Chapter 34 - Regroup

From the one open door, a wild Francis appeared. On his back was one really badly beaten up Andromeda. She was slightly dripping blood, seemingly from every square inch of her body, and was passed out. From the looks of her, she was still alive, although barely hanging in. I quickly waved to Francis, showing him where our medbot was at, and he swiftly jumped through the room, placing her down on the ground.

I instructed the robot to take priority on her, as we were all more or less alright. We weren't in need of immediate medical care either, just a few cuts, bruises, broken bones, et cetera. Just the usual, you know. In the meanwhile, Francis was sizing up the room, and the devastation we caused to it. Cuts, blood and cracks all around the floor, with both our opponents restricted in their own ways.

"You did one hell of a job here, Tentazione," Francis smiled, "I couldn't have done it better myself."

"Thanks, Ventus," I replied, "I hope you did too?"

"Me? That was nothing. You should've seen the room Andromeda was fighting in," he laughed, "That's one hot mess."

"Can't wait to see it on our way out," I responded, cracking a smile, "The question is, how are we gonna leave?"

"They we came through, where else?" Baulder tuned in on our convo.

"Yeah, problem is, if there's any reinforcements coming, we're in deep shit," I explained to the both of them.

With one of our men passed out, we'd be able to leave relatively easily, but with Meda in that shape as well, it's nearing impossible. If we accidentally get into a fight, we're most likely done for. For now it seemed we had some time recuperating, but that could change at any moment. I could just hope that at least one of them comes back to their senses.

"Oh yeah, we've also got two captives here, to take with us," I pointed at Calire and Zenia. Francis looked confused, as the former was still in the dome I made. To clarify his confusion, I opened a little window, where they could see her from, but even before it fully opened, the shriveling screams she let out came to us earlier.

"Okay, yeah. That just got worse," he said, "How are you planning on moving the acid girl?"

"Just throw her into a coccoon, I guess," I replied, I didn't really think about it too much, to be honest.

With all those problems in mind, we had to figure out something. At that point, Meda was all patched up, and even her burn marks, especially on her stomach, got way better. I don't know what these medbots are made of, but it's some miracle medicine. They moved onto treating the rest of us, and eventually went and treat our prisoners as well, but the one that went into Claire's dome quickly rushed out, seemingly in fear.

A few minutes later, all of us were more or less patched up, but Caleb and Meda were still out cold, so I decided to go and talk to this Zenia person, to finally do some interrogation. Once I got close enough to see her face, I noticed that her eyes were closed, almost as if she was meditating. Maybe that's exactly what she was doing.

"Hey, Combat-Deacon," I greeted her, "Want some water?"

"I have no obligation to answer a Sin," she replied in a monotone voice.

"Come on, I'm only asking for your own sake," I explained.

"Yes," she responded quickly.

I got out a bottle of water, and started hand-feeding her some our water. After a few seconds, she swallowed it all, and went back to her meditative state.

"So, I heard you were talking about a certain Master, that right?" I asked her about what Baulder told me.

"How does that matter to you?" she asked back coldly.

"Well, I think we both now who that is," I explained.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Sin of Greed, my Master died when he left the order," she opened one of her eyes, to pierce into my soul. Probably would've worked on others, but I just didn't care.

"He seems pretty alive to me," I pointed at the man lying on the ground behind us. He was still not moving, although that would've helped us quite a bit.

"As I said, the Paladin left the Order, and Caleb LaCroix was born. My Master is dead," she looked deep into my eyes, and I could tell she was faking it.

"Okay, okay, sure. So what was his name previously?" I asked back jokingly, "John Smith? Chris Tailor? Something else, maybe?"

"Your pitiful tries to get to me fall on death ears, Sinner," she replied, again, in the same tone.

"Let's stop with that, okay? This whole Sin, Sinner, whatever nonsense is annoying me. Which one is it, by the way?" I asked, "Am I the Sin itself, or the Sinner, who commits the Sin? You've been calling me all of those."

She looked up towards the ceiling for a second, then some blood rushed to her face, and turned away. I don't think she ever gave that one a thought. See, that's the problem with zealots. They never think, just do what they are told. What an annoying bunch. Soon they'll be no more, if it depends on me.

"I have a name, you know. Tentazione, call me that, not Sin," I told her, "And, Miss Pendragon, you'll have plenty of time to talk to the 'remnants' of your Master in the future. Be sure to tag along until then."

I noticed her sword lying next to her on the ground, and well, I was already interested in it, it is a cool sword, after all, so I decided to pick it up. The sword itself was quite simplistic, with minimal designing going on. The handle was wood, wrapped in leather, and capped of with a beautiful ruby gem. Upwards from that part, the blade jutted out to both sides, quite a bit. It didn't have a crossguard, which didn't seem like the most sound design choice, but there was probably a reason, somewhere. The blade part was simple as well, the back side being entirely flat, and the front side curving up to it, gradually, than suddenly at the very tip. In it's entire length, it was probably about a five to six feet.

I reached down for it, but as I was nearing it, a burning feeling started to reach my palms. I pulled it back, and looked back up at our captive. She was still keeping her eyes closed, yet somehow she was smiling. Without a doubt, she knew what was going on, and wasn't going to stop me from, as she put it previously, burning myself.

"You'll burn yourself, I told you. It doesn't let sinners touch it," she explained.

"Then how can you touch it?" I asked back. She opened her eyes, and looked at me with the weirdest look I've ever seen, "Everyone sins in their life. You're not an exception from that."

"How dare you call me a sinner, Sin?" she replied, with her voice resonating through my bones.

"I think there are two options, then," I started, "You're either mixing up the terms, and it doesn't let Sins touch it, meaning me and six others, or it just burns anyone, who you deem as a sinner, or an enemy. Let's test it, shall we?"

She looked askance, waiting to see what's about to happen. I waved at Francis, and asked him to touch the blade. With some minor hesitation, he reached out for the blade, and lo and behold, he was just fine.

"That's your answer right there," he told Zenia, and started playing around with the sword, waving it around, even to the point of cutting into the ground.

"I guess I'm a Sin, after all. I'm still unsure what makes me one, but we can always test stuff out in the future," I smiled at our captive, then turned around, and walked back towards our wounded, Francis walking by my side, carrying that huge weapon away with him. I think he like it a bit.

As we arrived, I noticed something. Caleb was slowly moving around, and his eyes started flickering while still closed. Was this our sign to leave soon? I sat down next to him, waiting for him to actually open his eyes, and ask him about what had happened. Well, that latter part will come later, for now, we'll have to leave.

I quickly coccooned both of our prisoners, and asked Baulder to carry them with him. I also added an extra layer of tentacles around Claire's mouth, we probably didn't want ot hear her screams all the way until the hangar. I picked Meda up in my arms, then I used some of my Binders to attach her to my back, and carry her that way.

As for Caleb, he finally opened his eyes.