They caught their breath for a few more moments. Unfortunately, they couldn’t linger.
“They know for sure we found this tunnel,” Wayne said. “If there’s some kind of lab at the end of it, they’ll be clearing it out as we speak.”
Wax nodded and heaved himself back to his feet. He reached out a hand to help Wayne up.
“We need to talk,” Wax said. “About you. The way you’ve been feeling lately.”
“Sure. Okay. I like talkin’. But later.”
Later was always better.
Together, they pressed forward. “I got the woman pretty good,” Wax said. “Do you think that killed her?”
“Depends. How’s your luck been lately?”
“Awful,” Wax admitted. “But at least we know we’re on the right trail. Otherwise they wouldn’t have tried so hard to stop us.”
“Yeah, sure,” Wayne said. “I’m glad we’re done with the canyon, but the hardest part is yet to come. The mesa, which is gonna gobble you up. Remember to choke it from the inside.”
“I’ll do my best.”
50
Marasi drew up a quick plan — which was the only kind they could afford. Moonlight and TwinSoul stayed near the window, ready to break in. Marasi worked her way up to the front of the building to place a grenade by the door. The slowness bubble would work through the wall, trapping the two guards who stood inside. As she charged her weapon, however, Moonlight ducked around the side of the rectangular structure and scuttled up to Marasi.
“Guards just moved,” she hissed. “They’re getting gas masks from a bin near the scientists.”
Rusts. She couldn’t let them release the gas.
“We go in now,” Marasi hissed. “Back me up if the grenade fails.”
Moonlight nodded, and Marasi kicked in the door and hurled her grenade toward the group of people in the left corner, near the window where she and the others had been spying.
Sorry, TwinSoul, she thought, knowing the grenade would catch him too. Her aim was solid, and the grenade box bounced off one lab table, then fell to the floor near the group of guards and scientists.
The two guards immediately leaped away, one sliding over the table, the other one dashing for the front of the room. One of the scientists was also at the perimeter and — unfortunately — jumped away in surprise.
When the grenade activated, it caught only two of the scientists in gas masks. Luckily, that included the one holding a tin with warning labels on it, presumably the poison tablets.
Marasi’s grenade would keep them frozen. But now she had to deal with the others without raising an alarm. The free scientist was cringing at the side of the room, so Marasi dashed forward and slammed her rifle’s butt into the arm of one guard, who had been pulling out a pistol. Moonlight moved behind her — hopefully dealing with the other guard, because the man Marasi had attacked decided to slam into her, shoving her back against a table full of beakers.
She grunted as he rammed her own rifle up almost to her neck. Glassware shattered on the floor around her, and a part of her panicked. The part of her that still, even after all these years, worried she wasn’t good enough and didn’t belong.
That part of her was a lot quieter than it had been. Because she did belong. This was her operation. And though this man was stronger than she was, he was only a common brute. Training beat strength.
She shifted, then let go of the rifle and stepped out with her left leg, shifting the man’s weight — and force. As he stumbled, she wrenched out from his grip, rotated around behind him, then slammed his face down into the counter.
She recovered her rifle, sparing a glance for Moonlight, who was struggling. She’d disarmed her guard, but he’d in turn pressed her against the wall. As Marasi took that in, the wall distorted and a door popped into existence behind Moonlight.
Marasi barely caught sight of the stamp in Moonlight’s hand as the door opened, and the woman fell backward through it — surprising the guard, who cried out as she pulled him down with her. Moonlight elbowed him in the face to cut off his cry, so Marasi finished off her guard with a rifle butt to the face, then turned to deal with the scientist, who was …
Destroying evidence? Marasi cursed and scrambled over to the woman and pulled her away from the trash can where she’d started a fire. Marasi kicked the trash can over, scattering charred notebooks and papers out of it.
“Marasi!” Moonlight cried.
Rusts. The scientist had found a large knife and joined Moonlight’s fight. As Moonlight struggled to deal with the guard — who was trying to grapple her — the scientist raised the knife.
Making a quick judgment, Marasi swung up her rifle and snapped off a shot, killing the scientist with a well-placed bullet. The sound echoed in the tunnels like a screamed condemnation. Someone would hear that for certain.
Moonlight finished off her guard with her own knife, then was cut off from view as the door she’d made vanished. Marasi sat on the floor and groaned softly, the shimmering barrier of her slowness bubble just a foot away. She’d taken the risk to save people. She’d known what she was getting into. But now their operation was jeopardized.
So don’t let it be wasted, she thought, hauling herself to her feet. As her slowness bubble came down, she pointed her rifle right at the two scientists.
“Make one move to open that tin,” she said, “and I will kill you. I’m having a particularly bad day, so I wouldn’t test that threat.”
The scientist with the tin of poison gas tablets carefully set it down, then both raised their hands and backed away. Moonlight entered a moment later and began binding them. TwinSoul stumbled in behind her, holding to the doorframe for stability.
“I appear to have run afoul of your powers,” he said to Marasi.
“Sorry about that,” she said.
“I note two disabled guards,” he said. “And one dead scientist. So the operation went well?”
“Marasi had to shoot one,” Moonlight said, pulling one of the scientists’ bonds tight, “to save me. I ruined it.”
“No,” Marasi said. “It was my fault for not helping fast enough.”
“It is done,” TwinSoul said. “We should see to the captives and secure an exit. What are those burned pages?”
“They destroyed evidence,” Marasi said. “I assume about how they were accomplishing the Hemalurgy. I wasn’t able to save it, so…”
Moonlight sniffed. “Looks like the cover of a book there. You saved that much.”
“But none of the writings,” Marasi said.
“I can rewind that later,” Moonlight said, “with a stamp.” She grabbed the burned remnants and shoved them into her sack. “TwinSoul is right. We should probably begin our extraction — that gunshot will bring people running.”
“Extraction?” Marasi said. “Entrone said he was going to help an invading force attack. Moonlight, can enemy troops really reach us from … another world?”
“They’re probably coming through Shadesmar,” Moonlight said. “A dimension overlapping ours. It’s how TwinSoul and I got here.”
“Autonomy has access to … some very specialized troops,” TwinSoul said. “Hard to control. Dangerous to unleash. I know their destructive power personally. While I’m more frightened of that bomb, an invasion by Autonomy’s forces could also be catastrophic. Fortunately, the local perpendicularity — the portal to reach this world — is far to the south and carefully controlled.”
“There’s no other way?” Marasi asked.
The two shared a look.
“There are planets,” Moonlight said, “where Autonomy has created such portals unexpectedly, and against all understood mechanics. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s done that here, or is soon going to. Providing a means for her armies to attack.”