The sight of Professor Wilkes, pale and struggling feebly in the grasp of the chittering Scyther Broodlings, hit Mia like a physical blow.
"Professor!" she cried out, taking an involuntary step forward before Kai instinctively put a hand on her arm.
Axel's mind raced, his System already flashing red alerts and grim probability calculations that he didn't need to see to understand.
Five fresh Scythers, these ones looking slightly larger, more alert than the ones they'd just dispatched, and they had a hostage. A direct assault was suicide.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Hostage situation detected. Optimal outcome probability for direct engagement: 12%. High risk of hostage termination. Recommend tactical withdrawal and re-assessment.]
"Withdrawal is not an option, System!" Axel subvocalized, his voice a low snarl. He saw the look on Mia's face – a mixture of anguish and burgeoning, reckless fury. Kai, too, was tense, his kinetic field already flickering around his hands, but his eyes darted to Axel, waiting for a command.
The newly found survivors behind their flimsy barricade were frozen in terror.
This was it. The 'heroics' he'd half-joked about. The weight of the Chancellor title, of leadership, pressed down, heavy and cold.
"They're dragging him deeper into the labs!" the student who'd first screamed – her name was Sarah, Axel's System supplied – choked out from behind the barricade.
Axel saw it. The Scythers weren't just holding Wilkes; they were moving with a purpose, pulling him towards a dark, adjoining corridor. Why take a prisoner? The question clawed at him, but there was no time for speculation.
"Mia, Kai," Axel's voice was tight, stripped of all sarcasm.
"We need to create an overwhelming distraction. Something that makes them drop him, or at least loosen their grip. We can't fight them all head-on while they have him."
He scanned the chaotic lab, his 'Improvised Tactics' skill working in overdrive, his System highlighting potential hazards and resources. Volatile chemical storage (too risky, could kill everyone).
Heavy, unstable equipment racks. A fire suppression system nozzle, old and probably unreliable…
"Kai," Axel barked, "can you hit that main power conduit on the ceiling above them?" He pointed to a thick, sparking cable junction that one of the earlier Scythers had damaged.
"A massive kinetic shock – think EMP, but cruder. Might disorient them, make them drop Wilkes!"
Kai's eyes followed Axel's gesture. "It's unstable… a blast like that could bring the ceiling down on him too!"
"It's a chance!" Axel countered. "Mia, if they drop him, or if they're stunned, can you pull him? Even a few feet? Get him away from them?"
Mia nodded, her jaw set, her eyes fixed on her captured professor. Her telekinetic power, still new, still raw, felt like a live wire under her skin.
"The rest of you," Axel yelled to Sarah and the other survivors, "if we get him clear, be ready to drag him back here! Barricade this doorway again, no matter what!"
He didn't wait for confirmation. "System, what are the odds this Rube Goldberg rescue plan works?"
[SYSTEM ANALYSIS: Probability of disorienting Scyther Broodlings via targeted conduit disruption: 45%. Probability of Professor Wilkes sustaining collateral damage: 60%. Probability of successful extraction by Mia (Telekinetic Impulse – Tier 1): 30% if Scythers are disoriented. Overall success probability for 'Operation Sparky Snatch': Critically Low. Alternative: None viable without unacceptable friendly casualties.]
Critically Low. Just my bloody luck, Axel thought.
"Kai, on my mark! Mia, be ready!"
He took a deep breath, grabbed a heavy, metal lab stool – his only weapon now that his Maglite was somewhere in the previous Scyther melee – and yelled, "HEY, BUG-BRAINS! FORGOT YOUR LUNCHBOX!" He hurled the stool with all his might towards the Scythers dragging Professor Wilkes.
It clanged uselessly off the carapace of the nearest one but served its purpose: their multifaceted eyes all swiveled towards him.
"KAI, NOW!"
Kai roared, a surge of raw power leaving his hands. A brilliant, chaotic pulse of kinetic energy slammed into the damaged power conduit above the Scythers. Sparks erupted like a miniature fireworks display.
Lights flickered and died, plunging the lab into near darkness, save for the emergency strobes and the faint glow from Axel's System overlay.
The Scythers shrieked, a high-pitched, alien sound of pain and confusion as the electrical discharge arced around them. Several of them convulsed, their grip on Professor Wilkes momentarily slackening.
"MIA!" Axel screamed into the strobing chaos.
He saw her, a silhouette against the flashing lights, her arm outstretched, her face a mask of desperate concentration.
Professor Wilkes, who had slumped to the floor, began to slide jerkily across the debris-strewn linoleum, away from the disoriented Scythers. It was only a few feet, but it was something.
Then the Scythers recovered, their hissing reaching a fever pitch. One of them, ignoring the electrical chaos, lunged towards the still-sliding Wilkes.
Axel charged, no finesse, no plan beyond raw desperation. He slammed his shoulder into the Scyther just as its barbed limb was about to impale the fallen professor. The impact was like hitting a brick wall. Pain exploded in his shoulder, but the creature was knocked off balance.
Kai, seeing the immediate danger, sent another, weaker kinetic pulse – not at the ceiling this time, but directly at the Scyther attacking Axel. It stumbled back, giving Axel a precious second.
From the barricade, Sarah and another student rushed out, braving the strobing darkness and the screeching aliens, and grabbed Professor Wilkes' arms, dragging him frantically towards their makeshift sanctuary.
But the other Scythers were recovering too. Three of them, ignoring the now-dead power conduit, turned their terrifying attention towards Axel, Mia, and Kai, cutting them off from the barricade and Wilkes' rescuers.
They were trapped in the main lab, the exit to the stairwell blocked by these enraged, venom-dripping nightmares.
Professor Wilkes was safe, at least for the moment, pulled behind the students' barricade.
But the cost was high. Axel, Mia, and Kai were now facing three very angry Scyther Broodlings in a darkened, sparking lab, with their escape route cut off.
Axel met Mia's and Kai's wide, adrenaline-filled eyes in the flickering emergency lights. His shoulder throbbed, his lungs burned, but a grim resolve settled in.
"Well, team," he panted, hefting the bent metal rod he'd picked up.
"Phase two of 'heroics' apparently involves not becoming Scyther chow ourselves. Any bright ideas?"
The Scythers hissed and began to advance.