CHAPTER 44
Billy joined his friends, who rejoiced to see him alive. Together they fought as a team. He and Prince made excellent partners.
While Team Red all boasted over ten meters of strength, the Mongols averaged less than half of that. So, although their volleys covered ten times the space, Team Red enjoyed twice the speed. The super-quads simply positioned the squads chasing them to show their backs, and either Billy or Prince would pounce on them.
After an hour dog-fighting, they had almost cleared the skies of Mongols when four companies dropped on them, spread out for a broadside. Billy cursed his luck. The remaining Mongols sang their wands to greet their returning mercenaries. Although he may get out of range by diving steeply enough, the rest of Team Red was screwed. Chased by two squads, Prince didn’t even see them. The new unit spread itself out to occupy a square kilometer of space and dived straight down to maximize surprise.
Tears burst from his eyes. Billy not only got his friends killed, but let those bastards rape Blade like they did his mother.
“Forgive me, papa,” he whispered on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
Until they blasted the Mongols. Billy’s jaw dropped in shock, and was so exhausted he could barely lift it back up. The enemy in the fortress had run out to witness their victory, so the American marathoners fell like a blanket to smother them. Before Billy even landed, the Americans started mopping up inside the castle.
Billy didn’t land so much as crash softly. The emotional ups and down drained him. He found himself on his back in the courtyard and could barely lift his arms. Princess fell on top of him and Billy screamed in pain before she remembered his fried skin. She took off his helmet and poured her healing energy into him. With one wand on his forehead and the other on his chest, she funneled her life energy. Prince showed up and gave Billy some water. The twins helped him to his feet and Billy shocked Prince by hugging both of them.
Until Bear walked up. “Where’s my hug?”
It took Billy a while to focus, then he lit up. “Let’s find Blade! Bear, take command up here.”
Billy led them to the dungeon, killing the few remaining support staff who had not fled in time. Billy found the steel door pried open from the outside, smoke still floating out, but apparently not in time to save the few hundred troops inside.
"What happened?" Prince asked, trying to make sense of it.
"They were in my way, so I locked them in and smoked them to death."
“And I thought I’d seen everything.”
They walked over bodies, and had to climb over partial cave-ins, until they came upon a pile of corpses at the bottom. Frantic, they tossed the corpses up the stairs and screamed her name.
The vault magically opened. Only then did they notice the key still in it. Corpses five deep blocked it, but it was wide enough for skinny Billy to squeeze inside and take in Blade's relieved face.
"Did they hurt you?"
She knew what he meant. "No. You didn't give them time to hurt me."
Blade flipped Billy’s mask up to give him the kiss he deserved, but his baby face shocked her. She had never seen him before because he was so paranoid about concealing his identity. Even with all the blasted rock chips stuck to his cheeks, he obviously was just a teenager. A really cute teenager. She remembered the thousands of scars on his body and assumed he was an old cruel jerk. Now she felt like she had never seen him before.
“What smells so good?” Princess asked from behind Billy. “Bitch, are you cheating on me?”
“Genghis Khan sure hired expensive mercenaries,” Prince remarked at all the coin, hovering to take in Blade's naked body in all its natural glory.
In contrast, Billy's eyes never left hers. Blade almost joked, “hey, my boobs are down here!” Never once did they veer towards her impressive tits or the stacks of gold bricks behind her. The realization struck her like a fireball.
"I was so afraid for you," Billy whispered, throat dry and near tears. A man who does not fear death can still fear many things. "I was just ten when my father and I found my mother's naked corpse. I wanted to improve my sword fighting because the only guy who ever beat my father led the gang rape. I miss her so much it hurts, and the only thing that eases the pain is punishing her rapists. The thought of them doing the same to you..."
The traumatized fifteen year old broke down as his eyes burst into tears. Years of rage poured out as Blade took him into her arms to comfort him. And to block Prince's view of her. He didn’t know it, but Billy owned her now. She’d do anything for him.
“I’m pregnant,” Blade confessed.
It took a moment before the news broke through his exhaustion, but Princess shrieked and gave them a group hug. “Our kids will be siblings! We should have sex to celebrate.” Princess needed to distract her brother: “Put Tiny in charge of packing all this. We need to leave before dawn.”
While the rest of them got to work, Blade took the clothes off a corpse. She could not even see the floor, so she walked on bodies until she found the general. Footsteps warned her of people coming. She transferred his wands, kicked him until she tired, then peed into his open mouth, not stopping even when the new crowd appeared.
"Hey, Blade," Tiny said. "Heard you were dead."
"I faked it like a good lesbian," she replied, carefully aiming her last drops. "No, Red stormed a fortress alone rather than let them rape me."
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll do that for me, too. Friend of yours?" Tiny asked, gesturing to the dead general, pushing his people down the stairs.
"He tried to get friendly with me. He had to stop when Red refused to die."
Each American climbing over corpses looked stunned at what the Red Baron would do to protect a member of his team. What a hell of a story to tell the folks back home! His heroism multiplied the intensity of their loyalty.
“After this, the guys will follow him into hell and the gals will throw themselves into fireballs to spare him the heat.”
Blade looked up at the giant Indian. “I’m gonna make myself pretty, tell the world what happened here, and interview the Baron so everyone knows how he feels about rape.”
Tiny had good news. “When we heard mercenaries were hunting Red, both divisions refused to empty banks until we got them all. And that was before Red fought an entire castle to free one quad. It’s scary to think what they’d do for him now.”
“I’d kill or die for him,” Blade confessed.
Tiny laughed. “Just wait til you see how many he killed topside. I don’t understand how someone so puny can take such giant steps.”
She walked past burnt corpses before she found the steel door. Then she saw the other guy she was looking for. Across the corridor, near the main entrance, she found the mercenary, stuck like a pig and practically buried in bodies. She took back the incredible wands she got from Billy, then strolled into the courtyard to let the cold night air cleanse her. Hundreds of dead Mongols lined the battlements and filled the parade ground. At dawn she’d record it all to use in her anti-rape videos.
Blade could not believe she was still alive and un-raped. She stared at the stars. I'm gonna be a mommy! Blade said to herself in joyous disbelief.