Chapter 46

Exit, Stage Right!

Bishop and Gareth's hand cannons let loose two blasts of concentrated plasma, striking their targets! Bruce was hit in the arm and Eric in the shoulder, the heat from the blast burning through their clothes, heavily scorching lightly armored suits underneath!

Despite the protection the suits offered from ballistics and energy shots, they weren't flawless. For when the shots connected, jarring Bruce and Eric off balance, the heat from the blasts permeated through the armor, burning the skin and fur underneath as they let out loud yells of pain!

Galen quickly took advantage of their disorientation, bolting up out of his chair! Then, with movement like lightning, he grabbed Bruce by the torso, picking him up and throwing him against Eric! Both of them toppled onto the floor with a loud, impactful slam!

Damion retaliated in kind, lunging at the lion to tackle him but was quickly cut off by Gareth shoving him away with a shoulder body-slam! Damion stumbled backwards a few steps before looking at Gareth with a leer.

"Just when I thought you couldn't shame the Willbringer name any further, Gareth..." Damion growled, switching his rifle to burst mode for accuracy. "For this, I shall tear you apart, limb from useless limb!"

Gareth was unmoved, flicking the setting on his plasma cannon from stun to full. "You disowned me if you bothered to actually recall! Besides, I no longer bear any relation to the Willbringer name anymore, Damion! I am a Jaren, and I'm damn proud of it!"

Damion took aim, wasting no more words. Before he could fire, however, someone in the crowd threw a bottle of wine with a flaming cloth napkin stuffed into it! A hastily improvised Molotov cocktail! The glass shattered as it hit Damion in the back, the alcohol in the wine going ablaze at the liquid covered the WarGreymon's torso! Damion quickly dropped to the ground, rolling around a few times to smother the flames before flipping back onto his feet!

Egad looked over and saw who threw that Molotov! It was one of the other company owners, Alexander Xanatos, the young prodigy, and owner of Xanatos, Incorporated, quickly extinguishing a zippo lighter!

"Bruce, I believe all of us have had enough of these antics and provocations of yours!" Alex exclaimed. "Raziel, be a dear and help Ryan's entourage take out the rubbish!" He motioned to his red-colored Gargoyle bodyguard.

"With pleasure, sir." Raziel whipped up his hands in some martial arts movements, as a few feet of shiny filament wire deployed from the tips of his gloves controlled via a magnetic field generated inside each!

The other bodyguards followed suit, drawing their own weapons, ranging from hold-out blasters and collapsible swords, to more unorthodox arms such as energy whips, and electrified buzz batons! One guard even had gauntlets that deployed energy claws from his knuckles, wolverine-style!

Damion, Eric, and Bruce had no choice. They quickly turned their attention to the new aggressors, opening fire with alacrity! Raziel and the other bodyguards retaliated in kind! The ones with projectile weapons, Including Bishop and Gareth, shot back at the trio, while those with melee weapons dodged and creatively closed in for some strike attempts, though Eric, Bruce, and Damion dodged most of these! Raziel, though he became a bit destructive with his filament wire gloves, was still careful to avoid civilian casualties and friendly fire, and even used his environment to his advantage by cutting a chandelier from the ceiling to try and crush Eric! The Doberman barely was able to get out of the way, though the shards from the broken chandelier did leave some clear cuts on his arms and face.

"Apologies, Master Xanatos!" Raziel called out.

"No worries, Raziel!" Xanatos called back, taking cover with the other company owners. "I'm good for our part of the repair bill!"

"I guess this is where we bow out." Egad said, standing up and running over next to Galen and letting out a loud whistle. Gareth and Bishop, hearing the sound, quickly ran over to Egad, and the four of them quickly ran out the doors, excusing themselves from the room as Bishop and Gareth laid down covering fire!

Bruce caught a glimpse of their targets running. "Quick! After them, they are getting away!" He hollered to Eric and Damion, who quickly joined Bruce in pursuit as the other bodyguards drove them out of the restaurant!

# # # #

Mick and Tommy, hearing the commotion over the radio feed had already started up the Audi and Lamborghini, putting both cars into escape mode! The settings for the engine computers were locked in, the suspension stiffened, and the intake and exhausts put into straight-pipe configuration as they waited for Egad and company, ready to peel out once they were inside the vehicles and strapped in!

Mick and Tommy looked over at the elevator doors, their fingers hovering over the buttons on the console screens that automatically popped open the car's passenger doors. After a few tense moments, the elevator doors parted with the usual chime, with Egad, Bishop, Gareth, and Galen running out, sprinting towards the cars!

Mick and Tommy hit the buttons, opening the doors! Egad jumped into the Lamborghini, while Bishop, Galen, and Gareth piled into the Audi. They shut the doors to the cars just as Bruce, Eric, and Damion ran down the stairs into view!

Tommy and Mick didn't need to be told; Once their passengers were strapped in, they threw the cars in gear and peeled out in clouds of tire smoke, speeding out of the parking garage as their aggressors shot at them with futility! Some of their shots ended up connecting, only to ricochet off the laser-proof body panels!

After they were gone and out of reach, Damion let out a loud, enraged cathartic roar!

# # # # #

Tommy got onto the freeway, Mick close behind, both hitting the buttons that switched out the license plates on the cars, not slowing their pace until they exited the freeway and got onto the isolated, coastal road that led them back to the villa.

"Neo, this is Spy-Hunter." Mick said. "I assume after the firefight started, you stuck to the plan and bailed out with us?"

"Roger that." Jet replied. "As soon as the gunshots started, we fired up the van and got on the road, as instructed. We are only about 2 km away from the nest, and we read you about 5 km behind us."

"Good." Mick said. "We'll talk later back at the nest. Dragonfly, is Chess King okay?"

"Affirmative." Egad replied through his headset. "We all got out with no injury."

"I must say, Master... That's one hell of a way to end a party and make an exit." Tommy said with a smile.

Egad just chuckled. "Oh, well. I always leave when the talk gets philosophical, anyway."

Everyone let out loud, rancorous laughter at that joking statement, even Egad after realizing what he just said.