Story 5: To overthrow the Utopia (Part 5)
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:48 pm
Note: Since the characters will travel more in this story than what they used to previously, there is a link to a quick schema of the country below. The thing is not on scale (Korê should be smaller; Ares and Olympus should be bigger). It's more a quick schema to help visualize which Province is where.
https://i.goopics.net/W2j2w.jpg
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Part 1
Thea was impatient to return to the fold. No matter the place in which she travelled, she never changed. She was a city girl through and through. She only felt at home in the capital city, surrounded by its gigantic skyscrapers and the streets bustling with activity. And, above all, she would never get tired of seeing the sunset on top of Olympus' skyline.
Currently, she was driving through the Province of Korê. Recently, the police and the army had advised Olympian citizens against driving alone on Korê's secondary roads, but Thea didn't see what the danger could be. She had used these roads for years and she never had any problem.
Thea was adjusting the blue scarf showing that she was part of the Zeno Faction when she saw the black-haired woman. She had burst out of some bushes on the side of the road. She looked in pain and was waving at her to attract her attention.
And was it blood on her T-shirt? Was she hurt?
I have to do something!
Thea hit the brakes and stopped the car. Concerned, she stepped out of the vehicle and approached the woman. The latter's black hair were a mess and her clothes were dirty and damaged. She was holding a bag against her.
“Are you alright?" she asked. "You seem hurt. You... You have blood on your clothes...”
“This is not my blood.” the woman answered.
Something is her tone alerted Thea, but she didn't have the time to react. The black-haired woman had already moved. Suddenly, Thea felt something cold and metallic on her throat. It took her two seconds to realize that this was the blade of a knife.
I'm going to die! she thought.
“Don't move and don't talk, Olympian woman." the black-haired woman said. "Your people have hurt several people that I loved. You seem like a good person. Good enough to try to help someone that was hurt. So I'm making a huge effort to refrain myself from simply slitting your throat. Do everything I say, and I will leave you alive and mostly unharmed. Try to resist or call for help, and I'll kill you. Do you understand?”
“Y... Yes...”
“Good. Now, open the passenger door and sit on the seat.”
Thea complied.
“Put your hands in front of you and cross your wrists.”
Thea winced when the woman tightly tied her hands with a plastic zip-tie. The woman then buckled Thea's seatbelt and closed the door.
What is she...?
The woman sat behind the wheel, threw her bag on the backseat and quickly drove off. She had closed her jacket to hide her white T-shirt covered with blood. Thea bit her lips.
The woman suddenly took a sharp turn. They were now driving on a forest road.
“Where... Where are we going?” Thea asked.
The woman didn't answer. After a few minutes, she left the road and drove off on a dirt track. When they arrived in the thickest part of these woods, she stopped the car. Quickly, the woman exited the car, opened the passenger door, unbuckled Thea's seat and grabbed her by the shoulder to make her step out of the vehicle.
A brief moment, Thea was tempted to scream. But then she realized that they were alone in an isolated area. Nobody would come to help.
And then the woman would kill her...
Suddenly, Thea was surprised to see the woman remove her zip-ties.
“Now, strip.”
Thea's eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Strip. You're allowed to keep your underwear, but I want you to take off everything else.”
The woman had drawn her knife again, so Thea saw no other way. She took off her blue scarf, brown cardigan sweater and grey T-shirt. Her red and white checkered bra was now in full display, and it made her blush because of the embarassement. Her shoes were removed next. Then, her shaking hands grabbed the button of her jeans. She hesitated. She really didn't want to remove the last bastion of her dignity.
“Quicker!” the woman barked.
Thea held back her tears, unbuttoned her jeans and made it slide on her legs before kicking it back. She was wearing plain white cotton panties under it. Thea was shaking a little now, out of fear.
“Wh... What now?” she whispered.
The woman approached her. “Now, you sleep.” A swift neck chop sent poor Thea to slumberland.
**************
Aster didn't like dying her hair black. It was making her think of Emery. And the way she was behaving right now made her look even more like the assassin. However, she was too angry to care right now.
The Olympian woman hadn't dyed her mousey blond hair, using her scarf to show the colour of her Faction.
Aster roughly rolled the underwear-clad driver on her belly. Aster had a few tools in her bag, including a coil of strong nylon white ropes. Crossing the blonde's hands behind her back, she swiftly tied her wrists and arms, using the tightest and most complex knots she knew. She then bound the woman's legs just as tightly. As she was securing her, she couldn't help but think.
Who else? Who else had been caught? Who else had died? Are the others okay? Aaria, Klenia, Mikani, Shayna...
She was very tempted to make the Olympian woman pay for the others...
Aster shook her hand and chased that thought with a scoff of anger. She filled her victim's mouth with a sponge and gagged her with a tightly tied piece of cloth.
Then, she threw her own clothes covered with blood in some bushes, only keeping her black underwear and her shoes, and put on the driver's jeans, T-shirt, cardigan and scarf. She went through her victim's wallet and found cash, as well as an ID card.
Thea Pericles. Olympian citizen of the Zeno Faction. That explains the blue scarf...
With her new clothes, money and car, Aster would be able to flee Korê and go to the Province of Lakeland. She just hoped that her friends were doing the same...
No. I must not think of them, or of Dimitri, for now. I sent them a message to give them a rendezvous point at South Lake City, in the Province of Lakeland. I just have to hope that they will be able to join me there.
But still, she couldn't help but think...
What if I'm the last one? What if the others are arrested, or dead?
She felt her anger rise again and looked at the Olympian woman. Snapping her neck would be easy. And at least someone from Olympus would pay...
That's what Emery would do... a little voice said in her head, and that simple thought doused her anger.
She turned around to leave, but couldn't resist taking one last glance at her victim. Tightly bound and gagged, Thea would probably be unable to free herself. And she would probably not be found before days, perhaps weeks. She was looking so vulnerable...
Aster closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She calmed her anger and forgot her thirst of revenge. She remembered the promise she made to herself several years ago.
Ultimately, Thea became her victim because she was nice. She wanted to help someone whom she thought was hurt, while a lesser person would have looked the other way and continued to drive. She had tried to do the right thing, and got brutally assaulted for her trouble. She didn't deserve what happened to her. And she certainly didn't deserve to be left here, alone and scared, for days. Of course, Olympus oppressed a lot of people who didn't deserve it. But Aster wanted to be better than Olympus...
Aster pondered taking Thea with her, to release her later, but ultimately decided against it. She may be stopped at Lakeland's border and her vehicle would be searched. So she settled for the next best thing.
Gently this time, she rolled Thea on her belly and loosened her bonds, enough for her to be able to free herself alone, even though it would require for her to struggle for a while. Then, she took Thea's phone in one of the pockets of her jeans and left it near her, to allow her to call for help once she would be free.
Then, she returned to the car and drove off. She needed to go to Lakeland.
She needed to escape the Olympian police and army, that were still on her trail.
**************
They underestimated the Cartel.
Once Calypso Callianass, former head of the Callianass Cartel, was exfiltrated from Naïad to be kept prisoner in one of their hideouts of Korê, they all thought that they would never hear of her Cartel again. They were wrong.
They underestimated the Cartel or, more precisely, they underestimated the thirst of revenge of Sao, Calypso's former bodyguard and lover; just as they underestimated the resources she still had access to thanks to the help of Max Shroud, Calypso's accountant.
“Kinda ironic, don't you think?” Klenia commented. “We managed to evade both the police and the army after they raided Aster's shop, only to have the bad luck to come across the three last persons still loyal to Callianass.”
“Do you think we lost them?” Mikani asked, ignoring her comment.
“I think. At least for now.”
Currently, the two rebels were at Border Hills, a town built right at the border between the Province of Korê and the Province of Ares. Usually, the place was rather quiet. However, Klenia and Mikani had arrived at a time when the town was hosting a huge history festival: a whole week full of conferences, spectacles, parades, historical reconstructions... There were even cosplayers dressed in historical costumes walking on the streets.
Of course, Klenia and Mikani were using the crowd to hide themselves from their pursuers.
Sao, seconded by Max Shroud and the woman serving as his bodyguard, was on their trail since they fled Aster's shop, after the building was raided by the police. Max Shroud was the kind of man who had contacts everywhere. He knew that Calypso was in Korê, hence the reason why he and the two bodyguards were in Wheat Junction at the time of the assault. When Shroud learned that the police was about to raid Aster's shop, he quickly put two and two together, and correctly deduced that Aster and her friends were all part of the Rebellion. Perhaps had he even understood that they were the ones who captured his boss... Either way, the three criminals needed a rebel to interrogate to learn were Calypso was hidden. Therefore, they tried to take advantage of the raid on Aster's shop to capture someone. They almost caught Klenia, but Mikani managed to save her just in time; and, in order to escape both the police and Sao, the two women hid in a train to flee to Border Hills.
However, in the confusion, they were separated from Aster, Aaria and Shayna. And, to make things worst, Shroud knew that they were in Border Hills. Sao and the second bodyguard were currently looking for them. Luckily, they had managed to lose them.
Now, all they had to do was to continue to evade them. In a few hours, a train was going to leave Border Hills. Its destination? South Lake City, in the Province of Lakeland. The town in which Aster told them to meet up with her in the last message she sent them.
Klenia was worried for Aster. And for Aaria. And especially for Shayna.
Mikani looked at her. She was understanding her perfectly.
“I'm sure they're alright. They are resourceful.”
“I know. It's just... This time, we're in big trouble. I've never imagined that they would one day figure out that Aster was part of the Rebellion... Her cover was flawless.”
“But she still had an emergency way-out. Let's go to South Lake City. We'll figure things out once we get there.”
“Got it. I hope Shayna will manage to go there... She rarely left Naïad before.”
“You care for her that much, huh?”
Klenia hesitated. “Yes. I think I do.” Klenia never tackled that subject with her. But, just like Aster and Aaria before her, Mikani had long understood that her friend was into girls. And Klenia had been attracted to the resourceful thief, the first person to get the drop on her during a mission, almost since the moment they first met.
“She's not a child. She survived East Harbour's streets. She'll manage.” Mikani answered to lift her spirits.
Klenia smiled. “You're right.”
Suddenly, Mikani turned back.
“Now, hurry up.” she said. “I think I saw Sao. We'll lose her in the town's alleyways.”
“Geez... She never quits... Between her and the police... Can things get any worse?” Klenia muttered to herself.
**************
“I tell you it's her!” Macha said to her friend. “The woman who keeps mugging me! I finally found her!”
The young redhead couldn't believe it. Perhaps it truly was Fate after all... A few minutes ago, she was quietely drinking at a sidewalk café with Hana, enjoying the warm afternoon. Then, she saw her walking across the street. Sure, she was wearing different clothes. But Macha would have recognized her face anywhere.
As soon as she had recognized the woman, Macha decided to follow her. She left money for the drink on the table, grabbed Hana's hand, and soon the two friends were following Macha's archnemesis.
“Macha! We were supposed to go to the history festival to relax...” Hana complained. “And to lie low for a while. You know, after the 'incident' with the cheerleader team.” she added.
“They never found any proof it was me. And the b*tches deserved it!” Macha retorted.
“Did you really have to leave them naked in the middle of the gymnasium?”
“That's not the point right now! Right now, the point is that I finally have a chance to get back at that crazy woman, the same way I got back at Hilda and her posse! This time, she won't jump on me by surprise. I will jump on her!”
“Macha... This will only end badly for us... Again...” Hana commented while adjusting her glasses.
“Nonsense! You will see. I'm feeling it right now. I taught Hilda a lesson. Now, it's the crazy woman's turn. I'm feeling it. I'm back at the top!”
**************
“Are you okay, Maxie? Do you manage to keep up?” Reka asked.
“I'm fine. For now.” he answered.
Max Shroud maybe looked like a scrawny shrimp, but Sao learned years ago that the accountant was a lot more endurant than his appearance could lead to believe.
Reka, the bodyguard assigned to Max by Calypso, looked at Sao. She was waiting for her instructions. After days of working and living together, the trio had found a good way to work together. While Max was the uncontested leader when it came to their money or to get in touch with his informants, Sao was the one calling the shots when they were on the field.
“We continue to chase them. I know they're nearby.”
**************
When she saw the jogger running near her hiding spot with nobody else in sight, Shayna knew that she had to take her chance. She had played cat and mouse with the police all day yesterday, and she ultimately managed to lose them in Wheat Junction's poor areas. Then, she discreetely went to the town's main central park, a huge green space with plenty of bushes and trees to hide. Mentally, she was thanking Klenia for showing her the town when she first arrived. Her original plan was to then go to the train station, but she realized that she couldn't go there with her current clothes. While the police didn't have a description of her face, since she wasn't a known rebel or a known 'employee' of Aster, they however had a description of her outfit. She couldn't walk in the town with her current grey sweater and blue jeans.
But if she changed clothes...
The jogger was a rather young woman, probably among Shayna's age, perhaps a little older. She was wearing a dark blue tracksuit, with white strips on the shoulders and arms as well as on the sides of the legs. Her brown hair were tied into a long ponytail. She was listening to some music with her earphones.
Shayna crouched behind some bushes and waited. When the brunette jogged past her hiding spot, she grabbed her by the back of her collar. The jogger let out a small grunt of surprise before disappearing in the bushes. Shayna wasn't very muscular, but she had the element of surprise on her side and the brown-haired jogger was already tired because of her exercice. The struggles in the bushes lasted a few instants, but they ended with Shayna victorious.
The jogger was now knocked out. Shayna dragged her by the ankles into a small depression, well-concealed by the nearby bushes, and wasted no time stripping her down to her underwear. The brunette's sports bra and boyshorts matched with her tracksuit: plain dark blue.
One of the first advice Klenia gave to Shayna when they started their partnership was to always have some binding material on her. Today, the thief was glad she had listened to her friend. In the pockets of her sweater, a roll of string was stored. The cord was thin, but also very resistant. Shayna crossed the woman's wrists behind her back before binding them, then she tied up her ankles. A third string was used to hog-tie the brunette, connecting her wrists and ankles. With her switchblade, Shayna cut part of her sweater to fill the woman's mouth. Then, she used an adequate piece of cloth she kept on herself as a cleave gag, and another as a blindfold. With the woman secured, Shayna changed into her new tracksuit and shoes. She took the woman's walkman and emerged from the bushes.
Now, all she had to do was to jog to the train station. Perhaps steal another set of clothes, and take the first train for Lakeland.
**************
Many policemen and policewomen were still searching the town for her. While she had been evading them all day last day, Aaria had concoted a plan. She had decided that it was the turn for the prey to become the hunter...
The woman led her pursuers in the huge abandoned industrial complex of the northern district of Wheat Junction.
She knew that place like the back of her hand. A labyrinth of poorly lit corridors, offices, storage rooms and abandoned engine rooms. And that wasn't even counting the small backdoors or the hidden passageways created by the people who started to squat the place after the company's bankrupt. It used to be a hideout of the Rebellion, before they abandoned because it was too big to be defended in case of an attack.
It was also Aaria's playground.
Her foes' number was their biggest advantage, as it allowed them to cover a lot of field. However, their number was also their biggest disadvantage, as it meant that it would take them more time to realize that one of their agents was missing.
The agent in question wasn't an ordinary policewoman. She was from the special operations forces. Therefore, she wasn't wearing the traditional police uniform. Instead, she was wearing a grey uniform jacket and grey uniform pants, both clothes having a camouflage motif on them. Her feet were protected by black thick heavy combat boots, her hands by black combat gloves and her torso by a dark grey sleeveless protective waistcoat. A radio and several weapons were strapped to her belt, and she was currently holding a machine gun. She also had a helmet. However, there was one weakness in her uniform. The throat wasn't properly protected.
“Still nothing.” the policewoman said in the receiver of her radio. “I'll continue to search the block and then meet up with Csilla.”
Aaria was waiting in one of the small darkened locker rooms, hidden in a corner, completely silent. She could hear her target's footsteps approaching. The agent entered the room, raising her weapon. However, Aaria's position in the room allowed her to be in the woman's blind spot. The agent took a few steps forward. Aaria jumped on her from behind. She locked the woman's head in her arms and applied a vicious sleeper-hold.
Reflexively, the agent let go of her weapon and tried to use her hands to loosen Aaria's grip. To no avail. For a member of a supposed elite corp of the police, she was gurgling rather pathetically in her desperate attempts to breathe. Aaria took a few steps back to make the agent loose balance, rendering her struggles even more useless. She was running out of oxygen now and her frantic movements soon began to ease. Then, after one final muffled gasp, she went limp. She had passed out. Aaria waited a moment, hesitated, but then loosened her grip to allow the unconscious woman to breathe again. Almost gently, Aaria laid her on the ground.
Since at least one other agent was nearby, Aaria quickly stripped her victim down to her underwear: a green tank top, black control briefs and black socks. The unbuckled helmet revealed short black hair, that were going down to the neck, dyed with strips of red. Judging by her face, the woman was in her late thirties. Aaria decided to waste no time with complex restrains. She seated the woman and moved her hands behind her back. On the agent's belt, there were handcuffs. She used them to cuff the woman's hands behind the pipes of an out of order radiator. During her escape yesterday, Aaria had managed to recover a roll of strong thick duct tape, of the brand they usually used to secure their uniform donors due to its incredible resistance. She wrapped the tape several times around the woman's lower face, being careful not getting hair tangled in the adhesive as it would make the tape looser. A final strip was used as a blindfold.
Then, Aaria changed into her new uniform: protective waistcoat, uniform jacket and pants, combat gloves. She liked the helmet, which would hide her hair. The boots were a little too big, but she could still walk in them. Aaria quickly searched the uniform's pockets and the belt. She was happy to see that, besides her machine gun and handgun, the policewoman was also equipped with a stun gun. In the breast pocket, Aaria found a picture showing the woman smiling with a man and a young girl that was her spitting image. She sighed and put the picture down on the ground near the bound-and-gagged agent. She kneeled to check if she was breathing correctly through her nose, which she was, then she took the machine gun and secured the weapon's strap on her shoulder.
She knew she didn't have much time before her victim was found, but she would normally have enough time to leave the building. At least if she neutralized the other agent that was currently searching the building... She exited the storage room.
She had taken a few steps in the corridor when a female voice called her.
“Diane? Is that you?”
The woman, dressed in the agents' combat gear, was at the other side of the corridor. She had just arrived from the other part of the building. From afar, she had recognized Aaria's uniform, but couldn't see her face because of the building's obscurity.
Talk about timing... Aaria thought.
Aaria answered her with the hand gestures used by the Olympian police forces, as she didn't want to risk having the other woman (probably that Csilla that was mentioned earlier) recognize her as an impostor after hearing her voice.
She mentioned the storage room.
This room. Danger. Back me up.
Csilla nodded and answered with a hand gesture.
Okay.
She quickly approached.
Aaria knew she only had a few seconds before the agent would see that she wasn't Diane. As soon as Csilla was close enough, one second before she realized that something was wrong, Aaria hit her as hard as she could in the gut with the butt of her machine gun. Even with the protective waistcoat, Csilla bended forward, the wind knocked out of her. With one hand, Aaria grabbed the stun gun she stole and, before her opponent could recover from the blow, she sent a good jolt in her neck that instantly knocked her out. Aaria caught the falling agent and dragged her inside the storage room.
Aaria had read somewhere the story of a lone spy who, during an infiltration, had the idea to strip the two guards she knocked out in order to confuse her enemies by making them think there were two intruders. She decided to put the idea to the test. Soon, the black-haired Csilla was down to her black tank top, red high-cut briefs and white socks. Her hands were cuffed behind the radiator, near the already secured Diane, and she was gagged and blindfolded with tape in a fashion similar to the first unlucky agent. Aaria located a nearby ventilation duct and hid Csilla's gear inside. Then, she left the storage room, for good this time, leaving some 'alone' time to her two still-unconscious victims.
She would now exit the building through a back door and leave undetected the area searched by the police forces. Now that the police was busy searching the northern district, she could safely go to one of her small hideouts in the southern district. She would change there, then she would leave the town and go to Lakeland. Aster told them to regroup at South Lake City. Thalès' contacts could probably help her.
On her way, Aaria couldn't help but think of the events of yesterday.
The raid on Aster's shop.
The escape.
Aaria had quickly lost sight of the others in the confusion. Then, she had received Aster's message on her phone. Aster had been forced to steal a car to escape the police, and she couldn't go back in town.
Wheat Junction wasn't safe for them anymore. They had to flee the town. Aster was telling them to regroup in South Lake City, outside of the Province of Korê, to escape their pursuers. They would then try to contact the resistance network of Cérès, Emery's boss. Aster was worried. She knew that its wasn't her cover that had been blown. It was Dimitri's.
She was worried for him.
Perhaps Thalès' informants knew something... Aaria had to find one of them. But first, she would need a change of clothes. The agent's gear was going to be useful to leave the area searched by the police, but she would need to remove it as soon as she could to flee undetected.
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Author's note: And voilà, this is it. I don't know if it will be divided into two parts or if I will keep everything in one big post, but we have reached the last arc of the story. I hope you will like it.
https://i.goopics.net/W2j2w.jpg
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Part 1
Thea was impatient to return to the fold. No matter the place in which she travelled, she never changed. She was a city girl through and through. She only felt at home in the capital city, surrounded by its gigantic skyscrapers and the streets bustling with activity. And, above all, she would never get tired of seeing the sunset on top of Olympus' skyline.
Currently, she was driving through the Province of Korê. Recently, the police and the army had advised Olympian citizens against driving alone on Korê's secondary roads, but Thea didn't see what the danger could be. She had used these roads for years and she never had any problem.
Thea was adjusting the blue scarf showing that she was part of the Zeno Faction when she saw the black-haired woman. She had burst out of some bushes on the side of the road. She looked in pain and was waving at her to attract her attention.
And was it blood on her T-shirt? Was she hurt?
I have to do something!
Thea hit the brakes and stopped the car. Concerned, she stepped out of the vehicle and approached the woman. The latter's black hair were a mess and her clothes were dirty and damaged. She was holding a bag against her.
“Are you alright?" she asked. "You seem hurt. You... You have blood on your clothes...”
“This is not my blood.” the woman answered.
Something is her tone alerted Thea, but she didn't have the time to react. The black-haired woman had already moved. Suddenly, Thea felt something cold and metallic on her throat. It took her two seconds to realize that this was the blade of a knife.
I'm going to die! she thought.
“Don't move and don't talk, Olympian woman." the black-haired woman said. "Your people have hurt several people that I loved. You seem like a good person. Good enough to try to help someone that was hurt. So I'm making a huge effort to refrain myself from simply slitting your throat. Do everything I say, and I will leave you alive and mostly unharmed. Try to resist or call for help, and I'll kill you. Do you understand?”
“Y... Yes...”
“Good. Now, open the passenger door and sit on the seat.”
Thea complied.
“Put your hands in front of you and cross your wrists.”
Thea winced when the woman tightly tied her hands with a plastic zip-tie. The woman then buckled Thea's seatbelt and closed the door.
What is she...?
The woman sat behind the wheel, threw her bag on the backseat and quickly drove off. She had closed her jacket to hide her white T-shirt covered with blood. Thea bit her lips.
The woman suddenly took a sharp turn. They were now driving on a forest road.
“Where... Where are we going?” Thea asked.
The woman didn't answer. After a few minutes, she left the road and drove off on a dirt track. When they arrived in the thickest part of these woods, she stopped the car. Quickly, the woman exited the car, opened the passenger door, unbuckled Thea's seat and grabbed her by the shoulder to make her step out of the vehicle.
A brief moment, Thea was tempted to scream. But then she realized that they were alone in an isolated area. Nobody would come to help.
And then the woman would kill her...
Suddenly, Thea was surprised to see the woman remove her zip-ties.
“Now, strip.”
Thea's eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Strip. You're allowed to keep your underwear, but I want you to take off everything else.”
The woman had drawn her knife again, so Thea saw no other way. She took off her blue scarf, brown cardigan sweater and grey T-shirt. Her red and white checkered bra was now in full display, and it made her blush because of the embarassement. Her shoes were removed next. Then, her shaking hands grabbed the button of her jeans. She hesitated. She really didn't want to remove the last bastion of her dignity.
“Quicker!” the woman barked.
Thea held back her tears, unbuttoned her jeans and made it slide on her legs before kicking it back. She was wearing plain white cotton panties under it. Thea was shaking a little now, out of fear.
“Wh... What now?” she whispered.
The woman approached her. “Now, you sleep.” A swift neck chop sent poor Thea to slumberland.
**************
Aster didn't like dying her hair black. It was making her think of Emery. And the way she was behaving right now made her look even more like the assassin. However, she was too angry to care right now.
The Olympian woman hadn't dyed her mousey blond hair, using her scarf to show the colour of her Faction.
Aster roughly rolled the underwear-clad driver on her belly. Aster had a few tools in her bag, including a coil of strong nylon white ropes. Crossing the blonde's hands behind her back, she swiftly tied her wrists and arms, using the tightest and most complex knots she knew. She then bound the woman's legs just as tightly. As she was securing her, she couldn't help but think.
Who else? Who else had been caught? Who else had died? Are the others okay? Aaria, Klenia, Mikani, Shayna...
She was very tempted to make the Olympian woman pay for the others...
Aster shook her hand and chased that thought with a scoff of anger. She filled her victim's mouth with a sponge and gagged her with a tightly tied piece of cloth.
Then, she threw her own clothes covered with blood in some bushes, only keeping her black underwear and her shoes, and put on the driver's jeans, T-shirt, cardigan and scarf. She went through her victim's wallet and found cash, as well as an ID card.
Thea Pericles. Olympian citizen of the Zeno Faction. That explains the blue scarf...
With her new clothes, money and car, Aster would be able to flee Korê and go to the Province of Lakeland. She just hoped that her friends were doing the same...
No. I must not think of them, or of Dimitri, for now. I sent them a message to give them a rendezvous point at South Lake City, in the Province of Lakeland. I just have to hope that they will be able to join me there.
But still, she couldn't help but think...
What if I'm the last one? What if the others are arrested, or dead?
She felt her anger rise again and looked at the Olympian woman. Snapping her neck would be easy. And at least someone from Olympus would pay...
That's what Emery would do... a little voice said in her head, and that simple thought doused her anger.
She turned around to leave, but couldn't resist taking one last glance at her victim. Tightly bound and gagged, Thea would probably be unable to free herself. And she would probably not be found before days, perhaps weeks. She was looking so vulnerable...
Aster closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She calmed her anger and forgot her thirst of revenge. She remembered the promise she made to herself several years ago.
Ultimately, Thea became her victim because she was nice. She wanted to help someone whom she thought was hurt, while a lesser person would have looked the other way and continued to drive. She had tried to do the right thing, and got brutally assaulted for her trouble. She didn't deserve what happened to her. And she certainly didn't deserve to be left here, alone and scared, for days. Of course, Olympus oppressed a lot of people who didn't deserve it. But Aster wanted to be better than Olympus...
Aster pondered taking Thea with her, to release her later, but ultimately decided against it. She may be stopped at Lakeland's border and her vehicle would be searched. So she settled for the next best thing.
Gently this time, she rolled Thea on her belly and loosened her bonds, enough for her to be able to free herself alone, even though it would require for her to struggle for a while. Then, she took Thea's phone in one of the pockets of her jeans and left it near her, to allow her to call for help once she would be free.
Then, she returned to the car and drove off. She needed to go to Lakeland.
She needed to escape the Olympian police and army, that were still on her trail.
**************
They underestimated the Cartel.
Once Calypso Callianass, former head of the Callianass Cartel, was exfiltrated from Naïad to be kept prisoner in one of their hideouts of Korê, they all thought that they would never hear of her Cartel again. They were wrong.
They underestimated the Cartel or, more precisely, they underestimated the thirst of revenge of Sao, Calypso's former bodyguard and lover; just as they underestimated the resources she still had access to thanks to the help of Max Shroud, Calypso's accountant.
“Kinda ironic, don't you think?” Klenia commented. “We managed to evade both the police and the army after they raided Aster's shop, only to have the bad luck to come across the three last persons still loyal to Callianass.”
“Do you think we lost them?” Mikani asked, ignoring her comment.
“I think. At least for now.”
Currently, the two rebels were at Border Hills, a town built right at the border between the Province of Korê and the Province of Ares. Usually, the place was rather quiet. However, Klenia and Mikani had arrived at a time when the town was hosting a huge history festival: a whole week full of conferences, spectacles, parades, historical reconstructions... There were even cosplayers dressed in historical costumes walking on the streets.
Of course, Klenia and Mikani were using the crowd to hide themselves from their pursuers.
Sao, seconded by Max Shroud and the woman serving as his bodyguard, was on their trail since they fled Aster's shop, after the building was raided by the police. Max Shroud was the kind of man who had contacts everywhere. He knew that Calypso was in Korê, hence the reason why he and the two bodyguards were in Wheat Junction at the time of the assault. When Shroud learned that the police was about to raid Aster's shop, he quickly put two and two together, and correctly deduced that Aster and her friends were all part of the Rebellion. Perhaps had he even understood that they were the ones who captured his boss... Either way, the three criminals needed a rebel to interrogate to learn were Calypso was hidden. Therefore, they tried to take advantage of the raid on Aster's shop to capture someone. They almost caught Klenia, but Mikani managed to save her just in time; and, in order to escape both the police and Sao, the two women hid in a train to flee to Border Hills.
However, in the confusion, they were separated from Aster, Aaria and Shayna. And, to make things worst, Shroud knew that they were in Border Hills. Sao and the second bodyguard were currently looking for them. Luckily, they had managed to lose them.
Now, all they had to do was to continue to evade them. In a few hours, a train was going to leave Border Hills. Its destination? South Lake City, in the Province of Lakeland. The town in which Aster told them to meet up with her in the last message she sent them.
Klenia was worried for Aster. And for Aaria. And especially for Shayna.
Mikani looked at her. She was understanding her perfectly.
“I'm sure they're alright. They are resourceful.”
“I know. It's just... This time, we're in big trouble. I've never imagined that they would one day figure out that Aster was part of the Rebellion... Her cover was flawless.”
“But she still had an emergency way-out. Let's go to South Lake City. We'll figure things out once we get there.”
“Got it. I hope Shayna will manage to go there... She rarely left Naïad before.”
“You care for her that much, huh?”
Klenia hesitated. “Yes. I think I do.” Klenia never tackled that subject with her. But, just like Aster and Aaria before her, Mikani had long understood that her friend was into girls. And Klenia had been attracted to the resourceful thief, the first person to get the drop on her during a mission, almost since the moment they first met.
“She's not a child. She survived East Harbour's streets. She'll manage.” Mikani answered to lift her spirits.
Klenia smiled. “You're right.”
Suddenly, Mikani turned back.
“Now, hurry up.” she said. “I think I saw Sao. We'll lose her in the town's alleyways.”
“Geez... She never quits... Between her and the police... Can things get any worse?” Klenia muttered to herself.
**************
“I tell you it's her!” Macha said to her friend. “The woman who keeps mugging me! I finally found her!”
The young redhead couldn't believe it. Perhaps it truly was Fate after all... A few minutes ago, she was quietely drinking at a sidewalk café with Hana, enjoying the warm afternoon. Then, she saw her walking across the street. Sure, she was wearing different clothes. But Macha would have recognized her face anywhere.
As soon as she had recognized the woman, Macha decided to follow her. She left money for the drink on the table, grabbed Hana's hand, and soon the two friends were following Macha's archnemesis.
“Macha! We were supposed to go to the history festival to relax...” Hana complained. “And to lie low for a while. You know, after the 'incident' with the cheerleader team.” she added.
“They never found any proof it was me. And the b*tches deserved it!” Macha retorted.
“Did you really have to leave them naked in the middle of the gymnasium?”
“That's not the point right now! Right now, the point is that I finally have a chance to get back at that crazy woman, the same way I got back at Hilda and her posse! This time, she won't jump on me by surprise. I will jump on her!”
“Macha... This will only end badly for us... Again...” Hana commented while adjusting her glasses.
“Nonsense! You will see. I'm feeling it right now. I taught Hilda a lesson. Now, it's the crazy woman's turn. I'm feeling it. I'm back at the top!”
**************
“Are you okay, Maxie? Do you manage to keep up?” Reka asked.
“I'm fine. For now.” he answered.
Max Shroud maybe looked like a scrawny shrimp, but Sao learned years ago that the accountant was a lot more endurant than his appearance could lead to believe.
Reka, the bodyguard assigned to Max by Calypso, looked at Sao. She was waiting for her instructions. After days of working and living together, the trio had found a good way to work together. While Max was the uncontested leader when it came to their money or to get in touch with his informants, Sao was the one calling the shots when they were on the field.
“We continue to chase them. I know they're nearby.”
**************
When she saw the jogger running near her hiding spot with nobody else in sight, Shayna knew that she had to take her chance. She had played cat and mouse with the police all day yesterday, and she ultimately managed to lose them in Wheat Junction's poor areas. Then, she discreetely went to the town's main central park, a huge green space with plenty of bushes and trees to hide. Mentally, she was thanking Klenia for showing her the town when she first arrived. Her original plan was to then go to the train station, but she realized that she couldn't go there with her current clothes. While the police didn't have a description of her face, since she wasn't a known rebel or a known 'employee' of Aster, they however had a description of her outfit. She couldn't walk in the town with her current grey sweater and blue jeans.
But if she changed clothes...
The jogger was a rather young woman, probably among Shayna's age, perhaps a little older. She was wearing a dark blue tracksuit, with white strips on the shoulders and arms as well as on the sides of the legs. Her brown hair were tied into a long ponytail. She was listening to some music with her earphones.
Shayna crouched behind some bushes and waited. When the brunette jogged past her hiding spot, she grabbed her by the back of her collar. The jogger let out a small grunt of surprise before disappearing in the bushes. Shayna wasn't very muscular, but she had the element of surprise on her side and the brown-haired jogger was already tired because of her exercice. The struggles in the bushes lasted a few instants, but they ended with Shayna victorious.
The jogger was now knocked out. Shayna dragged her by the ankles into a small depression, well-concealed by the nearby bushes, and wasted no time stripping her down to her underwear. The brunette's sports bra and boyshorts matched with her tracksuit: plain dark blue.
One of the first advice Klenia gave to Shayna when they started their partnership was to always have some binding material on her. Today, the thief was glad she had listened to her friend. In the pockets of her sweater, a roll of string was stored. The cord was thin, but also very resistant. Shayna crossed the woman's wrists behind her back before binding them, then she tied up her ankles. A third string was used to hog-tie the brunette, connecting her wrists and ankles. With her switchblade, Shayna cut part of her sweater to fill the woman's mouth. Then, she used an adequate piece of cloth she kept on herself as a cleave gag, and another as a blindfold. With the woman secured, Shayna changed into her new tracksuit and shoes. She took the woman's walkman and emerged from the bushes.
Now, all she had to do was to jog to the train station. Perhaps steal another set of clothes, and take the first train for Lakeland.
**************
Many policemen and policewomen were still searching the town for her. While she had been evading them all day last day, Aaria had concoted a plan. She had decided that it was the turn for the prey to become the hunter...
The woman led her pursuers in the huge abandoned industrial complex of the northern district of Wheat Junction.
She knew that place like the back of her hand. A labyrinth of poorly lit corridors, offices, storage rooms and abandoned engine rooms. And that wasn't even counting the small backdoors or the hidden passageways created by the people who started to squat the place after the company's bankrupt. It used to be a hideout of the Rebellion, before they abandoned because it was too big to be defended in case of an attack.
It was also Aaria's playground.
Her foes' number was their biggest advantage, as it allowed them to cover a lot of field. However, their number was also their biggest disadvantage, as it meant that it would take them more time to realize that one of their agents was missing.
The agent in question wasn't an ordinary policewoman. She was from the special operations forces. Therefore, she wasn't wearing the traditional police uniform. Instead, she was wearing a grey uniform jacket and grey uniform pants, both clothes having a camouflage motif on them. Her feet were protected by black thick heavy combat boots, her hands by black combat gloves and her torso by a dark grey sleeveless protective waistcoat. A radio and several weapons were strapped to her belt, and she was currently holding a machine gun. She also had a helmet. However, there was one weakness in her uniform. The throat wasn't properly protected.
“Still nothing.” the policewoman said in the receiver of her radio. “I'll continue to search the block and then meet up with Csilla.”
Aaria was waiting in one of the small darkened locker rooms, hidden in a corner, completely silent. She could hear her target's footsteps approaching. The agent entered the room, raising her weapon. However, Aaria's position in the room allowed her to be in the woman's blind spot. The agent took a few steps forward. Aaria jumped on her from behind. She locked the woman's head in her arms and applied a vicious sleeper-hold.
Reflexively, the agent let go of her weapon and tried to use her hands to loosen Aaria's grip. To no avail. For a member of a supposed elite corp of the police, she was gurgling rather pathetically in her desperate attempts to breathe. Aaria took a few steps back to make the agent loose balance, rendering her struggles even more useless. She was running out of oxygen now and her frantic movements soon began to ease. Then, after one final muffled gasp, she went limp. She had passed out. Aaria waited a moment, hesitated, but then loosened her grip to allow the unconscious woman to breathe again. Almost gently, Aaria laid her on the ground.
Since at least one other agent was nearby, Aaria quickly stripped her victim down to her underwear: a green tank top, black control briefs and black socks. The unbuckled helmet revealed short black hair, that were going down to the neck, dyed with strips of red. Judging by her face, the woman was in her late thirties. Aaria decided to waste no time with complex restrains. She seated the woman and moved her hands behind her back. On the agent's belt, there were handcuffs. She used them to cuff the woman's hands behind the pipes of an out of order radiator. During her escape yesterday, Aaria had managed to recover a roll of strong thick duct tape, of the brand they usually used to secure their uniform donors due to its incredible resistance. She wrapped the tape several times around the woman's lower face, being careful not getting hair tangled in the adhesive as it would make the tape looser. A final strip was used as a blindfold.
Then, Aaria changed into her new uniform: protective waistcoat, uniform jacket and pants, combat gloves. She liked the helmet, which would hide her hair. The boots were a little too big, but she could still walk in them. Aaria quickly searched the uniform's pockets and the belt. She was happy to see that, besides her machine gun and handgun, the policewoman was also equipped with a stun gun. In the breast pocket, Aaria found a picture showing the woman smiling with a man and a young girl that was her spitting image. She sighed and put the picture down on the ground near the bound-and-gagged agent. She kneeled to check if she was breathing correctly through her nose, which she was, then she took the machine gun and secured the weapon's strap on her shoulder.
She knew she didn't have much time before her victim was found, but she would normally have enough time to leave the building. At least if she neutralized the other agent that was currently searching the building... She exited the storage room.
She had taken a few steps in the corridor when a female voice called her.
“Diane? Is that you?”
The woman, dressed in the agents' combat gear, was at the other side of the corridor. She had just arrived from the other part of the building. From afar, she had recognized Aaria's uniform, but couldn't see her face because of the building's obscurity.
Talk about timing... Aaria thought.
Aaria answered her with the hand gestures used by the Olympian police forces, as she didn't want to risk having the other woman (probably that Csilla that was mentioned earlier) recognize her as an impostor after hearing her voice.
She mentioned the storage room.
This room. Danger. Back me up.
Csilla nodded and answered with a hand gesture.
Okay.
She quickly approached.
Aaria knew she only had a few seconds before the agent would see that she wasn't Diane. As soon as Csilla was close enough, one second before she realized that something was wrong, Aaria hit her as hard as she could in the gut with the butt of her machine gun. Even with the protective waistcoat, Csilla bended forward, the wind knocked out of her. With one hand, Aaria grabbed the stun gun she stole and, before her opponent could recover from the blow, she sent a good jolt in her neck that instantly knocked her out. Aaria caught the falling agent and dragged her inside the storage room.
Aaria had read somewhere the story of a lone spy who, during an infiltration, had the idea to strip the two guards she knocked out in order to confuse her enemies by making them think there were two intruders. She decided to put the idea to the test. Soon, the black-haired Csilla was down to her black tank top, red high-cut briefs and white socks. Her hands were cuffed behind the radiator, near the already secured Diane, and she was gagged and blindfolded with tape in a fashion similar to the first unlucky agent. Aaria located a nearby ventilation duct and hid Csilla's gear inside. Then, she left the storage room, for good this time, leaving some 'alone' time to her two still-unconscious victims.
She would now exit the building through a back door and leave undetected the area searched by the police forces. Now that the police was busy searching the northern district, she could safely go to one of her small hideouts in the southern district. She would change there, then she would leave the town and go to Lakeland. Aster told them to regroup at South Lake City. Thalès' contacts could probably help her.
On her way, Aaria couldn't help but think of the events of yesterday.
The raid on Aster's shop.
The escape.
Aaria had quickly lost sight of the others in the confusion. Then, she had received Aster's message on her phone. Aster had been forced to steal a car to escape the police, and she couldn't go back in town.
Wheat Junction wasn't safe for them anymore. They had to flee the town. Aster was telling them to regroup in South Lake City, outside of the Province of Korê, to escape their pursuers. They would then try to contact the resistance network of Cérès, Emery's boss. Aster was worried. She knew that its wasn't her cover that had been blown. It was Dimitri's.
She was worried for him.
Perhaps Thalès' informants knew something... Aaria had to find one of them. But first, she would need a change of clothes. The agent's gear was going to be useful to leave the area searched by the police, but she would need to remove it as soon as she could to flee undetected.
**************
Author's note: And voilà, this is it. I don't know if it will be divided into two parts or if I will keep everything in one big post, but we have reached the last arc of the story. I hope you will like it.