The campsite was in a depression half a mile off the road, shielded from the road and the sky by a copse of trees.  Armand had set up his little cottage with some difficulty, having to create a weirdly shaped property that fitted around the bases of the trunks.


    They’d had a tense evening, eating and sleeping separately from Jonas’ team.  The few interactions they’d had were cordial, the tension of being on the road having faded.  Ryn and her friends had turned in early and after a brief discussion of plans for the next day they’d gone to their beds and gotten some fitful sleep.


    “Morning,” yawned Ryn as she poured herself a cup of bluejuice.


    “Urgh, how can you drink that at this time in the morning?” muttered Armand as he made coffee for himself and Andrea.


    “How can you drink that stuff?  Caffeine is bad for you!” scowled Kev as he also helped himself to fruit juice.


    “Anything from our friends?” asked Ryn.


    “Nothing new.” Kev shrugged.  “The targets will try and hit us on the road this morning.  We can expect the three Cullers who’ll be supported by Jonas’ people.”


    “So nothing to worry about then?” Ryn grinned.


    “Don’t get cocky.  We need to take this seriously.”


    “C’mon Kev, my summons can take them all down solo!” scoffed Armand.


    “Kev’s right,  we should treat this like a run through the hive on Mars.  We’re under test conditions and need to excel,” said Andrea.


    “Yeah, ok.  Still seems like a joke.  We’ve got another six level forty ones in position to support but it’s best to play it safe,” Ryn said sarcastically.


    “I swear Jane is a bad influence on you,” Kev grumbled as he grabbed some toast and began buttering it.


    Once they’d eaten they tidied away and prepared to face the day.


    “We all good?  Anyone need the loo?” asked Ryn.  She received flat stares.  Her dad’s habit of checking if people needed the toilet before a fight was well known.


    Kev pushed the door open and ducked down to step out into a bright autumn morning.  The leaves were just turning golden and while it was  still too warm for frost but dew lay thick on the grass.


    “Morning,  How long is it going to take to pack up that thing?” asked Jumper, waving at the misshapen cottage. Armand winked at her and the building dissolved.


    “Not long, mon amis,” he replied with a smirk.


    “Good.  We’ll be on the road in ten minutes.  Send out your scouts.  Kat, if you want to do a quick orbit feel free.  Jim, anything in range?”


    Kev made a show of glancing around, narrowing his eyes in concentration before he shrugged.


    “There’s some travellers heading south that we’ll bump into in a few hours, no monsters of note anywhere nearby.  There’s a few low level critters but they’ll run from us if they’ve got any sense of self preservation at all,” he replied.


    “Ha!  Monsters that run?  Where have you been?  They never fucking run,” Alex called bitterly.


    “They do sometimes,” muttered Andrea.


    “Well let’s get our shit together and get on the road,” called Jonas as he began packing his stuff onto the back of the rear cart.


    A few minutes later they were back on the road, rocking along at twenty miles an hour as Harold pulled the carts in a line behind him.


    “So, you guys sleep well?” asked Ryn after she got back from a quick orbit and settled into the middle cart.


    “Would have been nicer if you''d have kept me warm in the night,” called Harold with a throaty laugh.


    “I’m fifteen you perv!” she barked back.  Harold glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.


    “I’ve had younger,” he smirked.


    Ok so he isn’t on the ‘take them alive’ list, Ryn thought to herself.  Kev glanced over and nodded once.


    They rattled along for another hour, peaceful greenery passing them by, before Jonas stood up and waved at Harold to slow down.


    “What for?” the floating man demanded.


    “Need to go carefully here.  We might not be alone,” Jonas replied.


    “We are,” said Kev firmly.  “The travellers ahead are still a few miles out.  What’s got you spooked?”  Jonas scowled at Kev and opened his mouth to snap back before closing it with a clop sound.


    “There’ve been flights out of Wayfaire passing by.  Unusual ones.  Can you detect BME drones?” His voice was laced with acid.


    “No, I can’t.  I can detect people controlling them though and there’s nothing suspicious for fifty miles,” Kev shrugged.


    “Fifty miles eh?  That’s an impressive range,” said Jumper casually.


    “It all gets a bit fuzzy that far out but I’d know if someone was planning anything against my interests,” Kev added, carefully avoiding rushing through the explanation.


    “Well I’ve got access to other sources of intel.  My sources say we need to go carefully here so Harry; slow it right down to walking speed,” Jonas ordered.


    With a series of muttered complaints and foul language the carts stopped rushing along and began to move at about three miles an hour.


    “This’ll take forever!  We should be at Kirkycud by lunchtime but we won’t fucking get there today at this rate!” snarled Alex, his face distending into a snout as he became frustrated.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    He’s acting.  He has perfect control of his transformation.  Something is off.  You all need to be ready,  Kev sent to the entire team, including their aces in the hole stashed a mile away around a very small fire.


    What are you getting from Jonas? Andrea replied, Kev relaying it to the team.


    That something is wrong.  This wasn’t part of the deal but he’s received some new instructions.  No info, just a message to slow down and brace.  I think we might be rumbled folks, Kev replied.


    The team all stretched out on their carts and tried to look as relaxed as possible.  Some were more successful than others.  Armand summoned a series of purple butterflies and focussed on having them perform aerobatics above his head.


    “We’ll get there sooner or later.  What’s the rush?” Jonas said.  Andrea had visibly tensed up but at a gentle nudge from Kev she relaxed.  Ryn had managed to keep herself under control and didn’t react at all.


    “Well we’re paid a flat fee, not by the hour so the longer it takes the worse it is for us,” called Armand as butterflies formed intricate patterns above him.


    “You’ll get a bonus,” Jonas ground out.


    Time dragged by second by second.  Seconds stretched into minutes that felt like hours as the team feigned nonchalance.


    It began with an undignified squawk as a chain flew out of some bushes and snared Kev, throwing him to the ground, unable to move his arms.  Andrea was the first to react, blurring into motion and slamming into Alex running alongside her.  She knocked him over with a shoulder and viciously kicked him in the head twice before rushing at Jumper.


    Jumper had pivoted and launched a lightning fast kick at Ryn who vanished before it could connect.  A moment later Ryn was in the sky in her fire form and she reached out to the little fire her other friends had been gathered around.  Being able to see out of fire was an ability her mum had always neglected but in this case it allowed her to obviate the line of sight requirements for her teleport ability.


    A giant hound appeared ahead of the carts and grew to a monstrous size, sprouting extra heads and tails.  As Simon crouched next to Kev he began converting the chain tangling the boy into sand, a moment later they both rose to their feet and glared around.  Kev began snapping out telepathic orders but they were largely unnecessary.


    Jane had already commenced bombing runs, leaving burning brush behind as she overflew the sites the initial attacks had come from.  Graceful machines flowed out of the fire, largely unharmed if a little charred.  Ryn immediately took them apart by shrouding parts of them in fire and blipping them to pieces.


    “Shit!  Plan B!” yelled Jonas as he accelerated away to the north.  Alex shook his now shaggy mane out and began loping along on all fours.  Jumper leapt upwards, aiming to cross paths with Ryn in the air, both fists extended in front of her body as it rocketed upwards.  Ryn blipped to the side and the startled woman continued a nearly vertical trajectory.


    Collars that had been hidden in their backpacks and on their belts came out and began slapping closed.  Harold had started fighting for altitude as soon as things went sideways but Ryn appeared behind him and the wrist blade on her right arm slid out.  A flicker of movement later and his head and his body fell to the ground separately.


    The Shia hadn’t been sleeping, it seemed he hadn’t been sleeping at all on the journey.  He flashed into electricity and blurred towards Kev and Simon.  Kev flinched back but Simon casually pulled something from his pocket and gently tossed it to intercept the line of the lightning-man.


    There was a fat spark and a stink of ozone as Shia’s normal body tumbled to a stop at his feet.  He casually bent down and clipped a collar around the lightning-users neck.


    Ryn glared up at the still vanishing form of Jumper before disappearing.


    “You sure messed up didn’t you?” she asked as she blipped along to keep pace with Sarah.


    “Who the fuck are you people?” snarled Jumper as she pivoted in the air to face the girl.


    “Dealing with people like the Cullers has a long and glorious history in my family.  They were called Scunners back then.”  Jumper went pale and began thrashing her limbs to change her direction but Ryn wrapped her in fire and blipped her to change the woman’s momentum to drag her back to earth.


    Jumper shot straight down towards the dirt with a scream, trailing smoke and the scent of burnt meat behind her.  Ryn blipped down, and slapped a collar around her throat before bringing her to a less than gentle landing.  Jumper appeared gasping for breath then gagged as she found herself facing Harold''s head that was staring sightlessly into her eyes.  She vomited and began scrabbling at the collar as her feet dug into the soft earth to push her away from the macabre trophy.


    More mechanical fighting machines dug themselves out of the dirt on either side of the road and began rushing in towards the carts.  Bad and Sally intercepted them, brutally crushing the devices into the soil.


    “The Cullers are running.  They aren’t waiting for Jonas.  Ryn, collar him then bring us all up to have a chat with our buyers,” called Kev as he reached out with his mind.  Over a mile away Jonas stopped moving and crashed to the ground, throwing up a trail of dust as he decelerated from somewhere around sixty miles an hour to zero on his face.  Kev winced at the flash of pain but Ryn appeared over the man a second later and collared him.


    Kev tracked his friend''s mind as she moved ahead, zeroing in on the Cullers who were moving at breakneck speed back towards their base outside Kirkcudbright.  He gave her directions as needed and a warning.  He couldn’t interfere with their minds.  They must be shielded by some ability or tech that blocked him.


    He could still borrow their senses and he felt the rush of fear go through them as a figure of fire appeared in the sky ahead of them, bringing them to a stumbling halt.  The rest of the team began appearing below Ryn and he felt a moment of profound disorientation as he suddenly found he was looking at himself from someone else''s eyes.  He decoupled from the lead Cullers senses and shook his head to clear it.


    Even as Kev was gathering his thoughts Bad and Sally leapt forward only to be met with an equal fight.  The three villains were capable close combat fighters and managed to fend the pair of them off despite the level difference.


    “They’ve jumped up in levels.  They’re forty now.  Ryn, collar them if you can!” sent Kev on the team comm channel.


    Ryn vanished and began a game of cat and mouse.  Everytime time she appeared behind one of them they would spin to dodge or pivot to lash out, forcing her away.  As Andrea joined the melee fighters it became easier.  Three vs three leaned the odds back in Ignitions favour and the rest of the team joined in to increase their odds even further.


    Bolf was leaping around, incorporeal and distracting them at the same time as Armands summoned butterflies began getting in their eyes and noses.  Within a few seconds the first one left enough of an opening for Ryn to collar him, then his companions fell in quick succession.


    “Eat shit!” snarled one of them as they snatched something from their belt and threw it at their feet.  Ryn blipped back as fire blossomed from the vial the man had thrown down.  The rest of the team leapt back as the green flames rose up but Ryn immediately quashed the burning.  As she blipped back in she saw all three of them were shaking and frothing at the mouth.


    “Claire!”  Ryn called, blipping the timid girl close,  “Help them!”


    Not needing any further prompting Claire rushed forward and laid a hand on one of the Cullers.  The woman had brown hair, cut short and her eyes were arctic blue as she thrashed back and forth.  As soon as Claire laid a hand on her she calmed and became still.


    “I can’t cure it!  All I can do is contain the poison,” she called as she laid another hand on the suicidal Culler.


    “What about the others?” asked Kev as he hurried over with the rest of the team.


    “Already too far gone.  Another couple of… nope.  There they go.  I’ll keep this one alive until we can get her back to Wayfaire.  This will need the Dragon.  She needs modifying to be resistant to whatever this stuff is.  I can’t stop it.  It must be some kind of alchemy or something!”


    “Keep her stable.  Bob’s got an egg and some drones inbound.  We can air lift her back to Wayfaire the easy way, without charbroiling her!”  Kev glanced at Ryn who shrugged then grinned.  The adrenaline of the fight was still running strong in the girl.


    “Ryn, Go grab the rest of the assholes who made it will you?  Relatively cool flames for when you teleport them please?”  Ryn nodded and vanished.


    “Well that was a bust.  I only got to burn some bloody trees!” complained Jane as she landed next to Kev, carefully making sure her jets of flame didn’t get too close to the others.


    “It went pretty well considering we got ambushed.  What were those drones?  Hijacked BME gear?” asked Simon.


    “I don’t think so.  I think they were North American tech,” said Andrea softly.


    “Ah shit.  Belisarius.” said Jane.