Chapter 13: The Undying Berserkers

He said that you will soon come to a crossroads. You will have your family legacy on one hand, and your infatuation with one from the bloodline of our ancient enemies, the Hamashes, on the other. The clan who rejected us millennia ago, sent us into exile, and first called us Mystics.

Rachel turned the corner just in time to see Éclair, Tork, and a few other Elementals fighting off dozens of armed thugs, each one screaming wildly as if crazed. Éclair seemed to be wearing some fancy, new Psionic Gear, but at least her helmet was down, making her long, silver hair unmistakable. Thisimius was there too, his big arms upraised as he shielded a group of cowering politicians behind his brown, bulbous form. His tough Ogre hide would offer some protection against laser fire, but not for very long if he took more than one direct hit. She and Leon didn’t hesitate. Within an instant, they had joined the fray as they summoned their Psionic Weapons.

Rachel’s Psionic Nun-Chucks spun wildly with yellow energy, leaving streaks of lightning through the air as she simultaneously batted away incoming enemy fire and sent jolts of electricity searing through her enemies. In order to conserve as many psions as possible, she stopped firing lightning bolts, and simply redirected the blasts of energy bullets back at her opponents with a flick of her wrist.

While Rachel engaged the enemy in a ranged battle, Leon went in close, a common tactic the two of them often employed when they teamed up. While en route to Éclair, Leon had donned his dark red Psionic Armor and black cape, making him seem all the more dashing in the midst of battle. His twin scimitars activated with purple glowing lines of energy. To aid his Wind Elemency, his swords would instantly expand to resemble fans as he buffeted Space Pirates with air attacks, and then they quickly transformed back to scimitars when he fought in close-quarters. When the pirates returned fire, Leon preferred to dodge their shots than block – though he used both tactics when necessary. Leon moved with unparalleled grace, using gusts of wind over his entire body to enhance his speed, making everyone else appear sluggish by comparison. Unlike Éclair and Ryan, Leon had long figured out how to use his natural element to boost his physical abilities, making him nearly equal to even Grafael in terms of speed and striking force. It was an ability that most normal Elementals only learned after they reached Level Three, but Leon was far from the norm. Rachel picked up on the trick a little herself, but only after a few pointers from Leon.

She and Leon worked in perfect tandem with one another as they maneuvered around the room to take up defensive positions beside Éclair. Rachel blocked the laser fire with her nunchakus so that Leon and Éclair could focus their psions for a combined assault of wind and ice that hit the main force of the Space Pirates. Leon’s wind strengthened Éclair’s ice and gave it more momentum, allowing the wave of cold to literally slam into the Space Pirates with the force of a tornado. At least thirty Space Pirates were completely annihilated in an instant by the tornado blizzard, some crumbling to gory pieces as they were blown away and frozen solid at the same time. The fighting quickly died down as most of the attackers were too frozen to move or too badly injured after being blown away by Leon and Éclair’s combo.

The pirates that remained surprisingly kept fighting, but were steadily picked off by the other dozen or so Elementals being led by Skippy of all people. The overweight Elemental proved a surprisingly deadly fighter as he wielded a large, spiked ball on a long chain that created explosions of bright orange flames whenever it hit something. Tork took the last Space Pirate by the neck with his tail, gave a mighty twist, and slammed the man into the wall with a resounding crack! Tork made a sad moan of disgust and let the limp Space Pirate fall to the ground. Rachel felt a knot of pity as she knew that her Dragon comrade loathed killing more than most. In fact, most Space Dragons had become pacifists over the last few centuries, though Rachel didn’t exactly know why.

“Ahoy there, mates,” called Skippy, puffing out his chest proudly. “That’ll teach the buggers, eh? If I had the time, I’d keelhaul the lot of them.”

“You do know that no one actually uses the word ‘keelhaul’ anymore, don’t you, dear chap?” said Tork as he descended next to the beaming Skippy.

Soon, things went quiet save for the whimpering of a few politicians still quivering behind Thisimius. When the fighting died down, the Ogre slumped to the ground covering himself with his arms as several large smoking bullet holes littered his shoulders and chest. He closed his eyes and seemed to lose consciousness, but he somehow remained upright as he sat. Rachel mentally scolded herself for not paying better attention to the fire being directed at the Ogre. Before she could think of anything, Éclair was already at Thisy’s side, running her healing fingers over the wounds still smoking in the Ogre’s brown flesh.

“How is he?” Leon asked, hunching over Éclair as she worked. He looked to Thisy in concern, but it was clear who engendered the most care and attention in Leon’s eyes as he regarded Éclair with obvious reverence.

It’s fitting that my psionic ability is invisibility. I might as well be to Leon whenever Éclair is nearby. Rachel had decided to stop being jealous, but making a conscious decision and changing her feelings altogether was a different matter entirely.

“Multiple shot wounds,” said Éclair with a physician’s analysis. “At least a dozen on the torso and arms. Thankfully, none of them used physical slugs. Lasers usually cause greater damage to human bodies because of the high heat that can vaporize your internal organs with one good shot, but Ogres have more resistance to high temperatures ... though they’re still not completely laser proof. His Ogre physiology has kept him alive so far, but he’s fading fast. He’ll die without intensive care.”

Rachel gave a sigh and shook her head with a wry smile. Yet another reason I can’t stand her sometimes. If Leon ever got injured ... not saying I’d want him to, but if he did ... she’d be all over that.

Leon knelt next to Éclair, placing a hand on her shoulder and feeding her psions through the touch. By the grimace on Éclair’s face, it might not be enough. “I’m not sure if my psions are strong enough to close this many wounds. Are there any Healers present?”

Skippy sadly shook his head. “Sorry, Miss Kaves, but most of them lot have been sent to the command center. I just heard on the communique that there was a big shindig over there not two minutes ago.”

“The command center!” Rachel repeated in disbelief and worry.

Granny! Dad! They’re both there now!

Before she could voice her concerns, Éclair uncharacteristically cursed loudly, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. “Blast it! I spent too much of my psions in the fight! Leon, can you spare anymore?”

He gave her a weak smile, his face seeming more pale than usual. “I-I can try, but you’ve used up most of my reserves already. It’s quite incredible, actually.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, giving his hand a sympathetic brush while still continuing her work. “But his heart stopped. I had to use a great deal of psions to resuscitate him, and most of mine were spent. Even now, I fear that what I’ve done might not be enough.”

Rachel was just about to offer her own psions when a familiar face inched forward from behind the Ogre. It was David Kavic, that wimpy politician they had babysat last year. He held up a large pink glowing Sun Gem to Éclair, the largest Rachel had ever seen.

“I was saving this for after the graduation ceremony, but I think this situation warrants it more. It’s the purest gem I’ve ever found, able to hold more psions than five others. It should take much longer to shrink as well.”

I take back that wimpy comment.

Éclair snatched the Sun Gem from the politician without even glancing at it. She siphoned energy from the gem so fast that her whole body began to glow with the blue light of her healing psions. “Thank you, David. You’ve saved us yet again.”

The Viceroy gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Tis nothing. Just one of the rarest Sun Gems ever found that could power a whole cruiser by itself, worth at least that of an entire District.”

Rachel was grateful. They couldn’t afford to divert all their psions into the healing of the Ogre in case enemy reinforcements arrived. Already, Skippy was directing the Elementals to stay vigilant as they took up defensive positions in and outside the safehouse. Rachel noticed with apprehension that the kindly Ogre was not the only casualty. At least three Elementals had fared much worse as their charred remains littered the area around the scorched doors. Even Fire Elementals could be killed by flames if the fire was strong enough and they were taken by surprise.

Her own worry for her family finally reached its boiling point. She took note of how everyone seemed to be getting along well without her and held up her communicator to her mouth, voicing the ID for her father.

At first, there was nothing but static as Rachel called for her father over and over again. “Dad! Dad! Are you there? I heard there was an attack at the command center! Are you and granny okay?”

No reply.

“Dad, if you can hear me, please answer!”

“Am I needed?” came a timid reply, but not from the communicator.

Rachel looked up to see her father standing tentatively within the ruined doorframe. Without thinking, she ran to him and wrapped her hands around his big waist, too thankful beyond words to see him alive and well.

He gave her an uncomfortable pat on her shoulders. “I’m not entirely sure what I’ve done to warrant this behavior, but I am more than satisfied with the aftereffects. May I inquire what actions I may take to repeat these findings?”

Rachel’s face flushed with embarrassment as she drew back and took on the proper posture of an Elemental that she had learned from her grandmother, namely condescension.

“Stop being a nerd and tell me what you’re doing here?” demanded Rachel, feeling foolish almost as if Saria herself was standing behind her tapping her foot in disapproval. “What happened at the command center? Is the Fire Minister alright?”

“The command center?” he asked in concern, his droids around him buzzing in excitement and worry. “I just came from the command center to look for you. Why? Has something happened to Saria?”

“No worries there, matey,” said Skippy with a cheerful salute. “You can thank yer lucky stars that the Minister still be kickin’ and givin’ out orders, or we’d be pushin’ up daisies right ‘bout now.”

“By Jove,” said Tork in alarm as he glanced down at the pudgy man and put a scaly hand to his hip. “You do know that’s not proper English diction, do you not, old chap?”

Skippy didn’t seem to hear him as he went on organizing the remaining Elemental defenders.

At least granny’s okay. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course she’s okay! She’s Saria Kaves! Hell itself will spill over before that woman so much as sweats!

Rachel turned back to her father. “Dad, you need to get to a Gateway and get out of here! There should be a short distance Gateway somewhere in this facility. You need to teleport to one of the Monk’s bases around this moon and stay there until all this blows over.”

The scientist shook his head stubbornly. “Can’t do that, sweetie. Not until I know you’re safe.”

Rachel groaned in exasperation. “I’m a goddamn Elemental, dad. I’m not going to be safe for a single moment of my life. So why don’t you do what you usually do and stay out of it.”

Again, Rachel felt a pang of regret as the hurt washed over her father’s pudgy face. She was just about to apologize when the man suddenly took her by the shoulders, an intense look in his eyes.

“I know you can take care of yourself, honey. You’ve been doing that without me for years now. But you don’t understand. There’s something very wrong with these pirates. You need to be extra careful when you engage them, and even after, verify with the utmost certainty that they are indeed dead.”

Rachel sighed and patted her father’s shoulder to reassure him. “Dad. They’re pirates, not Shadow Wraiths. You make it sound like they’re gonna get up and-”

A scream tore through the air. One of the dignitaries, a woman in a frilly purple dress, shrieked for all she was worth as a crawling pirate with half his face blown off grabbed her by the foot and yanked her down to the floor. He strangled the poor woman, causing her to gasp fitfully before he was sliced to pieces by jets of wind sent from Leon’s fan-like swords.

The woman, though drenched in blood, was still alive as her companions saw to her. However, Rachel didn’t have the time to do anything else for the traumatized civilian. All around the room, pirates they had assumed were dead or unconscious rose up to attack the Elementals once again. Éclair turned from her work, but gave a hesitant look back to Thisimius. Clearly, his treatment wasn’t yet finished.

“We can handle this, Éclair! Just keep doing what you’re doing for Thisy’s sake!” ordered Leon as he slashed multiple pirates, this time leaving them in too many pieces to come back to life.

“Leon’s right, Éclair!” assented Rachel as she pushed her dad behind her and bashed a waking pirate in the head with her foot until he stopped moving.

Éclair nodded and seemed to go back to her work, but then her head went up in alarm. “Rachel! Above you!”

“What?”

Rachel glanced up in confusion, but she was too late to react. Cracks had formed in the ceiling above her. Then lasers rained down all around her as three pirates fell from the ceiling firing laser weapons. Rachel took several shots in the chest of her armor, knocking the breath from her as the three pirates tackled her, pinning her to the ground. The pirates raised their weapons to her face which didn’t have armor.

Before the pirates could fire, long robotic arms took each man by the head and bright, white light shined from the mechanical hands. After the light dissipated, the pirates went limp and fell on top of Rachel. While beneath the pirates, she noticed black smoke trailing from their lifeless eyes and their mouths. More injured pirates crawled for her from the ground, but her father stepped protectively over her.

“Don’t touch my daughter!” For the first time that she could remember, he spoke clearly and confidently without a hint of a stutter or nervousness.

The mechanical arms that were attached to a metal pack on his back shot out small cables which latched onto the pirates’ faces. The same white light shined from the cables, and the pirates went limp as if dead.

Her father’s little droid helpers then promptly removed the bodies from on top of Rachel and helped her to her feet, buzzing happily to be able to serve.

In awe of her father, Rachel asked in bewilderment, “How are you doing that? I didn’t know you knew how to kill zombies!”

“They’re not zombies, bunny. They’re just men. Men who can no longer feel pain. That’s why they can keep fighting even after enduring injuries that would subdue almost anyone else.”

His point was driven home as a pirate came to his feet screaming, one of his arms missing, and his legs bent at an odd angle as if broken. The man raised his good hand clutching a pistol towards Dr. Lanchester’s head. Rachel reduced the man to ashes with a concentrated bolt of lightning. It nearly exhausted her. She was good at pinpoint strikes, not full-on attacks that left nothing of her opponent. Though, with these guys, she didn’t have much choice. She then stood back-to-back with her father, having never imagined a day that he’d actually be fighting alongside her.