Shel rolled over, gripping a leg leaking blood, and Wolfe felt his chest unfreeze. He touched his chest, throwing out the Angry Hellhound tier-3. At the same time, a Lost Hellhound Puppy sprang into existence from Cerberus’ Home for Wayward Hellhounds.
New summons appeared near his enemies as well.
Wolfe barely paid attention as he dragged Shel back, somehow avoiding the bullets from the thugs near the van.
Shel managed to touch her deck and summon an EMT to heal her even as Wolfe dragged her behind the rocks.
He paused for half a second, taking stock of the situation.
Two thugs at the van with their deckbearer, who was almost certainly Tracy D’Ordinii. He had his companion and a Wraith out. At the same time, Caine—Wolfe presumed—had Artenia out, and he was now covered in a white glow with a fiery sword in his hand. His mantle.
Sorenia was nearly dead from gunshots and a beam of light from Artenia, who was weeping and apologizing as she fought.
Wolfe swiped sideways, bringing new cards up. He still had Cereboo, and got his second Lost Hellhound Puppy, another Angry Hellhound, the dead card for Malviere, who was at his house, and his Soul Hunter Mantle.
Wolfe started to reach for his mantle, but even as he did, an alternative path that he thought had a better chance for victory came to him. He glanced at his hellhound…
Angry Hellhound
Common Tier-Three Beast/Infernal(Canine) Creature
Two Beast or Infernal Power
Health: 13
Attack: 9 (8 +1)
Defense: 5
Magical Attack: 6 (5 +1) (bonus)
Magical Defense: 5
Special: When this creature makes a physical attack, it also makes a magical attack of either Fire or Infernal typing on the same target.
Special: Immune to all mind-affecting debuffs.
Special: +1 to all attacks for every other canine on the field.
Special: Gains +1 Attack for every Escaped Damned on the field.
“It could be argued that most things in the Infernal realms are angry, but these hellhounds take it to an entirely new level—and this one has torn many a spirit to the point it needs to reform on many an occasion.”
…and told it to stay behind the rocks and not fight, along with his Lost Hellhound Pup.
Wolfe stood, firing at Artenia—normally the fool’s play when he could just aim for Caine, but a mortal against a mantle was a bad play. Additionally, if Wolfe put his own mantle on, he would be at disadvantage against the Divine mantle.
But against a Divine creature, he had a base eight attack, with two separate chances to go to a ten or better, thanks to his perk—which would kill Artenia in thirty seconds of combat.
Wolfe also touched the Lost Hellhound Puppy in his deck, using one power that immediately returned, leaving him with two again. Another Hellhound Puppy appeared from Cerberus’ Home.
Lost Hellhound Puppy
Rare Tier-1 Beast/Infernal(Canine) Creature
1 Beast or Infernal Power [Available]
Health: 8
Attack: 6 (4 x1.5)
Magical Attack: 5 (3 x1.5)
Defense: 4
Magical Defense: 4
Special: Does not require upkeep—is a zero-cost monster.
Special: If slain, all Mortal and Beast cards in play gain +50% Physical Attack for the next 30 seconds.
Special: May be merged with Rescue Pup cards, but advances as if Rare in quality.
"A poor lost Hellhound, outside its normal realm."
“Shel, send your EMT forward and summon something else to take the hits!”
Shel, whose leg was partially healed, nodded from the ground. But she also raised her gun and fired at Artenia, presumably following Wolfe’s lead.
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Artenia went down hard—Wolfe’s attack alone had been enough and Shel’s just made it overkill. At the same time, the glowing Sorenia dropped as well from a hail of gunfire.
A man in a black suit with a gun appeared next to Caine—a 1 Mortal power Corporate Enforcer card.
Fiery wings appeared and Caine leapt into the fight, swinging viciously at Wolfe. Wolfe dodged the first three swings and shot Caine twice, who doubled up like he had been gut punched, but then clicked on empty.
As he tried to reload, the fiery sword clipped him across the arm, and Wolfe bit down to keep from screaming as the flesh burned around the cut, and dropped his clip.
But he still threw his Angry Hellhound out, bringing him to zero spare power—and Cerberus’ home spewed another out.
“What’re you doing, Tracy?!” Caine screamed as he rushed Wolfe again, kneeing him in the face when he ducked the sword.
A chill fell across the battlefield, and wisps of spirits seemed to rise around them. Wolfe got a notification that a persistent card ‘Ghastly Gloom’ had been played, that gave all undead the ability to heal for half of all damage they dealt.
Wolfe glanced over to see that two Wraiths and Malik, Soul Devourer, had almost made it to him, with Tracy running behind.
But Tracy couldn’t see what Wolfe’s pack looked like now. Each Lost Hellhound Puppy had fifty percent extra attack and magical attack, overcoming the Wraiths’ biggest strength. But there were now two Angry Hellhounds and four Lost Hellhound Puppies on the field, which meant that every single Angry Hellhound got a five point bonus to both attacks—and would gain another plus fifty percent if any of the Puppies died.
Angry Hellhound
Common Tier-Three Beast/Infernal(Canine) Creature
Two Beast or Infernal Power
Health: 13
Attack: 13 (8 +5)
Defense: 5
Magical Attack: 10 (5 +5) (bonus)
Magical Defense: 5
Special: When this creature makes a physical attack, it also makes a Magical Attack of either Fire or Infernal typing on the same target.
Special: Immune to all mind-affecting debuffs.
Special: +1 to all attacks for every other canine on the field.
Special: Gains +1 Attack for every Escaped Damned on the field.
“It could be argued that most things in the Infernal realms are angry, but these hellhounds take it to an entirely new level—and this one has torn many a spirit to the point it needs to reform on many an occasion.”
The difference between a magical attack of five and a magical attack of ten is huge—four times the amount—and the physical attack is now a base one-hundred-and-sixty-nine damage divided by defense.
Wolfe was stumbling back, fighting defensively while he tried to reload. But he ordered his pups in. He couldn’t target the deckbearers, but sent his two Angry Hellhounds at Malik, Soul Devourer, and two of his Hellhound Puppies at the Wraiths, and the last two at the Corporate Enforcer.
The slaughter was universal, with the over-powered Hellhounds doing huge damage and wiping everything out, but getting mostly wiped out in turn—leaving him with a single Hellhound Puppy and Angry Hellhound pair.
Caine, however, was stunned as the whole battlefield cleared.
Wolfe swiped his cards again and threw the newest Angry Hellhound onto the field while another Lost Hellhound Puppy popped out of Cerberus’ Home.
Caine’s eyes flicked around the field even as Wolfe pointed his gun and started firing, but it was apparently too much for him—his wings of fire flickered, carrying him from the fight even as Wolfe hit the mantled bastard with a few more shots.
Wolfe’s arm mostly healed as Shel brought forth another EMT.
Caine used a card to heal the minor bullet wounds rather than summoning another creature, and Wolfe directed his pack toward his enemy.
Wolfe glanced around without stopping, feeling the battle had switched dramatically in his favor. As if to prove him wrong, an engine roared to life. The van screeched and lurched forward over the parking lot pavement, slowly picking up speed as it barreled toward Wolfe and his pack of creatures. The thugs leaned out the window and fired, and Wolfe grit his teeth at the near misses.
Shel—who had gone through her deck, apparently—resummoned Sorenia and started firing back, causing them to duck back into the questionable protection of the Van.
Wolfe ran back toward the protection of the stones, but at the last moment stutter stepped and rushed in the other direction as the van passed, missing the stones by a few feet and Wolfe by a few inches.
Wolfe touched Cereboo’s card finally, summoning his companion into the van ‘through’ the open window, like he had summoned him outside his own car the very first time his companion had joined him in combat.
At the same time he heard the crack of a gunshot and fell, his own leg gushing blood.
Wolfe rolled and shot toward the Ferrari, missing the mook that had been with Caine. But the Hellhounds hit the car and the mook went down, briefly screaming before going silent. Caine himself was nearly chewed to bits, but he managed to gun the Ferrari and screech out, turning an Angry Hellhound into red power that flowed back to Wolfe as he did.
There were screams, growls, and gunshots from the van as it sped forward across the parking lot, but then it veered off course and slammed into the corner of one of the warehouses, plowing sideways and tipping on its side.
The Ferrari went flying past Wolfe and out of the parking lot.
Fuck! I wanted to get that fucker.
Wolfe stood, cussing as his leg wouldn’t support his weight. “Healing, Shel!”
Another EMT appeared and partially healed Wolfe’s leg, to the point he could limp over to the van.
A notification told him that Cereboo had died, but he didn’t see any creatures on the battlefield—and he had spare power now. He swiped his cards, knowing by process of elimination that he would see his Infernal Rift this time, waiting for the inevitable move.
Tracy D’Ordinii popped up over the van, reaching for a card and pushing his gun out at the same time. But Wolfe was just a hair faster, hitting Infernal Rift and banishing the assassin before he could do anything.
Wolfe hurried his limp, trying to decide if he wanted to kill Tracy or take him for questioning.
Wolfe was almost ashamed to admit it to himself, but the fact that Tracy was sporting an Undead deck as opposed to an Infernal, Divine, Mortal, or Beast one was what made the decision. When Tracy appeared, Wolfe slammed the gun against the assassin’s temple, almost identically to his attack on Harvey, hoping that Tracy would survive.
Tracy slumped down and then dropped back into the van.
“Please go get the ties, Shel. We’ll put him in the back of the Subaru.”
Shel nodded and raced away.
Wolfe went to the back of the van and opened it, staring inside.
He found ten more of the steel containers, each with a display on the side, blinking. He did a quick check—everything appeared normal as near as he could tell.
Wolfe went back and kicked out the windshield, rooting around till he found a phone. Very conveniently, it had a thumb lock, and Cereboo hadn’t eaten this thug’s hand.
Wolfe dialed 9-1-1, then, before anyone could answer, hung up.
Instead, he quickly looked up and then dialed the Joliet police department.
“Hello?” a feminine voice answered.
Wolfe tried to make his voice higher pitched. “Hello, um, I found a crashed van and some of those kidnapped people I read about from our trainyard story in South Noimoire, near the Industrial Avenue warehouse complex.”
“I… who is this?”
“There are a ton of people here that need help,” Wolfe said.
“Stay on the phone, please,” the voice said, then the phone went quiet. But Wolfe could faintly hear the lady calling for a supervisor.
Good enough. Wolfe didn’t comply with her request, instead hanging up. Then he wiped the phone with his shirt, trying to make sure any fingerprints were gone, just in case.
Shel came running back with zip ties, and Wolfe grabbed them and set to work restraining Tracy with his hands behind his back.
***
A few minutes later, Wolfe drove by an abandoned, and burning, Ferrari Mythic.
He chuckled darkly. “Huh, guess I got the radiator after all.”