Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (33 page)

Then something heavy fell on my head, and I lost consciousness moments later.

Chapter 16
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(Caelum)

Caprice asked, “Where are Rina and Maya?”

Severing answered her over the communication line connected to our headset-visors.

“Rina is currently engaged in combat with the cannon girl.”

That made sense. Rina’s Fragment was a crystal shard-like gun-blade. In gun form it was a sniper rifle that fired crimson bolts of energy that could immolate a heavy tank with a single shot. But if she was using it here, then she’d have to restrict the energy release or she might blow craters into the ground.

Severin continued. “Maya is stationed outside the library where Crimson Crescent’s invisible network hacker currently resides, along with a squad of Public Security Enforcers who entered via the underground tunnels. Additional Enforcers are outside the Academy grounds trying to keep a low profile but that’s moot now that their drones were annihilated. Also, I see a number of news channels starting to arrive. The disturbance has not gone unnoticed.”

“The Prides will clamp down on that soon enough,” Kaleb said with certainty. “They covered up the restaurant attack and the parking level incident. They can cover this as well.”

I wasn’t so sure. Attacking Galatea Academy and having so many students witness it was going to be difficult to suppress. I asked, “What about the Countess and Haruka? Are they safe?”

“They ran into the west wing of the high-school building. However, there was damage to the entrance. I haven’t been able to raise them on their palm-slates. I don’t have enough security personnel to dispatch to them and I doubt the teachers would want to go down and take a look. The firefight is still quite intense despite the cannon girl’s injuries.”

Caprice looked up. “She’s injured?”

“Yes, Simone was able to land a hit before she had to run away.”

I felt my innards grow cold.

The Countess had come to blows with the cannon girl? What the Hell was she thinking?

I realized I was clenching my jaw not in anger, but in fear for her, and my heart had picked up its pace.

Caprice’s eyebrows rose slowly. “She did better than I did….”

Kaleb and I both stared at her, knowing what she meant.

Remembering Caprice’s encounter with the cannon girl made my worry for Simone and Haruka jump another level, and that made it difficult for me to stand still. In fact, it made me faintly tremble.

I didn’t want to be stuck at the bottom of this stairwell waiting for the door to open.

I wanted to be up there protecting Haruka and Simone.

Kaleb was tense when he asked, “Severin—was Simone injured?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, she and Amiella fled into the west wing before the entrance took a big hit. I don’t know where they are now, and we don’t have eyes in that part of the building.”

Unable to hold back my frustration, I snapped, “Why can’t you send any guards over there?”

Severin sounded way too calm and it only served to frustrate me more. “That is because all the guards are busy. We are currently working with the administrative body to perform a discrete evacuation of the students through the underground emergency tunnels leading out of Galatea Academy. Those security guards are essential in keeping the evacuation moving along.”

“Discrete?”

“Discrete as can be. At present the network hacker seems engrossed in the one task of breaching level seven. He hasn’t bothered locking down the Academy. In other words, he appears content to let the students evacuate—and there goes the seventh layer. They now have access to the network’s black box core commands.”

I shook my head, not understanding.

Kaleb said, “He’s talking about the subset of commands that control the information network at the highest level. Commands that can dictate access to the Vault. The truth is, it’s not really seven layers that they breached. It’s seven security seals, one for each of the seven Prides.”

“Seven Prides? There are eight Prides.”

“That is correct,” Severin intoned. “However, it appears the Lanfear Pride chose not to participate in the Vault’s security arrangements. As a result, there is no eighth seal.”

I frowned slightly. “What are the seals?”

Severin explained, “They are security codes only known to the Primogens of the seven participating Prides.”

Caprice shook her head very faintly in the weak light. “I don’t understand. The Student Council’s plan was to wait for Cee Cee to make their move and then for us to capture the hacker. Now we’re stuck here waiting for the door to open so we can stop Cee Cee from stealing some Artifact from the Vault.”

I nodded and so did Kaleb.

Caprice cocked her head. “But if the Prides knew that the seven layers were seals protecting the Vault, and they knew this was what Cee Cee was after, why didn’t they change the seals after each one was broken?”

I glanced at Kaleb who shrugged in agreement.

Caprice continued. “If what’s in the Vault is a prized artifact, shouldn’t they have done everything in their power to stop the breach?”

Severin sighed over the communication line. “We don’t know. As I said before, we were left out in the cold. The truth is this might very well be what the Powers-that-be wanted.”

Caprice muttered, “You mean they wanted Cee Cee to come in and steal what’s in the Vault?”

I said, “That’s crazy.”

Severin replied, “Not if this was the only way to bait Celica Desanto into the open.”

I sucked in a lungful of air. “You mean they intend to capture my sister?”

“Or kill her,” Severin added.

I felt a sharp wind blow through me, a sudden chill that iced my innards. “Then I guess that makes my sister Public Enemy Number One.”

Even though she appeared calm and unperturbed, I saw the hint of concern in Caprice’s eyes when she looked at me.

I chose to change the subject quickly. “So do we know what manner of ‘demonic’ artifact Crimson Crescent is after?”

Severin sounded a tad miffed. “No. The Raynars have been unforthcoming. So too the Avenirs. I’m rather hurt by my Prides’ reticence.”

I looked at the door. “Why hasn’t this door to the Vault opened?”

“Very good question,” Severin said. “Perhaps they opened one of the other doors.”

Kaleb growled, “So where are the other doors?”

Severin sounded snippy. “I am trying to find out.”

Caprice asked, “A better question is why hasn’t Maya moved in on the hacker.”

“Actually…the answer to that is rather simple….”

Caprice’s voice gained a slight edge. “What’s the answer?”

“Because she’s facing an opponent of her own….”

#

(Maya)

Like Pervert Desanto, Faint Smile and Rina, I had the ability to overclock.

That and my Fragment are probably what initially saved my life.

Overclocking, combined with my Fragment and ten years of swordsmanship kept me alive afterwards.

When I received the call from Kaleb, I ran into the girls’ toilets nearest to me, and changed into the skinsuit I carried in my gym bag.

Two minutes later I was dressed in the skinsuit, with headset-visor in place, and walking out the toilets. I ignored the looks the girls in the toilets gave me and hurried to my classroom, Two-Bee, where I threw my gym bag into a corner. Again, my appearance garnered shocked and puzzled looks, but I had no time for my classmates’ stares.

I felt like a holovid action drama character as I ran down the hallways, and past the students making their way back to class. The first lunch bell had rung, telling students to get a move on. The second and final bell was sure to sound five minutes later.

I heard Rina telling me she was heading up to the rooftop with her gun-blade. She sounded embarrassed and self-conscious so I assumed she was dressed in her skinsuit and was weathering the looks of students and teachers alike.

Two teachers tried stopping me, but I manifested my gauntlet-gloves and the twin swords. This gave them cause for concern, more so when I waved the blades and warned them to back off. They tried sinking into the walls as I ran past them on my way to the library.

Severin told me the students were clearing out of the library, but I would have to wait until they all departed. For now, only a handful of students suspected something was wrong, but those in the library were oblivious to the hacker’s presence.

I waited around the corner from the library and peeked at the Aventis leaving the large, four storey room from the third floor entrance. I found it strange that in this day and age with all the photronic gear we have, people would still choose to read hard printed material. Our library had thousands upon thousands of books. Since coming to the Academy I’d spent a few occasions in the library, mostly to avoid interacting with Aventis, but also to pass the time skimming the countless titles.

Shit! Why did they have to choose the library?

I really, really didn’t want to damage the place.

The library was precious to me. It was where I could hide from the other Aventis until classes resumed.

I told Severin as much, so he advised me to keep the collateral damage down.

That puzzled me.

If this hacker was using a Fragment that wasn’t designed for combat, then why was Severing warning me about collateral damage?

When I asked him, Severin said that just because we couldn’t see the hacker, it didn’t mean they weren’t armed. For all we knew, they could very well have a bomb strapped to their chest. For that matter, they could have planted bombs throughout the library. In short, I was going to have to watch my step.

Once Severin told me the last of the students vacated the room, I took a position outside the entrance leading into the library from the third floor. Severin gave me the order to move in, but was almost immediately countermanded by someone on the channel. I didn’t recognize the woman’s voice, but a few moments later a squad of six Enforcers clad in armor-skins – the heavy, beefed up version of the skin-suit – came thundering down the hallway and waved me back with rifles drawn. Even after they took up positions around the door, some of the Enforcers kept their weapons aimed at me.

I backed away. “Severin, tell these assholes I am ‘not’ the enemy.”

The woman replied, “Don’t interfere with our procedures, Familiar. Know your place.”

Then Severin asked, “What’s the answer to life, the universe and everything?”

I blinked, and understood what he meant – switch to a pre-agreed upon encrypted channel, one the Enforcers could scan but not interfere with.

I answered quickly, “I have no idea what you mean.”

I was certain he knew that wasn’t the case, though I heard him say, “Airhead” over the line.

I kept the other channel open, while listening in on the encrypted channel. At the same time, I backed away a few more feet from the Enforcers around the entrance, and from those pointing their rifles my way.

“So? What’s the deal?” I whispered.

He filled me in quickly, and I realized I would have to wait until Rina did something about the girl with the arm cannon.

So, for the next couple of minutes I did nothing but wait while listening in on the conversations between Severin and Kaleb’s group consisting of Pervert Desanto and Faint Smile. Severin had included the audio feed from that channel into the encrypted one, allowing me to hear their discussion. The Student Council President must have had his hands full, but then I remembered he mentioned something about enlisting the help of the computer club.

I heard a faint rumble in a distant corner of the building, and Severin said, “Rina’s begun engaging her target.”

I didn’t ask about Simone and the girl with her, Haruka Amiella.

I let someone else worry about them, only because I needed to keep my mind clear and focused. No emotion. Just a cold, emptiness that would allow me to absorb what my five senses were telling me and process the information as though I possessed a sixth sense.

Abruptly the Enforcers chose to make their move. I heard the woman issue the order to engage. Their armor-skins flickered as their thermoptic camouflage activated. They didn’t disappear perfectly from view, but it was still good enough for the casual observer to fail to spot them.

Oddly, my Fragment seemed to sense them, as though it could feel their presence. It was a weird feeling that worked its way up my arms, my shoulders, and into the base of my skull. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Was this the Fragment’s way of warning me of what I couldn’t see?

But if I could feel them, then surely the hacker inside would sense them too?

Or maybe his Fragment was different from mine since it wasn’t designed for combat.

Then again, I shouldn’t assume he was defenseless simply because his Fragment was the covert type. Truthfully, I just didn’t know and in those moments of doubt, the Enforcer squad entered the library via the top floor entrance.

I crept into the library behind them. My skinsuit had no thermoptic function so I was visible to all.