ABB Raid
April 25th
Bitch and Weaver approached the false lighthouse Bitches' three dogs bulked up to the size of small horses trotting alongside them.
Weaver was frustrated. That morning, after the incident at the mall Danny had looked over the list Nova sent over to find a lawyer to help them out. They had spent the remainder of the day sitting in offices talking to different ones that seemed promising. That evening, most of them had slowly called back with price quotes that were out of their market for taking the case or outright refusals. By the end of the experience, Taylor wanted to hit something. As that would get Taylor in trouble it was time for Weaver to get back into action despite the concussion.
At the meeting point, Kaiser and his twin arm candy waited along with Newter, Labyrinth, Sundancer, and last was Danger who was adjusting the settings on some sort of handheld device.
"You got what? about a 300-yard radius on the bugs?" Danger asked without looking up.
"Varies about two to three blocks," Weaver admitted. Tilting her head she tried to get a look at the device's screen.
"She should definitely scout ahead, then we need all the information we can get. Bakuda has been putting bombs all over. She's sure to have traps all up in her own places."
"You're not in charge here" Kaiser growled.
"No I'm not and as such, I don't take responsibility for anyone but myself. You want to dive in blind go ahead I won't stop you" Danger said, putting away his gadget.
"Watches out Synch to 4:40 in 3 2 1..." Kaiser instructed.
Skitter had fumbled for a cell phone and Danger just tilted his head.
"Now who's being stubborn?" One of the twins snarked.
"Mines synched just as requested, anachronistic Barbie. Do you think these things over my eyes are just for show? It's a heads-up display I don't have to look around for information it's right here before me time date distance to any object I look at body temperature density voice stress IR UV Radar Sonar I can tell you how many beats per minute your heart is doing how much neural activity is going on in someone's brain and how many seconds Kaisers watch is faster than the GPS timekeeping system. But none of that matters. I just listened to Kaiser's idea because it was sensible and we have a job to do. So before you speak again, think about one. Do I know what I'm talking about and two? As Kaiser is old enough to be my father and is my leader does he need me defending him or is he mature enough to mostly know when to pick his battles? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will stop you from embarrassing yourself in front of the adults."
The Valkyrie tensed ready to strike as much at the insinuation that the much younger Danger was an adult when she wasn't. Kaiser held a hand up in front of her. "He's right, you spoke out of turn. Now let's get to work. We only have a few minutes to get there and plan our attack."
Bitches dogs suddenly swelled and splattered everyone with goop Kaiser dropped into a fighting stance but then snarled and spun heading away
"That was childish. Fun but childish" Danger said.
"I'm not a fucking child" Bitch snarled back.
"I'm not saying you are, everyone does childish things from time to time we have to or we'd lose our minds but be careful I've already been needling them harder than I should I'd hate things to go sour because we both were pushing them and they snapped at us" Danger explained.
"Yeah, I guess." Bitch groused.
"Do me this favor Racheal and I'll help you out. I happen to have chemicals I stole before this nonsense started that I could use to make flea dip. How does, enough for say, two hundred dogs sound?"
"You better not be lying. And you don't call me Rachel. I'm Bitch"
"Alright then Deal.'' He stopped just as Newter was stopping Weaver who was engrossed in a conversation with Sundancer.
"Alright then if Weaver is our scout then let's get to it. What is in that building it's our target." Kaiser said, pointing to a tagged building guarded by ABB thugs.
"Give me a second I'm sending them in," Weaver said focusing on the building
"Some of those thugs are conscripts but not many Bakuda isn't in this base" Danger speculated.
"She'd keep more of her living bombs around herself. The trustworthy would get assignments further out. Yes, I can see that. Hurry it up Weaver we want to make attacks from multiple angles and we have just over a minute to get into place" Kaiser said.
"That isn't the deal we're supposed to stick together to prevent betrayal," Weaver groused.
"Deal with it they're not all running out the back when we hit," Kaiser said
"Just let them be for now Weaver, what do we have? I can pick up some things through the walls but not enough" Danger added.
"About thirty people on the ground floor unarmed. Undressed too. Ten armed upstairs. I think I have found two traps - bombs. I could probably set them off." Weaver explained.
"Give us about forty seconds to get to the other side and then go," Kaiser said, rushing off with the twins in tow.
"We shouldn't have let them go like that. Bitch warn Grue and Tattletale, will you? I'll get the bugs in place to set the bombs off" Weaver instructed.
Newter chimed in "I can go to the top pretty easily. Bitch's dogs can cream the bottom from what I've seen."
"Likely a packaging operation with no clothes so they can't hide the drugs. I wish I knew what chemicals they were working with but still good scouting info." Danger said.
"Time we better go!" Weaver started taking off at a jog.
As everyone raced to the building Newter and Bitch raced ahead while Danger Sundancer and Labyrinth lagged behind. Weaver was in the middle pulling ahead of the slower members but unable to catch the faster.
Suddenly she stopped. She pulled out her phone "Fuck answer Bitch!"
"What is it?" Sundancer asked
Newter's hurt it's Oni Lee" Weaver replied
Labyrinth put a hand on Weaver's shoulder
"Didn't he lose his legs?" Sundancer asked.
"He can still teleport. Don't underestimate him, it's what happened to Newter. Shit, Lung is here too"
"Where is Lung?" Danger asked pulling a rifle like weapon off his back
"Other side of the building fighting Kaiser Oni Lee got the drop on Newter upstairs" Weaver responded.
Danger spun and shot the lock off the door of a building across the street. He then turned around while lowering the weapon to speak to Labyrinth. "I studied everyone's powers, yours are slow and this battle will be too fast-paced. We'll rescue Newt you prep a fallback place for us over there something defensible with water and maybe beds. Somewhere we can take Newter to recover? Can you do that for us? "
Labyrinth nodded and headed off at a jog.
"What's wrong with her?" Sundancer asked noticing her odd behavior
"On the spectrum, I suspect, is not important now. She knows what to do and we can count on her to do it. Have Bitch stay on the ground floor. Her Dogs are too big for this sort of mobility fight." Danger said, putting away his rifle and pulling two dissimilar pistols.
"I take it those are for Oni Lee and the Rifle is for Lung?" Weaver speculated.
"Something like that lead on Weaver I think we're on the same page Kaiser can handle himself "
"Right, he wants to be a glory hound so he can deal with the consequences." She said racing into the building and up the stairs.
Halfway up the stairs, Weaver came to a realization. "This is a trap he's waiting By Newter to start picking off rescuer isn't he"
"Yes but if we take too long he'll just kill him and move on to help Lung. Sundancer I need you once were in to use your powers stay near the wall and keep your sun in front of you Weaver and I can handle the bright glare better than Oni Lee. Weaver, you'll swarm him and I will use this to stop him from teleporting."
"You can do that?" Sundancer asked
"Normalcy Asserter prevents space-time chicanery." He replied.
"Tinkers are such Bullshit." Weaver groused as they busted into the room.
They had to marvel at how Oni Lee was a master of his own power. Even deprived of legs he timed his teleportations to swipe at throats, wrists, and arms even while in mid-fall. His clones would then hit the ground and slash at the groin knees and ankles. All three rescuers had the advantage of good costumes. Weaver's spider silk body glove was highly slash-resistant, Sundancers armored costume was well designed by the infamous Accord, and the high collared lab coat Danger wore was not only thick but seemed to be made of some tough fiber that could take a lot of damage. Weaver's insects crawled, bit, and stung the duplicating teleporter. She started to call out where he was teleporting, able to track him by the insect clinging to the body too close to be dislodged when he ported. Finally one of his teleportations caught up with Dangers Ray and he dropped and remained in one place without turning to ash.
The other pistol fired a beam that was like a sudden flash of lightning and Oni Lee slumped into a coma.
"Electrolaser particle beam it's like a ranged Taser. I'm going to put a collar on him that will monitor his heart rate and drip feed sedation to him to keep him from fleeing till the PRT gets here to haul him off" Danger explained.
"Smart we don't want a kill count if we can help it" Weaver replied.
"How do we help Newter we can't touch him?" Sundancer worried.
"I can do it. I have gloves and a lab coat just let me mask up for extra safety" Danger said pulling out a small mask that conformed to his lower face once it was in place a field of energy snapped into existence over his neck and hair forming a seal.
"He's bleeding from a nasty cut deep stab wound maybe?" Weaver pointed out
Danger pulled a small spray bottle from his pants and sprayed the area with a clear foam that quickly sealed the wound
"Your right Tinkers are utter bullshit" Sundancer proclaimed.
"Sundancer, grab that Plastic sheet. I'm going to get Bitch to bring a dog close to the stairs so we can wrap him up and load him on the dog." Weaver exclaimed.
"Good thinking a human body can be heavy" the filtered voice of Danger came from the mask.
"Do you always carry a respirator?" Weaver asked.
"Only when I'm fond of breathing. Attacking a possible drug lab I should have brought extra for everyone. But I just didn't think of it if there was something that burned and made fumes in here or just the air was filled with dust from torn bags we could all be tripping out of our minds. Dumb Dumb Dumb. But I'm so used to working solo. Should have brought extra bandage spray too." he groused at himself as he dragged the larger man down the stairs
They exited the stairs into a hellscape. Lung was almost twenty feet long. He was fighting both of the twins as well as Angelica and Judas. Brutus was standing near with Bitch on his back
"Get him up on Brutus so you can get your rifle out" Weaver exclaimed.
"Bitch get him over there Labyrinth has prepared us a fallback over there." Danger explained.
"Whatever waste of time anyhow" Bitch groused but started off.
"Be careful what you touch, you still have Newters blood and sweat on you." Sundancer pointed out.
"Right, I'm going to confess a problem here. I told Coil privately but didn't proclaim it to the world but there is another danger with using a Maser on metal. Diffuse reflection. Some of the energy will not penetrate and will scatter around the target. So if I fire into this pel-mel fight-" Danger started to say
He was taking off his coat and gloves, dropping them behind him as he unlimbered and adjusted his rifle-like weapon. Under the coat, he had a black mock turtleneck, and under the heavy gloves was a lighter surgical latex pair.
"You could cook Kaiser the twins and Bitches dogs." Weaver realized.
"Correct, the effect is less dangerous with visible light so I can still hurt him but Once we have his attention we are going to be in a world of trouble."
"Sundancer, can your sun ball block him?" Weaver asked.
"You saw how hot and bright even a small orb is that was as tiny as I could make it."
Kaiser had reentered the fight. Sending a spear shooting out of the ground at Lung's heart. The dragon-man dodged it and looked around. His eyes locked with Weaver's "You!"
"Some history?" Sundancer asked.
"She took him down. She and Bitch laid him low even if Armsmaster took credit. He has a price on her head. He blames Weaver most." Danger said having heard the story when preparing for his interview with the team.
"Well I accidentally made his crotch rot off," Weaver admitted.
"You what?" Sundancer asked with disgust.
"We don't need your weapons to finish this Danger me and the girls have this" Kaiser proclaimed.
"I think if you haven't finished him by now you're not going to. He's ramping up too fast." Weaver stated.
"Very well but watch your shots. I will not forgive so-called friendly fire." Kaiser stated.
Bug girl and a Clown?" Lung said. Barely understandable due to a non-human mouth. He broke out into a hissing that must have been laughter then spread his wings and breathed fire right at them.
Everyone dove out of the way of the wave of fire Danger raised back up and fired his rifle-like, weapon striking into a twisted scar where Lung's right shoulder joined his body.
Sundancer made her smallest-sized orb and swept it around it, absorbed the flames, and cleared the others a path. Weaver dashed at the giant. Kaiser made a massive stalactite-like spike come down from the ceiling. He could not make metal inside someone's body but he could push it into them by growing it from the back and extending the sharp edge on point forward.
Lung's sinuous body twisted to avoid the worst of the Laser weapon and the center of the spike his armor plates deflected more of the energy of the spike shoving him roughly out of the way. He was rolled by the blow and landed on his back. Menja stabbed into the injured shoulder with her spear. Fenja attempted to cut off Lung's head with her sword.
Lung raised his left hand and batted Menja away. He reversed its strike to claw into Fenja only to find her shield blocked his blow. Metal hooks grew up and back into the ground trapping Lung's legs and arms. Kaiser rushed forward forming a spear of his own as he did, aiming to skewer Lung through the eye. A blast of fire sent Kaiser rolling away desperately trying to douse the flames.
Lung started to flex and it seemed he would free himself but Angelica Judas and the returning Brutus laid into him biting his good shoulder arm and his stomach. The burning sensation of the laser started up in his knees as bugs crawled into his mouth, eyes, and ears again.
He attempted to unleash flame again but as He inhaled he felt something shoved up his nostrils and the world started to tilt and skew horridly.
Weaver stood on Lung's chest, each hand gloved in Dangers black over gloves. She'd shoved his bloody lab coat up Lung's slitted nostrils. Noticing him starting to be affected by the hallucinogens she then wiped the gloves on his gums.
"Now that was quick thinking!" Danger said walking over closer.
"Do you have anything that can keep him down as you used on Oni Lee?" She asked.
"I didn't expect him to get this big. I thought by this point we'd be running away. Sorry no he's too large I'm going to treat Kaiser's burns he should have enough of a dose in him to keep him down until the Protectorate gets here I'd think"
"I don't think we can take that chance" Weaver stated pulling out her knife
"What are you going to do!" Sundancer asked with horror.
Weaver cut into his eyes "Seeing that he can't run he's a regenerator so they'll heal back".
Bitch dismounted "What about the fires go put them out" giving Sundancer a light kick.
Spurred into action she did her best to stop the fires while Weaver did her bloody work.
Danger returned "Fenja and Menja are taking Kaiser home he'll be down for a while and have some scarring on his hands and arms. I saved his face I'm pretty sure and gave them some stuff to keep up the treatment"
"Should have let him burn." Bitch groused.
"I got him to make a major forfeit for the healing Bitch he said he's going to shut down Hookwolfs Dog fights" Danger revealed.
"Huh. good" was all she responded as she ordered the Dogs away.
When they returned to the area Labyrinth had prepped Newter was already up he was a mild regenerator it seemed. He and Labyrinth headed away. Sundancer took off as soon as she had her breath back.
"I'm hungry, you two want some pancakes?" Danger asked.
"Curfew every place is closed." Weaver pointed out.
"Nonsense I'll take you to a safe house I have. It's down that way. I can even find something for the dogs to snack on I'll bet."
Bitch shrugged and the group mounted upon dogs and headed out.
Bakuda's Base
April 25th
Dennis picked his way carefully through the ruins looking for his team. Each Ward on patrol was supposed to stick close to an adult Protectorate member. Looking around and seeing only Nova and Vista he knew things had gone about as pear-shaped as they could go.
"What are you two doing? This building is falling in!" He yelled
"Tell us something we don't know! Who do you think is holding it up!" Vista screamed back.
Denis looked closer and realized what he was looking at Vista had not only bent but twisted space. Girders merged to form diagonal columns merging further into a massive pillar. It looked like a metal tree branching out into the building. Nova was at the base shoving upward, extending her aura along the path of the metal to hold it all firm.
"Shit, the moment you stop everything falls." Denis realized.
"I can take it. Get everybody out!" Nova exclaimed.
"The weight maybe but this is Bakudas lab who knows what that crash will set off! Hold on, I'm coming over, I'll clock block the trunk and you can fly us out." Denis exclaimed.
"Too dangerous, take Vista and go." Nova groaned.
"Nope. Once I block it you can't affect it so you can let go and fly us clear or stand around waiting for it to punch back in and hope you can catch it mid-snapback." Clock stated.
"Don't be stubborn Nova. It's a good idea once Clock blocks it, I can let go and it will be frozen in the warp. We've tested it before." Vista explained.
"You two shouldn't take these kinds of risks."
"Haha coming from miss, let's punch Lung in the face that's rich." Denis shot back as he reached out and touched the pillar.
"Hold on Vista grab him first hold on tight and stable so I can pick you both up without breaking your necks" Nova instructed.
"Don't make this weird," Missy demanded as she wrapped her body around Denis.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Not till we're done anyhow." He said just as he touched the central pillar of warped metal.
The pillar froze. Missy released her power and the irregularities in space snapped changing how pressure was pushing on the "tree". The ceiling and walls started to crack in bizarre whirling patterns where the trapped forces sought an escape that could not be had through the temporally out of synch bracing.
A bright stream of light shot out of the quickly decaying area and landed on a ledge that seemed stable on the other side of a now widening pit.
Denis ripped his mask off reflectively placing an arm over his eyes and upper face as his mouth spewed the contents of his stomach off the edge of the precipice.
Vista was breathing carefully and trying to ignore the noise and smell coming from her teammate lest it trigger her own rolling stomach.
"Starting and stopping like that is tough. Are you going to be ok, Clock?" Nova asked leaning over to pat the sick teen on the back.
"Yeah. Yeah, just give me a minute." Denis said.
Missy handed him a wet nap from one of the compartments on her belt. Wiping his mouth he replaced his mask.
"I had to clock block some rubble that force separated me from Triumph. What happened to Velocity and Battery?" He inquired.
"Velocity got slammed into a wall. Battery rushed him out, Nova and I were following. Then everything started coming apart. None of our communication gear seems to be working. So, Nova and I had to find a way to keep the building up. Vista explained.
"It looks like Bakuda overdid it. She's going to be lucky not to be buried in this herself. Not only that but the water table isn't that high. The lower parts of this place are flooding. A nasty way to go drowning buried in the rubble." Nova said while scanning her eyes over the still collapsing area.
"Suicide doesn't sound much like Bakuda. Revenge is more her style. If she goes, all those people and places she trapped will go with her." Vista fumed.
"More than that she's a grandstander the site of her death would have to become a spectacle. She has something more here, something that would be her Magnum Opus" Clockblocker reasoned.
"He's right. Look for the spot with the least damage; she'd not risk setting it off early." Nova said, lifting herself into the air.
After a while of peering through the debris, Denis found something. "Isn't it odd how that is sticking out? Looks like the corner of a box. Down there at the bottom."
"One the size of a room maybe? Good catch, this might be Bakuda's panic room." Missy speculated.
"Or where she hid her weapon of last resort. Let's be careful." Nova warned.
Vista and Nova had a good synergy on clearing the shifting debris Clockblocker was keeping alert for trouble. He was thus the one to see a part of the box move sending rubble tumbling.
It was a door and Bakuda came out of it firing her grenade launcher. Clock responded quickly, tossing a thin foil emergency blanket into the air and freezing it in place most of the grenades detonated against the impervious barrier. Others sailed impossibly far thanks to Vista. Blowing up far off target.
Nova was around Clock's shield in an instant. She struck Bakudas gun arm with a left-handed chop that broke the bones of the forearm. She grabbed her foe's gas mask with her right hand and squeezed.
Vista gasped fearing Nova was going to crush the villain's face or unmask her. Instead, she heard the crunch and shattering of plexiglass.
"Sounds like the HUD in that mask is gone. Now strip! Mask last you can cover your face with your hands till we get you in a prison jumpsuit." Nova ordered.
"Bitch you are in no position to AHHHHHH!" Bakuda screamed as Nova gripped the villain's injured arm.
"You have a deadman switch so I guess you are going to get acquainted with how much the human body can live through if you keep resisting." Nova barked, her eye rays started to cut through Bakuda's clothing; thin strips fell away as she worked.
Clock was looking down and pointed "She has rings on her left toes but is missing the same toes on the other foot."
Two quick streaks of light and the rings fell away. The toes were barely reddened from the heat.
Vista held the edge of the frozen blanket. It soon returned to normal temporal sync and she pulled it to her. She advanced the blanket in one hand and zip cuffs in the other.
"Clock, give me your spare mask, mine is going to be too small," Vista ordered. Trying to both remain alert for tricks but not staring like a pervert, Denis let the commanding tone slide and slipped the youngest Ward the requested Mask.
Leaving his female teammates to continue. Denis peered into the room Bakuda had emerged from.
"Oh shit. Hey, this looks a lot like an implosion sphere! She's made a goddamn nuclear bomb!" Denis shouted.
"You have to be shitting me" Nova responded peeking in.
Vista pushed her way past her startled teammates. "Don't panic, we can fix this. First, is it even armed?"
Bakuda laughed, "It was armed the minute you cut off the rings, and brilliant here also broke the only controls to turn it off."
"Ok stay cool. Let's see that up there is the fusible material. That over there has to be a fissile core. Here are the normal explosives to kick start the reaction and the ones set in the implosion sphere will set all that off so..." Vista pondered.
Clock Blocker looked in as well."If I freeze this fissile core there is no way it will trigger an atomic event. I am going to bet that if I do that it will set off the explosives, and I would be caught in the middle and imploded. So it's still a dangerous place to be."
Nova looked about "I don't think I can get you out of here, not you Vista, and Bakuda."
"Got it, what if I stand outside the door and I warp the harness holding the core till it sticks out the door. Outside Nova slams the door, breaking the wires. Clock freezes the Cube and the bombs go off inside." Vista schemed
Bakuda started to move but Nova gave what looked like a casual tap on the side of the head. The villain went slack. "you both get into place. I'm going to hang her up over there on that rebar the last thing we need is her trying to wriggle off"
"nice image like a worm on a hook." Denis quipped as he studied the structure noting where it connected to other objects he didn't want to freeze
"Are you ready? We don't even know how long this thing has" Missy groused
"I'm coming I'm coming," Nova said
"You two stand to either side of the door. Just in case it doesn't fall out of sync with the rest. Dennis said motioning with his arms to indicate suggested places to stand.
"Good call, Clock. Are we ready?"
"Yes, it's on its way... Now" Missy replied.
The core soon emerged from the door on bizarrely noodled struts Nova snatched it while slamming the door.
Dennis saw Vista assume an odd pose. A second later a blurry streak whisked her away. Mildly panicked he tried to mimic the stance the last thing he wanted was to empty his stomach again tonight. The dry heaves majorly sucked.
The world went blurry and he found he was standing in front of Miss Militia. The older heroine looked about as the blur returned, resolving into Bakuda. It vanished again
"The ECM stopped, was that you three?" She inquired.
"I think the jamming was a side effect. Bakuda had a nuclear device. I suspect the device was meant to enhance the EM pulse of the bomb which was itself a city killer. Clock Blocker and I disarmed it." Vista reported.
"Nova? Where is she now? If there was a nuke where is the fissile core?" Miss Militia worried. A blur resolved into Nova back from her task.
"I had to get it somewhere safe. I raided the Rig for safety gear. I wrapped it in lead-lined smocks and sealed it up with confoam. That should hold it till someone official can take charge of it. Physically it's in the haz waste bin at the Rig." Nova sputtered the ending, noticing Miss Militia's eye crinkling. She had wanted a more direct answer.
"Good, then this is a victory for us tonight." Miss Militia admitted.
"One down two to go," Denis said with a fist pump.
"Not quite all of them are down. The villains hit other ABB sites. One of them got lucky and took down both Lung and Lee." Miss Militia reported
Vista winced, "I'm not sure I'd call that luck."
"Lucky for us. Lucky for the city too they can put this mess behind them Nova opined
"With all of the ABBs territory up for grabs? We'll see but I fear kids this mess is only starting." The tired Heroine said as she led them away.