Desperation

Tom weakly reached his hand under his armor and pulled out his communication orb. It glistened slightly as the light refracted through it.

"Kiera, are you there?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, we're here," Kiera replied a moment later.

"You all need to get to hiding. Don't let them see where you go," Tom said.

"Already on it. As soon as we saw the retreat, Inari began to take us to another location. I think most of them were too focused on you all to pay much attention to us," Kiera said.

"Good. We will think of something else. Just give us a little time," Tom said, relief washing over him that they were still alive.

"I know you will," Kiera said softly.

"Tom, we got another problem," Derek said, walking over to him.

"On top of this?" Tom asked.

"James is still outside with his team," Derek said, ignoring the sarcasm.

Tom sat up, "What? Where?"

"They seem to be safe, but they can't get in for now. I told them to find a place to hide for now. But that may give us an opportunity," Derek said.

"What opportunity? There are five of them," Tom retorted.

"Frank," Derek said.

"You think one guy is going to be able to do much against that horde?" Tom asked.

"I talked with Jay when they got back. Frank is a lot more dangerous than he would seem," Derek replied.

"How much more dangerous?"

"Hulk level?"

"We have a Hulk?"

"We have a Frank. It's not really the same thing, but it's close. We just can't let anyone else near him because he can't tell friends from foe. Also, this was only tested on goblins, but it seemed super effective."

"I don't want to send someone to their possible death right now if we aren't sure. Could we carpet-bomb them now that we have the barrier up? Use the F35s?"

"I would advise against that," Herbert said, appearing from behind Derek. "It's too close to the shield. That much damage could hurt the shield."

"I thought you said you overengineered it?" Tom asked.

"I did. I also overengineered the missiles. You saw how fast they took down an alien spaceship," Herbert said.

"Got any other ideas, Herbert? My brain is a bit fried right now," Tom asked.

"I did mount Gatling guns on each of the F-35s. They could make passes with those. They fire thirty-millimeter incendiary rounds, which are normally used against tanks," Herbert offered, a smile playing across his face.

Tom turned to stare at Herbert, "Do it."

Herbert retrieved his communication orb and walked away as he began to give Anderson updated orders.

"Herbert! Make sure they also take down the other ships. We don't want them leaving now," Tom called after him.

"Tom, are you there?" Kiera's voice came through the communication orb again.

"I'm here, what's happening out there?" Tom asked.

"The pirates are starting to move through the city. They are not happy. We are having to move to stay ahead of them. We likely won't be close by."

"Do what you have to. Stay alive."

"Copy that. We will."

Tom paused for a moment and then used the orb again: "James, come in, James."

"Joe's crematorium, you kill 'em, we grill 'em," James' voice came in through the orb.

"Don't answer like that. This is a serious situation," Lacey's voice followed in the background.

"Glad to hear you are still alive. Where are you all currently?" Tom asked.

"We're on the move, trying to stay ahead of the pirates. They are scattering through the city. Just destroying shit like pissed kids," James replied.

"Alright, keep moving to stay away from them, but be ready. We may need Frank to let loose."

"Uhh...I'm not so sure you really want that."

"I'm not sure I do either, but we're running out of ideas here. We don't wanna level Dallas with too much firepower since you all are out there, so we may need to sick him on the lobsters."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"If you say so. I still think that's a bad idea."

"If you can give me a better option, I'm listening."

Silence rang out for a long moment. It stretched to more than a minute.

"James?" Tom asked, beginning to worry that something had happened.

"Nope. We don't have any better ideas. Even brain girl here is just shrugging...OW! Don't kick me like that!"

Tom chuckled at James' odd team's antics. "Then be ready. If we need him, I want Frank to go full Banner."

"Frank said he's ready whenever."

"Good. I'll contact you if we go that route and keep you updated on our progress."

Tom let the orb fall to his chest as he laid back on the ground again. The sound of the F-35s coming around for a pass through the city could be heard overhead. Tom turned to watch them as they got closer. Explosions rocked the air around them, and the ships that remained in the air began to fall to the ground.

"So, we can keep them here, but we can't stop them," Tom said.

"That seems to be the gist of it," Derek replied.

"Can we kill them slowly?" Tom asked. "Pick them off when they are separated?"

"We could. Though that would take a long time and there are so many still."

"They're gonna destroy the city," Tom said.

"We've been looking to expand anyway," Derek joked.

"Not like this. Not with Kiera's and James' teams still out there. They'll be found eventually. It's only a matter of time."

"I know. We just need a little more time to recover. We lost a lot of people out there. Too many."

Tom sat in silence as the weight of that settled on him. He'd failed them. It was all going so well; then, they lost control of the situation. They could just bomb the whole city, but they would likely lose Kiera, James, and everyone with them. He couldn't do that.

There had to be another way.

"What if we took the vehicles out?" Tom asked.

"These creatures are big enough to do damage back. We wouldn't likely make it too far before they became undrivable," Derek replied.

"Could we tell Kiera and James to get out of the city and just blow the shit out of it?"

"The moment they leave the city, they lose their cover. They'd be exposed."

"None of this would be an issue if we were all inside the shield."

Tom slammed a fist onto the ground, frustration rising as his mind raced to find a solution to their problem. The sound of the F-35s coming in for another pass sounded before a continuous, loud buzzing sound began in the distance. The sounds of Gatling guns firing down on the pirates continued as the jets flew by, firing down at any targets out in the open.

"They are doing the best they can, but with the pirates scattering throughout the city, they are more difficult targets," Herbert said.

"I figured that would be the case. Alright, it's time to do something different. I'm going to the vending machine."

"Tom, you won't find anything. We searched already. All the items are either too expensive or too explosive for right now. We are going to have to make a stand again. I think we just need to pull as many people as we can, equip them as best we can, and try to set ourselves up for the best situation we can," Derek replied.

Tom put both of his hands over his eyes and rubbed them, his frustration beginning to boil over.

"I don't want more people to die!" He yelled, the courtyard area going quiet at his shout.

"We all know that. But it's going to be unavoidable. We can just try to overwhelm them before they can do too much damage."

Tom lay on the ground in silence for a long time. He went over and over the possibilities to see if there was anything he missed. Derek stood by, letting him run through everything on his own so he could work out what he needed to.

After ten minutes of silence, Tom let out a long breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Get everyone ready. We'll send in Frank first; then we can help mop up or take over if he falls," Tom said, a single tear falling from his eye and rolling down his temple at being forced to make this decision.

Derek didn't say a word. He just walked away silently, not wanting to upset Tom more than he already was. The gate opened behind him, and he rose to his feet as Bron and the others walked in. Huthu and Onslo showed some pretty bad wounds from their fight. Rushing to them, Tom handed out healing potions to each of them so they could recover.

They thanked him for the potions and went to sit under a tree to rest for a time. Tom walked up to the top of the wall to look out at what was happening. Most of his view was blocked by the alien ship that had crashed in front of their barrier, so he walked along the battlement until he could see past it. Buildings blocked most of his view past it as well, and he punched the wall in frustration at feeling so helpless.

Jerky came up behind Tom and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, master. Sometimes these decisions have to be made."

"I know, Jerky, but I wish it could be different."

A pirate ran across the road in front of the guild building, carrying a trashcan over its head. Screeching its rage as it continued its scuttle, Tom fired off four Eldritch Blasts at it, setting it ablaze with green fire as its screeches of anger turned to pain.

It dropped the trashcan, which fell on its head as it began to run in circles and roll on the ground to try to put the flames out. Jerky laughed at the display, and Tom smiled at his amusement, though only half-heartedly.

Derek came up the stairs of the wall and walked toward Tom.

"Everyone is getting ready. We can go in half an hour."

"Thanks. Once they are assembled, I'll signal James."

"It's the right call. We can't just wait around and hope for the best while our friends are hunted down," Derek said, trying to help Tom understand.

"I know. Heavy is the crown and all. I just can't help but feel responsible for this because we split the party."

"We all agreed to the plan, not just you. This happens in battle all the time. No plan holds up to contact with the enemy. At least it's not hopeless."

Tom nodded, not feeling the same level of agreement that he was trying to give off. He shook his head, then hardened his resolve. Turning back to Derek, he looked him in the eyes with a fierceness that Derek hadn't seen before.

"It's time to make those fucking mud bugs pay for coming to this planet."