by Drew Hayes
Much as she respected the efficient brutality, they were clipping through her pawns at a rapid rate, and the real party hadn’t even kicked off yet. She was going to have to slow this down, which meant getting her own hands dirty. It would make things tougher later on, but this had to last until the cavalry was called for.
“Hephaestus!” The voice rang out from the sky, the descending form of Cyber Geek soaring into view, jet plumes firing off a pack strapped to his back. He bore down on the suit almost like he planned to crash, before pulling up short just in time, coming to a sharp halt. “What have you done?”
“Self-defense.” Hephaestus, the suit’s evident name, tilted their helmet down to the man still writhing in pain. “Maybe slightly aggressive self-defense.”
“You call this slightly?” He motioned to the downed man, even as more were appearing from within the building, taking note of the injured among their peers.
“Look buddy, if someone points a gun at me, I’m not taking the gun. I’m taking the whole fucking arm.”
Nearly on cue, one of the rabble from the building raised an impact isolater, firing at where Hephaestus and Cyber Geek were standing. The explosion of force sent Cyber Geek flying backward, causing a flicker of blue light where he landed, while Hephaestus was merely knocked back a few paces, the differences in their mass causing variant reactions.
Two more goons had their weapons at the ready, and Lozora felt a sense of relief as things got back on track. The giant wall of ice that suddenly formed, blocking line of sight between her crew and their targets, stole the relief away just as quickly. Multicolored scarves shot out from a nearby alley, ensnaring and plucking the weapons from the attackers’ hands. A hulking beast of a creature ran over, scooping Cyber Geek up and putting him back on his feet.
“What’s going on?” Now that she could see him better, Lozora recognized Medley, along with Hat Trick and Cold Shoulder. They’d managed to summon a team of capes, as intended, just not the right ones.
“No idea. Some kind of attack, and it doesn’t seem like aliens,” Cyber Geek relayed.
Scanning the field, Medley caught sight of Hephaestus and let out a growl, stepping forward before Cyber Geek’s hand snagged his furry shoulder. “Hang on. He’s not with them. They shot at both of us.”
“Of course I’m not with them. These bastards came at me. I’m just showing them the folly of their ways.” Without warning, Hephaestus fired another beam, this one directly into the ice wall. It exploded the entire structure, turning the shards of frozen water into shrapnel flying directly at the formerly gun-toting trio. This time, there was quite a lot of blood, as jagged hunks of ice didn’t seal their wounds the way an energy beam did.
“Stop that!” Cyber Geek yelled, growing visibly distressed. “You’re going to kill someone.”
“Do you think those guns fired beams of candy canes and rainbows? Wake up, dipshit. Those people were aiming for our heads. They are not here to play the game of capes and villains. They came with a purpose and will happily leave you cold on the street if you get in their way.”
So, this suit was a man named Hephaestus, and he was observant, as well as able to comprehend the true stakes on the table. A complication, no doubt about that, yet in the end, things had still worked out well enough. The targeted woman calling for help would have been ideal, as it was the least complicated version of the plan. However, there was no reason it couldn’t be multiple factors that drew the New Science Sentries over: fellow capes asking for backup would be an excellent motivator.
Double-checking her laptop feed, Lozora confirmed that the AHC’s resources were largely deployed. The goal was to limit how many options could even come to help; otherwise, they might end up with more unwanted additions. Based on what their systems were able to gather, the capes appeared to be stretched damn thin. For every three Wrexwren landing sites, there would be only one unit to respond. The aliens could certainly take direction well—they were overwhelming the exceptional skills of any individual cape purely by being too numerous to be effectively dealt with.
With so much to handle, the only teams likely to respond would be other capes stationed in Ridge City. Between the location and the team needing assistance, she couldn’t see any possible way to stack the deck harder for getting the New Science Sentries. Since there were no more variables to tweak, that meant it was time to advance.
“Secondary team, now.”
Had they possessed a capable teleporter, her first choice would have been to drop the additional troops in suddenly, with no warning. Since that was not a skill her employer possessed, however, they’d gone with another, more classic method. All around the street, car doors began to open and bodies poured out. Using the same cloaking tech they’d tested with the kidnappers, every vehicle had been fitted to hide any life signs from even the most potent of scans. In a night of pre-invasion revelry around town, it had been a simple matter to have them parked and waiting.
Just like that, the capes and Hephaestus found themselves surrounded on all sides. These were more formidable opponents, the ones considered to be not quite so easily replaced, and as such, her employer had gifted them with higher-valued equipment. If these annoyances thought all the fights would be so easy as the first wave, they would be in for quite the surprise.
“Come on, already,” she muttered, idly checking the streets and sky for movement. The sooner they arrived, the sooner the real work could start. One way or another, they were going to pull the New Science Sentries here.
It was just a matter of finding the screams that would bring them running.
Chapter 106
Ducking beneath the cracked remains of a lamppost, Jean huddled in the shadows, hoping that the unnatural forms wandering nearby wouldn’t notice. They’d already landed their ship in the middle of his block, opening fire on the nearby citizens with their strange, sizzling weapons. Jean was trying to slip out. He was the only one of his family here; he just had to move to the big city for University. Already, his mind was on the village kilometers away, hoping it was as peaceful and idyllic as his heavily panicked memory was recalling. He had to get there, had to make it away from the landing site. The Wrexwren couldn’t be everywhere. It was just a matter of staying unseen.
The pair nearby were pawing at the front of a jewelry store window that had been smashed open in the chaos. One with armor in a light green hue plucked a sapphire earring from the display. It made high-pitched whistles to its magenta counterpart, who echoed similar sounds right back. Green took the gem in its eight-digited hand, then slammed the butt of its weapon down onto it, causing a spark. Lifting its arm high, Green dropped the chunks of sapphire down into its face, all the various holes opening wide to accept the offering.
Silence, then loud, sharp whistles as the green Wrexwren shook its head violently, clearly unhappy with the choice of snack. While they were distracted, Jean started to creep back, slowly and steadily shifting his feet one after another. Not too fast, focus on being silent. Every step had to be sure... which made the sudden arrival of the curb behind him so unfortunate.
Although he momentarily lost his footing, Jean managed to avoid taking a tumble. He didn’t even whirl his arms or nearly keel over. What he did, however, was produce a loud yelp in the brief instant where he felt the ground slip out from under him. The moment his foot was stable, he looked back at the Wrexwren, whose heads were suddenly stiff and alert.
All efforts at planning flew away in an instant. Jean simply turned and ran for everything he was worth. Stubby legs slamming onto cobblestones marked the pace of his pursuers, and it was horrifyingly swift. They were catching up already as he took the first corner, using his knowledge of the area to aim for narrow, twisting alleys. If he could lose them on the angles and find a nook to hide inside, he might see that farm again one day after all.
Part of him wanted to look upward, to search the skies, wondering where the hell all the capes were at. What was the point of the AHC having a br
anch here if Sir Vitesse couldn’t even marshal the superheroes into helping out? Jean already knew the answer, though. They were out there dealing with the hundreds of other ships that had come crashing to Earth. He’d just been unlucky enough to be one of the people left on their own.
Ducking along a narrow stone wall, Jean hunkered down, listening to the sounds of heavy steps now no longer dashing. Had he managed to lose them?
That delusion lasted only until the first nearby wall exploded in a shower of mortar and rubble. Ten feet over, and Jean would have been caught in the detonation. Through the gap, he could just make out the form of the Wrexwren. Magenta had a weapon still pointed at the wall, whereas Green was selecting a target. A sharp whistle and shifting head confirmed that the window had worked both ways; they’d seen Jean at the same time he spotted them. Not that it would have mattered, since they were obviously happy to destroy the whole neighborhood for the fun of running down their quarry.
Nowhere else to run, and little hope of superheroes happening by to offer salvation. This was it, then. To his surprise, Jean felt calmer than he would have expected; once the future became certain, fear was something of a useless concept. He started to lift his arms into fists, thin as they were, before thinking better of it. From the rubble, Jean lifted a hefty chunk of stone. It felt almost fitting, to fight with a rock, humanity’s very first evolutionary tool pitted against these better-equipped sci-fi conquerors.
Magenta raised its weapon once more, making sure Jean knew he would have limited time to use that rock. Then, without any warning, the Wrexwren was gone. In its place was an exploded pile of viscera and organs, none of which appeared even vaguely human. Green was still there, swiveling its head around quickly. It very nearly got a guard up in time before the hulking man stepped out of the alley’s shadows. The Wrexwren struggled as those meaty hands broke apart its attempts to block, this giant man gripping the whistling head like he was palming a basketball. A grunt of effort slipped out as he turned the arm—and the Wrexwren’s head—steadily counter-clockwise. Several crunches and pops made it seem as if the job was done, but when he yanked at the end and took the head off entirely, there could be no doubt that the fight was definitely won.
“Anything fun?” The voice didn’t come from the giant. It was further up the alley, and had spoken in English. Jean knew quite a bit from his studies, so he listened closely, unsure of whether this was truly better than what he’d been facing or not. Mindless murdering monsters were horrifying in their own right, but there were some truly scary humans out there, as well.
“More exploders, from the looks of things.” The huge man hunkered down and lifted up the light green Wrexwren remains, gently plucking the weapon hanging from its claws.
“I’m not mad at that. These are pretty fun. Can definitely find some buyers once the dust has settled. I do hope we find something a little more special, though. One of these has to be their version of a higher rank with fancier gear.” The second speaker having now stepped fully into view, Jean realized he was human—in appearance, if nothing else. Slim, cheerful, clad in a pinstripe suit, a Wrexwren weapon slung over his shoulder. That explained what happened to Magenta, at any rate.
The larger man let out a low harrumph. “I still wish they hadn’t destroyed the outdoor market on entry. Such a waste.”
“Tell you what, after we fence all this tech, let’s pick up a case of truffles and snails or whatever,” his friend replied.
Moving as slowly as he could manage, Jean backed away, toward a gap in the debris where he could squeeze past. Tempting as it was to run to these two for help, capes didn’t rip the heads off opponents’ bodies and then loot the corpses. Whoever this duo was, they represented a different meta-human element, one that Jean had no desire to learn more about.
Just as he was about to slip through the break, Jean looked up to see that the small man was standing over the puddle that had once been a magenta Wrexwren, watching him move. For a second, they held eye contact before Jean bolted, scurrying through a break in the debris and sprinting the moment he was on the other side.
It wouldn’t be until a several hundred meters later that he would finally slow down, and only then realize that perhaps the run might have been easier if he hadn’t held on to the huge rock.
Seeing the crowd rise from the cars, Hephaestus dearly wished they hadn’t left Chloe, who was going by Cliché in her makeshift costume, up on the roof. The plan made sense, in theory. Since the people attacking thought their targets were trapped in the apartment, all attention was focused on keeping them inside. By repositioning themselves to the rear and staying hidden in the halls, they were able to strike from the angles no one was expecting. Unfortunately, as the second wave reminded her, they weren’t the only ones allowed to get clever. She did have to wonder, who the hell was committing this much force to what sure felt like fishing for small fries?
Weapons were being pulled, and she could see several metas drawing on their abilities, including one who appeared to be absolutely sizzling with energy. Before the battle could start in earnest, Hephaestus fired off a quick shot, right into the glowing one’s torso. Anyone showing off that much would be more trouble than it was worth.
While certainly not planned, the shot did turn out to be helpful. All that crackling energy exploded out from the now dead meta, striking at the others nearby and causing momentary confusion. It was an unexpected window of opportunity; the question was what Hephaestus should do with it. If she zipped up to the roof and grabbed Cliché, they could pick through the interior stragglers, scoop up Bahamut, and get clear. Of course, that would mean leaving their home, along with Cyber Geek and his team, totally undefended.
Running was always an option—she wasn’t ready to give up on fighting just yet, especially not when things were getting interesting. They did need to regroup, however.
Racing over, Hephaestus clapped Cyber Geek on the arm.
“Come on. We have to go inside. We’ll be overwhelmed out here.”
“What?” Cyber Geek had produced a large shield in a shower of sparks and numbers. He was trying to get between the crooks and the others before they recovered. “Why would you help us, and why would I trust you?”
“How about because neither of us has ever tried to kill the other, which I can’t say about any of those assholes.” Hephaestus cocked a thumb at the already recovering crowd, driving home the point. “Do you really want one more enemy in this situation when you could have an ally?”
Shots came from the goons—some bullets, some blasts of strange color, all crashing into the surroundings with various destructive effects. Cyber Geek took one right on the shield, drawing a loud beep and sparks, even as the protection held together. “I suppose that old ‘enemy of my enemy’ bit doesn’t endure for no reason. Fine, we’ll go inside with you, but if you try anything—”
“You’ll scold me and call the coppers?” Hephaestus interrupted. “Save the empty threats for someone who doesn’t know how capes work. Now, let’s get in the damn building already.”
Together, the five avoided most of the shots as they scrambled for the entrance. Too many of the shots, in fact—only Medley took a few bullets, and those didn’t even break his scales. Hephaestus had a hunch they were shooting to wound, at most. If they were still holding back even after she’d wantonly been breaking their troops, then they didn’t have whatever it was they wanted yet. More and more, the evidence was pointing toward this being about someone else, and it was hard to imagine who it could be other than the New Science Sentries.
Huddling in the mail room, Hephaestus clicked off her helmet’s outward speaker and activated it’s communicator. The device was connected to a similar model expertly woven into Bahamut’s mask. Since Cliché wasn’t a guild villain, however, she had no such equipment on hand. They’d had to improvise a little to keep her in the loop.
“Bahamut, what’s your situation? We’ve got reinforcements surrounding the building, and these look m
ore competent than the last wave. Cliché, everything okay up there?” With the helmet speaker disabled, Hephaestus was effectively able to have a private conversation, despite all the capes in proximity.
“I’m okay, but there’s a lot of people around us.” Patching a toy walkie-talkie into their communication system hadn’t been easy, but it was also a trick Tori had lots of experience with. When it came to listening in undetected, there were few things as convenient to crack as a radio signal. Guild lines were too encoded for a direct tap, but patching a signal through her helmet and relaying it to Bahamut made the whole system more or less function, at least well enough for what they needed in the moment.
After a few seconds, the deep hush of Bahamut’s voice joined in. “Pretty sure I’ve cleaned out most of the first wave, but there’s bound to be a few stragglers holed up. Have to be careful moving around inside from here on. Where do you want to regroup?”
That was an excellent question. Their own place was out, for obvious reasons. Roof would provide easy exits in a pinch, but also opened them up to fire from a distance. Given that Cliché could get them out easily enough, there was no reason to risk that yet. Ducking into a random apartment would be the easiest move, except she didn’t know which ones would be occupied, and adding civilians to the mix was only going to make things messier. They needed somewhere safe, ideally secure, and not currently occupied.
Instantly, Hephaestus knew where they were heading. “Group up at the New Science Sentries’ apartment. If anywhere in here has extra protections, that’ll be the place, and most importantly we know it’s not currently in use. Bahamut, open the door and rough up the scene so it looks like an empty place you stumbled upon mid-battle. Can’t risk letting on that we know who actually lives there. Cliché, if you want to keep an eye on things up top, it’s fine, but get out of there if there’s even a whiff of danger.”