Figure 1: Hand over Mason Heartson.
The two boys stared in horror as the masked assailants stood over them with their hands out. There were three armored men in total, each one being at least six foot or more. The one who had asked the question had two swords strapped to his back, while the other two had an assortment of knives, rifles, and sharp objects on and around their bodies.
Figure 1: I’m going to ask one more time. Hand over Mason Heartson.
Mason: I think you might have the wrong house ma-
Figure 1: Don’t play games with us!
The first man quickly drew the sword strapped to his back and advanced towards the boys who were still paralyzed on the ground. He got within five feet of the boys but before he could take another step forward he halted and looked down, noticing the sword that had pierced through his own chest.
Clair gritted her teeth as she pulled the sword out of the first man and quickly swung it around to cut off his head cleanly. The other two men seemed to have been momentarily stunned by shock, but they quickly recovered and pulled out their own weapons, hurriedly advancing to avenge their comrade.
Clair made quick work, sidestepping the second man's knife and using her sword to cut into his right arm causing him to drop his weapon. Before she could deliver a killing blow to him, the third man charged at her but Clair was much faster, moving out of the way of his attack and driving her sword up his back causing him to fall to the ground. The man with the injured arm attempted to recover and picked up his knife with his left hand, however it was clear he was nowhere as proficient with that hand as his swings became lazy and predictable. Clair dodged his attacks with minimals effort and drove her sword straight through his neck, killing him instantly.
Mason: What the hell, that was seriously amazing. Why have you never shown me those moves before?
Mason looked at his maid completely awestruck as she wiped the blood off her sword. Clair, however, looked down at the dead bodies in disgust, turning not towards Mason, but towards Thomas.
Clair: Those “moves” are not the type of things that are used on a friend. Those are the types of moves you use when you want someone to never get up again.
Thomas: But did you-
Thomas looked down at the bodies of the men, eyes wide open. He understood that they had just attacked him, and he understood that, had Clair not shown up, they most likely would have tortured and killed them in a far worse manor than what Clair had done to them. But somehow, staring at the lifeless bodies, it seemed wrong.
Thomas: Did you really have to kill all of them? Surely after you stabbed them once they wouldn’t have gotten up again. We could have at least interrogated them to-
Before Thomas could finish his sentence, Clair sprinted towards him at full speed, pinning him against the wall and holding the tip of her sword to his neck.
Clair: Who the hell actually are you? Answer me honestly or I swear I’ll shove this sword straight into your tiny neck kid. Did you send these men to our house?
Thomas frantically shook his head left and right, not daring to breathe with the sword pressed against his throat.
Clair: Do you know who these men are or why they’re here?
Thomas once again shook his head, looking directly into Clair’s eyes to try to convince her he was telling the truth.
Clair: Are you really Thomas Martin, and was your sole purpose in coming to this city to actually help Mason Heartson?
Thomas nodded up and down, his eyes beginning to water as he began losing more and more oxygen.
Finally Clair seemed satisfied and released Thomas who fell onto his hands and knees gasping for air. She then turned towards Mason and helped him to his feet.
Clair: Your online message must have been intercepted. Chances are, the people who are behind this attack are the same people who are responsible for the deaths of the other individuals.
Mason: I, I swear I didn’t-
Clair: Save it. We don’t have time to stand around and chatter. We’ll move to the safe room and make a plan from there.
Mason nodded, his throat once again becoming dry. He was hit with an overwhelming amount of guilt and shame as he realized that his own stupidity had almost led to his death, as well as the death of a complete stranger. He rushed to follow Clair, who was already running to the safe room, but he noticed, strangely, Thomas, who was still staring at the bodies that were on the floor while clawing at the spot on his neck that had been choked moments earlier. Thomas bent down and picked something up off the floor and then sprinted towards Mason and Clair, attempting to catch up to the two of them.
Explosions and smoke rang out through the entire building, leaving a foul smell in the group's nose. Despite the smoke that limited their vision, Clair still marched forward as if she had a perfect view of the room. Finally, after what seemed like a marathon of sprinting, they finally arrived outside the room where the smoke seemed to clear up. Unfortunately this allowed them to see the nightmare in front of them.
At least twenty men stood in front of the safe room, each one carrying a rifle that was aimed right at them. All of them were equipped with armor and an assortment of weapons like the men from earlier.
Armored Man: Surrender Mason Heartson to us now and we’ll spare your lives.
Clair: Would you really?
The man who had spoken paused for a second considering the question before answering.
Armored Man: No.
Clair: Didn’t think so.
In a single fluid motion Clair took Mason and Thomas by the back of their shirts and pulled them into the thick cloud of smoke behind them, shielding them from the view of their attackers.
The men instantly began firing blindly through the smoke until a loud voice rang out.
Voice: WE HAVE CLEAR ORDERS! DO NOT SHOOT THE ASTRAL USER!
The gun fire stopped as abruptly as it had begun which gave Mason, Clair, and Thomas time to escape through the corridor.
Clair: They’ve completely taken over downstairs so we can’t go back there. They were guarding the safe room so chances are they have the layout, or some kind of blueprint to the mansion so I’d assume every room and escape is being heavily guarded.
Without saying anything the two boys understood what she was saying. If the attackers had info on the layout of the mansion there was no way to escape the mansion and there was nowhere they could hide.
Mason began to freak out, once again wondering if this truly was the end of his life. As strong as Clair was, there were simply too many attackers for them all to fight at once, and Mason recounted how he had acted when he had gotten cornered earlier. He had frozen up, completely forgetting all the training he had been through. If there was no way out of the mansion, and Mason couldn’t defeat his attackers, there was truly nothing that he could do.
The Roof
A voice in Mason’s head spoke as if it wasn’t his own, and instantly Mason remembered an important secret about his house.
Mason: Clair, I have an idea.
Clair: This isn’t the time M-
Mason: Just listen to me Clair. Like you said earlier, whoevers attacking us probably has some kind of layout of the whole mansion right. That means that every exit is most likely being guarded right now. Well that doesn’t take into account any man made exits that might exist in this mansion, as those wouldn’t be on the blueprints right?
Clair: What are you saying?
Mason: Do you remember when I was fifteen and I got in trouble for sneaking out of the house late at night to go see a movie?
Clair: You get in trouble a lot Mason, and I fail to see how this is relevant.
Mason: I’m getting there, I’m getting there. After I was caught out of my bedroom, you and mom spent a lot of time on the surveillance footage, trying to find out how I had snuck out of the house, but you guys could never figure it out right.
Clair’s eyes lit up at once, and Mason could tell she was starting to understand what he was saying.
Clair: You don’t mean.
Mason: Near the bathroom there’s a blindspot where we won’t be seen by any of the cameras. Fifteen year old me was a bit rebellious so I may or may not have “borrowed” a few tools from the garage and carved a whole through the ceiling. If this hypothetical hole does exist, hypothetically of course, we could escape through it to the roof, and we wouldn’t be seen from any cameras, assuming that our attackers also have access to the surveillance room, and there would be no one guarding it, because as far as they’re concerned, it doesn’t exist.
Clair: It seems like that’s our only option. Stay behind me and don’t make a sound until we get to the roof.
Mason nodded but he glanced over at Thomas who was still lagging behind the other two. It was hard to see through the smoke, but he could tell Thomas had a very serious look on his face, as if he was still shaken up about what had happened earlier.
The group ran through the smoke for what seemed like forever until Mason could finally tell that they were getting close to the bathroom. Mason was about to pick up the pace to get to the exit, but Clair put har hand in front of him, signaling him to stop.
Clair: There’s enemies in front of us, at least ten, all armed.
Mason: How can you tell?
Clair: I can hear them breathing. Chances are they're guarding the bathroom because it's one of the only blind spots in the mansion, however, there’s also a chance that they’ve already found the hole.
Mason was creeped out but quickly regained his focus.
Mason: What do we do?
Clair: We have very few options right now. Judging from my previous encounter, they all have pretty basic training, however, there’s power in numbers. If we were to engage in a full on surprise attack, there’s a very small chance we’ll all survive. We can’t turn around because our enemies are currently chasing us through the smoke and if they have found the hole, chances are reinforcements are on their way.
Mason: So-
Clair: I have a plan, however you're not going to like it.
Clair turned towards Thomas and smiled.
Clair: How good are you at running, kid?
Mason: That’s it, I can’t take it anymore!
Mason ran out of the smoke, finally having enough of it. All of the danger, all of the struggle, it had finally gotten to his head. Mason put his hands out in front of him, as the attackers raised their guns, and he dropped to his knees.
Mason: I surrender. You guys can do whatever you want to me. I don't care, just please don’t kill me.
A man with swords quickly walked up to Mason and pinned him to the ground, checking his pockets to make sure he didn’t have any weapons. The others stayed behind him, all focusing their guns at Mason, not daring to break eye contact.
After the man made sure Mason was harmless, he loosened his grip and raised his right arm up to his face, pressing a few buttons on the sleeve of his armor.
Armored Man: Attention, we have the death astral in the lower left wing, I repeat, we have captured the-
Before the man could say another word, he was interrupted by a loud scream that came from behind him. Turning around he saw two of his soldiers, covered in blood with multiple cuts on their bodies and a long haired woman standing above them with a sinister grin plastered on her face, waving her blood covered hand.
Clair: Yo.
The other men all turned around, focusing their guns on Clair instead of Mason, which finally gave Thomas his signal.
Thomas dashed through the smoke with blinding speed, slamming into the man who had pinned Mason down, and helping Mason to his feet.
The soldiers became indecisive, unsure if they should focus on taking care of Clair, or retrieving Mason.
Clair helped them make up their decision as she reached into the belt of one of the soldiers she had taken out, and pulled out a number of smoke grenades, firing them all over the place. The smoke covered the entire hallway, and chaos quickly ensued.
Gun fire rang out but none of the soldiers could seem to hit their mark. Mason and Thomas attempted to run past the soldiers to meet with Clair but Mason’s leg was caught by a soldier who had fallen to the floor.
Clair cut through two more soldiers as if the smoke didn’t affect her vision at all but she became worried when she couldn’t find Thomas or Mason. She decided to abandon caution and ran back to where they were attempting to save them, but she was grabbed by strong hands and slammed against the wall.
Mason fought desperately to take the hands off his ankle but whoever had grabbed him had a strong grip. Mason heard more footsteps coming towards him through the smoke and he fought harder to get the hands off him. Suddenly, there was a sharp sound through the air, and the grip on his ankle slackened.
Thomas: Sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.
Mason struggled to see through the smoke but noticed what seemed to be a sword in Thomas’ hand. Looking down, he saw the severed hand of his attacker laying near his foot. Nausea spread through his body but he recovered quickly, focusing on escaping.
Mason and Thomas ran forward, attempting to find Clair and finally, as the smoke began to clear up, they found her.
Clair was kicking with all her strength but there was nothing she could do. Three people had cornered her and she couldn’t fight them all at once. She was hit with a barrage of punches and kicks, but she refused to fall unconscious and fought through the pain, looking for an opening that never came. She had dropped her sword a long time ago, and was defending herself with nothing but her fists.
A larger man pinned her against the wall and lifted her up with one hand, choking her, while turning towards Mason and Thomas.
Large man: Surrender, and we’ll spare you and the girl. Any second now, reinforcements will arrive and you will be cornered. We have every exit covered and every window battered. It is unwise for you to continue fighting.
Mason looked forward, genuinely unsure what he should do. If he tried to rescue Clair, they would simply kill her. If he surrendered, there was no telling what they would do, but maybe they would let her go.
As Mason was about to make his decision, the voice in his head spoke up again.
You can’t leave her. It’s your duty to save her.
He cursed the voice because he knew it was right. He stared right into Clair’s eyes and saw, maybe for the first time, her true emotions. It was as if she was saying, “help me.” At that moment, Mason realized something. The flames that had appeared on him that night hadn’t been his purpose. His purpose was to use those flames to help people. All his life, he had done nothing. Now he had something, he had power. He was going to use that power to stop the enemies in front of him, not because he wanted to, but because it was his duty, his purpose. He turned towards Thomas.
Mason: Stay behind me.
Mason raised his hands and closed his eyes. He didn’t understand what he was doing, but he let his body take over his actions, completely shutting off his brain. He opened his eyes, which were now a deep shade of obsidian, and at once, he felt a horrible burning sensation in his legs, as black flames sparked. He kicked off with his legs on fire, and launched with inhuman speed at Clair’s attackers, flames now appearing on his hands. With all the force and energy he could muster, he slammed his fist into the man who was choking Clair, and the man cumbled to the ground, completely unconscious.
Mason fell to the ground, completely unsure of what had just happened, and cradled his arm which was in extreme pain. The flame extinguished just as fast as it had appeared.
Clair helped Mason to his feet, but before she could ask any questions, the other two attackers came forward, each one holding two swords. Mason didn’t have enough strength or energy left to defend himself, and braced himself for impact, but the sword strikes never came.
Thomas quickly put himself in between Mason and the attackers, holding the sword he had taken in front of him, and parrying the attack. Thomas gracefully dodged a sword swing from the second attacker and rolled out of the way of the first attacker, stabbing at his ankles in the same motion. Getting back on his feet, he ducked under another swing from the second attacker and cut a clean gash through his back, making sure not to hit any vital spots. The first attacker got back to his feet, attempting to stab Thomas again, but Thomas jumped quickly and masterfully kicked the man in the face, rendering him unconscious.
Mason: What the hell was that!
Thomas: I could ask you the same thing.
Mason: I thought you said you were a detective, not some kind of teenage ninja. Where did you learn that from?
Thomas looked away from Mason and stared at Clair who was looking back at him with both amazement and curiosity. Thomas’s face grew grim as he turned and looked down to the ground.
Thomas: My father.
Mason could tell just from Thomas’s tone that he should drop the subject immediately, so he instead focused on the plan.
Mason: The bathroom should be just up ahead. I’ll need you guys to buy me some time while I open the entrance to the roof.
Clair rubbed at her neck and wiped some blood from her nose and mouth.
Clair: There’s still two attackers in the smoke, although one is injured. I hear at least ten or so men approaching us. We have maybe thirty seconds until they reach us.
Mason: So in other words, I have thirty seconds.
Clair nodded and picked up her sword from the ground.
Thomas and Clair stood outside the bathroom waiting for Mason to give the signal that he had opened up the entrance. Thomas looked over at Clair and noticed worry lines growing on her face.
Thomas: What’s wrong?
Clair: They’re faster than I thought.
Before Thomas could ask what she meant, he heard the footsteps through the smoke and saw a group of armored soldiers with swords appear in front of them.
Thomas and Clair raised their swords and engaged in combat with the men in front of them. Clair slashed at many men at once, with Thomas backing her up, taking out men who attempted to attack her blind spots.
The two made a great team, taking out more and more enemies, however, more and more men kept coming through the smoke.
Clair stabbed at a man who had gotten dangerously close, and attempted to decapitate him with her sword before he could recover, however, Thomas blocked her swing with his own sword.
Clair: What the hell are you doing?
Thomas looked up at her, a stormy look in his eyes.
Thomas: No killing.
Clair backed up as more men rushed at her and began slashing at them once again, not having time to argue with Thomas.
Finally, Mason opened the door to the bathroom.
Mason: I finished the opening to the roof. Let’s go!
Clair and Thomas both leaped away from the enemies that they were dealing with and rushed towards Mason. They jumped through the opening on the roof one by one and finally took a deep breath as they made it onto the roof. This breath didn’t last long however.
The group's eyes widened as they took in the scene around them. An army of men surrounded the house and the roof, all with an assortment of swords and other weapons on them. Clair took a deep breath and smiled, raising her swords as she prepared herself to fight through the hell that surrounded them.
