It took the better part of another hour to manage it, but then they were breaking through the door, taking the stairs, and then breaking open the door that actually led to the roof.
Then came the arduous part: roof jumping.The first roof was easy, the buildings were only a few feet apart at the roof, making for an easy run and jump.After that, it got much harder, the roofs at least six feet apart, and closer to ten for two gaps.Thankfully, Merlin had of course come prepared with deployable mini-bridges that he left in place for their retreat.
Eventually, finally, it was time for the hard part.They waited on the roof next to their destination as Gawain and Merlin worked to disable the final alarm systems that they hadn't been able to handle remotely.
Once that was cleared, they laid the final bridge and crossed to their destination.
"Be careful," Lancelot said.
Morgan jerked her head as though to toss her hair, though it was currently bound in a tight bun."Obviously.Drown them."
"Count on it."
Morgan led the way through the access door set in the roof.Annoying, and limiting, all the more dangerous in the rush of retreat, but there was nothing they could do about it.Her shadows made easy work of slipping right through, and once they were inside, they swung the door open for Arthur and his team.
Lancelot moved closer to the northern edge of the building, where he could see the false building that hid the reservoir."Tristan."
"I've got you."
Lancelot closed his eyes and sank into his power, seeking out the water that immediately answered him, tracing it through all the pipes, picking out the ones he needed.From there it required very little effort to guide the water to exploit weaknesses in just the right way.
All around for two blocks in every direction, pipes broke and water leaked.Slowly, quietly.It would take hours for anyone to notice the leaks at their current drip rate.But it was enough to set the stage.
Next he turned his attention to the reservoir itself.This was more difficult, as breaking anything would releaseeverything, but the water relayed to him all he needed to ensure complete disaster if it came to that.It would take water from the entire city, but he didn't doubt all the stupid rich people had illegal private reservoirs anyways.
He opened his eyes.All that was left now was the waiting."Ready on my end."
"My turn," Mordred said, even as alerts flashed via their chips that the fighting had begun.Frustrating to be out here waiting, to be unable to help his friends, butthiswas how they were helping.Covering the escape was as vital, if not more so, as being in the thick of the fight.
Mordred closed their eyes, and while Lancelot had no idea how they communicated with their flames, it probably wasn't all that different from how Lancelot reached out to water.After several minutes, right as Merlin alerted them they'd secured the master copies of Kay and the other fallen, Mordred opened their eyes."Ready, Captain."
"Good, because I hear the whine of citijets."Tristan said."Like Mordred, his element was fire, but nobody was like Mordred, really.Tristan's skills had always lain elsewhere, and his flames were supplements to them—protecting, defending, covering retreats.Before he'd joined up with Camelot, he'd often been accused of cowardice because he preferred to avoid fighting, preferred to keep people alive and safe.It had been one of the biggest reasons Arthur had taken him on, and why he'd swiftly joined the inner circle.
A pair of citijets came into view, barely discernable in the dark.Once upon a time, helicopters had been used for such things, but they'd been replaced by smaller, safer, and vastly more efficient citijets decades ago.Helicopters were the stuff of museums and gaming now.
Citijets could be remote or manned.They were some bastard child combination of helicopter and jet in design, could get up to truly ridiculous speeds they seldom needed in city space, were used by military and police alike.And every rich family had a few for personal use, of course.
They had shields to help with flying in storms, were protected against lightning strikes and electronic attack, and even resistant to fire.But only resistant, and they weren't specced to face the Black Gryphon.
"Everything burns," Mordred said with vicious glee, calling up their flames and lobbing enormous fireballs that scorched right through shields and plating and sent the citijets spiraling away to crash and burn.
Almost done, came an alert from Merlin.
"Get ready," Lancelot said, right as more citijets showed up, and soldiers came pouring up from the trapdoor and over the edges of the building.He threw out his arms, calling up his powers, and leaks that had been mere trickles before suddenly turned into massive problems.In the reservoir, he guided the water to snap safeties and destroy overrides in ways it could not have on its own.
Down below, people rushed from buildings to escape a flood that followed on their heels.
On our way.
Lancelot dragged the water up up up, knocking over soldiers even as Tristan started slicing and burning.Soon the entire roof was a mess of blood and steam, and boiling blood was still such a foul fucking smell.He called up Arondight but continued to focus on the water, driving back vehicles, soldiers, using Tristan's fire to turn everything to steam.
Alerts flashed across his vision as Arthur and the others came up through the trapdoor.Searing golden light filled the space, and they were all on the move, save Lancelot's team.Because this was the moment that mattered most.
Pouring everything he had out, he broke through the reservoir once and for all, sending so much water gushing out that the city would spend years recovering.He held it back from their relevant buildings, dizzy from the effort and getting dizzier.He'd never controlled so much at once, not like this.
Mordred stepped up to the trap door and poured out fire, then slammed it shut and melted it closed."There.I also rigged it in other places I was able to feel out.They can put out some of them, but they won't be able to put out all of them.This building is toast."
Lancelot tried not to think about all the people their actions would hurt, all the people that might die because they didn't get out of the way in time.War always brought unfair casualties, and water took more all the time, and fire still more, but that didn't mean he liked it or enjoyed being party to it.
