The Firing Line

Chapter 1-2

A cluster of soldiers stood right in front of her, all turned away and trying to peer around the corner. One shot a glance back over his shoulder. “Bots,” he said. “They’ve got more robots…”

No ziarogati.

At least, there were no ziarogati. Melissa felt a tightness in her chest every time she imagined having to face another one of those silver-eyed demons. Her heart was pounding. She couldn’t breathe! She couldn’t-

Melissa squeezed her eyes shut, forcing such thoughts from her mind. The panic began to subside when she centred herself. There were no ziarogati here. Just drones and soldiers. Stay in the moment.

She was on a street corner with her allies.

Lieutenant Haskins pulled back, leaning his shoulder against the wall and clutching his rifle in both hands. He was gasping hard. “Battle drones,” he panted. “Big ones.”

Melissa’s demure nature urged her to wait for him to step aside, but the young man showed no sign of doing so. On the contrary, he seemed to be oblivious to her presence. She tapped him gently on the shoulder and motioned him out of the way.

When he made room for her, Melissa ventured a glance around the corner. That last push forward had forced the Ragnosians out of the street. But while the human troops had retreated, two seven-foot-tall robots had taken their place. She saw now why the Leyrians had pulled back. Anna’s stunt had gained them some momentum, but they had just lost it.

Those bots were shaped like people with thick arms and legs, and sunlight glinted off their metal bodies. They extended their hands, deploying wrist-mounted guns that sprayed bullets in a continuous flow. Round heads swiveled as they searched for targets.

Spinning around, Melissa pressed her back against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her nerves. “Not good,” she muttered. “Not good, not good, not good.”

The flow of bullets stopped.

And then a missile sped past her, into the intersection where it slammed into the SlipGate and exploded with a fireball the size of a small car. When the flames died out, one arm of the triangle was scorched black, and Melissa suspected that no one else would be coming through any time soon.

Backing away from the building, she craned her neck. The rooftop…Four stories high. “Keep them busy for a moment.”

With a thought, she reached out to Ilia and twisted gravity sideways. She used the Bending to run up the building’s eastern wall – all the way to the roof – and when she arrived, she leaped.

Melissa flipped through the air, landing crouched on the rooftop. Staying low to avoid being seen, she crept to the northern wall.

When she peered into the street below, she saw that the two hulking robots were only a block away. With heavy footsteps, they lumbered toward her teammates, spitting a flurry of ammunition. With all that suppressing fire, it was hard for the Leyrians to get a clear shot. A few glowing bullets stung the drones, but they just kept coming. Their bodies must have been EM shielded by a layer of duroplastic – or something like it – under those chest plates.

Melissa lifted her gun up in front of her face, its muzzle pointed skyward. Exhaling, she let the fear drain out of her. “High impact.”

The LEDs turned red.

The drones were coming closer, ignoring the gunfire that hit them like a thousand small beestings. Fortunately, those swiveling heads didn’t seem to notice her. They were too focused on the Leyrians who kept popping out from behind the buildings on either side of the street.

She fired.

A crater the size of a basketball appeared in one robot’s chest. The metal monster staggered, nearly losing its footing. It swung its arm around to point that wrist-mounted cannon up at her.

Melissa threw herself down on her side.

Bullets whizzed past above her, streaking off into the heavens. Cautiously, she rolled over and crawled to the ledge. “EMP!” If she could get a few rounds through the hole that she had created...

When she peeked over the edge, she saw that the robot was standing on the curb, facing her. Her teammates were pelting it with ammo, but its side was turned toward them. They couldn’t hit the exposed circuitry.

The mechanical brute raised its weapon.

Melissa fell flat on her belly, using Bent Gravity to pull herself backward. Some of those shots grazed the ledge and tore chunks of brown brick away. She didn’t stop until she was right in the middle of the roof.

Down on all fours with the pistol under her right hand, Melissa looked up. Sweat coated her brow, and her breathing was ragged. “Think,” she whispered. “There has to be a way to-”

A high-pitched whine got her attention. Ziarogati? No. They didn’t whistle. She looked to her left and found three of those wedge drones coming her way. The big robot must have told them where to find her. No doubt they would explode on contact.

Ilia was terrified.

Without a second’s hesitation, Melissa put up a Time Bubble in the shape of a wide cylinder that surrounded her and stood almost six feet tall. That gave her time to stand up, raise her weapon and fire a dozen shots at the oncoming flyers. Glowing flecks of white light appeared just beyond the edge of her Bending.

Just to be on the safe side, she took two steps to the left.

The bubble collapsed.

Bullets hit the roof where she had been standing. Her shots pounded the oncoming drones, scrambling their circuits. One veered sideways into its nearest companion, and then they both dropped out of sight as they fell into the street.

The third spiraled around and around in a drunken barrel roll, falling onto the next rooftop over. It sputtered a few times and then exploded.

And more wedges were coming her way.

With a gasp, Melissa turned and ran for the eastern wall, bullets driving themselves into the concrete at her heels. She leaped right off the edge, then called upon her Nassai to lessen gravity’s pull.

Her descent to the ground took almost ten seconds, and she still felt a slight jolt on impact. The mild tingle in her skin had become a prickle that bordered on pain. She had overused her abilities.

The soldiers who were clustered on the south-west corner all looked at her through the visors of their helmets. She could see the silent questions in their eyes.

Bent over with a hand on her stomach, Melissa grimaced and shook her head. “Too many,” she panted. “I can’t bring them down.”

Captain Bryse was leaning against a wall on the north-west corner. The man’s face was red, and though Anna could see no obvious signs of a wound, he looked like he had been kicked in the chest by a very angry horse. Which probably meant that a bullet had grazed him.

There were others on the sidewalk as well, nearly thirty people clustered together. Those who were nearest to the corner fired into the neighbouring street, taking a few quick shots at the approaching robots. She could hear the loud clank, clank of metal footsteps.

Wiping sweat off her brow with one hand, Anna heaved out a breath. “We’re being overwhelmed,” she gasped. “We need to retreat.”

The captain shook his head vigorously. “Can’t retreat,” he growled. “The Gate’s been damaged. If we try to run, they’ll gun us down.”

“Then we split up,” Anna insisted. “Some of us go north, others south. Hide in the sewers if we have to.”

Bryse showed his teeth and then pounded the wall with a closed fist. Even a Justice Keeper would find that painful. He was lucky he didn’t break his hand. “I am not giving up that easy! Lieutenant Hasheem!”

A man at the back of the line stepped forward. Anna realized that it was the guy with the big, black case. Earlier, she had noticed a young woman carrying another one just like it. What was going on here? “Sir?” Hasheem replied.

Bryse answered him with one word.

“Aurora.”

Springing into action, the young man dropped to his knees and opened the case. He tapped the side of his helmet to activate the comm-unit. “Aurora! Aurora!” he shouted. “We have a go!”

Anna looked around.

It took a moment, but she eventually spotted the young woman with the second case in Melissa’s group. Something about this didn’t sit right. If Bryse had a contingency plan, she should have been told about it.

Her suspicions were confirmed when three Death Spheres floated out of the case. One of them reoriented itself to point its lens directly at Anna, but it didn’t fire. She had no idea why. Death Spheres had very simplistic programming. The only way to protect yourself was to wear an RFID tag that marked you as friendly, and so far as she knew, she didn’t have one.

She saw three more spheres on the other side of the road. Together, the group of six went around the corner, into the adjoining street. And then she heard the crackling hiss of particle beams.

Danger or no danger, she had to see for herself.

The spheres swarmed around the two metal giants, deftly evading the bullets that would punch right through them. One by one, they turned their lenses on the robots and fired thick beams of orange plasma, carving them up like a Leap Day roast. Metal limbs fell to the ground; metal bodies crumpled and broke. In seconds, there was nothing left but two piles of scrap.

The spheres pulled back, retreating from incoming fire unleashed by the Ragnosian troops.

Standing by the wall with both hands gripping his rifle, Bryse nodded once. “Very good, lieutenant,” he said, satisfaction dripping from every syllable. “Excellent work. Lenai, Aydrius, to me!”

Anna stepped forward, studying the man with lips pursed. “How can we help?” she asked, certain that she wouldn’t like the answer.

Rajel rushed over to join them, breathing hard. His sunglasses were slightly askew, and his dark hair was a mess. “Reporting, sir.”

Anna rolled her eyes.

If Bryse noticed, he chose not to comment. “I need the two of you to get close to the Raggies,” he said. “Hit ‘em hard and fast.”

“Hard and fast?” Anna said. “There’s bound to be at least three dozen of them out there. Minimal cover. Even two Keepers can’t handle that many.”

“You’re just a distraction,” Bryse explained. “If I send the Death Spheres out, they’ll shoot them down before they get close enough. You two keep them distracted for a minute or so. The spheres come in and mop up the mess.”

Gaping at the man, Anna felt the blood draining out of her face. She shook her head slowly. “You want to use Death Spheres against humans?” she spluttered. “The Articles of War strictly forbid-”

“I want to win this battle!” Bryse snapped. “Don’t you?”

“I won’t do it,” Anna protested.

The instant she finished speaking, every soldier sprang to attention, each pointing their rifle at her. Within seconds, she was surrounded by twelve people who were all ready to shoot her.

Bryse’s face was a looming thundercloud. “They told me you’d be insubordinate,” he said. “Two choices, Operative: either you dodge Ragnosian bullets or you dodge ours. Decide quickly.”

“Then pull those triggers.”

“Excuse me?”

Anna stepped up to him, craning her neck to stare into his eyes. “I don’t respond well to threats,” she said. “So, if you’re going to shoot me, do it.”

She felt the thrill of triumph when the men and women around her lowered their weapons and exchanged nervous glances. But then the captain’s multi-tool buzzed. He checked it, scowling as he read the report. “Damn!” he hissed. “The Raggies intercepted both teams we sent after them. They’re closing in on us from all sides.”