Valentine's Eve Assault

The stained-glass windows of the laboratory shattered inward, showering the floor in crystalline rain. The heavy oak doors of the manor were blown completely off their hinges, the sound echoing up the grand staircase.

The puppies immediately began to howl, their aether-cores pulsing in rapid, terrified distress-flashes of bright blue.

"They found us," Gideon hissed, pushing Livia behind him.

He crossed the lab in two strides, throwing open a reinforced cabinet and pulling out a heavy, double-barreled steam-rifle. He tossed Livia a smaller, brass-handled revolver.

"The Syndicate," Gideon said, racking the lever of his rifle. His eyes were cold, dangerous, and utterly focused. "They must have tracked the aether-signatures when the pups' cores fully synchronized yesterday."

Heavy, booted footsteps pounded up the stairs.

"Livia, listen to me," Gideon ordered, grabbing a heavy brass key from his vest pocket. He shoved her toward the back of the lab, toward a massive, vault-like door built into the solid stone wall. It was his secure archive room. "Get the pups. Get in the vault."

"I am not leaving you out here!" Livia shouted over the sound of approaching men.

"You have to!" Gideon yelled. He grabbed her face, kissing her forehead fiercely. "I love you. I have always loved you. Now get in the vault and lock it from the inside. I will hold them off."

Men clad in heavy, dark leather and brass armor stormed into the laboratory. They wielded repeating aether-rifles, the muzzles glowing a sickly, volatile green.

"Take the Lord alive! Kill the mechanic and grab the assets!" the lead thug roared.

Gideon didn't hesitate. He stepped into the open, firing his steam-rifle. The concussive blast threw the first two Syndicate men backward.

Livia scrambled to gather the terrified pups. Spark and his siblings piled into her arms, trembling violently. She backed into the vault, her eyes locked on Gideon.

He was a terrifying force, moving with lethal precision, taking down three more men. But he was vastly outnumbered.

"Gideon, fall back!" Livia screamed from the vault doorway.

A Syndicate enforcer flanked Gideon, raising a heavy green aether-rifle. He fired.

The concentrated blast of energy struck Gideon in the side. He let out a choked gasp, dropping his rifle as the kinetic force spun him around and threw him hard against the stone wall. He collapsed, clutching his bleeding side.

"Gideon!" Livia shrieked, surging forward.

"NO!" Gideon roared from the floor, coughing blood. He slammed his hand against a brass lever on the wall.

The heavy, foot-thick steel door of the vault automatically swung shut. Livia barely had time to throw herself and the pups backward before the door locked into place with a definitive, inescapable *boom*, sealing her inside.