Many thanks to @Assembler, @themanwhowas, @fabledFreeboota, @Skyrunner, @BeaconHill, and ShadowStepper1300 for betareading.
Many thanks to @MugaSofer for fact checking.
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"Annatar. Did you find the Merchants?" Piggot's question came immediately after I opened the door to her office.
"Amy did," I said. "With Nenya. They're at Carpenters Shopping Center, setting up now. Who are we sending?"
"Protectorate and Wards," said Piggot. "Grue's been through console training, so I'm thinking of keeping him on mission control—with supervision, of course."
I shrugged. "Seems reasonable. I wanted to talk to you about him, though. Aegis told me about Image's plans for his identity."
Piggot smiled thinly. "The brute thing?"
"The brute thing."
"I'm working on it."
"You can't let him be fielded when he's got that big a target on his back." My voice was hard. "It's ridiculous. He's not a meat shield."
Piggot nodded. "I agree."
I blinked. "You do?"
"I don't want him dead. It's a waste, if nothing else." She sighed. "Like I said, I'm working on it. My current plans, if I can't make progress, is to let the press conference happen as planned, and then refuse to let Grue into the field until they give him more leeway—or at least a cover that won't get him killed. That's not ideal, though, and they know that. I have a feeling we'll get something changed before the conference."
I considered her, and found myself smiling. "You keep surprising me, Director," I said.
She grinned mirthlessly. When she spoke, her words were bone-dry. "Glad I have your approval, Annatar. Now get your team together. We're moving in an hour at most."
-x-x-x-
"
Shadow Stalker, are you in position?" Aegis' voice came through my earpiece, as clear as if he had been standing beside me.
"
Yes." Sophia sounded a little nervous, and no wonder. She was alone, just as she had been against the Empire. As our only stranger—at least until Amy learned to use Nenya—she was our only means to infiltrate the meeting and take stock before rushing in.
"
What do you see?" Brian asked.
There was a pause. "
More than I ever wanted to." Sophia voice was low with contempt. "
There's—ugh. Lot of different things going on. Drugs, sex, loud music. I can already feel a headache coming on."
The Merchants had never been a particularly powerful or significant group. They didn't appeal to anyone with even a shred of dignity left to them, and half their members were forced in by addiction. It didn't make for a healthy or large group. After Leviathan, however, with half the city destroyed or crumbling, membership in
every gang had gone up as people looked for any help they could get—even if, in the Merchants' case, it was just enough drugs to forget their problems for a while.
"
Any sign of Skidmark?" Miss Militia asked.
"
Not yet. Still working on it."
I drummed gauntleted fingers on my leg, trying to relieve some tension. The waning half-moon reflected off my armor and set the alleyway in which I waited aglow.
Even from here, several blocks away, I could hear the hedonistic celebration. Screams, hysterical laughter, and the thudding of heavy electronic music echoed over the rooftops. It must have been deafening from where Sophia stood, hiding in the rafters of the mall.
I miss Nenya.
"
Annatar? You got anything?"
I blinked at Brian's interruption. "Hm?"
"
With your precog. You got anything?"
"Let me try." I closed my eyes and extended my perception.
Using Vilya was often an exercise in frustration. It seldom gave me detailed information. I generally had to try several approaches until I got some glimpse of a future I could use.
I tried to get a location for an upcoming conflict, first, but all I got was a sense of location which encompassed the entire city.
Brockton Bay, the site of a conflict? Who would've thought?
Then I tried to think of the Merchants. Where would they face adversity? All that question gave me was the general direction in which I knew the mall lay.
At last, I thought of Sophia, alone and in the middle of the enemy. Where was the greatest danger to her?
At last, I had something. "Shadow Stalker," I said. "They're north of you, and they're coming your way."
"
Shit," she said. "
They must be coming through the security office. I'm going to move. I'll keep you posted."
"
Okay," said Miss Militia. "
Be careful."
There was silence for a few moments. My fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, rhythmically.
"She'll be okay," Kid Win said from beside me.
I nodded. "I know," I said. "I'm just tense."
Before he could answer, my earpiece crackled back to life—but it wasn't Sophia's voice I heard. "
You quim-jockeys up for the main event? It doesn't get any better than this!"
As the cheers began, Sophia murmured over them. "
Skidmark, Squealer, Mush, and another cape I don't recognize. They've set up a podium at one end. I think this is all of them."
"
Then let's move in," said Vista. "
Shut them down."
"Wait a moment," I said quickly. Vilya was practically screaming in my ears, shining like a blue star. "I have a feeling we want to hear this."
"
He's creating some kind of… ring," Sophia reported slowly. "
Using his power. Like a skating rink, or…"
"Or a coliseum," I finished. "Gr—Console, are you seeing it?"
"
Yeah," Brian said. "
He's forcing people into an arena of some kind. I don't like this."
"
Blood sports?" Miss Militia asked. "
We can't allow that to go on, Annatar."
"We won't need to," I promised, and knew it was true. "He's going to talk first. I want to hear what he says."
Suddenly, Skidmark's voice cut in again. "
You scum-suckers know what the red armband means! Bloodshed! Violence! We've got ourselves a melee, every man for himself!"
The cheers rose in pitch. I could even hear them through the air around me now, from outside the building and several blocks away. It made me sick.
"
Last five standing get a prize! No rules! Use a weapon, jump in at the last second, whatever you want! I don't give a fuck!"
A pause for cheering, and then he continued. "
Oh, our contestants don't seem too excited! Well, here, let me tell you dickbags what you stand to win!"
"
He's bringing out a box," said Sophia, as quiet as she could while still being heard over the cheering. "
What is this, Annatar?"
I didn't know, but Vilya was practically vibrating. This was
important.
"
Some kind of canister," Sophia said.
"
Before, we gave the winners the cream of the crop! The best our boys have been able to get from the rich fucks with their fancy-ass houses and jobs! But tonight is special
, because we won the motherfucking lottery when we found this shit!"
"
It's a vial," said Sophia.
"
Superpowers!" Skidmark crowed. "
In a can!"
I froze.
"
No fucking way," said Brian.
"
That's not possible," Miss Militia said.
"It's true," I said. Vilya would not let me believe otherwise. "And we're out of time, unless we want to let that fight happen."
"
We're not letting it happen," said Aegis darkly. "
We're shutting this down, and we're getting those 'canned powers' out of his hands. Miss Militia, is the Protectorate in position?"
"
They are. Wards, move in now!"
I caught Kid Win's arm and he pulled me up as his hoverboard rose into the night. "Is this real?" he asked me as the wind whipped past us. "Superpowers in a
can? That's…"
"It's horrible," I said shortly.
He glanced back at me. "…Yeah."
There was a
boom as a wall came down. A cloud of dust rose from the shopping center ahead of us.
"
Assault has breached the building," Miss Militia said.
"We're coming in through the second floor," said Kid Win, carefully steering his hoverboard. The building was coming up fast. "Preparing to breach."
I took hold of his shoulders.
In one vertigo-inducing motion, he lifted the nose of the hoverboard up so that it was perpendicular to the ground and pushed forward. The mithril-plated underside burst through a window of the shopping center.
As soon as we were properly inside, I was diving off the hoverboard and rolling, my hand going to my back. Iphannis came out and extended, narrowly missing a shelf.
One guy was blinking at me. There was a pistol in his hand, but it was shaking. His other hand was fiddling with a headset in a display case, and all around him were strewn various cords and computer peripherals. His eyes were glazed, and a faint sheen of sweat coated his face.
"Oh, you can't be serious," I said, standing up.
"Hey!" he said,
finally. "You're not—"
Iphannis' haft came up and struck him in the chin, and he was out. "Their security is on drugs," I said exasperatedly. "You've got to be kidding."
We were in an electronics storefront. Phones, computers, peripherals, and other equipment lined the walls and shelves. One wall was glass, and through it, I could see the crush of bodies and conflict. There were Assault and Battery, fighting their way through the scattering, drugged-up partygoers.
I couldn't see any of the Merchant capes, though.
"Where is Skidmark?" I asked into my radio. "I can't see him."
"
They went back through the security hub," Sophia said. "
I'm following them, but I need backup."
"
I'm on my way," said Miss Militia immediately.
"So are Kid Win and I," I said, beckoning him. "Come on."
He hovered overhead, pistols at the ready, as I jogged along the balcony, ignoring the squealing mess below. I slashed through the lock of a door with Iphannis, and pushed through.
Now I was in the portion of the mall inaccessible to the public. The bright paint and decorations were gone from this hall, in favor of a rather ugly off-white paint job and yellow linoleum floors.
My boots squeaked against the floor as I barreled down the hallway. "Are they outside yet?" I asked into the radio.
"
Yes," said Sophia. "
Headed for Squealer's truck. I'm engaging."
There was a wall ahead of us. I reached out to Vilya:
Will continuing lead me outside?
Vilya thrummed an assent upon my finger.
Good enough for me. I clenched my left hand, and the Dominant Ring burned with clear light. I pointed, and lightning burst forth, crashing against the wall ahead of us. It crumbled, drywall bursting outwards in an explosion, and I leapt through the hole, Kid Win hot on my heels.
As I fell the fifteen feet to the asphalt of the parking lot, I distinctly heard Skidmark's voice screaming, "What the fuck!?"
I landed rolling, came up, and immediately took stock. Sophia was on a roof—I could see her framed against the night sky, crossbows at the ready, firing bolts towards the four Merchants taking cover behind a van. On the other side of that van was a monstrosity of a vehicle, at least ten feet high and seemingly comprised entirely of scrap metal, bolted and welded together haphazardly. Bits of machinery that might have been guns were mounted on the hood.
Skidmark was slowly creating a barrier along the roof of that vehicle. I saw Sophia's bolts slowing as they passed through it, each one more than the last. Soon, in order to prevent them reaching their ride, she'd have to engage at close range, putting her at a disadvantage.
Of course, that was before I arrived.
"Get the slut, Mush!" Skidmark roared, and Mush surged forward, charging me. His pink-skinned, squat body was enlarged and augmented with bits of garbage and clumps of gravel, which grew around him in a tangled mass of mingled tendrils and blobs.
It was one of the most disgusting things I'd ever seen, barring the locker.
I swung Iphannis once, and severed a tendril of garbage. Then I was forced to dive aside as another long arm struck at the ground where I was standing, pounding the ground with a heavy crash. I spun Iphannis around me, deflecting another strike, and then stabbed the luminous point into his rotund belly. The thrust didn't dig deep, and I was sure I'd hit nothing more significant than fat, but he screamed. The little bit of pink skin I could see behind the trash and gravel paled around the cut. Frostbite.
He staggered, and I withdrew the spear, spinning it around. A blow to his temple, and he was down.
Then I found myself pushed back by one of Skidmark's fields. "Whirlygig, you keep her back!" he said. "Squealer, let's—"
Then he gurgled, took a single step, and fell over. Sophia was there, a tranquilizer bolt at the level of Skidmark's neck in one hand, the other reaching for a crossbow.
Kid Win was overhead, firing downward with lasers onto the remaining capes. Squealer was just covering her face and cowering in cover while the last remaining cape did her best to defend her.
She was a girl with long hair covering her face, and she was charging Sophia. A windstorm of sand and gravel was whipping around her, and Sophia was forced back to avoid being slashed by the speeding debris. The girl was fast, though, and Sophia was starting to stumble as she was backed up.
Then the girl had to dive aside to avoid a burst of laser fire from above, and I was charging. The lasers were scattered by the sand, though, and beams glanced off my armor. I thrust Iphannis forward, but it was buffeted away by the whirlwind.
Then the girl threw herself at me, and I was forced to dive aside to avoid being shredded.
"This isn't working!" Sophia hollered over the wind. "Annatar, have you got anything?"
I looked down at Vilya. The answer was probably yes.
I clenched my left fist, and looked up into the whirlwind, bearing down on me. It was widening now--spreading outward, growing thicker and faster. I could barely see the girl on the inside.
Vilya was the Dominant Ring, but more to the point, it was the Ring of Air. I reached out and took the wind into my hands.
I immediately saw that it wasn't actually wind. The cape was using a telekinetic field, or something, to artificially create the effect. But that was no barrier.
I drew back my hand as if to throw something, and pushed forward. A burst of wind, as strong as a hurricane gust, pushed away the storm. Sand and gravel went flying, breaking free of the girl's power. I heard her shriek as she was cut up by her own debris.
The dust settled quickly, and she was on the ground, having caught herself with her hands. I stared at the girl, and she stared back, her face hidden under a curtain of tangled black hair. She was bleeding from cuts on her arms and legs. Sand was already starting to rise around her as her whirlwind reasserted itself.
Then a bolt from Sophia's crossbow hit her in the back of the neck, and her arms flopped bonelessly to the ground, her eyes closing.
Kid Win was already dropping. "I've got confoam," he said quickly. "I'll start foaming them--you secure Squealer."
I nodded and turned away, returning to the last Merchant standing. She was sitting hunched, her back to the car, staring at me with a hunted look in her glazed, unfocused eyes.
I stopped in front of her. I wondered what to say.
Sorry we hurt your teammates and shut down your operation? I wasn't. They'd hurt themselves, mostly. I could ask her where the canisters were, but even as the thought occurred I saw them by Skidmark's prone form, still sealed and whole.
I had nothing to ask, no threats to deliver, and she had nowhere to run. So I said the only thing I could think of.
"You have the right to remain silent."
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