The collective gasp that emerged from the audience after Danya's admission sounded almost comically exaggerated, but that didn't make it any more comforting.
"What are you doing?" Akira hissed, seizing Danya's right arm as she used it to wave with pageantry.
"My backup plan," Danya said, not missing a beat as she continued to wave with her left.
It was a terrible plan. At this rate, Danya would get into Concordia, but she'd be completely alone. Even with her superior strength and unnatural healing, if she were to go up against Verus Rex, the man that knew all of her weaknesses, she would never make it out of there alive.
Before Akira could protest any further, the door behind them burst open, and dozens of armed guards poured onto the stage with their guns pointed at them—at Danya.
"And that's my cue," Danya said.
Without warning, Danya pushed Akira to the side, sending her stumbling backwards and tumbling onto the floor. By the time Akira could comprehend what just happened, Danya was rushing towards the center of the group, easily dodging the volley of red lasers that tried to slow her approach.
Once she was in close range of the guards, she began to pick them off like flies. The first two she held by their heads, one hand each, and pummeled them into each other before throwing them to her sides, knocking over three more in the process. Once she discarded them, she targeted the nearest gun to her left, narrowly avoiding their shot before seizing the barrel and pulling it past her. The wielder was dragged helplessly along with their weapon, up until they were halted by Danya's hand wrapped around their throat. For a split second, she held them face to face, letting them witness her innocent smile before smashing their back into the ground with a sharp crack.
Belatedly, Akira realized she had been staring at the scene in blank awe, and she quickly scrambled to her feet when she noticed Danya winding up to toss the retrieved gun to her. Before she could, a small, disc-like drone, no more than fifteen centimeters in diameter, suddenly darted through the air around Danya. And before Akira could yell out a warning, the drone zipped towards Danya's back and latched onto her neck.
The spark of electricity from the drone was clearly audible, and Akira knew that Danya's pained grunt that followed was far from feigned.
"No!"
At first, Akira hadn't realized she had yelled, and even after she did, she barely recognized the vicious growl to be her own. Regardless, her confusion didn't stop her from running mindlessly towards the fray, towards Danya as she was hunched over on her hands and knees, panting heavily through gritted teeth.
Evidently, the guards didn't think of Akira as much of a relative threat, and the only one that approached her paid for that by getting stabbed in the stomach with the sword in Akira's right arm. She kept the blade drawn as she sprinted for the next closest guard, the smell of iron trailing her as she ran.
When she saw the next guard's hand flex over their gun's grip, she sidestepped a moment later, and their shot narrowly missed her head. That would also be their only shot, and Akira swept her blade diagonally in front of her before continuing on her way. She didn't bother to stick around to see what she hit, only knowing from the smell of blood and the screams of agony that she did enough damage.
Unfortunately, that was where Akira's luck ended. Just after she drove her sword through the next guard's gun and down their arm, she felt a set of metal claws dig into her back, and her body seized in place. Before she knew it, she was sprawled on the ground, and multiple sets of hands were busy dragging her arm's sword out of its latest bloody sheathe. Even when Akira tried to struggle, her limbs felt lethargic and were easily held in place by the goons around her.
"You're in luck," a guard said in the distance. "Verus Rex has been looking for you."
Akira's eyes snapped towards the sound of the noise. At the back of the stage, half a dozen guards were surrounding Danya while two more held each of her elbows and hauled her towards the door. Her back was facing Akira, but her clothes and hair were in complete disarray. A trail of blood appeared to be trickling from her face, only to be smeared by her legs as they dragged over the white tile floor.
If there was a shred of sanity left in Akira's mind, it disappeared with Danya as her limp limbs vanished through the doorway. Akira remembered struggling briefly to test her human restraints, then yanking her right arm free before sweeping her bladed arm over her head, cutting down anyone in its path before slicing off the drone that had latched onto her body. For a moment, she felt a sharp sting against her shoulder blades, but the pain only spurred her forward, striking and slicing anything that moved in her vicinity.
It didn't take long before the only thing moving was the panicked audience, and Akira ignored them in favor of rushing out the open door at the back of the stage.
As expected, Danya was nowhere in sight. Still, a trail of smeared blood clearly identified her path down the shining, ornate hallway. So Akira followed it, wiping her sword on her shirt to avoid leaving a path of her own and retracting it for the element of surprise.
The first intersection split off to the right and left, with Danya's blood taking the latter route. When Akira approached it, a stampede of footsteps echoed from her right, and she pressed herself against the wall on the same side, ready to attack the first person that ran into her.
Luckily, that person was Quyen, and even though Akira couldn't stop her adrenaline-fueled body from attacking, Quyen was quick enough to defend. In the span of two seconds, Akira had thrown a left-handed punch at Quyen's throat, which Quyen avoided before grabbing Akira's offending arm with both of her own and slamming it against the wall. By then, Akira already had her right arm sneaking into the fray from under her left, but she managed to return to her senses just before she deployed her sword.
"What are you doing here?" Akira exclaimed, belatedly noticing the rest of her team and the townspeople crowding the hall behind Quyen.
"We broke out," Quyen said simply, releasing Akira's arm. "Our resident pyro made a few explosions—don't ask where they got supplies from. What are you doing here?"
"Trying to find Danya. She's going to get herself killed."
"That's not exactly news," Quyen said, then held an arm in front of Akira before Akira could continue following the trail of blood. "Hold on, Captain. You look terrible. Your entire back looks like it's bleeding. And you can't just go after her unarmed."
A second later, Jivan appeared beside Quyen, beaming. "Fancy running into you here, Akira. I believe these belong to you?"
Somehow, they had Akira's holster, along with her earpiece and wristband.
"Do I want to know?" Akira said, quickly pocketing her electronics in favor of securing her holster.
"Well!" Jivan began excitedly. "What happened was—"
"We got our stuff, and we have their leader as a prisoner-slash-hostage," Quyen said, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder.
A few meters behind Quyen, the burly chef waved cheerfully at Akira, his large frame at least a head taller than most. Slung over his shoulder was the Connoisseur, his limbs trussed together and his drooling mouth gagged by someone's stained socks.
"Nice work," Akira said, finding a hint of satisfaction in the sound of the Connoisseur's muffled whines of protest. "Let's move."
Their large group followed the trail of blood, and it was both a relief and a concern when its intensity didn't fade. While they encountered some resistance along the way, their opponents were no match for Akira and Quyen at the front, nor Elodie and Navin at the rear. And every so often, an explosion would echo from the halls behind them, courtesy of Jivan's strategically placed traps.
The trail eventually led them to a vast underground tunnel about fifteen meters wide and three stories tall with four cargo trucks parked in parallel along the far wall. But that's where the path ended, leaving them with two opposing directions to choose from.
"We have either north or south," Jivan said, studying a small compass on their multitool before returning it to a pocket on their holster. "I'd say that's pretty good odds. I'll see if I can start these things up."
While Jivan hurried over to the vehicles, one of the older townspeople chimed in in their native language, and a few others nodded in agreement.
"They're not exactly sure where we currently are, but if we're in the capital, south is likely the airport," Quyen translated. "North could be any number of places, but they probably connect to several political buildings. One of which could be the presidential palace; it's rumored to have underground escape routes."
Akira didn't answer immediately, her gaze searching the ground for a sign. She wasn't sure if Danya had intentionally left the trail of blood to follow, but if she had, she possibly left one more clue for Akira to find.
And then she spotted it: a small splatter of blood north of the tunnel entrance.
While Akira's team had their destination settled, the townspeople selected a different route: home. They were going to head as far south as they could, and even though they'd likely be forced to settle in a small village within Intermarium's shielded borders, right where they had started years before, at least they would be safe.
Akira was hesitant to let them go alone, but she knew if her team successfully entered Concordia, being trapped in Intermarium would be the safer alternative. Taking their prisoner to Concordia would also give him a chance to escape, and Akira figured she could trust the townspeople to dole out a proper punishment, even if it wasn't on official record.
As such, they prepared to part ways. Akira gave them some of her knives for self-defense, and her team followed suit, with Jivan even handing over some of their "safer" explosives. Akira even tried to transfer ownership of her backup gun to them, but they refused, insisting Akira and her team needed it more than they did.
"Just promise us you will save her," Akira's elder dining companion said in accented English, gripping Akira's hands tightly. A dark bruise splotched the side of her face, but it did nothing to weaken the strength of her warm smile. "The young woman. Danya."
When Akira's eyes widened in surprise, the woman chuckled.
"Of course I knew who she really was," the woman said. "I don't know if she is really a goddess, but I do know she is capable of changing this world. And I also know she can only do that with you. So go, save her. But please, dear, protect yourself too."