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“Cartoons are outlawed in Agletaria. Its rulers believe they weaken the mind.” Monty shook his head sadly.

“You have no faith in the machine, that’s your problem.

Wyatt is like that too. You simply can’t conceive of anything bigger than yourselves.

” He smirked slightly, as if amused by Bridget’s stupidity and conceit.

“Gears within gears, Miss Haniver.” He took a sip of his tea. “Gears within gears.”

Mack crossed his arms over his chest. “I have no faith in ‘the machine’ because ‘the machine’ is going to get innocent people killed .”

“Quite possibly.” Monty agreed casually, like it was a small matter. “But, again, that’s not my department.”

“Do we even know who’s inside this base?

” Mull asked, feeling uncharacteristically concerned about human life at the moment.

She wasn’t sure if that was a result of Oz or an aspect of today’s personality, but it was now a gnawing doubt in the face of a looming massacre.

Ordinarily, she’d be the loudest supporter of this plan, so it felt odd.

“There could be... like… families in there for all we know, which is probably something we should figure out before letting a dragon loose inside.”

“Yes, I too wish that I could hug all the little children of the world.” Monty’s mocking tone was as dry as the Sahara.

Emily snorted in laughter.

Monty turned to look at Mull. “Multifarious– and I hope you recognize how sincerely I mean this– I give less than a shit about the suffering of the Agletarian people.”

“I just think we could try to take out the people trying to kill us without massacring innocent people too.” She thought aloud. “That’s how I’d want this done.”

“Brace yourself for disappointment.” Monty advised.

“I prolly could have made a bionic eye for Monty.” Mack announced to the room, seriously.

“Take a few hours. When I was done, he’d see perfect.

Better than ever. But I didn’t make him one.

And I have no intention of ever trying.” He gave a meaningful pause.

“What does that tell you about my opinion of the man?”

Monty opened his mouth to reply to that, but his phone unexpectedly rang to the opening bars of Oklahoma!

by Rogers and Hammerstein. He pressed the answer button.

“I’m listening.” He was silent for a moment.

“Understood. If it gets bad, I’ll involve ‘Special Projects’ and play my hold card.

” He hung up and pressed several buttons on the phone.

“Get ready. You might need to fill in until Hildy gets back.” Then he hung up again.

Mull glanced at Oz. “I’m starting to think it was a bad idea to trust our defense to a megalomaniacal madman.” She thought aloud.

“I never thought it was a good idea.” Oz reminded her.

“Should we… do something?” She wondered, honestly unsure what people were supposed to do when they cared about stuff like this.

“What would you suggest?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Oz considered that for a long moment, then turned to face Monty.

“Welles?” Monty turned to look at him and Oz’s voice grew cold.

“Combatants only. There are missing people who could be in that building, to say nothing of non-combatants living with the Agletarians. Your team touches an innocent in that building, and I will be very upset.”

He somehow managed to turn “very upset” into a threat which brought to mind pools of Monty’s blood and entrails.

It was pretty cool, actually. Mull always had to be much more graphic and loud with her threats, but Oz could be downright terrifying without even raising his voice. And the fact that he could do it and still retain his role as moral authority, was something special indeed.

Wow.

Monty simply watched him for a long moment, recognizing the seriousness of the warning. Higgins recognized it too, slowly moving so that he’d have a clearer shot at Oz, should the situation fall apart.

To Mull’s surprise though, Monty simply smiled.

“I know what I’m doing, Oswald.” He assured him, turning back to look at the screen.

“They’ve come to take everything I’ve built.

” He said softly to himself. “Let’s see which of us deserves to have it.

” He raised his hand and then pointed at the screen. “Higgins… start the machine .”

Higgins said something into the radio, and the truck on the monitor exited the woods and approached the exterior fence of the Agletarian’s base. It halted at the guard booth and the Consortium team inside began to talk their way in.

Everyone in the room watched the unfolding drama with varying degrees of apprehension.

Then the guard waved the truck through the gates and onto the grounds of the base itself.

Monty clapped his hands together and then spread his arms wide, like he was calling their attention to his success.

The sense of relief was short-lived though.

On the screen, Mull noticed a group of soldiers pouring out onto the roof of the building, as if an alarm had been tripped.

She got to her feet, opening her mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. The men on the roof opened fire and the back of the truck exploded in a fireball, sending debris flying in all directions.

The people in the Consortium’s war room gasped in horror as twisted and bloody pieces of their friends rained down from the sky onto the base.

A moment later, the guards were dragging a burned and gravely injured Poacher from the fiery cab of the truck, somehow having survived the initial explosion. He was kicking and cursing at them, trying to struggle free and reach safety.

He took down five of them before they clubbed him over the head and dragged him away.

The fires continued to burn .

The body parts continued to pile up.

And the room was deathly still, too shocked and terrified to speak.

Monty watched the failure of his plan play out for a moment in stony silence, the fiery wreckage reflected in his monocle.

Then he began to laugh.

A demented cackling sound of pure egotism and pitiless disregard for human life.

He didn’t care at all about the people who had just been incinerated on his command.

Or the fact that he had doomed the Consortium and the world along with it.

Or the realization that many in the room had just lost friends.

He didn’t care about any of it , because his twisted heart simply thought the horrible scene of death and destruction was amusing.

He rose to his feet, still chuckling, and limped from the room.

“That wasn’t exactly ‘magic,’ Monty.” Clarice shouted after him, sounding angry.

Mack turned to the smoking wreckage shown on the screen, as the feed blinked to static.

His mouth hung open in horror. “My gawd…” He turned to look at Oz, his eyes wide.

“Don’t you see what he just did?” He turned back to the screen.

“Don’t you understand!?! He just wiped out half the people who were standin’ in his way here! He took out… oh God…”

Bridget had her face in her hands, staring at the screen like she was going to cry. Julian put his arms around her, trying to calm her down.

Oz let out a tired sigh. “I will deal with the Agletarian side of the investigation too.” He announced, like it was a matter which was already settled. “I will handle this incident, and then I will handle Welles .”

Julian nodded. “I will take my queen, Wyatt, Harlot, and all other vulnerable personnel to the Undersea Base.” His hand tightened on his trident. “Then I will return and help you deal with Montgomery.”

“We need to get Syd back.” Mull stressed. “ That’s our priority at the moment.”

“Sydney knows the security codes to the Crater Layer.” Marian reminded them in her usual calmness. “And the tunnels to get in here.”

“He’s not gonna say shit.” Emily announced.

“He’s a fucking beast, man. Like some kind of ‘roided up monster.” She shook her head in certainty.

“You don’t wanna fuck with that. I don’t care how many goons or guns you have.

Throwing down with Syd is the stupidest– and likely the last– thing you do on the planet.

That motherfucker is jacked! It’d be like… suicide by badass.”

“…but his powers are not steroid induced.” Amy felt the need to add, as if defending the man’s dignity. “He obviously adheres to the requirements of our drug free workplace.”

“Wait… our what? ” Traitor paled. “Oh, shit.” He looked around the room. “Listen, I didn’t know that those brownies were…”

“Mack, how long will it take you to change the codes and seal off the secret tunnels?” Bridget interrupted, her voice breaking.

“If we want them to hold against a determined and super-powered foe?” The man did the math in his head. “Longer than we have.” He decided. “Syd’s tough, but…”

“Oh, grow a fucking pair.” Emily rolled her eyes.

“He can take it. When push comes to shove, and shove comes to savage beating with a tire iron, that there is the toughest person I’ve ever known.

” She shook her head again, looking certain.

“Hardest motherfucker walking, no doubt. That son-of-a-bitch won’t break, no matter what they do to him. Not ever . I’d bet my life on it.”

“How about your sister’s ?” Bridget asked. “You willing to bet her life on it?”

Emily turned to glance at her twin for a long moment and Amy did the same.

They turned back to Bridget. “Yes.” The girls said in unison.

“Sydney is a man who’ll jump on grenades.

” Mull reminded them. “He’s not afraid of dying for us.

But we owe it to him to get him back. This is not up for debate.

Syd. Comes. Home. ” She jammed her finger against the table to accentuate the point.

“If it destroys the entire city and launches the country into war, Syd comes home. ”

Oz nodded. “I agree.”

Traitor put his feet up on the table. “My dad always said that there were two different kinds of fighter in this world: there’s the guy that’s going to win because he’s stronger than the other guy, and there’s the guy who’s going to win because he’s tougher than the other guy.

See, they’re two different things. The strong guy is going to beat you into submission.

He wins because he’s more powerful than you.

The tough guy, on the other hand, is going to stand there and take everything you can throw at him, and he’ll stay on his feet.

He won’t go down no matter how severe the punishment you’re able to dish out, or how long the fight lasts.

You can cut him. You can burn him. You can take away everything he’s got and heap shit on him that no man could bear.

But as long as he’s alive, he’ll just keep right on coming back.

Always. You simply can’t stop him, and sooner or later, you’ll get tired of trying and he’ll find the opening he was waiting for.

If you could get the right shot in, you could take the strong guy down.

He doesn’t know anything about pain. He’s never tasted his own blood or heard his own screams.” He shook his head.

“But you can’t ever beat the tough one. He’s had too much hurt to ever hurt again.

” Traitor crossed his arms over his chest. “Anyone trying to beat information out of Syd is going to be sorely disappointed. And have very sore fists at the end of it. My money is on Syd. He’s got this, us getting involved in it is just going to hurt his game. ”

“He will break.” Marian announced with conviction. “We have a day and a half.”

“ A day and a half!?! ” Emily repeated, sounding incredulous. “Oh, that’s bullshit ! That’s complete and utter bullshit! I am genuinely insulted on Syd’s behalf now. It’ll take them longer than thirty-six hours just to tie him to the fucking torture table!”

“While I obviously greatly respect your opinion, Marian,” Amy said softly, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with my sister in this matter.

Sydney is far too stubborn to break so easily.

And he’s much too strong to ever betray or endanger us.

He will protect our family, no matter the personal cost. That is who he is. ”

“We have thirty-five hours, fifty-nine minutes.” Marian affirmed emotionlessly. “After that, the Agletarians will be upon us.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Emily flipped her off. “You got no idea what the hell you’re talking about right now, Marian.” She was silent for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice broke. “Just… just fuck you.”

Oz clasped his fingers tighter around Mull’s and it made her feel so much better for some reason. “Looks like we took a shot at the bear and missed it.” He thought aloud.

“Yep.” She nodded, squeezing his hand back. “Guess we’ll have to kill the fucker hand-to-hand instead.”