4.7 - Catherine
"This is called the BFG, which stands for Big Fucking Gun. The gun itself is 60% cheap ass attachments around a stock rifle with some LEDs strapped to the sides for good measure. Give one to the biggest dumbass in your squad, because the capes will go straight for it every time, letting your guys who can actually hit shit do something."
-Captain James Hardy, Leader of the CK-17 Mercenary Group
"Well at least I won't have to eat my shoe," Tattletale said drily.
Alexandria had strolled over, almost leisurely, to the group that had appeared in front of the portal. Behind them I could just barely catch a glimpse of some sort of fight breaking out on the other side. So both sides of the portal were already under attack somehow. I needed to get through that portal and get to Black, our best shot at holding the damn thing was to use powers from one world to counter our opponents in another. They had superior firepower and numbers, so our only advantage was the fledgling cooperation we had formed with the Undersiders.
Alexandria held up a hand, looking entirely unscathed from our fight. "Fighting us is pointless. This portal is far too important to leave in the hands of amateurs and petty villains," she stated frankly.
If my memory served, that was the full Triumvirate in front of us plus one. I didn't need Tattletale's super intuition to guess that their cape bogeyman was the one at the back, looking the most unassuming of them all. The simple clothing compared to the striking and bright costumes of the others probably made people underestimate her, but standing right next to them it only was highlighting how different she was.
"Yeah, because leaving it in the hands of Team Crimes Against Humanity is so much better," Tattletale quipped back. "You have no idea what you're doing by making a power grab for the portal."
I shifted away from Tattletale, Scrub, and Masego as she talked. When this turned into a fight, I wanted to be free to take on Legend without risking them. I knew I couldn't do much against Eidolon, given his powers would likely automatically counter mine. The bogeyman was even worse supposedly. And Alexandria...well, she was about to play right into one of our backup plans.
"Perhaps not," she replied. "But we're far better equipped for whatever is in there. We did not arrive at a potential interdimensional crisis with a few mercenaries and a handgun." Her gaze derisively flicked to Tattletale's pistol.
Realistically I wasn't sure I could do any lasting damage to any of them given what we had been told, but I had been pulling off unrealistic plans for a good little while now. With all of us so close to the portal there was nearly just as much of our laws as there were of theirs. I flexed Winter and could feel the renewed strength, that infinite abyss of churning ice.
"Two handguns," Tattletale clarified, holding two fingers up. "But fine. What's this grand vision of yours that us mere mortals can't comprehend?"
"Victory. At any cost," Alexandria stated grimly. "The Endbringers must be defeated. No combination of powers has yet to do more than slow them. Threats beyond them exist. For the sake of saving all of humanity, if we can find even a single tool in this world that can shift the tide, then it is worth it."
Tattletale folded her arms, her eyes narrowing. "The end of the world in two years. You know what it is."
"We suspect," Alexandria clarified in turn. I found it odd she was the only one speaking. Was she their designated speaker or did she have some additional clout the other two didn't? "Believe it or not, it's actually a better situation than we anticipated. The end of the world was inevitable, but our chances are better this way."
"You're not going to just let us go," she said. "So let me tell you what's going to happen next."
Alexandria smirked, letting out a brief and dark chuckle. "You'll tell us? I can't wait to hear this."
Tattletale shrugged. "What's going to happen is you're going to regret getting caught up in a monologue." She flashed her own smirk in return. "Because it means you weren't watching your back."
An arrow shot out of the portal, crashing harmlessly against Alexandria's back as the group half swiveled in reaction. An exhausted looking Warlock was dragged along by the same figure I had seen on the hill before our battle with Summer.
The Lady of the Lake, a one time member of the Calamities. Ranger.
Ranger slicked her hair back with one hand, drawing a long knife from her hip with the other. "You know, I just had the most frustrating thing happen." She pointed at Alexandria. "Are you the leader of these guys?"
Without missing a beat Alexandria replied, "Yes." Her stance had barely shifted, but I could sense the battle readiness coming off the woman. Beyond that I could feel the very air growing heavy with bloodlust.
Ranger nodded, flicked her knife around once casually, and then started advancing the short distance between them. Warlock was leaning on the wall behind her, giving a wave to Masego as he spotted him, his face lighting up in relief. The exhaustion seemed to almost melt away as they spotted each other.
"Great, that's easy. Get out of my way or die," she stated, walking at such a pace that there was no time for Alexandria to respond except to move or stay. I watched, tensed, as she refused to move. The blade flicked up, two deft strikes sliding off each side of her neck. Alexandria reached out to grab her and Ranger flowed around her arm like water, her blade flicking out again, testing the back of her knees. Alexandria kicked a leg out to sweep her legs, hitting only air again as Ranger dodged.
"Eidolon-" Alexandria started to say before being cut off as Ranger drove her knife into her open mouth, the blade snapping as Alexandria bit down, fishing the metal out of her mouth.
Ranger's eyes had gone wide, not with surprise, but interest. Each cut had seen her more engaged. They had looked incredibly fast, but ordinary, cuts to me, but I knew better than that. Whatever Ranger was doing was likely meant to rend steel asunder or divide stone. The amount of joy I was seeing in her was almost perverse.
"Hm you're actually interesting," she said, drawing not just one blade, but two. "I am the Ranger," she said. "I hunt those worth hunting. Rejoice, for you qualify."
"We don't need to fight-" Alexandria started and then stumbled half a step back. The waves of pressure roiling off Ranger increasing tenfold at the words to the point that even she must've felt it. Ranger practically disappeared as she stepped forward, her blade sinking into the calf of Alexandria's still forward leg. No witty retort followed as chaos erupted.
I was about to use my teleport to intercept Legend when a rock flew right across my vision. The bogeyman, the woman who had hung at the back of the group, stepping forward to separate our group from the fight Ranger had picked. Behind her Warlock was engaging with Eidolon as Ranger harried the other two heroes. Tattletale grimaced, glancing between the woman and me as her fingers played over the butt of her pistol.
"You're looking for something to use against me Tattletale," the woman stated. "You already know you won't find it. Your friend the Squire has been accounted for ever since she inherited the Butcher's powers."
I glanced at Masego, who was watching one of his fathers engage Eidolon, the two seemingly well matched for the moment, though both were clearly playing it cautious.
The woman smiled at me and I hesitated. "You're thinking your friend can do something with his powers that might surprise me. He cannot."
Masego unfolded his arms, turning his head towards her. "You're suggesting that despite your power coming from a completely foreign source that it is capable of understanding my capabilities to such a level that you can guarantee victory against me?"
Tattletale groaned, spitting out, "Yeah, that sounds like her." She pointed a finger at the bogeyman. "But clearly your power can't get everything or you'd be helping your friends back there with the Ranger."
She shrugged leisurely. "You assume that it wasn't accounted for before we came here."
Tattletale's eye twitched. "There's no way you could've predicted that. Not even with your powers."
"Oh?" The woman said, the hint of a smug grin directed at Tattletale. "Check for yourse-" a gunshot rang out and the bogeyman collapsed backwards, thrown to the ground. My head snapped back to where the sound had come from, Masego was casually holding the pistol Tattletale had given him earlier.
"It appears your hypothesis was incorrect," he stated with disappointment. "And my wasn't. I would suggest revising your base assumptions as they were clearly faulty, but I'm not supposed to lecture people I intend to kill."
Masego fired the handgun several more times, a green shield erected over the fallen woman as Eidolon turned and rushed to her side. With Ranger and Warlock handling Alexandria and Legend, I felt safe leaving Eidolon to Masego and Tattletale for the moment. Masego was better equipped to handle the sheer variety Eidolon could bring to bear.
I used my teleport to aim for next to Legend, the man shooting higher up into the air as I arrived and my danger sense blaring in my head. Bright streaks of light raining down on me as I formed a shield of ice around my arm to cover myself. The beams curved around my shield, striking at my limbs and burning them despite my newly strengthened skin from the Butcher. Using my Butcher powers I reformed the concrete beneath me into crude shields, cutting off my flanks from his, frankly bullshit, attacks.
Next to me Ranger had already moved on with her fight, having taken the brief window of opportunity to force Alexandria closer to the portal, her blades whipping out constantly as Alexandria was forced on the defensive faced with a foe that could cut through her invincibility. Despite the surprise, her gaze was as determined as before. She was on the backfoot, careful to deflect or dodge the blades, but looked far from off balance as she analyzed Ranger.
Eidolon had held out a hand to do something or another to Ranger, but was currently being stymied by Warlock and Masego. A circle of runes orbiting him, one colliding into him and exploding in a concussive blast whenever he tried to interfere. The circle only lasted a few seconds before he drew on some new power and it dissipated, dissolving away into fragments. Warlock frowning as he was forced to find a new counterspell.
The barrage of beams continued, several starting to bounce off the ground to slip through my defenses and singe me within. I didn't bother using my teleport again, he was too fast for that trick. Instead I crafted spears of ice, drawing up dozens around me as I reinforced my position. Grabbing one in each hand I flung them into the sky towards Legend. My aim had never been the best, certainly not good enough to blindly fire at a target like him, but I had a new power. The fourteenth Butcher had the ability to make her shots always hit and I tapped into that, feeling a hook I could pull on mentally to warp the way my shots travelled, forcing him to spend some effort in blasting them down. With my super strength I hurled spear after spear from each hand in quick succession, seeing if I could overwhelm or at least match his beams.
To my side I saw a gate appear under the shielded bogeyman which she dropped through, the shield dissipating a moment after. Eidolon evidently got a moment free with his focus on protecting her eased, as Ranger was forced to dodge a purple sphere that seemed to draw in everything in a short area around it and hold it against the ground.
"Hierophant!" Tattletale shouted from one of the alley entrances, in as much cover as she could get considering the close quarters and powers on display. "As many different types of magic as you can!"
I heard Masego mutter something demeaning about Jacquinite magic as he started weaving magic around Eidolon, Warlock seemingly catching on and doing the same with something that looked distinctly different. I was no spellslinger though, so the importance of the differences were lost on me.
Ranger ducked under a fist, the wall behind her collapsing inward from the force of the blow. Alexandria lifted off the ground, swinging a kick for the half-elf even as she kicked off the collapsing wall. Ranger flicked her blade up, her blade only a finger's breadth from her face when it swatted the rubble aside. She took a glancing blow from the kick, thrown down into the ground, the concrete cracking beneath her. She rolled even as she hit the ground, avoiding the follow up and getting back to her feet, casually brushing some dust from her cloak.
My assault against Legend was proving to be ineffective. The initial flurry of spears had managed to get him to pause for a moment, but he had quickly overwhelmed my projectiles. Frankly, I doubted I could best him here. He had too much speed and firepower for me to match. Even if he couldn't put me down, I'd be hard pressed to land a solid blow on him either. My ice collapsed under the increasing barrage of beams as Legend zig-zagged down to assist Eidolon and Alexandria, lasers firing into both of their fights to give them a window.
I decided not to let him do it uncontested as teleported next to Alexandria, figuring Ranger would be able to make the most use of a narrow window of opportunity. I found myself kicked through one of the few remaining walls that had previously formed that alleyway. Mostly unharmed, I furrowed my brow in confusion. The kick hadn't come from Alexandria, which meant...
"Interfere again and die," Ranger growled, the weight of her presence turned towards me as she glared through the shattered wall. Not even Black of Malicia had summoned the sheer presence I felt from her, almost all of it sharpened into murderous intention. Alexandria had no scruples with taking a swing for the woman and their fight resumed. I shook my head, taking a deep breath in.
Pretty sure trying to change her mind would get me stabbed, so Eidolon it is.
I spied the man in the green costume hunkered down behind a series of tiny rotating cubes which seemed to intercept incoming attacks with a diffuse sort of beam. I teleported next to him and found myself covered with the beams. They didn't hurt, but my danger sense went off immediately, growing the longer they pointed at me. I erected shields of ice and charged the man, a barrage of light from above blasting me back as I barely raised my shield in time. I cursed and threw a spear made from the ground to little effect.
This melee was too evenly matched. The alleyway had practically dissolved, the buildings that had formed it half ruined and hollowed out by stray and deflected attacks. The battlefield was expanding and we had no reinforcements coming. Judging from how prepared for us they were it meant that they likely did. If we stayed much longer we risked getting bogged down in the local heroes.
I dashed over to Tattletale, who was taking cover behind an increasingly small section of wall, handgun in one hand, cellphone in the other as it was pressed up against her ear.
"-need you here now. No, Faultline and Labyrinth already fled. No, my mercs are being pinned down by the PRT. Find a way-"
"Tattletale," I said, giving her a look as I drew up some more concrete with the powers of the Butcher, reinforcing her wall since it was one of the few pieces of cover she had left.
"-put Grue back on Regent or I'll shove my boot so far up your ass-"
"Tattletale!" I half shouted.
She glanced up from the phone. "What? The rest of the Undersiders are tied down."
"Did the plan not work?" I half whispered, keeping an eye on the fight as the various magic users expanded out with the widening battlefield. Masego was using the debris to his advantage, setting up spell arrays that went off from unpredictable angles, while Warlock had begun to start wholesale blasting it out with Legend.
She shook her head. "No, it's working, but they got delayed. Buy us time until they get here. Throw some rubble to the south east, block up the streets if you can. Then we can fall back through the portal."
"Got it. I don't think Ranger will fall back with us," I added.
"Great, she'll make a fantastic distraction for us to get away. If she survives, she can track us down. She's the Ranger right? Sounds like someone with good tracking. Also, not my monkey, which is even better," she said, the stress slipping into her voice just a bit.
I just gave her a quick nod and teleported back into the fray, aiming my explosive entry for Legend again. Ultimately Masego and Warlock were the two powerhouses here. They had the versatility to counter Eidolon and Legend, while I had the durability to dart up into their face and keep their focus on me. As much as each moment was a tenuous balance, with both our side and theirs constantly trying new tactics, it was also a steady ebb and flow.
I could feel the shape of the fight, how each time one side would gain a toehold, it would slip away just as fast. It was a familiar feeling, one that I was slowly getting a handle for. There was a Story at work here and our fight wasn't ready to finish yet. There were conditions that needed to be met before the scene could continue. Of course, it wasn't as concrete as it sounded. A simple mistake could have one of us cut down, and regardless of the shape of the current story the fight would likely end with the delicate balance broken. It was a wind in your sails or left you stuck in the doldrums and your fortune could change just as rapidly as a sailor's fortune.
I suspected that, and Masego had given a preliminary confirmation pending further study, it would be an even weaker force here. More malleable change and external meddling. Tattletale and I had agreed if the Triumvirate showed and it looked like a safe victory wasn't feasible we'd fall back to Calernia where they'd be both at a disadvantage and also stepping into a stronger story.
Legend nearly got through the ice I had erected around Masego and Warlock at their request, which they used both as defensive cover and also as a reagent for another set of spells. I could've reinforced the ice, but Tattletale had wanted me to sow some destruction to the south east. I tore off large chunks, using my Butcher powers to lob them at Legend while also aiming past him for some streets in the distance. At a glance they looked empty, which I had to assume was probably accurate. If fights like this were commonplace in Bet, a means of evacuation had to be well established for civilians.
Glancing down and back, I noticed that Alexandria and Ranger had both moved out of sight. I hadn't seen them go near the portal in the last few minutes, so it was unlikely Ranger had pulled her through. Instead the wake of destruction in the opposite direction indicated that their battle had picked up in intensity and was steadily pulling further away. I had to wonder if that was Ranger's or Alexandria's plan, or perhaps both for different reasons. Neither seemed the type of combatant to let their battle change location without having a purpose for it.
My analysis was interrupted as I spotted a figure flying towards me from the rubble. Alexandria approached at a speed that put my own haphazard means of throwing myself around and calling it flying to shame. I stood on a platform of raised ice as she slowed almost instantly in front of me. Her costume was wrecked, several long cuts across her torso that oozed blood, but weren't bleeding quite normally either.
"You beat Ranger?" I asked, cautious and curious.
Alexandria scowled. "No. But that's irrelevant, she's enjoying Siberia at the moment."
I had no idea what that meant, but it meant not only was Ranger alive, but she had pushed Alexandria hard enough that she had pulled some sort of trick to cut the fight short. That was good, it meant our monsters could go toe to toe with their monsters, at least sometimes. There had been an initial assumption, which Masego had been the one to point out, that the powers of each world were roughly equal. In reality, we had an incredibly small sample size, as he referred to it, and couldn't be sure that it held true at the extreme ends of the scale.
"I take it by the lack of face punching that you got hurt badly enough to reconsider diplomacy," I replied, giving her a smile.
"We can not give up the portal Squire. You don't understand how much hinges on it," she said evenly, not denying my claim, but also not opening up a channel to talk.
I sighed, frustrated. "Did you consider telling me? You've spouted vague warnings of doom twice. We're both reasonable people. Probably. We haven't knifed each other yet."
"Neither of us can be knifed," she said drily.
"And that makes for some great common ground to start. I admit, I'm not too fond of how you handled...well pretty much any part of this, but at this rate we're going to ruin half this city contesting the portal. I imagine that's not ideal for you," I continued, putting a toe in the diplomacy pond to test the temperature.
"You were the ones who attacked first," she remarked, staring me down.
"You threatened my friends," I answered.
"Your friends are wanted criminals," she countered.
"Most of my favorite people are, or should be if anyone found out what they actually did," I replied truthfully.
She let out a short sigh of impatience. "This was a mistake. I see your world is filled with the same bands of petty thugs who think having a big stick makes them qualified to lead."
Turns out the temperature of the pond was ice cold. Well, no one could say I hadn't tried at least. Though I had the feeling I'd be blamed if the city burned down regardless. Of course she was going to treat me like I wasn't worth her time just because I didn't fit her ideals perfectly. I cracked my knuckles, and then my neck.
"Seems like heroes are the same bunch of thick-headed self righteous assholes here too, so I guess we're both disappointed."
That's when she punched me.
I'm ready for "actual fun things can happen"
