Decisions, part four

Chris? The voice was soft, just at the edge of his thoughts. We found them.

Where? He shifted his weight, thought the better of leaping to the next building, and waited. 

The image formed slowly, but he recognized the location. I should have guessed. He paused, then added, On my way. It was the large central building in the training complex; the exercise's designated bad guys had set up in a corner room on the fifth floor, which gave them a view over most of the rest of the rooftops. If Chris hadn't been wrapped in Look-Away and Nothing-To-See-Here magics, they would doubtless have spotted him already. And even with those in place, it would be better to circle around than approach directly. 

He found Antoinette on a rooftop looking up into one of the windows; by scent, because she was wrapped in her own set of obfuscations. He stopped beside her, deliberately putting his foot down to make the graveled surface of the rooftop crunch quietly. 

"You're here." She sounded relieved, even as she kept her voice a soft, breath whisper. "Could you make it across?"

"Elyssa?"

"I got her inside, past their wards. If you crash in through the window, she'll come through the door. I have enough Grey left to take myself across, but only barely -- I'll try to distract them while you take them down."

Chris nodded slowly, though Antoinette likely wouldn't be able to see it. "Here," he said, then breathed out the word for Connection as he reached for her hand. 

His hand found the small of her back instead, and he shared some of the Grey that he had stored for himself. He hadn't transformed yet, and was still fresh from his last exposure; he could spare it. Antoinette stiffened, surprised and momentarily uncomfortable, but she accepted the connection and magic it offered. "How...?" Then he felt her step aside, and let his hand fall. "We go on your mark," she said. "Elyssa and I come in behind you."

"How many?" he asked. 

"Two," Antoinette told him. "But it's Sherri and Thorin." 

"Shit." He hadn't seen either of them since shortly after their first adventure into the Grey and their encounter with the bonetaker. Thorin was a cat, and fast; Sherri was one of the more formidable magi he had met. If he came through first, he'd need to take at least one of them out, even if it was only temporary; ideally, he needed to shut them both down long enough for help to arrive. "Could be worse," he said after a moment. "It could have been Peter and Morri." He paused. "Tell Elyssa I'm about to go."

He took five steps back, crouched, and then hurled himself forward and launched himself into the air. His foot, half-transformed, caught the edge of the low stone wall that surrounded the rooftop, and he pushed himself up and out, through empty air, aiming directly for the no-doubt-warded windows behind which the opposing magus and her RO were waiting.