“What is she doing?” Tyonna asked, her gaze on Linette who was now standing at the edge of the laser maze and observing it while contorting her body in strange angles.
“She’s going to fly through it,” Sabra said casually while shooting at more of the enemies.
My jaw dropped at the same time as Tyonna’s.
“She won’t make it!” Tyonna exclaimed.
Sabra turned to look at her with an impassive expression on her face. “Her mate and her Warrior are stuck on the other side along with Tabitha’s husband,” she said in a stern voice. “She would rather die than lose the two men she loves the most and her best friend’s mate. If anyone can make it, it’s her. Would you sit back, and let them die?”
Tyonna’s shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. Beyond the crush she had on Varnog, the young Portal was among the most fiercely protective Veteran of the Vanguard.
Linette suddenly flew away, circling around the nursery, picking up speed, and then flattening her wings against her slender body, she dashed through the maze. A collective gasp rose from the women on the ledge as the pilot’s petite frame disappeared through the red beams crisscrossing the tunnel. The psychic energy buzzing around me confirmed everyone was trying to touch minds with her to see if she would survive.
Sabra’s head suddenly jerking my way startled me. But she wasn’t looking at me. She was staring at the frigate behind me.
“Something’s wrong,” she whispered to herself, her eyes going out of focus. She snapped back out of wherever her mind had wandered and locked gazes with me. “Take me back,” she ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.
She ran into my shuttle, and I followed her in. As soon as we landed, she all but burst out of the vessel. I ran after her only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of Tabitha, her face covered in happy tears, fussing over Bane who was awakening on top of a rebirth table. He seemed a little disoriented as he clumsily sat up. Sabra was staring at him with a horrified expression that had all my senses on high alert.
“Sabra, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Quietly ask the Portals which one of them brought him back,” she answered before disconnecting from my mind.
I complied, quickly asking each of the females near Ayana, none of them having done it. Cold dread washed over me with a realization I didn’t want to acknowledge.
Sitting at the edge of the rebirth bed and legs parted, Bane pulled Tabitha into his embrace and brutally gripped her hair at the nape before kissing her. Her hand closed over his wrists and yanked them back. Pulling away from him, she frowned, a surprised look on her face.
“Careful, sweetie. It’s attached to me.”
At the same time my hand lowered towards my blaster, Ayana took on a bewildered expression before her head jerked towards Tabitha and her mate. Time slowed down for half a beat and Tabitha threw herself away from Bane, rolling on the floor at the same time that Sabra opened fire on him. He flattened himself on top of the table, the shot missing him by a hairsbreadth. He rolled off the table onto the floor, the distinct cracking sound of shifting soon rising from behind his cover.
Screams of shock ricocheted through the hangar. Aided by Nathalie—Tyonna’s sister—Ayana swiftly carried a new Shell to a free table while Madeline revived one of the Warriors.
“He’s not Bane!” Sabra shouted in our group chat. “That’s Khutu. KILL HIM!”
The women all quickly armed themselves with shields and blasters. Khutu flew out from behind his cover, firing mouth darts and poisoned needles from his scorpion tails. We all hid behind our shields and fired. Although he managed to dodge most of them, a few shots grazed him. He clearly didn’t possess the graceful experience of flying that the real Bane did. But he swooped down on one of the equipment tables near the rebirth stations and snagged a shield among the gear laid out for the men to quickly arm themselves with. A well-aimed shot by Tabitha knocked the blaster he was also trying to nab out of the way.
I could have wept with relief at the sight of Wrath rising from Madeline’s table, followed shortly thereafter by Bane on Ayana’s table.
She made it! Linette fucking made it!
From the painful shout Bane made upon rebirth, there was no question his soul had been on the verge of completely unraveling from an extended period outside a mortal vessel. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on him.
Realizing he was surrounded and outnumbered, Khutu fled the hangar only to be met by Tremak, Reklig, Dread, Reaper, and Rogue, the latter two having flown back Chaos and Legion. Their collective mouth darts pummeled Khutu’s chitin armor, as he had held his shield towards us to block our blaster shots. He turned it towards the Warriors only to have the Scelks shower it with their enhanced acid. It collapsed in seconds, just in time for another barrage of mouth darts and poisoned needles to home in on him. Most of them found their mark, cracking his armor in multiple places, just as our blaster shots struck him in the back. He roared in pain and rage, trying to dash towards the chasm. If he reached the large corridor on the other side which led to the nursery, he might rally the Workers into protecting him. That could never happen.
The Scelks, realized his intention as he tried to bowl his way through them while shooting his own darts at him. In perfect sync, they parted, letting him through before spitting acid at his wings. They melted in a blink with a sizzling sound. White plumes of smoke rose from them accompanied by a sickly-sweet stench. He plummeted to the ground with a screech of agony, and landed with a loud thud.
He never got a chance to get up.
“For our father,” Legion said, severing the scorpion tails on his back with a swift swipe of the scythe-blades on his forearms.
“For our brothers and sisters,” Chaos said, hacking off one of his legs.
Khutu howled, the painful sound the sweetest music to my ears as I approached his mutilated body writhing on the floor. I shifted into the Xian battle form while Wrath and the real Bane caught up to us.
The Dragons and the Scelks landed, everyone surrounding the pathetic, mewling creature trying to claw its way toward the chasm it could no longer cross.
“For our mothers,” Dread said, slicing off Khutu’s other leg.
“For the innocents you have turned into monsters,” Tremak said, slicing off his right arm with his tail blade.
Bane stopped next to his father, the purest look of contempt in his eyes. Khutu was bleeding heavily. He would soon be going into shock, or keel over. I wanted my pound of flesh, too, and was relieved when Bane cast a sideways glance at me, telling me to proceed.
With a savage grin, I proceeded to chop off his left arm with my scythe-blade. “That’s for all the species you have destroyed or brought to the brink of extinction, you filthy piece of shit.”
I spat on him then stepped back. Using his foot, Bane turned him onto his back. It was eerie to have him looking down at his own face with murder in his eyes.
“Well, well, motherfucker,” Wrath said in a frighteningly evil tone. “Guess who is the one who got fucked in the end?”
With lightning speed, Wrath’s scorpion tails stabbed Khutu’s chest in quick succession, shattering the already fractured chitin plates. He immediately spit acid into the exposed flesh.
Khutu gurgled, his stumps flapping as the light began fading from his eyes.