We finally started driving away from the mansion, still enveloped in smoke. The unfortunate part was that since we weren't as fast or as sneaky in our escape as the others, we couldn't fully get away without being seen by the approaching convoy of agents and their hero dogs. To reduce the weight even more and slow down our possible pursuers, the Toxic puppets and I started throwing heavy items and machinery out the back door of the van. Once only light items and useful tools remained, we geared up. I took out my old bow from the Vault, along with arrows to slow down anyone who approached. My puppets did the same, but they grabbed tools that could be useful in a fight: wrenches, hammers, and nail guns—two of each. I poked my head into the driving cabin and asked, "Thrawn, approximately how much time do we have left before the heroes arrive?"
He answered back without hesitation, as if he expected the question: "Sir, approximately 2 minutes at most. With all due respect, we have to lose or defeat them before we reach the meeting point. We can't board the helicopter like this; we'd be denied the chance to take off if we go straight there."
"Alright, we will try to lose them at all costs. If we can't, we take them out, but no lethal force—we don't know who are just regular heroes or government dogs." Less than 30 seconds later, the HPSC's unmarked cars started appearing behind us. We didn't have a choice, so I started the attack. I shot two arrows in quick succession into the first car's engine bay. It started smoking and rapidly slowing down. The agents, undeterred, started speeding up to overtake our vehicle. I quickly shot three arrows at the wheels of the car next to us. Only one hit the wheel; the other two were just stuck in the metal above it. That car spiraled out of control and almost hit the one behind it.
My puppets weren't idle; they both sprayed the cars behind us with nails, managing to slow down many of them. However, one managed to get ahead of us, trying to brake-check us, but to my surprise, Thrawn climbed out of the car's window and, with deadly precision, shot the driver's shoulder with a gun he'd gotten from Momo. The driver swerved his car to the side due to the injury and crashed into a lamppost. I felt pretty stupid at that moment, realizing I hadn't thought about Momo being able to make modern weapons too. I quickly asked her for some tear gas bombs and pistols for the Toxic puppets. Since it's too early to reveal all our cards, why not make them think we are much weaker than we actually are? I stuck with my bow because of the special arrows Mei made for me, perfect for diverse opponents.
The next problem was now that the HPSC confirmed we were armed with weapons, they would start heavily utilizing heroes and their quirks to catch us. Just as I expected, heroes began using their powers from their pursuing cars. We were bombarded with ice, water, lightning, and other long-range attacks, while some heroes started to bring their cars closer—no doubt the short-range heroes wanted to board the van. My puppets were shooting in every direction to make them back off, and Momo had to keep producing fresh magazines of ammo. The heroes fell back somewhat due to the constant barrage of bullets and arrows. We managed to take down more than six cars before we entered the more densely populated area of the city.
The plan? We would switch cars in a nearby parking garage. We managed to lose them for a bit when we drove into an alleyway. We didn't have much time, so I temporarily stored the six Toxic troops in my Vault, and we continued the escape on foot. Before we left, I asked Momo to make some jerry cans of fuel so we could burn the car and any evidence left in it, however unlikely that may be. Thrawn also suggested we make some masks so we wouldn't need to keep wearing gas masks all the time, and gloves for him and Momo to cover their hands, like me, so we wouldn't leave any fingerprints or skin tissue behind. The last things he asked for himself were goggles to cover his distinct eyes and a silencer for his pistol. Momo knew how to make these things, so they were done in seconds.
We geared up and, after starting a fire in the van, began moving through the back alleys. We arrived at a point where we needed to reassess our position, as we didn't know if we were going in the right direction. Momo suggested we climb to the rooftops with a grappling hook. I summoned a Heavy unit to help us throw the hook up to the rooftop's ledge. Once I checked that it was secured, I unsummoned the Heavy unit, and we began to climb up one by one. When we reached the top, we noticed the sound of a search helicopter not far away. We quickly packed up the grappling hook and began running in the direction of a garage complex I knew of. It took us five minutes to get close to it. We had some close calls with heroes and officers, but we managed to either incapacitate them or sneak around unnoticed.
In the parking garage, we began looking for a fast car we could use to escape. We eventually found a large pickup truck that could handle the weight of all of us, including one of the Dominators. Momo once again became our driver, Thrawn our navigator, and I was our lookout and protector with my puppets. We decided to leave four of the Toxic units behind to create a distraction. They each got three magazines of ammo for their pistols, two tear gas grenades, and empty inflatable life vests with lighters so they could fill them up with hydrogen gas and blow them up in case they were captured.
The five of us continued our journey as the puppets created a distraction, allowing us to head for the docks so we could take a ship to our rendezvous point with the helicopter.
As we drove out of the building, we saw rising smoke coming from the side, most likely from the tear gas grenades. This meant they were engaging the heroes and officers now. We had been driving for just five minutes when we heard the consecutive sounds of explosions ring out. A bitter taste filled my mouth. This wasn't like before, where the puppets had a chance in battle; now, I had signed their suicide, just to buy some time.
I didn't have much time to dwell on it, as shortly after the bombs went off, red feathers were quickly closing in on our position. The Dominator stopped them dead in their tracks when, suddenly, from the opposite side of the car, Hawks—with feather-like swords in hand—was quickly descending toward us. Unfortunately for him, the Dominators are especially effective against fast enemies. Before he could attack, he was slowed down so much that we had a clear shot at him. Since he was essentially stuck in the air with no way to break out, the remaining two Toxic puppets and I started to light him up. I shot arrows into both of his shoulders, while the Toxic guys aimed at his wings, hands, and feet. Finally, I shot a special arrow into his knee, coated with a paralyzing poison. Then the Dominator accelerated Hawks' half-unconscious body away from us at extreme speed.
Usually, I wouldn't go this far, even against villains, but he's one of the HPSC's most loyal dogs—the man who put me on their radar, indirectly causing this situation where Momo and I wouldn't see our families for five years. So yeah, I was a little pissed at him. And the fact that Momo didn't stop me spoke volumes about her own feelings toward him.
We arrived at the harbor and were just about to steal a boat when we heard some people arrive. It was Endeavor and his current sidekicks. I knew this wouldn't be easy, so we took up defensive positions on the boat. I sent Thrawn to start the boat. I may not know how to drive one, but it shouldn't be that hard for him to figure out—and it's the ocean; unless you completely mess it up, you're not going to crash into anything. Momo and I stayed on the high ground, providing ranged support, while the two Toxic units and the Dominator engaged in active combat.
At first, the fight was in our favor. I managed to shoot one of the sidekicks, who looked like a horse, with a taser arrow. We all equipped gas masks again as we began throwing different kinds of grenades—first flashbangs, then tear gas. This caught two of the sidekicks completely off guard. One managed to stumble away in a daze, just in time for a flaming green-haired chick to pull him away from the tear gas cloud. The guy dressed as a mummy wasn't so lucky—he was completely lost in the gas as it enveloped him.
I managed to shoot an arrow with a special tip toward the girl. The arrow's sole purpose is to allow me to pull it back and collect the blood of the individual I hit. I would have liked to try it on Endeavor, but he was currently locked in a stalemate with my Dominator. Due to the special properties of the Dominator's body, they're incredibly hard to hurt. Unfortunately, extreme heat is one of their weaknesses. I watched as the metal frame of the Dominator began to melt. I knew it was only a matter of time before the black hole inside became unstable.
"We need to leave now!" I shouted at Thrawn.
However, it was Endeavor who answered me back: "You won't be going anywhere, villains! Once I'm done with your partner, I'm coming for all of you."
I quickly ordered the Toxic group to find the missing hero and get out of there, then self-destruct with their own life vests. I felt the boat moving out towards the ocean.
I yelled loudly toward him, "A quick tip for you, Endeavor—don't make promises you can't keep. After all, you'll be lucky if you make it out of here in one piece. My honest advice? Get yourself and your sidekicks out of here—quickly!" I smirked, then quickly shouted for us to speed up and get out of the blast radius. I knew my Toxic units were already gone; I heard the loud bang of their explosion in the distance. I genuinely hoped they managed to get the sidekicks out of the immediate blast zone.
I ordered the Dominator to only allow the beam to shoot toward the skyline or the sky, to avoid unnecessary deaths and destruction. After we were about two kilometers from shore, we saw a giant dark ball with pure white contours expand to the size of a small house before it burst open. A giant ray of pure white energy shot above the horizon in an instant.
I just really hope they got out of there.