Kitsune of the Magic Mountain - Ch.26 - The Diversion (Patreon)

** content warning: brief violence, injury **

"I like Shirley's idea," Cara commented with a little shrug of her wings. "Simply walk up to their door, force our way in, and demand they release your parents immediately. Force seems to be the only thing these people understand, that's why they brought a bunch of armed soldiers onto our land yesterday."

I grimaced, "I don't want to start with violence. Especially not while they've got our mom and dad held hostage in there. We don't even know for sure that's where they are, right? We're just assuming they're in the Security Service headquarters."

Yuki pointed out, "Sally should be back any minute now. Hopefully she'll have some good news."

"Every minute we waste sitting here is another minute for someone to see us and report us," my sister grumbled. "Assuming they don't already know we're here. Let's just go! We'll stop on the Millbank, I'll rip the front off the building while the rest of you cover me. Then we'll get mom and dad into the Mini, and head back to the castle."

Wes gently reminded his girlfriend, "Thames House is a grade-2 listed building Shirl. If we break it we'll have more than just MI5 upset with us."

"And you know the government would use that to portray us and Gaia as terrorists," I pointed out. "We need to do this quietly. And hopefully without hurting anyone. Especially our parents."

Shirley let out a low frustrated growl, "I don't care if the building's listed Wes. They have our parents. And anyways, those bullet-proof windows with all the bars over them aren't exactly historically accurate."

It was about a quarter to eleven in the morning and the five of us were parked in an alley just off Lambeth Road. Wes and Shirl were still in their Mini, while Cara and Yuki and I were on our Rebel. Thanks to Gaia's mods both vehicles performed amazing, we easily topped a hundred miles per hour at one point and the bike barely made a sound. Same with the Mini, it had no problem keeping up with us.

Now we were stopped behind a hotel, less than a hundred meters from Lambeth Bridge and the Thames. Which meant we were less than two hundred meters from Thames House and the Security Service headquarters. We couldn't see it at the moment, the hotel and a few other buildings blocked our view, but hopefully that meant they couldn't see us either.

While the rest of us waited out of sight our new sparrow friend had gone to take a closer look at our target. Cara actually volunteered to do that, but we decided Sally was better suited for the job. Yuki and I both agreed that MI5 was probably going to be a little jumpy about ravens for a while, after our bird-girl's demonstration yesterday.

"It's too bad you can't just shape-shift into a disguise and sneak in there," Wes commented as he looked to me.

I sighed, "Yeah. That was my first thought, to go in like a tourist or something?"

Unfortunately it turned out MI5 doesn't do tours and their headquarters wasn't open to the public.

"If we had a couple days to prepare we could have found someone who works there and taken their place," Yuki commented sadly, with her tails all hanging down low and her ears drooped down to either side. "Like Sally or Cara could watch the place for a bit, follow some agent home, then I could use my lightnings to zap them? Then Aster could shape-shift us to take their place."

Shirl growled, "We don't have a couple days Yuki! That's not an option, we need to get mom and dad out of there now!"

That made me bristle, my ears angled forward while my tails all twitched in irritation. "Don't growl at Yuki! It's not her fault, sis. That was the best idea, and if the place wasn't covered in security cameras I'd be doing that right now. Like maybe jump someone just as they were going inside? But we'd be seen."

"Aster's right," Wes agreed. "You know they're going to be on high alert right now. They've got to know we're going to try something."

My sister grumbled again, but before any of us could get into an actual argument our little sparrow friend returned. Sally ducked in through the Mini's open window and landed on Wes's shoulder, then immediately launched into a little serenade of chirps and chirrups.

"Ok she says your folks are definitely in there," Wes translated. Apparently the little dog-kin had been so eager to discuss that sci-fi fandom stuff with the sparrow that he'd learned to understand her in record time.

His cute little canine ears were perked up again as he continued, "They're in a room on the second floor, towards the north end of the building. It's got windows looking out onto the Millbank, Lambeth Bridge, and the Thames."

"Great," Shirley frowned. "So we know where they are. If we're not ripping the front off the building then how are we going to get them out?"

All six of us were quiet for the next couple seconds. Then Yuki's tails started slowly swishing back and forth as the cute little arctic kitsune grinned, "I've got an idea..."

• • • • •

"There she is," Yuki commented as soon as we saw Wes's Mini cross over the bridge and enter the roundabout.

I nodded, "And there's Cara."

Our raven was perched atop Thames House, she'd taken up position on the eaves directly above the room where our parents were being held.

Back in the car Shirley did two laps of the roundabout, then right on schedule my sister cut power and let the Mini coast to a stop, blocking the south-east part of the exit from Lambeth Bridge onto the Millbank. She put on the emergency lights, then stayed behind the wheel as traffic immediately began to back up around her.

I couldn't see Wes from where Yuki and I were waiting, but I knew he'd be in position already. The thought of swimming in the Thames made my skin crawl, but Shirley's boyfriend was part-Schipperke and he loved all kinds of water. The traffic backing up across the bridge was his cue, and he didn't disappoint.

The Thames seemed to suddenly back up on itself, as though a dam had appeared beneath the bridge. On the downstream side the water level was already dropping, while it quickly began to rise on our side as if the entire flow had just been diverted towards Westminster. And considering high tide peaked less than a half hour earlier, the level was already kind of elevated to begin with.

"Here it comes," Yuki commented less than a minute later, as the first waves lapped over the bank and onto Thames Path. "Water should be backing up into their ground floor lavatories any moment now."

"I just hope this isn't too much strain on Wes," the little arctic kitsune added in a worried tone. "That's a lot of water for him to try and control."

I grimaced as we got off our bike, "Same. He promised he'd keep our Rebel dry, and it's right in the flood zone here. Same with his Mini."

We'd parked under a strip of trees across the street from MI5's headquarters, in between the Millbank and Thames Path. And that whole area would soon be inundated, if the water kept rising at its current pace. Fortunately Wes didn't need to keep the Thames blocked indefinitely, or completely. He just had to provide enough of a distraction to get everyone's attention. Same with Shirl, she'd snarled up the local traffic, which would hopefully slow down any other official responders.

I'd already shape-shifted us into another 'generic young woman' disguise, and quickly secured our helmet to the bike while we waited for the last signal.

That came just a few seconds later, when Sally swooped down and did a couple quick circles over our our head. The sparrow chirruped a couple times before flitting back towards MI5's main doors. I followed, moving in my best most confident 'of course I'm meant to be here' stride.

Our timing was perfect and we reached the archway just as the doors swung open and several agent types spilled out. One of them was a woman, and I focused on her as she hurried past us with the others, to check out the river situation. A moment later our features shifted again, to match those of the female agent as best I could. The disguise wasn't perfect, and I couldn't do anything about our clothes. I just hoped it was good enough for now.

Yuki and I slipped in through the doors just before they could slam shut, and found ourself in a sort of antechamber with another set of locked doors blocking our way. Fortunately the locks were all electronic, so Yuki was able to make short work of them with her lightning magic. And just like the cute arctic kitsune predicted, there was more chaos inside the building thanks to the toilets all backing up. Between that and our disguise we were able to cross the lobby area unopposed, then hurried up a wide staircase as we made our way to the second floor.

From there it took a few seconds to get our bearings, then we set off towards what we hoped was the correct part of the building where mom and dad were being held.

"I think this is it," Yuki said as we stopped in front of one of a dozen identical doors that lined the hallway.

"I sure hope you're right," I replied internally. "Let's do it."

Another little zap of her magic defeated the door lock, then I swung it open and we stepped inside. I felt an instant surge of relief when we found mom and dad in there, and they both seemed to be ok. The two of them were on their feet, standing next to the windows as they stared at the spectacle going on outside. Unfortunately they weren't alone.

Even with his back to us Yuki and I both recognized Agent Goodcop from our encounter the day before. That made me worry his parter Agent Badcop was probably lurking around somewhere nearby. All three of them heard us come in, so mom dad and the MI5 agent all turned around towards us at the same time.

"Metcalfe?" the agent addressed us with a confused frown. "What are you doing here? And what the hell are you wearing?"

I grimaced, "Sorry about this."

"Sorry about what?" Agent Goodcop asked with another frown, just before Yuki tazed him with her lightnings.

Mom let out a little gasp and dad's eyebrows shot up, while the Security Service agent's body went rigid for a second. Then he slumped to the floor, and I shifted back to my normal form.

"Mom, dad!" I exclaimed as I dashed forward to hug them. "We came to get you out! We're going to take you somewhere safe!"

"Aster what are you doing here?!" dad responded in surprise. "And what did you to do Agent Barrow?"

Mom added in a worried tone, "Aster these people think you're some sort of terrorist! They've been threatening to send your father and I to jail, unless we agree to testify against you!"

That news left my ears folded back and my tails twitching angrily. I shook my head, "We can talk more on the way home. Are you two ok? They didn't hurt you at all, did they?"

"Aster dear," Cara's voice came through the thick windows as our raven landed on the narrow sill outside. "Reunion later, escape now please. Shirley and Wes are running out of time."

Mom frowned at me, "Don't tell me you dragged your sister into this as well?"

Before I had a chance to respond someone else spoke up, from the open doorway behind us. And unfortunately I recognized his voice.

"You!" Agent Badcop shouted.

I spun around to face him but he already had his gun out, and suddenly everything seemed to happen all at once.

The guy who'd been so eager to shoot us yesterday wasted no time today. I didn't even have a chance to react before he started firing. I saw several flashes from the muzzle of his handgun, and felt the impacts as each bullet struck my body. It didn't hurt like I'd have expected though, it was more like an open-hand slap that stung a bit.

The first hit me square in the chest and knocked the air out of my lungs, while the second shot was right over my heart. The third struck higher up, at the base of my throat. And the fourth got me dead centre in the middle of my forehead. That's when the whole world seemed to explode into sparkles, except the sparkles were made of shattered reinforced glass propelled by a very localized gust of hurricane-force wind. And right behind that was an absolutely livid raven.

Mom was screaming by that point, and dad was shouting. Agent Badcop was shouting too as he started firing wildly around the room, desperately trying to hit Cara. Meanwhile our bird friend was relentlessly pecking and scratching at the guy with beak and talon, like a murderous little black banshee. And with all that chaos going on, it took another half second before I finally realized something.

"I'm ok," I announced as it dawned on me. I reached up and peeled a deformed lead and copper disc off my forehead as I exclaimed, "Yuki! We're bulletproof!"

"Heck yeah!" she responded. Then with her tails all swishing around behind her the little arctic kitsune focused her attention and her lightnings on Agent Badcop.

His muscles all seized up when the bolt hit him, then the guy slumped to the ground temporarily stunned. He was also bleeding pretty badly from a nasty gash on the left side of his face, thanks to our angry raven friend.

"Yuki and Aster my dears," Cara stated calmly as she swooped past us back to the shattered window. "I worried for a moment that idiot killed you. Seeing as you're not dead we really must be leaving. Quickly I should think."

I grimaced, "Can you get these bars out of the way? After all that noise I think it'll be safer going down the outside, instead of fighting our way past whoever inside's coming our way."

"We need to seal the door," Yuki added as she temporarily took front. We hurried over and closed it, then she welded it shut with a powerful jolt of electricity.

Meanwhile our raven ducked out between the bars and onto the sill as she replied, "Sadly they're too narrow, and set too deep into the masonry. Wind strong enough to shift them would flay any humans in the -"

She was interrupted by a series of chirps and chirrups just behind her, as Sally darted up to the window for a quick look. Then as the sparrow flew off again Cara translated, "She's gone to fetch Shirley and Wes. I expect our groundskeeper and maid will have your exit prepared momentarily."

"I'll meet you two at the bike," she added before flying off.

My parents exchanged a look that was one part shock, one part confusion, and one part worry. Then dad asked nervously, "Aster? Who's -"

"Not now dad," I interrupted. "Just be ready ok? You and mom are going in the Mini with Shirl and Wes, they'll get you to safety. We'll be right behind you on the Rebel."

A moment later we all felt the building start to shake, like a little tremor just hit London. I glanced at my parents and added, "Here it comes."

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Aster & Yuki who commissioned it! **