Don't follow AO3, can you quote?
He didn't. Joe's 'Passenger' told him that no single power could do that. But not even the Passenger could foresee the combination perks.
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Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
- Location
- Right Where I Am
It was also a point made early on that his passenger isn't an infallible judge of stuff, and Joe actually got upset with it.
Cave_Canem
Miniature Cyberwolf
LordRoustabout never said that, and its been mentioned several times that Joe's 'Passenger' is 1: Basically Fanon-based, which is why it has such an overwhelming love for 'queen of escalation' Taylor, despite that simply not being something this version of Taylor is ever likely to become.
2: Cannot see the results of two perks interacting, which is one of the things the story is built off of.
The Taylor subplot is and always has been a mess of miscommunications where both sides thing Taylor has more importance than she actually does.
Let's be honest his passenger is basically a forum quest, which was given options to pick from a list and just ttrpg the process to progress the storyline.
And like every forum ever made there will always be trolls and sometimes they win and other times they don't.
Case and point would be when Joe has just finished a project and the Forge is basically like here you go, giving him the reason for the project as a reward. Other times is more sympathetic and giving him something that will help him immediately or later on.
Then just another fudge it moment would be like the Door Mat moment. Which gave him to options equally strong but from different side of the coin. Meaning the votes were 50/50.
And like every forum ever made there will always be trolls and sometimes they win and other times they don't.
Case and point would be when Joe has just finished a project and the Forge is basically like here you go, giving him the reason for the project as a reward. Other times is more sympathetic and giving him something that will help him immediately or later on.
Then just another fudge it moment would be like the Door Mat moment. Which gave him to options equally strong but from different side of the coin. Meaning the votes were 50/50.
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I was looking for the actual statement, but I saw this line and now I can't stop thinking of the what if! WhatIf Tattletale found a Sphere Lunch Box. Alexandria was huge for Taylor's foundational view of heroes as a child. It would have been kind of crazy if Taylor got that bit of info on Joe, that at one point Sphere was everything to Joe.
Ok, looking back at the wording, you can see why I thought that it was immutable fact that Jo could never, or at least Would Never, do the Scion fight solo. I for one really hope this story doesn't end with roffle stomping Scion. It'd be so anti-climactic. I hope that when the Scion fight occurs, it is the human connections Joe made that matter far more than any invention or power.
AntaeusTheGiant
Child of Gaea
- Location
- Lawrence, KS
I am not so sure Scion will be the end of the story, or if LordR will continue to the bonus Final Boss(es).
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I'm a big fan of heroic acts being rewarded.
Weld's tissue donation is a HUGE deal given the protections it adds to all of Apeiron's tech.
Uppercrust provides political and social clout on a national level.
Dragon is the world's number one Tinker. Getting her onboard would be big in multiple ways.
Not necessary "human connections" but he's basically parenting/mentoring four of the most powerful beings on the planet (Survey, Fleet, the Matrix, and Aisha).
I'm looking forward to seeing Tybalt in action.
Miss Escalation is generally the hero of Worm fics. But I'd love to see the heroic janitor Chen play the critical role at some point in this fic.
Heck, the boxers from the gym are becoming street level heroes. Give them Goku Uniforms during the next emergency.
---
How long ago did the Crew pause all deaths in the local hospitals? Any mention of people noticing yet?
Don't even talk to me if you don't count Joe's clothing wife, 4 children and crazy cat cousin as genuine connections. They're great, I don't doubt they'll be important, I just don' want the original cast of worm to be completely overshadowed. I fully expect Flechette to try to fight our boy Monkey Steel for clothing wife. Also, don't forget the fact that Joe has kickstarted Armsmaster's character development.
- Location
- USA
Joe has fiat indestructibility and several infinite scaling perks like spiral, bigger robot, feel it out, etc. He also has a lot of perks and abilities dedicated toward countering what an enemy does, like his countercraft. That means he wins by default against anything that doesn't have sufficient esoteric ability to get around his defenses such as soul stuff or maybe time shenanigans. Even then Joe isn't helpless, he just doesn't have fiat level protections. Instead he has beyond perfect divine++ defenses that he can whip up on demand.
It's not impossible for Scion to have the required tools to beat Joe, he is the entity designated for dealing with threats to the cycle after all, so maybe it's not an auto win. But without them, in a straight brawl it would be Scion just swatting Joe around like a persistent bug until he scaled up enough to fight back directly or discovered enough about Scion to search out and attack more critical areas. In the meantime, the multiverse is taking one hell of a beating.
But unless Joe accidentally triggers Scion, it's most likely going to go the route of him learning enough to embark on an assassination mission, in which case Scion is going to die without ever realizing he was in danger because Joe has long passed the point of being able to pull that off if he had the correct information. And probably subvert the shard network himself to also avoid the titan stuff if he learns that's also a potential problem.
The real danger of fighting Scion is accidentally triggering Antispiral. I'm pretty sure Joe doesn't know about that little gotcha for the spiral power.
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Anyone know if the next chapter as in the one after the delayed one is going to be posted Wednesday after this one? Or in to week from today
I don't think they would get involve unless Joe has something they want. Joe wouldn't go after them unless he believes he can take them down easily
- Pronouns
- Dude, bro, etc...
Like what? I'm curious how many there are.
99.3 Interlude Tammi - Addendum Joe
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
(Author's note: This was intended to be the preamble for chapter 100, but after rewriting it the scope expanded to its own interlude. As such chapter 100 was pushed back to avoid splitting focus.)
99.3 Interlude Tammi - Addendum Joe
Interlude Tammi
Tammi concentrated on her power. She worked to keep the platforms she had infused with her power on course as she trailed behind Purity and Crusader with her own passengers in tow. Normally she resented being used as a taxi service, but in this case she appreciated the distance that role provided. The coming fight wasn't something she was eager to get mixed up in, not when they were going against the Teeth.
The Teeth were a hard gang known for their violent approach to everything they did, but that wasn't what worried her. To be fair, her worries, and the worries of plenty of the other capes in the attack force, were probably misplaced. The chances of 'accidentally' killing the Butcher were negligible, but that didn't stop it from being a concern for everyone who faced her in combat. Before they left, Victor had walked them through the fight between Butcher XIII and Quarrel. It had been a long, drawn-out game of cat and mouse across New York with Quarrel using her bow and accuracy power to slowly whittle down the Butcher. Her strikes had enough power to overcome the Butcher's durability and her accuracy power had been able to trump XIII's danger sense. Damage mounted against the Butcher until Quarrel could land the finishing blow.
It was clear that 'accidentally' killing the Butcher wasn't going to be a problem. At least not for the vast majority of them. Purity had enough fire power that a direct hit could probably do the job, but she wouldn't be throwing out her blasts recklessly. The same couldn't be said for the other point of concern.
Ashley Stillons was standing imperiously on one of the platforms Rune was projecting ahead of her. Her white hair hung free from her officer's cap, dancing in the air behind her as the woman gazed towards their destination. The movement of the hair was mirrored by the billowing of the small white cape that Victor had added to her costume. A modification from her last public appearance at Somer's Rock. Like the rest of her costume, it had a military design to it, though with that palette swapped theme from what you normally saw in the Empire. White instead of black. It seemed like a deliberate choice made specifically to set her apart.
Not that she needed much help on that front. Her personality alone was more than enough. Even now, when it was Rune's power keeping her in the air, she somehow managed to give the impression that her current situation was entirely due to her own authority. That she was exactly where she wanted to be and completely in control of the situation, rather than being carried through the sky like a piece of luggage. There was no unsteadiness or apprehension in Ashley's stance, though some of that was due to the quality of the platforms, which once again, was something that had to be attributed to Victor.
Rune was currently controlling four objects at the same time, which was the absolute limit of what she could manage. She was comfortable with two, but splitting her power across more than that was like trying to look in multiple directions at once. She could technically do it, but her control and precision would suffer. Three would be difficult and four would be a clumsy mess. At least most of the time. Things were easier if she had less to keep track of. If she needed to split her focus onto more targets it helped if they weren't different targets. Similar objects could be 'juggled' with less effort.
Normally she would have used whatever was lying around. A decent sized piece of rubble or even a chunk torn out of a building or the street. The attunement time meant she wasn't ripping apart structures in the middle of a fight, but if needed she could always get an object of decent sizes for her purposes. Typically that was one chunk to act as transport and as a defensive screen against attacks and a second for striking against opponents. She knew she did better with similar objects, but that kind of selection wasn't usually an option in the middle of a fight. Victor also knew she did better with similar objects, which is why he had provided the elaborate stone disks that were currently carrying herself, Othala, Krieg, and the Damsel of Distress into combat.
But not Victor. Not when he was still on the shitlist of more than half of the Empire. That stunt he had pulled at the summit was beyond dangerous. Sure, nobody knew that a member of Apeiron's team would be able to detect his power, but nobody even knew Apeiron even had a team. That didn't change the fact that Victor had risked the entire Empire with his stupid power. Even without the Celestial Forge, the rest of the groups arrayed against them would have been more than they could have handled.
And it wasn't just people from the other gangs who had taken offense. Sure, they'd had assurances that the effect of Victor's power was temporary, but that didn't change the fact that it was always active. Always. There was no way to interact with him without losing something. Maybe something small, but it was still something. The fact that it would come back eventually was cold comfort. Just the knowledge of that effect was enough to have Tammi reviewing every interaction she's had with her cousin's husband, trying to figure out what had been taken and how long it had been gone.
She wasn't the only one. Nobody wanted to be in the same room as Victor. Nobody but Othala, though that was probably a lost cause, given how pathetically smitten her cousin had always been with Victor. People were saying some fairly unkind things about her now that the mechanics of Victor's power had been revealed. She wasn't exactly the sharpest or most dynamic member of the Empire, but it seemed that was now being attributed to Victor's influence. Honestly, even if he somehow worked to ensure that nothing got permanently drained from Othala, the amount of exposure she had to his power had to mean she was constantly running at reduced capacity. And nobody was keen to follow her example.
That was why Victor was sitting out the raid. Technically he was providing remote support, but this wasn't Victor at an elevated vantage point with a sniper rifle. It was Victor managing communications and logistics like some Ward who'd been reprimanded to console duty. She wondered if that was the reason why he had provided the platforms. Some kind of combination of a peace offering and a way to secure some level of involvement with the attack.
Victor had supplied four massive stone platforms, each perfectly matched in a way that eased the burden on her power while also being precisely designed and intricately ornamented. They looked like solid stone, but it was probably some complicated concrete mix that he had pierced together from the skills of a dozen experts. It made a lot more sense to assume he had filled up a few molds than actually carved them himself out of solid basalt. Plus, carving wouldn't have created that weird flakey texture that marred one of the disks. It was probably another aspect of the casting process or some feature of whatever mix of cement was required to make them look like black volcanic stone.
More of Victor's insufferable stolen genius had been evident in the design. The platforms were disks about a foot thick and five feet across. They each weighed close to a ton and the stack had required a flatbed to transport them to the staging area. The surface had subtle iconography that gave them enough texture and indentations to provide grip and a stable surface, even when traveling at high speeds.
It was typical of Victor. A way for him to show that he understood her power better than anyone else. That he could have provided the means to enhance her abilities at any time, but couldn't be bothered until he needed to make up for his own near catastrophic mistakes. Othala probably thought it was a peace offering or a show of support, but Tammi knew Victor too well for that. The man couldn't function without some scheme in play and he would no doubt be leveraging every element of his ability to make up for the mess at the summit.
Even with the design of the objects being perfectly aligned with her power, controlling four of them was still a challenge. At least it was actually possible, meaning every non-flying member of the strike team got their own platform. Meaning nobody needed to double up. Meaning nobody needed to share with Ashley. That was a small mercy that was worth the headache of having to look in four directions at once.
"Kaiser's team is in position and ready to engage." The sudden sound of Victor's voice over their comlinks would probably have been enough to shake her control if the platforms hadn't been so perfectly matched. Instead she was able to keep them completely steady as she watched the reactions of the other members of the team.
On the platform next to her Othala didn't even bother to hide her smile at the sound of her husband's voice, but her cousin was always like that. As it stood, she was the only one who seemed happy to hear from Victor. Crusader, from his forward position being carried by his ghosts, was visibly uncomfortable, but kept silent on the matter. On her two forward platforms Krieg and Damsel nodded to Kayden in acknowledgement, letting her handle the response.
The glowing woman raised a shining hand to the device in her ear. "We're closing in on the secondary target." She replied. "I estimate less than one minute out, at current speed." The earpieces were more advanced tech than they typically used. It seemed unnecessarily risky with both Dragon and Apeiron in the city, but Victor had assured everyone that their signals were sufficiently hidden and encrypted, something he could only guarantee thanks to his dedicated coordination role. It had even expanded to include body cameras for a direct feed from lieutenants in the field.
Rune wasn't convinced, but it wasn't her place to voice objection. Especially not at this point in the operation. It might be completely secure, but she knew Victor was desperate to prove his worth and providing real time communication and tactical support was about the only option available to him. There was no way that hadn't skewed whatever risk/reward assessment he'd conducted when proposing the setup.
"Acknowledged. The charity auction is underway and Protectorate forces are accounted for at the event. Dragon has been spotted over the south Boardwalk and stands as the most likely point of interference. No sign of activity from other organizations. You are clear for attack. Standby for coordinated strike." Victor said.
"Acknowledged." Purity echoed to Victor before lowering her arm. She slightly increased her pace, forcing Tammi and Justin to push themselves to match her. Obviously, she wasn't willing to keep Kaiser waiting, despite the fact that they had more distance to cover to their target.
Two outposts of the Teeth had been identified prior to their raid. Rune hoped it was the only two outposts they'd established in the city, but it wasn't likely. It was clear that the Butcher was taking this situation seriously. Honestly, anything less against the Celestial Forge would have been idiotic. It was still fairly idiotic, but at the very least they weren't assuming they could take the city with a single cell of their gang.
No, instead Brockton Bay would be facing the full force of all resources available to the Teeth. As far as she understood, the scattered factions were largely independent of each other, but it seemed everyone answered the call when it came from the Butcher. Probably because nobody wanted to have to answer to her after the fact. They didn't have great intelligence on how many capes were headed their way, but it was going to be a lot. That was obvious from the lack of presence of the gang in any of the other cities where they had traditionally operated.
Kaiser's target was some kind of warehouse and storage yard. They were depressingly common in the city, though that one was practically on the outskirts. The way Victor broke it down, it was probably a staging area for members who arrived from other cities. A place where they could switch out vehicles and get their marching orders before moving to other sites in the city.
Sites like their target. An abandoned factory near the west end of the city. It was an old building from the time when design and construction had run as solid as possible, favoring brick, cement, and heavy steel beams. In other words, they were attacking a borderline fortress, and one that couldn't be approached covertly.
That was the reason for the composition of their team. A group that could hit hard and fast without being spotted on the approach. Well, providing they weren't watching the sky, but that was less common than it should be. At least Purity was a lot less noticeable during the middle of the day than she was at night. If everything went well, they should be able to overwhelm the Teeth in the opening strike and then mop up any remnants.
If everything went well. Unfortunately, they had no idea who they would be facing. The Teeth had too many capes spread across too many cities. There was no telling what combination of powers they could be rushing into. Even the information they did have was probably out of date, given the level of turnover some of the cells saw. Which is why it was even more important for them to hit fast and hard.
The same was true for Kaiser's team, but that was set to be more of a slug match. Reports had confirmed it was the larger target and even if they had the element of surprise, the Teeth at that location were too spread out to be taken out in a single hit. It was why that team had capes like Hookwolf, Stormtiger, Cricket, Night, Fog, and Fenja and Menja. Vanir's cousins.
She had to wonder if the twins had the same kind of burning conviction to see the Teeth brought to justice that Kaiser had espoused. For Tammi it didn't really have any personal significance. Vanir had been well before her time. She existed as a shadow of the Empire's early years under Allfather, back when capes like Iron Rain were still a force in the city. She was clearly well regarded, but people didn't really talk that much about Kaiser's first wife. About Theo's mother.
Something like that would have been a sore subject anyway, but was probably worse after Kaiser remarried. And then even worse after the divorce, particularly considering his relationship with Fenja and Menja. From what Tammi heard, Heith practically raised the twins herself. Something like that could only make things more awkward between them, Theo, and Kayden.
But that was rumor and gossip. High school bullshit that apparently still persisted even into major criminal organizations. There might be drama tied up in things, but the fact was the Teeth had landed a blow against the Empire that had never been properly repaid. Tammi doubted most of the members of the Empire were seeing this as the righteous mission of revenge that Kaiser had presented, but even beyond any personal stakes the Teeth needed to be dealt with. Dealt with before something unfortunate happened between the Butcher and any of the frighteningly powerful parahumans currently in the city.
Tammi focused on pushing her power, accelerating the platforms and tilting them slightly to give their passengers better footing against the wind and acceleration. Othala crouched down to grip the edge of her disc. Her red body suit clung closely to her, but her hair whipped in the wind of their increased pace. Rune's own robes billowed around her, but with her control she could easily shift the platform to correct for any imbalance.
The others weren't so fortunate, but they didn't need to be. Krieg's power affected kinetic effects on both his body and the world around him. The wind was actually slowed before it could reach him, leaving him eerily untouched as they soared through the sky. As for Damsel, she was benefiting from Othala's power in Victor's stead. Rune wasn't sure if it was strength or invincibility, but one of the effects left her completely stable even in the face of their blinding speed.
They closed quickly on their target. The abandoned factory stood like a monolith in a sparsely populated area at the edge of the city. Something of an outlier from the industrial sprawl you typically saw closer to the Docks, but the outskirts were peppered with erratic and abandoned construction. The building looked old as well as run down, but Tammi didn't have any clue as to what it had originally been intended for.
The history of the location was a secondary concern to the current problems it presented. This far from the heart of the city things tended to be spread out, which was why the building would have been so hard to approach on the ground. The Empire wasn't really known for aerial incursions, so they had a serious element of surprise on their side. She just hoped they could make good use of it.
She looked over the blocky central building and the handful of squat extensions that surrounded it. It was the smaller of the two target locations, but still a sizable target. It was built in the center of a lot that was surrounded by a stone wall, rather than the expected chain-link fence. Another sign of the building's age and another obstacle for any force coming on foot. It did mean that the handful of vehicles were limited in their exit routes, so they probably didn't need to worry about the Teeth loading into vans and scattering at the first sign of attack.
Well, it wasn't an obvious worry. They still didn't know who they were facing. Victor had given them a rundown of known abilities of prominent members of different cells, but that was of limited use, even in his own assessment of the situation. The Teeth's frequent movements and unusual command structure meant that beyond a few stand out members it was hard to precisely gauge their capabilities.
It also didn't help that the Teeth didn't so much have costumes as they had a theme. Each member wore some variation of the same spikey mess, a design that apparently evolved and developed constantly as the cape in question took more trophies. Even the unpowered members of the gang indulged in that practice, meaning it was hard to tell who was a cape and who was a henchman until the powers started flying. Even then, the unpowered members of the Teeth were known to be exceptionally trigger happy. Violence was practically a requirement of the gang and even the non-capes fully embraced that mentality.
They were going to hit hard and fast with as much coordination as they could muster, but even then, they were rolling the dice in terms of what they would face. And that wasn't even getting into the possibility of the Butcher appearing. They had strategies to address that, but they were mostly a fighting retreat while trying to cover for as many of the known powers of the collective as they could account for.
Looking at the rapidly approaching structure, Rune found herself praying that the Butcher wasn't waiting for them inside that gray building. They would have to deal with her at some point, but she didn't want to have to confront that particular issue during the opening volley. At least it would give her an excuse to grab Damsel and fall back, but having Damsel anywhere near the Butcher, even for a brief moment, was a nightmare she didn't even want to think about.
She swallowed her concerns as they closed the final distance. Purity easily held her position high in the sky. Their angle of approach had looped around from the west to put the sun directly above them. It was their best chance to conceal Purity's light as well as the best attack angle they could hope for. Crusader pulled up next to Purity and Rune moved Krieg and Damsel into positions at their sides. She raised her own platform next to Krieg while moving Othala close enough to Damsel to refresh her granted powers before the attack.
"We're in position, ready to move." Purity reported.
"Acknowledged. Primary team has launched their attack. You are cleared to strike." Victor replied.
"Understood." Purity said. In a streak of light she darted towards the opposite side of the factory. Crusader trailed behind her, taking position directly above the central building as he began spawning a horde of ghosts. The apparitions began to trail down towards the factory as Rune moved the remaining members of the force into position. Damsel swooping down to bring the walls just within range of her power. Othala held back for her protection and in case her support was needed. Herself with an overview of the entire site, and Krieg dropping rapidly towards the factory as quickly as she could propel him.
This was the opening move of the battle and it had been left up to her. Well, to her and to Krieg. Still, it was rare for her to have any kind of a starring role in these things. Under normal circumstances she'd be proud, but she had a feeling that Ashley had pushed for it. A way to give her chief underling a taste of the spotlight.
She did her best to put that out of her mind as she focused on the movements of Krieg's platform. Opening strike, which meant if the Butcher was there and if they had taken her by surprise then there was the slimmest of chances of this ending her. If it did, would the collective go to her or to Krieg? She didn't want to think about either situation, so did her level best to put the dreaded scenario out of her mind and focus on the opening strike.
As the platform swooped down towards the front of the factory Krieg stepped off of the front of it and dropped straight down. It was a movement that was only possible because of his kinetic field, the same way the kinetic field helped dampen the movement of his fall, preventing him from reaching speeds that would harm him. At the same time his power gripped the one ton disk of stone he had been riding. Rune felt the change in the way the platform moved as Krieg's power enhanced the forces acting on it. With a single thought she sent the disk forward.
It launched through the air, her power combining with Krieg's to add a tremendous amount of velocity and spin as it took off. Even after leaving his field the disk blazed forward, crashing into the outer wall of the factory. Concrete dust exploded out of the impact site as she did her best to blindly steer the careening disk through her power alone.
She could sense the spinning disk continue through the outer wall and slam into the factory floor. The second impact was too much for the integrity of the object and she could feel her power relinquish as the disk tore itself apart. The building shook with secondary impacts as broken pieces of hardened stone careened around the contained space.
She couldn't imagine what must have been happening inside the factory. There was no special awareness that came with her infused items beyond a rough idea of their location. For all she knew she could have just terrorized an empty room, or she could have hit a concentration of the Teeth's capes. They weren't waiting around to find out as the rest of the group moved in for their attacks.
Spiraling beams of blinding light shot down from Purity's position, punching through the roofs of each of the side structures. Without intelligence on where the Teeth were located, opening strikes were focused on hitting as many locations as possible. Purity maintained the blasts as they drilled into the building, sweeping them back and forth across the collapsing roof.
At the same time Damsel struck a stance and raised a hand towards the corner of the outer wall of the factory. There was a horrible keening sound that erupted into an ear-splitting roar as a blast of warped space burst forth from Damsel's hand. The cone was only about fifteen feet long, but everything it touched was twisted and consumed. It almost hurt to watch the effect that ripped the outside of the building into nothingness.
Her blast had carved away the corner of the factory while leaving her completely unmoved. Rune had seen 'normal' uses of Damsel's power, the way each blast would fling her back. Apparently, she enjoyed using them as the world's most dangerous mover power, flinging out blasts of total annihilation in order to hop ten or fifteen feet at a time. Fortunately, the reinforcement of Othala's power was enough to keep her steady after an opening blast that would otherwise have flung her off the flying platform.
It also meant there was nothing stopping her from opening up with blast after blast of her power, which she was more than happy to do. The fact that Rune was keeping the factory just to the edge of her range was the only reason the entire building hadn't been brought down yet. Not exactly an undesirable outcome, but they were more worried about who might get caught in one of those blasts. An efficient end to the fight wasn't worth risking a new Butcher.
Rune held back, doing her best to keep as much of the battlefield in her field of vision as possible. She was ready to move Othala in if she was needed and was carefully managing Damsel's position based on the woman's signals, but with her fourth disk destroyed her role was now purely defensive.
On the ground Krieg moved forward from where he had harmlessly touched down after launching his disk into the factory. The billowing rock dust that flowed forth from the points of impact slowed and warped as it entered his kinetic field, unintentionally marking the edge of his range. Well, the range of his control. As Damsel circled around, destroying more and more of the factory some desperate shapes began scrambling towards the holes she had blown in the wall. With a swift kick Krieg sent a cloud of gravel shooting towards the entrance like a shotgun blast, causing the figures to duck for cover.
From her position Rune could see the chaos that was unfolding inside the factory. The white shapes of Crusader's ghosts wielding their oversized spears against the figures in the gloom. There was the crack of gunfire from inside the building followed by more concerning sounds. An organic squelching sound that echoed out of the structure. Thunderous crashes of breaking glass that continued nonstop, like someone was smashing through an infinite amount of window panes. And then she could see the powers on display, rather than just hear them.
A strand of oily smoke shot out of a freshly blasted hole in the factory wall and latched onto Damsel. The line went taught and a slight adjustment from Rune confirmed that she was unable to pull the woman further back. Cracks of gunfire echoed as bullets shot out of the opening, only to bounce off Damsel's Othala-granted invincibility. She looked down at the trail of smoke anchored to her chest with contempt, then fired another blast. The cone of warped space utterly consumed the manifestation of the power along with several of Crusader's ghosts who had moved to screen her from the forces trapped inside the factory.
At Othala's signal Rune took the opportunity to pull Damsel back. Othala had a better sense of her power's duration than anyone else and knew when the time came to refresh the effect. From the way Damsel of Distress was acting, Rune wouldn't be willing to bet she was keeping track of the countdown herself.
Fortunately she at least understood the purpose of her retrieval, voicing no objection as Rune hauled the cackling woman up from the front lines of the fight.
"Yes! Oh, yes! Did you see that? Absolutely spectacular!" She cried as Rune floated Othala close enough to renew her power on Damsel.
"I saw." Rune said in a flat voice. "Good job."
Damsel shot her a manic grin, her white hair flaring around her and her hands crackling concerningly. "And to you as well! Such an opening!" She leaned back and gestured dramatically, causing Rune to adjust the angle of the disk slightly for the sake of stability. "To announce our presence so dramatically, it was truly wonderful!" She continued as her ranting devolved into laughter.
Rune shared a concerned look with Othala, but neither of them wanted to be the one to say anything. Instead they turned their attention back towards the fight. Purity was peppering the building with short blasts of drilling light, though not to the same devastating effect as Damsel's attacks. On the ground Krieg had started launching heavier pieces of rubble towards any member of the Teeth who dared show his face. The non-living matter harmlessly passed through Crusader's ghosts to crush anyone in their path. His improvised artillery barrage was more than enough to keep the gang penned inside the heavily damaged factory.
"Ah, yes." Ashley said, looking down from their cluster of floating platforms. "The price of excellence. It seems that things are going to be resolved without any real challenge."
She sounded almost disappointed, which didn't particularly surprise Rune. Still, a quick fight with no sign of the Butcher was about the best outcome she could have hope for. And then, as if on cue, a final blast from Purity caused cracks that had been building since Rune's opening attack to spread across every visible surface of the factory. With a deceptive slowness the building began to come apart and collapse onto itself.
Massive clouds of dust billowed into the sky and poured over the ground, obscuring Krieg from site. Without the slowing effect of his power on the dust Rune would have lost track of his location completely. Bricks and pieces of concrete collapsed past or bounced off the steel beams of the inner structure. They buckled under the force, but remained standing, like the ribs of some monstrous creature as the flesh sloughed off.
It looked like the fight had been decided.
Which was, of course, when things began to go wrong. A red pulse from within the factory caused the collapse to pause its descent, and then to reverse its course. Except it wasn't just reversing. The rubble that had been falling into the factory began exploding out in great gouts. Like an implosion turned into an explosion, chunks of brick and concrete were thrown far enough into the air to even reach their vantage point, though not with enough power to be a threat to them.
No, the threat was clearly the source of the red glow. Scattered debris had been caught in some kind of field where it slowly rotated and ground into itself, the individual pieces moving with deceptive speed. With all the dust and chaos Rune couldn't tell if it was some kind of manifestation or if a cape was actually inside the swirling mass of stone and metal. It was like a cross between a tornado and a giant storm cloud made of the remnants of the factory. That seemed dangerous enough, but the more concerning thing was the fact that it had cleared a path for the rest of the trapped capes.
A massive semitransparent hand gripped the top of a ruined exterior wall. It hauled itself up, revealing a misshapen creature composed of dozens of randomly sized arms blooming out from a single point. Some, like the one gripping the wall, were bigger than telephone poles while the smallest were shorter than a normal human arm. The build, number of fingers, and characteristics of the limbs seemed to change from one arm to another, but they all traced back to a heavily obscured human form in the center of the mass.
Purity sent a blast down, carving through the spinning collection of rubble and scattering a significant portion of it. The blast continued to strike the arm-cape, but had lost enough power for one of the thicker limbs to fend it off, though at significant cost. The arm bucked and shattered before withering and falling off, but one of the smaller limbs quickly swelled to take its place. Concerningly, more translucent limbs seemed to be blooming out from the center of the mass, ready to replace any losses.
The sound of shattering glass grew louder as a spinning cape covered in spikes and bones launched into the air. His movement left an effect like a broken mirror in his wake and Rune could see the places where the effect clipped into the floating debris and remaining walls buckled and violently sheared off. His launch carried him into the air at which point the shattering effect vanished, leaving him to coast on momentum before picking a new direction and launching once again in a flurry of shattered air.
Immediately before the cape took off another strand of oily smoke shot out from the interior of the factory. It latched on to the airborne cape and as the man launched himself the smoke trail went taunt, dragging another member of the Teeth out of the factory. He swung erratically behind the rapidly moving flyer, the smoke trail acting like a cross between a tow line and a living tendril.
Purity and Crusader began to dodge furiously as gunfire erupted from the ruined factory. The massive coiling shape of debris had grown into a flexible column at least ten feet wide and long enough to encircle the ruined building, though the density had thinned out, letting Rune make out a humanoid shape inside the field of debris. The mass of hands was using one large limb to shield himself from Krieg's attacks while hauling out other members of the Teeth from within the collapsing building with various other oversized arms.
From her vantage point Rune could see members of the gang struggling against Crusader's ghosts to limited success. He was able to prevent any kind of coordinated response, but it quickly became obvious they weren't looking to mount any kind of offensive.
"They're running." Ashley declared as she watched the enemy forces scramble. There was an explosion of rock as the spinning flyer crashed into the outer wall of the lot, clearing a path for the rest of the gang to flee. "Come, we will cut them off."
By 'we' Damsel clearly meant her, which was fine by Rune. She swooped the blaster's platform down to cover the escape route as more Teeth capes began slipping past their forces. The lot was still choked with dust, obscuring Krieg's vision. He was still launching chunks of rubble at terrifying speed, but was clearly firing blindly. Without any visible targets he was focused on bombarding the factory and hoping for the best.
The smoke trail cape's trajectory has seen him flung a terrifying distance into the sky, but he seemed utterly unconcerned as he rounded on the factory. With a gesture the end of the trail connecting him to the spinning cape detached from him and shot out, latching onto the cape with the cluster of manifested limbs. At Ashley's signal Rune swooped her platform down towards the effect linking the Teeth capes, but the tether cape, despite being effectively unsupported in midair, launched another smokey tether. One end latched onto Damsel while the other shot up towards Crusader.
The effect of the tether wasn't enough to cause any reaction from the currently invincible Damsel, but as the line of smoke went taught Justin was pulled away from the ghosts who had been supporting him, causing him to begin falling towards the ground. Damsel spun and blasted away the effect with a burst of her power while Purity raced down to catch Justin before he could hit the ground.
The attack provided enough of a distraction to diminish the reactions of Crusaders ghosts, allowing the gang to rally. They poured out of the ruined factory, obscured by the clouds of dust and the cover provided by the spinning mass of debris suspended above them in that red energy field. The arm-cape had grabbed a half dozen members of the Teeth before the smokey tether went tight and he was pulled away. The flying cape launched himself in another burst of shattered space, sending him out of the lot and towards the city with the arm cape trailing behind him.
Damsel fired at a blast at the collection of Teeth capes, but despite Rune's best efforts the man was able to force himself just out of her range. The tether cape fired another trail of smoke just as he began to fall, linking himself to the arm cape as he sped past.
Then, in an almost comical display, he twisted and fired another tether, pulling a final member of the gang from the remains of the factory. The newly tethered cape collided against the crumbling wall with a disturbing wet sound as he was hauled out of the ruined building. Tammi could see his right arm hanging uselessly as he was pulled after the other capes. Not a clean escape, but she doubted he was complaining about his circumstances.
The flowing column of rubble roared after them like the world's angriest storm cloud. Damsel's blasts were able to cleave away sections of the mass, but the cape inside escaped a direct hit and didn't seem overly concerned about the lost portions of brick and stone. The entire collection of debris surged out of the factory lot, occasionally brushing against the ground or nearby buildings as it moved.
"We've got runners." Purity called over the commlink. "Pursuing with Damsel, and Othala. Krieg and Crusader, deal with the stragglers."
"Understood." Keirg called. Justin had resecured his place in the air and was focused on nothing but swarming the factory with as many ghosts as he could produce. From a distance it looked like flying insects descending on a corpse. Probably an appropriate comparison, all things considered.
"Victor, what are we dealing with?" Purity asked as she rounded after the fleeing capes.
"One minute." He said. Probably the consequence of deciding to provide support to two operations being carried out at the same time. Rune did her best to match Purity's pace as she pulled Damsel up into formation with her and Othala. "Lead cape is Dervisher. Mover/striker. Only capable of moving in straight lines, but heavily resistant to damage while his power's active and the surrounding effect damages anything he comes in contact with."
All elements that were evident from what they had seen so far, though at least Rune could stop thinking of him as 'the flying cape'.
"The linking effect is from Keelhaul." Victor continued. "Shaker, able to use his power to connect people with some limited influence over the behavior of the connection. Specifically, reaction forces seem to be highly variable. Manton limited, so can only affect living things, though has proven highly versatile and creative in his applications."
Rune could believe that. The power seemed like a borderline joke, but looking at the trail of connected capes who were somehow not being slammed into or dragged across every surface in their path there was obviously more to it than met the eye.
"The cape with the arms is Phalange. Changer/brute. Manifested arms had strength and durability proportional to their size, but a corresponding loss in fine control." Rune could see the cape's flailing efforts to keep his passengers safe and covered. With Victor drawing attention to it, the difference in dexterity between the various sizes of limbs was obvious.
"The shaker is Gravalanche. Pseudo-telekinetic. Can redirect kinetic energy of objects within his field, but not generate it. He needs some other effect to get things moving, but can sustain and direct that motion as long as they don't come to a standstill. This is the largest display of his powers on record."
Rune looked at the flowing mass of debris. Largest on record probably meant he hadn't been caught in any collapsing buildings before. Their opening attacks had basically given him the perfect set of circumstances to use his power. A consequence of them flying in blind and now they had half a factory worth of rubble providing cover for the fleeing Teeth capes.
They hadn't really planned for a high-speed chase across the city, but the Teeth probably hadn't really been ready for it either. Both sides frantically tried to secure some edge against the other as the pursuit moved into more and more densely packed areas of the city.
The chase itself was a horrible mishmash of speed, maneuverability, and coordination. Purity was the fastest consistent flyer, though Dervisher could outpace her in short bursts. That kind of movement was hell on the capes trailing after him, though the smoke-like tethers from Keelhaul had some elasticity to them. An inconsistent amount of elasticity, to be honest. Probably an aspect of the control the cape was able to exert over his power.
Despite Dervisher's bursts of speed, the group was limited by the cover provided by Gravalanche, who apparently couldn't accelerate any of the components he was manipulating. They were capped at the speed of a collapsing building, which was still fast enough that Rune had to push herself to close the distance.
Purity was able to loop ahead of the fleeing capes and take shots at them, but Dervisher was a difficult target and exceptionally durable, at least when he was moving. Blasts either careened off the shattered glass effect that followed him as he moved or missed as he launched himself into another burst of speed. The rubbery tethers linking the other capes were erratic enough to throw off Purity's aim on the rare occasions she was able to get a clear shot through the field of debris.
Blasting away the field of rubble proved to be a losing strategy. While the force of Purity's shots was enough to reduce sections of the cloud to powder, each blast accelerated the remaining pieces, effectively increasing the speed and maneuverability of the entire mass. It was already hard enough for Rune to keep pace without making things even worse.
Kayden shifted to using her speed and maneuverability to slip around the cover provided by the cloud of debris, but still wasn't able to land a hit on the fleeing capes. During one clear shot she swept a sustained blast through the trail of smoke linking Dervisher to Phalange, but despite carving a trench through the street the effect of Keelhaul's power persisted.
It wasn't like the capes of the Teeth were idle either. Keelhaul kept trying to set more tethers to disrupt their pursuit, but they were easily destroyed with casual blasts from Damsel's power. Luckily, they didn't seem to have many blasters of their own, just Keelhaul and one of the capes being carried by Phalange who lobbed pulsing globs of energy at them whenever they got the chance. The shots were easy enough to dodge, though based on the way they seemed to drain color from whatever they landed on, Rune wasn't keen to find out what they did. Victor didn't have any insight into the matter and was pressed with his support of Kaiser's team and the remaining forces back at the factory.
A relatively lucky swing of the final tether in the chain of capes did allow Rune to push Damsel just close enough to catch the line of smoke with the edge of her blast. The effect severed and withered into nothing, leaving the injured cape at the end of the chain unsupported and plummeting towards the ground. The man had done nothing during the chase except swear, cradle his shattered arm, and try to manifest some kind of green glow around him. She never found out what that glow was and from the way it flickered out as he tumbled across the street it was likely to remain a mystery.
Rune caught an expression of fury from Keelhaul before he was obscured by Gravalanche's debris once again. Another tether shot out and briefly connected to the man on the ground. It barely shifted the limp figure before sputtering out, leaving him as the rest of the group sped away.
"Manton limit." Othala said as their group continued their pursuit, leaving the cape to his fate. That limit only allowed connection to living things, which did neatly address the status of the fallen cape.
"At least we won't need to watch our backs." Rune muttered, earning an approving nod from Damsel that made her feel slightly uncomfortable.
"This isn't working." Purity called over the commlink. "And we're getting too close to the city proper. We need a new strategy."
Meaning too close to civilians. Apeiron's single mandate. Sure, it was likely to come down harder on the Teeth than the Empire, but nobody wanted to get caught in the splash zone of that kind of response. And that wasn't even getting into the possibility of a surprise appearance by the Butcher when Apeiron or one of his team decided to take to the field.
Rune was pushing her power as hard as she could. Playing taxi service wasn't fun and trying to keep the disks at top speed was taking everything she had. But that wasn't enough. If there was anything else she could do to end this she had to take action.
"I have an idea." She said, swallowing her apprehension.
It only took a moment to put things in place. Othala clung to her back as they balanced space on the same platform. The disk Othala had been using was sent careening towards the spinning mass of brick and stone. Without a passenger Rune could move it faster and more nimbly, allowing her to swipe the platform into the cloud and cleave away pieces of debris.
As Victor had confirmed, once something was separated from that red field of energy it became inert once again. Rather than crash the disk into the cloud and accelerate the components like Purity's blasts had she set the platform spinning like a flipped coin, carving away debris from the living tornado.
In a way it was like trying to attack a mountain with a hand trowel, but after the first few passes Rune was able to confirm her suspicions. The red field of energy wasn't fixed. It propagated through the pieces that were kept in motion. That was why they needed to rotate around a central column, to keep them in tight enough formation to maintain the field without losing the energy that made them valid targets for the cape's power.
One user of telekinesis against another. Rune didn't work on the same scale, but she had more than enough experience with the dynamics of using that kind of ability. Every hole she swiped away sent rubble raining to the ground below while disrupting the balance of components that allowed the cloud of debris to remain intact.
Falling rocks peppered the street shattered windshields of the few cars that were still on the road below. They were entering the city proper and civilian injuries were becoming a real concern. Rune could see people fleeing into buildings or trying to run from the cape battle in the sky above them. Scattered groups, but it would quickly get much, much worse if this continued any longer.
Her constant harrying managed to thin the tornado of stone to the point where she was able to send the disk spinning towards the cape suspended in its center. Faster moving debris was thrown towards the disk in an attempt to deflect it while her power clashed with the cape's own telekinetic field. He managed to divert her attack enough to avoid injury, but at the same time she was able to send Damsel on a course that took her past the screening cloud of debris.
The air screamed as Damsel opened up with her power in a rapid succession of blasts. Masses of floating stone vanished from existence as the woman's blaster power tore apart the cloud before Rune closed her towards the capes trailing after Dervisher.
A frantic evasive movement from the flying cape managed to keep Phalange from being completely erased along with the capes he was carrying, but Damsel's blast tore apart the tether linking him to Dervisher. Without his connection to the mover, Phalange began to plummet, dragging Keelhaul after him.
Oversized hands swung out and managed to claw at the side of a building, slowing his descent in a shower of broken stone and plaster. Keelhaul was able to manipulate his tether sufficiently to land on the roof while Rune was forced to pull Damsel back from the lobbed attacks of the blaster cape who was carried by Phalange.
Suddenly, that sound of continuously shattering glass rang out once more, but this time it was somehow more direct. Rune looked up to see the spinning form of Dervisher headed directly towards her. The deadly shattered mirror effect that surrounded him bore down on her and Othala as they hung helplessly in the sky. She pushed her platform as hard as she could, but knew she wouldn't be able to clear the range of the man's striker effect before the flying cape reached her. Othala couldn't even help, not with her power focused on Damsel. Tammi could only watch with her cousin clinging tightly to her as death approached.
The world turned white as a blinding light filled her vision. Purity had managed to strike Dervisher head on with a tremendously powerful two handed blast. Incredibly, the cape seemed unhurt, a consequence of whatever effect protected him when he was in motion. Still the strike was more than enough to send him careening off course away from Rune and Othala.
Tammi's relief quickly turned to horror as she realized precisely where Purity's blast had deflected the spinning cape. Their chase had taken them from the outskirts of the city into the southern edge of the Docks. The area had been rundown and sparsely populated even before the ABB's attacks, but you always had pockets of activity and the occasional business that managed to hold out against the general decay of that part of the city.
Most of the area was filled with empty lots or buildings that were either dilapidated or condemned. It was more common to see boarded up houses or storefronts than any sign of activity. Unfortunately, Dervisher was headed to one of the few populated buildings. An off-brand convenience store with bars on its windows and a faded and weather worn sign over the door.
It wasn't exactly a friendly location, but in the face of a cape battle it seemed people would take shelter wherever they could. Time seemed to slow as she watched the horrified expression of the people cowering inside the building, barely visible through the heavy glass and barred windows, but still a look that burned itself into Rune's mind.
She desperately hoped that the flying cape would pull back. Cancel his power and take off in another direction. The Teeth knew about Apeiron's mandates. They couldn't want the nightmare tinker to show up anymore than the Empire did. But the cape didn't stop. Either he was too disoriented to cancel his power or he didn't care about the damage he was about to cause. The danger he was about to bring down on all of them.
They had no recourse. No way to deal with what was about to happen. Purity had barely been able to save her and Othala from the attack. There was no way she could make that shot again. She saw Kayden's glowing form round to follow Dervish's path. Her expression was unreadable when her power was active, but Rune swore she could see her own horror mirrored in the woman's body language as the spinning dervish of death descended towards the rundown corner store.
Right before the cape would have impacted the building a crack of thunder rang out as electric blue light exploded from the point of impact. Rune blinked, unsure of what had just happened. Dervisher hadn't collided with the building. He had been stopped in place by a glowing blue barrier that covered not just the store but that entire side of the street. The titanic shield extended almost half a block in each direction and was centered on the gleaming form of a woman floating in the air above the store. An unmistakable woman, brandishing an incredibly intricate shield that could only be the work of one man.
The shield was composed of a gleaming white material the likes of which Rune had never seen before. Its ornate design spiraled out from the center and was composed of tiny delicate panels that rotated across each other, making it impossible to fully grasp the design or even shape of the item. Blue light shone from beneath the surface, flickering slightly from the speed of the rotation. The entire device seemed to leak forth blue fire that merged with the burning aura that surrounded the woman wielding it.
Survey. Survey had appeared and was holding off Dervisher with some kind of insane protective device. The man didn't even seem to realize what was happening. His motion had been completely halted, leaving him spinning impotently against the barrier Survey was projecting. She looked at the display with an almost contemptible expression on her impossibly perfect face. Then, with a sharp motion, she raised her right hand.
There was a surge of blue energy as the cape was forcefully ripped OUT of the effect of his power leaving him suspended in midair. The sound of shattering glass died out as the distortions from his power faded away. Rune could see the man flailing against the blue energy that held him in place. He tried to twist and angle himself away, but his best efforts only managed to send off a slight flicker of the energy that had previously surrounded him.
Across the battlefield, all eyes were fixed on the glowing woman. The rumble of Gravalanche's cloud of debris continued to roil through the air, probably because it literally couldn't stop, but everyone else was frozen at the sight of a member of the Celestial Forge entering the fray.
"What do you think she's going to do?" Othala whispered to her, gripping her slightly more tightly than was necessary for stability.
"I don't know." She whispered back. This was so far beyond anything they had prepared for that she couldn't even think. The only idea that came to her was frantically trying to escape as quickly as possible. Actually, considering the way that Damsel was looking at Survey, that seemed like a good idea. She weighed Damsel accidently killing the Butcher against Damsel accidentally killing a member of Apeiron's team and honestly couldn't decide which was worse.
In the air above them, Rune heard Kayden clear her throat before the glowing woman slowly descended closer to Survey. The silver haired woman regarded her impassively as she approached as close as any of them would have dared.
"Thank yo-" Purity was cut off as a stream of black smoke launched from the other side of the street to latch on to the floating form of Dervisher. Keelhaul shot the other end of the strand down to Phalange where the cape braced several massively oversized hands against doors and lampposts before hauling himself forward, pulling the tether tight.
Dervisher appeared to be lightly floating in the air, but even the full force of a half dozen arms the size of tree trunks were unable to shift him by even a fraction of an inch. Survey watched the display with only mild interest, then turned her attention to an empty section of street.
Rune followed her gaze just in time to see an explosion of sulfurous orange flame bloom into life. She could feel the heat of the blast despite the distance. She suspected she could have felt it across the city. There was something to those flames that went beyond normal heat. Something that caused her breath to grow shallow and her pulse to beat in her ears.
A dark shape appeared inside the fireball accompanied by a yowling sound that echoed forth, causing hairs to raise on the back of her neck. The flames dimmed without seeming to lose any intensity before constricting around the shape of an armored form with a Greek helmet as dark as night. In his paws he gripped a double headed spear of the same glowing black metal. Tan fur could be seen between the gaps in the cape's armor and a flexible furry tail darted back and forth behind him.
Kataklyzein had just made his appearance.
The cat was barely three feet tall, but radiated a kind of menace that Rune had never experienced before. Seeing him just standing in the middle of the street surrounded by wisps of the flames that had heralded his arrival triggered some deep-seated reaction from a primal part of her brain. She could feel sweat bead across her body as she seriously considered fleeing while she still had a chance.
Unfortunately, her reaction seemed to be a minor opinion. Othala was not quite hiding behind her, though that was probably due more to Rune's size than any courage on her part. The rest of their forces weren't being anywhere near as cautious. Kayden had turned to evaluate the new arrival. Once again, her face was impossible to read, but her body language was not nearly as guarded as it should have been. Meanwhile Damsel was just reveling in the display. She posed on her platform, staring imperiously down at the heavily armored feline cape.
The Empire's forces might have been at a loss for how to respond, but it seemed the Teeth were considerably less conflicted. With a flurry of movement Phalange snatched up the capes around him and began hauling himself up the side of the building. A barrage of attacks flew towards Kataklyzein, ranging from that lobbed blaster power to thrown chunks of rubble to small arms fire from drawn pistols.
Kataklyzein seemed almost amused by the display as he watched the barrage approach him. Gunshots deflected off his Greek armor and helmet without reaction while the other attacks traced an arc towards his location. He made no effort to move or react, just observing them with a slight smile visible on his face.
The rubble and blaster power descended towards him only to connect with nothing. One instant Kataklyzein was standing in the middle of the street, the next he was gone. The movement was so fast it actually extinguished the last guttering flames from his arrival as a faint pulse echoed over the street. And then Kataklyzein was looming over Phalange with his double spear held ready.
An orange platform had materialized in midair, but rather than stand on it, Kataklyzein had flipped upside down and was using it to provide leverage for his thrust. That glowing spear of black metal struck down, embedding itself in one of the larger limbs Phalange had frantically thrown in the path of the weapon. The spear bit down deep into the limb and was held there for the space of a single heartbeat.
There was a sudden burst as spikes of black metal erupted from every one of Phalange's manifested limbs. Massive blades that dwarfed the weapon that had apparently triggered the effect. It transformed the mobile mass of limbs into a gigantic pincushion and there were cries of pain from the capes Phalange had been carrying who had apparently failed to avoid the sudden attack.
Kataklyzein wrenched his spear to the side, causing the manifested blades to echo its movement. There was a horrible tearing sound and a rain of translucent gore as the manifested limbs were torn away, leaving Phalange and his passengers to collapse to the street below.
From the roof above a line of black smoke shot to catch Phalange before he could hit the street. The other Teeth capes landed prone on the sidewalk in a pile of spikes and bones. Not the most comfortable situation, but the Teeth definitely had bigger problems than the practical consequences of their costume choices.
Kataklyzein rebounded off a newly created platform that shattered under the force of his jump, sending him just high enough to reach the roof of the building. Keelhaul froze at the sight of the armored cat rising before him. Not that he had any real hope of reacting in time. Kataklyzein spun in midair and landed a kick with his armored boots that sent the cape tumbling towards the street below, and dragging Phalange along behind him.
Kataklyzein slid down the side of the building, landing neatly in the center of the Teeth capes who had just managed to pull themselves to their feet. There was a moment of pure shock as the cat landed and Rune could only imagine what they were thinking. Most likely weighing their chances of running or fighting and not finding any pleasant options amount the choices available to them.
Though it seemed Kataklyzein wasn't going to leave the decision up to them. He brandished his spear and lowered his stance. His tail flickered back and forth, brushing against the fan of feathers that grew from its base. The capes around him stood frozen, watching the cat like he was a live bomb. And then the bomb went off.
It was the most brutal display that Rune had ever seen, but somehow it was also the most elegant. The thing that stood out the most was the sheer joy that Kataklyzein was drawing from the act of violence. Every strike, every parry and dodge, every movement, it all seemed to draw forth a feeling of elation from the cat. He was reveling in the act of open battle, carving his way through a half-dozen brutally dangerous capes with absolute relish. He wasn't disregarding his opponents, rather he seemed to cherish what little resistance they could offer as he handily dismantled them in a martial display that left Rune speechless.
She had seen Victor in combat. He had been a regular at Hookwolf's fighting rings where he regularly showed off the combined combat skills of dozens of masters perfectly blended into a unique style that absolutely dripped with arrogance. It was a display, a chance to show the world, or at least the rest of the Empire, exactly what he was capable of.
That wasn't what was happening here. Kataklyzein wasn't showing off. He was enjoying himself, and doing so through a display of skill the likes of which Rune had never seen. Had never even imagined. There were no more dramatic manifestations of parahuman powers, no supernatural abilities from his spear, no manifestations of platforms or obstacles, no flames or teleportation. Just one cat against six capes, armed only with a sharpened stick.
It was over in seconds. Seconds of hair-breadth dodges, precise positioning of his opponents, and absolutely perfect technique. Rune didn't think any of the capes were dead, but that was mostly because if Kataklyzein wanted them dead he probably wouldn't have left any doubt. There was a rumbling from above as the remaining rubble controlled by Gravalanche rounded and directed itself towards the ground, on a path directly for Kataklyzein. Whether from desperation or some final gambit, the last opponent rounded himself to face the powerhouse of the Celestial Forge.
The cat just grinned as he looked up at the cloud of debris being directed towards him. He tensed his stance, both blades of his spear bursting to life with smoky orange flames. The same light glowed from within his helmet as fire flowed from his eyes, then traced across the rest of his armor. He held position, a glowing beacon set against the mass of animated brick and stone. The full weight of the cloud bearing down on him, ready to scour the street clean.
And then Kataklyzein moved. In a burst of flame the cat launched himself into the center of the storm of rock. Fire bloomed around him as he began to spin. Began to spin incredibly fast. Like a burning drill, he bore through the center of the cloud. The red light of Gravalanch's power guttered out, replaced by an orange firestorm that surged outwards, consuming the suspended debris. The heat was so intense it felt like Rune was being baked from half a block away. The fire had weight and substance the likes of which she had never felt before. As she watched, chunks of stone and broken masonry weighing hundreds of pounds vanished into nothing but ash and smoke. Not a single piece fell from the sky as the flames consumed everything.
Then Kataklyzein burst out from the cloud of flame, dragging the limp form of Gravalanch behind him. The telekinetic cape was smaller than he had seemed while directing the cloud of debris, though that might have been due to how he now hung like a ragdoll from the paws of the armored cat.
The final cape was tossed into the pile of defeated members of the Teeth before Kataklyzein bounded across the street, landing on the roof of the convenience store that Survey was still defending. He passed through the glowing barrier without a hint of resistance and looked up at the floating woman with an expression of satisfaction on his face. Survey nodded, then lowered her shield. The intricate device dimmed, its rotations pausing as the massive barrier slowly faded away.
Survey had dropped the force field that had managed to cover the entire block. Kataklyzein had dealt with all the members of the Teeth and was not currently attacking any of them. As far as Rune could tell, they were done. They were done and they should leave while they were still able to depart. The kind of casual power that had just been displayed wasn't anything that Rune wanted to get involved with. She turned to Purity, fully expecting to see her moving to fall back. Perhaps with a wave of thanks or apology. That would have been the sensible course of action. That was not what Rune saw.
Purity was floating towards Survey. The glowing barrier had vanished but the woman was still covered in an energy field of blue flames. Silver hair whipped around her and that gleaming white shield continued to pulse with power. She wasn't menace incarnate like Kataklyzein, but every aspect of her appearance, from the power she displayed to the equipment she carried to her costume to her physical appearance was a signal that she was not to be messed with.
Purity either didn't recognize that or somehow felt that it didn't apply to her. She moved with confidence, closing within speaking distance of the imposing woman and made a friendly gesture towards her. With her other hand she signaled Rune to fall in behind her.
Rune briefly considered making a break for it. Damsel still had that manic look in her eye. Exactly the kind of thing that should not be allowed within striking distance of the Celestial Forge. She could haul Ashley from the battlefield and be fully justified in her departure.
She could, but she doubted it would go well for her. Heading off a disaster was easy to dismiss when someone was likely to lament the opportunities that had been given up. Particularly when you seemed to be the only one who recognized the danger in the first place.
Tammi slowly moved her two remaining platforms into place behind Purity, maintaining as much distance as she possibly could. Back far enough that hopefully Damsel wouldn't feel like trying her luck. On the platform behind her Othala stood straighter, echoing Purity's confidence, while Damsel continued her over dramatic posing as Purity began to speak.
"Thank you for your help." Kayden said. "We appreciate your assistance in stopping these members of the Teeth. I hope we can continue to work together to see this situation resolved."
Her voice was cordial and encouraging, but Survey just stared at her blankly. Her eyes were barely concealed by the blue visor that floated in front of them, but Purity seemed oblivious to how her overture was coming across. She moved in closer and extended a hand to the silver woman.
Survey tilted her head slightly, making no move to return the gesture. Purity paused, showing just a hint of apprehension before she pushed forward, extending her hand further.
A ghost of a frown played across Survey's face. She clenched her right hand and made a sharp gesture towards the ground as the energy around her flared like a miniature sun. Rune fell to her knees as she fought to keep the platform in the air. Purity plummeted like a stone and slammed into the street below, her glow briefly flickering out from the impact.
Purity flailed on the ground like a beached fish as she struggled to lift herself against the strength of Survey's power. She managed to struggle to her knees as Rune fought a losing battle against the unbelievable force pressing down on her. Her focus flickered for barely a second and Damsel's platform dropped from the sky. Her invincibility held against the impact, but the platform shattered beneath her as she impaled herself waist deep into the ground. Rune's own platform began to slip from her power as she did everything she could to slow her descent.
She dropped in starts, a few feet at a time before she finally lost her grip on the disk. In a final act of desperation she grabbed Othala and sheltered her cousin's fall with her own body. The platform rebounded as it struck the pavement and Rune felt pain bloom through her entire body, but Othala seemed to be unhurt. A small mercy. If they actually managed to get out of this disaster she could at least heal any injuries the rest of them had suffered.
Rune writhed on the ground, trying to recover some semblance of her faculties. She fought to understand what had just happened. Cracking open her eyes, she could see the street around her bathed in blue light. It hurt to breathe, even more than the impact would have caused. A force was pressing down on her, pressing her clothes into her body and making every moment torture.
It wasn't telekinesis. Survey hadn't just thrown them to the ground. She was maintaining a constant force. Amplifying gravity to a terrifying degree. Rune struggled to raise her head and saw the Celestial woman slowly descend towards them, an expression of distaste on her face.
"You misinterpret our relationship." Survey's voice rang out over the street, clear and cold. "Primarily through the assumption that we have a relationship." A hard expression looked down at them from within that mane of silver hair. "We are not friends. We are not allies. We are not a coalition." Her eyes narrowed. "We are tolerating you for the purpose of a single task. A task that holds a single condition." She turned to look down through the window of the corner store. "A condition that has been breached."
From the store window wide eyes looked out at them from the civilians brave enough to watch. Rune even saw a couple of phones raised and recording the scene playing out in front of them. She groaned to herself, but couldn't spare any concern for the implication in the face of what they were currently dealing with.
"That wasn't us." Purity called up, struggling to her hands and knees. "We tried to stop them."
"You attacked them. And you pursued them. Your tactical decisions gave minimal attention to the concerns of the city. The Celestial Forge agreed to leave these matters to other parties on the condition that recovery efforts and civilian safety would not be endangered." Survey turned back from the bar covered window of the store. Her expression was like ice.
"No." Purity struggled to speak. Frankly, Rune was amazed. Just breathing under the force of gravity was a challenge. "We weren't the ones endangering the public." Survey raised an eyebrow. "You can't hold us responsible for this. It isn't fair."
Survey glared down at them from her position in the air. "Fair." She said in an almost sarcastic tone. "Fairness would require the accounting of events beyond our current circumstances." She leaned forward, glaring down at Purity. "I do not believe you would wish to see the results of a FAIR appraisal of your actions."
Rune held her breath, and not just because it felt like an elephant was lying on her chest. Okay, that was actually Othala, which was a little unfair to her cousin but not something she could address at the moment. Survey was pinning them to the ground with no visible effort while the cape who had dismantled the entire force of the Teeth in seconds glared down at them from the roof of the little store that was the cause of this entire mess.
A crackling began to build behind her. Rune struggled to turn her head towards the sound, just as a sharp blast and the sound of tearing rock echoed across the street. She felt a pressure wave wash over her followed by pebbles that rained down like buckshot. Twisting against the weight of Survey's power she saw Damsel standing shakily on her feet in a torn and bloody uniform. The ground beneath her was warped and ravaged. The madwoman had used her power to both free herself from the street and launch her to her feet. Othala's power had long since worn off, leaving her a ragged mess, though that manic force of will seemed to be just enough to keep the woman on her feet.
Survey watched her with curiosity as Damsel took one heavy step forward, then another. With great effort, she braced her right arm with her left and forced her hand upwards, directly at the floating cape.
Rune felt her mouth drop open. It was an insane display, even by Damsel's standards. But there she was, hair dragged down by unspeakable force, shaking with every step, arm trembling, but all the same, posed to direct her power at one of the strongest capes on the planet.
"What do you intend to accomplish with this display?" The impossibly perfect floating cape asked. There was something unnerving about how lightly she moved through the field of crushing force that filled the area. Damsel just grinned up at her.
"Not everything has a master plan. Sometimes you just want to see how things turn out when you cut loose." She called up, still keeping her hand trained on the flying cape.
Survey raised an eyebrow, then reached down towards the surface of her shield. The tiny panels that composed the shield began to move, sliding over each other in a way that accentuated the spiral pattern. The shape of the shield began to warp as the movement caused the center to press out, then thin to a kind of stem. Or handle.
Survey grasped the protrusion and drew it out further until she tore a long object free from the surface of the shield. The shield quickly shifted to adjust for the lost material while the removed object spun into itself, forming a long shaft and handguard of the same gleaming white substance.
It was a lance. A lance that glowed with the same energy as the shield. A lance whose craftsmanship could only be attributed to Apeiron. Survey had drawn forth a massive weapon that pulsed with unknown power, a weapon nearly as large as she was, and she leveled it at Damsel. The components of the lance began to spin and the aura of blue fire around the weapon flared aggressively.
Rune didn't know what was about to happen, but she was guessing it would be monstrous overkill for the kind of threat that any of them, even Damsel, might represent.
"This will not resolve in a manner favorable to you." Survey said from behind the massive and ornate weapon.
"I'll take my chances." Damsel said with an unhinged smile. Her hand began to crackle and pop, the signs of her power preparing to discharge. Was Survey close enough to be in range? Did it matter? Rune had no idea. She could only sit and watch as the exchange built towards a crescendo.
Suddenly, white shapes erupted from the ground in front of her. Ghosts. Crusader's ghosts. Dozens of them forming a screen between them and the capes of the Celestial Forge. More moved to haul them back, pulling them out of the field of high gravity. Against that kind of force it took a half dozen for each of them, but they were able to move. Rune gasped for breath the second she was free of the crushing force and saw Othala do the same. Purity kicked off the ground, floating back as Crusader swooped in with Krieg behind him.
Krieg's greatcoat was scorched and tattered. Clearly things hadn't gone smoothly back at the factory, but they had been able to resolve them quickly enough to mount a rescue. Rune felt herself collapse to her knees in relief, then covered the action by moving to trace her power into the wall of a ruined building.
Damsel seemed irritated to have her standoff interrupted, but was perfectly happy to transition to staring down Survey from her position outside of the gravity power's range. Or presumed range. They had no idea how far it could actually reach. And it wasn't like the woman was immobile.
No, they weren't safe. They needed to get out while the Celestial Forge was still willing to let them leave. She continued tracing as she looked up at Justin and Kayden.
"We came as quickly as we could." He said, still manifesting ghost after ghost to send towards the pair of capes. None were attacking yet, but he was forming a layered defensive line. "I can screen for you, but Victor's right, we need to fall back."
Tammi blinked. The fall must have damaged her communicator. Not that she particularly missed Victor's commentary, but for once her cousin's husband seemed to be talking sense.
"We can't give up." Purity said. "This was a misunderstanding. If I had a chance to explain-"
"What is that going to accomplish?" Crusader asked. Tammi was in full agreement.
"I must concur." Krieg said. "Our main objective has been addressed. We should leave before the situation devolves further."
Kayden shook her head. "No, if we leave things like this it will color any further efforts at collaboration." Damsel scoffed slightly and Rune was right there with her. "At the very least we should… Crusader?" She asked in concern.
Tammi turned to see Justin clutching his throat and making choking sounds. More concerningly, the behavior seemed to be mirrored by his ghosts. All of his ghosts. With a feeling of dread, Tammi turned towards the capes of the Celestial Forge.
Survey was still floating in midair, though she had lowered the massive glowing lance. Her expression was unchanged from her standoff with Damsel, like she hadn't been the least bit surprised by Crusader's arrival. The lines of ghosts that had formed a screen in front of her were gasping and slowly fading from existence. And the reason for that could be seen as Rune turned her eyes towards Kataklyzein.
The cat was standing on the edge of the store's roof with his paw clenched around the throat of one of the ghosts that had been sent to harass him. The cape's helmet was glowing with a deep purple aura and his face was hidden in shadow. The translucent white flesh of the ghost was smoldering under the cat's grip. The projection was desperately flailing, but Kataklyzein held its spear back with his other paw. Actually, it looked like Kataklyzein had grabbed the ghost by the spear in order to haul it into choking range.
"What is he…?" Othala asked as the horde of ghosts began to thin and then vanish. Finally, the only one left was the one held in Kataklyzein's grasp. Justin had fallen to his knees and a disturbing burnt smell was coming from his neck. "What do we do?" She asked desperately, but to no one in particular.
Rune had no real suggestions. Begging, pleading, crying, or surrender were the only paths that seemed open to them. She had no doubt that if Kataklyzein wanted to, he could snuff out Justin's life, regardless of the impossibility of what was currently being done to him. Apeiron had said that he would have left Lung entirely to Kataklyzein if the cat had been available at the time. Looking up at the armored figure standing on the roof with Crusader's life in his paws, Rune could fully believe that.
A sound at the barest edge of hearing drew her mind from the horror on display. It was faint, but something she could pick out easily given what it signaled. Who it signaled. She looked around and could see she wasn't the only one who noticed it. Rune swallowed. They needed a distraction, something to draw the attention of the Celestial Forge. This wasn't what she would have chosen, but as distractions went, they didn't come much better.
The whine of charged electricity and bursts of static grew louder, now interspersed with the crashing sound that was so often paired with it. Rune turned to the opposite row of buildings from Kataklyzein and Survey just in time to see Assault crash down on the edge of the roof. With a blur of motion and a burst of discharged power Battery appeared at his side.
"Well, I hope we aren't interrupting anything important." Assault quipped as he casually addressed death incarnate in cat form. The shadows receded from Kataklyzein's face and the cat shrugged before casually tossing away the tortured ghost. The projection didn't even make it three feet before it faded into nothingness and Justin suddenly slumped while gasping in deep, desperate breaths. As he panted under Purity's care Rune saw that Kataklyzein was still holding the projection's ghostly spear, carrying it with an easy, almost smug confidence.
"This was a fight between the Empire and the Teeth." Purity called out. "There is no cause for the Protectorate's involvement."
Normally, that would have been enough to dissuade the heroes. They didn't tend to pick fights they couldn't win and Assault and Battery would have been outgunned if Purity encountered them on her own, much less with support. They might try to hold out until they could call in support, but even that would be risky. At least it would under normal circumstances.
These weren't normal circumstances.
Justin had recovered enough from whatever Kataklyzein had done to him to climb back to his feet. He reached down to pick up his fallen spear, but he fumbled his grip and had to make three attempts to secure it. He looked down at the spear like he'd never seen it before, then over at the grinning cat who saluted him with the translucent copy of the same weapon.
Kataklyzein's grin was matched by Assault. Rune was seriously doubting Kayden's ability to talk their way out of this mess. Well, she was doubting it more than she already did.
"Funny thing, the Protectorate likes to get involved whenever people decide to start tearing up the streets." He turned towards Survey and Kataklyzein and called out. "You involved in this as well?"
There was a brief nonverbal exchange as the two capes seemed to be deciding who would field the response. Finally, Survey floated towards the Protectorate heroes.
"We intervened in this matter to prevent civilian injuries and resolve the situation." Survey declared.
"I see." Assault replied, looking back at the tight cluster of Empire capes. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to assist in fully resolving the situation? Make things all neat and tidy?"
Rune tensed. This was more than just animosity. It was the Celestial Forge picking sides. Picking the side of the Protectorate. Even on a small scale, that could have massive consequences. The Celestial Forge getting pissed off and squashing a few members of the Empire was one thing. Them falling in with the Protectorate was another matter entirely.
Survey tilted her head slightly. "Are you issuing a formal request for collaborative action between the Protectorate ENE and the Celestial Forge? I would assume such a request is being made on behalf of and with the full approval of the division director and would include the revocation of standing and past directives with respect to members of our organization?"
"Um, sure-" Assault began, but Battery cut him off.
"We do not have the authority to modify standing department policies or issue requests on behalf of the director." She said.
Rune blinked. She couldn't believe that they might be able to survive this disaster solely because Battery was incapable of letting go of an administrative technicality. At that moment she could have kissed that uptight, dysfunctional bitch of a hero.
In truth, it was the offer of collaboration that had probably saved them. Alone, the clash could have been written off as a gang conflict. An offense that was repaid and nothing more. Offering Protectorate sanction to the Celestial Forge changed the nature of what was happening. The mess of politics around the group and their every action had probably been enough to stay Survey's hand. At least without unambiguous support and endorsement.
"But the directives you mentioned only apply to Apeiron. They were not extended to the rest of the Celestial Forge." Battery added. Her clarification didn't seem to amuse Survey. Funnily enough, pointing out that the Protectorate was only screwing over the leader of their team didn't help the situation. Battery at least recognized this as she turned to pleading. "But if you allow us to call this matter in, or meet with a representative-"
Kataklyzein snorted and shook his head. Survey nodded to him. "The Celestial Forge intends to uphold its agreement regarding the actions of the Teeth." She looked towards the pile of injured capes. "Breaches relating to that matter have been sufficiently addressed. I believe we are done here."
Kataklyzein nodded. There was a sudden burst of lightning and an explosion of flame and the two capes were gone. Assault looked from their former location over to the forces of the Empire. "I don't suppose you folks feel like turning yourself in?" The humor was lost on the group. "Ah. Well, how about you let us take care of those guys and we won't pay too much attention to the direction you take when you run off?" He added, gesturing to the fallen members of the Teeth.
Purity took the second deal, though didn't actually acknowledge it. Instead she just nodded to Rune and took to the air. Rune tore out a chunk of wall from a condemned building to act as a platform and, with the help of Krieg's field, was able to keep up with Purity as they blitzed back to the safety of Empire territory.
Soaring over the city with that madness behind her, Rune was finally able to relax. She didn't even bother putting on a show of strength, instead just collapsing to her knees as she focused on keeping pace behind Kayden. Behind her, Othala rested a hand on her back and she felt the familiar effect or her healing power take hold, repairing the bruises and other damage from her fall.
Taking in a pain-free breath, she looked back over the platform. Her passengers were in various states of disarray, but they had all walked away, so to speak. They had also succeeded in their mission, at least in a technical sense. Rune turned back to follow after Kayden. As the site of one of the Empire's safehouses rapidly approached a new concern began to worm into Rune's gut. They had survived the mission, now they just needed to survive the debrief.
"That is most unfortunate." Kaiser said, drumming his armored fingers on the table in front of him as he processed Purity's report. The fact that their mission had audio and video recordings courtesy of Victor prevented any creative embellishments, which made the debrief rather straightforward, if a little unflattering.
"Survey's reaction was likely based on the reputation of the old Empire. I'm confident I can talk her around if given the chance." Kayden explained. Rune had to work to avoid reacting to the sheer gall of the statement. The debrief was limited to the mission team, Kaiser, and Victor who acted as a remote observer. That was probably for the best. Rune could only imagine the consequences if the rest of the Empire had been privy to the shocking naivete of that statement.
Ever since the Purity had recruited Ashley she had been enamored with the idea of the glorious new Empire. The organization she would build once Kaiser handed her the keys to the kingdom. Most people doubted that day would ever arrive, but that didn't seem to factor into Kayden's dreams of a brighter future, regardless of the difficulty of accomplishing such a feat.
The fall of the ABB had only made things worse. That gang had been Kayden's primary point of focus, both during her previous tenure with the Empire and when she briefly broke off on her own. With them gone Kayden was convinced all the problems of the city would follow after them, leaving her with a clear path to her utopic vision.
The woman badly needed a reality check, but Tammi wouldn't be the one to give it to her. She had enough responsibility babysitting princess psycho and didn't need to take on any more stress. Damsel was standing next to Purity, wearing the damage to her costume like a badge of honor. When they entered the safehouse she had earned approving looks from Hookwolf that would likely only grow once he learned of her borderline insane stand off against Survey.
"Perhaps." Kaiser said diplomatically. "But we will not pursue the Celestial Forge on this matter. Their demands regarding Victor's breach could already be considered generous. It is possible their reaction to the breach of terms during this operation was intended to remind us of that fact."
Kayden frowned. "The Teeth were the ones responsible for any public endangerment. Our involvement was incidental at best."
"And the Teeth have been punished for their actions. It is likely this display was intended to make the position of the Celestial Forge clear. Violations of Apeiron's terms will not be tolerated, regardless of where the fault may lie." Kaiser inclined his head. "He has also made it clear he is both willing and able to step in should those bounds be crossed. This is a risk, but presents an opportunity."
"Assuming similar action will be taken against any other groups who violate his mandate." Krieg said. "It limits our actions, but presents opportunities. Less cautious forces will likely experience more severe chastisement than we received."
"It's all well and good to throw the Teeth into the hands of the Celestial Forge, but that risks the very situation this agreement was designed to address." Kaiser said. "Particularly once the Butcher finally takes the field."
Damsel openly grinned at the prospect, but she was the only one who seemed in any way pleased.
"If we are fortunate, the Teeth will recognize the threat and curtail their behavior equally. If not, we may need to coordinate with other groups to address the Butcher's presence before she can provoke the Celestial Forge into open action." Victor interjected from his remote comm station.
Kaiser nodded. "We have secured the first strike in this conflict, but the Butcher will not allow this to go unanswered. There will be a reaction from the Teeth and we will need to be ready for it." He turned to the rest of them. "Rest for the moment. I have further matters to discuss with Purity and Krieg. They will brief you on the preparations for the Teeth's counteroffensive.
Rune nodded and slunk out of the office. The safehouse was one of the Empire's larger locations, meaning she didn't have much trouble finding a quiet room where she could collapse. A kind of bone-weary exhaustion gripped her, one much worse than she was used to encountering after a mission.
It wasn't just the stakes or the fact that she'd needed to push her power so heavily. It was actually seeing the Celestial Forge enter the field. During the Ungodly Hour she had been contained with Damsel, playing housekeeper to the Empire's newest cape. She's seen reports of what was happening, but they were remote. Abstract, distant displays of strength that shook the world around them.
She's seen the trails of energy spread through the city. The field that blacked out the docks. The flashes of Apeiron's conflict over the bay. And of course, the wave that swept over the Boardwalk. Terrifying things in terms of what they represented, but she hadn't experienced them herself.
Now she had. She's seen what Kataklyzein could accomplish without even trying. The casual displays of Survey's power. The merest sliver of the potential of the Celestial Forge was completely overwhelming.
They couldn't fight that. It was a laughable concept. They couldn't even survive it. She didn't know how anyone could even entertain the idea that they held some level of control over the insanity of this situation.
The door to Rune's not quite hiding place opened and the Empire's best representative of that insanity stepped into the room. Ashley's costume was still tattered, but it looked like Othala had been able to see to her injuries. She was stepping lightly while twirling her white officer's cap on one finger.
"Ah, just the person I was looking for." She said as she sauntered forward. Rune quickly put on the mask of amicable accommodation that had served her so well in her role as Damsel's minder.
"Damsel." She said, climbing to her feet. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Please, don't get up on my account." She said, "After such a commendable performance on such a trying mission you deserve a chance to relax."
The idea that she could possibly relax while dealing with this nightmare situation was almost laughable. "I'm fine." She assured Damsel.
"You're not." The woman said plainly. There was a knowing look in her eyes. "Things are not going the way your superiors had hoped. It's natural to be overwhelmed."
"They're dealing with it." She said quickly. The last thing she needed was Ashley openly doubting the Empire's position. "And the mission was a success."
"Technically, but at a cost." Ashley mused. "Purity was publicly humbled and the Celestial Forge has made it clear they are no friend of the Empire. Kaiser's operation was also far less successful than he is attempting to portray it." Rune gave her a confused look. "The outpost they attacked was reinforced by capes from the Butcher's cell. Animos and Vex. Trump and shaker, more than enough to cover the escape of several of the capes present."
"You're very well informed." Rune said flatly.
She smiled and leaned back. "People have warmed to me quite well, particularly in the wake of Victor's misstep." Rune frowned. She knew Ashley had been reaching out, supposedly on Victor's behalf, but mostly as an opportunity to highlight her own performance at the summit. Not exactly a bright spot, but given how badly things could have gone there was a cast to be made that Ashley had saved the entire Empire from a war they would not have been able to win.
"I'm sure you have all kinds of privileged information." Rune actually managed to keep any hint of sarcasm out of her tone as she spoke. She doubted Damsel believed she was speaking honestly, but as usual, seemed to enjoy the effort being put into placating her more than actual sincerity on the matter.
"Indeed." She said, tapping her chin and deliberately playing up the imperious aspects of her behavior. "So many little details, including the specifics of Crusader's condition."
Rune looked up sharply. "What? Did Kataklyzein… What happened to him? What's wrong?"
"Physically, he's fully recovered. Surface injuries that dear Othala was able to easily address. However, regarding his power…" She left the statement hanging. Rune felt a deep sense of dread in her gut.
"What happened to his power?" She asked, despite really, really not wanting to hear the answer.
"Crusader is unable to manifest weapons through his projections." Damsel explained. "Victor is still working to assess the situation, but it seems that any item intended for violence is simply absent when he manifests his ghosts."
Rune's eyes widened. "Kataklyzein took his spear." She said. Ashley nodded.
"In a quite literal sense." She said with a smile that Tammi felt was very out of place.
"Fuck." She muttered. She couldn't even begin to imagine what that would mean. The reach and damage of those spears was a core element of what made Justin's projections so dangerous. Without that… they weren't harmless, but the threat profile had unquestionably cratered. "Trump power." She added.
Ashley nodded. It figured that the people working with the power tinker would have other people in his team who could also mess with powers. And they had no idea. No idea exactly what had been done, how he had done it, how long it would last, or if there were any other complications waiting to be discovered.
"Quite the effective deterrent against anyone who might wish to make grandiose gestures against the Celestial Forge without accepting the consequences." Damsel stated and Rune could only stare at her.
"You're saying that? After what you did? With what could have happened?" Rune's voice pitched up as she spoke, with her nearly screaming towards the end. She hated the loss of control, but she could still see Survey staring down at them, brandishing that gleaming lance of death. A standoff between a madwoman with too much power and a mystery cape from an organization that built their reputation on exceeding all expectations.
"Yes." Ashely said with a smile. "That was glorious."
"She could have vaporized you." Rune said.
"Perhaps." Ashley admitted. "But she didn't. Purity was humbled. Crusader was crippled, and yet here I stand."
"You think you're a threat to them. That they're afraid of you." Rune said.
The white-haired woman's expression softened, that dangerous energy receding just enough to allow her to look contemplative. "I'm used to being a threat, and used to being feared. That wasn't fear." She said, "And I know the difference between fear and contempt."
"What do you mean?" Tammi asked.
"I think you know." Ashley said, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "You're not exactly a hard liner. I'm not sure anyone here is, outside of the cannon fodder."
"You're talking about the movement." Tammi said cautiously.
"Yes, I'm talking about the empty ideology that serves as your rallying cry for the disaffected and easily duped. The nonsense you use to play dress-up and pretend this is anything more than another petty parahuman gang fighting for territory in a third-rate city."
"That's not true." Tammi said, but she knew her protests were hollow. Her faith in the movement had withered after they left her to rot in prison, and honestly hadn't been that strong to begin with. Her personal experience disproved the claims about the reach and power of the ideology and what she'd seen after joining the Empire had only confirmed that outlook.
Still, it wasn't something you called out. Even the least dedicated member of the Empire at least knew to pay lip service to the ideals. Tammi knew that Ashley was never onboard with that element of the gang, but she didn't expect her to begin openly challenging it.
That really served to drive home exactly how dire their circumstances actually were.
"Why not?" Ashley asked. "Because you trade capes with Gesellschaft or the Herren Clans? Because you get funding and support from misguided fools? Or because you happened to fight gangs led by 'acceptable targets'?"
Rune had no response. Really, the presence of the ABB had done most of the Empire's recruitment for them. She knew what the membership pipeline looked like. How easy it was to convince someone where the source of their problems were actually coming from.
"What is your point?" Rune asked directly.
Ashley smiled at her. "Apeiron does not like the Empire." She stated plainly as she tossed down her officer's hat. "That was apparent at the summit, but today's encounter removed all doubt. The current circumstances may have stayed his hand, but there is no future for the Empire in this city, no matter what form Purity imagines it taking."
The least stable woman that Rune had ever known had just plainly laid out the fact that everyone in the Empire was desperately trying to convince themselves wasn't true. She swallowed before responding.
"If you think that, then why are you still here?" Rune asked. That manic grin returned to the woman's face, which was answer enough. "Oh." Rune said flatly.
"Yes!" She extolled, her voice echoing around the room. The woman who loved playing supervillain, given a chance to share the stage with the most over-the-top cape group in history. Of course she wouldn't turn it down.
"And that's worth what's coming?" Rune asked. "What's going to happen when Apeiron decides he's had enough?"
"And what will happen?" She asked, taking a step forward. Rune gave her a confused look. "I am serious. When the time comes, how do you think Apeiron will deal with things? Decapitation strike? Mass assault? Work his way up from the forces on the streets? How does an Empire fall? Who will fight, who will run, and who will still be there when the dust settles?"
"You think you can make it through." Rune said. "Survive the aftermath of whatever's coming."
"I am good at survival." She said in a cool tone. "I've enjoyed what the Empire has provided, but I can live without it. I have lived without it." Her expression softened. "Though there are some resources that I would miss more than others."
Rune blinked. "This is a recruitment pitch?" She asked, nearly at a loss for words.
"I would prefer to depart with more than a few creature comforts and an inflated bank account." Ashley said. "And I think flying agrees with me."
Rune couldn't deny that. The mobility during the last mission had brought Damsel's abilities to a new level. Of course, it hadn't been just Tammi's powers in play.
"You want Othala as well." She said. Ashely smiled. "Not going to happen. Everyone wants her. Hell, the Protectorate would take her in a heartbeat. She knows exactly how valuable she is." Rune shook her head. "And you'll never get her without Victor."
"Then it's clear where I should be directing my efforts." Ashley said, turning to leave.
"Wait." Rune shouted. "Wait, I haven't agreed…"
"Didn't you?" Damsel asked, falling back into the imperious tone of voice she enjoyed when playing cartoon villain.
Tammi stammered. "I mean, this isn't…"
Fuck. Even talking about this kind of thing was treason. She would be expected to fully deny anyone who raised the subject and immediately report them. She would, under normal circumstances. When they didn't have the Celestial Forge looming over them and an unquestionable countdown to the end of the Empire.
And once again, the only word that could sum up the situation was 'Fuck'. Ashley was right. The Damsel of Distress had been an active villain for much longer than most of the members of the Empire. She had seen organizations rise and fall and had survived the turmoil largely unscathed. There was no argument that Rune could put forward that wasn't a transparent attempt to deny reality.
Apeiron did not like the Empire. Survey did not like the Empire. It would be safe to assume their views were typical of the Celestial Forge. Rune had never really imagined a time without the Empire. The possibility of defeat had existed, but not an end to the actual organization.
Ashley Stillons was an unstable mess of a cape with barely any control over one of the most destructive powers on the planet and even she could see the writing on the wall. The Empire would not survive the current conflict. Not as the untouchable force Kaiser imagined, not as the reformed organization Kayden wanted to create, and not in any other conceivable form. They were done.
And what would be left for her? Slink back to the Herren Clans and hope they weren't next on Apeiron's list? Go on the run with her parents, people she could barely stand who blamed her for everything wrong in their lives? Or join up with an unstable woman who had somehow become Rune's best option in this entire mess.
"I thought so." Ashley said as she watched the grim acceptance settle over Tammi's face.
"How do you know you'll be safe?" Rune asked. "You're part of the Empire now, and your history…" She didn't want to bring this up, lest she set the woman off, but now wasn't the time to be squeamish. "It's as bad as anyone in the Empire."
Ashley looked down at her hands and Rune was briefly afraid she had gone too far, but after a moment the woman looked back at her. "Brockton Bay is Apeiron's city. He has made that clear. His city, his people. His history." She smiled. "My past is what it is, but it's not part of that."
"And you think that will keep you safe?" Rune asked.
Ashely shrugged irreverently. "As safe as anyone else. As safe as you can be against someone like Apeiron." She spoke the name with a relish that caused Rune to think back to the woman's standoff against Survey. "Against a power like that, all you can hope for is to avoid notice, or meet him on your own terms."
Ashley picked up her cap and set it on her head before nodding to Rune. Nodding like everything was decided. Like she hadn't just embroiled her in a conspiracy against the Empire. A conspiracy that was somehow the safest option available to her, assuming she could actually leave the Empire.
That was the final obstacle. The factor that hadn't been addressed. Ashley dismissed the Empire's ideology as meaningless cruelty, but looking from this side it was clear there was another purpose. It made it hard to walk away. The movement that was purported to hold you up would drag you down the second you tried to separate yourself from it. You only had to look to Purity's solo career to see that. Maybe Ashley's term was short enough to avoid that association, but for her? For Othala? For Victor? She didn't know, but the odds didn't seem favorable.
Trapped. That was where it had all started for her. Trapped by her parents, then trapped in the clans, then literally trapped in prison. That horrible experience where she lost everything that made her who she was, until she became something else.
This was just another trap. She was stuck between the Empire, Damsel, and the Celestial Forge. It was horrible, but it was a kind of horrible that she was familiar with. Something she had endured before and could endure again. Just like before, she would survive, she would persevere, and she would find a way out.
She watched Ashely depart, then slumped back down. Conviction was well and good, but it wasn't enough to hold her. It was really incredible how quickly a situation could devolve, even in the wake of a supposed victory. As it stood, her only hope was that Apeiron would have bigger concerns than the fate of the Empire. She shuddered as she imagined what they could be.
Addendum Joe
Garment's show was entering its final stages. The auction had been a considerable success, but paled in comparison to the donations that had been pouring in both from the guests and thanks to the stream. The final portions of the event had started. A review of the funds that were raised, a breakdown of the programs and charities that would be receiving support, and Garment's closing 'remarks'. Really Garment's performance of emphatic gesturing and displays of telekinesis.
Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to stick around to enjoy the final sections of the show. When Survey had needed to step in to intervene in the fight between the Empire and the Teeth I'd been forced to fill in for her in the scrying chamber, both to maintain existing monitoring programs and to be ready to take action if any other civilians were threatened.
That proved to be unnecessary. Purity's group was the only one to push towards the city center. Kaiser's assault did not go nearly as smoothly, despite a larger number of capes being involved. The whole thing turned into a fairly brutal melee that I was grateful was happening well outside of densely populated areas.
The arrival or reinforcements from the Butcher's branch had caused their efforts to mostly fall apart. Animos has a power nullifying roar that disrupted most of the Empire's efforts and Vex could summon razor-like force fields to fill open space and cut off pursuit. It hadn't been a clean escape, but more capes had managed to get away than from Purity's team.
There was a level of difficulty involved in tracking everything that was playing out across the city. Multiple fronts of Kaiser's assault, Purity's split forces, and even the Dragonslayers moving to prevent Dragon from interfering with the attacks. I wouldn't say I was having a harder time than Survey when it came to scrying, but splitting my focus meant losing the benefit of Do One Thing At A Time, which caused a noticeable drop in performance. Frankly, it was easier to bounce between scrying devices than try to juggle multiple feeds.
Thankfully there was a burst of electricity as Survey reappeared inside the scrying chamber. The effect was a combination of her enhanced elemental attunement, biotics, and the opening of a microscopic portal for a fraction of a second. It allowed her effective instant teleportation virtually anywhere in the world.
Tybalt had relied entirely on his own divine teleportation abilities to cover both his arrival and departure. Really, it would have been easier to deploy the Matrix to support Survey, but Tybalt wasn't going to pass up the chance for a real fight, even if it did mean giving a hasty excuse to slip out of the security office at the Regency Center.
On his way back Tybalt had briefly ducked back into the Workshop just long enough to hand off Crusader's spear to one of my duplicates before returning to his post at the Regency Center. His absence didn't seem to have been noted to any significant degree, though his mood had definitely improved in the aftermath of his first proper cape fight.
Also from his first chance to use his jägerstock in the field. Which was also his first chance to show off its metal elemental abilities, the result of what my Infusionist power could accomplish when I went all out. The way he had taken down Phalange definitely left an impression, and that was just about the least of the weapon's abilities. It seemed Tybalt liked having a chance to show off his toys.
Or, you know, collect more of them.
The fact that he returned with spoils of war was an added bonus, but also a surprise. Tybalt's divine mandate of battle was somewhat abstract, as were the spiritual abilities granted to him by his helmet. Crusader deciding to obnoxiously swarm him with ghost soldiers was apparently too perfect an opportunity to pass up. The spear he had 'taken' was more than just the weapon manifestation of a single projection, and there was some serious significance to how and what he had 'taken'.
Even for us, it was new ground in terms of his abilities. In terms of other organizations it would be hell on anyone who tried to analyze the effect. Given what Survey and Tybalt had displayed in the field, there would be ample material for Protectorate thinkers to dig through, to varying amounts of success. In a way, that had been a big part of the reason for her personal appearance, though we weren't really focused on the reactions of the Protectorate's thinkers.
"Good job out there." I said to Survey as she stepped up to take my place juggling the various mirrors, orbs, and other divination tools.
"The results were satisfactory." She said with a slight smile. "Though given the dynamics of the current situation, I took the initiative of denying the Protectorate's offer for collaboration."
Survey transferred a detailed breakdown of her justifications along with her statement. Basically, Piggot was still playing games with local policy, probably in an attempt to deal with the shitstorm headed her way. Matters regarding the team were being handled externally, but she hadn't officially cleared her previous orders. The consequence of working against gangs with the PRT's sanction would help her position while massively complicating my own. It was not something I was particularly inclined to do, particularly when we just proved that we could take the same action out of nothing but petty spite.
Really, the Protectorate and PRT was going to get enough good press just from taking the defeated members of the Teeth into custody. There was a flood of them left both from Tybalt's fight and the general aftermath of the Empire's attacks, covering both powered and unpowered members of the Teeth.
The parahumans would be contained by the PRT, but the rest would have to be processed by conventional law enforcement. There would be an influx of gang members being brought into custody, absolutely swamping the police and courts. That kind of thing was really bad news for anyone who is currently in custody and hoping to be arraigned before they have to spend the night in jail. And for anyone whose lawyer father was desperately trying to get in contact with an overly friendly judge to expedite her proceedings.
All things considered, I didn't feel particularly sorry for Emma's situation.
I smiled and turned back to Survey. "Turning down the collaboration offer was a good decision." I said. "We can leave that until after the meeting with Director Armstrong, at the very earliest." I checked on the process of that project. It was going surprisingly well, considering Uppercrust had been mostly committed to the charity event.
"Thank you." She said, "And I apologize if I overstepped regarding the matter of the Empire."
"No." I replied, pulling up a record of the rather satisfying way Survey had cast the Empire's entire strike team into the ground. "You did good. That is not an association I even want to entertain. Purity was the one who overstepped."
Survey nodded as she pulled up both Purity's official PRT file and her own assessment of the woman's history. "For someone who has meaningfully contributed to Brockton Bay's homicide rate over the course of her active career, she is remarkably unconcerned with her past actions and appears largely oblivious to how such a history would be expected to color the opinions of others."
I nodded. "I think it's a consequence of cape culture. Villains mostly look at things based on how they impact themselves, their organization, and the balance of power, not in terms of normal people."
It was a fact of life that even the Undersiders weren't beyond. Their history of smash and grab and hitting jewelry stores was basically kids stuff by the standards of gangs, but there were a lot of consequences for people on the street they didn't seem to consider. It's all well and good to write things off as being covered by insurance, but I'd heard plenty of complaints about how bad insurance rates could get in the city. It was a consequence of sharing the area with active supervillains. Also, hitting major chains was all well and good until the central office decided it wasn't worth operating in a certain area and pulled the location entirely.
Purity was basically a more serious version of that mindset. Villain gangs barely accounted for unpowered members of the opposing side, and there was plenty of collateral damage and ruined lives in the wake of an attack that 'only' killed unpowered members of a gang. I was a little surprised that Purity didn't even seem to consider her kill count as being something worth accounting for, though I guess mental dissonance is not that surprising when you're talking about someone who would willingly embrace Nazi ideology.
The dynamics of gang behavior and cape politics would have to take a back seat, at least for the moment. With Survey taking over the scrying duties I moved to the recent addition to the secondary base that had developed in the back of Garment's studio. The last time I had done this it had been through an interface that was still incredibly advanced, but fell far behind my current level of proficiency. The new interface was constructed with the benefit of Craftsmen of the Gods, Titan's Blood, Psionic Attunement, Erudition, a myriad of new Minor Blessings and Unnatural Skills, and the enhancement of the Glove of the East fueled by a small ocean of Quicksilver Bullets.
"The Final Frontier has begun passenger mapping and signal interception activities regarding communication of data generated by the appearance of Tybalt and myself." Survey reported. "While progress is within expected parameters, your assistance on this matter would be greatly appreciated."
"I'll do what I can." I said while settling into the interface pod. Part Omni-sphere, part neural interface, part Spiritron computer, and tied directly into the Quantum Entanglement Communicator linked directly to the Final Frontier. It was the most powerful connection I could make to that realm without ripping open a new portal and traveling there myself.
The world had reacted to Survey and Tybalt's actions. The Empire was scrambling in response, the Protectorate was in panic mode, and pictures and even videos of them were being posted online, but all that was secondary.
Jack Slash had reacted. He had reacted because his passenger was in contact with the network of other passengers, constantly being fed information and advice regarding the threats he would be facing. Last night we had been able to confirm the effect. Now we were seeing it in action.
This was a rare opportunity. A chance to map out the network of passengers that provided the framework to parahuman abilities. The opportunity to completely decipher the methods of information transfer and dimensional dynamics that had been cracked along with Bakuda's signal. And, most importantly, the chance to discern the effect behind Jack Slash's thinker power, and put an end to it.
We had been struggling against the results of powers. Their impact on the world and the dynamics of organizations that controlled people who wielded them. That was important, but fundamentally it was a symptom of the real problem. Of the driving forces behind all the chaos of the world. Most people were limited to treating the symptoms, but limits weren't something the Celestial Forge concerned itself with.
I connected to the QEC and felt my awareness flow across dimensional boundaries before I stepped out onto the bridge of the Final Frontier. Holograms of Survey, Matrix's nanite colonies, and Fleet-piloted androids all stood to attention at my arrival. Through the enhanced link I could feel a connection that extended past the simple remote operation I'd been capable of before. A connection strong enough for some of my abilities to be utilized in support of the coming work.
This was it. It was time to move beyond the realm of parahuman conflict. It was time to take the fight to Passenger Space.
99.3 Interlude Tammi - Addendum Joe
Interlude Tammi
Tammi concentrated on her power. She worked to keep the platforms she had infused with her power on course as she trailed behind Purity and Crusader with her own passengers in tow. Normally she resented being used as a taxi service, but in this case she appreciated the distance that role provided. The coming fight wasn't something she was eager to get mixed up in, not when they were going against the Teeth.
The Teeth were a hard gang known for their violent approach to everything they did, but that wasn't what worried her. To be fair, her worries, and the worries of plenty of the other capes in the attack force, were probably misplaced. The chances of 'accidentally' killing the Butcher were negligible, but that didn't stop it from being a concern for everyone who faced her in combat. Before they left, Victor had walked them through the fight between Butcher XIII and Quarrel. It had been a long, drawn-out game of cat and mouse across New York with Quarrel using her bow and accuracy power to slowly whittle down the Butcher. Her strikes had enough power to overcome the Butcher's durability and her accuracy power had been able to trump XIII's danger sense. Damage mounted against the Butcher until Quarrel could land the finishing blow.
It was clear that 'accidentally' killing the Butcher wasn't going to be a problem. At least not for the vast majority of them. Purity had enough fire power that a direct hit could probably do the job, but she wouldn't be throwing out her blasts recklessly. The same couldn't be said for the other point of concern.
Ashley Stillons was standing imperiously on one of the platforms Rune was projecting ahead of her. Her white hair hung free from her officer's cap, dancing in the air behind her as the woman gazed towards their destination. The movement of the hair was mirrored by the billowing of the small white cape that Victor had added to her costume. A modification from her last public appearance at Somer's Rock. Like the rest of her costume, it had a military design to it, though with that palette swapped theme from what you normally saw in the Empire. White instead of black. It seemed like a deliberate choice made specifically to set her apart.
Not that she needed much help on that front. Her personality alone was more than enough. Even now, when it was Rune's power keeping her in the air, she somehow managed to give the impression that her current situation was entirely due to her own authority. That she was exactly where she wanted to be and completely in control of the situation, rather than being carried through the sky like a piece of luggage. There was no unsteadiness or apprehension in Ashley's stance, though some of that was due to the quality of the platforms, which once again, was something that had to be attributed to Victor.
Rune was currently controlling four objects at the same time, which was the absolute limit of what she could manage. She was comfortable with two, but splitting her power across more than that was like trying to look in multiple directions at once. She could technically do it, but her control and precision would suffer. Three would be difficult and four would be a clumsy mess. At least most of the time. Things were easier if she had less to keep track of. If she needed to split her focus onto more targets it helped if they weren't different targets. Similar objects could be 'juggled' with less effort.
Normally she would have used whatever was lying around. A decent sized piece of rubble or even a chunk torn out of a building or the street. The attunement time meant she wasn't ripping apart structures in the middle of a fight, but if needed she could always get an object of decent sizes for her purposes. Typically that was one chunk to act as transport and as a defensive screen against attacks and a second for striking against opponents. She knew she did better with similar objects, but that kind of selection wasn't usually an option in the middle of a fight. Victor also knew she did better with similar objects, which is why he had provided the elaborate stone disks that were currently carrying herself, Othala, Krieg, and the Damsel of Distress into combat.
But not Victor. Not when he was still on the shitlist of more than half of the Empire. That stunt he had pulled at the summit was beyond dangerous. Sure, nobody knew that a member of Apeiron's team would be able to detect his power, but nobody even knew Apeiron even had a team. That didn't change the fact that Victor had risked the entire Empire with his stupid power. Even without the Celestial Forge, the rest of the groups arrayed against them would have been more than they could have handled.
And it wasn't just people from the other gangs who had taken offense. Sure, they'd had assurances that the effect of Victor's power was temporary, but that didn't change the fact that it was always active. Always. There was no way to interact with him without losing something. Maybe something small, but it was still something. The fact that it would come back eventually was cold comfort. Just the knowledge of that effect was enough to have Tammi reviewing every interaction she's had with her cousin's husband, trying to figure out what had been taken and how long it had been gone.
She wasn't the only one. Nobody wanted to be in the same room as Victor. Nobody but Othala, though that was probably a lost cause, given how pathetically smitten her cousin had always been with Victor. People were saying some fairly unkind things about her now that the mechanics of Victor's power had been revealed. She wasn't exactly the sharpest or most dynamic member of the Empire, but it seemed that was now being attributed to Victor's influence. Honestly, even if he somehow worked to ensure that nothing got permanently drained from Othala, the amount of exposure she had to his power had to mean she was constantly running at reduced capacity. And nobody was keen to follow her example.
That was why Victor was sitting out the raid. Technically he was providing remote support, but this wasn't Victor at an elevated vantage point with a sniper rifle. It was Victor managing communications and logistics like some Ward who'd been reprimanded to console duty. She wondered if that was the reason why he had provided the platforms. Some kind of combination of a peace offering and a way to secure some level of involvement with the attack.
Victor had supplied four massive stone platforms, each perfectly matched in a way that eased the burden on her power while also being precisely designed and intricately ornamented. They looked like solid stone, but it was probably some complicated concrete mix that he had pierced together from the skills of a dozen experts. It made a lot more sense to assume he had filled up a few molds than actually carved them himself out of solid basalt. Plus, carving wouldn't have created that weird flakey texture that marred one of the disks. It was probably another aspect of the casting process or some feature of whatever mix of cement was required to make them look like black volcanic stone.
More of Victor's insufferable stolen genius had been evident in the design. The platforms were disks about a foot thick and five feet across. They each weighed close to a ton and the stack had required a flatbed to transport them to the staging area. The surface had subtle iconography that gave them enough texture and indentations to provide grip and a stable surface, even when traveling at high speeds.
It was typical of Victor. A way for him to show that he understood her power better than anyone else. That he could have provided the means to enhance her abilities at any time, but couldn't be bothered until he needed to make up for his own near catastrophic mistakes. Othala probably thought it was a peace offering or a show of support, but Tammi knew Victor too well for that. The man couldn't function without some scheme in play and he would no doubt be leveraging every element of his ability to make up for the mess at the summit.
Even with the design of the objects being perfectly aligned with her power, controlling four of them was still a challenge. At least it was actually possible, meaning every non-flying member of the strike team got their own platform. Meaning nobody needed to double up. Meaning nobody needed to share with Ashley. That was a small mercy that was worth the headache of having to look in four directions at once.
"Kaiser's team is in position and ready to engage." The sudden sound of Victor's voice over their comlinks would probably have been enough to shake her control if the platforms hadn't been so perfectly matched. Instead she was able to keep them completely steady as she watched the reactions of the other members of the team.
On the platform next to her Othala didn't even bother to hide her smile at the sound of her husband's voice, but her cousin was always like that. As it stood, she was the only one who seemed happy to hear from Victor. Crusader, from his forward position being carried by his ghosts, was visibly uncomfortable, but kept silent on the matter. On her two forward platforms Krieg and Damsel nodded to Kayden in acknowledgement, letting her handle the response.
The glowing woman raised a shining hand to the device in her ear. "We're closing in on the secondary target." She replied. "I estimate less than one minute out, at current speed." The earpieces were more advanced tech than they typically used. It seemed unnecessarily risky with both Dragon and Apeiron in the city, but Victor had assured everyone that their signals were sufficiently hidden and encrypted, something he could only guarantee thanks to his dedicated coordination role. It had even expanded to include body cameras for a direct feed from lieutenants in the field.
Rune wasn't convinced, but it wasn't her place to voice objection. Especially not at this point in the operation. It might be completely secure, but she knew Victor was desperate to prove his worth and providing real time communication and tactical support was about the only option available to him. There was no way that hadn't skewed whatever risk/reward assessment he'd conducted when proposing the setup.
"Acknowledged. The charity auction is underway and Protectorate forces are accounted for at the event. Dragon has been spotted over the south Boardwalk and stands as the most likely point of interference. No sign of activity from other organizations. You are clear for attack. Standby for coordinated strike." Victor said.
"Acknowledged." Purity echoed to Victor before lowering her arm. She slightly increased her pace, forcing Tammi and Justin to push themselves to match her. Obviously, she wasn't willing to keep Kaiser waiting, despite the fact that they had more distance to cover to their target.
Two outposts of the Teeth had been identified prior to their raid. Rune hoped it was the only two outposts they'd established in the city, but it wasn't likely. It was clear that the Butcher was taking this situation seriously. Honestly, anything less against the Celestial Forge would have been idiotic. It was still fairly idiotic, but at the very least they weren't assuming they could take the city with a single cell of their gang.
No, instead Brockton Bay would be facing the full force of all resources available to the Teeth. As far as she understood, the scattered factions were largely independent of each other, but it seemed everyone answered the call when it came from the Butcher. Probably because nobody wanted to have to answer to her after the fact. They didn't have great intelligence on how many capes were headed their way, but it was going to be a lot. That was obvious from the lack of presence of the gang in any of the other cities where they had traditionally operated.
Kaiser's target was some kind of warehouse and storage yard. They were depressingly common in the city, though that one was practically on the outskirts. The way Victor broke it down, it was probably a staging area for members who arrived from other cities. A place where they could switch out vehicles and get their marching orders before moving to other sites in the city.
Sites like their target. An abandoned factory near the west end of the city. It was an old building from the time when design and construction had run as solid as possible, favoring brick, cement, and heavy steel beams. In other words, they were attacking a borderline fortress, and one that couldn't be approached covertly.
That was the reason for the composition of their team. A group that could hit hard and fast without being spotted on the approach. Well, providing they weren't watching the sky, but that was less common than it should be. At least Purity was a lot less noticeable during the middle of the day than she was at night. If everything went well, they should be able to overwhelm the Teeth in the opening strike and then mop up any remnants.
If everything went well. Unfortunately, they had no idea who they would be facing. The Teeth had too many capes spread across too many cities. There was no telling what combination of powers they could be rushing into. Even the information they did have was probably out of date, given the level of turnover some of the cells saw. Which is why it was even more important for them to hit fast and hard.
The same was true for Kaiser's team, but that was set to be more of a slug match. Reports had confirmed it was the larger target and even if they had the element of surprise, the Teeth at that location were too spread out to be taken out in a single hit. It was why that team had capes like Hookwolf, Stormtiger, Cricket, Night, Fog, and Fenja and Menja. Vanir's cousins.
She had to wonder if the twins had the same kind of burning conviction to see the Teeth brought to justice that Kaiser had espoused. For Tammi it didn't really have any personal significance. Vanir had been well before her time. She existed as a shadow of the Empire's early years under Allfather, back when capes like Iron Rain were still a force in the city. She was clearly well regarded, but people didn't really talk that much about Kaiser's first wife. About Theo's mother.
Something like that would have been a sore subject anyway, but was probably worse after Kaiser remarried. And then even worse after the divorce, particularly considering his relationship with Fenja and Menja. From what Tammi heard, Heith practically raised the twins herself. Something like that could only make things more awkward between them, Theo, and Kayden.
But that was rumor and gossip. High school bullshit that apparently still persisted even into major criminal organizations. There might be drama tied up in things, but the fact was the Teeth had landed a blow against the Empire that had never been properly repaid. Tammi doubted most of the members of the Empire were seeing this as the righteous mission of revenge that Kaiser had presented, but even beyond any personal stakes the Teeth needed to be dealt with. Dealt with before something unfortunate happened between the Butcher and any of the frighteningly powerful parahumans currently in the city.
Tammi focused on pushing her power, accelerating the platforms and tilting them slightly to give their passengers better footing against the wind and acceleration. Othala crouched down to grip the edge of her disc. Her red body suit clung closely to her, but her hair whipped in the wind of their increased pace. Rune's own robes billowed around her, but with her control she could easily shift the platform to correct for any imbalance.
The others weren't so fortunate, but they didn't need to be. Krieg's power affected kinetic effects on both his body and the world around him. The wind was actually slowed before it could reach him, leaving him eerily untouched as they soared through the sky. As for Damsel, she was benefiting from Othala's power in Victor's stead. Rune wasn't sure if it was strength or invincibility, but one of the effects left her completely stable even in the face of their blinding speed.
They closed quickly on their target. The abandoned factory stood like a monolith in a sparsely populated area at the edge of the city. Something of an outlier from the industrial sprawl you typically saw closer to the Docks, but the outskirts were peppered with erratic and abandoned construction. The building looked old as well as run down, but Tammi didn't have any clue as to what it had originally been intended for.
The history of the location was a secondary concern to the current problems it presented. This far from the heart of the city things tended to be spread out, which was why the building would have been so hard to approach on the ground. The Empire wasn't really known for aerial incursions, so they had a serious element of surprise on their side. She just hoped they could make good use of it.
She looked over the blocky central building and the handful of squat extensions that surrounded it. It was the smaller of the two target locations, but still a sizable target. It was built in the center of a lot that was surrounded by a stone wall, rather than the expected chain-link fence. Another sign of the building's age and another obstacle for any force coming on foot. It did mean that the handful of vehicles were limited in their exit routes, so they probably didn't need to worry about the Teeth loading into vans and scattering at the first sign of attack.
Well, it wasn't an obvious worry. They still didn't know who they were facing. Victor had given them a rundown of known abilities of prominent members of different cells, but that was of limited use, even in his own assessment of the situation. The Teeth's frequent movements and unusual command structure meant that beyond a few stand out members it was hard to precisely gauge their capabilities.
It also didn't help that the Teeth didn't so much have costumes as they had a theme. Each member wore some variation of the same spikey mess, a design that apparently evolved and developed constantly as the cape in question took more trophies. Even the unpowered members of the gang indulged in that practice, meaning it was hard to tell who was a cape and who was a henchman until the powers started flying. Even then, the unpowered members of the Teeth were known to be exceptionally trigger happy. Violence was practically a requirement of the gang and even the non-capes fully embraced that mentality.
They were going to hit hard and fast with as much coordination as they could muster, but even then, they were rolling the dice in terms of what they would face. And that wasn't even getting into the possibility of the Butcher appearing. They had strategies to address that, but they were mostly a fighting retreat while trying to cover for as many of the known powers of the collective as they could account for.
Looking at the rapidly approaching structure, Rune found herself praying that the Butcher wasn't waiting for them inside that gray building. They would have to deal with her at some point, but she didn't want to have to confront that particular issue during the opening volley. At least it would give her an excuse to grab Damsel and fall back, but having Damsel anywhere near the Butcher, even for a brief moment, was a nightmare she didn't even want to think about.
She swallowed her concerns as they closed the final distance. Purity easily held her position high in the sky. Their angle of approach had looped around from the west to put the sun directly above them. It was their best chance to conceal Purity's light as well as the best attack angle they could hope for. Crusader pulled up next to Purity and Rune moved Krieg and Damsel into positions at their sides. She raised her own platform next to Krieg while moving Othala close enough to Damsel to refresh her granted powers before the attack.
"We're in position, ready to move." Purity reported.
"Acknowledged. Primary team has launched their attack. You are cleared to strike." Victor replied.
"Understood." Purity said. In a streak of light she darted towards the opposite side of the factory. Crusader trailed behind her, taking position directly above the central building as he began spawning a horde of ghosts. The apparitions began to trail down towards the factory as Rune moved the remaining members of the force into position. Damsel swooping down to bring the walls just within range of her power. Othala held back for her protection and in case her support was needed. Herself with an overview of the entire site, and Krieg dropping rapidly towards the factory as quickly as she could propel him.
This was the opening move of the battle and it had been left up to her. Well, to her and to Krieg. Still, it was rare for her to have any kind of a starring role in these things. Under normal circumstances she'd be proud, but she had a feeling that Ashley had pushed for it. A way to give her chief underling a taste of the spotlight.
She did her best to put that out of her mind as she focused on the movements of Krieg's platform. Opening strike, which meant if the Butcher was there and if they had taken her by surprise then there was the slimmest of chances of this ending her. If it did, would the collective go to her or to Krieg? She didn't want to think about either situation, so did her level best to put the dreaded scenario out of her mind and focus on the opening strike.
As the platform swooped down towards the front of the factory Krieg stepped off of the front of it and dropped straight down. It was a movement that was only possible because of his kinetic field, the same way the kinetic field helped dampen the movement of his fall, preventing him from reaching speeds that would harm him. At the same time his power gripped the one ton disk of stone he had been riding. Rune felt the change in the way the platform moved as Krieg's power enhanced the forces acting on it. With a single thought she sent the disk forward.
It launched through the air, her power combining with Krieg's to add a tremendous amount of velocity and spin as it took off. Even after leaving his field the disk blazed forward, crashing into the outer wall of the factory. Concrete dust exploded out of the impact site as she did her best to blindly steer the careening disk through her power alone.
She could sense the spinning disk continue through the outer wall and slam into the factory floor. The second impact was too much for the integrity of the object and she could feel her power relinquish as the disk tore itself apart. The building shook with secondary impacts as broken pieces of hardened stone careened around the contained space.
She couldn't imagine what must have been happening inside the factory. There was no special awareness that came with her infused items beyond a rough idea of their location. For all she knew she could have just terrorized an empty room, or she could have hit a concentration of the Teeth's capes. They weren't waiting around to find out as the rest of the group moved in for their attacks.
Spiraling beams of blinding light shot down from Purity's position, punching through the roofs of each of the side structures. Without intelligence on where the Teeth were located, opening strikes were focused on hitting as many locations as possible. Purity maintained the blasts as they drilled into the building, sweeping them back and forth across the collapsing roof.
At the same time Damsel struck a stance and raised a hand towards the corner of the outer wall of the factory. There was a horrible keening sound that erupted into an ear-splitting roar as a blast of warped space burst forth from Damsel's hand. The cone was only about fifteen feet long, but everything it touched was twisted and consumed. It almost hurt to watch the effect that ripped the outside of the building into nothingness.
Her blast had carved away the corner of the factory while leaving her completely unmoved. Rune had seen 'normal' uses of Damsel's power, the way each blast would fling her back. Apparently, she enjoyed using them as the world's most dangerous mover power, flinging out blasts of total annihilation in order to hop ten or fifteen feet at a time. Fortunately, the reinforcement of Othala's power was enough to keep her steady after an opening blast that would otherwise have flung her off the flying platform.
It also meant there was nothing stopping her from opening up with blast after blast of her power, which she was more than happy to do. The fact that Rune was keeping the factory just to the edge of her range was the only reason the entire building hadn't been brought down yet. Not exactly an undesirable outcome, but they were more worried about who might get caught in one of those blasts. An efficient end to the fight wasn't worth risking a new Butcher.
Rune held back, doing her best to keep as much of the battlefield in her field of vision as possible. She was ready to move Othala in if she was needed and was carefully managing Damsel's position based on the woman's signals, but with her fourth disk destroyed her role was now purely defensive.
On the ground Krieg moved forward from where he had harmlessly touched down after launching his disk into the factory. The billowing rock dust that flowed forth from the points of impact slowed and warped as it entered his kinetic field, unintentionally marking the edge of his range. Well, the range of his control. As Damsel circled around, destroying more and more of the factory some desperate shapes began scrambling towards the holes she had blown in the wall. With a swift kick Krieg sent a cloud of gravel shooting towards the entrance like a shotgun blast, causing the figures to duck for cover.
From her position Rune could see the chaos that was unfolding inside the factory. The white shapes of Crusader's ghosts wielding their oversized spears against the figures in the gloom. There was the crack of gunfire from inside the building followed by more concerning sounds. An organic squelching sound that echoed out of the structure. Thunderous crashes of breaking glass that continued nonstop, like someone was smashing through an infinite amount of window panes. And then she could see the powers on display, rather than just hear them.
A strand of oily smoke shot out of a freshly blasted hole in the factory wall and latched onto Damsel. The line went taught and a slight adjustment from Rune confirmed that she was unable to pull the woman further back. Cracks of gunfire echoed as bullets shot out of the opening, only to bounce off Damsel's Othala-granted invincibility. She looked down at the trail of smoke anchored to her chest with contempt, then fired another blast. The cone of warped space utterly consumed the manifestation of the power along with several of Crusader's ghosts who had moved to screen her from the forces trapped inside the factory.
At Othala's signal Rune took the opportunity to pull Damsel back. Othala had a better sense of her power's duration than anyone else and knew when the time came to refresh the effect. From the way Damsel of Distress was acting, Rune wouldn't be willing to bet she was keeping track of the countdown herself.
Fortunately she at least understood the purpose of her retrieval, voicing no objection as Rune hauled the cackling woman up from the front lines of the fight.
"Yes! Oh, yes! Did you see that? Absolutely spectacular!" She cried as Rune floated Othala close enough to renew her power on Damsel.
"I saw." Rune said in a flat voice. "Good job."
Damsel shot her a manic grin, her white hair flaring around her and her hands crackling concerningly. "And to you as well! Such an opening!" She leaned back and gestured dramatically, causing Rune to adjust the angle of the disk slightly for the sake of stability. "To announce our presence so dramatically, it was truly wonderful!" She continued as her ranting devolved into laughter.
Rune shared a concerned look with Othala, but neither of them wanted to be the one to say anything. Instead they turned their attention back towards the fight. Purity was peppering the building with short blasts of drilling light, though not to the same devastating effect as Damsel's attacks. On the ground Krieg had started launching heavier pieces of rubble towards any member of the Teeth who dared show his face. The non-living matter harmlessly passed through Crusader's ghosts to crush anyone in their path. His improvised artillery barrage was more than enough to keep the gang penned inside the heavily damaged factory.
"Ah, yes." Ashley said, looking down from their cluster of floating platforms. "The price of excellence. It seems that things are going to be resolved without any real challenge."
She sounded almost disappointed, which didn't particularly surprise Rune. Still, a quick fight with no sign of the Butcher was about the best outcome she could have hope for. And then, as if on cue, a final blast from Purity caused cracks that had been building since Rune's opening attack to spread across every visible surface of the factory. With a deceptive slowness the building began to come apart and collapse onto itself.
Massive clouds of dust billowed into the sky and poured over the ground, obscuring Krieg from site. Without the slowing effect of his power on the dust Rune would have lost track of his location completely. Bricks and pieces of concrete collapsed past or bounced off the steel beams of the inner structure. They buckled under the force, but remained standing, like the ribs of some monstrous creature as the flesh sloughed off.
It looked like the fight had been decided.
Which was, of course, when things began to go wrong. A red pulse from within the factory caused the collapse to pause its descent, and then to reverse its course. Except it wasn't just reversing. The rubble that had been falling into the factory began exploding out in great gouts. Like an implosion turned into an explosion, chunks of brick and concrete were thrown far enough into the air to even reach their vantage point, though not with enough power to be a threat to them.
No, the threat was clearly the source of the red glow. Scattered debris had been caught in some kind of field where it slowly rotated and ground into itself, the individual pieces moving with deceptive speed. With all the dust and chaos Rune couldn't tell if it was some kind of manifestation or if a cape was actually inside the swirling mass of stone and metal. It was like a cross between a tornado and a giant storm cloud made of the remnants of the factory. That seemed dangerous enough, but the more concerning thing was the fact that it had cleared a path for the rest of the trapped capes.
A massive semitransparent hand gripped the top of a ruined exterior wall. It hauled itself up, revealing a misshapen creature composed of dozens of randomly sized arms blooming out from a single point. Some, like the one gripping the wall, were bigger than telephone poles while the smallest were shorter than a normal human arm. The build, number of fingers, and characteristics of the limbs seemed to change from one arm to another, but they all traced back to a heavily obscured human form in the center of the mass.
Purity sent a blast down, carving through the spinning collection of rubble and scattering a significant portion of it. The blast continued to strike the arm-cape, but had lost enough power for one of the thicker limbs to fend it off, though at significant cost. The arm bucked and shattered before withering and falling off, but one of the smaller limbs quickly swelled to take its place. Concerningly, more translucent limbs seemed to be blooming out from the center of the mass, ready to replace any losses.
The sound of shattering glass grew louder as a spinning cape covered in spikes and bones launched into the air. His movement left an effect like a broken mirror in his wake and Rune could see the places where the effect clipped into the floating debris and remaining walls buckled and violently sheared off. His launch carried him into the air at which point the shattering effect vanished, leaving him to coast on momentum before picking a new direction and launching once again in a flurry of shattered air.
Immediately before the cape took off another strand of oily smoke shot out from the interior of the factory. It latched on to the airborne cape and as the man launched himself the smoke trail went taunt, dragging another member of the Teeth out of the factory. He swung erratically behind the rapidly moving flyer, the smoke trail acting like a cross between a tow line and a living tendril.
Purity and Crusader began to dodge furiously as gunfire erupted from the ruined factory. The massive coiling shape of debris had grown into a flexible column at least ten feet wide and long enough to encircle the ruined building, though the density had thinned out, letting Rune make out a humanoid shape inside the field of debris. The mass of hands was using one large limb to shield himself from Krieg's attacks while hauling out other members of the Teeth from within the collapsing building with various other oversized arms.
From her vantage point Rune could see members of the gang struggling against Crusader's ghosts to limited success. He was able to prevent any kind of coordinated response, but it quickly became obvious they weren't looking to mount any kind of offensive.
"They're running." Ashley declared as she watched the enemy forces scramble. There was an explosion of rock as the spinning flyer crashed into the outer wall of the lot, clearing a path for the rest of the gang to flee. "Come, we will cut them off."
By 'we' Damsel clearly meant her, which was fine by Rune. She swooped the blaster's platform down to cover the escape route as more Teeth capes began slipping past their forces. The lot was still choked with dust, obscuring Krieg's vision. He was still launching chunks of rubble at terrifying speed, but was clearly firing blindly. Without any visible targets he was focused on bombarding the factory and hoping for the best.
The smoke trail cape's trajectory has seen him flung a terrifying distance into the sky, but he seemed utterly unconcerned as he rounded on the factory. With a gesture the end of the trail connecting him to the spinning cape detached from him and shot out, latching onto the cape with the cluster of manifested limbs. At Ashley's signal Rune swooped her platform down towards the effect linking the Teeth capes, but the tether cape, despite being effectively unsupported in midair, launched another smokey tether. One end latched onto Damsel while the other shot up towards Crusader.
The effect of the tether wasn't enough to cause any reaction from the currently invincible Damsel, but as the line of smoke went taught Justin was pulled away from the ghosts who had been supporting him, causing him to begin falling towards the ground. Damsel spun and blasted away the effect with a burst of her power while Purity raced down to catch Justin before he could hit the ground.
The attack provided enough of a distraction to diminish the reactions of Crusaders ghosts, allowing the gang to rally. They poured out of the ruined factory, obscured by the clouds of dust and the cover provided by the spinning mass of debris suspended above them in that red energy field. The arm-cape had grabbed a half dozen members of the Teeth before the smokey tether went tight and he was pulled away. The flying cape launched himself in another burst of shattered space, sending him out of the lot and towards the city with the arm cape trailing behind him.
Damsel fired at a blast at the collection of Teeth capes, but despite Rune's best efforts the man was able to force himself just out of her range. The tether cape fired another trail of smoke just as he began to fall, linking himself to the arm cape as he sped past.
Then, in an almost comical display, he twisted and fired another tether, pulling a final member of the gang from the remains of the factory. The newly tethered cape collided against the crumbling wall with a disturbing wet sound as he was hauled out of the ruined building. Tammi could see his right arm hanging uselessly as he was pulled after the other capes. Not a clean escape, but she doubted he was complaining about his circumstances.
The flowing column of rubble roared after them like the world's angriest storm cloud. Damsel's blasts were able to cleave away sections of the mass, but the cape inside escaped a direct hit and didn't seem overly concerned about the lost portions of brick and stone. The entire collection of debris surged out of the factory lot, occasionally brushing against the ground or nearby buildings as it moved.
"We've got runners." Purity called over the commlink. "Pursuing with Damsel, and Othala. Krieg and Crusader, deal with the stragglers."
"Understood." Keirg called. Justin had resecured his place in the air and was focused on nothing but swarming the factory with as many ghosts as he could produce. From a distance it looked like flying insects descending on a corpse. Probably an appropriate comparison, all things considered.
"Victor, what are we dealing with?" Purity asked as she rounded after the fleeing capes.
"One minute." He said. Probably the consequence of deciding to provide support to two operations being carried out at the same time. Rune did her best to match Purity's pace as she pulled Damsel up into formation with her and Othala. "Lead cape is Dervisher. Mover/striker. Only capable of moving in straight lines, but heavily resistant to damage while his power's active and the surrounding effect damages anything he comes in contact with."
All elements that were evident from what they had seen so far, though at least Rune could stop thinking of him as 'the flying cape'.
"The linking effect is from Keelhaul." Victor continued. "Shaker, able to use his power to connect people with some limited influence over the behavior of the connection. Specifically, reaction forces seem to be highly variable. Manton limited, so can only affect living things, though has proven highly versatile and creative in his applications."
Rune could believe that. The power seemed like a borderline joke, but looking at the trail of connected capes who were somehow not being slammed into or dragged across every surface in their path there was obviously more to it than met the eye.
"The cape with the arms is Phalange. Changer/brute. Manifested arms had strength and durability proportional to their size, but a corresponding loss in fine control." Rune could see the cape's flailing efforts to keep his passengers safe and covered. With Victor drawing attention to it, the difference in dexterity between the various sizes of limbs was obvious.
"The shaker is Gravalanche. Pseudo-telekinetic. Can redirect kinetic energy of objects within his field, but not generate it. He needs some other effect to get things moving, but can sustain and direct that motion as long as they don't come to a standstill. This is the largest display of his powers on record."
Rune looked at the flowing mass of debris. Largest on record probably meant he hadn't been caught in any collapsing buildings before. Their opening attacks had basically given him the perfect set of circumstances to use his power. A consequence of them flying in blind and now they had half a factory worth of rubble providing cover for the fleeing Teeth capes.
They hadn't really planned for a high-speed chase across the city, but the Teeth probably hadn't really been ready for it either. Both sides frantically tried to secure some edge against the other as the pursuit moved into more and more densely packed areas of the city.
The chase itself was a horrible mishmash of speed, maneuverability, and coordination. Purity was the fastest consistent flyer, though Dervisher could outpace her in short bursts. That kind of movement was hell on the capes trailing after him, though the smoke-like tethers from Keelhaul had some elasticity to them. An inconsistent amount of elasticity, to be honest. Probably an aspect of the control the cape was able to exert over his power.
Despite Dervisher's bursts of speed, the group was limited by the cover provided by Gravalanche, who apparently couldn't accelerate any of the components he was manipulating. They were capped at the speed of a collapsing building, which was still fast enough that Rune had to push herself to close the distance.
Purity was able to loop ahead of the fleeing capes and take shots at them, but Dervisher was a difficult target and exceptionally durable, at least when he was moving. Blasts either careened off the shattered glass effect that followed him as he moved or missed as he launched himself into another burst of speed. The rubbery tethers linking the other capes were erratic enough to throw off Purity's aim on the rare occasions she was able to get a clear shot through the field of debris.
Blasting away the field of rubble proved to be a losing strategy. While the force of Purity's shots was enough to reduce sections of the cloud to powder, each blast accelerated the remaining pieces, effectively increasing the speed and maneuverability of the entire mass. It was already hard enough for Rune to keep pace without making things even worse.
Kayden shifted to using her speed and maneuverability to slip around the cover provided by the cloud of debris, but still wasn't able to land a hit on the fleeing capes. During one clear shot she swept a sustained blast through the trail of smoke linking Dervisher to Phalange, but despite carving a trench through the street the effect of Keelhaul's power persisted.
It wasn't like the capes of the Teeth were idle either. Keelhaul kept trying to set more tethers to disrupt their pursuit, but they were easily destroyed with casual blasts from Damsel's power. Luckily, they didn't seem to have many blasters of their own, just Keelhaul and one of the capes being carried by Phalange who lobbed pulsing globs of energy at them whenever they got the chance. The shots were easy enough to dodge, though based on the way they seemed to drain color from whatever they landed on, Rune wasn't keen to find out what they did. Victor didn't have any insight into the matter and was pressed with his support of Kaiser's team and the remaining forces back at the factory.
A relatively lucky swing of the final tether in the chain of capes did allow Rune to push Damsel just close enough to catch the line of smoke with the edge of her blast. The effect severed and withered into nothing, leaving the injured cape at the end of the chain unsupported and plummeting towards the ground. The man had done nothing during the chase except swear, cradle his shattered arm, and try to manifest some kind of green glow around him. She never found out what that glow was and from the way it flickered out as he tumbled across the street it was likely to remain a mystery.
Rune caught an expression of fury from Keelhaul before he was obscured by Gravalanche's debris once again. Another tether shot out and briefly connected to the man on the ground. It barely shifted the limp figure before sputtering out, leaving him as the rest of the group sped away.
"Manton limit." Othala said as their group continued their pursuit, leaving the cape to his fate. That limit only allowed connection to living things, which did neatly address the status of the fallen cape.
"At least we won't need to watch our backs." Rune muttered, earning an approving nod from Damsel that made her feel slightly uncomfortable.
"This isn't working." Purity called over the commlink. "And we're getting too close to the city proper. We need a new strategy."
Meaning too close to civilians. Apeiron's single mandate. Sure, it was likely to come down harder on the Teeth than the Empire, but nobody wanted to get caught in the splash zone of that kind of response. And that wasn't even getting into the possibility of a surprise appearance by the Butcher when Apeiron or one of his team decided to take to the field.
Rune was pushing her power as hard as she could. Playing taxi service wasn't fun and trying to keep the disks at top speed was taking everything she had. But that wasn't enough. If there was anything else she could do to end this she had to take action.
"I have an idea." She said, swallowing her apprehension.
It only took a moment to put things in place. Othala clung to her back as they balanced space on the same platform. The disk Othala had been using was sent careening towards the spinning mass of brick and stone. Without a passenger Rune could move it faster and more nimbly, allowing her to swipe the platform into the cloud and cleave away pieces of debris.
As Victor had confirmed, once something was separated from that red field of energy it became inert once again. Rather than crash the disk into the cloud and accelerate the components like Purity's blasts had she set the platform spinning like a flipped coin, carving away debris from the living tornado.
In a way it was like trying to attack a mountain with a hand trowel, but after the first few passes Rune was able to confirm her suspicions. The red field of energy wasn't fixed. It propagated through the pieces that were kept in motion. That was why they needed to rotate around a central column, to keep them in tight enough formation to maintain the field without losing the energy that made them valid targets for the cape's power.
One user of telekinesis against another. Rune didn't work on the same scale, but she had more than enough experience with the dynamics of using that kind of ability. Every hole she swiped away sent rubble raining to the ground below while disrupting the balance of components that allowed the cloud of debris to remain intact.
Falling rocks peppered the street shattered windshields of the few cars that were still on the road below. They were entering the city proper and civilian injuries were becoming a real concern. Rune could see people fleeing into buildings or trying to run from the cape battle in the sky above them. Scattered groups, but it would quickly get much, much worse if this continued any longer.
Her constant harrying managed to thin the tornado of stone to the point where she was able to send the disk spinning towards the cape suspended in its center. Faster moving debris was thrown towards the disk in an attempt to deflect it while her power clashed with the cape's own telekinetic field. He managed to divert her attack enough to avoid injury, but at the same time she was able to send Damsel on a course that took her past the screening cloud of debris.
The air screamed as Damsel opened up with her power in a rapid succession of blasts. Masses of floating stone vanished from existence as the woman's blaster power tore apart the cloud before Rune closed her towards the capes trailing after Dervisher.
A frantic evasive movement from the flying cape managed to keep Phalange from being completely erased along with the capes he was carrying, but Damsel's blast tore apart the tether linking him to Dervisher. Without his connection to the mover, Phalange began to plummet, dragging Keelhaul after him.
Oversized hands swung out and managed to claw at the side of a building, slowing his descent in a shower of broken stone and plaster. Keelhaul was able to manipulate his tether sufficiently to land on the roof while Rune was forced to pull Damsel back from the lobbed attacks of the blaster cape who was carried by Phalange.
Suddenly, that sound of continuously shattering glass rang out once more, but this time it was somehow more direct. Rune looked up to see the spinning form of Dervisher headed directly towards her. The deadly shattered mirror effect that surrounded him bore down on her and Othala as they hung helplessly in the sky. She pushed her platform as hard as she could, but knew she wouldn't be able to clear the range of the man's striker effect before the flying cape reached her. Othala couldn't even help, not with her power focused on Damsel. Tammi could only watch with her cousin clinging tightly to her as death approached.
The world turned white as a blinding light filled her vision. Purity had managed to strike Dervisher head on with a tremendously powerful two handed blast. Incredibly, the cape seemed unhurt, a consequence of whatever effect protected him when he was in motion. Still the strike was more than enough to send him careening off course away from Rune and Othala.
Tammi's relief quickly turned to horror as she realized precisely where Purity's blast had deflected the spinning cape. Their chase had taken them from the outskirts of the city into the southern edge of the Docks. The area had been rundown and sparsely populated even before the ABB's attacks, but you always had pockets of activity and the occasional business that managed to hold out against the general decay of that part of the city.
Most of the area was filled with empty lots or buildings that were either dilapidated or condemned. It was more common to see boarded up houses or storefronts than any sign of activity. Unfortunately, Dervisher was headed to one of the few populated buildings. An off-brand convenience store with bars on its windows and a faded and weather worn sign over the door.
It wasn't exactly a friendly location, but in the face of a cape battle it seemed people would take shelter wherever they could. Time seemed to slow as she watched the horrified expression of the people cowering inside the building, barely visible through the heavy glass and barred windows, but still a look that burned itself into Rune's mind.
She desperately hoped that the flying cape would pull back. Cancel his power and take off in another direction. The Teeth knew about Apeiron's mandates. They couldn't want the nightmare tinker to show up anymore than the Empire did. But the cape didn't stop. Either he was too disoriented to cancel his power or he didn't care about the damage he was about to cause. The danger he was about to bring down on all of them.
They had no recourse. No way to deal with what was about to happen. Purity had barely been able to save her and Othala from the attack. There was no way she could make that shot again. She saw Kayden's glowing form round to follow Dervish's path. Her expression was unreadable when her power was active, but Rune swore she could see her own horror mirrored in the woman's body language as the spinning dervish of death descended towards the rundown corner store.
Right before the cape would have impacted the building a crack of thunder rang out as electric blue light exploded from the point of impact. Rune blinked, unsure of what had just happened. Dervisher hadn't collided with the building. He had been stopped in place by a glowing blue barrier that covered not just the store but that entire side of the street. The titanic shield extended almost half a block in each direction and was centered on the gleaming form of a woman floating in the air above the store. An unmistakable woman, brandishing an incredibly intricate shield that could only be the work of one man.
The shield was composed of a gleaming white material the likes of which Rune had never seen before. Its ornate design spiraled out from the center and was composed of tiny delicate panels that rotated across each other, making it impossible to fully grasp the design or even shape of the item. Blue light shone from beneath the surface, flickering slightly from the speed of the rotation. The entire device seemed to leak forth blue fire that merged with the burning aura that surrounded the woman wielding it.
Survey. Survey had appeared and was holding off Dervisher with some kind of insane protective device. The man didn't even seem to realize what was happening. His motion had been completely halted, leaving him spinning impotently against the barrier Survey was projecting. She looked at the display with an almost contemptible expression on her impossibly perfect face. Then, with a sharp motion, she raised her right hand.
There was a surge of blue energy as the cape was forcefully ripped OUT of the effect of his power leaving him suspended in midair. The sound of shattering glass died out as the distortions from his power faded away. Rune could see the man flailing against the blue energy that held him in place. He tried to twist and angle himself away, but his best efforts only managed to send off a slight flicker of the energy that had previously surrounded him.
Across the battlefield, all eyes were fixed on the glowing woman. The rumble of Gravalanche's cloud of debris continued to roil through the air, probably because it literally couldn't stop, but everyone else was frozen at the sight of a member of the Celestial Forge entering the fray.
"What do you think she's going to do?" Othala whispered to her, gripping her slightly more tightly than was necessary for stability.
"I don't know." She whispered back. This was so far beyond anything they had prepared for that she couldn't even think. The only idea that came to her was frantically trying to escape as quickly as possible. Actually, considering the way that Damsel was looking at Survey, that seemed like a good idea. She weighed Damsel accidently killing the Butcher against Damsel accidentally killing a member of Apeiron's team and honestly couldn't decide which was worse.
In the air above them, Rune heard Kayden clear her throat before the glowing woman slowly descended closer to Survey. The silver haired woman regarded her impassively as she approached as close as any of them would have dared.
"Thank yo-" Purity was cut off as a stream of black smoke launched from the other side of the street to latch on to the floating form of Dervisher. Keelhaul shot the other end of the strand down to Phalange where the cape braced several massively oversized hands against doors and lampposts before hauling himself forward, pulling the tether tight.
Dervisher appeared to be lightly floating in the air, but even the full force of a half dozen arms the size of tree trunks were unable to shift him by even a fraction of an inch. Survey watched the display with only mild interest, then turned her attention to an empty section of street.
Rune followed her gaze just in time to see an explosion of sulfurous orange flame bloom into life. She could feel the heat of the blast despite the distance. She suspected she could have felt it across the city. There was something to those flames that went beyond normal heat. Something that caused her breath to grow shallow and her pulse to beat in her ears.
A dark shape appeared inside the fireball accompanied by a yowling sound that echoed forth, causing hairs to raise on the back of her neck. The flames dimmed without seeming to lose any intensity before constricting around the shape of an armored form with a Greek helmet as dark as night. In his paws he gripped a double headed spear of the same glowing black metal. Tan fur could be seen between the gaps in the cape's armor and a flexible furry tail darted back and forth behind him.
Kataklyzein had just made his appearance.
The cat was barely three feet tall, but radiated a kind of menace that Rune had never experienced before. Seeing him just standing in the middle of the street surrounded by wisps of the flames that had heralded his arrival triggered some deep-seated reaction from a primal part of her brain. She could feel sweat bead across her body as she seriously considered fleeing while she still had a chance.
Unfortunately, her reaction seemed to be a minor opinion. Othala was not quite hiding behind her, though that was probably due more to Rune's size than any courage on her part. The rest of their forces weren't being anywhere near as cautious. Kayden had turned to evaluate the new arrival. Once again, her face was impossible to read, but her body language was not nearly as guarded as it should have been. Meanwhile Damsel was just reveling in the display. She posed on her platform, staring imperiously down at the heavily armored feline cape.
The Empire's forces might have been at a loss for how to respond, but it seemed the Teeth were considerably less conflicted. With a flurry of movement Phalange snatched up the capes around him and began hauling himself up the side of the building. A barrage of attacks flew towards Kataklyzein, ranging from that lobbed blaster power to thrown chunks of rubble to small arms fire from drawn pistols.
Kataklyzein seemed almost amused by the display as he watched the barrage approach him. Gunshots deflected off his Greek armor and helmet without reaction while the other attacks traced an arc towards his location. He made no effort to move or react, just observing them with a slight smile visible on his face.
The rubble and blaster power descended towards him only to connect with nothing. One instant Kataklyzein was standing in the middle of the street, the next he was gone. The movement was so fast it actually extinguished the last guttering flames from his arrival as a faint pulse echoed over the street. And then Kataklyzein was looming over Phalange with his double spear held ready.
An orange platform had materialized in midair, but rather than stand on it, Kataklyzein had flipped upside down and was using it to provide leverage for his thrust. That glowing spear of black metal struck down, embedding itself in one of the larger limbs Phalange had frantically thrown in the path of the weapon. The spear bit down deep into the limb and was held there for the space of a single heartbeat.
There was a sudden burst as spikes of black metal erupted from every one of Phalange's manifested limbs. Massive blades that dwarfed the weapon that had apparently triggered the effect. It transformed the mobile mass of limbs into a gigantic pincushion and there were cries of pain from the capes Phalange had been carrying who had apparently failed to avoid the sudden attack.
Kataklyzein wrenched his spear to the side, causing the manifested blades to echo its movement. There was a horrible tearing sound and a rain of translucent gore as the manifested limbs were torn away, leaving Phalange and his passengers to collapse to the street below.
From the roof above a line of black smoke shot to catch Phalange before he could hit the street. The other Teeth capes landed prone on the sidewalk in a pile of spikes and bones. Not the most comfortable situation, but the Teeth definitely had bigger problems than the practical consequences of their costume choices.
Kataklyzein rebounded off a newly created platform that shattered under the force of his jump, sending him just high enough to reach the roof of the building. Keelhaul froze at the sight of the armored cat rising before him. Not that he had any real hope of reacting in time. Kataklyzein spun in midair and landed a kick with his armored boots that sent the cape tumbling towards the street below, and dragging Phalange along behind him.
Kataklyzein slid down the side of the building, landing neatly in the center of the Teeth capes who had just managed to pull themselves to their feet. There was a moment of pure shock as the cat landed and Rune could only imagine what they were thinking. Most likely weighing their chances of running or fighting and not finding any pleasant options amount the choices available to them.
Though it seemed Kataklyzein wasn't going to leave the decision up to them. He brandished his spear and lowered his stance. His tail flickered back and forth, brushing against the fan of feathers that grew from its base. The capes around him stood frozen, watching the cat like he was a live bomb. And then the bomb went off.
It was the most brutal display that Rune had ever seen, but somehow it was also the most elegant. The thing that stood out the most was the sheer joy that Kataklyzein was drawing from the act of violence. Every strike, every parry and dodge, every movement, it all seemed to draw forth a feeling of elation from the cat. He was reveling in the act of open battle, carving his way through a half-dozen brutally dangerous capes with absolute relish. He wasn't disregarding his opponents, rather he seemed to cherish what little resistance they could offer as he handily dismantled them in a martial display that left Rune speechless.
She had seen Victor in combat. He had been a regular at Hookwolf's fighting rings where he regularly showed off the combined combat skills of dozens of masters perfectly blended into a unique style that absolutely dripped with arrogance. It was a display, a chance to show the world, or at least the rest of the Empire, exactly what he was capable of.
That wasn't what was happening here. Kataklyzein wasn't showing off. He was enjoying himself, and doing so through a display of skill the likes of which Rune had never seen. Had never even imagined. There were no more dramatic manifestations of parahuman powers, no supernatural abilities from his spear, no manifestations of platforms or obstacles, no flames or teleportation. Just one cat against six capes, armed only with a sharpened stick.
It was over in seconds. Seconds of hair-breadth dodges, precise positioning of his opponents, and absolutely perfect technique. Rune didn't think any of the capes were dead, but that was mostly because if Kataklyzein wanted them dead he probably wouldn't have left any doubt. There was a rumbling from above as the remaining rubble controlled by Gravalanche rounded and directed itself towards the ground, on a path directly for Kataklyzein. Whether from desperation or some final gambit, the last opponent rounded himself to face the powerhouse of the Celestial Forge.
The cat just grinned as he looked up at the cloud of debris being directed towards him. He tensed his stance, both blades of his spear bursting to life with smoky orange flames. The same light glowed from within his helmet as fire flowed from his eyes, then traced across the rest of his armor. He held position, a glowing beacon set against the mass of animated brick and stone. The full weight of the cloud bearing down on him, ready to scour the street clean.
And then Kataklyzein moved. In a burst of flame the cat launched himself into the center of the storm of rock. Fire bloomed around him as he began to spin. Began to spin incredibly fast. Like a burning drill, he bore through the center of the cloud. The red light of Gravalanch's power guttered out, replaced by an orange firestorm that surged outwards, consuming the suspended debris. The heat was so intense it felt like Rune was being baked from half a block away. The fire had weight and substance the likes of which she had never felt before. As she watched, chunks of stone and broken masonry weighing hundreds of pounds vanished into nothing but ash and smoke. Not a single piece fell from the sky as the flames consumed everything.
Then Kataklyzein burst out from the cloud of flame, dragging the limp form of Gravalanch behind him. The telekinetic cape was smaller than he had seemed while directing the cloud of debris, though that might have been due to how he now hung like a ragdoll from the paws of the armored cat.
The final cape was tossed into the pile of defeated members of the Teeth before Kataklyzein bounded across the street, landing on the roof of the convenience store that Survey was still defending. He passed through the glowing barrier without a hint of resistance and looked up at the floating woman with an expression of satisfaction on his face. Survey nodded, then lowered her shield. The intricate device dimmed, its rotations pausing as the massive barrier slowly faded away.
Survey had dropped the force field that had managed to cover the entire block. Kataklyzein had dealt with all the members of the Teeth and was not currently attacking any of them. As far as Rune could tell, they were done. They were done and they should leave while they were still able to depart. The kind of casual power that had just been displayed wasn't anything that Rune wanted to get involved with. She turned to Purity, fully expecting to see her moving to fall back. Perhaps with a wave of thanks or apology. That would have been the sensible course of action. That was not what Rune saw.
Purity was floating towards Survey. The glowing barrier had vanished but the woman was still covered in an energy field of blue flames. Silver hair whipped around her and that gleaming white shield continued to pulse with power. She wasn't menace incarnate like Kataklyzein, but every aspect of her appearance, from the power she displayed to the equipment she carried to her costume to her physical appearance was a signal that she was not to be messed with.
Purity either didn't recognize that or somehow felt that it didn't apply to her. She moved with confidence, closing within speaking distance of the imposing woman and made a friendly gesture towards her. With her other hand she signaled Rune to fall in behind her.
Rune briefly considered making a break for it. Damsel still had that manic look in her eye. Exactly the kind of thing that should not be allowed within striking distance of the Celestial Forge. She could haul Ashley from the battlefield and be fully justified in her departure.
She could, but she doubted it would go well for her. Heading off a disaster was easy to dismiss when someone was likely to lament the opportunities that had been given up. Particularly when you seemed to be the only one who recognized the danger in the first place.
Tammi slowly moved her two remaining platforms into place behind Purity, maintaining as much distance as she possibly could. Back far enough that hopefully Damsel wouldn't feel like trying her luck. On the platform behind her Othala stood straighter, echoing Purity's confidence, while Damsel continued her over dramatic posing as Purity began to speak.
"Thank you for your help." Kayden said. "We appreciate your assistance in stopping these members of the Teeth. I hope we can continue to work together to see this situation resolved."
Her voice was cordial and encouraging, but Survey just stared at her blankly. Her eyes were barely concealed by the blue visor that floated in front of them, but Purity seemed oblivious to how her overture was coming across. She moved in closer and extended a hand to the silver woman.
Survey tilted her head slightly, making no move to return the gesture. Purity paused, showing just a hint of apprehension before she pushed forward, extending her hand further.
A ghost of a frown played across Survey's face. She clenched her right hand and made a sharp gesture towards the ground as the energy around her flared like a miniature sun. Rune fell to her knees as she fought to keep the platform in the air. Purity plummeted like a stone and slammed into the street below, her glow briefly flickering out from the impact.
Purity flailed on the ground like a beached fish as she struggled to lift herself against the strength of Survey's power. She managed to struggle to her knees as Rune fought a losing battle against the unbelievable force pressing down on her. Her focus flickered for barely a second and Damsel's platform dropped from the sky. Her invincibility held against the impact, but the platform shattered beneath her as she impaled herself waist deep into the ground. Rune's own platform began to slip from her power as she did everything she could to slow her descent.
She dropped in starts, a few feet at a time before she finally lost her grip on the disk. In a final act of desperation she grabbed Othala and sheltered her cousin's fall with her own body. The platform rebounded as it struck the pavement and Rune felt pain bloom through her entire body, but Othala seemed to be unhurt. A small mercy. If they actually managed to get out of this disaster she could at least heal any injuries the rest of them had suffered.
Rune writhed on the ground, trying to recover some semblance of her faculties. She fought to understand what had just happened. Cracking open her eyes, she could see the street around her bathed in blue light. It hurt to breathe, even more than the impact would have caused. A force was pressing down on her, pressing her clothes into her body and making every moment torture.
It wasn't telekinesis. Survey hadn't just thrown them to the ground. She was maintaining a constant force. Amplifying gravity to a terrifying degree. Rune struggled to raise her head and saw the Celestial woman slowly descend towards them, an expression of distaste on her face.
"You misinterpret our relationship." Survey's voice rang out over the street, clear and cold. "Primarily through the assumption that we have a relationship." A hard expression looked down at them from within that mane of silver hair. "We are not friends. We are not allies. We are not a coalition." Her eyes narrowed. "We are tolerating you for the purpose of a single task. A task that holds a single condition." She turned to look down through the window of the corner store. "A condition that has been breached."
From the store window wide eyes looked out at them from the civilians brave enough to watch. Rune even saw a couple of phones raised and recording the scene playing out in front of them. She groaned to herself, but couldn't spare any concern for the implication in the face of what they were currently dealing with.
"That wasn't us." Purity called up, struggling to her hands and knees. "We tried to stop them."
"You attacked them. And you pursued them. Your tactical decisions gave minimal attention to the concerns of the city. The Celestial Forge agreed to leave these matters to other parties on the condition that recovery efforts and civilian safety would not be endangered." Survey turned back from the bar covered window of the store. Her expression was like ice.
"No." Purity struggled to speak. Frankly, Rune was amazed. Just breathing under the force of gravity was a challenge. "We weren't the ones endangering the public." Survey raised an eyebrow. "You can't hold us responsible for this. It isn't fair."
Survey glared down at them from her position in the air. "Fair." She said in an almost sarcastic tone. "Fairness would require the accounting of events beyond our current circumstances." She leaned forward, glaring down at Purity. "I do not believe you would wish to see the results of a FAIR appraisal of your actions."
Rune held her breath, and not just because it felt like an elephant was lying on her chest. Okay, that was actually Othala, which was a little unfair to her cousin but not something she could address at the moment. Survey was pinning them to the ground with no visible effort while the cape who had dismantled the entire force of the Teeth in seconds glared down at them from the roof of the little store that was the cause of this entire mess.
A crackling began to build behind her. Rune struggled to turn her head towards the sound, just as a sharp blast and the sound of tearing rock echoed across the street. She felt a pressure wave wash over her followed by pebbles that rained down like buckshot. Twisting against the weight of Survey's power she saw Damsel standing shakily on her feet in a torn and bloody uniform. The ground beneath her was warped and ravaged. The madwoman had used her power to both free herself from the street and launch her to her feet. Othala's power had long since worn off, leaving her a ragged mess, though that manic force of will seemed to be just enough to keep the woman on her feet.
Survey watched her with curiosity as Damsel took one heavy step forward, then another. With great effort, she braced her right arm with her left and forced her hand upwards, directly at the floating cape.
Rune felt her mouth drop open. It was an insane display, even by Damsel's standards. But there she was, hair dragged down by unspeakable force, shaking with every step, arm trembling, but all the same, posed to direct her power at one of the strongest capes on the planet.
"What do you intend to accomplish with this display?" The impossibly perfect floating cape asked. There was something unnerving about how lightly she moved through the field of crushing force that filled the area. Damsel just grinned up at her.
"Not everything has a master plan. Sometimes you just want to see how things turn out when you cut loose." She called up, still keeping her hand trained on the flying cape.
Survey raised an eyebrow, then reached down towards the surface of her shield. The tiny panels that composed the shield began to move, sliding over each other in a way that accentuated the spiral pattern. The shape of the shield began to warp as the movement caused the center to press out, then thin to a kind of stem. Or handle.
Survey grasped the protrusion and drew it out further until she tore a long object free from the surface of the shield. The shield quickly shifted to adjust for the lost material while the removed object spun into itself, forming a long shaft and handguard of the same gleaming white substance.
It was a lance. A lance that glowed with the same energy as the shield. A lance whose craftsmanship could only be attributed to Apeiron. Survey had drawn forth a massive weapon that pulsed with unknown power, a weapon nearly as large as she was, and she leveled it at Damsel. The components of the lance began to spin and the aura of blue fire around the weapon flared aggressively.
Rune didn't know what was about to happen, but she was guessing it would be monstrous overkill for the kind of threat that any of them, even Damsel, might represent.
"This will not resolve in a manner favorable to you." Survey said from behind the massive and ornate weapon.
"I'll take my chances." Damsel said with an unhinged smile. Her hand began to crackle and pop, the signs of her power preparing to discharge. Was Survey close enough to be in range? Did it matter? Rune had no idea. She could only sit and watch as the exchange built towards a crescendo.
Suddenly, white shapes erupted from the ground in front of her. Ghosts. Crusader's ghosts. Dozens of them forming a screen between them and the capes of the Celestial Forge. More moved to haul them back, pulling them out of the field of high gravity. Against that kind of force it took a half dozen for each of them, but they were able to move. Rune gasped for breath the second she was free of the crushing force and saw Othala do the same. Purity kicked off the ground, floating back as Crusader swooped in with Krieg behind him.
Krieg's greatcoat was scorched and tattered. Clearly things hadn't gone smoothly back at the factory, but they had been able to resolve them quickly enough to mount a rescue. Rune felt herself collapse to her knees in relief, then covered the action by moving to trace her power into the wall of a ruined building.
Damsel seemed irritated to have her standoff interrupted, but was perfectly happy to transition to staring down Survey from her position outside of the gravity power's range. Or presumed range. They had no idea how far it could actually reach. And it wasn't like the woman was immobile.
No, they weren't safe. They needed to get out while the Celestial Forge was still willing to let them leave. She continued tracing as she looked up at Justin and Kayden.
"We came as quickly as we could." He said, still manifesting ghost after ghost to send towards the pair of capes. None were attacking yet, but he was forming a layered defensive line. "I can screen for you, but Victor's right, we need to fall back."
Tammi blinked. The fall must have damaged her communicator. Not that she particularly missed Victor's commentary, but for once her cousin's husband seemed to be talking sense.
"We can't give up." Purity said. "This was a misunderstanding. If I had a chance to explain-"
"What is that going to accomplish?" Crusader asked. Tammi was in full agreement.
"I must concur." Krieg said. "Our main objective has been addressed. We should leave before the situation devolves further."
Kayden shook her head. "No, if we leave things like this it will color any further efforts at collaboration." Damsel scoffed slightly and Rune was right there with her. "At the very least we should… Crusader?" She asked in concern.
Tammi turned to see Justin clutching his throat and making choking sounds. More concerningly, the behavior seemed to be mirrored by his ghosts. All of his ghosts. With a feeling of dread, Tammi turned towards the capes of the Celestial Forge.
Survey was still floating in midair, though she had lowered the massive glowing lance. Her expression was unchanged from her standoff with Damsel, like she hadn't been the least bit surprised by Crusader's arrival. The lines of ghosts that had formed a screen in front of her were gasping and slowly fading from existence. And the reason for that could be seen as Rune turned her eyes towards Kataklyzein.
The cat was standing on the edge of the store's roof with his paw clenched around the throat of one of the ghosts that had been sent to harass him. The cape's helmet was glowing with a deep purple aura and his face was hidden in shadow. The translucent white flesh of the ghost was smoldering under the cat's grip. The projection was desperately flailing, but Kataklyzein held its spear back with his other paw. Actually, it looked like Kataklyzein had grabbed the ghost by the spear in order to haul it into choking range.
"What is he…?" Othala asked as the horde of ghosts began to thin and then vanish. Finally, the only one left was the one held in Kataklyzein's grasp. Justin had fallen to his knees and a disturbing burnt smell was coming from his neck. "What do we do?" She asked desperately, but to no one in particular.
Rune had no real suggestions. Begging, pleading, crying, or surrender were the only paths that seemed open to them. She had no doubt that if Kataklyzein wanted to, he could snuff out Justin's life, regardless of the impossibility of what was currently being done to him. Apeiron had said that he would have left Lung entirely to Kataklyzein if the cat had been available at the time. Looking up at the armored figure standing on the roof with Crusader's life in his paws, Rune could fully believe that.
A sound at the barest edge of hearing drew her mind from the horror on display. It was faint, but something she could pick out easily given what it signaled. Who it signaled. She looked around and could see she wasn't the only one who noticed it. Rune swallowed. They needed a distraction, something to draw the attention of the Celestial Forge. This wasn't what she would have chosen, but as distractions went, they didn't come much better.
The whine of charged electricity and bursts of static grew louder, now interspersed with the crashing sound that was so often paired with it. Rune turned to the opposite row of buildings from Kataklyzein and Survey just in time to see Assault crash down on the edge of the roof. With a blur of motion and a burst of discharged power Battery appeared at his side.
"Well, I hope we aren't interrupting anything important." Assault quipped as he casually addressed death incarnate in cat form. The shadows receded from Kataklyzein's face and the cat shrugged before casually tossing away the tortured ghost. The projection didn't even make it three feet before it faded into nothingness and Justin suddenly slumped while gasping in deep, desperate breaths. As he panted under Purity's care Rune saw that Kataklyzein was still holding the projection's ghostly spear, carrying it with an easy, almost smug confidence.
"This was a fight between the Empire and the Teeth." Purity called out. "There is no cause for the Protectorate's involvement."
Normally, that would have been enough to dissuade the heroes. They didn't tend to pick fights they couldn't win and Assault and Battery would have been outgunned if Purity encountered them on her own, much less with support. They might try to hold out until they could call in support, but even that would be risky. At least it would under normal circumstances.
These weren't normal circumstances.
Justin had recovered enough from whatever Kataklyzein had done to him to climb back to his feet. He reached down to pick up his fallen spear, but he fumbled his grip and had to make three attempts to secure it. He looked down at the spear like he'd never seen it before, then over at the grinning cat who saluted him with the translucent copy of the same weapon.
Kataklyzein's grin was matched by Assault. Rune was seriously doubting Kayden's ability to talk their way out of this mess. Well, she was doubting it more than she already did.
"Funny thing, the Protectorate likes to get involved whenever people decide to start tearing up the streets." He turned towards Survey and Kataklyzein and called out. "You involved in this as well?"
There was a brief nonverbal exchange as the two capes seemed to be deciding who would field the response. Finally, Survey floated towards the Protectorate heroes.
"We intervened in this matter to prevent civilian injuries and resolve the situation." Survey declared.
"I see." Assault replied, looking back at the tight cluster of Empire capes. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to assist in fully resolving the situation? Make things all neat and tidy?"
Rune tensed. This was more than just animosity. It was the Celestial Forge picking sides. Picking the side of the Protectorate. Even on a small scale, that could have massive consequences. The Celestial Forge getting pissed off and squashing a few members of the Empire was one thing. Them falling in with the Protectorate was another matter entirely.
Survey tilted her head slightly. "Are you issuing a formal request for collaborative action between the Protectorate ENE and the Celestial Forge? I would assume such a request is being made on behalf of and with the full approval of the division director and would include the revocation of standing and past directives with respect to members of our organization?"
"Um, sure-" Assault began, but Battery cut him off.
"We do not have the authority to modify standing department policies or issue requests on behalf of the director." She said.
Rune blinked. She couldn't believe that they might be able to survive this disaster solely because Battery was incapable of letting go of an administrative technicality. At that moment she could have kissed that uptight, dysfunctional bitch of a hero.
In truth, it was the offer of collaboration that had probably saved them. Alone, the clash could have been written off as a gang conflict. An offense that was repaid and nothing more. Offering Protectorate sanction to the Celestial Forge changed the nature of what was happening. The mess of politics around the group and their every action had probably been enough to stay Survey's hand. At least without unambiguous support and endorsement.
"But the directives you mentioned only apply to Apeiron. They were not extended to the rest of the Celestial Forge." Battery added. Her clarification didn't seem to amuse Survey. Funnily enough, pointing out that the Protectorate was only screwing over the leader of their team didn't help the situation. Battery at least recognized this as she turned to pleading. "But if you allow us to call this matter in, or meet with a representative-"
Kataklyzein snorted and shook his head. Survey nodded to him. "The Celestial Forge intends to uphold its agreement regarding the actions of the Teeth." She looked towards the pile of injured capes. "Breaches relating to that matter have been sufficiently addressed. I believe we are done here."
Kataklyzein nodded. There was a sudden burst of lightning and an explosion of flame and the two capes were gone. Assault looked from their former location over to the forces of the Empire. "I don't suppose you folks feel like turning yourself in?" The humor was lost on the group. "Ah. Well, how about you let us take care of those guys and we won't pay too much attention to the direction you take when you run off?" He added, gesturing to the fallen members of the Teeth.
Purity took the second deal, though didn't actually acknowledge it. Instead she just nodded to Rune and took to the air. Rune tore out a chunk of wall from a condemned building to act as a platform and, with the help of Krieg's field, was able to keep up with Purity as they blitzed back to the safety of Empire territory.
Soaring over the city with that madness behind her, Rune was finally able to relax. She didn't even bother putting on a show of strength, instead just collapsing to her knees as she focused on keeping pace behind Kayden. Behind her, Othala rested a hand on her back and she felt the familiar effect or her healing power take hold, repairing the bruises and other damage from her fall.
Taking in a pain-free breath, she looked back over the platform. Her passengers were in various states of disarray, but they had all walked away, so to speak. They had also succeeded in their mission, at least in a technical sense. Rune turned back to follow after Kayden. As the site of one of the Empire's safehouses rapidly approached a new concern began to worm into Rune's gut. They had survived the mission, now they just needed to survive the debrief.
"That is most unfortunate." Kaiser said, drumming his armored fingers on the table in front of him as he processed Purity's report. The fact that their mission had audio and video recordings courtesy of Victor prevented any creative embellishments, which made the debrief rather straightforward, if a little unflattering.
"Survey's reaction was likely based on the reputation of the old Empire. I'm confident I can talk her around if given the chance." Kayden explained. Rune had to work to avoid reacting to the sheer gall of the statement. The debrief was limited to the mission team, Kaiser, and Victor who acted as a remote observer. That was probably for the best. Rune could only imagine the consequences if the rest of the Empire had been privy to the shocking naivete of that statement.
Ever since the Purity had recruited Ashley she had been enamored with the idea of the glorious new Empire. The organization she would build once Kaiser handed her the keys to the kingdom. Most people doubted that day would ever arrive, but that didn't seem to factor into Kayden's dreams of a brighter future, regardless of the difficulty of accomplishing such a feat.
The fall of the ABB had only made things worse. That gang had been Kayden's primary point of focus, both during her previous tenure with the Empire and when she briefly broke off on her own. With them gone Kayden was convinced all the problems of the city would follow after them, leaving her with a clear path to her utopic vision.
The woman badly needed a reality check, but Tammi wouldn't be the one to give it to her. She had enough responsibility babysitting princess psycho and didn't need to take on any more stress. Damsel was standing next to Purity, wearing the damage to her costume like a badge of honor. When they entered the safehouse she had earned approving looks from Hookwolf that would likely only grow once he learned of her borderline insane stand off against Survey.
"Perhaps." Kaiser said diplomatically. "But we will not pursue the Celestial Forge on this matter. Their demands regarding Victor's breach could already be considered generous. It is possible their reaction to the breach of terms during this operation was intended to remind us of that fact."
Kayden frowned. "The Teeth were the ones responsible for any public endangerment. Our involvement was incidental at best."
"And the Teeth have been punished for their actions. It is likely this display was intended to make the position of the Celestial Forge clear. Violations of Apeiron's terms will not be tolerated, regardless of where the fault may lie." Kaiser inclined his head. "He has also made it clear he is both willing and able to step in should those bounds be crossed. This is a risk, but presents an opportunity."
"Assuming similar action will be taken against any other groups who violate his mandate." Krieg said. "It limits our actions, but presents opportunities. Less cautious forces will likely experience more severe chastisement than we received."
"It's all well and good to throw the Teeth into the hands of the Celestial Forge, but that risks the very situation this agreement was designed to address." Kaiser said. "Particularly once the Butcher finally takes the field."
Damsel openly grinned at the prospect, but she was the only one who seemed in any way pleased.
"If we are fortunate, the Teeth will recognize the threat and curtail their behavior equally. If not, we may need to coordinate with other groups to address the Butcher's presence before she can provoke the Celestial Forge into open action." Victor interjected from his remote comm station.
Kaiser nodded. "We have secured the first strike in this conflict, but the Butcher will not allow this to go unanswered. There will be a reaction from the Teeth and we will need to be ready for it." He turned to the rest of them. "Rest for the moment. I have further matters to discuss with Purity and Krieg. They will brief you on the preparations for the Teeth's counteroffensive.
Rune nodded and slunk out of the office. The safehouse was one of the Empire's larger locations, meaning she didn't have much trouble finding a quiet room where she could collapse. A kind of bone-weary exhaustion gripped her, one much worse than she was used to encountering after a mission.
It wasn't just the stakes or the fact that she'd needed to push her power so heavily. It was actually seeing the Celestial Forge enter the field. During the Ungodly Hour she had been contained with Damsel, playing housekeeper to the Empire's newest cape. She's seen reports of what was happening, but they were remote. Abstract, distant displays of strength that shook the world around them.
She's seen the trails of energy spread through the city. The field that blacked out the docks. The flashes of Apeiron's conflict over the bay. And of course, the wave that swept over the Boardwalk. Terrifying things in terms of what they represented, but she hadn't experienced them herself.
Now she had. She's seen what Kataklyzein could accomplish without even trying. The casual displays of Survey's power. The merest sliver of the potential of the Celestial Forge was completely overwhelming.
They couldn't fight that. It was a laughable concept. They couldn't even survive it. She didn't know how anyone could even entertain the idea that they held some level of control over the insanity of this situation.
The door to Rune's not quite hiding place opened and the Empire's best representative of that insanity stepped into the room. Ashley's costume was still tattered, but it looked like Othala had been able to see to her injuries. She was stepping lightly while twirling her white officer's cap on one finger.
"Ah, just the person I was looking for." She said as she sauntered forward. Rune quickly put on the mask of amicable accommodation that had served her so well in her role as Damsel's minder.
"Damsel." She said, climbing to her feet. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Please, don't get up on my account." She said, "After such a commendable performance on such a trying mission you deserve a chance to relax."
The idea that she could possibly relax while dealing with this nightmare situation was almost laughable. "I'm fine." She assured Damsel.
"You're not." The woman said plainly. There was a knowing look in her eyes. "Things are not going the way your superiors had hoped. It's natural to be overwhelmed."
"They're dealing with it." She said quickly. The last thing she needed was Ashley openly doubting the Empire's position. "And the mission was a success."
"Technically, but at a cost." Ashley mused. "Purity was publicly humbled and the Celestial Forge has made it clear they are no friend of the Empire. Kaiser's operation was also far less successful than he is attempting to portray it." Rune gave her a confused look. "The outpost they attacked was reinforced by capes from the Butcher's cell. Animos and Vex. Trump and shaker, more than enough to cover the escape of several of the capes present."
"You're very well informed." Rune said flatly.
She smiled and leaned back. "People have warmed to me quite well, particularly in the wake of Victor's misstep." Rune frowned. She knew Ashley had been reaching out, supposedly on Victor's behalf, but mostly as an opportunity to highlight her own performance at the summit. Not exactly a bright spot, but given how badly things could have gone there was a cast to be made that Ashley had saved the entire Empire from a war they would not have been able to win.
"I'm sure you have all kinds of privileged information." Rune actually managed to keep any hint of sarcasm out of her tone as she spoke. She doubted Damsel believed she was speaking honestly, but as usual, seemed to enjoy the effort being put into placating her more than actual sincerity on the matter.
"Indeed." She said, tapping her chin and deliberately playing up the imperious aspects of her behavior. "So many little details, including the specifics of Crusader's condition."
Rune looked up sharply. "What? Did Kataklyzein… What happened to him? What's wrong?"
"Physically, he's fully recovered. Surface injuries that dear Othala was able to easily address. However, regarding his power…" She left the statement hanging. Rune felt a deep sense of dread in her gut.
"What happened to his power?" She asked, despite really, really not wanting to hear the answer.
"Crusader is unable to manifest weapons through his projections." Damsel explained. "Victor is still working to assess the situation, but it seems that any item intended for violence is simply absent when he manifests his ghosts."
Rune's eyes widened. "Kataklyzein took his spear." She said. Ashley nodded.
"In a quite literal sense." She said with a smile that Tammi felt was very out of place.
"Fuck." She muttered. She couldn't even begin to imagine what that would mean. The reach and damage of those spears was a core element of what made Justin's projections so dangerous. Without that… they weren't harmless, but the threat profile had unquestionably cratered. "Trump power." She added.
Ashley nodded. It figured that the people working with the power tinker would have other people in his team who could also mess with powers. And they had no idea. No idea exactly what had been done, how he had done it, how long it would last, or if there were any other complications waiting to be discovered.
"Quite the effective deterrent against anyone who might wish to make grandiose gestures against the Celestial Forge without accepting the consequences." Damsel stated and Rune could only stare at her.
"You're saying that? After what you did? With what could have happened?" Rune's voice pitched up as she spoke, with her nearly screaming towards the end. She hated the loss of control, but she could still see Survey staring down at them, brandishing that gleaming lance of death. A standoff between a madwoman with too much power and a mystery cape from an organization that built their reputation on exceeding all expectations.
"Yes." Ashely said with a smile. "That was glorious."
"She could have vaporized you." Rune said.
"Perhaps." Ashley admitted. "But she didn't. Purity was humbled. Crusader was crippled, and yet here I stand."
"You think you're a threat to them. That they're afraid of you." Rune said.
The white-haired woman's expression softened, that dangerous energy receding just enough to allow her to look contemplative. "I'm used to being a threat, and used to being feared. That wasn't fear." She said, "And I know the difference between fear and contempt."
"What do you mean?" Tammi asked.
"I think you know." Ashley said, glancing at her from the corner of her eye. "You're not exactly a hard liner. I'm not sure anyone here is, outside of the cannon fodder."
"You're talking about the movement." Tammi said cautiously.
"Yes, I'm talking about the empty ideology that serves as your rallying cry for the disaffected and easily duped. The nonsense you use to play dress-up and pretend this is anything more than another petty parahuman gang fighting for territory in a third-rate city."
"That's not true." Tammi said, but she knew her protests were hollow. Her faith in the movement had withered after they left her to rot in prison, and honestly hadn't been that strong to begin with. Her personal experience disproved the claims about the reach and power of the ideology and what she'd seen after joining the Empire had only confirmed that outlook.
Still, it wasn't something you called out. Even the least dedicated member of the Empire at least knew to pay lip service to the ideals. Tammi knew that Ashley was never onboard with that element of the gang, but she didn't expect her to begin openly challenging it.
That really served to drive home exactly how dire their circumstances actually were.
"Why not?" Ashley asked. "Because you trade capes with Gesellschaft or the Herren Clans? Because you get funding and support from misguided fools? Or because you happened to fight gangs led by 'acceptable targets'?"
Rune had no response. Really, the presence of the ABB had done most of the Empire's recruitment for them. She knew what the membership pipeline looked like. How easy it was to convince someone where the source of their problems were actually coming from.
"What is your point?" Rune asked directly.
Ashley smiled at her. "Apeiron does not like the Empire." She stated plainly as she tossed down her officer's hat. "That was apparent at the summit, but today's encounter removed all doubt. The current circumstances may have stayed his hand, but there is no future for the Empire in this city, no matter what form Purity imagines it taking."
The least stable woman that Rune had ever known had just plainly laid out the fact that everyone in the Empire was desperately trying to convince themselves wasn't true. She swallowed before responding.
"If you think that, then why are you still here?" Rune asked. That manic grin returned to the woman's face, which was answer enough. "Oh." Rune said flatly.
"Yes!" She extolled, her voice echoing around the room. The woman who loved playing supervillain, given a chance to share the stage with the most over-the-top cape group in history. Of course she wouldn't turn it down.
"And that's worth what's coming?" Rune asked. "What's going to happen when Apeiron decides he's had enough?"
"And what will happen?" She asked, taking a step forward. Rune gave her a confused look. "I am serious. When the time comes, how do you think Apeiron will deal with things? Decapitation strike? Mass assault? Work his way up from the forces on the streets? How does an Empire fall? Who will fight, who will run, and who will still be there when the dust settles?"
"You think you can make it through." Rune said. "Survive the aftermath of whatever's coming."
"I am good at survival." She said in a cool tone. "I've enjoyed what the Empire has provided, but I can live without it. I have lived without it." Her expression softened. "Though there are some resources that I would miss more than others."
Rune blinked. "This is a recruitment pitch?" She asked, nearly at a loss for words.
"I would prefer to depart with more than a few creature comforts and an inflated bank account." Ashley said. "And I think flying agrees with me."
Rune couldn't deny that. The mobility during the last mission had brought Damsel's abilities to a new level. Of course, it hadn't been just Tammi's powers in play.
"You want Othala as well." She said. Ashely smiled. "Not going to happen. Everyone wants her. Hell, the Protectorate would take her in a heartbeat. She knows exactly how valuable she is." Rune shook her head. "And you'll never get her without Victor."
"Then it's clear where I should be directing my efforts." Ashley said, turning to leave.
"Wait." Rune shouted. "Wait, I haven't agreed…"
"Didn't you?" Damsel asked, falling back into the imperious tone of voice she enjoyed when playing cartoon villain.
Tammi stammered. "I mean, this isn't…"
Fuck. Even talking about this kind of thing was treason. She would be expected to fully deny anyone who raised the subject and immediately report them. She would, under normal circumstances. When they didn't have the Celestial Forge looming over them and an unquestionable countdown to the end of the Empire.
And once again, the only word that could sum up the situation was 'Fuck'. Ashley was right. The Damsel of Distress had been an active villain for much longer than most of the members of the Empire. She had seen organizations rise and fall and had survived the turmoil largely unscathed. There was no argument that Rune could put forward that wasn't a transparent attempt to deny reality.
Apeiron did not like the Empire. Survey did not like the Empire. It would be safe to assume their views were typical of the Celestial Forge. Rune had never really imagined a time without the Empire. The possibility of defeat had existed, but not an end to the actual organization.
Ashley Stillons was an unstable mess of a cape with barely any control over one of the most destructive powers on the planet and even she could see the writing on the wall. The Empire would not survive the current conflict. Not as the untouchable force Kaiser imagined, not as the reformed organization Kayden wanted to create, and not in any other conceivable form. They were done.
And what would be left for her? Slink back to the Herren Clans and hope they weren't next on Apeiron's list? Go on the run with her parents, people she could barely stand who blamed her for everything wrong in their lives? Or join up with an unstable woman who had somehow become Rune's best option in this entire mess.
"I thought so." Ashley said as she watched the grim acceptance settle over Tammi's face.
"How do you know you'll be safe?" Rune asked. "You're part of the Empire now, and your history…" She didn't want to bring this up, lest she set the woman off, but now wasn't the time to be squeamish. "It's as bad as anyone in the Empire."
Ashley looked down at her hands and Rune was briefly afraid she had gone too far, but after a moment the woman looked back at her. "Brockton Bay is Apeiron's city. He has made that clear. His city, his people. His history." She smiled. "My past is what it is, but it's not part of that."
"And you think that will keep you safe?" Rune asked.
Ashely shrugged irreverently. "As safe as anyone else. As safe as you can be against someone like Apeiron." She spoke the name with a relish that caused Rune to think back to the woman's standoff against Survey. "Against a power like that, all you can hope for is to avoid notice, or meet him on your own terms."
Ashley picked up her cap and set it on her head before nodding to Rune. Nodding like everything was decided. Like she hadn't just embroiled her in a conspiracy against the Empire. A conspiracy that was somehow the safest option available to her, assuming she could actually leave the Empire.
That was the final obstacle. The factor that hadn't been addressed. Ashley dismissed the Empire's ideology as meaningless cruelty, but looking from this side it was clear there was another purpose. It made it hard to walk away. The movement that was purported to hold you up would drag you down the second you tried to separate yourself from it. You only had to look to Purity's solo career to see that. Maybe Ashley's term was short enough to avoid that association, but for her? For Othala? For Victor? She didn't know, but the odds didn't seem favorable.
Trapped. That was where it had all started for her. Trapped by her parents, then trapped in the clans, then literally trapped in prison. That horrible experience where she lost everything that made her who she was, until she became something else.
This was just another trap. She was stuck between the Empire, Damsel, and the Celestial Forge. It was horrible, but it was a kind of horrible that she was familiar with. Something she had endured before and could endure again. Just like before, she would survive, she would persevere, and she would find a way out.
She watched Ashely depart, then slumped back down. Conviction was well and good, but it wasn't enough to hold her. It was really incredible how quickly a situation could devolve, even in the wake of a supposed victory. As it stood, her only hope was that Apeiron would have bigger concerns than the fate of the Empire. She shuddered as she imagined what they could be.
Addendum Joe
Garment's show was entering its final stages. The auction had been a considerable success, but paled in comparison to the donations that had been pouring in both from the guests and thanks to the stream. The final portions of the event had started. A review of the funds that were raised, a breakdown of the programs and charities that would be receiving support, and Garment's closing 'remarks'. Really Garment's performance of emphatic gesturing and displays of telekinesis.
Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to stick around to enjoy the final sections of the show. When Survey had needed to step in to intervene in the fight between the Empire and the Teeth I'd been forced to fill in for her in the scrying chamber, both to maintain existing monitoring programs and to be ready to take action if any other civilians were threatened.
That proved to be unnecessary. Purity's group was the only one to push towards the city center. Kaiser's assault did not go nearly as smoothly, despite a larger number of capes being involved. The whole thing turned into a fairly brutal melee that I was grateful was happening well outside of densely populated areas.
The arrival or reinforcements from the Butcher's branch had caused their efforts to mostly fall apart. Animos has a power nullifying roar that disrupted most of the Empire's efforts and Vex could summon razor-like force fields to fill open space and cut off pursuit. It hadn't been a clean escape, but more capes had managed to get away than from Purity's team.
There was a level of difficulty involved in tracking everything that was playing out across the city. Multiple fronts of Kaiser's assault, Purity's split forces, and even the Dragonslayers moving to prevent Dragon from interfering with the attacks. I wouldn't say I was having a harder time than Survey when it came to scrying, but splitting my focus meant losing the benefit of Do One Thing At A Time, which caused a noticeable drop in performance. Frankly, it was easier to bounce between scrying devices than try to juggle multiple feeds.
Thankfully there was a burst of electricity as Survey reappeared inside the scrying chamber. The effect was a combination of her enhanced elemental attunement, biotics, and the opening of a microscopic portal for a fraction of a second. It allowed her effective instant teleportation virtually anywhere in the world.
Tybalt had relied entirely on his own divine teleportation abilities to cover both his arrival and departure. Really, it would have been easier to deploy the Matrix to support Survey, but Tybalt wasn't going to pass up the chance for a real fight, even if it did mean giving a hasty excuse to slip out of the security office at the Regency Center.
On his way back Tybalt had briefly ducked back into the Workshop just long enough to hand off Crusader's spear to one of my duplicates before returning to his post at the Regency Center. His absence didn't seem to have been noted to any significant degree, though his mood had definitely improved in the aftermath of his first proper cape fight.
Also from his first chance to use his jägerstock in the field. Which was also his first chance to show off its metal elemental abilities, the result of what my Infusionist power could accomplish when I went all out. The way he had taken down Phalange definitely left an impression, and that was just about the least of the weapon's abilities. It seemed Tybalt liked having a chance to show off his toys.
Or, you know, collect more of them.
The fact that he returned with spoils of war was an added bonus, but also a surprise. Tybalt's divine mandate of battle was somewhat abstract, as were the spiritual abilities granted to him by his helmet. Crusader deciding to obnoxiously swarm him with ghost soldiers was apparently too perfect an opportunity to pass up. The spear he had 'taken' was more than just the weapon manifestation of a single projection, and there was some serious significance to how and what he had 'taken'.
Even for us, it was new ground in terms of his abilities. In terms of other organizations it would be hell on anyone who tried to analyze the effect. Given what Survey and Tybalt had displayed in the field, there would be ample material for Protectorate thinkers to dig through, to varying amounts of success. In a way, that had been a big part of the reason for her personal appearance, though we weren't really focused on the reactions of the Protectorate's thinkers.
"Good job out there." I said to Survey as she stepped up to take my place juggling the various mirrors, orbs, and other divination tools.
"The results were satisfactory." She said with a slight smile. "Though given the dynamics of the current situation, I took the initiative of denying the Protectorate's offer for collaboration."
Survey transferred a detailed breakdown of her justifications along with her statement. Basically, Piggot was still playing games with local policy, probably in an attempt to deal with the shitstorm headed her way. Matters regarding the team were being handled externally, but she hadn't officially cleared her previous orders. The consequence of working against gangs with the PRT's sanction would help her position while massively complicating my own. It was not something I was particularly inclined to do, particularly when we just proved that we could take the same action out of nothing but petty spite.
Really, the Protectorate and PRT was going to get enough good press just from taking the defeated members of the Teeth into custody. There was a flood of them left both from Tybalt's fight and the general aftermath of the Empire's attacks, covering both powered and unpowered members of the Teeth.
The parahumans would be contained by the PRT, but the rest would have to be processed by conventional law enforcement. There would be an influx of gang members being brought into custody, absolutely swamping the police and courts. That kind of thing was really bad news for anyone who is currently in custody and hoping to be arraigned before they have to spend the night in jail. And for anyone whose lawyer father was desperately trying to get in contact with an overly friendly judge to expedite her proceedings.
All things considered, I didn't feel particularly sorry for Emma's situation.
I smiled and turned back to Survey. "Turning down the collaboration offer was a good decision." I said. "We can leave that until after the meeting with Director Armstrong, at the very earliest." I checked on the process of that project. It was going surprisingly well, considering Uppercrust had been mostly committed to the charity event.
"Thank you." She said, "And I apologize if I overstepped regarding the matter of the Empire."
"No." I replied, pulling up a record of the rather satisfying way Survey had cast the Empire's entire strike team into the ground. "You did good. That is not an association I even want to entertain. Purity was the one who overstepped."
Survey nodded as she pulled up both Purity's official PRT file and her own assessment of the woman's history. "For someone who has meaningfully contributed to Brockton Bay's homicide rate over the course of her active career, she is remarkably unconcerned with her past actions and appears largely oblivious to how such a history would be expected to color the opinions of others."
I nodded. "I think it's a consequence of cape culture. Villains mostly look at things based on how they impact themselves, their organization, and the balance of power, not in terms of normal people."
It was a fact of life that even the Undersiders weren't beyond. Their history of smash and grab and hitting jewelry stores was basically kids stuff by the standards of gangs, but there were a lot of consequences for people on the street they didn't seem to consider. It's all well and good to write things off as being covered by insurance, but I'd heard plenty of complaints about how bad insurance rates could get in the city. It was a consequence of sharing the area with active supervillains. Also, hitting major chains was all well and good until the central office decided it wasn't worth operating in a certain area and pulled the location entirely.
Purity was basically a more serious version of that mindset. Villain gangs barely accounted for unpowered members of the opposing side, and there was plenty of collateral damage and ruined lives in the wake of an attack that 'only' killed unpowered members of a gang. I was a little surprised that Purity didn't even seem to consider her kill count as being something worth accounting for, though I guess mental dissonance is not that surprising when you're talking about someone who would willingly embrace Nazi ideology.
The dynamics of gang behavior and cape politics would have to take a back seat, at least for the moment. With Survey taking over the scrying duties I moved to the recent addition to the secondary base that had developed in the back of Garment's studio. The last time I had done this it had been through an interface that was still incredibly advanced, but fell far behind my current level of proficiency. The new interface was constructed with the benefit of Craftsmen of the Gods, Titan's Blood, Psionic Attunement, Erudition, a myriad of new Minor Blessings and Unnatural Skills, and the enhancement of the Glove of the East fueled by a small ocean of Quicksilver Bullets.
"The Final Frontier has begun passenger mapping and signal interception activities regarding communication of data generated by the appearance of Tybalt and myself." Survey reported. "While progress is within expected parameters, your assistance on this matter would be greatly appreciated."
"I'll do what I can." I said while settling into the interface pod. Part Omni-sphere, part neural interface, part Spiritron computer, and tied directly into the Quantum Entanglement Communicator linked directly to the Final Frontier. It was the most powerful connection I could make to that realm without ripping open a new portal and traveling there myself.
The world had reacted to Survey and Tybalt's actions. The Empire was scrambling in response, the Protectorate was in panic mode, and pictures and even videos of them were being posted online, but all that was secondary.
Jack Slash had reacted. He had reacted because his passenger was in contact with the network of other passengers, constantly being fed information and advice regarding the threats he would be facing. Last night we had been able to confirm the effect. Now we were seeing it in action.
This was a rare opportunity. A chance to map out the network of passengers that provided the framework to parahuman abilities. The opportunity to completely decipher the methods of information transfer and dimensional dynamics that had been cracked along with Bakuda's signal. And, most importantly, the chance to discern the effect behind Jack Slash's thinker power, and put an end to it.
We had been struggling against the results of powers. Their impact on the world and the dynamics of organizations that controlled people who wielded them. That was important, but fundamentally it was a symptom of the real problem. Of the driving forces behind all the chaos of the world. Most people were limited to treating the symptoms, but limits weren't something the Celestial Forge concerned itself with.
I connected to the QEC and felt my awareness flow across dimensional boundaries before I stepped out onto the bridge of the Final Frontier. Holograms of Survey, Matrix's nanite colonies, and Fleet-piloted androids all stood to attention at my arrival. Through the enhanced link I could feel a connection that extended past the simple remote operation I'd been capable of before. A connection strong enough for some of my abilities to be utilized in support of the coming work.
This was it. It was time to move beyond the realm of parahuman conflict. It was time to take the fight to Passenger Space.
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. Kerige's power affected kinetic effects on both his body and the world around him. The wind was actually slowed before it could reach him, leaving him eerily untouched as they soared through the sky. As for Damsel, she was benefiting from Othala's power in Victor's stead. Rune wasn't sure if it was strength or invincibility, but one of the effects left her completely stable even in the face of their blinding speed.
Kreig's
absolutely swapping the police and courts. That kind of thing was really bad news for anyone who is currently in custody and hoping to be arraigned before they have to spend the night in jail. And for anyone whose lawyer father was desperately trying to get in contact with an overly friendly judge to expedite her proceedings.
swapping-> swamping
Kreig's
absolutely swapping the police and courts. That kind of thing was really bad news for anyone who is currently in custody and hoping to be arraigned before they have to spend the night in jail. And for anyone whose lawyer father was desperately trying to get in contact with an overly friendly judge to expedite her proceedings.
swapping-> swamping
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Did no one in the forge notice the stone discs or did they get destroyed before they arrived?
- Location
- SomeWhereElse
Great fight scene. You really capture that oh fuck feeling when other characters watch the Celestial Forge in action.
Well that's one way to pull a dungeon bypass. And it attacks the root problem instead of the symptoms - give it some more study and a perk or two and Joe might even accidentally turn the endbringers off which would probably freak some people out.
- Location
- Brazil, Minas gerais
Yeah now they Definity know that Apeiron was not joking when he said he would not need to leave the lab if the Cat was here^^.
And the director continues to annoy the rest of PRT, by her own (in)actions
edit: grammar.
And the director continues to annoy the rest of PRT, by her own (in)actions
edit: grammar.
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- Location
- Texas
I had thought survey destroyed the platforms because she noticed to hey were created through alchemy.