"The Leopards can handle the infantry," he explained. "Our job is to strike those buggies from above, before they freeze everyone!" Heeding their King's call, most of the Vultures leapt out of the crowd, luckily able to get far above given the factory's high ceiling. Valum looked again at the buggies and their drivers. It was a strange contrast; the Leopards in Phoenix armor with an orange fire chi aura about their bodies, driving the regular chi-powered Rupture vehicles with glowing blue crystal masses affixed to the backs of their cannons. The fire chi didn't seem to be melting the Rupture crystals at all. Obviously; they're crystals, not actually ice. Still, Valum wondered... For the time being, however, he stowed that thought away, motioning for his soldiers to fire on the vehicles with their full power. Laser blasts rained down on the buggies, focusing specifically on the tires, cannons and open cockpits, even as some raised their cannons to retaliate. What are they, tanks? The Vultures, naturally at their best combat capabilities when airborne, easily dodged any Rupture blasts that were launched upward toward them, and dived along with Valum after they'd given the buggies flat tires and blasted most of their cannons off (luckily, the Rupture crystal masses shattered into smaller shards or clattered to the floor like chi orbs, rather than overheating as liquid chi would've). Valum swooped and speared the LI agent in the cockpit of the nearest buggy with the Rupture Blade, then flew out of the open cockpit and threw the pilot off his sword, straight into LI infantry. The other Vultures followed suit with the bayonets affixed to their blasters. "Looks like Rupture vehicles aren't so tough after all!" Valum cawed victoriously, though mostly to motivate his troops. Privately, he thought, There were less than twenty buggies in use, they were in a confined space that allowed us to easily lock-on, we could only fire on them from above because we can fly, which many species in Chima can't, and they were fast; against dozens of these in a large, open field...I doubt we would've fared as well. Still, they'd incapacitated the Rupture vehicles that had been in use thus far, and the LI agents wouldn't have time to launch more off the factory racks; indeed, all around Valum, the enemy Leopards were falling to the blades and blasters of the Vultures and friendly Leopards. Now that the enemy's one advantage was removed, the outcome of the battle seemed inevitable.
Ever since the kings had ordered their troops to charge, Icescale had been rocking the chair on which he sat, looking for something to cut the ropes binding his wrists and ankles. Finally, he found it; a stray wheel from one of the (thankfully) destroyed Rupture vehicles, blasted off by the Vultures and rolling to a stop against the LI's small "interrogation stage". Icescale scooted the chair backwards toward the tire, using his tail to lurch off the floor in small increments.
Getting to the edge of the stage where the wheel had lodged itself, Icescale felt the ropes around his wrists push against one of the mounted tire's jutting ridges. He moved his wrists up and down as much as he could, grinding the rope against the ridge as it got thinner...thinner...snap. The white crocodile casually looked around at the moment of his freedom; everyone else in the building was, indeed, too distracted with their battle to look in his direction. With his upper body no longer constrained and the chair leaning back against the tire, he easily bent forward and gnawed the ropes around his ankles. Spitting out the last shreds of the pitiful material that'd so bizarrely trapped him for months, Icescale stood and stretched, only to find that he still ached all over; especially the leg that'd been burned via laser blast. Curse you, LI!He thought as he rubbed his back.Icescale looked at the wooden chair, considered for a moment, then grabbed and furiously threw it straight into the interrogation device. The chair shattered and the device tilted a bit, but wasn't destroyed. Looking around again, it seemed the loud noise was drowned out by the sounds of battle. Still, I'm pushing my luck; if anyone sees me and attacks while I'm in this state... Scoffing at the interrogation device, Icescale limped past it, silently slithering behind the Rupture vehicles that were still on their racks. He crawled over the racks, concealed as he made his way toward Iceclaw's former "throne room" to reclaim his blade.
Ever since Valum's forces had taken down the Rupture vehicles, Leodus became laser-focused on Leia. Take down the leader, and the battle is over. He wondered whether most of the LI agents even wanted to be there; whether they were just being strung along by their Director's incomprehensible ambitions. Yet...they were still fighting for her, against their King, and any one of them could've run back to the Golden City to tell him of the collective treachery in the past five months. Thinking on this, Leodus' anger toward all of them was renewed. They're traitors, no way around that. For twenty years, they'd been reporting directly to Leia. Even if Leodus oversaw every new agent's recruitment (he'd forced Leia to end the practice of recruiting children into the LI, instead picking adults; usually straight from the military), and all their orders (presumably, though now he had doubts) came from him through Leia, they still answered to her first and foremost. Their personal loyalty to her must've only grown over the years. The LI always did seem like a cult to me, compared to our other divisions. Was that a result of my father allowing them to recruit young orphans, as all the oldest agents here had been? Clearly, indoctrination never goes well for anyone in the end. He thought of Icestrike, the young bear he'd fought at the outpost who'd similarly been indoctrinated into the Ice Hunters... No, Leodus stopped his mind from wandering.
Focus on stopping Leia... He spotted her maroon red eye patch amidst the increasingly smaller crowd of LI agents, and cut his way through with fire chi-fueled determination. As the LI Director became isolated, her underlings taken down on every side, she leapt onto the wooden stage holding the interrogation device. She didn't maintain the high ground for long, as Leodus followed her onto the stage with a faster jump (and noticed Icescale and the chair he'd sat upon were no longer present, but he didn't care enough to ponder it at the moment). Leodus' feet thumped down loudly on the stage, and as soon as his mother turned around in response to the noise, he stared into her remaining eye, instantly paralyzing her. "It's over," the Leopard King ground out. Indeed, the paralysis victim had no counter this time. Leia's left eye had been the only one she'd injected with liquid fire chi, in order to "focus" the paralysis power and make it last longer; but Logos had taken that eye at the outpost. Just as he began to slowly walk toward his frozen (ironically, without the use of a Rupture weapon) prisoner, however, he heard Valum call: "Leodus! On your right!" He turned sharply at the warning, just in time to parry what would've been a fatal strike to his neck. As he locked blades with the LI agent, both combatants were equally surprised to see the Inferno Blade literally melting into the knife. The superheated sword slid all the way through the knife, converting it into two pieces of metal: one, a still-smoldering shrapnel that immediately burned a small hole through the wooden stage and disappeared from sight; and the other, a useless hilt. The enemy leopard dropped the latter, then dropped to his knees and held his hands above his head. "Forgive me, My King..." his tone was one of reverent awe, almost as though he were praying to a deity. Leodus saw right through it, of course. He really doesn't want to get melted, like his knife just did. Still, a surrender is a surrender. Valum, the Rupture Blade sheathed at his hip, swooped down just then to grab the agent's sides. Knowing intuitively that his friend was patting down the newly "surrendered" enemy to ensure he had no more weapons on him, Leodus immediately turned back to Leia, who was luckily still on the stage. Despite having been freed from the paralysis as soon as her son had turned his gaze away, she seemed distracted by the fact that her prisoner escaped. "Leodus, Valum," she said without looking at them, "let's end this pointless squabble and find Icescale. There was a reason I kept him alive up to that point, but we can't let an Ice Hunter go–" "It seems you're still misunderstanding the gravity of your situation, Leia," Leodus growled, closing in on his prey even though his fire chi had fizzled out (burning all the way through the knife had used the last of its power, no doubt). "YOU are our main target. Either surrender like your surviving agents, or die."
Slithering into Iceclaw's office, Icescale was relieved to find that any LI agents within had gone out into the factory when the battle began. He immediately went to the Rupture Vengious, sitting atop a table to the right of the long-abandoned throne. Its hilt was affixed to a stand, surrounded by table-mounted magnifying glasses and small utensils that Leia had clearly used to chip off tiny pieces of the crystalline blades. The baffled crocodile shook his head. It's a weapon, not a test subject, you weirdos. Icescale didn't bother to be gentle as he batted the utensils aside and ripped the double-bladed sword from its stand. As he made his way to the HQ's no-longer secret entrance behind the throne, however, another thought crossed his mind. Project S. Through painful interrogation, the LI had learned everything Icescale knew about the Ice Hunters, Liberators and their plans, despite his best efforts. There was no doubt Leia kept the blueprint for Iceclaw and Gulikovsky's strange pet project somewhere secure, but still within the former Hunter HQ. Thinking back, he recalled the gorilla trying desperately to get to this room (and the blueprints within) five months prior, though luckily Icescale had blocked his way with the Rupture Vengious. It was the only project Aether had been working on that had nothing to do with the Rupture crystals, and thus he hadn't been aiming to sabotage it from within. Although the idea still seemed far-fetched in Icescale's eyes, unattainable without the use of literal magic (which, to be fair, did exist), a device that could instantly create ships from the available wood in any given area would give anyone superiority over the seas. Icescale grinned and grimaced simultaneously. You were always going to use that to create a Gorilla fleet, weren't you, Aether? The crocodile decided that he'd prevent the Gorillas or Leopards (or any tribe, for that matter) from getting their hands on this blueprint, regardless of whether the Hunters or Liberators could make use of it. There was also no doubt in his mind that Leia was securely keeping Project S within one of the file cabinets in the office, and Icescale began his search. He considered opening the cabinets as fast as possible by slashing them in half with the Rupture Vengious, but he wouldn't be able to accomplish such a feat without chi, of which he had none at the moment.Using a trick he'd learned long ago, the crocodile reached his tail up to the lock on one of the file cabinets (Leia or one of her agents probably had the keys on their belt), sliding its white tip into the lock. He smiled victoriously as he successfully picked the lock with his tail, then opened the drawer. Rummaging through the blueprints within, he found only those for the Rupture vehicles. He repeated this process with every drawer on every cabinet, until finally coming upon a blueprint depicting a ball with cogs sticking out from round slits in its form; unmistakably Project S.
Icescale leaned against the file cabinet (he'd crawled on all fours into the office, and had begun using the Rupture Vengious to support his injured leg), grabbed the blueprint, rolled it up, and carefully slid it into his largest pocket. It stuck out, but he figured it was good enough. Picking up the Rupture Vengious, Icescale once again went to the tunnel behind Iceclaw's throne, and once again stopped to reconsider. Come to think of it, Valum, Leodus and Leia are the Ice Hunters' main targets...unless the Hunters are no more. But if Iceclaw still lives, I should report to him on who survives this battle. ...I told Leodus that I'd "side with him" if he defeated Iceclaw, but is that really true? I'd abandon my cause just because one potential king of one tribe is stronger than the other? No...I wasn't thinking straight earlier. Now I know my next course. Even if Iceclaw has fallen, I'll join the Liberators, and report the outcome here to Icedawn. Nodding resolutely, the white crocodile slowly crept from the office, coming out behind the Vultures and Leopards, who seemed to have mostly stopped fighting as they watched a confrontation on that stupid wooden stage. It was only about halfway through the long factory, so Icescale could see it clearly: Valum was patting down an LI agent who had his hands up in surrender, while Leodus was menacingly pointing his blade at Leia and saying something as he walked toward her. The LI Director seemed to lose her patience as she whipped out her chi blaster pistol and shot at Leodus. The Leopard King deflected the blast with his sword, sending it straight back into the blaster from whence it came. The blast only hit the weapon, knocking it out of Leia's hand, but the force of the blast clearly knocked her off her feet. As she fell, her flailing right arm instinctively grabbed the nearest handhold...which happened to be an activation lever of the broken, leaning interrogation device. Icescale grinned devilishly as the factory was illuminated by the electricichi shooting up Leia's arm; the remaining energy that was built up in the machine now enveloped her. The crocodile had to restrain himself from laughing, as it would've alerted the enemy forces to his location. Poetic justice; you love to see it. Now, Leia, you feel the pain you put me through with that machine for nearly half a year...except in your case, it's all at once! Leia said something between her screams, and since she was shouting, Icescale could hear it from where he stood: "YOU...GOT YOUR VISIONS...FROM ME...LEO–!" The overheating interrogation device, never a stable machine to begin with, exploded, sending the old woman flying off the stage. Though the nearest Leopards managed to catch her before she hit the floor, Icescale turned away with satisfaction. There's no way anyone could survive that, especially at her age, he presumed, as he went back into the office and, finally, into the tunnel.
To Leodus' relief, Leia had survived. He still felt her pulse when he checked, but it was faint. He had watched with shock as his mother was hit with a much more literal shock and blasted off the stage in seconds. So too, had Leodus' rage and killing intent dissipated in those seconds, melting away as he witnessed his mother nearly dying. Immediately leaping from the stage to check on her after Leopards from both sides caught the Director, Leodus breathed out and assessed the situation at large. The Leopards' and Vultures' respective medics had already rushed to Leia's sides upon seeing Leodus' reaction (and likely in response to a signal from Valum, in the vulture's case). The prisoner, Icescale, was nowhere to be found, no doubt long gone...so Leodus could understand Leia's frustration, but pulling her blaster on him had been a grave and foolish mistake nonetheless. The battle had completely stopped, the survivors (aside from those frozen by the Rupture vehicles' blasts) having watched the events on the bridge, and now unsure of what to do. Leodus cleared his throat. "Everyone who still possesses fire chi!" He roared. "Melt free those who were frozen!" They (mostly his Leopard soldiers, though a few LI agents awkwardly joined in) did so. There were many freeze victims; even with fire chi, Leopards on both sides had their orbs depleted with unfortunate timing during the battle. The good news, however, was the confirmation that Rupture blasts couldn't freeze anyone who currently had fire chi plugged. "We're doing what we can, but I don't think she'll live much longer," the vulture medic said bluntly. "She will if we take her back to the Golden City, Your Highness," the leopard medic said resolutely, seemingly ignoring how long the trip would be, even if they had the Vultures carry Leia. The Leopard King turned his attention back to the melting, seeing now that all were free. "All surviving LI agents!" Leodus continued, now that the ones who'd been frozen could hear him. "If you want to save your beloved leader, lay down your arms! Though it seems most have already done so. You are all free to rejoin the Leopard Tribe...under the condition that the Leopard Intelligence division is hereby disbanded, on this day and forevermore! "Any who still engage in espionage without the knowledge of your King, any who attempt to remake this division in secret, will be hunted down and eliminated. The punishment for treason is execution, after all, but I'm being extremely generous in this case; and in this case only. The Vulture and Leopard forces here will be confiscating any and all of your weapons. Do not resi–" Leodus was nearly knocked off his feet before he could finish his decree. Just about everyone in the factory was thrown about as the building rocked and ceiling panels came crashing down. "Could that be...?" Valum wondered aloud, before lifting up and soaring out of the HQ.
The chi raiders concluded their salvo of laser blasts, scorching the roof of the building, but not much else. Though Aether had told them lasers wouldn't be enough, the Raven mercenaries had insisted on trying them first, since conserving the force's missiles would be more economical. "See? I told you." Aether reminded the pilot from where he hung. He liked that he didn't have to shout; after the bird-shaped jets had gotten into position above the Ice Hunter HQ, they were practically silent, not needing to flap their metal wings so long as they had chi plugged. There was only the soft whirring of the small propellers that aided in keeping the hovering jets afloat, just behind the "neck". Aether preferred these to noisy helicopters already; then again, the Raven chi raiders weren't built to be troop transports, and didn't carry as many passengers as 'copters. They did have storage compartments in the back, but they were just that, and the Ravens only carried passengers in them in emergency (or profitable) situations. Aether, of course, stood on the tiny foothold to the right of the cockpit with his left foot, hanging on to the cockpit cage's bar with the innate gorilla grip strength of his left arm. He could've ridden in the storage compartment, but he wanted to see this as it happened; wanted the satisfaction of watching the factory and the Rupture crystals within being obliterated in real time...especially if this was his final act, before being imprisoned by his tribe for going against the King. We'll just have to see. But for now, this is my moment of triumph. Aloud, the white gorilla said, "Commence the missile bom–" "Hey hey, who's this?" The pilot and leader of the mercenaries asked suddenly. Aether peered over the raven's shoulder to see a vulture soaring up to the cockpit from seemingly nowhere. "Valum??" Aether recognized him as the scarred Vulture King flew close. "Vulture King Valum?" The raven picked up on the name immediately, his yellow eyes lighting up already with the thought of additional profit. "An immeasurable honor to meet you, Your Majesty! Are you here to enlist our servi–?" "I'd thought it was you," Valum said to Aether from the other side of the cockpit, ignoring the pilot, "but don't do this yet! There are dozens of Vultures and Leopards in the Hunter HQ, including King Leodus and his–and Leia, one of their division leaders." "I–I didn't think anyone would be here after five months," Aether replied, baffled, "save for maybe the Ice Hunters." "None of the Hunters are in there," Valum waved it off, as if it were an afterthought, "just Vultures and Leopards." The vulture's long beak jerked in different directions for a moment as he looked at all the jets. "No time to explain; Leia seems to be in critical condition, and could use a flight back to the Golden City ASAP." The merc leader didn't miss a beat.
"We would be thrilled to provide this lady of the Leopards with a quick and safe journey back home! The price for such a job is–" "Yeah yeah, I'll pay!" Valum said quickly. "Just one jet, that's all Leia and Leodus will need. You can continue your bombardment after the Vultures and Leopards have all left the building." "Got it." Aether had many questions, but he could ask Valum afterward. This Leia's condition was clearly important to her tribe; and Aether didn't want to accidentally wipe out a bunch of Vultures and Leopards. He'd waited years for this moment; he could wait several minutes longer.
Aether patiently watched as the Vultures and Leopards left the factory from the open hangar door. The Ravens were patient as well; in fact, they seemed quite happy to wait, positively beaming. Aether knew the source of their smiles was the job they'd unexpectedly contracted while in the midst of another. He peered over at the chi raider that'd landed next to the HQ, looking like a giant perched bird. A leopard wearing Phoenix armor, a red cape and uniquely-shaped golden shoulder pads–clearly King Leodus–carried an older woman wearing an eyepatch, matching armor, and a very ripped and burned lab coat into the storage compartment. After securing himself and the unconscious leopard with straps usually used for cargo, Leodus told the pilot they were ready, and the chi raider lifted off, soaring west at top speed (the present Vultures had provided their remaining regular chi orbs to give the jet additional power). They'd lost one of their "bombers", but Aether and the Ravens knew five would still be enough. "All accounted for?" Aether asked Valum as the Vulture King flew back up to his jet. "All accounted for." Valum confirmed. With the Vultures and Leopards all a safe distance away from the building, Aether ordered, "Commence the bombardment. Wipe this building off the face of the planet." So they did. The five black "birds", like sacred beasts sent to enact judgment, emptied their missiles into the HQ. As the roof caved in, revealing the factory floor, Iceclaw's office to its northwest, and the living quarters below, Aether felt a strange nostalgia for the time he'd lived there. This feeling was quickly outweighed by one of immense satisfaction, however. He saw the exiled prince's throne being shattered in a single blast, its once strong stones ripped to shreds like paper. He saw the actual pieces of paper, be they blueprints, long-abandoned plans, or journals, of unequal importance, given equal treatment as they all burned together. He saw the racks that held the Rupture vehicles, the tools he used to construct them, the lever he'd pulled to open the hangar door, all melted into disfigured blobs of metal. He saw the Rupture vehicles exploding down to their chassis' and beyond, reduced to scrap. And, most importantly, he saw the crystals themselves, shattered again and again until their shards were infinitesimal.
The series of explosions was a spectacular sight, one that Icescale was luckily a safe distance away from. He felt like an old man as he leaned on the Rupture Vengious with both hands like a staff, watching the destruction of his former home. He wasn't sure how to feel; glad that the Rupture vehicles were being destroyed? Angry that his HQ was being obliterated along with them? Relieved that the blueprints for those vehicles were being eviscerated? Or frustrated at the wasted potential their burning represented? He didn't know anymore...his thoughts were a jumble, and these past several months had exposed to Icescale how many contradictions there were in his words versus his actions. One thing, though, he was certain of: Aether Gulikovsky was behind the airstrike. Sure, those were the Ravens' instantly recognizable chi raiders, but there was no doubt in his mind that Aether had hired them. How else would the Ravens have known about the Ice Hunter HQ, let alone its exact location? Icescale doubted King Guernica had changed his mind about capturing the factory and the Rupture vehicles in the past five months. The white crocodile grinned toothily. "You actually had the guts to go against your King," he proclaimed. "So your rebellious nature as 'Icegnash' wasn't all an act, spy. Nice job." He still wasn't entirely sure whether to be happy or angry at the Rupture vehicles' destruction. As Valum had pointed out, their very existence technically contradicted his philosophy; being vehicles with ranged weapons that could change the course of a battle, which anyone, strong or weak, could operate. And yet, Icescale had approved of and supported their creation for years, seeing them as an essential step in achieving the Hunters' goals. Was this really about returning to the world of strength? He pondered. Achieving true meritocracy for all? If not, then...what have I been working towards? What was this actually about...? As soon as this question arose, he instantly retreated from it, thinking of a different query for himself to avoid answering. What really matters is: what's next? He watched the Raven jets conclude their long bombardment, leaving absolutely nothing but ash and unrecognizable heaps of molten metal, then turned away and trudged along the mountain path that had led up from the (now undoubtedly caved-in) tunnel below Iceclaw's office. "Yes, what's next?" He grumbled aloud. He had no idea whether Iceclaw and Icestrike were alive, but if they were, they probably went to the Gray City. He supposed he'd follow their lead, or go regardless, since otherwise his life was now aimless. He certainly wouldn't return to the Crocodiles, even if he hadn't been exiled. "...So that's it? The Ice Hunters are to be absorbed into the Liberators? What was even the point then? We were all enticed by Iceclaw's promise of our semi-independence..." But everything we did with that freedom was ultimately meaningless.
What do we have to show for it? One Hunter slain, another turned out to be a spy, our headquarters and all our work destroyed. He sighed and turned away from the building's smoldering remains. No point in standing here moping, he thought as he walked along the mountain path, continuing to use the Rupture Vengious as a cane. He could already feel his injured leg starting to get better the more he walked–that was good news, at least. He stopped. Before him, around the curve unseen to the birds, Leopards and gorilla on the other side of the mountain, was a trail of ice. Rocks were frozen both on and off the main path, distinctly encased in a blue sheen different from natural frost. Yes, a trail for me. Unlike when Leopard Intelligence tricked him months prior, Icescale didn't have to worry about a third party being behind this; no one aside from the Hunters had Rupture weapons (or ever would, as Aether had now ensured) except Valum, and he was back there. Still, the white crocodile considered the possibility of Iceclaw and Icestrike having been slain by bandits or some such...but then, how would they know about him, and create a trail for him just to steal his Rupture Vengious? All in all, it made far more sense that this trail of ice was placed by the other Ice Hunters, for their ally. Icescale set off, diverging from the main path to follow the ice. Well, that applies to my life in general, doesn't it? The ice path took him downhill sooner than the main path would've, becoming increasingly steeper (he walked slowly and used his tail to stabilize himself). He was still high in the mountains, though, and the wind was picking up...a lot. There soon came a gust so strong, Icescale felt as though he was going to be blown off the mountain. As the wind hammered him, he planted the Rupture Vengious deep into the snow, held on with both hands...and remembered that he had a large piece of paper sticking out of his pocket even after he rolled it up. The wind, like an expert pickpocket, effortlessly slipped it out. "No, no, no, NO, NO!" Icescale jerked to his right and tried to snatch the flying paper in his teeth, but it was too late; carried by the wind, the Project S blueprint soared through the Iron Mountains, blended into the blue sky, and went who-knows-where. Well...we were stumped on how to build that thing anyway. Maybe it's for the best that no one gets their claws on a shipbuilding device; on the ability to completely dominate the sea. Pirates, for example, would be pretty disastrous. The wind began to die down, and the Hunter continued to follow the trail.
The path took him down into a valley not unlike the one Hunter HQ had been nuzzled in, but this lay right on the north-south border. For half a second, Icescale wondered if this was the Leopards' Valley of Balance, but it clearly wasn't. There was no Golden City in the center, and that valley was close to the west coast; definitely not a day's trip by foot.
Instead of a massive city nestled into this valley, there was but a small crag jutting out from the Iron Mountains' northern edge. From Icescale's distance, the cliff's shadow hid whatever lay below, and this was where the trail of ice ended. So the Hunters are now reduced to hiding in a cave? He sighed, put the Rupture Vengious on the ground, stepped atop it with each leg on a different blade, and kicked off. The slope was steep and it was a nerve-wracking ride, but Icescale made it to the cliff; in fact, he literally slid directly on top of it. The rock face, anything but smooth, slowed his ride to a stop. Icescale got off his makeshift snowboard and lifted the Rupture Vengious, briefly checking the sides of the blades that'd been on the bottom. It was smooth snow for most of the ride, though there were some chips in the crystals after coming up against the cliff face at the end. It's nothing major, or new. Icescale walked down and around the crag, looking under its shadow to find a hole, just large enough to fit a single Chimian standing up. Only then, did he feel a sense of familiarity. This place... Eleven years ago... His walk down the narrow tunnel was swift and short, soon stopped by a metal door. Did Iceclaw install this over the past five months? The white crocodile knocked, said, "It's me, I followed the trail," and took a defensive stance in case this turned out to be a strange reversal of the LI's arrival and deception five months ago. Luckily, it was a snow leopard who revealed himself as he pulled the door open; the only one in existence. "So you are alive!" Iceclaw observed happily as Icescale lowered the Rupture Vengious. "I honestly wasn't sure. When I sent Icestrike out to check on the main HQ, he saw only Leopards guarding it." "Leopard Intelligence, to be exact," Icescale said dryly. "They had some strange plans of their own, but it seems to me Leodus has wiped them out. Oh, and by the way, Aether Gulikovsky just obliterated the HQ." "Icegnash?" The snow leopard asked as Icestrike walked up behind him. "He turned traitor? Hang on, you need to recap us on what happened ever since you returned to HQ. We've been out of the loop, aside from knowing the Leopards took over the factory." "You first," Icescale growled, "what in Cavora have you two been doing over these past five months?" "Recovering from our injuries, for one thing." Iceclaw answered. "Leia caught us off-guard at the outpost with that grenade, or bomb, or whatever the heck it was. Crazy hag blew up the whole bridge with us on it! We'd have splattered against the Iron Mountains if there hadn't been a river right below. "Still, I'm sorry we didn't attempt to rescue you over the last five months. As I said, we weren't even sure if you were alive, and the two of us wouldn't have stood a chance against the entire LI, in control of the Rupture vehicles." "I guess we have a lot of info to exchange," Icestrike observed.
Icescale nodded as he walked through the door. Iceclaw shut and locked it behind him. As they walked down the tunnel, the crocodile recapped the other surviving Ice Hunters on the revelation of Icegnash as a Gorilla Tribe spy, Icewing's all but confirmed death at the hands of Valum, Aether's destruction of the HQ with Raven Chi Raiders, and the unconfirmed but very likely death of Leia. "I see..." Iceclaw nodded, "so, a mix of good and bad news. The losses of Icewing and the main HQ are heavy, but at least the Gorillas, Leopards or Vultures didn't get their hands on the Rupture vehicles. Leia and Aether being out of the picture is definitely fortuitous." "How is Aether 'out of the picture'?" Icestrike asked from beside his leader. "If he brought, or should I say, bought, Ravens to demolish the HQ for him," the leopard explained, "then the action most likely wasn't sanctioned by the Gorilla Tribe; it's an unnecessary expense, and there's no reason they couldn't do it themselves." "There's no doubt in my mind that King Guernica planned to claim the factory and Rupture vehicles for the Gorillas," Icescale agreed, "and it seems Aether finally realized that." "Exactly," Iceclaw scratched behind his ear, "so now Aether is either going to be court-martialed for treason, or will have to run from his tribe like I did." "I've been meaning to ask," Icestrike began, "why did you run, if you're the True King?" Icescale looked at the white bear, remembering that he was the newest Hunter, recruited about a year ago by then. Iceclaw's eyes narrowed as he rubbed his forehead, and Icescale figured his memory from two decades ago must be hazy, but then their leader spoke. "Well, I was the one who slayed King Liodyne and the Queen, remember?" The Prince-in-exile began. "I was in an uncontrollable rage at the time. You see, little did I know, Leia had carefully...manipulated me into that state," he gestured with his hands like he was putting pieces of a puzzle together, "which I would realize later. With a combination of her words and the effects of those twisted experiments, she maneuvered me into assassinating the monarchs, so that I'd be seen as the traitor while she put her son on the throne much sooner than if our father had died of old age–Liodyne was only in his forties and healthy, you see–thus essentially putting the tribe in her control, with my brother as her puppet and me on the run. "And...and the only other Leopards I've slain have been in on it, you see. Yes...they're loyal to Leia! They're the real traitors! That is why I will claim my rightful kingship of the Leopards, and reveal this conspiracy to my people, whether Leodus willingly grants me the throne, or not." That doesn't sound...exactly like how he'd explained it to me, Icescale thought, when we first met in the Arctic twelve years ago. Then again, maybe I'm the one whose memory is hazy. I am fairly older, after all. That's probably it.
-last edited on Sept 29, 2024 17:37:38 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Sept 29, 2024 17:37:07 GMT
He looked around at the well-lit tunnel. "So when was this tunnel dug? In the last five mo–?" Icescale stopped short as they stepped out into a spacious cavern, branching into smaller caves that contained beds, provisions and tools much like those in Hunter HQ. Most noticeable was the massive hole in the middle of the cavern floor, with rudimentary wooden stepladders allowing one to descend into its depths. There was blackness mostly covering the bottom of the hole, yet a thin blue glow crept out from around its edges. It was then that Icescale realized why this place felt familiar. "This leads to the Elemental Rupture!" "Indeed!" Iceclaw confirmed proudly. "It goes straight down to the crevice; a direct and limitless source of Rupture crystals." "But..." Icescale was baffled, "when could anyone have dug that hole? It must've been after the Rupture Incident; I remember the place completely cave-in as we got Icewing out. Even the tunnel we went through was buried. Who...who did all this?" "You did," Iceclaw answered. Icescale looked at him, even more confused. The snow leopard gestured at the surrounding area. "We did this, my friend. The Ice Hunters, over the past decade." "We–what??" "I couldn't believe it at first, either." Icestrike commented. "I thought it was some elaborate prank." "You mean..." the crocodile tried to wrap his head around the insane leap of logic, "...the Liberators dug this place, right? And they only told you about it, Iceclaw, so you knew to come here when our HQ was taken over?" "Oh, I'm afraid our friends up north are quite unaware of this little...side project," Iceclaw said in a mocking tone, though it seemed the Liberators were the subject of his ridicule rather than Icescale. He grinned toothily and pulled something from his coat pocket. It was a chain holding a pendant, which Iceclaw promptly grabbed with his other hand to prevent it from swinging back and forth. "I speak true. All this was forged by our hands, and ours alone." "Hypnosis..." Icescale felt his confusion finally melt away, only to be replaced by anger. "You hypnotized us–?!" "Again, I was mad at first too," Icestrike said, holding up his hands as he stepped between the crocodile and leopard, "but he needed to do it." "Correct," Iceclaw agreed, "and seeing as one of us turned out to be a spy and another was captured and interrogated, hypnotizing you all to forget you'd dug this secondary HQ was justified, without the shadow of a doubt." "You erased our memories, so we couldn't reveal this place's existence in an interrogation," Icescale nodded, his anger cooling, "whereas you couldn't erase things like the Liberators and Gray City, since they were so intrinsic and constant in our operations." "There's no such thing as 'erasing' memories," Iceclaw clarified. "It's more like...setting up a wall in your minds around specific things; a mental block that'll hopefully never break, even under interrogation."
"Of course, if I was the one caught and interrogated, our enemies would learn of this place," Iceclaw shrugged, "so it wasn't foolproof. One of us needed to remember. Luckily, though, I've never been captured." "Right..." Icescale nodded in understanding, as the incomprehensible became comprehensible. "Wait. Aether had a radio that he used to communicate with the Gorillas whenever he was alone. I destroyed it immediately when I caught him, but he still had it for all those years. How could he not have reported about this?" "Is that so?" Iceclaw looked straight up. "Then it's a good thing I hypnotized you all the moment we first arrived in the valley, just to be absolutely sure." "That makes no sense," Icescale argued. "Yes it does. I...'persuaded' you all to never mention the valley, and by extension anything that would occur in or 'below' it, to anyone." "So the mental block prevented Aether from reporting any of this," Icestrike said, "and then after we dug it, you suppressed everyone's memory of the second HQ even existing in the first place." "Precisely," Iceclaw concluded as he walked toward the hole in the middle of the cavern, "and now, without further adieu..." "Not so fast," Icescale growled. "How do we know you won't hypnotize us again? It was a necessity before, but how can we be sure you won't use this to take away our autonomy?" Iceclaw turned to him, looked down at the pendant, then threw it into the nearest cave wall. "Wait–!" Icestrike yelled as the pendant shattered against the rock. "Ah...you could've used that on Leodus or Valum." "In the heat of battle?" Iceclaw asked bemusedly. "Even if I paralyzed one of the kings with my eyes, the other one, or their soldiers, would tackle or shoot me before I can even begin the hypnosis. They're never alone. Though I suppose I could've gotten the Vultures 'on our side' with this if we'd captured Valum. Icewing would've liked that...still, the Vultures would've inevitably noticed their King acting strangely, like abruptly ending their alliance with the Leopards and siding with a random band of exiles. Yes, that's why I didn't bring up the possibility to Icewing, now that I recall... "Anyway, Icescale is right. I owe it to you to be a trustworthy leader. Now, come! See the fruits of our secret labor!" He spun around and gestured for the others to follow. After going down a ladder and turning around, Icescale was met with another shocking sight, one that loomed above the Elemental Rupture and was affixed to the sides of the massive hole with chains. "This...is what we built?" "Yes!" Iceclaw said gleefully. "This, my friends, is the final Rupture vehicle! The only one Aether missed, for he doesn't remember building it." He turned around to face the other two Hunters. "But that's not all. There's more I was admittedly hiding from you, and for that, I wholeheartedly apologize. "From now on, no more secrets. I owe it to you: the full truth..."
A total of twenty-four doctors stood in the courtyard, talking among themselves until they saw their King step out onto the stage. Not a bad turnout, Leodus thought, clearing his voice. "Doctors..." he began, "or, I really should say, heroes of the Leopard Tribe..." Murmurs and chuckles rippled throughout the crowd. Leodus put his hands up. "No no, don't deny it. I hope you all know how much myself and everyone else in this city values your work. You also know that the twenty-four of you are those who passed the magic aptitude test, either in the past or very recently." Leodus had developed a way to test if one had the genetic predisposition for "magic", after he'd discovered his own latent potential for it near the end of the war. "Ironically, this can be scientifically explained...sort of. "As the wizard Malgus detailed in his book that I read seven years ago, what we know as 'magic' is the ability to harness one's inner chi...although some magic feats are harder to logically justify than others, such as mind-reading. And no, I can't seem to master that art myself, for better or worse." More chuckles, until one doctor spoke up. "Wait, Sire, isn't 'inner chi' a spiritual concept? With all due respect, that still doesn't have a basis in science." "You're mistaken," another, older doctor replied, "the existence of inner chi was proven years ago; within our tribe, in fact. It was a study conducted by King Liodyne's Head Scientist. I don't blame you for not remembering, though; it doesn't seem a particularly relevant subject to those of us in medical careers." Leodus was momentarily confused by the statement, but then realized the old doctor was talking about the Head Scientist of decades prior, predating Leia. "Indeed," he continued, "inner chi and magic may seem irrelevant to your work...however, I've had an idea recently. When Director Leia endured a life-threatening electric shock several days ago, I used my limited healing magic to keep her alive as we were flown back here. She lives, but seems to be in a coma. "I realized that, should these healing arts be refined and perfected, they can be a great help, now and in the future. That's where you come in: the magic-capable doctors of our tribe. Should you agree to it, you will become the Leopard Druids, a sect of mages who'll exclusively learn healing magic, so as to focus on and perfect those arts." "Sire," a doctor raised his hand, "a question, if you will allow. Why do you care so much about the survival of Director Leia? Did she not betray Your Majesty, and by extension, the Leopard Tribe?" Not missing a beat, Leodus replied to the expected question with his rehearsed answer (which, to be fair, was true). "Leopard Intelligence did betray us, yes, and I take partial responsibility for that. I should've either kept them on a tighter leash, or disbanded them long ago. However, Leia is still of immense use to the Leopards; not as a spy, but as Head Scientist."
