by Randi Darren
“That… makes sense,” Imp-Three said, sitting back down in her chair. Then she lifted a hand and pointed at the mass of people that likely included Imp-One, Imp-Two, Irene, and Hillary. “But… will they be okay?”
“That’s what I’m going to go make sure of,” Sam said with a grin. “Because I can probably hide myself from them fairly easily. With all that magic running around in every which way, a small usage on my part won’t be noticed. Keep tabs on everyone, including Abigail. She’s clearly fine in the tech room but… let’s make sure we don’t forget her.”
“I’ll reach out to her right now and let her know what’s going on,” Imp-Three said, moving to the keyboard part of her setup.
Reaching down, he pulled the pistol on his hip out of its holster and then chambered a round. They’d been part of the “uniform” for being back here. He was glad now that he at least had something he could use to dispatch a mortal with, without using his powers.
Glancing at the monitor, Sam could see that the secondary door, a hidden one that emptied out into a hardened room in the barracks themselves, had an empty exit.
“See you soon,” Sam said, walking over to that very same door. Opening it quickly with his badge ID, Sam left the security room. Quickly pulling the hidden door shut behind himself, he looked around to confirm visually that no one was there.
Quickly checking each spectrum of light, he found no one was here. The sound of gunfire was rather loud however, as was the crack, thunder, and static crash of magic being used aggressively.
With a flick of his left hand, he doused himself in a slow wash of Essence, dissolving from view and making him impossible to see.
“Volume check,” Sam said into the microphone attached to the headset. “One, two.”
“Received,” Imp-Three replied. Her voice was a touch loud, but Sam could fix that easily enough. Reaching up he dialed her volume down. “—me check. One, Two.”
There. That’s low enough that no one should be able to hear it through my own ear piece.
“Received,” Sam said and then let out a short breath.
Right. Here we go.
Holding onto his pistol, Sam began to creep out of the barracks and into the complex. Passing through bunkrooms, a breakroom, and an armory, Sam encountered people in various states of getting ready.
Some clearly were still half asleep even as they buckled on body armor or retrieved weapons from racks.
Their response time is awful. But then again… they’re operating without the central station directing anything.
The comms are effectively dead.
Hm.
Stepping past and around people, Sam got into the corridor that ran from the barracks to both sides of the complex.
Turning towards the administrative side, Sam began to lightly jog in that direction. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Hillary and his two Imps to their captivity any longer than he had to.
Especially since the invaders were so clearly willing to shoot people for no reason at all.
With Tiffany and Wren both having such difficulty remaining free of the portal when they died, Sam didn’t trust Hillary or the Imps being able to survive it.
Up ahead, he could see several men with weapons all positioned behind an impromptu barricade. They had their weapons held up and pointing down a turn in the hall.
Exactly where Sam needed to be, in fact.
Damn. Alright… let’s… well… take a look first.
Then we’ll figure out the plan.
Moving out around the defenders, Sam looked down the hall. At the other end was a turn in the hall and a door. The door had several invader corpses in front of it. Unmoving, as if they’d charged out of the door and fallen right there.
And I need to turn down the hall then head down it to—
Someone stuck a weapon around the edge of the corner and fired blindly at the Imps. Their barricade would likely slow down some rounds but it wouldn’t mitigate them completely. Even possibly stopping some smaller calibers.
Predictably, the unaimed rounds missed his intended targets completely. The vast majority of the rounds going high or wide into the walls or ceiling.
Though unbelievably, two of the shots managed to hit Sam in the gut.
Grunting in pain, Sam went down to all fours, one hand pressing to his stomach.
Stupid. Stupid, Sam. Stupid!
You’re invisible, not invulnerable.
Grimacing, Sam held his hand over the wound and started to crawl to the end of the hall. The last thing he needed right now was to stay in this cross fire any longer than necessary.
Gritting his teeth, he also staunched the wound and closed them up tight. He could deal with them properly in a few minutes once he was out of harm’s way.
Dying right now, with the ways to other planes shut, there was a distinct possibility Sam wouldn’t actually get to reclothe himself in a new avatar.
No more going into anti-plane areas. No more.
Need to figure out a counter to this and make sure it works. This is stupid. Incredibly stupid.
Crawling along, Sam kept himself to the far right wall. Away from the most likely path of rounds coming from either direction.
Reaching the end of the hall, Sam found himself looking at several men and women with rifles. All looking scared to death and like they were in well over their head.
Though they did appear to be quite determined.
Growling at them noiselessly with a curled lip, Sam shuffled past them. Beyond the hall and into the large holding area where all the hostages were.
The large line of people waiting to be tied was now just a handful. Most everyone now sitting down on the ground with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Several people were on their sides, their wrists hog-tied to their ankles. Sam didn’t know why that’d been done, but clearly something had happened. Resistance—perceived, expected, or otherwise—was the most likely culprit of such treatment.
Everyone was also gagged. Each and every person had a strip of cloth that went around their head and partly into their mouth. There also seemed to be something attached to that cloth, but Sam had no idea what it was.
Though he had some ideas. Quite a few of his clients enjoyed a different way to play.
Cleave gag with stuffing? Probably. That’d make the most sense. Tied to the gag so they can’t actually choke on it.
Nothing over the mouth though. All three of those together would most likely silence them. But they may not be worrying too much about the extreme long term on this one.
Just long enough that they can’t communicate and form a plan.
Getting up into a seated position, Sam leaned up against the wall. Holding his hand to his stomach, he continued to slowly work at the gunshot wounds.
As he watched, the kidnappers finished up their task and then left. Leaving only two people to watch over everyone.
Sam quickly spotted Hillary, Irene, Imp-One, and Imp-Two. They were all in the middle and bunched together. Clearly trying to remain near one another.
Though Imp-Two was bound at the wrist and ankle for some reason.
The two guards left to keep watch seemed to be eyeing the crowd of hostages more so than anyone coming to attack them.
They appeared to have the utmost confidence no one would sneak up on them.
Moving to the far wall of the hostage area, Sam let out a slow breath and pulled his hand away from his middle.
He’d healed everything up as best as he could right now, but it was a challenge to keep his Essence usage down, remain invisible, and not alert anyone to his presence.
His palm was covered in blood.
Looking down at himself, Sam could see there was quite a bit of blood smeared down the front of himself and coloring the top of his pants.
Damn, they really got me good. Should be okay for now but… don’t get shot again.
“See anything?” Sam asked very softly.
“No. Eve
rything’s the same here. No change on Jena, no change on the invading forces, no change on the guards. Everyone is still at the same stalemate,” Imp-Three relayed back to him. “The invaders keep pushing towards the resource rooms but they seem unwilling to take further losses. They’ve resorted to throwing grenades and magical blasts.”
There was a thwoom-like noise that made everything rattle violently.
“That was a magical bomb someone threw. But the guards have taken up positions and the healers and wizards are making it to the choke points now,” Imp-Three explained. “I think they’re stuck on both sides for a bit. And with how much we pay to the local police… they’re not going to come looking. Ever.
“If anything… if anything, the longer this goes on, the more likely the police are to show up and try to seal the exits so the invaders can’t get away.”
Definitely a smart play by Jena to put this thing in the warehouse district with no real neighbors.
Sam nodded while chewing at his lip. It made sense.
It’s something Irma would likely arrange herself given the appropriate amount of resources to do it.
“Alright,” murmured Sam. “I’ll wait till I have an opportunity to take both guards. Or one of them if they separate.”
“Don’t try to do it any time soon. There’s around twenty people just on the other side of that door that goes to the lobby. Seems to be their brain trust or something like that,” Imp-Three reported. “They’re all talking with one another while setting up what looks like a lot of spellwork.”
“Spellwork?” Sam asked quietly.
“That’s what it looks like to me. Hard to see it through a monitor but… there’s some seriously huge distortions at certain points in the ground,” Imp-Three answered. “And that makes me feel like they’re laying spells into the ground. Can’t figure it out otherwise.”
Alright. Another thing to check then.
One of the guards broke away from the other and moved over to the hallway Sam had come from. The guard that was left behind watched his companion leave, before he slowly walked closer to the group of hostages. Putting himself within reach of them.
The second guard came back and quickly entered the lobby, apparently finding nothing out of the ordinary there.
No sooner than the other guard left, the one who’d been left behind forced himself into the middle of the hostages.
Grabbing Imp-Two by the arm he began dragging her out of the middle.
Much to the muffled shouting of Hillary, Irene, and Imp-One. A number of other hostages all complained as well but the guard ignored them all.
Dropping Imp-Two at the edge of the ring of hostages, the guard slowly wandered back over to the front of the hostages again.
He just… singled her out. And if he singled her out here, he probably was the one who picked her out to have her wrists and ankles bound.
He’s going to try and rape her, isn’t he?
Sam tilted his head to one side, staring hard at the guard.
He was nervously licking his lips, a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes looking at everyone but Imp-Two.
Until finally they went to her and Sam saw all he needed to.
Yes. He’s going to try and rape her.
I’ll kill him after I castrate him.
Free Imp-Two, then see what’s next.
Sam snorted softly at the very idea of that man touching Sam’s property. He didn’t even try to work his thoughts through the contradictions of how he expected his women to be. He knew just how twisted it was, but he couldn’t deny how he felt.
There would be no sharing of any of his women, at any time.
I’m a Planar Lord, not a Cuck Lord.
Thirty-Five - Ghosts -
Sam shifted around where he was sitting, moving his weight to the other butt cheek.
In the last hour, very little had changed. Both sides pushed a bit, and then retreated. Gaining nothing but possibly inflicting a casualty or two on either side.
Which Imp-Three reported as being rather pointless, since both sides had those who could use healing magic.
This is going to come down to who runs out of bullets or magic first, isn’t it?
Leaning his head against the wall, Sam was reminded of a number of battles he’d been involved in that had gone just like this.
Wars of attrition happen way more often than people think. I wonder if this’ll be interrupted by the police.
I mean, Imp-Three hasn’t seen any police despite the explosions and gunfire. Which means the police were probably bribed or bought just like she said.
Makes me wonder what this organization is and what their goals are. They haven’t really said much.
That might ch—
“Going to take a shit,” mumbled the guard who was in charge. “If they do anything, just call to the lobby.”
“Got it,” said the suspected would-be rapist.
Damn. If his intention really is to rape Imp-Two, this’ll be when he does it.
Getting to his feet, Sam lightly brushed himself off and checked his pistol in its holster, then his Essence draw. He wasn’t using very much at all.
Due to the extreme amount of magical energy that had ripped through the complex so far, he’d also been able to siphon Essence from the fallout.
Good to be a Planar Lord. Essence Essence, everywhere.
The first guard slowly left the room, as if he were doing the standard check-in which he’d been doing so far. As though there wasn’t anything different this time than the number of times he’d previously done it.
Glancing back at the door as it swung shut, the guard left behind clicked his tongue and looked back to the hostages.
“Nobody move, or do anything,” said the guard. “If I see a twitch in any way, I’m just going to shoot you. None of you matter anything. Got it?”
There was a chorus of grunts and nodding heads.
“Great. Let’s… have some fun then,” proclaimed the guard. Then he wandered over to Imp-Two, grabbed her by her elbow, and began dragging her off toward an office on the sidewall.
Irene, Hillary, and Imp-One all began to move like they were going to get up.
“Ah!” said the guard, leveling his weapon at them even as he dragged Imp-Two away. “Don’t test me. Or I’ll shoot her first, then the rest of you. Don’t worry. We won’t be long. Nice and quick, no pain at all, and I’ll have her back safe and sound.”
With the weapon leveled at them, Hillary and Irene seemed subdued for the moment.
Though Sam imagined Irene was only forced to inaction because the gunman could still kill Imp-Two, Hillary, and Imp-One, even if she herself was immortal.
Now that he thought about Irene, though, Sam realized her soul wasn’t anywhere in sight.
Moving in closer to the gunman, Sam slipped ahead into the office where he was taking Imp-Two.
Let the door close, slit his throat, dump the body, get Hillary and have her take this guy’s form, then go from there.
That’ll give me Imp-Two as a resource and Hillary as a watch-post here.
Oh. I could have Hillary take Irene off to an office next as if she were his next target. Then she’d be free to assist as well.
Or… or if I do this quick, Hillary could go out after two minutes and get Irene, and pull her back here?
That’d work.
The rapist pulled Imp-Two into the office and then wedged the door open. Pushing Imp-Two halfway in front of the doorway it seemed like the man’s intent was to rape her and keep an eye on the hostages at the same time.
Sam moved around behind the man, and waited for him to put his gun down. Forming some Essence into a hardened six-inch long blade, Sam idly rolled it between his fingers.
As soon as that gun goes down. He’ll need both hands to strip Imp-Two after all. Or to even undo his pants. Then we’ll end his ugly little life.
Rapists are the worst of the worst.
Setting the gun down, the gua
rd leaned forward and looked at the hostages quickly. Then he moved back out of sight of them and began working at his pants.
Wrapping an arm around the man’s neck, Sam drove the blade home using his Essence to strengthen the attack. The blade went in all the way to Sam’s fist, penetrating through flesh as if it were tissue paper. Then Sam ripped it across the entire expanse of the guard’s throat, cutting through everything it came across.
Turning to one side as he did it, Sam angled the guard’s face towards the corner.
Blood began to spray out of the man like a garden hose, pumping in time with the beat of his heart.
Both of the man’s hands came up to scrabble at Sam’s arm weakly. Then dropped back down to his sides as the man went completely limp.
Given that Sam had completely severed the carotid artery, it was the expected result.
Dropping the man to the ground, Sam pushed him into the corner with one foot and dropped his invisibility spell.
Looking at his arms, Sam found they were quite covered in blood. Curling a lip, he briefly considered using Essence to wipe it all away but that seemed like it’d be a waste of resources.
Turning back to Imp-Two, Sam found she was staring up at him. There were tears in her eyes, and she was clearly smiling around the gag.
“As if I’d let him touch you,” Sam reprimanded her with a grin.
Then Irene, Hillary, and Imp-One stormed into the office. The latter of the three kicking out the stopper so the door swung shut after Hillary yanked Imp-Two clear of it.
“Oh, hello,” Sam said, smiling at the three new arrivals. Leaning down he worked at Imp-Two’s bounds as he spoke. “That makes this rather easy, then.”
Standing up after getting Imp-Two free, Sam was momentarily surprised as Imp-One slammed into him and hugged him tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” sobbed Imp-One, clinging to him.
Nodding, Sam laid his arms around Imp-One and hugged her in return. Patting her back gently.
It was likely she wasn’t cut out for this sort of work.
I’ll keep her paired with Irma. Her, Imp-Two, and Imp-Three can help Irma directly.
