by TR Cameron
Heaven save us from competent enemies.
Rath took advantage of the witch’s focus on his partner to circle and deliver a jump kick at her head. His descending feet smacked her skull against the marble floor with a resounding crack, and her wand tumbled from nerveless fingers. They turned to the wizard together, but Cara was engaged with him and Diana couldn’t risk a shot. The woman had closed to hand-to-hand combat and hurled punches and kicks at her opponent. Tony stepped beside her with his rifle trained on the pair but was also unable to intervene.
The wizard generated small barriers to intercept his adversary’s attacks with flicks of his wand and retreated a step at a time. The concerned look on his face changed to fear when she used the wall to her left as a launchpad to hurl herself at him. His hasty shield slowed her in midair but wasn’t strong enough to prevent the inevitable collision. The elbow she’d thrown as she vaulted finished its arc and connected with his temple. The sharp snap as she rode him to the floor and landed on her knees atop him indicated broken ribs, without a doubt. His prone body slumped and she celebrated with a victory curse.
Diana mopped the sprinkler drizzle from her face. The SWAT team had joined them in the combat zone, which lay immediately outside the gift shop. She checked the map in her AR display and stroked her watch to zoom in on the image. “Okay, the most likely enemy path is through the souvenir store, then through the dinosaur exhibit, and finally, down.”
Donalds nodded. “Is it worth going around?”
She zoomed the blueprint out to make sure she hadn’t missed anything in her pre-op reviews and confirmed that she hadn’t. “This way will be the hardest for them to defend. A single enemy could keep us bottlenecked along the other approaches, so it might be safer in the long run, but we’d take forever to get there.”
Tony sounded annoyed, perhaps because he had been stuck on the sidelines of the earlier fight. “They’re deliberately stalling. Those two magic users could’ve run after the first attack, but they wanted to make sure we spent time here.”
Diana and the SWAT lieutenant spoke together. “Bastards.” She glanced at him and finished for them both. “Through the gift shop we go.”
An officer who’d taken a lightning blast was still down, and Donalds told another to stay with him and apply a healing potion, until the officer could be extracted. The third member looked shaky. An ugly red welt ran diagonally across her face from the left ear, but she held her stun gun at the ready. Diana wondered if this wasn’t the appropriate moment to more lethal weaponry, but it wasn’t her call to make. They obviously had their orders to minimize lethal force unless unavoidable, given that some of the protesters might simply be innocent people swept into something they didn’t fully understand. If they somehow flooded the building, stun guns were the preferred option.
The lieutenant detailed a trio to secure the area outside the gift shop. One faced the hall to the left, one the hall to the right, and the last guarded the staircase opposite its entrance. The stairs were not a viable option for the team because they led to an easily defended bottleneck a floor below.
They reestablished their marching order, and SWAT moved into the store. The lead officer reported, “Clear,” and the blue-clad troops advanced to the antechamber positioned before the next exhibit. The BAM team entered the room as the officers left. Cara beat her to the punch and yelled, “Illusions present!”
Diana and Cara both intoned, “What is hidden, let it be found,” and a shimmer appeared behind the cash register. Her first thought was, Ha. So she does have magic. Her second thought was, Holy Hell, as Rath dashed past, executed his now signature somersault over the counter, and delivered his perfect two-footed kick into the face of the suddenly visible wizard who had brought his wand to bear on the women.
The troll and his target vanished behind the desk with a resounding crash, and Diana heard the snick of batons extending, followed by the snap of the stun element built into the tips. The first time was surely essential to render the mage unconscious. The second might have been useful, assuming the enemy was particularly tough. The third sizzle, though, seemed like overkill.
“Rath!” The troll darted around the side of the counter with a smile on his face. She shook her head, and his grin brightened.
You’re a loose cannon, short stuff.
Warnings of contact sounded ahead, and she dashed through the mineral exhibit into the Hall of Dinosaurs. The troll dropped behind to cover Tony. The enemy had deployed in force among the skeletons. She counted at least six in the time it took to find cover and avoid the flurry of lead that peppered the display she now crouched behind.
“Okay, enough playtime,” she growled. She unclipped the stun gun’s strap and set the weapon aside.
Diana raised her rifle and rotated the selector from safe to semi-automatic. She positioned the barrel on top of the concrete barrier that formed the exhibit’s base and sighted through the leaves of the tall artificial plants it contained. Three pulls of the trigger forced the closest enemies into cover. The SWAT team advanced but quickly found themselves at a stalemate with the foes ahead as they engaged in a vicious exchange of fire.
The attack from above shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was since she’d dismissed it as a threat because there was no one there when they'd entered the room. Whatever magic users had since crept into position announced their presence with a blast of fire directed at Tony. The detective cursed as he stumbled away in panic. The pops of his anti-magic deflectors being consumed mixed with that of renewed enemy gunfire.
“Tony, fall back,” Diana ordered.
He scowled as he complied.
She announced, “Switching to anti-magic rounds,” and let the partially-expended magazine fall as she slapped in the expensive replacement. Calmly and precisely, she sighted the wizard on the balcony. His expression displayed the kind of smugness that only came with perceived invulnerability. She smiled and depressed the trigger three times. The bullets plowed through his hasty shield unhindered and blood blossomed from the trio of center-mass hits, while the recoil from the impact catapulted him back. She moved her rifle to the next target on the platform, but the lack of spells or obvious magical attack implied that this one was simply an ordinary scumbag who fired his rifle at the fighters below. A little disappointed by that, she set her finger outside the guard.
Dammit. I can’t waste them. I have to figure out who’s pulled our supply down, the sooner the better.
Diana drew a deep breath, scanned the room, and grinned.
She moved into position for a clean line of sight to the far wall. Hanging there, mounted against a thick window, were the bleached bones of a huge prehistoric fish. The largest were two-and-a-half times Rath’s current height. She reached out with her telekinesis and yanked one free from the rest, then hurled it at the enemy above. He scrambled back with a shout and ducked beneath a heavy glass and metal partition as the bone smashed to splinters.
You didn’t expect that, did you?
The opposition's gunfire ceased momentarily as they reacted to the shards of fishbone that rained down on them. The BAM team was not affected, fortunately, and used that lull to strike. Diana raced up the center aisle, snatched more fish bones telekinetically, and raised them high before she cast them down at enemies who hid behind the displays. Cara sprinted wide to the left and fired sideways at those she passed. She vaulted over a planter and slid into cover before the enemy could react. Rath followed in her wake and found a foe to batter and shock with his batons.
The assaults from above and the side disoriented the defenders enough that SWAT was able to take advantage of the moment. Working methodically and efficiently, they cleared the remaining adversaries in a series of quick advances. A pair of wizards on the balcony announced themselves by a sudden shower of sharp-pointed icicles that forced the team back into cover. The opposition seemed content to hold them in place, and the steady hail of ice javelins made it dangerous to move.
Rath, cl
early excited, grated over the comm as he said, “Big bones guy. Ramp. Shield?”
Diana immediately understood his plan. The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex filled the right side of the space, and its head towered above the second-floor balcony. It was a jump the troll could make easily but far too dangerous to reach without protection. She searched for the power she had used only the other day in her training with her partner, but magical energy proved elusive. In this situation, she hadn’t built any anger at the enemies—the trusted go-to that triggered her power—and only had a dispassionate need to get past them to the real threat.
She reached deeper and a flush rose in her cheeks as power threaded into her limbs. It was only an echo of what she’d experienced before, but it would be enough.
Hopefully.
She yelled at Cara. “Give us cover!”
The marshal’s voice was calm in her earpiece. “Affirmative. Switching to anti-magic rounds.”
Diana waited briefly, then stood. “Go, Rath.” She reserved a minimal amount of focus to flick away the descending icicles near her with left-handed telekinetic nudges. Most of her concentration followed her extended right hand as it tracked the troll’s charge while she pictured a curving barrier above him. It almost became visible as the sharpened spikes struck, shattered, and rolled off.
His arms and legs pumped furiously as he barreled up the beast’s spine with both batons clenched in his fists.
Cara’s counter-fire joined the mix. Apparently, the enemy was smart enough to learn. Her target chose to duck rather than shield himself. The spiked deluge diminished at least by half, and SWAT was able to evacuate their wounded. The wizard who hadn’t taken cover was at a bad angle for the marshal. He twitched his wand and the frozen rain careened sideways. If he couldn’t break the shield, he would go around it.
The troll thrust into the attack in a spinning twist and landed cleanly on the head of the T-Rex, then launched himself at the mage feet-first. The man swatted him with a slab of ice and redirected his opponent’s momentum to the side.
As it had so many times in the past when Rath had been in danger, the rage burned through Diana. She smiled as she hurled a blast of force at the wizard. Since imagination seemed to help shape her power, she visualized the attack as a high-speed baseball. The blow struck his shoulder and glanced off.
There’s a reason I’m not a professional athlete.
Despite the initial failure, the attack still bought the troll the time he needed, and a series of cries filled the air as he smacked the mage with his batons. He vaulted upward and stabbed both tips into the middle of the wizard’s chest. The man twitched like a fish out of water. Rath turned a vicious grin on the balcony’s other inhabitant and advanced.
The second gaped with horror at the troll who now stalked in his direction. He brought up his wand but hesitated as he debated his choices between threats. In that moment of hesitation, blood spattered from the man’s arm, shoulder, and head.
Diana didn’t wait as the final combatant fell and vanished from sight. She ran to the next exit and followed Cara deeper into the museum. “Rath, find your way to us,” she instructed over the comms.
The troll sounded as cheerful as ever. “Yep. Will.”
Tony closed the distance as he hurried after his teammates. Fortunately, he was about six feet away when the trap triggered and dropped a wall of stone that separated the dinosaur room from the one Diana and Cara had entered. They skidded to a stop and cringed at the impending collapse of the museum, but it didn’t materialize.
The agent’s voice had transitioned from his earlier annoyance to the angriest tone she’d heard from him. “I’m cut off.”
Diana snapped, “We can’t wait. Go another way, if you can. These assholes are still trying to delay us. We can't let that happen. It’s time to show them what we’re really all about.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cara’s longer legs put her in the lead as they descended the stairs at breakneck speed. The comms whistled as something in the lower portion of the building interfered with its signals. They crossed one level unopposed and entered the next. Ever the nimble acrobat, Rath soon caught up and kept pace a step behind the duo. The troll was dirty and his hair looked more like an old duster, but he still wore his ever-present smile.
With the comms down, Diana chose to go for safety over subtlety. They already knew the fighters were coming, after all. “Ignore the comm. Keep moving,” she said
Cara threw a thumbs-up as she reached the bottom of the steps. Two corridors branched, one left and the other right. Each woman took a moment to check their map before Cara bolted down the right branch. It ended in a ninety-degree turn. She slowed as she neared it and set her back against the inside surface. Diana and Rath soon caught up. The troll tapped his batons together impatiently.
I know the feeling, little guy.
The marshal stuck her head around the corner and withdrew it quickly to avoid the rattle of weapons fire that followed. She put her fingers on an incendiary grenade but Diana stopped her and pointed to the sprinkler system above. Cara nodded and selected a flash-bang instead. She hurled it blindly down the hallway and bolted forward when it detonated.
Two thugs along the same lines as those they’d faced upstairs writhed on the floor as a result of the combined light, sound, and concussion.
“Rath, tie them quickly and catch up.” Diana didn’t wait for an acknowledgment. She pelted after Cara, who had already almost reached the next intersection.
The marshal repeated her quick surveillance of the next area. No gunfire followed. “It looks like we found the snack bar. I saw tables and a counter. There are no visible enemies, but there are tons of places to hide.”
The leader nodded. “Let’s do two. I’ll throw the flash and you follow with the sonic. When we get in, I'm right, and you're left.”
Cara nodded and primed her grenade. Diana threw, and her teammate rolled hers a second later. They both surged into action before the munitions detonated, counting on their glasses, earpieces, and training to protect them from the grenades’ effects. True to their suspicions, several hidden enemies staggered in disorientation. Two presumed mundanes were armed with rifles, and a wizard held his wand in a limp hand. The sonic must have gone off at his feet, given the man’s dazed expression.
The marshal raced to the gunmen and ripped their weapons away, then kicked the backs of their knees to force them down. It didn’t take her long to zip tie them. Diana seized the wizard’s wand from his hand and stowed it in the back of her belt, then knocked the combatant senseless with a leg sweep and trussed him. Before they finished, Rath had rejoined them.
The trio was about to exit the room when two enemies emerged from the doors at the rear, having watched the fight play out. Diana had a moment to berate herself before they waved their wands and summoned two portals that ejected a flood of two-foot-high furry creatures.
Monkeys. How cute. She squinted. Okay, monkeys with giant fangs and claws. Not so cute.
Rath growled and raced into the attack without hesitation. She ducked behind a nearby trash container as one of the wizards aimed a shadow bolt at her and barely missed.
With a muttered curse, she raised her gun and fired a triple burst at the nearest monkey. The anti-magic bullets shredded it instantly. She had a moment where she considered drawing her pistol to see if the animals could be destroyed with normal rounds, but the witch fired lightning bolts at Cara and the situation became too dangerous to worry about being economical.
The troll disabled his opponent with two powerful swats to the head, then charged at the closest wizard. Time slowed for Diana, and she scanned the field to determine the cause. It didn’t take long. The storm-wannabe witch wore an evil grin on her face as she directed her wand at the unsuspecting troll.
Oh, hell no.
Diana pulled the trigger and six rounds thumped into the woman. The corpse fell back against a wall and left a red trail as she slid into a crumpled
heap.
Time didn’t return to normal and Diana panicked at the very real fear that Rath was still in danger. A flood of rage burned through her, and she released the rifle to free her hands. The first yanked the man’s wand out of his grasp. The other punched forward to strike him with a blast of force that rocketed him against the wall. The satisfying crack of bones greeted her ears, and she smiled wickedly.
Time sped up, and she retrieved her weapon and picked off four more monkeys before it clicked empty. She dropped the magazine and slid in a replacement filled with normal rounds, then swung the carbine to assist Cara. She’d already defeated three of her simian opponents and was in close combat with two others. They hopped and scampered about her and their wicked claws swiped and slashed with vicious intent. The woman dodged and wove, but her hands and face had already gained several bloody scratches. She deflected a creature that swung at her eyes and whirled to deliver a spinning kick to the other airborne menace. Its new momentum was stopped abruptly by a support pillar in the center of the room. It fell and tried weakly to climb back to its feet. Rath ran in its direction.
The fight ended with simultaneous blows from Cara’s foot and Rath’s batons as they dispatched the remaining creatures. The marshal swapped her empty magazine for a standard one. “Well, those were some expensive little bastards.”
Diana nodded. “When we’re done, we need to go back and claim everything these jerks have on them as our own. Maybe there’s a local pawn shop with access to high-end magical technology.”
Cara laughed and her expression was rueful. “Didn’t you promise me big budgets and awesome tech?”
“I think I specified eventually. How about we simply agree to blame Bryant?” She moved toward the exit that led to the rest of the floor’s functional areas.