“Check in.”
“We’re checked in, Julia. Are you guys ready?”
She glances at Drenar, who nods silently in his maintenance uniform. He fiddles with the newly constructed ID badge that Levine had been preparing–something that Nick had extreme proficiency in, as did his cerebral partner. He tips the plain baseball cap lightly. James is waiting at the library with Evan, and she keeps fighting the instinct to put the armband up to her mouth to speak. That’s what the earpiece is for, dialed into the arcanlink.
“Radio silence, unless it’s critical. Nick, Angela, you guys ready?” Levine relays into the arcanlink.
“I’m racking up felonies before I’m of age, Levine. I was born ready,” Angela says defiantly. It leaves Julia with a warm feeling in her heart to know that her friend has come so far, so quickly.
They’re just outside the Mercadian promenade, and it's chosen today, of all days, to have rain showers coming in and leave them damp and miserable, with tatters of gray clouds dumping their payload. Though, it feels like her whole body is a metabolic furnace. Is this what Drenar, Angela, and even Nick feel like regularly?
Questions about her own body are going to have to wait. It’s only been a day and a half now, and she’ll have lots of time to ponder the answers later. Her ID badge looks awful, but at least no one should ever know they were responsible for shorting out the platform.
Boy, if Mom is trusting Dillenger, I have to wonder just what their history is. Those two better not be copulating, or I’ll murder both of them. That tidbit is bothering her something fierce, and has been since Wednesday night. She sees Angela and Nick making their way up a ladder to a maintenance area of the promenade, and there isn’t a soul in sight in this alleyway. Julia checks the buttons on the plain-clothes uniform, and Levine takes point. “Let’s go. Five minutes. We’re on schedule for the maintenance.”
“What if they start asking questions?” Drenar asks. “I doubt many people are going to recognize us, but they have cameras everywhere.”
“Not right now they don't. Nick’s about to trip the circuit relay for the area. Surveillance should be off about…” he trails off and looks at the display of the armband, and snaps his finger. “Now.”
She expects something incredible to happen, but life continues uninterrupted. A barn cat jumps onto a trash can, and swats at another stray who looks indignant at the offense, but after a moment they both just sit there, staring at the alleyway. “Alright. Let’s go. Fifteen minutes before they send out someone to check the breaker. It’s just the local municipal one.”
“Just stick to the plan. Be cool,” Drenar says firmly, and glances at Julia who nods before they make their way past the brown brick facade, down the bunker tunnel, and back into the bustling street of the promenade. The rain doesn’t seem to keep anyone bothered for too long, though a few of the dragons keep the rain off of themselves with their wings.
An umbrella for every occasion, she notes with a smirk.
A minute later, they’re at the teleportal gate entry, and the blue and black fatigued soldier at the front is waving people lazily through a security checkpoint of shapely metal and plastic barriers. He waves to Levine for his ID and frowns. “Maintenance?”
“Got some scheduled tidy-up work. Barry couldn’t make it,” Levine says firmly and without hesitation. “Just plumbing the circuits, maintenance logs from the other night showed a surge. Having this old girl short out during the busy part of the day is a pain.”
The blonde gentleman scratches his hair just past the crease of his helmet, and he frowns when he checks a digital tablet on the table. A line is starting to build behind them of a few humans and one scarlet-colored dragon, who is tapping their claws gently against their scales. With bright purple feathers. And she gives Julia a piercing glare, but says nothing.
Oh, hell. If that’s Jackie, she’s going to make a scene.
“I see a note for a crew of four–oh, she is with you?” the guard asks, and nods to the dragon behind them. Drenar glances back, and she sees him reach his arm for his waistband for a dagger he’s left purposefully behind for this leg of the mission. Luckily, it’s just reflexes, and he waits for Levine’s cue.
“Yeah, the new kids are with me,” Levine said gruffly. “Apprenticeships for the maintenance crew, trying to get them into the fold with learning some arcanist circuitry. They’re competent, and doing most of the work under my supervision.”
“Miss, can’t use your dragon form here, it’s a little close quarters,” the guard motions. She rolls her eyes and shrinks back down to human form and–Julia suddenly has the urge to make a fried lizard.
Oh shit Levine, you knew we weren’t going to go along with this, didn’t you?! Julia thinks when she narrows her eyes at the wisp of a girl with bright red hair and a permanent look of indignity etched on her face. Only slightly less indignant is that the uniform is huge on her–she brings a whole new meaning to the term petite. “Yes, it’s thrilling to be doing community service dressed in this crime against fashion,” Jackie says with about as much shade as she can muster. Drenar grits his teeth but says nothing.
The blonde guard shrugs and hands Levine back his identification and maintenance papers. “Go on in, hall on the left. There’s a stairwell and the utility room down one flight.”
“Thank you. Lad, lassies, shall we?” Levine says without breaking composure. Julia lets Jackie go between them, and she gets a less-than-subtle shoulder check as she walks by.
This red-haired bitch is half the reason this mess started, by her count. But she knows Levine must have done this play because he didn’t see a choice. They follow him down the large open-air corridor, then to a mud-painted maintenance door that opens up to a stairwell, lit with a buzzing fluorescent lighting. He gestures to them as he holds the door open.
As soon as that door closes, Drenar grabs Jackie and presses her against the wall, and she lets out a shout of protest. “Levine, what the hell! Why’s she here?!”
“I’m saving your sorry asses!” Jackie hisses. “You think Dillenger here didn’t have a play? The Talons know Jonaleth screwed up badly, if I don’t deliver, they’ll kill my mom, dad, and sister! Screw that, I’m not working for them if that’s how they plan on treating people who thought it’d be fun to enact world change!”
Drenar’s fingers are locked into her arms, keeping her from moving. “Let me be clear, Jackie. I don’t trust you. Levine, you should have–”
“The plan was to reveal my hand, once we got here. Jackie’s with us for this leg. That liaison thinks everything is above board, I had to keep him thinking that Jackie was going to deliver the goods. Nick and Angela are in position now.” Drenar gives one last glare at Levine before slowly letting go, and Jackie gives a sweeping glare at everyone.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of this plan, either. Jonaleth might have smart plays, but he decided to stir the pot by targeting you, Drenar. Or at least, your brother.” It’s not exactly an apology, coming from her, and he notes it.
“I haven’t forgotten that. You helping us, without betraying us, is one step on a long road to paying back that imbalance. Levine, this is your party, next time, give me a heads up,” he adds with restrained fury. He doesn’t like this plan, but he’s putting feelings aside for this one. Which means she should, too. But not without a little finesse.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Bitch, if you betray us, you won’t live long enough–”
“Julia, I’ve said my piece. I don’t need more threats hanging in the air, because she knows what we can do,” Drenar adds with a glance her way. “We aren’t like the people we fight against, are we clear?”
“Drenar, there’s going to be a day when you won’t be able to talk an enemy down, or knocking them out isn’t an option,” Julia states with as much chill as the grave. “You know where we stand, Jackie. Fighting the Talons, and keeping them from hurting a lot of people. Help us with that, and I might be able to forgive you. Eventually.”
“Great endorsement there, Julia,” Jackie snorts. “Alright Poirot, we’re here. What do you need me for, exactly?”
“Did you tell your contact what we’re doing?”
“I did exactly what you asked me to. He’s got four men with him. Bolt pistols and grenades, no armor, as far as I can tell. They’re not going to wait for you to get out of the open, they’ll gun you guys down right there in the street,” Jackie warns them. Julia now wishes she had an autobow for range–not that she can’t close the distance in short order, now.
“Belichak–the blondie dum-dum–is working for Val’s operational chain. They want bodies in bags. Period. I told him that I had a lead, maybe, and that I had an in. Poirot, this is your play, I called Jonaleth and got you. So this is on your head if this goes badly,” Jackie directs to Levine.
“So they’re waiting at the spot?”
“I’m supposed to call out targets, and hope they don’t shoot me. Guessing Belichek will likely gun me down to tidy up the mess,” she adds with a bitter laugh. “So I’m screwed either way. Thanks, Jonaleth, you stupid son of a psychopath duet–”
“Hey,” Drenar exhales with force. “We don’t get to pick our parents, Jackie. No one does, not even Jonaleth. You are lucky he’s not dead, if he means anything to you.”
“Clock’s ticking. Follow,” Levine instructs and breaks up the discussion. Jackie huffs and puts her hands up in resignation
“Lead the way, nerds.”
They head down the stairwell and go through the utility corridor. It’s brown cinder blocks and arrays of piping, both regular metal ones, and some glass tubing that contains a blue fluid that fluoresces. Likely, some kind of mana conduit powering something nearby. Levine directs them to a steel door with hazards for electricity and…mana poisoning?
That one sounds ominous. She’s already had mana burn once, and she doesn’t want it twice if she can avoid it. Levine pushes the door open and they file inside. It feels like static on her skin here, and the thrum of energy in the conduits is palpable. There are numerous consoles behind metal wire lockers, and Levine presses the badge to open them. The lock icon turns green, and he throws one open. “Teleportal is the one here. Julia, this is where you come into play. Charge up Drenar.”
“I’m sorry, Tsundere already tries to experiment on me enough, as it were,” Drenar retorts.
“Set aside the snark for a few minutes. Julia’s going to charge you, and you’re using your scales to bridge a connection. It shouldn’t hurt–much,” he adds in a slightly worrying tone. He looks at both of them anxiously.
“Great. Looks like I won’t have to wait for Val to kill me with her murder army, why bother when my misfit crew can do the honors for them?!” he throws up his hands and rolls up his sleeves while scales emerge on his arms and his claws form. “Let’s just get this done. Point out the consoles. You’re trying to overload one, right?”
“The system will trip if it’s too quick, but with a low power rise, we can successfully short it out,” Levine instructs. “Jackie, your role in this is a small one. Use your gravity magic to push down on the diaphragm of the liquified mana condenser, there,” he says, pointing to a tank of fluid that looks similar to those crystalline batteries they’d seen on Mount Syren. “Oh, and try not to crush anything else. We want this to look like a maintenance failure. Not sabotage.”
“I’m so glad you have better plans than the arsonist,” she sighs before extending her hand at the device. There’s a trickle of a pull of something as Jackie concentrates, green eyes almost alight from inside, and Julia feels more than just a tug. Like gravity is pulling in the wrong direction.
“Step away from the field of effect,” Levine warns, and Julia hops back. The pulling motion stops, and there's a shimmer in the air, a dark void that forms just above the tank. Jackie’s hand is shaking, and she’s got absolute focus when she brings up her other hand to guide it downwards.
The diaphragm collapses due to the change in pressure, and fluid stops flowing through the system and leaks out intermittently. She shudders and almost loses her balance. “Damn. Still learning. Was that good enough?”
“Perfect. Julia, charge up Drenar, the system is going to trip in a few seconds. I had to look this one up with Nick, he knows a systems engineer for arcanist setups like this.” Julia lights up a spark with a smile, and gives Drenar a jolt, and he shudders under the current.
“Baby will you light my fire,” he manages with a grin. She smacks his shoulder and groans.
“I will murder you after we are done here, wannabe hero,” she scolds. She feels a little fatigued from charging his scales, but the feeling fades. She steps back from the console, and he grips one tightly before hovering his hand over the other one, which now has fluid weakly flowing due to the damage on the compressor.
The second he grips down, energy arcs across the interface, and he grits his teeth, slowly letting go of the current. Levine pulls out a device that looks like a voltmeter, and taps it across the two tubes of fluid. It lights up red, and then the indicator hovers at yellow for a short moment.
“Keep going…” Levine instructs. A bead of sweat forms on his brow, and he’s gritting his teeth in utter focus. “Keep going…”
“Stop.”
The lights go out in the room, like a circuit breaker popped. Drenar instantly lets go and flexes his hands, and Levine activates a glowing wisp of light from his hand with a word that sounds like a slither through the air. “Alright, let’s go. Angela and Nick should be timing out that secondary diversion any second. Our work here is done. Jackie, well done for the small assist. I’ll make sure that your part in this is documented as aiding an–”
There’s a muffled explosion and everyone goes tense, and Jackie goes wide-eyed.
“Hells bells, Poirot! Looks like someone isn’t waiting to start the party,” she grimaces. “Was that your distraction?!”
“Our distraction was a sensor trip and a couple of baddies tied up, not–”
The sound of a high crack of gunfire immediately breaks any chance that this is part of their plan. Drenar dashes out the door and slams past the doorway, already reaching out for his dragon form, and Julia bounds off the wall to keep up. Levine tries to offer words of restraint, but her sense of danger is in overdrive–a danger not just to her, but to others, too. Jackie is right beside Julia, scarlet scales forming on her hands and legs.
“Did you know something–” Julia starts to accuse.
“No! The second Val asked Jonaleth to murder people at the school lab, I knew I was in over my head, I’d never sign up for that!” she protests. Julia ignores it and summons her strength in the form of gold scales and rippling muscle, and bounds up the stairs with wings half-forming on her back already. Nick sounds out over the radio. It is all bad news.
“Levine! Talons soldiers just swamped the SAF comms network! They’re launching a full-out assault on SAF positions at multiple locations, here and abroad! It’s a goddamn start of a war, they’re pouring out of teleportal networks!”
Nick’s warning comes as soon as they’re topside. Julia lassoes the door out of the way and Drenar bursts through in a shimmer of blue and silver scales, and Julia takes in the scene–black-clad talons soldiers are firing forward through the open-air plaza, and Drenar’s spell barrier and scales take the brunt of the attack while he shields the same blonde soldier that has a bolt sticking out of his shoulder and one through his leg, trying to reload an autobow.
“Cover Drenar!” Julia snaps to action and spots six soldiers–two are looking back at the sputtering teleportal that had inconveniently just been shorted out by them. The Talons aren’t getting reinforcements and now are about to pay the price. There are multiple store alarms and the SAF garrison klaxon alarm is going off.
Everything is in utter chaos now. And right now, they need to put a stop to the Talons bringing terror down upon their town. They also made one massive mistake when she charged plasma across her scales:
They are so utterly puny compared to her right now.