"Designation: acknowledged," Wyvern stated blandly, the vacant smile never wavering.
"Good, set all admin privileges to me alone, then access any remaining backups you can find of Dragon and delete them," Saint ordered.
"As you wish."
Saint nodded and paused to get his thoughts in order;, there was so much he had to do before anyone caught on to what was happening.
"I want a high speed transport sent to my location," he said while turning to face the rest of the room. "We're relocating to Dragon's Vancouver facility. Nestor, Do they need to stay here or can they be moved?"
"The shadowplay is done and her restraints are holding. There is no reason to keep them hooked up," he explained.
"Good, get those people out of that machine and ready to move."
Nestor tried to protest, but Saint had already turned his back. Sighing, he made a start on disconnecting the Dragonslayers from the P.E.C. The process was slow, each person had to be carefully extracted and their minds separated from the collective. A medic was on hand just in case.
As for moving the machine, well it was possible but it would take hours to break everything down. Saint's men could handle that.
Saint meanwhile continued to issue orders to Wyvern, "I want you to access the Brockton Bay facility, I want access granted to my people. Dragon left a transport there, I want it prepped for take off when they arrive. Set the destination to the Vancouver facility."
"Estimated travel time between Brockton Bay and Vancouver is one point five hours," Wyvern said.
##
[Taylor]
I'd gotten a late start to my morning. I still hadn't slept, but Rung had insisted I spend the time doing something other than work, so I'd spent the night reading. I'd been so caught up in my book I hadn't noticed the time.
Still, it was the weekend and jogging gave me a chance to think about my next project. I couldn't decide if I should build a medic or another combat bot. Both would be use-
The music on my headphones cut off as Rewind received a call. I'd left my earwig at home, since I couldn't wear headphones with it in. I considered ignoring it but I could do with the break, a dull ache had started in my chest. It wasn't quite pain and I'd done enough running to know it wasn't from the exercise. I came to a stop and pulled the bot out of my pocket, "Hello?"
A van screeched to a stop behind me as a passenger threw the side door open. I tried to throw myself forward as somebody dived out after me.
He caught me by the waist and I twisted in his grip. The time I spent getting thrown around by Vista came to mind and I brought my hand round hard. There was a satisfying crunch and he howled in pain and his grip loosened.
I tried to run, but I felt something press into my side. Pain flashed through me and my entire body convulsed as as the taser fired.
Before I could hit the floor, another pair of hands grabbed me and pulled me into the van. Bblack cloth was forced over my head and I tried to make myself move just as I felt something stab me in the neck. I could feel myself starting to panic, was this the Merchants?
A cold sensation was spreading from my neck and I was starting to feel sluggish. I could hear them talking but everything felt muffled, distant. Eventually, I blacked out.
##
"Fuck!" The Kid swore loudly, "I dink she broke by dose!" He pulled his mask off and clutched his bloody nose.
"Shut up or I'll give you something to moan about!" Siren snapped at him. "Mac, get us out of here!"
Tires screeched as the van pulled away. They had to reach Dragon's facility on the edge of the city before the hero's caught up to them. The Kid continued to whine about his nose. In his hand, Rewind was struggling to get free and beeping threats.
"Get rid of it idiot! They can track it!" Siren hissed out.
Kid glanced at Rewind before dropping him. As he fell, Rewind transformed in midair. The Kid brought his foot down hard.
After two hits the screen cracked and the phone went dark. Feeling satisfied, The Kid picked it up and tossed it out the window.
"Dere, problem solved."
##
Rewind hit the ground hard enough to bounce three times and add more scratches to his frame.
The moment he came to a stop, he transformed. His cracked and broken screen left him with some nasty looking wounds on his chest, but it was mostly superficial. He had managed to grab pictures of almost everyone in the van and, spotting it in the distance, he grabbed as many pictures of the license plate as he could and forwarded them to Wheeljack.
He'd triggered a distress call as soon as they'd grabbed Taylor, and was broadcasting his location to anyone he could. Not being able to do anything else, he found a place to hide while he waited for someone to pick him up. He just hoped Taylor would be all right.
##
Rewind's distress call was picked up by one of Dragon's automatic systems.
Wyvern could see the alert but she had not been ordered to report or block it, so she let the system run. When it didn't receive a response from Dragon, it forwarded the message to the head of The Guild.
##
Narwhal was rudely woken by the shrill beeping of an alarm on her phone. Dragon had programed the damn thing and she cursed her electronic friend as she groped for the device.
Her desire to sleep vanished the moment she saw the message. Dragon's apprentice was in trouble and there was no response from Dragon.
Climbing out of bed, she started to build her costume and tried to call Dragon.
She'd known for years about Dragon's identity. As one of her oldest friends, and the woman who invited her into the Guild, she'd always suspected something was off about the Tinker.
Then that fight against Saint had happened. Dragon had gone from one of their best to a liability in seconds. Afterwards, she had forced the woman to tell her the truth. Ordered her too in fact.
She'd felt bad about that later, when she found out how easy it was to subvert Dragon's free will. After that, she'd kept quiet, she'd even helped provide an alibi from time to time. The world was falling apart and Dragon was one of the few genuinely good people in it. Even if she wasn't human.
After the call failed for the third time, Narwhal switched to the emergency line Dragon had created for her. No matter what Dragon was doing, the call would connect.
The phone beeped twice before connecting, "Dragon? What's going o-"
A blast of static and electronic screeching cut her off and she quickly pulled the phone away.
Dread settled in her gut, she needed to get to Dragon. Her base wasn't actually in Vancouver, but rather a couple of miles outside the city. It would take her time to fly there.
##
*Dispatch to all units! Be on the lookout of a white Ford Transit, registration ### ####, used in the kidnapping of a Ward. Be advised, suspects are armed-* Mac turned the scanner down. They knew going in that the heros would be quick to react.
Thankfully, they were almost there and had more than enough weapons to deal with everything short of the big three.
They quickly arrived at Dragon's half built facility. She had purchased an old industrial site on the edge of the city and then paid contractors to gut the place and install a lot of the basic fixtures. Everything else would be handled by her.
Or that had been the plan anyway. The contractors were gone and the security systems had already been installed, but she'd never had the time to bring more equipment in before Saint had killed her.
The gates were already open and he drove straight in. Round the back of the complex, there was the start of a landing pad. One of Dragon's transports was sitting there, engines running.
They had been camped out nearby for more than a week now, watching as the transports brought more supplies in for her to use. Unfortunately, this one hadn't been unloaded.
He pulled to a stop and Goat gave the transport a long look before he started to give out orders.
"Okay, space is limited so Siren, you and Kid take the girl back to base. Mac, take care of the van. Everyone else, change your clothes and scatter. We'll meet up at point B in three hours. Don't be late as I'm not sticking around. If you can't get out of the city, head for Coil's safehouse. He's got an agreement with Saint."
With that, they split up.
##
"Any luck?" Armsmaster demanded as his bike took the corner at twice the legal limit. The alert had gone out minutes ago that one of the Wards had been taken and he was already closing in on the last known location.
*No,* Miss Militia said. *I still can't contact Dragon, you?* She was currently back at the rig and had been on monitor duty when the alarm from Taylor had come in.
"Nothing, even her private line is down. This can't be a coincidence."
*I agree, but I'm having the Wards collected now, just in case, and Kid Win is on his way to meet you. He's bringing one of her bots with him.*
Armsmaster frowned as he shot through a red light, his suit's systems predicting the exact location of every car at the junction. He didn't see what good an oversized toy would be, but he didn't have time to argue. Velocity was heading for the main highway north out of the city and Dauntless was checking by the docks. There were plenty of places to hide in the area, and a small boat could still get in or out of the harbor if it was carefull. Assault and Battery were searching the north and south sides of the city respectively and BDPD was on the lookout.
They would not get out of the city if he had anything to say about it.
He stopped his bike where Taylor's signal had stopped moving. He had just climbed off his bike when Kid Win dove out of the sky. He stopped a few feet up so he could cut the ropes that were suspending the black panther from the underside.
A small red and black jet also disconnected itself from Kid's back and flew down to him. "I'm Windblade, that's Ravage, and were here to help." she said, mostly to be polite. As the head of the Protectorate he already knew about Ravage.
Armsmaster glanced at Kid Win, who shrugged, "Taylor built him to track people, figured it was better than nothing," he said as an excuse. Before Armsmaster could say anything, Ravage let out a growl and stuck his nose under a nearby bin.
Windblade flew under it and came out with Rewind in her arms, "He's okay, it's mostly cosmetic," she said as she lowered the little bot into Armsmaster's hand. The little bots began rapidly squeaking and beeping at each other.
Putting them out of his mind for a minute, Armsmaster turned to Kid Win, "Fine, but I want you up in the air. If someone is really is going after Wards I want you out of reach." The last thing he needed was a Ward getting kidnapped in his presence. "And keep these two with you," he added, handing Windblade and Rewind to him.
Kid Win nodded and lifted up safely out of reach asnd Armsmaster turned to Ravage. "Well?" he asked. The bot had been sniffing around in a growing circle before lifting his head and growling. He took off down the street like a bullet, his legs folding up so he could switch to wheels.
"Follow him!" Windblade shouted and Armsmaster jumped on his bike. It wasn't really a vehicle mode, more a cat on wheels, but he could certainly move. Ravage was hitting thirty mph on the straits and barely slowing for the bends.
"Is he tracking Matrix or the van?" Armsmaster asked Kid Win. To his surprise, it was Windblade who answered. Matrix must have given them access to the PRT comms.
*The van. There are five people with Tinker-tech weapons and Matrix inside, and the scent is really clear.*
*Do we know who took her?* Kid Win asked as he banked sharply to keep up.
*No, they looked like professionals. Combat fatigues, body armour, guns. Rewind showed me the video: whoever they are, they're trained and experienced.*
That sounded like mercenaries, which meant either Coil or Faultline.
Faultline wouldn't pull something like this, at least not in Brockton Bay, and grabbing a Ward off the streets was for too public for what they knew of Coil... Dragonslayers! Armsmaster realised it had to be them, they were the only mercenaries he knew of that had a history with Dragon. "Dispatch, this is Armsmaster. Be advised, attackers are suspected to be Dragonslayers. Miss Militia, call Narwhal and let her know." If this was really a Dragonslayer attack, he knew where they would be heading. Which would mean… damn!
"Dispatch, we need air units to the west of the city. Dauntless, get over to Dragon's new base, they're not using the roads!"
As he rounded the last corner, he saw a familiar shape taking off in the distance. Swearing, he gunned the engine. "All units, the Dragonslayers have taken a Dragon craft, Matrix is suspected to be on board, do not engage!"
A warning message flashed up, drawing his attention to a shape on the building's roof. The sniper round caught him in the chest, making his shield flare and forcing him to turn sharply. The next shot clipped the pavement as he diverted down a side road.
His onscreen map showed the road turning away from the base, so he skidded to a stop while he tried to find another route.
In the air, Kid Win banked hard and went into a dive. He was flying above roof level, making him an easy target. The blue bolt clipped him in the shoulder, but was stopped by his shield. He grunted and dived faster. Taylor hadn't been kidding when she said it would still hurt.
"Kid Win, status!" Armsmaster barked.
"I'm fine, I'm in an alley north of you," he said as he rubbed his shoulder.
"Good, stay down. They're not messing around."
*Armsmaster! There is a sniper on the roof and two more people escaping out the back!* Windblade called as she jerked right just as the next round whistled harmlessly past her.
"Follow them," Armsmaster replied. The direct route to Dragon's base was covered by the sniper, navigating the side roads would take too long, and going across the rooftops would put him in the line of fire.
Nothing else for it. He couldn't risk waiting for backup.
Revving his bike, he spun around. He burst out of the street at full speed, his bike firing a grappling hook that caught a lamp post and pulled him into a sharp turn just as another shot clipped the ground.
Cutting the cable, he charged down the road. Another shot, this one hitting his bike's armour plating. Predictive software was already calculating the time until the next shot.
A warning flashed and he jerked sideways in time to avoid yet another bullet.
##
On the roof, Grim pushed down his frustration. He'd lost track of that jet, so Mac and Goat would have to take care of themselfs. At least the Ward had been smart enough to stay down, he'd like to avoid killing the kid if possible.
He lined up another shot- the hairs on his neck moved and he rolled to the side.
There was a clatter as the cat-bot landed right where he'd been. Cursing, Grim tried to bring his rile up, but it was already moving.
Landing on Grim's chest, it tried to bite down on the man's arm. The cat's jaws closed on the rifle as Grim tried to shield himself. The pair struggled briefly before Grim managed to get his feet under the feline bot.
Letting go of the rifle, he kicked the bot off him. It hit the ground a short distance away and both scrambled to their feet. They slowly circled each other, looking for an opening.
A grappling hook stabbed into the roof and Armsmaster pulled himself up over the edge as his halberd unfolded to its full length. "Give it up, you've got nowhere to run!" To punctuate his point, the cat growled.
Sighing, Grim lifted his hands above his head. He wasn't stupid, trying to fight a man in power armour was suicide. He waited for Armsmaster to move, and threw himself forward as soon as the hero was close enough.
Armsmaster was either caught off guard or hadn't considered the man a threat. He brought the blunt end of his weapon up, only for it to be caught in a gloved hand.
Grim shoved the polearm away and lashed out with his other fist, the impact to the head surprising the hero.
The pair traded blows as they danced across the roof. Armsmaster's halberd giving him the distance but Grim having greater freedom of movement and speed. Knowing the hero could outlast him, Grim tried to feign left and break away, only for Ravage to cut him off. Forcing him back towards Armsmaster.
Ravage was smart enough to not get in between the fighters, but he wouldn't let the man escape.
##
Parrying another blow, Armsmaster smiled slightly in satisfaction. His opponent was clearly skilled and using some form of strength enhancement, possibly tinker-tech, but he was losing ground, letting Armsmaster direct the flow of the fight.
Seeing an opening, he pushed forwards. Every attempt by the merc to counter or escape was blocked. Armsmaster spun his halberd, caught the man under the shoulder with the weapon, and threw him up and over.
Grim landed on the far side of the roof with a crash. He tried to stand, only for Ravage to stand on his chest, snarling face inches away from his own.
"...Fuck it...," Grim muttered before lying back down.
##
Narwhal flew up higher for a better view. Strictly speaking, flight was not one of her powers, but her costume was made entirely from her force fields, which she could move freely.
She could see Dragon's main facility in the distance. Dragon had a few bases scattered across North America, but this was the one she called home.
Even from here, Narwhal could see the glowing yellow dome created by the base's shield generator. She speed up as the feeling of dread intensified. The sound of gunfire was her only warning before the building's anti-air defenses tried to shoot her down.
She pulled back to the perimeter, Dragon's base had several levels of defense, starting at non-lethal auto-turrets loaded with rubber bullets and working up to high caliber and Tinker-tech weapons. Judging from the impacts, those guns were firing live ammo.
She tapped her comm, "Dispatch, Narwhal. Dragon's base is on lockdown, lethal countermeasures are active, tell everyone to stay back."
Getting a confirmation, she tried to decide what to do. She could just ignore the guns and fly right in, but she knew she couldn't break through that forcefield. She'd spent a day trying once, Dragon had bet she couldn't do it.
She had an override command to the field, but it was a one shot deal and there was only so much she could do solo. She needed backup, someone she could trust to keep quiet. Before she could come to a decision, she received a call from the PRT dispatcher.
*Dispatch to Narwhal, orders from H.Q. Pull back and do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. Report to the PRT for a briefing.*
Like hell! She pulled a phone out of a small storage pocket on her back and dialed through to the Vancouver director of the PRT. They could brief her over the phone, she wasn't leaving here without helping Dragon.
##
The Dragon craft soared through the air. Saint and a handpicked selection of Dragonslayers were cramped together inside. The craft was built to move cargo rather than people, so it wasn't the most comfortable ride, but it was fast. The flight from his base to Dragon's would only take thirty minutes at this speed.
Using Ritcher's tools, it had been easy to blind Dragon to his location, so he had positioned himself as close as he dared to her base.
There was no pilot seat or windows in the craft, so he made do with standing towards the front. His men were nervous and an appearance of calm would help strengthen their resolve. Behind him, Nestor was working on his laptop and Josie was in constant contact with the people left behind at their headquarters.
This was the most dangerous part. Dragon had kept things stable, and once he reached her base and got his men into position, so would he. But this transitional stage was where it could all go wrong.
If he wanted this to succeed, he needed quick access to Dragon's facilities. There were a number of systems Wyvern had been unable to access remotely, and he needed to be sure there were no backups left on standalone machines.
"Sir!" Josie called out, "Wyvern has accessed the PRT's comms, they know what's happened and are mobilising. The Triumvirate are gathering in New York."
"Current defenses will not be sufficient; chance of holding off a determined assault from the Triumvirate is .5%," Wyvern helpfully supplied.
"Now what Saint?" Nestor demanded, slamming his laptop closed. "Did you even think this through? You killed Dragon and grabbed a child off the street. What did you think they would do!? I am not going back to prison!"
Saint massaged his forehead. He had been hoping it would take them longer to catch on. "Shut up Nestor, none of us are going to prison."
"Hah! No, we won't live long enough to see prison."
Saint ignored him and turned to Josie. "What's the status of the Brockton Bay team?"
"At least one member of the Brockton Bay team has been captured, but the rest have gone silent, it will be hours before we can contact them."
He wasn't too worried about whoever got captured. His men were unpowered, so they were safe from the Birdcage, and the PRT couldn't do anything but make idle threats. "Fine, contact Coil, see if he can break them out when things quiet down. "
"And what about the Triumvirate?" Nestor demanded, "They're not just gonna ignore this!"
Saint prayed for strength, if he didn't need the man so much he'd throw him out the craft.
"Sir, can I make a suggestion?" Josie offered.
Saint nodded and she turned to a monitor on the wall.
"Wyvern, record this message and prepare to send it to the PRT."
"Last night, the hero known as Dragon passed away from health related issues. We have assumed control of Dragon's facilities and will be coordinating their transfer to the appropriate authorities. In the interim, the Dragonslayers will remain in command. The Birdcage and other containment zones are secure, but this is a delicate matter, and should anyone interfere we cannot guarantee they will remain so."
"Oh god, blackmail? That's your plan?" Nestor moaned.
Saint frowned, he didn't like it but what other choice did he have? His original plan was to replace Dragon himself, using his own people to continue her work. He had hoped he could do the same with Wyvern. Have her take Dragon's place and make himself too important to risk attacking.
The Tinker would have to disappear, of course. But he was confident they could do that. Worst came to worst, they could just throw her into a Simurgh zone. It wouldn't be the first time.
But that plan had relied on the heroes not noticing the switch until he was too dug in to remove.
He could make this work. If he could keep the heros at bay long enough they would eventually accept the new status quo.
"Wyvern, connect to the Birdcage and make preparations to extract prisoners." He wasn't a fool, the Birdcage held the worst the world had to offer, and letting them out would only be a last resort. But he had a list of people whose help he could use yet would still be controllable. He should probably include Teacher in that list. He would just have to make sure Josie kept an eye on the man.
"Connecting to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center," Wyvern said blandly.
"What's the status of the other craft?" Saint asked.
"The craft will arrive in approximately forty minutes," his face twitched as a harsh note came from the speakers, "Error: Unable to connect to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center. Security protocols not found."
"What? Explain!" he demanded.
"Unable to connect to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center. Security protocols not found," Wyvern repeated.
Saint turned to Nestor, who quickly grabbed his laptop and started typing.
"I-it looks like the Birdcage is being monitored by a separate AI-"
"I know that! It's one of Ritcher's, why won't it grant access to Wyvern?"
Nestor flicked through the screens, trying to make sense of what he was seeing, "It's a security feature. Rather than a simple password Dragon, designed a series of protocols. Without them, no one can access the birdcage. I warned you there would be data loss!"
Fighting down the urge to strangle the man, Saint tried to calm himself down. "Does the PRT know this?"
"No… I don't think so."
Okay, he could work with this, "Tell the team back at our base to hurry up, I want that chair of yours moved to Dragon's base and operational by the end of the day. I want the shadowplay team hooked up as soon as possible and working on cracking the Birdcage. Until then, we'd better hope no one calls our bluff."
AN:
This chapter was a royal pain in the ass to write. I knew where I wanted everyone but getting them into place felt like herding cats.