Kit lowered Felix down into a padded chair.
Relaxing, Felix oozed into it, trying to get comfortable.
“Then you have my permission to engage as you see fit, and do what must be done. I place my full trust in you, Ioana. My Warmaiden,” Felix said.
Ioana stood up straighter, her hands clenching. She seemed as if she couldn’t respond to that.
“Go forth and conquer,” he added.
Saluting smartly, she spun on her heel and charged back outside.
Lily leaned over him, hugging him tightly, pressing his face into her shoulder. “We were all so worried,” she said into his hair.
Then Adriana and Andrea were there, hugging everyone at the same time.
“Sorry. I did everything I could to get back as quickly as I could. And before I forget… Adriana, one of your Others found me. Helped me. Provided assistance above and beyond. I’m not sure if you have a second, but I think it’d be a suitable reward for what she did for me,” Felix said.
“Nn, I can do that. Where is she?”
“Dead. She took her own life so we could move faster in escaping. She said she left her finger with you. That her current designation was forty-two,” Felix said.
Adriana nodded her head and then kissed him.
Followed by Andrea doing the same.
Lily only wrinkled her nose at them.
“I’ll wait till later, when you’re not covered in Wolfgirl slobber,” she said with a broad smile.
Chapter 35 - Last Mile -
“Sounds like this was all part of some scheme by Skipper,” Kit said, sitting next to him.
Everyone other than Lily and Kit had cleared the room. They all had things that they needed to do and see to.
“And we’re not out of the woods yet,” Lily said. “Best guess is we’re about to be drowned in Skipper and other forces.”
“They mentioned that,” Felix said dryly. Grimacing he looked at his leg.
The tourniquet had been on for too long. He knew there was going to be muscle damage, but he figured Felicia could repair that. Bleeding out wasn’t going to be as easy to solve, so it remained right there.
“Yes. It’s not good,” Kit said. “The leg is probably lost or severely damaged at this point. But so long as it’s still intact and we get you to Felicia sooner rather than later, it’ll be fine.”
“Speaking of, how are we getting out of here?” Felix asked.
“Most of us are going to get out the same way we got in. Load up, move out. You, though, are being flown out by helicopter to an airfield. Felicia’s there with a medical bed ready for you and a much larger plane. It’s bound for Wal. We’ve already made a number of deals with them to acquire a sanctuary there,” Lily explained.
“After everything that’s happened… yeah. Tilen and Skipper City aren’t going to be safe for us to operate out of. And with the religions getting militarized, I imagine global politics are shifting rapidly,” Felix said.
“That they are,” Kit agreed. “Wal is looking forward to our operational relationship as much as we are, I think. Their military was never large. We’ve taken on a contract to act as a standing army for them. PMC for an entire military, so to speak.”
“Interesting. Michael will be happy about that.”
“Which Michael?” Lily asked. “There’s a lot of them.”
“Fort One Michael.”
“Ah, yes. He’s already sped up his recruitment to help fill slots for that contract,” Lily said.
There was a short klaxon-like sound, followed by a long high pitched whistle.
Kit sighed and put her helmet on, pulling it down tight. “I’m afraid your ride out hasn’t arrived yet, but our enemies have.”
Lily stood up and brushed herself off quickly. Leaning down, she gave him a quick kiss and then fled the building.
“She was rather worried. She might seem like everything is fine, but there were a few times where it was clear she was falling apart,” Kit said. “I… must admit I felt very much the same. It was eye opening how much we rely on you when you’re suddenly not there. Now… I’m going to go lead my Minders and Fixers into the field.”
“Where’d Eva go?” Felix asked, wondering where she’d ended up.
“She’s in an APC. I think there’s a few Andreas with her. She’s…” Kit’s voice trailed off.
“Yeah. I get it. I’ll talk to her later about it all.”
Kit nodded, and then left the room, leaving Felix by himself.
Sighing, he levered himself up, and hopped and hobbled his way over to the computer desk. Sitting heavily in the seat, he managed to get himself mostly comfortable.
Fixing his view on the monitors, he watched as his people went about their tasks. Ioana, Kit, Lily, and Andrea were at the center. Around them were their lieutenants and assistants. Victoria, Miu, Adriana, and Neutralizer were much closer to the front, though clearly going through very similar circumstances.
On the next monitor, Felix found himself looking at one of the perimeter views. At the edge of the view-screen, he could see people making their way towards the Legion position. They were numerous. Something akin to a horror movie where a horde of zombies were rushing in, to be exact.
Legion forces opened fire, the heavy machine guns, rifles, and SMGs unloading. The turrets on vehicles, Wardens, and emplacements began firing as well.
Skipper’s Powereds began filtering in amongst the enemy troops. Some literally came down from buildings to try and land amongst Legion’s forces. Legion’s equivalent met them head on, working in groups and in tandem to their advantage.
From another direction, on a different monitor, Felix watched as a group of what he assumed were militarized religious priests came running down a street. The only reason he even assumed that was that they were all glowing in a similar way to the group he’d seen the other day.
At that moment, the screen frizzed out. Almost immediately after that, every monitor died.
Not wanting to miss what was going on, and figuring he could probably do this safely, Felix decided to leave.
Picking up a helmet someone had left inside, he pulled it down over his head, becoming a faceless soldier, and not a standout target.
Exiting the building, he didn’t go far. He leaned up against the wall, and looked towards where the religious order had started to come from.
There, floating in the air above, were several impressive looking men. They were garbed in nothing but energy, and seemed to hold weapons made of the same stuff.
Gods. Great.
Abera and Desh materialized over the Legion forces. Desh folded his arms across his chest and leaned his head back, laughing. Abera howled, gripped her axe, and leapt towards the three deities.
One lifted what looked like a sword to block her attack, only to have it shatter into bits, and her axe buried into his head.
Screaming triumphantly, Abera turned on the other two, yanking her weapon free of the god with the split skull.
More gods started to appear, until Desh and Abera were facing twenty or so of them.
“Come then,” shouted the goddess of war. It was audible to everyone. As if it were enhanced and multiplied. “I’ll bury you all! In the name of Felix and Legion, I will crush you. Crush you to goo.”
The result was instantaneous. Whatever machine Felicia built was clearly working. Abera suddenly burned like the sun as Legion screamed their agreement to her words.
Desh turned a bright white then exploded, a golden halo sweeping out from him and covering everyone nearby.
As it passed over him, Felix suddenly felt lucky. Incredibly lucky. Like if he were to buy a lottery ticket right now, he’d win.
If he bought a ticket for every lottery, he’d win every one.
Turning into a golden meteor, Abera launched herself headlong into the enemy gods and goddesses, and began to wreak havoc amongst them.