by Doug Burbey
"Fuck, get out of the way lady!" Greg screamed at her as he pushed around the edge of the wall to angle his weapon down the hallway after her.
DK watched in astonishment as the young lady just did what made no sense at all.
Son of a bitch! Is she insane or something?
Declan ran to the wall opposite of Greg as they both tried to get a shot off into at least one of the two demons. "Fucking kid keeps dancing into my shot and that group behind us in the courtyard is not gonna forget we are here."
Dammit, she isn't group tactic trained. Fuckity fuck. If I don't reign her in, she'll get hit with friendly fire and that is never friendly.
"Lady, get your fucking ass over here! We don't have time to do this tragic hero crap. This is now a group tactic and I'm in charge." His voice sharp, she glanced back at him, blocked a blow from some claws, removed the head of the demon, and dropped to the ground. Greg took the shot, the next demons head exploded and covered her with even more blood. With a motion that made DK's back and knees hurt, she flipped to her feet and made her way back to him.
"Fine. Got a plan?"
Greg turned to begin moving towards the courtyard. "Bunyan, hold!" Greg stopped immediately at the use of his old call sign from the war, then dropped to one knee and faced forward with his weapon.
DK pointed directly at the sword-wielding maniac looking her straight in the eyes with a sudden coldness.
"You will stay exactly three meters in front of Greg and me. We will move forward as one. You will keep your spacing. We will engage all targets up to five meters in front of us. Not an inch more. You will kill anything inside of five meters as we move forward. You are the close kill box. You will keep any demon that we don't kill from killing us. Don't question me here. This is how we fight. This is how we don't die. So yes, or no, answer only. Do you understand?"
"Got it. I'll stay in the kill box, defend, while you kill everything else." She winked at both of them and moved to her directed position in the team.
Declan waited until she was situated in the directed spot three meters in front of them. "OK, forward slow. As soon as we round the corner we take it slow and steady. If we can kill them all at range, then great. If not, then you're up kid."
As the small group rounded the corner, stepping around the dead ring two demon, Declan clearly saw the humming portal. Approximately eight feet in diameter, this portal was not the work of a few novice mages playing around after school. It hummed and vibrated so deeply that they could feel it 30 meters away. These MIT idiots had some juice and knew how to use it.
No question as to which human is the key holding this side open. He's the one that has his neck surrounded by the claw of that soldier demon standing behind him preventing him from running away.
Two additional mages at the portal were screaming and trying to pull away from the small guard dog demons that were in the process of dragging them back through the portal into the demon realm. Several more demons began to emerge and join into the ranks of the small mass of demons slowly increasing in size.
"Help them or kill them?" The lady asked as she looked back and forth at the scene. The small knot of six demons stood between them and the mages being dragged into a demon hell realm.
"This portal is a capital offense so they're essentially already dead and of no concern to me,” Declan said as he began to fire round after round at the cluster of demons now surging forward at his team in a mass of flailing claws moving faster than should be possible for a biped. Declan could hear Greg's AR kick out three rounds bursts tearing into the demons in front of them.
Neither Greg nor Declan spoke anymore as their old survival reflexes, and familiarity with fighting demon clusters, kicked in. Hold, shoot the wall in the weak points. Don't separate, cover as your team reloads, give no ground, fight or die. If you run, your team dies first and then you'll just die second. The demon cluster had thinned considerably before it reached the team but not enough to keep them out of the close kill box. Declan caught glimpses of the sword flashes as the kid did her job. She was holding the team's point and keeping the demons off the shooters. Close enough for him to get hit with the occasional sticky warm spray of blood from her targets, but she was holding.
Good luck kid. Don't die. Was the only thought Declan could spare before his mind devolved into “Aim, fire, reload. Give no ground, fight or die.”
Fifty seconds after it had begun, the team stopped as the cluster of demons was now no more than a semi-circle of corpses in front of them. Except for one – the soldier holding the portal's human key Mage by his neck at the edge of the gateway to another realm in the universe. The soldier demon appeared to be struggling between his need to kill this challenge in front of him, proving his power, or to obey whoever told him to ensure the human kept the portal bridge open. As if to answer, the soldier pulled the human by the neck and raised another claw tapping the mage on the head.
"Stop! For the love of God stop! It demands you stop there." The key Mage shouted. "It will kill me if you keep walking or if I drop the portal link!"
Declan kept his eyes locked onto the demon holding the Mage prisoner as he slowly walked forward. "Easy there, Junior. You just tell your buddy here we can deal."
"I can't tell it anything! I just feel what it wants, I can't actually talk to it!" The Mage's voice cracked as he answered. The demon shifted, glancing at each of the threats in front of it. A talon started to drag over the mage's forehead, drawing a line of bright red blood.
"Who's giving the orders for this bullshit? Tell me and we'll deal with your problem." Declan asked the mage in as smooth a voice as he could manage.
"I can't… the agent said they'd kill our families if we…" the Mage sobbed. He glanced towards the center of their team and began to twist his hands and mumble.
"Shit!" Declan barely managed to shout as he turned his back. Stupid chivalric tendencies had him grabbing the chick and spinning them both so his back faced the portal. He felt the hammer blow of a magical ball of energy slam into his spine, knocking him and the woman to the ground, followed by the burning fan of magic spreading quickly through the inner mesh wiring of his coat dissipating it. Greg fired at the mage immediately, with his first round removing the mage's face and the back of his skull. As the mage's brain imploded so did the portal as it's required human and demon linkage was severed. With the magical threat eliminated, Greg emptied the remainder of his heavy weapon's magazine into the neck and upper torso of the remaining demon before it could react.
"All clear! You two can get off the ground and stop with the cuddling now." Greg bellowed as he dropped the empty magazine from his weapon and inserted his last full magazine. Declan stood up with a groan then reached down, offering Kayter his hand, and pulled her up when she accepted it. He reached out with all his senses, searching for a threat. He could not sense anything of danger but the police sirens were definitely getting close.
"I agree, Greg, I don't feel a thing. All clear. But we need to go. I don't plan on hanging out with the boys in blue tonight. You go check out that mage and see if he's got an ID you can grab."
"On it," Greg answered as he started to jog over to the mage's body.
Declan turned towards the young woman, "And you kid, I need you to… Hey, Greg! Where'd she go?!"
"I don't know. I was talking to you, dipshit." Greg answered back as he was rummaging under the dead mages robes. "Got a wallet! MIT Student I.D. Let's get the hell out of here DK."
Declan scanned the courtyard and didn't see the kid but did catch a glimpse of a woman with a ponytail on an unnaturally quiet motorcycle drive away quickly. Just before two police cars with gumball machine lights flashing and sirens blaring closed off the road in front of them.
Well shit.
Chapter 29 - Fleeing the Scene
The man from her dreams shouted at her and she responded. He had the command voice from her childhood, Dad could shout the same way. It annoyed her. But for now, she'd obey, cause there
was no way in the world she could take on that many demons by herself.
From there, everything became a blur. The memories of him in the dreams, whoever he was, let her listen and obey, and she didn't argue. She just let herself ride the adrenaline and the fear that kept her sharp.
The explosion of magic the man had shielded her from, then the gunfire going off above her head when the mage and its demon controller were taken out, made her ears ring. But it also gave her the shaking she needed to get out of survival mode. As the man pulled her up she looked around. Declan, maybe that was his name or DK, she never really listened to the names just the orders, turned to deal with the other man.
Holy fuck, I lived. And made a complete ass of myself. Just cause you did mostly solo stuff, you never block fields of fire. What the fuck was I thinking?
The whine of sirens and the surge of exhaustion that slammed into her made up her mind.
Time to go. I don't need this. He looks like he's got some backup and I can't believe I was that fucking stupid.
While the two men were arguing she turned and disappeared into the trees. Reaching her bike, she cleaned off the sword and used a towel to quickly wipe most of the blood off her body. She'd come out unscathed and exhausted, but somehow uninjured. Better than she'd expected. Within another two minutes she had slipped on the bike and headed down the street even as she heard the sirens coming ever closer, multiple types from the sound of it.
What the fuck was that? Since when do you rush into a situation like that?
Kayter grimaced to herself. John had trained her to think, to assess, and to weigh the risks. Why had all that training disappeared? Why had she been so driven to prove herself? Stuff from the dreams?
She spent the next twenty miles tearing her behavior apart and coming to some conclusions she didn't like very much. Biological needs, bladder, and thirst gave her the incentive to pull into a rest stop. More than a bit exhausted, she just pulled into the first open slot, not giving the car next to her more than a token glance, noting it was dark, four-door, American.
Parking the bike, she pulled off her helmet, setting it on the bike, and started trudging up to the restrooms. She felt more than a bit sticky and was still upset and frustrated with herself. The entrance to the restrooms was a blind turn but the voices from the other side got through her fog and she stopped.
".. can't believe we have to go to MIT to clean up that mess. You would have thought the demons would have killed the mages before too many got out of the portal." The voice held tones of annoyance and exasperation. It also sounded familiar.
"Well apparently some local hunters got involved. Hell, for all I know your boss sent them up to deal with it."
"Cordelia? That bitch? Nah, no way they could have gotten there in time. Sure, we made plans to verify the report got made, but it's a nine or ten-hour drive. We're only getting sent cause we were within two hours. Hell, anyone she sent would either have to fly or would have been local. You know we made damn sure the local got sent in the other direction yesterday." The arrogance of the voice rubbed at her and she turned her back to them, ducking down to get a drink of water as she heard them move closer.
"Fine but if I have to put down a bunch of demons, I want hazard pay. Just because they gave us some fancy weapons that are supposed to single-shot-kill the little bitch demons doesn’t mean I have any desire to put my life on the line. The full-on soldier demons are still gonna needs lots of HE rounds to take out."
"Doubt many of them are still alive. They tend to be their own worst enemy when it comes to the portals, killing the mage for the blood then wondering why the portal collapses. Either way, there will be drama and terror. Perfect for the bosses master pl – " He broke off as his phone rang.
They were behind her now, so Kayter straightened and turned enough to see the two men. One she'd never seen before. Older, military cut dark hair, glasses, a bad suit, and a slight limp as he walked. The other, Chad Morant, the idiot from the VFW and the one she'd followed to the restaurant.
"Chad," he said into the phone, then his step paused and his back stiffened. "They what?" another pause. "Who got there?"
Kayter grinned at the stress in his voice and watched them but she made sure she looked like she was staring at the map of where she was, and what local landmarks were nearby.
"Got it." She heard a beep. "That asshole fucking flew there. I can't believe he got a fucking helicopter and flew there. Somehow that bitch got her own people out there. They're covering up for him now. Boss is going to be livid if this gets out. We need to get up there and see how much we can twist for our own control. Damn idiots. How hard is it to follow instructions? Open the portal, let a demon or two slip out, maybe three, then close it and run. Let the cops find out how bad demons are and remind people why we keep researching this stuff." Chad made a sound between a growl and a grunt. "Let's go. Step on it. If the cops want us, they can pull us over there."
She focused on them as they headed towards their car and backed out fast, neither seeming to pay any attention to anything other than themselves.
That was a setup? Why? What did they have to gain from any of that? Hell, that was more than two or three demons. That was enough to possibly level the town.
Kayter used the restroom, cleaned herself up a bit, and for the rest of the drive home, she went back and forth between chewing on herself and trying to figure out what that ICER agency was doing.
Chapter 30 - Escape
Declan watched the motorcycle race away feeling both confusion and admiration for the young lady's skills in the fight.
"Well, that was a hell of a thing wasn't it, DK?" Greg said as he slung his rifle over his shoulder.
"Turn around and get on your fucking knees now! Hands straight up or we will kill you!"
Well shit. That didn't take long. Impressive response time.
Declan thought as he and Greg both raised their hands above their heads and turned slowly as instructed to face the four figures in what appeared to be police tactical uniforms spread out in front of them. The figures pointed rifles directly at them and the blinding flashes of the dazzler devices mounted to the rifle barrels prevented either of them from getting a good look at the new arrivals.
"Boston PD, down on your knees! Face down, hands in front of your body!" Barked the armed individual standing in the middle of the small group. "You move and you are dead, do you understand?"
"Absolutely, officer, we are not a threat and will comply will all of your instructions,” Declan responded as calmly as he could, knowing he was a hair trigger away from a nervous police officer killing him by mistake. "We are both legally armed officer but are not a threat. We will not touch any weapon in any way. We're here on a Department of Defense sanctioned operation." Even as he spoke, he and Greg lay down on the ground.
Would truly suck to save the city just to get mistakenly killed by over keyed cops.
"Jesus Christ, Steve! What the fuck? Are those demons? And a human? Demons aren't supposed to be able to come here anymore." His voice had a trace of hysteria and Declan glanced up to see a police officer on other the side of the formation was now pointing his weapon, not at Declan and Greg, but directly at the cluster of demon corpses in the courtyard.
The officer, not taking his attention off of his two armed suspects, said "Go check it out, Daryl." The leader directed the officer nearest the demons. "Tracy and Jones, you two zip and clear the suspects here. I'll cover."
"Yes, sir." One of the remaining officers responded as two of them moved forwards towards the prone demon hunters. "Both of you, keep your hands down with arms straight out and palms down on the ground. Do not so much as twitch or you will be shot!"
"Understood, officer. We are not resisting and will comply with all your instructions."
"Steve, we have a dead civilian here too. Holy… His face and half his head is blown off!" Officer Daryl shouted over from near where the portal circle had opened a few minutes earlier.
&nb
sp; Tilting his head, the lead officer pressed his radio handset. "Tac ops we're at the 10-35. We have the 10-32s down. One known civilian DOA and a pile of, fuck I don't know, demons I think." He paused while listening to the response. "Yeah, that's what I said and no, do not put that on the dispatch net!"
Officers Tracy and Jones both reached down and smoothly wrapped nylon riot cuffs around Declan and Greg's outstretched wrists locking them together.
"They said what?!" the lead officer snapped back into his radio microphone. "You have got to be shitting me! We have a dead civilian, piles of not human looking dead things, and two armed to the teeth fucking psycho suspects right in front of me! No way am I doing that."
Declan felt his Vulcan being pulled away from his body as one of the officers placed a knee firmly down on his back and began to expertly pat him down for more weapons.
He fought back a growl, no one touched his weapon. Rage licked at the edge of his mind and he pushed it down. The demon blood the chick had occasionally sprayed him with helped to keep it to a low roar.
"On whose orders? … Yes, in fact, there is, in fact, a real fucking helicopter across the street in the park. No, the pilot gave that number to the campus cop, not us. Why in the hell would we detain the campus cop? All right, all right. Yeah, I got it already. Out." The agitated lead officer took his hand off his radio. "You, jacket boy, what's your name?"
"Declan Kenner," Declan responded after assuming the endearment of ‘jacket boy’ was meant for him.
"Tracy and Jones, back off and cut them loose. Daryl, back away from that shit and don't touch a thing!"
"No need to tell me twice, Steve." DK could see Officer Daryl quickly move away from the bodies out of the corner of his eyes and let out a relieved breath.
"You sure about this boss?" The officer holding Declan pulled out a small set of wire cutters but hesitated to cut the cuffs off him. "Their damn guns are still hot and they're covered in blood, or some shit. I'm positive these are our guys."
