“In hindsight, we probably should have considered this part more,” Andy said as Cal took off to find help.

Luckily, it didn’t take him long, as the capybaras had just finished a trip to Ethel’s realm and were chatting in the front room of the void house.

“Hey guys, got prisoners need help!” Cal called and turned around to dash back, now followed by a dozen capybaras.

“Alright, boys, grab. Let’s get him locked in one of the spare rooms, search him from top to bottom, and keep at least two guards on him. Are more coming, Cal?” Albert asked after ordering his fellows about.

“Yeah, sorry we didn’t really think this through,” Cal responded.

“It’s no problem. I wanted more action in my life anyway. Lou, go grab Ethel and Bug. Eddie, go find Andrew and Ralth and tell them we need them watching the crack. Go, boys, go!” Albert barked out more orders.

Cal and Andy ran back through the crack and found Bill safe on the other side. He looked to have been disassembling the alarm button.

“Fascinating, like we suspected, they have technology that can run on mana. We will need to get some of that ourselves.” Bill informed the other two of his discoveries.

“That’s great and all, Bill, and I promise we will come back to getting everything we can from the building, but right now, we have to keep the assault going,” Andy said.

“Where to next?” Cal asked.

“That door right there should lead to a surveillance room, which I’m guessing is empty at the moment since we haven’t set off any alarms. There are some stairs in there that lead down to the cells. It’s where I found you and the Gryalth.”

“Alright, kicking the door time.” Cal’s response to Andy caused the man to frown.

“Let’s not kick down the door just yet.” Andy walked over and slowly opened it, peering through the widening crack as he did so. “Looks empty. Get in here.”

The other two listened.

Cal looked over the monitors in the room, and they were all blank except for a single figure who looked to be asleep in a small room. It didn’t look human, but it was hard to say from the low resolution of the cameras.

“So, is that a Gryalth?” Cal wasn’t sure, but what else could it be?

“I think so.” Andy didn’t sound confident.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter as it’s the only other thing we see. Let’s go get it.” Cal put as much bluster into his voice as he could manage. He had died here before, and that always left him nervous. Then again, so had Andy, and the man seemed pretty calm about it. Bill, on the other hand, looked visibly nervous.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

They ran down the stairs together and quietly listened at each door they found. Bill signaled at the second door he had listened at. Cal walked over to it and held up his hand with three fingers showing. He lowered them one at a time and threw the door open as soon as he dropped his last one.

The other two sprung into action. Andy dropped a gravity ball on the prone figure before it had a chance to move. It wasn’t enough to stop it, though, and they felt the room grow hot around them.

“Got it!” Bill grunted out the words. He sounded like he was wrestling a waterfall.

Andy increased the size of his gravity ball and reversed the pressure, causing the creature to hit the ceiling hard. It came back down on the bed, moaning in pain. Cal was on top of it before it had a chance to move any further. He pushed a knife of electricity into its arm, and it fell limp.

“Good job, everyone. Let’s get it through the crack and go check on Dad.” Cal was smiling. This had gone great so far. They had two prisoners, and the changes to his powerset didn’t seem at all hard to use.

The three of them hefted the creature back upstairs and deposited it through the crack to the stunned silence of several people on the other side.

“Yeah, we know a Gryalth prisoner. Bill, you stay here and work with them to keep it contained.” Andy ordered.

“Ok. Come on, Al, let’s get this thing locked away,” Bill said.

“You heard him, boys, grab a shoulder.”

Cal and Andy hopped back through the crack again. Their radios blasted to life the second they were back on the other side.

“Hey guys, I need help. Frank and I are under fire!” Stan screamed into the radio.

“We’re on the way. The hotel is cleared!” Cal radio back.

“Yeah, that’s because a bunch of people just showed up here. I think they were on capture duty. There are two Gryalth and several of their mercs. Frank has them thinking twice about swarming us, but I doubt it will hold long.” Stan’s voice was shaky, and Cal could hear the gunshots from in here explaining why.

Cal launched through the doors directly at the nearest person he saw. He tried something new and channeled shadows around himself. He had expected to the area around him to darken, making it harder for them to target him. Instead, his shadow came to life and moved up next to him. It now looked exactly like him. This had some excellent combat potential.

He saw the two Gryalth ahead of him, one of them already covered in a gravity ball. Good job, Andy. The second one tried firing something at him but had picked the wrong target and it passed harmlessly through his shadow clone.

Cal fired a lightning bolt at the one who had shot him and watched it go straight through him. Alright, that was too much mana if he wanted prisoners out here. Still, considering they were outnumbered and they already had two, it was probably best to get this under control first and worry about who was still alive afterward.

Frank ran up beside him carrying a truck door. He smashed it into several people who had been standing with the Gryalth. They flew into the air and made a dull thud when they crashed back into the ground. The remaining Gryalth blasted some sort of green cloud in their direction. He heard Andy start coughing hard behind him.

He was glad he didn’t need to breathe and fired two more lightning blasts back at the Gryalth. It fell, dead alongside the first.

“Frank, don’t let anyone escape. I need to check on Andy.” He yelled.

“Got it.” The tree man yelled as he bounced after the now fleeing men.

“Well, that’s not who I expected at all. What the hell are you doing here?” Cal heard Stan say to someone.

“Who is it?” Cal called over.

“Hey Stan, long time no see. Looks like you’ve been doing well since Mars. Mind cutting the duct tape off my hands?” Cal recognized that voice. It was Melissa.