“Why didn't you tell her what we are doing?” Hailey asked.

“I want it to be a surprise.” I said and grinned. “Let's get building.”

Hailey laughed and we started pulling out all of the things we needed from the bags of holding we had. While we were doing that, Kara returned with the other two Order members and the three squads of guards. They piled into the APC and one of the guards took over the controls. He turned it around and they left through the huge hole that Hailey had made with it while entering the compound.

It took us ten minutes and the both of us used Presence to help assemble the thirty foot wide and twenty foot long monstrosity that I had designed back at the mine. The last component was a small reactor core and I slid it into place and made the connections.

“Beloved, if you would do the honors.” I said and waved to the top of the thing.

“Thank you, Beloved.” Hailey said and jumped up to the top of the combination digging and laser drill machine and sat down on the seat there. I jumped up to join her and stood there beside her as she started it up. She engaged the sets of digging tools that were now on the 'bottom' of the machine, since we built it on its face, and I covered us in Presence as the dirt and rocks shot up past the sides.

We dropped at a steady rate, like we were using an elevator, and Hailey added slight curves to our path, so that the ejected dirt and rocks didn't build up too much on our heads. We both used Presence to keep the drills from getting clogged and the conveyor belts from jamming. We had to stop a few times as we hit a particularly solid mass of rock and Hailey quickly switched to the laser drills to melt the rock. Once it was no longer a solid mass, the digging tools tore right through it.

“Hunter, this could be a wonderful machine for digging tunnels through mountains.” Hailey said.

“Maybe.” I said. “Mountains tend to be more solid rock than anything else, so even with the laser drills to help, it would take a long time to go through one.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “Not that anyone would really need to dig through a mountain to travel to the other side, right?”

Hailey chuckled. “There are still lots of worlds that have mostly ground vehicles, you know.”

“What? You're joking! What backwards planets are you babbling about?” I said and laughed.

Hailey shook her head and laughed, too. She knew all about Earth where I had come from initially and about Relique where they didn't have electricity.

We rode the digging machine all the way down to the required spot and stopped just above where we could 'see' a gathering of defending troops that Kara and the others were heading towards.

“So, do we let them clash or do we give them a fighting chance?” Hailey asked.

“Which ones?” I joked and she beamed a smile at me.

“I know you like her.” Hailey said as her voice gained a serious tone.

“Of course I do.” I said. “There were a few times where she actually saw past her life of conditioning and was actually a decent person. Those moments were rare and she was a long way away from having anyone around to reinforce The Order's values... but...” I sighed. “I saw who she could be if given a chance.”

Hailey nodded and waved her hand at the troops below us. All of their guns shut off and popped their cartridges, to their momentary surprise, then they switched to their laser pistols. They didn't work, either.

“Idiots.” An Order member said and walked out in front of the troops. “I'll handle this while you reload.”

“Do you want to or should I?” Hailey asked.

“Please, help yourself.” I said with a smile.

“Thank you.” Hailey said and waited until guard laser fire came from down the tunnel to hit The Order member. She absorbed his Presence and we saw his shock, then his body jerked and shook as it was riddled with laser shots. He dropped to the ground in a heap of robes and the guards behind him were shocked to see him give up his life so stupidly.

“Grenades!” One of them yelled and I created an invisible Presence Wall in front of their position. The guards all pulled the pins on their chosen types of grenades and then threw them hard... only to have them bounce in mid-air five feet away and come right back to them.

They didn't even have time to scream as shrapnel grenades, flash bangs, smoke, and one poison grenade went off right in the middle of their defensive formation. Half of them died and the rest were disoriented as I absorbed the Presence Wall and then Kara and her guard squads assaulted the defensive position. It was a one-sided slaughter.

“Get that security door open.” One of The Order members said and two of the guards went to the small console and started working on it.

“Should we join them now?” Hailey asked.

“I did say we would meet them here.” I said.

Hailey gave me a crooked smile and started the machine up again.

“What the hell is that?” Someone yelled as the ceiling started to crumble above them, then they all scattered as our huge machine dropped down into the large tunnel on top of a lot of the bodies. I slowed our fall with Presence and we let the machine dig down into the bottom of the tunnel until we were at the same depth as the floor. Hailey turned it off and we stepped off of it as if we had just taken the elevator.

They all stared at us like we were apparitions, even Kara.

“You arrived just in time.” I said and waved at the slaughtered guards that the digging machine hadn't mulched. “They had weapons malfunctions and their grenades made a huge mess.”

Kara sighed. “I knew this was too easy.”

“Did you miss the pile of robes on the ground over there?” I asked and pointed with my thumb over my shoulder.

“The guards shot him when...” Kara stopped talking when I pointed at Hailey. “How much longer for the door?” She said instead.

“We got it.” The guard said and as his finger pushed the button, I only had enough time to turn on the maximum size of my personal shield to cover Kara and Hailey and three guards. It clicked into place as the panel exploded and the two guards there were torn apart. Eight more guards took shrapnel damage from both metal and bone, and the two Order members only had a few scrapes. The rest of the guards had been on the other side of my intact shield and weren't in danger.

“Dammit.” Kara said and reeled in her anger at the pointless deaths.

“He's playing dirty or that's a safety mechanism.” I said. “Either way, the guards should have checked their work before hitting any buttons.”

“Did you just accuse them of being stupid?” One of the guards asked me.

“Yes.” I said, to his surprise. I turned off my shield and took Hailey's hand. “This will hurt some.” I said and used Presence to pull out all of the shrapnel from the eight guards that had been hit. The guards yelled in pain and then stopped when I used Presence Heal on them and closed all of their wounds.

“You're getting more proficient.” Hailey said and gave my hand a squeeze.

“Want to help me with the door?” I asked.

“You should use the old wall trick.” Hailey said.

“I want to impress people this time.” I said with a smile.

Hailey rolled her eyes, even though she knew only I was looking at them. “All right.” She said and we reached our hands out as one. The two Order members felt the huge Presence pass by them and jumped back from it. We formed a large blue Presence Hand that was the size of the security door and then used that hand to dig the fingers and thumb into the wall around it, then made a fist and crushed the door.

“By the Goddess' Bright Light.” One of the Order members whispered.

We pulled the door out of the way and dropped it off to the side of the tunnel.

“Hailey.” I said and she took out an electronic scanner.

“The dampening field is right through there. No cameras or surveillance system on this side. I can't tell what's on the other side of it.” Hailey said and used the broadcast frequency. “The satellite scramble code doesn't work, either.”

“Then there's only one thing I can do.” I said and gave her a kiss.

“Hunter, you can't believe that will work.”

“We'll see.” I said and smiled.

*

The guard squad waiting on the other side of the dampening field didn't know what was going on. They saw the booby-trapped security door be ripped out of its casing by a giant blue hand and were terrified that it was going to grab them next.

“Don't worry, men! Nothing can't get through the barrier! Not even Presence!” The Order member reminded them.

“You're wrong.” A man's voice said as a cloaked figure stepped into the area between the wrecked security door and the barrier they stood behind. “You obviously haven't fully tested whatever this dampening field is.”

The hood on the cloak was up and hid the face completely, so they couldn't see who it was. They knew, however. From the descriptions they had heard about, they knew that this was Hunter.

“We have.” The Order member said and held a hand out and his Presence flowed out and hit the barrier and stopped as it was absorbed. “Someone fire a laser pistol at it.”

One of the guards took out a pistol and shot it. The laser bolt was absorbed as soon as it hit the barrier.

“You see? We can stand here all day and we don't have to worry about being attacked.” The Order member said.

The male voice laughed. “I can think of two ways to get through this barrier with Presence; but, I'd rather just stand here and keep you talking to distract you.”

“That's too bad.” The Order member said and walked backwards to a console on the wall. “Goodbye.” He said and hit several buttons.

Two panels opened up on the outside of the barrier and two laser cannons popped out and opened fire on the cloaked figure. The lasers burned through the arms, legs, and chest of the figure, then it collapsed to the ground.

“Not so tough with laser holes burned through you, are you?” The Order member said.

“Wow, you didn't even ask me to retreat or warn me that you were going to use deadly force.” The figure said and to everyone's surprise, it sat up. Holes could clearly be seen in the chest, and seen through, then the figure stood up. “What kind of Order member are you?” The voice asked. “I didn't threaten you or say I was going to attack.”

“We all know what you're here for.” The Order member said and the Presence wavered.

“Once again, you assumed something and you're wrong.” The man's voice said.

“What do you mean again?” The Order member asked.

The hood was pulled off of the figure without being touched and The Order member and the guard squad saw the dead body. “You assumed this was me and tried to kill me.” The body's mouth opened and closed with the words; but, the lips and facial muscles didn't move. “Oh! The horror! The HORROR!” The voice yelled and everyone winced at the Presence enhanced sound.

The guards felt a feeling of dread as the body shambled over to the barrier, then there was a rumbling sound and wrenching metal. They all turned to the side and saw the wall disappear into the jaws of a six digging machines... that then shot forward and killed six of the ten guards as they dug into them and made them mulch.

“That's gotta hurt.” The dead body on the other side of the barrier said, then the drilling machines killed the other four guards to leave The Order member all alone.

“S-s-stop!” He said and held his hands up. “I surrender! Take me in and...”

The laser pistol one of the guards had used to fire at the barrier fired again and hit the man in the neck. It wasn't a strong shot, so it only burned halfway through and left a hole as if he had a tracheotomy.

“I'm sorry, you forfeited your right to surrender when you killed me.” The dead body said.

The Order member grabbed his own throat to try and heal it. The laser pistol fired again and again, hitting him all over, and The Order member dropped to the floor on his knees. He had laser burned holes in his arms, legs, hands, and chest.

“Goodbye.” The dead body said and the last two laser shots went into The Order members eyes.

“Geez, Hunter.” Hailey said and stepped into the area behind the barrier and hooked her electronics kit to the control panel. “You complained about me wasting time.”

Hunter came in behind her and laughed as he stored the drilling machines. “I'm sorry. I wanted to put on a show for the audience.” He said and waved at the security camera in the corner. “We're here!” He said as Kara and the other two Order members came through the hastily dug tunnel.

The guards came in behind them and didn't look at their mulched brethren, because they knew it very easily could have been them. They looked at Master Moor and then at the two power armored figures wearing cloaks. They still might end up like that if things didn't go well in the next few minutes.

*

It took Hailey a few minutes to hack into the console and we all stood there and waited. She knew it was taking longer than it was supposed to and she turned to me to apologize.

“I love you, too.” I said and kissed her.

“Hunter...” Hailey started to say.

“It's not your fault they changed the protocols.” I said.

Hailey gave me another kiss and then went back to work. She figured it out a couple of minutes later and extracted the barrier frequencies, then shut the one behind us off.

“Nice job, Beloved.” I said and waved at the door. “Shall we?”

Hailey nodded and we took out ten assault laser rifles, had everyone step aside, then she opened the door. Dozens of laser bolts flew past us, then Hailey and I moved the rifles into the doorway and opened fire. We spread our gunfire across the guard formations in the next room and made them all duck into cover, then we pulled the pins on their own grenades. They exploded and the guards all died.

Hailey and I took point and we worked our way through the underground compound and left the side rooms and things to the guard squads. Some of the doors I used a Light sword to melt the edge of the doorway to keep them closed, which stopped a few ambushes before they could happen. Some of the ways forward were blocked by a dampening field and it took Hailey dozens of tries to find the right frequency code to open the next barrier.

It was slow going, considering the underground compound was larger than the one above ground, and to my surprise, none of the people there had suicide charges in their heads. I started to think that I had made a mistake and that this wasn't a production facility for assassins, then one of the side rooms was checked by the guards as we passed.

“Master Moor! You have to see this!”

We all stopped and went back to look, then I chuckled. It was the end of a small factory that was making the suicide charges and two workers were packing them into boxes. They stopped when they saw us, then dropped the charges they had in their hands. I caught them with Presence and placed them back on the conveyor belt and hit the emergency stop button.

“I think we need witnesses.” I said. “Don't you, Master Moor?”

“Yes.” Kara said and she only twitched a little at me calling her by her title. The guards secured them and two stayed behind to guard them as the rest of us moved on.