Blake's punch had been a pretty powerful strike, expertly thrown by someone with superhuman strength, but Derrick had been wearing his infamous mask. It was designed to take much more punishment than even enhanced flesh and muscle could deliver.

The only part of him that even really felt the blow was his neck muscles, and even that was light. In fact, Derrick wouldn't be surprised if Blake's fist had lost the exchange.

It did help disrupt whatever Canvas fuckery was going on, but it didn't snap Derrick back to reality. The second that grenade had exploded, Derrick had connected to the Canvas almost as strongly as when he went physically into it.

He grimaced, it was like he'd brought a piece of the Canvas here. The aftereffects of that weren’t something you just walked off. He was left mentally reeling, feeling as if something important had been ripped from his grasp.

He desperately fought an internal battle to hold onto something he only partially remembered. It had been important... but what was it?

From nearby, he heard the sound of metal striking metal at high speeds. That was also important for other reasons, he realized slowly. Why was that though?

He winced. Reaching and turning... and it was gone. No not quite gone. He still felt a longing for the mysterious something he had been about to do/find/earn/create.

The veteran User straightened up, shook himself and looked around.

He was still holding his hand out in front of himself, he realized. He dropped it but immediately brought it back up to his face when something caught his eye.

He'd noticed, after his fight with the Lurker, that his gauntlets had acquired scratches all along it. Until this point he hadn't given that much thought. He'd found it odd that the System wasn't repairing them but just assumed they were too shallow to count as real damage. They had been barely noticeable after all, easier to feel than see.

That had changed. Now, a mesmerizing pattern of whirling ripples spread from the fingers he'd grasped at the silver light with. Depending on the angle and how they caught the light, the markings appeared as either curving glyphs or a complex weave of artistic lines.

Checking his other hand revealed his experiment with Fold Grenades had affected them both the same.

That was something to look into when he had a second. Now he had more important things to worry about. Like the ongoing high speed battle, avoiding any more punches and Third Striker's reaction to whatever had just happened.

He examined the situation.

Well, there would be no more punches coming at him. Blake was a little busy for that. The scavenger that hadn't been hit with his grenade had made it up the side of the truck and was engaged in another fierce melee with Blake.

Third Striker warily watching that fight but hadn’t moved to help. The small Crusader seemed injured, the pain obvious on his youthful features. Derrick really hoped that wasn’t his fault. The last thing he needed was to alienate his most powerful ally.

Derrick caught sight of another attacker coming up from the other side. Despite a hail of bullets from bikers and pickups zooming around them, the many limbed machine managed to haul itself onto the Abomination's roof. It rocked back and forth under the ranged assault but its many legs pierced through his ride's armor easily, making it hard to dislodge with anything weaker than a wrecking ball.

Not wanting to face it head on, Derrick hit it with a manna empowered axe just as it was pulling itself onto the roof. He didn't manage to knock it down but he did manage to sever a limb and stop its climb.The red-clad User retreated as zuasite tipped limbs stabbed towards him, dodging until an opening let him take another swipe at the climbing scavenger. His blow was deflected easily, due to the fact he couldn't summon forth another burst of manna that quickly.

With auril being entirely useless, he was too limited to be much of a threat to these things. His auril was even stopping him from using manna, no wonder his Patron, It That Rewards Savagery, had told him to run from fights like this one. If he wanted to win, he would have to mix things up a bit. He reached for his custom pistol.

Unfortunately, his enemy also decided to attack from a different angle. Instead of climbing with its legs, the spider shaped construct dropped off the side of the vehicle, catching itself at the last second and driving back up the Abomination's side at high speed.

Curling its legs at it’s sides, it shot up into the air above Derrick and fired its harpoon behind him. Derrick threw and axe and cut the line, but it was too late. The scavenger was now headed back down just as fast as it had gone up, legs spread to spear any User dumb or slow enough to be caught below it. The wheel ring around the scavengers body was not only still spinning at high speeds, but was now sporting a series of small but sharp looking spikes that glinted green.

Derrick rolled, hoping he would be fast enough to avoid impalement or being ground to paste beneath the descending metal monstrosity.

As luck would have it, he was. He narrowly avoided being penetrated by zausite tipped limbs. Less luckily, his foe gracefully jumped back up into the air and began to descend on his new position.

He did some quick mental calculations and realized rolling out of the way again wasn't on the table. For lack of a better plan, he rolled onto his back and kicked up with both feet, careful to avoid the spinning saw blade.

It worked, insofar as a stay of execution was a victory. Back pressed into the ground, his boots managed to stop his messy dismemberment. He was stuck like this though, desperately pushing up for all he was worth while a spinning blade of poisonous metal was trying to messily meet with his face.

It went on like that for a minute, until the Rebel Instrument scavenger shifted, no doubt trying to get a better grip on the ground and press down harder. That tiny shift caused it to lose the grip it had though, and Derrick managed to send it flying back up into the air with a grunt.

It was just a temporary solution but maybe if he could reach his pistol and find some kind of weak spot...

There was a familiar barking sound as a powerful projectile knocked the scavenger out of the sky. It hit the back portion of the vehicle's roof, bounced once and its still form was quickly left behind by the convoy.

“You’re welcome,” announced Stacy, her buckler cannon now pointed in the air above him.

“Yes. Thanks,” said Derrick sincerely. He took a deep breath and stood. Honestly, he'd forgotten she was there. Basically his entire world for the last two minutes had just been him and the jagged metal form trying to tear him apart.

This was why it was important to invest in the team. Also big guns.

“That's the last of them,” Blake announced, withdrawing his sword from the guts of the last scavenger on the roof. It fell lifeless at his feet and the blond strode over it to reach Derrick's side.

These Scourges looked a lot smaller now that he wasn't underneath one. The spider shaped constructs weren’t actually that large, Derrick realized. They were only five feet tall and mostly made of skinny legs.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

It seemed like they'd won the fight. All around the Abomination, the roads were clear of Rebel Instrument minions. The last few had been taken down pretty easily as they tried to swarm the Abomination. It seemed like once his grenade went off, every single enemy had tried to suicide attack him. Most had failed to get anywhere near him, taken down by the many Users in his and Meg's employ.

Derrick turned to the silent member of their group, Third Striker.

“Are you okay?” he asked warily. He had no idea how the Crusader would react to his accidental Canvas manna outburst. His entire purpose was fighting the Feral Artisans, if he thought Derrick was a threat. Derrick the Red gripped an axe and pistol tight.

At the moment, the Crusader did not seem like much of a threat, he was lying down on top of the Abomination, his fingers clutching handholds.

“I will survive,” Third Striker said, his voice muted because his face was pressed into the vehicle. “More importantly disciple, come here.”

Derrick did so, trying to hide his wariness.

When he got close, Third Striker’s hand shot out and grabbed his ankle. The alien warrior turned onto his side and gave Derrick a terrified look. Despite his alien features, his blue eyes conveyed pure fear.

“I have spent myself. Please get me back inside,” Third Striker asked, his fingers digging into Derrick’s armored boots so hard he could actually feel it.

Huh, without manna to help balance on the moving vehicle, the alien hybrid was terrified of falling off. Well, this was better than him becoming an enemy.

“You want me to carry you?” Derrick asked cautiously. He’d gone from the practicalities of Fighting the Crusader one second, to the best way to hug him the next.

The small figure nodded, his entire body tense. Derrick considered just stopping the vehicle and letting the hybrid make his own way inside but decided against it. So, Derrick faced away and knelt down, allowing the ancient warrior to grab onto his back.

“Adorable,” Stacy said as Derrick rose to his feet with a passenger.

“You may try to shame me but I wear the wounds I took defending your world with pride,” Third Striker said, directly into Derrick’s ear. “I fought enemies that to which, the devices of which you are so proud are but insignificant toys.”

“Yes Stacy, any of us should be honored to give piggyback rides to our interstellar saviors.”

Derrick ignored them. He wanted to get Third Stricker off his back as soon as possible.

“We’re turning around,” Derrick said and felt his ride slow beneath his feet. “Rescue and salvage.”

They had lost at least one Tempest it seemed. Hopefully just the vehicle and not the Users driving it. They needed to head back for any left behind survivors.

Not to mention every scavenger corpse had to be worth something to both Teslaforce and the System. Zausite was form of siviril after all and the scavengers had a bunch of tricks up ther sleeves that tealsforce would love to research.

It was easy enough to climb back inside, even with his passenger. He let his teacher slide back into his chair and waited for Blake to join them. The other User seemed to be chatting with Stacy on the roof still though. That plus Third Striker immediately falling into meditation gave him some time to himself.

Taking a deep breath, Derrick moved to take off his mask but stopped when he caught sight of his hands. Ah, right. The whole Canvas thing. It was weird how his priorities kept shifting. At least these markings didn’t seem to be dangerous, they were just art?

“Watching you stare at your hands isn't very reassuring,” Blake said as he swung through the side door. Derrick couldn't see his face through his mask but his voice was not filled with confidence. “Need punched again?”

“I'm considering how hard I should hit you back,” Derrick lied. “You're pretty fragile and these gloves are hard.”

“I’m not worried, you didn’t exactly bring your A game today,” Blake noted.

Ughh. He did not want to have a conversation with Blake about the Canvas.

“Yes, well thanks for making up for that.” Derrick said. “I do need a second though. To think things over and read some notifications.”

Blake nodded and gave him some space.

Derrick really did have notifications to go over. First of which was mission update.

Universal Support System

Mission Update:

(Complete) Destroy the Rebel Instrument Scavenger Pack

(1) Examine three nearby System Stations for corruption

(2) Purge corrupted System Stations

Proficiency Earned: Advanced Explosives

Title Earned: Experienced + 225 USSP

Experienced

User has fought five different Scourges (Feral Artisans, Grey Legion, Spore Tyrants, Rebel Instruments, Hollow Majesties)

Really just a reminder that they had more to do before they were done with the Rebel Instruments. The proficiency was interesting if it allowed him to buy Fold Grenades. Should he take that as permission to keep using them from the System?

Next, he brought up his profile.

Shit. The Canvas limit had gone up. Though not as high as he might have expected. What about his gauntlets? They were obviously affected.

Canvas Touched Manna Gauntlets

(Classified: Enigma)

Contains traces of altered Siviril.

Has basic self repair and security features.

Classification: Manna Enigma (Canvas). Purpose: Unknown. Function: Unknown.

Warning: These items have been altered down to the sub atomic level by channelling Canvas manna through them and have been classified as an Enigma. This classification is hidden to non authorized Users.

Item has been classified as an Enigma. This classification is hidden to non authorized Users.

Thank you ancient galaxy wide AI. So informative. His small human mind was blown. Obviously he wasn’t going to get any answers from the System itself. He would have to gently question Third Striker when the Crusader was up to it.

Derrick was about to move to the front of the vehicle where Stacy and their driver were. He stopped halfway though, when he heard the Abomination’s side door slide open.

Unannounced, Meg popped in.Effortlessly jump off a Bike and into the larger vehicle’s cabin. Derrick saw the Bike, now riderless keep pace with the Abomination before the door closed again.

“Come right in,” Derrick said. “Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks, I will.” Was the friendly reply he got from the older woman. “It’s a little harder to have a chat on my bike and I wanted to talk face to face.”

Fair enough, they did need to plan their next move.

“I want to borrow your ‘Abomination’s’ little factory. Repair as much as we can as quickly as we can. We’ll pay of course.”

“The Rebel Instruments were trying to slow us down.” Derrick said. They had targeted their vehicles as much as the Users riding them. “I’m assuming that means you want to do the opposite?”

That would fit her style and make more than a little sense. He assumed the Rebel Instruments could pump out scavengers quickly if they gave them the time to do it. Their raid wouldn’t make sense if they weren’t expendable and Third Striker said they were controlled by competent leadership, some kind of hive mind.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Meg replied with a smile. “We’re only about half of us fight ready. Few dead, thankfully, but anyone touched with zuasite needs to be shipped back to West Hills for medical treatment.”

“Which means we will need to send all the Tempests back with the wounded,” Derrick realized. “We will need the Abomination to make repairs and track the enemy so it has to stay with us.”

“Just so,” she agreed.

The whole Rebel Instrument situation was just a side quest anyway. Their real mission was still in Flint Creek, checking out a System built bunker that held thousands of sleeping people.

By the time they even got to that mission, the tempests could go to West Hills and back. Who knew how long it would take to clear the area of corruption?

“That leaves me without a way to get to the fight. We can’t take the Abomination anywhere near another battle. That last time was a fluke, we’re lucky we distracted them and they didn’t destroy it.”

“Ah, don’t worry Breakneck has got you covered.” Meg announced and threw the side door open again.

There were two riderless bikes out there now, Derrick saw. The second was red. Which was odd because he would have remembered seeing a red bike if there had been one before.

“When needs must,” she continued with a grin. “The Devil drives.”