LXXVIII. | 'The undefeated woman...'

Mariana sat in the front den, meditating. She'd decided to keep Marcos and Ramira home for the day without explanation. They'd not been terribly upset about it. Emiliana, on the other hand, had been rather insistent about attending school, and since Mariana didn't have an exact reason why her daughter should stay home, she ended up relenting and letting the girl go. And when the Lady Elroy went to tell Francisco to accompany his sister, she found the boy already prepared to leave.

Mariana wasn't given to smiling very often, but that had earned one from her.

'It is a little exciting,' said Shenado, making Mariana open one eye to look at her. 'I don't think we have ever ignored orders like this before. I wonder if we are going to get in trouble.'

'Probably.' She shut her eye again and took a deep breath. 'Whatever the punishment, I will take it.'

'Maybe they didn't realize that Zeff was out of town.'

'They certainly know now that I have told them.'

'Oddly sloppy on their part.'

'Perhaps they don't know you and I very well. Even after all these years in Lawrence's division, I still feel like the oddball out, sometimes.'

'There aren't very many women in his division. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Fifteen years, and they've assigned you a whole ten missions. Compare that to Zeff, who has had twenty-eight.'

She gave a slight nod. 'It is a bit annoying.'

'Maybe they think you are the "homemaker" type.'

'I doubt I give anyone that impression. It is probably more to do with my ability. On paper, my simple destruction type isn't as impressive as Zeff's power.'

'If they only knew.'

She smirked faintly.

'I expect they'll have Cisco go on his first mission soon,' said Shenado.

'They should. He has been ready for months.'

'You aren't worried?'

'Of course I am.'

'You don't act like it. You didn't act like it with Gema, either.'

'You would rather I made a fuss?'

'It would be interesting to see.'

'I knew what I was signing up for when I joined the Vanguard. And I knew what having children with Zeff would mean. Our role is only to protect them until they can protect themselves.'

Shenado let Mariana return to meditating. After a little while, however, a call came in on the speaker box. The butler moved to answer it for her, but Mariana waved him off.

<"There are two men here to see you,"> said Nico's voice. <"Say their names are Jonathan Flint and Charlie Day.">

Mariana squinted, vaguely recognizing the names. She looked to Shenado.

'I remember them,' the reaper said. 'Ask why they are here.'

"What is their business here?" said Mariana.

After a spell, Nico said, <"They say your presence is requested in Lagemoor. They've come to escort you there.">

She exchanged glances with Shenado again. "Inform them that I do not intend to go to Lagemoor so long as my husband is not here to look after our children. As I told the man on the phone, I will depart for Lagemoor as soon as Zeff returns."

There came another long pause. <"...I'm afraid they are insisting, enma'am. Ah! Wait! You can't enter through there--oh! Whoa. Uh... I'm sorry, Mrs. Elroy, but I don't think I can stop them...">

"It's fine, Nico. You and Jorem, take the rest of the day off."

<"Oh, ah. Yes, en--">

Mariana ended the call and waved the butler over.

'I don't like this,' said Shenado.

Mariana was ahead of her. "Claudio, gather everyone into the panic room immediately and arm yourselves. Inform them that this is not a drill and do not come out until I say so."

Claudio was a middle-aged gentleman of enduring loyalty, having served the Elroys since Zeff was in his twenties. "Right away, my lady." He walked briskly off.

'Jonathan and Charlie should have reapers, but I don't sense them. They must be keeping their distance.'

Mariana moved to the large sofa and removed the soft cushions. A long metal box lay beneath them. It had no lid or point of entry. She ran her hand along the top, breaking it open with her power and revealing one of several such stashes she had hidden around the house. In this one, there were six grenades, ten knives, two handguns, one semi-automatic rifle, three boxes of ammunition, two small black remotes each with twin red buttons, and a single landmine.

She pulled out her cellphone next and called Cisco, arming herself to the teeth while she waited for him to pick up.

'They're at the front door.'

She expected to hear an explosion or someone breaking in. Instead, she heard the doorbell.

Shenado cocked a furry eyebrow at her. 'Little odd.'

Her son wasn't answering his phone, Mariana realized. She tried Zeff.

'They're just waiting,' said Shenado. 'It seems they aren't itching for a fight, at least. Perhaps you should answer the door. Cautiously, of course.'

Mariana glared at her phone as it continued ringing. Zeff wasn't answering, either. She made her way to the entrance slowly. She stopped to arm and plant her landmine in a very particular place--in a narrow doorway beneath a Jesbolese rug of just the right weight. It was beautifully woven with blue-gold swirls and dark frills, but she'd bought it for this exact purpose. On its own, the rug wouldn't trigger the mine, but if someone stepped on any part of it, it would go off.

'Don't step on it by accident,' her reaper said privately.

A gun in one hand, Mariana proceeded to the door and cracked it open. The gun was really just a quicker supplement, of course. Her free hand was the much more dangerous weapon, in many ways.

"Lady Elroy, please pardon our intrusion, but we needed to speak with you as soon as possible. I'm Charlie. This is my colleague, Jonathan. May we come in?"

"You may not." From what she could see, both men appeared to be in their mid-to-late twenties. Charlie was the blond one, Jonathan the bespectacled one. They wore very casual clothing, nothing that would make them stand out in a crowd, surely.

'We've met before,' said Shenado. 'Nine years ago. You were both new recruits.'

"Yes," said Jonathan. "We've been assigned to protect you. We didn't mean to startle you, but we really don't have time to dawdle here. We need you to come with us to Lagemoor immediately."

"I am not leaving my children here."

"Oh, of course," said Jonathan. "We're to bring them, as well."

"We've received a credible threat against your family," said Charlie. "We are only here to escort you and your children to a more secure location."

Mariana was far from convinced. "Why did you not simply tell me this over the phone?"

"Time is short," said Jonathan. "Allow us to explain on the way. Please just trust us for now."

"No."

Both men frowned.

'With respect, we don't know anything about you, so why should we trust you?' said Shenado.

"Please, we're here to help," said Charlie. "Call General Lawrence, if you must. He will confirm."

"I have been trying to call my husband," said Mariana. "Why is he not answering?"

"Captain Zeff was captured," said Charlie.

Mariana's expression flickered. "By whom?"

"A rogue faction within the Vanguard. They want your family, because you have information regarding the whereabouts of your daughter, Gema."

'Why do they want Gema?'

"I'm sorry, but I don't know any more than that," said Charlie.

Shenado paused. 'Where are your reapers?'

"Scouting the area for threats," said Jonathan.

Mariana eyed the two men again, still not opening the door any farther. Her instincts told her not to trust them, but she knew her instincts to be a bit jaded. Everything they said sounded plausible, at least. And if there really was another threat out there, then ignoring these men might mean putting her children in even more danger. She clenched her jaw at the tense silence, uncertain what to do, and glanced at Shenado for help.

'Shut the door,' the reaper told her privately. 'Tell them you don't want their help, and then let's see how they react.'

Mariana closed it and backed away from the door's treated gray wood. "Thank you for the warning! But I will be protecting my family without your help!"

"No, please, listen to us!" came Jonathan's muffled voice. "We're only concerned for your safety!"

"I appreciate that! You can tell General Lawrence I refused your assistance!"

They pleaded a few more times, but Mariana said nothing further. She kept backing up, consciously stepping closer to her covered landmine, and tried Cisco again while she waited. Still no answer.

When the pleas stopped, Mariana hunkered down and listened intently.

'They're moving away from the door,' Shenado informed her. 'They appear to be leaving... Hmm. We'll wait a bit more before going after them.' Abruptly, however, the reaper's head twitched to the side. 'I sense three more souls entering the property from the rear. I don't recognize them.'

They'd only sent three servants to retrieve her? If it came to a fight on her own land, three random Vanguardian lackeys did not concern her very much. As she cut through the Main House toward the courtyard, she couldn't help feeling a little underwhelmed.

'Oh, I sense two more,' Shenado added. 'One each for the east and west wings. I don't recognize them, either.'

Mariana was now sufficiently whelmed. She slowed her pace to look at her cellphone. There was certainly no chance of help arriving before the fighting broke out, but she wasn't above asking. The first Rainlord in her contact list was Joana Cortes--formerly Joana Elroy. A bit obnoxious, perhaps, but still a good woman, in addition to being Zeff's sister.

'Charlie and Jonathan are returning now, too. Front entrance like before.'

Okay. Seven opponents was quite enough for her. Thankfully, Joana picked up after the second ring.

<"Mary! Hey!">

"Joana, shut up and listen. My house is under attack. There are seven servants here. Charlie Day and Jonathan Flint are two of them. I am not joking. I need assistance right now. Do you understand?"

There was no reply.

"Hello? Joana?" The call had dropped, she realized. She growled and tried the number again, but it wasn't even ringing this time. There was no telling how much Joana had heard. Mariana was kicking herself for not making the call sooner. If she'd known that she really was under assault and not just being extra paranoid, she definitely would have.

'No good?' said Shenado.

"It's being jammed."

'They've probably already cut the landline, then. Ah--no time to check. They are getting very close now. Dead ahead.'

Mariana pocketed her phone, exchanging it for one of the small remotes she'd taken from her weapons cache. Its two red buttons were unlit. She pressed the left one, then right one, then both together, then right, then left, then left again. The arming sequence. Both buttons lit up now.

She stopped at the door to the rainy courtyard and looked through. She pressed the right button and was pleased to see four automated turrets pop out of the stony half-pillars around the center pool. As she'd hoped, whatever was jamming her phone didn't have the right frequency for this.

Mariana left the courtyard behind and headed for the eastern wing. 'Is everyone in the panic room?'

'Yes. I can sense Ramira, Marcos, and all the staff there.'

Good news, at least. Her one and only objective right now was to protect that room at all costs. It sat in the center of the Main House, and though it was designed to take a beating, defending it from four different directions at once was going to be difficult by herself. Her first priority was to get all the turrets set up. As an extra safety measure, she needed to be within five meters to activate them. She hadn't wanted them to trigger unless she could see everyone currently standing in their line of fire. A bit inconvenient, perhaps, but she did want her children to live here after all.

As she neared the eastern garden hall, she heard a muffled crash from the front of the house.

'Jonathan and Charlie have broken in.'

A booming thud followed, making the floor and walls tremble around her.

'...Well, Jonathan is dead.'

She'd hoped the landmine would claim them both, but she supposed that was expecting too much. She reached the unwalled garden hall and activated the turrets there. They descended from the light fixtures in the ceiling. She could hear the turrets back in the courtyard opening fire as she ran for the western hall next, intending to intercept Charlie along the way. Her turret remote was exchanged for a handgun.

'He's about to be straight ahead of you. Attack now.'

Mariana clenched her fist and summoned the path of destruction. It tore a triangular hole into the door, large enough for her to jump through, and ripped its way across the chamber, blowing a hefty table to pieces. Charlie was indeed there, but he managed to roll out of the way at the last moment.

She was already firing at him, catching him in the shoulder and in the neck. He pointed with one finger. Mariana jerked left behind the sofa, but the flesh in her gun arm began to boil, and the sleeve of her overshirt burst into flames.

Mariana decided that burning alive wasn't enough to stop her from popping out of cover and ripping the air apart with her ability again.

Charlie lost an arm fleeing back the way he came. Mariana tossed a grenade after him and then dropped to the floor, trying to pat the flames out as she rolled.

'You didn't get him,' Shenado told her in private. 'He's by the northern stairwell. I'm not sure what his power is yet, but it seems like an alteration type.'

Pushing him back would have to do. If he really did have alteration, then he would probably try to keep his distance from her, and she simply didn't have the time to deal with that right now. The western hall needed its turrets first. Half-scorched, she picked herself up and ran as hard as she could.

'Too late. Go to your right.'

That led to the kitchen. Mariana immediately saw the enemy servant entering from the western hall, and she destroyed half the room with her attack. The bulky man tried to cancel it out with his own path of destruction, but it certainly didn't go in his favor. Her path plowed through his and claimed an arm and a chunk of his ribcage. While he staggered from the impact, she launched another wave. He tried to dodge this one, but having anticipated as much, Mariana's closed fist opened into a hook-shape. Her path curved mid-flight and obliterated the rest of the man's body, save only his head. She didn't hesitate to grab him by his long black bangs and carry him off with her.

Rather than returning to the courtyard again, she elected to go straight to the panic room.

'There are only three left,' said Shenado. 'Two coming in from the courtyard, plus Charlie from the front.'

Three was a much more manageable number, of course, but Mariana knew better than to relax too soon. If these three had survived her booby-traps, then they were probably the strongest of the seven. And there was still the matter of the others coming back to life if she let this fight drag out too long.

The panic room was embedded in the floor beneath the dining hall. Shenado warned her that the two unknown servants were also about to enter the same chamber through the southern door, so when Mariana arrived, she flung their comrade's severed head at them. And they probably weren't expecting that, because it stole their attention long enough for her to launch a large wave of destruction.

They dove in opposite directions, the two men. A thin one and a short one. That was about the extent of her distinction between them as she whipped out her semi-automatic rifle and showered the short man with gunfire.

She'd apparently chosen poorly, however, as the man covered himself in a shiny gray metal, making her bullets bounce off and ricochet around the room. The thin man threw his own path of destruction--but not at her. It went for the floor, beneath the long banquet table in the middle of the room, and Mariana's eyes widened, instantly launching her own wave to intercept.

The distorted spaces collided. Hers won out, but a chunk of the floor was gone. She couldn't tell how deeply the man's path had cut through. The panic room's walls were strong, but they couldn't have withstood that attack.

She didn't have time to worry, however. The short man was charging her now, which was a strangely foolish thing to do--unless he was only trying to distract her.

'Charlie on your right,' Shenado warned.

Mariana ran left for the thin man, as he was the priority now and needed to at least be kept busy so that he didn't attack the panic room again. She didn't see Charlie miss with his attack. His almost invisible power collided with a rosewood cabinet, instead, and gouged a smoking hole into it, hardly a centimeter wide.

She launched another wave at the thin man, who fled around the banquet table while the short man tried to get in her way. His metal arm swung at her. She slid past it, gathered her power into her fist, and punched the man's shoulder clean off.

The metal man flew back, leaving his arm behind--which she discovered was not merely coated in metal but actually made of it, extending partway into the muscle tissue.

Her three opponents rallied together on the other side of the room, stepping carefully so as not to be too close to one another and thereby render her job easier. For a hesitant moment, they merely looked at her, and she stared them all down from beneath her harsh eyebrows.

"This doesn't have to get any uglier," Charlie tried. "We are not going to hurt your children. If you would just come with us--"

The wave made them scatter as it annihilated the table down the center and punched an isosceles hole into the wall. The ceiling shifted from the impact, and Mariana tossed a grenade after Charlie while pressuring the thin man. She threw a distant punch at thin air, feigning another wave attack. The thin man took the bait and dove right, and Mariana used her other hand to throw a follow-up punch, this time using her power. Her rifle was ripped to pieces as that was the hand she'd held it in, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice, because the path blasted forth and obliterated the thin man completely.

The short man barreled into her, trying to knock her off balance, but Mariana managed to grab him and bring him along for her tumble across the floor. She rolled over him and pinned him down. A burning hole pierced her back and set her on fire again. She ignored it and took the opportunity to remove the metal man's head from his neck. He still had plenty of blood on the inside.

She yanked her flaming overshirt off and threw it aside. Her long hair had caught fire as well, but that didn't matter so much. When she stood back up, Charlie was no longer in the room. She queried Shenado with a look.

'He is retreating,' the reaper said.

Surprising, but wise. She didn't have time to question it, though.

She'd only managed to decapitate two of the seven, the first of which had already regenerated down to his shoulders. She fixed that real quick, then proceeded to the speaker box by the southern doorway.

"Can you hear me?" she said. "Is everyone alright?"

<"Lady Elroy..."> It was Claudio's voice, slow and grave. <"Marcos is very badly wounded...">

Her breath caught. Marcos? She didn't understand. "Open the door," was all she could think to say.

The floor groaned and split beneath the decimated banquet table. It separated straight down the center, gradually revealing the thick silver door.

She saw the gaping hole in its nearest corner.

The door pushed open from below, and Claudio's head appeared. His expression was grim. She followed him down the ladder.

And there her son lay, bunched up in the corner next to a chunk of debris and one of the maids. His neck was twisted grotesquely. Blood gushed from his head wound. His eyes were still open, but only just, and they moved to her, holding on her, recognizing his mother.

The boy could only let out a whimper.

Mariana went to him. She could still hardly breathe, and her hands trembled as she touched his shoulder. Her horrified eyes looked at the maid by his side. The young lady had first-aid training, Mariana knew, but this was certainly beyond her.

'Mariana,' Shenado said. 'I know it's terrible, but we have to go. If we stay here, they'll just keep coming.'

Mariana gnashed her teeth. She wanted to argue, wanted to scream, wanted to go back up there and hunt down all their reapers and kill them for good. But Shenado was right, damn her.

She stood. She went to the panel by the ladder. The number pad blurred together as she looked at it. She hadn't cried since she was a girl. She remembered wondering if she even could cry anymore, but that was certainly not in question now. She couldn't stop the tears or the snot or the ragged breaths and just tried to wipe her face so that she could see what she was doing.

Mariana punched the numbers in and then waved at everyone to back up toward the walls, completely unable to tell them with words.

The floor pulled away below them, revealing an even deeper hole. This one led beneath the platform--the massive structure holding up the entirety of Aguarey. Lights flicked on around the hole, illuminating the dark waters below. As well as a large motorboat.

Mariana wiped her face another time and then returned to Marcos. She was afraid to ask Shenado the obvious question, but before she decided to move him, she needed to know for certain. 'Is he going to die?'

'...Yes. I'm sorry.'

It was dizzying, almost. She'd seen people die before. Of course she had. Seen friends fall in battle. Been forced to kill them after they'd lost their reapers. She was no stranger to death. But this was something else entirely. This was her son. Her baby boy. He was only twelve, for god's sake.

Shenado had to nudge her along. 'Mariana....'

She bent down and took Marcos into her arms. At his pained groans, she whispered, "Shh... It's okay. You're going to be okay."

And she was not lying. She was not going to let him die. The look she gave Shenado seemed enough for the reaper to understand the truth of this promise as well.