by TR Cameron
His words were interspersed with sobs of pain and mental anguish. “Ordered to. Council. Remembrance.”
“Why three hours?”
“Wasn’t told.”
“Take a bloody guess, you idiot.”
He coughed, and blood stained his lips. “Probably…timed with attack.” He managed a disgusting grin. “Your people…dying by now.”
Diana turned to Nylene. “I have to go.”
The Drow nodded. “You do. I will deal with him and watch over Lisa. Go, and remember that you’ve already used some of your power.”
She didn’t react to her teacher’s words as she cast a portal to headquarters and raced through it. Hang in there, y’all. I’m on my way.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Her comm crackled to life with the sounds of her team discussing logistics as soon as she arrived, Bryant’s deployment orders chief among them. Alfred gave driving directions, so she assumed she wasn’t that far behind. When there was a gap in the discussion, she asked, “What’s the status, people?”
Bryant’s voice was full of relief. “Is Lisa okay?”
“Yes. Thanks for asking. Nylene is a bloody treasure. Now, status.”
He chuckled once before he sobered. “There’s an attack underway at the Cube again. We’re en route and are waiting for an update from Warden Murphy. The attacking force portaled in on all sides and are gathering at the moment. It’s unlikely we’ll make it before the fun kicks off.”
Kayleigh added, “They have drones up now.” A window opened in her glasses to show the scene. Mixed groups of humans, witches, wizards, Kilomea, and what looked like dwarves were visible as they closed in on the area in a rush. Another pair of drones swooped into view and fired stun blasts at the oncoming enemies but they were absorbed by magical shields. “They’re planning to deploy lethal ones shortly.”
Rath sounded far more serious than she liked to hear him be. “We all felt this coming.”
Diana nodded. This had to be the event they’d been waiting for. Which means that Sloan’s in that mess somewhere. “Glam, warn Murphy that we have a friendly among the attackers. She should limit her lethal attacks to non-humans when possible, but not to make it too obvious. We don’t want to compromise Face’s cover either.”
“On it.”
Diana banged her locker open and changed faster than she could ever remember doing, leaving her other clothes in piles on the floor wherever they landed. She pulled the vest on and tightened it, then slipped her AI collar over her head. Next came the gloves, and she spent a moment making the necessary connections between her equipment. She popped the partially used magazine from the Glock and replaced it with a full load of anti-magic rounds and stored it in its holster. As she sat to buckle on the armor pieces, she asked, “Why do they think this attack will go better than the last?”
Tony replied, “I asked the warden that at the start. She has no idea but imagines that given all the talk inside, they’re hoping for a riot or something. Based on that, she put the Cube in full lockdown the moment this all began. Barriers are in place to separate the levels from one another, and the prisoners are all locked away in their cells.”
She fastened the last strap, stood, and selected her grenades. She chose sonics and fragmentation on the assumption that if she needed fire, she could use her magic. The energy potion went into her belt beside the healing potion that was already there, and she set the spare health draught into her locker. I’m sure I’ll need it eventually. She slammed the door closed and moved to the weapons wall. “How long until you’re on site?”
Alfred replied “Three minutes, twelve seconds.”
She shook her head at the prissy AI. “Excellent. What’s the plan, Hannibal?”
Bryant put a trace of the A-Team leader into his voice. “That depends. Will you join us?”
“I’ll be there before you.”
“Okay. We’ll go in together. Meet at the East side behind the enemy, near the far wall of where the office building used to be. We’ll approach from that angle and see what the situation is. If we’re able to identify Face, we can direct the Warden’s drones so they’re more efficient.”
“Roger.” Diana slipped her Colt M4 carbine strap over her head and slotted the spare magazines into place, exclusively anti-magic rounds. She stared at the versions loaded with armor-piercing ammunition with a distinct longing but shook her head. Too dangerous. There will be guards and prisoners who aren’t part of this. I can’t do it. “Glam, what else can we do here?”
“Not a thing, boss. The PD is blocking traffic, emergency services are on standby, and the Air Force reserve has choppers inbound.”
“Armed?”
“Yep. I’m assured it’s merely a backup plan in case things go to hell.”
She imagined the scene of a mini-gun opening up inside the city limits and shuddered. “Let’s make sure they don’t, then, shall we?” She opened a portal to a location near where Bryant had set the rally point and strode through.
Diana jogged up as the others bailed out of the SUVs. She stepped beside Bryant and together, they looked ahead toward the prison. Searchlights swept the grounds and revealed the enemies encircling the building. A low hum persisted behind the general noise and seemed to come from the center of the circle. Flaming wreckage from several drones was scattered around the perimeter. She shook her head. “What are they waiting for? And what happened to the drones?”
Kayleigh was the first to reply. “Fireballs took them out. They’re not all that nimble, all things considered. They’d probably be better with an AI on board for defensive maneuvering.”
Tony snorted. “And six months later, Skynet. No thank you.”
Warden Murphy’s voice joined the channel. “We have a situation inside.” The earth trembled beneath Diana’s feet, and she noticed that the humming had increased. She put it together an instant before it happened and yelled, “Get away from the cars.” The team scattered as she dashed to the side and the ground heaved and dirt erupted in random explosions. Their vehicles bounced, then settled.
The humming noise had built into a shriek, and their earpieces dampened in response. She could still hear the warden shouting something but couldn’t make out what it was. Another heave convulsed like the earth tried to throw them into space, and a fissure appeared at the border of where she knew the Cube to be.
She read Bryant’s lips as he cursed, and she nodded. The enemy troops scattered as the tear in the soil grew and spread toward the ARES team’s location. It ended about halfway to them, and Diana launched forward as the nearest opponent leapt into it. The sounds had stopped and the comm was audible again. Warden Murphy sounded apoplectic. “That stupid pirate is behind this. He set up some sort of resonance between his magic and the stuff outside, even though we took his wands away. And he’s on the bottom floor, where there aren’t any anti-magic emitters.” Pieces that had gnawed at her subconscious like square shapes she had tried to force into small round holes finally assumed their proper configuration.
Diana now saw clearly how extensively and effectively she’d been played. The scenes flashed before her—how easy it had been to track the Prince of Plunder and how calm he’d been when they’d discovered him. He wanted to be captured. And if he’s doing magic without wands, that means the bastard has pretended to be a wizard and used the wands like I use my bracelets when I’m bounty hunting. For a moment, she was actually in awe of the masterstroke that had gone exactly as the enemy intended. Their plan had been to literally break the Cube apart in order to free their people with one of the most unusual forms of magic generated simultaneously from inside and outside the prison.
The moment passed, and anger surged. “Okay, people. I’ve had it with these assholes, one and all. Any prisoner who resists, eliminate them. Every person you see inside who’s not in an inmate jumpsuit or a guard uniform is fair game.”
Kayleigh interrupted, “Except the warden. Please don’t shoot the warden.”
> Cara snorted angrily. “Tell her to keep her scrawny ass upstairs and coordinate, then.”
Diana nodded in agreement as she raced downward into the split in the earth. Ahead, the formerly underground structure of the Cube towered over her. The fissure ran down at a steep angle to the bottom floor where the not-actually-a-wizard pirate had been housed. All five stories were visible above and a crack through them opened each level to the newly created canyon. On the top level, guards fired into the mass of onrushing enemies, but the Remembrance troops had already penetrated the middle levels. She assumed the Prince of Plunder had made his escape shortly after he’d blasted the place open.
“Okay, folks, we’ll have to split up. Rambo, Hannibal, and I will go in on the fourth level down. You all go in on three. Our primary targets are the people we put in here. The main target is the male wizard leader. Second is the man he had leading his human followers. I’m sure the witch is around here somewhere, too. If you see her, don’t hesitate and pound her with every single thing you have. You do not want to play with her.”
She received a chorus of affirmatives from everyone. “Glam, can you give us feeds from inside?”
“Negative. The place wasn’t built to handle having one of its walls blown out, apparently. Everything is down. Main and backup power are both gone.” There was a pause accompanied by clicking keys. Diana slid to a stop and found a rough ledge to climb on that would lead her toward the fourth level. Ahead, several enemies took position in the gap, their rifles and wands facing outward. The tech sighed. “I have no eyes, no ears, and no access. Our own drones are inbound.”
Cara said, “Be sure to have someone waiting outside the escape tunnel. They should probably bring stunners and shoot everyone who emerges, regardless of what they’re wearing. Sort it out later.”
“On it.”
Diana considered that the prisoners might subdue the guards and take their uniforms, then decided it didn’t really matter. She’d trust no one, and she’d recognize the targets they were after on sight. Anyone else who got in her way…well, they’d better lay down fast or they were in for a world of hurt.
“Stay safe, people. If they escape, it’ll suck, but we’ll catch them again. Now, get in there and kick some Remembrance ass.”
Chapter Thirty
Cara led the way up the side of the fissure, then stopped and knelt. The men trailing her did the same. “Upstairs. Let’s clear those idiots out.” They’d all loaded anti-magic magazines into their carbines on the drive over, so it was about to be an expensive barrage. But a necessary one if any reinforcements are going to get in there to help us. Also if we want to avoid getting killed on our way in, which would be nice.
She sighted through the compact scope on the top and aligned the green reticule with the chest of the witch on the right side. She threw fire at a target on the surface level, presumably at guards the Cube had called in or the Police Department. If someone up there is smart, maybe the Army. She squeezed the trigger three times, and the woman staggered. No blood flowed, which indicated the enemy’s intelligent decision to wear vests, but she stood close enough to the edge that she fell and bounced down the steep slope to land a couple of feet behind Bryant, who looked up and tipped his hat to Cara.
“Watch out, they’re wearing vests.” Tony and Anik opened fire, and she chose her next target. Before the enemy realized what was happening, they’d wounded, killed, or driven back everyone who’d stood on the first-floor gap. She let her carbine fall against her chest. “Let’s go, double-time.”
Her arms pumped as she ran up the incline and alternated between keeping her gaze forward in search of enemies and down to preserve her footing. Halfway toward the opening, an enemy appeared on their level, and she had zero time to react before the bullet struck her chest and she staggered into the dirt on her right. Thank God that hit me on the wall side. She threw darts of fire at the shooter, and they struck and burned through his leg, vest, and face.
Cara willed away the wooziness that accompanied the use of her power and ran on to vault into the Cube through the giant V that had replaced its east wall. She crouched and raised her rifle, traversed it through a one-eighty-degree arc while her teammates joined her, then rose. “If I remember correctly, there are cells around the corner to the left and right, and a guard post ahead, with the recreation area beyond it.”
Tony replied, “I recall the same.”
“Okay. Glam, any clue as to where the Remembrance jerk we put away was stored?”
Kayleigh’s voice was scratchy. Something in the Cube’s construction apparently interfered with the comms. “He was to your right. But every indication is that the enemy had a plan, and they’ve been in there long enough to set the prisoners free.”
Cara sighed. “Do we know how they intend to get out?”
“The warden’s best theory is that they’ll use the escape tunnel on three. They’ll probably try to hold inside the entrance so they can deal with the guards or whoever one at a time.”
“Okay, I guess that’s our target. Quinn, give me the quickest route there.” Her AI put a map into the corner of her glasses and a dotted path headed directly ahead into the recreation area before it cut to the right. “Copy that to Stark and Khan.” She advanced in a crouched walk, setting one foot carefully in front of the next with her rifle up and ready.
She was prepared for anything except the ambush that triggered as soon as they reached the guard tower.
Diana and Bryant walked side-by-side, their rifles in position, each of them responsible for one part of the area as they made their way through the fourth floor. Several enemies with weapons appeared and quickly ducked again as the duo delivered shots to center mass and kicked anyone still functioning in the head to keep them down.
Rath trailed them, and every now and again, when she turned full circle to check behind them, she saw him swing his batons as if itching for someone to hit with them. I know the feeling, my man. She kept the potential appearance of the clever pirate at the forefront of her mind, ready to make sure he understood exactly how she felt about him but truly didn’t expect him to show. The one she really wanted was the enemy leader, Vincente.
Not only because he’d tried to throw her into the World in Between, although that was high on the list of reasons. He had been a thorn in her side and a risk to her city since the first day, and it was time for him to be permanently removed from the equation. After the failure of the Cube, Diana planned to argue that the worst of the worst should be sent to Trevilsom prison because keeping them around was clearly too dangerous.
Let the experts in magic punish those who abuse it the most. That punishment is appropriate. We’ll keep the lesser offenders and their henchmen in the Ultramax.
They’d chosen to travel along the right side, not really trusting the structural integrity of the middle portion and a little alarmed by the way the turret in the hall to the left kept momentarily coming to life and shutting down again. Despite a list of worries as long as her arm, it felt strangely good to have Bryant with her again and to know that Rath was nearby.
Ahead, short hallways led off to the cellblocks, and she’d have expected noise from within them. There was none. She stuck her head around into the hall and saw that the individual cell doors had been warped, likely from the same sonic blast that devastated the building’s structure. We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t collapse with us inside. “We have to check them. We can’t leave them unsecured behind us.” Bryant nodded, and they cleared the first set, which was empty of prisoners. In the second hallway, they found one prisoner, a wizard, cowering in the corner and muttering to himself. “Dammit. We can’t leave him here, and we can’t take him with us.” The three looked at each other, and then both she and Rath stared at Bryant.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll take him back to the entrance and toss him out of the building. Will that make you happy?”
Rath grinned. “Don’t break.”
He let out a long sigh
. “No, I won’t break him. Try not to get killed before I get back, okay? If Diana gets a beat down, I want to be there to see it, at least.”
She snorted. “Nice. Love you too. Go.” She waved for Rath to accompany her and they crept forward slowly and eventually reached the door that led to the recreation area. Sound came from inside—laughter and shouting—and she slipped her camera tube around the corner near the floor and under the barrier.
The window in her glasses revealed that the space was full of criminals who systematically stripped and donned the clothes of the guards who lay unconscious or dead nearby. Diana spoke softly into her mic. “Enemies putting on guard uniforms on four.” She pointed the camera more carefully. “Friday, snap pictures of these guys and upload.” The expected chime confirmed her command. She panned the lens to include all of them and caught motion in the corner of the room.
“Oh, how cute. The witch and wizard reunited.” She watched as Sarah handed Vincente a wand and the mage took it reverently, pointed it at a downed guard, and ejected a cone of fire at the prone form. Diana twitched, ready to attack, but there was nothing she could do for the burning figure except hope he wasn’t conscious for the experience. Okay, no more prisons for you two. The worlds will both be better off without you in them. She whispered to Rath, “This one looks ugly, buddy.”
He clicked his batons against each other. “Partners. Together to the end.”
She nodded. “You know it.”
Bryant came around the corner and dropped onto the floor beside where she crouched. He breathed as if he’d run all the way from his previous task. “It’s getting bad outside and more enemy reinforcements have arrived. Word is that the choppers might have to join the battle, and they’re calling up the National Guard to set a perimeter in case.”
Diana frowned. “I didn’t hear that.”