Chapter 8: The Girl in the Moonlight
The sun sets on Vale as streetlights begin to illuminate the darkened streets. The sidewalk becomes more and more vacant as darkness begins to blanket the town. The moon brightens the darkened sky, looking very mysterious and beautiful. Bianca looks up at the stars and closes her eyes, as if she were praying to the heavens. Lock opens the door and peaks outside to see his companion embracing the peace before the inevitable battle. It was at that moment that Lock realized how beautiful Bianca looked as the moonlight shined on her, giving her long, white hair an enchanting glow. As Lock looks on in amazement, Bianca opens her eyes and glances over at him.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Oh! I was just, uh, coming to see if you were ready." Lock replied.
Bianca faces Lock and smiles with readied determination as she gives Lock the thumbs up gesture. They then proceed inside and the shop goes dark. Meanwhile on a rooftop closeby, a silhouette with a feminine figure stood out in the moonlight. The mysterious girl held out a scroll and went through the messages. She stops on a particular one.
"Watch out for the thief, Autumn Churchill... So they know I'm still on their trail, huh? They're sure to meet up after they hit the Shining Blade tonight. If that's the case, then there's bound to be extra security so a sneak attack might be impossible...."
Autumn walks towards the chimney and starts removing the bricks from it. Behind the bricks there's a quiver filled with a variety of arrows Autumn takes the quiver and leaps from rooftop to rooftop. With great agility and speed, she heads for Lock and Bianca's location. In the distance, she hears the echos of gunfire and the chaos of battle. She stops on a rooftop across from the shop and watches as the raiders are being repelled by a barrage of bullets and ember knives
"That's some fight...Whoever's in there is destroying them on all sides. But why are they so determined? Although they're losing, those raiders aren't retreating. If this keeps up they might actually make it inside.....
Autumn notices some raiders entering the attic window of the shop. She takes out an arrow with a rope tied to it and fires it at the window. The arrow hits above the window. Autumn ties down the rope and zip lines to the other side. She lets go of the rope before hitting the side of the building and curls up her body, crashing through the the window and drawing her knives. Upon looking at her surroundings, Autumn was shocked to see men on the lying on the ground beside her feet. Across the dimly lit room stood a half naked Ken beating on one of the intruders.
"Whoa.." Autumn lowers her knives as she gazes upon the girl in front of her
Ken drops the man and turns to face Autumn. She looks at her with red eyes glowing with anger.
"Another one? A girl this time?"
Autumn hurriedly throws her knives down onto the floor and raises her hands.
"Wait, wait! I'm not with them! My name is Autumn and I'm here to help!"
Ken exhales and scratches her head.
"Shut up and relax, will ya? I may be pissed off and sleepy but I'm not blind. You don't look or smell like these other jerks."
Ken heads towards the stairs and turns towards Autumn.
"Pick up those knives and come with me. If you're really not with them then help us clear these jokers out. The faster they're dealt with, the faster I can go back to sleep."
"Oh! Of course! I'm coming!"
The girls head down the stairs and open the door to the shop. The room is full of bullet holes and defeated raiders lay out on the floor. In the middle of the chaos, Lock and Bianca fight off many their attacks with brutal and unrelenting force. Lock shoots and kicks each and every one of the ones that come his direction, while Bianca covers him by using her semblance to blow some of the others out of the windows and door. After that, the ones that are still conscious begin to retreat. Lock sighs and holsters his gun.
"Looks like it's over."
"Wow! Good job you two!" Ken approaches them and wraps her arm around Lock.
"So you're good with a sword and with your hands I see. You've got a whole basket of skills don't you, detective? What do you say to a rematch, eh?"
"Aren't you still recovering...and why aren't you dressed....?"
"Don't worry about all of that! Just fight me!"
Autumn steps forward hesitantly. "Um...."
Bianca walks up to Autumn, who looks at Bianca nervously.
"You're.....Bianca Snow!"
"Ken, who is this?"
"Some chick who crashed through the window upstairs. She said she was here to help."
"I-I'm Autumn Churchill! I wanted to help but well...."
"Do you know these men, Autumn? "
"Yes. They belong to the Red Dawn."
"The Red Dawn? I see. Now it makes sense..."
"Hey Lock, what's the Red Dawn?" Ken asked.
"They're a terrorist group that goes after big companies like the Snow Arms corporation. From what I've heard, they're main enemy is the military and the academies."
"My mother mentioned them before. They have a tendency of attacking students, company officials, and sabotaging military equipment." Bianca added.
"I've been tracking them for a while now. Listen, I know we just met but....would you mind helping me?"
"You need our help?" asked Lock.
"Yes. These men are responsible for the robberies that have been happening for the past few nights. I was planning on tracking them down to their HQ, but it would be too dangerous to go alone. But seeing that you're capable fighters and have Bianca Snow on your side, this might just turn in our favor."
"Hm. Four warriors versus a group of terroists? Sounds like open season. I'm in." Ken smiles and trembles in excitement.
"Well Autumn since you came with the intent to help us, it would be our pleasure to repay that debt. So I'm also with you." says Bianca with a friendly smile.
" I just have one question. Why not just tell the police instead? We HAVE to do it ourselves?" asked Lock.
Autumn sweats a little and starts shaking. "Well....um....you see we can't....."
"Why not?" asked Bianca.
"Well um you see.......I'm a......former thief....hehehe......"