Take Back the Light

Chapter 41

Sure enough, Dana was in the lead, with two Dark Bane behind her. A trembling video showed a flash of the pale-skinned girl, then hurriedly went to the ground when her scarlet eyes met the camera. A second later, the footage went to static.

"Floppers," Alana cursed, hurrying into the garage after Trixie.

"What is it, Alana?" Eli asked as the gang started their Mechas and left the hideout, quickly transforming their rides to their bike modes.

Alana hesitated for a moment, exchanging a glance with Ash. "Antimony is Dana's home cavern," she called over the rush of the night air.

"So she'll know better than anyone how to take it down," Kord said. Alana shook her head.

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said grimly. "Dana's family still lives there."

Eli frowned, falling back next to Alana. "So, what, do we have an entire family of evil slingers to deal with now?"

"No!" Alana said quickly. "They aren't like her. Well, they are, but... they wouldn't try to fight us. They aren't that good."

"Then why worry?" Pronto asked. "It will be easy to defeat them! Just let Pronto do what he does best!"

"Power napping won't stop them, Pronto," Trixie teased. At that, Alana smiled, but she sighed.

"I'm not worried about fighting them. I'm worried about protecting them," she explained. Eli frowned.

"Out of all the people in that cavern, why do you care about them?" he asked.

"Honestly, it's mostly for Dana's sake. If she finds them, she'll get to somewhere I'm not sure I can bring her back from," Alana said. She locked eyes with Eli. "She'll kill them."

The rest of the gang was silent for a moment.

"Her own parents?" Trixie finally asked.

"They're not good people," Alana said, her shoulders drooping. "They weren't exactly nice to Dana. She's always hated them, but with the dark energy amping that up, it... it's not good."

"Well, good people or not, I still don't want any casualties," Eli said, glancing at Alana. "Once we get to Antimony, me and Alana will go ahead to the Edwards' house. The rest of you guys run damage control, and we'll meet back up with you to drive Blakk's men out of the cavern."

Trixie looked less than thrilled to have to think about anything related to Dana, but she nodded. Alana felt a small twinge of annoyance, but she knew that if she had no history with her, she'd probably hate Dana, too. The rest of the gang hadn't known her before the dark energy, back when the worst thing about Dana was the way her eyes went dark when she talked about her home life.

The rest of the journey spent to Antimony was spent in silence. Alana couldn't help but feel uncomfortable whenever Dana was brought up. Her positive demeanor faded, and she knew each of the other slingers was disdainful toward her old friend. At the end of the day, Alana was never able to stop from feeling like Dana was her problem, and the rest of the gang had been roped into dealing with it.

But as soon as the Shane Gang reached Antimony, Alana realized that there was plenty to worry about besides Dana. It was night, and the cavern should have been quiet, bathed in deep purple light as opposed to its daytime golden brown. But instead, the first town they reached was bright and alive. Every shop and home had its light on, and several were ablaze. Green and orange flames crawled up walls, and the air smelled of smoke. Broken glass littered sidewalks, and slug tubes rolled down the streets, usually red.

Slingers in Blakk's signature gray and scarlet wove through buildings, gathering up slugs and stolen gear while civilians tried desperately to escape the carnage. Several ghoulslingers rode around on Mechas, cornering people and taking whatever gear and slugs they had. Eli drove forward, his Mecha reverting back to beast mode as he fired an Aquabeek at a flaming storefront.