Perspectives

Chapter 54

Everything had seemed to slow down the moment he saw Rothgard tightening his fist around Piper to a deadly degree. A desperate yell urging the man to stop had shot out of Kalen as he began advancing forwards. 

Kalen hadn't noticed Rothgard's free hand reaching into his jacket, his attention entirely stolen by Piper. She looked smaller and more fragile than he had ever seen her before. Pain wracked her face and Kalen could just make out the tiny pinpricks of tears in the corners of her eyes.

A storm of panic and fear roiled inside Kalen.  He had no idea how he could possibly wrench Piper free from Rothgard's murderous hands without hurting her further. Any move he made could have dire consequences for the vulnerable human; however, he knew that if he did nothing, he would end up watching Piper die. 

He had been just about to lunge forward after Rothgard when Kalen saw Piper sink her teeth into the flesh of the hand trapping her. A snarl of pain erupted from Rothgard as his hand reflexively recoiled from the source of the injury. With nothing left to support it, Piper's body began plummeting downwards. 

Kalen surged forwards, throwing his hands out beneath Piper's swiftly descending figure. A millisecond before she hit his palms, Kalen remembered the last time he'd caught her. Piper had been knocked out by the impact due to his failure to move his hand down to ease her momentum.

As Kalen felt the infinitesimal weight drop into his cupped hands, he moved his arms down to slow the descent. At least he had managed to do one thing right. 

A sharp gasp burst out of Piper, and every part of Kalen was urging him to check on her to make sure she was alright. Unfortunately they weren't in the clear yet. Kalen hurriedly shifted Piper into one hand and curled his fingers over her form, gently but firmly forcing her body into a fetal position so that she would be entirely guarded by his hand. 

Turning his full attention to Rothgard, Kalen finally saw the gun gripped in the man's left hand. A look that held murderous intent was set into Rothgard's face like stone. A glance down revealed that a small spot of blood had appeared on the hand previously holding Piper. Seeming to have recovered from the shock of what had just happened, Rothgard began to raise the gun up. 

While keeping the hand holding Piper as far away as possible, Kalen used his free hand to seize the wrist of Rothgard's gun-toting arm. Using as much strength as he could muster, Kalen struggled to force the arm away. A sharp zapping sound exploded from the gun as a flash of light shot from the barrel, whizzing a couple inches past Kalen's left shoulder. 

Vaguely, Kalen realized that tiny fists were punching at the inside of his curled hand accompanied by barely audible yelling. However he didn't have more than an instant to consider it before Rothgard had fired off another shot. It thankfully missed its intended mark as the last had, but Kalen was sure this one had been closer.

Eyes flicking around the room, Kalen searched for something in the environment that could possibly help. In his search, he realized that during their struggling, he and Rothgard had gotten much closer to the wall. 

Seeing his opportunity, Kalen threw all of his strength against Rothgard's arm. The man let out a grunt of pain as his hand smacked hard against the wall. The gun then clattered to the floor. "You filthy--" Rothgard's hissed insult remained unfinished as he was interrupted by the sound of someone sharply clearing their throat. 

Kalen whipped around to see none other than the Commander of the Pervicacious standing in the doorway, along with Zale and several other faces Kalen recognized from his short time in their hideout. "I believe we can take it from here, Kalen Stenton." Commander Dawcett said, the rifle in her hands aimed directly at Rothgard's chest.  

There was a short moment of hesitation before Kalen stepped aside. The squirming in his hand had finally stilled, and Kalen could imagine Piper intently listening from inside. Fighting the desire to keep her under the stifling protection his folded hand provided, Kalen made his way to the opposite side of the room before slowly unfurling his fingers. She appeared in his palm, slightly disheveled and a little pissed off, but intact. Some of the color had returned to her face, but the way she held herself suggested she was still in pain. 

"You vile vermin dare to come into my home!" Rothgard spat as Dawcett and the others slowly advanced towards him. 

"The only vermin I see is you, my lord." Zale sneered, his own gun pointed at Rothgard's head. 

Rothgard's face was twisted by rage as he stared with hate at the Pervicacious. "You are traitors to this world, destroyers of civilization!" 

Commander Dawcett's expression remained calm as she looked across at the near belligerent man. She lifted a single dark eyebrow. "Are you quite finished?" 

A stream of insults and declarations of revenge poured from Rothgard's mouth. Dawcett gave him an unimpressed look before lowering her rifle to her side. With her now free hand she pointed at Rothgard with two fingers, an action that must have been a signal as the Pervicacious behind her instantly moved forward. Zale stayed back with his gun trained on Rothgard while the others took hold of him. 

"Unhand me!" Rothgard bellowed, struggling uselessly against the three people as they forced his arms behind his back and snapped a pair of magnetic cuffs around his wrists. 

"Lord Reid Rothgard, you are being taken into custody on behalf of the people of Amasis." Dawcett stated coolly. 

"You have no right to--" Rothgard was cut off by the silencing chip that had just been placed on his throat by one of the Pervicacious. His mouth continued to open and close uselessly as he attempted to speak. 

Kalen and Piper watched on from the sidelines as Rothgard was dragged out of the room, leaving only Commander Dawcett left. "It seems we both got what we wanted out of this arrangement." She stated as her eyes landed on Piper. There was no malice or ill-intent in her gaze, and while Kalen was sure she had been indifferent towards Piper's well being, she seemed pleased that they would both be leaving the situation on good terms. "I thank you for your assistance, Kalen Stenton." Dawcett told him smoothly.

After staring dumbly for a moment, Kalen finally managed to convince his mouth to form words. "I--uh you too." He stammered awkwardly. 

A thin smile pulled at the Commander's lips. She gave Piper one last look before turning around and following after her comrades. 

There were several moments where Kalen just stood there in a state of shock and disbelief of the events that had just taken place. He was only jerked out of his daze by the feeling of Piper re-positioning herself in his palm. Kalen looked down to see her clutching at her ribs, a grimace of pain on her face. 

As slowly as he could manage in his state of concern, Kalen lifted his hand up in front of his face, leaving Piper only a few inches away from the tip of his nose. "You're hurt." He murmured, his breath lightly tousling the strands of hair that had come loose from her braid. 

"I--It's my ribs." She told him tightly, wincing as she spoke. 

Kalen nodded. It wasn't surprising that some of her ribs would have cracked under the intense strain they'd gone under while in Rothgard's grip. A surge of anger flared in Kalen. He was starting to wish he'd done more than just hurt the bastard's hand. 

"Alright. Okay. Don't worry, we'll get you taken care of." He assured Piper, his voice softer than it'd ever been. 

Piper gave a weak nod, likely remaining silent to avoid the pain speaking seemed to cause. After getting countless barbs and sharp retorts thrown at him from the human, seeing her so quiet just felt...wrong. 

Keeping his hand as steady as possible, Kalen slowly moved Piper downwards, pressing his hand against the center of his chest to provide a barrier for Piper on one side. He then curled his fingers slightly to block off another potential falling-off spot. 

It was only then that Kalen realized that this was the first time he'd held Piper since...well since he'd dropped her in that park. The contrast between the two instances was stark. 

"Just hang on." Kalen told her in a whisper. Piper didn't voice a response, but he could imagine the small pat on the crease of his palm to be her way of saying "get on with it then".