The Dusk of Dawn

Chapter Nine- Plan A's Action (1)

Driya woke up early the next morning. The temperature shown on the hotel’s thermometer was extremely cold for Savannah— 18 degrees celsius. Kitty still slept quietly on the bed beneath hers. She climbed down the ladder silently and pulled on her cloak, then tied a black mask around her face, which would do for a basic disguise.

She wore her high heel boots and quietly opened the door. The corridor outside was bathed in grey morning light cast from the windows and the whole path was deserted. She pulled her hood lower, shutting the door behind. She headed for room 023, where Fluffy and Bu hao should be.

She tried to open the door, but it was apparently locked. She searched around the door frame and failed to find any spare keys.

Very bendan! Tsk tsk tsk! She squinted. I thought I made myself clear enough last night that they should leave me a spare pair of keys inside the creak of the door! Or maybe they hid it so badly that some duo guan xian shi rens took it!

Hissing, she tried to pick the lock with a wire. But picking locks was more of Kitty and Fluffy’s thing. She only ended up with a weirdly twisted wire.

But she had to be fast and get Fluffy back to the boat before six, or their plan wouldn't work.

All because of Bu hao and his stupid plans! She looked around, trying to find another way in. Zac’s dead already! Why does he still have to risk OUR lives to check on that?

Finally, she jumped out of the window in the corridor and ran to the other side of the hotel, where the window of their room was.

She didn't want to waste her grappling arrows— those were one of a kind, so she tied a rope she found lying around to a regular arrow and aimed it toward the window frame, then let it go and watched the arrow stud into the frame with a dull ‘thump’.

She pulled the rope and jumped up with a few steps on the hotel wall before her arrow fell due to her weight. She clung onto the window sill firmly, just on time, and peeked inside.

And it was lian yu.

The whole bunk bed had fallen, and it took a few moments before she spotted Jackson and Fluffy sprawled across the whole pile of blankets and sheets. With Jackson’s feet in Fluffy’s mouth, as usual.

She pushed the window open with a creak and slipped inside. She marched towards the nans and kicked Jackson’s foot away from Fluffy’s mouth. Jackson woke up with a yowl (what’s new?), but Driya ignored him and dragged Fluffy up by his ear.

“We have to go now!” She whispered fiercely into his ear.

“Ow! Let go of the ear!” He complained, trying to pull away. Driya let go, and he crashed onto the bedside table.

Jackson woke up with a mumble, saw Driya, and collapsed right back into the blankets.

“You should wake up, too,” she said, nudging him with her foot. “Kitty’s gonna wake up soon, if she comes to wake you up she’d suffocate you to do so.”

“Mm-hmm,” Jackson muttered, rolling around.

Driya glanced at the clock— 5:46 a.m.

She tsked and grabbed Fluffy, then jumped right out of the window.

Fluffy screamed the whole way until they landed (well, Driya landed. Fluffy crashed). But luckily he climbed up quickly, groaning, and followed Driya into the alley.

The sun was just peeking through behind the clouds, Driya ran faster, pushing a stumbling Fluffy in front of her.

“Do we have to run so fast?” He whined.

“Yes,” Driya replied. “Stop talking. Just run already.”

They avoided the guards at the port and ran through the bridge across the sea’s surface until they arrived at Driya’s boat. They quickly climbed up and Driya disappeared down the trapdoor beside Fluffy before the guards noticed what was wrong.

Fluffy lit a lamp and set up his laptop. Driya went to unwrap the new bow she bought from the Titanius.

The bow was black at the middle of the handle, fading into red at the tips, like her hair. A sliver, delicate string ran from one tip to the other, Driya waved it in the air, and the bow made wavy noises as the string cut through the hair. The bow's shape was very fancy and intricate, and was expandable— making it more portable, unlike her previous one that was plain black and of standard design. She sighed. Just like Oliver’s bow, she reminisced about the main character from the show.

She settled it across her shoulder satisfyingly and picked up her bag of secret weapons, then turned to Fluffy.

“You’ll be fine on your own from here?” She asked.

“Yes,” He confirmed. “It’s you guys who have to be careful, though.”

“Mm-hmm,” Driya nodded. She turned to look at Fluffy. “Why did you agree to join Jackson in the first place?” She sighed. “Because if that weren't the case, we wouldn’t be here battling Jeremy now.”

“Nor would we ever meet,” he smiled lightly. “Sometimes all the world needs is a second of decision.”

“Doesn’t sound like you, bendan,” Driya rolled her eyes, and climbed out of the boat. She’d be much faster on her own when she didn't need to worry about whether Fluffy could catch up.

Fate is a fickle thing… She thought. Yet beautiful. 

She fumbled around her bag and brought out two green pods, then she sprinted for the front gate of the port.

The guards saw her, with their mouths half-open about to yell ‘halt!’ But she smashed the green pods onto the ground and with a bang, light yellow smoke drifted out of them, making the guards collapse right onto the ground.

“You remember nothing of a girl running on the port,” Driya enchanted. “All you will remember is that you fell asleep while standing guard.”

She sped away back to the hotel after the guards nodded faintly, and dozed off. She jumped up to a roof and landed lightly, then dashed across the rooftops until she spotted their hotel.

When she burst into the swinging door of the hotel (which swung for a few tenths more rounds due to how hard she pushed it), Jackson and Kitty were sitting at a sunlit table at the corner and looking over a piece of paper with a bowl of milk beside them. They both looked up at the sound of Driya’s footsteps.

“Oh, you’re back!” Kitty grinned. “That was faster than I expected.”

“That was slower than I expected,” Jackson said coldly at the same time and they turned around to glare at each other.

Driya coughed meaningfully and pulled a chair from another table to sit with them, and looked down at the paper.

It seemed to be some kind of diagram, with a long thin rectangle shape from one end of the paper to another. Around it, there were two circles, marked A and B.

“What is this?” Driya asked, squinting at the paper.

“This is our plan,” Jackson explained. “Zac will be moving through this path,” he pointed at the line. “Circle B is where all the wealthy stand and watch. Circle A is where all the normal citizens stand. It would be harder to get through the A circle, most of Jeremy’s forces will be there.”

“So our plan is— I use my power to sneak into Circle A first and make large distractions so you guys could do surprise attacks. Then we meet together and attack B circle. If you guys could manage B, I’ll sneak straight to Zac and see if I can get him away first.”

“Like an ambush?” Driya mused with interest. “Cool. But you will be fine on your own?” She looked at Kitty. She knew that she was immune to physical attacks, but she was not sure whether Kitty could do effective attacks like herself and Jackson.

“Don’t worry,” she yawned. “I made new tactics.”

“Things to beware of,” Jackson began. “Jeremy’s new second in command will be also standing guard at A, the Garavian Prince will be walking behind the coffin group, and your mom,” he looked at Driya meaningfully. “Would be at B circle.”

“Where did you even get all this information from?” She frowned.

“It was me,” Kitty said. “They forgot to beware of a puddle of water beside them when discussing battle plans.”

“Sure,” Jackson teased. “No one tried to mop you?”

“Why didn’t you choke on your own snore last night?” She snapped. “It would be much more helpful.”

“Cat.” He teased, sticking out his tongue. Driya did a mega eye roll (as she referred to it) and went to prepare her curare-tipped weapons (arrows, knives, and darts) instead. Jackson and Kitty wondered how she'd be able to differentiate the poison weapons from the normal ones. 

“I don't know,” she shrugged. “For the arrows… I just know, and for the knives, I separate them onto each leg,” she smiled smugly. 

9:00, Nile Plaza, one hour before Zac’s coffin is going to be burned—

Driya stood with Jackson on a tall roof, the strong, chilly wind blowing maroon hair onto Driya’s face. They watched Kitty collapse into a puddle of water and disappear into the crowd.

“Fluffy, can you hear me?” Driya breathed into her comm.

“Yes.” Fluffy’s shivery voice came from her earpiece.

“Are you looking through the security cameras?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Alright. When you see the crowd start to panic, it’s your cue to shut down all internet connections in Town Nile.” She said, her palm sweating and hurting from the firm grip on her bow, which shone like a beetle’s shell under the sunlight.

“Affirmative.” ‘Affirmative’? She thought. NOW we’re talking! 

She kneeled and waited silently, with no sounds except for Jackson breathing nervously beside her.

Suddenly, there was faint music rising from the crowds further in, indicating the official start of the funeral.

“They’re making this look like a festival,” Jackson hissed beside her.

Driya didn’t say anything, but this just proved that things were getting more and more fishy. Which kind of bendan leader would celebrate the death of his second in command with such a large amount of people? She heard later that Zac was quite infamous, to the public he was the deadly ‘Poker King’. That could be one reason why there were so many people….

But still. This is a funeral, not a birthday party.

They seemed to be kneeling there and waiting for centuries, Jackson bit his lips.

“Is Kitty alright?” He whispered. “Did she get caught or something?”

But suddenly there was a shivery sound, making Driya’s head hurt; it felt like radioactive waves. She clutched her head and frowned, but echoing through the waves, there was another voice—

“A hundred-meter pressure.”

As if nothing, the headache was gone, feeling like a large rock had been lifted. She gasped and looked back up.

The crowd was screaming, and all of the soldiers who weren’t wearing thick helmets had fallen. Their irises rolled back, revealing only the whites of their eyes, and white bubbles frothed out of their mouths.

“What was that?” Jackson breathed.

Driya squinted and caught Kitty collapsing into a puddle again between the crowd. “Probably the new tactic Kitty invented,” She smiled. “Fluffy!” She shouted.

“Got it!”

“It’s our turn,” She said to Jackson. He grinned with all his teeth, making his eyes look even smaller, then he disappeared down the roof.

Driya pulled out three arrows nimbly from her quiver and drew her bow. She squinted at the panicking crowd. Suddenly, the ground cracked. Accompanied by the terrifying cracking sounds, there was a roar emitted from Jackson.

Driya let go of her arrows and the three of them zipped across the air, shooting down three soldiers, one dead in the center of his eye. She grinned proudly, with a tinge of smugness. Jackson grabbed a soldier by his feet and swung him into the other crowd, making them all fall together.

Suddenly, Driya heard footsteps behind. She turned and saw another trial of soldiers.

“There’s one of them! Get her!” They yelled.

There were instantly gunshots, one bullet grazed right through Driya’s left arm.