Out in the hallway, the battle seemed to be in stalemate. Rick and Paul and gone out to support their boss, and each of them had taken out a pirate or two, but not without sustaining some injuries themselves.
"Hey Alec, you going to help us, or did you just call us out to fight for you" Paul called out to his boss, who at the moment was standing to the side staring towards the airlock.
Or at least, where the airlock used to be. Standing in its debris were now three pirates. The one in the center was a woman with a sharp gaze, as if staring and analyzing her prey. Her blue hair barely reaching her shoulders as she stood there with her arms crossed.
To her left was a teenage girl, about 15 years old. She was staring out one of the ships windows watching the dogfight that was taking place out in space. The girl seemed to giggle whenever one of the ships blew up.
But the most worrying thing for Alec was the man who stood to her right. The aura he released was raw and domineering. Alec knew that if he took his eyes off him for a second that the man would pounce and kill him and his men.
It was at this moment that a shadow dashed out from one of the rooms before running in the opposite direction of the pirates.
It was Tessa with William on her back.
Seeing this, Alec could not help but curse inwardly at his poor luck. Yet he didn't move, he had to match that man in case he decided to participate. However, the woman with the blue hair gave a vicious smile before turning towards the teenage girl.
"There he is. Anna, your turn"
The young girl Anna turned around with a smile on her face, her black ponytail whipping around as she turned. Her voice expectant and filled with excitement.
"Really?"
The older woman nodded.
"Just make sure he's alive when you bring him to me". Anna nodded happily before skipping off in chase of the girl.
The woman then turned towards the other man to her right.
"Derek, go make sure she does this right. This package is one we don't want damaged permanently." She then turned to face Alec the smile on her face getting wider. "I'll clean up here."
Seeing Derek being moving, Alec quickly raised his hand as a golden light appeared in his eyes. Almost immediately a beam of light pierced through the hallway from his palm towards Derek's head.
However, before it could hit him a wall of water appeared in its trajectory, shielding Derek and causing steam to form in the hallway. Alec stood their stunned, before shifting his gaze towards the woman in the center as she let out a sigh.
"Aren't you a naughty little man" Her voice was soft yet contained a hint of ruthlessness. The woman took a couple steps forward, her aura erupting like a tidal wave. Alec immediately felt like a weight was pressing down on his back.
Paul and Rick were quickly cut down from their opponents, unable to put up a fight with the sudden suppression of the aura.
Alec took a step back as he released his own aura to fight back, relieving some of the pressure off him. He then clenched his fist causing them to begin to glow in a golden light.
The woman, on the other hand, continued to step forward. Her eyes began to glow with an eerie deep blue as water began leaking for different nooks and crannies in the hall.
In a matter of seconds, the water was already a couple of inches deep.
Tendrils of water began to surface around her. He could feel a shiver run down his spine as her gaze locked on to him.
Alec's body then burst into golden light before charging forward. Steam filling the hall with as each step he took caused the water to evaporate.
The woman's smile only got wider as she saw this. She raised her hand towards Alec as the tendrils of water lashed out towards him.
"Now let's have some fun, shall we?"
…
Tessa was sprinting through the halls with William on her back. She had found a map of the ship in William's room and was making a b-line towards the nearest set of escape pods.
As she ran, she could hear William begin to groan.
"It's just around to corner Will, the pods will have a first aid kit."
Whether he could hear her or not she spoke to him, it seemed to help herself calm down as well. Just as she turned to corner, she sighed with relief seeing that there was still one escape pod left.
Rushing towards the pod, she quickly opened the door before placing William on the ground inside. Just as she was about to turn around and close the door a girls voice sounded out behind her.
"Found you!"
Before Tessa could react she heard a giggle as the girl grabbed her by the hair before throwing her out of the escape pod. The back of Tessa's head slammed into the ground, causing her to grunt in pain.
Getting up from the ground, still disoriented from the impact, she raised her hand to the back of her head. She could feel the back of head wet from blood.
"You fucking bitch!" Tessa yelled out angrily. Looking up she saw Anna leaning over William's body in the escape pod. Anna continued to look down at William's face as she began to stand up.
"The boss only said to retrieve the package…" she turned around to face Tessa with a toothy smile on her face, causing Tessa to take a step back. Anna's eyes had vertical slits for pupils, her right eye was bright purple and her left a crimson red. "But she didn't say nothin' about not killing you"
Anna then dashed out towards Tessa, throwing a punch towards her face. Tessa quickly raised her arms in front of her face, barely blocking the punch in time.
Tessa then quickly sent a kick towards Anna's right knee.
Yet instead of the crunch she expected, it felt as though she had kicked a metal wall. Lowering her arms, Tessa noticed how Anna's skin was now covered in a metallic substance.
"That could've really hurt if I hadn't reacted in time" Anna pouted slightly before sending a punch straight into Tessa's gut.
Tessa crumpled to the ground after coughing up a small amount of blood. As she gasped for breath, Anna looked down at her.
"Now which leg did you use" she raised her hand before scratching her head. Tessa squirmed on the ground, trying to crawl towards the escape pod the best she could.
"I guess it doesn't really matter" Anna giggled before raising her foot and slamming it down onto Tessa's left shin.
CRACK
Tessa bit her lip as tears filled her eyes. Gazing towards her legs she saw how the bottom half of her shin flopped around like a wet noodle.
Anna then picked Tessa up by the neck, raising her up so they could be face to face.
"Any last words?" Anna asked, frowning as if she regretted having to kill the other girl. Tessa gasped for air as she clawed at the hand gripping her neck, unable to speak a word.
Anna opened her mouth to respond but froze before speaking. She raised her right hand to her ear before seemingly speaking to herself.
"No I haven't finished yet-"
Anna rolled her eyes as she paused partway through her sentence.
"Yes, I'll get him righ-"
Before she could finish speaking Tessa's eyes glowed with a green energy. She raised her cupped hand before slamming it into Anna's other ear.
Tessa and Anna's hair blew back in the air slightly as a shockwave originated from the point of contact.
Anna's grip immediately loosened as she stumbled backwards before she collapsed to the ground, blood leaking from her ear and nose.
After falling back to the ground, Tessa took a moment to catch her breath as she continued to stare at Anna's body on the ground warily.
Tessa then wiped the tears off her face and forced herself up on her right foot before quickly hopping towards the escape pod. As soon as she entered, she closed the door and quickly hitting the launch button, detaching the pod from the ship.
As the ship began to move Tessa lost balance and fell back to the ground. As she crawled, she dragged William towards one of the seats, quickly strapping him in securely.
Pulling herself up onto the seat next to his, Tessa could not help but speak to herself.
"Today can't possibly get any worse…"
BOOM!
Tessa stared out the pods window with a deadpan expression, a single tear forming in one of her eyes.
'oh'
As if out of spite, before she could secure herself properly, a nearby ship had exploded causing a shockwave to slam directly into the escape pod.
Tessa was launched out of her seat; her body being flung like a ragdoll directly into one of the walls knocking her out instantly.
…
Back on the ship.
Alec was kneeling in front of the woman with the blue hair, tendrils of water holding him down and restraining him. His breathing was heavy, completely devoid of energy.
Soon, Derek turned the corner while dragging Anna's unconscious body by her ponytail. The blood still leaking from her ears and nose.
"She failed" Derek threw her body towards the woman. Before her body landed on the ground, tendrils of water erupted below her and caught the body.
"She really is useless" The woman's voice was calm, not even looking towards Anna's body. "When she wakes up, tell her that she needs to find him. And you have the pleasure of supervising, again, since you seem to be just as useless"
Derek clenched his fists by his side.
"Yes ma'am"
The tendrils of water then slowly dropped Anna's body at Derek's feet.
"And if you two don't succeed, I'll kill you both myself" her voice no longer calm, and instead filled with killing intent.
Derek didn't dare look at her directly as he picked up Anna's body by her neck and left the hall leaving only Alec and the woman.
"Who are you?" Alec's voice was weak as he continued to stare at the ground, not daring to meet her eyes. Aware of his impending doom, he at least wanted to know who his killer was.
The woman then leaned forward before grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her. There faces now only inches apart.
"I'm…"
As she spoke water seemed leak out of her mouth and nose, yet it didn't seem to impede her speech at all. The water travelled slowly through the air before forcing its way into his nose and mouth, filling his lungs.
His lungs felt as if they were burning. He squirmed and tried to break free from the tendrils of water. Yet the more he squirmed the faster he lost consciousness.
Just as he was about to pass out, the woman spoke the last words he would ever hear.
"The Charybdis"