As they walked out several of the other capes came into view. Blonde was common. Very short hair for executives. They all fit into the mold of an all-white company. It was the man who came out of his office with twins on either side of him that Sara new could only be Kaiser. Should she give them the drugs was one of her thoughts but then she would not really worry about it. As long as they took down their illegal operations it would not matter what their legal business did.
They got to the elevator and they had to wait. Sara was thinking about the conversation and how Kayden felt to her. She was not a nice person from how she felt in the Force. That and the others on the floor were feeling the same, but that was the thing with capes. They either felt like they were trying to protect and serve and the others just served themselves or were corrupted by the dark side as a few here were. Kaiser was almost in shadows with how far into the dark side he had fallen and it was a stark reminder that they were not Sith as even Force nulls did not radiate the light or the dark side so strongly.
"Jeff go on with out me."
"No, don't even think about it."
"I have to."
"Without your armor Kaiser will kill you before you can even finish your challenge."
"You know?"
"Please I was a villain. Not hard to figure out when Medhall has had several cases of refusing to hire anyone who is not of European descent." The elevator opened and Sara followed Jeff inside.
"Knowing where they work. How they keep their money for their criminal activity will work to our favor. Perhaps several ambushes at their homes."
"Unwritten rules, but Hookwolf, Stormtiger, and Cricket I don't have a problem with. Revealing their names would be bad too. Even if no one believed it. It would cause them to go to war against the entire city." The Force then spiked and Sara knew something bad was going to happen.
"We have to stop Coil."
"What?"
"He will gain. He always gains, even if he loses, he gains."
"What are you talking about?"
"Wait until the car." Sara rushed him out of the building and across the street to the parking garage. Way up inside the building Kaiser looks down at the street.
"You think this girl is Skye or Saber?"
"I am sure of it. Victor hacked the computers at Pease AFB. The hanger had a downed space craft inside of it and there was reference to the pilot being held by the Protectorate."
"Interesting. I wonder where they have it. Tell Victor I want to know. If this girl really is from another planet, then the pilot might be her friend and knowing that she may become reckless and attack the Protectorate."
"Why would you want to do that?" Krieg asked from the other side of the room.
"Simple. There is a lot of movement from Coil's men. A few more joined them from out of town and there were a dozen capes seen going inside of Somer's Rock. Including one former New Wave cape and her sister. We are a threat to the other villain groups."
"Glamour and Foliage." Fenja added.
"Glory Girl and Panacea. How could a healer suddenly know how to fight?"
"Simple the vines in the video. I am placing my bet that they were from her." Dorothy stated.
"With her known limits that would explain the shriveled trees and bushes in the area." Geoff added.
"So, what are we planning to do?"
"Well play a game of cat and mouse. They will be the mice." The board of Medhall laughed as they liked the idea.
Coil shivered he had been watching Medhall in both of his timelines and in one, the top floor of the building exploded out and a single body was removed. The very girl that had just pitched hiring his local company to rebuild and restore the docks with funds she was planning to gain from three other companies. It was an interesting proposal, so he had his CEO accept in both cases.
Then she had gone on and was the reason he was watching the building. The second line she walks out arguing with the man she is with who with his best guess must be Rapier formerly Uber by his size. He would make an excellent operative, but his success rate would require a lot of retraining. Which seems that Saber is providing as she allows very little use of the former Leet's devices. Having her out of the way might be better, but he did not think so. She held all the cards with the information she was able to provide.
Information that would take months for his people to gather she had in the four months since she appeared. There was no reference of her ever being anyone else or anywhere else. Even her civilian identity was only figured out a few days ago and despite her age there should be much more information in the systems he had access to. Though she had a 98% match with the record of Sara Sherwood and even knew how to claim the funds held for her.
Which surprised the executives of Sherwood Import Export. That they were sending a team back to Brockton Bay to rent out an office space just to be near their main stockholder was not as surprising as her arriving out of nowhere. The damage in the other timeline confirmed that Medhall was under E88's control and Max Anders did have the same bearing as Kaiser was known for. He needed several more names, but once he had them if the Empire had not been taken down by then he would make sure they had nowhere to hide. He smiled under his mask as he closed down the other timeline.
Leaving out of the downtown area Skye sudden felt the Force giggle and had no idea why.
Empire Strikes Back.
Several days had gone by and the Empire had lost ground all over the city. Several attempts to take area that been formerly held by ABB and the Merchants had failed as well. No matter where they turned, they could not win. Several encounters between the E88 and the Allies as some called it, had happened, but with each they retreated by disengaging or hindering the others. Forcing them to chase the Allies. This was not that they could not fight those that they found but that it was part of the plan.
They would fight the Empire capes but not before all their minions were taken in by the PRT and the BBPD. Their entire strategy was to take territory from the Empire and if their thugs are in jail, they can't control their territory and with the Allies sharing communication and scouting data they were getting a feeling for how the Empire capes reacted. That the few fights they were in they did not act normally, like they were playing for time. One of the fights the Protectorate got involved in and this caught Stormtiger by himself.
That was Saturday and on Sunday their little game was revealed as cat and mouse, but they did not know the amount of intel that the Allies were working with. So that is how Victor, Othala, and Rune went down and were taken to a secure location. It would not do for them to be turned over to the Protectorate. Cricket was caught Monday morning and healed by Foliage of all her scars. Turning them into the PRT would give the rest of the Empire a way to free them.
I can't believe that you still want to go to Medhall." Jeff looked at Sara as they were eating breakfast.
"Ya they could figure out who you are." Mike stuffed another sausage into his mouth. Mumbling something else neither understood.
" I know that you want to keep me from a possible kidnapping situation, but even if they figure it out and take me they do not understand the Force as my ally."
"You keep saying that, but you are not invulnerable and with you going without your armor and your lightsaber that only makes this even higher of a risk."
Several explosions suddenly went off and their proximity left no doubt where they had been placed. All three of them dashed away from the table as various doors and windows seal shut with security gates. Ayfour can be heard squealing and he rushes to the fighter. Hast gives out orders to several drones that were not in use as he orders the rest back to the base.
Another explosion one smaller and heard even louder through the hallways of the compound was followed by the rapid fire of an automated blaster rifle. A few crashes signal that the balcony and the original front door had been breached. The doors to the hidden vault slammed shut protecting the lab that had been constructed inside after moving some stuff out and Leet's lab in.
The three came out of their rooms in full armor. To greet the first Empire goon. The snap hiss of three blade activating at the same time made the eight men pause but only for a second. A hail of bullets was sent down the hall only to stop with a raised had from Saber. Cutlass dashed down the other way to intercept another group just about to round the corner. As Saber pushed all the bullets back at the first group his lightsaber made short work of the second group.
"Go with Cutlass. I got this direction."
"Right. Calling our allies."
"That would be a wasted effort. Sensor details are showing attacks at the loft and the hotel that the Travelers are using." Hast countered through their comlinks.
"We will be fine." Saber then sprinted forward in a blur taking down all eight men with a dozen strikes with her lightsaber. A stun shot each from her pistol would keep them down. It was the same at the back entrance and the foyer inside the former grand entrance of the compound. A section that had not been used even by Jeff or Mike. Within minutes over thirty gang members were down.
"Alright if we can't come in you better come out!" The three of them and Hast made it out onto the balcony. Below in the center were four members of E88.
"Diverting Glamour and Foliage to the loft."
"Very good Hast."
"Hey, we could use those two."
"Purity is not here nor is Kaiser." Saber looked down at them. Hookwolf was out in front with Alabaster and Stormtiger to either side and Crusader flying over head with a half dozen of his shadows.
"This is not looking good."
"I know man."
"Rapier you take Stormtiger and Cutlass keep Alabaster busy."
"What ya going to do about Crusader and Hookwolf?"
"Convince them otherwise." She raised her hand and lightning shot out to hit Crusader and his projections. This caused him to immediately drop hard to the concrete. A snap is heard as the two former villains are as the three villains down below.
"Move!" Hast yells as the droid jumps up on the roof to scramble over to the other side. Hookwolf transforms as Saber jumps off the balcony at the same time as the other act. Stormtiger begins to throw air daggers a Saber just for her to meet them with a flurry of her blade blocking each one, but he cannot send any more as Rapier sends a deadly series of blaster shots at him as Cutlass does the same to Alabaster. Hookwolf jumps to meet the descending Jedi. With a push from the Force, she barely avoids his claws as they scrap and claw the front of her armor causing her shield to shimmer. Her blade connects and send sparks and molten droplets flying from the head to tail cut. Hookwolf does not even look to be bothered by such a direct hit.
Saber changes her stance and draws harder on the Force as she switches to a style more dependent on Ataru. It turns into a battle of jumps, leaps and dodges mixed in with the occasional pounce. This goes on for several minutes until Hast comes back and attacks Alabaster from behind. This pins the cape in place and even his reset does not set him free. From this point Cutlass joined Rapier and a combination of stun shots puts Stormtiger down.
"It is over Hookwolf." Saber twisted in the air and planted her feet before lifting the beast he had become into the air. His legs flailed around in a poor attempt to get free. He shifts back so he can speak.
"You can't keep me in the air forever."
"I do not have to. I have read your file. Seen the post about you on PHO and you, maybe nigh invulnerable. However, you do have a weakness."
"Ya, you haven't figured it out. Nobody has not even me." He shifted back into a bladed wolf and sent out chains with hooks barbs, and blades attached at the ends. Saber dropped him as she redirected the chains away from her before he charged. With a hand, out stretched she pulled Cutlass's lightsaber from him. The tone changed as she leaped with blinding speed meeting Hookwolf in the middle.
There was a blur of pink and blue that ended in the blades sticking into the very spots where his eyes had been. A roar of anger surprise and pain would have been deafening had any of them not had helmets on. A flip pulled the blades out and Saber jumped again as if she was kicking off of the ground while being in the air. The extra spring allowed her to land on top of the railing as Hookwolf transformed back into his human form.
"You fucking, bitch! You alien whore! I am going to gut you! I'm fucking blind."
"A weakness." Saber stated as her helm split open. His arms dropped from his bloody eye sockets. His hands full of blood as his shoulders drooped. She could almost see his thoughts as Othala was not available to give him regeneration even if he could escape. Stormtiger had awakened at some point only to get shot again as he ran to Hookwolf. His crash to the ground caused Hookwolf to spin around nearly killing the downed cape as he turned back into his wolf form.
Rapier and Cutlass left him to tie up the other three. Titanium handcuffs and shackles with blindfolds, ball gags and noise canceling ear buds. Hast still had to hold Alabaster for nearly a minute before his reset state included the bindings. Five minutes later Crusader even with being shackled, gagged, and blindfolded used his power to fly away with a dozen different forms shielding him from the shots that the two guys sent their way.
"He is getting away."
"Good luck on getting the blindfold off idiot!" Cutlass yelled.
"Ayfour I need you and the fighter." Whistling and several beeps came through their comlinks. The roar of engines brought the fighter around to the balcony and Saber jumped up onto the wing and a second later dropped into the cockpit.
"What are we going to do with Hookwolf?"
"Leave him there." His voice crackled as the roar of the fighter engines deafened everything else.
"What do you mean?"
"He is blind do not approach call the PRT have the three of them picked up. I'll have Coil do the same thing with the other four."
"Kaiser and the others are still out there."
"True, but I believe the Undersiders will succeed even without my help." She tipped the fighter to the side to get a view of the city as she flew over it. Several other aircraft came up on her sensors from the distant airport and the few helicopters that were either medical in nature or news teams trying to get footage of the fight. Purity was shining bright firing helix beams at Glamour as she flew around her. There was several areas of darkness around the loft as well as the smoke and fire coming from it.
Three large dog beasts fought against Fenja and Menja. Gray fog rolled around near a blond cape who darted in and out of Fog. Saber could feel her frustration through the Force. She pulled the fighter around lining up with Purity and sent several shot her way. The cannon fire missed as the glowing cape dodged out of the way and even dodged another attack by Glamour. The fighter shot between the two of them and Purity tried to hit the fighter with her helix attack. Feeling this in the Force Saber switched the shield to the rear and spun to avoid the attack.
The shields flared at the same time the controls sparked and caught fire. Saber was forced to level out and climb as the suppression system filled the cockpit full of retardant. Ship flipped over on the apex of her climb as the cabin cleared as Ayfour warbled that the shields were out. As she came back down, she zoomed in on the fight. The gray fog vanished as it was sucked back into the cape named Fog. Both were surrounded by a swarm of bugs. Two swarms circled around Fenja's and Menja's giant forms. Kaiser was nowhere to be seen. Saber pulled the fighter out of the dive and into a hover as the fighting had stopped.
Then the twins shared a look as Purity suddenly rocketed away leaving the others behind. The twins rushed to Fog and Night picking them up as they fled after Purity. Saber was now able to see the destruction all around the loft. Bodies were lying everywhere many of them twisting and turning on the ground some still, but few that had died and most likely due to their own as the darkness around Regent and Bitch did not change nor was it felt on Grue, Tattletale or Skitter. Foliage was out of sight, but her vines were everywhere and several twisted emaciated trees.
Foliage appeared as the fighter landed following Regent and Imp out behind a destroyed wall. Grue limped into view as Skitter, Tattletale and Bitch stood together. Bitch was missing half of her skirt and her left leg looked thinner than her right. Regent was holding his arm with no obvious damage. That was until Foliage reached him. Without a word she straightened his arm out for him to nod. The cockpit opened as Saber climbed out.