Fortification 1.05

I'm not sure if this was a good night or a bad night for a new Hero. We'd already cleared out three Merchants hideouts, but there was no sign of Skidmark or Trainwreck. Let me back up a bit: I'd set out, in my powered armor-my first original creation, something a bit more like what you'd see a Tinker here with, rather than the powered armor you'd see the Terrans using-along with my Lieutenant, Kurt, and a couple of the boys from the Docks… and our Private contractors volunteered once they'd found out what I'd been planning, calling it a "black ops against the competition." Kurt had a custom uniform, but the others were all in outfits based on the Terran Ghosts uniform, reinforced slightly, and modified to conceal their identities. I'd wanted to make marine armor, but I didn't have the time or resources.

We'd mostly been using non-lethal weapons tonight. Don't get me wrong, we'd brought real weapons just in case, but the vast majority of people working for the merchants were people who'd fallen on tough times, some of whom were former members of the Dockworkers association. Most of the occupants of these hideouts fled when we got there, though they didn't seem to be tipping off the other hideouts. Anybody else we'd nonlethally incapacitate, and then tip off the Brockton Bay PD. There were no capes here, so it's not really the PRT's problem. Speaking of tip-offs…

"Lieutenant, give the call."

And with that order, Kurt went off to give yet another "anonymous tip" to Brockton Bay's boys in blue. A moment later, he returned, and we headed out for our fourth stop of the night. Even if we never actually find Skidmark, it'll be a while before the Merchants can recover from this.

*Break*

I'd spoken too soon. The fourth hideout we'd stopped by had apparently been warned we were coming because as soon as I stepped in, five crackheads with rifles started shooting at me. Luckily, my armor was based on technology meant to fight zerg and Protoss. Bullets from normal rifles just bounce clear off. I proceeded to just walk towards them as they were shooting at me, while the others followed behind me. After a moment, some of the crack heads realized that their bullets weren't halting my advance and dropped their guns. The boys and I turned our nonlethal weaponry-a high-tech pistol with specialized munitions designed to take people down without hurting them-onto the Merchants present, dropping them. Before we could move to keep them down, a bunch of fields of some sort manifested and everything and everyone in the room was hurled at the wall. I managed to stand.

"Anyone hurt?"

I was met with a chorus of "nos," but… Kurt had something else to say.

"I think this one is dead."

I turned, and one of the merchants we'd taken out clearly had a broken neck… Oh no. That was James. A Dockworker I had to lay off last year. Damn that Skidmark. Speak of the Devil, the bastard in question was coming into the room with more armed merchants. My rage was getting the best of me-I charged straight through the cluster of junkies straight for the head junkie. This particular group of addicts was more on the game than the first group had been and cleared out of the way. Then I found myself being thrown back by another one of Skidmark's fields, and the villain ran.

"Lieutenant! You and the others handle the grunts, I'll go after Skidmark!"

"Right!"

I charged through the crowd again, and I could already hear some of them being taken down by the boys as I charged into the hall next to this room. This hideout was bigger than the others. I'd spotted Skidmark at the end of the hall, just on the other side of a door, which he'd slammed shut, as I began charging, a field appeared on the door and it was ripped from its hinges and thrown at me, I turned and braced for impact, letting the door break against my armor, before continuing on.

I was in a larger, open room filled with tables and work benches. I could see coolers and chemical equipment-clearly this was where they cooked up their drugs. Before I could look around more, I found myself being pushed into a wall...Note to self, work on spatial awareness. I really should have seen that coming.

I stood to see the criminal I was after standing clear on the other side of the room, though from here I could tell he was pissed.

"You're that Tinker with the dockworkers, ain't you?"

I responded to his query by firing on him, and he threw up a set of his fields to send the round back at me, I side stepped it.

"You should have just sat back and given us what we wanted."

I noted that no one had actually said anything about what they wanted before I holstered my pistol and switched to the gauss rifle it was meant for brutes and armored opponents, but maybe it'll be enough to get through his fields without hurting him too badly. I managed to get the rifle ready just in time to shoot apart a table that the drug lord threw at me.

"You cost me so much. Mush got arrested, I ain't seen Trainwreck in days, and no sign of Squealer since the raid! D'ya kill her? Did you, ya bastard!?"

Squealer was actually safe and sound back at the bunker-during the interrogation, we had managed to convince her to try and get clean. With any luck, she might be able to turn her life around and become a productive member of society. I fired a steel spike aimed at Skidmark's left leg, hoping that with the slow down from his field, it'd just knock him over. Instead, he'd thrown up multiple fields, and like the non-lethal round before it, it was sent back to me and I'd had to duck and roll out of the way.

"Word on the street is you're that Lilith bitch's daddy. The little whore's ripped off a lot from us, lot of cash, lot of drugs…"

Taylor was stealing drugs? Oh god, please don't tell me she's using.

"Maybe I'll have someone hold you down and make you watch while I'm fucking the little slut."

The next few moments are lost to me, though I felt remarkably calm during the blackout period. The next thing I knew was that Skidmark was on the ground, and I was straddling his chest and punching him in the face. The I felt myself being pulled off of him. I struggled, but then I heard a feminine voice.

"Whoa, hero! The villain is defeated."

I allowed myself to be pulled up from Skidmark, and I noticed that there was a metal spike through his pelvis. Then I noticed that the room was a wreck. Finally, I noticed that my boys were in here with me, as were several PRT agents and a cape. The sword, shield, and round-eared helmet told me all I needed to know about her identity. The PRT had called in capes from out of the city to help contain Taylor, and Mouse Protector was one of them.

"You really did a number on the fiend, hero."

"About that-"

She waved her hand.

"Worry not, hero. From your subordinates, we know that you carry nonlethal munitions and from the damage around us, we know that it was a fierce battle. Clearly, you attempted to defeat him without causing too much harm, but were forced to be a bit more forceful."

I nodded, deciding that yes, that's the story I was going to go with.

"And he doesn't seem to be bleeding too badly. An ambulance is on the way, so it is unlikely that he'll perish. However, I doubt he'll feel like much of a man come the light of day."

One of the PRT Agents as checking Skidmark over and providing first aid. Mouse protector walked around, drawing attention to herself so that all of my boys were looking at her.

"However, I still need to know who to credit with Skidmark's capture and the defeat of the Merchants. Who are you, Hero?"

I stood straight. I'll admit that I've practiced my delivery of this line a bit.

"The men behind me, you can call Lieutenant and my Raiders. You can call me Bastion."

*End*

Author's note: I'm aware there's a canon cape called Bastion: It's a mistake I and my betas/cowriters made that we're rolling with.