Unknown
Bran, how is our project going?
Unknown
Reach out when you can.
Your part may not be over.
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Bran
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Meatloaf twisted a plain silver band on her left ring finger; silver melted into ink and merged with flesh as her alpha artifact took hold. In a few blinks, a tattooed wedding band replaced the untarnished silver ring; Bran heard Meatloaf gasp as purple energy flowed from the tattooed band up her arm, animating the Harley riding bat slayer as it flowed past, up her neck, and haloed above her head; she grabbed hold, palms to temples, as the energy swirled around, but as the energy settled into a lattice veil draping over her face — so did she — straightening and letting loose a wail.
The wail, a rich mix of mourning, vengeance, and pure unfiltered pain, forced a shiver from Bran, the magic amplifying it as it passed through the veil hanging over Meatloaf's now tear-streaked face, nearly caused Bran's legs to buckle and he was well outside of the main effect. It coalesced into a physical purple force of ever-growing ripples and enveloped the three Catkith closest to her. Two got in a single step before tears flowed from their eyes; mouths opened in silent screams as they clutched their chests and fell to the ground. The third made it another two steps before he joined them in the shattered concrete of the road — ended.
Mulberry and Mango fought beside one another, Mango able to read her enemies’ weaknesses with her artifact glasses and see their actions a step ahead was untouchable. She held a retrieved spear and put it to use against the oncoming Catkith, aiming one precise jab after another to end her opponents in a single blow.
Mulberry was no less precise as he called up a Junker manifested handgun and sent energy bullets streaking without error towards his targets. In the few brief moments Bran watched, Mulberry didn’t miss a single shot and already a dozen Catkith laid ended around the two of them.
Bran felt the cold magic settle into him, his body digesting the power, he had no idea who the powerful snow witches on the lunch kit had been in the old world, hell he only knew consciously they were snow witches because of the snowy landscape and the smiling snowman beside them, but that didn't matter; his subconscious memory from the old times formed the magic's limits — at least that was his theory — so in the old world he must have known who they were and what they could do. Okay, what first? He knew he needed to act or the fight would be over before the Catkith even did some damage. The Catkith couldn't win, but maybe their lives didn't have to be a total waste — like maybe they could take out a leader or two; maybe even Ice.
Jumbo Shrimp was too far away, taking the fight to the Catkith. In among the shanties, his Combat Hopak training granted by the foot wraps let him dance from one battle to the next, making quick work of enemy spear throwers.
Clementine galloped past on the back of a painted stallion bucking underneath her. Spears passed through the spectral horse, but its hooves were solid enough at the point of impact — as the Catkith discovered when hoof met chest and skull. Clementine let out a hoot of joy, spinning with the horse as its hooves sent a man into a nearby shanty with such force the thrown together building collapsed atop him — There! This was Bran's chance; as the shanty collapsed he reached out with his power; the ground froze under him as he grabbed shards of shanty debris with a gust of chilly wind and sent them spinning towards Clementine. “Watch out!” he called, in his best 'oh no' voice. He let one shard through, spinning towards Clementine, but then called up a flurry of wind and snow to stop the others.
Clementine cried out as the shard pierced her shoulder, but kept her saddle; one hand gripping the reigns firmly she reached up the other and yanked the shard free.
Ice sprinted to the injured Kiwi’s aid, throwing one shade spear to skewer a Catkith as he conjured a second. “Get up.” Two shade hands reached out of his blazer and yanked the spear free of Kiwi’s shoulder, while Ice turned and deftly parried a Catkith’s lunge and thrust with his own spear. The Catkith sprung back, its reflexes and speed keeping it a step ahead of Ice’s thrust, but even on the retreat the Catkith kept to the balls of his feet; he charged back, avoiding Ice's next thrust with a twist of his hips. The Catkith roared as it struck with a flurry of thrusts, but Ice didn’t give ground, parrying each attack and guarding Kiwi as the injured Finder Keeper struggled to stand. Ice beat the Catkith’s spear wide, then the shade arms from his blazer swung around from back to front, retrieved spear still in their grasp, they pierced the Catkith’s throat with an upward thrust. The Catkith let out a gurgle and fell back, spear still dangling. The shade arms withdrew once more into his blazer, then Ice spared a look over his shoulder at the whimpering and struggling Kiwi — “Get up.”
The newest Finder Keeper was halfway to his feet — blood exploded from Kiwi’s chest, spraying over Ice’s blazer, pants, and face. Ice staggered forward as Kiwi’s corpse knocked against his back and side, but shade arms pushed out of his pants, steadying him. The blood on his pants and blazer melted into the fabric, sending a momentary swirl of arterial red through the misty gray. A Catkith built like a mountain drew one of three short-spears from his back and wrapped clawed fingers around its shaft. A thick white beard flowed over his chest and long white hair hung about his face; the beard hid his mouth from Bran's sight, but visible mouth or not, he knew — Danis, chief of the Cougar, was smiling.
Ice wiped the blood from his face as he stepped over Kiwi to meet his next opponent.
“Bran!” Meatloaf shouted, the veil held aside to let her voice past.
Even unmodified by the veil, only touched by her active magic, Bran could feel the urgency in her call mixed with sadness, rolling through him as if a beloved pet had died. Bran jerked his gaze from Ice; motion in his peripheral vision kicking him into motion, but it wouldn’t be enough — to the Catkith thrusting; he was just another target.
Meatloaf wailed, ending the Catkith mid-skewer and saving Bran from becoming a Finder Keeper shish kabob. Meatloaf just save him; that happened? “Thanks,” he said, his surprised brain on auto-response.
“Get in the fight, old man.” She wiped tears from her eyes and sprinted to assist Mango and Mulberry.
She was right; he needed to be more than a spectator; Bran fired magic into the ground and called up wind to propel him along its slick surface while lashing out with his power to stick feet to the ground, cause slips, or blow a spear off — or on — course. Essentially turning the battlefield into a chaotic skating rink that hindered the Finder Keepers as much as the Catkith; by his third pass around the battlefield.
"Dammit, Bran! Be careful!" Clementine tore the spear from her side.
"Sorry!" He wasn't sorry; not at all. He called up a blizzard, snow and wind blew across the battlefield, a micro blizzard he hoped hindered the Finder Keepers a little more than the Catkith with their superior reflexes and senses. Bran slowed; there they are, he had wondered when those two Catkith would enter the fray.
The female, Ekani, charged Mango from further away, but the closer male, Manas, stalked towards Mulberry.
“I can’t get a read on her!” Mango shouted. She pushed her glasses up her nose, and through the snow Bran watched her eyes squint as the magic rimming the lenses thrummed, but still her voice was higher than the shrill wind. "I can't, it won't work!"
“What? Dammit, Bran! Turn off the snow,” said Mulberry. It only distracted his focus for a moment, but he raised a hand to shield his eyes, swinging the pistol towards the second Catkith, Manas, exhaled and squeezed the trigger; the artifact barked as a normal Desert Eagle semi-auto handgun would, sending a burst of three energy bullets streaking for Manas.
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“No, it’s not that! It’s like there’s two of her! My specs can’t hone in enough for a clear reading.”
Confident the bullets would strike their target; Mulberry spun to assist his sister. Bran knew better — Manas wouldn’t go down that easily — the bullets zipped out, but the Catkith didn’t react, not until the very last moment did the needed muscles and joints act with precision, only using the exact energy needed to clear the bullet’s path. Manas' motion was so smooth and fast Bran wasn't sure he'd moved at all, but he'd either moved or was a ghost, because the bullets thunked into the shanty behind him.
“Mulberry!” Bran said over the wind "Watch out!" He conjured a sheet of ice to cover the ground under Manas' feet, but the Catkith held his balance, even against the wind. “He won’t fall!” The Catkith hadn't even needed to use the retracted claws of his feet to keep his balance on the slick ground.
Mulberry said nothing. Instead, he put his back against Mango’s and fired a steady stream of energy bullets at Manas. Each bullet earned a series of micro movements keeping Manas injury free as he closed the distance one stalking step at a time.
“Sorry, Mango! Figure it out, I have my own problems,” said Mulberry.
“Clementine!” Mango swung her backpack to the ground, digging through her other spectacle artifacts, looking for anything she could use to stop the oncoming Catkith. "We could use a little help."
There was only a dozen feet between her and the charging Ekani, but Clementine rode from behind a blind of snow and wind, horse hooves and rump lashed out knocking Ekani off course. Clementine let out a shout, "choo-choo!" as she turned her artifact horse to pursue Ekani. “I got her! She’ll be flatter than a pancake now that she’s met Chugga.” Clementine gave her horse a pat on the side of its neck.
“I got him,” said Meatloaf as she put herself between Manas and Mulberry.
Mulberry rotated around Mango, the Specter between him and Meatloaf.
Meatloaf let out a wail of despair. Manas rolled to dodge it, but with a hand gesture Meatloaf pulled it back, catching Manas from behind as he stood. He took a step, then dropped to a knee. Eyes closed, but still alive. “No, what? How is he resisting?” Meatloaf let out another wail.
“There’s only a few left!” Clementine finished aligning Chugga towards Ekani, but reined him in. “Hey, where’d she…” Arms reached up and pulled Clementine from the saddle, Ekani slammed her to the ground with a roar, claws on her left hand lashed out across Clementine's face; Chugga reared back, front hooves ready to slam into Ekani's back.
Bran called up a flurry of snow, but still Mulberry’s pistol barked; the first energy bullet streaked for Ekani as Chugger’s hooves came down. The blood made her look even fiercer as she sprinted forward, under falling hooves, catching the energy bullet in the shoulder, but still she came on. Chugga gave chase at Clementine’s slurred command.
“He’s up!” Meatloaf issued a third wail, but Manas was already on the move. Meatloaf’s energy missed again on the first pass, but she redirected it with a gesture causing it to boomerang in pursuit. Manas and Ekani both swerved for one another; Ekani, faster than the speeding Chugger, sprinted past her brother as bullets zipped past, Mulberry doing his best to miss the massive horse and get a clear target in the blizzard.
The energy was almost on Manas, but he dove forward — under Chugger! Meatloaf’s energy collided with the artifact steed, Chugger shattered, and a backlash wave caused Meatloaf and Clementine to clutch heads in agony on the rubble and body strewn battlefield.
Ice, still embroiled in his own semi-duel with the Cougar chieftain and the few followers that had joined the fray, kicked out slamming Danis' left knee and knocking him off balance, but instead of closing in to finish the leader off, he retreated, turned, and shouted. “Bran, deal with them.”
Ekani swerved and pounced, clearing fifteen feet to Mulberry, who called for Item 29 from his shadesack, but it wouldn’t save him. She didn’t even try to dodge as two more bullets slammed into her, but neither did her momentum break. Ekani carried no weapons — she was the weapon. Hands lashed out; one claw sliced through Mulberry’s throat while the other jabbed into his abdomen, riding him to the ground. His scream issued out as a gurgle.
“You bitch!” Mango tore glasses from face, letting the alpha artifact slide across the deepening snow, slapping a red visor over her eyes. She reached her left hand up to the visor’s edge and the single red lens glowed violet.
Ekani let loose with a feral roar in response, her fang-like teeth barred, and the pupils of her cat slit eyes ballooned in expectation as the wind blew her braided hair out behind her, tearing at the leather, fur, and bark she wore.
Nope. Bran called up his power, sending a blast at Ekani from the side, just as the optic blast fired from Mango’s eyes — fire met ice. The magic died, but where Ekani had been an opaque icy shell now rested frozen to the ground. Mango screamed, trying to break through with her fist, before picking up a spear to jab at it. “Don’t let your artifact control you! Mango, none could survive that ice. She is ended.” Bran said. "There are still others to fight."
Mango looked back at the bloody and torn Mulberry; a sob wracked through her body as his now colorless body crumbled to chunks and dust. Kiwi too had since ended, their remains scattered by the blizzard Bran controlled. He reduced the power feeding that blizzard; while it did little to obstruct his senses, it was still easier for him to get a sense of the battlefield without it.
“Like that one,” said Meatloaf, supported on two knees and an arm, she pointed at Manas as he crept toward Ice’s flank. Ice looked uninjured, but Danis and the other two that fought at his side bled from many wounds, their color flickering. Manas was only a few steps away, a recovered spear angled to strike another at his feet.
Shit! Bran realized he'd made another mistake, Manas had been using the storm as cover to flank and surprise Ice.
Danis and his warriors charged, forcing Ice to retreat from their spears, but Ice was deftly dodging — still even without the storm he hadn't noticed Manas yet. Holy shit, Manas was going to do it!
A flying kick from Jumbo Shrimp knocked the spear from Manas' grasp.
Dammit! Where had Jumbo Shrimp come from?
Manas jumped a low sweep of an expected kick, but Jumbo Shrimp reversed, rolling back and pushing straight up with his hands from the ground, sending the kick straight into Manas’ chest.
Meatloaf, unsteady, but standing lined up for another wail. It was over — Bran unleashed a blast of cold magic, encasing Manas in a shell like his sister. Only Danis stood, and Bran was pretty sure Ice was toying with him, probably to take him alive. If he could line up a shot, maybe he could spare the chieftain as well.
“For Henry!” Alpha spectacles cracked, but clinging to her face; Mango charged, spear in hand, at Danis’ back.
"Wait," Ice said. “Mango, don't…”
Lung, lung, kidney, neck, and heart went Mango’s spear.
“… kill him.” finished Ice, but Mango wasn’t done.
Mango spun, throwing her spear over the falling Danis at Ice, but he was ready. His suit shimmered and an illusionary clone stood where he once had. The spear struck true, dispersing the shade in his stead. “My name is Karissa, and we are not your slaves!” She bent down to grab another spear.
Bran started forward; he needed to help her; Mango, no Karissa, was free of Lady Wraith's influence now, like him, but Jumbo Shrimp held out his arm “Don’t. There’s nothing to be done.” Jumbo Shrimp pointed up where part of the vortex swirled in a tighter pattern.
“He died for that bitch!” Mango cursed as her next spear took apart another Ice illusion. If she took the time, Bran knew the magic of her glasses could let her tell the difference between Ice's illusions and the real him, but she was enraged and he guessed only looking for the kill shot. She definitely wasn't looking up.
Ice reached an arm to the sky, the vortex of shades cracked open as a bolt of purple lightning shot down. Mango had a split second to look up, then energy passed through, and her body turned gray and dissipated like smoke on a strong breeze. Then it was silent.
“Jumbo Shrimp, Bran, collect fallen artifacts. They can go to another.” Ice strode forward, ignoring the bodies and rubble strewn across the road. “Clementine, Meatloaf, follow me.”
“You didn’t…” said Clementine, but Ice met her gaze and the protest died. “Of course, Lord Ice.”
“What about these two?” asked Jumbo Shrimp, rapping his knuckles against Ekani’s ice shell.
“They’re gone,” said Bran, eyes still where Karissa had ended. “Compressed into the ice. Not a good way to end.” It was a lie; they should be safe, long as no one did anything stupid.
“Wanna bet I could punch through them?”
Like that.
“Enough. You have orders.”
“Yes, Lord Ice,” said the four remaining Finder Keepers.
Bran watched them step into the village hall as he shouldered Mango’s bag.
“What a mess,” said Jumbo Shrimp, holding up the soggy paintbrush Kiwi had activated as their alpha artifact.
“eh?”
“All those ended Catkith. Did they think they could win?”
There were fifty or more ended Catkith laying on the ground. “I think they believed it was worth the risk.”
The twin ice shells crumbled. Jumbo Shrimp jumped at the sound. He trotted up to the one that held Manas and shifted the icy remains with his foot. “I thought you said they ended?”
“They should have been,” Bran feigned surprise, with a mental sigh of relief. If they were still alive and Ice destroyed the source, then Manas and Ekani would be in Meyonohk’s closest territory. “What?”
Jumbo Shrimp was studying him. “Sure, I get it. We all make mistakes.” He let out a chuckle. “Guess you should have let me punch them to pieces after all.”
“Wasn’t my call,” said Bran. “I still don’t think you could have done it.”
“What!” Jumbo Shrimp executed a series of spins, kicks, and even a flip around Bran. All the while, his hands moved in a blur of high and low strikes.
“What are you two doing?” asked Meatloaf, coming out of the building.
“Find the source?” asked Bran.
“A snake plant in a pot.”
“We were waiting,” said Jumbo Shrimp.
“There’s nothing else to find here, let us leave.” said Ice as he moved out the door and back up the road.
They were halfway through the vortex before Bran realized his phone was gone.