FRAGOR

LING

Ling saw Derek fall through half-blind eyes, but she wasn't close enough to catch him. Akane was still haring off after Kat, so she wasn't much help either. Ling almost tried to cushion his fall with her ability, before realizing that would be worse than useless. A stone pillow would just give him a concussion.

She rushed forward to check on him, and after a moment's blind searching was relieved to find a pulse.

“Is he alive?” Laura asked from her ear, making her jump.

“Y-yeah. He's gonna be sore as hell, though, and probably has a concussion.” Ling frowned as she realized her sight was clearing. “Wait—is the daybreak fading?”

“Yes. The Lucifer is smart; daybreaks are only effective if they're sudden. Even nighteyes can adjust eventually. We'll do another in a few minutes. I'll text you a warning.” She glanced around. “Get Derek to the medics, then work on separating the ferrets from the screamers.” She ran off before Ling could ask for more detail—or remind her that she technically couldn't give her orders—but it quickly became apparent anyway.

Now that she could see a little bit better under the light of the moon, it became clear that the Nosferatu were indeed still fighting each other almost more than the screamers. Morons. Seriously, was she the only one who ever saw a zombie movie?

On the other hand, Derek seemed to have had at least some effect. It was only a minority that were refusing to play nice. The rest seemed more than willing to cooperate with Necessarius against the infected and their erstwhile kin.

Of course, the 'sarians couldn't really tell anyone apart, so they were just shooting blindly. Hence the need to separate the screamers, so they had a better idea of who to fight. Not to mention the ever-present threat of infection.

Luckily, Ling managed to find a medic in seconds, and he carried off Derek, which left her with one less thing to worry about. Now on to the task at hand.

Even with her reservoir at full, she wasn't sure she could get a good wall up that would actually block the bats at all. They could fly. Only a little, but—

She smiled. Only a little.

They could only shift into bat form for a couple seconds. That was barely enough time to fly any real distance. The current wall the 'sarians had up was doing a pretty good job of holding them back—they just needed another one.

A ten-foot high wall should be more than enough, but it would have to reach across the entire street. She was getting better, but that was definitely beyond her. And she couldn't exactly just bring it up in sections.

Actually, that sounded like the best idea. She'd have to be careful, and her reservoir would take a few minutes to recharge each time, but...

No. Looking closer, it was impossible. If she was lucky, she'd be able to make a wall five feet wide and ten tall each time. The street was maybe fifty feet wide. It would take an hour or more to make the wall, and that was assuming nothing went wrong. She needed a new plan.

Ling glanced around, looking for something she could use, but she could barely see. Between the dim glow of the moon and the beams of light the angels were casting around, it was too chaotic to make anything out. She could see the horde, and she could see the buildings flanking the street, but that was about it.

She needed a new plan. What would Laura do?

Something smart. She'd...

Ling had no idea what she'd do. Quote Sun Tzu and outmaneuver the enemy, probably. But that wasn't exactly Ling's strong suit. All she could do was break things and quote entire episodes of anime from memory. Only the better episodes, the ones she had watched like fifty times, but still.

That might be the answer right there. There were characters with powers like hers in plenty of shows. And she had seen them come up with plenty of ideas.

She rushed to the corner building, a cafe with tables stacked into a crude wall against the zombies, and the glass storefront shattered. This might work...

She placed her hand on the wall and concentrated, trying to feel the building. She could vaguely sense solid objects as part of her ability, and she had a much more detailed sense of anything she could affect with her power.

She was in luck. The builders had been a little cheap, so the first few floors were made mostly of concrete and rebar. Floor four and higher were mostly things she couldn't really sense in detail, probably steel and other sturdier materials. It didn't matter. The first few floors were all she needed.

How to do this? She had to be careful. The foundation consisted of four concrete pillars supporting the second floor, so she should be able to do this just by tearing out the right supports. The walls were just plaster and sheetrock, they couldn't actually support any weight. She chose the rightmost pillar, the one on the corner.

Placing her hand on it, she could feel that this should work. If she ripped this out, everything should go as planned. The only problem was the pillar itself.

She had never really destroyed anything before. With her power, that was. She dipped into the city's concrete foundation to make walls and weapons, but she hadn't really done anything permanent.

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She didn't like destroying things. Never had. You couldn't get back something you've destroyed. She remembered when she was a kid and one of her orphanmates destroyed her anime collection. Even when her matron had promised they could just replace everything, she still didn't stop crying for most of the day. A copy just never felt quite the same, even though it should.

But... she didn't have time for this right now. Right or wrong, she had to do this. So following the example of all action protagonists ever, she buried her misgivings deep inside herself, and resolved never to think of it again. That should last for at least a few hours.

So, with her heart turned to stone, she concentrated on the concrete under her hand and pulled with all her power.

There was a snap, and a huge crack appeared in the pillar.

Not enough. Not yet. She pulled again.

The crack widened, and the building groaned as its weight shifted.

Just a little more... she had enough power to pull just a little harder.

She poured every last drop of power she had into it, wringing her reservoir dry as the pillar cracked, and the building above her head groaned dangerously.

The pillar exploded.

Dust and debris billowed out, covering her and the street behind her, and she felt pieces and slivers of concrete slice tiny gashes across her arms and face. Nothing serious, but she shouldn't have been standing in the line of fire.

After a few moments of waving her hands around blindly and coughing, the dust began to clear. She opened her eyes...

And the building was still standing. Groaning louder than before, but still very much upright. A couple of the rebar bars in the pillar she had just destroyed were still intact, but even her nonexistent knowledge of architecture was enough to tell her that they weren't providing any actual support.

Okay, so maybe it was built a little better than she had thought. Still, most of the work was done. It just needed a little push.

Ling entered the 'scraper cautiously, worried about the unstable roof but knowing she had no other choice. She crossed to the pillar diagonally opposite the one she had destroyed, knowing this was the point she needed to attack if her plan was going to work. Her reservoir wasn't quite filled yet, but that was fine. She still needed to assess the situation a little more anyway.

Placing her hand on the pillar gave her more than enough information. The building was teetering dangerously, but the foundation was still strong enough to support it. It might fall eventually, but not any time soon.

Well. She'd just have to do something about that.

She took a deep breath, her hand still on the pillar. She should be able to do this. Her reservoir was full, so she had the power, and to spare. Her only worry was that she would screw it up and drop a building on herself. She might have some spare juice to protect herself, but she wasn't very hopeful on that front. Most of the stuff that would fall on her wasn't stuff she could affect anyway.

Still, it was too late to back out now. Gathering all her power, she pushed as hard as she could.

Only this time, she pushed up.

It quickly became apparent that her suspicions were correct. This was the crux point, and from here she could unbalance the entire 'scraper in the direction she wanted. But it was still an entire building, and her reservoir was draining fast with little to show for it.

It creaked and groaned and dust fell on her head, but it didn't seem to actually be moving. She could feel something happening through the pillar, both from the vibrations and her power itself, but she didn't have enough experience to be able to tell if it was working.

But then a crack appeared in the pillar. A deep, horizontal gash.

The pillar groaned, and the crack widened.

It was working. Slowly, ever so slowly, but it was working.

And then—

Her reservoir ran dry.

There was a muffled boom when her power snapped off, as the building settled back down onto its foundations. Even more dust rained down, and she had to cover her face with her shirt to even be able to breathe. Still, sheetrock and concrete got down her throat, and she coughed like she was hacking up a lung.

She had been so excited her plan was actually working she had completely lost track of what was going on. Her reservoir was still not very deep. She had some power to play with, but it was really only good for small bursts of energy. She should have known moving an entire skyscraper was beyond her.

But she could try again. Her entire body ached from the overexertion, but her reservoir was still refilling. Except... it seemed slower than normal. Just by a hair, but still. Was that because she was so tired? Did that affect it somehow?

Huh. Ling made a mental note to talk to Laura about it. She'd have a better idea about what it might mean, and how to test the theory.

Still, right now Ling needed to focus on the task at hand. One more good push should be able to do it. It was probably for the best that it hadn't worked on the first try, actually. This way, people would see the dust billowing out and move out of the way, while the zombies would be too stupid to notice.

A few minutes of rest was enough. She would have liked some water to wash out the taste of dirt in her mouth, but she didn't have any on her, and there was no time to go find some.

This time, she didn't waste any time letting her power out slowly. She pushed with everything she had from the very start, imagining her reservoir emptying out, grabbing the pillar with giant hands and lifting.

She didn't know if the imagining helped, or if it was just the all-or-nothing attack. Hell, it was probably just the fact that the pillar was already cracked.

But it worked.

The 'scraper groaned overhead, dust filling the room in a blinding cloud, until finally...

Until finally, with a sound like a hundred dying gargants, the massive structure toppled to its side, crashing into the street with a dull boom that rattled her bones and shattered some teeth.

Laura's order was complete. The screamers were now separated from the vampires.