Path of the Hunters [PART 3]

"Tests conclude that once they move out of range or once it dissipates, the effects vanish as quickly as they came on."

"Good. I need your squad to move out, now. And you will be paid, as agreed."

"Just give us a location. Hell, I'll even pick up the girls as a bonus if you want us to."

"5658 Diamond St. They're probably already gone from there, by now, but that's a good place to start."

"Alright, hey, they got any form of a GPS in the car or cell? That would make it easier to track them..."

"I keep track of everything, so yes."

He nodded, "Then that makes this hell of a lot easier." He tapped his earpiece to activate it and issued a few orders to Katherine. When he finished, he leaned back in the chair and smirked, "So, got anything to drink?"

"Water." He grabbed a bottle of spring water, slid it across the table to Damien. He then stood from his seat. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go help my friends." He swung on his coat, concealing the guns at his belt.

He nodded, "Yeah, chase scenes aren't my area of expertise. All the jittering throws off my aim. Good luck out there." He grabbed the water and stood up, "I'm heading back to base. Call me if you need me, Cross."

He nodded. "Take care of yourself." With that, the echidna disappeared through the door behind him.

He nodded and left via his personal hog.

Aurélie panted, letting knives fly. She knew she'd taken down many of of the Baudoins, but not a single Laroche seemed to have been affected. "Crescent, they are following us!" She said it in French, not taking the time to translate it.

"I know!" She swerved out the way of another volley of blades. "C'mon, Nova! Where are you?!"

Not but half a second later, the roar of jets filled the air as several black manta-like craft, better known as Shortsword bombers, flew in and several objects dropped from them, slamming into the ground at strategic intervals around their path. From those objects emitted a field that completely disabled the powers of anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within them.

A knife got stuck midway through the car and all senses of the Laroches and the Baudoins vanished. The dog blinked. "What in hell...?" A bullet tore trough a back window, shattering it.

"Shit!" She swerved again in shock, noticing she couldn't sense the metal around her anymore. "What did those things do to them-to us-that they start using guns? And Why can't I sense the metal like before?!" She continued to swerve away from gunfire.

"I don't know," she snapped. "The Baudoins are taught gun-use, aren't they? The Laroches are, but rarely use that training."

Then a pelican flew in and flew rather low over the car as the back hatch opened, revealing a black armor-clad ODST manning a rather large gattling gun that started spewing bullets behind them as the pelican shifted into position then stopping to allow the magnetic clamps to activate and lift the vehicle off the road. Both heavy transport and car flew off as a pair of hawks provided suppressive fire until they were a safe distance away.

Aurélie clutched the sides of the seat. "Fuck," she breathed.

Crescent looked around at the sight, also clutching tight to her seat. "This must be those Shadow Squad guys. They certainly know how to make an entrance." Her eyes caught the sight of blood, and widened. She was shot in the shoulder!

The pelican flew along and deposited them at the helipad at Cross's place. One would have to take note that the ship and car were cloaked the entire flight, preventing them from being tracked by sight alone. Once the car was gently set down on the pad, the ship left.

The dog reached over, grabbing Crescent's hand. "You smell of blood. Where were you hurt?"

She clutched her shoulder with her other hand, and noticed she could sense the metal. In an instant, the bullet was out, and in her bloodied hand. "...Bastards shot me." Her head fell back on a pained groan.

"Whatever the hell happened back there is to blame..." She scowled, getting out of her seatbelt and shoving open the door. "Damn it," she mumbled, staring at the ground. The baby within her seemed to be doing backflips and frontflips simultaneously.

In the next instant, people were running up to the car. Nova came to meet Aurélie on her side, smiled at her, despite the many scrapes and cuts that covered him. "Sorry I'm late, honey. Had a little trouble, myself."

On the other side, Cross flung open the door, teeth gritted at Crescent's wounded shoulder. "Dammit. Mani! Sol! Get a stretcher!"