The night turned to early morning, with the lake team working their way across the area, looking for the elusive plant. They fanned out a little to cover more area, but never got more than a couple of metres away from each other – making sure they could move quickly in case of trouble. It proved to be painstaking work – moving slowly and checking every last bit of foliage for critters and poisonous plants before moving leaves or plant growth out of the way to check behind or underneath them.
The minutes crawled by, the team alternating between crawling around on all fours and taking a break to stretch their aching backs and to check the area around them. The cold wind slowly sapped the energy from them, even through the thick layers of clothing, and they had to pull balaclavas and mittens on to avoid the perils of frostbite.
Tads checked them over, warning them about the perils of exposed skin and how quickly an area would go numb, but also warning them against over-exerting themselves and getting a sweat on – which would then freeze and act like a heat sink, causing an unsustainable loss of body heat. It further slowed them down, but they heeded her words, trusting in the advice from someone that had grown up and spent most of her life living just below the Arctic Circle.
In the chopper, Marius said that he intended to stay on watch, as he was the only person to be able to properly control the drones, so Nadia headed off to bed early – figuring that she might need to stand watch later. Kai hung around for a while, then chilled out and relaxed, gently dozing from time to time, before waking as he started to slide off the seat and had to move – having a quick look around him, before settling back down again.
At the lake, Shimazu stood up to stretch out his spine, and a flash overhead caught his eye. He looked up, and was just about to call out when he sensed Tads move up alongside him, also looking up into the air. They waited, watching, and a minute passed. Just as they were about to put it down as a figment of their imagination, they saw it again. A pulse of energy hummed in astral space, travelling up and out of the ground to their left, travelling overhead along the faint mana trail of the power line before sinking down into the ground again far to their right.
The power made the hairs on the back of their neck stand on end, and reminded them of a snake swallowing its prey. A bulge, a ball of mana metres wide travelled along the arc, riding the pathway carved across the sky. They alerted the others, with Hunter just shrugging and moving to stand behind them and keep a watch out, his rifle held at waist height, ready to move if needed. Whatever this magical McGuffin was, it didn't involve him, and so he left it to the team mages.
They stood and watched, and another minute passed before another pulse of power travelled along the line, following the course the same as the last. Glances were exchanged, but nobody said anything, all of them equally stymied to explain what was causing this, and what they needed to do about it. They watched another two pulses travel over, stamping their feet and wrapping their arms around themselves to keep warm. Both pulses seemed the same, and didn't affect anything, so they moved back to their task – aware that time was slipping by and the longer they stayed here, the higher the chance of running into trouble.
Kai gave a start as he slipped again, then stared out of the window as he dug his feet into the decking to push himself upright again. Staring out into the darkness he saw a flash of movement and was about to call out in alarm to Marius – but then stopped and looked again.
The herd of deer he had seen moved forwards slightly, their bodies splitting from some horrible gestalt creature into individual shapes that were much less threatening. He quickly dropped into astral space to ensure they weren't magical creatures, but couldn't spot anything unusual about them. He watched for another minute or so, just enjoying the naturalness of the scene as they slowly grazed along the end of farmyard, pulling up the tufts of grass growing against the edge of the concrete.
Aswon finished an area, and was moving to the next patch of overgrown plants when he caught another pulse travelling overhead – which made him frown. He rocked back on his haunches and counted mentally, expecting to get to about 65, the same as he'd measured between the pulses before. This time he only got to 53. He counted again, to make sure – and got the same. It appeared that the pulses were intensifying in cycle at least.
He dropped into astral again, and looked at the arcing path carefully, peering at the power line as best he could and trying to discern the nature of the phenomenon. As he let his sight grow accustomed to the glow of power, he started to see shapes emerge, patterns and subtle variations in shade and colour. He counted again, waiting for the next surge – 52. 52. 51… now he heard a noise, a barely perceptible beat to the power line, like a heartbeat of the land.
"Tads, come over here please. Just look at the power line, really look, and listen. Wait for a surge, and listen." She did, and he kept quiet, just letting her open her mind and see for herself. She stood, eyes almost closed and hands hanging by her side as she concentrated on her astral sight, watching as a pulse went overhead. 50. The next pulse made her tilt her head to one side, and the edge of a frown form on her brow, just visible under the balaclava.
She started to hum, her hand slowly slapping her hip, then broke into quiet song. Her voice wasn't great – clearly she wasn't a natural singer – but it had that advantage of being honestly sung and sounding somewhat esoteric by being in a foreign tongue. She opened her eyes, and Aswon just cocked an eyebrow at her. He was curious, but figured she'd tell him when she was good and ready.
"It's a tale from home, a song of the shamans. It doesn't translate well, I'm afraid."
Where the sky meets the land, on the edge of the day
And the creatures of myth dance with joy
The spirits of the land gather strength and prepare
Their fingers of rock driving the land to obey
Gathering the evil spirits, to guard the people
Until the dawn of the new day.
Aswon looked at her as she chanted, her words disjointed and lacking the cadence and rhythm they had before – clearly the words didn't translate well from her native tongue.
They heard a subtle but pointed sigh from behind them, and saw that Hunter had moved once more to guard them and provide overwatch while they were deep in magical thought. Shimazu looked up from the patch of vegetation he had been working through, and saw that everyone was taking a break but him – or that is how it seemed. He stood up and moved over, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on. After Aswon and Tads had told him, he too turned and checked out the power flow, seeing if he could hear, and see, the same thing.
45
The pulses seemed brighter now, more intense and powerful without actually being any larger. They watched another two pulses, listening carefully. Aswon was the first to hear the new noise, an almost subsonic rumble that seemed pervasive and without specific source. It reminded him of the rumble of heavy combat vehicles rolling down the road, something as much felt as heard.
42
They decided to move towards the edge of the power line, looking at the egress point to see if they could spot anything strange going on there, and learn about the power line – and what threat it might pose to them. The headed over the causeway, moving further to the south on the narrow spit of land alongside the rusty marks on the ground showing where the pipes had lain many years before, spots of twisted rusted metal torn asunder by whatever force had struck at them.
Shimazu and Tads stumbled slightly as their attention snapped out over the water, watching something that their brain flagged as wrong, somehow. They stopped, forcing the others to stop and look around in confusion.
"Whatsup?" asked Aswon
"The ripples on the water."
"What about them?" Hunter asked impatiently, glancing over at the lake. He felt out of his element, with all this weird mumbo jumbo stuff going on.
"They're going the wrong way. Look!"
All four of them looked out over the lake in the faint grey pre-dawn light. Sure enough, the gentle, almost imperceptible ripples were heading inwards – concentric circles drawing in to a central location and disappearing. They watched in fascination, trying to work out what was causing the strange sight.
"Marius, can you get the drone over the spot in the lake, about twenty to twenty five metres from us and see what's there? We've got some strange disturbance on the water…"
Marius acknowledged the message and moved the drone into position, gently guiding the motors with touches of his mind, feeling the tickle of power from the battery as the rigger interface translated sensations to him. Sure enough, when he was in position, he could just about make out the ripples in the water, travelling patches of distortion in the electronic sensor view. He lowered the drone, trying to improve the picture and cycling through various settings to enhance the image.
Strange… now he was low enough he could see the gentle flow of the water, the ripples flowing inwards towards the centre – and he could just about make out the foliage under the surface of the water. Either it wasn't very deep, or the plants were very long, floating upwards like some kind of kelp forest. But they were also leaning in, all straining towards a central point. He called back over the comm-link, describing what he could see to the team down by the lakeside.
"Tads, could you levitate me up in the air, and float me over for a look."
29
"Um. I could." Tads looked up at the sky, watching as another pulse flew by, lighting up the sky in astral space. It looked wilder and barely restrained now, and slightly more threatening now they were closer. She had a sudden flashback to trying to summon a spirit when they had the Golem on board the truck, and wondered if she might see another spike in power like that. "Or I could not cast magic under the enormous wild power surge of unknown origin."
"Yeah – let's not do that. How about you just climb up onto my shoulders and have a look. That should get you enough of a vantage point to see what's going on." Shimazu looked unsure, but didn't have a better plan, so move around behind Aswon and placed his hands on the tribesman's shoulder. Aswon braced his feet wide apart and bent the knees a little, to give Shimazu something to try and climb up, then set his spear in front of him, to allow him to balance slightly better. He grunted with effort as Shimazu swarmed up his back, suddenly regretting his offer. He know that Shimazu was pretty tough, but he'd never realised how heavy he was!
Shimazu wobbled on top of Aswon's shoulders, feeling his perch wobble back and forth under the effort of holding him up. It made it hard to focus, and he wasn't actually able to see that much more from the additional metre up he'd gained. Just as he was about tell Aswon this, there was a sudden flare of mana, bright and intense, that arced down from the pulse travelling overhead that struck like a lightning bolt right at the centre of the concentric ripples.
There was nothing to show on the physical realm – but Hunter knew that something was wrong by the cries of horror, and his grip on his rifle increased, ensuring his smart-link registered through the glove and the aiming reticule in his cyber-eye glowed brightly as he scanned around.
15
"Ok everyone, let's move away from the astral gateway!" called Aswon, putting action to words without pause. They all moved back, scrambling over the slick ground to put some space between them. Once they had moved back along the causeway a good thirty metres, they turned and looked back. Hunter looked over the area physically, seeing very little – even as the light level rose slightly hinting at the rising of the sun far to the east. The others though, looked with their astral senses, watching as coruscating lightning flashed down from the power line to the spot in the water, jagged sparks of mana working their way down into the water. The pulses flew past regularly now, and each time one did the sparks of mana intensified, making the dancing bolts of power swirl back and forth
5
4
3
2
The spirit that Tads had summoned to help them search flew over to face her.
"I warned you!" It spat at her, venom filling its tone.
1
The pulses grew into a blur, a near constant stream of power slicing through the air. The spurs of power crackled into a shower of sparks that formed an intricate web of energy linking the power-line and the water.
The spirit disappeared as they transitioned from night to day. There was no golden ray of sunlight breaking the horizon, illuminating the scene though – instead the grey just changed to a slightly lighter colour.
The ripples in the water stopped, then reversed, actually flowing in the "right" direction. And without any fanfare at all, a mound started to emerge from the water, rising up from the watery hiding place to perhaps half a metre above the surface. Weeds and plants covered the whole surface, dripping water off in every direction.
"That looks exciting! Do you think the plant's on there?" Kais voice called over the radio, watching the scene on his vid-screen back in the chopper. "If it is, let's grab it and get out of here!" The team at the lake looked over, but amidst the mass of plants and foliage on the mound, it was impossible to see if their target was actually on the mound or not.
They cautiously moved down towards the edge of the water and started to examine the island, working out how they were going to get across. The mana stream overhead seemed to have stabilised, and the mana now flowed down to the island more like a waterfall than lightning strike. Back at the chopper, Kai saw them huddle together and start to point at the island, clearly working out how they were going to get across. Now that he'd poked them, he leant back in his seat and decided to leave them alone for a bit to get on with it.
"Whether we swim over, or dare to use magic, or some other plan using rope or something – we're still going to struggle with the box I think." Aswon mused as he looked over the twenty metres of water between them and the island. And we don't even know if the plant is there or not. "Marius – any sign of it?"
They saw the drone head over, slowly descending to get a better view of the island. After a few moments of consideration, Marius keyed up his transmitter, informing them that he could see a plant that matched the description given to him – though in the low light it was hard to make out more than basic details.
"Right, it's worth going for it then. So, you guys stay here, and I'll go have a look." Aswon and Shimazu immediately disagreed with her, refusing to let her go over there alone. After a short discussion it was agreed that Shimazu would accompany her, just in case something happened that needed dealing with physically, while Aswon stayed with Hunter on the shore to give magical support. Of course, they still didn't know how they were crossing the water…
"Well, let's see how deep it is, first." Tads led the way to the edge, and watched as Aswon probed the water ahead with the spear. The ground angled down away from the shore quite steeply it seemed, and at the limit of his reach it was at least a metre deep. "Ok, deep enough. Well, I've crossed a few rivers on my walk. One more won't hurt. With that Tads scrambled down the bank into the water, a large set of ripples emanating out from her entry point. She waded deeper, moving slowly to avoid too much disruption to the water, and her arms swung in opposite directions to her strides, helping to balance her. The water quickly rose up her legs, as she descended the slope, and when it reached groin height she stopped for a moment to gasp.
The guys on the shore winced in sympathy, then watched as she moved deeper and deeper in, until the water was approaching her shoulders. She wobbled a bit, then carefully turned and came back towards the shore, having crossed no more than about seven or eight metres towards the island. They helped her up and out of the water, and watched as she jogged on the spot, trying to keep moving and warm herself up while water cascaded out of her clothes.
"Too deep for sure, even for you I think, Aswon. We've got to swim for it. I really don't think magic is a good idea here." Shimazu and Tads took off everything they didn't absolutely need in terms of gear and equipment, piling it into the truck.
"Marius, can your drone handle the load, to carry the box over to the island? Can you slave it to follow one of us perhaps?" Marius didn't answer directly, but they saw the blimp descend from its position, and move to hover over the back of the vehicle, allowing them to hook up some webbing straps to the eyebolt on the underside of the drone's body. Tads moved a little towards the water, and the drone swayed that way, clearly locked onto her visual signature.
Shimazu and Tads waded in, then launched off as the water got up to chest height, frantically doggy paddling in their heavy clothes that threatened to drag them under the inky black surface. It was hard work and slow going, but eventually they made it across to the last few metres where Shimazu found that he could stand again. They scrambled up the mound, slipping and sliding in the mud and slick vegetation. A moment later, the drone landed on the island, gently lowering the box onto an area covered in low weeds and they heard the whine from the engines diminish back to the normal almost silent purr.
It only took them a moment to examine the island up close and part a few of the larger ferns to reveal the centre of the mound and a large bush of spiny, sharp, serrated leaves fanning out from a central point. Tads turned to give Aswon and Hunter a thumbs up, before realising they had no chance of seeing it between her thick mittens and the distance through the gloomy light.
"Got it! Going to start digging!" She and Shimazu put action to words, crouching around the plant and pulling out their folding shovels to start excavating around the plant. They worked fast, running the risk of exhaustion after the long night to make sure they kept their heart rate up and muscled pumping – anything to radiate heat for now and warm their sodden clothes.
On the shore, Aswon returned to the vehicle and grabbed all the spare clothes he could find, laying them out ready to grab. When they swam back, he figured they'd be freezing, and in danger of hypothermia as soon as they stopped, unless they could change into dry and warm clothes. He pushed the heating controls in the primitive UAZ as far into the red area as they would go, but when he realised it was just moving the cold air around faster, knocked the controls off to save the power.
Kai leant forward to examine the view from the sensor feed, but couldn't see much from the position the drone was in. As he sat back, he saw a flash of movement near the corner of the farmhouse. A figure ran around the corner, moving at speed and turning towards them. As it took in the hulking shape of the helicopter, it flinched and twisted, trying to reverse direction. A foot slipped on the wet concrete, losing traction and pitching the figure over towards the floor sharply. The head dashed into the solid surface, and the body flopped onto the ground like a rag doll.
"Ouch. That looked painful!" Marius twisted to look as Kai spoke, then focussed past him into the yard just as a second figure appeared around the corner. It too took in the sight of the chopper and recoiled away sharply, before skidding over to the unmoving body on the floor and grabbed it by the arms before straightening up and starting to drag it away from them at an angle. It took them a moment to realise that it was an angle that neatly aligned with the direction that was both away from them, and away from where they had come from.
"Crap, that can't be good." Marius turned back to the controls and yanked at the fibre optic cable, jamming it into his jack and submerging himself into the rigger interface. Barely a second later the sounds of a jet engine fired up in the rear of the chopper as the vector thrust drone started to warm up. Kai pushed himself back from the cockpit and down the side of the module, grabbing his taser out of the holster to check the charge as he crabbed down the narrow walkway. As soon as he reached the doorway in the back, he jumped down to the ground below and moved towards the struggling figure, still backing away from him as fast as they could. He could see their breath billowing out in front of them in the chill dawn air, each grunt of effort forming a separate little cloud of condensation like steam billowing from an engine.
"Whoa there! Stop!" He called out in Russian. "I don't know what you're running from, but we have medical care and safety in the helicopter!" The figure didn't respond, whether through a lack of understanding or distrust of what he was saying, continuing to drag the body away from him. Kai sighed and started to stride across the concrete, closing the distance on the panting figure. As he closed and could start to make out details, he saw the body being dragged belonged to a young man, brown unkempt hair swirling around his head as the wind caught it, and blood dripping down the right side of his face. "Stop! Come on!"
Behind him the rear ramp of the chopper lowered, and the heavily armoured ground drone rolled down the ribbed surface noisily, tracks clattering as metal struck metal. The lower part of the tail boom opened, and the vector thrust aircraft dropped a metre down before its fall was arrested by the small jets of exhaust from the engines. It danced sideways a few metres, then started to gain altitude.
Kai span back to frown at the noise, his face creasing with annoyance at the sight of the two obviously armed drones. That wasn't going to persuade whoever it was to stop… he turned back just in time to see something or someone shoot the figure dragging the young man. The round impacted at the side of their face, deep in the shadow of their hood. He half expected to see the back of their head explode outwards, but instead they slowed for a moment, wobbled, and then collapsed down to the floor. Kai sped up, trying to reach the two bodies before whoever had shot them got in range to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, he had no choice. A figure appeared at the corner of the house, a long and bulky rifle held across their chest. As soon as they saw him, the rifle was raised in his direction and a shot fired. It slapped into his chest a split second later. He couldn't help but flinch, but a moment passed and he realised there was no pain. Not even enough of an impact to make him step back. He saw the capsule broken on impact on his thick winter jacket, leaking fluid down his front. Looking back up, he saw his assailant working a mechanism to reload the rifle – and another two men step around the corner. They carried the same types of rifles, and similar armour, and much like the first they both fired at him. Forewarned by the actions of the first man, they stepped around ready and both their shots were at his head. He tried to dodge, but he just wasn't fast enough.
One round hit the top of his hood and broke, and he felt the liquid dribble into his hair. A moment later the second slapped into his chin, causing him to recoil as much in shock as pain. Immediately though he felt himself wobble, his limbs no longer responding properly. His mouth felt dry, the colours shifted in his vision and his hearing sounded like he was in the bottom of a swimming pool. There was a smell too. Something like almonds? He drunkenly looked up at the three men, watching as they strobed a red and orange combination, flickering like flames in his watering eyes.
The ground drone fired, a long raking burst from the assault rifle mounted in the central tower that served as a turret and sensor post. Round flew through the air into the body of the first man, sending him sprawling on the floor with blood seeping through his body armour. Kai gasped in amazement as dragon breath flew past him, incinerating the elemental he'd been shot by. No – wait, that wasn't right….
The airborne drone swooped down, the twin assault rifles blazing away on fully automatic. The rounds struck the ground at the feet of the two men still upright, and as the hot gas exited from the rifles and recoil made the barrels rise, the rounds rose in response. A line of bullets struck the groins, then stomachs, chest, throat and then heads of the men. They were dying long before the rounds hit the heads, but that clinched the deal, and their lifeless bodies dropped backwards, spilling the rifles across the concrete.
"Cwuuulle!" exclaimed Kai. The tip of his tongue felt like carpet, and he tried to lick his nose, then giggled in surprise. He wasn't sure what had surprised him, but it was funny, whatever it was.
Brrrp! Another burst of fire spat past him, striking the figure on the floor, and he tried to spin around to see what the noise was. He twisted and lolled, then peered out in the same direction, not really aware that he was still facing the same direction. At the top of the ramp, Nadia saw him flailing around like a lunatic, arms windmilling to keep his balance. She let go of the submachine gun and it fell to her waist, pulling the strap taut, and she used both hands to climb down from the ramp. Walking swiftly over to Kai, she looked out at the bodies, ensuring that they were all very definitely dead, then grabbed the incapacitated Kai and started to manhandle him back to the chopper, passing the combat drone as it clattered towards her.
Once she'd managed to get him up the ramp and secured into a seat, she headed back out, casting a look around her. The vector thrust drone flew in circles above her, and the ground drone had parked near the corner. With Marius manning the sensors, she felt pretty secure, so she went over to the assailants and quickly stripped them of weapons and ammunition, bringing that back to the chopper and piling it up inside.
"Marius, my dear? What are we doing about the two being chased? Leaving them or taking them?"
"Better bring them inside, I suppose. I'll keep watch, and radio if I spot anything."
It took her a couple of minutes to drag the bodies up the ramp and inside. The second figure proved to be a woman, a little older than the boy, but with similar features. Both appeared unconscious and their features were gaunt and drawn. Marius meanwhile pushed the aerial drone higher and scanned around the area. The bursts of gunfire hadn't been quiet, and he feared that the aggressors were not alone. Surely there was more of them around, perhaps with a vehicle of some kind – but looking around, the area seemed just as empty and abandoned as when he'd first spotted it on the map.
Aswon didn't know what alerted him in particular, but he was glad it happened. He turned and peered out into the grey light and saw a shimmering shape rise up out of the ground. It looked vaguely like the weird apparition that had attacked them in the vehicle the previous night, and he hefted his spear into a ready position, and shouted a warning.
"Heads up! Magical spirit approaching!"
On the island Tads stood upright and looked over to them, then made a gesture with her hands, weaving a complex path through the air, before bending over to dig again.
"What was that?"
"Never mind Shimazu, just dig faster, keep warm and keep your sleeves away from those spines, they're like razors."
The spirit lifted its arms up, water or mana – it was hard to say which – dripping from them. The two arms swung to the front and the fingers extended as if holding a large ball. A glow appeared in the centre, a faint pink wisp that writhed and swum in the cage created. Then the fingers opened and the pink mist flew like an arrow, aimed unerringly at Aswon's head. He gritted his teeth and prepared for the assault, but about 10cm short of his head the pink energy struck something. It shattered, sending filaments of pink out like strobes of plasma, questing around him and dancing with sudden rapidity, before they gradually faded away.
"Thank you Tads," he muttered, and broke into a run, heading towards the figure. To his side, Hunter raised the assault rifle, and mentally flicked the selector to single shot. He wasn't going to waste more of his precious armour piercing rounds than he had to, and from his experience a lot of magical spirits and critters just didn't seem to be affected by bullets – but it was worth a try. He aimed carefully, then swore under his breath as his smartlink danced back and forth, trying to get a lock on the creature. Finally it seemed to select a piece that it considered suitably solid, and the round fired. He was gratified to see a jagged tear open in the side of the apparition, spilling whatever was inside it out. He didn't know how much that might hurt it, but he figured that the stuff on the inside was supposed to stay there, so it probably wasn't good for it.
Aswon closed the distance at a sprint, then jabbed at the spirit with his spear. It seemed clumsy in melee, unwilling to evade his attack and going instead for an offensive grab, not considering the massive advantage the spear gave him on a charge. As the blade struck and eviscerated the creature he felt a jolt of power through it. It made his hands tingle and he jerked back in surprise. The tip of his spear glowed a dull red, but faded after a moment.
He moved back towards Hunter, calling out to him as he scanned the area.
"Change to regular ammo Hunter! Or perhaps explosive if you have any." He saw the ork shake his head. "Don't waste the good stuff, but gunfire certainly seems to work!"
He'd almost made it back to Hunter when a shout made him turn. Two of the spirits had appeared rising out of the ground much like the first, perhaps 90m from the causeway. They repeated the gesture the first had made, each one of them being targeted. Much like the first attack, the power dissipated on impact with the magical shield. Aswon was already running, while Hunter pummelled his first target with a few rounds, then a few more to finish it off. Aswon struck at his, once more driving the spear into the centre of the creature and gripping the shaft tightly as another kick of power coursed through it.
Back at the chopper Nadia secured the two newcomers into seats, wrapping seatbelts around them then using some strapping to hold them upright – and somewhat secure. Whilst she was trying to push some painkillers down Kai's throat and make him drink some water she heard the clatter as the tracked drone rolled up the ramp, followed shortly after by the roaring engines as the vector thrust drone mated with the docking clamp and was nestled back into the tail boom. Second later she heard the massive turbines start and everything began to shake, so she ran to the rear ramp, checked it was clear and hit the button to raise it. Marius continued the pre-flight checks, waiting for the engines to warm up and the systems to stabilise, while she continued to lash everything down in the rear or otherwise make it secure.
At the lake, Shimazu and Tads dug faster and faster. Now they weren't so much worried about the heat, as the sounds of combat. Hunters gun had sounded like faint popping noises at first – only carrying due to the near silence of the area. Now in a much lesser fashion to that experienced by Aswon's monster rifle, the suppressor was filling with hot gasses that just couldn't bleed away fast enough. The report of the gun grew louder and louder with each burst fired, and he seemed to be firing – a lot. Aswon sprinted back and forth as more of the spirits appeared, sliding out of the ground with an eerie smoothness and clasping their hands together before sending more bolts of mana at them.
He heard a cry of pain behind him and turned to see Hunter's nose explode into a crimson mess, a hot river of blood flowing down the front of his armour as some of the energy found a way to penetrate the shield around him. He could spare little time though – the creatures arriving closer to him saved him from as long a run, but also gave him less time to react. And every time he struck one, there was that same jolt of power through the spear, but it felt stronger and stronger each time. The glow at the end of the spear intensified too, the crimson energy growing more and more pervasive. He looked at it magically for a second as he ripped the tip free from another foe, but couldn't sense anything inherently evil about it, just a sense of power.
The foes kept coming, rising from the ground closer and closer. They weren't sure why, but when they were about fifty metres away, a third appeared. Hunter's gun steamed in the mist as the barrel grew hot, and a growing pile of plastic and brass grew to the right of him as round after round was ejected. He'd never fired so much in such a short time, and the shot counter dropped rapidly, making him glad he'd been lugging around the weight of the extended capacity magazines for so long.
Another batch of three appeared, and they each took down one foe, but the third battered at Hunter with another bolt, and he flinched as the energy wrapped around his head, pink tendrils of deadly force flickering across his vision. He weakened the target, then Aswon was there, a scything desperate swing that took off the back of its head before it could fling another assault at Hunter.
There was a pause for a moment, and Aswon took advantage of the lull to race back to their vehicle and check it was ready to go. Hunter prepared another magazine, ready for a quick swap when he needed to.
With a cry of triumph, Shimazu and Tads managed to finally prise the huge clod of earth free and levered it into the temperature controlled box, slamming the door closed and activating the controls. The sides spiralled in to enclose the 'ground level' part of the plant and chillers started to cool the top while heaters warmed the bottom. They abandoned their spades and other replaceable gear, and stared to slide down the bank into the water, flinching as the icy water invaded their clothes once more. Behind them the drone lifted again, engines cycling to 100% rated power and then beyond as they lifted the box and the cargo up into the air.
In the distance, they heard the dull roar of rotors, and hoped that it was Marius on this way to them and not a response team. Either way there was not a lot they could do in the water, so they waded deeper and deeper, then once more launched forwards and started to swim towards the causeway. Their arms tired from the digging, chilled despite their best efforts from the first dunking were struggling to keep their heads above the surface, while their legs felt leaden and lethargic.
Aswon dealt with his first apparition, feeling another bolt of mana slam into the shield and be deflected away, then turned to slice the spirit that had thrown it in half. WHAM! Another jolt of power, but no time to examine it or worry. The sounds of the gun had intensified, with one three round burst now blurring into the last as Hunter serviced each target in a brutally cold manner, gritting his teeth past the pain. With the blood still oozing down his face, his red-stained teeth exposed by pulled back lips made for a frightening sight – at least to mortal eyes. The apparitions cared not though, and while he destroyed one, another flung a mass of mana at him.
The bolt hit, but this time drove though the shield square in front of his face and seemed to drive into his throat. He staggered back, the gun falling silent as he writhed in silent agony for a moment, before he could bring the barrel back on target to continue the assault. His vision swam and greyness surrounded the centre of his sight as pressure built up. He panted rapidly, trying to drive down the pain that seemed to fill his brain, worse than any dentist's visit.
The foes were down, and based on how things had gone before, they had precious few seconds before some more appeared. He staggered back towards the vehicle, laboriously climbing onto the roof and wedging his legs into position before using the body of the vehicle to steady the wandering gun barrel. It took him several attempts to seat a new magazine into the well of the rifle, but finally he managed it and the display counted back up to maximum once more.
Aswon looked over and saw that Shimazu and Tads were struggling in the water, and ran over to them with a rope, neatly throwing the line over to them, the rope dancing and writhing on the surface of the water like a snake hunting its prey.
With cold and numb fingers they grabbed at the slick line, feeling it slide through their grip despite their best efforts. Aswon pulled as hard as he could, trying to give them forward motion before they slid off the end of the line. Slowly they picked up speed, and just when it looked like the line would pull completely out of their hands, they felt the ground beneath them and managed to stagger up the slope, Aswon grabbing each of them in turn and pushing them towards the rear of the vehicle.
More spirits appeared, and Hunter just blazed away this time. He was having trouble focussing, and wasn't sure he could see clearly enough to target them clearly, so instead put out as many rounds as he could and hoped for the best. The gun's advanced recoil dampening system helped, as did his sheer strength, but the padded stock still hammered into his shoulder as the forces mounted. He felt a bolt of mana hit him, and again, and again, sliding off the invisible shield that protected him until his head was surrounded by faint pink lightning and he couldn't see anything. He kept the trigger down, sweeping the gun back and forth regardless.
Aswon dived into the front of the vehicle and started the engine, slamming it into gear and waiting for Shimazu and Tads to throw themselves into the rear. They shambled over, exhaustion clearly on their faces and echoed in their movements. The car lurched, then lurched again as they stumbled into the back. A third lurch told him the drone had landed on the cargo bed. Ahead of him the sky darkened for a moment as the vast bulk of the chopper roared overhead, reefing around in a tight turn and then nosing up at what looked like an impossible angle.
The move killed forward speed, and Marius dropped the nose quickly as they descended, making sure the tail didn't hit the ground – or worse – Hunter. As they levelled out, he triggered the ramp which lowered down until it hovered about an inch above the ground.
Aswon wasted no time – he stamped on the accelerator and hoped that Hunter had a good grip, then released the clutch. The UAZ sprang forward, wheels spinning on the mud and dirt and the back end fishtailing. He realised with only a second to spare that Nadia stood on one side of the ramp, blazing away at the apparitions with her SMG while more fire from overhead told him that he'd not lost Hunter. He angled left a little, making sure he didn't hit her and with a bounce and roar they hit the ramp and powered inside the vehicle.
Hunter felt the lurch and stopped firing, then as Aswon slammed on the brakes, he slid forward and down the bonnet, tumbling down onto the floor, with his arms cradled protectively around his gun. For a moment he thought he'd messed up and had fired into the side of the chopper, but then his brain fuzzily reported the different sound of 9mm rounds from Nadia's gun to his more powerful rifle.
Marius threw power into the engines and they gained height and accelerated hard, sliding away from the mass of spirits that were closing in on their position. They slid now across the landscape, at a constant height and with smooth motion, but with the engines roaring they started to get left behind. One last fusillades of bolts splattered against the ward of the chopper, and they were gone.
They banked and Marius swung to a southerly course, heading for a straight run at the border – no tricks, no deceptive plans, no evasion – this was a fast getaway from the bank robbery, relying on speed to throw off their pursuit. He lowered the craft down and put all of his concentration of flying though, trusting the others to sort out what was going on in the back.
Both Nadia and Aswon were about to open their mouths and shout orders when they were cut short by Tads.
"You. Strip now! Shower!" Shimazu nodded and followed her instructions, pulling off his sodden clothing layers after layer until he was down to his pants and then ran into the living module and prised himself into the shower. His bulk and physique made it difficult, but he found himself highly motivated for some reason.
Tads had followed along, stripping down to a t-shirt and her knickers, showing no concern over the others seeing her mass of scarred and burnt flesh. Aswon came over with a blanket and wrapped it around her, then started to vigorously rub her to try and impart some warmth.
Nadia pulled Hunter into an upright position, and held a bandage to his nose and mouth, trying to stem the bleeding and give the wound a chance to clot.
As the chopper settled down onto a new course and levelled off, Aswon's eyes drifted over to the two unfamiliar passengers strapped into the seats at the side, along with the unfocussed smile of a still delirious Kai. He was just about to ask what had happened when a plaintive voice shouted out from the shower.
"How do I know when I'm not going to die of hypothermia?"
