#
Neen grabbed the holo-cube from out of the air and threw it with frustration back at Sliver. She had studied it intensely for the last ten minutes, which was already too long for them to be loitering in the alley.
“Let’s just get this over and done with!” she said angrily taking off her enviro-coat and handing it to Agnor.
“Agnor, you stay here and don’t move until we get back. If anyone tries to steal you, feel free to kill them,” ordered Sliver as he did the same.
Neen lead Sliver up to the rear of the building staying out of the line of sight of the security camera. When they could go no further she signalled Sliver to stop then leapt into the air and flew straight up until she was above the camera then dropped back down onto it. She grabbed the small leather pouch that contained her special purple dust. She whispered the words of an illusion spell and sprinkled the dust across the camera lens. It glowed purple for a brief second and she signalled to Sliver that it was safe.
With the camera disabled and showing nothing but an empty street she leapt from it and floated down to the door, where she hovered in front of its retina scanner.
This time she produced a small screw driver from her jacket pocket and quickly removed the access panel. Then she spent several minutes re-wiring the controls until the access panel blinked green and the door opened. Some things magic could not help you with, but a basic knowledge of electronics could.
“We’re in.”
“How long before we are detected once we are inside?” asked Sliver.
“About thirty seconds to a minute tops. With the security system still active about the best I can do is keep them blind by disabling the cameras as we go,” replied Neen as she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath then drew both of her pistols. “After you.”
“Oh no, I think I’d like to keep you in front of me when you have those things in your hands thanks,” countered Sliver as he drew his own guns with gleeful abandon. “I’ll make sure I shoot anyone that you miss.”
Neen rolled her eyes and pushed on the door until it opened just enough for her to slip through. Although she only had a short time to study the building from the hologram she had a very good memory for maps. She led them quickly down the service corridor where they reached the first internal camera at a door that lead to the main foyer.
“How are you going to disable that without being seen?” asked Sliver sceptically.
“Magic,” said Neen with a wry smile and then shot the camera right off the wall. While Sliver was still rolling his eyes Neen raced to the next door. Sliver raced after her and helped her open the it just enough for her to squeeze through again.
Neen zipped through the gap and immediately flew at high speed in a high circle towards the ceiling in order to survey the scene. Below her at the front desk were two security guards who were now alerted by the gun shots. They quickly pulled their weapons and started firing at her, but she was too fast. Confident she was facing only the two human guards she plummeted towards them so quickly that the air blasting across her wings made a shrill whistle as she flew. She landed on the front desk and without hesitation shot two rounds simultaneously into the foreheads of both guards. The dark elixir projectiles making short work of them both.
Sliver was through the door and standing beside her on the front desk as soon as she had taken them both down. He looked at the computer screen on the front desk and it was flashing red with an alarm.
“Damn it. They are already locking down the building from top to bottom and the police have already been alerted!”
“I told you this was stupid before we started!”
“Quit your bitching and just figure us a way up to our target,” snapped Sliver.
Neen responded by casually sitting down on the front desk and letting her legs dangle over the edge.
“You know Sliver this feels like I am doing more than half the work here. I am not sure a hundred thousand is enough.”
Sliver stepped over to her and without hesitation pushed the barrel his gun firmly against the side of her head.
“I don’t have time for this Neen let’s get moving.”
“Come on Sliver this is virtually a suicide mission. Are you really trying to tell me that they only offered you two hundred for this job?”
Sliver pushed the barrel into the side of her head a little harder, until it started to hurt. Neen gritted her teeth, but did not flinch or move. She had him over a barrel and she was sure he was holding out on her. Just as she thought he was about the pull the trigger he pulled the gun away and cursed vehemently.
“Alright you bloody bitch the reward is five hundred so its two fifty to you. Now how about you get off your arse and get us to that key!”
“Pleasure doing business with you,” said Neen unable to keep a broad smug smile from creeping across her face. She was sure that it was still not a fifty fifty split, but she didn’t much care because two hundred and fifty thousand would get her out of the city for good. She leapt back into the air and raced over to the lifts. Sliver followed.
“What are you doing? All the lifts have been locked down.”
“Who said anything about using the lift,” replied Neen and she blew some of her purple dust into the lift button. The doors to the lift, which had parked itself on the bottom floor as part of the lockdown, opened invitingly.
Neen flew inside and with considerable help from Sliver, pushed aside one of the ceiling panels. A moment later they were both standing on top of the elevator inside the shaft.
“There are infrared motion sensors at every floor and a very large electrified net at the top. We set any of those sensors off and we will both be BBQ chicken.”
“How the hell do we get to the top then?”
Neen grabbed the second pouch from her belt and took out a pinch of the sparkling silver dust. She mumbled the words of a spell and sprinkled it onto her bare forearm. As soon as the dust touched her skin her arm started to become transparent. The effect quickly spread until Sliver was looking through her and then not able to see her at all.
Neen then repeated the process for Sliver and he soon found himself invisible.
“We have to hurry this spell won’t last more than a few minutes,” insisted Neen as she leapt into the air. She raced up the shaft as fast as she could and just hoped that Sliver was not far behind. When she reached the top floor she went straight to the lift door and tried to prise it open.
“Sliver where are you?’
“I’m here,” he said from somewhere to her left.
“Help me open this door before the spell wears off.”
They both pulled hard on the doors, but to no avail. Neen cursed loudly as she noticed that her previously invisible hands were starting to shimmer back into existence.
“Don’t worry I’ve got this, move up against the wall directly beside the door and don’t move.”
Neen watched as the semi transparent form of Sliver placed two small black thermal charges onto the lift doors. There was a loud beeping and a few seconds delay before they exploded, neatly vaporising a large section of the doors.
Instinctively Neen turned her head away and closed her eyes during the blast. When she opened them again she could see herself and Sliver too. She looked up at the top of the shaft in alarm; the electrified net was already falling towards them!
“Go!” she yelled and Sliver reacted immediately. Neen rocketed towards the opening in the door racing the net as it dropped. With just inches to spare she tucked in her wings and escaped the shaft and the net! So desperate was he flight that she landed ungraciously in a heap on the floor.
The lift had opened directly into a massive and opulently furnished luxury penthouse that was rapidly being torn to shreds by a hail of bullets. Sliver was already spiralling around in the air with both guns blazing in a fierce gun fight with three highly trained half-blood elfish body guards who were also dodging around the room and returning his fire.
Neen
recovered quickly and leapt back into the air, none too soon, as a bullet smashed into the floor inches from where she had landed. She flew to Sliver’s side and the pair of them fought together in a graceful coordinated aerial attack until they had eliminated each of the bodyguards.
They hovered side by side and surveyed the aftermath while they both took the chance to reload their weapons. The room was a complete mess and Neen was wondering how exactly they were going to find a key amongst it all when Sliver pointed to a closed door on the other side of the main living room.
“Over there.”
Neen followed him to the door. It was locked, but before Neen could get out her purple dust Sliver had emptied an entire clip into the lock until there was nothing, but a hole where it used to be. He pushed gently on the door and it swung open to reveal a palatial master bedroom. On the far side of the room with his back to them was a tall thin man with sparkling silver hair braided into a long pony tail and dressed in elegant blue silk robes. He was staring out of a full length window at the cityscape below and did not move or react in any way when they first entered. Then Sliver slammed another clip into his pistol and the man’s shoulders visibly slumped.
“Would it help me if I pointed out to you that you will never make it out of here alive?” he asked, still staring out the window. His voice was oddly melodious while at the same time melancholy.
“I think you will find we are the only ones who will be leaving here alive,” replied Sliver.
The man finally turned around to face them. Neen gasped audibly and even Sliver appeared surprised and unsettled, because he was not a man at all, he was an elf! A very old pure blooded elf, something thought not to exist anymore.
“Fairies...I should have known,” said the elf with scorn. “As a species you were always so easily manipulated.”
“Where is the key?” demanded Sliver raising both his pistols.
“Do you even know what it is for? Do you understand what you could unleash if it fell into the wrong hands?”
“Where is the key?” repeated Sliver before firing a round into the floor next to the elf’s feet for good measure.
“The elves have been custodians of the key since before the Battle of Tarva. You will be hunted down like dogs by the elvish underground; they will stop at nothing to get the key back. I hope the money is worth your life.”
“For the last time where is the key?” yelled Sliver.
The elf looked as though he was going to say something else, but instead frowned and shook his head sadly before turning back to look out the window.
Sliver looked at Neen and rolled his eyes.
“The problem with you elves is you don’t know how to listen. You only know how to lecture,” said Sliver, then emptied both his guns into the elf’s back.
“Two whole clips into him? That seems a bit extreme even for you Sliver,” commented Neen shaking her head as she checked the body for the key.
Sliver reloaded his guns again.
“Our employer made it clear to me that I was to make damned sure the custodian of the key was eliminated beyond all doubt.”
Neen finished patting down the blood stained body of the elf, but found no key. She threw her hands up in frustration.
“Great, now we have to find the key ourselves. Meanwhile who knows what is going to be coming up that lift any moment now.”
“Relax, our employer gave me this just in case,” said Sliver producing a small red gemstone. “It will glow brighter when the key is near.”
While Sliver scoured the penthouse from top to bottom Neen located the emergency stairwell and checked it. To her relief she could not see or hear anyone. She quickly flew back to the lift entrance and poked her head through the hole blasted into the doors. She looked down into the shaft, but it was too dark to see all the way to the bottom. It did not matter however, because she could hear the sound of the lift travelling up the shaft towards them.
“Sliver! We are going to have company in about one minute!” she yelled urgently.
“I am getting close, you need to stall them!”
It was Neen’s turn to roll her eyes, but nonetheless she checked her guns and readied herself behind a lounge that was within clear line of sight of the lift. A few moments later the lift stopped, but the damaged doors remained shut. Everything stayed silent and Neen started to wonder if the lift was just a diversion. Then suddenly what was left of the lift doors was hit with such force that they shattered and debris careened into the room like the shrapnel from a hand grenade.
Neen took refuge behind the lounge to avoid being hit. She quickly recovered and rose again into the air ready to take down her attackers only to find herself looking down at a huge lava golem. This one was nothing like the granite golem that Clix kept. This one was massive, half again as tall as a human. It had to hunch down just to stand inside the lift.
It stepped slowly into the penthouse, its semi molten rock feet burning the expensive carpets on the floor as it went. Neen emptied both guns into the golem's chest. It stopped momentarily and looked directly at her with its molten red eyes.
Neen cursed vehemently under her breath as the golem charged clumsily for her. She easily dodged out of its way, but everything it touched started to burn. If she did not stop this thing quickly there would be no penthouse left to search.
In between dodging the burning hands of the golem she holstered her guns, which were next to useless, and sped into the kitchen. She landed on the sink and grabbed the tap with both hands then turned it until it was fully open and water was racing into the sink. A moment later the golem came crashing in behind her. She flew a tight spiral around it to disorient it momentarily so she could hover in a spot just above its head. As soon as she was in position she spoke the words of an ancient magic spell.
The water from the sink rose up in the shape of a giant snake which rapidly coiled itself around the golem. As the magical liquid snake constricted around the golem's body it’s molten rock form started to solidify until it was completely motionless. Neen started to breathe a sigh of relief then stopped as she saw the snake start to steam. The golem started to reanimate and break free of the snakes grip. As impossible as it seemed the golem looked even angrier.
Neen flew back into the master bedroom where she found Sliver dragging a heavy brass box out of a very well concealed compartment in a wall. It was too heavy for him and he was struggling with it.
“Sliver we have to go NOW!”
Suddenly behind Neen the golem came crashing though the wall.
“Quickly help me!” shouted Sliver who leapt into the air and sprayed the full length windows with every round he had until they shattered.
As the golem crashed towards them Neen strained hard with Sliver to lift the heavy brass box. They half flew half walked to the window and jumped out into the air with the golem leaping out of the window directly after them.
There was no way either of them could hold onto the box and Neen quickly lost her grip, leaving Sliver with no other choice but to let the box go as well. Sliver did not hesitate and dived after it again. Neen followed close behind.
The box and the golem plummeted down into the street below. The golem smashed into a thousand pieces of molten rock as it hit, but the box crashed into the street and remained intact. Seconds after it bounced to a stop Sliver and Neen landed beside it.
“As I suspected, it’s protected by a very powerful magical spell,” said Sliver looking at the undamaged box closely.
Neen looked around them and noted with alarm that there was quite a gathering in the street checking out the commotion. In amongst the crowd she noted what looked like several half-blood elves heading their way.
“We better get this out of here fast,” she commented.
“Perhaps I can help with that,” said a deep voice from the shadows, it was Agnor. He quickly grabbed the box with two strong hands and threw it onto his shoulder.
“Let’s get the hell out of here then,” said Sl
iver firing his guns into the air to scare back the crowd and cause a little chaos to aid their escape.
Necrofairies Page 6