Instead, this was as old school as it got. No sound. Having to rely on the person with you to anticipate and know what you would need in the fight. He'd never been this reliant on any single person.
And she'd been sent here to ruin him.
I must be crazy to trust her.
Yet against all reason, he did. Mostly because he now valued her life over his. He'd rather see her through this than come out on his own.
Yeah, I'm fucking crazy. Nyk and Darling were right. His sanity had hijacked his common sense long ago and they were off vacationing together on some remote planet.
The footsteps faded.
Hauk crept to the main generator. Sumi handed him the timer he'd constructed while they'd dressed and planned for the mission. He reprogrammed the gen's settings then added the timer. Once it was set, he snuck to the door to listen for the others.
The good thing about Aksel was that he'd been a paranoid son of a whore. Instead of electronic portals someone could remotely lock, he'd used old-fashioned hinge doors.
Waiting until Sumi was in position, he cracked open the door and took a minute to look down the hallway.
It was clear.
Careful to stay to the shadows, he headed for the first guards he visually detected. Sumi was right. They were savages, and packed with weapons. The kind of mercs who lived to kill and torture.
Hauk pulled the small wire in his leather bracer out and used it to garrote target one. He hauled the body into a storeroom while Sumi took out hers.
Bit by bit, assassin by assassin, they made their way to the weapons locker. Once inside, he uncovered his face and started silently opening crates and cabinets to search for weapons and ammo. Thankfully, it hadn't been depleted by scavengers. Bastien must have made an effort to keep it stockpiled.
Sumi had to bite back a laugh at the excited expression on Dancer's face as he saw the inventory in the room. He was like a little kid visiting a carnival for the first time.
She tsked at him then whispered, "And here I thought only I was capable of putting that look on your face."
His happiness melted into panic.
"Kidding, sweetie. Load up." While he pulled out heavy artillery, she focused on the smaller calibers. When she reached for grenades, she noticed the way Dancer tensed.
They locked gazes.
Hauk held his breath as a thousand bad memories went through him. The pod exploding and pinning him to the hot metal. Being trapped in the fire while circuitry exploded around him. The mountain blowing up in his face.
But that was the past. Sumi couldn't carry the heavier guns and ammo. He knew that. The grenades were her best defense.
"Load up, mu mia."
She tucked them into her clothes as he made sure everything was charged and that he had more cartridges for the smaller blasters.
He led her out of the room before he rigged the door to detonate should anyone else try to access it to rearm.
With luck, they might make it upstairs without being seen. So far they'd done a remarkable job of silently eliminating their enemies.
They took out five more as they swept the hallway. But just as they reached the stairs, a door opened behind them.
Hauk winced as he realized the man was too far away. He slung out his knife and caught him between the eyes.
But not before the man opened fire and set off the alarm.
Hauk laid down cover fire for Sumi as they were swarmed by assassins. "Get behind me."
She did, but only after she shot one blast that caught a man in the head and sent him to the ground. She fisted her hand in Hauk's munitions belt and drew him with her.
They turned the corner and all hell rained down on them.
He moved to shield Sumi. She pulled his two modified Andarion blasters from his holster and shot at their attackers from around his waist.
On autopilot now, he did what he did best.
Fought and killed.
Hauk paused to reload. "How many bastards are here? Are they cloned?"
"If they were, I'd like to think they'd have chosen better-smelling donors for the program." Sumi swapped weapons before lobbing her grenades. She pulled him with her as he covered them while they fell back toward the stairs.
He lost count of how many blasts hit him. They hurt, but so long as they landed on his coat, he was shielded. It was the one that went into his thigh that caused him to stumble.
As he started to fall, he found Sumi by his side, offering him her shoulder. She pulled him into a room, out of the line of fire.
Biting his lip, he cursed at the pain. "You should go before you get hurt."
She shook her head. "Not without you..." She locked gazes with him. "Strong alone. Stronger together. Fear no death."
He smiled as she voiced The Sentella motto. "Not very League of you."
"Screw The League."
He pulled his scarf off and used it to put pressure on his thigh. "Let's finish this."
Sumi hesitated at the look in his eyes. As she stared at him, they turned that deep vibrant red that glowed. So sex wasn't the only thing that aroused him to such a level. Fighting did it, too.
Fascinating.
"Hauk!" a man shouted in the hallway outside.
He fell back from the door and braced himself against the wall. Sumi went low in the center of the room, behind a crate.
"What?" Dancer answered.
"Surrender or we're going to kill them all! Piece by piece, until their screams echo in your ears!"
Dancer laughed at the threat. "You do that and I will eat you, piece by fucking piece. The three of them are the only thing keeping you alive right now. Release them and we'll let you live. It's your choice on how you leave this place. On your feet or feet first. You have thirty seconds to decide."
Sumi made her way over to him. "Dancer?" she whispered.
When he turned toward her, she pointed at the ceiling, where there was a hole to the next floor.
Nodding, he handed her the climbing gear.
She shot the hook then shimmied up the knotted rope. But no sooner did she reach the top than they opened fire on the room. Shrapnel and debris went flying. Her heart stopped as she saw Dancer running for the rope.
Dancer came up and grimaced as he scraped his injured leg against the rusted beam.
She dropped two grenades down then rolled away as they detonated. The ceiling under her squealed in protest.
Shit. It was breaking and about to send them back into that room.
One minute, she was sure she'd die, and the next, Dancer caught her and rolled with her. She came to rest on top of him, between floors. It was tight and cramped. But there was no time to even thank him as they heard the men running after them.
Dancer kicked the tile out above him. Carefully, he lifted her off him before he went through first to clear the room. He returned to pull her through the small opening.
Once they were on the second floor, he headed for a set of stairs on their left. He stayed back to cover the hole they'd made in the floor so that she could go first.
When they got to the top of the stairs, Sumi paused. The room there was empty. "Um... Dancer?"
He let loose a string of profanity as he saw what had her concerned.
"I take it this is the office?"
Dancer nodded and whimpered. The door behind them crashed open. He seized the first one through and slammed him against the wall so hard, it dazed the man.
Sumi sucked her breath in sharply. "Ooo, buddy. Real bad timing for you."
Dancer grabbed the assassin in his mammoth fist and held him against the wall. "Where are they being held?"
Sumi started to make a sarcastic comment to Dancer that they probably should have asked that question before they came this far. But since she was as much to blame for that oversight as Dancer, she let it go.
Besides, he seemed to enjoy beating on the assassin.
"Downstairs... bay."
Dancer made an inhuman sound before he brok
e the man's neck. "Downstairs. Who does that?"
"Someone who hasn't read the Andarion manual on where to store hostages?"
He gave her a dry stare. "You're not funny." He leaned back and groaned. "Ugh... more stairs."
"You could take a shortcut and crash through the floors, but it'd probably hurt more."
"Don't remind me." Sighing, he tightened the bandage on his thigh. Then he opened the door and led her down the hallway.
They could hear the men on the floor below, searching for them.
He took a minute to evaluate his weapons. A strange smile quirked at his lips.
"What?"
"Just remembering an old mission. Years ago when Nyk and I were in The League together and we were at a battle on an outpost backwater place. We were under some seriously heavy fire and running low on ammo. When Kyr heard that, he swept his gaze over us and said, 'Yeah, well, I'm not running out of men. Forward!' " He sighed. "We lost eighty percent of our unit that day."
"Sounds like Kyr."
They turned down the next hall and shots flew at them.
Cursing, Sumi fell back and grabbed her arm to see a lovely seared mark on her biceps. It throbbed and ached, giving her a new appreciation for Dancer's ability to walk with his thigh wound. Gah! It hurt!
Dancer killed the assassins who'd attacked them, then turned to see her arm bleeding. Cold, terrifying rage descended over his features.
His glowing eyes turned a darker shade of red.
Scared it was directed at her, she swallowed hard. "I'm fine. It's just a flesh wound."
A strange glint came into his eyes then. He held her against him so tight that she could hear the beating of his heart. He pressed his cheek to hers before he removed his coat and draped it over her.
She staggered from the weight of it.
"Fuck this shit," he growled in a deadly tone.
One minute, he was in the room with her, and the next he was gone.
Sumi couldn't breathe as she realized he'd just left her to finish off the rest by himself.
With no blast armor. No anchor or point.
No cover fire.
He's out of his Andarion mind!
She tried to run after him, but the coat weighed so much, she couldn't. In that moment, she wanted to beat him.
Her heart pounding, she heard the sound of battle. Determined to protect him even from his own stupidity, she dropped the coat and ran after him. She slowed as she saw the bodies he'd left in his wake. Well, don't I feel worthless.
Without her, he appeared to have had no problem getting through them all.
But what concerned her were the bloody footprints that were so large, they could only belong to one being. And there was a lot of blood.
Terrified for Dancer, she followed the footsteps, taking care to pay attention so that no one came up behind her. By the time she reached the bay, she was afraid of what she might find.
"Shoot him, Uncle Hauk! Blow his minsid head off!"
Sumi stayed in the shadows as she saw Thia being held by the man who had told Dancer to surrender. Her young face was battered and her lips bleeding. As her old memories surged, Sumi wanted blood. How dare they harm a girl Thia's age!
His hand perfectly steady, in spite of the blood on him, Dancer eyeballed the man. Dancer's lips and face were swollen and bleeding. "Kill her and you know what happens next. They'll be scooping your brains up with a ladle for weeks."
Darice was tied and gagged while Bastien lay in a heap near Dancer. He appeared dead.
Sumi turned her attention back to Thia and realized the man had target fixation as he watched Dancer. He had no idea that she was here.
Moving silently, she positioned herself so that she had a clear shot to the assassin's head.
Thia's gaze slid to her, but she gave no outward clue to the men that she saw her. All the fear faded from her eyes as she knew instantly what Sumi was about to do.
With a single nod, Sumi held up three fingers to let the girl know when to expect the shot. When she got to her fist, Thia picked her feet up and dropped straight to the ground at the same time Sumi fired.
The man staggered back and Dancer unloaded on him. No one moved until he stopped shooting. Only then did Thia look up with tears in her eyes as Dancer ran to her.
Sumi went to Darice, who didn't move at all. He was completely frozen. "Darice? Are you in shock?"
He blinked slowly as he scanned the room full of bodies and then looked to his uncle. It appeared he couldn't comprehend what Dancer had done. He frowned at Sumi. "But he works in IT."
She laughed at Darice's confusion. "He doesn't work IT, sweetie." Ruffling his hair, she cut Darice loose and went to check on Bastien.
"Is he alive?" Dancer asked.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Dancer with Thia in his arms. "Yeah, but they beat him terribly."
Thia looked up at Dancer. "He refused to tell them anything about you or the base."
"Damn right," Bastien breathed, then groaned as he rolled himself over. Hissing, he grimaced. "Bastards hit like kindergarten girls. I think one of them even pulled my hair and said I had cooties."
Snorting, Dancer set Thia down beside her and Bastien. "I'm going to call for an evac." He placed every one of his weapons down beside them, except for his two prized Andarion blasters. He changed out their cartridges before he tucked them into his holsters. "Anything moves, shoot it with extreme prejudice."
Sumi dropped her gaze to his side and leg where he was bleeding profusely. "We need to tend those."
"Call first. I'll be back in a few."
"You're a stubborn beast, Dancer Hauk!" she called as he made his way to the door.
He turned back to grin at her. "You forgot to add sexy to that list."
"Nah, that might go to your big fat head!"
Laughing, he vanished into the hallway.
Darice still looked shell-shocked. "How did he move like that?"
Thia rolled her eyes. "Uncle Hauk is a war hero, Darice. One of the best of his breed."
Still lying on his back, Bastien turned his head toward Thia. "He's Akuma, isn't he?"
Thia gave him a blank stare. "Don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeah, you do. But that's all right. He told me he was Sentella. Only one being I've heard of who's almost seven feet tall and fights like that. Damn." He laughed bitterly. "And here I offered to help him." His maniacal laughter ended with a sharp groan.
Sumi moved to help him with his wounds as best she could. "Thank you, by the way."
Bastien scowled at her. "For what? Getting my ass kicked or bleeding on the floor?"
"Keeping them safe."
Bastien quirked his lips. "It's good to play hero again. Forgot how much I missed it." Sucking his breath in sharply as she touched the cut on his forehead, he growled at her. "Then again, this shit sucks! Gah, what was I thinking?"
But she could tell by the gleam in his eyes that much like Dancer, Bastien lived for the fight, too.
Hauk sighed at the sorry condition of the subspace equipment. It appeared to have been idle since Aksel died. The dust and extreme weather conditions had done a number on it.
But within a few minutes, he had it mostly working.
At least he hoped he did.
Flipping it on, he set the coordinates for Nykyrian's link and pressed the record. "Hey, drey. I'm calling to let you know that we're fine, but taking heavy fire. I have a tracker in my back and am about to head out alone to keep my pursuers away from the kids." He paused to grimace as pain racked him. "I'm sending them to Canyon Point. Fain will know where that is. Be aware, we've picked up two others with us. A woman named Sumi and a man Fain knows. Bastien Cabarro. Don't shoot the friendlies, especially the woman. It'll piss me off, if you do. We will keep Thia safe, but I need..." He hissed again as he fought down the pain. "I need you guys. Don't drag your asses."
His breathing ragged, he sent the message and got up to rejoin the others. He shivered from
the agony of his wounds, and blood loss. But he refused to go down. They needed him and he wasn't about to let them get hurt.
His entire body protesting, he limped back toward the bay. It'd take a couple of hours for that transmission to reach Nyk. A couple more for everyone to scramble. Half a day to get here.
In the meantime, he had a few more things to take care of.
Pacing the room, Sumi chewed her nail, debating whether or not she should go after Dancer to make sure he was all right. She was just about to leave and check on him when the door opened.
By the slowness of his movements, she could tell he was in a lot of pain. With a smile, he touched her chin then looked to Bastien. "Bas? Anything in this place you need?"