by TR Cameron
He nodded. “There are comm issues inside the building. Kayleigh has promised to create a portable base station or something like that. Who knows? There were a lot of unfamiliar words.”
She laughed. “There always are with her. Don’t feel bad because you’re stupid. We won’t judge.” She paused and when he tried to speak, interrupted him. “Okay, the room inside sucks. Sarah and Vincente are both there, along with a ton of goons. There may be friendlies alive but all are down, which rules out frag and incendiary grenades. So, here’s what we’ll do.”
After a minute of planning, they were ready. Diana held a sonic grenade in her left hand and crouched in front of the door. Rath pressed his back against the wall beside the metal barrier with a flashbang in each hand. Bryant stood on the other side of the door, his carbine raised, and braced to dash into the room. The plan was to eliminate the leaders in the first barrage while they recovered from the grenade attack and before they could bring their magic to bear. Especially their shadow magic.
She looked at her teammates. Bryant smirked and Rath gave her a double thumbs-up around the grenades before he pushed the primers down. I couldn’t ask for better people. I hope the others are okay. She pushed all worry out of her mind to focus on the moment. “Here we go. Three, two, one….”
Chapter Thirty-One
The turrets mounted on the guard station spun to life as they advanced and the two nearest their position swiveled to face them. People in street clothes appeared inside the partially transparent diamond-shaped room with wicked grins on their faces at their clever play.
Cara reacted instinctively and flung herself forward and away from the turrets and to the right of the defense post. She hadn’t accounted for the weapons on the back, which rotated to face her. Anik, quicker on the draw, grabbed Tony and pulled him directly against the side of the tower and below the guns’ deflections to keep them both safe. They kept their chests pressed against the bulletproof glass as they sidestepped around toward the door that led into the structure.
She rolled onto her knees, released her carbine, raised her hands, and fired flaming darts at the turrets on the far side before they could acquire her. The bolts of fire sliced through the gun emplacements and they sparked briefly before they fell quiescent. She stood and her legs wobbled a little. Her intention was to break the door open and eliminate the criminals inside, but the steel barrier that separated the elevator lobby from the hallway to the recreation center retracted to reveal a cluster of foes behind it, arranged in pairs. The first duo held rifles aimed at her head.
“Oh, hell. A little help,” she yelled. A quick flip of a switch set her carbine to full-auto, and she knelt and released a volley at the enemies at the same time that they pulled their triggers. She counted on them being amateurs and not allowing for recoil, and they luckily obliged. Their initial shots went high and the next ones even higher. She rode the weapon’s pushback and used it to drag the rifle from lower left to upper right and stitch the pair with bullets.
She fired until the magazine ran dry and annihilated the first four in moments. The criminals behind them clambered over their bodies and flooded into the room. Tony came around the corner firing, and Anik turned to the guard post windows, held up a claymore so the enemies inside could see it, and made sure they saw him slap it against the doorway and place a trigger. His grin was audible. “That’ll keep the bastards bottled up unless they want to eat steel.”
Cara decided the nearest ones were too close for her to free her pistol in time to stop them from overrunning her position. She stepped forward with her left foot and brought the right around in a crescent to drive the closest one’s weapon aside. Before he could respond, she turned her motion into a spinning sidekick that hurled him back into his allies. Tony double-tapped foes one after the other, and in short order, none remained in the hallway. She ejected the magazine in her rifle and replaced it with standard rounds, then knelt and emptied it at the turret ahead to leave it a smoking lump of metal.
Tony looked at her with a grin. “Did you have something in particular against that one? It bullied you in school, maybe?”
She groaned. “Honestly, you’re an idiot.”
He laughed. “I know. But you love me anyway.”
“Is that what that sick feeling like you’re going to throw up, is? That’s good to know.” She reloaded with anti-magic bullets and led them forward. “Okay, recreation area ahead and tunnel entrance off to the right. Don’t get too comfortable. These guys didn’t have vests, but we know some of them do now. These were total cannon fodder. There will be something more dangerous waiting for us.”
Anik chuckled. “I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me.”
Cara groaned again. “Okay, you’re both idiots.” The sound of the two men exchanging a high five followed, and she shook her head with a grin. If you’re going to risk life and limb, it’s good to be able to do it with people you like.
Diana gathered force in her cupped palm, then pitched a fastball at the metal door before her. It rocketed off its hinges and into the room beyond, and she had the satisfaction of hearing a shout of pain from one of their adversaries when it smashed into them. Rath threw his grenades around the corner, set for short-duration, and they detonated as they landed about halfway across the large space. Hers flew in an instant later and did the same.
Bryant was in motion immediately after the grenades and ducked into the room, and Diana was right behind him. Her glasses and earpieces dulled the impact of the flashbangs and preserved her from the effects of the sonic grenade, although the concussion still rattled her teeth. She couldn’t hear the bullets leaving Bryant’s gun but saw the witch summon the dented door and position it in front of her and Vincente to protect them from the barrage. Bryant shifted his fire to deliver rounds into the chest of the nearest enemy. When the woman didn’t fall but returned several shots from her pistol, he lowered his rifle and shot her in each leg before he moved on to the next target.
Diana’s initial force attack had also been blocked by the metal barrier, and she wasn’t up for another game of tug o’ war with the heinous witch. Instead, she used her telekinesis to take hold of the tables that had been pushed to the perimeter of the room and hurl them at anyone other than Bryant who still stood. She ran out of fresh ammunition and reused the ones that hadn’t broken from the first use. Enemies fired at her, but she maintained a full-body shield while she worked. The energy drain was substantial, and she recalled and quickly discarded Nylene’s warning. Maximum effort, like Deadpool would say.
In her peripheral vision, Rath hurtled forward and weaved through the chaos toward the two primary enemies. She launched random shards of furniture toward them to cover the troll, and he slid along the slick floor with his batons raised, then stabbed them into the feet of the witch that were visible under the barrier. He rolled aside as the door’s bottom clanged down, and Diana saved him from being crushed with a force push that shoved him out of the way of the toppling metal and out of immediate danger.
Sarah snarled at the pain from the shock Rath had delivered, but otherwise, didn’t react. The man beside her smiled. “Agent Diana Sheen. I have longed to see you again.”
“I’m happy that my pain can be your pleasure. I had hoped never to see your ugly face again.”
“Well put. Your pain will be my pleasure, and I dearly hope you’ll last a long, long time as I carve the flesh from your bones.”
She turned to Bryant. “You heard that, right? Did he actually say that?”
He nodded. “Yep. It’s like evil villain primary school in this place.”
Diana laughed and faced the wizard again. “Are you cranky? Do you need a nap? Maybe a juice box? Listen, you can be honest, I won’t tell anyone. do you have Mommy issues?”
Vincente’s face had grown steadily redder, and the last comment broke the dam that restrained his fury. He raised his wand, and a fireball rocketed at the troll. His other hand clenched in
to a fist and tentacles of translucent darkness erupted from it. All eight of them moved unerringly toward her. She summoned a shield, and the wizard’s satisfied smile grew large in her vision as they bent to the left and impaled Bryant, two in each limb, and hoisted him off the floor. His scream of pain rang in her ears, and she dashed toward him. She skidded to a stop as a line of shadow orbs from the witch forced her to conjure a buckler that wasn’t nearly fast enough and staggered as the magical attack consumed half her deflectors.
She met Rath’s eyes and saw determination in them. “Go help Bryant.” He nodded and broke into a run. Diana reached deep for her fire, envisioned the shape she wanted to form it into, and let it flow. Her shield was replaced by two large fans of flame that extended from her hands, the edges sharp and rounded. She sprinted at the tentacles that held Bryant, ducked under them, and spun to sever the translucent limbs one after the other. Her twist ended on the far side with a telekinetic burst that lowered him gently to the ground. Rath was there in an instant, and she protected them both with a force bubble seconds before Sarah’s magic covered them.
Her left hand was free, and she acted without conscious volition to draw the Ruger and empty the six chambers into the woman. The witch’s eyes widened, and she called upon the shadow skin she’d used before, but the anti-magic rounds were not impeded. The bullets struck her in the hip, twice in her chest, once in the shoulder, and once in the arm she’d raised in defense. The final bullet missed because the witch was already falling, out of the fight for the moment at least.
She holstered the weapon in time to raise her own arm against the table that careened toward her face. Dammit, I hate it when the idiots use my own tactics against me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cara led the way into the recreation area, which was unexpectedly empty. She stepped in, moved right, and swung her rifle to cover that part of the room. Tony did the same for the center and Anik the left-hand portion. Only echoes greeted them.
She sighed. “That’s weird.”
“Right?” Tony replied. “It sucks when you get all dressed up to annihilate criminals and they don’t show up.”
The other man’s voice had lost its playfulness. “This means they’re ready for us somewhere else, doesn’t it?”
Cara nodded toward the door that led from the right side of the room. “Probably. What do you think the chances are that they left a present behind on the other side of that door?”
The demolitions expert moved to it without answering, extracted a rectangle with a display screen, and ran it from the bottom to the top. “Yep, there are explosives somewhere around.”
Tony asked, “Could it be from the gunfire?”
“No. I detect the signature of C-4. The enemy must have brought some along.” He stowed the sensor and dug into the pouch on his thigh, withdrew three small bricks of explosive, and pushed them into place at the top, middle, and bottom of the door on the side opposite the hinges. Anik pulled three compact chips from a separate bag and inserted them into the soft beige compound.
He disappeared into the hallway they’d come from and stuck his head out. “Unless you’re really looking for a close-up view of things going boom, you might want to join me.” They did, with hasty steps.
He extracted a black cylinder from his belt with a large yellow button on top covered by a plastic cap, with three colored buttons on the side. A twist of its upper and lower sections in opposite directions caused the top button to glow. He pressed the red one. “I’m selecting the detonator group.”
Tony sounded concerned. “What if you didn’t use all of them? Wouldn’t the ones in your pocket blow up?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. They need to be armed on the device, then they need to be armed with this. Double safety. Plus, there’s a distance lockout so if the detonators are within three feet of the trigger, they won’t go off. So, triple safety.” He flicked the cover open with his thumb. “Fire in the hole.”
He pressed the button and a large bang sounded from the next room, followed by an even larger one. Cara stuck her head around the corner and saw that the door, plus part of the wall, no longer existed. “Wow. That was certainly something.”
Anik tucked the device back in his belt. “What can I say. I’m good at what I do. All the things I do.” He put a lecherous lilt in his last sentence and both Cara and Tony broke into laughter, which teased a dramatic frown from the demolitions expert. “What? I am.”
She shook her head and advanced toward the room, trusting the others to stay on her six. Once she entered through the demolished doorway, she made a right toward the double-sized door that guarded the emergency exit tunnel down the corridor on the left side. An arm appeared, and a pair of grenades rolled at them. She uttered an undignified scream and called, “Grenade,” but knew she couldn’t get away from them. Her mind offered her only one idea, so she ran forward and kicked each of them as hard as she could. They were halfway down the hallway when they detonated and spread flames onto all the surrounding surfaces.
Tony muttered, “That was so stupid,” as he ran past her toward the entrance that sheltered the attackers. Anik stalked past on her other side, and added, “So, so stupid.”
Cara sighed. “An artist is always unappreciated in her own time. Now, let’s shove some grenades down these bastards’ throats.”
She turned the corner to where the other agents were already firing, and the enemy stumbled backward. Ahead, she saw the man she’d personally put into the Cube holding a pistol in his remaining hand. He aimed it at her and fired three shots. She spun to avoid them but took the next trio in the back of her vest. The force of impact slammed her forward into the wall. She let herself fall and roll into a backward somersault, tried to ignore the grinding sound and sensation of her newly broken nose, and lurched to her feet.
Another two grenades clattered in their direction, and Tony yelled, “Out.” They dashed around the corner in time to avoid the shrapnel that erupted. The group paused, waiting for more to appear, but none did. Cara bolted back into the room, her eyes watering from the pain and the dust and debris, and watched the steel door separating their section from the next slide closed to shut out Marcus’s wide grin.
Tony limped up beside her and stared at the barrier. “Why didn’t you do one of those run and dive things? You totally could have made it.”
She turned with a glare. “That opening was like a foot wide and ten feet away.”
He shrugged. “You’re small and agile, Croft. I’m disappointed, frankly.”
She held two middle fingers up to his face and waved them there to make sure he had a good look, and they laughed together.
Anik came into the room in time to see the finish and shook his head. “You people are insane, you know that?”
Tony spun to address him. “So what you’re saying is that you joined the right team?”
He broke into a grin. “Absolutely.”
Cara jogged past him, headed for the large crack in the building. “We need to let Kayleigh know they’re going through the tunnel. Then, we should check the higher levels and make sure the warden and her people are okay.” The immediate footfalls of her comrades beside her were a balm against her frustration. You had the advantage this time, my one-armed-bandit friend. Next time, I’m gonna rip the other one off and beat you with it.
The table crashed into her upraised arm and the impact shoved her toward the wall. She gathered her wits in time to use her own hurled debris to deflect other pieces that were pitched at her by the damn regrown tentacles. A shadow blast exhausted her deflectors as she focused on the dual needs to protect her teammates and annihilate Vincente. The wizard’s arms were in constant motion to both direct the tentacles and throw things at her.
“Okay, enough. Rath, grab Bryant and hold tight.” The troll obeyed, and Diana slid them out of the room through the opening she’d created earlier with a gentle shove from her force magic. “If you see anyone, let me know right away.”
“Give him the healing potion.”
“Will.”
“Stay safe.”
“You too.”
“Oh, I’m gonna be safe once I put this bastard in the dirt.” The tentacles darted at her, and Diana summoned a blast of force. She sent it out in a wave from her position, cleared the debris around her, and shoved the grasping arms away. “Hey, scumbag. You’re gonna pay for that.”
His face twisted and he circled, which forced her to do the same. He thought he was being crafty and graceful, but he merely looked like a child playing pretend. Too used to being the top dog and not having to fight for scraps.
He sneered, “Awww, did your boyfriend get hurt?”
“First, my relationship status is none of your concern. Second, bite me. Third…” She finished the sentence by summoning her flame fans again and thrusting into a sprint directly at the wizard. His eyes widened, and he released shadow bolts at her, but she deflected some with the weapons and dodged the rest. I have to remember that I can’t take any more hits since my deflectors are gone.
She missed a block and a tentacle latched onto her ankle and yanked her upward with a swift, sickening tug. The thick material of her boot protected her from a cut, and she wrenched herself up in a stomach crunch to slice it away as more reached for her. She dropped, landed hard, and lost her breath but managed to roll out of the way of the continuing attacks. Her weapons vanished, and she covered herself in a force shield scant seconds before the tentacles wrapped around her and started to squeeze.
It was her nightmare yet again. Fortunately, repetition had decreased her panic. I’m not sure why these assholes all have tentacles, but so be it. Shadow blasts struck her cocoon as well, and Vincente cackled as he forced her to drain her energy to protect herself. She tried for another force blast to free herself, but the power was elusive and she couldn’t get enough. For the first moment since she’d entered the Cube, she felt real fear that they might not win.