A/N… Thank you all for your patience. We're getting down to the nitty-gritty. So I'll let you get to it. Please see me at the bottom for posting stuff, okay?

Off you go…

~oOo~

Chapter 24

EDWARD

In the distance loomed a city that rivaled the Sound – modern, clean, closed-off. They had power. Lots of it. But it seemed to be concentrated on about five buildings in a cluster in the center of their walled city.

As I pulled on a baseball cap, fingerless black gloves, and my vest, I glared with hatred and venom. I needed to put myself in the right frame of mind. We only had one shot at this shit; we needed to end it.

In order for life to even attempt to restart, men like Aro and Caius couldn't have any sort of control. They were responsible for not millions, but billions of deaths. They were the reason slavery was brought back, that people suffered and starved. For the last twenty-eight years, they'd built walls around themselves in order to maintain their seats of power.

All that ended tonight.

Slavery. Maybe that was the one thing that I needed to focus on. I glanced over to Alice as she got ready, but my mind was on my Bella. Families had been destroyed, split apart, eradicated – all so someone else could own another human being.

The things Aro did to Alice were beyond comprehension. That same man had handed over Bella to my father, telling him to enjoy her. As if she was his to give. As if everyone was just as twisted as he'd been.

Pulling out my little orca, I pressed kisses to it and tucked it away back into my front pocket. This fight was for Bella, for Emily, for the remaining people of Oz who had survived more shit than they should have had to survive.

I rolled my head on my shoulders to crack my neck as I gritted my teeth. My nostrils flared in anger. I picked up my binoculars to take another look at the city of Atlanta as the train started to slow down.

We were just about on-point to set everything into motion. Along either side of the gate and on top of the walls were actual fucking gallows. Six ropes, six people, six bodies all hanging as a warning.

"I honestly don't know who's worse," Jasper muttered, pulling his own binoculars away from his face. "I thought Aro was a piece of shit, but this guy…" He glanced over at Marcus, whose face was ashen at the sight before us. "Dude, was your father like…a sadist? Did he beat you guys?"

Marcus snorted humorlessly. "You'd think so, right? No, he didn't beat us. He spoiled us. He let my brothers get away with everything. Even if they were caught, he'd get them out of trouble."

"Fantastic," Rose whispered, shaking her head. "A whole lifetime of boys will be boys."

Grinning her way, I raised an eyebrow. "Grandma Sue never played that shit."

Emmett laughed from the back of the train car. "No, she didn't play that shit at all. She tore me up when I was a kid."

"We're all grateful," I muttered, chuckling when Rose cracked up.

The humor, though, died quickly in the train car as we started to slow down. I glanced around at my team, making sure they were all ready. We were all dressed as raiders – more specifically, Atlanta raiders. After breaking into their network and studying their security footage, we decided to change up the Sound's old uniforms. They were similar – all black, with boots and vests – but the Atlanta raiders wore black baseball caps and tucked their pants into their boots.

We followed suit. We wanted to be able to blend in once we hit the train station. This would be a fast, violent strike once we pulled in. Caius's raiders would see only my team at first. They wouldn't see the hundred and fifty soldiers we had inside those train cars. And they damn well wouldn't see all the heavy weaponry. Marcus would be leading his soldiers along with Pearson; I was leading the members of Oz's resistance along with Charlie.

Sam, Jake, and Seth got into position at the back of the train. Emmett and I took our spot between the train engine and the first car. Jasper, Alice, Rose, and Charlie took their places between the remaining train cars. Marcus and his men got away from windows and the side doors, onto the floor or into storage cars, which had been altered to have openings to the ground.

This train was going to spill violence from every direction.

"Oz to Dorothy. Come in," Bella stated over the radio.

"Go ahead, Oz," I replied as the train slowed even more when we approached the gate that led inside Atlanta.

"Dorothy, you should know… you have heavy artillery on either side of the tracks just outside the station. You also have the same inside on the loading platform," she advised.

Flash added, "You also have approximately a dozen guards walking the station inside and a handful more outside the building."

"Copy that," I replied, turning to my people but staying on the radio for those I couldn't see. "My team… We're the tip of the spear. Once this train stops, we're the start of it all. We'll step down, get them comfortable, and once they think we're here for what they want, we'll give the signal."

"Ten-four," Sam replied back.

He was the one who would kick things off. Jake and Seth were armed with grenade launchers. We knew things would be tight from everything we'd studied. So that heavy artillery Bella mentioned had to be the first to go. That part was all on Sam, Jake, and Seth.

Once the train actually stopped, I gave a sharp whistle. "Art, you stay low and out of sight."

The older man nodded, saying, "I'm good, kid. When the attention is all on you, I'll get this train ready to leave." He gestured through the train station to the other side, where a bunch of tracks crisscrossed.

Nodding one time, I then turned to Marcus. "Wait for my signal."

With one last glance down the train, I made sure everyone was in position, that hatch doors were open, and the men were armed and ready. This part would be the touchiest, where shit could go all sorts of wrong.

"On you, Emmett," I told him, and we both stepped off the train and onto the platform.

In the back of my mind, I knew that this was just the beginning and that we weren't the only threat to Caius out there. Somewhere on the other side of his walls was the group from New York and Boston. They knew to wait until this part was done before they took their first shot. They had been told our plan before they ever loaded a boat or we boarded a train.

Emmett and I were approached by a man and a woman, both in their all-black uniform.

The man gazed over the train, asking, "Do you have a manifest?"

"Your leader threatened the lives of innocent people unless we brought supplies, and you want a fucking manifest?" Emmett asked him, wearing a dangerous smile. "No, asshole. No manifest. You get what you get, and you'll like it."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, because really, Emmett was being rather forthcoming about what was about to happen.

"What innocent people?" the girl piped up, looking to me.

"The people on the other side of your walls. Caius said he'd bomb every last one of them if we didn't show up with supplies," I told her.

She paled, glancing between her partner and us.

"You have people on that side of the wall, don't you?" Emmett asked her.

She nodded, wide-eyed and scared. "Yeah, my mom—"

"No one on the other side of the wall matters," the young man snapped, interrupting her. "They're all sick, contaminated."

"And Caius's brother made them that way," the girl told him. "Didn't you see that video that blasted on repeat for like three damn days?"

"That shit was fake, Valentine."

I knew Emmett probably better than anyone, so I knew what was coming. I could see it when the smile creeped up on his face and heard it in the soft laugh that huffed out of him.

"Well, aren't you a little Kool-Aid drinkin' motherfucker? She's smarter than you," Emmett taunted him, and I took a step away, glancing down at the tail end of the train.

I gave Sam a quick look to get ready, because Emmett was specifically picking a fight. His rule was to make them mad because anger caused people to make mistakes.

"Shut the hell up, Cooper," Valentine told him, placing a hand on his chest to push him back a bit because he'd stepped closer to Emmett, who was taller and probably outweighed him by almost fifty pounds. "We need to get this done."

I shook my head because Emmett was drawing a crowd of raiders with this show he was putting on, and pretty soon, we had all of them on our side of the platform.

Cooper, being the gentleman that he was, shoved Valentine so hard that she fell into me. He started for Emmett again, who decided to simply kick things off with a bang. Emmett swung on Cooper, and when his fist met flesh, four explosions happened at the other end of the train station.

Sam had taken out all four of the heavy guns – two outside and two inside. My team spilled out of the train with their weapons raised.

I turned to Valentine. "We're not here with supplies. We're here to stop Caius. You can help, or you can run, but you need to understand we're not stopping."

There were curses and calls for someone to drop their weapons. Sam, Jake, and Seth were still at the far end of the platform. Jasper and Alice were aiming from between two train cars, and Charlie and Rose had taken position between another set of cars. The dozen or so raiders were aiming and yelling, and my team was aiming and yelling, but Valentine stepped forward between us all.

"Wait!" she pleaded both sides then faced her people. "Conley, Fowler, Grimes, Trevino, on me!"

Four people stepped forward, two women and two men, and they aimed their weapons toward the Atlanta raiders.

Valentine looked to me. "You have our help. Whatever you need."

Cooper, however, pulled his ass up off the platform floor. Instead of aiming for the man who'd punched the shit out of him, he rounded on Valentine. She raised her weapon, and Cooper was down before he could make a decision. Emotions were high in that train station, so when one shot was fired, all the bullets started flying.

I pulled my own weapon, opting for my .45, and fired on three raiders trying to sneak around the side of the engine. They went down, which only left Valentine and her four companions.

"Hold your fire!" I called, giving a sharp whistle.

When Marcus and his soldiers spilled out of the train from doors and from underneath the train cars, Valentine's eyes grew wide.

However, we all came to a standstill when heavy explosions from outside made the ground tremble. Emmett and I looked to each other and ran toward the end of the platform so we could see outside. Smoke bloomed black and heavy from what I would've guessed were several of the gates of Caius's wall.

"Well, New York and Boston are here," Emmett muttered, spinning to face Marcus. "Marcus, we've got allies in position. Let's do this shit. Where're we goin'?"

Valentine stepped away from her remaining group, asking, "What exactly are you here to do?"

"Remove Caius from his seat of power," Marcus answered smoothly as Pearson gave quiet orders to his people. "If we don't, then he will rot in whatever tower he resides, because all the other cities have been freed. The only problem that poses is that all the people both inside the walls and out will suffer. I can't allow innocent people to starve because my brother has some sort of misconception of his power."

"Brother?" one of Valentine's men asked, stepping forward. I was pretty sure his name was Conley.

"Unfortunately," Marcus said through a deep sigh.

"There's three of you? What makes you any better than the one up there?" Trevino asked.

"Well, see… We asked that same question," Emmett started, stepping forward to place a hand on Marcus's shoulder. "While his brothers were fucking busy trying to destroy the world, Marcus here was protecting the last of our old government. He guarded presidents, gathered survivors better than Noah's ark, and he eventually became the last of the old military and highest-ranking soldier, which now makes him the US President." Before anyone could counter that, Emmett held up a finger. "And he did his damnedest to help everyone he's met along the way."

"We're the ones who broadcasted that video of Aro," I added, and Valentine spun my way. "We took him down after years of planning and sacrifice. We're here to do the same to Caius. We're aware of just how many raiders you have between here and his building. We know where your barracks are, and we have other cities out there rigging those walls with enough explosive to tear them down. If you're in, then you'll be a target. If you're not, then we'll give you the opportunity to run or hide." I gestured around to both my resistance and Marcus's soldiers. "But this group is about to split apart and start fighting from here, to your barracks, and finally, to Caius's building. It's all a target."

Valentine looked to her people, and a couple nodded. "Okay, we're in. Which group is taking the barracks?" She glanced between us all.

"Mine," I told her, pointing to everyone in black. "We'll be hitting the barracks and clearing the way for the rest to move in on the buildings."

"We'll help you. We've been slowly smuggling people over the walls for a while now. You need to know exactly who to…remove. The most dangerous is the captain. Billy Lawson. He's cruel and manipulative. He's the one who convinced most of them that the video was fake."

I looked to Charlie. "You good with this?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it seems every city had its resistance."

Another explosion rumbled from outside, and Bella's voice came over the radio.

"Oz to Dorothy," she called urgently.

"Go ahead, Oz," I radioed back.

"You've got raiders moving in teams from the barracks to the blown gates. You've also got company closing in on you. We are currently blocking Caius's view of his security feed. But if you don't move, those raiders will trap you."

"Copy that, love," I replied back without thinking, and I faced my people. "Okay, we've got to move." I pointed to Sam, Jake, and Seth. "You three, out the back. Everyone else, on me."

I led the rest of my team, plus Valentine and her people, toward the exit of the train station that emptied out onto the street. Before I opened the door, I turned toward Marcus.

"You wait for our signal. Once we clear the barracks, you can advance toward the buildings."

"Be careful, son," he said, giving a nod.

Bringing my radio to my mouth, I said, "Sam, let's do this. See you on the other side."

"Roger that," he replied back.

Before I pushed the door open, Valentine stopped me. "See that round silver building four blocks up?" When I nodded, she went on. "That's Caius's building. Top floor. The barracks are between here and there, just on the other side of an old parking garage."

We'd made sure to pull into Atlanta just after midnight. We wanted the cover of darkness, but we also wanted Caius asleep and unaware that he was about to lose everything.

The streets were empty – no cars, no debris, no raiders – when we stepped out onto the sidewalk. Sounds of fighting in the distance met our ears as we started for the next block over. The building would give us cover. Movement behind us caused me to spin, but Sam, Jake and Seth were taking the sidewalk at a run.

I gave them the signal to split to the other side of the building so we were covered on every angle of this area. We moved as quickly and quietly as possible, using shadows and doorways to stay out of sight.

The troops Bella had warned us about were on the move just ahead, splitting up to take either side of the street. From where I was, I could see the parking garage Valentine had mentioned. It faced what used to be an old hotel – a higher-end one, at that. It was brick and square, and it took up half a city block.

Turning to Charlie, I whispered, "We need the cover from that garage, but we've got company moving in on us."

Charlie studied his surroundings, nodding that he'd heard me. "Jasper, Alice, you're with me." He pointed across the street to a building where all the glass had been broken from the windows.

I turned toward the group heading our way. When they shifted position again, I gave those three the signal to move. We'd kept the sound contained to the train station, but these next few steps would break that silence.

Valentine tapped my arm, pointing to the door Trevino was opening next to us. The old pizza shop was covered in dust, and it had large broken windows facing each side of the corner. Emmett took one window, staying low in a booth, and I took the other. The rest of them found a spot to settle in.

The Atlanta raiders were still on the move, but something on Charlie's side of the street had to have caught their attention, because orders were called out to dig in. Charlie, however, didn't give them time to get set. I heard the clink of a metal can hit the asphalt before the billowing smoke started to spill out and fill the intersection.

Someone had an itchy trigger finger, and they started firing toward Charlie's location. Emmett and I raised our weapons, showering the opposite corner with bullets. Cries of pain, calls to fall back, and more bullets came our way. Sam caught them from the corner behind them, and the first wave of raiders were removed.

"Let's move," I ordered, pulling myself from the old booth seat. "Garage. Now!"

We came to a stop just outside the entrance, and I took a count of how many levels there were versus how many stories the barracks had.

"Three per floor, with one left over," Valentine pointed out.

"That's two per floor, except you're with Emmett and me on the first floor," I told her, pointing toward the other side of the garage. "The rest of you, head up to each floor, and I need a team on the other side to catch them in the middle. We're going to smoke them out."

"On it, Ed," Jasper said, taking Alice toward the stairs.

Sam, Jake, and Seth started for the other side of the barracks. Valentine sent one of her people with them. Grimes was a tall girl, with red hair and a shit-ton of freckles, but she simply nodded and followed Sam around the corner.

Trevino and Charlie took the stairs, followed by Rose and Conley.

The only one left was a girl Valentine called Fowler. The girl had dark eyes and mocha skin, and her hair was pulled back through the back of her cap in a long braid. She was no bigger than my Bella, but I'd learned a long fucking time ago not to underestimate short, fiery women. Alice and Bella were prime examples of that. And that thought made me reach into my front pocket and give my little orca a squeeze. God, I just wanted this shit over so I could go home to my small, fiery girls. I felt like I'd been away from them forever, when it had only been a little over a week.

With a wry smile, Fowler turned to Valentine. "I got the inside. The captain should be three sheets to the wind right about now. The old abusive, alcoholic fucker."

Valentine grinned. "Yes, ma'am. Watch yourself inside."

"Copy that," Fowler replied, slipping out of the garage and silently creeping in through the barracks' front door.

Valentine led Emmett and me to the far side of the garage, whispering, "She's going to enjoy this way too much. She was one of his targets when she was in training – hefty punishments, sparring with assholes who preferred to hit women, and endless insults. Though that last thing may be because he's a racist bastard on top of all his other glorious personality traits."

Emmett snorted. "Then let her take her sweet-ass time."

With a grin, Valentine said, "Exactly."

We found a spot on the low wall of the garage that faced the front door of the old hotel-turned-barracks.

I pulled my radio out, whispering, "In position. Wait for the signal."

Valentine tapped her ear, saying, "We're on point, Fowler. Give us a sign when you're ready."

I wasn't sure what that sign would be, but I never thought it would be the shattering of a top-floor window and a rather large older gentleman plummeting to the sidewalk.

I started to shift, but Valentine stopped me, saying, "Wait. She's not done."

Emmett snickered. "Oh hell, she's getting all the revenge, huh?"

Valentine merely grinned, and the dark windows of the barracks suddenly shattered floor by floor. It seemed Fowler was tossing grenades on each level as she quickly made her way back down to the front doors. She didn't join us in the garage. Instead, she found a good location to dig in just outside.

Raiders started to spill out of the barracks like ants from a disturbed anthill. Half-dressed, some injured, and all of them armed. Some took position in the broken windows on each floor, aiming our way.

Emmett, Valentine, and I pinned down the main door. And eventually, they stopped trying to use that way to escape. The distinct sounds of a grenade launcher erupted from the other side of the building, so Jake and Seth were probably well on their way to high scores.

Movement on the second floor caught my attention, and before I could reload a clip on my rifle, the raider lifted, aimed, and pulled the trigger on an RPG.

"Incoming!"

The three of us on the first floor dove out of the way of the debris that fell from the floor above us. I slid to a stop by the stairs in the corner of the garage. Emmett and Valentine were behind the large, round pillars in the center of the open space.

Marcus's voice came over the radio, demanding a status report.

Pulling my radio from my belt as I peeked over the low wall of the garage as I answered, "You're clear to move forward to the parking garage, Marcus."

"Copy that," he replied.

"My team, check in," I demanded.

Sam was the first to call back. "We've got about a dozen surrendered raiders. We're all okay. Seth took a bullet to the arm, but he's fine. It's just a graze."

"Top floor of the garage okay," Jasper stated.

"Third floor okay. Though I lost Conley," Rose said with a rough voice.

My gaze shot to Valentine, who flinched and grimaced at that information, but the last group was Charlie and Trevino, who had taken the brunt of the RPG explosion.

"Charlie, you'd better check in," I warned him. "I'm not fucking kidding."

"Oz to Dorothy," Bella's voice came over the speaker.

"Go ahead, Oz."

"He's fine. His radio is shattered. I can see him on the security feed of that garage," she advised. "In fact, he's making his way down to you now along with the raider he was with."

I sighed in relief, glancing up at the stairs when Charlie emerged covered in dust. Trevino was the same concrete debris–covered mess. Neither seemed hurt, maybe a cut or two, but otherwise they were perfectly fine.

"Thank you, Oz," I replied, grinning up at Charlie when he glared my way. "I've got eyes on him now."

Charlie tossed his ruined radio onto the cement, looking more pissed off than anything. "That's it. When this shit is done, I'm retiring. I'm gonna spend the rest of my days teaching my grandbaby how to fish when we get home."

He offered me a hand to pull me up as I said, "That sounds like a fan-fucking-tastic idea."

Valentine walked over just as Marcus and his men started to secure the rest of the raiders Sam was guiding our way.

"Jasper, Rose," I called over the radio. "Bring it in. First floor."

Once Marcus reached us, we had everyone back down on the ground level. Valentine checked on her remaining people, and then she glanced around at us.

"I'm sorry to say…this wasn't the hard part," she said solemnly.

"We know," Marcus replied, smiling softly her way. "Caius has his own security living in the building."

"And only certain keycards will let us in—" Valentine was cut off by Fowler.

"Don't you sweat it," she huffed, holding up a card. "The captain's. You know, before he unfortunately slipped and fell."

Emmett cracked up. "Did you at least get some satisfying punches?"

"And a crotch kick."

Grinning, I shook my head. It was official; feisty girls were dangerous. Which made me need another word or two with my own feisty girl.

I stepped away from the group a little. "Dorothy to Oz."

"Go ahead, Dorothy."

"We're going to need all of you on this next step. I have a feeling we're taking stairs and elevators," I told her. "Are Flash and Nolan with you?"

"Yeah, we've got you, Ed," Flash replied. "From what I'm seeing, your main issues will be the lobby and then the top floor. There is also a whole floor for in-building security."

I shot a glance over to Valentine, who was nodding.

"Copy that. What floor?"

"The one right below Caius's."

"Well, isn't that awesome?" Emmett asked rhetorically.

Marcus stepped forward. "Let's get moving. My hope is that this will all be over by dawn."

Everyone checked their gear, their ammo, and their radios, following Marcus out onto the street. My eye raked up the large, round silver building. It had power, and it had so many floors, I didn't bother to even try to count them. When my eyes reached the top, I wondered if Caius was sleeping through this shit, or if he saw not only the chaos we'd started, but also the New York and Boston allies who were meticulously destroying every gate in his precious fucking walls.

As Caius's building loomed over us, I braced myself for what was coming next.

~oOo~

A/N… I need to ask you guys for a little patience. I'm trying to get this story to the end, but I need extra time, so I'm going skip next Sunday's update again. I'm sorry, but I'm kinda working extra hours, and trying to catch up on all the things. We're getting close to the end of this story, so maybe two or three more chapters, if my characters behave. ;)

Okay, so I will see you on July 14, unless I have a sudden empty span of time to get it all written. Until then… Mooches, Deb ;)