Chapter 50

CELESTE

She faded in and out of sleep. How many days had it been since her capture by Jacques — and rescue by Titus? She had not reacted well to whatever intoxicant he’d used to subdue her, and between that and the trauma, time was a blur.

“Emmett,” Celeste whimpered softly from her bed, “can I have a cup of water?” The AI had been nothing but kind to her, waiting on her however she might need, and she had grown to appreciate the finer aspects of the work that Helio did.

Strangely, no cup of water appeared.

Maybe he is dormant, thought Celeste. Did AIs sleep?

She rolled over onto her side, her head swimming with images of what had transpired. Several rooms, several Jacques. She couldn’t tell what was real or imagined. In most of her memories, he had tried to seduce her. Or torture her? Or both? But every memory ended the same way. Titus rushing in and slamming the Charlatan’s head to the ground. And then…she couldn’t remember, but it felt full of light and joy and excitement. And then sleep. Sweet restful sleep. She dozed off.

In her dreams, Celeste tried to remember what she had even set out to do in the first place, what was now days before. Something for Helio? She didn’t know. She hoped everything was all right. Who was Helio’s Titus?

…for that matter, who was Titus’s Titus?

Oh no, what if something had happened to him?! She awoke with a start, her body clenched in fear, and felt sick. In her ailing state, she had no ability to fight these emotions or muster any sort of logic or rationality. Panic set in.

The door swung open.

“Emmett?” she called faintly.

It wasn’t Emmett.

She saw the shadow of a large, hulking man enter her room. She couldn’t make him out in the dim light, but there was something very familiar about him.

Before she could react, he moved swiftly to her bedside. Celeste struggled to sit up. He was upon her then, grabbing her tightly. She inhaled sharply and…she could never forget that scent.

It was Titus. Celeste melted into his arms.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Chapter 51

GREY

Grey, Othin, Vulcan, Khita and Sebastian ran through a side door and up the B stairs to a hallway of offices. Rio did the same, but with less running and more flying. Watt huffed and puffed, making his way slowly behind them along with the exhausted Hyperbotics contingent.

“This way,” said Grey decisively, and ran towards a large conference room. They pulled up outside, just as a big man in a warsuit did the same.

“Garrison?!” said Grey.

“Wotcher, mates,” said the big man, flashing a grin.

Grey nodded. “No time for chat, unfortunately,” said the huntress, and she kicked down the door.

The conference room had windows facing the outside — really a tremendous view of Atlas, even though they were only on the second floor. It was the view inside the room that was cause for concern.

Helio was inside, tied up with what looked like black tendrils, and he did not look well. Around him were Aurora, Orion, two psions and…some other big man in a warsuit.

Fighting broke out almost instantly. Orion fired empyrean energy at Othin, who retreated into a corner. Sebastian sniped a psion with his pistol. Aurora hit the entire group with a paralazer, leaving them feeling dizzy. Grey managed to clear her head and lined up a shot on Aurora.

Aurora seemed barely injured by the tracer bolt, and Grey looked to see Orion had intervened with a fate transfer, absorbing most of the energy of the blow.

“Kneel before me!” shouted Orion, and blasted Othin’s corner with energy.

Vulcan roared and charged across the room, slamming into the Empyrean and blocking most of the impact, and preventing follow-up. The force of the blast knocked Vulcan flat. Othin shot a grateful smile at the badger, then collapsed into the corner, the empyrean energy that had made it through still a great deal for him to handle. Vulcan began to rise and looked like she was about to say something, but she suddenly grunted and emitted some steam, and her head crashed to the floor once more.

Aurora cackled at the bolt of energy that had felled the badger.

Grey saw her window, and lined up another shot on Aurora. The sorceress would pay for this…

“Careful!” she heard Khita’s voice say, as the archer shot a shield arrow at the huntress, protecting her from a barrage from Juno’s cannons. When had Juno gotten here? wondered Grey.

Orion appeared locked in combat with Vulcan, and Sebastian was harassing Aurora with pistol shots. Rio was handling the second psion quite well, no doubt immune to its mental assaults. The animals were a bigger help than the humans, thought Grey, but that had never surprised her. Rio was worth three of most people.

As Aurora moved to dodge a shot from Sebastian, Grey shot her again and smiled as her tracer bolt ripped into the digital sorceress with full effect this time.

Suddenly, Garrison charged over to Grey and knocked her down. What…? She realized with a start that it wasn’t Garrison — it was the other man in the warsuit. She could feel his presence in the room, almost leeching off her lifeforce.

She could also feel the presence of his enormous axe, looming above her. She rolled away from him, dodging the blow.

The warsuit grunted in annoyance and turned, swinging his axe sideways and catching Sebastian in the side.

Grey watched in slow motion as the axe tore into Sebastian’s abdomen, leaving a deep gash. The old man collapsed to the floor.

“Nooooooo!” screamed Grey — and she saw red. The huntress sprang to her feet and fired bolt after bolt at the warsuit, but its solid armor deflected her shots with ease.

And then Garrison was there, punching the enemy warsuit and knocking its axe aside, and the two began to brawl with their fists. The enemy warsuit seemed just a step faster, though, and the longer the fight went on, the more Garrison’s energy seemed to be sapped. Grey kept shooting, a frenzy of desperate shots that each seemed to do less than the last. She screamed in frustration and threw her tracer blaster across the room. It sailed past Orion’s head and crashed into the wall. Shit, that was stupid…she hadn’t had an emotional reaction like that in…a while. She calmed herself slightly and resisted the temptation to run at the man in the warsuit and punch him, recognizing that if Garrison’s metal mitts couldn’t crack him, neither could hers.

Rio flew to her side in an instant, and Grey realized with relief that her blaster was wrapped in his beams.

“Good boy,” she told the hawk as he returned her blaster to her. She surveyed the room.

Khita and Juno appeared locked in combat, the nimble archer dashing around the Omni patroller and peppering her with arrows (which did little to Juno’s shields), as Juno, planted, spun around with her laser, trying to keep up with Khita. Grey ducked under the giant beam as it passed her.

Just then, the enemy warsuit threw Garrison down, and as Grey ducked Juno’s beam, Garrison crashed into her and the two fell into a heap. Garrison’s visor fractured on impact with the ground, exposing part of his face. Grey’s visor was intact, but she was trapped under Garrison’s enormous radamantium suit leg.

Orion smiled as Vector loomed over Garrison and Grey.

“Kill them,” he said.