[415] 5.39 Surrender

The air is charged and far too quiet when I wake in the middle of the long twilight in this temporary cabin in the middle of what Lindsey believes to be Heard Island.  The flow in Ether is erratic, and my gut is screaming at me that something is very, very wrong here.

I’m at full attention and in my armor before half a minute has passed.  Chloe, sensing my apprehension through our bond, follows suit a few seconds later.

My eyes scan the area.  No sign of Lindsey.  That’s not necessarily damning on its own, but it’s far from a good sign.

“Do you sense anything?” Chloe asks.

“No.  And that’s what I’m worried about.”

“Do you think someone associated with Apeiron chased us down?”

“Maybe.  At the very least, it’s someone who is aware of who we are and what our capabilities are, while we don’t yet have any intelligence on them.  That makes our position doubly dangerous.”

“Shall we go out and face it together?”

I hesitate.  My instincts urge me to tell Chloe to find somewhere to hide while I face the threat on my own, in the name of some bullshit regarding ‘stalling’ or ‘buying time for Chloe to escape’.  I push the feeling down.  It subsides without too much discomfort.

Chloe looks at me, her eyes narrowed.  Her features soften when I finally nod in assent.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asks.

“I’m just trying to figure out if there’s anything more strategic we can do than just walking straight into a potential firing squad.”

“I swear, Sera–”

“No, this isn’t just some excuse to have you run and hide.  I just don’t want to squander what little tactical advantage we might still possess.”

“Then just teleport us somewhere outside their defensive perimeters?”

I peer through the bedroom window to try to get some idea of where those perimeters might be.  To my horror, there’s a powerful anti-teleportation barrier about a hundred yards out.  I could breach it with enough time and effort.  Time in which both of us would be eviscerated by whatever force has claimed dominion over the island.

“No good?”

“Worse.  Anti-teleportation barriers.  From my cursory inspection, I’d say they were ones specifically designed to stop me.  Any other ideas?”

“I think we have no choice but to come out and face the music.  The fact that they haven’t attacked already makes me think they aren’t immediately hostile.  Besides, wouldn’t Lindsey have had at least some way to notify us of a threat while we were sleeping.”

Again I hesitate, before I’m again forced to concede that Chloe has the right of it.  After a moment to comport myself and get one last drink of water, the two of us head out the door.

Within two seconds, two men appear from just outside the dimensional barrier.  Both are shorter than I am, but each are well armed, shortswords at their sides and an array of improvised tools on their person, plus goddesses only know how many more gadgets in their [Inventory].

Rather than attack, however, both of them bow slightly before the slightly taller of the two removes his face covering.  “Hello,” he says in broken English.

We pull out the communicators we got earlier and slip them on.  He furrows his brow in momentary confusion before smiling and continuing in what I believe to be Korean.

“Greetings, Madams,” he says.  “This one is called Park Hyun-Jun.  My associate is known as Kim Dae-Sung.  It is an honor and a privilege to make your acquaintance.”

Dae-Sung bows his head slightly, but does not say anything.

“I am Seraphina, and this is Chloe.”  I bow slightly, trying to follow along with the customs of a culture with which I am largely unfamiliar.  “Please excuse any cultural slights in my asking, but might I ask the reason for this barrier formation around our shelter for the evening?”

“We are concerned that you are associated with a dangerous organization and have taken steps to neutralize, should the need arise.”  Hyun-Jun’s hand slips slightly toward the weapon at his right.  He begins channeling a Skill, though he hasn’t triggered it fully.

Chloe shifts slightly as well.  I observe the heightened tensions, stepping back slightly.

“The two of us are irregulars on a mission on behalf of the United States Army,” I say.  “Though we don’t have any formal orders to that effect.”  Neither of them flinch at the declaration of affiliation, suggesting that whatever group they are working for is not currently in hostilities with the US.

“When you speak of ‘dangerous organizations’, who are you referring to?”  My first thought is Apeiron, but I don’t want to volunteer any information I don’t have to.

“Based on our reports, you had been spotted departing from a known terrorist base approximately nineteen hours prior.”

Reports…  I would have seen if we were being trailed, so those ‘reports’ are probably spy satellites monitoring our movements over the jet stream.  Something which unfortunately counts as ‘mundane means’ of tracking and is not stymied by [The Unbound].

“We destroyed the base,” Chloe says.  “And sent the one responsible down to hell where they can rot for all I care.”  She crosses her arms.

“As you say, Miss Chloe.  Nevertheless, we needed to be certain of who was involved in that incident.”

I nod in affirmation of his words, but all the while, I’m trying to identify what he’s not saying.  He refers to the complex on Bouvet as a ‘known terrorist base’, and suspects that we’re heading to the Korean peninsula…  Then…

“Why has the South Korean government sent two high-level combatants so near the opposite side of the planet?  From what little intelligence we were given, the Korean Peninsula is an active conflict zone.  I don’t think either side would be willing to spare strong combatants in the middle of the war.”

Hyun-Jun bows his head slightly.  “In conventional times, that would be true.  However, we have to be aware of other threats to our internal order.  As well as whatever steps we can take to tip this balance in our favor.”

There are two possibilities for that.  The first is that the two of them had originally come to scope out that cave entrance down in the caldera that is probably a dungeon of some sort.  The other, and the one I’m increasingly thinking more likely, is that they plan to impress the two of us into the Korean army.  Sadly, I don’t know which side of the conflict they are on.  And even worse, I don’t know if the obvious better answer really is.

“What are your intentions?” I ask.  “I notice that even after our discussion and confirming our identities, that the barrier formation remains operational.”

The two individuals I am quickly re-evaluating from ‘acquaintances’ to ‘captors’ say nothing.  Dae-Sung’s posture shifts.  My eyes dart to the side, looking for whoever else might be involved.  No sign of Lindsey still.  Either she’s still waiting for the right moment, or she’s…  Again, I don’t want to think about the other options, so I don’t.

Dae-Sung attacks.  His movements are far too quick, and he attacks in complete silence.  Neither his footsteps, his breathing, the wind parting for his movements, not even the bearing of his heart.  Some sort of [Sound Suppression] Skill.  I have barely a twentieth of a second before his bastard sword has slashed its way across Chloe’s stomach.  I kick him off and try to stab him during the brief moment when he’s staggered, but he recovers just before the silver of my weapon would have collided with the speedster’s skin.

I’m grappled from behind.  Immediately I fly backward in an attempt to smash him into the ground.  He spins around to avoid being sandwiched by the impact crater.  I spin in return to keep him underneath.  In the end, he backs away from me in the moment before landing, and I teleport a couple feet out of the way to redirect my momentum.

The barrier constricts around us.  Before, we had maybe a hundred feet in radius; now we have barely fifty.  Chloe is healed and her [Spiritual Swords] have combined with her [Blade Dance] to create a display which would shred me into ribbons in a matter of moments.  Dae-Sung proves how absolutely ludicrous a full [Speed] build can truly be.  Between his equipment, his [Skills], and the accumulation of triple-digit levels, he’s able to move within the milliseconds and actually pierce her defenses.

By intercepting Dae-Sung at the last moment, I’m able to protect Chloe from having her heart skewered.  But all the while, Hyun-Jun still hasn’t moved since the battle started.  And he’s the stronger of the two.  This…  This isn’t a fight we can win.

“Chloe.”

“A little help here!  I’m not able to keep up my [Blade Dance] forever.  And something is disabling my ability to heal!  Even my [Divine Regeneration] is being stymied!”

Some sort of an [Anti-Magic Field]?  Fuck…  Fuck, fuck, fuck.  Quickly, I try attacking Hyun-Jun in the hopes that I can break the field.  Dae-Sung slams into me before I can get within five feet of his partner.

Chloe uses the window to summon another set of [Spiritual Swords], only to find that all six of them melt whenever they get within a half a foot of the ebon-clad man.  My [Elemental Ether Strike] phases directly through him, reemerging on the other side as though he had never existed in the first place.  I have to consciously shape the blast upward to avoid damaging the wildlife, but I’m at an impasse, and with Lindsey still not around, I don’t think the two of us have the strength to fight.

“Chloe.  I–  I think we may need to surrender.”

“Surrender?  But what if they kill us the moment we drop our guard!”  She slashes back at Dae-Sung.  He beats back the weapons with simple, open-palmed strikes.  The two of them are toying with us.

“If they wanted us dead, we’d be dead already, Chloe.  The spot where he slashed you… he deliberately avoided making the wound fatal.  He could have taken your heart instead and I’m not sure even you could have survived that.  Besides—”

“But–”  Chloe narrowly parries another strike, but Dae-Sung’s counter to Chloe’s follow-up manages to disarm her.  Another sweeping kick knocks her to the ground.  Her eyes glow golden as she attempts to summon her wings, only for the ability to flicker out before they finish manifesting.  Hyun-Jun’s eyes darkened in the instant before Chloe’s wings vanished, only strengthening my earlier conjecture that he’s some [Anti-Mage]

I drop to my knees, return Filia to my [Inventory], and raise my hands over my head.  Chloe does the same a moment later.

“You’re absolutely certain that you know what you’re doing?”

“Right now this is the best chance we have to survive.  Even now, they haven’t killed us, and it’s not like they’re going to plan around my anti-suppression Skills.  Probably.”

“Damnit, Sera.  Are you trying to jinx things?”

The two whisper something unintelligible to each other even through the translator.  Sturdy Ethertech handcuffs manifest out of Hyun-Jun’s [Inventory], and both of us comply as we are ordered to put our hands behind our backs.  A sealing glyph is placed on both of us on the backs of our necks, their solution to prevent us from accessing our own [Inventory] or Skills.  I quickly confirm that neither effect is strong enough to overcome [The Unbound].

We’re led off a short distance away, where a small plane is waiting.  We’re beckoned inside the back.

Lindsey is already there.  She gives us the stink eye.  I just shrug.  Even I am not invincible.

“Those two bastards got you two as well?”

“If it had happened…”  Perhaps with my [Overlimit], I could have bridged the gaps in our strength.  I shake my head.  Lindsey knows enough about me to intuit the rest of that statement.  Any informational edge I cede out loud going forward can only be used to harm me and the people I care about.  For now, at least, we have no choice but to endure at our captors’ pleasure.

As the plane takes off toward the north, I can’t help but wonder.  Just what unpleasantness lies in store for us now?