I still can’t believe what our women are capable of doing. After what was revealed yesterday, we delayed the attack until today, making sure that we know where the snipers are, and are prepared to extract the three women. Celmund is riding next to me today. As soon as he heard there were computers with information, he was ready to leave.

We won’t be going in blind anymore, thanks to our women and the information they acquired for us. When Nova first touched Jasmine and I saw that she was seeing something, I wanted to tear Nova away from her, even though I knew she wasn’t under any duress. The only thing that held me back was the serene look on her face. When Wulf used to freak about Jasmine using her gift, I thought he was overdoing it, but now that I have Nova, I understand.

As we approach the area we’re going to attack, I see Gunner and Caelius turn. They’re supposed to go to the back of the buildings to apprehend the snipers. We decided to try to catch as many of these fuckers as possible for information. Now that we know the women will be able to stop Elementals from turning into Keres, we can eradicate these motherfuckers once and for all.

The rest of us park our bikes where we usually stake out the bar. I will be going in through the tunnel with Celmund, Wulf, Bjarni, and Cassius. Nova described what Brol looks like, so as soon as Gunner and Caelius give us the go ahead, we will be moving in.

Draco, Bion, and Brandr will be going in through the bar area. Burkhart stayed behind with the women at the compound, to his dismay. I smile when I remember Aria ask him sweetly if he would like to go play Monopoly with them when we left. He had grumbled something about having to check his bike and disappeared.

“We’re in position,” Caelius says in our earpieces. “Two apprehended.”

“Let’s move,” Draco orders.

We make our way to the back alley where the dumpster that Jasmine painted is situated. Draco and the guys with him make their way into the bar. Bjarni places his hands on the dumpster and pushes. “Fuck, this shit stinks,” he complains as he starts to move the dumpster away from the hidden entrance.

“That’s enough. We can get in,” Wulf calls as he disappears into the opening. Following him, I see steps leading down. There are no lights on the steps, but as Elementals we can see reasonably well in the dark. When we reach the bottom of the steps, we stop. Wulf indicates that there is movement ahead. Looking over his shoulder, I see two guys standing at what seems the end of the tunnel. Looking closer, I see that the one on the right is Brol. Fuck, I hope Nova’s persuasion holds, because if they start shooting, they might kill the women and destroy the computer hard drives.

“Let’s do this,” Wulf calls quietly, and steps into the tunnel. Instantly, the two guys tense, both lifting their weapons. I see Brol shake his head in confusion, but then he turns towards his companion and hits him over the head with his firearms butt.

“Fuck, my woman is good,” I state. I can feel the smile splitting across my face.

“Yeah, yeah, wanker,” Brandr says in our earpieces. “Don’t forget if it wasn’t for Aria, you would have been shot and would be looking like Swiss cheese from the snipers.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for Jasmine, your women wouldn’t have done anything,” Wulf states.

“Fuck, can we maybe continue with this little party, or are you guys going to take out your dicks and start to compare,” Draco says.

“There’s no comparing once I take mine out,” Bjarni states quietly as we start moving towards Brol.

“Yeah, because you’re a dick,” I tease, hearing snorting from my brothers in my ear.

“Brol?” Cassius asks.

“Yes?”

“How many men inside?” he asks. I see Brol frown, and then he informs us that there are five with him.

“Show us the way to the women but let us know where the other men are first,” Cassius commands.

“There is one at the door to the warehouse, two by the computers, and two by the door that comes down from the bar,” he reveals, starting to turn and make his way further into the tunnel.

“Wait, are the guys by the computers instructed to destroy them if this place is breached?” Celmund asks.

“Yes.”

“How do we get around that?” Celmund persists.

“If you come in through the bar area and they don’t see you, you could possibly shoot them before they have a chance to do anything.”

Wulf is already informing Draco of what we have just learned. “Okay, hold back until I give you the go ahead,” Draco orders.

“Let’s move, but quietly, and stop if you see one of the other guys,” Wulf says to Brol. We start to make our way quietly through the tunnel. After a few meters, there’s a curve ahead and then a metal door blocking the tunnel from the open area. Wulf looks back at me and raises an eyebrow in question; I nod to let him know that I will be able to bend the door when needed for us to enter.

“We’re about to enter,” Draco warns. I move forward, placing my hands on the door near where the lock is, and start to liquefy the metal. Soon, there is a hole where the lock was, and the door starts to swing in. Looking back at the guys, I nod, letting them know that we are good to go.

“Now,” Draco says. As soon as we have the go ahead, we kick the door down with our guns drawn. As I step inside, I see a guy coming at us from the corner of my eye, his gun drawn. Before I can act, I see a blade fly past my head and sink into the guy’s throat. Instantly, blood starts to gush. I shoot, hitting him in the heart, and he disintegrates into a puddle.

Cassius and Celmund rush towards the computers as Brandr and Bion close in from the other side. “Fuck, they’re fire benders,” Celmund calls. I see Cassius stop and look around, and then he drops to his knees and places both hands on the floor.

“Bion, over here! Use this water,” he says in our earpiece. Both Bion and Cassius are water benders, and it looks as if they are going to cool down the two fire benders who are even now starting to destroy the computers. Bion moves to stand behind Brandr as Brandr continues firing to try to distract the Keres. Bion lifts one hand, pointing at the water rising around Cassius, and with the other, he points at the two Keres and then opens his hand with the palm facing them. The water rises in a wave towards them and the fire. Cassius continues to produce water as Bion maintains a steady waterfall on the guys. Brandr and Draco rush forward, tackling the two men to the ground.

Celmund rushes towards the computers, trying to save the information. Bjarni and I make our way towards the first metal cell where a woman is sitting on a chair with her head covered with a cloth bag.

As I’m about to touch the cell to bend the metal to open the door, Brandr roars, “Stop!” Looking back, I see him rushing towards me, his eyes on the door. “The cells are rigged. Look at those micro lights on the ceiling. You see how they are facing each cell?” Bjarni and I look up at the ceiling at the same time, and in fact, there are tiny blue lights. Fuck, if I hadn’t been looking for them, I wouldn’t have seen them. The sons of bitches always have a fucking plan up their sleeves.

“What now?” Bjarni asks.

“Those lights are sensors. Anyone moves inside that cell, and I would bet”—his voice lowers—“that there are explosives under the chair and it will blow.” Each cell I look at looks the same. All three women are strapped to a chair and blindfolded. I see Brandr looking around as if he’s looking for something.

“Fuck,” he says as he walks towards a concrete pillar that looks as if it was plastered not long ago. “These beams work by remote, but there has to be a main box somewhere, and it looks like it’s in this fucking concrete pillar.”

“Move over. See a master at work,” I joke as I walk up to the pillar. Placing my hands flat on the concrete, I imagine the concrete dissolving and running down to the ground. Soon, I see the concrete start to disintegrate into small particles and run down like water, forming a puddle on the floor. After a minute, there is a hole the size of a head in the pillar where a black box with a red light can be seen.

“There you go. Don’t say I never did anything for you,” I tease as I move over to let Brandr look at the box.

“Yeah, yeah, asshole, we’ll give you a medal when we get back to the compound,” he chirps as he starts to work on the box.

“We need to move. Hurry it up,” Draco states as Celmund carries the two computer boxes, one under each arm. Wulf and Cassius have tied the Keres and are now ushering them out as well.

“This isn’t a fucking game. If I cut the wrong wire, we are all going to blow,” Brandr warns as he continues to work. “Okay, as soon as you hear a beep, you can open the cells, but don’t move the women. Let me check the chairs first.”

A minute later, there’s a beep. I hurriedly dissolve the steel of the latch, letting the door squeak open. I move towards the other cells, repeating the process as Brandr walks in and kneels on the floor, having a look under the chair where the woman is sitting. “Okay, this one’s good. Unstrap her,” Brandr calls to Bjarni as he moves towards the other cell.

I’ve opened the last cell when I hear Brandr asking Bion to unstrap the second woman. He then makes his way towards me, a scowl on his face. “Don’t you think we make a good pair? I think I will start helping you from now on instead of Burkhart,” I tease, trying to lighten his mood. Burkhart and Brandr have partnered together for decades when disarming bombs. I know that there is no way Burkhart or Brandr would willingly partner with anyone else.

“I think you’re wanting to get strapped to one of these chairs. How would Nova feel when you pitch up with burnt balls?” he replies, moving towards the last woman. I’m about to answer, when he stops, looking around carefully. “Don’t fucking move, or you will have more than burnt balls.”

“What?” I ask. Brandr isn’t the type to alarm easily, but at the moment, he’s looking fucking twitchy.

“She’s fucking dead for one, but I have a feeling something else is going on in this cell,” he states.

“Fuck.” Looking over my shoulder, I see Draco hurrying towards us with a concerned look on his face.

“What’s going on?” he asks, stopping a few feet away.

“I need you to look under and on top of the bars of this cell and see if you can see any lights,” Brandr asks. I see Draco’s eyes lighten to an ungodly light blue with anger before he lowers to his stomach and looks under the bars of the cell. After a few seconds, he stands. Walking around the cell, he looks to see if he can see any light on the top.

“There’s a red light on the bottom by the door and one on top in the righthand corner in front of you,” he reveals angrily.

“Fuck,” Brandr booms. He looks back at me to see where I’m standing. One of my feet is inside the cell, and the rest of my body is still outside. “Fuck, we can’t move. The bomb has been activated. Any movement and this fucking place blows.”

“How do we disarm it?” Draco asks.

“Motion detectors can be reset by pointing a source of light of a certain wavelength—infrared or near infrared—at them. This blinds the sensors for as long as the light source is pointed at them, plus an additional few seconds. These sensors also rely on magnetic fields to work, and if you hit them with a high enough magnetic field, they trip,” Brandr explains

“The magnetic fields I can do. Don’t have infrareds, though. How’re we going to do this?” Draco asks.

“Darn, Draco, here I thought you were all powerful. Are you sure you don’t shoot infrared out of your ass when upset? I swear I can see some sparks,” I tease, trying to lighten his mood. The way he’s going, we won’t need the bomb. He will fry us with the heat radiating from his body. One thing that can guarantee Draco’s anger is one of us being threatened, and one thing no one wants to do is anger Draco. As the oldest Elemental in the MC, he has powers beyond anything any of us can do.

“I swear, asshole, as soon as you’re out of here, I’m going to toast your ass,” he promises but there’s a slight lift to his lips.

“I don’t know about you two, but I would love to get out of here. Can we get less talk and more action, please?” Brandr states sarcastically.

“Okay, how do we do this?” Draco asks.

“There’s a flashlight in my backpack. You need to point it at the sensor on the top. As soon as you see it flicker, I need you to hit it with a magnetic field. Once the field is down, we only have a few seconds,” Brandr informs us. Draco is already searching in the backpack for the flashlight. Drawing back, he holds out two of them.

“Which one?” he asks.

“The blue one.”

He throws the other back and then moves towards the cell again. “As soon as I hit it with a magnetic field, I want you two to make a run for it,” he orders.

“No fucking way,” I state. “We all make a run for it.” There is no way in hell I’m leaving one of my brothers behind to save my ass.

“I’m not leaving without you, either; once the field is down, we have a chance to make it,” Brandr says.

“Now listen, fuckers, I’m way faster than both of you together. Even leaving after you, I will probably make it outside before you. You are going to leave as soon as I tell you, and I will follow,” he commands. There is a thread of steel in his voice that leaves no chance to argue. “Now, are you ready?”

We both grunt in reply, still rebellious at his command. I see the light from the flashlight come on, and then he’s shining it up. A few seconds later, the red light starts to flicker, and then I feel the pull of the magnetic field.

“Move, motherfuckers,” Draco booms.

Brandr and I are both running by the time the words are out of his mouth. We’re through the tunnel and nearly at the outside door when I feel heat behind me. Looking back, I see Draco running towards us, a shield of fire behind him. Fuck, he is quick. We are charging through the door when the ground shakes with an explosion.

“Fuck, that was way too close,” Bjarni calls out from where he’s standing on the other side of the alley. “We need to move. This explosion will bring the attention of the cops.” We hurriedly make our way to where we left our bikes. The others are all waiting there for us, except for Gunner and Caelius, who have taken the women and the computers in the SUV. I’m about to get on my bike when I feel a burning sensation in my upper thighs, and then I notice a burning smell. Looking over my shoulder, I suddenly feel my ass on fire.

“What the fuck?” I start to hit at my jeans as I look over my shoulder, seeing the back of my jeans by my ass completely burnt away. My brothers all laugh uproariously. Looking at Draco, I see him sitting on his bike, roaring with laughter.

“I told you I’d toast your ass,” he states, and then he’s laughing again.

“Very funny, asshole.” But then I’m also roaring with laughter.