[] Fight alongside the gangs
Civil War 8.2
You turn away from Samantha and frown at nothing. This is a bad situation all around, one with no good answers.
You don't want to help the gangs. They're villains, the same kind of people you vowed to destroy. The Adepts were one thing; you might be able to sway them to the side of the heroes in exchange for magic lessons. Working alongside villains to fight the Endbringers is also something different. On those days the fight is not between good and evil but between man and monster, and the alternative to allying together is mutual destruction. But this is not an Endbringer fight. It would mean fighting together because it is simply more convenient.
On the other hand, trying to fight all the gangs at once? That isn't possible, not in the long term. All it would take is one villain saying something, and you know they would, and next time you would not have the element of surprise. The gangs might even start hunting you down in addition to MS-13, and as the Maras proved, you're tough. You're not invincible.
Your frown becomes a grimace as another fact comes to mind. It is all well and good to make plans about how to stop villains when they are just faceless masks, but that's not what all of them are anymore. Cailleach helped you fight off the Beasts at the ill-fated party. Jotunn stood with Chevalier and Solaire with Miss Militia during the battle over the transport. Cailleach immediately made sure you were okay after you ate an RPG, only leaving you alone when Samantha threatened her. The rest of the city's villains you don't know, but for them to put themselves at risk by trusting the Protectorate makes it harder to think of them as irredeemable. They aren't complete monsters. There is some glint of goodness within them, thought how deep it is buried is another question entirely.
So fighting everybody at once is out of the question. The idea of just… sitting this one out is tempting, but it isn't you. You stayed away from the Behemoth fight because you ran the risk of being an aid to the Endbringer and a danger to your allies, not to mention because it was the best chance you would ever get to nab Saint, but you do not have that excuse here.
"God, Kurt's going to hate us."
"I don't think he will hate us," argued Samantha. "Be disappointed, likely, but we will can correct that misconception when it becomes an issue."
You shake your head. "From the way he was talking, it won't be that easy. Not with him, not with the other Privateers. This is all but spitting in their faces."
Hands wrap gently around your shoulders. "Then why do it?"
"We're studying the pre–Civil War era in Mrs. Mitchell's class, and a line from one of Lincoln's speeches is going around and around in my head. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand'. The threat is right there in front of us: MS-13. We can fight among ourselves once we aren't in danger anymore, but right now either we stop the Maras together or we all die together." You wave your hand at the television, which has now moved from covering the gang war to the stock market. "Because it's clear that's what they're aiming for now."
Thankful for your Guardian Beast's silent support, you tap one finger against the jewel hanging at your chest. "Storm, prepare an audio message to send to Miss Militia as a voice mail. Start.
"Miss Militia, I don't like it, but I understand why you're working with the gangs. If there's anything I can do to help, you know how to reach me. We lost Brockton Bay. We can't lose our new home too."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wednesday, May 18
«You know,» you comment to Samantha, telepathy necessary if you wish to be heard over the whistling winds, «when I told Miss Militia to call me if she needed me, I kind of expected it to take more than twenty-four hours.»
«Technically it did. She called during the evening news. It's 9 o'clock. That's twenty-seven hours.»
You shoot the raccoon-woman a venomous glare and fly a little faster. MS-13 had been busy, and their roster is much larger than you previously assumed. From the way Miss Militia had described the course of events, a squad of twenty men were spotted causing trouble, and the PRT moved out to deal with them. Then another group popped out, and Sere and most of the remaining troopers went after that one. Fairyland moved against a third. Hellbeast, a Brute and self-proclaimed antihero, teamed up with Circus of all people to fight a fourth; you didn't even know the Brockton Bay villain had moved to Philadelphia! Chevalier and Mishmash went after team number five, and by that point things were getting ridiculous. How in the world were there over a hundred Maras in town? Worse, you knew there had to be more. These were just the unpowered members, and no one had yet seen Cadejo. You were proven right when a sixth team had Miss Militia and Pounce rolling out.
Now you and Samantha are headed after lucky number seven.
Automatic gunfire rings out in the night, and you take a sharp turn towards your opponents. When you look down, you laugh morbidly. Either Lady Luck is smiling down on you, or somebody took a wrong turn somewhere.
Winter Hill has already engaged the Maras.
Not all that's left of the Irish mobsters, unfortunately. That would just be far too convenient. It's just Jotunn, Solaire, and a half-dozen of their little gun-wielding friends. The frost giant is some seven feet tall already and slowly pushing an ice-covered car sideways down the street, and behind the barrier follows the rest of the group. Whenever the Brute stops to catch his breath and let the car thaw somewhat, the gangsters move around the edges to fire at the Mexicans. Solaire meanwhile throws her oddly shaped arming sword like a short javelin, and only after it tears through a cartel member and sets him on fire does she flick her wrist to conjure a flame that grows into a replacement blade. One of these days you're going to figure out why she wears that heavy mace on her back when she can create all the weapons she could ever want.
Depending on how things go, that might even be today.
The Maras are also under cover, mostly inside a nearby building but several outside behind cars or dumpsters. The thought of hitting the building with Solar Wrath is tempting, but you shake it away. As the fight with the Dragonslayers showed, that spell can have negative consequences, and you don't know if there's anyone else in the building. Even on nonlethal the chance of collapsing the building is too high to leave to chance.
Instead a Flare Shooter hits a gang member carrying a handheld grenade launcher. His partner swings his rifle to aim at you, but that leaves them both open to the bullets from the Winter Hill soldiers that splatter the contents of their heads onto the road.
Nausea wells up in you, but you force it down. It's disgusting and visceral, but it still isn't as bad as disintegrating people in nuclear fire the way you did in Durham.
Element of surprise gone, you and Samantha drop from the sky to land behind Jotunn's car. "Hey there," you tell him with a tight smile. "You looked like you could use a hand."
Choose your battle plan. As always, lethal force requires votes to that effect.
[ ] Front Line – Get in their faces and hit them till they stop moving. You're going to get shot, but that's what your upgraded Barrier Jacket is there for.
[ ] Centerfielder – Stay high in the sky and pick the gang off one by one by one. A shield will be needed unless you want to worry about RPGs again.
[ ] Wing Back – You learned your lesson last time: don't get hit. Dodge and shield, keep the heat off your allies, and get a few hits in if possible.
Just like last arc, I do have some default plans should there not be a consensus on tactics, but good plans will earn a bonus on the outcome rolls. (Yep, dem rolls again, though they're different from previous fight rolls.) Bad plans, on the other hand, will suffer a penalty.
