Miss Militia
It was only because she had hooked herself into a rappelling line to get down to Taylor that she didn't plummet to her death.
The explosion, when it hit, seemed to make the very air shake. Alarms blared across the chopper's controls, the two pilots shouting out warnings and struggling to regain control of what was now a spinning deathtrap.
She herself fell straight out of the thing, her arms flailing to try and grip at the edge of the chopper's bay, or one of its legs. It was only her perfect memory that allowed her to recall that the line rapidly slipping through her harness was still there.
Her hands gripped it, and she could feel the burn through her gloves, her right shoulder wrenched in its socket with a pain that knocked the breath from her lungs, the vertigo of the chopper's out of control plummet was a stark reminder that she wasn't out of danger yet.
She looked up and saw that the tail was on fire, dark orange flames eating through the tail blades, visibly warping and melting the metal before her eyes.
She looked down to see that there was a rooftop just ten feet below her before letting go.
She hit the roof hard, one ankle twisting as she tried to roll. Her wrenched shoulder, unable to take more abuse, was pulled fully out of its socket as her hand tangled in the rappel line mid roll, sheer momentum making her roll again into an uncontrolled tumble, her ribs smashing onto the edge of the roof as she nearly tipped straight over.
It spoke to her experience that she had the presence of mind to use the quick release mechanism on her harness, seconds before the chopper crashed down in the middle of the prison courtyard.
She rolled onto her back, cradling her arm, trying not to move her leg, trying to will the pain away as the heat of the fire rolled over her.
The fire…
"Taylor…"
She moved as fast as she could, pushing herself to her feet with one arm, the other held tightly to her chest and stomach and limped across the building's roof to get to where she'd last seen the Ward.
When she got to the other edge… it…
The… man if it could be called as such- stood at a height with the Simurgh, fourteen, sixteen feet tall easily, the fires that danced and fluttered through the ruins of the building played with the light, casting dark shadows across the surface of his black armor.
She saw it reach down and from the ground he pulled a sword that was twice her size.
Brute. Shaker to make the sword. She reached up to her communicator. "This is Miss Militia. Unknown Parahuman caused the explosion. I've got eyes on him."
She formed a sniper rifle in her hand, heavy caliber. With a barrel rest attached to the tip to hold it steady and laid herself flat on the floor, ignoring the pain of her dislocated shoulder.
"I've got him!" Velocity.
"I see him too! Fucking huge!" Aegis.
"Colin. We're gonna need you up here." She demanded.
"I'm on my way!"
"So this was Coil's trump card."
Velocity all but flew across the courtyard, the red blur circling around the massive creature to get behind it. He gave him a wide berth, but the giant, if it noticed him, didn't pay him a single glance. Aegis was flying in closer now, Gallant and Dauntless peeking their heads above another building to approach.
She grabbed the rifle again and took aim.
"Everyone back off!"
Colin's voice was a sharp bark in her ear, she jerked. It had been a long time since she'd heard him so alarmed.
"What's wrong?"
"My scanners analyzed the surface of that armor. Its made of ash."
Her heart stopped.
"You're telling me that thing is Taylor?!" Dauntless shouted over the comms.
"At the very least its controlled by her. She might be under Master/Stranger influence! My instruments are picking up life-signs inside. She's in there. Do not use lethal force if you can avoid it, am I clear?"
"As if you had to ask!" Aegis shot back.
"If we find the Master we cut the link. Has to be close by!" Velocity.
"Before you do that find Kid Win!" Colin hissed. "The suit's warning just reached me. His life signs are critical!"
"Kid's down too!?" Clockblocker shouted.
Velocity summed up her thoughts adequately. "Fuck!"
Then he ran off to search.
A Ward down, one hero unavailable until said Ward was found. Half a prison still in a riot, and at least ten villains running around and to add to this… Taylor.
She took aim, the armor piercing round in her chamber becoming a rubber bullet.
Then the thing moved, its head swiveling around to the building across from her. Where she could see Grue the, darkness wielder fighting… Sophia?!
The roar that bellowed out of the thing shook the bones in her chest! The giant let out a beastial sound that would have been more fitting for one of Hellhounds dogs.
It jumped.
When a thing of that sheer size moves like that one discovers a whole new meaning to the word awe. It didn't even bother grasping onto the edge of the building, it just battered straight through the cement like it wasn't even there, brick and concrete exploding across the rooftop and then the giant's footsteps were pounding across the remains of the roof towards the two surprised Parahumans.
It took her brain a second to make the connection as the giant veered towards one of them.
Sophia… Taylor was after Sophia!
"Cover Shadow Stalker!" She shouted into the communicator taking aim as best she could with one arm. She fired, center mass, not trusting herself to aim for the head in her current state, and watched as it did a whole lot of nothing. The Giant of ash didn't even stagger or give any sign he'd felt the bullet at all.
She heard Sophia curse, phasing out of a corporeal state as the massive blade smashed down over her, cracking the rooftop like an egg. The girl darted behind the thing, firing her crossbow into the exposed back, using her phasing ability to make certain they pierced the outer shell of ash.
If Taylor was in any kind of pain, her construct didn't show it. It whirled with seemingly greater speed, the massive sword would have cleaved Sophia in two if she didn't shift back to her shadow state, it would have taken off Grue's head if the villain hadn't fallen back on his ass.
Sophia jumped away, the wispy shadow state allowing her to rise fifteen feet in the air to get away.
Hannah fired again, this time with an armor piercing round and clipped the creature in its left arm, the one holding the blade… Taylor wasn't left handed…
There was a puff of displaced ash, it barely lasted half a second before the armor was flawless once more.
She caught sight of Grue jumping off one side of the building, away from Taylor and Sophia. He landed on the ground with a roll and kept running, moving to intercept one of Hellhound's truck sized dogs.
The villains were fleeing.
They planned this?!
No. It couldn't be. Taylor had never done anything like this. They were just taking advantage of the distraction to escape.
She saw Glory Girl coming in close, heard her shouting. "Taylor!? Taylor snap out of it!"
The response was an ash idol sprouting up directly beneath her and bursting with dark fire.
She soared up up, out of its reach. Good. She was well aware of Glory Girl's weakness, her momentary vulnerability to a single strong hit and it was best to not risk exposure to Taylor's fires.
A second later she caught sight of Gallant's blaster attacks, the concussive force going off like a grenade. She could feel it from here.
"This is Gallant." She heard over the comm frequency. "Glory Girl. Don't try talking. The emotions here… they're almost suffocating. I've never felt this much anger in anyone. In anything... The rage its… She won't hear you."
"We have to try damnit! There aren't any high level Masters that we know of in the city! She could break out!"
Miss Militia shook her head… Rage…
The picture in her mind was becoming clear and the guilt that gnawed at her chest grew stronger.
This… might not be master influence.
The Giant moved again, launching itself off the roof and crashing onto the concrete, every footstep reverberating through the whole courtyard.
Then it started swinging.
Anything that was in the Giant's path was fair game, it carved a bloody swathe through the prison yard, making a beeline towards Sophia. Prisoners, Guards, police. Every swing of its twelve foot blade ended with another group of people dead, bodies being cleaved open. People were scattering now, yelling in fear as they tried to get away.
"Stop her!" Aegis shouted, diving straight down towards the sixteen foot monster.
He slammed into it, and the flying shoulder tackle that could have tipped over a car barely even broke the thing's stride. Aegis was the one forced to move as it swung its massive blade at him, ducking beneath the monstrous sword, the youth came up ready to deliver an uppercut when the pommel cracked him across the face in a hit so brutal Hannah saw the boy actually reel.
Aegis, who shrugged off Squealer's truck running him over once, who didn't even pause when a bullet went through his eye, looked like a puppet with his strings cut after a single blow.
Then the giant grabbed him by the throat, wrenched him up, over its head and slammed him back down into the pavement with a guttural growl a second before it was hit in the back by one of Gallant's blasts. It ignored it and stabbed down into Aegis' chest, the massive blade cutting a hole straight through his entire torso from neck to stomach.
"Damnit, what the hell could have caused this?!" growled Dauntless. Miss Militia crawled on the roof, trying to get a better vantage. She noticed Dauntless rising over the flames along with members of New Wave.
"It doesn't matter. We need to contain Ashburn. She's targeting Shadow Stalker!" Armsmaster barked.
"This is Velocity. I've got Kid… its… bad. I have to get him to Panacea now!"
"Go! Everyone else, engage. Faultline, the Undersiders and the Travelers are fleeing. Coil planned this."
"How could they?! Taylor's never-"
"I don't know how!" Colin snapped. "But this is far too convenient! A Precog perhaps. Maybe Coil's power is that of a Master. It doesn't matter. Everyone focus on Hebert! We can't let her run through the city in this state! Dragon will be here in four minutes to back us up!"
Sophia was shifting between states, firing bolt after bolt that was practically laughed at by the juggernaut. The armor was literally shifting. The tiny grains of ash that made it up allowing her bolts to slip through them like sand after they were stopped, letting them clatter to the ground uselessly.
It looked like it was about to reach Sophia when a glowing barrier interposed itself between the two of them. The blue field was as twenty feet tall, just enough to actually be a barrier to this thing rather than an obstacle to jump over.
She's seen Lady Photon's barriers stand up to an amped up Lung. During a bout of testing years ago, these same barriers had stood up to her power bombarding it with a Howitzer cannon for almost thirty minutes.
This thing shattered it like glass in a single bull rush.
Sophia phased through one of the fallen choppers, running and reaching one of the wrecked buildings, choosing to take cover in there. "Sophia! Sophia move to the courtyard, you have to bring Taylor out into the open!" Hannah yelled with cupped hands.
The electronic voice of her communicator chimed in her ear. "Opening private frequency:"
"She can't hear you. Her communicator is running on an entirely different frequency. So was Taylor's. My systems have been trying to hack the frequency for minutes now." Colin answered.
She blinked. "But...that would mean-"
"They were both picked up by Coil's men. Not ours! He knew and used it against us!"
Before it could reach Sophia's hiding place something finally made a dent. Slowed it down.
Glory Girl.
The white clad heroine swooped down from above in a dead-man's dive, sweeping upwards a second before she hit the ground to slam both fists into the creature's diaphragm, lifting it up, off its feet and launching it back into the courtyard.
The armored beast hit the ground with a crack of asphalt, reaching its feet a second after, completely unhurt.
Victoria charged again.
For a beast of its absurd size it was fast. One second Glory Girl was moving to punch it in its armored helmet, the next it ducked beneath her, sword low. Victoria shot past him, stopped and turned on a dime, ready to attack with a drop kick. It wasn't the first time someone tried to avoid her attacks by ducking.
It was the first time, however, that her target was faster than she was. It stepped forward to duck, allowing the tip of the massive sword to rest on the ground, with a shift of its upper torso, it was facing Glory Girl's back a second before she turned, then it swung the blade from floor to sky.
The blow was massive. The sound of its impact felt like a concussive blast in and of itself. It sent the young woman that could make a decent impression of Alexandria soaring. She came crashing into the ground completely unconscious.
It just took down their toughest Brute in a single hit.
The remaining PRT officers at this point had regrouped, and opened fire into the thing. Conventional rifles and tinker tech weaponry pelting the ash armor that burst and rippled before reforming itself.
She saw Gallant, Laserdream, Lady Photon, and Shielder all join in on the Volley, hovering above and firing down from a multitude of angles.
She could hear its growl from here. Hateful and wroth. It was the only warning it would give them.
It turned with a swing of its massive sword.
Then they were burning.
One second the men were alive. The next, they were all screaming, dozens of men and women screaming as the flames moved out of its sword, living thinking things seeking to devour them. The fire swept out like a wave from an ocean, a wall of reddish-black that washed over everything on ground level.
'Oh my God.'
She wasn't sure who said it, but the thought was universal as the screams and the stench of burning flesh threatened to make them sick.
The thing turned, free of interference from the troopers and ignoring the blasts pelting it from above.
It turned and saw Sophia just an arms distance to it.
A second before the girl tossed a belt of grenades.
To her relief, rather than an explosion of fire and shrapnel, the explosion was of containment foam, slathering the charcoal giant's face, torso and hips.
She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
The thing kept moving, struggling to brute force his way through the rapidly hardening foam. It couldn't. Not even Alexandria could get out of it. There were only a handful of capes that could ever hope to escape. Sophia and Eidolon among them and those were two very distinct circumstances.
The armored behemoth snarled and used the last of his possible movements to grip the massive blade in both hand, holding the tip down to the floor in a reverse grip.
Then its sword was on fire, glowing in a blackish-red light.
The heat was… impossible. She was at least fifty yards away and she could feel it like she was standing in front of a furnace. Sophia went intangible with a scream of pain. Armsmaster who had been approaching, stopped mid run, his suit's systems no doubt screaming warnings at him.
Containment foam was fire resistant. It had held Lung, it had held Burnscar and it was melting.
"Shielder, Laser Dream!" She recognized Sarah's voice and a second later overlapping force fields of hardlight slammed over the sixteen foot monster, encasing it and its flame in an airtight bubble.
The flames kept burning, eating away the oxygen within, but the armored giant didn't seem to care or notice.
"Keep it up til she blacks out- she has to brea-"
Sarah's sentence was cut off by an explosion that Miss Militia felt like a physical blow, the hard-light shields broke like glass. The shockwave slid her back across the rooftop gravel, stars danced across her eyes as her dislocated arm was jostled even further. She heard the three New Wave heroes scream in pain and alarm. Though they'd been in the air, they were still closer than almost everyone else.
She lay there for a moment, sucking down pained breaths through clenched teeth.
She went to move and stopped, her whole arm and leg flaring up like they were on fire. The adrenaline's effects were wearing off. Tendons had been torn, the bone was pinching a nerve...
(X)
Armsmaster
Colin Wallis looked through the red warnings on his visors' HUD.
It was uncomfortably hot, even for him in his temperature controlled suit. His instruments were reading that the air around the thing was over eleven hundred degrees. Sophia had been just feet away when the giant construct ignited its sword. The wave of heat had caught her full in the face, and though she'd gone intangible immediately after, the damage was done and when she appeared again, hiding behind a car, Colin could see her eyes were clenched shut, her face looked like it had gotten a terrible sunburn, a condition that was only going to get worse. A flash burn. If her eyes had been open...
They had to stop this. Taylor's body count was already in the double digits and rising and it was only pure luck none of the heroes had been killed in her rampage.
"Computer." He commanded. "Open all coolant valves." It was a good thing Spitfire had been listed as being here. He'd packed accordingly to protect himself from high temperatures.
Hopefully it'd be enough.
He rushed forward, the last of the containment foam sluicing off of the thing as he let out a roar to draw its attention.
It turned, and the now flaming sword was swung at him with an absurd level of speed, given its size.
Colin ducked, both hands on the Halberd he slammed into its stomach, the edge coming alive with an electric burst that did absolutely nothing before it moved, its elbow slamming into the forearm brace of his power armor.
He pulled back, jet boots carrying him with enough speed to just barely avoid the massive flaming sword. The heat of the flames made his visor crack along the edge, the reinforced glass evidently finding its limit.
The thing was hit in the back, the blast powerful enough to make it take a step forward as it turned its head to look, finding Dauntless diving down from above.
"Taylor don't make us do this!" Nick shouted.
He was still under the impression that Taylor was under Master influence. He should know better than to waste time and energy trying to talk her down.
He rushed forward, and Nick had enough presence of mind to follow his lead, attacking from above as Colin attacked from a completely different angle.
The thing took only a second to take stock of its situation before it gripped the sword with both hands.
He thought that there would be another burst of flame, already he was brandishing the energy shield on his left vambrace, ready to protect himself from the attack.
When he heard the cracking and crunching of bone he realized its intent just a moment too late.
Pillars of dark, impossibly hot flames burst out of the ground like geysers around the ash idols that had formed up behind him. Colin activated his jet powered boots, only just managing to escape, but even so his suit was screaming at him, red and yellow warning signs across the board, he blink-clicked the icons, trying to discover the extent of the damage before he recognized what exactly had been hit.
The entire back of the suit, most of the delicate wiring and power sources were damaged. Its power cells were ruptured. He had ten more minutes of auxiliary power left in the power-armor's battery before he'd be left standing in the world's most expensive coffin.
They had to finish this now!
The Giant charged and Colin went through a list of his available weapons that could even put a dent in this thing. His Halberd's electricity was useless, he doubted tear-gas would be functional, he couldn't match this thing for raw power, containment foam had already proven useless.
Dammit, everything he had that could counter a Brute like this was back at base!
The thing, still holding the weapon in two hands, swung straight down. Colin sidestepped, ready to counter with a blow that would have cut into its collarbone when it moved lightning fast, a second, smaller blade appearing in its hand out of thin air.
With a thought the armor created the energy shield on his arm again to absorb the blow.
The blade hit, and the shield held up for all of five seconds before it flickered dead from the sheer force, letting the blade straight through to carve into his arm, carving past three inches of power armor to dig down to the bone.
Colin let out a cry, in as much surprise as pain, then the armored giant kicked him dead in the chest. His armor cracked and buckled, he felt the crush of metal against his chest as he and all five hundred and eighty-seven pounds of Tinker and armor were sent smashing into the prison wall.
He breathed and coughed up blood, the only reason he was even still conscious was because his suit had just injected him with raw adrenaline and a couple dozen other pain killers and local anaesthetics. His suit's still intact diagnostics were telling him exactly what was broken.
"Colin, your lifesigns... What's wrong?" Asked Dragon.
"It's Ashburn…" It hurt to breathe… even with the pain killers. "Berserk." He coughed, and had enough presence of mind to choose his next words. "Stranger-Master influence most likely… manipulated… by Coil." He bit out… he didn't like lying to Dragon…
He heard the crunch of feet on stone and he looked up, finding this… Berserker rushing towards him to finish the job.
He heard the sound of a motor, just caught the lights outside of his peripheral vision. The thing stopped and braced itself.
Two tons of armored vehicle, the same one that had busted down the prison gates just a scant few minutes ago, slammed into it, full speed. Colin saw the thing hit with the force of a freight train, smashing into the side of a building, pinning the giant there. The door opened and then the vehicle was frozen in time.
Clockblocker...
The Clock themed cape got out. Panting. "Ok Tay. Just hold still for a second and-"
The black clad behemoth roared. Before Dennis could make it around the car to touch anything it shoved itself through the wall behind it in a burst of force. Ignoring the time frozen car completely and focusing its wrath on Dennis.
"...I did not think this through…"
Colin pushed himself to his feet, half stumbling half running towards the black giant. He wanted to shout, to taunt the thing and draw its attention away from Clockblocker, buy the youth the second he'd need to freeze it, but his lungs could barely draw air without having him cough up blood.
Thankfully, before anything could happen, Dauntless was there, grabbing Dennis and flying out of reach and the white blur that was Glory Girl was back in the fray, the raw brute force of the New Wave Cape being the only thing so far that seemed at all effective at slowing it down. Smashing the giant straight through a wall, following through a moment later, out of his sight.
He moved to follow when the pain in his chest cut through all the pain killers, reminding him that several of his ribs were broken. He hadn't punctured a lung yet.
It was then that he realized… They couldn't stay here. Miss Militia was injured. He was injured. Dauntless couldn't even stay within Melee range where he was strongest because of the absurd heat coming off that sword. Velocity was with Kid Win who was down, Sophia was now half blind with a flash burn, Glory Girl had been taken down in a single hit beforehand, Carlos' was only still standing because of his power.
"Colin. We have to get the Wards out of here." Dauntless pleaded. "This is insane! We're throwing everything we've got at her and she just shrugs it off and keeps on coming!"
He was right… if they stayed here they were all going to be killed.
"This is-" He coughed, blood spattering the inside of his helmet, the coppery tang stinging his nose. "-Armsmaster. All Wards are to commence an evacuation, all PRT and law enforcement personnel, we are in full retreat. Dragon, are firefighters on the way?"
"They should be arriving shortly, within the minute."
"Warn them!"
"You're telling us to abandon Taylor. I'm not doing that!" Aegis spoke his voice was wet. God only knew how many things he'd ruptured or broken when she hit him the first time.
"It'll be worse for Taylor if she kills any of you in this state. We find the Master, kill the sonnuvabitch and we can snap her out of it!" Dauntless answered, angry. Colin couldn't blame him. Nick had grown close to the girl over the last several months.
"Aegis…" Militia's voice was shaking in pain. "Taylor would never forgive herself if she killed any of you. We have to-"
"No! We can't just-"
"Enough!" Armsmaster barked. "You have your orders! At the very least we have to reach Panacea, regrou-"
Then the building in front of him exploded and he was swallowed in flames. He yelled and used his rocket boots to get away.
"Dauntless, take Clockblocker to the barricade. Aegis, go with him. Dauntless, when you come back get-" He was about to say Shadow Stalker before he saw the armored giant leap out of the flames and smoke, going for Glory Girl. He aimed his halberd and fired it's grappling hook, hitting the head and making the knight flinch but not much more. He was thankful to see Glory Girl recover and fly up and away from the flaming sword. Gallant flew by her side and Colin could hear her furious shout from where he rested against the wall. "I'm not leaving her!"
She turned and dove, jetting down like a missle back towards the black juggernaut, avoiding the downward blade swing and tackling the monster, sending it off of its feet and smashing the both of them down into the ground, carving a jagged trench into the street as asphalt crumbled and pipes ruptured, releasing gouts of steaming water.
"Victoria!" He heard Dean cry out and Armsmaster pushed himself back to his feet. He hobbled forward, hearing another roar that could have come from Triumph's mouth given its sheer volume. He saw Glory Girl tossed out of the trench like a rag doll.
The Knight bull-rushed after her, the burning sword moving to come down over her head. He fired his grappling hook again. It struck the thing in the face, this time it was faster though, one of its hands snapped out, snatching the steel wire in an iron grip, yanking his weapon straight out of his hands, pulling him off the wall to make him faceplant on the ground. Every bone in his body screamed at him, the fire lanced through his chest, painkillers or not, and he tasted the metal of blood at the back of his throat as he cried out in agony.
He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.
He looked up in time to see the flaming sword coming straight for his head. Armsmaster fell flat on his face, barely avoiding the swing.
He couldn't avoid the kick to the head though. The last sensation he would feel was his helmet buckling and caving in to crack against his skull.
(X)
Miss Militia
She could hear the battle raging below, Armsmaster, Dauntless. The heat of the flames rolled over her, even from here. She forced herself to move, biting down a groan as she pushed herself to her feet.
She moved to the edge of the roof, just in time to see the ash idols erupt with dark fire, driving back Dauntless and Armsmaster. Her eyes panned over the battlefield, searching, and managed to catch sight of Sophia on the other side of the courtyard, hands rubbing furiously at her eyes.
Get her out of here. Without a target, Taylor might calm down, might snap out of it…
She half ran, half limped to the edge of the building, jumping over with a single movement, one hand grasping onto a drain pipe she'd caught sight of while still on the chopper.
One hand on the pipe, one foot on the wall, she held herself as steady as possible, trying not to move her arm. She slid down and arrested her movement before she hit the ground, jumping off to land on her good leg.
She turned her sight back onto the armored monster as a squeal of tires reached her ears and she saw the armored vehicle smash it into a wall.
She rushed across the courtyard, stepping over burnt and charred corpses, cursing with pain every time she had to put weight on her bad foot.
"Colin. We have to get the Wards out of here." Dauntless pleaded. "This is insane! We're throwing everything we've got at her and she just shrugs it off and keeps on coming!"
He was right… if they stayed here they were all going to be killed.
"This is-" She heard him cough, it sounded wet. "-Armsmaster. All Wards are to commence an evacuation with all PRT and law enforcement personnel, we are in full retreat. Dragon, are firefighters on the way?"
"You're telling us to abandon Taylor. I'm not doing that!" Aegis.
"It'll be worse for Taylor if she kills any of you in this state. We find the Master, kill the sonnuvabitch and we can snap her out of it!"
"Aegis…" She gasped looking around, trying to find him... "Taylor would never forgive herself if she killed any of you. We have to-"
"No!" He shouted, angry and emotional. "We can't just-"
"Enough!" Colin snapped- she tuned him out, only half listening as she finally reached the car Hess was hiding behind.
"Sophia!"
"God-fuck! What the hell is wrong with your fucking radios!"
She turned the corner.
Her hands were burnt, what she could see of her face above the mask that covered the lower half was already peeling with a terrible burn, her eyes were shut.
"I can't see… Militia. I'm fucking blind!"
She knelt beside her, staring into her clenched eyes, tears leaking out to trail down her cheeks. Her forehead and cheekbones were an angry red, the skin peelin. The flesh under her mask was probably no better.
They couldn't do anything for it now. "Come on, we have to move. Come on!" She reached down, grabbing her forearm, Sophia screamed, the heat must have been enough to burn her even through the thick clothes. "Taylor isn't going to stop as long as you're anywhere in sig-"'
She pulled the girl up, beginning to run towards the prison entrance only for the ground beneath their feet to just drop out from under them before rushing back up, knocking them both off balance and into a tumble. She looked up, over her shoulder in time to see the black giant stomp down on Colin's skull.
Then… it turned to her… and Sophia.
"Sophia… shift to your breaker state."
"The fuck is-"
"Don't fucking argue and do it!" She shoved herself onto her feet, forming a rifle in her hand… Then she thought better of it, shifting the thing into a grenade launcher. "Taylor!? Listen to me Taylor-"
It roared, drowning out her words, and lunged. She fired.
The blast went off point blank, exploding just two dozen feet away, the concussive force hit her like a sledgehammer, knocking her off her feet to hit the ground hard. She coughed, trying to suck down a greedy breath of air.
Sophia gasped beside her, the concussive force had forcefully dispersed her gaseous form, forcing her to return to tangibility.
"Run!" She screamed.
Sophia tried.
The massive blade swung, fire and sheer force carving through Sophia's breaker state, once, and again. The heat battered Militia across the face as she emptied a massive handgun into the monster's side, bullets that it completely ignored.
By the third swing, Sophia was yanked back to her corporeal state with a gasp, her form too dispersed to maintain.
"Taylor don't!"
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!
Hannah's blood went cold, she saw Sophia's arm, her leg… it simply vanished in the flames. Tongues of dark fire ate away at her clothes, burning her alive as she tried over and over again to shift to her breaker state before she finally managed it long enough for the fire to die with no more fuel to feed it. Her cries and whimpers escalated as she squirmed on the ground in agony.
She lay there gasping down air that would not come, her remaining hand shaking as she tried to grip the stump of her arm, her whole body trembling, eyes going glassy as she went into shock. Hannah could hear her. Sophia was gasping like a trout.
Hannah shot to her feet, stumbling as the green energy that was her power shifted through a dozen weapons, her mind whirling through possible strategies, tools, something to help. Something that could stop this without killing Taylor! But there was nothing. Nothing she could do. Her power was completely useless…
In a costume that was ripped and tattered, Victoria came in like a shrieking missile, smashing into the Giant's side. It stumbled and with a massive stomp it dug its heel into the ground, digging its legs in to bring itself to a dead stop.
Was it getting stronger!?
She turned her attention away from the fight, running towards Sophia, falling to her knees at her side, eyes panning over the terrible injuries that were killing the Ward right before her eyes.
"This is Miss Militia! Sophia is down! Velocity! Gallant! Aegis! Anyone! Get her out of here now or she dies!"
"Give her here!"
She looked up, Lady Photon, her suit half burnt and torn. Miss Militia moved to lift her when her dislocated arm made itself known again, the pain lancing up her whole side.
Lady Photon swooped down, grasping Sophia in a single movement before taking off again like a bullet towards the sky and away from the fighting.
Then, at her side, Victoria hit the ground like a brick, slamming into the asphalt and bouncing like a stone on a pond.
It was the first time Miss Militia had ever seen Glory Girl struggle to stand back up.
But get to her feet she did, all grit teeth and sheer determination.
"Glory Girl don't!" She cried.
But the girl charged, heedless and roaring.
The black Giant stood tall and roared in return, one hand on its massive sword.
When Victoria got within arms reach this time, the thing barely even seemed to give it effort. It moved one hand and grabbed the blond girl by the face, bringing her forward movement to a dead-stop that should have broken her neck had she been anyone else. Above, Gallant was firing blast after blast into its back. It ignored him. It slammed her down into the ground, cracking black tar beneath its armored fist once, twice, a third time before throwing the young woman like a fastball into another burning building.
She shut her eyes and used her power.
When she opened her eyes the next sound that met her ears was the roar of a howitzer cannon going off.
It went off again… and again… and again, the heat of the explosions was a distant thing, the crushing blows against her chest from the concussive force of the blasts almost seemed in time with her own pounding heartbeat.
She stopped. And when the smoke cleared the armored monster was still standing there, barely even moved. Barely even damaged.
Then she heard the sonic boom above her.
(X)
Gallant
"Victoria!"
He blasted the moving armor with all the power he had, as strong as he'd ever used his power before, stronger even. Using blasts of euphoria, sadness, anything that could dampen the blinding rage he could sense rolling off of this thing Taylor had become.
But nothing could work, the giant just shrugged it off and charged towards the staggering Glory Girl, grabbing her by the face and tossing her like a rag doll, sending her crashing through another building. Gallant cursed, giving up his futile attack to rush towards where his girlfriend had just been thrown. The dust and grit stuck to his visor as he flew in through a window. When he found Victoria she was trying to get to her feet, she was actually trying to keep her feet under her, looking for all the world like she was about to keel over.
"Victoria that's enough! We need to get out of here!" Dean came by her side and helped support her up. They both coughed, Gallant due to the smoke and Glory Girl due to the smoke and pain.
There was an explosion outside, then another and another, a repeated staccato that seemed like it'd never end, shaking the entire building around them.
"No… we have to… help Tay-" She coughed and the scarlet red of her blood slid out of her mouth, surprising the both of them. He'd never seen her hurt before.
At that point, her injuries seemed to finally catch up with her. Her legs gave out, forcing him to actually hold her up.
She could mimic Alexandria… but often times they forgot it was just that. A mimic. She was very much human beneath the paper thin forcefield.
"We tried… We… we failed. We have to go now or it'll just be worse!"
There was a crash outside, like two trains crashing into each other. For all he knew it very well could have been considering that he could feel the impact in his chest.
He pulled her arm over his shoulder, firing off his jetpack to lift her off the ground. Darting through a window, he rose high above the prison.
He looked down and actually felt himself release some of the tension clenching his chest.
Dragon. It was Dragon!
The serpentine body of her fast response unit had hit the ground, very much like her namesake. Crashing into the black monster with a force several times greater than the armored truck Dennis had used. Evidenced by how the Giant was currently picking itself off the ground dozens of yards away from where he'd seen it last.
Dragon's machine moved like it was alive, bestial. Claws and teeth grappled with the black Giant, visible weapon ports fired containment foam to slather the knight as the whole suit crackled with electrical discharge. The teeth grinding cracks and snaps of live electricity tossing serpents of lightning across both their massive bodies.
The Giant barely even seemed phased, attacking with flame, fist, and blade, its feet dug into the asphalt like anchors as it pushed and shoved and grappled with the mechanical beast that was now their last standing Hero that might still have even the barest chance to take it down.
"Gallant." His radio crackled. Miss Militia.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm here Miss Militia." He called, looking down at the fight that seemed like something out of a legend.
"Gallant. Dragon's already given preliminary analysis. Her suit can withstand six minutes of direct combat with Taylor as she is. We have to leave. Regroup at Panacea behind the barricades while Dragon holds it off."
He felt his stomach drop.
Six minutes.
That's all Dragon could buy them? Six minutes?
He knew that this was one of her fast response units, not one of her front line suits… but still… It was Dragon. The World's Best Tinker!
A six minute reprieve was all they could hope for before Taylor rampaged out of this prison and was on them again. He heard Miss Militia speak.
"Pull back. Behind the Barricade. We have to regroup and heal our wounds with Panacea for when Taylor moves beyond the walls of the prison. Dragon is calling in another suit. Attack pattern this time..."
He looked down below, where the last of the straggling PRT troopers and whatever prisoners had survived this… massacre were limping out. Fear, confusion, panic and sadness, all were mixed in like a putrid soup below him, the stink of it rising up like the soot and ash that soared up to the sky, seemingly trying to choke it like the sea of emotions were trying to choke him. .
He turned his eyes back at the thing that had become Taylor. And all he could feel in the entire kaleidoscope that should be a human spectrum was one thing.
Rage.
"This isn't right." Victoria hissed out beside him through clenched teeth. "This is Taylor! She's our friend! She's our goddamn friend!" Dean turned, and saw tears streaming down her eyes.
It was Miss Militia who answered. "I know."
(X)
Miss Militia
"This isn't right!" She heard Victoria's pained voice through Gallant's radio. "This is Taylor! She's our friend! She's our goddamn friend!"
She found herself shaking her head. 'No… it isn't'
Taylor was a good Ward. A good person. This…
This should never have happened!
Not to Taylor… not like this. She…
Not this.
"I know." She answered.
She saw the massive, burning sword rise and fall, tearing into metal scales to rip through Dragon's suit, sheer brute force tossing the Tinker's weapon away, fires bursting from the earth around her.
She should be fighting at Dragon's side rather than against her. She should have been a Hero…
But now…
She was still a Ward the day Behemoth arrived. The eldest Endbringer had stood in the ruins of a city, fire and smoke rising high in to the sky. The black cloud could be seen for miles as the flames spread. He'd rampaged through the heroes, killing so many as to earn the name "The Hero Killer" on his very first appearance, he moved through the rubble like a monolith of black obsidian stone, an utterly unstoppable roaring juggernaut.
Here… here the only difference she could see was mere scale.
"Militia!"
She turned her head and Velocity was at her side, scuffed and smudged with black soot. "Come on! We have to regroup, get you to Panacea before she rips through Dragon's suit!"
She nodded. And the man reached down to lift her, soon moving as fast as he could with her in his arms.
Hannah ducked her head, closing her eyes to look away from the flames now swallowing the prison.
When they made it to the barricades almost three blocks away Velocity didn't even have time to get her to the ambulances before one of the agents rushed up to her.
"Miss Militia, Agent Walker here." She looked up, and saw a rather fresh faced PRT officer recruit. Looked to be straight out of the academy and college. "With Armsmaster… unconscious I had no one else to report to ma'am."
"Hey could you let her at least sit the fuck down Jesus Christ!" Velocity snapped brushing past him.
"I-I'm sorry sir." He looked like he was about to sink into the ground in shame. "I-I didn't know who to report to…"
She swallowed down her emotions, pushing them into that place within her, the one born out of sheer need after so many years.
"Go ahead agent. Report." Miss Militia groaned as she felt someone apply some ice to her leg.
"It's… Headquarters ma'am. It came under attack."
She straightened, their suspicions now confirmed. "Why didn't we get word on this when it happened!?"
"This is why ma'am." The agent answered. Pointing out some device on a tripod a little farther away. "Communication jammers. Tinker made. They were activated after the prison personnel called for help. It would connect to other jammers set around the prison in the form of a net tuned to a certain frequency. All communication was cut off from here to HQ. Dragon was still able to get in contact with us via different frequency."
"Coil…" Hannah hissed. Her eyes grew hard. A promise in them.
She took a long, deep breath. "Velocity. I want status on everyone else." She demanded, as several paramedics stepped into the ambulance to tend to her.
"Dauntless and Triumph are fine, same with me, Browbeat who hung back with Triumph, and Clockblocker. Aegis got the brunt of the damage but he should heal fine. You... already know about Kid Win, Stalker, and Armsmaster."
She nodded.
…
...
Coil would pay for this…
She would make sure he paid for this.
...
'You're a dead man you fucking snake. You just don't know it yet'
(X)
Coil
Coil's hands were laced in front of his mouth, his expression was completely inscrutable behind the mask as his eyes panned over the multiple screens of the Prison Yard that he had playing on loops, capturing every angle of the fight against the Black armored giant.
Twenty three separate attempts. Twenty three attempts he'd made at breaching the prison. Sheer brute force trial and error runs that had him sifting through layers and layers of false information, blueprints, guard patrol routes, defense stations, lockdown routines. And even now, this time there were still errors, like the false security control room.
Seven hours of split timelines culminating in this. Finally surging onto this attempt now at two in the morning.
It was serendipitous that his first 'shot' at Hebert had been this successful. It was so very rare to get things right the first time.
"Coil!" He didn't bother to turn as the door opened. Grue led the way, his longer strides allowing him to carry ahead of an equally furious Faultline.
"You son of a bitch what the fuck was that!?" His darkness warped voice hissed out. He turned, looking at the screens that were currently displaying the massive Black Giant exchanging blows with Glory Girl.
"That was our way out!?" The de-facto leader of the Undersiders pointed a finger at the screen, "That… thing?!"
"Yes." He answered simply. "Is that a problem?"
"Yes there's a problem you son of a bitch!" Faultline snapped. "This was a snatch and grab. We-" She gestured to herself and Grue. "Provide the distraction, disable security and this bastard-" She pointed to Trickster. "Teleports your people out. We're in and out fast before the heroes arrive and everyone's going for the throat. You had them ambushed in the street! Sundancer's attack. Ballistic tossing fucking cars and prison buses at them! And whatever that thing was by the end of it!? What do you think is gonna happen now? You can crawl in a hole. I actually can't you mother fucker! I could have laid low with the original plan long enough for this whole thing to blow over. Now they'll want blood and mine is the easiest to find!"
"Not only that, you had us de-mask a Ward!" Grue joined again. "You broke the rules you stupid bastard and used me to do it! This doesn't fucking work like that!"
He took a breath leaning back in his chair. "What's done is done. Unwitting or not you played your part perfectly and I thank you dearly. I will forward the agreed upon payment-"
"You pay us double!" Faultline snapped. "You fucking lied, we're upping the price."
Predictable. Best to not cave in too easily though. He opened his mouth to speak when she pressed forward, cutting him off.
"Do it. Or we spread the word about this bullshit. You think this'll look pretty when word gets out? Using the Civilian ID's of Wards. Using prisoners as human shields. How many of those prisoners were Empire? Or ABB? Or even out of state gangsters? I'm gonna paint a bulls-eye so big over your head the Simurgh could see it from orbit enough to take pot shots at you!"
It was almost enough to make him smile. So predictable...
"Where's Tattletale?" Grue hissed.
He gestured to another door. "She went to the restroom just before you arrived. Down the hall, second left. Some stomach bug I'm sure."
Grue turned to look at Rachel. "If I'm not back in five minutes, rip him to pieces. Regent." Bitch nodded, arms crossed.
Without waiting for a word he marched down the hall, Regent following after him. Bitch stood silent, her dogs by her side.
He held his silence, waiting for them to return.
Three minutes later, Grue returned, Regent and Tattletale behind him. The girl looked pale, sick even.
He leaned forward ready to speak. "Very well. Your payment will be upped. One million apiece."
"And?" Faultline snarled.
He reached into his desk drawer, and pulled out a single, black memory USB stick.
"This would be all the information I possess." He answered blithely.
She reached her hand forward, snatching it free of his grip.
"If you wish for my honest suggestion." He drawled. "I'd recommend dropping that particular line of inquiry."
"I'm done."
He turned his attention back to Grue.
"This crossed every line in the book. Several times over. You give me my money, you clear my sister's papers immediately and after that you don't contact me again. I'm fucking done."
Angry. He'd calm in a few more days. Perhaps stalling his sister's adoption papers if he really needed to keep him to heel. Then again, Grue could be replaced, if need be. Or Tattletale would become the Undersider's leader.
For now he turned to the others. "Anything else?"
"Yea." Regent spoke out. "That thing-" He pointed to the screen. "You know, the one now kicking Halbeard in the face." He looked, finding the recording of the Giant stomping Armsmaster's helmet into the pavement. "Uhh yeah. I suggest you call it off Boss. If it kills all the PRT and Protectorate we'll have the Triumvirate shitting down our throats in the time it takes Eidolon to teleport them here."
"He doesn't have control of it." Tattletale hissed silently, glaring at him, the sneer just barely held off her face. "Its an out of control cape. He can't stop it anymore than they can."
That made everyone in the room shift with surprise, their anger renewed.
"Sooooo" Regent supplied. "When it's done buttfucking the PRT, it's gonna buttfuck US next? Am I hearing this right? Someone tell me I'm not hearing this right. Please please with sugar on top?"
"If the heroes all get axed, Regent's on the money. The PRT nationwide won't let this stand. We're all gonna get the headsman's block! And that's if that thing doesn't burn down half the town! You… You goddamn mother-" Grue stepped forward only for Tattletale to grip his shoulder, stopping him.
"Stop." She hissed. "He has his men watching. They'll come in and gun us down." She jerked her head. "And these guys aren't exactly on the same homicidal page as us."
Krouse marched forward, around the desk to stand beside him, the Travelers following his lead. "She's got the right of it."
"Lets not have this whole thing descend into violence please. I'd rather keep amicable relations with my employees." Coil shrugged.
"Oh we're way beyond that shit." Grue hissed.
Faultline tapped Grue on the shoulder. "I'll be in contact. This bastard backstabs you or me…" She trailed off.
He nodded.
Hmm. Somewhat unexpected but manageable.
He looked to Lisa.
He'd seen several forms of loathing in his life. Lisa's was one of the more memorable at this moment. He had all but taken a gun to her head to make her continue her little deconstruction of Miss Hebert.
She was not loyal to him, cordial out of necessity and fear perhaps. But never loyal. And now she was particularly angry. He'd have to keep an eye on her for the next few weeks.
"Lets get the fuck out of here." The blonde swallowed thickly, turning on her heel, Grue, Regent, Bitch, and her dogs following after a moment, Faultline and her crew doing the same.
"By the way. Dragon just went down." She called out behind her.
He switched the monitor's from the recording, back to the live feed. That had been faster than expected.
"What the fuck are you gonna do?" Ballistic finally asked. "They're right. The second this hits the national news you're gonna get shit on from so high you'll swear it was God taking an interest in you."
"You need not concern yourself." He drawled. "I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Rest assured, you all will be safe."
"Incase you forgot, you are my concern! We need you alive." Krouse hissed, pointing at the screens. "That is my goddamn problem! They're going to kill you!"
He almost laughed.
No. They wouldn't kill him.
They would kill Coil.
People tended to forget that masks could be replaced when the old one was too worn or torn to be useful.
He didn't answer. Didn't say more. His attention was drawn to something far more concerning.
His phone.
He answered. "Speak."
"Fang here."
He held his breath. The one decision that would decide whether this timeline was held or discarded entirely.
"Target secured; moving to rendezvous."
'Got her.' Coil's mask shifted as he smirked underneath.
He nodded "Good." and said no more, hanging up the phone. Too much risk of their signal being traced. He would receive the full report later. It seemed as though he'd be keeping this timeline after all.
It was then that he noticed something very wrong in the camera's that were still functional.
The Courtyard.
The Penitentiary.
The Administrative Building.
The medical facility.
Solitary.
Guard barracks.
Control tower.
North Wall, South, West and East...
All the cameras found burning debris and corpses, the shredded remains of Dragon's fast response suit lay broken and in pieces on the courtyard.
But no Black Giant.
He looked to one of his technicians. "Where do the PRT channels place her?"
The man turned to him. "The PRT is regrouping behind a barricade. They haven't reported any movement."
Coil blinked He… did not expect this.
"Then where the hell is she?!"