Planet Omega

Chapter 18

 "Guys, I'm looking at a clear hallway, up ahead."

"I hear movement in the first room to the right!" Will hisses.

"I don't hear movement, so it's no more than one or two guards. I can take them."

I watch Phin open the door to the hallway through my rifle lens from the building across the General's Mansion. A little bit of recon told us that General Varr Thackery was going to hold a meeting in one of the grand conferences rooms in a few minutes. While we could have waited until he was alone in his room for the night, Phin made a good point about removing other important pieces off the empire's board.

Anyone in power that can be taken out, should be. And it'll be minimal risk as well. No one in the vicinity will be alive to witness any of it before we're already halfway back to Spectre City.

And we're ready.

"No unnecessary risks," I remind Phin, and I can see her rolling her eyes before making a face.

"Yes, mother." Which in turn makes me roll my eyes.

The door to the room opens, and Will shifts from a bat to a moth to go unnoticed. Phin's fast as she jumps out at the first guard before he can step into the hallway, burying her knife into his neck. The guard falls as blood gushes out, proving he was human, and Phin disappears behind the door.

"Ooh, right in the ear," Will says, and though I can't see Its expression, I know there's a grimace on that moth face somewhere.

While Phin and I have vibrational sphere devices built into the armor suits Mateo made for us, Will has a different mechanism altogether. Our sphere devices function when there are sound particles coming from near the connected devices. Because Will shifts to fit the task, both an armor suit and a sphere device seemed useless. So, Mateo created something Will could swallow that would invade Its neural network until the small device is digested and disintegrates. It's brilliant, if you ask me, but it also means Phin and I have less than four hours to communicate with Will from a distance before the device is gone.

"Just two of them," Phin confirms and silently shuts the door to conceal the crime she's just committed.

Blood mars her black and red armor now, splatters cross her chest and her exposed face. It's no wonder Mateo insisted on certain colors for each of us - Phin didn't hesitate to get any blood on her. Judging by the dried blood she had on her cheek when we first met her, blood is the least of her concerns.

"Hallway is still clear," I confirm, looking ahead with my scope. "Will, can you hear anything else?"

Will shifts back into a bat and flies ahead past the other doors before returning to Phin. "No. I bet everyone's gathered by one of the three grand conference rooms. It's about to start."

I shift my rifle scope over to the far left of the General's Mansion where the conference rooms are. The first two windows show empty rooms, but the third reveals a packed room. "It's the last one. They're all meeting in the last conference room," I announce.

The farthest room also has many more windows, since it's the corner room of the mansion. More windows means more escape routes for Phin and Will, and more opportunities for me to assist from my position. As it is, it's killing me just a little bit that I've been forced to hang back, especially when I know I can help. I'm not as skilled or refined as Phin is with a knife, but I do get the job done. If not with a weapon, then with my magic, surely.

But I'm determined to make this work. Though I crave the fight, keeping an eye on Phin and Will feels just as important. I know I'm just a glorified babysitter with this mission, but they have me if they need me.