Imperium: Volume 3

We eventually got out and got dressed, to head back to the hotel where the others were staying.

"Holy shit." I said. "I forgot to tell you about last night."

"I think we already know what happened last night." He replied with a grin.

"No, before that. I left you to sleep and I took to the streets." He eyes widened at the thought of me heading out alone. "All was fine Rowen you can relax. But I found someone."

"Okay." He was intrigued, and took a seat at the edge of the bed.

"When I was walking back to the motel, I sensed someone. But it wasn't anyone I had met before. I tied him back to the scene that the kids saw." I said.

"You never told me what it was they saw." He stated.

I leaned up against the dresser. "The first village they drove up to. They found a pile of disgarded bodies in a burn pile. The mercinary group that they were talking about with the Imperium. It was him."

He quickly stood up. "Are you fucking kidding me? There here?"

"Yes." I replied. "I followed him for a while so I could get a read on him. He was alone at the time, but listening in he and his team are here. Which only tells me one thing. They know the plan and are here to either search her out and take her in or execute her on sight."

"Jesus.....another Imperium hunting down June. And they were tasked this job by General Elias?" He asked.

"Actually no....that's the only thing, they weren't. As I dug deeper, I could see he met up with someone else. He was wearing a high ranking uniform but I dont think Elias was the one that asked them to do it. If I recall his name was............Ry.........Ryerson?"

"So someone else under Elias is the one that hired them. He stated. Ryerson.......Ryerson.......it's sounds familiar but I can't put a face to him."

"Either way, we need to keep a look out for them aswell. They aren't dressed in Dom Squad attire, just civilian."

"Well! I'm officially tired of this shit." He said clapping his hands together. "You ready to go?"

"Yep." I replied and we took off.

................

Bowdie's P.O.V.

The following day, Sarah and Rowen paid us a visit, and informed us that the mercinary team was in the city. The moment those words fell from her lips, the pit in my stomach twisted my insides, and stayed there till the following day.

Today was the day of the parade and the hotel halls were full of guests making their way to the streets. They had already blocked off several intersections and one way streets to accomodate the parade, and the over crowded lobby made it exceptionally hard to get there. Oaken had a hold of my hand and Gunner was stuck way behind us as we tried shoving our way through the crowds of people. She kept her sunglasses on, however it was a beautiful sunny day, and there was no need for them as her true eyes were showing underneath.

The parade was starting soon, so we decided to make our way to the end of the line near the city centre. If Elias was really going to be here, I wanted to see the man that killed my mother. This whole damn war was his doing, and if June was here to finish him off, I wanted to watch him die.

•~Easy Bowdie, remember we need to play this smart•~ Sarah's voice echoed in my head.

•~Dont worry Sarah, I'll only watch •~

I looked back to see if Gunner was still behind us, but I couldn't make him out in the sea of faces. "Crap! We lost Gunner." I told Oaken.

"I'm sure we will see him in a bit, just keep moving." She said.

She no longer had a hold of my hand, as alot of people were wearing sun glasses, so having to play the blind woman was no longer necessary. We walked side by side till I reached a spot in the crowd that seemed close enough to the centre. The many billboards and screens that lined up the podium would be projecting the General so all eyes would be on him. Oaken placed the glasses on the top of her head revealing her brown eyes. The noise that was being generated from the crowd was deafening, and people were starting to shove eachother to find space on the side lines.

"This is ridiculous." Oaken stated. "Should we look for another spot?"

Suddenly the crowd starting screaming and applauding as the screens showed a close up of the parade. It started.

•~Sarah, do you sense June anywhere•~I asked.

•~No•~ She replied with a stern tone.

A small sigh of relief fell over me. I watched as the sidewalks danced with the colours of The Dominion Flag. Just a sea of blues and reds waving back and forth. I could see everyone turning their heads down towards our hotel. It was a long way down, so there was no way they were in sight yet. Suddenly a loud bang could be heard as coloured smoke made it's way from the podium. The cheering got louder as the red and blue smoke filled the air. I quickly looked to Oaken and her eyes had changed to bright yellow. I went over to her and pulled down the sunglasses.

"Your eyes." I whispered.

I looked around to see if anyone spotted them, and couldn't make anyone out. I scanned the crowd around us and my heart almost fell out of my chest when I saw a young man turn to us and quickly looked away. I never turned back but when I looked I saw him pull out a cellphone and started dialing in some digits. I grabbed Oaken's hand and started heading back to the hotel.

"We've been made." I told her.

•~Bowdie!, Just calm down and make your way back to the hotel, we're on our way. Whatever you do, don't run, you'll stick out like a sore thumb•~ Sarah advised me.

I scanned the crowds, and couldn't help but feel the panic setting in. I immediatley changed directions as soon as a new set of eyes gazed up on us. I pulled Oaken against a building and stood on a bench so I could see above all the people. I didn't know exactly where we were and where the hotel stood. I was able to make it out several blocks down, and it would be next to impossible to get their in a timely fashion. Before I got down, I saw a Dom walking our way. He hadn't looked at me once, but he was scanning the crowd.

•~There looking for you, they have your description, get the hell out of there!•~ Sarah told me.

I looked over the other direction, and two more were heading in this direction. I saw another one from the other side of the street quickly sprint over to our side. I got down and went back to Oaken.

"Take off your jacket!" I told her. I did the same and reversed my coat so it displayed another colour, and took my toque off throwing it out in a near by dumpster.

"Just link your arm with mine, and have a laugh when we pass the soldiers. What ever you do, don't look back." I told her.

We continued to make our way down the crowd, when we finally saw Gunner. He was walking towards us and looked drunk.

"Ladies! ladies, lookin fine as hell." He had a smile stretching from ear to ear as he went behind us and wrapped his arms around both our shoulders.

Before we could say anything his demeanor changed. "Just go with it, your being tailed."

We walked about 20 more feet through the barrage of people before he told us to turn down an alley way.

"This is a dead end Gunner!" I whispered.

"Walk a little faster please." He said. He was pushing us as this point, and we were heading straight for the brick wall.

When we were inches from the wall Oaken, yelled out his name. I held out my hands and closed my eyes as we now found ourselves in the dark. It was suddenly cold and I couldn't see my own hand infront of me.

"Did....did you just phase us through a wall?" I asked shockingly.

"Yes." Was all he said.

"Oaken? Where are we?" I asked. There was no reply. "Oaken?"

Suddenly the lights came on, and she appeared around the corner. "It's a mechanical room, probably to another hotel or something."

I could feel something different with my body. It was like it pins and needles were prickling my skin. I looked at my hand and slowly felt the sensation fading away.

"What was that?" I asked Gunner.

"In order to phase through solid objects, I have to vibrate my body at a different frequency, so I essentially did that to you. The effect's shouldn't last to long." He said.

That's pretty freakin cool I thought. He seemed so calm and unbothered that we were being tailed. He just stood there quite with his hands in his pockets. "Wait, how did you know to come down this alley way and this particular wall?" I asked inquisitively.

"Sarah." He answered.

Thank you Sarah. "How long should we wait this out?" While I was trying to figure out our next move, Oaken made her way around the massive room.

I took a seat on the cold floor trying to assess our situation. I knew Sarah and Rowen were heading back to our hotel. We gave them one of our room keys, if they needed to make a hasty retreat, so I knew they would be fine.

•~Hey, we are fine. We are just going to wait things out till the parade is over, so we will meet you back at the room later•~ I told her.

•~Sounds good. Just keep in touch till you do•~ She said.

Oaken came back around the corner and advised us that the door was locked.

"With me, we don't need doors." Gunner stated.

"Well, we can't just go phasing through walls when the Dom's are looking for us." Oaken said displeased.

"What I mean is I can just phase us through the door." He said calmly.

"Oh.........okay." She left again to keep herself occupied. I watched as he shook his head in annoyance and started running his finger on the dusty concrete floor. He to was trying to keep himself busy buy drawing. He glanced over to her a few times and then went back to his drawing. I saw him do it a couple times, until he could feel me staring him down.

"What?" He asked.

I couldn't help but grin. "You like her don't you." I said bluntly. It definitlely caught him off gaurd as his eyes widened.

"Why do you think that?" He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. The way you two talk with eachother. You easily make fun of her or pick on her which tells me you are comfortable but also don't want to let your gaurd down. And you keep looking at her, and not forgetting to mention, you also followed her here all the way to the city on this ridiculous conquest. I mean why else would you be here?"

He grinned. "It wasn't her I was following."

"Hu? What do you me-"

Suddenly we heard a bang as the door to the mechanical room was blown away. I felt Gunner's body on top of mine to protect me from the blast, and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a group of Dom Soldiers. I quickly looked around for Oaken, who seemed to be hiding. Some sense of relief came over me knowing that fact.

"Target's found." The one soldier said into his walkie.

"Well, well well, look what we have here." He said as two of the other soldiers cuffed our hands behind our backs.

I scanned the room, and counted six that I could see in my line of vision. If there was anyone around the corner, I wouldn't be able to see them.

I looked around again and still couldn't spot Oaken. Good I thought, keep it like that. I looked to Gunner. He looked pissed but kept as calm as possible when looking to me. How the frig are we going to get out of this one.....