“MYAAAAA!”
Her yowl was immediate, pain running through her mind as she felt a thousand signals flow through her all at once. It was somehow even worse than when she first tried to force a Stem Portal closed. At least then it felt like she only had one world’s worth of legionnaires invading her head all at once. But no. The minute her staff touched the Comet Man’s arc, she felt the signals not just throughout the Legionnaire Realm, but in her own universe as well.
“MYAAAA!”
There were billions. Trillions. Too many signals to count, her brain fracturing and quaking. Rending and tearing. She wanted to bite her tongue off to make it stop, the only thing holding her together being the urge to scream at the top of her lungs. And she did that happily. A scream that was quickly joined by two others below her.
“ARUUUGH!”
She opened her eyes, pain subsiding slightly.
“CRAAAAG!”
The signals coursing through her started to elevate more and more. She could still feel them, but it was more akin to sticking her head in boiling water rather than lava. Of which she knew all too well she owed to the canines pressing the arc with her, rings and rapier connecting to the link along with her staff.
“S-Sasha!” Cici called. “This really sucks!”
Sasha wanted to laugh despite everything.
“Just bare with it, Foxy!” she called back, which unsurprisingly got an angry bark as a response.
“Gonna kill you if we survive this!”
She smiled, the pain only growing less and less as she felt the signals beginning to coalesce. Her gaze locked in front of her, Sasha recognizing that familiar sensation. It was the same even when she did a forced closing. A jolt akin to a pat on the back by the universe. And as she and her friends pushed against the legionnaire signals, she could feel that jolt turn to lightning pouring through her head.
“How long are you- Wait, what’s going on?”
The voice was coming from within the arc, the Light Binder only now seeming to notice the change. But he was already too late.
“What in the- Hey! What did you just do?”
Sasha grinned, feeling her body being enveloped by gravity only seconds later. Something she saw happen to Cici and Iris as well, the former having collapsed to the ground.
“Have fun being weak, tailbrain!” she called before the first blast of water hit. One that beamed straight through the Comet Man’s arc. Neither Gabriella nor Mr. Erin wasted anytime tackling the weakened foe.
The Comet Man’s shouts turned to grunts as they both fired on him without mercy, water jets and blaster shots impacting against his arc. Considering all they’d done was seal his legionnaire signals, it came as a bit of shock to Sasha just how weakened the Comet Man became. The arc itself had already shrunken, but he made it burst away, the man emerging out of it like an angry moth. But all that did was make him an easier target for them to shoot at.
“No. This- ugh- this isn’t right.” He took a water jet to the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground. “Panther. This isn’t victory. A true warrior would rise to the challenge, not cut it to size!”
Sasha had already been floated down with the others, her, Iris, and Cici being piled up next to Mr. Xan. It made it a lot easier to forget all about the brain torture she’d just endured. And the exhaustion. She let herself relax against her fellow injured companions.
“Panther! This is weakness!”
That earned a groan from her.
“Is all you care about power, tail brain?” she called. They were shredding him and she relished the sight. “Because I got news for you!”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She flashed her fangs, looking over to see both Gabriella and Mr. Erin aiming the finishing blows. The Comet Mans had his sickles up to block but they were useless. Not against the combined firepower.
“I’m actually the weakest fighter in this bunch,” Sasha said. “You just got outplayed by a lowly cat.”
She stuck her tongue out at that, the Comet Man’s gaze wavering as he saw their attacks coming. With one last burst, both blaster shots and water jets came flying right through both his chains and the human's body. The light died in his eyes, and he finally slumped to the ground, lying completely still.
***
Iris was among the first to insist on checking the Comet Man to be on the safe side. Something Gabriella was more than happy to do, firing as many shots into him as she could to ensure he didn’t pull another rise from the dead stunt. But their real biggest indication of success was the fact that none of the legionnaires attacked them afterwards.
In fact, once the whole affair was settled, they all turned away as one. Crawling back into the ground. Taking to the skies. Disappearing further into the Legionnaire Realm. A call from Madame Dyre confirmed that similar cases were happening across the cosmos.
“I’m not sure what to make of it,” she said. “They’re not disappearing, per se. It seems more akin to hibernation.”
Considering what all she didn’t know about the White Legion, Sasha decided to take the Madame’s word for it. So long as they weren’t an active threat to the universe, they could stay in their portals as long as they wanted. They just needed to make sure some psycho didn’t run around trying to control the monsters again and they’d be fine. But then, that was why Madame Dyre was in charge now, wasn’t it?
“Not to interrupt,” Cici said, “but can we hurry up and leave now. I feel like Sulky’s gonna keel over any day now.”
The wolf groaned. “I’m right here, Cici.”
“Yeah and you look terrible. You too, Sash. Heck, I’m pretty sure I need stitches or something.”
Now that she mentioned it, they had all been tendering serious injuries for awhile. To the point that they were probably infected with some space-born pathogen. Or not assuming those injection shots Mr. Erin gave her still worked their magic. She glanced at her arm, still unable to lift even a finger. She had to rely on Mr. Erin carrying her. Their only saving grace was Cici and Iris’s shuttle was still intact.
As was the pirate inside.
“Huh? What the he-“
The human relaxed upon recognizing them, though Sasha couldn’t quite remember the guy’s name. Bill-something? She’d seen him around the Black Web a few times. A fairly unassuming guy. Was that why she only now noticed his presence? Mr. Erin greeted him with a nod before setting her down on one of the seats.
“Yo, Pilot Guy,” Cici said as she was also carried inside. “Was wondering where you ran off to.”
The man huffed. “I didn’t run off. I had to bid my time while the White Legion cleared.”
“Which we are grateful for,” Iris said as she was place down. “You were a great help back there, Mr. Pilot.”
His response was another huff, the man turning his attention back to the shuttle controls. Given that Mr. Xan was out of commission, Sasha was more than happy to have the human around. Plus it meant one less casualty to report back to Madame Dyre. She would already have enough on her plate what with now having to wrangle together the remnants of AIC space.
Sure they’d killed the Comet Man, but that didn’t mean the work was anywhere near done for them.
“Guess you guys are gonna have you hands full for a while, huh?” Sasha asked.
Gabriella nodded, the human already typing away on her commpad.
“With every war comes a cost,” she said. “It’s a little early, but there’s gonna be fallout soon. People’s worlds will have to be cleared. Smugglers will take advantage of the chaos. I’d imagine you grads will be needed now more than ever. Although…”
She looked up to Sasha, her voice trailing off a bit, though the panther could already tell what she was trying to say. And it was still a no for her.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve had my fun being a pirate. And an AIC grad, even if I was terrible at it. Think I’d rather just do my own thing for a while if it’s all the same to you guys.”
She looked at the rest of them, her response earning no real surprise from her friends.
“Not like you were much of a grad to begin with, kid,” Mr. Xan said.
Sasha snapped back. “Hey, I still saved some worlds, jerk.”
“Which we are all in agreement with, yes,” Mr. Erin came in.
Sasha groaned. They were lucky she couldn’t move or she’d be swatting at both of them. But that could wait until after they’d all had time to recover.
In the end, Gabriella was right. There would be fallout. There would be a lot of people in need of assistance, whether via graduates or the Black Web. And she had every intention of helping out what people she could, however she could. In her own little ways.
Even if she knew it was selfish, Sasha only had one real desire now that she’d fulfilled the dream she’d been longing for ever since the Comet Man first came down to her island. And she would see it through as soon as she and her friends got healed up again.
Because there was still one thing she had always been good at.