The moment of shock is over in an instant. Too many questions fly through her head in a blur, but Joey knows one thing:
If Nick is breaking into a school and looking for something, whatever he’s looking for must be really unpleasant news for a lot of people. She snaps her fingers and points to Kyle’s phone, a nascent plan already forming. “Kyle, move the golem closer, get audio on them.” He clicks a few buttons, and then the audio comes in. He manages to get the golem to crawl along the wall, until they are within earshot of the group. She’s stunned.
A half-transformed Auran goldback female with black hair thunderously kicks at the concrete wall and puts a giant dent into it. “Damn. is she in the middle of Awakening?” Kyle asks in awe.
“Based on the half-transformed body, yep. She must be made of sheer willpower if she’s pulling off feats like that. She must be fighting through a high level of pain–or she's really pissed off,” Joey comments observantly while they listen in.
“Um, Julia, hazard insurance covers when bad stuff happens, like bad guys shooting at us. Not kicking in a concrete wall, for the record,” a familiar male voice states with little restraint. There are more than a couple of protests as the female kicks in the wall again with unrelenting force and puts a giant hole in it. She peers in before pulling out a lockbox and turning around and roaring in triumph, shining blue eyes and seafoam feathers accentuating her face.
“Holy shit. That's Nick. Now committing felonies, or doing his job?” Joey is nearly speechless, she never thought she'd run into him again, and certainly not like this!
“Goddamn, Joey, you just got replaced for the feminine badass in my life,” Kyle breathes. It's not even an insult–it's the same dark-haired girl from the photo of the other teens goofing off in the yearbook spread! They’re chattering about the contents while Joey and Kyle stare at each other.
“You think this is a coincidence?”
“Joey, we’re so past that point.” They both continue to watch the discussion unfold. Joey swears the half-transformed Julia looks right at the monitor golem for a second.
“Let's bag the evidence and head to the mechanics bay, either way. I’m raiding that lab to send a message,” the messy-haired teen says firmly. “Nick, Valosterla and King are going to torch and burn the lab, we have to get in there now. Hopefully, we figure out what they’re trying to study with forcing these Awakenings, and how they're doing it. I’m not going to let these guys keep screwing with everyone's lives like we’re a lab experiment. Them, or Crosomer."
The wild-haired kid with green eyes seems to be acting like he’s in charge–and stranger still, Nick nods quietly. Why is he deferring to this kid? What is going on here? They continue talking, and the dark-haired girl grows a set of beautiful gold and seafoam feather wings. That one apparently hurt, based on the way she winces.
“Joey, why do I get the feeling we just got right into the middle of something so big, that I can’t even understand how big it is?” Kyle whispers. She’s trying to put the pieces together in her head at a frenzied pace, and there is just not enough to go on. She doesn’t even answer him yet. She swears she sees the dark-haired girl look right at the shrouded observer golem again with a puzzled expression, then glances around, like she’s been buzzed by an invisible fly. Joey hears a radio crackle again, a new male voice with a moderate accent--Scottish, maybe?
“Nick, we have trouble. Two large vehicles just pulled up at high speed to the school. They’re unloading by the far side from where you guys are. Jonaleth Winters, some of his cronies, and two Talons soldiers in black body armor. The soldiers are armed to the teeth and at the front door. They’ve got a ton of gasoline tanks they’re unloading now. Drone feed is going to be useless in a few minutes.” They immediately set into action.
Joey drops her tablet and stares at the image, her fur on end. "What?! Kyle, get SAF on the line right now, we can’t let those kids die, we've gotta help them!”
“Isn't Nick like some kind of Uber commando?” he asks sourly before clicking a couple of buttons.
"Kyle, focus!" she snarls. "Nick's one of the best, but even he needs backup sometimes! What can we do with the golems, can they help them out somehow?"
“Yeah, but I need to set up manual control. I never planned on using these golems other than passive observance, gonna have to improvise.”
“Wait, I thought you said these were passive golems, no weapons at all!” she expresses worriedly.
“Nah. But, I can cause some mayhem. I’m going to go get their attention. Joey, plug in the console over there, I need the expanded controls, then press F4 and F5.” She follows the instructions and suddenly the phone display distorts, and a 3D hologram pops up around Kyle, giving him a map of his surroundings. “Okay, press F3 for voice command. And you better switch to your human form, we don’t need to hit them with too many crazy things at once.” She narrows her eyes at him, and her fur bristles.
“You know I have intimate knowledge in a hundred different ways to dissolve flesh and bone, right?” she suggests menacingly.
“In theory, but zero in practice. They have, in all likelihood, never seen a Kitsune. And Nick doesn't know either–probably,” he points out while swiping the displays. The golem springs to life, and the four-limbed contraption slides down the wall while the noise startles the assembled crew.
“Okay, Joey, might as well get their attention,” he says as she shifts back to her human form, he waves one limb of the golem to get them looking his way. “Headset, quick. We’re live.”
She makes more than a little commotion when the half-transformed dragon summons a plasma spark into her hand upon seeing the golem. The messy-haired teen kneels down and examines it, and after a few words, Joey decides to crack the ice.
“Hey, Nick, it looks like you've got some new friends! By the way, you still owe me a home-cooked meal, and I'm calling it due!”
Nick almost drops his bolt pistol and recoils in surprise for the first time since she's known him.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Josephine?!”
“It's Joey, my favorite feathered iguana with wings! I think the name has been earned.” She can’t help but sound a little sassy on that last line, and Nick grimaces.
This is too much for the girl with wavy brown hair, and she glares at him with all her draconic fury. “How many women want to jump your bones, exactly?!”
“Really now, it’s not that kind of relationship,” Joey says in an assuring voice. “So, uh, this situation’s about to be a little screwy, if what we heard is right.”
"Wait, she's the same woman you were talking about when you went out with Amaranth? As part of the academy field research trips?" the male teen says with a snap of his fingers. Nick nods while both of them peer at the golem. "This is some destiny-level kind of coincidence, I gotta tell you, man."
“Okay, enough with the wide-eyed looks you two, you have trouble coming your way, I’ve got two other golems watching the Talons, they're cutting their way past the front door right now. Look, it’s a long story, and your investigation might tie into something that we’ve been looking into, the drakensouls. There’s something super strange going on in the nearby magical biozones. We want to help, me and one of my friends.
“Kyle, scan the golem around, they're going to be boxed in at the office." She grabs her tablet and swipes furiously for the town hall records maintenance and logistics–a floor plan of the school finally is unveiled, and she throws her focus into the effort. "Okay, can any of you guys fight, any of you that have Awakened?"
"We can and have before," the young male responds quickly, and he motions the team out the door. Kyle scouts the golem ahead, keeping them just in focus as he looks behind. "Short hall up ahead, on the left. Josephine, right?"
"Yeah, just Joey. You?"
"Drenar. How'd you even find us?" he asks inquisitively. "Nick mentioned you were a student of his old friend."
"Long story, kiddo. We didn't expect to run into you guys like this, one of my friends set up these observer golems after the Talons showed up, and you set off their motion sensors. Okay, I need to focus." She looks at the displays from the other golems, and sees two Talons soldiers accompanying the other hoodied goons taking charge and splashing gasoline. "They're dousing the main hall with gas, they're heading east, down the long hall. Looks like…some mechanical shop up at the end past the intersections, and the agriculture wing–"
"That's the lab. They've been doing maintenance and renovations for months down there, ever since last year, what a great cover to keep prying eyes away."
"What lab?" she echoes.
"Okay, the really short version, the Talons unearthed some guy named Robespierre Crosomer, the guy that started the War of the Magi, and found some artifact that can force Awakenings. The power of this thing is immense. They're using the school and the students to tabulate the results of their experimentation. This device is part of a bigger play to reverse the Ascension events. Which is just really bad news for everyone." She completely loses her focus and stares at his intense green eyes.
"That's an awful lot to unpack at once. I knew it, I knew there had to be an external influence!" she admits excitedly. “Oh, and it is affecting magical biozones, too. Probably. Still digging into that thread.” He looks at her blankly.
“Um, on a scale of one to nightmare fuel, where’s that one falling?”
“Nightmare fuel.”
“This just gets more and more fun,” he sighs as if this isn’t the worst news he’s had all week. “Joey, if we get through this, I think we need to meet up somewhere to pool our info, you’re absolutely right. Where are you currently?" She doesn't even hesitate to give him the answer.
"Ah, Asqualia Research Center–"
"Ah, crap. Hold that thought. They're looking for a way in there, they need some kind of research or academic journals, we just crashed a party of theirs earlier tonight. They indicated they might have a way in. You need to alert everyone at the facility that the Talons are coming. I doubt it's gonna be a token force. They're trained and well armed, from what I've seen so far."
"Focus on you not dying, first? What are you planning on doing?" she asks worriedly.
"They have to funnel at the far doors at that hallway intersection. Julia, you and me, we'll cut them off. Nick, beeline to the mechanic bay area and hold the door, find a way into the lab with Angela, and grab every electronic device that isn't nailed down. Expect reinforcements once we floor these creeps. Joey, run a distraction with that golem when they get to the double doors marked with the east wing. Give me a target count and their formation."
She looks at the other golems stealthily shadowing the troops, plus the others. "Six hostiles, in a line formation. Two of them have autobows, first and last man. Please be careful. They're moving fast, but they're not checking corners." She can only hope that Nick and these kids live through this unscathed. "Kyle, got anything to surprise them?"
"Just a little shock gel as an emergency escape. These were built with passive observation and evasion," he answers before directing the golem to hustle up the corridor. Drenar and Julia are just in sight as they loop ahead of the foes, with Joey making a mental map. "It might be enough to zap one of them, not both."
"Drenar, focus on the lead soldier. The one on the rear we'll handle, but what about the rest?" she asks. They didn't appear to have weapons.
"We'll knock them out, Crosomer's men have been using kids to do some of their dirty work. Like they're the magical equivalent of the Boy Scouts," he affirms quietly. Whatever he is, he’s decisive. "Okay, get in position, down the short connecting hall. Julia, I need a charge." She reacts instinctively with now fully draconic claws, and Joey is amazed to see her transfer an incredible amount of plasma energy into his partially emerged scales. She has heard of feats like this from battles involving dragons in wars long since passed, but never anything like this. He has azure and silver scales that seem to insulate him from the plasma, and he can hold the charge. Like small scales of chrome and sapphire gems gleaming brightly.
"Um, if we get you guys through this…can I ask you to volunteer some samples as a newly emerged drakensoul or half-dragon?" she asks meekly. He stares at the golem blankly. "Purely professional, I promise you, arcanist zoology and alchemy is literally my career."
"That has got to be the strangest way I've ever had a girl ask me if she can check me out. But, alright, I'm game. Purely professional." Joey feels her cheeks blush as red as her hair at his reflexive response. Kyle looks at her with a curl of a smirk emerging.
"I think you like this kid–"
"Oh my Fates, Kyle, shut up and focus on making sure they don't get killed!" she snaps and tries her best to regain her composure. She has no idea why what he said got to her just now!
"Right. Wait for the first guy to go down. Stay alive!" The golem skids forward and they hide the small automaton by the door as the Talons stalk by, with their unaffiliated lackeys not paying attention at all.
"Kyle, shock gel, prime it. We only have one shot at this, and that dosage should be enough to knock him out for a couple of minutes." The small automaton opens up a compartment on the arm. Inside, a canister of blue gel sparks energetically, and the golem closes on the oblivious rear guard.
Okay guys, here we go.