Kyle:

The next few days passed. Xao and J-Star trained hard and we ran drills on how things might go. I was actually surprised by Jay and how quickly she evolved her skills. She was able to come pretty close to trouncing Xao most of the time. She had a pretty hard time getting around my magnet but she was still able to get the drop on me a few times.

One time Xao and I both ran at her at once as part of a drill.

"Get her down!" I shouted, tipping her off quickly to our goal. She stood by a tree with her back turned to us. I jumped on her back- landing on the ground as when she had stopped ACTUALLY standing there who knew.

I quickly fired a magnet forward, planting it on a nearby tree and activating it. All three of us were suddenly pulled towards the magnet. My eyes went wide, looking for telltale signs of involuntary falling or- a super bright strobe light flashing at both of us boys. I hit the ground as I turned off the magnet.

I blinked several times, feeling around as- a loud sound shot out around me, forcing me to grab my ears.

I looked around to see- yep, Xao was on the ground, one handcuffed to the opposite ankle. I was then in short order grabbed and slammed into the ground, arms held down and out.

The girl giggled as she looked at me. "Suppose you want me to congratulate you?" I asked.

"Might mean something if you didn't suck so bad," was her cocky reply.

"You are not winning next time."

I spied on the leprechaun camp one more time in the middle of the second day... they had a virtual army going... what exactly were we going to do?

I poured over my notes for a plan.

Their forces were composed of maybe around ten or so hunters and nearing a hundred mimics. Only the leprechauns themselves were able to fight at range, but them churning out forces like this... they couldn't be doing that just because they were worried. They knew someone was out here.

I asked Xao for help.

"Hm... how did you spy on them?" he asked as we sat down to look at my papers.

"There's a cliff on the south side of the camp that overlooks it," I said.

"Throw an explosive off that cliff we could take out a good number of mimics if they're bunched up. How are they laid out?"

"The mimics don't seem to be moving with a purpose, they just mill about," I said. "They bunch up. Both ideal and bad at the same time. We could destroy a number with one attack, or one explosive would be absorbed by a smaller number than ideal because it wouldn't be able to get past the first group of fake bodies... fake bodies." I bit my lip.

Xao sighed. "What you said the other day, not sitting well with you is it?"

I looked up from my notes clenching my teeth "Why can't anything be simple about this?" I asked. "Why can't we just be attacking a bunch of weird leprechaun creations? I keep thinking back to that squad- when we met them. They had fear, they wanted to live, they had intelligence... like the gargoyles when our parents came down to earth right? They're not like us of course, which the gargoyles weren't either. They're not human... our parents declared gargoyles to just be monsters." I looked at the ground. "In my mind, I justify destroying them using the same reasoning as my parents. Leprechauns are not like us, I reason, so that makes it okay... we both know attitude matters so, what attitude should I take?"

Xao paused.

"This is the point where you tell me how I'm supposed to look at this," I said.

"I have no idea," he admitted. "Have you ever set out to kill someone on purpose?"

"Jess and I confronted a guy under questionable circumstances once and Jessica killed him... when he pulled a gun on me." I shook my head. "To answer more directly, no, I have never hunted anyone down knowing full well I was going to kill them. I have also, never ordered two people to engage in a fight where they could be killed- at least fight that we're technically starting. I've wanted to once or twice, but never actually done it. If it were up to me, I would have us just take Bart and leave. I have to save Jessica though. So I'm getting ready to kill six people, possibly ordering two more to their deaths, for one. Even if it's Jessica this is all for..."

Xao nodded. "Well, maybe change your thought process. Our goal isn't to kill leprechauns, it's to save Jessica and Bartholomew. The only reason those leprechauns are in the way is because they're hurting innocent people." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Kyle, none of us are out here to kill for the sake of it."

"For whatever reason... it's not self-defense- we're seeking them out," I said.

"You gonna give up?"

"No... I already know I won't. I made up my mind, I'm just trying to justify it before everything... goes down."

"You have no idea how tempting this one proposition is becoming. Breaking Tarth's jaw."

"I guess that's in reference to something I wasn't involved in," I said. "All the same, I met the guy. I want to do more than that." We both chuckled.

"How are we bringing down that ship?" he asked.

"You already know."

"J-Star doesn't."

"That's right, she doesn't," I said dismissively.

"You sure you can't tell her?" Xao asked.

"I'm trusting our ancestor's strategy. No one can know you completely. If she doesn't know what's going to happen, her actions can't give away our strategy- and trust me, part of it depends on secrecy."

"You know keeping people in the dark is always a risk."

I nodded.

(***)

I finally met with Xao and J-Star as the sunset for the day. I looked up. "Alright. Here's how we're going to play things out," I said, sitting under the shelter and pulling out my notes. "J-Star, you'll be going in first and getting Bartholomew. Xao will charge his pulse weapon while you're gone and soon as your clear, unleash the most powerful blast he can manage. That should throw them into disarray. I'll fall back with Bart. J-Star, you return and keep up the chaos on the ground while Xao continues to fire into the fray. Work out some signals with Xao so he doesn't fire on you. Try to stay around cover Jay, just because they don't know where you are doesn't mean they can't hit you."

"You just gonna stay where it's safe with Bart?" J-Star asked.

"No." I kept my eyes on the sky.

"You gonna tell me what you are gonna do?" she asked further.

"No." I still wasn't looking at her.

"You going to tell me how we take down the ship?"

"No."

"I'm going to have to trust you aren't I?"

"Yes."

She gave a grunt. "You know... what do you really think I can do out there? Without the tricksters, I'm cannon fodder here and you know it."

On that note, I finally looked at her. "No... Jay, to be honest, Xao and I are lucky you showed up. One of the reasons I kept poring over my notes so much, was I wanted to find a way to pull things off without depending on your illusions, but the reality is, without you, there's no way we can pull this off. You are incredibly important."

"You mean you can't pull it off without my projector."

"Who made that projector?" I asked.

"Me."

"Who knows how to use it better than anyone else?" asked Xao.

"Me..."

"Who has actually already used it to take down a hunter on her own?"

J-Star paused. "... Me..."

"You're more powerful than you think. And you have more potential than you can ever know," Xao said. "Don't let anyone take that from you. Build yourself up with your own hands, and don't let anyone rob you of the chance to do it."

"What if we fail?"

I bit my lip, returning my eyes to the sky. "I won't lose Jessica. We won't fail."

I sighed and looked up at a star I had been looking at several times that night. I pointed at it. "I'll fill you guys in on a few details about Leprechaun creations. By the way, you better figure out what you're gonna do- the specifics. Two hours. That's not a star."

(***)

J-Star:

Into the camp, I traveled. I passed several hunters on my way, but they didn't see me as I walked past them. I was sure they were following me, but I didn't have time to care.

I crossed over the dry grass, not bothering to mask my approach. I walked forward, fully visible now, my projector recharging for a few seconds.

One of the disgusting mimics ambled towards me. I stared at it. It paused. It couldn't make sense of the giant eye in my ear, or the teeth in my eyes. I bobbed side to side, tripping as I continued into the camp.

I meandered further and further in, keeping up my perverse illusion best I could, doing my best not to have my skin crawl at the deformities all around me. There were creatures that looked like humans and some that looked like Leprechauns- lucky me on the humans, else I likely would have been shot on sight earlier when I had to spare my battery by turning the illusion off a few times, the illusion was a perverse version of myself.

I saw the pole in the midst of the... creatures. I got closer and closer to Bart. His face was normal, his body that of a human- hey, I had to be sure. I leaned down as I came up to him, the boy shrieking and jumping back from me, falling to the ground as his chain didn't let him run. I just bobbed my head, slowly opening my mouth as I kept coming towards him. The boy started crying and I swallowed the urge to calm him.

I pulled out my sword, Bart's eyes zeroing in on it. He put up his hands over his head, squeezing his eyes shut in terror.

Here went everything.

Electricity flew up my arms and I sliced down, steel meeting cyra, the metal of my homeworld. The steel shattered almost like glass, the mimics starting to turn as I ran forward, and grabbed the boy.

My free hand flew up as I pulled Bart to his feet, blackness surrounding us as a siren rang out, so loud I had to force Bart to stay on his feet and I half dragged him out of the camp, him cradling his ears. Even the cotton in my ears only did so much against what I was putting out, and soon enough my own ears were ringing.

I finally threw the boy at the trees pulling out my make-shift earplugs.

The boy started trying to communicate. "The he... I can't hear... what's happenin'... where," Kyle grabbed Bart's hand, forcing the boy to look him in the eyes. "Kyle?" The boy quickly hugged our smallest member.

Kyle pushed him off, and yanked his hand, pulling the boy along with him as he ran into the trees.

I turned, hearing the leprechauns yelling as the mimics let out strange sounds that barely resembled normal screams. Finally, I heard something I understood. "Fine, I'll say it in the human tongue- we were just attacked, where are they?!"

I started walking towards the camp, spreading out my arms. I grinned as the mimics and true leprechauns- which was which I couldn't easily tell at a distance- turned towards me as I walked on the dry cracking grass. "RIGHT HERE!" My seven replicas shouted around me as I turned invisible and skipped to the left.

I hit the ground and rolled, trying to stay low. A bolt of energy flew through the projection I just left as I ran for a large rock and slammed my back against the giant stone. I heard as several shots flew out, the turf ripping apart.

I held my chest- sweet Triad that was scary! 'How-why did I come up with this plan?' My brain cycled again and again. I clenched my fist, projecting the sound of a large explosion several feet to the right of my position. More screams, more shots.

I then heard an explosion I did not project. I turned my head right to see several mimics and leprechauns flying through the air and slamming into the ground.

I whispered to myself, "so... THAT'S what Xao's thing does at max power..."

Several of the mimics got back up, but some didn't. I looked at the bodies that were starting to litter the ground. Sure they were fake... but this was a battlefield now, it even had the corpses... I kept telling myself they were all fake. I kept hoping they were... course if they were, wouldn't that be worse? What did I want exactly?

I snapped my fingers, loud shrieks going off in random locations all over the camp.

I heard shouts in a foreign tongue, the small explosions from the leprechaun weapons stopping. Someone was trying to get them to calm down. Time to amp things up a bit.

I counted in my head... 'three... two... one!'I rolled against the rock, suddenly facing the enemy and spreading out my arms, tightly closing my eyes before I projected a blinding white light straight at my enemies. Shouts and grunts went out as another explosion rocked the camp.

I threw myself back behind the rock, eyes flipping open to watch debris and the mangled bodies of mimics scatter all around me, the large rock I was hiding behind even starting to move and almost tip over.

I held my chest. One stray shot, one piece of debris, that would be my end, I was helpless, why did I keep going? I should have run, should have never looked back- but I stayed. I was scared but...

I wasn't helpless. I wasn't weak, was I? An entire proxy army was being scattered, and here was little old me, the reason it was happening, just me and the projector I had made... this was MY power.

A real leprechaun finally rolled behind the rock with me, his eyes going wide as they fell upon me.

A smile went across my lips, my sword drawn so fast, he probably didn't know it existed before it was between his eyes. I whispered to him, "run".

The lizard creature fell backward dropping his weapon, clambering back to his feet, and tripping over his own feet several times as he ran.

This was me... right? Was this the same person who hopelessly failed to take down two boys? That same girl was now taking on an army? I smiled and threw back my head laughing loud, my projector hiding my real laugh and projecting it all over the clearing. It was a loud booming laugh- least I made it sound like it was.

I opened my eyes looking up. A flying saucer was just a few hundred feet up from me. The ship!

I had to go find Xao or Kyle, we could make a deal, and... no. If I ran from cover I would be shot for sure... but... a deal was the only way to do this. Kyle hadn't told me what he planned on and... I looked around the rock. Shrapnel, debris, laser blasts, shock waves- and if I stopped my illusions, it all might have actual targets. Xao was depending on me... he wasn't depending on a trickster, he was depending on me. Me, a person, a human... a Triad.

I had to trust we could do this. In for a penny... I looked up.

I was on an adrenaline high, but in the back of my mind, I knew- I just knew there was no way that thing was coming down without a deal. A deal I had no way to make without letting down Xao.

The ship descended.