High Explosive shot put a circular hole through the door. Ren’s arrow followed through, striking the ground outside and blasting the gathered orcs with a cone of high-powered air, knocking them away from their cannon. Rather than head through the door, Roxy burst through the side wall, coming out amongst another group of orcs waiting with one of the larger weapons. My Flashbang grenade followed the elf’s shot out of the hole.

Once it popped and blinded them, Roy went through—immediately rushing into the group in disarray, light flickering around his strikes.

Belle put the dome up, and Ren and I stepped out into the courtyard under the cover of the spell.

The drone hadn’t been incorrect with the estimated twenty-four targets. Chewing our way through the two prior rooms had given the enemy enough time to roll in four whole cannons, most of the orcs also armed with the odd crystal-powered rifles. My side pouch now contained three of said magical yellow energy sources. Something for Clara to test back home and see if we could use for anything useful. If we had the time and the limbs, we might loot some more on the way out.

Shots ricocheted from the domed barrier, ripples forming where the odd bullets struck it. Belle exhaled from her nose, book still raised as she kept it powered up. Ren drew up three arrows into her hand and aimed up at the balcony area on the far side of the courtyard. One cannon was up there, and we hadn’t had the chance to disable it.

Her eyes glowed bright blue, seeing one of the strange orcs raise the firing mechanism in his hand - the hollow barrel of the large weapon aimed right for us. The cannons were also powered by the same yellow crystals, but had six of them arranged in two rows near the back like an old-tech vehicle engine.

One magical arrow struck the orc through the forearm, just below the wrist. Second went through his chest where his heart should be. Third went just under the jaw, piercing out the back of his neck. As he dropped away, one of his fellow ordinance group dove for the dropped mechanism. My metal ball burst his skull open like a rotten fruit.

A large stone bench that had been flipped on its side screamed as it slid across the ground to us from Roxy’s position, the granted cover allowing Belle to drop the dome and switch a shield onto Roy. The speedster ran over to Roxy, who gave him a light toss onto the balcony area.

It wasn’t even ten more seconds before this section was cleared, the orcs totally overwhelmed.

Belle sighed and closed her eyes, now sitting on the edge of our cover, in brief meditation. Ren was walking around the bodies, inserting one of her arrows through their chests to make sure they were all dead. Roxy had spent most of this brief downtime trying to clear the blood off of herself, but had only managed to smudge it around. Roy had procured a sharp knife from one of the orcs and was trying to use it at a speed where he wouldn’t accidentally cut himself with the excessive movements.

I had mostly kept an eye on them all. Mercenary work could be grim. Disheartening and unfulfilling. They seemed fine so far. The fact that the orcs had been unresponsive, not even yelling or threatening us, made it easier to dissociate from them being people. The fact that we hadn’t seen any children was both a blessing, but something worrying. I didn’t kill innocents, and there was a good reason I was bringing two drums for the first time. Nerve shot was a mercy compared to any alternative.

“Just waiting for recon,” Roxy announced, “and then we’re moving toward the center. There being no other waves yet is worrying.”

[They were hoping to use their more disposable pawns to get rid of us, but we have been deemed a credible threat. Either we will see one of our priority targets soon, or they are escalating their response and need time.]

“There’s probably a mine, right?” The elf asked, wiping the blood off her magical arrow before allowing it to vanish. “You think the biggest assholes are going to be at the deepest or highest point of this place?”

Roxy shot me a glance, seeking my input.

[Unknown until we know what they are. Their motivations and intelligence.]

The drone hovered down from a window higher up.

//Clara: Western room is a warehouse.

//Clara: Another large group of ~25 targets.

//Clara: There is an interior walkway around the edges of the room.

The strength super inadvertently ran half-dried blood through her hair with her fingers before giving the drone a nod. “I want Gunquake and Wren up on that to provide ranged support.”

[I can hit the wall beneath that window to provide us with an entrance point.]

“Ah,” Belle pulled a face. “What about me?”

I leaned over and picked up one of the orcish rifles from the floor before holding it out to her.

[Want some on-the-job training? See if you can use that and shield yourself.]

“I can throw you up with Gunquake,” Roxy offered. She rolled her tongue over her lips as if she wanted to interject against my suggestion, but let it slide. It was breaking protocol. She knew that I had a knack for this sort of thing, however. A bullshit instigator.

“Ugh.” Our support hero put her book into the hip holster she wore and handled the rifle into a shooting position. “I mean, it has a trigger, but… hmm.”

We watched as the yellow crystal glowed brighter slightly, before a green light started to swirl around it. Like ink dipped in water, it moved and gradually took over, eventually changing the whole thing to a luminous hue. Belle then pressed the trigger, striking the wall away from us. Instead of the crack of a bullet, it left an area of bright green as if she had hit it with a persisting flashlight.

My magical detection aura gave me a few hints.

[That’s a… debuffing effect.]

“Even with a gun, His blessing only allows me to offer support,” she replied, a humorless smile on her face.

Roy didn’t look too convinced, and pulled a face at the odd sheen on the wall. “But… what does it actually do?”

She rested the rifle up on her shoulder and put her left hand on her magic book. “Makes people more vulnerable to acts of god.”

The speedster hesitated before giving a response. “Oh, okay.”

It was a rather vague response, even I agreed. It managed to fit our current theme of natural disasters, however. Also gave the support something more to do when not maintaining a shield that was pseudo-offensive.

“Time to move,” Roxy said, unwilling to wait for a detailed explanation. She held her hand out, ready for me.

I took it, and she tossed me into the air for me to land on the balcony above. Ren hopped onto her horizontal bow and flew up while Roxy prepared to throw the apprehensive support hero. I caught and assisted her balance as she landed. Belle gave me a nod of thanks as we arranged to the sides of the window.

[Wall looks too thick for me to fire through.]

“Stand back,” Roxy called from below. I watched as she stepped over to the stone bench, proceeded to break off a chunk of it with almost no effort at all, and then turned back to us while she held it over her head.

We moved a healthy distance away across the balcony, before the super launched the chunk of debris through the air. It struck just beneath the window, bursting through the stone and shattering the glass. As soon as it had connected, she powered forward to enter through the ground floor doors.

I was the first one through the created hole at the top, striding through the falling debris as a shield enveloped me. The room beyond was large, like four of the container-like rooms had been stuck in a two-by-two formation. Rows of tall shelves lined from one side to the other, all filled with boxes and crates.

There were also orcs using gaps in the storage to perch higher up. Ready to shoot down on us. Although they hadn’t expected us to emerge from the balcony height, there were three opponents standing up on the left side where we were. The first fired on me, their bullet ricocheting from my metal shoulder.

Ren put an arrow between their eyes, causing my metal ball to strike the one behind them instead. While the elf brought another arrow up, I threw the Flash grenade in my hand over toward the center of the room. As soon as it left my hand, I shot out my grapple, striking the top of the nearest shelves.

With my foot braced against the top of the railings, the tension of the wire tightened before trying to pull me forward. The tall shelves shook as Roy provided the assist—breaking the stout legs on this side as he sped through the room, causing the structure to tip toward me.

As the two orcs using these shelves as cover tried to jump away from the toppling shelves, Belle hit one with her stolen rifle. The orc bloomed with green light, stumbling as his feet found the floor—before tripping. Even against the carnage Roxy was dealing out, the sound of the orc’s head striking the corner of a metal desk rang out, their skull split open.

I released my grapple as the shelves crashed down onto some lower ones, plumes of dust billowing into the air as crates and bags of unknown material split and burst. Flickers of blue came from the other end of the room as the speedster dealt with the orcs who had been blinded by my grenade.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Stone burst from the wall beside my head as a shot whizzed past my head. Ren retaliated immediately, striking the orc across the other side balcony through the chest. Before we could focus on the other two on that balcony—who didn’t know whether to shoot us or Roxy—there was a terrible groan as one of the shelving units lifted into the air and shunted forward. With a reverberating crash, the right side of the warehouse turned into a deafening set of dominoes.

//Clara: The last remaining are falling back. Row of residential further North.

Unfortunately for them, Roy had that area covered. When we caught him up after moving down the stairs at the end of the room, the speedster was catching his breath, smoke wafting from his electric gloves. Several dead orcs around him on the ground.

Roxy hopped over the pile of debris to join us. A few new wounds across her arms that started to heal up as Belle cast regeneration on her.

“Sitrep, Gunquake?”

[I anticipate we are about to find out what phase two of their defensive plan is.]

“Excellent.” She pulled a face and rubbed at her temple. “Everyone holding up fine?”

“It’s stressful, but I am adapting,” Belle said, giving the rifle a cautious glance. “His guidance willing.”

Ren shuffled her boot on the ground before pushing some golden hair behind her pointed ear. “Already booked the therapy session I’ll need after this. I will continue to perform as expected.”

The speedster gave her a grin and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Almost shattered my own arm trying to stab someone with a knife, but otherwise, just peachy.”

Roxy nodded and turned to me, which briefly put me on edge, as I hadn’t expected to need to be asked. Still, we were all equal now.

[Oh. Fine. Learning to share the limelight is difficult, and I am apprehensive to learn what they have here to warrant the League sending us.]

She wrinkled up her nose and hummed. That was the crux of the matter. The orcs were no match for us. We could spend the rest of the day going from room to room and shredding them—or at least until they lost confidence and ran from the place. If the League thought this was a trial for us all, then there would be something actually dangerous here. I knew better than to accept the easy ride we were having.

“Get warmed up again,” she eventually concluded. “Although we can get away with catching our breath here and there, I don’t want to get complacent. After a few residential buildings, there is a market district, and then we’ll be near the central complex.”

Before I knew it, we were in another room, killing a token resistance. We had become accustomed to the process, and the orcs had no chance against us. In the last room, we checked our gear and equipment, ready to break into the market.

Just as Clara informed us, the orcs had made this another point to hold against us. Now joined by goblins who also had the glowing pink eyes, most of the shop windows and any available cover hid plenty of opponents.

Out into the fight, we were immediately met with a torrent of shots. Belle growled as her dome flickered from the dozens of deflected attacks. For the first time since arriving here, we had to split directions. I took several steps to the left and barged through a doorway, opening up into a small shop floor. Still the same stone as the rest of the place, but there was a middle wall splitting the shop into a front and store room.

Two orcs and three goblins waiting by the window spun to face me. The smaller trio were armed with strange melee weapons. Obsidian handles with purple blades and spikes. Overcharge blew a Smoke shot straight into them.

I rolled off to the side as their blind fire put small holes in the wall behind me. Chamber clacked back and forth as the outlines of my opponents appeared through the obscuring cloud. The lens had given me a low number for their Threat. Slightly higher than expected, but I put that down to the odd possession that seemed to have a hold of them.

Stepping up to them as they panicked, I put a metal ball through the skull of the first orc, before allowing Quickness to help snap my elbow down on the face of a goblin. I spun and lashed out with a kick, knocking the next back, my drum mag pushing up another ball into the chamber. A couple of flashes of violence, and this room was clear.

//Gunquake: Requesting smoke clear.

A second later, a burst of air washed away at my smoke, my trench-coat billowing as the gray dissipated within two quick seconds. Just in time for me to see a wooden wagon fly through the air and burst into the shopfront ahead of us. I slid across the counter of the open-front store, back into the market square proper.

The flash of a green magical bullet passed me, striking a goblin to my left—a trio now running with their fangs bared to catch me in melee. Grapple went out at the one now glowing green, the metal rod managing to hit the back of his neck via his open mouth. He stumbled as the expanding foam filled his throat and poured out from between his teeth. It hardened and split the top of his head off.

I blocked the melee swing of the second of the group and hopped back from the follow-up. A rush of air passed me as Roy ran by, plucking up the third into his arms and then speeding toward the buildings further down. Sparks rang off my gun-arm as my opponent made another clumsy attack, and I knocked his arm back—allowing my barrel to twist around to place against his forehead. Brain excavated.

//Clara: Belle requires your assistance.

Behind me, the support hero was pinned down by three rifles from further down range. The elf was nearby, but was trying to quickly bandage her forearm, which was bleeding heavily. I hit a Smoke against the ground just out from Belle and ran over, sliding down into cover beside her.

[Are you injured?]

“No.” She looked up at me, a scowl on her face, before she turned to notice the elf. Exhaling, she brought her hand up and cast regeneration. “I shielded myself and Ren was injured as a consequence.”

[Irrelevant. Get up and fulfill your duty.]

Although she looked like she was about to bite back at me, she just gave me a determined nod. I knew that she had a lot of pressure to keep us safe, but if she let failure or indecision consume and blind her, then she might as well not be here. It was a necessary tough love. The squad required her to function. I needed her to act as expected.

With a brief, guilty glance at Ren, the defensive hero picked up the rifle and trained it around the Smoke to a shop a few doors down from where Roxy was currently destroying everything in her path. The magical bullet zipped out, striking a goblin. Her target stumbled back, glowing green, and knocked into an orc trying to aim their rifle. The orc twitched and fired, blasting the other orc right in front of them through the back of the head.

Our debriefing was going to be long and very interesting.

Ren now had her bow back up, a swirl of energy running down the arrow in her hand. She fired it out to somewhere near the back I couldn’t see due to my Smoke cloud, but the shattering of glass and crash of debris lasting several seconds painted a decent enough picture.

A wave of dust washed over us as Roy slid to a stop behind our cover as well. He held his left hand out, now without the glove, and partially burned.

“A little healing, please. Apologies to Miss Clara, but I overloaded one of the gloves.”

//Clara: Retrieve the equipment if safe to.

“Yes, ma’am.” He gave a sheepish nod of thanks to Belle as she cast her healing on him.

If anything, this battle had been fantastic for working out our weaknesses in a real combat scenario. While Roxy and the Captain could weather or avoid most attacks from this sort of enemy, the rest of us were in a little more danger. Without Belle’s shield, we couldn’t rush into a group of ranged weapons. At present, she could only place it on one person at a time, which was a limitation I hoped to push her into breaking.

She sunk back into cover after firing the rifle again, scowling and shaking it. “Cursed object is running out of juice.”

Indeed, the crystal looked dimmer—although even as we both glared at it, the brightness was slowly returning.

//Clara: Gunquake. Five targets using your Smoke to approach your position.

With a grunt, I stood and swung myself over the thick cover. A shield washed over me, as did the cloud of gray. Goblins. A few seconds of clangs and blasts from my shotgun. No more goblins. I emerged out of the other side of the dissipating smoke to find a pair of orcs crouched with their rifles up.

An arrow struck the floor behind them, and a sharp burst of wind pushed them up, stumbling towards me. My left hand grabbed at one rifle to turn it away from me. Gun-arm lashed out into the surprised maw of the possessed orc. Fuel pumped through from my backpack, before the sneeze of cleaning V-Force blasted the gurgling figure to the floor. The other tried to pull his rifle back from my grip, and I let go. While he stepped back, I moved forward, the blade popping out of my gauntlet and finding a warm space to roost in his neck.

I turned at the sound of destruction, but just saw that it was Roxy dropping a pillar she had been using as a club. A grim smile on her face, she walked over from the collapsed shop—one of many—powdered dust stuck to her in clumps where she was covered in blood and gore.

“I would say I’d literally murder for a hot shower, but…” she grimaced and shook her hands off.

We regrouped in the middle of the marketplace, any opposition either dead or long gone. I watched as the elf stepped up to Belle and put her hand on the support hero's shoulder.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. You can’t protect all of us all the time.”

Belle pulled a face. “That’s my only job.”

While Roy joined in on trying to reassure her, I didn’t step in. Instead, I gestured Roxy a little closer.

[I have an idea, but it might sound strange.]

“I’m all ears, Dubs. What do you need?”

I made my request and she gave nothing but a nod before turning and leaving our little group. The others gave her a brief glance, but remained in their conversation.

//Clara: All clear at present.

//Clara: No targets sighted in the local area.

That either meant they were really retreating, we had gotten rid of most from this area, or they were pulling back for a more malicious reason. Something told me it would be the last option.

Roxy returned, holding the long barrel of one of the cannons. As per my instructions, she then split the section holding the six crystals off, and tore the cylinder apart, leaving just a thin slice of curved metal with the magic objects affixed. This had gotten the other’s attention now, and I gestured Belle over.

From my underutilized utility belt, I brought out some thick wire.

[Turn around. If you could assist, Rockslide.]

Tying knots was one of my weaker points, having only one hand - something I’d learned through experience. It wasn’t the first time Roxy had helped me with that, although such thoughts weren’t very conductive to our current mission.

With our defensive hero looking pretty confused and apprehensive, we affixed the torn cannon part to her like a backpack.

[It’s just like with the rifle. Focus your detection magic and funnel His guidance into these crystals.]

She turned her head back to pull a face at me, but nodded. “You’re optimistic, Gunquake, but your confidence is convincing.”

We stepped back as she rotated to face us all. After a deep breath, she calmed herself and put her hand on the magic book at her side. The yellow glow of the crystals arranged in two vertical lines of three could be seen even from this side of her. If anything, it made her look even more divine.

Her eyes closed. Gradually, the hue behind her changed. Roy slowly stepped around to the side of her, his arms crossed. Once he got in clear view, his eyebrows raised and he shot me a glance.

“Oh,” Belle said. She opened her eyes, and they were pure green—glowing entirely. “This is… I’ve never felt so close to His strength.”

[Do not forget, this is like a temporary battery. Keep me updated if there are any negative side effects from using them this way.]

Although she nodded, she was clearly distracted by this new source of power. My idea might even be a mistake given how little we knew about the crystals, and I felt slightly bad about pasting my chaotic risk taking streak over the others in my team.

Belle held out her hand. A green glow pulsed behind her, and a shield washed over me. Not only over me, but Roxy and Ren as well.

“Interesting,” she said. “I could do all five of us, but it would drain most of the power. If this is stable and safe, this might change… everything.”

[Focus on the mission and play things safe. We will explore options tomorrow.]

Her glowing green eyes switched to me, and she grounded herself. “Thanks, Gunquake. I’m ready to move… on…” Her brow furrowed, and she looked up and to the center of the structure.

[What is it?]

Overcharge hummed into life by reflex, picking up on the subtle changes in her expression before she could verbalize the answer.

“Something bad is coming,” she said.

A dark shape leaped into view into the air, from a distance that almost put Roxy’s jumps to shame.

“Brace for contact,” the super growled, getting into a fighting stance.

“Old magic,” Belle whispered, her eyes wide in panic.