The van shook as it rumbled its way through the wastes. I sat in the darkened back area, the two women up front equally silent and pensive about our current task - although perhaps with different reasons behind their respective moods.
Getting prepared had been a blur, where I’d barely managed to get everything loaded up before we had to leave. Roxy had changed into her super suit and Clara had prepared the drone and monitoring tech.
Goggles now back on, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the swaying of the vehicle. Tried to probe around for any new thoughts or memories - anything my reconnected old-tech might have started to build up for me.
Nothing yet.
Drum mag full of Nerve shot. Two ten-mags with normal shot. Sideloader had three HE Slug shells within it. Bandoliers had a pick-and-mix of whatever I could grab in a rush. Knife in my belt. Powered gauntlet on my left fist.
Our target?
A monster from the depths of the wastes. Some mutated abomination almost the size of a house, making a beeline for the city. Normally something the super would have no issue dealing with herself - making me feel rather useless - but the creature also had a retinue of mutant cultists believing it to be divine or the like.
Even more dangerous than that was the unfinished conversation with Roxy. What was I even going to tell her? I had brought the subject into the light due to how friendly Clara seemed with me. Although I had only met these two friends recently, I didn’t want any misunderstandings to ruin what we as a trio could accomplish.
As much as I remained stoic in the face of most adversity, I did pay attention to things. Every time the super would flush at deadpan innuendo or when Clara would get closer than necessary to me. I’d seen the way Roxy looked me over when I had received my super suit or required her assistance in a state of undress. Saw the genuine worry on her face when I met with malady - the anger when she had come to my aid against the gang members.
Didn’t change the fact that I was barely better than the criminals she was sworn to sweep from the streets.
A man with a gun-arm and half a face. The dead-end career of a murderer for hire, employed by a figure that built me as a disposable tool for this very purpose. Now trapped in a tug-of-war between that person and the League of Heroes, my exploits known and my future at the heel end of a superhero’s boot should I wear out my usefulness. Not to mention an unknown past bubbling away in the background.
I was the last person that was appropriate to have a relationship with.
“League reports that the monster has paused its trajectory,” Clara said, breaking the silence. “Looks like they are having a break in some ruins. This should be beneficial for us.”
[Agreed.]
If the cultists hid away, then I could flush them out while the super focused on the bigger threat. Roxy herself gave a brief nod and grunt, but didn’t share her views on the updated information. While she was still chewing on what we hadn’t said due to the League interrupting, she was the opposite to Clara - who practically radiated positivity despite her neutral expression.
It might have been a bit over the top to pay off her full debt for the cybernetic eyes. I disliked the idea of her having that weight over her, however. I paid for mine with my subservience, but it seemed as though the League only kept her in their books, as it was the best place for her intellect and capabilities to shine. Now free to pursue further education, I saw it as an investment to my own growth, rather than some charity because I could afford it.
Perhaps I was putting too much faith in these two, who I hardly knew. Could still be a long con by the League to twist me toward their own devices. The swamp rat inside of me almost wanted the betrayal to be true, as if it was easier than accepting them.
My eyes went up to a notification.
Boss: Availability?
I paused before responding, some discomfort at knowing a little more about how I came to be - and what he had placed inside of me.
Agent W: Tomorrow onwards.
Boss: Perfect. With your previous success, there are even more high-profile contracts coming in.
Agent W: Another villain?
Boss: Contract sending now. You’ll be able to pick up the rest of your prior reward en route.
No further messages. He didn’t want to say what the contract was, which meant that my guess was probably correct. Despite the danger such a job offered, I felt oddly excited at the prospect.
I let it download in the background while I focused on the task ahead.
“Hold tight,” Clara warned.
There wasn’t really anything I could-
The van shook and dipped, half of it rising into the air before all wheels found the ground again. As much as my stomach had lurched, I managed not to break my skull open on any of the metal boxes and tech the back of the van was stacked with. It did manage to jostle loose another memory that was… hmm, difficult to fully realize. Perhaps a similar bumpy trip back in my past.
“I’ll be pulling up somewhere soon where there’s some cover. Not getting my van blown up by mutants. Or… by either of you two.”
While the vehicle wasn’t the quickest way to get on scene, it was the only way all three of us could arrive at the same time. I imagined we were all necessary, otherwise Roxy could have soloed things with ease. It wasn’t dangerous enough for her whole super group to show up, yet I had a feeling it wouldn’t be straightforward either.
Excluding her strength and fire resistance, she had decent speed and agility. A hardiness that seemed to draw from her empowered muscles. Her weaknesses were her short range, mobility, and going against anything that was resistant to blunt force damage. If I was going to fight her I would… no, why was that my first thought?
The question was how I was going to support her based on those weaknesses.
Suppressive fire, taking out mid-range targets, removing restraints or debilitation effects. We’d had a taste of that last time we fought mutants, and I was eager to make acquaintance with that flavor again. Solitude had been a choice, but perhaps not something I would have chosen knowing the full picture.
“Alright, slowing here. You’ll have a few minutes' walk, but you should be able to see the location once you crest this hill.” Clara stopped the vehicle and turned to try to face both of us. “Don’t be assholes and die or anything, okay? That goes double for you, Mr Dubs.”
[I will do my best.]
Back doors open and I stepped out, a wave of heated air washing over me. One of the reasons I had settled where I had was because it was relatively moderate when it came to temperature, even with an unhindered sun. Now we were further southwest and apparently in a valley that didn’t see the grace of a fresh breeze often enough.
The amber rocky terrain was heavily dusted with sand and long-decayed debris. Some manner of cactus-adjacent flora struggled to maintain patches of existence between scenery that was part arid plains and part long lost civilisation. My history was spotty at best, but I was led to believe that cities and towns once graced the whole area of the wastes, before some calamity dried everything up.
Currently, I stood in a wide ditch that stretched a decent way to my right and left, before merging with the orange and brown of the distant land. Most likely a river, somewhat apt given our recent conversation.
Roxy trudged through the sand with her arms crossed, the van door closing behind her. A sour look on her face, she stood beside me and sighed.
“Ice-cream for breakfast was a shit idea. Feel bloated now.”
[Fighting mutants is a poor substitute for brunch as well.]
“Clara told me what you did.” Her eyes went over to the embankment we’d need to climb. “You might pretend it was for pragmatic reasons, but sounds to me you’ve got quite the heart hidden away there.”
[That is not for me to judge. We need to focus on work for now, but… promise me we’ll continue that talk later?]
She turned back to me with eyebrows raised, hesitating for a second before a confident smile emerged. The super gave me a nod. “Of course, you can’t get away that easily.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Shame. Not that I even knew what I was going to tell her or say yet. It would have been nice to ignore it and pretend it never happened. Settle into something normal as a friend, but I just had to force the issue to ensure both of them were on the same page and on my side. I didn't want to see her looking so grumpy.
I’d work out the details when we got to that point. Perhaps I’d get lucky and the mutants would kill me.
The whirr of the dragonfly drone hovered up beside us.
//Clara: League aren’t interested in taking mutant prisoners.
//Clara: But will come retrieve any subdued and arrested.
//Clara: Use that information as you see fit.
“You already have a plan for this, Dubs?” The super started ahead, stepping up the steep hill that was blocking view of our potential targets.
[It would be most efficient for you to fight the monster, as I do not have anything heavy duty. I will try to keep the cultists busy and assist you when required.]
“See, my plan was to recklessly leap through the sky and land on the monster, then just bounce while it was pulverized.”
[Yet I am the one deemed to be a constant danger to myself.]
She grinned and lent a hand down to me. In taking it, she practically tossed me up to the peak of the embankment, landing up higher than she was. Immediately I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.
I’d heard of monsters in the wastes - and even seen a couple abominations myself over the years. Nothing much more than twelve feet, and usually humanoid enough to not look like something eldritch or from a body-horror movie. I ducked low beside a few choice rocks as I took in the large figure moving amongst the ruins just ahead.
It sat around thirty-five to forty feet in height, but was closer to an amorphous blob than anything bipedal. Two large eyes sat in mismatched positions, staring lazily at the horizon. A wide mouth in the middle of its form that could swallow the van if it wanted. Filled with jutting teeth as long as my arm, drool constantly running down dry and split lips to slather the rest of its bulbous body in slick saliva.
Hardened plates that looked like bone patched over the sun-scorched skin, and various ropes had been wrapped around it. Reminded me of the netting they’d have on old-tech ships for pirates to climb over - something that seemed rather apt, as the monster turned to reveal a few short platforms on one side.
Roxy landed deftly beside me and crouched down. “Big fucker,” she surmised.
//Clara: Survey says four buildings surrounding a town square area.
//Clara: Monster currently in the center.
//Clara: You are approaching from the southwest corner. Southbound building is relatively flat.
//Clara: East and Northbound buildings very damaged, only bare structure remains.
//Clara: Westbound is mostly intact and is the largest. Several story apartments.
//Clara: Most of the cultists holding up there.
//W: Understood.
I could see three of the buildings from our current position, but it was nice to have the full picture. On our left, the apartments were a darkened husk of whatever former glory it held. Any paint scoured away by the sunlight, detailing in the brickwork long eroded by constant exposure to the elements.
“Walking is a ballache.” Roxy narrowed her eyes at the distance across the empty land we’d have to travel. “Especially for you.”
My fingers drummed against a side pouch as I stared at a fire exit three floors up on the apartments. The metal railings had long collapsed into a pile, leaving the front doors the only likely way in.
[Oh, I hadn’t planned on walking.]
----------------------------------------
The rush of air was briefly cooling, right before I struck the closed fire escape door like a wrecking ball. Bursting through into the hallway beyond in a cloud of age old dust, I rolled on the cracked linoleum flooring several times before righting to my feet.
A short distance off either way, and I would have been a crumpled mess on the outside instead. Quite the throw, I'd have to commend her later.
Two cultists sitting at a short table in the middle of shooting up some liquid turned to me, their eyes wide. Humanoid, but disfigured and changed in unsettling ways.
“What the fu-” the first began, before I blasted him in the face with Nerve shot. Minor scratches, but his brain overloaded, thinking it had been blasted from his skull. Passed out immediately.
Second one tried to grab for a knife and stand to their feet, but whatever drugs they were trying to imbibe had them slow and clumsy. Metal elbow to their temple, and their body slumped over to the floor.
//W: In and safe.
//Clara: Will relay. Drone catching up asap.
//Clara: Rockslide is about to engage the monster.
I re-breathed a sigh of relief. For what? I wasn’t sure yet. Empty cartridge bounced across the floor, and I decided to give my maintenance node a try.
-Diagnostic Report
-Minor abrasions (Left Leg, Left Midsection)
-Bruising (Left Leg, Midsection, Left Torso, Left Shoulder)
No points for guessing which part of me took the brunt of my entrance. There were options to change to more detail - or fewer details - as well as to arrange in order of severity or prompt new injuries as notifications. That sounded vaguely useful, so I’d try that out for starters.
This part of the hall was wide, as it was actually the top of the internal staircase on this end. To my left, the way down. To my right, a continuation of the hallway and the branching rooms on either side. I was reasonably confident that there were stairs on the other end too - so I stepped that way.
Better to try to clear as many out as possible.
First door on the left was open, the decayed room empty aside from the cracked remains of splintered furnishings. To the right, a closed door that my foot easily opened. Two cultists by the glass-less windows, looking out to the courtyard where the monster was.
They turned just as I stepped through, my first shot going into the stomach of the first. Despite only minor cuts and shredding of his ragged outfit, he dropped to his knees, clutching at the wound as he threw up. League were scary bastards.
Second one fired a makeshift shotgun my way. Gun-arm and super suit took the brunt of the hit.
-Minor Cut (Head)
Aside from a minor cut to the side of my head, apparently. I stepped up to him across the dried out room, while he tried to fumble for a reload - deciding to ditch the weapon for the knife on his belt a couple of seconds too late. Left fist rocketed out, a small burst of force from the miniature V-Force boosters in the back of the gauntlet empowering my punch. Metal struck him in the jaw with a crack, his malformed head snapping to the side from the force.
As his inert body slumped down the wall, I looked out of the window. The monster was there, and even more grotesque and unbelievable now that I was about the same level as it. Roxy had struck it, but it was somewhat resistant to her blows - its flesh just vibrating away from the point of impact.
Several cultists had clambered from the adjacent buildings, and I turned my head to see the drone hover in through the open doorway.
[Keep an eye on Rockslide. Let me know if she needs assistance.]
//Clara: Confirmed.
Even holding back like the League had trained her, she would have no trouble debilitating any number of cultists. I’d seen her take minimal damage from firearms, so as long as she kept moving and they didn’t have a way to pin her down, she would be fine.
My gaze went to the groaning figure in the fetal position, clutching at their stomach. Outside of being a sidekick, I would have put something through their skull - or at least gave them a goodbye kick. Now I had to be better and act the part. So I shrugged.
Took two clean steps back towards the door, and the floor beneath me groaned.
I stopped as the creak continued to push the very real threat through my ears and into my brain.
[No.]
My request went unheeded, as the dried planks gave way and I dropped down to the floor below amongst dusts and broken wood.
A cultist broke my fall, the other three in the room not looking too pleased at me being an uninvited guest. Shotgun blast went slightly off-target as I broke through furniture before landing on the floor amongst the crushed body and apparent table. Nerve shot hit one of my assailants in the arm, the limb going limp, and their weapon falling to the floor.
Rolled backwards and up to my feet to avoid the swinging attack of a… electro-whip. My eyes narrowed behind my goggles, and a flicker of anger burning in my chest as the spent cartridge ejected from the chamber of my gun-arm.
Stepped forward for the follow-up and raised my shotgun so that the whip spun around the end of the barrel, gripping it tight. The assailant didn’t have the strength to pull against me, so we had a brief tug-of-war. Another cultist stepped in, jagged sword-like weapon swinging at me, his face obscured by a pointed hood. Blocked with my gauntlet and then kicked out at his legs. He stepped away to avoid it, but it left his footing unstable.
I advanced, grabbing at his hood before he had a chance to bring his sword back up. Pulled his face down to meet my knee, the crack of his nose leaving an arc of blood through the air. With his hair grasped firmly beneath his hood, I activated the gauntlet boosters to pull his head back further, breaking his neck backwards.
Sideloader activated and the hungry chamber was filled with a HE Slug.
[I fucking hate whips.]
Before the cultist had a chance to reevaluate his life choices, I turned the muzzle toward him - giving in to his efforts to pull me his way. Shot left me with ringing ears as the loud blast vibrated sharply throughout the room. Hole punctured through his chest, the back wall had a bloodied hole of its own, painted with his insides.
Distant voices from other rooms as I considered my current position.
Shell ejected and Nerve shot back in. I tilted my head to the side to regard the injured mutant nursing an arm he thought was shredded.
[How desperate or deluded are you to march on the city?]
“We received the order from the H-high Monarch. All soft-born must suffer, regardless if I d-die or not.”
Delusion then, perhaps. High Monarch wasn’t a familiar name, but my mutant lore was shaky at best. Something to think about later, if I ever survived the awkward conversation looming with the super.
I shot the cultist in the head with the Nerve shot and loaded another. I wondered what the limitations were. Probably had to be humanoid nervous systems. Some level of intelligence to be fooled from it. No doubt the League had found the right dosage that actually confused the brain - any less and it was just scratches, and any more and it would be too unrealistic to be believable.
//Clara: Multiple hostiles en route.
//Clara: Estimate near two dozen.
Quite the army they had gathered. Seemed like an inefficient way to attack the city, however. Knowing that there were plenty of superheros in Goldarch, it would be one of the cities less open to random assault by mutants.
I clutched at my head, a throbbing pain starting up. Diagnostics didn’t give me any information.
Of course. This would only make sense in one of three ways. There was a greater threat that the cultists were hiding and the monster was more dangerous than expected. Or this was a decoy, and another force was also making a move on a different target. Last option was this was a cultivated test by the League - they’d been brewing their own bad guys for target practice.
Wouldn’t put the latter one past them, although part of me hoped it was a true enemy. The squad did need to shake off the rust, but…
My eyes narrowed, and I looked around the empty room, the sounds of footsteps echoing down the hall fast approaching. There was no squad, only me.
And the super.
I shook my head out. Heat was clearly getting to me.
Checked the chamber and strode to meet the cultists. Stopped by the crushed mutant and looked at the splintered furniture. Kneeled down to pick up a couple of long nails.
I may be slowly losing the sense of who I was.
But I sure as hell knew what I was good at.