Vista trembled. After all their preparation, all the PRT's defences, it had come to this. The Merchants were attacking, but it was Oni Lee who simply warped through the PRT's window and snatched her. The last thing she had heard was Piggot swearing to turn out everyone to save her, but if all the bad guys were working together this was it: the final showdown. Crash had warned them it was coming.
Skidmark and the Merchants blocked off one end of the beach, Squealers huge sleek tank revving in the front ranks. Inshore, in front of the remaining warehouses, the unmasked Empire had turned out for their last stand. The ABB held the ground further inshore, off set on a diagonal to cut off Protectorate retreat, the Oni standing at the front of his troops. If anyone tried to fire, he could teleport and his clone cut her throat before the bullet hit.
The small, pitifully outnumbered, Protectorate forces cowered behind temporary barricades that Armsmaster had thrown down from his bike. It was a good thing Crash had told him to build them, Vista thought. There'd be no one coming to save her. If only there was something she could do to move the knife away from her neck, but she was so weak, her pitiful useless ability to warp space no help at all. If someone could snipe him silently - but only Crash could make such a difficult shot at Oni Lee's exposed head. She whimpered, tears beginning to swell in her eyes.
"You monsters! She's just a child." Purity glared at Oni Lee from the front lines of the Protectorate. She burned so bright it was hard to look at but the Empire defector, well-known for her kind-heart and love of all children, couldn't fire without hitting Vista.
"Let her go or die!" The command rang clearly in Piggot's voice, and Vista's heart lifted to see the Director, fully armed, pointing a sniper rifle at Oni Lee's head. She looked awesome, back where she should be commanding the action; from the thick of it rather than leaving it to some cowardly responsible pen-pusher in the back rank just getting reports and a full overview of the scene, instead of down and dirty in the fight.
"Release our leverage?" Kaiser sneered. He stepped to the front of the Empire group, as Skidmark did the same for the Merchants.
"Not until you agree to fight us." The dreadlocked drug addict said, coldly. Crash gritted his teeth.
"No! She's a Ward, you cowards. Why would you kidnap her?"
"Because I told them to," To her horror, Velocity moved forward from the ABB's ranks. His costume was covered by a cloak in the gang's colours, declaring his new allegience. Crash looked shocked. "I handed them Vista. I've been telling them all your plans from the start. Every time your plans failed it was I, your rival." Vista shook. Velocity had been foiling Crash's plans. All his plans that she knew of had worked, but some had not gone perfectly. Crash's plans were for the good of everyone. What kind of monster would interfere?
It made horrible sense that Velocity, the only Asian cape in the Protectorate would betray them. Velocity, the new leader of the ABB, the traitor in the ranks. It all made sense now. He must have co-ordinated this with the Merchants, set up this final showdown for the soul of Brockton Bay. With a thrill, she realised this was it, the forces of evil about to be driven from Brockton Bay completely. Crash strode forward, alone against the four capes, showing the real courage of the invulnerable, indestructible, brute.
"Who are you?" Crash demanded.
"That's Velocity. " Vista shouted, before Velocity could quiet her.
"Traitor!" Crash's shock had been replaced by resolute defiance. "I challenge you now. Combat, man to man!"
"Agreed!" Velocity stepped forward, casting aside his red and green ABB cloak. Crash drew his guns, striding forward.
"Be careful, Crash, he's dangerous. " Armsmaster warned. The Supra-Alexandria Brute nodded, locking eyes with the Mover, and stepped into a fighting pose, guns held at right angles in his hands. Everyone in Brockton Bay watched with bated breath. Crash fired, and Velocity dodged. The mover feinted, skidded to a stop by the front row. Crash holstered his guns as he threw himself forward, unable to fire lest he hit one of the capes.
And Armsmaster's halberd ran him through. The tinker reacted too slowly as a teen in PRT armour grabbed his arm, slamming it forward and punching through the power armour like glass. Armsmaster backhanded the teen, trying to free his weapon, knocking the huge boy down with a snap of bones. Before he could pull the blade back, Velocity appeared in realtime, grabbing the staff and pushing it down, grinding the nanothorns through the brute's heart. Crash screamed as his armour dissolved, evaporating.
Impaled on the weapon, a ten-year-old boy clutched at the ruin of his torso, severing fingers on the blade.
"But I wanted to be a hero," he said incredulously, and his body slipped from the blade, limp. Velocity looked at Panacea. She didn't move. Reluctantly, Velocity bent to check the body, pressing two ungloved fingers to the boy's neck.
"He's gone." No thunder rolled, no rain fell. It remained a cold New England morning. "He's really gone." He sounded unsure of what he would have done if Crash wasn't.
Abruptly Battery pushed herself away from Armsmaster, fell to her knees, and vomited. The Protectorate leader didn't move to comfort her, putting a hand to his helmet.
"Dragon. Dragon?" he asked, ignored. On reflex, the knife warped a foot from Vista's neck and she ducked and rolled, onto land that twisted impossibly to bring her safely behind Protectorate lines. Piggot and Panacea were staring at each other, Amy horribly pale. Their glares were nothing to the sick looks on the faces of the Wards. Shadow Stalker was staring at the unmasked Grue in undisguised horror.
"I'm so sorry..." Amy muttered.
"It's done," Piggot said dismissively, her mouth set in a tight line.
"That motherfucker raped my mind!" Skidmark shouted, "let's fuck 'em up!" Vista shot to her feet, expanding the beach between the forces to give the PRT a corridor of fire. Strategically, the PRT were outnumbered, trapped, and few of their capes were up for a fight. The villains didn't seem to be in much better shape.
Velocity stood up, shaking slightly. "Don't be stupid. Crash rigged this so the Protectorate wins." He looked at Kaiser and Oni Lee, still wavering on his feet. "Endbringer truce? Until we can work out how much he made us do."
"Agreed," Kaiser said, looking towards Purity. She had dimmed and turned away, her head in her hands. The Oni nodded silently, once. Piggot stood up, taking a hell of a risk in such an exposed position. One blade, one teleporting assassin, and she was dead.
"The PRT agrees." All heads turned towards Skidmark.
"No fuckin' brainer. Need to find out what that turd's done to my..." words trailed off into muttering as slowly the battlelines begain to withdraw, still wary, not turning their backs on each other until they were finally far enough out of sight to turn and run. The PRT slowly lowered weapons.
Velocity was left alone in the middle of the beach.
"Protectorate?" Piggot asked sharply, and he nodded, dropping to his knees in exhaustion as the teen who had stabbed Crash put a hand out to support him. "And who the hell are you?"
"Browbeat, ma'am," the teen said.