Helen Ch 6
#6 of Cadi, Volume 7: Helen
That last week was very difficult. Almost everyone on the island could feel the shared sense of tension among the guardians, but they understood what was at stake. Namely, the well-being of Cadi's daughter and thousands of furs in India.
When the day came, they all gathered at Nothing's window stone. Robin, Kestrel, Briar, and Christine, along with Robin's crew. Nothing appeared in the courtyard with them, chuckling. "Operation 'a very bad night's sleep indeed' has been successfully executed. Even the sentries had a rough night of it," he reported, turning to look at Robin, nodding his head. "You're good to go. Go get our Helen back," he said, nodding his head at her.
Robin smirked at him and chuckled, shaking her head as she took a deep breath, and opened a good-sized portal into the jungle just outside of the temple. As they walked through, scouts fanned out, making sure that the area around them was clear. When they returned, they even reported that the farms outside of the city were empty.
"Good... Helen must have managed to spread the word that today was a day for the civilians to stay inside their homes," Robin said, letting out a breath of relief. "Alright. Time to move out. It's not going to be long before Zaros and his sons realize that something is horribly wrong with the day," she said with a grin as their team set out, making their way to the city.
It seemed as though the sentries in the towers still hadn't finished processing the nightmares that Helen had given them, and there was a good chance that went for the soldiers in the barracks as well. The main gates were not heavily secured, more just held shut with a latch, which Robin melted to slag, allowing the crew to push through into the temple.
The entire place was almost eerily quiet, though they did see faces peeking out at them as they came through the gates. They smiled and waved at their observers, who frequently disappeared when they realized they had been seen, but there was one little boy who had stuck his hand up into the window crack to wave at them in return. These really are good people who have just had shit luck with who they've had to deal with, Robin thought to herself as they passed through the outer ring of the city.
They were getting to the middle ring when they could hear sounds of alarm coming from the inner part of the city, as the family awoke and realized that there was something horribly wrong with their army. "Fan out! Find out what is going on!" Even from all this way away, they could hear Zaros' roar of anger.
Robin grimaced and then sighed. "Probably as well. That way, we're not having to handle them all at once. Okay, everyone, you know what that means. We fan out, too, and handle the family." The others nodded their heads before they dispersed. The crew stayed in close clusters in order to fight together, while the guardians set off on their own. They knew what to do.
As Dean searched through the city, he was baffled by how few people were out and about. He understood enough to get that this was a trap, but... there was no helping it. He slogged along until he crossed paths with a wolf, dressed... very nicely for what was going on. He scowled at her, stalking around the square that she was standing in. "You're not supposed to be here. One of those damn Tropico people? Where's everyone else, eh? Or were you stupid enough to come here alone?"
Christine looked at him appraisingly, a vague look of disappointment on her face. "Mm. Dean, isn't it? Helen's told me about you," she said with a little laugh, "And no, I'm not the only one here... but I'm the only one that you need to worry about right now. I'm Christine," she said, giving him a little bow.
Dean scowled at her, understanding that she was insulting him, but really not understanding what to do about it. He flexed his arms and cracked his knuckles. "I don't care who you are, I'm going to beat you to a pulp," he said, starting to walk toward her as he swung his arms, gearing himself up for the fight.
"Oh, dear... what_ever_ am I going to do about that? Such a big, strong boy like you, how will I ever stand a chance?" She laughed disdainfully at him as he approached, taking a calming breath as she swept her foot in an arc, lowering herself down into a fighting stance.
He glared as he saw her get into position, snarling as he started rushing toward her, winding up to get ready to attack her. She didn't move from where she was crouched, even as he began his powerful haymaker of a swing. Suddenly, though, she was moving, rolling away from the intended blow, landing gracefully on her knees before she shifted her feet to brace them against the ground. Pushing off from the stones, she launched both of her fists straight up into his gut, driving the breath from him and sending him tumbling along past her.
He gasped for air as he rolled, though with far less grace than she'd done a moment ago, and pushed himself back up onto his feet. "Fighting dirty is it?" He grimaced at her, wiping his arm across his nose as he got his breath back.
"Dirty, eh? I think that was a very cleanly executed maneuver," Christine said with a laugh, "But if you want dirty, I think that I can oblige you."
He snarled and started rushing at her again, though at least this time, he wasn't winding up for a single, big, knockdown blow. It looked more like he was aiming to tackle her down to the ground, where she would surely be ready to be torn to shreds.
Only... that didn't work, either, as Christine jumped up over his grab before she slammed herself down on top of him, knocking him straight into the ground with a loud grunt.
Still, she wasn't quite expecting what happened next as he braced his hands against the ground and pushed up, a surge of green light coming from his wrist. There you are, she thought, now knowing where his stolen N-stone was as she jumped up and away from his back as well, executing a graceful spin in the air.
However, air wasn't her element. Water was. As she hung there for a moment, it became clear why she'd chosen this particular square for their encounter. Namely, the well in the middle of it. Even Dean could hear the roaring rush of water rising up along the shaft before it erupted into the air, creating a dome around the edge of the plaza.
Christine floated there as wings of water formed on her back, while Dean snarled and roared fiercely. "You think I'm some house cat to be scared of water? I am a mighty tiger!" His N-stone glowed as he launched himself up off of the ground at Christine, his eyes blazing with rage.
Unfortunately for him, that rage clouded his vision, as well, meaning that he didn't notice the simple flick of her that Christine made, sending a needle-jet of water from her wings, which shot through the air, aimed perfectly at Dean's bracelet. The piece of jewelry was shattered by the jet, and the stone began to fall away from his wrist.
He felt his upward momentum start giving out the moment the bracelet was destroyed, and he flailed, trying to grab hold of the stone... only to see a blob of water shoot across him, engulfing it and pulling it away from him. His expression filled with panic as he started back down toward the ground, quickly realizing that he was too high up for this to end very well.
Mercifully for him, though, Christine came down with him and, at the last moment, there was a rush of water that surged up and broke his fall... though he still landed hard enough to have the wind knocked out of him. Christine chuckled and sighed, taking the crystal from the water before she dropped it into a tiny portal to return to the island. "There. I think that will do just fine," she said as she stood over him, smiling down at him. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you. That would make Helen very upset. She really does care about you, dense as you are," she said with a soft laugh, reaching down to stroke his head as the water flowed over him, starting the healing process for the fallen tiger.
Jacob stalked down the main street, glaring at the closed doors and windows, understanding that the civilians had been warned, somehow, and were hiding. He'd have to see to it that some of them were made examples so that they wouldn't betray his family again.
As he prowled along, he came into a square, where he was knocked sideways by a blast of fire. He snarled and quickly rolled onto his feet, looking for the source of the blast as Robin came rushing toward him, ready to follow up on the blast with a nice kick.
He rolled back and let her kick fall short of him before he lunged, tackling the vixen with a ferocity of his own. "Came back for another go at besting me? Heh... I'll have to really put you in your place this time..." he said smugly as he slammed her back against the wall of one of the buildings.
Or, at least, that had been his intent. At the last moment, she vanished from his grip, just in time for him to plow face-first into the stone wall with an undignified grunt. He quickly pushed himself away from it as he spun, looking for Robin, who was dancing back to the middle of the square. "Really... and just what place is that? Groveling at your feet, begging for the privilege of serving you?" She laughed loudly at that as she stood there calmly waiting for him.
He was far from calm, which was exactly where she wanted him. She didn't want him thinking clearly. He surged across the square at her, his eyes filled with rage, but as he closed with her, rather than just try to tackle her, he swept low, trying to go for her legs, even as one of his claws swept closer to her waist, in case she jumped over his leg.
Robin was kind of impressed with that bit of cleverness, though he wasn't prepared for how high she was able to jump, doing a flip over him while she made the stones under his planted foot shift, causing him to turn with the direction of his sweep, which spun him off balance.
As though he was only just reminded of the magic, he smirked, clenching his hand as the cobbles of the plaza started shooting up at her. Her eyebrows raised as she had to make a short teleport out of the way. Still, she'd seen the ring on his finger. That would be a tough one to hit, but she could pull it off.
With him turning the stone against her like that, she decided to take a play from her fight with the rooster the other day, the stone melting around his feet and flowing up his legs to the knees before it hardened again. He snarled and with a surge from his ring, made the stone around his legs shatter before sending the shards flying at her.
Oh, but he was really out to kill this time. Robin was actually a little impressed that she'd gotten under his skin just that well. Still, she'd learned a very important lesson after that first fight. To make the best use of the magic, she had to keep her mind clear and remain calm.
She made a quick jump around behind him, grabbing hold of the sides of his head as she sent a surge of mental images through his mind... a world on fire, burned to ashes all around Zaros as he laughed, a mad look on his face. Jacob stumbled, snarling as at her as he fell forward onto his hands. "Playing mind games? Can't beat me in a proper fight, so you decide to fuck with me like that?" He bared his teeth at her as she stood there calmly behind him.
"No... just showing you what the end result of your father's grand ambition is. He doesn't want to improve the world... he wants to burn it all down."
Jacob looked shaken at that, his eyes unfocused for a moment before he shook his head and snarled, standing up once more. "And you... think that is going to make me give up?"
Robin sneered at him, "Look me in the eye and tell me it isn't exactly what he would do if he made it to Tropico and embraced Nothing's power fully... I'll bet that since he's gotten his little scrap of Nothing's power that you've even noticed him change."
Jacob looked at her, glaring into her eyes fiercely before he had to look away, snarling low. "He wouldn't... He's our father. He would protect us."
Robin just shook her head, looking disappointed. "Right. Protect you by sending the rest of you to deal with the attackers before they can get to him. Mm. Grade-A fatherly protection," she said, showing her obvious disgust.
Jacob's eyes flashed as he glared at her before he... had to hang his head. "His great vision..."
She didn't let him finish, "To rid the world of humanity's stain, so that the wilds can reclaim the earth. Right. Leaving billions dead? Hah. Even if he turned everyone into furs, can you tell me how the earth would support everyone with things reverting to their old wild ways at this point? Billions would starve. The most vulnerable first. Well, those who aren't killed by the 'strong' who are afraid for their own growling bellies. Mmm. Sounds like a real paradise."
He glared at her and tried several times to reply to her, but in the end, he just fell to the ground, sitting on it as he rubbed his head.
"Look... I get it. Humans are pretty awful sometimes. I made a bloody career out of hunting those who preyed on the weak... getting them hooked on drugs, not giving one shit less when one of them died, because there were thousands more marks out there for them to hook to start the game all over again. But there's also a lot of wonderful people out there. And I can tell you that they are the ones that your father's glorious new world would destroy first."
Jacob was struggling very hard at that point, bringing his hands up to hold his head before he felt the ring on his finger. He jerked that hand back and stared at it, frantically pulling it off and throwing it away from himself. Robin had a little portal gobble it up quietly.
She looked down at him, crouching down on her haunches. "Look. We're not doing this to protect our power. We're doing this to protect the world. Your dad's just got your head all turned around, thinking that what you are doing for him is protecting the world, rather than destroying it. Maybe thousands of years ago, when all of that was written, that might have been the case... and if the creators of this place had succeeded, the world could have stayed wild. But it would have meant that all of the good things that humanity has made wouldn't exist either."
He took a deep, shuddering breath as he looked up at her. "I hate you," he said, though there was no fire in his voice. Just a begrudging admission that she was right.
Robin held her hand out to him, offering to help him up. "You're not a bad guy. I see that in your heart. Help us protect the weak... the ones who really need our help because the predators of the world are trying to eat them alive."
He snorted, but took her hand, letting her pull him up to his feet. "Dad's going to kill me for this," he said, grinning as he shook his head.
She held out her hand to him, offering him a proper N-bracelet. "We're not going to let him."
Briar made her way about, looking for Zaros' sons, only to be met by a wave of cobbles rushing at her as she entered one of the squares. Thankfully, she was better in tune with her element than that. She rode the wave and redirected it, using its energy to leave her standing upright on the ground. She smirked as she saw Beta, Zaros' largest child standing there.
"That was a warning," he said, his voice nice and deep.
Briar laughed and grinned at him, tilting her head to one side. "Hell of a warning, eh?" She stretched a little popping her back a bit as she did. "Mmm, needed a good stretch like that. So, what's your plan?"
Beta looked at her, his brow furrowing a bit. "I'm not going to let you get to my father. I will stop you."
She raised her eyebrows. "Ah, your father. You know he's... pretty dangerous, right?"
"I'm dangerous, too," he said with a shrug.
She gave him an appraising look, nodding her head. "I can see that you are. But it's different from how he's dangerous. You're dangerous in a fight, but... you aren't really looking to hurt people if you don't have to."
He shrugged his shoulders again. "I s'pose not. Wouldn't have warned you, otherwise."
"Y'see, that's my point exactly. Your dad isn't like that. He'd hurt people just because they were inconvenient to him. I know you've seen it."
Again with the shrug. "Going against him is dangerous for all of us. That's..."
"What your dad always said," she finished for him, and he raised his eyebrow at her, but he didn't correct her. "Look. If I don't have to fight you, I don't want to. Yeah? And you'd rather not fight me if you don't have to. Can we agree on that?"
Beta looked at her curiously, weighing what she said. "I suppose not. Otherwise, you'd have attacked me by now."
Briar smiled broadly and nodded her head. "Honestly, I'd sooner pour you a drink," she said, opening a portal to her pub. "Trust me, I've got some really good brews. I make my own stuff."
He looked at her and then looked back over her shoulder at the gate toward the central part of the temple. "You're not trying to trick me. Have me walk into a trap and then close the door on me while you go attack my dad."
Briar laughed and smiled warmly, opening her arms wide, "Never. That place is my home. I'd never do her wrong like that. So, come on, let me get you a drink," she said.
He breathed out deeply, looking back at the central part of the temple one last time before he started walking toward the doorway, which was easily big enough for both of them to fit through. Briar even walked through it first, welcoming him into her pub, where she walked him over to the bar and said, "Alright. Now, let me see how you like this."
The doorway closed behind them while Robin's phone pinged, letting her know that Beta had been taken care of, joining the message about Dean. There was even a selfie of the two of them drinking together there at the bar, Beta clearly enjoying what Briar had given him.
And... a moment later, there was another picture, with Christine and Dean at the pub as well. Robin couldn't help but laugh softly and shrug, grinning as she showed Jacob, who laughed and shook his head, "Those chuckleheads... of course..."
Robin grinned at Jacob, "Still. It goes to show that we're not here to hurt you guys, yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, smirking back at Robin as they waited for word on the remaining brothers.
Kestrel was trotting her way through the town, but as she got to the last square, she rolled gracefully, dodging the staffs that swung through the space she had been occupying. She made a deft twist as she rolled so that when she came back up again, she was facing her attackers. Her face actually lit up when she saw Martin and Lucas. "Oh, hey! It's you two! Martin and Lewis! Helen talked about you guys all of the time!"
They stood there, frozen as they held their staves where they had just attacked, looking at each other and then at Kestrel. "You... she talked about us?" Lucas asked as the two of them stood back up again.
"What... when you were torturing her?" Martin asked warily, clearly having gotten a... very bad sense of what had happened on the island.
Kestrel couldn't help but laugh at that, doubling over as she did. "Torture her?!? Hooo... where'd you get that idea? If we tortured her with anything, it was with how good the food is on the island. And I suppose some of the tickle-fights bordered on torture," Kestrel said with a shrug as she straightened up again.
The two brothers looked... very confused. "Aman... said that he rescued you... and Jacob said that you had tortured the soldiers that had gone there with him..." Lucas said warily.
"Rescued her... she was out walking on the beach back from visiting Cadi, on her way back to where she lived when Aman got her. And, as for those soldiers, yeah... we gave them something pretty awful to think about, and when Jacob ran without them, they were all pretty freaked out, but that's because Helen made them see the kind of world your father is trying to create, not us."
Martin looked disturbed by that. "Helen? I... she..." he trailed off, looking at his brother worriedly, "The soldiers..."
Lucas took a deep breath, "We were wondering what had happened to all of them... none of them were responsive... you're saying she did that?"
The implication clearly disturbed both of the tigers, whose tails were flicking in agitation. "Yeah. That was her last night. We got word of our plan to her, and she timed it... really well. None of us wanted them hurt when they rejected Zaros' vision. Especially not her, when she realized she was the one who unleashed the magic that turned them all into furs."
"Now I know you're joking," Martin said, looking disbelievingly at Kestrel.
She laughed and shook her head. "Kind of interesting the way that everything ran smoothly here while she was still here, but the moment she left... things started going to hell," the squirrel said flatly, which caught the brothers off guard. "There were ruins that she crawled into the night before you all changed. She found a crystal there, which, when she touched it, came to life and started bursting with magic. That's what changed your family... and everyone for miles around. When she got back, she stopped it, and the magic went into her. But that's why you stopped finding villages that had been changed," she explained.
After she came to the island, she found out that the spell was one from thousands of years ago, before humans really took over. The best we can figure out, there was an ancient race of intelligent animals that tried to stop humans from getting a foothold with that spell. They're the same ones who left the carvings that Zaros studied and learned to hate humanity," she said with a helpless little shrug.
The two of them did something that was usually not a good idea in a battle. They turned to face away from Kestrel, talking with one another in hushed, but also very frustrated tones. She caught little snippets here and there, but she was doing her best not to eavesdrop on them.
They turned back around slowly after they seemed to come to an agreement. "So... they were lying when they said that Helen had been hurt... she didn't argue or correct them..."
"Because she understood that she had to play along," Martin finished from where Lucas had started. They looked at each other briefly. "Was she... happy there?"
"Very happy. She really loved the pastries on the island... and she even was starting to get very close to her cuddle buddy... she's actually one of the people here right now. I haven't heard from her yet, but I'd be surprised if any of your brothers had been able to get the better of her. She's the fire guardian, after all, and before she came to Tropico, her career was robbing from people who sold drugs and sicking the cops on them," she said with a laugh before she let out a heavy sigh, "And she's been so happy to see Cadi again..."
They both blinked at what Robin was saying. "Mom's there?" Lucas asked, his ears perking up at that.
"She's the one that brought us all there. It's a long story, but... she got caught in a spell when she disappeared. She's only just come back out of that a little while before all of the furs disappeared from the districts. She's tied to the magic of the island. The same magic that your crystals are connected to," she said.
That struck hard for the two of them. Lucas brought his hand up to hold the green gem that was hanging around his neck, "Mom..."
"Has a good life on the island. She does a lot to protect everyone there, and make sure they have everything that they need. She saved all of us from the awful things that the humans were doing to us. She sent us here to save the furs here from the horrible things that Zaros has been doing to them."
Martin winced at that, looking heartbroken. "And... that we've been helping him with," he said, his tone flat.
Kestrel smiled at them, bowing her head gently to them. "She's happy... and she wants all of fur kind to be happy. Even you goofballs," she said with a lopsided smile. "I know that when she sees you, she's going to give both of you a great-big hug... but I'll warn you. That's nothing compared to the hug you're going to get from her mate, Dawn."
They blinked in surprise at that last part. "Mate?" Lucas asked before he shook his head, "No... don't worry about that right now," he said, taking a deep breath and looking at his brother before he looked back at Kestrel. "Alright. We're in."
Kestrel beamed at that, smiling as she produced two full N-bracelets, holding them out to the two of them. "I'm kind of impressed with how well you've been managing with only one crystal. They really work better when there are more of them working together," she said, which got a laugh from them.
Kestrel sighed and came to stand between the two brothers, pulling out her phone as she snapped a picture of the three of them and sent it to the group chat, finally seeing the pictures of Beta, Dean, Briar, and Christine at the pub. She got a good laugh out of that as she got a message from Robin, too, with a scowling Jacob. "Jacob says to get your butts over here to the main gate, assholes, and you'd better have saved some for me," read Robin's text message.
Kestrel sighed, even as the other two were just laughing over their brothers. "Ah well, that's the rendezvous point, I suppose. Come on, let's get going."
They made their way to the square where Robin was waiting as another door opened up, disgorging the other four, with Dean and Beta wearing their own full N-bracelets. Robin grinned at the collection of them. "Well, well... the gang's all here," she said with a laugh, whistling out a bird song. Shortly after, the crew rematerialized around them. "Alright. Down to the last hurrah, guys," she said, turning to look at Krystie. "How'd the evacuation go?"
The powerful feline saluted Robin, even as she got a few curious looks from the assembled tigers. "Without a hitch, boss. Helen did a great job spreading word without drawing attention. We even got the soldiers out... the ones who had recovered helped us with the ones who were still out of it, and we've got them resting up in the castle. Dawn is going full-on Florence Nightengale on them," she said with a laugh.
Robin laughed and rolled her eyes. "Good. So the temple is clear, but for us... and the last two," Robin said with a sigh, shaking her head as she looked toward the center of the temple. "And Helen."
There was a grim sense of foreboding to them. They were getting to the point that none of them had been looking forward to. Dealing with Zaros himself. No one had come up with a satisfactory answer on how to deal with him without killing him.
None of them, especially his sons wanted it to come to that... but they all understood how fanatical he was.
"Well. Let's go storm the castle."