Meno felt the familiar lurch in his stomach, his vision pulling and blurring, and then heat prickled on his skin. His eyes flickered, struggling to adjust to the new light before him. Instinctively, he braced himself with his arms, even though consciously he knew that he had not been spinning. He was not used to shifting yet and didn't think that he would become used to the strange sensation.

  “Everyone good with the plan?” Liv asked, now steely with determination. She had become resolute and focused while developing the plan in the farmhouse, even taking moments where she and Paba moved off aside, she spoke clearly and passionately as they worked out the details. She clearly was not suffering the same effects as Meno after being shifted by Worrec who glanced up at the Pillar with a look of almost casual interest.

  “All good,” replied Ko, calmly checking his exo-suit again and placing the helmet back on. Somehow he had fallen into the role of teammate during the planning phase. Meno knew that he could trust Paba and Liv, but he felt conflicted about trusting someone who actively deceived them. Meno needed to continuously remind himself that much of their escape was owed to Ko’s presence, even if he was not who they thought he was.

  “Yeah,” said Meno softly, his eyes moving from Ko, up to the temple. The statue of Det’em illuminated by the Pillar and the embers below. They had been at the farmhouse for about an hour and a half, and it seemed that the time had done nothing to quell the violence and panic that had fallen over the city. They were in a small side street that Meno didn't recognise, and even it had felt the effects of the riots. He could see the walls that had been painted earlier that day with what looked like a vibrant yellow, had a deep green painted over it. The colours of Reform. The street was filled with debris, rocks, broken glass, and spilt paint. It was difficult to know which event had caused what. The usually neat and clean city was now disturbed, broken.

  “I’m trusting you,” said Paba’s voice, and Meno turned to see her handing over the pendent containing HAL to Ko, the helmeted spy nodded his head and Meno saw Worrec give Paba an encouraging nod. “Okay,” she sighed before taking in a deep breath, “Meno, you’ve got tech in your head, so use it. I’m on the comms, let me know when you are close” he nodded to her, noting her newfound role. Long gone was the Paba that would crack a lame joke or pull her tongue, or even shrink under questioning from Liv. She was serious now, terrified, but serious. “Worrec,” she said looking at the tall blonde man, who upon his name being called held his hand up with the small homemade grenades, showing a red label. Bang-bang’s.

  “Don’t worry, Lady Liv and I will get the party started for you,” he said with a wink to Liv, who still studied him strangely. It was odd, thought Meno, it wasn't like she was uncomfortable around him, it was like she was trying to place him, as though she recognised him from a distant memory. He wondered what those eyes of hers were seeing and found himself wondering what Worrec’s threads would reveal about him. He caught himself, he didn't have time or need to understand that now though.

  He pulled on the plain clothes jacket that he was wearing now, having dropped the braces and plates of the exo-suit at the farmhouse. He still wore the base suit itself but it now lacked much of the utility and protection that it had previously. It was a necessary sacrifice.

  They had decided that it would be easier for him to get into the temple like this rather than as a Traes guard. He didn't have the helmet anyway. Ko would be changing suits where appropriate, and his tech would give him the chance to switch places with a target but keep their clothing, or in this case, exo-suit in place. Basically, if he saw a Dorlec guard, he could remove the soldier from the exo-suit and replace them, without anyone knowing, and without the exo-suit moving at all. It was a ridiculous ability and one that he had mentioned worked well when fully suited guards and soldiers were about. The only limits that he had on it were range and a similar mass requirement.

  ‘I can’t switch with a group, or a ship or anything, so keep that in mind’ he had said.

  “Meno,” he had said through the distorted mask, and Meno saw him hold his index and middle finger out and face them downwards, “Remember this, if you see this, it’s me” he had run through this with Meno at the farmhouse, but Meno nodded once more showing that he understood.

  ‘I’m going to be playing around the edges, I’ll be on the comms, but this will let you know if it’s me or not’ he had said earlier that evening. Meno didn't appreciate that he had said, ‘playing around the edges’ like that. He didn't feel that this was a game.

  “Once your, bang-bang’s…” Ko still didn't seem to think the name was appropriate, “Go off, I’ll wait for the call, and then blow the bomb in the temple”, Meno nodded, knowing that it would be his call that would be required for the final blast to go off.

  “Good luck,” said Worrec as he gripped onto the unsuspecting Liv and then with in a sudden warping of the air around them, vanished from their spot. He looked at Paba and swallowed,

  “See you in there,” said Ko, who sprinted off. Meno watched him run off through the alleyway. He shuddered slightly but quickly tried to regather himself. He had been in intense situations before, but this was different, this was a planned assault, with key elements resting on his shoulders. It was also far more dangerous. He took a breath and turned to Paba who was looking at him with concern

  “Be careful” Paba said and Meno could see the fear in her too,

  “You too, don’t get caught up there, we can get through another way if needed”

  “I’ll be fine” she said, “Don’t die” she said, seeming only to be able to manage those words. He could see she wanted to say more, but couldn't. She launched herself at him and hugged him, holding him for a moment around his torso. He patted her on the back and she released him quickly, turning to make sure she wasn't facing him. “Bring her back” were her last choked words to him.

  It didn't take Meno long to get close to the Agora, with only two occasions that he needed to sneak past guards, and on both occasions, those guards were Traes. He had found a marching crowd, all still chanting and holding the flag of Reform, they were moving loudly towards the Agora. Men, women and even some children, all in concert barging their way through the streets, breaking windows and stalls as they went. Meno slipped in, giving a few chants himself, as he was pushed and shoved into the crowd as they bustled through. On a few occasions apologising to those around him, and once nearly stepped on a little girl who couldn't have been more than five, holding onto her mother's hand who chastised him. Even with the looming threat of the Houses, they followed in defiance of being controlled, they howled and shouted at any guards that they passed.

  ‘Liberation for Yeley!’

  ‘For Grasci!’

  ‘For The Front! For a new Yeley!’ they bellowed into the air as they made their way forward.

  ‘We are Yeley, we are free!’

  Meno saw from within the crowd, his arm up in a thrusting motion with the protestors, that Traes guards lined the sides of the streets, allowing them through to the Agora. The guard just watched them. Meno imagined that they wouldn't want to create any cause for retaliation. Too afraid to be the first to shoot. They were outnumbered, heavily. It would have been a death sentence.

  His eyes once again flittered toward the statue of Det’em, and he tried to see if anything from the Traes balcony was visible, but it was too high up, too dark and the glow coming from beneath did not do enough to show anything clearly. He knew that she was in there though.

  He peered over his shoulder to the Pillar, standing still and dark ahead of the statue. He could feel the vibrations of its gravity engines as they worked to keep it suspended. They had heard its call clearly from the farmhouse not long ago. The deep horn carried easily over the fields and hit the farmhouse, shaking its very walls. He had seen all manner of winged creatures scatter as they flooded the air in all directions, as far as the eye could see.

  “They say that the Dorlec Commander is arresting Pac Traes” spat a man next to Meno in the crowd as they shuffled through.

  “About time” Meno spat back, hoping that it was convincing enough, tightening the jacket around him to conceal what now only looked like a tight black body suit, but there was always a chance that it could be identified as an exo-suit base layer.

  The man roared, the sound of it being drowned out by the crowd, and he felt slightly more at ease as they made their way through the narrow alleyways and streets to the Agora. The line moved slower as they got closer, the crowd all packing together, clearly all wanting to get the best seats in the house. It wasn't long before Meno needed to make his way out of the march and through one of the less busy streets, stealthily making his way closer and closer.

  He made his way into a building that had been abandoned and saw that the home had been ransacked, separating from the crowd. Art lay broken on the ground, the sofa overthrown and glass strewn across the floor. He made his way up the stairs to the higher level and took a moment in the quieter room to prepare himself, checking once more on the gravity grenades that he had. Paba’s ‘innies and outies’ and three bang-bangs too. He wished he had more of those, but Worrec and Liv needed them.

  He looked out the window of the once home and peered into the Agora. Thousands of people had swarmed the Agora, most chanting, some playing large drums that must have been wheeled in earlier, some pushing each other and getting into fights. The place was pure chaos.

  He opened the window and stood on the sill looking down into the crowd. He called down to get some of the crowd to move and jumped down to the ground below, landing heavily and ensuring that none of the grenades were dislodged from his jacket. He saw that he had gathered a bit of a crowd and unwanted attention and so thrust his arm into the air and shouted,

  “Yeley is free!” the crowd joined him, and in their jubilation, he slipped through them, getting closer and closer to the temple gates. Just as he was getting close, the Pillar unleashed another deafening blow. He and the crowd around him dropped to their haunches, as he did and covered their ears. It shook his very bones, he felt it in his eyes, like they were vibrating out of his head.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Then it immediately went silent, and an image appeared in the Pillar itself, a symbol appeared on its surface, a glowing diamond shape made of three smaller diamond shapes within it, and three lines that came off the bottom two angles with a dot at the bottom. The Sigil of the Dorlec, he now knew. Some of the crowd tried to move around him quickly, potentially trying to escape, some jeered at the symbol. A voice then came from the Pillar,

  “This is Commander Sheppard of the Dorlec Empire. We have arrested Pac and Eher Traes for the assassination of Professor Isaac Grasci. Remain calm while we resolve this issue, will soon have further instruction” Then suddenly the light vanished. The mob did anything but remain calm, and roared once more. There had been initial cheers from the crowd after the announcement of the arrest, but Meno knew that this mob did not stand with the Traes, but they also opposed any control. They didn't want the Dorlec here either.

  He found something else interesting though, the Commander had identified himself as Sheppard. That was the name of the Commander on Gol. he looked up to the balcony once more before pushing and shoving his way through the crowd, no longer worrying about their reactions, no longer apologising. Sheppard would know Angie, they had met. He didn't know what that would mean, but he needed to act faster than he had been. He would wonder if this was a coincidence or not later, right now, he needed to focus on getting to her.

  He got to the gate, leaving one row of pushing people in front of him so that the guards wouldn't be able to spot him, the smell of burning here was stronger, and the crowd were angrier. He had been warned by Ko and Worrec that the Traes and Dorlec helmets would scan his face, and Ko had confirmed that he would be identified having seen Meno’s face pass over on the ‘list of suspicious persons’. All of their faces had come up on his display when they were leaving the temple as the culprits that were kidnapping Liv, bar Ko’s. He raised his hand to the back of his ear and pushed down just slightly,

  “I’m here”

  “Then here we go” came Worrec’s voice, and then there were three large booms from behind him. He turned to face the screaming crowd behind him and saw the blooms of three blasts from buildings surrounding the Agora,

  “Into the temple” he screamed, trying to get the crowd to push forward, “Move, to the temple, get into the temple, they are attacking!” just as Ko had told him,

  ‘It won’t take much to get a mob like that into a frenzy’ he had said.

  Meno turned back and watched the guards ahead of him, feeling people push past him as he calmly surveyed a path for himself. They were turning back into the temple, running away from the onslaught of thousands of people pushing their way past their defences. They would not dare to take on so many, even with their weapons and suits.

  He rushed in with the crowd, feeling that he had enough people in front of him now that he wouldn't be picked up as someone leading the charge. The guards were either not there or already in a heap as he made his way through the temple gates, as the fires from the blasts raged. The temple would be flooded in no time. There was another enormous blast from the Pillar, but this time, its horn-like bellow was the sound that was drowned out by the crowd.

  Even in the temple, he saw marks of the uprising, scorch marks on the fine stone walls and bodies lying on the ground from the push. Blood stained some of the walls and military equipment was left lying as Meno realised the guard had not expected to be breached.

  He bumped and pushed past people as he made his way up the staircase into the temple and started moving left, feeling like he was moving against water in the crowd, but he needed to get to one of the stone staircases. He saw two quick bolts of light pass over him, and he ducked, then looked up to see a Dorlec soldier with their rifle out. The soldier stuck out his index and middle finger and faced his hand down. It was Ko. Meno rushed passed him up the staircase, which already had a crowd moving up it wanting to get away from the chaos. Meno heard a muffled voice come from the soldier, in a panic,

  “What?! No, I’m not a…” The exo-suited soldier was consumed by the crowd, and Meno knew that Ko had already moved on.

  “Holy shit that’s rough,” Meno said, panting up the stairs, not stopping. It was a ridiculous ability, but it always required a replacement to take the fall.

  He made it to the first floor, and ran through the corridors, outpacing the people around him, but it would be fine, he would wait on the third floor for the crowd to catch up, it would be better if he could get rid of any guards that may have been posted there. He knew that they had barricaded the fourth when Grasci was assassinated, and the temple was flooded the first time. He wished he knew what the guard's presence looked like, but that would have to wait for Hal. It didn't seem like there was any presence of guards on this floor or perhaps he was just lucky with the corridor that he had taken.

  At the top of the stairs of the second floor, he ducked back behind as three blue bolts shot passed him. He stood with his back to the wall, trying to regulate his breath, which was quick and unsteadier than it should have been for this much running. He dug in the jacket and pulled an outie. He gave it a small squeeze to activate it and then threw it down the corridor. He didn't know where they were, but that was what the outie was for. He listened for the grenade to go off, and heard the sudden crack, like a whip and then the heavy thump that followed it, he felt the shockwave burst through the corridor, and then dashed through the corridor, seeing the corridor now filled with dust. He ran through and saw guards trying to get up from the blast of air pressure that the outie gravity grenade created. Without breaking stride, Meno lifted his knee into the helmet of the guard. The blue helmet of the Traes guard cracked with the impact, and he turned up the staircase to make his way to the third floor.

  He stopped at the top of the stairs, not wanting to make the same mistake as before. He listened carefully, his breath still rapid, and his heart felt like it was thumping out of his chest, but his vision felt incredibly sharp, and he was aware of everything around him. He heard the encrypted speech of the guards, a strange sound that jerked about like sounds that were out of order, the phonetics of their speech jumping and skipping. It was like hearing a sentence where all of the syllables and sounds were out of place.

  He was still about one hundred and fifty meters away from where he needed to be. He steadied his breath, he knew that he needed to get as close to the central lift in his next movement. He took out a bang-bang and an innie, took another deep breath and turned into the corridor. He was immediately met with an incoming wall of flame, and he realised that he was now facing a Dorlec soldier. They had different tech, as well as Primers in their ranks.

  He threw the innie at the wall of flame that burst toward him, roaring as it did so, his breath held in his throat as he pressed on, darting right toward the wall of flame, that licked at him. Right before the heat became too much for Meno to handle, his arms held out in front of his face, he heard the strange, droplet-like noise and he watched the fire being pulled away from him, like it was being sucked into a vacuum. He felt the pull against himself and nearly tripped with his legs almost unable to keep up, but steadied himself, using his arms to balance himself.

  He saw the black exo-suit and immediately threw the ban-bang down the corridor, before jumping into one of the rooms that was thankfully empty, he had just made it inside when he heard the grenade burst with another thunderous clang. He pulled himself off the floor, his heart still racing and ran through the corridor, now filled with smoke and dust. He heard the soldiers coughing and the strange encrypted speech, but it was weak. He saw the primer Dorlec soldier, he was the one that was coughing in his suit, and Meno saw that he had a blast impression of his chest. He brought down a heavy blow on the soldier's helmet and cracked it too. It was harder than the Traes’ guards that he had felt before. So they even had better exo-suits than the Traes.

  He quickly moved to the other two soldiers and saw that they had passed out. They must have been trying to speak before succumbing.

  “Why is nobody ever looking when I do shit like this,” he said breathlessly, looking up the now smoke-filled corridor.

  He looked back down the corridor and heard the screams and cries of the mob making its way up the staircases, and then suddenly he felt a push on his side, and as if moving in slow motion, the red leg of a Kryptea that had side kicked him from behind. His body crumpled under the impact, and he was thrown into the wall hitting it with a massive thump.

  His breath escaped him as the Kryptea lunged—sword aimed for his neck. Meno ducked. The blade screeched against stone. From the side of his eye, he saw another, the female swinging her sword toward his neck once more. They weren’t fucking around here. He ducked, grabbed onto the first Kryptea and spun under his arm and around him, Meno then thrust his fist into the Kryptea’s back, keeping his eye on the female who pulled her sword out of the stone wall. This male seemed slower than 6.

  The Kryptea he was holding, which he now realised was Laken, tried to turn an elbow into Meno’s head, but Meno ducked, grabbed an innie from in his jacket, held it in his hand and threw an uppercut into the Kryptea’s jaw. The blow lifted Laken off the ground and Meno released the innie from his hand, allowing it to hang near the Kryptea’s head, and he jumped down low to the side, sliding along the ground before he heard the droplet sound. He felt a massive tug at him before he could reach the ground and was pulled back up from the floor by the gravity grenade to a near-standing position once more. He orientated himself in the air, still feeling the pull.

  Laken’s body was still standing, but his throat and jaw were gone, and his eyes were still now vacant, the life pulled from them by the grenade. His heart skipped with the realisation of what the grenade had done to the Kryptea, a moment where thoughts flashed through his mind of guilt and panic. He had done that to him. He watched the body as the legs that were no longer receiving any signals from his brain, dropped and the Kryptea thudded to his knees. Meno watched him, feeling his heart sink and the walls get in closer. His heart pounded as Laken’s body crumpled. His mind screamed at him to move, but something inside him twisted—he had done that. He thought of August, a man that he had thrown against the wall. All of this ran through his head in the moment that Laken had dropped to the floor.

  Meno caught himself though, with a flash from his side and realised he couldn't afford to stop, as Archon was pulled into the blast too and was wheeling at him using the momentum of the grenade to rush forward with her blade ready. Meno’s heart jumped for a moment and he felt the slight pushback from the space around where the innie had gone off, the air pushing back into the space where the vacuum had just been. It wasn't stopping her though and he knew he wasn't going to make it, his feet had only just hit the ground, he wasn't going to be able to dodge the blow and he had nothing that he could block the sword with. He was fucked.

  He felt someone grip tightly on the back of his neck and saw Archon slow for a moment, her eyes on whoever was pulling Meno. He suddenly felt himself go horizontal as he was thrown onto the opposing wall. He smashed into it sideways and slid down the stone, landing with a thump on the ground. His vision was blurry and he blinked on the ground, trying to pull himself together. He felt like he had just been dropped off a building.

  He looked up and as his eyes adjusted, saw that it was 6. The Kryptea that he had been training with was standing in the corridor, taller than Archon who was looking at him incredulously, the most emotion that Meno had ever seen from her. Meno noted that he was at the lift now and that he had hit the wall next to it.

  “Mine,” said 6 in his usual deep, low tone, but this time, it somehow held some animosity in it. Archon watched him carefully. Meno kept blinking trying to bring focus back to his eyes as he watched the two in front of him. He knew he wouldn't have much time before one of them descended on him, and with him not standing much of a chance when fully fit, he needed to try and gather himself as fast as possible now. The taller Kryptea turned to Meno who lifted his hand up to his ear and pushed down slightly.

  “Now, please” The use of words nearly drained all of the air he had left in him.

  “You got it, kid” came Ko’s voice. It was instantaneous, Meno felt the blast go off below them, he felt the stone ground beneath them swell as shockwaves were sent through the temple of Det’em, an enormous crack of thunder as Ko’s bomb, planted days ago when he had first entered the temple on the second floor, blew beneath them. Meno watched as fire jetted out of the temple from the lower floor, through the open corridor balconies. His eyes felt the pressure build-up from the blast, and he felt himself rise into the air from the warping of the stone beneath him, again a heat from the explosion hit him. He saw the Kryptea’s footing falter as the corridors buckled under the blast. The entire temple rocked with a burst of flame and sound.

  There was no going back now.