Malchi was scared.
Not for himself, no – he would now almost welcome death, and besides was confident in his ability to get his job (whatever that was this time) done. He was scared for the people he would have to kill, to let himself live a little longer.
Being Anubis’ servant was not pleasurable, but it was sure as hell preferable to oblivion, or so Malachi always told himself at these times. Sometimes, though, he doubted that.
At last he was called forth. Part of Anubis’ attention shifted to him, and gave a quick order, dropping two containers, about the size of a test tube, made of some unknown, semitransparent stone. Bowing, Malachi left to his assigned task.
* * *
Kit-chan was in the process of dragging Michael after her now-burning mother, when too many things seemed to happen at once. First, the appearance of two new people and an explosion knocked everyone off their feet, knocking most people out- when Kit-chan and Michael came to, they saw Indigo also getting up- and then falling after a brief word with her, lifeless to all appearances. Instinctively, Michael dropped to the ground, pulling Kit-chan with him, and dragged Indigo behind the nearest cover- a tree.
“Michael, there’s two people in that crater, and they look hurt!” she shouted, her hearing still messed up by the loud explosion accompanying them, and her voice cracking along with her courage.
“I see them. Here, take these” – he handed her some miscellaneous medical equipment – “and see if you can’t help them. I’ll work on Indigo here.” Trembling, she went over to them and began to administer to H-kat, as Michael started CPR on Indigo, to no avail.
The other Expats began to rouse from the hit they had taken. Seeing no more threats in the immediate area, a small perimeter was made and questions began to circulate among those close to each other. No one noticed the form moving through the trees as quietly as the wind, and Kit-chan, too distressed, trying to save H-kat, and avoiding looking at the mutilated corpse next to him, did not notice that form land silently near her.
Malachi had cut open an artery on the poor Neko’s form, draining some of the blood she had left in her, into the container to give to Anubis. As always, the blood disappeared when it hit the bottom of the container – being, as it was, just the physical thing needed to tie the spirit of the Neko to the container. Closing the lid over it, he looked at the two beings he would need to destroy.
The Neko would be nothing, being on the verge of death already, but the thing next to him
…a human child? How odd to see one here.
He did not wish to kill this one, so he made a quick decision to make a “slight mistake,” like he did whenever he did not want to do some of Anubis’ dirty work but did not want to be destroyed.
He ground his foot into the earth, making a slight noise.
Kit-chan, being more concerned with saving H-kat’s life, did not hear.
Annoyed, Malachi ground his foot into the dirt again, this time brushing up against Kit-chan’s backside.
To this she turned around, saw a being with spines all along his skin who had snuck up on her without trouble, and promptly panicked. Again, her training at the hands of Michael and her father paid off, as she screamed, put out her hands and blasted the creature many yards away from her.
After hitting a tree and nearly losing conciousness, Malachi reminded himself never to underestimate creatures in this place. Just as the other Expatariates turned to see what was happening. He grinned, and decided that he would have to give them a run for their money to get away from this safety.
“Who the hell are you?” Shouted out Michael, taking out his spear and pointing it at Malachi.
Similar challenges rang out from the surrounding area, as the rest of the group converged on Malachi. Good. Nothing too threatening can be thrown around at so close a range. Quickly he judged who would be the biggest threat to him- he picked Kit-chan and started to run towards her.
“No!” Michael threw his spear at Malachi, fearing a burst of fire would also set Kit-chan aflame. His aim was true, but Malachi was on watch- flexing his arm, he chose the right moment to act and deflected the spear up into the trees. Immediately, the spear zipped back into Michael’s hands, apparently of its own accord, but he had no time for another throw.
Kit-chan had panicked, and before she could react to him he had jumped over her, done a flip and grabbed onto her shoulders. Using his momentum, he landed and swung her around, throwing her into Michael, sending them both rolling into a tree and out, for a few moments at least.
A few moments is all I need, thought Malachi. He continued on to the next obstacle in his path- Angel. She got off a few shots at him, which he deftly avoided, and continued at her. Icy, almost right next to Angel, had a dot on him and was going to encase this being’s legs in ice when Malachi bowled Angel over- right on top of Icy. Instead of freezing up Malachi, he encased most of Angel’s hips and a bit of her legs.
Wren, seeing the thing zipping by, transformed quickly into her dragon form and let off a blast of fire, which Malachi kept ahead of by mere inches- his feet and legs would be singed when he got back. Unfortunately, the fire was also dreadfully close to Clay, who had to dance out of the way instead of take a pot shot at Malachi’s head.
Off he went, into the darkness, with his prize- the soul of a Neko. He could get the other at a later date.
And off went Kit-chan, panicking and searching for her mother at the same time, stepping on Michael as she got up.
“The he – Kit-chan!” Michael shouted. “Damn it! Someone come with me to get that girl back, along with her mom, the rest of you stay here and try to keep him” – he gestured to H-kat – “alive.” Off he ran.
The rest of the group looked at each other, and shrugged. No one liked being ordered around, but whoever this was had the right idea. They could discuss him being too bossy later. Icy said “I’ll catch up fastest,” and after waving his hand at Angel, making the ice break into small pieces, he took to the trees. Wren shape shifted into the form of a comely woman, and began to help H-kat (she had some medical knowledge, if a bit crude,) Angel massaged her thighs and legs, trying to get feeling back into them and Clay stayed around, ready for that thing if it decided for another try.
As Icy caught up with Michael, they didn’t bother with much talking- Icy already trusted Michael a bit, as he had apparently saved his life once already. The nimble monkey and the long-legged adult soon caught up to Kit-chan, an awkward adolescent. Grabbing on to her shoulder, Michael forced her to a halt.
“Kit-chan! Don’t EVER do that again, you could have gotten yourself KILLED. We don’t know what other things could be in the area, and we need to stick together to find your mom proper, and then we can come up with a plan to do whatever needs doing.”
“Michael…”
“None of this missy! If we weren’t in a goddamn combat zone you’d find that you weren’t too old to be spanked, I – "
“Michael…who the hell is that?”
Michael finally stopped, and looked, not recognizing the person. Icy was staring, wide-eyed but not frightened, and Kit-chan was shaking her head in disbelief. She had heard of him, but she didn’t count on meeting him…
“Icy! So good to see you. And Kit-chan, progeny of my greatest project…a pleasure to finally see you in person.”
Orochi.
_________________ delenda est communism
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