We met at a small strip mall parking lot a few blocks from Joyner Stadium, or about a half mile straight line away from the entrance to the Stadium. It wasn’t a straight road to it. It was near to two of the campus dorms and closer to the Basketball Fieldhouse. There were a few lights on for the parking lot. Otherwise, the night was dark and the moon hadn’t risen yet.

  Eagle Mall, as the shopping strip called itself, had five small stores that mostly catered to students and tailgaters looking to buy food and beer for their parties. One store sold university branded clothing, souvenirs, and other stuff students and their parents probably bought too much of.

  There were two rows of parking on each side in front of the mall to cater to the people visit on game days. On ordinary days, it was mostly empty. It would be enough parking for us for now. The latecomers could go straight to the stadium parking lots.

  It was also the staging area for our backups, who would drive to the stadium when we needed them. That was mainly extra Healers, three ambulances, and two fire department trucks and crews in case any fires got started our fire mages couldn’t contain.

  These were mostly people who hadn’t been with us earlier in the day, who wanted to help. They’d wait here to come in as reinforcements. We only had twenty-two people who would be our main line. Less than a third of the afternoon’s force.

  It wasn’t until after I CHARMED Shadow and NurseMelissa, her Healer from the battleground, that I found out that Melissa was now dual spec’d. She was a Healer and a Thief with one level of STEALTH. It explained why she was wearing all black. I planned to ask her later how it happened.

  Giving them control back, I sent them and their support on their way to reconnoiter the Stadium. They planned on driving past it in two cars going in opposite directions, and dropping people off along the way. Their drivers were some of our new people who weren’t a Thief Class. They’d return here afterwards.

  Gar-Kosh, Sir Andrew and Bhaarrt were the next ones protected. I’d protect most of the people going in first against CHARM spells. They’d also be the first to attack. Once we tied their leaders down, the rest of our group would join us.

  Joyner Field, the university football stadium, is a three-sided oval. The southern end, closest to us and the rest of campus, was open. They named it after a former student athlete who the NFL drafted to play linebacker for a professional football team years ago.

  He was famous enough that he raised the money to rebuild the old stadium into a new one. I don’t think they’ve had a winning year since him. But I’m not a big football or professional sports fan. The Basketball teams sometimes wins.

  ***

  [Urako Sarutobi:] [Irregulars] [in position and going in. They got guards in front and on the top of the stadium. They spread out. mark’n them on map. Count from left front.]

  [PokerRun:] [Irregulars] [Got it. You doin good Shadow. Sent Ralphie and a cop with a night scope to the two sides. Other cop to the back. Give us ten to get in place. I’m behind the building, straight out the front. Got two firemen with a ladder to help me get on the roof.]

  [PokerRun:] [Irregulars] [never thought I’d be on the same side as the cops and they helpin me. Kinda like it. Ralphie got a night vision, military infrared sniper scope. Never said where and nobody askin. Love to get me one of them someday. Later.]

  Fidgeting, I waited for everyone else to be in position. “This has got to be worse than the actual fight. That's over in a couple of minutes. Minutes of terror, but over fast. I thought I’d have a nice quiet semi-retirement, and this happens. Oh well,”

  Following that thought came a few deep breaths and slow exhales while waiting quietly as I leaned against my van,.

  After what seemed forever, the snipers were in position. Shadow had marked all the visible targets and was back to the right side of the opening to the field. Two of her squad had made it inside the fences and into the outside of the stadium. The doors they could check were all locked, as expected.

  She pulled her squad back to the sides of the front of the stadium to wait for a chance to sneak in. Their Healers pulled back to join the rest of the Healers who would soon be waiting closer to the stadium. Hopefully, no one spotted them.

  “Blaze. It’s about time. Everyone else is ready except us.” I said. She nodded. “I’ve got something for you. Or someone. Meet Lockout,” I said, beckoning a man over to us. He was a little shorter than me and he was dressed all in black.

  “He’s a Thief Class and a professional locksmith. Named himself after his company name. He said he does a lot of work for the university. And, he has STEALTH, PICK LOCKS+2, FIND TRAPS, and DISARM TRAPS. All Level 1.”

  Blaze nodded to him, then looked him up and down.

  “If we have to get into university buildings, he can do it and he’s worked at the stadium, changing locks and such. He knows where things are inside.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I can get you into most places in the university buildings.” Lockout told us. “I’ve got a contract with the university and I’m on call, so I have some master keys. A friend who was in your big fight today called me when he found out what you were doing. I came to help however I can.”

  Pointing at him, I told Blaze, “My idea is he rides along with you hiding in your car in STEALTH mode and you leave the door open.” Lockout was nodding as he listened.

  “He can sneak out and find a safe spot until we make our move. I’ll tell Shadow and if she can use him, she’ll take it from there.”

  “Lockout, everything helps.” Blase said, turning to him. “Your STEALTH should work on them, but you still have to be as silent as you can. Stay out of the light once you’re out of the car. Crawl out slowly so you can get away from it while I distract them.”

  “Yes ma’am. I’ll do my best not to fuck things up for you. I’ve dreamt about doing things like this, but I never done ‘em.” Lockout told her.

  “You’ll do fine. We’ll talk about it on the way there.” Turning back to me, she asked, “When do I leave?”

  “Give us ten minutes to get to the staging place.” I answered. “Then play it as we planned. When you get abreast of us, stop and I’ll add your shielding. I’ll push the base ten minutes on my upgraded shield and add a PSYCHIC SHIELD. Then we’ll follow as quickly as we can while you distract them. Maybe it isn’t what we think. I hope so.”

  Blaze nodded and motioned to Lockout to join her in her car.

  Yelling to get people’s attention, I called out, “Time to move out. We’ve got people waiting on us, including the ones who may be held against their will. Go quietly. No talking. Whispers only. The ambulances and firetrucks will follow us when we reach our first stop.”

  There were some ‘about time’s’ and a ‘Lok’tar ogar!’ from Gar-Kosh. A few more followed him saying it.

  ***

  We weren’t sure how well their watchers on the walls could see us.

  It was three blocks forward towards the stadium, then one block to the left and we’d be on the street pointing at the center part of the stadium. Then we’d be just one block and the cross street from the stadium parking lot. The only streetlights were on the street in front of the stadium.

  The problem was, there was nothing to stop them from seeing us once we turned that corner.

  Nothing except Blaze.

  It would still be almost two blocks to get to the stadium entrance from our last turn. The last block was across an empty parking lot in front of the stadium. Torres reported he hadn’t seen any cars parked in front of the entrance after doing a quiet drive-by in his patrol car a few minutes earlier. Keeping it empty gave them a clear view out their front door.

  Blaze’s Prius is a hybrid electric car. She almost silently pulled up next to me and stopped. “You OK, Will? You’re limping” she asked.

  “Yes. Give me a moment.” I told her, leaning against her car, to take some weight off my legs. “I haven’t walked this far this fast in quite a while and my legs started hurting. I’ll be fine for our run in, but I need a quick rest.”

  Blaze frowned, looking worried, then asked, “Your accident?”

  “Yeah. If I walk too far or fast, I pay for it later. Four years ago, I couldn’t have done this walk let alone this fast.”

  “I could have given you a ride here,” she scolded and pointed at me. “Will! You should have told me. If you have problems, let us know. We need you. I need you.”

  Smiling, I answered, “I know. Thank you. I should have. Old habits die hard. Let's hope I die harder.” That got a laugh from Lockout in the passenger seat.

  “OK. Here goes.” I said as I put the strongest PSYCHIC SHIELD I could on Lockout. Blaze got the next one. Then I added a MANA SHIELD around Blaze. I was now at a high enough level that I could shape it somewhat, so it extended about a third of the way around her body, but didn’t quite touch her. I anchored it not to a place but to her, so she could move and drive with it.

  My goal was to be in range to reinforce it before she needed it. You could see the pale blue glow the Mana Shield light up the inside of her car. It was one way, so she could still reach through it to drive.

  The rest of the people had grouped close, watching what we were doing. I heard twoTanks, and Sir Andrew’s armor rattling up behind me.

  [Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford] [Will. You ain’t gonna walk that. Gar-Kosh and I will carry you most of the way. Andrew will follow us. We can CHARGE about a quarter of the distance. We talked it out on the way here when we saw you limping, and hearing what you said; the plans have changed, Warchief. The tanks have decided.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [The tanks have decided? All 3 of you agree with this?]

  “Tell him”, Bhaarrt spoke aloud.

  “Will. I was watching you, old friend.” Sir Andrew started it. “You’re going in on a shield and out sitting on one if we have to. I don’t think you can balance on it when we CHARGE.” Almost everyone around us who were listening laughed at the image.

  Gar-Kosh said, “Warchief go with honor guard and army behind him. CHARGE got fifteen second cooldown. Keep ‘em busy. We go in on your command. It gives rest of us time to get there while they watch her.”

  “Look, man,” he said, dropping out of character for the second time since I met him. “You protect us. We’ll protect you and scare the shit out of them. We all have fun and the bards will sing of this night for years.”

  “Will,” Sir Andrew added, “I downloaded the video of our battle this afternoon. I timed our charges into their line. The three of us don’t move at the same speed, but our CHARGEs took the same time. CHARGE works on game time, not how fast we move. If we practiced, maybe we could bring you in standing on Bhaarrt’s shield.”

  “You sit and hang on,” Bhaarrt’s gruff voice made it final. “Gar and I carry the shield and Andrew’s behind to catch you if you fall off. You hang on and enjoy the ride and make your big entrance. Stall them while we get ready for the targets you or Blaze mark. Then they go down.”

  “Will. Don’t be stubborn and macho. Do what you do best. Improvise and give us targets,” Andrew informed me using his ‘you will do it my way voice’, that came from commanding many SCA melees and field battles.

  Blaze added. “That’s what a Warchief does. He leads. Lead us to victory. Again. Lok'tar ogar.” Several people around us repeated it.

  “Is this going to become Eddington’s battle cry?” I already knew the answer even without hearing more people repeating it. At least they were mostly quiet about it.

  “You’re right.” I told her. “Go. Distract them while we move up. If we get to the parking lot without them sounding an alarm, we’ll wait for your mark to come in. If we can stay peaceful, we will. Now get moving before the shields time out.”

  “Yes, Warchief. On our way.” Blaze said, getting into her car. I saw Lockout disappear. He’d STEALTHed.

  DISCORD if you want to ask questions, make suggestions, or just talk about the story.