Hybridization

Chapter 168 – Routed

Chapter 168 – Routed

“Mister Theocrosis, I need to talk with all parties involved in this incident. It is standard procedure to debrief everyone involved especially after such a public event involving a cult and foreign entities. Speaking of, didn’t we see some of them alive? Where did they go?” – Gretchen Perkins, talking to Jay after showing up late to the party.

Kurt always found Jay’s portals interesting. They weren’t like the portals that connected the Order to his home. They seemed to be more similar to the ones that connected to other worlds in other realms. They acted more like a shortcut that required a few steps to pass through. It was like space was shortened between two points, rather than completely bypassed.

That little time between the portal being summoned and him stepping though gave him a second to reflect on what had just happened. It also allowed him to reset to a more neutral mindset after the fight he had been in.

Now that he was on the other side of it, Kurt recognized that there was some sort of instinctual compulsion that had been influencing him. It wasn’t the first time he had been under the influence of his instincts as a werewolf, but this was a step beyond his previous experiences.

He had felt like there wasn’t another choice to be made besides a death match. In the moment, there wasn’t an option to disengage and try to fight another time. Hell, he wasn’t even sure it was him making decisions at some points.

When the Strand construct had revealed itself, Kurt had felt a surge of something within him. He wanted to call it divinity, since that was what he was becoming more familiar with in recent times, but it felt off. This felt more like how authority had been described to him, a blending of his aspect and his will.

He had felt it was not only his duty to destroy that monster but also his right to do so. To allow it to live a moment longer would be an affront to his very being. The implication made him wonder if it was similar to how Val had talked about aspects and domains, but he didn’t really understand either.

The fight itself was also a wakeup call. He wasn’t used to fighting something that had a similar power to himself, and the lesser construct was definitely close. His early actions proved that he didn’t know his ass from his elbow when it came to the Strand and how to deal with them.

That is to say, how to deal with the larger versions of them. After the clash of their two different mana types, Kurt had easily gotten the upper hand after figuring out he had to imbue all his attacks.

Kurt was also surprised to see how they countered each other. While Kurt couldn’t do much to the construct with physical attacks, his mana, aura and divinity seemed to be anathema to the Strand. He figured it made sense, given that werewolves were made for that purpose.

The real surprise was the mana-based attacks from the strand and how they interacted with his mana, since it clearly didn’t affect him. He wouldn’t call it a direct nullification but more of a counter or disruption. It seemed that when the two acted directly against each other, the forces were redirected and spread out. Which meant he had to find ways to make his divinity laced attacks land without being disrupted.

He planned to have a chat with his wolf after this mess was all cleared up. He also fully intended to take Jade along for that chat since it was past time for her to have a ‘Come-to-Jesus’ moment or, in this case, ‘Come-to-Origin’ moment.

Two steps later, Kurt was standing on the road at the bottom of his driveway. He was immediately followed by Kristi, still carrying a mumbling Rindi. Val and Penny popped up a moment later from the completely invisible portal.

“Jade, sitrep.” Kurt demanded via the implant. “We just touched down at the end of my driveway.”

“Sire, we are in position around the north and east sides of your… umm, yard? Anyway, we are just in the tree line. Our scouts picked out around thirty intruders approaching from the south. Couldn’t spot them but we can smell and hear them. They are handrailing the road about 50 to 100 yards into the wood line.” Jade responded immediately. “I give them another five minutes till they see the house.”

“Did you have a plan in mind?” Kurt asked. He didn’t want to just pop up and ruin things if they already had a set up. The first on scene calling the play was often the right decision.

Jade informed him that they were going to essentially counter ambush the attacking force. Her plan was to wait until they commit to assaulting the house before taking out their base of fire and support elements. She wanted to leave the assault force completely unsupported to possibly force a surrender condition.

While he had been talking, Kristi had laid Rindi down on a stretcher that Penny had summoned from her ring. The tigress was still unconscious or at the very least non-coherent as she was making small noises like she was subvocalizing. The strange thing was her eyes were open and looking at things, tracking something that none of them could see.

“I like this plan.” Val pipped up when Jade finished. Kristi agreed immediately after.

Kurt gave them a thumbs up before relaying his plan to Jade. “We will hit the assault force after you take out the support by fire elements. If they have a command team that you can spot, try to force a surrender. Don’t risk anything. Kill first if needed. None of them are allowed to escape.”

Jade confirmed the order, not having to spread the word since everyone was connected via implants already. They quickly relocated to the wide ditch on the opposite side of the road, affording them some cover and concealment. That left them with nothing to do but settle in and wait.

It also left them time to worry about Rindi. Despite Penny insisting that she was physically fine, Val did her level best to inspect every inch of the woman. She found nothing wrong but just wanted to be sure they weren’t missing anything.

“I am telling you it’s something spiritual. I am looking at massive aura fluctuations.” Penny told them. “It almost looks like a battle for dominance or something.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring.” Kristi muttered.

“Well, it’s the best I can tell you at the moment.” Penny hissed. Literally as her forked tongue poked out between her lips. “If something changes, I will tell you but until then just let me monitor her in peace.”

Kristi held her hands up and backed off just in time for Kurt to refocus their attention. “Ssst. Here we go.” He whispered and pointed.

Through the trees they saw a hand full of people suddenly pop into existence. They began setting up what looked like a cordon of some sort, and they spread out along a mostly straight line.

That scene repeated as the people suddenly popped up from nowhere. Every time it happened, five people set up a similar position, working toward them and where they hid beneath one of Val’s illusions.

“Jade, they are setting up their cordon and support by fire on the south and west sides of the lawn.” Kurt said through the implant. “If you take the south side, we can take the ones on the west.”

“Copy, we will engage on your mark. I am moving people now to set up behind them. Give it… two minutes.” Jade responded.

That time frame might be cutting it close in Kurt’s opinion. He had to give it to whoever was running this operation as it was some well-orchestrated tactics. That line of thought also made him wonder who exactly was carrying out these attacks.

Clearly there were two groups in the down town area. One of which Jay had identified as the Keepers of the Black Feast. The other was still a mystery, but they definitely hadn’t been allies according to the girls.

Kurt nearly jumped out of his skin a second later when Jay suddenly appeared and instantly moved over to Rindi. The daemon frowned for a moment before reaching out to touch her on the forehead with a single finger. He jerked his hand back after barely making contact then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  

Jay turned to Kurt then. “After we are done here, I will need you to come with me to chat with our good friend director Perkins.”

“What was that with Rindi?” He asked in return, not bothering with the news of the director coming back into his life.

“Same shit different pile it seems. Well, maybe not, you know one of them.”

“What the hel-“ Kurt began to ask but cut it short when Val slapped his arm and pointed. “Fuck.” He saw that there was now a team moving up to the house from the southern tree line.

“Jade, here we go.” Kurt watched as a team of ten people hustled across the lawn, using the garage as cover. They stopped briefly at the corner before quickly moving around to the front. A couple of them stopped to test the garage doors but gave up when they were locked.

“Are you going to let them in like that?” Penny asked as she too watched the team.

Kurt shook his head and adjusted his grip on his rifle. “Doors and windows are enchanted. They are going to have a hell of a ti… well shit.” His confidence in his enchantments was suddenly squashed as two lesser angles suddenly ran for the house, clearly in support of the team.

Kristi took a half step forward, her eyes locked on the two as they ran, their alabaster skin gleaming in the little light that shone from the house. “Those two are mine.” She then launched herself forward, gravel spraying from her extended leap.

“Fuckfuckfuck.” Val cursed as she tried to manipulate her illusion to keep Kristi covered.

“Jade, go-go-go.” Kurt mentally screamed into the implant as he and Val ran in a slightly different direction. They had to take out the support elements before Kristi was spotted. Thankfully they didn’t have to go far as the two teams on their side of the property were all within view.

Kurt took the further of the two, stopping once all of them were in a cluster, relative to his position. He didn’t even offer an option to surrender and just hosed them down, suppressed 300 blackout barely making a sound as he drained a thirty round magazine into the group of five. Kurt could hear a similar noise from his left as Val gunned down her team.

He changed magazines while sprinting back to Val and they both did their level best to follow Kristi up the driveway to the sound of clashing steel. From deeper into the woods, he could hear the sounds of a couple gunshots cut through the howls of werewolves and screams of men. On the way he received a message from someone he wasn’t expecting.

“Kurt, it’s Piper. We are in your hub and standing by.” The half-siren sent over the implant. “We also have Gella’s team here. Rupert and the Arizona team went to help Jay with clean up.”

“Move into the house and breezeway. Keep low and the lights off. Open doors to fire through, windows are enchanted.” He responded, barely taking a second to process that help had already arrived via the portal. When he made it to the top of the driveway, it was to see the fight that matched the sounds he heard on his way up.

It was actually a surreal scene and not at all what Kurt really expected when he got to the top of the hill. Instead of a bunch of people trying to shoot Kristi or her getting absolutely beaten down by twelve people, he saw three people in a melee with several more standing on his porch and watching impotently.

That impotence was mostly because Kristi was doing a great job of keeping the two angels between her and the house but there was probably some shock involved. The scene of Kristi going to town on a slightly feminine-looking angel with her poleaxe when mixed with them all wearing modern tactical gear was definitely strange. Even stranger was that both angels had produced swords that looked like they belonged in a fantasy setting due to the brilliant polish and fancy design.

Kurt, unlike the people on his porch, had no issues with the spectacle or friendly’s in his line of fire and put a 208-grain slug into the closest person on the porch. The man was hit in the upper chest, just below the throat and collapsed in a heap as his teammates all turned to face Kurt.

A moment later and two doors flew open. The door to the garage opened to reveal Gella and her team, wearing plain clothes but with armor on. They rushed out into the driveway, one taking aim at the brawl happening a dozen yards away and the others pulling an angle on the people on the front porch.

The other door that popped open was the front door to the house which spewed out a mist that flowed along the ground to take up position behind the bamboozled troops. Sif and Piper came out at nearly the same time and bowled over two of the attackers. Sif actually put her fist into a helmeted head and applied a small burst of lightning to the attack.

Seeing themselves completely outnumbered and likely hearing nothing but chaos on their own coms, the remainder did as the screaming ladies demanded and surrendered. The sound of weapons clattering to the ground was only barely audible over distracting fight that had allowed this sudden takeover.

In the middle of the driveway was an absolutely radiant Kristi. She seemed to have a subtle glow emanating from her as she fenced with the angels who were looking more and more run down by the moment.

The male angel had his face contorted into a snarl as he attempted to circle around Kristi. He was bleeding from several small wounds on his shoulders and legs from failed blocks as far as Kurt could tell. He was also shaking slightly as he held his fancy long sword in a fool’s guard.

At a 90-degree angle from him was the female who was in decidedly worse shape as she was limping slightly and had a gash on her forehead just below her helmet rim. Still, she seemed hell bent on taking out Kristi in a melee and pressed the attack.

“Why are they using swords?” Gella asked over the implant.

Kurt had to think about it for a moment but came up with a couple reasons, one good and one bad. “Either due to pride and customs, which is stupid, or because Kristi will gut them if they reach for their rifles.”

“Didn’t Kristi say that the last one had some sort of shield or something that a bullet wouldn’t go through?” Val asked as she hopped from foot to foot, itching to join the fight.

Thinking that was possible and not quite remembering what the other angel had fought like, Kurt decided to test the theory. He raised his rifle and fired a round at the male angel, aiming for his hip.

The round hit something and he saw a flash of heat in his glasses as it was deflected, impacting the ground. The shot did serve as a distraction, however, and made the angel flinch, turning his body halfway around out of reflex and sweeping his sword arm wide. Kristi was there a moment later, taking a half step and thrusting forward with the top spike on her pole axe.

Being that she was still a ways away, the angel didn’t flinch much, thinking she wasn’t in striking range. What he didn’t count on was the extra four feet of blade that had grown out of the end of Kristi’s pole axe.

The extended spike caught him in the cheek and pierced straight through, tilting his head back from the force. His body went limp at roughly the same time and would have dragged Kristi’s weapon down as he fell, if she hadn’t already cancelled that mana blade.

A shriek split the air and buffeted Kurt against the garage as the female lurched forward, enraged as her partner was killed. Kristi was already in motion, however, and pivoted on her hips over her lead foot. She swung her axe head around, already at full extension, and coated the flat blade with her mana as it came whistling toward the charging angel.

Kristi’s blade found purchase in the shoulder of the angel, biting deep into her sword arm and driving her to the ground. She screamed in pain as she fell, somehow still holding onto her sword despite her arm being useless.

Not hesitating for a moment, Kristi stepped up, reversing her weapon and drove the spike into the angel’s throat, just above where her tactical armor’s rifle plate ended. The angel’s scream stopped in a gurgle that was silenced a moment later as Kristi stomped on her face to clear it off her weapon, breaking her neck in the process. Just as the last time she had killed a lesser angel, a golden ball of light was absorbed from both bodies, directly into her.

“Fuuuuuccck…hurp.” Tae, the elf-naga hybrid on Gella’s team, said before turning around and vomiting on the pavement, leaning far enough over to make sure he didn’t splatter his serpentine lower body.

Kurt wanted to agree but was distracted by an update from Jade. “Sire, the support teams and what remains of their command team are either dear or being hunted as we speak.”

“If they surrender, take them alive.” Kurt ordered, not needing to explain what to do if they fought back. He was also distracted by Kristi suddenly collapsing to her knees where she stood.

“Kristi!” Val rushed forward, Kurt not far behind.

He paused long enough to look at Gella. “Penny is down at the end of the driveway with our wounded fourth, go help her please.” The half orc nodded once and sent Hans to help Piper with the captives while she and Tae went to get Penny.

Kurt then returned his attention to Kristi who was now shuddering and shaking as she knelt on the driveway. She didn’t have that same radiant aura anymore but instead was once again glowing. This time he could see clear patterns to the light that seemed like geometric designs shining from below her skin.

Kristi seemed to be taking it better than last time as well. Where she had previously slumped to the ground, nearly unconscious, this time she remained upright, though clearly not enjoying the sensation. Also, like the last time, she was noticeably warm. She was so warm that she was steaming, the sweat that has beaded her face now evaporating rapidly.

She looked over at him, flashing a brief, but pained smile. Her fangs now slightly longer and stained with blood. “HHeeeggnnnn…HHMmmmnnn” Kristi grunted before giving in and passing out.

As she slumped over, Kurt closed the last couple of feet and went to scoop her up. She was still glowing and also still noticeably warm to the touch. He would compare it to lifting a giant, human shaped hot water bottle.

He looked up as he heard the sound of howling in the distance and heard the ponding of boots on the grass. From around the corner came half a dozen werewolves, all in human form and wearing the Order standard uniform. Each of them was carrying a person over their shoulders who had been flex cuffed at the wrist and ankles.

“Got six alive, killed ten more. The rest fled and are being pursued.” Ra said as he directed the wolves to drop their charges on the ground near the dead angles. They arranged them face down in a line while placing a guard on them.

Kurt then turned to see the eight remaining people from the assault team that had been placed in a similar position, face down on the strip of grass between his porch and driveway. He sighed in exasperation but was then reminded of the rest of his problems as Gella and Penny came up the hill.

Gella was on one end of a stretcher, her dwarfish-gnoll teammate on the other end. Penny was walking beside the stretcher and talking into her phone as she looked at Rindi who was still unconscious.

“Take her inside, put her right in the living room and move the furniture if you need to.” Kurt said while picking up the still steaming Kristi. “Can we get a heal…”

The door to the hub opened and a trio of people rushed out, interrupting Kurt. Each of them was wearing the standard Order fatigues but had a white set of body armor on. Each of them had a large backpack on that bore a symbol of green and red snakes twisting upward along a gold staff. They immediately ran over to Penny as she was with the obviously wounded person on the stretcher.

“Order healers. Spiritual and physical. What is the patient status?” An elf man asked while he walked alongside Penny. He clearly was on a mission and had brought enough backup to handle anything.

Kurt and Val shared a look before just following along, giving all the information they could to the Order healers and trusting the rest of the werewolves to secure the property. Kurt even thought they might be enjoying themselves since it wasn’t often the got to cut loose and terrorize the mundane people.

He only began to worry when Jay suddenly appeared next to him and was staring at the stretcher holding Rindi. Apparently, there was more going on with her than they initially expected.

“Is it bad that I’m not even surprised anymore?” Kurt muttered as he followed his boss inside.