The Crawler tore through the thin defensive line like it was nothing. Half a dozen capes and PRT officers went flying. It was lucky that he clearly wasn't trying to actively kill people yet, just scare them and wreak havoc.
She used her power to to try to slow him down; layers of frost and ice covering his legs, hindering his movements. But this was the Crawler and he acted like it didn't even affect him, it probably hadn't. "I can't stop him!" She shouted, unnecessarilly. Her fellow Wards were already trying to simply keep damage to a minimum and distracting him for the time being. They couldn't stop him, he was invincible. He had struck the Protectorate Headquarters building at the worst possible time; the Protectorate and the majority of the Seattle Wards were dealing with the rest of the S9 elsewhere; knowing how this group worked, that was the whole point.
"Glacier," Knights voice said in her ear via the communicator. "Backup is on the way; ETA 2 minutes. Keep him occupied" Finally! Though they couldn't stop him, they might be able to drive him off at least if some of their heavy-hitters could get back here.
"Roger that, Knight," She spoke back into the communicator. Then, she switched frequency's so it only broadcast to her portion of the Seattle Wards-5 capes in total, one of the 3 sub-teams of the city. "Hold him, reinforcements are on the way!" No sooner had she said it, a shimmering barrier of energy appeared directly in front of Crawler, just before he hit the door that led to the PRT armory. He slammed against it and the barrier wavered slightly but still held. If it hadn't held... "Nice job Barrier, everybody else, pound this bastard!"
For her part she switched from covering the beast in ice to simply pounding it with a hail of icy shards. At the same time she saw blasts of pure energy, intertwining with fireballs and she thought she even heard a couple gunshots intermixed with it all - likely Temptress. She was a bit of a pariah thanks to her choice of name and how she used to use her power before she became a Ward, but she was a dependable and solid asset to the team, even though she was forced to drastically cut back on how she used it - it wouldn't do to having the Wards seducing villians into traps and custody. At least the politicians in charge of the PRT didnt think so; she herself thought you should use every resource available to you.
Crawler howled and reared back, making another lunge at the barrier. It held. Seeing this, he spun around-much faster than his size would indicate - spitting acid at everyone in sight. She watched as one glob struck a PRT officer. The man fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain. The rest of it was deflected off sudden obstructions of earth-courtesy of the Boulder. The beast continued, smashing the earth barriers and another PRT officer.
A laser hit the Crawler in its armored back. A blast full of more energy than anything else. It actually seemed to hurt the Crawler somewhat as he reared in pain. She looked up and was shocked by what she saw: a larger than life figure floated in the air. A figure everyone in the country knew.
Legend spoke. A calm air of authority to it. "You have done good work, Wards. Now pull out and let us do the same." As if to punctuate his point he shot another, more powerful, laser at the Class-S threat before them.
Oh my god, its Legend she thought. In awe of this larger than life figure. "You heard the man," she said into her communicator. "Leave the heavy lifting to those that can actually make a difference. Support how you can but lets not put ourselves in reckless danger here. She threw a volley of icy shards at the Crawler in an attempt to assist Legend.
She watched as a portal opened up inside the HQ lobby. Out stepped a full dozen capes-she recognized both Wards and Protectorate members. Oddly enough, some of the Protectorates weren't local heroes. Clearly something big was going on if both Legend and out-of-town capes were arriving. Something bigger than the 9, even.
"Glacier," Drone's voice echoed from her communicator. Drone was her teams tinker, specializing in all sorts of unmanned drones-some for recon, others for combat. "I'm out here with Knight. Mannaquin's here. My drones'll show you the way."
Shit. "On my way," She replied, kicking her flight suit into gear. "Boulder, Inferno! Outside, now!" She barked, flying by. "Barrier, keep watch over the HQ entrances. Prevent anybody from getting inside. Somethings going on and I don't like it."
She took a final glance back at the battle with Crawler. Legend was still firing his lasers, a cape she didn't know was firing arcs of lightning from her fingertips, Tank-a local Ward, aptly named, able to dish out and take tremendous amounts of damage-had leveled another blast of pure energy at the Crawler. It retaliated with more acid spittle but Tank hardly noticed. He had apparently activated his short-term invulnerability. She hoped it was enough.
Outside, after following the indicated drones, she found Knight - and Mannequin - battling it out on the rootop. Knight - so named for his codes of conduct and his massive suit of armor. His power making him a pro at melee and insanely talented with such archaic weaponry - had his favorite sword-and-shield combination and was trying to land a solid blow on the 'machine' before him. Mannaquin dodged and parried, his dual-blades easilly fending off Knights blows. He was designed for this kind of opponent. Too fast and flexible.
She used her power to sort of freeze up its joints and hopefully slow it down, but there was no visible effect. He was apparently warded aganst such methods. "Damn it," She threw a volley of her shards at him, but he easilly dodged, still contending with Knight. He was too fast.
"NO!" The shout wasn't from her communicator. Spinning around, on the ground, she saw Hack Saw - one of Bonesaw's creations if she remembered right - standing over Inferno's limp body, bloody axe in hand. Another Ward, Nurse, was sprinting over.
No... Inferno... Dead? It just couldn't be. He had been on the Wards since even before her. Was to graduate into the Protectorate in a few short months. "Boulder," She said, as calmly as she could manage into her communicator. "Kill that fucking bitch!" She had to force herself to turn away, to deal with Mannaquin. Time enough to grieve for Inferno later.
Knight was still fighting, but he was tiring and Mannaquin wasn't... She flew straight at him, burning up the last bits of fuel in her pack. They went tumbling to the ground as she hit him at full-speed. He recovered quickly. Too quickly... He advanced on her, blades held high. She watched in horror as the blades came down.
Crack, crack, crack.
Mannaquin fell forward, a hole in his head. Temptress was standing about ten feet away, sidearm pointed where the villians head used to be. "You idiot," She said. "You, of all people, tackle Mannaquin to the ground?"
She opened her mouth to respond, but a sudden commotion interupted them. Where Mannaquin used to be, Planner-a relatively new Ward with the Thinker classification-now stood. The short, teenage girl was doubled over in pain. "Wha-" She panted, weakly. "What happened?"
Knight swore. "Get back inside," He ordered. "Regroup and wait for further orders. Legend has some very disturbing information to bring to our attention..."