Tagert sits in his large office, tapping a thin pill case against the table. Another long night of paperwork. “Say this every night, but I wish I didn’t take this job,” Tagert grunts. Diane sits across from him, in another chair, unscrewing the top of an empty pill bottle. “This job is too stressful.”
“Then why don’t you quit?” Diane asks, placing the pill bottle on the table. “You’re bound to kick the bucket too early, and that’s coming from my professional opinion. That medicine is for your blood pressure and it really isn’t doing much for you.”
“Hmph. I’m the best damn man for the job. Who the fuck would replace me? Salvo? Chains? Nah, they’re too young, too biased. Then there’s Jolt and Necro, Jolt’s an idiot and Necro, while I trust him, he’s not suited to a public job with the magic he has.” Tagert leans forward, placing his forehead on the table, then straightening again. “Why can’t you just heal me. Just like that.” He snaps his fingers to punctuate the point.
“I’ve already told you, I can’t do that. My powers heal things that can heal over time. Heart problems, cancer, all that stuff that just gets worse over time isn’t affected, and cancer gets worse. If you had a common cold, then I could deal with that, but you’re asking the wrong person to deal with heart disease.” Tagert exhales loudly. “And let’s just say, your temper isn’t helping anything either.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just-” Tagert pauses and he taps a few keys on the keyboard. A TV screen turns on at the left wall, displaying a few pictures of Vigors and magic users. “What is it with magic users and social problems? I swear they collect them.”
“I’m not a psychologist, but I feel that has a lot to do with the power they have. As the saying goes, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
“Kinda why we have so many bad guys running around flashing their vigor at people to grab a quick buck.”
“-And why we exist. Thing is, even if there are people here, they’re bound to be broken one way or another. Uh, take the teams earlier for instance. The guys in the exercise. Kaiden, has limited to no Human contact, partially because of his power, partially because of his brother.”
“And Walter, David, Gabriella, and Hannah?” Diane smiles as if she knows something Tagert knows. “I hate that look. Makes my stomach bubble with rage. Gates gives me that look all the time. Fucking hate it so much.”
“Blood pressure, Director.”
“Fuck off. Tell me.”
“Alrighty then. Walter has a constant need to prove himself. He loses sleep agonizing about what other people are thinking and he doesn’t exactly have a true face. He puts on a mask for people and he’s good at that. He’s popular at school and he’s liked in his own team.”
“I suppose you just guessed this thing.”
Diane snorts in amusement. “No, a lot of them do go to psychologists and I read up on their notes before they went to do the exercise.”
“Alright. What about David.”
“Guilty conscience. He takes the fall for his brother a lot on purpose and he feels bad for people when it’s not his fault.”
“Hannah.”
“I feel like even you should know Hannah. She, like Kai, is defined by her abilities. She escapes into her book world and loses track of everything. Her power makes her seem like a borderline schizophrenic and when she talks to people, she comes off as if she’s in a daze.”
“Right… What about Gabriella?”
“She’s probably the most normal out of all of them. She’s got hero envy, which is pretty normal in our line of business. The thing is she wants to be-” Diane pauses and she screws up her face. “She expects everything to always be better. She wants to capture the villain and free the hostage. She finds it hard to make sacrifices.”
“Don’t we all,” Tagert sighs.
“From what I remember, you were fine with making sacrifices.” She clears her throat. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
“Right- What about Elmira? Considering we’re on the whole psychological aspects of the team. I don’t give a shit about the other two on Expedition, but what about Elmira?”
Diane whistles. “That’s a big can of worms there. She hasn’t talked to a psychologist, but from what I saw and from what I healed, she’s probably worse than Kaiden by a long shot. Abused, a wonky image problem that I can’t even begin to describe-”
“You mean the horns and gold eyes?”
“No. The fact that her body language suggests she likes them, but she also displays the desire to hide them. Honestly, I don’t know her well enough, but she doesn’t seem- Human.”
“We’re all just that little bit not Human.”
“I guess that’s true enough. And some more than others. It seems like those who have what do they call it, psyche powers?” Diane nods. “Well, they end up worse than anyone else. Think about Oracle, for instance. She doesn’t seem to even have any emotions.”
“Oracle’s probably listening in right now.”
Tagert shivers and he pushes back his chair and collects some pages in his hand. “And on that note, let’s stop this conversation. I don’t even want to start to think about what she could do to me if I got on her bad side.”
“Blackmail, framing, probably a whole lot more.”
“Stop! I said I-” A cellphone on the desk starts vibrating. “That yours?” Tagert asks. Diane shakes her head. Tagert grabs the phone and he shivers. “That’s creepy as fuck.”
“Oracle?”
“Mhm,” Tagert answers the call, bringing the phone up to his ear. “Hello, almighty visionary. Please don’t tell me you heard what we were talking about.”
“I don’t know, nor do I care,” comes the passionless reply. The woman’s voice is devoid of any sort of emotion as if nothing can provide her pleasure. She sounds more bored than anyone would assume possible. “Muster the tower.”
“No, way. Two within one month? What is it now? Please tell me it’s something easier than Demons,” Tagert groans. “Because if it’s Demons again-”
“It’s Demons again,” Oracle interrupts. “Though you should have an easier time than last time. There’ll be some injuries and very few deaths, but don’t let your guard down. I’ll be on comms- even though I don’t want to be. You just do your job and make sure they don’t overrun your city.”
“You’re a slave driver, you know that.”
“I do. But didn’t you want to avoid getting on my bad side?” She responds. “Insulting me, how rude.” The call ends immediately, without so much as a goodbye.
Tagert leans forward groaning loudly. “So she did hear us.” Diane snorts, standing up from her seat. “Ah, ah. No bed time for you. That wasn’t a courtesy call or a call to blackmail us. We’re going to have another big attack. It’s Demons again. I’m going to muster the tower, you-” he raises his finger, pointing at Diane. “Will fetch Salvo, Chains, Bolts, and Necro. Send them in immediately and make sure they’re suited up.”
Diane rolls her eyes. “Yes, Director,” she says sarcastically. “Just try not to have a heart attack while I’m gone.”
“Ha- ha,” Tagert says, sarcastically. He stands up as Diane walks away, grinning to herself. The door slams shut and he approaches the corner of the room, the look on his face growing serious. He stops next to the large suit of armor in the corner of the room, dragging his hand across the unblemished, silver steel. He steps around it, pressing a small button at the small of the back.
The armor drags outward as if a sword has cut the armor lengthways. There are large, circular bands with wires running along the length in well-managed bunches. Tagert slips inside from the right, the one side where the wires are few and it’s easiest to climb over the thin bands. Once in the suit, he inserts his boots into the sabaton and then pushes his hands into the gauntlets. For a moment he checks to make sure nothing will be caught when the armor encloses around him, then he closes his fist.
The armor slides shut and there’s a loud thud and a ding just by his ears. He’s granted vision of the outside with a handy HUD displaying dangers with x-ray and night vision. There’s a soft crackling and Tagert clears his throat, before turning around and walking the length of the room. “Oracle, are you still there?”
“Of course. Your team will be there in a minute- no, 43 seconds exactly. I took the liberty in contacting them before you sent someone to fetch them.” Oracle makes a loud surprised noise, something completely out of character. “I’m just going to leave the surprise until you get there.”
“Oracle,” Tagert grumbles. “What are you hiding?”
“Nope, not saying a thing. Finish your Demons before you get your desserts.”
“Oracle!” Tagert stomps his foot, and beneath his armor, a vein pops up on his forehead, just above the scar. Oracle is laughing, a bitter laugh that sounds like she’s forcing it. The door swings open and four gray, armored men and women step in.
Chains, Salvo, Necro and Bolts. Team Cavalier. The head team of Gomorrah. Just like Oracle to be completely prepared for Tagert’s temper. In fact, just like her to be prepared for absolutely anything. After all, she’s basically omniscient. “Mirror Knight,” Salvo says in greeting. Ah, the rules, when in armor, you go by CPO name, when out of armor, it’s real names and titles. “Exactly what’s going on?”
Tagert groans. “You know what, fuck it! If Oracle’s going to conceal information, then I am too!”
“But sir,” Necro mutters, beneath his armor. He doesn’t talk much, but this is one of the few times that he does talk.
“Necro’s right. If you don’t reveal any information, people could die,” Bolts says, mouth moving at a million miles an hour, something that seems to be very much like her power. “Please, just at least tell us what’s going on.”
Tagert shakes his head “Nope. Not happening. You know how stubborn I can be, so not happening-”
“Besides, if he told you, there would be more deaths. Both CPO members and innocents. It’s one of the few times Mirror Knight’s stubbornness will actually come in handy. Besides, the announcement of who you will be fighting will result in your most successful team staying behind.”
“What team is that?” Chains asks.
“Not saying. I’m sure you’ll find out later, though.”
There’s a long silence within the group. Even though they’ve worked together for so long, this is a very strange situation. For both Oracle to hide information as it will prevent deaths and for Tagert’s stubbornness to actually be positive, the results are extremely unexpected. All of them know exactly what it means. It means that Team Chevalier isn’t the most necessary team in this emergency. Their team is to be the backup team, they’re going to be reinforcing a team they have yet to find out and considering Oracle is concealing that information too, then that team is something none of them is willing to believe, even though Oracle conceals rather than lies, they will inevitably expect her to lie at that moment.
Salvo snorts. “That’s disconcerting.” Salvo continues what they’re all thinking, while Bolts looks at him, a look of confusion beneath her helmet, displaying that she is the only one failing to follow everyone’s thoughts. “So what do we do now, where are we going?”
“Just over a mile west of where you are. They’re nearby, hoping to inspire some response. They want you to draw a specific person out. If you don’t meet them, they will attack the CPO building directly.”
“You’re kidding,” Chains groans.
“I don’t ‘kid’ anyone. Either way, they will locate the person the person they're looking for. It’s your job to discover them and to defend them, no matter who the attacker is.”
“Whoa, what about defending the innocence?” Bolts interjects.
“Inconsequential. They are there to annoy innocence, not kill them. Besides, the sooner you defend the one they’re seeking, then the sooner the damage will cease.”
“And you’re not telling us who we need to find?”
“They’ll act as bait. There is no argument. This is the best course of action. There is no better circumstance, there is no way to make things work out better. Follow my instructions or stay behind.”
“Not happening,” Mirror Knight sighs. “Let’s get out there before we regret it. ‘Sides, I need to let off some steam.”
“You always do,” Salvo points out.
“And this is the only time I can do it. Are you going to prevent me from taking the opportunity?” They all shake their heads in response. “Good.” Mirror Knight starts walking without a single word more, making his ambitions clear. He pushes out of the main office into the large reception outside, leading the way to the elevator. He presses the button to call the elevator, which arrives as soon as the others are queued up next to him.
They all squeeze inside, all standing uncomfortably close to one another because of the large, steel armor. The elevator descends at a fast rate, shooting past all the floors without stopping once. Likely Oracle has a hand in it. Oracle is a bit strange, the reason she has a form of omniscience is similar to the way Kaiden can talk to his robots. She has the ability to control all robots from a distance, with the ability to see what they will encounter in the future and their creation process. She’s one of the rare few that are hard to measure. She could be a magic user or a Vigor, but out of both, she’s undoubtedly one of the more powerful people the CPO has at its disposal.
The elevator stops and dings, allowing the five of them to step out into the garage. There are already people here, the faster responders, most of them are what some might call scouts or blitzers. Fast movers, able to get in and out without a problem. They probably all took the stairs and then they’ll run to the place where the demons are attacking.
“So what’re we taking?” Jolts asks. She’s talking about the car, as there are three to choose from.
“The tank,” Mirror Knights grumbles.
“Neat. Dibs on the wheel.”
“Not happening. I don’t trust you with a sixty ton, wrecking ball that shreds buildings as easily as it shreds asphalt.”
“That’s sounds way too metal,” Salvo snorts. “Think you can give an overly metal description to the other two?” Mirror Knight flips Salvo off before walking out into the middle of the road. The tank is stored on this very same floor, held behind a separate garage door, protected by heavy security, prepared by Oracle herself.
Mirror Knight stops outside a large security door. “O-”
“Done,” Oracle interrupts. The door clicks and swings open, allowing the five of them to enter the garage holding the tank. Mirror Knight rolls his eyes beneath the helmet and steps inside as the lights turn on inside, focusing on the tank.
The tank, while called such, is nothing like a tank. It’s got no actual weaponry and is more like an armored up piece of construction equipment. It has a heavy battering ram, with a set of nearly obstructed bullet-proof windows, as well as a giant box on the back that has guns and other seating areas. Instead of wheels, the tank has large tracks, much like its namesake. It’s all painted black and the doors are locked with massive bars that will only open from the inside or with a small key fob held only by Mirror Knight.
Mirror Knight opens a pocket in his armor and withdraws the fob, pressing a red button. The bars slide away from the doors and Mirror Knight takes the driver’s seat while the others pile into the back, with Salvo taking a seat next to Mirror Knight.
Mirror Knight leans forward, placing his head on the wheel. Now if anything’s a pain to drive, it’s this thing. It’s hard to judge when it’s about to hit something and when it does, it’s more likely to keep going that it is to give any sort of sign it’s smashed into something. It turns all cars into pancakes and buildings into rubble and at worse, it will leave those in the car with nothing worse than a sore neck.
“Time to crush cars,” Mirror Knight grumbles.
“Oh, you’ll be fine! You’ll only crush two cars on your way there!” Oracle responds with her deadpan voice. “You’ll crush at least double that amount in demons.”
“So four- Wow. That’s truly an incredible amount of crushed demons,” Mirror Knight says sarcastically. The garage door slides open allowing them access onto the main road. Mirror Knight starts the tank up and gets it moving through the garage. Another downside to the tank, it’s slow as all hell, and hell hasn’t really done much for the past couple hundred of years.
It isn’t actually too long before the team arrives and they enter the situation my crushing two demons beneath the tracks then coming to a halt, trapping one more against a wall.
“That’s three!” Mirror Knight exclaims. He opens the door and there’s a loud crunch as a demon flies directly into the open door before dropping to the ground.
“Four. I included the dumbass that flew into a door.” Mirror Knight climbs outside of the tank, raising his right arm over his head to cover his eyes from the light covering the area. It’s so early, yet so bright. Slowly he lowers the arm as the others exit the tank, his eyes adjusting to the harsh light only to be met with the throng of demons surrounding them.
Most of them pay the team no mind, preferring to chatter amongst each other while throwing rocks and errant blasts at the side of buildings or at lone cars, though some do spot the entire team and wearily approach, their wings flapping slowly. Each demon seems different to the last, but the same. They all have two small horns and large wings, but there are little scars, eye colors and facial features that make them unique. It’s surprising how Human they might look without that which makes them Demonic.
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Mirror Knight grinds his teeth, remembering someone who looks similar to them. “Hm,” Salvo mutters. “Remember during the training exercise yesterday, Tagert.”
“It’s Mirror Knight right now,” he hisses. “Though I’m following you. I was thinking the same thing.”
“They look very similar to that girl from Team Hindsight, Elmira, I think.” There’s a rippling change in the Demons when Salvo says that name, heads snap toward them and they glare with both hate and intense desire.
Mirror Knight exchanges a glance with Salvo “What’s more is that the demons were after her the first time. I’m thinking I was lied to by Janus, Gates and Elmira. Elmira and Gates I can understand, but, Janus-” The Demons start approaching. “Oracle, make sure Elmira and her team remain in the tower.”
Oracle laughs, that hollow, humorless laugh of hers. “She’s approaching already. Besides, she needs to come. Now that you’re here, I might as well reveal the most successful team. It’s Team Hindsight, supported by Team Assault.”
“You’re kidding-” Jolts groans. “A junior team.”
“I don’t ‘kid’,” Oracle responds. “Besides, I don’t think you really have time to complain.” She’s right, just like usual. The demons are growing irate at being ignored and one shoots toward Chains, the thinnest build out of the five of them, she shrieks and she raises a hand and large chains explode from the ground, flying up causing a barrier between her and the demon. The demon slams into the wall and Salvo steps forward, raising a hand.
The air smells of sulfur, the stink of rotten eggs and then the demon gets blown apart by a small-scale explosion, more than enough to dispatch the demon. “Think we pissed them off?” Jolts queries.
“Yes,” Necro murmurs.
The demons, while they aren’t furious, it’s like a bolt was loosed from a crossbow too early. The throngs suddenly converge upon the team and the five of them step forward. Mirror Knight takes charge. “Necro, between Bolts and me. Chains, behind the three of us with Salvo. Keep three feet between us.”
They barely have a chance to get into position when the demons converge upon them, attacking with claws and feet, small blasts of white light. Each blast of white light that hits gets flung back almost as if being replicated. The effect is much like dropping a stone in the water, the air seems to ripple. An effect of Mirror Knights power, albeit, weakened due to the area it’s being stretched over.
Bolts is doing just as well. Her armor is sparking with golden electricity which bounces from one part to the next before being discharged in the air. Something that rightfully gave her the nickname of Pikachu when she was younger, but something she took in her stride. A large bolt of lightning strikes a demon who gets too close, which then drops to the ground like it flew into a bug zapper.
Salvo has a bored expression beneath his mask. His Vigor isn’t too concentration intensive, he points and forms an explosion of a specific size and then release his power. He catches three demons with a single explosion, before moving onto another large group.
Chains defends Salvo if the demons get too close, managing to pass by Mirror Knight’s defenses. They get wrapped in chains before being constricted to the point their bones snap, causing the area around the team to sound like the inside of a fire.
Necro holds out a hand, perpendicular to the ground. Large rib bones are unearthed before flying up next to her hand then being expelled into the throng of demons, tearing wings apart or catching an unlucky demon in the chest. When they get too close, a large pillar of bones erupts from the ground before flinging them back, much like a catcher with a baseball mitt might throw it across a field.
The fight is slow going, chaos. Salvo is the most effective, but he makes his complaints known. “Anyone finding these guys way too durable?” He murmurs. “Like, I pretty much have to catch ‘em center of the explosion and only then they die. If they’re on the borders, no dice.”
“I’m doing alright,” Bolts responds.
“Because you can stop their hearts,” Mirror Knight points out. “And Salvo’s right. My shield is pretty much useless right now. It’s nothing more than the first line of defense. The demons are shrugging off the blasts like nothing.”
“That’s because- to them, they are nothing. They're being hit with light and they're resistant to light. Unless you have a more powerful blast, then they can ignore it,” Oracle explains.
“And you neglected to tell me this- why?”
“Eh, then you might not defend everyone else or you’d just do it all yourself. Doesn’t matter, really. It’ll take a little longer, but it’s not like you can’t handle it.”
“I feel like we’re wasting time,” Chains says.
“Oh, you are, but it won’t be for long.”
Some of the demons turn away from the throng, retreating from the five of them. “Whoa, they’re scared shitless,” Jolts laughs. “Cowards!” She yells at the retreating forms. “Come back and fight like men- demon people men!”
Mirror Knight covers his face, groaning to himself. A large red portal opens overhead, and a massive golem like construct drops to the ground where it lands in front of the five of them with a loud bang. Mirror Knight raises his hands as an earthquake ripples through the area, the ripples immediately bounce back the way they came. The golem stands up.
Looking at the golem, it actually isn’t one, just a heavily armored, large bodied demon with a slack expression on its face. Its eyes are heavy and bloodshot, with horns curled, much like a rams horns. It has massive, what looks like moth-eaten wings and its giant fists are basically touching the ground. The demon is stooped and it seems like at any moment it will just collapse.
“Just stop talking, Jolts,” Chains sighs.
“Agreed,” Mirror Knight interjects. The demon slams his fists together as if waking up suddenly and he charges at the five of them. He charges at the team and Mirror Knight steps out front, retracting the shield and layering on him alone. The demon smashes into Mirror Knight and the air ripples and he’s flung at extreme speed back into a building.
“Get wrecked!” Jolts laughs.
“Ouch.” A voice comes from the demon and it slips up, approaching slowly, it’s feet leaving craters in the ground. “Hurts. I hurt you now,” it grumbles.
“Whoa, that guy took it like a champ,” Chains mutters. “Think you can take him, Salvo?”
“I can try. If push comes to shove, both me and Mirror can combo up and boost up an accurate detonation.” Salvo joins Mirror Knight at the front and the air around the demon seems like it’s being exposed to incredible heat and then there’s a massive explosion. Not just in front of them, but a few hundred yards to the East.
“Hindsight is now deep in combat with a group of approximately one hundred demons. Dispose of the Arcanist demon then move to support them,” Oracle announces. The dust settles, and Jolts looks at Salvo, but it’s not over. The demon seems stunned, surrounded by rubble. It’s bleeding a little, but it’s more like a lot of superficial cuts.
The rubble suddenly floats into the air and Mirror Knight exhales. He expands his shield to cover everyone and then the rubble is flung toward the group. The rubble crashes into the shield and then it’s flung into the buildings around them, like a hail of meteorites. The buildings expel rocks, glass, and steel onto the street which crashes into parked vehicles.
“How?” Jolts groans.
“Salvo, I don’t suppose that second explosion was yours, right?” Chains asks.
Salvo shakes his head. “As I said, Team Hindsight is engaging a large group of demons. You will need to back them up in a moment,” Oracle repeats.
Jolts groans. “This is all wrong. Us backing up another team. What the hell.”
The demon charges again and Mirror Knight rushes forward, colliding with the demon and sending him down the street. “Alright. Enough. Chains, Jolts, we’ll have to use jumper cables. This guy's way too durable and we aren’t trying to keep him alive, so let’s wrap him and see how much current he can take.”
“Means I gotta use steel,” Chains points out.
“No shit. This guy seems to give zero shits about earth and whatnot, so yes, metal. There’s literally tons of it around us. Use that stuff.”
The demon approaches, this time nearly twice the speed that he was prior to this time. He’s just charging over and over again without thinking about what happened the previous times. Mirror Knight leans in, squinting to see the demon’s eyes jammed shut as if he’s scared of the results. Mirror Knight leans forward and starts running, preparing to meet the charge head on. Mirror Knight raises a right arm over his body, extending it a tiny bit out front, and then he stoops his body down far enough that it seems that he’s going to slide his helmet across the ground.
The two collide and for a moment it seems the demon just stops. Like the Roadrunner or something. Then, almost like subjected to a major lag spike, the demon groans and shoots into the air, behind Mirror Knight, somersaulting uncontrollably. It slams into the ground between the four others and Necro skitters back, raising her hands.
Large pillars of bones explode out of the ground, before fanning out in the air as some sort of shield. The demon groans, shooting up and the earth starts shaking. Rocks shoot up, before colliding with the bones causing a set of almighty cracks and then there’s an explosion within, causing the demon to roar in pain and rage.
“Chains!” Mirror Knight yells.
Chains shrieks and she points at a warped chunk of structural steel which forms into massive chains. It flies toward the demon, clinking as it travels, then it starts wrapping the demon up. The demon fights back, trying to punch every chain, trying to break out of the chains, and while it’s strong, the chains are just far too thick.
The chains just keep forming, wrapping the demon over and over again until it seems to be nothing more than an orb of chains. Two loose ends of chain land at Chains’ feet and she looks around, breathing heavily, gasping for air.
Bolts steps in front of her. “Full charge?”
Mirror Knight nods. “Fry him.”
Bolts pumps her fists and wraps her hands around each loose piece of chain. “Looks like we’re having a cookout today!” Chains stumbles back as sparks crackle around Bolts’ shoulders. The sparks grow, become great pillars of lightning, cracking against the exposed metal in buildings, soon Bolts’ armor seems to absorb the lightning which flows down her arms. It hits the chains then the entire group of chains explodes with gold lighting which cracks loudly.
All the surroundings seem to crack as if a storm is coming down, which it seems to be. Mirror Knight raises his head to the clouds above, watching lightning rain down not far from where they are. “Was that Team Hindsight too?” He asks, rather dubiously.
“Yep,” Oracle responds. “Also, you can stop shocking the Arcanist now. He’s dead. Very dead.”
Bolts drops the chains and then looks around, giving Mirror Knight a questioning glance. “What now?”
“I guess we go to meet Team Hindsight,” Mirror Knight responds. “Shouldn’t be hard to find them after both the explosion and the storm showing up both Salvo and Bolts. Let’s go.” Mirror Knight starts walking, leaving the rubble of their fight behind them. They leave the chain wrapped corpse of the Arcanist, the bodies of the dead demons and soon the entire street. They head in the direction they know there’s a fight happening.
It’s not as if the fight stopped after the lightning, there’s still sounds of fighting getting louder as they approach. They pass some others, who are resting after their fights, some teams recuperating, who pay them no mind as they walk past. They have no interest in getting involved in Hindsight’s battle.
As Team Chevalier draws near, Oracle speaks up. “Alright, now it’s time for you guys to hear this. Next voice you will hear is that of Elmira, directly from the earpiece she’s wearing. Don’t question anything until it’s over.”
There’s a soft buzz, a different effect from the typically immaculate signal Oracle usually has. The sky brightens with white light for a moment, and then a voice comes through. “My brother has arrived.” Elmira yelps, as if startled. “Don’t do that, you gave me a heart attack!”
The next voice is Gates, “Say exactly what you said just then. Your brother has arrived?”
There’s a third voice, Gabbie, Hindsight’s leader. “What’s going on?” She’s terrified. “Who’s your brother Elmira? Why is he also with the Demons? Elmira… You’re- You’re not Human, are you?”
Mirror Knight’s breath catches in his throat and he looks at the others. Not a word is said between them, they're all listening to the Hindsight’s conversation. “My brother, Lucifer. I’m a Demon Lord. I came here to escape my Father.”
The signal changes to the clear signal of Oracle and she snorts. “How’s that for a plot twist? Then again, for a while, Mirror Knight did expect it.”
“You’re kidding,” Chains mutters.
“For fuck’s sakes! How many times today do I have to say I don’t ‘kid’! I’m a broken record! I don’t joke! I don’t lie! And I certainly don’t kid!” Oracle’s outburst in unexpected, but it just seems all just so unreal. The fact that they’ve had a Demon Lord in the CPO for over three weeks and they didn’t know. The fact that everything has lead to this. They are all silent as they walk, trying to figure out what to do with all of this new information.
“What do we do?” Necro asks.
Mirror Knight shakes his head. “When this is all done… If she’s still here, we’ll have to apprehend Elmira. After that, we’ll take her to a Vigor Confinement Facility where she’ll stay in a VEC. After that, we, with the help of the other directors will figure out what to do with her.”
“A Demon Lord won’t stay in a VEC. If she’s like any other magic user, there’s no way a cell can be personalized for her,” Salvo points out.
“But we’ll have no other choice.”
There’s a long silence, all of them nodding in agreement. It seems that there’s no other choice. It’s just one turn off before they reach Team Hindsight and there’s a second ear-shattering explosion. “Jesus H. Christ!” Salvo roars. He covers his ears, and throws his elbows up as if defending himself from an unseen, the others seem to react the same and they all watch debris get flung out of the street in front of them, crashing into buildings at the end of the street.
Mirror Knight swallows. It seems like their suits probably did enough to protect their ears, but that doesn’t stop them from all feeling a little bit stunned. “What was that?” Bolts asks.
“Gas pipe just opened up and caught a flame,” Oracle answers. “Should be safe now. It’s time for you to head down the street. Come on, run.”
The five of them break into a sprint, turning the corner to see Elmira, with Gates, a second demon, in a damaged suit with black leathery skin and white horns and wings. Elmira herself looks demonic too, with pale white skin, large wings, horns and a tail. She stands tall, over both the other demon and Gates. In front of them another demon, with a waif-like form, almost like it can be tipped over by a breeze, is skewered with a massive spear. It screams a long horrible shriek which soon falls silent.
“Have you betrayed us Lucifer?” A second demon yells. Everyone looks to where a second demon is, a large demon, not that much unlike the stone demon of earlier, but a bit smaller. It’s bulbous, with red skin and massive wings. Its horns seem to have been shaved down by a blast.
“Oops, missed,” a man laughs. Everyone looks up to see a man in a suit, standing in the air as if on a platform. He seems relaxed considering the situation.
“You bastard!” The demon lord roars.
Elmira starts walking, her mouth is moving, as if she’s talking, but no-one in the group can hear her. She wraps a hand around a spear. It’s hard to spot, but her hand is inserted into a gauntlet which serves as a barrier between her and the spear. She pulls the spear free of the dead body and then she leans forward.
The other demon for some reason gets incredibly scared and he starts running, a portal forming in front of him. Team Chevalier approaches the demon, about to intercept him before he reaches the portal, but they don’t get the chance to kill him.
Elmira suddenly explodes forward, obliterating the corpse of the other demon then slamming into the larger demon, skewering him. She wrenches it to the right, her left, then she slashes the demon’s head off which drops to the ground, bouncing once, twice, three times, then stopping at Mirror Knight’s feet. Mirror Knight feels immense pressure pressing down on him. What now?
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Author's Notes
I'm pretty sure at least 50% of you knew who Mirror Knight was, but there you go. Director Tagert is Mirror Knight. As for the hell that is this chapter. I HATE WRITING THIRD PERSON. I can write third person, but there's something about writing it that makes my body grow cold and makes me break out in a sweat. I feel disconnected to the story I'm writing and I don't like that feeling. It feels like my writing suffers because of it.
So this might be some excuse, but I started playing a bunch of the Witcher 3 and Overwatch. Overwatch I placed in my competitive and Witcher 3... Well, I finished the main story for the second time and finished Hearts of Stone and started Blood and Wine. So, lots of free time. Next up is Arc 2: Sathanus