I told man stood opposite me, a narrow smile crossing his face as he made his katana blade whip around himself at a lightning speed, and if that was going to help, at my man the swarm of wasps flowed from beneath my armor of my costume and set themselves on him. Both katana and knife held with ground as he started using his hands to flail at the swarm. I wound up hitting him much harder than I intended to, as he just happened to bend forward at the same moment I swung. As he reeled blood streaming from his face, I lunged shore with a low swing to hit him in the side of the knee, and surrender, put your weapon down, lie on the ground and put your hands on your head.
No, no I can't! I got powers! You don't! In the past ten minutes I've taken down people bigger than you, with better weapons, people with killer instinct, and I did it without a sweat.
I'll tell you right now, you lost, you'll lose this fight. Lie down and put your hands on your head. No! Fine.
I set my bugs on him, hoping to distract him enough to buy me time to deliver a decisive blow. As he charged me in his rage, I drew up his hand back, tried to decide how to strike. There was no need. I'm Chris Stepton, almost casually, and put a space through the four guys draw.
Thanks. No prob. We're nearly done here. Title tale.
How many? This is it. Building's clear. Spitfire.
Snail. The two members of fault lines team worked in tandem. Spitfire said about swinging a geyser of fluid, which ignited on contact. Greg of the Snail, in turn, contained the blades with his stream of flame retardant foam.
He could synthesize a bunch of organic compounds with this weird metabolism, such as the foam in the accelerant he used earlier. I proceeded to tie up the remaining ABB members with zip ties, the same kind that Shadow Stalker was using on me not long ago. I ran out. Got extras.
So this thing with the ABB is almost over. I was talking to Fogg, one of Kaiser's people. Sounds like he's not going to press the issue over a bitch in the dogfighting thing, like you suspected. Good.
I don't like them, but that's a fight we don't need just yet. No, I'm not. Don't. Don't.
Don't. You got any plans for tomorrow? I'm... I'm planless.
No plan. Want to come over to my place? I'm supposed to have a group meeting to stuff with Strahd Gress, whatever for this online class I'm taking. I've also got my sister's caseworker stopping by to check out my apartment in the afternoon, so can I buy some furniture and get it put together by then.
But I'm tight on time. It'll be a hell of a lot easier with two people. And that was a really explanation. I got the gist.
Yeah, I could do that. I'll text you with the time to address. All right. He gave me a very guy clap on the shoulder, then headed over to catch up to the guy that was trying to crawl away a little way down the street.
As he left, time will join me, taking a few risk ties from me and helping me with the others. She was sprinting. What? Nothing.
You're reading too much into it. He didn't invite me. Maybe he knows you wouldn't have accepted. Maybe he suspects I would have, and he wanted to spend time with just you.
Coming down. As the rubble settled, Gregor's fate was straight as extinguishing foam with one hand. In short order, the building was covered enough that only a few traces of flame were so visible. We're done.
Let's move. I think the APB is just about finished. Three days and nights from pressure from the police, military, all the good guys and most of the villains in the city will do that. It's like I was telling you, Taylor, someone breaks those unspoken rules, community protects the status quo.
Us villains make sure that the local authorities, we actually work together in a way with the cops, caves in the military holding the line during the day, and taking down any AVB who stick their heads up, while us villains do the nitty-gritty stuff. In this case, it's probably more blatant and invoking about than any example I could think of. Yes, we can think coiled for that. It's been a learning experience.
If nothing else had gotten a better sense of the other groups, I didn't think coiled soldiers would be quite as good as the ones I saw in action. Meeting the members of all Ainscrew and the travelers too. They're not bad people. I learned a lot too, in a different way.
I said part of the reason I wanted to go with Trickster and his Trickster team mate was to figure out their powers, right? I never shared. And Trickster, their leader, is a teleporter, not just himself. He can make anything he can see teleport, except there's a special rule to his power or restriction.
He has to swap the places of two things with roughly equivalent maps. The bigger the difference in masks, the slower the swap, and shorter his ring. That sounds like a pretty big drawback. He makes it work.
He had AVB members hitting their own guys. He was disarming them like it was a piece of cake. As for the shapeshifter, her name is Genesis, her power remotely controlled projections. But she's not actually there.
Showed up with a triceratopsable cyborg thing, charged through the front door, set off a trap, got blown to smithere. And Trickster just laughed. Two minutes later, she pulled together a lady knight and shining armor and was dealing with the guys with guns. Jeez.
Sundance has got a miniature son. Well, as Dick is Brian and I saw just last night, he just needs to touch something to have it go rocketing off at a few hundred feet a second. Doesn't matter if it's ball bearings or a car. At this new info and well...
Evieters. We can be glad they're on our side. For now, we still don't know why they're here and why they're helping. My power's not telling anything concrete.
I'm as serious as you are. Mind if I stay over again tonight? It's your place too. You don't need to meet the ass.
I think you should call your dad though, so he doesn't worry. Yeah, call your dad. All contact region and bitch. See how they're doing.
Alright. Hi Dad. Taylor, I'm going to leave to hear from you. I'm going to stay at least as again tonight.
I'd like you to come home, Taylor. It worries me that I haven't seen you since you left the meeting at the school. I'm okay. It's not that I don't believe you, but I'd feel a lot better if I see that for myself.
I want to talk, have dinner and breakfast together, touch base. I don't want to lose touch like we did after. After your mom died. It's okay, Dad.
I just I guess I need a little change of pace to get away from it all for a little bit. I already made plans for tonight. It would be awkward to cancel. I'll come home for dinner tomorrow.
Okay. Just tell me you're going to school. Yeah. I didn't go Monday.
I started going yesterday afternoon. I suppose that's better than nothing. I'll see you tomorrow night then. Love you Dad.
Love you too. The big front page scoop of the morning was a picture someone had taken from one of the buildings near the one we burned down. The headline, Villains Step In. It was a censored image of lung in his human shape.
His eyes suck its empty, his hands on one of his gang member shoulder. It seemed like he was being led. There was a caption beneath it. Decisive blow, Brockton Bay authorities have turned a blind eye to local villains, enforcing their own brand of justice.
Oh man. Is that taking myself deeper and deeper? Where's far? Was that he gotten away?
Good morning. Morning. Brian said he had something to do this morning so I grabbed you guys your breakfast today. Sorry if I didn't get the coffee exactly right.
Hold on. I got texts from Brian. Finished early. Two didn't show.
Want to come at 11 a.m. Or I can pick you up at the loft? Sounds good. I'll take the bus.
It's so very you. How do you use perfect punctuation and capitalization for your texts? You too. Want me an item?
What? Not the plan. Just going over to help out a friend. Come on.
We both know you think he's good looking. In a minute. This is you using your power? Where is this probably a way that Brian likes you?
I think the only two people who haven't figured it out are you and Brian. Yeah. I think he's a very good looking guy. Don't you?
Sure. Maybe not totally my type, but I definitely wouldn't turn someone like him away if I was doing the relationship thing. You're not? How come?
My power kind of takes the mystery out of things. Relationships are hard to get off the ground unless you can get the ball rolling with a healthy dose of self-delusion and lies. So you're not going to date ever? Maybe a few years.
Maybe I'll lower my standards enough to be able to overlook what my powers would tell me about the guys more. Discussing and degrading character quirks and habits. Sorry to hear. But the key to station between you and I here is that Brian and I would kill each other before a relationship back anywhere.
You do though? I miss you working. Is that your power talking? You're saying he actually likes me?
Sorry, hun. Reading people with my powers hard. Reading into their motivation or emotions is harder. And to top it off, I don't even...
I don't even think Brian knows what he's feeling, romantically. You might have to jar him from his comfort zone before either of you get to find out. You're assuming I want to? You don't.
You're paying a lot of attention to what you're going to be wearing. I always do, even when I'm just going to be hanging out with you and bitch. I'm taking yes and stress over the clothes I'm wearing if I'm walking to the corner store by my house to buy milk and bread. There.
Here. Let me take your clothes. And if anything goes wrong, you blame me. Beel.
Jeans and... let's see. A crop top. This show off that value of yours.
It's still a little cold out. Wear a sweatshirt or a jacket then, but only if you promise to take it off when you get there. Fine. Brian's a guy who appreciates being practical.
That's something he likes about you. And he said as much. And even though I think he's fucking fantastic that you're going to step the birthdays with nice, you can do that in clothes that make sense of doing light labor. Jeans?
Yes. Kurt? Not so much. I guess I wasn't being practical just now.
You got stuff on your mind, school and your dad and romance and shit. Now go. Enjoy yourself. I was trying not to think about how this wouldn't last, how eventually Brian had to be turned over.
I really didn't need Lisa reading into my doubts and hesitations and realizing that they were at least partially based on the fact that I was planning on betraying her and the others. If it didn't dwell on it, it would be that much harder for me to give her any clues. Yep. Totally the reason I was avoiding thinking about it.
Nothing to do with the fact that I was feeling increasingly lousy and ambivalent over the idea of turning friends into the authorities. Brian sat beside one of the trees, likely asleep. Sorry to wake you. I wasn't sleeping.
I figured I'd wait for you here rather than wish to keep coming and not knowing how to reach me while I was hauling stuff upstairs. Oh, thank you. Still got two pieces of furniture in the car. Let me grab them and we'll head on up.
You have a car? Rental. Doesn't make sense for me to own a car, especially since half the driving I do would be at the hideout. It gets stolen in the first place.
And I don't like leaving a license plate number for people to use, to track me down and think it's go showers. I get it. Car bad. Car bad.
Extensive. Says the guy who doesn't sweat paying $15 for coffee on the boardwalk. Do you say? Need a hand?
I'll get the boxes. You close the car door behind me. You get the front door of the building? Sure.
I'll get the doors. Timmy, so what did you get me thinking about? Timmy, Taylor, why can't you think of something to say? Okay.
What floor? Fourth. Thanks. What threw me I think was how mellow the place was.
Whether it was the softness of the colors, the little jar with stones, water and bamboo and the catching hounder, or the sappy at home pictures of trees in the front hall, the please give me a sense of ease. So I've already got one of the bits started. It turns out it really needs a second set of hands. You want anything before we get started?
You prefer tea to coffee, right? Or do you want soda? I'll buy tea. I'm fine.
Let's get started. Without cleansing my way, he placed his hand over the top of mind to adjust the angle of fraction. It was very glad for the long sleeves of my top as goosebumps prickle my arms. He moved in closer to get a better look at what he was doing and his arm pressed against my shoulder.
Again, it prompted an almost elemental reaction from my body. Was this intentional? Or was I assigning meaning to something coincidental? His arm wasn't pressing against my shoulder after he moved over, but the way he was crouching, his face was only a few inches from my own.
Okay, that was worse. Taylor? What? Relax.
You're allowed to breathe. What? Oh, you okay? I get nervous when I'm close to people.
I think, you know, maybe I have that breath or maybe I wouldn't be able to tell because it's fine until I hold my breath like that to be safe. I don't know. Nope. You smell nice.
I became aware of a heat on my face that must have been a furious lushing. I'm here! Not as awful as I expected. My first thought was that the girl who walked in was Brian's girlfriend.
Then I saw her glance away, smirk, and noted the similarity between her eyes and Brian's. His sister. My second thought or my second response really was hard to put into words. It's like when you saw Mercedes with a cheap flame to call plastic to rent plastic around the wheels and a tacky homemade spoiler stuck on the back.
You just needed one look at Aisha to know that she was going to be drop dead gorgeous when she had finished growing up. Well, that said, though, her outfit and makeup looked as though she had gone out of her way to look trashy, with ripped denim shorts over a neon gree fishnet leggings and a strapless top, I would hesitate to even call underwear. Am I interrupting something? You said, what are you doing here?
You... Mr. Lebourn, I'm afraid I expected you to be more prepared, but it seems like you're in the middle of something. Ma'am, Mrs.
Walker. I'm almost positive your office told me to expect you at two this afternoon. That was the original time. Aisha told me you wanted to reschedule.
What? There's a movie I wanted to see this afternoon with my friends. If you didn't ask, I might have said yes. Now I'm probably going to say no.
Not your call, bro. I'm not living with you yet. I'm sorry about this. Me, too.
I should have called to check if given Aisha's history of bending the truth. If you'd like to reschedule, I'm afraid I've already filled the afternoons lot, but perhaps this weekend? Since you're already here, if you're willing to look past the furniture and be out and finish putting together, we could just do it now. If you're sure, what about your companions?
She's just a friend. She was helping me out. Taylor, I'm not sure how long this will be. I don't want to waste her time, but I feel bad if you left so soon after coming all the way here.
You want us to ground and take it easy, I can give you a ride back afterwards. I'll stay if I won't be in the way. No plans for the afternoon. When Brian smiled, I realized why I hadn't jumped on the chance to leave.
Are you in his online class? No. You look a little young for it. Why aren't you in school?
I was caught on the edge of one of the bomb blasts. Got a concussion. I'm missing classes until I'm totally better. I see.
I'm sure that assembly furniture is what the doctor intended wouldn't hold you to rest and recuperate? Well, I... So you wanted to look my place over and see the space I set aside for Aisha? I guess this is a chance for you to check out a place before the family is scrambled to sweep everything under the rug.
Let's step onto the balcony, and you can tell me about the area and the nearby schools. Brian led the way and held the door for the caseworker, and swung shop behind him, leaving me with Aisha, who was still sitting on the kitchen counter. I gave her a small smile and received a cool, penetrating stare in return. So, you're on my brother's team, right?
Team? I know, he boxes or boxes. You're gonna play dumb? I'm not following.
Sorry. Right. Look, I know you're on his team. Process of elimination, you have to be...
the bug girl. What the hell? He told me that he had powers, didn't say what they were. Since he has powers, he thinks there's a chance that I could get him too.
Didn't want me to be surprised. I figured out who he was after that, saw something about some villains robbing a casino, and a knight he wasn't at home, started keeping track of times he wasn't available, and it kept matching up. Called him on it. He didn't do a very good job at denying it.
You're saying your brother's a supervillain? Yeah. And I'm saying you are too. Why else would my brother be hanging out with you?
You. Ow. She's in the territory and should be entering the school at the same time for the rest of the great nine students. It would mean separating her from the bad influences around where she's living now.
Fuck you, Brian. I'd like to see your bedroom next. Mine. Not Iceland.
Please. Maybe I should see how you react if I shouted out loud. What are you calling yourself again? Not saying?
Whatever. Ladybug! They're out of your shot. Anyway, it seems like you'd be in a loosely situation broadcasting it like that.
Either you're right and you tick off two people you really might want to avoid angering, or you're wrong and you look crazy. I already think I'm a little crazy though. What do I have to lose? Can't say.
What do you have to gain? Come on! Just admit it. I'd like you to step onto the balcony for a minute.
Whatever. And Brian, you might want your friends to step outside too. I don't really have anything to add. All right.
Let me start off by saying this is better than most. Thank you. But I have concern. I'd rather documents and plan to email me.
You have a solid plan in mind for accounting, paying the bills, assisting with her education, possible electric expenses, clothes, budget, even setting money aside for college. In many respects, this is the sort of situation I wish for, with most of my cases. But. But.
But when I look at this place, I see that you've made it very much yours. The furniture, the decorations, the artwork. They seem to point to your personality. We've been very little room for Aishas.
Even in the space you've set aside for her. I see. Look, Mr. Lebourn, we have to consider Aishas perspective.
She's a serial runaway. She clearly doesn't see your father's place in the home. Extra care should be given to ensure she sees this as one. Assuming she winds up here and not it from mothers.
My mothers? I'm aware of your concerns on the subject of Aishas' mother, Mr. Lebourn. Is this fixable?
Yes. Involve Aishas in the decoration. Be willing to compromise your taste and aesthetics to allow her to feel like this is her space too. I know it won't be easy.
Aishas difficult sometimes. I'm sure we can both agree. Yeah. So what's next?
I'll be making my visit to her mother's home in a week and a half if I'm remembering right. If you want to send me another email when you feel you've amended this minor problem. And a small handful of things I pointed out during inspection, I could arrange to stop by again. That would be terrific.
Keep in mind that I have an overflowing caseload and I probably won't be able to stop by until at least a week after you let me know. Thank you. Any questions? Then I wish you luck.
To apologize for an unexpected appointment time, I'll make you a one-time offer to take Aishas off your hands. If she insists on getting herself suspended, I can maybe introduce her to some other that went down the road while I go through this afternoon's appointments. I guess she'll be missing that movie she wants to go to. Leave it up, Mr.
Lebourn. I should be lucky to have you. Come on Aishas, we're leaving now. So long, dweebes.
Bren, er... I should know it's about the undersiders. Looks like... Shit.
Sorry. I thought you'd be running into where I would've given you ads up. You didn't say anything. Pretend it ought to not what the hell she was talking about for all the good it did.
Is this going to be a problem? She promised she wouldn't say anything to anyone and it really bothers me that she was indiscreeted enough to raise the subject with someone I hadn't okayed. But I should wouldn't tell for the sake of telling. I think she was probably messing with you.
If you're sure. Pretty sure. I looked at my cell phone. It was from Lisa.
Sorry to interrupt the smooth trust. You two need to hurry back. Shit is going down. Oh, Lisa said something's up.
She says to hurry back. Pain and yes. I was hoping... Hell.
She guess we're not going to get this stuff put together, huh? Another time. And thanks to a concerted effort by members of Brockton Bay's Wars and Protectorate and her teams, the local gang, the ABB or Asian Bad Boys has fallen. The heroes of the hour are the young members of the wards.
Clockwalker and Vista, who played a pivotal role in managing a crisis with a superbomb. Allegedly used by a supervillain bakata in an attempt to hold the city ransom and guarantee her safety. While experts on the scene refused to offer hard numbers, our local keep was quoted as stating the superbomb could have a yield of 9,000 kilosens of energy. This device, containing power on part with conventional nuclear bomb, was fashioned with household materials scavenged from the area.
Where we're not for the efforts of the wards, this might have been a tragic day for our nation. As much as we might have wished for a period of summer reflection, other local villains have shown little interest in putting recent matters to rest. Less than an hour after suspected ABB leader, long and legit, complex pocket hour brought into custody, the head officers of Metal Corporation were assaulted by armed forces in an altercation that drew the attention of members of the local Aryan villain group, Empire 88. This abuse has prompted a rash move of more than six major incidents in the past hours.
I'll give you a quick note. The travelers just hit an art gallery at an airport in the span of an hour. Coil and Empire 88 are apparently trying to make up for lost time, and are just a hair away from open warfare on the streets. The merchants, skid marks group, are taking advantage of the chaos and trying to do what the ABB did.
But with local drug heads and hobos and zero control over the situation, they won't get far. But I'm sure they're having a grand old looning spree. So this is fire is over. Like everyone was poised at the starting line, ready to move the instant the gun fired.
Except us. Not necessarily. Five minutes after Metal's got hit, we got a message from the boss. He's got a job he wants us to do.
Maybe our biggest yet, but the timeline's short. That's why I called you here. Here's the thing. Morale is down.
The city's spooked and things aren't calming down the way people were hoping they would. The fact that we all dodged a bullet with a super bomb thing, it didn't help. Topping it off, it doesn't look good when the local news gets wind of the fact that the large part of the fighting against the ABB was being done by villains. Get my drift?
So with the idea that they were planning a fundraiser around nowadays, the mayor is promoting a function to help sell the idea that it was the good guys that were in the major players here. And result, a fundraiser slash celebration involving the protectorate, wards, the PRT forces, cops and all those guys, tonight. Most of the wards and new waves are going to pick up the slack in the meantime to keep the city protected, because the mayor is prioritizing PR here. I'm not licking the direction this is going here.
The protectorate and some of the wards are going to be there with the upper crust of Brocken Bay, their friends and family, and anyone else willing to shell out the cash for a ticket. The boss wants us to quote, embarrass them. Unquote. You insane?
You want us to what? Crash a party, fuck with the people there and then scrape before we get ourselves arrested by half the fucking heroes in Brockton Bay? Basically, though it's probably more like a third of the city's heroes. Right.
No offense, Lisa. I'm fond of you and everything, but you kind of underestimated the number of heroes that would show up to the bank robbery too. Don't forget that a bunch of heroes came from out of town to help with the ABB situation and they might stick around for the afterparty. True.
But still, the plan is to piss them off, not just them either, but the party's probably going to be attended by the mayor, the police chief. You're aware that if we tried this and any of us got caught, it would pretty much be a first-class trip to the bird cage? Sorry, Lisa, this is a no. I'm perfectly cool with letting all the other groups go at it for a bit.
We did our part and we've got nothing to lose and kicking back for a while. Yeah. Fun as it sounds. I don't get the point.
You won't find anyone more willing to get a little crazy than me. But I'm with bitch. It's a whole lot of risk, a whole lot of trouble. For what?
Tweaking the good guys' noses? The boss is willing to pay with other considerations. Considerations? You have to understand.
I don't disagree with what you guys are saying, but what I can tell you is that this is a test. The boss wants to see if we can pull this off, and if we can, we're that much more valuable to him. A lot more valuable. And maybe the test is whether we're sworn enough to turn down a doomed mission.
Maybe. I don't think so, but I won't deny that it's possible. Can we turn this down? I mean, he's never forced us to take a job.
We could. I think it's four votes against, at the very least. I'm assuming you're going to vote for this plan, Lisa? Yeah.
Well, unless we switched from a majority vote system, I guess you're going to tell the boss, thank you, but no. Wanna see you by putting that kitchen at a table on the bedside table together? I can treat you to a late lunch if- 250! 250?
Thousand! Each, damn it! I wanted to get you guys on board before I wowed you with the amount. Sounds desperate when I say it like this, but I can let you walk away now without letting you know that we'd be turning down.
Just to be clear, $1,250,000 divided five ways for this? Like I said, biggest job yet. If the boss offered us a quarter million dollars each to walk up to those guys and turn ourselves in, it wouldn't be that different scenario. Sure it would.
We actually have a chance at getting through this. Free and clear. A very, very small chance. A chance.
But if we do this, if we prove to the boss that we're worth his while, we move up. We get more money, we get more equipment, information, and we get a voice as far as shaping his long-term plans. All of which may translate to more respect to the gay community. A voice?
What do you mean? Meaning with him. Discussing what we do next and why. I'm changing my vote.
This much money. It sort of solves the problem I had with the job, which was that it was sort of pointless. A quarter million dollars is pretty pointy. Two for three.
Yes, bitch. Let me think. This was a chance to meet our employer. I could finally get that last piece of information and turn the undersiders in.
The problem is, did I want you? I think I might change my vote. What? Oh boy.
Whoa. What? The last person I would have expected to change your vote, Dork. You're careful.
And this is the least careful job we've had yet. Changing my vote is provisional on whether we come up with a plan that has a decent chance of us escaping with our skin intact. Listen, you're usually Brian's shadow, echoing him. Thanks, Alec.
Are you sure? Not totally, and I'm sorry if you're not backing you up. You're a member of the team. You can't allow your own voice.
What changed your mind? It bugs me that I don't know who our employer is. There's some real ugly possibilities and I'd rather know sooner than later if they were the case. I admit, I am curious.
I don't think I'm curious enough to want to take this job. If the scrawny kid is going to do this, I'm not backing down. I'll change my vote too. Kid?
Scrawny? Sure, but I'm probably a year younger than you at most. Just a little kid. We have to stay on topic, since there's only a few hours to plan and get ready.
We have four votes, four, one against. Looks like this is going to happen. Sorry. Hey, it's okay.
I know this dude didn't move his hand off my shoulder right away. So how do we pull this off? Well, it goes something like this. Dude stepped forward just a little and I got a glimpse of the world below us.
Thirty-two stories down, the cars on the street were visible only by the yellow and red points of their lights. This kind of been terrifying when we've just been talking about it. Actually being on the verge of doing it, ten times worse. Still time to think of a reason to back out.
Last chance, Taylor. Boysburg Gallery. Not the prettiest place in my opinion. The heroes should have been having their big event on the top floor.
Perfect for an ambush. Dogs are ready now. Everyone holding on tight. As well as we can.
Are we going to do this or? Now. And it looks like I was doing it. Nice gig you got here.
I felt weirdly calm as my eye swept over the room. The protector it was gathered around the stage at the back of the room. Armsmaster, Miss militia, assault, battery, velocity, and triumph. No center dot list, fortunately.
Beyond that, there were the words, glory girl. A bunch of local celebrities and on-duty PRT squad. And to top it all off, there was also Emma. Scared shitless.
Holy shit! Not doing that again. Fucking intense. Oh, sure.
Lock us right before I start my speech. Bitch, read it. Go. The three of us ran for the front of the room while bitch whistled for her dogs and ran for the back.
I sensed it when Regent untouched the two boxes that were strapped to Angelica. I had my bug slow out from the top of the box. If a few more of the biting and stinging sword headed in Emma's general direction, it wasn't due to a conscious choice on my part. I was moving with my knife drawn before going to the end of some of this.
A bunch of the PRT squad. I drew my knife against the hose mounted on his back. Taking an elbow to my face for the trouble. I fell back through the doorway, even as the tank began emptying its contact found to the floor.
It expanded like shaving cream to the three-gallon tank made for a hell of a lot of foam. As Brian disclosed with the dispose of two more guys, I took hold of the nozzle of movement of her sports weapon. Scared or leaped over the expanding foam to knock him down, allowing me to trap two more guys to the foam. This was tinker made stuff so they had no chance of escaping.
I ganked the foam tank off of him and mounted it on skaters back. Grew already had his on and I was getting a third one off of the foam captured PRT team members for me. Grew pointed to our left and we aimed. A second later, he made the darkness dissipate, giving us a clean shot to the junior heroes.
Good to see you again, glory hall! Grew directed a streaming cloth locker to the left so I drew my attention to the person on the right of the group. Shadow Stalker. This was for helping Emma bitch.
The stream was dead on but she seemed to face through it at least partially and at her crossbow loaded. Whether that was a tranquilizer shot or a real arrow, I was fucked if it hit me. She stepped on a bit of foam and was tripped up a little. Tattletail added her firepower to mine with her combined streams.
Shadow Stalker fell. We took a second to bury her under the foam and grew out of the measure of darkness to it. Next. This time I deliberately moved to force a bug into the area for some extra distraction.
The darkness dissipated and it was a protector at this time. Half of them. Battery, assault, and triumph. Alright, let's get this rolling.
Battery was already charged up, moving like a blur as soon as she could see where she was going. She left one side, kicked assault, and then careened off in the opposite direction. Assault was a kinetic energy manipulator. It could control the energy's movement, acceleration, and motion much like other heroes could manipulate, flame or electricity.
He used the energy from battery's kick to rocket towards us, and battery moved around to flank. I directed a stream in assault, but it didn't take effect on him for a while. The light gave assault just enough time as I'd be flying to the wall beside the wards. After that, the expansion of the foam kept him moving much further.
Skitter and I focused our fire on battery, dodging our shots she seemed to stumble into a cocktail table, but any clumsiness on her part was an illusion of the eye. A heartbeat later, she had the table in her grip and threw it in like an oversized frisbee. I pushed Tattletail in one direction as I flung myself in the other. The table edged the weapon in Tattletail's hands and knocked it from her grip with enough force to make Tattletail roll as she hit the ground.
Which left only me standing, against triumph and battery. The latter was charging again, taking advantage of us being off-balance to build up a store of power again. For just a fraction of a second as I swarmed her, I saw the glow of her power dim. She needed to concentrate, it seemed.
My bug set started to distract. She was a step too slow in getting out of the way of the stream. Triumph had managed to claw enough bugs away from his face to use his sonic shout. He was one of those guys that was big, muscular, and tough enough that you'd avoid him even if he didn't have that other power.
And his other power was one that let him punch holes through concrete. I aimed and fired a stream at him, but Triumph was surprisingly quick and slipping out of the way. As I reorientated my aim, he kicked over a cocktail table and grabbed it with one hand to use as a shield against the fall. Another shockwave hit me, throwing me across the room and leaving me too disoriented to aim.
Here! Brutus barreled through the corridor, grew, had parted through the darkness to slam into triumph like a charging pole. Just to my left, shout a sucker pulled her out for body free of the goop using her power. And again, this slow process of working her crossbow free.
No! Stay down! Skitter! Move!
I had to flop over onto my back to see Arm's Master standing six feet away from me. Leveling the blade of his halberd in my direction. Sorry! I felt something like a wave of intensely hot air that made every hair of my arms legs in the back of my neck stand on end.
I realized the trigger of the containment foam strayer was depressed and nothing was coming out at the end of the weapon. I tried again? Nothing. Arm's master had fired an electromagnetic pole screwing up the machinery.
Fuck! No, weapons are disabled. Call off your mutant. I promise you, it will only get hurt in an attack.
And I'd rather not subject an animal to that when it's the master lots of blame. Bitch! Call them off! It's right!
Brutus! Off! You were moving like you could see in my darkness. I've studied your power.
This is over from the moment you stepped into the room. Arm's master tapped the butt of his weapon on the ground. Every bug within 15 feet have been dropped out of the sky dead. Miss militia stepped out of the darkness beside the stage.
Region has a hostage. Fuck! Surrender! No, you're only going to embarrass yourself if you prolong this.
We have you outnumbered five to three. Eight to three if you count the dogs. I can see your body velocity over there. What do you hope to accomplish?
I admit, it was clever to control the battlefield. To dictate the engagements that occurred on your terms and to use our own weapons against us. Those weapons are no longer working. None of your weapons work.
Which means that you can stop trying to use your power on your region. I've got a little blinking light in the corner by a QD telling you you're trying something. I've set up psychic and empathic shielding to protect myself from your internal tale. I don't need to read you.
You're the only one with shields. So your teammates and the PRT staff don't have any psychic shields up. And I can read them to get anything I need. You're not the best inventor, but like most tinkerers, you've got a knack.
Yours just happens to be condensing into integrating technology. Only works in your immediate presence. But still, you can stick way more technology in a space than has a right to be there. Like your halberd.
You're lying. Sure. Babe, about the reading minds bit. Not about your weapon and power.
Let's see. To deal with my buddy, Grue, you've made that thing up fancy tuning stick. Sensing vibrations in the air. Translating them into images with that fancy helm of yours.
And the ass end of the stick of yours is using the brass in between the floor tiles to help transmit an electrical charge. To the area around your fancy bug tapping. Did you set that up before coming here tonight? Knowing the way the floor would be put together?
Guess not. Happy coincidence that the setup you put together works as well as it does in here then. You can tell I'm lying, huh? That's awesome.
So you'll know I'm telling the truth when I say your teammates, your team hates your guts. They know you care more about rising from your position as a seventh most prominent member of the protectorate than you do about them or the city. In the span of a second, the blade of the halberd broken into three pieces, reconfigured and fired in a grappling hook style at Tattletail. The time's close together, forming a loose ball shape as it flew, striking her solidly in the stomach.
She crumpled to the ground, arms around her middle. Bastard! Apparently, according to your teammate. Skater, you especially do not want to irritate me any more for tonight.
The bottom of his halberd tapped the ground and the bugs perished. Glad to the floor as he did it. Sure enough, the broad titles have little lines of metal. Bronze dividing them.
With a little collursion, Miss Malisha dropped her machine gun and I took that chance to pull away. I didn't get one step before she regained her balance and dropped into a low kick that swept my legs out from under me. Her machine gun dissolved when it was halfway to the ground, turning into a shimmer of dark green energy that arced back to her hand. It rematerialized into a gleaming steel machete.
I stopped my struggles the second she rested, the point of the bladed weapon against the side of my throat. Grew, you've shown that you can dismiss the effects of your power. Do so now. Somehow, I'm not seeing a major reason as to why I should listen.
I've got the sword pressing against my neck, your guy. Not seeing a major reason? Fuck you. Looking at this way.
If there are witnesses, Miss Malisha will have a far harder time selling the idea that she stabbed her friend in the throat and self-defense. Fine. The people that grow out in the crowd are mostly huddled on the ground, trying to fend off the stinging and biting swarm. The dogs lurked to the edges of the room, and bitches was destroyed in gelica, opposite velocity.