“This way!”
Omen, first laboratory.
He was now deep underground in the emergency shelter. With the many researchers in front of him, Iska pointed beyond a wall.
“If you climb up this tunnel, you’ll get to the surface. You’ll arrive at an Imperial forces tent!”
Kissing had created the hole in the wall.
Beyond that was a tunnel that Rin had created using her astral powers.
“Iska Big Bro!” Nene’s head popped out from deeper in the tunnel. “The first five arrived at the tent. Rin is showing them the way partway through the tunnel!”
“Got it… This is going even better than planned.”
It was going frighteningly smoothly.
Just as Iska had been about to say that, he had to swallow his words.
There were twenty-three researchers in the shelter. None of them had been injured and they had encountered no Hydra guards.
……We expected Mizerhyby’s troops to be waiting for us here.
……Or even Mizerhyby herself.
But when they had actually arrived, the researchers had been almost anticlimactically unharmed, and they hadn’t even found anyone watching over them.
“Ms. Mei! How’s everything there?!”
“Boring.”
Mei, who had been watching the corridor, kicked open the melted door and came back in looking unsatisfied.
“Nobody’s out there. I didn’t see anyone on the underground floor. I was kinda excited about Mizerhyby’s legion, though.”
“Um, Ms. Mei…!” a female medical officer in a suit carefully called out. “Just as I reported before, Princess Mizerhyby and her people all left at the same time. They took Chief Newton and went to find Kelvina’s research materials…”
“I know, Micky. You said it was the second building, northern area.” Mei held a comm in her hand. “We already sent over the bombs we had on reserve over there. So, how’s it look?”
“…………”
“C’mon, answer, Thorn Witch.”
“We are engaged in battle.” Kissing’s voice was faint.
Was it Iska’s imagination that her normally carefree tone sounded a little more rushed?
“Mizerhyby is in front of us. I see Chief Newton, a man with a beard as well.”
“Good. Then hurry up and capture them and come back.”
“That will take some time.”
Mei’s eyes narrowed into slits.
“Ms. Mei.”
“I know, Isk.”
Mei’s mouth slowly grew into a bold smile.
“So, even the Thorn Witch is having trouble with this enemy. Ah, well. Doesn’t matter what happens to the witches, but we can’t have Newt dying. Guess I’ll go check things out.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You think I’ll let you go?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Huh!”
Mei stopped in her tracks.
A heat wave grazed the tip of her nose. Violet flames scorched the ceiling, making it drip down onto them from above as several tons of rubble also fell over them.
The heat and the rubble closed off the corridor before their eyes.
“Are you trying to barricade us in? Ha! Are you that desperate to stop us?”
“Barricade? Oh no, this is a cage.”
From within the flames, they saw a strange shape.
It was a monstrous girl Iska knew well.
“Vichyssoise!”
“Heeey, Iska, the Black Steel’s Successor. You always seem to survive. Oh, isn’t there a little birdie named an Iska, too?”
The witch waved her hand as though she was greeting a friend she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“So you’re birds in a cage.”
She spread her arms wide.
Behind her, the violet flames grew until they howled and roared loudly.
“I can’t let you go forward. The interim head of the Hydra has reached the moment when she’ll see if she can become the true head of the house. You guys can twitter about over here in the meantime.”