Old America, the Midlands, Summer 2055
The initial plan had been to escort Congresswoman Brinley Johnson-Lopez to the capital as the first of her personal guard.
Private military company? Mercenaries? Militia?
Pedantic sorts would have plenty to say about the technical classification.
Alin did not.
What was more important, in his eyes was the question on whether or not the politicians of the failed nation recognized the fact that they were operating as thinly-veiled warlords rather than democratic representatives.
Then, he hadn’t had much time to wonder about anything except keeping everyone alive as the same so-called government the congresswoman was supposedly a part of launched an insane attack on Austin.
The initial plan had been to take the interstate directly north.
Dallas was under old American control, which meant their military or hired contractors generally kept up patrols to kill monsters along the highway, making it mostly safe to travel.
It was heading northeast from there that the Mist Spekters would earn their keep and hopefully, continue to build their rep as said patrols grew much less vigorous in the wide empty spaces between controlled cities and towns, of which there was but a thimble full compared to the full-sized pool of the pre-spires country.
Monsterland, USA.
Some people called it that.
Naturally, the attack had ruined those plans.
North of Austin was on fire.
A pair of skyships had descended to add their fire to the ground as the rabbit people horde continued to pour out of the few remaining golden portals.
Harpies and flying monsters harassed the Rayn of Terror and the Maximum Raynage.
The third skyship in the theater, hovered low over the university to the east.
The Raynanaut had already received Ms. Daniels and her orphans via portal stones at the start of the battle and was taking on more evacuees according to the plan.
Alin didn’t envy the rangers having to deal with the ruling class of the city finding out they weren’t getting priority treatment.
The evacuation rules were simple.
Kids first.
Everyone else after.
People with valuable classes could slide in after the kids, unless said classes were valuable to the defense.
As for the Golden Eagles, mercenary companies and random murderhobos?
The smart ones had secured their exit plans long ago.
They were already moving non-combat assets out of the city using their vehicles.
For the Golden Eagles that meant westward to Vegas, which was essentially a second home base.
The less intelligent ones only saw the opportunity to level and gain Quest rewards in the blood and death. Retreat was the last thing on their minds… sometimes literally.
Alin unclipped himself from the harness.
“Wait! Uh… strange gray people from another world… um… will you be willing to provide air support.”
This wasn’t part of the plan.
The interceptor’s flat stare betrayed nothing.
“One moment. I require direction.”
Mist Spekters surrounded Ms. Daniels’ now empty homes for boys and girls.
Two large mcmansions as they were called in the old days.
Stout fences and gates guarded well-maintained green lawns, which were being trod upon by the heavy tires of their vehicles.
It appeared that they had some added company.
Alin recognized at least a portion of the old American diplomatic contingent.
They had seen him arrive with the Threnosh.
That could be a problem.
He waved his arms, calling out for Galen.
Making it clear that he had bargained with the Threnosh and that this was definitely the first time he had ever seen gray aliens in person.
They made a show of it.
The negotiations.
The approaching battle helped the subterfuge.
In the end, Galen got air support for a few kilometers outside of the city in exchange for Universal Points.
The congresswoman and the ambassador tried to weasel in, but the interceptors took off the moment they shook on it with Galen.
After that?
Well… questions had to be tabled because a large chunk of the rabbit people horde came their way.
Alin sat facing backwards on Kat’s robot horse’s rump.
It had opened up to give him a comfortable seated shooting position complete with Threnium blast shields.
A dark clump of foulness splattered against the shield. A few stray bits sprayed against his faceplate.
“Shoot them!” Kat snapped.
They were bringing up the rear of the convoy because he could use the gray to slow the rabbit people down without drawing attention from the people they were escorting.
He could be less circumspect once they ditched the diplomatic team in Houston.
“They’re throwing shit all over Razorwind!”
“It’s fine.”
“What? How can it be fine! Didn’t you hear me! They’re throwing—”
“Yes and we can clean him later.”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t shooting.
He was.
A few bursts every so often.
It was just there was no need to waste ammo.
Once they got far enough away from the city, he’d simply drain the splinter horde into unconsciousness for the monsters to dispatch.
Speaking of which…
Gun and spell fire lit up the darkness.
The difference between inhabited and uninhabited spaces was stark.
True darkness without the light from the moon and stars because of the clouds was unnerving for those not used to it.
He listened to the comms chatter.
The interference had melted away with the distance from the city.
The Mist Spekters had it in hand.
The old American soldiers helped a little, but they weren’t necessary.
…
Houston was a quick stop.
They divested themselves of everyone except for the congresswoman and her small team.
She had wanted to stay longer to do the political thing and hire more mercenaries, but Galen prevailed upon her otherwise.
Austin wasn’t that far in their rearview mirrors and there was no telling how fast the rabbit people horde could spread.
As it was, not unexpectedly, the old Americans in Houston knew nothing about the attack on Austin.
No one in the city did.
Total information blackout.
Neither did the Mist Spekters.
The cover story had to be maintained, after all.
So, Alin tried not to think about Hayden, Dayana, the rangers and everyone else while resisting the urge to check in through the Omninet.
That was only for the direst emergencies.
They refueled their vehicles.
Houston had plenty of gas.
They picked up supplies and were on the road north before the first rays of dawn began to peek over the eastern horizon.
…
Dallas was a 2 day stay.
Long enough for a break from the fight and flight.
More news about Austin had spread out by then.
Total devastation.
The old American’s were framing it as the nefarious acts of some nebulous terrorist threat that had unleashed a new sort of monstrosity.
Talking heads on the televisions speculated wildly about the nature of the new hordes of rabbit-like people.
Naturally, there was footage.
Short snippets.
Blurred to conceal the graphic nature.
A wide net of blame was cast, including Southern California, Rayna’s Rangers specifically.
After all, there was plenty of footage of their terrible skyships firing down on the city.
Of course, there was zero footage of the golden portals spewing monsters and rabbit people.
Not to mention the harpies being edited out.
The congresswoman refrained from seeking more hires, nor did she do more than a little cursory campaigning.
Alin figured her mysterious benefactor had put in a word to steer her towards a more favorable outcome for their collective goals.
He regarded the looped image on the widescreen TV on the bar wall.
Austin.
Large tracts of land obscured by dark smoke from the fires that still burned.
Old American forces arrayed outside to the north and east.
Garrisons from Dallas and Houston.
The president had gone on TV and made a nice little speech which basically amounted to pleading, but in strong language, for Uncle Eron to not blow up all the tanks, artillery and helicopters as they fought the rightful battle to put down the threat of the rabbit people horde still in the city before they could spread out.
Bitterness welled up inside Alin.
Two-faced bastard.
It was your attack in first place. You murdered the people you’re trying to claim as yours.
Worse.
They had kidnapped his cousin and Aims.
“Whoa! Careful!” Steph laid a hand on Alin’s arm.
The mug in his hand had been just about to scream for its life.
“Low profile, right?” Victor said.
It was just the three of them out for breakfast in an adventurer hangout. It would have been weird if some Mist Spekters hadn’t made appearances and did things mercenary companies did.
The rest hadn’t been informed to maintain the cover story.
He had because it was family.
Dr. Rufo was dead. Death’s Dancer and a spec ops team had black-bagged the old doctor. Obviously, they wanted to grab him like Madalena and Aims, but intent or not it resulted in the doctor’s death.
Alin still remembered the childhood check ups whenever he was in Manila.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Of course, he didn’t think anything of them at the time, but the doctor had managed to be a kindly old man to child Alin despite the nightmares he had been subjected to by the fog entity.
Deserved better than a heart attack at the end.
His grandma was hurt, but not as bad as Jennie.
In a coma.
More broken bones than not.
What kind of garbage person did that to a kid?
Let alone the thousands of other innocent people murdered indiscriminately.
He hadn’t known that his hate for the demigod could grow.
…
A stop somewhere in what was once the state of Missouri allowed the Mist Spekters to flex a little of their specialty.
Galen and Alana led the misting and subsequent freezing of an entire grove of trees a little off the highway for they weren’t truly trees, but monsters disguised as trees.
Alin hadn’t had much to do aside from being part of the shooting line dealing with the mutated coyotes attacking from the other side of the highway.
The Mist Leader, Galen, decided that it was as good a place as any for a rest stop.
It was always a toss up if the violent destruction of monsters would attract or repel more monsters.
Weaker monsters had been observed staying away from areas were stronger monsters had been destroyed. The opposite had also been observed, where weaker ones rushed to fill the location the stronger ones once occupied.
Then there were wandering monsters, which tended to act randomly.
Regardless, nothing threatening was within attacking distance, so a break it was.
Alin leaned against an armored truck at their western perimeter.
Mutated coyote carcasses out in the grass and dirt were already attracting flies and other bugs.
He sussed everything out with a light shroud of gray.
Normal bugs.
It was his duty for stops in the middle of nowhere.
Secret, of course.
The best early warning system they had.
Not because of his range, which, while considerable, wasn’t remotely as far as some of their scouts’ eyes and ears. They also employed Skills and spells that could reach further than him.
He was best because he could take care of the monsters the moment they stepped into the gray.
The congresswoman approached with a bright smile.
She was much younger than his initial image of a congressperson.
Only a few years older than him.
He had always thought that the age limits the Americans had for their political offices was dumb.
Age didn’t grant competence.
Experience and effort did.
He’d take a diligent young person, who made themselves an expert on governance and what not through hard studying and practice over an old person that didn’t do any of that.
“Congresswoman,” he nodded. “What can I do for you?”
Politeness.
That was the goal.
As always.
He had avoided her previous attempts to begin building a rapport, so to speak, as she had steadily done with each individual member of the Mist Spekters.
He didn’t want to risk her insight revealing anything related to their cover story or her mysterious benefactor.
She had a few Skills in that vein, but since he wasn’t her constituent, nor did he even view himself as a citizen of her country, they weren’t likely to work on him. And that wasn’t even accounting for the gray within.
Still, she was being a bit rude.
He felt her Skills poking.
Hopefully, she’d attribute their failure to latch on anything to the aforementioned issue of his citizenship as it had with most of the Mist Spekters, particularly the ones that were also Rayna’s Rangers.
None of them felt the slightest connection to old America.
They had been born after the spires had rendered it asunder, after all.
They viewed it with historical curiosity at best, consigned to their lessons on fallen empires throughout the planet’s history.
“Oh, nothing, I just wanted to chat!”
Pretty.
She didn’t draw attention just because of her congresswoman aura.
“I’m on guard duty.”
Hopefully, that’d get her moving to someone else.
She made a show of shading her eyes with her hand as she peered across the empty landscape.
Grass and dirt all the way to the horizon.
“And you’re doing a good job, I take it? This is all new to me.”
He raised a brow.
“I mean, being out here. This is the first time I’ve traveled this far from the capital. The farthest I’ve gone before was to visit a few of the outlying fort towns and those were always in a huge group escorted by the army. I’m talking supersoldiers and tanks with helicopters and jets overhead. It was all very loud.”
He grunted something that he felt conveyed understanding, but not soliciting.
She was undeterred.
“You’re, Lt. Alin. No last name?”
“That’s correct, ma’am. Lt. Alin, Mist Spekter. That’s me. You can call me Alin or lieutenant. Whatever you want. You’re paying, after all.”
“You’re one of the officers, but what else are you in charge of, besides guard duty? I noticed you don’t seem to give the scouts orders.”
“Honestly, I’m only an officer because no one else wanted it. We’re only doing the whole officer thing because it looks better to clients.”
“Yeah. Captain Galen said as much.”
“We’re not a large company, so the captain or one of the other lieutenants handles the scouts’ daily disposition. Usually, Alana because Dremond is almost as lazy as me.”
The congresswoman laughed.
It sounded and felt actually genuine in the gray.
“I’ll only really give orders if I feel I have to if a fight breaks out. Otherwise, I like my quiet and solitude.”
She raised a brow at that. “Mostly with Kat?”
Oh?
The congresswoman was perceptive.
They had purposefully toned done the interpersonal interactions around the congresswoman and her small staff to give them less information to work with.
“What do you mean?”
“Feel free to tell me if this is too personal—”
He was tempted to, but remained silent.
“But, are the two of you together?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I get a vibe.”
“Yeah.”
Lies were traps.
The congresswoman would find them and wonder the why of it.
Then she’d have to pull on the thread if only to assess the potential threats or negative impacts on her goals.
It was how one had to operate when they slithered through the den of vipers that was the old American ruling apparatus.
“We’ve been together for a long time. Since we were practically kids.”
“Were you residents of Ms. Daniels’ like Captain Galen?”
“No.”
“I see.”
“It won’t impact the quality of our service to you. Mist Spekter policy is to keep fraternization out of active duty environments.”
“I didn’t mean to imply anything. I’ve been more than happy with what you’ve displayed so far.”
“Thank you, ma’am. We strive for professionalism. We’ve seen how other mercs and murderhobos operate. They are lessons in what not to do.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek. Too much talking with the congresswoman wasn’t desirable. He had to get her to leave him alone, preferably permanently. “I saw something that night in Austin. When the greys were flying me to the Ms. Daniels’.”
“Yes!” She nodded eagerly. “I have so many questions about that.”
Shit!
“Me too. About those golden portals that spewed the monsters, rabbit people and harpies. You see, you hear stories and rumor-type stuff. About the eidolons—” who were common knowledge by now.
“Oh? What kind of rumors?” She appeared guileless.
He didn’t poke and prod with the gray, merely accepted the emotions she was sending out, lest he risk her noticing something was up.
“The connections between them and your government.” He shrugged. “You work for the eidolons—”
“The United States Government is allied with the eidolons, well, technically the, uh, well, nation isn’t exactly the best word for what they are.”
“So, like, an organization?”
“It’s difficult to put into words that we’d understand, um, intellectually speaking. And it is classified to an extent.” She spread her hands.
“Got it. Beyond my pay level.”
“Not necessarily. But, you don’t consider yourself a citizen in the first place.”
“I was under the impression that my thoughts on that didn’t matter. That declaration or bill thing that’s been spread around everywhere didn’t leave any ambiguity. I’m a citizen whether I like it or not, refusal has all sorts of lawful penalties and stuff.”
The congresswoman sighed.
“Yes. Some find the language too strong. I, personally, would prefer a more conciliatory approach, but, I’m only one voice among many louder ones.” She smiled wanly.
“No, I get it. That’s why you’ve hired us and are doing this whole thing. Build your power base. Take control.” He gave her an appreciative nod. One mercenary to another.
Naturally, she demurred.
“Not quite that. I simply want to build a coalition. I’m not alone in what I hope this country can be. Less repeating the mistakes of the past and more doing better. Sadly, strength is the only voice that will be listened to. At least, until we can change that.”
“So… about those golden portals.”
“Alin, I think you know more about them then I do. That night was the first time I had ever seen such things.” She gazed pensively into the undulating green expanse in the distance. “I know the eidolons. I’ve spoken to several. I like to think that the Eidolon of Sunor sees something worth mentoring in me. She desires a peaceful existence as well. As for anything beyond that? I know nothing.”
He nodded.
“Opsec.”
“Pardon?”
“Operational security.”
“I know what it means.” She graced him with another warm smile. “I’ve sat through my fair share of congressional briefings and hearings.”
“Ah, excuse me, congresswoman. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Please, feel free. I did hire your company for your collective expertise on matters that I lack experience or knowledge with. Military junk would be one of them. Maybe I should get on the armed forces committee.” She winked.
“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like if you wanted to learn about your military… junk… then it’s a good place to start. But, if you want to know what I meant, then you have to promise you won’t get mad or complain to the captain.”
“That’s a promise.”
“Opsec. I meant that they— the people above you— aren’t going to share everything with you. Heck, they’re going to want to share as little as possible. That way they can blame the attack on Austin on any random bunch of people or monsters out there. And… like I said, this is all based on stories, but eidolons and golden portals seem to go together in a lot of them.”
“Wow… you do understand you’re suggesting that the US government engineered an attack on their own citizens?”
“Sure, but if I got this right, Austin wasn’t like Dallas or Houston. They weren’t buying into that whole reunification thing.”
“We were negotiating. A diplomatic team was there. I was there.”
“Just speculating, ma’am.”
“No. That’s okay. I did ask. So, how would you suggest I proceed? Assuming my own government tried to have me killed.” For some reason, she grinned up at him.
“Don’t.” He shrugged. “Keep your head down. Build your power base. Right now, we’re not nearly enough to keep you safe if someone above you decides you’re a threat that needs dealing with.”
“You’re an interesting man, Alin. I look forward to working together.”
Well… shit.
…
“She’s got an eye for talent,” Kat said.
The convoy had stopped in an abandoned highway town.
A brief series of monster fights saw them claim the gas station, a diner and a motel.
There wasn’t much else in the short strip the highway ran through.
There were a few houses up in the hills, but they didn’t care to explore.
Alin had taken care of the monsters hiding up there while the rest had done their thing.
He sat with Kat in the gas station office.
The gray blanketed the town.
Their security blanket for the night.
Maintaining it was easy for him now.
“She told you that?”
“Yup. She’s very open and honest. It’s a good show. It can’t be fake if she believes in it. At least for her. I guess.”
“Back up. She’s been using a Skill to appraise everyone?”
“Not exactly. It’s more like it lets her know how good a person could potentially be working for her.”
“Ah… I see… and she’s taken an interest in me because—”
“You know how we’re trying to spy on them? Well, they’re pretty good at countering it. No hard feelings, cause they’ve been doing the same. Pretty standard for them, right? Well…” Kat’s smile lifted the weights on his shoulders a bit. “They didn’t or can’t account for Eda’s owl. Long story short, we got to listen in a bit. And…”
“I’m dying of suspense.”
“Her Skill’s not working on you.”
“Great. Attention’s the last thing I want.”
“Don’t worry. We’ve worked up a plan to run interference. Steph’s gonna spend all day tomorrow trying to hit on her.”
“That’s… that’s wrong.”
“It’ll be obvious and she’s not into guys anyways. Not into women either for that matter.”
He didn’t feel good, exactly, about delving into personal stuff, but since everyone was spying on everyone else he couldn’t muster anything more than a metaphorical shrug.
“So, you want some company on the night watch?”
Yes.
But, no.
The congresswoman had already picked up on his and Kat’s connection.
Romantic relationships were known leverage points.
The congresswoman might have been harmless in the moment, but that could change and there were plenty of other people in their enemy’s capital that were far from harmless.
He shuddered to think what they’d do to Kat to get to him.
Which led to thoughts of what they were doing to Madalena and Aims.
He hadn’t heard anything new on that front.
It was getting harder to resist asking for answers from his dad.
Even if they were deep in territory his dad couldn’t enter his dad had other means to get them back.
He had a list of ideas he wanted to send until he realized that his dad would’ve already thought of them and more.
Calm, he told himself.
He hadn’t received anything new after the initial message.
For all he knew they had been rescued already.
“Alin?” Kat reached across the desk to cup his face.
He blinked.
“Sorry. Zoned out a little.”
“That’s not like you… at least, not since you were first figuring your powers out. Is something wrong? You’re not using it too much, are you?”
“No. It’s not that. Just a lot on my mind. Can’t say right now though, but nothing for you to worry about. I’ll tell you if it changes.”
She regarded him with concern.
He’d almost rather have her suspicion.
“Okay, just don’t push yourself to the edge. This isn’t exactly a safe environment for limit testing.” She dazzled him with her smile before suddenly leaning forward to steal a kiss.
He leaned into it.
“I needed that.”
“Me too.”
“Rules suck.”
“Yup.”
“Don’t worry about the congresswoman. We’ll keep her from bugging you.” Kat pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You promise to tell me, right? You said it before. The slightest thing. The smallest concern you might have about anything.”
“I will. Promise.”
“Okay. Try not to get lost in your thoughts. Save them for when we can talk about them when we get to town and you can relax for once. Maybe I can talk to Galen. You don’t have to be on guard every night.”
“I’ll be fine. Go, get some sleep, love.”
“Love you too. Yell if something scary comes to get you!” Kat yawned as she walked out.
Alin was alone, as he had been each night of their journey north and eastward.
As always an image crept unbidden.
The colorful red and orange-hued face of Tandol purpling with his gray hand around the narrow neck.
Scaly skin losing its luster as it shriveled, desiccating as he stole the outworld invader’s life force to strengthen himself.