Empty Houses (Peter, Jerome, Rain, Thomas)

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Raiding the Templar hideout in the Xinjiang province of China ended up being far easier than any of them had expected. Thanks to the information from the Chinese branch of Dead Meat, as well as the information Jerome had ‘extracted’ from Dragonetti, the hideout had been remarkably easy to find. And when they had arrived, ready for a fight, they found the place empty.

“They’re up to something,” Jerome growled, and Peter was inclined to agree. There was no other reason for the Templar hideout to be deserted, unless they had been captured by the Chinese authorities, or any of the terrorist groups in the area which was rife with religious upheaval. Somehow, Peter doubted that. It didn’t seem like something in the realm of possibility. They just were not that lucky.

Thomas separated himself from the group; Peter keeping a close eye on his best friend. Thomas was being uncharacteristically quiet and Peter wasn’t so very fond of that. Something was up with Thomas, whether he would admit it or not.

The dead man wandered away from what seemed like the main living area while Jerome and Rain raided the Templar’s stores to boost their own supplies. It had been a long journey and they were hungry. Just off of the kitchen, was a long hallway which had several rooms branching off of it. They were living quarters and Peter found himself wondering who had originally built this place, desperate for anonymity. He knew of several groups of missionaries which had traveled to China, despite the wishes of the Chinese government. Some of them had been detained there, and others sent straight home. Others still had gotten through, but they had to remain safely hidden. The Xinjiang province had it's own issues regarding religion, and Peter could see why the Templar would have chosen it. They wanted to take advantage of that upheaval. They could hide in between the other conflicts and go unnoticed. Sneaky.

Thomas turned into one of the rooms and Peter followed. “Bingo,” Thomas whispered and when Peter looked up, Thomas was holding a map in his hands. “I don’t know why they left this behind, but maybe this is where they are?” Thomas said, pointing to the small, red ‘X’ on the map. “There are notes here too. Something about a …rebel colony? A colony of what?”

Peter knew Thomas’ question was not to him, but he still felt guilty that he couldn’t answer. “So they all went after this…colony?”

“I guess? Maybe that’s all they’re here for. Peter, they don’t even have a work room.” Thomas whispered, the relief evident on his face. And considering what had happened to him in Templar workrooms, it was little surprise. “They’re not here trying to carry out their normal work. They’re not punishing heretics in order to send them back out into society.”

Peter flipped through the notes, most of which were written in Latin, probably in an attempt to keep themselves safe in the event that they were stumbled upon by Chinese authorities. “They probably wouldn’t know where to begin if they did start punishing heretics here,” Peter said absently as he flipped. “In their eyes, blasphemy and the worshipping of false idols is everywhere, and can you really punish a people for the rules their government has made?”

“I’m not entirely sure the Templar see a distinction,” Thomas glowered.

“Yeah…probably not...” Peter trailed off as his eyes skimmed over something potentially quite telling. “Oh…Thomas…”

“What?” Thomas dropped his notes, though he retained his hold on the map as he ran around to join Peter at his side. “What is it?”

“I think I know what they’re after,” Peter whispered, and he showed Thomas the passage. Thomas, who was already dead, went deathly white.

“H…here? God, Peter, if they get ahold of supernaturals here-“

“They’ll try to convince an entire country of 'sinners' that God is angry with them,” Peter muttered back. “Yeah. We have to go immediately.”

And just like that, the rescue was afoot. Again.

Comments

[dark-londoner.livejournal.com]

In the craggy hills of Xinjiang, along one of the ancient, worn routes that had once led caravans across Asia as the Silk Road, there was an old Taoist Temple. The stonework survived, although the years had marred it heavily. Candles rarely burned now in worship and those that lived here now were not the silent monks of long ago.

But still it was a sanctuary. That much had no changed.

Meifeng was the leader - completely unofficially - of those that lived there. She dealt with the ordering of food and supplies and making sure everything ran as smoothly as possible. To look upon she was an attractive, slight woman with dark hair and a serious expression that was almost always in place in recent days. She was also a woman who was fiercely protective over those in her care.

The occupants of the temple numbered six, not including Meifeng, and each of them was special. Not just to Meifeng, who loved them all like children - although she appeared, on first glace, to be far too young to young to understand such a feeling - but to the very world itself. Each of the people there was Gifted, and sadly now others thought that as well.

Three days ago they had been attacked by men who called themselves priests, and their actions were similar to others that had come before them. Setting up home in a Taoist temple had already attracted negative interest from the Muslims and now it appeared the Christians were unhappy as well. The attack had been sudden and they were all still alive now perhaps only because it had not been expected that they would fight back.

But fight back they did. They would keep their home.

And when the battle was done and the priests had retreated, one of theirs was dead and Meifeng dragged the body to be kept away, her face bruised and her body sore. The weapons did not return to storage. Those that required it remained armed now and there, in the freezing, snowy hills, they waited.

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

The Templar were closing in again, after retreating to their hideout to regroup. They advanced on the enclave, though Peter and Dead Meat were hot on their heels.

As the Templar surrounded the fortress, Dead Meat surrounded them.

[dark-londoner.livejournal.com]

From inside the monastery the bell was heard, ringing out from the watchtower to alert them those inside that someone was coming. The priests may have been hidden within the trees, but the demon on watch could feel them approaching.

From within the supernaturals armed themselves, and Meifeng took her rifle and knives and ran to a position where she would be sheltered but able to fire. There had been a gate around the courtyard once in times long ago, but for many years it had been gone. Everything was free to enter, and it gave the people within no way to keep others out of the complex, only the separate buildings.

[as-candles-die.livejournal.com]

Peter was inching forward with Jerome beside him. There was one Templar in front of them, and with cat-like reflected, Jerome jumped forward, grabbed the man, and snapped his neck so quickly, the man never had a chance to scream.

Peter's jaw dropped open at the death which had just occurred in front of him.

"Down by one," Jerome mouthed and Peter just continued to stare.

The snow made it hard to hide, and as the Templar converged on the outpost, they stopped hiding, attacking in a circle, ever-decreasing in size.

[dark-londoner.livejournal.com]

Meifeng threw herself out from her hiding spot to attack the nearest priest, three of her fellows beside her in the battle. (The three who could not fight were hidden away inside to remain safe.)

Her gun was slung around her shoulder and instead she attacked with her Deer Horn knives, her hands wrapped tight around the handles as she slashed, not wanting to kill but completely willing to do so to protect those within the compound.

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Now that the Templar were not hiding, Dead Meat didn't hide either. Rain was fighting with one of them while Thomas rushed forward to help a man who had been tagged and brought down by another Templar.

Peter darted forward, gripping his tranq gun. A Templar was headed for what Peter mistook to be a very young woman, and though she was fighting another one, Peter didn't think she could handle two. "BEHIND YOU!" he yelled out, and then he sent a tranq the Templar's way.

[dark-londoner.livejournal.com]

Things had changed and now suddenly there were other people, dressed differently and also fighting these priests. As far as Meifeng was concerned, anyone fighting on her side may have the benefit of the doubt. At least until the battle was over.

At the messy-haired man's words she spun, her curved blade slicing across his stomach and sending innards out onto the wet stone below. She screwed up her face for only a moment before turning to re-attack the other, trying to search around at the same time to make sure her people were alright.

[suave-thomas.livejournal.com]

Everyone was dying! Peter grumbled and he turned around and shot another of the Templar running towards him. "How many are there?! Peter yelled to Jerome, who was wrestling one to the ground.

"Only a few...more left!" Jerome yelled back, before pulling the Templar's own electrically charged nightstick and shocking him with it.

The wounded man Thomas had gone to save was being pulled away from the enclave by a Templar priest. Thomas' attempts to shoot the man with his tranqs had failed, and now he was out of darts. Tossing the weapon aside, Thomas ran towards them, charging across the frigid snow. The Templar would not get a single one of these people. They would not.

And then a bullet ripped it's way through Thomas' gut, spilling crimson across the snow.

[dark-londoner.livejournal.com]

Across the courtyard Meifeng saw one of these new men - the older one - with one of the priests and then the only other priest she saw was coming right for her. She threw her Deer Horn blades from her hands to clatter onto the ground on each side of her and then swung her rifle from off her back and into her hands, smacking him across the face with it. The priest fell and Meifeng cocked her weapon before slamming her foot down on the priest's chest to hold him still and pointed the gun at his head.

She had only heard these men speak - both groups now - in English, and so that was the language she used when she made her command. "Stay very still or I'll end your life right here."

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

The Templar did as he was told and Rain, Jerome and Peter moved forward to join the team of supernaturals the Templar had been trying to capture.

The woman with the gun did not feel supernatural, but it seemed she spoke English. So Peter addressed her. "I can knock him out," he offered, raising his tranq gun in a non-threatening way so she wouldn't think it was against her. "I have a dart left."

[trailofcreation.livejournal.com]

Meifeng looked to the man speaking and nodded, lifting her rifle and unloading. "Yes," she told him, not removing her foot from the priest's chest. "He must not be killed."

She turned to look at the young ones in her care and switched to Mandarin to ask if they were all alright and then to send one of them to check on those that were hiding. She needed to know everyone had made it through this conflict alive.

She turned her attention back to these people, removing her foot now that the priest was unconscious. "There is a room we can move him to," she told them in her heavily-accented English. "He won't be able to escape it." The faces before her were all completely unfamiliar. "May I ask you who you all are?"

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

"My name is Peter Kemp," Peter replied. Now that the fight was over,he shivered in the cold, and he stepped closer to the woman he was addressing. "We found their hideout," he indicated the unconscious Templar, "and they had maps to this place, and notes indicating they were going to attack it. We couldn't let that happen.

Thomas dragged his body up as the gunshot would healed itself. The Templar tried to shoot him again, but he ran out of bullets and instead he threw the gun straight at Thomas' head. Thomas ducked, and he darted forward, finally tackling the Templar to the snow. He straddled the man and then he grabbed a large tree branch and he hit the Templar in the head until he was sure the man wouldn't get up again. Then he focused on helping the Templar's poor prisoner stand up. "Come on, I'll help you. Do you speak English?"

"Very little," the man replied softly, weakly. "Please. You got shot. But you are alive?"

Thomas looked guilty and he began to help the man back to the safety of the hideout as he explained.

[trailofcreation.livejournal.com]

They were foreigners, and so when she introduced herself she did it in their backwards way. "I am Meifeng Kato," she told Peter. "I run this place as a sanctuary." She looked down at the unconscious man with distaste. "At least, it was."

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Peter glanced at the sanctuary and then back at Meifeng with a smile on his face. Though he sobered when he said his next words. "The men who attacked you are known as Templar. They know where you are now and they number into the thousands. I can offer you a sanctuary they have never managed to breach, if you would be willing to travel to London with us. We can provide adequate documentation to get you into the country."

[trailofcreation.livejournal.com]

Meifeng took in these words slowly and looked back at the buildings behind her that had treated them all with such love and kindness. This had been a shelter for so many and now it was over. Meifeng's dream of teaching and protecting those like herself was over.

"Thirty years I have keep this place," she said sadly. "I have kept the monsters from our door and made human beings of those who thought they were lost." looking then to her wards as they seemed to wait for what she would tell them. In the end they were more important than a place. A place could be anywhere but lives needed to be saved. With a heavy sigh she looked at Peter. "Do you swear upon all you hold sacred that you will do all in your power to keep these people safe?"

[suave-thomas.livejournal.com]

"I do," Peter said softly, and he did. "You and I are very alike, Meifeng. The safe place I can offer you is a facility where we help people who are like the ones you have protected here. I sincerely hope you will all find it welcoming."

Thomas crested the hill then, now carrying the man he had rescued. "Peter!" Thomas called. "There's one more Templar over the hill. Unconscious. He'll freeze if we leave him there."

"I'll take care of it," Jerome said, and he disappeared in the direction Thomas had appeared from.

"He's injured," Thomas indicated the man in his arms. "He needs medical attention and warmth."

[trailofcreation.livejournal.com]

Meifeng rushed forward to Thomas, and touched her hand to the injured man's forehead. "Delun," she whispered to him and then to Thomas: "We have medical supplies inside and it's warm in as well."

[suave-thomas.livejournal.com]

Thomas nodded and then he helped bundle Delun into he sanctuary, followed by the rest of the exhausted fighters. Soon they would have to be on the move again, but for now, they could take a moment to breathe.