He could feel his strength potions starting to run out, and his pool of power as well. It was pretty clear to everyone that mana or a fatigue meter was not a thing. People just had a limit of power, and Destro’s was starting to run low. This thought came and went as he started to come down on Paul. With Travis out, this would be a near-fatal blow for this faction. Destro could feel it—the sense of triumph.
No, it's not just you; he celebrates too early. Everyone tells him that, well, anyone brave enough from his camp to criticize the leader.
All of a sudden, as the thrill of victory had begun to hit him, so did a massive wall of fire. Not just a flame similar to putting a couple of lighters in front of an aerosol can; no, Clyde had used whatever well of power he had and blew it through his hand and at the falling Destro. His skin was affected by the advanced potion he took, but being strong is one thing; being fireproof is another. He felt every inch of that flame, which caused him to hold his axe up to block what he could from engulfing his face.
This gave Paul a chance to shake off whatever was keeping him down. In the NPC fight, the married couple was showing their training against what was essentially chaff. Patrick had taken a slice to the calf and stomach, not bad enough to kill him, but he was down. Wendy and Trevor, however, had danced around like an ice dancing couple as they cut up the other three bad guys, eventually killing or driving them off.
Destro used the last burst of his inner strength and the potion to do a backflip, which took him out of the fray. When this was all said and done, Paul would implement aerobatic and parkour training into his regiment, the bad guy showing how impactful it could be in a fight.
The other two PCs joined their leader about 10 feet from the back of the main building. Across stood Paul, Clyde, Trevor, and Wendy. Two PCs and two NPCs vs three PCs could be an even fight. Except Destro had brought and planned to use every possible boost his faction owned.
The sacrifice of their magic enhancements was well worth it when taking the HQ was in the cards. Now it seemed more a fight for survival, although if they killed these four here and now, a total victory might still be possible.
Wait, where was the MC?
Travis had come to half a minute ago; not much time had passed really since the fight began. He was in bad shape, being thrown with enough force to knock him out, if only for a few minutes. He looked on to try and take everything in. The two sides were squared up, getting ready to fight. Javier had finally left his tower and was coming down to assist his people. Sophie had the door barred, but he could almost feel her turmoil.
Travis saw the enemy leader whisper something to his lackeys. Right after they came forward and went right at the other group. These men wielded short swords and looked to have some skill with them.
Destro leaned in and told his people what the plan was. They would go and engage the other side while he went invisible. He'd find a spot to read a scroll and come back ready to kill everyone. The scroll he had in mind was called ‘Magneto's Secret’.
The issue for him was that it took a little while to read, and he had to use an identity scroll first since his intelligence was not high enough. As he contemplated that, he reached for another potion and had another thought. He was draining his stockpile dry; this better all lead to a win. The potion he had grabbed was a magic booster of sorts. He drained it then hit his invisibility spell, disappearing for what would amount to much more than 10 seconds.
Wendy and Trevor had put too much into their quick victory over the chaff. They went at the two enemy PCs with gusto but were quickly on the backfoot. Clyde was busy looking for Destro with his heat vision, and Paul was on the lookout for an opportunity. He got one as Trevor took a cut across the face; the moment that happened, Wendy lost focus and was open to a killing blow.
Lucky for her, Paul was in there in an instance, blocking then pushing back the other assailant. He had two of them on him but with his dual daggers Paul fought like a dervish. It was a near run thing, but he was fighting for the life of this faction.
The faster of the two bad guys came in with a slice to his left leg which Paul jumped over; that set up the bigger of the two for a blow to Paul's chest as he came down. Except as Paul was in the air, he pulled a throwing dart from his chest and threw it at the one about to impale him. The dart flew true and hit the big man in the neck.
He stopped his swing to grab it and threw it to the floor with disdain. When he grabbed the end, though, he activated a trap in the dart. The pressure on the end detached the pointy part and shot it another couple of inches into the man's neck. Paul followed up with a punch to that exact spot, knocking the man to the ground in agony.
His partner didn't lose a beat though, and he was coming in for a killing blow as Paul punched the other guy. Finally, a hole opened up for Javier, and he put an arrow into the back of the other man's head, felling him and ending the threat of the two skilled enemy operatives.
Destro was on top of the main building behind a rise in the roof when his invisibility finally ran out. He was covered from Clyde's spell and from other prying eyes. Finally, as his last man was being killed, he finished reading the scroll. He now had the secret power of Magneto; and he could feel his connection to metal in the core of his body.
Travis, who had been quiet since getting his ass thrown across the field, came walking out of the main base, Sophie wishing him good luck patting him on the back. In the chaos and confusion, he had helped her father inside, but that was just a small part of why he wanted to go in.
See, Travis had an upgraded primary weapon scroll that he got for bringing new people into the base. Like many of his upgrades, he held out, not sure which way he wanted to go. Clyde had kind of psyched him out on the idea of ‘build’ and ‘power leveling’. There was his sword, which he had become decent with, and he figured if that was his primary, he could still use his gun as a ranged secondary weapon. But people told him that was silly since a working hand gun was one of the most powerful items in the new world.
Travis was firm, just and led his people well. Yet he had been hesitant in certain areas. Obviously in his hesitance to fire a killing blow into fellow humans, but also in advancing his abilities. He showed the same reluctance when it came to upgrading his stuff, or doling out certain items the chest offered.
He was struggling with some stuff, deep down, but he was supposed to be above that. Not to say struggling meant there was something wrong with you or that you were weak, not at all. Though for him, Major fucking Porter, faction leader, and main character, he needed to be above it.
Or did he? Sophie in their one conversation about it had said that's what was holding him back, his drive to be above any type of weakness or vulnerability. Nobody was, and the quicker he accepted that, the quicker he could be the fearless leader they needed him to be.
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As he walked out of his HQ, he hoped he wasn't too late, but this needed to be done. He had upgraded his trusty Beretta M9 sidearm. Now he had three clips listed on his journal: hollow point, armor-piercing, and bunker buster. Plus, he didn't think he needed ammo anymore. As he was thinking about that, he heard a menacing voice.
“You silly peasants thought you were going to win, didn't you? That was before you understood what real power was,” Destro screamed from the top of the building. As he did, he lifted his hands, and a pile of scrap metal that was on the ground rose in the air towards him. Good thing because Javy fired a volley of arrows at him, all knocked back by a different piece of metal that Destro was controlling. He then jerked his hand, and two huge pieces flew at Javier, smacking him in the head and knocking him down.
Paul ran around a few small wood buildings, trying to get to the backside of the main structure. If he could behind this clown as he was distracted playing the evil comic book character, this would finally be over. Destro had other ideas though, he followed him from the pulse of the metal he was wearing. Destro thought about using the man's own daggers but then felt the aura of something that would do the job just as good.
As Paul turned the last corner thinking he was unseen and close to his prey the short swords dropped by the dead fighters came around the corner same as him. He dogged them at first but couldn't outrun science mixed with magic. Manipulating the magnetic fields drove one sword to hit him in the lower back, but was mostly repelled by the thick leather armor Paul wore under his cloths. The second one though had no problems as it plunged into his upper thigh, knocking Paul to the ground and out of the fight for good.
Thats when Travis ran out, telling everyone else to retreat inside the wooden buildings. He had his hollow point clip in but only had to think for a second to change to something else. He fired five shots up at the wannabe Magneto. They were blocked, but that was just to cover the withdrawal of his teammates. Destro tried to yank the metal gun out of Travis's hands, but he could not; for whatever reason, it stayed in Travis’s hands. He fired a few more times as he ran behind the wooden structures.
Destro jumped down and sent his senses out, feeling for metal. He wanted something big to go crashing through the wood to crush the pesky MC once and for all. Travis could feel his senses; this was not the first time it had happened, but now was like the full effect. He knew that Destro was seeking out large pieces of metal. His mind raced as he tried to think of a plan.
Meanwhile, Clyde came at the enemy leader and shot a cone of intense flame at him. Standing about 10 feet away, he pushed hard with his power and engulfed his target, only for him to pull the contraption right off of Clyde's arm with his power. He brought it towards him and then flew it back, hitting Clyde in the chest at tremendous speed. Right as he sent the metal back at Clyde,
Travis used the opening and jumped out, did a tuck and roll, and came up firing. Three of the shots hit Destro in his chest, shoulder, and arm. Before he could finish him, though, metal pieces came up, blocking the remaining bullets. Travis lowered his weapon and shot down at the feet of his enemy, but he missed. Before metal could come at him, he ducked back behind the wooden structure. He racked his mind for a way to best this guy before he got impaled by some house siding or something. Then the thought of something hit him like a barn yard door.
Travis had the biggest infinite bag of anyone that he had seen. The rule seemed to be that if you could fit it in the bag and it was solid or in something solid, you could hold it. There were weight limits, but he hadn't gotten close yet. He knew he didn't have time for this, but it was important. He pulled out his journal and checked his inventory. You had to know what you were looking for in order to get an item from the bag, well, he found it. He started late but had filled his bag with everything even slightly valuable or useful, so when he looked everything, he needed was in there. Metal would be coming to kill him at any second but he had to complete this task, so he went to work quickly.
Destro knew it was close. He had been piling metal up around him as the fight went on, and now he was ready. He used the huge amount of scrap that was around the base and raised it in the air above where Travis was. If he wanted to stay behind cover then Destro would seek him out with a rain of projectiles. He put as much power into this cloud of steel before bringing it down in a wide area, seeking out his almost defeated enemy.
Travis had just finished what he had planned when he felt the strongest sense of danger ever pervade his thoughts. He grabbed the toolbox filled with its special contents and ran away from the spot as fast as he could. He wasn't going to be fast enough.
Once he cleared the building and could see Destro he started his motion. The box was heavy but with everything he had threw it at the face of his antagonist. Right as he let go, an unknown amount of metal pieces came down on his back and legs. Travis fell forward but made sure to keep his momentum going towards the son of a bitch that started all of this. He was going to get battered but body control would be imperative.
Destro could feel the metal coming down in time to crush this ant. He felt good, powerful, victorious. In a last-ditch attempt to do something, he didn't know, the main character threw a metal box at him. This was all the best the game had to offer could muster, a METAL box, HAH.
He let the box approach to give his feeble enemy a sense of potential victory, although even if it hit him square in the face, he would have still won. He was about to let it drop in disdain when he smelled some weird chemical.
Travis lay there, face down, his legs under a bunch of heavy metal and a dozen pieces puncturing his skin. But if anyone was watching, they would have seen a man that stayed in control and ended up with his elbows down, his gun in two hands, pointing towards his enemy. With a bunker buster round chambered, Travis fired through the toolbox filled with flammable chemicals, which just happened to be a foot away from his opponent's face.
The box exploded as the bullet's charge ignited the substance. Destro was able to manage keeping the metal from the box out of his body, but not the fire or impact from the explosion. He flew back and into the building, breaking multiple ribs and causing lots of other damage. Travis lay there, and for the first time in a while, felt a sense of relief.
Aftermath
Sophie had come out with Maria and administered the needed health potions and normal medical procedures to everyone on their side. Trevor had a pretty bad cut, and Patrick was in bad shape. Everyone not a PC had normal human biology and even with potions wouldn't heal up instantly if their wounds were too bad, unless she used high end potions which she was authorized to do unless lives were on the line.
Everyone who was hurt got the attention they needed. Javier and his brother had dug a hole for the bodies of the bad guys. They stripped them of anything useful and then burnt the bodies. Oddly enough, they could not find the body of the leader. They found a mask that they think belonged to him but no sign of a body. Hmph, Javy thought, maybe it was so damaged from the explosion.
Destro crawled through the woods. He learned many things from that last unfortunate interaction with an exploding toolbox. One, he finally realized why his 12 willpower was so important. The AI at his base at told him to boost that stat whenever possible, already being near a superhuman level anymore and he could withstand almost anything mental or magical. When he was lying in his enemy's camp spamming his invisibility spell, full of burns to his face and arms plus broken ribs and other bones, his subconscious would not allow him to give up.
It wasn't his subconscious though that was getting him through. No, it was sheer will. Not just neutral will either. Destro was driven by revenge. Ever since his best friend had left him for dead inside a village in Syria, Brandon, which was his birth name, had felt a sense of rage. It was funny actually that he heard the people of this camp call the MC Travis. It was a Travis that left him abandoned. When he was finally found the loss of blood and dehydration had eaten away at his memories. The doctors said he would forget places, names and even faces. So much so that his wife couldn't handle the look of confusion he felt when he looked at her. She had left him, as his best friend did.
He didn't care that the report showed Travis as being seriously injured as well. They said he limped on one leg looking for him. That was the bullshit propaganda story told for public consumption. Bran, no Destro, gritted his teeth so hard they almost broke. He may have forgotten a lot but not the name of the so called 'brother' that abandoned him.
The next day
Travis was all healed up, and the camp was slowly healing as well. Both its people and structures. It was finally time, he had put it off long enough, he had Clyde and Sophie in tow and headed for the HQ. It was time to pick a class.