Reaching the end of the countdown, the squads moved up.
That black sheet metal was gone now, and in its place was a tall and wide shield. Angled at the sides, it would protect and block an entire squad on approach.
Held by the point position, it was supported by another person on each side. The glow of magic infused it.
The shields weren’t needed, though. The squads reached the entry points without resistance.
A ten-second timer popped up in the corner as the last squad made it to their assigned position.
The Shield Wardens on top, now positioned in opposite corners, brought their swords down into the roof.
Withdrawing their weapons, each reached into a pod on their side and pulled out what could only be a grenade.
At five seconds, they pulled the pins and dropped them into the holes they’d made.
The Wardens on the outskirts began firing into the windows, if only to force people to keep their heads down.
Once more at zero, the squads moved in. Doors were battered aside and the teams began to enter.
They cleared the entry lobby, checked corners, and began a systematic sweep of the building.
On top of the building, the Shield Wardens burst through the roof. They would be clearing their way down.
To Felix, it was mind-numbing and hard to follow.
Instead, he focused in on the children.
The shield was still up, but flickering with each strike from the super strength goon who was pounding on it.
Then the shield went down.
Before Felix could even think about yelling out, the Telemedics were there. Teleporting in, and out, in the blink of an eye.
In the Telemedic loading area, the kids popped into existence. Being ferried here as quickly as his people could manage. As fast as they could.
Before the brute could think to attack the kids, they were all gone. Whisked away at the moment the shield failed.
Expanding the Telemedics is now a definite. Yep. Lots more.
Felix couldn’t stop the smirk that spread across his face. Disconnecting himself from the feed, as there wasn’t much he could add and he doubted there’d be much left to do, he moved over to the kids.
Sifting through them, he quickly found Eva and Lucian in one corner. Both appeared whole and healthy. Which meant Lily wouldn’t murder him.
“Felix!” Eva said, seeing his approach. “You came.”
“Of course I did. Hard to be your legal guardian if I don’t take care of you. Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking to the others. Those who were wounded were already receiving treatment on site. Those who needed immediate attention were ported off back to home base, he imagined. “They stormed the school, demanded to know where we were. They shot the principal when he wouldn’t tell them what class we were in. That’s what we heard, at least.”
Felix suddenly felt poorly about how he’d treated the principal.
“They were looking for you, specifically?” he asked.
“Yeah. They were.”
“Alright. Sounds like we need to open a school of our own, then,” Felix said with a sigh.
He couldn’t leave the kids out in the open like this if they were going to be targeted.
I’m so tired of only reacting. Reacting to their attacks. This needs to end. Now.
“I think this is over. I’ll head back with the first group and start talking to the kids. Make the entire department available to talk to people,” Kit said.
Honestly, Felix had almost forgotten she was there with how quiet she was.
“Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Kit. I appreciate it.” Felix turned his head towards her. He tried out a smile, only to remember that she couldn’t see into his helmet.
She gave him a smile and a casual wave of her hand. Then, pressing a hand to Eva’s shoulder, she guided her away from the group.
She led her over to the Telemedic party where she began talking to them.
“Kit’s nice. She says she likes talking to me because I speak my mind,” Andrea said, taking several steps forward. She leaned down and started to fiddle with the ground, her fingers pushing into the soft dirt.
“I can imagine.” Felix turned back to the monitors, watching his people sweep and clear the library.
“Smells funny,” Andrea said. Looking over, he found that Andrea was digging like a dog now, sending handfuls of dirt behind her.
“What does?” he asked.
“The ground. It smells like…” Andrea paused, considering her words.
Felix noticed out of the corner of his eye the moment the Telemedics took Kit and the children back to headquarters.
“Like explosives,” Andrea said, recapturing his attention.
As his eyes flicked back to Andrea, she held something up in one hand.
Then it blew up.
Everything blew up.
All Felix knew was fire, the sound of detonations, and tremendous forces buffeting him.
He could see… nothing. He could hear nothing. He felt nothing.
That wasn’t quite accurate. He could feel pain. A lot of pain.
He just couldn’t feel anything besides that.
Which means I’m at least alive.
Felix managed to lift an arm, then the other.
Am I blind or…
Reaching up with box hands, Felix tried to unclasp his helmet.
Fumbling blindly with unfeeling fingers, it wasn’t an easy task. It was damn near impossible, really.
Eventually, he managed to get the locking clasp open, then rotate the lock and pull the helmet free.
Blinking, he tried in vain to clear his vision. Acrid smoke and dust hung in the air all around him. The smell of blood was overwhelming.
And the low sound of moans gave everything a surreal, hellish feeling.
Rolling to one side, Felix came face to face with the mangled remains of Andrea.
Most of her head was missing, as was a good portion of her chest and one arm. There was no life there in the remaining eye.
Even her powers of regeneration wouldn’t help there. It was directed regeneration to help keep points down.
Shuddering away from that, Felix sat up quickly. Then threw up all over his leg plates.
Spitting a chunk of digested food into the grass, Felix started to slowly rise to his feet.
Taking a moment to steady himself, Felix allowed himself to look around him.
Ioana was there, the lower half of her body simply gone. Her hands were pressed into her guts as if she had tried to hold herself together in her last moments.
His stomach rose up as if to try and empty itself again.
Turning his back on his dead War Maiden, he distanced himself a little.
Lying in the grass, fetched up behind a monitor, was Victoria.
Every inch of exposed skin was blistered and cracked with burns. Her hair was just gone.
She looked alive, though. Her chest rose and fell slowly.
Nearby, he saw the remains of several Others, all dead and decimated.
Reaching down, he gently shook Victoria’s shoulder.
Her eyes cracked open, then closed. Grudgingly, they opened again, as a groan escaped Victoria’s lips.
“It hurts,” she hissed.
“At least you’re alive. Can you get up?” Felix asked. He left her alone, looking around for other survivors. Here and there, people were going through the wreckage and bodies.
Victoria somehow got to her feet, looking more akin to something that’d been flash fried.
“I think you took the blast, but the fire went around you,” she ground out between burnt lips. “I can’t feel most of my fingers. I think the nerves are burnt.”
“They probably are. Don’t worry, I can fix you after this.”
“Can you fix them?” Victoria asked, one hand indicating Ioana and Andrea.
“So long as they said yes in their HR documentation… and that I have enough points to do it. I’m not sure, and I really don’t want to look right now, but I’m betting I lost a good number of points.”