Dragon's Progeny: Chapter 71

Super late chap, I know! I should hopefully have another chapter of Eating Your Weight out shortly though so look forward to that!

I stared up at the cape, extremely disoriented from his power and the subsequent fall. The bubble of energy in his hand wavered in front of my face, growing bigger and small as it fluctuated between his fingers, and I recalled the description of the cape that Tammi had encountered a few days ago. This must have been Squall, which meant my creeping suspicion was correct.

My knowledge on the Fallen, or at least this branch of them, was admittedly sparse. I foolishly decided against researching them fully, directing my attention to the more overt threat of Coil instead of a group I thought would be gone within a couple of weeks. I knew the broad strokes of their powers though, enough to know that a bubble that size would kill me this close. The question was, would it also kill him? I wasn't sure, and I berated myself for not researching the group more.

“I've waited a long time to meet you face to face, heretic." Squall growled. As he spoke, I looked around him to find my yard quickly filling up with even more armed men, until around a dozen or so were packed into a small semi-circle behind him. The woman who had been in the truck was present leaning against a taller, unfamiliar cape as she glared at me murderously. Blood was leaking from her ears, soaking into the neck of her costume in a deep, crimson trail.

A foot in my side made me flinch but Squall merely tapped me to get my attention. He looked displeased, as if the fact that I had looked away from him made him angry.

“You committed a grave sin going against the natural order of things.” He continued speaking as my eyes rested on him once again, “Leviathan visiting your city was a blessing. He came to wash away your sins, to cleanse the filth of humanity from the vile streets of Brockton Bay just as he did with Boston and Kyushu.”

I flinched minutely at the mention of my home country and he noticed. He gestures around him, speaking louder so his congregation could hear him.

“This woman was visited by our lord not once, but twice! She was mercifully allowed to escape the cleansing of Kyushu but when he came to collect his first, she rejected him and even went so far as to aid in killing him! If there is only a single sinner on this earth, she stands before us now. We must make an example of her and her people!”

His speech had its intended effect of rousing his men but I couldn't help but notice his tone. His words were spoken with the grandiose of a priest addressing his clergy, inciting and passionate, but while the men behind him were eating it up, for some reason I got the feeling that he didn't truly believe what he was saying. His dogma was just an excuse to cause mayhem.

Unfortunately, that didn't change the very real danger he and his words posed.

Squall kneeled down onto one knee, getting close to me, “You are going to suffer for your part in his death. We will raze this city and destroy everything you ever cared about. By the time we are finished, the ABB will be nothing but a memory.”

I inhaled and the crowd quieted down, waiting for me to speak. “No matter what you do,” I said, staring him in the eyes, “it won't bring your ‘god’ back. Leviathan will remain as he is, nothing but a bad memory and a pair of limbs, trapped in the very moment of his bitter defeat for all the world to see.”

Squall's men jeered but he kept a cool face, “Maybe he will. But that doesn't change the sins you have committed. We'll make an example of your gang and everyone who follows you, including that freak and your little girlfriend.”

His voice was low and intimidating but I scoffed, looking around at the ragtag group of misfits surrounding me, “If you really think that your group is a match for the ABB, then you are as dull as you look. The Empire was one of the most powerful gangs on the east coast. The Crowlies aren't even the most powerful branch of the Fallen. I imagine there's a reason your fellows choose to have as little contact with you as physically possible.”

Squall's face turned red in the firelight and he gestured at my burning home, “We’ve done well enough so far.*

“All you've accomplished is driving a sleeping woman from her home in a panic. Even the Merchants could have accomplished that.” I sneered, “The moment that my men hear what happened, they will come for you and the Fallen will be driven from the city in shambles or more than likely just destroyed outright, just as everyone else who has dared to stand against the might of the ABB.”

Though my words were confident, I was discreetly looking for an avenue of escape. Completely surrounded, there was no way I could possibly use my power without one of them seeing and the moment that they noticed, that was that. I needed to either find an opening or create one somehow.

Squall didn't like hearing me besmirch his gang. His face twisted in anger that was mirrored by the men around him as the crowd began to grow more rowdy. The bubble in his fingers grew and my eyes snapped to it as he spoke, “Well I guess it's too bad you won't be around to see it then, isn't it?”

The bubble wavered and I tensed, preparing to draw out my power and hopefully transform in time to tank the hit, but I didn't need to bother. As his fingers tensed, the world was shattered by an ear ending bang and the bubble, as well as his entire hand, suddenly disappeared into a light pink mist, leaving nothing but a stump remaining.

A beat passed, framed by the crackling of my burning home, before Squall let out a shrill scream and stumble backwards, clutching his arm to his chest as blood covered the front of his costume and the grass at his feet. The cry spurred me into motion and I took the opportunity that had presented itself, transforming in an instant before the men around me could recover from their shock.

I burst from my mist as a monster of bristling fur and razor-sharp teeth. Primal instinct drive me as I tackled Squall to the ground, slamming his head into the dirt with a massive clawed hand before leaping up and over the crowd and even the street behind them in a single bound. 

I landed on an adjacent building and crouched down. One of the large ears on the top of my head flicked, swiveling towards the person standing behind me as I turned my fuzzy muzzle in their direction. The wary eyes of a fatigued Miss Militia stared back at me. The woman was holding a rather large rifle in her arms and the scent of gunpowder was fresh in the air.

“We caught wind of the commotion all the way from across the city.” She said as I stared at her, “I can't say we expected something like this.”

We? I looked back towards my home to find another couple of heroes making quick work of Squall's forces. Assault and Battery were proving why they were often deployed together as they worked their way through the dozen or so men responsible for my house’s destruction.

“Are you hurt?” Miss Militia asked as I turned back to her. I huffed, growling something unintelligible even to my ears, and she stared at me, unimpressed, “I don't speak werewolf.

I returned to human form, rubbing soot off of my face as I stepped out of my mist, ”I’m fine. Just disoriented. They attacked while I was asleep.”

The woman nodded, her rifle flickering before solidifying in her hands as something smaller and much more technical. She turned back to the edge of the roof, kneeling down as she watched her teammates work through the scope, and I settled in to join her, taking the moment to finally get my bearings.

In the meantime, Assault and Battery made quick work of the men down below. Even the capes that Squall brought with him were quickly subdued, though one of them could barely fight back in the first place. The other tried to fight back, but against the two of them together, he didn't stand much of a chance and in the end, Miss Militia’s help wasn't needed, and I didn't even have the chance to interfere.

As the fighting came to an end, Miss Militia stood from her crouch and holstered her weapon, looking at me, “We should get down there before that man I shot bleeds out. We haven't had a chance to resupply so I'm the only one carrying any right now.”

“As much as I'd like for him to bleed to death on my lawn after what he's done, you're probably right.” My eyes slid smoothly over to Squall, sharp and angry, “I have a few questions for him anyway.”

~~~

“Well shit.”

Tammi felt like echoing Glitz’s words but wasn't given the chance as the sudden urge to take cover took precedence. She ducked as a laser whizzed by her head, stepping away from the edge of the roof as their enemies were made aware of their presence.

“Guess we took too long.” Glam said as a purple laser whizzed by his head.

“Or they were already there.” Golem replied, looking unsettled.

Their plan of escaping via the roof had been quickly shot down, almost literally, by the presence of armed men on the roof of the adjacent building. It was lower than their own, but still tall enough that the mercenaries would be able to get a good shot if they even thought about peeking their heads out.

That being said, in the time it took for them to realize this, they had managed to get a pretty good peek on how things were going down below. Needless to say, they weren't good. Faced with a surprise attack and such high tech weaponry, the PRT agents who had been there to respond to the call lost outright. Tammi wasn't sure if the mercs’ lasers were set to stun or whatever, but she wouldn't bet on it which meant they were probably dead.

Tammi felt bad for them; they had only been doing their jobs, after all, but she didn't have time to be concerned about that considering the situation they were currently in. And the one happened just down the street.

Tammi cast another glance towards the pillar of smoke growing taller and taller in the distance. That was where Yuko's house was, almost exactly, and she wondered if this attack might not just be on their end. At the very least, it explained why her girlfriend wasn't answering her calls.

“So what's the plan?” Glam asked as they walked back into the depths of the building, “We can't fly out of here if they're set up right across the street. We'll be blown out of the air.”

“Can we call for backup?” asked Golem hopefully, but Tammi immediately shook her head.

“I lost signal while we were making our way up. Considering the other shit they have, they've probably set up a cell jammer somewhere.” 

“Even if they didn't, it's not like we could just wait around here “ Glitz added on, “They'd realize what we're doing and just start clearing this place room by room, and I don't think I need to tell you that none of our powers work really well in tight spaces with friendlies.”

Golem visibly deflated and Tammi almost felt bad for him. Almost.

They thought hard about what they could do do get out of this situation, bringing up ideas and shooting them down just as quickly. They had somewhat screwed themselves by retreating into this building so quickly, but the alternative wasn't exactly better.

“We need a distraction.” Tammi finally suggested, “We aren't getting out of here unless we can get their eyes off us so we need a distraction “

“Like what?” Glam asked, and Tammi went silent.

“Hey, Golem.” Glitz poked him on the shoulder, making him flinch, “Can't you just make us some cover so we can roll out of here on foot? If we can't get shot, me and Glam can blow them to hell all on our own.”

Tammi looked at him too, but unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as Golem shook his head, “My powers don't work like that. I can't move my constructs after I've already decided where I want them to go.”

Well that sucked, but Tammi had somewhat expected it. She had already come up with an idea anyway. She turned to look across the floor at the light leaking in through the window. The buildings in this area were abandoned and she doubted anybody was living in most of them. Even if they were, they'd probably left by now after hearing all the gunshots. Leviathan got rid of most of the idiots with no common sense. Maybe…

She turned to Glam, “You said that you two can level buildings when you're close to each other, right? You weren't bullshitting?”

“It takes a few shots but yeah, we can.” Glam nodded.

“That's fine.” Tammi said as her plan solidified, “As long as you can do it, we should be fine.”

Golem looked between them, confused, “Wait, what are you planning?”  

Tammi shot him a grin, “We need a distraction. Id say a building coming down on their heads is a pretty fucking good one, wouldn't you?”

She was sure the heroes would have a problem with it, but Tammi  had never really cared what they thought and that wasn't gonna change just because they were technically on the same side at the moment. One building coming down in ABB territory was far from the worst thing that could happen in the next few minutes

While the twins seemed enthused by the idea, Golem was more hesitant, “That’ll hurt them, won't it?” He asked, and Tammi sighed. He really was new, wasn't he?

“It’ll probably kill ‘em.” She said ruthlessly, “But it's either them or is, and I don't give a rat’s ass about them so I'm going with us. You won't even have to do anything. Just give us some cover when we ask for it.”

He still looked conflicted but he didn't argue this time and Tammi nodded, happy that he wasn't trying to fight her decision, “Alright. Let's get back up there. Oh, and one of you come here and give me a hand with this.” 

A few minutes later, they were back on the stairs, peeking out at the roof just beyond. Tammi squinted, turning back towards the group, “Ready?” She asked, receiving nods, “Good. Golem, give us some cover.”

The brawny cape nodded, stepping forward and putting his hands on the ground. They sunk into the stone, gloves and all, and an identical pair of hands wrought from stone rose at the edge of the roof, curling protectively around nothing at all as bright lasers began to pepper the back.

Glitz and Glam wasted no time, running up to the edge of the roof and crouching behind the hands as their fingers laced together.

“Aim in the middle!” Tammi called as they began sending swirling white comets towards the other building. They landed and exploded with a horrific amount of kinetic energy, rendering literal tons of concrete and glass to nothing but pebbles and shards with every single impact. Deafening booms and crashes echoed throughout the street as an entire floor of the building was reduced to nothing but rubble in a fraction of a second.

True to their word, it took less than twenty seconds of sustained fire–during which Golem's hands slowly chipped away under the mercenaries’ returning fire–for the building to buckle under its own weight and come crashing down like a house of cards, sending dust billowing into the streets around them.

And that was their cue. Tammi tapped Golem’s arm and he yanked his hands out of the ground, helping her carry the giant white folding that they had dragged up from the lower floors.

“Come on!” Tammi called to the twins urging them onto the raft as she climbed on herself. They took up positions near the back, using their combined weight to balance out that of Tammi and Golem's as the table began to lift into the air.

The streets below were covered with dust and other debris, covering their escape for the most part, but a few of the wiser mercs–or maybe just those with goggles–realized what they were doing and began taking potshots at the flying table in hopes of bringing it down. Glitz and Glam returned fire, sending a colorful barrage of energy to meet the lasers coming up towards them, covering their retreat.

One laser came a little too close to home however, and Tammi hissed a one of them traced a line of fire along her arm, cutting through her costume and leaving her with a burning, bloody wound.

“Rune!” Golem shouted, and the girl glared at him murderously, making him blanch and flinch backwards as he realized what he had done.

Said flinch almost caused him to fall off the edge of the table but Tammi grabbed onto the front of his coat, jerking him back on as the raft tilted precariously. He fell over her, making her growl, but she didn't push him away, leaning down to speak in his ear, her voice just loud enough to be audible over the rushing wind.

“When we're safe, you and me are gonna talk, Theo.” She hissed, before nudging him off of her so she could focus on flying.

His wide-eyed stare burned into the side of her head while the twins’ cheers and jeers towards the mercenaries rang in her ears, but she ignored it all as she headed towards her home. They weren't out of the woods yet.