This Life is Mine

32

TWs: Hostages, violence towards a wall, impending danger. Stay safe :)

When Tord gave the signal, Jon was halfway up in the air, making his way around the palace. He saw soldiers positioned at their usual spots and Hellucard watching from his makeshift throne of leftover drone parts. The ghost looped around to the back, counting how many soldiers there were before making his way to a particular window to see if their friends were safe.

His eyes widened at seeing an empty room. He went through the wall to get a closer look, noticing that the door had been charred to pieces.

'But where's Arthur and Larry?' He asked himself as he flew back to the courtyard. He spotted the doomsday device, a giant rocket with a ballpoint end where a laser was to shoot out.

"Less than 18 hours to go, men!" He heard Hellucard shout, "Pick up the pace!"

Jon was about to give up searching for the hostages until he saw a glint of light near the doomsday machine. Squinting his eyes, he saw Larry and Arthur chained on one side of the device. However, the reflection didn't come off from them.

'Is that... Edd!?' Jon faltered as he saw the brunette tied to the other side of the device, his lucky cola can hanging off his neck, catching the sun's rays.

The ghost wanted to go down there and ask questions about how Edd ended up in that situation, but he knew they would end up getting caught easily.

'This is just great...' Jon thought, letting out a frustrated breath as he flew back to the group. When he landed, he found Tord drawing in the dirt with a stick, going over the plan again as everyone huddled around him.

"And then, while Matt, Tom, and Bing sneak into the palace to find the room, Pau and I will be the distraction slash lookout slash... trying to delay doomsday as much as we can," Tord explained, drawing sloppily in the mud.

"Which circle am I again-?" Matt uttered.

"It doesn't matter as long as you get to the room, Matt." Tord rolled his eyes, tossing the stick away.

"About that," Jon spoke up, prompting everyone to avert their gazes toward him, "There's been a change of plan..."

"I sure hope it's a good change of plan." Tord's eye twitched, already tired of explaining the plan multiple times.

"Uh..." Jon scratched the back of his neck, "They've obtained a new... hostage."

The group was silent momentarily as they stared at the apparition.

"What?" Pau was the first to break the silence.

"Do we even know someone else they would want?" Matt questioned.

Jon silently nodded, more at Tord than anyone else, and gave him a pitiful expression. Tord's expression turned from confusion to surprise, and it turned to anger as his eyebrows furrowed and his fists clenched. He bared his teeth as he whipped around and threw his right fist at a nearby wall, punching a hole straight through the frail concrete.

"Tord." Pau grabbed his shoulders, yanking him close to him, "Calm down."

"I am calm," Tord spoke through his teeth, "Those assholes are-"

"I know how much you want to kill them, but right now, we have to focus on rescuing them."

Tord stopped, glancing into Pau's eyes and remembering why they were there in the first place, "Right..."

The Norsk looked around before spotting a building with a fire escape nearby. He hummed before averting his gaze, "New plan; listen up..."

The group discussed their new plan. Tord went into the finer details and ensured everything would go as smoothly as possible. Turning his gaze towards the setting sun, Tord took a deep breath.