What the fuck? It didn’t make any sense.

“What’s that crazy sumbitch doing?” Bobby asked. “Looks like he’s leading ‘em straight for us!”

I pulled away from the scope, a scowl etched deep on my face.

“That’s because he is.”

Bobby stared at me a moment, then started nodding his head with a determined look.

“See about that.” He shifted his rifle onto his shoulder and started jogging across the roof.

I figured I knew what he was doing and I prayed it would be enough. But I couldn’t stay to watch him. The demon wave had materialized so suddenly and so close, they were practically on top of us. I didn’t know how they spawned, if they crawled out of the earth or if Null could just summon them wherever, but it didn’t make sense how quickly they had arrived. The crowd below was still streaming into the building under Michelle and Jerome’s direction, but it wouldn’t be fast enough.

The sea of red and black seemed to surround us from every direction. Now that they were closer, I could pick out the individual demons and unlike the first wave, they were a varied sort.

At the front, smaller, four-legged demons raced ahead, like dogs, but nearly hip height. Behind them were a line of two-legged demons about shoulder height. I had to squint, but it seemed that they had weapons in their hands—bars of metal, jagged swords, and the occasional whip to spur the dog-demons ahead.

Finally, the last group of demons were hulking behemoths that ranged from ten to fifteen feet tall. They were spread out amongst the approaching wave and moved slower—though I wouldn’t say slow. Their long strides ate up the ground at a terrifying pace, only eclipsed by the dog-demons and their smaller demon brethren.

And on the largest hulk of the wave, sat Craig-fucking-Allen. I almost felt like I could see his smug smile from here.

“Dirk!” a voice called from below.

I leaned over to see Frank cupping his hands to yell up at me.

“Red threads everywhere in the demon pack.”

No shit, Frank. I waved back at him and closed my eyes, focusing on Lex’s vision.

***

Lex felt a tremor of fear in his feathers as he flew high above the second wave.

Hellhounds and Overseers, he had expected. But Brutes? And this many? This went far beyond a personal vendetta against Dirk and Kurian; Null was making a statement.

Get into the Tower or die.

This was so far outside I.A.S. regulations that Lex couldn’t help but wonder how his Sire had allowed this—let alone the Master, Himself.

Unless…had Null made region-specific augmentations specifically to target Dirk? Then an even worse thought occurred to him.

What if Null wasn’t just targeting Dirk…but giving Dirk’s mortal enemy a step up by providing powerful Adept-level demons?

“This is gross misconduct!” he yelled up to the Heavens. “I’ll be filing a complaint with our Sire the moment this Tower is concluded!”

The air shifted, suddenly feeling charged. His feathers tingled and the wind currents rocked him. Lex’s eyes went wide as he realized what was happening.

He banked hard left, pinning his wings back as he dove down a hundred feet in an instant. Lightning cracked where he had just been.

“HONK! You son of a—!”

Never in all his years would he have imagined one of his brothers targeting him like that. A few weeks ago, it would have left him an anxious, crippled mess and he probably—no, definitely—would have rolled over and died.

But he’d seen Dirk defy the Heavens too many times; fight so damned hard against all odds and somehow, find a way to come out on top. Inexplicably, the man’s determination and shout-into-the-ocean level of stupidity had infected Lex.

When he would have given up before, now, he just found himself pissed off.

“Bring it on, bitch!” he shrieked at the clouds. A thrill passed up his spine at that final word.

Ohhh, I understand the appeal now—

The split-second charge in the air was the only warning he had, and he dodged another crack of lightning with a tight barrel roll.

A moment later, a Flier warped into existence thirty feet above Lex. His eyes went wide as he saw the demon dive for him, feather-shredding talons extended.

Lex’s understanding of aerial combat was limited to his short skirmish against Amos’ pigeons last week. But the one thing he’d learned in that short fight was that whoever had the altitude, had the advantage.

Couple that with a distinct lack of offensive options and well…Lex was fucked.

He went into a dive, pinning his wings to his body to give him speed. He couldn’t risk a glance back without ruining his aerodynamics, but he could feel the Flier gaining on him. The threat of those talons at his back had a gravity to them that pulled at his mind. He veered left, then right, but no matter what he did, he could sense that he was moments away from being shredded like he’d gone through a woodchipper.

As the Flier neared, a strange sound filled the air and Lex took a moment to wonder.

That wasn’t the sound a Flier made…

The strange sound grew louder as the Flier drew nearer and Lex was tempted to glance behind him, knowing now that he couldn’t out fly the demon.

Then something caught his eye—not from the behind him, but from below. The sun glinted off a grey, metal disk, arcing up from the ground toward his position. That sound he had been struggling to decipher suddenly became clear.

It was the sound of a buzzsaw chewing through the air.

Lex tucked his wings tighter and aimed for that disk. A moment later, it buzzed right past him and he was rewarded with the sound of it chewing through the Flier demon effortlessly before it arced around. He spread his wings wide and banked into a glide. The disk followed him, forming an orbit around him as he pumped his wings.

In his mind, he heard Dirk speak.

It’s under your control now. Give it direction.

Lex’s eyes went wide as he realized that he could feel the disk through their bond. With a thought, he made it bank left, then right. A Flier demon loomed in the distance and Lex felt a tingle of excitement.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

With a thought, the disk zoomed off faster than he could ever fly, shearing through the Flier before it had even noticed it was in danger.

A heady sense of power and triumph sprang up in his thoughts and he began looking for fresh targets.

He let out a wild, free honk, the sound echoing over the wave of demons below.

“Battle goose online, baby! Who wants some!”

***

Lex’s wild honk drew everyone’s eye and those still pushing their way into the safety of the building all glanced up to see my goose charging the flying demons like a one-bird-army.

“Get ‘em, Lex,” I said to myself. Looking over at Bobby, I saw he was peering into his scope, his chest moving rhythmically as he prepared to fire.

Rather than distract him, I simply watched the demons, hoping and praying that it would only take a single shot to end Craig’s threat.

A shot blasted out, a loud thwamp so powerful that my ears should have been ringing. But my Endurance was maxed out, so the pain only lasted a moment.

I expected the bullet to evaporate Craig in a mist of blood and dismembered limbs. Instead, the hulk he was riding seemed to sense the danger even before the bullet left the rifle. It held up a giant palm, and even at this distance, I saw the impact as a cloud of metal particles and dust kicked into the air. When the hulk lowered its palm, Craig was safely perched on its shoulder and the hulk was acting as if it hadn’t even felt the impact. It reared its head back and roared into the sky, the sound echoing powerfully even at this distance.

“Motherfucker,” Bobby muttered. “You still hungry? That was just the first course.”

He pulled out a bullet nearly as long as his hand and closed his eyes. I felt something supernatural happening and opened my senses. My practice sensing different energies with Kurian was paying off as I recognized that Bobby was injecting some sort of energy into the bullet.

I leaned in, squinting as I tried to parse what I was seeing. A subtle pain began to form behind my eyes, but it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t ignore it. Leaning in further, I felt that I recognized that energy—or at least, it had a familiar flavor to it that I’d seen before.

The closer I studied it, the more the pain ramped, until a minor migraine had formed. But I was certain now, this was an energy very similar to one that Kurian had demonstrated for Athena and I, though less nuanced.

When Bobby was done imbuing the bullet, he looked up and saw me staring intently. His eyes widened.

“Surprised you can look at it. Most can’t.”

“Penetration Affinity?” I asked, studying the silver energy encircling the bullet.

His eyes narrowed. “How the hell—” He shook his head and turned back to his rifle, slotting the bullet into the chamber. “Let’s end this fucker, then we’ll talk shop.”

“No arguments there,” I agreed, turning to watch Bobby’s handiwork.

My eyes were glued to Craig and his pet hulk, who were now only a few hundred meters in the distance. The fastest of the demons had finally hit the first security checkpoint and were getting chewed up my machine gun fire. But the big demons seemed bulletproof and I knew they’d break the barricades easily.

Another thunderous crack split the air and the hulk’s hand was there to meet it just as before. An explosion of black ichor erupted and the hulking demon flinched as the bullet smashed into its palm. A massive roar erupted from its mouth, spurring the demons into a frenzy as they echoed its cry.

When the hulk’s hand dropped, Craig was still there, but he was waving his hands frenetically. The bullet had obviously just missed him and he was suddenly feeling his mortality out in the open. The hulk pivoted right, scooping down to pick up an abandoned humvee with two hands. It held the vehicle in front of it like a shield and continued forward.

“Fuck me,” Bobby said. “I missed. Went off target when it passed through that fucker’s hand.”

“Can you penetrate that truck?”

He shook his head. “Not about if I can or can’t. Even if I do, it won’t be on target.” He put his eye back to the scope and pivoted his rifle. “I can take out some of the other big bastards, though.”

“Good thinking. Those are the real threats. I’ll get down there and start chewing through the smaller ones. I might be able to cut a path to Craig and pull the hulk’s attention, giving you a shot.”

“If you can pull it off—”

A shrieking sound echoed above us and I barely managed to pull out my diskslinger and intercept one of the flying demons with a disk before it raked into Bobby. He hefted his massive rifle and began eyeing the sky.

“That’s a problem!”

Lex felt me through our bond and a powerful honk filled the air.

“Your aerial support’s on the way.”

He pulled away from his scope to eye me skeptically.

“Not the goose…?”

Before I could answer, Lex was above us, one of my disks shearing through a diving demon, cutting it in half.

I raised my eyebrows at Bobby.

He waffled his head back and forth.

“Okay, that’ll do.”

I nodded, sending another disk up to replenish Lex’s arsenal. They only lasted a few minutes, the energy being slowly drained as they whisked through the air. He had two following his commands now, but I knew one of them would be drained soon.

“If worse comes to worse, head back inside. Live to fight another day, okay?”

He nodded, then began sighting along the rifle once more.

Without another word, I leaped off the roof, angling down to my people below. The last of the civilians had cleared out, leaving the soldiers, and a smattering of police outside to man the barricades. Amos had his eyes closed in a rare show of concentration, presumably to direct his pigeons. Frank was standing high up the stairs, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the soldiers and approaching demons. Jerome was just running up from where he had been escorting someone inside and he pulled his helmet into his Inventory. Byron had his boombox on his shoulder and slung it down to put a new tape in as I approached. A wash of energy passed over me, and a quick glance at my Status Sheet showed an extra 50 Endurance past the cap of 150.

Lacy’s eyes popped open as I approached and she gave me a weary look.

“Everyone’s inside,” she said. “Mama G took Athena and Nikki with her. Athena wasn’t happy about it, but…” She shrugged as if to say, ‘what can you do?’

I nodded. “Good. She’ll get over it.” Waving Frank down from his perch, I turned to encompass the entire group. “Here’s the deal. Craig seems to have the entire army at his beck and call. What’s worse, the big ones are bullet resistant, if not bullet proof.”

Byron shared a worried look with Frank and Jerome grunted.

I scoffed. “That’s not even the kicker. The big one seems to be able to sense danger on top of everything else. Somehow, it managed to block a sniper shot before it even left the barrel.”

“What can we do?” Byron’s voice was high pitched. “Bullets don’t work and it can sense danger!” He looked around with wide eyes. “Is this happening all across the world? Is this how Earth ends!”

I wanted to tell him to calm down, but for once, Byron’s hysterics mirrored my own feelings.

“I…I don’t know, By’.”

A rush of wings drew our attention and we glanced up to see Lex swooping in with wings flared. He slowed his descent into a glide, landing gracefully on my shoulder.

“Did you guys see that!” He was giddy with excitement. “I killed fourteen Fliers! Well, okay, Dirk’s diskslinger did…but I directed them! That was the most exhilirating thing I’ve ever…oh, I see I’ve misread the room again. Did…did we lose someone?”

“Only probably the entire planet.” Amos’ opened his eyes, a somber look on his face for once. “World’s fecked, mate.”

Byron pointed at Amos and nodded. “Yeah, if we’re having trouble, imagine what’s going on everywhere else!”

I looked at Lex, trying not to let them infect me with their mood and failing. “Gotta admit, Lex, this is looking bleak. If we lose Earth…”

The implications of losing our home to the demons was just hitting me. I’d always thought we’d have Earth to fall back on to recover from the Tower and gather resources. That we’d be able to coax humanity’s fighters into the Tower while the non-combatants lived in relative safety here.

But if everyone was forced into the Personal Spaces, we’d lose all forms of production, culture, and the pieces of history that made us human.

Lex eyed each of us with a wide beak. Then honked loud enough to make us all jump in place.

“What the hell is this!” he demanded. “Has Craig gotten to you all already? You’re just gonna give up on your home planet like that? Couples demons stroll on up and say ‘oh, we like your world. Gimme.’ And you roll over and take it?”

“It’s not that simple, Lex—” Lacy started to say.

“Bullshit!”

I reared back at his sudden curse. It was so unlike him that it shook me from my melancholy.

“What are you saying, Lex?” Byron asked.

“Fight, dammit! Fight tooth and nail and with every feather in your being! This is only over if you give up!”

His pep talk was working and the others were beginning to stand taller, sharing nods as they looked around.

“Oh, and I suspect the Integration Guide has specifically ramped up the difficulty in this region for the sole purpose of killing Dirk and Lacy, and making Craig the new frontrunner of the Tower.”

“What?” I reached up and pulled Lex from my shoulder to stare him in the eye. “Are you fucking kidding?”

“The wanker, I get,” Amos said with a wave toward me. “But why Lacy?”

Lex opened his beak to explain, but I cut across him.

“It’s a long story and we’re not exactly flush with time.” I nodded in the direction of the demon wave. “But what you’re saying Lex, is that the demon wave everywhere else will be manageable?”

“It’s just a theory, but yes. This composition of demons is far too advanced for a pre-Second Floor Integration. The demons are meant to encourage people into the Tower, not exterminate them. To that point, Craig is clearly directing the horde toward us and the president. Without him, the demons would divert and scatter to find easier prey.”

I stared toward the demons, the sound of machine gun fire echoing constantly in the air the entire time we’d been talking.

“So, all we’ve got to do is handle this wave, deal with Craig, and we’ll be in good shape.”

“In theory,” Lex amended.

“Any theory that involves killing Craig is sound enough for me.”

Red morphed across my body, forming my katana. My diskslinger appeared in my other hand and I fired off three shots into the air for Lex.

“Come on, these demons aren’t gonna kill themselves.”