Liana! Grey/Leo said, his voice filled with relief but still tinged with an edge of panic.
Hearing his voice was such sweet relief that I paused in the hall and put one hand against the wall to keep my knees from giving out. I was so close, finally… but there were still miles to go before I was done.
Thank Scipio. Are you okay? What’s going—
Worry about that later. I interrupted, shaking off my relief and continuing to move down the hall. What’s your situation?
Bad, Maddox replied for him a second later. We’re all in one piece, but we can’t get through the escape tunnel. Motion sensors on the other side are going crazy, like there’s a small army up there. Luckily Leo and Quess were able to restore power by hacking Cornelius’s link to the Core, but IT has figured out what they did and is working to kick us out. Not to mention those bastards are using cutters to get through the wall. They’ve dismantled every defensive measure we’ve had, room by room, and they’re probably just a few minutes from getting through this door. We’re trapped.
I slowed down as I approached the stairs that led into the first main room of my quarters, checking to make sure the room was clear. Thanks to Maddox’s report, I was prepared for the destruction that lay within, but it was still gut-wrenching to see. The couches and sofas I’d set up theater-style for my briefings with my Knight Commanders had been torn apart by the small photon laser emitters I’d placed at strategic points. Piles of burning fabric lay strewn wildly through the room.
I was halfway down the stairs when I spotted the first body: a young man with curly hair who looked a lot like Liam, but older, was lying on his stomach, blood pooled around the severed stumps where his arm and leg had been, from where the laser emitters had caught him. Behind him, I spotted three more bodies in various forms of dismemberment, and another two on the floor between me and the next door to the hall.
That was six people, but we had arrested over a hundred legacies. And they’d all been in the cells in the Citadel. Some of them were probably stuck fighting the Knights somewhere, but how many were here?
Do you still have cameras? Can you tell me how many are outside the door? I asked, carefully stepping over the bodies and suppressing the queasiness I felt as I headed up the stairs toward the next hall. I paused to check down the curved corridor for any sign of movement. There was none, but I held my position, waiting for Maddox’s answer. If the answer was a few, then I could come up behind them and take them out. If it was more than that, I was going to have to think of another way to help my friends escape.
Liana, there are over forty people in the next room, Zoe piped up, her voice lined with urgency. Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off. You can’t fight your way through them.
No, I couldn’t fight my way through forty people alone. She was right about that. Even if they were trapped in the hall, I only had so many bullets. But if Leo and I could get them pinned between us and our guns, maybe we could create a crossfire that would kill and wound many of them.
But if they had lancers, then we’d be sunk. They’d have a way of attacking us at any range, and since there were only two of us and more of them, chances were they’d cut us down before we could do any considerable damage.
I blew out a breath, looking around and trying to think. There had to be a way to get my friends out, but how? The escape hatch had been eliminated, and the ceiling was enclosed, meaning we couldn’t easily climb up the shaft to try to escape them, so the only way in or out of the apartment was behind me, on the elevators. And there were no legacies left alive between me and those elevators. If I could just get everyone to me…
A moment later, it hit me, and I turned back to the elevator bay, already transmitting my thoughts to Maddox and the others. Use the room controls to create a way from the war room to one of the elevator bays, I ordered. You’ll have to raise a few walls here and there, but there’s no one guarding the front rooms, and if you put walls down in the hall, sealing your path, you’ll be long gone before they figure out what’s going on.
Hey, yeah, that’s a great idea, the youngest member of our group, Tian, chirped. I’m on it!
Good. Be aware that the legacies have a target, I informed them. They’re after Leo. Apparently, he has protocols that Sage needs in order to replace Scipio with Kurt. Whatever you do, get him out of the room first.
I’m your best fighter, Leo immediately said, the affront in his voice thick. You’re going to need Maddox and me to cover everyone else as they run away! We can’t be sure—
I argued with you about this exact same thing once upon a time, I snapped, my patience coming to an abrupt end. I was referring, of course, to the insufferable rule about not letting me go first into dangerous situations—and sending him instead. And I lost. Accept the inevitable and get out of there first, or Quess and Maddox have my permission to knock you unconscious and drag you. We need you, Leo. The Tower needs you. So stop arguing.
There was a pause, making the sounds of my boots on the stairs quite loud to my ears, and then a, Fine. Tian and Eric are figuring the best way to get around these guys. We just need a—
Leo, Quess cried, his voice desperate. I need you! There’s something weird going on with the data stream!
I stopped mid-step and turned around to face the war room. Ignore it, I ordered. Get out of there!
We can’t! Leo shouted. We’re going to lose power in the Citadel if we don’t—
I don’t care! I thundered, angry that he was risking his life over the power in the Citadel. We’ll worry about it later! Now means now!
If we lose the power, Tian won’t be able to move the walls to let us out! I just need to buy her a few seconds to finish laying out a path for us. Give me a second!
There was a long pause, and my heart began to skitter out of beat, dread forming as each second went by without any sign of the walls being moved. I heard muffled sounds in the background, and quickly thought, Guys, what’s going on?
The only response I got was from Leo, and it wasn’t directed at me.
It’s a feedback surge, he cried. Everyone get down, now!
I took a step back toward the main room, my eyes widening as the lights in the quarters flickered, a sharp, high-pitched hum beginning to fill the room. I recognized the sound as the one Tony’s server in Cogstown had made—right before an electrical surge had hit the servers and me—and danced back just as sickly green lightning began to spark from the outlets, shattering the bulbs overhead and casting the room into darkness.
30
The net buzzing in my skull died a heartbeat later, telling me I had lost my connection with the others. My pulse skyrocketed as I realized that whatever power surge I’d just witnessed had likely fried the delicate components in the quarters, including Cornelius. Whatever attack the Core had just launched against us had taken the program out, and with him, the power that Quess and Leo had managed to keep from Sage’s hands.
But that was the least of my worries. My friends were trapped. I had no idea whether the emergency power was going to come on, but if it didn’t, I wasn’t sure they’d be able to use the room controls to get out. Any second now, the legacies were going to finish cutting through the door, and my friends would be trapped with no way out, and Leo would fall right into Sage’s hands. I had to get to them.
I broke into a run, turning on my light so I could see where I was going. Tony, I thought, my breathing already labored. I need you.
Already on it, doll face, he replied, and I felt his presence rise up to meet mine. He stayed just below the surface, but it was like he spread his own arms and legs out, just under my own. The burning in my lungs began to ease as he somehow managed to slow my breathing, and my heartbeat dropped in response. He then released a small trickle of adrenaline while stimulating my brain to produce more endorphins, giving me a wash of energy. His thoughts were just behind mine, explaining everything as he worked, giving me reassurance, until it was hard to tell where my thoughts began and his
ended.
We sped through the halls like this, unified as one, but with me leading the charge in a deep and deadly calm. One hand was already holding my gun while the other pulled out the baton, pressing the button to start the charge.
The hall spiraled inward, taking me through the kitchen, past the bedrooms, dodging the signs of chaos and searching for any hint of movement in the shadows.
A light began to shine from the opposite side of the hall as I drew closer to the war room, and I came around the turn to see a long line of people pouring through a hole where the door had once been. An angry yell burst from my mouth as I saw it, and I raised my gun and began firing into the crowd.
I caught the first three legacies in the back, dropping them immediately, and a fourth mid-turn, and then missed the fifth when he dodged to the side, somehow managing to avoid the bullet. He slammed up against the wall and made for me, but I had anticipated his charge and picked up my foot, planting a kick low to his belly. He staggered back, and I shot him before he had a chance to recoup, the rage in my heart unwilling to show any mercy.
Several other legacies peeled off from the back and moved to meet me, but I gunned them down, and two more behind them. The gun clicked empty, but instead of ejecting the magazine, Tony compelled me to spin it around in my hand and use it to crack some heads, and I was more than happy to comply, turning it in my hand until I was gripping the top and then bringing it back down on a man’s temple.
I jabbed my baton into the woman behind him, going to a knee to do it, then caught the blow from a man with my gun hand seconds before he slashed me open with a cutter. With a vicious growl, I dropped the baton I had been holding against the woman’s stomach and grabbed the man’s cupped hands with my free hand, forcing the angle of the blade back on him. His eyes grew wide as he realized the mistake of his position over me, and then I stood up, shoving my forearm up while pressing down on the cutter hilt with my other hand. He barely had a chance to scream before the crimson blade began to cut a fiery line through his forehead, and then I jerked his arms down quickly, savagely ending his life.
His hands fell away from the cutter, and I pulled it out of him and swung it around to the hall in front of me, bending and scooping up my baton as well. Several legacies were hovering a foot away, their faces wearing various masks of hatred, revulsion, disgust, and fear, and I couldn’t help but bare my teeth at them in a silent snarl as I began to stalk toward them, wondering who would be the first to meet my challenge.
A big man on the left opted to be the first, and he launched himself at me, wielding not one, but two batons. I cut through the first one with the cutter, ducked under the second, and then drove the cutter through his chest, giving the plasma blade a vicious twist before jerking it out of him and letting him fall to one side.
I heard Zoe and Maddox shouting in panicked voices over the clamor, and Tony responded by giving me another hit of adrenaline. I burst into action, racing toward the remaining three legacies, impatient to have this at an end.
I leaned back to avoid a wide blow from a baton brandished by a blond woman, and then grabbed her arm, pushing the baton she held into a second attacker and stepping behind her to use her as a shield against the third attacker. I planted a boot in the small of her back and shoved her forward, then brought my cutter down at an angle in the spot where I had last seen the man. The red-hot, super-charged plasma turned orange in the dim light as it connected with something, and I heard a cry of pain followed by a sizzling spatter of something wet evaporating under the heat of the plasma. The smell of burning flesh filled the hall, but I carried the blade through, then spun all the way around and brought it up over my head in a two-handed grip. I spied the woman I had kicked forward seconds before I brought the blade down, slicing a line down her spine.
I ignored the queasiness that was beginning to form at so much carnage in a matter of seconds, and sprinted toward the door, spying more legacies inside. Several of them were watching me warily, all wielding batons, but they had their backs to the fight behind them—a fight I couldn’t make out through the flashing hand lights and darkness.
I turned my gaze on the handful of legacies waiting just inside the war room and took a quick look at the floor, spotting my gun lying a few feet back. I moved to get it, tucking my baton into my belt loop and then pulling out my last magazine.
As soon as the gun was in my hands, I ejected the old clip and inserted the new, taking a second to chamber a round. The entire time, I kept my back to my enemies, giving them an open target, an invitation to come and get me. A part of me had hoped they would take it—it was easier to fight five when only three of them could fit in the hall, shoulder to shoulder—but they had chosen not to, which meant that their deaths were going to come a whole lot faster.
As soon as the round was chambered, I turned the gun on them, aiming it at the five standing at the other end and squeezing the trigger, Tony’s minor corrections to my arm making my aim true. I began walking down the hall as I fired off another round, hitting a second person before the others ducked into openings to use the walls for cover.
Then I was running, racing toward the opening. I used my free arm to throw a lash end down, snapping out a few feet and then flinging it through the door, aiming for the ceiling beyond. I saw the sharp spark of blue that told me it had connected, and hit the hand controls, jamming them to full throttle. They sent me flying through the door, my gun already turning to the side to angle down, in anticipation of where the enemy would be.
As soon as I saw the sparking blue tips of the batons, Tony and I were able to estimate their positions, and I fired two shots back to back, changing the angle slightly between the two. The flash from both shots showed me that our aim had been spot on, so I put those legacies out of my mind and looked ahead, searching for my friends.
My light caught the edge of the large conference table in the center of the room, now on its side, and I let my lash line continue to drag me up and threw another line, angling for it. I knew my friends were on the other side—the table was surrounded by legacies—and I needed to get to them.
The line hit, and I disconnected the first, swinging into the new connection and firing on the legacies who were trying to flank my friends. I cleared the edge of the table still firing, disconnected the line, and fell to the ground. I landed on my feet and then fired my last two rounds at the men racing around the right side of the table for me.
The gun hit empty, but no one else came around the corner, and I realized I had scared them off for a few seconds. I turned my eyes to the handful of forms huddled behind the table and quickly counted off Maddox, Zoe, and Eric, all of them holding batons.
“Where are the others?” I demanded as I moved closer to them, my eyes searching the area around their feet for any sign of the locked cases that held the ammunition for the guns. I found one a second later, next to a bag by Zoe, and waved for her to pass it over.
She gaped at me, still stunned by my sudden appearance, but Eric quickly spotted what I was after and slid the heavy box toward me while Maddox answered my question.
“Leo and Quess were by the terminal with Tian and Liam when the power went off,” she called, pausing long enough to land a series of hits with her baton as a woman tried to come over the table at us. “Leo thinks he can get the emergency power on if he can pull the burned circuits!”
I grated my teeth together and threw open the box, digging around for a magazine and thinking. The emergency power could help us, in that it would mean we still had defenses in this room, but it was a waste of time at this point. I had taken out almost half their number, and the defenses in the room weren’t going to help us as much as Leo would like. If anything, they were going to catch us in the crossfire, especially if Cornelius wasn’t there to guide them. And I had a feeling that whatever attack Sage had just launched from the Core had taken my virtual assistant offline permanently.
I could try to buy Leo some time, but I could feel Tony’s co
ncern that I was already pushing too hard. My body had been on the verge of crashing for the last few hours, and this particular push was going to be it for me before I hit oblivion. We needed to get out of here, and the only way for us to do that was to make a hole and get out through the halls.
“LEO!” I called, pushing from my diaphragm to make my voice stand out over the cacophony of noise. “LEAVE IT AND RUN! WE WILL COVER YOU!”
“ONE SECOND!” he shouted back in a slightly singsong voice, and I felt a rush of irritation at him that was swallowed by my fear for him. The legacies were after him on Sage’s orders, but I had no idea whether they’d actually take him alive or try to shoot him if things got too heavy for them. I had to get to him and get him out of here.
“We gotta move,” I told the others, slapping the magazine I found into the gun and chambering a round. “We’re going right for the dais. You three charge, and I’ll shoot anyone who comes behind. Get Leo and move. Sage needs him for his plan.”
“Got it,” Zoe said, shaking off whatever shock she was feeling with a sharp nod. Her eyes were wide, but they were also focused. “Ready when you are.”
I nodded and took a few steps to the right of the table, checking the gap to make sure no one was there. After a quick look, I nodded to the others and waved them forward, then turned back to check the other side of the table while Maddox crept past, heading for the gap. I kept one eye on her and the others as they went through, the other on the open gap, and then backed away from the spot as soon as Eric, who was last to go, moved.
I was turning back to race across the floor after them, when a man stepped around the table and threw his baton at me. Tony and I reacted quickly, leaping back so that the baton missed us by a matter of inches, and then shot him in the head, dropping him to the ground like a bag of bricks. I quickly followed Eric, racing after him toward the steps and scanning for any targets. Bodies lay all around the steps, but there was a thick crowd of people at the top, all legacies, surrounding my desk.