Perfect Sacrifice (26 page)

"Come on," she pleaded.  "I want to see the battle.  I'll stay with Gordan and Brian, I promise.  Please Lee?"  Her brother stood there for a moment, seeming to be in deep contemplation.  However, his left eye was twitching involuntarily out of annoyance.  He really didn't want Ray to come with, but he wasn't about to deny her something she wanted to do.

"Fine," he said with a defeated sigh.  "You can come, but you have to keep your promise.  You will stay inside the transporter at all times."

"You got it," she said with a smile and a mock salute.  "I promise."  Brian snickered as Lee just sighed, pondering as to why he had said yes.

* * * *

Ray sat by herself on one of the lone park benches, not even paying attention to the few people who were passing by.  She was too busy thinking about something.  Memories were flooding her mind, something that happened quite often nowadays.  She hated it.  Memories like these were nothing but a burden.  She didn't need to be depressed with all the crap that was happening to her.

"There you are," called a voice she quickly recognized.  She glanced to the side and watched as Leon and Chris Solaris walked up to her, taking a seat on either side.

"What are you doing here?" she asked them, not really in the mood to talk to either brother right now.

"We came looking for you," answered Chris softly.  "Dad was wondering where you were.  We were going to go eat lunch."

"Sorry," she said.  "I was busy.  I was going to meet you at the repair shop, but…"

"It's alright," cut in Leon as he reclined on the bench, placing his hands behind his head.

They sat in silence for a while, simply watching as the few people passing by went about their day.  There really wasn't anything to say.  Ray didn't appear to be in a talkative mood.  Chris was naturally quiet, so this wasn't anything new for him.  Not talking was a problem, however, for Leon.  It got to the point where he couldn't take it.

"We were following you," he told her.  She glanced over at him, her cherry colored eyes narrowing a little.

"Where to?" she asked him curiously.

"…The cemetery," he responded softly.  Ray turned away, instantly lowering her head.  She folded her hands in her lap, tapping her thumbs on her legs.

"Ray?" questioned Chris, monitoring her strange behavior.

"Lee was your brother, right?" questioned Leon, glancing at her.  Her only reply was a small nod, her silvery blue hair concealing her expression.  "What happened?"

Ray bit her lip in frustration, debating on whether or not to tell them.  This was not a story she enjoyed reliving.  Not many were able to understand how hard it was.  However, both Chris and Leon had experienced a loss.  They had lost their mother.  Perhaps she could tell them.

"He…he was killed…during a battle," she began, trying to keep her voice from shaking.  She clenched her fists tightly as she continued.  "It was during an assignment to take out a base that belonged to Ramirez.  He and Brian, along with a small division, attacked it.  I was watching the battle with Gordan when Ramirez showed up.  He destroyed all of our units.  Brian, Lee, and a few others managed to get out of their Genos, but Ramirez, he…"  Her head sunk more as she fought back tears that stung at her eyes.  "When he got out of his Geno, he…he began shooting them.  Brian made it back in time, but…but Lee didn't."  Her body trembled as she pushed her tears back, forcing them to stay inside.  She couldn't cry.  Not now, not ever.

Leon and Chris remained silent, not knowing exactly what to say.  Neither one of them had expected a story quite like that one.  Leon began to feel guilty for bringing up a subject like that.  If he had known how much it would hurt her, he would have kept his mouth shut.  However, that just wasn't his nature.  He was too curious.

"I'm sorry," he said to her.  "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay," she assured him.  "It happened a long time ago."  He nodded, still not feeling better though.  He really hadn't meant to hurt her.

The sound of an explosion soon shook them all mentally and physically.  The echo of sirens soon followed.  All three of them stood up, currently forgetting about Ray's story.

"What was that?" questioned Chris, looking around for the source of both sounds.

"Come on," said Ray as she turned and ran down the park path.  Leon and Chris followed, having nothing better to do.

"Ray, didn't Gordan tell you to take it easy?" questioned Leon.

"We're just investigating," she said.  "Besides, I'm not doing this as the ace knight.  I'm just a concerned citizen."  Leon sighed as Chris let out a small laugh.

They soon were out of the park and began to follow the sound of the sirens.  They were heading towards one of the largest buildings in Torran.  It was a material building where people could buy parts for weapons.  There were tons of different metals and energy cells there.  It was a building often targeted for numerous reasons, usually by Ramirez.

They reached the area, and what they saw shocked them.  There was a Geno standing in the streets next to the building.  It was a blood red color, currently in the feline form.  Its bright red eyes were completely focused on the building before it.  Near its feet were a ton of cop cars, all placed in a pile of scrap metal.  Nothing but another Geno could stand up against the massive metal creature.

Ray turned her attention to the building, a huge hole blown in the side.  The alarm for the building was ringing loudly, sounding like the siren for a police car.  However, all its warning would do was keep away citizens.  The police had already been taken care of.

"Just what's going on?" asked Chris.

"Leon?  Chris?" questioned a familiar voice.  All three of them turned to see Dr. Solaris standing in a nearby alleyway.

"Dr. Solaris?" questioned Ray.  "What are you doing here?"

"I figured that the three of you would come here if I waited long enough," he responded as he came out of his hiding place.  He sighed as he adjusted his glasses.  "This may be a mistake telling you this, but Ramirez is responsible for this break in."

"I thought so," said Ray as she clenched his fists.  "Is he here?"

"I'm afraid not," he said, sounding relieved at that fact.  "I did, however, see quite a few of his men walk in.  There was a boy with them, dressed in a lab coat.  He didn't look any older than fifteen."  Ray turned her attention back to the building and watched as a few men walked out, carrying an assortment of metal.  They were heading towards the Geno where a car was parked underneath.

"What are we going to do?" asked Leon as he watched the men place the metal in the car.

"What else?" asked Ray as she opened her backpack and pulled out two pieces of metal.  She put them together, creating a rather large riffle.  She shouldered it and turned her attention to the Geno.  "We take them out."

"Are you insane?" questioned Chris softly.  "They have a Geno with them."

"Exactly," she said as she took the gun in both hands.  "I'm going to take it out first."  She held it up, placing her finger near the trigger.  She began to aim at the massive creature, pointing towards one spot in particular.

"You can't take it out with a gun," said Leon as he crossed his arms.

"Two shots," said Ray as she lined up the exact spot she wanted.  As soon as the men who had been loading the metal went back in the building, Ray fired too shots right after another.  The Geno cried out as it slumped to the ground, just missing the car full of metal. 

"H-how…?" questioned Leon, shocked at the outcome.

"One to pierce the armor," began Ray, "and the other to crack the core."  She smiled in pride of her work. 

The cockpit opened, and a man jumped out.  He was about to make a break for the building when Ray stepped into the area, pointing her riffle at him.

"Don't move," she said as she placed her finger near the trigger.  The man froze, deciding that it was better to obey than to be shot.

"Who are you?" sneered the man, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'll ask the questioned," stated Ray harshly.  "What are you doing here?  What is Ramirez after?"  The man's eyes widened.

"How did you know?" he asked in wonder.  Ray only smirked in response.

"Tell me what you're after.  What do you need with that metal?" she asked, glancing over at the still intact car.  She had meant to crush that with the Geno.

Before the man could answer, the other men came out of the building, their arms full of metals and other equipment.  They took one look at Ray and dropped everything.  Surprisingly, not a single one drew a gun.  Perhaps they didn't have any.

"Who are you?" asked one of the men.

"None of your business," she stated arrogantly.  "Tell me why you're here, or I'll pull this trigger."  The man in front of her seemed nervous right now.  They'd probably just let her shoot him.

Before Ray could do anything, a single shot rang out, ramming into her riffle.  It was sent flying into the air, landing a long distance behind her.

"Damn it, I missed," said one of the men as he quickly reloaded his gun.  He appeared to be the only one with a weapon.

Ray broke into a run before he could shoot at her again.  She sped towards the man in front of her, quickly punching him in the face.  Before he could fall, she kicked him in the side.  He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.  She then ran towards the group of five.

The man with the gun had finished reloading and soon lined his sights up with Ray as she was approaching.  However, he never got the chance to pull the trigger.  Leon had come up from behind to knock him out with a hard punch to the back of his head.  The gun flew from his hand, clattering to the cement ground.

Ray took out another guy who fell to the ground, not showing any signs of getting back up.  She continued on her path, but two more men came from the building, instantly going after her.  Leon was distracting a few others.  She'd have to thank him for this later.

One of the men began running away from the building, heading towards the car full of metal.  Ray was quick to chase after him, leaving Leon on his own without a weapon.  He was doing fine, however.  Unfortunately, another man broke away, heading for the gun that had been discarded.  Leon gave chase, managing to catch the man right before he reached the gun.  The silver pistol had fallen near the first man Ray had knocked out.  He appeared to still be unconscious.

Once Leon was done with the stray, making sure he was out cold, he ran back towards the few that were just coming out of the building.  If he could get to them before they had a chance to draw their weapons, he'd have a better chance.

As soon as Ray was done with the man she had chased, she looked around the area.  Her eyes quickly fell on a man who had just picked up the discarded silver pistol.  It was the first man she had knocked out.  He was aiming the gun at a retreating Leon.  There were no screams of warning from either his brother or father, seeing as how they had gone to alert some remaining officials at the main police station.

Ray's eyes widened as the world seemed to slow down for a moment.  She could see Leon running and the man holding the gun.  This was all so familiar.  Too familiar.  Everything seemed to stop as a distant memory ran through her mind.

Everything was suddenly gone, replaced with the desert.  She could see Lee running as fast as he could towards the GRC transport.  Ramirez stood a good distance away, a hand crafted and specially made silver pistol in his hand.  His cold ice blue eyes were focused solely on Lee.  His finger pulled the trigger, and in a split second, Lee stopped running.  His back was arched, his eyes wide with pain as the bullet bore itself into his body.  He was thrown off his feet, now slowly falling to the desert sands.  There was nothing anyone could do.  No one could save him.

Everything came back as Ray blinked her eyes hard, trying to rid herself of the memory.  She snapped her attention back to the man with the gun.  His finger was slowly pulling the trigger.

Without thinking, Ray ran towards him, determined to get between the gun and Leon.  She reached to her backpack and withdrew two of her daggers.  She got between the two just as the gun was fired.  She used her dagger to block, but the weapon was ripped from her hand, and she was knocked down.

Leon stopped running and watched as Ray got up into a sitting position by using her elbows.  Before the man could fire his gun again, she threw the second dagger at him, lodging it in his chest.  The gun fell from his hand, clattering to the ground.  He pulled at the dagger, but it took a few times before it came out.  He discarded it, the metal blade now covered in crimson.

Ray walked up to him and picked up the gun, emptying it of its bullets.  She wasn't about to take anymore risks.  The end of this battle needed to be easy.

The sound of a car starting quickly drew her attention.  The truck they had been loading with metal was now running, the engine being revved as a sign for any remaining men to hurry up.

Leon was soon thrown to the ground as some of the men began to flee.  There were quite a few of them left.  Ray watched them, deciding not to go after them for now.  Against six men, she didn't have as good of chances.  Not to mention that her wrist was throbbing from having a dagger ripped from her hand like that.  Her eyes widened a little, however, when she saw the boy Dr. Solaris had mentioned.  There was a fifteen year old dressed in a white lab coat amongst the men.  He was carrying something in his arms.  What it was, she didn't know.  She didn't care right now.  The boy was intriguing enough.