He managed to slip past the guardians, at least for a few moments, but the barrier was much faster to go on the defensive. Another blast of lightning shot at him, barely missing him and leaving the right side of his body feeling rather warm.
He lashed a few tentacles of energy into the shield and launched a few blasts of energy before fading into shadow before the guardians could show up. The searing white light struck the ground where he had been standing the moment before. Luckily, he was now standing at a point one hundred feet from there and was pounding at the bubble with the hundreds of extra arms he had willed into existence and shooting energy balls as fast as his brain would allow.
As the sizzling white energy began to form in front of him and the guardians caught on that he had moved, he faded away and willed himself another few hundred feet around the building.
He kept up this tactic, changing it up and sometimes flashing back to the last point he had attacked, sometimes flashing to a point several hundred feet away and relying on his projectiles to attack from afar.
After a few minutes of this, the guardians changed their own tactics. They spread out, each one taking a station at one of the cardinal points. They extended their hands forward into the wall of energy and closed their eyes, going completely still.
Chaos stood still for a moment, waiting to see what they were up to.
It didn’t take them long to show him. The shield began to melt down, starting at the top of the dome and flowing down towards the points of contact the guardians had made. As each of their bodies began to glow with the bright green light being channeled into them, it dawned on him what was happening and he made his move.
He rushed forward as fast as his thoughts could carry him and took out the first two guardians before their shields had had a chance to solidify. As he moved to attack the third, the man’s eyes shot open and a blast of lightning grazed the left side of his face, bringing back the uncomfortable whine that he had come to loathe over the course of the fight.
Chaos lashed at the solid suit of energy that had now formed around the man and the crackle of energy meeting energy rolled through him like thunder. Seemingly unscathed, the guardian pressed forward, advancing his attack with a fierce brutality. Projectiles were flying through the air all around both of them, tentacles were savagely tearing at each other like cannibalistic snakes and Chaos could sense the other guardian rushing to her fellow tank’s aid. If he was caught between the two of them, he’d be pulverized. It was time to withdraw and come at it from a different angle.
He faded out and reappeared a few yards behind the backup guardian. Her heightened senses gleaned from the bit of the shield she had absorbed allowed her to stop mid-stride and spin around to block the barrage of razor thin disks that he launched at her. She countered with a well placed blast that missed his chest by mere inches, blasting him on his shoulder instead and spinning him around where he stood. He took it in stride and countered with a thick whip of his own. He wrapped it around the bubble around her and cinched it up, crushing the energy in on her body. He let the beast inside of him worry about deflecting the attacks that she launched on him in response and focused on crushing her like a tin can.
The light around her was fading rapidly and the attacks she was throwing at him were weakening with each passing second. Dragging her around the grounds to keep a little bit of distance between them and the male guardian was taxing him as well though and he started to plan for what was sure to happen when the woman was finally out of his way and he had to face the last one. His energy was starting to drain and he could feel his armor getting thinner even as the last of the light faded from the woman in his grasp.
The moment the last glimmer of light left her eyes, he reduced her body to ash and turned to face her friend head on.
Instead of engaging him as he had before, the man plowed right into Chaos with all of his might, bowling him over in the process.
He leaped up and spun around just in time to jump out of the way of the next attempt at bulldozing him.
This went on for several minutes, the guardian would rush him, Chaos would dodge out of the way at the last moment, clipping him as best he could as he blew past in a blur. When Chaos was certain that he had weakened him enough for his plan to work, he flashed away from him a couple hundred yards. Just enough for the man to get a good running start.
As the man charged, Chaos stood facing him, ready for the impact. Instead of dodging out of the way at the last minute, he formed a single vine, as thick as a tree trunk, and swung it with all of his might. The desired effect was achieved and the guardian went flying backwards like someone who had just been hit by a semi truck. His limp body crashed to the ground in a heap and Chaos made quick work of disposing of it before approaching the building.
Weary from the battle that had taken place, he all but crawled his way up the few steps to the doors. Instead of savoring the moment, he simply uncaged the beast and let it ravish everything in sight.
When nothing was left around him except for the ash drifting down around him and a glowing green orb, he reached out a tentacle and let the energy flow into him.
“Three down, one to go.” He said as the energy coursed into him.
He turned from the destruction and let himself fade away.
He hung up the phone and looked at the three women that were pouring over the map he had retrieved from his glove compartment.
“That was the council. We just lost four guardians in Omaha and he got what he was after. Best guess is he’ll hit Denver next before coming here.”
The three women glanced back and forth between him and the map several times before looking at one another and attacking the map with a newfound zeal. They were pointing and talking over the top of each other, trying to come to an agreement on which route the beast would take. He decided that standing back and letting them handle it was the best idea for all parties involved. He had no desire to lose a finger or worse by getting in their way.
“Now why would he cut all the way up through Wyoming to drop down into Salt Lake? If he’s heading to Denver I’d put my life on it that he would continue along Interstate 70 and come up 15. It’s more direct and less of a hassle!” Piper shouted.
“You may be willing to bet your life on it, darling, but it’s not just your life on the line here, now is it?” Barbara countered.
“Ladies.” Arlene interjected. “There’s no need to fight over this. Either one of you could be right. He could very well continue along 70 into Utah. It is just as likely that he will cut up to I-80 and drop down through Wyoming. The question here really isn’t which way is he going to take for sure. We need to figure out what his options are and what we can do to prepare for all of them. This is Chaos incarnate we’re talking about here. There is no way to predict exactly what is going on in that twisted mind of his.”
He took this opportunity to jump in on Arlene’s seemingly logical train of thought.
“She’s right. We really can’t predict what he’s going to do. He could have already decided that this is where she is and could skip Denver all together.”
When all three of their faces paled at the thought, hurried to add, “Now, I highly doubt that’s what has happened, but we need to accept that it is a very real possibility and plan accordingly.”
After a few moments, they all started breathing again and he sank back into his chair at the table.
Piper was the first to speak again.
“So, how do we go about standing in the way of a big evil dude that can transport himself around at the speed of thought?”
“Well, the Council says that the fight for Omaha was pretty intense and there was no damage done that they could see outside of the area where the battle took place. I feel fairly confident saying that he expended a good amount of energy on taking out those guardians and, as far as we can tell, didn’t recoup it before he took off. I assume he’ll be traveling by mundane means to conserve energy and press forward as quickly a
s possible.”
“Makes sense I guess.”
“So, what tools do we have on our side? Between the three of us, we’ve got some pretty useful toys at our disposal. I’m sure when it gets down to it, the Council will be more than willing to give us whatever they can. Assuming of course we have time to ask for it.”
Barb chose that moment to chime in with, “That’s the real issue here, isn’t it? Time? Even if we figure out a plan, are we going to have time to get it in place? Is there even time to make a difference?”
“We can’t think like that, Barb. Our granddaughter needs there to be time for that. Not just in hopes that we can stop him, or even slow him down. She needs that time because she needs to prepare. With any luck, we’ll have a couple of days. That should be enough time for us to figure out the best way to hold him off and give her more time to get ready.”
“On that note, have you guys noticed how strong she’s getting lately? We were sitting in class the other day and I swear she was going to use the professor for target practice. She had these crazy little spikey balls flying around her and her aura was so intense that it almost hurt to look at it. I’ve never been more thankful that the general public is oblivious to the energies around them! If anyone had seen that we could have been in even bigger trouble than we already are!”
“I’ve noticed a few major improvements over the last few days as well.” Arlene added. “It’s a huge relief that she’s curious about it and obviously pushing herself to try new things. If she had been any other person, she probably would have been terrified of herself and locked herself in her bedroom.”
“If this had happened before the Purge, before our bloodline became so scattered, the girl would have had a proper teacher and this whole business would have started when she was much younger. This just feels an awful lot like throwing her to the wolves.” Barbara continued to wring her hands in her lap as she stared intently at the map on the table. The mention of the Purge silenced all of them. Shortly after Chaos last visited, the major religions from around the world banded together and started looking for someone to point a finger at. Due to their involvement in sending Chaos back to where he came from, their Druidic ancestors became the targets. They were rounded up and, those who survived the barbaric questioning, were slaughtered. Entire clans had been erased from existence and those who had escaped the hangings, burnings, and torture had been exiled to live a nomadic existence with no belongings besides what they could carry as they fled.
The energy in the room was rapidly turning from productivity to worry. He knew from experience that if they weren’t redirected and focused, worry would quickly deteriorate into panic. And they wouldn’t get anything done if three of the four of them were in a state of panic.
“Well, we’ve got Piper and her pretty little toy. That will allow us to travel just as quickly as he can, assuming we can find him and keep tabs on him. That is definitely a step in the right direction. We may not have all the skill and power of full guardians, but we’re not at a total loss. We’ve all got our own borrowed magicks that will make all the difference if we can figure out how to best utilize them. Barb, you’ve got your shield, right? And Arlene, you’ve still got the whip, right?”
The two women both touched their weapons that they kept hidden in plain sight. The broach at Barb’s breast and the hairpin in Arlene’s tight bun each hummed quietly at their touch and quieted down as they placed their hands back in their laps. He fiddled with the ring around his own finger, feeling the familiar stones vibrate as he touched them and took some comfort in his own words.
“We’ve got a fighting chance here, ladies. We need to keep our minds focused on the task at hand and do whatever we can to help Ardra when the time comes.”
The three of the lingered on the borderline of worry and panic for a moment before Piper lit up and spun the map around on the table.
“We can travel just as fast as he can, right?”
They all nodded, not yet seeing where she was going with this.
“Lobo can get to us just as fast as I can get to you, right Bishop?”
He nodded, still not quite seeing where she was taking this idea.
“Well, if we can’t pin down the route he’ll take, we’ll have to cover them both. I can drop Barb and Arlene off here,” she tapped a spot on the map where I-25 meets I-80 before continuing “and I can drop you off here.” She pointed at the junction of I-70 and Highway 6 and glanced around to make sure they were following.
As it dawned on them, they started nodding slowly.
“If he takes this route, he’ll run into Barb, Arlene and I and I can flash down and grab you drop you off here.” She tapped a spot a few miles outside of Park City, about 45 miles from Salt Lake, “If he takes this route, you can send Lobo to let us know and I can drop them off here.” She pointed to the intersection of I-70 and I-15, “Or here.” Again pointing to the map at the intersection of Highway 6 and I-15. “That way all of our bases are covered and we’re keeping him away from any major populations, cutting down on the risk of anyone else getting hurt. I assume he’s been trying to keep a low profile, so he wouldn’t want to risk mass mayhem in the middle of a vastly populated area unless he had no other choice.”
She glanced around the table and shrugged before sitting back and waiting for input.
“This could work, Piper. This is a very good idea. You guys would be okay on your own until we could get back up there?”
Arlene and Barb nodded in unison, seeming to take the question as a challenge of their competency.
“Of course we would. We’re not just a couple of defenseless old ladies. You of all people know that, Will.” Arlene winked at him before asking, “Will you be okay on your own?”
A flash of green lit up the room and revealed a rather large wolf sitting at his side, showing just enough teeth to prove that he was dangerous.
“I think we’ll be fine.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
The low rumble of the motorcycle and the scream of the wind in his ears helped him to focus his mind.
Omaha had shaken him up and left him questioning his plans and that was not something he could afford to do right at that moment. As he rode on towards Denver, he thought over his past victories. They had all been close calls. Close calls were not high on his list of favorite things in the Universe.
If Denver turned out to be anything like Omaha, he wasn’t going to make it through in one piece. Or even a thousand pieces. He was going to have to stop and refill his tank.
After driving through the night, he could see the glow of a rather large city on the horizon and reached out with his antennae to find out of it was his destination or not. After prodding through a few minds on the outskirts of the city, he decided that it was a city called Aurora, a suburb of Denver. Another hour or two and he would be in striking distance.
Attacking in broad daylight wasn’t really an option, however. He would need to find a place fairly close where he could lay low until nightfall.
He pulled his antennae back and opened up the throttle, causing the bike to bolt from fast to breakneck in a matter of seconds.
He sped toward the glow on the horizon, keeping enough of his mind on the road to keep the bike between the lines and let the rest wander. It had been centuries since he had been allowed to roam free and do as he pleased and he missed it. All the mayhem and confusion he had once wrought upon this pitiful race was a painful memory to him in comparison to his current bout of servitude. Having the constant threat of being ripped to shreds by the nastiest being in all Universes, known and unknown, weighing on him was bad enough. The extra stress of being constantly pummeled by magicks erserker to destroy him by the very people responsible for his centuries-long absence was enough to infuriate both him and the lovely beast inside of him.
The personal rage he felt was a huge distraction that he really couldn’t afford.
Unfortunately, it also seemed to be a distraction he couldn’t avoi
d.
As the first bit of the Denver skyline came into view, his beast stirred with recognition. He began running through his mental checklist and testing his energy stores in preparation. A sliver of doubt ran into the wall of his resolve and crumpled feebly before he put it out of his head. He could deal with rage, but doubting himself now would inevitably lead to failure. Failure was not an option.
The stars above his head began to fade away, washed out by the light pollution from the large city. Multi-level buildings began to spring up around him as he wound his way through the city, letting the hum in his blood lead him where it would.
It struck him as odd that he hadn’t seen the now-familiar dome of energy as he approached the city. Suspicion sufficiently raised, he became all the more aware of his surroundings. He didn’t want to be caught off-guard at such a crucial juncture. He let his feelers out as far as he could without taking away his awareness of the area immediately surrounding him. Everything seemed to be normal for a city the size of this one. It was definitely not a sleepy little town like all the others he had been to.
The bustling night life made him long for the freedom that he once enjoyed. For the first time in a long time, the desire to cause mischief was absent. He only wanted to blend in and exist. The desire to feel the thumping vibrations of loud club music, enjoy the looks he always drew from men and women alike and revel in the wonderful burn of a shot of strong whiskey suddenly swelled in him, nearly causing him to pull off and step into one of the several clubs he passed.
A tingle in the back of his mind brought him back to the task at hand. One of his feelers had found what he was looking for. He surveyed the area with his mundane senses, still trying to locate the shield that would be protecting his prize. When he still didn’t see anything glowing green and looming ominously over him, he focused his energies in the direction the tingle had come from. There was a definite Druidic presence, but he still couldn’t see the glow that signaled his arrival at his destination.
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