Interlude 11
Colin knew that it was part of the plan, and that this whole charade benefitted Hunter as much as it did him, but he couldn't help the involuntary apprehension that churned in his gut as he approached the scheduled contact point.
It was ridiculous. He had fought the Endbringers multiple times, dammit.
But this was different. Fighting the Endbringers had a level of simplicity to it. Either he would die, or he wouldn't. All he had to do was fight.
This was more… complicated.
He and Hunter would both be playing a game, with flexible and inconsistent rules. It was the improvised nature of their dance that was stressful to him. He would almost rather that they just gave up the ruse and tried to kill each other.
Almost.
That knowledge did nothing to quell the apprehension as he rounded the corner on his motorcycle.
The wide, six lane industrial road that marked the border between Downtown and the Docks had been chosen to host their battle. The area was populated enough that the conflict would be well publicized, but the incidental property damage wouldn't be nearly as severe as it would be in downtown proper. Plus, less risk of accidentally knocking over a skyscraper.
He wasn't sure if Hunter could actually do that, but he wouldn't put it past her.
Several blocks away, the Hunt was on patrol.
Despite knowing what to expect, a shiver ran down Colin's spine.
The three massive beasts prowling down the almost empty roadway were terrifying, each a monster out of a civilian's nightmare. He knew that they had once been dogs, but the similarities had been swallowed up by the unholy abominations they had become.
Thick forelegs with a strange combination of grotesquely exposed musculature and coarse hair, overlapped in spiked, armored plating that could only be made of bone. Great jaws that were somehow too wide and too long at the same time, with teeth like sword blades and curved claws that shredded the pavement with unconscious ease.
Colin was happier than ever that the beasts were just for dramatic effect. Hunter had assured him that they wouldn't be taking part in the actual fighting unless an unexpected threat emerged to disrupt their duel.
Taking a steadying breath, Armsmaster took command. He could pretend that this was just another cape conflict, for now.
"Console, I have eyes on Hunter and Hellhound," he reported. "Prepare to reroute all active assets to my location."
"What are they doing?" Velocity's voice crackled incredulously over the coms.
Colin sighed to himself.
"I believe that Hunter is… going for a walk," he said. "It's likely a power move, to prove that we will not oppose her. We need to show her that we won't roll over that easily."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Boss?" Assault's voice questioned.
No.
"It's our only option. I'll make contact and try to reason with her, but we can't be seen to capitulate with a public villain going on patrol," Colin replied.
He parked his motorcycle and strode down the center of the street to face his supposed enemy.
Colin had to admit, the spectacle appealed to him. He became a hero to make a genuine difference, but he couldn't deny that he loved some part of the theatre of it all. He wanted the fame, the recognition, the glory that came along with being a hero.
He was reasonably sure that his desires were not mutually exclusive.
The leader of the Hunt walked calmly towards him, tiny in comparison to the hulking beasts that flanked her.
Still, he knew that she was the greatest threat, even if she was holding herself back. Another selfish reason for this deal was the desire to never truly clash with a completely unrestrained Hunter.
Black eyes sparkled with mirth under the brim of her hat. Her tattered long coat flared dramatically behind her, exposing the bandoliers of blood vials and bullets around her chest. The civility of her black vest and slacks contrasted sharply with the horrific nature of her customized prosthetic leg, the piston moving fluidly as she closed the distance between them.
"Hunter!" He called, voice echoing down the empty street. "What is the meaning of this?"
As if he didn't already know.
"It's a beautiful night for a walk, don't you think?" Hunter called back. He could hear the smile in her voice, even behind her bloodstained scarf.
"You know that this behavior cannot be tolerated," Colin said. "Return to your Hospital. Leave the protection of the city to the heroes."
She laughed at him, and Colin tried his best not to let it grate on his nerves. It was just part of the game.
"I think not, Armsmaster. The Bay is mine, and the Hunt will go where we please. Or did you think that I slaughtered the gangs out of the goodness of my heart?" Hunter chuckled darkly.
"We've been more than lenient, Hunter! Do not force our hand."
It was easier than it should have been to let his frustration leak into his tone. He wasn't particularly happy about being upstaged, after all, even if he would come away from this with a positive reputation.
"Out of all the mighty heroes, you must be seen to be the only one who can truly stand against me. For the rest, the fight will be very much real, even if I won't kill or permanently maim them."
Taylor Hebert was better at manipulating people than he originally gave her credit for. He wasn't sure who was getting more out of their little deal.
"Do not force your hand?" Hunter called, an inhuman edge suddenly entering her voice. "Do not force your hand?"
This was it. Soon, the deadly dance would begin.
Colin was excited, despite himself. His blood thundered in his veins.
The street rumbled and cracked beneath them. The pavement pitched and Armsmaster got the sudden feeling that there was something alive down there.
From underneath Hunter, a monstrous, clawed limb of gargantuan proportions forced its way through the street and rose under her feet, a many-fingered hand easily ten feet across that lifted her into the sky.
That had not been part of the plan.
Standing atop her lofty balcony of flesh, Hunter drew two identical silver swords.
He hadn't been aware that she'd made a second one. Lovely.
She flipped the blades backwards and slammed them both into the sheaths on her back.
In one hand, she drew the heavy stone hammer that had demolished the Empire warehouse and battered Hookwolf into submission.
In the other, she drew the intricately carved greatsword that he had gotten the opportunity to wield in their last fight together.
Her voice scraped against his mind and made the windows along the street tremble with the force of her conviction.
"You will learn to fear mine!"
A voice crackled to life in his ear.
"Command to all Protectorate assets," Director Piggot's voice barked "Hunter and her organization have been officially declared an active Class A threat. Deploy all available resources. Contain by any means necessary."
Emily was predictable, if nothing else.
Showtime.
Colin activated the servos in his armored boots to push off the pavement and launch himself forward. He had to trust that Hunter would play her part correctly.
He selected the command sequence to greatly extend his halberd blade, and swung for the… forearm? Stalk? Of whatever this living appendage Hunter had grown from the ground was.
The long blade bit deeply into the side of the creation, but failed to sever it. Whatever was holding this thing together, it was sturdier than it looked.
Still, it served the purpose he had hoped. With startling speed, the limb retracted into the pavement and pulled Armsmaster back down with it.
He ripped the halberd free and landed hard on his feet, his suit absorbing most of the impact.
An involuntary grin spread over his face as he felt the minor damage to his knees already being repaired by the cycled regeneration solution Hunter herself provided.
She would be coming for him, now.
He activated his prediction software and spun his halberd as fast as his mechanically augmented strength would allow.
Hunter timed her attack perfectly. They couldn't have choreographed it better if they tried.
The haft of his halberd deflected the incoming downward slash of her greatsword at an angle, letting it slide off the indestructible steel handle that Hunter provided for exactly this purpose. At the algorithm's prompting, he stepped deftly to one side and let the hammer crack the concrete beneath them.
Armsmaster refocused on Hunter herself, now just meters away, and readied his weapon.
Let the dance begin.
Hunter lunged forward with impossible speed and precision, but the prediction software allowed Colin to move just fast enough to deflect the strike again.
He leapt straight up and over the follow up swing from her hammer, rotating midair to bring this halberd blade down towards her exposed back.
Hunter twisted to the side with unnatural dexterity and swung her sword horizontally in an attempt to catch him as he fell, but he let his halberd's momentum continue towards the pavement. The blade sunk deep into the earth and her greatsword slammed against the haft of his weapon with a resounding clang.
Colin landed and pulled his halberd out of the ground just in time to leap backwards away from another hammer swing.
Hunter had definitely gotten stronger, physically. She had always wielded her great weapons in two hands, before.
Plus, she still carried that damn cannon strapped to one arm. He hoped she would be very careful if she used it.
"Armsmaster, stay clear. I'm on standby to deliver the payload," Velocity said seriously.
Hunter had been extremely confident in her ability to handle the rest of the Protectorate heroes. Hopefully, she was right, and if not… well, he would still get credit for capturing her.
It was a win-win situation for him, which was the only reason he agreed to this farce. If Hunter lost, he would be lauded as the hero who finally stood up to her. If things went as planned and she disabled the rest of his team and fought him to a standstill, he would be known as the only local hero who could hold his own against her.
Things could go badly if Hunter lost her cool and killed any of them, or went against the plan and soundly defeated him, but he didn't think she would do that. For better or worse, Hunter wanted to keep the heroes active in her city. If only because it meant less work for her in the long run.
Colin skidded to a stop a solid thirty feet away.
"Go, Velocity," he ordered quickly.
Hunter pivoted just as the crimson-clad Mover dropped out of his Breaker state directly behind her.
He released a whole bandolier of high capacity containment foam grenades and disappeared again.
Hunter leapt forward with inhuman speed.
The grenades exploded and a massive pile of rapidly expanding foam enveloped her.
Colin was momentarily worried.
Then Hunter simply phased through the sticky goop and reformed in a dramatic swirl of ash.
He could tell she was grinning behind her scarf.
She was enjoying this entirely too much.
Not that Colin wasn't also having just a bit of fun, even if he wouldn't admit it. Least of all to her.
Then he was forced to throw himself sideways at his algorithm's prompting to avoid being crushed like a bug by that giant hammer, and the barely choreographed performance began again.
…
Adam Mustain wasn't a complicated man.
Life was fucked, and then it ended. That was just how shit worked.
Who could blame him for wanting to wring every last drop of pleasure out of this broken shitstain of an existence?
He twitched as he let the thumping base of the music in his headphones blast through his brain.
The holier-than-thou fuckers might think he was addicted to meth, but they didn't get it at all.
He was addicted to feeling anything.
It was fucking awesome, how the human experience could be so drastically changed by just adding or subtracting a few little chemicals. What was the point of working so hard to feel a pitiful drop of natural joy, when he could manufacture all-consuming, manic euphoria on a whim?
So many fun and interesting combinations to explore.
And besides, the Empire? The ABB? Highfalutin fucks and arrogant asswipes? They all got themselves killed. Stupid shits.
Skidmark knew better. He would just keep his head down, and enjoy being the only game left in town for those who needed their fix.
He and his Merchants had a number of crash houses across the city, but this was one of his favorites. The loft over the warehouse office was pretty nice, even if it was long abandoned.
The warehouse itself held the Tinkertech trucks that they used to transport their product and members from place to place, carefully avoiding that murderous bitch.
Skidmark lounged on the bare mattress in his 'office', taking another hit and leaning back to enjoy the music.
Someone tugged at his arm, and he smacked them away instinctively. He was busy.
They messed with him again, and he finally opened his eyes.
Squealer actually looked worried, but she was like that sometimes. Hysterical bitch.
Skidmark pulled out an earbud.
"The fuck you want?" He demanded angrily.
"The guys outside ain't answerin'," she said. "Some'a the boys are gettin' worried."
Incompetent little shits, the lot of them.
Skidmark vaulted to his feet, using a low level application of his power to push himself upright with little effort.
"Alright, who's the useless sack of shit who got the lookouts fucked up? We've fucking talked about this!" He yelled over the railing to the men down below.
They just shrugged. Useless, like he said.
"Mush! Where you at, trash man?" Skidmark called.
From the other side of the warehouse, he saw the drugged up excuse for a cape wave.
"Go figure out why the fuck they stopped answering their phones and-"
Whatever he had been about to say was cut off when three deafening bangs echoed through the warehouse, like someone was knocking on the massive cargo rail doors that lined the far wall.
What the fuck?
Skidmark had a bad feeling about this.
Then a loud, mocking voice echoed through the wide space. He couldn't place exactly where it came from.
"Knock, knock!" The voice called.
Even Skidmark wasn't dumb enough to actually answer, but unfortunately his minions had shit for brains.
"Who's there?" One of them replied stupidly.
Jesus Christ.
"Oh, y'know…" the voice laughed.
Then the doors exploded inward with a thunderous shockwave of force and fire.
"...a real fucking villain."
Unnatural darkness poured through the brand new opening as the warehouse caught fire around the site of the blast.
And, framed against the flames and the billowing black smog, their attackers strode in like they fucking owned the place.
On one side, a tall hooded figure in black was barely visible against the darkness. Only the blue-white electricity sparking around him differentiated his body from the smoke.
On the other side, a woman in a terrifying Tinkertech gas mask aimed two arm mounted barrels at his dumbstruck minions. Hoses ran along the length of her body, connecting the device strapped to her face to the weird nozzles clamped on her forearms.
And in the middle…
Skidmark would have laughed if his gut wasn't clenching with unexpected and unwelcome fear.
The thin man in the middle could only be the one who taunted them.
He carried a ridiculous metal cane in one hand and an old-fashioned pistol in the other. His masked face was shadowed by his top hat, but Skidmark could see that his stylized theater mask was molded into a wide, permanent smile. He wore an over-the-top fancy outfit to match his hat, a dark vest and tie carefully arranged over a crisp white shirt and gray slacks.
The stranger vaulted high over the line of flaming wreckage with unnatural ease, flipping to land in the middle of the warehouse floor without a care in the world.
"Who the fuck are you?" Skidmark yelled. He was going to fuck up this asshole's day, even if something still itched in the back of his mind.
"You're behind the times, Skiddy!" The overly jovial intruder laughed. "We're the Hunt, and in tonight's opening act… you get to star as the leading role of our prey!"
Fuck.
"I'd say it isn't personal…"
The stranger in the stupid hat twisted his cane.
Two of the nearby gang members screamed as they suddenly stumbled forward and were shredded into bloody chunks by some kind of blurred whip that extended faster than Skidmark's eyes could follow, in the dim firelight.
"...but it's a lil' bit personal."
The darkness flowed forward and engulfed the room before Skidmark could respond, and the screaming abruptly cut off.
He had a feeling that the screams were just beginning, though.
…
Ethan rocketed over the rooftops in a blur, the residual charge from Battery's stored energy more than sufficient to propel him in long, flying leaps across the city.
Battery, Miss Militia, and Triumph rode in the high speed transport van now several blocks behind.
The Director's voice chimed in over the main coms channel.
"Approval granted. Dauntless deployed, ETA three minutes."
That was interesting. Dauntless only joined these types of brawls if they were certain that they would remain non-lethal. The Director either really trusted Hunter, or was willing to risk a significant, escalating asset to bring her to heel.
Probably the latter.
Hunter was up to something, and it wasn't the same short-sighted, stumbling chaos as her break in at the PHQ. She chose to provoke them in an obvious and unavoidable way.
Assault could put some of the pieces together. She wanted to cement herself as the primary villain presence in the city, and openly challenging the Protectorate was certainly one way to do that. If she could bring them to a stalemate without going overboard, she would come away from this smelling like daisies.
Of course, the Director was apparently taking this as permission to pull out all the stops, so that would be easier said than done.
He'd do his part, for better or worse. Hunter needed to understand that these types of stunts didn't come cheap, even if he loved her carefree attitude.
"Armsmaster, be advised that Hellhound's beasts have dispersed," Velocity reported over the coms. "I lost track of them between the buildings, but I don't see them anywhere. They may have utilized Hunter's portals."
Ethan frowned. Why even bring Hellhound's monsters if they were just going to leave as soon as the fighting started?
He didn't have time to think about it.
The street was a ruined mess. Hunter and Armsmaster definitely didn't do anything by halves.
In the center of the roadway, under the flickering streetlights, the leader of the Protectorate ENE and the leader of the Hunt fought with an intensity that even Ethan had trouble keeping up with.
Hunter was a deadly living weapon, spinning and slashing with her oversized weapons as if they weighed nothing, but Armsmaster was matching her step for step, even moving slightly before she struck to avoid the blows.
Despite his instinctive trepidation, Ethan leapt down to join the melee.
"Assault!" Hunter called in what sounded like genuine excitement. "Fashionably late is certainly better than never."
She twisted and dodged a dangerous stab of Armsmaster's halberd, rotating to slam her hammer into the ground and launch herself a good thirty feet backwards.
Assault couldn't help himself. Every fight was better with a bit of levity, and Hunter played the part graciously.
"I hope you don't mind if I cut in," Ethan said with a grin.
Hunter brandished her hammer and greatsword dramatically.
"There's more than enough of me to go around, don't worry," Hunter quipped back.
Then she leapt forward so quickly that Ethan briefly lost track of her, and suddenly that giant hammer crashed into his legs in a low horizontal sweep.
He absorbed the kinetic energy on instinct.
The power flowed through him like wildfire. He wasn't sure if he had ever held that much energy at once. If Hunter had actually hit him, his legs would have been reduced to a bloody smear.
Ethan wasn't sure if she was actually playing for keeps this time, or if she knew he would absorb it. He hoped it was the latter.
He had to move, or he would be overwhelmed before the battle even started.
Assault let the power thundering in his bones bounce down his spine and back into his legs, kicking the hammer back towards its owner.
The momentum threw the hammer around behind Hunter, but she surrendered to the inertia and spun with it.
Ethan heard Armsmaster curse as his own attack was blocked by the bladed end of Hunter's prosthesis, swinging up as the hammer pulled her backwards.
Assault used a bit of the remaining well of energy within him to push off after Hunter, rocketing fist first towards her as her horizontal ariel continued until she landed on her good leg with unnatural dexterity.
His fist passed straight through her chest as her body turned to ash.
That's a new trick.
Unfortunately, the lack of impact threw him off balance, and Hunter flowed around him with ease. He prepared to absorb more energy, but she didn't take advantage of the opening.
Instead, she swung her hammer back around and used it to deflect a stab from Armsmaster's halberd.
She's toying with us.
He was certain of it. She only moved as fast as she needed to, only hit when and where they could handle it.
Ethan had danced with Battery enough times in his Madcap days to recognize when a villain was humoring him. It was disconcerting, to be on this side of the charade.
Armsmaster shifted gracefully to barely avoid a stab with her greatsword, his counter sweep forcing Hunter to backflip away from them.
She was definitely humoring them.
Shit.
Hunter landed just out of Armsmaster's reach and spun her hammer again, this time aiming at neither of them.
Instead, her spin took her just far enough to the right that Dauntless' lightning lance passed beside her as he swooped down at an extremely respectable speed, only to be caught dead center by the incoming hammerhead.
Luckily, Dauntless had his shield up, otherwise the rising star of the ENE may have fallen then and there.
As it was, the intangible forcefield absorbed the majority of the cacophonous impact, and Dauntless was only sent sprawling to the pavement from his own momentum, rather than reduced to a two dimensional red paste.
The armored hero managed to right himself quickly, floating midair on the other side of Hunter. There was a moment of calm as they all regarded each other.
"A bit rude, to interrupt without even an introduction," Hunter called up to the new arrival.
"Stand down, Hunter," Dauntless said.
As if this whole thing wasn't her idea.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go with… No," Hunter said.
In one smooth motion, Hunter swung her left arm around and the massive cannon locked into place even as she sheathed the hammer on her back.
At least Dauntless had the good sense to keep his shield up.
There was an ear-splitting boom and a cannonball struck Dauntless' shield with a sizzling crack, knocking the airborne knight back a solid fifty feet and almost causing him to fly into a building.
Hunter wasn't holding back all that much, then. Damn.
Armsmaster leapt forward in an attempt to skewer her while she was still focused on Dauntless, but he wasn't quite fast enough. She brought the long cannon barrel down on the head of the halberd, driving it into the ground and forcing Armsmaster into a vault to avoid crashing directly into her incoming greatsword blade.
Assault charged in right behind him, hoping to absorb a hit so he could find a good time to counterattack when she wasn't expecting it.
Unfortunately, she didn't give him the opportunity. Ducking low under Armsmaster's aerial swipe from above, she let go of the cannon trigger and caught Assault's left ankle in her hand like a vice.
He absorbed what energy he could and tried to slip between her fingers, but her grip was like iron. Ethan was helpless to stop her from swinging him around like a rag doll before tossing him directly into Dauntless' incoming arc-lance.
Sadly, kinetic energy manipulation did exactly jack squat to stop the supercharged weapon from shocking him into unconsciousness.
As the soothing darkness overtook him, his last thought was that he really hoped the Director would make Dauntless do the paperwork for this instead of him.
…
Skidmark frantically threw down field after field of boosted acceleration behind him as he stumbled through the dark.
This was bullshit. It didn't even feel like a fight.
He couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on, in the oppressive darkness. The warehouse must be burning; he could smell it, but he couldn't find a way out.
Bad enough that he had fallen off the fucking balcony. Hopefully nobody saw that, and now his ankle fucking hurt.
Then he ran headfirst into what felt like the side of a truck.
That sucked and his head rang, but at least it was something. Fuck the others, he was getting his ass out of here.
He fumbled blindly and dragged himself around to the cab, opening the door and jumping inside.
For once, the darkness didn't follow him. He could actually see the inside of the cab, at least.
Skidmark took a moment to thank Squealer, God rest her soul, if the Hunt had already gotten to her, for making all the Tinkertech vehicles push to start. It would have been fucking stupid if he couldn't escape because he didn't have the damn keys.
Without a second thought, Skidmark gunned it.
His hands suddenly jerked involuntarily, wrenching the wheel all the way to the left.
The truck tires squealed in protest as the vehicle skidded in a tight circle.
Right into the fucking acceleration fields he had just fucking laid down.
The truck flipped dramatically as it was tossed violently to one side. Skidmark had just enough time to lament the fact that he hadn't put on his seatbelt before his head collided with the roof of the cabin.
He bounced again, screaming as his foot got caught in the steering wheel and twisted at an angle that feet definitely weren't meant to. Luckily, it was the same ankle he had already busted up falling off the balcony. Silver fucking linings.
Finally, the truck rolled to a stop. Skidmark clawed his way up and pushed the passenger side door open, dragging his shit leg and bruised ribs over the bent frame and tumbling down to the warehouse floor.
Shit, fuck, that fucking stings-
He managed to pull himself up onto his good foot, braced against the side of the dented vehicle.
"Holy shit, I never actually believed those 'Click It or Ticket' billboards-"
The darkness pulled back just enough that Skidmark could see the kid in the fucking top hat.
What a fucking stupid way to die.
He wasn't giving up yet, though.
Skidmark threw down the strongest acceleration field he could muster, aiming right under the asshole's feet.
Unfortunately, Skidmark's body convulsed against his will at the last moment and the field landed right underneath him instead.
Shit-
First, his good leg was torn out from under him, then he tried to catch himself on his broken foot, which hurt like a bitch and didn't help at all.
Then he landed ass-first on his own fucking field and went tumbling across the warehouse floor, cursing into the darkness the whole fucking way.
"I can't believe that fucking worked!" The sarcastic stranger crowed from somewhere behind him. "Like tripping on a goddamn treadmill! Please tell me someone saw that. Tats, do we have that on video? I want to re-watch it when the nights get cold-"
Skidmark tried his best to drag his broken body away through the dark.
He was pretty sure there were worse ways to die, but he couldn't think of any right this second.
Suddenly, the voice of the wisecracking asshole hissed from right next to him.
"Hey, Skiddy, do me a favor and try not to bleed too much, 'kay? I want to take that power for a spin when you're done with it."
Adam didn't even have time to try to figure out what that meant before the bladed cane pierced his heart and the darkness fell again, this time permanently.
…
Hannah held on tightly to the handle as the transport van sped down the streets, weaving between what few vehicles were still out and about at this time of night.
She hated not having a Mover rating, sometimes.
Next to her, Battery was practically vibrating with nervous energy, even while she sat perfectly still to charge her power.
"...Assault down," Dauntless' voice crackled over the coms. He sounded almost… embarrassed.
"Dauntless, how strong was that shot? Is he alive?" Armsmaster barked.
Battery was somehow even more still than usual.
"He should be fine, I never use anything above lethal thresholds," Dauntless said.
That was… reassuring, but damn. Dauntless shot Assault?
Things clearly weren't going well over there.
"Keep up the pressure until reinforcements arrive," Armsmaster ordered sharply.
The van finally skidded around the last corner and Miss Militia summoned the most powerful sniper rifle available to her. Hunter was a Class A threat, and they couldn't afford to hold back.
Hannah barely waited for the van to come to a stop before she leapt free, followed closely by Battery and Triumph.
In the middle of the street, Armsmaster and Dauntless fought a ghost.
Hunter was a blur as she weaved between them, flickering into shadow and ash when it suited her and reappearing to deliver brutal strikes with her greatsword. She also didn't hesitate to use her cannon barrel or her heavy prosthesis as a club, spiraling between the heroes with inhuman grace.
Armsmaster stepped in to avoid a vertical slash of their enemy's sword, only to catch a rapid kick straight to the chest that threw him easily twenty feet backwards and dented his armor.
"Oh look! The cavalry's arrived! Sorry Dauntless, I'm done playing with you now. It was nice to meet you!" Hunter called in a frustratingly happy voice.
Then a giant, multi-jointed limb made of half-formed flesh erupted from beneath the street and grabbed Dauntless out of the sky, smashing him unceremoniously into the pavement below.
What?
Hannah looked back in horror just in time to see Hunter… blow a kiss to someone?
She didn't have time to think about that right now.
Before anyone could move or process this latest development, Hunter walked over and injected something into Dauntless' body.
"Just a bit of healing, and a sedative. He'll thank me in the morning," Hunter called, as if that made it better.
A voice spoke in her ear.
"Approval granted. Take the shot, Militia," the Director ordered.
Miss Militia levelled her rifle. The time for games was definitely over.
Battery raced forward, expending some of her charge to close the distance between them and Hunter.
Armsmaster joined her, charging towards their enemy in tandem.
Hunter was a serious threat who had already come close to killing multiple heroes. If this actually worked, it would be worth it. If it didn't… well, hopefully Hunter wouldn't kill them all.
Her rifle kicked, and Hunter's head snapped back as the high caliber armor-piercing round hit her square in the forehead.
Hunter's hat tumbled towards the ground.
Everything seemed to freeze for a split second.
Then she snatched her falling hat out of the air as it fell and pulled it back on with a dramatic flourish.
"Finally, someone had the courage to take the fucking shot," Hunter's voice echoed with inhuman malice. "I'm impressed, Miss Militia."
Hunter deflected Armsmaster's stab, stepped easily around Battery's reckless charge and then leapt for where Hannah and Triumph stood.
Hannah didn't hesitate. She re-aimed and fired two more rounds into Hunter's center mass as she flew.
They didn't have any noticeable effect, but it still made her feel better.
Hunter landed between her and Triumph in a spray of shattered asphalt.
Triumph tried to turn and unleash his sonic blast, but Hunter was too quick for him.
She ducked deftlyunder the attack and jabbed some kind of Tinkertech syringe into his thigh.
Triumph stumbled and then collapsed, going limp as what Hannah assumed was a sedative took effect.
Her weapon flickered into a high caliber pistol, but she knew it was no use.
She still tried to shoot Hunter again anyway.
Hunter twisted to avoid the shot with almost insulting ease before spinning to inject Hannah with a similar vial, this time right in the side of her neck.
We never stood a chance.
The darkness encroached on the edge of her vision, and the last thing she saw was Hunter's black eyes and the slowly closing bullet wound on her forehead.
…
Brian knew that he was falling into Taylor's trap, but he just couldn't help himself.
It would just be so easy, to kill these pathetic excuses for men.
The lightning crackled around him in the dark as he worked his way methodically through the room of panicking Merchants, disabling one after the other with every swing of his Tonitrus.
He wondered if they would die anyway. Spitfire was getting a bit overenthusiastic with those new flamethrowers, and the warehouse wasn't long for this world.
Ahead, flailing in the black fog, was his true target.
Mush.
Regent probably couldn't mess with the Changer, although Brian wasn't actually sure anymore. The enhancements that Panacea… Amy… had wrought… He wasn't sure what Alec was, anymore. He might have no problem tearing Mush to shreds.
Brian approached carefully, in the dark.
It felt almost too easy.
He grabbed two of the new miniature Tonitrus spheres off of his belt. They had six inch long stakes attached to the bottom and a thin wire running between them. They could be used as an electrified trip-wire, or, in this case, a lariat.
Brian ducked under one of Mush's wild swings. The Changer had absorbed an impressive pile of debris, but his real body had to be in there somewhere. Brian slammed one of the Tonitrus spheres into the side of a nearby truck, anchoring it securely. Then he threw the other one up and over Mush's towering body.
The wire immediately caught in the ragged collection of garbage and pulled taught as Mush flailed. The blood-forged steel wire was as strong as Hunter said it was, forcing Mush to twist and jerk suddenly when he became entangled.
Then Brian activated the Tonitrus sphere, and Mush screamed.
Brian moved forward, easily dodging a twitching limb.
He charged his Tonitrus baton and brought it up into one massive arm as it swung towards him, the charge dissipating as it sent Mush into another round of convulsions.
The trash was starting to fall free, the Merchant cape losing control under the electrical assault.
Brian felt his face twist into a snarl as he charged the Tonitrus and brought it down.
He stepped back to avoid another blind swing, then struck again.
Mush lost more mass, and stumbled away in the dark.
Brian followed.
He knew that he should probably stop, but…
The world would be better if this scum was gone.
And an undeniable part of him was reassured by the knowledge that Taylor wouldn't judge him. The rest probably wouldn't, either.
He charged the Tonitrus and brought it down again.
Mush dragged himself away on trembling limbs of strange, spaghetti-like flesh. Searching for more trash to add to his amalgamation.
As if he wasn't already trash. Part of the rotten poison that kept dragging Brian's mother back in, no matter what she said. No matter how hard she tried.
He charged the Tonitrus and brought it down again.
This was why he and Aisha couldn't just live a normal fucking life. Why his sister still hated him, even though he tried his best.
This poison.
Brian charged the Tonitrus and brought it down again.
And again.
And again.
Mush wasn't crawling anymore.
Brian realized just how heavily he was breathing.
The air was choked with smoke.
He heard Alec's voice filtering through the fog.
"I can't see you, but I know you're in there somewhere. Grab the body and let's get the fuck out of here," Regent called from across the warehouse.
Brian took a deep breath.
And immediately started coughing, because the warehouse was still burning down.
Right. Process later.
He pushed down the strange mix of revulsion and unwilling pride as he threw the corpse over his shoulder and headed for the exit.
"You'll be one of us, regardless."
He hadn't set out to be like them, but here he was. Hadn't even made it through one night without giving in to the temptation.
"But I'd like you to drink."
At least she would be happy.
…
Colin grimaced with only partially faked anger when Battery went down, injected with the same sedative as the others.
It was inevitable, that the others would fall. Hunter had outstripped them; her accumulation of powers and physical enhancements were just too much for normal parahumans to counter. No matter how determined.
Unless, of course, one held the cheat codes.
His algorithm was as perfect as it would ever be, for Hunter. She could probably still kill him with some esoteric ability like the Blaster power she got from Purity, but in a straight contest of agility he could hold his own.
Unless she was still holding back, which was entirely possible. She hadn't brought out the katana she used to kill Lung and Oni Lee, which Armsmaster was grateful for.
He also had no idea what was going on with the living underground monstrosity. He wasn't even sure he wanted to ask.
Colin faced his supposed enemy alone, on the broken street.
It was time for one last dance, before Hunter made her dramatic exit.
They just had to make it look convincing.
With the dents and scrapes she had already put in his armor, he was feeling pretty convinced.
Hunter leveled her greatsword at him imperiously, holding it in one hand like it weighed nothing.
"You can always run, Armsmaster. Leave the city to me. I'll take good care of it."
All part of the farce, but Colin couldn't help but feel that it was already hers.
"I'll never let people like you run rampant," Colin said through gritted teeth. "This city deserves better."
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that people don't usually get what they deserve?" Hunter replied mockingly.
Armsmaster leapt at the same moment she did, clashing midair as he deflected her overhand greatsword strike with the indestructible haft of his halberd that she made for him.
One last dance.
He followed the algorithm's prompting as they closed again.
They put on a pretty damn good show, if he did say so himself.
Hunter moved with impossible fluidity, and he was able to match her with his prediction software's help. They slashed and spun, leapt and ducked under and over each other as they fought up and down the cracked street.
Then, Colin heard a voice in his ear that was decidedly unexpected.
"Approval granted. Vista deployed," Director Piggot said.
Well…
Hopefully Hunter had a plan for that, too.
Armsmaster jumped clear so he wouldn't get caught in the danger zone.
The air warped strangely around him.
Hunter suddenly froze, standing tall in the middle of the road.
Colin could only imagine what the world looked like to her, right now.
Vista could stretch and manipulate space with ease, and this was the oldest trick in her playbook.
The space in a thin ring around Hunter was now extended from inches into miles, even though Hunter was still clearly right there.
But from Hunter's perspective, the rest of the world was suddenly very, very far away.
Hunter stood and looked around with an expression of mild interest for a few long seconds.
Then the strange creation that brought down Dauntless erupted from the pavement right under Hunter's feet. It gripped her almost gently in its massive fist, and dragged her back under the ground.
And suddenly, everything was silent.
Colin took a deep breath and leaned on his halberd.
It wasn't quite the grand finale they had envisioned, but it would do. He was the last man standing, and Hunter had proven her worth.
Plus, she even managed to get Dauntless to accidentally shoot one of his own teammates. Colin was very much looking forward to reprimanding him for that.
Rising star of the Bay, indeed.
Now, he just had to figure out what the hell Hunter was cooking up in that lab of hers and convince the Director not to burn the city down in the meantime.
…
