Wow… took me long enough, man… I need a better way to concentrate on writing, as much as I like it my mind is a bit too fickle it seems, and that's not adding the weeks that are busy because of other things.
But well, it is still managed to deliver more or less on time… hmm, ah well enough of me talking, back to the action everyone.
Beta: Genatools
Chapter 11: High Noon Shootout.
The town had been shaken up rather early when the bandits started banging on doors and threatening people for information and to forcibly conscript people to their side, trough threats towards them or their families, didn't matter as long as they obeyed them and they would have continued and the town might have broken down into fights… well, if it wasn't for another sudden shakeup. An explosion.
The abandoned house at the edge of town had gone into flames and exploded from the inside out suddenly at eleven in the morning, stopping everything going on and forcing the bandits to check out the ruckus, Prata herself led them towards the house to investigate, it had been on her mind as one of the last places to check, it almost seemed to be the place they were going potentially find the huntsmen until it exploded, now they had to figure how and why it blew up.
They searched the area, searched the nearby trees and walls for a sign of anything, all they found after a quick search was traces of dust and the charred remains of the house, it had been purposefully blown up however, no freak accident caused it.
"Damn it all." Prata cursed under her breath as her options seemed to run out on her.
"Ah, miss- I mean Ma'am." One of the bandits addressed her.
"Yes?" She tested, clearly annoyed.
"W-we searched the forest and there's nothing, not even traces if they ran somewhere, they are not here."
"Well obviously, did you happen to find something worthwhile, weapons, dust, something?"
"If they had anything it got blown the fuck up with the house, all that's left after we stopped the fire is a couple of walls."
"Think they might've killed 'emselves?" Another bandit asked.
"Did you find bodies yet?"
"I mean no, but maybe they got incinerated, must have been in the middle of it, must have been an accident, why else would they blow up their base? It's bloody stupid." The bandit said as she rested on her rifle.
"No yeah, that doesn't make sense, still maybe they decided to run?" The other bandit thought as well. Prata ignored both of them, they weren't dead, they had been far too good to have an accident, and she doubted they ran, well… maybe. They always seemed to make a point to disappear after they acted and immediately moved to do something else. She thought of what they could gain by drawing attention to their base and blowing it up on the process.
The explosion was a giant spotlight on the place, but why would they risk bringing most of the bandits to their hiding hole? Just as she thought that her eyes widened, the thought came back on every time they acted, the clock hit 12 at that realization and soon they heard gunshots coming from the middle of town, it looked like they'd been had.
"Motherfuckers!" She shouted. She called all of her bandits to regroup and rush back to the main hall.
Aiden strolled down the plaza and carefully watched the nearby bandits, they hadn't pinpointed him yet or his friends, Morgan and Cole were on nearby rooftops and Jack was in the back alleys, all of them ready to act, they threw some silent signs to pinpoint all the nearby bandits and once the clock hit the hour, Aiden unclipped his gun and fired shots into the air, there were a couple of screams and some people ducking for cover, the bandits cursed and suddenly paid more attention at what was happening around them.
Aiden quickly unclipped his other gun and aimed at the closest two bandits, shooting them and downing them in quick precise shots and then kept going with burst fire towards the other bandits around the plaza. They panicked and went for cover, four to six of them had already been killed or downed by the man in the black coat by the time they realized what was happening. The few ones that still had some guns aimed at him the moment they figured he was reloading and the rest tried to go and rush him. But then they realized he wasn't alone. A slipstream of transparent and orange particles rushed many of the bandits and hit them and knocked them out before tackling another one of their friends with a shotgun blast, killing him.
Cole then dropped in on an approaching group of bandits with Thunderdrop and knocked them all away, he quickly fired grenades and bolts of lightning at the closest groups, he took the right side of the plaza while Aiden, now having reloaded, took the left side. They rushed each side with Cole firing lightning bolts, diving in and throwing a lightning rocket to the other side of the plaza, and towards the main hall itself. Jack crossed paths with them and used a Time blast to clear another corner of four bandits before sending out Time Stop bubbles and freezing people in place before they could try and attack or fire their weapons. Aiden spun around to fire at multiple people in quick succession, the closest bandits tried to rush him and were met with close-quarters shots, kicks, and the strikes of his baton, beating them to submit all the while shooting at their comrades behind them and the people frozen in time.
Now it was Morgan's turn, she was ready, dropping behind a squad of incoming bandits that tried to flank the three already fighting people at once. She focused her mind and made a Superthermal trap right in the middle of them, sending them screaming in agony as they were being burned alive. She shot her shotgun at some of them before Phantom Shifting and moving out of the way of the responding firing line, she used both her Electrostatic Burst and Kinetic Blast to disperse a large group of bandits and used her Lift Field to leave another group scrambling in the air and panicking. Cole shocked all of them and fired many bolts before rushing another bandit with an exploding lightning punch.
Jack tackled three bandits into walls and knocking them out before rushing several others and ending it with a surprise attack of quick shotgun blasts once he got behind them, Jack used a new trick for this one. He realized he could affect himself at a lesser rate with his powers, so he decided to use them for speeding reloads. Even if the D12 could only house two shells he was able to reload in less than a second provided he had Chronon energy to do so. The result was about six shotgun blasts in quick succession at the back of multiple Golden Blades.
Aiden finished things up by jumping on the fountain and getting clear shots on all the stragglers while in the air, he aimed himself towards a wall and propelled himself while firing towards a group of bandits, barreling towards them with shots and tackled one of them to the ground and proceeded to throw them to a wall while he shot at knees and shoulders at the ones that were still standing. He rushed in with an elbow and a knee to the chin towards one bandit before turning to another with a smack of his baton, doing a spinning hook kick on another, firing at the testicles of a fourth and finally hitting a fifth across the head three times with his baton, sweeping his legs with a kick making his aura break and executing him with a shot to the head.
Morgan shot two bandits with her shotgun, Psychoshocked another, and then took a page out of Jack's book and Phantom Shifted towards a third bandit with a slide kick, making the bandit's knee bend the other way and making him fall, she stomped his head as he was screaming in pain to knock him out. The plaza was clear and smoking due to all the lightning, explosions, gunfire, and actual fire, still… it looked like they managed to not destroy the nearby buildings or anyone innocent. Morgan heard rushed steps coming from the main hall, there were people ready to bust out of the door and face them. Might as well get ahead of them.
She used her Kinetic Blast to smash down the door and knock the bandits on their backs, stunned and unable to do anything as she stepped forward and shocked them all unconscious with an Electrostatic Burst. The four of them gathered at the door of the main hall, now broken down and with plenty of unconscious bodies on their way, however, they all could still hear some more people left inside the building, not many, but enough to put up a fight.
"I think we have the plaza covered for now," Jack said.
"Not for long though, they are gonna be coming here soon enough," Aiden said as he reloaded.
"We have maybe less than two minutes if we want to set all of the traps," Morgan told them.
"I guess we are cleaning up quickly then, from all directions I guess?" Cole offered and they all nodded in response, they already had an idea of where to go, Jack and Morgan jumped through side windows while Aiden climbed and jumped to the top of the building in a matter of seconds and went through the roof entrance.
"Well, guess I get the front door this time," Cole said as he heard people going down the stairs and into the main hallway. "Heh, not that I mind." He said to himself as he fired a sticky rocket, it split into three rockets as it went close to the bandits that turned the corner and exploded, taking care of them. While Cole moved through the stairs and halls on the way up to throwing grenades and shockwaves, Jack rushed through the hallways hitting finding stragglers and hitting them on the back of the head or just shooting them in the back. He fired a Time Blast at a group of bandits that tried to shoot at Cole from behind and made a Time Shield to push other bandits into a wall and knock them out.
Morgan and Jack cleared every room while Cole and Aiden went in took care of the stairs and halls, all of them crossed paths more than once, Jack helped Morgan take care of a group that barricaded themselves inside a room, her sneaking in a piece of paper and surprising them with shotgun blasts and a Psychoshock, and Jack busting through the door with a Time Stop and a Time Rushing two people with rapid punches.
On the other hallway, Aiden charged in with a flying kick straight into a bandit's head, crushing it against a wall and firing at other nearby bandits, and knocking them out or killing them. Some of them had aura and were resilient enough to survive a couple of bullets before being knocked out due to impact, other's weren't so lucky. Another thug busted through a door to try and catch Aiden by surprise, instead, he got flipped over and thrown into a side table. Aiden fired at two other bandits and struck another with his baton, hit him with one of his pistols across the face, and stomped his foot and kicked his other knee. He saw Cole at the other end of the hallway punching and kicking several bandits with lightning enhanced strikes and cut the arm of another with a gigawatt blade, just then another bandit came out of another room and Aiden shot his knee and kicked with a sidekick towards Cole.
Cole zapped a bandit away with a magnum bolt and caught the bandit Aiden threw at him in mid-air, with a hand around his neck he slammed him down into the floor and joined Aiden as six bandits were ready to try and fight them on what looked like a real or smoker's area. Cole surprised two of them by grabbing their head and bashing them together before sending them flying in different directions with lightning bolts. Aiden shot two bandits, killing one and stunning the other and went in towards a third with his baton hitting him across the stomach, and then at the back of the head, he proceeded to judo throw the stunned bandit into a cupboard. The last bandit tried to rush Aiden with a machete but got struck on the back with a lightning bolt from Cole, he quickly turned around and saw two more enemies coming and threw a lightning grenade in their direction. The grenade blasted them away and made a giant hole on the floor and the nearby walls
Aiden saw another bust through a door and another from the hallway, he rushed the one from the door with a hit from his baton, blocked a counter punch, answered with a knee to the gut and a spinning hook kick to the face, he shot at the one from the hallway and again turned to the one that came from the door. The man was stunned and with his back against a window, as soon as he realized his position he panicked as he saw what Aiden was thinking.
"W-w-wait!" Was the last he said before screaming as Aiden kicked him out of the window of what must have been the fourth floor. Cole and Aiden shared a thumbs up before splitting up again, Aiden jumping down the hole Cole made and Cole running through some of the last rooms.
Cole then ran into Morgan as she set the building partially on fire with a Superthermal explosion, a quick lightning rocket was enough to put the fire out, and to put the fools burning out of their misery. They ran towards each other and clasped hands to quickly recharge on energy.
"So, how much have we left?" Cole asked.
"Rooms are clear, Jack has the lower rooms and we should only be missing-" Morgan got caught off as bandits appeared from one hallway and fired upon them, Cole protected them both with a lightning shield. "Those guys," Morgan said. The town hall had been another place to stockpile guns, but still, most of the bandits so far had either bat, axes, picks, swords, cleavers, and hammers.
"Well then, shall we?" Cole asked and Morgan grew a sudden grin, she used her Lift Field to smash all of the bandits into the roof, and a Kinetic Blast to disperse them even further. She and Cole advanced with shotgun shots and lightning bolts and blasts to dispose of the last bandits, once they took care of the hallway Morgan Phantom Shifted into another bandit inside a room, blowing a hole in his chest with her shotgun and bringing another two to their knees with Psychoshocks. Cole covered the hallway shooting bolts and rockets in both directions and even blew one of the walls apart. They met again in the hallway and the other four bandits came out of the room.
"There! Shoot those-aargh!" The bandit got interrupted when a piece of debris hit them all on their backs and flew past them and knocked them all down. Morgan had used her Remote Manipulation, only she used all of her psi energy to hurl giant piece debris and was instantly holding onto her head after she hit the bandits, Cole took care of them after that by holding the piece of debris with his electromagnetism and hurling back at the bandits, crushing them into the ground and the lower floor.
"Hey, you ok?" Cole asked and Morgan nodded. "You probably shouldn't try those things in the middle of a fight."
"It's not like I try to get a migraine, I just act and my mind and powers take over from there…, whatever, I'm fine, I'm fine." She said taking some quick breaths. "I'm good, let's go!" She said as they started to move towards the entrance of the building.
Down in the first floor Jack was taking cover behind a door frame as some bandits insisted on firing his way, he was about to rush in with Time Stops until he saw Aiden in the other of the hallway he was in, he looked straight to him and Aiden silently asked him if he needed help. Jack simply shrugged as he didn't but wouldn't say no to it. Aiden then asked how many bandits were there … again silently. Jack used his fingers to say seven, Aiden closed the distance and threw him one of his grenades, a stun one. Aiden then went from the side and signaled that he would take care of the bandits on the other side that had gathered near the entrance, Jack meanwhile entered Time Rush to throw the grenade, went back into normal time, waited for the grenade to fire, and then rushed in again in Time Rush.
He went in with a jab, a cross jab, and hook to the face on the first bandit he saw, he then did a punch to the stomach of another and threw him to the wall and dashed towards another with a side and a roundhouse kick, the fourth bandit he faced just as he came out of Time Rush with a shotgun blast right to the chest and into the wall.
"What the fuck!" The bandits shouted as they were still stunned from the grenade and firing wildly, another bandit came in and Jack froze her in place, he then finished the other three bandits with a Time Blast and blew the wall open to see Aiden hitting and knocking out two bandits, and then smashing the leg of another, making the bandit scream in pain and then executing him with a point-blank shot to the head.
Jack stood there as that was the last bandit, save for he froze in time, she shot a shotgun blast at the Time Stop bubble for good measure, upwards a body came flying through a wall as Cole and Morgan stared down towards the main entrance. It had gone from being a simple hallway toward the main room with stairs to a quiet open space with multiple walls broken down and many bodies littering the way. The hopped down and the four of them regrouped.
"So, I think we are clear, so we set this place up?" Jack asked, they heard a sudden deaf scream as the Time Stop ended and the bandit died from the sudden shot that hit her.
"Yeah, the streets as well, we got at worst thirty seconds," Morgan said.
"That should be good enough, we set the traps, face them, and once all of them go off we go back inside and face them here." Cole went back over the plan.
"Yeah, well… if this building lasts." Aiden quipped.
"We'll see, but anyway, we divide outside and inside?" Cole asked.
"Technically we'll all be outside, you and Aiden will just take point while we have everything ready for us to retreat in, by the way… I did find this." Morgan said as she showed them a megaphone, she was about to hand it over to Cole, but thinking better about deciding it would be best if it didn't explode on contact, so she handed it over to Aiden.
"Might as well call all of them," Morgan said.
"True," Aiden said as he looked it over. "Might as well go outside and get everything ready." He said as he passed some explosives to Morgan and Jack, all of them began to run around as they started to plant bombs and traps in just the right places to cover a full-on assault. Aiden held the megaphone tightly in his hand and turned it on, it was time to make an announcement.
"Come on! Let's get there quickly before-" Prata stopped as she saw none other than Eisen himself with his squads of bandits. "... You! Where the fuck were you?!" She shouted at him.
"Searching and trying to recruit! Oh seems you did a lot of hell better huh?" Eisen responded in kind.
"You know what I had to check, how many people are back in the hall?"
"Many, stop bitching and let's get there before-"
"Your time in this town is over!" They heard a voice call through a megaphone. "The Golden Blades don't belong here anymore, only thing they were was opportunists that saw a chance, to exploit, to take advantage and to maybe raid more… great fucking job you did."
"Those self-righteous motherfuckers." Prata seethed.
"Nothing more than bullies and rats that wanted to call the shots, and when that failed you started to push people around, to extort, to abuse, to kill and to send people after them… You thought you could get away with it forever? Sorry, but we are here now. You tried to go after us and many others, we stuck back and took the hall, your guns and all your people are now either beaten or dead. You won't win this one, this is your last chance to turn tail and run, to leave this behind and let others be… but don't even think of starting somewhere else, because we will chase you if you do, we'll find you and tear apart everything you make. And if you think you can just try and kill us… well, go ahead, we are waiting for you in the town hall. Do you want a fight? Come and get it." The megaphone turned off and the bandits looked at each other, but more than that at their two current leaders, both of them quiet.
"Uh… sir? Miss?" One of them tried to get something from them.
"Everyone get ready to swarm those fucks." Prata said with her teeth clenching.
"Uh… but they-"
"You heard her! We'll swarm them from all directions, corner them all kill them like fucking dogs!" Eisen shouted to all the bandits, it seemed they had agreed to put aside differences to fight the huntsmen. "I don't care what they have done, we are still many and they are only four! We can trap them, wear them down, encircle them, and kill them, they've run from us every time, they cannot deal with all of us!"
"They think we are worthless, we have more than just guns… people with aura and semblances will go first and flank, the rest rush after them and keep them in place, this time they won't escape… and don't any of you dare escape, that's what they want!" Prata joined in.
"You wanted blood, this is your chance, you wanted to kill them for all the ones they killed and took from us, then let's get them and hang their bodies from the plaza to be an example of them!" Eisen finished, if one thing was true is that they hated the four huntsmen, they hated them enough that killing them and hanging their bodies was enough of an incentive to try and risk their lives, even more so when both Prata and Eisen agreed on something. And so they rushed towards the main hall.
"That should catch their attention," Aiden said tossing the megaphone to the side.
"Could have been better, still a solid effort," Cole said.
"What are you, my critic?"
"Hey, I gave you points, but in all seriousness let's hope it does, and everything is ready?"
"Should be…" Aiden placed one last bomb near the corner of an alleyway. Jack dashed net to them with the news.
"Okay, so we have the dust bombs on the side, your classic explosives at the front, we have the smoke bomb and after that, we have the other grenades inside by the entrance and hallways." Jack told them
"You make it sound like we have a lot," Cole said.
"Okay yeah is not that much we have only like six explosives and six grenades, I don't know how many extras this guy has but still we that's all we have one shot," Jack said pointing at Aiden with his comment.
"I have enough, and might as well use it if we are getting swarmed," Aiden said checking his guns and magazines one more time.
"Right, Morgan's ready to drop in balls of fire on the right side, Pearce by the way, this was her idea but she found a rifle with a scope inside among what the Golden boys had, we left for you at the roof of the hall. So when we go back in you go for the roof."
"Alright, I can make that work."
"And you Electric man, she told me to give you this." Jack gave Cole a vial of lightning dust. "Just so you use it at the right time according to her."
"Right, okay."
"Other than that I guess we'll just do our thing, I'll be ready to slow them," Jack said as he rushed away to his waiting spot.
"How tight are we actually on this?" Cole asked Aiden.
"Best case we kill most of them as they rush us and then they flee… worst case is we bring the entire hall down and maybe die due to the falling debris."
"Well, dying is always the risk to be fair," Cole said stretching his arms and making sparks of lightning between them. "Here they come," he said pointing at a wave of rushing bandits. They were running down the street almost… too aggressively. Only some of them had firearms thanks to their previous sabotage but they still seemed set in on getting rather close before trying to shoot.
"Should we?" Cole asked.
"Wait until they start aiming, the closer they get the better."
"True."
The Golden Blades rushed until they reached the last buildings that opened into the plaza, there they started to aim…
"Now!" And as soon as the Golden Blades tried to rush or fire Cole and Aiden started to fire both bullets and lightning, the first barrage got most of the bandits and the rest quickly took cover, Aiden threw a cluster of small sticky lightning grenades and Aiden suppressed most of the bandits that tried to fire towards them, they managed to down, injure, kill and subdue several bandits before they were able to respond in kind when they did, however, they had to both dodge roll in different directions to avoid the gunfire. They hadn't downed as many as they would like, however, and some of them seemed to be getting up, Aiden and Cole saw as the ones that endured had sparks of energy and a light coming out of them.
"Aura!"
"Shit."
They dodged just in time as well for the flankers to come in, they were coming from the streets to the side and the alleyways, Cole fired missiles and grenades quickly before they could aim for him while Aiden ran and gunned, firing both his handguns as he avoided enemy fire and retaliated. Cole put up his shield to block several bullets before sending out a barrage of lightning and a grenade to shock down several bandits and as more bullets came his way, he decided to dive for one of the alleyways, firing bolts to another group of flankers in the said alley before rushing in with punches and kicks. He kicked one person into the wall, uppercut another bandit in the chin and punched them downwards with a clever punch, shot a thunderbolt at point-blank to another and he used a flying punch that exploded into lightning to get the few bandits that were remaining.
One of them got up and tried to go at him with a wild punch from behind, Cole simply blocked the attack, grabbed the arm and twisted it, the bandit's aura fickle almost broken and Cole stared directly at her, she tried to pry her arm off with no success, Cole then simply blasted her with a point-blank Magnum bolt right back to the middle of the plaza.
Aiden for his part fired both guns left, right, and center, all the while moving to avoid being shot, the moment a person went further in either direction he aimed one his guns in that direction, shooting front with one arm while shooting to the left with the other, or the right or both of them to the center. He had to make the bullets count to hit multiple bandits, once he ran out he dashed to the side, reloaded quickly, and rushed one of the flankers.
He jumped him quite literally with a flying knee, tackled and rolled to the ground with him, shooting and striking the closest Golden Blades nearby with gun and baton, shooting them in the kneecaps, hitting them over their heads, shooting the abdomen of one before turning and kicking another, smacking the rest in the face and tripping them or hitting them in the jugular. He's noticed something in the air, his reflexes screamed, and quickly he had to avoid someone coming from above with knives, he dodged the first attack by jumping back, and then when he committed for another, Aiden decided to rush first with a knee, a kick that sent him up in the air and then he fired both guns at him in a quick barrage, it was enough to go through the aura of the bandit land three clean shots to the chest, one of them landing in the heart.
He ducked as he felt a bullet fly by him, he then on reflex picked up the person he tackled in the beginning, still on the ground and disoriented, he held his arm on his back and used him as a human shield before turning to the rest of the bandits and firing back with his burst fire pistol. There were still plenty of bandits coming, however, several.
"This is far more than I thought!" Cole yelled while throwing a missile and absorbing a nearby lamppost.
"That's why we planned!" Aiden yelled back, as he kept his shield in check and continued to fire and reload with one hand, he crouched behind the bandit he held hostage and pulled out his phone. "Now is as good as ever!" He said as he pressed the button and the first row of explosives detonated, fire and shrapnel exploded from little places on the main street where most bandits had been keen on advancing, they had gained enough ground to try and push in, only to walk right into the trap zone.
The bandits screamed as the explosion hit them, scattering them both by the surprise and the size of the explosion, it had been enough to form a small crater and kill many of them, Aiden and Cole took the chance to fire to at all the groups coming from the sides, as much as they could. But more flankers came, far more and from even further down the sides through more alleyways, with melee weapons and with the intent of beating them to death before they could focus on everything. Truly encircling them and coming at them like swarms of bees.
That was where Jack and Morgan made their appearance, however.
Several bandits screamed before they could rush Aiden and his body shield, they had been set on fire and then blasted away with a Kinetic Blast from Morgan. Upon the rooftops, she focused on large groups and fired Electrostatic Bursts, made them fly with Lift Fields, and placed Superthermal traps, she had covered the back alleys and now it was her turn to take a more active role. She dismantled the rushers with her powers and shot at them from afar while Aiden focused on the main force, shooting at them and throwing a dust grenade that exploded in a wave of hot vapor earth shards.
On the other side of the plaza Jack went at full speed and rammed through a group of six bandits during his Time Rush, he met Cole and placed a Time shield around them both, knocking away several flaking bandits that had gotten in close while Cole had been focused on the people coming down the main streets. Cole used the shield as an amp for his powers and ran lightning through it, making the nearby flankers get flung even farther away and most likely get knocked unconscious due to the force and the electricity of the time shockwave.
"So ready to join the fun?" Cole asked him.
"Hey, that's how you talk to people that come in saving your ass? Let's get them!" Jack said as he fired three Time Stops at the main street, several bandits being frozen in time.
Cole and Aiden fired at the Time Stops while Jack focused on more flankers by rushing in with ick to the knee of a bandit and making the bandit scream as her leg broke. He fired quickly at two other bandits with the D12 and rushing in again towards another with a straight punch to the face, one to the stomach, and then throwing him to another bandit. He then Time dodged and tackled into another bandit with a dropkick, the impulse making the bandit fly and hit a wall, making a huge crack on it.
He Time Dodged back to the center of the plaza and fired a Time Blast to another group of bandits that tried to come from behind them, warping them and exploding them to what seemed to be out of existence and then back in with the distorted screams and ghostly echoes it caused.
At that moment Aiden and Cole made the Time Stops explode and cause all the Golden Blades trapped inside to be killed from the sudden impact of the stacked bullets and lightning bolts, the energy exploded in a sudden barrage of orange bullet shrapnel and blue sparks. Aiden smashed the face of his body shield against the fountain as the bandit tried to escape, he did so again for good measure to knock him out and then rushed the closest group of bandits he could find.
He went all-in with the extra strength and speed his aura allowed, he dashed by the side of the bandit and hit him twice with his baton to make him faceplant into the ground, he turned to another with an elbow, a strike of the baton, and a roundhouse kick made the next one flip with a judo throw and kneed him on the back of the head before smashing his head with the baton, made two quick shots to two other bandits, one on the thigh and another on the stomach. He quickly turned to the other two and alternated several sidekicks and strikes of the baton between them, finishing them both by hitting their legs, hitting one of them into the other with a swing of the baton to the back of the head and smashed their heads together with a kick.
He clotheslined one of the bandits he shot with the baton and then smacked the other with his gun, quickly rushing at the last one nearby blocking the attack he made with a sword, using his momentum to get behind him, and quickly snap his neck. He turned around and dodged and rolled out of the way of several bullets coming his way, he was out of bullets and needed to quickly reload if he wanted to fight back. Just then Morgan jumped into his rescue by Lift Fielding the gunners into the air and then jumping in with them and basting them all away with Kinetic Blast. They flew through the air and she landed ready to fire at four different bandits in quick succession with her shotgun, she Phantom Shifted towards another with a tackle, a hit from the stock of her shotgun, and kick to the teeth. She quickly faced another two bandits that came her way and collapsed their minds with Psychoshocks.
She faced to their back and saw how another group of flanking bandits tried to get behind them and ran into one of her Superthermal traps, she shot the ones that were still alive with her handgun before quickly turning to one of the side streets and sending an Electrostatic Burst, it paralyzed five bandits and left them open for her to ignite them with another Supertherma trap. She did wonder if it being one of her more effective powers that had turned her into a pyromaniac in some sick way.
She was reminded to pay attention as she was shot from the side, the bullets impacting on her Backlash shield and making her turn and shooting on instinct, her shooter turned out to have an aura as a couple of bullets did not down him immediately. Morgan Phantom Shifted to the side and shot her shotgun to try and catch him, he dodged to the side and was able to evade the blast. However, he did not see the Kinetic Blast coming and then the subsequent shot that sent him flying straight to Jack.
Jack for his part was Time dodging in and out, back and forth in three different directions, going in with a punch in one side, then turning with a shotgun blast to the other after rushing a bandit and then turning and firing the shotgun again in the direction of another. He saw the person flying towards him stopped him in mid-air with a punch to the back and then thrust his shotgun into him and fired point-blank. He backed away in a Time Dodge and sent forward two Time Stops, freezing six bandits and the quickly rushing three others with a push kick, several hooks, and jabs and then elbowing one on the side of the head and using him as a stepping board to do flying rising kick to the chin of another bandit, he took the chance, reloaded the D12, eliminated one of the Time bubbles with two shots, followed by a quick reload and extra shots and killing the bandits.
He rushed in on the remaining three and quickly dispatched two with a flying punch and a knee to the crotch while being in Time Rush. The last one however blocked preemptively the minute he saw him dash forward, Jack suddenly got trapped and pushed back with a kick, he fired the D12 and saw how the bandit took them, bouncing off a purple glow, he then rushed in, breaking his guard with a low punch to the gut, hitting him with the D12 itself and then quickly turning to another bandit that came from the side, he blasted her as she tried to jump kick him. She got hit and rolled on the ground as her aura took it, she could still fight, however, and rushed back… however, no matter how fast she was, she couldn't beat time-warping fast.
Jack quickly dodged past her and shot her in the back, right into the other bandit, he then dodged back in the other direction and hit one of them in that back of the head, kicked another with a roundhouse kick to the stomach and quickie reloaded, shooting and killing with a direct shot to the face and doing the same to the other with an under the armpit backward shot.
Jack felt himself being hit by some bullets and his powers taking most of it, he made a quick Time Shield to get some breathing room and to reload, he had to quickly dash away as a bandit with a heavy two-handed ax tried to leave him in half. The bandit tried to follow Jack, or at least go in his general direction… until Cole pushed in with Gigawatt blades and eviscerated him.
Cole spun around and uppercut a bandit with a giant knife away and grabbed the head of another that tried to pile on him, he zapped and electrocuted him through his eyes until he stopped moving and then moved quickly to fire more lighting bolts towards the bandits that had guns, he hit four in quick succession and the did a back kick to knock away and approaching man with a hammer. Cole focused on what could be immediate threats and saw a couple of bandits lighting up a Molotov, he didn't waste time and fired a precise and thin bolt of lightning that made the Molotov explode and set them on fire. He turned to the other side and fired two rockets before spinning around with a roundhouse kick followed by a jab and a haymaker to a bandit that tried to jump on his back. He turned with two bolts to two flankers, spun back to do a flying flip kick to a bandit that tried to shank him, he then threw two grenades to a pack of Golden Blades, rushed in another direction to beat down three bandits with four hooks between them, two kicks, a knee, and a flying kick. He didn't lose time and faced another group that tried to rush him, this time he pushed the five of them with a lightning palm explosion, just then though more people joined in on the rush and so he got an idea.
Cole fired two bolts of lightning and a pincer bolt to push the new arrivals together, he jumped up a nearby wall and used his thrusters to be above them, with all of them huddled up he sent a downwards rocket and then came in hard with a Thunderdrop. All of the bandits got scattered, some of them getting knocked out and many killed by the two point-blank explosions. Cole regulated his electricity by making sparks fly around him as if stretching a muscle. He couldn't focus much longer on the move he pulled off though as more bullets came firing his way.
"Okay… there are less but I think we need a breather." Cole shouted.
"I'll go with you," Aiden said as he threw a grenade of ice dust that managed to knock away one bandit, impale two in ice spikes and completely freeze another into solid ice.
"How much ice and dust did you put in that?" Morgan asked as she shot her shotgun and Psychoshocked another person trying to get close.
"Maybe… a bit too much."
"You didn't have that much…. I did let you take from my pockets but just how much did you take?." Morgan said checking her dust reserves, she might need to use them soon.
"I…"
"Guys! Phase two!" Jack shouted at them as they steadily began to back up.
"On it!" Aiden shouted as he threw down a powerful smoke bomb, Morgan then used her wind dust combined with her Kinetic Blast to spread that smoke in a cyclone that went outwards and blinded and knocked back the bandits on their backs. They began to run back towards the hall.
"If we go and let them walk on the traps we might be able to finish them," Morgan said.
"Well, the plan's coming out oka-argh!" Jack was suddenly blasted on the back by an explosion of fire, and so were Morgan, Cole, and Aiden, all of them landed on their backs or sides, as they saw what had hit them, from the cloud of smoke, came out a man with fire coming from his hands and aiming his hands at them.
"Oh, that's just great." Aiden moaned as his aura flashed green and as he and the others got up, there were a couple of seconds of tension as they faced the man, waiting for him to act as they didn't know what he could do. Aiden opened up by firing a couple of shots and the Golden Blade swiped his hands and made the bullets melt and sent another wave of fire their way, they rolled and dodged out of the way.
"All right! Come and get it you fucks!" He shouted as he sent another fireball their way.
"As you wish!" Jack went in first with Aiden by his side, the man tried to hit them with a ball of fire but as it turned out, both Aiden and Jack were a bit too fast for him. They circled in and Jack landed a quick shotgun blast and tried to land a punch until the man blocked it, he then quickly dodged away and let Aiden hit him with his baton, kick him away and jump over him to avoid a bolt of fire and shoot him at the same time.
Cole rushed him with several punches and rolled away from a firebolt as a wall, he answered with a magnum bolt. The Golden Blade got sent back and was rushed by Morgan, he sent a fire wave her way, but Morgan anticipated and fought fire with even more fire, making a Superthermal fire and making it blast away the fire from the Golden Blade, she the Psychoshoked him and all of them saw his aura flash. In a quick team strike Morgan lifted him, Cole used a rocket to push him even higher, Jack Time Dodged into the air and dropped him back down with an elbow and Aiden met him at the bottom and knocked him into the fountain with a hair-trigger concussion grenade.
The Golden Blade's aura shattered as he groaned and there the four of them didn't waste time to aim at him.
"No… not like this-" The man raised his hands to try and send another bolt of fire. The four of them didn't give him a chance and fired before he could do anything, effectively riddling him with bullets and lightning. The smoke had dissipated and the bandits were staring at them, some of them in shock.
"Guess that made an impression. Gunners and guys with powers all trying to kill us from all directions, heh feels like back in Empire City" Cole reminisced.
"Wouldn't know, wasn't there." Jack quipped.
"We gotta move," Aiden said as he threw more of his grenades, the last of them. Cole did the same and so did Jack and Morgan with their respective projectiles as they rushed inside the hall, Cole and Morgan through the main door, Jack through a window, and Aiden by climbing up through the exterior in three power jumps.
The bandits tried to follow and to shot at Aiden as he was the only one visible on the exterior, but as soon as they moved forward they hit more of the traps, one of them made ice spikes sprout from the ground with an explosion and kill them, another made with lightning dust shock and paralyzed them, another made an explosion of steam and then expanded into the fire. The bandits screamed and thrashed as the bandits were activated and soon after that Aiden was firing at them from above with the rifle. Many bandits started to panic, half of them still pushed forward, but the other half started to doubt themselves… and run.
One of them in particular saw his friends beginning to run, he looked back and saw as more of the Golden Blades fell, he looked back and decided to book it, he practically ran while looking at the chaos he was leaving… just to bump into Prata herself, he stopped on his tracks and saw her furious stare.
"Ah- Ma'am please I… Aaagh." The bandit gasped as Prata jabbed her weapon into his throat, it was a set of special black glove gauntlets with retractable silver claws, she let the body fall quickly after prying them out.
"Useless, all of you." She said as she stared back at the main hall, "At least maybe this will get rid of the weak ones." She said as she eyed Eisen, who nodded to her and he and a few others went forward and started to go to the hall from another side entirely.
"Are we ready for this one?" Cole asked Morgan after they shared a quick electrical recharge.
"As much as we are going to be," Morgan said pointing at the bombs hidden behind the entrance.
"Heh, nice."
"Feeling like going back out there?"
"Yeah I think the leaders are the ones that are left, might be able to face them."
"More guys are coming in! Prata is behind them!" Jack called to them from the room above, they heard a warp explosion and more gunfire as it seemed both Aiden and Jack were holding them back.
"Okay… guess I'll take care of her," Cole said,
"Leave the rest to us. We still have to find Eisen." Morgan nodded at him and ran back down the hallway, Cole decided to jump up the hole that led to the second floor and wait for the explosions to go off. He didn't have to wait for long as the bandits charged in and aimed in all directions for signs of them, he could also hear more bandits coming from the sides and going up the wall, it was the last charge it seemed.
He then saw the bandits being fired at by who he could only guess was Morgan.
"She's there's, she's running away!" One of the bandits said for the rest of them, they began to follow as Prata entered the building at that point as well, she had realized by now that the four huntsmen had planned this carefully, bringing them into traps to take them out and their superior numbers, whether there were more still to be triggered, she would prefer if the rest of Golden Blades triggered them first. If you wanted to do something right might as well do it yourself, and they would only get in her way.
Her suspicions were confirmed as they went after the woman and then a bomb triggered, probably killing most of them and setting the front of the hall on fire.
"Fucking hell." She covered her face from the explosion and the fire, she still had her group of bandits, the ones she trusted, they went in and made sure that there weren't more explosives.
"We'll find one first and corner them, one by one. Stick together and we'll be able to bring them-" The heard a loud crash, Cole had punched through the wall and sent a lightning rocket their way. It impacted and brought down all the bandits and blasted Prata out the door and back into the plaza, she laid there unmoving and shaking her head to try and get rid of the spinning on her head and of the electricity that was going through her.
"You won't be bringing down anyone today, you should have tried a different life sweety," Cole said as he walked out the main hall into the now… surprisingly bandit absent plaza, the explosives must have done their work. A bandit came out of an alleyway and tried to rush Cole… only to be shot by Aiden from above with a single shot to the chest. "But that's over now." He said as focused back on Prata, he was about to restrain her to the ground with lightning… until her hand began to glow and it grabbed on to his leg, he felt as though the electricity was being sucked out of him, not only that but his strength and… life force as well. He didn't know what kind of power or semblance this was but it was clear he couldn't let it happen, he forced his body to move and to pry himself away from Prata.
"AHHHH!" She shrieked as she sent an outwards explosion of lightning. Cole was sent a couple of meters away as he rolled on the ground, once he recovered he stared back and saw that Prata was surrounded by sparks of lightning, it looked like she didn't even know what she was doing.
"WHAT- ugh. What is this?!" She shouted in confusion, she looked as if she was trying to move or gander at what she was able to do. "How does this- agh!" She yelped as she sent forward a little spark and a bolt of lightning. "It never felt like this, never worked like this… what the fuck is your semblance!?" She demanded out of him.
Cole looked at himself and shot sparks, he still had his powers, even if he felt drained. Cole quickly put two and two together at how expectant of different results she seemed.
"You do that often?" Cole asked and didn't get an answer, only Prata trying to extend her hand in a similar way to him, only for nothing to come out. "Ah, let me guess… copycat? Something like that? So what? You have an archive of the things you have stolen?" He asked, only to receive a furious stare in return.
"Huh… I'm gonna guess you can only do one at a time then." Cole said as he crushed the vial of lightning dust that Morgan gave him, feeling already replenished, good thing absorbing electricity also healed him.
"Doesn't matter, I can still kill you." She said to him, her gauntlets showing her silver claws and looking as if she was ready to pounce, with lightning surrounding her.
"You wanna bet? Because between you and me, your chances aren't looking good." Prata snarled at him and rushed forward, Cole was certainly surprised because she was indeed fast, it looked like whatever she absorbed allowed her to move faster and control his powers… barely, still though he would admit the silver claws came a bit close to his face before he sidestepped.
"Fine then, we'll do this the hard way," Cole said as he ducked, dodged, and rolled out of the way of Prata's claw swipes, threw a grenade on the ground to make some distance, and then closed said distance with a punch to her stomach, a forward kick and a lightning bolt that sent her rolling away.
She did recover quickly and sped after Cole again and tried to pluck his eyes out, but more than that she extended her hand and tried to grab him again. Cole saw the glow and immediately backflipped to avoid the hand, he used a shockwave to push her away before firing more lightning bolts, she was resilient, and even after being hit she didn't stay put… maybe that was what made her somewhat of a leader.
Cole blocked three claw swipes before answering back with two punches, one to the head and one to the gut, he retaliated with a lightning palm and sent Prata flying through the plaza. She was angry and in her anger managed to make a couple of lightning bolts his way. In all honesty, he didn't know if they would hurt him, but if Kessler's lightning bolts were anything to go by… they most likely would.
He dodged out of the way, and was surprised when she went in with a kick, he blocked and was about to retaliate when she made a small shock explosion near her. Of course, most people that got powers could do different things and do different moves from him, but with his powers? It was almost insulting if it wasn't for the fact that she left herself completely open. He retaliated with a kick followed by a knee, a jab, and two lightning bolts… it pushed her away and he was about ready to throw a grenade until he saw her jump forward with her hand glowing.
He got out of the way with a sidestep and instead was caught with something he didn't expect, the hand stopped glowing and the claws from the gauntlet extended, glancing him across the face with a backhand swipe, kicking his leg and then using the other gauntlet to thrust the claws into him. He grabbed and stopped the claw from severely damaging him, instead, it made a gash in his stomach, although he didn't feel it that much.
If he could take bullets he could take blades for the most part. He focused and made electricity course through Prata, making her scream and then blasting her away with an upwards lightning palm, using a shockwave to knock her away and then shooting her in mid-air with two Magnum bolts. Prata rolled on the street and coughed and hacked as her aura flickered as it tried to repair the damage. Cole threw a lightning grenade for good measure, but Prata dodged and rolled out of the way, and again avoided lightning bolts as she jumped on a wall and dived straight for Cole with her hand glowing. Cole for his part saw it and slid under her as she dived, both of them exchanging position.
It was getting tricky, Cole noticed that even if Prata was proud she wasn't completely stupid, she knew she had to play defensive and that her best bet was to use her semblance, for, in reality, he really couldn't let her touch him and drain him again, especially if he wasted more energy. He would have to be careful.
Aiden had been gunning down several bandits as they entered his line of sight, a few bandits had also climbed over walls and gotten to him, all of them with aura but not to an extent compared to him, the assassins or even the man with the fire hands. No, by comparison, they couldn't last as long or resist as much damage as he could… and that was mostly from his lifelong experience fighting and as a thief and vigilante.
Two bandits went in first and tried to double team him, he ducked their attacks, used the rifle as a weapon to hit both of them, and shot them point-blank, by the end one was dead and the other unconscious. He went back to see what bandits were down on the street and saw Cole going towards Prata herself, he didn't get to see much other than the bandit that came out of an alley. He shot the bandit and then immediately had to turn back as he heard another group of bandits go through the door to the rooftop. How they got past all the other floors so quickly was beyond him.
He rolled away from the bullets and answered with quick hip fire from his rifle before dropping it and going in with his handguns, he shot at them, downing two, and rushed in to be close up and personal, he kicked the knee of one stopped the others from aiming at him by blocking the path of their guns with his own, and then took the shot instead. Quickly he had six bandits down due to blood loss or beaten down until they were knocked out.
He grabbed the rifle again and saw as Cole and Prata were dashing in and out and throwing lightning bolts, it seemed like Cole had the upper hand and would win in the end, but Prata was making him work for it. He tried to aim for Prata, but with how fast both of them were moving it was slightly difficult, but he could follow her and be about to get in a good shot.
Until a plant vine wrapped around his rifle.
"What the-" Aiden saw as a bandit had sneaked up on him and had long green vines in each hand they seemed to be coming out her arms. Aiden wrestled for the control of the rifle and almost had it until the bandit used her other arm to wrap a vine around his leg. Aiden fell as she pulled and began to drag him closer.
"Shit." He cursed as he let go of the rifle with one hand and used his pistol to shoot at her, he got her straight in the forehead and she yelped, her aura flashing and aggressively pulling at her whip vines. Aiden rolled and stood up as she pulled and got free once she let go of his leg to hold on to her forehead, the aggressive tug had pulled him away to the center of the roof and also had thrown the rifle off the roof, now with both of them face to face they were waiting for the first move.
"Enough people have died, you don't need to join them," Aiden said aiming at her with both handguns, she didn't answer and instead brought out a khopesh from her back and also unfolded the vine from her other arm. "Fine then."
Aiden fired both guns and quickly ran around in circles around her, the bandit blocked most of the bullets with her khopesh and tried to grab or whip Aiden with her vine as he ran around her, Aiden perfectly dodged the whip vine, he ducked and dived roll to avoid it while he kept shooting. The girl was good, but she wasn't able to block all the bullets, she got hit in the legs and Aiden used the chance to go in with a front kick and shot her in the air towards the edge with a barrage of bullets. She nearly got sent off the edge but she recovered at the last second and far faster than Aiden thought she could, as she rolled she deflected more bullets and quickly wiped her vine how to try and catch Aiden.
Aiden simply moved his head out of the way and got closer, since bullets weren't doing much, he might as well get closer and not give her a chance to deflect the bullets. She tried to do a quick whip to the catch Aiden, he ducked and got in close. She tried to strike at him with khopesh and he blocked the strikes with his baton, they kept exchanging strikes and dodging each other's counters until Aiden kicked her heel, hit her arm his baton, shot her in the stomach with his off-hand, hit her across the head twice with his baton and then kicked her away with a spinning back kick.
She rolled on the ground and quickly used her whip vine to get a hold of Aiden's baton, she tried to pry it off his hand, but as it turned out Aiden was stronger than her. He pulled and left her open for two quick shots, Aiden did have to reload however and that was the moment the bandit took her chance to try and get him with a sudden whip vine to the leg. She did manage to trip Aiden and went in to try and behead him, only for Aiden to block the attack with his baton and push her away with a kick to the leg. After that, they continued exchanging strikes.
Jack shot a bandit in the back and Time Rushed another through a wall, most of the bandits had been taken care of due to the traps, the explosives, and him and Morgan blindsiding them whenever they could.
"That should be it." He said as he looked around, he heard Morgan was still fighting people on the other hallways, Cole seemed to be doing his thing at the front door from all the sparks he could hear and Aiden seemed to be shooting as well, but for his part, it seemed like most of the bandits that tried to flank them were downed or killed by their second line of defense. He did however spot something, he saw through a hole in the wall a bandit with plant vines coming out her arms and used them both to pull herself onto the roof in one jump.
"Oh no." He tried to rush outside, only to be blindsided by a mace to his face. Jack hit the ground hard and tried to hold his face, he didn't feel his nose bleeding, but it felt like it was about to be, he looked up to see who had hit and his vision cleared up in time to see Eisen holding a gun to his head.
"Oh, it's you," Jack said to him.
"Just die already!" Eisen said as he pulled the trigger, only to realize the gun wasn't in his hand anymore, Jack had swiped it from him in sudden Time Burst and the dodged behind him to hit him on the back of the head, then knee him on the stomach and used his Time Rush to tackle him and kick him through a wall.
Eisen slowly recovered and began to stir. "Do you have any idea, how much that mace hurts?" ack called to him as he walked towards him and rushed forward to punch him, and he did… only to recoil as he punched solid iron.
"Ah, fuck!" Jack shouted as he held his hand.
"That's not the only thing that's gonna hurt you, smartass," Eisen told him as he swung his mace again and hit Jack in the stomach and sent him across the room.
"Why is it I get the guys tough skin." Jack doubled over his stomach.
"Shut up." Eisen was about to bring the mace down on Jack's head, at least until a yellow wave of energy blasted him away, that gave Jack the chance to go in and kick and shoot Eisen with his shotgun and then to back away quickly as Eisen turned to iron and began swinging his mace.
"Thanks for the save," Jack said to Morgan who appeared from one of the hallways.
"Not a problem." She answered as both of them faced Eisen, who slowly got up and faced them both.
"You have any idea how fucking annoying you guys are?" Eisen asked them.
"Have you any idea how many lives you have ruined?" Morgan asked back, Eisen for his part held his mace with both hands and dashed towards them. Morgan put a Superthermal trap that quickly exploded, both her and Jack were surprised as Eisen went through as he turned to solid iron, they both dashed out of the way of his swings and Jack quickly put him on a Time Stop.
Both him and Morgan fired at the bubble until it shattered and the blast of bullets made Eisen stagger to a knee, Jack dashed in with a kick, not making Eisen move or even to double over, but he followed up with a shotgun shot to the face that seemed to do more. Eisen covered his face and quickly retaliated with a swing of his mace.
He tried to tackle Jack to pin him down, but only managed to grab thin air as Jack dashed away, Morgan tried to stun him with an Electrostatic Burst… only for that as well to have little effect, both her and ack kept firing against Eisen and avoiding his hits the best they could, he seemed almost impervious to damage. Every time they got a hit or a shotgun blast in Eisen quickly tried to hit back with a rather fast mace swing, they ducked, rolled, and jumped over him to avoid him as they kept firing and using their powers.
Jack put Eisen in a Time Stop and Morgan used in conjunction with her Superthermal power to hit Eisen with a quick barrage of explosions in less than a second. She used dust and added a Kinetic Blast of rock dust and Jack used his own Time Blast. The explosion was just what they needed to hurt Eisen and bring him out of his iron skin state. Eisen flew through another wall due to the explosion and his aura flashed orange as it tried to hold itself.
"Now!" Jack said as both he and Morgan rushed Eisen and shot him at close range, Jack made a move to kick Eisen after the fact, but both of them were surprised when Eisen recovered from the shots, went back into being made of iron, and quickly used his mace to hit Morgan n the stomach, he then grabbed Jack's leg, threw him on his back and spun him around to throw him.
"Let's see how you like it!" Eisen said as he threw a screaming Jack through a wall, he then focused back on Morgan who was still doubling over, they both stared at each other and Morgan made a move to dash away… only to be intercepted.
"Oh no!, I'm done with both of you running away!" Eisen said as he grabbed Morgan with both hands by the neck and started choking her, Morgan kicked him as hard as she could but it did nothing, her barely tickling his iron skin. Eisen for his part was hoping he could break Morgan's neck and make her head pop.
However Jack came back quickly, and he combined his Time Rush and his Time Dodge into a powerful dropkick that was strong enough to harm Eisen's back through his iron skin. Eisen yelped and just as it happened Morgan pressed her hands to his face and Psychoshocked him with everything she had. Eisen screamed and thrashed, he tried to pry her hands away but soon his mind was being attacked in such a forceful way that made him drop his semblance and his aura to falter, he doubled over, his nose bleeding and his head hurting. Not as if his head was about to explode, but as if it had already exploded and kept getting worse.
Jack didn't waste time and used his shotgun to get rid of the last of Eisen's aura, he then threw him to the ceiling and Morgan used the last of her energy to make the ceiling cave-in with her Remote Manipulation, crushing Eisen under the debris. Eisen was conscious for a bit until he finally was knocked out by the… mental trauma.
"Son of a bitch!" Jack took a deep breath, he patted Morgan's back as she was doing her best to recover her own breath, she was going to have the marks of someone trying to strangle her for a while.
"Think- argh, that it's over?" She asked Jack.
"Maybe… I don't hear anything outside."
In the meanwhile, Aiden had pushed his opponent towards the edge of the building with a kick and made her fly away with two point-blank shots from both his guns, the bandit flew off the edge but as a last-ditch effort, she used both her vines to get a hold of Aiden's arms and to pull him with her.
They both flew into the air, however, Aiden wasn't going to go down like she would have hoped, instead, he started to spin in mid-air to tangle up the vines and to fire his guns at her all the while, making a rainstorm of bullets that hit her as he was pushed towards the ground, the impacts were too much for her and her vines gave out. That gave Aiden the chance to fire the last of his bullets and on the Golden Blade girl.
His landing made the ground crack and her aura to falter, she had taken quite a beating… a beating that had been at the expense of his own ammo, he was now officially out of both bullets and grenades, it seemed he would need to finish this up close and personal.
"Pearce!" Aiden heard Cole's warning, he quickly turned with his baton and saw Prat very close to him, her hand glowing and extending towards him, he got out of the way and kicked her in the stomach and then backhanded her with his baton. Prata was about to counter-attack when she was hit by a powerful thunderbolt on her back, then Aiden kicked her towards Cole.
Cole used the chance to hit Prata on the back of the head and to do a suplex on her, once she was down he threw a couple of lightning bolts her way, she was stunned and tried to crawl away as the lightning hit her.
"Stay down and don't try anything," Cole said as Prata squirmed under the lightning shocks. Aiden was about to go help Cole restrain her until his feet got swept off, he crashes to the ground with a thud and saw as the injured girl with vines was pulling him towards her in an attempt to do something, possibly save Prata.
Cole turned to see what was happening, it was enough of a distraction for Prata to make her move as she did a sweep kick from the ground and made Cole fall on his back, completely at her mercy. She used the chance to make contact with both her hands and used her semblance.
"You. Are not. Gonna get. The better of me!" She said as she started to absorb whatever she could from Cole, Cole himself felt his strength going away, but he wasn't out yet, he could fight, and if Prata wasn't going to submit, then he might as well not hold back anything.
"Sorry, but I will!" Aiden said as he stopped trying to pry Prata's hands away from him, instead, he held on to her head, shocked her, and started to suck out the power Prata was trying to steal and more. He was Bioleaching her. Prata knew what people felt from her semblance… but she never thought she would be at the end of something similar, and far worse. She felt her body stop to work, she felt all of her energy benign pried away.
She could have backed away, she could have pushed him away, but she was so focused on trying to outperform Cole and using energy to perform her semblance that before she noticed, her aura was gone, her energy was gone, her body was turning off… she put some much energy trying to recover her own that not even Cole noticed how quickly she lost everything. Her life included.
Cole took a huge chunk of air as he felt all his power and strength returning to him, and saw as Prata's body dropped motionlessly. "Fuck." He cursed, he turned around to see how Aiden was doing and saw him standing over the defeated girl, she seemed to still be alive, but as it stood, it looked like the fighting was over, the rest of the bandits were either dead, knocked out, or had fled.
"Everything okay?" Aiden asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine… she's uh, not though." Cole motioned to Prata's body. Aiden looked at the body.
"What happened?"
"She got a hold of me, tried to absorb my powers or something like that… It felt like my life being sucked out and so... I decided to take it back, I sucked all the electricity she had on her nervous system, turned her off basically."
"You can do that?"
"... I've only done it when I'm in a pinch, to come back to fight when I'm almost dead, last resort. But yeah, we are all little batteries in a way, and just like other things that have electricity, I can absorb the juice out of people."
"Huh… well, if it helps, not one of us would rather have you die from your powers being sucked out from you." Aiden patted Cole's shoulder.
"… Heh, didn't picture you the kind to say stuff like that."
"I know what you are feeling, no matter how you kill you are still killing someone, and you would much rather not have to do it, but we do it more than just to survive, we do it so others are safe, to protect others, and we don't hold back because if we do… we could not act in time to save someone. And that goes for us as well." Aiden said to him.
"Hmm, yeah… hey uh, thanks, Pearce."
"Not a problem, let's make sure the others are okay." Aiden said as they turned towards the burning town hall, it was intact, but it was missing windows, the entire front entrance, some walls... and the interior must have been in even worse condition, all of this destruction had occurred and it wasn't even two in the afternoon. "I guess I was right, we really destroyed the place." Aiden said.
"How you think it would have gone if they had al their guns?" Cole asked him.
"I'll rather not think about it."
"Holy shit!" They both heard a voice nearby, they turned to the direction of the said voice and saw Rustler looking at the destroyed plaza and the bodies that littered it. "Is- is… is it over?" He asked with a hint of fear in him.
Both Aiden and Cole stared at each other before one of them answered. "Should be."
"I… I didn't expect any of you to… what the hell…?" Was it how quick it had been, how many dead bodies had there been, how much the hall had been destroyed, he didn't know, he was surprised the Grimm didn't show up. Speaking off…
"How? How did you make sure the Grimm wouldn't turn up with all this death and destruction?" He asked. "The negativity alone should have brought an army over here."
"We told you that we cleared the nearby nests already," Jack remarked.
"Okay… sure, you might have done that, but still, shit. How much did you clear? I mean just a few weeks ago there was an air of negativity ready to explode in this town, then you showed up, destroyed the inn, started fighting the bandits and stopping them from getting the better of everybody, killing the Grimm for all to see like a spectacle and humiliated… okay, okay, I get it, but still, I would have expected Grimm from this but… nothing." Rustler almost laughed, he couldn't believe it.
Maybe there wasn't that much negativity in the town anymore. "You never told me why you decided to act now, I thought you would do some more planning, what happened?"
"They were about to step up their game to find us, they would start conscripting you, and torturing you to try and find information about us, and possibly to raid nearby caravans and settlements," Aiden told him.
"Oh… oh shit. Huh, then I won't complain, I already lost friends to them, I would rather not lose more."
"That was the- ach huh, sorry, that was the plan," Morgan said, still recovering from her attempted strangulation.
"So uh, now that you got rid of the Golden Blades, what are you going to do?" Rustler asked the four of them.
"The leader is still out there, and as long as he's out there we have the price on our heads," Cole said.
"Right… we still have Eisen and those other ones with semblances you captured, the rest, we just kicked them out told them to never come back, I guess you can get something out of him… although I don't know how many names you know inside the families, if the leader went for someone he knew… you might need to find that other person first."
"Do you know people among them?" Aiden asked.
"I really hope you are not trying to scare the information out of me again… but even if I knew I focused far more on being a fence, I'm a merchant, not a politician," Rustler told them.
"That might be a problem then." Cole brought his hand to his chin.
"But I do know of somebody, someone that is more on the line of keeping tabs on the families and their business, he is more the person to know specific people more than anyone."
"Okay, where is he?" Jack asked.
"In a nearby settlement called Enticia. Mining town, lots of faunus work there, he liked to stay there for some reason, although it might be because he helps move the… laborers."
"So… he's part of a trafficking ring?"
"Not much as trafficking, more as… workforce management, but yeah it's just enough to be legal. If you ask the faunus for a man they call Wormtongue they should point you in the right direction."
"Got it, is it okay we stay here until we get something out of Eisen?" Morgan asked.
"After what you did… sure, I suppose it's the least we can do. But uh… don't go for the inn. The man there hasn't forgiven you yet."
"Heh, yeah… that makes sense." Cole laughed as the four of them decided on which place they should stay, in the end, Rustler offered his old fencing shop, it was still intact after all, and none from the group felt comfortable trying to crash in a different place. Soon however they'll be back on the hunt for the leader of the Golden Blades, the next stop, Enticia.
A/N: And that's done, told you this one arc would be shorter, in a sense… it's still technically going on but now we go into the net segment, and the next chapter is going to be really special, take a guess at what's going to happen… and let's hope I can make that one somewhat shorter because this one was a bit of work. Phew.
Hope you enjoyed, feel free to review or not review, I'll just keep doing my best with this story… now, I need some food.