By the afternoon, the Fiends For Hire were already approaching the mountain range to find their potential candidate. The helicopter Nathym had built was exceptionally fast, even able to outpace some of the fastest skycrafts. It would likely prove useful in the future for expanding the scope of their operations, but since Mallea was the only one able to fly it currently, relying on it would be too problematic.
During the trip, they were able to get a little bit of information from Phon. The Fiend they were going to meet was named Ahvra. She was stationed out in a mountaintop laboratory near the southern edge of the continent. The Vixen had infiltrated it once before, years ago, for a request. She then got into a fight with the lab-dweller and lost miserably. When they asked her about Ahvra’s Curse, she would freak out, clutch her arms, and start rambling as she rocked in her seat. The word ‘flows’ stuck out as a common denominator in all of them, however.
As they drew closer to the mountain range cresting over the horizon, they noticed the aforementioned resting on a snowy mountain top. There was a clearly marked helipad on the roof, and Mallea began heading towards it to land. “I don’t think it will be that easy,” Phon murmured. “She doesn’t really take kindly to visitors.” On cue, holes opened on the four corners of the roof. Turrets rose up from inside, and immediately began firing on the helicopter.
The butler masquerading as a pilot swiftly dodged the incoming fire while Kada happily spouted, “See! I knew a laser turret would come in handy!”
“Well then quit bragging and start firing,” Xard yelled at her. Kada shifted from the back, where the four Fiends were sitting, to the front passenger seat next to Mallea. She grabbed the controls and a panel lit up. The laser turret was mounted on the underside of the helicopter and could aim in full 360°. The opposing turrets had markers placed around them on the panel, indicating where Kada should fire.
As Mallea continued to nimbly dodge the incoming attacks, Kada discharged a massive array of laser bullets in retaliation. It wasn’t long before the first turret was smoking, followed by a small explosion, rendering it inoperable. “Oh what’s this, homing mode?” the gunner wondered as she looked at her options. She pressed it and the turret markers changed colors.
A new prompt that read ‘Hold to Charge’ displayed itself in front of her. The woman held down the trigger and a meter began to fill. Once it was completely maxed out, she released and three beams of light shot out from the turret. They weaved through the air, somehow bending right towards their target. Each laser struck their respective turret, utterly annihilating them. “We don’t know what other weapons or traps she might have,” Drim announced. “So drop us off, Mallea, and go park the helicopter somewhere safe until we call for you.”
The butler swooped the helicopter over the pad, and the four Fiends jumped down onto the drop zone. Just as their ride was starting to fly away, walls shot up from the helipad around them and then a roof closed overhead, trapping them. There was a moment of pitch black, but then a light blinded the group as all the walls lit up brightly. “Welcome back, Vixen,” a voice rang out. “I always had a feeling you’d come back, so I’ve been prepared.”
“Hang on guys, I’ll get us out of here,” Phon assured everyone while they blinked, trying to get adjusted to the lights. She went to move her hands to cover her eyes, but then metal cables shot out from the floor. They wrapped around the woman, securing her arms to her sides.
“You were foolish to return,” the voice mocked her. “Don’t forget, I know all about how your Curse works. I’m sure one of your friends has one that could help you out. So I’m not going to take any chances.” There was a hiss, and what looked like a yellow fog flooded the cage. As the four of them started to lose consciousness, the voice laughed maliciously. “Thank you all for signing up to be my test subjects for life. The old ones were getting boring.”
Some time later, the Fiends woke up inside the cage, all groggily getting back to their senses. It was pitch black again, so Kada pulled out her phone to shine some light. According to her clock, only a few minutes had passed. They were all unharmed, but now Phon was missing, and the cage they were in was noticeably swaying. The same voice from before clicked on and said with annoyance, “Ugh, that gas didn’t knock you out for as long as I had hoped, but it doesn’t matter. Be good and sit still. I have some catching up to do with The Vixen. I’ll get to you later.”
“Well obviously we’re not gonna sit still,” Kada retorted after the voice had vanished. “I’ll melt the walls and get us out of here in a second.”
“I’d hold off on that,” Drim stopped her. “Judging by the swaying of the box, I assume we’re not on the roof anymore. I’m guessing we’re being suspended, probably off the side of the mountain. Are you confident you can melt only the wall and not the floor too, so we don’t fall to our deaths?”
The melting-maniac paused and thought for a moment. “Maybe you guys should try something first.”
“Allow me,” Xard offered with confidence. He moved next to the wall, and absorbed one of his rings. Then he pressed two fingers against the wall and fired, creating a small hole. The redhead repeated this process around the wall until holes dotted a large circle. Absorbing his missile ring, he pressed his flat palm against the center of the wall and released his stored energy. The circle of metal blasted off, leaving them a nice gap to escape from.
As Drim suspected, they were indeed dangling over a large drop. He attached several vines to both the cage and the far away lab, and then reeled them in until the cage was as close as it could get. It was a decent enough distance that they could jump over to it without too much hassle. Kada went first, jumping through the side of the building, melting it as she went, and rolled onto the inside floor as she landed. The boys followed behind, leaping through the opening she had created.
They found themselves in a hallway, one that was definitely befitting a laboratory rather than in a regular home or office. The floors and walls were sleek and pristine. It was clear that someone took the time to clean and maintain them. With no signs or any useful markers, the group followed the hallway, unsure of the proper direction to go.
As they walked around, they opened any door they came across. Some were normal rooms such as a kitchen and bedroom, others were ones that’d only be found in such a scientific place. There was a room with several large tubes filled with green liquid, with what appeared to be deceased animals floating inside them. Another room was pitch black to the point where they couldn’t see the other end, and the floor, unlike everywhere else, was grimy. They heard an unfamiliar pained groaning, and decided to walk away after closing the door slowly.
Once the Fiends realized they had gone the wrong way and turned around, they eventually stumbled across a large metal door. More turrets popped out, making them confident this was where they were supposed to be. Kada and Xard stepped in front of Drim to shield him from the incoming barrage of bullets. There was a combination of clinking and plopping sounds as ammo shells, and scraps turned into goo, hit the floor.
Kada melted the remaining bullets in the turrets as she had done once before to the police officer’s bullets in Constead, causing vast amounts of metal slime to leak out of them. Xard lashed out a few energy blades to destroy the weapons for good measure. The woman then walked up and pressed her hand against the door. “Oooh, this is made up of all kinds of layers and metals,” she stated, intrigued by the composition. “For anyone else it’d take forever to break through, oh well.” The girl walked through the door as if it wasn’t even there with the two boys following closely behind.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
They found themselves in a large room full of machines and computers. Phon was sitting in a chair, still bound in metal cables. The one whom they had to assume was Ahvra was bent over one of the consoles, muttering to herself. “Ehhhhh? They’ve made it this far already? Well the turrets should hold them off. Ehhhhhhhhhhh?! The turrets are destroyed?! Well there’s no way they’re getting through my security door!”
The scientist spun around to admire her security, but was greeted by three Fiends staring at her. “Wahhh!” she shrieked in surprise. “Uhh I mean, Ahhh! You’ve made it here at last!” Ahvra pointed at them furiously. “Who knew you all were so eager to become my guinea pigs?!” she boasted.
While her personality gave off a bit of a mad scientist vibe, her aesthetic didn’t match the vision they had of someone that Phon would be terrified of. She did have an unbuttoned lab coat that went down to just above her knees. It was the traditional white, but the inside lining was magenta, which bled a bit to the outside from the cuffs of her sleeves and up her arms in a flame-like pattern.
Her other clothes definitely did not match someone who was revered as ‘evil’. They seemed like they belonged to a child. She had on blue pastel shorts that barely covered her hips and a pink tank top with a flower in the center that could hardly contain her busty figure, like it was almost about to tear. Her form was also raising the whole piece, exposing her midriff. No matter how someone would justify it, they were definitely too small for her.
Her hair was magenta, matching her lab coat’s pattern. The hair itself was fluffy and wavy, and went all the way down to just below her butt. If they had to guess, it would seem she had not cut it in at least ten years. Her eyes were a pale yellow. They couldn’t see her Curse Mark, but she was obviously a Fiend.
Ahvra grabbed a bizarre looking broom that was leaning against the wall and pointed it at them. The handle of it was clearly sectioned off in parts, similar to that of a collapsible walking stick, and the bristles appeared to be made of metal, making it look adorned with hundreds of sharp needles. “Get down on your knees and surrender. I don’t like fighting, but I can guarantee you don’t want to go against me!”
She spun one of the sections of the handle and the head began to shift. The needle-like bristles began to spin and spread out as fabric unfurled between them, causing the tip of her broom to transform into a large fan, and she didn’t hesitate swinging it. A massive gust of air rushed past the three Fiends, nearly knocking them off their feet undoubtedly caused by her Curse.
Ahvra followed up with, “That was just a warning shot, and it was only a fraction of what I can do! Though I won’t kill you—on purpose anyways. I wouldn’t be able to run tests on you if you died, but if it happens accidentally, I’ll just bring you back. There’s no escaping me, even in death.” As she delivered her spiel, her body suddenly shivered. No one took any stock in this, except for Phon, whose eyes were suddenly bulging out of her head.
“Hey guys,” The Vixen called over to them. “I think her time is—”
“Quiet you!” Ahvra yelled at her. She wiggled her fingers menacingly in Phon’s direction, causing her captive to immediately flinch.
This didn’t keep the woman obedient permanently, however. “Seriously, if you guys do nothing and just don’t agitate her for a minute, I think we’ll win this. She’s almost out of time.”
“You know what, I’m feeling generous today,” the scientist suddenly changed her tune. “If you three just abandon The Vixen and turn around now, I’ll let you all leave, no strings attached. I can’t just let her go since I warned her before, but I have no grudge against any of you. Goodbye now!” Her body shivered again, for longer this time.
“She should run out any moment now,” Phon seemed convinced.
“Actually, I don’t even want her now, just take her and go. I’m really busy and have a lot of work to do, so I can’t entertain you all any longer. Farewell!” The scientist’s body began to shake uncontrollably, and she gripped her broom tight to help keep herself balanced.
“Any second now…” The Vixen assured them.
“Please leave!” Ahvra cried out pathetically. A moment later, something astonishing happened, causing all of the Fiends eyes to widen immensely as they stared at her. The object of their intrigue then let out a large sigh.
“Hahhhhhhh, I need a nap. If you all will excuse me, I’m going to go lie down.” The girl’s demeanor had changed completely. That boisterous and emotive attitude from before had vanished. Her words were completely hollow, with no expression or intonation, almost as if she was a machine speaking. Likewise, her eyes had drooped, and she looked barely alive and utterly exhausted.
None of this was the surprising part. Ahvra had shrunk. Except that was the wrong word for it. She appeared to have de-aged several years. Her body had reverted to that of a small child. The clothes that looked like they were about to burst earlier, now fit her perfectly except for the lab coat. Her arms seemed to reach about halfway through the sleeves, leaving lots of drooping excess. Both her hair and the bottom of the labcoat now just barely scraped the floor.
“We’ll continue this after,” Ahvra murmured as she walked past the Fiends, seeming to not care about their existence in the slightest. “Please try not to break anything.”
Kada’s eyes had been shimmering intensely since the scientist’s transformation. Her body had been trembling, and she soon reached her breaking point. The woman rushed up behind Ahvra, wrapped her arms around her head and hugged her close, lifting her in the process. “Oh Cosmos, she’s so cute! I can’t get over how adorable she is, and the way she seems so dead inside to contradict with her appearance just makes it better.
As the woman began to sway Ahvra back and forth, mumblings came from the area buried in Kada’s grasp. “Stop. Please stop… Okay, I surrender, just call your dog off of me.” For someone in distress, her monotone voice didn’t really emphasize it. Xard grabbed Kada by the scruff of her collar and pulled her away. “Ugh, if I’m going to be forced to stay conscious, I’ll need something to perk me up,” Ahvra insisted, still without even the slightest bit of inflection.
She went over to a minifridge in the room and opened it up. It was completely stockpiled with energy drink shots, and she began pounding them one after the other until an unhealthily large pile of empty bottles was at her feet. “Ahvra’s Curse requires a lot of energy on her part, especially when she uses it on herself,” Phon explained to everyone else after Kada had finally melted away her restraints.
“Yes it does, and now since I had to use it up entertaining all of you, I won’t get much work done today, how bothersome,” the scientist grumbled after she had finally stopped chugging. “I can guess why you’re here. It’s not to kill me, or you would have done it already and not been so careless. It’s not to rob me or you’d be currently taking advantage of my weakened state. So I must assume it is to kidnap me.”
“Well, try and recruit you, but yes,” Drim clarified.
“Semantics. I refuse,” Ahvra rejected the offer without hesitation. “I have plenty more research I need to conduct, and with my current resources, I won’t run out of new material to discover remotely soon. Come back in 20 years when I might have free time.”
“Come on, Ahvra, there’s no way you’re satisfied running experiments on just a handful of normal people anymore,” Phon rebutted, doing her best to sound confident again since her tormentor was weakened. “If you come with us you’ll have access to a whole wealth of new potential studies.”
“Quiet you,” the scientist wiggled her fingers towards The Vixen again. “That is quite the tempting offer, but there’s no way I could take your word for it. Remember when you promised to never disturb me again? Last time I let you go because you provided me with some useful information and data. If you wanted me to join you and leave this place, you’d have to provide something worth at least tenfold.”
Drim walked next to Ahvra, crouched down, and whispered something to her. Judging by the length, it appeared to only be a single sentence, but the girl’s eyes grew wide from hearing it. Ahvra spontaneously turned into the same adult form she was in when they arrived and shouted, “Really?! I’m in! What are we waiting for?! Let’s go!” The scientist then immediately turned small again and apologized in monotone. “I’m sorry for the outburst. It was rather uncouth of me. I also understand that I’m jumping the gun a bit. You probably have many questions and things you want to confirm before I officially sign on.”
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How many days have you gone without sleep?
