The Gadget Forge was a busy place at the best of times, but now it was downright crowded. Lightforge was trying to focus on his ever expanding list of projects that he wanted to work on, but his focus was fractured and split in all directions.
Movement caught his eye and he snapped his head up and shouted, “Sunbird, don’t touch that! You’ll kill yourself.”
The flying woman grinned sheepishly and pulled her hand back from the highly experimental disintegration bomb that she’d been playing around with. It was a concept that he’d given up on after vaporizing a table full of useful parts, but he’d brought it back out after the events in Centuryville. If there was ever a time to try and make wildly overpowered weapons, it was now.
Of course, that mishap had been the only time that he’d made it work at all, and he’d nearly lost a hand in the process. But that was why he did research and development.
That development work was being hampered at every turn by his guests. Sunbird and Cannoneer were hanging out and occasionally getting themselves into trouble with something from his ever growing stock of items. He appreciated their concern, but it was getting a little bit frustrating to have to keep an eye on them all the time.
A little bit of hope slipped into him when he heard the front door open. Maybe a customer would help to balance out his mood. That glimmer of hope slipped away when he saw who was actually standing there. He actually had to stop and stare.
“Circe? You used the front door.”
The villain waved dismissively as she swept into the room and said, “Unfortunately, I’m in a bit of a rush today. I haven’t had the time to prepare one of my more impressive entrances.”
“You put time into those? You say that like it’s not just an illusion to hide yourself.”
“That flippant attitude is exactly why you now find yourself in your current predicament.”
Lightforge blinked a few times at that. It wasn’t news that Circe had a lot of sources of information; she always knew more than she should. Well, at the very least she acted like she did. The extent of her actual knowledge was shrouded in the mystery that she kept around herself at all times.
With that being said, she wasn’t perfect. She would occasionally slip up and allude to something that she hadn’t intended to reveal. This might just be one of those times, and he couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto his face.
“Oh, Circe! Were you worried about me? I just knew that we were really becoming friends.”
“What.”
“You were in such a rush that you couldn’t do your trademark invisible entrance? Sounds like someone was concerned when they heard the news about me.”
“You still owe me money.”
Lightforge rolled his eyes and was about to respond when a message popped up in front of his face.
Gray Guardian: Bad guys are on their way to the shop, looking for a fight. On my way.
Lightforge looked up to see Sunbird and Cannoneer reading messages that he assumed were identical to his own. They all shared a look, levity gone from their faces. Circe didn’t have a message, but she could read the expressions of the others.
“What happened?”
“It’s Gray,” Cannoneer said, “They said that there’s trouble on its way.”
“And where are they?”
“I don’t know, but they’re coming.”
“Ok. I’ll turn invisible and go get them. You three can hold down the fort, right?”
“Do it.”
She vanished in an instant, the door opening silently a moment later. The others were already in motion, preparing items or charging attacks. The door stayed open and Lightforge’s robotic assistants charged out to scan the area and provide a first line of defense. The gadgeteer himself was, sadly, getting used to this already. He was slinging items into his inventory and arraying himself with an impressive arsenal of all the things that he had been working on recently.
The trio stepped out into the street in front of the shop just as the group of angry villains came around a corner. There were a lot of them, and they were led by a recognizable face. Razorhawk, the villain who had been so upset about his blacklist. Apparently he was about to find out what she could actually do.
Cannoneer and Sunbird stepped in front of him as he collected himself and did his best not to show any concern. They were outnumbered and he had to ration his abilities very carefully. The best outcome would be if he could avoid a fight entirely.
He waved at them and shouted, “Hey there! Are you folks looking to do some shopping? I’ve been working on some real treats recently.”
Razorhawk stood at the front of the group and glared at him. She said, “No. We’ve been sent down here to make an example of you.”
“Oh, really? I seem to recall some rather powerful forces promising to help me out in these situations. Are you ready to face them too?”
“Our orders come from someone with the resources to remove such distractions. So now you have a choice.”
“Let me guess: give in and bend the knee, or die?”
“Something like that.”
“Get lost. Not only do I have backup, but you’re attacking me here at my workshop. I have all kinds of inventions that I could test out on you.”
Some of the villains looked uneasy at that statement, but their leader was unmoved. In fact, she showed her teeth in a horrifying mockery of a smile.
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“No need to act tough. I hear that you’re in no condition to actually put up a fight.”
“Oh yeah? I hope you’re all ready to risk your lives on that. Or you could just walk away.”
Finally, Razorhawk paused. She looked thoughtful for a moment, studying him and coming to some sort of conclusion. She nodded to herself and as realization dawned on her. She smirked again.
“You’re stubborn, aren’t you? No matter how hard you get pushed, you won’t give in, will you? You’d rather die than crawl for someone else.”
“You’ve got that right. So why don’t we skip the bloodshed?”
“No. That’s undoubtedly a strength, but all strengths have their weaknesses. Nothing is without its downside. You’re willing to risk your life, and your friends clearly won’t abandon you. But what about everyone else?”
Lightforge’s eye twitched. What was she talking about? Her little gang was trouble, but they couldn’t go to war with every hero in the city. And even if they had distracted his backup, that wouldn’t last. What was she planning?
Her hands shot out, shifting in an instant to sharp talons. Sharp points raked through the air, unleashing a blade of wind that sped through the empty space. But it wasn’t headed toward the gadgeteer and his friends.
Cannoneer moved in a blur, an explosion sounding before the villain had finished moving. He shot across the open space, intercepting the attack before it could slice into one of the other shops in the little strip mall. The wind blade shattered against him in midair, but he didn’t flinch.
The rocket launcher fired before he even hit the ground, responding to the attack faster than Lightforge would have thought possible. The missile launched toward the villains, only to be caught in midair by a blast of fire from one of them, exploding too early.
Razorhawk’s rictus grin was twisted and inhuman as she started to transform. The talons vanished from her hands only to reappear on her feet. Her arms instead gained feathers as they shifted into wings. Her face became more angular and pointed, not quite growing into a beak.
“You and your precious neutrality. If you truly insist, we won’t touch you or your shop. But I wonder how much business you’ll get once it’s sitting in the middle of a crater!”
She took to the air, long legs unleashing wind blades in all directions as she went. The other villains leapt into action as well, spreading out to cover the area in indiscriminate violence.
Buildings shook and caught fire all around them as Lightforge and his friends stood in frozen shock. They could handle themselves in a fight, even against greater numbers. But this? They couldn’t even begin to intercept all of the attacks that were flying around. But did they even need to? What would the villains gain from attacking the backdrop that was the city’s buildings?
That was when the screaming began. It came from cars, from pedestrians, from the inside of nearby buildings. Lightforge watched, helpless, as people that he’d started to forget about stumbled around in pain and fear from the sudden onslaught.
A wind blade tore through the convenience store at the end of the row, and the gadgeteer saw the owner, Lou Whitmore, come stumbling out of the wreckage. The large man was looking around, eyes vacant with disbelief, until his eyes met Lightforge’s. Pain, fear, and fury warred on the man’s features, and the gadgeteer heard the unspoken words.
“You said this wouldn’t happen.”
Lightforge screamed in rage as he broke free of his stupor and threw himself forward at the nearest villain. The others were following suit, spreading themselves out to handle this threat. His friends vanished from his thoughts in an instant, as only the villain ahead mattered. He was throwing fireballs in all directions, cackling with glee at the free target practice enacted on the innocent.
The glowing hammerhead crashed into the man’s back, cracking like thunder as it threw him into a wall. Lightforge made to charge again, but something crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. It was an assault of ice spikes, conjured into existence by another villain.
Lightforge cried out in pain for a few moments before relief arrived. An electrical buzzing filled the air followed by a short yelp, and then the ice barrage stopped. His drone had arrived on the scene, electrocuting his attacker to give him a moment’s reprieve. It wouldn’t last long.
His guard dog charged forward and spread its paws out wide, bracing itself. The cannon that made up most of its torso spun and glowed briefly before firing its payload with an ear splitting explosion. The shell rocketed into the fire villain that he’d attacked first, making the man disappear in a blast of smoke and debris.
Lightforge picked himself up and charged at the ice villain. He didn’t bother with anything fancy, just a full speed sprinting tackle. They both crashed to the ground and electricity coursed through them as his armor went to work. The villain squirmed and fought, but it should have been no use against his sheer bulk.
Instead the gadgeteer found himself hurled through the air as if an invisible hand had grabbed hold of him. He flew backward, trying to get his bearings on what had happened. There were villains everywhere, and none seemed like an obvious source for the attack. Were there more of them somewhere? Surely there hadn’t been this many at first?
Razorhawk dove toward him through the air, unleashing a volley of wind blades ahead of her. Golden blasts of energy tore through some of them, but not all. Lightforge summoned a platform against his feet and kicked off of it, moving himself out of the way of the attack. He tumbled the last few feet to the ground and rolled until he hit a wall.
Something stabbed him through the shoulder, and Lightforge screamed. It was too much, and there were too many of them. In desperation, he turned off his shield’s limiters and kicked it on. A full sphere of dense blue energy surrounded him, all but impervious to attacks of this level. But it would only last a few seconds before it went out, taking all of his AP with it.
He swiped fitfully through menus until he found the distress beacon and slammed his fist into it. Alarms began to blare all around him, but he wasn’t really listening. The world was turned hazy and dark around the edges as his shield failed and he dropped to the ground, energy utterly expended. He was aware of one or two more hits against him before either his attacker left or he went numb. It was hard to tell.
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Lightforge came back to lucidity as a soft white light glowed around him. His eyes fluttered open and looked around emptily as everything slowly came into focus. He started to pull himself up and found several helping hands extended to assist him. He accepted gratefully and came to his feet.
Unsurprisingly, Gray Guardian was responsible for his recovery. He checked his resources, disturbed to find that his AP was still in the red, below 10%. His health was looking better, but was below half. Neither was refilling automatically, meaning that he was still under the effects of Marked by Blood.
“Thanks Gray. I take it you couldn’t find a cure for me?”
“I’ve got a lead, but not yet. Though I’m afraid that this situation might complicate things somewhat.”
For the first time Lightforge took a look at his surroundings. True to the villains’ demented word, his shop was largely untouched. Only one of the windows had been broken and the interior looked only slightly messier than normal. The same could not be said for the rest of the block.
Street, cars, and buildings alike were blackened and broken. Shattered stone and concrete littered the ground alongside broken glass and debris. But the worst were the people. The wounded were spread out up and down the street. They had been dropped from crumbling buildings, crushed by wreckage, or simply blasted where they’d been walking on the sidewalk.
Their screams hit Lightforge like a speeding train, shattering the little bubble that had been protecting his mind. For weeks he’d been lost in work, in watching his numbers improve and crafting anything and everything that he could think of. Somehow, the world had turned back into a game in his mind. He’d gotten wrapped up in creating a legend for himself, in becoming something more.
He’d forgotten what had drawn him to this world in the first place. There were lots of games about fighting and getting stronger. But that hadn’t been enough for him; he’d wanted to be a hero. He had wanted to help and protect people. Somewhere, in the rush to find ways forward, he had forgotten about that.
And he wasn’t the one paying the price.