1.18.2

Seven is Greater Than Four

“Hold!” Karth barked to stay them while bullets pelted the thick doors.

A second set of screams and guttural cries followed the first, along with a stream of weapon fire.

Tentative, Astrid watched a trickle of red seep from underneath the door.

“What the hell was that?!” Tenya rasped.

“Team Two to Team One. We have secured the Infirmary. Awaiting rendezvous,” Romo’s voice chimed through the comm.

The breath Anders held released all at once in a puff. Beside Astrid, Tenya smirked.

“Seriously,” Rue groused. “You guys coming in or painting each other’s nails out there?”

Karth shook his head, but stood to part the doors between them.

A body, having fallen against the surface, thudded the rest of the way to the floor without support, to lay in their path. On the other side, amid a heap of carnage, Rue stood proudly with her massive cannon rifle.

Romo and Dell flanked her and looked no worse for wear.

Relieved, the four immediately converged to seven.

“Everyone in one piece?” Romo jeered.

“No debilitating injuries yet. They must not have expected much of a fight. They didn't even take our weapons.” Karth explained. He tucked his rifle close to his body, at tentative ease now to be joined with the others. "These guys were sloppy."

“Yeah, that’s what we saw, too,” Romo agreed.

While they conversed, Dell made his way to Astrid. He withdrew a few battery packs from a satchel slung over his shoulders. He then tucked them into a separate side pack and showed Astrid where she could clip the accessory between her armor plates along her waist, opposite her gun.

“Maybe we should just make sure you have these with you when you leave next time.”

Astrid nodded, grateful. “Sure… thanks.”

“How are you feeling?” Dell lowered his voice while the others strategized.

“Tired. But I think I’m getting the hang of that discharge burst. Don’t know how many more I have in me today, though.”

“Use them sparingly. Now that we’re together, we can handle most of this. We don’t want to get to a place where we need your ability and have you all tapped out.”

“I understand.”

“The warden’s barricaded himself in his office,” Rue told them. “We passed the stairs on the way here. They’ve tossed a pair of vending machines and a bunch of chairs in the way. They have the height advantage. And the boss-man is going to have as many of his people between us and him as possible. However many is left.”

Karth’s eyes fell on each of his people in turn before he deemed himself satisfied.

“Don't let your guard down. Stay frosty. And we'll show them they have no idea who they're dealing with.”

~~~

With the seven of them united, they picked their way through the complex via the swath Rue and the others carved.

They trod over evidence of battle along the way. Astrid noted how easy it was to identify which met the business end of Rue’s cannon.

The crew passed through the first set of security cages on the other side of facility. The metal-linked checkpoints may have been locked at one time, but now they awaited, morbidly propped open by bodies for exit.

The images of crimson and brutality bled together. But among the rest of the team, feeling their magnetic tug of static energy, Astrid somehow kept herself, and her mind, with them, instead of the mess.

With Rue leading the way, they soon came to a collection of equipment, machines, and furniture, piled at the bottom of a set of concrete stairs. Just above, halfway between stories, a landing offered a brief respite before the staircase turned overhead to continue.

“We need to climb over. Down here we’re easy targets if we spend time dismantling it,” Karth decided. “First person over has to cover.”

“Let me,” Astrid volunteered.

Stunned eyes fell on her.

“Look, my ability may not kill them, but it has the most area of effect. I can keep them off you guys until enough of you can get over.”

Already, Astrid angled her way to a narrow opening between the vending machines. “Cover me until I get over, then I’ll keep them back until you can follow.”

“How long can you keep that thing going?” Anders peered after her.

“Long enough. Just… climb fast.”

“I don’t think—”

But Astrid could feel more Statics approach, even before she heard their footsteps rumble above.

She sprang into action before they could argue further and hoisted herself over the first obstacle.

Behind her, one of her teammates popped off a few rounds to the guards that leaned over the railing above, and Astrid scaled faster.

She pitched herself over the last hurdle, an upended sofa chair, and crashed into the solid steps on the other side with a pained grunt.

“Astrid?!”

“I’m fine!”

She flipped on her back in time to see a ragged woman in prison ink lean over the rail with a delighted smirk. The fighter maneuvered her weapon to get a better shot, and Astrid darted a hand to her new pack.

After all her practice, she could feel the power tucked just within, and needed only a single precious second to plunge her fingers into the air in a gush of light.

The convict screeched when energy lashed up her body, and the rifle she’d drawn plummeted from her perch.

Astrid rolled away before the weapon could land on her head.

As the woman above screamed, more swarmed.

The commotion of Astrid’s team pursuing her climb did not come fast enough.

Astrid scrambled to her feet, leapt to the landing, and with desperate need in her heart, she channeled her power up the subsequent stairway in a funnel.

Those that advanced found themselves knocked back. Those at mid-range were struck by the blunt cone, but those at the rear realized their weapons possessed more range than the Channeler’s haphazard blast. And they stepped back, rifled raised.

“I have to move up!” she called to the others.

“Astrid!”

The commander yelled after her, but she had no choice.

“They’re getting too much distance on me. Hurry!”

She stormed up the stairs and pushed another discharge upon their enemies.

Arcs and wisps lapped at the concrete walls and floor. The bare halls provided the enemy with just as few places to hide, and Astrid easily directed her power over the whole of them.

Some sank to the ground, others trembled and convulsed. Anyone who tried to charge her found themselves thrown to the dense walls that surrounded them.

She grew weary. Her core ached. She could feel her head burn with the heat of discharging so much so repetitively.

Between the top of the stairs and the office door at the end of the last passageway, seven men remained. Weapons rose. Careful aim was taken. And Astrid wondered herself if she could keep them at bay.

“Astrid!” a voice roared behind her, “Get down!”

She instantly dropped to her stomach on the cool floor and covered her head. A barrage of rifles, pistols, and Rue’s arm cannon split the air in a crash of noise.

For eight long seconds, the corridor filled with crossfire. The team pushed ahead mercilessly to keep their Channeler free of stray bullets, and those Astrid sent sprawling to the corners were silenced at last.

“Clear.”

When the racket stopped, a gloved finger tapped that back of Astrid’s.

She peeked to see Anders extend a hand to help her up. Standing made her sway, but after a moment she regained her bearings.

“You good?” the lieutenant asked.

“I think so.” Astrid patted herself down. “Everyone else?”

“Damn it!” Romo palmed a fresh divot in his chest piece. A bullet sat, lodged in his plates. His expression twisted into a grimace while he rubbed the spot. He sucked a few deep rattling breaths through his teeth. "Fuck, that hurt!"

Dell pressed a gloved hand over where Romo's chest heaved. "Can you breathe?"

"Yeah." Still, Romo panted through a sting of pain.

"Move back, that could have cracked a rib," Karth immediately instructed. The group folded to a new formation at his request. "We're almost done here."

Astrid quickly took inventory that many of them seemed scuffed or scratched. But no one yet bled.

Their leader then drew their attention to the final door ahead.

The crew lined themselves against each wall, readied, with the commander at the door handle.

After a single backward glance, Karth pawed at the latch.

It resisted.

“It’s locked.”

Tenya almost laughed. “Go figure.”

“Try knocking?” Romo snarked through a hiss.

Karth pointed to Astrid and jerked his head that she should move up.

She wove her way through the line to his side and pressed her hand to the door.

“Well, is it powered? Can you do anything about it?” Karth whispered.

Astrid closed her eyes and expanded her perception past the immediate hall. Three Statics resided on the other side, but no power in the door, or its frame, pricked her senses along the way.

“No,” she replied on hushed breath. “Not powered. Just locked.”

Behind them, Rue gave an exasperated sigh. “This is what Troopers are for.”

Rue marched up and wordlessly brushed Astrid out of the way.

With a stern-set face, Rue glared at the door and its knob. After a single moment of concentration, she propelled a battering kick along its edge, just above the lock. The heel of her heavy-plated boot jutted into the material, and it dented.

With the promise of success marked in the yielding metal, Rue repeated the gesture.

The entrance burst open on its hinges with a deafening slam into the wall behind.