Hunting Will by Alex Albrinck

those walls, we’ve got him in an isolated house, so if we can take him by surprise and do something to stop him from teleporting, we can avoid the risk of exposure.”
    Porthos shook his head. “Exposure isn’t the biggest risk here. The biggest risk is Stark . We have to get him where he can’t — or won’t — teleport away. What stops him from doing that if he’s sitting all alone in his house and we pop in uninvited? Nothing.”
    “And if we’re in that city, we’re not going to get him alone, Porthos. He won’t allow it. If we get near him he’s going to make a ruckus and then our anonymity is gone. Who’s to say there aren’t cameras recording our every move while we’re there? There’s too much risk there.”
    Porthos stared him down, and finally he looked at Aramis. “What say you, snowman? Dome or estate?”
    Aramis sighed. “I think we have more options if we go after him in the house. Maybe we can get the lab to develop a fast-acting sleep potion we can inject into the house before we arrive, or we put it in his drinking water, or something like that. Nothing like that is an option if we’re in a city with thousands of people around.”
    Athos smiled in triumph as Porthos threw up his hands in disgust.
    “With that decided, we need to figure out our plan of attack,” Athos said. “We need to get to him at the house, where he’s going to be isolated. Thankfully, he’s built his house in a perfect fashion for our pursuit.”
    “My first question is this: how do we get inside those walls without drawing attention?” Aramis asked.
    “That’s the biggest hurdle,” Athos said.
    “Uh, no,” Porthos said. “The biggest hurdle is always Stark. Take that away, and nothing else is an issue. No Stark, we teleport inside the walls without concern and take down the target.”
    Athos sighed. “Yes, Stark is, was, and always will be the biggest issue and hurdle we have until he is captured. With that understanding, I’m open to ideas on how to get into the fortress community and get to his house without alerting the man. The trick is that we need to avoid the use of Energy, or at least keep it to an absolute minimum. Stark’s not Porthos, but he’s powerful enough that he can detect at least traces of Energy. So teleporting is absolutely out of the question. Not only does it alert him to the fact that we’re there, it drains us of Energy, even if we only move a few hundred yards. No, we need to be fully Energized when we face him, especially if we can’t find a way to neutralize his advantages.”
    “Can we climb the walls?” Aramis asked. “I don’t see how, given how they’re shaped.”
    “Don’t think so,” Porthos said. “Although… that entry gate is lower and it isn’t shaped the same. You could probably get two of us over without Energy if we boost each other over by hand; if we had some rope we could all get over. However…”
    “The two human guards are there watching the whole time.” Athos furrowed his brow. “We need to figure out how to eliminate the two guards so that they can’t see us, identify us, or contact others about us.”
    “Can we use the sleeping injection somehow?” Aramis asked. “I’m not sure how we can get inside those guard buildings without being seen,” He pointed at the two separate buildings where the guards worked. One of the guards would be situated some forty feet off the ground in a tower; the other, on the side of the driveway opposite the tower, would be at ground level.
    “Somebody knew what they were doing when they built this,” Athos said. “That tower is going to be impossible to get into without being seen. We could get up there with Energy…”
    “But we’ve forbidden ourselves from using it,” Porthos reminded him. “Too easy for Stark to detect. Can we get the sleeping potion made into a gas, and then pump it into both rooms at the same time? If they both get drowsy and then fall asleep, we can get in without being