***
The vehicles pulled to a swift halt against the curb in front of the lobby of the Agency headquarters.
“Look alive people,” Jared said as they all disembarked rapidly and formed up on him, long strides carrying them across the open ground.
The big glass windows of the ground floor loomed up in front of them, becoming transparent as they closed distance. Inside he saw people shouting and gesturing like crazy as they realized that the Underground had arrived.
Jared didn’t have to give the command. He simply leaned forward and called to his bear, summoning the feral beast that lived within him, until it ripped from his skin with a monstrous roar that shook the glass and sent bystanders scattering for cover. He surged forward, alone for just a moment in time, him against anyone who stood between him and Nadia.
Then the others were there. Giant bears shouting their defiance and anger as they charged alongside him. Mixed within them were the sleek, lethal forms of the werewolves, howling their distaste for those who continued to seek the extinction of their kind.
The Underground hit the glass like a wrecking ball, not slowing down as they barreled into the lobby in a hail of glass shards. The Agency was waiting for them. They didn’t have any shifters of their own, but they were all Extremis Agents at a minimum, and he guessed there would be several Enhanced Extremis among them as well. They were shifters who had been injected with a rarer, more advanced serum that gave them the baseline shifter powers along with a greatly increased single one, such as strength, or speed.
Jared didn’t even try to slow as he picked a target. Instead his bear’s jaws snapped out, crunching down on the man’s arms. He planted his feet and spun, hurling the man across the room with frightening power. The movement didn’t kill his own momentum and he slid across the marbled floor, his giant claws leaving huge furrows in the material as he dug in, bringing himself to a halt.
All around him, his team took on the men of the Agency. To his right, Justin’s bear clamped down on an Agent’s leg, puncturing it with his teeth. The Agent raised his hand and slammed it down on the bear’s head, but the distraction was complete. A wolf lunged forward and took out his throat, darting away before the backhand could connect.
Something hit Jared like a ton of bricks and he went rolling onto his back. His training kicked in and he rolled with the blow, coming to his feet as the chunk of marble ripped from a column by an Agent and hurled at him came to a halt. He growled and charged at the man, who was already beginning to pry another piece free.
It was going to be close as the distance closed. Jared leapt from the ground at the same time the square piece of marble came free. His paws ripped the man’s throat to shreds as the makeshift weapon slammed into his side.
His bear made a pained noise and he went tumbling away under the blow, shocked at the intense strength behind it.
Must be an Enhanced.
The Sentinel Alpha recovered first and darted in to finish his foe before he could get to his feet. Blood dripped from his jaws as he stood up and looked around to see how the fight was going. It was mostly over. Even as he watched, the two wolves pulled down the final attacker, sharp teeth tearing flesh from his body with precision and speed, until the flayed corpse lay still in a pool of red.
He shifted back, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. It came away red, but he ignored it. That was the price of business.
Around him his team, his friends, his family, all shifted back as well, ignoring the carnage they had wrought.
Such was the life of a shifter.
Where to now? He walked up the stairs to the elevators.
“What floor?” he wondered aloud as the first elevator came to the bottom. They tensed, in case there were enemies inside, but it was empty.
“Based on the blueprints we got, the third floor seemed the best bet,” Justin said. “The layout of the rooms would work well for some interrogation-style ones.”
He looked at the other man, who just shrugged. “Got a better idea?”
Jared didn’t. “Three it is.”
Half of them piled into elevator one, the other half took the second elevator as it arrived.
The doors dinged open and he rushed out, ready to kill anyone waiting for them, but the hallway was empty.
“Was everyone really downstairs?” he asked as they prowled down the hallway, splitting off to open doors and look for Nadia or any other prisoners.
“Over here!” Madison called from farther down the hallway.
He moved swiftly to her side as she looked into a room. There was a metal chair and table bolted to the floor, with a pane of glass in the otherwise solid wall to the right.
“If this isn’t an interrogation room, I don’t know what is,” he said, moving past her to start checking all the next rooms.
The fourth one down opened, but this time, the chair was filled.