It's not long before Kyle hears the sound of bolts impacting nearby, that sharp crack and metallic ting as they fragment on the stone and brick hallways. The radio chatter is encouraging.
There are shouts. Screams. Luckily, it's none of the newcomers. James is watching the battle, relaying key intelligence. "Drenar, four heavies moving up the corridor, they've got two mages providing reinforced barriers and they're carrying a heavy machine gun, they're at the intersection in ten seconds. Don't let them get it set up!"
There's a roar, and several undoubtedly meaty thumps, and the high-pitched crack of rifle rounds. He can also hear the sizzle of fire bolts, and the crackle of plasma, like lightning booming indoors. And intermittently, the sharper crack of a high-powered rifle that came from Levine, who had been using a marksman variant SCAR-H with mana-coated rounds. Kyle supplied him with every round of high-velocity mana-coated munitions in 7.62 X 51mm he had, and he knew Levine would put it to good use.
The veteran agent isn't just well-rehearsed in intelligence. He has that patience and calculation of a weathered veteran who will extract a deadly price from those who try to hurt others.
"Hostiles neutralized." The cold, impartial words from Levine doing what he does best speak to the frigid fury he's wielding to keep people safe. The impact on armor is…effective. The impact on organic matter is likely overkill.
Kyle traces the runes and is satisfied with the work, it’s cured while he has a second between calculations. "Joey, we're almost done. Get Reeves on the platform, everyone else mobile should get on last. Tell everyone we've got one shot at this, and safety is not guaranteed." This has to work. This is routine. Just finish the BIOS update next. You've done this before. Joey gets the attention of her peers.
"Everyone, listen up! We are trying to reinforce a one-time teleport pad, but this is grossly beyond load capacity. Anyone who wants to stay behind, know that we're in the fight of our lives, and our options are to egress by overland, which means we're going to have to fight our way out. I need to know right now, who's staying?"
He can't bear to look at those who are staying for a potential last stand. But this is home. He thinks about Joey's words earlier in the day. How she would fight for her home. She’s fought, and killed, to defend her home. So has he. Seeing that gruesome mess of Curtis in the aftermath–after he stabbed Joey through the shoulder, only broke him for a moment. He’d never break again like that, not while she’s in danger.
Despite her slight obsessive tendencies when it came to cleanliness, process, and dumping him because of an irrational fear about his safety, she’s the best friend he’s ever had, and ever will have. And he’ll have her back, no matter what. Even over a few days, he’s seen her crack that shell of isolation she keeps around herself, just a little. Maybe even more so for Drenar.
You never would have stuck it out if you hadn't met that crazy bunch of misfits, Joey. You never would have had the courage to fight until today. He’s focused on getting this done so that everyone can get out. But he, Drenar, and the others have one last task: get the journals from Volkir, and either burn them, or get them far and away from here.
First, they have to put some egg on the Talons’ face. He modifies command line after command line, overriding safety limits, and energy calculations are adjusted on the fly. His Arcanist mathematics and advanced studies in leylines are just enough to give him the confidence he needs to do something no other sane mage would try. He'd tried this exactly once to bring in that ridiculously large furnace into his lab, and Zameren had almost fired him for that stunt. Even if he was mildly impressed when he showed him the math later, he still got slapped with a probation period of a month. That had stopped his crazier ideas from coming out until he built back trust.
"Joey, final count?" He relays back to her.
"Eighty-two. Estimate seventy kilos apiece, and add a ten percent margin for error for the mana requirement. I can’t fit any more mana primer in this thing, I loaded both cases.”
"Okay, just enough. This is going to be close." He can still hear the firepower going strong, and he hopes his three dragon biological capacitors aren’t dead or dying on the floor. "James, how are they doing out there?"
"Drenar took a hit from a bolt. That armor vest you had kept it from penetrating. Angela is taking a beating but her arcane barriers are keeping the worst of it at bay. Julia is being outright savage."
"What about Nick?"
"Doing what he does best. Killing monsters." It's good enough news that they're buying time. "Drenar, Nick, they've got some kind of construct coming up the back hallway, and it's got heavy weapons that could harpoon a dragon. Fall back, now."
"How close are we, tell me we're close!" Drenar barks back. Kyle hears that crackle from his supercharged plasma jolt, and the whump as he sends another soldier down for the count. "Kyle, we're going to be down to sticks and rocks soon!"
"I need three minutes!"
"In three minutes, they're going to be corpses, Kyle!" James shouts back. "Fall back right now, they're bringing in the dragons and using overlapped barriers to advance! Val is on the back line and moving up. I guess she's tired of her underlings failing her, so she's doing it herself! And is that…ah crap, King's right next to her. And…why is he–"
There's a gunshot on the tablet, and James swipes back and forth. "Kyle, I lost the feed, King’s brain-doming the golems!" There are a few other gunshot reports, then silence. "Kyle, I'm blind. Drenar, get out of there now!"
"We can hold a little longer!"
"Drenar, they're right at the door, don't die over this, fall back!" James screams into the radio. Kyle's gentle tapping becomes a clatter of keystrokes, sorting out calculations and overriding the last safety, and enters the encryption key to Nick's portal. If the field is this big, he is likely about to need a remodel of his barn, but the people transported should be safe.
"James, get the laboratory bulkhead door, Joey, get everyone on the platform and hurry!" Kyle instructs. Everyone moves to their roles in perfect cohesion, and Kyle takes a deep breath. He’s barely a mage and he can't hold an arcane barrier for more than a minute. But he knows his magitech from patient study and bringing his crafting to an art form. He’s not about to fail now. "Zameren, make sure you give them a Gilas potion, to resist any plasma burn from this!"
"Already done." Between giving instructions to the security team, Zameren is running triage and administering potions Joey had made in a hurry. They are down to the last few Regen potions. Kyle pulls the tether, he's done and there's nothing left to program. The mana reservoir is overfilled and glowing, and he's hoping it is enough for a stable connection. He taps the control to bring the platform to a steady state, and sees the familiar lights on the metal plates. The new runes all glow from the sintered connections, and people line up, holding close and looking anxious.
There's palpable fear. If he's wrong, he's about to kill eighty people in the blink of an eye, people he knows and cares about. Deep breath, Kyle. You've got this. The runes fade from yellow to green, and the safety checks have passed. Drenar and the others stumble past the barrier door when he hears the rattle of the metal, and enemy fire still trails them. One round almost takes Julia's head off and flares her arcane barrier. Nick and Levine slam the door shut once everyone's in, they're scorched and bleeding, but alive.
"Fates, were you fighting a war out there?" James asks, looking aghast.
"Yeah James, we were. And they were not using their A-team until they ran out of cannon fodder, and we ran almost out of ammo." She shows the empty autobow for emphasis. "Let's just say a lot of them are gonna be on permanent Whiterun guard duty." James looks mortified at this statement.
"Savage. You kneecapped all of them?” She looks reluctant to respond.
“No James, I was trying to spare you from the notion that I’ve killed a few of these murderous bastards tonight. I don’t have a single regret about it.” It’s a rather grim moment for them–forced to kill to defend others. He understands fully what that feels like now. “Okay, hit us with whatever is going to make us not fry like…well, chicken, I suppose,” she grouses. Zemeren is quick to hand out the canisters of alchemical mixtures. Julia takes a sniff and recoils. “Oh this one is gonna suck, isn’t it?”
"Do you want to suffer agonizing burns and cook your insides in this insane attempt?" Zameren says in an edged tone. No one puts up resistance, except for the three of them clinking the potion bottles together and downing them at once. All of them grimace and make their displeasure known. "Oh what were you expecting, pumpkin juice?!" he responds with annoyance.
"I'd take a bunch of missing bones over drinking that again," Angela gags, but keeps it down. Everyone gives Drenar and Julia room to transform into their dragon bodies, and Kyle points to the masking tape marks.
"Okay, you three are going to act as the conductors for this oversized platform. This is going to hurt like hell, but it shouldn't cause any lasting damage. Take a stance, arms, and legs wide, lock your wings, and keep your tails rigid. Do not move." He takes a breath, and his heart is beating like he's on the worst adrenaline high of his life. "We only have one shot at this. Zameren, get the hatchway to the vault unlocked, we're scuttling the lab on a timer. Drenar's team will infiltrate the vault to extract a highly valuable research tome that's critical to the Talons, the remaining team has to hold up and defend the power plant, and we must hold it."
"But–this is our home, Kyle!" a young brunette calls out. She's bandaged on her arm and neck, and is terrified. "We can't just give it up to these monsters!"
"We're not giving it up. Not today. Not ever." Joey stands firmly at her bench, reloading her alchemical hopper with every dangerous compound left in the lab. She forcibly places James on the teleportal platform, against his wishes, and he winces. "James, don't take this as an offense. You have a job as critical as the rest of us, call for help.
"Hear that, Drenar? The power of inspiration has become an epidemic!" Julia says proudly without breaking her stance. “Joey, you guys should get out too, you and Kyle–”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“No. I’m not going. I’m staying to see this through.” She says it quietly enough that Kyle barely hears it. But he can feel that ember of determination flare up from her.
He’s done his reading. Not only are her psionics above par for what the average kitsune possesses, but hers are becoming something entirely different. His research on the matter, after experiencing that faint trace of a connection, told him one startling conclusion:
She’s an empath. An entirely different class of psionics. To be feared as great harbingers of doom, or heralds of hope for the world. He has to be wrong, right? Could it just be a coincidence? He flings the thoughts to the wayside. They have bigger things to worry about now.
“You gonna make me do this, Drenar?” James asks quietly when he meets him on the platform. Drenar nods quietly, and Kyle can see the regret on his face.
“James, Evan and Jackie are still at Nick’s place, I need you there with them so they don’t rush in after they get the word.” Drenar forces his phone into his hand. “Call Kiera, as soon as you’re clear of whatever is jamming everything except the arcanlinks. Tell her to send everything.”
“Drenar, do you realize who–”
“She is the champion.” Julia’s quiet words get Levine’s attention, and she turns to face him, and he’s biting his lip tightly. Everyone looks at her in slight shock, including him. The champion of the Valkyries? This just hit peak crazy. “But you know that, didn’t you Levine? Just like all the other adults forced to lie to protect her mission, right? Even the Valkyries are paralyzed by inaction. Maybe King was right for once.”
“I don’t know what he told you–”
“No, Levine, this wound is too raw to deal with right now. We’re beat to hell, and we can’t win this on our own, not without a miracle.” Even Julia–this zany, energetic woman who took out a chunk of the Talons, along with Lavernius and Joey–is finally being worn down.
“Drenar, Angela, Julia…everyone…don’t let this be a goodbye.” Stoic, calm-minded James, the little he knows of him, is shaking when Drenar gives him a brotherly hug.
“James, we will get through this. It’s like I've always said. 'There's no such thing as goodbyes, it's just until we meet again’.”
Kyle doesn't know why, but there's something there in his words that made him realize that, stripping away all that bravery, was a kid who had been deeply hurt by something. What's even stranger is that Joey glances at him, and looks like she wants to say something, but then thinks better of it.
"Hey, living electrodes? Please don't chatter when I light this thing up. Everyone who isn't going, clear out right now." Joey gravitates to stand right next to Drenar. It's a subtle move that Kyle picks up on.
"Hey, we've got this, Joey. This will work," he says reassuringly before putting a claw gently on her shoulder. More surprisingly, she puts her hand over his and squeezes gently while still trying to look stoic. Kyle forgets the dire crisis unfolding around him because he’s never seen her hold hands with anyone.
Not Avani, her best friend. Not any number of jerks back at the academy who were trying to get into her pants and were painfully reminded that she wasn’t one to be taken advantage of.
Not even him. She’d always been very protective of her personal space, and to see this in contrast to everything before this–something had changed for her.
Why him, Joey? He's crazier than even you. I already see the path you're going down, and I don't want you to get hurt. Kyle realizes with a heavy heart that this might be the one time where he shouldn't intervene. Drenar might have a pile of baggage the size of Mount Everest and had some severe emotional trauma from something he couldn’t put his finger on yet, but he’s put his life on the line repeatedly to protect his friends, and the staff of Asqualia. At least he’s got his heart in the right place. That’s gotta count for something.
The exchange only lasts a few seconds, and then it's back to the peril as she grabs her alchemical hopper and stands away from the platform.
"Kyle, they're at the barrier door, they've got arcane torches," Zameren relays. The irregulars hold their fire lane on the door.
"Maintenance hatch, back side of the room, it takes you down the hall, and puts you about fifty meters from the power reactor," Kyle instructs. It's game time now, and he grabs his autobow and every other bit of equipment he needs down in the vault. "On three, I'm activating the charging sequence, everyone keeps their arms and legs inside the circle! And send me a text if this works! You know, so I can confirm my status as a goddamn wizard or a serial killer."
"They jammed the phones, Kyle," someone mutters in nervous laughter. He places his one remaining observer golem on James’ shoulder, who nods. At least this signal couldn't be blocked, and he steps back, and mentally prepares himself for the best.
"Three…two…" the pad lights up, awaiting the final trigger, and he can hear the sizzle of arcane torches starting to cut through the door.
"One!"
The electric charge builds and the mana primer is activated in a glow of blue fluid rushing through the conduits. Energy pulses across the platform radially outward and flows into the silvered runes, culminating at the three dragons holding a stance. He can see Angela, Drenar, and Julia shift uncomfortably, and the energy dances off their scales, and completes the loop. The charge builds in light, and people cling together anxiously. He can smell the molten metal and feel the heat of the torches cutting through, and he can feel the malice sinking into the air. The Talons were here, along with their leader. The charge intensifies, and Drenar grunts from the pain, as does Angela.
The displays are all green. It's working. But will it work fast enough? "Zameren, get the elevator to the vault working right now. They're cutting through the door! We've got maybe two minutes." The charge is building to a peak, the panels turn bright white in the center, as do the silvered runes. He sees the handshake signal from Nick's portal, and he crosses his fingers. It's out of his hands now. "Peak charge in five seconds. See you on the other side guys!" he announces. The energy crackles and the room turns bright white, and he has to shield his eyes.
The blast of air nearly knocks him down, and the room goes dark. Drenar, Julia, and Angela all collapse and groan on the floor. He squints because his vision is all messed up, but the runes are burnt, and the platform is empty.
"Kyle, the feed? Did they make it?!" Joey shouts from the other side. He pulls out his controller, and activates the visual on the golem, and he taps his fingers nervously as the connection initiates. It's the most tense five seconds of his life. The static gives way–and he gasps!
"They made it!” The golem is clinging to James’ shoulder, who is dazed, as are the eighty-plus passengers who are now sitting in the thoroughly damaged barn, and as far as he can tell, everyone is alive and breathing. “Holy crap, Nick is going to have a hell of a cleanup, but they're alive!" He grabs Nick and gives him a bear hug, and he sees Joey grab onto Drenar for dear life, and he gives a weak thumbs up, still possibly in indescribable pain from their daring stunt. But, seeing the relief on everyone's face is immense. "Yes! I am a goddamn wizard, bitches! Suck on that, you Talon scum!" he roars defiantly at the door currently being burnt through.
"I am definitely getting my samples from you guys, that was incredible! It was insane!" Kyle has never seen Joey this elated, and this moment is desperately needed, given how badly the day has gone.
"I smell roast chicken. And I'm pretty sure it's from me," Angela groans and staggers onto her legs, and helps up Julia, who seemed to fare a little better. "That sucked."
"Any muscle spasms? Heart palpitations? Blurred vision?" Joey asks and forgets she really doesn't have the strength to help Drenar up.
"None of the above. This is the start of a really unhealthy working relationship, Joey. Please be gentle with us, I have a hard limit of one medical experiment a day." He finally shifts back to human form and grabs his equipment, as does everyone else.
"Don't worry, I won't cause lasting harm. Levine, is the detonator rune primed?"
"We'll give them a warm welcome, lass. Ladies and lads, celebration later! We need to move, now!" Levine wastes no time finishing a rune on the floor that should cover their retreat, and Zameren is waiting at the elevator. "You're coming with us?"
"No. My job now is to buy you an opening. We’ll give them a running battle. The bulk of my people are safe, and I'm tackling the most dangerous job so that the rest have a prayer of survival. Piers, get into the maintenance hatch, go right now! We’ll storm the power plant and buy us time, looks like they only left a skeleton crew." The volunteer nods, and everyone rushes to their positions. Kyle takes one last look at the door, and the bulkhead is almost cut through.
You bastards can chase us down, but people survived here tonight, and that's all that matters. He smiles grimly as everyone gathers and the lift slowly lowers into the vault entryway, and he primes his autobow. He regards Drenar who looks exhausted, and Julia is practically leaning on him and utterly spent. Joey has her arm around Angela and is trying to get her to take a potion to restore some endurance.
"Kyle, let's say it now, that was totally crazy, and we should never do that again if we can avoid it," Drenar says after a moment. Distantly, there's the sound of wrenching metal and the sound of a detonation. The rush of air and dust pelts all of them, and Drenar looks nonplussed. "Think we’re lucky enough that Val just took several pounds of alchemical explosives to the face?”
“We tapped out of luck when we transported eighty people on a platform meant for ten, tops,” Kyle replies. “Let’s check out the post-game carnage report,” he adds in a dark beat of humor. The observer golem feed that had been positioned outside the corridor is still intact, by some miracle. He shows the feed to everyone.
“Wow. That was savage.” The words don't quite convey the carnage of Levine and Joey’s last trap, because there are pieces of debris strewn all over the place. The fate of the interlopers closest to the barrier is far worse. They're all badly hurt, and a few look like they're not getting up.
Except for that stoic bastard King, who leers at the golem, like he knows it's been watching them the whole time. He brushes the dust off of his armor, more concerned with appearance than the shrapnel that narrowly missed him. "Oh, this guy is just built differently." He clicks the transmit button, so King can see the faces of everyone sharing a grim determination.
"Hey, King. Did you like our housewarming party? Stick around, because we've got all night," Kyle utters with as much smugness as he can muster.
"I presume the civilians are removed from the equation? That was an impressive teleportation field, by the way." Kyle pans the camera to Drenar. He's wearing a hardened smile on his face, even while he's still on the mend from a massive current of elemental plasma running roughshod over him.
"Yeah. It's just us now, so we don't have to hold back anymore, King. Tell Val she's got my undivided attention for slaughtering defenseless people, and if you don't want to share in her fate, you better quit while you can." Drenar really has that soul-piercing glare down to an art form, and he's known Joey for a hot five minutes. King gives them a grim smile and a nod of respect.
“Well, now. It appears that you young ones will provide a respectable challenge.” He aims his handgun at the golem, and the feed goes blank, just like the rest.
All of Kyle’s functional golems are now dust or scrap metal. But the look of annoyance on King’s face was utterly priceless, and he grins wildly.
“I think we pissed him off, guys. That makes you all alright in my books.”
"Dude, that was awesome. I thought the one-liners were reserved for the troublemaker twins," Angela says with warmth. Julia offers a firm handshake.
“Welcome to the Luminaires, Kyle. We’re uh, borrowing the name until someone tries to stop us,” she adds with a smirk. “The pay’s nonexistent, the perils are numerous, and don’t even ask about the benefits.”
“Sounds like my last internship,” he replies with a beat of humor. The elevator ride down into the vault will be short-lived, and when they get to the bottom…
…That will be the start of the real challenge.