Sara followed the three mummies as they descended to the ground floor of the tower. They covered any doors and searched the rooms to make sure nothing came out behind them. She should have asked a group to help her, but freelancers seemed to work alone for the most part.

She wondered why, and why did these mummies work as a team?

“You guys know each other?,” Sara asked.

“Yep,” said Tyler. He peeked around a corner. Then backed off. “All right, boys and girl. She’s waiting for us where the vats for the sticky stuff used to be. I don’t see anything but her, but her drones might be hiding until we rush her.”

“The ones I saw were about six inches across, and had laser guns built in,” said Sara. “They cut me up pretty bad in a mass.”

“So we’re going to have to move fast,” said Tyler. “Good call on that. I’ll go in and distract her. You three see what you can do to get close.”

“I’ll distract her,” said Sara. “You have guns, and Seek has his sticks. What do you have, Ryan?”

Ryan pulled a knife from his dark suit and flipped it around in his hand so the blade popped out of the handle and the handle clacked together in his hand. His white mask seemed amused in its face covering way.

“So the three of us have up close weapons,” said Sara. “We have to get in to do our job. You’re going to have to stay out of the way, Tyler, and support us from the sidelines. Look for the perfect shot, I guess.”

“We already know she’s fast enough to stop a bullet,” said Seek. His lean face seemed to be all frowns all the time. “A bunch of bullets, really.”

“That’s why we have to tie her up so Tyler can do what he does,” said Sara. “It’s our only chance to beat her. The others will have to worry about Voit.”

“So the plan is for you three to engage, and I sit back until I can get a shot,” said Tyler. “I hate that plan.”

“I’m not a fan either,” said Seek. “I say we rush the doors and get out of here.”

“What about the others?,” asked Sara.

“Not my problem,” said Seek.

“Don’t make me put a bullet in your stupid face,” said Tyler. “You won’t get past Miss Lovely Bites, much less the Owl Man.”

“Watch me,” said Seek.

Ryan held up a hand to stop Tyler from launching into the rant that was on his mind. He gestured for Seek to go ahead.

“Really?,” exploded Tyler.

Ryan nodded his masked face.

“I’m out,” said Seek. He rushed down the hall.

Ryan checked the watch on his wrist. He nodded as if keeping time. He slapped Tyler on the shoulder, and exploded after Seek.

“Oh,” said Tyler. He laughed as he pulled his guns. “Freaking handler. Let’s go, Missy.”

He headed down the hall with Sara following. She wondered what had just happened, until she saw Seek battling twenty metal tentacles with his sticks. Then she realized that Ryan had used him for a distraction for the rest of them. She didn’t see the knifer in the gloom of the giant chamber.

Where had he gone?

Sara decided not to worry about Ryan. Seek was in trouble, and even though he had wanted to leave, she still had to make good use of his distraction. She pointed the lion sword at the Dark lady, and called for lightning to connect them.

Belsin slapped Seek away to block the lightning with her multiple arms. She smiled. An enclosed space suited the extra arms she was flinging around. And they were faster than lightning from the looks of things.

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“Light her up,” shouted Tyler as he fired both pistols. He never seemed to run out of bullets as the arms blocked most of them with flicks of their chain bodies. Those that got through punched holes in flesh to reveal interlocked metal underneath. “She’s a borg.”

Sara flung another bolt of lightning at the Dark lady. The energy played along the tentacles before running into the floor of the chamber.

“She’s insulated from the lightning,” she said. “I’ll have to get closer.”

Seek got to his feet and attacked. His sticks came down on a tentacle and knocked the defense down. That attracted all of Belsin’s attention as she whipped her swarm of additional arms at him. He avoided all but one that dropped him to the ground after swiping his legs out from under him.

She seized him by the neck before he could get away. She lifted him in the air. He grabbed hold of the tentacle with both hands to lift himself up to avoid choking.

“I think this fight is over,” Belsin said. “You two can’t do anything without hitting your friend. Lay down your weapons.”

“He’s not my friend,” said Tyler. “That’s why we used him for a distraction.”

“You used me for a distraction?,” said Seek.

“You used him for a distraction?,” said Belsin.

“Yes,” said Tyler. “Why wouldn’t we? He was trying to desert. We had to let him draw all the attention this way.”

Belsin started to turn. All of her attention had been on the hall the three had left to engage her. She had not thought any of them could get behind her.

Ryan’s white mask appeared out of the dark. He stabbed with the knife in his hand. It went into Belsin’s skull right above the forehead. He pulled the knife out and stepped back.

Tyler fired on the crippled Dark lady, aiming for the head as much as possible. Belsin blew up in a wave of light under the beating. Etherial light wrapped around the four of them.

Sara felt something extra pouring into her, but it didn’t matter as long as she held the dog and horse. One gave her immortality. The other healed her from injuries. That something from Belsin meant nothing to her at the moment.

She couldn’t tell if it was doing anything for the mummies. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. They were still helping her. That’s what mattered as far as she was concerned.

“We have to get upstairs,” said Tyler. “Any ideas?”

“There’s some ladders,” said Seek. He pointed at the narrow bars built into one of the walls. “You used me for bait? That’s not good.”

“I wanted to shoot you,” said Tyler. “Ryan is the one that said you should go first.”

Ryan tapped his watch with a gloved finger. He headed for the ladder, blending into the shadows cast by the dim light overhead.

“You were the perfect bait, buddy,” said Tyler. He sprinted after their comrade.

“I didn’t know, Seek,” said Sara. “I have a lot of questions, but I think we should get moving before Voit breaks off from the others and comes down here to see what happened to his better half.”

“That’ll be a nightmare in a half since none of us can fly,” said Seek.

He walked off to where the other two fighters were already climbing the ladder. He looked back to see if Sara was following him.

She walked after her group, scanning the metal floor. She didn’t see any of the other plaques. She frowned. It looked like she would have to get by on the lion sword and the four stone octagons she had in the gauntlet.

Who knew the rat could bring mummies back to life? She hadn’t really expected that to happen. At least they were helping her at the moment, instead of going their separate ways. Would they become mummies again when they were done helping her? Could the rat keep them alive until they were destroyed for good?

Had she really brought back dead freelancers to help her? That seemed the most important question. She frowned at the thought that she didn’t know what was going on.

On the other hand, that hadn’t stopped her in her quest so far. She couldn’t allow it to muddle up her planning when she was about to join living mummies in fighting an owl man technologist.

That was another thing she hadn’t really thought she would be thinking while she was shepherding her kids from school to practices to home to do homework and help with their chores.

She reached the top of the ladder. The mummies blocked the closed door. She recognized it as the door she had entered when she had first invaded the building. The gap to the door on the other side still needed to be crossed, but she could do it with some help.

Strands of light chased Voit around in the air. Impacts when they did happen lit up his green shields, but none got through. He fired back blobs of goo.

“I think I can take Voit while he is trying to stop the others from shooting at him,” said Sara. “I just need him to come a little closer.”

“I can get him to come closer,” said Tyler. “When do you want it?”

“Go,” said Sara. She closed her eyes and took a moment to steady herself. As long as she had the dog and horse, she would be okay. She could do this.

“Hey, Pickle Head!,” shouted Tyler. He opened fire with one pistol. “Have some hot lead.”

Voit circled in the air, aiming his harness guns at the new threat. He ignored the hits on his shield as he charged at the alcove. Once one group was locked down, he could turn his attention on the other.

Sara jumped from the stage, swinging her gauntlet as she fell. The three threads flung themselves at Voit, wrapping around him as he tried to steer out of the way. She swung at the end of the threads as he poured more power into his flight.

Tyler and Ryan leaped at Voit from the stage area. They latched on to his body before he could think to avoid them and send them crashing to the ground. The whole group headed for the floor in slow motion.

Then Seek jumped down, swinging his sticks. They hit the top shield and cracked it apart as he passed. He wrapped an arm around a leg to keep from hitting the ground.

Sara flung the lion sword.