Chapter 57

Area Around Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States

When the corrupt police captain ended the call, Emperor allowed him to pull his hand away from his face. The man stood there mechanically—under the full control of the dragon. Gen and Emperor had learned that for short periods of time, the dragon could use his mind control on people remotely by scrying through Gen's eyes. It was a risky venture and almost hadn't worked but in the end, they made the captain call Barry Fer and now he was coming to the scene of the robbery, where he'd hopefully be caught red-handed.

Now what do we do with him?Gen asked her dragon, glaring at the despicable man standing, unmoving before her. Can you make him pass out? Should I take him with me?

I can't make him pass out and I'm losing my grip on him,Emperor replied. But you definitely have to deal with him and quickly. Then you have to get out of there before the second team and Barry Fer, the Chief of Police shows up.

Gen noticed as the captain started to stir. Emperor couldn't control him much longer. She had to do something.

Looking around, she considered her options. There wasn't a place to lock him up. And she didn't just kill people to get them out of her way. She was also out of gas grenades.

When the captain's eyes widened and his hand flexed by his side, she knew she was officially out of time. Quickly, as he moved to attack her, she jumped back, slipping her hand into her pocket. She didn't know what Bellumferrum would become in that moment, but that was always the case. The biggest problem was she didn't know if the Weapon of War would stay one object long enough to help her or would it be her very undoing because her identity was split.

Kicking back from the man coming for her, Gen granted herself some space. Thankfully, the captain lost his footing, disoriented from being under mind control. He stumbled to the side a few feet before catching himself.

At the same moment, Bellumferrum transformed into a strange object, but it told Gen what it was instantly. The Weapon of War had become a pair of nunchucks. However, Gen had no idea how to really use the two pieces of wood connected by a chain. Thankfully, her instinct guided by Bellumferrum kicked in and she swung the weapon through the air as the captain lunged for her.

The nunchucks spiraled, moving fast. It all happened so quickly: the man diving for her, Gen throwing the weapon forward and the impact.

The wooden end of one of the chucks hit the captain in the head, making him stumble to the side. He wavered and then fell to the ground, his legs giving out from under him instantly. He slumped over in a heap, completely knocked out, the weapon having hit him in exactly the right place and with the perfect intensity to render him unconscious.

That worked,Emperor said, a proud quality to his voice.

Gen stared in amazement for a moment, wondering if what she'd done was real and had actually happened. She dropped down, carefully checking the passed out man. His breath was shallow but his pulse steady.

Don't worry, he's out,the dragon assured her.

Gen smiled at the nunchucks in her hands, proud that they'd worked. Then, since they were no longer needed, they shrank back down, disappearing and taking the form of the small, unassuming black cube once more. Holding it up, appreciatively, Gen smiled at Bellumferrum, believing she'd fixed her problem and felt like she belonged in her role as a Rogue Rider. "Thanks."

The black cube didn't whisper back a reply, but in her heart, she thought she felt it say, "You're welcome."

Realizing that she didn't have long to get out of there, Gen turned back on her comm, having severed the connection when in the underground, to minimize distractions.

"Captain, are you ready?" she asked over the device.

"Yes," Captain Neal replied at once. "Everyone is in position."

"Go ahead and make the call," she replied. "The Chief of Police is on his way."

"Good work," the captain replied.

"Thanks," Gen said, grateful that even with some unexpected hiccups, things were going according to plan. "Now, it's your turn, Jack. Have you taken out the getaway vehicles?"

"We are ready to," he replied after a moment of noise. "We were waiting on your signal. We wanted to make these guys think they had an option up until they didn't."

Gen grinned, realizing that Barry Fer would think that he still had getaway cars. He would think that he had a backup team and a way into the vault. And while some of that might be true, what was waiting for him would be something he never expected.