opps, "I told you to kill them or we'll kill your friends!!"

Abruptly, three loud and unmerciless gun shots were heard. Lawric, Signe and Able slumped foward with clean shots through the back of their heads. There's no doubt that all three of them are dead.

"There. Problem solved," a man's voice was heard. A voice that the seeDs and Opps had only heard on TV or on the radio, but who was speaking to them now. Waverly's brother, the leader of the dotNA stood in front of you all.

[Bun]

Polaris tipped her head back slightly, eyeing the leader of DotNA with a slight frown. "I suppose that's one way of solving things," she remarked, "if one was a callous, cruel bastard."

Sho shifted his stance, eyes furious. "They did nothing to deserve that," he snarled. "The honorable thing to do was at least let them go out fighting!"

[waterlily43]

"Nooo! YOU BASTARD!" Jaime cried out when the familiar guy shot Lawric, Signe and Able. They were dead, truly dead. She had been dreading this ever since they'd been captured by Arland and now it had happened all of a sudden.

Without thinking, she lashed Jade Torture towards the Dotna leader, the whiptail snapping towards his face with an aim of disfiguring it.

Casually, the Dotna leader raised his gun and shot Jaime's whip-wielding arm, causing the tail to change direction and land on a Dotna soldier next to him. The soldier screamed upon impact, collapsing in a heap on the ground writhing.


The leader raised an eyebrow at Polaris and Sho.

"They were executed swiftly and painlessly. Which would be a different matter if I allowed them to die fighting...I assure you." He smirked at Sho. "So I would advice you to hand out the Ruby now or suffer a slow, intestinal-melting death."