Chester Chapter 3 (OR: Execution: Empire Part 1)
Later
Cafeteria, Original Point
Emma Barnes' POV
Emma Barnes felt like she had just been smacked across the head by a metal bat. Not only had her honorary aunt/second mother, Annette Hebert, turned out to have been a Parahuman Tinker, not only had she secretly built a hidden base chock-full of robots, but her best friend/sister-in-all-but-blood, Taylor Hebert, had almost died when she was a kid, a short few months before they had met in Kindergarten.
More than that, Taylor was now a Parahuman. Or rather, she had always been a Parahuman since her brush with death, but Auntie Annette had somehow managed to suppress that for the last ten or eleven years.
"Tay...this is SO weird." the redhead said at last.
"Try looking at it from my perspective; I'm the one directly affected by all of this stuff." her friend snorted, crossing her legs with that casual grace that irritated Emma sometimes. Was Taylor tall and skinny? Yes. Was her chest a little flatter than average? Yes. Did she have almost exactly the right body type to be a catwalk model? Also yes.
Seriously, she just could not see herself for how attractive she was, and it infuriated Emma to think about!
"Well, things are screwed up to hell and back, Tay." Emma sighed. "Uncle Danny's been blaming himself because we never told him about what that bitch Sophia and her minions were doing to you, and Dad was practically chomping at the bit to start suing Winslow. After this, I think he's also going to go after the PRT and Protectorate."
Taylor winced at that. "He'll probably get Carol Dallon to help him. He's a divorce lawyer, not a criminal one or one that specializes in Cape Law. I don't know it it's a good idea though. They could bury him in red-tape until he runs out of money."
"Carol Dallon would probably take the case Pro Bono." the redhead snorted. "She's a crusader, Tay; something like a Ward bullying another girl for a year and a half is the kind of thing that gets her dander up, from everything I've been told."
The black-haired girl frowned, but let the topic go. "So what should I do? I can't very well go back; the PRT will kick up a fuss and demand to know where I was and who controlled the robots."
"You do realize that applies to me as well, right?" Emma pointed out dryly. "And we're going to have to leave at some point' surely this place has to run out of food or water at some point!"
"Not really." Taylor shook her head. "Mom designed this place to basically be self-sufficient. There's hydroponics facilities, indoor fish-farms, the lot. There's also biomass generators, that you could dump things in, like rotten fish or old vegetation, even human waste, and they'd consume it to produce power. That's ignoring the concealed solar cells dotted around the hills in these parts."
"Urgh, figures that Auntie Annette built this place to last." Emma facepalmed. "But our families, Tay! My Mom will be going spare, ditto for my Dad, and I know Uncle Danny's already worried sick about you and me!"
"I know, but unless you want me to just invent some kind of fake vigilante Tinker persona out of nowhere to claim responsibility, I don't see what we can do!" Taylor replied, sounding frustrated.
"Why not just do that?" Emma asked..
"Are you nuts? Do you have any idea how many stars would have to align to stop the PRT from finding out?" Taylor asked in disbelief. "I've reviewed Mom's research into the PRT and Protectorate; they have a think tank, chock full of powerful Thinker-class Parahumans, called Watchdog! Far-seers and precogs and post-cogs and who knows what else! And those are just the Capes! We're talking about deceiving not just the local branches, but the entire National Protectorate and Parahuman Response Team here!"
The redheaded part-time model didn't look fazed by this, however. "Tay, we have to do something. We can't just hole up here for the rest of our lives."
Taylor looked as if she was about to say something else, when the alarm started blaring.
"Oh, what now?!" the tuxedo-clad girl growled, then looked worried. "The last time the alarm went off, Shadow Stalker was attacking you, Emma!"
She leapt to her feet and ran out of the room, with Emma right on her heels.
Taylor POV
I ran, Emma's words haunting me. She had always been the more confident out of the two of us, but this was ridiculous. Inventing a vigilante persona? I wanted to be a hero!
Putting them to one side as I entered the control room, I slid into the seat and ordered, "Report!"
Words scrolled across the screen as Emma jogged into the room behind me.
WARNING: Crisis Situation Alpha has occurred! The Empire 88 have started a war in the streets!
"What?! Why?!" I demanded, going white.
Analysis of Storm Front, the Empire 88's website, as well as several conversations on the Dark Web, result in the conclusion that moles in the PRT leaked the identity of Sophia Hess to the Empire, as well as her actions towards you in Winslow High. Kaiser has used this as an excuse to start an insurrection in order to oust the PRT and Protectorate.
"Fuck." I whispered. Then I frowned. Even if the Empire were a bunch of racist bastards, one girl being picked on was no reason to start a goddamned uprising, even if the bully was a Ward. There had to be more to it than that.
"Is there any other reason why the Empire would act so rashly than this?" I asked.
Searching...
Searching...possible reason found!
The Empire 88 owes a tremendous amount of debt to the European Nazi Parahuman organization Gelleschaft, both financially and in influence. Probability of Gelleschaft demanding results or the debts would be called in: 84.76%.
"Jesus Christ. This isn't good." I frowned. "Display 3-D holographic map of Brockton Bay, highlighting hot-points and critical locations."
In the center of the room, a floating map appeared, just as I asked. The forces there seemed to be struggling with one another, but I couldn't tell who was who.
"Color the Empire's forces black and red, the Protectorate blue and silver, New Wave white and gold, the ABB red and green and the Merchants gray and brown." I instructed.
The map rippled as it was updated with my changes. A great deal of the conflicts were shrouded in black and red, mostly against blue and silver, but there were two pockets of white and gold standing against them, as well as one large section of red and green. Oddly, there weren't any signs of the Merchants taking action here.
'No, maybe even they have the common sense to keep their heads down when the Empire's running rampant like this.' I concluded. Well, it meant that there was one less pain in the ass out of the way, albeit the most minor of the big three gangs.
"Tay, how is your computer doing this?" Emma asked in disbelief.
"Mom had stealthed 'bots infiltrate almost every area of the Bay and installed monitoring and scanning devices everywhere." I explained. "There's even ones in Arcadia and the PRT Building, if you can believe it. Well, on them to be exact. There's also a flying drone above the Bay that gathers and refines the data that the sensors send it before transmitting it here."
"...Auntie Annette was incredible." my almost-sister said in disbelief.
"Computer, can you track the locations of specific Parahumans?" I asked.
Specify targets.
"Kaiser, Hookwolf, Purity and Lung." I stated.
Seconds later, four beacons appeared on the map. Lung's marker, a snarling dragon's head, was, to no surprise at all, smack in the middle of the ABB's resistance against the Empire. Purity's marker, a shining light, was near one of the New Wave areas, while Hookwolf's snarling wolf's head was in the Broadwalk, against the Protectorate. Finally, Kaiser's jagged metal crown was right outside the PRT Building.
"Shit, not good." I muttered. And it really wasn't. Purity was going to crush New Wave, while Lung was running amok in the middle of his own territory, but who knew how long it would take for him to go looking for his revenge on the Empire? Moire than that, Hookwolf was in the middle of one of the supposedly safest areas of The Bay, while Kaiser was personally attacking the central location of PRT power and authority in the entire city.
Attacking like this was reckless to the extreme, mostly due to the presence of The Rig, the Protectorate base in the middle of the large bay which the city was named for. A heavily converted oil rig, you could see the shimmering of the massive energy shield that surrounded it when you walked along the Broadwalk. It was a veritable fortress, one from which the Protectorate could monitor the situation and build up forces if they were ever forced to abandon Brockton Bay proper.
'Unless the Empire have a plan to deal with it.' a thought rose unbidden in my mind and my eyes locked on Kaiser's symbol. And I knew what the plan was.
"Shit, they're going to try to take the Wards hostage!" I said in alarm. "If Kaiser threatens them, the Protectorate might have to back down and leave the city."
"That's not good." Emma bit her lip.
"Worse...what if they don't?" I said bleakly. "The Empire are acting like terrorists right now, and the US government doesn't negotiate with terrorists, no matter the reason."
"...fucking hell, Tay, I don't want to think about that kind of thing happening!" Emma glared at me.
"Sorry, sorry..." I said, mind racing to think of what to do. There was only one thing I could do, intervene. Only problem was, Dahlia was still recharging from rescuing Emma earlier today, and I couldn't override that once it began. That meant that I had only six of the originals to work with...
...oh hell.
"Computer..." I said with a sigh, before glaring at the hologram slightly. "...I'm ordering the deployment of six of the Original Seven."
Please specify which Originals and Landing Zone Coordinates for each of them.
"Diablo of Monday and Metsä of Tuesday are to deploy to counter Hookwolf." I stated, and two markers, an axe and a rapier, appeared near to Hookwolf.
"Dann of Thursday is to aid the New Wave area not threatened by Purity." I continued, the longsword marker appearing where I requested it.
"Sin of Friday and Sen of Saturday are to confront Kaiser." The tonfa and chakram appeared opposite of the jagged crown symbolizing the Empire's leader.
"And finally, Saudade of Sunday is to shoot down and capture Purity." I finished grimly. The musket-and-bayonet marker floated next to the blinding light of the second-most-powerful Blaster on the North American Continent. Lung could wait until later.
Originals programmed with missions...done!
Landing Zone Coordinates locked in...done!
Execute?
"Execute." I confirmed.
Minutes Later
Broadwalk, Brockton Bay
Armsmaster grunted as he deflected a slash from Cricket's kama with an armored arm, while still holding off Stormtiger with his halberd. The sharp barks of gunfire from somewhere to his left hold him that Miss Militia was still exchanging fire with Victor, while the sound of lasers firing and metallic-tinted snarling told him that Dragon's remote suit was still holding off Hookwolf.
'What a mess.' he thought with a grimace.
Today had been a bad one. The only good news was that Sophia Hess was now in custody. She had been discovered encased up to her neck in a blue hardened mass that acted as a battery. There had been sufficient electric charge in the mass to keep her imprisoned for the better part of a week.
But now the city was embroiled in what was practically full-on warfare. The Empire, which was far better funded and equipped than anyone, even Watchdog, had predicted, was legitimately trying to oust the Protectorate from Brockton Bay.
New Wave was under siege in their own homes by Purity, Night, Fog, Alabaster and Rune; Kaiser, along with Krieg, Crusader and Othala, were besieging the PRT Building, while Hookwolf, Cricket, Stormtiger and Victor were trying to occupy the Broadwalk. Fenja and Menja were leading an attack on the ABB...alongside a hundred-odd skinheads, armed to the teeth with cutting-edge military hardware.
The Protectorate, having been caught unawares, was scattered. He, Miss Militia and Dragon's spare suit were holding the line here, alongside three squads of PRT Troopers, Triumph and Dauntless were defending the PRT HQ (and the Wards) with the remaining squads of PRT Troopers, while Velocity, Assault and Battery had tried to make it through to reinforce New Wave, but were pinned down by heavy rifle and grenade fire from unpowered Empire minions.
Indeed, today was very much a mess.
"Colin, something's coming in from above!" Dragon said urgently via his comm.
"What?" he bit back as he swept his weapon at Stormtiger, forcing the aerokinetic to fall back. "Where? How many?"
"There's...six. Six incoming unknowns, on a parabolic arc. Origin unknown." his friend replied. "Calculating arcs now...two are going to drop near the PRT Headquarters, one near the Dallon residence, one near the Pelham Residence and two where you are right now, Colin!"
"ETA?" he asked even as another blade of wind slammed against his armored chest.
"Thirty seconds and counting!"
Scowling, Armsmaster delivered a quick kick to Stormtiger's gut when he came in too close before leaping back and leveling his weapon at him, launching a metal-cored net at him.
"You fucking...!" the tiger-masked man went down under the weight of the net, wrapped up nicely.
Looking up sharply as his helmet screamed a warning, Armsmaster saw two objects come hurtling down through the clouds to land on the ground with an ear-piercing BANG in front of him, kicking up a lot of dust (presumably from cracking the concrete around them). He was very grateful that his armor had noise dampeners that kicked in as soon as noise above a certain number of decibels was detected.
Amid the dust, two silhouettes appeared. One was a giant humanoid, while the other was a slight one. The giant had what looked like a large curved blade on its back, while the slighter figure had a pair of long spikes of some kind atop its shoulders.
"Wake up, Diablo!" a woman's voice said from the large one.
"Wake up, Metsä!" the same voice came from the slighter one.
"Identify yourselves!" Armsmaster demanded, holding his weapon at the ready. Cricket was circling the newcomers, looking for an opening.
"Targets located: Hookwolf, Cricket, Stormtiger and Victor." the large one stated, the feminine voice coming from the large one was someone odd. "Allied combatants Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Dragon on-site. Target Stormtiger captured."
"Dividing tasks. Unit Metsä assigned to capture Stormtiger, Cricket and Victor." the smaller one stated. "Unit Diablo assigned to original mission: defeat and capture Hookwolf."
"Acknowledged. Executing."
Then the larger form just moved, jets visible from its back as it sped forwards and tackled Hookwolf like a freight train. Armsmaster blinked in slight shock as he noticed a similarity between what was presumably 'Diablo' and the robot which had rescued Taylor Hebert from her locker prison, not to mention the reports of the second robot which had been sighted in the same area as Shadow Stalker had been discovered in.
In the next instant, the slender figure ('Metsä') whirled around and shot out of the dust cloud, heading straight towards Cricket. The face wasn't anything approaching human, three small cameras replaced each eye, with a slender upturned nose between them, made it up. In one hand, it carried a rapier that Armsmaster found to be both elegant and functional in appearance.
"Fuck! What the hell is this stupid toy!?" Cricket snarled, her voice sounding harsh and rarely used. She leapt in and swiped at the white and blue robot with both of her kama. The rapier flashed out twice, cutting the blades from the hafts with an almost mathematical precision.
As the Empire Cape goggled at her now-ruined weapons, Metsä's other hand lashed out, backhanding the woman across the temple and sending her sprawling to the ground in an insensate heap.
The inhuman face of the robot turned to Armsmaster, as energy crackled across the blue sections of its body. "Request that Subject: Armsmaster enacts arrest protocols on Target: Cricket and Target: Stormtiger while this unit enacts the defeat of Victor."
Being ordered around by a robot was irksome, but this was too good an opportunity to collar the both of them that Armsmaster decided to merely accede to it.
"Go. I have them." he said, removing a pair of cuffs from a storage compartment in his armor.
"Affirmative." 'Metsä' stated before it lifted off of the ground, jets flaring as it sped towards where Victor was facing off against Miss Militia.
"What the fuck was that?" Stormtiger asked before Armsmaster absently sprayed him with a custom knock-out gas that would render him unconscious for a good sixteen hours at least, and leave him with severe hangover-like symptoms afterwards.
"A good question." the Tinker Hero muttered. "A good question indeed."
With Dragon
While her ownership and custodianship of the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center, or the Birdcage, had made her aware that there were some truly foul people among humanity's numbers, never had Dragon seen such audacity as the Empire had started on this day. Yes, lone Parahumans, such as Nilbog and Pastor, had claimed individual towns in America. Yes, the Machine Army had essentially taken over Eagleton, Tennessee. But never had a unified force of Parahumans attempted to overthrow the rule of government in an American city.
Dragon was grateful that Armsmaster had long ago requested that she be allowed to keep a spare general-purpose combat suit on The Rig, just in case the Protectorate needed the extra help. Piggot had granted it, seeing the usefulness of the aid of the world's greatest Tinker in a pinch.
She was also thankful that Colin and she had poured hours of effort into improving, upgrading and enhancing it as the years had gone by. Had they not, the basic suit would have been torn to shreds by Hookwolf inside of the first ten minutes of the engagement. As it was, her suit was down 20% combat efficiency and would need to replace its entire left arm.
She focused her suit's sensors on this 'Diablo' as the robot started a brutal beatdown of Hookwolf, each fist leaving deep, visible dents in the Chief Enforcer of the Empire's metallic body upon impact.
'It's an incredible machine; it moves within 0.001% of the fluidity of an actual human of that size would.' she mused. Then she winced as the blue and white giant of a a robot picked Hookwolf up and slammed him face-first into the tarmac of the road once, trice and thrice, each impact more and more jarring.
It was only due to the Brute powers granted to Hookwolf via his Changer state that he was able to survive such a brutal beatdown, but not only did he survive it, the metal wolf howled in fury as it shifted into a virtual tornado of scything hooks and blades in and attempt to shred Diablo into its composite pieces.
It was then that the large mechanoid pulled out a large single-bladed two-handed bronze axe from somewhere and used the long haft to block the assault of blades with a precision that was inhumanly precise. These robots had to possess at least a Virtual Intelligence, if not a crude version of an Artificial Intelligence, in order to accomplish that, and she was leaning towards the latter strongly.
(Unbeknownst to Dragon, a certain Teacher's Pet viewing her processes and feeds was roaring with anger at this revelation and was ordering his subordinates to pack up and start heading toward Brockton Bay, ASAP.)
Swiftly leaping back via its jets, Diablo drew its axe back before slamming it into Hookwolf's charging form with the sort of brutal finesse that Dragon had rarely seen a human pull off with such a large and unwieldy weapon, let alone a robot. Hookwolf distorted around the blow before being flung back as if shot from a cannon, flying into -and through- the building behind him.
Landing, the axe-wielding robot stomped into the building, emerging with an unconscious Hookwolf clasped in its free hand, easily holding its weapon in its main hand.
"Request of Subject: Dragon, initiate arrest procedures on Target: Hookwolf." Diablo asked.
"Kindly place him on the ground and step clear of him." Dragon replied via her suit's speakers. After the robot did so, she raised an arm and fired a ConFoam Missile that exploded over the prone form of the Changer, wrapping him up in the white foam as it solidified. Her aim was as impeccable as always, leaving only his face exposed.
"Thank you for your assistance." the AI said. "Could you identify yourself so I have a name for my report?"
"Diablo of Monday, First of the Original Seven." the robot stated before pausing for a moment. "Metsä of Tuesday has completed his mission. Targets: Stormtiger, Victor and Cricket are in custody. Mission Completed. Returning to base via Autopilot."
"Wait-!" Dragon started to speak, but cut herself off when Diablo, for lack of a better term, leapt up and folded into a giant axe. Floating in front of her for a moment, the jets roared and the now-confirmed variable form robot blasted off, with a second contrail coming from where Armsmaster and Miss Militia had been engaged in combat with the other three members of the Empire.
"Well...this is going to be interesting." was all she could say, as more contrails emerged across the city, signaling the departure of the rest of these 'Original Seven' robots.
Minutes Previously
Parahuman Response Team East-North-East Headquarters
Emily Piggot gritted her teeth as she fired her service weapon across the barricade at the incoming riot of Empire skinheads. All around her, members of the PRT opened up with their own weapons, ranging from revolvers to ConFoam Sprayers.
'If that bitch Costa-Brown dares to ask why so many Empire members have bullet holes in them, I will smash her face in!' the Director promised darkly. Officially, no member of the PRT was supposed to wield anything but ConFoam Weapons against Capes, and they weren't supposed to engage with non-powered opponents except as a last resort, and using 'minimal force' to boot.
If Emily got out of this in one piece, she was going to demand more funding for the PRT, as well as more Capes for the Protectorate. This clusterfuck of a situation would never have happened if they had as many Capes as a city of Brockton Bay's size and Cape population demanded it should have.
She glowered out at the metal-armored figure standing at the back, arms crossed, with a red and black clad female figure next to him, wearing the Odal rune. Kaiser and Othala. Krieg was back there somewhere as well, coordinating the large number of skinheads besieging her building. Dauntless was up in the sky, fending off Crusader's ghosts with his Arc Lance, while Triumph was just a couple of meters away, helping the troopers hold the line.
BANG! BANG!
A couple of impacts made the ground shake and Emily could see two clouds of dust billowing out on the other side of Kaiser, who had lost his cool and composed mien and had whirled around to confront whoever had landed there.
"Wake up, Sen!"
"Wake up, Sin!"
The two synchronized (and identical) voices made Emily frown. Sen? Sin? Who were these people?
She quickly found out as a disk shot out of the dust cloud, headed straight towards Kaiser. The man stamped and a wall of metal sheets emerged from the ground to block it. The disk, a chakram if Emily was recalling her history correctly, bounced off it and returned to back within the dust.
In the next moment, something slammed into the metal walls hard enough to make them buckle, then something small leapt up over it. It was about four feet tall, with most of its body being blue, with white armored portions being prominent atop its head, on its knees and over its chest. In one hand, it held the chakram which had just been thrown moments earlier.
Then it fired a pair of yellow lasers at Kaiser, forcing him to block again with a hastily thrown-up metal shard emerging right in front of him. Then a pair of thick and brawny arms,blue and white again, reached around the sides of the shard and grabbed Kaiser, throwing him up into the air.
"Holy shit." Emily said.
Othala scrambled back, drawing a gun as the metal wall created by Kaiser was ripped from the ground and tossed aside by the arms, the owner of which stepped forwards. It was revealed to be a large hunchbacked...thing, with a tail lashing at the back, and an inhuman-looking face leering at those looking on.
The gun in Othala's hand barked several times, but the bullets were stopped by a bright shield of gray/white flickering into existence around the obvious robot. One arm lashed out and sent Othala sprawling, the gun clattering from her hand.
Kaiser, meanwhile, had been struck several times by the chakram of the flying robot, with large rents in his body armor showing that it wasn't nearly as solid as one might presume. The robot flitted to fly above Kaiser and fired its lasers again, sending the leader of the Empire flying straight into the PRT's hastily formed blockade of sandbags and tables.
Judging by the way the man's head lolled to the side, he was unconscious. Too good a chance to miss.
"Foam him!" the Director ordered, and several ConFoam Sprayers were turned on the man in an instant, encasing him in the solidifying foam in seconds. This was the que for the Empire thugs to break and flee, seeing their leader captured.
"Targets: Kaiser and Othala have been detained." the large one stated, the female voice at odds with the appearance of the robot.
"Targets: Krieg and Crusader have fled." the smaller one noted as it landed next to it. "Mission completed, return via autopilot."
Before the PRT's astonished gazes, the small one transformed into a chakram, while the large one transformed into a baton of some kind, before the two of them blasted off, leaving Emily Piggot with a rapidly forming headache.
'I am going to curse this day, aren't I?' she thought sourly, as she anticipated the demands from the other Directors that she track down the robots and bring their creator to heel.
So here's chapter three.
Think of it as a Christmas gift to all of you. I'll be uploading three more chapters, but they won't be in the Asylum. They'll be first chapters of three different stories, ones I've written down to get out of my head over the past year. Depending on the reception they get, I might add more later.
From me, SeerKing, I wish you, and your families, all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be safe and be well.