Alex stepped out into a quiet portal room.
Always before, there had been some kind of commotion there. She’d usually caught snatches of conversation, quiet laughter, even the occasional argument.
Now it was just silent. No one else was there. Just her—and Chief Wells.
He stood, hands behind his back, his eyes wide. It was the most shocked that she’d ever seen the man; it was almost like he was staring at a ghost.
In some ways, she supposed, he was.
“Hello, Chief Wells.”
Her voice sounded calmer than she felt. It seemed like he should have been able to hear her heartbeat from across the room. Instead, he jerked as if she had kicked him, and then shook his head like he could clear it, and make her vanish.
She took a step forward. Then another, getting as close as she dared to the man who had taken Zach from her. Who’d sent Ed to kill her. A man who was working with the same people who had nearly killed her mother, and sent her entire family on the run for a decade. Someone who’d nearly done it again just to satisfy his own pride and greed.
Rage brought her forward another step. Then another. “You didn’t think you’d see me again, did you?”
Wells took a single step back. His face was pale, and he was still blinking. “You can’t be here. It’s been longer than twenty-four hours. Nobody survives…”
“I did.” Technically not true, but she wasn’t above pushing things. It would be so much easier if he just ran for it. “Do you want to know what I saw, Chief Wells? Do you want a report?”
He snarled at her, then. Apparently, his response had come down to fight rather than flight. “You should have died in there!”
“Like Ed? Or most of the rest of your little minions?” Alex’s grip tightened on her axe. “You’re running out of friends now, Wells. Just like you’re running out of time.”
His lips twisted into a cruel sneer. “Last I checked, it was you who was missing a friend or two, girl. Or was the reporter more than that?”
There was a flicker of grief, barely felt through her rising anger. “Tell me what you did with him, and maybe I’ll let you live.”
“No. I don’t think I will.” Wells smiled. “After all, what am I worried about? All you are is a frail, scared little girl who killed her teammates. The strong don’t have to listen to the pleas of the weak.”
Alex felt her rage roar hotter. “As if you know anything about strength, coward. When was the last time you’ve even fought for real?”
“You don’t even matter enough for me to bother.” He touched a radio strapped to his hip. “Security, come deal with an intruder in the portal room. Lethal force required.”
Silence answered him. He frowned. “Security—”
“They’re not going to answer, Wells.” Alex smiled. “The half that were on your payroll are detained. Same with the monitors in the PAD.”
She took another step. “Do you hear how quiet it is here, Wells? Where are all the support staff?” His eyes locked onto hers, and his hand fell away from the radio. “They’re out of the compound, Wells, making a visit to every warehouse where the gangs kept your drugs. They’re burning every single one down. Those thugs you had on payroll? The Surveyors you turned into griefers? The ones still breathing are about to rat you out.”
“As for the Surveyors you’ve been farming for drugs and worse, they’re on the other side of that portal, destroying every Camp they can reach.” Wells’ face went pale as he recognized what that meant, and she smiled. “It’s over, Wells. Your little schemes are done. And I’m the one who did it to you.”
She saw it. Saw the rage start to flare up inside him as he recognized the depth of what she’d done. Wells’ clients among the gangs were going to be out for blood, and angry when he couldn’t help them. His insurance policy, the ex-Surveyors, were gone, dead or ready to incriminate him. Worst of all, whatever deal he had with Greylight was over. If the next few minutes didn’t kill him, then one of his former business partners would.
Alex backed away from him, her smile still fixed on her face. Her anger was a vicious, living thing, warming her from the inside. The plan was for her to taunt him, to put him on the back foot, and then retreat back through the portal if he didn’t surrender. When he followed, all of her friends would be able to attack him at once, the way they had done with Liliana. Even a C rank could fall, if enough D ranks took him by surprise.
She was nearly there when Wells raised his head. Hatred filled his face as he stared at her, his jaw working. He was hooked, now. There was no way he wouldn’t follow her to the ends of the earth if he had to. Just a handful more steps, and it would all go according to plan.
“Your friend, the reporter. The boy.”
His snarl brought her to a sudden halt, and he took a step forward.
“You wanted to hear about him, yes? To hear how he screamed? How he begged for mercy when they dragged him to me?” Another step; Wells’ armor was forming around him. A long sword, modeled so similar to her mother’s, was taking shape in his hand. “Do you want to know what I did to him? How long he lasted before he gave me your name? Do you want to know, Alexandretta Morrison?”
Her hands had tightened on her weapons as he talked, but that name helped her relax. Hearing that name, the fake one, was like seeing one last defiant smile from Zach. If Wells didn’t know the truth, then Zach hadn’t told the man what he knew. Maybe he was even lying about killing Zach in the first place. She turned to leave.
“No. Of course you don’t. What person would?” Alex stopped and looked back. Wells tilted his head to the side, his weapons and armor now fully formed. “He tried so hard, before I tossed what was left of him through the portal. But don’t worry. You shouldn’t bother to remember his name. I won’t. He was weak. Pitiful. Worthless.”
Alex felt the anger inside her grow still. The silence of the empty portal room wrapped around her, smothering the voice of reason inside her like a shroud.
Then she turned away from the portal and faced Wells alone.
The impact of the first charge was beyond anything she’d ever experienced.
She’d seen the swing coming and had gotten her shield up with plenty of time. Despite all that, she’d still nearly been flung across the room. It was a rude reminder that no matter how much she’d progressed, Wells was stronger. Would always be stronger; he’d taken Squire as a Role, and Archer would only have made the difference worse.
He’d given her a vicious grin and come after her, his sword ready to come down in an overhand strike. Alex dodged this time, letting the glittering blade slash past her. A quick strike with her axe forced him to block; the counterthrust nearly caught her in the face. She felt wetness on her cheek and realized the lethal edge of the sword had brushed her skin.
Screaming, she smashed into him with her shield, driving him back a step. He evaded her next attack, stepping back to let the axe whirl by. When he stepped in, reaching for her with an empty hand, she knocked his wrist aside with her shield and shoved again, trying to push him off balance.
It was like shoving a stone, a boulder the size of a car. Wells shoved back, flinging her across the room. His sword cut at her while she was still in midair, and only a strike with her axe deflected it. Alex landed on the concrete floor and braced. He slammed into her a half-heartbeat later, nearly knocking her to the ground with another overhand slash. She saw a crack open on her shield and felt a trickle of fear.
She slashed at him again, and he drew back to deflect it. Alex pressed the attack, hacking and slashing at him to keep him from swinging at her. He blocked another strike, let another speed past him, and stabbed at her.
Alex ducked low, keeping the edge from her with her shield. The sword scraped past with a shriek, and glittering sparks scattered across the floor. She tried another horizontal strike, but he leapt backwards before her axe could make contact. His counterstrike nearly took her hand off at the wrist; only the fact that she punched her shield forward to deflect it kept it from connecting.
Over and over again they fought across the floor of the room, weaving through strikes and counterstrikes, charges and feints. Every time he connected with her shield, she staggered, but each time she managed to keep her feet and launch another assault. Her swings never connected, but every time he blocked or dodged, he had to abandon his chance to finish her.
Alex felt frustration grow inside her as she fought, something that was mirrored in Wells’ expression. Incredibly, they seemed almost evenly matched, their weapons equally deadly and their movements blurringly fast. It occurred to her that Wells, like Ed and the others, hadn’t really faced her with her Skills at full potential before, not since she’d arrived at the compound. The vague possibility that she might actually be able to fight him to a standstill began to seem more and more real as they continued their fight.
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Yet Wells hadn’t been fighting his way across a city that morning; he hadn’t run here from a distant town either. Her muscles were starting to tire, and even if he hadn’t spent any of his Skills or Attributes on endurance, he was still capable of splitting her in half with a single unblocked hit. She needed to be lucky all the time; Wells would only need to catch her once.
Then again, she did have one more ace in the hole, and Alex darted in close, dodging his sword one more time, before she played it.
Lightning crackled across her body as she gathered the power of the Storm around her. Wells had one instant for the danger to become clear, and then he had to bring his sword around to block a lash of lightning that darted towards his face. Alex took advantage of the distraction to swing at his torso. He backed up, and she shield-checked him to keep him off balance.
Wells leapt backwards, giving him space for a countercharge, but Alex sped right after him. As he dropped into a crouch, ready to impale her, she shot at him with lightning again. He whispered something foul and leaned aside, letting the bolt pass him by. The distraction was a small one, but it was enough to let her slam into him again, knocking his sword aside with her shield and cutting at his shoulder.
This time Wells didn’t move fast enough to escape cleanly. Her axe carved a small gouge in his breastplate, and his eyes suddenly flickered with uncertainty as he brought his sword back around to decapitate her. Alex ducked low beneath the swing, unleashing another crackling burst of lightning at his face. Wells barely managed to block it, only for her to shield-check him right in the stomach.
She felt the breath go out of him in a pained groan, and he staggered backwards. His next cut was weaker. Alex caught it on her axe this time, twisting it away from her. With her other hand, she pivoted her shield out of the way, extended two fingers, and shot lightning straight into Wells’ knee.
The bolt caught him square in the leg; he simply hadn’t moved or reacted fast enough. He cursed again, this time louder, as smoke and a seared-meat smell rose into the air. Wells shoulder-checked her, knocking her backwards, and Alex disengaged long enough to build up speed and charge him from the side.
Wells turned, but not fast enough. His leg was hobbled by the lightning; his stamina was starting to run out. The Crimson Blade had always won her fights so quickly that a drawn out fight was unthinkable, or at least that was what the propaganda had always said. He’d fallen for that line, and now his sword was moving slower as Alex charged in and forced him backward.
She felt her heart beating faster and faster as she dodged each deadly cut and deflected every lethal thrust. Alex rationed her lightning carefully; she only had so much, and even if she hadn’t used it in the other world, she couldn’t afford to grow light-headed from abusing it. Every bolt forced him to block or dodge, however, and opened him to other attacks. Her axe bounced off his breastplate again, and then the armor protecting his other knee. A stubborn counterthrust let her smash him with her shield as hard as she could, and this time he slid backwards, unable to brace himself as well for the impact.
Bolt by bolt, cut by cut, clash by clash, Alex was wearing him down. Slowly, inexorably, the balance of the fight had shifted, and both of them knew it. Wells went from an expression of rage and contempt, to one of frustration and stubbornness, to one of growing, bitter hatred. He roared at her, as if the volume alone could drive her away. His face was covered in sweat now, and his breathing came in large, desperate gasps.
Alex stayed focused. Her muscles burned, true, but every blow drew her closer to the goal she sought. Every swing came closer to what she needed, to what Zach and the others deserved.
She shield-checked Wells again, pushing him away. He reeled, and she unleashed one last bolt of lightning, curling as if it would have fried his right shoulder. Wells twisted in desperation, intercepting it with his sword blade. Too late, he recognized the trap.
Her axe, swung as hard as she could and starting lower than her hip, came up in a lethal arc. It slammed into Wells’ side, just below his ribs. Armor buckled and bones broke as the axe dug deep. He started to bring his sword around, but she hammered the shield into him again, slamming him off balance. She ripped out the axe, let him stagger backwards so she could sidestep his attempted cut to the head, and slammed the axe in again, this time against his right shoulder.
Alex felt something crunch as her weapon dented the armor, and Wells coughed in pain. He tried to bring the sword around again, but she pivoted and hit him in the elbow with her shield. The sword went spinning away as his fingers lost their grip. Wells staggered, and his scorched knee buckled beneath him.
She took in the sight in an instant. Blood was leaking from the rent in his armor on the left; his right shoulder had been broken. His face was covered with blood as well as sweat; she suspected broken teeth and a shattered nose. As he struggled to stand, to jump after his sword, his knee was still refusing to work, and his fingers twitched with the pain. The man was beaten. Alex stepped back, ready to call for his surrender yet again.
Then Wells snarled up at her, still spitting with rage. “He… was…”
Alex moved, almost without thinking. Her axe slammed into the left side of his neck, and she saw his eyes widen in shock as she spoke. “Better than you, griefer.”
With another sharp movement, she ripped the axe across his throat. Blood spilled, and Wells fell with a gurgle. Alex stepped away as he thrashed, her heart still beating hard as she watched him go still.
Then she bent forward and grabbed him by the back of his armor. She had promised to bring him back through the portal, after all, and it was a promise she meant to keep.
One way or the other.
“So you’re fired. Again.”
Alex glared at Joanna. The Adept raised an eyebrow at her, and she sighed. “Technically, I wasn’t fired the first time. My contract was bought out by another company as part of Golden Swallow’s asset sale.”
“Oh, I’d say that happened to most of us, sure, but you, Alexandretta Morrison, were fired.” Alessa pointed a fork at her before she went back to eating the potatoes she’d ordered. The Porter hadn’t been as mad about Alex’s stunt with Wells, but she’d seemed like she understood at least part of it. Clara hadn’t been nearly as happy.
She grunted and looked down at her half-eaten hamburger. “My name is Alex.”
Sam snorted softly, and she gave him a sharp look. He held up both hands defensively, and Alex turned her attention back to the food.
Clara, fortunately, had finished her bite of taco. “I mean, technically that’s what is happening this time too, right? Red Blade Securities is selling off the compound and a bunch of its contracts.”
Joanna nodded. “Yeah, but they definitely pick and choose which ones they’re selling and which ones they’re keeping. And her, they’re selling.”
Brian grunted. “You say that like any of us are staying. Everyone pretty much knows that we were all kind of the ringleaders of what happened. They aren’t going to ignore us just because Alex was way worse.”
Tim put a hand over his heart, a gesture only slightly ruined by the fact that he was holding his own burger in the other hand. “I, for one, consider it an honor to be tossed out on my ear alongside the illustrious captain of our team, the unbeatable Valkyrie.”
Alex swallowed her own bite and glared at him. “That’s enough of that, Tim.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh please, you should hear the type of stuff Raul was saying. According to him, you’re the second coming of the Crimson Blade, and we’re all going down in history for following you.”
She heard Sam choke on his taco and discreetly kicked him under the table. He grunted in pain and gave her a look, but Alex just settled for another bite of hamburger.
Unfortunately, whether or not Raul’s statement about history was right, she’d certainly made the news. They all had, as a rash of fires had broken out all over the city and a small gang war had erupted in their wake. The powers that be had traced it all back to the sudden disruption in the Red Blades compound, just in time for the arrival of a Red Blade Securities team made up of C ranks. They’d been sent to investigate the anomalous readings from the portal and the sudden radio silence from the compound itself.
Things might have gotten a bit unpleasant—there were already people using the words ‘rebellion’ and ‘civil disturbance’—when testimonies about the incident leaked to the press. The sheer scandal of a drug and human trafficking ring, and the story of Surveyors rising up to stop it swept through the news in barely an hour, and journalists were already demanding access to interviews by the time that Red Blade Securities decided to jettison the whole thing to save their stock. Contract transfers had been announced the next day, with nearly all the support staff being told they were being reevaluated, and the active Surveyors shuffled off to new posts.
Wells’ threatened file never came to light—but there was an explosion around the time word leaked of his death. A house unrelated to any of the gangs had burned to the ground, along with everything inside. Wells’ friend, the landlord, had been inside. It was frustrating to know that Greylight had covered its tracks yet again, but at least that piece of scum had gotten his own reward.
Still, at the very least, she wouldn’t be dealing with all the attention for much longer. No matter what stories the news rags were circulating about the ‘heroic Valkyrie’, she hadn’t spoken to any reporters, and had managed to avoid getting more than a few pictures taken. Nobody had harassed her parents either—luckily for the reporters. Just a few more days and maybe something else would catch their attention and take the heat off.
Her phone—a new one, since Wells had probably thrown hers through the portal—chirped at her, and Alex grunted. She finished swallowing yet another bite and then fished it out of her pocket. Around her, the others’ phones were beeping as well. They all exchanged a few looks; the news they had been waiting for had arrived.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was just another transfer. Nothing to be so worried about. Alex unlocked her phone and opened the message. For a few moments, she read it, running her eyes over the words.
Then she stopped, her eyes frozen on the name in front of her.
Dimly, she heard the others react to their own news.
“Greenaxe Solutions? I’ve never heard of them.”
“Cheer up, Brian, at least we’ll be exploring the great unknown together.”
“Thanks Tim. What about you, Alessa?”
“Some place called the Goldiron Foundation. Never heard of them before, but they seem excited to have me.”
“Hey, me too! I guess we’ll get to team up and smack stuff together.”
“That… sounds great Audrey.”
“So, what about you Al? Al?”
Alex shook herself, coming out of the daze. She looked up to see the rest of the table staring at her. “Sorry, what?”
Joanna was looking at her closely. “Where are you headed? Or did the Red Blades keep you, after all?”
“No.” Alex very carefully put her phone down. She needed to tread carefully now. “I’m headed somewhere new.”
Sam cleared his throat. “And that would be?”
Alex took a deep breath and let it out. “Royal Purple Contracting.”
He grimaced, and Joanna frowned. “I’m headed there too. What’s the problem?”
Clara looked worried. “Me too. I hadn’t heard anything bad, so…”
Sam opened his mouth, and Alex gave him a steady look. He shut it. “I’ll… tell you guys later. Let’s just celebrate the new assignments and promise to keep in touch. Okay?”
The others agreed and started to chatter amongst each other. Some of them started to look up whatever information they could find about their new employers, and bragging about the results. Others started to grouse about getting the short end of the stick.
Alex, however, knew everything she needed to know, just by the name of the place.
Royal Purple Contracting, wholly owned subsidiary of Greylight Industries.
Her time as a Surveyor had been both interesting and eventful—and now she knew it had only just begun.