Half a dozen times Donald had attempted to contact Renée, Kris, and Sonia, and each time, they had been unable to answer. The coms were being jammed no doubt by the neuroplugger and hacker Doyle. Even if they could access their coms, they were too preoccupied with staying alive to answer.
Sonia was being pursued by Murdock as though she were a prey animal. The stocky man was surprisingly agile, bounding from surface to surface as he swiped at Titaness. For once in Sonia's career, she found herself actively dodging when she saw an attack coming. More than just her uniform was being cut by Murdock's mid-ranged 'claw attacks.' While they weren't deep cuts, that anyone could make her bleed through her psy-energy veil at all troubled her.
She wanted to fly off and go assist Kris and Renée, or at least go and get Ellie, but Murdock was too fast for her to go around and too tough for her to go through.
When she tried cleaving through him with a giant sword she manifested a cut only as shallow as the ones he had inflicted on her. It was bewildering to the Hoplite that a man could have this much speed, power, and durability. Usually, even skilled psychics had to compromise one to be so exceptional when it came to the other two.
Her poor luck in picking an opponent was still superior to Renée who was fighting not only the neuroplugger Doyle but also their CT hacked squadmate Woodrow. She ducked under a swipe from Woodrow's pulse blade, the weapon humming as it took off some of her hair. She parried the next few strikes with her saber and sliced a gunshot from Woodrow's pistol out of the air. He teleported behind her, but when he tried to thrust at her back, she caught his arm, flipped him over, threw him onto the ground, and palmed his head.
One good EMP to the head and she could free Woodrow from Doyle's influence. Before she could, a worker drone designed to carry heavy objects up several floors flew straight at her, having been reprogrammed as a suicide drone.
"Mode 2!"
Renée and Woodrow both teleported away before the drone crashed into the ground and detonated. Raiju's trial was not done. She spotted Doyle typing rapidly with one hand on some holographic screen. He smirked while hacking into a dormant construction mech, over four meters tall. It lumbered toward her while snatching up a large steel beam. Renée waited for it to throw the large piece of steel.
"Mode 3!"
Her body crackled with electricity as she vaulted forward, landed on the beam, ran its length while it was still hurtling through in the air, then jumped off it toward the mech. Her channeler saber became a blur as she delivered a series of slashes that left the mech's upper torso a chopped-up sparking husk.
What remained of the machine seized up and twitched before it collapsed to the ground. When Renée whirled around to locate Doyle, he was gone. In a blink, he and Woodrow materialized behind her. The neuroplugger then struck the nape of Renée's neck with a neurojacker, an illegal piece of psytech used by CT hackers to forcefully gain access to others' Cerebral Terminals.
Renée's eyes ran to the back of her head and her body convulsed once before a small burst of electricity emitted from her head, nullifying the neurojacker's effects. Doyle shook his head in amusement as Woodrow swiftly teleported them back to a safe distance away.
"Electrokinetics always have the easiest time fighting off CT hacking," Doyle said, a hint of admiration in his voice. "Still, to shake off my personal neurojacker that easily is something else. This jacker of mine would go for tens of thousands on the black market, you know."
Renée fixed Doyle with a fierce glare, but Doyle was unintimidated. Already hacking into more dormant construction equipment. Though not a physical challenge, Doyle along with Woodrow poised an indirect match-up that Renée wasn't used to dealing with, especially when she wasn't trying to hurt Woodie in the first place.
Still, in spite of her and Sonia's trials, the one out of them with the most nightmarish matchup by far was Kris.
Usually, whenever Kris copied Sonia's Virtu, he considered it cruise control. Sonia's was one of the most reliably strong Virtu's of any Hoplite in ARES North America. Her ability boosted her resistance to kinetic attacks considerably, to the point that Shives was one of the few Hoplites whose defensive capabilities were more robust than her own.
But, before that masked man, this robust defense of Sonia 'Titaness' Banerjee meant nothing.
Kris battled the masked man on the back foot, faring even worse than Sonia was against Murdock. While Murdock had to whittle down Sonia's formidable defenses with a hundred cuts, the masked man's blade sliced through Kris's psy-energy aura as though it wasn't there.
Kris's quick reflexes were the only reason he was only bleeding profusely instead of being mortally injured. That and the way he could tell the masked man was toying around with him somewhat. Desperate, Kris took flight, but the masked man pursued, ricocheting off half-built structures and beams as naturally as Elli could.
Copying Woodrow's Virtu, Kris teleported behind the masked man mid-jump, materializing a spear to run him through. The masked man then formed a ball of hail beneath his feet and used it as a springboard to bound away at the last second.
"Impressive," the masked man said as he landed on scaffolding.
"So, you can talk…" Kris said while breathing heavily. "Well, if you thought that was impressive. How about…"
Kris's psychic aura vanished as he copied a new Virtu — Jackrabbit's. His body quickly morphed, transforming him into a humanoid rabbit clad in a Hoplite's uniform. What was more, electricity crackled around him in erratic jolts just as they would for Renée.
"Round 2…" Dead Ringer growled before bounding after the masked man.
His opponent barely dodged the opening blow. The scaffold he stood on crumbled under the force of his punch. Kris stayed on him, zipping and zagging about like a giant energizer bunny. He landed more strikes against the masked man with each passing moment, but his opponent proved surprisingly resilient, withstanding the onslaught with an impressive command of Tuning. Kris thought he had found his opportunity for a killing blow.
The masked man denied him his glory by engulfing himself in a great spontaneous combustion. Kris, recoiled as the fire burned his hand and forced him to back off.
"Holy, shit! You can use pyrokinesis too?" Kris asked in disbelief. "Just how many powers do you even have?"
"Fewer than you think. And definitely fewer than you have right now," the masked man said while embers still danced on the ground around him. "About your ability to copy others' psychic powers: You can only copy one Virtu at a time, can't you, Dead Ringer?"
Kris didn't respond, but his lack of a reply was answer enough for the masked man.
"I thought so. If you could mimic both Jackrabbit and Titaness's abilities, there's no reason why you wouldn't copy both at once if you were capable. If you combined those with teleportation, there's no reason you wouldn't have right now unless your own ability wouldn't allow it."
Kris's rabbit eyes narrowed. This man was not only skilled in PEC, close combat, and infiltration, he was quick on his feet mentally as well. Most people never figured out the details of Kris's power, especially not so quickly.
"Are you still trying to copy my abilities, Dead Ringer? You may as well, quit it," the masked man told him. "I know you have to resonate your psy-frequency with mine in order to mimic my abilities. That won't work while I have this mask on. It keeps my frequency 'incognito.'"
Kris's furry brow furrowed. He knew it had to be something stopping his power from working on this man. The functions of that psytech mask would also explain why neither he nor Sonia's ESP had picked up on him when he snuck up on them earlier.
"Whatever… I don't need to use or even figure out your powers to put you under," Kris said while crouching low and letting electricity crackle about him.
"Is that so? Well, then."
The masked man took a stance of his own, a unique fighting stance that Kris had never seen before. The Hoplite prepared for himself a decisive exchange, but instead, Murdock crashed down in between them. He landed on all fours ferally, with his suit torn and an animalistic smile on his face. Sonia, with numerous shallow cuts on her body, was chasing him down with a giant ethereal axe in her grasp.
Too preoccupied was she with the unyielding Murdock that she had failed to take notice that the 'feral' and 'animalistic' Rogue had actually lured her into a trap. Kris noticed before her, but only after the masked man had already made his move and bounded after Titaness. When Kris tried to intervene, Murdock proved just fast enough to catch one of his legs mid-jump and hurl him back down.
Sonia could not react to the masked man in time. she was snatched in mid-air and pinned face down onto the back of a truck full of gravel. While trying to fight him off, she noticed that her aura had become weak. So weak that the masked man could hold her down without even Tuning his strength.
"W-what did you do?!" Sonia snapped, her mind rattled about how this man's powers worked.
She couldn't begin to piece things together before Woodrow teleported himself and Doyle into the truck along with them. The neuroplugger then hit the nape of her neck with his neurojacker and quickly typed something on a holographic screen.
The masked man released Sonia as she twisted and writhed in the gravel. Renée had leaped high into the air on a trajectory for the truck bed, poised to strike Doyle, but then Sonia's aura materialized again. She moved to protect Doyle with a pair of ethereal gauntlets she had Shaped.
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"Shit! I was too late!" Renée cursed before Sonia smacked her away.
Kris disengaged from Murdock and regrouped with Renée. The pair took in the direness of their situation. Before them stood three highly skilled syndicate Rogues and two CT hacked comrades of theirs, eyes anguished at their lack of bodily autonomy. Ellie remained immobile, miserable as she watched all this unfold.
Ellie's helplessness and frustration could only be matched by Josephine who was watching from above with dread as this terrible battle unfolded. She had never seen Hoplites look this desperate before, not in real life or even in a video.
Kris's heavy breathing drew a worried look from Renée.
You holding up over there, Kris? Renée asked him telepathically.
Yeah. Using this many powers for this long like this just catches up to me, especially Ellie's. Hey… Were we caught in a trap?
So, you think that's what happened too, huh? I noticed when I realized that running away like Rogues usually do was never these guys' main prerogative.
Me too. Looks like we got baited into an unfair fight from the get-go. These guys never wanted to escape after killing the informant. They wanted to cripple our information and her fighting ability.
They had only partially succeeded with the latter goal. They were about to proceed with finishing their job when the masked man abruptly grabbed both Doyle and Murdock by the back of their collars and leaped back with them just before two high-pressure attacks could pulverize the ground where they stood, leaving baseball-sized holes behind.
Before Doyle could give the Hoplites under his control directions, two small spherical psytech devices quickly flew between either of their legs. Psy-energy from the channelers fluctuated as they acted as powerful gravitational wells that forced Woodrow and Sonia both on all fours. Renée and Kris saw the opportunity that was presented to them and rushed forward. The former palmed Woodrow's head and the latter palmed Sonia's. Using their electrokinesis, they emitted powerful EMPs through their comrades' minds that freed them from Doyle's neuroplugger influence while also knocking them unconscious.
The Rogues weren't even looking at them when they transpired. They were too focused on Shives who was levitating down with a foul look on his face.
"I didn't expect you to get here so fast," Doyle said. "I guess your reputation isn't all British bluster after all, Void Knight."
"That I was delayed by those drones for any amount of time at all is an embarrassment. A diversionary tactic so basic, and I still fell for it," Shives self-admonished while shaking his head.
"If you're feeling that bad just because you're late, how do you think the rest of us feel?" Kris asked while lifting Sonia up in his arms."
Shives snorted. "Take those two along with McDowell out of the construction site."
"Shives, we'll be back as soon as we—"
"No," Shives replied bluntly back to Renée. "Considering the situation and both of your conditions, you would just be liabilities. I'll have more freedom if I fight alone. Just stay out of the way for now, and—"
Shives's words were cut short by Murdock rushing at the Hoplites. Upon entering his ability's range, the Rogue swiped at Shives with both hands at once. To his shock, Shives was uninjured saved for a few strands of hair from his head and strands from his uniform fluttering in the breeze. It was as if a strong gust had blown against him.
"Hurry up and go," Shives said before casually firing a blast from his channeler in retaliation.
The Hoplites followed his orders, with Kris using his telekinesis to lift Ellie off the ground and levitate her beside him while he followed Renée with Sonia still in his arms.
Murdock's tough body was not pierced through by Shives's sandblast as King's had. He had instead been sent barreling back to where his comrades stood before rolling and flipping back to his feet. He winced at the bruise that was now on his chest.
…He's tough. Murdock communicated to Doyle telepathically.
Of course he's 'tough', you fool, Doyle shot back, his tone sounding annoyed even inaudibly. That signature Void of his is an even greater defense than Titaness's psy-energy veil. Your 'claws', strong as they are, will only graze him at most.
You just need to hack his Cerebral Terminal then, and—
That wouldn't work. His Tethering is at a level that even I can't CT hack him while he's cognizant of me attempting it. Even if I could hit him with a neurojacker, he would probably just fight it off. That's how much of a master of the Fundamentals the Void Knight is.
Well, if I can't touch him physically and you can't touch him mentally, what the hell are we supposed to do against this guy.
Run. He's too much of a bad match-up for us.
But Dorothy—
Dorothy wanted that rat Jefferson dead. Taking out the overseer or some of his Hoplites was a secondary goal. You care more about this more than she will.
Murdock clicked his tongue, tacitly revealing how accurate Doyle's assessment was. Their mental exchange had been much shorter than it would have been had they spoken it aloud, meaning they still had the element of surprise against their foes who were not expecting them to simply turn tail and run.
Who's gonna play rearguard? Murdock asked.
Doyle snorted. Who else but the old man. Time for you to fulfill your end of the bargain, Mr. Black Ice.
I already have, with gratuity, rebuked Tom. I'm the one who snuck into Denver Citadel to kill Jefferson.
Don't play stupid with me, Shimada. I know you've been holding back this whole time. You could have killed the overseer when you took his daughter. You could have killed Dead Ringer and Titaness when they still hadn't noticed you. You could have killed Jackrabbit when you trading blows with her, and you were deliberately pulling your punches when you were fighting Dead Ringer alone. You're trying to clock out while putting in the bare minimum, and Dorothy isn't going to appreciate that. Not when she's going through so much trouble of providing a cure to your grandson's 'condition.' You want your stock to stay high with the boss, you're going to have to put in some extra sweat.
Tom thought nor said anything in return. Arguing would be as pointless with Doyle or Murdock as it would be with Dorothy. Both the enforcers shared that terrible trait with their boss as their boss did with her old mistress. He simply took a step forward. Shives stared at his foes for a moment, sizing them up and trying to pick off who would go down the quickest. He quickly, and rightfully, assessed it to be Doyle.
The moment he took aim with a channeler, Tom pounced after him while Doyle and Murdock made a run for it.
Shives would have stopped them had it not been for Tom's speed. Even the Void Knight was caught off guard by how incredible his speed was. The Hoplite fired two blasts at him but his foe maneuvered past both as he took his first strikes at Shives. Both men were shocked — Thomas that he had been unable to cut Shives so properly, and Shives that he had been cut at all. The last time the Void Knight had seen his own blood outside of a doctor's visit was ages ago.
Tom came at Shives again, unleashing a flurry of cuts with his black blades. The Void Knight dodged the worst but was still cut by the rest. When Shives shot sandblasts at him or hurled debris and construction equipment at his opponent with telekinesis, Tom would either dodge it or cut through it effortlessly.
Shives, realizing he was gaining no ground and losing too much blood took to the air, putting distance between himself and this new fearsome adversary.
"Alright. It seems I can't lollygag with you like I did with Smalls," the Void Knight said. "You're a completely different type of beast. Right then… Channelers: engage Overdrive Mode."
"Understood. Initiating Overdrive functions," the channelers responded.
The three channelers released their stored aluminum oxide to make room as they shifted their shape and began to rumble with immense psychic power. Shives took a deep breath as he began gesturing with his hands. The entire construction site began to tremble.
Massive chunks of the unfinished building tore away from the structure, hurtling towards the masked man at Shives's command. Thomas darted and weaved, narrowly evading the onslaught of debris, but the Void Knight was far from down. The Hoplite flew after him, causing everything around him to shudder and shake as he soared past, and tore apart walls with a simple gesture before casting them forward at his fleeing target. It was as if Thomas was at war against a force of nature.
This was a level of Shaping and telekinesis that would have been considered calamitous were it at the bidding of Rogue. It was the type of demigod-like power that made the average citizen sigh heavily in relief that powerful psychics like Hoplites were agents of good. Were Shives more impartial about collateral damage like Arthur, he would have already leveled the whole construction site just off the chance that his blade-wielding target was underneath the rubble, but the Void Knight was more surgical than Will-o-Wisp and laid a trap.
Cornering this masked man was completely impossible, but after Shives managed to get as close to this impossibility as he thought possible, he hurled a cascade of debris at him from several angles. Tom, thinking it better to defend against the attack than evade, turned and created a wall of ice to tank the incoming projectiles.
Shives seized this chance while his foe was momentarily immobile. He focused intently for a brief moment, a Cognitive Glint gleaming about his head before he clapped his hands together. Chunks of concrete, twisted steel beams, and scaffolding tore away from the construction site, hurtled through the air to encircle Thomas and crushing together into a jagged sphere around him.
As the sphere solidified, the Void Knight released a heavy breath. The massive orb of construction materials hovered and rotated slowly before Shives finally let it down onto the ground. He could hear police sirens drawing near. Peering up to the roof where Josephine was still watching, he spotted the excited young girl throwing him a triumphant thumbs up. He cast one of his own along with a smile right back at her.
"Jesus, Shives… I hope after all that you got him," Kris said over the com, finally operable once more. "We can't see the handiwork, but we saw all the special effects from a distance."
"It took more work than I imagined, but that masked man's been neutralized," Shives responded.
"That does that mean 'dead' or he's 'alive'?" Renée quizzed.
"We can all find out together later when I peel this globe of debris apart. Anyway, what happened to those two Syndicate members?"
"They escaped. We tried tracking them after we put the other three somewhere safe, but they just… 'vanished.' I think they might have had a teleporter lying in wait for them."
"I wouldn't be surprised. Syndicates don't operate as sloppily as street gangs," Shives said. "They have concrete agendas and well-thought-out plans to carry them out."
"We informed the cops and they're still on the lookout for them," added Kris.
"I see. I'll wait here until they—"
Before Shives could finish, a distant sound caught his ear and his attention. It wasn't the sound of police sirens. It was Joey's cries. She was too far away for Shives to hear her even with a Tuned sense of hearing, but he could still make out her lips.
Hoplite Shives, he got out!
The girl pointed at the giant sphere, and the Void Knight immediately ran around to the rear where a small hole, just large enough for an adult male to crawl out from, had been burned through it.
"Shit! I let him get away!" Shives activated his com once more. "Baptiste, Krohn — be on high alert. That masked man managed to escape. The other two getting away is bad, but that man in particular cannot be allowed to—"
Shives's words caught in his throat as the masked figure in question materialized seemingly out of nowhere. In an instant, Shives telepathically took a chunk of steel from the sphere and shot it at the assailant, but they dodged with uncanny speed. The masked man's blade flashed before gashing open Shive's throat. The Hoplite staggered back and clapped a hand over the wound, trying to stop the blood that still gushed and seeped between his fingers. His attacker then carved into Shive's torso with surgical precision and a series of swift lacerations his eyes couldn't keep track of. The Void Knight fell back against his sphere and collapsed to the ground as the life bled out of him. Through blurred vision, he strained to make out the face partially revealed under his attacker's cracked mask.
"I'm sorry…" he heard them say.
Or so he believed he imagined. There was no way a man like this would apologize for killing anyone. The last thing the Void Knight saw as everything went black was his killer's back as they fled the scene, and the last thing he heard was Joey desperately yelling something he could not make out.
He regretted that his pitiful final moments would be immortalized in the memory of a girl no older than his son.