Xera

25|No Surrender

It only took moments for Bix and Meg to be found by more goons. Their attempt to enter the complex through the wreckage of Galene's crash created was quickly thwarted. The remaining men had rushed to the sight for examination and were ready to fire on the two of them. The two of them split up and began to slam into the soldiers with their vehicles. Bix was nearly struck by blaster fire but he quickly dodged and slammed into the man firing on him. Meg piloted onto a dune that gave her an elevated view of the situation. She pulled back her windshield and took aim with the long-range blaster. She picked off whichever men Bix could not catch with his own shots. Their teamwork had reached a deadly synchronicity.

As they dealt with the forces that refused to flee the Inquirer's command, something began to change on the racetrack. A rumbling came from within the smoking wreckage that remained of the southern section of the complex. This was enough to force Solise upward. Her blurry vision made it difficult to see what was going on. She soon found a focal point that made her shudder. The Inquirer survived the crash. His robes were rendered grey and red from ash and blood. They had also been horribly tattered from the incident. A section of his mask had been damaged and ripped off in his fury. This exposed a single yellow eye and patch of white skin. This patch of his true self did nothing to lessen his image as a feral monster.

Solise noticed that his arm was limp and dangling. His shoulder had been dislocated. With a groan of fury, he slammed his shoulder into his seat and popped it back in place. This was a confirmation that he was capable of being injured. Whatever he is. He's not immortal. She thought, as the Inquirer's ruined craft slowly approached. It finally clunked to the ground and ceased to be. This allowed Solise enough time to get to her feet. The Inquirer stumbled from his craft. He was just as haggard as Solise at this point. This did not stop him from his pursuit. He drew his blades and continued to approach the Raiyfian. She prepared for battle and readied her makeshift spear. Zaren stopped several feet ahead of her and stared her down.

"That ship meant a lot to me." He said, between heavy breaths.

"I didn't destroy your ship. You did." Solise said, in similar distress.

"Yes, you did. This is all because of you! Cycles of planning, research, espionage...all wasted! This was my chance for glory and you had to ruin it, for what? A race? What did you expect from this? Money? Glory? This was my time for fortune! Not yours!" He shouted at her, in a fatigued voice.

"You burned down my house!" She said, flailing her arms.

"You broke into my ship! Stole my people's sacred texts!" He replied, matching her energy.

"You were trying to overthrow the government!" With this, she stepped forward and seemed to grow in stature. It was as if her rebuke of Zaren's words had enlarged her.

"Your government stands for genocide and conformity. I sought to correct a problem. People would've called me a liberator. A hero and a king! Now it's all ruined because of some nobody scavenger." He petulantly replied.

"I couldn't have done this if you didn't record yourself saying all that you said! I'm not your enemy, it's your own pride. That's why you're so bad at this. You're right, I'm a nobody. Just a simple scavenger and I still ruined all that for you. Good job! Must've been a solid plan! I didn't want any of this! You forced me into it by targeting me! It's all because of you! I'm not going to be blamed for your problems." Solise confidently ranted at the weary Inquirer.

Zaren did not hear her words, toward the end. His rage has once more fueled him to act before processing the situation. He lunged toward Solise, right as she completed her spiel. Even in her weary state (and perhaps aided by his similar distress) Solise easily dodged his charge. Before she could make her first blow, a shot of blaster fire struck the Inquirer in the shoulder. It was a stun blast that did absolutely nothing. Zaren turned to whoever fired with an intense anger in his exposed yellow eye. Once he had turned, Solise could see that Bix had piloted Galene's space needle through the rubble created by the ship crash.