{Enki | Pantheon}

Operation Gait had failed.

There was no way for Matt and Puk to prevent Imminent from stealing the Tantamount and employing it in what remained of the rogue planet’s core. Beside him, Lucy sniffled, and he pulled her in for a side hug without thinking.

Not only had their team failed, but they failed someone important to them.

In the middle of the Pantheon, Matt gazed around at the soldiers frozen on the pale, glowing battlefield. He said into his earpiece, “War King, this is Ginger. There wasn’t anything we could do. I’m sorry. Over.”

Puk gave him an approving thumbs up, blades glinting on the knuckles of his hand-to-hand weapons. His Rayne chain was longer to accommodate his bulk, swinging as he turned back around to face the front line.

Beside the drone, Bethany glanced Matt’s way, big honey brown eyes blinking with the world trapped inside. Hearing her talk again was great, but her brother and sister might not like what she had to say. She was safer with Matt and Lucy’s group, Rayne chain at the ready.

All the Tritan guards and bulls were gathered here. Even Eminent Lance threw off his robe to reveal ample and sinewed muscle under his combat suit. He came armed, carrying one of those inside-out guns.

Lucy had snitched herself a scalpel from the medical bay. She vibrated with excitement against him, eager to try it.

Matt looked down at his bare hands. These were all he needed.

Rayne came over the Vast Collective frequency. “Don’t you dare apologize, Ginger. You and Morning Star had better make me proud on the battlefield today, and don’t worry. I’m not finished with Enki yet. Over and Out.”

The unfrozen Shadow squad cheered and grunted. Anything to celebrate Rayne’s infectious determination. Puk punched the air with those bladed fists. Bethany grinned, danger behind her eyes. The Tritans all pounded a fist to their chests.

Arkansan accent thick, Matt replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

It made Lucy smile up at him. This was the morale boost they all needed.

Wingmaster came over the line, entering the Pantheon with the rest of the bridge team. “What’s your plan, Callahan?” Only Xelan could call Rayne by her last name now.

Rayne answered, “I’m sticking with my initial plan. I’ll use the Weapon in my nacre to destroy Enki and escape before the fuse sets off, like when I killed Nox. There was a window after I tore out his nacre—I’ll use my own window to heal and survive if a Seamswalker can snag me in time.”

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Sagan didn’t hesitate. “You got it, babe.”

Puk called to Matt, “That’s what we call a ‘high risk operation.’”

No shit, but it’s not like their team left Rayne with much choice. Matt said, “We’ll support her any way we can.”

Yito, off to the side with Lance, echoed, “Yes. We will.”

Meanwhile, Andrew held the armies steady, exhausting his reserves with an unspent chain around his neck. Above them, Kyle and Silence stared each other down. Smith and Lucas faced off with Caedes, Bones, Jack, and Karter. Xelan and Tameka flew up to meet them.

Silence kept her eyes on the power couple.

Wingmaster handled the conversation well, considering Silence was supposedly his long-dead grandmother. “Will you fight with us?”

Matt narrowed his eyes at the blue light pulsing under Silence’s skin before she answered, “My destination is Ishkur.”

Tameka offered, “Why not ask us to help you?”

Smith threw up his hands, exasperated. “That’s exactly what I’ve been saying.”

Lucas shushed him.

This drama was distracting the Shadow from unfreezing the fight, gnawing at Matt’s less than savory craving. Even so, he noticed the way Silence raked her gaze over Tameka before saying, “You’re everything Elden wanted for his people.”

Both Wingmaster and Fury looked taken aback.

Kyle asked, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

No shit. Wasn’t Elden the role model? The Icarean messiah? Matt had certainly adapted to using his name for swearing—

Andrew shouted, drawing their attention to him as he collapsed to his knees.

Lucy cried, “Look!” She pointed to the front line.

Perfect.

The action recommenced all around them. Blows connecting, weapons impaling or exploding, and blood spraying.

Matt grinned, ready to break into it—

Lucy bolted into the fray ahead of him, calling, “First one there gets to be on top tonight!”

Well, that was a win-win.

Matt raced after her and punched his first opponent, a Caprent in Imminent black.

The bastard took it in the jaw, hard enough to shatter the bone. Enraged to the point of foaming acid, the Caprent swung with those backward-bent joints, and Matt clutched the limb. With a satisfying pop, he bent his opponent’s elbow in the human direction.

Landing a good headbutt, Matt thanked his dad for a thick skull and used the Caprent’s disorientation to shove him, head first, into the Imminent drone behind him.

Both the drone, the Caprent, and the Lamia beside them went down.

Strike!

Matt was ready to take on all three when they screamed at once—Every Imminent soldier surrounding him screamed at once.

Lucy stopped slicing up a Luk to stare at the spectacle. Puk gawked, too.

All around, Imminent soldiers went down. At least three thousand soldiers bled from their noises and eyes in their rainbow of sanguine colors, dying. Blisters formed on their exposed skin like someone had poured boiling water on them. Or sugar…

“What the fuck—”

A teeny grunt made their team turn to find Bethany behind them. Her Rayne chain was spent, and her eyes had shifted into Atramentous. The sweet honey brown shade consumed the entirety of her eyes, but that wasn’t what told Matt she belonged with their troupe. It was the wicked smile on her face as she exposed her enemies to the tortures of her past.

Lucy was beaming when she said, “You’ll need to tell her the rules, Matt.”

That’s right.

Bethany could hang with Matt’s crew after he taught her the homicidal commandments.

Thou shalt not harm the innocent.

Thou shalt not copy another’s signature.

And, most vitally, thou shalt not claim another’s kill.

Amen.