Zephyr and Erich had taken some grenades while Nyxeris and I had loaded up on flashbangs, taking a more distraction-oriented stance.
Once we’re ready, we all share a look of determination.
When Erich turns for the security door, device to unlock it in hand, a deafening siren begins to wail.
Zephyr
We haven’t even opened the door yet, and the alarm is already screeching at a deafening level.
Nyx winces and ducks her head, and Erich growls loud enough I can hear him over the alarm.
“It isn’t us.”Laurant’s voice rings clear in my mind, along with the panic of his inner voice.
If it isn’t us, then the soldiers inside must be distracted by something else going on.
I don’t think, just act, holding my palm out to the security door and calling on my power.
Everything about my abilities has gotten so much easier since we’ve all mated and bonded, but I don’t give that much thought,either, as one of my contained black holes swallows the door, sending it who knows where.
“Let’s go.”
Erich leads the charge, rifle at his back, hands encased in balls of fire. The moment he passes into what must be the main reception area of the facility, his fire shoots out in jets in front of him, met by screaming soldiers who don’t have time to react.
The space is wide open, everything bright, the dividing walls glass both on this floor and the completely open corridor on the floor above us.
When Nyx steps up, her arms encased in tiny blue arcs, sizzling and popping, she hurls electricity like baseballs at soldiers, who, once caught by them, begin to jerk and foam at the mouth as they drop to the ground.
I suck up a group of soldiers before they can even start descending a nearby staircase, and Laurant surprises me by using telekinesis to toss a few more armed men into my bubble.
“Move!” Erich charges for a door across the room, using his fire as both a weapon and a means of shielding us behind a wall of flame so hot, my lungs begin to scorch. But it’s gone as soon as we reach the door, which I vanish like all the rest of the obstacles in our way.
We hustle down the stairs, Laurant at the rear looking up at the staircase once we reach the bottom.
He’s our watchdog, so to speak.
It takes me a moment to register my surroundings, and when I realize what I’m looking at, I trip over my own feet and right into Erich’s back.
This place is almost a carbon copy of Tenebrosa’s holding cells. Only much, much larger, able to hold so many more prisoners.
Experiments.
Sterile and barren cells enclosed by reinforced glass, no privacy, nothing inside but exam tables that served as beds, too, if you were desperate enough not to sleep on the cold floor. Terrified Cursed inside, wearing hospital gowns or white institution garments, wide and frightened eyes lit up by the golden collars around their necks.
I open my mouth, but no sound comes. My voice won’t work as my rage builds, control slipping from my grasp.
“Zephyr!”
Arms wrap tightly around me from behind, Nyx’s small hands join at my waist.
“Zeph, breathe. We need you.Theyneed you.”
Yes. Yes, they do need me.
I stick my hand into one of the side pockets of my tactical pants and pull out the collar control unit I’d placed there. As I step out of Nyx’s arms then look at my packmates who nod at me, I press the button.
All the lights of those collars shut down at once before the control boxes fall to the floor, clacking loud enough that we can hear them through the glass walls.
As Nyx rushes off to a large computer screen in the middle of the room, Erich in tow, I finally find my voice, scanning the people in the cells. “We’re here to help. Anyone who can fight, do it. Anyone too injured or weak, let us know. We’ll protect you.”
