NOVPUBThe gunshots resumed, only this time they were accompanied by pained screams and people falling off the airport wall. Uriel remained behind his cover and waited for the perfect opportunity to take action, thinking that maybe their guns will need to either be reloaded or cooled down after firing so many rounds.
When the time came, he called back the summon of the jaguar spirit who was already so battered the clay figurine it came from was already cracked and then Uriel stood in front of the airport.
"This will be my only warning, let us in or you’ll face the consequences of standing in our way." Uriel pretended not to be afraid of getting sniped, but it wasn’t like he was acting without thinking. He knew that the jaguar spirit was tied to Raider’s identity, everyone in the city knew about the mysterious hunter but there were so many rumors about him no one knew for sure who he was.
However, there were two determining factors in all the rumors: The jaguar spirit and the fedora hat he didn’t forget to bring this time.
Silence was made as soon as the guards saw him and they evidently lost all will to fight. The main reason being that Raider was supposedly a holy rank hunter, a very rare and powerful rank that bordered the realm of myth. Most people didn’t believe holy rank hunters even existed, but they still talked about them and guessed, correctly, that a single holy rank hunter could potentially destroy a city.
Then, one of the guards came outside lifting both arms in surrender.
"Please, forgive our insolence, we’re just following orders." The man spat an excuse and left the door open behind him. Suspecting it might be a trap, Uriel focused briefly on his mystical sense and although he still wasn’t accustomed to his new enhanced sense, he deemed it safe to proceed.
The group wasn’t led inside, but no one dared stop them either. They walked in like they owned the place, following Uriel with confidence. The reason for that was that they had learned already to trust Uriel’s gut feeling, though that wasn’t Emma’s case.
She shivered in fear, knowing full well how open to an attack they were. Armed guards were scattered across the whole building, but they limited themselves to glare at the intruders as they made their way to the hangar.
"My baby!" Medusa shouted as soon as the door was opened and she laid eyes on the huge airship.
"Calm down, we’re trying to look badass here." Nika whispered.
"Uhm, yes." Luna agreed, trying to look more menacing by spreading her arms, though all she got in return for her effort was a giggle from Nika.
Just when they thought everything was going well, a man showed up huffing and puffing. He was wearing a business attire, but he was disheveled and all bruised up which took Uriel aback, but he didn’t have much time to make sense of the situation.
"Please, I beg you, spare my life. I’ll let you take the ship for free, I don’t care about it, just let me live." The man begged as he fell on his knees in front of Uriel.
"What got into him? Did you beat him up when we weren’t looking or something?" Nika asked with a dumbfounded expression. Not that she would have been too shocked if Uriel did torture him, but he never went out of sight.
"I have no clue. Hey, old man, let me go." Uriel attempted to shake him off of his leg, but the man clung to him like a lifeline.
"Please, spare me! Promise me you’ll let me live." His tears were so honest none of them knew what was going on, but at that moment a TV was turned on.
"We have exclusive footage of a dreadful situation, portraying a band of rogue hunters attacking the airport. Watch it live on this channel, viewer discresion is adviced." After the reporter finished speaking, the video recording of Uriel’s group storming the airport were shown on the screen.
Then, a heavily doctored scene where Uriel commited all sorts of cruelty against the airport staff, including the man who was begging on his knees.
It was so horrible, Medusa looked the other side but she could do nothing to avoid hearing the screams of the victims. She knew Uriel couldn’t possibly be the one responsible, but his face was clearly shown.
"It seems we played right on Sam’s hand, again..."
"Uhm... he screwed up. We can still flee in the Pegasus." Luna pointed out.
Medusa’s face lit up brightly and a determined expression appeared on her face.
"Let’s go!" She said pushing past the guards and the group of friends followed her.
Fortunately, the zeppelin was in the same condition as it was when she left it and she turned on the engine and sat on the captain seat. Although Medusa cared for the Pegasus as if it was her own offspring, she mindlessly broke through the hangar ceiling as the zeppelin took flight.
"He must have used skinwalkers to make that video..." Uriel attempted to find an explanation.
"It makes no difference, there’s no going back now." Luna added as the ship flew high, making the city smaller with each passing minute.
Just like that, they left everything they knew behind, the buildings, the wall, the headquarters, the people they knew. Their whole life was uplifted in a matter of minutes. They wanted to go to Europe, but on their own terms and they never expected something like that to happen.
"You went too far this time." Nika looked down at the city as they took their distance, thinking that maybe Sam too was looking at her at that precise moment.
Medusa stirred the ship to the east following the shoreline since that was the only point of reference she had, but it wasn’t long until they realized that Sam’s scheme was far from over. The ship was in perfect condition, even the belongings, were mostly intact. Everything was perfect, except for one thing: the ship’s fuel was almost depleted.
