Chapter 39

“Well, we’re fucked.”

Sam and I had stopped crying, at least. That was a hopeful sign. Occasionally, Bentley said something, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of the words and short phrases. The massive Type Thirty-Two kept rumbling around Sooke, tearing apart buildings. And we hadn’t heard from Li Mei or Overclock.

Still, we were alive nearly thirty minutes after the Type Thirty-Two emerged from the water. That was a good sign. Right?

“How did you know about this basement?” I asked, mostly just to make conversation. The Type Ones knew where we were, but they weren’t in a hurry to attack, so we had some breathing room. The Emergence Survival Guide said they might be defending a larger Mack.

“Friend of mine in school. She used to live out here. We spent a lot of time hiding in the basement. Other than that, it was mostly luck.” Sam paused. “So, what are we going to do here? We can’t stay put. At some point, that thing’ll return to eat this house.”

“Alright. You’re right. But what do we do, Sam? I think you’re right. We’re fucked.”

Sam stood up from the filthy tub’s edge, where she’d been sitting. She paced the tiny room. One step. Two steps. Turn. “I’m not sure.” One step. Two steps. Turn. “But you’re the veteran here. What did you do then?”

What did I do then? I’d had people relying on me. Dad. And Sora. They’d kept me going. If I could keep going for them, I could keep going for people in Sooke. “Okay, get up and find something to fight with. There’s…there’s a chance we can get away and wait for the Strike Team.

“...Strike Team…overworked. They’re…the Type Thir…then back east…mission.”

“Thanks, Bentley,” I whispered. My voice was brittle. But at least we were planning on doing something. “So, if the Strike Team can deal with the Thirty-Two, then we, uh, regroup with Overclock and Li Mei. I’m sure they’re just jammed, so we can’t contact them or their Operators.”

“So we’re going to fight our way outside? Then what?”

“We hide from the Macks, stay clear of the big one, and regroup. We still have a mission to complete as soon as we can. SHOCKS and Haven are both relying on us. We can’t fail them,” I replied. “How many bolts do you have?”

“Two.”

“Okay, uh…” I thought for a second. Then I handed Sam my Delphi and my last few magazines of bolts. “You cover me. I’m going to open the door. Just a second.”

I kicked at the sink. It was cheap, with exposed pipes under it, and it started to give way quickly. Once Sam realized what I was trying to do, she joined in, and before long, I had a slightly bent, somewhat stinky drain pipe about two feet long in my hands.

“Alright,” I whispered as a yellow glow moved past the crack under the door. “I’m gonna open it. We’ll fight the Type Ones out there. Shoot them, and I’ll try to keep them away from you.”

As I grabbed the door handle, I wished desperately I’d been with Li Mei or Overclock. I wasn’t cut out to play the melee role.

I pulled the door open. Two Type Ones stared us down. I gulped and raised my bit of lead pipe as their eyes flickered from yellow to red.

Sam’s crossbow twanged behind me. Something whistled past my ear and caught one of the Macks. Sparks raced across its body, and I sprinted forward. I couldn’t be Luciole, but I could pretend to be Overclock from the Language Arts wing.

I slammed my pipe into the Mack’s eye. It bent. The tube, not the Mack.

“Shit!” I scuttled back as the other one raced toward me on spikey legs. “Sam, the explosive shots!”

I glanced at her. She was reloading, and changing out magazines while standing framed in the door. I smacked the Mack with my pipe again. Something gave…a little. I didn’t think it was just the pipe. Then a spike stabbed into my calf, sending searing pain up my whole leg and into my hip.

I screamed. Then I screamed again as the Mack’s torso exploded next to me. As I thrashed in pain, I saw Sam reloading her crossbow. She fired again, knocking the shocked Mack to the side. Then she ran toward me. “Oh shit, oh shit…”

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“I’m…I’m not much of a Li Mei, it turns out,” I tried to joke. I’m not sure how much got through the pain. “Alright, we can’t stay here, so…it’s gotta come out. Tear off some of my dress or something as a bandage. Unless…Bentley, can you get me a…a QuikClot?”

“...nanite system is…three minutes.”

“Oh. Can we stay here?”

“Neg…team…inbound. Comm…tem dropping too…”

“Alright. I think Bentley needs us to move. So help me up the stairs, okay?” We’ll just…just go one step at a time.”

Sam gently pulled the Mack’s spiked leg out of mine. Then she jammed some sort of cloth into either hole. I screamed as she did it. “Sorry. First aid classes in school said to fill the wound.”

“It’s…” I breathed a few ragged breaths. “It’s fine. Help me up.”

We limped up the stairs, leaving the two busted machines behind, and hobbled toward the front door. “...thirty…Omega…clear of Type…”

“Where’s the big one?” I asked. Sam pointed. It was a few hundred yards away, sedately eating the buildings near the Prestige Building. “Okay. Set me down. Bentley says—”

I didn’t get to say what Bentley had said, though Sam probably already knew. Something slammed into the ground, moving fast. Suddenly, my Operator was screaming in my ear. “Are you clear, Luciole? Omega Lily’s starting their run! Get clear!”

“Yeah…yeah, I’m clear. QuikClot, please…”

“No time!”

There really wasn’t. A quartet of Magical Girls popped into view, hovering over the Type Thirty-Two. The Yellow aimed a beam of…something…at the gigantic Mack, passing it back and forth over the armor. Here and there, a spot glowed bright orange. That must be Waverly from the gym. Weakpointer.

Which meant…

A red light filled the air as the first of the three Reds vomited tiny bolts from her hands. Wherever they hit—which was almost always the orange spots—they started burning away at the Mack’s armor.

Then, the last two Girls acted.

The first one swung the second around in a circle, faster and faster. As she let go, the second—Pixie Punch from the gym—crashed into the giant Mack right between the weak orange spots, which had been burned away. Mack plating cratered and flew up in rings around her impact point, exposing the machine’s inner workings across most of its back.

A barrage of lasers, fists, and magical bolts made short work of the massive machine, and it went dark.

It all felt so…casual. Like they’d done it a dozen times just today.

Three girls zipped away, heading toward the west as if nothing had happened. The fourth—Pixie Punch—stopped by long enough to salute. “Good work staying alive, Girls. We’ll be local if any Class Fours show up to replace it in the next half-hour. Get your team together and continue your mission. We’ll help you out if we can, but no promises. Patricia out!”

Then she was gone.

“Bentley? About that QuikClot?”

The can materialized with a slight empty feeling in my stomach. “Sam, spray that into both sides of the wound. It’ll hold, and we’ll get moving.”

As the pink easy-cheese covered my leg, I clawed myself up to a sitting position. “Thanks, Bentley. Can you get us in contact with Li Mei or Overclock? We need to regroup if we’re still working on an attack plan. And can you tell me the average level of Team Omega Lily?”

“Fifty-Four. They’re a full Strike Team. A single Class Four isn’t anything for them. You saw Weakpointer’s Mana Surge, a spell from Paradox Annie, Assymetria’s Mana Surge to boost Pixie Punch, and then a Mana Surge from Pixie. Less than fifteen seconds, and for half of it, the Thirty-Two had no idea they were even there,” Bentley said as I steadied myself.

“As for your team, Li Mei is near the Prestige. She might’ve been on the docks, but I’ll check with Charlie. Overclock isn’t reporting in, but her last known location was nearby. James is losing his mind.”

Oh. Oh shit. If Overclock was down, we couldn’t complete the mission. I closed my eyes and thought for a minute. “Can you…can you patch James in so we can talk for a minute? Overclock’s a mutual friend, not just a teammate.”

“Sure, Luciole. I can do that, but you need to get moving. Find Li Mei.” Bentley’s voice crackled. A second later, a familiar one took over.

“Hey, Alice.” The Oxford accent was gone. Instead, I got the surfer dude—Jimmy. A very brittle-sounding surfer dude.

“Hey, we’re gonna find her. She’s fine. Something must’ve happened when we got separated, but she’s tough. She was tough at West End, and she’ll be tough now.” I wasn’t talking for Jimmy. I was speaking to myself. I started limping across the dirt ravine that’d once been a street before the Thirty-Two ripped it apart. “We’re moving toward Li Mei. She’ll know more than we do now. She’ll be able to help us.”

“I know. Alice, I know. We’ll find her. But for now, regroup so a group of Type Fours doesn’t take you out.” James sounded bad. But he was still trying to do his job. “I’m going to pass you back to Bentley. I need to keep trying to get a hold of her.”

“Alright. Stay safe, Jimmy.”

I limped across the road and past the Prestige with Bentley guiding us. We found the first destroyed Type One just around the back. From there, the pile of Macks only grew thicker until it stopped just before the dock’s end.

Li Mei hadn’t, though. She leaned on her swords, which she’d jammed into a Type One’s back, and breathed heavily. She had dozens of little cuts, some of which she’d patched up, others of which flowed freely. She waved one sword in the air at us. “I am…completely drained. That’s never happened before. Do you have a snack?”