Chapter 255
The strike team operated out of the same abandoned warehouse Id plucked a merchant girl out of what felt like a lifetime ago. We had a few other meeting places and fallbacks, but this hadonce againbecome something of a second home over the last few months.
When Kinsley was here, she hadnt spruced the place up much. Something about the concussions and her fathers kidnapping put a real damper on her aesthetic preferences. The whole time the two of us worked out of this place, it stayed spartan.
It looked completely different now. Id told Astrid and Astria it was temporary, but that hadnt stopped them from decorating, putting up posters, bizarre and unconnected art pieces, lamps, a dark-brown pullout couch and several reclining chairs. And of course, a high-learning sized white board, which was currently pushed to the corner of the room, half concealed beneath a curtain. I honestly should have come down on them harder for the constant ornamentingthe entire point of using this place was that it looked abandonedbut the truth was I didnt have the heart.
Especially considering how Astrid couldnt stop gushing about how nice it was to stay in one place.
Another reminder that I was getting soft.
Then again, I had to remember that Gemini was the star of the show here. The twins brought more collective firepower to the team than Max, me, and even Sae could leverage collectively at any given time. Maybe letting them liven the place up was a perk that came with the territory.
Max was doing basic maintenance on his crossbows in the corner. I turned him towards them. Beyond his previous association with Roderick, his background was a mystery, but he was one of many frustrated Users who had extensive pre-dome experience with firearms and found themselves unable to leverage that skill. That frustration was doubled when you factored that Maxs Estranged Officer class was almost purely informational. His evaluation power was invaluable, but he didnt have many combat skills. And as someone in almost the same exact situation, I knew crossbows would translate well. Took him a week to get a solid feel for them, after that hed been upgraded from pure scout to auxiliary ranged.
Sae and Astrid were quietly discussing something in the corner and didnt appear to be arguing. That in and of itself was uncommon, as outside the field, their aggressive personalities tended to set each other off, and it took a measure of discipline not to send Azure to listen in. There was no reason to breach their privacy. If it was important enough, Sae would bring it to me later.
Astria was talking my ear off per usual. She got nervous pre-mission, and unlike her sister, seemed to place a lot of faith and trust in me, given our history.
Taking dual-cast at level seventeen is the obvious choice. She continued in a stream-of-consciousness that barely required my input.
Mhm. I said. Wed already talked about this.
How is dual-cast different from what the two of you usually do? Taliacurrently manifested in her darker, shadow formlifted her head and asked. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om
When we cast together, were magnifying the same spell. Dual-cast would allow us to do the same thing with either the same spell or two different spells, quadrupling the firepower. Astrias eyes twinkled. And thats not even getting into the reactions we could set off if we mixed different elements. Super-heated steam, maybe even lava if we do it right.
Seems like a wise investment. Talia nodded approvingly.
How close are you to leveling? I asked, trying to re-engage with the conversation and ignore Sae and Astrid.
Close. We should both tip-over tonight if this ones worth as much XP as the last one. Astria said, then her enthusiasm waned. Wont matter though. Not if I cant talk Astrid into it.
That was surprising. For as long as Id known them, the twins had been more or less of one mind. Besides the day wed met, this was the first hint at internal tension Id gotten from either of them. Astrid wants something different?
Astria chuckled nervously, pointedly not looking at me and playing with her hair. Its no big deal. Shes just dragging her feet a little.
I waited.
Talia looked between us in confusion. I do not understand how this matter involves feet.
Figure of speech, Tal. I murmured, keeping my focus on Astria. Means her sister isnt picking up what shes putting down.
Shouldnt the person who put it down pick it back up? Talia blinked.
She thinks were focusing too much on offense. Astria admitted, seeming disproportionally uncomfortable with the statement from the way she shifted and refused to make eye-contact.
I shifted the mask on my face, feeling a degree of responsibility. If the counter-argument is she wants to boost your defensive spells, Astrid may be onto something. The way the strike-team fights is perfect for taking out isolated, high-level targets
Assassinations. Astria chirped.
Thats the contact getting us into the Galleria? Astrid asked.
Uhuh. Sae confirmed. Friend of a friend, so be friendly.
Should I pull the van around? Renato spun around, and I spotted a barely there gleam in his eye. For whatever reason, Azure really liked to drive.
Sae shook her head. Stay put. Astrid will teleport us to the subway stairwell. Well meet him on the road.
I coughed. Gregs driving?
Yep. Said they know his car.
I didnt argue, but I wasnt sure what to think. It made sense Greg had a car. Relatively, it was probably a lot easier for him to make money in the dome than it had been in the world before. And even if he hadnt bought it, there was no end to the number of abandoned vehicles that littered the side of the road. It was more having witnessed the manic abandon with which he frequently bombed downhill on a shopping cart that was putting me ill-at-ease.
There hadnt been a suitable moment to break the news to Sae. Not just that there was a cure for her condition, but that someone else needed it more, and it would likely be some time before we laid hands on the second. Telling her now risked distracting her before the mission, a risk I wasnt willing to take. Still, I needed to tell her tonight if possible.
Hey, Myrddin. Sae called out to me, glancing at the wall. Sidebar?
I followed her out of earshot of the others.
You ready to get this fucker? She asked, as I leaned against the wall beside her.
Been a long time coming, I said.
Are Sae hesitated, some of the sharpness in her expression blunting. Are we sure Nick shouldnt be here, for this?
I shook my head.
Sae lowered her voice further. Its just stuck in my head. We all lost something in that tunnel. But Nick loved her. Like, really loved her.
So did you. I pointed out.
In my own bitchy, cunty way, I guess. Sae huffed a laugh, and wiped her nose. Still, were the survivors, you know? The three of us. It feels weird to not have him here.
She wasnt wrong. For the longest time, Id believed Sunnys involvement was limited to poor management. That hed simply failed to keep his people in line at a critical moment. But the more distance I put between myself and that event, the less likely it seemed. It wasnt that Id learned more about Sunny and how he operated, though that was also true. More that Id gained life-experience.
I could say definitively, that the best way to break a group like ours had been was to create the same exact outcome hed accidentally achieved. Swiftly and brutally killing an auxiliary member to your target when you had the numbers advantage was a perfectly efficient manner of breaking morale.
It was something I planned to ask him about, if he surrendered before he stopped breathing.
I get it, I reached out to brace her arm. Then again, its not gonna bother me. If all goes well tonight, Im gonna go home, and probably sleep better than I have in weeks. And considering I the barrage of colorful ideas I had to talk you out of if we had a chance to interrogate him, Im guessing its not gonna bother you either.
Probably. Sae admitted.
Nick isnt like that. We bring him along tonight, and that shit will haunt him. He deserves the chance to move on with his life. Leave Sunnys clusterfuck in the rear-view.
Sae breathed out, then nodded. Cant be the wisecracking hero if youre buried in self-doubt. She looked passed me, to where Astria was completing a runic circle that glowed blue. Teleport ready?
Now it is. Astria stepped back, reviewing her handiwork before she grinned. All aboard!
I stepped into the teleport circle first. And the world swirled away.
