Step 5.7
Vicky tilted forward in slow motion.
"I got her!"
Lafter put an arm around her back, holding the girl up as her face scrunched up and a wheezing breath escaped her lips.
Stomach wounds are bad.
Triumph roared again, and Miss Militia fired a rocket. Mush stumbled back, retreating behind Trainwreck. Whirlygig dropped her cyclone. My saber fell to the ground, and she quickly followed Mush.
They didn't retreat far. The Merchant thugs kept coming, more and more of them emerging from side streets and alleyways.
"This really hurts," Vicky groaned. "Like, wow."
Gun.
"Where'd that shot come from?" I asked.
"Cannot determine," Veda answered. She rolled back some footage on my visor, showing a line right through Vicky. It ended in the ground by my feet, and then continued off into the sky.
The sky.
Did she get shot from a plane? Impossible.
Miss Militia reached our side, her weapon taking the shape of a grenade launcher. She pointed the weapon down, almost at our feet and fired.
The cannister smacked on the pavement, flipping back up end over end. A mist began spilling from little holes all long the side. After a second, the mist became a thick smoke. The canister fell to the ground and spun, the screen billowing out as Miss Militia fired three more times.
Gunshots fired in response. I stepped in front of her, one or two bullets pinging off my armor.
"Thank you." Miss Militia fired again, and again, then turned and shot one over my head. "Let's go."
"How bad is it?" Triumph asked as he reached us.
"Feels pretty bad," Vicky heaved. "I get guns now. Totally get guns." She lurched, the blood starting to run down her leg. "Guns hurt."
"She needs first-aid immediately," Miss Militia said. She went to Vicky's other side and helped Lafter hold her up. "This way."
"Can we move her?" Triumph asked.
"We can't just stand in the street," I pointed out.
Miss Militia was right. Far as I knew stomach wounds were some of the worst, but no way we'd be able to start dealing with it here.
"Go in front of me," I added. "My armor still works for another eight minutes."
"Triumph," Miss Militia called.
"I got it," he called back.
Miss Militia and Lafter hauled Vicky off. I stayed directly behind them, Triumph at my side as the smoke continued filling the air. The bullets coming our way were wild and unfocused, mostly hitting the ground behind us as we moved.
I kept thinking about someone getting lucky though. Hitting Miss Militia in her arm where she didn't have any armor, or Lafter in the back. Or Vicky again.
How the hell do you shoot an invincible girl?
I really didn't need this situation to be any worse.
We needed to go, before Vicky bled out.
"V—StarGazer. Are you reconnected to Ramius?"
"I am filling out paperwork."
"Paperwork?"
"The PRT will not allow me direct access to their systems without proper vetting. We are almost done."
Why did that not surprise me?
"And you can't just send her call to me?"
"Their communications are unable to reach Triumph or Miss Militia. They requested I route th—Complete. You are now connec—"
"What the hell is going on!?"
Oh, hello Piggot.
"Director?" Miss Militia turned her head. "Militia. I hear you."
"Status report. Now!"
"Multiple hostiles. Newtype and Laughter are with us. Glory Girl is injured."
"Why is Glory Girl there?!"
I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear Piggot that angry.
"She wanted to smash a tank," Lafter said.
"Totally smashed it," Vicky mumbled. "You know. Before I got shot."
Piggot audibly sighed. "Isn't she invincible? Never mind. How bad?"
"Stomach wound," Miss Militia answered. "Bad."
"Troopers are on the way. What Merchants are we dealing with?"
"All of them," Triumph identified.
"Minus Skidmark," I corrected. "I've got him hanging about three hundred feet in the air."
"We'll talk about that later," Piggot said. "The rest of them are there?"
"Not Squealer," I said. "Whirlygig said she wasn't here yet, but Vicky smashed up her tank."
"There's a sniper somewhere," Miss Militia warned. "With something that let them shoot Glory Girl."
"I'll advise the troopers. Armsmaster."
"I'm here Director."
"I want you, Dauntless, and Stratos in Shanty Town now. Velocity is on his way."
"Over there." Miss Militia pointed. "How long, Director?"
"Two minutes for Velocity," Armsmaster replied. "Eight for Dauntless. Five for the troopers, Stratos, and myself."
"Understood," Miss Militia said. She turned, Lafter adjusting to go the same way. "We'll try to stabilize Glory Girl until she can get to Panacea."
"Thank you," Glory Girl gasped. "Don't suppose anyone has any painkillers? This really hurts."
They set Vicky in a small alcove of an apartment building, off the main street and covered.
"Triumph, cover us." Miss Militia's weapon shifted into a knife on her thigh, and she pulled a pack from her belt. "I need to clean this wound."
"Not sure I can," Triumph said.
The smoke swirled, forming a cyclone in the middle of the street. Whirlygig. The tornado started walking forward, Trainwreck and an even bigger Mush right behind with a few dozen Merchants.
"Newtype?" Triumph asked. "What do you have left?"
Not enough.
I didn't have any of the tools to deal with Mush. Trainwreck maybe, and Whirlygig definitely, but Mush was the real problem. I didn't think Triumph could stop him either.
The only thing that seemed to slow him down was lots of explosions…
My timer started flashing, a slow "reminder" flash. Five minutes for all our help to arrive. I'd only have four minutes left before being forced to shut down.
Sigh.
My best tools weren't even working anyway.
"I'll help Vicky," I said.
Triumph and Militia raised their heads.
"My time is almost up. I'll need twenty minutes to reset once the drive powers down. Let me deal with Vicky. We need Miss Militia to keep Mush at bay."
"Do you know first-aid?" Miss Militia asked.
Not for gunshot wounds…although…
I shut off my beam saber and turned. Crouching over Vicky, I put one hand on the wall and the other on the ground. That should cover us if any Merchants got line of sight.
"She'll be okay," I said. "I've got something tinkered up for this."
Miss Militia hesitated.
I made the choice for her, much as I didn't quite enjoy it. I shut the GN Drive down and started purging O Gundam of particles. The chest and helmet popped up, and I spilled out on the ground next to Vicky.
I shook my head, not realizing just how much the impacted armor pressed on my side. The flesh throbbed, and the ribs underneath ached a little.
Not shot, though.
I held my hand out to Miss Militia.
"StarGazer, get Red over to me. Load up the M.E.D. software."
No test quite like a field test.
Miss Militia placed the pack in my hands and turned to Lafter.
"Can you keep the Merchants from overrunning this spot?"
"Happily," Lafter said with a grin. She pointed toward me. "You don't need that, right?"
I glanced to the saber at my side.
"No." I took it off and gave it to her. "Purple, Orange. Hold Skidmark until the troopers get here. We can hand him off to them." Faster than flying him to the PRT and back. "Navy and Pink help Lafter, Miss Militia, and Triumph."
"Okay, okay."
Red rolled up to me and popped his limbs out of his ball.
"Downloading, downloading," he said.
The explosions started up again, and shouting.
As an environment for thinking on the fly, it beat being buried under a building.
"Is there anyone over there who can keep an eye on this?" I asked. "I haven't exactly tested it."
"And you're going to just use it anyway?" Piggot asked.
"For lack of better ideas."
"One second," Ramius said.
Good. The PRT had a doctor arou—Oh god. "Wait, not—"
"Someone called?" Unoa asked.
Her…
"StarGazer. Can you send them the feed from my mask's camera?"
"Sending."
"Download complete," Red said. "Download complete."
"What exactly is it downloading?" Unoa asked.
"I've been developing a medical suite for my Haros," I answered.
"Hmm."
I picked up the pouch Miss Militia left me and opened it. Inside I found pads, bandages, a few vials and some cannisters with tiny words on them.
"Just tell me if Red does anything blatantly wrong."
"Cut away fabric," Red directed. "Cut away fabric, clear wound."
Red took the first aid kit and started looking through it. I leaned around my suit and pulled a spare saber from the hip. After adjusting the length and intensity of the blade I turned it toward Vicky and cut her costume away.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Great," Vicky answered. "Except for the part where I got shot."
The costume came apart easily enough. Not particularly durable fabric, but I suppose Glory Girl didn't need it to be. I pulled it back from her stomach, blood flowing from two holes in her gut.
"That's good," Unoa said.
"Goo—oh." I flinched as a loud ping ringed in the air. I glanced back, making out someone across the street. "Good?"
I turned and leaned around my suit. Lafter knocked the guy to the ground and Navy slammed into the side of his head. Miss Militia took cover in a stoop across the street, firing a rifle into the smoke while Triumph knocked Whirlygig back with his shout.
Well, at least it's sort of under control.
"Exit wounds are nasty, but those ones aren't the worst I've seen. Looks like her vitals are intact. Seal the wound best you can. Control the bleeding. She'll live long enough to reach the hospital."
Red took a vial from inside the kit and turned it. While he did, he said, "lay patient flat on back, flat on back. Raise knees."
I followed the instructions, ignoring Vicky's wince as I lifted her knees up. Blood flow, I guessed?
"Is it supposed to repeat everything?" Vicky asked.
"I stopped trying to fix it. Pretty sure they do it on purpose at this point."
"They're not going to take over the world, right?"
I stared at her. "Why does everyone keep thinking the Haros want to take over the world?"
Vicky shrugged and gasped. "No. No shrugging. Regret it already. Ouch."
"Hold still."
"There's a confoam injector in there," Unoa said. "It's a natural antiseptic and coagulant. Use that to seal the wound." Red set the vial aside and looked through the pack. "That's it."
It looked like a glue stick to me.
"Applying antibiotic," Red said. "Hold dressing."
He held a gauze pad to me. I took it, and he turned the glue stick toward Vicky's injury.
"This will hurt, will hurt."
Vicky tensed before Red pressed a button on the side. Then she wheezed as foam sprayed out and covered the oozing holes.
"It is sanitary, right?" I asked.
"The stuff dissolves easily," Unoa answered. "It'll keep the wound clean and reduce internal bleeding, not that we want to leave it that way for long."
Red swabbed the foam into a smooth layer, and said, "apply dressing, apply."
I pressed the gauze over the injury and ignored the blood flowing over my fingers. Red prepared another pad, one with tape on the edges. I slid my hands back as he slid his forward, covering the wound and then rubbing the pad down.
"Wound sealed, wound sealed."
"Is that it?" I asked.
"It'll work well enough until the troopers arrive," Unoa said. "They can evac her to her sister and remind me of my irrelevancy in one swoop."
"You still awake Vicky?"
"Mhm."
"You two okay?"
I flinched, glancing over my shoulder.
Velocity waved, looking down at Red as he worked.
"Is your robot a medic?" he asked.
"For the moment."
"How's Glory Girl doing?"
"Bullets suck," she said.
"Tell me about it. You two alright right here?"
Vicky looked a little pale, but she appeared conscious. Me? Other than some soreness in my chest and an inability to do much till my Suit finished purging, no problems.
"We're okay," I said.
"Alright. I'm going to go help Miss M and the rest. Troopers will be here soon."
He disappeared in a red haze. Down the street, two Merchants got knocked to the ground, including one aiming a gun at Triumph. Trainwreck threw a car over his head, the vehicle exploding into bits and pieces. Miss Militia's weapon turned into a rifle, thunder filling the air as she turned it on Mush's giant.
The titan stumbled back, Miss Militia changing her weapon again into a large rifle and firing it at Trainwreck.
My chest strained.
She's fighting both of them, and I'm sitting here doing nothing.
Triumph kept shouting at Whirlygig and various bands of Merchants, while Lafter stayed close to where I hid with Vicky and knocked out anyone who got close.
And it wasn't okay. The Merchant capes were closer than before. Mush stumbled, but he kept getting closer. Trainwreck walked through Miss Militia's bullets, and for every Merchant that went down more seemed to show up.
This is my faul—
"Focus!" Unoa shouted into my ear. "You need to patch up the entry wound. Carefully roll her onto her stomach."
"R—Right." I turned back to Vicky and crouched. "Just one more time."
"M'ready," she said.
"Hips and shoulders," Red said. "Hips and shoulders."
I put my hands on her hip and shoulder and started to roll her. I stopped halfway through.
"Am I missing something?" I asked.
"No," Unoa confirmed. "But Glory Girl is missing a pair of glory holes."
"And like that we're all going to HR training," Piggot said. "Again."
I reached down and gently pressed at Vicky's back. The blood stuck to my gloves, but it wasn't fresh fresh.
"What is it?" Vicky asked.
"There's no entry wound. Did we get it backwards?"
"No," Unoa said. "I've seen enough exit wounds to know them on sight."
But there's no entry wound.
The bullet trajectory never made any sense. So…the bullets didn't have a normal trajectory? Did the bullets go out the same way they went in?
"StarGazer, you're sure of the trajectory?"
"I have run it three times," Veda answered.
"I know that sound," Piggot grumbled. "What is it?"
"Bullets went out but never went in…"
Could be any number of things really. Bullets that curved? No. Those would still leave entry wounds. Bullets that phased maybe, or teleported. Actually, thinking of how to do it I came up with a half dozen ways to maybe get past invincibility.
Tinkers can do anything with enough time and material, even bypass an invincible girl's invincibility.
This isn't the Merchants.
But why stick around when he already made his escape? Why shoot Vicky and announce his presence? Or maybe the Merchants happened to have a sniper with a gun that fired magic bullets…
"StarGazer, map every building that has line of sight to where Glory Girl was when she got shot."
"Working."
"Red, stay with Vicky."
"Okay, okay."
I climbed back into O Gundam and closed the chest. The impacted armor pressed against my ribs, which hurt, but I endured it.
Seventeen more minutes for the purge to complete.
Great.
Everything shook as one of Mush's giant hands slammed into the ground. Miss Militia rolled out of the way, her gun firing at Trainwreck as he charged her. Triumph shouted, and the tinker stumbled enough for her to get to her feet and run back.
Velocity flashed to my side.
"Glory Girl, okay?" he asked.
"For now," I said. "Nothing else I can do. Where are the troopers?"
"Two minutes out," Ramius declared.
Right. Forgot about them.
"We can hold," Velocity said. "Sit tight."
He flashed away again, and I cursed the damn timer on my visor.
I can't sit here and do nothing.
Except I didn't have anything. A handful of beam sabers and suit that didn't move nearly as well without the GN Drive as it did with it. Even with the drive, I lost half my thrusters to that box bomb, and my flywheel. If I still had my carbine…
Focus.
"StarGazer. The buildings?"
"Highlighting."
Where are you hiding?
Maybe a lot of places. Ignoring those along the street, only three buildings in Shanty Town rose high enough to see where Vicky was standing when she got shot. A few in Downtown and the Towers to the west, but could he teleport that far?
And why aren't you shooting anyone else?
"Newtype," Ramius asked. "What are you looking for?"
"Him!" I snapped. "The assassin!"
"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Piggot asked. "You've turned Shanty Town into a warzone looking for him."
"And he's still here! He's the one who shot Glory Girl."
"You have proof of that?"
"I've already seen him use a death ray, some kind of heat bomb, and a teleporter. I think he can manage a tinkertech gun that shoots invincible people."
"Really?" Piggot asked.
"I'm leaning toward teleporting bullets," I said.
"That would explain the lack of entry wounds," Ramius suggested.
"Any number of things could explain it," Piggot rejected. "He has no reason to shoot Victoria Dallon."
"You think the Merchants got their hands on tinkertech guns?" I struggled to track them, but I think I'd have noticed that.
"Pyrotechnical has been selling tinkertech arms for years," Piggot replied. "I'm surprised they're not all over the city with you flying around."
"Who?" I asked.
"Pyrotechnical," Veda identified. "A member of Toybox. She is a prolific arms dealer in the third world."
I frowned. "The death ray was built by Toybox."
"Almost all tinkertech used by villains is built by Toybox," Armsmaster noted. "Coil uses her arms extensively to equip his mercenaries. The Merchants could easily acquire such weapons through him, or directly."
"And so—" Oh, you have to be shitting with me. "Are we seriously going to debate this? The Merchants would have shot me, not Glory Girl."
"Junkies don't have good aim," Piggot quipped. "Armsmaster, time."
"Eighty-nine seconds, Director."
They are shitting with me.
I looked over each building. The ones in Shanty Town were abandoned. Good for a sniper, but too obvious? Those in the Towers and Downtown were occupied, but huge. Easy enough to go unnoticed…
But someone would call in gunshots from any of those structures.
Shanty Town then.
I isolated my com—fuck, did Ramius hear me say Veda?—and asked, "Dinah. I need to ask you a question."
"She is not here," Veda admitted.
My voice stumbled. "WHAT?!"
"She said she needed to leave."
"Wh—" Oh…
Great job, Taylor. Terrify the twelve-year-old who constantly sees your death because you ask her questions to avoid dying.
sys.t/ Dinah?
She didn't answer.
"Veda—"
"I tasked Green to follow her. She is safe."
Is that good enough? Fuck no, but I couldn't really deal with it from the other side of the city in a suit at ten percent function.
"She's okay?"
"I am watching her," Veda said.
I inhaled.
Okay. No, Dinah.
"Purple. You're on scouting duty. Get up high, and check all three of these buildings." I messaged Veda to send the coordinates. "Look for that asshat."
"Let's go, let's go."
I turned back to Vicky, just to be sure she was still breathing.
"I'm alright," she said with a smile. "You know…relatively."
The squealing of tires filled the air.
I lifted my head, looking down the street as a red motorcycle spun into the intersection. Armsmaster stepped off the bike and the vehicle snapped to a stop. When it came to a rest, a kick stand flipped out and the lights flashed red and blue.
That's cool, I admit.
Miss Militia stepped up to his side, followed by Triumph.
"Surrender," Armsmaster ordered. "Skidmark has already been captured."
The Merchants paused, Mush and Whirlygig both looking to Trainwreck. De facto leader without Skidmark? I'd have thought that would be—
"What are you waiting for?" A voice shouted. A woman.
Me and my damn mind.
Something rolled through the smoke hanging in the air. It looked like Squealer's tank, but smaller. Four legs, with a compact body and guns stuck on either side.
Why would she build a smaller—
I cursed myself again, watching as another little tank rolled up beside the first. Then another, and another.
Five in total.
She built mini-tanks.
Armsmaster didn't seem quite so confident anymore.
The voice I assumed to be Squealer, said, "Get 'em!"
One of the mini-tanks squealed—seriously Squealer—forward. Then its leg vanished. The black sphere swirled around the limb, and when it vanished so did the leg. The air popped, a rush of wind blowing dust along the ground. The tank careened into the street and stopped. The remaining legs started to turn the body, but one by one those vanished too.
I looked back down the street the other way. Stratos crouched atop one of the PRT vans, his hand pointed forward like a finger gun.
The last leg vanished, the other four mini-tanks rolling back into a wall of smoke pouring from canisters on top of their hulls.
The thugs opened fire, Mush stomping forward ahead of Trainwreck. Miss Militia fired back, a rocket blowing one of Mush's arms away while a leg vanished in a massive black sphere.
Armsmaster spun his Halberd, marching toward Trainwreck, while Triumph turned on Whirlygig and holy shit it's like the movies.
Armsmaster swung his weapon, cutting into Trainwreck's armor. The other tinker threw him back, a large hand coming down onto the pavement as Armsmaster deftly stepped to the side.
Miss Militia fired a stream of grenades into Mush. Stratos started vanishing pieces of him. The explosions and popping spheres chipped away at his form and sent a curtain of debris and trash clattering to the ground. The thugs surged forward, guns and bats and pipes going up. Triumph shouted into the mass, and three Prisms ran past the troopers and started punching.
Watching from the sidelines, it all played out like a game Emma and I played as children.
One of the tanks reemerged from the smoke and fired. The air exploded beside Triumph, knocking him onto his side. Stratos turned his hand, but the tank slipped back into the smoke while the black sphere caught some wisps.
Troopers poured out of the vans, a trio of them coming straight to me.
"Is Glory Girl stable?" One of them asked.
A white patch bearing a red cross marked his shoulder, and the shoulder of one of the other troopers.
"Safe to move," Red said. "Safe to move."
They unfurled a stretcher and set it on the ground behind me.
Lafter ran over and crouched beside me.
"So…What now?"
The battle raged, troopers foaming Merchants, Merchants shooting troopers…And it didn't seem so glamorous anymore. Especially not after I watch one trooper pull another behind a car while blood poured from his leg.
One of the medics patted the other on the shoulder. He ran past me to the pair. Red rolled across the street to another wounded trooper.
The remaining medics lifted Vicky off the ground.
"Panacea's at Brockton General," one of them said. "You'll be okay."
"Not after Amy's done with me," Vicky grumbled.
I rose to my feet, keeping my armor between the stretcher and the Merchants. Lafter stayed right behind me. I might not have GN particles, but my armor should still be bullet proof.
I also worried that asshole might try and finish what he started.
I did see Orange lower Skidmark to a squad of waiting troopers. They took hold of the cursing man and hauled him into one of the vans.
"Purple?"
Purple circled the first building. The windows all looked broken or filthy, and most didn't quite face the right direction. The sonic cameras showed a few people inside, but no one with a gun.
"Clear," Purple said. "Clear."
The air started to swirl around me, and I turned my attention to Whirlygig. The smoke and some debris started to move, the short girl holding her arms out as it all started obscuring her. The wind picked up, becoming faster and faster. One of the Prism's got lifted off her feet and thrown into the side of a car.
I crouched, Lafter grabbing onto my armor. The troopers behind me did the same, Lafter and Vicky's hair blowing wildly as the wind picked up.
I didn't think she could stretch her power to cover an entire block.
It looked like being in a hurricane.
"Militia," Armsmaster called. He stuck his Halberd into the ground and leaned into it. "Remove her."
What did that mean?
"You're sure?" Militia asked.
"She's escalating," Piggot agreed. "Permission granted."
Miss Militia fell to her stomach, a revolver forming in her hand. She took aim and fired. Whirlygig's head snapped back. I didn't see any blood. Rubber bullet? Hopefully a special one that didn't cause serious brain damage.
The girl fell to the ground in a clump and the vortex snapped to a stop instantly. The tanks all fired, explosions bursting all along the street. One of the rounds threw Armsmaster into the air, and another knocked Stratos back.
Both men rolled out of it, Armsmaster running at Trainwreck again and Stratos vanishing a tank's gun.
"We're getting more reports about tanks," Piggot warned. "There's a group of them moving toward the Towers. Another toward Downtown."
"The Merchants want to split our attention," a new voice said.
Lightning fired from the sky. The tank avoided the shot, knocking two thugs aside as it did. Dauntless slammed into the ground, his shield filling the air in front of him and blocking the tank's shots.
"We're going to have to split up to contain them."
He aimed his spear again, this time melting a hole into the tank's hull as it rolled away.
Dauntless returned to the air and I watched him fall back to the ground. He landed with a thud, a hand reaching for his chest.
His voice came over the com softly.
"I'm hit."
The shouting fading away while my eyes focused.
My brain spun in blank for a few seconds.
So many gunshots all around, from Miss Militia to the mini-tanks to the thugs and the troopers. Anyone could have shot him. Ricochets or lucky shots…
So why did I know he shot Dauntless. The same person who shot Vicky.
Piggot might be right. A weapon like that would work perfectly on me. The Merchants might have bought one to bypass my armor…but I wasn't getting shot at. Whoever it was shot Vicky instead, and now Dauntless.
No other heroes were shot. Even the thugs seemed to prefer shooting at the troopers to shooting at Miss Militia or Stratos.
Because there's no money in shooting me yet.
Maybe there's money in shooting Dauntless or Vicky?
I know its him.
I checked Purple's camera. She'd reached the second building, and didn't see anyone aiming any guns. Dauntless had lifted into the air, but not high enough for the third building to have line of sight to him.
So how did he get hi—
Fuck, I'm stupid.
Move the bullets right before they exit the barrel and there might not be any sound at all. Gas escaping the barrel made most of the sound of a gunshot. Teleport the bullet and the gas and you moved the gunshot too.
He could shoot his weapon in a crowded building and no one would hear it.
He's in the Towers.
First Vicky, and then Dauntless. Why t—The fliers.
"He's taking out anyone who can fly…He's going after her right now." I turned my head. "Ramiu—" My hand fumbled with the control. "Ramius!"
"What's wrong?"
"He's going after her right now!"
"Who is going after who?"
"The assassin!" I snapped. "He's going after Relena Peacecraft right now."
I heard a grunt, and I didn't need her voice to know it was her.
"How?" Piggot asked.
"He's taking out the fliers," I snarled. "That's why I'm not shot. He already destroyed my flywheel. I can't fly!"
The troopers loaded Vicky into the van behind me and closed the doors. I stood in place until the engine started up and drove off.
"Where is she?" I asked. "Who is guarding her?"
"Those details are not for public dissemination," Piggot said.
I flipped the com off. "Veda. Relena Peacecraft. Find her!"
"Searching."
"We're going to talk about that right?" Lafter asked. "The whole Veda thing 'cause that's a weird name."
"Later." I switched the com back on. "I'm just going to find her anyway. I tracked the assassin down in a single morning."
"Director. What if she's right?"
"She's running on pure conjecture. How is Dauntless?"
"Two shots to the stomach I think," Triumph said.
Miss Militia and Stratos stood over him as he tended to his teammate, Armsmaster fighting Trainwreck a few feet away. Behind them a squad of troopers sprayed foam on Whirlygig's body. One checked her neck and nodded, and the rest lifted her up.
"Whirlygig is secure," someone said.
That's two Merchants down…well Merchant capes.
Actually, looking around, there were a lot of thugs. On the street, the rooftops. More arrived in trucks and cars and now they were behind us too. Mush kept forming and needing to be knocked down again, and Trainwreck seemed able to fight Armsmaster evenly.
"He shot Glory Girl in the abdomen," I said. "Or do we just want to chalk all the coincidences up to coincidence?"
"We're not in the business of wild speculation," Piggot grunted. "We deal with the problem at hand, and right now that problem is a full ground battle between the Protectorate and the PRT against the Merchants. I wonder how that started."
"Yeah, I wonder if it's a coincidence the asshole rigged a building to drop on whoever found him with a teleporter in place to send him who knows where as deep into Merchant territory as humanly possible."
Silence answered me.
I ignored it. I needed to figure out where the Sanc Kingdom delegation was. If she died then this entire disaster was just a disaster.
One of the troopers near me fell back, hand reaching for his arm. I stepped over and shielded him while one of the medical troopers started patching the injury.
A bullet pinged off my helmet. It hit harder without the GN Field, rattling my skull pretty bad. The sensation passed quickly.
The tanks began emitting smoke again, save one. The three Prism's all flashed, only one emerging from the light and slamming her hand into the mini-tank's side.
The vehicle spun, one of the legs twisting. The cannons fired, blowing the corner out of a building.
I'd have eaten that up a few years ago.
"Located," Veda declared. "Relena Peacecraft is currently located at the Grand Hamilton Hotel in Downtown Brockton Bay."
"Fucking thinkers," Piggot mumbled.
"Send someone over there," I insisted. "He's going after her, and if you wait until the emergency call it's going to be too late!"
"Director," Ramius pleaded, "anyone who looks at PRT response guidelines could predict how we'd react to this situation. Setting it up wouldn't be difficult."
The van could pick me up, but without the GN drive, what could I do?
"Does Dauntless have entry and exit wounds?" Unoa asked.
"What?" Ramius, Piggot, Triumph, and I asked at once.
"Well, if it's the same gun that shot Glory Girl, then we should see a conspicuous lack of entry wounds."
…
"Triumph?" Piggot asked.
Triumph turned Dauntless over while a team of troopers ran forward with ballistic shields. They formed a wall around Dauntless, one medic crouching down beside him.
"His armor is perfect," Triumph announced. "I don't see any damage."
"That's bad," Unoa said. "Or good, if you happen to be the person making armor plates for super heroes. He needs to be med-evaced immediately."
Fuck. I started looking through O Gundam's schematic. "Are we going to keep arguing, or is something going to be done?"
"If I may Director"—Calvert—"we need to contain the Merchants regardless. A team could swing by the Hotel and check on the situation."
"Worst case nothing happens," Ramius said quickly. "The team can join up with others and deal with Merchants pushing toward Downtown."
So more debate, wonderful.
If only I could fly.
Even if I cannibalized parts, I didn't have what I needed to repair my flywheel. Not in a timely fashion. No tools to dismantle my suit, and none of the right parts. It would take me fifteen to twenty minutes just to round out…
I turned my head to the flashing red and blue lights.
"Armsmaster," Piggot ordered. "Can you, Stratos, and Triumph contain Mush and Trainwreck?"
"Yes," he answered. "Velocity, intercept the Merchants going to the Towers. Keep them busy until troopers arrive. We can contact New Wave for assistance."
"No!" I shouted.
Armsmaster tensed ahead of me. "No?"
Idiot. "If he's taking out fliers then what is he going to do when he sees Lady Photon, Laserdream, and Shielder?"
"Tell them to stay on the ground until we've ruled out the possibility," Calvert suggested. "They can drive like everyone else."
Armsmaster grunted. "Militia, Prism. Check on the Sanc Kingdom delegation. Then, proceed to Downtown."
"Sir."
Prism and Miss Militia both turned around.
At least someone is going…But if he took out Dauntless why wait? He might get there before them…Waiting to take out New Wave?
No. Why count on that? New Wave outside of Panacea and Glory Girl practically didn't exist. They showed up for PR events, and did some joint busts with the Protectorate twice a year. They weren't active heroes, so why would a villain worry about them?
Unless you shoot Glory Girl. If I were in her family, I'd want whoever did it. Would he wait for that though? If New Wave stuck to the ground, they'd be driving in from their homes anyway. At least fifteen to twenty minutes.
Or they might not show up at all, go straight to the hospital to see Vicky.
I'd never wait that long just to see if something happened, I'd just get on with it.
"What are we going to do?"
I looked at Lafter.
"We came here to stop him," she said. "Kind of pointless if that ends up helping him win, right?"
I watched the battle continue around me, even as Velocity sped away. Miss Militia and Prism helped lift wounded troopers into a van and then climbed in themselves.
"This is my fault," I mumbled.
"You didn't know this was going to happen," Ramius and Lafter said.
I shut the com off. "I have a fucking precog working with me."
"We'll ask if there are cool action movie sequences next time." Lafter shrugged. "What are we going to do right now?"
"You're sticking around for next time?" I asked.
It lingered in the back of my head since the collapse. I figured she'd be pissed at me sooner or later.
Lafter smiled. "I'm not afraid of commitment."
Thirteen minutes.
No hero would be able to reach the hotel and check on it for thirteen minutes. Velocity could be there in far less time, but Armsmaster sent him the other way. That didn't make any sense.
He really must hate me.
Ten more minutes for my armor to finish purging. I could reach the hotel in ten minutes twenty-eight seconds.
If I could fly.
Part of me said stay out of it. Haven't you fucked up enough for one day Taylor? Glory Girl's family is going to hate you. Piggot is going to chew you out, and then Ramius is going to chew you out again. Dad is going to be furious. Dinah might actually hate me now…
And none of that mattered.
The idea of sitting out and doing nothing…I refused.
There is no going back.
"I need you to get something for me, and then help the troopers."
"What do you need?" Lafter asked.
I stepped behind one of the PRT vans and opened the chest plate.
"StarGazer, emergency drive release."
"Confirm release," Veda said.
"I confirm."
The cone on O Gundam's back spun and opened. The top slid back, the solar furnace and the flywheel sliding out with it.
"Red, keep helping troopers. Purple, stay with Lafter. Orange, Pink, Navy. All three of you go and meet me at the hotel. Forewarn them in case no one else bothers."
I stepped around O Gundam. The flywheel hung in four pieces, some completely melted away. I held my hand toward Lafter and she returned my saber.
I started removing the wheel pieces. It wouldn't fit right. The casing would hang open by a half inch, and I needed to throw together a frame to hold the wheel in place, but with a little "borrowing" I could throw something together.
I just needed one core part.
"Veda. Move the van to retrieve O Gundam. It's probably not going to be working after this. Lafter."
"Yup?"
"I need the front wheel off Armsmaster's motorcycle."
"Is that wise?" Veda asked.
"He already hates me, anyway."
Lafter laughed. "Okay!"
She ran off and I threw the last piece of the ruined wheel away. I gave the drive a quick once over.
A minute for Lafter to get me a wheel. Maybe six for me to rig it into a new flywheel with what I had on hand. About ten minutes total to come up with a good plan while I got all that done.
I've worked with less.
