For the longest time, getting communication from the League was a thing to be wary of. A jump scare, almost, where we expected to be put through the wringer. After Roxy and I had read through the vague briefing that our manager had sent over… it was almost uncomfortable to say that we were excited about the potential mission.
In two days' time, I’d face my final trial to become a superhero officially. Only, I wouldn’t be taking it alone. The mission was for the whole group. All five of us acting together. The League intended to kill two birds with one stone, so that they could also approve my induction into the super group at the same time as becoming a hero. If the mission went as planned, we would all be called in to a meeting on the day after.
The actual details of what they wanted us to do were to be left until the day, apparently, which in my mind made it sound like something very real rather than a scenario concocted specifically to test us.
Roxy had immediately sent the others a formal request to get their asses to our house tomorrow. One day wasn’t much time to train, but we’d push them to make the effort. It made our moonlighting tonight even more important. More than two people finding some joy in violence, at least.
As I drove away from the hobgoblin settlement, I wondered how much I should be wary of Roxy’s murderous streak. In some ways, it had been my fault. She had always had to hold back in fights—like the League wanted—so she didn’t turn everyone to paste on first contact. I had held her hand and pulled her toward breaking mutants in half, and it hadn’t taken her long to set that as a new normal.
With her lava powers, I wasn’t sure how she intended to go back to ordinary hero work, but then the League might have other plans for her. A bridge we’d completely obliterate once we got to it.
The excitement of it made the trip over to the hobgoblins feel like it took no time at all. While cautious at first, they were then surprised at Teeba now having a voice. Being a man of my word seemed to wash over the fact I had recently been there to beat a bunch of them up. They had taken up making some basic weapons with the forge, and my lens picked up the training dummies off at the side. Good.
After hearing of our hospitality, we made small talk with some of the hobs’ while Teeba went to speak with his partner privately. Roxy wasn’t that keen on socialising, but after I roped her into a story with a joke, she relaxed somewhat and settled into being herself. Before she had the chance to stick her foot in her mouth, the council agreed to meet us.
It went exactly how I wanted it to. How could it not?
The fact that the quake-wagon was now rolling across the wastes barely illuminated by the moon in a direction that was opposite to our house was proof enough. They would need certain blueprints to make the molds, and some more details on the metals and processing needed… but they would make my bullets and anything else I required, as long as I upheld my terms.
First port of call was erasing the tribe threatening to raid them in the near future.
Roxy had been hoping it was just a group of simple mutants, of whatever varying flavor. Something that wouldn’t really register on the danger level with how far we had both come. We both knew that she alone could mop up most things that didn’t have a superpower, or tech that could negate her extreme strength. If the League wanted us to clear up the wastes, then Roxy could be a one-woman army now that she had warmed up to murdering things.
Much to her chagrin, it wasn’t going to be that easy tonight. Which secretly made me happy.
Not because it meant my presence was required and beneficial, but because part of me yearned to scrape myself up against odds that could end my life. A death wish that would never come true.
The hobgoblins, who I now knew went by the tribal name Ironforged, had said the raiding group was called the Gnashing Horde. The super had given me a shrug; not a group she’d heard of. As more details were given to us, her face had fallen, however. There were no lines to read behind, as the description was tightly bound. Full of our bloody future.
Lizardkin weren’t that uncommon, but most of their ancestries were part of normal society. People like Hal. The Gnashing Horde were one of the few who wanted to live amongst the wastelands. They saw it as their birthright. Their place to rule. While their numbers were few and they couldn’t take over swathes of land because of it, the members they did have were a dozen steps above most mutants.
After generations of surviving and training in the harsh wastes, even their adolescents would be classed as having Advanced ability. Kirrix Lizardkin also had longer lifespans than most others of similar ancestry, were usually led by a coven of magic-using shamans, and had exceptional durability.
I was reasonably confident that Roxy could still punch everything in the face and that’d be us done, but she wasn’t so sure. As the vehicle rocked against the next dune that we rose over, she sighed for the thirtieth time.
“It’s not just the magic users,” she said, looking out at the darkness. “When I’m focusing on my lava being up, I’m more… I’m stupider.”
[I doubt they’ll be asking us general knowledge questions as a method of attack.]
She rolled her eyes. “C’mon, Dubs. I’m not exactly the most tactically intelligent gal around. Running hot turns me into more of a liability.”
[Well, that’s why you have me, isn’t it?]
Roxy didn’t reply at first, but turned to look at me, her fiery eyes trying to read my expression. “There are many reasons, Dubs. But if you want to guide my fists, then I’ll listen and do as you ask—I probably won’t have the brain cells to debate over if your request is shit or not, though.”
[You know you don’t have to use your new powers, right?
Another moment of silence filled the interior of my vehicle as she turned her gaze down to her hands. She shrugged. “I think you know the answer to that.”
Of course I did. In some ways, we were similar. It would be like her saying I didn’t need to find out about my past to live as I was now. Her lava power was who she was, down to the bones. Part of her that had been inert so long, that she had rushed into bringing it out to the maximum, even to her detriment. Hoping to feel complete. Despite my living for being more than a killer, that life was also saturated through my being. It was something shadowing our lives on the day to day.
Plus, seeing her in action… perhaps I could get some ideas about how to kill her.
Roxy was still the strongest hero I had met. Even Silhouette, while an S-Rank, I felt his power lay in more of his advantage of surprise. It was like my Smoke shots. A piece of technology that wasn’t that strong on the surface, but against enemies relying on their sight to fight against me, it almost erased any chance they had.
The super had even warned me that when I became an official hero, there would be villains and gangs who would scour any public information available about me and prepare for my abilities to try to neuter my advantages. Goggles similar to the ones I used to see outlines in the smoke. Ballistic shields. That kind of thing.
Then she had scowled as the sparkles in my eyes told her that I was awaiting that eventuality with open arms. Every gamble won just made me stronger.
[Tonight will be fine. We’ll stick together and support one another. It’s unlikely we’ll both die.]
“Take out priority targets first. Cause confusion and chaos. Always keep within eyesight of each other.” She repeated the three simple instructions we had agreed on. Even her brute-brain would remember that.
[We have five minutes and we’ll be there. Anything else you wanted to discuss?]
“Ehh.” She sunk back in the seat and deflated. “I love you, asshole. You’re both a bad influence and a good one, and I’m crazy about that. We’re going to murder a bunch of dickbags to set up an illegal foundry so you can make knock-off super killing bullets. And then tomorrow we’re training with our friends to get our team back up the rankings and being better heroes for the city.”
[I’m going to make pizza as well.]
“Fuck.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “Maybe we should spend that mouth-money on getting you some defensive bullshit so you don’t die on me. I don’t deal with heartbreak well.”
[There are advantages to both. Let’s see how the next week or two shakes out. I love you, Roxy.]
“Yeah?” She tilted her head toward me, eyes opening. “Not going to gush about why you do. Death flag this shit up?”
I shrugged and dimmed the headlamps. There were pricks of light ahead.
[I’m quite fond of your ass.]
She snorted and exhaled. “Shithead. Where’s that poetic side of you gone, bard?”
[Sorry, I only have one thing on my mind right now.]
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“My ass?”
[No, we are approaching the… well, now it is, yes. Their camp is ahead, however.]
Her smile softened slightly as she leaned forward and squinted. “My eyes must still be recovering. I can only just about make the light out.”
While some jabs about her needing glasses floated to the top of my active mind, they didn’t make it to my vocalizer. Despite my confidence and assurances, I had to cool my temperament now that the violence was looming and very real. This would be dangerous, and I had been downplaying that. Roxy might gripe that magic was her weakness, and she’d be short range and mentally dulled due to her ability… I was still close to base human durability.
Sure, I could live through wounds that would kill most, and recover in no time at all - but I still took that damage. It would only take an unfavorable flip of the coin for me to hit the limit of what I could endure, and that was leagues below what the super could withstand. She wanted me to guide her like she was a toddler, but it was me that needed babysitting through this fight.
[Chances of you being able to leap?]
She winced and sat back. “Not… likely. I mean I could, but it’s something I haven’t really been able to do while my lava is out. There are some temporary limitations with it until I’ve mastered control. Mobility and brainpower, for the most part.” The super seemed rather glum about this.
[Understood.]
It would have been nice to have Clara along for the ride, but I hadn’t brought the drone. Repairs hadn’t been done on it, and I had the feeling she’d be looking to replace it instead. We had wanted a more combat-capable model for a while, and this was a good excuse. By this time, she should be done with her realtor or whomever she was meeting, but she needed the rest rather than be monitoring us in the midst of combat.
“Hey, Dubs?”
[Yes, dear?]
Roxy placed her hand on my leg gently. “I bet I get more kills than you.”
I raised my eyebrow and shot her a glance. There wasn’t a confident smirk on her face or a knowing scowl. She looked enamored. This was a date night. A terrible activity for Goldarch's next neo-villain duo. We were skirting a dangerous line, and I would pile drive us into the dirt. I never claimed to be a good guy, and I was coming to realize exactly what I was willing to do for this love I had somehow found.
[Winner gets to pick what we do for our next date night.]
The super smiled and gave my thigh a squeeze before moving her hand away. “You’re on, motherfucker.”
I flicked the switch that turned my headlights from a pale white to a bright green. Branding was everything, and if we were going to do this, then we’d do it in style. Roxy clenched and unclenched her hands as I pressed my foot further on the accelerator. The lights ahead were now clearly campfires, three of them set around groupings of tents.
The problem with soft cover was that it didn’t really protect you from much. Like, for example, my truck moving at speed. I hit the brakes and slid to the side before we committed vehicular manslaughter, kicking up a cloud of dusty sand with the wheels. While most temporary camps could be knocked down in a stiff breeze, the Gnashing Horde had survived the wastes for enough time to know better.
Thanks to the brighter headlights, I had seen their defenses before I rammed straight into them. Wooden barricades of spiked metal, arranged just after a shallow ditch encircling the camp. Most of the blockades were crossed beams, but a few were solid walls.
Our entrance had no chance of being a silent one, and I wasn’t surprised to see the lizardkin already moving out, their bodies and shadows flickering through the defenses and fireplaces. They would have had someone out on watch, but we had gotten close enough that they weren’t fully prepared for our arrival.
Roxy’s side of the wagon was facing the camp, and she popped open the door. I stepped out into the darkness of the side that was not visible to the camp. Useful for if I wanted cover, but if I was going to get stuck into the fray, it at least allowed the super to get the attention of everyone first.
I circled the front of the van, just as several large metallic thunks struck the wide panels of the van beside Roxy. Thick arrows had embedded into the side of my vehicle. My chamber clacked back and forth, loading in a metal ball. They had become my ammunition of choice for killing soft targets, so we’d see how they fared against the more durable lizardkin.
As Roxy growled out, her legs braced against the ground as if she was going to shoot off like a rocket, I gave the camp area a quick once over.
They had three or four small towers—stacked wood that stood barely above the height of the tents, but gave the ranged Horde members a better view to use their weapons. All of them were currently occupied by bow-wielding lizardkin. The solid cover on this side of the camp was bustling with silhouetted figures holding metal spears and other sharp melee weapons. No sign of the magic-using leaders, which was a problem.
The tribe themselves were tall—perhaps six foot five, at the least. Broad shoulders, long tails, small protruding horns along their sharp faces. The light from the campfires glinted across the thick scales that weren’t covered in leathers and furs. Eye colors ranged from pale yellow to bright amber to sinister red. Pointed teeth. The whole package, really.
Roxy’s arms burst into flame before they glowed, starting in patches before both limbs were swirling super-heated lava. She didn’t need to wait for my signal. As soon as she was confident that she had the power under control, she ran forward. Another two arrows struck my wagon, while a third hit the super and bounced off. Drips of lava fell from her arms as she ran, hitting the sand and cooling to dark rock.
I was briefly enamored and in awe, before I followed along behind her. The ranged users either hadn’t spotted me or saw the raging super as a bigger threat. Her primary role was to get us into the camp.
With a small jump, she hopped over the ditch and burst through the spiked barricade as if it was the ribbon at the end of a marathon. Splintered wood cracked and fell to the side—some of it smoldering—as she approached the first solid wall full of lizardkin.
Overcharge hummed into life and I shot out ahead of her, the wooden wall of the first palisade punctured by the steel sphere, hopefully damaging one of the opponents behind. As the chamber clacked back and forth, the tiny arms of the selectloader mechanism fed in a Smoke shot.
Roxy was a runaway train and raised back a burning fist as she met the barricade. The tribe members had been expecting it, however. The wall fell forward towards her, revealing the group that had been gathered there.
Four lizardkin with spears, who lowered the pointed weapons to meet her. Behind them, two further fighters with raised bows. Any notion that it was interesting to fight enemies that used actual tactics zipped away just as quickly as they released their projectiles, almost point blank at the super.
She didn’t have the time to dodge. One ran through her right shoulder, the second her forearm barely intercepted before it could pierce through her throat. This second arrow immediately fell to the ground, the tip completely melted and still glowing. As she stepped forward, roaring at the prickled group of spears, the first arrow also dropped away.
Even from behind her, I could see the small circle of lava now glowing brightly from her wound. Despite the wake of heated air I was moving through, I shivered. I didn’t really question how or why her lava worked, but now I was curious.
Smoke shot went off to the left side of camp as we angled toward the right. Roxy wouldn’t be able to work in the obscuring fog, so keeping a part of it where we weren’t fighting out of the picture was the best I could do. If only I had some grenades.
The super connected with the spear-wielding group. Her hands extended, she melted through their defenses. As they tried to make a tactical retreat, it was too late. Her first punch lashed forward and struck one that looked to have been wounded and slowed by my ball shot.
His whole head exploded, the smell of burning flesh and leather immediately following. Even the swing of her attack had droplets of the molten rock spray across the other lizardkin able to make more distance from her. Well practiced movements, I could tell just from this brief scuffle. Almost respected it, but I was pissed as hell that they were escaping my squadmate.
Tazer shot zipped past her and struck the legs of the formation trying to decide how best to approach her next time. The sparking arcs of blue briefly stunned them, keeping them in place. That was enough for Roxy to catch up to two more of them. A straight punch cored through the chest of one, while a follow-up kick sent the broken body of the second Horde member far out of the camp and into the darkness beyond.
I made the note that her lava-imbued attacks seemed to be hot enough to melt through things but that it dissipated a lot of her normal force that her strength allowed. Just the difference between the punches and her kick was telling enough. Perhaps with practice she could lower the core temperature so that she could find a happy medium-
Any further musings over what Roxy was capable of were cut short as I realized that we were being drawn into a trap. Boxes and other barricades to my right were hiding at least a dozen more opponents waiting for us to get in too deep. Then they’d circle and surround us.
It was almost a shame we had to murder them all. The League would probably have a dim view of me organizing my own small army, however. While the Gnashing Horde still lived, I would sup from all their knowledge being put into action. Notes taken for tomorrow from their very skulls.
I slid to a stop and raised my gun-arm up, dropping to a knee. An arrow whizzed past my head, and I returned the favor by firing on the closest barricade with a High Explosive shot. It burst and shattered apart, knocking a couple of the revealed enemy onto their backs, but the others weren’t so easily shaken.
[Watch our left.]
Assuming I was right about the trap, there would be another large group now behind me. I couldn’t let Roxy get sidetracked with the two bow-users dragging her deeper into the camp. She gave me a grunt of acknowledgement. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her reach down and grab a handful of the ground, to throw it at the two who were avoiding her.
The smell was bad enough. I didn’t have enough time to see how that had worked out or what it had achieved. Instead, I rolled across the cool sand to avoid another pair of arrows zipping my way. My body found some brief cover behind some of the ruined spike barricade, and another arrow buried itself halfway through one of the logs beside me.
Roxy was right. I needed some protection from ranged attacks as well. Gone were the days I could march myself through a criminal hideout and blast through bog standard humanoids. Now my life was this.
I watched the super kick a crate into a group of lizardkin, flame flickering around her head now.
My arm vibrated as Triple shot loaded in three shells. Now that she was going off in a different direction, I’d work on my own advantages. I twisted and stood, my V-Drive bursting with energy as I fired off all three shots in a row. Smoke. Incendiary. Tazer.
I received an arrow in my left arm in return. It cut straight through my thick jacket and hit the bone. They were quick and decent shots, I’d have to give them that. Without the time to consider removing it, I sprinted from my location toward the billowing cloud of gray. I only had a few seconds before they regained their composure, and I had to get in amongst them before they could regroup or receive assistance from the other nearby group.
With the sounds of shouting and Roxy’s growling in the background, I entered the dense cloud. I had wanted to switch magazines on the way in, but my left arm was now stiff and painful from the lodged arrow. Outlined shapes of the lizardkin in disarray popped into my lens. The Incendiary hadn’t done much except start a couple of small fires on the ruined wooden debris… I needed an oil shot or similar.
I lashed forward, near-jabbing the closest Horde fighter. Fired a metal ball, resulting in a soft thud and crack. Enough to break bones, but not rupture through their scales. Shit.
My arm shuddered as I grasped for a new mag, my fingers feeling numb. Ejected the drum mag to the ground. While my hand went to insert the replacement ammunition, one of the outlines wavered, and suddenly collided with me. I stumbled and lost my footing, falling over backward.
Pain through my head, my vision sparkling and fuzzy as my skull struck one of the harder bits of defensive wood on the way down. I’d also dropped the magazine on my short journey to the ground.
As the outline of my assailant wavered above me, a purple light bloomed into their hands, illuminating the gray fog and the two rows of sharp teeth grinning down at me.