06-03-2014, 08:36 PM
It didn't take long to bust down the door. Nevertheless, the Knights seemed to get a kick out of it. Nicholas gave the twisted frame leaning against the opposite wall a look. It was pretty damn cool. But they were in a hurry. No time for gawking, as the sergeant quickly made clear. "Let's move, Mr. Trano,"
he said as he shouldered past.
It turned out the same blueprints that had led them to the main power room had the backups marked. Nicholas wondered who managed not to notice them in the first place. That gave them a rough outline of where Reed would be headed. There were two stations in the basement - both down the line east from the main power room. Another was on the roof. The sergeant judged that Reed would head there last.
What followed was a tense, nerve wracking exploration of the basement. Every intersection was a potential death zone, after all. It took about forty five minutes to visit each of the backup power cells - both of which were thoroughly trashed by the time they were reached. A distinct lack of blood, bodies or bullet holes told a pretty good story about Reed's journey thus far.
Once the power cells were taken care of, they were faced with the problem of finding their way to the roof. Moving through the ground level would be dangerous. Luckily enough, there was a maintenance elevator right behind them. Nicholas helpfully pointed it out. "I think I can, er, levitate each of you to the top of that elevator shaft."
All heads turned to him, and he shrugged. "Might be safer than finding a staircase."
The sergeant cocked his head. "Ever do something like that before?"
"Honestly?"
Nicholas shook his head. "No. But I've been experimenting."
The sergeant considered for a moment. Which was reasonable - he was about to consent to being magically floated four stories in the air. Finally, he made the decision. "Good enough for me."
He nodded towards the elevator. "Get that door open."
It didn't take long. Nicholas hadn't let go of the source for a second. Well, aside from that time a rat ambushed him. He breathed it in more deeply, yanking the power into line. His senses sharpened noticeably with the increase in power, his mind having long since become used to the earlier edge. Misty yellow wires of air coiled around the doors and yanked them open, with only a small burst of sound from dead gears forced to turn against their will. That taken care of, Nicholas took the liberty of slicing a hole in the ceiling of the elevator. With a loud clang, their makeshift magic ladder was ready to go.
Nicholas rubbed his hands together, and turned back around. "So, which one of you is going first?"
"One at a time?"
The sergeant asked. Nicholas figured the reason was that a single man wouldn't be in a very safe place if there were bad guys up there.
Nicholas answered matter-of-factly. "Want me to risk dropping all four of you?"
He had only been experimenting.
"Guess not."
The sergeant nodded at one of his Knights - a shorter one who, upon examination, was a woman. Damn. If Nicholas screwed this up he'd be killing a girl.
"Alright. Step into the elevator, miss."
His voice was confident, but he was getting less sure by the minute. He'd never tried lifting somebody this high into the air. He had no idea if the power wouldn't just cut off at some arbitrary point. She obliged and walked inside with Nicholas on her heels. "It's going to feel kind of like what I'd imagine a parachute does - but the other way around. Good luck up there."
Thick wires of air - it wouldn't do to cut her - laced around her arms and legs into a rough approximation of a harness. She raised her rifle, ready to blast whatever she came up against at the top of the shaft. Nicholas was going to have to open the door once she got up there. He thought a silent prayer and then began.
To the eyes of anyone else, it would appear that she simply floated into the air. What was really happening, of course, was that Nicholas was slowly moving wires of air upwards and she just happened to be pulled along with them. About thirty nerve wracking seconds later, she reached the roof. Nicholas pulled the door open and deposited her in the hallway.
Judging by the lack of shooting, and the next Knight stepping into the elevator, the Knight upstairs didn't have any problems. The other three went pretty quickly. It wasn't until Nicholas tried to lift himself that he had problems. "Do any of you happen to have any rope?"
He called up the shaft, as quietly as physics would allow. "It seems I can't pick myself up."
What might have been an awkward situation instead only turned into an embarrassing one. A thin cord was dropped down, and Nicholas was soon pulled to the roof like a sack of potatoes. He had no doubts there would be bruising where the cord had pressed sharply into his skin. Once they were all together at the top of the elevator, Nicholas saw the cord coil back into one of the Knights' armor. Neat little feature,
he thought.
The sergeant pulled him aside. "Alright, Mr. Trano,"
he said gruffly, "If your woman isn't here, she's dead."
The rest of the thought was implied - Nicholas had needlessly put all their lives at risk, and he damn well better not try to make them search anywhere else.
Nicholas just nodded. "Let's hope she's here, then."
They were in a small hallway - an over sized storage closet, really - that only served to hold some maintenance tools and keep the elevator door from being exposed to the elements.
The sun had long set, and the roof was only lit by a few blinking red strobes. They could see their objective only a few dozen yards away, another boxy projection sticking out of the roof. The Knight Nicholas lifted first took the lead, and they all moved together. The Knights were the very image of stalking wolves - well, stalking human wolves. Nicholas was more like a Labrador retriever. The only sounds were the howl of night wind, sporadic gunfire and the low roar of a jet in the distance. As they got closer, Nicholas started to hear the muffled sound of talking from inside the room. He couldn't make out words, but it sounded like only one side of a conversation.
Finally reaching the door, three of the Knights stacked up while another kept his eyes on the rear. The point woman reached to open the door. The click from the handle cut through the otherwise meticulously maintained silence like a knife. Then, the door slammed outwards, knocking her to the ground.
From where Nicholas was, he couldn't see inside the room. But he recognized the arm holding a gun in the face of another Knight. Luckily for all involved, the third held his fire. With threads of air, Nicholas ripped Reed's gun out of her hands - he didn't want to risk her thinking she was about to be offed by a team of Custody special forces, like Al-Hasan was. Just to make damn sure, he shouted, "Reed, it's us!"
Nicholas stepped into her view just in time to see her staring incredulously at the Knights around her. The one that had gotten knocked to the ground seemed to be laughing. Then she noticed him. "What the hell, Trano? That was a steel door!"
Nicholas could only smile. "You should see how we got up here."
Then he winced and rolled one of his shoulders. He'd leave out the part where they pulled him up by a rope.
She shot a look toward the runway. "Since you're here, unfurl that magic carpet--" the last bit of what she had been saying was drowned out as a private jet landed on the runway. The Knights' body language said they were relieved when it landed.
Nicholas didn't need to remain curious for long. "It's the Legion Premiere's CEO,"
the sergeant said. "They're going to help us out of this death trap."
The night quieted back down for a few moments as the plane rolled to a halt, only to be broken again with laughter. "The CCD hired mercenaries!" All heads turned to Reed, who was practically doubled over.
he said as he shouldered past.
It turned out the same blueprints that had led them to the main power room had the backups marked. Nicholas wondered who managed not to notice them in the first place. That gave them a rough outline of where Reed would be headed. There were two stations in the basement - both down the line east from the main power room. Another was on the roof. The sergeant judged that Reed would head there last.
What followed was a tense, nerve wracking exploration of the basement. Every intersection was a potential death zone, after all. It took about forty five minutes to visit each of the backup power cells - both of which were thoroughly trashed by the time they were reached. A distinct lack of blood, bodies or bullet holes told a pretty good story about Reed's journey thus far.
Once the power cells were taken care of, they were faced with the problem of finding their way to the roof. Moving through the ground level would be dangerous. Luckily enough, there was a maintenance elevator right behind them. Nicholas helpfully pointed it out. "I think I can, er, levitate each of you to the top of that elevator shaft."
All heads turned to him, and he shrugged. "Might be safer than finding a staircase."
The sergeant cocked his head. "Ever do something like that before?"
"Honestly?"
Nicholas shook his head. "No. But I've been experimenting."
The sergeant considered for a moment. Which was reasonable - he was about to consent to being magically floated four stories in the air. Finally, he made the decision. "Good enough for me."
He nodded towards the elevator. "Get that door open."
It didn't take long. Nicholas hadn't let go of the source for a second. Well, aside from that time a rat ambushed him. He breathed it in more deeply, yanking the power into line. His senses sharpened noticeably with the increase in power, his mind having long since become used to the earlier edge. Misty yellow wires of air coiled around the doors and yanked them open, with only a small burst of sound from dead gears forced to turn against their will. That taken care of, Nicholas took the liberty of slicing a hole in the ceiling of the elevator. With a loud clang, their makeshift magic ladder was ready to go.
Nicholas rubbed his hands together, and turned back around. "So, which one of you is going first?"
"One at a time?"
The sergeant asked. Nicholas figured the reason was that a single man wouldn't be in a very safe place if there were bad guys up there.
Nicholas answered matter-of-factly. "Want me to risk dropping all four of you?"
He had only been experimenting.
"Guess not."
The sergeant nodded at one of his Knights - a shorter one who, upon examination, was a woman. Damn. If Nicholas screwed this up he'd be killing a girl.
"Alright. Step into the elevator, miss."
His voice was confident, but he was getting less sure by the minute. He'd never tried lifting somebody this high into the air. He had no idea if the power wouldn't just cut off at some arbitrary point. She obliged and walked inside with Nicholas on her heels. "It's going to feel kind of like what I'd imagine a parachute does - but the other way around. Good luck up there."
Thick wires of air - it wouldn't do to cut her - laced around her arms and legs into a rough approximation of a harness. She raised her rifle, ready to blast whatever she came up against at the top of the shaft. Nicholas was going to have to open the door once she got up there. He thought a silent prayer and then began.
To the eyes of anyone else, it would appear that she simply floated into the air. What was really happening, of course, was that Nicholas was slowly moving wires of air upwards and she just happened to be pulled along with them. About thirty nerve wracking seconds later, she reached the roof. Nicholas pulled the door open and deposited her in the hallway.
Judging by the lack of shooting, and the next Knight stepping into the elevator, the Knight upstairs didn't have any problems. The other three went pretty quickly. It wasn't until Nicholas tried to lift himself that he had problems. "Do any of you happen to have any rope?"
He called up the shaft, as quietly as physics would allow. "It seems I can't pick myself up."
What might have been an awkward situation instead only turned into an embarrassing one. A thin cord was dropped down, and Nicholas was soon pulled to the roof like a sack of potatoes. He had no doubts there would be bruising where the cord had pressed sharply into his skin. Once they were all together at the top of the elevator, Nicholas saw the cord coil back into one of the Knights' armor. Neat little feature,
he thought.
The sergeant pulled him aside. "Alright, Mr. Trano,"
he said gruffly, "If your woman isn't here, she's dead."
The rest of the thought was implied - Nicholas had needlessly put all their lives at risk, and he damn well better not try to make them search anywhere else.
Nicholas just nodded. "Let's hope she's here, then."
They were in a small hallway - an over sized storage closet, really - that only served to hold some maintenance tools and keep the elevator door from being exposed to the elements.
The sun had long set, and the roof was only lit by a few blinking red strobes. They could see their objective only a few dozen yards away, another boxy projection sticking out of the roof. The Knight Nicholas lifted first took the lead, and they all moved together. The Knights were the very image of stalking wolves - well, stalking human wolves. Nicholas was more like a Labrador retriever. The only sounds were the howl of night wind, sporadic gunfire and the low roar of a jet in the distance. As they got closer, Nicholas started to hear the muffled sound of talking from inside the room. He couldn't make out words, but it sounded like only one side of a conversation.
Finally reaching the door, three of the Knights stacked up while another kept his eyes on the rear. The point woman reached to open the door. The click from the handle cut through the otherwise meticulously maintained silence like a knife. Then, the door slammed outwards, knocking her to the ground.
From where Nicholas was, he couldn't see inside the room. But he recognized the arm holding a gun in the face of another Knight. Luckily for all involved, the third held his fire. With threads of air, Nicholas ripped Reed's gun out of her hands - he didn't want to risk her thinking she was about to be offed by a team of Custody special forces, like Al-Hasan was. Just to make damn sure, he shouted, "Reed, it's us!"
Nicholas stepped into her view just in time to see her staring incredulously at the Knights around her. The one that had gotten knocked to the ground seemed to be laughing. Then she noticed him. "What the hell, Trano? That was a steel door!"
Nicholas could only smile. "You should see how we got up here."
Then he winced and rolled one of his shoulders. He'd leave out the part where they pulled him up by a rope.
She shot a look toward the runway. "Since you're here, unfurl that magic carpet--" the last bit of what she had been saying was drowned out as a private jet landed on the runway. The Knights' body language said they were relieved when it landed.
Nicholas didn't need to remain curious for long. "It's the Legion Premiere's CEO,"
the sergeant said. "They're going to help us out of this death trap."
The night quieted back down for a few moments as the plane rolled to a halt, only to be broken again with laughter. "The CCD hired mercenaries!" All heads turned to Reed, who was practically doubled over.