[Plot] Knight Sacrifice

[Alex Sablinova]

<"I'm afraid we're well beyond that now. All that's left is to decide what it is I am there to tell him, yes?">

[Katarina Karkov]

<"And what are you to tell him?">

[Alex Sablinova]

<"Well, I suppose I will either be announcing our soon-to-be nuptials, and beginning a celebration that will unite the entire country together...

...Or I will be informing him that his Golden Girl is a perverted whore. One or the other.">

[Nika Novak]

Nika flinches at that, balling her fist at her side.

[Katarina Karkov]

<"And you believe my father would believe you? You are putting your neck on the line for this. Ambition does not suit you, Prince Alex.">

[Alex Sablinova]

<"I believe that's a risk you're not willing to take.

The crown suits me, Katarina, and your mistakes have opened it up for me. You may either move aside, or be moved aside.">

[Katarina Karkov]

<"You put me in an awkward position, Prince Alex. I can not let you tell my father at this point in time. Nor have you proven yourself to be the caliber of individual who can run a country. So, you see, that neither of your options are at all acceptable.

You are, simply put, not clever enough to rule. Which begs the question -- you're not clever enough to have found me, either, nor are you clever enough to have investigated any alleged relationships I may have had while I was here. So, my Lord, if you have your heart set on destroying me, perhaps we should find out just where you get your information from, yes? To see who has you on the leash.">

[Alex Sablinova]

Alex's eyes darted over to Nika, ever so briefly. <"You're not in a position of power here, Princess. Those days are gone. When all is left is the fall, you get to decide how graceful your landing is.">

[Nika Novak]

"<Are you threatening the Princess?>"

[Alex Sablinova]

<"Were you spoken to, Lieutenant?"> the Prince asked, sharply.

[Nika Novak]

Nika presses her lips into a thin line and simply stares at Prince Alex.

[Alex Sablinova]

<"It is not a threat, it is an explanation of circumstance.">

[Katarina Karkov]

<"I do not know; it seems suspiciously like a threat to me, would you not agree, Nika?">

[Nika Novak]

"<It most certainly seems like a threat. Treason even. I did not think you would go this far, Prince Alex.>"

[Alex Sablinova]

<"Symkaria is only as strong as it's leader. If it's leader is weak, Symkaria is weak.">

[Katarina Karkov]

<"Symkaria would fall with you in charge, Alex.

Nika, I must ask you to put the prince into custody.">

[Nika Novak]

"<You heard her Highness. Don't make this any more difficult than this needs to be.>" she says as she steps forward, most of her focus on the bodyguard rather than Alex himself.

[Narrator]

<"Her highness is no longer in a position to make those calls,"> the bodyguard said, flexing up and stepping between Nika and the prince. <"The Sablinovas are ascending to the throne.">

[Nika Novak]

"<Treason!>" Nika barks, oddly relieved for the fact that her own failing is overshadowed by a much larger betrayal. She doesn't have her full arsenal on her, but she feels confident she can take on one bodyguard. Prince Alex himself barely qualifies as a physical threat to her.

"<Behind me, your Highness!>" she says as she surges forward, producing a pen from her bag and flinging it forward with her power, aimed at the bodyguard's shoulder.

[Narrator]

The bodyguard ducked to his right as Nika's pen flew over his shoulder, charging forward and trying to slam into Nika's midsection to take her down.

Katrina, for her part, took a half-step back towards her room, used to letting Nika provide security in insecure times.

[Nika Novak]

Nika tries to twist out of the way of the charge, pushing off of the wall to try and bring her knee to bear against the bodyguard's head.

[Narrator]

Nika hit a glancing blow, but her opponent had the same training she did, tumbling to the ground in a way to minimize (though not eliminate!) the blow to the head.

Shaken for a moment, he nevertheless tried to hook Nika's knee to bring her down to the ground.

[Nika Novak]

Nika let's herself fall on her back, freeing up one leg to aim a kick at her opponents head to buy her a moment to pull two metal bolts from a holster under her shirt.

[Narrator]

The bodyguard stumbled back as Nika delivered an excellently aimed kick, buying her the time she needed to re-arm herself.


Prince Alex, meanwhile, had taken steps towards Katarina, and had shoved the golden girl back into her own dorm room, closing the door behind them as Nika grabbled with the guard.

[Nika Novak]

Nika, still on her back, holds both hands up with a bolt held in each fist, aiming them down and towards the bodyguard and fires them off, aimed at center-mass. If it was just between them she'd try to go for less potentially debilitating injuries, but losing sight of Katarina makes her drop some of those scruples.

[Narrator]

Fortunately for Nika, the bodyguard was able to twist enough that her bolts just shattered some ribs, rather than piercing anything too important. That's more than enough to at least temporarily take the bodyguard out of the fight!

[Nika Novak]

"<Sorry. But you'd do the same.>" she says as she jumps to her feet and rushes after Alex and Katarina, not bothering to check if the door is locked, instead placing her hand on the door-handle. She let's her power do the rest, ripping out the entire handle and kicking open the door at the same time.

[Narrator]

The room was empty; the window open beyond it, a zipline attached to the window

Alex and Katarina were running along the ground outside, alongside a third man -- the other person she had seen lurking around Alex's room at the hotel. A second bodyguard? Damn!

There was a dent in the window frame, possibly caused by a solid gold head smashing into it, and on the floor in front of it, the emergency card Nailah had been slipped -- had she tried to activate it to call for help, or had it been wrenched out of her hand, or was she keeping it away from Alex?

Those were all good questions, but for now, the trio were getting away!

[Nika Novak]

"гидити!" she curses. Spotting the dropped card she picks it up and activates before grabbing a pair of jeans (thanks Nailah for being messy about your laundry) and using it to go down the sipline after them.

[Narrator]

As Nika went down the zipline, a few shots rang out, the bodyguard trying to shoot her off the line.

With Nika as a moving target and the three on the ground running themselves, the shots were a bit off line, but one did hit Nika in the shoulder as she slid.

[Nika Novak]

Nika feels her hand losing it's grip as the pain shoots through her shoulder and the last thing she sees before the ground knocks her unconscious is Katarina being whisked away.

[Drake Martin]

Hearing gunshots, Drake raced to his dorm room window in time to see Katarina being dragged away by the douchebag prince. Cursing, he scrambled out the window and took to the air. By the time he did that, he had unfortunately lost sight of them.

God damn it. I'm too late.

Spotting Nika, he swooped down to land next to her. He kneeled to check her pulse. Relieved, he called for the infirmary to send help.

"Don't worry. Help's on the way," he said as he took out a handkerchief and pressed it to her wound to slow the bleeding.