Lightforge was running for his life. It was, unfortunately, not that new of an experience. In fact, the newest part about it was the fact that he’d successfully made it more than a handful of steps. This was officially his best attempt at running away so far. He usually wound up fighting in these situations, but that would be a very bad idea.
His pursuers were a group of villains, unsurprisingly. While he existed in a gray region of the moral spectrum, he was definitely on the lighter end of it. Where possible he would fight on the side of heroes, and this was one of the cases where it was coming back to bite him.
Aside from an Aura Manipulator, he didn’t know any of their powers. They had all stayed on the ground so far, so that was a good sign. He’d taken enough glances over his shoulder to figure out that there were four of them; he’d already taken out their fifth member, Snipe. Their powers and levels almost wouldn’t matter; those were not the kind of odds that he could face with any form of confidence
His heart pounded as he darted through alleys and streets of Decker Row. Out in open streets he could try to use the Distress Call, but he didn’t bother. The entire area was controlled by villains, so it would be more likely to make him a bigger target. Better to run until he either had to fight or managed to escape.
The apparent lack of movement-based powers was heartening, as it meant that he might actually have a chance. Even better that none of them seemed able to fly, which gave him an idea. It might get him killed, but so would doing nothing. As far as he was concerned it was better to die while pulling out all the stops.
He turned down an alleyway and launched himself at the wall, calling on his new cleats as he did so. Chunks of concrete and brick went flying as his spikes dug into the wall and allowed him to defy gravity. He sprinted along the wall for a few steps and leapt to a nearby fire escape. The metal rang beneath his feet and he heard the villains chasing behind him curse.
He didn’t pause to look back and went charging up the narrow steps as quickly as he could. While his little stunt had surely surprised his pursuers, it wouldn’t last. At the very least the aura manipulator would be able to make the leap to the fire escape, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the others could manage it eventually.
He only stopped when he reached the roof. As soon as he cleared the ladder he whirled around and brought his hammer down, smashing at the ladder until it wrenched loose from its mountings and started to lean away from the roof. Good, but not good enough. He continued beating on the ladder, the metal ringing and groaning under the force of each impact. Finally it gave way, breaking loose at the bottom and falling off the side of the building.
That would hold them off a little longer, but he still needed to move fast. He turned to sprint across the roof, but the air in front of him was twisting in on itself as sparks of blue and orange and purple rippled across the distortion. It only lasted a moment before it vanished, replaced with a woman from the group of villains. Lightforge’s jaw dropped open, and he couldn’t help himself.
“Why did a teleporter let me run for it?”
She raised a hand and motes of fire shot from her fingertips. Lightforge dove to the side to avoid it and rolled, coming up with a dagger in hand that he hurled at her. She vanished in an eruption of sparks and he sprinted away. The fireball that passed behind him was enough to demonstrate that she was using a time-honored strategy for teleporters: always be where your enemy doesn’t want you to be.
The woman launched more fireballs, cackling with glee as he threw himself around the roof to avoid them.
“I wasn’t confident I could take you on my own, especially if you took out Snipe. But all I see is a coward running for his life!”
That was annoying, and it was a lie. At the very least it wasn’t the whole truth. While she was feeling confident, she wasn’t there to actually put him down. She was just stalling him, preventing him from running away and making good his escape. Giving her team time to catch up.
Running away sucked, but it would suck a lot worse while on fire. It didn’t help that teleporters were almost impossible to hit without an enormous amount of luck. They would teleport after every attack, constantly moving to stay as elusive as possible. Except that this woman hadn’t done that. She was only teleporting every three or four fireballs. It could be that she was just inexperienced, but maybe…
Lightforge focused on his goggles, mentally commanding the sensors to activate. It took them only a moment to identify the woman.
Name: Hotspot; Type: Player; Level: 2-6
She was low level, even compared to himself. Even her short range teleport probably had a cooldown of at least five or ten seconds, which would nicely explain her limited mobility. During those windows she would be vulnerable with only her fire powers to protect her. Hopefully they wouldn’t be enough.
He stopped running and focused on pushing energy into his shield emitter. His glowing shield of light expanded to cover a respectable portion of his body and he charged forward. Hotspot’s eyes went wide as he suddenly brought the fight to her. In reality he took only two steps at full speed before starting to slow himself. It was enough.
She teleported again, but this time he was ready and waiting for it. He whirled to look around for the telltale disturbance in the air, spotting it just as she reappeared. He sprinted forward, shield raised as he barreled towards her. She swore and tried to hit him with fireballs, but they were too weak. She was simply below his level.
With his new and improved shield in front of him, ran through the oncoming fireballs. They ricocheted off harmlessly, bouncing away in all directions. He closed the distance and slammed the shield into her stomach. The impact should have sent her flying, which it did, but only for a moment. Before she even hit the ground the air rippled and she vanished. But that was wrong; he’d timed her short range teleport and it should still be on cooldown.
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Unless she was using a different ability. Lightforge pulled grenades from his inventory and dropped them where she’d left from. Then he turned and sprinted across the rooftop. He leaped across to the next building before turning back to see her reappear from where she’d left. This time she’d brought another member of her team with her. It was a different man than he’d fought before, so he once again had no idea what powers he was up against.
That was starting to get incredibly annoying, but at least he had a surprise of his own this time. As soon as they appeared he stabbed a glowing dagger into another grenade and immediately sent it flying towards the pair. Stabbing was generally a very bad thing to do to a grenade, but he didn’t trust himself to throw accurately enough.
The now-explosive knife flew true, landing at the villains’ feet just a moment before it blew up. That explosion triggered the rest of the grenades, creating an impressive wave of force and shrapnel that tore through the pair. For good measure Lightforge summoned another pair of daggers and sent them streaking into the debris where the villains had been standing.
There were a pair of thuds, and when the smoke cleared both villains had fallen. The teleporter had fallen from the explosions alone, while her companion had a glowing dagger sticking from one shoulder. He was still ready to fight, with his hands quickly morphing into claws and fangs growing in his mouth.
It wasn’t fast enough, and the man wasn’t tough enough. A series of hammer blows had him unconscious, and the world turned upside down. For weeks, Lightforge had been running and struggling, terrified of what might lay around every corner. And while he was still weak, there were now plenty of people lower down the totem pole than him. At least for this area, he was on the upper end of the power scale. It was time to act like it.
He strode back to where the ladder had been and looked over at the ground below. The aura manipulator was scrambling up the fire escape, energy already focusing around their legs as they climbed. A thought occurred to Lightforge as he focused on the man and let his goggles do their work this time.
Name: Master Flow; Type: Player; Level: 3 - 8
The man continued to not make sense. His powers and name leaned toward a martial arts aesthetic, but he was wearing futuristic looking robotic armor. It was definitely odd, but it might also open an opportunity. The armor certainly looked mechanical and robotic, but would the system classify it that way? There was only one way to find out.
Master Flow reached the ruined ladder at the top of the fire escape and crouched down, ready to leap up into the air. Lightforge extended his hammer into its flail mode and carefully began judging the timing. He would need to be nearly perfect to get the full effect out of this idea.
The aura manipulator jumped more than ten feet straight up in a perfect arc to land on the roof. As he came into view above the lip, Lightforge was already moving. The hammer head whipped up and forward, crashing into the man’s chest at full force. In fact, it was even more than full force, and the gadgeteer couldn’t help himself.
“Sabotage Shatter Blow!”
He could feel it when both abilities activated, each one boosting the power of the other. The villain’s eyes went wide for just a moment. Unlike the first time, this attack wasn’t intercepted by his aura. He was shot back across the alleyway, sent crashing into the other wall before tumbling all the way down to the ground.
Lightforge watched him fall with a grin. He heaved the other two unconscious villains to the edge of the roof and tipped them off as well. While fall damage was certainly a thing, it was more annoying than dangerous at this height. He was so confident at this point that he followed the villains over the side, dropping to the ground behind them.
At the last moment he activated the full power mode of his shield. A bubble of light flashed into existence around him for a single instant just as he crashed to the ground. The impact shattered the shield, which was just as well since the stunt had cost him almost all of his remaining AP. But the effect was worth it since it put him right in front of the single remaining villain on the team.
She was a young woman who looked to be wearing ordinary street clothes. He almost wondered if she might be an NPC, but there was a certain cut and style to the clothes that spoke to something more. It wasn’t the common style for superheroes, but there were a few with more lowkey outfits. Apparently she fit into that mold.
At that moment, she looked torn between running and begging for her life. Or at least, that’s what he’d expected. And it was there, just not for long. After only a moment the shock was replaced with steely resolve and she openly began to glare at him. She was tough, which had the odd effect of draining the fight right out of him. Instead of attacking, he grinned.
“You’ve got an interesting team here. Too bad you picked the wrong enemy.”
“You attacked us first,” she hissed, “You blindsided Snipe before we even realized what was happening!”
“I might have gone easier on him, but he decided to break my equipment. I’m a gadgeteer, and I’m very protective of my creations.”
“Yeah right. You’re just a thug who goes around picking on those weaker than you.”
“No. I was just out and about on a field test, that’s all. After all, powers are all well and good, but the right equipment can change everything.”
“You can’t be serious. You’re going for a sales pitch? Right now?”
“Why not? You had me outnumbered four to one, and here we stand. The only reason your friends aren’t being arrested right now is because I don’t feel like calling the cops.”
“So what’s your deal? You’re a crooked hero or something?”
“Let’s go with ‘or something.’ They call me the Forgeman. Ask around, then come find me when you want to be on the other side of fights like these.”
“Go to hell.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll go. But my offer’s open, so talk it over. I’d hate for your little team here to waste your potential.”
He turned and walked away, leaving the woman to tend to her battered and bruised companions. It was a pretty decent exit, if he did say so himself. More importantly, he’d turned away before his hands started shaking.
He hurried away to hide his reactions as he finally came down from his endorphin high. All of that had been incredibly stupid, but it had worked. He’d fought back four people at a time, all on the back of his equipment. It had truly made the difference between winning and losing, and he hoped that the villains would see that too.
Generally speaking, he didn’t think that brutal beatdowns would be an effective method of advertising, but this might be an exception. At low levels there was so little control to be had over the situation that it was almost maddening. Anything that could give any sort of advantage would be an absolute godsend. He knew it, and the villains knew it.
It was time to go back to the shop. His gear needed repairs, and he’d found a whole slew of problems and weaknesses that he needed to cover before the next time he ventured out. He was quickly realizing that his own equipment would never truly be finished. There would always be some weakness to overcome.
But now that he’d seen what he could do, he welcomed the challenge.