The Legion of Nothing

I wondered how much of a walk this would be, and a map Hal had created while using my bots as scouts appeared in my head. By taking out the Nine's central command, we'd ended up on ground level. Magnus' and the Nine's leadership's rooms were located on the top floor.

Well, unless they'd evacuated to the bunker below the main complex.

Knowing that the fight in the control center hadn't been quiet in any way, I had to bet on the bunker. Either way, the stairway at the end of the hall went both up and down.

All of which led to another thought—they had to know we were in this hallway.

I scanned the place with my sensors, hoping that Rook hadn't been so focused on the Rocket that he'd designed traps so my technology would trigger them.

Checking the area through my HUD, I examined the composite of thermal, sound, and various forms of electromagnetic radiation. Overall, the ceiling, floor, and walls appeared free of hidden devices.

There were cameras on each end. I hit them with lasers. We'd switched back to camouflage anyway, but I didn't know what the cameras detected. The technology might be better than your average camera. The cameras might also work as weapons.

Either way, nothing happened except that they blew up.

"Mystic," I thought over my implant, "are you sensing the right direction to go? Or any traps? I'm not seeing anything, but Rook or Dr. Mind could have created something new."

I thought back to Dr. Mind's glowing bit of Artificer stuff in his skull, not to mention my guess that his guards' powered armor had a bit of the same. I should have opened it up to find out more, but the more time we took, the more time Magnus would have to prepare or leave.

Thinking about the bit of Abominator tech I'd seen on the way into the building, I pulled up "Artificer vision."

Steeling myself for the worst, I wasn't prepared for what I did see—nothing. Alright, technically, I saw more than nothing. I saw Rachel's outline as she floated down the hall with us. I also noted the glow from the flat stone in my pouch. Though no more obvious while using my abilities than without them, it also wasn't less obvious. That was interesting when you considered that the rest of the world had faded.

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The stone may even have been glowing a little brighter.

There was one other thing too. For lack of a better word, the "air" appeared to be hazy, but with energy.

Daniel's voice over the implant channel brought me back to the normal world. "I don't sense anything, but bad news, they're using something that emits… I don't know, psychic fuzz—telepathy and clairvoyance for sure. Maybe more. So I'm not sensing which direction to go. I can tell you that going down the stairwell is more risky, but I can't tell you how much. It's unnerving. I don't think it's the standard blockers either."

When I thought about it, I knew he was right about the telepathy. Though we still had a connection, it didn't feel as strong as it should have. It felt like it would be near the edge of his range.

When he thought, "Testing" at me, I heard static around the edges as if he were talking on a distant radio station. I only sent one word back telepathically, "Crap."

Over the group mission channel, Brooke said, "I'm having trouble with telepathy, but teleportation still works."

"For now," Cassie said, checking around us in the hall as if she expected a group to appear around us.

"I don't like it," Rachel said. "If they're not blocking teleportation and intangibility, it means they have people who use them because intangibility still works too."

We were more than halfway down the hall. The stairway stood behind the doors—which were a piece of work. Matching the black and gold mosaics on the walls, the doors, both made from (or covered in) black marble, hung between two pillars, which appeared to be covered in gold leaf.

I thought about it, "Jody's powers work the same way yours do, and Victor… Well, you know."

I glanced over at Daniel, seeing a transparent version of him thanks to my HUD. "Down?"

Daniel shook his head, "It's my best guess. I sense danger either way, but more dimly than I like."

Haley stood in front of the doors, her nose crinkling as she sniffed, "It's down."

Vaughn laughed, "It's down? No telepathy. No clairvoyance. You just smelled it? Or did you hear it?"

She said, "The brown note."

Vaughn laughed more, "All the poop smell—"

"And vomit," Haley added.

"—is coming from below," Vaughn shook his head. Turning to me, he said, "Like I said, you need to use it all the time."

I let a little unfiltered air into my helmet and failed to smell anything more than the ocean. I replied, "No."

"Have you noticed the muddy footprints? There aren't many, but you don't want to step on them," Haley said.