Saturday, April 23, 2022 Charlie’s flat, TriBeCa, Manhattan, New York, United States

“I think part of the train disappeared into one of the kingdoms,” Ella said later at Charlie’s apartment. All three of them stood around the kitchen counter eating Korean barbecue. “Some of the openings come and go.” She leaned over and have Jade a big hug, “I’m glad you are okay.”

“Me too.”

They all focused on eating for a while, trying not to think about whatever world the people on that train had found themselves in. Were they still alive?

The news was frustratingly non-specific, citing an accident.

Ella’s phone rang, it was Bahu.

“Hey, have you seen the news about the subway train?”

“Yeah. Jade, my roomie, was on that train. She got a picture of where the front of the train disappeared.

“I just left the site. DIA and FBI have taken over. Apparently this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and it is all being classified as they try and figure out what is going on.” Bahu was speaking quietly, obviously walking on a New York street.

“That feels like a television show, how are they going to cover the reemergence of the Thousand Kingdoms?”

“There is something else going on. I worry that what we saw in Chile, the Carbineros having been co-opted in part by the drow may be happening here as well.”

Ella took a moment to think about it. She had no doubt people would side with Ekerri if it gained them something. The Aqrabuamelu found it reprehensible how greedy and selfish humans were as well the fact that others tolerated it. Both were grave sins in the scorpions’ book.

“I am going to come over. I want to see the picture.”

“Ummm… okay.”

After an extremely awkward introduction, Bahu, dressed in her Army uniform, examined the picture on Jade’s phone.

Ella regarded them both, this truly felt like her two worlds were colliding. For some reason seeing Charlie with her squad had felt a bit more natural, but uptight, moral, fashionable Jade? It was just plain weird.

“Hmmm, not too different than what I saw when I came to the scene later.” Bahu thought out loud. She looked at Jade, then Charlie, and then Ella.

“I assume she knows?”

“She knows about the thousand kingdoms re-emerging and what happened to me, yes.” Ella said. I’ve kept your secret.

She looked back to Jade weighing. Jade was still dressed for the day, her striped bell-bottoms, the matching ruffle necked sleeveless top. Her dark skin and large round afro, bright teeth and serious expression.

Jade was a stickler for the authenticity of her style, Ella was sure the outfit was either vintage or made from vintage fabric. Her previous career had given her amazing connections before she had come to school for journalism.

“So what do you think?” Bahu asked Jade.

Jade didn’t need to ask for clarification, she knew it was about everything.

“I think the world is not ready, and when it becomes too large to ignore, people will entirely go insane. Borders will change. There will be violence and racism and doomsday cults and all the best hits of humanity. And that some people, greedy plutocrats and politicians and whoever else is placed, will seek to lock down any advantages that they can for themselves by locking down trade or stirring the flames.”

Bahu smiled, “A good summary, almost prophetic.”

“I’m a regular Cassandra.” Jade said, the joke being her classmates all thought she was pessimistic but thus far she had been right.

“Well Jade. Thank you for sharing the pictures with us. Stay out of trouble.”

Bahu left.

“Who was that?” asked Jade. “Don’t tell me she was military like her uniform is meant to make me think. She is neck deep in this.”

Ella said, “It isn’t my secret to tell. But she is way more than neck deep in all of this.” She found herself rubbing her hand, the hand that Bahu had driven a stiletto heel right through. Jade looked down and her eyes widened a bit.

Damn it! thought Ella. And now she suspects. She dropped her hand and then looked around for somewhere to put her other hand and then lamely reached over to grab a cold piece of kalbi.

“So…” Ella said with a brittle smile, “who wants to have some more soju?”

Predictably Charlie raised her glass.

But Jade wasn’t done, “I think I need to know who else, which humans, also know. And what they are doing.” She looked troubled.

The next day - Aqrabuamelu Compound; Flushing, Queens, New York, United States

“I hate wearing this thing!” Ella cursed as she lifted up the mask.

She looked at the kill house where Etana and Tauthe were readying to do their run.

Tauthe kept her mask on. “These masks suck, but I’ll sleep in mine if that’s what it takes.”

With a sigh, Ella slid the ballistic mask back down. She hated how it constricted her peripheral vision and how hot her face got.

But she wasn’t going to magic out of it, She had noticed that working through the adversity made her more effective, and she would only use magic sight or other powers on one run out of five. She had even thought about further handicapping herself, but with Zaidu it wasn’t necessary.

Zaidu sat there with a clipboard making down notes. Ella was not looking forward to his feedback sessions. And she had rocked the kill house, she knew it. Every shot had been quick, decisive, and center mass.

When it was Davcina’s turn, Ella volunteered to go again as her partner.

She changed out her magazine, adjusted the damn mask, and got ready. When Zaidu said go, she was off like a shot, at the side of the door ready to breach and already counting her fingers down: three, two, one… Ella swing the door open and charged in, clearing her corners quickly and trusting Davcina to get hers. They progressed to the next room where a target was concealed by a ledge, Davcina took the shot cleanly while Ella put a round in a target that had been above the door, and then another one once it fell to the ground and had exposed a crit.

Now that they had fired their weapons, Ella yelled “Clear!” and heard Davcina’s response.

The next room was questionable, a dog left right through the door. Ella cursed these reconfigurable rooms while she thought about it. Of course the targets couldn’t shoot back, but Zaidu treated it like they could every time.

Ella threw a flashbang through the door and they both stormed in after it had “gone off”. They quickly took down three targets and then sighted the stairs: another kill box.

Zaidu would definitely have hostiles waiting to shoot from their elevated position.

Ella motioned Davcina to the apartment’s window. This urban shooting house was a railroad style NY apartment, but with a single bedroom up some narrow stairs.

Davcina took out a hand mirror and looked out the window with it to spot any hostiles.

Then it was time to climb the fire escape. They climbed to the “roof” of the house and crept over back to the front.

Ella tied a rope to the top and rappelled down, using Davcina’s mirror to check for targets. Two and the hostage. Ella pulled her handgun, and upside down, took the two targets. Then covered Davcina while she went into the room and freed the hostage who was a very bored Etana.

When their feet hit the ground , Zaidu yelled “time” and then came over angrily.

“You didn’t clear the whole house. The two at the stairwell could have come through the door and shot the hostage or you!”

“Sir, yes sir.” Ella said.

Davcina started but Ella waved her off. Zaidu would see that they had wedged the door the hostage was in and they had adequately covered their retreat.

Ella had been tempted to rig a grenade trap at the door, but Zaidu would undoubtedly have penalized them for wasting time.

“Sir, how were we supposed to clear the stairs?”

Zaidu took the whole team through how to clear stairs, describing the close angle of the landing, the mid angle of the doubled backed part of the stairs and the high angle of any other landings.

“You take them one corner at a time. But stairs are always the worst and you should bypass them whenever possible.” Zaidu didn’t look at them when he said that, the hypocrite.

Afterwards, Ella finally peeled off the mask. She flipped it around to look at it, a matte black, round featureless face stared back at her.

“Tomorrow we are going to do it with our gas masks assuming the area has had chemical weapons deployed.”

Zaidu was abusive and sadistic.

Ella still felt good about it. If she wasn’t quite at an elite anti-terrorist unit level, she was getting there. She stayed at the range and practiced her long distance shooting.

“It’s a miracle you hit the target,” a voice hissed behind her. Ella turned to see Zaidu, changed out of his tac gear into jeans and a t-shirt. His close-cropped grey hair was damp still from his shower.

“Being a sniper is all about position and patience. You need to be a good shot, and you are not good enough. But picking the right target and making luck bend to your will to provide the opportunity, that is what makes a sniper amazing.”

That was the most words Ella had ever heard from Zaidu.

“Sir, I just can’t get into the mindset.”

“I’ll get you there.”

Late that evening - Tupper Lake, New York, United States

Fuck Zaidu. He had just been being nice to do this to her.

She looked at her gear. She had a rifle, her knife, which she had found out was a WWI tench knife finally, and nothing else. In a valley next to the Adirondacks in upstate New York.

She was supposed to survive a week up here hunting. Ella had never hunted before.

She dug around in her pack. Oh, he even had given her climbing gear, a manual on wilderness survival, and a map of the allowed field.

Fuck Zaidu.

And then it started raining.