Justin
They roared into the parking lot, making no effort to hide themselves. In fact, the arrival of the two trucks was designed to hopefully draw out any Agents that might have been waiting for them.
Tires screeched as both drivers slewed the vehicles around to a halt. Justin wasn’t behind the wheel. He was an expert on a bike, but both Connor and Jared were better behind the wheel of something bigger. He emerged swiftly though and the four of them strode toward the warehouse.
To their left was a long low grassy ridge that ran all the way down the long side of the rectangular building and extended for at least half a mile on either side of it. Somewhere behind that, the other five were pulling nearer. Madison had procured a minivan from somewhere, and they had all crammed inside that, deciding it would help hide them better than the normal trucks they drove.
Behind them was the main road that ran in the opposite direction of the ridge. It hung a hard turn and went parallel to the ridge heading in the opposite direction of the Agency’s warehouse, making it an end unit. To the rear and right of them were more buildings, each just as large as the one they were about to enter.
“This is crazy,” he muttered, his stomach in knots over the upcoming fight. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure if he could follow through with what was necessary.
It wasn’t that he wanted to run from the fight. Justin wasn’t scared of that. He could take on the Agency, and he could fight their men. But he wasn’t sure he could land the killing blow. Injuring them and rendering them useless to the fight he was okay with. It was taking the next step that he was unsure he could do.
“Stay alert,” Jared ordered, his voice muffled through the mask they all wore in an attempt to hide their identities from the Agency.
Justin sounded his confirmation as the warehouse loomed up, blocking the sun from them as they neared it.
The lower-lying section they had scaled the other night was off to their right. In front of them was a giant wall without windows, punctuated by a massive garage door big enough for two semis to fit through on their right. Neither that nor the personnel door had any windows in it either. They were going in completely blind.
“This is suicide,” he said aloud, his back slamming into the wall on the right of the door. Connor mimicked his pose on the left, while Josh took up position behind Justin.
Jared approached the door, looked at his team to ensure everyone was ready, and without preamble kicked the door in. The hope was that the Agency wouldn’t expect them to attack, but would instead be prepared for some sort of covert operation, which was normal for the Sentinels. This full-frontal assault wasn’t their normal style, but even he thought it might have a chance of working.
Jared fell back from his kick, absorbing the force. Before he was recovered Justin was already through the door, Josh and Connor hot on his heels.
Two men were waiting for them, guns already drawn. The door flying at them had caused them to duck aside, however, and the Sentinels hit them like a brick wall. Justin saw Josh bore his man to the ground. He focused on his man, grabbing his gun arm, snapping it in half and delivering a hard block that broke the man’s leg, forcing him to the ground in the process.
Justin continued the spin used to force the man down and headed deeper into the warehouse, everything registering in him as he went. Behind him, he knew that Connor would deal with him. Those Agents had been tranquilizer-armed humans. Not Extremis Agents of any sort. That meant the real threat was ahead of them.
Slowing, he took in what he saw. The warehouse was three stories tall at its peak, and stacked in the center of it were huge shipping containers. He wondered how they had gotten there, until his eyes located a big, squat, ugly-looking forklift in the back corner.
A balcony ran around the perimeter of the warehouse, from which huge spotlights lit the ground below it.
The whole place was empty.
He came to a halt as that fact registered.
“There’s no one else here,” he said aloud, his voice echoing slightly through the cavernous building.
“That we can see,” Jared said, stepping up next to him with the others.
Behind them, the initial guards gurgled and died, a sound that he tried to tune out, but with limited success.
The four of them fanned out slightly so that they weren’t clumped up, and began to circle to their left. Any number of things could be waiting on the far side of the stacked containers. They needed to find out, and to spring the inevitable trap.
“Come on,” he said as they walked, urging the Agency to move.
Thirty seconds later, the doors to one of the shipping containers flew open and men streamed out to block the exit.
Four. Six. Ten. Twelve.
Twelve, a full Extremis team. They’ve been planning this for a while now if they’re willing to commit that many Agents to a fight. This has to be close to their entire available force in King City.
A smile tugged at his lips as he realized that they were going to strike a major blow today.
It died instantly as he realized that the odds were very good he might lose someone he cared about today as well. Twelve Agents was nothing to sneeze at.
Several human Agents were now visible on the far side of the containers, but Justin wasn’t worried about them. They would likely stay out of the fight, and only move in if it were absolutely safe.
Blood began to sing in his veins as his heart sped up in anticipation of the coming fight. His bear, dormant lately except for when he was near Shay, awoke with an angry growl that burbled up through his throat.
On either side of him his team let their shared sentiments be known, the challenges ringing louder and louder through the warehouse. The Agents watched on in silence, but Justin noted that every single one of them was, in fact, watching. Their attention was focused on the four Sentinels, their noise drowning out the approach of the five other figures in the hallway behind them.
Jared didn’t wait any longer; he just barked one last challenge at the Agents and then he charged.
The others were right behind him as they ran across the concrete floor.
The Agents still said nothing, but they did split into pairs, leaving some distance between each duo. Four pairs stepped forward, while two stepped back.
So that’s how it’s going to be. They’ve finally gotten smart and started training in pairs have they? Two of them to one of us is a closer to fair fight than I’d prefer. But then again, there are more than four of us.
He leaped at the pair that moved to meet him, making them think they were fighting a demonic human who would close on them as fast as possible to deal his damage, a whirlwind, reckless fighter. But a split second before his toes pushed off the ground, he called to his bear, and then he yanked on it.
It was difficult to explain to anyone who didn’t have the ability to shift. But he kept his bear in his mind, and when he wanted to shapeshift, he opened a door to a tunnel and let it flow through into him. But because it was his mind, he could also open that door and reach in and pull the bear toward him if he wanted.
The result of that was painful, but extremely effective. Normally the time to shift takes a second, maybe even two if one is feeling lazy.
By yanking on his bear, it happened so fast that it took about the same amount of time to blink as it did for Justin’s gray bear to manifest. The pain of such a sudden transformation forced feedback into his brain, causing him to howl with agony, but the effect of having close to two tons of bear land on his foes was worth the price he had to pay.
Justin landed, rolled off them as smoothly as his bear would allow, and scrambled back to his feet, his massive paws scraping against the ground. He darted in at one shifter as he rose and smacked him as hard as he could with a paw, sending him sliding across the floor until he slammed into one of the metal containers, his leg bent back awkwardly.
One down.
Searing pain erupted in his side and he whirled to confront the second Agent before he could land another blow against his ribs. His jaws closed on the man’s shoulder and he jerked him off his feet, shaking him like a rag doll, ignoring the fist hammering at his skull.
He let the man fly in the direction of one of the reserve pairs, who were now turning to confront the second Underground team as they emerged from the entrance and joined the fray. The numbers were against the Agency, and in short order their Extremis Agents were down, or had surrendered.
Justin turned, shifting back to human form as he pelted after the two human guards as they tried to escape down a hallway at the back. His feet pounded across the pavement, alerting them to his presence. One tried for his gun, but Justin just picked him up and carried him forward until he reached the tunnel entrance. There, he let go, and the guard slammed into the wall, missing the tunnel, while Justin went into the opening.
He caught up with the last guard even as he reflected on how easily everything had been going so far. Those Agents had to have been minimally trained to go down that easily. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. What was he missing?
“Enough,” he growled, catching up with the last guard and hoisting him off the ground, pinning him to the wall instead of killing him outright, though he wasn’t sure why.
“Please, please don’t hurt me!” the Agent said.
That was new. They never spoke, except to taunt the Underground.
With a snarl he reached forward and ripped the guard’s mask off.
An older man, with clean-cut hair, a crooked nose, and a mole on his left cheek stared back at him.
“Holy shit,” Justin whispered in stunned shock.
“What?” the man squeaked in terror, and when he spoke, Justin saw the gap between his front teeth.
“You’re her father?” he asked incredulously. “What the fuck are you doing working for the Agency?”
The man looked at him wide-eyed. “Who? What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, his voice returning to a normal level.
Sounds exploded from outside the tunnel again, shouts and cries, growls and thuds, the smacks of flesh hitting flesh with explosive force.
He was needed.
“Find a new job. I’ll get you work so that you don’t need to do this for a living,” he said, gesturing behind him. “Keep Shay safe, and leave the Agency. Do you hear me?” he roared.
The man nodded, and Justin threw him down the tunnel toward the exit before turning and charging back outside. The only thing keeping him on his feet just then was his training.
His team was fighting again, and he needed to be there to help them. That was so ingrained in him he couldn’t ignore it even if he wanted to.
I almost killed her father.
Then another thought.
Her father works for the fucking Agency!
This was not good. Not good at all. Shay had told him before he dropped her off that she was going back out to search for him. Now he was terrified that she might have found him. Or at least, where he worked.
No wonder the Agency HQ was in the background of that picture. He was showing her where he worked!
If Shay went there…she would be in a world of trouble. The Agency would take her in, and he might never see her again as they tried to keep her quiet. The last thing they wanted was her going to the news and exposing their operations to everyone because she was trying to find her father. It was unlikely, but all sorts of terrible things were running through his head just then.
A brutal scene was laid out before him as he stormed back into the main area. Arianna and Andre were down, surrounded by pools of blood. Ajax was crouched over his mate, trying to staunch the flow as he stared daggers at the three men at the center of everything.
Milos was hanging back, his arm hanging limply at his side, though otherwise he looked fine.
Madison and the rest of his team were currently fighting for their life as the three attackers bore down upon them in a weaving, bobbing dance of death. The fluidity of their strikes and coordinated movement told Justin that these were no normal Agents.
These had to be ones who had been injected with the Enhanced version of the Extremis serum. They were a rare breed, and to see three of them committed to one fight meant that J and his bald sidekick were serious about stopping the Sentinels.
Not today, he snarled silently, his feet propelling him forward.
As he watched, Madison went flying aside with a cry, a wound blossoming up her side as blood flowed rapidly, soaking her shirt in a second. She hit the ground and rolled several times, leaving bloodspots as she went.
Connor, briefly distracted by his mate’s injury, took a heavy blow to the ribs, but he managed to back away and escape further injury.
The three Enhanced turned to Jared and Josh.
Justin poured on more speed. His team was outnumbered, and outclassed. They needed him.
He pulled the same trick, shifting mid-air as he landed amongst the Enhanced, spinning rapidly as he flicked out left and right with his paws, landing blows and splitting flesh down to the bone.
It wasn’t going to be enough, he knew that. But it served as a distraction, and he knew the other Sentinels wouldn’t hesitate to act on it.
He was right. The pair of them picked the nearest Enhanced as the three turned to deal with Justin. Even as he took a hammer blow to the side and then the head, he saw them take one of the Enhanced down, their bears appearing to rip him apart in a spew of blood and gore. Another blow leveled Justin as the remaining Enhanced Agents found their balance again.
One of them spun away as Connor re-entered the fight, trying to buy Justin time. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely work.
Above him, the remaining Enhanced raised his fist and prepared to crush Justin’s skill with a final blow.
He tried to move away, but the pain was too great. He had done his job, buying his team time to regroup and go on the attack. Justin was at peace with that. A smile blossomed on his face as he watched the blow slowly begin to descend.
Death had come for him, and he embraced it.