Ever since coming to this new world, Lightforge had learned a lot. Things about the world, about himself, and about other people. He liked that; he enjoyed the thought that he was continuing to grow even through the trials and challenges that now made up his everyday life. And tonight he’d learned something new about himself.
He hated flying. Airplanes and helicopters were fine, just another form of transport like cars. His problem came from flying through the air unaided while being carried by a cackling madwoman. That was the kind of flying that he hated.
At some point, Sunbird had decided that their trek through the city wasn’t progressing quickly enough. Without so much as a word of warning, she’d scooped up her two companions and gone shooting through the sky, cackling.
It wasn’t until they’d neared the battlefield that she’d quieted down and proceeded with at least a little bit of wariness. Incidentally, that was also when Lightforge learned that the golden glowing aura that surrounded her in flight was completely optional. She turned it off as they approached so that no one would notice in the darkness. That was new, but he didn’t pause to ask about it; he was too busy watching the scene playing out below them.
Powers of all kinds were surging around a small office building as two sides brought everything they had to bear against one another. It was the kind of display that players often thought about, but would rarely see with their own eyes. The game had always made a point to discourage excessive PVP violence, and this would definitely count.
They didn’t really have a plan, just an idea to throw themselves at the fighting. And now here they were, right in the middle of it. Sunbird’s entrance had grabbed every eye, but him and his big bag of bombs was the one holding those eyes. Or, at least it was for a few seconds. And then the villains turned to ignore the newcomers completely and get back to the fighting. Sunbird retreated high into the air to get away, taking potshots at enemies as she went.
Lightforge sighed and set the bag at his feet. While not exactly a surprising response, it was disappointing. But that was the job, and he’d brought all his cheap grenades for a very good reason. In fact, this was so unsurprising that he’d planned for it. He reached into the bag and found a pin and a long length of wire.
He pulled the pin and waited for just a second before ripping out the wire with one hand while the other heaved the bag away. It flew over the charging villains, most of whom didn’t even notice it. A few looked up when the first explosion went off, but it wasn’t particularly spectacular.
In fact, all the first grenade did was tear the bag to shreds, throwing out the rest of the bombs in all directions. The few who’d bothered to look up now watched in horror as they realized what was about to happen and tried to move out of the way. Such efforts were in vain; the crowd around them kept them in place.
Nearly two dozen grenades rained down on the unsuspecting villains and went off nearly within moments of one another. The advancing crowd found itself flung in all directions and reduced to a crumpled mess all around the battlefield. They wouldn’t die from the small explosions, but it had granted the heroes quite the reprieve.
Lightforge checked the long wire in his hand. He was relieved to find that there weren’t any leftover grenades hanging from its length, just the pins that he’d ripped out all at once. He tossed it aside and reached into his inventory. While that bag had held all of his remaining grenades, that didn’t mean that he was done. He still had plenty of batteries available to him, after all.
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While Cannoneer was surprised by the sudden intervention, Aquamarine was absolutely dumbfounded. They stood side by side, staring at the villains as they were tossed around and sent into complete disarray. The water hero turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Was that a Firefly reference? Who is that?”
“Oh, crap. You get the reference? They’re never going to let me live this down. Those are my friends.”
“Well, I’ll happily take the help. And how did they just do that?”
“The guy over on the building is Lightforge. He’s a gadgeteer, and apparently he’s been working on bombs.”
A new, chipper voice came from behind them and said, “Hell yeah. He’s been busy.”
The pair of heroes whirled around and found Sunbird grinning at them with Gray Guardian off to one side looking unsteady on their feet. Cannoneer rolled his eyes and smiled at the pair.
“Good to see you two. Do you have any more brilliant plans?”
Sunbird doubled over laughing and came back up with tears in her eyes.
“Plan? No. Dropping bombs and [BLEEPING] [BLEEP] up was about the extent of it.”
“Of course it was. Does Lightforge even have any more bombs?”
“Honestly? No idea. He just said to leave him there for now.”
Cannoneer resisted the urge to sigh and turned to look back at his gadgeteer friend. The roof that the man was hiding on was a little lower, so he could see Lightforge crouching behind cover, glowing objects shining all around him. It was hard to tell at a distance, but it looked like he was crafting something in the middle of the fight.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
That was proven correct when there was a flash of blue light and the gadgeteer took the item from in front of him and casually tossed it over his shoulder. It flew over the side of the building and landed somewhere in the battlefield below. It bounced around a couple of times and then exploded, blowing another hole in the ranks of villains.
Cannoneer shook his head at the sight. What on earth was that man thinking?
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Lightforge was happily whistling to himself as he tossed a grenade over his shoulder and immediately set to work making another one. There was no good reason why he should be enjoying himself so much, but there was something oddly peaceful about the repetitive task, even with the chaos going on below him.
Somehow he could still hear the soft footsteps as they approached him across the roof. He looked up while his hands continued to move, building grenades and prepping them to throw. And, of course, he found himself looking at Circe as she approached him. She looked completely untouched by the battle going on below him.
He grinned at her and said, “Well look who’s here. Which side are you on?”
She raised an eyebrow at him, letting her eyes wander to his hands as he continued to make bombs while looking at her.
“You should know better. I’m on my side. Which usually means your side, to be fair.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear. Are you going to help?”
“I wouldn’t have come if that wasn’t the plan. Now how about you leave the grenades with me and get up close and personal? After all, that hammer of yours isn’t just for show.”
“Not likely. I’d prefer not to be the only target running around on the ground with all the bad guys.”
“You won’t be. Trust me.”
They shared a look and sentiments passed between them in silence. They both knew that was a bad idea, but it was also the only idea they had. Casually tossing grenades off a roof would only be effective for so long.
He didn’t like it, but he nodded. He threw together a few more grenades and stood, lowering his goggles into place as he did. He looked out over the battlefield and saw blurbs of information popping up all across his vision. He conjured his hammer and shield and scanned the ground below for low level targets.
There were a fair number to choose from, and most of them were in the back. That was lucky, as was the fact that most people had stopped looking in his direction at all. The lone bomber on a rooftop wasn’t as high a priority as the building full of quickly tiring targets. If there was a time to act, it was definitely now.
He got a running start and leapt off the rooftop, aiming for one of the low level villains below him. His hammer came down with the full force of his fall behind it. The poor sap was slammed into the pavement and crumpled like paper from the impact. He didn’t pause to check on them, he just raised the hammer and charged at the next target.
Villains turned to face him, but they flinched back as a dozen grenades flew through the air above him. They fell among the villains but only one exploded. The rest simply evaporated into mist and vanished. Ah, that’s why she’d wanted to throw the bombs. Enemies still flinched as the illusory weapons dropped on them, leaving openings for him to exploit.
He whooped and charged, putting all of his weight behind a blow that threw a villain into a wall. He swung again and again, but they were already getting wise to his direct assault. Powers were charging up all around him, and it wouldn’t be long before he was overwhelmed.
There was a flash of light and something crashed into the nearest group of enemies from above. Three figures rolled away from the impact, each one coming up ready to fight. Sunbird shot back into the air and darted back and forth, sometimes shooting from range and sometimes crashing into enemies instead.
Next up was Cannoneer, who leapt into the air and pointed his bazooka straight down at the ground. A powerful explosion sent him flying upward, but not as high as other times he’d used the ability. His short arc carried him over the crowd just far enough to use it again. He bounded around the battlefield, using his weapon as the world’s most insane pogo stick.
The final person to come with them wore long, flowing robes. But they weren’t gray, instead decorated in shades of white and blue. Her eyes flashed and she was followed by a pair of iridescent blue fish that swam through the air beside her. She waved her arms and water appeared from nowhere, shooting out at the villains and knocking them backward with the water pressure. The fish shot through the air, following the sprays of water and causing the attacks to hit an extra time or two.
Just like that, there was a whole little squad of people fighting the villains from behind. Cannoneer finished his jumping around and landed beside Lightforge, who was still laying into people all around him with his hammer. The gadgeteer grinned wildly at his friend.
“Hey there! Thanks for coming to help me.”
“You’re an idiot. Why did you attack alone?”
“Be fair, I had a little backup. Circe’s on the roof.”
“I know that, and she doesn’t count. She’s staying away from all this.”
“Yeah, well, where’s Gray?”
“Healing heroes in that building over there. Why? Are you hurt?”
“No, just making a point. They’re staying where they’re most useful, and so is Circe. Besides, if she were down here you’d be expecting her to stab us in the back.”
“Only because she will sooner or later.”
“Well I’m betting on “later”. We need the help, and she doesn’t seem interested in helping the villains at all.”
Cannoneer only grunted in reply and the two went back to fighting. Even with the villains suddenly under attack from both sides, the heroes were outnumbered. At least at first.
It happened so slowly that it was hard to notice at first. Lightforge didn’t realize what was going on until he saw it with his own eyes. A pair of villains who had been fighting took a few steps away from the fray and slipped away into an alleyway. They weren’t the first nor the last.
When the battlefield at large realized what was happening, the rush truly began. The villains fully abandoned their mob and scattered in all directions. The heroes let them go, too tired to risk another confrontation or a full chase through the streets. People had fallen on both sides, but both were mostly whole. There would be more fighting later, and everyone knew it. But for now, it was over.
Lightforge heaved a huge sigh of relief. In the heat of the moment he’d forgotten the tension that had been hanging over him since arriving in this world. For a few moments, this had felt like a game again. A crazy, chaotic melee that he’d experienced in one of the game’s larger events. He’d relaxed and done things that he now realized were phenomenally stupid. But he was alive, as were his friends. Right now, that was enough.