No. 24: Through it All...

No. 24: Through it All...

Kaleigh ran across the front lawn, her eye always on the enemy.
They were recovering from shock, literally.
The ground wasn't attacking them anymore so she figured it was a safe bet that Terra had successfully gotten Venn to calm down.
She estimated they had taken out barley one third of the enemy's numbers. Not quiet what she had hoped for, but she'd take what she could get.

Her feet hit hard metal, and she stopped with a start. Glancing down she saw the square metal door that had taken her from a reality that seemed like a dream now, to the real world.
As the metal took her down below the ground, she marveled at the fact that it seemed ages since she had left that old life. For her brothers, she knew there was still that dull sting of realizing that what they had back there wasn't actual reality. She on the other hand hadn't lost anything, but gained quiet a lot coming out of the a coma. Her brothers though, lost their friends, their families, and their memories they thought were so real. Somewhere inside her, she knew they still held onto those, not wanting to give them up quiet yet.
It had been in her prayers every night that her brothers would come to accept, and maybe even enjoy this world, and let old things go, but at the moment, she feared they'd only remain prayers.

When the elevator doors slid open soundlessly, she was plunged into a darkness she did not expect. Momentarily blinded, she called on her Element, and focused on containing the crackling electricity to her hand.
Using the eerie, purple-blue light as her guide, she found a light switch that didn't work.
"Well I'm sure Venn's erupting earth put a damper in the electrical wires." She mumbled, placing the electricity covered hand on the switch. Sparks flew around her as the energy charged the electrical cords, lightening up the light bulbs once again.
She sighed in satisfaction as she removed her hand, shaking it out to get rid of the tingles as she ran down the hall, back to the lab where she had woken up months ago.

It had taken Venn forever to rig up this phase. Though explaining how it all worked was easy enough to understand, and a tad bit old fashion, it still took him a while to figure out how to put it all together, and then the Professor of course came in with his chemistry wired brain to help get the formula right also took some time, but they both had been proud to announce it finished after long nights with little to no sleep.

Kaleigh moved to the contraption in middle of the room that was centered in front of the tanks, still full of blue gel that lapped gently at the sides.
The sight of them caused her to shudder slightly as the thought of suffocation and drowning crept into her mind.
She shook her head firmly and set a hard gaze on the object in front of her, forcing the thoughts into the back of her mind.
The object was actually just a cylinder pulsing with different lights and pumps. Up at the top, tubes lead the way into the roof, through the ground, and then twisted around to the mansion, where they broke off into a hundred different tubes of various sizes that ran along the roof, balconies, awnings, and even windows of the mansion.
"Get a grip." She growled as she punched a big red button and then moved onto what originally was the observation deck. A sealed in room, that was covered in glass and had a wall full of computers and panels that were now all dead. She turned them on, all of them popping up with the program that Venn had put into them that showed her how the machine was doing, and how close it was to being ready to be activated.
Then she leaned against the counter, whip clutched in her right hand, arms crossed over her chest, her jaw set, and her mind frantically praying that none of her friends or family would die today.

.:+++:.

Stryder almost ran into Venn on the way into the mansion.
"Oi! Watch it!" Venn snapped, doing a little dance to avoid a collision.
"Sorry." Stryder muttered.
"How's the Professor?" Venn asked, leading the way to the roof.
"The bullet passed through his shoulder, lucky for us. But it severed an artery. I bandaged it up as best as I could, but there wasn't much to work with."
"Why didn't you bring him back up here?"
Venn received a look that said 'are you an idiot?' but ignored it.
"I could barely get him to the forest, there's no way I would be able to drag him through the forest, all the way back to the mansion. Besides it probably wouldn't help with the whole severed artery thing."
"Well why didn't you just get Cliff to help you?" Venn questioned.
Stryder glanced down at the floor and did his best to avoid his question.
"Where are the girls?" He asked.
Venn, conscious of the subject change, answered anyways with a hard gaze.
"Terra's in the computer room in the pyramid building, and Kale's downstairs in the basement. Now what did you do to Cliff?"
Stryder scowled in annoyance as he stared out the window.
"I knocked him against a tree." He stated bluntly.
"You what?!"

.:+++:.

Sage had figured that the old man wouldn't give in easily, but he hadn't expected the full force onslaught at the very beginning. They should have saved that for later when their numbers were few.
Of course, that's if they lasted that long. He reminded himself.
But he had to admit, their attack was affective. The men that weren't electrocuted to death were scared out of their minds, though they stayed in rank, but only because of his commanders that threatened to do worse if they didn't.
"Felix!" He called. His second hand man came running up next to him, standing at attention.
"How many men down?"
"About twenty men down sir."
"About?"
"Had to do a rough estimate sir, since some of them are...no longer distinguishable."
The young leader nodded and ran a hand through his hair. A habit that tagged him still as a boy, but no one dared to bring that up. After all, his father was the CEO of the entire enterprise.
"Well get the rest of them moving." Sage commanded. "The old man refused our generous offer, so we now will take them by force."
"Do you want them alive, sir?" Felix asked. But Sage was already shaking his head.
"No. But if you see Stryder send him to me. He has a special punishment waiting for him."
Felix nodded and made to leave when Sage stopped him.
"And also..." He added on second thought. "Spare the sister."
Felix hesitated before nodding in understanding. Feeling extremely sorry for the poor girl. None of the things Sage could want with her could be any good.
   He walked off a little ways from the general, and radioed all the other commanders, ordering them to move out.
They answered back with the usual 'sir, yes, sir' and everyone began to move toward the mansion in one big mob.

.:+++:.

"They're coming." Terra's calm voice sounded through the ear piece they all wore.
Kaleigh's heart leapt as she looked up at the bar that showed how much longer for the machine to be ready.
"How long?" She asked, her head jerking up as she suddenly heard footsteps marching above her head.
"Just a few minutes." Terra answered. "And can I ask again, why Venn, did you put a blind girl in the computer room? You do realize I can't see a darn thing but life energy blobs right?"
Kale chuckled as they waited for her brothers answer.
"Kaleigh they're almost on us, how's that machine coming?" Venn asked.
"Uh...it's at seventy percent." Kaleigh replied, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Oh God help us." Venn muttered. "Okay, apparently Cliff's out of commission -"
"What?!" Both girls screamed, causing Venn to say a few choice words that Kale would have to get onto him for later.
"Yeah, he's apparently knocked out no thanks to your new boyfriend Kaleigh."
"What boyfriend?" Brandon's voice piped up for the first time.
Kale groaned and hid her face though no one was there to see it.
"Venn I am going to kill you in a very slow and painful way if you cant keep your mouth shut." Kale threatened. Dodging Brandon's question as skillfully as she could at the moment.
"Snappy. Okay moving on," Venn stated. "How is the power coming Kaleigh?"
"Fifty percent. Terra where's the enemy line at now?"
"Uh...They're on the front steps."
"Brilliant. Now would you all stop chit-chatting so we can get to work?" Stryder's voice sounded harsh and annoyed.
Kale nodded and quickly tried to see if she could do anything to hurry up the process.

.:+++:.

Venn watched with horror as the dark line was stepping closer and closer to the door of the mansion. For a heartbeat, he questioned everything they were doing.
What are we doing here?
Who are these people?
Why do they hate us so much?
What gave us the idea to fight them?!
But just as fast as those questions came, the answers came flooding in even faster.
We're fighting for our lives.
They want to kill us.
They hate us because we're different. They're scared of us.
We're American's, we will always fight for freedom. It's in our way of thinking.
His expression hardened as these answers came to mind and he was reminded of what he was doing this for.
I don't want to loose my family.

A man in a trench coat called everyone to halt. Safely he guessed he was in charge though he couldn't be older then twenty.
The trench coat stepped forward and started talking to the door.
"Who ever is in there you had better come out unless you want a fight. I'm only going to give you one chance. If you all come out with your hands up where I can see them I swear we wont harm you."
Venn scoffed. Like that's going to happen.
Venn don't do anything stupid. Terra's voice rang through his head. He could hear the worry in her voice and couldn't stop the smile cross his lips.
I'll try not to. He replied.
I'm serious Venn! Be careful.
He nodded and then turned to the trench coat.
"Yeah that's not happening." He shouted down to him.
The guy with the greasy hair looked up. After a minute he smiled.
"Are you sure you want your entire family to die Vencint."
Venn cringed slightly at the sound of his full name.
"Well that's the funny thing." He stated with a grin. "It wont be us dyin' today."
The boy raised an eyebrow and the smile left his face.
"You don't realize who you're challenging." He said, his face turning to stone.
Venn shrugged.
"You don't realize what family you tried to destroy. You're not ripping us apart." Venn stated, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. His lazy appearance was deceiving. His face showed his real feelings. Stone hard, and unmovable.
His eyes never leaving the boy on the roof, Sage made a motion with his hand.
One of the rifle men aimed and shot quick.
Sage grinned as the bullet ripped through the air like a knife, until it suddenly hit something hard, and invisible to his eyes, right before it would have hit the boy's chest.
The boy didn't even flinch.
He looked down slowly, and picked the bullet out of the air and looked at it as if it was a leaf that had fallen off a tree. Then he slowly looked at the trench coat.
"Nice try." Then he flicked it towards the rifle man that had shot it. Sage watched in horror as the bullet picked up speed and dug it's self into the man's forehead.
Anger seeped through his being at this arrogant sixteen year old.
"Enough of this." He hissed. "March!!" He shouted, before breaking down the door himself and running across the broken boards.

Venn ran to the other end of the roof and slapped Brandon's shoulder.
"Thanks bro. I thought I was a goner." He said as he jumped down from the roof.
"I got your back." Brandon said, landing lightly next to him.
"Alright. Kaleigh how's that machine coming, they're inside the door."

.:+++:.

Kaleigh spun on her heel and slammed her fist into the big green button. Electricity zapped through the body of the cylinder before it was pumped up into the tubes.
She then ran to another control and pressed the fire alarm for the mansion.
"Okay, it's activated. Phase one is a go." She reported.

.:+++:.

Venn glanced in one of the windows, and saw the water sprinklers were going off everywhere in the mansion, drowning the people inside. Luckily they were all invaders, and they hadn't gotten past the front door. Then the electricity coursed through the pipes he had put through out the house, shocking everyone that wasn't yet wet, and then burning everyone that was.
He cringed at the screams and then gave Brandon a signal for the 'go ahead.'
Brandon threw the back door open and focused on the closest people to him. The deadly zing could be heard, barely over the screams, as his stars flew through the air, digging themselves into their targets.
"You have to get them outside!" Venn shouted at him.
Brandon glanced at him and nodded.
Careful Brandon. Kaleigh warned, knowing what he was going to do. Don't exhaust yourself too soon.
Thanks mom.
He could hear that laugh that only belonged to Kaleigh. Dang, I'm an awesome mom. I mean what mom would give her son fighting advice?!
He shook his head at her random statement.
Okay, now shut up. I'm trying to concentrate.
Sheesh, touchy. She stated, hurt in her tone, but she kept quiet. Though he did feel a little guilty for snapping at her
The wind picked up, becoming harder and stronger, eventually getting them off the ground and pushing them out the door and back into the open.
"Okay. Go! Go! Go!" He yelled at Venn.
Venn scrambled around the corner and saw the mess of men lying in heaps on the ground.
He pulled on the grass with his Element and wove it around the men.
They couldn't move, couldn't get up, and most importantly couldn't fight.
"Okay, they're down, what the heck do I do now?" He asked, stunned and not sure what to do.
Then one man cried out as his back arched in pain. Venn jumped and looked around.
All the other men were stunned into silent, as they watched their fellow solider cry out in pain over and over again. His body seemed to be disforming, lumps appeared everywhere, red like welts. But when they got bigger, the more dried up his skin appeared around them. Then finally they came to the point they burst, water spewed out, water and blood. when Venn looked back at the man, he was dead. Nothing but a dried up carcass.
"Now, who's next?"
Venn's head jerked up and he was never more relieved to see his brother.
"I'm out for a couple minutes and you guys fall apart!" Cliff yells, walking through the stunned crowd lying on the ground and smacking his brother upside the head.
"What the heck is wrong with you people?!" He hissed. Then shaking his head and ignoring his brother, her addressed Kaleigh and Terra. "Girls you need to get out here and do some damage, but I'll tell you when to come out here got it?"
They both replied. And he turned to his brother again.
"Now, we're either going to tie 'em up and let them get us latter, or we deal with them now. This is no time to break down."
A chilling voice made them both stop in their tracks and glance at each other before turning around.
"Your powers are impressive. I might reconsider killing you all and take you to my father."
A cold metal sliced through the back of Venn's legs, causing him to cry out and fall to his hands and knees, tears blurring his vision. He lost his grip on his Element, and the grass blades fell away from the men lying on the ground.
Cliff turned to see who had attacked his brother, and met a blade slice to his arm and the hard hit of something blunt to the cheek, sending him flying.

Brandon jumped onto the roof after he saw the brothers fall, and tried to create a distraction for the rest of the men.
He used the Wind to mess with them, pushing them around and ricocheting their shots as they tried to shoot him down.
But then they started to flow onto the roof.
The first one came up the elevator. He could hear the ding as the doors came up. Diving from the open area, and landed with his back against one of the walls of the elevator. He pulled a star out of his clip and waited quietly as he heard boots shuffle out of the elevator.
Everything was quiet for a split second before he jumped them.
The star sliced the barrel of the first man's rifle. The man yelled in shock as Brandon pulled the gun out of man's grip, spinning into him and rammed the butt of it into his stomach, sending him stumbling into his friend right behind him.
Brandon quickly dropped the useless gun and jumped over the first one and brought his boot down on the second man's face, with a satisfying crunch of the man's nose breaking.
He turned his attention to the third man as he made a grab for him. Catching him in a iron hard grip. Brandon grabbed a short knife from his pocket and held it blade down as he dug it into the man's leg.
The sheer pain of the wound, coursed up the man's body and his grip loosened enough for Brandon to weasel out of it and quickly came back with a second and third hit with the knife. Each in a devastating area that the man fell to the ground, bleeding out and unable to move.

Only three had come up in the elevator, so Brandon leaned on his knees to catch his breath. The Wind wall he had made a few minutes ago down stairs, plus the teasing and shield up here had him drained to the point he was going to be running on fumes soon.
Ding.
He looked up at the elevator doors in front of him through the sweat dripping into his eyes.
"Aw crap." He groaned for a moment before shoving the small knife into his pocket again, and grabbing more stars in his hands, he braced himself for another wave.
When it crashed, he met it with a flurry of silver as his stars flung through the air, taking down the first several men before they could even get out of the elevator.
But then the ones in the back came out guns blazing. Brandon pulled up a shield as he dove over the air conditioner, panting as he waited for them to calm down a bit.
When they did more stars flew from his fingers as he followed them and dove his knife into the ones the stars missed. But this wave wouldn't stop coming, and he was getting more and more tired each time he killed another one.

He aimed at another solider, but he saw it coming. The solider dove behind the elevator and the star bounced off the wall.
Brandon swore as he reached for another one, only to find that he was out.
He ran across the opening, and attacked the man using the small knife he had on him.
But this soldier was an eel. Slipping out of every pin Brandon had.
Brandon fell to the ground when the man punched him, but quickly turned on his back and swung his foot out, catching the man's leg and sending him to the ground as well. He quickly jumped him, but the man rolled, so only his arm was slashed instead of his chest.
The soldier moved behind him and brought down his own knife, grazing his back. Brandon cried out and spun around trying to get the man in the chest, but he was already gone.
Brandon glanced around, and suddenly became aware of the noise to his right. He quickly dove left and landed on his back, facing the soldier. Cringing his teeth, he threw the knife that lodged it's self in the man's shoulder.
The man was obviously in pain, it showed on his face, but didn't let a sound escape his lips. He pulled the knife out and tossed it angrily to the floor.
Brandon's eyes grew wide as the man came to him. He was running on fumes, and worse, unarmed.
Purple light crossed his vision, as it streaked across the air and engulfed the soldier. The light grew brighter and brighter, to the point Brandon had to look away.
Then it was gone.
He looked back and saw that the man wasn't there anymore, just a pile of ashes.
Kaleigh's black hair whipped into her face as the wind hit it, making her look like some sort of angel that walked around with machine guns in hand. Which was exactly what she was holding.
"What is with boys and never asking for help?" She asked, offering him a hand. He took it gratefully and let her pull him up to his feet, which she did easily and with little effort.
"Here. Looks like your out. You should be glad I had the foresight to stop by the arsenal." She said with a sarcastic smile on her face as she handed him a belt loaded with stars and knives, all made out of ealantean.
He buckled it on and nodded in her direction.
"Thanks. You have no idea how glad I am to see you."
She gave him a weird look like he'd lost it, but it was the honest truth.
"Come on, before my brother's get into too much trouble." She said, jerking her head to the edge of the roof.