Chapter Sixty-Four - Spinning But Still Losing

Spin to Win winced as the entire security station went on the fritz.

The computer didn’t just stop working, it spat and hissed, sparks flying out of its sides and the screen outright burst apart, filling the room with the strangely sweet tang of burning electronics.

“Uh,” the agent at the station said.

A moment ago Spin to Win was looking at a rather concerning number of masks entering his building. Six masks... and a bear. The brutality they employed in taking his people out was concerning.

Seeing what was obviously a gadgeteer at work was even more disturbing. Their guns had all ceased to work at the same moment, and now their security system was well and truly broken.

“Comms are down too, sir,” one of the agents said.

“Dammit,” he swore. “Evac. Use the rear exit, they’re too close to the front. Someone get to the basement and... no belay that. Wipe everything here, then leave. You.” He pointed to one agent. “Get out of here, see if you can’t contact the HRT. Stall them.”

“Yessir,” the agent said. They picked up a cell phone and ran out of the room.

He had his own priorities. This attack wouldn’t look good on his record, but his superiors were mostly sensible. What was a single mask supposed to do against such overwhelming odds?

With a disgusted grunt, he stomped out of the control room and into the connected washroom. He locked the door, then hung onto the edge of the sink as he closed his eyes. He spun.

It was more of a metaphorical thing than a literal one. In his mind’s eye, everything twisted about, the world spun, and he weathered the sudden vertigo by holding onto the solid sink. His power wasn’t the most gentle to use, but it had its advantages.

When he opened his eyes and looked into the mirror, he had a new face.

He stood up straighter, then jumped on the spot a couple of times to unlimber this new body. A woman, with brown hair and pale green eyes. Mid-thirties, if he was to guess. He was good at that.

He adjusted his new chest, then reached under his coat and pulled his pants up a bit and tightened his belt a notch. One of his secondary abilities made it so that any clothes he wore would change to fit him after a spin. It was why he wore tailored suits all the time as part of his costume. They were more or less unisex while remaining proper for a mask.

Also, the gadgeteer-made bulletproof vest under his jacket was a bit thick. It was also padded to support some of the changes he went through.

He was well used to changing bodies, what took more getting used to were the powers. He closed his fist and a burst of flame appeared around it. It licked around his skin but didn’t feel any warmer than the water he’d use to wash his hands. He felt a little stronger too, maybe a little more agile.

So, a minor physical boost combined with pyromancy. He could work with that.

He stepped out of the washroom while tying his now-longer hair back so that it wouldn’t whip across his face. “I’m going to the basement,” he said. His voice was far different to what he had grown used to, but that was just another change he had to adjust to.

A few of the more green agents gave him some looks, but they’d been informed of his abilities already. Those eyeing him in more leery ways he ignored. It wasn’t time for that.

“Do you need an escort, sir?” the head of security asked.

“Come with me, you and whomever you can spare. The rest of you, get moving, we need to evacuate sooner than later. Hurry up now.”

The agents moved. Some equipment would no doubt have to be left behind. There wasn’t anything to do for it. They at least wiped the drives of any computers. Most of those were equipped with tiny explosive charges that would leave nothing but cinders behind. One agent was moving around and spraying everything with a pump-fed disinfectant sprayer that made the room stink of antiseptics. It would clean off fingerprints and even make stray hairs and skin follicles melt.

He didn’t want to stay in the room. His lungs were technically brand new to him, and he didn’t want the smell to linger on his costume.

They rushed down the corridor, then down a stairwell that led straight to the basement. The automated defences down there would... actually, he wasn’t certain they’d be working at all. Once they reached the bottom floor, he stepped aside and away from the door, then tapped one of the agents on the shoulder. “You go in first,” he said.

If the automated turrets had been turned against them, he didn’t want to be the one to find out first.

The door opened and the agent wasn’t blown off his feet so they filed in after him. “We’re taking the prisoners and leaving,” he said.

A partial prize was still better than none.

He almost missed a step as his mind made a sudden and obvious connection. The team of masks attacking them were local. The Boss and... he couldn’t remember all the details of the rest. But the two children they’d grabbed had to be part of their team.

They weren’t here for Alea Iacta. They were here for the remaining girl, the one that might have planted a nightmare or two.

“Focus on the male prisoner. Leave the girl behind,” he said.

No point in forcing the mask team to turn this rescue of theirs into a chase. Most of their escape vehicles were in the garage right next to the entrance they’d used. That meant they would have to rely on some of the vans they had parked around the base.

His planning was interrupted as he heard some banging at the end of the corridor. The prison cells were in the centre, which meant... the masks were about to be right on top of him.

“Quick!” he snapped before taking off at a sprint down the corridor.

The head of security reached the cells first, fished out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door, all the while the other agents held their batons and stared at the doorway at the end of the room. It led into the other stairwell, where he was certain the masks were coming from.

The door to the cell opened, and the head of security grunted as a tiny fist rocketed out of the room and slammed him between the legs.

Spin to Win winced, even if he wasn’t currently equipped that way.

“Get trashed, sucker!” the girl who was supposed to be imprisoned said.

He had specifically sent people down to ensure she wasn’t freed. Had they been distracted? Did that mean she still had a knife?

The girl tried to run out, but was tackled by two of his agents. It really took two to keep the pest down. She squirmed and kicked and even headbutted one of his agents in the nose hard enough that the man screamed and his nose bent.

“Get her!” he shouted before stomping into the cell. The boy, Alea Iacta, was halfway out of his bindings when he pointed at his face. His hand lit up with orange flames and Alea stopped moving to stare. “You’re coming with us,” Spin to Win said.

Then, of course, the door at the end of the hallway crashed to the ground with a resounding clang and a bear started to squeeze itself through.

By some lucky miracle, it stayed stuck, its hips too wide to let it pass.

The girl currently being grappled on the floor started to cackle. “Your butt’s too big!” she shouted at the bear who roared back.

Spin to Win wasn’t going to waste any time. He grabbed the prisoner by the arm, then touched the bindings holding him to his chair and burned them off. “Move,” he said.

The head of security fell into step behind him. He was walking a little crooked, but the worst of the pain had likely passed. “We should evacuate, sir,” he said.

“Yes, we shou--” he began to agree, then he felt a strange sensation, like a pulling from somewhere behind his navel that slipped through his body and towards the man he was holding. It felt like the strangest indigestion he’d ever felt.

He let go of Alea Iacta, then smacked the man behind the head.

“Sir?” the head of security asked.

“He tried stealing my luck,” he said.

“I think I’ll need it more than you,” Alea Iacta said. “Trust me, you’d want all the luck you can get too if you want to deal with the Boss. I’ve never even seen her angry and she scares me, man. Now I’m going to owe her so much, and I’m just getting a free rescue. You kidnapped two of her brats.”

“Shut up,” he snapped. He did push him down the corridor faster. The bear was ripping the doorframe apart at the other end, and he didn’t want to wait to see what would happen when it got free.

“Oh man, you’re a dead man walking... wait, weren’t you a guy? Why are you hot now?”

Spin to Win glared. This day couldn’t get any worse.

***