I spoke over the comm system's general channel, "Magnus is powering his people up. If I had to guess, he's powering up everybody he can. Expect people with powers to become more powerful. Don't be surprised if they develop new ones or if unpowered people start changing…"

I stopped, and Amy added more, "Magnus is trying to escape into the portal. Some of his people will be trying to escape with him. Watch for that."

I understood how Amy knew. She'd grabbed all of that out of Rook's head as her spear sucked it in.

Off the comm, she said, "He was supposed to jump through the portal as soon as he juiced his people up. So, he's gone by now."

"Unless I go through," I said, "and I can."

I turned my attention to the portal and, feeling the massive energy surge emanating from it, I realized two things: I could pull from it too. It wouldn't make me ultra powerful, but the Artificer portion of me needed energy, and here was a pile of it. The other thing I realized was that, between everything Kee taught me and what Rachel showed me, I knew how to operate it. I didn't need the stone to do it.

The stone had to be for people who didn't natively have that ability.

I pulled it out of my pouch and held it out to Amy. "You should be able to use this to control the portal—keep the Nine's people out and let us in. I need to leave now."

Amy began to say, "I don't know—" but then stopped to continue. "Assholes. A few of the past Bloodmaidens know about Artificers, and they've been holding out—as usual."

"Wait," I said, still holding the stone. "Do they know how to use it?"

Amy stared down at it, the light from the glowing ruby melding with the glow from the stone's white light. Where the two lights met, they pulsed with a beat reminiscent of a heartbeat.

She said, "I think they might."

"Ok," I said, and dropped it into the palm of her black gauntlet.

She tensed as she caught it. She glanced toward the metal door in the concrete wall to our right. "I think I need to see it."

I couldn't argue. We ran across the concrete floor, avoiding shattered bits of metal and concrete, many with burn marks. How did we break so much stuff when we fought?

When we made the door, Amy held out a hand, indicating the door, "If you'd be kind enough to open it?"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I looked at her, "Are you playing princess now?"

She smiled at me, "I am a princess. My family's empire spans my entire world and has lasted for thousands of years. Also, Rook locked the door. He can't even get in without Magnus' permission, and I'm not strong enough to punch through. You are. Now open the damn door. Please."

I checked the door out in my HUD, noting the multiple locks, that a second door stood on the other side, and thought about where the structural weak points might be.

Then I punched in the door near the lock, bending the door in. Grabbing the edge that now stuck out from the frame, I wrenched the door out, leaned in, and hit the door on the other side with my shoulder, smashing through.

Stepping on the smashed door, I took a look at the room. Seeing computers, screens, and two doors, one that had to open into the tunnel with the submarines, and another that appeared to open into the wall parallel to the tunnel, I understood. The screens were the big clue. They showed the doors to the underwater entrance and the air lock, where they pumped out most of the water.

It was the control room.

The only detail that didn't fit was the circle burning with golden fire in the middle of it all. Looking at it, I realized that my guess was correct. I could feel the controls. At will, I could open or shut it, expand it, or lock it open.

Tempted to lock it open and bring Amy along, I decided to instead go with my original plan. "Your highness? A seriously dubious room and a big, glowing circle await you."

She stepped in before I finished. "Stop," she said, "we're flirting and we should not be."

Uselessly raising an eyebrow despite my helmet, I said, "This is flirting? Shouldn't I be complimenting you somehow? We're just making jokes."

Looking the circle up and down and holding up the stone, she said, "I don't understand how you ended up with Night Cat. Or anyone."

I thought back, "She all but told me to ask her out for coffee."

Stepping in front of one of the computers, she starting typing, saying, "That explains it."

"I guess," I said, "but if that was flirting, you started it."

She looked away from the screen, toward me, and said, "I know. I need to go home. It hasn't been ten years, but I'm leaving as soon as this is over. I haven't heard anything from anyone."

I knew we didn't have time to go into that, and I didn't have the chance. Alex contacted me by comm, "I hope you're close because it just got worse up here."

Pictures of the soldiers in the Nine's major command center began to metamorphose, some into clawed monstrosities, others into achingly beautiful examples of the human ideal.

My observation bots outside showed the Nine's dominated Cabal soldiers growing into giants amidst the damaged buildings. How the vampires, ghouls, and undead creatures would handle them, I didn't dare guess.

If that weren't enough, something crashed on the other side of the wall—the submarine side. A glance toward the screens showed Power Burst glowing as he flew toward Izzy, who'd smashed into a submarine, caving in the nose.

Pulling herself up, Izzy pushed off, aiming herself at Power Burst. I didn't see them hit. I was already aiming myself toward the portal.

Amy sent me an implant message, "Go! Rook had backdoors into everything, and I know everything Rook knew—"

I didn't need to hear more. She'd do what she needed to do—which was good. If anything, it looked like Magnus had given his people more power this time.

I didn't have time to wonder how she'd help. I flew through burning light into darkness and found myself someplace else.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.