A Waken 17.9.N
"Get the civilians out," I ordered as I spun through the air. "I'll deal with the officers."
"Found another drone thing," Lafter said. "Third one so far."
"I am tracking the source," Veda said. "Several tinkers are at work. I'm attempting to isolate each and identify."
I flew over the mountainside, coming out on the other side as three Tierens below steadily advanced up a road. They overtook a convoy of three vehicles and knocked the lead car aside. It spun, taking out the second and sending the third swerving. One Tieren stopped the crash with a shove, and the other two fired grenades into the air.
"There are three fliers approaching Dynames' position," Veda warned.
"Um, ah. I see them." Overhead, a beam cut through the air. A second followed and a third. "They're um, down? I aimed for their thighs." Four more shots soon followed, presumably to knock out rather than knock down. "Kind of nice being able to shoot people and not worrying about what I impale."
"Yeah," Lafter agreed. "It comes in handy."
Ahead, Hashmal's beak opened and a familiar cry filled the air. The beam ignited the darkened streets and then darkened them again. Dust and debris exploded in the weapon's wake, leaving a deep trench in the earth that cut through the suburban neighborhood.
Now was not the time to worry about property damage.
The beak closed and the machine jumped forward and came down atop an empty house. Wings spread wide and tail looming, Hashmal took a defensive position. Stargazer flashed into the trench with two dozen Helpers in tow. Red led his less brilliant fellows, directing them to surrounding homes. Moments later, people came out, running for the corridor of the trench and away from the firefight in their streets.
I dove, swinging low into the street and cutting through the riot vehicle in the lead. The police column broke and guns were raised. It was weird. Robotic. Like the men and women in their uniforms weren't really there.
They fired and the bullets became a storm against my armor. I raised the Buster Sword and overcharged the GN Field around the blade. With a long swing, the field surged forth. The light took on a pinkish hue, slamming into the officers like a wall and knocking them back.
Behind me, Red rolled around with four Helpers to the back of a truck. The people inside were waved down and pointed toward the trench.
Why are they collecting people?
I looked over the police officers, noting that they were all wearing headsets of some kind. I'd been seeing that a lot, and more and more people with blank expressions.
Behind me, an explosion rolled over Hashmal. The machine turned through the blast, barely fazed, and opened its beak.
I took off, flying down the street and swinging my feet out at the intersection. A drone retreated on a trio of props, firing another missile from the pod beneath it. I took aim and fired, shredding the torso-sized machine with beams of GN Particles. Hashmal fired a quick burst from its cannon aperture, a flash of light that smacked a second drone out of the air.
Before I could call in seeing yet another pair of tinker-tech drones, Lafter yelped.
"I got someone who can turn stuff into water!" she warned. "And the water turns more stuff into water!"
It was only a matter of time. These guys couldn't be dumb enough to think I'd sit by, or protect them. They'd have capes they thought could win them this fight.
"Lily," I called.
"Sending targeting data," Veda said.
"I got it," Lily mumbled reluctantly.
I switched to Kyrios' main camera and brought it up while dodging another missile and firing on a third drone. It was hard to see much with how fast Lafter was moving. A partially destroyed building did collapse as she passed it, crashing down on an undulating limb of greenish water. The limb exploded but quickly reformed, continuing its pursuit of Lafter.
A short stake, about a forearm in length slammed into the street, formed a shallow crater, and then exploded. The blast knocked the arm apart again and the cape behind the swell turned the wrong direction. Lily's second shot hit him in the knee, going through the limb and stabbing into the ground.
The cape—someone in a disturbingly flamboyant green and blue costume—screamed. He tried to pull himself free but three shots of pink energy struck him in the back. The swelling waves of his power crashed down and almost instantly evaporated.
Kyrios shot forward, landing behind the guy and severing the stake with a beam saber. "Door please, Block—"
"No," I interrupted. "That power could compromise Block H." Not to mention the general structure of the Birdcage.
"Oh." Lafter pointed a shield at the cape. "Good point. What do we do with him?"
"Door please," I said. "Kyushu. Same building as Bonesaw."
At least we could find him there, and he'd have a hard time running. It was as good a place as any to drop him for the time being.
A door opened and the cape fell away.
"Taylor."
I turned my head as I rose back into the sky and aimed for the nearest police station. "Yes, Lily?"
She hesitated before asking. "This isn't just about finishing this quickly, is it? You don't want your suits to get too roughed up."
"Yeah," I admitted.
"The Endbringer is coming that early?"
I swerved, dodging another missile that had been fired my way. "So many Fallen being involved in this probably isn't coincidence."
Lily inhaled a ragged breath. "Gotcha."
"Maybe I'm just biased," Lafter lamented, "but do you guys remember when beating up bad guys was good clean fun?"
In an unfortunate way, yes. It was all so much simpler when we were beating up drug dealers and Nazis. Alternately, it was never simple. We just didn't have to question ourselves when punching Nazis. Punching Nazis was simple.
I thought about asking Veda for an update on the rest of the world but restrained myself.
The others could hold the line.
I needed to stay focused on this before someone got jumpy and sent in the army or the marines. If a bunch of mastered people resisted, the military wouldn't have much choice but to start shooting. That might happen even if the Protectorate took lead, and the Protectorate might need its resources elsewhere.
More than that, I'd opened the door for this to happen.
It was only right I'd be the one to close it. There were enough tin-pot dictatorships in the world run by capes. We didn't need more.
"I hope I'm not the only one who's noticed this," Lily whispered. "Where are the Protectorate and the Wards? The ones stationed in these cities?"
"Hostages," I proposed. "Or under whatever effect the police are under."
"Analysis complete," Veda revealed. "My apologies. Several tinkers have been trying to keep me out and others are sabotaging internet access. I have identified the primary rebel command and control centers."
"These goggles we keep seeing?" I asked.
"Not tinker-tech," she determined. "However, Throne Drei has detected a range of abnormal signals. There is likely a master power at play across a wide area."
A master able to affect this many people? "Where's the source?"
I assumed she'd found it if she was talking.
Veda brought up a map on my HUD. One of the Dragonships set down behind me, at the far end of the trench. There were other groups of 'collectors' coming toward this neighborhood. Best to evacuate the people out of the area until we finished.
Soon.
"Alright. We're going in all at once. We hit this location hard, find whatever masters are being used to control the police and heroes, and hopefully get ourselves some backup to clean this up."
"Righto," Lafter acknowledged.
"I will task half the Tierens to deal with any emergencies that arise," Veda explained.
"Okay." Lily jostled a bit over the line. "Um. Tieria up—Whoa!"
"Continue evacuating civilians as necessary," I said.
Overhead the roar of engines echoed. I raised my head, watching as the same pair of fighters circled the area. They'd yet to engage in any way. Observation. So long as we were here cleaning up the mess, the military seemed content to sit back and wait.
Unless we let this drag on too long.
Then it would get bad.
"No need to wait," I decided. 00 exploded into the sky and I circled the mountain again. "Attack."
As I came to the other side and rocketed over lake Champlain toward Canada, the air ignited. Stargazer pulled out, letting Hashmal drop from above. The machine dropped right into downtown Plattsburgh and fired.
The beam of light exploded the street and a swarm of drones surged from everywhere.
The sky turned a sudden and brilliant orange. The light shimmered, spreading above the clouds before filtering down like snow. The drones wavered in flight, several firing off missiles that flew way off target. Hashmal's binders spread and the night turned to day. Beams of light—dozens of them—shot out, curving and twisting in the air. Every missile exploded without hitting anything, creating a haze of fire and smoke over the city.
"Drone capability is reduced thirty-nine percent," Veda noted.
Stargazer teleported away again and as I dove down toward the city, three dozen black figures spun straight down through the clouds.
I slammed onto a roof, sword swinging through some kind of tinker-tech device as I skidded to a stop. The machine exploded and the men guarding it scrambled back. Barricades constructed in the streets began to erupt with gunfire. Then they started exploding.
The black figures fired, bullets air-bursting and spreading shimmering waves of energy over the barricades. Gunmen started dropping. Others staggered. Gunfire erupted and the first capes flew up to try and meet the diving machines.
I fired, shooting the fliers down first. Heavier beams followed mine as Lily joined in.
Off to the right, a particularly powerful flash of light shot from the ground. It cut through the air, green and blue in color. It burst as it rose, spreading out into multiple curving beams.
The FLAGs broke formation, swerving to avoid the shots. One squadron pulled up. Another veered off to the east. It was hard to see their dark forms. Veda hadn't had time to paint them.
One squadron kept dropping.
Their compact figures broke. Legs swung down. Arms and head out. They raised rifles as they hit the ground one after the other. With uncanny precision, they rushed forward, firing out of my sight in the direction of whoever fired the energy blast. Then they swept back, firing down the street into a crowd. The rounds burst in the air, knocking the people back and to the ground.
Stargazer flashed into the air behind the FLAGs, dropping Tierens that began advancing while the more lightly armored FLAGs stepped back. The road leading to the state university became a cacophony of air burst, pinging bullets, shouting, and E-Carbon armor walking through it all without stopping.
Across the city, another tinker-tech device exploded. Dynames landed atop the airport's control tower. With a rifle in one hand, the machine drew a pistol from its waist and fired into a third device.
Veda began highlighting other targets. Throne Eins fired from above the clouds, detonating the alleyway the flash of light came from. Lafter did a long pass, firing at a lakeside street and dodging a pair of missiles fired at her.
I spun into the air at the sight of movement behind me. The two figures in SWAT armor fired with semi-automatic weapons that pinged off my armor. I shot both in the chest and then fired down into the street as those below shot up at me.
A drone fired a missile. It veered off course and I swept to the side over a rooftop. My blade bisected it, and the explosion rolled over me.
"One moment," Veda said. "Launching electronic counter-measures."
The sky turned reddish, and I raised 00's head. Throne Drei hovered above, its vents fully opened and spraying GN Particles into the air. The affect wasn't immediate, but once the particles began showering down from above the drones started dropping.
A few more capes flew into the air.
"That's a Ward," Lily snapped. "I know her. Ah, Nevermore!"
"Knock them down," I told her. "I'll catch her."
She fired and I raced over the rooftops to grab the girl before she hit the ground. The other flier crashed into an AC unit, alive but probably with injury. He looked like a member of the Elite based on the suit he wore.
I grimaced. "Lily… This is too chaotic." I dropped to the roof and set the Ward down. "We don't have the luxury of making sure every cape survives."
The silence was poignant, but after a few moments, the reply came.
"I understand."
"Yeah," Lafter agreed with gunfire ringing behind her. "Yeah."
Standing up, I said, "Door, please. Boston PRT holding cells. Veda. Tell Armstrong we're sending mastered Wards his way. And give me the location of any capes you see." After another moment's thought, I said, "Claire. Doormaker. If you can, catch any capes falling out of the sky and land them somewhere safe. Ball pit or a bouncy castle could do it."
Stargazer flashed up the road and then flashed away.
Kimaris charged, shield raised in front of it as one barricade began firing. Trevor ignored the barricade, barreling through it like it wasn't even there. Kimaris' sub-legs swung out, blasting a cloud of dust in front of the suit. He stopped abruptly, taking an attacking stance and driving his lance into the side of a car.
The figure inside tried to scramble out but screamed as the blow crushed their legs.
Trevor pulled his lance free and ripped the door off. He shielded the cape from bullets still being fired, and said something. The cape nodded, dragged himself to the street by his hands, and then crawled through the open portal that appeared.
"I'll start knocking them down. Find whoever is running this."
"Okay." I turned toward the state university campus and fixed my gaze. "Lafter. Hit the police station and take out any cape you see there. Quick. Lily, targets of opportunity."
The sky was alight. Beams. Bullets. Missiles. Explosions. Some dropped to the ground to fight only to launch themselves back into the air as soon as they had room. Hashmal intercepted another wave of drone-fired missiles and fired its primary cannon at another cell tower.
And the backdrop of it all was a quiet city, not much different from Brockton Bay.
Smaller I guess, but the sight—Negation. Right. Focus.
Hashmal swung around, tail stabbing into an armored vehicle and flipping it into the air. The beak opened and fired as Kyrios flew in with another squadron of FLAGs and went right into the Plattsburgh PRT building.
"Veda, hack the TVs and tell everyone to stay inside."
"I have started doing that, but there is something piggybacking the signal. Tinker-tech. Some form of advanced broadcast."
In the distance, Hashmal's beam shot off into the sky and a cell tower began collapsing. More drones fell.
So Veda was trying to stop the broadcasting. "Master?"
"Possibly."
I leaped off the roof. Buildings shot past as I moved toward the university and I swung the Buster Sword through an SUV that had been thrown into the air by an explosion. It almost landed on someone but Throne Eins shot its cannon and incinerated the dangerous half of the vehicle.
"I'm detecting an energy field over the campus," Veda said. "Some kind of defense shield."
Lafter burst out of the police station, the GN carbines on her shields alight and firing into the building. The FLAGs forced their way through the defenders around the building just as Stargazer teleported back into the city with a dozen Tierens beneath it. The suits opened fire, airburst rounds knocking men and women onto their backs left and right.
It wasn't just police here.
It was normal people too. They were all fighting, and I could hear this strange interference. Caution. Right.
I ignored the bullets that pinged off my armor and the missiles Hashmal shot down. The massive machine fired again, detonating another cell tower. Stargazer teleported away and Dynames' beams cut past me as Lafter flew onto my wing.
The campus was right ahead.
Defense shield, huh? "Take it down."
Stargazer teleported in front of me with ten Tierens. More FLAGs dropped out of the sky and unfolded into humanoid robots. They covered the bulkier suits while the five in the back pulled stakes from racks on their sides. Each loaded a stake into the base of a Gungnir and the front five Tierens raised the weapons.
The weapons were still spinning up as Lafter and I flew overhead. Dynames' beams bounced off the air, turning it an odd blue color. Looked like an energy shield alright.
"Firing," Veda warned.
The Tierens shook. The Gungnirs snapped. The stakes rattled me as they sheared past and the shield shattered. One of the stakes bounced off, spinning off to where Hashmal's defense beams intercepted it. The other four went right through, blasting into the campus grounds beyond and throwing up a wall of dirt.
00 burst through it, slamming into the ground and firing missiles as the men and women—mere students—turned guns on me.
Kyrios emerged from the cloud on my flank, ramming a group of students with a projected field of GN Particles. She started shooting and when a mob tried to swarm her one of her shields split open into a claw. A large blade of particles projected from the armament and Lafter swept it over the ground to blast the encroaching attackers back.
Unlike the police we'd seen, none of the students at the school were wearing goggles.
Observation.
Maybe. A master with a visual component to their power would be the expected result. How far does altered brain chemistry go?
Uncertainty.
Throne Eins and Zwei swept in, the former taking position on a roof and firing its cannon wide-angle to cover the entire quad. People dropped in a wave, and Fangs began darting in and out of windows to take out shooters in the building.
I looked over the buildings as the fighting surged all around me.
A cape jumped from the roof of a building, producing a trail of orbs behind her that swung out like a flail. Throne Zwei turned its sword on the man, but Kimaris' lance caught him first. Trevor slammed the man to the ground and then kicked him across the quad. He pulled a second cape off his back. One forceful throw sent her sprawling out like a rag doll.
A missile fired behind me. I absently took aim and shot it down, while a second was cut in half by Dynames. The Tierens fired another round of Gungnirs, smashing a second forcefield. FLAGs flew in low, landing in slides and firing in every direction to disable those around the campus.
Most of the buildings would have good internet connections and plenty of raw materials for tinkers. How long had they been operating here? It had to have been a while to be this dug in and have this many people under their control.
If I were a master, where would I… My eyes locked on an off U-shaped building.
Angell College Center.
Nudge.
Gotcha.
"Lafter, on me."
I fired the thrusters, propelling 00 up and over the building. Kyrios gave another sweep of its sword, blasting a group emerging from a building with particles before it took off to follow. Throne Eins continued firing and Throne Zwei swung into a building in pursuit of something. Lily shifted her focus, firing on the remaining drones to knock them down one by one.
I forced my way through a set of double doors to find a lower-than-normal ceiling. The sonic cameras returned blurry images. There was a lot of tinker-tech in the building but not enough to blind me.
"There's two tinkers that way." I pointed. "Probably the source of those signals Veda found. Take them."
"Gladly," Lafter said bitterly. This was getting to her.
Heroes didn't sign up to hurt normal people being mastered by assholes.
I bent forward and flew down the hall. That didn't quite do it. Good thing property damage remained the last of my concerns for the night.
I continued down the hall and hung right. A crowd raised guns in front of me. I raised my sword and swung it. The light flowed off the blade, rolling through the hall and washing off the walls. The mastered students all hit the floor and I had to navigate carefully to avoid hitting any of them as I passed.
Forcing my way through a set of double doors brought me before another crowd. One that stood tight and packed together at the center of the room. There was a cape at the center. A man. Average height. Thin. Loopy white costume with feathers.
That fit. Haven had been looking for him in New England.
"So glad you finally made it," Valefor greeted.
Cameras lined the walls. Dozens of them, and speakers too. If I had to bet, this was how everyone was being controlled. The rebels, or at least the real masterminds behind this farce, were streaming Valefor around.
The front row of the human shield bent forward slightly, exposing Valefor's head. Not that it needed more exposing.
Some people really are just ugly, inside and out.
"Now," he said. "How about you step out of that suit of yours? Talking from inside that war machine is rude."
…
Does he actually expect that will work?
Confirmation.
Idiot...
Valefor shrugged. "Well, old-fashioned way then." He raised his hands, smiled, and said, "If Newtype doesn't step out of her suit in the next five seconds you will all shoot yourselves in the head!"
My eyes went wide.
Alarm.
I know!
"Door, directly behind Valefor's head."
The portal opened to my left. It was a split-second decision. One I, sadly, didn't think I'd regret. Activating the release, 00's chest started to open as I pulled 00's finger tight and fired. As the helmet pulled off my head, Valefor's exploded.
His corpse dropped as I stepped out, exposing myself to the people who were now pointing their guns at their own throats, temples, and jaws. I stepped out onto the floor and drew a beam saber from my waist.
The other two capes who'd been lying in ambush rushed me.
One of them emerged from the floor like a shadow, flat and partially transparent. The other burst through the wall. Unoriginal.
Lightning filled the room. Stargazer caught the charging brute with an armbar, sending him onto his back as momentum carried his feet forward. Turning my saber on, I swung the blade at the floor cape. He sunk back down to avoid the swing, but I still felt him in my head. When he tried to appear at my feet to pull me into his power's effect I stabbed straight down.
A scream filled the air as my blade drove through his palm into his arm. He recoiled, drawing back again as I jumped clear and back into 00.
Hopefully, Valefor's power was interpreted literally by his victims.
I got out within five seconds.
When 00 closed around me and the HUD came back on, Veda was kicking the brute back through the hole he'd come from. Turning my longsword flat up, I swung the blade into the ceiling, catching the wall cape in his side and fishing him out of the surface. I hooked him overhead and swung him into the wall.
Behind me, the ring on Stargazer's back went horizontal. The rim opened, shooting two dozen crescent-shaped Fangs from the frame. The drones zoomed away in jagged patterns, zipping left and right before firing from every conceivable angle. The brute tried to shield himself but his power wasn't a pure brute power because the volley knocked him to one knee. The second knocked him out.
"Door please," I called. "Kyushu."
Floor cape and the brute fell through the portals. The Fangs flew back to Stargazer's ring, and Veda looked over the room.
Valefor's body was on the floor.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
I stared at the body feeling… I didn't know. Nothing. "Couldn't take the risk."
"I know."
No way in hell was I putting a master who could control this many people in the Birdcage, not even the isolated area already filled with two dozen capes. The only caveat to his power I knew of was eye contact. Kyushu was out for the same reason.
A master, one dressed as the Simurgh especially, wasn't someone I could leave unchecked and free to wake up and do as he pleased. Not now, not when he'd already gone this far. Despite all our efforts, I was certain there were some corpses behind us. It simply wasn't possible to save everyone...
Valefor had to go. There was too much uncertainty as it was for that kind of wild card.
I turned my attention to the students. "Any change?"
"Some," Veda answered. "Several groups are dispersing in a panic. I am currently using Helpers to alleviate the situation."
I grimaced. Shit. I hadn't thought of that. People wake up from a master effect with guns in hand? They very well might turn on one another in the confusion.
I glanced at the cameras. "Veda, he was broadcasting from here."
"Yes. The system was isolated and encrypted. I suspect they hacked the local cable providers and used the boxes to hide the true signal."
"Not what I mean. If he had people mastered to obey him, can you fake a broadcast? Tell everyone to set their guns on the ground and go home?"
Stargazer tilted its head. "Curious… Let's see."
It must not have taken long. There were no screens in the room, but Veda turned after just a few seconds.
"It is working in some cases. I am accessing what screens, monitors, and speakers I can. I will repeat the message on a loop. Unfortunately, I did disable several broadcasting towers."
"It's fine," I told her. "We do the best we can."
"I got three other guys," Lafter called from the other side of the building. "Two of them look sort of important. Lots of gear here."
"I've still got a lot of capes outside," Trevor said. "Think I found the local Protectorate."
"What's the coordination looking like?"
"Dispersing," Veda said. "The primary signal lines I tracked here have ceased. Several others remain present."
"There's a tinker somewhere who made all the drones," Lily noted.
I suppose it would be too much to ask that cutting the head of the snake would actually work for once. There was still work to do.
"Highlight secondary targets."
Stargazer teleported away, leaving me alone in a room of cameras and people standing there with guns. They seemed content to keep standing there. Most still had their weapons pointed at themselves… I wasn't sure I could do anything about that though.
Not without risking setting them off. I didn't even want to risk any stun grenades. Not with fingers on the trigger and their otherwise timidity.
"Can I get a Door to bring Green here please?"
The small portal opened and Green dropped through it.
"Help them," I told him. "When they come to."
Green saluted and flapped his ears. "On it, on it!"
I glanced at Valefor's corpse. "Maybe take that to another room."
And I turned away. There'd be time for those emotions later. Upside, I felt pretty sure I wouldn't lose that much sleep over it.
No one deserved to die.
We don't always get what we deserve.
A Waken 17.9.O
"We'll keep Sleeve, Cyclops, Garrote, and Bitch here," Weld said. "In case anything happens and you need the muscle."
Orga wasn't one to eagerly ask for help—pride can be a bitch when it's about all you have—but he wasn't any more eager to turn it down. "Thanks."
The lot was a mess as he navigated it, the metal cape keeping close to him. Defiant was off to one side with Faultline organizing the capes into groups. Imp was storming off from her brother and Spitfire for some reason. Fortunately, Orga found organized chaos akin to an old frien—
"What do you do on a date?"
Weld blinked. "A date?"
Orga grit his teeth and cursed under his breath.
"I don't know?" Weld glanced around. "Um. Movie, I guess? I've never been on a date. The whole made of metal thing can be a bit of a damper on things." He averted his eyes. "Kind of attracts the weirder sort of interest, actually."
"Stupid question," Orga tried.
"Do you have a date? Sorry. I feel like kind of a dick. You and Mikazuki hang around each other so much I just ass—I'm going to shut up now because I think I'm making an ass of myself."
Naturally, Orga thought to ask Mikazuki but Mikazuki had never been on a date either. Did he know anyone who'd been on a date? Right. Akihiro. Who was dating Lafter and would no doubt find out Orga asked and immediately start teasing Newt—Taylor.
Wait, did he actually want a date?
This was confusing.
Someone needed to do something idiotic so he could put off thinking about i—Wait, Grue was dating one of the other capes on Faultline's team. Spitfire. Orga could ask him… And risk Imp overhearing everything.
Shit, if she hadn't already. Would Taylor not want a date if anyone teased her about it?
...
Toxic masculinity be damned, someone needed to do something that needed stopping. He was not prepared for whatever this was.
Akihiro and Shino were by the front gate and Orga paused for a moment before approaching.
"Miss Militia," he said. "Is there something else?" The woman's eyes were glued to her phone with a look he found all too familiar. "Miss?"
"Sorry." Her eyes scanned the lot as if noticing it for the first time. "Thinking."
Orga glanced at Vista, who was still beside her, and raised his brow.
The Ward shrugged nonchalantly.
It was going to be one of those nights then.
Miss Militia dropped her phone into a pocket and turned. "We should head back. The Protectorate is getting orders to deploy and the Wards might be used to evacuate civilians."
Vista shrugged again. The road scrunched up before her and the two capes walked off and vanished in a few steps. The visual effect of the road slowly stretching back into its right shape was weird.
"What's the word, boss?" Shino asked.
"Lafter and Chariot just left," Akihiro added. "How bad is it?"
Orga turned and started toward Barbatos. "Weld is leaving a few capes to help if things get rough. This might be the big one. We have all the points covered?"
"Yeah," Akihiro answered. "No one's getting close to this place without us knowing."
"And we've got the ones you pointed out looking like they're unwatched."
Good. Nowhere was impervious, not even here. If someone was going to try and get through and eventually succeed, they might as well narrow the routes they'd actually use. A thinker would probably see through it, but that itself could warn them there was a thinker around.
Mikazuki was crouching beside Barbatos, watching as two of the Haros took a part of the leg and replaced it. He'd taken his jacket off and handed it to Hush, exposing his torso. Apparently, Barbatos got hot when things got hectic.
"Mika."
"Hey." Mikazuki turned his head. "What are we doing, Orga?"
"Same as before. Keeping this place from burning up so Taylor can focus on whatever it is heroes do."
That got a laugh out of Shino and a grunt out of Akihiro. Mikazuki raised his brow.
Orga cocked his head. "What?"
Mikazuki looked away. "Nothing."
From behind them, a voice called and waved.
"Biscuit!" Shino cheered. "Bakuda sticking around?"
"She's going with Defiant," Biscuit answered. "Not much I can do in that situation, so I'll help out around here while I can."
"Like old times!"
"Yeah." Biscuit glanced at Orga and Orga shrugged. Not like anyone needed his permission.
Shino checked his phone. "Aston and Danji say there's a group heading this way. More Blue Boys."
Wouldn't be the first time. Orga's plan to get the bulk of the protesters to move further off had worked. A few of them occasionally broke off and came close to shout and make trouble but the police had taken to dealing with them. The situation was the best he could really hope for at that point.
"Akihiro"—Orga reached for his phone—"Go find Cyclops. He's one of the capes sticking with us. Let's get him up high." If Orga remembered right, his power included super-vision or something. "The other three are Sleeve, Garrot, and Bitch."
"Like, Undersider's Bitch?" Shino asked.
Orga blinked. "You haven't noticed Tattletale?"
Shino pursed his lips. "Tattletale is here?"
"Don't worry about it." Biscuit patted the taller boy's back and pushed him forward. "Let's go find… Are we really calling her Bitch?"
"Taylor calls her Rachel," Orga noted. "She doesn't seem to mind that too much."
"Miss Rachel then."
Shino gawked. "You're really going to insist on calling someone named 'Bitch' miss?"
"It's about respect, Shino."
"But—"
Orga shook his head and sent a message to Katz and… Right.
"Everything okay?"
Pausing his finger over Ban's name, Orga glanced back and down. "Hm?" He also noticed Hush was gone. When had that happened?
"You called her Taylor," Mikazuki pointed out. "Twice."
Had he? "That's her name."
"You usually call her Newtype."
"I've called her Taylor before."
"Not twice."
…
With how quiet he was, it was easy to forget Mikazuki could be observant. If it suited him.
"Orga?"
"She said she wanted to go on a date… With me."
"Oh." Mikazuki looked away. "That's all. I was worried for a moment."
"That's all?"
"She's been watching you for a while."
"Since when?"
"Don't know. A while. What are you going to do?"
Orga grimaced and looked back at his phone. "I don't know."
"Should do something nice," Mika said.
Orga stared at the name on the screen. "You don't think she's too good for me?"
"Why wouldn't you be?"
Orga could almost laugh. "Because she's too good for how messed up the world is." Certainly too good for some of the things he'd done to survive.
"She's not an angel." Mika rose up as the Haros rolled back from Barbatos and he grabbed hold of the suit's waist guard. "She's nice, and you like her."
"Mika."
"You're the leader, Orga. You show us the way. Don't linger back, wondering if you should keep going or not. We don't expect you to. Hold her hand or something. Girls like that."
Damn kid.
Skipping over Ban's name, he sent the message to Aston. They had work to do.
Taylor had said they could bail if it got too bad. Orga wasn't one to complain. He hadn't liked having no path of retreat before, but he honestly wasn't sure if that had changed. They'd thrown in their lot for better or worse.
With a sigh and shake of his head, Orga watched Mikazuki climb into Barbatos.
As much as Taylor might be ready to lose everything she'd built, he had an idea how much it would cost her to replace it all. Could she really afford that? If anyone wanted to take this place, he'd rather make them work for it.
They'd find everything they deserved.
A Waken 17.9.D
There were flowers at the graves again. It had been months and their friends still visited.
"Hello, Holly."
Charles crouched, cleaning some blades of grass from the stone. They cut it on Fridays. The groundskeepers were supposed to brush after but they were underpaid. It wasn't that hard to do it himself.
Besides, what did the dead care for a few blades of grass?
Charles inhaled sharply, stifling the reaction in his throat.
He'd wanted to put her in the family plot but Mary-Anne insisted, and so did all of Holly's friends. They wanted to bury them together. In the end, he supposed he didn't care that much. That seemed like it should feel callous. Like he'd failed as a father.
Brushing the last of the grass away, he straightened the flowers, righted the picture, and forced himself to smile.
"Still remember your first day. So excited... I was terrified." He shook his head, remembering all the arguments. They ruined his marriage. "I'm sorry I left." He took no pride in all his fears coming true. "I should have... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made it harder for you."
Holly was dead. Gunned down in the street. Like a dog.
He rose and the brunette was there. A woman in her middle or late thirties. She looked sicker than the last time Charles saw her.
"You like sneaking up on people," he observed.
"It is an art," she replied.
Her eyes drifted to the grave, but there was no reaction in them. Charles didn't expect one. There was a weight about her. She looked at the world like she'd seen enough of it.
Charles related.
"You still want to go through with it?" she asked him.
"Yes."
"There will be no go—"
"I'm sure."
The woman examined him inquisitively, and then bowed her head. "Come from the right. Wait between the pink and brown jackets."
Charles blinked. "That's it?"
The woman raised her hand, placing a fedora atop her head. "That's it."
"You said you'd help," Charles charged.
"I just did."
She turned and started walking away. Charles felt the anger rising. The anger that felt so very raw after all the months. So raw it almost didn't feel like anger at all. It felt like normal.
"Why?" he asked after her. "What was Holly to you?"
"No one," the woman replied. "And to why... Because it will give your daughter's death meaning."
Definitely a cape. Only capes talked that cryptically like it meant something. That always annoyed him when dealing with the Protectorate... but what did it matter now? There was no meaning in death. It's just death.
Reaching into his pocket with one hand, Charles turned away from the grave and left.
He'd see her again. Soon.
He caught a cab at the street and gave the driver an address. When traffic made continuing impossible, Charles elected to simply get out early.
"Family?" Charles asked.
The cabbie gave him an odd look. "On the way. A girl."
"Nightmares." He emptied his wallet of cash and handed it all to the driver. "The best kind."
He started down the street and snaked his way through the crowd. It started getting thick as he approached the building. He hadn't needed directions. If the crowd hadn't indicated where it was, the stage and cameras would have.
The murderer was there, at the podium giving some vapid speech. Charles didn't think he believed a word of it. Maruta Azrael only cared about one thing, and that thing's name was Maruta Azrael.
He used the time to get closer. He was careful. Slow but not too slow. He'd worked security before. There were signs anyone competent looked for. Best not to take chances.
By the time the speech ended and Azrael was stepping down Charles had reached a cordoned area that connected the Blue Cosmos building to the street. There were cars there. The 'victory' drive for a murderer who had declared himself proven innocent before the trial even began.
He spotted the pink coat first. The brown second. Charles went in their direction, forcing an eagerness into his step. He resisted the urge to bow his head, look for guards, or too directly at Azrael. Eager was the key, not wary.
Azrael had almost passed by the time Charles wedged himself between the woman in the pink coat and the old man in the brown. Azrael was shaking hands with someone further up the line, speaking with them before moving on.
Charles almost freed his hand from his pocket when Azrael's eyes swept toward him. He froze, considering for a moment. Then the man reached out a hand.
"Seems like you've had a hard day," the man offered. Charles reached out instinctively. "What brings you here?"
Really? "My daughter."
Charles took the man's hand and clasped his fingers tight.
"It's good to see a family man comin—"
His grip tightened.
"My daughter's name was Holly," Charles told him, his voice cold. "She really liked those old Japanese shows. The ones with rangers."
Azrael bit back a grimace as Charles' hold tightened. He tried to pull his hand back, but Charles held it firm. The rage didn't surge, or rush. It would have to leave for that. It hadn't left. Not since Holly died.
"You don't even know her name," Charles accused. Drawing his hand from his pocket, he pressed the gun to Maruta's forehead. "Maybe if I call her Red Ranger."
The reaction on Azrael's face was enough.
Charles grinned and squeezed the trigger. His hand shook as his heart seized in his chest. Before Azrael could speak or move, Charles pulled him close and whispered.
"You get what you deserve."
The gun kicked, followed by a dozen more shots as Charles felt his back hit the ground.