Jack grinned before glancing down at his niece. "You've got to be most talkative corpse I've ever seen", he quipped.
"It's just that you're going into that place unarmed and I'm worried."
Jack reached down and patted Heather's cheek, even if it was covered in her blood. "No need to worry. It won't be the first time I've gone into a hornet's nest unarmed." Heather looked unconvinced, and Jack shook his head. "Ah relax Heather. This way I'll get a chance to teach you the first rule of unarmed combat. Now play dead."
"What am I a dog?"
The sun had slipped behind the horizon and its last rays were fading quickly as Jack rowed towards the southern shore of this very shallow reed filled lake. He couldn't see the armory yet, but Otis and Wayne had pointed him in the right direction. Those two had lead Jack and his team for twenty miles through trackless swamp to a point that was actually on the map. A fucking G.P.S. couldn't have done better.
A guard standing behind the massive armory building saw a shape appearing from the misty distance and radioed his boss on the roof. "Looks like a boat coming in", the man on the roof reported after looking though his night vision scope. "You go intercept."
"Okay, here they come", Jack said down to Heather. "It's show time." Heather closed her eyes and Jack watched as she willed her heart rate to slow to a near stop. Blood that'd been flowing through her arteries and veins settled making her blanch quickly. The trail of blood running from the large wound in her forehead stopped. It was amazing that in a matter of seconds Heather could make herself look truly dead. Jack put his fingers to her carotid artery to check for a pulse. He couldn't find one at her wrist either. Even a medical professional would have thought she was dead.
"Help me! Help! Somebody please!", Jack yelled loudly as he began to furiously row his boat towards the shore. The guards were cautious as they saw a large man jump out a small boat then reach back inside. Both men readied their guns only to relax a bit when they saw a woman's shape emerge from the bottom of the boat. "Somebody help me! I have to get her to a doctor!", Jack yelled in panicked tones as he hurried towards the armed men with Heather dangling from his arms.
"Slow down", the guard ordered.
"Can't you help me?", Jack pleaded as the other guard pulled out a flashlight and shined it first on Jack's face and then onto Heather's. "She was trying to climb a tree I think. I don't know… I had my back turned then I heard her scream! My God I know I shouldn't have brought her out here. I thought it would be great to spend time in the wilderness. Oh no! I can't believe this is happening!", Jack moaned and thrust Heather towards one of the guards who backed away.
"Call it in", a guard said and the other one nodded.
"I wanted to take her myself, but I got lost in the trees. I couldn't even find the car. I've been rowing for hours. I'm lost. Please don't turn us away! I just want to save her life!"
The first guard tried to tune out Jack's pleas as he explained the situation over the radio. It was unseemly for a man that big to be crying like a fucking baby anyway. The second guard lifted Heather's eyelid and looked into her motionless blue eyes. He didn't have the heart to tell this big sap that the girl in his arms was already fucking dead.
"Boss says to bring them in", the first guard said and motioned for Jack to follow. Jack made himself walk with renewed vigor towards the back of the armory.
"Damn, I didn't know Jack was such a good actor", Kevin commented to Sara from their perch in the woods on a rock 600 meters from the east side of the armory building.
"He's a legend for a reason", Sara said and raised her radio. "How's it looking Team A?"
"We're approaching the front door now", Jan unnecessarily whispered. She had her hand on Alisha's back as they walked through a thick grid of security towards the heavily guarded front door. It was shift change so the door was open. Alisha's power made it as if the two of them didn't exist. They walked up the stairs and into the building without incident. "We're in", Jan whispered again.
Sara looked through the thermal field glasses checking out the guards on the east side of the building. All of them were breaking up the monotony by looking at Jack walking towards the back door with Heather in his arms. "Ok Team B, get moving", Sara said.
"Copy. We're moving now", Taylor's voice came back.
Five forms broke from the tree line, moving at a full sprint. Taylor was out front, clad from head to toe in a black assault uniform, moving like a panther on the prowl. Only her eyes were visible, searching for anything in her way. She had a large pack on her back, but nothing in her hands. She got to a guard first. He was looking at her uncle and never knew Taylor was beside him. She didn't slow as she wrapped her right arm around his neck, dragging him along like fallen prey. He struggled and kicked his feet while caught in the tightening crook of Taylor's elbow between her pressing biceps and unyielding forearm. She'd choked him unconscious by the time they reached the armory's wall. The next guard, twenty yards away, wasn't so fortunate. A member of Taylor's Team B slit his throat and dragged the dead body into a shadow. While Taylor eyed the wall making a mental map, another team member unzipped the bottom of the special harness around Taylor's shoulders. The ends of four ropes fell to the ground behind her.
Taylor slipped the tips of her fingers into the mortar joints and climbed. The ropes uncoiled as she ascended. The four other agents waited until she was about ten feet up before hooking their feet into quick loops and grabbing hold with their off hand. They didn't have to climb, just hold on. As soon as the first group were off the ground, another group of four burst from the trees towards the wall. They made it to the rope, and grabbed hold.
The weight of eight grown men plus all their gear bore down on Taylor's shoulders as she free climbed this rough brick wall knowing that a lot was riding on her climbing skills. Taylor never lacked for confidence and rarely lacked for strength to do whatever she wanted. Taylor paused near the top, allowing a patrol to pass before continuing. She hung motionless even with more than a ton of men and material hanging from her shoulders.
"Ok you're clear", Sara said into the encrypted radio after the patrol walked by.
Taylor pulled herself over the parapet wall, landing softly. Her core muscles tightened when all the weight tried to pull her backwards. She managed it and spun to face the wall. She took two ropes with her right hand and two more in her left. With a long steady pulls she drew the men towards the top. The first four men made it up at the same time and instantly fanned out, just like they'd done in the command room so many hours earlier. Taylor only briefly paused before pulling the other four men to the top.
While Taylor removed the special harness from her shoulders, her men killed two guards. A third guard dropped dead as if from an invisible hand, but he'd been felled by a single bullet from Kevin's silenced rifle. "Nicely done", Taylor whispered her compliment as she picked up her carbine.
"Thank you", the former Marine Scout-Sniper replied after loading another bullet into the chamber. Taylor had been on Heather's side about not brining Kevin along, but if he could make shots like that all the time then Uncle Jack had been right to bring him. Then again Uncle Jack was usually right about stuff like this. "We're in position", Taylor whispered after she and her team had finished securing the eastern third of the massive roof. They were going to provide cover for the rescue in case it became hairy. All they waited for was Sara's go ahead.
"Team A, this is Control… status?", Sara asked, making sure the computer had them plotted correctly on her screen.
"We're in the main hallway. The stairs are in sight, but they're guards everywhere", Jan reported as they wove their way past and around all the armed men. Alisha was far too focused to talk. For every man near them, Alisha had to fight five senses. She couldn't allow a single shadow, squeak, scent, or brush of wind to escape. With every step, Alisha's mind had to make a thousand little adjustments to keep she and Jan nonexistent. This moving illusion had to be air tight, and so far so good. Team A was right on schedule. Alisha always liked a plan that relied more on finesse than on brute strength. That's why it was always so nice to work with Jan's father.
The guards led Jack along a transit area. It ran the length of the entire building below the main level of the armory, but not quite to the basement. In the past this space had moved tons of gunpowder and shells with mules then trucks, but now this impressive space only held piles of junk. Jack kept up his ruse as he carried Heather with one guard walking in front of him and the other one to his right. This part of the plan was working better than Jack had allowed himself to hope for. So far everything was running as smoothly as one of those Blacplain watches Ted loved to wear, but Jack couldn't rest. It was time to test the opposition.
Jack slowed his pace, falling further and further behind the guards as they walked. He even stopped a couple of times forcing them to wait on him. The third time the second guard held out his hands. "Here, I'll take her."
"Gee thanks. Would you? I love her, but she's heavier than she looks", Jack said in all honesty. The guard folded Heather over his burley shoulder. This man wasn't normal. Jack was a big strong guy and even he couldn't handle Heather that effortlessly.
Once they came to a point the entire group stopped. The first guard frisked Jack thoroughly then walked off out of earshot. Jack could only see the man pressing his hand to his ear, but pretended not to be interested. After a short time the first guard motioned for the second one to come over. He still had Heather on his shoulder as he walked.
"Boss says to kill him. Do it quick and dump him wherever the hell you want. It doesn't matter. I'm going back outside. Oh and put a couple bullets into this bitch too just to make sure."
"I'd like to put something else in her if you know what I mean."
The first guard rolled his eyes. "Dude she's already cold. That's just fucking sick."
The second guard smirked and shifted Heather on his shoulder before walking towards Jack. "This way. We've got some vans at the other end of the building. There's a clinic about ten miles from here. I hope they can help her. Just follow me."
"Great!", Jack exclaimed and walked to the man's right down a wet dimly lit hall. It was taking all of Heather's will to not wake up and warn her uncle that this guy was about to kill him. They'd been too far away for her uncle to hear the two guards talking. She had to do something. Plus this guy was enhanced, probably class 1, not nearly as strong as she was, but much stronger than her uncle.
"I'm so glad you're helping us. I don't know what I'd do without her", Jack gushed to the guard as they got further down the hall.
"Don't worry about it buddy. We're going to take care of both of you", the guard punned, but it was Jack who grinned. Their feet splashed on the damp floor as they walked in silence.
"We're almost there", the guard said and Jack knew it was time. With lightning quickness Jack reached to the man's belt, unbuckled the strap and snatched out the guard's knife in a single motion.
The guard swung his free arm where Jack should have been but missed. The guard tossed Heather from his shoulder. She splashed down and opened her eyes, trying in vain to get her heart to beat quickly enough to help her uncle. The guard tried to square on Jack. The experienced Special Operator slid across the guard's vision into the shadows. The guard snatched out his gun and stepped into the light. He turned to track Jack, but his target stayed out of sight. Jack changed directions this time running full speed towards the wall. The guard's eyes darted in his head. He spun his body when he saw jack at the corner of his vision. Jack ran faster than the gun barrel could track, but he was quickly running out of room. The wall loomed. The guard had him now, no matter which way he turned. Jack didn't slow. The guard put his finger on the trigger. Jack jumped. The guard raised his gun. Jack's right boot hit the wall about four feet off the ground. He let his leg compress a little, storing energy before he sprung back across the guard's vision from left to right like a shadowy specter. The guard nearly stumbled trying to keep Jack in sight. The trained guard felt like he was fighting three men instead of one, and then it was all over.
Jack came at him from behind, jumping as high as he could. The knife came in high over the guard's right shoulder, flashing in the spotty light like a bolt of lighting. Jack left no room for maneuver, no room for escape. The blade whistled in the air, arcing in Jack's deft fingers towards the bottom of the guard's chest. Jack curled his wrist at the last moment, just as the knife point plunged into the soft tissue beneath the sternum. The razor sharp blade slid upward behind the ribs and into the racing heart which shredded itself against the cold steel. The guard slumped to a knee, let out a groan, and died.
"Wow", Heather said from the ground, a look of awe on her now healed face. She'd never seen her uncle like this before. The knowledge that there were people like him in the world, people with the skill to kill so efficiently, made her even more thankful to be able to heal from nearly any wound, because despite her perfect senses, training, and great strength, if her uncle had used that same move on her, the knife would have ended up in her chest too.
"That was nothing. It's going to get harder, but now you understand the first rule of unarmed combat."
"Quickly arm yourself."
Jack beamed. "Now that's a girl", he replied and helped Heather to her feet. He picked up the dead guard's gun while Heather unzipped the pockets of her baggy cargo pants. She pulled out a communications device and an earwig, handing them both to her uncle. They'd gambled that DeBraya's guards wouldn't frisk a 'dead' girl. "Control this is Team C we're moving towards the door. Ready for the rendezvous."
"Copy that, the rest are moving in", Sara said.
Jack and Heather crept towards the same door they'd entered and waited. A moment later five agents came inside. They'd already dispatched the guard who'd first seen Jack so the escape path for Ted and Montez was clear. One of the team members opened a bag. Jack stripped down to his skivvies and pulled on an assault uniform. Heather did the same. The five men wanted so badly to look. There weren't many women with a body to match Heather's but, but they were more afraid of Jack than they were aroused. Only one guy was brave enough to sneak a peek at Heather's heavenly body before she zipped up. "Team C in position now", Jack said.
"Copy that", Sara said. "Team A make your move."
"Good", Jan responded and tapped Alisha on the shoulder. It was time to rescue Montez and her Uncle Ted. "How close are we?", Jan asked.
"Oh no", Sara breathed and everybody's heart stopped mid-beat. "They've moved Mr. Matthews. He's no longer in the cell next to Montez."
"Where is he?", Jan wanted to know.
"Is he hurt?", Taylor asked from her position on the roof.
"He's fine, but surrounded. They're moving him east towards a large room."
"Team A continue with your mission to the cells. Get Montez and incorporate him into your team", Jack ordered before Jan could even ask to do differently.
Montez doubled and rolled on his side after a kick to his still sore stomach. Slater's scowl turned to a frown when Montez raised his head, tossed his dreadlocks out of his face then smiled up at his tormentor. "I don't think you get it", Montez growled, pushing down the pain. "I did shoot Heather. I shot her right in the middle of her chest", Montez exclaimed, slamming a closed fist into his own chest to make the point.
"Bullshit!", Slater screamed and swung his pistol at Montez's head. The trained warrior moved with practiced ease. Slater swore and in frustration resorted to kicking him again. "Did you shoot her with paintballs!?!"
Montez looked up at Slater and made the younger man back up a half a step. Montez had killing in his eyes. He took a deep breath. "9mm full metal jacketed bullets travel at 1300 feet per second. They impact like a hammer's blow, and I shot the love of my life with three of 'em. It hurt me to hurt her, but she asked me to do it."
Slater pointed his gun at Montez's head. "That makes no fucking sense! You're trying to scare me again, just like you did when I thought you were a cold bloodied killer. You're fucking with my head. Who the hell wants to die!?! Nobody gets shot on purpose!"
"You do if bullets ain't shit to you", Montez replied. "You're in way over your head, Slater. And you have been ever since you tried to rape Taylor. She could have squeezed you like an over ripe grape, or crushed your bones into baby powder, but she was in good humor, as Heather put it, so she just broke up your face. You don't even have the sense to know how lucky you are. Don't have sense the first. Well go ahead and shoot me then. Any man who can blow his own father's brains all over the wall obviously has the balls to shoot me. At least I'll die knowing that nothing this side of the Second Coming will keep Heather from making your life very short and very fucking miserable." The room went silent, but Montez wasn't finished. "So go ahead and pull that trigger. Go on. I'm tired of fuckin with you. Buck up and pull that trigger, dipshit."
Carri winced, wondering if Montez had a death wish. She looked to Slater's face. He was stunned, shocked even, like he'd been physically slapped. His knuckles lost color against the pistol grip. He took a step back, never taking his eyes off of Montez. Carri wasn't sure if he was still afraid of Montez, or afraid that what Montez had said about Heather was true. Carri knew it was, but that didn't matter. Slater raised the gun. Carri inched closer, ready to break cover to save Montez. Her boss wanted Montez alive, but she'd have saved him anyway. No man that brave needed to be shot by a sniveling spoiled brat. Slater's finger touched the trigger. Carri's muscles tensed as the hammer drew back. A crash behind them changed everything.
Jan's leg extended through the kick that knocked open the unlocked door. She rushed into the cell behind the barrel of her gun, seeing everything in front of her like a still picture, frozen. Slater and Montez were off to her right. Slater had a gun aimed at Heather's boyfriend, but Montez was already moving and Slater's head was turning to look towards the door. He didn't see Montez, and wouldn't before it was over. Slater was already defeated. He just didn't know it yet.
There was a blonde in the middle of the room, short, well muscled, cute, tomboyish, fitting the description of the woman who'd been with Slater at the hospital the night before. Jan raised her gun. The woman wasn't armed. Jan hesitated, and that was all the time Carri needed.
Carri's calf bunched when she lunged towards the gun, knowing her life depended on it. She snatched the submachine gun barrel and yanked hard. Jan's feet left the ground like she'd been standing on a spring. She flew end over end across the cell before hitting the wall back first while inverted. A sharp snort of air was forced from her lungs and her legs folded over her head after finally sliding to the ground.
Jan's anger swelled. She never got dumped like this in a fight, never! She bolted off the floor and attacked. She met Carri in the center of the room. Her boot left the ground like a smear in the air. Jan's long legs could always generate power, and this kick generated gale force winds as it swung towards its target. The impact against Carri's chest made a mini concussion wave in the damp air. It was Carri's turn to fly backwards. The kick would have traveled through a normal human and the impact against the solid stone wall would have splattered them like a tomato. Carri's enhanced body knocked stones loose in the wall, but the tight bodied blonde didn't let the pain show. She rushed at Jan, who braced for a tackle only to have a whistling punch land against her left cheek. Her head whipped around so hard her neck hurt. A second blow hit the bridge of Jan's nose, coming so quickly that not even Jan had seen it. She staggered backwards, but managed to check a sweep attempt. Carri was undaunted and threw her hardest punch yet right at Jan's gut hoping to take her wind and double over the much taller woman. It was a mistake.
Carri's fist sailed towards Jan's midsection like a homing missile. The collision sounded like a detonation, but Jan's abs were hard, almost as hard as her superhuman bones. Beneath the assault gear lay eight blocks of striated muscle so deep, defined, and inhumanly strong that Carri's fist actually bounced off. Carri looked down at her hand like it'd malfunctioned. Jan took this split second to spin Carri to the floor by her wrist.
Dust flew up and the puddles danced. Carri's eyes swam as Jan took position and pinned her to the floor. Jan drew her fist back and slammed her big fist into the side of Carri's cute little face. Jan dew back again landing another monstrous crushing blow. Steady flows of blood ran from Carri's nose and mouth. Carri twisted and bucked her hips, hoping to throw Jan off, but her position was nearly perfect. Carri could tell that she was just as comfortable on the floor in this fight as she was standing up. Carri got desperate. She thrust her hips up like she was trying to toss off a house, and it was just enough to move Jan back about six inches. Carri hoped it was enough. Jan held back a punch to reposition herself only have Carri wrap her legs around her midsection. Jan almost laughed. Hadn't this girl learned that her abs were neigh on indestructible? A car had been totally flattened against her abs once. Jan tightened her stomach muscles out of habit, but focused on offense until Carri squeezed.
Spit flew from Jan's mouth and her face turned fire engine red. Carri's legs were unforgivably strong. A thousand snakes seemed to coil under Carri's flushing skin, writhing, tensing, bulging as her quads expanded. Her adductors like bailing rams crushed Jan's midsection like only hydraulic presses should have been able to do. Almost on their own Jan's hands went to Carri's knees. Jan's triceps unfurled like wings. Her shoulders rippled, but not even Jan's straining arms could stop Carri's legs. The blonde arched her back causing Jan to utter a pained groan. Carri's nicely rounded ass transformed with craggy hollows deepening as she poured bone crushing forcing into Jan's midsection.
Jan's shoulders flexed up big as melons and her triceps looked like a million razor blades laid side by side, yet she couldn't budge Carri. The muscled blonde's stretch pants were near bursting as her quads continued to grow. The first seam stitch tore near Carri's hip just as Jan's tanned flesh became visible when her triceps ruptured through her sleeves. The struggle continued with the two super muscle girls flexing out of their clothes, but even with Jan's arms putting out enough strength to rip a car in half Carri's legs crushed her still. Jan had to flex her abs to the limit to simply maintain an uneasy stalemate. Jan's abs might have resisted a car's crush, but Carri's legs had ripped concrete supports from the deep within the ground, and she was pouring all that strength into Jan's stomach. Under this brutal assault Jan's midsection was more than amazing. Her unblemished skin was vacuum sealed to the sharp ridges and deep canyons of her eight pack. She realized though that this wasn't going to last.
She couldn't pry Carri's legs apart and came up with another plan. Jan squeezed her eyes shut when she took her hands off of Carri's legs. The pressure on her abs more than doubled and the pain increased ten fold, but Jan was tough. Carri's mighty legs sustained and even increased their flex. Quad cuts deep enough to lose a finger between ran from her iron hard hip flexors all the way to her dainty knees. Her spiked calves pressed into Jan's lower back just as hard as the adductors pressed into her sides. If Jan's body had been only as hard as mere steel it would have been crushed long ago, but Jan was stronger than steel. She flexed her abs like she'd never had to do before. She actually forced Carri's knees out a little, which only made the blonde try all the harder. Carri screwed her eyes shut and gave the squeeze her all, not holding back, trying to finish Jan off. Her legs would have scissored a whale in half.
Jan grabbed Carri by the waist then set her feet before lifting Carri off the ground a couple of feet. Carri lost a bit of leverage, but no strength, then Jan slammed Carri's head directly to the concrete and stone floor.
Carri's eyes shook in their sockets and her teeth rattled in her mouth. Jan rose the stunned girl up only to slam her again. Cracks spread out behind Carri's head and her squeeze weakened for a moment. That was enough. Jan's hands went to Carri's knees. She hooked her thumbs between Carri's knees and her own side and pried Carri's legs a few inches. It still took enough strength to uproot a tree to do that, but she gave a shove and pushed Carri's legs off her stomach. Jan didn't take time to even breathe. She knew Carri wouldn't be dazed for long. She used her long arms to scythe a punch to Carri's forehead, reopening the cut from the night before. Before Carri could recover another punch landed. This one hit like a ship's anchor to the sea floor. The small room echoed with the sound of another punch. Carri tried to roll away, but Jan stomped her neck with her combat boot. The shorter woman's body jerked at impact. Jan pressed down, adding strength with her own flexing calf now spreading out to fill her pants leg. Carri's hands went to Jan's boot, but stopped when she heard the click, click of a hammer drawing back.
Through blurry vision Carri saw the muzzle of Jan's big .45 aiming directly at her head. She took her hands off of Jan's boot and held them palms up. "I'm on your side", Carri grunted as Jan's gloved finger began to curl around the trigger. "Montez tell her", Carri pleaded and turned her eyes as far to the left as she could. Montez stepped over Slater and approached but said nothing. "Tell her", Carri urged again, her face was bright red now as Jan's boot restricted her air.
"I don't know what to think", Montez began, staying out of Carri's reach. "You kept me and Ted alive, but you helped Slater kill his father."
"I was just doing a job", Carri's voice came weaker now as Jan's calf muscle blossomed beneath her assault uniform. Montez huffed and squatted right near Carri, ignoring the fact that she could kill him with one arm as quickly as a bullet from Jan's gun could blow her brains out.
"Angie James was my friend, and you killed her. Was that doing your job? Did this mysterious boss of yours want her dead too?"
A sympathetic response tear formed in Carri's right eye and rolled down her temple to the floor. "I didn't kill her", Carri said as the panic from lack of air kept closing in. Montez wasn't very sympathetic. He looked up to Jan who sighed.
"Angie isn't dead. She's beat the hell up, but the doctors think she'll be fine."
"I told you", Carri said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I could have killed her and you too if I wanted. But I'm not with DeBraya or Slater. I'm working against them. Hugh Hastings might have been murdered but he wasn't innocent in this either. I'm telling the complete truth." Jan looked at Montez who nodded. She reengaged the safety on her pistol and was about to release the pressure on Carri's neck when suddenly the blonde's legs came up and wrapped around Jan's waist. Jan's mind instantly prepared for another crushing squeeze, but Carri just pulled the amazon over before scrambling to her feet. Jan bounded up a split second later, showing off her balance and explosiveness. "Risky move", she said to the grinning blonde.
"I just wanted to show you that all my fight wasn't gone", Carri replied while rubbing her neck. She opened her mouth to say something else, but turned to the door when it opened again.
"What's taking so fucking long?", Alisha demanded. "And who the fuck is she?"
"She's the reason I was alive long enough for you guys to make it here", Montez replied.
"What the hell do we do with him?", Alisha asked pointing at the unconscious Slater. Montez's smile was sinister. A moment later all of them were out in the hallway and Carri was spinning the half wheel to lock the door.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave that gun in there with him?", Jan asked.
"I hope he uses it to put a hole in his head", Montez said.
"Unlikely", Carri opined. "He'd kill the entire world before he killed himself."
"Oh well we can hope. Are you going to come with us to rescue my uncle since you kept him alive?", Jan asked, knowing that having someone with Carri's skills and knowledge would make things easier.
"I can't. I have to find my boss, my real boss." Carri hurried down the back stairs out of sight. Montez quickly got dressed in an assault uniform before the now 3 strong Team B started moving.
Martin had moved to his audience room and was standing in front of his throne-like chair when the door opened. One of security men came in first then Ted Matthews walked in. "You know we've been neighbors for a long time and never had the pleasure of meeting", Martin said and extended for a shake. Ted looked at Martin's hand then clasped his behind his back. "Would you like a drink?"
"No."
"Suit yourself."
"Just tell me what you want?"
"Right to the point. I bet that serves you well managing money. You'll get more business now that Hugh Hastings is dead."
"That's if I don't end up dead too."
"And that's what I want to discuss. That little shit Slater wants to kill you, but I have no ill will towards you. I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass. I'm not a nice guy, or a victim of circumstance. I'm an ass, and I made a mistake with your niece Jan. I tried to end her young life, and for that I am sorry."
"Look, I don't know what happened with Jan, but I hope she pays you back in kind", Ted said.
"Even if that means your death, and the death of your friend Montez?" Ted's face changed when he heard Montez's name. "You're going to call your daughters and tell them I want to make a little deal. I'll trade Montez for my safe passage out of this country, and I'll give you back if they promise not to look for me."
"Never happen."
"What are your girls stupid? You'll have to convince them to see the logic and wisdom in my offer. Don't they understand that I'll kill you just to spite them? Your life's on the line here, Mr. Matthews."
Ted laughed in DeBraya's face. "No, Martin… yours does."
Martin's face soured. His eyes cut towards his head security officer who sent a blow to Ted's kidney. The impact forced Ted to a knee. Martin snatched up a satellite phone and pushed it to Ted's face. "Make the fucking call! Make it now or you die right here. Right in this goddamned room!"
Ted took the phone and looked up to DeBraya. "Did it ever occur to you that it might already be too late?"
Carri slid to a stop when she found Morgen Stern standing in a deserted hallway. She had no way to know that Morgen was pushing his own gift near its limits. He could feel the consciousness and the wills of every person near. He felt Jack's Team C down in the transit way, and Taylor's Team B up on the roof, but try as he might he couldn't feel Alisha, Jan, or Montez. Carri had even disappeared from his perception while she was close to Alisha. Morgen rather marveled at the completeness of Alisha's power. Try as he might he couldn't pierce her illusion. Usually he loved a challenge, but he didn't have time. He turned to Carri. "Did you have your fight with Miss Caufield?"
"Yes. I tested her various hand to hand skills just as you asked", she answered in her Femme voice, forgoing the character of Carri. "She is quite formidable, more so than I had anticipated."
"That fight was for Benny; for his data not for me. Although I'd like to have seen it", Morgen mused, then pulled his mind back to the moment. "Are you finished with Slater?"
"Yes. He is locked in a room with no way out. I surmise that he will be arrested once the Federal Agents finish the rescue of Ted Matthews", Carri/X-411 answered.
"Very well. Go to Martin's meeting room. Things are about to get very interesting up there." While X-411 put on the character of Carri and hurried to Martin, Morgen sprung his trap. He silently sent suggestions to three security chiefs and got everything moving.
"I hear something", Heather whispered into her uncle's ear. "That way", she pointed into the dark distance towards the west. She tilted her head and cupped her right ear. "They're five or six of them moving quickly. They're moving like they know we're here. They're coming right towards us."
"Are you sure? They couldn't know. Maybe they're just heading for a door."
"They would have passed two doors already", Ted whispered. "Besides we can't take chances."
Heather raised her weapon and looked down the sights seeing shapes in the distance with her naked eyes that Jack and the other men just couldn't see. He watched as she made small corrections before settling in. "Take the shot", Jack allowed and Heather squeezed the trigger. The muffled report echoed after her bullet had already dropped a man mid stride with a perfectly aimed shot to his chest. The other guards opened fire, but only managed to give their positions away. The guards were quickly cut down by Jack and his team. The rest of the group wanted to high five after their first real contact with the enemy, but Jack was worried. Dead men left people to miss them when they didn't check in. Jack was concerned that things were about to get worse. He was right.
On the roof Taylor looked up at the sky hoping Jan, Alisha, and Montez could reach her father. She had to keep vigilant though and poked her head from behind the superstructure then quickly pulled it back. "We have company up here. Looks like a squad or more", she whispered into the radio. "They're pointing in our direction. Like they know we're here."
"More are coming up the stairs", Kevin reported as he looked through his scope from a distance. "Somebody has to make a call soon."
Jack's face took on a hard edge as his mind worked. Surprise was dead and he didn't know why, but he had to figure that DeBraya had resources that Jack didn't know about. I didn't matter. Jack and his teams had plenty of firepower themselves and these guards were about to find that out.
"Hit them and hit them hard!", Jack ordered even as he distantly worried about Jan, Alisha, and Montez deep in the bowels of this massive building. His worry about Ted was more acute. Jack had to escalate this fight before the enemy got a chance to do the same.
"Control, call the cavalry. Tell'em to come in heavy, but quiet. This situation is about to grow." Sara immediately got on the long distance radio and called Joelstine who was waiting with a large group about eight miles away. That was as close as they could get without detection. They started rolling when the call came. Joelstine rode with his men although he barely knew how to fire a gun. His men didn't mind their boss being there though. It would be only a matter of minutes before all these guys would be in combat. The roof lookouts at the armory would have spotted this convoy before it got close, but they were engaged. A battle was raging.
Taylor was the first one to take a shot. Ten other shots followed, including one from Kevin who dropped man with a single shot to the chest. The guards grabbed cover and returned fire. Bullets came in waves and still more men ran up from below. Kevin killed three of them as they ran off the stairs, but two more appeared for every one that had fallen. "They're so fucking many of them", one of Taylor's Team exclaimed unnecessarily. Taylor already knew her men were outnumbered four to one and that number would rise to five or six to one in a matter of minutes as more guards ran towards the roof.
Team C felt helpless in the transit space deep in the bowels of the armory, but not Jack. "Control put a call in to our electric man. Tell him to stand by to cut off the lights."
"All of them?", Thomas asked excitedly without waiting for Sara to relay the message.
"Yes, all of them and don't let emergency lights or generators come on either."
"Yes sir, of course", Thomas said
and crawled up the rock and tucked himself in next to Sara. Kevin had
balked at bringing a kid on a dangerous mission like this, but Sara had
explained that he had no idea how powerful this kid was.
"What the hell are we going to do!", one of Taylor's men yelled out while firing his weapon on full auto. "They just keep coming! We can't hold out long with their reinforcements coming like this."
Taylor looked over the superstructure at the gathering guards. They gained confidence with each new reinforcement. Taylor had to swing this fight. It was time to show those men who they were fucking with. Taylor turned her back to the fighting, laid down her gun, and punched the roof making grown men bounce. The next punch made the top of the roof shake. A third punch was the hardest of the three. It cracked the thick concrete, and Taylor thrust her hands into the grapefruit sized hole. Taylor let out a long hissing breath as she let more rage slip out of its cage, fueling her muscles, allowing them to do the impossible.
Taylor's back widened and her muscles surged as she forced her arms apart against the stiffness of the roof. It didn't stand a chance. The concrete nearest her fingers turned to powder. Cracks an inch across and six inches thick spread out in all directions. She forced the concrete apart like putty. Rebar reinforcements were useless. They bent as if from obedience to her strength. Within seconds the hole was a foot and a half across. Taylor lowered her legs into the new hole and dropped down out of sight. Taylor's team members wondered what their tall commander was planning to do since she'd left her rifle on the roof next to the hole. They had no idea that a gun was relatively puny compared to Taylor, but they were about to understand.
The room was dark, but Taylor took no time to find her goggles. She followed her ears and found a door that lead to the side of the staircase. She took a quick look out and saw the guards gathering, preparing to go to the roof to kill her Team. The stairs were already packed with men. Taylor didn't waste even a second. She rushed out of the room towards the sides of the stairs. Two guards quickly saw her. "Hey", the first one called in warning to his fellow soldier. That would be his final word. He raised his gun when Taylor lunged and put her big hand on the center of his torso. Her arm extended and the man flew backwards like he'd been shot out of a cannon. He broke against the far wall like a toy. Bones punched through the skin and blood sprayed. He fell to the ground like a useless sack of meat. His friend fared slightly better. Taylor ducked his poorly aimed shots and wove towards him like a boxer, only faster. He tried to dodge as this woman threw a single punch. It was a grazing blow that broke every bone on the left side of this man's face. She didn't take time to finish him.
Taylor ran to the nook beneath the stairs and pressed her shoulders to the slanted girders that made up the staircase. The steel groaned as something took away the burden it had carried for nearly a century. This new force, more powerful than even the winds of the many hurricanes it had faced began to lift the tons of steel and concrete, weakening the rivets that had held for all those years. Taylor's muscles were not to be denied by mere steel. Muscles churned beneath her skin as rivet heads stretched and distorted before beginning to fail. The steel pressed painfully onto Taylor's widening shoulders. That pain only made her madder and her actions more focused. She bit down hard and redoubled her efforts. Guards on the stairs started feeling the steps tilt beneath their feet. They looked at each other wondering what could be happening. They wouldn't get a chance to find out before it was too late.
A force that none of them could even fathom was already at work, and Taylor was only getting stronger by the second. Tons of men, steel, and concrete leaned off vertical. With the rivets defeated the steel tore away from the floor. Taylor stood up to her full height, but the stairs stubbornly remained intact. Everything might be leaning, but the guards could still get to the roof, so Taylor had to do more. She put her hands flat against the steel support and pressed all of it upward. A vein throbbed in the center of her forehead while a network of veins pulsed above her flexing, straining muscles.
"What the fuck is going on?", Martin asked and looked around the windowless room trying to find answers that weren't there. The walls groaned under some unseen force. The floors rolled. The walls rocked, and decades of dust shook loose from the rafters. Martin pointed at one of his personal guards. "Go find out what the hell's happening." Pieces of the ceiling began to fall. Every man in the room had to grab cover. DeBraya overturned his gaudy chair while Ted crawled under a table. The professional bodyguards all around Martin tried to keep fear off their faces. They shared looks and at once Ted started laughing.
"What the fuck is so goddamned funny! What the hell are you laughing at!?!", Martin screamed.
"It's my girls. They're here."
The exterior wall bulged ominously and the six inch thick slab roof looked like a blister about to burst. Taylor's muscles looked pregnant, bulging in jagged angles on every surface of her impossible body. The weight shifted in her hands as men tried to flee the stairs. A couple managed to jump onto the roof and a couple others fell into the hall, but Taylor wouldn't let any more escape. Taylor let out a feral growl and shoved. Triceps flexed like extra limbs. Her deltoids mushroomed above her burgeoning arms as the outside wall of the armory shattered. Bricks, mortar, steel, and stone, fell onto the heads of the guards below, but still Taylor pushed. Her unstoppable arms kept rising, tilting jostling tons to the tipping point. She felt the exact instant gravity took hold, but she didn't stop. She felt her own calves flexing as she pressed her toes into the cracked floor to give the staircase one last shove. Men screamed and begged as they hurdled towards the ground trapped within the falling stairs. The sudden crash sounded like a train wreck.
"Fuck me", Kevin breathed as he watched this large section of building destroyed. "You ever seen anything like that?", he asked Sara.
"Yeah, I have", Sara replied and looked through the scope, unaffected by the display.
Taylor stood at the edge, admiring her work and feeling a breeze where there used to be a solid wall. Usually she'd have smirked at using her power like this, but Taylor's thoughts went back to her men on the roof. Taylor's team members saw two hands grab onto the remnant of the landing where the doorway to the stairs had once been. Taylor pulled herself up and dove over the superstructure as bullets zipped past her.
Her men looked like they'd just seen an act of God. Taylor just picked up her carbine and looked at them. "Let's take this roof!", she yelled. Jack ordered Thomas to cut off the lights and the entire building went dark.
On the other side of the building all the heavy shaking were simple vibrations. Slater shook his head and pushed himself to all fours. His head and face throbbed. Slater blinked his eyes a couple of times, but the darkness around him was so complete that he could tell no difference. Oncoming panic retreated when Slater's right hand touched his pistol. He snatched it up. "Where is everybody!?", Slater screamed but only heard his own voice echo back. He stumbled to the thick door and pulled on the locked door. He banged his fist knowing that his pounding couldn't even be heard in the hallway beyond the door. He thought about firing a shot, but didn't. He sank to his knees as heat rose up his neck. "Carri!!! Where are you!?!"
"We all have to go now!", Carri yelled as she slammed open the door to Martin's audience room. Terrified faces looked up at her from under furniture. She'd only just entered when a heavy wooden beam, as thick as a tree, couldn't take the strain on it and broke free from its spot in the ceiling. Two columns fell and a large section of ceiling fell down with them. Martin screamed and his bodyguards looked on helplessly as this massive slab came down above them. Ted wasn't under it. It'd fall to his left, and once everyone else was dead he'd be unguarded, but Carri jumped into action. She ran towards the falling mass. The tons of wood, stone, and cement darkened Martin's vision until all he saw were Carri's legs, those muscle bound sexy legs. She let out a grunt when her powerful body absorbed that weight stopping its free fall in only a couple of inches. Tears in her pants showed her sweaty muscle thighs bulge to contain the weight, and the laser etched striations when her quads flexed to lift it. She held the entire mass above her head, and Martin got the courage to look up in time to see an orchestra of muscle play across Carri's' chest and shoulders as she hefted the burden higher.
One of the bodyguards grabbed Martin and pulled him from beneath the slab. "Come on sir, we have to get you out of here", he urged. He made a call on the radio and several shaken bodyguards entered the room. They lost focus when they saw Carri and her pulsing muscles holding up so much weight. "Let's go", the head bodyguard urged and bolted with his boss towards the door. Another man grabbed Ted and snatched him along. A few seconds later there was teeth rattling boom and thick dust filled the air. Carri ran out and caught up to them. Martin took her by the arm, which was inhumanly hard by now, not that he noticed. "Find Morgen. Tell him we have to get out of here."
Morgen was on the second floor reveling. He was ready when the building went dark. That would only kick his plan into phase two. Jack and his teams had planned to snatch Ted out before the assault began, and Morgen was going to make sure that didn't happen. He wanted this battle fully involved before anything happened. Morgen's plans had been as meticulously created as Jack's, and just like Jack's plan, an unforeseen wrinkle was about to assert itself.
On the other side of the building, in a deserted part of the huge structure, Alphonse DeBraya inched along the walls. The lights were out and he began to feel real fear. Even through the thick walls he felt the battles raging, some massive like the one of the roof and others smaller, but deadly nonetheless. The chaos and randomness of the exercise is what got to him most. Any stray bullet or falling chunk of building could end his life. All the little worries worked in concert to shake the retired Federal Judge to his very core. He stumbled over musty forgotten relics in a search for the door. Perhaps he'd overestimated his own fortitude. Then from his hands and knees he saw a glowing amber light. The control box sat inside the suitcase. He'd hoped not to need it so soon. He'd even convinced himself that he might not need it all. He calmed his fraying nerves. He was going to make it through this stronger than he'd been before. He had no way to know that everything was about to get much worse.
Robert Joelstine and his men had started rolling from their hiding place eight miles east and south of the armory building the moment Sara had given word. Five blacked out Humvees sped down the rough seldom used roads full of men wondering what they were driving into. Joelstine was quiet because he already knew what was happening. He knew that this assault was about to descend into chaos, but that's what he and his men were coming for. Even he wasn't quite prepared for what he saw when his Hummer rounded a corner. A battle raged on the roof and a massive chunk of building had been ripped from the face of the building. Wounded men staggered around while others pulled friends from rubble.
Jack had ordered Joelstine's to come in quietly. That didn't happen. Two truck loads of men circled the staggering guards near the overturned stairway while two more trucks drove to the west side of the building away from the watchful eye of Kevin, but not nearly far enough to escape Sara's perception. She felt rather than saw two loads of men jump from the slowing vehicles and engage DeBraya's guards. Two of the guards would have surrendered if given the chance, but they never were. All five men who'd been guarding the western entrance were dead in a matter of seconds. Joelstine's men arranged themselves into lines before entering the pitch black building.
Joelstine seemed satisfied with himself even if he knew Jack Caufield wouldn't be pleased at how his men were behaving. He pressed his lips together as he looked at the continuing carnage around him wondering how Jack could have expected Joelstine's men to come in quietly when his people already fighting a full battle. Either way it didn't matter. Joelstine and his men were going to end this little battle quickly. None of them knew that a full bull headed assault was exactly what DeBraya's men had been training for.
Slabs of steel went up quickly. Men worked by flashlight, lamp light, or firelight as they quickly welded the modern cold rolled steel to the century old hot forged steel doorways. All the men smiled as they worked even if they were scared. They knew that this building was a huge tangle of hallways, passages, rooms, and now they were turning it into a maze, a maze that only DeBraya's guards could navigate. At first the guards had been afraid when the lights had gone out and the backup generators hadn't come on, but not now. Now they were ready to fight.
Near the silent workout area three dozen men were gearing up. Their guns were crew served automatic weapons and their body armor was heavier than what three men could carry, yet they moved with ease. They were the shock troops. The troops that Joelstine's men were simply not prepared for.
Joelstine's men were operating on their own radio channel. The official reason was to keep the lines clear, but in reality it was avoid interference from Jack or any of his people. Only Joelstine himself monitored the transmissions on the other channel, and all he was paying attention to were the directions Sara was giving to Team A. Joelstine wanted one of his groups to reach Martin before any of Jack's people did. Two groups were making good progress using their night vision goggles to see as if a green tinged sun had risen until one group reported the steel blocked doorways. Joelstine pressed his lips and ordered his men to use the breaching charges to blast their way through rather than find an alternate route. The breaching charges made a hole just large enough for one man to crawl through at a time and also let any guard near know exactly where the assault group was.
A dug in group of DeBraya's guards waited for all five men to crawl through the blasted hole before lighting drums of kerosene on fire. The flash filled their night vision goggles temporarily blinding Joelstine's men. They fired in all directions actually hitting one of their own in the ankle. DeBraya's guards poured lead into the five men. Three fell instantly while two more dragged themselves towards the breached steel plate. One man tried to dive through it while another got shot in the back. One man got through. He quickly moved away from the hole as bullets dinged and ricocheted off the steel plate. Before he could even catch his breath and realize that he was the last living member of his assault group he looked up and saw a hands reached down for him. He tried to raise his gun, but only got it half way up before those hands gripped his shoulders tighter than any human could have. Then he saw the man's smirking face. "Good-bye", the big man said and crushed his hands together with Joelstine's man still between. Bones snapped and blood gushed from mangled flesh as the last member of this assault group died in silent convulsing agony.
Down in the basement, Jack cursed and slammed his fist against the wall when Sara reported the first loses. It had been stupid enough for Joelstine to think that simply by changing the radio frequency that he could operate without Jack's knowledge, but unlike most people he had no idea quite powerful Sara was even if she provided a demonstration. "Pull your men back!", Jack ordered after switching his own channel to theirs.
"My men are nearing the target", Joelstine replied defiantly.
"Pull them back! Your men are supposed to be supporting my teams, and you've already sustained unacceptable losses. That's as much as I'm going to explain myself!", Jack fumed. Joelstine wanted to ignore Jack, but he couldn't, plus he sensed the thinly veiled threat in Jack's tone. He ordered his assault groups to pull back to defensible positions and wait for further orders, but for one team it was already too late.
They'd rushed into an ambush. DeBraya's guards had forced them down a hallway that was already blocked with steel at the end. The men found cover as best they could and returned fire managing to hit one of DeBraya's men. That was a little satisfying but hardly enough. DeBraya's men pressed forward, and Joelstine's men readied to put up their last fight.
Alisha paused when she heard the gunfire wondering how fighting could be in front of her. Until now she'd heard fighting above, below, left, right, and behind her, but nothing in front. Team A was supposed to be the only team this deep inside the armory building. "Those have to be Joelstine's men", Alisha said to Montez and Jan who both agreed. The fight was taking place ahead and to the right of them, off their main path. "What should we do?", Alisha asked.
Jan sighed. "We can't just leave them to die", she answered knowing that any delay helped Martin escape with her uncle. "Let's just hurry."
Alisha led them to a blocked doorway. "We should be on their flank."
Jan nodded and pulled her fist back. Superhuman muscle fibers bunched tightly before sent the punch flying. Her knuckles compressed the steel and created a deep fist sized dent. The sheet rang like an out of tune gong. She wasted no time sending another punch into the dimpled steel plate. This second blow made a deep dent. Joelstine's desperate men saw the guards turn their heads to their right when a big boom sounded. Something was happening, but none of them understood what. After her third punch the steel no longer rang. Each blow produced only a dull thud that shook men's fillings. The guards were torn now. Some of them faced the creased steel doorway while others kept firing at the trapped men further down the hall. Adrenaline built as a fist broke through the heavy steel plate. The steel groaned trying to keep its shape while Jan's fingers mastered it. Jan's muscle against the hardened steel wasn't a fair fight. She peeled and mangled the steel out of her way like it was a movie prop, only the deafening screeching of rending steel conveyed the power Jan was generating using only her arm and back muscles. After only a few seconds the guards saw Jan's face for the first time. It was angry and red from effort. Her pure blue eyes burned with intent, deadly intent and annoyance.
A guard raised his gun, but never fired. A bullet from Montez's gun hit that man right between his eyes. The dead man's body dropped like laundry. Alisha fired and hit another man in the hip before he could spin round to fire. Now several guards returned fire. Montez and Alisha wisely took cover while Jan rushed in. A bullet struck her leg, gouging her flesh and splattering blood against the wall. Jan didn't slow. With two long strides she'd crossed the wide corridor and grabbed the shooter by the throat lifting all his 230 pounds off the ground with one arm. He peed down his leg as this azure eyed superwoman broke his jaw and dislocated his neck with a simple squeeze. She could have finished him off, but instead turned with the man hanging from her hand for his buddies to see. Some of them ran away back the way they'd come while several more threw down their guns. Jan tossed their broken friend down to the ground. Just then the group of Joelstine's men who'd been pinned in the hall came into view. They'd been smiling at their good fortune until Jan's gaze fell on them. They nearly choked on those smiles. She was almost as mad at them as she was at DeBraya's guards. She didn't trust herself to speak. Instead she just turned around and hoped to make up time in her pursuit of Martin DeBraya.
DeBraya's guards were on the offensive now, and pushing back Joelstine's men at every turn. Battles raged near the front door and near the western loading docks. Flames spread from the center of the building in every direction adding smoke and confusion to an already chaotic situation. Grenades exploded and automatic gunfire rang in every ear. Entire walls were blown out as DeBraya's men tossed homemade satchel charges at Joelstine's men followed by homemade napalm delivered Molotov cocktail style. Men screamed as they burned until being put out, but soon everything around them burned until the roaring of the fires overpowered even the sound of the explosions. In other battles Joelstine's men found themselves against DeBraya's enhanced soldiers. These super strong men killed and maimed with guns, but preferred to do their deeds with their bare hands. So much blood spilled that the dense liquid temporarily doused flames in some places. The only battle going well was on the roof.
Taylor took time to look over the side of the structure at the flames licking out of windows and at the smoke pouring out in one unceasing plume. Explosions and cave-ins happened beneath her sending shockwaves all the way to the roof. She sighed as the last of the roof guards surrendered. Taylor's men stopped firing and moved in to restrain them. Taylor stepped away from the edge to stand over the defeated guards. "Are any of you enhanced?" she asked calmly after pulling off her hood allowing some fresh air to blow through her hair and across her sweat spotted face. None of the guard's said a word.
Taylor frowned and crouched down near one of the guards. "You saw what I did earlier", she began in a low, almost threatening tone as she captured this man's eyes with her steely blue eyed gaze. "If any of my men are injured or killed by an enhanced man I'll hold you personally responsible. I'll start by pulling off your arms below the elbow and breaking off your legs at the knees before I really start to make you hurt. I'll ask you, personally, just once. Are any of these men enhanced?" The man looked towards the guard lying against the wall about twenty feet away. The enhanced guard growled at being ratted out by one of his own men and easily snapped the zip restraints on his wrists. He started to get to his feet, but Taylor hurried over, gliding with graceful quickness only to sock him in the jaw with a punch so violent that his head cracked the parapet wall when it hit. He was unconscious instantly. "Put the special restraints on him, and use that fast acting sedative if you have to, but don't waste it. We don't have much", Taylor ordered and stood close while the enhanced guard was properly restrained.
Taylor looked around and felt ill at ease even if the roof had been taken. She nearly lost her balance when a powerful explosion happened somewhere below. She realized then what she had to do. She walked over to her second in command. "We need to get off this roof. Take five guys and move these prisoners down to ground and deliver them to Joelstine. I'll take two guys down below."
"Let me go with you", the agent asked.
"No, I trust you most to get this roof cleared quickly", Taylor explained. The agent didn't protest again. He just started giving orders and getting things done. While everyone else was busy on the roof, Taylor picked out two men and took them with her down the stairs into the burning building. She didn't have a plan, but something told her that she'd be needed deep within the building more than she was needed on its roof and she was right.
Morgen Stern was forced to move from his secluded spot when the flames started heading his way. It was just a temporary setback. So far so good for all of his plans. The assault teams were having to slog through a mess while Martin was making his escape. Martin was doing everything he'd been hired to do, except for kill Martin. He had to admit that he was avoiding the task that Alphonse had given him. Besides, there was a way for Martin to live through all of this, but whether had happened or not was entirely up to Martin himself. In the mean time Morgen was intent to orchestrate the slow dismantling of DeBraya's power.
The fire was on every floor now. Slater backed against the wall as flames burned outside the thick cell door. Smoke sneaked in around the cracks and gaps. Slater lay flat to get some mostly fresh air. The once cool floor was warm now as fire burned beneath him, and he had no way out. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he wondered silently if they were from the smoke or from something else.
Taylor jumped back when a ball of flame rushed through the door she'd just opened. After a few seconds the doorway cleared leaving flames licking the ceiling and top of the door frame. She quickly peered into the room and knew that neither of her men could make it if they went that way so she kept going straight hoping to find another way down. Taylor was out front as they kept moving. Then suddenly she was blown right onto her ass. A shockwave cut through the air like a scythe and stone shrapnel hit her in the chest. Only Taylor's super human body saved the lives of the men behind her. They were blown twenty feet back and one of them had blood running from a ruptured ear drum. A moment later fifty feet of ceiling crashed onto the floor in front of them. The burning mass of rubble felt like a blast furnace. Taylor scrambled backwards only stopping to grab hold of her injured man and drag him back. She might have ordered them all out of the building if fighting hadn't descended upon them. Six of Joelstine's men fought an organized retreat firing guns and throwing any explosive they had, and while Taylor couldn't see who they were shooting at she knew it had to be DeBraya's men. She raised her own weapon and noticed that no shots were coming at Joelstine's men and yet they looked terrified. Taylor tried to rub the irritation from her eyes as she saw shapes coming at them as if through the flames. Ten huge men, wrapped in body armor marched forward absorbing bullets, but they didn't see Taylor and her men. One of the Taylor's guys raised his gun and fired a shot that partially made it through the armor. The enhanced guard dropped to a knee. His buddies turned and charged. Taylor fired her gun on full auto and none of them even slowed down when the bullets hit their armor.
"Fuck", she breathed just before all ten men jumped her.
Alphonse scrambled towards the amber light and grabbed up the antiquated control box like it was life itself. He'd left all pretense of courage and self control behind minutes earlier. His eyes stung from smoke even as he suffered in complete darkness. He knew this pad though. He'd often looked at it wondering what it would be like to release the Acero on an unsuspecting world. He'd held off until now, remembering the warnings of his trusted friend, but no warning or caution could prevent Alphonse from activating the Acero hidden in the big box truck in the motor pool area. He pushed the button and ordered them to get to him. He needed to be protected. He was too important to the future to die here in a swamp in this flaming ruin of a building. Part of his brain realized what he'd unleashed while the rest of it just focused on living.
Morgen stumbled and blinked although not from smoke, but from consciousness, new ones. He'd felt every person in the building including Alphonse who thought he was hiding, but these new minds were like nothing he'd ever felt. He pushed his gift to find their wills and drew back quickly, his breath catching in his throat. Morgen hadn't known that something like this was truly possible, but here it was. Morgen forgot all his plans for a moment and thought quickly forming an idea. He raised an encrypted radio of his own and made a call to X-419 who was out in the car waiting for him to exit. All that had to change. Morgen hadn't worried about his own safety until just now. Whatever these new consciousness were, they were outside his ability to contain. He just hoped X-419 and her powerful body would be enough.
Men fighting in the motor pool area were the first to get wiped out by the Acero. Then the monsters crashed through a wall and started their walk from the west side of the building eastward towards Alphonse. They encountered another battle which promptly ended when these beasts tore their way through the battleground. Fighting men fled as the beasts approached now, their minds not able to completely comprehend what they were seeing. Fire damaged floors collapsed beneath these giants giving some men a reprieve, but these creatures never stopped their relentless march east.
Some knocked against the walls and others landed in the flaming wreckage from the floor above. Taylor's spin slowed as she finished her pirouette in the center of what had once been a mass of humanity. Two guys came at her, throwing punches directly at her stunning face. She caught one while the other landed. Her head moved a couple of degrees and her vision shifted for a second. The guy thought he had her and threw another punch that landed in the center of her hand instead of her face. Now she had them both.
The two strong men tried to pull back with their entire bodies, but Taylor's arms didn't move an inch. She crushed their hands beneath her long slim fingers. Bones broke at odd angles and ground against each other. The men struggled with all they were worth, and still her arms didn't budge. She didn't even look like she was trying. One of the struggling men kicked Taylor in the back of leg, and she went down to a knee. Finally her countenance changed, but unfortunately for them it went from neutral to angry.
Taylor stopped toying with these murderous thugs and finished breaking both hands before punching both men in the center of their foreheads hard enough to send them tumbling end over end for twenty feet. It wasn't long before the remaining eight men attacked. The ensuing fight was short and brutal with blood, teeth, curses, and the odd eyeball spilling across the floor. At the end Taylor stood in the middle of the room, breathing heavily with her big fists clenched at her sides. A trickle of blood ran from her perfect nose and a couple of bruises began to form in the hollows of her cheeks, but ten of DeBraya's best men lay around her like stacks of meat. She might have killed a few of them or not. It didn't matter to her. Power radiated from Taylor like light from the sun. She was not on the same level as these juiced up bodyguards. She was something else altogether, and the sooner they learned that the sooner they'd stay out of her way. She grabbed up her carbine and motioned for the two team members to follow. Joelstine's men quickly brought up the rear, figuring correctly that the safest place in the entire building was behind this blonde amazon goddess.
The lights on the old control unit told Alphonse that his Acero rescuers were getting close. Even with flames licking at the back door of his room he felt relieved to know that soon he was about to be rescued. Mere fire was nothing to these creatures. He imagined what those Caufield bitches would think when they saw one of his Acero. I hoped they'd be as scared as he'd been a few minutes earlier. He was about to get his wish.
Ted Matthews tripped on a step and nearly fell. Carri's hand came out of the darkness behind him and gripped his uninjured shoulder. He turned to thank her, but couldn't find her face in the shadows. The only illumination came from the flashlight pointing out the path some distance ahead. Martin was third in what had quickly become a single file line. Two guards were up front and two more were behind Carri who crept along behind Ted. Roaring flames and raging battles filled everyone's ears. Every so often an explosion knocked dust from the rafters above and shook the ground beneath their feet, but this old building seemed sturdy despite all that was happening. The group made their way fairly quickly until the floor began to shake with steady pounding. "Oh shit", Ted heard Martin exclaim in a loud whisper. "Turn the fucking light off", he ordered his guard who quickly shut it off. Only then did Ted see the glowing eyes in the distance.
"Sir, what are…", a guard tried to ask before Martin put his hand over the man's mouth. Ted's mouth dropped open and stayed that way as he watched these beasts stomp past them. Some guards had weapons drawn, but it seemed as if Martin would have killed them himself if they'd so much as moved an inch. Instead everyone simply let these creatures walk by. Only when they were some distance away did Martin allow the flashlight turned back on.
"Have you seen those things before, sir?", Martin's chief bodyguard asked in a whisper.
"No, I've only heard about them. People who worked for my father spoke about them in hushed tones when I was a boy. They talked like the Acero were from Hell or worse. All I know is that my father must have sent them here. I didn't even know he cared that much about me." Martin smiled broadly then reached out for Ted, gripping the taller man by the shirt and dragging him close just to laugh in his face. "I hope your girls are ready, Ted. They're about to get a dose of their own fucking medicine!"
Jan smelled the smoke before Alisha and Montez. Soon it was all any of them could smell. The fire hadn't spread to this part of the building yet, but everyone knew that they'd see flames very soon. Alisha sped up a little, pressing on with Sara updating Ted's position every few seconds. Only Sara's awesome power could have pinpointed Ted's location inside this burning maze like building. Joelstine's men had fought their way deep into the building by now and Alisha tried to avoid the fire fights happening all around her.
She slowed and gripped her gun tighter when she heard nonstop gunfire coming from directly in front. She heard men spew desperate curses. Battle always sounded like death and this one was no different. Alisha poked her head around the corner to see if she were closer to some DeBraya men or Joelstine men. She planned to open fire if she saw any DeBraya men close, but her pretty face frowned at what she did see. Three DeBraya men stood shoulder to shoulder with three or four Joelstine men and all of them emptied their magazines at the same target that Alisha couldn't see. One man on the end stopped shooting and started fiddling with a black satchel. Alisha looked closely and pulled her head back. A second later some man gave a blood curdling scream before an explosion big enough to rip gaping holes in the thick walls knocked Alisha, Montez, and Jan to their backs even from 100 feet away.
Alisha scrambled to her feet and looked around the same corner and saw carnage. Blood painted the wall like modern art. Bits of bone and flesh hung from the scorched walls like fat from a butcher's blade. Torsos and half skulls sat in grizzly piles of steaming blood. Alisha's stomach had always been strong but even she nearly wretched and that was before the first whiff hit her nostrils. Jan and Montez stood in the doorway looking and wondering what they could have been shooting at. Jan took a step forward before the blast weakened floor gave way. Alisha yelled for Jan and got on her knees. Jan landed hard on the level below them. The lack of light was compounded by the billowing smoke. "Are you okay?", Alisha shouted down.
"Yeah", Jan shouted back after spitting out a mouthful of century old dust. "You guys keep going and make it to Uncle Ted. I'll catch up, but I don't want them getting too far ahead."
"Are you sure?", Montez shouted down.
"I'm sure you need to move because
this floor isn't safe. I don't even trust it to try and jump back up.
There's a staircase about twenty or thirty yards that way. I'll catch
up, I promise."
While Montez and Alisha tracked her uncle, Jan was on her hands and knees searching the complete darkness for her night vision goggles. She might as well have been blind as she patted around knowing that they couldn't have gone far. She saw some yellow lights at the corner of her vision, like old bulbs shining in the distance and turned to face them only to look away a moment later without even wondering how those bulbs were powered. She kept searching for her goggles until the floor started shaking beneath her. She looked up. The lights were closer. Dust fell like waterfalls and more sections of weakened floor smashed to the ground around her as the rumbling got worse. Those lights loomed in front of her, and only too late did Jan realize that they looked like eyes. She drew back, but not in time. A cold steely hand gripped Jan around her throat and started to squeeze.
"You hear someone else?", Jack asked his niece, as a look of concern washed over her face.
Heather shook her head and looked off into the distance. "I... I don't know what I'm hearing. It doesn't sound like people. Whatever I'm hearing, they're big... really big and heavy."
"Take cover", Jack ordered without a moment's wait. His team dove behind 100 year old stacks of gear and equipment. The waiting was the worst, but it was shorter for Heather. With her better than perfect senses she saw the beasts first, a full ten or twenty seconds before her uncle and the rest of the team. The heavy steps sounded like drum beats. Then the floor shook and then the walls around them as these things came closer, then they came into view. Heather's eyes grew saucer wide and the rest of the team drew a furtive breath. The Acero were like something from a child's nightmare.
They had huge barrel chests, massive metal arms, legs like redwoods sitting atop boulder crushing feet. Their hands looked like mashers and their fingers like talons. They had big rounded skulls that tapered to thick necks. All of it wrapped in banded layers of living metal skin that stretched and molded with every movement. And those yellow glowing eyes shined onto a completely featureless metal face. They were emotionless, soulless instruments of death itself.
"My God", one of the agents breathed. "What are they?"
Jack didn't have answers. He raised his weapon and fired. The rest of the team was only a split second behind. The automatic gunfire echoed in the transit way, but those deadly lead bullets looked like swarms of harmless fireflies as they ricocheted off the Aceros' metal skin. The creatures didn't even react to the hail of bullets, walking through the shots. A team member threw a grenade. It landed at one of the giant's feet and exploded right under it. The flash and smoke obscured the beast, and the team almost allowed themselves to believe that the explosion had done something, but the blast hadn't even scorched the armored skin. Another team member threw a grenade, hoping this one landed in a tender spot. The creature stopped walking and caught the explosive in its hand. Jack prepared to dive for cover, but the creature didn't throw the grenade back. It held it in the palm of its hand until it detonated. After the shrapnel filled blast, the creature turned its featureless face towards the man who'd thrown it. The glowing eyes locked on the brave agent and the Acero started towards him.
"Fall back!", Jack ordered and ran for his life along with the rest of his team. He cued his radio, "This is Assault Leader, there are unidentified armor clad giants within this structure. All personnel are to avoid contact! I repeat avoid contact!"
"Why's he sound so scared?", Thomas demanded from the distant perch outside the building. "What giants? Sara do you feel them?"
He saw Sara's face go blank for a moment before she exclaimed, "Oh no."
"What's wrong? What are the giants?"
Sara used her power to send her mind into every corner of the building to touch the minds inside, but she drew back in a hurry when she found the Aceros. The look of horror on Sara's face made tears form in Thomas' big brown eyes as helpless dread grew inside him.
Jack's team was almost to the eastern edge of the building, running out of room. He knew it, and so did everyone else. The beasts were closing on them. The creatures moved quickly, with their long strides chewing up distance, they gained yards at a time. One member of Jack's team was getting tired of running, so she stopped. "We aren't going to make it like this", Heather declared and turned to face those things. "I'll hold them off while the rest of you make for the stairs. Maybe you can meet up with the other teams."
"Heather, do you expect me to leave you down here alone?"
This time it was Heather who grinned. "Of course not Uncle Jack, I expect you to come back and rescue me. Now hurry before they get here." Jack leaned forwards and kissed Heather on the cheek before running away. Those three things broke from the shadows at a lumbering gallop; their long strides chewing up distance. Heather felt a rock drop into the pit of her stomach. "Go!", she yelled over her shoulder then charged.
to be continued...
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