One in Twelve Thousandth Percent

Chapter 21:

We get down to the planet and it's roughly daylight but it's a mess. Buildings are partially standing. Some lay on their sides with people living in them. Roads are torn up, torn down, full of potholes and some spots with tectonic faults running long, jagged lines.

"Team, standard clearing procedure!" I say and all eight of us fan out and clear the area. Once it's clear and we regroup, I elbow Cannon. "Well well, look at you. Good work."

"Thanks, Craft."

"Annabelle, can you get me an area map?" I look over. "I can try. Might need to ask Captain Parker for help."

"Let me know if you find something."

"Right, will do." She steps to the side.

I turn to everyone else. "Okay, I know that it's not always wise to, but we're gonna split up. We can cover more ground and smaller groups are harder to hit." I look at Cannon's team. "His directions haven't gotten anyone killed yet, so he must be doing pretty well. Let me know if you have any issues. Let's try to stay somewhat close. I'd say no more than two blocks apart."

Annabelle comes back. "Got it! Local area map. It's old but should give us a rough idea of where we are. Hang on, while I send it over... oh."

"What's wrong?" I ask, concerned.

"Nothing. I just found out that we can sync multiple Custodians for file transfers. We just have to be within a certain range."

"Nice work, Belle. Alright everyone. Fists together, let's sync up." We got together and a few seconds later, every arm beeped to indicate success. "Alright. We all have maps. Unless we have issues, let's make this our return point. Ready? Split."

We split. I look at Cannon. "Catch ya later." He gives me a thumbs up and they take off to my left. "Ladies?" The girls smile at me and off we go.

We round the corner and I look at the street sign. 'First Ave South' and Silverstone Blvd'. We push on another block, with no issues. 'First Ave North'. I look to my left and can just barely see Cannon's team clearing and advancing up the street.

We get halfway up the block when Kazumi shouts from my right "Take cover! Grenade up the middle!" We scatter as best as possible. Annabelle hides behind Kazumi and her shield.

"Hon, give me cover! I'm gonna toss it back!" I dash to Misaki who has just lobbed the grenade away from us. Right before it explodes, I slide up next to her, snap my fingers and transmute a broken down car-like vehicle into a wall.

BOOM CRASH CRASH, goes the scenery as the grenade goes off about 30 meters ahead of us. Vehicles, buildings and random debris go everywhere. I look over to the twins. Kazumi's shield is holding. Annabelle meets my eye and gives me a thumbs up. Misaki stands up. "That was close. Thanks, hon." I stand up and give her a peck on the cheek. "Of course, babe."

The twins come over to us and Kazumi drops her shield. "Any idea which direction that came from, Kaz?" I ask. "Nope. I just heard it clink on the ground." I sigh. "Okay. Stay sharp, ladies." I peek around the wall. Nothing. Kazumi peeks around the other side. "Shit, 1 o'clock!" Kazumi yells. Her and I duck back as gunfire hits the wall.

Annabelle charges up a shot. "Sis, guide me." The two of them pop out and Kazumi points to where the shots came from. Annabelle lets loose and they duck back. Seconds later, it explodes. We hear a scream. "Bingo!" Kaz says. More gunfire. And another grenade.

CLINK. We all look left. Misaki flings it back. BOOM CRASH CRASH. More debris everywhere. I peek around and duck back as more gunfire hits. "Shit, how do we advance?" Kazumi looks at her hands. "Well, what about combining our powers?" We turned to her. "You have our attention."