With a quick tug, she fell backwards, laying the guard on top of her. As soon as her back came to rest on the ground, she pressed the button on the back of her hand. The roar of the explosion came sudden, and then there was nothing. She couldn’t hear a thing. At such close proximity to the explosive, the resulting shockwave blew her and her human shield back, sliding on her back across the tiny pieces of gravel. Her fingers ached where she gripped the guard’s shoulders. The throbbing, sharp pain came from surface burns at the tops of her hands, the super-heated air of the blast singing her in an instant.
Cora’s eyes started to roll into the back of her head. Laying on her back had only made things worse. She felt like she was drowning, struggling to breathe through lungs filling with liquid. She turned her head, trying to get her body to follow. Another cough, and more blood splattered the ground. She told herself not to shut her eyes, but her body didn’t want to listen. In and out with no ability to hear, it caught her by surprise when a firm hand grabbed her up by the arm and dragged her backwards along the ground. She opened her eyes to see the guard she’d used as a shield, fragments and splinters of scorched metal sticking out of his chest. Beyond him, the SAM launcher belched plumes of black smoke into the air amidst mangled metal and debris. She let her head fall back to view behind her. A Bauer soldier dragged her by the wrist to the center of the roof. The other soldiers moved their mouths and gesticulated with violent intent, waving him over so they could take turns exacting their revenge.
The pain in her chest reached a fever pitch, even as breathing came easier. It reminded her of Lucius’ butcher doctor, digging forceps into her belly without anesthetic as she sat tied to a chair. Still deafened by the blast, she couldn’t hear the shouting of the guards as she was brought before them. The soldier deposited her in a circle of his comrades. By instinct, she rolled to her stomach, trying to brace herself onto her elbows. A kick from a steel-toe boot smashed into her ribs. She lost balance and collapsed. The pressure against her chest exacerbated the pain, prompting her to prop herself up again, even as she knew another kick would be waiting for her.
A spike in the pain drew her attention down to her wound. A gleam of metal shined back at her. Her mouth opened, stunned. Her body was pushing the bullet out as she healed. The stabbing grew more intense, faster and faster over the matter of seconds until the spent bullet fell from her chest. She heard voices, faint in the distance as though she were underwater. Her head turned up, prepared to see the hatred and rage in the eyes of the gang of soldiers that surrounded her.
Instead, their attention was elsewhere, all of them facing the north end of the building, away from her. The man nearest to her aimed a rifle at something in the distance, the muzzle flashes the only sign they were shooting. The soldier’s head snapped back violently. He dropped to his knees beside her, the shaft of an arrow protruding from his eye.
Clambering to her knees, still in a fog of disoriented chaos, Cora watched the next nearest man drop to the ground, and arrow sticking out of his neck. He fell, freeing her view to the end of the roof. She first saw Johnny through the windows of a helicopter hovering inches from the edge of the building. Julian and Madeline split as they jumped from the cargo door, one going left, the other right. They fired rifles and raced for cover. Remaining behind on the helicopter, Michael fired and reloaded his ancient bow faster than her dizzy head could perceive.
An arm crossed over her throat from behind and pulled back. Struggling for air, she tried to wriggle free, grabbing at his forearm. She felt banded metal beneath his sleeve, his cybernetic replacement dozens of times stronger than a human arm. He pulled her to her feet, his free arm extended around her shoulder. He trained a weapon on Julian.
“Move and she dies,” he shouted into her ear. It wasn’t the first words she was hoping to hear when her senses returned.
Cold metal pressed against her temple, the gun trained to her head. She had no idea how her abilities worked, but she was certain a gunshot to the head from a 9mm at point blank range was beyond its capacity to fix.
“Echo-1,” Michael’s voice drilled into her ear, making her wince. “Hands up, buy her a second. I’m taking the shot.”
Julian did as he was told, freezing in place. He raised both hands in surrender, tossing his rifle to the ground. Cora’s eyes set ahead of her to the chopper. Michael stood on the landing skid, a tether around his waist. He drew back his bowstring. Cora’s eyes flared wide. He was over a hundred feet away. She braced for a miss and prayed it only hit her in the shoulder.
“Stay put!” the guard shouted. “Where’s the other one? I’ll kill her, I swear-”
His voice cut short. His grip on Cora’s neck loosened. He fell away, sliding off and smashing to the ground behind her. An arrow stuck out from the bridge of his nose. His eyes flitted back and forth as his brain tried to process the shock. Cora turned away as the last glimmer of light faded from his eyes.
Stumbling forward, she surveyed the roof. Madeline and Julian had cleared anyone Michael missed. The pain subsiding from her chest, she tried to take a deep breath. Something caught in her throat, triggering her gag reflex. She coughed and sputtered, doubling over as a torrent of ruby liquid spat to the ground.
“Dear God, woman, are you alright?” Julian asked, rushing to her side.
Cora held up a finger and finished her task. With the vile business out of the way, her breaths were once again clear, albeit sore.
“It’s okay,” she replied. “It’s not mine...anymore. Let’s keep going.”
Julian tapped the comm button behind his ear. “Control, we are go for Phase Two.”
“Affirmative,” Gideon replied. “Fox, bring Eagle-1 into position.”
Without reply, the chopper banked away from the building and sat in a hover some fifty feet away. Michael disappeared inside and reemerged a moment later with a rocket launcher over his shoulder. He took aim as the group watched on.
“Control, Eagle-1 has eyes on target,” he said. “Go on your mark.”
“Three, two, one,” Gideon counted down.
From the heights of Tour Tetriarch, the view of the city was amazing. Entire city blocks vanished from the night. Distant hologram projectors blinked out, their giant women selling perfume and cars disappearing from the night sky. In seconds, it had grown so dark that the city of Paris could see he stars for the first time in forty years.
A hiss and whistle marked the launch of Michael’s rocket, sailing down the course of the building to the generator below. Cora waved over Julian and Madeline as she went for the rooftop access door. Jogging was still a chore, as though her chest had weights on it, but she put it out of her mind. It would pass. The ground shook with the force of the generator explosion on the ground.
“Echo-3! Echo-3!” Gideon’s voice shouted over her comm. “I have something large on radar, moving fast to your position!”
Cora froze and snapped her head sideways. A massive shadow dashed across the sky, blotting out the moon and stars. It descended to the roof and slammed down on the south end of the building a hundred feet away. It passed into the moonlight. Four talons, each the size of a van, cratered the rooftop as it landed. Pointed nails carved into cement as they gripped. A body larger than a fully loaded eighteen-wheeler braced itself, muscles rippling. Moonlight bounced off blackened scales with a crimson hue. Wings stretched across the entirety of the building. A long, thick neck led to a plated skull with bony protrusions framing the edges, like a flower. With the landing, glowing amber eyes set on Cora from behind a scaled maw. She tapped the comm button, her mouth hanging open.
“Understood, Control. I see it.”
The Skies Above
“I warned you,” Lucius said, his baritone voice bellowing across the roof with an echo.
“Lucius!” Julian yelled, pulling Excalibur off the magnetic harness on his back.
The dragon turned his head to face Julian. His enormous nostrils flared as he sniffed. His lips curled into an approxi
mation of a smile around a mouth filled with pointed, yellowed teeth, each like a sword.
“You smell like a Pendragon,” Lucius replied. He tipped his head. “Welcome back to the game. Are all of your ancestors in that head of yours, too?”
“They are,” Julian said, taking a fighting stance. “We had a talk, dragon. All of us want you dead.”
Lucius laughed, a chortle so loud it reached the streets below.
Madeline pulled a metal stick from the belt of her tactical suit. With a snap of her wrist, a bar with a razor edge extended from it, like a sword. She pressed a button on the handle, and a beam of light ignited the empty space above the bladed edge. Her free hand pressed a button at her temple, the black face of her repaired helmet became a clear window.
“I will have my revenge, dragon,” she said, spinning the blade.
Cora’s eyes flared with the momentary distraction. She had no idea what bizarre experimental tech Tesla sent her with, but she’d never seen a weapon like a laser sword before, except in sci-fi holovids.
Lucius raised a brow. “I do not know you, child, nor what I’ve done to wrong you. Flee now and allow me to spare you.”
“You will rest in hell, demon,” she replied in her thick accent. “I will send you there myself.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Lucius,” Cora said, pulling her Predator. “Leave this be and fly away. It’s not too late for you.”
A serpentine tail over thirty feet in length swept from his backside and curled under his jaw. He smiled again. “Tell me, Cora, do you see this ending well?”
“Eagle-1, reloading rocket,” Michael said into her ear. “Keep him talking.”
Cora took a step forward. She would let Michael attack, but her plea to Lucius was genuine, even after hurting her to prove his point at breakfast. “You won’t be killed here. Neither will I, and you know it. What we don’t know is what we can lose.”
Lucius looked to his left and right for effect. He turned his attention back to her. “I see no one with me, Cora. I see four with you, and one below. You have something to gain. I have nothing to lose.”
“Goddamn you, Lucius, don’t make me do this,” she shouted.
His pupils shifted left, to the helicopter. “Let us begin.”
Michael fired, the rocket blazing a smoke trail through the sky, tracing its way to Lucius. The dragon folded his wings and lifted his front leg, bracing for the hit. The rocket slammed into him and exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Gusts of air from the shockwave tossed Cora’s hair back. A thick cloud of smoke blocked her view of the dragon. She heard him take a step, a sound like thunder that rocked the ground she stood on. Through the smoke and darkness, his eyes emerged, moving closer at a fast pace. If the rocket had harmed him at all, he did not show it in his swift movement.
Julian raised his sword and yelled a battle cry, racing ahead with Excalibur at the ready. Madeline joined him in kind. As the pair ran past Cora on either side, she could only shake her head. She pushed the eject button on her Predator, dropping the clip into her waiting hand. In a single motion, she caught it, reached to her belt, and swapped it with another. Slamming the full clip in, she pulled back the slide and jacked a round into the chamber. Derk’s exclusive line on illegal tech, such as armor-piercing Rhino bullets, gave her access to an arsenal she hoped she’d never have to bring to bear.
Julian reached Lucius first, slashing with the gleaming longsword. Lucius weaved back with surprising dexterity for his size. No sooner had he stepped back that he lurched forward, lowering his head and smashing into Julian like a bull. Julian took to the air from the force of the hit, flying back to Cora’s position and hitting the ground in a slide along the gravel.
Madeline came at his blind side, slashing at his neck with her glowing blade. The razor edge bounced off his scales. Before he could react to her, Cora took aim on his snout and double-tapped her trigger. As they struck, Lucius’ eyes narrowed, his attention on her for a split second. He growled and shifted his body, turning into Madeline’s direction. She chased for him, readying another blow. Lucius’ tail whipped around his hind quarter. Madeline stopped and braced for the impact, knowing his speed beat hers. It was too late to dodge.
The broad side of his mid-tail struck her in the torso, sending her tumbling through the air. Cora fired again, but Lucius did not react. Either her Rhino rounds ricocheted off his hardened scales or it fazed him like a human took a pinprick. Without a better idea, she holstered the Predator and opted for Master Hidori’s steel. Her katana sang as she withdrew it from the sheath at her back. She charged forward, either to battle him directly or buy time for Madeline to get to her feet.
Instead of targeting the fallen girl, Lucius swept his tail back and snapped it in the direction of the helicopter. From her peripheral vision, Johnny banked the chopper and swooped around the building in an arc, putting distance between them and the dragon.
Cora became overwhelmed with eager ambition, a feeling not her own. Vincent circled the skies, wanting to help. With a thought, she opened her magic to him across their tether, allowing him to pull whatever he wanted from her. Rushing beside the dragon’s front leg, Cora slashed at where she approximated a human’s Achilles tendon. So razor sharp that she could carve her name in glass with the blade, it bounced of Lucius’ scales without so much as a visible mar to the surface. The energy of the reverberation transferred back to Cora, making her grip wobbly.
Vincent played bombardier and dropped a glowing Stunbomb from above. It shattered on the bony, pointed protrusions at the back of Lucius’ skull. The resulting shockwave threw his head forward, but his eyes still showed cunning wit with no sign he was stunned.
At her left, Madeline got back to her feet and reignited her plasma sword. Lucius swept out his front leg and grabbed for Cora. For as large as he was, she was astounded by his blazing speed in dragon form. His claws wrapped around her, from shoulders to waist, pinning her arms at her sides in a vice grip. She used every bit of strength to retain her grip on the katana, her only hope to free herself from his clutches.
“Clear!” Michael shouted over the comm.
A high-pitched squeal marked the launch of another missile. Lucius propped up to his hind legs, taking Cora high into the air with him. He continued to grip her tight and firm, rendering her immobile. A missile streaked across the building, only this time Lucius snatched it from their air with his free front leg. A small propellant flame fired out of the back, useless to defy his hold. A crinkle and crackle of metal followed as he crushed the rocket in his hand. The deafening boom of the explosion that followed did not faze him in the slightest. A blast wave of heat washed over Cora. Smoke wafted all around her while she tried to feel with her blade for a space between Lucius’ scales.
Julian and Madeline rushed in as one, striking out for his exposed belly below. As they closed in and raised their weapons to strike, Lucius threw his weight forward. The pair had to switch from attacking to diving for cover as his chest came to bear at them. They got a running start in opposite directions and jumped out of the way. The sudden drop caused Cora’s stomach to flip as though an elevator stopped. In her daze, Lucius turned to her, making eye contact for only a moment.
“See what you have to lose,” he said, turning to face the helicopter.
A sucking sound from his open maw pulled the air from all around her. Her eyes opened wide. Terror gripped her. She couldn’t even remember code names.
“Johnny, move!” she shouted into her comm.
The helicopter spun on its axis as Johnny tried to pull away. Flames projected into the sky from Lucius’ mouth. Cora’s hair danced in the air behind her while waves of heat battered her. The blast of fire struck the rear of the helicopter’s tail, missing the cargo door and Michael by inches. The super-heated flame scorched every metal plate it touched as Johnny tried to veer away.
Struggling to move, Cora felt blind for the space between his scales with the tip of her blade. She could on
ly hope the molecularly sharpened elven steel would pierce his hide. She found the space she was looking for and positioned her sword. With everything she had from her confined position in Lucius’ massive grip, she pushed the blade up, into the softer flesh between his scales. She felt penetration, the blade digging into unprotected muscle.
Lucius’ flame ceased and he cried out, a roar that would put any lion to shame. His head whipped around, eyes narrowed at Cora. With a growl, he cast his hand to side, throwing her. As she sailed through the air, Cora struggled to shunt magic to her legs and absorb the shock. She looked behind her for the ground, trying to swing her body through the air and take the fall as best she could. The ground came up too quick. Magic pulsed to her legs, but her shoulders would be first to hit the ground. She winced, preparing for the pain and readied herself to control the fall.
Cora hit the ground at a faster speed than she could sprint. She took the hit across both shoulder blades and rolled backwards with it, trying to somersault and get her enhanced legs to the ground. Master Hidori’s sword flew from her hand. The velocity of the hit turned her somersault into a vault, tumbling through the air until her stomach slammed the ground. She drew up, tightening her legs together and brought her arms to her chest. Over and over, she spun and slid across the rooftop gravel, a thousand tiny scratches and cuts opening on every bit of her exposed face and arms.
Once her momentum was gone, pain set in. Everything was bruised and strained, cut and bleeding. Somehow, she was still conscious, a surprise of itself. With a careful test, she rested her palms on the ground and tried to pull herself up. Bloody knuckles stared back at her, the wounds closing before her eyes. Vincent’s desire for revenge filled her heart, but all she could do was worry. Getting back to all fours, she looked up on a pulled neck and saw Julian roll under another tail whip. Madeline slashed at Lucius’ face with the illuminated side of her blade over and over as he stepped toward her, moving her back five steps for his one. The helicopter plumed smoke from its tail as Johnny moved it away from the building.
The Pendragon Codex Page 18