Meeting The Shapeshifter

The flashlights drew closer. Their beams were nearly steady, a sign that whoever was wielding them was approaching the corner with caution. Maitho caught Epona's eye and a silent conversation seemed to pass between them. He knew that he had to get into the armory. If not, then he would be leaving it open for whoever could access it later. He took another peek and noticed that beams of light were brighter. Realizing that he didn't have a choice, Maitho cursed under his breath and headed to the door.

The armory will have to wait. He had more immediate problems to take care of. Epona walked to the guard room adjoining the armory and stood near the door, her gun pointed down the hallway. Maitho had one finger looped into a smoke grenade's pin, ready to discharge it at a moment's notice. He waited until he guessed that the footsteps were just around the corner and tossed the grenade down the hall. The small canister began releasing clouds of white as it rolled towards the corner. The footsteps stopped, as though they became aware of the sound. Within seconds, Maitho lost visibility of the hallway's corner, which would be the same for the guards. The only choice they had now was to move through the smoke. That meant exposing themselves to whoever was waiting for them. Deep down, Maitho hoped they would see reason, perhaps even apply a certain caution to their approach. Any hesitation on their part was an advantage that was exploitable.

Gunfire erupted from within the smoke. Epona and Maitho moved into the safety of the guard's room. Bullets pinged off the guard rooms windows, chipped bits of concrete and sand from the walls, and even embedded themselves into surfaces. The entire shootout lasted for a few seconds, after which there was just the sound of echoes and the alarm still blaring through the speakers.

Maitho saw Epona look his way and gave a quick nod. She waited for a few heart beats before looking around the corner. The first horse she summoned appeared within the smoke, instantly lifting its legs in the air and neighing so loud, Maitho thought the sound might be heard throughout the prison. Another barrage of gunfire took place, this time aimed at the phantom beast that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm going in," said Maitho. "Just start firing when I say so." He ran towards the chaos, his heart pounding in his chest.

A part of a guard's body was peeking out of the smoke, the rest of their teammates still hidden in the white cloud. Maitho reached the guard, who was still focused on firing in the direction of the horse, which had now disappeared entirely. He grabbed the guard by his chin and pulled back his head, exposing his neck. Then he pointed the Taser at the bit of cloth that made up the balaclava, but which wouldn't do much to protect the skin underneat, and pulled the trigger. The prongs embedded into the guard's neck and they began convulsing.

Maitho pulled the baton from the guard's belt. "Now," he yelled and got down on the floor. The guards fired where he had been standing, blind shots passing safely above over him. That's when the shotgun blast began joining in the chorus of gunfire, each blast ejecting a fast-moving rubber bullet. He saw another shape appear in the smoke. Knowing that he had one more shot in the Taser, he aimed and fired the last round in the chamber, tossing the now useless weapon aside. The guards were now aiming in the direction of the shotgun blasts, but they couldn't find their target because Epona was making good use of her cover. Then there was the smoke as well.

"Horses," Maitho yelled and rolled away, instantly hearing bullets strike the floor where he had been. He pushed himself to his feet and flattened himself on the wall just as two horses sprinted into the smoke like a stempeding duo. Several grunts and surprised yells reached Maitho, who knew that the guards stood no chance against the beasts which, if he had to make a guess, were a lot more powerful than regular versions of themselves. After all, regular horses were capable of carrying three times their weight and delivering a kick that could kill a human. He didn't want to imagine what godly horses were capable of.

He made his way forward, watching the smoke dissipating in gradual increments. He was about to step out into the clear space before he noticed a dark shape rush past him. Through the diminishing smoke, he saw another guard race after the first one, a handgun pointed in their direction. Maitho knew what was about to happen. The second guard obviously had seen a shape moving through the smoke and might have presumed that it was a threat. He pushed with his mind…

…and saw the first guard turn around at the mention of the words "Hold it right there."

Out of sheer instinct, he had removed his own handgun, his finger curled around the trigger and ready to fire. His peripheral vision caught sight of a shape. It was dark, and had he allowed himself to take a second or two more to carefully look at it, he would have seen that it was his own teammate.

At that moment, he wasn't in any capacity to think. He was someone fueled by pure action. His reptilian brain had taken over, pumping his body with adrenaline and shutting off his rational thought processes. He was there to do one thing; take out the threat.

When the gun was trained on the target, he pulled the trigger…

…and Maitho was already on his feet. He could see that the first guard had already turned around. The finger was just a few pressures shy of releasing the bullet in the chamber.

The gun went off.

Maitho stood between the bullet and the intended victim. He felt a stab of pain in his chest, the impact twisting his body. His momentum allowed him to continue unbalanced towards the opposite side, where he collided with the wall. His armor had absorbed much of the impact of the bullet, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Despite the pain flaring up in his ribs, he gritted his teeth and looked at the shooter. The first guard was staring back at him in shock, slowly lowering his gun. Maitho checked the second guard, who was also looking back at him with more or less the same level of astonishment. No one was dead. That was good.

"You saved me," said the second guard, still not letting go of his expression.

"Go," said Maitho, his voice betraying the urgency he felt. "No one is mortally wounded. Check on the injured." He faced the first guard. "Make sure you're not firing at your allies.

"What are you doing here?" said the first guard, his hands gripping his gun. "And what were those things? Those," he seemed to fight for the words, "horses."

"No time to explain. We are not here to kill anyone. Please, just listen to me."

The first guard lifted his handgun, pointing it straight at Maitho. "I'm sorry. I cannot take that chase. We—"

Maitho heard the shotgun blast a split second before the rubber hit the guard square in the chest. He was thrown backward, his gun going off in his hands but the bullet striking the wall instead. The guard was on the ground, gasping for air as he clutched his chest. Maitho was on him, turning him around and removing his kevlar. When the vest came off, the guard began taking lungfuls of air.

"Easy," said Maitho. "Breathe." When he turned around, he saw the second guard standing up, his hands by his side and his face looking at the scene with curiosity. "Can you help him?" The second guard nodded. "Good. He's in your hands."

Epona emerged from the smoke, which was now slowly clearing away to reveal more of the hallway. "We neit tae gae." Maitho nodded. Epona threw a glare at the second guard. "Dinnae try anythin." The guard shook his head vigorously.

Maitho was already on his feet, making his way deeper into the cell block. He crossed an electronic gate, which was left open. He presumed that it was the guards, who were more focused on bringing down intruders than they were worried about anyone escaping their highly secure cells.

Already, he could see the inmates banging on the doors, screaming obscenities at him. One woman dared him to open the door to her cell so they could go toe-to-toe in a wrestling match. Others promised him punishments involving specific vulgar acts. He ignored their voices, tuning them out and focusing on his destination. There was no need to refer to a map or seek guidance. He knew where he was headed. His brain was projecting the information to him, and his feet simply moved like it was on automatic navigation.

He reached the cell in question and looked through the bars. Two women stared back at him. One of them had dark hair and the other had blonde braids.

"Are you the one responsible for this?" Dark-haired woman asked.

Maitho didn't respond. He turned to Epona. "Which one of them is Morrigan?"

"Neither," said Epona, frowning.

"You didn't answer my question," said the dark-haired lady.

That was when the power came back on in the cellblock.

"Aboot time," said Epona, looking at the ceiling. "Though it wad have helped five minutes ago."

"Listen," said Maitho, moving closer to the cell and grabbing the bars. "We don't have time. Brigid is out of control for reasons I cannot understand. But Morrigan can bring her under control. Do you know where she is?"

"Brigid wouldn't do anything to endanger the team," said blonde-hair.

Maitho frowned. He turned back to catch Epona having a confused look on her face as well. "Morrigan can't shapeshift intae humans. She cannot be one o thaim."

"Are you sure?" said Maitho, and looked back at the women. He thought for a few seconds. An idea occurred to him. "Brigid asked for an army of draugr to protect the Celtic base."

The women hesitated. It was as though they wanted to say something, but couldn't. "What did Bevan do?" the dark-haired woman asked.

Maitho looked at her. "What does that matter? They sided with the enemy and don't tell me you are not aware of what our enemy can do."

Another pause. Blonde-hair spoke. "They are not a match for our strength."

"Not if they released the serpent."

Dark-haired laughed. "One snake against Guardians?"

That was when Maitho knew he was right. He looked at the women for a couple of seconds longer before turning to Epona. "None of them are Morrigan. But they are pretending to be." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "They don't know about Jörmungandr. Morrigan would have understood what I had meant by serpent."

The ceiling exploded near them, raining down bricks, sand, and metal. Epona was quick, pointing her shotgun upwards. But she might as well have not bothered. Raiden shot down through the roof, landing hard and causing cracks to erupt on the prison floor. He began walking towards Maitho, as though all he had done was stroll through the front doors. "What has been happening while I was absent?"

"Whit took ye sae long?" said Epona, her eyes narrowing.

"You mean, what took the generators so long? Blame the management of this prison. The batteries needed repair."

Epona frowned. "Sae hou did the power came back on?"

Raiden smiled. "I charged them." He turned to look at Maitho. "Why the delay? She's not cooperating?"

"No," said Maitho. "She's not willing to see us."

Raiden narrowed his eyes for a moment before opening them, a smile on his lips. "Morrigan darling. In the interest of time, I'm going to have to tell you that I will shock every single person in this cellblock, starting with these two ladies. Oh, and your team is practically useless right now. After all, I like to think their best member is fighting on our side." He looked at Epona, gave a quick nod, and turned around before she could reply. For her part, Epona looked speechless.

"Don't call them useless," came a woman's voice from the opposite row of cells in the block. Maitho turned around to see a woman in the opposite cell standing tall with her hands behind her back. "You don't know about them."

"That's her," said Epona. "That's Morrigan."