This chapter is arriving late because of fanfiction's publication function failing consistently for me this past week. I cannot guarantee the same will not happen in future.

Many thanks to dwood15, Technetium43, frustratedFreeboota, and Assembler for betareading.

Many thanks to MugaSofer for fact checking.

Sheen 4.4

"Aegis," I said as the New Wave heroes left the warehouse, "Laserdream, Shielder, and Glory Girl are coming to join you. Be ready to control Glory Girl; she's being… rowdy."

"As usual," he said with a sigh. He sounded almost as fond as he was exasperated, though. "I'll keep her in line."

"See that you do," I said. "Keep looking." I swapped over to a private channel. "Browbeat, this is Annatar."

"Hey. How's the operation going?"

"Well enough. The others took out Über and Leet without too much trouble. Glory Girl came in and finished the job. Listen, are you anywhere near Dauntless?"

"Kinda? I'm a floor up from him right now. You need something?"

I considered. "First, I need a second opinion," I said. "If I told the Protectorate we were going after Bakuda's base, how likely would they be to play ball?"

"Not at all," said Browbeat instantly. "Partly to protect us, partly to protect their reputations."

"That was my assessment, too," I said. "Shit. Do you think you could just listen in on Dauntless on console, and see if you can figure out anything about where they think Bakuda is?"

"Sure. No promises that it'll turn up anything, though."

"I know. Just try."

"I will. Are you… sure you want to go behind their backs like this?"

"That woman has been blowing up my city for a week. Better to ask forgiveness than permission." I swapped back to my open channel with the other Wards. "Aegis, situation?"

"Still nothing," he said, his gaze scanning the city below. "Since we got New Wave support, I left Kid Win with the captives until the PRT arrives. Rest of us are still scouting up here. Any insight?"

"Not yet," I said. "I've got Browbeat on it. Keep looking. Clockblocker, how are things on the ground?"

"I have a moral objection to running towards the things Lung is setting on fire."

"Suck it up. Where are you?"

"A couple blocks from the fighting. Looking for anybody who isn't running away."

"Sounds about right. Vista, you're keeping the group mobile?"

"Of course."

"Then carry on." I leaned back against my seat and scanned the six screens before me, looking for anything amiss. It was entirely possible we would find nothing at all today; that all this effort would be for nothing. But we have to try.

"Sure you don't want us to help with Lung?" That was Sophia's voice, breaking the silence.

"Aegis is in command," I said, "but if it were my decision, no. The Protectorate and New Wave can handle that on their own, and someone has to stop Bakuda while the heavy hitters are distracted."

"I agree, for the record," Aegis put in. "None of us really has the training for that kind of fight. We'd get in the way, not because we can't fight, but because we don't train with the Protectorate. We wouldn't be coordinated."

"Fair enough," said Sophia.

"Annatar." It was Browbeat. His voice was pitched slightly low, and was a little tense with excitement.

"Yes, Browbeat?"

"I've got something. Dauntless said something about the battle moving west; the heroes are chasing Lung that way."

"Think he's drawing them away from something?"

"I do. It's just a hunch."

"You're the bearer of Ondoya. Your hunches are good. Wards, focus on the area to the east of the fight with Lung."

"Got it," said Aegis, and a moment later, "We've got something. Camouflaged sentry on a balcony."

I looked through his screen—and, sure enough, there was a man carefully hidden, hunched on one balcony in the shadow of another in a several-story apartment complex. His clothes were dark and the gun in his hands was black, making him hard to spot, but he was certainly there.

"Don't let him spot you. Think Glory Girl could manage a silent takedown?"

Aegis relayed the question. The New Wave hero answered, "Silent's not really my style, but yeah, sure. Want me to?"

"Wait on that. Aegis, you and New Wave continue scouting. Vista, you know where this building is?"

"Not really." Vista and the other grounded Wards were huddled just outside the flickering light of a streetlamp. "We're on the intersection of Beach and Wilde."

I nodded to myself. "Aegis, you don't happen to know the address of this building?"

"Not the number. It's on Stafford."

"Right. Vista, it's on the street two blocks north of you, on the far side. Stay out of sight and see if you can identify the building."

"On it."

"Another sentry." Aegis again. "And on a different floor. They've got the whole building on lockdown."

"I expected as much." I scanned the image of the building on his screen. There were two balconies on each of the building's five floors, one on either side. Other than that, there was an elevator and a penthouse on the roof, and a single main entrance on the ground floor. All of the windows were dark, and many of the curtains and blinds were drawn or lowered. "We should expect every entrance to be booby-trapped."

"Want me to go through a wall again?" Sophia asked.

"No," I replied. "With Über and Leet, I knew the numbers we were dealing with—two low-tier villains. This time, we have at least one high-tier villain and an unknown number of mooks. It's too risky."

"We have sight of the target," reported Clockblocker, and it was true—the four grounded capes were leaning out from behind a corner to see the very building Aegis had pointed out.

I bit my lip. "Vista, can you tunnel your group up to one of the balconies?"

"Just tell me which one."

"Second floor, on the right. There's a guy there, and the curtains are drawn. Clockblocker, you'll need to move quick to freeze him before he sounds the alarm."

"All right, I can see it. Ready when you are."

"Okay. Aegis, you and Glory Girl lead your group in by the roof. Don't take the stairs; they'll be trapped for sure, and a brute rating won't protect you from some of her bombs. Have Glory Girl break the roof in on my mark."

"Got it; on the move."

I took a deep breath. "Vista, on my mark, you give Clockblocker a tunnel, and Aegis, you have Glory Girl give you a route in."

"Ready." Vista.

"Understood." Aegis.

I swallowed. If anyone dies tonight, I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself. "Mark."

With a gesture, Vista shifted space. Slowly the road in front of them shifted as the warp stretched and coalesced—instead of continuing sidewalk, she and the others were faced with the end of a balcony, and a guy huddled in a corner, a gun held loosely in one hand. He blinked and started up as he saw them, his mouth opening to yell, but Clockblocker got to him first, and he froze mid-motion.

Simultaneously, Glory Girl dove straight into the roof, the plaster and masonry crumbling beneath her. Aegis, Laserdream, and Shielder followed her in and my view of his screen was faced with the surprised image of a single guy with a pistol right before Glory Girl threw him into a wall. He slid down to the floor, out cold.

"Aegis, keep going down, floor by floor," I said. "We'll know when we find her. Clockblocker, move into the building and comb this floor."

"Gallant, you're on point." Clockblocker's voice was firm and level.

Gallant nodded and, after taking a moment to roll his shoulders, burst straight through the glass door, the curtains billowing around him. He dove immediately—fortunate for him, since gunfire immediately sounded around him. He came up already launching blasts from both hands even as Vista stepped in after him and began twisting the air around him, keeping him safe from flying bullets. Sophia phased into shadow and dove for the nearest enemy, while Clockblocker hung back for a moment to give me a view of the room.

Several of the internal walls had been knocked down on the second floor. The whole place reminded me uncomfortably of my own workshop. Wiring covered the floors, linking one contraption and workplace to another in a crisscrossing web of cables. I knew some well—a power hammer, a forge, a traditional anvil, a couple of microforges. Then there were some I recognized but didn't use myself—a chemist's worktable, replete with decanters and vials; a fume hood like the one in Winslow's chemistry labs, and a couple of sealed vats in one corner.

There were eight guys in heavy riot gear, assault rifles in their hands. Bakuda was nowhere to be seen.

Even as the fighting began in earnest, Glory Girl broke through the ceiling of the fourth floor, then the third. I noticed she was taking about a second between each burst, but paid no mind to it; something to ask about later.

Vista gave Clockblocker a short route to a second as Sophia fired bolts at two and then ducked to solidify, allowing the bolts to connect—one managed to dodge, but the other staggered as the tranquilizer bolt solidified already halfway inside his vest, buried in his chest. Gallant's blasts launched at two more guys, both of whom dove out of the way. They avoided the blasts, but were now lying belly-down on the ground.

Two down. Sophia's target was falling and Clockblocker's guy was frozen. Six remained, however.

"Shoot Vista!" I heard one shout, even as Glory Girl broke through the last floor and Aegis dove onto one gunman. "Kill Vista!"

"Not likely," hissed Clockblocker, and everything slowed.

I smiled slightly. Silmaya at work.

The men seemed to move in slow motion, raising their guns and pointing at Vista as if they were swimming through molasses. Vista could easily channel the firing arc of each gun away from her now, given the extra time to focus. Meanwhile, Sophia was already teleporting towards the doorway into the stairwell, where one of the guys was currently running, heading downstairs. He was moving backwards, a wild yell on his lips, spraying bullets madly back into the room, quite unaware of the shadow coalescing behind him.

Everyone moved slower under the influence of Dennis' new power, including himself. But only those he considered allies could still think at full speed. To the ABB gunmen, it would appear that the Wards had suddenly achieved inhuman reaction times.

Gallant slowly stood up, already aiming for two more targets. He took his time aiming, and carefully targeted the places they would be when his power reached them, predicting their movements. The blasts emerged from his hands slowly, like pitch dropping from a funnel, and ponderously crossed the room towards their targets.

Meanwhile, Vista had gotten vicious. The five men firing at her found their own bullets returning to them, striking in nonlethal places—and Vista knew the difference between a lethal and a nonlethal target. Legshots carefully avoided arteries and major veins, and each strike was carefully intended to disable rather than to maim.

Aegis took advantage of the extra time to shift his grip in an unexpected hold on the guy and flip him over his own back, tossing the guy over his shoulder like so much chaff.

As soon as each Ward was in position to strike, Clockblocker released his iron grip on time. Gallant's blasts connected, Sophia jabbed her target with a tranquilizer, Vista's assailants fell over with pained cries, and Aegis' foe hit the ground with a muffled thud, followed by a strangled, aborted cry as Aegis kicked him in the head.

There was a moment's silence as everyone recovered, breathing heavily.

"What was that?" I heard Glory Girl ask.

Then Clockblocker fell down, gasping for air.

"Shit," said Aegis. "Clockblocker, are you—"

"I'm fine," said Clockblocker harshly. "Just took a lot out of me. I'll be better in a couple of minutes, but we don't have a couple of minutes. Get moving before Bakuda has time to do something about us."

I nodded. "Clockblocker is right," I said. "Wards, move on. Clockblocker, take your time. Great use of the new powers."

"Thanks, Annatar."

"Should someone stay with him?" That was Vista, looking concerned, but Clockblocker shook his head.

"I'll be fine," he stressed. "Get moving!"

"We didn't comb upstairs," said Laserdream firmly. "I'll stay and keep watch for anyone coming from above or outside. Shielder, follow Aegis' lead."

"We don't have time to argue," said Aegis. "Move, people. Glory Girl, if we could get a path?"

"You bet," said Glory Girl, and punched through the floor again.

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