Chapter 69: The trap!
The van sped all the way to Mangroove street, during the drive there, they barely took any breaks as the driver ensured they got there as early as possible. In fact, the only break they took was to refuel the van.
5 hours had passed since they got on the road leading to Mangroove street, they finally got to the exact street and started looking for the house number in which Clara and Mr. Thomas stayed.
"House 69 should be by that corner" Alisha pointed to a magnificent building to the front-left of the van. It had a small gate and rows of flowers that serve as a path to the front of the door. Everywhere seemed quiet.
Lancelot Jr got down, followed by Alisha, Zain Cole, and Lamil Aureo.
They walked to the front door, stealthily opened the door, and got in, suddenly they saw a man in a ski mask holding Clara by the mouth and pressing a knife to her throat.
"l know you will surely show up, take a step and
I will slit her throat, just kindly surrender yourselves to our men..."
Lancelot Jr didn't argue, he just raised his hands and was easily restricted by one of the men in ski masks, Alisha was also restricted as well as Zain and Lamil.
Mr. Thomas was beaten to a sorry state on the floor, he was bleeding from his orifices and couldn't even move, even without being held at gunpoint he seemed to be in desperate need of medical attention.
Their leader, soon came out of the room he had been in and sat on a stool with a wide smile on his face that stretched from one ear to the other,
"Who knew that the legendary Fire King would fall for our trap so easily. After you killed our men at the other end we decided to come up with a revenge plan. Boss always thinks 10 steps ahead. Now you will die with your friends and your mother" he laughed so heartily, the vein on his forehead was visible.
The leader didn't wear a ski mask, while the rest did, he wore glasses that perfectly complemented his face, resting on the bridge of his nostrils, and making him look more handsome. His shirt was a checkered one, folded at the sleeves, with blue jean trousers.
As they were about to do something nasty to Clara, Xavier Xu suddenly burst in through the front door, with his sword in hand. Previously, he had told the rest to go through the back door to help rescue Lancelot Jr and his family. The remaining three wondered why Xavier Xu decided to help, but he didn't give a reply, he simply went on with his plan.
"You must be Xavier Xu, the sword monster, I used to watch your matches, you are one of the void assassins. Well technically you're not an elemental, you guys are just freaks that are impervious to elemental attacks, so my fight is not with you, you can go, while I deal with these ones"
The leader spoke so righteously to Xavier Xu as he was expecting an agreement to be made immediately without any hitch. Xavier Xu simply looked at Lancelot Jr and spoke,
"As from now on, we are even" after saying that, he pounced on the first man with ski-masked who held Lamil Aureo at gunpoint,
He swept through him like a knife through butter, easily separating his head from his body, he went through the second and third, he was so fast, that the leader didn't have time to speak before four of his men fell down with their heads rolling in the opposite direction.
The man was furious, but he didn't waste time either, he escaped through the backdoor, meeting a punch from Rick Warren head-on as it slammed into his chest, he was monetarily disoriented as he fell from the huge impact, but he didn't stop he ran as fast as he could and managed to escape.
The remaining men were easily killed and Clara and the remaining members of the team were all released. "Thank you, Xavier," Lanceot Jr said as he stretched out his hands, Xavier Xu ignored the handshake and snorted, "l still hate you" then he turned around and walked back into the van.
Rob Drill and Rick Warren followed him, but
Gerald Guye stayed,
Lancelot Jr went to hug Clara, He had feared for her safety, now he was just glad she was alive.
"Mom, are you okay?",
she nodded "hmmm!", she then pointed to Mr. Thomas who was sprawled out on the ground.
"Save him"
They quickly carried him into the van and made sure he was in a comfortable position, when everyone had gotten in, they closed the van and they sped off.
The family they saved were still with them, they made the atmosphere in the van lively, telling all the stories they could that would be useful in this fight and what they thought of the skeleton organization with some good jokes and well-crafted humor.
A while later, they arrived at a hospital and headed in, they saw a nurse who had the identity of a chief Matron, "What are your identities, why is he in such a bad state", the matron asked with a quizzical look.
"The Skeleton organization attacked our home, and beat him to this state, please we need your help", Alisha spoke. Lancelot Jr agreed to stay behind in the van, so his identity wouldn't become a problem for them, while the less popular elementals could carry out the task for him.
Unknown to them the matron was a member of skeleton, and she had sent out a signal for the other members to show up.
All she needed to do now was to waste their time and delay them till reinforcements come. Lancelot Jr was meditating back in the van, everyone was silent, suddenly they noticed about three black SUVs packing behind them.
Lots of men in Ski-masks got down with batons in their hands.
They walked past the van and headed straight for the hospital. Lancelot Jr figured out their identity and quickly called Alisha to warn them.
~vroooom vroooommm~
"Hello... Alisha, you and my mom and rest should go out through the back door, the skeleton organization is here, someone might have alerted them, leave Mr. Thomas, I'm sure a kind person would attend to him there"
A response then came, "It's that stupid Matron, she is a spy of the skeleton organization, I had my doubts but it's all confirmed now" Alisha responded with a frown.
She didn't wait though, she immediately figured out a plan and told the rest, and within seconds they made their way to the back door and exited the hospital.
The new incoming men in ski-masks had broken in and went in search of the matron, but by the time they checked around, only Mr. Thomas was lying there in a sorry state, every other person had exited.
They rushed out to find out where they were, Lancelot Jr had destroyed their SUVs to make it undrivable, as they sped off with the van.
The matron was so angry that she huffed and pounded her foot on the ground, it was the perfect plan for her, to keep the elementals occupied, while she called for reinforcements. She hated the elementals so much.
She lost her daughter and husband to the war brought by Emperor Dabill Wang a few years ago, she kept the anger and hatred so close to her heart, such that when the skeleton organization asked for recruits, she was all too willing to join,
she wanted to garner favor with them and climb up in their ranks, her plan would have earned her a lot of respect but now it was all soiled by the people who were lucky to escape, she was not happy at all.
"Why didn't you keep them till we came in?" The leader of the group asked the Matron with a frown as he walked back into the hospital to meet her.
He then slapped her across the face, it was so sudden and unexpected that she was stunned momentarily as she managed to regain her composure.
The man took out his gun and shot Mr. Thomas in the leg, he was already unconscious so he didn't respond to the hit, the Matron was also shot at, the gun hit her in the head and she died on the spot, her eyes were wide open in confusion as she took her last breath.
The men turned around and left.
The hospital was so quiet that a fall of a needle could be heard as everyone was extremely scared.
They all stood, glued to the spot as they watched the scene unfold, only after the men had left did they start to whisper among themselves.
"Matron is part of the skeleton organization..."
"unbelievable, I used to think she was a good person..."
"It's a good thing she is dead, I would have killed her myself"
"Shut up, you were scared shitless when the men were here, now you're trying to act all macho"
"This man is still alive, let's save him" A nurse who suddenly discovered Mr. Thomas moved close to him and they put him on a wheeled stretcher and drove him to the ward for immediate surgery.
Lancelot Jr and the rest heaved a sigh of relief when they had put enough distance between themselves and the hospital, the Van kept on speeding like it was being chased, the driver didn't give any room for a slip up as he stepped
on the gas.
"These guys are becoming more and more ruthless and they are infiltrating everywhere now, we need to be more careful in the future", Lancelot Jr said to others as they drove away.