Sorry, Parker, you are. And to think, Helen wasn't at all in my original chapter by chapter planning of the last book. I added her as some on-the-spot inspiration. . . . And now look what happened! Oh, and I have your armor in tact so you and Tyr can have a . . . a "Young Justice Blue Beetle" moment, if you catch my drift.
Anyway, I finished the chapter planning for Book XVI ("Who's Who"), and begun planning the chapters of Book XVII (tentatively called, "The Last RAFian", which will take place a few years from now. . . . I think.) And I will be taking my notes with me on the trip -- in case I come up with an idea.
And Shadow's drawing a picture of her Realm Walker self, just now.
A chapter, I think. One where a lot will happen.
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Bait and Twitch
So, Cloak went with Noelle, Helen, Blaze (who was itching for action as much as Cloak was), and Azzy. They had a general idea of where the captives were, but they had a conflict about tactics -- Cloak, Blaze, and Helen were pushing for a guns-ablazing frontal attack, while Noelle insisted that was nothing more or less than a way to get all of them killed, or possibly hurting some innocent humans.
"Ironic," Cloak snarled scathingly, "coming from an Andalite."
Noelle was not abashed, as she freely admitted, <Yes, my people were responsible for the near-extinction of the Hork-Bajir, and nearly exterminated humans. But I was not one who supported that decision. I would have expected you, of all people, Cloak, to have more concern about the lives of innocents.>
At this, Cloak was silent. He could not believe he minimized the value of life. The fact he did scared him far more than the others knew. . . . He was becoming as callous as Malice. Something he did not want to be. He remained silent, terrified that he might revert to that callous way of thinking.
But he didn't fool Noelle, who noticed Cloak's silence, but she didn't gloat about it -- that wouldn't be Noelle if she did. It was as if she could see the terror within Cloak at the thought of being like Malice. Instead, she turned to the task at hand, <Frontal attack is out, they'd probably be prepared for that.>
"Let them be prepared," Helen snapped. "We should blast in, take back what's ours, and leave!"
"Calm yourself, Helen," Az said, "working yourself into a state won't save Parker. No matter how much it powers up your ring."
Cloak hesitated before speaking, "They might just go ahead and kill the hostages if we attack from
the front."
Noelle swung a stalk eye at Cloak, and shut her main eyes in agreement. She got what Cloak was getting at. <There diffences would be at the front, expecting an attack from there. There may be a vulnerability at the rear.>
"But just how are we supposed to do that?" Helen demanded, although she seemed to be getting control over her emotions. "It's in a valley, surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides."
"Didn't you get the memo?" Cloak said, at a valiant attempt at his old bravado. "Get your feet on the ground, and allow me to show you."
She landed, but it looked like she was itching to get back into the sky. Cloak shut his eyes and took a deep breath. He stopped his foot, and the group sunk ten feet into the ground. Then he raised his arms and made a flicking movement with his hands, and a six-inch slab of earth covered them sealing them inside.
"Why you burying us in the cold, cold ground*?" Helen asked, whose violet aura provided a dim source of light. "You think we're already dead meat, don't you?"
"Will you be patient?" Az asked.
Then Cloak stood aside from the others and then stopped again. They sunk another fifty feet or so. Then Cloak started swinging his arms.
"What is this? Jazzercise?" Helen complained.
"You don't feel it, do you?" Blaze said. "Cloak is moving us beneath the compound."
"Then why don't we just come at them from underneath their compound?" she asked.
The others were silent, looking at each other.
"She has a valid point. . . ." Blaze said.
***
Meanwhile, Parker was trussed up, and bound to the chair. He was thoroughly put out and miffed. Tyr didn't help matters, as Parker continually was arguing with it.
"Mobility disabled. Suggesting a total system reboot." Tyr said.
"I'm tied down, you moron!"
"Define 'moron'."
Parker groaned. Then he saw shadowy people moving around, just outside the door.
"Hostiles detected. Activate fusion cannons."
"THEY REMOVED THEM, YOU DOLT!" Parker hissed in a low voice.
"Define 'dolt'."
Parker groaned, decided to give Tyr a severely-needed update if he ever made it out of this.
***
The raid went off without a hitch, and they managed to find the warehouse that was housing the others. It was a corrugated metal door that stood in their way. No other security seemed to be around it, other than the guards, which the five had dispatched with disturbing ease. One of the guards was down, but still conscious. And laughing.
"That door is solid platinum," he said, wheezily, "you cannot manipulate any earth in it!"
Cloak gave him a disparaging look, then rapped his knuckles on the door, as the man continued to laugh gurglingly. Cloak placed his hands on the door, closing hands, grabbing the door as if it were mere tin foil. Then he popped the corrugated garage door replicant off, like popping off a can of Chef Boyardee. It was simple, and surprisingly easy.
Cloak saw the look of shock on the man's face.
"While I am a Master of the Earth element, I am also a Master of the Metal element as well." The others proceeded to enter, while Cloak stood steadfast, and elaborated. "You confused me with an Earthbender. Technically -- I am not a bender."
Then he entered the warehouse and saw Demos, Terenia, Gaz, and Sakki, shackled by their wrists and ankles. They looked horribly emaciated and beaten up. It was painful to look at them. But as Cloak drew closer he saw something that chilled his ichor to the bone. The shackles . . . they were . . .
"Tylee metal . . ." Cloak said aghast.
"What?" Blaze asked.
"Those shackles . . . they're tylee metal."
"They're . . . what?"
"Tylee metal is an extremely rare metal," Cloak said. "It blocks the powers of those that it restrains. It's the only thing that can bind an
Olympian, an
Asgardian, and . . . and . . ."
<Realm Walkers,> Noelle supplied.
Cloak's mind was so full of this revelation that he barely registered taking the four hostages back to RAF, barely noticing Helen's furious search for Parker in the warehouse and not finding him. The four were now being looked at by Goom, and Cloak went to his lookout (which had changed to being behind RAF's north wall), as he contemplated how these bigots got their grubby little hands on this rare metal. He thought that it only existed in the Nexus. . . .
---
* Taz reference.
