Velo ran toward the main entrance of the Palace, when the big saber-tooth, Agent Fangs, jumped in front of him, closing the way to the gate.
If it was possible, the big tiger was smiling. Velo threw away his gun, now empty of bullets, and stood still in front of the feline. Whispering in the mini-mic, he ordered: “Brianna, get rid of this cat.”
There was a moment of delay, as undoubtedly the girl was repeating the order to the Raptor, and then a few darts rained from the sky, one breaking over some sort of metallic gear covering the shoulder of the tiger, the other sticking into the soil. Agent Fangs raised his head, to look at the menace, and then jumped away, as another row of darts and a big, spiked mace were missing it by inches.
Velo jet boots roared, and he fled fast inside the Palace. Looking outside, at the many fights, taking place in the courtyard, he began is survey.
“Chance, your position!”
“I am in the Palace, no guards in sight, Velo!”
“Chance, you are on your own from now on. You know what you have to do. Brianna, tell Raptor to come here, I need him. Brianna, Different, Baxter, Priest, Phil Smith, stop any further incursion of Strikeforce toward the palace. Repeat, you are assigned to secure the Palace from any more incursion of Strikeforcers, metas or soldiers. I will send Grimm as soon as I found him, he will lead!”
As he was shouting orders in the mic, the Raptor landed just in front of the entrance and got in, his mace back in the hand.
“Ed, glad you are here!” smiled Velo.
“Kristogar! Quantos told me you were here, and it was a short flight for me!”
“Are you scared of darkness like the birdie up there, or think you can come in the dungeons?”
“After you, Velo!”
The two ex-Revolutionaries ran upstairs toward the War room, when suddenly the wall on the side of one landing de-materialized, and a man in a complex armor stood out. “I am Agent Z, the last of the Elite guards of Mandelovia. Follow me!”
Velo nodded at Euro, and went behind the Agent. The features of the man hidden under the helmet, Velo was well aware that could have been a trap, but his sixth sense, the natural instinct that saved him so many time, told him to trust the man, whose heavy Mandelovian accent was also unmistakable.
After a few turns on a spiral staircase, in the light-beam from the helmet of Z appeared Tayden, and behind him Generla D’Goon.
“We have a situation up there, Velo!” shouted Tayden. And then. “Euro! God bless you, what are you doing here?”
“Hope to help” said the Italian. Velo approached the General. “We’ll take you to the dungeons. I know them much better than the surface”.
The tyrant’s face was very tense: “It better be. I wouldn’t have expected such poor preparation from you!”
“Nobody knew the Strikeforce was a whole Army, General. Now me and Ed will go up to clear the mess, rendez vous with you three in the dungeons, at the railroad stop under the Palace.”
Tayden said, amazed: “Railroad… under the Palace?”, but Z nodded in agreement. And as him, with D’Goon and Tayden, ran downstairs, Velo and Raptor headed toward the battle in the War Room.
