“Hurry up, Brother Mockingbird,” barked Maggie as she held the elevator open.

“Easy for you to say,” I replied, darting in as quickly as I could. “You aren’t carrying an explosive fabricata on your back.” I shifted my shoulders, failing to fix the crick in my neck. “This thing is damned heavy.”

“It’s not made to be portable,” she replied, pressing the elevator button. “It’s a designed to store energy and stick to something you want to fall down. That takes a lot of materials! Maybe if I’d had more time to prepare, I could have miniaturized it. But, since today just had to be the day, you can be my pack mule.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” I muttered, glancing around nervously. “I don’t like parading around in these uniforms, though. What if somebody sees us?’

“Nobody’s around,” she replied. “Everybody’s gone off to the field for the commencement speech.” A playful grin spread across her face as she checked her watch. “In about fifteen minutes, they’ll wonder where the Headmaster went.”

“That’s all well and good, but what if somebody were to see us?”

“Then they would have no idea who we were,” she said. “And if we think they’re going to oppose us, well, the saying is Humanity First. The value of any individual human is on a case-by-case basis.”

“My, aren’t we bloodthirsty?”

“The world has a lot to answer for,” she replied. “They’ve resisted the truth for too long, carrying on like the old world never ended. We’ll make them see.”

I smiled and nodded. That’s the safest approach when a zealot starts rambling.

As we exited the elevator, I almost swore that I heard it chime twice as the door opened. Not seeing anybody else around, I chalked it up to the echoing of the pristine main hall.

The school often felt like a ghost town, but this was at a new level. There wasn’t a single soul about. It gave our journey through the administrative offices an eerie quality, like we were invading a tomb.

Maggie was about to say something, but I covered her mouth. “Do you hear that?”

She shoved my hand away but perked her ear. “This way, the teacher’s lounge.”

As we got closer, I immediately recognized Paul’s voice. It was faint, but we could hear it through the partially opened door.

“…ice-water for blood? You’re way too calm about this.”

“What? I am completely wired! Today’s the day we save the world!” said Rei.

“Not if you keep bellowing about it,” snapped Maggie as we entered.

I had to give them credit, they were primed for a fight. They’d been sitting on one of the excessively plush couches that lined the room, but they leapt right into action. Rei levitated one of the metallic bullets between her hands, while runes orbited around Paul’s hands.

“Who the heck are you two?” demanded Paul.

Maggie and I exchanged a confused look. The realization dawned on us both at once, and we raised our masks with a chuckle.

“Is that any way to speak to your commander?” asked Maggie.

Rei snatched her ball from thin air, shoving it back into her pocket. “Oh, it’s you!” She bowed politely. “Good morning, Ms. Edw-”

“That’s Holy Sister Shrike,” she said. “Codenames only, Sister Shoebill.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” she said, saluting reflexively once, and then again after a short pause. It was like she couldn’t decide what to do with her hands. I swear, I had never seen somebody so obviously excited without it showing on her face.

“That’s a neat trick with those masks, Sister Shrike,” said Paul.

“I got the idea from a psychology class I took when I got my teaching certificate,” she said. She nodded to the duffel bag over my shoulder, and I issued Paul and Rei their enchanted scarves and masks. “There are some poor souls out there who can’t recognize a face or voice to save their life, and I spent a summer figuring out how to induce that.”

“It’s gotta be some powerful magic to keep me from recognizing you, Ms. Edwards.”

“Very smooth, Brother Bald Eagle,” I muttered to myself.

Maggie laughed coquettishly as she retrieved matching masks from her bag. “You flatter me.”

Paul raised his eyebrow as he finally put on the scarf. “There’s some magic in there, right? Doesn’t seem like scarf weather.”

A tug freed the woolen fabricata from my neck, and a light magical current formed it into a red and black blade. “It’s a backup weapon, courtesy of your ex and Sister Macaw.”

“But we’ve got real swords too, right?” asked Paul, sounding skeptical. “Those things look like they’d use magic I’d rather put into spells.”

“Of course,” replied Maggie, dropping her own duffel bag to the ground with a clatter. “Arm up; we need to get moving. Brother Mockingbird, check in with Brother Ratte.”

I had wanted first crack at Maggie’s collection of swords, but I didn’t see an artful way to avoid the request. To my annoyance, Rei grabbed the rapier I’d had my eye on while I pulled out Brother Ratte’s commlink. I ran magic through the ensorcelled device, forcing the irritation out of my voice. “Brother Ratte, report.”

“Excellent timing, Brother Mockingbird,” he said. “We are on the school grounds, and will be arriving at the ground level shortly.”

“Jeez, this thing’s tall,” I heard a muffled Brother Maus say in the background. “Are you sure it’s just a school?”

“It’s why it’s the perfect target to show the Brotherhood’s power,” said Maggie, leaning in. “Brother Ratte, Mockingbird brought me up to speed. How many mundanes do you have with you?”

“Six,” he replied.

“That isn’t much,” I said.

“They would miss more than six,” snapped Ratte. “We’re lucky to have this many. Your screwup didn’t give us much time to prepare.”

“Screwup?” said Maggie, her voice dripping with offense.

“They should do fine,” said Maus, more clearly than before. “They served with us in Sumatra. They’re used to aiming high for orcs and low for goblins, but they should figure out humans pretty quick.”

“If we did our work right, we shouldn’t encounter any resistance,” I said, almost as much to convince myself as them.

“Stand by until we arrive,” said Ratte. “We’ll give you your orders then.”

“This is my operation, Brother Ratte,” said Maggie.

The fabricata microphone robbed none of the bite from his sarcastic laugh. “Absolutely not! We’re cleaning up your mess. I’m assuming command.”

“No, you listen here,” said Maggie. “This is my cell’s plan, so you’re going to do as you’re told!”

“We’d best let her call the shots, Brother Ratte,” I said, not eager to be the middleman in their squabble. Maggie’s voice had grown rather shrill, and she was right in my ear. “You’re not in position yet, and it won’t be long until they notice the Headmaster isn’t giving his speech. Sister Shrike, there are two main entrances for us students, right? Perhaps Ratte’s group should guard those, to make sure we don’t have any uninvited guests.”

There was a long silence.

Finally, Maus’ voice broke through. “Stop pouting, Ratte. Sister Shrike will do just fine.”

“Thank you, Maus. Get out of sight; you’ll know when it’s your time to act.”

“You got it. We’ll do our part so you can do yours, baby.”

“Baby?” she whispered. “Where do you get off calling me baby?”

I pocketed the commlink again, depriving it of magic and cutting the argument short. “All the more reason to succeed and rub it in their faces, my dear.”

“You call teachers that?” asked Rei.

I looked down covetously at her rapier. “I think I’ve earned the privilege.” The arming sword I found left over wasn’t quite my style, though it would do well enough. “A katana, Brother Bald Eagle? I thought you had more sense than that.”

He had been testing it with a few practice swings, but stopped to scowl at me. “What’re you talking about? All that folded steel and the fabricata makes this the best sword on the planet.”

“We don’t have time for your sword measuring contest,” said Rei.

“Men,” muttered Maggie with a roll of her eyes. She pulled her mask down, and we followed suit. “Alright, Holy Brothers and Sisters, it’s time to go out there and prove that we are still a force to be reckoned with! Humanity first!”

“Humanity first!” we all replied, Rei the most enthusiastic of us all.