Cal took long enough debating what to do that Frank met him at the back of the truck. “Oh,” was all he said.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to do here. Seems like killing captured prisoners is pretty wrong, even if they are Gryalth,” Cal explained. He wished that Andy or Ethel were here now, or even Harold. This wasn’t an easy decision for him and he guessed they’d have a somewhat better time at it.
“The Titananic Tree Titan thinks that we should smash the engine and destroy the building. We can figure out this mess later!” Frank suggested, and Cal wasn’t entirely against it.
“Hey Frank, think you can push this truck if it’s neutral?” Cal asked. He had a second idea. There was a nice prison setup right here, and it was already mobile.
“Probably, why?” Frank asked back.
“We’re going to go smash the building, and then we are going to drop this off at the void house. Just gotta give them time to make room!” Cal wasn’t sure if there was time, but he’d let Fulginanis be the judge of that.
So, as they ran towards their new target, Cal had a mental conversation with his mana spirit. “Fulginanis, can you make enough room for us to bring a truck through the gateway, a full-sized semi-truck, to be clear?”
“How soon?” Fulginanis asked.
“Twenty minutes tops. Don’t want to miss Twonger’s ship,” Cal answered, knowing that was a very small window of time.
“I will do my best. Good luck,” Fulginanis replied.
Several security guards were yelling at Cal to stand down; somehow, they hadn’t yet seen Frank, who came barreling in from their side, scattering them with a yell of “Run or die!”
“Alright, you take the top floors. I’ve got the bottom. If the other one isn’t back out here in ten minutes, go looking for them,” Cal ordered. There was nothing special here, just a cause as much mayhem as possible to give the others the best chance. With that in mind, Cal followed directly behind Frank, who was using his own body as a battering ram. The doors flew inwards, broken and ripped from their hinges at his impact.
“FRANK IS HERE!” he bellowed into the room as he charged in after the destroyed remnants of the doors, tearing apart walls and desks in his path.
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Cal wasn’t sure if Frank’s strength had been growing rapidly or if it was a matter of being back on Earth, where most buildings weren’t made of solid rock. He was sure the big man’s rage at his missing mother wasn’t hurting his destructive capabilities either.
Cal ran past the destruction of the first floor into the stairwell and made his way for what seemed like the millionth time this week down through basements and sub-basements into the bowels of yet another Agency building. Each floor was virtually abandoned, speeding up his time until he hit the bottom floor again. Unlike the last place, there were no children waiting for him, though, this time, there were thirty or so people wearing the ogre collars. Apparently, the Agency had started to plan for their raids.
Cal suddenly wished he had brought Frank down here with him as blasts of both fire and steam nearly melted the skin off his body. He only managed to avoid it by throwing himself backward onto the ground and was now in a terribly prone position for just how outnumbered he was. This was a problem. He was going to need to find a new mana spirit for Scrump and get Sleek back with him.
For now, he worked with what he had and released a shower of dancing electric balls into the air, each of them with just a hint of void energy. The following explosion and scream let him know that someone had already fallen into his rapidly executed trap, giving him time to get back onto his feet and get a good read of how screwed he was.
There were now twenty-eight remaining ogres. This had clearly been meant as an overwhelming number, and it probably was for every other member of his group, but Cal knew he had been at this the longest and was likely far more powerful than the rest of his friends and family, except maybe Bug. He wasn’t quite sure what his sister could do anymore. There was also no way he was running away from this one. Taking the ogres down here and getting out alive would likely be a pretty big blow. These thoughts ran through his head in a fraction of a second, with the final decision coming after his hands had started launching arcs of lightning into the room.
At the same time he did this, he detonated the remaining flashing orbs in the room, causing the void mana to trigger within them. Several more of the ogres were blasted by the force both outward and then inward. Some collided with the walls others collided with each other. There were only fifteen still standing, but that was still plenty to be a major problem as a blast of what Cal guessed was plasma came within inches of his side, the heat still burning him as the beam melted through the wall.
Whether he wanted to retreat or not, it was time to go. He had no idea they had people with access to this level of power enslaved. Surrounding himself with a bubble of electricity, he ran for the stairs, hoping it was enough to keep him mostly alive during his escape. He ducked into a roll, crashing into the second flight of stairs as he turned and just barely managed to avoid the two pointed icicles that embedded themselves deeply into the steel side rail.
Forcing himself back to his feet, Cal managed to ascend the right of the way out of the bottom level and found Frank heading his way. “No, too many ogres. We need to get the truck through and get the hell out of here!” Cal yelled at his friend.
Frank nodded and they ran for the surface level together.