Enders

Enders (24)

I thought it was pretty lame to meet in an abandoned warehouse, but said nothing about it when Tom told me that was where we were going to lure VAKAD out. It felt so cliche, but this was the place my comrades had chosen, and in the long run, I didn't care where we met as long as we got to fight. I understood that at that time we didn't want to raise any attention on us by humans, but it was still a pretty stupid place to lure them out to.

"Don't forget that you're the main event," Tom reminded me as Carmine and Striker went to hide behind abandoned machines and equipment. "So just stand here out in the open and wait for the show to begin."

I didn't get how I could feel so annoyed by everything someone said, but that was the case for Tom, and even Carmine and Striker. I wondered how long I had dealt with them before waking up without getting completely fed up by the things they said.

"One word of advice," Tom began, stepping in front of me and placing my face in his hands. Wanting to move, I decided against it and let him speak. "Don't listen to anything they say. Their job is to try and manipulate you, and now that you're still recovering from your head injury, they're going to be trying extra hard to trick you."

I scowled up at him. "I'm not a baby," I snapped, finally pulling out of his grasp and pushing him away from me. "I can fend for myself."

He smirked. "That's my girl."

Before I could bark at him for saying something like that, he was off, hidden in his hiding spot. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I knew I was going to get much angrier once VAKAD actually arrived, so I needed to level myself before that.

I knew enough about them that I knew what to expect. I knew each of their powers, so there shouldn't have been any surprises. I was ready to take them down.

It didn't take them very long to get there; I'd been standing in the middle of the warehouse in the dark for about ten minutes before they finally arrived. They didn't even have a strategic way of entering the building. They just came right in, not even worrying about being ambushed or attacked immediately. I knew right away that I was dealing with a bunch of idiots. This was going to be easy.

It was too dark to see at first, but I could hear their every move. They weren't subtle at all; they were talking, but I didn't care enough to actually listen to whatever they had to say. I just wanted this to be over with as soon as possible, because I was already bored.

I could hear Tom shift from behind me, and I knew he'd move to turn the lights on once the room was suddenly flooded with light. And there I stood, right in the middle of the warehouse, Team VAKAD only ten feet in front of me. Just the sight of them in person was enough to get me angry.

They looked shocked to see me, just staring for a moment. I recognized them all from their profiles, beside a blonde girl that I had never seen before. She hadn't had a profile, so I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing with them.

They looked pitifully stupid. I stood there, my arms crossed over my chest as I stared at them expectantly. Was I just supposed to attack them right away, or was I supposed to wait for Tom? Was I expected to do this all on my own? Not that that would have been necessarily difficult, but it would have been annoying if I was expected to do all the work.

Dex was giving me the strangest look out of them all, and for some reason I immediately felt goosebumps rise all throughout my skin. He looked so relieved, and I almost laughed in his face at how stupid he looked. Why did he look so happy to see me when I was going to take them all down?

"Violet!" he gasped, forgetting everything else around him as he ran right at me. I moved into a more defensive position, but wasn't able to do much when his arms were suddenly circling around me, crushing me in a tight embrace. "Thank God you're okay. Thank God you're okay."