The new stone-gray clad Empire Eighty-Eight recruit Pillar rushed forward with his hands outstretched, trying to get his hands to grip on the mutated strongman in front of him. "You can't win here. We have more capes than you," the newest member of the Empire Eighty Eight declared. The battlefield hard started in a warehouse, but now it was outside in between three warehouses. Three mostly leveled building, actually.
Just another battle after a week of being in the city.
"Wretch no care, because Wretch going to ruin you for Ghost Widow," the Arachnos enforcer stated in his guttural way. He punctuated his statement by punching Pillar with the strength to crumple a steel vault in one hit.
Stormtiger unleashed a two air-claw blast right into the face of the silver-thread armored woman in front of him. "It's a good thing you like pain, Barracuda."
"Puh-lease, your little love taps barely qualify as slaps, Mad Max wannabe," the Asian villainess said with a wide smile. "I can do this all day. Can you?" She suddenly shot out metal needles all over from her body, which he deflected most away from his body with an abrupt blast of air.
Most, but not all.
Luckily he had backup as a bullet hit the center of Silver Mantis's forehead from seemingly nowhere. Trajectory popped up her head over the crates she was behind, ducking back to not lose her cowboy hat (and head) from energy blasts from a trio of Arachnos soldiers from their power maces.
"Three!" the red and white garbed cowgirl called out as she touched the bullet in the cylinder, then clicked back the hammer which rotated the bullet into position. Then she pointed it sideways and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked and it spanged off three surfaces to hit one of the Huntsmen. "Gotcha, bastards."
"Too slow!" the silver and blue cyborg Undoing shouted. "Oh, wait! That's my fault, isn't it big bitch britches!"
"Stand still you little gnat," Fenja called out, trying to hit the kinetic controlling speedster. Those blasts were starting to burn.
"Eat cherenkov radiation!" Undoing shouted gleefully as she sent a heavy pulse of energy at the giantess in viking armor.
More and more Empire Eighty Eight were showing up. Krieg, Alabaster, Hookwolf, Crickett, Victor and then finally Kaiser himself with Menja at his side.
"Oh no. We are trapped. Whatever will we do..." Ice Mistral said in an incredibly deadpan manner. "They've only defeated four of our foot soldiers for ten of theirs and we are soooo trapped."
Kaiser narrowed his eyes. He hated the smart-alec villains. "Yes, you are trapped. Now surrender and I promise you your lives, if not your health or dignity."
"How about we say no and just leave?" Undoing called out as she tapped a few hidden buttons on her cybernetic arm. "Undoing to base, ready to teleport!"
Red energy crackled over the four archvillains and their four flunkies, translocating them from the Empire's growing ire.
"It's a trap!" Victor shouted as he immediately headed to cover and dove for the ground. He was never so glad to have had that two hour long chat with that retired general last year. That guy didn't need his tactical expertise any more anyways.
"Missile!" Rune shouted even as large chunks of concrete moved to 'bunker up' around her.
Menja saw it incoming and place her shield to protect Kaiser. Cricket, Stormtiger and Trajectory dove for cover behind her.
A two thousand pound explosive streaked in from over the bay a high subsonic speeds to slam in Menja's huge shield, on a beeline for Kaiser's head. The explosion was deafening and finished knocking over the buildings next to them.
The Empire capes looked around (and double checking for another attack). Trajectory and Rune were a bit stunned, while Hookwolf was picking himself out of a warehouse.
"Shit, Cricket got hit hard. I think we need to tourniquet her legs," Stormtiger shouted out.
Arachnos airships hummed into view as their heavy particle repeater on the nose turrets started firing at them.
"Kaiser! We need to retreat before we are boxed in and their reinforcements arrive!" Victor shouted out as he pointed to a manhole cover.
In just moments, they were off the street and disappearing into the sewers.
Back at Arachnos's base, Ghost Widow was watching the live footage. "They are fairly well trained, though their lack of decent support and infrastructure is hurting them."
Kalinda nodded. "Yes, for their limitations, they are a somewhat credible threat."
"We will set up another raid for three days. We want to rob Brockton Bank. Information suggests that the Empire Eighty Eight uses it to launder money. With that, we can uncover the identities of the their leadership." Ghost Widow floated there for a long moment, looking away from the screens. "Tell Undoing that she will lead the strike team."
The subordinate bowed. "As you wish, mistress."
"That's all I know, Mr. Anders. It's a dirty shame that the Protectorate is willing to give that murderer a chance. I've tried to raise objections in the Parahuman Affairs Committee in the senate, but I'm getting a bit stonewalled."
"Understood, Senator Olmstead. So you believe that the PRT Directors are going to give the approval to move her out of Brockton Bay?" Max Anders said as he sat back in his plush leather executive chair. He spun around, frowning at the rain. Hadn't the weatherman said it was only going to be partly cloudy today?
Jessica Biermann looked up from where she was reading a magazine where she lounged on the couch along the inside wall. She stood up to stretch her legs and do her fifteen minute area check. Being a bodyguard was boring as always.
"Yes. I understand that they are willing to bend a lot of rules to get villains to sign up to the Protectorate. It's a travesty of justice!" Olmstead said as he read the news on his computer in Washington D.C. "Give it to me straight, Max. How bad is it with the new gang war brewing in Brockton Bay?"
"We've just traded one egomaniac for another. With Lung out of the way the... undesirables in the city have been replaced with parahuman military thugs. Just last week the Brockton Bay Bank was robbed. This time the heroes did not get their fast enough and Arachnos made off with a hundred thousand dollars and all the safety deposit boxes," Anders said as he drummed his fingers on the hand rest of his chair.
That had worried him in some way, as that did not fit their normal actions. What had they been really doing?
A low hum filled the air, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to bristle. Max turned back to his desk, putting his hand on the perfectly smooth glass-topped mahogany desk. He could feel a vibration for just a second.
And then every piece of glass in room exploded.
The villain (with a goatee even!) chuckled as he saw the explosions of glass all across the city as the rain came down. "Shatterbird, I think they heard you there. With this storm coming in and everyone at work or school, it's going to be a delicious amount of terror."
She just nodded her head, giving him a small smile of appreciation. "Is that why you didn't wait until tonight?"
The little girl sitting on a barrel kicked her feet. "You know Jack Slash doesn't want to do the same thing every time."
"I hate the rain," Burnscar said as she nervously scratched one of her burns on her face.
That got a chuckle from the misshapen behemoth crouched under the branches of a large oak tree. The Siberian was standing crouched on his back, watching the city with a dark hunger. Her unstoppable claws were scratching light furrows on his back.
Sirens started wailing in the distance, sounding an alarm.
"Ah, just for us? You shouldn't have," Jack Slash said to his enemies.
"So we just have to find some of the Empire Eighty-Eight and these Arachnos thugs?" Cherish said as she felt the emotions of the city. The fear was almost intoxicating.
Jack Slash scratched his cheek in thought. "And the Merchants. I heard they were going to fold, but they seem to be thriving now."
Mannequin turned his featureless head one-eighty degrees to 'look' at Jack, nodding.
That got a chuckle out of their leader. "You want to test Squealer? I thought you- Oh, you want to test her and Armsmaster? Interesting," Jack said as he read the posture of the silvery cyborg.
"New minds are arriving in numbers down by the dock," Cherish said, turning away from the downtown view.
"What?" Jack Slash frowned in confusion.
The young woman shuddered. "Eidolon just arrived."
A streak of light shot in from the south of the city from over the horizon, almost too quick to see.
"What the fuck?" Burnscar snapped out, her eyes looking around wildly.
Crawler started to laugh. As he laughed, he started to paw the ground with one of his six legs at a time. "It's here! It's here!" He suddenly charged off at a full gallop.
"Well, shit. That's not according to plan. What the hell was the chance that Leviathan would show up just minutes after we announced ourselves?" Jack Slash asked everyone.
The remaining members all shifted uncomfortably.
"Jack! Do we get to play with all of them now?" Bonesaw asked in an extra-cutesy voice.
"Sure. Shelters, heroes, villains... civilians... Go wild!"
"Dad, just make sure you get to the shelter. Everyone is meeting up at the PRT outpost south of the docks," Taylor said as she finished dressing at super-speed. "I'm doing this to protect you. I love you, dad. See you afterwards."
With a bleep, she disconnected and then trotted to the main open area of the Wards section of the PRT building. She was just lucky that she had the early morning patrol before school.
Something thumped on the dome and then just a few seconds later the roof access door opened with a beep, letting in a bedraggled Gitanica.
Aegis nodded. "The rest of the Wards are heading down to the rally point. We have some warning, thank god, but they think Leviathan might land at any moment. Let's go."
Just a few minutes later, Skitter and Gitanica arrived at the PRT docks warehouse where heroes and villains were arriving. Most of the Wards were already present, as were all the Brockton Bay Protectorate members.
"So did Ms. Liberty join the Protectorate full time?" Skitter asked her giant friend as she put on one of the armbands. She nodded to the PRT officer, as she was already versed in how they worked.
"More or less. She still wants to go to school. So she patrols a few nights of the week and is on call." Gitanica whistled appreciatively as she put on a stretchy banded version of the device. "She has that same Incarnate armor that Futurias has?"
"What does that even mean?" Skitter asked as she lounged against the wall. She was happy that her armor had been revamped a bit with Armsmaster and Kid Win's help. It was now much tougher and more comfortable. In fact, most of the Wards were wearing one of her silk body suits as part of their outfits.
"It's a dangerous way to enhance your powers. It can turn a fairly powerful hero like Dauntless or Triumph into someone more like the Triumvirate
The New Wave family arrived, looking a bit wind-blown from their flight. Everyone present, even Eidolon and Legend, tensed at the next group's arrival. It was Kaiser, at the head of the expanded Empire Eighty-Eight.
Grue tried to be low key in entering after the white supremacists.
"Looks like the Undersiders disbanded. Dangerous time to be a lone hero or villain," Gitanica said in a low voice.
More heroes from other cities were arriving. New York City, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles were the major contributors, but The Guild was also present. In fact, Skitter noted as she looked closer at some of the arrivals, a good number appeared to be from Australia and the United Kingdom.
One lone scarlet figure in shiny, vinyl smooth armor of an Arachnos Fortunata walked in was set herself at parade rest near the front of the room.
"Why only one person from Arachnos?" Skitter asked her friend. Clockblocker and Vista turned their heads, obviously interested in the response.
"There isn't room for another army in here," Gitanica said in a cold, angry voice.
"Quiet down everyone," Legend called out. "We don't have much time at all. Just before Armsmaster announced the imminent threat of a Leviathan attack on his city, it was hit by one of the Slaughterhouse Nine." He cupped his ears as something was transmitted to him. "The only good news about that is that Crawler is on his way, shouting about how happy he is to be here to fight the Endbringer."
Alexandria stepped forward. "We believe that the other members are not going to help and in fact may try to attack us or others in the city."
"Well at least the Blasphemies are staying put in Europe," one of the King's Men shouted out.
That got a nervous chuckle from the crowd.
"More seriously, watch your backs. For our out of country visitors, Dragon is putting the Slaughterhouse on the screen. Do not attack them on sight, but if they are breaking the Endbringer truce, don't hold back in the least," Legend explained to them as he scanned the somber crowd.
A horrific head with too many eyes smashed through the wall about halfway up. Crawler's seven eyes on his head looked around at everyone. "Fun fun. Gonna fight Leviathan! I'll even abide by your stupid truce." His mouth was dripping acid on the vacated spot under him.
All of Crawler's visible eyes blinked suddenly. "That's a big wall of water-"
"FORCE SHIELDS!" Legend shouted out.