Well it seems like I arrived just in the nick of time.
I knew that this wasn't one of the main bases of operations of the ABB. I'd figured out where most of them were when I was preparing to take down Lung.
So why did the ABB lure the Empire out to this abandoned warehouse?
And they weren't the only ones. The two protectorate members out on patrol had been lured here as well.
Were they luring them away from Downtown for a reason?
Uber seemed to be the only ABB cape present. Well I suppose that just makes things easier for me.
I sent two larger blades to intersect into the ground in front of Hookwolf, stopping him from shredding Miss Militia in his super speed induced charge.
Dropping out of the air over Dauntless, I brought my shield over my head to block Fenja's stomping foot.
The force rocked my body, my armor easily weathering the blow, but I struggled to try and push against the weight. My physical body couldn't keep up with this brute force. So instead of trying to fight fire with fire, I just opted to use my control over ice to dig into the ground with my boots and slam my gauntlets up into Fenja's heel, knocking her off balance.
While I couldn't physically push or hit that hard, I could make my armor do it for me, and the dense ice was incredibly heavy, and when coupled with the speed I could move it, Fenja had to pinwheel her arms to try and avoid falling over.
Dauntless gave me a weak smile as I lightly picked him up with some blades, carefully scooping under his armor not to cut him, and levitated him out of danger.
Miss Militia had fired rocket after rocket into Hookwolf, but his blades tore the explosives apart. He dodged others with superspeed, but even when they hit he simply weathered the blow.
It seemed there were plenty of Empire capes present. I suppose I'll make a proper introduction.
A cage of blades sprouted around Alabaster, slamming into the ground from above. The cape had been on his way to help attack Uber.
With my fine control, I could make my armor move at mach speeds.
I didn't need to demonstrate that yet, but I would get pretty close.
Using my shield as a battering ram, I slammed into Fenja, sending her skidding back into Crusader and Purity, them and Uber all having to try and avoid getting crushed by the massive figure.
Not stopping in momentum, I whirled through the air, slamming into Hookwolf, sending him flying through the wall of the warehouse. Small flecks of ice had been left in a trail behind me, my course looking like a comet trailing through the air.
More blades sliced through Crusader clones, but they passed through the clones like they were made of smoke.
Landing next to Miss Militia, I gave her a slight nod.
"Need some help?"
Miss Militia looked at me graciously.
"Thanks for getting Dauntless. I was too slow."
We had to cut our chat short as Fenja rose to her feet, a look of rage on her face as she zeroed in on me.
"Maybe concussive grenades for the Crusader clones? I can't hurt them." I mentioned, bringing my shield to my face as I readied another charge.
Bringing a collection of blades together hilt first, I made makeshift clubs to bring into the backs of Fenja's legs and brought them in right as I slammed into her head with my shield, toppling her like flimsy jenga blocks.
I had to turn my head as I felt something tearing itself over one of my blades, seeing Alabaster bisecting himself to get out of his cage.
But in seconds he was back to normal, devoid of multiple pieces for a body.
Well that's great. I can't incapacitate him, at least without committing most of my blades. I can't kill him, I'm still trying to keep up the hero visage here. Whatever. He's not much of a threat to me right now, I'll deal with him if he becomes a real threat to Militia.
Bright lights light up the sky, barely giving me time to put my shield in front of me. Each blast rocked into me, feeling like I got run over by a semi repeatedly. Purity packed a punch. I pinwheeled in the air before regaining my balance.
Apparently she hadn't been happy that I'd tried to hit her with Fenja.
Uber took the distraction to his advantage, flipping his weapon to the other end. A whip of red strings lashed out, wrapping around Purity's neck. He yanked hard, bringing her to the ground at his feet. She struggled, trying to tear off the chords around her neck, but they were hot, burning both her neck and her hands. Uber leapt back as blades rose from the ground, severing the glowing red strings.
Uber would be a problem.
I couldn't let him take any credit for beating down the Empire.
Hookwolf had stumbled out of the warehouse, his form blurring and deblurring. His superspeed was wearing off.
I took the longer blades I had and stabbed them into a cage around Uber. The longer ones were only about 3 feet long, but he would have to leap over them to get out, leaving him vulnerable in the air.
I whipped my arm, throwing my shield at his hesitating form, forcing him to choose an option.
He ignited the green shield on his other arm, batting the disc of ice away. So that's how he's going to play things.
I sent two shorter blades at him, testing the waters. He flipped over his weapon again, switching from whip to saber, easily batting aside both blades, one after the other.
I looked back, but the Empire capes had regrouped, and weren't attacking. Maybe waiting to let us battle it out so they could focus on the one enemy? Miss Militia had gone back to where I put Dauntless, likely making sure he'd be stable until reinforcements arrived. Speaking of, I needed to finish up. Can't let the Protectorate take any credit for this.
I sent two more blades flying forward at Uber, followed by two more. Soon the pairs of blades turned into more of a stream as I pulled back the ones that had been knocked aside to add to the tide.
But Uber kept up, batting aside each blade with the swiftness and precision of a professional athlete. A professional athlete that was also enhanced with speed and strength.
But I didn't have time for games. So as Uber was distracted by the stream of blades, I pulled up two of the longer blades that had been embedded in the ground behind him, and stabbed into the backs of Ubers armor. They caught the cloth of his pant armor without stabbing through his legs, planting him onto the ground, stuck on his knees. From there I threw my shield once again, right at his head. Uber didn't have time to try and tear himself from the ground, rather having to try and lift his shield and brace for impact. The ice shield bounced off, Uber weathering the blow.
But I had followed right behind it, grabbing onto the side of his energy shield, the green energy buzzing as it contacted the ice on my gauntlets. In one fluid motion, I pushed the shield to the side with my left arm, and followed through with a right hook straight to his temple.
The force knocked Uber several feet back, his pants tearing below the knee where they had been pinned to the ground by blades. His body bounced once and skidded to a stop, his cracked helmet rolling off of his prone form.
I could still feel the water signatures of the Empire huddled together, so I slowly turned to be more dramatic. But I was shoved to the ground as an animalistic roar bore down my eardrums. The sounds of metal shrieking as it failed to gain purchase on my armor made me wince.
Right. When Hookwolf was in his full changed form, he had no water concentration in him. I couldn't sense him. I wonder how that worked, where the water went when he changed form, and how it came back when he shifted back to normal. I'd idly noted this when I fought him as Vacuum the first time, but forgot to actively think about potential sneak attacks from it. No matter.
I slammed my shield up into his jaw, sending loose scraps of metal flying into the distance. Slapping a clawed hand aside, I stepped in to deliver a ground shaking uppercut.
Alabaster and Crusader clones rushed forward to help Hookwolf, Purity and Kaiser providing support.
Fenja had shrunken down after getting hit, and was struggling to rise to her feet. She hadn't tried to grow and rejoin the fight yet.
I blocked blasts of light, dodging thorns of metal from the ground, and brawled with a metal beast.
I hadn't had this much fun for as long as I can remember.
I simply ignored Alabastor and Crusader. They wouldn't be able to scratch me, so I wouldn't bother wasting time trying to dodge them.
I feinted stumbling. My feet tripped over each other, giving Hookwolf a chance to bull rush in. But I'd placed myself right between Purity and Hookwolf, so as soon as he rushed in, I sidestepped. The metal brute was tossed bodily as he was hit with the hardened light. I added insult to injury by sending my shield after him, knocking him through the warehouse wall once again.
I tore one of the metal blades from the ground, and threw it at Kaiser. He raised a bigger blade to block it, the blade spinning off and clattering to the ground behind him.
I grabbed two more, throwing them both at Kaiser again. He easily blocked them, but they provided enough of a distraction I could close in on Purity.
Swooping in, I was blasted with a point blank explosion of light energy.
I'd closed my eyes and hidden them behind my arm, but I still had to blink away black spots in my vision. My armor had weathered the blow, I'd tried to reinforce its positioning more this time. But the blast, even if it hadn't caused any damage, worked well enough as a concussion that I struggled to even sense with my proximity water detector. I was hoisted up in the air by metal blades.
Hard lances of light rained down on me from above. I even felt something like an axe strike against my helmet.
I had to admit. This was harder than I expected. I suppose I'll start using the rest of my resources.
I'd just been using my suit of armor and shield against the Empire. My blades of ice that formed my wings were still laying on the ground near Uber's prone form. They slowly rose to the air, glittering in the pale moonlight.
Kaiser raised a garden of blades around him, ready to try and block the tide.
But only a single blade flew towards him.
The rest flew hilt first towards all the other capes.
I'd located the real Crusader through his water signature, and hit him hard enough in the back of the head to knock him out.
Purity rose up in the air and blasted the blades that got close to her, but it left me an opening to rush up and grab her by the leg. Yanking down, Purity spun through the air before crashing into the ground. Two blades knocked on the sides of her head to make sure she was out.
I used the blades to scoop up any unconscious capes and put them in a neat pile. For now that was only Crusader, Purity, and Uber. I had two blades leveled at Fenja, who still hadn't rejoined the fight. Prodding them forward a bit, I motioned her towards the group of downed capes.
But before I could see if she followed through, Hookwolf tore out of the warehouse, looking pissed.
You know, this was a good opportunity. Two birds and all that.
I pulled all my remaining blades together and slotted them together, creating a box just big enough to fit Hookwolf in it. As he rushed me, I wound up my arm and then batted Hookwolf aside with my shield, right as he got close. He was sent flying straight into the open mouth of the box, which I snapped shut after him. The sound of grinding metal could be heard from the inside, but he wouldn't be able to cut the ice.
I felt Kaiser slowly running away. It looks like he'd considered the battle lost. I would let him go. The Empire would do a last ditch attempt to try and save all their downed capes; this was most of their heavy hitters after all. And with Kaiser at the helm, it would be more organized, and I wouldn't have to worry about innocents getting involved. Then I could take down the rest of the Empire in one swoop, Kaiser along with it.
Fenja, who had been torn between looking at the retreating Kaiser and her downed comrades, decided to give up fighting and sit down next to them. Her boss bailing on her probably killed any fight she had left. I would count that as surrender.
Alabaster was the only remaining cape in the field. Maybe it was his pseudo immortality that let him remain confident against such odds.
Swinging his axe down at my neck, I batted it aside like someone might swat a fly buzzing around their head. The wood splintered under my touch. I then grabbed Alabaster by his shirt, and threw him towards the cage of ice that held Hookwolf. For a brief second the cage opened up, showing a frustrated Hookwolf relentlessly trying to tear into the ice, his body a tornado of blades and hooks. The metal beast turned to the opening, coiling his body to spring out, but the body of Alabaster knocked him back as it flew through the opening. His body was torn apart as it encountered Hookwolf, but he would be fine. The gap closed.
Bringing the cage of ice over towards the downed capes, I motioned my head towards Fenja.
"I hope I don't have to emphasize what will happen if you try anything stupid."
She pointed to the giant welt on her head, already a deep purple and swelling fast.
"I understand just fine." She hissed through her teeth. She was smart enough to know a lost cause when she saw it, but that didn't mean she'd be happy about it.
I heard the rev of a motorcycle as Armsmaster pulled into the clearing. He was followed by Battery and Assault. I could see Velocity over by Miss Militia, picking up Dauntless and speeding off.
Perfect timing.
"I've got Uber, Purity, Crusader, and Fenja here for you. Hookwolf and Alabaster are in the box, ready to be foamed."
Armsmaster looked at me with a hint of annoyance, readying cuffs for the capes.
Before I could comment on it, a massive explosion in the distance could be heard.
I rose up in the air, trying to find its source, only to see smoke coming from the Bay.
Then I saw a bright flash, accompanied by powerful thunder coming from Downtown. There weren't any storm clouds above. But that wasn't fake lightning, scaled down, like the kind Dauntless would use. That sounded real.
What the hell was going on in my city?