“We need to fly a few more miles that way,” shouted Hadron. He pointed in the

direction he wanted to move. “We’re close to the center.”

“The cloud has shrunken,” said Ishmael. “Observations are saying that it contracted

while we were getting the equipment together.”

“We can’t worry about that,” said Hadron. “Ren might have done something, but the

thing is still going to try to stop us from dispersing it.”

“Concentrated beam?,” asked Cho.

“Yeah,” said Hadron. “We can’t fire more than fifteen seconds, but that might be

enough to punch a hole in the center of this and cause it to collapse.”

“Got it,” said Cho. “Give me the high sign when you are ready.”

Hadron watched the scanner. The energy in the cloud had dipped, but not completely

gone out. Then it had dipped even more. He couldn’t see a passage in the ground

but he was sure that whatever was causing this was underground. The scanner would

have shown any person, and most monsters, capable of shoving the sand like they

were witnessing.

They were going to have to dig the problem out after they set part of it on fire.

“Can you hover here, Morgan?,” asked Hadron.

“Can we hover for the nice man, Daisy?,” Marty asked his dragon.

Daisy made a noise that said yes, they could hover for a bit. She flapped her wings

to hold them in place in the air.

“Shoot, Harry,” said Hadron. He aimed down into the storm and lit it up. The blue

flame wasn’t as hot as he liked it, but it was burning the cloud into submission.

Cho fired down into the cloud as close as he could to where Hadron had targeted. The

second blast helped create a clear circle in the center of the whirlwind. Cracks

appeared in the sand below.

“Take us down,” said Hadron. “We have to find what we’re looking for before the

sand comes back at us.”

Marty tapped Daisy on the head and she dove to a landing inside the cleared circles.

Hadron and Cho corrected their direction of fire to push against the moving walls

they had created. The dragon landed with a thump.

“We need to find the door to where we want to go,” said Hadron. “It should be to my

right.”

“Looks sealed,” said Ishmael. He pulled out a pack from his belt of tools. “We’re

going to have to make our own door.”

“Do it,” said Hadron. “We won’t be able to hold this back for long.”

Ishmael opened the pack. He took out a brick of explosives and jabbed in a detonator.

He pushed the button and fled from the area of effect. He had picked a spot where

Daisy and the Lamplighters wouldn’t be affected. He smiled when the sand dropped

down into an opening.

“Take off, Daisy,” said Marty. He dismounted. “Get ready to scoop us up if the sky

clears.”

Hadron dropped down the hole first. He swung his cannon both ways before

marching along the tunnel. Ishmael and Marty dropped down next, then Cho. Harry

kept an eye on their back as they moved toward the source of energy.

Someone had been digging out smooth tunnels from the looks of things.

Hadron paused when he stepped into what looked like a throne room. He swung the

scanner around, pointing the cannon wherever it indicated. He didn’t see a

mastermind.

“I don’t see Ren,” said Marty. “Which way do we go?”

“That way,” said Hadron.

“All right,” said Marty. “Let me turn loose something to break open this cracker box.”

“I don’t think so,” said a relic from another age. “I still have work to do. You’re

going to have to go in a cell until I am done. Amenophis will decide what to do

with you when your use as batteries is done.”

“I think you should wear some clothes, bud,” said Harry. He tipped back his fedora.

“And while you are looking for a suit, we’re going to need our friend back and for

you to stop your cloud.”

“Who do you think you are?,” said the sand king. He raised his hands. “I control the

flow of the Earth. You can’t stop it.”

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“Light him up,” said Hadron.

Hadron and Cho fired their cannons at the sand king. A wall of earth blocked the twin

streams. Marty ran along the side to try to get around.

Ishmael didn’t know what he should be doing, but he needed to help out. If the

Lamplighters fell, his country would go back to being in danger from the magician

in front of him.

He had a pistol and had been trained. He felt bullets wouldn’t go through the wall.

How could he use it to end this fight. He moved to one side. He shot once at the

minion of Amenophis. The sand blocked the bullet as soon as it came within reach.

He frowned. How fast could the wall block his bullets?

He decided to empty the magazine to see what would happen. He pulled the trigger

until the slide locked back when the gun was empty. The wall exploded to knock his

projectiles out of the air to protect its master.

Hadron moved forward. He frowned at the way the wall kept him from wrecking

it. The blue flame dispersed magic, but the cannon wasn’t powerful enough to

disperse everything like he wanted. Even with Harry helping him, they were barely

holding on.

“I think you should give up,” said an old man dressed like a Chinese peasant. “Now

that we are free, your scheme is over.”

“The old man is right,” said a woman in t-shirt and shorts. “You are done. And

Amenophis will be done as soon as we’re through with you.”

The sand king half-turned and flung a battering ram at the new arrivals. The woman

stepped in the way and raised her arm. A shield of light stopped the sand on contact.

The ram broke down into a pile at her feet.

“Hakim?,” asked the old man. “Please counterattack.”

The butler pushed the air with his hand. All the loose sand in front of him blasted

at the sand king who fought to divert it from his body. The carrying wind was enough

to fling him into the air. He caught himself with soft earth before crashing to the

ground.

“You attacked us out of the shadows when we couldn’t defend ourselves,” said the

woman. “Now that the ground is more even, how do you like it?”

She chopped the air with her hand, cloaking herself in protective armor. A helm

covered her face last. She pulled a blade as she marched forward.

“Do you really think we can take Amenophis?,” Cho asked. He pointed his rifle

vaguely at the sand king.

“Ask me that if he does show up,” said Hadron. “It looks like the magicians are going

to take care of the rest of this for us. We need to find Ren and be ready to move out

if Amenophis does show up.”

“I have no objections,” said Ishmael. He had one full magazine for his pistol. He

exchanged that for the empty as he moved away from the magic combat. The last

thing he wanted was to catch a stray curse.

Hadron waved the others to pull back before he did. The sand king and the armored

woman traded physical spells across the room. He paused as Hakim punched the

enemy through a sandy wall.

“The old man is well known,” said Ishamael. “The government leaves him alone

because of his butler.”

“I wonder why,” said Cho.

“All right,” said Hadron. “We’re letting them fight. We need to get Ren and pull back.

If our side wins, your sandstorm is done. If he wins, we get the others and come back

to burn as much of this down as we can with real guns and equipment.”

“I agree completely,” said Ishmael. “The door out is that way.”

Hadron pointed his cannon down the tunnel they had used. He frowned at the reading

he got from the attached scanner. Someone was already in the tunnel. He opened up

with blue flame to deal with whomever was there.

He paused when he saw the flame hit something down there and stopped pushing

forward.

“Time’s up!,” shouted Hadron. “Amenophis is here!”

“Where’s Marty?,” asked Cho. “We don’t have the weapons for this.”

“Hakim?,” said the old man. “I think we need an exit strategy for our young friends.”

The butler grew upwards, smashing through the ceiling with his giant body. He

grabbed a helicopter out of the air and crashed it into the ground. He looked around

for anyone else to challenge his physical power.

The exit tunnel collapsed on Amenophis and whomever else he had brought with him.

Hadron saw the shield take a hit before it vanished under the earth. Maybe they could

have taken him in a straight fight, but he doubted it.

People had been chasing Amenophis for years and he always walked away. Just

driving him off and breaking his minion had to be a win today.

Daisy swooped down and landed inside the newly renovated bad guy base. She

looked around for Marty. At least he was still alive.

“Everybody on the dragon!,” shouted Hadron. “We have to back up and regroup.”

Hadron pushed Ishmael and Cho in front of him toward the giant lizard. He waved

at the old man to run, wondering if he had to go over and lift the guy up and carry him

out of danger.

The woman pointed her sword at the hole the sand king had plunged through. Dozens

of blades punched through the wall. The helmet hid her expression so it wasn’t clear

if she had actually hit with her finishing move.

Daisy looked around with her dish eyes. She growled at Hadron as he reached for

her foreleg.

Marty and Ren appeared out of the other door. The Animal waved at the dragon as

he ran toward her. His friend trailed behind at a slower pace.

“We’re leaving?,” Marty asked.

“As fast as we can,” said Hadron. He looked at the two places he expected his

enemies to pop out. The sand king showed himself as everyone else boarded the

dragon. He lit the magician up with the blue flame. He threw the cannon away when

smoke poured out of the device. “We have to go before the gun blows up.”

“You heard the man, Daisy,” said Marty. He started climbing the arm to the dragon’s

shoulder. “Let’s go before we get caught in an explosion.”

The group pulled themselves together and Daisy lifted up. She flew through the

hole in the roof and headed for a clear sky. She headed south.

“What are we waiting to happen?,” said the woman. Her armor faded away.

“My weapon was cobbled together make believe,” said Hadron. He watched the

hole fade away behind them. “And it is going up. I don’t know how much

damage it will cause when it goes up.”

Hakim landed beside Al-a-Din. He raised a hand in a warding gesture.

A column of blue flame erupted from the hole. Sand and wind blew outward from

the explosion. A network of veins collapsed under the pressure.

Hakim diverted everything he could as Daisy carried them to safety.

“I think you should power down the semi-flamer,” said Hadron. “Then I think we

should take it apart before it blows up on us.”

Cho held his hat to his head as he nodded at the thought.