Cog mentally shook his brain as he looked at the cameras in the command center. The

rest of the prisoners were causing havoc in the facility. He should have expected this

would happen.

How did he help them get out of the place? How did he get himself out of the place?

How did he move things into a way that he could use to cover his escape?

He should have thought about giving his allies radios so they could talk to each other

and coordinate their actions. He had to get them together and thinking about breaking

out instead of setting people on fire, or breaking their bones.

If he called them over the public announcement center, he would be letting their

captors know he had taken the room over. The human monitors were stacked where

he had left them. His captors had never gotten close enough to take his tools from

him. That was a bad oversight on their part.

He had to get Corona, Marty, and Ren together with Finch. They had handled the girl

clown and forced the simian to flee from them handily. Finch had turned into a silent

monster for the human guards trying to stop her.

The human teleporter was trying to stop Finch by using hit and run tactics. In Cog’s

opinion, he should run. He wasn’t a match for her, and was taking more hits than he

was delivering.

If she landed a solid hit on him, Cog thought he would suffer some breakage.

He came up with a plan. It was risky, but doable in his opinion. He had to steer the

humans together. He doubted Finch was going to listen to him. She was too involved

in exerting her vengeance on anybody who came within reach of her hands and feet.

That meant he had to steer Corona’s group to Finch.

That meant he had to send his drone to talk to the trio. Corona would probably keep

fighting, but he thought Marty and Ren were more apt to listen to him. Once he got

them together with Finch, maybe the fighter would join the group and head for the

exit.

He doubted it. She seemed focused on hurting her perceived enemies as much as she

could. He didn’t have the ability to deal with that kind of mindset. His instincts said

to run away and leave her.

On the other hand, she seemed to be drawing a large percentage of the free soldiers

in the complex to her position. They didn’t know they were running into a meat

grinder. He didn’t have enough compassion to warn them.

Cog sent a signal to his drone. It traversed the underground building through the vent

systems. It paused when it saw the dragon go by, flame blasting from its snout. He

didn’t know there were animals like that on Earth. He filed it into a mental slot of

things to look out for as he ordered the drone to make contact.

Marty and Ren paused in their climb to look at the vent built into a wall of the

staircase. Marty raised his hand in the traditional human greeting. The drone raised

a tentacle in reply.

“Finch is wrecking things two floors above you,” Cog said through his drone. “The

plan was for her to join me in the motor pool. She decided to put as many soldiers in

the hospital as she can.”

“We were hoping to gather some of the operational records, Cog,” said Marty. He

kept a wary eye on the dragon and Corona blasting at Troop. The monkey seemed to

want to get to a door and get away from the fire blasting at him.

“I am hoping that you can get to the motor pool so we can leave,” said Cog. “The

Squad and the soldiers might be able to regroup and pick us off if we don’t move

faster.”

“We need those files,” said Marty. “You go ahead and leave. We’ll get out on our

own.”

Cog muttered to himself. Of course the humans wanted to gain something from this.

They were greedy for more rather than get what they could and get out. He had seen

it first hand. Here was another example of the trait.

“The offices are on the ground floor at the top of the structure,” said Cog. “There

should be enough records to keep these people locked down while the government

strips everything they can carry. Hurry and get it done.”

“All right,” said Marty. “That sounds like a plan.”

“You have soldiers on guard at all the exits from the stairwell,” said Cog. “As soon

as you come out, they will try to cut off any powers with portable nullifiers.”

“Do they know about the dragon?,” asked Marty.

“Yes,” said Cog. He checked the camera feeds. “They think they can handle it with

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what they have.”

“We need another way out of this stairwell,” said Marty. “And we need directions to

Finch. Can you handle that?”

“Yes,” said Cog. “See if you can get rid of the monkey without getting hurt. I’ll try

to come up with some other way out of the stairwell without a small army of weapons

ready to shoot.”

“Right,” said Marty. “Do what you can. We’re depending on you.”

Marty started up the stairs. He checked the doors as he went. It felt good to know that

no one wanted to take him on. On the other hand, they were in a bottleneck. They

needed Cog to come through with some kind of plan.

Their captive hadn’t been helpful at all. Ren put him to sleep and they had started

after the dragon and Corona trying to get rid of their enemy duplicator.

Cog tried to think of a plan as he watched the cameras. There had to be something he

could do. What did he have at his disposal?

He had nothing but the cameras and remote control of some of the doors. None of that

would help the others. He didn’t see a fire bell, or suppression systems in place.

Maybe he could have his drone start a fire somewhere that could be blocked off from

the rest of the building.

The thought that maybe he should join the fight never entered his mind. He had

triggered his door with his drone. He had evaded recapture. Opening the door to the

command center had been an applied use of his drone. Then he had used his whip-like

limbs on the staff before they could resist him.

Maybe he could do better than suggesting they run into a stream of concentrated fire

designed to put them down. How did he get started trying to save the others?

The stairwell was across from the local elevator. If they could get to that, they could

use it to ambush the soldiers.

Cog checked the elevator out. It could be a back door for the group. All they had to

do was cut into the accessway over the stairwell. Then they could go anywhere they

wanted.

It was better than waiting for the soldiers to flood the stairwell and put them back in

their cells.

“Mr. Morgan,” said Cog. “There is part of the ventilation system at the top of the

stairwell. If you can cut into that, it will lead to the elevator shaft. You can use that

to get around the troops in the hall.”

“What about Finch?,” asked Marty.

“We will have to temporarily abandon her for a successful escape of our own,” said

Cog. “It’s the only practical solution.”

“I have a better idea,” said Marty. “Seal the doors Corona, except for Finch’s.”

He pointed to the door he meant. It would buy seconds, but he might be able to stretch

that out if the army was afraid to blow things up.

The dragon began eating Troops. Apparently it was tired of casting fire at an enemy

that kept duplicating to get around injuries. It snatched the simians up and threw them

in its mouth and started chewing.

The monkeys scrambled for a door to get away from the onslaught. They collapsed

into one Troop as the furry fury threw himself through the door above the floor where

Finch was supposed to be.

Corona sealed the door with a burst of light. She worked her way down the stairwell.

Small pulses of light marked her melting the hinges and door jambs together. She

finished at the bottom door. Then she headed back up to where Marty and Ren waited

by the door to head out on the floor to get Finch.

“I’m going out to get Finch,” said Marty. “You two watch the stairwell and elevator.

I got a feeling that they didn’t rush up to get her when they had to deal with us. Cog

said there was a vent at the top of the stairwell. We can seal the door and cut our way

into the elevator shaft after we’re done.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Corona. “Be careful. We don’t know what’s going on

here.”

“I’ll do the best I can,” said Marty. He called back the dragon. He summoned a dog

of unknown pedigree. “Watch out for anyone with the nullifiers. If someone masses

to attack the door, don’t stick around. Go for the exit and get out of here. It’s

upwards.”

“You want us to leave you and Finch?,” said Corona. “I won’t do it.”

“Cog is already heading out,” said Marty. “If you get caught, you won’t have any way

to get out of your cell the next time. Don’t worry about us. We’ll handle it.”

“All right,” said Corona. “I don’t like it.”

“Who does?,” Marty slid out of the stairwell. He jogged to an overturned desk and

used it for cover. Nothing but broken men stirred as far as he could see.

His dog perked up at a hum. It ran in that direction, ears flopping as it moved. Marty

jogged after it, grabbing a discarded pistol as he went. It had been a long time, but he

should still know how to handle it.

He paused as the dog growled. It ran at someone in green with a rod in his hand. The

figure turned around. The rod pointed. A purple beam stabbed out at Marty. The

Scout threw himself into an alcove. The beam glowed where it hit the wall. Marty

fired back, using the wall as a brace. The bullets sparked off an invisible shield.

“Go back to your cell, Morgan,” said the man in green. He pointed the rod at Marty.

“Your stupid animal power doesn’t have a chance against my technology.”

“You think so?,” Marty asked. He called back the dog. There was nothing it could do

against that shield.

“I know so,” said the man in green. “We studied you. There’s nothing you can do to

stop me from putting you to sleep and locking you back down.”

A grenade rolled to a stop at the Squad leader’s feet. Marty looked for something to

hide behind. He threw himself across the room, behind a counter. He hunched over

and closed his ears as the grenade went off. He peeked over the counter. The man in

green had hit a column despite his shield.

A woman in gold and green appeared. She held a staff in her hand as she looked over

the scene in a gold mask over the top of her face.

“Marty Morgan,” Marty said from behind his cover. “I think we might be able to

leave now.”

“Yes,” said Finch. “Other masks?”

“Corona and Ren are waiting by the elevator,” said Marty. “I don’t know about Cog.”

“Other masks?,” said Finch. She held a staff in her hand. She nodded at the man in

green getting to his feet.

“We chased two of them away from the stairwell,” said Marty. He called on a rhino

and set it loose. It smashed against the shield at full speed. It couldn’t get through the

shield, but it could work on it long enough for a search party to look for him. “It looks

like you’ve dealt with the other two.”