Path of the Hunters [PART 3]

"We knew this day would come..."

The two Laroche assassins came swiftly. Crescent managed to catch one, swing her against the wall, and snap her neck in two. When Crescent was clear, Mani unloaded her gun on the other assassin. One knicked his shoulder, but he deflected the rest with his blades. When he slashed her gun in two, she jumped away. He moved for the room, blade primed...

A fist slammed into his face, smashed him into the wall, spilling his brains onto the floor. Nova removed his fist from the small cavity created. "Avoid that, motherfucker..." he said darkly as the corpse slid to the floor.

Nuzzling Aurora and gently running a finger over Dart's face, Aurélie kept her mind trained. She couldn't transfer her power to them even while holding them. It was something she'd neglected to tell Nova because the last thing she'd wanted him to know was that if a knife came at them and she had no other choice, she was going to let herself be hit to protect you.

It was amazing to love them enough to die for them, yet they were... "You're both so small and new," she whispered. "My babies..." She grabbed the blade an inch from Dart's face, looked up with narrowed eyes. "They are above us. Dropping their knives at random. Get Crescent in 'ere!"

Damien stopped and sighed. "I'm going back upstairs. I don't think I ought to hang around all you since you obviously got this place under control." He turned around ran back upstairs and called back as ran, "Twenty bucks says my kill count is higher than yours!"

"A hundred says mine is!" Cross countered, dashing back up the stairs as well.

*

"I see them!" Crescent said, running into the room, tossing blades into the ceiling. They were dodged, but, through the blades, she could see Cross enter the room above them, blast them all with energy bolts from his gun. "Cross 'as them taken care of."

"We've got these guys handled!" came Cross's voice on Mani's and Nova's comms. "Just point us to where they are!"

"Got it!" Nova said. "We'll handle things here!"

"Hey...no fair, I called the upstairs!" Damien said with a chuckle. "Damn kill-stealer."

"Crescent, there are many of them. Do you feel them? They are advancing quickly. Outside." She shook her head. "I need to get these two out of 'ere."

More explosions came in as the UAV operators blew anything they could see to hell with AGMs, so long as they were a safe distance away from the house.

Damien tapped his earpiece, activating it, "Sit-rep, now."

Cross grumbled. "This place isn't safe, anymore... Damien! We gotta get outta here, now!"

*

"At this rate, we might not make it out," she said hopelessly.

"Like Hell we won't." Nova's eyes had gone black. "I'll turn this entire city into a mountain, if it means my family stays safe..."

"Nova. Mon coeur. Calm down." Aurélie gazed at him, frowning. "I need my clothes and then I need you to take these two while I get dressed. We will be fine."

"I'm workin' on it, Cross!" He growled before yelling into the com, "Drop the vultures, after the disruptions, and I want us covered by hawks as we pile in those pelicans. I want anything that ain't us and movin' a bloody smear on the ground!" He went silent for a moment, then smirked, "Backup in ten, Cross. Shadow Squad is going loud. Let's plow a path to the pad then hold out there. We'll be evacing to a classified location a significant distance away from here."

Nova did not move. Instead, his glare seemed to harden, his eyes growing darker...

"NOVA!" Mani rushed over, injected him in the neck with a silver syringe. Instantly, his eyes recolored, his expression softened, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. "Damn. Been a while since that's happened." She looked up at Aurélie. "I'll watch over the kids."

*

He sidestepped a volley of knives, taking out the throwers. "We won't last ten minutes!" he said frustratedly. "They're everywhere!"

"Seconds, not minutes! Plow a path for everyone downstairs before the disruptions hit! I'll keep you covered the best I can!" He growled as he decapitated three others with a flurry of swings of his sword. "Now move!"

Aurélie closed her eyes a moment, then rose, passing the babies off. She removed the hospital gown and dressed quickly before kneeling beside Nova. She stroked his back, eyes closing. When they opened a moment later, blades seemed to appear out of nowhere and were gone in an instant.

"The Baudoins are no longer an issue," she said quietly. "It will buy us some time."

Crescent knelt down, pulled Nova onto her shoulders. "I don't know what just 'appened with Nova, but I am sure we will find out soon enough."

"We have to move, now," Mani said, babies safely cradled in her hands. "Aurélie, you've got point. Kane, take the rear."

The black wolf, who was silent the whole time, nodded, blades primed in his hands.

*

"Fine!" Pulling out another gun, he cut a cauterized path back down to the medical floor.

The dog nodded, blades spinning between her fingers. "Bonne." She walked out of the room, looked over when she saw the path forming. "Cross, the Baudoins are down. Where do we go from 'ere?"

"Back to the helipad," Cross said, blades blazing from both his weapons. "Shadow Squad's getting us outta here."

"Then, let's move!" Crescent said impatiently. "This guy is very 'eavy!"

Cross led them back to the elevator, where they all moved inside. "We'll be safe in here, for the moment," Cross said.

"Mm..." Aurélie shoved Cross out of the way, snagging a blade as it shot through the floor where's he'd been standing. "Partially safe. Someone take Nova. I need 'im off the ground and I need Crescent to be able to 'elp me."

"Don't bother..." came Nova's voice. He slid off of Crescent's back, and onto his feet, groggily. "I can't believe I let that happen to me..." He grabbed at blade that passed in front of him, and snapped it in two.

Damien was at the top of the shaft, grinning like a madman, ducking and weaving, and counting down the seconds until the disruption bombs dropped and took out their powers, leaving them to fight on more even terms. "Come on, fight me!"

The dog let out a relieved sigh. "Nova..." She got to Mani just in time, diving to nab the blade before it could strike. Another was coming, but much too fast for her stop it. She let it strike, absorbing the blade only a small amount before letting it hit the floor. She rose quickly, ignoring the small nick it had made.

"Bof... 'Ow much longer?"

Just then, the elevator bell rang. "Now!" The doors opened, and Cross came out, guns blazing. Crescent and Kane followed, blades flying. Mani followed, children held close to her, Nova watching all her sides. Sol joined them, shooting off a pair of guns similar to Cross'.

"Do it!" Cross called to Damien. "NOW!!"

Damien smirked. 3...2...1...goodbye powers... More jets filled the air as the shortswords flew in and the disruption bombs were dropped, any and all powers went with them. "Now the tables have turned..." He charged right along with the group, hacking and slashing at anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way that wasn't a friendly as they made their way up to the 'pad where the pelican was waiting, being covered by a pair of hawks the slaughtered anyone that tried to attack. "Load up and lets get the fuck out of here!" He called out as he jumped in.

"Bonne." Aurélie made sure Mani made it in with the currently crying babies before grabbing Crescent's hand and tugging her in. She looked over at Damien. "On this occasion, I appreciate those bombs of yours."

"Hey, as much as you don't or refuse to see it, they were necessary. You Laroche can send your knives through metal, which qualifies this entire transport. Remember, this thing is in double-digit tons, and it was flying pretty low over your car, if those pilots were killed, so would have been you. Now stop complaining about it. Ungrateful bastards..." He shook his head and pounded the pilot's door and the ship got ready to take off. "Strap yourselves in, we're flooring it out of here, so expect to be jerked around a bit..."

"Hold up!" Cross, Sol, Nova, and Kane quickly jumped on, Cross and Sol providing cover fire on the door behind them. "Now we can go!" Cross called amidst his gunfire.