Sean stared at it for a second or two before spinning around to face the people who’d shothimwith—
“Is that a neuro-jammerRPG?” Sean asked, unable to keep the sheer incredulity out of his voice.Viper! Warn theteams!
He could hear her swearing in the back of his mind, but Sean ignored her in favor of the potentially destructive weapon being handled by two of Declan’s North Star International securitypersonnel.
The two men brandishing the weapon seemed surprised that it hadn’t worked. The high whine of the shoulder-carried weapon charging up again made Sean start running. He sprinted toward them, taking the next attack head-on. The bright streak of energy passed harmlessly through his upper chest and neck, crashing against the far wallagain.
The men, realizing that the weapon couldn’t incapacitate him, turned to run. But Sean had a head start and a definite advantage. He cut them off by running at an angle, passing through walls. Coming out into the opposite hallway, he phased through the two men and the weapons they carried. The neuro-jammer RPG crackled as its electronic components fried due to Sean’s phase power, rendering it useless. The man in question opted to drop the dead weight rather than carry it anyfarther.
The knife slashing through Sean’s chest did nothing other than piss the other man off, judging by his snarl. Sean unholstered his Beretta M90 tactical pistol and took aim at the man in frontofhim.
“The MDF demanded your surrender,” Seanremindedhim.
“Fuckthe Feds,” the man spitathim.
Sean sighted down his gun at the thin area where shoulder met torso that wasn’t covered by thick tactical gear, but a thinner combat uniform. He pulled the trigger, and while his gun remained phased, the bullet became solid the second it left his phasefield.
It slammed into the man’s shoulder, but he’d already moved, taking the bullet in the protective armor covering his upper arm. The bullet ricocheted off, slamming into the wall. Sean holstered his gun again, knowing that he wasn’t good enough to make the difficult shot to get between people’s tactical armor. He wasn’t Kyle, who had an uncanny ability to make near-impossibleshots.
Sean still had a job to do and only a limited amount of bullets. He couldn’t kill everyone who got in his way, nor did hewantto.
He sank through the floor, ignoring the two men as they accessed their comms, giving whoever was commanding their defense a heads up that he was coming their way. The sublevels beneath the facility were definitely reminiscent of a military base, manned by ex-military, the majority of whom were raising hell above. But what passed for Declan’s war room was two levels down, so Sean kept phasing his way to histarget.
To your left,Katie told him when he finally phased through to the secure level amidst a hail ofgunfire.
My left is where everyone is shooting,Seanretorted.
It’s not like the bullets canhurtyou.
Sean couldn’t even begin to count how many bullets he took to the face as he ran toward the heavily guarded door that led to where he needed to be. Passing through fighters and the heavy steel door behind them, he made sure to swipe one hand through the control panel off to the side. The resulting dead screen satisfied him as he appeared within the cramped room full of terminals and holoscreens projecting the battle happening upabove.
Honestly, it was a good thing Sean didn’t have any criminal tendencies. His power made breaking and enteringridiculouslyeasy.
A circle of terminals surrounded a center space dominated by a long work table. At the head stood Declan, barking out orders to the people around him and over comms. Sean passed through the terminal directly in front of him, as well as the person seated there. The computer died, screen blacking out from his passage while the woman in question jumped up withayell.
Someone shouted a warning; someone else shouted not to shoot. Sean stepped out of the terminal bank and stayed on course for the center of the room where the main terminal waited. Declan’s head snapped around at his arrival, holding up a warning hand at the men and women who were grabbing for theirweapons.
“Sean,” Declan grit out, mouth twisting in asnarl.
“Declan,” Sean replied as he phased through the second row of terminals to arrive in the center of the room, hitting as many as he could with hisoutstretchedarms.
The long table had a computer embedded in it, all terminals up and running. Multiple command windows and holoscreens were projected into the air above it, showing a live feed of the battle happening on the ground by way of helmet cams and securityfeeds.
Sean walked through every last person who tried to get in his way until he reached the table itself, passing through it with measured strides. The windows flickered and wavered around him before cutting out, the data saturating the computer screen disappearing as everything went black. Declan watched him come withfuriouseyes.
“Tell your people to stand down,” Seanordered.
“No,” Declan said, shoving himself upright. He turned to the man standing next to him. “Get the cargo and let’s get outofhere.”
“What about the metahuman?” someoneasked.
Declan grinned sharply at Sean. “He can’tstopus.”
Which was frustratingly true. While phased, Sean was invulnerable to attacks, but the downside to his power meant he couldn’t restrain anyone, couldn’t stop anyone from leaving. His only option was his gun, but he didn’t have enough rounds to take everyone out. If he returned to solidity, no doubt one of Declan’s people would quickly try to kill him. Considering how many weapons were trained in his direction, Sean knew they were just waiting for any hint he was no longer phased to pull theirtriggers.
“You’re surrounded up there,” Seanremindedhim.
“You think I care what happens to those fools who claim allegiance to the Sons of Adam? Playing make-believe and dress-up in field gear is nothing compared to the reality of war. They’re learning that the hard way. My people and I always have a way out,”Declansaid.
