“Baptism byfire,eh?”
“I’m usedtoit.”
We got your six,Katietelepathicallysaid.
Iknow.
It was a comforting thought that made it easier to face what was coming. The jet banked sharply again, and Sean lurched against his flight harness, sliding forward on the hard seat a scant few centimeters. Through the fuselage of the jet and the humming of the energy shield, Sean could hear the dullboomof anti-aircraft ordnance exploding in the air. The jet banked again, straps digging into his side even through the tactical vesthewore.
“Looks like they’re expecting us!” their pilot said over the public comms. “Taking evasive maneuvers. Wraith! Get ready forthedrop.”
Sean took a steadying breath and kept his eyes on the Strike Force group’s leader near the rear of the jet. She would signal him when it was time to get out of his seat and get ready to jump. His stomach roiled a little as they banked again and again, even with the internal dampeners to help buffer them against the G-forces their pilot was pulling. The jet cut through the air with a precision he could only feel, not see, their pilot maneuvering with the same innate skill Annabelle had. Night Stalkers only employed the best,afterall.
The red light started to flash, the warning siren abruptly losing depth as the ramp opened onto a strangely lit night sky, wind whistling through the jet’s interior as they dove. It felt like seconds when it was probably much longer than that before Sean got the hand signal to move as the jet leveled out. He slapped his hand over the release on his harness, slipping free of it. Beyond the dark line of the ramp’s edge, he could see the blue-white glow of the shield shining against thenightsky.
Sean raced for the entrance, the jet juddering under his boots as he ran. The shine of the energy shield burned his eyes even through his tactical goggles. The ground devices all fed their power into this single point, and it shone like a small sun in thenightsky.
Sean pushed off the edge of the ramp with a silent snarl, diving out into the open air. For a single second, he was weightless. Then gravity tugged at him, heavy and demanding, and he fell toward the floating shield device directly below him. Sean would spare a moment later, when the wind wasn’t rushing past his ears, to be in awe at how close their pilot managed to get forthedrop.
For now, all he could dowasfall.
He could feel the heat from the device’s energy production even through his tactical armor until he phased, the cool rush of the wind suddenly slowed as it passed through his body. Sean’s descent went from a deadly fall to a controlled return to earth that passed through the humming machinerybelow.
Energy washed through him as he passed through the shield, sinking into the heart of the aerial connection that gave the shield its shape. The lightning-bright explosions of electronic overload burned through his tactical goggles as he passed through the interior. Sean couldn’t see anything but the sparking guts of the machine before he slipped free of it, only for a fiery explosion toengulfhim.
His power kept him safe from the concussive force of the blast as the damaged machine broke apart. Fire burned all around him as he floated downward, passing through heat that never seared him. Sean squeezed his eyes to help protect his nightvision.
Multiple receiving anchors that helped form the shield were spaced around the perimeter of the training facility and the biotech lab. The backwash from the explosion disrupted the flow of energy, disintegrating the shield. Bright bursts of fire erupted on the ground far below, growing bigger with every second that passed as the shieldcrumbled.
Sean kept falling, a free-floating descent that followed the streaks of fire down to earth. He kept his eyes on the ground after the initial explosion, ignoring the flashes of fire from anti-aircraft guns embedded in the mountains surrounding the ranch. The shots cut through the night, but never through him, exploding well beyond him in brief bursts of yellow-red in the sky that quickly faded to black. Sean couldn’t be hurt in his phased state, and that security was what enabled him to keep the panic at bay even as the thunder of a war come home to roost erupted allaroundhim.
The ground rushed up to meet him sooner than expected, pitted with half-melted debris from the earlier explosion above. Sean risked going solid in the air about twenty feet above the ground to help control his descent for the last part of the fall. The weight of his body crashed back through his awareness before he phased again almost immediately, floating slowly to the ground, and not a momenttoosoon.
Bullets tore through his body, passing harmlessly through him, though it didn’t stop him from reflexively flinching. Sean squinted through the darkness as he came to a stop amidst the debris, trying to find the enemy. His comms and bioware were dead, and his tactical goggles’ HUD no longer worked, but Katie’s telepathic voice rang throughhismind.
Head for the compound and try to find the command room. We need to disrupt their communications,Katietoldhim.
What abouteveryoneelse?
You got the shield destroyed. We’retouchingdown.
Warning sirens rent the air, a shrill sound that made him want to cover his ears. In the distance to his left, Sean could make out the brightly lit cluster of buildings making up the headquarters of North Star International. Far to his right was Vitae Neurotherapeutics biotech lab. Between himself and either building were at least a hundred ex-Special Forces operatives and just as many Sons of Adam fighters looking to stand their ground against a government they didn’tbelievein.
Sean took off running, heading for North Star International, impeded by nothing and no one. Surrounded by the enemy, Sean was thankful, not for the first time, that he was functionally invulnerable while in his phased state. It’s why the MDF had given him the task of getting beyond the enemy’s front line to disrupt their communications. That would take away Declan’s overwatch, giving the edge to Strike Force andtheMDF.
So he ran, cutting a straight line through the enemy in favor of reaching his destination. He relayed back to Katie the positions he passed, bullets cutting through his body and face in a bombardment that made him flinch but hold steady. More than once someone attempted to bodily stop him, but Sean ran straightthroughthem.
The heavyrat-tat-tatof a machine gun set his teeth on edge. The ground beneath him exploded from the impact of heavy caliber bullets, dust rising into the air behind him as Sean pushedforward.
“Metahuman!” someone yelled. “Get the neuro-jammergun!”
Viper, they have neuro-jammer guns in the field,Sean dutifullyreported.
Copy that. Willrelay.
Sean was nearing the building when the flickering bright beam of a neuro-jammer gun slammed harmlessly through his chest. As in Las Vegas, the energy bolt didn’taffecthim.
“What the fuck?” a woman yelled. “Shoot himagain!”
