The Status panel of a Gr-, Fireteam at higher levels provided increasing amounts of information that helped to make decisions and tackle challenging encounters more efficiently than simply meeting in the same spot. The only drawbacks were perhaps the fact that contributions and credit were recorded in the System as a whole, not an individual. Titles, Levels, Rewards were portioned out equally. Features and Skills were unlocked normally.
Another glaring drawback was the System also reduced the overall amount of Experience granted. If you were, say, a faction of maniacal sociopaths hellbent on taking over the World, this might be the one reason to not utilize the System’s means of facilitating teamwork in times past.
However, even at our reduced power, I could still ascertain the faint presence of Liastra and Cordo getting into position on the far side of the atrium. Maekita was a hallway ahead of me. Perez was still back in the storage room, though Lyissa was keeping watch at a window in the chem lab. They were active save our ?Human?. Curious how his name had changed though.
Three, four sets of boots began making their way up the staircase closest to Mae. I heard another group on the far side that was closer to the chem lab. We’d need to deal with these first few quickly and hope that little assumption panned out.
Pressing my back to the wall, I drew my handcannon. Deep breaths, calm, deep breaths. I was at the end of the corridor, all the side doors locked, a perfect line of sight down the way.
“Why the hell do we have to keep up with the milsim LARPing? Pretty much everything’s dead.” One of the speakers, muffled through the cloth over their face obscuring features. “Private this, sergeant that, yes sir captain.”
“Dude, shut it. We might not think it’s important, but right now the guy with the highest rank is also literally the one with the best gun,” his partner, a woman, responded. “You want to come up on the right side, you follow the biggest shark.”
Gauntlets shifted over rifle, sounded like they rounded the corner and passed right by where Maekita was kneeling just inside a darkened room with the door cracked open.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t join up for this part of things. I just want to go home,” the male Narc sighed, stopping. I think they were halfway through. “Why aren’t we just going to the Prefect again? No one’s here for fuck’s sake.”
“My guy, have you never played a SWAT game?” the female scoffed. “Please don’t tell me you’ve only done arena shooters.”
“So what if I haven’t?”
Metal on metal. She must have punched him on an armor plate.
“Doors and corners, dickhead! You don’t just respawn across the map after dying, not right now with how Warzones changed. Were you even paying attention?!” she hissed. If I could capture one, I think I knew which of these Narcs were expendable.
“Uh, no, I stopped listening after the Cap said ‘only shoot when I give the order,’” he verbally shrugged.
+Status update! Fireteam member shared rewards, you have reached Level 2 Support. Skill unlocked, Rune Shot.+
I blinked the window away, a smirk teasing the edge of my mouth. Liastra and Cordo must have taken one down, quietly. I’d forgotten the exhilarating rush of suddenly feeling stronger.
Something clattered, further away. Sounds of a struggle, then cut short.
“What was that?” the man asked, equipment shifting as he started moving away.
“Wh-, where did Rob and Barney go? They weren’t supposed to break visual with us!” she added, beginning to go towards the atrium.
The heavy twang of a crossbow elicited a sharp cry of pain. No Levels granted.
“Reaper’s shroud!” I growled, rounding the corner and bracing my Arcanotech weapon across my forearm. Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in.
Sight the taller enemy.
Hold.
“Rune Shot!”
Squeeze.
The recoil of the revolver was about the same as the last time I’d used it. All of my Mana went into this one attack. Hammer struck the now-christened Blast rune on the bullet. I felt more than saw the round embed into the armor of my enemy, making a loud ping. Did it bounce off?
No, it was still there. The glyphs making up its enchantment turned white hot. Danger Sense activated, strongly suggesting that I should take cover. An explosion ripped through the air, flame consuming the silhouette and causing the ground to shudder.
What used to be an Arcanocracy soldier turned into a charred husk, immediately clattering to the floor. His partner thrown against the wall by the Blast rune’s knockback, crumpling in a heap but still moving.
+Status updating! Sharing rewards with Fireteam, you have reached Level 3 Support. Skill unlocked, Diagnose.+
Most of my Mana returned with that announcement as I quickly sprinted down to intercept the Narc woman. She was Stunned, recovering quickly, until I got close enough to flip my revolver around, holding the warm barrel.
“Why-, Wh-, huh?” she mumbled, trying to get her bearings as she saw me advancing. “Wait, no, no, wait, no, STOP!”
A quick uppercut to the chin with the solid handle knocked her out cold. Her fingers had coiled around a second weapon – a pistol I’d guess – at her belt, going slack. Quickly relieving her of the weapon, I inspected her for any other useful equipment. Damn, I didn’t have any rope to secure her.
“HEY! HALT!” I heard a gun cock. No, two clicks? “GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Narc soldier, one of the ones with I’d guess Sergeant rank, wielding a shorter type of weapon. Two wide barrels affixed side-by-side. Brandished in my direction, he brought it to his shoulder and tracked me as I stepped back. Not much I could do with my revolver when I was holding it the wrong way.
As the Sergeant made ready to fire, there was a creaking of the door he’d stopped in front of. He failed to notice that it had been ever so slightly ajar in his rush to investigate.
My savior’s meaty violet hand struck quickly, wrapping around the Sergeant’s hand. One hard wrench and I heard the bones of the trigger finger and then some pop from here. Maekita grunted, yanking the man into her room with a speed that felt unnatural for a being her size. Two, three slams into the ground before the body flew into the hallway – pinned to the wall through the chest in short order with a javelin.
+Status update! Fireteam member sharing rewards, you have reached Level 4 Support. Skill unlocked, Overwatch. Skill unlocked, Hotfix. Feature unlocked, Combat Medic.+
“Jericho! You get a couple things just now?” the Oni hoarsely whispered with a quaver. “I, uh, uhm, I-, I just-, I just killed him. With a Skill, quietly, Takedown. I thought it, and I killed-, oh, oh god.”
Fumbling to take the unconscious woman’s rifle by the strap, I ran into the room Maekita was in. Her arms were shaking, she nearly curled into a ball, eyes flicking between the blood spatters on the floor and the expired Hu-, enemy.
“Hey, hey, Mae, look at me,” I urged, closing my fingers over her hand. Pumping gently, she met my gaze. “It’s not like an animal or mindless creature. You don’t get over fighting people. Especially now, with how everything is wrong, but we need you. Stop them now, regret later.”
“But Jeric-“
“Each of them has killed at least one person, someone you might even know!” I said, shaking Maekita’s solid frame to little effect. “You want more to die?”
“That isn’t fair,” she whispered, gritting her teeth.
“It isn’t.” I think something rolled down my cheek. “None of this is.”
“Over there, fire, FIRE!”
We both flattened against the ground. When the gunshots weren’t directed near us, I looked outside the doorway.
Four Terrans had taken up positions next to stairs leading to the third level. I couldn’t see where the others, theirs or ours, were except the helpful suggestion in the form of the barrage sweeping the opposite end of the atrium.
While they lacked the repeating staccato of the machinegun, the rifles fired off in a staggered cadence. Each squeeze of the trigger let loose a single deadly shell. The mechanism was strange to me though it appeared that every seven, eight rounds a distinct metallic ping accompanied something being ejected from the top of the weapon. They seemed to have the coordination to at least have one person reloading while the rest kept up the rhythm
“AEGIS!”
I recognized that Spell.
A floating shield made of leaves the color of autumn reds and yellows appeared in the air between the Terrans and the chem lab, which had begun to take the brunt of their volley. Heavy thoughts indeed, this was good!
With their attention over there, I ducked out of the room with Maekita. The Otherworlder-turned-Oni growled, a bestial thing from her giant chest, her fingers wrapped around the haft of a javelin. It crackled with blue sparks as she focused her anger into something more productive than reflecting on our circumstances.
My Mana hadn’t returned completely but if I got another Blast Rune, maybe catch two of the soldiers, then it’d help take some pressure off of Lyissa and the others.
Stepping around the corner, I aimed.
“Rune Sho-!”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
My shoulder snapped backwards, the arm that would have squeezed the handcannon’s trigger, ears ringing. It burned. I couldn’t feel below the elbow, heard the gun clatter to the floor.
+Warning! Enemy reaction Skill triggered, Overwatch!+
I looked up to try and understand what had happened. My Health was still about 75%, not life-threatening, but one of the Terrans stood out. With one hand they were holding up their rifle, still focused on chipping away at the shield.
The other possessed a strange little gun like the one I just looted off the female soldier. Slightly less bulky than a flintlock pistol, the owner of the one pointed at me ejected a spent cartridge into the air. If anything, it seemed like a hand crossbow sending away a single small quarrel some sneaky bastard would interject in a-
“Jericho, get back!” Maekita shouted, yanking me backwards into cover. My injured side landed heavily on the wall, feeling gradually returning. Must have been an interrupt type ability which focused on the type of attack, in this case a gun.
We hunkered down and moved away from where I’d been spotted. Stone chipped and dust pelted us as a Suppression threshold bar began filling in the corner of my eye with each shot sent towards us. That sense of dread and fear from outside right after Recursion began creeping in. It was different, knowing it was a Status effect and not entirely my own mind turning against me. Vision wavering, I could see how it made fighting back difficult.
“ASTRA, WAIT!”
No. She wouldn’t. Not against them.
“BLITZ!” my Draco partner, stubborn, bullheaded, an absolute fool, screamed at the top of her lungs.
I waited, eyes wide and unaware of the world around me as I watched the Fireteam roster illustrated by the System in the corner of my eye. It was going to become gray and dull, dark and red. She was going to die.
She was going to die and we didn’t even know if someone could come back.
And yet all Firearms went silent for a second.
“RAAAAUGH!”
I skidded across the ground, picking up my handcannon and scrambling into the next corridor over. It was difficult to believe my lying eyes.
Koliastrazana was rushing headlong into the fray while the four Terrans struggled to aim their weapons at her. Something prevented them from slowing her advance. Was it whatever Blitz was? Regardless, she slammed into the nearest one, obsidian claws and scales covering her arms, whirling around to throw them over the landing. Whatever Skill she utilized wore off as the other three readied to take her down.
I took the chance to pelt them with three quick shots. Large chunks of stonework disintegrated, only enough Mana coursing through the Blast runes to get them out of the barrel.
A javelin arcing with murderous intent sailed through the air, making a lightning rod out of its victim. Electricity jumped to their comrade – not enough to cook them through and through but being rooted in one place was more than enough.
Wincing, I tried aiming for the last one just as their rifle trained on Liastra’s reckless advance. Not good enough. Not fast enough.
The Aegis vaulted through the air. The whirling shield of leaves, pockmarked with multiple holes, blocked the first shot before curving upwards, slamming the Narc into the floor as the protective force flickered out of existence, what was left of the woven plant life turned to nothingness as if in a gust.
“Stun wore off on the last one!” Mae warned, pointing at the smoking figure.
Flagging, the Terran fumbled with something on their belt while Liastra advanced like a prowling tiger ready to play with her prey. I abstained, trying to figure out if I had gotten four or five shots off, turning the handcannon’s cylinder back and forth. Overwatch must’ve made my mind slightly fuzzy as an aftereffect.
Ka-ching-ch-ching!
“Oh, no, no, THROW THAT SPHERE AWAY! DON’T LET HIM DROP-,” Maekita wailed on seeing something we couldn’t. She tried to ready another throw but I don’t think anyone would have been able to react fast enough. “COVER!”
I had to trust her judgment.
As expected of an Otherworlder, her insight was invaluable.
There was a struggle. Something metallic hit the floor, another struggle, a second series of soft clangs when the object, the mysterious sphere, landed in the lobby below.
The resulting fireball shook the floor beneath me, disturbing the detritus kicked up by the pitched conflict. If the person Liastra had thrown over the edge hadn’t expired, the sphere’s detonation surely would have ended them, the only question being if there was damage against allied-
+Status updating! Fireteam member sharing rewards, you have reached Level 5 Support. Feature unlocked, Counterfire. Feature unlocked, Runetech.+
Ah. Well. It had the signature of Alchemist’s Fire – odd, the System didn’t correct me – but many, many times stronger.
Aside from the faintly smoking aftermath, the world quieted.
Of course, until the measured rhythm of fist meeting face began.
“Stars below, Liastra, don’t kill them!” I ordered, tripping over myself to sprint to where the enemy had valiantly bunched up. Maekita lagged behind only because she had the presence of mind to collect the two lifeless bodies and our prisoner.
I rounded the corner to see the Dragoness with a knee on the sphere-thrower’s chest, quietly mouthing curses between each punch. She had ripped off the helmet and cloth, revealing who our enemy was.
A Satyr.
Curled horns were ground down to almost nothing, flattened against his skull to the roots enough to look completely Human while wearing something over it. Face was turning black and blue due to each instance of love and affection he was receiving, but I couldn’t fathom the reason why a non-Human would…
“Ancestor’s bones, woman, the man’s had enough!” Cordo gasped, the only one of us brave enough to try and come between the Draco and her victim. Barely succeeding in pulling her off before a proper slash of her talons met the not-Terran’s throat, we all stared on in disbelief.
+Notice! Would you like to use reaction Feature, Counterfire?+
Strange. Reactions were not unknown to me, but we were fine. The immediate threats were dealt with. Danger Sense was not being activated.
“So we got a-, woah, that’s not a Human,” Maekita said, unceremoniously dumping the unconscious Narc from before up against the stairs. “Well, as long as you didn’t just apply a shit ton of damage-over-time, that makes two people we can maybe ask about what’s going on.”
“What exactly was that orb you suggested Koliastrazana to remove posthaste?” Cordo sighed, sitting down heavily. “It certainly had a disproportionate effect.”
“They’re called grenades. Like alch-fire except more on the Tek side, putting materials together,” the Oni explained, carefully examining the bodies for any other such things. “And, well, they’re fireballs-on-demand that also throw bits of metal that’ll cause Bleed if you survive the Blast.”
+Notice! Would you like to use reaction Feature, Counterfire?+
“Curious. I wonder if they might not just be Tek. Perhaps if Jericho and I could dissect one, there might be this new Arcanotech involved,” Lyissa offered. Her Mana was depleted, probably from the Aegis projections earlier. I took some solace in that they were the same plant-like motifs as the magic she used pre-Recursion.
“The System told me that I acquired something called Diagnose, another feature called Runetech. I think it might-“
+Notice! Would you like to use reaction Feature, Counterfire?+
“Is anyone else getting a Counterfire prompt?” I asked annoyedly.
“What’s that? Like countering a spell?” Liastra coughed, her bloodlust sated for the moment. However, knowing her, she was waiting for an opportunity when no one was watching to finish her grisly work. “I do not see how one can counter a fire, let alone Firearm.”
“Well, it was weird, I saw Jericho here lean out and try shooting them from behind earlier,” Maekita offered, rifling through the individual who had masterfully held two guns at the same time. “Ah, here it is – oh, weird, it’s a single shot pistol.”
“Right, System said I triggered Overwatch. It’s a Support Skill as well,” I said, turning the cylinders on my handcannon. Five empty casings, the interruption did consume that attempt then. “Counterfire is a Feature. Damn it all, we need to find a working Scroll or Tablet.”
+Notice! Would you like to use reaction Feature, Counterfire?+
“And now it keeps asking if I want to use it!” I growled, barrel pointing down as I gestured. “We got them all, right? Three between us, four here, three for you-“
“Two. We only had two. Neither were the leader with that intricate rank you spoke of,” Cordo informed worriedly.
“Weird. Did the head honcho just up and leave his minions? Typical bad guy routine,” Maekita sighed, stretching. “Welp, it’s six of us and one of them, we got this in hand. Bet they weren’t expecting this Administratum to have a couple of badasses like-“
+Warning! Fireteam member Maekita Suzuchika is Fatally Injured.+
The trail of smoke passed through the Oni’s shoulder and out her side, the whistling shriek of a report lagging behind what our eyes saw. Her Status went from a healthy full jade to the empty flashing ruby of death’s door.
+Reaction Feature, Counterfire activated!+
My body whipped around of its own accord, squeezing off my last Blast rune shot. Somewhere above us, part of the floor blew up, chunks raining down from above.
Out of the corner of my eye, Maekita was frowning, thick and dark heartblood beginning to leak from her mouth and the injury near her stomach. Reaper’s shroud, the wounds were so large. Pressing shaky hands over the wound, I’m not sure how much was her waking mind struggling to stay conscious, how much was part of the System forcing her to do so with imprinted information.
Another high-powered shot cut through the smoke and landed next to my feet. I could see the charred lobby floor through the sizable hole it had made. Heard the muffled voices around me as I squeezed my handcannon again and again, useless clacking noises, before someone threw me towards the relative safety of the stairs.
“I can’t do anything, I can’t-, I don’t have restoration, only shield!” Lyissa babbled, doing her best to compress the neck wound with her coat.
“Neither do I, all my abilities seem to be for fighting or subterfuge,” Cordo grunted, doing his best to help hold Maekita as she choked.
“Jeri, snap out of it.”
What was that? Who? The last of the Terrans, their Captain?
“Jeri!”
How did we fight against something that could kill an Oni in one bl-
“JERICHO!”
Small hands gripped my arms, slamming me against the wall. A finger pressed against the gash that the Overwatch from earlier nicked me with, pain breaking through the fog clouding over me. I tried resisting, couldn’t budge against the strength returning to the black-scaled-strawberry-skinned Draco.
“Diagnose. First Aid. Triage.” Liastra punctuated each word with a gentle shake. “Whatever you need to help her.”
Breathing rapidly, understanding gradually returned. I dropped my handcannon, looped fingers around the Triage Kit and crashed down beside Maekita.
+Diagnose activated. Target is Maekita, level 5 Oni Assault. Assault Feature: Grit active extending duration of Fatally Injured, expiring soon. Fatally Injured, requires Stabilized to prevent Fatally Injured from expiring.+
Eyes glazing over, I had no idea what to do with this information.
Do I just use something and hope for the best?
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it!
“Okay, uh, well, let’s-, stars below, I have no idea if this will work!” I keened, summoning my resolve. “Triage?”
+Triage Skill activated. Combat Medic Feature activated. Warning! You are granting Stabilized to one target, Mana capacity reduced by 75%.+
I barely noticed that my hands had packed bandages full of herbs and substances I didn’t recognize. Faint green glow typical of restorative magic infusing the dressings. Maekita’s breathing steadied, her body sinking against the wall. The Fireteam panel indicated a less insistent flashing red. My own Mana bar was pulsing in tune with Mae’s Health. Still almost nothing. I also almost had nothing to work with in the Mana department.
If someone else…
“Th-, the immediate threat is halted,” I said quietly. “This was my fault. I should have acted on the prompt. I should have counted better. Should have-“
“Stop that!” Liastra cuffed me over the head. “We have no time to consider the past. Think.”
“Kolia, please, that’s hardly the way to treat him,” Lyissa half-heartedly pleaded. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks, but did she seem sad she wasn’t the one to hit me herself?
“The Draco does have a point. Why would their leader abandon them? Spite, cowardice?” Cordo ruminated, reloading his crossbow. He eyed one of the rifles that seemed intact lying just out of reach in the open. “There is nothing of import up there.”
“Yes, yes there is.”
Everyone turned to me.
“The Administratum is controlled from the Prefect’s office. The only other things that might be located on the higher floors are various magical items and substances,” I elaborated, rubbing my temple. It helped. Marginally. “Even then, it’s possible that powerful items on par with a Scroll, something that’s only Rare like Cordo’s rapier were hit with that Electromagical Flux, Recursion, whatever, might have sealed all of it.”
“How would you begin to assume that the Prefect’s chamber would contain such power?” Lyissa asked. Her dainty Elven hands were wrapped around one of Maekita’s as if afraid she would float away.
“It’s, well, an informed guess?” I sighed, not wanting to press the issue. I wasn’t the first of my kind, but we were rare. I could only deal with so much ‘progress’ in a day. “What matters is of all the important things that exist in this building, maybe that’s what the enemy is after and they have a considerable lead. Is Perez still asleep?”
“Yes, he managed to remain blissfully ignorant,” she smiled. The fatigue was getting even to her, gnawing at the edges of her eyes. Lyissa might become the first Elf to develop worry lines. “He gained Levels as well, hopefully closer to some form of control.”
“Good. As much as I hate to, we need to leave both of them down here,” I said coldly. Scooping up my gun from where it slid next to Mae, couldn’t afford to mince words.
Silence, a grunt, the clench of teeth from my fellows. Spent casings clattered to the floor as I reloaded my handcannon with six steel-tipped rounds.
“Let’s run this bastard down.”