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Author's Note: Welcome to the first chapter of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 1: Moving

Friday, August 30st, 2041 - Evening

“You don’t have to go,” Aunt Maya tried to convince us one last time as she practically crushed both my sister, Kelly, and her daughter, Ainslee, in a hug. “You can stay here at home with us. That goes for all of you, you will always have a home here with us.”

Thankfully, Poppy and I were both small enough as Sprites that we could avoid being crushed in her arms like that. We likely wouldn’t have survived the experience anyway. She and the twins had already given us far more gentle hugs before getting ahold of Ainslee and Kelly.

“Mom, we’ve been over this,” Ainslee replied with a sigh as she hugged her mother in return. “It’s not like we have to pay for our dorm room, and things will be much easier for all of us if we’re on campus. Besides, Karen could really use our support, we’ve arranged to share a dorm room with her, and Lily already has Moonlight’s stall set up in the stable there.”

Kelly quickly added, “It’s not like we’ll be far away either, Aunt Maya. We’ll be just across town, and we can all come for dinner or visits when we have the time.”

Samantha and Selina seemed to be taking this as hard as their mother was. The Mermaid twins loved their sister, of course, but they grew up with me and Kelly too. We kids all grew up like family, and all of them had just gotten used to having us back in their lives over the past few weeks after thinking that we were either dead or captured by Titans.

There were more hugs and a lot more tears as the four of us promised to call them once we were settled in and climbed into Karen’s hover-jet. The Dark Elf had loaned the luxury model vehicle to Ainslee and Kelly so we could move our stuff to the dorm after we had helped her move everything that she wanted to bring from her room at the base and from her home a couple of days ago. It showed just how much our relationship with our prickly teammate had improved over the past couple of weeks.

Karen was starting to let us in more, and I liked to think that she was starting to trust us more as well. The walls that she kept up between herself and others wouldn’t be easy to break down by any means, but we were seeing more cracks in those walls by the day, at least where we were concerned. She was still cautious and prickly around other people, but it seemed like she was starting to accept us as real friends rather than people she was being forced to spend time with since that clusterfuck of an assignment to take down Alistair Davenport, the asshole who was stalking her and had plans to do a lot worse.

I was glad that she was starting to trust us, and her hover-jet had a lot more space than Aunt Maya’s, and made it so we were able to get everything we wanted to bring to the dorm with us in one trip. Not that any of us had much to bring. My sister and Ainslee had almost a dozen mid-sized boxes between them, packed with their clothes and a few personal effects, and Moonlight’s stuff was already in her stall at the university stables. As for me and Poppy, everything we owned was packed in my new little house. Once we were all settled into the vehicle and Kelly got into the driver’s seat to take us across town to the University grounds, I snuggled with Poppy on one of the far too large seats and thought about my family and my life since I woke up and broke free from the grisly cocoon that had once been my body.

Honestly, we were all lucky to be alive and together after the Incursion that had decimated our hometown of Boulder Creek, Montana and the surrounding area, including the ranch where Kelly and I grew up. The farm next door, which belonged to Aunt Maya and Uncle Gavin, was the epicenter of the Incursion, and both of our homes had been destroyed by the Titans. Somehow, though, most of us had come through the attack alive and had found one another again in Amethyst Harbour.

Some of the people we cared about hadn’t been so fortunate. Our father and Uncle Gavin had both been killed in the attack, Mom and Kelly were taken through the Breach as captives, and Aunt Maya had spent months in the hospital after nearly dying when their house collapsed with her inside. Kelly may have come back to us somehow, but she wasn’t unscathed.

I think Kelly had the worst of it, in fact. My sister spent most of the last four years as a Titan captive before being discarded during an Incursion in Egypt when she became Altered due to what the doctors said was exposure to Wild Magic and elevated hormone levels from being pregnant. From what little she could remember during the nightmares she still had almost every night, being a captive of the Titans was a fate worse than death.

The way they treated her and the things she told me that they made her do made me sick and filled me with a burning fury, especially when I thought about our mother still being in their hands. Kelly couldn’t even control her own body to tell them no, no matter how hard she had tried. Then, when she was finally back on Earth, she had to deal with her changing body, losing the baby, and believing that she had lost everything and everyone she cared about.

She was locked up in the mental ward and on suicide watch when we reunited, not that she could have succeeded since she was seemingly invulnerable now. Both of us were very different from how we used to be. She was now a nine-tailed Huli Jing and burdened by her trauma and a power that wouldn’t let her take the easy way out, while I was now a five-inch-tall Water Sprite.

Until I ‘sprouted’ a couple of months ago, I was in a gory cocoon made from my former body and skipped out on the past four years while my new Sprite body grew inside. Getting used to being a girl (well, sort of, since Sprites only have one gender) and being a five-inch-tall Fairy was easy compared to finding out I lost four years of my life when I became Altered and thinking that everyone I cared about was captured or killed in the Incursion that changed me. At least I had Moonlight to keep me somewhat sane while I adjusted to things, and I met Poppy while I was in the Fairy Ward of the hospital.

Now, I couldn’t imagine my life without the Unicorn and my Fire Sprite girlfriend, and on top of having them in my life and being reunited with my sister as well, we were also reunited with Aunt Maya, Ainslee, and the twins. They were different, too; the twins were Mermaids now, and Ainslee was a girl and a Baobhan Sith, but there was one thing that would never change. We were like family, and we loved one another. It was probably a good thing that we weren’t really related, though, because Ainslee finally worked up the nerve to ask Kelly to be her girlfriend last week.

The past couple of weeks, since our camping trip and the sting operation to bring Alistair Davenport to justice, were actually pretty hectic overall. Between training hard individually with our trainers to master our magic and the other abilities that our respective Altered species possessed, and group training sessions for Incursions under the watchful eye of Sergeant Vale, we were all very busy girls. In fact, someone had sent the sergeant footage from our fight with Davenport and his hired muscle, and after pointing out absolutely everything we did wrong, he insisted on giving me some extra lessons in battle tactics as well.

I would probably be learning more of that once we started at the University, since I would be taking the officer’s track, but he wanted us ready in case my teleportation ability was needed to drop troops at an Incursion. At least the Incursion simulations that he was putting us through now were not quite as brutal as that first day when he had pushed all of us almost to the point of breaking. These sims weren’t no-win scenarios like that first time, either; there was a way to win if I was clever enough and we worked together. We might have lost more than we won so far, but I liked to think that we were improving.

It probably helped a lot that we were getting used to the stomach-churning things that we were seeing during those simulations and were freezing up less. Hell, some of the things that we had seen, done, and experienced during the fight with Davenport and his goons might have helped with that, but I also think that we were all starting to come to terms with the reality that this was war and that if we were reduced to a blubbering mess during battle it could mean that our teammates and civilians would pay the price. None of us wanted that.

Our teamwork was improving as well, and maybe that was because Karen was starting to feel more like a member of the team. She wasn’t as closed off, she trusted us more, and the animosity was disappearing now that we were all on more friendly terms. We still had disagreements sometimes, of course, but now it was getting easier to put those aside and focus on the task at hand.

Training hadn’t been the only thing keeping us busy recently, though. On Wednesday, we helped Karen move her stuff into the dorm after a couple of hours of Incursion simulations with Sergeant Vale, but we had all been too tired to do much more than that, so we put off moving Kelly’s and Ainslee’s things until later. Then yesterday, we spent the afternoon after our individual training sessions doing a major shopping spree.

Poppy and I both had to replace everything we lost when the Sprite-sized house I was gifted was destroyed. I had to buy a new house too, using the money that I got to replace my worldly possessions when Davenport’s accounts and assets were all seized by the Vanguard. That hadn’t been finalized until yesterday, though, so I didn’t have the funds to replace everything until then. So, we spent a lot of the day shopping, which was why we didn’t get to moving into the dorm until today.

My new house wasn’t quite as fancy-looking as the one I had before, but it was more practical and probably a whole lot more durable since Vice-Commander offered to have one of the Vanguard’s defense magic specialists place some protective wards on it for me. It was still somewhat large, boasting three bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen, though this time, the kitchen had a sink for cleaning dishes and a tiny wood stove that looked like it was painstakingly crafted for both appearance and utility. It would allow us to cook when we wanted to and keep the kitchen warm if it got cool. The kitchen also had plenty of counter space, small cupboards, a pantry, and space for a table and chairs.

Much like my previous Sprite-sized house, this one also had working electricity, lights, heating, a fireplace, and a bathroom with running water for the bathtub and sink, and a magical equivalent of a toilet for our size that disintegrates waste. All of the water in the house came from an indoor, heated reservoir and was filtered through a water purification system before being recycled. The internal walls of the house were painted in soothing colors like mint green, lavender, and baby pink, with white trim and doors.

One thing that I was on the fence about was that instead of having plush carpet like my previous house, this one only had carpet in the bedrooms. The rest of the floors were ceramic due to the wood stove and fireplace, which I guess made sense for safety and fire prevention. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but it was a necessary evil, and overall, the new house was very comfortable and cozy.

The exterior was much like my former house, except that the paint was white with a light blue trim rather than a mostly solid powder blue. It still had proper windows, chimneys for both the fireplace and wood stove, and weatherproof walls and roof, so I could still place it either indoors or outdoors as needed. It even had one of the little magitech batteries that my last house had to draw mana from around them for power, but I guess that was something that the company was putting into all of the Fairy houses that they built. The power was only really used for the lighting and heat, but it would be a boon outside in winter when things got cold and the sun set a lot earlier.

After Poppy and I chose the house together, most of the rest of the afternoon and early evening were spent buying furniture for it and new clothes for us. We had bought a few outfits to last us until we could buy the house, but we needed a lot more clothes, especially with school starting so soon. I was glad that we had gotten all that done yesterday, because after another grueling Incursion simulation today, followed by putting everything in the house so it was ready to be moved while Ainslee and Kelly packed their stuff, I was looking forward to snuggling with Poppy in our comfy new bed tonight once we were all settled in the dorm.

I almost fell asleep on the ride there. I mean, I probably could have just teleported us all there with our stuff, but I had been pushing my special ability as hard as I could for the past two weeks, trying to increase the size of my area of effect and how many people and items in that range that I could carry with me. Frankly, I was exhausted, and I just didn’t have the energy to do that after a long week and a day full of training, something that Moonlight had noticed.

-I am glad that you took my suggestion and did not push yourself too hard, my Maiden,- the Unicorn’s voice said gently in my mind as Poppy and I flitted outside the car, and I stretched my aching muscles. -You have been working too hard recently.-

“I’ll be fine, Moonlight. It’s Friday, and we have the long weekend off from any sort of training until classes start on Tuesday,” I assured her, breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of a bit of rest and relaxation. “Why don’t you go to the stables and get settled in? I’ll probably be calling it a night early, and if I need you, I’ll call you in my thoughts.”

When she answered, it was with a measure of reluctance in her mental tone. -If you are certain, Lily. Sleep well. If you need me, I shall be there in a breath.-

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to get everyone’s stuff into the dorm room. Poppy and I didn’t have much we could do to help at our size anyway, so we just needed to worry about placing the furniture and such properly in our new little house now that we were in the dorm room. So, while my sister and Ainslee started unpacking, Poppy and I set up our bedroom and decided to save the rest for the weekend before relaxing and talking with Karen, while we chilled on the empty bunk where our house had been placed.

The dorm room that we were in was larger than I was expecting, but I guess it had to be fairly big if it was expected to house four students, or five in our case. The plain white walls were not decorated so far, though there was evidence that they had once boasted posters or other decorations before the previous tenants moved out. The floor was covered in pale blue carpet, and the space seemed to be well-planned.

In each corner was a loft bed, and underneath those were desks with a desk lamp and a chair for studying. Beside the head of each bed was a tall dresser, maybe two feet wide, a foot and a half deep, and tall enough that the top drawer and upper surface could act as a nightstand for the loft bed, while at the foot of the beds were large trunks for gear and other belongings. There was even a mini fridge for drinks and snacks underneath the window that separated the two sides of the room.

As for the bathrooms and shower rooms, they were down the hall, with one on each floor. Even though Rainbow dorm was coed, we were on one of the girls' floors and wouldn’t have to worry about boys being around to bother us. This was something that Karen was understandably relieved about after the incident with Davenport.

We all called it a night early that night, not long after Kelly and Ainslee finished unpacking. In hindsight, that was probably a good thing, and not just because we were all tired from a long week. Because just after five in the morning, I was awoken from my slumber by a very loud and insistent noise emanating from my comm crown.

Feeling sluggish due to trying to rouse myself from hibernation, I fumbled for my comm crown, clumsily put it on, and then sleepily answered what turned out to be a call from Vice-Commander Carpenter. “Mmmm…. hello… Ma’am?” I answered, still trying to shake off sleep.

The Angel’s voice was carefully controlled and very serious as she spoke. -= Lily, thank goodness you answered. We need you. Our satellites just detected a Breach forming in the middle of Rio de Janeiro, and you’re the fastest method we have of getting troops on the ground there. =- I was suddenly very awake.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 2 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

As soon as I had gotten instructions from Vice-Commander Carpenter and ended the call, I started trying to wake Poppy. Usually, that would be difficult since Sprite bodies enter a state of hibernation to conserve energy when we sleep, making it hard to wake us up. Fortunately, though, my girlfriend had also been roused by the loud and insistent ring tone of my comm crown and hadn’t quite settled back to sleep.

“Moonlight, are you awake?” I inquired, sending my thoughts to my Unicorn companion even as I gently shook Poppy’s shoulder to rouse her and reluctantly told my girlfriend, “We need to get up, hot stuff, there’s an Incursion happening.”

-Yes, my Maiden. I do not seem to require much sleep, even when in my physical form, so I have been patrolling your dormitory while ethereal,- Moonlight responded even as Poppy looked up at me sleepily.

I had the feeling that it had more to do with the fact that it was Moonlight’s first night staying in the stables, and she worried about being too far away in case I needed her, than any lack of a need for sleep, but I let that go for now. We had more important issues to deal with right then. “Okay, can you please come join us so I can teleport us all to Vanguard Tower? We need to hurry.”

-I will be there in but a moment,- she assured me, making me think that she was either already in the dorm room or had been staying very close by.

While she was telling me that, Poppy tried to shake off her drowsiness as she murmured, “Incursion? Mmm…okay, let me grab my stuff.” With that, we both scrambled wearily out of bed to put on our chokers and for Poppy to put on her comm crown as well.

Once we had left our little house, the others proved more difficult to rouse. At least, that was what I was fearing, and since time was of the essence, I decided to use drastic measures to wake them all quickly. As soon as I was out of the little house situated on the empty bunk, I turned up the volume of my voice projection app on my comm crown as high as it would go and called out, “Everybody, wake up!”

Sure, a quick splash of water to each of their faces probably would have had Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen all up in a hurry, but there were good reasons not to wake them that way. For one thing, creating water for me to manipulate like that is advanced elemental magic that I had only recently learned from Captain Monroe, so I didn’t have the best control over it yet, and it still took a lot of mana and concentration for me to do. We did not have the time for me to fool around like that, and doing so would probably tire me. I needed to conserve my energy for teleporting people and gear, and the clock was ticking; every moment wasted was one that we could be in Rio, saving lives.

Another good reason not to do so was that if I had decided to wake them that way, I probably would have gotten them, their beds, and half of the dorm room soaked. Emergency or not, that probably would have made my sister and friends not very happy with me. This way was much quicker and didn’t risk having anyone pissed off at me, at least, not when they realized the reason behind the rude awakening.

For now, though, they were understandably upset with me. “Lily, what the fuck?!” Karen snapped as they all glared at me from their respective beds. “It’s five in the morning for fuck’s sake! I swear, if this is some kind of drill…”

“Not a drill,” I said after turning down the volume on my voice projection to something less than a parade grounds drill sergeant. “There’s an Incursion in Rio de Janeiro, and we need to get to the tower so I can start moving teams and gear. Every second counts, girls, so get geared up so we can get moving.”

The words had barely left my mouth before everyone scrambled to grab their DS-4 chokers from their nightstands, put them on, and hop from their beds to the floor. Getting dressed was as simple as pushing a little bit of mana into our metal chokers to release the armor stored inside the connected pocket dimensions. Our skintight armor quickly materialized over our bodies, and that was all that we had for gear. Kelly, Karen, and Ainslee would have to grab weapons and any other gear they needed once we got to the tower.

Once I was sure that everyone was armored up and present, I mentally tagged Moonlight through our connection, then the others, and pictured the location within Vanguard Tower that I had been instructed to bring us to in my mind. A moment later, we appeared in a gathering area on the thirtieth floor, at the very top of the tower. Most troops would be gathering in the sub-basement level that sat beneath the tower, and the entire grounds of the surrounding compound, which was the mobilization area that hosted both the underground transport hangars and the armories. We had other orders, though; we were being assigned to the first response teams.

The first response teams were based on the top floor of the tower, in the massive saucer that topped the tower and was reminiscent of the Space Needle that used to be in Seattle. The floor was easily large enough to hold two professional sports stadiums and housed the first responder barracks, their armory, the Pegasus stable, and the aerie for the Gryphons. The rallying area that we appeared in was at the very center of the floor.

The scene was carefully conducted chaos as we materialized. People in the same DS-4 armor that we wore were scrambling to grab weapons from the armory, while others saddled up their mounts. Both the aerie and the stable had open-air exits to allow flights for training, exercise, or to board the two high-speed mounted-personnel carriers that they usually used, but today everyone would be gathering here to make things easier for me to organize the transportation.

Forty-seven minutes was as long as a Breach would remain open, and that isn’t a lot of time to organize a response for somewhere halfway across the world, but these people knew what they were doing and moved like a well-oiled machine. Since those personnel carriers would take over an hour to get from Amethyst Harbour to Rio, even going at top speed from beginning to end, we were going to have to count on me to get us there while the other personnel transports were in flight. There was a Vanguard base in South America that could deploy troops to the Incursion sight as well, but they were probably fifteen minutes away, and if everything went well, we could probably beat them there using my teleportation.

As soon as we appeared, I ordered, “Kelly, Karen, and Ainslee, get geared up in the armory ASAP and then get back here so we can get moving as soon as I have a place to ‘port to.”

Two minutes later, I received a live camera feed from Vice-Commander Carpenter via my comm crown, along with a message telling me that it was the closest feed to the Breach that they could come up with on short notice. It looked like a CCTV camera feed, and it looked like panicked pandemonium over there already, as people ran toward the camera as quickly as they could, and old-style ground vehicles and hover-jets completely ignored traffic laws in their rush to flee.

Well, damn. It had only been around five minutes since the Breach had fully formed and stabilized. I was a little surprised that they were able to find anything close to the Breach in such a short time. It wouldn’t put us very close to the Breach itself, but it was probably the best that we could hope to get between the EM surge that accompanied the opening of Breaches, killing any electronics in the area, and the destruction that the Titans would be causing as they spread out from the Breach and the epicenter of the Incursion.

A moment after that, while I was still ingraining the image in the feed into my mind, my teammates returned, fully geared up. Over their body armor, they each wore gun belts with pouches that likely held spare magazines, bullets, and condensed mana clips for the standard-issue Desert Eagle Mk XXVI handguns holstered on their belts and the M7 Punisher high-powered assault rifles that they had slung over their shoulders. Karen also had a large field medic’s bag on her back for her role as the team's emergency medic. She may not have started her nursing program at the University yet, but she did at least have first aid training and a crash course she had gotten last week on field medicine.

Good, they had all gotten standard gear that they had become very familiar with during our group training sessions with Sergeant Vale, though I did notice that my sister had some of the grenades that Sergeant Vale had her using during our most recent training session as well. The Desert Eagle handguns were fifty caliber, and they were probably using the special loadout for those: armor-piercing shells with enchantments that would cause a magical explosion on impact. While they wouldn’t do much against a fully shielded Titan, they could serve as a distraction or be used to attack weak spots once the Titans’ energy shields were depleted.

The Punisher was a purely magitech weapon, though. While it looked bulky for an assault rifle, it was based on damaged or destroyed Titan weapons and had proven effective enough in combat with them that it became standard issue for all Vanguard troops who could reasonably carry one. Honestly, it was intimidating and looked more like a small cannon than an assault rifle, and rather than a round barrel, it was diamond-shaped. It used condensed mana clips, or if the person using it was desperate, they could feed mana into it directly. The weapon fired bursts of destructive violet colored magical energy that packed a lot more punch than the enchanted ammo for the Desert Eagle, but the downside was that it was a bit of a mana hog and could go through those clips fast.

As for the extra gear, Karen’s medical kit was standard for field medics, and if she ran across anyone with injuries that she couldn’t handle with that kit, Moonlight would be with us to provide healing. Kelly’s grenades were like larger versions of the enchanted bullets for the Desert Eagles. They were regular high-explosive grenades, but enchanted to give a bit of a magical kick to the explosions and pack more punch against the magitech defenses of the Titans. Between the gear and our combined abilities, I was hoping that we wouldn’t do too terribly out there, especially after our Incursion simulation training sessions.

Not that we were going to be allowed to get close to the action if we could avoid it. After all, I had been given strict orders for my team for this mission. We were not to approach the Breach under any circumstances, something that I was more than a little disappointed in, given that Kelly and I were both chomping at the bit to go through that Breach and rescue our mom, something that I believed Vice-Commander Carpenter knew all too well. I tried to tell myself that we would get our opportunity during the Incursion that, if the Oracle Lindsey Dimas was correct, would happen in Rust Ridge, Australia, on Saturday, October 26th, when we would launch a counterstrike against the Titans.

No, we would have to wait nearly two months, and as much as I wanted to rush in and save Mom now, I knew that Vice-Commander Carpenter was probably right, and our orders were sound since we were still raw recruits who had no business in a pitched battle yet. This time, our orders were for me to focus on transporting first response teams and to keep myself energized with as much flower nectar as I could drink between trips, because teleporting so much was going to play havoc with my energy level. While I was doing that, the others would help secure the transport site, cover my ass while I worked, and set up medical tents for the influx of injured civilians and casualties that we were bound to see by the end of this operation.

By the time that my team had their gear all sorted and joined me, I was already gathering as many people and their mounts as I could in a sphere that was a little over twenty feet in diameter. My effect range had increased by a significant amount with how much I had been pushing the ability lately, but when we were talking about regular-sized people and mounts like Gryphons and Pegasi, that still wasn’t a large amount of space. I was going to need to make a lot of trips to move all the first response teams, plus my own.

I counted myself lucky that I could still tag Moonlight while she was ethereal as I concentrated on tagging everyone around me for that first trip and focusing on the video feed from my comm crown. I needed to hurry; I could already see the distant figures of Titans through the video feed, and they were getting closer with every moment. Every second I tarried was an invitation for a stray shot to disrupt the feed or something, and we would have to waste precious time waiting to acquire another jump point for me.

People’s lives were at stake; I needed to do this now. I called for everyone nearby to crowd as close to me as they could manage and mentally tagged everyone in my range as quickly as I could with the strange sense of special awareness that came with my ability before I felt the strain from pushing myself beyond my limits and triggered the teleport, wanting nothing more than to be in that place immediately. No sooner did we appear than a burst of violent violet energy struck a hover-jet trying to flee the Incursion, less than a block away, causing it to explode. Seconds after that, someone shouted, “Incoming!” as the shit hit the fan.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 3 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 3: Run and Gun

A large wall of earth and concrete rose from the ground ahead of us at the shouted warning, blocking shrapnel from the exploding hover-jet and buying us a couple of minutes to get our shit in gear. It must have been one or more of the Earth Sprites, and I thanked my lucky stars that a veritable swarm of Fairies had been hovering within my teleportation range in places where it was awkward to fit full-sized people. There were close to fifty of them, a mix of various Sprites and Pixies, and that was probably practically every Fairy connected to the First Response teams.

I was also very glad that Rio still had streets covered in concrete, rather than the more durable plascrete that newer cities and those destroyed during Incursions used, because otherwise, we might have been screwed. Earth Sprites can’t manipulate plascrete like they can rock, earth, and old-fashioned concrete, and right now they were putting up more walls to try to slow the Titans’ advance. Unfortunately, our adversaries were blowing those walls apart as quickly as they were being built, and we weren’t in the best situation here.

I had teleported us too close to the advancing line of Titans, not that I had much choice in where I brought us. Besides my team and the swarm of Pixies and Sprites, I had managed to bring three Gryphons, their riders, and a couple of field medics. That wasn’t going to be enough to get a handle on this situation; I needed to go back for more people, but I couldn’t risk it when I would just be dropping them in a meat grinder if I brought them to this spot. We needed to get some distance from the front line and out of the way of the experienced fighters among us.

One of the Gryphon riders, a blond Elvish-looking man, seemed to be of the same mind as he pointed in the opposite direction of the approaching Titans and ordered, “You trainees and medics shouldn’t be this close to an active combat zone, you need to find a more secure location for an LZ and the medical tents! We’ll harry them and try to hold them here until you can get set up and deliver reinforcements! Go!”

He barely finished giving the order before the entire group of Fairies and all three Gryphons took to the air to pester the Titans, even as another earthen wall rose to cover our escape. Fuck, this wasn’t going as planned. We were way too close to the active combat zone. I didn’t like leaving so few people to cover our escape while we ran, but he was right.

These people were used to fighting Titans, and there were a lot of Fairies among them, who were small enough and quick and agile enough in the air to avoid most attacks. They could do this, at least for a little while, and the sooner we found a better spot, the sooner I could start bringing in reinforcements. I needed to worry about the people with me now and finding a secure spot so we could do our jobs.

“You heard him; move it, people!” I called out, using my voice projection app to be heard even as I started flying down the street with haste. “Kelly, cover the rear, and Poppy, ride on her shoulder and watch our backs! If anything dangerous comes our way, I want you to tell Kelly so she can intercept it and keep everyone safe! I’m going to get a bird’s eye view and try to find us a good spot!”

I could have asked Moonlight to make herself appear, but she was the biggest target of us all, and there was no purpose to it right now except if someone needed to ride her. It would take time that we probably didn’t have after she appeared for whoever rode her to get mounted, and we were probably better off making a run for it. Our training over the past weeks had helped build up our stamina, and the combat medics were probably both in better shape than us since they were working with the first response teams.

As I took to the air to get above the rooftops and get a better view of the situation, Ainslee took the lead in running down the street below, followed by the two combat medics, and then Karen, with Kelly and Poppy bringing up the rear as I’d ordered. Thankfully, it looked like the Titans behind us were more interested in trying to deal with our fighting forces, who were now harrying them from the air, than attacking those of us who were retreating. There were a plethora of bright energy beams and explosions in the area, as well as various elemental attacks, and our fliers had positioned themselves so that the Titans were frantically firing almost everywhere except down this street.

Beyond them was the usual chaos of an Incursion spread over a wide area, an area that was only growing as the Titans made their way outward in all directions from the Breach. Buildings were either burning or completely collapsed, spires of smoke were so prevalent that they nearly blocked out the early morning light, and I could hear screaming people in the distance. It was almost enough to send me plummeting back to the ground in a panic.

No, I couldn’t focus on all of that. This was the reality of the war with the Titans, I knew that, I had survived it before, and I would again as long as I was smart. I couldn’t do anything for those people screaming, at least, not right now. The best thing that I could do for the people of this city was to find a place to bring in reinforcements as soon as possible. The sooner I did that, the more people we could save.

With that in mind, I flew as fast as I could away from the current boundary of the Incursion, using the mountain with the giant statue in the distance to orient myself as I scanned the ground below for some place that would be easily defensible, or safe from the falling debris of buildings, if the Titans should get that far. Then I saw it, far in the distance, a large open area with a lot of greenery along the shoreline that looked like it might be some sort of park.

Now that I was oriented, I returned to the others. Flying alone could be dangerous for someone my size, and I was probably lucky that a hawk or something hadn’t tried to eat me for lunch. The others were still running, and increasing the gap between them and the Titans, or at least the ones directly behind us. The problem was that the Titans spread out omnidirectionally from a Breach, and the people keeping them off our backs were only making a small dent in the wall of advancing alien mechs.

Even if those behind us didn’t catch up to us, it wasn’t a guarantee that other Titans wouldn’t. Then, almost as if such negative thoughts were responsible, the building ahead of us and to the right collapsed, and a Titan appeared before us, its weapons already glowing and ready to fire. “Kelly, Cover! Everyone else, hit it with everything you’ve got to take down its energy shield and then breakdown strats, you know the drill by now!”

I issued the orders as soon as the metal behemoth appeared, and my sister rushed past me to place herself between the rest of us and the emerging beam of red light and sizzling heat, while the rest of us unloaded on it. Ainslee and both of the combat medics with us opened fire with their Punishers, unleashing bursts of violet energy, and Karen let loose with her acid beam. As for Poppy and me, we both created some of our respective elements, hitting it with a large fireball and a high-pressure water blast, respectively.

That took out a significant chunk of my energy, and Poppy looked similarly drained, but we were both still getting used to creating our elements from thin air, and it would probably be a while before we mastered it. On the positive side, though, the fact that Karen’s acid beam was starting to melt the armor of the Titan meant that we had managed to take down its shield. Everyone knew what that meant, and my team members immediately switched to our breakdown strategy for a lone Titan.

While Kelly continued to stand in the way of its weapon fire, Poppy got into its face, or rather the sensor eye, and hit it with another burst of fire to blind it. Meanwhile, Karen was focusing her acid beam on the Titan’s weapon emplacements one by one to take them out of commission, and the moment that Poppy blinded it, Ainslee summoned a massive magic-plasma sword and started taking its legs out from under it. We took it down in minutes, and as soon as we had, we continued on our way as quickly as we could manage.

There was no use doing anything else to it now that it was disabled; the Titans didn’t have pilots to capture and interrogate, and now it was effectively nothing more than a hunk of dead alien metal. We had more important matters to attend to. “I think I found a spot ahead while I was up high,” I told the others before we continued on our way. “Moonlight, I need you to take me ahead. We’ll stay in touch via comms, and then I’ll come back to teleport the rest of you there before going for reinforcements. Keep making your way down this street and try to stay ahead of any other Titans that appear. Use the same tactics, Poppy will watch behind so Kelly can guard the rear.”

Moonlight appeared at my summons even as the others acknowledged the orders. I had been reluctant to call upon my Unicorn companion, but in this situation, it made sense for two reasons. Firstly, I was a lot more tired than I was ready to admit after summoning that water blast, and I needed to conserve my energy for teleporting. Second, Moonlight could move fast, and even faster when she was ethereal and didn’t have to worry about obstacles or being shot at.

“Okay, Moonlight, by the shore up ahead of us, there’s some greenery that looks like it should be a park, and I think it’ll be far enough from the expanding front line of the enemy to be out of the combat zone when the Titans have to turn around and head back to the Breach. Please, get me there as soon as you can,” I told her mentally as I settled onto her head behind her horn and grabbed hold of some of the hair in her mane so I wouldn’t lose my grip on her. I wasn’t sure whether that could happen or not while she was making us both ethereal, and what would happen if it did, but I wasn’t about to risk it.

-Yes, my Maiden, I shall run like the wind,- she promised. A moment later, we faded from sight and were moving so fast that the buildings, side streets, and people running to the nearest shelters were a blur. I barely even noticed when we passed through vehicles, buildings, and such after the first time scared me half to death. Moonlight assured me that we would come to no harm while in this state and just kept running forward as quickly as she was able.

It was too quiet; I hadn’t heard anything from the others over comms since we left. It had only been a few minutes going by my internal clock, but that concern brought up the thought, “Will my comm crown even work when we’re ethereal like this?” It was something we should have tested, and I felt bad about not doing so before. What if the others were in trouble right now and I had no idea?

I was just starting to have a small panic attack about that when we arrived at the park I had spotted from the air, and Moonlight stopped at a soccer field that seemed to be part of the park. That was good. We would need open space for the injured to be treated, and it would make bringing in reinforcements easier for me as well. We were also well out of the fighting here, and hopefully, the front lines of the Incursion wouldn’t spread this far.

As soon as Moonlight and I were once again solid, my comms lit up. -= Keep moving, everyone, =- Ainslee’s voice called out, -= We can’t let them get us in a pincer attack! =-

-= Fuck… where the hell… is Lily, =- Karen huffed, breathing heavily.

Fuck was right, that didn’t sound good, and how did they get into such a situation in less than five minutes? The answer came easily, “Because we’re in a damn Incursion Zone, idiot,” I chided myself before promising the others, “I’m on my way, we had a comms issue, get ready for a teleport.” Then I quickly took in my surroundings and committed them to memory before focusing my thoughts on Ainslee and activating my teleportation ability to take me to where she was.

When I appeared, the others were running as buildings to either side of the street behind them were being demolished by a pair of Titans that kept firing their weapons. Kelly was hanging back to draw their fire and had just tossed some grenades at them when I arrived and called for everyone to gather around me. “Thank fuck,” Karen wheezed. “Bastards came… from side streets… attacked from both sides.”

“Kelly, move it!” I called out to my sister, “I’ll be ready to ‘port as soon as you’re in range.” I was already starting to mentally tag my teammates and the pair of combat medics. Kelly was still a good fifteen feet outside of my range, but I tagged her as well so I could use my ability to get us out of there the second that she was in range. I was already mentally primed to teleport and straining myself to keep it at the ready, and the destination firmly in my mind, while keeping everyone tagged.

“Go! I’ll be fine, they can’t hurt me!” Kelly shouted back.

I didn’t care if they could hurt her or not; I was not going to leave my sister behind. I had lost her once already, and there was no way I was going to risk that again, no matter how small that risk might be. “I said move it; that’s an order!” I snapped a little more aggressively than I wanted to. The strain of keeping the teleport primed while not initiating it was starting to get to me; it was like something inside of me was being stretched far beyond my limits, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it.

That was when that strained something inside of me snapped; I couldn’t hold my ability back anymore, and it activated. Sort of. A sphere of light surrounded those of us in my range, around twenty feet in diameter, but we hadn’t gone anywhere, and I could still feel mana being drawn from me to fuel the ability. Outside of the sphere and in front of me, I could still see my sister trying to make her way toward us while holding off alien weapons fire, but when everyone around me gasped as one, I turned my attention to what they all seemed to be staring at behind me, and I gasped as well.

While one side of the sphere was still in the location we had been in and I could still see my sister and the Titans, the opposite side seemed to be the soccer field that I had been ready to take us to. “What the hell is going on?” Ainslee murmured beside me.

“I don’t know, but run out the side of the soccer field!” I shouted to everyone. It was a guess at best, and I needed to try to hold whatever was happening in place until Kelly could get to safety with the rest of us. Kelly, who was now following the order I’d given, ran into the sphere ahead of Titans’ weapons fire, snatched me up in a hand without stopping, and dove out the other side after the others. As soon as we left the strange, golden sphere, it vanished, and I felt the pull on my mana cease.

“What the fuck was that?” Karen asked, reiterating Ainslee’s confusion of a moment earlier as she looked around the soccer field we were now all standing in.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 4 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 4: Strain

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.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 5 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 5: Learning Experience

When I woke up, I had a splitting headache, and I was absolutely starving. A groan had barely left my lips when Moonlight’s voice entered my mind, and I felt a warm hand gripping mine. -How are you feeling, my Maiden? You pushed yourself too far. You are extremely fortunate that Poppy was watching you and managed to catch you before you hit the ground, or you could have been seriously injured,- the Unicorn chastised me. I could tell that she was more relieved that I was safe and awake than truly angry at me, though.

“I’m fine, Moonlight, just tired and very hungry,” I mentally assured her before opening my eyes.

I appeared to be inside one of the medical tents, and I was lying atop a pillow with Poppy kneeling beside me. It was she who was holding my hand, and as I opened my eyes and attempted to move, she was instantly looking down at me with a worried expression on her face as she asked in a tremulous tone, “Are you alright, Love?”

“Yeah, just a bit worn out, and very hungry,” I reiterated for her sake. “Probably could have been worse. Moonlight said that you kept me from hitting the ground, so thanks for that, hot stuff.”

Her first reaction was to plant a very passionate kiss on me. Once she had caught her breath afterward, she explained, “Yeah, I was panicking that you would get hurt when I saw you pass out, you were a good twelve feet from the ground. You weren’t really falling that fast, though, to be honest. We Sprites don’t have a lot of weight to us after all, and your wings were spread and creating some drag too. I was told that, generally speaking, it’s almost impossible for Sprites to generate enough speed, even at terminal velocity, for a fall like that to hurt us, unless we had something much heavier than us weighing us down.”

Aww, she was doing her nervous babbling thing, so it looked like she really was worried. I felt bad for worrying her like that, so I quickly apologized. “Sorry for worrying you, Poppy. Well, all of you, actually. I know that Moonlight was worried, too, and I imagine that my sister and Ainslee were as well.”

“Yeah, Love, though I think Karen was the worst mother hen of the bunch,” Poppy admitted with an attempt at a smile as she shook her head. “She was insistent that we take you to the medical tent and have one of the Fairy medics look you over. She wanted to do it herself, but she was worried that she might miss something with how small we are, and she doesn’t really have much training yet, other than first aid training and that crash course on field medicine.”

That was touching, and even a little surprising, given how prickly Karen could still be at times. It was nice to hear, though, because it meant that Karen was honestly starting to see us as friends, and not just people she was forced to train and work with. I gave my girlfriend a smile of my own as I tried to get up and said, “See, I told all of you that her icy exterior was starting to melt, at least with us.”

My attempt to get up was quickly smothered as my girlfriend shoved me right back down into a resting position. “Nuh-uh, Love, you’re not going anywhere, Captain’s orders. Captain Monroe came by while you were out and left orders that you’re to rest, eat, and get plenty of fluids until you’re needed for extraction. When you do that, you’ll be doing it in smaller groups than that last one, and you’ll have at least half an hour to rest and recharge between groups. No using your teleportation until then, unless it’s an emergency.”

I didn’t like being sidelined while there was still work to do, but I did have to admit that I had done my job already, and far more than anyone had expected from me, even myself. So, I tried to relax as I inquired, “So, where is everyone now? And how long was I out? Did I get everyone through the portal before I passed out?” Those last moments were still a little fuzzy to me.

“Captain Monroe said that everyone is accounted for, so you managed to get everyone here before you fainted. It’s been almost an hour since you passed out, so the Breach is closed and search and rescue teams are now searching through the wreckage, getting headcounts from the local Incursion shelters, and canvassing those who might be turning into Altered from the Wild Magic escaping from the Breach. We should probably be seeing people seriously injured being brought here from the Incursion Zone for treatment soon,” Poppy explained. Then she quickly added, “As for our teammates, Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen were getting antsy sitting around and not doing anything, so they joined up with one of the search and rescue crews. I assume Moonlight stayed here to watch over you, but you’re the only one who can really communicate with her.”

-You can tell her that I am indeed here to watch over you,- Moonlight interjected. -It was for the best that I stayed here anyway. My healing magic may be needed for those in serious condition. There are a couple of other Healers here for the more seriously injured, but even with three of us, I fear that we will all need to use our power only in the most life-threatening cases or risk being overwhelmed.-

I quickly confirmed for my girlfriend, “Moonlight is here, and it makes sense since she was worried about me, and there might be people brought here soon who will need her healing power. I’m glad the others are out there helping; we should be, too.”

The others would be useful out there, and not just because of Karen’s training in first aid and basic field medicine. Both Karen and Ainslee had special abilities that would allow them to get through rubble relatively quickly, while Kelly could go into potentially hazardous areas to extract people without being hurt. Honestly, both Poppy and I would have been useful out there as well, since we were both small enough to get into tight places, and I could use my teleportation to extract any trapped people while Poppy’s fire could provide light in those same tight and dark spaces.

Just thinking about that made me feel guilty for just lying here while other people were making themselves useful in the search and rescue efforts. Still, I was under orders… at least until I could get those orders changed. I guess some of my disappointment showed on my face, though, and it seemed that I couldn’t fool my girlfriend.

Poppy took one look at me and frowned. “I know that you want to be out there helping people, Love. I do, too. You’ve already done plenty, though. It’s because of you that we were able to get our first response and main forces here before the end of the Incursion, and Captain Monroe said that that limited both casualties and captures during this Incursion. Because of you, we were able to position a few key teams between the fleeing Titans and the Breach and attack them from behind as well. Usually, we wouldn’t be able to get such a sizable force here so quickly, and that’s due to your efforts.”

“She’s right,” a familiar voice agreed, and I turned my head to see Captain Monroe approaching. I attempted once again to sit up and give her a quick salute, but Poppy pushed me back down, and the Captain herself said, “At ease, you’ve done enough already. Your efforts allowed us to hit the Titans harder and faster than we ever have before, even with the hiccup that you encountered when you first arrived. Vanguard casualties have been light, and we estimate that less than a dozen people were captured and taken through the Breach, and most of those were before you even arrived, people who had the misfortune to be close to the Breach when it opened. You did well, Lily.”

“I did?” It felt good to hear that I might have made a difference, and my heart warmed at her words.

“Yes, you did very well under the circumstances,” she insisted with a smile and a nod. “Your teammates seem to be doing well with the search and rescue efforts as well. In fact, I’ll be petitioning Commander-General Kline to have your team officially join the first response and rescue teams once you’ve all finished your studies, and maybe even continue to shadow us on other Incursions like this one until then, where you might be needed to get us on site quickly. You’ll be more useful to us than to the main combat forces.”

Captain Monroe wasn’t just there to give me a pep talk. She had initially intended to check on whether I was awake yet, and since I was, she took me and Poppy to the command tent, where there was a meal of sorts waiting for me. I could have stayed in the medical tent, of course, but the bed and pillow I had been lying on would probably be needed soon, since the first of the injured who needed more than just first aid were being brought in.

While Captain Monroe and Poppy kept me company, I drank a cup of nectar and ate what was essentially an MRE meant for fairy-type Altered, consisting of some dried meat, a couple of blueberries that were as big as coconuts from my perspective, and some toasted grains. The meal was meant to be high in both natural sugars and protein to give both an immediate and long-lasting energy boost. Thankfully, it took care of the hunger that was gnawing at my belly and the lightheadedness from pushing myself too far and going sugar low.

Again, Captain Monroe wasn’t just there to watch me eat or anything like that. As I was eating, she had me, and by extension, Poppy and Moonlight, observing things in the command center and learning how things worked for the search and rescue teams during an Incursion. She apparently wanted to make sure that I was resting until I was needed again, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t learn while doing that.

For Captain Monroe, that mostly meant coordinating the various Fairies working search and rescue, who were mostly doing aerial searches, getting into tight places, searching for survivors in the rubble of buildings, and using their abilities to help get them free when applicable. Search and rescue was an all-hands-on-deck affair, which was why both the first responders and our main combat forces were all involved. The first response teams were in charge of coordinating everything, though, since search and rescue was a big part of their training.

The faster we found people injured and buried in wreckage and extracted them, the more likely it was that we could keep them alive. There was more than just search and rescue operations going on, though. In addition to that, any intact Titans who hadn’t returned through the Breach needed to be tagged so they could be taken care of once the rescue efforts were complete.

Captain Monroe explained that the Titans had no pilots, something that I had already heard before, and that when the Breach closes, any that are left behind go inert when whatever signal is controlling them is lost. That meant that their magitech weapons and shields no longer worked, but there was a risk of them becoming active again during the next Incursion if they weren’t properly dealt with. That involved destroying what Captain Monroe called the main control relay system in the chest.

Only when that was destroyed could we be sure those Titans wouldn’t rise again in the next Incursion. Those inactive Titans would then be dismantled and collected by the Vanguard’s magitech R&D division for resources and to study their various systems. Most of what we had learned about magitech so far had come from dismantling and studying damaged or deactivated Titans left behind when Breaches closed.

I asked why they hadn’t come up with a way to disrupt the signals controlling the Titans, but apparently, they weren’t all controlled by one signal with the same frequency. Each Titan seemed to be receiving a unique signal, meaning that they were probably being remotely controlled by individuals, which made sense to some degree, according to Captain Monroe. The Titans didn’t seem to be following any one set of orders or even work well together in some cases.

Rarely, more than one would go after the same potential captive, and even more rarely, one would kill someone that another had spared. This hinted at possible division in their ranks, or that maybe they weren’t as unified as the public at large believed. That could provide openings for us when the time came to take the fight to them, but it also made what little we thought we knew about our attackers as a species unreliable.

Even with the various abilities of the members of the Vanguard and the sheer number of people dedicated to the task, it wasn’t until midnight local time that the entire Incursion Zone was thoroughly searched, and our operations in Rio came to an official close. Reconstruction and other aftereffects of this event would be up to the city itself to take care of. By then, our forces were thoroughly exhausted, especially those of us who had first arrived eighteen hours ago.

Poppy had gone to help with the search effort once she was sure that I was okay and that Captain Monroe wouldn’t allow me to push myself too hard, joining the rest of our team while Moonlight used her healing power to stabilize the worst off of the injured so they could be sent to either one of the local hospitals or the one in Amethyst Harbour. I wasn’t just watching and learning with Captain Monroe during that time either. Once she was certain that I had gotten a few hours of rest, Captain Monroe had me start transporting those who were bound for Amethyst Harbour straight to the hospital.

There were over three dozen people who were becoming Altered, some of them seriously injured during building collapses, and some had injured family members who either wanted to go with them or needed better medical care than we could give them in a tent. Fortunately, I took them over several trips over the course of the afternoon and evening and was able to do so by teleporting them rather than by opening another portal. Captain Monoe also ensured that I had enough rest between those trips, as well as some nectar and a meal when needed. I even got to nap for a few hours between two trips to transport groups of people that included some who needed immediate emergency care.

Now that our operations were complete, though, I had to take all our gathered forces back to Vanguard Tower. Everyone was exhausted, and I probably would have been as well if I hadn’t been ordered to rest and refuel between trips. Still, Captain Monroe had me spread that out into five trips, each of which would have close to the same number of people as that first portal I had opened, and I would be taking a half hour to rest and drink some nectar between each trip.

On the fifth trip, I cast my final portal to ferry over the last of our personnel, those who had been disabling any abandoned Titans and packing up all the tents and other equipment that they had kept on site. The Titans would be retrieved by transports once they were functional and secure again, since there was no way I was going to be able to bring those with me, even if I was familiar with their destination. By this point, I was too damn tired anyway, even with the nap I had managed to have earlier.

My team waited until that last trip as well, since I was also our ride home, and it wasn’t until after three in the morning that we arrived back at the tower. By then, we were all thoroughly exhausted from the last twenty-two or so hours, and as soon as I teleported us to our dorm room, we all climbed gratefully into our respective beds (or stall in Moonlight’s case). There was a lot to talk about, but we were all too damn tired and that could wait until morning… or maybe afternoon, after we all had a good, long rest.