Angel's Ascension: Villains of Hate (Book Twelve)

Chapter 11: Looming Conflict

"Good call on sending Suzume out to help Vesper. I knew something was up when an aura spiked over there." Lucy chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you could pinpoint the danger from this far out!" Cheyanne replied with a grin.

Suzume soon reappeared from the shadows and she bowed to them. "I have returned and informed Vesper of the message. She is safe and no other threat was nearby from what I sensed."

Cheyanne held a thumb up to her. "Nice, we can rest easy and continue our main mission. I have some scouts that are picking up on something close."

"Oh, Suzume! You look tense like something bad happened. Was Vesper hurt?" Lucy asked.

"No, she is fine. I was just concerned that a Zojxen was there. Not only is one being here weird but they were after Vesper." Suzume replied.

Cheyanne held a hand to her head. "A what? Is that some kind of mythical beast from where you were born?"

Suzume nodded. "They are part of folklore but are real. It's troublesome to see them out this far but they are not that strong to worry about."

The trio soon reached the end of the city when two scouts screeched from above. They waited until they landed and checked the notes tied to their necks. Cheyanne folded the notes as she grinned.

"Good, we got a direct trail to where they are! Believe it or not, there is an underground tunnel system that leads to their hideout. We finally got a solid lead on where Princess is!" She exclaimed.

"Alright, this is getting me pumped for some action! Should we let the others know?" Lucy asked. Once Cheyanne nodded, she clenched her fists and a purple aura emanated. It quickly radiated with heat as Lucy gritted her teeth.

Yori descended from a skyscraper. "Did something happen? I noticed a huge bump in my sister's energy and came right away!"

Talai quickly joined them while Tex hopped off his back. "Ugh, I'm glad we got something. My back was starting to kill me after flying around so much."

"Whew, I felt like stopping a few times but I'm no longer feeling sick." Tex fanned herself with a hat as she inhaled. With a hand over a bottle, she dropped it and retrieved a bottle of water. She gulped the water down and squeezed the bottle.

"Hey, why did you do that?" Glacier asked.

Inferno glanced from side to side as they joined with the group. "I was kinda expecting something but looks like it's fine here." He sighed.

Seleph approached them with Psy behind her. "Just wanted to be here. I've been texting Vesper and the White House has loosened the security a bit since that ambush."

"Oh, good! We were going to wait for everyone to be here. My scouts have located a tunnel system under the city that connects to a hideout. The only thing left to do is find the entrance to the tunnels." Cheyanne said.

"I see, we figured something was going down. Lucy has a way to make everyone alert with her energy." Psy giggled.

Surge cleared his throat. "Well, if we need to find the entrance. Where do we start from here? If not the city then I assume the highway up there." He added.

Maximum stroked at his chin. "Seems like a decent start. My main concern is what traps they'll have down there."

"You two can be used to test that out. If the tunnel collapses then we'll hold a ceremony outside for you." Vex replied with a smirk.

"No, don't be so morbid. We'll find the tunnel system and go down there as a team. I'm sure we can sniff out the traps and disarm them before anyone gets hurt." Seleph said. She crossed her arms and stood in the middle of the highway.