Step 8.3
I angled the saber and let it swing.
Lee screamed when the blade cut through his knee.
"Fool me once, shame on you," I mumbled.
His bomb leg dropped to the ground, and Red rolled forward at speed and grabbed it.
"Fool me twice, shame on me."
I held him firm as his body jerked. The loading arm cut the beam blade and folded back into Astraea's back.
It disturbed me a bit, how easy it now seemed to cut the man's leg off. I mean, it's a bomb. What exactly should I do with it? I didn't do it recklessly. I cut exactly where I needed to and no higher. The heat from the saber cauterized the wound. No need to worry he'd bleed out.
I knew that, and yet the ease with which I did it left me more disturbed than the act itself.
I held the man until his struggles stopped. His one arm remained pressed against his mask as my hand held the limb and his head up. My other hand kept a firm grip. A non-brute isn't going to beat Astraea in a test of strength.
I kept his eyes covered to prevent escape and both his hands away from the pull string on his chest.
Job done.
Red threw the bomb leg forward into a chimney chute.
"Hole in one!" Red chirped. "Hole in one!"
Abandoned buildings. So useful when you need them.
Dinah gave it uneven odds the bomb might explode. Bakuda probably possessed a remote detonator. I'd assume she did, honestly. Bomb tinker. Detonator. She probably kept more than one on hand. I didn't plan to stick around and see how long it took anyone to decide on pushing that button.
"Let's go," I said.
I lifted in the air, still holding Oni Lee firmly. Red rolled back into his cradle and took off.
Now comes the hard part.
"There's a bomb in a building at these coordinates," I said. Veda provided them. "It's abandoned. Forecast saw it doing a few different things. Not sure if its variable or random."
"How big an explosive?" Some random voice asked. A guy. Not sure who.
"Enough to take out a building," I said. "Lee was using it as a peg leg."
"You cut his leg off, again?" Calvert asked.
"His leg is a bomb," I said. "Also someone needs to come get him."
We landed a block over. I hit the ground, scattering some poor ducks. Felt kind of bad about it, but bomb man took priority.
I pressed Lee to the ground without letting my grip loosen.
The park around us was a small one. A pond, some trees, and a single hill. With all the gunfire starting to pick up in the city I didn't see a soul in sight. Hopefully it stayed that way.
I nodded to Red, and my Haro landed and rolled forward. The flash I used to blind him didn't do permanent damage so it didn't last a long time. His eyes probably worked mostly fine now, save for the obstructions in front of them.
Red popped out one of his hands, and rolled over to Oni Lee's head. He prepared the cloth bag, and rose onto his feet.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Ready," he said. "Ready."
"Three."
I didn't get to two, or one.
I pulled my hand back and Red shoved the bag over Oni Lee's head. I got hold of his wrist before it reached his pull string.
"Oni Lee is dealt with," I said.
"Repeat that?" Piggot asked.
"I caught Oni Lee," I said.
I tied the end of the bag off. Tight enough not to slip off his head, but not enough to choke. With that, I pulled his hands up and Red zip tied them. From there I hog tied the famed suicide bomber of Brockton Bay nice and good. Found a small knife while checking his boots and wrists for blades.
Can't have him cutting himself free.
"He's still armed, but he can't activate his bombs himself."
For all I knew his bomb vest could be remotely detonated too.
"I'm dumping him in a park with a Haro to watch him. Sending his coordinates. I'm not touching his vest. I don't have time to disarm it right now."
"Bomb squad is on the way," Ramius said. "Before this goes any further-"
"You're making yourself a target," Piggot said.
I glanced at my map. Armsmaster entered the city from the Rig's light bridge. Miss Militia and Dauntless deployed from the PRT building. Two Wards, Weld and Kid Win walked on foot in Downtown.
"I'm already a target," I said. "There's no hiding from the inevitable. Might as well make it count."
I expected something along the lines of insulting my maturity and foresight.
"You're not wrong."
Not that. I did not expect that. Usually Piggot lambasted me for basically anything I did.
Piggot started talking to someone, and then to me she said, "This needs to be contained."
Seriously?
"I have two suits now," I said. "The Empire and ABB can't stop Queen and Astraea from running rampant through their territories."
"They'll attack your factory," Piggot said. "Force you back."
Say what you want about Piggot. She is not a stupid woman.
"Never attack a tinker in their workshop," I said.
Piggot grunted. "It's your property."
"Director-"
Piggot cut off whatever Ramius wanted to say.
"Done is done," Piggot said. "Newtype, for once, isn't being overzealous." Pretty sure she normally called me 'rash and overzealous.' Love you too, Piggot. "We all knew this was coming. Let's get on with it. Armsmaster."
"I'm on my way to the factory," He said. "Prism. Triumph. Meet me there. Militia and Dauntless, take PRT teams with you and break up any fighting that breaks out elsewhere."
"What about us?" Weld asked.
"We'll deploy the Wards in downtown," Piggot said. "Stay back, but be seen."
"Ma'am."
This might be a first for me.
I expected a bit more fight on that, but I didn't plan to complain. Piggot finally wanted to do something about something. Good for her.
"Keep distance from my factory," I said. "I've got a trap set, but there's no friend or foe on it. It'll hit everyone. Funnel the gangs onto the street by the front gate."
"Are any civilians in danger?" Armsmaster asked.
"No," I said. "I cleared the building out, and the factory is a block away from where people are."
"Do you have a plan to deal with Lung?"
"StarGazer," I said.
"Transmitting operational plans," Veda answered.
Dinah and I spent the entire week planning for this. We'd worked out the possibilities with Veda, and tested as many of the battles as we could.
It would work.
We'd planned for everything this time.
Piggot grunted. "Typical. Ramius, you filed the paperwork for her tinker tech weapons permit?"
"I did," Ramius said, sounding a little regretful.
"It's the best way to keep a bunch of people from dying," I said.
"You're putting your life in completely unnecessary danger," Ramius said.
"That's cape life."
I spun Astraea about and accelerated.
I checked on the rest of my team.
Lafter piled girls into my other van, the first one.
"Don't mind the driver," she said. "StarGazer's never even gotten a ticket."
"I am very careful," Veda said, turning her camera forward. "If you look over your shoulders, you'll see seat belts have been provided."
Lafter smiled. "Tell sister Margret I said hi!"
She slammed the door shut and turned on her heel.
Veda flew through the air to my west, a barrage of beams firing into one of Hookwolf's fighting rings. She crashed through the ceiling and disabled the guard. Orange dropped in behind her and flew forward and checked on the kennels.
Nothing?
That's weird.
Someone posted pictures just a few days ago that GPS'd to that location. Plenty of dogs in the images, where'd they all go?
Stay on target.
"StarGazer," I said.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Piggot is shockingly on board," I said. I double checked my channel to be sure she didn't hear that. Nope. Good. No need to shoot myself in the foot now. "I've dealt with Oni Lee, and we have the gangs' attention. Move to second phase. We'll use two-C."
"Confirmed," Veda said. "Beginning second phase, two-C."
We'd spotted a few Empire capes heading toward Shanty Town, but they all stopped when I hit Krieg's convoy. The ABB split, some heading south and others going toward my factory. I'd like to see more of the former doing the latter.
I'll just go shoot them some more.
It's just tactics.
I hit their stuff so they obviously wanted to hit my stuff. The mere threat forced me back to my factory, and that left the rest of the thugs to run loose.
Where are Lung and Bakuda?
They probably sent Lee to tie me up, but I dealt with him.
Now someone else needed to deal with me.
So, Lung or Bakuda?
Lung and I avoided each other. Well, I avoided Lung. Lung never came after me because I'd just fly away. With my factory out, it should be a prime target to hit the upstart hero with. I'd seen ABB talking about it in some cell chatter, but Lung didn't use phones much. When he did he mostly only seemed to talk to other capes.
It would be Lung. I felt it in my bones. Dinah also predicted it. Four out of five possibilities, I fought Lung. We couldn't ignore each other anymore.
Wait, Armsmaster didn't mention Stratos.
Weird.
"Where is Stratos?" I asked.
"He got pulled away," Piggot said.
"For what?" What could be more important than a gang war in the middle of the-
"The Nine have appeared in Minneapolis," Armsmaster said. "Stratos is one of the few capes we know can hurt Crawler and Siberian."
"He'll be absent until further notice," Piggot said.
She didn't like the fact, but resigned herself to it all the same. Plain as day in her voice.
I forced it from my mind. I wasn't ready to fight the Nine, not yet. Even if I were, I needed to clean up Brockton Bay first. One problem at a time.
Back to focusing.
I dove from the sky and crushed the truck hood under my feet.
The GN blade swung across my chest, the blade cutting through the car frame. The tip came just short of cutting anyone inside the vehicle. I shot the driver and passenger, and jumped off the hood before the rest of the thugs got out of the back.
One of them threw something.
I threw Astraea sideways, almost striking a building.
My eyes tracked the sphere and my finger pulled the trigger.
The grenade exploded, a swirling mist enveloping the street below me. I slid onto a rooftop and fired at the men getting out of the second vehicle, and then the men running from the third. A few got away, but they didn't throw any more of Bakuda's fucking bombs.
The mist cleared, and my heart stilled.
Light glistened off the surfaces. The glass split the light, casting rainbows against the buildings and street around the blast zone. It looked like glass. Like everything simply turned to crystal in an instant.
The street, the cars, and the leg of a woman who lay on the ground screaming.
Only two in five possibilities. We planned for this.
"Be advised," I said. "Bakuda has armed the ABB with grenades. I've observed one turning all matter within a fifteen foot radius into glass or crystal. There's an injured woman at my location. She needs immediate help."
"Roger, Newtype," Commander Noa said. "It's eyes sharp people. I hate writing letters."
"If we can acquire an example of these devices I may be able to work a countermeasure," Armsmaster said. "Is there any sign of Bakuda or Lung?"
"No," I said after checking with the Haros.
"Lung won't appear until he's sufficiently ramped up," Miss Militia said.
"It would be better to find him before then," Piggot said. "Can Forecast predict his location?"
"She's used all her questions for the day already," I said. "And the way her power works isn't useful for finding people. Lung will appear when he wants. I just need to lure him to the factory."
The Haros will handle the rest.
I jumped into the air with a quick burst from the thrusters, and came down on another rooftop. Queen streaked through the sky above, Fangs shooting into the street and disabling the vehicles.
I opened fire as the men got out, dropping one before he could throw whatever Bakuda gave him.
"Unexploded ordnance at my location," I said. I switched to my speakers and shouted into the street. "There's a bomb on the road! Everyone stay back!" I turned. "Navy, I need you to pick up that bomb."
"Retrieving," he said. "Retrieving!"
"Dump it in the Boat Graveyard, and then head back to the factory!" To the PRT I said, "I'm dropping the bomb at the Boat Graveyard."
"We'll leave it be for now," Piggot said. "The analysis will wait until Armsmaster is free to do it."
I turned, shooting across the rooftops at some idiot who tried to get the drop on me. He hit the ground hard, and I rose into the air.
No idea what he's thinking.
Smoke and dust rose across the city. Traffic lights flashed red, and cars came to a complete stop. It sucked for anyone trying to get anywhere, but I needed to do it.
With the roads blocked by cars with wrecked engines, the gangs needed to walk. That bought me time.
"StarGazer?" I asked.
"All gang elements now appear to be on foot," she said. "Most roads leading into Shanty Town are blocked. Two-C is complete."
We'd planned a few different paths from A to B, and they depended on how much the gangs cooperated with my taunting. The ABB bought in readily. Removing Oni Lee forced one of their other capes to come after me. The bulk of their foot soldiers shifted direction from Shanty Town to the factory. Did a cape lead them?
About two hundred total.
"We're starting three-A," I said. "Let's smack the Empire around a little bit."
Best if the gangs thought they'd forced me into defending my factory. We'd keep hitting fronts for the next few minutes before going to 'save' it.
I turned west and picked out an Empire location to break into.
"Any movement from the Merchants?" I asked.
"Negative," Veda answered.
"Then we just need to worry about the Empire and ABB."
Remembering, I asked, "Lafter, you alright?"
"Time of my life!" She said, standing over two burly bouncers. She threw one of my sabotage sabers into a chest and walked away as the drugs inside began burning. "I don't think they've noticed me, yet."
"Keep going then," I said. "Any ABB who remain free today can enjoy how much of their shit isn't there anymore."
I didn't have a suit for her yet, but someone running rampant on the ground without a lot of armor around them is still useful. The ABB saw my suits in the air and we drew all their attention. Someone like Lafter could just stroll through the deeper parts of the Docks casually while all the crooks looked the other way.
All according to plan.
I flew through the wall, shield arm swiping one guy into the air. Bullets pinged off my armor, and I hit the other in the chest with the GN blade. I glanced around the open office floor, confused when I didn't see what I expected.
"No drugs?"
I switched through my cameras, but I didn't see anything.
Why are men guarding empty locations?
"Something's off," I said.
Veda hit another front five blocks away.
She didn't even find any guards present.
None of what I expected to find was there. No drugs. No money. No guns. Did they move everything in the last few days? The Haros confirmed most of the target locations themselves. Did the Empire notice one of them?
And move everything? That didn't make sense.
"This is unexpected," she said.
"What's wrong?" Ramius asked over the com.
"The Empire has cleared out their stashes," I said. "Not all of them, but half the places StarGazer and I are hitting are just empty buildings and rooms with guards."
I saw Krieg, Rune, Hookwolf, and Stormtiger out and about. No sign of Cricket, Kaiser, or the Valkyries.
I tapped my fingers against the controls
"Keep going," I said.
I never asked Dinah about the locations. I focused mostly on looking for ambushes or planning out cape fights. Never crossed my mind to ask 'will the drugs be where I think they are.'
"We'll figure this out later."
Queen and Astraea returned to the air at the same time.
We hit a few more locations each, but my eyes remained locked on the groups closing on my factory.
I watched them close in even as I went through a wall and started shooting. One guy tried to punch me, which is comical. I grabbed him by the face and wiped his body around into the wall.
Maybe a bit harsh, but my mind was elsewhere.
Lung, plus Hookwolf, Krieg, Stormtiger, and Rune. Five capes on one side, plus all their goons. Miss Militia and Dauntless engaged with the gangs still heading toward Shanty Town. The numbers looked manageable so long as the Merchants kept sitting tight.
Good.
Instead of a war between the gangs we got a war between heroes and villains. Business as usual.
I dropped the man from my hand. He crumbled on the floor, and I turned toward the hole I'd made in the wall.
"It's time," I said. "Green. Orange. Purple. Pink. You know what to do?"
"All out of gum!" Green said. "All out of gum!"
I think that's a reference to something.
"Four-A it is," I said.
I shot into the sky and went straight for my factory. The buildings flew by below, Queen rolling up onto my side.
Strange.
It all felt so… run of the mill.
Typical even, like nothing special was happening.
Is that just the side effect of battling an Endbringer and surviving? Does make normal hero work somewhat dull in comparison. All the bad shit in Brockton Bay, it's not like the city itself ever faced an existential crisis.
No matter what the Empire, ABB, or Merchants did, Brockton Bay would still be standing tomorrow. Maybe not the best place on Earth, far from it, but still standing.
Maybe it's all the planning we put into today. The culmination of weeks of figuring out Dinah's power and how to make use of it. It made everything feel kind of robotic. Less unknown.
It might not work.
It just, didn't feel that way.
It felt like the gangs were on the doorstep of the end.
"Let's go, Veda."
"I am prepared."
Is it supposed to feel so easy?
"Break!"
Astraea shot right, and Queen shot left.
We came around the buildings at the same time, both our suits flying over the fence of my factory.
The Fangs strafed through the Empire gathered thirty feet away from the front gate.
Stormtiger turned, barely avoiding Queen as she flew right over him. The thrusters fired, and Veda swung one of Queen's sabers at the man. He dodged, only for another saber to meet his side.
He yelped, stumbling back and raising his arms in a guard.
Astraea shattered the asphalt, and it kind of occurred to me.
It's not that it feels easy.
It's just that it doesn't feel hard.
I'd faced down Ali Al-Saachez, fought Skidmark, Mush, and Squealer with a half-wrecked suit. I went to Boston. I saw Leviathan.
In the face of all that, "You're not that scary."
I swung the GN blade and cut through Hookwolf's swirling metal form.
One of Brockton Bay's most infamous murderers leapt back, his wolfy visage snarling.
It's weird looking at him closely. The blades, razors and hooks rolled like waves across his inhuman form. They traveled along his back and limbs, then turned and rolled back up along his stomach and neck. Like his body didn't become metal so much as just constantly project and roil blades around him.
"Not running away this time cunt?" He roared and charged.
"I never ran away." I shot Astraea to the left to dodge him.
He drove one of his arms into the street. The claws dug into the asphalt and the arm strained. The limb strained but held, spinning his body toward me.
Two suits.
That was the tipping point.
The moment Veda got legs of her own, arms and hands, weapons to fight with me. That's the moment I won.
"I bid my time," I said.
Hookwolf's body jerked and spun away from me, Queen Gundam driving him into the ground. I swung my GN blade at Stormtiger, and when he dodged I shot him in the thigh. He stumbled, falling to one knee. I threw myself back into the sky and shot the other leg.
Hookwolf swirled, tendrils of razors and blades turning in and out of one another in chase as Queen burst away into the air. The Fangs swirled around Veda's suit and fired, the beams peppering the metal villain.
I spun in the air, cutting the soaring dumpster in half as it flew toward me. I hooked my fingers around one end, Astraea jerking back toward the ground as I did. My feet hit asphalt, and I turned, swinging the metal scrap into Hookwolf's side and knocking him away. Bursting forward I hit him again, driving his body into the ground and crushing a car.
I'm going to have to pay for that.
The other half of the dumpster flew back toward me.
I ignored it and proceeded to hit Hookwolf again with my new bludgeoning utensil. The Fangs cut through the air, each projecting a small beam from their tips. The dumpster chunk became scrap, and most of it fell to the ground.
I'd already observed Rune's power at Winslow.
She only controls what she touches.
If something she touches becomes two, she only keeps the part she touched.
Rune dove, dodging Queen as Veda flew toward her. She swung a second dumpster up between them. Queen's sabers cut through the metal, spilling garbage everywhere. Rune managed to escape in the chaos.
Personally, I just kept beating Hookwolf with half a dumpster.
Bizarrely cathartic.
I kept hitting him, never giving him a chance to really get up. His body twisted and morphed, claws scratching at Astraea's armor between blows. Never enough to do any real damage.
I brought the dumpster back down before he got to scratch my suit up too much. When he started skittering across the ground I slammed him back down.
His tail swung from behind him, a massive blade cutting through my improvised weapon. I dropped the dumpster and flew up. My pistols fired, but they didn't have much effect on big-metal-wolf-man.
The GN blade swung back under my arm, stowing itself as my bazooka came down over Astraea's shoulder. I turned and took aim, firing a series of rockets into the Empire grunts shooting at me.
Hookwolf jumped, and I ejected the bazooka tube and threw it at him.
"Enjoy," I said.
Hookwolf's jaw came down on the tube.
It exploded.
Green light billowed through the air in a swirling cyclone. I flew out of the blast in a burst, GN particles flowing like petals around me. Astraea skated over the ground. I fired on a group of ABB coming down connecting street, and searched for a new target.
The battle waged through the streets.
The ABB and Empire gangs collided when they reached my factory. Dozens of men, with guns, bats, and knives. Some stood in confusion as the fighting carried on, while others waited. A few tried to climb the fence around my factory only to eat a couple volts and fall to the ground.
Come on people. I put signs up. They have little lightning bolts on them.
Sometimes the best solutions are the mundane ones.
Krieg and Armsmaster fought, the Protectorate tinker keeping the man at a distance. He swung his halberd, the head popping off and gliding through the air. It jerked to the side abruptly, missing Krieg at the last second. The head retracted along a chain, and Armsmaster spun and threw back some thug who tried to sneak up on him.
They fought closer to the factory than I wanted, but fine. I warned Armsmaster.
Triumph shouted into a group of Empire forty feet behind Krieg and Armsmaster. A safe distance for the moment. PRT troopers foamed men on the ground, and others fired shotguns with beanbag rounds.
Prism fought about sixty feet behind me with more troopers. She stood at an intersection, the troopers helping her block two of the paths so the road toward my front gate became the path of least resistance.
I focused back on Krieg and fired.
The shots hit the man in the back, but again the effect seemed muted. He stumbled and leaped away from Armsmaster. His body slid back on the ground and went right under a parked car.
I kept shooting, pinning him while Veda and Rune flew about overhead.
The green light cleared behind me.
Hookwolf's body moved. Still metal, but not as razory as before. It looked twisted and warped. Dinah confirmed with her power he could take a GN missile to the face and live. It took him out of the fight for a good eight minutes.
And in that time-
Krieg's cover surged forward, the car shooting down the street toward me.
I flew over it, my instruments spinning wildly as Krieg let go of the rear bumper.
My eyes went wide.
I expected it. Dinah warned me, but feeling it? Very different. The sudden pull on my body. The weird vertigo. The sense of something crushing my chest and my throat.
I pressed down on the pedals, propelling Astraea away from Krieg.
A wave of wind crashed into my back, knocking me forward and end over end.
Stormtiger's back up.
Astraea hit the ground with its shoulder, and I threw my legs to the side and flipped my suit upright. A fire hydrant hurtled toward me. I moved to the right and the projectile hit my side. I grunted at the sudden jolt of force, and raised my pistols.
Stormtiger fell as I fired.
And he's back down.
A car crashed into the street as Queen and Rune's air battle went on.
Surprised me a bit. I didn't think Rune would last so long. The floating debris around the girl protected her well. The teenage Nazi rose and fell, her hands swiping over walls, windows, cars, street lights. Whenever she went low she pulled her objects close to herself, and when she got high Veda didn't take all the shots she could.
A forty foot fall could really hurt her.
Veda wouldn't want that.
Anything in range Rune grabbed and threw between Queen and herself. Usually only two or three big things at a time, with some small bits floating around. If anything got cut too small she let it drop and found something else to touch.
I turned my pistols on Krieg, saying, "She's trying to stall for time."
"Indeed," Veda said. The Fangs shot out of Queen's back, but flew past Rune.
Krieg stood by the geyser of water erupting from the hydrant's former spot. The Fangs fired into his back. He grunted and stumbled forward, but again he just kept going. The Fangs circled back, firing a volley at Rune's growing debris field. The girl protected herself well, and Veda dove Queen low to avoid a lamp post.
Krieg stood under the falling water.
He didn't look wet. The drops that fell toward him stopped and starting moving like leaves in the wind. They fluttered and circled, growing in density around Krieg's body.
Kinetic energy manipulation really is bullshit. The kind of flexibility that gave him? Absurd. That's basically the power to manipulate basic physics on a whim. It even let him reach through my armor and choke me.
That's why Armsmaster kept his distance. Thanks for the warning.
On the bright side, I noticed Krieg's range was short.
Armsmaster stepped up beside me.
I admit, it felt a little awkward standing beside him and holding my tongue on snide comments.
I don't think Armsmaster liked me any more than before. I know I didn't like him. Common cause I guess. No point picking at each other, right now.
We didn't need to fight here.
"A few men got through the fence," Armsmaster said. "Is your workshop secure?"
"How many is a few?"
"Four or five."
The Haros are probably humiliating them right now.
"Poor bastards," I said. I glanced down the street, past Krieg. "Stormtiger is out. Hookwolf is disabled for a few minutes."
"If we clear a path the troopers can secure them," Armsmaster said.
"Not worth it," I said.
Krieg pulled the water around himself, forming a shield.
"I doubt we'll be able to hang onto them once Lung shows up."
The moment that happened, everything else became secondary.
Armsmaster scowled, but he didn't disagree.
I needed to measure my success against my risk. I'd caught Lee, and I might be able to grab another cape or two. That was good, but capes weren't my goal.
"We need to move the rank and file away," I said, "before they get hurt."
Villains without their thugs are just assholes in costumes.
I didn't plan on leaving the ABB or the Empire with much by way of thugs.
Armsmaster kept scowling but he didn't disagree.
Krieg stood his ground, facing the two of us.
That suited me just fine.
Armsmaster glanced at me. Krieg glanced at Armsmaster. I looked up at Rune and Veda's continuing battle.
"Going to stand there all day?" Krieg asked, in a really heavy German accent.
I tapped Astraea's left foot. "My property line. I can stand here as long as I want."
Idiot.
I didn't need to beat him.
I just needed to waste his time.
The longer he stood around staring me down, the more time Lung had to show. As soon as he did there wouldn't be time for the Empire to save their rank and file. They'd rescue the capes and anyone able to walk and run.
"Armsmaster," Dauntless said. "The Undersiders are in the Towers."
The Undersiders are what now?
Armsmaster turned his head. "What are they doing?"
"Attacking the Empire."
Krieg shifted behind his wall of water, a hand slipping into his pocket.
No.
I readied myself.
NO.
Armsmaster lowered his halberd.
Don't you fucking dare!
The water exploded forward. The wave slammed into Astraea. The force hit harder than I expected, knocking me onto my back foot. Armsmaster drove his halberd into the ground and maintained his stance, then ran forward as Krieg turned.
I raised my pistols and fired, but the man kept moving.
A wall of water continued shielding his form.
Armsmaster tried to get to him, but Rune dropped some of her debris across the street. The wall of junk halted the Protectorate leader's advance completely.
I jumped over it with my thrusters, swinging my blade down at Krieg. The blunted edge deflected at the last moment, and my suit spun around me and fell to the ground.
"You win, Fraulein," Krieg said. "We'll be leaving."
You have to be shitting with me!
Krieg pointed to Stormtiger. A few men already held him up while his head lulled. The villain himself walked over to Hookwolf.
Krieg raised a hand and bunched the mass of jerking metal.
Hookwolf flew away. Literally. His body shot off into the sky and dropped out of sight a dozen blocks away.
Bullshit!
"We're leaving," Krieg said to Rune.
I got Astraea back up. Krieg gave some kind of signal, and the Empire started to retreat. Three men carried Stormtiger, and Rune picked up cars and trucks and started dropping them on the road.
Too soon.
We'd disabled maybe fifty Empire at my factory, but there were still at least a hundred and change working their way towards it! If the Empire retreated now they'd keep their numbers when I dropped my trap!
God damn it Tattletale fuck you!
"StarGazer!"
I shot forward, Queen taking a position on my flank.
"Let them go, Newtype!" Ramius said.
"I'm not handing the city to the fucking Nazis!"
I dove toward Krieg, and felt his power again. It's like fighting against a strong wind with him. A wind that pushes everything aside and can't be resisted.
My eyes shifted, pistols raising.
Rune raised her arms and I fired.
Astraea flipped into the ground, and Rune fell from her car hood.
Veda swooped in and grabbed her by the robe, flying up into the air and back toward my factory.
I pulled Astraea up and started shooting into the Empire men - and a few ladies I guess - around me.
It didn't work.
Krieg looked back at Rune for only a moment before saying something in German. He turned and kept walking, lifting her car hood from the ground and throwing it toward me.
The object slammed into Astraea's shoulder and spun me to the ground. A warning blared, and when I rose I found the left pauldron gone.
Fucking Skidmark all over again.
The Empire continued their retreat, and I cursed.
If they weren't going to come back for Rune, then nothing I did would get them to come back.
The girl struggled in Veda's hold, wrists pulled straight back by Queen while Armsmaster put a pair of bulky restraints around her forearms. Seemed designed to prevent her hands from touching anything.
She screamed of course. Shouting race traitors, Jewish world order, and all that nonsense.
"When Kaiser comes to get me-"
"Yeah, Kaiser's going to give a shit that Krieg didn't," I said bitterly.
I floated over the ground back toward my factory.
The ABB continued pressing in on all sides, funneled toward the gates by Prism and Triumph.
Damnit.
"Look on the bright side," I mumbled. "Tattletale told me you weren't a real Nazi." I looked down at Rune, who'd gone suddenly silently. "Take your chance and get out. The PRT likes turning pretty villains into pretty heroes."
Armsmaster did not like that comment, but I didn't care.
Fucking Tattletale ruined my plan. Is that why I found empty stash houses and fronts? Did the Undersiders somehow hit them first? No. That didn't make sense. They still had guards around. Sovereign's a master but I don't think she manipulates memory.
Looking around as the ABB became the only ones fighting, I scowled. Things were a little easier with a three way battle. It kept bullets off the troopers and the Protectorate.
Now everything intensified, and I needed to stand in front of Rune to keep her from being shot.
Worse, I'd only catch a handful of Empire grunts and buckets of ABB. The city's balance would switch heavily toward the Nazis, and I was too far in to backtrack now. Losing my factory would be even more disastrous.
And Lung won't leave just because I ask nicely.
The shooting lulled to the east.
I turned, Astraea's head looking down the road.
I'd seen him before, though he stood taller that night.
Still pretty tall now. Easily Astraea's height. Eight feet of walking muscle, flames licking off the scaly growths along his bared chest. A dragon's face covered his, strands of loose black hair billowing from the heat. The ABB parted as he approached and fell in behind him.
Triumph covered the retreat of the troopers.
I walked past him, saying, "Rune is caught. Get her out of here."
He glanced at me, and then at Armsmaster. The Protectorate leader nodded, eyes set the same direction as mine. Two troopers grabbed Rune and pulled her back. Most of the ABB came from the east, so the group didn't have too many obstacles blocking them from reaching Prism.
I placed Astraea in the center of the road, Queen floating up into the air behind me. No use crying over soiled plans, just carry on.
Lung approached at a casual pace, like he didn't have a care in the world.
Armsmaster stood firm, Halberd at his side.
"How much time will it take?" He asked.
"Green?" I asked.
"Ready," he said. "Ready."
"StarGazer?"
"We need approximately ten minutes for Lung to build sufficient mass."
Ten minutes, then.
I set one foot back, and pointed my right arm at the man who'd beaten the Protectorate bloody and held a full third of the city almost singlehanded.
I raised Astraea's arm. The GN blade flipped forward, and I turned the power all the way up.
There is no escaping the inevitable.
