LATE DURING NIGHTFALL four days afterwards, something had triggered an alarm. The buzzing was a welcome sound despite what it brought; After all it meant an end to the rat that was in the premises. What was not in Olivia’s calculations was that the rat turned out to be three-fourths of the State officials rather than just one singular person.

A few choice men remained loyal to the true calling of the State’s mission, and after some convincing joined hand-in-hand with Olivia’s plan.

Admiral Chief Julian was standing on guard with Tony Dirk and Eric Nunez while Olivia held her mechanical tools as a weapon. The android had been targeted multiple times within five minutes of the bell alarm going off. Her android held the box of the four (fake) jewels in her hands and could only move defensively. Olivia’s Great Dane provided support by snarling at the pirates that slowly advanced upon them. They seemed to not be deterred by the mechanical dog in the slightest.

Standing as their adversary was Captain Robert Petersons with smug countenance and holding his blade with poise against the Admiral. “Someone higher up wants you dead Lady Charlotte. How unfortunate your tragedy continues on.”

“I will not allow you one step closer!” Julian snapped his sword forward while his flanking men kept Robert’s men at bay. Olivia threw her screw driver against a pirate’s cheekbone when he charged her. Charie ran over to the window as she went through her defense protocol. The girl was about to throw the window open but shots ricocheted through the glass.

Charie fell down and Olivia had to duck in order to check on her. “Tyler, is the controller still functioning?” She asked to the machine and Tyler, who was sitting in a remote location away from the danger, answered by moving Charie’s arms.

“Controls are running smoothly Lady Olivia. Hold on a little further. Aden and Xavier are on their way there now.”

Olivia nodded before touching the hearing piece in her ear, “Summerfeld, Drummond what’s your status?” She snapped her hand up and her Great Dane jumped on the couple of pirates that had managed to kill Tony and knocked out Eric Nunez. She waited until she could see the Dane was doing alright before focusing on the communications piece once more.

“Zaine and Aden are locked in a sword fight and I’m currently stuck trying to hold off the Ice Princess here. Our ETA is delayed to another ten to twenty minutes Cheric.”

Olivia clicked her tongue making it apparent that this was all not going according to plan.  Facing the Admiral, she voiced the change in plans to Julian locked in his sword battle. “Captain Summerfeld and Commander Drummond are caught in a battle of their own. We cannot wait for them any longer!”

The Admiral Chief grunted before pushing Robert off of his blade. “Robert, this is your last chance! Give yourself up and The State will give you mercy!”

Robert laughed loudly before slicing up and down with his sword, effectively getting past his defenses. “If you talked less, you might have avoided the attack Admiral Chief!” Olivia grimaced before turning to Charie.

Admiral Chief Julian was kneeling on his dominant leg while he grasped his side of his abdomen in pain. Robert was swiftly dancing around him, ignoring the other pirates and naval officers fighting around them. Julian merely looked in the corner of his eye to see Olivia and Charlotte barely able to cover themselves from the battles around them.

After all the perimeter of the office of Lady Olivia was barely more than 700 square feet. When Robert lunged at him, Julian blocked him with his sword and looked over his shoulder to the girls. “Olivia, Charlotte Retreat! Take those jewels and go!” With that Julian grabbed Robert’s coat with his spare hand and yanked the pirate to the opposite end of the room.

“Go!!” Olivia grabbed Charie’s wrist, pulling her up from the ground. The box that was in Charie’s left hand remained between her bodice and her clenches while they rushed through the opening the Admiral gave them.

“Damn it all!” Robert shouted before taking his backhand and knocking the Admiral Chief unconscious. “Kill those two before they leave the premises!”

The two rushed out the door and down the hallway. It was a battle against time and they only needed to get to The Phoenix before they wound up dead. Swiftly turning the corner ahead of them Olivia slammed into the firm body of an older woman. Her darkened auburn layered hair and a beauty mark just below her left eye distinguished her as the haughty Captain Nico Guarnera. She had a sinister look upon her face before laughing at the girls who back away.

“What’s this, two mice scampering away from the looks of things?” She drew her blade from her sheathe before advancing. “Won’t you give me the honor of a dance Lady Charlotte?” Charie and Olivia ducked when Nico swung her blade horizontally over their heads. Luckily the blade clashed itself against the wall giving the two girls enough time to scurry past Nico’s next attack.

“After them!” Men from Robert’s squadron appeared on all sides of their escape route causing Olivia to stop. She equipped her air pellet pistol and started firing air bullets at their enemies, but more and more came. Charie started to struggle when two men grabbed her from behind.

“No!” Olivia yelled and shot two distinctive air bullets into the faces of Charie’s captors. Shortly after releasing her bullets the men released Charie and the two girls went back to back.

“You alright?” Olivia heaved while Charie nodded.

“Charie is fine. Be more concerned about your health Master Olivia.”

Olivia grimaced as she reloaded her pistols. The pirates began to menacingly laugh before parting as Nico and Robert appeared before them with bemused expressions.

“Run, run as fast as you can.” Nico chanted while bringing her blade to her lips. She slowly licked the blade with a glint. “Give us the jewels girls. You are outnumbered and outclassed.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes while Charie shuddered. “Did you honestly think I would leave without a plan prepared? You must be incredibly stupid.” Suddenly the hall erupted with loud birds ranging from roars to squalling as different types of the aerial species defended Olivia and Charie from further harm.

Robert grimaced as a hawk clipped his dominant sword hand. “There’s a Relic User amongst them!” Nico hissed and shoved her sword forward; it looked like she was antagonizing any species of bird to charge at her.

“After them, those girls are escaping!” The pirates that had encircled them had opened up a path for Olivia and Charie to escape through and halfway around the corner they were joined by Damien with his sword ready.

“You looked like you needed a hand.” A tiny baby eagle popped up from its hiding spot in his jacket to on top of his shoulder as he jogged besides the girls.

“If you’re looking for gratitude, look for it later Drummond. We got more pirates incoming at ten-o-clock.” Damien side-stepped over to his right side as one of the pirates lunged out from nowhere. It was then that Damien thrust his sword into the man’s abdomen before continuing his pursuit after the girls.

“How much longer until we get to the storage unit where your transport is located?” Olivia looked down at the watch on her wrist before snapping her head up.

“We have another two minutes. The door will unlock then and we’ll use the scooter.” Charie was running silently before something caught in between her legs. She tumbled down in the hall causing Olivia and Damien to cease their running.

They noticed a whip had entangled Charie’s legs so she couldn’t move.

“Son of a—” Damien cursed before lunging forward to the two pirates that appeared suddenly.

“Damien, get down!” The male heard Olivia yell and did as she commanded. Seconds later the wall where his head was at had blown off.

When Damien regained his composure, Olivia began to run over to Charie. The droid was trying to untangle herself, but the whip was getting caught in her leggings. Grasping the whip Olivia realized immediately why Charie was having difficulty. She winced, pulling her hands away to examine the biting sting of puncture wounds in her palm. The whip had small prickles that stuck to fabric too easily and hurt those who would try to untangle themselves from it.

“Take the leggings off!” Olivia yelled at the droid and Tyler (who operated the android’s vocal and movements) flushed. He never took a girl’s leggings off before and he had to remove them now when he was a couple hundred meters away?

“I don’t know how!”

“Damn it.” Frustrated Olivia reached underneath the skirt line and pulled off the leggings as quick as she could. Charie laid there waiting, but beyond the eyes of the android Tyler saw a pirate come up from behind Olivia.

“Lady Olivia behind you!”

Olivia merely ignored the pirate and allowed her dog (who had just arrived moments before) to protect her in place of Damien. Her fingers were bleeding from the whip but at least the whip and leggings were cleared away. “Get up and move. Damien!”

Getting the boy’s attention the blonde pushed back the two pirates and ran toward the girls. They began their running marathon straight to the storage closet. “I didn’t think I would see you undress another girl Cheric.” Damien said while running and was rewarded with a slap to his face.

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