The first problem I had to deal with were the spiders in the staircase. By looking through the window in the door I counted four spiders that had yellow fur, and were each larger than a tarantula. They were completely still, and each had at least one leg resting on strands of thread that seemed to span to the door.
I recalled what I could of Spinnerette’s various wiki pages and the talk I had after waking up in the SRT. She was a smart monarch, and had access to a number of unique spiders, such as the one that had tazed me to unconsciousness. Looking outside I could see more of that same spider keeping guard. One of them was actively pacing in a far corner. It was unsettling.
The spiders Spinnerette had on record were capable of some crazy stuff, such as glowing like a firefly, or jumping like a flea. Some used general anesthetic as their venom, and some were poisonous, rather than venomous. And, of course, the furry yellow spiders currently waiting outside the door.
The memory of what they did was all too fresh in my mind, even if the burn scars had faded almost entirely since the encounter. I didn’t want to go through that again, but I needed to get out of here. Before I could second guess myself, I used my power on the door and pushed it against the opposite wall. Then I planned to go whack-a-mole on the spiders with my staff.
I used the force I’d broken Killer Kage’s arm with because why not? The door snapped off its hinges and flew to the other side of the room, where it smacked the door opposite neatly, then fell backwards towards me. I winced at the sound of the second impact, and looked for any spiders moving in. As I suspected, there was one in the blind spot I couldn’t see while the door was there. It was the first one in, as it was the first one to be struck by my staff.
Rather, first to be struck at. I missed.
Panicking, I imposed a new sideways force on the staff, which carried it and the spider now climbing on it out of my grasp and into the wall. The spider was flattened against the wall while the staff rebounded and took out another spider. That still left three of the yellow horrors crawling at me across the wall.
The staff had spun into the stairwell, I wouldn’t be able to reach it without getting close to the spiders. I backed up, finding myself in the toilet. Looking around didn’t help me to find anything to use as a weapon. The only things in the stall were the toilet, and the toilet paper.
Wait.
Toilet paper.
I pulled out a long length of toilet paper and tore off a few squares. Then I aimed it at the nearest spider and gave it enough force to break an arm. Toilet paper wasn’t meant to withstand that kind of force, and it disintegrated pretty much instantaneously. However the paper, while disintegrated and in hundreds of pieces, still had that force behind it. It acted like a shotgun blast. The spider was blown away and into multiple pieces.
The two remaining spiders sped up. I tore off another piece of toilet paper and shot the nearer one, following up by finishing off the last one. Only that one was still a fair way across the room, so the paper had lost most of its force by the time it got there, and it tumbled into the far wall, ultimately surviving. I got closer and stomped on the spider before it could flip itself the right way up.
There was a beat where nothing moved. I caught my breath, trying to calm myself. Fighting spiders was bad for my health, I decided. I could feel my heart beating in my chest and the adrenaline was fading, so I decided to move out before it went too low.
I picked up the staff and stepped into the stairwell. After some consideration, I went up, the opposite direction of where the villains went. After one step I felt a weight get added to my left leg. Looking down, I saw another yellow tarantula sized spider climbing up my shin guard. Then its fur was standing on end, and electricity was arcing between the spider’s legs.
My eyes widened. “No-”
Then it discharged.
My whole body flinched, and I lost track of what my eyes were seeing. I may have hit the wall, I may have hit the stairs, or the rail. I didn’t remember. When my body stopped shuddering I found myself on the floor. The first thing I noticed was the numerous spider bodies curled up on the floor around me, still glowing from some biological reaction happening inside their bodies. They were being devoured one by one by the surviving yellow spider.
The sight shocked me to my feet and in doing so I kicked the staff that was on the top of the stairwell. I picked it up, took the time to aim, then used an overhead strike to kill the arcing arachnid while it was busy with its meal. This time I didn’t miss.
I breathed out and started staggering up and away from the scene of the fight. After a quick detour to find some hand towels to wipe the spider guts off of my staff. If I wanted to meet up with any heroes I’d need to move quickly. Maybe half of the Sentry would have access to the rooftop, given that the only form of flight I was aware they had access to was Lucidity’s hoverboards. The only heroes that had the power of flight in Graceland were Slingshot and Zephyr, but they were elsewhere.
That meant Muffle, Lucidity, Zephyr, and maybe Satellite could have arrived through the top floor. I’d feel a lot safer with one or two of them. Thankfully I made it all the way to the top of the stairwell without any incidents. Once I was on the roof a quick look around revealed no approaching shapes in the sky, I was on my own.
The roof itself was empty, the fight having since moved down into the building. There was another concrete staircase inexplicably built into the middle of the building. Snow was piled half a centimetre high almost everywhere, now melting and slushy. Rubble strewn throughout the scene interrupted the cover of snow. Here and there were more holes that looked person sized. There were a number of miscellaneous discarded gadgets dotted around the scene as well. I noticed two of the poles Gizumo had set up were still standing. The wall of energy they had made flickered in and out of existence intermittently.
I pulled my Vphone out. While I didn’t have comms, that didn’t mean I was cut off from the rest of my team. Chances were Rosie would be able to connect me to one of them via the phone. I wondered who I’d get. Probably Zephyr given my luck.
“What are you doing here?” A harsh voice interrupted me as I was drafting a message to send to Rosie. It was a strange voice, female, and it seemed to roar and whistle at the same time. It was one I recognized.
I turned to see Zephyr at the edge of the building. Her arms and legs were transformed into swirling torrents of wind, and were quieter than I remembered them being. That was just because she was winding them down and turning them back into their solid forms. The process seemed to be taking a while.
Another figure crested the edge of the building behind Zephyr. An orange and yellow costume, Slingshot.
“Helping out.” I said. “Didn’t you know?”
“No.” She growled. Her body was back to normal, but her head was still transparent and her voice still roared. “I was clear that you were not to be allowed into the field before my approval.”
“Orcus cleared me for duty, that’s the only reason I’m here.”
Zephyr’s fists clenched, and a sudden gust of wind made my eyes water.
I wiped it away. “He said we needed every asset we could get. I’m one of them.”
“That is not the issue I’m taking with this.” Zephyr chided. “The problem is that you are untrained, unfit, and not ready for the responsibilities required from a hero of the Sentinel.”
I took a breath and glanced at Slingshot. She was standing back awkwardly, which was understandable.
“Zephyr, I’m actually a Sentry and I’m here right now.” I said. “I’ve been inside, things are fucked, I got shocked by a spider, and the Racketeers and Rising Sun are cooperating.”
“What?” Zephyr stepped back, taken off guard.
“You were inside?” Slingshot piped up, glancing at the destruction around us.
I wrung my hands, suddenly feeling bashful. “Uh, yes.”
“Tell me what happened.” Zephyr demanded.
“Orcus lead a charge from the roof, but his only backup was Snowflake and me.” I gestured towards one of the holes. “Muffle was contacting you and Satellite while Lucidity was doing something along the same lines. They were supposed to follow. I lagged behind because I wasn’t comfortable using a hoverboard and potentially falling to my death, so I arrived after the fight had started.
“Orcus and Snowflake were fighting three villains. Headache, Hully, and Gizumo. I was about to join the fight, but got ambushed by Killer Kage. He used his power and separated me from the others. I got the feeling he was just trying to delay me.”
“How did you get away from him?” Zephyr asked.
“I broke his arm.”
“You broke someone’s arm!?” Slingshot exclaimed.
I was a little startled by the outburst. “That’s what I said.”
“Hold on.” Zephyr said. “Killer Kage is a well established villain with years of experience. How did you manage to break his arm and escape without injury?”
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“Killer Kage picked up on the fact that I was a newbie and spent the fight talking while he pushed me around. When I picked up the keyboard he got a message on his phone. I attacked when he was distracted, and accidently broke his arm.”
“How do you accidentally break someone’s arm?” Slingshot asked incredulously.
I raised my fingers to reveal the bandages. “Easily, with my power. But this happens if I’m not careful.”
“What happened after that?” Zephyr brought the conversation back around.
“After that, Killer Kage used his power to drop me to the floor below. I ran into a bathroom before he could follow me.”
Slingshot cocked her head. “Why the bathroom?”
“Because the first aid kit was there, it’s where I got the band aids and I was lucky to get even that. Anyway, when I went to leave the stairwell was covered in fucking spiders. Spinnerette found out where I was, and locked me in. Then Killer Kage walked past. He was wearing a splint and sling which looked like it was made of spider silk.”
“Racketeers working with the Rising Sun...” Zephyr muttered. She considered that for a moment, then stepped away, putting a finger to the combead in her ear. Slingshot and I were left to stand around, somewhat awkwardly.
“Orcus, the Racketeers are working with the Rising Sun. Lock and Slingshot are with me on the roof. Lock tells me he injured Killer Kage, and Spinnerette is in the building. What’s your status?”
We couldn’t hear the response.
I turned to Slingshot. She seemed on edge, like a wind up toy that had been wound up, but not released. Her posture was off. Not because her shoulders were forward or that she was slouching. Her posture was literally off. Slingshot was leaning backwards far enough that she should have fallen on her bum, but unseen forces kept her upright.
She a flier, it made sense she could do that, but why?
“So Slingshot,” I started, wincing at my spectacularly awkward attempt at starting a conversation. “We haven’t talked much yet. What do you do?”
Slingshot looked at me, startled. She tipped forward a fraction without moving her legs. “Me? Oh, not much. At least not compared to the other guys, and apparently not you either.”
“I have the power of telekinesis over things I’m touching.” I explained, thinking she might open up if I established some rapport. “Strong, I guess. But very short range.”
“Strong enough to break someone’s arm.” Slingshot murmured. She sounded scared. Had I scared her?
“Yeah, but it hit me as well.” I showed her my bandaged fingers again. “I was holding a keyboard, and gave it enough force to send a filing cabinet flying. It worked fine as an attack, but giving something that much force gives it a proportional amount of speed. The thing ripped its way out of my fingers, much to my bloody chagrin.”
“Wait, so you threw the keyboard hard enough to break his arm, but not your fingers. Shouldn’t all of your fingers be broken?”
I rubbed my index finger and thumb together. Looking down to contain the joy of having someone worry about me. “No, I was probably just not holding it that hard. I got off lucky. Anyway, we were talking about you.”
Slingshot briefly lifted off the ground and stood straight. “Right, uh, so I’m a telekinetic, just like you. Except I don’t have to touch things to use my power.”
A nearby piece of concrete debris floated upwards, slowly rotating, shedding the snow still on it.. “Then there’s what happens when I release it. It’s based off of how far I move it, and how much force I’m putting into it before I let it go. But yeah, it’s something.”
“You’re beating around the bush.” I said, not that it was useless information.
“Right.” The debris shot downwards and shattered against the floor with a loud crash. Zephyr shot a warning glance our way. “Yip, so whenever I move something it moves back to where it started.”
It took me a moment to figure out something to say. “That’s strange. But it’s a power.”
“You aren’t wrong. It’s just that I keep forgetting about the slingshot effect, though, so things keep jumping out of my hands when I use my power to pick things up. You know the feeling, you just had a keyboard rip itself out of your hands.”
“No. I mean, yes. I really do.” I took a breath as I filed away where Slingshot’s name got its origin. One of my band aids was damp and almost completely red. It was distracting, but gave me some clarity. “I was going to suggest using your power the other way around. Y’know, use your power to slingshot things into your hand.”
Slingshot sighed. “Well, I’ve tried that. The problem is that I can’t aim well when shooting things towards me. It’s much easier when I’m using my power to propel things away”
I was a little sad that my suggestion has so quickly waived. “Do you keep track of the origin point?”
“Yes. But vaguely. Veery vaguely.”
“You two focus now.” Zephyr interrupted us. “Boss and Queue are on the third floor, and Yearn is moving up in the building towards where Orcus, Satellite, Muffle, and Snowflake are. Our teammates are currently engaging some members of the Racketeers and Rising Sun. We’re to be on the lookout for the remaining Racketeers and Handiemen. Our objective is to reinforce our teammates before they get away. Is that understood?”
“Yip.” Slingshot stood too straight. Her heels weren’t on the ground.
I glanced at them, distracted. “Yes.”
“Are you aware of the potential dangers the Handiemen represent?” Zephyr checked.
“Yip.”
“I am.”
“Good.” Zephyr’s limbs transformed into her tornadoes. “Keep up.”
Zephyr darted into the inexplicable staircase, flying low to the ground and kicking the slush to either side as she did so.
Slingshot gave me a glance as she rose into the air and followed after Zephyr, moving much more carefully than the living hurricane. I sighed, I was the only earthbound one of these three. Keeping up was going to be a hassle.
~~~
“What happened here?” Zephyr curtly asked as I reached the landing where she and Slingshot were standing.
A door had been blown off its hinges and there were dozens of spider corpses scattered across the floor. The little corpses were still glowing, giving the scene a somewhat serene feeling. Then there were the splattered taser spiders.
“That it where Spinnerette locked me in.” I pointed at the empty door frame.
Slingshot literally drifted over to said frame. “Wait, if you were locked in here and broke the door off its hinges, wouldn’t you have broken the door frame where the hinge bit was?” She was pointing at where the damage should be.
“Look, it wasn’t a literal lock. She covered the door in spiders, like, a swarm of them.” I wondered if that was what a group of spiders was called. “See the larger yellow ones? Spinnerette left them behind to attack me if I tried to leave.”
Zephyr nodded. “Given the shock that particular breed can give, I understand the apprehension that situation could make.”
“Yeah, I found out the hard way.”
“You were hit?” Zephyr checked. I nodded. “I’m surprised you’re still walking. Those were designed expressly for the purpose of incapacitating Orcus, as I understand it. The shock they deliver is twice as powerful as a standard taser.”
Slingshot stared at me. I could tell even with the aviators. Wait, wouldn’t she be practically blind in this light? I lingered on the thought and eventually realised she was still staring at me. I blushed hard, thankful that no one could see it, and remembered that Zephyr was talking to me.
“It was on my shin, on top of the armour I picked up from the adept labs.” I pointed, realising there were burn marks. “It’s clearly an insulator. This isn’t the first time I’ve been hit by them either. These things are the ones that got Lucidity and me when they were in the SRT.”
“I remember.” Slingshot murmured. That was strange, I didn’t remember interacting with Slingshot much that day. Arrgh, I was getting distracted again.
An explosion went off somewhere nearby, shaking the staircase. Zephyr looked down the staircase.
Her hand went to her ear. “Lucidity, can you give me an update?”
Slingshot and I glanced around the scene while Zephyr waited for the reply. I crouched down next to the door. Some of the spiders were still in the position Spinnerette had put them in A closer inspection revealed they were still alive and… eating? Slingshot drifted up towards the ceiling and looked down from there. It made her seem weirdly detached. I had a feeling that was going to get on my nerves if she kept doing it.
“Thank you Lucidity.” Zephyr turned to us, rolling her eyes when she saw where Slingshot was. “Boss and Queue haven’t moved. If they’re meeting anyone, they’ll be meeting them there. Yearn and some of our teammates are on the fifth floor, and there’s another fight happening on the seventh. Let’s move.”
Zephyr repeated the motions of transforming her limbs, then flew down the staircase. Slingshot followed. I sighed and hastily descended the stairs. On the next landing was a number telling me it was the ninth floor. I registered it and kept going, mentally sighing when I heard a door slam two floors below. The two of them were flyers and I wasn't. How the hell was I supposed to keep up?
When I was on the last flight of stairs, Zephyr’s modified voice yelled from the next room. “You!”
I pushed the slightly ajar door open the rest of the way and beheld the scene before me. What had probably been a typical open office plan had been entirely altered. Thin walls of concrete had been erected in places, as well as walls of wood where desks might’ve been before. A fair number of them were in ruins. In addition to these were much thinner walls made of white paper. Every one of those, however, had been torn or broken in some way. Since they’d been attached to the ceiling, at least two dozen banners of tattered paper blew in the wind.
The windows weren’t open, though some had been cracked. The wind came from Zephyr, who was staring at a teenage man who didn’t seem much older than me leaning nonchalantly against a nearby wall. He just wore his clothes, which consisted of a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a jacket, not unlike what I was wearing sans the armour. He was wearing swimming goggles and a cap to hide his identity while still remaining casual. In his hand he was nonchalantly wielding a black glass trident, but because he was holding it at one end the balance of it was totally off. The fact that he was holding it with the prongs towards him was disconcerting.
The teenager was to my right, and Zephyr was a few metres in front of me, while Slingshot had lifted a ceiling tile and flown into the space above. I saw her boots vanish.
The teenager with the trident was talking when I entered. “-ey, I’m not that scary. Flying into the ceiling is uncalled for.” He flipped the trident, catching the other end as he pouted. Given his attitude and that fact that his mask was comprised goggles. He clearly wasn’t taking this too seriously.
He continued. “And Zephyr, I have to say, congratulations on getting another flier. Now you can leave the task of chasing Jagmikh to someone else. You must be feeling a hurricane of positivity right now.” He slapped his leg, cracking up.
Zephyr was suddenly no longer there as the sound of compressed air being released blasted into the room. She had crossed the space between her and the teenager in the blink of an eye and I caught her delivering a blow to his face before rushing wind forced me to blink.
When I was able to actually focus on what I saw, I registered how completely unfazed the villain was. He adjusted where he was holding his trident so Zephyr wasn’t in the way, then flipped it again. The guy had weathered Zephyr’s blow and hadn’t been hit back at all, nor had he cared. It was disconcerting how little his reaction had been, and Zephyr’s fist was still against his face.
No. It was in his face.
I reflexively stepped back. The teenager turned to me when I moved and gave a predator’s grin, Zephyr’s hand now going into one of his eyes. I knew who this was. The scandal he had been at the centre of meant few people in Graceland didn’t.
This was Waterlad, a Racketeer, and a former member of the St Shane Sentry. His eyes- no. His one goggle that wasn’t obscured by Zephyr met my eyes.
“New meat huh?”