Sentience

Breaking Point

Krystal floated in toward the cabin with her 9-foot tall bear bodyguard. They travelled in plain sight, so that everyone could see them - A brazen display of her power.

"Lila," Jayden called out.

She nodded, "I see them."

"Judging by Krystal's blatant show of herself and her subject," He leaned his head towards Lila, eyes locked on the window, "She wishes for us to look in her direction."

"And this is a distraction," Lila completed the rest of the sentence.

"Yes," Jayden replied, still undisturbed despite all of the potentially traumatizing circumstances they've experienced.

Lila walked around the house, peering through windows.

CRASH

Something fell near the back of the house.

"There's our ulterior motive," Lila confirmed.

The two walked out the back door of the cabin near where they heard the sound.

"Okay," Arik said, picking Lorelei up in his arms, "I'm going to take you somewhere... Kind of safe."

She nodded.

"Where's Hugo?" She asked in a hushed voice.

Jayden looked around at the horizon, "I do not know."

He realized something... He was looking in all directions except down, so he looked down at the ground, and noticed something...

"Correction," Jayden said, nodding diagonally right "He went that way."

Lila didn't know how he figured that out, but she went in the direction he indicated.

Jayden caught up with Lila. The two practically walked back-to-back, so that nobody could deactivate them. They scanned the trees and the bushes in the forest for any movement. There was a boulder next to a birch tree, where the top of someone's head with fluffy brown hair on it was just barely visible.

Hugo's head popped up from behind the large rock, looking back at them. He indicated for them to be quiet whilst waving them over.

The two crouched, skulking over to where Hugo was. They kneeled on the ground next to him.

Hugo pointed over to a weeping willow.

At first, they were confused. But then the wind blew, revealing another bear model trying to hide in the tree's green locks. He appeared to be waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

"What do you want?" Sukoyaka demanded.

Krystal replied, gesturing outwardly with her four arms, "A mere compromise."

"And how would this 'compromise' benefit us?" Sukoyaka asked.

"You see," She said, indicating to herself, "You've captured Hugo, one of our own. It seemed only fair that I captured one of yours."

His eyes widened, "Diesel."

"Oh, don't worry about your little friend," She continued, "We haven't hurt her... Yet," She then said flatly, "So if you ever want to see her alive again, you will give our leader back to us. Immediately."

Sukoyaka stood his ground, "How do I know that you're not lying to me?"

Krystal snapped her fingers. Marion handed her Diesel's pilot's cap and goggles.

"Because I have these," She went up to Sukoyaka, and handed it to him.

He hesitantly accepted the headgear. He reached his hand out. Krystal grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly as she drained the power from his body. A light activated behind her eyeball, backlighting her black, glossy eyes in an eerie green color. He slowly toppled to the ground.