"You are the only person?!" One of the cloaked members asked, but I ignored them, looking at the one who had introduced themselves as the leader of the group.
"How long till you are ready to leave, and do you have a map of the route that we will be traveling?" I asked, and the man pulled back his hood to reveal a rough-looking face that was missing one eye.
"Yeah, but Kal is right. Aren't there supposed to be more people with you? The information we have is stolen, and many people know that we have this information, so I am expecting trouble. Are you going to be able to deal with that alone?" The man asked me, and I nodded, then had a bug guard tap the one called Kal on the shoulder, making him almost scream and jump back when he saw what was behind him.
"I will keep you all safe, but I need the route so I can secure it ahead of you. I will be working from the shadows, so I won't draw attention to you all. I need you all to just keep moving at a standard pace, stopping when I ask," I explained as the leader of the group examined my robot closer.
"So, you really are what they say? Never met a Numerian before, but I am interested to see what doing a job with someone like you. My name's Grelg, but everyone just calls me Scar," The man said, pulling out a tough piece of paper with something that looked like a child would draw, but I scanned the paper anyway and handed it back.
"We are ready to leave," Grelg said, motioning for the three others that were behind him. I was not sure what to expect from them; they had been cloaked, so there was no way of knowing who or even what they were until now. I would just have to trust that everything will work out as planned, but deep down in my burning core, I could sense that something was off about this mission.
I quickly got into position, keeping watch over the group as we walked through Deaths Grove, avoiding the main street and sticking to the shadows. Most people did not seem to notice us, save for a few stray glances, not that it made me feel any better. My bug guard followed close behind, ready to tackle anything that tried to harm Scar or his crew.
Scar seemed kind enough, but he was also a Manta Clan member, and he clearly knew how to keep secrets. I respected that, especially when it came to sensitive information like the one Scar was carrying. We were getting closer to our destination, and I could not shake the feeling that something was about to go wrong. On cue, Thomas appeared in front of us with a large group of Mindless behind him.
I had expected this, but it was still unnerving. Fortunately, my plans had already been laid out, and all I needed to do was execute them swiftly and precisely. Before anyone could react, I sent my guard to rush them and then pushed the backs of my group. "Get moving, and don't stop til you get to where you are going," I ordered, and then switched to comms. "Kilna, drop them."
Floating about 1000 feet in the air, two large metal birds dropped three silver knights. Once released, the knight's bodies transformed into solid cubes to prevent the damage of impact, and they hurtled at the ground.
I turned back to the bug being blasted back at me, but I easily caught it, and it transformed into a silver guard as the three other cubes smacked into the ground around me. As they transformed back into silver knights, I put down the one I had caught and smiled viciously at Thomas, who was panting from whatever magic he had used.
"So, you are here for me again?" I asked, and Thomas straightened up with his own smile, but it was so snide that I wanted nothing more than to punch it.
"You see, I told you last time that I was going to get you, and I do like to make good on my spoken word," he replied, and one of the silver knights took off, making it 4 on 6. There were others, but I was waiting for him to call them so I could see how they were communicating before I took them out.
"Good, let me kill you faster, but I am curious; who gave me up?" I asked, knowing full well that it must be Alizra, but I was trying to appear less informed than I was, and it worked.
"Oh! You are going to love this! Your own employer sold you out just so she could find her stupid whore of a sister! Too bad that she is going down after you, but that doesn't matter to you because you will be torn apart, piece by piece!" Thomas laughed and then raised the bracket on his wrist to his mouth. "Activate the Mindless!"
The Mindless were all adult males, except for one, who was a little girl, but they all looked almost lifeless. The moment Thomas called the order, they rushed forward, magic already coming into existence.
Time slowed as I targeted the rock in my hand at the same time as Thomas's hands rose to summon magic.
[Target: Rock]
[Use: Subdue Humans]
[Transformation: Semi-Automatic Tranquilizer Pistol with Assisted targeting and Thermal Targeting]
The second time sped back up, I had already targeted the four men and shot them, but the little girl had disappeared.
'Above you! She is a Shadow Walker! They use portals!' Kilna ordered; right as a portal opened above, I stepped back and nearly was hit but a crack of lightning from it.
The portal closed almost instantly, and another appeared, making the same trip, but I had my gun up to the black portal and fired, but was hit by lighting at the same time. The electricity caused me to freeze for a moment as the portal closed, but Thomas closed the distance and put a hand to my chest before my systems could force movement.
"Let's see how you like this!" He said, and then I slowed as millions of volts of electricity spread through my body, and I was blasted backward.