Druck didn’t. He slid the Avenger forward in a crouch until he was clear to stand at full height. Gracefully spinning the machine’s torso, he raised its single arm and fired back. The blast stopped the enemy fire, and they retreated from the edge of the landing pad.

  I tapped furiously on the buttons Miklos provided, directing the barge to accelerate, turn, and rise all at the same time, thankful for the coordination honed by playing way too many video games. The barge lifted out of the water while it turned. Druck pivoted the mech’s torso to compensate, keeping his aim locked on the tarmac.

  We emerged entirely from the cavern before we got more than a few feet off the river. The reservoir leveled off nearly sixty feet below the bottom of the landing pad, a thirty foot gap between the walls of the basin and three sides of the pad’s hexagonal shape. The counterstrike of the Avenger’s ion cannon had already left a part of the tarmac scuffed and scarred.

  More immediately, the opposite wall of the reservoir approached a little too fast. I tapped on the controls, trying to turn us more rapidly. But the barge couldn’t maneuver that well, and we drifted sideways toward the cliff while we continued to ascend.

  “Shit,” I cursed, furiously hitting the buttons. Slowing down. Trying to rotate faster.

  Druck opened up with the ion cannon again as a pair of mechs tried moving to the edge of the pad. Risking a quick glance up, I realized how small they were compared to the Avenger. Druck’s first shot hit one in the shoulder. His next nearly pierced the head of the second mech. They backed up almost as quickly as they had arrived.

  “Hold on!” Alter shouted, dragging my attention back to my plight. I couldn’t stop the barge’s momentum in time, and it slammed into the rocky wall of the reservoir with an echoing clang, knocking me off balance. Rather than tumble, I fell to my knees, holding the phone tight. If I dropped it, we would be totally screwed.

  The Avenger shifted on the barge, dancing on the deck to regain balance. A large foot came down only a foot away from Matt as he kneeled on the deck, looking back at me accusingly.

  “Sorry!” I shouted, wincing as our forward momentum caused the barge to scrape against the stone. “My fault. Totally my fault.”

  I hit the up button over and over, increasing power to the countermass generators underneath the vessel, trying to get to the tarmac as quickly as possible. Of course, the faster we went up, the harder it would be for me to make the barge go down again to land, but I could worry about that when we got there.

  Still scraping the cliff, the barge didn’t rise as fast as it might have otherwise. Meanwhile, the forces above had vanished, perhaps to let us get to their level before continuing the assault. Looking up, I spotted a pair of smaller dropships circling close overhead, as well as the larger ship moving to the area higher above. All of Sedaya’s assault forces had moved to the spaceport. How were we supposed to get out of this alive?

  Grit and determination. It was all we had, and we needed to make the most of it.

  I fought to steer the barge away from the wall, cursing out loud when gunfire again began pouring down from the landing pad. Alter grabbed me and pushed me to the deck, staying over me as Druck turned the Avenger, continuing to fire. I could tell from the direction of the attack that the forces had split up, making it impossible for Druck to hit them both at the same time.

  Quasar and Matt returned fire, using the mech as cover. I kept trying to get the barge off the wall, its ascent too slow to deal with the assault. Alter rested on top of me, heavier than I expected considering her female form and size. I heard plasma bolts sizzling around us, and she grunted a few times as she took the hits for me.

  “Druck!” I shouted as loud as I could, hoping he would hear me. “We need to get off the wall!”

  The mech stopped shooting, turning in a fluid motion and reaching out for the cliff. With one explosive move, it punched the rock. The force shook the barge, but also pushed it away from the barrier, setting us free.

  We rose quickly, launching upward like a helium filled balloon. Druck turned the mech the other way as we closed on the edge of the landing pad, our rapid ascent surprising the mercenaries.

  We rose over the landing pad, the barge moving toward the side closest to Head Case. I kept tapping the button to slow its forward progress, hoping to stop it in time.

  “See you on the tarmac, Captain!” Druck exclaimed through the Avenger’s external speakers. Before I could react, the mech took three steps to the edge of the barge and jumped.

  “He’s crazy,” I said, glancing up at Alter. Her eyes were closed. I didn’t hear or feel her breathing, and I realized I didn’t know if she breathed in the first place. I had always taken that for granted. “Alter?”

  She didn’t respond.

  Dread and worry prompted me to panic. There was no time for that. The gunfire on the landing pad intensified, both from the Avenger and the mercenaries on the ground. Druck wouldn’t last long out there alone.

  I continued smashing the buttons, finally stopping the ascent and getting the barge drifting back down as one of the dropships swooped in. I couldn’t move with Alter on top of me, and that might have saved my life. The dropship’s guns ripped along the deck toward Quasar and Matt, forcing them to dive and roll away. Miklos pulled a pistol from his robes and started shooting, green zaps of energy lancing up at the passing ship. I didn’t expect much to come from the small arms fire, surprised when the zaps punched through the front of the ship and into the cockpit. Miklos must have hit the pilot, because the ship didn’t pull out of its strafing run before striking the reservoir wall, exploding on contact.

  “Alter?” I said again, jostling her to jog her awake. Still no response. “Alter, come on!” I urged. “Wake up!”

  The barge dropped toward the tarmac. Head Case waited on our left, about three hundred feet away. I wouldn’t be able to get the big vessel any closer. Unable to see beneath the barge, I didn’t know where Sedaya’s mercenaries were or how many had assembled on the pad. I could still hear gunfire exchanging between the Avenger and the forces there. How much punishment could the already damaged mech take?

  “Alter?” I shouted again. “Come on!”

  Her eyes snapped open. “Ben.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I lost two percent of my mass, but I’m healed.”

  I sort of understood. The plasma hits had burned away some of her gelatin structure, but there was still enough to compensate. Another incredible property of her alien form.

  “We’re about to hit the tarmac.”

  She jumped off me, her form changing to Clown Alter. She giggled and drew her batons, leaning into the momentum of the barge as it lowered enough for me to see the action. Druck had already knocked down one of the smaller mechs, and had the other in bad shape. Meanwhile, dozens of mercenaries fired on him, while dozens more were lining up to hit us when we landed.

  “Last one,” Quasar announced as she and Matt ran over to me. She had the small explosive device in her hand.

  “Fire in the hole,” Matt said.

  She tossed the device off the side of the barge, into the middle of the waiting mercenaries. I looked away as it detonated, not wanting to see the gore that followed as at least ten Niflin were killed in the explosion, the others scattering.

  The barge hit the tarmac, sliding along it with a deafening, grinding squeal. The bow plowed into one of the ships parked on the landing pad, bringing us to a sudden stop.

  “Let’s go!” Matt shouted.

  Together, we all ran to the side of the barge and jumped off.

  CHAPTER 37

  Together, we landed on the tarmac, some of us more gracefully than others. I came down without injury, falling into a three-point landing that probably would have looked cool, except I stumbled to my knees, breathing hard as I pulled my blaster and tucked my phone back into my pocket.

  Alter landed like an acrobat, somersaulting out of the jump and rushing the nearest mercenaries. She caught them before they could recover from the shock of the explosive Quasar had tossed into their midst. The others stayed on their feet, swinging rifles toward the Niflin and putting up enough of a fight to force them to seek cover.

  “Come on!” Matt shouted, angling toward Head Case as he shot at the enemy.

  “I don’t think so,” Quasar said, searching for her next target.

  I regained my footing and sprinted in the ship’s direction. I didn’t see any kind of net draped over it, though there was an armored hovercraft stopped just above Head Case. A mercenary popped out from the top of the vehicle, taking position behind a pair of turrets, which swung in our direction. Before he could shoot, a trio of plasma bolts hit him squarely in the chest. He flopped down over the turret’s lip and hung there. lifeless.

  A loud bang behind us drew my backward glance. A second dropship veered away from the mech after having left a gaping hole in the Avenger’s side. Smoke poured from it, where what remained of its ammunition had exploded.

  Druck backpedaled the huge machine, keeping it between us and the bulk of Sedaya’s forces. We would have been dead already if not for the mech and its pilot, who now put himself between us and the entirety of Sedaya’s firepower.

  “Come on!” Matt shouted again. “We’re going to make it!” I glanced over my shoulder to where Alter was dispatching the last few Niflin closest to the barge. “Alter, let’s go!”

  She looked over at me, smiled, and sprinted in our direction before breaking into a gymnastics routine that would have put Simone Biles to shame, flipping and bouncing across the tarmac like the mad clown she appeared to be. I wanted more than ever to find out the backstory behind that specific persona, but with what we were facing, I didn’t know if I’d get the chance.

  Seeing us running for Head Case, some of the mercenaries tried to break around the Avenger. Further off, I caught a glimpse of more mechs rushing in from around the side of the spaceport terminal, likely called in from the city.

  We were running out of time, and fast.

  Closing within fifty feet of the armored vehicle parked in front of Head Case, my excitement began building for real, the idea that we might make it back to the ship alive suddenly less preposterous than it had originally seemed. The thought gave me a second wind, and I picked up a little more speed, chugging hard to get there.

  We slowed as we reached the vehicle. Miklos stopped beside it, handing something to Archie. The Acheon jumped to the top of the vehicle next to the turret and dropped something inside the hovercraft. I hadn’t noticed the hum of its countermass generator until it was gone, the vehicle losing power and collapsing six inches to the deck.

  Clearing the now derelict vehicle, I came to a sudden stop, eyes fixed on a single Niflin standing on Head Case’s extended ramp, blocking our entrance.

  He wasn’t like the others. Instead of a helmet, he had a small breathing apparatus clinging to his nose, thin lines running out behind his long, silver hair. Instead of black armor, he wore a long, black coat that looked like it was made from dragon scales, black pants and boots. A silver glove covered one of his pale blue hands.

  “Okay, who invited Sephiroth?” I said, staring at the Niflin. The others had stopped their advance too, confused by the loan mercenary’s nonchalant appearance on the ramp.

  Everyone except Alter. She raced past me, batons activated as she charged the mercenary.

  He raised his gloved hand. A red glow activated within a symbol etched into it, and with a flick of his wrist he sent Alter flying back into the hovercraft behind us. She hit hard and crashed to her knees, surprised by the action.

  Quasar leveled her rifle at the Niflin, about to squeeze off a round when another flick of his wrist ripped the weapon from her hands, sending it clattering to the tarmac.

  “Impossible,” she grunted.

  “Does anyone else want to take a turn?” he asked, glaring at us before pointing at me. “Open your ship and get me the slab and the Star, and I might be persuaded to let you live.”

  Alter was back on her feet. She rushed the mercenary a second time, uncowed by the first hit. The Niflin raised the glove again. A different symbol lit up and she slammed into an invisible wall, stopped dead in her tracks.

  “He’s got an infinity gauntlet,” Matt remarked beside me, surprising me with the reference.

  “I thought I was the geek,” I replied. “How do we get past it?”

  “How should I know?”

  “One more chance,” Sephiroth said. “You know what I want. You’re going to give it to me or you’re all going to die.”

  Before I could respond, the mercenary’s eyes widened, and he spread the fingers on his gloved hand, a series of symbols lighting around it. The air surrounding him seemed to shimmer, buckling as a blast from the Avenger’s ion cannon smashed into it, unable to break through. The mercenary closed his fist and opened it again, the energy lashing back out at the mech, hitting it in the leg and leaving a huge, smoking gash.

  “Time’s up,” he decided, lowering the strange shield and activating another symbol on the glove. “You chose wrong. Die!” he hissed, pointing the fingers of the glove toward us, obvious energy building at the tips.

  There was nowhere for us to go. No cover to get behind. Sedaya had thrown an entire army at us, when all he had really needed was this one exceptional Niflin.

  Then something unexpected happened. Sephiroth stiffened and collapsed forward, the energy immediately draining from his glove.

  Shaq stood on his hinds on the back of the mercs neck, buzzing and waving us to the ship.

  “Yes!” I shouted. My grim frown turned to an ecstatic grin in an instant. I pumped my fist as I sprinted forward. Shaq buzzed excitedly, launching to my shoulder as I reached the ramp. He scampered up to nuzzle my cheek. I couldn’t quit smiling as I reached out and cupped my hand to his back, my fingers rubbing his fur. “I thought you were dead, bud.”

  He buzzed something too complex for me to understand. It didn’t matter what he said. He was still alive, and that was all that mattered.

  “Levi, let us in!” Matt shouted as he reached us. The system recognized his voice and deactivated the shields. The smaller hangar door slid open.

  “Levi, the big door,” I corrected before looking over my shoulder. The mechs from the city were almost to the landing pad, already shooting at the Avenger. I couldn’t believe the thing was still upright, considering the amount of its visible damage and the smoke pouring out of its multiple wounds. Quasar had said the thing could take a beating, and she wasn’t kidding. “Alter, get to the flight deck and get us ready to get out of here.”

  She smiled and nodded emphatically, bouncing past me and diving through the moving smaller hangar door, disappearing inside. The others moved to the center of the opening larger door while I crouched beside the Niflin. On one hand, it felt wrong to take something off a dead body. On the other, the glove was too powerful to leave behind. I grabbed it and tugged it off without really looking at it, noticing only that the material looked similar to the images on the slab. So did the symbols.

  Grimoire. Not spells, then. Technology, but nothing like I had ever seen. Then again, I hadn’t seen nearly as much as I thought I had a few weeks ago.

  “Druck, let’s go!” Matt bellowed.

  The mech moved toward Head Case at the same time the torso pivoted ninety degrees. Druck returned fire against the approaching mechs, trying to keep them cautious.

  With the mercenary wizard down, Sedaya’s army took a noticeable shift in strategy. While they had been trying to capture or kill us before, some of their forces had remained on the fringe, especially their air support. I looked up when I heard the increasing pitch of multiple overhead thrusters, a third round of chills running through me at the sight of the smaller dropships converging on us while the larger ship launched small starfighters.

  Every time I thought we were making progress, it seemed to vanish as quickly as it came.

  “Ben!” Quasar called, standing at the threshold of the hangar.

  I sprinted up the ramp and into the ship. “Here, hold on to this for me, will you?” I said, tossing her the glove.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as I hurried over to the purple starfire.

  “If I die, it’s not a big loss. I’m going to die anyway. But if I can save you, then it’ll make my death worth it.” I climbed onto the wing and then up to the canopy, opening the panel behind it and flipping the switch to open it. “Shaq, go with Zar.”

  “I just got back to you,” he buzzed in complaint. Or at least, that’s what it sounded like to me.

  “Come on, bud. I’ll make it back. Just like you did.”

  He leaned into my neck, rubbing himself against it like a cat before jumping off my shoulder to the wing of the starfighter, and then to Quasar’s shoulder. I moved the helmet from the seat to climb into the fighter’s cockpit, dropping it on my head before locking in the restraints. The interface was identical to that of Head Case, making it instantly familiar.

  I was pretty sure the small fighter would be a hell of a lot more responsive than Head Case. I’d wanted to fly it since I first laid eyes on it. If I was going to die anyway, I might as well go out with a bang instead of a whimper, flying the little purple starfighter.

  “Ben?” I heard Matt say from the overhang. I looked back and up at him as I hit the control to close the canopy. I flipped the switch to start the engines and offered a long look, a smile, and a simple wave, returning my attention to the chaos outside.

  The hangar doors had opened enough for me to fly through, and for the Avenger to get in as long as Druck could guide it through the opening in some kind of crouch. With the punishment the mech had already taken and the insane combat power about to hit us, he wouldn’t get in at all without my help.

  “Ben, what are you doing?” Pilot Alter’s voice leaked in through the helmet’s comms. “You’ve never flown Flippy before.”