Rogue Ops: Rogue Agents of Magic™ Book 1

by Cameron, TR

  She shook her head. “Have to give them credit for being smart about defending the place, especially given how unlikely it was that we’d come back here.”

  Rath said, “Time to Hulk it up?”

  Diana nodded. “Condition Green, buddy. Do your thing.”

  Rath grew to his maximum size quickly, and she collected the gear that fell free in her left hand. Fury still filled her right, but he wasn’t nearly the asset he usually was. She was serious about not wanting to kill anyone, which made the sword essentially a heavy stick to use as a bludgeoning weapon. While she was fairly sure she was skilled enough to stab and slice without killing, the consequences of an error were too high. This is why we need our nonlethal equipment. Cara better pull that off.

  The now-eight-foot troll charged around the corner with a loud growl, and she and Bryant ran behind him. His vest hung on him, giving him some minimal protection against bullets, but several rounds still struck him as he advanced on the guards. Fortunately, when he grew, his skin got tougher. They didn’t penetrate far. Armor-piercing would probably be more effective but finding that ammunition inside the base would be a real surprise.

  He gave them the cover they needed to close with their enemies and slammed into the foursome at the end of the hallway. They were already stumbling backward in an attempt to disengage. He fell on two, smashing them down to the floor. She and Bryant engaged the others.

  She raised her forearm to block her opponent’s effort to use his gun as a club, the armor plate there easily absorbing the impact. Her right fist punched up into his triceps. When the pain distracted him, she landed an uppercut to the underside of his exposed jaw with her left. He went up on his toes, then fell, her stun glove rendering him unconscious.

  Bryant’s opponent hit the deck a moment later, and they moved on. The next corner revealed another pair of opponents, these decidedly more alarming. Diana gripped Fury with both hands, angling it defensively in front of her as the exoskeleton-equipped troops stomped forward.

  They held shock batons, heavy clubs with tines on the end. The sharp points could kill if applied to a sensitive location, but their main purpose was to pierce armor protection so the discharging electricity would have the best path into an opponent’s body.

  The figures moved calmly, smoothly, showing mastery of the equipment. Diana growled, “Well, this sucks. Rambo, take the woman on the left. I’ve got the one on the right. Class, grab the network enhancer and put it on the wall. Then poke your head into the room beside us and see if there’s an anti-magic emitter inside to wreck. Everyone, try not to get killed.”

  Her boyfriend replied, “On it.”

  Rath observed, “Those look nasty.”

  Diana nodded. “Avoid getting hit. Maybe try to bend the armor on their legs. A problem with exoskeletons is that they don’t compensate for damage as well as unencumbered people can.”

  “Got it. Told you this would be fun.” He rushed forward, and Diana raced toward her opponent, shaking her head. Her foe closed to meet her, clearing the area for his partner to take on the troll. The club swung down at her, and she intercepted it with Fury, stopping its descent cold.

  She slammed the hilt back into the edge of the armor that ran along her opponent’s ribs, hoping to break some important connection, but her strike completely failed to penetrate. She muttered, “Not cool,” as she ducked under a swing from the second stun baton, which she hadn’t realized he’d been carrying. Diana called, “Watch out, dual wield.”

  Rath replied, “More fun.”

  I really think we need to have a conversation about how you define fun. The two weapons came in slower than they might have without the exoskeleton, which was one of the reasons her team hadn’t put any serious effort into using them in the field. They relied on speed and agility more than power, and exoskeletons didn’t generally enhance those traits.

  Despite having the technological advantage, her foe quickly demonstrated he wasn’t as skilled as she was. He overswung with his right-hand club, causing his body to twist a little too much. In the moment it took for him to re-establish his balance, Diana rushed into his blind spot and slammed the hilt of her sword down onto the place where two pieces of exoskeleton met at the side of his knee. This time, it did some damage, denting the fragile area.

  She leapt in the air, whipping Fury around at the back of his head, at the last minute twisting the blade so it crashed into his helmet rather than his bare neck. Her goal wasn’t to penetrate but to force him to try to use the damaged joint. He stumbled forward, and when he stomped that leg down to catch himself, the metal bent more, then buckled.

  He tumbled over, and she moved to help Rath. The troll eliminated the need, landing a punch with a shock glove right in the nose of his opponent, whose face mask was no longer attached. That one fell, and Diana tapped hers with a glove to put him out, too. Bryant reappeared on the scene. “No emitter. Nice work.”

  She growled, “Onward. They’re getting organized way too fast.”

  * * *

  Ruby shouted, “I have magic,” and Cara immediately summoned hers, throwing a blast of force at the pair of guards hiding at the end of the hallway. One stuck his head around at the perfect moment to take a glancing blow from her spell and stumbled out into the intersection. Ruby’s burst of shadow magic slammed him backward into the closed door of the armory.

  Idryll ran forward, going low around the corner after the other guard. Sounds of blows landing came from her destination, and the shapeshifter reappeared a moment later to toss a rifle down the hallway past her. “Big guns, small skills.”

  Cara stepped to the armory and put her hand on the part of the wall that would sense its presence and open the door. Not surprisingly, it failed to work. She said, “Let’s try telekinesis.” Ruby nodded, and Cara reached out with her magic, trying to lift the door. It wouldn’t budge. “They probably threw the bolts. We need to figure out a different way to get in there.”

  Idryll replied, “Think fast,” and charged back down the hallway, where enemies had appeared.

  She and Ruby spun to the sides, taking up the guards’ former defensive positions. Cara leaned around the corner to throw another attack, only to realize these had different gear than the others, that backpacks were part of the difference, and that her magic was no longer reachable. With a growl, she ran down the hallway to assist Idryll.

  The shapeshifter reached their foes before she did, knocking both rifle barrels up so their bullets hit the ceiling. The shapeshifter let out a low yelp, and Cara saw blood blossom along her side. She shouted, “You okay?”

  Idryll slammed an elbow into the helmet of the one nearest her, then leapt to deliver a back kick that knocked the man backward. “Fine,” she growled. “Flesh wound.”

  Cara laughed. “Just a flesh wound.”

  Idryll replied in an amused tone, “Exactly.”

  Cara’s stun glove snapped as she punched her foe in the chin, but not as loudly as she would’ve liked. When she hit him again, it didn’t go off at all. “Shit. Out of power.”

  Ruby slipped past her and delivered a front kick to her opponent, sending him to the floor with a clatter. The Mist Elf said, “Unless you have a great idea on the door, we’re not in a very good position. Let’s get rid of these backpacks, anyway.”

  * * *

  Hank and Anik had made steady, stealthy progress toward the room located in the basement of the vimana. They’d chosen the sneaky path rather than the main door, a route through a small tunnel filled with conduits and thick cables that required them to crawl. Only the combination of their glowing watches and their glasses’ low-light vision function allowed them to see anything at all. Finally, they dropped into the dimly illuminated space.

  The room was full of things that looked like pipes and magical machines, things neither Hank nor Anik had the faintest understanding of. He’d spent most of a day in the space during their first week in the base trying to figure it out, then given up and ignored i
ts existence after that. When he’d described it to their demolitions expert, Anik had been confident he could figure out how to mess it up.

  It wasn’t a guarantee that every important system went through that room. They couldn’t guarantee that a complete set of redundant backups wasn’t sitting ready to take over. There was no guarantee that their explosives could damage whatever the vimana’s substance was. Still, they’d all agreed it was worth trying to deny use of the base to their enemies.

  He crept to the exterior door, and his glasses informed him several heat signatures shaped like guards stood on the opposite side. He turned and whispered, “Stay quiet. Do your thing. If this door opens, hide.”

  Khan didn’t reply. He kept planting explosives. When Kayleigh's voice suddenly sounded in his ear, it was a total shock. She said, “Comms are up, people. Deke is working on getting into the security system. Tell me what you need.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Cara looked back at the very-well-secured armory door with a growl of frustration. Kayleigh had reactivated the comms, which was a definite step in the right direction. Here’s hoping they can help us take another one. She said, “Got any ideas on how to get whoever’s locked in the armory out of there?”

  The tech replied, “Wait one.”

  A few seconds later, Deacon joined the conversation. “The base’s air circulation system doesn’t have as much security as the rest of the stuff I’m trying to get into, so I have access. I think I can make it seriously cold in there.”

  “Will that damage the gear?”

  “I should be able to find a temperature where they’re really uncomfortable, but the equipment is unaffected. I’ll do my best.”

  Cara said, “Well, if we can’t open it, I guess it would be better if the gear doesn’t work anymore. Do your thing.”

  She and Ruby took positions off to the sides, where no one inside could shoot at them if the door suddenly opened. Idryll had moved down the corridor and stepped out of the hallway at the intersection, ready to alert them to enemy reinforcements coming their way. Deacon said, “Here we go.”

  It took almost a minute for anything to happen, a testament to the resilience of those inside. The infomancer provided a play-by-play of the temperature going down, but unfortunately, their lack of camera access meant they couldn’t see the results. The loud metallic scraping of their opponents throwing the bolts gave ample warning, and when the enemy stumbled out, lifting weapons in limbs trembling from the cold, it was simple to disarm and subdue them.

  Deacon quickly brought the temperature in the room back to something like normal, and she, Ruby, and Idryll slipped inside. Cara said, “Close the door and throw a couple of the bolts until we can get some surveillance.” She switched to the comm channel that included everyone and announced, “Jewel, Cat, and Croft have taken the armory. Let us know if you’re coming to join us.”

  The next thing she did, with great satisfaction, was to take the heaviest weapon in the room and use it to smash the anti-magic emitter into extreme dysfunction—which was to say, break it into pieces. She nodded in approval of her efforts. “All right, ladies. Bags are in the cabinet over there. Start filling them up. Nonlethal and defensive gear first.”

  * * *

  Tony had both his pistols out and instantly moved to his right as the robot defender came to life. He squeezed the triggers quickly but calmly, sending anti-magic rounds to smash into the thing’s skin. He growled, “Damn waste of expensive ammo. Doesn’t seem to be doing anything.”

  Sloan had run and dived behind one of the lab tables, pulling it over as a shield in front of him. He shouted, “Grenade.”

  Tony scrambled away from the bot, then stumbled and fell as a burning sensation ascended from his calf to the rear of his thigh. His hands instinctively went to the pain areas and came back bloody. “I’m hit.” He threw himself behind the nearest table and copied Sloan’s move, knocking it over. He wasn’t sure how long the metal would resist the robot’s assault but figured anything was better than nothing.

  The electrical grenade sizzled and spat, but the barrage from the mechanical menace didn’t stop. Sloan yelled, “Flash-bang.” It landed with a clatter and went off to a similarly negligible effect.

  Should’ve brought heavier weapons. But no, we’re trying to be nonlethal. The last word came out with a sneer in Tony’s mind. He understood the need but didn’t like the rule right at the moment. Out loud, he called, “Check the shelves.”

  Tony twisted toward the ones nearest him and started dragging down the unmarked black boxes Kayleigh used to store her creations. He removed the top of the first and found a series of canisters labeled “stun.” They were bigger than the ones Ruby had provided, and he pulled the pin on one and tossed it.

  In the interim, Sloan called back, “Nothing here. Going to try a web grenade.”

  Both munitions went off in quick sequence, the electricity seeming to cause the robot to pause for an instant before resuming its profligate shooting. Or maybe it was reloading. Tony peeked over the top to see that the web grenade had indeed locked their enemy in place, but motion wasn’t essential to the thing’s lethality.

  Suddenly the guns fell silent, and the robot rotated to bring its other side to bear. A grenade sailed over his head and into the space behind them. Tony threw himself over his defensive barrier, spotting Sloan doing the same a moment after. The grenade detonated, discharging fragments of metal in all directions. His partner shouted in pain, but Tony had laid flat on the floor, and the ones that penetrated the table passed above him.

  He snarled, “Screw it,” and pushed himself up into a limping run toward the robot. It shot another grenade at him, but he slapped it away, his quick-draw skills giving him heightened reflexes in anything involving his hands. Sloan yelped and repositioned, but the grenade did him no damage when it went off.

  Tony crashed into the robot, falling to lie on the floor beside it as it toppled. A blade shot out of it, and he wrenched himself back to avoid it. It pierced his vest, missing the plates and sinking into his stomach.

  Fortunately, he thought he’d gained sufficient distance that nothing vital was damaged. He was out of ideas, but fortunately, he hadn’t come alone. Sloan pushed a heavy 3D printer from a nearby shelf over onto the robot, and it smashed into its armor, broke off the blade that had plunged into Tony, and dented the metal enough that a piece of it lifted. The other man shoved an electrical grenade in there, then pulled him away before it went off. The spy collapsed on the floor beside him, panting. “Well, that sucked a lot.”

  Tony nodded. “I think I’m immobile for the moment. Hand me the heavy-duty med kit from that shelf, then smash the anti-magic emitter. We’ll grab what we can and get the hell out of here. Oh, I almost forgot. Lock the door.”

  Sloan laughed and painfully climbed to his feet, wincing with each shift of position. “Good idea.”

  “Face?”

  “Yeah?”

  Tony let his head fall back on the floor, hoping the kit still held the local painkillers that should be in it. “Don’t open the door to the computer area. If there’s another robot in there, I’d rather not know about it.”

  * * *

  Hank watched as Anik finished wiring up the various systems in the room. He wished he could see what waited on the opposite side of the door, but the techs hadn’t gotten that far into the base’s systems yet. That’s a point for the other team. If they have folks who are good enough to keep Deacon out of a system he’s familiar with, they’re a cut above most of the people we faced. He called, “Almost done?”

  Anik replied, “Settle down. You can’t rush genius.”

  “You blow stuff up. That doesn’t take genius.”

  The other man walked forward with a notably empty backpack slung over his shoulder. “What I do is an art. I don’t simply ‘blow stuff up.’ I am the duke of destruction. The maestro of mayhem. The baron of bang. The —

  Hank interrupted. “Babbling idiot.”
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  Anik laughed. “So, timer’s ready to go. We definitely don’t want to be in here when the excitement happens, though.”

  “I hear that. Deke, any timeline on the cameras?”

  The infomancer replied, “None. The base is fighting me. They installed their own AI. Bastards.”

  Hank rolled his neck. “Okay. The hard way, then.” He lifted his stun batons, which were Rath’s backup pair, fully charged and good for a couple of shots. Anik held an electrical grenade in one hand and the switch for the timer in the other. Hank grabbed one of the bolts securing the door and said, “We slide the latches, you start the timer, we rush outside, you pull the door closed behind us.”

  Anik nodded. “Do you want the option to stop the timer?”

  Ordinarily, Hank would’ve said yes, but under-geared and unaware of what might await them outside the room, he shook his head instead. “No. We want this to happen regardless of whether we can handle whatever’s out there.”

  His partner clipped the device on his belt and grabbed one of the slides with that hand. “Ready.”

  “Go.” They yanked the bolts, opened the door, and charged out into the hallway. A team of four enemies waited, two a few feet away from the door down on one knee, the others several feet back. All of them had raised rifles pointing at the doorway. Hank went low as the gunfire began, sliding on the floor and whipping both batons around, crunching his core together for power in the awkward position.

  The flexible metal poles slammed into the nearer pair, knocking them down despite their kneeling position. A grenade flew over his head and detonated with a sizzle, causing the gunfire from the back to fall off. Hank thrust himself to his feet and jumped over the nearer pair, counting on Anik to finish them. He rushed forward and whipped both batons inward, smashing them into the enemies’ helmets, which then banged into each other.