Many thanks to dwood15, Technetium43, frustratedFreeboota, and Assembler for betareading.
Many thanks to MugaSofer for fact checking.
Sheen 4.3
My eyes darted from one screen to another. I'd turned off both mine and Browbeat's to avoid being distracted, and so my six-angled view of the skyline of Brockton Bay was uninterrupted except by empty black. Sophia was in an alleyway, making a final check of both of her crossbows. Aegis was in the air, his head turning slowly as he surveyed the area. Kid Win was in an alcove across the street from Shadow Stalker, checking the settings on his hoverboard. Clockblocker, Vista, and Gallant were all huddled together on an unlit street corner, about two blocks from the target.
"Have you located the AO?" I asked Aegis.
His head turned, pointing my camera at a large warehouse with a sloped, corrugated metal roof and concrete walls. It stood out, not because it was a particularly imposing or interesting exterior, but because it was sturdier than any of the others around it.
"I think so," he said. "Can't be sure without going inside."
"Right," I agreed. "Kid Win, stay low and dark; go one block to your left. There's a single concrete building, dominates the block. I need you to scan the walls, figure out if there's an electric current running through them anywhere."
"Got it." Kid Win mounted his hoverboard and sped down the street, carefully staying low to the ground and keeping slow enough that the noise of his repulsors remained at a low whine, barely audible even to my Nenya-enhanced hearing. When he reached the building he pulled out a tool. The ranged voltmeter had been another recent addition to Kid Win's arsenal, built with the help of Armsmaster's notes on Sophia's tinkertech lenses.
"Think you can get me the upgrade into the lenses soon?" Sophia asked. Her own version of the voltmeter functioned similarly, I knew, but could not see currents behind or inside walls.
"I can't miniaturize the voltmeter enough to fit into your mask," Kid Win replied. "I'll talk to Armsmaster about it as soon as I have a chance."
He moved it from side to side, about two feet from the surface of the wall, watching the display. "Low current," he reported. "Consistent with in-wall electrical conduits. Looking for a weak point."
"Carry on." I turned to Sophia's screen. "Shadow Stalker, follow him; do not phase in until I give the word."
"On it."
"Clockblocker, take your squad towards the AO; stay out of sight."
Vista and Gallant began following Clockblocker down the street as he led them by a shadowed route, carefully avoiding the golden lights of streetlamps.
"Aegis, drop towards the roof of the building—the walls are thick, but you might be able to hear something through the roof."
He sank towards the warehouse and slowly rotated himself so he was hovering belly-down, one ear lowered toward the corrugated plating of the roof. After a moment, I saw his hand go to his higher ear. "I've got nothing," he whispered. "No sound."
"That means nothing," said Kid Win. "Could be anything from insulation to tinkertech silencing." He withdrew his voltmeter and return it to the compartment at his hip."I've found a weak point."
"Good. Rise up—out of sight of windows—and join Aegis above the roof. Shadow Stalker, on my mark, phase into the building."
I saw the wall begin to pass beneath Kid Win's view as he slowly gained altitude. Sophia positioned her back against the point on the concrete wall he had indicated.
Meanwhile, Clockblocker's team had gained visibility of the warehouse. They were now huddled in the shadow of a building, ducking around it as they looked at the main doors of the warehouse across the street and down the road half a block. "We don't have a safe route any further," Clockblocker reported. It was true—if they left the alley, they'd be in view of the warehouse's main windows. But there was an alternative.
"Vista, tunnel your group to a position directly in front of the doors." The windows were almost all second story, and they were all set into the back of the thick concrete walls. The warehouse's occupants—if there were any, if we had the right place—would have no line-of-sight to the doors themselves.
Vista obligingly gave the three Wards a spatial warp, landing them within two feet of the warehouse's door.
"Any sound?" I asked.
"None," reported Gallant in a whisper.
"Can you sense anyone?"
"I need visual to sense emotions, Annatar. I can see the emotions of hidden people, maybe even invisible people, but not people I can't see at all."
"Right, sorry. Standby. Aegis, are we clear for insertion?"
"We're ready up here."
"Good. All Wards, prepare to engage if Shadow Stalker is detected. Shadow Stalker, you have permission to enter the building."
"Finally," muttered Sophia, and phased into shadow—my view of her went dark, the camera unable to broadcast from inside her shadow state.
I bit my lip, holding my breath. Please be okay. Don't let Leet have a countermeasure.
It was about twenty seconds before Sophia's screen lit up again. It felt like an hour. She was huddled against a low wall, looking at the concrete of the interior wall. That concrete was not so unadorned on this side—it was painted a slightly garish green, and a poster was plastered on it to her left—a man in a green tunic, carrying a blue sword amid a forest.
Her hand came up to her ear. "I think we found them," she murmured. "I can hear them."
She held her finger on the earpiece for a moment—and, yes, I heard the sound of fairly loud music coming from somewhere in the building, punctuated by a frustrated shout, the specific words inaudible.
"Okay," I said. "Any defenses?"
"At least one of them is on the upper floor," she said. "From what I saw before I took cover, this floor is Leet's workshop. There's a big turret in the center—I think it's automated. There's also a robot or something in one corner—an automaton."
"Any obvious weaponry on it?"
"No, but some around it. Tinkertech. A sword, a gun, some other things I didn't recognize. The robot's in a case—off, I think."
"Good. With luck, it won't be active. How's the lighting?"
"Too damn high. Fluorescents all over the ceiling."
"See a light switch?"
"Just inside the front door."
I smiled. "Any traps?"
"Yeah. Something hooked to the hinge. Probably just an alarm, but…"
"…But we don't know, and even that's a problem." I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking.
"Shadow Stalker," Aegis interjected. "You're the one in there. Think you can get to another vantage point?"
"I can try."
"I can't see or hear you when you're shifted," I told her. "How long do you think it'll take you to get to that position?"
"Ten seconds, max."
"Can you give me a counter—click your tongue or something, so I know what you mean by a second?"
Sophia made a low clicking sound into the microphone, a slow counter. I committed the timing to memory. "Clockblocker, Aegis," I said. "If Shadow Stalker doesn't revert within about twelve seconds I'm going to call you in. Be ready. Shadow Stalker, on your mark."
I heard her inhale once and let the air out slowly. Then her camera went dark.
One, two, three, four…
On nine, Sophia's screen lit up again and my heart leapt into my mouth. Her back was against the wall, her legs splayed out before her. A fluorescent light shone upon her from directly above, and the turret in the center of the room which she'd mentioned was pointed squarely in her direction. The sides of its barrel were glowing blue and sparking like a Tesla coil.
An electric weapon.
"Wards, move in!" I said. "Shadow Stalker is hit!"
At that point, a great deal of things happened at once.
On the roof, Aegis flew up a few feet and threw himself bodily down into the metal of the roof. It splintered, tearing around him and leaving a hole. Kid Win's hoverboard was too wide to sink into it, so he jumped off of it, held it tight to his body, and dropped after Aegis. The flying brute caught him as he did and set him down on the creaky wooden planks of the upper floor.
Meanwhile, Clockblocker and Gallant each grabbed one of the handles of the warehouse's double doors and tried them.
"Locked," said Clockblocker through gritted teeth.
Gallant didn't waste words, taking a step away and throwing his power-armored bulk into the barricade. The doors didn't budge.
"Boys," Vista muttered. In a moment, instead of the door, the three of them were in front of a widened window. "Here."
As one, the three of them burst through the glass.
Meanwhile, Sophia had pushed herself forward onto her hands and knees and rolled to her left. A burst of light signaled the firing of the turret, and as she came up I saw a blackened scorch mark on the concrete floor where she'd been lying.
Aegis and Kid Win were upstairs at the walled end of a narrow corridor, with doors lining both walls. Sophia was under fire and out of cover, right in the middle of an open, well-lit room. Clockblocker, Gallant, and Vista were just inside the main doors and had a clear line of sight, both at the turret and at Sophia. At least one of the two villains was upstairs, likely in one of the rooms off of the hallway, but the other's position was unknown.
"Vista, help Shadow Stalker get to cover. Aegis, Kid Win, find Über and Leet," I said, my words coming out slightly jumbled as they tripped over one another in my rush to get them out. "One of them's upstairs at least. Clockblocker, disable that turret. Gallant, see if you can find any sign of the villains."
Even as I spoke, Vista was already twisting the air in front of the turret's barrel in a visible warping, bending its firing line away from Sophia, who was scrambling to her feet. Kid Win hopped onto his hoverboard and shot down the hallway even as Aegis shoved open the nearest door and looked into the dark room.
"I'm going to check each room," our team leader said. "Kid Win, go to the end of the hall and work your way back here."
"Got it."
Clockblocker was charging directly for the turret. It rotated to face him. "Vista!" he hollered, diving for it.
I watched through his screen as the turret's barrel twisted like an Escher painting, the burst of bluish lightning arcing out and fizzling against the wall. An instant later, Clockblocker's hand landed on the machine's chassis.
"Don't know how long that'll hold," he panted. "I can just stay here and freeze it again if—"
He was cut off by a burst of light and an impact that sent him flying. My eyes darted to the other screens. The automaton Sophia had mentioned had left its case, and in its hand was what looked like an assault rifle, painted white—if assault rifles shot a steady stream of glowing blue orbs.
The robot itself was a gray thing, humanoid in shape and featureless in face, save for two eyes which were lit from within. Visible pistons and gyroscopes whirred within its mechanical torso and limbs as it turned from Clockblocker, aiming at Gallant, who was charging at it. It raised its weapon…
...and froze. I saw the light in its eyes flicker and die. Something seemed to give in the mechanisms of its chest.
"Get back, Gallant!" I ordered.
He obeyed without hesitation, skidding to a stop and throwing himself backwards. Not a moment too soon—the automaton sparked once from deep within its chest, and exploded in a burst of light and fire.
"Threepio, no!"
The voice came through multiple microphones. All four of the Wards downstairs turned to the source.
Leet stood in the doorway of a side room—a kitchen, by the fridge still open behind him. The lightbulb inside it was the only source of light in that room, and his scrawny form stood framed against the shadows behind him. He was barely dressed—in the sense that he wore absurd, oversized goggles with tinted lenses, and other than that only a t-shirt and cargo shorts.
The t-shirt was a graphic. I detachedly noticed that against the red of the fabric, its black lettering read ENDBRINGER VICTIMS BITCH TOO MUCH. All caps.
I might've shuddered a little bit, I don't know.
"Leet," said Gallant, his voice steady, loud, and clear. "You are under arrest. Surrender, and we don't have to go any further."
"Fuck you!" Leet growled, his fists clenching. "You think you can just come in here and fuck with my workshop, and I won't even fight back? I—"
He stopped with a faint choking noise. He blinked, took a single step forward, and keeled over. From behind him, Sophia withdrew her tranquilizer bolt from his neck as he fell.
She looked at our teammates. "What?" she asked, her form still coalescing after teleporting into the shadows behind him. "He wasn't surrendering."
Her voice was still tight with pain, but before I could do more than take note there was a crash from upstairs. My eyes darted to Aegis' screen—shit, I'd neglected him and Kid Win.
Aegis's face was against the wall, one arm visible out of the corner of his eye where it was bent into an armbar.
"Get out of my base," growled Über, and shifted his grip before throwing Aegis out a window.
"Upstairs, everyone," I said. "Aegis just found Über."
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