Camila stepped forward, slightly favoring one leg at first, but quickly recovering as she passed 'Bronwyn' with a confused, glassy look in her eyes.
As Alexis got closer, the eye-patched cultist began to reek of rot while he muttered, "No enchantments, no talismans. She's probably clean, but I don't have the eye for this that the Watis does..."
While the cultists looked for enchantments that weren't there, Wingblade's senses pierced the noisome atmosphere in search of surprises that very much were. The whole area was far more dug out than it seemed; there were little pockets and tunnels heading farther and farther into the earth, detectable by odd air currents that came intermittently rushing out of the... vault? Whatever that space was supposed to be, there were definitely more cultists down there, and from the ozone scents, less conventionally armed than the ones up top.
Satisfied with what they've found so far, the eye-patched cultist takes out a skein of gold that beings to unspool and reknot itself into an intricate pattern before stretching out to encircle 'Bronwyn's' arms!
"Well?" The thug's voice was mocking, but fear lay beneath it. "Looks like our trade's done."
The biggest dilemma was if they were also acting in bad faith. Alexis saw that they bought they were Bronwyn, but that strange look in Camila's eye concerned them. Perhaps it was just from a concussion, which was still serious. They were waiting to make sure that the girl was safely with Bran and Wingblade before considering making any sudden moves.
At the very least, they needed to find out if these cultists had any others captive that needed to be rescued. So they didn't resist as the skein of gold wove itself around their arms. They were also glad that they didn't detect Kaoru in their pocket.
"Take her someplace safe," 'Bronwyn' spoke to the others. "I will be fine."
Wingblade moves fast the moment 'Bronwyn' is in the hands of the cultists. With a speed boost thanks to her wings, she covers the ground in an instant and wraps her arms around Camila, her wings flared out protectively.
With her senses confirming that she's the genuine article, Wingblade whispers, "Hold tight; I'll get you out of here."
She launches into the air urgently, wanting to get Camila out of the danger zone as fast as possible so she could get back to help the team.
Speaking into Alexis's borrowed communicator, she tells everyone, "All right, listen up. There are tunnels beneath the exchange site. More goons, more weapons, and some kind of vault, going deep underground. I want to get Camila somewhere safe. Stall them if you can."
She dials the communicator to Whippoorwill.
"Hey, Boss. Need your help. A girl got kidnapped so we're doing the classic hostage exchange thing with the Balor cultists. They've got one of ours now, but at least I've got the innocent. Flying away with her now. We're in Rustside and I need a safe place to put her so I can help the others."
"I don't like it. Exchanges work when both sides have something to gain. They must know you'd never give up an innocent." Whippoorwill's voice is controlled but concerned. "Are there signs of heavy ordnance? The SCA didn't bring out any of the suits from the Brute Squad, even when their own headquarters was attacked, and we've seen a lot of misplaced tech tonight.
"So let me ask you: Did you preempt their trap? Or is it about to snap shut?"
A whiff of ozone reaches Shayera's nose just as a voice far too deep for Camila's throat replied. "Heh, she's a wily wench, eh?"
***
Wingblade and Camila suddenly buck and pitch in the air, making it clear to both sides, even from afar, that something is awry.
One of the cultists slams the stock of his rifle into the back of 'Bronwyn's' head, grabbing them by their bound arms and with a grunt of surprised effort, begins hauling them back towards the van while more still more cultists pile out of it!
As if that weren't enough, cargo containers begin to open with strange pneumatic hisses, heralding more reinforcements to come. Loud, clanking, reinforcements.
The eye-patched cultist carried across the decrepit lot before any gunfire could muffle his words. "Find where their other healer's hiding, and don't finish them unless you have to. Bran either, Balor wants to punish the Accursed Crow himself. The rest are worthless"
***
***
The strange energy surrounding Camila's hands shattered into shards of magic, sending strange synesthetic sensations fuzzing across your consciousness, but one thing was very clear across sight, sound and scent.
Red.
The blood-red haft of Gae-Dearg expanded in Camila's grasp, its bronzed leaf-blade carving through the enchantment that had kept that hand shrouded.
"This child tells me you heal, little bird. Well that just means this can go on for as long as I wish it to."
Alexandra springs into action. She had affixed swing lines to various points, to prepare for this... one would bring her right toward Alexis. She holds her crossbow in one hand, and tries to clear away two from the landing sight, Bolts with magnesium flaring as they fly, more for intimidation than actual harm.
She is running as she hits the ground, towards the bound Alexis.
As Alexandra swings into the fray, her vision keeps shifting and warping across space, showing her different angles on the battle and her sweat-streaked face. She rushes the goons to clear Alexis a path, but as she can see for herself from odd, subterranean angles, her form is sloppy, or maybe they're just ready for her tricks. Quickly she finds herself entangled in the same crush of bodies, with almost no room to maneuver!
Something had to be wrong with Camila. Why else would Shayera be wavering in the air like that. Before Alexis could do anything else, they saw stars briefly, the back of their head throbbing, blood dripping down the back of their neck as they stumbled forward.
Shouldn't have waited. Shouldn't have let them tie me up. Should have seen this coming.
Alexis blows out a breath. Well. There were things they could do to remedy this now.
The golden bonds were certainly impressive. Strong and probably meant to be unbreakable...for a normal human. Perhaps it was only meant to ward against magical strength. In either case, with a flex out of their arms, the knots burst apart and Alexis was free.
The first this they did after that, was reach into their pocket, grab Kaoru's tiny car, and toss it off to the closest area he could resize it. They turned towards the van cultists, in a guarded close quarters combat stance.
Alexandra curses and twists as she falls, on the ground and lightly trampled. God damnit, should have... Sorry B! she says as she tries to either get her feet under her, or get her crossbow.
Alexandra almost takes another boot to the head, and she decides that there is no time for this. Less than six hours, and who knew if Balor's presence could educe that. Be careful Kay...
Alexandra Twists, and grabs one cultist's ankle, getting ready to break it, and lashes out with her foot at another cultist's knee, and she gets ready for the scuffle.
Dammit
Wingblade can't tell if the surge of fury is coming from her or from some sort of outside force. She knew it was better than fifty/fifty that Camila would already be a vessel to something, but she had hoped. God, had she hoped.
Wingblade's own grip on Camila shifted when whatever force was empowering her suddenly wrapped her legs tight like a vise around her waist. The sudden appearance of Gae-Dearg was also a complication, but thankfully spears weren't great at close-quarters fighting.
She hisses in defiance as this being threatens her with pain. "I'm gonna have to call you back," Wing says to her mentor, though doesn't turn off the device since her own hands are locked in a battle to keep the mystical spear from jabbing her.
"Balor knows I heal. So you're not him. Who are you?" she asks while her wings take them higher.
"Someone who's fought and killed plenty of you 'won't-stay-dead-tryhards'"
Wingblade tries not to roll her eyes too much. "That doesn't help. Gonna need more than that."
"Camila" jabs at Wingblade's head with the spear, only missing by the narrowest of margins when she snaps her head to the side. Sparks fly when the speartip touches her rapidly beating wings. "You mortals and your names, names, names. First you're Wingblade, then you're Shayera, you're Shu Zi, you're Xiu Ying... you're a leader, then you're a failure, but you've always been a killer. It's really the only mask you've never taken off."
"Cause it's not a mask," Wingblade replies, refusing to be baited and simply leaning into the accusation.
"Camila" laughs along a scale of notes from baritone to ear-piercing soprano. "I can hear the sobs and snarls of your true self. The hero, the assassin, the lover. I've played those parts too, but beneath all that you're just a beaten animal."
The Red dances along Wingblade's vision. This being is pulling a lot of information from Camila, but also info that she shouldn't be able to know. She corkscrews in the air, keeping Camila disoriented. ""You know me so well. You want to dance? How about this: I win, you let Camila go. You leave her and never possess another Pascal. You win, you possess me. You get a flying, regenerating body that's already a killer."
"Oh puppy, this'll be another cigarette to the ear, but what the hell, I'm sure you'll find something to take it out on. I don't want your body. I don't want her body either. But I'm not some poxy bodyhopper like The Eye or like my Brother Dear seems to have become. If you want me roaming free, you'll have to kill her."
Shayera snarls as the Red nearly fills her vision. She relishes the pain that the way-too-strong girl is producing, and lets it fuel her. She snaps her head forward, head-butting Camila and hoping that an actual strike would surprise the being controlling her. She then starts nerve striking the arm holding Gae-Dearg over and over to weaken her grip on the enchanted weapon.
If she's able to wrestle the spear from Camila, she lets it drop with a warning shout to Bran.
While Mercy and the Silver Shadow got stuck in with the throng of cultists, Bran focused on the eye-patched cultist, who seemed to shimmer with enchantments to his spellwise eyes. Bran surged forward, brushing aside smaller combatants with broad sweeps of his arms as he drew nearer to his foe, but he was forced to dive aside as a lesser version of Balor's eye flashed out!
He rolled out of the beam with a clatter before it could do more than add an aged patina to his armor, but was unable to break through to the warlock without taking a grievous blow...
...until the spear dropped from above.
The beam of sickening red was broken upon the bulwark of Gae-Dearg, and Bran the Blessed followed swiftly after, hurling the warlock to the earth!
***
"Shouldn't have done that duckling. My Brother took that spear from me a long time ago, and I'm not done playing with it yet." With her newly freed hand 'Camila' seized Wingblade's offending one and squeezed, hard. Every bone in Shayera's hand shattered, nearly crushed to powder. "Look at you not screaming. No wonder you're her favorite. I'll tell you what, if you free me from The Eye before I finish killing you, I'll need a right hand-
"Ah. Well maybe not that, now, but I'll find something for you.
I always loved hawking, maybe you'd like that? I always shared my prey with my birds when they were good."
***
Alexandra weaves among the cultists, disabling some with quick twists and strikes to their joints, and pulling their attention from Alexis while they were making their escape! Then suddenly she half-hears a whisper in her ears and they get much better at avoiding her. She's still able to stay close, too close for them to let off a burst from their rifles without hitting each other, but otherwise it's like they're the only ones who know the choreography to this fight, and after a furious few seconds, one of them finally slams the stock of his rifle into her chest, hurling the Silver Shadow back with coat flapping!
Nearby, the fallen warlock writhed, his remaining eye swelling and distorting with power as his failure was swiftly punished!
Bran managed to hold the edges of the destructive power upon Gae-Dearg's point, but the eye was still pulsing more and more! It's gonna break past me any moment, but I can't cut off the source when the source is his head!
"Run!"
The almost whispers in Alexandra's head blend with the hissing of the opening hatches, rising and rising in volume until the rest of the world fell away.
Images flickered through her head. She could see her body diving forward beneath a spray of bullets as a rifle roared soundlessly and a melee swirled around her. Little words crawled all over her teammates in invisible dossiers. Projection? Ethereal Construct? Henshin Cape?
Alexandra had rushed in to help, but ended up falling down. She looked disorientated. Alexis noted how the cultists managed to avoid getting in each other's way. These were legionnaire tactics. Either some kind of mental link or precognitive ability.
Well. Something would have to be done about that.
Alexis was strong. But using the peak of their strength normally meant tearing apart muscles and tendons for a quick burst. Still, they only needed to cause enough of a disruption that it might scatter the cultists, and buy them time.
So they grabbed onto the rear of the van that they had been trying to put 'Bronwyn' in. Seeing where Bran was fighting back against a new corruption like in the apartment, Alexis shifted their position, before launching up and flipping the van tail over front, sending the vehicle tumbling and smashing across the lot. Fuel leaked from its broken tanks, and the sparks set its fumes on fire, even as the cultists that had been so coordinated before now had to scramble for safety or else meet fiery, crushing death metal.
It would come to rest only briefly, before the combination of flames and fuel met the pressures within, and a ball of fire blew out a heat wave that staggered everyone around.
Of course, now there was a fire in the middle of the fight. That might be a problem for later.
Emotional weaknesses, the best ones against Wingblade: She has a father she fears, and cannot accept, is evil. She also has an attachment to the REAL pascal girl
Hmmm... she has an affection for Bran...she's analysed his weakness the least... but we do have a number of candidates for his host, given what we know now.
The Bronwyn girl is Branwyn. refocuses priorities. Hex is Branwyn, means she has the same weaknesses as her brothers... when she shows herself, she shall join him in chains.
Wingblade swallows the pain of her hand, sending it into the churning pit of guilt in her stomach. The loss of the use of one hand doesn't bother her immediately, though she knows it'll take a while to heal. She has five other limbs to serve her.
She puts two of them to use, flying erratically to shake up "Camila."
The events on the ground catch her attention, sparing the briefest glance down before glaring again at the vessel. "You've given yourself away, Efnysien. Yeah, I read the Mabinogi. You're an a$~+%$*, but you also sacrificed yourself by climbing into that cauldron.
"Let me tell you something--" Wingblade spins in the air once and lets herself fall out of the sky. --When it comes to self-sacrifice, you're an amateur."
Wingblade lands hard on the ground in between Bran and the expanding eye beam. She turns her back to Balor's gaze, spreading her wings wide as a shield and also protecting Camila's body with her own.
Kaoru had expected things to go wrong. What he hadn't expected was how quickly things would go wrong. Or perhaps more accurately, how quickly time would pass when he was in the middle of everything going wrong. Before he had a chance to do or say or suggest anything related to the exchange, his stomach was lurching into his throat as he was jerked suddenly upwards and thrown in a less than gentle manner through the air. It was the worst ever carnival ride times about a million.
He must have blacked out briefly from the g-force as the next thing he could remember he was suddenly on the ground, miraculously uncrushed but everything hurt once more. He was vaguely grateful that he hadn't thrown up. Though that might have had more to do with the fact that the only thing he really had in his stomach was that tea from the tarot magic user lady.
Inertial dampeners. Definitely need some kind of inertial dampeners.
Despite his groggy and disoriented state, he was at least aware enough to notice the giant foot heading towards him. Friend or foe, he had no idea, but he slammed the car into reverse and took off. But even after he dodged that foot, there was another. Then a flying body. Scrap metal. Fire. It just kept coming one after another without giving him a chance to breathe or think or orient himself. He had to find a place he could shelter in for a little bit. Anywhere. He had to-
The next thing he knew he was falling again. It was terrifying but it wasn't the breakneck speed of being hurled by someone who had no idea how to control their strength. He had enough time to contemplate how terrible of an idea it had been to be anywhere near the field and how it was absolutely going to get him killed before the car crashed to the ground. Pain lanced once more through his still fragile body as tears sprung to his eyes. Mostly of pain but with a nice side of fear and a sprinkling of relief that he didn't seem to be dead or horribly maimed.
He was in...a tunnel? Maybe? Why was there a tunnel? And how on earth was he supposed to get back topside. "Now would be a fantastic time to find out this car can fly..." He started to look around for any kind of switch with wings or airplanes or hell, even just gusts of air on it. He had just turned on the AC when movement caught his eye. Freezing, he flicked his eyes in that direction. And then instinctively leaned forward to look alllllll the way up at what appeared to be a cultist with some kind of techno-laser-sonic-whatchamagigit. He craned his head to one side, spotting another and yet another, each with their own franken-gadget. They didn't seem to have noticed him. Yet.
"Well f*!#."
The cultists' voices were distorted and deep to Kaoru's tiny ears, but not so much that he couldn't make out their words, while their every minute shuffle and shifting of weight was magnified across the field of his vision.
"Sounds like a damn war out there... Should we help 'em?"
"You're kidding, right? They said not to go out there without orders. If the Vessel's not bound right, he- she-, uh, It might attack us too! They knew the risks... And once our Lord's own vessel is ready, he'll bring the Bastard fully to heel and finish taking his vengeance."
***
Outside the fire was already raging. Whatever preposterously unsafe chemical had been left here, it hadn't taken many of the strange sparks emanating from the tipped over van to ignite it in a roar that sent a fireball streaking up towards the sky - and flared out the holoprojection that disguised the vehicle as a normal van instead of a nigh-indestructible SCA Paddy Wagon! Hexagons flared around it, inefficient against heat, but still enough to keep it safe for now, even if tipped over so that it wasn't able to join the fray...
The cultists scattered, their supernatural teamwork shattered as they each ran separately for cover, trying to shout out and re-coordinate as spells, spears and shockwaves rocked the battlefield.
The cultist's eye finally erupted, leaving him a grim echo of the ruin that had been made of Dane Giras's features. Within the shadow of Shayera's wings, Bran and Camila were safe, but Wingblade and Mercy were fully caught in the blast, and even removed as she was, the Silver Shadow could feel a warm hum as her charm tarnished nearly to black.
Beneath Shayera's wings, Efnysien let out a giggle of pure delight. "Ha! Marvels that would suit Manawydan's troves are still being forged in this age I see." Not the least bit cowed by the fires or living rot that was spreading around him, Efnysien lashed out serpent-swift to send Wingblade toppling to the ground the moment she was no longer his shield. "What are these delightful things made of?" With an unyielding grasp he seized one of Shayera's long feathers and pressed, veins popping out in Camila's arms, her face contorting in a look of savage glee as Efnysien slowly folded the feather's tip back on itself. "Oh they're strong; they're very strong!" Camila's hands were already slick with blood from where he'd been careless with Shayera's wings, but he ignored it, and shifted his grip, bringing a dainty shoe to the small of Wingblade's back for a moment of better leverage. "But perhaps we can think of some way I can get a closer look at-"
Bran cannoned into her, his speed and strength and sheer mass loosening Efnysien's grip before he could torment Wingblade further. Quickly he released her, trying to hurl her into a pile of sandbags, but with a shriek of tearing metal Efnysien landed much closer than Bran had wished, the pauldron from his armor crumpled in Efnysien's fist. With broad sweeps of Gae-Dearg, he tried to keep her at bay. I can't just stab her, but if we can force Efnysien to show himself, I can drag him out the rest of the way! And maybe the haft will do something, that's where most of the runes are anyways...
"Dear Brother," Efnysien casually ducked and sidestepped, all but ignoring Bran's attempts to catch him with Gae-Dearg's haft. "Still you vex me. I thought it agreed that once your cauldron was burst that neither of us would depart the Otherworld. And stealing Gae-Dearg away for our bout? Hardly fair of you." As Bran dragged Gae-Dearg back into line after a frustrated sweep, Efnysien flickered out Camila's wrist, still bound to uselessness by mystic bonds, which shattered as she struck them against Gae-Dearg's blade. Efnysien stretched out Camila's hand with a smile, revealing another charm bracelet like Bronwyn's, only with a yellow-hafted spear in place of her red. Bran lashed out, hoping his spear might prove the stronger, but Gae-Buidhe swiftly expanded to deflect his strike, with no hint that Gae-Dearg had harmed the enchantments on its dark brother. "But then, I've always been able to find ways to take what is mine."
Alexis felt the heatwave from the explosion, and with the SCA vehicle burning while laying down on its roof, they didn't expect it to be in commission anytime soon. Now there were the scattered cultists to defeat, quickly before they were able to recover-
The washing sickness of the magic that came from the fallen warlock was a phenomenon that Alexis had seen before. Only this time they were prepared for it, the corrupting influence not getting a chance on them before they were out of the way of its danger.
That meant they were free to take care of the remaining cultist peons while Wingblade and Bran fought off...was that Camila? They pushed that thought aside, they needed to focus!
Alexis ran, striking one man in the head with their knee - he wasn't getting back up again soon. Another soon found himself with a dislocated shoulder and broken nose. By the time they'd dealt with the third man by sweeping his legs out and palm striking his plexus to drive the air out of his lungs, they were ready for the counter attack. You didn't need to dodge bullets as long as you moved faster than they could track you with the barrel of their guns.
"Shadow! Dropped the car! Find it!" They tell Alexandra as they cross paths on the battlefield.
Wingblade grits her teeth against the oozing rot that tears into her exposed skin, but worse was her conversation with Efnysien.
"Bran! Camila's possessed! Use your spear! Stab her, just a little, I'll hold her--"
She's cut off by the inhuman strength of Efnysien twisting her around and putting Camila's hands on her bladed feathers. She freezes the wing for a moment, unable to react for fear of severing the girl's fingers. It didn't matter, though, since she'd never be able to--
Wingblade shrieks in horrible, terrifying agony as the feather is bent backwards against itself. Somehow, the damage to the metal wing is beyond excruciating. She buckles to the ground, still screaming as she writhes in torment.
Even as Bran plows into Camila, driving Efnysien off of her, Wingblade stays on the ground, dragging in ragged breaths to continue screaming in agony.
Don't go out without orders, eh. Let's see if we can't make sure those orders will never come...
As it had been with all the cultists thus far, it wasn't that hard to mess with their technology. They knew only what your average lay-person did about security and apparently hundreds-of-years-old villains didn't believe it was worthwhile to brush up on advances made in the last decade. And clearly either none of his lieutenants knew anything about technology or were too scared to point out the possible weakness to their beloved Balie-kins. A reasonable fear since the guy seemed to enjoy turning his minions into bombs.
Kaoru rolled up his windows to send a message through comms without needing to worry about being overheard. "Reinforcements have been told not to engage with you without direct orders. Orders that won't come. They're apparently worried about friendly-fire from a not-properly-bound vessel. So you can either wait to deal with them later while you handle those already on scene or maybe try to throw said vessel at them to see if enemies handle themselves for you."
Should he go back to the fight? He should probably go back to the fight and direct or something. Except no, that was dumb. He wasn't a fighter and they already had several fighters PLUS a tactician out there. The terrain would be rough for him to maneuver in as well. Plus he wasn't even sure if he could get back to the fight; he hadn't exactly found any sort of hover mode or anything. Well...I'm here. So I guess I may as well do some recon? He rolled down his windows again, just enough to hear what was going on outside, and headed deeper into the compound, relying on following the tunnels with the most foot traffic or signs of recent foot traffic to find his way to the "center" and relying on his GPS, which seemed to be mapping his location -- lidar sensors? GPS doesn't really work underground -- to avoid getting lost.
The good thing with being a small, invisible car in the midst of his enemy was that they weren't trying to squash him. The bad thing is that they weren't not trying to squash him either. He was lucky that despite its size, the car maintained much of its full-sized speed. It made it much easier to dodge walking legs or quickly speed up when someone shifted positions unexpectedly.
He was able to limit the amount of dodging he did by sticking to the edges of the tunnel, but that didn't prevent him from occasionally needing to zip to the other side to head down a different path deeper into the complex. While it wasn't really his thing, he did have some experience with Frogger, which helped. Though humans weren't always as predictable as games; sometimes the "trucks" would suddenly realize they had forgotten something and switch directions. Still, his fast reflexes from years of gaming were definitely coming in handy. Along with the fact that most of the obstacles he encountered were predictable. It was just the outliers who insisted upon giving him a heart attack.
Alexandra Winces as her body continues to try desperately to give out. the Amulaet continues to tarnish, now more black than silver (well, much more. The ratio had been above 1 for hours). Her eyes glaze over more. She presses on her comms. Kay, took another hit from A 'Rina's Gaze.
don't have much more utility in me. I've gotta go for Balor. If I don't... The desk in my room, second drawer down on the right. turn the handle anticlockwise before you open it. There's a few things in there, some of them are for you.
Alexandra calls on her power, and lets her deadly connection to Balor guide her intuition. Where is he
As she locates him, she goes to make a beeline for him.
She's just a little kid, Shayera! How many places do you think I can fit a hands-breadth of spearhead into her and have her be okay?!
For an instant, Efnysien seemed to drop his guard, spear of wicked yellow dangling negligently from Camila's hand.
"She's right, dear brother, just stab us. Send me back to the Otherworld, and this brat on to whatever afterlife she's earned."
Gae-Dearg came no closer to Camila's flesh.
"No? Well I'd wager I can convince you."
Efnysien sprang into action once more, bounding straight for the towering knight, Gae-Buidhe tearing through the side of Bran's helmet!
"You're so slow now! Of course I was always faster, even when we were both tethered to this realm, but its been centuries, millennia in our realms to regain our strength. Why aren't you faster?"
Bran spun round, breathing heavily, a long rent in his helm already trickling blood.
"Still nothing? Fine. You have plenty of friends here."
Camila's eyes darted between the heroes, predatory behind her tortoise-shell frames. Wingblade and the Silver Shadow were quickly discarded. Neither looked like they'd be up to anything interesting as injured as they were, and perhaps the puppy could still be taught to heel. With a broad grin, he vaulted up and through the arm of a decommissioned crane to land behind where Mercy was putting the cultists to flight.
"Oh Tia! You've been keeping secrets!!!" Efnysien thrust Gae-Buidhe into a nearby girder and split his hands into a lewd gesture while he giggled, "Your special-friend was one thing, but poor Camila's very confused about the rest. 'Why's Tia Bronwyn hitting those people? Does she have powers? Does she-" A fleeing cultist rounded some equipment and bounced off of Efnysien while he taunted Alexis. A look of outraged pique spread across Camila's face, and Efnysien clapped her hands to the cultist's temples - the man's head simply came apart in a shower of blood and skull fragments. Efnysien wiped his hands on the side of Camila's skirt and snatched up Gae-Buidhe once more.
"Rude, but he did have a point.
Enough talk."
***
The tunnel felt old, despite the ultra-modern tech of the guards. Concrete and old radioactive shielding gave the impression of some sort of fallout shelter. Kaoru had made it past the waiting cultists, but now there were heavy metal doors sealed in his way. A small slot of transparent material shone through with an ugly red light, but from his position on the floor, Kaoru couldn't see the source...
From within that ugly red glow though, Alexandra could see Balor's preparations. A dozen or so cultists frantically swarmed over a few pieces of very Sizable countermeasures, finishing up last minute maintenance and hopping into pilot's seats.
The Brute Squad was an initiative that had formerly been certain government and military agencies' go-to answer to megafauna events or profoundly powerful enemy metas, but a few cities like Halcyon that were hotspots of abnormal activity had been seconded some before they were taken out of regular service due to constant collateral damage, even in cities with Artificer Fields.
Balor had three.
***
Alexandra's vision was washing out in red heat when she felt a sharp, cool sensation at her temple, and it began to ebb.
"Careful," Bran rumbled as some of the glassiness left her eyes, "Even when turned to this cause, Gae-Dearg is still a weapon." The blade was already heating to match the temperature of her fevered brow, and the runes carved along Gae-Dearg's shaft were glowing fiercely.
Bran's helm was off, so Alexandra could see the look of controlled fear in his eyes as he swept his gaze over to the blackened, flaking amulet she bore. His ear was slashed open, beaded sweat from his brow joining the blood as it ran down his neck. Eyes shining, he murmured, "No one of us has all the answers, but I know something of last farewells. Keep him safe yourself."
The spear's not getting all of this... But that's okay. I've healed from Balor's eye before. I just need to get to the end of this fight, and then Bran can rest. It'll be fine.
The world was deafened by a high-pitched whine and apocalyptic pain. Tortuous screams rang in her head and her throat felt raw for some strange reason until she finally put it together that she was the one screaming.
Her hand was a limp bag of bones and her back sent spasms of agony through the rest of her, but Wingblade staggers to her feet. Sheer will drove her; the Red laced her vision and her body was wracked with excruciating pain, but she could only take comfort that no matter what happened next she would barely feel it.
She screams a challenge. "EFFY!! We haven't finished our dance! Whassa matter? Too squeamish to actually finish me off?!"
Alexandra takes a deep breath as she looks up at Bran He's not the only one who has stuff in there. You do too. and B. and Your host She says But, I don't think it will... I can't believe it will come to that she says, loading a number of darts into a secondary crossbow.
I know Where Balor is. and his countermeasures. Brute Squad Exosuits, 3 of them. Merc and Wing can maybe take one each... F!&%. she says
I'm going after Balor, maybe we can route them if he goes down. she says Gods forgive me if his host is unwilling
Alexandra makes a beeline for the tunnels.
Alexis had been aware of the fight that Wingblade and Bran had been having with Camila - or whatever was controlling her - while they mopped up the rest of the cultists. Seeing as the last of them were running away and no longer putting up a fight, Alexis thought they might have a moment to relax until the Camila-puppet started to talk mockingly to them.
They weren't sure what a tia was, but Alexis could tell that whatever possessed this girl was making her much stronger. Strong enough to shatter a man's skull into gore. By the time the spray was at its peak, Alexis was moving. By the time she was wiping the blood from her skirt, Alexis had made it right next to her.
They hesitated. She's strong, but could I still hurt her? This was enough of a pause that they nearly were skewered by the strange spear. It only managed to score a cut across their right bicep, before they wrapped their arm around it and wrenched it free of the controller's grip, throwing it away.
The spear sailed through the air, and amazing pierced through and inside of the crane's body. Whatever it carved through inside of it must have been important though, as the crane arm creaked and then plummeted down towards Alexis!
Alexis disengaged, rolling backwards and narrowly avoiding being crushed as the arm crashed down and kicked up dust and debris. That had been too close. They needed to keep Camila away from that spear if they could.
...Why was their arm still bleeding? It should have healed already.
Kaoru's eyes narrowed as he heard Alexandra over comms. He switched his comms over to just Alexandra's channel as he rummaged through his backpack, looking for a few things as he spoke. "Stop talking like that! Geez, it's like you've never heard of the nocebo effect: your mental state affects your physical health. If you believe you're going to die, you're more likely to actually die. Besides, we have a team of reasonably competent heroes. Do you really believe they're going to let anything happen to you? We're going to get Balor before whatever you have advances further and then with all the resources and time at our disposal, we'll cook up a cure, no problem. Then you can show me whatever the hell it is you want in your bedroom."
As Alexandra draws near, the tunnels erupt in a cacophony of strange sounds and beams as the cultists within unleash all their weaponry to repel her!
Efnysien plants a single foot on the fallen boom of the crane and gives it a firm rolling shove to send it tumbling at Alexis, but his true focus is on Shayera. With a simple bound he sends Camila's body hurtling towards her, with a slowly spreading smirk on her face.
Nestled in a pile of stripped tubing, Gae-Buidhe quivers with a quiet rattle and flies through the air, flashing towards Wingblade's back!
With a great grunt of effort, Bran leapt for the spear, perfectly meeting it in the arc of its flight to bring it crashing back to the ground. It writhed in his grasp, twisting to bring its wicked edge to bear, but without Efnysien's might it was unable to carve through the weighty layer of plate and chain that Bronwyn had spent so long forging.
***
From behind the heavy door, Kaoru could see light building and hear pistons and engines building up power as the Brute Squads prepared to launch... But nothing burst through, yet.
Alexandra breathes a sigh of releif as Bran cures her, and another as Kay confirms he heard, even if it's to berate her. maybe especially because he's berating her..
Kay, it's not that I... I don't want to... She stops. She turns so Bran can't see her eyes. Not now. can't lose it now. I'm just being realistic[/c] she says, her voice much more even [b]We all knew when we put on the costumes, it might be the last thing we wear... and with that she's off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in the flood sewer-cum-throne room, she finds the dishonour guard await. 3 of them wield standard issue (hopefully) Pre-SCA Anti-parahuman weapons. multiple settings, but the "Pink mist" settings drain the batteries like a mother-, so they wouldn't be a problem for long. More concerning was an old red-diamond Lab defense turret, designed with frequencies that could cancel powers, next to that,t he laser gun and more typical weaponry were pretty harmless.
Alexandra moves as they start tryin to draw a bead on her, setting off flash-paper to stun them in the dark as she ducks down a side tunnel, leaving a surprise behind for the first pursuer as she readies to lead them on a merry chase through toward Balor.
The slight rattle was barely loud enough warn Wingblade of the danger of the yellow spear behind her. Bran's bulky body barreling towards it was much more obvious.
With complete faith and trust in her teammate, Wingblade doesn't spare a glance at the threat behind her and focuses entirely on Efnysien diving towards her. The pain still radiates from her busted hand and damaged wing, but she pushes it aside as she forces them to work. She bounds up in the air with a single beat of her wings and meets the sadistic ancient warrior in combat.
Efnysien's real threat was the strength he channels through Camila's body, so just before they connect, Wingblade pivots to catch only a glancing blow from him on her wings. She lets the momentum of the attempted superstrong punch carry Camila's body past her and into a soft(ish) pile of cinders.
"You think you know all about me from Camila, right? That you somehow sense the lives I've taken and that's all I am?" She squares off with Efnysien in the cinder field and sets herself in a balanced pose, her wings positioned to expose their blunt edges.
The body of Camila stands. "The brat knows a few tawdry details, but broken things are mine, cygnet. I can smell your weepy bloodstained tears; I can taste the mistrust of your friends. You're interesting, but once you've cracked a few hundred interesting people open, their innards are mostly the same."
"Do you always take apart whatever interests you?"
Camila's mouth sneers. "Of course not. Look at your wing - I made that mine, but it's all still one piece."
They reengage. Wingblade keeps her wings working, staying light and aloft to soften the impacts of the crushing blows Camila's body is throwing, and staying just out of reach of a grapple. "That hurt, you know. But I've been hurt worse." she says as she sidesteps a jab and strikes Camila in the bundle of nerves beneath her armpit. "Feel that?" Wingblade follows up with a leg sweep and puts her back on the cinder pile.
Efnysien laughs till tears stream down Camila's face "No!
"But she did." Camila grabs a handful of cinders and flings them at Wingblade with the force of a shotgun blast. She brings her wings up and the projectiles spak off and ricochet in all directions. She drops back to barely avoid the follow-up attack as Efnysien flings himself at her; Wingblade falls backwards and puts a foot in Camila's midsection to have her sail over her. Thankfully, instead of crashing into the rubble Efnysien sticks a hand out and catches the ground, sliding to a stop.
"Camila's not dying today. You're gonna leave her willingly, or we'll pull you out of her."
Camila comes at her again. Wingblade had evaded her twice, and this time Efnysien was ready to adjust his angle of attack. Wingblade dodges, but Camila's hand lashes out and catches her right forearm in a vise-like grip.
"Oops," Wingblade smirks at Efnysien's triumphant sneer. Then she drives one of Whippoorwill's stun quills into Camila's side.
"There's your opening Bran! If you're going to do something, do it now!"
With a final cry, Bran thrust Gae-Buidhe deep into the earth, so that only the barest hint of its yellow haft could be seen.
Camila's limbs spasmed, cleanly snapping Shayera's arm where Efnysien gripped it. Her face was difficult to read through the violent twitches, but he seemed to be almost contemplative.
Well I guess he's probably never been hit by a hundred-thousand volts to the armpit before.
While he was still incapacitated, Bran brought Gae-Dearg to bear against Camila's temple, a little less gently than he had with Alexandra, but still only touching the flat of its blade to her skin. The runes along its crimson haft sizzled and smoked as Efnysien's wrath seared into the remnants of Balor's foulness.
His eyes were glassy, his face blotchy with fever and drawn with pain, but Bran's expression was determined, and at first hopeful as Efnysien went still.
Gratefully Bran shut his eyes as the world fell away around him into a storm of Efnysien's greatest and most terrible deeds, of blood and fire. But as she went deeper, turning aside from atrocity and pain, beneath the raging torrent of broken rage and shattering fury, she found a knot of confusion and fear and hope.
I can feel her!
Tia Bronwyn?! Help! I'm- Wait... Oh, did she send you Bran? It's bad out there, isn't it?" A spectral Camila appeared amidst the madness. "I don't have to look out the eyes, but I can hear everything."
"Don't worry child. Soon we shall free you from his clutches."
She didn't know a lot about what it took to pull a god out of someone, but she could feel the leverage Gae-Dearg was giving her, even if it was mystical instead of physical.
She wasn't sure what she was grabbing hold of, but Bronwyn pulled. Immediately the tempest ebbed, but Camila screamed. Camila's body contorted again, splintering armor and shattering the earth around her, but what finally stopped Bran's work wasn't the rain of flailing blows or the pain in Camila's voice. "It is- it's all tangled up. Her soul and his. If I tear him out of there, I'll kill her too.
"This is why they wanted a kid - they wanted someone easy to control if they were going to lock a god up in her body for the rest of her life."
***
"Don't go into the dark after her you moron! That's a sure way to get taken out! Look, don't even worry about chasing her. Not like it's the real Silver Shadow."
"Heh, not like he'd have a chance against our Lord's new body either. It's not exactly a get the cat out of a tree kinda situation."
The cultist's words echo down the hall after Alexandra as she hears them continue to ready defenses against her powered- well, her more obviously powered teammates.
Were they right?
Wingblade stares at Bran, disbelieving. "No. You got Balor out of Ten with that thing. Try again."
"Balor's spirit was... Freer. And even then I could only expel him once he unleashed more power than she could withstand."
The red crept into her vision. Wingblade's eyes become dangerous. "He's been in her for MINUTES!! Get him out of her!"
"I felt it Shayera. The binding is too strong. I saw her, spoke with her, and she can hear us even now. But she was only able to take control long enough for that scream."
Wingblade's face contorts with fury. "Then tell her to hang on." With her one good arm, she grabs Camila and launches into the air. Her wings beat hard as she quickly accelerates and pushes herself into a hard bank. She keeps picking up speed as she climbs higher and into a tighter and tighter spin, like a rising corkscrew. The g-forces she starts generating with her tight turns would make even the most experienced jet fighter pilot pass out, but Wingblade's modified physiology keeps her alert.
Camila, not so much.
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Still on the Alexandra-only comm line, Kaoru retorted. "You prepare for the worst, that's the smart thing to do. But for godssake, you don't accept it. If you accept you're going to die, then you will. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe you'll die, you try that much less to prevent it. You'll respond just that little bit more slowly. Stop coming up with ideas and plans that much more quickly. Goddamn it Xan, we're not those a&!#~$*s who get to flip the bird to death. We only get one life, so we've got to make the most of it and fight tooth and nail to keep it."
He took a shaky breath, resetting his tone to something softer though with no less heat in it. "You wanna know why my dad died? He died because he f*$@ing gave up. The disease was 'too much'. There was no cure so he was 'dead anyway'." His grip tightened on the steering wheel, pushing the words through his clenched jaw. "We weren't enough for him to keep fighting for. And now I'm the one paying the price because he couldn't muster the will to keep fighting. And even now, I haven't forgiven him for it. So tell me, if our positions were reversed, would you be telling me to go gently into that night? Or would you be telling me to fight with every goddamn thing I had in me to make it through and see you on the other side?"
*****
Since he was alone in the corridor, he quickly flicked his car up enough to look into the room before flicking it down again. あー、ガンダムだ! He then immediately shrunk back down. He needed to find some way in. But how? He drove to one edge of the door and started slowly driving along the edge, looking for a gap he could squeeze through. He wasn't seeing- hrugghh. The car came to a sudden, unexpected stop as his windshield flashed.
接続居ません
Baffled, he put more pressure on the gas. It seemed to do literally nothing. No engine revving -- not that it would, I suppose -- no lurching sensation. No nothing. He unbuckled his seatbelt briefly, opening the door (and wincing at the sudden cacophony of sound coming from down the hallway) and looking underneath the car to see what the issue was. Blinking, he seemed to be attached to the metal panel he had been driving over. Magnets? Grappling...thingie? Why would I have...
He swung up to sit back properly in his seat, closing his door against the nearby chaos. He looked over the panel of buttons. He had to have pressed something, right? What's this? It looked like sometime during his attempt-to-fly button mashing, he had pressed what almost looked like a button with the USB symbol on it. Because symbology is *soooo* much better than words. Or an instruction manual. It (probably) wouldn't hurt to try toggling it back off. He didn't feel any difference, but this time when he pushed on the gas, the car moved once again.
He chewed on his bottom lip in thought. Bits and pieces of a plan were starting to come together. But first, he needed to find a way through that door...
But there just weren't any gaps for him to drive through. Ugh, stupid fallout 76 shelter...
Efnysien's girlish shriek of delight was clearly dredged up from somewhere in Camila's portion of their merged soul, but as Wingblade flew faster and faster, Efnysien's mockery turned to thwarted rage, which was plain to see on her pallid, blood-drained face.
With a twist of Camila's arms, he nearly broke free in mid-flight, but Shayera managed to snag her again as they spiraled back towards the ground, sheltering Camila's body with her wings as they rolled into the ground, before flinging herself free rather than risk staying in close quarters.
"Really?! You're going to keep wasting my time with this?!"
Efnysien popped up from the hard landing without a pause, one ankle visibly swelling. He reached for a nearby length of jagged, rusty metal, popping Camila's thumb back into joint after he first fumbled the grip. "I've decided you aren't going to make a good enough hawk for me, Wingblade. I know your best work only happened when someone's had you on their leash, but I didn't think you were such a useless whipped cur."
Gae-Buidhe sent tremors through the ground, violently beginning to shake its way free of its earthen prison.
"Should I kill her, Brother?! Or maybe this brat's aunt? I don't see a herd of horses around to make my point with this time, so maybe I should cut straight to the quick of things."
For a moment the spear stilled, and a surprised smile spread across Camila's face.
"Oh the brat hates that, Brother. Seems she'll fight after all if it's to keep from feeling those two crunch beneath her hands. Don't think she'll care as much if it's you though."
Okay, okay. Mabinogion might not all be right, but even though Efnysien was a preposterous a~$!~@$, he was their a~$~$@!. Gross. Not what I meant. There's gotta be a way to get him to stop this.
"Efnysien, brother, stay your hand but a moment. Your victory here would only see you bound more tightly to Balor's will, and the man I knew would never submit in such a way. I know your rage is great, but it can be turned to an even greater purpose. You do not wish to remain within such a vessel, but you must know that I would never harm an innocent to free you from it. Such anger, such frustration can feed upon itself, but it is within you to find a better way.
"You know that we are not your enemies brother. Let us help you."
"I've decided you aren't going to make a good enough hawk for me, Wingblade."
Wingblade rolls to her feet after the crash, holding her broken arm close to her body. "Breaks my heart," she says between panting breaths.
She takes advantage of the lull in the fighting to pull out her harness and fashion a makeshift sling to keep her right arm lashed close to her body.
"I know your best work only happened when someone's had you on their leash, but I didn't think you were such a useless whipped cur."
"Should I kill her, Brother?! Or maybe this brat's aunt? I don't see a herd of horses around to make my point with this time, so maybe I should cut straight to the quick of things."
"Yet all you do is talk," Wingblade says defiantly.
She squares up for another round, but Bran starts talking to the Efnysien of the legends, not this current psychopath they were dealing with. Wingblade wasn't sure if anything she said could help, but she couldn't resist tossing in a jibe.
"I mean, is this your goal? Being stuck as a pre-teen girl, serving Balor for eternity? You want any make-up tips? Will he want you to look pretty for him?"
What did Alexis do now?
Somehow the fighting was at a pause. Everyone was talking, trying to convince Efny...Effy? Effessen? Whatever person was possessing Camila to release their hold on her. They had taken the opportunity to grab one of the dropped pistols from the cultists, though it was not a particularly good weapon in this situation, especially with only half a clip and Alexis barely competent to group shots over a foot apart from this distance. Though there was no reason to keep fighting if they were getting through to her...no, him. Bran called Effy his brother.
They would wait and see, taking the comm out from their pocket and slipping it into their ear now that they didn't have to play the hostage anymore. "Shadow, Machina, are you both okay? We're close to ending the fight up here," They whispered to their teammates. "What's your status?"
I'm not... I don't accept it as inevitable... Goddamnit, I just wanted to say, I wrote some things, a few o them are for you.. she says right before Kay has his... before they open their moths and feelings come out.
KAY, for f~&!s sake, do I sound like I've given up? I'm going into the belly of the beast, with a device to extract samples of a Celtic demigod's DNA, tissue, and metaphysical essence. She half shouts, just before she reaches the enemy base. But, I don't know if... I'd tell you to run. You never wanted this, if you died in this, it would be my fault No, I do know. I'd tell you to buck up and fight like hell, and be a hero. She lied.
Kay, Merc, incoming Brute Squad mechs! You need to stop them, too many people are at risk if you don't... looks like I'm going after Balor Solo...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
They're right. Im not good enough. I'm going to die down here, alone, because I'm not enough. I wasn't ready. Why the hell would I think I could keep up with Bran and Wing and Mercy? She thinks, slinking into the darkness as she tries to skirt around the guards the others would just flatten.
Efnysien simply sneered at Bran's words, "I would have thought you of all people would-" Delight crossed his features as 'Bronwyn' started circling towards the entrance to the tunnels.
"Oh look, the aunt. You know, I think this just might hurt you enough to justify it..." Suddenly Camila's body goes slack, and her eyes widen in fear and pain as tears trickle down her cheeks. "Ow, ow-ow ow! He stopped fighting me for a second, and I got me back, but he's-" **nngh** "-taking me back over! I'm sorry Tia Bronwyn, but Balor's got control of him and I don't think I'm strong enough alone to-" A tautness returned to her stance, and then it was Efnysien's smirk on her face once more as he stalked towards Wingblade and Bran, just quickly enough to force them to join battle or back up quickly over the uneven ground.
Okay, okay. Balor's binding is just on Efnysien, not Camila... "Well Brother? Piecing it together? ...Camila can get control of her body, we just need to weaken him... "Ringing any Branwen-shaped bells? Don't you even remember what we did to Gwern?" ...or strengthen her... "Do you-"
Efnysien stopped cold, his cruel sneer suddenly melting away into pure, frustrated rage. "You don't remember." Gnashing Camila's teeth, Efysien stomped her foot and the earth buckled, nearly knocking Bran from his feet.
"What are you? One of those shades that haunted his memories once he found the cauldron? Some conjured glamer of Branwen's so she could 'do some good'? Or are you just some poor dumb brute fleshwarped to trick me into hoping you'd be able to really use that spear to send me home?!"
Gae Buidhe flashed through the air to Efnysien's grasp, freed from its earthen prison by the bastard god's temblor.
"Kids' gloves are off, 'cause whatever you are, you're not Bran."
***
Down in the tunnels alarms were going off in flares of color and sound as debris fell from above. Through the heavy door Kaoru and Alexandra could hear snatches of shouted conversation, and from back up the tunnels it sounded like the other cultists might soon be on the move too!
"-st laun- -damned things! There's no time to finish the sig- -Eyeblighted are wakin-"
Wingblade steps in between Efynsien and Bran, not liking the decision that the ancient warrior seems to have come to. Her good hand balls into a fist as her wings fan out defensively, blunt edges exposed. The pain in her bent feather and broken arm still radiates like a heat throughout her body, but she lets the pain sharpen her focus.
She had the briefest moment to reflect. This whole day was a disaster. From the SCA debacle, to shamelessly using her sisters, to fighting with Bronwyn, to missing the chance to save Camila, everything had gone wrong.
And she had no hope to win this fight without killing a pre-teen girl.
"I saw her, spoke with her, and she can hear us even now."
"Look at you not screaming. No wonder you're her favorite."
"But she was only able to take control long enough for that scream."
"This is why they wanted a kid - they wanted someone easy to control if they were going to lock a god up in her body for the rest of her life."
The ring of Red surrounding Wingblade's vision falls away suddenly as her eyes lock onto Efynsien. "Kid gloves, you say? Effy, you can't take 'em off." She dances fluidly, moving in time with every shift and stance and thrust of Gae-Buidhe, staying in between the two ancient brothers.
"Camila! Listen! You can take control! That's your body! They think you're too young, that you can't possibly stand up to him, but Camila, think! You're the same age I was, when I broke free from the bad men controlling me! I chose to be a hero! It hurts, I know, but that's you! You can do it! I know you can!"
Wingblade stops moving, leaving herself open to a killing blow.
"I know."
Shadow was attempting to fight Balor alone? Alexis didn't know Balor, but considering the forces at his disposal, it felt like a terrible idea to let her do this alone.
"Wait for me. I'm coming," Alexis said over the comms. They had to trust Bran and Wingblade would be all right. Shadow needed them more right now.
Unfortunately, as 'Bronwyn' rushed through into the tunnels, they came upon the well-armed cultists. They had an automated turret along with their light beam weapons, which they had to duck to avoid the initial barrage.
Once they'd expended their first shots, Alexis moved in, getting in close to make it much harder for them to draw a bead while striking at the stunning spots - throat, solar plexus, groin. They hoped the turret was programmed to avoid friendly fire as well, but they kept those cultists' bodies well between them just in case.
Alexandra watches the hangar doors creak open, and Listens as Alexis tries to follow her. Mercy, this is a bleeding order! stop those Brute squad mechs from leveling half the city! she says We're heroes, the many need to come first
She looks over to Kay, and brings out a strange device, looking half spear, half nightmarish dentistry tool. she nods to him. it was now or never. She tosses up a flashbang, and darts forward as it goes off, trying to push past the guards and makes a beeline for where she hopes Balor is.
Well, Alexandra sounded a little angry. Which was good. Angry meant fighting. Angry meant not giving up. "And you can show me that letter after we kick these idiots' asses."
As soon as the door was open, Kaoru slammed his foot on the gas pedal. He had to. If he hesitated, he'd stop to think about what he was about to do. And if he did that, he might think better of hurtling into danger. It wasn't like there was much he'd be able to do just hanging around on the outskirts; the underground was terrible for wireless signals. Which meant he needed to be close. Terrifyingly, stupidly close. But, well, if Xan wanted him to be a hero, then that was what he was bloody well going to be. That or he was going to die trying.
...yeah, he was probably going to die trying.
Nope. Don't think about that. You've got a badass, tough car. You're small. You're maneuverable. They have no idea you're here. So wreck some goddamn havoc.
Despite his terror and the adrenaline flooding his veins and screaming at him to run, he headed straight towards one of the giant, towering mech suits. Knuckles white around his steering wheel, he aimed right for one of its feet. His stomach lurched at the car jerked upwards and onto the obstacle. He pressed the USB-like button and the car immediately froze, latched into place, the seat-belt painfully arresting his forward motion. He quickly pressed a key, sending his exploit through his connection, up and into the suit to completely take it over. Hands still shaking, he gave the command for it to start attacking the cultists, sowing confusion and chaos amongst them.
Camila's eyes blazed with fury as Efnysien brought her fists to bear, but with a look of anguish on her face, Camila turned the blow aside, smashing into the ground with a seismic rumble as the earth itself began to yawn open...
***
The hangar looked different without the haze of power and rage that suffused Balor's vision. The cultists near the Exosuits looked less fierce and almost... wilted, like plants kept from sunlight and water for almost too long to cover.
Most of them did anyways.
Chained to the wall behind the Brutes were a half dozen hulks, dressed only in the tattered remnants of clothes that no longer fit their misshapen bodies. Muscles, bones, and tendons had stretched and warped and swollen into grotesque asymmetries that traced the odd patterns of sigils daubed across their puffy, necrotized flesh. The Eyeblighted were already stirring, and as the other cultists scattered and fled before the heroes' approach, they tugged at their restraints, tearing chunks of concrete free to dangle from the shackles at their wrists and ankles.
Two of the Brutes had pilots, priming their engines and readying their weaponry as debris rained down on them and their pit-crews from the trembling surface above, scratching away at the vintage HCPD paint job that tried to make them seem less threatening.
The third was Balor himself. The cockpit was empty except for a large glowing stone which pulsed in time with the many glyphs and signs engraved throughout his new host, sending flows of dark energy etching their way down the Brute's chassis.
The Eyeblighted horrors raced forward to meet Alexandra, who was joined a few moments later by a nearly unscathed looking 'Bronwyn', who clearly had had very little trouble with the demoralized cultists who had sought to bar their path.
Above the fray echoed a brazen voice as Balor's speakers made his displeasure known.
***
Sulfur and crimson wrapped around Camila's frantic eyes as the Brute Squad's launch silo opened beneath her. Her glasses discolored, the frame withering so that they sat askew across her face. Her voice was desperate, strangled, as the gleeful fury of Efnysien waited behind her exhausted eyes as she strained to keep her spear lowered and Wingblade unharmed. "He's... Coming!"
'Bronwyn' was too late to stop the launch that they could see. The Brutes reminded them of...and the hulking monsters charging from behind reminded them of...
It was no time to get lost in fragmented memories. The monsters were the immediate threat to take down and protect Alexandra. Silently, Alexis surged forward on the assault.
The brutes were strong, but so were the chains that had held them - strong enough that even though they had pulled them free, they were intact. That gave Alexis an advantage, as they ducked under the first swinging strike, snatching one length and then another, before starting to spin as fast as they could. The Eyeblighted were lifted from their feet as Alexis got as much momentum as they could before releasing both of them.
The first one flew right into Balor's Brute Squad exosuit, unlikely hurting him but hopefully staggering the exosuit for a brief moment. The second went on a much higher trajectory, slamming into the still opening silo bay door with enough force to wrench it free of its hinges - and cause its steel to plummet with a crash into the hangar, throwing up dust and grit around it!
Wingblade gives Camila a wink as the powerful slam misses her. She keeps her balance as the ground shifts, then starts to open up.
The booming voice of Balor echoes from deep underground, and Wingblade scowls. "Him again. I own the sky." But she couldn't go fight Balor while Camila was still hanging on by a thread. "Bran, what's the play, here?" She keeps her focus on Camila, watching close to see how she's doing fighting off Efnysien's influence.
She was curious about who Balor might have been possessing all this evening. Suddenly remembering that Balor had just a few days ago tried to infect Abacus, he might have opted for a mechanical body. Great. Well, at least I can go all-out.
She addresses Efnysien. "Are you really okay being a lackey to a death god in a tin can? Camila's fighting it off, why aren't you?"
Kaoru saw the pilot attempting to regain control of his mech suit. Well, that certainly wouldn't do, so the first thing he did was hit the emergency eject switch, tossing the hapless individual free of the machine and to "safety." Or what would have been safety if the mech's auto-destruct sequence had been tripped or if it had sustained enough damage to warrant a danger to the pilot.
Seeing Alexis throw the brute into Balor-Bot and seeing the figure turn at the obvious threat, Kaoru saw his opportunity to make a difference. Now, before anyone noticed he had taken control of one of their mechs. Using his car to substitute in for basic controls, he hit the acceleration, seemingly to charge past BalorBot and engage with Alexis. But at the last instant, he tapped a few keys on his computer, sending the mech's hand out straight at that big, glowing gem that seemed to scream "Weak Spot." If I don't die, I really need to hook this car up with an X-Box controller or something, so I don't have to both use my computer and the steering wheel.
Balor's Brute moved smoothly, smashing the Eyeblighted aside into the concrete with callous ease, leaving its twisted frame bent, broken, and still moving anyways. It hauled itself on two limbs out of the path of the debris raining down from above as the silo doors shattered and collapsed. The other Eyeblighted backed away from Alexis's sudden violence, hurling themselves out of the pit with terrible strength as they vaulted from debris to debris to the world above.
And Balor was rising with them as inexorably as the burning sun.
***
"I'm the only one that's bound you stupid b%!#*! You think the Eye bothered with her?!" Camila's nostrils flared with rage as Efnysien took hold once more. He lunged for Shayera with his wicked spear, finally hurling it at her, but once more Camila managed to slow his strikes and foil his aim...
Until Gae-Buidhe returned, flashing straight for Wingblade's back!
***
Kaoru's ruse was successful, and neither Balor nor the other brute intervened before he smashed his mech's fist into Balor's cockpit! Despite the many layers of armor that should have shielded it, the armored glass crumbled away into rotten dust, and ferocious light spilled out from the ruin of his Brute's 'face', not dimming in the least as Kaoru withdrew the stone in a clenched fist.
Distortion ripped through Balor's speakers as he brayed with laughter, slowly hovering out from the pit.
Wingblade dances out of the way of the spear again, taking advantage of Camila's struggle to evade Efnysien's attacks. She was getting nowhere goading the demigod, and she was running out of options. The bellowing and crashing from beneath the surface also lent an urgency to this fight; she had to wrap it up with Effy in order to help out with the SCA brutes and Balor himself.
She twists her body when Efnysien throws Gae-Buidhe, letting it sail past her. She expected it to return to his hands since she'd sensed the spear move on its own before, but Bran had been there to stop it.
She realizes the spear was still coming at her a fraction too late. She spins away from the deadly projectile on pure instinct, her injured wings deflecting it away from her torso with a shower of sparks. A hot, angry line of red blooms on Wingblade's right cheek.
She runs the back of her hand across the scratch on her cheek, smearing the blood still welling up from the wound which strangely isn't closing. "Bran, if you're not going to engage, how about you go help the others with Balor."
Wingblade glares at Efnysien and rolls her neck. "You missed again. I tell you what, Camila's really kicking your ass here, Effy. Why not give up and let the girl go?"
This felt so familiar to Alexis. They kept out of the way of the falling bay doors as they strode up to the Brute defending its master's path upwards. Something about the smell, and looking up so high to see their opponent's visage, seemed to resonate within them.
So they went with their instincts as they engaged, letting their new body react with muscle memories it shouldn't have as it attacked them.
FWOOSH. The first attack hit nothing but air as Alexis flowed between its legs, before rapidly slamming fists in several locations, leaving inch deep indents. The pilot would soon realize that the mech's knee joints were locked in place, making it much harder to maneuver - or reach their allies.
"I have this one! Get that other one!" They shouted at Alexandra (And hopefully Kaoru, wherever he was). They spun up and grabbed onto the Brute's back chassis, harrying it more to keep its attention away from their team with pummeling strikes.
Seeing the familiar "code", Kaoru gave a half shrug to himself. He didn't need that arm. And soon neither it nor the pilot's vain attempts would matter. As Alexis distracted the not-controlled companion, Kaoru quickly typed in a series of commands. A red light started to blink ominously in the suit. Hopefully the pilot had been a good boy and read the user's manual and knew what that meant. If not, he likely wouldn't enjoy the consequences.
Easily maneuvering around the mech Alexis was tangling with, Kaoru forced his own suit to launch itself at Balor Bot. It only had the one hand, but as Telltale's The Walking Dead had taught him, that apparently had absolutely no bearing on one's ability to jump and catch ahold of something. Especially when you had your own jet boosters. Idiot that he had been, Balor had been too busy doing something -- probably crowing or bragging or otherwise villain monologuing to his deaf ears -- to bother getting high enough to be out of reach.
Lacing the remaining good arm through some metal rungs on the other mech and using the legs to wrap tightly around it, he secured his machine to Balor Bot. And then disengaged his car's anchor.
The fall wasn't as terrible as he was expecting. Perhaps because he was prepared for it or perhaps because it was fueled only by gravity. Either way, he landed safely and reoriented himself just quickly enough to see his former toy explode as its self-destruct went off, causing Balor Bot to plummet back to the ground in a plume of smoke.