Chapter Five

Chapter Five

LAYLA CASSIDY

Washington, DC, United States, Earth Realm

Layla had been preparing for a fight from the second she'd landed in Washington with her team. She'd fought Avalon in different realms countless times, but the end result was always the same: innocent casualties on a grand scale. Avalon's forces simply didn't care if civilians were in the way; they considered them fair game.

Layla's team consisted of people she'd known for a long time. Chloe and her wife, Piper, were both umbra. After Tego, there was Tarron, who had been keen to get back to fighting on solid ground after his exploits on the ship.

The final member of her team was the one who was the keenest to fight: Judgement. Since being discovered in Valhalla a year ago, she'd been relentless in her need to find her sister Athena, who'd gone missing on a scouting mission. Usually that involved killing as many Avalon soldiers as she could find.

The team ran through the deserted streets of Washington, DC, toward a raging inferno that used to be a restaurant. They were four blocks away from the White House, and the sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Judgement," Layla shouted.

"On it," Judgement replied as water magic poured from her hands into the burning building. She was the daughter of Zeus and the Lady of the Lake, Nineve. Both of her parents had been murdered by Avalon, so Judgement had a pretty big reason to want to deliver that pain back tenfold.

A fire truck sped toward them down the street. "Looks like the professionals are here," Piper said.

Then came a sound that Layla couldn't quite make out followed by a rocket streaking down from one of the rooftops. Layla tried to reach out to take control of it, but it moved too fast, and she couldn't stop it from smashing into the fire truck. The truck exploded in a ball of fire.

"I'll help Judgement," Piper shouted, waving everyone else on.

Layla and Chloe sprinted toward the building where the rocket had originated, but Tarron reached the door before them. He pushed through and took the steps two at a time—Layla and Chloe right behind him—as they sprinted up four flights of stairs to the roof, where Chloe simply kicked the door open, ripping it from its hinges and sending it bouncing across the rooftop.

Chloe and Layla moved around Tarron as several people on the roof opened fire. Their bullets slammed into the three-foot brick wall near a giant air-conditioning unit that Layla's team dropped behind.

"Your hat got hit," Chloe said to Tarron as another round of bullets slammed into the wall. He still wore his long black coat and the black cowboy hat he had started to wear.

Tarron removed his hat and looked at the hole just above where his scalp would have been. "Damn," he said softly.

Layla reached out with her power and took hold of the metal in the guns, tearing them apart. She would have thrown the metal back at the attackers, but they really needed one alive, and as she couldn't see them, she couldn't be sure of not killing them all.

Layla stepped out from behind the wall as Chloe sprinted toward the closest of the five. He saw her and raised his hands to defend against the incoming punch, but Chloe absorbed kinetic energy, turning it into blasts of pure power or enhancing a part of her. Namely her strength. The crunch of the man's arm as it shattered from the blow was nothing compared to the scream of pain that left his mouth a second later. She kicked him in the chest, and he flew off the side of the roof.

Chloe had already taken out the second attacker when Layla threw the metal she'd gathered at two more. One tried to escape, but he ran straight into Judgement, who picked him up by his throat and tossed him across the roof as if he were a tennis ball. His head bounced off the ground before he lay still and didn't move.

A few seconds later, the three who remained alive were tied up using the metal from the guns.

Layla peered over the roof ledge and saw Tego and Piper waiting below.

"Tarron, can you take two of these down to the ground, please?" Layla asked.

Tarron picked one up in each hand and walked off the edge of the roof, the prisoners screaming the whole way down. The sound ended with a crunch as Tarron landed on the sidewalk below.

Layla smiled as she looked over the edge of the roof. Tarron had placed multiple elven runes inside his clothes, and while he couldn't keep jumping off roofs forever, they did allow him to absorb such energy and redirect it, presumably into the now-totaled car that he'd landed on.

The final prisoner maintained his resolute glare at Layla and Chloe.

"I guess this one is the tough guy," Chloe said, crouching beside him. "So you murdered a bunch of firefighters; you must feel like a big man."

"If you are not with us, you are against us," the man said without turning to look at Chloe.

"You all KOA?" Layla asked.

The man continued to stare ahead.

"Chloe, can you go help Tarron?" Layla said. "Between the two of you, I'm sure you can get someone to talk about any other reinforcements."

When Layla was alone with the final KOA member, she sat down in front of him. "We know that you're coming in from the north," she said. "We know that you've sent small groups into the city to cause problems. We know that you're here to kill and maim and cause terror. You are not a hero; you are not the good guys. You are thugs and bullies, and I was born in this country, and I will die before I let you take it from the people who get up every single day and fight and struggle and love being here."

"That's the plan," the man said with a smirk.

Layla tore metal from the roof all around her and snaked it around his body. "No," she said softly. "The plan is that I'm going to kill any of you that I find. I'm done playing. I'm done trying to find a way through this mess where we can heal the wounds that you've all caused. You want to know how we heal the wounds? We cut out the cancer." She tightened the metal, turning the edges sharp so that they cut into the KOA soldier's flesh.

"You're insane," he screamed.

Layla put her face right up against him. "No, I'm angry," she whispered and tightened the metal whip further.

"We have incursions by several small teams," he blurted out.

"I know," Layla said, not moving her face. "What are they targeting?"

He yelled out again. "Police stations, hospitals—any infrastructure where people might go for help."

"Hospitals?" Layla asked, releasing the pressure on the whip. "There's an emergency room near here. Is that one of them?"

"The George Washington University Hospital," the man gasped. "The emergency room is a target."

Layla moved the whip away from the KOA member, allowing it to move back and forth like a cobra ready to strike.

"Why?"

"Fear and panic," he said. "The peons of this country need to understand who they owe their allegiance to. Arthur is the true ruler of this planet, and everyone on it is alive because he allows them to be. We are honor bound to ensure Arthur achieves his goals."

"The KOA are a bunch of fascist thugs," Layla said with a sneer. "There's nothing honorable about you. You're just murderers and thieves, people who use their power to hurt others. Well, see how you like it."

The metal snake moved forward at incredible speed, slamming into the eye of the KOA member and punching out the back of his head. Layla stepped off the side of the building, using the metal from the roof to create stairs as she walked.

"Your commander is dead," Layla said to the two surviving members of the KOA kill team. "Your troops are about to attack a civilian hospital emergency department. You have betrayed your own kind for the promise of power."

"Arthur is our salvation," one of them shouted.

"I hope you meet him, then," Chloe said as they heard sirens coming toward them. "I hope whoever comes for you treats you as well as you treated the innocent people you murdered tonight."

One of them tried to run away, but Tarron threw a small dagger at the back of his head, killing him before he'd taken more than a few steps.

"There was a time when that would have been abhorrent," Layla said. "How far over the line I've come. We've all come."

Piper placed a reassuring hand on Layla's shoulder as a police cruiser pulled up, followed by a military APC. Several soldiers left the APC, the commander coming over to speak to Layla, who told him everything they'd discovered. They moved on toward the hospital, and Layla hoped they could overcome the forces there. She would make sure to check soon.

"Warfare in my own city," one of the cops said, shaking Layla's hand.

"It's not been a great night," Layla said. "This one is the only surviving member of the team who murdered the firefighters and presumably started the fire."

One of the policemen dragged him to his feet. "Arthur will rule over all," the man said, elbowing the cop in the face and going for his gun.

Chloe was the closest to him, and she placed a hand on the man's chest and expelled a measure of the kinetic energy inside of her. He bounced off the road ten feet back and impacted with a burned-out car outside the restaurant.

"Thank you," the younger of the two officers said.

"Keep safe," Chloe said, and Layla nodded toward the older officer before the team moved on. "The police aren't going to be much help when those who aren't human turn up."

"No," Layla replied. "But they'll do what they can. With any luck that means some people will be saved. And we'll do what we can and hopefully help."

"You really think they can retake the White House without hostage casualties?" Piper asked.

"No," Chloe said. "I think they'll try, and people will still die, because Gawain and his cronies just simply don't care."

Layla didn't say anything, but she felt the same way. In the last year, she'd been to villages around the globe that Avalon had reached first, and she'd found the total devastation of everyone and everything that had once been there. If they didn't surrender and join Avalon, they were expendable—it was as simple as that. Gawain was a butcher of men, women, and children. A monster.

They walked another block and were passing by an alleyway when they spotted several people huddled inside. They turned and started down it, Tego taking point, with Chloe behind them. It was a good spot for an ambush, but Layla was pretty sure that the people inside the alley weren't there to hurt anyone.

"You shouldn't be here," Chloe said as the six adults inside the alley huddled behind a large dumpster.

"We ain't got nowhere else to go," one of them, an elderly man with a large white beard, said, his eyes fixed nervously on Tego. "We tried to get into a shelter, but they're full."

"If Avalon find you, they will hurt you," Layla said.

"They don't scare me," a middle-aged woman said grimly. "Just bullies. And I've dealt with bullies my whole life."

"These bullies will ensure whatever they do hurts," Tarron said.

Judgement stepped forward. "You are not safe here," she said, her voice calm. It was the most words Layla had heard from her in one sentence for several hours.

"Then where do you suggest we should go?" a younger man asked hopelessly, his knees pulled up to his chest.

Layla looked around the alleyway and saw a metal fire door further along. Approaching, she took control of the lock and forced the door open before stepping inside.

"Anyone home?" she shouted, looking around the abandoned restaurant. Tables had been left untouched; Layla assumed that everyone who had been here at the time of the cordon had been told to evacuate quickly. She found the register, took a piece of paper and pen, and wrote, People needed shelter. If they used anything, contact Roberto Cortez. She wrote his phone number below. Roberto would forgive her.

She found everyone still outside and explained about the restaurant.

"What if the people who own it come back?" the lady asked.

"I left them a note," Layla told her. "Also, just stay there for tonight. I'll make sure the police know you're there, and hopefully it will be okay. Basically, don't have some sort of mass party, and it should be fine. It's safer than staying out here."

"You did a good thing," Judgement said when those in the alleyway had moved into the restaurant.

"I try," Layla said. "You okay?"

Judgement smiled fiercely. "I want to rip and tear," she said, flexing her fingers. "I want to find my sister. I am angry. I wish to hurt a great number of our enemy."

"You'll get your chance," Layla said. "We all will."

"I am not used to working in a team," Judgement said. "I was trained to kill alone. It is an odd feeling, but not an unpleasant one."

Chloe exited the restaurant with her finger against her ear, activating her radio. Everyone wore one, but they were mainly used for communication between team members. Unless an outside person contacted one of them personally.

"Persephone wants to know if we can move toward Georgetown," Chloe said. "There's fierce fighting there, and the KOA are trying to gain entry to an apartment block. It'll be a massacre if they get inside."

"Who's protecting it?" Piper asked.

"There's a number of rebellion members on the way, but it looks like this is another KOA splinter group. The people living there are protecting their homes, but they're outmanned and outgunned."

"How do we get there quickly?" Layla asked.

"Persephone is sending an armored personnel carrier to take us," Chloe said.

Thirty seconds later the dark-green APC arrived, and everyone piled in the back. The female driver and male passenger told them they'd heard that the assault on the residential block in Georgetown sounded bad, but then everything Layla had seen had sounded bad, so the definition of awful had swung wildly.

Layla heard the gunfire well before she saw anything of the assault on the three seven-story buildings, which were set in a horseshoe pattern. The actual number of assailants appeared to be small, certainly much lower than Layla had expected, and they were hunkered down behind large SUVs while several people inside shot at them from the windows high above.

The driver stopped the APC and used the attached microphone to demand that all KOA members surrender and relinquish their weapons. The shooting stopped inside the building as three KOA dropped their guns and stood, arms up high, while several more made a run for it down the dark streets.

Layla and her team got out of the APC and apprehended the KOA members before taking them to the apartment complex, where they were greeted by three uniformed police officers—a man and two women. One of the women was bleeding from a head wound, and Piper sat her down inside the foyer to assess the damage.

Layla turned back to the APC. "Park up and get in here," she said.

The two soldiers did, then joined the team, police, and half dozen civilians who had congregated in the foyer. Layla was trying to block them out, as they were all talking at once.

"Right," Chloe said, with more than a little irritation in her voice. "Everyone needs to shut up. You're all talking at once, and we need to get organized."

An elderly woman opened her mouth to say something, and Tego let out a slow growl, so she immediately closed it again.

"Residents, back to wherever you were," Judgement shouted. "We'll come talk to you soon."

The uninjured female police officer took everyone away, while Piper continued to work on the officer with the head wound.

"Got hit with glass," the officer said.

"I need some tweezers," Piper said. "A medical kit. This needs stitches."

"We've got some upstairs," the male officer said.

Everyone went to the next floor, where there was a foyer that was smaller but similarly decorated to the lobby below.

"What happened?" Layla asked.

"KOA," the female officer said as Piper opened a medical kit and started removing the items she needed.

"You can hear the explosions from further north," the male officer said. "A lot of people are scared. We took residents from this entire block into this building, as it's the easiest to defend."

Layla nodded and looked out of the window. It was good to defend, plenty of visibility to the sidewalk, and if they had snipers on high floors in all three buildings, anything below was a kill zone.

"Is there any way for me to get into that adjacent building from here?" Layla asked.

A middle-aged man with a bandage on his arm stepped forward from the rapidly increasing crowd that had gathered at the edge of the foyer. "You can get across from the roof," he said. "I'm the caretaker for these buildings."

"Show me," she said. "Judgement, you want to come?"

Judgement nodded.

Chloe joined them, and along with the uninjured female officer and the driver of the APC, they ran through the building to the maintenance elevator, took it to the top floor, and then used the caretaker's keys to open the door to the roof.

Layla smelled burning the second the door opened. She knew it was in the distance, but it was strong enough to carry through the air.

"Is this locked all the time?" Judgement asked as everyone arrived on the roof.

"All residents have their own key to the roof," the caretaker said, pointing to several separate gardens that adorned the rooftop. "They like to come up here and relax."

"But you need two different keys to get from this building into another?" Layla asked.

The caretaker nodded.

Layla walked to the edge of the roof and looked down at the two-foot gap between buildings. Someone had built a small metal bridge across it.

"The residents wanted to be able to talk to others without having to jump," the caretaker said with a smile.

Layla crossed the span and ran to the edge of the other building, looking down over the sidewalk below. It was still empty, but the fires in the distance were getting closer.

"They're burning it all," the cop said in horror.

Layla nodded.

"It's not the tactic I'd have employed," Judgement said. "The problem with burning everything as you go is that you can't retreat through fire if you encounter resistance. And there's nowhere to hole up and regroup. They clearly don't expect to be forced back."

"They're heading this way," Layla said as there was a ping in her ear. She tapped the communication device.

"Layla," Jinayca said.

"Jinayca," Layla said with a smile. "I'd love to chat, but I think we're about to have company."

"That's why I called," Jinayca said. "I'm working at the base in Lafayette Square; we have satellite images of the bastards heading your way. Layla, this is a big group. Maybe a thousand KOA. All heavily armed. They're dragging people from their homes and executing them in the streets."

"They need to be stopped, then," Layla said.

"We're sending reinforcements your way," Jinayca said. "But the KOA will be on your doorstep before they get there."

"Thanks for the info, Jinayca," Layla said.

"Take care, Layla," she said, and the comms went dead.

"How bad is it?" the APC driver asked.

"How many weapons do you have in that vehicle of yours?" Layla asked.

"A few rifles, pistols, a sniper rifle ... bits and pieces," the driver said.

"Good, we're going to need all of it. We need all of these doors boarded up and that APC positioned down there. I want anyone who knows how to shoot up here targeting these assholes when they come."

"We're going to kill them?" the cop asked.

Layla nodded. "That's the plan, yes."

The cop nodded.

"Good," Layla said. "Let's get this place locked down and make these assholes regret coming here."