Author's Note: Yo. Here's Chapter 7. For those of you who like to listen to music while reading, listen to [Kamen Rider Cronus – Justice] as the theme music for the fight between Justitia and Hamelin. I quite like it. Enjoy.
"Iustitia!" – Regular Speech
'Mistress!' – Thoughts/Telepathy
[Justice for All]! – Skill/Ability being used.
Beta'd by BigCC
Session 1.7
With Emily Piggot
Lobby, PRT Building
Some days Emily Piggot wished she'd died alongside her men back in Elisburg, just to avoid the sheer number of headaches her job gave her. And today had definitely been one of those days.
All of the Wards, barring Shadow Stalker, had been kidnapped in broad daylight by a Cape identifying himself as Hamelin. If that wasn't bad enough, the kidnapper had somehow managed to avoid capture by Battery and Velocity and escape pursuit long enough to abduct both Panacea and Glory Girl from directly outside the hospital that the world's greatest healer had been working at earlier in the day.
Needless to say, New Wave had been incensed and the Protectorate was out for blood. Not only had the abduction of a near-full team of Wards been a slap in their organization's face, but the abduction of Panacea, who in her few years of activity was responsible for dozens of Protectorate capes returning to active duty after what would have been crippling injuries, not to mention the lives saved after Endbringer Attacks, had just thrown oil onto the fire.
Piggot had received word no less than an hour ago that Legend himself would be arriving in the morning to take command of the situation if Hamelin wasn't captured before then.
Both Kaiser and Lung had shown a remarkable degree of common sense and had kept their heads down during the whole affair, both circling the wagons to wait out the oncoming storm and likely try and take advantage of the aftermath. Skidmark had tried to take advantage of the entire affair to seize territory, but had unluckily enough run into Lady Photon while she'd been pursuing Hamelin; resulting in Hamelin escaping and Skidmark being blasted clear into the bay by a pissed off Photon Mom.
Afterwards Hamelin had once again proven himself to be certifiable by actively breaking into the Wards Base to try and abduct Shadow Stalker. Luckily, the former vigilante's own abilities had allowed her to elude her pursuer long enough for Armsmaster and Miss Militia to arrive and rescue her. Unfortunately, Hamelin had managed to escape again!
From there the pursuit had continued until only a short while ago when Hamelin, who had stopped in front of the PRT building of all places, abruptly vanished in a small explosion of gold sparks, leaving the Wards, Panacea, Glory Girl, the teenaged Villain Gang known as the Undersiders, and a large number of unconscious individuals in his place.
The unconscious individuals, later identified as teenage Independents, Vigilantes, Rogues, or Villains previously abducted by Hamelin before his arrival in the Bay, were quickly taken to the Med Bay to be monitored. Panacea had affirmed that they were all alive and in relatively good health but most were showing signs of muscle atrophy often associated with long-term coma patients. The healer had no idea when they'd wake up, but she was hopeful that, now that they were out of reach of Hamelin's ability, it would be soon.
That was the good news; unfortunately a new headache was rising to take its place. Aegis had been arguing with Gallant for the past five minutes about whether a mini-Endbringer Truce formed within a villain's dimensional pocket of all things, counted as a valid reason not to arrest the Undersiders, who were looking more and more like they were ready to bolt.
Surprisingly, it was Armsmaster who had lost his patience with the argument and requested Dragon's expert opinion. Considering that the woman headed North America's United Endbringer Defense and Response Administration as part of her responsibilities as leader of the Guild, her opinion would carry considerable weight on the matter.
"I have to agree with Gallant here." The world's foremost Tinker said firmly via the speakers mounted on Armsmaster's suit. "Any situation that can be described as an Endbringer Truce situation must have the Truce upheld, both in word and in spirit. If it isn't, then the entire Endbringer Truce will fall apart."
"Fine." Piggot growled out, massaging her temples. She really couldn't care less at the moment about a small-time group of thieves with the rest of this shitstorm going on. While most of the time she appreciated Aegis's respect for the rules and procedures (far more than a loose cannon like Stalker) there was times the boy needed to learn to not be such an officious idiot! Turning her attention to the apparent leader of the teenage villains. "Have you recovered your powers yet?"
Grue nodded, holding up one hand and flexing it slightly. A cloud of smoky darkness the size of a grapefruit appeared hovering above it a second later. "Looks like Justitia was right, getting out of Hamelin's pocket was enough to get our powers back up and running." With that he turned and started leading his group toward the exit.
"I am going to happily murder that technicolor asshole for overusing my powers so badly." Tattletale groaned aloud as she staggered toward the exit, Grue quickly pulling his teammate's arm over his shoulder to keep her from tripping or simply keeling over.
"Later, bitches." Regent called cheerfully as he jauntily followed the pair out, Hellhound stomping after him with a scowl on her face.
Once the villains departed, Piggot sent a scowl towards Aegis, who flinched back.
"Aegis, you will be sent for training on flexible thinking, you're clearly falling behind in that area. Following the rules is all well and good but sometimes one needs to adapt to the situation." She said crisply. "Gallant, who is this 'Justitia' that Grue mentioned?"
"A new Independent Hero, ma'am." The armored faux-Tinker answered crisply. "She was captured by Hamelin either a short while before or after we were. We're unclear on the exact measurements since time is difficult to measure in subdimension. She was in her civilian clothes at the time, but her power is…well, bizarre. It works, from all appearances, like the character system of an RPG, quantifying her physical and mental abilities in numeric form and allowing her to improve them, as well as granting her the ability to gain loot from defeated enemies. She was the one who got us out of Hamelin's dimension, but at the cost of being trapped there herself."
Piggot was about to say something more when her radio squawked. "Console to Director Piggot."
"Piggot here." She sighed as she grabbed the device. With most of the Wards missing, Shadow Stalker in protective custody after her near abduction, and the entirety of the Protectorate mobilized, the console down in the Wards base was currently manned by one of her troopers.
"New Wave is inbound to collect Panacea and Glory Girl, ma'am. Lady Photon and Brandish are looking…determined, according to Velocity." The man said.
"Roger that." Piggot sighed again. Dealing with Brandish was never easy, and with the woman currently on a warpath after the abduction of her children, dealing with her would be twice as arduous as normal, which was quite the feat. "Have Velocity lead them in."
"Acknowledged, ma'am." The trooper replied before going silent.
The members of New Wave swooped into the PRT building minutes later, grabbing their two formerly-missing members into hugs. Brandish, she noted, kept away from Panacea, however.
"Where is the…monster…that kidnapped Glory Girl and Panacea?" Lady Photon asked coldly once she had been reassured that her nieces were alive and unharmed.
"If the Wards and your nieces are to be believed, then he has a dimensional pocket that he can escape to." Piggot answered simply. "Presumably, that's where he is currently."
"Hamelin is a Glaistig Uaine-style Trump, although he requires the Parahumans in question to remain alive and relatively whole unlike the Fairy Queen." Armsmaster stated. "Although the Wards, your nieces and the Undersiders were able to bring back a dozen or so kidnapped Parahumans, the sheer size of the dimension, comparable to a city the size of Boston at least, means that there is a relatively large probability that there are others still trapped within. In addition to the difficulty posed simply by getting to his dimension pocket, Aegis informs me that any Cape who falls unconscious there has their power usurped by Hamelin."
"That was Justitia's best guess, anyway." Vista piped up. "I hope she's OK."
Gallant patted her on the shoulder bracingly. "She'll be fine. I actually think she chose to stay behind just so she could face Hamelin alone. The reasons she gave were good, but I think getting grabbed in her civvies really made her mad."
"I can imagine." Lady Photon said with a scowl.
Just then, Clockblocker burst into the lobby, mask a bit askew. "Director, you'll really want to see this!" he half-shouted, drawing attention from everyone present. Piggot almost screamed in frustration. What NOW!?
He hurriedly led the Wards, New Wave and Protectorate members down to the Wards base and pointed at the widescreen TV mounted on one wall that usually was used for when the Wards gathered for group bonding and relaxation. Armsmaster had been dubious about it, feeling that teambuilding exercises were sufficient for the former and that the latter could happen when they were off the clock.
This was coming from Mr. 'Free-time equals Free-to-work-time' so Piggot had ignored his pro-forma protests.
Displayed on the screen was a dirty brown valley with two figures in it; one was instantly recognizable as Hamelin, in his multi-colored robe, while the other almost had to be this 'Justitia' character. She was tall for a teenager, dressed in a brown costume that blended in very well with the dull landscape. On her head was a crowned helm that seemed to be made of rats.
"-recapture them once I have dealt with you, but at least I'll have your strange power to use against the Protectorate and New Wave." A male voice, presumably Hamelin, was saying.
Justitia scoffed. "Ha. It was one thing to attack them when they were off-guard and unaware of you, but now? It may as well be suicide for you. Besides…I plan on stopping you here and now."
"Damn." Glory Girl whispered as Hamelin grew amused.
"Ha! As expected, that was your intention when you stood back to let the other children go." The robed villain chuckled. "Arrogance precedes many a fall, child. This time, the fall is yours."
"Kindly don't go declaring your victory before the first punch has been thrown." Justitia shot back, a smirk visible across her lips; though Piggot thought she could hear a bit of irritation underlying the girl's speech. "Last time I checked, all of your power sources were taken out of your control zone. You should only have your original power left to you."
"She's being cocky." Armsmaster muttered. "There was no way to tell if that's the only place where Hamelin kept his victims."
"We never saw any place like that town in the rest of the dimension, Armsmaster." Vista spoke up, her voice strained slightly with worry for her new friend. "I think he only has that one town to keep people in."
"I may not have my organic batteries anymore, but I still have the residual powers left in this dimension from those who were here for at least a month to draw upon. I can only use them while in my dimension, but as we're here already…well, it is most unfortunate for you." Hamelin informed Justitia smugly.
"Shit." Kid Win cursed.
"Language." Aegis and Piggot chimed in at the same time.
"Iustitia, Form One!" Justitia snapped softly. In a flash, a European-style one-handed sword appeared in her right hand, while a golden set of scales appeared in her left hand.
"So that's why she took the name Justitia; her armament takes the form of Lady Justice's symbols." Piggot mused. "But why call out 'Iustitia'? It's just an alternate spelling of Justitia."
"Her power manifests as a girl who can transform into those weapons." Gallant explained. "She calls herself 'Iustitia, Maiden of Justice' and claims to embody Justitia's views on Justice. She seems as fully human as anyone that I've met and even gave us a lecture on how she came to be formed and why Justitia is a good 'Mistress' to her."
"She even knows who tortured Justitia into Triggering." Glory Girl growled. This made all of New Wave and the Protectorate stand straighter. A Trigger Event was no laughing matter, especially to First Generation Parahumans. A Trigger Event was the worst day of their lives, when they were at their weakest, when everything about them broke down and was reborn as a Parahuman.
Most of the time, Triggering was as the result of coincidence, pure happenstance. Other times, such as with Armsmaster, it was a drawn out affair that boiled over one day after years of frustration. The very worst times though were when it was as a result of human cruelty. Those who Triggered as a result of the last category were almost always powerful Parahumans, something that villain organizations such as Gesellschaft had noted and experimented with.
"Ready? Then let us begin…" Hamelin said before putting the flute in his hands to his lips. Moving faster than a human normally should be able to, Justitia charged towards the villain with her sword made ready for a stab.
With a three-note tune from his flute, Hamelin was surrounded by a dome of light that blocked Justitia's path to him. Ignoring this fact, the sword-wielding Cape struck the barrier like a giant ballista bolt. Cracks appeared on the dome, spreading outwards from the point of impact amid Hamelin's uttered oath of surprise.
"Get the bastard!" Glory Girl cheered, ignoring the chiding 'Language!' from her mother and aunt.
As if she had heard the tiara-wearing Cape's encouragement, Justitia drew her sword back and swiped hard at the barrier, shattering it. Miss Militia, who had entered just then, peered at the sword as it completed its arc.
"There was a glow around her weapon as she swung it." The heroine stated. "Some sort of Striker effect?"
"Her powers are like an RPG game character." Kid Win repeated. "This includes Character Classes. The one she's using right now is [Swordswoman], which gives her the ability to use a sword, as well as 'Skills' involving a sword. The two that she used just now she referred to as 'Blade Charge' and 'Blade Sweep' which are seemingly basic moves that increase the power of the strikes."
Powers, Piggot sighed to herself, were so entirely bizarre.
"What I want to know is how we are seeing all of this." Armsmaster rumbled as Hamelin and Justitia clashed repeatedly on the screen. "Dragon, any ideas?"
"The signal is being beamed straight to the PRT Building and funneled down through the network to this TV set." Dragon spoke from another screen on the wall. "I have no clue how it's getting here or where it is coming from. Judging from the reports of captured Tinkers that the Wards brought back, I would guess that the tech comes from one of them. I wouldn't even begin to know how to reverse-track it."
"Terrific." Piggot groaned. She was going to have to put everyone through Master/Stranger Protocols, wasn't she? She really should do it now, but knew that the Wards and the two youngsters from New Wave were going to want to see this through to the end.
Onscreen, Hamelin had been forced back by Justitia's advance until he suddenly flew up, a shimmering shield surrounding his body as he took off. One that made Glory Girl howl in indignity.
"That's my goddamn power!"
"That's Glory Girl's powerset you're using!" Justitia exclaimed onscreen. "She was only ever asleep here, not unconscious! How do you have her powers!?"
"Unconscious can mean a lot of things, girl." Hamelin sneered down at her. "I fully usurp their powers if someone is knocked out in my dimension, trapping them like that unless woken by an external source. If someone just sleeps here, I usually gain at least some of their powers; although it is both temporary in the extreme and significantly weaker. As Glory Girl is a mere imitation Alexandria Package, she is not my first choice to use, but needs must when demons drive!"
With him swooping all over the place now, firing off various solid light constructs as projectiles, Justitia was having a much harder time of it now.
"What's the matter 'Justitia'?" he gloated. "Can't fly, can you?"
"Smug bastard." Panacea muttered, ignoring the look from Brandish at that.
Justitia dodged and slashed at the flying objects, deflecting them, but didn't manage to avoid a couple, which slammed into her side, sending her flying. She recovered in mid-air though and managed to land on her feet before tearing off towards the town.
"Smart thinking." Lady Photon nodded in approval. "Hamelin isn't used to being a flier, so Justitia will be able to use his inexperience against him in the more restricted environment of the town."
"The place is made of cheap wood and badly built brick." Glory Girl disagreed. "I coulda smashed through it easy. So could Aegis."
"And thus so can Hamelin…still, he isn't used to being a Flier or a Brute." Her aunt persisted. "Hamelin has displayed Shaker and ground-based Mover powers, not to mention the Tinkertech screens you told me about earlier, but no Brute or flight-based Mover powers. It takes quite some time to become accustomed to them, as you well know. That inexperience may prove beneficial to your new friend, Glory Girl."
"Get back here!" Hamelin shouted and fired off coloured blasts that had Gallant cursing.
"My emotional blasts! Damn, this sucks." The empath grumbled. His girlfriend patted his shoulder in sympathy.
"This is highly unpleasant to watch." Miss Militia was twitching with every close hit that the Independent Heroine dodged on the screen. "Dragon, isn't there any way to track this dimension's entry aperture down?"
"I wish there were." The Tinker sounded just as frustrated as Miss Militia felt. "Dimensional Tinkertech is hard to come by, so Masamune and myself haven't had the chance to analyze any. There was one Tinker in Canberra who was skilled at dimensional phenomena and would have been more than willing to help, but he either died or got turned into a Ziz Bomb in last month's Endbringer attack."
"Dammit…" Miss Militia cursed.
The rest of the room ignored the interplay between the Tinker and Heroine, focusing instead on the battle onscreen, as the brown-clad heroine reached the outskirts of the town.
With Justitia
I panted as I practically flew through the gates of the town. It was so damn unfair that he now had access to the powers of all of the Wards, Glory Girl and Panacea. Not only that, he was able to mix and match them, because Gallant sure as hell couldn't fly without his armour and I'm pretty damn sure those glowy beams were his!
"Get back here!" Hamelin roared from above and behind me. Jeez, what an obstinate dickhead!
With him able to fly now, I had to improvise. Restrict his flying space with the buildings, as I doubt he wants to destroy the walls that he built (however sloppily built they may be) and have to go through the ordeal of rebuilding them later.
I ducked into the alley between the first couple of buildings I found and broke through the window of the one to my left. It was a multi-story building (how did Hamelin build these, anyway?), so there were at least three floors including the roof.
"Accursed child! Come out so I can take your power!"
Fat chance of that happening, bub.
I rushed up the steps to the roof as quickly and quietly as I could and peered out, seeing that he was floating in the middle of the street, randomly shooting the buildings around him with Gallant's Blaster power. Oh, how I wished that I could fly.
Fortunately, my improved physical stats meant that roof hopping was a very real possibility. After ducking, jumping and hiding, I put more power into a jump and leapt at Hamelin, sword drawn back. He wheeled around just in time for me to score a cut right across his neck that would have ripped his throat out had Glory Girl's shield not stopped the blade of my weapon. I managed to grab onto his arm before I sped past him and used his free-floating form as leverage to throw myself above him again, raining blow after blow down onto his body as I did even as the sudden force jerked the asshole around midair.
Glory Girl had explained to me that most of her defensive Brute power came from a personal forcefield that manifested around her and let her mimic the invincibility of an Alexandria-type. A certain amount of damage over a period of time, or a lot of damage all at once, was what it took to bring it down, and it took a handful of seconds to regenerate and restore itself, long enough for someone to do serious damage if they were quick enough.
This had been after a couple of giant rats had clawed her leg in the outer chambers. Now I was using that knowledge against Hamelin. The shield finally broke and I scored a shallow cut down his chest. As I drew the sword back for another strike, he finally exploded at me.
"ENOUGH!"
In an instant, the space between us was several meters wide…Vista's power. I spun and landed on the roof that Hamelin had conveniently positioned me over. I noted that he had rushed to the ground awfully quickly there. Had my hammering caused him to burn through Glory Girl's power quicker than he expected? He did say that the amount of power he took from people who were simply sleeping was way smaller than if they were unconscious, so it was possible. If so, good, one potentially killer power, down and out.
"What's the matter, Pied Piper? Running out of juice?" I called at him as I moved to the edge of the roof. Although his face was in the dark from the shadow of his hood, I could tell that he was glowering at me. And, judging by how he hadn't blasted me with Gallant's emotion lasers, his earlier temper tantrum had run through all of his Gallant juice as well.
"Stumble in the darkness!" he hissed and the next thing I knew, I was surrounded in a cloud of darkness. Right, this was Grue's power, Gallant had mentioned it while we were waiting for the Undersiders to recover. He'd described it as an obscuring cloud that was impossible to see through even with thermals and night-vision, but I also noticed that sounds were distorted and I had no sense of where anything was either.
Fortunately, I had a counter to this situation. I raised my sword above my head and activated one Iustitia's powers I hadn't had a chance to really use yet. "[Justice is Blind]!"
With a hum of power, my sword's blade glowed white, visible even amidst the darkness, and I heard a shout of panic as the power of Grue's darkness was also inflicted on him, along with the sound distortion effect. So [Justice is Blind] did work on Shaker powers. Good to know.
Apparently realizing that I'd somehow inflicted his power back on him, Hamelin dispelled the darkness on me, which also removed it from himself. He was standing slightly closer than when I had last seen him and was definitely glaring up at me now.
'I think he might be a touch peeved at you, Mistress.' Iustitia opined.
'No shit.' I thought back quickly.
"You have a set of scales that decreases the strength of your enemies, a sword that can somehow reflect powers back at their user and a club that hits like a Brute…what the hell are you?!" Hamelin demanded.
"Your worst nightmare." I shot back before leaping at him from the top of the building with my sword raised. In response, Hamelin created a sword out of light and raised it to parry. We clashed, with me getting thrown back at the same time as his sword shattering.
"Dammit…that's three powers used up already!" Hamelin hissed quietly, but I was still able to hear him.
Ha! Looks like he used up the last of Lightray's power too. Three down, who knows how many more to go. The joy.
"You…" Hamelin glowered at me. "I am going to make you pay for this!"
"I would like to see you try." I scoffed, flashing a smirk at him that I knew was starting to drive the asshole berserk. "So far all you've done is run around like an idiot blasting things randomly with powers you only barely know the basics of. I've already got your number pal, you rely on surprise to kidnap your targets then use a Mover power to get away before anyone notices. right? Then all you have to do is let your little pets wear your targets down until they're out and you have a sparkly new toy to play with. I'm betting this is the first time you've had to fight yourself. Am I right?"
The twitch of one hand betrayed just how accurately my guess had landed. What a waste of such a flexible power. What I could do with it…
I shook my head slightly. If wishes were fishes, we'd all be eating seafood. I was happy with Iustitia and my power was kicking Hamelin's ass at the moment.
"DIE!" he shouted, charging towards me, obviously drawing on the power of another flier now that the small reserve of Glory Girl's power he had possessed was used up. Aegis' power, perhaps?
My [Swordsman's Eye] skill told me he was going to launch a punch at my head, so I ducked and stabbed upwards, impaling his arm with Iustitia's sword form, eliciting a strangled snarl of pain from Hamelin. I then twisted it around and ripped it free of his arm, which annoyingly started to regenerate. One of the Capes he had captured must have been a regenerator. How irritating.
"Precognition now? Just how many powers do you have?!" he snarled. I realised quickly that he was tapping into Tattletale's own power now, which was a pain. From what little had been said about it, she could kind of cold-read people with frightening accuracy.
"More than you think and less than I want." I jibed at him. Then we got back to trying to beat each other senseless. Unfortunately, he kept getting under the reach of my sword when he was this close to me, so I decided to show him my close close combat weapon.
"Iustitia, Form Shift!" I called out as I back-pedaled away from a sloppy roundhouse kick that likely had enough power to take my head off. "Form Two!"
"Aye, Mistress!" Iustitia cried and, in a blaze of light, my tipstaff appeared in my hand, replacing the sword and scales. With a shout, I used the club skill [Mighty Blow] and slammed the club into Hamelin's body before he could fully recover his balance, sending him back several meters and right into a wall. I winced when the wall collapsed on top of him.
'Iustitia, exactly how low is my stamina right now?' I asked silently.
'You have less than 800 Stamina remaining, Mistress.' My Embryo replied instantly.
I blinked in surprise. I'd only been fighting for just over three minutes! 'How exactly did my Stamina deplete so fast? I fought against giant rats and the humanoid projections for longer than this before my Stamina dropped so low!'
'Your Stamina started dropping sharply while you and Hamelin were taunting each other earlier Mistress. I suspect that one of the capes Hamelin previously kidnapped possesses some form of life-force or stamina draining ability and the cur attempt to use it to try and knock you unconscious before the fight even began.' Iustitia answered simply. 'Even now, the Stamina consumption is almost double what it normally is, though the effect is continuing to weaken, so it is likely running low on power as well. Thankfully you are wearing the helm that you received from the [Rat King of Hamelin], so the power of his Shaker Effect was reduced greatly as well.'
Sneaky bastard. Guess he didn't hear me talking to the Wards earlier about what my [Cudgel of the Law] could do. Wearing down my stamina was a Bad Idea thanks to this bad boy -or bad girl as it's Iustitia- of a club.
"RAAAGGGHHH!" Hamelin roared in fury as he forced his way out of his temporary prison. His cloak was ripped and torn in places and several small trickles of blood were visibly seeping from cuts and wounds all over his body. I also noticed that although he was straightening, he was also being very careful about it. Looks like whatever regenerator whose power he is using either isn't very strong or that particular battery was running low as well.
"I'll kill you! I don't even care about your power anymore!" Hamelin shrieked, now completely enraged beyond all reason. "I'll kill you, then track down and torture your family to death! Yes…then you'll regret getting in my way. It'll serve you right!"
Ice and fear seized my heart in a death grip. He could do it, if for no other reason than he knew what I looked like underneath my mask and helmet. If he got away, he would keep his word. He'd discover my real name. He'd track down my Dad, my only living family. And he would kill me, then him.
No.
"No you won't." I snarled back. "I'll end your threat here, once and for all!"
This actually seemed to amuse him. "Foolish girl. If I die, this dimension will collapse." He scoffed. "And even if you somehow miraculously manage to escape, the useless PRT and Protectorate will pursue you for murder!"
"Justified self-defense." I growled back. "Plus, I really wouldn't be surprised if you have a Kill Order on you by now. Kidnapping Wards AND Panacea in broad daylight? If New Wave isn't leading the charge for a Kill Order for you, I'd be very surprised."
Now he was veering back to being angry. "My goal is a short distance away and you dare to stand in my path." Hamelin snarled. "I shall not allow it!"
"What the hell even is your goal?!" I demanded.
"I seek the deaths of every S-Class and A-Class Parahuman on the North American Continent." The robed lunatic stated fervently. "Hero, villain, rogue…I don't care what they call themselves. A fight between A-Class Capes killed my family! Then the Slaughterhouse Nine rolled in and murdered my girlfriend! They'll pay! They all have to PAY!"
Uh-oh. Houston, we have a nutcase here. He was mad…mad with grief and loss.
Suddenly, Hamelin's form shifted, blurred and then several more Hamelins appeared in a circle around me. I looked around wildly. A cloning power?! What fresh hell was this?!
Raising their hands, the clones plus the original fired chunks of ice that appeared from nowhere at me! I dodged a lot of them, but one dinged off my helmet and sent me to my knees, dazed. It was then that Hamelin's clones vanished and I was hit with an ice boulder the size of a hotdog cart.
I think I blacked out for a moment because I was abruptly looking up at the ceiling, feeling a lot of pain. I stared blankly at the mass of rock above me for a moment.
'Iustitia?' I asked weakly.
'MISTRESS! You're OK! Thank any god that exists!' my Embryo yelled in relief. 'You were only unconscious for a minute or so. Hamelin himself is exhausted and has not yet come at you again.'
'HP?' I enquired.
'Less than fifty.' Iustitia answered. 'Apparently, being struck while afflicted with [Dazed] raises the damage you receive by a set percentage. Were it not for your armoured costume and new helm, you would be defeated right now.'
Perfect. Just great. I made a note to ask why she referred to it a 'defeated' as opposed to 'dead' at a later time.
I groaned aloud and shakily, carefully, sat up. Looking around, I saw Hamelin whip his head up and around to stare at me in disbelief.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" he shouted. "No one who loses consciousness in my dimension through artificial means can ever wake up on their own! What are you?!"
"As I said before…your worst nightmare." I answered in a pained voice as I once more staggered to my feet, [Cudgel of the Law] in hand. I personally suspected that it had been Iustitia who had woken me up with her frantic calling, but I'd figure it out later.
"You…!" he seethed before visibly forcing himself to remain calm. "No…it doesn't really matter. Your left arm is broken, at the very least and I imagine simply standing up is painful for you. No matter what you do, it's hopeless."
Blinking, I looked down at my left arm and sure enough, it was broken halfway down the forearm. Looks like my [Pain Resistance] Skill was helping at this point, along with the adrenaline rush.
What he said was a bit true; I was far too badly wounded to attempt close combat again. I had a plan though, and communicated it to Iustitia at the speed of thought.
Hamelin stated to wearily walk forward, shaping a sword out of ice as he went. "I give you praise for pushing me to this extent. No one has done so in my entire time as a Cape. Any last requests?"
"Yeah…as a matter of fact, I do." I drawled. "Stay still."
Quick as a flash, the tipstaff vanished from my hand, which then flew into my pouch and withdrew Kid Win's Laser Pistol. I levelled it at Hamelin, feeling everything going into slow motion as I did it.
"Gun beats sword, you son of a bitch." I said coldly before I pulled the trigger.
Tsshew!
Red light burst from the muzzle of the weapon, which was still set to lethal mode, and stabbed through the space between Hamelin and me, piercing through the center of his hood and out the back in a blink of an eye. Just as I was, he was too spent from using so many powers one after the other, especially after that last trick. He couldn't move fast enough. Hell, even with his health and energy at max, there was one thing he couldn't do.
Outrun light.
The hood fell back as Hamelin's body collapsed, revealing the face of a middle-aged man. Clean shaven, a little too thin, a slight overbite and a weak chin. He looked like any guy you would see walking down the street…aside from the gaping hole through the center of his face.
A second later, time went back to normal and Hamelin's corpse hit the ground with a dull thud.
You have slain the Unique Boss Monster [Hamelin, the Pied Piper]! You gain 1500 EXP!
Generating Boss Loot…generated!
You receive [Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper]!
I clapped a hand over my mouth as my gorge rose. I had just killed someone. Granted, it was kill or be killed, but still…
[Congratulation!]
You have levelled up! Your level has automatically been assigned a class due to the manner in which you slew the boss!
You are now a [Gunslinger] (LV2)!
[Dexterity] Stat unlocked! Starting Dexterity: 15!
You gain 20 Dexterity!
You gain 20 Wisdom! (10 from Gunslinger Class, 10 from Iustitia, Maiden of Justice)
You gain 10 Intelligence!
You gain the [Quickdraw] Skill!
You gain the [Improved Accuracy] Skill!
It is highly suggested that you equip your new cloak at once, as the dimension you are in is about to collapse!
Shaking my head, I realized that the voice was right; the entirety of the cavern was…melting, for lack of a better term. I hurriedly pulled my mirror out and had a look at the cloak in question.
[Dimensional Cloak of the Pied Piper]
Rarity: Epic
A cloak formed from the Parahuman power of Hamelin, the Pied Piper. One of his powers was the ability to create, sustain and travel to and from a dimensional pocket. This cloak allows the wearer to travel to any pocket dimension they are aware of, as well as return to where they entered the pocket. It also increases the wearer's stats by a modest margin and has two known active abilities and one unknown ability.
Worn Ability: [Dimension Step]: Simply by focusing on the dimensional pocket you wish to enter, you can take a step forward and be there. To leave, simply picture your entry location and step.
Active Ability #1: [Dimensional Shift]: Allows the user to 'shift' to any location within ten meters of themselves. Ten second cooldown after use.
Active Ability #2: [Dimension Warping Barrier]: Creates a barrier to protect that exists in three separate dimensions at once and is able to withstand a tank's main cannon firing at it for five minutes straight. Five minute cooldown after use.
Active Ability #3: [?]: Unknown.
I equipped it, replacing the rat one, and a knee-length cloak appeared over my shoulders. It shimmered with all the colours of the rainbow and was (somehow) fluttering in a breeze that didn't exist. Great, I've got a dramatic piece of equipment.
Taking a deep breath, I dredged up the sidewalk I'd been walking along when Hamelin had picked me up. Taking one last look at the Cape -the first man- that I had killed, I concentrated hard on that road and sidewalk and stepped forwards.