“Backblast!”

  The rocket flew from the tube with a concussion hard enough to make my teeth click. It sailed past the enemy positions and smashed through a wide window at the front of the warehouse. The blast was like nothing I’d seen before, and the remaining windows blew out in a storm of glass. I could see flickering flames inside as I dropped the spent RPG on the ground behind me and drew my carbine.

  There was a break in the shooting, and I saw my squads pressing forward on both sides of the parking lot. I ran to make a spearhead, being impossible to ignore as I put full-caliber rounds into their sandbags. I got closer as the machine gun turned its barrel on me and fired a long burst, yanking my last grenade out and lobbing it into the position.

  I finished off the few that survived the following blast, putting a hole in their line. There was another shout from behind me for backblast, and another rocket flew into the building, detonating inside. A secondary explosion blew out the side of the wall, throwing fighters on both sides to the ground. I grit my teeth and swept through the next position, clearing it out and making room for my team to move in.

  The fighting was brutal, the Nazis fighting bitterly. It was a losing battle though, and with their lines broken the gangsters began retreating as we smashed them with withering fire. I kept after them, dashing ten feet at a time before taking a knee and firing a burst. Soon enough though, they’d routed entirely and we were left all alo—

  “Villain!”

  The flames from the building roared higher and spread all around us. Muspelheim, surely, but I couldn’t see him through the inferno. The staccato rattling of ammunition cooking off filled the air, punctuated by another blast from the warehouse. As the flames began closing, I finally spotted him, just at the forward edge of the fire.

  No hesitation, I emptied my magazine at him, vision greying from the heavy concussion of my carbine. He twitched, seemed to fall back, then vanished as fire briefly surrounded him again. But as the flames went out as he disappeared, I heard my men scream behind me. Whipping around, I saw Menja wading into the fray, shield and sword in hand.

  A heavy response then, fuck. At least there was only one to deal with, for now. I charged towards her with a ragged bellow, drawing her attention. The bullets from my team barely scratched her armour, so I yelled at them to retreat as I raised my arms to block a mighty swing from Menja’s sword.

  It was a hard enough blow that I felt it through my projection, somehow. It didn’t hurt, but it startled me enough to twitch and get a nasty gash for my trouble. I ignored the burning line of pain and took a step back to recover my footing. She kept after me, stabbing at my face and forcing me further back. I could take it, sure I could take it, but I wanted to draw her away from my team.

  A slap to the back of my head made me turn, and I saw a number of heavily armed Werwolf troops advancing on me. Fuck, not just capes then. I bellowed for my team to engage as Menja swung her shield forward. I quickly crossed my arms and blocked the strike, then yelped as I was grabbed and thrown overhand into the inferno of an amoury.

  I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the roaring flames and detonating ammunition. Casting my gaze around, I found the hole in the wall the first explosion had made. I ran towards it, leaping over a crackling crate of rounds cooking off. Menja knew she was just delaying me with this, but that was probably the intent. Separate me from my men and leave them vulnerable. Fucker, I’d kill her for this.

  The sight on the other side of the burning hole in the wall made my stomach sink. Menja was laying into my squads as the Werwolf troops closed in. With a ragged scream, I ran to the nearest position and grabbed an AK from a fallen gangster. I sprayed liberally at the human troops, killing two before they scattered for cover. I dropped the empty weapon and grabbed another, racing forward to where I’d seen them ducking to hide.

  Menja whirled and charged towards me, but she was too slow to prevent me cutting down half her soldiers. Her sword caught the receiver of my stolen AK, smashing it to scrap. Dumping the useless weapon, I threw myself forward and hugged her massive forearm. She pulled away and dragged me with her, and I began to squeeze.

  She lifted me over her head and shook me viciously. I hung on tight, wrapping my legs around her so I didn’t fall off. I was slammed against the concrete repeatedly, tightening my grip further. Taking a risk, I moved one of my arms and reached higher up, getting a solid handful of her elbow. Menja’s shield pounded against my back as I began to crush, but she couldn’t prevent the inevitable.

  She shrieked and her arm went limp. I didn’t stop there though, taking the brief window of her reacting to having her arm broken to clamber up towards her shoulder. Menja’s shield clattered to the ground and she put her massive hand around my head. Bad idea. I snapped my hand up and clasped her wrist, then squeezed until it gave way under my grip.

  Menja knew she’d lost, I could see it in her eyes when her hand fell away. She desperately swatted and bashed me, to no effect, and I lunged for her throat. I fell short, grabbing the gorget of her armour, and heaved myself up just enough to put my other hand firmly on her windpipe. I felt the guttural noise she made as I closed it for good; and she fell to the ground, bringing me with her.

  I rolled off of her and let her thrash in the dirt, panting heavily as my head swam. She was shrinking back to normal, looking a lot more pathetic as she did. I gagged as a wave of dizziness washed over my, shaking my head to try and clear it. God, I hated getting thrown around like a ragdoll…

  Another slap to my head reminded me there were more than capes in this fight, and I turned to find a quartet of furious gangsters advancing. Their loss. I drew my pistol and broke their offensive with a flurry of shots, killing two and driving the others back. They didn’t last long, cut down by crossfire from the rest of my squad. With them dead, it seemed, we were clear. I ran over to my men, icy fear in my guts when I saw far, far too many on the ground.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Status?” I demanded from the nearest one. He looked up at me and I realized it was Michael.

  “Chesty’s dead,” he said shakily, eyes glistening in the flickering orange light from the burning warehouse. “So’re Chin and Lenny. I don’t know where Vic is he...he went with Kenold around back.” I frowned, heart sinking. Chesty was the only one I really knew, but so many in one fight…

  “Amaranth,” Sheepdog said, gripping my shoulder and spinning me around. “You hurt?”

  “No I’m...I’m fine,” I said flatly. “A little sore but...fine.” Lucky me.

  “Good, let’s clear out,” he said quickly, pointing to the flickering lights of approaching fire engines and PRT vans. “Our wounded need treatment.”

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” I nodded, numb.

  We clambered into the vans, the wounded and dead lining the floor of the rear. I got in with them, since we were certainly heading back to base now. There was little I could do but watch over them and offer a word here and there. It wasn’t enough.

  Nothing I could do would ever be.

  “So twelve in all,” Richard said quietly, a dark look on his face. “Unfortunate...but better than I was expecting in all honesty.”

  “Twelve people are dead and you say that’s good?” Nadir demanded.

  “He didn’t, Nadir,” I muttered, holding my head in my hands. “No one thinks this is good but…” I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “We have to look at the bigger picture. Twelve people died in one day, a day where we raided and burned out thirty Werwolf targets and took out god only knows how many of their soldiers. I wish no one died, really, but I can’t help that.” She stared down at me, knowing better, and sighed.

  “You’re right,” she said, a little sheepish. “I...I always knew people might die, just didn’t want it to happen.”

  “We all feel the same,” Sheepdog said huskily. “They were good men, and they gave their lives to see this mission through. It’s what we signed up for.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Fidel offered. “I know how it feels.”

  “We’ll take revenge on the field,” Sheepdog replied, drawing himself up. “Werwolf will regret it when they’re burning in hell.”

  “The issue is capes, I think we can all agree on that.” I looked around the table, getting a few nods. “We’ve taken down some, but we’re still limited in how many we can take at once. What’s the progress on killing them? Sheepdog and Richard’s teams got Menja with me, anyone else?”

  “I hit Crusader in the knee,” Rosa said with a savage grin. “His ghost buddies took him away before I could take a follow up shot, but he’ll be out.”

  “Nope, Othala,” I said, shaking my head. “Out for a day, maybe. Night and Fog, anyone?”

  “We lost six to them before we got away,” Misha muttered. “The hell are we supposed to do about them?”

  “We have to take as many out at once as possible,” I said, staring down at the map. My vision blurred briefly and I slumped down for a second before catching myself. Nadir put a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off.

  “We should take a break,” she said. “Our teams are run ragged, we’ve been going for twenty-four hours at this point. Let’s regroup, then hit them hard in the morning.”

  “We’ll give them time to recover,” I countered. “Time to shore up their lines, and for the cops to make things more difficult.”

  “No, she’s right,” Fidel said sharply. “There are human limits we need to respect. Eight hours to recoup and plan our next move, then we can continue. We still have a few days.”

  “And we need all the time we can get.” I glared at him, then glanced around the table and saw how outnumbered I was. “Okay, fine, a break. But when we get back out there, the first thing we’re doing is breaking their fangs.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Richard asked.

  “We’ve wounded a few of them,” I said. “And I bet Othala will be at Victor’s house. Nadir, you and I are going to lead our guys, ANTIFA, and RFB. We’re going to annihilate them in one strike.”

  “That’s a dangerous gamble, putting so many forces into a single attack,” Richard said cautiously.

  “We need to have a total dominance of force,” I said, smacking my hand on the table. “Yes, it’s risky, but if we succeed then we’re going to have the upper hand for the rest of this fight.”

  “I agree,” Nadir said with a sharp nod. “Amaranth, I’ve been playing with my power a little.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Three meters breaks bones and causes organ damage,” she said grimly. “And I can go up to five.” I chewed my lip. “I don’t really want a repeat of my first day but…”

  “Forget about that for now,” I said, shaking my head. “Conventional weapons will be fine, but if it comes down to it, that’s good to know.” It was great to know how much of a powerhouse my teammate was, I just didn’t want to force her to do something that’d fuck her up.

  “So a raid on their homes,” Fidel mused, nodding slowly. “I think it’s a good idea, despite the risks. I’m worried about civilian casualties though, attacking such an area.”

  “Unless they join in, they’ll be fine,” I said. “As long as we only target the building the Nazis are in, there won’t be any casualties.”

  “And what about the rest of us?” Misha asked.

  “Hit other targets immediately after we strike,” I replied. “Their capes should be coming to play with me and Nadir, so you’ll have a clear shot.”

  “Mm, not the worst,” he said, nodding slowly.

  “Let’s figure out the details,” I said, looking at each person at the table. “Then we can take a break.”

  We did our best to work out how we could eliminate Werwolf’s capes, and somehow come out on the other side alive.

  “Lia, you okay?” Joy asked gently as we laid on the small cot together.

  “Fine,” I muttered, staring up at the ceiling. “Can’t sleep.”

  “Same here,” she whispered. “Sorry to disturb you.”

  “It’s okay,” I replied. “What is it?”

  “Do you really think this is going to work?”

  “The raid on their houses?” I shrugged. “Probably. If not I…” I chewed on my lip, not even wanting to entertain the thought.

  “You’ll go back,” she said flatly.

  “Yeah,” I whispered huskily. There was a long, tense silence.

  “I hate that answer,” she admitted. “I hate...I hate that you feel like you have to kill yourself to give us a leg up.”

  “It’s not—”

  “Don’t,” she cut me off sharply. “Whether you like it or not, it is real, Lia. It’s real and it’s hurting you.”

  “I know,” I squeaked. “But I can’t do anything else. I can’t— I can’t save anyone for real, only if I go back and stop them getting hurt in the first place. And with all this…”

  My teeth creaked as I grit them hard. How much time would I lose if I went back tonight? It was impossible to say, but there was a damn good chance I’d lose all the progress I’d made so far. If it was just me and my team, sure, it might be worth it to try again. But with dozens of raids accomplished so far…

  “I need you to promise me something Joy,” I said, curling into a ball.

  “What’s up?” Joy asked nervously, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

  “When we get through this, when we win.” I swallowed hard, wrapping my arms around myself. “Don’t let me go back, no matter what.”

  “Why?” Her question made me flinch.

  “I can’t do this again,” I admitted. “I can’t— I can’t watch people die for what I want.”

  “Oh Lia…”

  Her arms wrapped around me as I quietly cried myself to sleep, praying this wouldn’t last much longer.