There was an alley entrance; it was normally locked down completely from the inside, and that would’ve stopped Aemric’s plan in its tracks if the entire doorframe hadn’t been broken down, taking the nearby wall with it. A few dead Red Scales lay in the hallway, plus one Dog. The Scales definitely had it worse, pummeled by whatever had destroyed the door.

  “The kazol.” Xolith noted. “This one in particular served as my previous lord’s enforcer. He is… stronger than most of his kind. The other kazols in the clan could not do this.”

  Tiria didn’t put together anything crucial from that; she was too busy observing the Scales on the ground. “They didn’t even die staff in hand.”

  “Surprise is crucial. It seems your enemies knew this, too.”

  “Yeah.”

  They progressed through. Nothing in particular stopped them; the elevators were out, so they took the stairs, but found one of the stairwells to be collapsed in. Smoke faintly billowed out from the door. The tourax had been there.

  They took a different staircase; this one remained, but at the top, there was still fighting. Gunshots, shouting. Tiria briefly tried to look up there, but it was just chaos and not worth sticking her head out much.

  Still, the fight up there was their destination. Those demons needed killing, and the Dogs needed to suffer to discourage them from summoning any more. If there was a printing of those instructions, it would be a problem in the future.

  Aemric made an executive decision. He accidentally tried – and succeeded – at something in the process: he didn’t blink, but spoke through Xolith. “I’m – oh, hey. I’m unlocking your thought-reading powers for now. Seems like you’ll need them.” He’d given her back her control powers temporarily during the pizzeria fight, too.

  “Thank you, master.” She didn’t learn, did she? It had only been a day, though. Xolith promptly looked at Tiria; the younger woman glanced back in a questioning manner. Aemric had specifically kept in an order protecting her, though. Xolith seemed to understand; she promptly did something more useful with the power. “There are several alive and fighting on the next floor. None of them are demons.”

  “How can you tell?” Tiria asked.

  “I can hear loud thoughts. Master – the Conduit, restricted me from reading yours, though.”

  “O-oh.” It was definitely creeping up on Tiria again, that sense that she was dealing with things far beyond herself.

  They proceeded onwards and upwards. The staircase wasn’t incredibly safe, but in a high-emotion environment like this, Xolith could read just about every person in her radius. She was a walking enemy-detector, and when a Dog occasionally limped downstairs with an injury or emerged into the stairwell, Tiria had plenty of time to prepare. If it had just been a normal day in the office, it wouldn’t have worked so easily; they wouldn’t have had such ‘noisy’ emotions and Xolith would’ve had to look directly at them to read them.

  They started noticing that the building was slowly filling with smoke, though. Each flight of the staircase was worse than the last; Tiria started coughing faintly. Xolith had no issue, as it was easier to breathe than her home planet’s air. Aemric wondered if that was how it really worked.

  No matter. Smoke was, on its own, a danger. More and more of the combatants seemed to realize that, too, and the fight upstairs was petering out. Then, there was another issue. From several flights below… Tiria could hear her father.

  “How high up is he?” He coughed once.

  Conda replied. “In the top-floor saferoom. There’s a fire and many Dogs between here and there.”

  “We’ll have to try.”

  “Agreed.”

  Tiria had a hint of distress in her face; her father was no ally, but she didn’t want him there. He was… still family. By the sound of it, her father was three floors below, and they were at the fourteenth floor as it was.

  One more floor up. The smoke had chased the main fight out of the stairway, but Xolith made note of something to pause for.

  “The zolb is here. Scared.”

  “I’ll follow you.”

  They emerged into the corridors; the fifteenth floor was where Tiria had lived. The tourax had come here only some while ago, but it didn’t look like there was a fight. Presumably, nobody had tried to hunker down inside the otherwise-residential area. Cushy carpets and warm décor lined the halls before, but now it was all burnt clean; the smoke had mostly flowed out. Tiria cast a glance or two to where her room was, and shook her head. The zolb hadn’t gone that way, regardless.

  Xolith turned one more corner, and then locked on to something. Aemric had to take a moment to realize what it was; the thing was as transparent as glass, and only a lens effect told him where the demon was. Its eyes were visible, though, which he noticed shortly after; they were like little river stones floating midair. The rest of its body seemed humanoid in shape, at least, but it couldn’t be confirmed from here.

  The creature was slumped against a wall. It spat something unintelligible out, and conversed with Xolith for a second; Aemric realized he’d need to listen through different ears, and made the switch.

  Xolith replied. “They didn’t.”

  “Oh, right. Missy ice queen-” The zolb coughed, “got to come to fresh lands on her own. And fucking disappeared. Come crawling back to master now, huh, wingless slut?”

  “No.”

  The succubus approached steadily; Tiria watched, totally confused, with her rifle pointed at where she thought the transparent thing was.

  The zolb made some effort to stand up or move away. “Whatcha doin, then? You think you can go it alone? Master’ll kill you before-”

  A halfhearted kick splattered near-invisible flesh all along the wall.

  Xolith turned back to Tiria. “That’s one.”

  “That… wasn’t much of a fight.”

  “He had been injured by one of your weapons. Zolbs are not as durable as other demons.”

  “Ah.” Tiria followed her back to the staircase, then. “Uh, what were you saying?”

  “Nothing important.”

  They emerged onto the staircase, and immediately realized that Tiria’s father was further up the staircase than they were now. Tiria sped up, but couldn’t by enough to catch him.

  Nineteenth floor. Mr. Fensott had made it into the twentieth, but Xolith noted that the tourax was on this floor. The smoke had actually been clearing out of the staircase as they progressed up, but the fire itself was active on this floor.

  Aemric wanted to split the party, but he realized immediately that with them this close to each other, the butterfly effect was going to play hell with his decisions. He couldn’t track them both at the same time unless they were next to each other, but if they were on the same battlefield, doing something significant like killing a demon might affect the situation overall enough that previously-set orders didn’t work.

  “After the tourax.” He decided.

  The two women headed out of the staircase, one with more certainty than the other. Smoke filled this space pretty thoroughly, though it was also being whipped out by fresh air. Realizing why wasn’t too hard.

  The floor was something like a lounge; one big room, plenty of seating, a bar, decorations, tables, a small kitchen for party food. Walls turned the place into a slight maze, hiding away smaller areas to talk in semi-privately. Luxurious. Also, it had recently been on fire. The fact that many of the windows were broken helped with this last fact greatly, as the outside wind whipped through fast enough to rid the place of smoke and bring in fresh air. It was still like sitting on the wrong side of a campfire.

  The tourax was immediately visible in here, a large red-skinned man with bat-like wings. He strode through one of the corridors, and turned into one of the booths, much to the dismay of someone inside. Xolith promptly approached that location, but Aemric cautioned her.

  “You said you need surprise, right?”

  “Yes. I’m not immune to that heat, either.”

  “Hide in one of the closer booths. Let Tiria draw him out.”

  “Understood.”

  Tiria looked over, and tried to take a decent breath before getting her rifle to a ready position, looking to shoot at the tourax the moment he reappeared in her sightline. A pack of Dogs interrupted, though; they emerged from a different booth, laughing and chatting amongst themselves, gasmasks on their faces protecting them from the air here.

  Xolith had been briefed on the uniforms-versus-no-uniforms situation, and ducked away as she had before, looking to Tiria to solve this one. Aemric didn’t think that would work so well, though, in a three-versus-one.

  Tiria folded back into the cover of the door she’d just come through, and took a shot. One of the Dogs dropped, and the other two scattered; Tiria took a second shot, but missed. At least she’d made the first one count.

  Aemric understood there was no good way to win this in a normal fashion, then. He put Xolith on it. “Gate behind one of them. Charm him, turn him on the other.”

  Xolith hesitated for a split second, then did it. The Dog promptly turned his shotgun over towards his comrade, but didn’t fire: he couldn’t be charmed to fight his own friends. Still, the other one was surprised, and backed out of his own cover on accident. Tiria shot him then.

  Xolith went to knock out the remaining Dog, but Aemric stopped her. “Can you turn him on the tourax?”

  “Yes. Ranged weapons don’t typically work against greater demons, though.”

  “Are you one?”

  “...Yes, I’m about as durable.”

  “Then it’ll work. Trust me, I had to fight you once.”

  Xolith was slightly confused. In any case, she gave the Dog a second kiss instead of a ticket to oblivion, and told him to wait for the tourax. Tiria was confused; Aemric swapped over and told her, vaguely, what was happening, while Xolith hid inside the booth that the Dogs had just come from.

  The heat demon appeared a moment later, with some woman in a red dress over his shoulder; she was struggling as best as she could, but didn’t have the strength. Tiria held her fire, but the Dog didn’t.

  Aemric wondered if maybe he’d made the wrong call for a moment, but the tourax had moved with that same absurd speed; one bat-wing enveloped him before his attacker could pull the trigger, and the flesh there was torn instead of the woman’s poor rear. The tourax growled out a shout; “Who do you think I serve?”

  The demon dropped his prize and started to run forwards, but the Dog fired the other barrel of his shotgun downrange, and the tourax stumbled. Then, Tiria hit him with a rifle round to the arm – still, the demon didn’t relent. These were flesh wounds to him. He struck the Dog with one fist, and the charmed thug died with his entire chest caved in.

  Tiria was terrified; she fired another shot, and worked the lever rifle as fast as she could to fire again. One of those two hit the tourax in the leg, and he growled and looked at her; slowed, not stopped. He started to move. Ripples of heat radiated from the demon, and the dead Dogs’ clothing smoldered and burnt.

  Xolith didn’t have a bullet in her leg. She came out from her cover, and tackled the larger demon from behind. One of his wings tore off entirely, and the tourax howled in pain; he tried to throw his attacker off, but Xolith landed on her feet close-by, and struck before he could turn to face her directly.

  Then, it was a direct battle. The tourax blocked the next swing, then counterattacked with a left-hand jab that knocked Xolith’s glasses off; the two traded another blow each, and then split off to gain some distance. The succubus was especially forced to retreat, that oppressive heat getting to her, too. Her poncho was already shriveling at the edges.

  The tourax demanded answers. “You’re one of us! In fact… Oh, it’s you, isn’t it? The-”

  Tiria shot him in the neck. The tourax grasped at the wound as if to try and pull the bullet out, but stumbled and fell. His heat dissipated, and Xolith approached again to kick him in the head. Another bullet followed, directly under his jaw. Tiria wasn’t a crack shot, she was just six meters away and aiming at a stationary, already-nearly-dead target.

  Aemric was impressed it had all been that easy. He checked the time on Tiria’s watch, just to make sure. Tiria herself asked, “Is it dead?”

  “Yes… those weapons are more effective than I thought they would be.”

  “You’re welcome, and thanks.”

  “The same to you. He was… more skilled in a melee than I had hoped.”

  Tiria nodded, then observed, “So… you’re a demon too.”

  Xolith blinked; she was certain Tiria shouldn’t have been able to understand that conversation. “...No.”

  “Really?”

  Aemric wasn’t sure if he wanted that question answered. He pulled them off of it, and spoke through Tiria while sending her back into the staircase. “No time to waste chit-chatting.”

  “Right…” She said, and started reloading her rifle on the move. Xolith picked her glasses back up and followed.

  The last floor; they could almost taste it, though that was probably just the smoke. What greeted them at the outside of the staircase, though, were three Dogs with guns.

  Aemric sighed. Tiria really did have bad luck, he was sure of it. All that, killing two demons, getting through a burning building, shooting plenty of targets on the way… and she got picked off just like so. It was kind of embarrassing. Being human kind of sucked, he decided, though he preferred living on this end of the gates. Those half-bulletproof demons were really much, much tougher.

  He considered what to do about that while he looked around, making sure nobody was nearby again. Maybe head to the other staircase, but they’d probably have that guarded too. Why were they guarding it, though? They should think the lower floors were theirs. Did someone call in? No… it was Conda and Mr. Fensott, wasn’t it. They’d turned up, done something, and thus alerted the Dogs that things weren’t secure lower down. The two Scales’ bodies hadn’t been there in the doorway, either. Had they made it in?

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Okay… what to do, then. Xolith could gate up there; she’d seen the upper floors through the windows and ‘keyed in’ to a few of them on Aemric’s guidance, she could actually skip the line. Aemric had really expected to need those gates for fighting purposes, which was why they’d hoofed it anyway. Twenty flights of stairs had tired Tiria out a lot, but the succubus wasn’t affected enough to care.

  If they gated up there, they could maybe help… but how? Xolith wasn’t immune to bullets either, and those Dogs guarding the door weren’t all that was up there. It might’ve been a fool’s errand to begin with.

  There was one more demon alive, though, and Mr. Fensott was… somewhere. At the very least, he wanted to get closure for Tiria if the guy was already dead, and if not, maybe see about rescuing him. Easier said than done, though.

  Wait, the Dogs were still on the top floor; they weren’t leaving that burning building in a hurry; they couldn’t stay, seeing as eventually someone they couldn’t pay off would turn up. That meant by default that the Scales were still active enough to encourage them to keep the fight going, and that, in turn, meant there were plenty of Scales still standing, so they occupied a chunk of the space. The office was only so big, and you could only stuff so many people on one floor; in turn, that meant that the Dogs he’d seen were probably most of the fighting force that had made it that high. Maybe it wasn’t totally hopeless.

  Aemric sighed. Time to try again…

  The first attempt at gating up there was a dismal failure. Xolith popped through into the middle of the Dogs’ formation, right beside a door they were trying to breach into. Try again.

  Another window, then. Two Dogs there; not a huge threat, still annoying enough to have shot Aemric’s favorite succubus once before going down. Not perfect. Maybe with a better plan.

  A bedroom; a very expensive one. Two Scales were there, not Dogs. Useful. Still not perfect, but he wanted to know some things, at least.

  Xolith was the first one there, of course, and the Scales were very surprised to see her. Aemric knew who they were: it was the Master and the magician they’d called in before. The magician immediately noted, “How did – There was no magic!”

  The Master raised a pepperbox pistol at her promptly. Xolith raised her hands to signal she wasn’t there to fight; Aemric was in control. “Conduit here. I told you I’d help. With limited resources, though, if you shoot this one I’m going to cut my losses and get the hell out.”

  “You… Your tricks continue to become more and more absurd.” The Master didn’t lower his weapon. “You set us up.”

  “No, I didn’t, and you at least faintly know as much. The demons are here. You must’ve seen them. The Dogs just noticed your people sneaking around, and decided to act more aggressively; they called in three instead of one, and then struck first. Warning you changed the future, hence why the rest of the prediction was wrong.”

  “What will you do, then? What can you possibly do to salvage this?”

  “I’m not sure. You don’t seem as worried about it as I would expect, though, so you must have your own plan. I’ll at least tell you a little of what I can do: you just saw it. Teleportation. Any of the rooms facing the outside, I can get to them. If there’s something that will help in one of those, tell me.”

  The Master considered it. “No… there is nothing. But all we need is a distraction sufficient to push out and escape. If you send this pawn of yours, it might be enough.”

  Aemric wasn’t going to play any sacrificial moves. He blinked back out; at least he’d been given a plan.

  Tiria finished reloading again. Watching the tourax fight over and over again was kind of fun; Aemric had improved it just enough in this most recent run so that Xolith’s glasses didn’t get broken in the process, too. Avoiding all damage was still being worked on, though. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take that many tries.

  In any case, Aemric stopped them both on the stairs. “Don’t go up. The door’s being watched. We need a grenade or explosive; Tiria, did you happen to see one?”

  The Scale looked back into the room with the several dead Dogs in it, then looked at the corpses on the staircase. “I see one now, actually.” She picked up a grenade, and paid the Red Scale who she’d taken it from a sad glance. Someone she knew before? She didn’t seem to have that much of a connection to the guy, in any case.

  “Xolith, can you just open a gate for one little object and still have energy to spare?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. Now… here’s what I want.”

  The Dogs were still preparing for the breach; they were expecting several guns to be pointed at the door, but where? Their new demon friend was taking point, sure, and even had a shotgun of his own. The otherworlder really kicked ass with that thing, and was a perfect pointman for this. That was the only reason they hadn’t given up; casualties had actually been much, much lower than expected. Forty or so losses, sure, but the rest of them were going to be rich as hell after ousting the Red Scale from Leansville. Instead of their families paying protection money for the rest of their days, it’d be quite the opposite.

  It was just too bad none of them could talk with the big guy. He seemed kind of fun.

  The boss quietly counted them down. “Five, four…”

  A quiet noise, like a little toy bell, right on the soft carpet. He glanced at the source. It exploded in his face.

  “Still have an extra gate?”

  “I do.” Xolith confirmed. “Two or three more… a small object like that takes a smaller portal.”

  “Great. Tiria; bust through the door now.”

  It would’ve been a suicide mission before, but the Dogs were still reeling from the explosion down the hallway; everybody involved had some hearing protection going on, sure, but a grenade going off in tight quarters was always going to stun everyone a little. Tiria opened the door, and dumped lead into the opening. Her kill count had gone up from possibly-zero to over a dozen by now.

  She ducked back behind cover, and the Dogs fired a shot or two back through the opening. Tiria asked, “What now?”

  “Now, just wait. The rest isn’t our problem.”

  More shots from the hallway, but not at them. The Red Scales had indeed taken the opportunity to run; Aemric saw the remaining two Dogs at the staircase doorway break and retreat to somewhere else on the floor; where could they go? Maybe to better cover… No, by the angle, they were running to their allies.

  In any case, Xolith was ordered out to check. There was, indeed, a fight going on over there. It didn’t seem to be in the Scales’ favor, though. The man which Tiria had just shot was still alive too, and while Aemric thought it would be fine to leave him, Xolith kicked his skull in unprompted.

  Despite that… no, she didn’t like the job. She looked at the corpse with some measure of pity. Mercy kill? Making sure he didn’t cause any more trouble? Hard to tell.

  In any case, Aemric shook it off and figured out what to do. It didn’t look like the Master’s plan was working properly. No great breakout maneuver, just more fighting.

  Tiria saw some other Dogs running in from the opposite direction: the two that had shot at Xolith in the side room on a previous attempt. She opened fire at them, and missed horribly; still, despite the fact they were armed, they immediately stopped and raised their hands, dropping their guns. “Wait! Don’t shoot! You win!”

  Tiria was conflicted. Aemric, too; they didn’t have the time or resources to deal with those two. He spoke through Xolith. “Pass by and leave. Quickly.” Tiria watched them go; if they caused any trouble, Aemric would just have to restart… again.

  Checking down the corridor, the fight seemed pretty bloody. Aemric then decided he at least needed to know what was happening down there. Xolith ran over, and found the rest of the Dogs and Scales in practically a melee fight; the kazol demon with his stone-like skin and huge frame was in the middle of this, dozens of bullet-holes already all along his front and back. Most of the Dogs were actually dead, though; between the grenade and the Scales opening fire, it was pretty clear on this end. It seemed like all that was keeping them steady was the demon.

  Aemric promptly noted something: the kazol was actually taking cover behind a potted plant by the window, and that meant he was actually hurt. Sure, the cover he was using was far too small to be very effective, but it was the effort that counted, probably. Not bulletproof, just very resistant. Still, as per usual, rushing in was a good way to win the fight for the Scale and also a good way to get killed.

  “Any ideas?” He asked Xolith while she hid around the corner.

  “Yes, actually. It will require a gate.”

  “Well… give it a try.”

  Xolith’s plan was very simple, but Aemric would have taken a while to decide on that course of action himself. Although, it was much like an inverted version of the same tactic he’d used to take her down.

  She opened up a gate, and reached through it. The kazol, distracted by the fight in front of him, didn’t notice the succubus’s arm appearing behind him, as if she’d just come in from outside. The rest of her followed suit, and Xolith got her bearings for only a moment before she grabbed the other demon… and threw him through the broken window.

  The succubus then promptly turned to the Dogs in the room. There were only four of them; one had his gun aimed at her, but instead of shooting, they simply ran. Xolith took cover behind that same potted plant, and it managed to save her from a haphazard revolver shot that the Dogs sent her way on their retreat.

  Aemric then remembered Tiria, who was on their retreat path.

  He sighed. Well… it was a good plan, sort of. It got rid of the otherwise-very-tough kazol, sure. Every other objective was a different matter. After checking that Tiria was, in fact, mortally wounded again, Xolith had gotten the task of checking on the Scales too.

  Most of them were dead, leaving just the Master, that magician, and some other officer still standing. Conda was alive, but getting him to a hospital was going to be impossible with the elevators out; he’d taken a bullet getting in. Mr. Fensott, at least, had been unharmed right up until the kazol shot him at point-blank in the final breakout. On top of that, the Dogs’ boss, who the Master insisted had actually been up there, was one of the ones who escaped at that last moment.

  About the best Aemric could say was that the non-combatants that had fled up to that room – maids, cooking staff, whatever – successfully made it out.

  It wasn’t good enough, no.

  He checked around the park. Nobody, nobody… someone. A police officer, actually. That was odd. Aemric was quite concerned; the police loved hiring people who could at least feel magic, for obvious reasons. In the case that they had magic involved in a crime scene, it really helped. That was more important than one might expect, as a lot of people actually did have at least a little bit of magic, maybe one-in-ten.

  The point was, he didn’t feel safe Dreaming with an officer there. Aemric cursed. He had some spare time, but it was possible that he’d already been faintly sniffed out, and he couldn’t linger regardless. This… cut into his spare time a lot. He checked his phone. In theory, there was enough time to get to another spot far enough away to not make much of a mark, then… repeat maybe the last five to ten minutes of the scenario until it was done. That didn’t fill him with confidence.

  It had to be done, though. He couldn’t get involved with the officer, as he himself couldn’t retry, and if there was any reason to get stuck out here then he couldn’t Dream. Tiria would stay dead. It wasn’t an option. Aemric snuck on out of the park, and went to the nearby docks; another reason why the park wasn’t particularly well-liked, as throwing a ball too hard would have it floating in zero gravity.

  He had been in the Void a few times himself, at least. Maybe… getting some kind of boat and floating around out there would be the best way to hide while Dreaming. He sighed again; Kendric’s idea was getting more appetizing again. No, hold strong. In any case, the docks were never empty, as the light out in the Void was always just a tiny bit brighter than on Land, so the place wasn’t too safe. Still, it was better than in the streets or at the hotel, so Aemric had enough space to work with, barely.

  He showed up just when Xolith kicked the Tourax one last time, and immediately started to think about what to do. With the sightlines he had he could re-try a few more times; only a few seconds would pass, so nobody would be on him too fast. The residue would be the main problem, as he needed to get the hell out before anyone magically-inclined popped in or there would at least be suspicion.

  Objective one, the mandatory one: Tiria has to live. She wasn’t the most important person in the grand scheme of things, especially now that the Red Scale was in dire straits, but Aemric refused to let her die. Of course, Xolith was obviously non-negotiable too, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble surviving.

  Objective two, the grand-scheme one: kill the kazol. If he got back home alive, he’d tell all his buddies how great the Lands were and there’d be a greater attempt to get over here. If none of the demons sent here returned alive, though, maybe they’d stop coming. That would be lucky; Aemric doubted it.

  Objective three: save Mr. Fensott. Tiria’s father was about to get shotgunned in the chest if this carried on.

  Xolith also needed to have one more gate so that she could retreat home before too many questions were asked.

  Aemric started with the method of defeating that kazol. Xolith had a lot of other tricks… What about charming the other demon?

  The succubus appeared from the gate right after that grenade went off. Tiria was under orders not to breach, since success there wasn’t guaranteed, really; instead, she was in reserve now on the nineteenth floor. Xolith landed amidst absolute chaos; the Dogs were stunned, that kazol had fallen over, and the Scales hadn’t even broken out yet.

  She rushed over to the kazol before he could stand, and kissed the huge demon right on his gun-hand. A moment later, the door busted open, and the kazol immediately plucked Xolith off the ground and practically tossed her to cover behind that same potted plant; it wasn’t particularly elegant, but still clearly meant to protect her. Aemric found himself slightly envious.

  In any case, the kazol followed shortly after, and raised his shotgun towards the door. Mr. Fensott was the first one out, leading the charge into the confused Dogs. Aemric stepped in to speak an order to the bigger demon. “Shoot the Dogs!”

  They weren’t friends. The kazol barely knew any of those guys; they’d met today, and he was being paid to be here. There was no issue: both barrels opened up and dropped a Dog each. Then, unfortunately, Tiria’s father caught a bullet anyway; someone else delivered the blow. One of the Dogs from the staircase door; they’d still run back to help. The next Scale rushed out and fired three shots from his revolver into the hallway, warding those Dogs off too.

  Okay… one objective failed. Aemric wasn’t sure what to do to fix that, either.

  He then gave Xolith the order to throw the kazol out the window again. It had worked last time; thick skin or not, he obeyed gravity and splattered against the ground nicely. The succubus scrambled to her feet, and did just that. No issue there; with the charm in effect, he was just about as surprised.

  Then, the next Scale to exit turned her way, and apparently counted Xolith as an enemy. No uniform, so it was… understandable, maybe. She took a shot to the thigh, and then tried to gate out. She made it, but… well, worse for wear. Taking her to a hospital was not a good idea right now, either, with no ID and presumably non-human biology.

  Mr. Fensott was probably toast. What to do… there wasn’t enough leeway. Trying to somehow weaponize the tourax was also out of the question, since by the time Aemric got into the Dream the heat demon already had a bullet in his skull anyway. He regretted waiting so much earlier; then again, if he hadn’t, he would’ve spent so much time that he would have had fewer opportunities to retry more recently. Shit.

  All that was left was working with what he had, regardless. The grenade plan was good, keeping Tiria on the nineteenth floor probably worked too. Throwing the kazol out the window was still good; that guy seemed to love his spot by the plant. The only thing he didn’t have down was saving Fensott, and, technically, the ‘secret objective’ of keeping the rest of the Red Scales on his side enough to help down the line. Realistically, though… they probably didn’t matter.

  Okay; what about bringing Tiria along into the room after the explosion? That Red Scale wouldn’t open fire if he saw a friendly face by the pot, and she might manage to save her father.

  No. Not the first try, anyway. Everything else worked about the same, but the kazol immediately counted Tiria as an enemy. It wasn’t pretty.

  Aemric considered his options. One more try on that plan? The dock still seemed clear.

  “We’re changing sides!” Xolith ordered, instead of just suggesting an attack on the Dogs. The kazol paused right as he was about to punch Tiria hard enough to send her out the window, and then turned around to open fire on his previous allies.

  Tiria was shocked by how close she’d just gotten to death; Aemric took over for her, and gave the order to put her rifle on the extra Dogs that were coming down the way. She missed the first shot, and a bullet whizzed by her in turn. It seemed to be the one that had killed her father before.

  The Red Scales promptly got in on the action. Mr. Fensott unloaded his pistol, then got to cover lying down behind the corpses in the hallway; the next man popped out, opened fire on the Dogs down the way, then the next turned and saw the trio by the window again, right after Xolith threw the kazol away again; watching him fall was starting to get a little funny. The next Scale raised his pistol, and then didn’t fire. Perfect.

  Another two Dogs showed up. Oh… the ones from that side room. Shit. One of them blind-fired a shotgun down the way from around the corner, and caught a Scale in the process; the magician, actually. He’d come out with a spell ready, and it fizzled with his death. Aemric kind of regretted being merciful before, even though it wouldn’t have mattered in the end. Shots were traded for a little while, and then the Dogs fled.

  The Master appeared, then, having decided that all else was handled. He looked at Tiria, then at the suspicious second woman in the poncho and sports glasses. “The Vessel and… who are you?”

  Aemric spoke through Tiria. “The Conduit sent help, as agreed. He-”

  The Master’s eyebrow twitched, and he raised his pistol at Tiria; Aemric was frankly insulted, but stopped the line in place; he switched to Xolith. “The Dogs saw your people and accelerated their plans. Your being advised changed the future… as you should expect.”

  “Answer my question or I will have both of you shot.”

  “Another Vessel. Kitria.” Aemric borrowed the end of Xolith’s name on the fly; telling them much would be a mistake, if the Master was acting like this.

  The old man humphed; the name didn’t mean anything to him. “You can tell your Conduit that there can be no cooperation. The Red Scale will be leaving this city; there is nothing for us here. And, just for-”

  Mr. Fensott had finished reloading, and fired off his pistol. The Master dropped to the ground, a bullet inside his brain, and his finger barely finished receiving the order to pull the trigger before he was dead; the shot whizzed by Tiria’s head. Immediately, another Scale returned fire, shooting Tiria’s father in the chest twice. Tiria herself lurched forwards, but Xolith reacted even faster, catching her and opening a gate to send them both elsewhere: the park. At least that officer wasn’t there any longer, to see the two women turn up in bloodstained clothes.

  Aemric wasn’t pleased with that. He was outright angry, actually. All that work, fighting up the building, doing what they could to help while heavily outnumbered and outgunned – and what a lot of help it was! - and then that Master decided on the spot that was it. Aemric couldn’t even see the point of the double-cross, either. Talking with the bastard earlier had revealed that he could comprehend the truth, but this time it either hadn’t clicked for him or he just didn’t care, and was just acting out of spite. Or was it that he blamed the prophecy, even though it had been in good faith?

  The feyling sighed, and his brown ears drooped. There was… not much time to change the course of things. That grenade was about to land. He couldn’t tell Tiria not to save her father from being shot. The only thing left was, maybe, shooting the Master first, or somehow charming him or his lackeys. Was it worth the risk?

  No. It… wasn’t. It was just Xolith’s quick thinking that had them squeeze out surviving just there. Mr. Fensott had taken point, he was the easiest one to shoot, everything was working against him. Saving him was… very difficult.

  Aemric knew it was time to cut his losses, then. About a minute to spare, risk of being detected constantly rising, his allies barely unscathed and his main enemies very dead. He made his way back to the park; it seemed like that was the thing to do, right? He owed Tiria answers, at the very least.

  Her father had died a hero, though.