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Chapter -24- Playing Defense

Tuesday December 7, 2049 - mid-morning Pearl Harbor Day Busty Belle Yacht Atlantic ...

Karla picked the smartwatch up from the counter. "Okay, okay, geeze." It chirped incessantly and her cellphone was in the master bedroom. She thumbed the screen. "Yes?"

"Karla?" The image and voice belonged to Kalen Kincade, a vampire and one of Karla's ex-lovers. "Hey, uh, sorry. Sometimes when I wear electronics for long periods of time, I kill their battery. So I take it off so it lasts longer. Everything okay?"

"Karla," his voice was tinny over the tiny speaker built into the watch. "Come to Syracuse right now. The newly sworn President has sent a team to assassinate Natalia and Peter."

"What?!" Karla carried the watch back down the hallway. "It's just me and Reno right now!"

"I have Charles, Laura and Justus. We're holding the line but we need to take Peter and Natalia to safety. Bring Reno. I will text you the address. Please, hurry."

Karla grit her teeth. "I'm on my way. You guys can count on me. You hold that line until I arrive, then you get everyone to safety. I'll cover you when I arrive."

"Thank you. Hurry - Evan's daughter is with us, and she's just a child. They've already breeched the mansion."

Karla thumbed the screen and went into her room. Reno was asleep on the bed. She tossed her watch into the purse with her phone. She gently pulled Kuda _from_the purse and kissed the little fox on his nose. "Baby, you stay here and keep Wilfred and Steven safe." She turned to Reno and cupped his face. "Wake up, Top Cop. Natalia is under attack by the US Government."

Reno sat up and rubbed his face. "Sorry, I was having weird dreams. I thought you just said the United States was attacking Natalia."

"I did."

Reno blinked. "What?"

"Kalen and a few others are trying to protect Natalia, Peter and Haley Balmoral. We need to cover their evacuation to a safe house."

Reno slid off the bed and opened the close. All he had were suits - his jeans and t-shirts were in the wash or in the laundry shoot. "God."

"Forget the tie, just put on the suit," she said with a grin. She turned back to Kuda and said, "You keep Steven and Wilfred from leaving the yacht. They cannot leave until it's safe, and then we'll move them to Natalia's safe house. You got that?"

Reno pulled a tank top on from the dresser. He reached for a button up shirt and ran his arms into the sleeves. "How will that little guy protect two defenseless humans?"

Karla looked up, watching Reno slide his legs into dress pants. "Kuda can allow them to move through a mirror, so long as he's touching them. He's the defense player of the year."

Reno buttoned his dress shirt, tucked in the hem and fastened his pants. He grabbed two nice loafers, took a pair of black socks from the dresser, and sat down on the bed. "With any luck, you and I will be the defensive players of the year. You think we can get there in time?"

"I'd race you but ... lightning bolts travel much further at a time than teleportation. You mind if I ride the lightning?"

"Haven't you been doing that all week anyhow?" Reno grinned, pushing his feet into each loafer. "We're going to be holding the line or actually fighting people?"

"You think the United States would hire actual state actors or members of the military to carry out an assassination like this?" Karla shouldered her handbag, leaving her eReader tablet on the bed next to Kuda. "That's not how things work. They hire private contractors who can't be linked back - the seediest people you can imagine."

"Oh, so we're going to be killing people?" Reno frowned. "Is that what we do now?"

Karla approached him. She guided him to standing up. Her eyes lowered to his hands, watching him fidget with the buttons of his sleeves. Her eyes lifted, meeting his gaze. "They're not soldiers, and they're not cops. They're sociopath mercenaries, trained in how to attack supernatural beings. They will be well equipped, well trained, and well prepared to murder people like Justus, Kalen, and Evan's defenseless little girl. You can do this."

"Why are these people attacking our people?"

Karla opened the top three buttons of Reno's shirt. She used her hands and pushed the fabric apart, so that she could see a hint of his chest hair above the low collar of the tank top. "It's in the news - Reinhardt St. Leonard just became the President of the United States. You might remember his psychotic brother, Sire."

"The guy Sinopa had to fight with a sword all those years ago? He was leading an attack team to kill everyone on a Coast Guard ship."

The succubus nodded. "Good memory. You look fucking hot. You ready?"

Reno took her hands into his. "Why can't we just use Kuda to take a mirror to Natalia's place? It would be faster."

"Because I didn't think of that." Karla grinned. "Smart." She turned around, facing a sheet covering a mirror on the wall. Karla reached up and drew back a corner.

Tamamo-no-Mae was in the reflection. "I saw the attack on their end after I heard Kalen's communication to you. I can take you through."

The succubus glowered in reply. "Look..."

Tamamo held her hands up against the glass from her end. "I will not interfere. When I take you across, give your compact mirror to one of the people protecting Natalia. If your friends are unable to protect themselves, I will bring them through. However, it is best done as a last resort, because it is still a period of transition in this realm. It is only marginally safer, and would be best as a last resort."

Karla narrowed her eyes. "You're not going to posses me again. I'll use Kuda to cross over."

"Please, Karla, take Reno's hand and I will pull him, and you, through. There is no time to waste. Make sure you give your makeup compact to one of Natalia's protectors when you make it through."

Karla turned to Reno. "Should we trust her?"

"Our friends come first," Reno said, moving towards the mirror. "We can worry about our pride later." He took Karla's hand in his and put his other palm against the mirror.

Tamamo pulled them through.

Karla and Reno emerged in the hallway of reflection. The body of a Jötunn warrior lay face down with a Japanese spear jutting up from the center of his back.

Reno saw the warrior's fingertips twitching, but the rest of the body was motionless. He moved close and looked at the face of the body. There was petechial hemorrhaging and blood dribbled from his lips, pooling on the reflective hallway.

"You're not a homicide inspector anymore," Karla reminded. "Let's hurry.

"Sorry, right."

"I did it," Tamamo replied. She put her hands on their shoulders and pushed them up the hall. "I overheard your conversation with Kalen when fighting him." She paused, sighed, and said, "Forgive my lie. I fought him and came to check on you, because I feel heartbroken that I have hurt you."

"I asked you to stay away," Karla said, being guided towards a mirror portal further up the hall. "Don't stalk me."

"I once watched over all of you. Now I am on the outside of this family, and I find myself obsessed." Tamamo turned them to a portal, showing a living room where a wild bobcat and a wild timber wolf were working together to fight a man with an armored vest.

"Jesus!" Karla exclaimed, moving closer to the portal. "Is it safe to go through?!"

Tamamo nodded. "They are animals from the Adirondack Mountains, fighting on behalf of Haley Balmoral. She is afraid of the people wearing armor and weapons. They animals will only attack you if you wear such."

Karla stared at the struggle between the man, the wolf, and the bobcat. "I haven't seen a bobcat in years. He's so small compared to that wolf."

The man in the living room, on the other side of the portal, managed to draw his secondary firearm. He fired a shot, first taking down the wolf, more than twice the size of the wild feline. The man went to the floor, rolled over, and killed the second animal. He got back to his feet.

Karla gasped. She dove through the mirror, head first, like a swimmer from a diving board. Her hands met the mercenary's chest, knocking back to the floor.

She drew her fist back. Her hand brightened. The considerably pink glow created muted glyphs beneath her skin. Karla lunched her fist into the man's face.

She punched clear into his face, causing his mouth and nose to cave inward. "Don't!" She shouted, hitting him again, "Kill!" Another punch finished the already-gruesome job. "Animals!"

Silence.

Karla sat on the man's lifeless body, with one knee on his chest and her other on the carpet. She panted hard, enraged by having just witnessed the execution of the wolf and bobcat.

A hand on her shoulder startled her.

She looked back at Reno, eyes glistening. "He fucking shot them." She crawled over to the bobcat. The nearby wolf had a clean death, and didn't suffer. The bobcat, however, was dying. She looked back at the mirror. "Can you save it, Tamamo?"

"No. Remember, I needed you to heal myself. I cannot save the animal."

Karla turned back to the bobcat. She looked up at Reno. "Put him out of his misery. I can't let him suffer."

Reno frowned. He reached down, cautious so as not to upset the dying animal. It didn't react. He put his hand on its head, between its ears. "I thought it would bite me."

"Just ... do it."

He tensed up. A high current passed into the animal's body and it became motionless. Reno stood up slowly. "You going to be okay?"

"Yes," she said softly. Karla stood up. She rolled her sleeves up, first the left, and then the right. "But those people attacking our friends ... they're not going to be 'okay.' Not when I'm finished with them."

Tamamo, in the mirror, said, "If the animals were still fighting the attacking force, then the little girl is very close."

Karla nodded. "This doesn't make us even, but thank you for the help." Karla turned from the mirror. "C'mon, Nevada. Let's fry these bastards."

Reno followed Karla out of the living room. He saw a gun on the ground and picked it up. A small LED light blinked red on the handle. He tried ejecting the magazine but it wouldn't release.

"What is it?" she asked.

"These weapons are designed with biometrics."

"So fry the battery."

Reno grinned. "And risk cooking off the bullets in the gun?"

Karla teleported a round from the chamber as they walked through the house. She held the bullet in her hand. "It's a hollow point. I haven't seen these since Elvena was born."

"I imagine you didn't surround yourself with guns when you were in mom-mode." Reno took the round from her. "These guys aren't joking around. This is serious ammunition. Fifty Caliber hollow points - lots of stopping power."

"That's not what we saw used on those animals."

Reno nodded in agreement. "You're right - that guy used a nine millimeter. Different gun, different bullet."

"They're mercenaries," Karla said. "They won't all have the same bullets and guns."

"I thought they would be part of a contracted outfit, and given equipment to use. That's how Falcon's people operated." Reno approached a door. He jiggled the handle. "Back up."

"Allow_me_," Karla said. She drew her foot back, telekinetically charged her body, and kicked the door in. The door went flying clear across the room and became embedded in a wall. The cracked frame crumbled on one side. Karla drew in a deep breath and shouted, "Who wants some?!"

Peter Fieldwing moved into a protective position, standing in front of a young black girl with braids in her hair. When he saw Karla, he relaxed. "You were quicker than I calculated. You used the mirror?"

"Hell yeah I used the mirror," Karla said. She rubbed her forehead. "What are you doing locked in a room here? Where's Justus, Kalen, and Natalia?"

A young man came out from behind a bookshelf. "I'm Charlie," he said. "I was here to get behind anyone looking to attack Peter and Haley."

Karla reached into her handbag, drew out a makeup compact and handed it to Charles. "Tamamo wants you to hold onto this just in case you need her help getting them to safety. Why would you hide in a locked room?"

Peter stood up. "That door was designed to withstand shotgun blasts. The frame was designed to withstand Primacord detonations." He offered her a wan smile, adding, "It seems I miscalculated your current strength level. I presumed you would have to teleport through, and we could wait for your arrival in safety."

Reno backed out of the room. "What did you do to the walls?"

"It's a Faraday room," said Peter. "Falcon's people use weapons that generate a focused energy discharge. Their weapons would malfunction should they attack someone hiding in this room." Peter approached Karla and took her right hand into his. He turned her hand over and looked at a glyph on her palm. "Karla, you have blood on your..."

"It's not mine," she said, turning away so that the little girl in the corner wouldn't see. In a soft voice, Karla said, "It belongs to the guy that shot two animals in your living room. Don't let the kid see them. I'll teleport the bodies away." She glanced at Charlie, adding, "Where're the others?"

Charlie ran his thumb over the compact. "I'm sensing they're in the main bunker by now. These men are difficult to read. They have an earpiece in their right ears, playing something dissonant, which messes with their brainwaves. I'm not as effective in reading their intent."

"How many?" asked Karla.

The first wave," said Peter," was fifteen. The second wave was fifteen, and a third group was coming up the driveway when we split up."

"Why split up?" asked Reno from the hallway.

"Because we're both targets," said Peter. "I wanted to thank you both for coming to help us."

Karla grimaced. She turned to the door, wedged in the far wall. "God. I just broke your panic room." She sighed and pushed her hair back, tucking a strand behind her ear. "Okay. Let's get you three into position with the others. Reno and I will protect you three from bullets and blasts. You guys get into the bunker and we'll take out the attackers. "

"There are too many," Haley said. She came out from behind Peter. "I heard you through the vents. You were upset they killed the animals. You're a good person. I don't want you to end up like them."

Karla grinned at the little girl. "I've always liked your daddy and your mom. They're good people. Listen to how smart you sound when you talk." Karla moved closer to the girl. "You saw how I kicked that door in? Nothing can stop me. I'm Karla, sweetie. If you look up Girl Power on the internet, you'll see a picture of me."

Peter nodded to Karla. "These men came prepared and trained to fight everyone in this house. They did it when we had the least people here. Rufus and Albert are not here. Evan and Patty are not here. Their best chance for success was right now. However, they did not account for you come through the mirrors. They did not account for your powers, nor did they train to fight people like Nathanial Carrington."

Karla hooked her thumb back over her shoulder. "Alright, you three. Let's head for the bunker. Stay close, keep it tight, and keep it quiet."

Reno kept his eyes on the area, acting as a guard while the three came out. When Charlie came out, he asked, "What did you mean these guys have things in their ear to mess with your power?"

"They're listening to dissonant sounds. It disrupts their brainwaves, causing me to become less effective in reading their thoughts. It becomes difficult to read the broadcast put out by their minds."

Karla looked around the hallway. She teleported herself into the living room and knelt besides the man she killed. She quickly teleported the bodies of the animals away. Karla turned the man with the pummeled face. She plucked a small earpiece out of the man's left ear.

The small earpiece was only on the left ear, and had a bone-conduction attachment, which sat on the jawbone in front of his ear. She lifted the small earpiece to her ear and listened for a moment. She stood up, teleported back into the hallway and said, "They're listening to metal. At least this guy is." She handed the earpiece to Charlie. "I love metal."

"You do?" asked Peter as the group moved down the hallway together with Reno at the front. "I knew you loved to read, but I never knew you liked angry screaming music where people sound like murdering Satanists."

Karla scoffed. "Only a tiny percent of metal is like that. I didn't listen to music until the 70's. Gerard loved stuff like Black Sabbath, and influenced me. I got into music heavily. The heavier the music, the more I liked it."

Reno peered around a corner before leading the group into a dining room. "I didn't know you like metal, Karla. I've known you all this time, and never heard you listen to it."

"If it makes contemporary listeners put their hands over their ears, then it's music to mine," she said. "Pop music likes to 'bore us' by over-repeating the 'chorus.' Give me technicality. Give me emotion and passion and intensity." Karla put the earpiece by her ear again. She dropped it to the floor. "This was the sellout album anyway. It's not even real metal. It's angry alternative." She stepped on the earpiece.

"Wait," Charlie said. "There are people up ahead. In the next room. More than two. They're listening to different types of noise. It's all coming together like mishmash. It's all too much. It's distracting."

Karla made her way up through the trio, and moved adjacent to Reno. "I got this, top cop. You keep them safe. I'll clear the room."

"You sure? Rachel told me you were shot once. You're not invincible, hon."

"I was being egotistical," Karla said. "I agreed to a fistfight with no powers because I felt like I had something to prove. Step back."

Reno moved near to Peter and the others.

Karla tensed up and kicked the door in. Unlike the last door, this one shattered into splinters. Instead of putting her foot through it, she spread out the telekinetic wave to strike the full surface area of the door all at once.

Pieces of wood went in all directions. The doorknob skittered across the floor. The room appeared to be some sort of conference area.

Six men looked up. The two at the back of the room were hunched over blueprints on a table. Everyone drew their silenced guns and began firing. The rounds struck Karla's telekinetic field, redirected into the walls, floor and ceiling.

Karla waved her left arm at the group, but nothing happened to them. She tried again. She quirked her brows in confusion and teleported a chair from the conference table. She tried to put it into the one of the mercenaries but the chair appeared adjacent to the gunman.

"What the hell?!" Karla teleported the guns from their hands, causing each weapon to vanish. She tried again on the attackers, but they remained intact and in place. "Are you serious?!"

The man near the back said, "QLP's," to his men. He withdrew another pistol on his hip.

Karla waved her left hand but the weapon didn't disappear. The man at the back of the room was the first to unholster and fire his second pistol. The round pierced Karla's telekinetic barrier and struck her handbag.

The bullet tore through her smartwatch and destroyed her phone. It was redirected of course, passed through Karla's purse and hit the doorframe.

"Jesus, what if Kuda was in there!?" Karla ducked out of the doorway and shouted, "Reno!" She moved into the hallway, with a look of frustration on her face. "Their bullets go through my telekinetic field! I can't teleport their stupid toys; I can't teleport them!"

Peter guided Haley behind himself. "Quantum-Locked pistols and rifles! Steven invented the prototypes before leaving Falcon!"

"I'm going to stomp his ass!" Karla shouted over the staccato sounds of suppressed gunfire.

Reno turned to the group. "Everyone cover your ears and close your eyes."

Karla blinked. "What? What're you going to do?"

"Eyes and ears!" Reno told her. He waited until Karla put her hands over her ears. He transitioned into a bolt of lightning. It passed through the doorway and arced out in six directions.

All six gunmen were electrocuted and went to the floor. However, split in six directions, the bolt was no longer enough to kill any one man.

The weapons overloaded. Some clattered on the ground but the wound went unheard; the lightning superheated the air, creating an explosive sound.

Windows cracked. The conference table charred. Reno appeared standing atop the table with six gravely wounded men on the floor. Nevada looked around. After a moment to assess the situation, he called out. "Charlie! Get in here!"

Charles came into the room, alone. "You disabled their earpieces."

"What's their plan? What's going on? How far up does this thing go?"

Charles approached the man who was in charge. "My telepathy words by intercepting brainwave output. It's like hacking in and listening to what another computer is doing. It's difficult because the other five are running interference and..."

Reno held his hands outwards. A rush of current lanced from his fingertips, electrocuting five of the six men. All five men passed out.

Charlie looked around. "Did you kill...? Wait," he tilted his head. "They're alive."

"Hi, I'm Nathan Carrington, most powerful stun gun you ever met." Reno fished out a quarter and tossed it on the ground adjacent to the man in charge. "What's that saying, boss? 'Penny for your thoughts,' yeah? I'm going to commission this telepath to pull out twenty-five thoughts. If he can't do it, Karla gets to torture you."

Charlie looked up at Reno, still standing on the table. "His first thought is of his family."

"Jesus," Reno said. He came down off the charred table and stood next to Foster, looking down at the man on the ground. "You look like you should be retired from this line of work."

"I was," said the man.

Charlie nodded. "He's telling the truth."

The man added, "I was brought in out of retirement to hunt and kill Esoteric people. I always knew they weren't wiped out. I was a hunter back in the thirties."

Karla, from the doorway, scoffed, "Back in the 'thirties.' Christ. That was just ten years ago. You don't look that old."

The man leaned to the left, trying to see around the conference table to look at Karla. "Is that the girl who can phase objects and displace molecular..."

Karla came into the room. She teleported herself to Reno's side. "It's called telekinesis and teleportation, douche-face. It's been a while since I've had a good fight. Where's the rest of your people?"

Charlie looked up at Karla. "They're trying to find the bunker. Justus took the group in two at a time, taking them through the air registers in shadow form."

Karla folded her arms and put her foot on the man's chest. "Reno, can you go and check on Peter and Harley? I'm going to extract some information from this clown. Then we're going to get our people safe, and wipe out the rest of these idiots." She cracked her knuckles with a sadistic smile. "And if this moron doesn't tell us what we want to know, I'll quantum entangle my foot into his mouth."

Charlie looked up at Karla with a disgusted expression. "He's sort of into that."

Karla looked at Charlie and then back at the man on the floor. "Say what? Ew! What? You lick feet for fun? Christ. Can't feed from a foot fetish. What the hell - how did feet become sexual to people anyhow?! They're ... feet!"

Charlie grimaced. "Karla, let's just focus?"

"Yeah. Let's." She slid her foot from her shoe and put her heel against the man's face, forcing him to look to the left. "So, this is me trying to use honey instead of vinegar to start. Who sent you guys, and how high up does this shit go?"

"You're a little young for my taste," said the man having his cheek pressed into the thin carpet.

Karla bent at the waist, causing her weight to shift onto her foot against the side of his face. "Ah. So you prefer your women to be older than four hundred fifty years of age? Well, fair enough. Everyone has his or her fetishes," she said, grinding her foot against his cheek. "So what's your name?"

"Name doesn't matter. You're going to kill me."

"No, we spared you. You should know that by now. We could have killed your team. Nathanial stunned them instead."

"You can call me John Doe, because that's what I am on this job."

"Fine, John. So where did your orders come from?"

"They came locally."

"He's lying," said Chance. "He was flown in from where he'd retired in Canada."

"Canada?" Karla tilted her head and gazed down at the man again. "You retired up north because you like the cold, huh John?"

"I love the cold."

"And feet," Karla said. "Okay, John! You fibbed. That's strike one. So you received your orders while you were sitting in your little log cabin up in the middle of nowhere, eh? And then what?"

"There is one more nuke, and your people know the launch code. Our mission is to kill..."

"Wrong," Charlie said. "Nice story, I'm not buying it, though. Not even if the download drops to a buck."

Karla shook her head with a grin. "I like you, Foster. You should have seek books in their heyday, back when the bargain bin was full of..."

"Are you two really talking about books?" said the man on the floor.

"John, I'm going to kill you and move on to your coworkers. Not the ones here on the floor. The ones trying to find my other friends."

"No, you're not," he said. "You want to know if this order came from the President, and I'm the one with the information, and he's the telepath."

"So talk." Karla folded her arms.

The man brought his mouth to his shirt sleeve.

Charlie's eyes widened. "Shit!" He got down on his knees and tried pushing his fingers into the man's mouth.

Karla drew her foot back and slid it into her shoe. "What...?" She

Charlie grimaced in pain, He shoved his finger into the man's mouth all the way back, behind the man's cheek. "No, no, no!"

"Charlie, you're supposed to bite fingers, not having your finger bit." Karla grinned a bit. "That video is before your time."

"He's trying to swallow a cyanide capsule!" Charles tried pulling at the man's jaw. "The button sewn into his cuff! There's a Cyanokit antidote box - Peter knows where it is!"

Karla reached down and guided Charlie back from John Doe. She reached for Charlie's finger. "You're going to need to bandage that. He bit you pretty good. That's going to leave a long-lasting scar."

"He's going to die!"

Karla shrugged. "Let him." She helped Charlie to his feet. "That was his decision. I could have made it a lot faster for him if he wanted to die so badly."

"How long does he have?" Charlie said, obviously panicking.

"Five minutes or so," said Karla. She turned to John and kicked him in the gut. "I could make you puke that up if I wanted. I understand brain death happens before your heart stops. I bet you can't wait for the vertigo, the confusion and perception that you can't breathe. You're going to have a major headache, then you'll seize up. The apnea is going to suck. Maybe you'll piss and shit yourself. That's not going out in style."

"We've got five minutes?" Charlie said. "We can still get our answers."

Karla telekinetically amped up her arms. She lifted the man off the floor and slammed him onto the charred conference table.

She waved her fingers several inches away from his stomach, but used telekinesis to break the skin. Blood poured out of his abdomen, where she'd made the telekinetic slashes in his belly.

The man curled up into a fetal position on the table. "What happens first?" She shouted at the John Doe dying on the table. "What happens first? Do you bleed out or does the Cyanide get you?"

"Why ... are you...?"

Karla put her hand over his mouth. "You can suffer for five minute, and then suffer for another minute until you die ... or you can tell me if your orders came from the President. And you know what? I'll snap your neck. You won't feel anything at all. Your mind will shut down, starved of oxygen."

He panted from the pain. "If I tell you, I want to die right away. Don't break my neck. Make it instant. Use a gun."

Karla nodded. "I can do faster than a gun. Okay. President - did Reinhardt order this attack?"

"Yes. I was brought in to torture some director named Watson. We learned the address of this location from him. Now do it - don't leave me to suffer."

Karla sighed and closed her eyes. "You could still live, you know."

"No. They'll make me suffer even worse. Do it. You promised."

Karla grimaced. "God I hate this part. Suicide is for fucking pussies. Fine. You told me more than I asked. I'll let you go out with dignity." She turned to Charlie. "Out."

"The entanglement device is under his shirt." Charlie scurried out of the room.

Karla ripped open the man's shirt and pulled off a strange looking surgically implanted device from the man's chest. It was the size of a postage stamp and about as thin as a nickel.

She teleported the man's footwear. The boot appeared fused with his head. Displaced, condensed matter caused his skull to crack and split. Fluid leaked from his ears. His eyes became immediately lifeless.

"So long, foot fucker." She sighed and shook her head. "This was too personal for my taste."

"Karla!" Reno called from out in the hallway. "We have company! A large group just came back into the house!"

Karla cracked her knuckles. She looked out the window, seeing where a large group of men were hurrying into the house.

She made her way out to the hallway, smiled somewhat at Reno and said, "What's the plan?"

"You get them to safety," said Reno. "I'll hold off these guys."

"You sure?"

"They can shoot through your field," said Reno. "I got this."

Peter added, "Try veering their bullets of course, instead of blocking them directly with a field, Karla."

Karla and Reno shared a kiss. She teleported herself out of the house, along with Peter, Haley and Charlie.

Haley looked around, confused. "Where did ... wait, did we just teleport?"

"Yup," Karla said with a wan smile. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah. My dad would have loved it."

Karla grinned. "I've teleported your dad before. And you're right, he loved it." She turned her eyes up to Peter. "Lead the way."

"It's not far." Peter took Haley's hand and the group began hurrying through the courtyard.

A truck came up the drive with several more men, which weren't on the property earlier. Peter grimaced. "They keep sending backup. They're going to overrun us."

Karla rubbed her palms together. The trucks pulled into the grass and a group of men hurried out of it. She held her hands out but the neither the men, nor the truck teleported. "They're wearing those things. Smart."

"Inconvenient," Peter grumbled. "We're so close."

Karla positioned herself between the trio and the incoming soldiers. The men finished filtering out of the truck and approached Karla and her group. They withdrew weapons and pointed them at the succubus.

"You boys don't know what you're getting yourselves into!" She waited until everyone was clear of the truck. She tensed her body firmly and the large truck disappeared.

"Impressive," Peter said. "Your power has grown."

"What, because I can lift and teleport a lorry now?" Karla took a deep breath and said, "Haley, don't watch this."

Peter quickly picked the girl up and turned her away.

The large transport truck reappeared in the air. Karla brought her hands down. She telekinetically drove the vehicle from high above. It struck the group of men, creating an enormous crater in the yard.

A broken section of the vehicle went flying at Karla but it came to a stop several feet from the succubus. The object's momentum transferred into her telekinetic field. The chunk of twisted metal fell to the ground.

"Alright," Karla said. "Let's get moving." She hurried with the group into nearby trees.

Peter placed a hand on one of the trees and kicked the trunk several times in a percussive rudiment.

A moment later, the shadow of Justus gushed out of a large knotted hole in the tree trunk. He appeared to them and said, "Where's Carrington?"

"I'm going back to help him," said Karla. "Peter, whatever you want to be called now, keep everyone safe. How deep is this bunker?"

"Depth isn't the issue." Peter smiled and pointed up.

Karla stepped to the left, peering up between two trees. She saw a mountain in the distance. "You have a cabin or something?"

"No," said Charlie. "They ... we have a bunker beneath the foothills of the mountain. Beneath where I stand is a subterranean hallway, which leads to the real bunker. It is quite extensive, Karla."

"Oh. Well then."

Charles ran his thumb over the reflection of the makeup compact. He handed it back to Karla. "I will not be needing this any longer. I assure you I will keep them safe."

Karla leaned in and kissed the side of Charlie's face. "You're a good boy, Charles Foster. I hear you're getting close with Laura. You treat her well, you got it? I knew her mother. Laura had a hard life. Look, just ... whatever. Sorry. It's none of my business."

"Help me find my brother. I wish to be reunited with him," said Charlie pointedly.

Karla nodded. She turned to Peter and said, "I'll send Steven and Wilfred out here soon to hide with you guys, Peter."

"Thank you for helping us, Karla."

"Yeah, yeah." She turned to Haley and said, "I'm sorry about your wolf and bobcat."

"They came from the woods when I was afraid. I never saw them before. They sensed I was in trouble." Haley frowned. "I never meant for them to die like that. They risked their life for me. It's the curse of my ability - I put animals into danger."

"Hey, hey." Karla lowered to one knee. "Did you know I have a pet fox?"

"You do?"

Charlie frowned. "Technically he is a long term loaner."

Karla rolled her eyes. "You need to adjust the dials of your tuner, brain boy. I'm keeping Kuda until the universe collapses at the end of time." She shifted her gaze back to Haley and passed her makeup compact to the little girl. "It's blush. I never used the makeup. I just liked having the mirror. The left side is magnified."

"You're giving me your makeup compact? You've never used the makeup?" She opened it. The plastic seal was still over the chalky red blush.

"I liked the mirror in that one. It's good luck. You hold onto that compact and you guys will be safe. It's lucky."

"Won't you need it?"

"You saw that guy we left back in the house?"

"Yeah, he did the lightning bolt thing."

Karla grinned at the girl. "Yeah, that's right. He's my good luck. Whenever he's around, I feel lucky. Stay safe. Your parents will be back soon. Just hold tight until they get back."

Haley reached up and hugged Karla. The succubus grinned, stood up and nodded to Justus. "I'll wait here if you can only do two at a time."

"She's young," said Justus. "I will be able to manage all three of them at once." The shadow master enveloped all three; his form became tangible shade, which filtered into the hole in the tree trunk.

Karla found herself alone in the woods, not far from the house.

She made her way back towards the abandoned manner.

A man came from the courtyard, pointing a weapon in her direction. "You! Kid! Hold it right there, little girl!"

Karla scoffed at the title. "Oh! Look! Some clown who is late to the party! Want some balloons?" She tensed her arms, creating carnation glyphs skin deep in her wrists and hands.

Like the others, neither the man nor his sidearm could be teleported. Instead, she used telekinesis to jerk the pistol from the man's hand. The backside of the weapon struck the man in the face, breaking the bridge of his nose.

He went to the ground, cupping his face from the pain.

Karla drew her foot back and kicked him square in the chest. She telekinetically launched him up onto the roof of the house.

The man hit the faux shingles and rolled off. He fell to a table just outside the house, where a chessboard was set up. Pieces went flying into the air.

Karla blasted the rear door open with a wave of her hand. "Where are you, Top Cop!?"

"In here!" he called back.

Hearing his voice felt good. She looked down and saw the shadow of a man around the corner. Karla lifted her hands up just as the man swung around into the hallway.

Her left hand redirected the attacker's gun. Her right hand went beneath his chin, guiding him up against the wall. She buried her knee into the man's gut.

He went to all fours, unable to cough or breathe.

Karla drew her leg back and buried her foot beneath his chin. The man launched up, hit the ceiling, careened down across one of the hallway walls and spilled out across the floor tiles.

"Where you at, Nathanial?"

"In here," he called back from a different room. "This house is big."

"Marco!" Karla called back.

"Polo!" Reno replied. "You sound like you came in through the back door. Everyone okay?"

"They made it to safety," Karla called back, following the sound of his voice. "I'm coming, babe. The layout here is kind of confusing."

The front door opened and slammed shut. Karla grew quiet. She passed Reno in the room before the foyer.

He held his hand up, gesturing 'one' in typical police training fashion.

Karla nodded and stepped out of her shoes. She walked on the balls of her feet in silence, heading into the foyer.

"Karla?"

The voice made her freeze. She recognized it. Karla emerged from the hallway, staring at Cybil Powalski. "Oh my Christ. You're carrying groceries?"

"You know, a little help here would be great."

Karla reached for one of the grocery bags from his arms. "You do realize you walked in on a war zone, right?"

"I saw the armored trucks out front. There's one left on the property - he's upstairs setting a bomb. Simon says green, blue, red, then yellow. Just remember, green, and then the primary colors in alphabetical order."

"What?"

Reno grimaced, coming out from his hiding spot. "Wires for a bomb?"

Cybil grinned at Reno. "And they said Charlie was the only telepathic one. Hurry, Inspector Nevada."

Reno dashed upstairs.

Karla sighed and guided Cybil into the kitchen. "We need to get you to the bunker."

"Why are we here?"

"What?"

Cybil deadpanned. "In the kitchen, Karla. The last time you and I had sex was in a kitchen, but you're about to become very complicated. And besides, you have Reno and Rufus, now."

"Rufus?" Karla snorted. "I wouldn't fuck Rufus if he was the last..."

"Yes you would," said Cybil. "Stop, let's not fight. These groceries are not for the kitchen. They're for the bunker. They're all things Haley likes. Children despise MREs. And the frozen blood packs won't help her either."

"You knew about this?"

"I knew it would solve itself," Cybil said.

"Did we really have sex?" Karla asked.

"You still don't remember me? Was I that unremarkable?"

"Sorry." She shrugged her shoulders. "A feed is a feed. There was no emotional attachment."

"At least I didn't have a foot fetish."

Karla grimaced. "You knew all the details about today's attack?"

"I knew it would play out with the best possible scenario if I didn't interfere. So I went grocery shopping." Cybil nodded towards the back door. "Shall we? Oh, and Reno will be fine."

"I thought you had some sort of problem? Like speech disorder and stuff?"

Cybil nodded. "I'm not under duress right now. Another reason I left; I didn't want to panic over something that would have played out fine without my involvement. Also, Steven Milford and I have been experimenting with behavioral drugs and found something that works. Ritalin, Adderall, cough syrup and something we made together. Don't worry, it's not enough to blow up my heart, although it does give me vivid dreams when I finally fall asleep, and it messes with my digestive system."

Karla stared at him for a moment. "Okay, so ... you were a doctor or something right? When we had sex, I was in Maryland?"

Cybil brightened. "You remembered!"

"Sort of, but not really. You were a doctor."

"A surgeon," he corrected. "Shall we go?"

Karla sighed. She shoved the second grocery bag into his hands and they both vanished.

She and Cybil appeared in the woods. She approached a tree with the hole in the trunk and kicked it. She shouted down into the hole, "I've got your psychic up here. Come and get him!"

A moment later, Justus came up from the air vent and formed between the two. He took one of the bags into his arms. "Mr. Powalski, I'm glad to see you're not harmed."

"I was glad when I saw you wouldn't be harmed."

"When was this?" asked Justus.

"Eighteen months ago. Shall we?" Cybil offered a smile bright as sunshine. He abruptly turned to Karla and chastely kissed her cheek. "Try not to judge Rufus. He's my friend, and he'll need someone to help him get through ... well, you'll see."

Justus transitioned, taking Cybil down the hole in the tree trunk. Cybil watched Karla's confused expression as he sank into the wooded tube.

His body became solid again. "Ah, corporeality ... I'll never get used to being a shadow." Cybil touched his chest, his thighs, his face, and then sighed. "I'll never get used to that."

"You predicted that she would sleep with Rufus again?"

Cybil turned to Justus and said, "I know what you did, Justus."

"Excuse me?"

"You took Eric and showed him that his wife was sleeping with the werewolf."

Justus frowned. "I was trying to show him a reason to detach from his old life. I wanted him to become the new justiciar. As it turns out, he is simply not emotionally capable. He cannot detach from things."

Cybil scoffed. "That was manipulative of you to have done that. Karla is still mourning the loss of her husband the only way she knows how to act out."

"Perhaps she should start by not allowing her to become an orphanage - a place that takes everyone in."

Cybil punched Justus in the arm firmly, creating a bruise on the man's bicep. "Now you think about what you just said. Do you judge Kalen and Natalia for drinking blood?"

"No, of course not." Justus grimaced. He reached across the grocery bag half sitting on his hip. He started to rub at his bicep with his free hand but immediately put his hand back down at his side. Justus looked away, resisting the urge to rub the Charlie horse in his upper arm.

Cybil smirked. "Then do not judge a succubus for feeding on sex."

"You like her?"

"I've slept with her."

"That wasn't my question," Justus said.

"I owe her."

Justus took a moment to look over Cybil. "I don't understand. You owe her nothing." Justus began walking down the hallway.

"I'll tell you this because I know you won't tell anyone." Cybil walked alongside of Justus, headed towards the main bunker with the grocery bag in his arm. He took the other from Justus with a smirk.

"This should be enlightening..."

"Stop judging," Cybil said.

"I would but she spreads diseases."

"No, she does the opposite, which is what I'm trying to tell you but you're not listening."

Justus took one of the grocery bags back from Cybil, holding it despite the knotted muscle in his bicep. "How can she _possibly_do the opposite?"

"Aris Falcon used to be obsessed with her. I figured it out by sleeping with her in my youth."

"What is it you figured out, Cybil?"

The oracle smiled. "Her kind evolved the ability to break down diseases and kill them. This keeps her alive if she sleeps with someone who is sick."

"I see, that's why she cannot spread diseases," Justus said in a soft voice. "And this is verified?"

"Yes," Cybil said. "Falcon became obsessed with trying to understand her ability. It's one thing to be like Steven and Peter, where you are immune to viruses and bacteria. But you are still able to carry them..."

"But she kills them, which makes her interesting to a geneticist..." Justus turned off a light in the hallway as they passed it. Each time they passed a light, he turned off the last one in the line. "What is it you think you figured out about her, Cybil?"

"Let me finish," Cybil said in a firm tone. "The average succubus lives a little longer than a century. They don't age, but they still die when the telomeres in their bodies dictate their age."

"I'm listening."

"Her kind evolved the ability to self-clean. Karla has outlived her kind by roughly a factor of four. She continues to increase her powers and evolve her abilities. This is true of her ability to cure diseases."

"What do you mean?"

Cybil smirked. "She can cleanse the sullied and heal the sick. A psychotic patient bit me; I was infected with a dangerous blood born pathogen because the patient had one of his front teeth knocked out by a security guard. I was simply in the wrong hallway of Sinai at the wrong time. I was given an incurable disease with a treatment that did little to suppress it."

"What was it? Hepatitis? HIV?"

"Those are tame by comparison," said Cybil. "It was a drug-resistant strain of Gonorrhea. I was expected to go into septic shock within a matter of days. I was given the week off to collect my wits."

Justus frowned in silence.

"It was called the HO41-C variant superbug. So I did what any good surgeon would do who just lost their career, because a dangerously sick patient was having a psychotic break in a hallway, at the wrong place at the wrong time..."

"Which is?"

"I went to a bar and I got drunk. Karla took my car keys from the bar tender. She brought me home. Sleeping with me caused the virus to become inert. Within thirty-six hours of sleeping with me, my blood showed no residual. All tests were negative."

"How can Karla do that to people?" Justus asked, turning out yet another light. "Wouldn't sleeping with people cause all bacteria in her partner to die? That could be dangerous to her partners."

"You mean Escherichia coli and similar gut flora?"

Justus shrugged. "I do not know what such things are called, Cybil."

"She doesn't appear to harm cells manufactured by the body naturally. Perhaps that is why she cannot cure cancer in others. But that would be remarkable if she could, wouldn't it?" Cybil opened a door at the end of the long hall. "After you, I insist."

Justus stepped through the door. He nodded to Peter and Haley. Instead of starting a conversation with anyone, he simply walked away from the group.

Cybil clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together. "I love that man! He's always so cheerful and full of conversation!"

Peter eyed Cybil with a weak grin. "He wasn't always so serious. Natalia was looking for you, Cybil."

"Excellent! She wants to know what happens next."

"I assume so," Peter replied.

"I know so. She wants nothing more than to ask about how this will end."

Peter nodded. "Take the middle hallway. It's the last door at the end of the hall."

Cybil walked down the hallway, leaving everyone else behind. He opened a door at the end of the hall, stepped through and smiled. "Mistress Kincade!"

She smiled softly. Natalia stood up from behind a study desk. She curtsied to Cybil.

He bowed to her in return. "It happens New Year's Eve."

"What does?"

"You were going to ask me how Aris Falcon dies," Cybil replied. "I will tell you if you wish to know."

"I do. I wish to know every detail you can manage to recall. It will help me plan."

Cybil motioned to the chair of her study desk. "Conner kills him."

"Details,please." Natalia sat down in her chair and folded her hands.

Cybil nodded. "Give me an hour. I'll need it, trust me."

"How do you mean?"

He offered her a wry smile. "I'm getting hungry," he said in reference to his medication wearing off. "We'll talk soon."

"Thank you." She paused and then said, "How about I visit you in the morning, after you've had a chance to rest?"

Cybil smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that.

---

Next Chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/838618