Ajax: Birth of the Triple A Chimera II

Upon hearing they were surrounded by Romans, Alabaster put on music. If Pax had to guess, this meant the Witch Boy had conceited defeat and wanted Axel and Pax to be comfortable in their last minutes. The phones lines were already down. The Romans must have cut those first while getting into position. Might as well relax to music before they cut the power too.

"I won't be able to hear—" Axel protested over Pax's metal mix.

"And they won't either," Alabaster hissed. His fingers rifled through the boxes, refrigeration tanks, and crates. He didn't look down while he searched, trusting—unwisely—that Pax and Matt hadn't boobytrapped anything.

While Alabaster sought ingredients and pre-rendered runes, Axel tore through their supplies for weapons. He found an antique harpoon gun from Alabaster's private stash of awesome, several lengths of electrical cord for the band equipment, actual rope, dissection equipment, spikes, and a few crowbars.

They already counted Axel's sword and Pax's utility belt. There weren't many weapons attached on the belt, but Pax had taken to hoarding smoke bombs from their band supplies and darts from the lounge. When they didn't think Dr. Thorn was paying attention, Pax and Matt liked to throw darts at his spikes and use the smoke bombs as cover in their retreat.

Alabaster cursed, withdrawing his gloved hand from a Styrofoam box of dry ice. "Do they know you that you spotted them—"

"No. I don't think anyone saw me, or they didn't indicate if they did. On our hopeless exit options: the back door is locked and barricaded with boxes from when Matt unloaded earlier," Pax said. Alabaster had been frustrated that Matthias completely blocked the back exit; however, Matt's impertinence might buy them a few more minutes of cowering and pathetic farewells. "The windows are still shut and locked since you think fresh air is evil or something—"

"It's to their benefit to charge us from more than one angle," Axel said, dumping a box of artifacts on the floor. A PVC pipe rolled out beside some naked, wooden statues. Leave it to Alabaster to have porn in the form of long-dead people doing some kind of mud dance. Axel tossed the PVC pipe to Pax. Pax caught it, feeling along the holes. Not the best make-shift blow dart gun, but it would do. "If we can funnel them, their numbers mean nothing. Ajax, did you see explosives or a Bear Cat?"

Despite everything, Pax almost dropped the pipe in his delight. His mouth slipped open and he giggled with—

Axel paused in his rifling to glare at Pax. "The armored vehicle. The kind that rams down walls."

"Though, also a species in Southeast Asia that I promise to turn you into if we get out of this alive," Alabaster muttered.

From the name of that animal, it must have been cute. Pax tried not to tremble at the words "if we get out of this alive."

"No Bearcat," Pax said. He wracked his brain. "I didn't see any vehicles." Which made Pax wonder if the Romans had taxied here with all of their weapons or if there was a flock of eagles perched atop the building like the most overloaded phone line. Knowing how big they were, Pax guessed the ceiling would be sagging if that were the case. "Just that Mr. Friendly Bryce and his Done-With-This-Shirt Centurion, Ari and their gang."

"Ari," Axel echoed. He froze. His gaze unfocused as his tufted ears sank into his hairline. "Ari? Julian's girlfriend? She's supposed to be in university—unless… she came back to the military to avenge him…" His fingers sank to his chest, where a single medal—Julian's praetorian badge—hung from a strip of leather.

Pax hadn't meant to say her name and hadn't meant for Axel to put together who she was. He puffed up his cheeks and popped them. After the air left his lungs, Pax jumped to his feet, waving his hands towards the ceiling. "Axel! Earth to fucking, badass Axel! We. Here. Going to die. Not just you. We probably only have minutes left. You can feel guilty about Julian's death on your own time!"

Sure, Axel woke up screaming from the shame and trauma or whatever, but this wasn't the place for Pax's brother to stare off into the distance and soliloquize about his sins.

Axel shook his head. The hand near his chest clenched into a fist. "Fifteen, you said?" His ears shot up as he scowled at the "weapons" in front of him. "That's too many for me. We can't just pick them off. They're Romans. They'll group and we'll get swarmed. Alabaster?"

Alabaster's posture looked so rigid that he could have been a statue. A frown tugged his lip in a way Pax normally found cute. "If they were all in one area and none of us where in that area, I might be able to take them out with an elemental explosion of sorts, but I would need time that we don't have for ritual casting and their utmost cooperation to die"

"Cho," Axel said. His eyes darted to the entrance of the inner laboratory. If this were anyone other than Pax's badass, infallible brother, Pax might have guessed panic was setting in. "Think. Think. There's too many to fight." Axel unsheathed his sword, stalking between the narrows labyrinth of boxes in the world's shortest bout of pacing. "We can't channel them so their numbers don't matter; we might get flanked if they break through a window. We don't have enough supplies to barricade all the doors effectively and they could just set the building on fire if we did. We don't know what individual powers they have. What did older generals do when they were outnumbered and out maneuvered?"

The idea struck Pax so hard that he thought it must have come from some divine source. He would thank his mother (or maybe Prometheus) later. For proper dramatic effect, he snapped his fingers. "The Romans don't know that we're outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Not for sure."

Alabaster's lip quivered. His emerald gaze danced to Pax. "Didn't Mercedes' reports say they weren't sure if Axel was a monster? And me, a mad scientist?"

"That's it!" Axel inhaled deeply. "We'll Zhuge Liang [footnote] it, or at least a variation of Empty Fort strategy." He pivoted to their scattered band equipment. "They're prepared for witchcraft. Not stage performance." There was a plan formulating in Axel's head—Pax could tell since he was no longer saying things that would incur a sand-and-soap mouth washing from their Chiich.

Alabaster hesitated, his gloved hand squeezing the lid to the Styrofoam case. He mumbled something in Latin: a prayer, an incantation, or a final request for McDonald? Pax wasn't sure. When his eyes opened, they blazed. "I'll get the vat of dried ice in the back. Hecate bless us, I can't believe I'm leaving things up to luck with you two. It's like betting against loaded dice."

Pax, who hadn't gambled much, resented this comment; he and Axel would most likely be using loaded dice. This almost not-suicidal plan and Alabaster's cynical "hurrah" made Pax swallow. Now, they just needed to pull the plan off and have nothing go wrong, something that definitely wasn't in their track record.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Tune in next week to see Pax's fanfiction of the events. I hope you guys are staying safe and healthy!

Footnote: In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang opened all the gates of the city he defended and sat atop a platform, where he played his guqin. The enemy leader, Sima Yi, ordered a retreat since this looked too much like a set up for ambush.