by L O Addison
For a long moment, Lio felt nothing but disbelief. Marin couldn't be dead, because she wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to always be at his side, his caring and stoic guardian.
But the look on her face was far from stoic. Pain and shock were branded onto her dead expression, twisting her face garishly.
Lio yelled. He tried to find words, but all that came out was an agonized roar of anger. A strong hand grabbed his arm and tried to drag him backward—probably Beck. But Lio shook him off and charged forward, snatching up his pistol again. Arjun lunged out from around the corner, aiming his weapon at Lio.
But Lio was ready for him. The moment the guard's head appeared, Lio fired. The guard jerked backward, shock twisting his expression. Lio didn't stop. He fired off another round, and then another, and another. The guard fell to the ground, but Lio didn’t stop shooting. Blaster fire echoed through the tunnel, joining the roar of blood in Lio's ears.
Arjun was dead. Lio knew that, but it wasn't enough. He wanted the guard decimated, destroyed, ripped to pieces. He wanted Arjun to feel the kind of pain ripping through Lio's mind.
The blaster fire cut out. Lio kept pulling the trigger, trying to shoot, but the pistol only let out a low whine. It had overheated.
A warm hand gently touched his shoulder. For a single moment, Lio thought it was Marin, and a burst of hope bloomed in his chest. But then he turned around, and it was Kaylin standing there, staring up at him with a pitying expression. His hope dissolved into despair, and he swallowed back a choked sob.
"We need to keep moving," Kaylin said, her voice low and gentle.
Lio gasped in a breath and stared down at Arjun’s corpse at his feet. Lio waited to feel the same sense of victory he'd felt when the other guard had died. But there was nothing. No sense of excitement or victory. Just the dull weight of despair.
Kaylin tugged at him harder. "Come on. This tunnel is going to be swarmed with guards any second."
Lio nodded dumbly and turned around, following after Kaylin as she led him back down the tunnel. Marin was still lying on the ground, but her expression seemed to have relaxed slightly. Now it appeared more blank than angry.
Somehow, that was worse. She didn't just look defeated, she looked dead. Really, truly dead.
Lio collapsed on his knees and scooped her into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest. Pain seared through his shoulder, and his injured arm trembled, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He didn't realize he was crying until he saw the blurred image of his tears falling onto her blank face.
"Lio." It was Beck's voice, tight with anxiety. "You have to leave her. I’m sorry, but we need to move."
Kaylin stepped forward, her voice quiet as she said, "You could use the pendant, couldn’t you? Just one more time?”
Lio shook his head. "No. Not when she's already..." He couldn't bring himself to say the word, so he just murmured, "It's too late."
Lio reached with trembling fingers and gently touched Marin's cheek. It was still warm, but not quite as warm as it should have been. Hardly a minute had passed since Arjun had shot her, and already the last of her life force was leaving her body.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered in Rhuramenti. "So, so sorry."
But then he realized that wasn't what Marin would have wanted to hear. So he took a shuddering breath and said, "I'll find the Virtue, and I'll return it safely. I swear to you, I’ll complete our mission for the Council. I won't let your death be for nothing."
She stared sightlessly back at him, unmoved by the words. Lio swallowed back the lump in his throat and brushed his fingertips lightly over her eyes, closing them.
"Peace and duty, Marin," he murmured, reciting the traditional farewell one last time.
Then he staggered to his feet and turned to follow the others, who were already hurrying around the corner. Behind him, he could hear the faint echo of footsteps and yells, as another group of guards charged toward their location.
But he couldn't feel any fear. All he felt was a wild, desperate anger, and a fierce determination to recapture the Virtue once and for all.
31
Beck
Beck wanted to stop and console Lio, but there was no time. Even with the security camera system down, their firefight was going to draw every guard stationed within a mile radius of their position. They needed to move.
They raced through the tunnels, following closely behind Adrien. Kaylin ran at Lio’s side, nudging him forward whenever he began to slow. His wounded shoulder was bleeding, but it’d be fine with a bandage and a couple stitches. Red’s wound was worse, and the poor dragon was limping heavily. Despite the pain, he stayed glued to Kaylin’s side, determinedly keeping pace.
Unfamiliar voices called out from somewhere nearby, and Adrien skidded to a halt. He glanced around, his scrawny chest heaving with exhaustion, and then ducked through an archway to his right. The others followed, leaving the paved path and emerging into one of the older tunnels with bare dirt floors. There were no bones in this tunnel, and judging by the low ceiling and rough dirt walls, it’d rarely been used, even in ancient times.
"How far do we have left until we reach the base's entrance?" Beck called in a whisper to Adrien.
"With this detour, half a mile," the boy replied, not bothering to look back as he answered.
Adrien still hadn’t apologized for lying to the guards about Beck taking him captive, and Beck didn’t think he ever would. Not that he could blame the boy. Lying and betrayal was a required part of surviving as a street kid, and Beck wouldn't hold it against him.
The voices behind them grew louder, and Adrien let out a panicked curse. Beck glanced over at Kaylin. "Now would be a good time for you to pull some thief magic."
Kaylin shook her head. "If I had magic, I’d have used it a long time ago."
"I'll also take a dirty trick, if that's all you've got."
A dark smirk tugged at her lips. “I'll do my best.”
They came to a fork in the tunnel that led in three different directions. Without hesitating, Adrien led them into the tunnel to the right. Kaylin fished in her belt for a moment, and then pulled a tiny, silver device from a pouch. She flicked the switch on the top and tossed it behind her.
A red light flashed, and then a dirt wall appeared, blocking off the area they'd just run through.
"How’d you do that?" Matteo demanded.
"Camo projector," Kaylin said.
"Clever," Matteo said.
Kaylin shook her head. “Don’t count on it fooling them for long. If they have a map of these tunnels, they’ll figure it out quick.”
“Do you have anything better up your sleeve?” Beck asked.
“I do,” Adrien snapped. “Run faster.”
Beck gritted his teeth and pushed himself to keep up the pace. The others followed suit, and they flew through the tunnel, careening around sharp corners and ducking to avoid the areas where the ceiling dipped. Lio was panting harder than the others, and Beck had a feeling that if Marin hadn't died, Lio would’ve already collapsed from exhaustion. But the ambassador’s usually stoic expression was now lined with rage, and apparently his anger was enough fuel to keep him going.
Adrien stopped, and Beck skidded to a halt behind him, nearly slamming into the boy. Adrien shot him an annoyed look and then said, “There’s a door around the next corner that leads into one of the main guard tunnels. It’s locked, but it’s an older door, so you should be able to get it open with a small explosive charge.”
“That'd be too noisy,” Beck said, shaking his head. "An explosion will pinpoint our location for every guard around."
“I’ll crack it open,” Kaylin said simply, nodding at Adrien to guide her over to the door. She didn't give them time to argue before she strode forward, already pulling tools from her belt.
Beck followed beside her, but he motioned for Lio and Matteo to stay put. “Keep an ear out for anyone coming our way,” he ordered. “If anyone gets too close, we’ll j
ust blow the door.”
They nodded, and Beck headed around the corner of the tunnel. The door was a giant slab of steel, rusted and pitted with age. But the digital padlock protecting it was much newer.
“Looks like it takes double authorization,” Kaylin said, kneeling in front of the lock. “Keycode and then a biometric identifier.” She peered closer at it. “Yeah, I know this model. It takes an iris scan.”
Adrien frowned. “Then we’ll have to blow it, unless you’ve got a guard’s eyeball in your toolkit.”
“Have a little patience,” Kaylin said, fishing through her toolkit. She pulled out a small plastic vial with a green label and glanced over her shoulder at them. “Everyone has their respirators on snug?”
Adrien nodded, and Beck gave her a thumbs up.
“All right then,” she said, turning back to the lock. She uncapped the top of the vial and drizzled the clear liquid down the right side of the lock. Reddish-grey smoke filled the air, along with a low sizzling noise.
“Acid?” Adrien said, his tone skeptical. “You’re going to burn the lock off?”
Kaylin shook her head and tapped at the lock. “It’s titanium. I’d need a whole bucket of acid to destroy it. And this model of lock has an alarm that’d go off if I tampered with it that badly.”
“Then what are you doing?” Beck asked.
“Looking for the reset button,” Kaylin said. “Most biometric locks have them, so you can reprogram them for new people. You’re supposed to only be able to reset it if you unlock the lock first and then open a panel, but some models like this one…”
She leaned forward, waving away the last of the smoke and examining her handiwork. The acid had carved a deep trough through the rusted steel door, leaving the side of the titanium lock exposed. A triumphant smile touched her lips. “Sometimes the panel can be reached through the side.”
There was a tiny gap in the side of the lock where two pieces of metal joined. Kaylin fished out a slim wire from her kit and carefully fed it into the gap. Her lips pursed in concentration as she jiggled around the wire. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the lockpad blinked green and the deadbolt gave a loud thunk. Kaylin pulled at the handle, opening the door just an inch.
“And voilà,” she said quietly, making a flourishing gesture toward the door. “We’re in.”
Beck clapped her on the back. “You’re brilliant.”
Kaylin merely scoffed, but Beck caught the faint smile on her lips before she turned away. “Matteo! Lio!” she called softly. “Get over here.”
They came around the corner a moment later, looking haggard but alert. They all turned to Adrien.
“Now what?” Beck asked.
"We still have three more tunnels to get through," Adrien said quietly. He held out the tablet with the map on it, tracing a pattern across its screen. "The good news is we're past most of the traps. Bad news is we're getting into heavily patrolled areas. We need to run down the main tunnel a bit, duck into the second tunnel on the right, and then it's a straight shot to one of the back supply gates."
Beck raised his eyebrows. "I'm assuming the supply gate is guarded?"
Adrien nodded, and Matteo said, "Most supply gates have two guards at a time."
"So we can probably expect four or five, if they're upping security," Kaylin added.
"We can deal with five," Beck said, trying to sound confident. "We have the element of surprise."
The sound of voices leaked through the cracked-open door, and they all took a nervous step backward. Beck held his breath, careful to stay quiet as a group of guards moved past. He carefully listened to their footsteps and voices—five of them, maybe six. He couldn’t make out their words, but their tones were sharp and on-edge.
Kaylin bit her lip and gazed toward the door. “We just need to make sure the hallway is clear before we go out there.”
“Agreed,” Beck said. “We can probably handle five if we ambush them at a gate. But not if we accidentally run into a group in an open hallway.”
“It’s going to be hard to totally clear this hallway,” Matteo said. “This is the main supply tunnel. It connects to all the storage areas and the underground hangar, so it’s always guarded.”
"But there’s not usually much traffic this time of day," Adrien said.
Before he’d even finished speaking, more bootsteps came from outside the door. They waited in tense silence as another guard patrol passed by, this one with four guards.
“They must be expecting some sort of shipment," Matteo said. “There’s no other reason they’d have so many guards in this sector.”
"Or maybe it’s a visitor they’re expecting," Beck said grimly. The Ascendancy may have been on course to arrive there sooner than they’d expected.
Time was running out.
"Hold on," Kaylin said. "I have an idea." She fished a small grey disk of plastic from her toolkit.
“Is that an explosive?” Beck asked uncertainly.
She nodded. “But it’s more boom than bang. It’ll cause a ruckus, but it’s not enough to cause structural damage to any of the tunnels.”
Beck nodded, instantly understanding her plan. "The perfect distraction."
Red turned to her and swished his tail excitedly, as if he already knew what she wanted. Kaylin knelt down and handed him the explosive device, and he took it carefully in his mouth. She cupped his head in her hands and stared at him intently, her brow crinkling as she concentrated. Red cocked his head, as if listening to something. Then he let out a small snort and padded toward the door, his scales shifting color to perfectly match the floor.
“What’s he doing?” Adrien asked.
“I told him to keep himself camouflaged and run down the hallway a bit until he finds an unguarded room. Then drop the charge and come back here.”
Beck raised his eyebrows. “You’re sure you can communicate directions that specific to him?”
“Nope,” Kaylin said. “But we’re about to find out.”
Red nudged at the door with his paw and glanced over his shoulder at Kaylin. He was still favoring the leg that’d been struck by the blaster, but the bleeding had mostly stopped, and his eyes looked bright and alert. Kaylin took a deep breath and then opened the door just enough for him to squeeze through. Red cocked his head, as if listening. When he heard no one nearby, he darted out the door, the explosive charge gripped firmly in his jaws.
Kaylin swung the door closed behind him, leaving it open just a crack so the lock wouldn’t reengage. She unclipped the detonator from her belt, keeping it armed and ready in her hand, and let out a series of quick, deep breaths. It was a breathing method Beck had taught her years ago, a way to calm the nerves and clear the mind. Beck copied her and shifted closer to her, waiting at her side for Red to return.
Ten seconds passed with no sign of Red. Then thirty. Then a minute.
“Don’t go too far,” Kaylin said under her breath.
“He’ll be fine,” Beck said quietly.
A patrol of guards passed by, their boots clunking on the concrete floor. Three of them, by the sounds of it. Then a loud voice boomed in the hallway, “What the hell was that?”
Beck’s heart thudded in his chest. Kaylin breathed in sharply, her body stiffening in panic.
“Come on, Red,” she said under her breath, her gaze glued to the door. “Get back.”
Another voice came from the hallway. “Did you see that? That was a dragon!”
Footsteps pounded down the hall, heading closer to them.
“Detonate the charge,” Adrien hissed.
Kaylin shook her head. “No. I don’t know if Red planted it. He could still have it in his mouth.”
The footsteps grew louder, and Beck readied his rifle, aiming it at the door.
"They're getting closer," Adrien hissed. "We need that distraction. Now."
“Not until Red gets back,” Kaylin snapped.
Adrien cursed and lunged toward Kaylin’s hand with the detonator
, but Beck shoved the boy away.
"Open fire!" a voice called from the hallway.
Gunfire erupted from in the hallway, followed by a panicked shriek from Red. Kaylin's knuckles turned white as she gripped her pistol more tightly. She leaped to her feet, and Beck tried to pull her back, but she shook him off and lunged toward the door.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!” he hissed.
Just then, something darted inside the door, and Kaylin let out a small cry of relief. It was Red. He was limping heavily, but he was alive, and the bomb wasn't in his mouth.
"Now!" Beck said, nodding to the detonator.
Kaylin didn't need any more encouragement. She flipped off the detonator’s safety and plunged down the button.
For a long, painful second, nothing happened. The footsteps in the hallway thudded closer, and Beck took a steadying breath, leveling his rifle at the door.
Then an explosion filled the tunnels with a roar, shaking the walls and raining dirt down from the ceiling. Beck dropped to one knee, keeping himself steady as the ground trembled beneath him.
In the hallway, the footsteps stopped, replaced by confused yelling and sharp commands.
"Where the hell did that come from?"
"Something's hit the West hangar!"
"Not the hangar, it was too close. Check the storage bays!"
"Was that artillery?"
"No, a bomb!"
The footsteps pounded away, and Beck let out a small breath of relief as he lowered his rifle. A fresh trickle of dirt rained from the ceiling, and Beck brushed it off his head as he glanced over at Kaylin.
“I thought you said it was a small bomb.”
She brushed loose dirt out of her face and stared down at Red with wide eyes. “It was. He must have dropped it near something explosive.”
“There are dozens of storage rooms in this sector,” Matteo said. “A lot of them are filled with fuel or ammunition.”
Beck shook his head. “That’s going to attract more people than we want.”
“It’s still better than nothing,” Kaylin said as she knelt down to get a better look at Red's injury.
