hearts of metal

xliii. holy rutting hell

Aedion barked out another order over the earpiece, hearing his men fall into silence at his words. He heard Aelin respond briefly, and felt the usual nervous feeling tumble in his stomach.

Not nerves for his own well being, but his friends and family. Rowan and Lorcan, the twins, Vaughan, and now Aelin as well. Aedion shook off the feeling and fell himself spiral into a lethal state of calm.

Focus was important. Nerves got you killed.

Vaughan turned the safety off his gun with an audible click, glancing over at Aedion as he did. "Ready?"

He nodded and opened the large metal doors. An empty hall lined with doors greeted them. The place was deathly silent, with flickering lights casting fluorescent beams upon them.

The compound they were in was near the docks. It had taken hours of torture to pry any information out of one of their Valg prisoners, but it had paid off.

"West wing is empty," came a voice over the earpiece.

Aedion and Vaughan exchanged a tense look. "Where the hell are they?" Aedion whispered to himself. The two set off down the hall of closed doors, listening for any sounds behind them.

A group of their men followed behind, the barest sounds of their feet against the floor the only noise anyone could hear.

"They definitely know we're here," a voice came through the ear piece. "They're trying to corner us."

Aedion nodded, the end of the hall approaching. "Right. Continue as discussed."

Vaughan inched forward with his gun at the ready. "It's just the South Wing left," he said thoughtfully.

South Wing. The area furthest from the docks and the ocean beyond it. Aedion and his group made their way there, still searching for any sign of life.

They found themselves in a large empty storage unit, filled with doors on either side. When Aedion reached the center, the doors opened and Valg flooded into the open space.

Surrounding them. They had lured them out here.

Aedion smiled, and chaos broke out.

Aelin listened to gunshots sound briefly over her ear piece. "The men are engaged with the Valg," she relayed to her group. She ignored the brief flare of panic, unused to feeling nervous for her loved ones. In the past, she'd had only Sam. And only for a cruelly short snippet of time.

Rowan was walking alongside her. His arm occasionally brushed hers in reassurance. Lorcan and Ilias were behind them. Manon was on Aelin's other side, lingering a few feet apart from everyone.

It was a trap.

They'd figured as much from the beginning, when the Valg grunt divulged the location of the compound they'd been housing their prisoners.

A little spy work, courtesy of Manon's Thirteen, had revealed that the compound was indeed swarming with Valg. But housed no prisoners. Instead, the compound had a narrow tunnel in a hidden location that led to an underground bunker.

Aelin and the others slipped deeper into the bunker, disposing of any stray Valg they came across. Most were otherwise occupied in the attack, making their job that much simpler.

A man seemingly on patrol stumbled across their path at the very moment, only for Manon to dart forward and knock him out before anyone could blink. Aelin sent her a brief nod, before they continued on their way.

Aelin had been surprised when both Ilias and Manon joined their group. Ilias had insisted during their planning, which he'd been an integral part of. Of course, part of that planning was also flirting with her on occasion. Rowan adamantly disliked the man as a result, sending him scowls constantly.