Steven reacted instantly. The moment the captain pulled a gun, he had a shield under the barrel, shoving straight up.

But he wasn’t the only one to react.

The short man pointed, and a line of purple blasted towards the gun.

Steven‘s shield impacted it a heartbeat later. The flintlock slowly angled upwards as if caught in molasses.

There was a flash, and the gun fired. To Steven’s surprise, the bullet came out at a crawl.

His shield had been quick enough that the gun wasn’t pointing at any of them, but he needn’t have bothered.

The bullet rolled its way out of the barrel, inching through the air like a snail.

That’s one hell of a Skill.

The Captain tugged on the flintlock, then dropped the gun and sprinted towards Micheal, arms pumping, coattails flying in the wind.

Steven slammed a shield into his foot, only to dismiss it as he felt it begin to shatter.

Hand Shields for deflecting only!

A blue arrow slammed into the Captain’s shoulder before erupting into a cloud of sparks. The statue didn’t even pause.

Buford was smart enough that he didn’t try to stop the thing in its tracks. He charged in from the side before leaping.

Metallic eyes locked onto the hound, and Cook swept out with a vicious backhand. 

The statue had enough force behind it to crack Steven’s shield just by running. A punch probably wouldn’t kill Buford, but it would shatter bone. “Push him left!“ He snapped at the same time he slammed a shield into the hound's ribs on the right.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Margie raise a hand.

On his own, that shield wouldn’t have enough force to redirect the hound's momentum, but with Margie and him working together, Buford was flung to the side, and the statue's fist whistled through empty air.

Markus was there a heartbeat later, amber light rolling off him as he drove his fist into the statue’s side.

Del pointed as he moved, sending a bolt of black light into the statue. It was enough force to cause the statue to miss a step and nearly tumble to the ground. Steven slammed a shield into the back of its head and two into its ankles as it stumbled.

He might as well have shouted at it for all the good it did.

While the Captain didn’t seem injured, they at least forced it to quit running.

Micheal quickly gained yards, Noodle trailing beside him, with Del not far behind.

Their new allies positioned themselves between the Captain and Micheal. If he broke through Steven and the others, he’d still have to deal with them.

The statue regarded each of them in turn before its eyes settled on Micheal’s retreating form. It opened its palm, and a map appeared, its edges torn and faded.

Markus swung for the map, but the statue dodged back, keeping the paper out of reach.

The Captain tapped a spot on the map, and dotted lines appeared on the ground leading straight to Micheal before ending in a red X around his feet.

Steven’s mind raced as he tried to think of what that Skill would do.

Was Micheal going to be dragged back to the map? Was it going to launch an attack on the X, was – before he could finish panicking, the Captain moved.

Only this time, he really moved.

The snow, ice, chunks of sidewalk, even bits of the road blasted into the air as the statue rocketed forward like a speeding car.

It ripped past Steven faster than he could call his Tower Shield, and it was all he could do to stop himself from summoning his Hand Shields on instinct.

Markus chased after the captain, but he didn’t have a prayer of catching up. It was going to reach Micheal in seconds!

Their new ally, the short, unassuming man, raised his hand again. “Stop.”

This time, there was more than just a line of purple.

A wave of light blasted from the man, covering the Captain and the entire roadside in an instant.

Everything stopped.

The statue, the falling debris, even bits of snow and ice drifting down. All of it hung frozen as if caught in a picture.

The blond man launched a green arrow while the woman with a hammer charged in.

Markus and Buford ran after the statue while Steven, Margie, and Del ran after Micheal.

The only thing that reached the statue in time was the arrow.

It slammed into its chest and actually sank in a few inches before shattering into motes of light.

Then the statue twitched, and the Skill broke.

The short man missed a step as the debris crashed back to the ground. “Can’t slow him for long,“ he coughed out. “He’s too strong.”

The statue dodged the hammer, accepting a bite on its calf from Buford that did nothing but produce the shriek of teeth on metal, then ran a moment before Markus could reach it.

Steven peppered the statute with shields from every angle, slamming them into its head and legs, trying to catch it mid-step as much as possible.

The boss didn’t care, only mildly annoyed when Steven blocked its vision.

A pit of dread formed in his stomach, but he knew this was bound to happen.

He’d gotten lucky so far; not every fight had been suited to him, but he hadn’t encountered something that he was close to useless against.

Here though? As an attacker, he was useless.

 That was fine. His purpose wasn’t attacking. His role would be wholly defensive in this fight. He didn’t need to hurt the stupid statue. He just needed to make sure it couldn’t land a hit, either.

Micheal’s Skill blazed as he ran, blue light covering the man’s feet in a thick haze as he ran along the road like hell was on his heels. He yelled as he ran, not bothering to turn his head. “Thank you, hero!” The short man grunted in surprise as a flash of blue enveloped him.

The Captain was still gaining on Micheal, but the closer he got, the slower he moved.

That certainly wasn’t one of Micheal‘s Skills at work, so it must be part of the Captains.

Steven sprinted after the statue, the cold air burning against his cheeks. Run Heroes, Run! Activated, giving Steven a burst of speed.

The Captain closed on Micheal, but they were getting slower with every step.

Greater speed boost the further away you are from the X? Reduces the closer you are to your target?

That could explain how that absurd initial burst could be anything close to balanced for their level.

The Captain was less than 10 feet from Micheal now, and he stopped and fished out a second flintlock.

Steven acted, summoning a shield in front of the barrel. The statue jerked the gun up and to the left. Steven tried to move the shield to track the barrel, but Compass Push wasn’t designed to be that precise.

He summoned a second shield and then a third. The captain gave up trying to aim around the shields and started breaking through them.

Steven dismissed them before he could suffer the backlash.

Buford, Markus, and the hammer woman caught up to the statue before it could take off again.

It snarled and swung a backhand at Markus. The man slipped past it and jabbed the statue in the side.

The amber light streaming off him was thick, and his fist struck the metal statue like a gong.

The statue didn’t show any visible reaction to it.

The hammer woman swung for the center of the Captain’s chest. The statue slipped to the side, narrowly avoiding the hit.

Steven took note of that. It thinks the hammer can hurt it.

Del kept pace beside Steven. She had decided to hang back and play a supporting role in the fight instead of being another body in the melee.

Which Steven thought was the right play. Better to save her cooldowns for when they really needed them instead of betting on her being able to hurt the damn statue.

The Captain traded blows with Markus and the woman, its metal arms whistling through the air with horrifying speed while Buford flanked the edges of the fight.

Steven… well, Steven was still worried for Markus. He was pretty sure he was incapable of not worrying during a fight. But the old man could take care of himself.

The Captain didn’t even come close to Markus. The statue was fast, but he was faster. His movements were cleaner, more graceful.

But while the statue didn’t have a prayer of catching Markus, he couldn’t seem to hurt it either. Amber covered fists crashed home again and again into its body with resounding clangs, but the most he got for it was a single step back.

The woman didn’t have Markus‘s grace or agility, but every swing of her hammer made Steven tense in anticipation. The Captain never tried to meet it head-on. Every swing was blocked only in passing or dodged outright.

If I could trip him up, get her an easy hit… The problem was his Hand Shields were essentially useless here. Aside from blocking its flintlocks, they would shatter the instant the statue tried something.

Hell, if the Captain just leaned against his shields, Steven was pretty sure they’d break from the weight.

He had other options, but they had much longer cooldowns, so if he didn’t have to use them, he wouldn’t.

Micheal had put a significant distance between himself and the boss when, as if he’d reached some invisible line, the statue's head jerked up to focus on him.

It tensed, getting ready to bolt again. But before it could, the line leading to Micheal vanished.

The statue dodged a hammer swing, then opened its hand again. The map reappeared, but this time, Steven was ready. A Hand Shield crashed into the map and flung it from the boss’s grip.

The statue lunged for the map, but another shield smacked it up higher into the air. He quickly juggled it further away.

Note to self: add juggling with shields to my training routine.

They fell back into the same routine, Del and Steven ready with their Skills in case someone took a hit, while Markus and the woman kited the statue.

They couldn’t land a solid hit on the statue, but they didn’t have to.

If they kept this up for a few minutes–

“Incoming!“ Margie yelled.

Steven spun and cursed. A new group was running towards them, and from the boulder hurtling straight for Markus, he didn’t think they were open to an alliance. 





~<>~<>~

Maybe they just have bad aim.

It was a wistful, naïve thought. Markus had just finished an exchange with the statue, putting him several feet away from it. And the newcomers weren’t looking at the Captain. They were looking at Steven and Del.

God dammit.

The boulder was bigger than Steven‘s torso and trailed chunks of ice and pavement like a comet as it flew.

If it were further away, he might’ve tried his Hand Shields. Compass Push only hit a little harder than his punches, and while that certainly wasn’t enough to stop the boulder, enough hits might knock it off course.

But it wasn’t a ways off. It was seconds away from impacting and leaving his friend as a smear on the pavement.

He won’t actually die. Remember that.

While Steven kept that thought in the back of his mind, it didn’t matter here. He wasn’t letting that thing touch Markus.

He took off. His body, tempered from two Thresholds and enhanced with Thank You Heroes, sailed over the icy streets like an Olympic sprinter.

He called a shield under his foot and pushed off it. Before he could fall, he called another and another, building a staircase for himself as he ran.

He’d needed to be careful with his broken arm, but he had drilled on moving his body while calling shields this last week, and it was paying off.

He started calling his Tower Shield. Once Steven was 6 feet off the ground, he stopped, which was actually the hardest part of this trick.

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He’d built up enough speed that if he stopped running, he’d fly off his shields like a cartoon character.

Instead, he called a shield directly in front of his chest. He slammed into it, but with his Trait, it barely even stung.

The Tower Shield finished forming with a heavy thump!

The boulder slammed into the shield with a sound like an earthquake. Crunching stone and shattering ice filled Steven’s ears, but his shield held. It didn’t even shiver.

I took attacks from a Beast of the North. I’m not going to crumble from a boulder.

Steven blinked at that. When did he start feeling so proud of his shields? He shook the thought off. Not the time.

He dismissed the shield with a thought. The five-minute timer in the corner of his vision blinked and then switched down to three minutes.

He typically left his Tower Shield up in fights for so long that the cooldown didn’t matter. But if they were going to be moving all across downtown, he needed to maximize its uptime.

Steven took stock of the fight.

Markus and the woman were still locked with the Captain, while Micheal and Noodle were at the very edge of the fight, staying just close enough so that Steven could help if someone jumped them.

Everyone else had turned to the newcomers who, it seemed, had expected their boulder to take at least one person out of the fight.

To be fair, Steven hadn’t seen anyone who could eat a Skill like that and walk away fine. Not even Buford was that durable yet.

As Steven studied the newcomers, the first thing that caught his eye was their clothing. They were wearing black clothes and… Halloween masks? Yeah, those were Halloween masks. A pig mask on the left on a tall figure, a hockey mask on a stout figure in the middle, and a clown mask on the slim figure on the right.

That was actually kind of smart, especially if this group was planning on attacking everybody they met. While they could still be identified by their Skills, if they were all somewhat generic, like throwing a boulder, they might blend into the crowd.

Clown mask backed up, and brown light gathered around their feet. By the color, Steven was guessing that that was their boulder thrower.

The hockey mask rushed to meet the others, showing no hesitation as Buford charged them.

The pig mask sprinted to the side and started making a weird gesture.

Steven cracked his neck and then jumped from the shields. He took the 6-foot drop in a crouch, his legs barely twinging.

Something tells me you lot are less invulnerable than that stupid statue.

Steven took a deep breath, then began to call.

~<>~<>~

Markus saw the boulder from the corner of his eye. He considered his options for a heartbeat. With Meter Break, he should have enough speed to get out of the way.

If he invested enough Meter into Titans Sap, he might be able to block it. He wasn’t sure; he’d never used the Skill to stop something that big.

All of that flashed through his mind in a heartbeat before he came to a simple conclusion. He didn’t need to worry about the boulder.

Markus had worked in teams before. But those had been… Well, there had been familiarity and a measure of professional trust. But that did not extend far.

Now, though, he didn’t need to worry about getting stabbed in the back or the lines the people around him might cross.

Steven would catch the Boulder; Markus was a certain of that as he was of anything.

So he put it from his mind and focused back on the Captain.

The young lady fighting with him was obviously holding back. She had shown no Skills aside from obviously enhanced strength. But that was enough. The statue shied away from her like she was a viper. Accepting half a dozen hits from Markus before it took one from her hammer.

The Captain seemed especially protective of its chest. If they had to kill it, Markus would’ve taken more aggressive moves to land a hit, but that wasn’t needed here. He only needed the stall.

There was a great crash from behind him. Markus dodged a metallic fist before stealing a glance.

He caught sight of Steven‘s Tower Shield and a spray of rubble and ice blasting away from it.

That was all he had time to notice before turning back to the statue.

He kept pressuring the Captain, keeping up their dance. But as he fought, he kept some of his attention on the other fight.

Unless the Captain pulled out a new Skill, Markus wasn’t getting hit; he could spare some attention.

It was thanks to that split focus that he saw the rock before it hit him.

He dumped a quarter of his Meter into Titan’s Sap as he slashed out with his left arm. Amber light separated, solidifying mid-air.

The rock slammed into the sap, and both Skills shattered.

Markus whistled. He put that much meter into it to be safe, and it still broke his Skill.

Alrighty, don’t get hit with the rocks.

The Captain noticed Markus’s sudden drop in speed and spun to focus on him.

A flurry of punches followed by a quick poll of a flintlock set him on his back foot. He got ready to burn more Meter, though it was already dropping rapidly, but before he could, a shield crashed into the flintlock and knocked it from the Captain’s grip.

Steven wasn’t even looking at him. The man was busy locking down a figure in a hockey mask.

The captain stared daggers at the shield before turning its gaze back to Markus.

Markus grinned. It was good to have friends.

With a laugh, he threw himself back into the fight. 

~<>~<>~

Vern was pleasantly surprised so far.

While their day had gotten off to a bit of a rocky start with them getting jumped, they had met a friendly group! And better yet, they had talked to Carla instead of him.

While his friends might try and force him to be the leader, it wasn’t his fault if strangers assumed one of them was in charge.

The fight with the statue had worried him for a second when it showed that absurd burst of speed.

Not many things, people, or Scenario monsters had broken his Skill when he was putting that much juice into it.

A good thing, too, that backlash feels like getting kicked by a horse.

But then they had settled into a rhythm, and it was clear they could keep the hat away.

And then more clowns showed up.

Literally, in this case.

Vern looked over his Skills before dismissing most of them. His slots were mostly filled with passives to buff his slow. He only had one other active, and the cooldown was too long to burn on anything less than an emergency. He raised his finger and pointed at the figure in a clown mask. 

The figure yelped and dove to the right. Vern’s Skill missed them by an inch.

As people's reactions improved, he learned that his skill wasn’t instant.

He’d thought it was in those first few weeks, but he couldn’t quite slow someone before they could react.

He had to raise a hand, or at least a finger, to aim, and there was a brief delay between the Skills start-up and the beam reaching the target.

Before the System, he doubted there were many people who could react in time to a literal laser from his finger. Well, he still hadn’t met anyone who could. They were reacting to his pointing, not the light.

Regardless, the end result was that he was on cooldown for 15 seconds while these bozos charged him.

Vern started backpedaling as the clown focused on him.

Brown light rippled along their foot, and as they slid their leg forward, the ground cracked.

Sound blasted his ears as a wall of rock and rubble flew towards him. Vern started to run, but he knew he wouldn’t react in time.

The rubble shouldn’t kill him, and even if it did, he wouldn’t actually die, but this would hurt like a bitch.

He braced for impact only to feel something slam into his shoulder blades from the wrong direction.

It flung him from his feet faster than he could react. One of his new allies, the old woman, planted herself in front of him and the oncoming wall of rock. She couldn’t have been more than 100 pounds soaking wet and was as thin as a willow branch.

But she stood there with her hands on her hips as if staring down an unruly child.

Her right hand strobed with light, black, and red flickering across one another in a frantic pattern. She clenched her fist and vanished.

The massive, red-covered hound stood in her place. It immediately threw itself to the ground, covering Vern with its body.

Vern saw two green shields snap into place along the dog side before the wall hit, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Noise and pressure buffeted Vern as he was tossed across the icy road. Pain flashed, but nothing too bad.

He flung himself to his feet the instant his vision stopped swimming.

The wave of stone was scattered all around, but his section of road was mostly clear.

There was the crumbling remains of two shields hanging in the air where the dog had braced itself.

“Thank you,“ Vern told the dog as it pulled itself to its feet.

The hound had taken a beating, a few ribs were visibly broken, and its fur was covered in dirt and snow.

But as Vern watched, one of those busted ribs bowed out, knitting itself together like a video on fast forward.

Teleportation, durability, and regeneration? How many Skills were giving that effect?

Vern pushed the thought aside as he focused on their surroundings. They had bought him some time, and in six seconds, he’d return the favor.

Vanessa and the old man were keeping the statue busy, but they were in their own fight. Vince was trading shots with the clown and the other two… Vern blinked.

The figure in a hockey mask wove between a jungle of shields. The man responsible stood 10 feet away, hands at his side as he stared at the figure.

The shields zipped at them from every angle, crashing at their back as others raced towards their legs.

Vern would’ve gotten tagged and clobbered in seconds, but this figure was weaving between the shields like they could see everything around them.

But while they weren’t taking any hits, they also couldn’t do anything, all their attention locked on dodging.

Which left the figure in the pig mask fighting the college-aged woman.

Light shimmered along the figure's arms, and as they dashed to the right, they left a trail behind.

The woman chased after them but gave the shimmers a wide berth.

After 6 feet, pig mask stopped and made a slashing motion with their right hand.

The light shimmering around their left arm separated, leaving a tear in the air like a mirage before slamming their open palm into it.

The entire line quivered, then blasted forward.

The young woman threw herself flat, the Skill whizzing over her before crashing into a parked car.

It sliced clear through the top of the vehicle with a shriek before continuing to the building behind it.

The wall burst, showering rubble onto the road.

Well, that certainly made it easier who to focus on.

Vern’s Skill came off cooldown, and he jabbed a finger toward pig mask.

Pig mask dashed to the side, building up another slash. And all of their attention was locked on the woman.

His Skill caught them full force, and their sprint slowed to a fast walk.

The woman didn’t waste the opportunity he had just bought her.

She scrambled to her feet and charged the masked figure.

The strain on Vern’s skill grew as the figure fought to break free. He pushed back, keeping them locked down as the woman charged in.

They broke free an instant before she arrived, one hand lashing out to cut her with the light.

The man with the shields didn’t give any visible tell that he was even paying attention to their battle, but one of the shields flickering around hockey mask vanished, slamming into pig mask’s hand before they could bring their Skill to bear.

Now completely open, the woman lashed out, putting her entire body behind the swing.

Black light flashed thrice quickly, sinking into the pig mask's shoulders, while white light sunk into the woman.

Her fist impacted like a gunshot, slamming into pig mask’s face and blasting them from their feet.

They crashed onto the pavement like a sack of bricks, and before they could so much as twitch, a pillar of green and purple snatched them away.

One down, two to go.

The shield guy was keeping the hockey mask in a stalemate, which left the clown mask.

They were a hundred feet away, hurling chunks of rock at Vince, who was responding with a rain of arrows.

A blue arrow flew straight for the clown, but they pulled their leg up as brown light flashed. A small section of the road followed their motion, blocking the shot.

The light intensified as they drove their foot down and forward, dragging it straight through the pavement.

Earth flew like a cannon, and Vince had to dive to the side.

The woman charged the clown from the left, tearing across the street at a frightening pace.

The hound that had saved Vern took off a moment later, though its movements were visibly pained.

Five more seconds until his slow was off cooldown.

The clown began to gather light between their hands, and Vern felt a spike of danger. That Skill was strong.

More arrows flew, and the clown stomped again, blocking them with another wall of rubble.

They sent a blast of rocks at the woman, who raised her arms and took the hit, not even slowing.

The clown bolted, the light brightening between their hands.

Vern glanced at Carla, but the woman was leaning against a nearby wall, watching the whole ordeal with a relaxed smile.

Vern sighed. He should have expected as much.

He got ready to unleash his slow when a dark form leaped from behind the clown.

It impacted the clown, and they cried out. It was another dog, this one low to the ground and covered in a cloak of shadow.

The ground in front of the clown started shaking, and Vern prepared himself for an explosion.

But then the shadow hound was gone, replaced with the dog that had saved Vern.

The new hound reacted instantly, diving at the clown before they could regain their feet, and sank their teeth into the back of the figure's neck.

The clown vanished in a flash of light.

Vern caught movement to his right. With a start, he realized that the shadow hound was there now.

The Skill let her swap her dogs as well as herself?

The ground stopped shaking as the pillar claimed the clown.

Which just left the hockey mask.

They still showed an amazing amount of dexterity, slipping around the shields like an acrobat.

But they had more than shields to worry about.

Vince started firing arrows.

Whatever hockey mask Skills were, they were potent. The figure kept up their elegant dance, weaving between shields at a ridiculous pace while attempting to close the gap.

They somehow saw the first arrow coming, despite looking in the opposite direction, and smoothly dodged it along with a shield aimed at their knee.

They kept dodging as more arrows rained down on them, mixing with the shields to create a swarm that would’ve taken Vern out almost instantly.

Vern raised a finger. His slow landed.

Hockey mask took the slow with a surprising amount of resilience, moving far faster than a normal person, even with the skill affecting them, but it was enough.

A shield slammed into their knee, another into the back of their head, quickly followed by four arrows.

Before they could drop, a flash of light took them away.

Vern sighed heavily before turning his attention back to the Captain.

It hadn’t changed much. The statue tried to close in on the man with his hat, but Vanessa and the old man wouldn’t let him.

The man tripped and pressured; his hits didn’t appear to be damaging on their own, but if he made the statue stumble at the wrong time, it would take a hammer to the chest.

Vern and his new allies circled the boss, ready to step in if needed.

The boss never regained his footing. Every time it tried to pull out its map, a shield slapped it away.

Every time it tried to charge, a hammer or an amber-covered fist met it.

After a few more minutes, the System dinged.

The captain stiffened, the lights shifting around his metallic form, stilled before racing to his head. They post once, twice, and then the captain froze, fist raised to deliver a strike that would never land. 



Together with Old Timers Inc., you have cleared an event [The Good Captain]

Reward: experience, new Skill gained!

Planned Wind Down.

Passive

Uncommon

Effect: your slow can be placed on a surface with a timer attached and cannot be remotely activated at Will. Once a timer is set.

Range X

Energy cost: small.

Cooldown: one minute.

Vern smiled at the prompt. Not bad for the start of the night.

He turned, quietly readying himself for another fight.

Now to see if our new friends want to try and ‘kill’ us.