(From the journal of Cale Westmarch)
(June 2005)
It was ultimately the screaming that jolted me out of my thoughts as I flew through Steel Canyon. It was not the fearful and pleading cries of a human in distress, but rather the shrill, half-audible and half-mental sound of a Kheldian in an absolute panic. It was a unique and distinctive sound, very much akin to nails on a chalkboard. Needless to say, it got my attention.
A cursory glance towards the dirty streets revealed nothing out of the ordinary, save for a pair of Outcast thugs who had more brawn than brains. Unfortunately, they were too busy vandalizing the bus stop to be causing true trouble, which meant they weren't worth my time at the moment. The screeching sound lanced through my mind again like a white-hot needle, seeming to come from behind me. I twisted around in mid-air to discover that I had overflown the problem, and that it was not nearly as close as I thought it had been. Given the piercing volume of the Kheldian's cries from this distance, both horizontally and vertically, I felt more than a little pity for the other mortal ears within range of the alien squid.
The dark creature was zooming through the streets of Steel Canyon as fast as her spectral tentacles could propel her, screeching the entire time. The cause of her distress was made obvious a moment later as a burst of purplish energy lanced out from an alleyway, coming dangerously close to hitting her. A suited figure stepped out of the alley shortly afterwards, completely enshrouded in a shimmering suit of some unknown composition and wielding a massive pulse-rifle that few heroes weren't already all too aware of by now. A Quantum rifle. When one of those was around, it usually meant somebody was in for a very bad day.
(CALE!) a voice suddenly thundered in my mind, almost knocking me out of the sky. It was a voice I recognized at once, much to my immediate chagrin. It was the voice of Kiwi, the newest pet of my dark mistress. Do not ask me to speculate how she had been able to enslave a Kheldian Warshade to her power, but then again I was still trying to determine how I had become ensnared by her.
The realization that it was Kiwi who was screaming for her life meant three things to me: First, it meant that the wielder of the Quantum rifle was most likely a Void Hunter, a member of an alien race who were at war with the Kheldians. Much like the Rikti, they had infested Earth in disturblingly large numbers in an attempt at visiting xenocide on the Kheldian squids living among us. Fortunately they were not too much like the Rikti, as they tended to leave humans alone as they hunted their chosen prey, but they could be just as mean and nasty if a human got between them and the squids they were gunning for.
Second, it meant that Kiwi was in the very real and very grave danger of becoming exotic calamari, for the Quantum energy used in the Void rifles played absolute havoc with the life-energies Kheldians had to rely on in order to survive in our world's atmosphere. Should that energy become sufficiently disrupted or polarized, the result would be a very loud and graphic sound of exploding organics accompanied by a splattering effect not unlike a Jell-O beanbag being sat on by an elephant.
Third, and only in the privacy of my own thoughts will I admit that this would be the one that bothers me the most, it meant that I would have to rescue the squid from the Void or be prepared to give a very detailed explanation to my mistress why her exotic "pet" was being brought back to her in a rubber pail. Given the choice, I'd rather deal with both the Void and the rather ripe smell of an up-close Kheldian than suffer through one of her moods. I, like the rest of my enslaved minion brethren collectively known to others as the "Ghost Legion", do not refer to her as the Dark Mistress just for laughs.
It was a simple matter to alter the Flight spell I had been using to traverse the city, needing only a few muttered Arcane syllables to change the thrust to allow me to hover in place on a very steady cushion of air. Kiwi was already sky-swimming her way towards me and the Void Hunter was beating feet along the pavement to follow her, which meant that I wouldn't need to move further. I love it when my prey comes to me. It beats the hell out of having to chase it down, especially when it's one of those really flighty targets.
(Iaculor,) I murmured softly, drawing upon a focusing spell that I had learned, oddly enough, from my Mother. It was originally a meditation to enhance the senses, but somehow it had evolved into having a fully magical nature. More often than not, this was the first of the spells I made ready when I could see "Ouch Time" lurking on the horizon and was able to prepare accordingly.
(Construo Auxilum,) I chanted next. Raw power began to flood my veins, giving me an extra measure of oomph that I had every intention of pouring into the next Arcane spell I was going to cast. If I did it right, I would only need to cast it once to put an end to this entire mess. Of course, even if I did it wrong, the spell would last long enough to augment a few more of my offensive spells to make them all the more potent.
Kiwi came dangerously close to ramming into me as she shot past like an organic cannonball. I unconsciously held my breath as the breeze wafted past, not wanting to be distracted by the... shall we say, unique aroma of a Kheldian in her natural form. I knew they couldn't help it, but I often was of the opinion that they could at least carry a few air fresheners with them.
The sudden mental image of a Kheldian cruising down the street with eight different cheap air fresheners for cars hanging from its tentacles like ornaments on a Christmas tree almost made me lose my concentration. As it was, I had a very hard time stifling the urge to laugh aloud, which of course would have necessitated a quick explanation to Kiwi lest she think I was even crazier than what she already decided I was. Sometimes having a vivid imagination is more trouble than it's worth. Sometimes.
The Void Hunter was almost in range now as he continued to pursue the alien squid. I doubted he was unaware of my presense at this point, as I was hovering out in the open in the middle of the sky and his chosen prey was essentially cowering behind me. If he was bothered by the fact that it looked like he would have to go through me to reach her, it didn't show. Of course, I would later realize in retrospect, with that Quantum rifle of his he probably could go through me to get to her. Literally.
He stopped suddenly and brought his rifle around to bear, obviously thinking that he was close enough to take a potshot. Whether he was aiming at me or at Kiwi was hard to discern, but it didn't have any impact on the fact that he was standing still and was clearly ignoring Murphy's First Law of Combat...
If thine enemy is within range, then so are you.
I made a fist and aimed it towards him, steadying it with my other hand. I figured that even if I was slower on the draw than he was, I could absorb a blast from his rifle far better than Kiwi could. And if I proved to be quicker than he was... well, there wouldn't be a need to worry, now would there?
Unfortunately his rifle must have been fully charged for it immediately ejected a shimmering ball of purple plasma towards me before I could gather enough mana together to power my spell. I hesitated for a moment before deciding that it was too dangerous to attempt a counter-incantation and risk having it disrupted. Instead, I simply held my breath and braced myself for the expected pain that was likely to be delivered unto me.
I was not disappointed.
How I managed to remain aloft is a mystery to me, but I nonetheless remained airborne as I was exposed to the superheated blob of energy. I had the presence of mind to turn my face away from the blast so as not to melt my glasses, a reflexive gesture which seemed to ease the pain just a little bit. It still stung like mortal sin, however, which meant that I would most likely have to consult my little medical scanner once this was over. I had a small amount of healing magic available to me, but I needed to know precisely where to apply it if it was going to be of any use. Contrary to what you may think, even the obvious (such as a hole in the chest) doesn't tell you about the subtle (like which lung is the one that needs to be sealed and reinflated).
Either the Void wasn't using a full charge or I actually managed to get lucky for once in recent history. I didn't really care which one it was as I somehow was able to shrug off the worst of the blast. A very loud scream behind me told me that my mistress' pet had been exposed to the exotic energies of the blast as well, but that both the volume and the pitch of the scream wasn't dire enough to suggest that she had been significantly injured. I doubted I myself was injured to any serious degree, but still... if nothing else the mistress would definitely hear about this latest sacrifice I had made in her service.
But first, some unfinished business needed to be dealt with.
I brought my fist around to aim at the Void, who was foolishly standing there to see what his shot had done to me. Not that I thought running away would have helped him much in this situation, but it might have at least improved his odds of survival by a minor fraction. And as pissed off as I was now, he would very soon need every decimal of the odds on his side that he could muster.
(Expecto Exactus,) I snarled in a low tone as I began to hone my mana together into a single point. It took shape before me as a tiny sphere, like a pea bathed in blue energy. The ball of power started to grow in size as I fed more energy into it, keeping my focus as narrow as possible. All that mattered was where I was, where he was, and the distance I needed to cross to introduce him to my magic spell. Equations ran through my mind as I continued to focus, not so much numbers and letters but raw eldritch concepts and designs, the very essence of magic. The equation continued to build and I continued to simplify it until I finally got the result I wanted.
Target: Dead.
I will not bother attempting to explain how eleven-dimensional space can be bent, twisted, folded, empowered, and rammed down someone's throat using "simple" eldritch mathematics, but when it comes to magic what I see and what everyone else sees are two different things. What I saw was a wormhole taking shape, curving space around until his forehead was almost directly in front of me. A simple tap of my fingers set the ball of energy into motion, ultimately making a solid contact right between his eyes. The resulting discharge of eldritch energy and focused mana proved to be... gloriously spectacular, a thing of beauty and a true work of art. At least, that's how I saw it.
What everyone else saw was a bolt of blue energy lashing out like a bullet fired from a sniper's rifle to splatter what passed for the Void's brains across the brick wall behind him. The Quantum rifle clattered to the pavement as the Void's corpse folded in on itself and collapsed into a twitching heap. Needless to say, he wouldn't be bothering any more squids in the future.
Simple. Quick. Neat... from my perspective, at least. Perhaps I should have said elegant instead, but it really didn't matter all that much. The end result was that both Kiwi and I were still breathing while he was not, and all with a minimum of magical energy expenditure.
I love my job.
(Cale?) Kiwi inquired as she peeked out from around my shoulder. (Wow, that was a great shot! Hey, wait, where are you going...?)
"Out for a breath of fresh air," I replied as I returned my Flight spell to its original form. "Sorry, K, but I've got work to do. Rikti in the sewers and all that fun stuff. Say hi to the mistress for me."
I didn't mean to be rude to the squid by suddenly flying off and leaving her behind, honest. I really did have a problem on my hands with those damn alien butt-monkeys clogging the city sewers. Besides, I didn't feel like mopping up what was left of the Void Hunter. Gratitude is nice, but you have no idea how much of a pain it is to fill out the paperwork when the city's sanitation crews have to steam-clean something ugly out of the sidewalk cracks because you had to Nova-nuke it to take it down.
One more reason to fly in this city... you never know what it is you're actually walking on these days. Welcome to the City of Heroes...
Cale Westmarch
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