Chapter 10 – Bombs Away

Nothing was said about the QuadMaster's depleted battery that evening. Valla reported hearing something to the effect of "I thought I plugged it in to recharge, looks like I forgot." She also passed on information as to how the Heroes might best be able to repeat the process themselves, as there was no indication of knowledge that they'd spent the morning joyriding on it. They were also successful in hiding some of their new preparations, mainly water bags stuffed under undone dishes and additional hand-holds hidden among complex hanging structures already assembled for fetching drinks from the fridge.

Sonya now stood as a figurine, rather than pieces. She hadn't been painted or primed, just put together. Recalling the story of their creation in which printed parts were sanded, covered in gray spray primer, then painted prior to final assembly, this struck most of the Heroes as odd. Perhaps it was intended to place the plastic barbarian in the same chest that woke the rest, but she remained on an end table.

Out of curiosity, Nova tapped the whitish statue, tipping it over where Jaina caught it.

"Interesting. It cannot be the resurrective techniques" ("Reanimation!" yelled Kerrigan. "Corruption and torture!" hissed Sylvanas) "used by or on other Heroes" mused Jaina. "Then again, I think Malfurion has a point. It's best to not worry about these things."

Left on their own again after a hasty dinner, the dozen moved their defenses back into place. This time, they'd let Jake determine what qualified as being worthy of being beaned on the head, knocked into piles of plastic spikes, or having (small) globs of acid sprayed at it. Sure enough, at 11:30PM, Jake abruptly rose from his apparent slumber, and began pacing around. He finally stopped by a window, and of course it was one that didn't have a tower, watch, or other protection.

Suddenly, the big Golden Retriever began whimpering, and backed away. Spidering cracks, then a soft tinkling as the entire windowpane shattered.

"Looks like an ultrasonic device" said Nova. "Used those myself a couple times…"

"Yeah, well, we're also from the future. Didn't think these types would have such things" replied Raynor.

"Ow!" yelled Li Li, who'd ridden Jake into the room. "Whatever that was, it hurt!"

"Hm." Raynor tapped the sides of his head. Even with his visor up, he'd heard nothing.

A masked face appeared, and Jake started barking. A lot.

A soft click, then a yelp. Jake toppled over, dumping Li Li behind his substantial, though now non-moving bulk. From his vantage point, Raynor could see some kind of weapon in the intruder's hand, but it didn't look like any gun he'd ever seen.

"Probably a tranq" supplied Nova. "Looks like they knew about the dog. But they don't know about us… Going silent!"

Nova used her laser sight to send a signal to Heroes already in towers before cloaking.

"While I know others would probably condemn me for thinking such things, I have been looking forward to this."

Valla's thirst for battle was, like all other demon hunters, contained by discipline lest she turn into a red-hot ball of destructive hatred. The ability to balance the two was what made a demon hunter so dangerous.

Raynor concealed himself, hoping Li Li would have the sense to stay out of sight.

To the alert, a growing sound could be heard. Sylvanas, disdaining frontline combat, stood in the computer room where the QuadMaster was, slowly raising the volume on a device she'd been told was an "MP3 player," or, as Jaina helpfully put it "similar to those music boxes you like so much."

Scowling, the undead elf watched the sorceress' retreating back. Now, she slowly cranked the volume, as if someone were reacting to unexpected noise by trying to drown it out.

"Damn!" cursed Nova over her own comm that only reached Raynor, due to their shared universe and background. "Whoever they are, they're talking, but it's encrypted and without the usual computers hooked to my suit, I can't break it!"

She decloaked, signaled Valla again, and disappeared. Valla responded by firing a single arrow off toward the entrance where Jaina, Sylvanas, and Johanna waited.

"They're headed this way!" hissed Jaina. "Get ready!"

"I got a feeling…in my blood…" blared out of the room as Sylvanas continued turning up the volume. It covered Gazlowe, operating a KNEX truck, who dumped Valla's traps on the floor right outside.

"I need your touch, don't need your love…"

Crunch.

For the first time, Heroes heard voices.

"What was that? What'd I step on?"

From her tower, Valla's eyes simmered. She'd not counted on the intruders wearing boots that trod right over her contraptions as if they didn't exist. She did, however, smirk as one lost footing anyway and had to grab for the doorframe…followed by a thud as a dark shape hit the floor.

"Well done, Jaina!" she said, a little too loudly. Beams of light snapped to her position, and she reflexively froze.

"Nobody said anything about there being kids here!" groused one of the voices upon seeing a huge KNEX tower.

Glistening ice where the fallen attempted to steady themselves against the entryway went unnoticed.

Zwip. Hands brought a garrote over the chair in which the player usually sat, but, of course, the chair being empty meant nothing happened and other hands containing a knock-out compound found nothing either.

"What the hell is with the stereo?" demanded a female voice, before a sweeping hand knocked the MP3 player out of its cradle.

"Probably ghosts" snarked one of her partners. "Who you gonna call?"

"Let's get the two things we came for and leave!" hissed the first.

Johanna fell from the ceiling, deliberately missing any of the would-be robbers, but landing hard on the bottom of a metal garbage bin. Despite her small size, the impact made a significant noise, causing all of the humans to jump. It also covered the clattering of Malfurion working with Brightwing to tip the unfinished Sonya into Gazlowe's truck below.

Lights shone through the mesh that made up the circular bin.

"Oh ho!" taunted one of the robbers. "Looks like someone was naughty! Kid's probably locked in his room—check out this cool toy in the trash!"

Johanna kept still as stone. Hopefully, the very fluid cloth and flexible plating atypical of a simple plaything would pass unnoticed.

"I wonder if it talks" asked another of the team.

"What are you, twelve?" snapped the only woman to speak so far. "Stay focused!"

The hand holding her squeezed.

Big mistake.

"Faith is my shield!"

Said shield bounced off a nose, made solid contact with her tormenter's left eye, then returned to where it belonged.

"Well that answered your question, Tom!"

"Oh, so you think this is funny?" fumed Tom. "Harry, this…this toy threw part of itself at me!"

Harry stopped laughing, but not because Tom had flung Johanna at him.

"What the… Gross!" Harry pulled something off himself that flashlights revealed to be a very, very strange-looking snake oozing a disgusting yellow liquid. Roughly two seconds passed, and then…

"Harry, what happened?" asked a new voice the concealed Heroes hadn't heard before. "You've got welts on your neck!"

Turning his hands over, Harry realized the places he'd touched the snake were now swelling, angry, red lines that wouldn't have seemed out of place had he tried to grab poison ivy. The same could be said of where the reptile originally landed on him, as well.

Kerrigan laughed quietly at the results of her newly-upgraded minion as she hung from Gazlowe's "Drink Express" that they'd built at Jaina's urging. Before, it had simply been a snake with some modifications to make it respond to her will. Now, it was a bit nastier. She commanded the creature to hide lest it be trodden upon.

"You'll wake the kid!" hissed the woman as Harry broke out in a string of curses.