Chapter 12: The Siege of Bronzebeard & Associates

The cramped office of Bronzebeard & Associates had never been designed to serve as a fortress, but that's exactly what it had become. Filing cabinets had been repositioned to create defensive barriers, windows were boarded up with steel plates Zara had "requisitioned" from a construction site, and Kael's collection of enchanted weapons was distributed at strategic points throughout the three-room space.

Arthur crouched behind the reception desk, watching the street through a narrow gap in the window barricades. Across from him, Kael checked his revolver for the dozenth time, the rune-etched bullets glowing faintly in their chambers.

"Thirty-seven nullifiers," Zara reported from her position at the bank of monitors she'd installed in what used to be Kael's private office. "Plus at least twice that many mundane operatives with military-grade equipment. They've got the entire block surrounded."

Arthur felt his divine senses straining against the growing suppression field as more Janitor forces moved into position. The plan had seemed so clever when they'd conceived it twelve hours ago—use Kael's office as bait to draw the enemy into what they thought was the resistance's headquarters, while Arthur led the real strike force against the Alchemax data center across town.

But seeing the overwhelming force arrayed against them, Arthur was beginning to question whether they'd bitten off more than they could chew.

"Are you sure about this, lad?" Kael asked, his gruff voice carrying an undertone of concern. "Once this kicks off, there's no going back. They'll throw everything they have at this place."

"That's the point," Arthur replied, though his stomach was churning with anxiety. "Every nullifier focused on us is one less defending their real strategic assets."

Through their earpieces, Helena's voice crackled with static from the subway station. "All teams report ready. The Green Man's people are in position at the data center, and the Stone Watchers have confirmed no aerial surveillance in your sector."

Arthur closed his eyes and reached out through the divine connection, feeling for the dispersed members of their alliance throughout the city. The nature spirits were moving through Calathon's storm drain system, invisible to electronic detection. The gargoyles had taken positions on rooftops along the planned escape routes. Even the Shadow Weavers were contributing, creating pockets of darkness that would confuse enemy coordination.

It was the largest supernatural operation in the city's history, and its success hinged on a convenience store clerk, a disgraced detective, and a hyperactive gnome holding out long enough against impossible odds.

OPERATION DEADFALL INITIATED PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALCHEMAX DATA CENTER SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE DIVERSIONARY SIEGE CURRENT DIVINE CONNECTION: 73% AND STABLE

"Movement," Zara announced, her voice tight with tension. "Multiple vehicles approaching from the east. Looks like they're done with subtlety."

Through the gap in the barricades, Arthur watched black SUVs and unmarked vans pour into the street like a mechanical tide. Figures in tactical gear deployed with military precision, establishing overlapping fields of fire while the nullifiers took positions that would maximize their suppression effects.

The lead nullifier approached under a flag of truce—or what passed for one in this shadow war. Its borrowed human face was perfectly composed, betraying no emotion as it stopped just outside the building's entrance.

"Occupants of the structure designated 'Bronzebeard & Associates,'" its electronically distorted voice carried easily through the barricaded windows. "You are surrounded by superior forces. Surrender now and you will be processed according to established protocols."

Kael snorted with grim humor. "Processed. That's a fancy way of saying 'eliminated with extreme prejudice.'"

Arthur felt the weight of the moment settling on his shoulders. Everything they'd worked for, all the alliances they'd forged, the evidence they'd gathered—it all came down to the next few hours. If they failed here, the Janitors would have a clear path to deploy their magical virus citywide.

"You have thirty seconds to comply," the nullifier continued. "After that, we will assume hostile intent and respond accordingly."

Arthur stood up from behind the reception desk, his divine abilities flaring to life despite the suppression field. Golden light blazed around him as he stepped into view of the street, making sure every enemy operative could see him clearly.

"My name is Arthur Tala'thel," he called out, his voice carrying the authority of the Keeper of Lost Things. "I am the champion of everyone this city has forgotten, everyone your masters have marked for elimination. And I am not surrendering."

The response was immediate and overwhelming. Gunfire erupted from a dozen positions as conventional weapons opened up on the building, while the nullifiers began their more exotic assault. Reality twisted around their gestures, space folding in on itself as they attempted to simply edit the building—and everyone in it—out of existence.

Arthur threw himself behind the reinforced reception desk as bullets shattered the remaining windows and supernatural energies tore at the fabric of the office around them. The building's structural integrity began to fail almost immediately under the combined assault.

"Zara!" he shouted over the chaos. "How long until the data center team reaches their objective?"

"Fifteen minutes!" she replied, her fingers flying across her tablet as she coordinated with the strike team. "The nature spirits have breached the outer perimeter, but they're encountering heavier resistance than expected!"

A section of the wall simply vanished as one of the nullifiers focused its power on their position. Arthur rolled away from the expanding void, divine energy crackling around him as he tried to maintain some kind of protective barrier around his companions.

But there were too many enemies, too much concentrated nullification power. His connection to the Keeper was wavering, the golden light around him flickering like a candle in a hurricane.

That's when Kael did something Arthur hadn't expected.

The gruff dwarf stood up in the middle of the firefight, his enchanted revolver in one hand and something small and silver in the other—the tracer that had carried Sarah Martinez's final message.

"You bastards killed my partner!" he roared, his voice carrying decades of suppressed grief and rage. "You murdered a good cop because she tried to do the right thing!"

Kael's revolver boomed six times in rapid succession, each rune-etched bullet finding its mark despite the supernatural interference. Two nullifiers staggered under the assault, their perfect coordination disrupted for precious seconds.

But Arthur could see what the dwarf was really doing. The tracer in Kael's other hand was glowing brighter with each shot, responding to some kind of activation sequence Sarah had programmed into it years ago.

"She left you more than just evidence, didn't she?" Arthur realized. "She left you a weapon."

"Aye," Kael said grimly, ejecting the empty cylinder and loading fresh rounds with practiced speed. "One last gift from beyond the grave."

The tracer pulsed once, twice, then erupted in a burst of electromagnetic energy that sent every piece of electronic equipment in a three-block radius into complete failure. Car alarms fell silent, streetlights went dark, and most importantly, the Janitors' communication and coordination systems simply died.

ENEMY COORDINATION DISRUPTED ELECTRONIC COUNTERMEASURES SUCCESSFUL STRIKE TEAM STATUS: PROCEEDING TO PRIMARY TARGET

In the sudden confusion, Arthur felt his divine connection surge back to full strength as the nullifiers' technological enhancements failed. Golden light blazed around him as he rose from behind the barricades, no longer fighting to survive but fighting to win.

"Helena," he said into his now-functioning earpiece, "tell the strike team they have a clear window. Execute the primary mission."

What followed was fifteen minutes of the most intense combat Arthur had ever experienced. Without their electronic support, the Janitor operatives fell back on conventional tactics, but they were still professional soldiers facing three individuals in a damaged building.

Arthur found himself channeling abilities he didn't know he possessed—walls of divine light that stopped bullets, bursts of healing energy that kept his companions fighting despite their wounds, and most surprisingly, the power to temporarily bless their mundane weapons with supernatural effectiveness.

Zara's tablet might have been fried, but her magical talents were finally free to manifest without technological interference. Hex codes written in pure energy disrupted enemy movements, while digital viruses made manifest in the physical world caused their weapons to jam at critical moments.

And Kael fought like a dwarf possessed, his enchanted bullets seeming to curve around cover to find their targets, his decades of police and military experience finally given free rein against enemies who truly deserved it.

But they were still losing. For every Janitor operative they dropped, two more seemed to take their place. The building was coming apart around them, and Arthur could feel his divine energy reserves depleting rapidly despite the restored connection to the Keeper.

Then, just as things seemed most desperate, Helena's voice crackled through the comm system with the most beautiful words Arthur had ever heard:

"Primary objective complete. Data center is down. Repeat, the Alchemax data hub has been destroyed."

Through the smoke and chaos, Arthur saw something that made his heart soar—the lead nullifier was pressing a hand to its ear, its borrowed human features twisting with what might have been frustration or rage. Whatever orders it was receiving, they clearly weren't good news.

"All units, fall back to secondary positions," the creature commanded, its voice carrying easily over the sounds of battle. "Priority alpha protocols are now in effect."

The withdrawal was as sudden as the attack had been overwhelming. Within minutes, the street outside Bronzebeard & Associates was empty except for the wreckage of the battle and the distant sound of sirens approaching.

Arthur slumped against what remained of the reception desk, his divine energy completely exhausted but his spirit soaring with triumph. They'd done it—distracted the Janitors long enough for the real mission to succeed.

"Well," Kael said, surveying the ruins of his office with something that might have been amusement, "I suppose I'll be needing new business premises."

Zara looked up from her fried tablet, soot-streaked but grinning. "The data center destruction triggered automatic backups across their entire network. We didn't just hit one facility—we crippled their entire digital infrastructure."

MISSION SUCCESS: ALCHEMAX DATA NETWORK COMPROMISED JANITOR OPERATIONAL CAPACITY REDUCED BY 60% ALLIED CASUALTIES: MINIMAL THE KEEPER'S WHISPER: "EVEN THE MIGHTIEST FORTRESS FALLS TO THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR THE FORGOTTEN"

As they prepared to evacuate the destroyed office, Arthur felt a moment of pure satisfaction. They'd struck a decisive blow against an enemy that had seemed unstoppable just hours before.

But as emergency responders flooded the area and news helicopters circled overhead, he knew this victory had come at a cost. Their existence was no longer secret, their faces would soon be on every wanted poster in the city.

The Janitors would regroup, adapt, and come at them with everything they had.

But for now, in this moment, the forgotten had proven they could fight back.

And that would have to be enough.