Authors: Dhayaa Anbajagane
She smiled back happily.
“So did you follow us here?” he asked her. He didn't remember seeing Taylor anywhere at any point in time. There was no way she could’ve followed them.
“I do not know what the Taylor in your world does but the one is this world can fly using her Elementa of Air,” she said calmly.
She even has a different Elementa
, he realized, recalling that Taylor had the Elementa of Dark Energy. He shook his head. He really needed to stop trying to compare the two of them. He didn't feel it was fair to either of the Taylors.
Anti-verse Taylor swayed around a little like she was in a daze.
Q wondered if she was okay, “Are you all-”
Taylor’s body went limp and she slumped. Q caught her just as she was about to hit the ground and steadied her. She seemed to have used up too much of her life energy.
“I’m… I’m okay,” she said.
“No, you’re not,” Q said, “Just wait. Help’s on the way.”
She smiled at Q. He sat her up next to him and made sure she was comfortable. She put her hand on his chest and pulled herself closer to him. Q could feel her whole body shiver in her weakness. He put his arms around her and held her tightly, trying to keep her as still as he could.
“
I’ll be there in a while,
” Jade said “
Hang on.
”
Q didn't reply just yet. His mind registered what the griffin said but it was too busy worrying about Taylor to think of a reply.
“My body hurts,” Taylor gripped him tighter.
“Where?” He asked her.
“My chest,” she said.
Probably because of her low life energy levels,
Q thought. He tried to think of a plausible remedy, but he couldn’t recall any.
Taylor squeezed his hand, “Q,” she whispered. Her breath tickled his ear like the softest of feathers. She held onto his forearms with her soft fingers and lifted herself up to him.
Q was startled, “What are you-”
But he never got to finish his sentence. Why you ask?
Well, it’s complicated.
Taylor kissed him.
***
Taylor heard a gunshot ring through the air, its sound echoing through the vast walls of the ship she was trapped in. She alerted her battle senses just as a man stepped out of the shadows.
His entire body was armed with a piece of white battle armor minus the helmet. He ran his hand through his short silver hair. His dark black eyes stared at her with the look of a killer, cold and deadly. He pointed his mechanical revolver at her, his finger easing on the trigger.
He’s the one who shot me the first time
, she realized, noticing that his revolver had inbuilt sniping capabilities.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Do you not recognize me?” he asked menacingly.
“I’m sorry. I don't usually keep track of the people who might try to kill me.”
“Where darkness begins to consume, the light will come to destroy it,” he said. “I. Am. A. White. Knight,” he paused after each word and smirked at Taylor, his eyes making him look pure evil.
A white knight
, she thought. Her natural enemy. She was supposed to be scared, but she really didn’t feel anything. All she did was wonder why such an enemy was on this ship in the first place.
“Confused?” he asked.
“Hardly,” she said coolly. She didn't want him to feel superior, as though he was always a step above everyone else. Well, this guy actually was a step ahead of her but she still hated the attitude he had. She felt a huge urge to pull this guy down a peg.
“
What should we do?
” she switched to talking with her mind.
“
Don't ask me,
” Ruby responded.
“
He’s supposed to be your natural enemy. Not mine.
”
“
Well, you’re the one with wings and claws. I have what. Legs?
”
“
You have a sword, idiot,
” Ruby reminded her.
“
Oh yeah
,” she said, her mind immediately formulating a plan to take on the White Knight. She had only a few seconds to come up with one before the White Knight realized that something was going on.
She sharpened her mind and let her senses pick up everything around her. She felt the warm air around her, the faint whisper of childish laughter reached her from the pool. She heard a mechanical click from the White Knight's weapon. He was getting ready to fire.
“
Ruby.
”
“
Got it,
” she said. “
I read your mind
.”
Taylor had to admit that this mind-reading thing was pretty convenient, but it also made it impossible to plan a surprise birthday for her. Taylor would have to have her knocked out before anyone started talking about celebrating her birthday.
“
I’m not getting knocked out,
” Ruby said. “
And will you please just focus?
” The griffin suddenly charged to the left, startling the White Knight into action. He took aim at her, his arm tracing her fast movements.
Taylor took advantage of the distraction and unsheathed her sword. She charged and smacked the White knight straight in his chest. The armor protected him well but he still hit the wall hard. Taylor tried to take a breather, but the Knight didn’t let her. He picked himself up and shrugged the blow off as if it were nothing.
“No way,” she was stunned, “That should've completely knocked you out!”
“Knocked out a regular man, yes,” he said. “I, on the other hand, am not a regular guy.”
Taylor rolled her eyes, “There goes the ego problem,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
Taylor gripped the hilt of her sword. “I said,” she crouched low, putting all her weight on the front of her feet, “You have a huge ego problem!” she yelled as she charged at him.
The White Knight pulled out another revolver and fired a continuous string of bullets from both weapons. She jumped left and right, dodging each bullet by mere inches. The few that did manage to catch her in her line of movement were deflected by a few expert movements from her sword. In seconds, she had pushed forward and was right next to a surprised White Knight. She pulled her sword back, getting ready to finish him and his ego once and for all. But something was wrong, the White Knight smiled.
In one swift movement two other White Knights jumped out of nowhere and tackled her, sending her sprawling over the floor. Her helmet snapped off and rolled away from her. The White Knight lifted Taylor up by the arm and put his gun to her head, looking at her face as though he were wondering how much he’d relish killing her
He turned to Ruby, “One step, One flap of your wing,” he paused, “And she dies.”
Ruby folded her wings and shrunk down to human size as a sign of surrender. A part of the wall behind them slid open and two more guards in white armor walked out. There was no doubt that these guards were the White Knight’s men as well. They headed towards Taylor and the White Knight. One of them carried a small white rod in his hands.
“Handcuff her,” The White Knight ordered.
One of the guards grabbed Taylor and held her arms behind her back. She could feel him place the rod between her hands and a ring of blue energy encompassed both of her wrists.
Energy Bonds,
she cursed. She hated energy bonds. There was nothing she could do to free herself now. If she wanted to escape she’d have to do it while being handcuffed. Why did everyone have to use energy bonds? Hadn't they ever heard of using rope? It was so easy to break through.
“
You do realize they can't use rope because-
”
“
Yes, I do,
” she said, not appreciative of Ruby’s playfulness.
“Ahhh,” a familiar man walked up to Taylor, his white coat swaying in the air, a wild grin on his face. “We meet again, my dear Dark Knight.”
Taylor’s heart stopped. Her mind went into panic. Her very essence screamed out in fear. But in all this chaos her face stayed calm and collected.
She smirked, “Always a pleasure Dr.D.”
“This a surprise, doctor,” the White Knight said. “What is the occasion?”
“I just got a call,” he said.
“You mean?”
“Ah yes,” he chuckled. “
He
wants to see her.”
***
Chris ran through the mothership’s corridors along with Kai, Carlos and everyone else. The intruder alert was still active. The sound of the alarms rang through her eardrums and flashes of red lights shone against her face.
“Get them!” a wave of cadets charged from behind. They were too fast to outrun, and that meant they were left with only one other option.
“Suit up,” Carlos ordered. “We’re taking these guys down.”
“
Ethosien,
” everyone said at once. The word rang through the air loud and clear.
Elizabeth was already in her familiar ‘Blue Tears’ armor. She pulled two daggers from the sheaths in her calves and slashed them in two perfect arcs. Lisara pulled out her Lancelot, much to the amazement of everyone who hadn't seen it before. Chris knelt to the ground and set up her crossbow.
Trisha had a surprise in store for everyone. A circle of white appeared below her, with glowing blue runes appeared on the border. Chris recognized the runes from the ones on Lisara’s circle. A surge of white light blinded everybody. When the light disappeared everyone was stunned. Trisha had the exact same Lancelot that Lisara had! The only thing that was different about it was that this one was black while Lisara’s was white.
Kai held his hand out and instantly metal pieces detached from the floor and seamlessly formed a suit around him. A huge cannon came up above his shoulder and took aim at the cadets.
Trisha and Lisara walked up next to each other in their Lancelots, making Chris wonder what they were trying to do.
“Aurum gateway activate,” they yelled. The Lancelots glowed. Chris watched in awe as the Lancelots morphed their body and merged with each other.
When the glowing stopped, there stood in front of them a huge mech-armor robot. It was almost twice as tall as a regular Lancelot and had two cockpits, one where its head should have been and the other was right at chest height. Its entire upper body was white while its lower body was purely black. Lisara sat down in the cockpit at its head and Trisha sat in the one at its lower chest.
“That,” Carlos whispered, his eyes bloodshot. “Should not exist.”
“I know, right?” Kai said. “That’s an amazing piece of technology, I didn't think it’d be possible to make one either but if you look at the coding-”
“Kai?” Chris interrupted him, “I think he meant something else.”
Kai stood still, “Oh,” he said.
“Behold the Ascalon,” Lisara and Trisha said together in a metallic and raspy voice.
“OH!” Kai yelled out.
Chris was confused at what was going on. Why had Kai and Carlos reacted that way to the Ascalon?
Meanwhile, the Ascalon advanced towards the enemy. The machine was causing fear and disorder among the charging cadets, who slowly retreated. The Ascalon took advantage of the situation and charged. A stampede of cadets pushed and pulled at each other as they tried to get away as fast as possible.
The Ascalon didn't go after them once the threat had been taken care of. The machine walked back to all of them and glowed with a bright white light. In a flash the Ascalon disappeared and Trisha and Lisara were back to normal.
Carlos walked up to them and he didn't seem very happy. “Never use that again,” he said coldly.
What’s going on?
Chris wondered.
He turned to everyone else, his expression shifting back to a playful one, “We better get going. Wasting time isn’t a good idea,” he said.
“There’s something that keeps bugging me,” Kai said as they walked along. “If Trisha and Lisara were spies aboard the warship. How come we never received any intel on the attack?”
Carlos sighed, “The enemy seemed to have been aware of spies being on board. They jammed all communications from when the attack plan was finalized to when they actually attacked. No one would’ve been able to get through to us until the ship was a second away from attacking Aliea.”
“So all in all, the spy plans were a failure,” Kai joked.
“Hey! At least I helped you,” Trisha sulked.
Kai just grinned at her. Chris had to admit that though they hadn't helped as spies, both sisters had been really helpful in the infiltration missions.
“So what’s the plan right now?” Juliana asked.
“We have to take down the control room,” Carlos said.
“No good,” Kai gave him a thumbs down, “Already tried. Some Quantum Brain beat me in a battle for supremacy,” he said, making it sound like he had waged a millennia long battle.
“That’s probably the intel room,” Carlos said. “That’s where the processing system is located. The control room is where the ship is commanded from.”
Kai looked at Trisha, his eyes surprised. She shrugged her shoulders, “I guess I’m wrong sometimes,” she smiled sheepishly.
“Wait,” Kai held his hand up. “So all that fighting I did with the Brain was useless?”
“Yes,” Trisha said.
“Umm.. So you’re the spy who didn't know the very ship she was infiltrating?”
“Hey, I get confused sometimes.”
“My biggest question,” Kai started, “is why the Brain had agreed to give me full control of the ship if I beat it even though it actually had
no control
.”
“I think you’ll have to ask this Brain that question,” Carlos laughed.
“It
lied
to me?”
Chris smiled. She had never seen Kai this confused before. It refreshed her to see human emotions on these faces again. The past few hours had been one nerve-wracking mission after another. There was no time for emotion.
Carlos pointed ahead. “Keep calm,” he told them. Two cadets stood on either side of the corridor, chatting with each other. Chris knew it would be easy to take them out but that wasn't the problem. If they took out the cadets they might gain attention, and the mothership would realize that it had been infiltrated. Then it would only be a matter of time before it sent all its resources to flush them out.
“We need a better plan,” Carlos said.
“Can we find a place to rest?” Lisara asked. “I’m dead beat.”
Chris looked at everyone. They really did seem like they could use a break.
“I’ve got my own quarters,” Trisha said, “It’s somewhere around here, so we could head there if you want. It could give us a safe place to plan things out as well. No one’s mentioned anything so far but I’m sure those enemy cadets from earlier are going to sound the alarm again. It’s best if we find a hiding spot and fast.”
Carlos remained silent for a moment, and then nodded, “Fine, let’s go there.”
They back-tracked along the corridor and took a few turns, making sure they weren't seen. Trisha finally came to halt in front a gray metal door. She swiftly took out her card and swiped it across a card scanner on the wall.