Both the eye scanner and the hand pad changed from red to green, and a woman’s voice spoke. “Welcome to Control Station Two Commander Carson. You and your team may enter.”

  The door in front of them hissed open like an airlock.

  Amber breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up into Sheldon’s eyes. “Get inside.”

  “You weren’t kidding about the guns were you?” Sheldon asked.

  “No. This is the third most secure spot on the entire base. It’s supposed to be Demon-proof,” as Amber followed her team inside, the door closed after them, sealing shut with a soft snap.

  “I was designed to be. All tests that were performed has led my developers to believe it to be so,” the computer commented.

  “Tests? How do you test something like that?” Sheldon asked.

  “I’m sorry technician White. That information is classified as Omega Purple. If your classification reaches that level, I will answer that question for you,” the computer replied.

  Surprised at hearing his real name, Sheldon looked to Amber. He raised his hands in a questioning manner. Amber shook her head and stepped forward into the control center.

  “I know everything there is to know about all of your technicians. I was designed to run command-and-control functions for both the base and any possible battle that might occur. My systems are tapped into all the major networks and storage facilities,” the computer continued.

  “Can you show us the battle above us?” Amber asked.

  “Of course. Direct your attention to the main screen please.” The main screen lit up like a giant TV playing the worst, most graphic images the team had ever seen.

  Two gigantic Demons were outside the containment bowl. One held a gigantic flaming sword in one hand and what appeared to be a battleship turret in the other. It was using the turret as a shield as it chopped and hacked at hundreds of gun emplacements. The other Demon was down on its side. Closer observation showed it was missing both legs. That didn’t stop it from grasping parts of the base as it pulled itself upward. Imps and Cambion Demons were everywhere. They surged across every area of the facility like a swarm of locusts. The cameras zoomed in on the hole.

  Amber gasped when several Demon bats came flying out. Panning upward she could see hundreds of the beasts sitting in the rafters over the hole.

  “Is this live?” Nadya asked.

  “Yes Mage Perry, it is. Do you wish to see a replay of previous events?” The computer asked.

  “No. Thank you,” Nadya replied.

  Amber looked upward, “Computer? Do you have links to any of the other command centers? Is Gamma Section still active?”

  “Yes, to all of those questions, Commander. Which do you want to talk to first?” The computer answered.

  “All of them. Maybe Gamma first since it looks like they’re in the thick of it up there,” Amber answered.

  The screen shifted from a view of Demons to one of a command center much like the one the ARCANE team stood in.

  A much-harried woman in a Major’s uniform stood in the center of the room. Several small fires were smoldering at the back of the room. Smoke filled the air. “Who?”

  “Major Dawn! Theta Section reporting,” Amber replied.

  The woman on the screen looked relieved for just a moment. “Thank the Gods. Are you still on the base?”

  Amber could see that the Major was beyond stressed. Members of her command staff were running around behind her putting out fires and yelling into their phones. “Yes, Ma’am. My team and I are in the backup command center. Do you need us there?”

  “No. Not directly. The Demons breached the bowl less than an hour ago. The minor horde is pouring into the upper levels of the base and rooting out any of our personnel in the lesser sections. The Gamma guns were ineffective against the Captains. Only the new laser and graser units were able to inflict significant damage against them.” A colossal explosion rattled the room Major Dawn stood in. Looking at something offscreen the woman grimaced.

  “Computer, show me the exterior of Gamma section,” Amber asked.

  The screen split into two sections. Outside the command center the enormous Demonic Captain was beating on the walls with his sword and the turret he was using as a shield.

  “As you can see we have limited time. Higher-ups are aware of our dilemma and are organizing as fast as possible. We have to buy the outside units as much time as we can. If this horde breaks free… All of the country will feel the shock waves from it. We might not be able to save San Diego this time. My orders are to cut into them any way you can and slow the advance.” Major Dawn looked to her right and motioned. A young looking woman in a private’s uniform stepped closer. “Bakes, tell the Master Sergeant to start issuing weapons.”

  The private ran offscreen. Dawn continued, “We’ve one exit to the rear of us into Epsilon section, but they are barely holding on with what guns have survived. Fight them, Amber. I have to go.” The major made a throat-cutting motion, and the screen went dark.

  Turning to her right Amber surveyed the team. Everyone stood with grim expressions on their faces. “Get me the Pentagon.”

  Chapter 6

  Calls to the Pentagon by anyone other than military personnel are frowned on by the powers that be. Even more so if it was a computer that pushed it through. Tacticians and generals were far too busy to speak to Amber and her team, regardless. The Demonic horde was able to break loose of the Conception Base at the cost of thousands.

  The state of California had changed from what it was during the first Demon war. The cities in the southern half of the state were decentralized now. With the fall of Los Angeles, much of the population moved north and west of the area. Even though it had been seventy years since the first incursion, people were scared. The military had its most extensive presence there. At Conception Point, they got their asses handed to them.

  “... transferred to me. You just can’t call the Pentagon, Commander. They don’t like to remember that people like us fight their battles for them. Both Right and Left are persona-non-grata in Washington right now,” Director Madeline Mills commented.

  “Don’t you work there as well, though?” Amber asked.

  Director Mills had come on the line when operators at the Pentagon refused her call. Amber and her team only knew her peripherally. She was supposedly still high up in ARCANE’s committee regardless of her FBI posting.

  Mills smirked, pursing her lips into a wry smile. “Since I’m FBI, I am in Washington. But I know what you mean, Commander. Let me paint you a picture, so you understand the situation in California. The new horde broke free of Epsilon section and all the outside defenses over an hour ago. From what we can download from your base, only the more modern plasma weapons have any chance of killing the huge ones. Anti-aircraft and outright artillery can kill the Imps and Cambion Demons. The Bats are a different story. They take hits that would destroy a tank and keep flying.

  “Someone or something prepared for this incursion. They prepared well. Trust me when I say that these are not the same Demons that broke through last time. The weapons at Conception can kill those.” Madeline paused and looked away from the screen for a moment. A person off screen handed her a tablet.

  Shaking her head Madeline looked back through the monitor to the team. “After taking out our most effective and expensive guns at the Alpha section, the Demons used the bodies of their dead to climb out of the original enclosure. As you know the so-called bowl is a gigantic series of concentric rings designed to keep a possible horde contained. It sort of worked as planned. Each section was able to cause horrific damage to the swarm, but none slowed them down.

  “Three times as many smaller Demons are in this group than last time. The boys at the Pentagon were expecting the big ones more than the little ones. It’s why they are scrambling now. Direct fire is simple when you’re talking about something sixty feet tall. Smaller is harder to hit. Especially when they start charging at you, Kamikaze style. A training battalion out of Monterey and several National Guard units found that out the hard way.

  “Two Captain Demons are leading the horde at the moment. One is hard charging towards the ruins of Los Angeles and south toward San Diego. The other is going north. The Army is currently trucking in tanks from Texas and other units from the north. Army Air Corps units are bombing the Demons with everything they can come up with short of nuclear weapons. Only the President can authorize the use of those armaments.”

  “We’re screwed then,” Alexander muttered.

  Madeline shifted on camera and seemed to look right at the former SAS fighter. “You might be Sergeant Jungers. You might be.”

  Sheldon turned toward the now silent fighter and mouthed “Sergeant?” To him. Alex frowned and gave him the finger with both hands.

  Ignoring the juvenile play behind her Amber spoke to the Director. “So what about us?”

  “I’m getting there Commander. All of our militaries are active in this. The Coast Guard and our own Sea Scouts are in control of the water side, and are doing their damnedest to shoot down any Demon Bat or Imp that even attempts to get to Catalina or the Channel Islands. If the horde were able to get a foothold there, they might be open another Portal. As a Mage, you would know about Ley lines and how the Demons might use them. The generals think they can stop both groups of Demons and keep them contained in California. To do this though, they need to close the Portal at Conception. So far we’ve only seen a tiny fraction of what could potentially come through that hole. These Demons we can destroy. There are some out there that could eat all of us in the blink of an eye. Closing the Portal is the only thing we can do now. That is your assignment,” Madeline replied.

  Amber took a deep breath and looked sideways at Nadya, the other Mage. “How? Neither of us has that sort of power. We’ve talked about it like every other Magickal unit stationed here. How to close it. How to power the spell. It’s all we talk about in our free time.”

  “As well you should Commander Carson.” Madeline nodded and motioned with her arms to someone off camera. Two older women stepped into view. Both wore combat fatigues and were almost as heavily armed as Alexander was. “We’ve been there. My companions and I were in some pretty sticky situations a generation ago. Learning new ways to kill the monsters of this world and others is our job and our passion. Something or someone is driving this incursion. California is not the only place we have evil to fight.”

  Amber’s eyes went wide, and she looked shocked. “Where? Did they get to Europe?”

  “No, not Europe. We have potential problems on the East Coast. Don’t worry about it. The Bs and I can handle it,” Madeline replied.

  To Amber and the others, all three women looked way too old to be even considering a combat insertion, but there were stories still being told about the Bs. It was said that even Mr. Right was scared of them.

  Madeline closed her eyes as if in prayer for just a moment. When she looked up, there was a noticeable pain in her eyes, but her face was a grim mask. “The best Human Mages on the planet including those that founded ARCANE tried to close your Portal. Every spell we could beg, borrow, or steal from the paranormals was tried. We would never condone today what was tried then. Some of it involved sacrifices not imagined. None of it had any measurable success. We’ve always assumed that they did something back then that worked since we hadn’t had any glimpse of a Demon at that location.”

  Cocking her head to one side, Nadya spoke, “Does that mean there have been other incursions?”

  “Of course. Your team may not have had one of those cases, but many of the others have. Usually, it’s a single Imp or lower-ranked Demon. Dark cults and other groups like to call them up constantly. We track the energy being raised and hunt them down. In your area, there are several thousand cultists who want to bring back Hell on Earth,” Madeline explained.

  “There is? Why are we just now hearing this?” Amber asked.

  “Because your job was to either close the portal or fight whatever came out of it. We have other more mobile teams for the cults. Or at least we used to,” Madeline paused for a moment. “ARCANE is taking a beating this time around. The loss of so many teams has hurt its effectiveness in the field. Currently, we have Team Wood, Omega, and you. Commander Cedar and his group are en route to the problem on the East Coast. Omega is assisting with cleaning up Sicily and will aid those in Europe if any Demon breaks free of the island. You four are all we have until Right and Left can reactivate some of our reservists. Like the Bs here behind me. We all serve the greater good. Like I’m about to ask you to do.”

  “Us, ma’am?” Amber asked.

  “When the base was constructed, there were several fail-safes installed as well. Three large bombs were built into the Alpha, Beta, and Delta sections to destroy as much of the incursion force as possible. According to our sensors, they were all set off. Level Eleven is another fail-safe. From the look on your faces, I can tell you know about it. Good. It’s not what I’m asking you to do. Collapsing the base would kill all the Demons inside of it, but it won’t close the portal. If it could, we would have done it years ago. Have you seen the video of the aftermath of Alpha’s fail-safe?” Madeline asked.

  “The computer showed it to us. Molten metal seemed to hold the Demons for a little while,” Amber replied.

  “It does, but they still broke through. Do you know how a portal is created on this side of reality? It requires a circle and a spell to start the process. Some nameless person or group opened this one up in the 1940s by digging a deep hole and working a ritual. Deep in that hole is a circle. It has remained unchanged for almost seventy years. It controls the portal and allows the Demons into our world. If we are able to alter the circle somehow we may, and I do mean may, be able to halt the flow of Demons,” Madeline pointed out.

  “But that would require going into the hole and actually, physically changing it. Right?” Sheldon asked.

  “If it was only that simple, yes. We sent someone into the hole in both the 1940s and the 1960s to try just that. Both results were the same. Dead agents and no changes. There is a shield of some kind about halfway down. It’s been speculated that a Mage cast it or one of the Demon Princes. There were more than one last time. Two of you are Mages. You both know that shields can be broken. It would take unimaginable power to do so, but it can be done. Only the paranormals have that sort of power, and they have turned down our request for assistance. Not formally, but no regardless,” the Director explained.

  “What about the FBI Witch? Can she do it?” Nadya asked.

  “Agatha is special, Mage Perry. She’s on her way to that problem I mentioned on the East Coast. If we use her power in California, there’s no guarantee that she would be strong enough to handle the other problem. You four are the ones for this. We just don’t have the time or resources to wait any longer. It will have to be closed by you,” Mills replied.

  “How?” Amber asked.

  “A bomb. There is what the military calls a backpack nuke sitting in an armory on your base. Someone will need to get to the hole, set the timer, and drop it inside. Both our experts and the military’s believe the heat from the explosion will alter the circle enough to close the Portal,” Madeline explained.

  Sheldon and Alexander both shook their heads negatively. Nadya glared at the screen for a moment and then looked away. Amber just stood stock still.

  Madeline licked her lips, and her grim mask slipped just a bit. “It’s not really a suicide mission. The explosive does come with a timer, and I’ve been assured by both the Navy and the Coast Guard that they will have a helicopter standing by to lift all of you to safety. In the time we have left, this is the only option.”

  Alex brushed past Nadya and Amber to stand in front of the screen. “If a nuke is an answer, why didn’t they use one way back then to fix this? Why do I have to sacrifice my life now?”

  “Dropping a bomb on it was considered during the 1950s. Then President Huey Long made the decision to not drop that sort of explosive on American soil. He went so far as to create a secret executive order to that effect. No President from either side of the aisle has chosen to either repeal or delete the order until now. President Talbot gave the order less than an hour ago. The main difference between then and now is size. A fifty-kiloton bomb would have been the size of a small car. Now it’s a briefcase-sized package. All the squints in the lab agree that the explosive damage on the surface will be small. The force of the blast should be contained by the portal. It’s much safer than it would have been seventy years ago,” Madeline informed him.

  Alex snorted, “That makes me feel so much better then. Why not just hit it with a guided bomb or something?”

  Madeline sighed, “It has to go into the hole the first time. Demons aren’t mindless beasts. They will know that the bomb is the source of the destruction and react. The explosion will consume the base no matter what else happens. Trust and believe us that we will get you out.”

  “But if you choose to go rogue and my disobey orders today… Let’s just say we will find you and when we do, it won’t be pleasant. You’ve seen the sort of resources that ARCANE brings to the table. Trust me on this,” Madeline replied darkly. “The fate of our country and the humanity rests in your hands right now.”

  Amber nodded, “Fine. Orders understood. Just where is this bomb and how do we use it?”

  “That part is easy. It’s in the armory connected to back up command. I’m sending the unlock codes and precise instructions to your pads as we speak. Do not, and I do mean not, upload them to the Artificial Intelligence in the base. Some things remain sacrosanct and being able to tell Congress that computers don’t control our arms is one of those things. I’ve included contact information for the rescue team. There’s a ten minute lag time, and they will only have fuel to wait for fifteen minutes tops. Choose your signal time wisely. Good luck, Commander Carson.” The screen went dark all of a sudden.

 

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