299 286: A Plague of Phantoms: Black Crescent Moon II

"CHASE KINGSTOOOOOOON!" Beaufort bellowed as he stomped into the lobby. I froze when I stepped into the lobby and was confronted by the scene in front of me.

Chase stood in the center of the lobby surrounded by four of his employees. All of them with those weird magic guns drawn but pointed to the ground and calmly rested gainst their outer thigh. There were more than three dozen soldiers laying on the floor unconscious with electricity sparking off their bodies. I recognized two of them as those splicers that accompanied Chase when he got the Ancient Liger Shark. The other two I vaguely remembered seeing them at the Sadamas Center walking around their area.

"President Beaufort T. Justice…" Chase said casually glancing at the soldiers that filed into the lobby. "…you might want to retrain your soldiers, they attacked me the moment I walked into the hotel. Not very friendly."

"FRIENDLY! YOU EXPECT US TO BE FRIENDLY AFTER YOU KILLED OUR MEN!" Beaufort bellowed and took two steps towards Chase only to get grabbed by Alex and I and pulled him back behind our squad.

"What do you want Chase?!" I demanded.

Chase reached into his pocket and pulled out a rolled up bundle of papers then tossed them to Beaufort. The roll of papers fell on the ground in front of me and I quickly picked them up. Beaufort snatched the papers out of my hands and looked them over. His eyes widened as he looked at the papers.

"How did you get these?!" Beaufort demanded.

"Fairly easily to he honest." Chase said with a casual shrug then looked beyond us and smirked. "Isn't that right, Iris?"

The sound of a gun cocking echoed loudly in the packed area of the lobby. Beaufort froze like a statue and I heard a collection of gasps and exclamations coming from behind me. I spun on my heel and saw the Egyptian woman that usually followed the princess Jane, holding a gun at the back of Beaufort's head.

"Really easy in fact, about as easy as it would be for me to kill the president right now." She said with a eerie coldness.

"YOU BITCH!" Cross barked and started to raise his gun. All the other soldiers nearby started to do the same.

"Move and I'll shoot him!" Iris warned. The coldness of her tone made everyone freeze. Beaufort gritted his teeth and glared over at Chase.

"This your plan? Kill me and start a war with The Zeonic States of America?!" Beaufort snapped.

"No, this is a warning…" Chase said then started walking towards Beaufort. Cross and I glared at him and stepped to block his path as did several of the other soldiers near us while the rest kept their eyes trained on Iris.

"CHASE I'LL…" I started but that was all I could muster before lightning started sparking off of Chase, he vanished in a flash. Making both Cross and I jump.

"…Pull any stunts like the ones on those plans and I'll be forced to return." Chase said. His voice coming from behind us now. Cross, the other soldiers and I all turned around and saw Chase standing in front of Beaufort with a dagger pressed to the president's throat.

"When did he…?" I gasped as I looked back and forth between where he was and where he is.

"And if I have to come back here Beaufort then it won't be a friendly visit like now…" Chase's voice dropped to frigid cold tone and the crystal on his hand glowed with a cold rainbow light. "…the pain those two idiots that I killed earlier today felt will feel like gentle kisses in comparison."

"YOU CRYSTAL CURSED SON OF A BITCH!" Oliver bellowed and grabbed Chase's throat. I moved to grab Oliver but in an instant there was a spray of blood that splashed across my face and shirt. Oliver fell back, screaming and gripping his arm which was partly missing.

"OLIVER!" Cross and I yelled and grabbed the injured private. The soldiers that had weapons pointed at Chase and Iris all took a step back, confused, worried, and scared of how the private got injured.

Chase was holding Oliver's severed arm in his free hand, blood covering that free hand, the other hand still holding the blade to Beaufort's throat. He looked casually at the severed limb then back at Beaufort.

"Next time that will be you." Chase said then pulled the blade from his throat then turned and walked away. I held Oliver in my arms while Cross and Tyme made a improvised tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

"CHASE! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I bellowed. Chase paused then turned and looked back at Cross, Tyme, Oliver and me, then back at the severed arm that he was still holding.

"I should probably give this back." Chase said then started writing something on his arm in blood.

The words on his arms started glowing and a purple glowing circle, a green light flowed from the circle. Oliver's arm glowed with the same green light then flew from Chase's hand and back to the privates arm was severed. The light glowed even brighter and before our eyes the wounds started to heal and in a matter of seconds his arm was reattached as if it hadn't been cut at all.

"What the hell…?!" Oliver gasped as he clenched his fist a couple times.

"That was a freebie, next time you touch me normie, I won't heal you…and I won't stop at your arm." Chase said coldly then turned and walked towards the splicers he came with. I growled and turned to look at Beaufort for orders then realized that Iris was no longer behind him. I blinked and looked back towards Chase and saw Iris walking slightly behind him.

'When did she move? How? Without anyone noticing?' I asked myself. Noticing that he no longer had a gun to his head Beaufort slapped the closet soldier and pointed at Chase and the other splicers.

"SHOOT THEM! KILL THE FUCKING BASTARDS!" Beaufort bellowed. The soldiers all followed orders without a thought and raised their guns and fired. The lobby echoed with the sound of gunfire but Chase and his splicers didn't fall or get riddled with bullets like you'd expect.

The bullets instead stopped in mid-air, a foot away from Chase and all his splicer employees. They floating in mid-air as if frozen in time for several seconds before falling and clattering on the ground. This happened for every shot fired by us. The soldiers soon all stopped and looked at their guns with a puzzled look. Chase stopped once he reached his employees and chuckled.

"Seriously? You thought I would kick a hornets nest and not wear a beekeepers suit?" Chase chastised in a teasing tone. One of the splicers next to Chase laughed then reached down and picked up one of the fallen bullets and examined it

"You Americans put too much stock in the power of your guns. They're only powerful against weaklings and the uninitiated. Spells like the one Chase casted before we came in here nullify their threat." The splicer said with a devilish chuckle then flicked the bullet at a nearby soldier.

"That spell isn't even that difficult. They teach military splicers that spell during basic training in France." Another splicer said. I think he was called Damon or something.

"You think you'll leave here alive!" Cross snarled and took a step towards Chase and his group. Ice suddenly shot from Chase's foot and crept along the ground toward Cross before shooting up and forming spikes that stopped growing mere inches from Cross' face.

"You honestly think you can kill me…normie?" Chase asked. The question was rhetorical, obviously but the disrespect in his voice when he said normie compelled me to answer.

"I could kick your ass when your were a brat Chase! I can kick your ass now!" I exclaimed. Chase threw his head back and laughed.

"Oh really dear brother…?" Chase asked as lighting started sparking off him again.

In a flash he disappeared and I felt like I'd been hit in the stomach by a bus. I reflexively grabbed my stomach as I was sent flying up towards the ceiling and crashed into it. Before I could fall something grabbed my ankle and held me upside-down. I coughed then and looked up and saw Chase standing on the ceiling and holding me up by my ankle.

"LIEUTENANT KINGSTON!" Oliver bellowed from below. I groaned and looked down at everyone below then up at Chase.

"You were only ever strong because you beat on those that were weaker than you. Those that cannot fight back without fearing for their lives. All of you American normies have lived sheltered and isolated lives thinking that you were stronger than us splicers because you killed any splicer in the country that dared to try and become stronger or leave. Let me be the wakeup call that you desperately need." Chase said and with that he let me go.

I didn't scream or gasp, or make any sound as I fell, I was too stunned to. Instead I flailed my arms and grabbed for anything to stop my fall and only grabbing air. I closed my eyes expecting to break my neck on the hardwood floors of the hotel only to have my fall broken by a couple dozen soldiers who clambered together to try and catch me.

"Lieutenant Kingston! Lieutenant Kingston!" Oliver cried out. I opened my eyes and saw him crawling over his fellow soldiers to try and catch me. I was then barrage by a surge of soldiers asking of I was okay. I quickly waved them all off and tried to stand up, mostly so I could get off the guys that caught me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" I exclaimed. Chase floated down from the ceiling and landed in front of his group.

"Why are all American's so dramatic?" Iris asked with a sigh. "That drop wasn't even a full story! My dad pushed me off cliffs taller than that when I was six!"

"That explains so much…" Chase said earning him a slap from Iris. He seemed to ignore the slap and then looked to Beaufort. "…remember the warning Beaufort, just accept your destruction gracefully. Drag other countries into it and I won't be kind."

With that Chase turned and headed towards the entrance with his splicers following closely behind. While the entrance to the hotel was blocked by several dozen soldiers all stepped to the side as Chase approached out of fear. I couldn't help but watch as he strolled out of the hotel with his posè, feeling wounded, weak, and helpless. What's more Chase made me feel all these things in front of my squad.

'CHAAAAAAAAAASE YOU CRYSTAL CURSED FUCKER!'

Chase

"Well…that went well." Damon said as we stepped onto King's glaive's engine car.

"Nobody died so I'll call that a win." Alberto said with a sigh.

"Nobody died because all those soldiers managed to catch Chase's brother." Sin said with a groan. Iris slapped Sin on the arm.

"At that height the most he would have gotten was a broken leg." Iris said.

"I do owe him for a couple broken legs…" I said mysteriously then looked at the others inside the King's glaive engine car.

Everyone but the Gents, Indy, Jade, and Chad were in the car awaiting the results of our 'raid'.

"We'll now that this situation is dealt with…hopefully….it's time to talk about our strategy for tomorrow…" Madilyn said. I looked up at the ceiling and groaned, making Madilyn narrow her eyes at me. "Chase, the presentation of your evos is still important to the success of the plan. My Grandfather will be more cautious now but he will not be silent. The best course of action is to make a big and daring presentation."

"I know…there's just one thing I kinda want to do before the night is over…" I started.

"Seriosuly?! Its damn near ten O'clock at night!" Jane exclaimed. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"It's important! It might be related to the legendary villages…"