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"Where are the rest?" Rowan asked.

"Behind that treeline," Nerio pointed northward.

"Let's rejoin them," Rowan nodded. While walking to the group, he phoned Cora, but she didn't answer, and he called Grace.

“Are you safe?” she whispered instead of a hello. It meant Lizzie was still asleep.

“I am… but we lost a kid and Inglotal.”

“… I’m sorry. Where are you exactly?”

“In the wilds, somewhere in British Columbia. Five miles west of Gladsheim peak.” Oh, shit, this is from Norse mythology. Inglo must’ve chosen this place because of that… "I just wanted to tell you I'm safe… I'll call later, I have a call from Cora. Love you." Taking the next call, he blurted: "Hi, baby"

"Thank goodness you answered, I hacked another satellite and saw a nuclear explosion. Everybody OK?" Cora's voice answered.

"Except for two losses, the War Chief and a boy, Magnus. But not from the nuke, that was a… new ally, taking care of the Neeks."

"So that's why I'm receiving a 'add to friends' ping from a raid called Griffinoid Mercenary Raid?"

"Yes… Long story. How are you?" he insisted on the last word.

"It's done. The Awakened here were down to half, sending out their best after the elves—"

"Moment. You're in Vladivostok already?" he gasped.

"Yes. We teleported to Harbin, and they're in teleport range from Vladivostok. We broke through the forcefield in no time, and then the population turned on the Anarchists and ratted their positions to us. Everybody hates them here, they never did anything for the common folks, obsessing only about stats, builds, and fights."

Thank goodness for the swear jar idea and the plebiscites, Rowan giggled. “Is there some way you could extract us, baby?”

"Wait." Cora remained silent for half a minute. “Viscardi texted me he's ready to send his plane, but you need to get to an airport, preferably on the larger side. I’m looking at options. The closest one is Kelowna, about seventy miles due west. Calgary is another one, but you have a lot of mountains in your way and it's defended by the Canadian military. We can negotiate to—”

"Don't!" Rowan stopped her. "I don't want anyone to know where we are. One ambush a day's plenty enough. Kelowna it is. Viscardi's plane is a manatech one, with a shield, right? We'll go in fast and take off."

"I'll teleport to Vegas and come with the plane to ensure you have more firepower. We'll coordinate once we're both near it, meanwhile, I'm sending you a little app to help you select the best paths. Love you."

"Love you too, baby, see you soon."

Storing his phone, Rowan searched for words. The youngsters were depressed, as much was clear. Many were crying, including Nottie. He cleared his voice to get their attention.

"Everybody, you did very well, but I will ask you for one more effort: Keep those tears in your heart for now, and let them flow later. If we want to honor Magnus and Inglotal, we have to survive first. We'll move to a nearby town, and a plane will come to pick us up. We leave in one minute."

Silently, they rose and prepared for the next hike. Nottie offered him the revolver he gave Inglotal, but Rowan gestured she could keep it. When the minute was up, he led the way, and she joined, both activating their perks.

First, they headed North to pass a tall and snowy mountainous ridge, with a clear danger of avalanche. Rowan and Nottie went ahead, using Sonar, and marked a path with a series of improvised flags. They cleared that hurdle in about an hour and proceeded toward the valley behind, which had reasonable roads giving toward Burton and Upper Arrow Lake.

Nevertheless, checking his phone and Cora's app, Rowan saw that they needed to cut through fields and dirt roads and reach Needles, where the only ferry was. Swimming across one mile of cold water was out of the question, jumping over it with a car and Joint Trip: Warp was probably possible and fun, but the kids were too shocked to experiment at their expense. Ferry it was.

As they waved between hills, forests, and plains, he received a notification:

You're in range for map chat. Flame wants to add you to her contacts. Do you want to add Flame, Intergalactic Mercenary, to your list of friends and allow communication between you two? Y/N

What the heck does she want now?

[Flame to Rowan]: Is your target Needles?

[Rowan to Flame]: Indeed, you eagles. Why?

[Flame to Rowan]: I'll be not shy. Let's take them together.

[Rowan to Flame]: Please explain, red feather. Take them who?

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[Flame to Rowan]: Them too. The Neeks who assaulted you have their base in Needles, to control the road and the ferry. Those killed by us are now in Rezz ponds there. Just get my team through the forcefield, and we finish the job.

[Rowan to Flame]: Very well, but let me talk to the mob.

Raising his hand to signal the group to halt, he announced: "We'll make a pit stop in Needles," he said aloud.

"Why do we need to stop at a pit?" a boy asked.

"It means we make a pause. There's a hostile base there, and I'll make sure to flatten it to the ground." He purposely omitted to mention that maybe the Neeks who shot Magnus were Rezzing in Needles, the kids had already been through an emotional roller coaster. As soon as his mouth said the words, his mind realized he had to do the contrary. Capturing the Rezz ponds was important, increasing Elkins's capabilities, even if it was—as Cora said–primitive tech. But even if done, how to transport them back?

"We go in and kill them all!" Nerio roared.

"Sit, you mad hound of war!" Rowan frowned. "The mercs and I will deal with it."

"Mad hound of war… I like it," the girl grinned.

"Mercs?" Nottie asked.

"New allies, they killed all the baddies in the valley with a tactical nuke," Nerio explained, and all the kids cheered.

[Rowan to Flame]: I'll get you in the base, as long you promise me not to involve the kids in the fighting.

[Flame to Rowan]: Agreed. We'll hit them like lightning.

As they started running, he called Cora. "Are you on the plane already?"

"Boarding it. Had some delay in Vladivostok."

"Don't board it yet. Can you borrow a Core from Viscardi? Tell him we'll give it back. I'm sick and tired of running through woods, and Kelowna is still fifty miles farther. Come here, jump from the plane or something. We'll Awaken this area, then teleport."

"You're sure?"

"How many Awakened towns are around, nine? We have room. Look, I'm tired to be a miser just because there's a risk. If Earth becomes a cluster of islands, it's not on us, it's on some lunatics who'd activate twenty more cores. This is a nice area, with nice mountains. I'll make it a training ground, and ask Isla to build a monument for Inglotal and Magnus."

"What if it's not pretty?" Cora asked.

"At least it will be made by someone who cares about it."

"Moment… Viscardi says that if you go for it, let him take over Vancouver."

"He has a fetish with V or something? Viscardi, the Vampire of Vancouver, father of Verna and Victoria, and father-in-law of Vito? Never mind… let it have it. Call me when you're here, love you."

Half an hour later, they approached Arrow Lake. Fortunately, the Neek base was on their side, enclosed in a forcefield, so he stopped to discuss the strategy. Flame and a couple of other Mercs landed nearby.

“In battle our mettle we’ll prove,” the Merc clasped Rowan’s forearm with their hand as a salute.

"I approve. Let's have a word with those Neeks. You kids stay here."

He gobbled a Mana potion and approached the entry to the base. In his back, eight more Mercs landed, heavy blasters at the ready. Stopping in front of the forcefield, Rowan sneered with disdain. "That's all?" On the other side was a welcoming committee with a couple of tanks, about twenty military in shooting positions, and about six Classed Neeks.

"Easy peasy," Nerio said.

"Hey, I told you to stay back!" Rowan yelled.

"You told the kids to stay there. I'm a young adult," the girl shrugged.

"Never mind… Fine, you can come, but stay behind us."

"Don't fuss. I'll protect her," Flame promised.

Rowan yelled at the ones inside: “Can you hear me?” he said. There was no answer, but the crispation in the soldiers’ bodies told him they did hear. Searching for a paper and pencil in his inventory, he wrote a few words and showed them the paper: ‘Surrender, or you’re dead. Lay down your weapons before I pass through the forcefield. You have a minute.’

The soldiers and the Neeks were arguing. He can’t pass the forcefield, Rowan read the lips of one Neek. Grimacing, he turned the paper and began to write: ‘If I’m not able to go through the forcefield you risk nothing by putting down your guns, but if I can go through, you’re dead, guns or no guns’. He barely finished, when Nerio blurted: “Time’s up.”

She took a step forward until her shadow was projected inside the camp, then disappeared, growing back from her shadow, only double in size, well over ten feet tall. The ones inside were so shocked that no one moved. She smashed a soldier with her shield, projecting him twenty yards, and impaled a few others with a heavy and long spear that had appeared in her hand. Letting her stuck spear, she plunged her hand into a soldier's chest, pulled his heart out, and bit into it with gusto. A soldier discharged all his bullets into her, for naught, and she headbutted his head into smithereens.

“Fuck!” Rowan gasped.

“Such luck,” the Merc said. “What do we do?”

“Get inside too!” Yelling the rhyme, Rowan activated the Joint Trip and pulled the Merc by the elbows, to avoid other rhymes. Flame's fellows followed. Inside, he activated his weapon, divided it into filaments, and skewered six different enemies, letting go of the perk. Shooting his Snowstorm AoE to the left, to avoid hitting the girl, he retracted his weapon from the dead bodies and searched for other targets, as the Merc unleashed his fire in a continuous line, cutting enemies in two.

Calling the Elemental Shield around him for protection, Rowan tried to get in front of Nerio, but she screamed like a Banshee, barged into a tent, picked a Neek, and broke him in two on her knee before it disintegrated. And it was over.

You have cleared an enemy camp and captured valuable equipment. +1 AP. You are the second contributor to the kills, after Nerio.

“Ew, ew, ew…” the girl screamed, spitting on the ground and wiping her mouth with her forearm. She had returned to normal size. “This is so gross!”

“Why did you do it, then?" Rowan hissed.

“I dunno… When I changed, the idea of eating raw hearts looked yummy. That's a Perk I got from the Secondary class I unlocked earlier, some dude sent it to me as a reward, with a red message. It's called War Goddess’s Avatar. Mythical. I transform only once per battle, and I have to kill an enemy every six seconds to keep it up.”

“Sweet buttercup! I don’t think killing people during battles will be hard,” Flame said.

“You spoke like a bard," Nerio bowed.

"All that remains is to find the controls for the shield," Rowan said. "We can stay inside the base until Cora arrives. After we throw out the bodies, of course."

"You think this is it?” the girl grimaced, squinting her eyes, squatting near a truck. “What do I push?”

“Let me see,” Rowan leaned forward. “A green button marked Start, and a red one marked Stop. Let’s go for the red one. And once our guys come in—.”

“We press the green,” the Merc said.

----------------------------------------

In the late evening, Cora came to the rescue, after a previous stop. Vancouver was now a new Awakened Town. Ten minutes after her arrival, a mountainous region of an area of two thousand square miles had become Rowan’s domain.

Of the sixty Rezz pods in the camp, two had been destroyed during the fight, but the rest were functional, fifty hosting the recalled remains of the Neeks killed in the mountain battle and eight of those killed in the camp. One by one, the pods spit them out, and each was restrained and taken into a cellblock constructed by Cora through the new Town Core’s perks. After briefly interrogating a few of them, they found nothing. No one knew who gave the orders. The mysterious leader remained a mystery, except for a title: the Neek Supreme.