Battle had come to the streets of Chancery Hills, but it wasn’t the same everywhere. There were whole sections that were completely untouched, and some with nothing worse than some mild vandalism. Neither could be said of the block where Cannoneer found himself. He couldn’t so much as peek outside without someone taking a shot at him. And he was one of the lucky ones.

Well, “lucky” was a relative term. He’d had the good fortune to meet up with other heroes who’d been forming an ad-hoc base of operations. That was where he found himself now, inside what was supposed to be a small office building. And it probably would be that again, but not tonight.

The sun was fully set, and the darkness only added to the sense of dread as he looked outside. So far the villains had been focusing on ranged attacks, but that wouldn’t last now that the heroes had walls to protect themselves with.

All the same, he took a few moments to catch his breath thanks to a lull in the fighting. He accepted a cup of water from the woman that had saved him earlier. Her name was Aquamarine, and she was one of the more calm heads in the base.

“How are you holding up?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine. Just adjusting to the situation and trying to think.”

“Good, we need all the good ideas we can get. This is bad.”

“I know. How safe is this building?”

“Not very. I have my familiars scouting around, but there’s only so much they can cover on their own. So far we haven’t found anyone with scouting powers.”

“Familiars? Is that how you did the water blast?”

“Nope, that was all me. I’m doubled up, Water Manipulation and Water-type Familiars. I basically do one thing, but I’m very good at it.”

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get right now. I just make things blow up.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. Did you really think you’d get away with such flashy movements?”

He coughed and avoided answering the question. In retrospect it had been a terrible idea, to the point that he refused to call it a plan. Just a whim that he’d taken to and now deeply regretted. It had been too obvious, too eye-catching. But at least there were other problems to focus on instead of his mistake.

“How long until they send in the bruisers?”

“Not long. If with these flimsy walls we can repel most of their ranged stuff, and they know it. What I want to know is how these gangs are all working together. It’s weird.”

Cannoneer bit his lip. He’d known this was happening, but he’d thought that there was more time before they made their move. He’d been caught just as surprised as anyone else, and with the biggest questions still unanswered. He just shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’d heard rumors, but no clue who’s pulling the strings.”

“We’ll find out. We just have to survive the night first.”

“Agreed. I have some friends on their way, but I have no clue if they can even make it here.”

“Strong friends, I hope?”

“Three of them, all around level 7. One’s a healer.”

“Healer? Now that’s a welcome thought.”

Cannoneer nodded his agreement and looked around the temporary base. There were around two dozen heroes inside, and all were wounded. A handful were resting while the rest stood at the windows, trading shots with the villains and keeping an eye out for whatever came next. Gray Guardian’s talents would be invaluable in this situation.

Too bad there was no time to think wistfully of his friends right now. He had a job, even if no one had asked him to do it. He loved strategy, and now was the time to show it. He needed to figure out a way to take the outnumbered heroes around him and turn them into a fighting force that could repel the villains advancing on them. And he needed to do it before–

Shouts of alarm went up and he raced to a front window to see the inevitable next phase of the battle starting. A compact, tightly muscled man was sprinting down the street towards them, a glittering energy shield deflecting the ranged attacks that tried to take him down. He ignored them, eyes set on the front wall of the building.

Cannoneer had no idea what his specific powers were, but he could tell the type. Some kind of bruiser that was planning to become a human wrecking ball. The hero raised his weapon and chose his ammunition of choice.

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The grenade contained pure concussive force. Unlike the other attacks, this one had an effect on the charging villain. Even though the shield prevented any damage, the running man was still flung backward from the impact and went crashing across the street. He would be back soon, but he hadn’t broken through a wall, so that was a win.

He tried to get a better look of what was going on outside, but he’d apparently left an impression by knocking away their wrecking ball. Every time he showed his face he was immediately the focus of all the enemies. And while that was inconvenient, it also made the enemy predictable, which he greatly appreciated. So long as he was careful, he could slowly put the pieces together from brief glimpses outside.

He was aided in his reconnaissance efforts by Aquamarine, who seemed to have taken an interest in what he was up to. Her familiars were scouting around outside as well, though their senses weren’t particularly sharp. Much of their task would come down to luck, which was in increasingly short supply.

They were on the roof, which was risky in and of itself, but a necessary one at the moment. They needed all the information they could get, even if they were in danger from enemy fliers. Aquamarine had her eyes closed, focusing her senses through her familiars outside. Cannoneer was preparing for another quick peek when her eyes snapped open.

“[BLEEP]. They’ve got reinforcements. Here they come.”

“Soak as many of them as you can. Go for coverage, not damage.”

“If you say so.”

She stood and spread her arms wide, showering the street below in an artificial rain as her familiars did the same from ground level. Cannoneer observed the situation and quietly cursed to himself. She hadn’t been kidding about the reinforcements; the villains probably outnumbered them two to one by now. And those numbers had inspired them to be bold. Eight villains were charging through the rain towards them.

He raised his bazooka to his shoulder and adjusted a few controls without looking. Concussion wasn’t going to do the trick this time; he needed speed and spread. He chose his Shockwave ammo and nearly doubled the AP cost by switching from regular grenades to the rocket-propelled kind. He couldn’t help but grin down at the advancing villains.

The very wet villains.

His grenade lit up the street, passing electricity from one villain to the next as the energy arced through the surrounding water. The other heroes in the building below him got the hint as well; his wasn’t the only electric attack to lance out, along with the other beams and ranged weapons that barked to force the advancing enemy back.

Cannoneer smiled just before something caught him in the head and made him crumple to the ground. His health dropped an alarming amount from a single attack. As if that weren’t enough, he was also greeted by a terrifying system message.

Status: Stunned

Effect: You cannot take any actions while this status is active

Duration: 5 seconds

It wouldn’t last long, but he’d been hit by a precision attack. A planned strike. He could barely even move his eyes, but it was enough to catch sight of Aquamarine out of the corner of his eye. She was still moving, but slowly and uneasily. The villains had been looking to take out any potential leaders, which meant that the previous charge had been a diversion. The real advance would be coming right then, before he could recover.

Aquamarine stumbled out of his vision, but he heard her roar with fury.

“Go to hell! Tide Break!”

Her shout was drowned out by the sudden rush of water like a waterfall coming off the front of the building. It was a powerful attack, the kind that would end an even fight if it made contact. Of course, this wasn’t an even fight. They were outnumbered and the enemy clearly had at least a couple of tricks up their sleeves.

The building shuddered as the stun effect came to an end. Cannoneer jumped to his feet and looked over the edge to see chaos playing out beneath him. A squad of villains had made it past the water and were fighting with heroes at the doors and windows. Judging by the dents in the walls they’d tried to break through, but now they were distracted by the defenders who were engaging them.

He couldn’t attack them without hitting his own people, which wasn’t worth it. He checked on the rest of the enemy and the blood drained from his face. With the defenders finally occupied with close quarters combat, the massing group of villains was finally advancing. No more sniper duels or any real tactics; they would overrun the heroes through sheer force of numbers.

He trained his weapon on the horde and launched explosives at them as quickly as he could. There were a few others doing likewise, but most were busy with the villains that were right in front of them. He took a few deep breaths and time seemed to slow down around him.

It wasn’t a Skill from the system, this was something he’d developed long before. He loosened his focus and allowed his senses to flit back and forth across the battlefield, taking in as much data as he could. His brain cranked into overdrive as he evaluated the powers and attacks flying around all over the battlefield. He didn’t know everyone’s levels, but he had rough estimates.

All together, the data told him a very simple story: it wasn’t enough. Even if every hero present could work at peak efficiency, they simply couldn’t output enough damage to stop the advancing villains. At least, not quickly enough. A few might escape, but for most it would be a hopeless situation.

He ducked beneath a lance of fire that shot towards him, breaking him from his data processing. Something needed to change soon or else they would be doomed. Maybe backup would finally arrive? But when?

He got his answer a few moments later. A golden glow covered the battlefield as a shining figure descended like a meteor. Coated in raw energy, Sunbird crashed headlong into the ground among the advancing villains. She screamed at the top of her lungs as the impact cracked the pavement and sent a few villains flying backward.

“Sup, [BLEEPS]! Looks like we’re just in time. You know what that makes us?”

More glows appeared on a building behind the villains. Gray Guardian and Lightforge stood there, their own energy shining brightly in the dark streets. Lightforge was wearing a huge smile and he held what looked to be a mesh bag full of grenades in one hand. He shouted back into the quiet that had followed the impact.

“Big damn heroes.”

Cannoneer couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the display. He didn’t recognize the call and response, but he knew a reference when he heard one. Eventually they’d give him hell for not getting it, but he didn’t care about that. For the moment he couldn’t stop smiling.

The cavalry had arrived.