B.L.A.Q

Chapter 8

Qin and Bai rushed around to the back of the camp as silently as they could. It was easier for Qin, since she was smaller. Being half lion, Bai could be stealthy when he wanted to be but it was never his expertise. Luckily he could see in the dark, so he could step over the loudest branches and twigs on the ground. As they snuck around the back he stopped, "Len," he whispered, "Can you hear me?" A few seconds later Len's voice came back "Loud and clear Cap. I can see you too. You're almost to the tent. Just a few more yards and you'll be on the left side of the tent. The guards are still there so be careful." Bai responded, "Gotcha. Keep us posted." They continued walking and sure enough they saw the same small tent. The guards were still out front, which made Bai realize that of all the activity they had seen that day, these were the only two who hadn't moved from their post. Even while the other bandits were eating, their food was brought to them and they had eaten quickly so as not to be distracted. He knew from experience that that had to be due to serious discipline. It also furthered his suspicion that this was indeed where Hina was being kept. Qin tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to look at her. She motioned to the back of the tent and he followed behind. She pointed to the cloth and made a slicing motion down the middle. He took out his blade and silently cut a small slit in the middle just big enough for him to look through. What he saw inside did not make him happy. The room was filled with money, jewels, and other valuable objects. He looked back at Qin, shook his head at her. At that moment they heard Ace's voice in their ear, "Cap, I found her. You're not gonna like it though." Bai dropped his head and sighed, "Let me guess, the big guys tent?" Ace took a few seconds then responded, "Yeah, how did you know?" Bai cursed silently to himself before saying "Because this is the damn treasure tent. We've been watching the wrong tent. That's why these guards haven't moved all day." Len's voice was next, "Leave it to bandits to care more about treasure than prisoner escapes." Bai thought for a second then looked at Qin with an apologetic look before getting back on the comms, "Ace" he sighed, "Are you sure it's her? How do you know?" Ace came back with mellow tone "Because bandits don't hang out with girls this pretty, and they definitely don't treat them like their treating her." Bai rushed to answer "Where is she?" Ace said "They must have let her stretch her legs for good behavior, but she's back in the tent now with the leader." There was silence for a bit then Len's voice, "Cap. How you want to do this?" Bai rubbed his eyes in agitation and Qin answered for him "We're going with Plan B guys. Everyone get ready. Ace you're up first. Make it a good one." Ace answered excitedly "Roger that. Wait for my signal." Then he was gone. About a minute later there was a huge commotion on the other side of the camp. The bandits began scrambling and yelling and rushing towards the problem. Bai wondered what Ace had done and contacted Len. "Len, what the hell did he do? Everyone's going crazy. What kind of distraction did he cause?" Len's voice came back exasperated, "He didn't just cause a distraction Bai. He IS the distraction." Bai sat there for a second shocked, "What the hell does that mean?" Behind him he heard Qin let out a small gasp.

"Roger that. Wait for my signal." said Ace before he got up from the bushes he was laying in. If he was gonna do a distraction, he was gonna make it a good one. He walked directly towards the camp. He had to say he was a bit disappointed that there was only one guard at the front gate. Not many people would probably just walk into a bandit camp unannounced. The guard stopped for a second in shock that he was just walking past him. Before he could even react, Ace turned to him and looked him up and down and simply said, "Too small" before grabbing the spear and yanking the guard towards him. He turned him around and choked him out. He slung the unconscious man over his shoulder and continued into the camp. He looked around for the biggest group of people and threw the man's body at them. They stopped mid-chatter and looked from the unconscious body to Ace completely baffled. One of them stepped forward and exclaimed "What the-" was all he could get out before Ace reeled back and punched him square in the face. He dropped limp to the ground. The others simply looked at him and he pounded his fists together "Well come on then. Let's get to it." The bandits began shouting and charged him. Ace smiled "No weapons? You'll regret that." and began walking towards them. He dodged a punch and grabbed the man's arm, twisted it behind him and snapped it at the elbow. The man yelped in pain and Ace kicked him into two other bandits and they fell to the ground. Three more ran at him and he kicked a nearby stool at the one closest to him. He tripped over it and crashed into the ground. He grabbed the next one by the throat and kicked the other one in the stomach. The man doubled over in pain and he brought his elbow down on top of his head, sending him to the ground unconscious. The man whose throat he had tried to bend Ace's arm at the elbow to get out of the hold only for Ace to tighten his grip. He lifted the bandit up with one hand and slammed him backwards into the ground. Another bandit ran at him, this time with a sword, and swung at him, only for Ace to block the blow with one of his gauntlets. "Gotta do better than that," said Ace as the man swung again. Ace ducked beneath the sword and hit the man in the chin with an uppercut, sending him flying into the air. He heard a yell and turned to see two men flying at him with daggers raised. Ace threw his arms up to deflect the blows. Suddenly they both yelped in pain and dropped to the ground face first. Ace looked to see an arrow in each of their backs and then he heard Len's voice in his ear "I got you covered". "Thanks boo" Ace smiled and said before turning back to his battle. Walking toward him was the man he had seen earlier with the giant club. Ace grinned and knocked out the last bandit in his reach so that he could focus fully on the big man. "Len," he said into his communicator, "Don't interfere with this one." Len sighed in his ear "If you say so." Ace looked the man up and down as he stopped in front of him. The two looked at each other and the man finally spoke, "Who the hell are you?" Ace put his hands together in front of him and smirked while faking a bow "I'm just a simple challenger. The names Ace. You?" The man grinned evilly at Ace "They call me Mr. Blue. I'm going to make you regret coming here." and pulled his giant club from his back. Ace straightened up and extended the claws on his gauntlets, "I hope you're tougher than your friends here." He said and the two charged each other.