by TR Cameron
The caster was removed from the equation by a flying troll. Rath had leapt to the top of a shelf, paused there for an instant, and jumped in a flip and twist to land on the man’s shoulders with one foot on each side of his head. He stabbed down with his shock batons and the enemy jerked for a moment before he crumbled. The three-foot troll flung himself aside and into cover behind the cash register counter.
The door banged open, and the first person through met a stun blast from Anik, who had risen and now stalked steadily toward the opening. As he moved, he laid down continuous blasts and trusted the barrage to keep him safe from counterattack. When the line of witches and wizards that had formed outside the window raised their arms together, Diana thought that perhaps his trust was overly optimistic. She shouted a warning and charged.
When the trucks pulled in, Cara watched from her perch high above and waited for the right moment. The initial push didn’t inspire her to action, as those below appeared to have it covered. The sounds of stun rifle blasts confirmed her assessment. But when she saw the line of magicals organizing, she knew the time had arrived. She waved at Tony, who had watched her for his cue to move, and took a few steps back.
She ran and launched into space, aiming for the center. In her practice sessions, she’d gone from simple safe landings, which were now as easy as could be, to airborne attacks. The latter still involved some challenge, but what was the point of swooping down like the caped crusader if you didn’t deliver some damage at the same time? The first time she’d succeeded using a targeting mannequin they’d brought along, Rath had cheered and called her “human who flies like troll.” Diana had explained he’d watched Dances with Wolves and was renaming everyone. Cara liked it.
For a moment, she plummeted free until the bungee stretched and absorbed some of her momentum. She used the pull to rotate her feet downward and twisted into alignment with the bald-headed wizard in the middle of the line. In one of those strange flashes that happen in battle, she saw Tony hurtle out of the alley with his stun gun aimed toward the witch on the far end. Her target sensed her coming in the seconds before she arrived and his eyes widened as he raised his head.
She slapped the release buckle in the center of her chest, plummeted the last few feet to him, and delivered a powerful kick into his breastbone immediately below his throat. He went down and backward, and she landed with a foot on him and the other on the pavement, then rolled to the side to absorb the impact. The enemies to her left launched attacks directed at the store and the ones on her right turned toward her, three of each.
Suddenly, the criminals on the right were down to two, then one, as Tony’s rifle buzzed and disabled them. That was the good news. The bad news was the arrival of a fourth truck at his back and the pounding feet of the rest of the already-present gang from behind her. She raised her stun gun but ran out of time to shoot as blasts of force and lightning made her stagger against the nearest truck as her vest absorbed them. Shit.
Rath paused to let any attack that might have followed him pass overhead before he bounced onto the counter. Anik continued to hold the door against a line of henchmen forced to attack him one by one. Diana rose from her evasive maneuver and fired at the last enemy actually inside the store, a mage who launched poorly aimed blasts of force at her. The result was that even more alcohol spilled over the tile.
Outside, Cara and Tony engaged the wizards and witches, three of whom were already down. He frowned at the incoming mass of attackers, easily a dozen or so, who had apparently been held in reserve. Behind them, in the middle distance, he saw a crazy hat. His lips pulled back in a fierce grin.
The troll vaulted at the enemy Diana was fighting and used the wizard as a launching point to go after one of the witches outside. Hopefully, the distraction would give his teammate the instant she needed to overcome the man. He led with his stun batons and stabbed them into the woman’s sides but was immediately hurled away by an explosion of force that radiated out from her. His backward somersault ended in a skid as he landed and charged again. She turned and flung a streak of force darts at him. He dodged several, blocked two more with quick strikes of his weapons, and finally, he was close enough. Rath slashed at her legs with the batons and aimed from the outside and inward. She leapt and delivered a kick to his face that he barely avoided with a deep backbend.
He growled, half in anger and half in enthusiasm for a quality opponent. In mid-air, she launched more darts at him, and he fell on his back to avoid them. She stood over his defenseless form and grinned as she raised her wand to strike a final blow. “Trinity. Help,” he called.
Tony stepped up beside her, his stun rifle at head-level, and delivered the answering line with a grin. “Dodge this.” The weapon crackled and she went down. The big man nodded but immediately yelped as a blast of lightning knocked the gun from his hands. Rath flipped to his feet and turned to see Cara incapacitate the second to last wizard in the group. The final one, closest to the onrushing surge of hoodlums, launched another electrical attack.
Tony dodged around the front of the truck and lightning scored the paintwork on the passenger door. The witch shifted her wand toward Cara, who was occupied with her own foe. Rath saw only one option. He pushed his batons into the ground to collapse them and hurled them in sequence at the witch. The shock feature required a button press to activate it, but taking a pound or so of metal in the face would still be detrimental. The first missed by a wide margin to the left, but the second connected soundly with her forehead. She staggered back, her head impacted against the truck’s side, and she crumpled and fell with a moan.
A sound from his right reminded him of the fourth vehicle and the enemies that surged out of it. Again, only a single option presented itself. He raced toward the closest adversaries and the so-called Prince of Plunder who had his hat and grew to his full size before he plowed into the one at the head of the line.
Diana had an ungraceful moment as she dodged a force blast and slipped on the wet floor to collide with a row of bottles and shatter them. The ensuing waterfall covered her sleeve in bourbon. Maker’s Mark. At least it’s top shelf. She righted herself and fired a stun bolt at the mage, but he deflected it with a force shield and repeated his previous attack. A hurried block stopped the weapon in its path, and she hurled it at him as a distraction afterward. The shouted, “Retreat,” rose over the cacophony, doubtless magically amplified by the sonic wizard-pirate. A grin spread across his face. The muttered word that accompanied the extension of his wand was lost in the noise, but the whoosh of flame that followed was instantly all that she could hear or see.
Anik screamed, and she collapsed and summoned a force shield to encase her. The heat intensified as the contents of the bottles ignited, and even though she was protected from the touch of the fire, her mind was gripped with a primal fear of immolation and shrieked at her to escape. Sprinklers activated, far too inadequate to extinguish the blaze. She only noticed her arm was alight when the burning reached a pain point greater than that of the surrounding heat, and she beat at it to extinguish it. The part of her that rightly feared remaining immobile in a blazing building took over and she pushed to her feet and ran, then hurled herself toward the open grate and broken window.
She landed outside in a roll and maintained the tumble to ensure she was no longer on fire. When she finally managed to stand, she scowled at the blisters on her now bare arm and groaned as another wash of agony accompanied her awareness of the extent of the wound. Brighter pain flared, and she staggered as bullets struck her in the back of the vest and triceps as she flung away. Bloody bastards, now you’ve done it. But at least they don’t all have AP ammo. “Friday, send ambulances to this position. BAM, weapons free. They’ve chosen the hard way.”
There were a few confirmations and an enthusiastic, “Yes,” as she rose in fury and turned to face the enemies that now launched a concerted attack at her. They comprised both firearms- and wand-holders, and in her pained and angry state, she had no inc
lination to hold back to protect those who had elected to put themselves in harm’s way. She reached deep for fire and scythed a wide, thin blast at knee level. The wizards and witches summoned shields and at least one was generous enough to extend it to the mundane pistol-wielder beside him, but her assault brought at least half of them to their knees.
They raised wands, and Diana threw out both hands to release a line of force to take hold of a nearby trash can from the far sidewalk. She hurled the telekinetic missile at the approaching hoodlums from the opposite side. It was almost comical watching the criminals smash into each other as they defended against one attack or the other, only to be struck by the one they hadn’t prioritized. She turned to discover that Rath had struck the other oncoming group like a bowling ball and that many were down. The rest had chosen to flee and now piled into the two farthest trucks, which peeled away before she could target them. Anik stood over the downed enemies and stunned them as fast as his weapon could recycle. He looked none the worse for wear other than his dark hair, which appeared a little singed.
“Glam, tag it,” she shouted. She heard the high buzz of the drone as it accelerated in a downward swoop and vanished from sight around the corner.
“I have the back one,” Kayleigh confirmed a moment later. “They’re going too fast for me to reach the first. These are not the most awesome drones ever.” She had often complained about the fact that she still used hand-me-down technology on that front because they didn’t have the time to develop their own. Allegedly, DC was working on it, but when she’d mentioned that to the tech, Kayleigh had snorted and responded with a shake of her head. “Ems is not interested in drones. He never has been and never will be. He likes the up-close stuff.”
Diana sighed and considered using her healing potion but decided she could stick it out for a little longer as Cara wrapped a pressure bandage around her wound. She wasn’t sure what the result of taking it would be if there was a piece of shrapnel still inside her and didn’t want to risk it unless there was no other choice. “Get to the cars. This isn’t over yet.”
Chapter Fourteen
The black SUVs coasted to a stop a block away from where the tagged truck and the other one had finished their journey. Kayleigh had shown the team the location on a map and then with the feed from one of her drones. The vehicles had ducked into a pair of large rental garages in an unexpected area, the affluent Shadyside neighborhood east of downtown.
Occasional streetlights broke the darkness, but there was more than sufficient cover as they advanced on foot toward the house where the drones had detected an abnormal number of heat signatures. With my luck tonight, we’ve probably stumbled on a bloody campaign fundraiser for the mayor or something. The wound in her arm throbbed in time with her heartbeat and made her downright cranky.
Cara jogged beside her as they approached in the shadows with the men behind and the three-foot troll trailing. They’d given up on the stun weapons entirely and held their carbines close to their chests. Now that the enemy had shown a willingness to kill them, they wouldn’t hesitate to return the gesture. They still carried standard ammo to avoid harming any bystanders, and each had a mix of those and anti-magic magazines.
Diana didn’t appreciate anything about the scenario. “Okay, listen. This will require stealth since they have home field advantage. I hope y’all won’t be offended when I say that Stark and Khan are not exactly the most ninja-like of us.”
Tony chuckled. “I resemble that remark.”
Anik added. “I can be super quiet. I simply choose not to. Um, always.”
The quips failed to bring her any amusement. The deep sense of foreboding she felt banished it before it could begin. It didn’t feel like a trap, and the likelihood that the prince and his crew knew the team would be waiting for them that night was negligible. Still, this was a criminal who had been around for a while and had probably learned a few things. Plus, he had magic on his side, personal and hired. She shook her head. Bad. Not good. Very not good. Lousy. Do not want.
Diana did break a smile when Rath whispered, “Ninja-troll. Stealthiest of all. Let Mortal Kombat begin!”
She chuckled. “Honestly, how do you find the time to watch all these movies?”
He laughed. “Sleep mostly optional. It’s good to be a troll.”
A somber expression replaced her grin as they reached the boundary of the plot the home stood on, marked by a neatly trimmed lawn surrounded by an ornate stone border. “Friday, scan for alarms.” The AI communicated with the drone above and superimposed a white electrical map on her glasses. The house itself was clearly wired, with a pulsing dot at each door and window, but the only exterior devices were motion detectors at the corners of the roof. She tapped the corner of the frames to magnify the view and saw the sensors attached to impressively large floodlights. That’s probably standard issue for the neighborhood, given the property values.
“Stark and Khan, you’re on overwatch. One of you cover front and a side, the other cover back and the other side. Stay in the shadows. Remaining undetected is more important than speed. Glam, more drones if you can get them and create a perimeter in case help rolls in.” She received affirmatives and the others moved off. “Friday, are you able to plot the motion detectors?” There was a delay before lines appeared in her glasses. A lane existed that shouldn’t set off the sensors. They could move through this as long as they were extremely slow and careful. She crept forward and remained close to the ground, and Cara and Rath followed a step behind.
They reached a low window on the first floor and Diana extended the fiber-optic camera from her sleeve to look inside. It was empty, a small den of some kind by the looks of the large chairs and narrow sofa, but the drink on the end table still full of ice suggested recent use. The electrical pulse of the sensor was vivid yellow in her display, superimposed on the upper sill of the window. She raised the square computer device Kayleigh had added to their kits some time before and held it near the electronic alarm.
The tech spoke almost as soon as Diana’s hand stopped moving. “I’m accessing the system now. They have pathetic security. Stand by.” There was a pause followed by muttered words that were too low hear. “Okay, I’m in. I have the remotes locked out of the main alarm computer, but they’ll think they’re getting through because I spoofed the signal.” When there was no immediate reply, Kayleigh sighed. “I did a considerable amount of awesome stuff that y’all don’t understand because you’re trapped in the last century. Go when ready.”
Diana exchanged grins with Cara, who also loved doing things to frustrate the blonde genius, and used her telekinesis to flip the latch and raise the window without a sound. She vaulted up and climbed in, followed quickly by the others. A finger to her lips communicated the need to remain silent, and she pointed at the open door leading out before she moved toward it.
She extended the camera again and discovered a long hallway to the left. To the right was the foyer at the front door, and the entrance to another room lay directly across from them. Voices emanated from it, and she scowled as the heat map in her glasses revealed two people walking into the chamber. She held a pair of fingers up, pointed first at Cara and then at herself, and moved when the other woman nodded.
They slipped across the hall and through the opening together, keeping their steps light. The duo of hoodlums saw them as soon as they entered, but the agents had shock gloves at their necks before they could utter a sound and silenced their cries. Each lowered their twitching target gently to the floor, and Diana dragged hers out of the line of sight of the doorway. Cara did the same and stashed her opponent under a couch along the front wall. Rath had run in behind them and guarded the hallway access as they worked.
The glasses’ infrared scan was limited and covered only about a dozen feet or so ahead, but it revealed four people in the next area who appeared to be seated at a table, judging by their positions. Diana led her team to the doorway that separated the room from the hallway and snak
ed the camera around to get a look inside. A book was perched at the top of a cabinet and she flicked it with her telekinesis. It fell with a bang that startled the occupants, and in the moment they all looked toward it, the three infiltrators skipped across the entryway unseen.
Ahead was a staircase to the second floor, and beyond it and to the right, the kitchen area, where several more heat signatures resided. She turned and pointed up, then cocked her head to indicate it was a question. Cara nodded, and Rath agreed. They crept up the stairs and made it halfway before Diana realized her danger sense was prodding her. She’d moved so slowly that it had barely registered. Now, she stopped and looked around but saw nothing. She took another tentative step forward, and the metal band chilled on her wrist. Dammit.
She turned and motioned Cara and Rath back and pointed to the illusion detection bracelet. They returned to the bottom of the stairs and huddled in the minimal cover. She took a deep breath, readied her magic for whatever might happen, and whispered, “What is hidden, let it be found.” A shimmering line appeared across the stairs, invisible to the naked eye but clear in her glasses, with another guarding every second step going up. Technological detector obscured by magic. That’s damn clever. Her respect for the Prince of Plunder increased. Then she remembered the name calling and put him right back in the scum category but with a notation that he was also smart.
Diana waved for the others to follow again and climbed carefully over the traps. They reached the top floor and studied the four doors ahead of them. One led to a room with no heat signatures, two opened on areas with two body-shaped outlines in each, and a doubly large chamber contained three horizontal figures that seemed to be overlapped. Her brain put the information together and her stomach twisted at the idea of catching the man in bed with someone.
