Chapter 518: The Grand Escape
Laz looked at those gathered with a bit of surprise. Things had already escalated to this point and he didn’t know exactly how to ease the tension. As it was, the hole in the roof had now been expanded as there was no longer a roof, replaced instead with tons of tanks and troops who had obviously gathered for this event. Not only where there tanks and troops, but also local people with guns, police, spot lights and pretty much everything else that could have shown up.
The pathways leading up from the ground were either blocked or collapsed as Laz stood there, the spot light on himself along with several camera’s if he was seeing things right. Laz had to wonder just how long they had been inside for all of this to have gathered, but he assumed they had started long before the fight had moved into the mausoleum like library.
’Least Jill should be safe,’ Laz thought to himself as he smiled a genuine smile, something that would be recorded and replicated millions of times over in the coming weeks, but he didn’t know about that yet.
Up on one of the tanks, Annie stood with a microphone, connected to a sound system that had been put into place.
"WHERE IS THE WITCH?" Annie yelled, forgetting how loud her voice would be amplified just by the sound system itself?
The reverb and echoed caused almost everyone to flinch, but Laz kept a straight face towards her.
"SORRY! I COULDN’T HEAR YOU. COULD YOU SAY THAT AGAIN?" Laz said while keeping his face serious.
"I know you know what I am talking about Lazarus Crowe. Don’t try to hide things from us. You have been wanted on the grounds of murder, arson and so many other charges that even listing them would take more time than we currently have," Annie said, a bit more smugly that she should have.
"For someone who was begging for my help not too long ago, you’re acting rather ungrateful now, aren’t you?" Laz said, calling her out.
"Fighting against your own kind doesn’t exactly constitute my concern," Annie said back quickly, trying to make it seem like Laz was lying.
"Now lay down on the ground with your hands behind your back..."
"And have you shoot me in the head? No thank you. Look. We both know I’m not just going to roll over and play dead and you have no idea what this place is or what is happening inside. So how about you relax a little bit while I think of a way to save my poor old classmate from another embarrassing moment? How’s that sound?" Laz shot back before Annie could finish.
She was about to yell something else down to Laz, but a hand at her side stopped her. It was Warden McKnight who was also standing on the tank with her. While Annie’s opinion was still supposed to be heard on this operation, Warden McKnight was not only skilled in negotiation, but also in troop command and operational procedure. And after the call they had just gotten from the higher ups, Annie had been told to defer to the Warden for everything else since things had already gone sideways since the beginning.
While still brimming with anger, Annie had no choice but to hand over the mic to McKnight as she had already lost what little power she had, even though she was still her boss.
"If you do not surrender yourself and everyone else in the building, we will be forced to destroy it and you. You have ten seconds to comply." McKnight ordered down to Laz who just stood there while thinking.
After ten seconds were up, Laz still hadn’t moved, wondering if there was a way to move the entire building.
’After all, it had travelled through space, right? I doubt it’s like a spaceship... but obviously space didn’t like... rip it apart or anything so I guess that it has to have some protections to keep those inside of it safe? Or at least the books? Maybe the coffin was what kept Neferia safe during all that time...’
While Laz was still lost in his thoughts, Warden McKnight ordered,
"FIRE!"
Guns and launchers blazed to life, focusing on the building still standing on the stone platform that had been cut off from the rest of the ground, either due to collapsed walkways or being blocked by people. As for the abyss underneath it, no one really wanted to think about how deep it went or what else was down there.
A ripple effect occurred with the first bullets and missiles hit just feet in front of Laz, causing the ground to collapse and the air to explode. As more and more ordinance including mortars were lobbed at it, the ripple remained in effect, dissipating every attack that hit it.
Soon the chosen had joined in as well, firing massive tongues of flames, huge shards of ice, wind blades, chunks of stone and steel, lashes of lightning and every other form of element one could think of.
But still Laz didn’t move. He had felt the barrier the skull had put up after he came outside and kind of wanted to see just how strong it was. After all, while Laz’s body could most likely survive this type of bombardment, that didn’t mean he would escape uninjured.
So as he stood there thinking while hell was being reigned down on him, he finally figured it was best to ask.
*Can you move from here?* Laz said, sending his thoughts into the building towards the skull.
*Depending on the distance, that isn’t an issue. If you wish to cross galaxies, I don’t believe I have the power reserves for something like that just yet,* the skull replied back.
*That’s alright. I have someone who can probably help you out so I’ll contact her in a bit. While I don’t mind the girls helping, I think that after today, you probably shouldn’t be seen by humans anymore. For now, we shall simply go to the coast via the sky,* Laz said, raising his head to look at those who were still firing at him.
"CEASE FIRE!" Warden McKnight called out, seeing that it was doing no good.
When the order was given, it took a moment until all actions ceased, but it was clear that the moods of those who had gathered were starting to get worried. Even Annie, who should have been relieved that McKnight failed, frowned after seeing no damage had been done.
*My dear. Would you bring the others to come join me so we can say goodbye to our guests?* Laz said, directing his spiritual sense towards Kennedy who was still waiting inside for him.
She walked out, her hips swaying as she approached neither quickly nor slowly and stood next to Laz, but one step behind him. Behind her, the four sisters, Malene, Leona, Vivi, Ruby, Celes, Nora, and even Lyssa along with dozens of other awakened, those elites who had followed Kennedy and even the Black Rose, all stood still behind Laz as he faced the thousands who had been gathered to stop a rampaging goddess.
While everyone else was dressed to hide their identities, Laz stood in the light, showing that he didn’t care that anyone recognized him. Despite that, the strength of those who had gathered wasn’t something that could be ignored as the chosen who stood above them felt a fear form in their minds, ones born out of instinctual dread. Even Warden McKnight and Annie felt it while being surrounded by thousands of others, a fear that if this group of awakened wished to fight, then there was no telling how many of them would die. She had also been reinforced with several squadrons of undead solders, but she had held them back after not knowing the details of that death goddess. Now she was wishing she had brought them here if for nothing else than to run suicide charges.
"I told you before, but let me say this once again for all of you listening. We are not your enemy, no more so than your fellow man might be. I don’t know why you’ve decided to walk this path of us against you, but I guess this is just going to be what it is. Bad blood and all that, I’m sure. But let me warn you of something else that none of you probably know of yet. There are things out there that are far more dangerous than us... or you, for that matter. Another player in the game, if you will. And I’m sure they aren’t the only ones who might be coming for us one day. As such, while we shouldn’t be fighting, I’m guessing you’re not going to give up trying to enslave or kill us all. So be it then. We will no longer be passive either. Since you refuse to let us live, to leave us alone or to treat us as equals, locking us away in a prison just to run tests on us or just killing us outright, we shall no longer just be passive actors on this stage you made. We will not kill the innocent, but we won’t just roll over and play dead either. We will rise and if we have to, we will make a land of our own, one were the awakened can be free as well. Because that is what we are, awakened. We have the blood of humans within us and the blood of races from all over space within us as well. Calling us infected is just your way of making us seem sick, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. You think you understand us? HA! Time to show you just how narrow your view is. I’ll see you all again, real soon but... Goodbye for now!"
As Laz finished his speech, one that he never intended to make, the bone white building along with the entire platform it was on rose into the air, like it was some floating building from some sci-fi or fantasy movie.
"BRING THEM DOWN!" McKnight ordered the helicopters that were in the air, but before they could even open fire, the building vanished as a strong breeze covered the entire area, threatening to blow everyone who wasn’t careful into the large hole it had left in the ground.
As the lights and camera’s scanned the sky, the floating island with the building was gone and no one could even tell which way it had gone.
