Ray avoided Lord Brian and the rest of his group as he made his way out of

Grandview. He dug into his food wallet and ate his last bit of food and drank the last

of the water in the skin. He felt better but he would need more than that before the

night was through.

At least he had averted the main scheme of his enemy. Now he had to catch her to

finish the job. He grimaced at what he foresaw as a tough job.

Johnny Mac and Lightner had both come through for him. He hadn’t expected any

help at all. He was glad they had lent a hand when he needed it.

Once he was done with this, they could get their rewards too. He didn’t foresee a

problem with that for them. He hoped they would get their rewards after they helped

force the librarian out of her home ground.

He had gone into this thinking that he had a chance of winning. He had gone into the

fight to save people who were in the way. Now he was choosing to do things so he

didn’t have to risk anyone else.

And it would get him out of dealing with Ishvar and her weird payment plan. He

didn’t feel like handing Buble over now that the butler rabbit had come through for

them.

Johnny Mac would figure something out when things had settled down. Hopefully by

that time, he would be back home with his family.

He didn’t know what the deal was with Lightner, and he had a feeling he didn’t want

to know. Hopefully things would work out with him after the demolition he had done

for the city.

“Can we take this loon?,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. We will need to apply overwhelming force, but we can do it.

“Where is she right now?,” asked Ray. He paused to let the spark work its magic for

him.

A blue line of fire swept around Ray like a lighthouse beam. It didn’t stop anywhere

in its rotation.

Not present in the city. Will have to use secondary location technique.

A blue flare went up to the edge of Ray’s vision. He covered his eyes with his hands

as the fireball hovered up there for a few seconds before going out.

Direction confirmed.

“I think I need the horse again, unless you just want to fly after her,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. Flight line will be visible.

“Do it,” thought Ray. “We might as well get this done tonight.”

Affirmative.

Ray exploded into the air in a bubble of blue flame. He concentrated on the blue

marker showing him where his enemy had relocated.

“Lamp, we don’t want to spend a lot of energy on defense,” thought Ray. “We might

have to try physics tricks to get things done.”

Affirmative. Options are ready to be used. Power requirements will have to be met.

“Take whatever you have to to win,” thought Ray. “If we have to nuke this crazy,

then we nuke her until she glows in the dark for the rest of eternity. Got it?”

Affirmative.

The blue bubble started dropping down toward the target building. Ray took a quarter

from his pocket and threw it down toward the end of their arc. It bounced away before

it touched anything solid.

“Increase gravity around the next one as much as you can,” thought Ray. “We want

her to think we’re trying to break through the roof.”

Affirmative.

Ray threw another quarter. It sped up as gravity pulled on it. He wondered how much

mass he was artificially giving the metal with the power of his lamp. It hit the screen

and visibly bowed it in and sent cracks racing through the energy before the defense

could shore itself back up.

“Can you get us inside the shield if we do that again?,” asked Ray.

More ammunition is necessary.

Ray took the rest of his change out of his pocket. He threw the handful of mixed

coins. They descended faster than any bullet and sparked on impact. An actual hole

appeared in the shield from the combined attack.

“Get us through there,” ordered Ray.

Affirmative. The bubble dropped toward the hole as the shield started knitting itself

back together. A blue tentacle filled the hole and kept it from sealing together. The

bubble shifted to follow the length of the burning appendage. Ray dropped down

inside the defensive measure.

“Lamp, location of target,” thought Ray. “Need a view.”

Affirmative. Blue flame revealed a gray figure standing on the top floor of the

building. Did she have a sanctum room in this building too?

“Punch a hole in the wall,” thought Ray. “That’s faster than trying to shoot in at the

top and getting blasted for our trouble.”

Affirmative.

A giant hand of blue fire ripped out of the metal arm as Ray walked forward. It

slammed into the wall in front of him. Stone pushed out of the way to make a hole for

him to enter the building.

“That was impressive,” said Ray.

Affirmative.

He walked to the hole in the wall and took a look inside at the dark interior. Ambient

light increased to help his vision. Something moved there but he couldn’t tell what

it was.

“Light it up,” thought Ray.

Blue flame erupted around the menace standing guard. It looked like an angry

octopus to the champion. Tentacles the size of a man’s leg flicked out, trying to seize

him.

Ray stepped back, shaking his head. He spotted more shapes arriving in the light from

the flame. He would have to fight his way through them to get to the librarian. She

could wear him out if he tried to push too hard.

He felt like he could just drop the building on her, but that wouldn’t stop her from

escaping again. It would just force him to locate her and break down a new shield

with whatever he could seize.

He needed to engage her and keep her on site without getting killed. If he could do

that, then he could figure out how capture her for Woad. That would be the end of his

contract.

Affirmative.

Ray stepped back as the tentacles flicked at him. He shook his head at the problem

in front of him. Did he want to kill these monsters if he didn’t have to.

“Light all of them up,” thought Ray. “Assemble hardened boxes around them to get

them out of the way.”

Affirmative. Blue flame wrapped around the tentacular titans. Then the floor warped

around them one by one. The last few tried to move from the shifting stone, but boxes

wrapped around them as they pulled themselves forward.

“That worked better than I thought it would,” thought Ray. “Ready with shields?”

Affirmative.

“Let’s see what else is inside,” thought Ray. He climbed through the hole in the wall

and over the stone blocks on the floor. A staircase leading down appeared as he

looked around.

“I guess it’s too late to ask if you’re ready,” thought Ray.

Affirmative.

“Flash bang in the stairs,” thought Ray. “We want to shake her if we can.”

Affirmative. A ball of light dropped down the stairs. It exploded in a flare and

thunder. It should freeze the librarian enough for him to do his job.

If it didn’t, he was going to know it in a hurry.

“Wall hack,” thought Ray as he dropped down the stairs. “We need to find her before

she finds us.”

Affirmative. The walls took on a hazy paleness as he scuttled through the room. He

avoided touching anything that might be a trap as he looked around. He spotted an

outline on a wall and hoped he had found his enemy so he could finally get things

done and get home to his Barbara, and kids.

“Blow the wall,” thought Ray. “Then flash bang.”

Affirmative. A wave of air punched in front of a blast of blue flame. The wall blew

in. A ball of light and sound went off on the other side.

“Rapid fire lasers,” thought Ray. “We need to take her down fast.”

Affirmative.

Ray charged through the opening. He raised his metal arm. Where was the target?

A wave of orange letters slammed him against an inner wall. He tried to roll to get out

of the way of another attack. The next blast slammed him through the wall. Luckily,

the lamp had powered up a shield to keep him intact so he could bounce across the

floor.

“You again,” said the librarian. “Why am I not surprised? Do you really think you can

fight me on your own? Your magic weapon is good, but it’s not anywhere as fast as

a real magician. Why don’t you go home before you’re really hurt? I can wait fifty

years for my next chance. I’ll meet you then.”

“Why are you trying to wreck this world?,” asked Ray. He looked for cover. He

thought, “Ready line gun, left.”

Affirmative.

“Once I harness the living energy of this world, I can use the inhabitants to move to

other worlds and take those,” said the librarian. “I can become a god with enough life

energy at my beck and call. I can become the greatest god.”

“Why summon world eaters?,” asked Ray.

“How else will I get the energy I need?,” asked the librarian. “I think we’re done. You

don’t have the look of a man who should be afraid for his life.”

“Shoot line gun,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. A line of blue fire struck the left hand wall. It retracted on impact,

dragging Ray with it. He rolled to help it pull him out of the line of fire. Orange

symbols blew holes in the wood around him.

“Nuke the building,” thought Ray. “Get us out of here.”

Affirmative. Devastation blasted out in a column of fire reaching for the sky. Blue

flame wrapped around him and rode the shockwave out of the room as the place flew

up in a disintegrating mass. Ray rolled to a stop and lay on the ground.

“Did we get her?,” Ray asked.

Negative.