Wildcard (Warcross #2)(78)

“There,” Hideo says to us. “There is a pathway up to that door, even though he’s trying to hide it. It might be our way forward.”

“How do you know?” Roshan asks. “Why would Zero even give us a path to anything in the first place?”

Hideo turns to him. “Because,” he replies, “that’s not Zero. That’s Sasuke, calling for us. I can recognize his way of thinking here, designing a way through all of this.”

I look back up toward the door. Now I see it. This is a landscape of two minds fighting each other.

“So we go up there?” Asher says. Already, he’s trying to break down how we’d do it.

“So we go up there,” Hideo confirms.

A clicking sound behind us makes me turn. In the darkness materializes a shape that reminds me of Zero—nothing but black armor from head to toe. A second emerges beside him, followed by a third. There must be a dozen of these security bots coming out of the shadows toward us.

They don’t seem to know exactly where we are, but they’re facing our general direction. As more gather and they start to move faster, I break into a run toward the tower with the stairs.

“Go!” I yell.

We all bolt in unison down the bridge. As the world around us senses our movement, a thunderous crack sounds from above, and I lift my head to see black clouds forming in between the towers that disappear into the heavens. Lightning forks between them.

One strikes a building ahead of us. It breaks off a boulder of cement from the side of the structure, sending it tumbling down to our bridge. We skid to a halt as the boulder smashes into the middle of our path, blocking us from the tower and scattering debris everywhere.

If Sasuke is the one creating this path for us, then Zero is the one trying to destroy it.

“Stand back,” I shout as I pull one of the sticks of dynamite from my belt. I sprint to the boulder, light the dynamite, and toss it at its base. Then I dart as far back as I can get.

The explosion rocks the bridge and I’m thrown facedown. Stone and dust fly in every direction as the boulder disintegrates into pieces. I squint as I hop back onto my feet and run to rejoin my teammates. As I near them, they emerge out of the cloud of dust to the security bots hot on their trail. Two of the bots are closing in fast.

“Move, move!” Roshan shouts at me, waving for me to keep pace with the others as they run along the cleared bridge. He skids to a halt, his leg sweeping a half circle on the ground as he turns to face the oncoming figures.

His forearms come up in a cross. A glowing blue shield bursts out from it. He lunges at the first figure, shoving it back with all his strength.

The bot goes flying at the impact from Roshan’s shield, tumbling in a crash of metal until it falls from the edge of the bridge and disappears. Roshan brings his arms apart—the single shield reforms into two, one strapped against each of his forearms. He smashes one shield hard into the second running figure.

The hit is so strong that the figure actually crumples, its chest caving in, as it falls onto its back with a heavy crunch.

Roshan’s shields vanish as he brings his arms down and whirls to catch up with us.

As we near the base of the tower’s staircase, it shudders. My gaze sweeps from the top of the tower down to the bottom of the stairs. As I look on, a huge chunk of stone breaks off from the stair base and falls, crumbling into pieces. More cracks cut up along the staircase.

We skid to a halt at the broken base. The intact staircase hangs high over our heads, too far up for us to reach. It will be impossible to climb up this way. As we look on, cracks continue to cut along the side of the tower.

Hammie breaks into a smile at the sight. Where others might see a disadvantage, she sees footholds.

“Can you do it?” Asher says to her. Even as he says it, some of the cracks widen while others narrow, and new ones lace across the stone.

Hammie doesn’t hesitate. “No problem.”

“I’m going with you,” I say, undoing the rope at my belt. I toss her one end of it, and she straps it tight around her waist. “Once we reach the staircase, we’ll drop the rope down.”

“What’s this, another showdown between us?” Hammie grins sidelong at me before she launches herself at the tower. Her fingers dig into the first crack on the wall as she pulls herself up. “You know I’ll beat you.”

“I’ll let you beat me ten times over if we can just keep ahead of this breaking wall!” I call after her, before following in her wake, the rope dangling between us, and start climbing.

Below us, Hideo turns to see the security bots pass where I’d cleared the boulder from our path—they break into a run toward the base of the tower. He turns to face them, pulls out the blade hanging from his side, and twirls it once before them. Asher and Roshan brace themselves, too.

I look back up to where Hammie is climbing a foot above me. One of the cracks she’s gripping suddenly seals back up like a zipper, nearly slicing off her fingers. She lets go just in time and goes tumbling.

I yank out one of my knives and stab into the groove I’m using, bracing myself hard against the wall. The rope between us pulls taut—it nearly takes me with her, but my knife holds, and Hammie jerks to a stop several feet below me. Instantly, she scrambles for the wall again and finds her footing.

I struggle on. The intact staircase comes into view. I inch my way over, then make a giant leap for it. My upper torso hits the stairs, while my lower half dangles over its edge. I grab until my fingers find a solid crack in the stairs, and I haul myself up. Hammie reaches it right after me.