Outer Olympus

Outer Olympus: Chapter 26

When Taroh heard Viola give the abort order, the first thing he felt was confusion. He had eyes on her through the security camera system; nothing seemed to be going wrong in the footage. This confusion only cost him half a second before he sprung into action, beginning to execute his protocols to hamper any resistance security could pose to their escape. Unfortunately, in a scenario like this, half a second was a significant delay.

"Attention all security personnel. We have an intruder-" was as far as the security comms got before he managed to crash the system by changing the registry of a critical file. In another context, this wouldn't be a hard problem to fix; a talented IT specialist could figure it out in ten minutes. In a context like this, in which one second was a significant delay, however, ten minutes was forever. He cursed under his breath- if he hadn't hesitated, he might have cut the message before the word intruder was spoken. The Enforcers would still be on high alert without that bit of a message, but they'd be more confused about what was going on. That would create mistakes, and those mistakes would create opportunities.

"How long do you need to pack up?" Rune asked through the vent. Taroh was working quickly, trying to make things as inconvenient as possible for his enemies in as little time as possible.

"Longer you can buy me the better," he replied, then decided to be a bit more helpful, "a minute would let me get everything I want."

"Easy enough," Rune said, and walked out of the utility closet into the hallway. In front of her were eight Enforcers who had just left the primary security room, fully armed and armoured and ready to apprehend whatever intruder they had just been warned about. One of them turned to face her, faceless mask hiding any trace of emotion.

"Wait, you're the one VISOR's looking for," he said, and crimson electricity crackled around Rune's mechanical fingertips. In that dull grey helmet, she could see the countless atrocities of the Hegemony. She remembered the sight of those grey gloved fingers caked in the blood of her friends, every act of brutality and cruelty that the Hegemony called peaceful rule. Rune was not a Lightbringer, whose psychic abilities grew from quiet and peaceful focus, she was not a pacifist monk living on a mountain praying for a brighter future. She could feel the heat rising within her, the righteous fury that guided and empowered her. She lifted her hand. Blaster rifles raised to point at her, but she did not bother to prepare to deflect their shots. Her fury was a source of primal power, but her years had taught her that rage without direction would not change the world. So she took the fire that blazed within her furnace heart, and tempered that heat until it was sharp as a blade.

Lightning sprung from her fingers, striking the Enforcer who had recognized her in the chest. In brilliant red arcs it snaked from his body, spreading to strike the rest of his squad around him. The service staff, caterers, and technicians who still filled the hall screamed; the Enforcers did not have enough motor control over their lungs to do the same. After a few short seconds, Rune released the current, and eight bodies toppled to the ground. She turned to the bystanders, looking at her in shock and fear.

"We're not here for you, don't worry," she said with a smile, "but I'd get out of here if I were you. Things could still get dangerous." Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked towards the security room, stepping over the bodies of the Enforcers who now littered the floor. They were most likely alive; her power didn't tend to be lethal, but there was no accounting for the myriad reasons a human body might be more vulnerable to an electric attack. Rune didn't give it much thought; the mercy in her was metered carefully, and she had none for the soldiers of the enemy. The security room door was still open. There were only a few inside, those who stayed behind to monitor things from the command centre rather than go out on foot to confront the intruders themselves. She could identify the leader of the mansion's security by the purple command emblem on his shoulder pad.

Unfortunately for him, the increase in rank didn't come with resistance to electricity. The Enforcers in the room fell as quickly as those in the hallway. She walked out casually. The air was filled with smoke, panic, and confusion; people were running in seemingly random directions, having different ideas which direction was safest to flee. Hopefully, that'd cause the rest of the Enforcers some problems, and hopefully none of the bystanders would get hurt. There was no telling when dealing with such dumb muscle if someone would just decide to start firing into a crowd. She tried to open the door to the Enforcer computer room, forgetting it was still locked to her.

"It's me. I've bought some time. You know, I could just try and run in and grab the goblet of whatever. I don't think these Enforcers are a real danger to me," she said through the door.

"We discussed our risk tolerance in detail," Taroh said, and the sound of an explosion came from above. For someone with such low risk tolerance, Geode didn't seem to shy away from decisive action. "Geode says Alpha."

"Right. I'm ready to go whenever your stuff is ready." Rune replied, looking around. No more Enforcers were coming this way; they didn't tend to head towards what would be considered a secure position in case of emergency, and with the comms out, they would probably assume things were going fine there. Geode and Viola were the ones in real danger.

"Well, since you cooked the control room, I don't need to do as much. Did you seriously just take out a dozen enforcers?" Taroh asked, opening the door and stepping out. He looked at the pile of armoured bodies in awe. In every operation he'd pulled before this, even one Enforcer getting close was a sign things had gotten bad beyond comparison.

"Like I said, they're not a real threat to me," Rune grinned, beginning to walk back down the hallway that would lead them to the railcar.

"Well, the rest of us are still lethally allergic to plasma bolts." Taroh replied, "if we could get whatever vaccine you took for that one, it'd be a real big help."

"I don't think you take vaccines for allergies," Rune replied, and Taroh giggled. As they approached a stairwell, Rune paused. "Hold on. I think I sense Viola." In between the chaos, fear, and confusion, there was that distinct flavor of constant calculation that Viola hid under her bubbly exterior. Even in the middle of the chaos and noise, it felt like Viola was still running a con. Rune smiled. She stepped into the stairwell, seeing Viola run in, followed by an Enforcer. Curiously, the Enforcer seemed to be under the impression that she was supposed to be protecting Viola. Rune would have to ask how the hell Viola had pulled that one off after the mission, but for now, the utility of an Enforcer bodyguard had vanished. Rune took a moment to strike a dramatic pose, Viola was in no danger now, and this was a chance to impress her. With a flick of her wrist, she sent a bolt of lightning into the Enforcer; this one much weaker than the previous ones. It was hard to muster the same amount of rage without the helmets (and also while trying to put effort into looking cool) but it was still enough to incapacitate. Viola looked up at her, and Rune mimed blowing smoke off her fingertips. "Fun party?" she asked with a smile.

"Viola! What happened?" Taroh ran past Rune to ask, absolutely spoiling Rune's cool moment, but Rune had to laugh.

"Turns out the magic chalice that gives you enhance perception enhanced the Magistrate's perception. He spotted me immediately." Viola said, "maybe shouldn't have been in the room with him when he drank it. Where's Geode? I heard explosions?" Taroh opened his laptop to look at the camera feeds, but Rune could sense it wasn't necessary.

"I'm here," Geode said, running down from above. They paused, wiping sweat from their brow, and paused to catch their breath. "We really messed this one up, huh?"

"It's a partial success," Viola insisted, "I stole all sorts of things from the rich folks." Geode shook their head.

"You know that doesn't make up for this," they said. Rune sighed, standing up.

"We can debate this later. We have a train to catch."