“That isn’t going to hold them for long,” Angela comments and shoves more shelving at the door with her draconic strength. “Seriously Drenar, why are you piddling around in your human form?”
“They seem to be firing excessive ammunition at the dragons,” he points out. “Like, disproportionate to the threat, and your barriers are way stronger than mine. Yours didn’t even pop.” He’s also slightly less confident in tanking hits, rather than simply just avoiding getting hit.
“Yeah that…is strange, isn’t it? Not even a hint of mana burn, either,” she says while rubbing her arms uneasily. “We need to keep moving.” They dart through the storage area, where there are stacks of crates and metal shelving in organized rows. It reminds him of the immense warehouse seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and not in a good way. “We need to start thinking of trashing that teleportal room in a pretty profound way, or they’re just going to keep bringing in more guys! We can cut off their reinforcements, and then play this place to our home field advantage.”
“Pretty good strategy, but there's only so many ways in there. Fighting through a small army sounds like suicide, even for you guys.” Joey narrows her eyes, then an idea pops and she looks like she's struck with an ingenious idea. “The ducts! Kyle and I were exploring old schematics when we were chasing Lavernius around, we could crawl through them and get in behind their backlines! All I need is one good grenade on the platform in the right spot and I can wreck it for days, but that’s going to be close quarters and we can’t bring many people.”
“Shielding, remember?” Drenar asks warily. “Curtis must have put some protection around it to prevent us from doing that. I dunno how the hell he managed that.”
“Let’s figure out a workaround later. Can you make a grenade?” Angela asks. Joey glances around a corner and motions to follow.
“I can make an alchemical shape charge with Kyle’s help. It might be enough to get past the barrier, but maybe Lavernius has a solution. But that does present problems, we’ve got a lot of people who can’t fight, and that’s the only major way out. We head out into the field, we’ll be easy pickings.”
“What about the library entrance?” Angela proposes. “They didn’t follow us, that might be the safest way out.”
“Risky. It’s going to take a long time to escort that many people out, and all they have to do is look out the windows and see people making a dash for it,” Drenar points out.
“Maybe if we can cut through their back lines, we can secure a path back to the teleportal. Trash it as an asset denial, if we can’t use it,” Joey suggests. Distantly, Drenar can hear thuds–they must be at the barricaded door, but it won't hold long against an assault by mages. Or dragons, for that matter. Joey taps her ID badge. “Kyle, are you guys at the lab?”
“We are. I’m following up with a plan with James, I’m pulling out all the stops and positioning golems for eyes in the sky at every major access point. Nick and Levine are drawing their attention with hit-and-run tactics with the volunteers, trying to pick off a few at a time. We can’t get close to the teleportal yet, and it’s still running. Curtis must have done something to jam it open and keep the juice going,” Kyle growls. “Did you guys get those journals?”
“Um, we not only got that, but…you know that weird sword that we analyzed a year ago?” Joey seems tense even talking about it. “Yeah, Drenar can use it. And he cut through mage steel like it was butter.”
“Ah great, fantastic. Now all he has to do is lure them all to melee range, I’m sure they’ll all line up for the chance to die in a knife fight,” he groans.
“Is he always like this?” Drenar asks with annoyance. Kyle doesn’t exactly seem to hold him in any regard.
“He…seems to not like you much. Don’t take it personally.” What it sounds like, is trying to avoid an even more unflattering answer. “Kyle, what do we have in the lab that we can use?”
“I have those armor vest prototypes I made using the resins you cooked up from last month. It should take a few hits from an autobow bolt and maybe a few incendiary type spells. I’ve already armored up, same with Julia. No, Julia, don’t touch the sights on my autobow, that’s like, my personal one–never mind.”
“Kyle, how in the hell did you hit anything with this? The scope was barely tightened, you were going to lose zero the second you started firing! You all need some serious lessons from me, if we manage to get out of this alive.” Drenar sighs in relief, at least Julia is taking charge on that end. “Drenar, get back here fast. We need to take pressure off Levine and Nick, and the last radio report is that the Talons are sending in guys in full armor sets that seem to resist the autobow rounds!”
Drenar swears he feels the sword vibrate on his back. Danger is closing in, and he’s not going to be able to keep picking them off a few at a time. Joey presses up against the corner of the hallway, and looks elated. “That’s my lab. The barricade is still up and the hall is clear. Kyle, get the door open and close it as soon as we’re inside. Open it right now,” she says after activating her communicator.
“Done. Welcome back, guys.” The barricade slowly opens, and the three of them dart inside, and Julia slams the door shut behind them, and Drenar breathes a sigh of relief. “So uh, you guys look like you’ve been busy, Any word from Levine and Nick?”
“I heard screams of terror somewhere. There’s your sign that Nick’s at work,” Joey replies darkly. She’s already busily grabbing alchemical canisters, and loading them into the smaller metal and plastic canisters, and forcing them back into the hopper. “Don’t mind me while I make stuff to incinerate these creeps and break a few Geneva conventions.”
“No, do keep doing that,” Drenar quips. “These guys have been utter monsters today–they shot at civilians in Mercadian Promenade, among other things. Setting them on fire brings me a dark satisfaction.”
Julia tilts her head at him for a second while she’s loading ammo into casings and looks like she’s ready for a one-woman war with the Talons. “I left you alone for five minutes with the crazy-eyed alchemist, and now you’re getting savage. What’s up with you today?”
“You like me being savage. Also, my pending mental breakdown is only being delayed so long as people are in danger. So, there’s that,” he concedes. He’s getting dangerously close to outright killing these men, and he’s certain he does not want to go down that path for as long as he can. He instead focuses on the hopper that Joey keeps loading canisters in, and hears the whirl of meshing gears or a flywheel. “Joey, that device, how’s that thing work–”
“Taps into my psionics, it gets me the chemical I need, when I need it. It’s super fast, and Kyle and I designed it. Long story,” she sums up. She’s still loading chemicals, mixing a few, and her hands glow lightly as she mixes two of them after carefully measuring the amounts.
“Okay, here’s the next plan. We’re going mobile and we’re locking the door behind us to this lab. Julia, how do you feel like doing some vent crawling?” Drenar asks with a grin.
“Why does that sound like it’s going to be an easy job?” she rebuffs while packing every round of ammunition she can into a magazine. All the bolts are now glowing light blue and practically crackle with energy. “And where are you going to be?”
“I’ll be drawing all their fire, while you go into the teleportal hub area, and blow it to pieces with Joey and Lavernius here.” This gets her attention and she smiles proudly.
“Oh, we’re sharing my favorite cinnamon-flavored alchemist now?”
“Is it really that strong a smell, guys?” Joey protests.
"It's…noticeable," Drenar says hesitantly. But I don't mind it, it's a very calming scent, and makes me think of home, coziness, and weirdly enough, Malena's home, and–oh no. He stops when he realizes she's gone red in the face, and his face goes blank. "Psychic radio still on?" he asks meekly.
"Still on," she replies in that amusingly quiet tone. Julia laughs boisterously at this exchange. Alex is trying to hide his laughter as well, which makes it even worse.
"You two are a national treasure, you know that?" Julia finally manages between laughs--even as dire as the situation is,
"What it smells like, is a bakery working overtime at Christmas," Angela chimes in. Joey groans lightly while still working.
“You try working for eight hours in an alchemy lab, and not smell like a chemical factory!” Julia practically giggles, and this makes Joey growl in frustration.
“You know what, you remind me of the Wendy's girl, but with some bite to your words! I kinda like it!” Julia can’t not press a button, Drenar sighs internally.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’m not sassy.”
“She’s sassy,” Kyle chimes in.
“I am mixing explosives and other deadly substances, Kyle, do you want to test this?!”
“I do!” Julia responds. Joey sighs defeatedly.
“You’re just as crazy as Drenar. And strangely, I kinda like that.”
Drenar tries not to laugh at this and focuses on Lavernius. “Bernard, this is your area of expertise, yes? The teleportal? Can we destroy it?” He dares to ask the question he’s been dreading, because Lavernius had indicated earlier that such an attempt would end badly.
“Drenar, you need to focus on protecting your own lives–”
“No, I think I’m done with the pushback for one day.” He leers at Lavernius, and takes a menacing step closer. “Your buddy King decided to play with our lives, and the lives of every personnel here in Asqualia. I thought you were a decent person. You were a fantastic father to Kelly. But then you work with the people who are running around, killing everything that moves.”
“Val does, not King or Crosomer,” Lavernius pushes back, even as he helps wire something together with Kyle. “Drenar, the Conclave has to go. It has to die, for what they’ve done. They framed Crosomer, forced him into a corner–the Talons were brought about to rebel against them, and this only fed further into the Conclave's playbook!”
“No, you know what, not the time for it, Lavernius. Your opinion matters very little to me at the moment. Now, how do we destroy the teleportal?” He knows Lavernius must have something in his back pocket, some piece of information he’s kept in reserve. Lavernius takes a deep breath as if dreading what he has to say next.
“We can load a canister of mana primer and bypass the regulator. Overloading the arcane circuits will cause an implosion of the next teleport out. So we need to cut the connection first,” he states calmly. “It will devastate anything nearby, hence my initial hesitation to do this. You think you can do this?”
“Lavernius, let me let you in on a secret. I’m not interested in hearing the odds. I hear a solution, and you’ve got one to our current problems. I will do what I have to, to preserve lives. Understood?” He knows that so much is counting on flawless execution, and everyone will be put to their limits on this one. Lavernius looks grim, but a quick twist of a smile is all he needs to know he’s on board. “I’ve already beaten the odds before. And we’re going to do so again. Julia and Joey will go with you through the ducts, and make your way to the teleportal hub. Joey, Kyle, you’re sure the Talons won't think to check?” he says to them.
Kyle finishes strapping on a heavier armor set that looks like it might be a primal version of an iron man suit, but not lacking in protection, and he puts on a pair of heavy gloves with armor plating on the back of the hand. “No guarantees, but I don’t think anyone’s going to expect it the first time. That said, we’re going to get this kind of sneak attack once. So let’s make it count.”
“Good. You’re with me and the rest, we’re running a distraction team.” He gets on the arcanlink and relays the plan to Levine and Nick, who grimly acknowledge it’s a risky plan, and several volunteers are already wounded. It’s not a good position to be in, but there’s no choice. Too many of the staff aren’t trained in defending themselves. He gets ready, but Julia gets his attention with a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, what’s with the sword, by the way?”
“It slices, it dices, It gives people vision quests. Things are getting really weird,” he replies when Julia's grin disappears into a nervous smile.
“Angie? Did our alchemist break him?”
“To be fair, the warranty was already null and void on him,” Angela responds. She’d had to transform back to her human form to get through the door, and doesn’t look happy about it. Julia does fit a new armor vest onto her, and winces when she tightens it down. “This feels like a gross under protection, considering mages can fire off freaking fireballs.” Kyle gives her a reassuring smirk.
“Most mages are level one newbies, if you’ll forgive the analogy. But you can still arm a mage with an M4 carbine. Make sure the armor is tight, I've got it rated at 12.7 mil bolt protection and most high end caliber firearms, but it's gonna hurt to get hit. The resin allows it to take multiple hits and turns viscous on a high speed impact, and it'll ablate if hit by any fire projectiles,” Kyle explains to her.
"What about that?" she points to a partially finished armor set.
"Prototype. Not ready, and I wouldn't trust my life on it." Kyle is busy tinkering with something from a sample vial that he pulled from the oven, and he’s ecstatic. “If we survive this, I’ve made history,” he says as he examines a sample of green metal.
“What is that?” Angela asks. “I swear I hear a ringing sound from it.”
“These are plans for the future.” He stuffs it into an armored pouch on his decidedly heavier armor, which almost looks like a primitive iron man armor set. “I’m not getting perforated again, this is a prototype power armor using mana crystals that I can rely on. I should be able to shrug off a few more hits, it keeps an active full body spell barrier. Stay behind me."
“Okay. let’s get started then.” Joey has finished the mixing and has a few larger canisters that glow dimly red. “Kyle, did you get the schematics for the vents?” Drenar asks. Kyle taps a few buttons, and nods.
“Oh, right. Guys, sending data.” Drenar taps at his holo bracer, and there’s an incoming data packet. He taps a small glowing button, and a holographic projection comes out, which is more pronounced than the flat 2D image. It’s almost like the touch screen display of a smartphone, but he can swipe through the air. He feels just the lightest resistance of static on his fingers, and he’s mildly impressed. “Drenar, I’ve uploaded maps and schematics, and highlighted major ingress points and integrated it with the camera feeds from the golems that I’ve been using. The same golems that kept you guys safe at the school.”
“Got it. Good to have eyes in the sky. James, are you reading me?” he relays into the radio.
“Yeah, I’m overwatch, I’ve got your back, Drenar,” he relays, and there’s the sound of gunfire in the background. “You guys gotta hurry, they’re trying to make a push to the armory, and there’s two dragons making a beeline with a support squad of several of those heavily armored soldiers. It’s two of those black, green and blue ones.”
“Nightwings. Good night vision, sensitive to high intensity light changes. If Zameren and Nick have flashbangs, use them. Their armor scales are strong in the front, but weak on the flanks, incendiary bolts will cut through them,” Joey relays.
“It’s disturbing how off the cuff you are with that tactical assessment,” Angela comments.
“I’d be a terrible draconic biology specialist if I didn’t know their strengths and vulnerabilities,” Joey says proudly.
“Out of mild curiosity, what would you recommend against a Maridian?” Joey ponders this query for a second.
“Poisons are useless, so are plasma, fire, and some acids. And they’ve got the strongest per-weight armor scales of any dragon species. Their telekinetics allow them to put up one massive threat removal. Honestly, an air strike sounds about right, but that’s kinda ridiculous, the level of effort you have to put into it. Maridians are really tough to kill, but they can still bleed out. Normally they don’t have overtly offensive abilities, so it sorta balances out.” She's already belted on the remaining armor vest beyond just her jacket, and adjusted her hopper to not impede its motions. “Kyle, the duct at the back of the room leads up and over the teleportal room, near the central air system. It’s about five minutes. Wish us luck?”
“With Julia, you won’t need luck,” Drenar replied proudly before giving a quick hug to Julia. “Stay alive, alright? Radio when that platform is dust or we have a way out for the staff."
“You got it, Drenar.” Joey’s already pried the panel open, and ushered Julia to follow.
Drenar looks at them grimly, then glances back to Kyle. “So, ready to become a bullet magnet?”
“They can try.” He loads an autobow with bolts that glow red. “James, we’re starting now. Keep your eyes on us, and make sure that we’re the ones doing the ambushing.”
“Once more, unto the breach,” he sighs.