Chapter 44

"Sir. We are down a lot of men. The intruder was able to take out nearly 26 men, and we are not getting any response from the two posted up front." One skinny amphibian-looking man said. He was drenched in mucus and fear as he could barely keep himself together. He constantly looked back at the door as if he imagined the intruder would break through them at any moment.

"What are we going to do, sir?" He worried to the point his external gills were frantically shaking. He was starting to get irritated and agitated at how calm his boss was about the situation.

"What color was the intruder's hair?" The ringleader asked as he brought his hands together in a calm manner. His black beady eyes looked at the desk drawer as he debated whether it would be an excellent time to have his final drink or not.

"What," his assistant asked, baffled. "What does that have to do with anything? She killed 26 men, and she's making her way up here as we speak." He reminded his boss. With a stun expression and worried look, the assistant watched as his boss pulled out a bottle of his most prized and cherished alcohol, which he only saved for special occasions or guests, and two glass cups.

"Well, it makes a lot of a difference," he said while pouring himself and his assistant some of the drink. "If the hair is black, then we are fucked. However, if the hair was gray or silver then-" he stopped to bring the drink to his lips. The sweet liquid kissed his tongue yet immediately turned into a burning sensation going down his throat as he sat his cup down.

"I don't understand," the assistant said, placing his webbed hand on his dark grayish head. He began to mumble to himself, "this isn't happening," over and over. The idea dawned on him that his boss might be losing his mind. "Sir. Hair color can't make that big of a difference. We can take them down. We still have 10 armed men outside the door waiting on them to get to the stairs, " he stated, trying to calm his nerves.

The ringleader began to chuckle at what his assistant had just said. "You poor naive fool," he thought as he picked up his glass. "Those men were already dead the moment that "girl" broke in here."

"Sir. By the Divine Serpents, what the hell are you talking about!?" The assistant said, slamming his fist on the desk. He has had enough of his boss's foolishness for the night.

"That girl that broke in if she had green eyes and black hair. Then the guard dog of Elizabeth Homes is hunting." The ringleader said, looking at his assistant with cold dead eyes. "If she is here, that means Elizabeth is here, and we are all already dead." He said, pouring himself another drink.

"El...Elizabeth. The Elizabeth that slayed that chaotic dragon? The same one that played a major part in bringing an end to one of the major wars? The-" The assistant said as he realized who his boss was talking about. He felt a cold chill run down his gills and back at the very thought of her.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. That fucking one." The boss said, taking a sip. He's heard her legend so many times that he gets annoyed when others begin to freak out about her name. "There's no point worrying when it's already too late."

"Stop right there," the voice of the head guard called out from outside the door.

This caused both the assistant and the ringleader to look toward the door. The assistant could feel his heart drop into his stomach as his gills began to shake frantically. The mucus on his body became cold as he realized they were trapped.

"Better start praying to whatever Divine Serpent you believe in because it's already over." The ringleader said as he began to drown the whole bottle. Some of the liquid passed right through his gills and spilled onto his suit.

Outside of the door.

As Elizabeth reached the final stair, she came to a stop looking at each guard. She mouthed the numbers as she counted each of them. Her yellowish-orange iris, surrounded by the black ocean that made up her eyes, examined each and every last of them. She could feel their anger and fear towards Martha and her. Her hand gripped her bow tightly as her blood began to pump from excitement.

One guard swallowed hard as he could feel his trigger finger begin to shake. He wasn't alone as every single one of them was unsure about this. Half of them just wanted to give up and walk away from this situation. "How much is my life really worth," each of them thought as they considered leaving. However, they could not, and they would be abandoning everything their fellow soldiers had just died for.

"You all can just walk away," Elizabeth's soft voice spoke calmly and gently towards them. As if showing mercy to those that knew death was one step away.

"There is no shame in backing down to save yourselves. Just drop your weapons and raise your hands as you walk. You have my word that nothing will happen to you. This is your mercy and your only warning I will give." Elizabeth told the soldiers as she remembered feeling like them at one point in her life when pressed against a losing battle.

Before she could say anything else, the head bodyguard took the first shot at her. This single reaction caused all the others to fire their weapons at the gray-skinned woman. The hallway became engulfed with the sound of guns being fired. The sound caused the partiers to stop in their tracks and begin to panic. As some ducked under different things to protect themselves, others began to make their way out of the doorway or any exit.

Each guard slowly stopped firing their guns as a look of surprise and horror came across their face. The realization choked them as they realized their bullets did not touch the woman, and she didn't even have one scratch on her perfectly grayish skin. Her yellowish-orange pupils glowed as she just stared at them with disappointed eyes. Elizabeth held her left hand out as a whitish aura enveloped it. A grayish and nearly translucent barrier surrounded Martha and her, leaving enough space for one more person if needed. On the outside of the barrier laid every single bullet they fired in a small stack.

"Dear God." The head bodyguard said in disbelief at what he had just witnessed. He began questioning his vision because he didn't see her raise her hand or even move when they fired their weapons. He just dropped his gun in defeat as he knew there was nothing they could do at this point.

"Captain, what do we do?" One guard asked his commander as his fear began to consume him. "Captain? "Captain!?" The guard repeated as he slowly realized his captain had given up.

Elizabeth let out a sigh as she raised her bow at the guards. She didn't feel bad or mad at the guards but mainly was disappointed that they wasted their only opportunity. She carefully placed her left hand on the bowstring and began to pull back.

"As the moon began to fall, let the darkness consume all around." Elizabeth began to speak, and her whitish aura began to spread from her hand to the bow string. "When all is consumed, darkness shall inherit the land," she continued, and a white arrow began to form from the bowstring to the mouth of the bow.

The guards watched in horror as she began to charge up her bow. Those still with guns in their hands began to fire at the woman as the lights started to flicker before going entirely off. They watched as the bullets did nothing but continue to bounce off of her barrier.

"Yet within that darkness is a single light. This single light breaks through all darkness, and it shall break through all my opponents as well." she continued as her aura and hair began to rise and shake the building.

The guards began to panic and scream as they felt the energy gathering and then realized there was nothing they could do about it. They beat on the door of their ringleader to get in, but it won't budge. Even with all their fear, they kept trying and trying until the final words left her mouth.

"Requiem's arrows," the words left her lips as she released the bowstring.

There was a blinding light, and then complete silence filled the room. Each guard felt a quick but painful burning sensation in their chest. It felt as if someone had just pressed a hot iron against their skin before quickly pulling it away. As quick and painful as it was, it was gone within seconds. Their bodies would fall to the ground as each took their last breath.

When the light in the hallway came back on, Elizabeth and Martha looked at the now dead soldiers as the smoke had left their bodies. Elizabeth lowered her bow as steam left it and her mouth while her hair and aura reduced. She turned her attention to Martha.

"Would you mind getting the door for me," she asked kindly.

Martha gave Elizabeth a nod as she quickly went to the door. Her arm was throbbing from one of the bullets hitting her left arm, but she could still use it. With a deep breath, Martha focused her energy in to her right arm, causing her green aura to engulf her entire arm. She pulled her arm back and fired it at the door.

When the door flew open and embedded itself into the wall, a shot of concentrated water shot right past Martha's head. She moved her head just inches from the attack, only allowing it to scratch her right cheek. Everything went silent as Martha's eyes met with the assistant, who tried to take her head off. Martha's eyes dilated to tiny dots as her anger began to rise. Her brow narrowed, and her mouth pulled back, showing her teeth. A green aura exploded from her body as steam left her mouth.

"Mother," Martha said in a deep growl. Her knuckles could be heard popping as she balled her fist up, and the fabric in her gloves began to stretch. "May I?" she asked as Elizabeth's yellowish-orange eyes shined from behind her daughter.

"Attack." Elizabeth permitted Martha.

As soon as the word hit her ear, Martha was gone. The ground below Martha creaked as she left her spot.

The assistant eyes went wide as he realized his mistake. As he tried to explain and fumble backward, he was overtaken by a green blur. He felt something sharp and painful hit his face and could feel it nearly ripping his head off of his head. He could feel his body lift off the ground as he slammed straight into the glass. He could only feel where he was hit, and he could only watch as Martha was standing there.

Martha pulled her fist back and watched as his body bounced off the glass, and her fist connected with the center of his face again. Although slimy, she could still send him flying back into the glass. There was a thudding sound as the assistant body kept bouncing off the glass and connecting to Martha's fist.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

The thump came to a halt when the glass the assistant kept hitting finally gave out. After one final hit, Martha sent the humanoid axolotl through the window. She heard the garble screams of the man stop as he hit the ground with a loud splat. Martha stood with her fist balled up and shaking and slowly began to calm herself down.

"I am in control. I am in control. I am in control." Martha mumbled as she slowly relaxed and took a final sharp exhale of air.

As the room began to settle, Elizabeth turned her attention to the ringmaster and the target for the night. A soft sigh left her mouth as she approached the mark. Yet instead of going straight for him, she sat down in the chair across from his desk. She carefully placed her bow on his desk while her legs crossed to make herself comfortable.

"That damn fool." The ringleader said while shaking his head in disappointment. "If only he listened to what I said."

"He was scared. We all do irrational things when overtaken by fear." Elizabeth softly spoke to him. "If he inherited your species' regenerative property, he should be fine. Badly hurt, but fine."

A soft chuckle came from his throat as this all felt unnaturally real to him. "You know this is too good to believe. That little old me is in the presence of the great Elizabeth and her "assistant." I must have done something very wrong." He jokingly said as he couldn't hold back his chuckle.

"You can say that," Elizabeth said, giving an empty chuckle. "They tried to send in a younger, less experienced group but felt more experienced professionals should handle it. You were just dealt a very terrible hand," she explained.

"On the contrary. I think I was played a very good hand. A quite beautiful one at that." He said while looking at Elizabeth. "You're still as lovely as ever."

"You know flirting won't save you, Thanx," Elizabeth told him with a genuine soft chuckle. A smile came across her face as she looked at him. Instead of the short older thanxolotl, he was now, Elizabeth remembered seeing him as a youngling barely able to stand on the surface. A soft beeping vibrating sound came from her wrist. "We are out of time." she softly told him.

"As you humans' say, 'c'est la vie," He said before fully hoping out of his chair. As he walked around the table, his tail hit the ground with a soft thump with each step. He had managed to not down a small quarter of the bottle. "Would you humble this old man one more time?" He said, using the bottle in one hand to point to the one on the table. "It was meant for my assistant, but he was too busy."

Elizabeth softly smiled and shook her head as she raised from her seat. After fixing her dress again, she reached onto the table and grabbed the glass. She brought the liquor to her nose and smelled its sweetness. "Old family recipe?" she asked, looking down at the short target.

"It was my father's parting gift to me," Thanx explained to her. "C'est la vie," He said, meeting his glass to hers.

"C'est la vie," Elizabeth said, allowing her glass to touch his. She could feel the sweetness of the liquor surrounding her tongue as it roughly kissed the back of her throat. She opened her mouth, holding back a cough. "Wow, and that was amazing," she admitted to him.

"My father knew his stuff. Now let's get this over with. Those jerks you work for are not gonna let me have a drink again." Thanx said as he swallowed the last of the liquor.

"Very well then. You are hereby captured under the law of Demi-Humans and Human Accord." Elizabeth said as she was handed a pair of specially designed cuffs, courtesy of Martha. She then knelt and placed them on Thanx small hands.

After he was secured, Elizabeth began to walk him out of the office while continuing her protocoled speech.