Lightning struck, not the sword raised to block it, but the roof to spill a wall of metal and stone that separated the predator from the prey. The rest of the group had already hurried down the tunnel toward the fallback point. Hannah tried to scoop up the axe on her way but was yanked down by its anchor weight. She had to spread her shimmy over the axe just to carry it. Todd said that the sword looked like a Ngulu and that both it and the ax looked made for ceremonial execution rather than battle. Whatever these things were, it was better that he have one less weapon to use against them.
The undead were what really threw a wrench in the plan; they were forced to waste some of their preparation when they needed every advantage they could get. Garrick lost his gauntlets and many of his toy soldiers. Kenny and Todd were injured. If Hannah had not pushed herself as she saw Kenny did, then Aaliyah would have died, but doing that also meant that Hannah couldn’t recover as much.
He really didn’t have a moment of hesitation thought Hannah, and surely Aaliyah was thinking the same. Aaliyah was doing her best to keep Kenny and Todd from falling apart but she was shaken. They're the ones who took hostages; the best way to save the hostages would be to eliminate the threat. That’s all they were to each other now.
Even in this injured state, their strategy was their best chance. GalvanGal was the lynchpin of this team, so it was her fault for letting them get hurt in the first place. With other people depending on her, her responsibility was not to her life alone. She could not afford hesitation or restraint when the price was other lives.
This must be how you felt all this time thought Hannah.
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Certepe ate away the rubble with each slice. If they wanted to attack him while his magic was gone, then they would not have run away. Now he has space to think and recover. Were they that easily startled by some scratches or was this part of their original plan?
He could feel his magic faintly like it was just out of reach. Reaching it would likely consume more energy and cause more backlash for the time being. With their defensive formation, perhaps they hoped to drag out this fight, including the use of exhausted magic, to win a war of attrition.
He wanted to commend them for fighting like humans, but they went and took hostages. This was something WhiteOut would come up with. There was no way Hippo, Aaliyah, or Todd made this plan. That left Kenny and Garrick. Not that it mattered. They were all guilty.
Then there was choosing this underground facility. Todd was limited to those little spurts that were easily swatted away because he did not want to burn the others. Hippo, however, was willing to cause this cave-in. It was important to show the opponent that you would not be held back by your environment, but actual lightning could destabilize the structure. Even if she did not come up with it, she should still be concerned about the hostages.
There was also the effect that circuit tango would have on the others. It seems that Aaliyah failed to unlock the cross, but was still able to dispel Garrick’s hex. The venom of Seletega should still be slowing her down on Kenny. Those toy soldiers were new and a little confusing. Whatever else they have up their sleeve remains to be seen.
A chunk of ventilation tubing was brushed aside to open the path. They must have picked up Seletega and ducked into the zero-rooms down the drift.
He touched the floor and closed his eyes. They may have devised a way to block paranormal senses, but practical techniques were beyond their expertise. Scurrying prey left a trail to follow whether in water or on land. With the target located, The Gator sprinted forth.
Some of the scientists and technicians who were taken hostage were gathered in a nearby zero room where a confinement vessel contained the radiological material used to conduct subcritical experiments. The clones brought hostages together like this to make it easier to portal them out, but did not have time to release them from their binds. They had been stuck there during the fighting. That the rumbling came to a silence only furthered their shaking. A shaking that was made still when all their bindings were cut loose at once.
“They aren’t after you,” came a deep, modulated voice, “I know you’re scared, but I need you to find the others. The elevators are destroyed. I’ll be able to transport you out when this is over.”
They scampered to their feet and went deeper into the tunnels. Their footfalls could not mask the Hippo that bolted behind The Gator but then she couldn’t ambush a corpse. The real problem was that her support team was nowhere in sight. Camera. They must be using that camera to target him safely. They wouldn’t go to the guard room to view it as destroying the camera would easily cut them off, so Garrick must be controlling it from nearby. This would allow them to target him from a safe position while remaining close by to provide support: Kenny put time slow on muscles in The Gator’s legs to prevent a dodge and the toy soldiers should be on their way too.
Tejieue brought the sword down. Its rungs clamped over the Hippo’s wrists as the peaks nailed into the ground to anchor her on the floor. With his legs stiffened, he fell with his torso onto her head so that the coat would sap her of the strength she needed to pull the sword off.
He slid the coat off and pushed back onto his feet just in time for the toy soldiers to arrive from all around and unload a cold volley at his exposed body. His palms moved in a blur to block many of them, but he could not defend his whole body from so much. His legs were rapidly covered with rime, his torso freckled with frost, and his palms were slowed as each blocked blast built up an ice chunk. He seemed to soon be overwhelmed.
Once he was satisfied with the chunks on his palms, he smashed his hands together to fill them both with shards. Both arms fanned out in a flourish that sent icicle darts to skewer the army, with the final shard thrown into the camera.
Todd rounded the corner. Tejieue expected them to be that way since the scientists went the other hall without trouble, but he thought there would be more delay after their vantage point was taken away. There may be no people nearby, but the soon-to-be unleashed flame torrent was a dicey prospect next to a nuclear material container.
Stolen story; please report.
Tejieue plucked the sword out of the stone to slice through the inferno on the upswing. He was encased in a bubble of light that in turn was engulfed by the remaining flame. Downswings cracked the bubble until it shattered to reveal what the flames had obscured: Streaker picked up the coat and brought the Hippo to regroup with her little posse. Some more toy soldiers came to drag the coat away.
“I understand now,” said The Gator, “You went into that expecting to remove either the coat or the sword from the board. The cost of letting your best have her energy drained further may have been too expensive.”
“We can’t get anywhere without risk; right now, that means risking everything,” said the Hippo through tired breath, hunched onto Kenny for support, and with sunken eyes drained of vigor.
“That’s the spirit. If only you put it to good use, none of this would have happened.”
“I know I would have joined you if you asked me; after hearing the truth, and seeing how you are willing to use any weapon to win, I wondered why you didn’t raise me as another tool.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. The battle against daemons, in this world and the next, was a burden I was prepared to carry. What I didn’t understand were the endless sycophants coming out of the woodwork to defend evil. Whenever someone tries to make a difference, the moderates who sat on the sidelines—as their heroes died in darkness— suddenly take the field. Corruption, decay, injustice: that is what you leap to defend. That is the cause you fight and die for.”
“I can’t speak for anyone else. Right now, I can say that being here has nothing to do with defending the world. I’m only following my selfish desires to protect something important to me.”
“I expected better from you at least, Srenika. Working with Garrick? Where did I go wrong?”
“Sorry, Unc,” said Todd, “All I ever wanted was a better future for my family. People want to keep things the same because the future is always scarier. I guess I was never cut out for the revolution.”
“The future is scary, but it arrives no matter how much we wish it didn’t and can never be undone. That is why heroes light the way and chart the path for humanity. I am building the only future humanity has left. Even if you leave this place, you can’t slink back behind the horizon to the comfort of ignorant waters.”
“Wow,” said Garrick, “you tried hard to fit that one in there. I heard you have beef with me, whatever, but Aaliyah? You didn’t hesitate to go for the kill. A literal saint and someone you loved. Winning a war is one thing, but does the future you want involve murdering her?”
“As I was explaining, if moderate and good people want to aid and abet evil, they lose their innocence. I certainly don’t want to hear about it in the scenario you made to bring me here.”
“Maybe we can’t stop the future,” chuckled Aaliyah, “but if my life is… disposable, then thought it meant you could find another way to stymie the poison of mana during the transition. It’s a strange thing to have faith in, but it calms me down all the same.”
“That’s not strange at all. Assurance to find peace of mind is what we’re all desperate for,” the Gator, sword on his shoulder stepped back and caressed the confinement vessel, ”this facility runs tests that help oversee the maintenance of this nation’s nuclear stockpile.”
“Huh!? Am I not getting a conversation?” asked Kenny.
“The prophesied weapon that would end wars without being used has brought unprecedented peace.”
“No, it has brought unstoppable horror,” said Hannah, “This weapon protects the meek and the cruel all the same and it only takes one to unleash a nightmare. That is the inevitable future this weapon has brought.”
“Spoken from someone born into a privileged age, no different from those whose sciolism pines for smallpox. The nightmares you fear were the reality for most of history. The suffering we have now is a fraction of our potential. The only path to peace is mutually assured destruction.”
“That’s not peace; that’s a suicide pact. I want a world that will never need weapons.”
“That world will never come. To make a difference, you need to give up on dreaming and act on practicality,” said The Gator. Hannah’s eyes widened and lifeblood seemed to flow back into her as she stood up.
“I get it now,” she said, “this whole time, I wanted to ask you so many questions, and I finally have the answer to them. You’re right: having peace of mind is like being able to breathe after being strangled. Like Max told Kenny, the worst part is not knowing when it will end. The way Garrick and Aaliyah blamed themselves for tragedies they had no control over. I always thought you were fearless, but the truth is you are more scared than anyone.”
“You shouldn’t air out private conversations to buy yourself time,” said The Gator. While they were transparently stalling for Hippo to recover, this also gave the hostages room to group up away from the battlefield. As soon as this talk was done, they would be beheaded in one fell swoop and the scientists could be ported out of here
“You did you’re best,” she continued, “you shouldered the burdens and bared the sacrifices, but it was never enough. Just one more step and it would be over. Just one more step and everything would not have been in vain. But as Todd told us, the enemies just keep coming no matter how many you cut down. You feared that the future already arrived. That’s why you always need more strength, enough to end this struggle—but that more is never enough, so you always keep seeking more. No matter how much you try, it will never be enough,” she pointed at him, “the truth is that you’re a failure of a hero because you’re too weak to save anyone!”
She yelled that last part harder than she thought she would and had to catch her breath again. Meanwhile, he was still as stone behind that mask. The start was something she had on her mind for a while but the rest was her just being carried by her flow to drag it out. Of course, he wouldn’t care about whatever she was rambling about in a transparent attempt to stall. She was still recovering and he was probably right that letting herself be drained further may not have been worth it. She was surprised that he even gave them a chance to ta—
Hannah’s instincts pushed the others out of the way and dragged her to the floor when sure death lunged at her. That sure death crashed and spun out in a spiral of emerald embers down the hall behind them. The Gator skated to a stop on one knee as the flames spilled and writhed around him. Hannah scrambled to find her footing.
“Wow! I was just saying nonsense but I guess I hit the mark!” she yelled as her heart was trying to tear out of her chest.
As The Gator stood, the wild tendrils were one-by-one leashed together into one concentrated head that burned even hotter, hot enough to melt the grates on the walls, sag the concrete, and make the Hippo sweat.
“Come on tell me I’m wrong! You’re always right about everything, but you don’t have an answer for this?!” The words tore themselves free of her hoarse throat. Her body was still trembling with fear yet at the same time she coursed with energy that spilled out into lances. The flames condensed further until they slithered down his arm to coat the midnight with twinkling emeralds.
Sorry, I didn’t mean everything I said. I know you always give your best, no matter how frightening or overwhelming; or rather, because it's frightening and overwhelming, you were the one who went headfirst. That’s what I always admired about you. I wanted to be like you, but I never thought I could. I’m sorry for letting you bear that burden alone. I won’t make that mistake again.
“None of what we said matters. Only who walks out of this tomb,” said The Immortal.
The lances couldn’t be leashed back as they went wild in an amethyst concert.
“Then let’s dance one last time, Tyler!” thundered GalvanGal.