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“You know how crazy Dr. Wren is,” Lucienne protested.

“If I were him, I’d order you stay in bed for a month.”

Lucienne pouted.

“Kian can be overprotective,” the nanny said, “but I agree with him on this.”

“I regenerate much faster,” Lucienne said. “Have you forgotten?”

“Do you want to go to war in a week or not?” Kian asked.

“The men will be able to build the devices in a week?”

“We’ll push it. I know how eager you are to get rid of the mutant and secure the Fury kid. Let’s just get it over with.”

“And then we can focus on the war at the Red Mansion.”

“So you’d better stay in bed until you fully recover,” Kian said.

Lucienne didn’t want to argue with him again, so she turned to her nanny, “Aida, you should stay in bed and rest more. You were poisoned.”

“My sweet girl, I’m well enough,” Aida said, sending another spoon toward Lucienne’s mouth. “I don’t like so many people disturbing your rest. Kian, you must order the guards outside to block everyone other than me. Especially that Czech kid. He’s almost moved in here.”

Lucienne laughed softly. “Did you make him go home to shower again?”

Just then, Vladimir strolled in with a grin. His expensive cologne flowed to every corner of the room. “I just had my second shower today. Aida, you can leave now. I’ll feed Lucia. My hands are tender, and my smile sweeter.”

Aida shook her head in disgust. “I can’t stand to stay in the same room with him. His cologne is killing me. I can’t understand how my Lucia can take it.” She left for the door.

“I’ve been wondering the same since day one,” Kian said, covering his nose and following Aida out.

Lucienne knew that Vladimir intentionally wore the perfume to drive the men away, so he could have her all to himself. She looked at him disapprovingly.

Vladimir called after Kian and Aida. “You should thank me for not smelling of garlic.”

“If you do, I’ll kick you out,” Lucienne said with a straight face.

~

Lucienne, Kian, Vladimir, Orlando, their commando army, and their weapons engineers landed at Hell Gate. The tents they had left behind flapped in the wind.

The commandos only went out in groups of seven. They carried net launchers with them at all times. The plan was to transport Seraphen to the Sphinxes’ cage after capturing him. BL7 would carry the net with the captive trapped inside in the open air to Sphinxes. No one cared if the high velocity and altitude would kill him. It probably wouldn’t.

The warriors sought Seraphen everywhere except the Ghost House. The first week went by unproductively, and the men became restless.

Ashburn stayed one step ahead of them. Whenever Lucienne and her men went into town to lure him and Seraphen out, Ashburn would hide inside the Rabbit Hole.

Kian called for a second military meeting, and the men gathered inside the commander’s tent.

“I’ll take Squad One to the Ghost House to flush them out,” Orlando offered.

“You go in there,” Lucienne said, “you won’t come out alive.”

“I say we take the chance,” Orlando said. “We have the best combat commandos. Plus, we’re all wearing our impact suits. We’ll drag him out with the net launcher.”

Boiling with battle zest, the men shouted support. “We can handle one mutant!” Cam the giant was the loudest.

“You didn’t fight him as I did,” Lucienne said. “You didn’t see what he was capable of. And there’s so much about the Ghost House we don’t know. All that robot junk could come alive and go on a killing frenzy. I’m not overly cautious, but I won’t lose my best soldiers without good reason.”