The father-daughter superhero duo of REDEMPTOR find little peace following their defeat of the wicked wizard, General Gorchen. Little do they know that the prison city they left behind has descended into civil chaos. And it's about to get worse. Onl...
"My sister." Scythia grabbed Gorchen, her snarling face reflected in distorted fragments back at her in the inward-smashed golden helm of her lord. "Now you give me back my sister."
The fallen wizard groaned. A gurgling hiss issued weakly from his throat. Smoke trailed from his quivering mouth. The whole jade pyramid chamber stank of burned lizard and sulfur.
Scythia shook him again. "My sister."
Gorchen's left hand trembled. Shakily he raised his finger to point behind her, back to the open doorway. Then Scythia heard the footsteps. And swooshing of long capes.
"Remember, we do it fast," came a man's voice from down the hall. "Before he can rally any demons to his defense. If he still even can."
"One stab each," came another man's voice. "No one be greedy."
"First time for us lot, that would be," laughed another man. Their voices grew nearer with each step, each sento.
Scythia looked back to Gorchen's semi-imploded golden head. Through the hole in his helm, his mouth-was that a grimace, or a smile?
Scythia looked back to the doorway. In the hall beyond, shadows of men in long capes were lengthening on the wall. In each man's hand, a knife held before him.
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She yanked Gorchen down off his throne. He fell in a lump on his side, no strength in him. Over his wretched frame she leaned so close that she could whisper into his wretched mouth. "It's what you deserve, you know. All the pain you've caused so many." The concealer had rubbed off from her cheeks, where showed the heart-shaped scars he had given her. And that was just yesterday.
But her decision was made. A tactical necessity, nothing more. She pressed a button on her uSee visor. "Designate: Salve. Emergency Protocol. Secure: Capstone Chamber."
At that, the jade door to the hallway zoomed shut. The Guild leaders with their indignant fists banged at the jade, their shadowy figures out there. Some stabbed at the jade with their knives. Such an irritating skitchering.
Now dragging Gorchen's groaning, smoking body down the steps, Scythia looked to her subordinate Sirens positioned at the foot of the throne. "We move out. Protect the General."
A look passed between the three Sirens, who then looked back to the portal and the Guild leaders just beyond it. Just as the Sirens were raising their blasters on their Sheriffa, Scythia had already fired three shots and the three Sirens fell. Her ruthlessness-faster than their treachery.
"Not inspiring much loyalty these days, are we, sir?" Scythia said, dragging him. She pressed another button on her visor. A steady beeping began.
Piercing flash of light. Scythia looked again to the hall. They were blasting it. Where had those snobs gotten a plasma-launcher so fast? Didn't matter. Scythia figured the door could withstand five direct shots, maybe less. Gorchen had always been too proud to dedicate much attention to security, considering his black boggi magicks had always been his primary defense. Those-and the fear that cursed legion instilled in all others. Where were his boggis now? Scythia clenched her teeth, dragging him across the floor toward the balcony, one beru at a lunge.
At the balcony of the pyramid, out under clear blue-violet sky now, Rozy Mandias floated down on her aerocycle. "Sheriffa. What's going down?"
Another tremendous blast at the door. The jade portal cracked down the center.
"Oh," Rozy sighed in recognition. "The government."
Scythia directed, "We need to get him out of here."
"Do 'we?' You ask me, a revolution sounds like fun."
"Rozy," Scythia said. It was the first time the Sheriffa had ever addressed her lieutenant by her first name. "He has my sister. If they kill him, I'll never get her back. Please. Help me."
