Finding Junipher in the briefing room with the Lieutenant, Major and several officers that were taking a break from standing in the sun and watching inmates kill each other, I ducked into the room with them. The officers that hadn’t seen me yet ogled me and were directed out while Junipher took up her usual position on my left.

“We heard on the radio, the Coronado inmates took your offer. So, what now?”

“That’s easy, hostages first, North also seems to have more inmates milling about outside. I’m going to go in with Junipher and Kaia and clear CB2 and find their hostages.”

Dark emotions swirled in their eyes and the Major asked the first question, “You think only you three can handle all of those inmates?”

“Yes and no, Robyn, Steve,” I looked at the bald Lieutenant who was about to ask the same question “I’m gonna descend on 2 building like the fucking grim reaper. Understand this, I’m not here to bring the inmates under control, I’m going to kill them all.” I let the final statement hang between us.

They looked at me for a moment then looked at each other “We did say that was probably the only solution at this point.” Steve said first. Robyn, the Major, agreed with a long drag on the cigarette that never seemed to leave his mouth since I arrived.

“Alright, here’s my plan for the north” I detailed where I wanted the extra staff to be positioned, one group by the Library and another on the hill looking down into the rec field. Then 3 drivers spread around the northwest corner of the complex to catch anyone that tried to leave over the fences. This should create a nice kill box when the shooting started. I was certain that a few would escape based on limited manpower alone, but before that happened we would significantly reduce their numbers.

“You two should get in on the action, you need levels. In fact, if any of the staff are squeamish about killing these bastards tell them it’s free experience to make themselves stronger. I don’t have the time or patience for inspiring speeches. We need the staff to level though.”

“Why, I mean I get it, I guess, but what’s the urgency.” The Lieutenant asked.

“We’ll need the levels for the South yard part of the plan. And to be honest, my motivations aren’t completely altruistic. I think whoever is in charge down there is sending inmates into the dungeon to level. They are far stronger on the South than they are on the North. I’ll kick the hornet nest then pull back and let your people cut them down. Then I’ll start working through the Cell Block.”

I spared a hard look at both of them. “I’m gonna need your strongest to go into the dungeon with me, I expect it to be a doozy.”

Then I turned and ducked into the hall and the others didn’t hesitate to follow me out. We emerged from the building behind another group of officers that were milling about and watching the field of almost 150 inmates. I stepped forward and the gathered staff spread out for me. A mental command had Kaia padding around the building and pushing dumbfounded officers out of his way to get by my side. I nodded to the ones I knew and took in the field before me. Robyn and Steve began organizing the gathered officers.

A group of inmates sat on a brown metal picnic table that had been dragged to the far corner of the field and watched as the officers were divided up and took up positions as we had planned. Inmates closer to our lines watched and jeered in their direction. Some of the inmates summoned elemental bolts of energy and began tossing them into the air to threaten and intimidate. The noise level raised significantly as challenges rang out and bottles and rocks began tumbling through the fence.

Guess I need to speed this up, if the inmates attack first the officers resolve will crumple.

I finally stepped forward out of the shadow and Junipher summoned her spear and began a chant. The orange shit fucks on the field that had half a sense of danger stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I painted a seven and a half foot tall picture of violence as the three of us strode forward from the shadows. The field was now completely silent and the HMFIC at the other end of the field was now walking forward. Got no time for you right now, maybe later if you survive what comes next.

A tiny hispanic inmate with too many tattoos was the first to speak when he saw Junipher “HOLY SHIT! YO HOMIES, YOU SEE THAT? SHE’S FUCKING HOT! I’D TAP THAT SHIT HARD!”

Before his ‘homies’ could respond I had covered the 50 feet of space between us in a single leap and landed almost on the spit fucks feet with my plasma pistol drawn. I snatched him off his feet and threw him as hard as I could. Which turns out was pretty hard. He rocketed across the field, over the fencing on the opposite side to smack bloodily into the wall of CB1 a good 15 feet above the ground. I guess up until now I haven’t really tested my strength, good to know what I’m capable of. I drew my pistols and went to work on the endless stream of orange clad bodies in front of me. I was so close to the pack of inmates I didn’t need to aim, just point and shoot. The plasma pistol whined and snapped everytime I pulled the trigger. A green bolt of excited plasma would smash through two and three inmates at a time as I worked it from left to right. At the same time I worked my 9mm right to left and grinned in satisfaction as the inmates closest to me fell like bowling pins. I didn’t even need to use any abilities. They were just too low level.

At the same moment I had thrown the rude little shit that expressed his desire for my sexy plant woman, Junipher appeared on my left and impaled an unsuspecting inmate with ‘white power’ tattoos across the entirety of his body. Her spear entered the top of his chest and exited near his tailbone. Then she became a whirlwind of death as she worked her spear methodically protecting my flank from being overrun. The lovely smelling flower that normally adorned her person were gone, now replaced with rough bark around her torso, thorny vines wrapped down her arms and legs, her knees had grown hard knobby knots that extended a good three inches. An inmate tried wound up a good ole’ ‘lock-in-a-sock’ in a vicious spin, before he could unleash his attack, her spear swept sideways and removed his hand. The momentum from the improvised flail carried it backwards and buried itself in the skull of some shit stain that was pressing in behind him with an upraised shank. A large black man managed to wrap his hands around her from behind and begin to lift her. Before he could she rooted herself and then the man was stumbling backwards puking blood. When he separated fully from her I saw several wicked wood thorns the length and thickness of my forearms now extended from her back and were dripping in blood. The man doubled over oh his knees and she spun and skewered his head from above. Her back foot struck out behind her and morphed into a long thorny spike and smashed through another shitbag's stomach. She twisted the spear still impaling the black man’s head and wrenched it free while bringing her extended leg back at the same time. The entire time she never stopped singing.

Kaia not wanting to be outdone was viciously shaking two hispanic inmates in his mouth. Bones popped and cracked as he shook them and they were clearly dead. He dropped them to the ground and charged another group that had some casters flinging elemental energy at him that seemed to bounce off or otherwise have little effect on the oversized canine. He barreled through a group and pinned two inmates to the ground, one with each paw, wrenched the leg off one when the other stabbed his foot with a shank. He swallowed the leg that was still in his mouth then lifted his paw and snatched up the inmate ,that was furiously stabbing his paw to little effect, and swung him against the fence. As his face dragged across the fence, the right side of his face was removed while he screamed bloody murder. He stopped screaming suddenly when his head was caught in the razor ware at the top of the fence and promptly ripped off.

The inmates still standing from the forward group stumbled back in terror. I paused and surveyed the devastation we wrought on their number. Nearly two dozen were dead or dying at our feet, the survivors of our attack were clearly routed, yet more were moving around the inner fences to face us. I calmly reloaded the 9mm and placed the plasma pistol back in its holster. The report of a high-powered rifle echoed over the field from behind and I heard a grunt. I turned and saw another one of those oversized white power mother fuckers about to put a wicked looking shank in my kidneys with a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face. He’s still alive. And I lashed out at his neck with a straight ridgehand strike. His neck collapsed and I heard his vertebrae shatter. Then the groups of officers on the sidewalk above me and by the library behind me opened fire on the charging inmates.

Inmates fell from the onslaught and the group around the HMFIC flipped the picnic table up and took cover behind it. Mixed in with the gunfire elemental bolts of energy flashed out from several officers who had taken magic based classes. More energy returned into their ranks and barriers of magical energy rose up around them on both sides. A lucky lightning bolt dropped an officer that was unfortunate to be outside of their barriers and the inmate charge faltered.

“KARL! Get into CB2 now. Find our people. We got this.” The Major yelled to me, a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a rifle bucking against his shoulder.

“KAIA, HAVE FUN!” The giant coyote barked in joy and went back to tackling, tearing, and mauling any inmate that came too close.

Junipher and I turned to head down the sidewalk that led to CB2. HMFIC directed inmates to intercept us. Junipher saw the movement and the intensity of her song dipped and a wall of large thorns sprung up between them and the entrance to the building. That was enough to deter their advance long enough for an allied fire ball to land in the middle of their group and explode, sending them all tumbling to the ground.

We turned around the corner of the building which we referred to as the “front H”. The four inmate housing units were basically shaped like a giant concrete walled H. From the front of the building it was divided into three parts. In the center were a series of small classrooms and offices, and a male and female bathroom for staff use, a hall connected the two wings. The two wings were identical in layout with a central control room between two ‘pods’ of cells. Each pod had 2 floors, with a dozen cells wrapping around the outer edge of the pod on both floors. The bottom floor of each pod was a recreation area with metal tables in the center and pay phones against the far walls. Both pods were connected by a ‘pass through’ door on the bottom and top floor opposite of the control room which also had a sallyport that connected both pods and the central hallway.

“Which entrance should we use, Karl?” Junipher asked sweetly, though lacking a significant amount of her normal positivity. Seems the physical transformation has an effect on her mental state.

I smiled at her and realized my mask hid my face, so I walked up the closest door and gave it a tug, it rattled but didn’t move. I looked back at her and said “Let me get the door for you, my Lady.” She instantly smiled as I stepped back and lashed a foot into the steel door. It exploded inward, the weaker hinges squealed in protest then practically dissolved as the door tumbled inward and smacked hard against a steel railing inside.

I followed her in and the smell brought me up short. A flurry of scents assaulted my nostrils and my enhanced perception struggled to classify them all. Piss, shit and sweat dominated the stench with undertones of smoke, fire, and mold. As I looked around the entrance to the pod KEEN OBSERVATION was pinging in my vision almost out of control. The control windows to the control room on my left were surprisingly intact though charred black from the inside. The door that would normally be closed was wide open.

In the pod debris was spread across the concrete floor which was soaked from the multiple stopped up toilets that had been forced to overflow. Only half the overhead lights were on. Some of the doors had been torn from their hinges or blasted apart with magic. Several bodies were stacked in a pile near the pass through on the bottom floor that appeared to have been burnt to a crisp. Three more bodies hung from sheets thrown over the railing of the second floor. ‘Snitch’ was scrawled across their chests in blood. We saw no sign of the inmates so we headed up to the control room. As we suspected it was pretty much burnt out. The control board was reduced to a black melted husk of wires and plastic, anything of use was already removed or destroyed so we looked in on the other pod. It sat in much the same condition as the other one, more ‘snitches’ hung from the railings so we turned to head down the central hallway.

“I can see why you wanted these people removed. They are indeed a threat to the safety of your settlement.”

“Yeah. It’s about as bad as I thought it would be, actually.” I responded as we moved slowly down the hall, my nose tingled the closer we got to the other side. I poked my head in the various offices and classrooms finding them sacked. The back door was open and I went to take a look when I heard voices coming from the other pod. Junipher gave me a knowing look and we slowed our movement and I brought my AK out of storage, placed one of my new magazines in it and slowly eased the bolt back so as not to make any noise.

We crept in a crouch into the open sallyport and voices gained in volume to the left of us. In front of us the control room was largely intact though the windows were completely smashed out. I slid along the floor into the control room and pressed my back below the window that overlooked the pod where I heard the voices. I peaked carefully over the edge of the window and saw six inmates standing outside a cell while a seventh stepped out naked with a bloody shank in his hand.

“What the fuck man!? You killed her? I wanted another round before we dipped out of this mother fucker.” A dark haired inmate whined to the one that had just emerged from the cell and was busy putting his pants on. A pool of fresh blood followed him out of the cell.

“Bro, bitch was done used up. Definitely of no use for your little dick.” He sneered.

“Awww fuck you, man!” The other inmates gathered laughed at the insult.

“You hear that shit outside anyway. It’s time to go.”

We had only been in the building for about two minutes, and the sounds of fighting had yet to cease. Another inmate stepped out of the next cell over, fastening his belt and looking at the others.

The first man asked “You take care of him?”

“Yeah, it’s done.” New guy said with a smile as he pulled a white thermal shirt over his sculpted physique.

“I don’t know why you wanted dude ass when we had two perfectly fine ass bitches.” Little Dick commented to New Guy.

“That’s easy, he was young, and an arrogant prick. And he disrespected me repeatedly. So.. Fuck him. Literally. I honestly think he was beginning to enjoy it right up until the point I pushed the shank behind his ear.” New Guy said with a manic grin.

The gunfire outside had died down to a sporadic few shots here and there. First Guy decided it was time to go. “Let’s grab Boz and see if he’s done with his toy, it’s time to go.”

I looked back to Junipher and she nodded. I flicked the selector switch to ‘burst’, brought the weapon to brace on the window sill and aimed at the first inmate in the group. Little Dick’s eyes sprung open to shout a warning but before the air could pass his lips I activated CONTROLLED BURSTS and pulled the trigger.