219 The Noble’s Irony

As Zoey and Viridi flew towards the second target, Zoey had been monitoring what was happening after she left. She was surprised to see that General Saigo had taken Markus with him on his mission, but after mulling it over she figured that the General would have a good reason for doing what he did. She had been the one that spared Markus's life in the first place so she could get some information from him, and the noble had seemed to sincerely regret the things he had done in the past. If his allegation of his brother's control was to be believed, and he truly was willing to change, maybe there was still a chance for him to atone for the things he had done. There was still the issue of his sister Volaia, and the remaining Rellen family, but that could be dealt with later if necessary.

Zoey then checked in with Custodian 704 to make sure they were ready to bring the Stella Tenebris up top as soon as the tractor beam was disabled, and she also tried to contact Athena to see how things were going on her side, but neither the comm-link nor the Eve she gave Athena would connect. It was like there was some sort of interference messing with the signal again, and Zoey did not have the time to fix it now, so she would have to hope that Athena was doing okay.

Not too long after Zoey received confirmation that General Saigo's team had arrived at their destination, she also saw her target below where they were flying. She sent an order for the second team to enter their target building, and then Viridi dropped into a steep dive falling like a missile until they were just above the building before she spread her shadowy wings wide and stopped their descent with ease. Just as they landed on the building's roof, Viridi's draconic form burst apart and dispersed into a shadowy mist, and a moment later she and Zoey emerged together from the mist with Viridi now in her graceful panther-like form.

The two of them looked rather heroic in that moment, but with only some androids wandering aimlessly about below them, there was nobody around to appreciate the scene. The two of them were not here to look heroic though, and they quickly got to work looking for the entrance of the building.

Several kilometers away, Saigo got Zoey's message and quickly alerted the others. Lieutenant Azai quietly activated his talent again, and the four of them quietly made their way to the building's entrance following Saigo's lead. They managed to get to the door without being detected and thankfully, the door opened with no problems, allowing them to slip inside and close it behind them.

The team found themselves in a dark hallway that made even the smallest noise echoed loudly off the metal walls and ceiling, giving the place an eerie feeling. Saigo was unaffected by it, but the young Lieutenant, Markus, and Baiken were a little unsettled by the spooky atmosphere. Baiken was able to collect herself, and so was Azai, but Markus was a little pale in the face, and he gripped his recently acquired metal pipe with white-knuckled hands as he watched the shadows.

Baiken had not let him out of her sight this entire time, and was still keeping a close watch on him, but she had yet to see any indication that he would betray them. Truthfully, she could not imagine what he would do even if he had plans to do so. If any noble forces remained alive on the city, there was no way he could communicate with them with an Eve sealing his magic, and Zoey had already told them privately that Cornelius had been killed, so no help was coming from the older brother, and the sister was a whole other mess that Athena was handling. Zoey said that her only concern was how he would react when told about his brother, so she had instructed them to withhold the information until they were off the city. Regardless, the General had decided to bring him with for some reason, and Baiken knew he never did anything without thinking it through. She only wished he had shared his thoughts before deciding so abruptly.

Baiken pulled her thoughts back to the situation at hand as Saigo began to lead them deeper into the dark building, using a magic powered light crystal to light the way. The four of them followed the hall to its end where they found themselves stepping into a large open room.

"That must be our target," Saigo said quietly, pointing to a heavy door at the other side of the room.

Behind the door, an orange glow could be seen filtering through the grate-covered window on the door, providing the only source of light aside from Saigo's crystal. They were about to continue on, but after taking another step, Saigo suddenly froze, lifting a hand to stop the three behind him. His sudden stop put them all on edge, and Markus gulped audibly in the silence that followed.

Then, in the dark corners of the room, red lights suddenly came to life like hundreds of stars in the night, only these stars were burning with emotionless purpose and mechanical ire. It was androids, a lot of them, and they had clearly been intended as protection for this control node. Now that they were awake, their red eyes had locked onto the four intruders, and metallic feet clanged loudly on the floor as the host of machines came to life and advanced towards them.

Saigo quickly ordered his team back to the hallway they had entered from so the androids would be forced to come to them in the narrower confines there, limiting how many could come at them at once. They quickly lined up in a defensive formation four abreast, and readied themselves for the fight.

"Go for the necks and heads, exposed hoses and wires, that's where they're weakest," Baiken called out as she adjusted her grip on her large wrench.

Next to her, Markus glanced at her nervously as he gripped the metal pipe he held tighter. How ironic that he was fighting side by side with members of the clan that his family nearly destroyed.

His thoughts abruptly shifted when the first androids came clunking out of the darkness towards them with their red eyes glowing hungrily in their cold metal skulls, intent on destroying the invading organics.

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Idle thoughts would have to wait!