I couldn’t blame the others for being confused as we looked around the soccer field that we had appeared in. I was, too, until Poppy suggested, “Do you think you might have leveled up, Love?”

I considered the idea as I landed on my sister’s shoulder. Maybe this was another facet of my teleportation ability, but what caused it? Was it because I kept myself primed to teleport for so long? Or was it because I was trying to keep Kelly tagged while she was well outside my usual range? Of the two, the first seemed more likely, but I wouldn’t know for certain until I did some testing.

One thing was certain, though, that took a lot out of me. I needed to rest my wings for a minute, and it was probably a good idea for me to also drink some nectar and have something quick to eat. I would have to do that fast, though, because we had shit to do and we were on the clock. “I need something to eat and some nectar so I can start bringing the rest of the first responders over here.”

“I’ve got you covered, Lily,” Karen assured me as she opened her medical bag, which, in addition to the usual suspects, contained a Fairy kit that had a small bottle of nectar and a container of high-protein granola mix, along with some tiny cups for the nectar.

“Thanks,” I replied gratefully as she poured me a cup of nectar. The cup was sized for Pixies rather than Sprites, and thus a bit big for me to hold comfortably, but I still drank the whole thing and ate some of the granola.

I hurried to do so, though, since it had been roughly eight minutes since we had left the gathering area for first responders in Vanguard Tower. It seemed like it should have been longer than that, but time passes quickly when you’re running for your life, fighting Titans, and looking for a safe place to bring in more troops. Still, that’s a long ass time for those people who were covering our retreat and those waiting for me to come back for them, especially since an Incursion only lasts forty-seven minutes. I needed to get the rest of the first response teams here soon, or there wouldn’t be much of the city left to save.

While I quickly recharged my batteries, I had the others help the two combat medics start setting up their gear and secure the perimeter as best they could. As soon as I was done, I flitted toward the center of the soccer field, pictured the gathering area in Vanguard Tower in my mind, and then, instead of allowing myself to just teleport, I tried something different. I held myself back, right on the edge of activating my power, until I started to feel that odd strain from earlier, and it felt like I was going to snap again.

This time, I wasn’t nearly as surprised when I could see the gathering area on one side of my sphere and the soccer field on the other. The strain was more than a group teleport, at least at first, but it wasn’t as difficult to hold the portal open as I first feared it would be, as Poppy zipped through to tell everyone to move their asses while I held the portal open for them. The first response forces wasted no time in doing so; it wasn’t how they were expecting to be delivered to the Incursion zone, but they weren’t about to be picky when Poppy appeared and told them to haul ass.

I quickly flitted as close to the top of the sphere as I could without leaving it, so I wouldn’t be knocked around by the flow of Gryphons, Pegasi, their riders, medics, other support crew, and equipment hauling drones that started rushing through. I had no idea if it was me leaving the sphere via my sister’s hand that caused the portal to abruptly close the first time, but I sincerely suspected that it was probably the case. So, I couldn’t afford to be knocked outside the perimeter of the portal until everyone was through, not without probably needing to recharge again, and I didn’t want to waste that kind of time if I could get everyone through in one go.

From what I was told later, from the outside, people couldn’t see the sphere, only a glowing circle in space that was probably the portal itself. It could only be perceived from one side as well, so those ‘behind’ it needed to go around it to put themselves in a position where they could perceive it and travel through. This made for some awkward maneuvering, especially with the Gryphons and Pegasi, and holding the portal open long enough for everyone to pass through was tiring, but it went much faster than I was originally expecting.

If I had to make dozens of trips bringing small groups over to the LZ, not only would it have taken a long time, but I probably would have had to stop for a nectar break and to take a breather several times between trips. By the time the last of our people were through, though, I was starting to feel pretty damn drained and eagerly left my dome of effect. As soon as I did so, the portal vanished, and the slow and constant drain on my energy reserves and mana ceased.

I was so tired that I could barely move my wings. The soccer field was now a chaotic mess as people hurried to set up tents and equipment, and in the distance, I could see the last of the fliers already rushing toward the advancing lines of Titans off in the distance. Fortunately, I spotted my team nearby and landed on Ainslee’s shoulder, with Poppy following me close behind.

That didn’t last long, though, since Karen was worried that I might have overdone it and proceeded to make sure that I got more nectar and granola, along with the suggestion that I take a break for a while. I did, at least physically, but I had the others helping to unpack and set up tents and equipment where needed. Sure, we were here mostly for observation, but that was no reason to sit on our asses while everyone around us was working. If I were bigger and not so exhausted, I would have been helping too.

Before long, we could hear what sounded like fighting in the distance, but those sounds started to fade away just as quickly as the halfway mark of the Incursion was reached, and the Titans that were still functional turned around and retreated back toward the Breach. I was getting a little concerned that the reinforcements from the closest Vanguard outpost hadn’t arrived yet when my comm crown got a comm ping from someone I wasn’t familiar with. They were on the Vanguard frequency, though, so I quickly answered, “This is Cadet-Major Pierce. What can I do for you?”

“Cadet-Major, this is General Anderson. Please come to the command tent as soon as possible. We have a situation.” That was all that the owner of the deep and gritty voice said, but he sounded deadly serious, so I moved my ass to where the command tent was being set up as fast as my wings could carry me.

When I arrived, it seemed like the command tent was up, but the equipment inside was still in the process of being set up. I found three people waiting for me inside. The first was a large, golden-furred werewolf, in all his fuzzy glory. As for the second, he was a skinny but fit man with close-cropped dark brown hair, green eyes, and deeply tanned skin. He looked like a regular human at first glance, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t Altered.

The last was a familiar face, Captain Azalea Monroe, my fellow Water Sprite and the officer in charge of the Vanguard’s Fairy forces. I didn’t realize that she was attached to the first response teams, but I guess that made sense with all the Sprites and Pixies that I had brought along during that first, ill-fated teleport. She was also the person who was teaching me to use my Water magic.

It was she who quickly made the introductions, since we already knew one another. “Guys, as you’ve probably realized, this is Cadet-Major Lily Pierce. Cadet-Major, the werewolf is General Anderson, and this is Captain Laramy. Captain Laramy is our resources officer, and General Anderson is the commander of first response operations.”

There were no other pleasantries exchanged, though, as General Anderson got right down to business. “As I told all of you on comms, we have a situation. Our reinforcements from the Brazil Vanguard Outpost aren’t coming, and neither is anyone else from headquarters.”

That got everyone’s immediate attention, and Captain Laramy was the first to respond, “What?! Why?!” as we all gaped at him in shock.

“Most of our personnel transports are fucked, that’s why,” the Werewolf all but growled. “Lundburg Technologies sabotaged them with a recent system update. They can’t fly right now, and it’s going to take a while for our tech people to jailbreak them, get them working properly again, and make sure they can’t do this again. The timing couldn’t have been worse for this; the updates were made last night, and we didn’t even know about the problem until our pilots tried to get those transports in the air.”

I would have asked why Lundburg Technologies would do such a thing, but unfortunately, I already had a pretty good idea. The owners of the company that had manufactured the lion’s share of our personnel transports wanted to make the Vanguard look bad, and they didn’t care who got hurt in the process. And people would get hurt, because while the first response teams were now all here and harrying the Titans while driving them back to the Breach, grounding our personnel transports was going to prevent our reinforcements from getting here and hamper search and rescue efforts once the Incursion was over.

I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for this. The Lundburgs were being this petty because the Vanguard had refused to let their son, Terry, walk when he tried to murder Ainslee, and the full scope of his crimes, and his premeditated intent to murder others, was discovered in the hearing that followed the attack. They were used to getting their way and were not happy when he was sentenced to death for his crimes and died in a Vanguard prison, fed on by Vampires until he had no blood left to give.

I was the one to take Terry down when he attacked Ainslee. I was also the one who had streamed the whole attack to my superiors so that they had enough evidence of his crimes for Vice-Commander Carpenter to read his mind. Were it not for me, the Vanguard wouldn’t be having these issues right now, but since it would also mean that sick fuck would probably have killed my best friend and found some way for his sleazy lawyer to get him off with a slap on the wrist, I couldn’t summon any real regret for my actions that day.

“Focus on what you can do right now, Lily,” I told myself sternly before speaking up. “General, I think that I can probably open another portal, but we’ll need to get everyone coming through gathered in one place, like we did with the first response teams, and they’ll have to move through that portal fast. It’ll have to be somewhere in the base that I’ve been, though, and I’m not sure how long I can hold it open.”

“I was hoping that you would say that,” the Werewolf responded. “We’ve got the personnel leaving the hangars for the staging area in the sub-basement, so find an open spot to bring our people in and then get to work bringing over as many as you can, Cadet-Major. You’re dismissed. As for the two of you, we’ll need to discuss some changes to our strategy since our people will be mobilizing from here rather than being dropped from transports.”

I gave the General a quick salute, and then I was off as he started talking tactics and organization with his two subordinates. -Are you certain this is wise, my Maiden?- Moonlight asked as I found an open area of the soccer field to go about my task, because of course, she had been listening in. -These portals seem to be strenuous for you, and you have been pushing yourself too hard today.-

I shook my head sadly as I replied, “I’ll be fine, Moonlight. I’m the only one who can do this, and the faster we get our main force here, the more chance that we have of stopping the Titans before they take prisoners through the gate, and the faster we can launch search and rescue efforts for people needing immediate medical attention or trapped in collapsed buildings. We’re going to save everyone we can.”

I kept telling myself that as well, and I once again focused on a familiar spot in Vanguard tower and held my power back until it strained and then snapped, forming another portal. This time, there was no confused delay before people started pouring through, and I barely got out of the way of the rushing crowd in time. There was another major difference from the last time I had done this as well, though.

There were a lot more people who needed to pass through my portal. While there were no Gryphons or Pegasi slowing things down as they got into position and made their way through, our main force that was stationed at the tower measured roughly four times the size of the entirety of our first response teams. Holding the portal open for that long wasn’t just a strain; it was becoming almost painful the longer I held it open, and the drain on my mana and physical energy reserves was making me feel weaker by the second by the time the end was in sight.

“Move it, move it!” I mentally urged the last of the troops entering my sphere. The longer I kept the portal active, the more difficult it became to do so. My wings felt like they were made of lead as I tried to keep myself aloft, my vision was starting to get fuzzy, and I was hemorrhaging mana to my portal almost as fast as I could gather it. If my blurry vision could be counted on, though, it seemed like the last of the troops were now passing beneath me and through the portal. “I think I did it,” was my last conscious thought before I passed out.