Chapter 48

“Yeah. About that….” Jim was staring wide-eyed at a small herd of monsters that had appeared behind Camina. Catching the look on his face, she roller her eyes, turned around, and fired off some kind of rapid fire spell that was bright, hot, and destroyed the monster herd in a matter of seconds.

“I told you, there’s lots more to kill.” She shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn’t that big a deal.

“Will you be going through the airport to clear out any manifestations and find any people who may be trapped?” Even before the sentence had finished coming out of his mouth, Camina’s face froze into a polite and beautiful masking smile.

“Of course, I’ll do that.” Wow, that brilliantly gorgeous smile that the world was so familiar with as one of Camina’s biggest fans, seemed a lot less genuine when you were the one behind the camera. It seemed pained. Very, very pained.

Being the quick-witted camera man and fan of Camina that he was, Jim shifted the camera to the damaged building across the tarmac as soon as he realized the mistake he’d made. She didn’t want to do that. He’d just accidentally committed The Harbinger to a search and rescue operation because if she said ‘no’ now that it had been recorded, it would not be a good look for her.

“Yes. Of course, we’ll do a walk-through of the airport, see if anyone’s trapped and put down any manifestations that might be roaming in there.” As she spoke, Jim focused tightly on the mages who had been defending the terminal unsuccessfully. They were pulling people out of the rubble and trying to fortify the collapsing ceiling.

“We’ll need to be particularly carful, Mr. Thafesh,” Her tone of voice when she said his name felt like a cue, and Jim turned the camera back to her. At that Camina folded her wings and latched her lance into the holder on her back. “…my warlock spells and pact items aren’t suited for close quarters combat, and I might accidentally damage something or hurt someone if I use some of my spells inside.”

OooooOOOoooohhhhhhh! Well shit!

Realizing his error, Jim peeked out around from behind the camera and mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ at her. Now he understood his mistake.

“Come along, now.” That bright smile broadened wickedly, and over six feet of magical battle armor stalked toward the journalist. Jim yelped as Camina scooped him up in her gauntleted arms again. Heavy running steps jostled him against the cold metal armor. Until the inevitable powered leap that launched them into the stomach lurching drop to the ground below.

One… two… three… four… Jim opened his eyes which turned into huge saucers of horror at the rapidly approaching terminal building. They were going to smash into the building. So, he braced hard. The smash never happened. But although Camina landed smoothly and the mechanisms in the suit lessened the impact, he knew that was going to bruise.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Then he was down on his own two feet again. Camina was all business as she found an open door with employees waving her into a stairwell. The survivors cheered. It was reedy and thin though and many of them were wounded. And she couldn’t do anything for them.

First aid. That’s as much medical knowledge as she had. Sure, her dad had been a medic back in the day so, she knew a little more terminology than the average soldier. Not a single iota of her warlock magic was based in healing. It was all destruction and shielding. That was it.

“Miss Harbinger.” A young woman, teen really, ran over to her. “Can you fly someone to the hospital? My Gran’s injured.” A girl pointed to where a few travelers were hiding and cowering far away from the large glass front windows of the terminal. ‘Gran’ wasn’t the only injured person there.

Her gaze was dispassionate as she surveyed the injuries. Young, old, male, female, or whatever else they identified as disaster did not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, or ethnicity. Though it probably did have a bit of a bias based on religious beliefs since that was going to be affected by whether or not a deity deigned to answer someone’s prayers.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I don’t really know if that would be the best thing for her.” Camina responded with as much regret as she could put in her voice. “Anyone who is injured enough that they need a hospital may be so gravely injured that they could be killed by the flight.” Explaining this was horrible. It always was. “I’m somewhere protected inside the suit, but it isn’t very safe for the people I carry.”

“You carried him.” The teen pointed to Jim who wanted to melt into the floor at that point but instead spoke up.

“She did, but I’m all bruised up from being pressed against her armor during flight.” He used one hand to pull the collar of his shirt out of the way and the nasty red mark that was just starting to color the arm.

“I’m sorry, Jim.” The contrite look on Camina’s face was, well it was endearing. Then she turned back to the girl and began looking around. “Point me to whoever’s in charge and I’ll see how I can help.”

“You can help by clearing out monsters and helping us evacuate as many of the injured as possible to hospitals.” A man in a suit called out from where he was bent over an injured security agent. His ID badge dangled from a lanyard around his neck. “I know you can’t carry them, but you can push a bus, can’t you?”

“Why, yes.” Camina’s eyes brightened knowing that she had suitable work to do that would allow her to protect these people. “I can do that.”

“If you take care of the monsters, my people will get the injured organized and loaded.” He patted the security guard who was no longer gasping for breath as a mage with healing abilities treated whatever was wrong with them.

“Then I’ll provide both the motor and the escort for the busses.” She rallied the security guards to her. “Alright, who’s coming with me?” A ragged group of about half the uniformed security personnel formed around her. “Which way first?”

“Clear a route to the loading and unloading area where the busses are.” The one who seemed to be in charge volunteered while gesturing in the appropriate direction with his wand. “Then meet up with the survivors in the other Terminals. We’ve confirmed injured in nearly every group of survivors.”

“Right. Let’s get going.” The armored figure took the lead and Jim fell back to film the intrepid group of heroes who were going into battle supporting her. Not really supporting her. That was just the way it was going to be spun by the news outlets and the military’s PR people when the footage aired.