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The Taylor Twins 4.1
... as seen by Rune
Author's Notes:
1. Ten months! But this is what happens when I'm writing a story and lose momentum. I suck. For the record, the vignette I wanted after the trucker was Aegis', but that one just isn't flowing. I have no idea when will I publish next. I still need to write four more points of view before I can wrap up the fight.
Besides, 2020 was hectic for me, and 2021 isn't getting any better.
2. Yes, I know I'm basically turning this character upside down. In my defence, I can't find logical arguments were you are intelligent, a good person and a Neo Nazi at the same time. Any two combinations could be possible, but not all three.
And if me being fed up with all of the canon idiot-balling and correcting with better decisions makes my fic crack: so be it.
'It's now or never,' Rune thought to herself as she was being led upstairs in the PRT building. As soon as she had landed, she had been requested to follow one of these faceless mooks upstairs to the director's office, asking her if she was interested in a prepared plan using a powerful platform-type Mover and Miss Militia. And, incidentally, this was giving her the first time away from watchful eyes since a few months back, when she had expressed reservations against attacking a nerd in school for 'he has to be cheating' and 'he'll be stealing a valuable scholarship from his betters.' Treyvon hadn't needed to be used in an initiation for the crime of getting straight A's.
'This elevator sure takes a while,' she thought impatiently, as she reached into her cowl and unclasped her mask.
But then the doors opened and she was quickly led to a big office, where the director was getting riot gear on and Miss Militia was busily reading something in the director's computer. Notably, Miss Militia was wearing a flag-themed PRT helmet rather than her normal bandanna.
Rune was distractedly waved in.
Rune also noticed the director looked much better than the last time she had seen her during the Bakuda fiasco. Much leaner, and her face didn't have that unhealthy... was the word 'pallor'? Well, the lady didn't look green and ashy. And Rune once again wanted to kick herself for the lost opportunity of reaching out during the Bakuda thing before she got conked.
'It's now or never,' Rune repeated to herself as she pulled down her cowl and then pulled off her mask.
"My name is Tammy Herren and I wish to change sides," she declared, tossing her mask on the desk.
The two adults in front of her blinked in confusion momentarily, but the window groaned, both looked at it, then at each other and nodded.
"Do you wish to become a double agent, or make your defection effective immediately?" asked Miss Militia.
"Immediately," Rune replied. "I don't get a single moment alone, so I totally couldn't pass you messages. Besides, the Empire is pressuring me to get initiated."
Both adults frowned, but nodded at her.
"Well, are you still interested in the assignment we had prepared for you?" asked Miss Militia. "It's absolutely fine if you would rather have a space in our bunker."
"No, I do want to help," she replied. "And I will say everything I know on the Empire as soon as we're done."
"Here," the director said, taking the helmet that she was about to put on, fiddling with it and handing it forward. "Our latest helmets record everything from the moment they are turned on, and as you two aren't going into combat, you'll have plenty of time for Miss Militia to start getting you debriefed."
"Let me have that for a moment," said Miss Militia, taking the helmet before Rune had grabbed it. She removed her own (Rune noted she hadn't bothered with any masks underneath) and put it on, then fiddled with it some more before removing it and handing it over.
"We will still hear general calls, but otherwise we'll be it in a private frequency for just the two of us," she explained, putting her own again. Rune imitated her after a heartbeat. Miss Militia then fiddled with her own for a moment. "Can you hear me?" Came as in a whisper, yet loud and clear.
"Yes, I can," she whispered back.
"Well take our leave, director," Miss Militia then said normally, at the director.
"If we don't see again, Militia: it's been an honour having you," the director offered her hand forward.
"Likewise, director," Militia said, taking the director's hand in hers and shaking it firmly. Then she stepped away and gestured for Rune to follow her. She was thus led out of the office, up a flight of stairs and into an empty locker room.
"Take off your helmet and put it against the wall, then take absolutely everything off and find whatever fits you here," Militia said, opening a closet full of white boilersuits, individually packaged pieces of long underwear and rubber boots.
She hesitated a moment, but got to work once she saw Miss Militia dropping her helmet and beginning to strip.
"Absolutely everything," Miss Militia insisted, taking of her bra. " And here," she continued, pulling a couple sacks from the bottom of the closet and handing one to her, then putting in her own discarded clothes on the other.
When Rune was then picking up a petite boilersuit, she noted it was rubberized on the outside and puffy on the inside. She shrugged and slipped into it.
"Socks inside the long underwear, then pant legs outside the rubber boots," commented the older cape, leading by example. "We don't want rain water to accumulate inside our boots."
The first boot did give her pause, as she was having trouble slipping it under the pant legs.
"Better pull the pant legs up, then slip in the boot, then slip up the pants over it," said Miss Militia, who was already fully dressed, and leaned down to help her. Rune accepted her help, fighting with that horrible worm in the back of her head telling her about the irony of being dressed by a sand n-r immediately after betraying the Empire.
"Thanks," she said, receiving her helmet back and standing up.
"Do you need physical contact with what you're attuning?" asked her very honourable superior, as she picked up some long rubber gloves.
"Not really," she replied, picking up her own gloves. "But I do need several seconds to put my moyo onto something big or heavy."
"That'll be fine," replied Miss Militia, closing the closet and opening a locker at random. "Ready?" she asked Rune, picking up the sacks and shoving them into the locker.
"I think so, but for the record, the phone in my costume is full of Empire and Triple K contacts. Everybody other than some Immaculata classmates."
"Duly noted. Now attune to this and lets go," Miss Militia said, as she opened a closet with nuclear symbols, took a large yellow suitcase out of it and shoved it in Rune's direction.
As she fiddled with it, Rune couldn't help but bemusedly read the huge label under the nuclear symbol on the case: Nuclear Exposure Decontamination Kit.
But the case was now tagged in her power, and she had it hover beside her.
"Ready."
"Follow me." And Miss Militia hurriedly led her back toward the staircase, then up the stairs and onto the rainy roof, were she stopped just shy of the raised heliport.
"What's your limit to carry something comfortably?" she asked. Rune noted the helmets allowed them to speak comfortably despite the din of the storm.
"Comfortably? A large pickup truck, more or less." She forced herself to speak naturally.
"Very well. Attune yourself to the heliport, then come back and begin applying upward pressure. Like you intend to pick it up, not rip it off."
Rune stepped forward and did just that. Her power told her the platform was at her very limit and she wouldn't be able to rip it off even if she wanted.
"Done, ma'am."
"Then stand behind me." Miss Militia then produced green smoke, which congealed into a futuristic looking heavy rifle connected to a large backpack. Miss Militia then laid down on the rubberized roof and shot horizontally under the platform.
A column of white light, like Purity's beams, shot forward. Sweeping motions from Miss Militia had it sweep under the entire platform.
Suddenly, it just came off. Miss Militia stopped firing.
"Way too heavy, ma'am!" informed Rune.
"Then drop it back down, then try to lift just one side."
"K," replied Rune, dropping the right side and keeping the left about two feet of the roof. Miss Militia then begin cutting the platform down the middle. It took several seconds, more than it took to detach it from the building, but the right side dropped while the left buoyed up. Rune dismissed the right side from her power and rotated the other half, so they could see the underside.
"Could you cut off the ends, madam?" she gestured. "So we have a nice rectangle?"
"Very well," said Miss Militia, cutting it off until they had a rectangle twelve by nine feet. Rune promptly landed it by them, bottom side up.
"So we have something to grab, ma'am," she replied to the unasked question, jumping on the platform and grabbing one of the girders. Almost as an afterthought, she then picked up the suitcase and had it land by her.
Miss Militia nodded and imitated her, then pointed at the hulk on the mouth of the bay, barely visible through the rain. Rune nodded, lifted the platform and shot forward.
"Okay, we're in the air, so I can start talking," said Miss Militia. "Our primary mission is to demolish the big wreck, then move onto demolishing the smaller ones in the Boat Graveyard. If we don't do this, the city is likely to be condemned after the fight."
Eyeing the yellow case, Rune gulped. She had heard it all before, but never truly understood it: absolutely anything goes against an Endbringer!
"Stay high above, at least twenty stories above the waves" Miss Militia told her halfway to target. "We really don't want to get splashed by the water we toss into the air."
A minute later, Miss Militia gestured her to stop.
"Hold steady for a moment," she said, standing up and aiming her light rifle at the heliport surface just beyond their girder. Quickly and efficiently, she cut a hole large enough to pass an oil drum through. Miss Militia knelt down by her, and the two of them then could peer down through it. They were near the wreck, and Rune thus corrected their small difference.
"A hundred yards further upwind," Miss Militia told her. "We want to bombard the water just beyond the wreck."
"Hold steady," Miss Militia said once Rune had slowed down again. "We want this nice and accurate." Miss Militia then produced a grey eggplant thing with fins on the narrow side. It took Rune a moment to recognize it: she had seen these airborne bombs in World War 2 aviation documentaries. She didn't realize they were this small, though.
"An early first world war airborne bomb," Miss Militia commented. "These were kept inside the second cockpit of a biplane, and dropped literally by hand by the copilot. Good enough for our purpose, though." Miss Militia then twisted something on the fat front side of the bomb, held it above the hole and let go. They both stuck their heads and watched it fall and explode against the hull.
"Thirty yards further upwind!"
"I'm on it!"
And they dropped another bomb, which did splash against the water.
"Now for the real deal! As soon as I drop it, you rocket us a half mile upwind! And don't look at the explosion!"
"Alright!"
Miss Militia then held her hand above the hole and her green smoke produced another bomb with fins, but this one about the size of a water jug. It began falling down immediately.
"Let's go!" Miss Militia had to tell her after a heartbeat. She then began flying, accelerating as fast as she could, cursing herself for her idiocy.
The BOOM didn't come as much as noise as a reverberation that rattled her to the bone. And then came a wave of wind than picked the flat bottom side and accelerated them like being punted by one of the valkyrie twins fully grown. Thankfully, Rune had been bracing for it, and after a couple seconds she found it like body surfing. Thankfully, she knew how to surf.
Then, after a few more heatbeats, the push ended. Miss Militia gestured her to stop, then stood up and gazed at their target. Rather than imitate her, Rune rotated the platform and made it lean slightly, so they could gaze without effort.
They had moved about a mile. And about the wrecked ship: the centre was just gone, and the front and back of it were at least two hundred yards apart and barely above water. And in the heavy rain Rune couldn't see a mushroom cloud.
"We need to finish this job," said Miss Militia. "Go back, moving slower than the wind. That should keep us safe from the fallout."
Rune nodded and began going back.
"This time I'll be making the bombs about a tenth as strong, but I'll make six of them. You go far downwind, then you fly at your best speed from the far one to the near one and keep going."
"Gotcha."
It took her a long minute, but they were in position. She gave Miss Militia a thumb up. Miss Militia inched forward over the girder (presumably to have a better viewing angle through the hole), held her hand forward, and gave her a curt nod.
Rune accelerated as hard as she could, watching Miss Militia keep peering down and drop three bombs a few heartbeats apart, then wait a few heartbeats before dropping three more.
"... four ... three ... two ... one" came Miss Militia's voice, muttering in her own helmet. Rune guessed these weren't exactly the same bombs.
Boom ... Boom ... Boom ...
Boom ... Boom ... Boom.
The explosions sounded authoritative, but hardly as terrifying as the first one. Rune barely felt any wind pressure from them. She held her speed a few more seconds, but then allowed herself to slow down, turn around and balance down the platform for them to see: the derelict was simply gone. In fact, the heavy weather had already killed the impacts, leaving nothing but a long line where the sea looked brown (likely from silt, she guessed).
"You did it, ma'am!"
"We did it, Rune!" Miss Militia corrected her, giving her a one-armed hug. "But we aren't done here: slow and steady to the Boat Graveyard."
"Gotcha!"
But then, something happened down in the water: a rock wall began growing out of the water!
Then a glowing green human form flew up from the water surface and landed with them. Eidolon!
"Sir!" said Miss Militia, sounding quite alarmed.
"At ease... Miss Militia?" he said.
"Yes, it's me and Rune. But what are you doing here!"
"I'm commissioned with water denial. Specifically, I'm supposed to raise a seawall and then try to empty the bay." To Rune, the legendary hero sounded... morose. "Could you ladies do another bombing run across the mouth of the bay? Then start bombarding the deep water in the middle of the bay. I'll be using a power to convert heat and radiation into motion."
"Understood, sir," said Miss Militia in a nonsensical manner.
"I'll take my leave, and don't worry about hitting me." He then walked off the edge and went back to raising his seawall.
"We have our orders, Rune. Double time to North Point and double our altitude."
"Yes, ma'am." And off they went.
"And increase our altitude to at least a quarter mile. Our next bombing run better go like half the speed."
"Yes, ma'am." And Rune began to gradually increase altitude.
Thankfully, the mouth of the bay wasn't so wide, so they were there at the lighthouse in just a couple of minutes. She turned their platform around and nodded at Miss Militia.
"Let me test the wind again," she replied, producing another eggplant bomb. They both peered through the hole, Miss Militia dropped it, and they watched it fall slightly sideways. They didn't see it explode.
"A hundred yards further upwind," Miss Militia requested.
"A moment... try again, ma'am."
She tried again, and now they were greeted by a plume of fire from the very tip of North Point.
"Good," said Miss Militia. "Now inch backward a bit, please."
Miss Militia herself inched back, to barely peering through the hole.
"At half the speed we were doing previously, you go toward Eidolon's seawall, then we follow it, then we continue to Captain's Point."
"Yes, ma'am." And she lurched the platform forward.
Miss Militia began muttering, holding her hand out over the hole.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced a bomb.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another, just as the first one exploded behind them.
Another explosion, and she produced another.
Another explosion, and she produced another.
The rhythm continued until they neared Eidolon's previous work, then they overflew it and continued south.
Miss Militia started again: "Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced a bomb.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another, just as the first one exploded.
Another explosion, and she produced another.
Another explosion, and she produced another.
Eventually, they made it to Captain's Point.
Once the last bomb exploded, Rune turned the platform around and saw that Eidolon had been following them below, raising the wall at pretty much the same pace as the explosions had gone. A fifteen feet high seawall now cut the bay away from the ocean.
"Double time north, Rune!" Miss Militia said, pointing toward the Boat Graveyard. Not that they could see it in this deluge!
"I'm on it!" And they shot forward.
After about a minute, Miss Militia spoke again: "Continue steady: I'm dropping a big one!"
Rune gulped, but nodded. Moments later, Miss Militia produced a bomb that looked exactly like any of the previous ones, and let it fall. Rune then pushed herself to make some distance, but turns out this one too had a timer, letting them get significantly away before it went.
After about another minute, once they were nearing the Boat Graveyard, Miss Militia gestured her to stop and turn around.
"Now we do another straight bombing run," she explained. "Then we circle back here and do it again."
"Gotcha." And they got going.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and Miss Militia produced a bomb.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another.
"Five... four... three... two... one..." and she produced another, just as the first one exploded behind them.
Another explosion, and she produced another.
"And Rune, would you begin speaking? Anything and everything you can say about the Empire will be useful."
"Sure ma'am," she replied. "First of all: Medhall is absolutely an Empire front, with everybody silver level and above being either Empire, triple K and even a few Gendellshaft. Well, there's a token black guy in gold level, but I hear he's the contact with a Brazilian cartel, so they can exchange pills for cocaine, heroine and such..."
She thus spent the next three runs blabbing everything she could remember: names, secret identities, safehouses, warehouses, Hookwolf's dog rings, an indoor dock just south of the city where the Empire received Brazilian and German submarines. Only thing she didn't blab on was Purity: "...except Purity, though. Kaiser once told me that Purity can pretend to be a hero all she wants, but that he's got her in too much of a chockhold for her to ever act against the Empire."
"Well, that is on itself actionable intelligence, Rune," Miss Militia objected. "If Purity is under coercion, we can seek her out and offer her sanctuary just before we let the hammer fall on everybody else."
Rune hesitated for a moment, but then sighed and said it: "Well, she got out before I got in, but I've heard her name is Kaiden and she's Kaiser's ex-wife. And I think she got another Empire cape to follow her out."
"That should be enough for us to piece things together. Let's see if we can save one or two more like you."
No, Rune didn't blab on Purity: she got the information loosened out of her.
By the end of their first run, Rune saw Eidolon handling a column of water wider than a 4 lane avenue, shooting it over the seawall and into the ocean like an aerial view of Archer's Bridge. It looked almost peaceful, up till you saw some flotsam get sucked up the bridge and accelerate like it was being shot from a rifle. Besides, even after just the one bombing run to make the seawall, the water was the colour of cappuccino, and would only get worse the more they bombed it.
Upon returning to the Boat Graveyard, she was impressed to see that the water was indeed receding. This and that boat that had sunk along the docks were now sitting on dry land, and beaches now seemed to be at least a hundred yards longer!
"We need to keep bombing, Rune!" Miss Militia had to tell her.
"Yes, ma'am," she replied, turning the platform and beginning to go south slowly again.
"And sorry, but where was I?"
"You were telling me about Hookwolf's dogfights on the other side of the trainyards."
"Yeah. He uses four different warehouses that I know of..."
At the end of the second run, Rune lost her train of thought: bayside, the water was lower than the wall was high on the other side!
"We need to keep going!" Miss Militia prodded her.
"Yeah... and by the way, Kaiser owns a big, big yacht." She gestured south, so South Brockton's oceanfront. "He complains that he hates the stupid boat, but he needed an excuse to own an indoor dock for German and Brazilian submarines. The ones who really use the boat is Hookwolf and his people, who take it out a few days whenever a sub is due in and needs to recharge batteries. Hookwolf complains that the boss won't let him use the master bedroom and tells him to bring his own booze, though."
"I imagine," remarked Miss Militia, nudging her to get going. "I know Max Anders to be quite a sophisticated individual, while you make Hookwolf sound like a redneck stereotype and proud to be an arsehole."
Rune laughed at that. That did describe Hookwolf in a nutshell.
They didn't even make it that far north this time: other than a fairly narrow channel being busily fed by angrily spewing storm drains, the area was nothing but muddy rocks. Rune could even see that the "channel" was made of a series of circular depressions: it was easy enough to guess that they had carved it with their explosions on the first run.
Miss Militia gestured to her toward downtown.
"We now fly in an arc following whatever deep water might be along the coast," she explained. "We stay at least a half mile away from land, so we try to not splash radioactive water on the mud. And once we rendezvous back with Eidolon, our job is done."
"You're the boss," said Rune, now peering more attentively out of the hole. "I'm descending to half the height, and flying at least two hundred yards away from land."
"Good, but make it three hundred," replied Miss Militia.
"Gotcha. And where was I?"
"You and one of the twins unloading drums of nitric and sulphuric acid from one of the German subs, and Kaiser actually taking his yacht along with a lot of Empire white collars."
"Yeah. He returned one short, with the rest looking pale..."
But halfway through this third run, Rune stopped talking. She was just feeling... tired.
Miss Militia didn't berate her or anything, though: she missed a drop to give her a one-armed hug, then stretched her hand forward and spoke to her.
"I'm feeling tired, too. Does your mouth taste like metal?"
Rune took a moment to notice it, but her mouth tasted like she had licked a penny. She nodded.
"Let's finish this run, but turn straight toward Eidolon and increase altitude again. Don't be afraid, because the Protectorate has the best medical Tinkers that have dealt with Behemoth fights for decades, but know that we are cooking alive from the radiation."
Rune felt chilled, but nodded and turned the platform eastward... and accelerated just a bit.
Two minutes later, by Miss Militia's instructions, she was bringing the platform to hover under Eidolon. Up close he looked less than impressive, but to Rune the lazy way he kept his arms pointed at the water was secondary to him using them to run Niagara backward!
"We've heated up the entire bay, but we have hit our radiation limit, sir," Miss Militia informed him, no-nonsense.
"That's alright, ladies; you've done more than enough," he said, sounding bored and not looking away from his job. "Do your decon routine, then come back here for a minute before you go to medical. By the way, I hear it's being moved to an old YMCA north of the city, far inland."
"Actually sir, I wish to request Ghost Protocol on both of us."
He actually turned to look at them at that. Rune too looked at Miss Militia. Miss Militia just gave her a one-armed hug.
"This is Rune, from the local neo-nazi gang. She's defecting."
His body language changed immediately at that: he stood straighter, proudly. One of his arms 'let go' of the water, to hold it toward her. Miss Militia nudged her forward, and she found herself receiving a side hug from the second greatest hero alive!
"Welcome to the side of angels, kid!" he said above her. She was keeping this helmet for the rest of her life!
He then let her go and nudged her away.
"Miss Militia," he then said. "Could you give me one of those big ones, preferably with a trigger? I'll need to pause here for a minute, because Leviathan came from the city's south, from the ocean front. I'll steal his water, then come back here to finish this job."
"K, sir," Miss Militia replied, dropping to one knee and producing a cylindrical green backpack just shy of the size of an oil drum. "Mark fifty four nuclear demolition charge, equipped with a suicide trigger. Set to two hundred and fifty tons equivalent yield. Rune, could you do the honours?"
Bemused, Rune took a second to do her magic on it, to then pick it up and put it on Eidolon's back. Miss Militia helped him to slip the straps, then gave him the trigger cable.
"I hope you know what you're doing, sir," she told him.
"I can take it, Militia," he replied. "Now you go to the lighthouse just south from here and do your decon. I'll be with you in a few minutes."
"Yessir!" affirmed Miss Militia, nudging Rune to get going.
She carefully dropped the platform under Eidolon, then accelerated toward Captain's Point.
About a half minute later, she was dropping the platform behind the lighthouse, and they quickly dismounted.
"Take the kit, then toss the platform as far as possible into the sea," instructed Miss Militia.
Rune had indeed forgotten the suitcase, so she quickly levitated it before tossing the platform a good hundred yards away.
While she did that, Miss Militia had kicked a hole into the lighthouse's door and was slipping inside. Rune followed her in, but the kit didn't fit.
"That case is truly strong," Miss Militia informed her. "Just ram it through!"
So Rune did just that.
Miss Militia then went and opened it: immediately inside, there was an angry yellow tarp thing that Miss Militia picked up and tossed to the middle of the empty space in the hollow tower. It quickly inflated into a tall tent, fully assembled, with black radioactive symbols all around.
In the case, under then tent, there were purple cans that looked like paint, and white and yellow bags that looked like towels. Miss Militia gave her one of each and led her into the tent.
Inside, she quickly began stripping. By ripping off her clothing by the seams.
"Absolutely everything below your helmet must go," she informed Rune. "Everything is radioactive."
Rune was impressed by how quickly Miss Militia was going about it, but rather than try that, she used her own power on her clothes and began pulling them apart. When the rubber boots came apart easily as well, Rune guessed all the clothing was designed to come apart.
Quickly enough, they were naked. Miss Militia then uncapped and began shaking her paint can.
"I do you, and then you do me. This foam must cover absolutely everything, so open your arms and legs. And yes: it hurts."
Rune assumed the position, and Miss Militia began spraying her, bottom to top, front, back and sides. And yes, it heated up uncomfortably all over.
"Now me!" said Miss Militia, having waited a few seconds after having covered Rune's helmet with the stuff.
Rune used her power to shake mightily the other can, then began doing the same routine with Miss Militia, showering her in a spiral of ugly purple foam, only pausing to get her properly between the legs and under the arms.
"Now open your bag, take out the white towel and dry yourself. Then discard that towel and put on the robe. Don't put on the slippers until we're outside the tent.
"Right."
Seconds later, they were indeed standing outside the tent. And indeed, it was just a bathrobe, but emblazoned with radioactive symbols, and with a plastic layer outside. Rune guessed it was so it didn't soak rain or something.
"By the way, ma'am: what's Ghost Protocol?"
"That we go into protective custody while the Protectorate fakes our deaths for a while. Now, here," Miss Militia was offering her a balaclava, yellow as everything else.
"Do I have to? I like the helmet."
"The helmets too are radioactive," the older hero explained, as she removed hers and shock her hair free. "We're only keeping them long enough to download the recordings. Then they too have to go."
"Oh..." and Rune slipped hers off.
"Hurry!" Miss Militia told her, having her balaclava on and waving her arm through the door. "Eidolon's landing." She then slipped outside.
Rune hurried to put on the balaclava and followed her outside.
"How did it go, sir?" Miss Militia asked.
"He had a huge stadium worth of water. I stole it from him, and he immediately went underground. Now, do I fake your deaths?"
"Allow me, sir," Miss Militia replied, producing a nine foot long bazooka, with yet another mini nuke attached to its tip. She rapidly aimed it to the centre of the much diminished bay and shot it.
Rune was following it with her eyes, but Miss Militia forcibly turned her away.
"Sorry," she muttered at the older cape, who just nodded as she pushed her back inside the lighthouse.
"I know," she muttered back, rubbing her back. "Explosions are the prettiest of flowers for girls like us."
BOOM!
"Holy shit!" went Eidolon, following them inside, with a hand on the side of his helmet. "I think I just saw Em and Em and her platform girl crash and blow up in the middle of the bay!"
He then switched hands.
"Doormaker: could I have a big door from my current location to the Ghost House in Aspen? And hold it open for ten seconds. Thanks."
As soon as he removed his hand, a double width door opened along one of the walls, leading to an open room with a checkered floor. Miss Militia tossed her helmet through, then rapidly began pulling the entire tent through as well.
"Take care, sir," she said, just before going out of sight.
Rune dropped her helmet inside the suitcase, levitated it and used it to push forward the tent.
Just before she went through, Rune turned to Eidolon:
"A pleasure meeting you, sir!"
"No, it wasn't," he laughed sourly. "I'm a complete letdown compared to my public image."
And then, the doorway vanished.
Examining her new surroundings, it looked like the entrance hall of a manor house, with very pretty walls and ceilings, except that rather than having luxurious candelabra, coats of armour, decorative weapons and artwork on the walls, deep leather furniture and plush carpets, you had fluorescent tubes up along the triple-height ceiling, loads of empty wheelchairs and hospital beds parked along the walls, a scuffed marble floor, and a half dozen hospital staff surging toward them.
"These helmets need to stay with us until they have been downloaded," Miss Militia said to the first orderly who reached her. "Grade A intel on them."
"Understood," he replied, gesturing to the others. One picked up her helmet, two others went for wheelchairs and the rest went to deal with their 'baggage', and soon enough, they were being wheeled away, with their helmets on their knees. Rune could swear it felt hot on her knees.
"And one more thing," she said over her shoulder. "Where the girl goes, I go. List me as her temporary guardian if need be."
"Yes, ma'am."
Rune felt tears well in her eyes.
Turning to her, Miss Militia continued speaking:
"Now, decontamination will suck like you have no idea, but after that we get at least a week's vacation before we're quietly sent back. And we will also get visits from every three letter agency in the federal government to expand your testimony, but I promise I'll be on your side every step of the way."
Rune just smiled back. And sniffed. And definitely didn't start crying.
Author's Note:
And this is how Contessa's earlier interventions came to fruition: Miss Militia was counting on going to court martial for dropping a few bombs in the bay, but she then received orders to almost carpet bomb it, letting her carve again the deep water channel between the Docks and the mouth of the Bay, that hadn't received maintenance for the last 15 years. Meanwhile, Eidolon was preparing for long, boring and probably futile, but by tapping into atomic fire (and a power similar to Bememoth's) he was capable of getting the job done in no time at all. Rune got a perfect opportunity to defect, thus spilling the beans on everything without an ounce of duress. And Leviathan could have fought to bring down the seawall, but with the water being hot and radioactive, Eidolon (...supposedly...) had everything to win and Leviathan had to device a Plan B that didn't rely on the waters of the bay, thus wouldn't directly hurt the waterfront. Win-win-win-win.
I still have four more vignettes planned before the end of the fight: Aegis', the twins' and two surprises. If I feel the fight hasn't been witnessed from enough angles I'll add a few more, but the twins' would be the closing one, one way or another.
Until... I don't know when.
Cheers.