Chapter 14: Aldrich Killian Needs Better Security

Aura tapped the wheel in tune to the radio, which was quiet and set to classical rock.

They had been driving most of the night, and it was now nearly noon. They had stopped to pick up food at a fast-food drive-thru late last night and had gotten more food this morning. Tony had checked in with Harley about the Iron Man suit charging a few hours ago. Apparently, it was pretty close, but not close enough to rely on when breaking into the mansion.

Tony had just woken up from another nap and was on his phone. A few hours into the drive, Aura had reluctantly given Tony the wheel to sleep. She wasn't normally a good car sleeper, but she got an impressive five hours.

Her body felt tired. Her eyes felt a little raw, and her limbs had a deep achiness to them that told her they were struggling to maintain proper function. But that was barely an issue. What was an issue was the amount of coffee she had drunk to keep her mind completely awake. She felt jittery and full of anxious energy.

It set her on edge, but she knew that once the fighting started, adrenaline and calm would even it out.

"We're about half an hour away, right?" Tony asked, setting his phone back down on the dashboard and plugging it in.

"Yeah."

"Then I need to know a few things," Tony said calmly, half watching her and half looking out the windshield. "What can you do? I have a feeling it's more than just using a sword and bow and arrow."

Aura smirked slightly, staring straight out the windshield. "That's on a need-to-know basis. If this is about wanting to know my fighting style and strength to be able to account for my presence better, I'll make things simple. You don't need to worry about me, at all. If a problem arises or I can't take care of myself, I'll tell you. My plans so far for breaking in are using your homemade bomb idea. I can defend you and take out anyone who needs taking out. You use a fire extinguisher to distract everyone while I take them out one by one, we find the Mandarin, and have a talking-to with Killian if we get a chance."

"Your only long-distance weapon is a bow and arrow. I don't see how it's going to be much use against a lot of men with guns," Tony said.

"I also have a lot of grenade, fire, and smoke bomb arrows."

"Huh. I thought Hawkeye was the only one with fancy arrows."

The conversation lulled for a minute or so.

"Here's Home Depot," Aura said, pulling into the parking lot.

"It's probably going to be a while. You want to come in?" Tony asked, unbuckling and climbing out.

"Yup."

…

The cart was slowly filling with an assortment of items. Tony grabbed a fire extinguisher, like Aura had suggested.

"Why do I need a fire extinguisher? For emergencies?" Tony asked, selecting one and putting it in the cart.

"Maybe, but mostly for defense."

Tony started pushing the cart. "Defense?"

"Sure. You can spray people in the eyes, and also use it like a baseball bat."

Tony's eyebrows scrunched. "Huh. Why didn't I think of that?"

Tony grabbed a few more things. When they left the store, Tony assembled the bombs in the back of the van. Aura walked to the Wendy's across the street and ordered food and coffee, then curled up in the passenger seat to sleep.

She was jolted awake by her arm being shaken. "It's go time, kiddo."

She was pressed against the door with her legs blocking her chest and her hand on her sword hilt in under three seconds.

Tony backed off immediately. "You okay?"

Aura relaxed her body language and plastered a nervous grin on her face. "Whoops, sorry. Catching me off guard isn't a good idea."

It had been three years since she had spent several months hitchhiking to Camp Half-Blood, constantly hungry, injured, and exhausted, looking over her shoulder for monsters, armed only with a celestial bronze dagger given to her by the satyr, scary new sunlight powers she was still figuring out how to control, and almost zero practical knowledge or experience.

But her brain had never really recovered from the constant strain, and the message that she was never truly safe seemed to stick. All it took was being surprised while she was vulnerable, and she was a scared thirteen-year-old on the run again.

Tony didn't press the issue. Aura got the feeling that he recognized something in the expression on her face and tremble in her hand.

Aura rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and climbed into the driver's seat, and took a drink of coffee as she waited for Tony to strap in. Then she drove the final fifteen or so minutes to a park that was a 3-minute walk from Killian's mansion.

Tony finished packing a duffel bag full of supplies as Aura got ready.

She was still wearing yesterday's clothes, skinny black jeans and a tucked-in vintage Star Wars T-shirt from Will. She took off her zip-up hoodie in preparation for the Miami warmth. The scars on her forearms and several stretching up into her sleeves were visible, so she got a quick second-take from Tony. She also pulled her hair into a ponytail with a brush and ponytail holder she kept in her backpack.

She strapped her dagger to her arm, slid a folding hunting knife in her combat boot, put some trick arrows in her extra large and stable combat quiver, and slung her bow and quiver over her shoulder.

She pulled on her finger and arm guards as she followed Tony out of the car. She might be fighting people hand-to-hand and wanted to be able to wear her fingerless tactical gloves, but they would get in the way and not properly protect her arm and grip from her powerful recurve bow. She was used to training for speed, strength, and accuracy with her finger and arm guards, and she couldn't afford a slip-up.

The walk to the mansion was short. They climbed into a tall, thick tree across the street and took turns with binoculars Tony had bought, scouting out the number of men.

Tony scratched out a simple plan of attack on a notebook and Aura took mental notes of the approximate positions of the men, the distances between them, and how dangerous they seemed. They didn't seem to be incompetent, but they weren't highly trained either, judging by the attention that they paid their surroundings. If they had been good at their job, they would have noticed Tony and Aura already.

"Ready when you are," Aura said, lowering the binoculars and handing them to Tony.

"I'm ready," Tony said, shoving everything in his backpack and starting down the tree. Aura followed behind him, moving with a good deal less awkwardness and muttered cursing.

They walked casually, or tried to. Tony, in his sunglasses, jeans, sneakers, and half-unzipped hoodie with the hood up, looked like a citizen out on a walk. Aura, with her combat boots, curved kopis in its waist sheath, arm dagger, well-stocked quiver, and large, powerful recurve bow looked massively suspicious. She hadn't gotten any looks on the way over because of the Mist, but the guards were keeping an eye out for all sorts of suspicious figures, including a teenage girl with a bow.

The wall bordering the estate was thick and imposing, but not very high so as not to stand out.

Aura crouched down and launched Tony's feet up as he jumped onto the wall. He got a good hold on the top of the wall and pulled himself on and over relatively easily. Aura stepped back a few paces and took a running leap, pushing her foot off the wall to comfortably make the final inch. She swung herself over and dropped to the ground.

Tony pulled an ornament bomb from his backpack and gripped it, zipping the backpack up.

Tony took the lead towards where the nearest guard should be. Aura unslung her bow and dropped her arm, keeping her bow tucked between her arm and side. She sidled up to Tony.

"Do you want to take this one or should I?" She whispered near his ear.

"You take this one."

The guard was close to the back of the house, standing watch near a line of palm trees. They got closer, wary of the two guards who walked around the edge of the estate and would come across them soon.

Once Aura had a good shot, she dropped to one knee and nocked her bow. After a second of focus she let the arrow fly.

Right to the neck, severing the artery. He dropped to the ground with only a soft thump.

Aura and Tony moved to the front, where the biggest concentration of guards was. One of the guards that patrolled the edge came near them as they walked and Aura swiftly killed him the same way as the other guard.

They crouched behind a clump of bushes that was near the front. There were four guards, one by the door, one by the gate, and two by the fountain. All had impressive guns.

"You take the two loners, I'll take the ones by the fountain?" Tony whispered.

Aura nodded, closely watching the movements of the guards to detect changes.

"On three," Tony said, gripping the ornament bomb and lifting his hand. "One."

Aura nocked her bow, but still crouched.

"Two."

They both eased out of their crouches slightly, focusing on their targets. Aura's bow felt like home in her hand. Her breathing slowed as the world narrowed to her job. Her earlier coffee-and-sleeplessness-induced anxiety was long left behind.

"Three."

Aura let loose an arrow at the closer target, the man by the front door. The moment her arrow left her bow she was aiming and firing at the one by the gate. Tony's ornament bomb had rolled towards the two at the fountain, and when one bent to pick it up it went off. Aura had nocked another arrow and focused her bow at the two guards by the fountain in case something went wrong, and she lowered it when she saw that they both went down.

And immediately snapped it back up when she saw the second patrolling guard come running. The man raised his gun and fired at Tony and Aura haphazardly. Aura's arrow buried itself in his neck.

Aura yanked Tony to the ground, covering him. She could hear the bullets stop firing as the man went down. A few went over their heads, others scattered into the bushes around them.

Aura gave it a second to make sure that there weren't other gunmen in the area who saw what had gone down.

Tony shoved her off him and slowly rose. Aura hauled herself to her feet, slinging her bow over her shoulder. The earlier adrenaline rush faded.

Tony seemed somewhat shell-shocked. Aura remembered that he was basically a civilian, used to fighting in a metal suit. She didn't know what to say, so she just pushed her exhaustion down deep and gave him a calm reassuring look, giving him a moment to collect himself.

"Thanks for that, I guess. Maybe you should take the lead in the mansion."

Tony started walking to the door, Aura right behind. It was the better position for an archer as she would have a complete view of possible threats and Tony's position relative to them.

The door didn't seem to have a security system. Tony tried the lock for a few seconds, then stepped aside for Aura to take a turn.

Aura kicked the door down, then caught it to lessen the noise.

Tony gave her an incredulous look but walked into the house right behind her.

Aura jammed the door back into its approximate position and Tony pulled a roll of duct tape out of his bag to keep it that way.

They were in.