EQUINOX || The Catalysts Series, #3

XXXVIII

Of course he'd be met with silence. No one dares utter another word—not even Professor Burgundy, who fears he might make things worse and involve more of his students.

Through the glass wall, there's a mixture of emotions playing across the four students' faces: despair, fear, defeat, anger. The first two, Lena completely understands, her own reflecting in the two students she doesn't recognize. But she isn't sure what to feel for the defeat on Lucifer's face or the anger and contempt on Kestrel's, her golden eyes lucid and burning. She looks back to her other companions trapped within and glares down at them as if to ask them to stop fretting.

"These lower leveled demons have been recaptured and since assessed for their threat level. Instead of putting them down, the bureau has decided to repurpose them in light of recent events—all for a greater purpose," Lieutenant Raines continues her ever growing speech.

Just when Lena is starting to hate the Lieutenant's way of speaking, she realizes it can't be as bad as Viktas, who states with malice, "You should appreciate the chance to learn."

And then, with a snap of his fingers, the glass divider separating the two life forms encased in the contraption releases.

Immediately, Kestrel steps forth and draws her giant box to the ground, as if to draw a line between her and the demons. And then with a glow as bright as her eyes, it transforms into a machine gun, which she fires at the creatures before they can pounce.

The rain of bullets storm through the six demons in the tight space and dent the walls, but they are too fast. At least three of them are already dodging on instinct, scraping the walls at whatever space they can grasp at, and that means fighting for the space toward the students—if they didn't already smell their abilities, prompting them to attack.

In such a small space, even if Lena has no doubt at least Kestrel is strong enough to handle a few low leveled demons, there's just not sufficient space to properly battle them. If she is thinking to protect the students—just as she is, stepping up front and using her abilities as a barricade—she can't keep up for long. The tight cage is a restriction, and with the way the demons are moving, the students will stand no chance. These may be lower leveled demons, but they are certainly fast and aggressive.

And when Kestrel's realistic machine gun begins to run out of spray range when the demons take each side, Lena realizes this is doomed from the start—a punishment intended indeed. They were going to put a defenseless student against six fast beasts—Lucifer who's badly injured with suppressors on. It is slaughter. Adding the three students isn't any much help, however Kestrel is trying to stall, because it only gives less room for them to put up a fight. They can't fight and defend at the same time since the demons are too quick for their abilities; Kestrel is struggling to protect the students behind her. The reason she's been quick to attack was because the demons were all on one side of the box, but now that they are scattered—with her only being able to take out two and injure one—it's difficult to fight without the risk of harming her friends. It is also becoming apparent that the other two is as good as dead weight like the battered up Lucifer, having no physical abilities to help Kestrel.

But Kestrel holds up for as long as she can, being the only one who can do anything to keep from getting all of them devoured entirely. The injured demon regains its footing and pounces with a renewed force and newfound aggression, crossing the invisible line Kestrel was guarding. She is pushed back, but her machine gun transforms into a long spear that cuts into the creature and grazes another one leaping forward, the long weapon stuck from one end to the other. Dark blood splatters across the glass walls just as a demon pounces above her, and Kestrel has no time to swap weapons—

One of the fretting boys snap out of his stupor at the proximate danger, but he doesn't seem to have any ability to help. Instead, he pulls Kestrel harshly out of the way before the demon snaps at her, just in time for her to shift her box into a shotgun and fire at the nearest demon.