A Waken 12.7
"She's just standing there," Vicky mumbled.
I expected Othala to attack immediately after getting back up. When she didn't, I zoomed in. Her lips moved, almost imperceptibly. Talking to herself? Talking to the other Butchers?
Could they do that? What I knew didn't exactly paint a clear picture of being the Butcher.
"How exactly do we do this?" Lafter asked. "You know. Without dying?"
Good question.
I didn't know if my blade edges could cut her — one Butcher had some form of invincibility. Not sure I wanted to risk an attempt at all. Someone killed that Butcher, so their invincibility wasn't absolute.
Trans-Am was too risky. I couldn't control it very well and I might swing too hard or cut too deep. Fleeing the parking lot meant leading her on a chase through the city. She needed to be held here until we gained some way to deal with her.
We floated in a staggered line, with Chris on the ground. Green lingered under a car in the lot and I still had a signal from Purple and Red. Navy was destroyed but the other two Haros somehow survived.
Behind us, the stream of students fleeing the building had partially reversed. Made sense to evacuate when the fight was inside, but now it was outside. I saw some confusion on a few faces. Some seemed to simply pick a direction and run.
Naturally, some were dumb enough to stand around with their phones in hand.
And we needed to keep those idiots alive long enough to figure something out. Bakuda's bomb or Armsmaster's serum. I'd take whichever arrived and worked first. One of them would work, I hoped. If they didn't…
How didn't we see this coming.
Teacher came to mind immediately, but that didn't quite make sense. Dinah could precog the Butcher just fine yesterday. She saw attacks in Boston more and more frequently. If Butcher were a pet, she shouldn't be able to see anything about them.
Did Teacher approach Othala last night with an offer? That seemed… improbable. The coincidence boggled the mind.
I'd have to ponder that later, though.
Below, Othala raised her head to glare at me.
She wasn't talking anymore.
"Do we have any confoam?" I asked.
"I don't," Chris replied.
"There are troopers stationed nearby," Lily explained. She remained perched on the roof, watching. "But they'll have to fight the crowds to get here."
Figured. "Probably wouldn't work anyway," I mumbled. "She'd just reshape the stuff and get out of it."
Over the com Armsmaster said, "I will arrive in six minutes."
"Right, we'll try to,"— I stopped as Vicky floated in the exact spot Othala was in moments ago —"what?"
Master power?
To my left, Kyrios began to move. "Watch it!"
I pushed on the pedals and spun Exia about. The truck curved in mid-air and slammed into me.
What?!
The truck knocked me up a dozen feet before falling away. Othala exploded in front of me. I hit her with the flat of my sword.
I expected that. It was what Oni Lee would do. Fight one teleporter and you've fought every teleporter.
She exploded again. When she appeared behind me, the Fangs darted out from Queen. Beams fired, blasting her body off course and knocking her back to the ground. Kyrios chased, firing beams from its shields.
"What was that?" Chris asked. He skated, lining up his rifle with Othala's body. "I didn't—"
I stole a quick glance. Vicky flew back toward us. Not an illusion then?
Othala exploded again, reappearing on the ground. She looked at a car and then she was looking at me. And I was on the ground. My balance faltered for a moment at the sudden feeling of solid ground beneath my feet.
"Magic Hat," Veda quickly stated. "She could swap objects."
Oh that's bullshit!
I raised my shield as a massive asphalt spear flew toward me, shaped from the ground by Othala's hand. She exploded and appeared behind me, a hand pressed into my back.
The GN drive.
I grabbed the car at my left and pulled. The passenger-side door came off and with a spin I batted Othala aside. The Fangs fired from above, peppering the ground as Othala exploded away. Chris turned to his right and fired the rifle in his hand. Othala exploded again.
She kicked Chris in the back of the leg and I tackled her from the side.
She exploded, knocking Exia back as she vanished. Then she exploded on my left and exploded to my right before I'd even turned.
I got tired of this trick when Oni Lee did it.
A flying car slammed into her as she reappeared in front of me.
"Yahtzee," Vicky declared.
She flew past, grabbing the car as Othala tried to lift it up. She slammed it back down on the woman and prepared to punch through it when fire erupted from beneath.
Vicky flew back to escape the flames. Did her power protect her from heat? I didn't have to find out. A shimmering blue field took shape in front of her. The fire rolled over the shield, and Vicky called, "Eric?"
"What's going on?" Shielder flew up behind me and watched as Othala tore her way free of the car. "Who is that?"
Vicky and I both answered as Othala exploded and disappeared from sight. "The Butcher."
Shielder grimaced. "Oh shit."
A red beam ignited the air. Chris' suit slid around the edge of the parking lot, holding a large cannon under one arm. He fired again, and this time I saw the explosion as Othala moved. I also saw a car go sailing into the air toward the crowd of fleeing students.
"Someone catch that," Lafter called. She slammed Kyrios down into the second car Othala threw, which resisted her briefly before giving in and crashing to the ground.
"I got it!" Vicky intercepted the vehicle before it could splatter anyone. Her body jerked forward for a moment as it continued on its path, like she wasn't even there. "Shit!"
Lafter turned and Kyrios' shield fired a pink beam. The energy blasted through the car. One end crashed to the ground ten feet away from the crowd. Vicky managed to yank the other end up right before she vanished. The car fell, followed by a yellow wheelstop.
A scream pierced the air.
Shit.
I guided Exia back into the air. Vicky knelt on the ground, Othala's hand around her throat and eyes fixed on her. She screamed at the top of her lungs, hands pushing at the woman's chest and shoulder. Othala barely budged.
How many brute powers did she have? Do they add up together?
Lafter swept in from the side. Othala released Vicky suddenly and threw her hands up, catching Kyrios' arm and pressing her fingers into the limb. Queen came from the other side, the Fangs darting from their docks. I raised my longsword and fired. The volley battered Othala, costing her balance.
Lafter forced her down.
Vicky recovered quickly and grabbed Othala by the legs. She flew off the ground and Othala smacked into the asphalt before Vicky spun and released. Lafter, Veda, and I all fired. Pink light ignited the air, hammering Othala as she flipped through the air.
A flickering bubble formed around her and every beam curved over the surface and scattered. Chris' cannon did the same when he fired, sliding over the shimmering surface before slamming into the ground.
Chunks of asphalt blasted into the air. Pieces tumbled and shattered as other beams hit them. The shield continued to shimmer inside the debris cloud with no sign of weakening.
"Oh come on!" Lafter exclaimed. "How many powers does she have?!"
Dozens of capes died in Boston. I didn't know most of their names or powers. I didn't think we'd end up in this situation. She could have any number of powers now.
"Ajax," Veda noted. "One moment please."
"One moment for what?" I asked.
The answer came in the form of a quick patch. Just a few lines of code changing the protocols of Exia's firing controls. Veda switched the frequency of the magnetic field projecting beams from our weapons.
One Fang fired.
The shield around Othala shimmered in the debris cloud and the beam struck her chest.
"That should work," Veda announced.
She switched the magnetic field. Ajax's power was magnetic? Unless it could change frequencies— Oh glorious AI.
I fired. Lafter did the same. The lasers cut through the shiled like it didn't work. Othala let the shield drop. The beams didn't seem to hurt her, but each hit did knock her back. We kept firing, and with the shield down, Chris aimed for her legs.
I checked Armsmaster's position, which wasn't nearly close enough.
"We need to blind her," I snapped. She moves around too quickly.
Othala exploded and moved behind Queen. Veda avoided the grasping hand before being replaced by a chunk of asphalt. Othala grabbed the rock and threw it at Lafter, then exploded and appeared in front of me.
I swung my longsword up. Othala looked at it and the weapon vanished.
I followed through with the strike and hit her with the stop sign. She exploded again and when she reappeared on the ground, Veda fired all the Fangs in two big beams. Othala lifted a car. The beams blew it apart, but she remained on her feet behind the wreckage even as it exploded around her.
She turned her eyes toward the school.
No.
A piece of rubble vanished and a boy appeared in its place. His legs gave out as his feet didn't land where he clearly expected them to. Another piece of rubble disappeared, replaced by a girl.
This is different.
Another rock vanished, and another student took its place. Another. And another.
My breathing hitched.
"Othala is teleporting civilians into the combat zone," Lily reported over the com. I saw a figure on the roof, crouching along the edge. "Console?"
"Prioritize removing civilians from the line of fire," Armsmaster said. "Be wary of sneak attacks. This is a clear ploy."
No fucking shit.
Before, she'd just attacked me and continued attacking me. Anything else she attacked was only because it got in the way. We shattered the parking lot with all the beams that shield deflected. Now she was using the rubble for that swapping power.
Did she—they?—plan that?
Vicky dove toward one of the students, a girl who glanced left and right in confusion. Othala exploded between them. The blast threw the girl back and Vicky collapsed. She screamed as Othala's eyes locked onto her.
Chris skated between two vehicles, his cannon flashing away as two shields fell into his hands. Othala turned to face him, one arm outstretched while the other grabbed Vicky. Shielder and I fired. Blue and pink blasts hit Othala in the shoulder and Chris tackled her.
He drove her back, the woman's grip on Vicky loosened by Shielder's attack. Chris pinned her down with both walls of armor, trapping her against the ground. Each was more than big enough to block Othala's sight.
Veda came down on top of them, one foot pressing down onto each shield. They shook violently as Othala tried to break free of the hold.
That won't last.
Vicky got back up with help from her cousin, her expression pained. He patted her shoulder. She nodded. They split. Vicky flew over Chris and grabbed the girl off the ground. Shielder went the other way, grabbing an older woman, a teacher probably.
I checked my map.
Armsmaster is halfway here.
It felt like we'd fought longer than that.
I hit the ground and grabbed the boy Othala first teleported.
"Move," I told him. "Go. Run!"
He started moving but stopped a few steps later.
I checked the street in my rear cameras.
The dimensions were wrong.
The end of the parking lot stretched out, putting hundreds of feet between the fight and the surrounding crowds. I looked at Arcadia middle school in the distance. Students huddled in the very distant windows and dozens of figures stood outside. I didn't see her, but with the way space was stretching out she had to be somewhere.
Vista.
Unfortunately, her attempt to make the fight distant stranded the people Othala grabb—
Before I finished the thought, one section of street shrank. Ground twisted in a way that kind of turned my stomach to look at. It scrunched back up, forming a short path across the stretched-out road.
"That way." I pointed. The boy looked at me then followed my finger. At least Vista quickly realized the problem. "Go. We'll cover you."
"Go! Go!" I spotted Green rolling across the ground. A pair of girl ran after him. "Go! Go!"
Behind me, Chris' suit buckled. A wave of flame roared from the ground, asphalt turning bright red. Chris jumped back, abandoning his shields as the front of his armor began melting. Some of the armor on his suit warped from the heat.
"That's hot," he cursed.
Veda stayed in the fire, the GN field blocking the worst of it. She pressed down on the shields, trying to keep Othala pinned and blinded beneath them.
"Run!" I shouted. "Everyone run!"
I fired my pistol in the direction of Vista's bridge. Eight total? Vicky and Shielder got two. I got one moving. Green led two more. I saw one boy sprinting all on his own. That left…
"This is why you need fitness!" Coach Zabi stood atop a car, pointing and shouting. "Run like your lives depend on it! Move those feet Baker!"
I'm just going to let him handle that.
"Lafter!" I called. That just left the eighth. "Far side."
"I see him."
She turned Kyrios around and flew toward the boy. He stood in place, not really moving or looking at anything.
Othala melted a crater into the parking lot, several cars slipping and running into goo that flowed down into it. Veda had Queen inverted, thrusters firing at full power while she held the shields pinning Othala in place. They melted, bending and warping around her hands.
Othala would burn through them before—
And the shields disintegrated. The surfaces boiled up with bubbles and smoke, warping into molten shells suddenly. Like the snap of a finger. A hand burst through one shell, grabbing Queen's faceplate and raking over it.
"Visuals compromised," Veda warned.
Othala pulled herself up and looked past Queen. The fire vanished in an instant, leaving the ground shimmering yellow with heat.
Wait. "Where is she?"
My question was answered by an SUV flying toward Coach Zabi. He jumped off his perch and stumbled. The vehicles crashed violently, glass shattering around him.
Othala exploded behind him, hand reaching out.
I knew it was a trap.
I still rushed forward.
Chris skated behind her, firing pistols into her back. She grabbed one of the ruined vehicles and threw it. The back end tore off as it went, tumbling across the ground as the front flew into Chris.
Othala held a bumper in hand before it vanished, replaced with a chipped yellow wheelstop. She swung the object at Coach Zabi.
I knocked her hand away.
Othala turned her attention to me immediately, fire blasting out from her body and roaring around me.
I looked back for just an instant, relieved to see a blue shield projecting behind Coach Zabi as he ran away. Shielder stuck to his side, hand outstretched. The man patted out a fire on his sleeve and when that didn't work he dropped and rolled.
I turned back to Othala.
My heart sank.
The wheel stop was gone. Instead, she held my longsword. She'd tried it before. Using my own weapons to pierce my armor. I knew they would. I'd designed them to cut anything, even a GN field.
I shouted, "Failsafe!"
The blade exploded as she moved to stab me.
Othala grimaced as the weapon blew apart in her hands. It didn't tear her skin. She didn't even look winded. Not hurt. Not tired. She barely had any clothing left, just burned and torn rags that hung from her body.
She was talking to the other Butchers. Making a plan.
I tasted iron in my mouth.
Looking down, a chunk of my sword protruded from Exia's chest. A light flashed on my HUD, warning me the armor was pierced. I made a quick mental note to make the self-destruct more complete.
Quarrel.
Fucking powers. I handed her a damn projectile.
And I knew what lungs filling with blood felt like. Pretty sure that's bad. Felt pretty damn bad. Seemed even worse when I coughed and blood splattered the inside of my helmet.
Othala's face cracked, showing the first expression beside sad. She smiled, eyes wide. Odd that I noticed she hadn't brushed in ages but I had sword in me and blood filling my lungs so fuck it.
I threw my head forward.
Othala's skull bounced back from the blow. I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her down into the car. My chest screamed in pain. The blade moved and tore, scraping against my ribs, including the one it pierced.
I ignored it.
"Fuck you."
I lifted Othala from the car and threw her up and over my shoulder. She hit the ground, and when her hands moved to clutch at Exia's arm I lifted her up and slammed her down again. And again. And again.
Unconsciousness worked for Sovereign.
Like this?!
I drew her up to slam her into the ground again. Othala punched Exia in the collar. I felt the blow and an alarm sounded as the armor impacted. She ignited the air, fire and heat burning through the sliver of a hole in my armor and burning right into me.
Fuck you.
I ran her over the ground like cheese on a grater with one hand. The other reached for Exia's leg, pulling a khatar free. I stabbed the weapon at her leg. The blade cracked against her skin rather than breaking it.
The fire kept blasting around us. I couldn't see much outside the heat. I'd trust the others to keep the students and Coach Zabi safe.
Fuck defense.
Casting my khatar aside, I released Othala. She punched Exia's stomach, which hurt like a bitch. I still drew two beam sabers and brought them down on her collar one after the other.
I battered her.
Side of the head. Ribs. Thigh. Chest. Head again. Othala tried to block the blows. I didn't know if that meant I was hurting her or if it was instinct. She punched back a few times. I ignored the blows she got in. They hurt and damaged the armor, but it was holding.
I kept hitting. Blow after blow.
She wanted to hurt me. If that was what she wanted, fine. I'd keep her in one place until—
One saber fell from Exia's hand. My grip on the right controls weakened. I felt light headed and my chest felt flooded.
Not like this.
I threw my suit's shoulder into her, knocking the woman back. She tumbled back and I chased. She dug her hands into the ground to stop herself and I caught her face with my free hand.
I slammed her into the ground again.
Heatwave's power faded and I saw the students fleeing across the one strip of shortened street. Vicky was flying back, stopping for a moment when she saw me.
I kept Exia upright, barely. Breathing fucking sucked, but I was still breathing. Somehow. Turns out you can live with one lung.
At least until it starts filling with blood at the bottom of your throat cause the other one is fucking full. I couldn't stop myself from gagging and coughing.
What a shitty way to die.
If this was dying. Felt pretty damn shitty. Vision was getting a little blurry.
I took mild satisfaction in how Othala wasn't smiling anymore. She looked at me, pale-faced. Why? It's not like anything I'd done really hurt her. She still didn't have a scratch. Maybe a bruise on one shoulder and a cheek.
Othala stumbled back from me all the same.
Kyrios slammed into her, a GN field projected from both shields. Lafter kicked the woman in the leg, and when Othala tried to catch herself she stumbled on rubble. Lafter kicked her again and brought one of the shields down on Othala's collar.
Green appeared from under a nearby car. He jumped, grabbing onto Othala's leg with a cord tied around his foot. The cord pulled taut, Red and Purple yanking it with their damaged bodies.
Tough little robots.
Veda caught me as Exia started to tip.
"Panacea is coming," she said.
Oh, right. The girl who thinks I'm into her sister is here.
Chris tackled Othala from behind. She wasn't even fighting anymore. She just stared at me.
Is this really all you want?
I felt a weird sense of satisfaction. Not sure why. It seemed completely out of place with the moment. It's not like I wanted to die… I just expected it.
Everyone dies eventually.
"Taylor?"
Not sure who said the name.
"What is happening?"
"I'm on site. Newtype's hurt."
Still alive. I think.
"How bad?"
"Blade sticking out of chest bad?"
"Othala's not fighting anymore."
You'd think dying wouldn't take so long.
"Open the armor."
"One moment."
Or not. That would be nice. Being in the dying position, it was pretty rotten.
"Ames."
"I'm ready."
"NO!"
I blinked.
What happened?
Chris was replaced with half a truck. Othala took the object in hand and smashed it into Lafter's suit. Vicky tackled the woman, but Othala slammed her into the ground. A lightning bolt blasted over her as she came toward me. Dauntless raised his shield and Shielder projected a bubble in front of his cousin as she looked at me.
Othala grabbed Dauntless' arm and snapped it. She pushed him into Shielder's shield and began punching, shaking the field with each blow.
I saw the scuffle in the side cameras.
The front cameras were watching the yellow muscle car roaring across Vista's artificial no-man's land.
I managed a gurgling scream as the blade piece was ripped out of my chest. Exia's armor opened, and I looked down as blood flowed down my already blood soaked torso.
A hand pressed to my skin.
Vision came back fast. Amy Dallon mumbled something about her outfit being ruined. Veda shielded her with Queen, saber swiping down toward Othala as Shielder's shield broke.
Brakes squealed and the muscle car batted Othala into the air. She bounced across the parking lot and hit a handicap sign. The car's engine roared, a shadowed figure inside taking one brief glance at me.
I gagged again, the feeling of blood filling my lungs reversed. It felt especially weird, because the blood didn't seem to go anywhere. It just vanished.
Panacea's brow furrowed.
I inhaled, lungs filling with air. On a scale of one to suck, I think lungs full of blood might be worse than a crushed throat. Not that I wanted to choose. It's just an 'I almost died there' observation.
"You have green stuff in you," Amy said.
Green—
GN particles.
"They'll dissipate on their own in seconds," Veda said.
"Sure?" Amy's face scrunched up. "Cause I see them floating around in there."
"S'fine," I choked out. I flexed my fingers and toes as feeling returned to them. "Othala—"
Behind Amy and Veda, I saw a hand reach up out of the muscle car. It threw something. Something that hit the ground with a metallic clink. It rolled toward Othala and stopped as she pulled herself back to her feet.
The arm vanished and the muscle car suddenly reversed. It whipped around and sped off back into Vista's stretched space.
"Who was that?" Lafter asked. She turned Kyrios' head to me. "And is she okay?"
Felt pretty great actually. Just like the last time Panacea healed me.
A scream cut through the air.
I looked back at Othala. Not sad. Not happy. Her face was twisted into fury. She exploded, her body appearing over my head for a brief moment before she exploded again. She crossed Vista's artificial range in a second, chasing after the muscle car as it vanished from sight.
"…I feel like we missed something," Lafter said. "What the fuck just happened?"
Chris skated toward me. "Maybe she thinks she got Newtype?" His head turned toward me. "Are you okay?"
"She's fine," Panacea said. "Something half-cauterized the wound and slowed the bleeding down."
She stepped away from Veda, stopping when she saw Vicky floating up off the ground. Then she walked over to Dauntless — right, he's here now — and crouched. His arm was bent the wrong way, with a bone sticking out. He bit down on a glove with his teeth and pulled it off, offering her the naked hand.
Panacea wavered. Bluntly, she said, "I don't."
"You're too young for me," he replied with a pained chuckle.
"Just so we're clear."
She took his hand and the man groaned as his arm slowly bent back the right way. As soon as she moved away, he flexed his arm, nodded and turned toward the city.
"Console, Butcher has fled Arcadia."
"Newtype?" Murrue asked.
"Panacea got to her. She's alive."
I tested my fingers. All still there. Toes too. Chest didn't have a gaping hole in it anymore with a knife blade sticking out.
I'm okay.
I double-checked. Yup. All extremities accounted for. No sense of choking death or light-headedness. Armor was battered with a hole in the chest, but otherwise okay.
Armsmaster asked, "Where is Butcher?"
"North on Lord," Veda answered. "She is pursuing a black Dodge Charger."
Could have sworn it was yellow.
"Redirecting. Miss Militia, go up Twenty-Second. Dauntless, get back in the air. We need eyes."
Dauntless took off, leaving the rest of us in the parking lot while a crowd watched.
"We're directing EMS to Arcadia," Murrue said. "Are there any other injuries?"
"None of grave concern," Veda noted. "Othala possesses a shaker power I have not identified." She does? "Kid Win's shields rapidly broke down once it was employed."
"We'll contact Boston." I didn't recognize the voice, though it was familiar. "See if they have anything on shakers who could weaken or deconstruct things. I've contacted the Chief Director. Legend is preparing to deploy with a team from New York. We need to get the Butcher contained."
Lafter guided Kyrios a few feet off the ground. Vista was collapsing space back to normal. Shielder glanced around with an uncertain face. Chris' suit knelt, looking pretty bad with all the dings, scorch marks, and melted bits. Queen looked bad too with half its face torn up.
It seemed so quiet.
I looked down at myself, patting at my newly red blouse. It used to be blue. Didn't even have a scar.
"You'll want to eat big," Panacea said. "You didn't have much fat to start with, and fixing blood loss takes a lot of biomass."
Pink could take care of that, happily.
Wait, that can't be it.
Who was driving that car and why was no one chasin—
"Did that car turn into the city?" I asked.
"Yes," Chris answered.
Othala was chasing a muscle car through downtown Brockton Bay.
"We need to—"
"What was thrown at Othala?" Vicky floated over the ground near the handicap sign. She searched the rubble on the ground, but clearly didn't find what she was looking for.
"A wedding ring," Veda answered.
I turned my head to Queen. A wedding ring, she said.
Victor.
I settled myself back into my seat and closed the armor.
Vicky flinched. "Um, Taylor?"
I pushed on the pedals and took off.
Victor's ring. Whoever was driving that car threw Victor's ring at Othala. They must have been involved in the botched break out, and if they were here now then it wasn't about Victor.
They wanted Othala, the Butcher.
"Taylor!"
Veda followed after me in Queen, Lafter right behind her in Kyrios. Vicky wasn't that far behind them. I didn't see Shielder.
Over the com Chris said, "Flechette, check on Weld. I'll handle things out here until EMS arrives. My suit is too damaged to keep going."
"The Wards will stand down," Armsmaster ordered. "I would request that Panacea be on standby. This battle is likely to involve further injuries."
"What about Newtype?" Lily asked.
"We'll have EMS check her over," Murrue said.
"Um."
Oh well.
I accelerated Exia and gained altitude. I felt the wind blowing cold against my chest through the gap in the armor. I'd have to patch that.
"Taylor," Murrue groaned. "Taylor. No. You were almost—"
"I'm fine," I interrupted tersely. I got over the tallest buildings and looked. "Whoever is driving that car threw a wedding ring at Othala and then Othala went after them."
I spotted a flash in a street to the northwest.
"Third street," I called before angling Exia down and diving.
"Wedding ring?" Miss Militia asked.
"Victor," Murrue half-whispered. "You think the driver was involved?"
"And I think Othala was the real target."
Though… How did they know Othala was the Butcher? It wouldn't make sense to go after Victor otherwise. Did they mean for him to die or did they want him alive?
"You were targeted and gravely injured," Armsmaster said. "Panacea's healing is not free. It is not advisable—"
The man whose name I didn't know asked, "We think whoever is in the car was involved with Victor's break out?"
Veda spoke up. "I have identified the ring on social media, Deputy Director." Oh. Ren-something. "It is Victor's."
"And now they're here," he replied. "That was fast."
It is fast.
Dinah didn't know Othala would attack me, but whoever these guys were managed to get to Brockton Bay from upstate New York?
It wasn't that far—an hour and a half to three hours depending on where they started—but they'd gotten to Brockton Bay within seven or so minutes of Butcher attacking me. They would have needed to already be coming to arrive that quickly.
"Armsmaster," I called. "You have the serum?"
After a brief pause, he answered, "Yes, but I will need to get close."
I caught sight of the car at an intersection, a moving explosion chasing after it.
"Feed the PRT the location," I said. Veda would know what to do.
Meanwhile…
I closed my connection to the group com briefly and dialed Bakuda.
As soon as it picked up I was already talking. "Bomb?"
"Depends," she said.
Depends? "Depends on what?"
"Short Stuff said the time-stop thing wouldn't work."
"Shor—D—Forecast?" Dinah called her?
"Yeah, her. Said if we used the Gray Boy, something bad would happen."
"What did she see?"
"Some blonde lady frozen in the air."
"I mean the bad thing."
"Don't know. Said it was a feeling."
Like with Cranial's kids?
She had a feeling then too. Her power trying to tell her something it couldn't. It was doing that again.
Her power.
Fuck.
I hadn't thought of that.
Powers weren't powers, they were things. Things with minds of their own. That included Butcher. If Othala became frozen in time, how would her power interpret that? It was in an entirely different dimension. We couldn't time-stop it.
I found myself contemplating again what powers did or didn't see, but I wasn't sure the specifics mattered.
If Othala became frozen in time, would it be significantly different from being dead from where her power - Butcher's power? Powers? - stood. Would she simply blink out of existence from where it stood and transfer itself like it had every other time?
If it transferred because of the time stop, it would jump to Bakuda.
"I'm working on something," she continued. "Don't get your shiny pants all bunched up."
I pulled around a corner, watching the muscle car threw Othala off. The vehicle swerved between traffic. Othala exploded and it slowed down quickly, letting her appear in front of it as the driver spun the tail around.
It hit Othala square in the chest and sent her tumbling right into a traffic pole. The metal groaned and bent, teetering toward the ground as Othala pushed herself up.
Pedestrians quickly ran back, fleeing the falling object. I burst forward with a crack of air and hit caught the pole. Exia's feet hit the ground. When Othala exploded, it twisted in my grip.
I let it fall, directing it toward the road where traffic had stopped and no one was standing.
This is why I didn't want a running battle through the city
"You might want to make it quick," I said to Bakuda.
Releasing the pole I shot back into the air. Lafter was further up the road, lowering a car back to the ground. The Fangs shot from Queen's back, projecting their shield over the heads of a crowd as glass showered toward them.
The muscle car spun about, avoiding Othala as she hit the ground and cratered the street. The passenger side door snapped out, hitting her in the back before the wheels peeled and started down the road again.
Lafter asked, "Are we going to comment on how Butcher is getting her ass kicked by someone in a car?"
We continued to chase, but never quite managed to catch up. Windows shattered. Cars were knocked off the road. Explosions blew people into the road. I threw Exia's foot into a truck, letting the vehicle's front end flatten before it ran over a woman who ran into the road to escape a falling power pole.
Veda cut the electrical lines with the Fangs while I checked on the driver.
He seemed okay. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed the woman with a scraped knee, but that wasn't to bad. They'd both live.
"They're turning toward Captain's Hill."
At least they were moving away from the more populated parts of the city. Armsmaster came around a corner ahead, red and blue lights flashing on his bike. I caught up to him quickly, and then raced past as Othala was thrown into a building by some kind of shockwave projected by the car.
It didn't have a scratch on it.
"The car is tinker tech," I said as we crossed into Captain's Hill.
The muscle car continued to avoid Othala, occasionally blasting her back with a wave of air. The vehicle pulled sharply to the left and plowed through a fence into an abandoned yard of warehouses.
Stratos piped up. "I'm just going to throw this out there. What capes do we know who make tinker tech vehicles?"
Oh—Wait, how and why?
I pulled back, watching as Squealer—if it was Squealer—spun her car about and drove right at Othala.
Othala exploded right before impact. Squealer braked and reversed. When Othala appeared behind her I fired. The blast drew the woman's eyes to me for a moment, just in time for Squealer's rear bumper to hit her square in the chest.
Armsmaster's bike stopped below me and he dismounted. Armored PRT vans with sirens were in sight two blocks away. Lafter stopped briefly to look over a ruined storefront and then lifted off to join Veda and I.
I didn't like the very obvious trail of destruction behind us, but at least now we were surrounded by nothing but abandoned property.
I started taking aim again, but hesitated when the trunk of Squealer's car popped open. Lightning coursed over the street, cutting lines into the ground from a machine in the back. A really familiar machine.
Who broke Squealer out?
I didn't know they knew who did it. Actually, I didn't remember hearing Squealer escaped.
I knew that machine. Cylindrical, red in color, pulsing. Teleport tech. I'd seen it before somewhere, though I didn't remember it being installed in a car or being so—
Oh.
Smoke and dust blasted across the dirty lot in front of the warehouses. Squealer's engine roared and she sped out of the dust cloud. She sped past Armsmaster, turned north, and just kept going.
Fire blasted out from Othala's position. The fires burned and blew the dust away. A figure stood where Squealer's car had been.
Red and orange. Bulky like a suit. My kind of suit. Arms. Legs. Definitely a suit.
I'd heard about a few people imitating the Gundams. Some tinker in Chicago and another in Odessa. Some asshole in southeast Asia too, a villain. The efforts were rough and rushed. They weren't Gundams.
This looked far more refined.
A single red light shone from the machine's head, sweeping back and forth before locking onto Othala. It bore a large shield over its right arm, and a heavy pauldron on the left.
The backpack looked heavy, a large number of thrusters mounted on the sides and a rack with what looked like weapons. Guns. Bazookas. An ax.
Othala's fire faded. Her expression was weird. Like she recognized the suit.
Leet.
He wanted revenge for the Teeth killing Uber.
He tried breaking Victor out. He already knew Othala was Butcher. How did he know that?
Othala exploded. She reappeared behind Leet and two of the guns on the suit's back fired. She stumbled back as the bullets exploded in flashes of hot white light. I averted my gaze from a hundred feet away. Othala shielded her eyes with one arm.
The machine spun around as two spindly mechanical arms lifted off the backpack and kept the guns trained on her. Two more mechanical arms loaded the ax into the right hand and lifted a large squarish bazooka to the left. The machine guns kept firing, flooding Othala's figure in blinding light.
The com crackled in my ear, and Leet's voice came over it.
"Stay back," he said, "unless you want Butcher for a roommate."
