[Kitsuna POV]
Brenda said, "On me."
So we moved.
No standing around while the Federation came up behind us like a bad smell with armor. We had minutes. Maybe less.
The side room opened around us, low and round, with smooth old stone that looked too neat to trust. Past it, through the short throat of stone, sat the core chamber.
The artifact waited in the middle. Small. Dark tea-colored. Box-shaped.
It was not a flashbang or a floating orb. Nothing that obvious. It just sat there like some old bastard had placed it down and waited for idiots to come fight over it.
Of course we were the idiots.
Brenda lifted two fingers, and everyone stopped.
Rin and Brit held the front. Chinada turned enough to cover the way behind us. Sirone stayed close to Brenda, eyes moving over everyone instead of only staring at the room. Olivia had her device in both hands, thumb near the dial, face already annoyed. Apricot's puppet clicked softly at her feet. Nekro's shadow pressed close to the wall and stretched behind us like a dark curtain.
Mia and Ava moved together. Ava kept the lamp low. Mia checked the floor with chalk in hand, but even she looked pissed at how little time she had.
"Fast check," Brenda said. "No full sweep. I need safe spots to the pedestal and back."
Mia nodded. "I can mark enough."
"Enough is all we have."
The scrape behind us came again, far, but not far enough.
Federation.
Rin's head twitched toward it. Brit touched her shoulder once, and Rin looked forward again, not wanting to be distracted.
Olivia stepped toward the throat and lifted the device. The hum came out low and ugly. It hit my teeth first, then sank into the floor.
The core chamber answered. The same five-beat pulse came through the floor again.
I clicked my tongue. "This place is still doing that shit."
Olivia did not look up. "It likes the pattern."
"It can like shutting up."
"It will not."
Apricot sent her puppet into the throat. Its little feet tapped the stone once, twice, then stopped.
Apricot's smile thinned. The floor is rigged."
"Wonderful," I muttered.
Brenda looked at her. "Trap?"
"Not one trap. More like the floor wants to know where we step."
"That is a trap," Rin said.
Apricot tilted her head. "Yes, but with manners."
"Focus," Brenda said, already sounding done with all of us.
Mia crouched near the first safe spot and drew a quick chalk mark. Not big. Just enough for everyone to see.
"Ava, lower."
Ava shifted the lamp without needing more. The light slid over the floor and showed faint cracks under the dust. Mia marked two more spots.
"That path should hold," she said. "Should."
"I hate should," Rin said.
"You hate most words when they are true," Brit said.
"That is not fair."
"It is accurate."
Brenda looked at Olivia. "Can you hold the room down long enough?"
Olivia's mouth twisted. "Maybe."
"Better than maybe."
"Then yes, if no one does something stupid."
Everyone looked at Rin.
Rin threw both hands up. "I did not even move yet."
'They are taking their time right now.'
Brenda ignored them and looked back into the core chamber. She was thinking, and that was a problem.
Thinking was good when you had time. We did not have time. The Federation noise behind us was no longer a maybe. It was closer. Boots. Gear. Someone muttering in the wrong language and trying to sound quiet while failing at it.
Brenda said, "Apricot, send your puppet first. Mia marks after. Olivia keeps the pressure down. Sirone watches bodies. Toma, Sarian, if the floor lifts—"
"That's enough," I said, already pushing them back.
Everyone looked at me.
Brenda's eyes narrowed. "No?"
"You guys are going to get yourselves killed at this rate."
"We need the safe path."
"Yes, you do, but we do not have the time for that," I said.
Apricot already had string in her hand, because of course she did. I took it from her before Brenda could argue again.
"We have enough," Brenda said.
I glared at her. "We need the box before they reach this room."
"We do not know what happens if we pull it off."
I pointed at the artifact. "And we do know what happens if the Federation walks in while we are still arguing? Because I can spoil it. It involves shouting, bolts, and someone bleeding on the stupid floor."
Rin lifted one finger. "She has a point."
Brit pulled her hand down. "Do not help."
"I was being useful."
"You were being you."
"Same thing."
Brenda ignored them. Her stare stayed on me. "What is your call then?"
"Leave the box to me and prepare to fight. I was the one that would have held it originally, so I am not taking the lead away from you," I said, pointing at the entrance. "I am fixing the stupid time problem."
"You are still interfering."
"Because you are taking too long."
That landed harder than I meant it to. Brenda's jaw tightened.
Good. Be pissed later.
I looked at Apricot. "I only need string. Nothing fancy."
Apricot blinked, then handed over more. "Yes, Mom."
"Shut the fuck up and prepare to fight. Ignore me."
Her smile widened a little before she moved away.
Little shit.
Brenda glanced at the pedestal. "We do not know if pulling it from a distance triggers anything."
"We also do not know if walking to it triggers anything. At least with string, no one stands on the angry floor."
Mia looked between the marked floor and the pedestal. "String might be safer. The floor reacts to weight."
Brenda looked at her. "Will it hold?"
Apricot pulled a coil from her pack. "Mine will."
"Alright, now go," I said, twisting some of her strings together to make a thicker cord with a loop at one end.
"Mom, are you sure?"
"Shut the fuck up and prepare to fight. Ignore me," I said, not even looking at her as I double-checked the cord.
Brenda took over before the argument could waste more time.
"Apricot, bring your puppets here and set up an ambush the moment they come into the room. Chinada, stand behind Kitsuna and cover her while she is busy. Nekro, get your skeletons forward. The rest of you know what to do."
And they did.
Without any more talking, the team started working so we would get the jump on the Federation and not the other way around.
Nekro had already started during the prep. Her skeletons stood in front of the group, half-hidden in shadow. They were ugly and rough, not full bodies, but they would take shots better than living flesh, so good enough.
Olivia kept the hum low anyway, just in case the floor decided to be stupid.
Seeing them ready for a fight, I swung the cord once and threw it at the box.
It landed over the artifact in one try. I was not in the mood to miss.
I tugged once, and the loop caught the corner. I tugged again and tightened it.
The box did not move.
Of course.
I pulled harder. The cord went tight enough to sing, and the box shifted half a finger.
A click came from inside the pedestal.
Everyone froze.
The floor did not move. The walls did not move. The ruin did not scream. Nothing exploded.
I looked at Brenda. "See? Fine."
Olivia said, "Do not say that."
Too late.
I pulled again. The box slid off the pedestal with a dry scrape and dropped onto the floor.
Everyone waited, but the ruin did nothing. Just the same five-beat pattern under the stone.
Rin stared. "That was it?"
"Do not complain," Brit said.
"I am not complaining. I am suspicious."
I pulled the cord again, dragging the box across the floor toward us. The box scraped over the stone while Mia watched every tile it passed. Ava kept the lamp steady. Olivia's hand stayed near the dial. Brenda watched the box like it had personally insulted her family.
The box reached the end.
Still nothing.
I pulled it into the side room and stopped it near my boot.
I crouched and looked at it.
Up close, it looked less like stone and more like metal pretending to be stone. Dark brown. Tea-colored. Smooth in some places and rough in others. No handle. No lock that I could see. No writing on the top.
Just a box. A stupid, ancient, quiet box that had gotten too many people interested.
I leaned closer.
It was cold. Not freezing, but colder than the room. That made no sense because the room was warm enough to make armor unpleasant.
"Olivia," I said.
She crouched beside me but did not touch it.
"What?"
"It is cold."
Her expression went from annoyed to more annoyed, which was impressive. "That is not good."
"Of course not. Why would the important box be normal?"
Brenda crouched on my other side. "Can we carry it?"
"Kitsuna can, yes," Olivia said. "But not barehanded. Wrap it."
Sirone threw me a cloth so I could wrap it up.
I tapped the side of the box lightly with one knuckle.
Nothing happened.
I tapped it again.
Still nothing.
"Looks dead," Rin said from the front.
I looked at her. "So do some spiders until they jump."
Rin made a face. "Why would you say that?"
"Because now you will be careful."
"I hate how that works."
A sound came from the passage behind us. Not scraping this time.
Armor.
A lot of it.
Chinada's voice went flat. "They are here."
Brenda stood at once. "Positions."
No panic.
Rin and Brit moved before the order finished. Brit raised her shield and took the middle of the opening. Rin slid beside her, blade low and ready. Chinada shifted back two steps and took a knee with her rifle aimed past them. Toma and Sarian moved to the side wall, hands near stone, ready to shove up cover if needed. Mia and Ava moved behind Brit. Sirone stayed near the center, eyes already counting bodies.
Apricot's puppets were ready to jump at any moment. Nekro's skeletons stood ready in front of everyone, with the squad half-hidden behind them.
I stayed near the box.
Observation only, my ass.
Brenda glanced at me. "Captain. Box."
"Worry about your side, Brenda."
The first Federation soldier appeared in the passage.
Grey armor. Narrow helmet. Wrong badge.
He saw us, then he saw the box, then he shouted.
I did not understand the words. I understood enough.
"Yep," I said. "Greedy asshole language."
He raised his rifle.
Chinada fired first.
The shot hit him right in the head and sprayed the wall behind him.
The second Federation soldier pushed past him and fired wild. The skeletons took most of the shots, with some getting through to Brit.
Brit took the shots on her shield with a heavy clang. Rin moved under the shield edge and threw a short blade into his thigh.
He dropped with a curse.
"Good throw," I said.
"Thank you."
"Do not get cocky."
"Too late."
Brit sighed. "Focus."
Three more came in behind the first two.
Small squad. Not a full unit.
"Apricot, now!"
The puppets jumped all at once. One darted forward, too small and too fast, and threw wire around a soldier's ankle.
He stepped. The wire pulled. He fell face-first.
Rin stepped in and kicked him in the helmet hard enough that he stopped moving.
I smiled.
The one near the wall tried to lift his rifle again, but Chinada shot the weapon out of his hand, then shot his other shoulder.
He dropped back, screaming.
"Two down," Chinada said.
Another Federation soldier moved better than the others. He stayed low, used the fallen one as partial cover, and tossed a small metal charm toward the room.
I did not like it. Neither did Olivia.
"Down!" Olivia shouted.
Brit slammed her shield low. Rin ducked behind it. Mia pulled Ava down. Sirone grabbed Olivia by the back of her armor and dragged her half a step.
The charm hit the ground and burst into white sparks.
Light. A lot of it.
The room flashed.
My eyes adjusted fast. Not everyone's did.
The soldier rushed in during the flash.
I stepped forward, grabbed him by the head, and smashed it into the floor hard enough to cave the helmet inward.
"Wrong box."
Brenda looked at me.
"What?" I said. "He touched my problem."
"You moved."
"He touched the box."
Brenda looked like she wanted to argue and knew she did not have time.
"Fine."
The Federation had already lost control of the doorway.
They were not bad soldiers. That was the annoying part. They just walked into a bad room against the wrong people.
Brenda raised two fingers. "Push them back. Do not chase."
Rin looked offended.
Brit did not even look at her. "Do not."
"I know."
"Say it."
"I will not chase."
"Good."
Brenda said, "Now."
Brit shoved forward, not far, just enough. Rin moved with her and cut low, forcing the closest soldier to step back. Chinada fired over Brit's shoulder and caught another in the upper arm. Sarian hooked the edge of the stone cover and shoved it sideways with Toma's help, narrowing the passage and making the Federation bunch up.
Apricot's puppet ran along the wall and dropped wire from above.
One soldier lifted his rifle.
Nekro's shadow pulled the wire into the weapon.
The soldier who had been blinded by his own flash charm tried to crawl back, but Ava kicked his rifle away before he could grab it.
Mia stared at her.
Ava shrugged. "What?"
"Nothing."
That was almost cute, but not the time for it.
Olivia crouched near the box and checked the air around it with her device.
"Do not touch it," I said.
"I know."
"You look like you want to."
"I want to understand it."
"That is worse."
She glared at me and kept checking.
Sirone moved between us and the fight, eyes on everyone. "No major wounds yet."
"Yet," Rin said.
The Federation tried one more push. Three at once.
The first came through low with a short blade. Rin met him, knocked the blade aside, and hit his face with the pommel of hers. He staggered into Brit's shield, and Brit drove him back into the other two.
Chinada fired.
One dropped.
Toma shoved the floor again. The stone under the other soldier's foot lifted just enough to ruin his balance, and Sarian kicked him in the ribs, sending him into the wall.
Apricot's puppet landed on his shoulder.
He panicked.
Nekro's shadow took his knife.
He dropped it.
"Four," Chinada said.
"Five down if you count this one," I said.
Brenda stepped forward just enough to make herself seen.
"Hold."
Our squad stopped.
The Federation did not.
One of them dragged the shoulder-shot soldier back by his armor strap. Another grabbed the one Rin had kicked and pulled him toward the passage. The one from the flash charm stayed where he was because I had put him there.
Their leader stood behind the others, half-hidden in the passage, rifle up but not firing.
Smart enough not to waste the shot.
Brenda's voice dropped cold. "Try again."
The Federation leader said something in his language.
I did not know the words, but I knew the sound of a man realizing this was not worth dying for.
He looked at the box.
Then at me.
I lifted it slightly with the cord still wrapped around it.
"Mine now."
Rin whispered, "Captain, that is childish."
The leader gave one sharp order.
The two soldiers still standing started pulling the wounded back. Chinada kept her rifle on them. Brit kept her shield up. Rin looked ready to chase, but Brit's hand caught her shoulder before she moved.
Brenda did not give the order to pursue.
'Fighting in this passageway is a death sentence for both of us,' I thought, knowing why Brenda did not push.
The Federation started backing into the passage, dragging their wounded with them.
I looked down at the box. It sat near my boot, quiet and cold and annoying.
The federation was busy running back the same way they came here, learning that pushing us into a room we are in was a bad idea.