The phone rang and time splintered.
"You're good to go."
"Wait for the other villain gang to strike first and save those rich people."
The instructions was somewhat surprising. We would play heroes here? How amusingly different. Still with those instructions, Lisa and Brian drove the vans out of the alley, before parking where we could strike from the side when, not if, another villain gang attacked.
Once more, I spread my senses outwards. Meter by meter, building by building, city block by city block, I saw everything. We, no, I was not everything that squirmed, skittered, crawled, and flew for I refused to submerged myself into my insect selves.
Not now.
There was a time and place for everything, and while it was a grand thing to become more, it wasn't always a good thing because it was easier for me to be distracted by the overall picture and not be as focused on the details as was needed.
Thus, we waited.
"I don't suppose I could convince you to allow us to pass?"
How delightfully unexpected, a secret midboss showing up to show off against. Well, at least for the other me.
"I'm thinking... No. This is as far as you go."
Myself, I settled back to keep an eye on our surroundings as well as idly watch as the other me faced off against New Wave. Which reminded me.
"Tattletale," I leaned forward to where Lisa sat in the driver seat with her eyes closed as if in deep thought. "Got some bad news, looks like New Wave is in there."
She looked at me with one eye. "Oh?"
"Yeah, looks like Brandish, Glory Girl, Flashbang and Panacea are there as guests," I continued on.
"Ah," She nodded. "It shouldn't cause too much of a problem as long as we intercept whoever decides to strike tonight outside. The main thing is we get caught on camera fighting, it's going to be tricky getting seen in a good light. We might need to wait for them to hit the interior."
She tched. "This is what I sometimes hate about our boss, he just changes his mind and objectives whenever he feels like it."
I nodded in response and patted Tattletale on the shoulder. "I'm sure that it'll all work out."
With that, she called Grue on her cellphone. I opted to not pay attention to her conversation as she adjusted our plans. Rather, I rested my head on Ma... ahem, Glitter Girl's shoulder and closed my eyes, while keeping my other eyes open. The scent of her floral shampoo smelled nice.
From the way Madison stiffened while I rested, it was clear that she wasn't sure of what to do or how to react. That didn't mean I got my head off of her shoulder. Minutes later, I sat up and blinked at what some of my eyes were seeing. "I think we've got an incoming customer."
I had seen trains before. Really who hasn't seen or been on a train at least once?
What I was seeing could be considered a train built by someone who had a vague notion of what trains were, and had started with an eighteen wheeler. It had a surprising amount of armor plating as well as tesla coils rising from the front like smoke stacks, from which lightning ran down the front to form electrical tracks for it to run on.
Certainly, it wasn't moving by virtue of wheels. For it had none, in their place were plasma globes; large glass or crystal orbs within which electricity arced from a central point.
What could be considered worrying was that mere meters away from it, it could not be seen nor could it be heard. Not by my insect selves and, quite likely, not by anyone until it was too late.
On the top of the train, or rather in the open top container it pulled, were very scruffy looking gangsters with a staggering amount of guns attached haphazardly to the vehicle.
It was anything but subtle, it roared with the combined noise of radio static coming from a bank of speakers at a concert, an eighteen wheeler at full power and an onrushing train. And yet, that was only within a few meters of it.
This... this was undoubtedly a tinker vehicle. From what I had read online and heard from Lisa and Grue, as well as various hearsay gossip, Squealer didn't do elegant in design. No, she went for big, augmented and extra add-ons when she built her vehicles. She was, if anything, the antithesis of Armsmaster in design concept.
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Goblin Queen | Heaven is about you and me
Worm / Exalted
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"Looks like the Merchants have gone into the train industry," I sighed out with a shake of head. Tattletale and Glitter Girl just looked at me. "And they're geared for a small war."
Their responses came at the same time. "What?" "Oh dear."
"Squealer built a train thing that is somehow cloaked. That's the only word I can use," I boggled some more as I examined the vehicle as it made its way to the museum. "It can't be seen, heard or even sensed just a few meters away. There's no vibrations on the road itself. Nothing."
"I'll give Grue and the boss a heads up," Tattletale sighed now.
I nodded at her, before giving Madison's hand a tight squeeze. "Don't worry, we'll win... somehow."
She nodded at me, as I mused on what I had available, and what I could make if necessary. If the Merchants had brought a monster of a train to the field, why shouldn't I bring a vehicle of my own to match them?
Still, utilizing Unreal Shipwright's Method wasn't something lightly down, the costs weren't something to sneeze at. Not the mote cost, rather the gossamer cost.
