Coil Gun

 

“So,” Dyna said, pulling an internally-suppressed pistol from Walter’s cache of weapons. She didn’t know what kind of weapon it was, but it looked far sleeker and newer than anything she had used before. Dyna wasn’t surprised that his car had just as many weapons stashed away as Emerald’s car and, after seeing the car itself, she wasn’t surprised that they were just as high-tech. But she was curious… “Why didn’t you use one of these on that mountain man?”

“Mountain—” Walter started, tone confused before he realized. “Oh. I did.”

Dyna blinked, watching as he pulled a much longer gun from the trunk. She honestly wasn’t sure what kind of gun it was. The pistol Dyna had picked at least looked like a pistol. Walter’s weapon of choice was a large rectangular brick. The barrel had several coffee mug-sized cylinders lined up underneath the length of the thing and, after he flipped a switch on the back, the entire thing started humming.

For all she knew, it fired lightning bolts or something.

“I was driving around, looking for signs of the ones who ambushed Ruby. I had been a street over when he fired that first shot. As soon as I turned the corner, I jumped out and shot him. He didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he was more concerned with readying a second shot for you and Hematite.”

“And you decided punching him was the best option at that point?”

Walter shrugged. “Hand-to-hand combat is more suited to my strengths. In addition, I figured that even if he was inviolable, his weapon wouldn’t be and I would be able to knock it aside.”

“Well, it worked. Thanks.”

“Wish I had gotten there sooner.” A tap of a button on the end of the car closed the trunk all on its own. “As for this operation, we have few priority objectives. First and foremost: Do not die. Your safety is paramount. Losing even a powerful artifact is a recoverable error. If the situation is too dangerous, back away. Otherwise, the second priority is denying the artifact to our opponents. Recovery is preferable. Destruction is acceptable. If you have a clear shot at the board, take it.”

Dyna grimaced. The Ouija board was her first real success that wasn’t born out of ignorance or a time of stress. The thought of destroying it left a bad taste in her mouth. She understood the logic, of course, but a part of her hoped they had it protected in some bulletproof case simply so she wouldn’t have to make that decision.

Moving around to the passenger side of the car, Walter folded the seat forward and removed a small box from behind it. Opening it, he pulled out a quartet of palm-sized drones. Picking them up one at a time, he pressed a small button on them before tossing them up into the air. The propellers spun up and, after stabilizing for a moment, they took off, vanishing into the night.

Beatrice, Dyna presumed.

“Priority three is capture, optimal, or elimination of the opposing force. We already have two captured whom we can scrape for information, so do not put yourself in danger to capture someone.”

Swallowing, Dyna firmed her grip on her gun and nodded her head. A small part of her wondered how she had gone from what was effectively a student to… whatever this was. Mind control? It didn’t feel like that. Every step of the way seemed logical and the correct decisions at the time. It was just such a stark contrast between student-slash-research subject to some kind of psychic soldier.

Dyna focused, shoving the thoughts from her mind. She could think about her decisions later. For now, she accepted the headphones that Walter pulled from under the dashboard. The firm band wrapped around the back of her head, but the bud-like ends didn’t go into her ears. Rather, they rested on the bone just ahead of her ears.

“This is Beatrice.”

Beatrice’s voice came through bone conduction a bit muffled, but understandable. The sound quality was an acceptable compromise if it meant she didn’t have to carry around a cell phone or worry about earbuds falling out of her ears. That left her hands free for her gun and mirror. Or magnifying glass. Or handcuffs.

“I hear you.”

“Aerial reconnaissance in progress. Warning: Civilians in theater; check targets and area before engaging.”

“At the waterfront?”

“Negative. Within buildings and homes nearby. No activity detected at river access points. Expanding search parameters.”

“They have to be here,” Dyna said, one hand moving to brush against the brass and wood handle of the magnifying glass that was sticking out of her pocket. There was still the possibility that the thief did not have any additional allies and would be a mile up the river on his own, but the more she thought about it, the more that felt like the wrong answer.

There was a power plant and water tower right on the river that Dyna had identified as their best entry point into the water to allow for travel that wouldn’t be obstructed by more dams and infrastructure. As she had already surmised, they didn’t need to go far. Just far enough to disguise their location and make their escape using more traditional methods. Walter had stopped their car around the side of a library nearby, well within walking distance.

They should be here. Leaning into the car and looking over the map still displayed on the dashboard, Dyna stared for a good long moment. “The museum,” she said, pointing just a little south of the power plant. It was also right on the river. “Their transit is probably disguised as a donation to the museum, maybe it hadn’t been unpacked to disguise what it was. They’ll be—”

“Located suspicious individuals pushing a large object into the river from the museum parking lot,” Beatrice said.

Walter, slamming a magazine of… whatever his weapon fired into its underside, started walking away from the car. “Let’s move. Remember what I said.”

“Right.” Dyna looked down to her firearm. Although unfamiliar and sleek, it still had a slide at the top to chamber a round and a switch on the side to operate the safety. An attached underbarrel laser might help her aim, but she left it off for the moment to avoid giving away her position.

Confident the weapon was simply a firearm and not some esoteric experimental technology, Dyna hurried after Walter.

Part of her wanted some kind of fancy mask like what the Tartarus crew used. Beatrice would surely be able to display the drone camera feeds or even highlight targets in real time. Unfortunately, Walter had not handed her anything of the sort.

With the power out, the streets were dark. Even still, Walter managed to find the shadows and stick to them. Even after Dyna’s eyes adjusted, she still had trouble tracking him. If she hadn’t known he was there, he could easily have ambushed her. Although she was following directly behind him, Dyna wasn’t sure that she was doing as good a job. Every time she moved, she couldn’t help but notice a gleam of moonlight on the edges of her torn jacket or hear her own footsteps. The rattle of the handcuffs was especially thunderous to her ears despite her best efforts at securing the chain.

Down the backstreets from the library, Dyna and Walter eventually came to a tall wooden fence. At the end of it, Walter held up a closed fist.

Dyna followed the command and stopped in her tracks, eyes searching, mirror out, and weapon at the ready.

He peered around the corner. After a moment, his raised hand opened and motioned forward.

Advancing down a walking path between the wooden fence and a brick building, Dyna could see the museum ahead of them now. There was a large street in between it and her. A small hedge lined the museum parking lot. She hurried forward, moving as fast as she could while keeping low and silent.

Walter, now behind her, kept his weapon up and aimed dead ahead, sweeping slowly in an arc in front of them for any targets.

Reaching the hedge, Dyna ducked fully behind it, ensuring that no one had seen her through the use of her mirror. She waited until Walter ducked down and matched her pose behind the hedge.

“Anyone have eyes on us?”

Dyna jumped slightly at his loud voice. She saw his lips move, but her ears barely picked up a faint exhale of air. The actual sound came through the bone conductive headphones.

Not trusting herself to speak as quietly as he had, she met his eyes and slowly shook her head.

“Parking lot ahead is clear,” Beatrice said. “Two unknown individuals are standing around the far side of the museum building. Stance, heartbeat, and breath analysis indicates they are at a heightened level of alertness but currently unaware of your existence.”

She could detect heartbeats with those drones? Beatrice should have guns on them too. She could simultaneously snipe everyone nearby with enough drones. Although, given what Dyna knew of the administrators, they were probably far too paranoid to allow Beatrice access to any weapons, even while granted elevated operating status.

Which left Dyna and Walter.

Walter motioned first to Dyna then to… something out in the parking lot. In the dark with only the moon for light, she took a long moment to realize what it was. A giant fan. Or, more likely, some turbine piece from the hydroelectric power plant that had been placed out in the parking lot for decorative purposes. Being made from some kind of metal, it would provide better cover than the hedge she was currently hidden behind.

Pointing to his own eyes then to the far corner of the museum, Walter popped up just above the top of the hedge, aiming his blocky gun. Covering her advance.

Moving behind him, Dyna hurried around the side of the hedge and through the parking lot to the turbine rotor. She was careful to keep it between her and where Beatrice said the enemy was, ensuring they wouldn’t see her if they looked around the side of the building.

Reaching it, she put her back to it and nodded at Walter.

“White advancing.”

Rather than run around the hedge to where people and cars were meant to enter the parking lot, Walter simply vaulted right over the waist-high bushes in a single bound. He made a small bit of noise as he landed, but was otherwise silent as he rushed past Dyna’s cover to the outcropped entrance to the museum.

As he ran forward, Dyna leaned out around the turbine, aiming her pistol toward the side of the building. She doubted she would hit anyone at this range, in the dark, and with an unfamiliar firearm, but she would at least be able to lay down some covering fire while Walter got into his own cover.

Her covering fire ended up unnecessary as Walter put his back to the museum wall. Walter stayed still for a moment, as if waiting to see if anyone had heard him approaching. When nothing happened, he started making gestures to Dyna again.

Beatrice interrupted him.

“Hold. Additional individuals approaching from river side. Small boat deployed into river. Analysis indicates window of engagement opportunity narrowing.”

As Beatrice spoke, Dyna heard the rumble of a gas-powered motor starting up somewhere in the distance. A small engine. Nothing large. After the initial thrumming, the engine settled down into a much quieter hum.

Dyna frowned. There wasn’t much in the way of cover up ahead. There was a truck at the very furthest point of the parking lot—probably the truck they had hidden their boat in—but it was well past the edge of the museum. She would be spotted rushing to it without a doubt.

Walter didn’t have anything ahead of him either. Aside from the turbine, the parking lot was just too empty at this time of night. Despite that, he started advancing again.

“Cover me,” Walter’s voice rumbled through the bones in her ears.

Caught off guard, Dyna was a bit sluggish as she pivoted around the side of the turbine again. Walter had already made it up to the corner of the museum where the enemy waited. He didn’t stop at the corner, however. He edged around it, pieing it off with his weapon raised and ready.

Bright white light akin to a flash bang forced Dyna’s eyes closed. At the same time, a thunderous clap hit her ears. Unlike that cannon-like weapon the mountain man had used, which could also be described as thunderous, this noise sounded like actual thunder, complete with those echoing crashes as the sound hit distant buildings and the river.

As Dyna blinked away the spots in her eyes, something hit the turbine rotor over her head with a hollow metallic clang. Fearing she was being fired at and her night vision ruined, Dyna ducked back. However, a plastic noise clattered against the asphalt ground.

Grenade?

Dyna started moving, only for her foot to kick against whatever it was, sending it skipping across the parking lot. A few more blinks during that short time cleared her vision enough to see what it was.

It was not, in fact, a grenade. Rather, it was one of the little palm-sized drones.

“Wa██ing: Elec███mag████ disc██rge detected,” Beatrice said, voice filled with static. Not the strange but likely intentional static that echoed her words while operating at a heightened capacity, but actual, unintelligible static.

Dyna pushed it out of her mind. Realizing that she was not under attack and was derelict in her duty to provide Walter with cover, she quickly pivoted around the side of the turbine once again, raising her gun as her vision slowly returned to normal.

Walter stood at the corner of the building still, silhouetted against the river behind him. He was not holding his weapon, which was on the ground a short distance away, but he didn’t look injured or captured either. He was just staring at it.

And slowly, ever so slowly, he turned his head. Dyna trusted Walter, but there was still something unnerving as his reflective glasses turned to face her. He made no motion. No wave to draw her closer or subtle gesture to indicate that she should hide. He simply stared.

The disquiet of the situation shattered as the rumble of the distant engine grew louder. Swearing under her breath and lacking direction from Walter or Beatrice—the latter of whom might have been completely knocked out for all she knew—Dyna took the initiative into her own hands by rushing forward, gun at the ready. Walter made no move to stop her.

She still raised her pistol as she pied off the museum’s corner.

There was nobody standing, but there were a few bodies on the ground. The rank scent of overly done barbecue hit her nose as she noticed wisps of smoke trailing from each of them. The ground, sidewalk-style concrete, had thick black scorch marks around where each of the bodies feet must have been when they had been standing.

“It was a coil gun. Not a lightning gun. Meant to propel metal pellets at high velocity with zero sound.”

Dyna jumped slightly. With how still he had been standing, Dyna had almost started to wonder if he had been mind controlled or otherwise psychically affected. While she was glad to hear that he didn’t sound mind controlled, the nonsequitur still made her blink. “What?”

“We need to talk.” He paused, opened his mouth, then shook his head. “Later. Can you stop them?” he asked, pointing out toward the river.

With the moonlight gleaming off the water, it was easy to see a boat speeding away. It was just a small boat. One of those little aluminum fishing boats for one or two people. It wasn’t a speedboat or any fancy shallow-water submarine.

But it was still a small target moving quickly away.

She would never be able to hit it with her gun.

Lowering her hand, her fingers brushed over the cold metal of the handcuffs. Now that she had vision of the boat and what looked like two occupants, could she arrest them? Perhaps not in the sense that handcuffs were normally used for, but physically stop them. Arrest their momentum. Even if it didn’t sound like the most logical way for handcuffs to be used, artifacts weren’t logical. The themes were there, and that was what was important.

As she thought that, both figures in the boat jerked to a stop.

The boat, however, did not stop. It continued right out from under them as they hovered a short few feet above the surface of the water. With no one to steer it, the boat quickly beached itself on the rocky bank on the far side of the river.

Both of the people Dyna had caught remained suspended in the air for a few moments, now shouting. They could still twist and move a little in the air. They might have stayed there as long as Dyna kept her eyes on them, but as their struggles increased, one managed to pull out a gun. She couldn’t see it at the distance, but she heard the pops and saw the muzzle flashes.

Dyna let out a surprised squawk as Walter picked her up and put the wall of the museum between them and the river. The gunfire cut off almost immediately, replaced by distant plop noises of some heavy things hitting the water.

Walter peered around the side of the building and let out a small sigh.

“We have people en route to various points along the river. So long as they do not get back into their boat, we should have little issue fishing them out. We’ll remain here to stop them again if they should manage before our people get here.”

Dyna nodded slowly, leaning forward herself to peek around the corner. Two human-sized splashes in the water looked like they were trying to fight against the current. They didn’t look like they were headed for their boat. At least not directly. But they could swim—or at least remain afloat—despite their gear. They would reach the bank of the river before too long.

So Dyna simply stopped them again. It was easy and simple. She just had to reach out like any one of the psychic lectures at the institute instructed and stop them.

“After,” Walter said, unaware of her actions. He didn’t continue his thought, however, instead looking down to his discarded weapon. “I need to speak with the administrators.”

Dyna frowned, not taking her eyes off the men frozen in the river.

Something had gone wrong here. That was for sure. And Dyna felt like she was missing just one little bit of key knowledge that would loop her into whatever it was.

Lowering her hand somewhat, Dyna kept the soldiers frozen while brushing her fingers against the handle of the magnifying glass. Then she thought about it, running over everything that had happened in the last few minutes since arriving at the museum.

One piece of information stuck out to her as odd. Something Walter had said to her.

It was a coil gun, not a lightning gun.