Note: I don't own anything
Chapter 1.4: Action Scene
It happened while I was going back to my apartment. I was just a few houses away when I heard distant sounds of gunshots. From what I could hear, there were at least two people with automatic weapons. Then, when I listened more carefully, I also heard sounds that reminded me of electric discharges. On one hand, I was curious about what was happening there, and on the other, I had a pretty good idea of what could be producing that electric discharge sound. If it wasn't a new parahuman, then it must be tinkertech. An energy weapon, perhaps, or a railgun.
Armsmaster usually didn't make anything that produced sounds like that, and energy weapons were not his thing anyway. That was probably why he made nanothorns instead of something that used energy fields to cut. Kid Win's weapons were more of a "pew-pew" variety, so chances that it was him were pretty low. Squealer was capable of building pretty much anything as long as it was mobile, but her creations were usually louder. Coil's mercenaries had tinkertech attachments on their guns, but if my memory served my right those were pretty quiet and of a "pew-pew" variety as well.
I could just ignore whatever was happening, but I really wanted to know. News reports usually didn't cover which weapons were used in a Cape or a gang fight, and information from PHO about such things was unreliable at best. The only way to know for sure was to go there myself and take a look.
"I'm about to do something stupid."
'I figured. Why?'
"That sound. As far as I know, nobody in this city uses a weapon with a sound like that. Either it's a new Cape, or a weapon I know nothing about. Probably Squealer's or Coil's."
'And you were going to go there like that?'
"Yeah. What's the problem?"
'The problem is that we are supposed to lay low, and you want to rush there in a mask, you moron.'
"So what, I should just ignore it?"
'No, you should go there in your civvies. Go to the apartment, leave the mask there and grab the phone.'
"And what if I suddenly need a mask?"
'Figure something out.'
I rushed in the direction of my apartment even faster than I did before. The sounds of gunfire were pretty loud here, outside, on the roof, but those who were inside the buildings probably didn't hear a thing. My apartment was on the top floor, so getting in from the roof wasn't a problem. I left my mask on the bed, grabbed the phone from a bedside table and took one of the smaller white towels from the bathroom in case I suddenly needed a mask.
It was easy to figure out that I'm close enough by looking at the windows. After all, it's not normal when most windows have the lights on in the middle of the night. Jumping down into one of the darker alleys I continued moving the rest of the way at regular human speed. It took me about five minutes to get to the source of the sounds, and I wasn't really surprised at what I found.
A black van was turned over on its side in the middle of the street, and five people were hiding behind it. They looked like PRTroopers that I've seen a few nights before, but clearly they weren't. Four of them had regular guns and the fifth one, the one that was wounded, held a sleek tinkertech rifle. That was, obviously. the source of those electric discharge sounds I heard. On the other side of the van were several regular cars and vans that, at this point, were more holes than metal. There was a constant stream of profanities coming from behind those cars, and once in a while, a neo-nazi or two would pop up to try their luck. This stalemate continued for another minute or two until the situation got way worse. The sixth mercenary with a grenade launcher stumbled out of the van.
'What the actual fuck?!'
*thump*
I didn't know why none of the Empire goons shot that mercenary while he was disoriented, but they were lucky because the grenade was deflected into one of the shops on the other side of the street. A second later Stormtiger landed between the Empire's cars and the black van, in all of his half-naked glory. Thick white smoke was coming out of the shop's broken window. There were about five seconds of almost complete silence. Then, two more black vans turned a corner.
*thump-thump-thump*
Another three grenades were launched at the Empire side as the sixth mercenary was moving behind the overturned van. Stormtiged moved his hands and two of the grenades were deflected to the sides, while the third one hit the ground right in front of Stormtiger and exploded, quickly covering the Empire goons and Stormtiger himself with thick white smoke. The four mercenaries that were not wounded ran to the sides of the van and started firing blindly into the smokescreen, two on each side of the van. About ten seconds later two black vans I've seen turn a corner earlier finally arrived. The mercenaries besides the overturned van started slowly retreating, now taking turns when they fired, while five more appeared out of the two vans that just arrived, one of them without a primary weapon, unlike the others.
*thump-thump*
When the merc with a grenade launcher finally reached one of the vans he fired two more shots into the smokescreen. One of the five mercs that moved to the overturned van got inside and a few seconds later was running back, while the four others provided covering fire in turned and retreating.
'Fuck, Coil's men will get away!'
'Not if Stormtiger finally gets out of the smoke, not to mention that heroes are probably already on their way, as well as the police.'
The shooting stopped when all the mercs finally got into the vans. They started driving away when something shot out of the smoke and exploded on the sides of the vans, making the drivers lose control and collide in the middle of the road. They stood still, side by side, when Stormtiger jumped out of the smoke and landed on top of the overturned van.
"Don't think you can just leave with our stuff so easily!" - he shouted, his voice spreading through the air like thunder. The vans started driving away again and Stormtiger jumped towards one of the roofs ahead of him, probably to pursue. A second after he jumped, the overturned van that he was standing on exploded. The explosion messed with his jump, making him spin into an upside-down position and hit one of the building's walls with his back, then drop to the ground from the hight of three and a half floors. As this happened, the black vans were getting further and further away.
'What should I do? If I do nothing then Coil will get whatever he wanted.'
'Forget it. Coil always gets what he wants. All of this wouldn't have happened if he didn't.'
'But what if my watch Fullbring can interfere with his power? Then we could change the outcome!'
'And then he would assume that there is a new Cape in town, a very problematic one for him too.
'Fuck! You're right, I don't want him to know anything just yet. If we are just a simulation, then he will learn at least something about us because of our interference while the real us won't even know that all this happened, and if we aren't, then he will notice cause the simulation and reality don't match, which is even worse! I hate him! I hate his power! It's so unfair!'
'Stop whining like a little bitch.'
'Okay, fine.'
I was still in the same alley that I observed all the action from, walking back and forth because of the frustration. There was a bright side to what happened here, small may it be. Even if Coil got what he wanted, now he has Empire's attention on him, so he will have to lay low for a while. None of his mercs had those tinkertech attachments on their weapons, so there was a possibility that he didn't purchase them from Toybox yet.
'Think about it later, after we rest. Right now we need to get the hell out of here.'
"Heeeey! Attention, bad guys!"
A young female voice came from up above, and I immediately started walking away. One glance behind my shoulder was enough to see that it was Glory Girl floating down towards the battlefield in all her... well, glory. This was a long night, and I really needed to rest. Witnessing this action scene, the hero and a villain in their flashy costumes on a real battlefield, once again made me think and rethink about what a world I was now living in, possibly trapped in. The ridiculousness of the situation clashing with the grim reality behind it made me laugh as I walked back home.
Author's Note:
One or two more, then an interlude.
