Edge 4.6
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Hyperactive Scatterbrain
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Edge 4.6
Now that everyone had arrived, the Empire's ploy felt insultingly obvious; gather enough of their forces in one place to draw everyone's attention but not enough to be seen as a citywide threat, get as many of the other Brockton Bay capes as they could in one place, and attack from all sides to establish themselves as the new top dogs. It wasn't guaranteed to work in their favor, since we had far more capes than they did especially with the alliances we'd struck, but that didn't mean our victory was in any way certain or assured. Had that been the case, we wouldn't even be here.
Still, why or how they'd gotten here was irrelevant. As with the ABB, they were threatening my city and my friends. No one got to do that and get away with it, not on my watch, and I was sure most of the friendly capes here all thought the same thing.
I needed to figure out where I'd fit the best; that proved difficult right out of the gate. The fight had started less than thirty seconds ago, yet things were already borderline incomprehensible. When the ABB had attacked, there'd been two largely clear sides to every component of the fight, and for the most part everyone knew which side to stay on. Here, friends and foes were mixed together in such awkward clumps the battle strategy devolved into little more than 'find the closest enemy and beat the living hell out of them'. The Empire still worked in a somewhat organized fashion; instead of following that basic tenet, they split into groups of three or four, each of them going after exactly one of our allies.
Well, that made things a little simpler. I just needed to find the most unbalanced match and even things out again.
To my horror, that was rather easy to find. Several gun-toting Empire members, as well as Krieg, had managed to separate Aegis from the rest of the Wards and were going after him hard. He'd clearly been shot at least once and Krieg was doing everything in his power to slam Aegis into the ground over and over; had he been anyone else, he might have been dead by now.
I thought about yelling to get their attention and distract them from Aegis, went back on that idea in favor of stealth, and split my swarm into four equal groups before they dove right in to the sound of screaming.
It went both better and worse than I expected. While my swarm was only fast enough to incapacitate one of the gunmen before the rest all aimed their weapons at me, the resulting screams had gotten the attention of Kid Win, who'd flown over to help. When Krieg shifted his attention to make Kid Win's attempt at flying into the Empire henchmen miss, I sent my insects after him. His gas mask made going for the face right away infeasible, but that just meant I took a different approach, sending all the insects that flew into his sleeves and the ones that didn't to his pant legs. For the first few seconds, he soldiered on like I hadn't done anything, flinging both Kid Win and Aegis away as I got to cover, but then the insects proved too much as he began screaming and trying to brush himself off rather than fighting, which allowed a passing Glory Girl to score the knockout hit.
"Thank you," I managed to yell to Glory Girl. She nodded, then took flight once more; with so many Empire capes still active, there wasn't time for anything else.
My little show had gotten the attention of Crusader and Stormtiger at least. Hookwolf looked like he wanted to join them, but he was currently engaged with at least three canine-adjacent beasts being commanded by a girl who looked like she ate a bowl of nails for breakfast every morning. Hopefully someone would be able to return the favor I'd just given; Crusader's ghosts didn't care whether or not I sent insects after them and I was pretty confident Stormtiger could use her aerokinesis to either dodge or kill those same insects.
Rushing recklessly into a brawl where I knew I was outmatched was a horrible move, so that meant going on defense and waiting for someone to create an opening. Believing Crusader to be the bigger initial threat due to his longer range despite Stormtiger's superior mobility, I sent a small portion of my swarm after him first, but it just got smashed aside. Then, as he got far too close for my liking, I cut my losses and fled toward the nearest group of friendlies. I felt like a coward, but that wasn't going to be my final stand. Not when my sacrifice would mean nothing.
Unfortunately, just because I was retreating didn't mean Crusader and Stormtiger went elsewhere; if anything, their pursuit of me intensified. They must have reached the same conclusion that I had. Fortunately enough, the closest allies I had were Assault and Battery, and they wasted no time engaging my foes even as Fenja and Menja, their current opponents, lashed out at them with oversized limbs. Battery sent Stormtiger flying backward almost before she knew what happened; she managed to catch herself above ground, but that allowed Battery to retreat out of range to recharge. Assault wasn't far behind her, engaging Crusader and forcing him to go on the defensive.
The break gave me a few precious seconds to surveil the battle and determine whether we'd be able to push the Empire back or needed to retreat. The results came back inconclusive. Alongside our combined knockout of Krieg, Fenja and Menja were occupied trying (and failing) to swat several airborne capes who just kept slamming into them, while Alabaster was already down; I hadn't seen who'd hit them, but the way they were sprawled out indicated they weren't getting up in time to matter.
However, we were losing members, too. Pain Gainer's face looked like it'd been shoved into a meat grinder; she must have reached the limits of her regeneration or perhaps just needed a few minutes to recharge. Fog had incapacitated Miss Militia, who was wheezing and slumped against a wall, trying to cough out whatever Fog had infused her with. I didn't know what had happened to Skidmark, but considering the direction his arms were currently bent I wasn't sure if I wanted to. If this pace continued, while I'd believe they'd run out of capes before we did, it wasn't exactly the outcome we were looking for; Panacea would be working overtime to fix everyone at the very least, if not worse.
As I looked for where to help next, a shadow fell over me, and I fell prey to my natural instinct to look up. However, as I saw Rune aiming a boulder the size of the Dallons' living room at the highest concentration of heroic capes she could find, some part of me realized that instinct had just saved my life.
I ran for it again right as Rune launched her boulder, everyone within a ten-foot radius of the boulder's projected landing spot doing likewise. I both felt and heard the impact it made as it slammed into the pavement, several of the shards of road it spat out slamming into my back with almost as much force as the pebbles Skidmark had launched at me last time.
An enraged, mournful howl like a war trumpet erupted behind me, audible even over the sound of the brawl. Upon initial inspection, while the worst of the impact appeared to have spared the humans, I noticed what looked like a dog's head, surrounded by a mess of muscle and bone that didn't seem like it belonged. The girl who'd been leading those beasts earlier was screaming something incomprehensible at Rune; maybe they were just ordinary dogs before the obvious transformation they'd undergone. I couldn't blame the girl one bit for being furious; I hadn't met the dog for a second before today and the sight still made me see red for a second.
Fortunately, that boulder slam looked like it'd be a one-time attack. Even discounting the likelihood of Rune having another boulder to throw like that, Kaiser had split his attention to yell at her. "Fucking damn it, Rune! Either watch where you're aiming or use something smaller!"
Rune looked appropriately chastised for less than a second, because that was the amount of time it took Laserdream to engage her and she needed to either flee or fight back. Without another boulder to defend herself with, she fled into the distance, perhaps to look for another suitably sized projectile.
The next few minutes blurred in my mind. We appeared to be winning or at least breaking even with the Empire, but that was by no means certain. Through it all, I stayed as focused as I could, my mind filled with buzzing as I sent my insects to try and rebalance the worst of the fights. I kept sparing glimpses over my shoulder whenever I had the chance to make sure Rune hadn't returned for a second pass, but thankfully she seemed to have disappeared for now.
Between one skirmish and the next, a shout from just outside the melee drew everyone's attention once more. Two new capes approached the scene, making me tense up for a second before things clicked into place again. While one of them was a little harder to recognize, since it was the first time I'd seen their costume, the white mask on the other cape's face told me everything I needed to know. Double Take, alongside someone who was most likely Deep Blue.
The Beautification Committee had brought but a few capes, and they'd arrived late. However, they were better than nothing, and a few rested capes when both sides were already tired could easily turn the tide. Deep Blue in particular looked like she'd both been in and won her fair share of cape fights; she wasted no time charging into the brawl, and while her displayed agility didn't rival Stormtiger's it still beat that of nearly everyone here.
Both of them quickly made their mark. Deep Blue incapacitated several Empire goons with a few good shots, although it quickly became clear her gun needed time to recharge after every shot. Double Take, while not quite as accurate as her ally, still seemed like . Even Kaiser wasn't spared from this; he needed to deflect Deep Blue's first shot with a hastily-made spear of metal and dodge her second before breaking off to retreat.
By the time I'd needed to reengage, with several unpowered Empire goons moving to hassle me and requiring my swarm to beat them back, I'd noticed both Kaiser and Purity break off to convene. Hopefully, they were working out a retreat and this would soon be over, but at the moment I had other problems to focus on. Fortunately, none of the Empire goons going after me appreciated my insects, causing them to back off and give me another few seconds to strategize what to do next.
The instant Kaiser and Purity broke their huddle, I saw Purity charging up, her skin milk-pale and her expression one of utter concentration. I heard half a dozen shouted warnings a split second before Purity flared and the world around me went white. For a full second, I saw nothing, heard nothing, my ears ringing fiercely. Then, a sickening, meaty tearing sound overtook the silence, one I knew I didn't want to see the cause of because I knew it'd be horrifying.
My wish wasn't granted. The flash cleared to reveal Double Take, one of Kaiser's projections having impaled her just above her chest. With a shriek of warping metal, Kaiser ripped his skewer back out of Double Take in one fluid motion to a spew of viscera.
Double Take remained standing for just a second, blood pouring out of the wound and leaking out of the holes in her mask. Stiff. Silent. Unmoving.
Then she fell.
Deep Blue cried out and rushed to Double Take's side. While I couldn't see Kaiser's expression beneath his helmet, Purity looked a light breeze away from vomiting up everything she'd eaten that day. Everyone else present, whether friend or foe, looked like they were holding their breath. Sure, it was far from the first time the Empire had killed an innocent person, but not only was it now in flagrant violation of the social contract capes honored, doing it with in such a large brawl felt sure to cause things to escalate out of control.
To my surprise, at the moment it had the opposite effect; with a few exceptions, most of the smaller fights comprising the battle had stopped once the effects of Kaiser's attack became obvious. For now, everyone seemed to be watching Kaiser himself; despite how morally bankrupt as the Empire was, this was low even by his standards. He had to be wondering what his next steps were now that the Protectorate had a license to go open season on them.
Then I turned and saw Pain Gainer, who hadn't moved an inch since Double Take had fallen. As usual, she sent ice cubes down my back when I looked at her, but this time, it was accompanied by something squeezing around my lungs and taking my breath away.
Pain Gainer's smile, normally omnipresent, had cracked, an expression of utter contempt replacing it, one visible even as her face kept reforming. Before anyone could react, she aimed her pistol— not the Tinker one like Deep Blue held, but a normal one— above the crowd and seemingly fired at nothing, the noise a deafening bang that threatened to blow out my eardrums.
I turned just in time to see what she'd aimed at; Rune never saw it coming. The bullet struck her center-mass, a spray of blood marking its exit path. She shrieked and lost control of both her flight and her projectile. Both plummeted towards earth, the former screaming in pain and fear and the latter sending friend and foe alike scrambling once again.
She slammed face-first into the pavement with a sickening crunch, her neck bending in an impossible direction on impact. She bounced once before coming to rest at the base of a building, blood pooling around her as she did. She twitched for a few seconds, a weak cry emerging as she did, then lay still.
My expression mirroring Purity's, I fought to keep the meager remaining portion of today's meals inside my stomach. I lost that fight a few seconds in, my body beginning to violently purge lunch and possibly breakfast as well as I huddled over. Based on the noises I was hearing, several others from both sides had also fallen victim to their disgust, retching and heaving until nothing else came up. Fortunately, the two deaths had stopped most of the battle, and when an unpowered Empire member not affected by the carnage tried to take a cheap shot on me, a cluster of flies soaring down his throat caused him to start mimicking my motions before backing away.
I finished heaving about thirty seconds later, wiping my mouth and trying to focus through the splitting headache that accompanied purging so much fluid. Some seemed to be recovering from the horrific scene, while others remained sweaty and hunched over; surprisingly enough, there seemed to be about an equal number of each on both sides. Another scan of the area diverted my attention elsewhere; Kaiser was on the move.
He didn't attack anyone or issue any orders as he marched toward where Deep Blue knelt, every step loud and deliberate. Then, once his presence had gotten Deep Blue's attention, he began to speak: considering one of the caped members of his Empire had just died, his voice was surprisingly soft and mild, like a doting father. "My friend, is this really the game you want to play? Come now, you don't want to find out what we can do without the unwritten rules. Denounce your friend and hand her over to me, and we can pretend this whole debacle never happened."
Deep Blue took a long, contemplative pause, seeming to consider the idea. Kaiser looked at her intently, waiting for her answer.
Then, faster than I'd ever thought possible, Deep Blue produced the colorful pistol she'd been fighting with and fired it at Kaiser. He had just enough time to create a half-baked blockade of metal to stop the pellet, but perhaps that barricade was a conductor, as the pellet's baked-in energy simply tore through the metal to reach its target. Kaiser jerked in place for several long seconds, twitching and screaming like Deep Blue had just Tased him; not unlikely given how I believed her gun to work.
"You killed my friend," Deep Blue said, her voice steely. "You don't get to walk away from that, you coward. If that's the game you're playing, then let's. Fucking. Play."
Kaiser's twitching stabilized as Deep Blue finished her sentence; her shot appeared to have been painful but not crippling. Why Deep Blue hadn't just shot him again I didn't know, but maybe she needed time to reload, or she was out of that type of bullet. Either way meant Kaiser was a threat again, and now we had to work around that.
"Alright, then," Kaiser said, his smirk audible in his voice even through the pain, before turning to his compatriots and faithful. "Fight to kill!"
We didn't need a similar command to do the same. It didn't take a genius to determine that whatever polite farce of civility that both sides had maintained until now had been exposed as a fraud.
Now, this was no longer just a battle.
This was fucking war.
Now that everyone had arrived, the Empire's ploy felt insultingly obvious; gather enough of their forces in one place to draw everyone's attention but not enough to be seen as a citywide threat, get as many of the other Brockton Bay capes as they could in one place, and attack from all sides to establish themselves as the new top dogs. It wasn't guaranteed to work in their favor, since we had far more capes than they did especially with the alliances we'd struck, but that didn't mean our victory was in any way certain or assured. Had that been the case, we wouldn't even be here.
Still, why or how they'd gotten here was irrelevant. As with the ABB, they were threatening my city and my friends. No one got to do that and get away with it, not on my watch, and I was sure most of the friendly capes here all thought the same thing.
I needed to figure out where I'd fit the best; that proved difficult right out of the gate. The fight had started less than thirty seconds ago, yet things were already borderline incomprehensible. When the ABB had attacked, there'd been two largely clear sides to every component of the fight, and for the most part everyone knew which side to stay on. Here, friends and foes were mixed together in such awkward clumps the battle strategy devolved into little more than 'find the closest enemy and beat the living hell out of them'. The Empire still worked in a somewhat organized fashion; instead of following that basic tenet, they split into groups of three or four, each of them going after exactly one of our allies.
Well, that made things a little simpler. I just needed to find the most unbalanced match and even things out again.
To my horror, that was rather easy to find. Several gun-toting Empire members, as well as Krieg, had managed to separate Aegis from the rest of the Wards and were going after him hard. He'd clearly been shot at least once and Krieg was doing everything in his power to slam Aegis into the ground over and over; had he been anyone else, he might have been dead by now.
I thought about yelling to get their attention and distract them from Aegis, went back on that idea in favor of stealth, and split my swarm into four equal groups before they dove right in to the sound of screaming.
It went both better and worse than I expected. While my swarm was only fast enough to incapacitate one of the gunmen before the rest all aimed their weapons at me, the resulting screams had gotten the attention of Kid Win, who'd flown over to help. When Krieg shifted his attention to make Kid Win's attempt at flying into the Empire henchmen miss, I sent my insects after him. His gas mask made going for the face right away infeasible, but that just meant I took a different approach, sending all the insects that flew into his sleeves and the ones that didn't to his pant legs. For the first few seconds, he soldiered on like I hadn't done anything, flinging both Kid Win and Aegis away as I got to cover, but then the insects proved too much as he began screaming and trying to brush himself off rather than fighting, which allowed a passing Glory Girl to score the knockout hit.
"Thank you," I managed to yell to Glory Girl. She nodded, then took flight once more; with so many Empire capes still active, there wasn't time for anything else.
My little show had gotten the attention of Crusader and Stormtiger at least. Hookwolf looked like he wanted to join them, but he was currently engaged with at least three canine-adjacent beasts being commanded by a girl who looked like she ate a bowl of nails for breakfast every morning. Hopefully someone would be able to return the favor I'd just given; Crusader's ghosts didn't care whether or not I sent insects after them and I was pretty confident Stormtiger could use her aerokinesis to either dodge or kill those same insects.
Rushing recklessly into a brawl where I knew I was outmatched was a horrible move, so that meant going on defense and waiting for someone to create an opening. Believing Crusader to be the bigger initial threat due to his longer range despite Stormtiger's superior mobility, I sent a small portion of my swarm after him first, but it just got smashed aside. Then, as he got far too close for my liking, I cut my losses and fled toward the nearest group of friendlies. I felt like a coward, but that wasn't going to be my final stand. Not when my sacrifice would mean nothing.
Unfortunately, just because I was retreating didn't mean Crusader and Stormtiger went elsewhere; if anything, their pursuit of me intensified. They must have reached the same conclusion that I had. Fortunately enough, the closest allies I had were Assault and Battery, and they wasted no time engaging my foes even as Fenja and Menja, their current opponents, lashed out at them with oversized limbs. Battery sent Stormtiger flying backward almost before she knew what happened; she managed to catch herself above ground, but that allowed Battery to retreat out of range to recharge. Assault wasn't far behind her, engaging Crusader and forcing him to go on the defensive.
The break gave me a few precious seconds to surveil the battle and determine whether we'd be able to push the Empire back or needed to retreat. The results came back inconclusive. Alongside our combined knockout of Krieg, Fenja and Menja were occupied trying (and failing) to swat several airborne capes who just kept slamming into them, while Alabaster was already down; I hadn't seen who'd hit them, but the way they were sprawled out indicated they weren't getting up in time to matter.
However, we were losing members, too. Pain Gainer's face looked like it'd been shoved into a meat grinder; she must have reached the limits of her regeneration or perhaps just needed a few minutes to recharge. Fog had incapacitated Miss Militia, who was wheezing and slumped against a wall, trying to cough out whatever Fog had infused her with. I didn't know what had happened to Skidmark, but considering the direction his arms were currently bent I wasn't sure if I wanted to. If this pace continued, while I'd believe they'd run out of capes before we did, it wasn't exactly the outcome we were looking for; Panacea would be working overtime to fix everyone at the very least, if not worse.
As I looked for where to help next, a shadow fell over me, and I fell prey to my natural instinct to look up. However, as I saw Rune aiming a boulder the size of the Dallons' living room at the highest concentration of heroic capes she could find, some part of me realized that instinct had just saved my life.
I ran for it again right as Rune launched her boulder, everyone within a ten-foot radius of the boulder's projected landing spot doing likewise. I both felt and heard the impact it made as it slammed into the pavement, several of the shards of road it spat out slamming into my back with almost as much force as the pebbles Skidmark had launched at me last time.
An enraged, mournful howl like a war trumpet erupted behind me, audible even over the sound of the brawl. Upon initial inspection, while the worst of the impact appeared to have spared the humans, I noticed what looked like a dog's head, surrounded by a mess of muscle and bone that didn't seem like it belonged. The girl who'd been leading those beasts earlier was screaming something incomprehensible at Rune; maybe they were just ordinary dogs before the obvious transformation they'd undergone. I couldn't blame the girl one bit for being furious; I hadn't met the dog for a second before today and the sight still made me see red for a second.
Fortunately, that boulder slam looked like it'd be a one-time attack. Even discounting the likelihood of Rune having another boulder to throw like that, Kaiser had split his attention to yell at her. "Fucking damn it, Rune! Either watch where you're aiming or use something smaller!"
Rune looked appropriately chastised for less than a second, because that was the amount of time it took Laserdream to engage her and she needed to either flee or fight back. Without another boulder to defend herself with, she fled into the distance, perhaps to look for another suitably sized projectile.
The next few minutes blurred in my mind. We appeared to be winning or at least breaking even with the Empire, but that was by no means certain. Through it all, I stayed as focused as I could, my mind filled with buzzing as I sent my insects to try and rebalance the worst of the fights. I kept sparing glimpses over my shoulder whenever I had the chance to make sure Rune hadn't returned for a second pass, but thankfully she seemed to have disappeared for now.
Between one skirmish and the next, a shout from just outside the melee drew everyone's attention once more. Two new capes approached the scene, making me tense up for a second before things clicked into place again. While one of them was a little harder to recognize, since it was the first time I'd seen their costume, the white mask on the other cape's face told me everything I needed to know. Double Take, alongside someone who was most likely Deep Blue.
The Beautification Committee had brought but a few capes, and they'd arrived late. However, they were better than nothing, and a few rested capes when both sides were already tired could easily turn the tide. Deep Blue in particular looked like she'd both been in and won her fair share of cape fights; she wasted no time charging into the brawl, and while her displayed agility didn't rival Stormtiger's it still beat that of nearly everyone here.
Both of them quickly made their mark. Deep Blue incapacitated several Empire goons with a few good shots, although it quickly became clear her gun needed time to recharge after every shot. Double Take, while not quite as accurate as her ally, still seemed like . Even Kaiser wasn't spared from this; he needed to deflect Deep Blue's first shot with a hastily-made spear of metal and dodge her second before breaking off to retreat.
By the time I'd needed to reengage, with several unpowered Empire goons moving to hassle me and requiring my swarm to beat them back, I'd noticed both Kaiser and Purity break off to convene. Hopefully, they were working out a retreat and this would soon be over, but at the moment I had other problems to focus on. Fortunately, none of the Empire goons going after me appreciated my insects, causing them to back off and give me another few seconds to strategize what to do next.
The instant Kaiser and Purity broke their huddle, I saw Purity charging up, her skin milk-pale and her expression one of utter concentration. I heard half a dozen shouted warnings a split second before Purity flared and the world around me went white. For a full second, I saw nothing, heard nothing, my ears ringing fiercely. Then, a sickening, meaty tearing sound overtook the silence, one I knew I didn't want to see the cause of because I knew it'd be horrifying.
My wish wasn't granted. The flash cleared to reveal Double Take, one of Kaiser's projections having impaled her just above her chest. With a shriek of warping metal, Kaiser ripped his skewer back out of Double Take in one fluid motion to a spew of viscera.
Double Take remained standing for just a second, blood pouring out of the wound and leaking out of the holes in her mask. Stiff. Silent. Unmoving.
Then she fell.
Deep Blue cried out and rushed to Double Take's side. While I couldn't see Kaiser's expression beneath his helmet, Purity looked a light breeze away from vomiting up everything she'd eaten that day. Everyone else present, whether friend or foe, looked like they were holding their breath. Sure, it was far from the first time the Empire had killed an innocent person, but not only was it now in flagrant violation of the social contract capes honored, doing it with in such a large brawl felt sure to cause things to escalate out of control.
To my surprise, at the moment it had the opposite effect; with a few exceptions, most of the smaller fights comprising the battle had stopped once the effects of Kaiser's attack became obvious. For now, everyone seemed to be watching Kaiser himself; despite how morally bankrupt as the Empire was, this was low even by his standards. He had to be wondering what his next steps were now that the Protectorate had a license to go open season on them.
Then I turned and saw Pain Gainer, who hadn't moved an inch since Double Take had fallen. As usual, she sent ice cubes down my back when I looked at her, but this time, it was accompanied by something squeezing around my lungs and taking my breath away.
Pain Gainer's smile, normally omnipresent, had cracked, an expression of utter contempt replacing it, one visible even as her face kept reforming. Before anyone could react, she aimed her pistol— not the Tinker one like Deep Blue held, but a normal one— above the crowd and seemingly fired at nothing, the noise a deafening bang that threatened to blow out my eardrums.
I turned just in time to see what she'd aimed at; Rune never saw it coming. The bullet struck her center-mass, a spray of blood marking its exit path. She shrieked and lost control of both her flight and her projectile. Both plummeted towards earth, the former screaming in pain and fear and the latter sending friend and foe alike scrambling once again.
She slammed face-first into the pavement with a sickening crunch, her neck bending in an impossible direction on impact. She bounced once before coming to rest at the base of a building, blood pooling around her as she did. She twitched for a few seconds, a weak cry emerging as she did, then lay still.
My expression mirroring Purity's, I fought to keep the meager remaining portion of today's meals inside my stomach. I lost that fight a few seconds in, my body beginning to violently purge lunch and possibly breakfast as well as I huddled over. Based on the noises I was hearing, several others from both sides had also fallen victim to their disgust, retching and heaving until nothing else came up. Fortunately, the two deaths had stopped most of the battle, and when an unpowered Empire member not affected by the carnage tried to take a cheap shot on me, a cluster of flies soaring down his throat caused him to start mimicking my motions before backing away.
I finished heaving about thirty seconds later, wiping my mouth and trying to focus through the splitting headache that accompanied purging so much fluid. Some seemed to be recovering from the horrific scene, while others remained sweaty and hunched over; surprisingly enough, there seemed to be about an equal number of each on both sides. Another scan of the area diverted my attention elsewhere; Kaiser was on the move.
He didn't attack anyone or issue any orders as he marched toward where Deep Blue knelt, every step loud and deliberate. Then, once his presence had gotten Deep Blue's attention, he began to speak: considering one of the caped members of his Empire had just died, his voice was surprisingly soft and mild, like a doting father. "My friend, is this really the game you want to play? Come now, you don't want to find out what we can do without the unwritten rules. Denounce your friend and hand her over to me, and we can pretend this whole debacle never happened."
Deep Blue took a long, contemplative pause, seeming to consider the idea. Kaiser looked at her intently, waiting for her answer.
Then, faster than I'd ever thought possible, Deep Blue produced the colorful pistol she'd been fighting with and fired it at Kaiser. He had just enough time to create a half-baked blockade of metal to stop the pellet, but perhaps that barricade was a conductor, as the pellet's baked-in energy simply tore through the metal to reach its target. Kaiser jerked in place for several long seconds, twitching and screaming like Deep Blue had just Tased him; not unlikely given how I believed her gun to work.
"You killed my friend," Deep Blue said, her voice steely. "You don't get to walk away from that, you coward. If that's the game you're playing, then let's. Fucking. Play."
Kaiser's twitching stabilized as Deep Blue finished her sentence; her shot appeared to have been painful but not crippling. Why Deep Blue hadn't just shot him again I didn't know, but maybe she needed time to reload, or she was out of that type of bullet. Either way meant Kaiser was a threat again, and now we had to work around that.
"Alright, then," Kaiser said, his smirk audible in his voice even through the pain, before turning to his compatriots and faithful. "Fight to kill!"
We didn't need a similar command to do the same. It didn't take a genius to determine that whatever polite farce of civility that both sides had maintained until now had been exposed as a fraud.
Now, this was no longer just a battle.
This was fucking war.
Well, that happened. Hopefully, it was worth the wait: I had a day off from work today and decided to buckle down and get this out. (I'll try to return to my regular posting schedule after this, but who knows.)
For those of you unfamiliar with Kakegurui, Sayaka's just as nuts as the rest of the cast. She's just better at masking it.
That's all from me for now. With luck, I'll see you next week.
For those of you unfamiliar with Kakegurui, Sayaka's just as nuts as the rest of the cast. She's just better at masking it.
That's all from me for now. With luck, I'll see you next week.