“There’s three of them now?” Cal said staring at the other colored pillars.
“Sure are,” Sarah looked at her wrist and groaned. “Damn foxes.”
“Foxes?” Seth repeated folding his arm. “They had pets running around?”
“I wish it were that easy. I could just lob an axe in em and they’d be dead,” Sarah said harshly. “They weren’t normal. Like they were made of the same stuff our armor is.”
“You mean they were using them like weapons?” Cal asked and she nodded. “Since when can we do that?”
“Since now I guess,” Marco sighed. “So we got the guy who punches things and looks like us. We got a guy with wings and razor feathers and another one with pet foxes. Did I miss anything?”
“Nope. Sounds about right,” Jack looked toward Ley in the middle of them. “This is your twin’s doing right?”
“I fear that is the case,” Ley replied. “I did not think that he would have moved this quickly. But here they are. These dark knights as you call them. Have your injuries been healing well?”
“I’m here now aren’t I?” Kathryn said fighting to keep the anger out of her voice. “So yeah I’d say that I’m healing just fine.”
Ley stared and regarded her calmly before dipping their head slowly, “Your frustration is noted and understood. I wish that I had foresaw my sibling’s behavior before now. Your injury could have been prevented.”
Kathryn stared at the alien being and felt that some part of them was at least attempting to be sincere with her. It was more than a species difference. Ley was a being that was far beyond her understanding. The closest she could imagine to what a God might be. And yet they were here apologizing to her. “Yeah well, how do we take these guys down?”
“They’re definitely stronger than us. By several large margins.” Marco folded his arms. “Even my purple shots weren’t doing anything against that guys wings.”
“Called himself Hawk,” Sarah said folding her arms. “At least their partner called them that. And they got called Vixen.”
“So Hawk, Vixen and punchy mc punch face,” Kathryn waved her hand. “Are there going to be any more than just these three or can we work with just them moving forward?”
“I wish we could know for sure,” Marco looked over at Ley. “Do you know? You could sense us, let us be able to sense one another and the Taq-Law. What about them?”
“Unfortunately, I cannot,” Ley lowered their head. “The attributes that my twin used to empower the three them are repelling me. Similarly, to how they and by extension my twin cannot sense you six, I cannot sense them. Until you activate your powers. Once that occurs you will all light up like beacons to one another.”
“So assuming it’s just those three what do they do?” Cal asked. “From what Kat said the one she ran into just punches things but doesn’t do anything crazier than that.”
Kat nodded, “Yeah they were like a boxer or something. Each punch hurt like a bitch,” she winced thinking about it but held up her hand. “Wait. They had like an orange glow thing that they did. It was like they moved through some of my attacks.”
“What like an after image?” Jack asked.
She shook her head, “I don’t know. Maybe they were just fast.”
“What about the other two?” Seth asked. “What did they actually do?”
“Hawks had wings that were like extensions of their armor,” Jack said holding his hand out. “I hit them with my scythe and that things pretty damn efficient at cutting things but their wings just tanked the hit and kept going. Hell a few times I thought the staff could break.”
“Not to mention those feather blade things,” Marco rubbed his shoulder. “Those things hurt.”
“The Vixen one just had two foxes that were aggressive and breathing fire. Pains in the asses,” Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know if they’re like alive or just extensions of them. I hit one with my axe and it just bounced back coming at me even harder.”
“They breathe fire?” Cal repeated.
“Yeah. Hot fire. It’s bull shit.”
“Okay. So we know what the hell they all do. But it doesn’t solve the problem for us all,” Seth said frankly. “They’re stronger than all of us. What do we do about that?”
“You are forgetting a fundamental truth about you six,” Ley said and they seemed to chuckle as they said this. “Your powers are not simply gifts for you individually. They are pieces of a greater hole. When working together, when simply near one another you are far stronger than you can possibly imagine.”
“Ley’s right. We couldn’t have stopped the Taq-Law last year on our own. It took all six of us to do it,” Jack smirked. “And a really big gun.”
“In some not so subtle words yes,” Marco smiled. “The next time these guys show their faces we’re going to handle them together. All six of us and we won’t lose.”
“So what’s the plan for that then? Do we want to try and hunt them down or look for them?” Kathryn waved her hand letting the question hang in the air. “What do you think leader?”
“I think we should recover fully and get together for real. Lay eyes on each other for real. And then we wait. Not worth it for us to looking for trouble right now. If they’re anything like how they’ve acted they’ll try and find us pretty soon anyway.”
“Works for me,” Kathryn said. “I need to get some more real sleep.”
“You and me both,” Sarah added. “Meeting adjourned?”
Marco nodded, “Get some rest, try and meet up tomorrow or at least soon and then we get ready for the next time they show their faces.”
The Harlequin Library 