“Stand down. Right now.”
The Raptor stormed through the row of Cassid soldiers, walking right up to their boss.
“No.” The Cassid, wearing a mechanical suit, simply tutted.
“Stand down!” Phovos didn’t like repeating herself.
“On whose orders?”
“On the orders of the Raptor of Palaestra. i.e. ME.”
The Cassid didn’t move.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you fucking retard, I’m Phovos Tromou, the ruler of the Thanatian territories of Portalia. And you are a Cassid who should not be here, holding up a lot of my staff members, trying to do goodness knows what here in a place under MY jurisdiction.”
“Well we are here to arrest the residents of this street for harbouring an escaped criminal.”
“No, you’re here to capture a failed experiment who has done about twenty thousand pounds worth of damage to the city. Also you are under arrest.”
“What for?”
A large bang interrupted the two beings. In one of the houses behind him, four Cassids had been thrown through a wall, and a fifth one had been thrown out of the door and into the street. The sound of a very angry Rethavok throwing Cassids around and shouting obscenities echoed around.
“Men, att-”
“You do anything and I will fucking eat you!” Phovos growled, pushing past the Cassid.
More Cassids were thrown out of the house. Phovos approached cautiously, avoiding flying Cassids, many of which were now unconscious.
“Okay, Retvik, you can stop that now…”
Retvik wasn’t listening, he was too busy punching a Cassid repeatedly in the face.
“Retvik, stop.”
“THEY WERE TRYING TO STEAL MY KID!” Retvik roared as he threw the final Cassid out. “THEY WEREN’T EVEN INTERESTED IN THE POOR GIRL, SHOT HER AND CAME AFTER ME!”
Retvik continued to punch the Cassid. Phovos sighed and walked past him to the back of the room. A heavily mutated Rethan was lying on the floor, blood pouring from a wound in their chest. By their side was Psiksi, who was still trying to revive them. Phovos could tell though, the Rethan was long gone.
“Gath is upstairs with the kid…” Psiksi explained. His hands were covered in blood, from trying to heal the Rethan’s wounds. “They’re safe. Retvik asked Gath to look after the egg while he beat the crap out of these Cassids. Frankly, I’m the only thing stopping Retvik from killing them all. Telepathic suggestions.”
“That’s the…”
“She’s not a monster. Scared and confused and doesn’t… didn’t know how to control the horrific powers she’d had forced upon her…” Psiksi stood up, not sure what to do. The poor Rethan was dead. Psiksi couldn’t have saved her, but at least he got some information out of her mind.
Phovos leaned down, closing the Rethan’s eyes. They were gone.
Outside, the Cassids were getting annoyed. The captain glanced at his watch, then reached for his communicator. He was about to call in reinforcements.
“Screw that dumb Thanatian. Those Rethans are…”
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them. A massive Thraki landed between the Cassids and the house.
“On behalf of Thanatian Rule, I order you lower soldiers to leave.” Lokmahro spoke calmly.
The Cassids didn’t move.
“LEAVE!” Lokmahro roared, the ground shaking. Sparks of electricity glinted in the air. This time, the Cassids got their backsides into gear and moved away. The Cassid captain turned to leave, only for something to grab his tail.
“You though,” Phovos sighed as she pulled the captain towards him. “You are going to come with me. With your… cooperation, we’re going to shut your shit down.”