Missing Stars

Chapter 6 | Before

Chapter 6 | Before

The grenade blows up, a sweet melody to my ears. A shattering sound follows it. I am standing at a safe distance but I can feel the heat on my skin and smell the acrid scent of burnt metal. I wait until the smoke clears.

A huge chunk of a rusty crate is melting, pools of liquid metal dripping on the floor. The waiter is toppled sideways. The shattering sound I heard—the beehive shield he put up—has not spared him from the damage. Burns and bruises mark his skin and his clothes are charred and torn in different places. If I hadn't noticed the rise and fall of his chest, I would have thought he was dead. Eva kneels beside him, unscathed. The waiter must have taken the full brunt of the damage to protect her.  

“Wake up! Can you hear me?” Eva pats his cheek. “Rishad?” She waves a hand in front of her and although I cannot see it, I know she’s looking at her control panel.

I raise my pulse gun, my index finger curling over the trigger. Medics might be the weakest class but they can tip the scales of a fight. Their specialty is healing downed players and reviving dead teammates. As long as Eva is alive, she can switch the fight in her favor.

I take aim and shoot.

The pulse bullet hits her chest. She falls down like a rag doll, brown hair spilling around her in a curtain. Blood paints her white dress red. One down, three to go.

Smiling, I shift my aim to Rishad. I am about to shoot him when I feel it. A prickling sensation at the pit of my stomach. I look up just in time to see a plasma bolt heading in my direction. I drop down without a second thought. The bolt passes over my head, hitting the wall behind me. That hit would have taken me down if I didn't have Seeker reflexes.

I find cover behind a big container. A quick scan with my exo-vision doesn’t show me my opponent. My cybernetic chip flashes the number three. Was it Mwangi or Alex? Whoever tried to shoot me is in the cargo hold but I can’t see him. It doesn’t make any sense. My exo-vision should have detected him. He has to be hiding somewhere unless…unless—

“No, that’s impossible,” I mumble.

“Is it?” Alex says.

I turn around, my pulse gun ready. Alex stands a few feet from me, watching me with an amused expression.

“How did you get it?” I ask, plucking the mask from my face.

He smirks. “If you win, I’ll tell you.”

So it is possible. Alex used an invisibility technique to stay out of sight, one of the rarest in the Scepter universe. How he acquired it is beyond my imagination but I need to get rid of him fast or avoid him long enough to survive the time limit.

“Where is Mwangi?” I steal a furtive glance at the map of the cargo hold.

Alex shrugs. “He wants to play the guest of honor. He’s watching us right now. We’re supposed to throw one hell of a show.”

“I thought I was the guest,” I say.

“You’re the girl who blew up my friend and shot the other one.” He says it in a cheerful tone as if we’re exchanging pleasantries.

“Oh yeah?” I aim at his head, take a step forward. “How about you drop your gun before I blow up your head too?”

Alex lets out a full laugh. He drops his plasma gun and holds out his hands. Then right before my eyes, he turns invisible. I look around, my heart stuttering. My exo-vision fails me again. I don’t know where he is.

I suddenly feel a pair of hands grab my shoulders. Alex reappears in front of me. I bring my hands to my head, use my elbows to loosen his grip and slip under his arm. Taking two steps back, I release the trigger on my pulse gun. Alex leans to his right and the bullet only manages to nick his cheek.

He moves towards me faster than my eyes can follow and before I know it, he twists my left arm and yanks the gun out of my grip. I swing my right hand, my fist closing into a fist. Alex dodges the attack, releasing me.

We circle each other, the gun lying between us. I reach for my other pulse gun but Alex shakes his head.

“Looking for this?” He holds out a gun. I recognize the crisscrossed blades engraving on the side of the barrel.

Dammit. He stole my gun.

“Give it back,” I say.

“Come and get—”

I throw myself at him, catching him off-guard. He slams into a wall. I press my arm against his chest and bring my combat knife to his throat. If I kill him now, I win.

“Boo.”

What the hell? I have a knife at his throat and that’s all he says? A beep sound fills my ears. I look down and see a Sticker bomb on my dress. It’s stuck on my waist like a macabre decoration. I stare in horror at the timer.

Alex pushes me several feet away and the bomb explodes. I slump against a metal container, blinking away a bout of dizziness. My health pulse drops down by a half, the result of getting knocked by a Sticker bomb. It doesn’t ignite like a grenade, merely packs a punch of force that throws you away.

When my vision comes into focus, Alex is aiming my pulse gun at me. It’s over. I lost. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable.

The shrilling of an alarm resonates in the cargo hold. I open my eyes and see Alex lowering the gun. Mwangi, Eva and Rishad are standing behind him.

“Heh, we should spar sometime,” Rishad says.

“I’m going to pay you back for shooting me in the heart,” Eva says. She doesn’t look like a woman hellbent on revenge. She just shakes her head and smiles.

Mwangi turns to Alex. “How would you rate her?”

Alex studies me and I feel a strange sense of awareness at his intense scrutiny. “An eight.”

Mwangi nods. With a wave of his hand, he activates his control panel. My cybernetic chip flashes a mail icon. I send a mental command and it opens to reveal a confirmation mail on my acceptance to the Tricksters team.

My heart pounds with happiness. My mouth quirks into a grin. I really did it. The status under my health pulse shifts from ROGUE to TRICKSTERS.

“Congratulations, Cassiopeia,” Alex says with a smile. He holds out a hand to help me up.

Cassiopeia is the name of the girl the persona talks about from the cheesy poem Alex recited at the ball. I am too happy to let the nickname unsettle me.

“Kelrina.” I take his hand. “Call me Kelrina.”

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