A/N: My God, it's been a while eh? No, I'm not dead, though I wish I was sometimes. Biochem is not my friend it seems.
Ah well, at least it seems I have a few weeks free, so I can get around to finishing up the arc for what it matters.
*sigh* Let's get on with it then.
The Masks We Wear Chapter 14
Worm/Bionicle
Forging 1.11
I thought that going back to school would bring me a measure of relief from all the cape drama of the past few months.
I was wrong.
Beyond the quickly-aborted scuffle before school between members of the E88 and the ABB, only prevented due to the timely appearance of a patrol car, there was an aura around Winslow. A miasma that seemed to settle down on all that walked through the gates, bending their backs in defeat or forcing them to remain forever alert.
Even I, as a Toa, wasn't immune.
I sat in the middle of the classroom, Sophia behind me and Emma to my right. The classroom could be clearly divided into three distinct sections; the Empire on the right, the Asians on the left and the rest of us in the middle. With the tensions between the two gangs at the highest I'd ever seen them, it was less of a classroom and more like the theatre of a cold war, with those not affiliated with any side in the no-mans-land in the middle.
It was, in a word, distracting.
Not good for an educational establishment, I reflected sardonically as I listened to Mr. Gladly 'Call me Mr. G!' as he continued to enlighten us as to the effect the appearance of Behemoth had on the world scene. It was fascinating stuff. Really. Unfortunately, I was unable to really pay attention as my instincts were screaming at me.
Being between two of the largest gang factions in the city wasn't exactly doing wonders for my stress levels, even if it wasn't a battle. I twitched at every sudden move, scrutinized every glance sent my way, constantly aware of everyone in the room.
Hanging around with Lisa had made me more observant of my surroundings and the people around me, even out of battle. I couldn't replicate her trick of pulling someone's life history from coffee stains on their shirt, but I was able to make deductions, enough to gain an idea of a person's leanings. I was using those skills in abundance today.
The boy closest to the front, just inside my peripheral vision; running his hand through his close-cropped hair, a new recruit to the Empire, not yet used to his new hairstyle.
His Asian counterpart over on the other side of the room held his foot strangely, balancing on the inside of his sole as though it was uncomfortable placing it flat; knife hidden on outside of his foot, within his shoe.
The girl one seat behind and two over, rubbing her arm in annoyance before catching herself and going back to drumming her fingers on the desktop, new tattoo, empire leanings.
I breathed an internal sigh of relief as the bell finally rang for lunch, the entire class scrambling for their belongings as the scraping of chairs resounded throughout the room. I ignored Gladly's parting comments, making sure I didn't get separated from Emma and Sophia in the crush as we all forced our way out the door.
There was only the three of us at Winslow. Out of the seven of us, Lisa already had her GED, Isaac didn't technically exist, it would be dangerous for Stephanie to go out in public since she was presumed dead, and Amy went to Arcadia. That last one was technically irrelevant for today's purposes, as Arcadia was closed until next week. Some sort of plumbing issue or such. The best school in the city, and it couldn't even pay for decent pipes!? That left the three of us.
We allowed ourselves to be carried along with the rush of people as we made our way to the cafeteria. We'd just sat down when the room started to rapidly empty. I blinked, surprised for a second. There wasn't any signal given, nor any other reason why a large number of students seemed to have decided to just up and leave. Until I started seeing similarities.
The vast number of those leaving, but not all, were male. And all, bar none, were either white or Asian.
"Oh for God's sake." I muttered, resigning myself to a less than relaxing day. My words caught the attention of both Emma and Sophia, the pair turning from the procession of students back to me.
"What?" asked Sophia, her brow creased in confusion.
"It seems," I sighed, "that there'll be a fight relatively shortly." I elaborated, nodding toward the door as I spoke.
The light of comprehension bloomed in Sophia's eyes, even as Emma's eyes widened ever so slightly. Sophia looked back just as the last person left, the door swinging shut behind them.
"And we're stuck unable to do shit huh?" she groaned, leaning back heavily into her chair, her arms lying limp at her sides.
"Yeah. Looks that way. Either way, it's not like we can-"
I was cut off as my phone started to vibrate. Not my personal phone, but the burner ones we'd all bought to serve as our Cape phones. Normally they were turned off, making it harder to track them, and they only turned on when the user manually did it, or they received a call from one of the other phones. That meant only one thing.
Fishing my earphones out of my pocket, I plugged them into the jack on my phone, then pressed the answer button, all without removing the phone from my pocket.
"Go ahead."
"There's a large number of Empire and ABB thugs heading toward the school. Anything strange happened recently?"
I looked toward the doors, responding to Lisa's question with a sardonic, "You could say that."
"Great, just great. They're really pulling all the stops for this huh? Anything that could explain this? Fights, unexplained absences, ruined-"
"Fight. This morning before school." I answered, cutting Lisa off before she could devolve onto a tangent, "Aborted, Police car rolled up before it could really get going."
I heard Lisa curse over the line at the same moment that the first gunshots echoed through the walls. Screaming echoed around me as I threw myself to the floor, Sophia and Emma joining me a split second later.
"What's happening?" I made sure to speak directly into the mic in order to make sure Lisa heard me over the panicking students.
"Fight starts at the beginning of the day, you said it was stopped, so whatever started it didn't get resolved. Nazi bonehead A calls up his older brother, whips up a few more of the 'cause' to get their point across better when the fight restarts. The backup arrives ahead of schedule, loiters round the gates for a while, and is spotted by the ABB in the school. ABB bonehead B calls up their backup, the Nazis see them, call for more backup and it all snowballs. So what was meant to be a few extra Nazis at a schoolyard fight ends up…"
"Ends up as a fully-fledged gang fight. Great."
Normally neither of the gangs would have the balls to pull something like this so close to a school. Even if it was Winslow. I guess the tension between them must have escalated to the point where they couldn't be seen to back down anymore. Typical.
"What's the status of the Protectorate?" I muttered, making sure to let my hair cover my face to hide my words. If we could ride this out, that would be preferable. We could only field half the team, so it would be preferable to be expecting backup.
"No luck on that one." Came the response, "Lung's been facing down the Empire down on Lexington, pretty much the entire roster has been fielded, even if the Nazis are pulling back, and the Wards are running crowd control. They may be able to spare some, but I wouldn't count on it."
"Just brilliant."
I followed the flood of students out the door, tossing out a command for the rest of the team to mobilize before I thumbed the end call button on my phone and tucked it, and my headphones, back in my pocket. While the three of us inside the school were prevented from taking action by the presence of so many witnesses, those of us outside the school weren't hampered by such restraints. Unfortunately, as it stood, that meant only they were going to be able to respond to the situation. As incompetent as the Winslow staff were when it came to gang matters, they would surely take a headcount of those students that were participating in the evacuation, and if we wanted to escape the scrutiny of being thought part of a gang, we'd need to stay in sight at all times.
Sure enough, the teachers overseeing the evacuation made eye contact with me several times as we moved through the hallways, as though to check I was still there. I could only assume it was happening for all the students.
Being fitter, and therefore faster than your average high-schooler, the three of us forged our way through the crowd, joining the people streaming out through the gym doors onto the field, the furthest point away from the fight. Ahead of us, those of us who had left the cafeteria first was almost to the edge of the grass. It looked like the evacuation was going smoothly, which meant we could hopefully sneak away and-
My head snapped to the side as the sound of smashing glass reached my ears, the distinctive sound of gunfire sounding not a second later. Zeroing in on the sound, I managed to see a bleeding ABB thug flatten himself against a dumpster even as a pair of E88 skinheads fired over their own cover, the bullets slamming into the dumpster, smashing the already-broken windows resting within.
Predictably, the second the sound of gunfire reached the rest of the students, pandemonium erupted. Growing up in Brockton Bay, gang violence was a fact of life. But it was one thing to know that academically, yet another to have a gunfight erupt close enough to kill you.
The students closer to the edge of the field started to sprint for the safety of the buildings ringing the grass, while the students closer to me started the crush moving back toward the school. Spinning on my heel, I dropped low and ran back toward the campus, feeling Sophia and Emma drop into their places beside me as we made a beeline for the safety of the school.
Ignoring the crush at the gym doors, I led us around the side of the building, crashing through a side door as we entered the school proper. Ignoring the yells I could hear through the open door, we continued through the hallways until I ducked into a supply closet, pulling my friends in after me.
After taking a moment to catch my breath, I summoned my armour, ignoring the camera that sat silent sentry in the corner. It wasn't like any of them worked anyway. Determination curled within my gut as I reaffirmed the ideals that had led me down this path, my duty. As the light died down around me, I exhaled slowly, letting Taylor fade and Artakha take her place. The simultaneous flashes to my left and right signaled Sophia and Emma calling their own armour. Sure enough, when the light died down, Shadow Stalker and Tuyet stood beside me.
"Fragarach."
As I spoke, I connected to the systems that served as mission control in the base, an image of Fragarach's armoured form appearing in a corner of my vision as I did so. Behind her, I could see the rest of the team, Palisade, Spectre, and Matoro standing ready, twitching as they looked up at me.
"Artakha." She affirmed with a nod. "Whadda we do boss?" She asked with a smirk that I could physically hear through the comms.
"Teleport everyone to my position, along with the drones. We need to put this down before it gets any worse. That means all of us, we can't afford to underestimate this." There was no way I was taking chances with a school of innocents so close to the battleground.
"Well, you heard the woman, get going!"
I withheld my sigh, instead observing the image on my HUD of the three as they made their way to the teleporter, Spectre seemingly dragging her heels. Within a few seconds, the tell-tale flashes of light heralded the arrival of reinforcements, Fragarach's drones appearing alongside the others.
The four drones were little more than a metal case with four levitation Kanoka to provide thrust, but their tactical advantage was not insignificant. They connected back to Fragarach's systems, allowing her to provide us with battlefield updates in real-time, as well as being mobile teleportation points for if we needed them.
With the team assembled, it was time to get moving. But first things first…
"Matoro, Spectre; front and center!"
The two started at my call but quickly stepped up to me regardless.
"I've been debating with myself on this matter, but I no longer have the luxury of time."
I sighed, resolving myself.
"Raise your fists."
DUTY
Understanding shot through Matoro's body, his armour clinking as he straightened, raising his fist before him. Spectre was a little more hesitant, taking a little more time to raise her fist in my direction.
I stepped up to Spectre, the blue and gold clad girl staring up at my taller frame.
"Spectre." I began, my power flowing through me, "Do you agree to swear by our code, to abide by the sanctity of life, to stand at our side and to uphold the honor of those you fight beside?"
A highly abbreviated form of the oath I'd had the others swear, but as I'd said before, we no longer had the time.
A second passed by as she hesitated, then spoke up.
"I do."
I nodded, before pressing my fist to hers, my final full charge flowing between us.
As the sixth bond formed in the back of my mind, I turned to Matoro and recited the same lines I'd given Spectre. He agreed without hesitation, my last half-trickle flowing into his body even as the seventh and last link formed in my head. Normally the fact I'd only given him half a charge would have been an issue, but since he already had the mental aptitude to use Kanohi, my power just filled in the space left unfilled, settling in without issue.
Right. Let's get this started.
"We need to keep the gangs from escalating. We need to contain this as best we are able. Shadow Stalker." I turned to the black-clad girl, "I'm authorizing the use of Reconstitution Kanoka." I told her as she twitched in shock. "Use the Sanok, aim for the phones, we can't let them call in reinforcements. Fragarach, Assist her."
The second I stopped talking, Shadow Stalker gave me a nod and shifted to shadow, moving through the wall as if it wasn't there, moving in a straight line to the fight. One of the drones bobbed once in the air before turning to move out through the open door. The threat of further reinforcements dealt with, I turned to the rest of my team.
"Matoro."
The white Akaku turned my way, its owner's gaze settling on me from where it had been tracking Shadow Stalker through the walls.
"Find the rest of the students and teachers. Gather them together in the cafeteria, Fragarach'll guide you, then seal them in. We can't let anyone get hurt, so having them somewhere we know they'll be safe helps. After you've done that, go outside and help the rest of us put the gangs down. But our first priority is the students."
"Of course."
He sketched an overly flourished salute before turning on his heel and striding out the room, the air misting around him as he readied his power.
"Tuyet, we need you on crowd control but you need more water. Go through the school. Turn on every faucet, flood the building. You'll need all the ammunition you can get."
"Yes Mistress."
She too bowed before running out of the room. That just left me with Palisade, Spectre, and Fragarach. The latter I didn't need to give orders.
"Fragarach." I started, focusing my attention on the image in my vision instead of one of the three drones that remained. "You know what to do."
"Yes boss, right away boss!"
My eye twitched at her response, far too chipper for the situation even as the window in my vision winked out. With a barely audible hum, the three drones turned as one and flowed out the door to set up overwatch.
"Palisade, I need you to defend the school, set up your territory, and ensure that none shall pass."
The shield-bearing girl snorted at my reference, but nonetheless nodded and moved out the door. My last teammate, Spectre, shuffled uneasily as I focused the entirety of my attention on her.
"I need you picking off any stragglers, anyone who looks like they may be going for help. As I said before, protecting the civilians is our first priority, the second is containment. We can't let this spread."
I turned, raising my arm to summon my spear before I realized I'd yet to receive any sort of affirmation from the wearer of the Volitak.
"Spectre?" I asked, turning back to the still hesitant figure behind me.
In comparison to the rest of the Toa, the blue-clad girl was hunched in on herself, curled around her laser crossbow for comfort. A thought crossed my mind and my tone softened as I spoke again.
"Are you up for fighting the Empire?" I asked, causing her head to snap up at me from where it had been staring at the floor. "I understand if you can't, but I need to know now. If only to prevent any of us from getting hurt if-"
"No!"
I paused as her outburst cut me off.
"You think I'll let you stand without me? She sneered. "There's no way you're doing this without me."
"Are you sure?"
"I didn't sign up for this, just to sit out at the first fight! If being a Toa means I have to beat up a bunch of Nazis, then you can be sure I'll do it!"
I held her gaze for a second before I nodded, accepting her words.
"All right. We'll talk about this later.
I saw her flinch minutely out the corner of my eye, but I no longer had time to waste, I strode out the door, Spectre behind me as I left. I turned left, Spectre right, her toward the roof, while I headed for the main doors. It was time to join the fight. Water trickled under my feet as I moved through the halls, proof of Tuyet's preparations.
This wasn't the sort of fight where we could win by wearing the enemy down. They had the advantage of numbers, the possibility of backup, and absolutely no issues with using lethal force. We, on the other hand, were limited to just the six of us, had little to no possibility of reinforcements, and were limited by the presence of non-combatants. Still, we were Toa, and we stood bravely in the face of insurmountable odds.
With a thought, my Freeze spear teleported into my hand, the air around it turning to mist as the moisture froze. I lengthened my stride, breathing deeply as I reached the main doors. This was it. Until now we'd been mostly flying quiet, as quiet as being known by both the Empire and Protectorate was, anyway. Yes, we were known, but only by the powers that be and certain forums on PHO. We didn't have the same fame as New Wave, and I was pretty sure Lung considered us beneath him.
This would change everything. Despite my best efforts, this would do more for our reputation than the past few months combined. Something this big? It couldn't be ignored. No-one attacked schools. It just wasn't done, not since Marquis' time. We would no longer be able to take advantage of the fact that we were relatively small-time. Everyone would know us after this. Everyone would go back over any information there was about us; our powers, capabilities, and values. The time for subtlety was out. This was no longer just a fight.
It was an exhibition match.
I kicked the doors open, sunlight streaming into the hall as I took in the sight outside. Shadow Stalker danced between the gangsters, intermittently firing off Kanoka. The discs arced through the air, thoroughly ignoring the laws of physics as they drew impossible patterns in the air on their way to their targets.
Once they struck, everything from boiling water to some furry squid fell out of the pockets of the thugs, sending them panicking. I could safely say it was one of the stranger things I'd seen in my career as a Toa.
Since Shadow Stalker was their only visible source of opposition though, it wouldn't take long for the gangs to focus on her. That is if they would even work together. Besides the slow creeping movement of vines as Palisade enshrouded the school, myself and the black Toa were the only people protecting the school. If we wanted to hold out long enough for the others to come to our aid, we would have to thin the herd. And fast.
The sound of the doors bouncing off the opposite walls turned a good portion of the combatant's attention toward me. The staccato sound of gunshots faded for a brief moment as my appearance caused a lull in the fighting. Typically, this didn't last long as a good number of the gang members turned their attention to me.
I moved, my shield expanding on my arm as I flanked the majority of the E88 gangsters, turning their fire away from the school building. Sparks flew as their bullets pinged off my shield and armour as I closed, and then I was among them.
It always looks impressive in movies when the main character takes on uncountable numbers of bad guys without a scratch and walks away at the end only slightly out of breath. Everyone knows the world doesn't work that way, but I'd developed an appreciation for the more realistic ones, mostly the older martial arts movies before CG started to become a crutch. What I'd quickly realized was that very rarely did the protagonist fight more than one or two people at a time. Sure, there were far more than that in one shot at once, but only one was ever engaged at a time. The one would be taken out in a minimum of hits, and the main guy would move onto the next.
It was something that formed the core of my fighting style, even if I could cheat slightly. Ice was good for one-shots after all.
My spear lanced out, finding the shoulder of the first man to oppose me. Placing my free hand lower on the shaft, I pivoted, bringing the spear diagonally down his body, a line of ice following in its wake, sprouting off the man even as I moved past him.
One down.
The second man was as unprepared as the first, and a sweeping strike of my weapon left his hands encased in a block of ice, rendering his weapon useless. A second jab left him frozen to the floor, rendering him helpless as I pushed him, sending him toppling over, tripping the man who had come rushing up behind him, who also found himself frozen to the floor in short order.
With the advantage of surprise lost, a heavyset man with a fairly impressive beard swung a gleaming set of knuckledusters in my direction, advancing on me even as I swayed to avoid the attack. Clever. The main weakness of using a spear as a weapon was also its greatest strength; its range. I could keep people at a distance due to the spear's length, but that same length became unwieldy when someone got within my guard. But I knew this and was prepared.
I couldn't fall back for fear of leaving Shadow Stalker overwhelmed, nor could I spend the time to deal with this guy, who seemed a cut above the others, for fear of being surrounded. Thinking fast, I held my position and planted my spear tip down into the ground. His eyes flicked down to my weapon, expecting some kind of attack. An attack that didn't come. By the time his eyes flicked back up to mine, I'd already set my feet and bought my left arm across my body, the distance just right.
The sound of a gong echoed across the street as I bought my shield across my body, slapping the thug away from me. Without my enhanced strength courtesy of the Pakari, he was only sent sprawling instead of flying head over heels, but it was enough. I grabbed my spear with both hands, and instead of ripping it out of the ground, lifted myself up using the spear, dodging the next guy to make a grab for me. He promptly slipped on the icy ground, the spear's power freezing the floor around it ever since I'd jammed it into the ground. The second received a two-footed kick to the chest from my position on the spear, sending him tumbling.
Curling around myself, I rotated around the shaft of my spear, my boot hooking into the shirt of the guy beneath me. I extended and called upon my first Kanohi of the fight. My body snapped taut, and the Pakari's assistance threw the unfortunate man into the next wave of charging thugs, scattering them like bowling pins.
My foot pushed off the road, and I back flipped over the men coming up behind me as I pulled my spear free of the asphalt. Frost curled around me as I somersaulted through the air, sparks flashing off my armour as some of the more attentive gangsters bought the opportunity my flight time provided to take unobstructed shots.
Whilst the bullets themselves didn't hurt, the kinetic force they bought wasn't so easy to shake off, diverting my landing from on top of one particular Nazi to right beside him instead. Fortunately for me, he had no idea I'd just landed beside him, and a quick sweep of my foot sent him to the ground, upon which he was promptly frozen.
There wasn't room to bring my spear round to hit the other guy, so I introduced the metallic surface of my shield to the guy's face as he swung at me. He reeled back, blood spurting from his nose, and I quickly tagged him with my spear, ice forming across his chest and binding him to the asphalt. I took a moment to breathe, straightening up from the crouch my final blow had left me in. Taking a few deep breaths, I beat back the fatigue that seeped through my bones, forcing myself to remain upright. Unfortunately, the battlefield wasn't so kind as to allow me to re-energize myself.
The yell that sounded from behind me sent me spinning on my heel to face the threat. Stupid. I should have known better than to let my guard down. The skinhead was too close for me to hold off with my spear, and was already lining up for a shot with a- was that a shotgun?
While I was fairly confident I could tank the pellets at such close range, the bruises the slugs would leave wouldn't exactly be pretty. My shield came up even as I switched out the Calix for the Hau, hoping either would be in time.
It turned out I needn't have worried.
Just as I saw the gunman's finger tighten on the trigger, a ray of bright white light came out of nowhere, sending him sprawling onto the curb. Huh. I blinked, the afterimage of the bolt affecting my eyes even through my mask. Spectre must have reached the roof then. I turned back toward the school, barely seeing a shimmer in the air over the protruding vines as Spectre moved for another position. I smiled. Good, it looked like she'd taken the sniper lessons to heart. Furthermore, the vines around the school had stopped growing, which meant…
Almost as if on cue, a vine flicked out over the top of the impromptu wall, holding a green-clad figure in its clutches. In a single smooth motion, the vine deposited its cargo on the ground before splitting into multiple segments and lashing out at the nearest thugs, thick green foliage wrapping around the combatants, pinning their arms to their sides.
Of course, their buddies weren't oblivious enough to not notice a plant going nuts and snatching up several fully grown men seemingly without any effort and turned their fire to the girl touching the writhing tendrils.
Now seeing that Amy technically had two secret identities, one of which being the healer Panacea, it was understandable that her time was somewhat tight. And naturally, she didn't want to spend all the time she spent with us training. So instead of her being a martial artist, we cheated somewhat.
Sparks flew as bullets struck metal, and yielded. Palisade hefted her H-shaped shield, curling so that all her body was protected beneath the metal. The vines twitched once more, the grass erupted up around her, and she disappeared.
Useful thing the Huna.
Unfortunately for the gangs, they were distracted from searching for their suddenly invisible opponent by the veritable waterfall exploding out the main doors. Tuyet and Matoro were carried from the building on a plume of water, the rest of the attack sweeping down and around, knocking down E88 and ABB member alike. The pair set down by me, the rest of the bedraggled gangsters coughing and spluttering as they clambered to their feet.
I grinned fiercely even as my lungs burned as I bought in air. We had this. The three of us had held off the gangsters arrayed against us, and with the six of us now, they wouldn't be able to last long. I blinked. Something was off though. Normally whenever we faced the unpowered members of either of the gangs, it resulted in a short fight where we either routed them completely or the gangsters fled in short order. I could understand their confidence at the number disparity, but they spent just as much time fighting each other as they had Shadow Stalker and I. why were they still fighting? It was almost as if-
"Artakha!" My comm burst into life, Fragarach's panicked voice sounding in my ear. "You've got incoming it's-"
…
…
…
…
My ears rang as I pulled myself out of the remains of the bus stop, glass cascading off my armour with a tinkling sound. Groaning, I staggered to my feet, spotting my spear embedded in a building a few meters away. Out the corner of my eye, I spotted the armoured forms of Tuyet and Matoro pulling themselves to their feet.
A flurry of movement over to my left caught my attention, a good thing since I was just in time to see the demon-masked visage of Oni Lee lunge for Shadow Stalker, my teammate entering her breaker state just before an explosion enveloped the pair of them.
Well.
At least I could add grenades to the list of things the Kanoka Armour protected us from.
As the ringing in my ears subsided, I started to be able to hear Fragarach's panicked voice in my ear, though I was unable to make out the words. What she was saying was unnecessary, however, since I could see it for myself.
Alabaster stood transfixed, Spectre's stun lasers rapidly impacting the Empire Cape, reapplying the effect every time he reset. The foliage that had once protected Palisade was now little more than a storm of vines and thorns beating back Stormtiger as the girl herself backed off, her tower shield sparking against Cricket's Kamas as the pair danced between the wildly twisting vines.
The Empire and ABB had sent Capes. The chances of our victory just plummeted.