Chapter 17 - Ambush

It had been a while since they returned to Etto city. The city looked the same as usual, it was busy as if the people only had time for work. The trio of Creed, Jade and Jephtah now were driving towards RFI main headquarters. They made it to the entrance gate of the parking lot and Jephtah maneuvered the jeep into its parking space. They got of the jeep and went to the elevator that was on the end of the parking lot. Creed called the elevator to their level and they waited for it to come. While waiting they talked about the urgent issue surrounding the death of Selena Grey.

"Tanri sounded urgent on the phone yesterday." Creed said. "She said that she was going to brief us with a new case."

"We haven't even got our reward in the last case." Jephtah replied.

"This is not a matter of reward anymore. As of yesterday, the 12 Disciples of the Republic have declared war against us." Creed replied. "We have to watch our backs from now on." he added.

"They're just 11 now." Jade replied to Creed.

"Okay I stand corrected." Creed replied.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The three of them went inside the elevator and pressed the button on their floor of destination. The elevator was fast and they got to their designated floor in no time. The three of them now approached the counter on where Tanri was. She was organizing a lot of files. She looked tired but she was willing to inform Creed's team of what happened.

"Oh good you guys are here." Tanri said.

"What's the situation?" Creed asked. "We heard that Selena's dead." he added.

Tanri pulled a photo from the folder and she showed it to them. It was a photo of Selena Grey who was dead. There was no blood and no signs of assault. It was only her body in a comatose state.

"Wow...It's look like nothing happened to her." Jade said.

"That's what the local authorities said too. Until the EMTs examined her closely. She wasn't breathing anymore and she was declared dead."  Tanri replied.

She pulled up another document from the same folder. This time it was a handwritten letter with the initials L and F.

"The police found this in her hand." She handed Jephtah the letter.

"She didn't write this." Jephtah said. "This is a message for you Creed." he added.

Creed was shocked when he heard what Jephtah said. 

"What does it say?" Creed asked him.

Jephtah replied reading of the letter. "This is to say that we have officially declared you as a threat to the republic Creed. You cannot be allowed to live so you shall die i our hands. We will not rest until we find you and eventually kill you. Signed L and F" 

"Give me that." Creed said as he took the letter from Jephtah.

He analyzed on where the letter came from. He looked at the style of hand writting and then he imagined the intonations of the person who wrote the letter. He then faced Tanri and said.

"Tanri, search for members of the Republic starting with L and F. Zoom in on the 12 Disciples." Creed said.

"Will do Creed." She replied

 He also took the photo and looked at it more closely. Suddenly it hit him. He knew who killed Selena. The killing style was familiar to him. He knew one person in the 12 Disciples who could kill a person without even touching him/her.

"Feiryon...."  He thought

"Found 2 matches guys." Tanri said and now they looked on the monitor at her table.

"Lycan and Feiryon? Do you know any of these guys Creed?" Jade asked.

"Nohume?" Jephtah thought when he saw the picture of Lycan "No it can't be, it must be a coincidence."

"Two other members of the Disciples. Feiryon kills people by conjuring their own fears against them until they have a psychotic break which will eventually lead to the inevitable. Lycan however is different because he is an artificially made Lycanthrope." Creed replied.

"So the Lycan's a werewolf?" Jade asked.

"Yup, but he has no weaknesses so silver bullets won't work. Trust me I've tried." Creed said.

"What about the other guy?" Jephtah asked.

"Feiryon. He's one crazy person... Not in a good way of course..." Creed replied.

"We should make them a priority case. These guys issued a challenge onto you people and you have to bring them down." Tanri replied.

"It won't be as easy." Jephtah said. "These "Disciples" are elite combatants. They have experience in fighting different enemies. We should be careful." he added.

"Got it." Jade said. "I won't be captured again." She assured Creed. 

But before Creed could say anything, he felt a wrong aura in the air. The energy was very strong but familiar. It was getting closer. He checked the window on the other side of Tanri, but before he could see what's causing the wrong aura, The windows shattered. It sent a huge force of wind through the floor where Creed, Jade and Jephtah are. They tried and stood their ground in order not to be blown away and they were successful. After the wind surge, they saw two people at the broken windows. One stood tall and wore all black. He had long black hair and wore a face mask concealing everything but his blood red eyes. The other stood slightly shorter than the man in the mask. He had short brown hair and he was armed with nothing but his fists. He wore a combat suit like Creed's before it seemed that the combat suit was a standard uniform of the republic.

"QUICK CLEAR THE PEOPLE OUT OF HERE NOW!!" Jephtah said. 

Tanri hit the emergency button under her desk and she as well run down the stairs to get out of the conflict zone. Many people were running out of that floor and to safety. The two men we're not doing anything yet but the man in the mask looked at Creed and he started to speak.

"Creed...at last we meet again." The man in the mask said.

"Feiryon..." Creed replied.

"Did you get our message?" The unarmed man asked.

"Yeah." Jephtah replied. 

"Falrich is dead...." Feiryon said.

"He didn't deserve to live anyway." The unarmed man replied.

"Same demeanor as always, Lycan." Creed said. "We can't fight here." he added

"We don't have to take orders from you anymore..." Feiryon said.

"AHHHHHH!" Lycan roared as he attacked Creed, but Creed was too fast for him. Jephtah also rushed at Feiryon and attempted to land a clean hit but once he punched Feiryon, his punch just went through his body. He was surprised at what happened.

"What the hell?!" He said as he went out of the way to avoid a counter attack from either Feiryon and Lycan. 

"You missed." Feiryon said and he lifted Jephtah with his psychic powers and slammed him to the ground.

Lycan however was not finding success in fighting Creed. He attempted another strike at him but Creed smartly evaded and he kicked Lycan in the face. He saw Jade with her bow and arrow ready and he shouted.

"Jade shoot him now!!" 

Jade shot Lycan with an arrow and she hit him flush on the abdomen, but then it did nothing to him. He took it out like it was nothing. There was blood on the arrow now he was holding and he licked it. Jade began to feel terrified as he was moving towards her. Creed landed on his feet to help Jade but then Feiryon appeared in front of him and he used his Telekinesis to send him flying across the room. Creed felt weak after that shot and he saw Feiryon getting nearer. He tried to move but he couldn't because he landed wrongly and he was still in pain. Meanwhile Lycan was now with Jade and he was just scanning her not doing anything. He went nearer to her face and Jade dared not to move or flinch for he could kill her in an instant.

"You're pretty." Lycan said as he touched her face. Jade shook off his hand off her head.

"You've got a fight in you too. I like that." Lycan said as he smiled in a sinister way.

"Get away from me!" Jade said as she slapped his face. 

Lycan held the cheek that she slapped. He liked it and he surely wanted to get slapped again. 

"I love women who are brave and you, are no exception." He said to her as he began transforming into a wolf creature. Jade was scared now that Lycan had transformed into a wolf. She did not know what he was going to do to her.

On the other end was Creed trying to get up. He felt Jade was in trouble and he had to be there for her but he was preoccupied with Feiryon and Jephtah was out cold due to the earlier attack. Feiryon appeared right in front of him and he looked at Creed closer. his eyes glowed crimson red and he pulled Creed's face just enough for him to see his crimson eyes. 

"I know you've felt this before in our first encounter. You got lucky but now I will really show you what you fear the most." Feiryon said as he began using his main power which was his eyes. Looking directly at his eyes can make you see your worst fears and he can take that to the extreme. Feiryon can use that to kill an adversary without even hitting him physically. It was his special brand of death. Creed struggled not to look at his eyes. He really did but the inevitable was about to happen. He looked at Feiryon's eyes and he was now beginning to see black everywhere, but just before he was engulfed by his fears, he felt that Feiryon's grip got loose. He had got hit from behind. It was Jephtah. Feiryon fell to the ground because he was caught off guard. Jephtah was about to deliver another punch to him when suddenly he just disappeared. Creed got up and began regaining his focus. 

"I'll take this guy." Jephtah said. "You go to Jade. She needs you and she can't fight Lycan alone." 

At the other end, Jade got hit by Lycan hard. She had scratches on her arms and she was bleeding. She still tried to fight of course but he was too strong for her. She got up but she noticed Lycan was already there before she got to her feet. He pulled her by her hair and lifted her with one hand. 

"You are pathetic." Lycan said as he was about to deliver the final blow.

He was about to kill Jade when he felt something hit him at his back. It was a gun shot and it came from a familiar person. It was Creed. He came to Jade's rescue. Lycan dropped Jade on the floor. She was unconscious. 

"Great. She just got out of the hospital."  Creed thought to himself.

"It's time to finish this once and for all!!" Lycan said as he rushed towards Creed.

Lycan tried to hit him with a big fist to the mid section but Creed jumped over him to evade the strike. His .45 caliber pistol was pointed at Lycan and he shot him on the shoulder. Lycan felt the pain and Creed followed up with a kick to the body that knocked Lycan to the ground. He had reverted back to his human form and now he was subdued by Creed. 

"It's over." Creed pointed his gun at him while Lycan did not move.

"No it isn't." Feiryon said coming to Lycan's aid. Jephtah was running after him and he now he was with his team mate Creed.

Feiryon carried Lycan on his shoulder. He noticed that he was bleeding very fast. There was so much blood flowing out of the shoulder that Creed shot.

"He still has his killer instincts. Good call Nero."  Feiryon thought to himself. 

"We'll meet again and when we do, I will destroy you.." Feiryon said as he disappeared with Lycan.

Creed rushed to Jade. He checked her pulse and she was alright. She was just tired. He lifted her and started walking towards the elevator. Jephtah was also walking beside him and he said to Creed.

"They ambushed us. They must be intent on killing their threats." 

"No." Creed said. "This was just to send a message to us...They were just toying with us.." Creed said as he rode the elevator and took Jade to the infirmary.