Well, it took a little longer than expected… But here it is. The fateful first meeting of Cain and Aru! A little more dramatic than I'm sure most of you were expecting, but I do hope you'll like it!
*Chapter 12: Problem Solvers and Problem Makers*
With the revelation of the coming attack, we awaited Ayane's reconnaissance of the enemy's disposition. While Hoshino and I were just fine, Shiroko, Nonomi and Serika were burning with regret and anger at having to face off against those they just broke bread with. Such was the reality of war. You never knew who you'd face on the field of battle next.
"So what are we looking at, Ayane?"
"We have 39 contacts on radar, Sensei," Ayane replied with a prompt and grim assessment from her tablet's drone view.
"Damn, did they hire all of them from the Thug Depot at the crack of dawn?" Hoshino growled. "I'm still tired from the last fight we had…"
"Majority of them seem to be just random hired thugs," Ayane continued. "The real problem is their leaders."
A transmission was broadcast through the district, an arrogant voice grating my ears from the other end. "Students of the Abydos Academy and the renowned Sensei of SCHALE! We challenge you for the ownership of the Academy building! Refuse our call, and we will start destroying the city! Ignore our warnings at your own peril!"
"The group is being led by four unknown commanders. I don't have time to find out any information on them."
Which was worse than all the others put together in my book. Individual performance mattered far more in this city, and personal experience acquainted me very well with what four haloed girls could do on their own. I was just going to have to assume the worst in that our enemies were equal to my own students, and hope my own prowess and tactical acumen would be enough to win us the day.
"So that's why they couldn't eat a while ago…" Apparently, Serika convinced the Master to give our aggressors a little leeway and provided an overstuffed bowl of ramen to them. She really needed to work on her observational skills, while I cursed our luck. Be damned, if I had gone with them to the city, I could have stopped this from happening.
No matter. That was a regret for later. This was now. I focused and asked another question. "Any vehicles?"
"None. But they don't need them. They're holing up in the main district, around twenty kilometers from here, without doing anything." The look she gave me was of forlorn resignation as she concluded what we all knew. "We can't use the Flak 41, can we?"
She already knew the answer, but dear me did all of us hope it was different. Sure, the city was very empty, but people still lived there and we couldn't exactly shell the district we were trying to protect. Since they called us out, we can't call their own bluff and just stay here until it's all over, and neither can we show just how little that threat mattered by shelling them anyway. What a wonder that would do for the reputation we were building.
Still, there were silver linings to this. If they really were so dead broke that hiring a bunch of two-bit thugs who, it should be noted, numbered less than the Helmet Gangers from our previous engagements, left them begging for a meal, that gave me a few openings to use.
I could work with this. Not perfectly, but opening an engagement on your own terms was about the best we could do.
"If there's one thing we can gather from this, it's that their employer is likely the same as the Helmet Gang's, but as leaders, they might have more to say than the rest of the gangers we dealt with," I let the implication hang in the air.
"So we rough them up a bit and get info from them about who hired them?" Serika spelled out the plan, the fist punched into her other hand a very clear sign of just how eager she was to execute it. "Let's do it."
"We have an opportunity here," I declared firmly. We were about to get into very unpleasant territory here, but a little morale boost somehow almost always worked coming from me. "So let's move out and seize it."
Offhandedly, I consoled myself with the idea that there was little chance of us losing any of our marks to an accidental fatality. If only my own life and well-being were so secure.
"So you're really just making us wait here then?"
Problem Solver 68 and the extra help she hired gathered in an intersection within the city. It was within the city and outside the range of the dreaded artillery their boss told them about, so at the very least, they'd only have to deal with the very few students, strengthened as they might be by the prowess of the infamous Sensei of SCHALE.
"Yes. They'll be here soon enough." Or so she hoped. They were basically calling them out now, and if these people had any care for the city, they'd come in.
"Sure, whatever. If they don't come soon, it'll be EZ money." Clearly, their muscle didn't have much faith in her assumptions, but to hell with that!
"I noticed that you didn't ask them to actually break anything, boss."
Kayoko spoke up from her side, her eyes slightly drooped and her hands sidled lazily in her pockets. A deceptively relaxing posture: She knew just how fast those hands of hers could go into a firing stance.
Her diligence made the question that much harder to answer. "And? What about it?"
"Just saying. They'd definitely come if they knew we were making a mess of the place" She paused and then looked around. "Well, you can't make it much worse than it already is, but it'd be a sure thing."
Possibly. Probably. Definitely better than nothing, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Well…" She hesitated. "You know. We're causing enough trouble for them already. I'm sure it will be enough."
As it was now, there were "only" butterflies flitting about like mad in her stomach. They'd be flitting about an empty stomach if it weren't for the generosity of one of their targetsGOD why did this have to be so hard?!
"If you say so." At the very least, Kayoko didn't seem to be judging her for it, content with waiting for their foes.
"You really are all heart Aru," Mustuki chuckled. "This might've been easier if I could mine the hell out of this place, but you didn't let me do that either in case some poor innocent soul passes by! Ah well, it'll be fun if they come."
"Fun indeed!' She tried not to let her voice crack. "A head-on confrontation where we defeat the Sensei in a fair fight will make our reputation soar, would it not?!"
"That makes sense! We'll go with that!" Mutsuki grinned even more, clearly showing that she really wasn't going with it.
"Wow Lady Aru! Your foresight is incredible! No matter what'll come, I'll endure it all for your sake!"
And there was Haruka's unending faith in her again. Somehow, it always smacked into her confidence harder than any of Mutsuki's teases, because she actually believed all that tripe and she had to actually live up to those expectations!
"Thank you Haruka." She grinned, hoping she didn't look like a stiff marionette. "I'm sure you'll do well."
As the minutes wore on, she felt panic creep up on her. Did she want this fight? Did she NOT want this fight? What the hell did she actually want to do now?!
She was almost, ALMOST relieved when she could hear the faint sounds of an engine in the distance, and eventually, five figures came striding in to meet them. The five students of Abydos, led by the Sensei.
And the moment she laid eyes on him, her mind went blank.
_
We left the school by car and stopped about a kilometer from the probable firefight, walking the rest of the way. It was another one of the wider roads of the city.
Striding up to a force nearly five times your number while your hands weren't even on your weapons seemed like a suicidal idea, but I was determined to make the most of the information we knew. As far as I was concerned, the best fights were the ones that never happened, followed by the easiest ones. If we can convince them not to fight, then that would be best.
The easiest way out of this was, of course, to just buy the fools out. Problem being, that will send the message that any two-bit ganger can get a teacher's allowance just by banding together and making a nuisance of themselves, so we'll have to deal with this the old fashioned ways: Talking, and then shooting if we can't talk it out.
So thinking, I walked up to the group with my hands at my side, flanked by Shiroko and Hoshino on my left, with Serika and Nonomi taking the right. They were armed, I was not.
The majority of the thugs were a veritable gathering of construction workers clothed in utility suits and hardhats and armed with autoguns and shotguns. They stared wordlessly at us, either not looking particularly invested in the proceedings or surprised at the fact that we came at all.
Of course, none of them compared to the four that weren't in uniform, the ones actually hired by our mysterious gang backer. One look at them and I instantly knew they were no normal criminals.
The first one in front had enough purple on her to front a Slaaneshi coven or a genestealer cult, though at the very least, she was decently, modestly dressed. Everything about her short of her skin was purple. Her military coat, the bag strapped to it, the calf-length shoes on her feet, the custom shotgun with spiked scope she hugged protectively in her arms as though she would lose it the moment she let go, her garrison cap, even her hair, eyes and halo all shared the same color. Said halo was a broken ring of needles with spikes jutting out from them, and she seemed to be of a similarly fragile mental state.
The second seemed to be having considerably more fun observing the show, and I'd wager she'd be perfectly willing to drop her gun and take out the caba nuts if she had her way. Her silver hair was tied into a side ponytail with a black scrunchie creating a childish image. This was topped with her halo, a red quad-spiked crosshair with a circle surrounding a four-petaled flower at the center. In contrast to the unease and reservedness of the first one, the impish grin on her face promised absolute fun at everyone else's expense. This was only emphasized by her relatively small size and her outfit, a red and black children's uniform topped with a blazer. Her weapon, a large heavy stubber that was nearly her size, contrasted with her childishness yet perfectly showed the chaos she wanted to create. She also had a black duffle bag with white lettering ominously labeled "Love and Violence", and I shuddered to think of what secrets lay within.
The third had a seemingly sedate expression with red eyes that hardened upon seeing me, which only meant that she was deceptively observant, somewhat like Hoshino. Unlike Hoshino however, she seemed to be going for intimidation. Pale skin, a choker on her neck, ear piercings and a jacket with a demonic face and a stripe of white at the bottom with the similarly dangerous " .Kill." Floating above her head was a strange halo made up of two white pentagons: A bigger one with three points thrusting out from the sides, and a smaller one inside, rotated in opposite directions. Her hair was practically pure white in the front with a black ponytail and a tiny black strip covering her forehead. Her firearm was a pistol openly displayed on her shoulder, an uncommon way to hold and draw your gun. Judging the steel in her eyes, I could only assume she knew how to use it.
I had to suppress a flinch when I saw the tiny wing peeking out from the small of her back and the horns sidling up her ponytail. Horns and wings. Sure, why not? They had animal girls and angels, why not slap a few daemons here too?
The last one was undoubtedly the leader. I couldn't even begin to describe how complex her halo was, with circles and dashed lines and more making it up. Her long pink hair was framed with two gold and black horns, making me hide a wince as they had another daemon girl with them. She presented herself as a business woman, with a white blouse tied with a red ribbon, a brown office skirt and brown high heels. The white gloves on her hands and the brown furred overcoat topping all of it off gave her a grander bearing than the rest, and the ornate black and gold sniper rifle in her hands definitely helped with that.
"Sensei, be careful."
Arona's voice interrupted my thoughts, which instantly put me on edge. She was usually content to let me fight without her thoughts hindering my own, and even worse, she was unusually serious in her tone. "What is it?" I replied while schooling my expression to give no clue as to her presence.
"All of them have Mystic powers just like the Abydos girls," she cautioned me, which I basically assumed anyway, but having it confirmed did little to assure me, as can be easily imagined.
Powerful children, I remembered. Time to focus on the other part of that equation.
"We've answered your implied summons," I began. "I am the Sensei, Ciaphas Cain, and these are the students of the Abydos Academy, here to welcome you. What is it you require?"
I was mostly playing it by ear, the battlefield not exactly the kind of place for a bullet pointed speech, but I did have a small plan in mind that I discussed with the team if things do go awry. Greeting overwhelming odds with casual regard was an unexpected move that tended to give people pause, and whatever happened after that was up to the Emperor.
I waited with bated breath for the reaction, not knowing what it would be. I certainly didn't expect the hypothesized leader to freeze up as our eyes met, and then lit up in a most peculiar and disturbing way.
AHHHHHH HE WAS SO COOOOOL!
What the hell was this?! He came in striding like an absolute badass flanked by the students, heedless of the numbers arrayed against him, his coat billowing in his wake!
Speaking of, the coat! The outfit! The entire ensemble! A black officer's uniform laden with gold, winged skull emblems adorning the buckles, the collar and more! Crimson gloves! A peaked cap, a staple of dictators and military junta officers in so many films, once again flashing a golden winged skull at all who would face him! All of this topped with the flowing greatcoat and only made more dangerous by the rumored laser gun and the FREAKING CHAINSAW at his hip!
And knowing that his enemies outnumbered him nearly five times over, what was his reaction? Walk up to them and throw a jibe like nothing was wrong!
He looked and acted like someone a budding outlaw like her would have been proud of following and emulating! And yet here he was, standing in front of them, revered by the city as a hero!
AHHHHHHH-
The way her eyes lit up was maddeningly familiar to me, and it was all the more disturbing for it. The way her mouth inched downwards ever so slightly almost seemed like awe. It was then that I realized that I was reminded, not of some daemonness like Emelie who shook me to my very core and sought to end my life and claim my immortal soul out of pettiness and spite, but of the many troopers and people who seemed to worship the ground I walked on and hung onto my very word.
Emperor, was she starstruck?! How and why?! What was going on in this mad city?!
I made sure to make only a mild display of my bewilderment, the stoic face I made my entrance in giving way to a single, hopefully very significant, raised eyebrow. The interaction was enough to be noticed by the girl's compatriots, the little imp and that other daemon girl looking towards their leader with, respectively, an ever widening grin and a slight slump into depression.
This was looking less like a group of mercenaries and more like a comedy act. To be fair, I looked back upon our incredibly unproductive discussion of the debt yesterday and glumly noted that the description was very fitting to my own team. This city was mad, and unfortunately, I was here to bear witness to all of it. How could you even begin to enter a conversation like that?
"I can't believe it!" The answer was out of my hands as Serika let out an accusing cry. "It really IS you! I can't believe you pricks are attacking us after we gave you all that ramen!"
Well, that was as good an answer as any. The outrage was enough to bring the group back to our world, though I noted a very obvious wince of guilt that came from the horned daemon girl.
The others were much less affected, the little red-black imp letting out a chuckle of amusement. "Sorry about that!" she answered in a tone that very much wasn't sorry. "That ramen was actually good, and we did appreciate it, but this isn't personal."
"It's regrettable," her companion added in a tone that actually DID sound contrite, to her credit, "but business is business. We have to finish our contract."
"So you really are fixers then," Shiroko mused.
"Fixers?! Girls like you shouldn't be working jobs like that!" Nonomi's outrage was supremely unconvincing when she was lugging around a damn rotor cannon bigger than literally every other weapon in the vicinity, used it as liberally as any merc in the underhive, who, it should be noted, did not enjoy the enviable privilege of being able to eat several pounds of lead in the face with all the annoyance of being stung by a mosquito.
"Wh-why not?!" The horned girl was snapped out of her seeming guilt at her profession being questioned, and moved to defend herself. "This is a real respectable business, and all my peers are titled!"
And then she began presenting her companions like dogs at a prize show, and I couldn't help but observe in numb fascination. "Mutsuki is my chief of staff, and Kayoko is my department head! Haruka here may just be an intern, but she'll do very well in the future!"
Mutsuki was trying very hard not to burst out laughing at how desperate her boss sounded, while Haruka lapped up the praise gleefully. "I'll do my best for you, boss!"
"This sounds less impressive and more desperate," Kayoko, who clearly had more brain cells than everyone else there put together, replied with the air of someone who was out of embarrassment to give. It obviously wasn't enough to dissuade the leader, who forged on valiantly in trying to be dignified.
"And I, Aru Rikuhachima, am the President of our organization! We are Problem Solver 68!"
A grand declaration. I'd be more open to it if she was actually solving my problems instead of giving me more.
"We don't care who you are," Shiroko answered with a blunt riposte that made the President flinch. "We care about who hired you."
"W-well, we won't tell you!" She tried to compose herself. "Our client requested our confidentiality and so we will keep to our word!"
"Why?"
At once, everyone froze. Silent as I was throughout the whole exchange, my simple question turned every eye in the vicinity to me. I recognized the leader as the girl who called us out before. The confidence and bravado she had in her announcement was nowhere to be found, the entire thing a front to conceal her own shortcomings. I should know, I had personal experience with the matter. I was just better at it. "Your professionalism," or her attempt at it anyway, I privately thought, "is admirable. But is it being returned?"
"H-huh?" Apparently, she wasn't prepared at all for me to say a word, and was completely caught off-guard by both the question and the fact that I was the one posing it. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"Here you are, outside of the range of the Flak 41, within a target area which we would be very unwilling to risk firing on." I gave a casual shrug. "All details which were not publicly announced. Perhaps you get it from their previous owners' employer, who may have employed you in return."
The girl swallowed nervously, and I forged on. "Of course, the very fact that you're invading the district would make it easy to draw that conclusion. But what am I getting at?"
"50 Helmet Gangers," I began, the reminder of our past victory instantly putting her on the backfoot. "5 Crusaders and a Flak 41. The very one we requisitioned. The one which was used on one of my students here, who then woke up and visited her wrath upon those who used it on her." I inclined my head towards Serika, also known as the one who was angrier than anyone else here at them, which she would be very eager to demonstrate. Her resilience and the carnage she wrought from it was another dent in her confidence. "And this is after weeks of funding repeated failed attacks. Are you worth that much money?"
"Oo-f course we are!" The girl replied instinctively, and I mentally smiled as I made a show of looking around.
"Then where is it?" I asked her, sweeping my gaze across her smaller and inferiorly armed force. "Surely, it can't have gone to your food budget. Somebody here tells me that you didn't have much left for that."
The reminder of Serika's generosity struck another blow towards her, and I pushed on. "Don't tell me your employers were cashed out simply by hiring you. Or are you perhaps fighting us on a down payment? A very small down payment?"
I've been repeatedly hitting the nail on her head and hammering it through her skull. That was definitely enough to shake her confidence, and now it was time to kick it off a cliff, preferably at the kind of height I booted Varan off of. "So are you telling me that this is all your group is worth? A bunch of mercs who barely seem to want to be here?"
"Tell me, 'President' Aru. What do you really want to do?"
This Sensei was as terrifying as the rumors said. With every word he spoke, she could feel her determination cut out from beneath her, like a tower being chunked floor by floor.
He was right. He was absolutely right. Their employers were ripping her off. She was being treated better by her supposed enemies than her clients. Even though she didn't know what she wanted to do.
… No. She did.
"I want to prove myself."
That reply was quiet. Too quiet, but dripping with resolve I really didn't want to hear from my enemies.
"You are wise, Sensei," she began with a smile. "You're right. I'm not in the best place right now. We aren't at all. But this is just a test! We'll rise above it and prove ourselves better!"
Incredible. I managed to counsel a student on the battlefield. That would be a lot nicer if I didn't just rally the spirits of my potential enemies.
"I thank you for your guidance, Sensei!" She was significantly more confident than she was mere seconds ago, actually resembling the image of a villainous executive she wanted to project. "We will defeat you in battle, and prove the true power of Problem Solver 68!"
"Good job, Sensei!" Mutsuki's praise did little to assure me as she held her stubber at the ready. "You just fired up Aru!"
"Whelp, here we go," Kayoko sighed as she drew her handgun from her shoulder.
"You're incredible, Lady Aru! I'll fight for you to the end!" Haruka's worship of her boss became far more disturbing when her eyes clouded over with an unsettling smile. "I'll turn all of you to ash for her!"
As our enemies readied themselves, willing to make a little show out of this, I sighed, taking solace in the fact that our strange little back and forth at least gave us the perfect setup.
"I see." My right hand went to my hip, cradling the hilt of my blade, brandishing it with a flourish and thumbing it to maximum speed. "What a shame."
That was the key. The students of Abydos prepared to move at our agreed signal. Usually, my left hand would go for my laspistol, but not this time.
The sight of the chainsword in my right hand captured everyone's attention, leaving my left free to disappear behind the folds of my greatcoat. Its sound masked the priming of a flashbang, one of the supplies delivered to us just this morning, as it fell to the floor. I kicked it towards them, landing it right by Haruka and a gaggle of several completely unaware part-timers as I closed my eyes.
The flash of light and ear-splitting boom that accompanied it allowed us to seize the initiative. My signal called to the girls to shield their vision as I did, leaving us unimpeded. With the unprofessionalism I expected of amateur hour mercs, the hired muscle were simply gobsmacked by our surprise, allowing all of us but Nonomi to throw a veritable wedding shower of frags their way, once again another move possible due to the GSC's credit. Before, we could only reserve grenades for Shiroko to throw, but now, we had enough for all of us. A cacophony of explosions and a hailstorm of shrapnel erupted through the streets. Hoshino and Serika then moved behind one of the buildings, while Shiroko and I took the other as I powered off my sword and sheathed it, focusing on the ranged game once more. With the middle open, Nonomi was free to sweep her rotor cannon through the firing line.
Victory would be easy for us to grasp if things kept going this way. I refused to believe it would. These girls had psyker powers. Nothing ever came easy with them unless I had Jurgen. I was merely waiting for the other boot to drop.
"I won't forgive you…"
I knew it did when, to my utter shock, I heard the low voice of Haruka over the din of our assault.
"For Lady Aru's sake I'll exterminate you all!"
Her world spun after that first explosion, engulfing all of them in a blinding, deafening blast of light. Paralyzed as she was, she was only saved from the explosions that followed by Kayoko dragging her back.
"Get your head in the game, boss!" Kayoko admonished her. "We're getting torn apart out here!"
Once she could get her bearings again, she looked ahead to see that in a span of seconds ten of their thugs had gone down before they could even take cover. You get what you pay for, she supposed.
Really, what was she doing? She was just a rookie outlaw and she got it in her head that she could stand against the savior of the city. What was her dream in the face of such majesty?
"Come on Aru, don't lose your head just yet!" Mutsuki chuckled despite the absolute chaos they were in. "Haruka hasn't!"
Her eyes raised a fraction and refocused when she saw her vaunted friend stand, unflinching, in the face of the punishment doled out to her.
"I won't forgive you… For Lady Aru's sake I'll exterminate you all!"
At the faithborn words of her friend, she widened her eyes and forced herself to stand.
The boss couldn't stay down. Not when her intern… her friend stood unflinching. What kind of example was she setting at that?
By the Emperor, what the hell was that girl?! She was practically cluster bombed and fed a storm of bullets from a rotor cannon and she barely looked scratched by it all! What the hell was I facing?!
"Sensei, I analyzed her powers!" Arona cried out urgently from within. "Her protections enhance in response to physical trauma!"
So she already had the ridiculous durability of a haloed student, and her powers just pile that on even more?! By Holy Terra, those Chaos Space Marines on Adumbria, 8 feet tall, protected by corrupted power armor and tainted by the Blood God, were less hardy than her!
"She's tough!" Nonomi groaned, and continued to pour it on, then screamed when a bullet whizzed through the center and exploded as it slammed into her. "Agh!" She fell back and had to scramble behind a car. "Owie… that was painful…"
"Sensei, that was Aru!" Arona told me in dismay. "She can make her bullets explode!"
Grand! So she has explosive sniper bullets so long as she has the power to support them!
Our main source of suppressing fire was disabled, though thankfully she wasn't out. I peeped out to see that all of the members of Problem Solver 68 had rallied and taken cover, along with the rest of the hired guns. Worse still, between Mutsuki's stubber and the autoguns and shotguns of the rest of the mob, they were sending lead back our way and making approaches difficult.
"Damn. Ayane, drop one for Nonomi."
"Right Sensei!"
I clucked my tongue as our rotor cannoneer reloaded and recovered, then eyed Serika from across us. She nodded.
"Just like we planned, if that cat girl lights up, I'll light her up first."
"Scare her enough to keep her out of the fight for a bit!"
"I'll deal with them!" Serika burst with azure flames and popped out in an effort to counter the assault, but to my horror a single bullet clipped her and they winked out. She practically skittered back into cover, shuddering with uncharacteristic fear.
"Wh-what… Why am I…? I can't…"
"Sensei, Kayoko's bullets have fear energy inside them! They go past armor and durability!"
Fear in a bullet. So even if the gun itself didn't deal much damage, she made its shot debilitate instead so long as it even grazed you. I was reminded of the necron pariahs back on Simia Orichalcae, or the many other times I'd faced similar warp shenanigans with the horror of the tyranids or the mind breaking suggestions of chaos. Determination made the difference between victory and defeat, and here was a girl with the potential to strip all of your fighting spirit away.
Not only that, she was ready for Serika, accounting for her enhanced reflexes and readying a shot before she could react to disable her ability. Her bullets weren't the only things terrifying about her.
"Here I go!" Haruka was on the move now, a veritable juggernaut. The only thing we had left that might stop her was my chainsword, and that meant walking out into a killing zone of autoguns, shotguns, a stubber and an explosive sniper. Even then, I wasn't sure how much I could do before she filled me full of buckshot, which could disable me long enough for somebody else to get a good shot on me.
"Sensei, I'll handle this one." I heard Hoshino's suggestion and inclined my head forward. She surged out from her position, purposely taking fire to lull them into a false sense of security before transforming Iron Horus into its shield form, planting it into the ground and ducking behind it.
She took enough bullets to supply entire squads of guardsmen, including those exploding bullets, yet held firm. When Haruka met the bulwark, she growled and began cocking and firing her shotgun in rapid succession, repeating fanatical howls of rage. "Just die, just die, just die just die!"
The blast spread out in a cone-shaped pattern similar to Hoshino's, but despite all that, our vanguard was unyielding. "Yeah, not feeling like dying anytime soon."
With all of the opposition stubbornly focused on her, I looked to Serika, who was slowly shaking her head. "Ugh, they got me good with that one and it didn't even hurt…"
"Then make up for it now. Nonomi, are you ready?"
"Yes Sensei, I'm good to go!"
"Then get ready to advance." I primed another flashbang while Shiroko got another frag ready, and we haphazardly threw our charges into the enemy positions.
"Ngh! Fall back and get ready!"
"You got it!" "Aye, aye!"
The new wave of explosives temporarily ceased the hail of bullets and even made Haruka pause in her tracks. Seeing an opportunity, Hoshino smashed the edge of her shield into Haruka's face, forcing her opponent backwards probably more out of surprise than actual damage done. It wasn't much, but it bought enough space for her to rotate Iron Horus and mount the Eye of Horus onto the sideward slot. "My turn." She then unleashed her own cone of devastation from the Eye, blasting Haruka back. As a few more gangers stood up, groggy from getting fragged and flashbanged but not out of the fight yet, we moved to finish them off.
"Push on ahead!" We had to regain our footing again. So long as we could keep Problem Solver 68 in check or take even one of them out, preferably that Kayoko girl, then we had a chance.
We poured on the counter fire as we sprinted down the middle streets, managing to take down a few more part-timers and bringing them down to twenty. Hoshino's shots managed to knock back and disorient Haruka enough to prevent a counter attack from coming while forcing the others into a retreat.
We replaced our enemies in their cover, making sure to land a few more shots to keep them down. Such a city it was, that double or triple tapping teenagers was less a travesty and more a precaution. We were in a stalemate now, but once Nonomi catches up we can mount a proper counterattack.
"Kayoko! Put the fear of demons into them!"
"No choice then…" her section chief said as she raised her firearm to the sky. "Guess I have to let it roar…"
"Sensei, watch out!" Arona cried out fearfully in my head. "That Kayoko girl is gathering a massive amount of mystic power!"
My eyes widened and I called out to the girls in warning. "Take cover!"
The girls, trusting me instinctively, did as I bid and dove for protection, with Hoshino simply taking a knee behind her shield while Serika and Shiroko found a car and a barrier to hide behind.
And that was my mistake.
A deep, ululating cry, like the roar of a some eldritch beast beast, echoed through the battlefield, bringing along with it a wave of bloody red malice radiating from Kayoko's position.
It washed over me, my protection useless, and I instantly felt a spike of terror shoot through my brain. I willed myself to stay still, my experience with the horrors of the warp fortifying my mind against such attacks, and then nothing more happened. Hoshino was the same, holding fast just as I expected her to.
"Ggh! Can't… Fight!"
"Nononono have to get away!"
Unfortunately, Shiroko and Serika were not so lucky, bolting from their positions and out into the open. They were practically hosed with lead, bringing them down to the ground.
Looks like it was time for her to play a bigger part. They would feel the flames of her pride and honor!
"NO!" As Hoshino heard their cries of pain, she quickly doubled back, keeping her shield behind her. She faltered as a crimson flare burst forth from the enemy line, smashing into the Iron Horus. For a moment, it did nothing but stick to the shield, but then it burst, sending her rocketing far back, her focus on her comrades keeping her unbalanced enough to lose her position.
"Hoshino!" Nonomi wailed, quickly moved to aid her friend.
We were in horribly dire straits. Two down, though not out, the pain dispelling their unnatural fear yet rendering theml unable to stand due to the barrage being laid on them. Hoshino was knocked back and unable to defend them, Nonomi was tending to her and I didn't know how long till real medical assistance would come.
But then the barrage stopped. My instincts urged me onward, and I moved.
She couldn't believe it… She could actually win this! They could win! They had to finish them off now!
"Mutsuki, be a dear and give them a parting gift."
"Hehe, you got it boss! Big one is coming up!"
This would be it. The coup de grace, the finishing blow. She could actually beat the Sensei!
As one, all of her forces stopped firing the moment released her bag. As the little black parcel flew through the air, she was already imagining her victory.
That was her mistake.
Everything changed when he moved once more.
It was less than a millisecond. Just a tiny moment.
I saw that black bag sailing through the air, going straight for the girls. I didn't know what it was, but everything inside me screamed at me to stop it.
So, less out of thought or skill and more out of instinct, I raised my laspistol and sent a bolt right into the center of the bag.
The air erupted into a cascade of gunpowder and fire, and a gaggle of our enemies were sent flat to the ground, dizzied or taken out. I surged forward, chainsword and laspistol in hand, to take advantage of the sudden chance I had created.
"Ayane!"
"Right, working as fast as I can!"
Smoke, flame, nitro and more filled the air as I moved through the remains of the explosive discharge. I ignored it all and the still dazed Haruka, not knowing just how much my chainsword could affect her. When I saw Kayoko quickly right herself and aim for me once more, inspiration struck me like lightning.
Her ability to focus and regain her bearings even after such a distraction was commendable. She didn't go for anything fancy, aiming for center mass for the greatest chance to land a hit. My carapace armor would deflect it, terrorizing properties notwithstanding, but it was at just the height I needed, and she was delayed just enough for me to react.
I threw myself to the side and the bullet sailed past me… And right into the face of a now recovering Haruka.
"Shit, Haruka!"
"Urgh… Lady Aru… Everyone… Don't leave me behind…"
It went perfectly. "Physical trauma", Arona said. Not mental. The girl might have a strong body, but her words and her face showed she didn't have the mind to match. She was ironically far more vulnerable to her own teammate's bullets than the rest of us if she didn't focus herself, and after being dazed and caught off-guard her mental fortitude was even weaker.
Their staunchest resistance was now a babbling mess, consumed by terror. Soon, she wouldn't be alone.
I unsheathed my chainsword, letting it roar free at maximum power. The first thing most of our enemies saw as they dared to find out what remained after the explosion was an enraged commissar bearing down on them.
Now, I would make them feel fear.
What was this?
He came out right as Mutsuki threw her bag, and with a single well-placed shot from his rumored laser he detonated it early.
As explosions filled the air with fire and smoke, there was a moment she didn't know what was going on, until his blade roared once more and she was driven to look.
With his allies fallen behind him, the Sensei rose from his position and practically charged through the flames. He managed to trick Kayoko into inflicting fear on poor Haruka, and then turned their greatest advantage on them as that terrifying weapon powered on, the engine roaring as if it was alive and petrifying them as though her section chief had unleashed her own ability.
But this wasn't a mystical ability like theirs. It was a skill.
The moment he reached the closest of her hired guns, he effortlessly batted her away with a slash without any time for them to react. He sliced through the next one with the same contemptuous ease.
Two that were further away rose from cover in an attempt to fire upon him, but he merely slid under the barrage while slashing through a stray stop sign and the poor girl hiding behind it. The terror and surprise her underlings felt addled their minds, uselessly spraying above his head and hitting nothing while he took them out with two precise shots from his pistol.
Desperation set in and her shotgunners rose to meet him, but he was already taking cover behind a car. They foolishly wasted all their ammo either missing the car or failing to pierce it as they approached.
And then he came out and showed him what a mistake that was.
Chainsaw and pistol in hand, he plied his trade of war with inimitable skill, lashing out with his weapons one after the other in seamless combination. Precise slashes were matched with accurate shots, wide sweeps were followed by rapid bursts. The shotgunners were more durable than the rest, but they weren't anywhere near Haruka or the rest of them. They were disarmed, smacked away or had both punishments dealt to them in quick succession. He was practically dancing through the battlefield as he plowed through their forces like they weren't there.
Mutsuki and her autogunners couldn't open fire for fear of tearing through their own like he was. She couldn't be sure of her own aim either. Kayoko was landing shot after shot, but her bullets had no effect, fear seeming to be an unknown emotion to him.
It was… Incredible to see. Ignoring what was in front of you to protect those behind you. Fighting with the fury of the flames he inadvertently created.
Hard boiled to the utmost.
"Boss, we gotta do something or we'll be next on the sawing block!"
Kayoko's admonishments brought her back, but she had no idea what to do. What COULD they do?!
Even through the haze of combat I could feel a few of Kayoko's bullets plink off my armor, their terror-inducing powers working past its protection and into my brain. Quite a credit to her, being the only one not consumed by panic or being a passive audience and still managing to land a few shots on me, useless, nay, even beneficial to me as they were.
I knew fear very intimately. Before my students here and back on Perlia, before I met Amberly and the 597th, even before I met Jurgen, fear was what I could count on to push me forward and survive. I was motivated by it. I had faced it. I had it forced upon me. And now, I reveled in it. It wasn't always a bad thing to feel, and now, the small bouts of terror only made me fight all the harder, my adrenaline and reflexes spiking like I was being stabbed with an entire hive-runners catalog of Onslaught and other stims without losing my mind.
Not to say it wasn't welcome when it stopped and she realized that I wasn't going to cower in fear like everyone else she hit with them. It was only assured when her line of fire was blocked by a moving wall. Coming in from behind me, Hoshino joined me with a point-blank shotgun blast to one of our foes before raising her shield in my defense, dissuading anyone else from targeting us until we went back into cover.
"Good to see you're just fine," I mused, and I could see the beginnings of a grin come up from her.
"It'll take a lot more than that to take me down," she chuckled despite the situation. "Especially when the rest of the girls need my help."
"Recovery dropped!"
Ayane's call echoed through my ears. The energizing package came down upon Shiroko and Serika, rousing them from their positions as the cloud of revitalizing smoke healed and energized them once more.
"I really needed that…"
"Can't… Just stay down…!"
"No time to explain!" I turned off my chainsword, kept it, picked up Shiroko and scrambled for the nearest barrier I could see. Hoshino parted from the center alongside me to retrieve Serika and do the same. Thinking that since my weapon was off it was safe, they rose from cover just in time for our biggest gun to make her return. "Nonomi, now!"
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
To my surprise, a surge of green energy came from Nonomi as she swept through our foes, practically knocking them off their feet as her bullets slammed into them. She led the bulletstorm to mop up even more of the Part-Timers, then focused on suppressing what was left of Problem Solver 68.
"Dammit… I have to do it again! Betting it all on this, boss!"
Right… A gamble. That was all they had left. One last gamble. If it didn't push through, it was over.
"Do it!"
"Sensei, she's doing it again!"
Figured she would. Fortunately, I faced it once, and we had the perfect counter to it. "Shiroko, send it flying!"
Divining my intention immediately, Shiroko unfolded her remote weapon and yanked the ignition cord, sending it flitting into the sky.
The demonic roar echoed once again. It had no effect on me as I willed myself to endure it, standing tall and proud. "STAND YOUR GROUND!"
With my own encouragement, though the girls flinched at the wave of malice that came, they did not break. In Kayoko's case, that would have made little difference, as the drone, unable to feel such emotions and floating high above the wave of fright, unleashed its micro missile payload upon her from the sky, smashing her into the pavement.
Mutsuki rose up to try and pin us down, but Serika stood and with a growl of anger got her first, unleashing a fully automatic barrage enhanced by the flames of her rage. Quality and quantity came together as her quickened reflexes and steady aim guided every bullet to hit home. That was enough to send her to the floor.
It was over. One by one his meager forces recovered, taking down all of her own. Her hired muscle and her friends were all down for the count, save for Haruka.
Should she just give up?
No! She had to put it all on this last gamble!
When Aru rose from her cover, pointing her gun at me in a one-handed grip, I responded in turn, aiming my laspistol at her, a wordless question in my eyes asking if she really wanted to do this.
Her hands shook for a brief moment, but she steadied herself and pulled the trigger for an uneasy answer. The crimson flare burst forth from the gun, and yet, I stood there without moving. I knew I didn't need to.
Hoshino slid in front of me and blocked the shot with her shield. Instead of just keeping it there however, she threw it ahead, while I stunned Aru and kept her in place with a single well-placed shot.
The explosion was far more gratifying to observe when it wasn't being inflicted on us, I must say. With the kind of flair you could only see in a holo pict, the Iron Horus rebounded from the explosion, free for Hoshino to catch with masterful ease. Not to be outdone, with a flourish, I holstered my laspistol and kept both hands on my chainsword, preparing myself for what could come.
"Lady Aru!" Haruka said from behind me, her terror finally abated at the sight of her boss being blasted with her own powerful shot. Before she could even react, I turned around and ran for her, thumbing my chainsword to maximum and unleashing a thrust towards her face just like I had practiced before. No choice but to aim for that point, just like I thought before.
And then I saw the utterly terrified expression on it. The face of a young girl who was just a student. I clucked my tongue in frustration at myself, at her and her friends and at the entire ridiculous situation and, at the last second, diverted my thrust into her stomach.
My chainsword grinded against her, sparking against her absurdly enhanced durability. It felt like plunging the blade into solid rock. It was ridiculous. Just how hardy could these girls become?!
I had to force myself to walk forward, running my blade across her body as I transitioned my thrust into a horizontal shearing strike. It was enough to make her drop her weapon, and with a final war cry I managed to swing forward and slam her into a wall, making it crack as she crumpled to the ground, her shotgun clattering away from her.
I panted, my body heaving up and down as I walked over to her and lowered the speed of my chainsword, unwilling as I was to leave it completely off for this fight. I wondered what there was I could do with her, before an incredibly familiar little ditty, a common tune throughout the schola once classes ended, popped up from all the fallen bodies.
As though compelled by a trance, all of the mooks suddenly snapped to attention. You have to be kidding me! Necron Reanimation Protocols were less sudden than this! I grit my teeth, preparing myself for the counter assault and wondering what mad tactics they would do now.
The answer was a mental attack far more painful than Kayoko's, deciding to hurt my brain with insanity.
"Quittin' time!"
"Daaamn, today was stupid hard. We're off!"
… They were clocking out. A bunch of mercs treating this whole farce as your ordinary 9-to-5?! What madness was this?!
The mob all waddled off, and I could easily tell when we dealt with them by how they reacted. Those who lasted until the end practically tripped over themselves trying to get away from me. Those who we took out earlier either left with exhaustion or tiredness, or took the whole thing in good humor. Some even waved at me and gave me a good-natured farewell, as if the past few minutes of nearly killing me and trying to take our entire district never happened. To be fair, from their perspective, they probably weren't trying to.
"Anytime you need some help with work, just call the Part-Timers! Whether you need fixing or "fixing", we'll be there!"
Entrepreneurial and mercurial. What a lovely combination. Too bad that they were absolutely pathetic. I'll be sure to forget them.
"Like hell we will!" Serika practically spat out. I suppose an expert on part-timing would feel quite offended on hearing the title, wouldn't she? "Go take your Part-Time crap somewhere else!"
I sighed and inclined my head towards their former employers. "Keep them peaceful, would you?"
Soon, it was only me, the Foreclosure Task Force and Problem Solver 68 left, my squad all aiming their weapons at our foes, with Serika on Mutsuki, Shiroko on Kayoko and Hoshino on Aru, with Nonomi making a great general threat by dint of a very big rotor cannon. They were still awake, with Haruka clearly not alone in being hardier than the usual breed of criminal we faced.
"Heh, looks like we got our butts kicked!" Despite having received a face full of warp-enhanced automatic fire, Mutsuki seemed remarkably cheerful at being defeated.
"Whelp, that's the end of that," Kayoko groaned as she sat up and dusted herself off.
"I should have known we'd lose." Clearly, Aru was awake already, yet she didn't seem to want to get up.
"I find that listening to your instincts can get you very far," I advised her blandly. "You are beaten. Are you going to tell us about your employer, or are we going to be even more unpleasant than we already have been?"
I set my blade to maximum once more, letting the threat hang in the air.
"I'm sorry Lady Aru…" To my utter shock, I looked to see Haruka still awake. Unbelievable. Even after the assault she endured, she STILL wasn't down for the count. She wasn't going to fight anytime soon, not with her shotgun under my foot and out of her reach, but her resilience was just absurd. "I failed you…"
"Don't be so hard on yourself Haruka," her boss moaned. "It really was just that hard."
"There's only one thing I can do to make it up to you." The girl below me then looked me in the eyes. "Please, just let them leave."
An interesting request to make of me. "Why? Are you going to tell me about your employer?"
"I don't really know much about all this," she admitted to me sadly. "But I won't let her get hurt. Hurt me as much as you want. So long as everyone else is free, it's OK."
My eyes raised at the horrifying request. She was literally willing to die for the rest of this ragtag band.
"NO!" Aru tried to stand up and reach for her gun, but Hoshino pushed her to the ground. "Look, I'll tell you about them, just let her go!"
For the first time, Mutsuki lost the cheerful expression on her face, wondering if I would truly go through with what I implied. Kayoko narrowed her eyes at me, daring me to try and face the consequences. Clearly, she didn't care what would happen to her, with the way her hand shook from gripping her pistol.
"Don't, Lady Aru!" Haruka shouted back. "It's fine."
Even the FTF seemed shaken by the exchange, unsure of how to feel. Their gazes moved between our enemies and me, wondering at what I would do.
I wish I could answer them. I was focused on far more personal matters.
There was something familiar about this. Something that pulled and tugged at my heart before I realized.
"Run for it sir. Don't mind me."
"Not an option."
An imposter and the brave, unfailingly loyal companion beside him. A charlatan who had to pretend to be stronger and braver than they actually were. A follower who actually was that incredible, and yet for some mad reason believed the other was far better.
A true hero willing to die for the fake one he followed. A coward who could only hope to be as steadfast as the one who followed him.
I gnashed my teeth in frustration. Just like it always was with these girls, things only became miserably, painfully complicated when the fighting was over.
I switched off my chainsword, the blade's silence an example that all followed.
"You can go."
Everyone turned to me at my completely unexpected order. The Problem Solver girls looked at me as though I'd been speaking in High Gothic, while even the Abydos girls weren't sure if they supported my words or not.
"Just… Go. Get out of my sight."
When it was clear I was being serious, my squad let them do as I demanded, distancing themselves from the Problem Solver girls and keeping their weapons held, but safely away from their foes.
Said girls looked at me for a brief moment longer, slowly rising to their feet. Haruka pushed herself off the ground before she started slowly walking away.
"Haruka, was it?"
She immediately froze at my words, snapping back towards me with a startled expression, then widened her eyes when she saw what was in my hand.
"You forgot this."
I held the poor girl's shotgun out, bidding her to take it back from me. She slowly walked up to me like an abused dog, unsure if I was actually going to return her precious weapon to her. When she finally got her hands on it, she hugged it close to her, embracing it like a child would a toy.
And how she looked at it. She hunched over, practically curling into herself with relief. Children, they all really were.
She stared at me a moment longer before she returned to her teammates. I didn't bother looking at them, physically unable to even glance at them. I only heard their footfalls as they left, leaving the Foreclosure Task Force and me alone.
And in my mind, alone was precisely what I was.
Habits. Experiences. Memories. They had flown through my mind over the past few days, but the constant search for answers and my focus on other pressing matters had shielded me from the depths of that realization. Now, with such a stark reminder in front of me, I could ignore it no more.
Centuries together as a commissar and his aide… No. As the truest friend I ever had. And they were over.
Jurgen wasn't here anymore. And I knew, deep in my heart, that I would never see him again.
For the first time since I came here, I felt as old as I was when I had died.
Another fight. Another victory. Another sad, terrible realization.
Just another day in this damn city.
*Chapter 12: Problem Solvers and Problem Makers, END*
Beta read, once again, by Doc43 Souls. Thank you, once again.
You can already see the relationship Aru might be having with our favorite commissar, assuming just as much of him as everyone else in the galaxy would. It should prove entertaining going forward.
In the game, PS68 were treated in a comedic light, but they were absolutely going to stomp Abydos without Sensei's help. I decided to up their threat level a bit here to show that, while hopefully still demonstrating that they're still the lovable idiots everyone wanted to see.
This chapter is Cain's first encounter with more esoteric powers and just how much they can affect combat. Most of the powers he had seen were individualized and personal, and things he could understand. Drone strikes, flashbangs, barriers, stims, med-bombs and the like are just tech to him. Wakamo may have her battle flower, but "shoot and then explode" isn't exactly rocket science for him.
Kayoko? She's the first truly mystical power he faced here, and he definitely wasn't used to it. She's no necron pariah, but he isn't used to dealing with that in a tactical situation. Remember, he had a host of elite storm troopers with him and only he and Jurgen (and a tech-priest) survived that particular fiasco … Because of Jurgen.
And how could we forget? Cain really does value Jurgen, make no mistake about that. In the very first novel "For the Emperor", his first reaction upon thinking Jurgen was trapped with tyranids is to scramble and try to dig through the rubble trapping him there. In "The Greater Good" he literally risked shooting a control panel and blowing up the entire station because Jurgen was in danger.
He feels so much more confident and reassured just by him being there, and has literally been with him for centuries. Never mind him being a crack shot. Never mind him being the ultimate bulwark against paperwork and annoying people. Never mind him being a blank.
Cain valued Jurgen because he was a good friend. And now, he has to keep going on without him at his side.
The next chapter will be more of an in between. We won't be heading into the next day quite yet, and it should be shorter as he deals with this particular realization. People were very much looking forward to this and I do hope I delivered. Until then, see you next time!
