The pain in his leg was rapidly fading away.
He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but at the moment, it sure felt good.
There was a straight line of wreckage through the camp that led right here.
Nothing tried to stop them as Miu headed out of the camp.
“We sent a group of people towards the back alley,” Felix said.
“We found them,” Victoria said, loping along beside Miu as the Warden began to gather speed. Eva was wrapped around her back like a backpack, clutching tightly to her. “They’re already being evacuated.”
“I sense a but in there,” Felix replied dryly.
“Skipper figured out where you were. She’s mobilizing everything. A lot of the new religious forces are apparently moving as well. The only group not interested in eradicating you is apparently the federal forces,” Victoria said.
“I… see. What you’re saying is… we’re going to have a lot of company real quick,” Felix summarized.
“Legion is already taking the field. Everything is being turned loose. The new recruits from Fort One as well,” Victoria said. “We did send all the students and their families on to Wal though. They weren’t ready for this. At least, Lily and Kit didn’t think so.”
“Where are they,” Victoria said, her head swiveling around.
“Where is—” Felix stopped when he saw an entire platoon of Wardens stomping their way towards him. They were fully loaded, and looked as if every Warden across the entire country was there.
As if it were by plan, the Wardens closed in around Miu and Victoria. A solid shield-wall of mechs and munitions.
“Hook is ten minutes out,” Victoria said.
Either she’s extremely nervous and forgot to turn off her external speakers, or she’s taken damage.
From a side alley of the street they were running down, a group of Skipper soldiers stumbled out. Several Wardens on that side turned as they ran, leveled their weapons, and fired. Solid magnetic projectiles launched from the railguns and bodies literally exploded.
The entire group didn’t even miss a beat in their running speed.
“Had contact. Position may be compromised,” Victoria said, pausing as if listening to a response.
“Understood,” she said, several seconds later. “Line change, R-2A.”
The platoon began shifting towards the left side of the street. At the next intersection, the group turned left down a large street. After that they took the next right into another street.
They shifted over one to try and break contact. It must be much worse than I—
Up ahead there was a checkpoint of sorts. The center of the intersection was hastily barricaded with gutted cars and broken chunks of anything. Arrayed behind that haphazard cover were four squads of Legion security forces in full combat gear and two armored personnel vehicles.
The squads stood up when they saw the Wardens heading their way. Their officers made a couple of quick gestures and everyone began rapidly piling into their heavily armed transports.
Before Miu and the rest had even cleared the barricades, both vehicles had started forward.
“Good,” Victoria said. “That helps.”
The turrets were manned, and the vehicles slowed to match the Warden’s pace. The designation on the rear of the APC marked it as belonging to SC:HQ though.
They now had a point guard from vehicles that shouldn’t be here.
“You actually mobilized everything?” Felix asked.
“Everything,” Victoria said. “No one was told a lie, everyone was aware you were gone. We were united in purpose, but we all knew you’d be found. Was only a matter of time.”
“Felicia had to expand the portals from base to base. All Teleport and Portal functions outside of the city HQs don’t work though. It’s like someone took Neutralizer’s power and threw it on the entire city. Otherwise we’d have already ported you out with a Telemedic,” Miu’s voice startled him when she started talking. She’d been quiet for a while.
This wasn’t an accident in any way, shape or form. This was an elaborately orchestrated attack to kill me, specifically. But it doesn’t quite make sense.
“Speaking of Neutralizer, he said the night you disappeared he felt a power trying to reach into HQ. He disrupted it as best as he could, but he’d never encountered it before and didn’t know how to do it,” Victoria said. “He’s confident he can block it if he runs up against it again though. He also shared his knowledge with his department.”
“I wonder if that’s why I ended up where I did. They didn’t get to use it the way they wanted, maybe,” Felix said. “Remind me to thank him. Actually, I have an entire list of people I need to reward and thank.”
A boom sounded out from somewhere to the left. It was a deep, resonating thing that shook the pit of his stomach.
Gunfire filled the silence afterward, only to be drowned out by a deep rumbling of a high powered machine gun.
The APCs entered what appeared to be a large single level parking lot and peeled off to the right.
When the Wardens made it into the lot, Felix realized it was anything but empty. It was bristling and full of Legion forces and equipment.
Machine gun emplacements, vehicles, even Powered soldiers were everywhere.
For all the world, it had the appearance of a fort perched on the edge of a battlefield that’d be held to the death.
Then people started to realize Miu and her Wardens had just passed the perimeter.
It started as a single cheer, and quickly progressed to a deep rumbling roar.
The Warden guard came to rest at the center of the fort.
Felix wasn’t sure where it had come from, or if it had been there, but he was happy that there was a building there. One that looked like it had thick walls and maybe a nice seat.
Kit, Lily, and Ioana trooped out of that building, and rushed over to him.
He was surprised when he saw them because they were all wearing costumes.
Kit was in what looked like her original Augur outfit. He knew she’d kept it in a locker, and hadn’t touched it since she retrieved it.
Lily was wearing a suit of the light combat armor that Miu typically favored.
Though this one was different. The black fabric had red stitching and graphics worked throughout it. The shimmer of magic bled back and forth across it as she moved. She’d clearly spent some time enchanting and modifying it.
Ioana was in a suit of armor similar to Victoria’s, though much more bulky.
“Felix!” Lily said, quickly moving to his side as Miu set him down. “Oh, thank god. Oh my god, you’re wounded.”
Unable to help himself, he smiled as Lily began to methodically check him over, her fingers light and tender.
Andrea and Adriana Prime squirmed in at Lily’s sides.
Adriana began to quickly go over his wound while Andrea fussed with his face and hair.
“Stop, back up, he’s fine. But we should get him under cover,” Kit said, muscling her way between everyone. “Here, I’ve got him.”
Lily, Adriana, and Andrea all took a step back. They all wore worried smiles, but were clearly glad to see him.
Pulling her helmet off her head, Kit smiled at him, her short hair blowing out around her. Without a gesture or word, Felix floated up off the ground. Completely supported and weightless.
The door to the building opened on its own, and Felix was floated inside.
“I imagine Miu gave you the rundown,” Kit said, following him in.
“She did. I’m not sure what good I am though. My powers have been messed with. I assume it’s a unique powerset or… well… divine intervention,” Felix said, trying not to panic at the fact that there was nothing between him and the ground.
The room was simple. A few chairs, a table, and a computer desk with a huge bank of monitors with live camera feeds.
“That’s not a problem,” Ioana said from the doorway. “Your job is to build us up and guide us. Fighting is the job of me, and my people. You’ve done everything possible, now it’s our turn to show you what we can do.”