4 – Resistance
Arc 4 – Chapter 1
Saturday 2nd January 2011, Evening.
I quickly throw on a domino mask pulled from my Portal. I'm luckily far enough away and it's dark enough that it is highly unlikely he even got the basics of how I look.
A breeze carrying a flight of artistically placed leaves wouldn't be out of place right now as I jump to the ground and make for a stand-off with Kaiser. I'm not risking a teleport again for now.
Purity lies bleeding out; Krieg lies unconscious, still twitching and Crusader is down nursing a severe injury.
As I make to move towards them, Kaiser thumbs a switch on a black box in his hand and a cloud of black smoke appears as a large burst of static goes off in the area. Whatever he had in his hand is now damaged beyond repair.
He does not look happy.
"Boss, Comms are back up, whatever that was, it was responsible for the wideband blocking in the area. Call placed to PRT, hostage situation explained."
"So where do we go from here then Kaiser?"
He looks me up and down.
"I don't know what you just did, or how you have healed yourself so quickly. But it changes nothing. Armour or not, you will still be put down."
He pulls his phone out.
"If I don't check in. The hostages die."
"Go ahead."
He makes a call and is seemingly satisfied with what he hears.
"I'm going to walk away, with my people. When I'm out of sight of the docks and you aren't around I'll arrange for the hostages release. You have my word."
Crusader stumbles over to Krieg and drags him over toward Purity.
"And we all know you are a man of your word right Kaiser? I mean you were stupid enough to arrange for me to be attacked, out in the open no less. And then escalated to lethal in complete disregard for the rules."
He snorts.
"You don't understand your position here Archon. If you don't step away, a family dies."
"I don't care."
He's genuinely gobsmacked as that hits him, and even Crusader looks shocked.
"I thought you were a hero?"
"Oh, I am. But I've come to realise it's a simple maths game. You see, if I take you four out of the picture here, one family might die, true. But how many countless families then live on unsullied by your mad games and lust for power? Simply put Kaiser, your deal isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Because even if I could trust you to keep your word, which we both know I can't, it's completely irrelevant. The more logical choice is to take you out of the frame completely."
I have no intention of ending his life unless he makes me. But he doesn't know that.
I turn toward Purity and he flinches.
"I'll make you a counteroffer. Surrender, now. The PRT are on their way, and when they get here you will be going into custody. You don't resist. You don't attempt to escape. And make sure that family is released without incident. And in return, I let you keep your legs, your lives. And I'll see what I can do to make sure Purity here doesn't have to live life as a vegetable."
I drop my staff out of the workshop portal and ignite the blade at full power.
He looks from the blade, back to me, and then back to the blade again.
"If you had that all along, why did you fight us the way you did?"
"Because I naively believed that as long as everyone played by the rules in this little game that you all play, that things would stay civilised. You've disabused me of that notion. So, thanks I guess."
I step toward him and force my eyes to glow as I pulse the blade. A quick hand sign has three more copies of me stalking along with me, albeit without the plasma blade.
"So, what will it be, 'Emperor'?"
He looks at Purity and back at me, her breathing is shallow, and regardless of how this ends she doesn't have long left.
He holds out his hands, and dismisses his armour sans his mask as he drops to his knees and puts his hands on his head.
"Kaiser, what are you doing, you can take him!" Crusader yells.
I turn a flat look to him.
"He's making the most intelligent choice he can make in this situation. I recommend you do the same."
Kaiser nods his head quickly at him as I approach Purity.
Well, she won't be winning any sort of competition that requires depth perception in future, I've completely burned out her left eye with the energy pistol shot. A chunk of her temple is blown off too, along with a large chunk off the top of her nose. She must have taken the shot side on so she luckily avoided any major brain damage.
She might find it hard to use her power after this given how difficult it's going to be for her to aim precisely. Her left eye is gone and her right eye is definitely burned right down to the retina.
While my clones watch Kaiser, Krieg and Crusader I get to work on closing off Purity's wounds. I don't bother fixing the breaks, nor the concussion. This will all make her much easier to keep in custody. The PRT can get her healed if they want.
In a flash Kaiser has stabbed the clone holding him, dispelling it in the process. He charges at me with a scream of rage.
Sadly, I expected this. He's nothing if not predictable.
He's ridiculously slow and as he reaches out to grab me, or stab me, I step back while twirling my staff. The plasma blade flashes and his arm flies off into the night.
I stare at him dispassionately as he begins to scream in agony. Did he honestly think the meagre metal he had grown as he ran would block my blade?
"Did you really think that would work again?"
He obviously doesn't answer, still screaming and holding his cauterized shoulder.
I hand off some stimpaks and medi gel to a freshly summoned clone and turn back to my patient.
"Stabilise that." I point to Kaiser.
At least plasma is good at cauterizing wounds.
I finish stabilising Purity; this is about as far as I am willing to heal her.
I use my portal to pull materials out of my workshop as I blind her remaining eye with a fitted metal blindfold and bind her hands and feet.
As I'm binding Purity, my clones dispel in sequence out of nowhere, I spin in haste to block an attack but hit nothing but a dense billowing mist.
Did they bring the entire fucking empire?
A blonde man and woman in matching grey and black costumes and theatrical masks stalk towards me.
Night and Fog.
I'm not completely worried about Night, even if she flashbangs me to use her power, EFA will be able to see her. Hopefully that should be enough.
Fog however, will be a problem. I don't have an effective counter other than "Don't breathe him in, hope he's afraid of the plasma blade."
I re-ignite my Plasma blade while holding the staff against my arm behind my back. I also quickly step toward Purity.
"One step closer, and she dies."
They stop cold.
"Heroes don't kill in cold blood." Night states in a monotone.
Fog holds his arm out and states in his own creepily similar German accent-tinged monotone.
"We only require Purity. We care not what is done with the other three."
Crusader sputters, and then yells.
"Where is your loyalty to the Empire!"
"There is no loyalty except to the Light Mother."
Well then, I knew they were kind of close to Purity, but that's something else"
"She tried to kill me."
Night shakes her head.
"The privilege of choice was denied. The wishful emperor placed implied threat upon the children Purity cares for."
I snort.
"And I'm to take a Nazi at their word?"
She nods. I don't quite think she gets sarcasm.
"Yes. Exchange is offered as truce. We get Purity. You get Kaiser and Crusader. Krieg will not stay contained for long so we offer no promise of his captivity. We will not assist any escape, however. This is our offer."
I'm loath to let the woman who was about to disintegrate me go. But in all honesty, I can't guarantee this is a fight I will win as exhausted and resource deprived as I am.
Fog then interjects.
"If it offers pleasant restitution in addition to the deal offered. We intend to leave the city of Brockton entirely, now the children have been extracted."
"With Purity".
He nods.
"With Purity."
"Do you really think Max will let his two children go without a fight?"
They both stiffen and I hear a light gasp from Crusader.
"How is one such as you in possession of the name and quantity of dependents of that one?"
I shrug.
"It's pretty obvious if you know where to look."
They look to each other, nod, and then back at me.
"The children are secure. With Kaiser in custody and unmasked with no backup from Europe, his ability to influence their placement will be curtailed. The ones overseas will not assist an armless impure cripple."
What a lovely sentiment.
"And if he chooses to reveal your identities?"
"Our identities do not exist. If he reveals Purity he only damns himself more. I carry doubt that they will put him in an air proof cell. He will toe the line."
He tilts his head as if listening to something far away.
"Now, the PRT approach. Choose."
I nod.
"Take her. The next time me and her meet, will be the last."
He nods.
"An acceptable arrangement."
I remove her restraints with the matter manipulator beam and he hoists her over his shoulder as they both turn and leave.
I quickly restrain Krieg, still blissfully unconscious from taking a full battery charge, though he could likely break out eventually even with materials this strong. I double and then triple up on everything till he looks like a steel mummy.
I resummon my clones to finish restraining Kaisers remaining arm and legs, with fabricated non-metallic materials while I restrain Crusader. I'm not making skin contact with Kaiser with a bunch of metal implements in my body.
It's been a long ass day. I've been awake for well over 24 hours at this point and spent half of that in combat or retreat. I need to sleep. And some serious R&R.
"So, what was the endgame here Crusader? Why would he lure me out in the first place. After what I did to the other four he had to know this wasn't a great plan."
He spits.
"As if you don't know, you embarrassed us you gook sympathiser."
I sigh.
"All this for pride?"
"All we have is pride you race traitor. Kaiser wanted to bolster the troops by beating you and handing you over to the PRT in exchange for the others. He wasn't even going to really kill you, just wanted you to cry out for help so he could embarrass you to gain back some of our rep."
"Because of what I did to Hookwolf?"
"And the rest. Now fuck off I'm not talking to you anymore. Just hand us over to the other race traitors so we can get back home in the morning."
I shake my head and move to sit with them all in my eyeline.
Before long, the PRT show up with the cavalry, only to find me with the three restrained parahumans. As the PRT jump out of their van and start adding their own restraints to the downed Empire parahumans under the watchful eye of Battery, Assault approaches me warily.
"Archon?" he questions, looking me up and down.
I nod. "Yes."
He slow whistles while looking over my captives.
"Nice! You caught the big man himself. And Krieg, Crusader!? Holy shit dude this is a big catch."
I nod my head, I'm not really in the mood for pleasantries. I'm tired, I'm mentally fried, and to be honest, I'm kind of missing Sherrel. And my workshop.
Assault looks me up and down with what he probably things is a joking smile.
"Forget your armour?"
I turn to him so quickly he takes a step back.
"No. That prick got a hand on me and pushed three spikes of metal through my torso. Do you know how hard it is to regrow your lung? I had to field deconstruct my suit!"
I feel naked without a full head covering. And vulnerable.
He swallows and seems lost for words.
"Do you need medical assistance?"
"No, I've dealt with it. Did you manage to find the hostages?"
He looks down.
"They're on the way to Brockton General, but it doesn't look good. Sorry Archon. Hookwolf… wasn't gentle."
It's as expected to be honest. He never planned to release them. By the time they would have left, they were already expected to be close to dead. He just took advantage of my naivety.
"Do I need to get over there?"
"Panacea is already there. But we will call you if you are needed."
"And Hookwolf?"
"Escaped with the help of the twins, though Militia gave him something to remember her by."
I nod at the three on the floor.
"I've stabilised them as much as I am willing. Given that Kaiser held me down for Purity to disintegrate, And I have a recording of that if you need it for evidence, I'm not healing them any more than I have. If you want them healthier, ask Panacea if she's willing to heal a Nazi."
"Purity was here?"
"Yes, now she's missing one eye and extracted by Night and Fog. I had to give her up to avoid fighting even more without my full kit."
He nods. And turns to leave with the PRT wagon.
"Assault. Kaiser, Krieg and Crusader are here. Cricket and Othala are in Boston. And Night, Fog and Purity have skipped town. The local empire presence is down to Stormtiger, Victor, Hookwolf, Alabaster, Rune and the twins. We can build on this surely?"
He shrugs.
"Rune's in custody in Chicago, Armsmaster and Triumph caught her during the attack on the Asian district that you helped prevent.."
Ah, that explains why I haven't heard about her then.
"Trying another villain to hero conversion job like with Shadow Stalker?"
Probably the wrong guy to ask this of to be honest.
He turns back to me.
"Is it a bad thing to turn villains into heroes given how outnumbered we are?"
"Not at all. When it works."
He shakes his head at that. He has to know of my report about Shadow Stalker
"No system has a 100% success rate. All we can do is try."
You know, I kind of respect his honesty.
I nod.
"Fair enough, now, the Empire remnants. Surely we can push to clean them up now?"
He shakes his head back at me.
"There are still multiple hundreds of gang members to work through, we can't make sudden moves and risk a riot."
I sigh.
Looks like I'll have to clean up on my own.
He makes as if to leave, but then turns back to me.
"Please can you get your footage over asap; with the injuries these guys have… I'll need to put it through review."
I'm about to snap back something we will both regret but in all honesty. I'm too fucking tired.
I'll bring it up with Armsmaster as soon as I can. Worrying about the level of injuries on three people I just told him tried to murder me does not endear Assault to me further.
And I'm pretty sure he knows it.
I nod wearily and wave him off.
He grimaces and seems like he wants to apologise. He can do that at a later date, I'm too tired for this shit right now. I've been high adrenaline for the best part of 30 hours and I need to crash.
I walk out of sight and then to the nearest door I can see. I'm going to be a little more circumspect with my teleportation unless I'm high on magic reserves which I definitely am currently not.
I stumble into the workshop atrium and head to bed, as I lie down and my head touches the pillow, a bell rings in my brain and I drift into a galaxy of planets.
…
The planet from my dreams is back, the one that shades in when I gain workshop enhancements.
A large island fills in, and I get the inherent knowledge uploaded into my skull that I've gained a whole computer hub, and network, including personal computers for any companions, a top of the range supercomputer to network as a mainframe (EFA will love that) and a bunch of basic 2d and 3d scanners, printers, binders, blueprint printers, 3d printers etc. Basically, if you use it in an office or a high end lab and it's computer based. I now have it.
200 CP remain.
Okay, this is different, these don't usually happen when I'm asleep.
+100CP
300CP remain.
The planet remains in the background, but a chain appears from where LA would be on the map.
Wait, this isn't even earth. Its several times larger than earth.
But instinctively my brain tells me, this is where LA should be.
The chain bursts out from the planet surface and connects with another planet, a copy of earth.
Earth: Parasite – CP gained – 800
What.
A blue aura drains out of the planet and down the chain. I feel the energy suffusing my brain.
If there is infrastructure in the forge for the elder blood misfires…
Were they always intended to happen?
1100CP remain.
Rolling…
Knowledge Mundane – Success!
I am Iron Man – Marvel Cinematic Universe.
700CP remain.
Rolling…
Crafting Technological – Success!
Weapon Crafting – Devil May Cry
500CP remain.
Rolling…
Skills Magitech – Success!
Playing with Dolls – Fate/Legends Land of the Rising Sun
200CP remain.
Rolling…
Database Magitech – Success!
Magical Items: Reaper Sword, Steel Ride – Make A Wish (Harry Potter Fanfiction)
0CP remain.
Over the horizon of the planet, multiple coloured streams are streaming towards me rapidly.
I try to swim away through space, but to no avail.
Four streams slam into me and my brain screams into the void.
Then, there is only darkness.
Notes:
Perks gained this chapter -
I am Iron Man - 400 - Marvel Cinematic Universe Vol. 1 - Knowledge Mundane
You're not the ACTUAL Iron Man, but you could make a fairly decent knock-off. Power armors, sonic cannons, holographic interface, laser weapons, repulsor technology, you have the knowledge to build these things and more. Furthermore, you can think of different upgrades and modifications to adapt to different situations much easier than normal when presented with a problem that's hampered your technological progress.
Weapon crafting - 200 - Devil May Cry - Crafting Technological
Alright, so you fancy yourself a weapons dealer, huh? Well now you know the ins and outs of every single tool made for killing that you get your crafty little hands on. Swords, handguns, axes, sniper rifles, spears, rocket launchers, it'll all come naturally to you, and you will be able to create these weapons or even improve them with your own custom designs. And to make it even a better deal, you know how to modify a weapon to have unlimited ammunition capability. So go nuts, buddy. You've earned it.
Playing with Dolls - 300 - Fate/Legends Land of the Rising Sun - Skills Magitech
Ever have the ninja pushed for more tricks and tools to keep them ahead of their foes. It's only logical that their desires for a greater advantage over the raw power of the samurai would lead to such advancements in technology. The Danzou puppet is the culmination of incredible science and magic coming together as one, creating an artificial lifeform filled with the experiences and skills of many great ninja, equipped with advanced technology and powerful magic. It's also something you have the knowledge to make and more besides.
You have the training in various disciplines to create advanced puppet bodies like this, as well as the weaponry and technology that Danzou makes use of in that body, even things like missiles. This covers both ordinary scientific knowledge and occult magecraft focused towards artificial bodies like this. It's quite possible to turn an existing person into one of these puppets, albeit more difficult than making it from scratch.
One of the more impressive parts of this field is the techniques that allow for the recording and uploading of knowledge or skills that people possess. With a willing or incapacitated subject, you know how to examine what they know and copy it over to another person. Your studies in this field have also helped you realize how to capably combine magic with technology, creating things where the two work together to support and enhance both sides' effects instead of interfering. While you can't alter the basic metaphysics behind things such as mystery, you do know how to work it to your advantage.
Reaper Sword - 100 - Make A Wish - Database Magitech
A Scythe that can turn into a sword Used by Mr. Black, this sword is always sharp and has increased damage for what it should actually inflict, has an aura of despair and dread when unsheathed and it also glows a creepy green light at will, lastly it is powered by a particular dark magic, it leaches ambient life energy from the surroundings, scaring local wildlife and withering plant-life and the land when unsheathed.
Steel Ride - 100 - Make A Wish - Database Magitech
A Bike used by Mr. Black, it can shrink to pocket-size, drop oil slicks, shoot spells, fly, change license plates, and even has a pooka - a ghost horse - bound to it so that it never needs fuel, can act by itself if needed, and occasionally project the image of the pooka itself.
+100 PRCP
350 PRCP available, rolling…
Success!
Gym – 100PRCP
Gym (100) This provides your Personal Reality with a large open training room for physical exercise. It comes with exercise equipment that can be used to train almost anyone dedicated enough to the limits of their potential (as long as that potential is no more than 150% of peak human potential) fitness. It can be easily converted into a sparring pit. If you have Robots, this includes extremely durable sparring automatons to learn from in your pit. Anybody using the Gym will find that training physical abilities is slightly less fatiguing than it otherwise would be.