Earlier that day: A little past noon

“Are you certain that breaking through the front door is a good idea?” said Quinn.

Maitho was leaning against the wall of the alleyway, his mind racing at a million miles an hour. His hands were pushed into his pockets. The walls weren’t an example of hygiene, but for some reason, Maitho was beyond caring.

“If we use a route that we haven’t used before, then they end up blocking it," said Maitho. "That minimizes our avenues of escape.”

“Do you have such a route in mind?”

Maitho nodded. “I might.”

“Assuming that we are going in there when none of my—.” Epona caught herself. She gave Maitho a quick look before continuing. “If the others are no gaun'ae be thare, we might still face the draugr.”

Maitho nodded, understanding the problem. It wasn't just about the undead, it was also about their numbers. The three of them didn't have much chance against such a large force. Who knew how many more Brigid had called upon to help her guard the building?

He forced his mind to pay attention to the problem at hand. “We break through them. This is where Quinn is going to be our best hope. Our biggest advantage is time.” He began pacing towards the opposite wall. His steps were narrow and slow. He accidentally kicked a rock, but paid only fleeting attention to it. “We need to get in, get what we want, and then get out before anyone arrives at the base.”

“Anythin specific ye are lookin for?”

“Non-lethal weapons.” Maitho understood the dangers they were about to face. Despite their growing number of opponents, the last thing that he wanted to do was kill someone, even without intending to.

Epona thought for a while. Maitho didn’t interrupt her. He could see that she was following a train of thought and he wanted her to be on the chase with minimal outside hindrances. Instead, he continued pacing as the next part of the plan began to flow in his brain. Various permutations presented themselves, each one promising to be the best choice. Maitho didn’t allow even a modicum of complacency to pick an idea. Instead, he slowed down and gave an idea some thought before pushing it away and moving on. When Epona spoke, Maitho turned to face her.

“We have a few duffel bags inside the security room,” said Epona. “If we take a couple of them, then we can fill them up with two shotguns along with a good number of rubber bullets. We can grab a few tasers, bulletproof vests.” She began listing the remaining items while counting them off with her fingers. “Smoke grenades, like you suggested. Concussions, ropes, and spray paints. Knives.” When all five fingers on her hand were up, she closed them into a fist and began again. “Pickaxes. Masks, gloves and dark clothing. Even boots. A'm gaun'ae get quite a few arrows for ma bow as well.” She stopped counting. “Two bags between you and me is easy tae carry.”

Maitho began to pace faster to match the rhythm of his thoughts. “Then those are what we will take. Honestly, you added everything we might need and some more.” He stopped pacing. “But we won’t be carrying anything. We don’t need anything weighing us down when we want to react.”

Epona frowned. “Then hou are we gaun'ae get the weapons oot?”

“Well,” said Maitho. “Quinn will be getting them out.”

Present time: Inside the Celtic base

The elevator doors opened and Maitho stepped into the hallway with his handgun held out in front of him. Epona was beside him, gripping her crossbow. A group of draugr stood between them and the door to the security room.

“Step aside, my lovelies,” came Quinn’s voice.

Maitho moved towards the wall to give space for Quinn. He knew what was coming next. Epona had flattened herself against the other wall.

Without waiting for another command, Maitho closed his eyes. The inside of his eyelids brightened up in a shade of vivid pink. Quinn had activated his powerful beam. When the brightness turned off, Maitho opened his eyes to see the draugr bumping into walls, swiping their arms in the vain hope that they might attack something, or just trying to orient themselves. The glow in their eye sockets remained, but it seemed as though the brightness had some effect on their eyesight.

Maitho didn’t wait to see how long it took for them to recover. He lifted up the handgun he had taken from the agent in Jennifer’s house. He had still managed to keep the weapon even after his confrontation with Brigid earlier, but knew that there weren’t enough bullets in the chamber. He fired one shot into the head of the nearest draugr, sending it into a smoking end.

An arrow shot out from Epona’s crossbow, finding its destination in a draugr’s face. The creature transformed into smoke and the arrow, now without anything to hold it, fell to the floor. There remained three more draugrs, but they were no match for what happened next.

Epona summoned three horses and the beasts attacked without waiting. One of the horses even clamped a draugr’s head between its teeth and bit down on the undead creature. It was over within seconds. The hallway remained devoid of any opposing force.

“We need to move,” said Maitho. He allowed Epona to sprint before him, since it would be her command that would open the door to the security room. When they reached the small console that required a magical activation, the two looked at each other.

There was no reason to believe that the door would be locked, especially after Epona had already activated the elevator. Still, they understood the risk. If it happened that they could not access the room beyond, then everything that they had done up until that point would serve no purpose. They would have to return empty-handed.

Epona’s hand hovered in front of the console. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated.

“Hey,” said Maitho. “It does not matter if it doesn’t work. We can find another way. For now, we have to know. We don’t have time.”

After a quick nod, Epona's eyebrows angled into a frown. She moved her palm closer to the console and muttered the incantation. A green symbol appeared in front of her hand and they heard a loud click. Maitho didn’t wait to celebrate. He pushed open the security door and stepped aside.

“Now Quinn.”

Earlier that day: A little past noon

“Quinn, you can change your shape to fit different vehicle parts on your body,” Maitho commented. "I have seen you attach a part of a bulldozer when you were a car."

“That I can,” responded Quinn. “Any particular shape you have in mind? Go on, don’t be shy you naughty wolf.”

Maitho laughed. “I might have to disappoint you there.”

“Ah shucks. And here I thought this dirty alleyway was the perfect place for some action.”

“I think we’ll be getting plenty of action soon,” said Maitho. “If you,” he looked at Epona, “can access the elevators, then we won’t have any trouble with the security door. At least that’s my hope.”

“Whit if thare are people waitin for us i the room?” said Epona.

“That’s where Quinn’s lights come in handy. They have never failed us so far. This time, we’re going to, shall we say, widen its scope?”

Present time: Inside the Celtic base

Quinn shot forward and stopped when only his front wheels had crossed the doorframe. His headlights began to change. And multiply. Two rows of headlamps began to extend forwards. There were six lamps in each row, attached to a metallic frame that began to curve outwards like a swelling. When Quinn was done, the lamps were spread out and angled to cover a 180-degree view. All of this transformation occurred within the span of a few seconds. When he was done, Quinn blasted the bright beams into the room, illuminating it in all directions. Even if someone were hiding beside the door, they wouldn’t be able to avoid the light as at least one lamp would be turned to face them.

“Clear,” said Quinn. The lamps retracted until they were, once again, a single headlight.

Maitho followed Epona into the room. “Time is short. Let’s grab what we can. We'll place one of each item we discussed in each bag. If we happen to lose one bag, then we still have the other.”

Epona gave a curt nod and headed to the weapons rack.

“Quinn,” said Maitho, turning to the bike, “you know what to do.”

“Leave the elevator to me,” the bike said and raced back until he had positioned himself between the elevator doors, preventing them from closing and being called by anyone upstairs.

When Quinn had positioned himself, Maitho walked over to the weapons rack. Epona held out a duffel bag and he grabbed it without looking. Immediately, he began to go through his mental checklist, reaching out for a weapon here, an ammunition there, or any other item that come to this mind. He continued adding one item after another for a while. He had hardly gone through half the list when he heard Quinn’s voice break out.

“Thirty seconds,” Quinn announced, apprehension in his voice.

“Let's tak whit we can,” said Epona.

Without saying another word, Maitho and Epona fell back into a routine of picking items and arranging them in the duffel bag. They moved faster. Maitho began to lose track of the order of his mental list. Giving up trying to brute force his way into his thoughts, he began grabbing items from the rack that he thought could serve a purpose.

“Time to move,” said Quinn.

Maitho took a few more seconds to grab items from the rack simply because he saw value in them. “Epona. Elevator.”

Epona zipped her bag and rushed to Quinn. She took over his place to make sure that the doors wouldn't close, which gave Quinn the freedom to drive into the security room. When he reached Maitho, he raised his front wheel until he was standing nearly vertical on his rear wheel, and spun around in the spot. Using a fluid motion, he had turned around and was now showing his seats. “Like what you see back there?”

The joke landed, despite the situation. Maitho laughed. “Never stop being you, Quinn.”

“There’s only one me.”

When Maitho placed the duffel bags on the seat, two seatbelts wormed their way out of the bike’s sides. They looped around the bags and fasted into the buckle on the other side. Another seatbelt appeared from the front of the seat, running across the top of both bags and attaching itself to the rear, where another buckle waited for the tongue. Quinn had ensured that the cargo was strapped securely.

“We’re on our way,” yelled Maitho. Together, Quinn and him made their way as quickly as they could towards the elevators. Maitho entered first. Together, he and Epona made space in the middle for Quinn, who backed away into the cabin. This ensured that he would be facing the doors. If they needed, they could flash anyone waiting for them on the other side when the elevator doors opened.

“To the first floor,” said Maitho.