Chapter 9-4

I looked down at my chest, right where the monster's hand should have disemboweled me. There was no pain, or any sign that I'd been hurt at all. Was this…was this what death felt like? Was this weird, muted reflection of the world the afterlife?

Before I could finish my thought, the monsters started to scream. They were drawn towards the center of the room by some kind of energy, clumping together in a floating sphere of flesh. Then, a bubble of something appeared and the monsters disintegrated all at once. Seconds later, color returned to the world and the room had been emptied, as if nothing had happened at all.

Two people stepped out of the shadows. Unknowns. Capes, judging by the looks their armor and the rifles they were carrying. Kind of looked like mine and Red. Could it be…no, not going there. Head hurts and too much to do. Can't have an existential crisis in the middle of Armageddon. Tinkertech? Let's go with that for now.

Anyway, capes. Probably the capes that saved me. I needed to get up. Couldn't look weak in front of others. If they were hostile, it wouldn't end well for me. Not when they've got guns like that. Very nice guns, by the way…

No. Focus.

The two awkwardly traded glances between me and each other, as if they were having some sort of unspoken conversation. I was getting a little antsy. Their defensive body language didn't help either. Clearly, they were wary of me. Can't say I blame them since the feeling was mutual.

Who were these people? Where did they come from? They weren't there back at the briefing, which could mean a lot of things. At least, I think they weren't. It's hard to tell in the dark.

I needed more information. I needed to get these two to talk. Maybe I'd recognize them by voice. "Umm…Hi." I said, eloquently.

The strangers looked at each other before one of them, a thin, wiry looking man, stepped forward. "My goodness, where are my manners? Limbo, at your service." He said, raising his hat and speaking in a polite British accent, of all things. In an instant, the man had seemingly transformed. His posture relaxed and the tension had all but vanished. It set off every alarm bell I had. Nobody shifted moods that quickly. He was either an actor, a sociopath, or some combination of the two. Either way, it's bad. Or good, considering the situation. He did just save my life, after all. Didn't recognize his voice, though. Problematic. "And this grumpy ruffian is Vauban."

Vauban didn't speak. He just tensed a little more.

"Banshee, Wards ENE. Can't say I recognize you two."

"Well, my young lady, I do not recognize you either. From this, I can safely conclude that we have never met."

Oh, great, a smartass. Like I don't get enough of that with Lisa. Why did I have to be rescued by crazy people? Honestly, between my ankle, the ten tones of concrete, and the buzzing in my skull that was probably Outbreak, I didn't need more issues. What I needed was to get to safety and get someone to fix my leg, preferably before the monsters returned. I needed to stand and get moving. No more waiting around.

Before I could even take a step, Limbo stopped me. "Stop. You are badly injured, young lady, and I can fix that. Allow me." He gently sat me down and put his hand over my ankle. Vauban took a step forward, but Limbo raised his hand. A greenish fluid sprayed from his glove and seeped into my armor. Suddenly, the pain vanished and I felt warm all over. My foot shifted back into place and the swelling began to die down.

He just healed my ankle, I realized. Moreover, I let a stranger inject whatever the hell it was into me without a fight. Was I… No, I probably wasn't being mastered, unless whatever Limbo used as a painkiller counts. Besides, he already saved my life once and I wasn't going to get out of here limping. "Thank you." I said.

"You're a flaming idiot, Limbo." Vauban said. He sounded agitated. He clearly didn't want to be here. Would he have left me if it were up to him? Maybe. Doesn't matter.

"I'm not in the business of leaving potential allies to their fate, Vauban."

"That stuff could've killed her. Generally does when we try to use it on normals. No telling what would've happened."

"Considering that she probably would have died without my assistance anyway, I considered it an acceptable risk. Besides, she's fine, just like I thought she would."

Vauban grumbled something that in response. Probably obscenities. "Let's just get going. We got another Phorid to bag before we can get out of this damn mess." He stormed off towards one of the tunnels and pulled a ridiculously huge sword from his back.

Seriously? Who wields a sword like that? That thing's as big as I was. Can he even swing it without getting it stuck in the walls?

"Don't mind him." Limbo stated. "We usually work in the shadows. Interaction with others has never been our strong suit."

I nodded. "So you're villains, then."

"Not exactly. We're…independent contractors, I believe the term is."

Independent contractors that use assault rifles and giant fucking greatswords. In other words, cape assassins. Very skilled and equipped cape assassins wearing suits of armor not unlike my own. Wonderful. At least they were on my side, for now. Thank God for the Truce.

"I see." I tried not to sound too suspicious. They obviously didn't see me as an enemy, but that might change. Better not give them a reason to.

"Limbo! Get going. We don't have all day." Vauban called out.

Limbo acknowledged him and turned to me. "Well then, I suppose this is where we part ways."

"I'm coming with you." I said, without even thinking about it.

Limbo looked at me, almost pityingly, I guess. It was hard to tell behind his faceless mask. "Look, dear, we appreciate the sentiment…"

"I can fight. You're hunting Outbreak, so am I. This city is my home and I'm not standing around being useless because a gentleman assassin and Mr. Freud over there are scared I'll break a nail. If nothing else, sticking together is going to be a lot more efficient. We'll kill the monsters faster and give them less time to do whatever it is they're planning."

"Girl…"

"I can pull my weight and I can't go back the way I came." I snarled. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Limbo and Vauban seemed to have another unspoken conversation before the latter said: "No, she'll only slow us down."

"I wouldn't be so quick to judge."

"She's not one of us, Limbo."

"On the contrary, my good man. I think she's more like us than you're willing to admit." Limbo's smirk at the end was worrying. I probably shouldn't be proud of being praised by a professional hit-man.

Vauban turned to me and growled: "Fine. Keep up or we're leaving you behind." Without another word, he stormed off, leaving Limbo and I sprinting after him.

"So, Limbo," I asked. "what exactly is a 'Phorid'? Powers, weaknesses, that sort of thing."

He looked at me, inquisitively. "You've never encountered the Infestation before, have you?" I shook my head. "Well, the Infestation is guided by a hive-mind: all its victims, connected and acting as one. However, this isn't a very efficient system as far as I understand it. When an Infestation gets large enough, say city-wide, it starts to centralize it's brain-power into a larger creature that we call a Phorid." He sounded almost bored, like he was telling me something I should already have known. Something along the lines of 'don't fight Lung while wearing flammable clothing'.

The information sent shivers down my spine. Actually, it wasn't so much the information itself as the implications. If I read between the lines correctly, then Outbreak attacks happened on at least a semi-regular basis. Why else would Limbo treat this like it was its day-job?

"So this thing is like a giant brain, then?" I asked, trying desperately not to think of the long-term implications.

"Brain…but also legs, spines, a mouth full of very sharp teeth… On the whole, I suppose it looks like one of its victims, except much larger and better armed. Needless to say, we have quite a fight on our hands. Still want to come with us?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "Thought so." That sounded like a compliment, I guess.

We marched on, calmly and methodically. Outbreak came after us again and again, but the three of us put them down with ease. Well, mostly Limbo and Vauban. As good as I was, those two were just on another level. Their movements were completely fluid, Vauban swinging his massive sword while Limbo shredded anything he and I had missed. Moreover, there was no banter between the three of us. The moment the monsters came crawling out of the woodwork, conversation stopped and we just…got to work. I couldn't help but be in awe. They were so much faster than me. So much more professional. So much better. Compared to them, I was just a talented amateur at best, while they were the real masters at what they did. I was pulling my weight, like I promised, but nothing more.

It raised interesting questions. Who were these people and where did they come from? How did they get so good this when I could barely keep up, even with my power? Could I convince them to train me or the other Wards?

I shook my head. Here I was, fangirling over a bunch of trained killers in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Clearly I had my priorities straight.

The passage led towards a larger cavern of some kind and Vauban stopped me. "Stop." He said. "The Phorid's down there, and it's a big one. Eleven meters long, at least. We can't fight it. Not with the two of us."

"Hey! I can fight too!" And now I sound like Vista. Goddammit.

"Two and a half, then." He replied, flatly.

Before I could slap Mr. Overcompensation in the face, Limbo chipped in. "He's right, dear. A Phorid of that size can beat the stuffing out of you if you're not careful. Trust me, I've fought critters like that before. Three people isn't enough."

I sighed. I suppose they knew better. "So what do we do now? We can't stay here for long. They're going to find us."

"Well, we have reinforcements coming." Limbo said, in an almost apologetic tone. I did not like the sound of that.

"When?"

"About fifteen to twenty minutes…They're running late."

"By then, we'll have been found and probably eaten." I said. Limbo didn't move. "They drive us off, that Phorid thing will still be running around."

"You got a better idea, girl?" Vauban snapped back.

I reached out with my power, trying to get a feel for our surroundings. Only a handful of monsters, including the big one that I presumed was the Phorid creature. We weren't very far below ground level and the ground under the docks wasn't exactly sturdy. There were several large concrete pillars holding up the ceiling. Foundations of the buildings above. All in all, this cave looked very unstable. It would probably collapse soon. A few weeks, maybe? I couldn't tell. Clearly, Outbreak wasn't planning on staying here for long.

"See those pillars over there? I can destroy them with my power, which will cause the building above to collapse."

"Bring the roof down on its head? Bold, but I don't think that'll do the job." Vauban said.

"We don't have to kill it." I argued. "We just need to make sure someone else can. If we bring the roof down, it'll force the damn thing out in the open, right where the heroes can shoot it to pieces."

Limbo looked at me inquisitively. "That… might actually work. The creature is too large to fit through the tunnels…"

"…so it'll become a sitting duck it if stays here." I finished. "I will need some time, though. Concrete's kind of hard to melt through. You two are going to have to distract it."

"Distract it? Just us?" Vauban blurted out. "Are you insane?"

"Probably." I shrugged. "I'll only need a minute. A big, strong, manly guy like you can manage that long, right? Oh, and when the whole place comes down, be somewhere else."

Vauban grumbled again. Probably more expletives. "Oh well, got tired of this damn world anyway. Sure, why not? Not like waiting for Nyx to show up's any better…"

"She's probably chasing Nekros again." Limbo chuckled. "You know how he gets: always distracted by shiny objects."

The two pulled out their weapons and went quiet again. Right, no more horsing around. We had a monster to kill. My allies ran out of the tunnel and landed right in the thick of it. Limbo jumped on the creature itself, using a pair of long-knives to stay on its back while shifting in and out of reality. With each shift, layers of skin just fell of the creature. Vauban, in the mean time, threw a grenade in their midst. Suddenly, an energy field appeared and the smaller monsters were levitated into the air. Easy pickings for the assassin, who pulled out some sort of red, organic-looking shotgun-pistol and opened fire.

With the enemy currently occupied, I could focus on the pillars and brought down two of them in less than a minute.

Soon after, Outbreak noticed me. Without warning, the monsters stopped focusing on my allies and turned their attention towards me. Not good. I couldn't fight and take out the pillars at the same time. Vauban, probably sensing my distress, threw another levitation grenade my way, but that would only slow down the smaller creatures, not Phorid. As if on cue, the giant shook Limbo of its back and roared.

A massive wave of sound tore through the cavern, an order of magnitude more powerful than anything I could possibly generate. I hid behind a pillar and pushed every ounce of energy I had into dampening and redirecting the waves. Even then, the pillar splintered and my body nearly shook itself apart. I barely manage to bite down the urge to scream.

So, that's what it felt like, I thought, grimly.

There was a rumble in the ceiling above. Phorid's roar must have done more damage than intended. I smiled. This is exactly what I was hoping for. Assuming I wasn't going to get crushed by falling debris, of course. This time, I was ready for it. I ran like hell towards the tunnel, narrowly escaping the falling rocks and what not. Just as I made it through, the roof crashed down and a wave of dust washed over me. I looked back, finding Limbo and Vauban. Both looked mostly unharmed. Good. Very good. Then I looked up and saw the stars.

It worked. I nearly got the three of us killed doing it, but it worked.

Phorid tore itself free from the debris. I'd hoped that the collapse would have killed him, but I guess that was too much to ask for. The creature looked around, probably trying to figure out its next move, when a volley of rockets slammed into its sides.

The heroes had arrived.