[BL] Transmigrated as the Villain CEO's Mermaid Secretary

Chapter 446: Kidnapping

A small, strangled sound came out of Julius’s throat. It was not a laugh. It was the noise a soldier makes a half-second before he decides to fire through collateral damage.

"You—" Sarah managed.

The man’s head swiveled to take in Colonel Vane and Julius properly for the first time. His next grin was wide enough to be visible even beneath the half-mask, lips spreading, sinful and slow.

"Oh, but you two. Look at you two. What’s up with your expression? Please, gentlemen!" He tilted Lilianna’s chin up casually, like he wasn’t threatening them.

Colonel Vane’s eyes were two hard chips of stone.

"Let. Go."

"In a moment, in a moment. Let me savor this moment a little longer."

The masked man’s free hand drifted across Lilianna’s collarbone, almost disgustingly tender.

"She’ll be quite uncomfortable in about—mm—eleven minutes."

"Lily—" Sarah lurched forward half a step before Julius’s free hand shot out and caught her elbow, anchoring her in place, shoving her to move on the back.

"Don’t move, Sarah," Julius said, low and tight. "Don’t give him another reason to threaten us."

"How smart~" the man uttered. "But not smart enough."

As soon as the words left the man’s mouth, he quickly made his move. While he had been talking randomly, he had already completed his preparation to leave.

His knees had bent slightly. His eyes had never left Neville’s half-open virtual pod the whole time.

Then, with a contemptuous, almost casual flick of his shoulder, the man, Ethan, threw Lilianna away from him.

Lilianna hit the ground in a tumble and slid several meters across the polished floor. She came to a stop halfway through the distance, rolling towards Sarah’s direction.

"LILY!"

In the same beat, Ethan had already reached Neville’s virtual pod. His gloved hand slammed the manual release.

The dome hissed up the rest of the way. Neville’s body eyes closed, relaxed, and deeply asleep.

Colonel Vane’s rifle resounded.

Crack-crack!

Two plasma bolts. Both aimed at Ethan’s body.

Ethan moved as he had already expected this. He smoothly dipped his body, half-turning. He used the bulk of the open virtual pod itself as cover.

The bolts ate into the pod’s reinforced casing with a screech of melted polymer. The diagnostic device on Neville’s forehead let out a panicked beeping, its lights cycling red.

"WAIT!" Sarah screamed, and she meant it for everyone. "WAIT, my sister, you’ll—Lily’s right there—!"

Lilianna had begun to writhe on the floor, her face flushed and unnaturally pale. Soft, breathy whimpers were starting to escape her lips, the early notes of something her body had started to go wrong.

Julius’s pistol tracked Ethan ruthlessly, but he didn’t fire. The line of sight in his position was a nightmare of overlapping bodies.

Lilianna was lying miserably on the floor. Sarah half-bent toward her, but not daring to go close because Colonel Vane had not stopped firing.

Then, there was Neville’s limp body in the pod halfway out—Ethan’s seamless movements, dodging Colonel Vane’s almost reckless shots.

"Don’t shoot!" Sarah threw herself down to the ground, trying to reach Lilianna. "Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, you might hit—"

She was hoping to get somehow the chance to grab her and drag her close to her side. Or maybe, she could try to shield her sister’s body with her own, but it was currently impossible without getting shot.

"Sarah, stay out of the zone!" Colonel Vane bellowed.

But Sarah didn’t stay out of the zone. She hunched her body on all fours, preparing to crawl towards her sister’s body. The plasma pistol was still clutched in her shaking hand.

Ethan let out a small contemptuous laugh as he watched her. Then, he confidently hauled Neville out of the virtual pod and over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

The diagnostic device clattered to the floor and skittered under the pod, still beeping. Neville’s head bumped against Ethan’s back, hair falling across his closed eyes.

He didn’t really wake up despite getting out of the virtual pod. What did he do to him? Julius thought overwhelmed.

"And now, for the final prize." Ethan flicked his wrist.

From a pouch at his hip, a small, matte-black sphere the size of a tangerine dropped into his palm. He clicked it once with his thumb.

A shrill sound from somewhere behind the room’s outer wall was heard. It was a high, whining electronic whoo-EEE-oo that scraped at the eardrums.

"What did he—" Julius said, startled.

"BOMB!" Colonel Vane snarled. "Something’s on the exterior bulkhead!"

"Don’t be too alarmed. It’s just a small one, promise."

Ethan said while moving Neville in a more comfortable position, kissing Neville’s secondary gland with a satisfied expression.

"It might cause a little damage, but it won’t bring the building down."

Sarah now hunched over her sister, wrapped her arms around Lilianna’s waist. She tried to drag her further from the wall.

But she then heard Lilianna moan. Her head rolled on her shoulder, eyes half-lidded and unfocused.

"S-Sarah...?"

"It’s me, Lily, it’s me, it’s okay—"

BOOM.

The bulkhead behind the simulation pods detonated inward in a rolling fireball.

Sarah felt the heat slam into her back even from across the room. The pressure wave sent her ears ringing. She ducked her face into Lilianna’s hair as concrete dust and shrapnel rained down.

The pulse-music from the sound system stuttered, glitched, and died.

Somewhere out in the living room, people were shouting. They said they would come over, but someone was preventing them from coming over to add to the chaos.

When Sarah lifted her head, coughing. When her eyes adjusted to the situation, she couldn’t believe what she had seen.

A massive, glistening, chitin-plated thing was clambering through the smoking hole in the wall. Its body was hunched and centaur-like, six articulated insectoid legs supporting a humanoid torso plated in iridescent green carapace.

Mandibles clicked at its mouth. Two compound eyes, dull black and faceted, tracked across the room.

The Insectoid’s antennae flicked toward Ethan, and—

—and bowed.

It was a subtle gesture, but this creature just recognized the masked man, paying respects to him.

"Good boy."

Ethan crooned through his vocal modulator, leaping with practiced grace onto the creature’s segmented back. He settled astride it the way one would settle into a saddle, Neville draped limply across his lap.

"I already got what I wanted," he said, kissing Neville’s forehead, "Let’s get going."