Perfect Sacrifice (76 page)

The pilots all landed safely on the ground via parachutes.  Some were a little lost as to what was going on, in fact, most of them were.  Only a few of the men from Ramirez understood the situation.  Those were the men that charged the headquarters, heading for a hole that had been blown into the wall.

"We have to stop them!" shouted Brian as he and a lot of the GRC pilots ran for the hole.  When they got there, a battle began.  Most of the pilots from both sides were unarmed.  Only a select few carried daggers or a handgun with them.  The knights happened to be unfortunate enough not to have any weapons on them.  They honestly hadn't been expecting to need them.

"What now?" asked Abby, looking to Brian for an answer as they hung in the background of the battle before them.

"Exactly what's going on anyway?" asked Jace as he looked over the unwavering mass of Genos behind them.

"You didn't hear?" asked Brian, earning him the attention of his fellow knights.  "There was a news broadcast.  I managed to pick it up when I was trying to get through to Gordan.  It mentioned that every Geno in the world is on its way here.  However, not one of them is being piloted."

"But that's…" began Jace.

"Impossible, I know," interrupted Brian.  "However, we all know that Ray is capable of moving a Geno without being inside.  Perhaps Ramirez has found out how to."

"So then this battle was just a distraction to keep us busy?" questioned Abby

"Don't let them get into the base!" shouted one of the men, causing all three knights to turn and watch as quite a few of Ramirez's men made it into the base.  Without thinking, the three of them began heading into the cluster of men.  They pushed and shoved their way through, trying to get by without having to engage in the battle.  They had to get into the base.  They had to protect their general.

* * * *

Gordan slumped down into a chair, his head in his hands.  He didn't know what to do anymore.  This had all suddenly become so complicated.  At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the entire population of Genos made it to his base.  When they arrived, they would undoubtedly destroy the entire base, and there would be nothing he could do to stop it.  This was the end of the GRC.

The door suddenly was thrown open, and Gordan had realized that he had completely forgotten about his companion.  He turned to watch as Aaron stood in the doorway, his back to the general.  He had been in the room for some time due to a direct order from Gordan himself.  If Ramirez wanted the ex-commander dead, there was no way they would allow it to be so.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" he asked the boy, his voice demanding an answer.  However, Aaron didn't respond.  He only lowered his head, his hand still against the door he had so forcefully thrown open.

"I'm sorry," he said honestly, still not turning to face the general.  "They're here because of me."  He began to walk out the door, but Gordan was quick to stop him.

"You're not leaving," he demanded, watching how Aaron flinched and then stopped in the doorway.  "If you go out there, they'll kill you."

"Yeah, well," he began, his fist now clenched out of slight frustration.  "If I stay here, then they'll kill both of us.  At least this way I can lead them away from you.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get going."

"Aaron!" demanded Gordan, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Bye Gordan," he said softly as he closed the door behind him.  He began to head down the hallway towards the entrance of the base, or at least the hole that was being used as an entrance.

When he turned the corner, he saw a herd of men running down it.  However, these men weren't of the GRC.  They belonged to Ramirez, and he knew that they had seen him already.  Their eyes all fell on him, so he turned and began to run.  He wasn't only trying to save his skin, however.  He needed to keep them away from General Gordan as well.

He turned a few random corners, and to his delight, they followed.  He was slowly leading them away from the main room.  He had to get them as far away as he could.  He then had to find a safe place to hide. 
Hard to believe Ramirez would go through so much trouble…just to finish me off.
  Aaron hung his head in despair, realizing that he probably wasn't going to get away from them.  He didn't have any weapons on him, and he was outnumbered one to ten.  He didn't stand a chance against that many men.  Ray was probably the only person who did, other than Ramirez. 
I have to stay alive.  I don't want to die just yet.

* * * *

Ramirez smirked in utter delight as he kept all of his attention on the ace knight.  She was actually obeying him, doing exactly as he had said.  She was calling every Geno and sending them to finish off the GRC.  His smirk only widened when he thought of joining them.  He had made sure to keep his base out of the range of the transmitter.  He didn't need his Geno walking off without him, after all. 

Ramirez stole a quick glance at Leon before returning his eyes to Ray.  He loved the look on the boy's face.  He was beyond angered, and it pleased Ramirez so to see that.  He also took great pleasure in watching the way Ray suffered.  In the end, this would probably kill her.  No one's body was strong enough to withstand what she was going through.  After his commands had all been issued, she'd most likely give out.  Then he'd kill Leon.  He had never had any intension of letting the boy go.  Why should he?  He had vowed to kill him, and he would, no matter what.  After Ray was gone, no one would be able to get in his way.

On the other side of the room, Leon was watching Ray.  She was surrounded in blue light from the sacri crystals that were inside Ramirez's machine.  It was hard to see her anymore at all.  However, he had been watching long enough to know what her predicament was.  She had a tube in her wrist and a circlet on her head.  It would be hard to get her out, even if he could.  He still wasn't sure if the men that were holding him were armed.  Ramirez, however, wasn't.  He obviously wasn't expecting anything to go wrong.

Leon glanced at both the guards that were holding him.  He felt their grips slack as they focused their attention on Ray.  If he planned this just right, he could pull away.  However, both moves would have to be quick and rather powerful.  He'd only get one chance.  If he screwed up now, the men would never let their guard down again.  And so Leon put his plan into motion.

In one quick movement, he shoved his elbow into the man on the right, connecting with his stomach.  He made a gasping sound and released Leon's arm.  Before the other could retaliate and silence the boy, Leon used his free fist to punch the guy in the face.  He released Leon and fell to the floor next to her friend.  It was then that Leon made a mad dash towards Ramirez's machine.  He wasn't too far away, and if he ran fast enough, he'd get there before Ramirez had time to stop him.

Leon was soon only a few meters from the machine, and just as Ramirez was about to reach it first, Leon threw himself towards it, the blue lights blinding him.  However, he was able to make out the rather faded figure of Ray.  She was still standing there, her eyes closed as she focused on the task at hand.  Leon was still in mid jump, however, and there wasn't time for him to really think about what he should do.  So in a last ditch effort, he wrapped his arms around her waist and began pulling her with him. 

The tube was pulled from her wrist, a small trail of blood now leaking from the cut.  The wires on the circlet snapped, leaving her with only the metal ring around her forehead.  Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, the blue light disappeared, and she found herself on the ground next to Leon.  He had his arms around her protectively, but his face was currently twisted in pain.  He had hit the floor first, shielding her from the impact.

It only took Ray a second to realize that they were both in danger.  Ramirez wouldn't let this slip.  However, when Ray looked to the machine, she noticed two things.  First off, the machine was suffering from some kind of overload.  Sparks were flying from it in every direction, and the blue light began fading in and out, growing brighter each time.  They were no longer safe in the room.  However, the second thing worried her even more.  Ramirez was gone.

"Are you alright?" Leon asked as he sat up, one of his arms still around her waist.  Ray only nodded, drawing out a small smile from the boy as he helped her remove the circlet from her head.

"We have to get out of here," she stated as she stood up, holding her bleeding wrist.  It would stop soon though.  It never took long for her to heal.  It was perhaps one of the few good things about the sacrum in her veins.

"Where's Ramirez?" Leon asked as he stood up and glanced around the room.  He had also noticed by now that the silver haired devil had disappeared.

"I'm not sure, but we need to get out of here," she told him, grabbing his arm.  "Come on."  She began to pull him across the room, running at a pace she knew he could keep up with.  Hopefully she'd be able to remember the way she came, and hopefully she'd remember where she left her bag.  She had put it somewhere in the hanger just in case she would need it.  This definitely called for a few weapons.  After all, when it came to raw power, Ramirez was indeed stronger.  Hand to hand combat was a definite no.  If she fought him with weapons or a Geno though, then that was a completely different story.

* * * *

Abby, Brian, and Jace ran down the hallway, finding it empty.  They were obviously a great distance behind their enemies.  They only prayed that they wouldn't be too late to help Gordan.  After all, the GRC wouldn't be the same without Gordan there.  True, the knights were the power behind the commission, but Gordan was their general.  They couldn't lose him.  He was too important.

The three knights soon came upon the closed doors of their main room, the place that Gordan was most likely at.  He spent most of his time there or in his office, after all.  There really weren't too many places he would go at a time like this.  Brian reached the doors first and quickly threw them open.

"General Gordan!" he called, but their eyes all quickly found the man.  He was sitting at one of the computers, his eyes currently on the floor.  However, he quickly snapped his attention to the knights as they ran over to him to make sure he was alright.

"General, what happened?" asked Jace, noticing that a few of the computers had been knocked over onto the floor, their monitors in pieces.

"Are you alright?" asked Abby, concern flooding her eyes.

"I'm fine," he stated with a sigh, one that gave away how stressed he was.  What leader wouldn't be in a situation like this?  "Listen," he began.  "You need to find Aaron."

"Aaron?" questioned Brian, finally realizing that the ex-commander wasn't in the room anymore.  Hadn't that been where they had told him to stay?

"He went out to lead them away from here," explained Gordan.  "However, he isn't armed.  I'm worried about what might happen if they catch him."  Just then, a few gunshots were heard in the distance.  They all turned to face the doorway, but no other sounds followed.  For a gunshot to be heard like that, whatever had fired it had to be nearby.  However, there were no other sounds.  They couldn't hear the shuffling of feet across the hallway floor, nor did any more gunshots echo in the hallway.  That meant one of two things.  Either whatever they had shot at was now leading them away, or the thing they had shot at had been taken down.  Either way, their uneasiness wouldn't be subdued.

"Gordan," began Brian, drawing his general's attention.  "I just have one question before we leave to find Aaron."  Gordan nodded to him, signally for Brian to continue.  "What is going on?  Why are the Genos gathering here?"  Gordan lowered his head a little.  Perhaps he should tell them.  It's not like they could do anything now.

"Well, you see…" he began, but a soft beeping from the communicator on his wrist quickly cut his sentence short.  He flipped the small lid up and came face to face with one of his officers still located outside of the building.

"Sir," began the man, a smile on his face.  "Our Genos are working again.  We're now proceeding to push back the remainder of the enemy units."  A smile spread across Gordan's face as he heard those words.  If they could control their Genos again, then perhaps the ones approaching the base had stopped as well.  If so, then Ramirez's plan had failed.  However, this didn't quell the unease of the situation.  If the Genos had stopped advancing, then what did that mean for Ray?  Had she been killed, or had she and Leon come up with a way to get out?  There were so many questions in his mind, but another explosion near the base quickly drew his attention back to the problem at hand.  They had a missing ex-commander to find.

Gordan closed the communicator and then turned back to his knights.  They all seemed relatively pleased with the good news.  This meant they'd have no problem winning the battle now.  Perhaps they wouldn't need Ray's help after all.  However, none of them were aware that even in her absence she was playing a big part in this battle.

"Listen  ," began Gordan.  "Go find Aaron.  Make sure he's alright.  It'd be a shame if he died now."  The knights all nodded and left the room without a word.  They then began to run down the hallway in search of their missing friend.  They heard a few more gunshots, deciding to follow.  They just hoped they wouldn't find Aaron as a victim of them.

* * * *

Ray and Leon finally reached the hallway that led into the hanger.  Ray peered around the corner, only to see that the enemy Genos were still there.  All except for the raptor.  She had been hoping against all odds that Ramirez would have had her send his Geno as well.  Now he was probably waiting outside for her to come.  He could very easily kill her if she didn't get to her Geno in time.  He was probably thinking that she had sent it away, so she was hoping she'd have the upper hand for a while.