Data file 1393: Q-3 Recon Pistol.

  Inventor: Rasil (Matthew Archmal)

  Type: Weapon.

  [The Q-3 recon pistol is a prototype combat device developed and used by Rasil as a secondary, and sometimes primary, weapon. It is composed of a standard Q-2 close combat pistol modified with an enhancer battery inside the handle and a full choke barrel configuration.

  The red plasma bolt fired from the blaster is composed of a similar type of plasma as those created by the average weapon, but with decreased accuracy and increased explosive capability.]

  ***

  It seemed the racazoids had come only for the coordinates. Once they had them, they pulled out faster than they had arrived. I found myself feeling very relieved that only thirteen people had died, considering the circumstances, but Gears and Helios seemed to be thinking only about the coordinate file Flameye had. We left the building in time to see Embershard dropships firing on the last few stragglers. The racazoid bruisers were unable to escape and were easily wiped out by the dropships’ cannons.

  The chopper Gears had built was still there, and despite the flaming rubble surrounding it, it still worked. Helios landed on my shoulder, and we sprinted inside once the hatch opened. “Maybe I should drive, Rasil. You don’t look so good," Gears noted, starting the engine.

  He wasn’t wrong; he was a better pilot. Besides, I was busy imagining where Flameye could have gone with the coordinates. “Sure," I replied.

  Gears seemed surprised at my seriousness, but he was never one to pry at my feelings. We lifted off the ground slowly as the chopper’s rotors began spinning. Flameye had numerous ways to travel faster than us, so we needed to intercept him before he reached one of his waypoint strongholds and deciphered the exact location. Force him to read it manually, and he could miss the spot by hundreds of miles. Simple.

  “I’ll call Sophia," I said as I activated my comlink. I waited a moment for a response, but there was none. I tried again, but had my ear flooded with static.

  “Not having much luck with that?” Gears guessed from my expression.

  I stopped the transmission and remarked, “Yeah, Flameye must have jammed the satellites.”

  “Nope," a voice said through the comlink. Gears and I stared at each other in surprise. Gears jumped in his seat as Helios landed on the dashboard in front of us. He blocked the controls from moving and said to me, speaking through the comlink, “I jammed the connection because I want a private, friendly conversation.”

  “About what?” I asked cautiously. Gears reached out his empty hand, and I placed the rifle in it. Helios’s deceptions always started with friendly conversations. One conversation, then he acts like he owns the world.

  “About Flameye, of course. You remember that hacking interface the racazoids use?”

  “Get to the point," Gears interrupted, pointing the rifle at Helios.

  “Yes, I do," I said, ignoring Gears. Maybe Helios did have something worthwhile to say.

  “Well, they used their usual system to deactivate the vault security doors and let in the bruisers. Simple trap, very predictable. Even if I HADN’T already made a mockery of the security before, I would’ve easily found him," Helios chimed happily.

  “Would’ve?” Gears asked, wondering if this was hypothetical.

  “You traced it and found Flameye, didn’t you?” I asked with a subtle grin.

  Helios flapped his wings nonchalantly and replied, “Exactly. Now, can we discuss my payment?”

  ***

  Thus began a long debate with Helios over why the requested price was simply absurd, after which we found where Flameye had taken the coordinates: A remote base toward the far Southwestern border. I paid Helios an amount close to two hundred of our dollars—he wasn't picky—on the condition that he would follow us and assist in retrieving the coordinates. He seemed overjoyed with the arrangement and may have used some foul language to describe Flameye’s internal processor.

  That earned him my respect, if he didn't have it already.

  While we flew Southwest, Helios remotely piloting, Gears pulled me aside and whispered, “Rasil, you know what the Shadowbane Amulet does, right?”

  “No, why?” I turned to face him fully.

  “I’m worried about you," he warned.

  “Worried I can’t do it?” I tried to clarify.

  “No, I’m worried that you can. Remember when your father died?”

  I glared indignantly, “Are you kidding me? It’s only been a year!”

  Helios looked back and asked, “Everything okay, boss?”

  “Yeah, just making plans," I answered without looking away from Gears

  Gears backed away slightly, acknowledging his intrusion, but continued, “Rasil, the Shadowbane Amulet is a time conduit.”

  “A what?”

  “A relic through which time flows freely, regardless of past, present, or future. In our understanding, think of time as a flowing energy, a river that always courses in one direction. Time conduits, according to my research, can bend the flow of time itself, like sticking your hand in the water causes it to flow to either side.”

  “You don’t mean—”

  “It’s a time travel device, plain and simple.”

  “Where did you learn this?”

  “At the Data Vault, I found some information about the Amulet that confirmed my previous theories. But while I was reading this information, it dawned on me. If you go near a time conduit with the emotion of loss fresh in your heart, who knows what could happen?”

  I stared for a second, then looked away and whispered, “I could bring Father back.”

  “I knew you’d say that. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, Rasil, and you’re smart enough to know what’s theorized to happen in the present if something changes in the past.”

  “Gears, if I’d taken a shot at Flameye, I could have saved my father. You can’t know what it’s like to make that choice and regret it later.”

  “Maybe I don’t, but I do know that the last time you 'protected' me from someone, you shattered their knee in four places.”

  “He deserved it.”

  “You have too much pain driving your actions, Rasil. You’re always focused on how you’ve failed, and how you might fail now. Can you tell me, honestly, that you’d be able to withstand the temptation of absolute power?”

  I had no response, but I knew that he was probably right. I had a serious issue to worry about when I finally found the Amulet. Gears knew me so well that I figured I should heed his advice without question, but isn’t bringing back someone you’ve lost worth the risk of temptation? Wasn’t it okay to just, stop with that? How else would the opportunity ever arrive?

  I was thrown from my thoughts and my feet by the sudden jerk of landing. “Helios!” Gears and I yelled simultaneously

  “Sorry, I thought ya wanted me to land if I saw racazoids," Helios responded. His sarcasm beckoned for an argument, but I let it slide. Gears muttered something about mercenaries and grabbed his computer as we stepped out to take a look. We were behind a ridge of stone with dense vegetation below it, giving us cover from sight.

  I peeked over the ridge and said, “Definitely racazoids. This where Flameye took the file?”

  “If my tracker is accurate...” Helios shrugged, actually lifting his wings to perform the motion. I blinked. Someone actually taught him to shrug when they could have been doing something important.

  I looked back to the racazoid base. The main building rose twenty feet into the air and had large battlements with sentry turrets. Racazoid guards armed with heavy firebolt pistols patrolled every inch of the walls. There was no evident entrance, meaning the door likely opened to racazoids only.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I thought back to our assets and tried coming up with a plan that could get me to the file room. Helios landed next to me and said, “So what do you want me to do?”

  I simply ignored him. There was too much to think about right now. “Hellooooo?” Helios pushed. In a flair of immaturity, he lifted up one of his wings to block my view.

  “Can you stop?” I asked, pushing the wing out of my face.

  “No," he replied. He looked hurt at the very suggestion. “I think I can help you out at least a teeny tiny bit.”

  “No, go away, you stupid bird!” Gears interrupted. “We’ve got a mission to complete.”

  “Me too,” Helios said.

  “What mission do you have, Helios?” Gears asked.

  “Help you get the Amulet.”

  “We don’t require your help for this part.”

  I decided to chime in, “Why not let him help a little?”

  “Because he’s a volatile last-resort option," Gears answered, clearly losing patience and getting visibly frustrated that I would agree with a mercenary over him.

  I wasn’t satisfied. “He might as well help. I bet he knows the layout of the base, and the structure blocks radar signals.”

  I sighed as I began rethinking the plan. Gears seemed more unwilling than ever to give Helios a chance, and to be honest, I really was hesitant to fully trust Helios, too. I had possessed mixed feelings on the matter ever since the discovery in the cave, like maybe Helios could improve. Maybe.

  Or maybe he’d never been that bad...

  I gave a forced smile to them both and turned away. This was going to be a long day.

  ***

  I wound my way through the outer section of the base. The courtyard outside was filled with crates and construction equipment, leaving many places to hide. Messy as always, racazoids. I hid behind a large cargo truck as I came closer to a trapdoor in the rocky ground. “Be careful, or your sister will kill me," Gears sounded on the comms.

  I ducked and slid underneath the truck to hide. The racazoids seemed bored with their job, and one of them turned to look in a different direction. The others followed suit.

  “Now’s your opportunity, Rasil," Gears said, “Helios will get you in once you take out the guards.”

  I aimed the gun and fired at one of them. The bolt smacked into the armor of the racazoid’s chest, but the next shot I fired struck its neck and hit the vital area. It dropped dead before the others noticed. I inched closer, dragging the dead racazoid out of sight before tripping on some uneven dirt. Before I could catch myself, I hit the ground, and the clank of my boots as I did echoed through the complex. I could actually hear Gears facepalm over the comms.

  Never let it be said that I'm perfect.

  One of the guards spotted me and fired, but the shot missed as I slid to the side. I brought myself to a kneeling position, raised my gun, and scored an instant kill. With one guard left, I ran to the trapdoor. The racazoid saw me and swung a clawed hand murderously toward me. The claw hooked on my sleeve as the racazoid flung me away from the trapdoor. Oh, really?!

  I spun midair and landed on my feet as I heard a firebolt pistol charging. I threw myself forward into a quick roll and, while on the ground, kicked the racazoid’s leg with my boots. The strike broke the outer plate with a satisfying crack, leaving its inner components exposed. My next move was a shot from my gun into the hole I had created.

  The life seeped out from the racazoid as its leg poured fuel and liquid coolant. I stood slowly and watched. This was essentially their version of bleeding to death. Helios flew down to me as the racazoid stopped moving, and I won’t lie, I regretted letting it die slowly. The quick glance Helios gave me, innocent and understanding, but with a question in his wide eyes, cemented that regret. Despite the racazoids being machines, I resolved to finish the kill quicker next time. Gears jarred me from my thoughts, saying, “Helios disabled the lock, Rasil.”

  “Got it.” I opened the trapdoor and leapt into the shaft.

  “Remember, Rasil, the building blocks radar and comms. You’re on your own now.”

  I fell for about thirty seconds before grabbing onto the ladder in the shaft to slow my fall. My feet clattered against a metal surface and I nearly fell over from my momentum. I charged my gun preemptively and investigated my surroundings. The floor seemed to be hollow, probably to hide radar jamming equipment underneath. The walls were made of black-painted fireproof plating, probably titanium, since it was so easy for racazoids to get their hands on nowadays. The hallways were also pretty wide to accommodate racazoids walking through with their wings unfurled.

  I shook my head and ran onward as I remembered the schematics from Helios. The file room was on the other side of the complex. That meant I had to get from one end to the other fast.

  My feet pounded against the floor as I took a right followed by a left. And then, I got lost. I then took four lefts in a row and ended up somewhere I had never been. Typical. The hallway I turned into next seemed like an endless void of passageways. “Dang it!” I cried aloud.

  I checked the schematics and realized I had taken a wrong turn. I corrected my direction and walked on, taking a shortcut. Since, the path ahead took me through multiple high security areas, so I would have to be careful.

  I walked on slowly, until I heard the sound of a tripwire system. Before I could respond, the floor gave way beneath me! My hands spread out to catch the sides of the gap just in time. I measured the distance of the pitfall, and quickly swung my feet behind me to kick off the edge and jump out.

  “Impressive, I must say," Flameye announced as I pulled myself onto stable ground, my heart pounding.

  “Flattered," I responded. Flameye was nowhere to be seen, it must have been a speaker system through which he addressed me. A squad of six racazoids emerged from a corner and pointed their pistols at me.

  I turned and ran in the opposite direction, firing behind me before they could react. one fell to the ground as the rest pursued me. Fighting wasn’t an option now that I was inside. I had to find the file before a lockdown initiated. A firebolt grazed me as it almost impacted my left arm. I was rechecking the schematic and noticed, but ran on.

  Turning the corner, I finally saw the correct door. “Yes!” I quickly cheered to myself. I started sprinting toward it, and I had almost made it to the file room before the door slammed shut in front of me.

  "Yep..." I whispered.

  “I don’t think so," Flameye said through the speakers as another racazoid walked up behind me. I whirled around and fired a shot at the head of the other racazoid. The bolt went right into the head, tearing apart the face and killing it, but to my surprise, the racazoid still stood. Flameye laughed and explained, “I thought you might react that way, which is why I decided to demonstrate one of my latest projects.”

  “Spare me the aside, please. It’s been a long day.”

  “The Shadowbane Amulet is a time conduit, and thus, it controls time at the push of a button. When my machines harness the time energy exhaust constantly flowing out from it, this happens.” As he spoke, two tesla coils appeared from notches in the walls. They pointed at the racazoid I had blasted and electrocuted him with a purple energy.

  My jaw dropped as I watched the hole in the head mend itself as if it had never been there. A purple glow appeared in the lifeless eyes. Flameye continued, “With control over time comes infinite power. I call this a chimera racazoid!”

  The racazoid lifted its arms and charged at me, claws extended. I shot it again, but the metal reformed itself faster than I could damage it. An ear-piercing roar echoed out as the chimera racazoid lifelessly swung back and forth. I tried to block, but its claw sliced through my left leg as I rolled to the side. I shot three more bolts with no effect. The racazoid’s fist sprang into my injured leg with alarming speed. The leg felt like it was on fire, hurting too much for me to get up.

  “Enough!” I yelled as I aimed at and shot one of the teslacoils generating the time energy. A shower of sparks rained everywhere as the glow disappeared from the racazoid’s eyes. The racazoid then collapsed as if time had caught up to it.

  Flameye growled, “Fine, there’s still room for improvement. Fortunately, you will never get the Amulet before me.”

  “You may be right," I said. I fully intended to rip the thing from Flameye’s hands if he ever acquired it.

  “Of course I am,” Flameye chuckled, “I’ve already started towards its location.”

  I grimaced as I remembered the convenient flying warship that Flameye possessed. I didn’t know if I could ever reach the Amulet now.

  ***

  “I’m sorry, Rasil," Gears said after I explained what happened.

  “You’re sorry?” I responded, “I blew it.”

  “The lockdown was always a possibility.”

  “An avoidable possibility," I said and turned away. Once I had destroyed the chimera racazoid, the lockdown had indeed triggered, and every file within the building had burned, a full data wipe. Flameye, having already deciphered the location, was a step ahead of me and would probably reach the site first.

  “Actually,” Helios interrupted, “You may not have failed.”

  We both turned toward Helios expectantly. He continued, “Don’t hate me, but I stole your comlink earlier and installed a passive short-range scanner into it. You failed to actually retrieve the file, but you were close enough for me to clone some of it.”

  “Wait, what?” Gears asked.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “It means,” Helios said, “That we now have a reasonably exact idea of where the Amulet is.”

  “No way," Gears muttered.

  I breathed a sigh of relief; we at least had something. Helios coughed to get everyone’s attention again before telling me, “The bad news is that Flameye is going to reach the Amulet too soon.”

  That dropped our spirits a bit. Without a way to get there fast, the army would have to fight its way to the Shadowbane Amulet after Flameye arrived. That would be tough, to say the least.

  An idea sprouted in my head, a small one, but not insignificant. I dragged Gears to the back of the chopper’s cabin and asked him, “How fast can this thing fly?”

  “Pretty fast.”

  “Numbers, Gears.”

  “It’s rotors generate a downward antigravity field, pretty stable, so it could probably reach a hundred and twenty-five miles per hour, max. Why?”

  “Helios!” I called, “If our speed is one hundred twenty-five miles per hour, how quickly can we reach the Amulet?”

  Gears and Helios stared at each other before both replying, “Eighteen minutes.”

  “And how quickly will Flameye reach it?”

  “Thirteen minutes," was the answer.

  “It’s not fast enough," I muttered. “Gears,” I asked as I put together a plan, “What do I have to do to overclock the engine?”

  “Rasil, you need to stop and think about this," Gears said sternly. Both of them had realized what I was thinking at this point. “If you go to fight Flameye alone, on his own warship, you’re going to lose," Gears noted. Helios seemed to silently agree with me in a way only a mercenary can, but Gears would inevitably argue the point.

  I steeled my resolve and walked to the cockpit. “If you want to leave now, do so. But I’m getting that Amulet. I’ll figure out how to get this thing up to top speed on my own.”

  “Rasil, you’re not allowed to pilot that thing alone!”

  “Send me the write-up later," I responded.

  ***

  Helios left after that. He agreed with me but also thought he would slow me down, and opted to wait with Gears for a transport. The chopper lifted off the ground, and the rotors spun with energy. I pushed the gear control stick forward to boost the engine.

  According to Helios’s data, Flameye’s warship was currently between the Amulet and me, but I had never lost a race just because my opponent had a head start.