Yumi
Tuesday, 27th of October, 198 A.C, 15:13
“Best fighter? Oooh, that’s a tricky one. Impulse has a lot of powerhouses. I think [redacted] would take it in a gunfight, as long as she could end things quickly. [redacted] would probably win in a melee, since she’s the most tanky of us and can improvise so well. Best one-on-one fighter’s definitely got to go to [redacted] though. He can’t take a hit but good luck landing one on him. What? Me? No, of course not. I have the superpower of getting really anxious. You do? You are? Oh, well. Uh, thanks. I don’t know what would make you think that, but yeah. Thanks.” - Leaked data fragment from an interview of [redacted]
I lazily fed another chip into my mouth. Typical Casey to be a no-show to her own birthday party.
Trevor, Axel, and I had been waiting in the living room for a couple hours now. Once conversation had died out we flipped on the TV and were now at various stages of melting into the couch.
At the moment, an interview of the Notch sisters was on screen.
“So,” began the host, “I hear you’ve got a new music video coming out. Now I *know* you’re not supposed to be spoiling anything, but how are you feeling about how it’s coming along?”
Angela, the older sister, nodded politely. She was, as usual, decked out all in blue. “Video production is always filled with its ups and downs, but I’m very happy with the finished product. I think our fans will love it.”
The younger sister, wearing her usual red, stretched out in her chair. “Yeah, it’s going pretty well. We usually butt heads a lot on stylistic choices, but this one is of ‘Two Sides of a Coin’ so we’ve mostly let each other have control over our separate sections.”
Angela glanced exasperatedly at her sister. “Lilith, please!”
The subject of Angela’s ire smirked mischievously. “Did I just leak something? *oops.* How silly of me.”
The interview got lively after that, but I quickly lost interest. Axel had grabbed one of the balloons we had put up and was absentmindedly pressing into it with his thumb before releasing it, a soft thimp sounding off each time.
Thimp. Thimp. Thimp.
The broadcast was interrupted by an emergency alert. A stiff news anchor straightened out a stack of papers and cleared their voice.
“We interrupt this broadcast to inform listeners that a Psychon attack is occurring at a restaurant southwest of Central. Reports indicate that the attack began when a taurus appeared in the middle of the dining area, followed by an increasing number of corpi as the clientele began to panic.”
Trevor sat up. “Another one? Geez, Spark can’t catch a break.”
Axel had stopped pressing into the balloon, but was still absentmindedly fiddling with it. “How long until a squad shows up, do you think?”
Trevor sighed. “Looks like it’s a good bit out of Central. Probably not prestigious enough for a lot of squads to go to. Wouldn’t be surprised if nobody shows up until the Watch puts up a reward.”
“That long?” said Axel. “I don’t suppose *we* could help out?”
Something on the screen sent a wave of panic through me. “Um, guys?” I pointed to a spot on the helicopter footage where a figure was cowering under a table. The figure was short, with long red hair.
We scrambled downstairs to get geared up.
“Shitshitshitshitshitshit.” I wasn’t exactly sure who was responsible for all the cursing. Probably a combination of all of us.
Trevor sent out a message to the squad, letting them know the situation and telling Beck to hang on.
After a rushed gear check, Axel hopped in the driver’s seat of the van and we piled in behind. As soon as the garage door finished opening, Axel floored the gas and we sped off towards the restaurant.
***
The Berserker
The van skidded to a halt just outside the restaurant. It was three stories tall, set on the corner of a block. The second floor was walled with glass around its whole perimeter. That would be the dining area, our place of most concern.
The windows themselves were covered in cracks and holes, likely from both patrons trying to get out and Psychons trying to get in.
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Corpi had been gathering ever since the attack started. By now they had grown into a complete swarm, to the point that the third floor was nearly completely consumed behind a crowd of the crow-like Psychons. A few smaller swarms covered what was left of a few unlucky patrons that had jumped out the windows to escape.
Despite taking a good twenty minutes to arrive, we were the first on the scene.
“Alright,” said the Runner, “what’s our gameplan?”
The Scout stuffed Beck’s equipment into the Runner’s bag and tossed it over to him. “I’ll cover you two’s entrances, then try to get in myself. Once you get up to the second floor, you’ll want to focus on keeping anyone in there safely away from the taurus. If Beck is still there, try to get her somewhere secure where she can gear up.”
I turned towards the Runner. “As much as I really, *really* hate saying this, I’ll be our best bet at handling the taurus. Once I’m under my Veil’s influence, you’ll need to keep people away from not just the taurus, but me as well.”
The Runner chuckled. “Wow, giving me the boring stuff, huh? I get it, I get it. Let’s do this.”
We burst out of the van. I unsheathed my falchion and the Runner drew his knife. Immediately noticing us, a cloud of corpi began diving down to attack.
The Scout took cover on the far side of the van and snatched a lever-action shotgun from his backpack.
K-THOOM *chack* K-THOOM *chack* K-THOOM
The Scout let loose a volley into the swarm, punching holes in it and causing a dark mist to rain down.
Despite the Scout’s efforts, a good number of corpi reached us. I swung my blade in a wide, upward arc, cleaving 6 or 7 of the birds in two.
The Runner’s aura flared to life and he charged towards the doors to the restaurant, catching a few corpi with wild knife swings. The Psychons covered him, pecking and scratching viciously, but his wounds closed just as quickly as they appeared.
The Scout’s supporting fire had stopped, as he now had his own swarm to deal with. A brown glow surrounded his head and hands and he stowed his gun in favor of a razor sharp tomahawk. As he fended off the corpi, something began shifting inside his backpack.
One corvus got through my wild swings and was about to reach me.
“FUCK!” I rolled forward, just barely edging out of the way. Behind me, the corvus crashed into the ground and evaporated..
As I sprung up I noticed a faint pink glow tracing veins along my body. I took a deep breath, causing the glow to fade. Couldn’t afford my Veil activating just yet.
A full group of corpi dove at me, but this time I was more composed. I brought up my left arm to counter the attack. A white energy shield sprung to life out of the armor there, a gift courtesy of the Pugilist back when I had first joined the squad.
The corpi slammed into my shield and bounced off, dissipating soon afterward.
I turned off the shield and surged forward, ducking under a small group of corpi.
Ahead of me, the Runner had reached the door. He busted through and dropped into a roll to shake off the corpi on him. They scattered and quickly fluttered off back outside.. His aura faded and he took a moment to breathe before getting up and dashing towards the stairs.
Not wanting to be left behind, I leapt forward and slashed at yet another cloud of birds, forcing them apart. I fought my way through until I managed to get to the entrance, then turned around to give the pursuing corpi a farewell strike.
As I did so, I noticed the Scout making his way over. He ran in a low crouch with his aura up, swinging at any Psychons that came down low to attack under his backpack.
K-THOOM
Buckshot blasted out from the top of his backpack, keeping a larger swarm at bay. I heard a *chack* as the gun loaded itself, followed by a second blast.
He looked like he could handle himself, so I hurried up to the second floor.
The dining area looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Which, to be fair, was pretty close to the truth. Tables had been flung to and fro, and broken glass and plates covered the ground. There was also… urgh. More than a few bodies on the ground. Some were moving, but most were not.
My heart skipped about 7 beats when I saw the taurus. It was massive, at least 2 meters tall, and was currently thrashing about by the left side of the room, trying to free one of its horns from a countertop.
Speaking of the countertop, there were a few survivors hiding behind it. The Runner was with them, doing his best to reassure them. His bright aura flickered on, to the relief of the patrons who were injured.
A wave of relief washed over me as I confirmed that Beck was in the crowd and didn’t have any obvious injuries.
As I stood there surveying, the taurus managed to free its horn, taking a large chunk out of the countertop along with it. Screams came from the crowd of survivors as it readied for another charge.
I started to panic. “Think!” I felt around the pouches on my armor, trying desperately to find something I could use.
My hand caught on a throwing knife and I snatched it.
I hurled the knife towards the taurus and yelled, “FUCK OFF!”
The knife spun wildly in the air and stuck into the Psychon’s side, causing it to freeze up.
“Yes!”
The taurus snorted, and turned to face me.
“... oh shit.”
I slowly took out my falchion.
“Easy th-there, buddy. S-sorry about that knife.”
The taurus presented its horns.
“We couldn’t talk this out, could we?”
It pawed the ground, preparing to charge.
I shrunk back against the wall, pink veins starting to spread out from my heart.
“Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrypleasedonthurtme.”
The taurus didn’t seem to want to chat.