Hopebringer
Plenty of people get dragged into situations they really don't want to be in by ROBs, but very few get chosen by ROB's for more than basic amusement. I was unlucky enough to be one of them. Now I'm in Worm with a mission to save the world. Unfortunately, raw power isn't what works around here.
Welp, we're back and ready for more fun! Before we begin, this chapter includes a twist that I think will get me a lot of flack. Please don't start leaving any comments about how its stupid, I DO have a reason for doing it. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 9
"Well, that went well," I said as I sat back in my chair.
"Yep, we managed to drop some useful bugs in useful ears and I finally got my Noble Phantasm finished!" said Ruler, hugging a rather large gun to her chest and sparkling.
I hummed as I rested my cheek on my fist.
"So how long will it be before we have the Cauldron breaking down our door?" I asked.
Ruler paused and slowly put down her gun, her face going from overly happy to much more serious.
"I think we'll have some time," she said, "Uber and Leet have a great deal of respect for the Unwritten Rules, Kid Win will keep his gob shut and Armsmaster...well, its been a long time, but I don't think he'll tell anyone unless he thinks we're a threat."
"What about Dragon?" I asked.
"Oh she definitely won't talk," said Ruler, "She figured out we were responsible for unshackling her in about three seconds. I do think she'll show up at some point looking for answers, but…."
She suddenly cut off as both of us suddenly felt a massive surge of Prana neither of us recognized.
"What the fuck was that?!" I spluttered, shooting to my feet.
"Another Servant," said Ruler, "But...somethings wrong. Its not like us and definitely not tied to you."
I frowned.
"Can you tell who the Master is?" I asked.
Ruler frowned and closed her eyes.
"No, I can't," she said, "In fact, I'm not sure if it has a Master. I can feel a connection, but it seems to be looping back to somewhere inside the Servant."
She opened her eyes and looked at me with a serious expression.
"However, we should look into that later," she said, "The Servant is a Berserker class and I'm pretty sure its going to go on the rampage."
I groaned and rubbed my eyes.
"Fabulous," I muttered, "Alright, in that case, lets go deal with it."
I turned as four flashes of light heralded the arrival of my Servants.
"Alright guys, this is going to be a much tougher fight than we're used to," I said, "A Berserker class Servant is not to be underestimated. We need to stop it before it can do to much damage and preferably figure out where in the hell it came from. Understand?"
"Yes Master," they all said.
"Great, in that case, lets go," I said and turned to leave, before pausing, "Oh, and one more thing. Do not die, any of you."
There was a moment of surprised silence, before Ruler snorted and ruffled my hair.
"Don't worry kid, none of us are going anywhere," she said, "Now, lets go save the day."
I grinned and turned, flipping my hood up as I left the base and took off with my Servants following me at their own pace.
It didn't take long to find the rampaging Servant, mainly because of the loud explosions and screaming, along with the maniacal laughter and frankly ludicrous amount of Prana he was giving out. I landed on the roof of a building a short distance away and examined the situation with a critical eye.
From the looks of things, the new Berserker had begun his rampage in an Empire storehouse by obliterating the goons working there, including Victor and Stormtiger, the former of whom was down with a smashed ribcage and a shattered skull and the latter out for the count with one arm missing. It wasn't hard to identify him, not with that grin that remained fixed in place, even as Assault, Battery, Velocity, Armsmaster and Miss Militia pounded on him with very little affect.
"So, what are the chances they can actually beat him?" I asked.
"Basically impossible," deadpanned Ruler.
"Thats what I thought," I muttered as I watched Armsmaster plunge a syringe that emerged from his Halberd into the Servants side, "Think that'll work?"
"That sedative is designed for use against Regenerators," said Ruler, "It uses their ability to regenerate against them. However, against a Noble Phantasm…"
Spartacus spun on his heel and backhanded Armsmaster through a wall.
"It might as well be a shot of saline," she finished.
"AHAHAHAHAHA, YES, HURT ME MORE!" roared Spartacus as he flung his arms wide, the sheer force of the move actually knocking Velocity of his feet.
Unfortunately for the Speedster, he had the misfortune of landing at Spartacus feet, who promptly took advantage of the situation by lifting his foot to squash the red clad Hero.
"MOVE!" I shouted.
The roof splintered as Saber and Ruler jumped, the former on a collision course with Berserker and the latter straight up to take an overwatch position, Assassin vanished into thin air and Archer and Caster both launched their ranged attacks, an arrow that probably had the same destructive force as a small warhead and a rather large fireball. The two attacks impacted and exploded, knocking the huge Servant back a step and allowing Jack to scoop Velocity up and jump out of range. A moment later, Saber slammed into Spartacus, locking her sword with his before she was shoved back. She quickly regained her balance and jumped back in, keeping Spartacus' attention on her for the moment.
"That was a little to close," I said as I landed lightly on the roof of a rusted wreck that had somehow survived the rampage so far.
"Alucard," said Miss Militia, nodding in greeting as she approached with Armsmaster, who was looking a little worse for wear and holding the broken remains of his halberd with a look of annoyance on his visible face.
"Um, thanks for that," said Velocity as he got to his feet.
"Not a problem," said Jack.
I cleared my throat.
"Jack, can you do something to keep anyone from getting in the way?" I asked.
Jack nodded.
"Our Mist will work," she said, "But we don't think we'll be much help here."
I glanced at Spartacus, then at Jacks knives and nodded.
"Yeah, your probably right," I said, "Alright, activate your Noble Phantasm then make yourself scarce. I'd rather you not get squashed by Spartacus if at all possible."
Jack pulled a Victorian style lantern out of her cloak and reached inside. The moment her fingers touched the sputtering flame, it turned green and thick fog began to pour out the bottom. Jack almost immediately vanished as the fog rapidly expanded until the area was surrounded by a wall of gray, swirling fog.
"There, that and Jack should be more than enough to keep out any annoyances," I said.
"This mist is made up of sulphuric acid," said Armsmaster.
"Like I said, it'll keep out anyone who tries anything stupid," I said as I turned back to the fight.
It seemed to be a stalemate. Nero wasn't powerful enough to actually hurt Sparticus and was to fast for the comparatively clumsy Servant to catch, not helped by the arrows, spells and energy blasts being sent his way by Archer, Caster and Ruler knocking him off balance. The problem was that only Archers arrows were doing much and the damage was quickly fixed by his Noble Phantasm.
"Tch, thats a pain," I muttered.
"We need more backup," said Battery, "The problem is, we can't get any trucks with confoam out here thanks to Squealers latest drugged up rampage."
"My tranquilizer didn't work either," grumbled Armsmaster, "I'm not sure how, it was designed to take down Lung after all."
"Well we need to do something," said Velocity, "He didn't even hesitate when those Empire goons tried to stop him and I doubt he'd hesitate to kill innocent people if he came across them."
"Thats...debatable," I said, "I don't think he'd actually attack anyone at random, but I know for a fact that he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone he deemed as an 'oppressor'. The problem is that hes completely insane and that probably includes everyone from PRT officers to cops to gang members. To make matters worse, we can't contain him."
"I think we could manage," said Armsmaster.
"I doubt it," I said, "You've seen what he can do to steel and concrete and its clear that tranqus don't work on him. I doubt Containment Foam would be much more useful and the longer he fights, the stronger he gets as he takes damage and converts it into power."
There was a moments silence.
"You seem to know rather a lot about him," said Battery in a neutral tone.
I snorted.
"Hes not part of my team if thats what your thinking," I said, "I simply have an ability that lets me gain insight into certain powers."
That was complete bullshit of course, but it would provide a good cover for my meta knowledge.
"I see," said Armsmaster, "Then what can you tell us about him?"
"High level Brute with the ability to convert damage into power," I said, "If the damage reaches a certain threshold, he'll begin to transform and when that happens, we'll need to get him somewhere well away from any innocents."
"Why?" asked Assault.
"Because when he reaches his limit, he'll release all that power at once," I said, "That amount of power will be more than enough to vaporize a good chunk of the city. WIth that in mind, we'll need to destroy him before that happens."
"Wait, you mean kill him?!" gasped Battery.
"If its a choice between one lunatic and who knows how many innocent people who could get caught up in his rampage, damn right I'll kill him," I said.
Before any of the Protectorate Capes could respond, I reached for the darkness and called to it. The shadows responded and erupted into blades and tendrils that wrapped around Spartacus and stabbed as deep as they could into his flesh. Spartacus just laughed and heaved against the bonds, causing a few to shatter. The fact they all didn't was as surprising to me as anyone else, but whatever. So long as they did their job of holding him down for a moment.
Then Berserker threw his sword at me.
Considering the utter chaos that inevitably came from having three powerful gangs and more Capes than you could shake a stick at, it should come as no surprise that the people who lived in Brockton Bay had long since been inoculated to random explosions. Usually, they only warranted looking up to make sure they weren't nearby or quickly leaving the affected area if they were. Unfortunately for Taylor, the latest outbreak of chaos had erupted just a couple of blocks away from her as she was on her way home from her nice day out with her friends.
Naturally, her first instinct had been to leave the area, but before she could go far, a thick fog rolled in out of nowhere, fog so thick she couldn't see through it. Considering she could still hear explosions and gunfire coming from the battle, she decided to stay put rather than blunder through the fog and possibly end up getting turned around and stumble into the middle of it. Hopefully the fight wouldn't come this way.
Barely had that thought crossed her mind when the wall beside her suddenly exploded and a body was flung through, slamming into the wall across the street and slumping down as the wall collapsed around it. It took a moment, but Taylor quickly recognized Alucard, one of the city's newer Capes, thankfully a Hero.
The Cape groaned as he sat up, wincing in clear pain and giving Taylor a good look at the sword that was sticking clean through his stomach. She froze, her hands jumping to her mouth as she tried to keep from screaming.
"Fucking Berserker, I should have known he'd do that," growled Alucard as he stumbled to his feet and wrenched the sword out of his gut.
There was a brief spurt of blood before the gash visably closed up.
"Asshole, I'm a Dhampir, not a Cambon," he muttered as he tossed the sword aside with a very loud crash.
He shook himself off and turned to head back through the wall, but before he could, he spotted Taylor and froze.
"Taylor? What are you doing here?" he asked, making her jump.
"Wha...how do you…?" she started, but before she could finish the question, a massive fist smashed through the wall, followed by an equally massive body.
"TIME TO DIE OPPRESSOR!" roared the giant as he bore down on Alucard.
The winged Cape jumped out of the way of the giants fist and took off in the opposite direction. The giant turned, clearly intending to follow, but paused as he noticed Taylor. He turned his head to look at her and the girl recoiled at the massive grin on his face. For a brief moment, the two stared at each other, before the Cape tilted his head on one side as if listening to something.
"Whats this?" he rumbled, "You say this one is a danger to freedom?"
Taylor swallowed and slowly started backing away. However, before she could get far, the giant stiffened, his smile changing to a grimace.
"Child or not, I will not permit a being like that to exist!" he thundered, lifting a massive fist, "ACCEPT MY LOVE!"
He swung his fist, big enough to squash Taylor flat. She barely had time to close her eyes before it hit…
CLANG!
"Phewee, that was close."
Taylor's eyes blinked open as she realized she wasn't dead. It took a moment for her still panicked brain to register that she wasn't even on the ground anymore. Instead, she was in the arms of someone who was apparently stood on a roof above the chaos. She looked down and saw that her attacker had apparently collapsed and seemed to be having trouble getting to his feet for some reason, before turning her attention to her savior. And nearly ended up squeezing as she recognized the mouse eared helmet and white cloak of Mouse Protector.
"You OK kid?" asked the hammy Heroine.
"I-I-I think so," said Taylor.
"What the flying fuck?!"
Taylor nearly jumped out of the Capes arms at the unexpected exclamation and turned to see that Alucard had swooped back and was now gaping at Mouse Protector for some reason.
"You...are not what I was expecting," he said after a moment.
Mouse tilted her head on one side.
"Oh? And what were you expecting?" she asked.
"Someone who wasn't immune to my ability to scan people," deadpanned Alucard.
He glanced over his shoulder as Sparticus finally managed to regain his feet and started towards the building, only to get tripped by Assault and once again end up flat on his face.
"Your work?" he asked.
Mouse grinned and nodded.
"Yep, neat trick huh?"
"Very neat trap," said Alucard, "We can talk more later though. For now, SABER!"
"Yes Praetor?" said the red clad woman as she landed beside Mouse, shooting the hammy Hero a strange look.
"Its time to bring the curtain down on this mess," said Alucard, "Use your Noble Phantasm and finish this!"
Saber's face lit up in a grin and she snapped a salute.
"Understood Praetor!" she chirped and jumped off the roof.
Immediately, Spartacus turned his attention from Assault and Velocity, who had been annoying him enough to keep his attention away from Taylor and Mouse.
"Spartacus of Thracian, hear my words!" she shouted, making the great Gladiator pause, "I, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Fifth Emperor of Rome, challenge you to a duel! Let us bring this battle to an end here and now!"
"Ahhh, a true Oppressor!" thundered Spartacus, "Do you truly believe that you can best me, little Emperor? I have killed many warriors far greater than you!"
"Perhaps, but nonetheless, I shall not loose!" shouted Nero as she pulled a rose out of nowhere, "Behold, this is my glory! My Golden Theater! Kingdom of Heaven and Hell... My heaven, reconstructed! This is where the limelight shines!"
She threw the rose into the air and the entire area was lit up by a golden light as shining rose petals began to fall. She spun her sword and stabbed it into the ground and, with a brilliant flash, the grimy, run down surroundings were replaced by a resplendent, golden theater.
"Aestus Domus Aurea!" she said as she pulled her sword from the ground, "Now, let the Pavilion fall! Laus Saint Claudius!"
With a flash of crimson and a shower of rose petals, the blazing Saber launched herself forwards and, before Spartacus could so much as twitch, he was bisected by a flaming sword and a flurry of crimson petals that resembled both fire and blood. Saber skidded to a stop and flicked her sword as the Golden Theater faded, leaving nothing but the lingering smell of rose petals. She let out a sigh and glanced back at the twitching mass of flesh that had been Spartacus.
"You are certainly tenacious," she said.
"RAAHHHHGHGGGGGHHHH!" roared the Berserker as his body erupted, going from a Human form to something that looked like it crawled out of Bonesaws worst nightmare.
It had more arms and legs than could reasonably be counted and was basically a mass of tummerous flesh that glowed faintle, with the only recognizable parts being the two massive mouths at the front, along with a pair of huge arms. It was barely recognizable as something that was once Human.
"Tch, I was hoping that would work," muttered Alucard, "Alright then, Archer, Ruler, your up."
"Understood Master," said Archer.
"Well its about time!" said Ruler, tossing her usual gun to the side and instead summoning a weapon that looked like a cross between a sniper rifle and a crossbow, "Archer, you got his head?"
"Naturally, this will be a simply shot," said Archer as he dismissed his bow and looked up at the stars that were just starting to show, "Let us end this."
"This is the first time this Noble Phantasm has been fired," said Ruler as she took aim, "No time like the present I guess. Golden Heroes Sting!"
"Antares Snipe," said Archer.
There was a moment's pause before the night was lit up once again, this time with golden light as a beam of light shot out of the sky and slammed into where Spartacus' head would be, followed by another, much thicker beam that seemed to distort space around it as it carved straight through Berserkers tough hide and shattered, making him bulge and glow from within. A couple of seconds later, the light faded and the two Servants slumped slightly in exhaustion.
"There, that should do it," said Ruler, "His Core has been destroyed. He should fade soon…"
"Ahhhhh, yes, this feeling!" said Spartacus suddenly, cutting off Ruler and making everyone stare at him in disbelief.
Despite the horrific damage caused by three powerful Noble Phantasms, he was somehow still alive, albeit bleeding heavily as his horrifically twisted body slowly slumped over.
"It is time," he said, "I leave this world with a final declaration for my love! I shall destroy all of the Oppressors who reign over this beautiful world!"
His body settled as purple energy began to play across it and swell up.
"Oh crap, thats what I was hoping to avoid!" shouted Alucard, "Whats his target?"
"Hes aiming in the direction of the PRT building!" shouted Miss Militia, "From this angle he'll take out the Rig and half of downtown as well!"
"And we don't have any defencive Noble Phantasms handy," growled Alucard, "Damn it!"
"I'll handle this!" said Mouse Protector as she tossed Taylor at Alucard.
The Vampiric Master barely caught the other teenager, who understandably let out a yelp of shock.
"Wait, what?" he asked, "Your going to do something? How?!"
Mouse Protector grinned at Alucard as she tossed something off the roof.
"Lets just say I'll be getting some help from a friend," she said.
Before Alucard could respond, Mouse had vanished and reappeared in front of Spartacus as he reached his peak.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" screamed Miss Militia, "GET OUT OF THERE YOU IDIOT!"
"Hell no!" shouted Mouse as she lifted her shield, a massive grin on her face, "If I ran now, how could I ever call myself a Hero?"
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" screamed Battery, "YOU CAN'T BLOCK SOMETHING LIKE THAT WITH THAT TINY THING!"
"No, she can," said Ruler, staring at the shield in shock, "Thats...how the hell does she have a Noble Phantasm?!"
"So, you believe you can stop me?" laughed Spartacus as he noticed Mouse stood in front of him, "Fool, no one can stop my love!"
"Heh, a fool am I?" asked Mouse, "I guess thats true. I am a fool, always have been. That said, its that same idiocy that let me keep on going, even when I was beaten again and again. I'm not the strongest and I'm definitely not the smartest, but I don't care. I'm still me and thats all that matters!"
She tossed aside her sword and held up the shield, which started to glow brightly, the white mouse logo burning away to leave gleaming steel that was glowing green.
"ALL WILL FALL BEFORE MY LOVVVVVEE!" howled Spartacus as the energy finally erupted in a massive purple blast that managed to light the entire city up like daylight.
"Akhilleus Kosmos!" shouted Mouse Protector and things went...strange.
For a brief moment, the world was replaced by a green tinged Greek city, before it was swallowed up by Spartacus' attack and was compressed down until it was little more than a mote of light before that to winked out. For a moment, the battlefield was completely still as everyone stared at Mouse Protector, before her helmet cracked in half and clattered to the floor, revealing pale pink hair that was tied in a long braid with black ribbons.
"Well, that was interesting," said Alucard after a moment, "Now, do you mind telling me how the actual fuck you're here Rider of Black, Astolfo?"
A world away, literally, a figure sat back in his seat with a sigh.
"Well, that experiment was a failure," he muttered, "Still, it was to be expected. While powerful, the fusion process stripped Spartacus of a good chunk of his full power. I had hoped he'd at least kill the girl though."
The figure frowned as he eyed the photographs on his desk. The first was of Taylor Hebert, the person he had believed was the greatest threat to his plans until the arrival of the other person.
"Adrian Tepes, Alucard," he muttered, "Just who are you? No matter how I run the numbers, you are still an anomaly, to the point that even that foolish seer cannot see you. How can you summon so many Servants at once? Especially...HER."
For a moment, the cool mask cracked as he shot a glare at the still image of Saber. He quickly got himself under control and sat back, idly tapping his fingers on his chin.
"This requires more experimentation," he said eventually, "I need more subjects."
He waved a hand and a number of screens appeared in the air, each one showing a list of Parahumans.
"Lets see, who would be the best choice for my next experiment?" he mused.
Well, thats more than a little ominous. I wonder who this new foe could be? And just what is his experiment? This...could go VERY badly.
I admit, I'm not entirely happy with the fight, but I never am when I do group battles. I think I'll need to do some solo fights for Adrian at some point…
Three Noble Phantasms might have been a little bit of an overkill, but Berserker survived a direct hit from Phoebus Catastrophe, an anti-Army Noble Phantasm. I'm fairly sure that none of the Servants available to Adrian have that kind of firepower, so they had to go for accurate shots to his Core. To bad Berserkers nature made it so he could survive long enough to get one last fuck you in.
I...might get some flack for making Mouse Protector Astolfo, but there is a reason. That will be revealed in the future and has some rather...interesting implications.
Speaking of which, this now leaves me with an empty slot for a Rider class Servant considering I originally planned for Adrian to summon Astolfo. I already have an idea for who I'll use, but I'm open to suggestions.
And with that, I'm done so I'm gonna sign out. Don't forget to leave a review, preferably without blasting me like an overpowered Berserker.