Sunday, April 17, 2022 Santiago, Chile

“So what did we get?”

The inventory.

17× Glock 17, three unusable. 12× Galil ACE rifle, two unusable. 1× HK MP5, poorly maintained but repairable. 1× Browning AB-3 bolt action rifle with scope, the one Ella had been using. Plenty of cheap ammo.

They were all in bad shape, and the soldier in her winced when she saw them. The Aqrabuamelu spent more time than was absolutely necessary to clean them and oil them; cannibalizing the unusable weapons to fix up the other ones.

Ella held the Galil that had been given to her. She muttered under her breath, “There are many like it…”

She had wanted to use her magic more effectively, but her range and ability to guide bullets was limited. And she still couldn’t quite do anything without lighting up her eyes which was a big risk at night. The firearms, the training, it was useful, but it was not using her to her full potential.

She sat with Zaidu and reviewed the tactical picture from the previous night. He excoriated her for not setting up tripwires for detecting hostiles, using the cutting wire to close off cover points… But, to Ella’s surprise, grudgingly complemented her on taking out the other sniper. He shuddered a bit at a memory and muttered something about ‘countersniping be his least favorite activity.’ So Ella felt a bit giddy at that. Of course he had to ruin it with how it had taken her too many shots to take down the other sniper and thus she hadn’t been able to support her teammates.

Etana reported back from his turn watching the warehouse in Maipu. The group there were all Carabineros and they had been in numerous altercations with the street gangs throughout the day, from roughing some up to flat-out executing a small group.

“Anti-gang unit operating out of a blacksite like in Chicago?” thought Ella but Etana suspected they may not actually be Chilean federal police.

Bahu called them over, leaning over the shoulder of Namtar. He was reading out the news.

“This article is talking about a gang war happening. That the killing Etana saw was part of it. Also that some gang members have been tortured.”

They sat back and put together a theory.

“If they had the dagger, they would have grabbed it and gone. Therefore they don’t. This isn’t a gang war, these are drow killteams looking for the item. So does that mean someone in the criminal underworld has it?”

They split up again. They hadn’t seen Donna so Bahu wanted to check Atacama. The Buenos Aires team had just gotten on the ground and acquired some gear, although they had not had to go the lengths the Chilean teams had gone.

The Aqrabuamelu had started touring the city, looking for that feeling that indicated the presence of a piece of imperial regalia.

But it was a large, sprawling city, and they didn’t get any bites. Tauthe was taking a shift following the officers around but was grumbling about it the whole time, calling in just to complain.

Ella, on the other hand, was going stir crazy. Of all the people that had stayed in Santiago, one of them had to be Zaidu. And Zaidu’s cure for everything was more abusive training.

Ella finished her pull-ups, sweating, an undid her backpack, dropping it to the ground with a thud.

“What did you put in there? Rocks?” she whined to Zaidu. She must have been tired.

Zaidu said nothing and waited and Ella’s belated “sir” didn’t come in time. He sent her back up and had her do more pull-ups, this time with her legs in an L position.

And then it was sparring. Sparring with Zaidu was an exercise in pain. It was all about getting an immediate advantage for a disabling or kill shot. As unlike MMA or Muay Thai as imaginable in the end. And Zaidu was very good at it. He pressed her hard and methodically and without mercy. Opening up to draw her out and punishing her relentlessly when she was slow to take advantage.

And then… Ella did it. He left an opening on his right ribs, perfect for a body blow. And Ella decided to go for surprise. To create the opening, he had to lean slightly away to the left. She did a leg hook and shove.

He hit the ground with a thud and was up and rolling almost instantly. But he had hit the ground.

Ella stood there and almost took a straight head shot from him before slipping or at the last moment.

And then she cheered.

Zaidu stood there and let her do it.

“Good job. The obvious opening is always a feint when you fight someone experienced.”

No vermin comment. No derisive ‘human’, just a complement. Ella almost cheered again.

“Good job for an idiot,” he amended and then he dumped her onto the ground with low sweeping kick on her leg, but leaving his leg there after the hard hit to make an obstacle, and then grabbed her arm and pulled her right over his leg. His point made that she should have done that instead for a better takedown.

Ella kipped up and jumped right back into it.

Afterwards they sat there, Ella panting, and Zaidu doing his grumpy zen thing.

“Sir, why do we spend so much time on hand to hand? I really feel like I should spend more time shooting, those long range shots were difficult and it took me a couple to bring the other sniper down.

“Three reasons. First, fitness and discipline are essential when you are carrying a hundred pounds of pack for hours through combat. Second, in quieter ops, you may need to get a silent kill and that precludes firearms. And third, I told you to. Now fifty burpees for questioning me.”

Afterwards they sat there. Ella panting and keeping her mouth shut, and Zaidu doing his grumpy zen thing.

That evening Ella spent the time on magic. She sat in the closet with a towel stuffed under the door jamb. It was pitch dark. And she tried to call up magic without any hint of glow. At the same time, she tried to use it to examine her finger. If she could see the finger normally, then her eyes had lit up. She could confirm it with the makeup mirror she had brought in with her.

She could almost manage it when she looked at her finger as a whole, her eyes were dim enough it was hard to tell even in the pitch dark closet.

But when she tried to focus deeper or smaller, the glow would get brighter.

After two hours of sitting in that room, her stomach growled. But she had made progress. She could keep the glow down slightly and she could see her skin cells a few layers deep.

And then she tried something else, she reached out of the closet with her senses, through the door, trying to feel the position everyone outside. Adra with his hurt shoulder was watching television while cleaning one of those much abused Glocks. Tauthe, just back from scouting the police officers. Bahu, hunched over a desk.

And when she went out, everyone was where they were supposed to be. Except that Zaidu and Etana were both there as well.

But still, progress.