Blake sat on the couch in his mother’s office and rubbed his bruised cheek.
His mother frowned. “Why haven’t you healed that yet?”
“Yeah, that totally worked against you in the interview,” Oliver added helpfully from a padded chair across the room. “What kind of ‘bullet-proof’ guy gets a bruise?”
“I haven’t healed it because I want to remind myself that I’m not indestructible. If that bullet had been just an inch away, I might not have survived.”
“I agree with Blake,” Peter defended his son. “He needs to take fewer chances now, and if he needs a reminder of that, I’m all for it. We have the town all but built, Jordan and Brent are busy upgrading the bunkhouses to level three, and we’re protected by the shield.” He turned to address his son directly. “You won. You did it.”
“Not if we run out of nano,” Blake muttered.
“Do we need to raise taxes higher?” Jessica asked through holo-chat.
Blake sighed. “No. If we do that, the combat teams won’t be able to upgrade their attributes. It’s already hard enough for Montgomery and Jeff to take on level one scenarios with just the two of them. Let’s just leave it at fifty percent for now. Once I can leave town, I’ll lower it back to ten.”
Oliver snorted. “I don’t see why you can’t just leave whenever you want. They can’t do shit to you, and we got the shield keeping us safe.”
Blake groaned and rolled his eyes. “I already told you, I don’t want to lead them to the portals. Enough people are going to die as it is.”
“We specifically warned people not to attempt scenarios until they were ready,” Donna reminded him.
Peter snorted. “Yeah, because people take warnings seriously.”
“And, that assumes people actually read the guide. After that interview, I don’t know why anyone would bother,” Blake grumbled.
“Perhaps you should have prepared more for it,” his mother suggested.
“I did prepare for it,” Blake insisted. “But, she kept asking the dumbest questions and insinuating horrible things. It threw me off. Honestly, we should’ve just gone with a normal news reporter.”
His brother’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me? She’s the best! It’s not her fault you’re an idiot.”
“Oliver!” Peter snapped. “That was uncalled-for.”
“Sorry,” he replied, without sincerity.
“Despite your brother’s crude language,” Donna shot her oldest son a pointed look. “I do think she was the right choice. According to the stats, the interview has already received a hundred and forty million views on Self-tube, and another sixty million on Tweeter. It’s only been a few hours since it was posted, and it’s spreading rapidly.”
“How many people have downloaded the guide?” Blake leaned forward. “That’s the important part.”
Donna winced. “I don’t know. The website went down almost immediately. Too much traffic.”
“Of course it did,” Blake muttered. He took a breath and added in a louder voice, “So, to sum it up, hundreds of millions of people got to see her treat me like a cult leader and terrorist, yet no one got to actually download the guide that will save lives. Is that right?”
“Not quite,” Jessica corrected him. “People who downloaded the document before the site went down are sharing it with others. I’ve also already contacted the hosting site, and they’ve promised to increase our bandwidth allocation.”
Blake let out a sigh. “At least that’ll be fixed. Thanks,” he nodded to Jessica.
The Vietnamese woman nodded. “If it’s any consolation, my workers here loved the interview. And your friends, Montgomery and Jeff, thought it was especially humorous.”
“I bet they did,” Blake groaned as he pictured his old friend’s reaction. “How are they holding up over there? Any problems? What about the other combat teams? Are they all settling in okay?”
When Blake realized the FBI would blockade the portal right up until Invasion day, he had his mother contact the faction members left outside. They agreed to continue to work at the Payson expansion town until Blake was able to retrieve them.
“Most people seem to be doing fine,” Jessica replied. “I’ve had a few complaints, mostly from Montgomery, but people seem to understand this is temporary.”
“What kind of complaints?” Donna asked.
“Well, I’m not sure if you were aware, but it is ninety-eight degrees here. None of our buildings have air-conditioning yet, and some people are overheating. I’ve brought in battery powered fans, but that only helps so much. Right now, we have a lot of people taking breaks in their vehicles with the AC on.”
“How long until you can upgrade your faction hall to level four?” Blake asked. The level four building included an enchantment for temperature regulation, and allowed the other structures to be upgraded with it as well.
Jessica grimaced. “I’m not sure. The constructors you sent over have helped speed things up tremendously. We almost have all the prerequisite buildings completed, and there are enough materials left over from the level four Lupus scenario you ran. Unfortunately, we lack the nano for the upgrade.”
In the end, it always comes down to money. There’s never enough.
“How much are we getting per day right now, and how much are we using?” Blake asked.
“Well, the vast majority is coming from our four combat teams. Right now, they’re spending the hot afternoons and evenings in the Arachne portal. Every team is completing two scenarios per day, which nets about twenty mega-nano in taxes.”
“What about the non-combat classes?” Blake asked.
Jessica shrugged. “Almost one mega-nano today, which mostly came from completing directives. I’m not sure if that will go up or down in the future, but either way, I wouldn’t rely on it.”
Blake rubbed his temples. “So, the shield requires nine point six mega-nano per day. How much do the building upgrades cost?”
“We spent ten mega-nano today,” Jessica answered. “And transferred another twenty to your treasury. Now, we only have a reserve of four mega-nano.”
Donna sighed. “Unfortunately, our treasury’s already empty. Upgrading bunkhouses to level three is expensive without an enchanter.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Debra’s been a Godsend,” Jessica agreed. “Her enchanting has saved us a ton of nano and time.”
“Well, that’s obviously not sustainable,” Blake grumbled. “I guess we’ll have to pause bunkhouse upgrades until I can get out there and start earning.”
Peter ignored his oldest son’s comment and asked, “When will you go?”
“Tonight, after the sun sets. It’ll be harder for them to follow me that way. At least, I hope it will,” he corrected. “I don’t know if the drones have infra-red or not. If they do, and I can’t get a clean get-away, I may just have to come back here.”
“Can’t you run at like a hundred miles an hour?” Oliver asked. “I don’t think drones move that fast.”
“For fifteen seconds,” Blake answered. “And, there’s also three helicopters up there,” he pointed to the ceiling. “They can go a lot faster than that, and I’ll have to lose them as well.”
“Blake, you do not wish to reveal portals to the public because you fear loss of life, correct?” Jessica asked for clarification.
Blake nodded.
“Then, why not use the one they already know about? Didn’t you say the government is already aware of the portal in the Pinetop fire tower?”
Oh my God. Why didn’t I think of that?
“Hell yeah!” Oliver blurted. “You can kick their asses while you’re at it! Think of the views. You know someone will be there with a camera ready.”
Blake rubbed his bruised cheek again.
Peter shook his head. “It’s too risky. Blake was already injured by a bullet. They’ve been set up there for weeks now. Who knows what kind of defense they have?”
“I agree,” his mother added. “We can stop the upgrades here and just rely on the combat teams at Payson to supply taxes. And, if we need more, we can always increase taxes.”
Blake shook his head. “No more taxes. Fifty percent is already high enough, even if it’s just temporary. Remember, everyone just hit level one, and they haven’t maxed out their attributes yet. Until they do, they’re at greater risk.”
“I can cut back on the upgrades here,” Jessica offered.
“No,” Blake disagreed. “Oliver’s right, I need to get out there and start earning nano. I mean, I can more than double their taxes in just a single scenario. If I go, we can cut taxes back down so they can upgrade their attributes.”
“Blake,” his father protested. “Take the win. You don’t need to keep putting yourself in danger like this,” he urged.
“How about this, I’ll try and lose them on the way to the Lupus scenario. If I can, then great, no more risk. If not, then I’ll head back to Pinetop and use the Ursa portal.”
“If you surprise them, that may work the first time, but you have to come back out eventually. They know that, and they’ll be waiting for you.”
Blake smirked. “Oh, I’ve already thought of that. I’ve got a surprise they won’t see coming.”
“What?” His brother asked as he leaned forward. After Blake informed him of his plan, OIiver burst out in laughter. “I love it!”
Peter sighed. “That may work, but please try for the Lupus portal first.”
Blake nodded. “Don’t worry, I will.”
“If you do escape them, you can join us here,” Jessica suggested.
“Sorry, I can’t risk them finding out about your town. The government’s already involved, what if they have a satellite spying on me? They could just watch as I lead them right to you,” Blake explained.
Peter cursed. “I didn’t think about that. If that’s true, they could set up a trap in Snowflake as well.”
“I can teleport,” Blake reminded his father. “I’m a lot harder to trap than you think.”
“What if they fill up the pit with gravel while you’re gone?” Oliver asked. “Do you die instantly when you come back through?”
Blake snorted. “No. It doesn’t work like that.”
“You sound very sure of that,” Donna remarked.
He nodded. “Trust me, lots of traps have been tried. None of them work. The Architect won’t allow anyone to block its portals.”
“Blake,” Jessica spoke up. “Sorry to interrupt, but you need to hear this.”
Blake and the others watched through holo-chat as Jessica clicked a few buttons and then rotated her laptop so they could see the screen. A Self-tube video with the caption, ‘BREAKING: Arizona Governor calls in National Guard to Pinetop’ was displayed. When she hit play, the splash screen was replaced with their Governor, Mike Willis.
“By now, I am sure you are all aware of the situation in Pinetop. I want to reassure everyone that I am not taking this lightly. Four Phoenix SWAT team members and an FBI HRT member remain hostages of this insurgent. That is unacceptable. We can not allow this tragedy to continue. We must put a stop to this terrorist before he captures even more innocents. While I am thankful Miss Taylor was allowed to leave, we can not rely on the whims of a criminal.”
“To that end, I have coordinated with the FBI and called in the National Guard to assist them. They will establish a large perimeter, guarded with heavy weaponry, so no one else can be kidnapped. I tell you this now, if the terrorist known as Blake Summers shows his head outside his compound again, it’ll be the last time he does so. I will not have time for questions, that is all.”
The governor then turned and fled the podium, while reporters peppered him with questions. Jessica paused the video and added, “I suggest you move up your timeline.”
Yeah, probably a good idea.
Blake immediately stood.
“Are you going now?” Donna pressed.
Over his shoulder, he replied, “After I release our hostages, yeah.”
“Hold up!” His father yelled. After Blake paused, he asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Yes, we already had this discussion,” Blake replied as he leaned against the door frame. “Don’t worry, I’m still going to try and lose them first.”
“I was referring to releasing the hostages,” Peter corrected his son dryly.
“Oh. Why wouldn’t I?”
“They mentioned they’re bringing in heavy weaponry,” Peter pointed out. “When there’s no more hostages, they’ll be free to use every bit of that against us.”
Blake snorted. “As long as we have the nano, there’s no way they’re getting through this shield,” he said confidently, turned, and left. He strode down the hallway, the two flights of stairs in the lobby, then headed toward the basement entrance. When he opened the thick metal door, he heard voices down below.
I wonder what they’re talking about.
He quickly cast Adjustable Dampen Sound to muffle his steps and descended the stairs. As he reached the bottom, the muffled voices became clear.
“I’m telling you,” Esteves said confidently. “It’s all just tricks. What you’re saying is impossible.”
“I fell out of a helicopter, and he saved me,” the SWAT member insisted. “How did he fake that?”
“Beats me,” the sniper said dismissively. “But I’ve seen magicians saw their assistants in half, and make people disappear. Just because I don’t know how it’s done doesn’t mean I believe in magic.”
He shot me in the face and saw the bruise! How the hell can he think I’m tricking him?!
“But, he DID save me,” the SWAT member pointed out. “If he’s a terrorist like they say, why bother? Why not just let me die?”
“He needed hostages,” Esteves answered easily. “Besides, are you sure you would’ve died?”
Is he gaslighting them? I’ve heard enough.
He disabled his aether spell and walked into view.
“Of course I would’ve died! You think I’m an…” the policeman’s voice cut off when he spotted his captor, and the entire group suddenly stood. They placed their backs to the cell and watched him warily.
Blake opened the cell door and gestured toward the stairs. “Okay, you’re all free to go.”
They remained where they were.
“What’s the trick?” Esteves asked. “You gonna knife us in the back while we escape?”
Blake rolled his eyes. “If I wanted you dead, I’d do it to your face. None of you could stop me.”
“Why let us go now?” The SWAT member who had defended him earlier asked.
“Because I’m tired of feeding you guys,” Blake replied flippantly. “Does it matter?” When they remained frozen for another few seconds, Blake threw up his hands. “Do you guys seriously want to stay here, or are you going to leave?”
The man he saved tapped his headset. “Waiting on permission.”
Blake’s jaw dropped. “You seriously have to ask permission to leave? Isn’t it your duty or whatever to try and escape?”
“He’s got a point,” Esteves shrugged and walked towards the open cell door. Then, in monotone, added, “Oh, look. The cell door is open. We must escape.”
After that, the others shook their heads and followed behind.
Un-freaking-believable.
Blake quietly escorted the group up the stairs, through the hallway, and out the lobby. When they finally reached the front gate, he said, “Hold up here, let me make sure it’s clear.”
He quickly sprinted up the battlement stairs and peered out a crenelation to ensure no one was within range of the gate. The national guard had yet to arrive, but a large contingent of FBI and local police stood around their vehicles. Sheriff Slater was nowhere to be found.
I bet they got tired of his annoying ass.
Blake shook his head and sprinted back down the stairs. He then used his interface to raise the gate.
“What about my Barrett?” Esteves asked.
“Mine now,” Blake grinned.
The sniper swore.
When the heavy metal barrier rose high enough, he ordered, “Everyone out before I change my mind.”
After that, they ducked under the gate and sprinted toward the line of cars in the distance. The moment they were clear, Blake reversed the mechanism’s direction and stayed to ensure nothing slipped through.
Okay, time to grab my weapons, get some snacks, and make my own escape.