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The truck veered hard as it narrowly avoided another large pine that had materialized out of the darkness. Whatever items or people that had not been secured previously were tossed around haphazardly throughout the interior. Steady hands expertly manipulated controls, as commanded of the powers that existed that the whole rig didn't stall. Somewhere beneath the roar and protest of the engine, the sound of branches and stone snapping and crunching in the distance, along with sets of glowing blue eyes let them know that they were still being pursued.
"Did she say p-prisoner?!" The princess' voice called out, somehow cutting between the din of the roaring engine and the steady blam of Morden's shotgun. Her voice held a mild tone of panic even as her arm gripped tightly at Justice's arm that kept her stable and still. "Is shooting diplomats out of the sky a normal thing here or- Ah! "
The entire truck bed shuddered and shifted again as Kali weaved through both enemy fire and terrain, the sudden shift silencing the princess. Gerard took that as his moment to chime in.
"Well they're trying to kill us too, so I wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly your royalness." Gerard commented, using his telekinesis to hold a growing line of shotgun shells steady next to Morden's hand as he fired, so the larger WARDEN could reload without having to pull himself back into the truck. "That being said, I think third party might be a safe assumption at this point. But they have to be pretty ballsy to fly a ship into Rassvet airspace and start shooting."
The ground nearby them exploded as the ship shot at them again, nearly blinding them with the light of the detonation. This time close enough to knock the truck off its wheels for a second before it landed with a rough crash. Stone splinters ripped through the fabric cover of the truck bed and peppered their aegises, magical barriers flaring in response to the shrapnel. As though the explosion was a beacon of light marking their position, a volley of energy bolts streaked from the sets of blue eyes growing increasingly lost in the distance, a horizontal storm of lightning bolts streaking at their vehicle. Justice parried the bolt that was headed straight for the center of the cabin, as Silje's detonation caught the vast majority of the rest. The resulting air stank of burnt ozone, but at least they hadn't died.
This manic chase ontinued for what felt like an eternity. Eventually tires bounced from dirt and stone to slick asphalt, the truck cutting across a road to reach the nearby woods. The darkness gave way to the dim, spread out highway lights, a short bit of open ground before the relative shelter of the woods.
And then something strange happened.
Their pursuers stopped. Mechanical frames slowed at the very border of the preserve, their movements shifting from precise and calculated to jerky and unsteady before coming to a complete halt. Raised cannons lowered, eyes flickered for a moment, as though glaring at the truck, and very slowly they began to turn and disappear back into the darkness. The ship froze in the sky. Another low tone from somewhere within its bowels was sounding and seemed to stretch across the land and vibrate their very bones. The silhouette of the ship flickered and then vanished, taking its storm clouds with it- scattering like a disturbed reflection at the water’s edge, the prior drone suddenly replaced with a very noticeable silence.
They drove onward in continued silence, still on edge. A mile or so ahead of them were the clustered lights of a tiny rest stop and gas station. Gerard peered into the darkness, waiting for yet another surprise. All that was heard was the occasional cry of a beast somewhere in the distance and the sound of wheels against asphalt. The lights of the truck flickered and the engine began to cough as Val finally reached the limits of her ability. The sounds of the radio left on from before and seemingly forgotten in the chaos began to slowly fill the truck.
Collette’s hands were still shaking. Her heart felt like it was somewhere in her neck and refused to move down. Very gingerly she peeled Justice's arm off of her as the truck slowed from its frantic gallop down to a slow, exhausted trot. The old engine letting out a low sigh of relief as it did, only alive because of Val's magic. She flickered her head towards the wildly different looking WARDENs in the back of the truck with her and released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "They're just gone? Just like that?"
"Hey look, we have cell service again." Gerard commented to nobody in particular as he grimaced at his phone, it's screen having cracked at some point during the conflict and drive.