{"id":5817,"date":"2022-11-03T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=5817"},"modified":"2022-11-03T13:19:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T13:19:03","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/11\/03\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-125\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 125"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The three of them carefully made their way to what they presumed was de Lancre\u2019s master suite, the nanobots creating new doorways for them as they went. De Lancre\u2019s suite was in the center of the floor, presumably to best shield it from any outside forces.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4558\" width=\"277\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b.png 369w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/maite-and-kepa-v3b-215x300.png 215w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Adventures of Maite and Kepa<em> is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I&#8217;ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren&#8217;t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don&#8217;t know where it is going, and I&#8217;ll probably forget where it&#8217;s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Latxe jabbed at the tablet again and a new door opened up in front of them to de Lancre\u2019s suite. Just as the doorway had appeared, Kepa saw a bright light. \u201cDuck!\u201d he yelled, pushing Latxe to the side as he tackled Maite. A bolt of lightning flashed above their heads, smashing into the walls behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Lancre\u2019s enraged voice echoed across the room. \u201cDid you think to fool me so easily?\u201d he bellowed. \u201cI knew exactly where you were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa peeked out through the doorway. De Lancre stood in the middle of his room. His left arm, all mangled, hung limply by his side. But his right was raised, ready to strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Lancre let out a scream. Kepa saw his left arm begin to twist and contort as it was being reshaped.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe nanobots\u2026\u201d Kepa began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot on my watch, you son of a bitch.\u201d Latxe had also been peeking through the doorway and saw how de Lancre had begun healing his arm. She swiped at her tablet. De Lancre\u2019s arm stopped moving for a moment and then began to twist in unnatural ways. De Lancre fell to his knees, screaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI thought you said the nanobots couldn\u2019t hurt anyone!\u201d exclaimed Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Latxe gave him a cold look. \u201cThey can\u2019t unless I hijack them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re torturing him!\u201d yelled Maite over de Lancre\u2019s screams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny more than he tortured us?\u201d responded Latxe, all warmth completely gone from her voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maite winced as she heard the loud snap of one of de Lancre\u2019s bones break. This time, he barely let out a whimper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGelditu,\u201d said Kepa, firmly. \u201cStop.\u201d He held out his hand. Latxe looked down at her tablet then at Kepa. Tears welled in her eyes. Her hands quivered. But, after what seemed like an eternity, she placed the tablet in Kepa\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSentitzen dut,\u201d she whispered as she slumped against the wall. \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kepa bent over and kissed her on the forehead before turning to Maite and walking into the suite toward de Lancre\u2019s mangled body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\"><em>If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write <a href=\"mailto:blas@buber.net\">blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The three of them carefully made their way to what they presumed was de Lancre\u2019s master suite, the nanobots creating new doorways for them as they went. De Lancre\u2019s suite was in the center of the floor, presumably to best shield it from any outside forces.&nbsp; Latxe jabbed at the tablet again and a new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1vP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5818,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5817\/revisions\/5818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}