Chương 193: Everything Metal

"No," Alexander said. Augustus glanced at him.

"Alex..."

"The plan doesn't change. Give me a moment." He released his hold on the surveillance drones, letting Talia's control resume uninterrupted, and muted the primary System call. Felix was still up there, circling overhead, listening to every word on the channel. He didn't need to hear his guild master and squad leader debating whether he was ready for what was coming.

"Is Felix ready?" he asked aloud, including Talia on a second call. Augustus frowned at the topic change.

"Yes. We pushed him hard this week, at his own request. He ascended Endurance and Constitution about four hours ago." He paused.

"I'd be hesitant to put him against unknown Tier 2s, but he's ready." Alexander turned to Annie, who'd been standing there with the kind of forced patience that suggested she was about three seconds from volunteering herself for everything.

"You good to keep an eye on him for this?" Annie gave a short nod. Then the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Sounds almost like the beginning of a joke. An elephant and a spinosaurus walk into a militia camp..." Alexander wanted to laugh. The image alone deserved one. But the memory of small shapes huddled under blankets in cages was too fresh, and the humor died somewhere between his chest and his throat.

"It's still going to take me at least fifteen seconds per cage," Augustus said, pulling them back to the problem.

"Assuming we start the clock after I grab the first one, that's a full minute the three of you have to hold off nine superhumans and however many conventional fighters are still standing." Alexander took a breath. Let it out slow.

"Besides the people in the cages, are we certain everyone down there is hostile?"

"Yes." Augustus didn't hesitate.

"Every adult in that camp is either militia or operational support. The prisoners are contained and separated. There are no civilians mixed in with the population. The only unknowns are those in the command tent." Alexander's gaze settled on the distant glow of the camp. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet and very steady.

"Then it won't be nine after I kick things off." Silence settled between them. Augustus studied him under the light of the moon for a long moment. The holo drones maintained their vigil overhead, keeping them safely hidden despite standing exposed atop the ridge. When he spoke, his words carried understanding rather than judgment.

"Alex, we could work out another approach. If you're going to do what I think you're going to do, you'll take out a lot of the regular combatants down there too." He let that sit for a moment.

"You said the Sheikha might be sympathetic. That's another angle worth considering." Alexander shook his head.

"I've thought about it. Both options. I could fly the cages out myself, but they'd be under fire the whole time. You'd need to shield them instead of moving them, which puts Annie and Felix in a lot more danger during the opening. And it gives the targets more time to either escape or focus on the hostages."

"He's right," Talia said, her voice flat and certain.

"If we're prioritizing the kidnap victims, the safest approach is Augustus slipping the trailers out quietly while the camp is focused on everything else. Alexander extracting them with Metallokinesis just paints them as targets." Annie stepped closer. She reached up and placed a hand on his right shoulder.

"What about Auggy's idea? Sheikha what's-her-face. We could go to her." Alexander looked at the hand on his shoulder. He brought his left hand up and rested it over hers, cybernetic fingers settling gently over warm skin.

"It's fine," he said.

"Really. I can live with this choice." He looked back toward the distant camp.

"Not sure I can live with waiting and finding out the people in those cages didn't." Annie squeezed his shoulder once and let go. Augustus didn't argue further. Alexander ended the second call and unmuted the first.

"Felix? Everything still clear up there?"

"Yes," Felix answered. His voice carried the careful, measured quality it always did when he was focused.

"Nothing has changed."

"Good. I was just going over things with the others. They think you're ready for this." He paused.

"What do you think?" Silence on the channel. It stretched long enough that Annie glanced up at the sky, looking for the nearly invisible owl still wheeling above the camp. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"I do not think I can know for sure," Felix said.

"But I want to contribute." A beat passed.

"I believe I am ready." Alexander smiled to himself. The determination in his friend's voice was all too familiar. He'd heard it in Annie's voice the day they went after Mercy and Ripper. In his own, more times than he could count. The quiet insistence of someone who refused to be left behind.

"Then you're in. But you follow Annie's calls, no matter what." He rolled his shoulders, popping joints that had grown too accustomed to conference rooms and couches over the past few days.

"Alright. The plan remains the same, but run it by me again so I know we're all on the same page."

"I'll start by portaling Annie into position south of the camp where Felix will join her," Augustus said.

"Once they're set, I begin extracting trailers. Children first, depositing them behind the ridge here, near the SUV. The camp is on alert, so we're not expecting to pull more than one before it's noticed. If we get lucky with a second, great. Otherwise, expect things to move fast once the first trailer disappears." He pointed toward the glow in the distance.

"They're anticipating an attack from the north. The last two camps we hit were further up that way, and they've repositioned defenses accordingly. Which is why Annie and Felix attack from the south once the alarm goes up. The goal is for them to go loud, draw attention, and sow confusion just before the real offensive begins. From the north." He glanced at Alexander.

"Right where they're expecting it. Alexander hits them with everything he has."

"By that point, we should have two of the five trailers out," Talia said.

"Alex, you can't target the command tent directly. You need to lure them out instead. We think that's where they're keeping Gabriel Cross. Likely the Tier 1 you picked up." Alexander nodded slowly.

"Good call. And to be honest, I doubt I have the Control necessary to avoid the trailers while also picking my targets cleanly. Keeping the command tent out of it simplifies things."

"Once the trailers are secured behind the ridge, I'll have the holo drones expand their coverage to conceal them," Talia continued.

"I'll also be running your combat drones. Mostly hands off. The automated routines will handle targeting and positioning. I'll supervise and step in if the situation calls for it." She paused, then added with a trace of reluctance, "I hope you don't mind, but I've upgraded your combat protocols while I've had them this past week. Your surveillance routines too." Another pause.

"And the holo drones." Alexander chuckled. He'd been meaning to ask her about it since they'd gotten back from New York, but there were always more pressing things demanding his attention.

"Thanks, Talia. There's nobody else I'd trust with it."

"You're welcome," she said quietly. He could imagine Talia sitting in the dark in her fuzzy pajamas with a growing blush at the compliment. Augustus returned to the briefing.

"From there, the goal is to secure Gabriel Cross, if present." He hesitated a moment.

"And I'd prefer it if we killed everyone else. Some people shouldn't get to operate."

"I'm inclined to agree," Talia said.

"But we really need to take someone in a command position alive." Annie crossed her arms.

"No promises." Alexander frowned.

"Especially not if they're one of the Tier 2s." Talia spent the next few minutes walking them through the known targets. Powers, observed capabilities, potential threat assessments for the six she and Augustus had identified. The three unknowns would have to be dealt with as they came.

"Are there any questions?" she asked. Silence followed.

"Then the operation begins on your go, Augustus." Augustus's wand appeared in his hand. He began conjuring the portal without further comment. Annie walked over to Alexander and held out a fist. He bumped it with his own. She looked serious. More serious than he was used to seeing from her, the usual restless energy replaced by something harder and more focused. Then she grinned, and there she was again.

"Try not to hog all the fun."

"No promises," he said, echoing her. She turned and headed for the portal, a dark disc shimmering into existence a few paces away. Augustus reached out as she passed and patted her once on the head. She didn't protest, didn't even break stride. Just stepped through and vanished into the dark. A handful of combat drones peeled off from the SUV and zipped through after her before the portal snapped shut. Augustus walked over to Alexander.

"Ready?" Alexander took a deep breath and met the older man's gaze.

"Yeah. Just another injustice that needs fixing, right?" Something passed behind Augustus's eyes. Recognition. Probably memory of the day they'd first set out from his old mansion to set something right. He clapped Alexander on the back without a word, then turned and headed for the ridge, his wand already spinning as a much larger portal bloomed in the air near the SUV. This one was wide enough to swallow a trailer whole. The other end would be somewhere beneath the camp, positioned under one of the western cages.

Alexander reached for his powers. Electrokinesis, which had tapered off once he'd arrived and saw everything was safe, ramped back up again. Rushing into his Core. Pushing out into his body as his vision cut more efficiently through the night. Ears picked up the distant sounds of the camp. His sense of smell sharpened. Metallokinesis pulsed. Oscillating waves targeted his boots, his gauntlet, his arm, his chestplate, and he rose into the air. Gently at first. Then faster, drifting toward the north side of the camp.

Four of the holo drones joined him at Talia's direction, slipping into position ahead of him and angling just enough to hide his presence behind the holographic illusion of nothingness. His senses reached out, picking out as much detail as he could. He let all of it pass through his mind for a moment, almost overwhelming, before narrowing his focus to just the things he needed to know. The first trailer vanished from his senses. Reappeared behind him.

With a thought, Alexander felt inside the ring and found the drones he'd kept aside for himself. And his new toys. But he waited. Didn't want to overload himself with too many things at once. A shout of alarm went up from below. He picked up hundreds of bioelectric signatures responding to the initial cry of alarm as more shouts went out. More people woke up. Scrambled for boots. Clothes. Armor. Weapons. Then a roar echoed out into the night from the south. Followed by a loud trumpeting.

Alexander stretched out both hands, almost as if he were cupping the distant camp between his palms. With one thread of his mind, Metallokinesis swept across the camp, finding everything metal. The second thread manually excluded the four remaining trailers. Another disappeared, making it three. He also excluded the command tent. Alexander breathed out. And pulled.