Chapter 9:
“And they just disappeared?” Katie asked, squinting at seemingly nothing.
The two of them had moved away from the edge of the apartment and left surveilling the outside of their target warehouse to Katie’s scout Bugbots.
“Yeah,” Ben said, watching Katie’s eyes move and her fingers gestured as she controlled her Bugbots. He wished she had some kind of extra display for him to look at so he knew what was going on. But there wasn’t, so all he could was watch her and worry. “I didn’t get a good look, but there was a cloaked figure on the next warehouse over. I think they were wearing all black. Or at least a lot of black. Then they disappeared, just like that.”
“Alright, another Super. Maybe from some Syndicate gang given where we are,” Katie muttered. Then she froze. “Oh shit. A lot more than one Super.”
“What do you mean?” Ben asked with wide eyes,
“What I mean,” Katie said, still looking at something he couldn’t see, “is that the drones I sent in finally got in and it’s not squatters in there. There’s either five really dumb cosplayers in there or five Supers.”
“Shit…” Ben muttered as he began pacing back and forth. This was way worse than he’d thought. The worst-case scenario he’d been expecting was just a single villain. Maybe two. But four of them in a hideout and maybe a fifth as well? That was way too much. Even if Katie was as badass as she said, that would be too much. At least if these weren’t all low-rankers. And none of that accounted for any legal repercussions if things turned into a fight and they were caught by Heroes. “Do you recognize any of them? Any idea on their Ranks?”
“No, I don’t think…” Katie started to say, only to trail off. “Oh shit, no. I do recognize one of them… And fuck, I think I know who the person you saw was. Fuck. No, don’t you dare you bitch. Don’t you fucking dare.”
“What? What do you mean?” Ben asked, stopping to look at Katie. She was glaring off into space and shaking her head. “Who’s the other one? Who do you recognize?”
“Shit,” Katie swore before rushing over to the edge of the building and crouching down. She looked ready to rush off and go towards the building. All three of her Carrier Bugbots that kept pace with her opened up their top panels and disgorged four of her third major type of Bugbots each. They were larger than the scouts by several times and meant for attack. As soon as they left their carriers they began heading around the target warehouse. “Fuck. The disappearing one is a friend from school. A stupid idiot reckless friend. I seem to have a lot of those. And the Villain that I recognized is a B-Rank speedster. Real piece of shit and goes by Blitz. She’s likely here for him.”
“Oh shit,” Ben said, rushing to get ready beside her. Though deep down he knew he probably wouldn’t be much use here. His third Kinetic Skill could let him hit above his weight class, but it was very unwieldy and could be lethal. Using it against a B-Rank Speedster and who knew what else would be a bad idea. Still, if Katie was gonna get involved, there was no way he was not going to at least try and help in some way.
“Come on you bitch,” Katie muttered with one hand up to where her helmet covered her ear. “Pick up. Don’t you dare have turned your phone off… Come on… Fuck she’s not picking up… Fine then, you better not have turned off your System notifications too…”
“So, is your friend a B-Rank like you? Or an A-rank?” Ben asked, glancing back and forth between the warehouse and Katie. He still couldn’t see anything happening near the warehouse. Not with the Villains inside or wherever Katie’s friend went. The only things he could make out were Katie’s Bugbots in the distance. These ones did glow but as they got into place on the surrounding buildings they stopped. “She’s got to be pretty strong to go solo like this, right?”
Katie sucked in air through her teeth before letting out a very frustrated breath. “She’s a C-Rank. Peak C-Rank and really good in a fight, but she’s a C-ranker. If things go south I have to back her up.”
“Alright, I’ll—”
“—Do nothing,” Katie said, cutting Ben off with a glare. “You’ll stay here with the Carrier Drones. I was fine taking you along when this might be just a retrieval or even if we had to take on some unpowered gangsters or something. Maybe even a single villain. But this is serious. That Blitz guy is bad news. Like a real freakin scum type of guy. Definitely involved in murders and I doubt his friends are any better. I know you're not gonna run, so just stay up here, let your drone’s energy build back up, and get ready to run when I grab E—ugh—Dark Resolve.”
Ben bit his lip but nodded. He really didn’t like this, but he wasn’t stupid enough or arrogant enough to think he’d be all that much help. Still… “Okay, I’ll stay up here. But if you’re in trouble and can’t get… ugh, Dark Resolve, out of the way and I see a chance, I’m gonna try and help. Like if I use my release skill with one of my lesser gems, I can at least create a big enough mess to help distract them without getting close.”
Katie's eyes narrowed at that before she sighed. “Fine. But last resort only. I’m not gonna bother to tell you to just leave us if it gets bad cause I know you’ll ignore that.”
“Damn right,” Ben said with a scoff. “There’s nothing you could say that would make me leave you in danger. You’re one of my best friends. But I’m also not gonna make it harder on you by making you babysit me.”
Katie nodded at that, her expression softening. “Thanks B—Gemboy.”
Ben scrunched up his face at that. “Not my name or my temp name either.”
Katie chuckled. “Fine. But you do need a temp name so I’m just gonna call you Gem. We can workshop a name later… Though maybe Dark Resolve will see sense and not—Fucking, of course not. Damn bitch.”
A moment after Katie spoke, a shout rang out loudly from the warehouse below. It was barely audible from up the midrise but it was soon followed by more shouts and then the sound of crashing and banging.
“Fuck, alright I need to get down there,” Katie said, standing up as her pack lit up with teal light. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” Ben said.
And then just like that, Katie leaped off the roof and down to the warehouse below. Her Bugarmor seemed to glow even brighter than normal as a hole opened in the back of it and light spewed out. That must have been her personal shield. Seeing it made him feel just a bit better at letting Katie go down there alone.
It was only once Katie broke into the warehouse and rushed in, did he realize he probably wasn’t going to be getting the cube today. Which was unfortunate, but he had a tracker and time to spare. He just hoped Katie and her friend would get out of this in one piece.
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Katie’s POV:
Katie leaped from the building, her pulse pounding in her ear as she left Ben behind. With a thought, she activated both her Drone Armor’s flight system as well as the personal shield. At the same time, she commanded her Attack Drones, which had surrounded the building, to go inside. Unlike her Drone Armor, though, those had to be controlled with the interface built into her helmet that she controlled with eye movements as well as gestures registered from the sensors in her gloves.
Still, all her drones were semi-autonomous so they would be able to work well, even if she still had to command them with such a cumbersome interface. If only she’d unlock the Mental Interface Skill sooner. Then she’d be able to control all her drones much more adeptly instead of using much clunkier methods.
Though, she knew, that was just her being hard on herself. Before she got this Skill, she’d been so proud of the interface she’d developed on her own. No hand holding needed. Even if it was far too complex for a non-Tinker to use, it was still good enough to command her drones during battles with monsters. And with all the practice she’d gotten, it’s only gotten easier.
It’s just that the way the Mental Interface Skill allowed her to control things was just so much better. And also so much faster.
Katie—no Swarm Sovereign—shook her head as she landed on the ground, banishing those thoughts. Not the time for thinking about that. She had an idiot friend to save. But damn it, what was up with her. One reckless friend was bad enough. How did she end up with another?
Rushing towards the main normal-sized entrance of the warehouse, Sovereign reared back her fist and the Drone Bracers on them started to glow. When she lashed out at the door, there was a bright shine of blue as the bracers formed a shield and rammed it forward, knocking the door off its hinges, and letting her rush inside.
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She did not worry about accidentally hurting anyone as she had Scout Drones on the other side of the door. She also had drones watching everyone in the building. Including Ellie—she was not gonna call her Dark Resolve in her head as it was just too tacky—who she could make out with the infrared camera on her Scout Drones. Unfortunately, she’d probably be able to track her friend even without that as she’d been blasted with liquid by lizard monsters chasing her. It not only made her invisible form partially visible but also left a easily followed trail.
Ellie was on the other side of the building, in some kind of smaller office section attached to the warehouse, and being harried by a young woman in a form-fitting green bodysuit and what looked like six large spitting lizards. The young woman bounced around rapidly, bouncing off the ceiling, walls, and floors, constantly trying to hit Ellie’s still invisible form while wolf-sized lizard things nipped at her and spat blasts of purple-red liquid at her.
As Sovereign went deeper into the warehouse, she commanded her Attack Drones to go help. She only sent three to assist, as she kept three close to her and positioned another three near the group of three Villains that were currently holding back. Not ideal, but she only had nine Attack Drones to work with. If she had known what she was getting into, she would have brought all her Carriers and just flooded the whole warehouse with Attack Drones.
But Sovereign hadn’t, so she would just have to make do.
As the drones moved, she also sent a warning through System Chat to Ellie that she and her drones were here. Though she wasn’t sure how much good that would do as Ellie had never responded to her initial message and might have muted any System notifications. Still better to do it just in case.
Not wanting to hit Ellie with some not-so-friendly fire, she made the drones use their shields and ram hard into the lizard's legs when they got there, tripping some of them up. Once the things were down, she had her drones go to town, using their steel-rending mandibles to rip them apart.
As soon as her drones ‘killed’ one, they disappeared into a burst of light. Probably projections made by one of the three other Villains who were further from everyone else in the warehouse. They were still in the central storage area, where a section had been walled off and furnished like a rec room. Before Katie could finish off all the monsters though, one of the two women—the one in purple—conjured up several more monsters. They were different from the lizards and the majority rushed in Ellie’s direction while two came towards Sovereign.
Sovereign cursed but didn't have time to think too much about that as the monsters came rushing at her. Alone they wouldn’t have been a problem. But as the monsters approached, the reason for all this shit was headed towards her as well. Blitz.
The red and black asshole came rushing at her fast with a machete in hand. But not that fast. Still fast for even a Super but nothing compared to what a B-Rank speedster could do.
With just a thought, Sovereign dodged him as her Drone Armor pulled her to the side. Then she whirled to shield-punch him in the back, but the other two monsters leaped at her, forcing her to back off. These ones looked like some kind of twisted mix between an armadillo and a wolf. They had the form and face of wolves, but an armadillo's shell on their back, as well as more of that shell covering their limbs like plate armor. They snarled and began to try and circle her.
“You bitch!” Blitz shouted in rage as he leaped towards her again. Once again, he wasn’t nearly as fast as he should have been as he ran with a very noticeable limp and blood spilled from his wounded leg. “You’re with that fucking other whore, aren’t you! I’ll fucking teach you cunts to mess with Blitz!”
Sovereign dodged him again, her movements controlled at the speed of her thoughts, but didn’t bother dodging the projected monsters this time. Instead, she rushed towards Blitz, and with a mental command she had her Drone Armor swap from personal shield to bubble expand.
A blue bubble of energy exploded from her body, sending the monsters flying. Unfortunately, Blitz seemed to sense something and then turned into a blur before appearing about 50 feet away. That didn’t mean that he got away scot-free though. When he reappeared he shouted in agony and almost fell to the ground as he clutched the back of his leg.
“Fucking bitch!” Blitz snarled as he turned to face her. “You just fucking wait! I’m gonna shove this machete into your—”
Blitz's angered shouting was abruptly interrupted as an Attack Drone slammed into the back of his leg, knocking him hard off his feet. Before he could even try to get up, the drone then latched on and started to tazed the dirty-mouthed prick.
At the same time, two more Attack Drones descended on the fallen Armadillo wolves and tore into them.
Sovereign grinned at that but didn’t have time to gloat. When she turned her attention back to Ellie, she saw her friend was getting cornered again by monsters and the bouncing Villain. The monster projector Villain was also creating more monsters.
Damn it.
She needed to get to Ellie fast and get out of this place before they were overwhelmed by the monsters and increasingly faster-bouncing Villain.
Not bothering with the still-screaming Blitz, Sovereign rushed in the direction of Ellie. Blitz was a B-Rank speedster. And while Speedster focused mainly on Dex and Power Strength, they typically invested in either vitality or strength too. She doubted she would be able to easily incapacitate the man fully so decided to just let the Attack Drone hold him down as long as it could.
“God damn it, you idiot,” Katie muttered as she rushed forward, using her flight pack to speed her up through the large warehouse. “Why the hell did you come here alone?”
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Sovereign ended up fighting several more monsters before she reached Ellie, who thankfully had seen her costume before and recognized her. She would have had to fight more, but when she noticed the man with the two women in the rec room decide to head out and help, she sent the Attack Drones she had near them to attack. She also sent one of the ones that had finished off the two armadillo wolves after them as well and sent the other back toward herself.
That distraction was enough to keep the monster projector from sending too much their way. It also showed off what kind of power the man had as well. Apparently, he was some kind of Ash Invoker. Using superheated ash, he and the monsters with them were destroying the Attack Drones. But it would hopefully be enough to keep them away in time for Sovereign and Ellie to escape.
As long as Ellie actually left with her.
“K-! What are you doing here?” Ellie cried out, as she sent a beam of darkness straight through the one monster that was in the bubble shield Sovereign had thrown up around the two of them. These ones were smaller than the lizards and wolves and looked to be very angry iron skull-capped pigs. Their skull caps glowed with a strange red light, and they were doing startling amounts of damage to the shield as they kept headbutting it.
“It’s Swarm Sovereign! And I’m saving your dumb ass!” Sovereign yelled, grabbing her now visible friend and pulling her towards the nearest exit. “Now come on. We need to get out of here before their reinforcements get here!”
“No!” Ellie yelled, pulling out of Sovereign’s grip. “I almost got the fucker! He can barely run. Just hold them off and I’ll fucking grab him. Then we run!”
“Hell no!” Sovereign yelled, grabbing her very, very annoying friend. “We need to get out of here now. That projector is too strong and I’m running out of drones! I didn’t fucking come loaded out for war or to save you! Either we fucking go now or we’re not getting out of here. There’s still some kind of Burning Ash Invoker out there and one more unknown! We need to go!”
Ellies face twisted in a fierce scowl behind her mask and her fist clenched hard at her side. For a second Sovereign thought her friend might lash out at her before she slumped and lowered her head in defeat. When she looked up again, she just looked resigned. “Fine. Let’s get out of here.”
“As if assholes!” The bouncing woman said, having been bouncing back and forth getting faster and faster as they talked. “Blitz is a bitch but you don’t get to fucking run rampant in our lair and get away with it! Get ready to fucking get Bounced!”
“Shit!” Sovereign yelled as the bouncing woman flew right at the bubble shield and smashed straight through it. The woman's fist seemed a split second from hitting her right in the face.
Then suddenly there was a flash of light and the woman was gone.
Wait no. That wasn’t it. They were the ones that moved. They were outside now!
“Shit come on,” Ellie said from beside her, holding her side. Outside of the dark hallways of the warehouse and in the light of the setting sun and street lamps, Sovereign could see that her friend was even more beat up than she thought. “That was fucking close. I hope I blacked out the light in time.”
“Hey, get back here!” the bouncing woman shouted as she flew out of the warehouse windows that had been broken open in the fight. She was headed right towards them. “Not done with you girls!”
“Well we're done with you,” Sovereign shouted, this time having enough time to react. She lashed out with a fist and her Bracer Drone blasted out with an accelerated dense shield, meeting the woman’s outstretched fist.
The woman bounced off that and went sailing straight back into the warehouse.
Sovereign tried to grab Ellie and get off the ground but the woman came out a second later. Sovereign only had a second to see what the woman was carrying in her hand before she did the only thing she could. She activated her bubble shield again in protect mode, causing it to form around Ellie and her.
And it was just in time too as a skull cap pig was set hurtling toward them.
The pig slammed into the shield head-first at tremendous speeds, and there was a bright flash of red light as it hit. It was almost enough to break the shield again, but the shield managed to just hold on and the pig broke instead. It let out a squeal of anger and pain before it shattered into motes of light.
Sovereign only had a second to look on in horror before the bouncing woman came back towards them. She wasn’t moving as fast as before but Sovereign readied herself to punch the woman away again, just in case. But, much to her surprise, the woman just bounced off the bubble shield and redirected herself up and over them.
Sovereign looked on in confusion for a second before the woman spoke again.
“Didn’t think I missed you, did you? If I can’t get at the bubble girls then you’ll have to do!” The bouncing woman shouted and flew straight at where Ben was standing on the midrise and looking down.
“Gem!”