Archer was raised into the business by his father. Taught how to make connections and appeal to the public. Archer takes what he wants and doesn't look back. WARNING: There will be themes of slavery, abuse, possible death and other related such ideas. Indie Pokemon OC/ please contact mun if you wish to interact with Archer!
The Cells were making quick work of the damaged bones and ruptured vessels, but he’d be more or less useless until he could get a proper rest. The Psychic did ease the pain, but he could still feel it coursing through his body.
He wanted to see Ronin now, before he passed out from the pain.
Trance nodded, “If you think you’re up for it that would probably be the safest option for us right now.”
Skye frowned but she also knew they didn’t have a lot of options right now. Not to mention that the longer they stayed in the area the more likely it would be that they would have to deal with more of Archer’s people.
“The meet up point is right through these trees.” She said, “The other two should hopefully be here already or will be shortly.”
“Mmm… nnn.” Cy tried to tell Trance to save his potion, that Skye would need it. That his Cells would repair him. But he couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. His lips parted ever so slightly, letting the cool, healing liquid pour down into his mouth.
Trance wouldn’t have listened to him anyways, nodding in approval once Cy had drank the whole potion. He couldn’t do anything else until Callista was dealt with, keeping one arm around the zygarde so they would be ready when it was time to go.
Callista and Skye continued to exchange blows, although it was mostly the two of them blocking each other and managing swipes when the other was the littlest bit distracted. Trance could feel the force with which the two women were fighting, the atmosphere in the large room heavy with tension.
Cy muttered something to the effect of ‘we gotta go’. The potion had helped keep him conscious while his Cells attempted to stitch his broken bones back together. His vision was hazy, but he was able to see the pink blur of Skye approaching them. He clung to Trance, trying not to cry out over the pain still coursing through his body.
Trance growled under his breath, this was not looking good for them right now and he looked up at Skye, hoping she’d have an answer for him.
Skye sighed, “You can use Psychic right? That will be the easiest way to help move him quicker. I’ll send the signal to Zyta and Ronin to meet with us at the rendezvous point. Once we’re there we should be safe enough to make a decision on what to do about this next.”
Trance nodded, “We’ll have to make it work for us at the very least.”
He used Psychic to lift Cy up between them and then they moved quickly across the room and out the door, still being mindful of the zygarde’s injuries. Once they were outdoors and Skye had the chance to send a message to the others, the two of them moved faster than before. They knew it would still be a little rough on Cy but they didn’t have any other choice.
“Mmm… nnn.” Cy tried to tell Trance to save his potion, that Skye would need it. That his Cells would repair him. But he couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. His lips parted ever so slightly, letting the cool, healing liquid pour down into his mouth.
Trance wouldn’t have listened to him anyways, nodding in approval once Cy had drank the whole potion. He couldn’t do anything else until Callista was dealt with, keeping one arm around the zygarde so they would be ready when it was time to go.
Callista and Skye continued to exchange blows, although it was mostly the two of them blocking each other and managing swipes when the other was the littlest bit distracted. Trance could feel the force with which the two women were fighting, the atmosphere in the large room heavy with tension.
Skye was trying to focus on the fight, although she could feel how worried Trance was about Cy and that made it more difficult to focus on not letting the serum take full control of her. It was at this point that Callista struck, tackling the Audino to the ground and wrapping her hands around the pink haired woman’s throat.
“How does it feel? Knowing you’re going to die where you killed so many in order to survive.” Callista snarled, hands tightening around Skye’s throat, “And after this I’ll hunt down J01 from wherever you’ve hidden her and I’m going to drag her back here so we can do what we intended from the beginning.”
The tackle had already knocked the breath out of her, so when the Arbok wrapped her hands around Skye’s neck she could already feel herself becoming lightheaded. It was easy to ignore what Callista said, up until she thretened Jewel. Skye snarled as best she could up at the woman who smirked, “And what are you going to do about it? You can’t even protect your precious family now.”
And that was it, the thought of this woman finding Jewel and finding out about her husband and her twins was enough to push her forward. The serum roared to life with her anger, feeling like a magma under her skin. She slammed upward, ripping Callista’s arms away from her.
“Like hell you’ll ever get the best of me you snide bitch. The only thing you’re good at is following your bosses orders, but one day he’ll throw you to the side because that’s the kind of man Archer is. He doesn’t love you, he never has.” Skye growled, pushing the woman off of her and getting up to her feet, “And if you think you know what love is than you’re wrong because threatening my family is the last thing you should have done.”
Skye reared back and used Double Edge as she headbutted Callista, sending the Arbok flying backwards. Skye went stumbling back herself but the rebound from the move didn’t hurt as bad as it would have normally. The other woman lay unmoving but still breathing across the room and Skye nodded.
It was at this point that Trance started to help Cy up, Skye coming over to help him. It was tie to finally leave this forsaken place.
He wasn’t surprised when Callista caught his tail. He was, however, surprised to be whipped around like that. The air had been ripped from his lungs as he went flying across the room. His back slammed into the wall with a sickening crack and he crumpled to the ground in his Gijinka form.
He tried to sit up, tried to move at all. Instead, he coughed up a considerable amount of blood and remained crumpled on the floor. He could barely focus on Trance approaching him through the haze of pain. Oh, it was so much pain. He’d genuinely never known pain like this.
Trance could hear the snarls and blows being exchanged by the women behind him but he was more concerned for the Zygarde currently. He knew he’d kept a couple of potions on him, but he wasn’t sure if they would help in this situation but it couldn’t hurt to try.
He kneeled carefully next to the green haired young man, popping one fo the potions open and bringing it up to Cy’s lips.
“Come on, you need to drink this okay? It will help.”
Callista snarled but she hadn’t been ready for Skye to come at her like that and she managed to steady herself.
“No one here to pick you up and carry you home bunny,” She snarled, “I’m impressed you could hit me at all.”
She took off running at Skye, feinting to the left and then coming around to hit her from the right.
So this was the face of evil, a familiar sensation raced through Cy. He remembered a mountain, and his family, and the face of evil as it loomed over him and threatened their lives. He also remembered winning against all odds.
“I have heard those words before,” Cy said, breaking away from Trance and Skye and changing into his giant, 50% snake form. The last couple of feet of his tail burned a bright neon green as it whipped around to strike Callista with a Dragon Trail.
Callista laughed, the sound of it warped and off, as she moved forward to face Cy head on. Her pupils dilated wide just like Skye’s had and she brought her hand up, grabbing and effectively stopping the Zygarde’s tail.
“Let’s see how tough you are when I break your bones with my bare hands.” She growled, pulling on his tail and swinging him around before sending him flying back at the other two.
Trance managed to dodge out of the way but quickly made his way over to Cy when the dust settled.
Skye had never wanted to be in this room again. The room that haunted her nightmares and followed her throughout the day. The warehouse sized room was empty with the exception of the three of them and Callista. The dirt floor was soaked in blood and other bodily fluid, claw marks and body sized indents littered all across the floor.
This was the room where she’d been forced to kill others in order to live. The room where she’d felt like everything was going to end.
The serum felt like a burning fire under her skin now, pupils dilated dangerously wide.
“You.” She growled out, fists clenched and eyes locked onto the woman across the room.
Trance damned arceus under his breath, going through this room wouldn’t have been easy but with Callista standing between them and the door it was suddenly much more difficult.
The Arbok grinned maliciously, “Well you lot have two choices here, stay and maybe we don’t kill you or fight and die.”
Cy weaved between Trance and Skye to stand between them and the remaining two guards. He let out a vicious bark, which summoned Grass Knot tendrils through the cement and metal of the building. The vines encased the two guards, pulling them flush to the wall and out of their way.
Trance growled, running past the now incapacitated guards, “We need to move quicker. If we let them slow us down Callista is definitely going to catch up with us and I know that I can’t do anything to help with her.”
He lead them through hallway after hallway, going off of his memory to lead them out. He could hear the sound of the guards behind them and they’d almost been to slow to get past a couple more groups. It was going to be close but once they made it to the final stretch between them and freedom, the door behind them slammed shut.
A female voice rang out from the other side of the room, “It’s cute that you thought you’d be able to leave without dealing with me.”
The voice in his head spooked him. He was used to being the one projecting thoughts, not receiving. And the voice he received was so… elegant? Smooth and warm and reassuring. And the person it belonged to matched! Cy’s gaze locked on a beautiful man residing within the room.
His heart stuttered. That was Trance? He could see, almost immediately, why Ronin had been with him in the past. The man was gorgeous, to say the least. Even from his position in the vent, Cy could sense the air of confidence and strength Trance exuded.
Skye was only mildly surprised by the sudden voice but brushed it aside easily, ‘We know, we need to make this as quick as possible.’
She moved to the other side of the plate, carefully removing it so they could drop down into the room. She gestured for Cy to go first, following shortly after him and making sure to keep herself extra aware of what was going on around them, standing near the door.
Cy paced the room, ears perked straight up and nose wiggling. He was keeping his focus staunchly away from Trance as Skye spoke to him. He hovered near the door, uncomfortable both with the situation, and the smell of the ever-rotating guard.
Trance nodded in agreement with Cy, ‘Agreed, it will also be best if we stick to-’
Whatever he’d been about to say was interrupted as the door began ton open and a man said, “We’re sorry to interrupt you sir, but-”
The guard stopped short as he saw everyone and narrowed his eyes, hitting a button on his radio.
Trance narrowed his eyes, moving before the guard could back out of the room and hitting the man with Confusion. The guard stumbled back into the hallway, although the damage was already done and the sounds of guards yelling could be heard in the room.
“Dammit, we’ll have to move quickly.” He growled, grabbing Skye by the arm and ushering Cy to follow them, “If the other guards know it won’t be long before Archer sends his guard snake after us.”
He moved forward, ears pivoted forward as he sniffed the air for anyone else that might be nearby. They folded back down sheepishly at Skye’s comment. She was right, of course.
“You’re right,” he apologized, looking over his shoulder at her, “I’ll keep my mind off of it.”
She shook her head, “It’s fine. Let’s just get through this in one piece so you can worry about things like that later.”
That might have sounded weird but she meant it, if they made it out of here in one piece he’d have all the time in the world to worry about it and talk to Ronin later. It meant that there would be a later to consider.
She gave him directions as they made their way to the designated vent, which should lay directly over Trance’s room. Hopefully this would be as simple as it sounded, otherwise things could get messy.
Cy shuffled through the ventilation system as quickly as he could. The sooner this was over, the better. He found the vent easily enough and peered down through the slats. It dawned on him, in that moment, that he hadn’t asked anyone what Trance looked like.
Trance had been waiting for what felt like hours, knowing that today was the day. He could finally be free of Archer and his madness, he could go somewhere safe.
The espeon looked up when he could finally sense his rescuers getting close, trying to keep the grin off of his face.
‘You’ll have to be careful coming down, the guards are rotating but we still run a slight chance of being caught.’ He said telepathically, ‘Better safe than sorry.’
Raina placed a hand on Midori’s shoulder, “Please, if I can-”
“No.” Aedus manages to rasp out, “No you won’t. I don’t care what happens, I’m stronger than that. You got to get us all out of here sis, that’s what you do. You protect people.”
Raina felt her eyes water. Her brother was an idiot but hopefully he was right. She took her hand off Midori’s shoulder and nodded, “Let’s do this.”
“Nobody’s staying behind.” Midori agreed. Keeping her gun pointed at the guard holding Aedus, she started towards him. Her voice took an official tone, “PLPD, I said drop your weapons!“
On that cue, Silvia started towards the women in the center of the room. Her lips parted to show her teeth as a low growl escaped her throat, and she did her best to move between Midori and the woman in the center. Miko however, stayed near Raina.
Lexi narrowed her eyes, well if she was going to be arrested she wasn’t going to do it looking like a beat up mess. The guard was backing up from the woman with the gun and that made it harder to be sure she’d hit her mark.
The gunshot rang out through the room, the guard choking and letting go of Aedus. He stumbled back, one hand going to his abdomen and looking up at her in shock.
Aedus let out a low grunt of pain, he’d already lost a bit of blood from the first wound and he felt lightheaded. He put his hand over the wound and coughed as he did so, blood coming up as he did so. That was not good.
Etherea struggled against her chains to try and get to him, but she was too weak to break out of them currently.
Raina furrowed her brow but sighed, “Yeah, okay but I’m going to be right behind you just in case.”
She could still smell Aedus’ scent, along with one female pokemon and one female human. There wasn’t anyone else that she could sense and she furrowed her brow again at that.
“I can only smell Aedus and two others Midori.” She whispered as she stepped to the side for the woman to go ahead of her, “I don’t like this.”
And with that, Midori ran up the rest of the steps. Without hesitation, she kicked the door open, and both Silvia and Miko ran ahead on either side of her. As per protocol, she raised her gun up and shouted, “Freeze! PLPD!”
As they open the door, there’s no one immediately there and the room is almost painfully empty of people entirely. Which should have made her feel better if not for the scene in the middle of the room. Her mother, bound in shackles and chained to the floor, looking like she’d been through hell. Aedus being held by a single guard, bleeding from a wound in his side and a gun pointed at his chest.
The woman holding the gun looked nothing like what she had expected, and yet she had no doubts about who she was.
“Let him go.” She growled out through clenched teeth, “You only kept one guard and that was a mistake.”
“Now, now there’s no reason to be so upset about this.” Lexi grinned, “I’ll let him go, but only if you agree to be a test subject along side your dear sweet mother.”
Although regardless of choice, she had no intention of releasing the boy. If Raina agreed, then he got to live but if she didn’t, well Lexi figured one more shot might do the poor guy in.
“Your options are very simple. You stay and he gets to live, but if your friend here doesn’t put her gun down and you don’t agree... I can’t promise he comes out of this alright.”
She knew it was likely that she would end up in jail regardless, this fight was never going to go her way, but she would attempt to do everything to her advantage before then.
Lexi chuckled as the injured young man struggled against the guards, crying out in pain when one of them one of them agitated his wound. She looked over to Etherea who was still chained to the corner of the small laboratory.
“Well he certainly has your spirit.” She snorted, “A shame he’s not as smart as you are or he might have been a real problem.”
Etherea looked up, brow furrowed, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your hands off of him. Raina won’t stand for it and neither will I.”
It was the strongest Etherea had felt in years, seeing her son in trouble had set a fire in her heart. She’d be damned if she let this woman, who had used her for so long, get her hands on either of her children.
“I swear that even if I have to die for the two of them, you’ll never get to do to them what you did to me.”
Aedus stopped struggling at this point, clearly in awe of the strength his mother showed, even now. Lexi grinned and shook her head, “I can’t afford to lose precious resources. Just think I’ll have the whole family soon.”
One of the guards from out in the hallway stepped inside, “Ma’am we have more intruders on the first floor. What do you want us to do?”
Lexi smiled, wide and manic grin spreading across her face, “Let them come, I’d like to see them try and take something from me.”
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