Kayla moved her shoulder and ignored the pain. It was good enough, and probably wouldn't take long to heal. Then a thought struck her.

  "Who has smokes?" she yelled. Several hands went up. Kayla mimed for their owners to throw them out of the office into the open space ahead of them. The enemy wouldn't take long to notice

  that their forward position had been overrun, and would likely turn their fire on it for good measure.

  A hand slapped Kayla's back, and she turned to see Shiva giving her a thumbs up.

  "We have to cross now," Naima called. "When it fills, just go!"

  It was a grim decision, and another that set Kayla's nerves on edge. The wide garden separated their office from an imposing structure that rose three stories high. There was no cover, or alternate

  route, so the Rangers would have to cross and engage the enemy's defenses on the other side. Only smoke, and the men’s hopeful slowness switching to infrared optics, would keep them from killing the Valkyrie.

  The rest of the Rangers were still outside the block, doing their best to find targets across the way. But the enemy had high-ground, machine guns and grenade launchers. Nothing could be done until somebody

  moved forward.

  As soon as Kayla's world turned a dimmer shade through her headset, the incoming fire slackened off. Naima and Shiva darted forward, and the others followed, spreading out as they vaulted across the

  benches and bushes of the subterranean garden. Kayla pumped her legs as hard as she could. Whatever Rayker might have told her guards, they couldn't guess the Valkyrie's actual physical capabilities yet, leaving them

  at least one more advantage. In this claustrophobic, brutal, and bloody combat at close quarters, they needed every edge.

  When they reached the other side, the Rangers found the bottom floor of the structure blown to pieces by their comrades. Glass lay everywhere, making every footstep traitorous, even against the storm of

  gunfire. Kayla found cover against a supporting column, and leaned around it to clear what lay beyond the destroyed windows. A white blob was barely visible behind an open doorway. She fired twice, then scanned for more.

  "We need IR, we need IR," a man called, his voice carrying a hint of desperation.

  More shots rang out from the Rangers, and they quickly moved inside the new offices. Kayla pushed ahead towards what looked like an open lobby with spiral staircases rising to the floors above. Nobody was

  else was visible, which meant that the guards had left their first floor perimeter too lightly guarded. With the gunfire dying down, she was now able to make out the stampede of feet on the floor above.

  When she paused at a corner, Shiva joined her.

  "Go left down that hallway," she said as she pointed. "There's a maintenance elevator you can climb up."

  Had the operators made a plan already? How were they so fast? Mind reeling, she settled for asking, "What about you?"

  "I'll take these four," Shiva said, gesturing to the Rangers following her. "We'll strong point this lobby. Move quick, 'cos it won't fool them for long."

  Kayla thought one of them might have been Bibi, so she gave the soldier a light punch in the arm, just in case. She dashed away and quickly caught sight of Naima, who beckoned to her. Together, they forced

  open the elevator's doors and found an empty shaft, with the cab two stories below them.

  "Can you climb that hand over hand?" Naima asked, pointing to the steel cable.

  "Can you not?" Kayla shot back, and thrilled at the first victory she had gained over the indomitable super soldier.

  "Not well enough to climb and fight. You can take point."

  "Right behind you," a familiar voice squeaked.

  Kayla turned to see the filthy, blood spattered Jess, first in a line of wild-eyed Rangers. She gave the private's shoulder a squeeze, then reached out for the waiting cable.

  "Top floor, then pop the doors while we catch up," Naima said.

  Kayla flashed her a wink, and hauled herself up into the waiting darkness. Her muscles sang with adrenaline, almost giving her the impression that she levitated up the shaft. A closed door frame awaited

  her, but she managed to find a foot hold against the nearby elevator machinery. She was able to wedge her body into the frame while applying force against the doors, and they slid back a few inches.

  Naima had almost caught up, so Kayla raised her carbine and aimed through the tiny angle she had created onto the upper floor. The place seemed to be empty, and she shoved hard against the door. A raised

  hand found her boot and she grabbed it, hauling Naima up and through the opening. Jess was right behind, with more Rangers forming a dangling queue. Kayla settled into her new role as a crane, helping the assault team flood

  out into the corridors beyond.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  When the last woman was up, she followed behind. They moved in the direction of the cavern windows, and stacked up on doors that they found flung open. Kayla was last in the queue, so now she watched the

  corridor running parallel to the outer rooms, while guns barked from behind the walls. A man burst out of a distant door, trying to flee from the advancing death. Two rounds to his back recalled him to the reaper.

  The small group of climbers circled back to the lobby, but it was quiet. Most of the guards on the second floor had heard the gunshots above. Recognizing that they had been outmaneuvered, they had fled

  past Shiva’s small contingent. Two bodies lay on a stairway where they had tried to descend.

  Kayla swallowed the bitter taste of frustration. She wanted more.

  The rest of element Viper moved across the garden to join them, and pushed deeper into the second floor offices. They went as fast as they could, methodically clearing rooms to make sure no guards slipped

  behind them. Quiet returned again, but the tension didn’t ease. Would there be a new ambush waiting ahead? Had Rayker planned an escape route into the cavern? Would her men rather die facing the Valkyrie than return

  to her defeated? There was only one way to find out.

  Kayla wished she could know the progress of the Tiger element. But that wasn’t her problem—she had to focus on the next corridor, or the next doorway. She found herself behind Jess again, moving

  down a hallway of small offices, with a larger one waiting at the end.

  When the other rooms were cleared, she stacked up behind Shiva and the fresh private. A Ranger kicked the door in then stood aside, and the line started to move. A long burst of fire met them at the door.

  Kayla saw both women ahead fountain blood and hit the ground like puppets with their strings cut. She snatched at her trigger, pumping rounds through the wall while getting as close to the fatal funnel as she dared.

  It wasn’t enough. The whole stack dumped their magazines into the room, but the rifle fire kept coming. It seemed like they might have cornered someone who had taken a wrong turn in the confused retreat.

  He had nowhere to run, and nothing left to do but take as many of his hunters out as possible.

  A Ranger yelled for him to surrender, and tried a slower approach. She took a bullet in her arm for getting too close.

  Jess’s boot was visible, just inside the room. Too far for anyone to reach and drag her back. With her and Shiva still in harm’s way, nobody wanted to throw a grenade. Watching them lay still,

  slowly bleeding to death just like Rose had done, Kayla snapped.

  Surprisingly, faced with an impossible dilemma, her thoughts turned icy. She picked up a piece of splintered wall and examined it.

  “What is this shit?” she demanded to nobody in particular.

  Naima ran in from an adjoining corridor and stopped to survey the carnage. “Shit,” she muttered.

  “Look,” Kayla said, waving the chunk of material in her face. “It feels light enough to snap in your fingers, but it’s as tough as wood.”

  Naima shrugged distractedly. “Can’t make walls out of cardboard,” she offered. She seemed at a loss for the situation, and obviously didn’t see what Kayla was getting at.

  Even Kayla didn’t. She only knew that her brain was trying to tell her something fundamental. “You don’t want people—aliens or whatever—tripping and falling through walls.

  You might have to mount heavy things on them, but…”

  Then she understood. She grabbed Naima’s arm and mimed her placing a breaching charge on the wall a significant distance across from the office they wanted to get into.

  “I have two left,” the operator muttered, doubtfully. But she quickly figured out what Kayla was getting at, and nodded.

  They stopped speaking, and switched to hand gestures. A new stack was formed along the wall where Kayla wanted to break through. Naima carefully placed the charge, then stepped back out of the blast zone.

  Kayla willed the charge to be strong enough. While another Ranger kept firing at their enemy, it blew with a sharp crack, digging out a decent sized hole in the material. On the other side was a storeroom

  filled with empty shelves, adjoining the one they wanted to get into. Kayla didn’t hesitate—she threw herself into the damaged wall with all her might. It fractured into larger chunks as she fell through, and Rangers

  behind her kicked at them until they could pile in behind her.

  Now it really had to count. They found the spot on the wall they guessed was closest to their dug in gunman, and Naima placed her final charge with a care bordering on reverence. Kayla readied herself again,

  this time dropping her rifle and taking hold of her sidearm. She stepped back a few paces to give herself a run up. The time for subtlety was long gone.

  When the charge blew, Kayla leaped forward, hitting the impact point head on with her arms up to protect her skull. The wall gave way and she fell half inside the room. A live body scrambled out from under

  the shattered panels, cursing loudly as it tried to maneuver a rifle around. Kayla’s hand shot up, and grabbed the pants of his leg. Her pistol jammed awkwardly into his groin and she pulled the trigger.

  The weapon’s slide smacked her bent wrist painfully, and the man let out an inhuman scream. But his hands still clutched his rifle tightly, leaving Kayla no choice. Again she fired, forcing the pistol

  blindly against his body. The slide struck her again, but she didn’t stop pulling the trigger until it clicked.

  Hands pulled her backward into the first room and out of the way of a stream of Rangers. She heard cries for medics, and took the moment to lay her head back and closed her eyelids. Behind them she saw

  the face of pure terror that had greeted her, and it’s slow devolution into dying agony. Her rage softened, and, for a brief moment, she felt terribly ashamed of herself.

  Of course, the asshole could have just surrendered.

  A boot kicked at her leg, and she opened her eyes to see Naima smiling at her.

  “Survivable wounds,” the operator said. “They played dead and waited for us, but they’ll be okay. Nice work.”

  “We got really lucky there,” Kayla observed, morosely.

  “We sure did.”

  “Why did that piece of shit have to go out like that?”

  Naima shook her head and held out her hand. Kayla took it, and hauled herself to her feet. Another burst of gunfire sounded close by, followed by male shouts.

  "Back to work then," Naima suggested.