Notes: We're back, baby! And things are getting DANGEROUS in here!

Title: Hadrian's Colony: Chapter Twenty-Three, Part One

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Chapter Twenty-Three, Part One

Photo by Meagan Carsience

“You need…to go, right now.”

“Hold still.” Kieron finally wrangled the neuralink projectorinto place across his mother’s forehead, only for her to smack at it with herhand a second later. “Stop it.”

“You stop it,” she snapped, then groaned as her stomachcramped again. Kieron took advantage of the moment to hoist her into his arms.“Lizzie, are we hooked up?”

“Yes, Kee.” His girl came through on the com loud andclear…or quietly and discreetly, whatever, it worked. “The cloaking algorithmto link the fabric and the projector is live, and the Swarm isn’t significantlyinterfering with the visual effect. You should be well concealed both digitallyand physically as long as you don’t run into anything.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“Not…a baby,” Carlisle said with a weak glare.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Kieron snapped right back. “Nowshut up and let me get you out of here.”

“Kee, should I enact my part of the protocols?”

“No, not yet,” he said. “Stand by, but don’t enact.” He hadno idea how long it was going to take him to drag Carlisle out of here, afterall. He already knew his mother—or not his mother, whatever—was going tofight him on this, but she also understood enough about operational security torestrict her complaints to Morse.

[I want you to leave me and go.]

Kieron ignored her as he began to retrace his steps. Itwasn’t as easy as he’d hoped—everyone was heading for the command center tolisten in on Trapper’s conversation with Elanus, and Carlisle was a muscularwoman, heavier than he’d expected. He’d manage, though.

There was nothing else to do.

[Stupid to do this. Foolish. Idiot.]

Kieron gritted his teeth and kept going.

[You did it before.]

Yeah, he had, and he’d regretted it.

The sound of boots against the floor had him ducking intight against the wall. Half a dozen people ran by, one of them actuallybrushing up against the two of them, but they were so intent on where they weregoing that by the time they looked back to wonder why they’d stumbled, the cloakwas firmly in place. They ran on, and Kieron followed carefully. He wassupposed to take the next right, but there were more and more people congregatingin that area, and he wasn’t maneuverable enough to make it down the hallwithout another accident.

[Next left.]

“That leads to sanitation,” he murmured.

[Backdoor.]

“It’s not on the schematics.”

[Why would it be?]

“Secretive fuckers.” Kieron reoriented, though, heading downa hallway that had all the narrow, flickery feeling of some of the horrormovies he’d watched with Zak back in secondary school.

[You have no idea.]

“Why do you have a secret backdoor?” Kieron asked almostsubvocally.

[Closest exit to the comfort rooms.]

Oh. Fuck, all right then. No wonder the people whoworked them felt the need for a private escape, not that it could be permanentunder the General. But now the General wasn’t in charge, so… “Is the comfortroom still operating?”

[Don’t know.]

It didn’t matter, he told himself. There was no time to doanything about it; even if there had been, nobody here other than Carlisle hadshown him they deserved a rescue. He still felt like shit about it, but wasable to keep them moving forward, step by step. He was going a little fasterthan he ought to be, but his mother wasn’t light and Elanus couldn’t talkforever. When the finally made the turn where the door was supposed to be, Kieronwas relieved. Just a little more, and…

“Where is it?”

[Hidden door. Biometric lock.]

“Can you unlock it?”

She grunted and pulled away from him abruptly, falling tothe ground before he could catch her. Kieron began to bend down, when—

“There you are, you bitch.”

Kieron turned just in time to see the tip of a plasma riflelight up. It was almost as long as the woman holding it—Alissa, her bright bluehair shorn short, rings beneath her eyes and scratches on her neck and arms. “Gotcha,”she said, and fired.

Kieron’s body erupted with a buzzing sound, and all of asudden a shield appeared in front of him, gleaming bright and holden andreflecting the impact of the shot back the way it came—right into Alissa, whowas blown down the hallway in literal pieces. A second later her plasma rifleexperienced a secondary overload and exploded, and Kieron crouched down andgave as much cover to Carlisle as he could as the Swarm did its best tocompensate against the backwash. He still wound up feeling singed, and at leastone of his eardrums had burst, but it could have been worse. The pieces of theSwarm fell to his feet, entirely exhausted.

“Kee! Are you okay? Kee?”

Kieron would have replied, but his com was suddenly full ofhis fiancé crowing on the group frequency. “It worked!” Was he talkingabout his Swarm, or Kieron’s?

“You weren’t sure it was going to work?” Kieron rasped outas he got to his feet. Carlisle looked up at him blearily—shit, now she had aconcussion on top of all the other damage? Biometric, biometric…he gaveup on subtlety and hoisted her into his arms, then began to methodically pressher hand to the wall in an effort to trigger the hidden door. No, no, no…

“Worry about yourself, baby! Or do I need to be worriedabout you too?”

“We’re fine, I just need to—”

“Alissa!” That was Doubles, rounding the corner andscreaming as he found a recognizable piece of his lover. “Alissa!” Helooked down the charred corridor and saw them, and rage transformed his facefrom grieving to vengeful.

“Oh, shit,” Kieron said. He raised his gun but Doubles wasalready firing, and this one was an old-fashioned shrap-thrower that his gearwas able to catch most of, but most wasn’t all and Carlisle didn’t have anygear and that piece took most of the tip of the smallest finger on his righthand, fuck that hurt, and—

The door slid open behind him, and Carlisle dragged themthrough it and out into the chilly air a moment later. The door shut—justbarely, and Kieron could hear the projectiles impacting it from the other side.

They were outside the compound, but the mercenaries knewtheir location…which was on the opposite side as Elanus and Catie. “Bobby, getout of the compound,” Kieron snapped into the com. It was raining but notheavily enough to hide them. “We’ve got to run for it,” he said as he turned toCarlisle, “or they’re going to—”

Carlisle had collapsed onto the ground. She was out, utterlyand completely. Kieron would have to carry her, but now he didn’t have the camoshield and he didn’t have the Swarm. He’d be completely exposed. Damn it, hedidn’t want to do this, but… “We’re in trouble,” he said into the com. The doorwas starting to glow—they were attacking it from the inside. Soon they’d bethrough. Maybe a minute, maybe less. “Carlisle is down and I won’t be able tomake enough space to hide before they find me.”

“I can get Catie to come around and—”

“No, do not send Catie in here!”

“It’s all I can do!” Elanus shouted.

“It’s all right, Kee,” Lizzie said. “I’ve gotthis.”

“Baby, there’s not enough time for the protocol.”

“There is, though,” she said calmly. “Because Ifired three minutes ago.”