The deepbangof Kyle’s sniper rifle going off in quick succession heralded the deaths of the two fighters across the lawn, while the two closest to Alexei kept shooting indiscriminately into the dark. Crouched behind a bush, with decent line of sight, Alexei took them out with two bullets.
A body fell off the roof, landing in a heap on the ground three stories below, taken out by Kyle’s exacting aim. “Go, Inferno. I’ve got clear LOS. I’ll cover you,” Kyle said through the comms.
Alexei moved, staying low and keeping to the shadows. Kyle shot out every light hovering over the pathway, pitching the rear of the property into darkness. Light shone out of most of the windows in the building though. One or two were stupid enough to pass in front of a window, resulting in Kyle taking them out.
The HUD compensated for the light coming through the windows as Alexei approached the building from the side. The windows were all multiple panes of plas-glass, with supports holding the small squares together. Breaking through those would be difficult, so he didn’t even try. The map on the HUD led him to a side door used by staff more than the grand entrances the owners always walked through.
The door was made of synthwood, one that opened on hinges as opposed to a sliding door. Alexei tried the handle and found it locked, so he shot the lock off, kicking open the door. The sound of his entrance was drowned out by a particularly loud blast from the front of the property. Madison had arrived, or someone on Jansen’s side had an RPG launcher.
Alexei would put money on Madison.
His tactical goggles reverted to normal viewing as he moved down the narrow hallway into a kitchen with stone walls and floor offset by modern appliances. The kitchen was empty, and the château was large. Alexei didn’t have time for hide-and-go-seek.
Viper?Could use some guidance,Alexei said through the telepathic links she had anchored in their minds.
Second floor. The bastard is barricaded in a bedroom with about a dozen guards outside his door. There’s more between you and him,Katie replied.
Alexei smiled toothily behind his mask. He always did like a challenge.
The building’s map overlaid the physical space as he cleared a corner and stepped into another hallway. Three steps later and someone hurried around the corner at the far end, shouting in French. Alexei shot the man in the chest, aiming for center mass, and he went sprawling to the floor, out of the fight for good. Alexei ducked through a door into an empty room to use the entrance as cover when more members of theLibération Nationale Françaiscame thundering down the hallway.
Alexei took his left hand off his weapon and called up his pyrokinesis. Hot fire exploded around his gloved fingers, not touching him, and he coaxed the flames larger, forming them into a fireball. He hurled the mass of flame down the hall, guiding it with his power toward the enemy in his way.
The loud shouts and screams of agony as people were engulfed in flames got Alexei moving. Fire swirled around his arm as he ducked out of the room, sighting down his rifle at any remaining targets. He aimed and fired, finding and taking out his targets without hesitation. Several had dropped to the floor, desperately trying to put the flames out. Alexei shot them where they lay, knowing better than to think his power was enough to keep them out of the fight.
He kept moving.
The sound of people yelling and guns going off farther in the building had Alexei checking his six, but no one was approaching. He kept moving, making his way to the wooden spiral staircase near the front of the building that would give him a direct way up to the second floor.
Alexei was unsurprised to find the space occupied. What surprised him was the absolute mountain of a man aiming out a window with a SST .950 rifle and not being bothered by the recoil in the slightest. He wasn’t the only one present in the room, but he was the most immediate threat. Alexei pulled the trigger on his weapon, but the shot went wide, the same way his arms did. His rifle was yanked out of his grip by an invisible force and went spinning end over end across the room, only to be caught by the rifleman’s spotter.
That same unseen force picked him up and slammed him against the opposite wall, legs and arms spread-eagle three feet off the ground. The telekinetic pressure keeping him pinned to the wall rapidly increased. Alexei struggled to breathe as the rifleman’s spotter wiggled her fingers in Alexei’s direction, a snarl on her face.
She was older, dirty-blonde hair threaded through with white, and an ugly hate in her eyes that Alexei tried to burn out. Fire exploded around her, but the telekinetic shield she erected around herself and her partner—who kept shooting, goddamn him—wasn’t something Alexei’s pyrokinesis could breach no matter how hard he tried.
Sean, on the other hand, could get through anything.
Right when it felt like Alexei’s ribcage was about to cave in, Sean phased through the floor, two iron fire pokers of all things in his hand. He phased one through the woman’s chest and the other through her head.
Then let them go.
The pokers, no longer in contact with Sean’s phase power, solidified in the woman’s chest and head, sticking out of her body at odd angles. She keeled over, the iron ends gouging furrows in the floor. The telekinetic force holding Alexei up disappeared and he crashed to the floor, landing hard on his knees.
Heaving for breath, Alexei staggered to his feet, gritting his teeth against the heavy ache spreading through his torso that spoke of cracked or broken ribs. He could still fight, and that was all that mattered. Sean had his six, though, and Alexei watched as the other man unholstered the tactical pistol from his thigh and shot the rifleman through the heart and head, a clean double-tap that would make even Kyle proud.
“Status?” Sean asked. He grabbed the SST .950 rifle and phased it into the floor before releasing it, letting it solidify itself in the foundation like a fossil, out of reach of anyone else who might use it against their side.
“Am fine,” Alexei gritted out.
Sean’s face was hidden behind his tactical goggles and mask, but Alexei knew his lover was rolling his eyes. “We need to move. Viper will link you from here on out.”
Sean picked up Alexei’s weapon and returned it before grabbing his hand in tight fingers. Alexei’s encrypted comms went dead in his ears as Sean’s phase power flowed through his body. With a kick of his feet, Sean launched them into the air, aiming for the ceiling. Alexei’s vision went dark for a second or two as they passed through the structure of the building.
They phased through to the second floor and were met by a hail of gunfire that passed harmlessly through their bodies. Sean pulled them all the way clear of the floor, and then Alexei took the lead. He used his thumb to switch his AKR-75 assault rifle from semi-automatic to fully automatic. Then he braced the rifle butt against his shoulder, took aim in a wide sweep, and held the trigger down. While his weapons remained phased, the bullets solidified the second they left the muzzle and Sean’s phase field.
Some of the fighters were smart enough to throw themselves to the floor, but that didn’t save them. The ones up front died immediately, bodies riddled with bullets. They kept dropping, one or two using their dead comrades as shields to try to escape the relentless onslaught and return fire, but it proved useless.
Then one of the last men standing got the brilliant idea to arm a grenade and toss it in their direction. Alexei watched it land in front of their feet and closed his eyes to protect his eyesight from the bright explosion that ripped through the hallway, blowing out walls and parts of the ceiling and floor. Smoke and fire roiled through the air.
