Even with several of the thugs having portal powers, it would have been truly embarrassing to be delayed for long. They were newbies, while at least our captain had experience working as a mercenary… and the rest of us at least had been properly training our powers for months. I had mage abilities for much longer, of course, but I’d developed very slowly in my world without experience or a proper way to train.

Sirine was the biggest threat, but Rocker negated her nicely. Fortunately my stoneskin had helped against moves the enemy intended to take us out instantly- the murderous attempts not earning them any favor. Shockfire blasted one of the two dagger-wielding women across the the hall, lightning coursing through her. The other one found herself fully encompassed in a statue of ice. If they were dead… I don’t think anyone cared. Acid Man was gooping his way up Boyan’s body, and was now at the waist. The big guy managed to keep fighting, but he was greatly hampered by the weight and what must have been some serious pain from the acid.

Down the hallway Handface was lining up for another shot. I was dodging around the big guy while gathering mana. The latter took the same amount of actual time even with Haste, so I could only make the choice between attempting to take him out… and protecting his target. He wasn’t focused on me, but instead on Rocker. The guy might have been a criminal, but he mostly caused property damage and was working with us. He also didn’t have Stoneskin. I threw a Shield in front of him, covering his torso and head.

It was a good thing I did, because he was focusing all of his power on preventing Sirine’s abilities from screwing with our heads. The bullet punctured through the translucent circle, but deflected slightly. That made it go down into his gut.

His shout of pain echoed down the corridor- but fortunately kept mostly focused beyond the close pack of us. Sirine and Handface were blasted back down the corridor, hitting into the wall of the junction. Then they split in either direction, running.

Mage’s Reach hadn’t quite gotten to Handface yet, but I directed it around the corner and began to run. “I’m going after the primary target!” I called back to the team. They had taken down everyone but Boyan, and he was staggering.

As I ran, Midnight scurried after me. He was the only other one with Haste, and with nothing resembling speedsters on our team the slight differences in running pace were far outstripped by going four times as fast. I knew he probably didn’t have that much mana left- I was below half, and that was close to his maximum- but I appreciated him coming along regardless.

I thought about absorbing another mana crystal, but in the midst of combat with Haste going… I didn’t think that would be a good idea. I had a lot of time to think as I ran towards the corner. Could there be someone waiting there to shoot me? Handface might do that. As I reached the turn, I dove across the hallway, keeping low. Unless he was aiming at my knees, I would be out of the line of fire. The bullet zipped past me, invisible. It was faster than Shockwave fully juiced up, and of course tiny instead of adult sized. I only head the boom, strangely drawn out.

Mage’s Reach was most of the way to Handface, and I reached out for his forearm. He reacted quickly, pulling something from his belt. It was some sort of flimsy shield, but Shocking Grasp didn’t travel through it. I melted whatever sort of plastic or rubber it was though. Using his hand for that meant Handface didn’t have time to aim his gun. It wasn’t made for shooting with one hand in the slightest, and he nearly dropped it as he tried to take a shot towards me. It didn’t even get close.

I had already tumbled to my feet and started running towards him, but as he spun around- tossing the melted hunk of shield- he grabbed something else from his belt. The corridor exploded, and I was just barely able to make out some chunks of it as they flew towards me. I picked that seemed to be the least fatal route and lunged for that.

As it turned out, explosions could be pretty fast. I only got out mostly unscathed because of Stoneskin- though I felt a pain in my shoulder that indicated I wasn’t completely fine.

“That guy’s crazy!” Midnight commented, his smaller size having gotten him through the flying rubble with greater ease.

“Sure is,” I agreed. “That’s why we can’t let him get away again.”

I had maybe twenty seconds left of Haste. Eight or nine mana. I needed some to take Handface out, but I could recast my Force Armor to absorb more damage. That would also apply to Midnight, so I did it.

“I’ll go first,” Midnight said quickly.

I couldn’t exactly argue with him. His reflexes were quick and he was a small target. His Stoneskin was in better shape than mine, so he was probably as durable as well. I held Mage’s Reach back from turning the next corner and let Midnight go around as a sort of surprise.

“Dammit,” Midnight said.

“What?”

“He went in the water.”

Turning the corner, I could see there was nothing but stairs going down into the water. “At least he can’t shoot us in there. Bullets don’t work underwater.”

“And magic does?” Midnight asked.

“... don’t use Shocking Grasp. The others should uh… work.”

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“Firebolt?” Midnight said.

“... It might.”

The prohibition against Shocking Grasp didn’t apply to Mage’s Reach, as long as it was far. The hand was slowed by the water, but the two of us were as well. We started to swim in the one visible direction, and I just caught sight of Handface’s feet as he swam. That guy swam fast. We shouldn’t have been so far behind with Haste, but we hesitated at the corner. He was only maybe a hundred feet ahead, still closer than he had been at first, but there was another corner.

Midnight and I swam after him. Midnight wasn’t that fast under water, and neither was I. But a struggling quadruple speed was still faster than a good swimmer. We closed half the distance before he got to the corner. Then the tunnel exploded.

The good news was that the explosion was greatly dampened by the water. The bad news was that concussive force still slammed me into the wall, and my breathing apparatus was knocked away somewhere. I spun around in the darkness, vaguely able to see but confused. I wanted to breathe but I couldn’t. I could swim, but I wasn’t good so I kept spinning. I couldn’t think.

I needed air. Magic could give me air. I didn’t have any points, but maybe I had leveled up. Water breathing could cover myself and Midnight for basically forever. I just needed mana and…I could do it. I didn’t have time to look at a stupid menu and pick out Water Breathing, I kenw what I wanted. I shoved mana out into the world. I took a breath. That was when rubble from the tunnel began to settle on me, pinning me down, and my consciousness faded.

-----

I woke up with pain in my legs. Some bruising, but also the tingly pain from a limb falling asleep. That was a good thing, because pain meant I wasn’t dead. I was also breathing. It was still dark, though. My vision was good enough to pick out Great Girl’s outfit, a dark red. Or maybe a bright red that was just dark. That made more sense.

What happened? Mana exhaustion. The good news was that I had not knocked myself unconscious underwater without using Water Breathing somehow. The other good news was that Midnight was extremely worried. No pain, though, which meant he was pretty healthy. I looked towards him, his fur floating about in the water. I smiled. Everything was going well, except for that we didn’t catch Handface.

Great Girl shifted another chunk off me and I floated free. “Thanks,” I said. My voice was not super clear underwater, but she got the message. She looked quite relieved that I was alive and/or breathing properly. She gestured towards the stairs not far away, and we swam up.

A bucketful of water spewed out of my lungs as I let out my breath after we surfaced. It was weird and uncomfortable, but didn’t actually disrupt my breathing. I was simply breathing water, or water and air mixed, and then finally just air as water continued to expel from my lungs.

Captain Senan and the others were waiting there. “Sorry, we didn’t catch them,” I said.

“Sorry for that?” he asked. “Not that you went traipsing off alone deeper into the enemy’s lair?”

“I was trying to complete the primary objective of the mission,” I said.

He shook his head, “That’s no good if you can’t be alive to see it,” he reminded me. “And the Power Brigade would doubtless like to remind you that they spent money on training you and would like return on their investment.”

“I wasn’t planning to die or anything. It was technically two of us with powers versus one guy without.”

“He’s a tricky one though,” Great Girl shook her head. “It’s a good thing I was here,” she said. “Who knows how long it would have taken these guys to remove that rubble from you? Though uh… I thought you didn’t know Water Breathing?”

“I didn’t,” I nodded. I looked at my status. “Maybe I don’t?” Then I spotted it. It was just in the wrong place. “No, I do.”

Turlough (No surname)

Level: 21

Experience: 1171

Storage +2

Firebolt +2

Shocking Grasp +3

Grease +2

Force Armor +6

Mage's Reach +2

Translation +1

Haste +4

Disguise

Familiar Bond +2

Enlarge +1

Energy Ward +1

Sonic Lance +1

Scrying

Shield +1

Stoneskin

Remaining Points: 22

Mana Crystal Deposition

Water Breathing

“That… ugh.” Great Girl shook her head. “So how long does it last?”

“Hours. Presumably.” That was the normal case, but this one was different. It wasn’t where spells went. It definitely cost mana though. And it also definitely didn’t cost points, because even with the level up I hadn’t used a single one of them. The good news was… a real battle was great experience. What was that, sixty? More than half a level. This was great.

The captain ultimately accepted my excuses for what I did, and the squads on standby for capture and search made their way in. We got Boyan, one of the women, and a bunch of non-powered mooks. One of the other stabby women had managed to slink off in all the confusion- not the one coated in ice, obviously. That one was barely learning how to move again when she was cuffed and taken away.

Sirine was gone, along with Handface. Rodentia seemed to have only sent some robo-rats, and wasn’t lairing with the others. That made sense, she’d always been an independent. We did pick up a bunch of random tech scattered around the lair- as well as some more explosives. Not enough to bring the whole place down, but certainly more than sane people were comfortable having in an underground lair.

We also got a ton of the Scrying disruptors. There weren’t any convenient mirrors or I would have immediately tried to Scry Handface, but that would be the first thing I did when we got back to base. I should probably recover mana before trying that anyway, since I needed an hour and a half for nine mana. Plus enough to not fall unconscious, and the slight increase from the portals wasn’t going to cut it. Mana Crystals… I also had to talk to the doctor before consuming any more of those. So it was back to HQ we went. Handface remained a half step ahead, but with a lair and all his minions lost he would be hopefully quick to track down. Our day wasn’t done, not by a long shot.