Mines, tripwires, claymores—everything dangerous that dotted the land ripped out of the ground and collided together, all swept up by Laquet’s Curse. They collided and were detonated all at once into one giant explosion. It seemed there were some sort of gas canisters included in the mix as well, a dangerous fog leaking around the area, much less affected by the gravity well’s pull.
It was something else the soldiers would need to be wary of. Hopefully their suits would also protect them from such dangers, and Jaid even donned the gas mask she’d brought with her just in case as a precaution—resting it on her face just beneath her protective visor. Such things wouldn’t bother a Fiend too much normally, but with Alk lying in wait, even the smallest infection could prove fatal.
Laquet fired off a few more shots in front of the other transports to clear the path. It wasn’t perfectly precise, so the squads would still need to proceed with caution, but it removed a bulk of the danger. And then it was only replaced with new hazards, as was to be expected of the Guerilla.
Turrets spouted from the ground all over the area—well-rooted and wouldn’t be sucked up easily. They all began firing at the transports and the few soldiers who were walking out in the open, quickly having to take cover. Jaid would have to deal with those with a more direct approach.
She dashed ahead with a line of clones, stopping just shy of one of the turrets. The knight had been swinging her sword during the entirety of the movement, cresting it further with each clone before the next was created. By the time she reached the gun, the sword was just an inch away and the momentum cleaved through the hunk of metal, slicing it cleanly in twain before it could even try to aim at her.
Then Jaid proceeded to the next turret, but it wasn’t as clean of a dash. She was just moving forward, and didn’t have much time to process her surroundings. The knight was undoubtedly triggering all sorts of traps in her wake, unable to alter course in time. But she also moved away just as quickly, able to skirt by the danger before it could take hold. Countless explosions triggered behind her as she slid across the battlefield.
Turret after turret, the knight dashed at them all as they popped up. And Laquet was making quick work of the other dangers, so it seemed like they were making a lot of progress. But there was still quite a bit of ground to cover, around a lage’s length of treachery before they’d reach the bunker. As each transport steadily pushed forward, Hickedy enclosed the perimeter behind them.
But not each Fiend was quite as useful in this situation as the others, but even they found their own unique way to help. “Chiulu, you are hogging all the fun for yourself!” Dura complained to the girl who looked like she was having the worst time ever, even without being able to see her face.
“Not. My. Choice.” The woman barely got out as she was blasted away by another explosion. Her Curse had taken hold, and now the clumsy Fiend was essentially being ragdolled from hazard to hazard. One mine would blow her into the next. Tripwires would set off chain reactions of agony. But she had no choice but to go along with it.
Her suit kept her safe, basically turning her into an automated bomb-disposal bot, and she was just along for the ride. And Dura surely understood this, but it didn’t stop him from trying to get in on the fun. The monk willfully jumped onto a landmine and let it explode beneath his feet. His shoes and garments completely covered his lower body, shielding him from all harm as he was sent flying.
And to prevent any damage to his hands and face, Dura had tucked them into the baggy clothes before detonation, like a turtle hiding in their shell. As soon as he landed, he skipped around, looking for more traps to spring, clearly having the time of his life. “Captain, this is so much fun!” he shouted at Jaid when he’d caught up to her, spiraling in the air thanks to a claymore. “You should join us!”
She’d rather not, even if she knew her armor would be fine. Having to clean the grime off of it was enough of a deterrent, but she also wasn’t dumb enough to willingly expose herself to something so dangerous, and she’d rather not have the durability of her armor weakened before they got to the real fighting.
“Silly Lesser, this fun is for Fiends!” Dura yelled at one of the soldiers who had stepped on a mine and now was frozen in fear. The monk sprinted over to him and pushed the soldier off, throwing himself over the ensuing explosion. He was sent flying into the air, laughing maniacally the whole time.
It really wasn’t a trick that the Lessers should dare recreate. The added durability to their suits could probably keep them from rupturing from an explosion or two, but it wouldn’t fully shield them from the impact damage to their bodies. And there was also a common misconception about how Dura’s Curse worked.
Many thought that it made the material stronger, nigh invincible. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If he hardened a pencil, it would still be as strong and hard as a pencil, just able to take more damage before it broke. Like with any object, the pencil’s durability would still degrade over time or with outside force. All Dura’s Curse did was move the threshold and add to the counter of its durability.
The monk could readjust and top off the durability at any time, but that meant he had to touch it again. This made his clothes, which he was always touching, conceivably undamageable unless he willfully neglected them. And while Dura had made all of the soldiers' suits durable well beyond their means, it would still run out eventually. They could take risks, but they couldn’t be careless.
Jaid had the monk top-up her clothes and armor any chance she happened upon the monk, nearly daily. It was overly cautious, especially if they hadn’t been on any dangerous missions, but being over prepared had always been in her nature.
That clumsy soldier had been the first hiccup in the mission, and the next major one happened mere moments later. One of the transports drove right over a mine. The explosion caused the vehicle to tip over onto its side, and the soldiers quickly scrambled out of it. Fortunately, the ride had been relatively undamaged and could continue once they managed to get it back on its wheels.
However, there was another complication that went flying their way. None of the Above members had yet to show their faces, and they most likely wouldn’t until the soldiers got closer to their bunker. They’d been cautious of monsters during their trip through Pimitrade, but hadn’t planned for one brazenly charging into the chaos once the mission had begun.
The buzzhound swooped down at the panicking soldiers and grabbed one with its talons. It flew up and tried to eat the soldier’s shoulder but was quickly frustrated when it was unable to pierce through the suit. So it dropped the soldier from a decent height and then began diving towards another.
That was when the Lessers on the ground opened fire. The monster weaved past most of the bullets, dodging them with grace. But a few still struck its body, doing virtually no damage against its tough hide. A few pierced holes in its wings, but the monster barely noticed, shifting feathers to correct the issue.
Buzzhounds were one of the higher ranking beasts, and it was undoubtedly the guardian monster of this territory which would explain its irrational actions. Still, it was one that the soldiers would struggle to take care of on their own, so Jaid raced towards it, already preparing to leap with a few clones and slice at it in the air.
But then something strange happened. Before she could attack, the monster reared back in pain from something else, some other source that the knight couldn’t pinpoint. The buzzhound suddenly turned around and flew away in desperation. Jaid wasn’t upset that she didn’t have to battle the beast, and hopefully it would be the last they’d see of it, but she’d have to keep her eye open until it was confirmed to be neutralized.
With the monster gone, the mission proceeded as expected without further incident, though the terrain became a bit more treacherous. Above’s bunker was actually located in the heart of a destroyed suburb where the streets had long been ruined and overgrown. Besides the traps they had to deal with, now even the plant life had become aggressive.
Several soldiers who were marching outside the transports, and even one of the vehicles were quickly bound by angry vines. It was like fighting Drim Drazah himself. But the soldiers were prepared for this since the intel of Pimitrads voracious foliage had long been known. Each of them had two canisters of fast acting herbicide that caused the vines to wither and retreat.
Plants no longer a problem, that just left several of the buildings as obstacles. A few of the streets were still drivable, but more were blocked off entirely, and some of the other transports simply didn’t have the option. So out of pure disrespect for those that had lived there before and died in the terrible tragedy, their homes were plowed right through.
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Finally, the door to the bunker came into view. The intel Drim had provided with the location was already proving invaluable. Without it, they would have had to scour the suburbs, combing every inch. Who knows how long it would have taken them, leaving them open to attack or ambush. They needed to get into that door as quickly as possible before…
Well it was too late to avoid confrontation. Vents clanged open in the ground in a radius of a few hundred feet around the door and a gas began to pour through. While it was undoubtedly one of Alk’s concoctions, it was hard to guess the effects—likely nothing too deadly merely due to the vast quantity.
Its primary purpose seemed to be obstruction. The gas shrouded the area in a thick mist, limiting visibility to just a few feet ahead of them. Jaid also noticed a slight tingling on her skin. She’d forgone using one of the protective suits since it would heavily limit her mobility, but it meant she had to be all the more careful when it came to hazards.
Her eyes started to water, impairing her vision even further, but she couldn’t show any weakness. The knight wasn’t sure that even Above knew their current locations through the thick haze, but she couldn’t show a single wince of pain in front of The Plague Doctor. Alk would exploit it without mercy.
And it wasn’t like Jaid could use her clones to escape her current predicament either. With how her own Curse worked, more clones meant more damage and susceptibility to whatever this status effect may be. She and Alk were certainly a bad match up, and hopefully one of the other Fiends would be able to deal with her.
Just as Jaid’s eyes were starting to adjust to the irritant, a scream pierced the air nearby, and then another, another, another—sounds of panic, pain, death. They were being attacked, that much was clear. She had no way of telling who needed her help, or even who was attacking them. There could only be so many suspects, and the attacker quickly made himself known.
A javelin whizzed by the knight, narrowly avoiding her neck as Jaid desperately dodged. Clearly an attack from Kalter, but it seemed she wasn’t the target because the weapon didn’t turn around once it had missed. She had just been a marker along the path to wherever its destination may be.
But it was still bad news. If the athlete could aim so precisely in the mist, it meant that he could see clearly, so they were at a one-sided disadvantage—one they needed to alleviate immediately. “Deploy two of the anti-fog machines!” Jaid ordered into her earpiece. They only had a handful of the devices, and using any increased Lieu’s chance of escape, but the lives of her men were more important.
Whirring started around them, and the mist quickly began to recede. Jaid rushed to get a bead on Kalter who was just standing right at the bunker door, ready to retreat at a moment’s notice. Lieu was just outside as well, fiddling with something on the ground. She could also now see the javelin, no, four javelins flying around and attacking the soldiers, along with a few of her men lying on the ground.
Most were merely injured, but their suits had been punctured. A few were undeniably dead. The soldiers now had more of a chance to avoid the attacks, and one of them even managed to shoot down one of the javelins, but she had to stop the massacre quickly before it got any worse.
Jaid bolted around the battlefield, chasing down one of the javelins. Eventually, she caught up and sliced it out of the air, but that gave the other two time to wreak more havoc. “Captain, Captain, I’ve got one! Come quickly!” Dura shouted to her from across the land.
She dashed over and found him doing some sort of weird jig like he was barely in control of his body. But then she realized what was going on. Dura had trapped a javelin by wrapping it in his clothes and was trying to hold onto the restless projectile. The monk let it go as soon as Jaid was close enough, she cut it down before it could speed away.
“Wuh wuh wuh wah!” There was another panicked cry nearby but unlike the others. Both the last javelin and Chiulu had been sucked into one of Laquet's gravity wells. The projectile was desperately trying to escape the unwelcomed force, but every time it got close, the puffball Fiend got in its way, stabbing fruitlessly into padding, bouncing off and sending it recoiling back to the center of the well.
Jaid didn’t want to get caught up in that situation herself to try and destroy the weapon, so instead she shifted her own into a railgun and took aim. After the javelin failed once more at trying to escape, the knight shot it with a bolt of lightning, splintering it into worthless pieces that clumped together at the center of the well.
“Anyone who’s been injured, retreat immediately! Everyone else, advance towards the bunker door!” The Captain ordered the squads.
“Good luck with that!” Lieu laughed cockily before retreating into the bunker and slamming the slab of metal shut. The mist and the javelins had all been a distraction as The Guerilla made his final preparations. Just in front of the door, two massive turrets came online and began firing immediately at anyone who was too close.
Every soldier around, Jaid included, retreated to cover. She dashed from one vantage to another, to test just how fast and responsive the turrets were. Sparks clanged off her armor just before she made it to safety. That was certainly a problem. They were too quick on the draw. There was no way she could dash at them without issue and take a swing, at least not without a few hundred holes punched through her. She also wasn’t confident that she could make a clone big enough to entirely block its vertical aim with her armor.
A shot from a nearby building was fired, and the turrets were enveloped in Laquet’s gravity well, but they didn’t budge. A few of the bullets had their trajectory swerved, but was about the extent of anything useful. “Damnit!” Laquet vented his frustration over the comms. “If I could just get a bit closer, I could wreck those things.”
“Well I’ll get you there then,” Jaid assured him and made a few more dashes over to his cover. “Stay behind me. We’ll take this as slow as we need to. Don’t try to be a hero.” She then stepped out into the fray, Laquet tailing behind in her shadow.
The turrets didn’t hesitate and opened fire, unending relentless fire. Jaid had placed the broad side of her sword in front of her and turned partially sideways to hide behind the metal. Her arms and legs were still out in the open but were protected by their own armor. She needed to allow that extra width to make sure Laquet stayed safe.
Jaid then made two more of herself on either side. They had slightly narrower waists so they could hide behind their swords more effectively. Combined, they created a wedge of safety for the man in their shadow.
The four of them pressed forward, inch by inch gaining ground. It wasn’t easy. With every step, the barrage of bullets felt like it was pushing back harder, making every movement forward heavier than the last. When they’d cleared about half the distance, Jaid felt one of the bullets graze against her waist. Fortunately, she’d been saved by her reinforced tunic, but it still stung like zjik.
“That should be far enough, hunker down!” Laquet insisted, and thank Cosmos he did. The knight only had a few more feet in her at most before she wouldn’t be able to guarantee their safety. Each Jaid slammed their swords into the ground and crouched behind it.
Laquet clutched onto her back and poked the tip of his revolver over the girl’s shoulder. He fired another shot, still just a blank, but it was what he needed to focus. The world around the turrets started to warp and compress. Compared to the first try, the gravity well’s strength was immeasurable. Almost every round that was fired now got sucked into the vacuum, congealing into one mass of metal.
Creaks echoed out from the turrets as they started to rise, uprooting from their stands that anchored them into the ground. “Just a bit more power, hold on!” Laquet strained himself and increased the gravity. The turrets started budging faster, clearly about to snap at any moment, but so were they.
Jaid desperately clung to her sword, pushing it further into the ground, as deep rooted as she could get. It got to the point that she was no longer even holding her sword, rather it was holding her back from being flung into the chaos. Finally, the turrets snapped from their bases and slammed together. Metal shredded into shards and bits, sculpting into a near perfect sphere of scrap.
Laquet released the gravity well, and the four of them slumped backwards. Only a moment’s reprieve before they had to jump back to the mission. Jaid got rid of her two copies and raced ahead to try her hand at the bunker door. Of course it wouldn’t budge, though it did seem slightly warped due to the gravitational effects. It was quite the impressive hunk of metal, and she wasn’t confident she could break through fast enough for their timetable. “Dura,” was all she needed for the monk to understand her intentions.
“Coming, Captain!” he was as chipper as ever, despite the carnage they’d just experienced, even having to skip past a few horrors lying on the ground on his way over. The monk gave the door a hearty slap and then stepped aside. “All yours!”
With one slice, Jaid cleaved through the door effortlessly and the path was open. It was time for the final part of the mission, and undoubtedly the most perilous. “Laquet and Chiulu, form up,” she called over the comms. “The four of us Fiends will enter first. No Lessers inside until we give the all-clear or request backup. In the meantime, check for any other possible exits and escape routes, reduce the perimeter as much as possible.
She then made one last call, “Tusmon, are you on your way? Tusmon? Detective Tusmon?” The detective was the sole exception to join the front lines since he was the one who had spearheaded the mission. But to not hear from him immediately was worrying. Had he been one of those killed in the mist? No, he was too stubborn to die, but Jaid couldn’t help but worry.
“Got caught up in a situation,” he responded abruptly. “Go ahead without me. I’ll catch up.”
That was still worrying, but they couldn’t delay any further. Every moment they didn’t have eyes on the Fiends, that was another chance that they could escape through some back exit. As soon as Chiulu wedged her bulky, padded figure through the door, they began descending the steps down into depths unknown.