I added to our safety by blocking the top of the stairwell too. The raptors were one realisation away from breaking through the fire escapes to reach the hotel floors, and from there an easy route up to us. When the carpets were suitably ruined and we were secure, I addressed my group.

“I’m all ears. Any suggestions on what to do next?”

Cody came up with the most logical plan. “We fly across to the labs and find Liza. They’ve got to be secure for Lake to risk releasing these things. We can take shelter inside.”

“And how do we get inside?”

“That sounds like a worry about it when we get there problem,” said Cris.

“We’ve made everything else up as we’ve gone along, so why stop now? Where do you think the man himself might be?” I asked.

“If I were to guess, he’s in a bunker somewhere on the island,” said Ramell.

“It’s the safest place to be when you’ve got a few hundred robot chickens running around,” added Kordell.

“That makes sense,” I replied, moving towards the back of the hotel. “But where could it be?”

I was about to survey the land when a claw reached up and over the low wall surrounding the roof.

“What the shit?” I blurted as the raptor began to pull itself up. I smashed it in the face with a shield bash, knocking it loose. It shrieked all the way to its death far below.

Everyone was at my side in an instant, peering over. I joined them, finding the enhanced creatures were slowly climbing by burying the metal claws of their feet and arms into the building. The Campbell brothers leaned over and fired a stream of bullets at the advancing dinosaurs. Cody joined them, strafing the pack with his specialised ammunition. More were reaching the roof around the perimeter, so I pulled everyone back and summoned our mounts. My party hopped aboard, with the brothers close behind.

Guiding Pterry to a clear space, we dived off one by one, leaving the infested hotel behind us. Even as we flew away, a couple chanced the jump, narrowly missing Sun’s ride.

“Bloody hell, those things just don’t know when to quit!”

“They remind me of you,” said Kordell into my ear.

“I bite less,” I replied, guiding my mount toward the high-tech structures of the labs.

“That’s a shame,” yelled Cris, suggestively.

“Can you keep your mind out of the gutter, miss! Now’s not the time!”

Before she could fire back with some sass, Lake’s shrill voice assailed us from across the island. “You’re not playing fair, so nor will I. You might’ve been able to avoid the guns on the way in, but the missiles can still track you! Just a few more commands and… done!”

That answered the question of his ability to divert the attention of the weapon systems. It also confirmed that it was linked to a system that we needed to gain control over.

I was the only one capable of withstanding the incoming fire, so I ordered everyone else to reach the lab and find a place to hide or get inside. Sun positioned herself below me, allowing Kordell to jump down into her waiting arms. He slipped around and clung into her back. The trio of Pteranodons dived for low ground, and I aimed higher, hoping to be the only airborne signature the radar could pick up. I glanced down, and my friends were landing. The raptors were closing in fast, reaching the perimeter fence of the laboratory compound. It was solid sheets of steel, but not insurmountable to the enhanced creatures.

In the distance, I saw the first white trails bloom from the rocky eyebrows of the sleeping giant. My holy shield would run out long before I could take the full payload of the launchers, but I hoped to buy some time for the others to get inside at least. Then it was a simple case of making my way from resurrection, wherever that might be, back to the island. With Bart’s words about not coming back into direct danger, I doubted I’d appear naked in the hotel lobby. I wondered if Morticia had made it clear and I could borrow her boat. No explosion had reached our ears, giving me hope she’d reached safety.

“Fingers crossed,” I said, wincing as the sun reflected on the glass of the aviary roof, momentarily blinding me.

Beneath the sprawling dome, the trapped Pteranodons were flying around merrily. A lightbulb blazed to life in my head, brighter than the distant sun. I made a beeline straight for their enclosure. I had one shot to make the rapidly forming, but completely insane plan work, and even then there were no guarantees. The first missiles closed in, forcing me to activate my shield. It was utterly bizarre to stare directly at the looming projectile just before it hit. I could almost read the writing that stretched around the pointed warhead. Everything became fire and noise, but I forged on toward my target.

Punching through the black smoke for a brief moment as the next salvo was launched, I marvelled at the incredible engineering that had gone into constructing the enclosure. I then proceeded to cast smite on the highest point where the eight interconnecting struts joined. Before my beam had a chance to pierce the sky, I ignited my first box of goblin explosives and threw it. Then another. And another.

More missiles smashed into my golden sphere as the scant seconds ticked down.

Flying clear, I watched as my spell melted the glass, and then the huge steel girders beneath. They were too bulky to melt completely within the duration, but I heard the groaning creak as the weakened structure started to give. My dropped explosives detonated in quick succession, shattering the thick glass and further straining the entire dome. The noise had shocked hundreds more of the Pteranodons into flight and the next few seconds would prove if I’d just fucked up in spectacular fashion.

With a series of terrible cracks, the connections at the key anchor point snapped. The western portion of the glass enclosure fell away completely, smashing hundreds of panes that rained shards down into the aviary. Many of the dinosaurs were cut to ribbons by the falling debris, but the bulk of the Pteranodons formed an almost snakelike formation that dodged the devastation and curled up and out through the gap. Unable to hold up any longer, the other quarters gave in, including the western section that had been secured deeply into the mountainside. Thousands of tons of rock broke loose as it levered itself free, creating an avalanche that swept the mountain clean all the way to the bottom.

“Whoa,” I gasped, not quite believing what I’d just witnessed.

With so many more targets to pick, the missiles broke off and started to chase the fleeing birds. I leaned forward as my protection finally ended, guiding Pterry into a steep dive. One of the missiles hissed past, close enough for me to reach out and touch if I’d been quick enough. With the chaos of fluttering wings all around me, it picked up a new target and flew on to kill it.

The last pieces of the structure crashed down below me, destroying the pens and shredding the massive trees as if they were matchsticks. I pulled on Pterry’s reins and doubled back to my friends, tagging Cris to give me an arrow to follow. Above me, all was fire and shrieking. The formation had broken apart as soon as the dinosaurs were clear, and their winged forms dominated the skyline as they tried to dodge the guided projectiles.

Even if I hadn’t had the marker, the line of tracers and arcane missiles gave me an exact location to aim for. I found them sheltering within a small alcove beside a sealed door. Some of the raptors had scaled the smooth metal fence, leaving deep gouges in the steel. Stowing Pterry back into my pack, I allowed myself to drop the last fifty feet. The enemy I’d aimed for crumpled under the weight of my superhero landing, bursting inside my impact crater. I rolled forward, avoiding the teeth of a second that snapped just behind me.

“I’ve got one cast left!” yelled Cris as I raced over. She fired off the spell, tearing reality. The pursuing raptors were pulled into the vortex of arcane power, screaming in pain.

“What’s going on?” I demanded as the other dinosaurs kept a respectable distance from the effects of Cris’s spell.

“It’s locked and reinforced,” said Cody, firing a few rounds at the milling creatures. “We’ve tried everything.”

“We need a keycard or the combination, brother,” said Kordell, patting his vest to find no more magazines. “Shit!”

I dumped out a handful for him and moved to the electronics. My realm points tab held nothing of use. This was one of the occasions in movies where the star would peel back the board and link a couple of wires together, opening the way. Except there was nothing to peel back. The screen was flush with the wall around it, the seam invisible.

“Think!” I snapped at myself.

“Try the kid’s machine!” Cris said, starting to fire off chaos orbs.

“The…” I started to ask, until I remembered the hard drive. It appeared in my hand, and did nothing. It was just a lump of plastic and metal.

Sun’s hand darted out and moved my own nearer the screen.

Still nothing.

“I thought it was worth a try,” she offered, turning back around with her warcleaver.

I was close to giving up hope, but then I felt something move in my palm. Several tiny filaments were slowly creeping towards the reader. They tested the glass, and then found their way behind the panel.

“Here they come!” yelled Ramell, unloading a full magazine alongside his brother.

The red of locked changed to the green of open, and the door glided sideways, revealing a passage beyond. The thin strands whipped back into the device, and I slipped it back into my pack. I lobbed my renewed Shinara’s snare over my party’s heads and dragged everyone inside. The webbing slowed down the advancing raptors long enough for the door to hiss and begin to close. One of the faster creatures reached the dwindling gap, looping an arm around the inches thick steel. I punched at the scrabbling limb, terrified there would be a safety sensor and the thing would slide open again, giving them all a free meal. The door did no such thing, closing itself with a sickening crunch while severing the arm completely. It clumped to the floor, twitching. I kicked it aside in disgust.

The ensuing silence was almost as shocking to my senses as the hellish din of the island outside. The heat of the near-tropical climate was regulated to a more comfortable temperature within the building we now found ourself in. Though I knew the cyborgs outside were trying to get in, there was no auditory clue that they even existed.

“I guess we’re safe for now,” I said, quickly stashing the madness of the last few hours into a dark room inside my head. I’d crank that particular door open when I was ready to undergo fifty years of intense therapy from the safety of a padded cell.

Cody was a bag of nerves. He stared down the passage, breathing heavily.

I put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go and find Liza, yeah?”

He didn’t immediately reply. I let him process the situation in his own good time.

“I never thought we’d make it here. Not even when you made me a member of your party in the diner. What if…” he fell silent, in case the words would work as an incantation.

“She’s here, mate,” I replied. “I can feel it.”

“We’ve been through hell,” agreed Cris. “They wouldn’t punish us like that. We just need to start knocking doors.”

I wasn’t quite as convinced. I knew Bart wouldn’t do us dirty like that, but the others…? That was a different matter. The quests were issued at a time when the narrative was still up in the air.

“You’re forgetting the communiques between the two men,” Cris continued as I overthought the issue. “They were pretty clear that all the best and brightest were here.”

“Good point,” I conceded. I’d almost spooked myself into expecting the worst.

Sun was tired of talking and summoned Fen who raced ahead of us, his armour clanking. He stopped at the intersection which split left and right. With a snarl, he whirled to the left and tensed, ready to rend and tear. Over his threatening growl, I heard whimpers and the readying of weapons.

“Drop them and he’ll leave you alone!” I barked at the unseen soldiers.

The clatter of guns swiftly followed and I stepped out into view. The two guards were terrified, but I only had eyes for one thing. The keycards hanging from their necks.

I smiled, striding towards them. “Afternoon, gents. Let’s have a little chat.”