There shouldn't have been a hurricane in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. It defied physics. And no hurricane had ever been small enough—or focused enough—to sit on top of a city so accurately.

A Paragon had to be leading them. A Paragon tied to the Stormsteel Path. I wanted that core. I needed that core; it'd be an investment in the future. And Eugene would want me to go get it.

Instead, the truck's wheels slid on mud drifts and bounced on pothole-ridden, rain-slicked asphalt as we roared toward the northern gate to Carlsbad Fortress. A handful of buildings, destroyed by age as much as the storm, lined either side of the road, and the fortress's wall loomed overhead, almost as mighty as Phoenix's 303 Wall. The gate was narrow—only big enough for a single vehicle at a time.

And it was closed.

The truck swerved back and forth. I stuck my head inside, then pulled it back.

Hurricane-Touched Hunter: C-Rank

The truck driver's head was in his lap. A monster, maybe the size of a second-grader, thrashed as it turned to face me. Its four arms all ended in bladed spikes; as the truck bounced off the road, one arm expanded, then launched a spike at me.

I dodged. Glass and steel shattered outward, peppering me with small cuts. "Jeff, wheel!"

Then I lunged in with my off-hand, grabbed one of the spike-launchers, and pulled.

The Hunter flew out; it wasn't any heavier than a second-grader, either. I threw it into the desert as Jeff's feet slammed into the driver's side door. He pushed the driver's corpse aside and revved the engine as he grappled with the wheel.

Carlsbad's wall loomed ahead of us. Jeff floored it. We rocketed toward the steel gate. "Brace!" he shouted. Then he activated Split-Second Shield.

And we hit.

The semi truck's engine probably weighed a ton. The cab itself had to be four or five with the extra armor strapped to it. And we had probably fifteen or twenty tons of supplies on the trailer. Coupled with Jeff's Split-Second Shield, it was an incredible battering ram. Twenty-five tons of anger and horsepower, all backing up an invincible magic shield.

But the wall's gate was solid steel.

The Split-Second Shield lasted half a second. Then the truck's engine shoved back toward Jeff's lap. The roaring, howling machine stopped with a dozen screeches as pistons shot out of their chambers, belts snapped, and gears rocketed out of the transmission and shot everywhere. The sound of the dying engine drowned out the storm for a moment.

The four of us—Ellen, Yasmin, Sophia, and I—catapulted forward as the truck went from fifty-five to zero in less than the blink of an eye. I slammed into the gate; one of the others rolled across the desert and pushed herself to her hands and knees, wobbling and shaking her head. My rib popped as I hit the ground, and I poured Stamina into the injury. But I didn't have much left.

The cab was nothing but a twisted pile of metal and burning diesel fuel. I fought my way to my feet and staggered toward it. Jeff was inside. I had to—

An arm shot out, scale mail intact. It tore into the steel. Muscles bulged even through the portal metal armor. After a second, a massive blow shuddered the whole cap. Then a second one. At the third, the door came off, and Jeff rolled out.

Sophia was there instantly, hand on his chest. "I've got you!" she said.

Jeff shook his head. "No time! The gate's coming down!"

"What?" I asked. Everything was moving too quickly.

"Wait for it," Jeff said. "There'll be a window.

The wall shook. Lightning and rain poured down, and the wind increased in speed.

And then the first brick hit the ground in front of me. Another followed, then another. And the whole steel gateway began to tip inward. We waited.

"Go!"

Jeff didn't have to tell me twice. As the gate collapsed and the wall over it began to disintegrate, I dashed forward, dragging Ellen with one hand.

And the five of us entered Carlsbad Fortress.

Carlsbad Fortress was…shockingly orderly.

The buildings had been set up to form long, straight streets with portal metal-clad towers in the center of every intersection. I recognized them, even though Phoenix had never bothered. They were kill towers for high-ranking mages and archers. And the wide, clear lanes were funnels into murder zones. There were no alleys, and every door opened at an angle; if someone wanted to get into a building, they'd have to expose themselves to the towers.

Unlike Phoenix, Carlsbad was a military fortress first and a city second.

And also unlike Phoenix, it was on fire.

I stared at the blaze two blocks from us as the wall behind me creaked and groaned. The hurricane should have been putting it out, but the sheer amount of lightning pouring from the sky lit new blazes as fast as the rain stopped the old ones.

"We need to move!" Jeff shouted over the roaring fire and wind.

"Right," I said. A mage tower stood three blocks to the east. I pointed and started jogging toward it.

A minute later, we were safe. Or safe-ish. The storm hadn't abated, but flashes of angry orange-white light from Angelo's spells mixed with it, forming a swirling mess of rain, radiation, and lightning. It wasn't as bad inside the fortress; my tongue still tasted like copper and ozone, but I could hear other people at less than a full bellow.

"What now?" Yasmin asked. She had a hand to her stomach, which hadn't healed fully.

"Easy," Jeff said. "The hard part's done. Now we find my people. They're in here. We need to get to them, and we'll have the firepower to regroup with the convoy."

"I don't think it'll be that easy," I said.

"Why not?" Jeff glared at me. "The hard part was getting here. Now I'm here. Everything's going to work out. It has to."

"Because," I started. Then I looked at Jeff. His eyes blazed with fury—but behind it, Jeff was terrified.

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Ellen, can we connect with—"

"Nope. Not a chance. Radio can't punch through all the interference."

"Right. Okay, I'm taking command of Team C-Alpha. Our goals now that we've entered Carlsbad Fortress are to get intel to the teams still trapped outside, try to find survivors from the fortress, and figure out how to escape. In that order."

Jeff's glare deepened. His fists balled, and the muscles on his neck stood out as he strained. I put a hand on his shoulder. "Jeff, we're going to find them. I promise. But right now, we have five teams and change stuck outside, with no idea what's happening in here and no way to communicate with us. And one of those delvers is Angelo Lawrence. The freaking Light of Dawn. What if he decides that the best way in is to blow through the wall somewhere, and he hurts your people in the process? He's not a patient guy."

"So?"

"So, we need to find a reason for him to be patient. That's the best way to protect your old friends from becoming collateral damage."

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I went quiet and let Jeff work through it on his own. After almost a minute, he nodded. Once. "You'd better be right, Kade."

"I have no idea if I'm right. Yasmin, Ellen, Sophia, how are you doing for resources?" I asked, pulling mine up.

Stamina: 81/350, Mana: 203/460

I was lower than I'd hoped but higher than I'd expected. With what I had, I could keep fighting for a bit. Yasmin and Ellen were both close to tapped out, though, while Sophia was somehow at half Mana. I wondered what she'd been building—or if she'd been chugging Mana potions.

"So, we good to keep moving?" Yasmin asked. "I can regenerate for a while before we need more buffs."

I looked at Ellen. She looked at me. Then she resummoned Pepperoni and waited. After a second, I pulled Cheddar in and resummoned him as well.

I sent a mental image of him on one side of a scale and me on the other, and Shadowstorm Battery kicked in. Mana flowed from him to me, and so did Stamina, both seeming to reach an equilibrium. As they did, my energy returned. The transfer of resources inverted for a second as our resource levels balanced out. Then they stopped.

Stamina: 152/350, Mana: 306/460

"Still low," Ellen said, grimacing. "Kade, how are you looking?"

"I'm pretty solid on Mana. Do you need some?"

"What are you doing?" Yasmin asked.

"It's a new skill," Ellen said. "Kade convinced me to do something stupid."

"Hey, you were involved in all the decision-making," I said, grabbing Ellen's hand. "Seriously, though, do you need some?"

"Sure."

I ignored Jeff's thumbs up as she tightened her grip on my hand, and focused on shoving Mana at Ellen. Once again, it took a minute for the scales to balance out. This time, the connection felt stronger than the one with Cheddar; I could practically see the currents of Mana flowing from my core into Ellen's—and the storm and shadow tints as the energy mixed and small splashes of it returned to me.

Stamina: 152/350, Mana: 213/460

"Thanks, Kade," Ellen said. She nodded. "Ready."

And we headed into the streets of Carlsbad again.

It took us all of a minute to run into our first enemies.

Hurricane Legionnaire: B-Rank

Corrupted Hurricane Guardsman: C-Rank

There were three of the littlest ones. Not that they were little; every one of the three-armed monsters loomed as tall as Jeff. Every one of them had two arms fused into a long, broad shield of churning storm; the remaining arm ended in a long, spear-like spike of portal metal. Their insectlike eyes locked onto us from across the street, and they howl-screamed, wet armor dripping as they charged us.

The Legionnaire hung back. Its four arms carried similar spears and shields, but a pair of each to cover each side of its body.

I readied myself. So did Jeff. Ellen and Yasmin did nothing, and Sophia tensed, preparing to heal.

As the first Guardsman stepped into range, I dropped into a two-handed lunge. My sword punched into the monster's shield, cutting through the storm armor and into the arm behind it. A single Lightning Charge appeared as I ripped the blade free. Its spear flashed toward me, and I parried with both hands.

We traded blows. Jeff taunted the other two. The street below me started to boil as lightning surged across my blade.

The win would be easy from here. I could shift to Cyclone stance, use Lightning Strikes Twice, and obliterate the Guardsman with a pair of Thunder Waves. Fast, effective, and a waste of resources. My job wasn't to win fast. It was to win efficiently.

One Guardsman—or even three—wasn't a speed bump for us. But the Legionnaire…

We'd killed a few with the convoy, but they'd been damaged by radiation or fought with the team at full strength. Here and now, it was a major—

It moved. One second, it stood, casually watching the fight. The next, it loomed over Sophia, spears already thrusting.

I charged. One hand left the dueling sword's hilt. The sword flashed out, tapping one of the spears out of the way.

The other one punched into Sophia's chest. She screamed. Blood erupted from her mouth.

And the Legionnaire whirled. Both spears flicked around, cutting wind-reinforced paths through the air. I didn't have time to block. The Lightning Charge vanished, and I Flashstepped behind the hulking, B-Ranked monster as Yasmin slid on the hot, wet asphalt and stopped next to Sophia.

Rage filled me—schoolyard rage. The battle trance wanted to take over.

And I let it.

The last thing I saw was Ellen casting at the C-Rank Guardians as they tried to swarm Jeff.

Then it was just Tallas's Dueling Blade, two spears, two shields, and a target behind them.

A spear rocketed toward me. I blocked with full strength. Shoved it aside. Ducked in as a second Rainfall Charge appeared. My lightning blade scraped against armor. Sparks and arcs of electricity rippled across the Legionnaire. I bared my teeth and snarled—and attacked again.

Nothing. Rain-Slicked Blade? No. No time. Both spears—and a shield—cut the air and surged toward my head. I couldn't block them all. I burned both Rainfall Charges. Faded from existence for a moment with Mistform. Solidified, switched to Cyclone stance, and summoned Ariette's Razor.

If the Legionnaire wanted to use multiple weapons, I'd follow suit.

Fighting around me. I couldn't pay attention to it. Didn't want to pay attention to it. The Legionnaire was all that mattered. Keeping its attention—and killing it—were all that mattered.

I slashed with the Razor. Cut into the chitin and Stormsteel armor. Sent a spray of blood across the battlefield. Smiled and attacked again. A spear forced me back into Mistwalk stance. I threw the Razor into the monster's face. It blocked with a shield. Two more spear-thrusts. I shoved one aside and took the other in the center of my Stormsteel breastplate. The armor screamed as it tore at the spear's tip.

Then I used Rain-Slicked Blade. My sword punched through a shield, sliced into the arm behind it, and cut it loose. The monster screamed and stared at the wound for a moment. Then it threw that side's spear away and started casting a spell.

An opening. I ducked in and slashed. Echoed it with Howling Gale across the Guardsmen. Sliced again. Let go of the sword with a single hand and fired a Lightning Strikes Twice-doubled Slicing Bolt into the monster in front of me.

I needed Saltspray. But I couldn't get there. Not with my Charges.

The spell went off. A nova of wind ripped out from every side of the monster. It tore at my armor; the Stormsteel gauntlet winked out, and so did the breastplate. Someone screamed. Not Ellen. Ellen didn't scream.

Who? I didn't know. And I didn't have time to figure it out. I had one Wind Charge. I fired a single Ariette's Zephyr into the monster.

Then I slammed a Windfall-empowered Zephyr into it.

The monster slowed down as if weighed down by a ton of weight on each limb, and I took advantage.

Two-handed Thunderbolt stance. A lunge to the chest. Blocked, but the Legionnaire couldn't react fast enough to the slash across its leg. It stumbled. A second slash. This time to the casting arm. Thunderblade. Five slashed, all too fast for me to see. The monster's chest opened up. Blood poured from it, even as its Health started to patch it up.

Cyclone stance. Lightning Strikes Twice. Ariette's Zephyr. Six of them, all to the Legionnaire's head. It collapsed in like a plastic ball left in the sun.

I waited. One breath. Two.

And the monster fell forward. It landed hard and went still.

"Holy shit, Kade," Ellen whispered after a second. I grinned. Then she continued. "Look behind you. Slowly and carefully."

I turned slowly, just like she said, readying the dueling blade.

Tathrix, Hurricane Warlord: A-Rank

It wasn't physically big. And it wasn't armed. But as I looked at the thin, armor-covered monster, its aura slammed into me. It drove me to my knees, like a massive weight settling over me. All around me, the team did the same thing—except for Sophia, who was already lying down and trying to stem the blood flowing from her chest.

I stared at the Warlord. Six feet and change. A bent neck like the monster from that alien movie. Gray-black maelstrom armor that covered every inch of its two-armed, two-legged body. And two insectlike eyes that stared at me with almost human intelligence.

It coughed. "The Thunder God's Pet? Here? The Queen Mother will be very interested to hear this," it rasped.

I tried to push against the aura, but it was overwhelming.

"Unfortunately for me, it's not my place to kill you, Stormsteel Paragon. But fear not. The Queen Mother wants this fortress. This world will be hers, and if she gets the opportunity to take your power and deny it to your god, she will do so gladly."

The aura shifted. Weakened. Sophia gasped and coughed blood into the street. Yasmin's hands plunged into the healer's wound.

And I glared at the Warlord.

"She'll be seeing you soon, Thunder God's Pet. Prepare yourself well," it said.

Then it was gone.

I didn't have time to figure out what it had meant, or whether it would be back. I didn't have the mental energy to focus on anything but Sophia as she slowly slowed her bleeding, tears pouring down her dirt-caked face.

We had to keep moving as soon as possible. I'd been right; there was a Paragon here, and it was hunting me.

The portal break—and the Paragon in control of it—had finally started taking Angelo Lawrence seriously.

It was ironic that, as the first skeletally-thin, A-Rank monsters surged toward him with wind and water spells already casting, his response was to reduce his power output. But an A-Rank monster could break through his defenses. He couldn't stand against six of them if he wanted to avoid dying. And he couldn't go all-out this close to the trucks and the wall.

Most of the convoy had stopped when Carlsbad's wall collapsed behind the point truck. They were circled up, fighting a defensive battle a quarter mile away. Wind whipped by fast enough to turn the sand into missiles that tore at Angelo's robes and armor. He ignored it. Sand couldn't hurt him. The monsters could.

But…someone was coming.

"Sir!" Deborah yelled as she crashed into the A-Rank monsters, "We're outgunned! What's our move?"

She looked terrible. Her skin was beet-red and peeling from Angelo's magic, and her hazmat mask's filter warning blinked yellow. But with her defending him, Angelo was able to crush all six monsters almost instantly.

"We will retreat to the convoy, take stock of what we have, and begin circling Carlsbad Fortress to find another entrance," Angelo said. He stared at the towering storm overhead. Somewhere out there was a boss. A Paragon boss, worthy of his personal attention. He itched to get out there and find it. If it were just the strike team, he'd already be hunting, crashing through the swarms of monsters and running as close to full strength as he could.

But as it was…Angelo Lawrence had responsibilities. He tore his eyes from the hurricane as the wind intensified and lightning poured down into Carlsbad Fortress. "And, Deborah, we will act patiently."

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