When Albatross disappeared into the ranks of his men and Brant followed, a group of the soldiers took hold of him. Their attempts to detain Brant quickly fell apart. He dispatched them all quite easily, even without using his blade. When he used his shield to ricochet a general's bullet right back on him, his men swiftly learned a lesson.

Except one man. A soldier with dyed black hair and blond eyebrows tossed his weapons aside and snatched Brant by his shoulder. The taller, burlier man spun to face him. Their gazes locked.

"You ain't nothin', pickin' on those wimps!" he growled in an Odegoan accent that Brant felt defiled Hannah's heritage, "Wait 'til ya get a load of me, partner! C'mon, just you and me, huh?"

Brant rolled his eyes and watched as his gloves absorbed the metal particles comprising his axe and shield. Once his hands had been emptied, he beckoned the man come closer.

He eagerly obliged. The man hurled himself at Brant, falling fist first into his chest. Making no move to block, Brant watched him crumble at his feet, groaning and clutching his hand from the mere impact of punching his hardened muscle. With a sigh, he pulled the Alcontean up by one hand and let his legs dangle as he held him by his neck. He gritted his teeth and tossed him aside like an unwanted toy, knocking several Alconteans over like bowling pins in the process.

"He was foolish." Sila said as it dashed past Brant, flames blazing.

Brant nodded. "Clearly."

He squinted into the huddle of soldiers. Albatross was hardly an easy man to miss in a crowd, so the difficulty in finding him concerned Brant. Then he smirked. Several of the Kemarian men from his squad had managed to corner him into the Innutukian shieldmen, trapping him with their pistols and shock rods. He paced like a trapped animal. Knocking Alconteans aside right and left, Brant generated new weapons and charged straight for his endurant foe.

Brant leapt at Albatross with a mace poised to rip several holes in his skin and tear them apart. Distracted by the sputtering warning shots from the Innutukians on one side and constant jabbing of shock poles by the Kemarians on the other, Albatross didn't see it coming. The spikes tore right into the flesh of Albatross' bicep.

Brant tugged and tugged, but he couldn't get the man's flesh to tear as he'd planned. Instead, he received a heavy backhand, throwing him back several feet and causing him to let go of the weapon. The mace crumbled out of Albatross' wound and nullified all his struggle.

Albatross strutted up to Brant with his metal-encased fists clenched. He raised one for a bruising blow. Brant threw himself to the ground and rolled before leaping up behind him and slamming his shield into his skull.

While the god stumbled away in a daze, Ace emerged from the shadows with a bottle of pepper spray. Brant backed up. Then he frowned when instead of spraying through the nozzle, Ace ripped the cap off and hurled all the contents of the canister into Albatross' face.

Hacking and choking, the god staggered away. He clutched his eyes and appeared ready to rip them from their sockets. His skin, already wrinkled from the splash of acid, now swole up into puffy red mounds of flesh.

When Ace hurried closer to stab Albatross, he received a swift laceration from the sharp edge of the god's wrist-mounted shield. Ace hissed, but still tried again. The other shield conked him on the head. Albatross kicked him in the groin.

Brant gritted his teeth sympathetically as he watched Ace collapse into a fetal position on the ground. Then he shifted his focus back to the task at hand and created a sword in his hand. He thrusted it into Albatross' belly, but the blade only penetrated a half-inch of flesh before it met heavy resistance. The god swatted Brant away.

Albatross rubbed his eyes some more before turning to face the heavy footsteps coming his way. He blocked a powerful swing from Aaron's metal fist and scuttled out of harm's way. The man shrieked when a shock pole met his spine.

A pair of double-barreled turrets rose from between two parting plates on Aaron's forearm. Then a stream of bullets poured from them, pelting Albatross' shields and leaving heavy denting. One projectile ripped right through and hit his jaw. Of course, his thick skin prevented any lasting damage.

Brant glanced briefly into the sky and noted with satisfaction that Wendy zoomed about and pestered the Alcontean hordes, slowing their advance greatly and introducing confusion. Both of which benefitted the Innutukians as they slowly marched to meet them, firing conservatively through their wall of shields. She shouted skyward, and a bundle of arrows dropped into her outstretched hand. Tossing them over her shoulder into the quiver, she drew her bow again and shot another man.

Focusing back on Albatross, Brant's eyes darted about for an opening again, which Aaron rarely provided. Instead, he circled the god and barraged him with bullets, breaking it up with a kick here and there. An Innutukian throwing knife flew down from the rooftop and left a scratch on Albatross' belly before hurrying back to its thrower.

Brant took a quick step forward to strike, but Aaron stepped in the way again. It seemed intentional. Rolling his eyes, he glanced back at the battlefield again. He gasped.

"Aaron, I can take care of him from here!" Brant shouted, "There's a bazooka squad on the temple's one o'clock, and you need to get your metal butt over there."

The metal helmet shook from side to side as Aaron kicked Albatross down again. "I've got my hands full."

"No, Aaron, I'll deal with him. Get over there and deal with them! That's an order!"

"When did I pledge allegiance to you?" he asked, placing his massive foot over Albatross' chest.

"Your alliance is with the Insurgence! Which I now lead! Now get over there, now!"

Aaron shook his head again. "No sir. You go."

Ace huffed and glared at Aaron as he ran past. "I'll see what I can do. Insubordination's not cool, man."

Brant shot one last disgusted look at Aaron before hurrying after Ace. The two men fought their way through the Alcontean ranks, an increasing number of which now carried shields. Smaller than the beastly ballistic shields the Innutukians carried, these protective devices allowed them greater speed and mobility, giving them time to gang up on Brant and Ace.

The two men rolled their eyes when a massive congregation of the soldiers formed a circle around them. Brant enlarged his shield to fend off the multitude of bullets rushing his way. Ace allowed most to hit him, watching as his jacket absorbed the shots.

Ace removed a small cylinder from his belt and sighed dramatically. "Y'know, you guys are getting pretty annoying. Better flippin' back up before ya'll catch a headache."

Nobody but the guns opened their mouths in reply.

"Whatever then." he muttered. He turned to Brant. "Catch!"

Brant caught the earplugs Ace tossed his way. They swiftly crammed them into their ears, and then Ace mashed a red button on his cylinder. A high-pitched screech filled the area, causing Alconteans to stumble away with their hands all but crammed inside their ears. Brant felt the vibrations of the sound rattling his bones and upsetting his stomach.

"Nice talk." Ace called over his shoulder as he and Brant hurried over their prostrated bodies. Most still kneeled on the ground and bawled with fingers clutched around their bleeding ear lobes.

They made some headway, but once they found themselves a few yards from the bazooka squad, another circle of soldiers closed in around them. They sighed.

"Really?" Ace asked.

Brant glanced at him as he kicked a man back several feet, using his own shield as leverage against him. "You have another of those things?"

"No."

An expletive fell from Brant's lips as he battled off a pair of brawny Alconteans who tried to close in and tighten the circle. Then he widened his eyes at the bazooka squad. The men at the front of their formation had entered into range to fire at the temple. Five rockets flew from their weapons.

********************

Keira screamed when a quintet of rockets sped toward the temple. The first one smashed into a supporting beam directly beneath her, but a few stories down. The impact sent her flying higher up onto the roof, only for it to sag and coax her to the ground below. With eyes widened in panic, she unclipped her grapple hook.

She hissed as her downward slide led her straight into a budding flame. The groping arms of fire burnt her stomach as she slid past. She slapped herself a couple times to douse the flames.

Just in time, Keira fired the hook at a pillar on a tower near the middle of the rooftop. She felt her guts drop inside her belly as her momentum ended with a jolt. Gulping, she glanced at the ground below, so far, but yet so near if another rocket wished it so.

One of her comrades screamed and grasped desperately for a handle to stop his sliding, but the flat roof gave him nothing. Shifting her weight, Keira moved to swing his way.

"Grab my legs!" she shouted when the pendulum she'd created began to travel to the man.

All too eagerly, he obliged. She grunted. Swearing she could feel her femur drop out of its socket in her hip, Keira gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the gun. The man she'd rescued scrambled up her leg until he clung to her back like a baby koala to its mother.

Keira knew she couldn't hold on forever. She shivered when another rocket hit the wall farther down. The vibrations of the structure's quivering carried through her line to her hands.

"Alright, man, we've gotta get inside while there's still an inside to get to!" she shouted over the clamor below, "As much as you can, swing your weight backwards!"

The man nodded and obeyed. They swung their bodies back in concert, and the momentum sent them flying forward at double the speed. Keira disengaged the claw at the last second before it would prove an encumbrance.

The pair barely cleared the jagged edge of the floor. Wooden boards moaned under their weight as they tumbled down onto them, their separate attempts at rolling obstructed by the other's presence.

Keira glanced out of the gaping hole in the temple wall and narrowed her eyes. One of the Alconteans had his bazooka aimed right at her. A jerk of her arm sent the throwing knife his way. It hit, and he screamed. Keira tapped her wrist and gladly received her blade back.

"Thanks for saving my life, ma'am!" the quivering man exclaimed, practically throwing himself in Keira's face, "Like, maybe it's the reverse of chivalry or whatever, but—"

"Women can't be chivalrous?" she asked, swinging a door open and waving him through it.

"Well, I guess technically, it's not...y'know, like I didn't mean—"

Keira smiled graciously. "I'm just playing with you. No problem."

With that, she shot her hook at a chandelier and used her line as a shortcut to reach the central courtyard. She hurried to find another weapon, as she'd dropped her sniper in panic earlier. Another boom rumbled the building. Keira covered her face with her hands as sawdust, mangled chunks of wood, and shards of glass dropped from the ceiling. When yet another blast hit uncomfortably near where she knew Hannah to be sleeping, she redirected her course and grappled up the stairway. Nothing happens to her on my watch.

********************

Baird awoke with a start, instantly regretting it as a cloud of dust and smoke assaulted his nostrils in the darkness. He choked and gagged. Leaping out of his sleeping bag much quicker than was prudent given the status of his leg, he hurried into his clothes.

An uncharacteristic curse flew from Baird's lips when the building quivered so violently under his feet. The boards comprising the ceiling whimpered and sagged. With widened eyes, he finished fastening the last buckle on his second boot, snatched up his sheathed sword, and dashed out of the room.

Baird hissed as he felt the stitches rip apart on his thigh. Whether it was only his imagination or not, he had no clue, but he could swear he felt drops of blood immediately begin to trickle down his leg. When the building quaked again, he brushed the question aside. By no means could he leave Khemera helpless in such calamitous times.

He hurried along the wall until he reached the door to Khemera's room. Flinging the door open, he thrusted himself into the chamber, eyes widened and chest heaving. The blind man appeared to have just awakened.

"Who's there?" Khemera asked in a trembling voice.

"It's me, Baird." he said while stepping closer and reaching his arms out to help him up. "I've gotta get you out of here."

The old man nodded and allowed himself to be guided along. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack, I assume. I guess we're not gonna get a good night of sleep until we're in our own beds."

Baird and Khemera both ducked when they heard the doorway splinter right above their heads. They hurried their fastest to the south side of the building, on the opposite end from the battle raging outside. Plaster rained down on them as they hustled.

Baird shoved one of the back doors open with his shoulder. Wincing, he stumbled outside with Khemera, and they both hurried to get through their coughing fits so they could drink in the clean air outside.

Once his breathing had normalized, Baird glanced around and wrinkled his forehead in confusion. Kemarians dashed to and fro. Tossing keys around between themselves like hot potatoes, they darted through the cluster of Innutukian armored cars parked behind the temple. After studying them for a few seconds, an idea popped into Baird's mind.

"Excuse me," he said to the nearest man, "what're you guys doing?"

"The Alconteans are too many!" the almond-eyed man shouted, "They're driving the shieldmen back!"

Baird nodded. "So you're taking the cars out to remedy that." he muttered, his tone more a statement than a question.

"Yeah." The man glanced at his key, frowned at it, and tossed it to the woman standing at the next car over. She smiled and tossed hers to him.

"Mind if we tag along?" Baird asked, "We can even ride in the back if you want, just anywhere's safer than inside at this point."

"Sure, c'mon in."

Baird nodded and stepped back over to Khemera. He led the blind man into the back seat on the left side of the vehicle. Then he shut the door and headed around to the other side. Once his fingertips touched the handle, the driver shook his head vigorously. He redirected him to the passenger seat.

With a shrug, Baird obliged. He eyed the mounted shotgun on the door with a raised eyebrow before sliding his way into the seat. After buckling himself in, he nodded to the driver. Without a word, the Kemarian backed out of the spot and sped forward. They sped alongside the temple for a ways. Then they whizzed past the Innutukian legions who struggled to hold the teeming Alcontean hordes at bay.

Finally, they passed the front lines and found themselves right in the midst of the enemy ranks, without an ally in sight. Baird's throat tightened. He shrunk into his seat as he eyed the panorama of doom.

******************** 

A/N: Well dang, things are getting pretty bad, wouldn't you say? This battle, needless to say, is not good news for anybody involved. 

But you know what is good news for everybody involved? You voting and commenting on this chapter! Was that smooth? I think so. 😂 

Well, I'm not feeling super full of questions today, but what was your favorite scene in this chapter? 

And for a random question: What's the last program you used before opening Wattpad? 

(For me, it was probably Firefox for something or the other.) 

Anyway, I hope you have an awesome day, and please excuse me for the sparse note. I'll see you in tomorrow's update!