Chapter 40:
The Cost of Justice
Volka braced her shield as the two gatlings unleashed their fury on her, the rapid fire weapons spitting their projectiles with deadly intent.
But the shield of Volka Gundrsdotter had withstood far worse, and the glowing woman braced her shoulder against it as she slowly pushed her way ever onwards, the weapons pelting uselessly against her shield non-stop.
Why neither of them aimed at her exposed legs was a mystery.
After a full minute, the onslaught halted as the two shocked men took in the sight of the still standing Valkyrie.
She called out to them in a voice as clear as a bell.
“Throw down your arms brothers! Do not die for this vile woman’s greed!”
Carol, dragging a terrified Rebecca along by the forearm likewise screamed at her subordinates.
“I told you to kill her! She’s just one monster girl!”
“We tried! Her shield is like magic or something!”
Having lost her cool at the arrival of the armoured angel, the arms dealer stomped her foot in the dirt of the street like a petulant child.
“I don’t care if it’s made of cheese! Take her out you morons!”
Peeking over the brim of her shield, Volka smirked.
“Hey now. A cheese shield would just be silly.”
She had caught up to them mere moments after taking flight, but sadly, being a glowing winged woman they spotted her at the same time she had them.
Now the canny warrior was on the defensive, she knew that with all of the Aegis people in the area all she had to do was keep their attention fixed on her and play for time.
Though her heart burned with righteous fury at the sight of the terrified Lapine and her obvious injuries.
She bolstered her shield as Gregory and his friend took aim at her again, but before they could fire they heard the rapid clip-clopping of metal-clad hooves on the cobblestones to one side.
Volka’s eyes widened as an angry Minotaur burst out of an alley and slammed into them, the pair going down in a broken pile together from the force of her flanking charge.
With an aggressive moo Milly smashed the lost-tech weapons off of their mounts with her spear and hurled the remains against the men as they tried to stand, bowling them over again with the now useless weapons.
Snorting aggressively, the cow girl turned to see a pistol aimed at her chest, held by the cherry-haired woman gripping the terrified Lapine.
Her breathing steadied and a deadly calm filled her as she pointed at the pistol with her spear.
“You get one shot.” She shook her head slowly; “And it won’t be enough to stop me.”
Never before had Milly the Minotaur spoken with such intense and threatening conviction.
Even Volka was given pause, her heart having nearly stopped when her bond-sister put herself in the line of fire.
Though the way she had dismantled her men without hesitation was impressive, of all things it was her hat that really sold it for Bethany.
Any woman who could pull off a hat like that was a woman not to be trifled with.
The standoff lasted a half minute before she cursed and pulled her weapon-arm closer to her breast, her other still wrestling with Rebecca.
The cornered woman looked all around, desperately seeking a place to flee to.
But by delaying to witness the failure of her final trump card, the rapid-fire gatlings, the fugitive had unknowingly doomed herself as the remaining Aegis force caught up to them, guided by Nameless.
She was surrounded.
And she was all that remained, her entire criminal empire taken apart in less than a half hour. But she still wasn’t ready to give up; instead she held her pistol tight to the side of Rebecca’s head as she put her back to a wall.
“Back off! All of you! I’ll kill her!”
Frightful tears spilled down Rebecca’s cheeks at the deathly promise, she had hope again when the Valkyrie had arrived with her angelic aura, and with hope comes the fear of losing it.
A lone figure broke away from the Aegis forces, his face a controlled thundercloud.
“Bethany Sinclair. You are bound by law. Surrender now and you might escape the death sentence.” Benjamin ordered sternly.
His Spriggin both had arrows notched and aimed at the woman, though they would not shoot without their bond-mate’s order.
Likewise, Erica had a knife in either hand, ready to loose them at any sign of danger to her bond-sisters standing so close to the standoff.
Bethany’s response held a manic edge as tears spilled down her cheeks, her eyes reeling from one unfriendly face to another.
“Go ahead and hate me you fuckers! I have survived a father’s disgusting affections and a mother who loved drinking more than she did me! I even survived the tip of an Amazon warleader’s spear! You think I will lay down now just because you turn up your noses at me?! Now back off or I will fucking end her!”
At that point, Miranda arrived, propped up by Kala on one side, a bloody bandage pressed tight to her injury by Jan, the stubborn woman determined to see it through.
She took in the situation with narrow eyes, but then her look turned cunning.
“Hey Becks! Did you make that delivery like you were supposed to?” Her gruff voice rang out in the midst of the stalemate, startling everyone.
Rebecca sniffled miserably in the grip of the raving woman, but then her eyes widened as realization struck.
Before returning the parcel to her to give to ‘Carol’ Miranda had some of her people looking at it…
“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Bethany snapped even as Jan and Kala shielded their bond-mate with their bodies.
But before her captor could suss out the meaning of the operative’s words, Rebecca bit down on her forearm just as hard as she could, her powerful incisors digging deep into the desperate woman’s flesh and causing her to scream and release her.
The Lapine whirled in place to face her, barely two feet away.
Despite the injury to her arm, the furious Bethany leveled her gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.
There was a sound of straining metal, followed by a pop, and the whole trigger assembly collapsed to the ground, leaving the criminal woman holding nothing more than a worthless piece of scrap metal.
“What the-”
She didn’t finish as Rebecca let out a snarling spitting noise that only an angry rabbit could make and threw herself at the treacherous woman, her powerful legs providing more than enough force to carry her back and slam her into the wall behind her before taking her to the ground.
“Get off me you little shit!” Bethany cried out, punching and kicking at her one-time paramour while she bit her arm again and scratched at her face.
But the punk bunny’s fury was too strong to be stopped by a few ineffectual punches and she quickly corralled Bethany’s wrists and began slapping her face with her own hands.
“Stop hitting yourself! Why are you hitting yourself?!” She taunted with a snarl.
“Ow! Fuck- off!”
Overpowered as she was, there was nothing Bethany could do against the childish treatment.
“Shouldn’t... we stop them?” Nameless asked uncertainly, looking between Miranda and Benjamin.
The gruff woman let out a relieved sigh before answering.
“Yup.”
“Probably.” Benjamin agreed without making a move.
Grant frowned at the senior operatives.
“Yes we most definitely should.”
Miranda raised her eyebrow.
“It was Grant right?”
He nodded.
“Well Grant, that woman has it coming. Believe me.”
“All the same ma’am, we do have a cadet here.”
“What, him?” Miranda glanced at her former student; “Nah, he’s a knucklehead, won’t learn a thing from any of this.”
Nameless shifted in place uncomfortably as Grant rolled his eyes.
“Bruti, Linda.”
He made a vague gesture toward the tussling pair and the blood-smeared bear girl shambled forwards to hoist the snarling and struggling rabbit off of the arms dealer while Linda began to encase Bethany’s wrists and ankles with her clay, trapping the bleeding and defeated woman against the ground.
But as the Gnome worked to bind the arms dealer, a snarl sounded all around and suddenly Lilly and her pack swarmed them, shoving anyone and everyone aside as the pack-leader lunged for the bound woman.
Bruti growled as her earlier rage returned for a moment, but she pushed it down and pulled away, keeping the Lapine in her arms clear of the suddenly aggressive monster girls.
Meanwhile a startled Linda let out an oddly slow clipped scream as the powerful Wolfen tore her stone away and gripped the now-terrified arms dealer’s face with one powerful hand.
Lilly’s claws dug deep into Bethany’s cheeks as she hefted her screaming into the air, the human clutching her wrist helplessly.
“Turn away, all of you. You don’t need to see what comes next.” Her words came out in a barely comprehensible snarl.
Grant’s mouth was held open in shock and Bruti growled again at the harsh order from the deadly pack-leader.
“Stop! It’s over!” Benjamin cried out, his indifference at the bunny girl’s revenge was set aside as he tried to shove his way past the other Wolfen.
“Almost.” The monster growled again; “However indirectly, she took one of my pack. Her life is mine!”
Rebecca’s own anger was forgotten as she saw the blood trickling down Bethany’s face, she couldn’t help but turn into Bruti’s strong embrace and hold her ears close to her head as a muffled cry came from the struggling woman.
“P-please!” The broken criminal begged, all of her bluster gone as death stared her down.
Lilly’s eyes narrowed as she listened to her beg for her life.
But then a golden aura of calm washed over her as Volka stepped beside her, the other Wolfen not daring to stop her.
The wolf turned to face the Valkyrie’s neutral expression.
“If you do this, I will not allow you to shield the act with your rage. This will be a conscious choice, one that you will have to live with.”
Her words were neither approving nor condemning.
Even with her feelings held in check by the angel’s aura though, Lilly made the decision in seconds.
“For Katie.” She whispered.
Her arm twisted Bethany’s head to one side, allowing room for her teeth to close on her neck with a violent snarl.
With one final scream, Bethany Sinclair was no more.
“Dammit Lilly.” Miranda cursed quietly.
Even the veteran operative had to turn away from the grisly sight as the Wolfen tore out her victim’s throat.
There was a shocked silence from everyone, broken only by the sound of the pack-leader chewing.
With blood on her face, Lilly tossed the fresh corpse to the ground at her feet then looked to the sky and let loose with an echoing howl of vengeance finally sated.
Volka sighed and hung her head.
“So be it.”
Lilly’s wolves quickly mirrored their pack-leader’s howl before descending on Bethany’s body and tearing her to pieces, each of them making the same choice she had.
Even blocked from his sight as it was, the sound of the pack taking their revenge on Carol, or Bethany, or whoever, made Nameless more than a little queasy.
From the expression on his face, Benjamin looked ready to do more than simply curse at the Wolfen, but Volka’s calming presence descended on him as well.
“The warrior tribes have always had their own means of meting out justice, while my people have ever strived to ensure their souls could withstand the cost of it.” Volka said quietly; “It is done, Aegis. And there are wounded that need tending.”
Benjamin turned back to the angel and met her calm expression.
A moment later he nodded as he found his priorities again, quickly looking to the other Aegis personnel.
“She’s right. Sound the all clear for the medics, triage protocol, all of you. And someone get those two with the other prisoners, no more bloodshed today.”
He gestured at the two men Milly had knocked over, his words made even more affecting as they were punctuated by the sound of the Wolfen pack’s grisly feast.
“I-I’ll do it.” The slightly green looking Minotaur promised.
Handing her spear off to Volka, she hefted one of the stunned men over each shoulder; both were either too hurt or too afraid to struggle against her as she carried them off to join the other prisoners.
And just like that, they won the day.