Along with the overly large disc that was some sort of Bunvorixian capital ship came a dozen smaller ships of the same style. From towards the city approached more ships that were not too dissimilar in shape, but had some more dimensionality to them. It was like someone remembered to fill them up with air, with a dome of glass on top and a thicker body. They also didn’t curve down at the outer edge, but had a circular seam where the parts of their ship body met.
The other ships were all much smaller than the big ship, and unless I was very much misinterpreting things not on the same side.
There was some chance that the beams they were shooting were good for the ship somehow, but the way the shields were triggering I doubted it. Most likely the smaller ships were Martian, as they were the most prominent extraterrestrial group on Earth. They were from the same system after all.
It seemed that they were properly distracting the big ship, which would let some of us focus on Darkstargirl. The only issue was that she was flying and we were not. Perhaps I should add something for that to my arsenal. I had the points to purchase a spell like that, but my mana reserves were a bit low.
As I was pondering that conundrum, Great Girl was solving the problem her own way by throwing large rocks at her rival. Darkstargirl responded with energy blasts, shooting them out of the air. When Great Girl ran out of convenient rocks, she began to throw trees. I had the feeling some people might be upset by that, regardless of who was actually responsible for the area.
I was quite impressed with how easily she uprooted trees, though. That wasn’t easy, even at her full size. Though speaking of which… was she slightly taller? Maybe I was imagining things, but either way the proportional increase in her strength was being well used.
“I’m going to confirm the location of Izzy!” I called to Great Girl. There wasn’t a ton I could do from the current distance other than that- though I did take a few shots with my sidearm. Darkstargirl was quite bulletproof, but not inherently. Which was to say, if I actually hit her body she would be close to as vulnerable as a normal human. It was her powers that protected her, cushioning blows and evaporating projectiles like my bullets. A few shots might not make much difference, but I could wear down her defenses at least a little.
Midnight was doing much better, as he had his Celmothian combat suit. The weapons formed out of the transformative substance were practically lasers. Previously, I would have supposed Stargirl to be immune to that… but in her dark form, she might at least be affected to some extent- she at least blocked her face, though that might be so her vision didn’t get messed up. Either way, the beams splattered on her arms and I felt her power doing something, so I was under the impression that it worked.
“Izzy!” I called up towards the top of the cliff as I worked my way around to a slope that would bring me there without climbing a vertical face. “I just want to confirm you got free and that you’re alright!”
Sounds of battle came from the top of the hill as I scrambled up it. I realized that perhaps my words weren’t perfectly clear with Haste currently active, but the battle thing would be a problem too.
Even though time was relatively slower for me, there was a lot happening all at once. Along with the Martian ships, there were other assaults on the gigantic Bunvorixian vessel. I felt a familiar power clash with the ships shields and be repelled. Even from a distance, I could pick out Movebrain’s powers.
Had he failed to teleport onto the ship? Actually, that made perfect sense. Celmothians had teleportation technology, it wasn’t odd that they would have attempted to use it offensively before. And powers often tended to overlap with high technology in terms of what prevented them. Magic was an exception not because it couldn’t be countered, but because of the versatility of what it provided and the ways it bypassed some of the expected restrictions.
Just like my Blizzard spell had been able to freeze the ‘smaller’ Bunvorixian ships because freezing was the direct effect. Instead of it launching an extremely cold high conductivity substance to drain the vessel of its heat, it simply removed it. Their barriers would protect against pretty much any substance, but that was new to them.
When I reached the top of the incline, I was able to see flashing weapons. A handful of Bunvorixians were shooting at some target I couldn’t make out among the trees. Speaking of trees, their beam weapons were wreaking havoc on them. Half of the place was on fire, and smoke was billowing out.
I ran a bit closer, catching brief glimpses of Izzy carrying a weapon a bit too large for her. It definitely wasn’t made for humanoid hands, but she was making it work somehow. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get a sustained blast on any of her enemies as she had to keep running behind cover.
Once I had the right angle for what I planned, I called out. “Izzy! Dodge!”
Chain Lightning had already been demonstrated as ineffective against Bunvorixians. While I might be able to overpower their barriers like the AEGIS that Doctor Doomsday was making use of, I didn’t want to use most of my remaining energy on something that might not work.
As for my warning, the Bunvorixians would obviously hear it too. But this wasn’t the sort of thing that could be dodged. So why the warning? Simple. Just because it couldn’t be dodged didn’t mean it couldn’t be dodged.
Which was to say every power had a counter. I focused my magic on the center of the group of enemies turning to look at me. Izzy was still on the fringe somewhere. A swirling vortex of cold spread out from the center of the area, coating all of the trees in ice- and the Bunvorixians as well. It had the added benefit that it put out the fires they had started.
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I would have felt bad for them if they were actual dogs. Bun was a good boy. He also hadn’t ever kidnapped or tried to kill any of my friends.
A moment later Izzy came out from behind a tree, looking a little frosty. I waved. “Good, you did get free.”
“Obviously,” she replied as she looked around the area for more enemies.
“How did you get captured in the first place?”
“Some sort of gas while I was just leaving my apartment. I thought it was just some guy walking his dog. I didn’t sense any magic, either.” She moved from tree to tree, stopping by one of the frozen Bunvorixians and prying away a weapon, cracking the ice. She dropped the first one and shot it with her replacement- squeezing together some sort of mechanism near the front that I saw her take from the mouth of the one next to her. “Don’t want them to have those when they unfreeze.”
“If they unfreeze,” I responded, making my way towards another one. Izzy had to hold the device with two hands because she was small, but I could probably brace it along one arm.
“Seriously? You’d use something that dangerous with me in the area?”
“These dudes don’t have levels,” I pointed out. “Probably just their armor insulating them. At worst, Ceira would have had to regrow your skin.”
“I hate that,” Izzy said. “But I get it.”
I ripped another weapon from a second Bunvorixian’s mouth, accidentally breaking a few teeth. Well, that was what they got for attacking Earth. It was basically a long tube with a bulky part that was some sort of power core. This one… didn’t work as I squeezed it, pointing towards the least flammable looking stuff nearby. Well, I should have expected some of them to break. But I’d really like something better than my simple pistol if I were going to be fighting Darkstargirl and more ships.
Speaking of ships, I could see patches of ice on the big disk. I wasn’t sure how they got there, but I’d been feeling flashes of at least two powers intertwined. As I looked up, I saw a long tube of ice suddenly appear- then it briefly looked like a familiar sphere before it struck the ship. I recognized Ice Guy’s powers, though I certainly didn’t remember him having such range- that had come from quite far away.
The barrier did partially block his effect- the swirling ball exploded, but the freezing effect still reached the hull of the ship. The physical component was blocked and he lost some of the area with it detonating probably five feet from the ship itself, but it was doing something.
I also noticed a large number of other supers approaching, as it seemed people really weren’t fond of a giant alien spaceship descending near the city. Well, I was pretty sure the Bunvorixians had officially started a war with Mars and Extra, and while I honestly didn’t know the structure of things well enough to know if Earth got in on that… New Bay seemed to have some opinions on the way of things.
Just as Haste was close to running out I managed to find a working weapon from the third Bunvorixian soldier I tried, just in time to level it at a charging ball of sparkling blackness.
Darkstargirl seemed to have decided that dodging chucked boulders and trees was no fun, and that she’d rather target me than properly fight her rival. Though to be fair, I wouldn’t want to get within grabbing distance of Great Girl either, if she hated me.
The Bunvorixian weapon aimed oddly, and I didn’t blast her directly in the face like I wanted to. The beam splattered off of her shoulder as she charged towards me, and I ducked and rolled. Too bad I didn’t have any power-negating bullets on me at the current moment, but it was taking Vilhelmiina a bit to make more of them. Something about them being ‘highly restricted’ or something like that.
I learned that Darkstargirl had little respect for other Bunvorixians, as one of the frozen dudes was now on fire along with a section of the forest where she angrily stopped her momentum. Her powers exploded around her to stop her movement. Two beams focused on her for a moment, one from my salvaged gun and one from Izzy.
Darkstargirl tossed a handful of black flame at me as she launched herself upward, and I had to dive out of the way. Even then, the weird heat ate through part of my specially tailored Energy Ward. If it was better made it might last longer, but at this rate I could only take a couple more misses before relying on Francois’ workmanship. And while I trusted him to do his best to protect me, it was also impossible to perfectly protect against all powers with a single suit.
I heard a roar as something sailed through the air in an arc, slamming into Darkstargirl. That would be Great Girl then- but in her werewolf form. She was instantly caught on fire as she slammed her foe back into the ground, creating another explosion.
Boy, this situation sure had escalated a lot. I heard the sounds of crashing ships- smaller ones of various forms- but the mothership seemed to have taken a beating as well. All this over my friend. Sure, I would have caused this much chaos if I had the power myself, but I was surprised at how much everyone else was getting involved.
And it did appear to be pretty much everyone. I felt more familiar power signatures from villains I’d encountered before lingering on the edges of the battle… and a sudden surge from the mothership.
Something very small was launched out of the top of the big ship, sailing through the air. Then a voice came from within.
“A fascinating construction. I’m sure no one will mind if I take this off your hands.”
I couldn’t see him, but I certainly recognized Doctor Doomsday’s voice. When did he even get into the ship? I couldn't tell, but then again there had been a million things happening all at once- I could barely even sense the infantry battle that Extra had been using as a distraction.
The ship flickered once, twice… and then disappeared. A moment later, a shockwave crashed over the battlefield along with a loud boom, toppling some trees and even knocking me over.
Silence seemed to reign over the battlefield, but then I realized my eardrums were busted, even with my invisible head protection. Well that was just rude, running off with the big thing. Though that did rapidly shift the flow of the battle away from the Bunvorixians. At least Midnight was physically alright, as felt through the bond, and I got eyes on Great Girl- still trying to pummel Darkstargirl even though her fur was on fire. Izzy was also still mobile.
That all seemed good, except for the other presence I felt approaching.