D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

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A glowing crackling sound came from down the hallway and everyone got ready. Meng picked Bodeir and Voldar up with her illusions. Kat couldn’t see it, but they were resting in balloons that bobbed behind the illusionist. Feng had woken up some time recently, and wasn’t quite prepared for the morning just yet. He was still emotionally rung out but he was holding a bit of hope for this meeting.

Bing was up and ready, rolling her feet forward and back as she waited for the array to finish transporting what everyone was assuming had to be Bang. On Kat and Lily’s end, they were still very lost. While Lian knew which direction to head if she wanted to meet up with Bing, that didn’t account for twists and turns in the tunnels, nor the fact that Lian didn’t want to head for the vault, but the outside air. It was too risky so the pair decided to just camp out for now. Kat or Meng could cover the distance in a short time, so waiting for rescue seemed the safest at this point in time.

Bang dashed out of the array, with a halberd in hand, only to pause when he saw everyone arrayed and watching him. “Hmm… it seems I’m rather late to the fight, assuming there even was one,”

“No father, it seems that we’ve come to an agreement,” said Feng with a bit of a smile on his face. Already quite pleased that Bang hadn’t made a move to attack anyone.

Despite that though, Kat and Meng could see a very different appearance when comparing the two. Bang, as seen by the others, was a young-looking man with a broad chest and long flowing green hair despite his ice affinity. To the kids, he looked like an aged up version of Feng with a larger build, and a good deal of height over his ‘son’. To Kat, he still looked quite young, but his head was shaved clean and he had a tattoo of a scythe that ran up his left side and curving down his hand.

“I see… could you enlighten me to this agreement? While I do trust your mother, I do need to do some work myself to be satisfied with the outcome,” said Bang.

“Well ‘husband\'” Meng said with a bit of spite, “I agreed to run away with the kids because Kat here has Truesight. The Mountain Shaker sect already knows and I’m planning to get out before the organisation forces me to do something I’d rather not. They were already pushing it when they wanted me to keep the kids occupied for an extended period of time with badly matched relics, and I already ignored that. I did hold myself back from telling them your real name, and that of who we work for… but I’m washing my hands of the lot,”

.....

“Really?” asked Bang with a raised eyebrow, “Surely you don’t think turning your back on the people who raised you is a good idea. They have there fingers in little pies all across the continent. Even if you run… they will find you. You should know this Meng, considering you were one of the people that was asked to hunt down the runners,”

“Well Bang, I’m betting that it will simply be too much of a hassle for them. I don’t hate the organisation, I don’t have any true ill will towards it, and I’m leaving most of the good shit here. Even if I didn’t run, the mission would still be collapsing because the Mountain Shaker sect already know we’re fakes. So I’m getting out, and keeping what matters to me, the kids. The organisation has known for years I’ve wanted children. I never made a secret of that because I was too stupid to know better when I was younger, and then when I was older the cat was already out of the bag.

“Frankly? If they’re surprised in any way by this turn of events then they don’t deserve to be in charge. They handed me everything I’ve ever wanted on a silver platter. Made it my mission to just keep them safe for decades and suddenly, when they want me to make a move against them, I’d refuse? The writing was on the wall, Bang. If they find this to be a shock, they deserve to be replaced. My original masters would not have been so stupid. I don’t know who replaced them, but they’ve been getting sloppy, and now it’s time for that to bite them in the ass,” said Meng with no hint of shame or regret.

“You realise they will punish me for this regardless, right?” asked Bang.

Meng shrugged, “Technically speaking I’m the one in charge of this mission so I could order you to make things easier for me if I wanted. Sure, I’m certain you will be punished, but that’s because they’re idiots who no longer follow protocol. You’d be punished for listening to me, punished for disobeying me. Punished for letting me get away, punished for not following along like a good little dog. Punished for betraying them along with me. Yup, I think you’re going to get in trouble no matter what. I suppose it depends just how you will be punished, and how much,”

“You’re putting me in a position where I can’t win,” yelled Bang, “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Frankly Bang, I don’t care. You can do whatever you like. I don’t care if they kill you over this, nor torture, or just a slap on the wrist. You are not important to me Bang, and your future is not my concern. Now, what are you going to do?” asked Meng.

Bang carefully looked around at the people standing in front of him and shrugged. “I suppose I’m coming along for now,”

Meng frowned at that but nodded, and gestured for everyone to go ahead. Kat stuck next to the bubble holding Bodeir, Feng moved to stand with Bang and head through the transport together, Bing however stayed closer to Kat and Meng. Something about this wasn’t sitting right with her.

*As nice as it is to have Bang coming with us… I can’t help but feel like there’s something else going on here. It’s odd, he seems genuine at the moment… but I’m still worried.* Bing kept her thoughts to herself, even if some of them were obvious. The group stepped on the transport pad and everything was light.

Bing stumbled as she tried to regain her bearings on the other side, only to feel herself being shoved away. Bing went flying, her control over the wind barely responsive to her muddled mind. When she managed to recover her wits it was to a disturbing scene. They weren’t in the portal room, they had been sent somewhere else… but that was the least of Bing’s worries.

Standing atop the array, was Kat, except she wasn’t just standing under her own power anymore. She had a large spear of ice that had pierced straight through her wing and into the ground. The damning bit of evidence though? Kat was standing where Bing had been just a moment before. Meng’s eyes were glowing, illusions of herself blurring out and around the area, keeping Bang penned in… but they were making no move to attack.

The reason for that was Bang. He had taken Feng into a chokehold with a dagger made of ice pressing up against Feng’s neck. “I see I missed,” mumbled Bang.

“Why dad? Why?” asked Feng, pain in his heart, but not all that surprised. “You could’ve just come with us,”

“No I couldn’t foolish boy. Meng has likely attempted to poison you against me, and she would be right to do so. I don’t much care for you, and I certainly have no interest in being forced onto a family road-trip for the next decade. Meng made her choice, and I’m making mine… of course… I had hoped for Meng to be injured in the attack against Bing… but it seems that the little demon is friendlier then she should be. I left Bodeir alone for a reason you know?” said Bang without a care in the world.

“I’m afraid you miscalculated,” said Kat with a grin despite the large hole in her wing. “Bing is a good friend of mine, and I was closer than Meng. A bit of wing damage is nothing compared to her life. Shame I wasn’t quite quick enough to just get out of the way, but I needed to make sure I didn’t turn her to paste with my speed in moving her, so here we are,”

“You seem remarkably unconcerned with taking such a crippling blow,” pointed out Bang.

Kat shrugged, not even wincing as the motion disturbed her wound greatly, causing more black blood to flow out onto the ice. “I get great medical,” retorted Kat with a grin. “Nothing more than a flesh wound,”