Chapter 142 Leverage
Melissa exhaled. "I have been looking for that name for a very long time," she said. "I think I am starting to understand exactly what happened," she nodded.
"What are you talking about?"Richard asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Look," Melissa said. "You remember that witch that appeared when Beatrice got attacked and how I told you she appears in my dreams?" She said and Richard nodded. "Well, the name of her daughter is Clarissa."
She exhaled and explained her dreams to all of them. There was no real need to hide it, she couldn't handle it all, even if she could it would be tasking. She'd decided to give the Vance king a sliver of trust. They had been opening up their entire secrets to them, so it was only cool to make them feel more comfortable by doing the same.
"So, that witch… wait," Arya said, stretching her hand out. "If that story you told is true, then I think I know who is at the head of the Oracle."
"And who is that?" Melissa asked.
"He is…." Arya trailed off as the window blinds of the room locked, and another covering slammed against it. Then the second window too. Soon all the windows were covered and the lights within the building were snuffed out. They all started to turn around in surprise. Arya's eyes bulged. "What is happening?"
"A blackout…?" Avalors looked at Melissa.
"A lockdown,"Melissa said in realization.
"The Sentinels," Richard's eyes bulged in realization
The entire building had been completely shut down. Their lights were out and so were their doors and windows locked, so as to resist any outside bombardment. A lockdown happens for two reasons. A terrorist attack from outside, or an unwanted guest within.
"Richard, check the dungeons," Melissa said and her bodyguard morphed into the darkness immediately vanishing from reality.
Melissa and the others got up and swung open her room door, heading into the corridor. Everyone could be seen screaming and running here and there for no reason other than fear of the unknown. Normally a lockdown meant things were bad, really bad, which they probably were, but running here and there won't help it.
Melissa had already made a preliminary assessment of the situation. "Evacuate the maids and the councils outside. In fact evacuate everyone who isn't a sentinel out of here," she told Avalors.
"What if outside is dangerous?" He asked.
"We both know staying here means they'd be collateral damage,"she said.
Avalors nodded and started to turn off, but Melissa. Added. "Magaret go with him," she said.
Margaret nodded and Melissa started to move forward with Beatrice by her side and the two Vance pack royalties behind her. "I take it you two can fight right?" She asked.
"We can protect ourselves," Hance said.
"Just saying, if you wanna run out with the other maids you can," she said.
Hance chuckled. "I don't like you at all,"" he replied.
Melissa nodded as Richard appeared right beside her. "The prisoners are no more there, they escaped," he said.
"So they broke through the entire squad of sentinels that were supposed to be guarding them?" Melissa asked.
"Yes, they killed them all," Richard replied.
The palace got emptier by the second while Melissa and the others navigated through the place. They were trying to avoid staying in the same place. "Do you think they are here to just take the prisoners and run?" She asked.
"Definitely not, "Richard replied. "They are here for Hance and Arya. They locked the palace down themselves and with what I am seeing, this evacuation is what they wanted.
Melissa nodded. "So they want to kill these two, right?" She asked.
"I think it is more like they need to kill them, why risk attacking one of the most secure places in the entire continent, just to kill something that they wanted to kill. They need this. If we thwart them from drying, their plans would pause a bit and we can have enough time to launch a counter," Beatrice said.
Melissa nodded. "So we protect these two," she nodded.
Right in front of them, a group of sentinels were coming towards them. "Your majesty, you need to evacuate the premises, we believe someone might be here to harm you," the head said
"I know that much, sir! But these are the priorities," she pointed to Arya and Hance.
The sentinels nodded as they walked with them. Melissa was about to say something when she sensed the danger. Multiple dangers. She bulged her eyes and yelled. "Stop!" She said,
Everyone halted as an explosion occurred in front of them. The sentinels went on alert. Their guns pointed in a formative direction shielding them. Melissa shut her eyes completely to focus as Richard shielded her completely with his body.
"Third sentinel to my right, two o'clock," she said.
The sentinels were not used to this, but as she'd used a normal generally accepted special force phrase, the sentinel instinctively pointed his gun in the direction. Just then he saw the silhouette of a humanoid, he pulled the trigger and it dropped to the ground.
Melissa's senses were scamming their entire area. "If they are these deep into us, Theresa has been working," Beatrice said "I am going off to search for her," she said as she broke out of the sentinel 's formation.
The worst thing any kingdom can face is to be attacked from within. Melissa didn't try to stop Beatrice, if they are gonna survive this, they needed Theresa.They however headed for the control room. The goal was to get the lights back on.
Soon they reached the control room's door front and multiple laser pointers fell on them. They'd been surrounded. Someone walked out of the crowd and smiled. "Princess," he said. "We meet again,"
It was the guy she'd killed the other time, Bradshire. The same guy that had led them to the oracle. He walked majestically. "Now that you are surrounded, how do you want to die?" He asked.
"You should ask how she wants to die first," a voice said from within the darkness and it was Beatrice and Alina holding Theresa with their claws on her neck.