The next two hours were… loud. It turns out tens of thousands of goblins are chaotic. Some were shouting orders. Others were moving material. Everyone was trying to get their work done first. This resulted in a din of activity. It was made all the louder by everyone trying to yell over the noise. I don’t even know what I am complaining about. I just sort of loomed over the proceedings. Most folks did not want to approach me. I didn’t feel a strong need to try and help. In order to help, it is best to have the vaguest fucking clue what is going on, or what to do.

“Are you just going to keep walking around the lanes of the camp?” Spine demanded.

I get why he was complaining. I had been walking around. He had been jogging. For two hours in the snow. He was getting a bit winded, and pissed off.

“Yeah, I just want to see as much as I can,” I explained. I considered the situation, “I could carry you.”

Spine watched several younger goblins walk by. All of them were staring at him with open curiosity. That seemed to be happening a lot. I think part of it was that people didn’t want to stare at me, because that would be rude. The other part was most of them seemed concerned I might hurt them if offended. That translated to a lot of people staring at Spine so they could keep me in their field of view. That meant Spine was the center of the crowd's attention.

Spine considered his words, “Doug, for the love of all that is good and holy in the world, don’t carry me around like a toddler. If I am actually going to be your Mugwump, and if that is going to mean something, people have to have some respect for me.”

“Fair enough.” I thought about what to do. We couldn’t just stay here. People were slowing their work setting up the camp to watch me. “Let’s go take custody of Madigan.”

“Probably should.” Spine agreed. He rested his hand on the hilt of one of his knives.

We had to negotiate the crowd. Sure, most people didn’t want to block my way, and everyone was actively trying to avoid being underfoot, but there were a lot of people and the tents and trucks made the space tighter. All said and done it took us about another forty minutes to walk the half mile to an isolated cluster of trucks belonging to the Chimera Corps.

They did not look happy to see me. What a shock.

“Morning Corporal,” I said to the fish-eyed Jeffery Todd. He still looked burnt and pockmarked from the metal barbs. Actually, that is normal: my healing was weird. Huh. I gave him a polite smile.

He glared at me.

“I am here for the… prisoners.” Yeah ‘prisoners’ sounded better than ‘kidnap victims’. Never figured that being one of my concerns ever. I may be in over my head. Between kidnapping Spine and this, I may be a criminal.

Nah, Spine is never gonna press charges. Philip probably wouldn’t either.

The Corporal kept glaring. He had huge eyes so even with them narrowed like this it was quite the hairy eyeball.

I was sensing some hostility, “I would like to speak to Rachel… please.” I am a take-charge sort of warlord.

I must have said the magic words because Jeffery pressed a small button on his collar and said, “Lieutenant, the big bastard is here.”

Madigan was thrown out the back of the truck. He almost managed to keep his feet. Three bounding steps later he lost his balance and rolled in the snow. He probably would have done better but his hands were still chained behind his back. He got to his knees and Rachel hopped out of the truck landing next to him. Two of her soldiers helped two more young men step down.

The two young men gazed at me in terror. They were maybe twenty, I would be shocked if they were older. One was trying to grow a beard and it simply wasn’t going to happen. The other was painfully thin. I knew their type. The guys that never fit in. The ones always on the outside. The ones desperate to please. The kids an opportunistic authority figure could manipulate easily.

Don’t get me wrong, I was going to talk to them before deciding anything. They also fit the profile of people easily made into scapegoats, but there was guilt in their eyes.

It is a funny thing, having people be afraid of you. So many people think they want that, because at some point they were afraid of someone. When I was young I mistakenly assumed people who could put that kind of fear in others must feel the inverse of the crippling powerlessness I felt. It took a while and a lot of deprograming on Hank’s part, but eventually I learned that people who like it when others are afraid of them, are scared all the time.

I didn’t like the fear in their eyes.

That wasn’t the whole truth. Seeing them gaze at me in terror made me realize, the things I was doing were terrifying. I understood I was in a bit of a gray area morally. That was from my perspective. From their perspective… I don’t know but it couldn’t look good. I didn’t like people being afraid of me… especially when they had reason to be scared.

If those two weren’t involved, I’d really owe them an apology.

I needed to focus, “Rachel, why are there three people here?”

A glower flashed across Rachel’s expression, before an honest grin replaced it, “That’s an odd way to say thank you. We got the whole conspiracy here. You could mistake me for an ACS Detective. I cracked the whole case.” She pointed at the kid on the left, “Killer,” She pointed at the kid on the right, “Accomplice,” she patted Madigan on the shoulder, “Mastermind.”

“You know this, how?” I asked. It sounded right, but it also sounded like what I wanted to hear.

“She beat confessions out of them!” Madigan roared. He glared at me as Rachel’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

I really looked at Madigan. He was beat to hell. His face was battered, and blood trickled out the corner of his mouth. He was shirtless out in the cold and shivered despite himself. That said his back, chest, and arms were covered in bandages from a patch job. Rachel’s phantom lions left real cuts. Blood was beginning to soak through the gauze. I couldn’t tell if his injuries were just from his capture or if he had extra.

I checked the two young men. They were not as roughed up as Madigan. They still had some bumps and bruises. They were patched like their teacher, but each had a heavy coat, the same as the ones the Chimera soldiers wore, draped over their shoulders. I am not saying they had a favorite prisoner, but if they did Madigan wasn’t it.

“Is that true?” I asked, watching Rachel closely.

“Nah,” Rachel shook her head. “Official regs prohibit torture.”

Perception check… Failed

That prompt was just there to stir shit. While I could spot the Narrator meddling a mile away, I really couldn’t tell one way or the other if Rachel was lying. I almost sighed. Of course this wouldn’t be simple. Who could have predicted putting out a bounty on someone might result in sketchy things happening?

Before I could say anything else, my feckless musings were interrupted.

“Doug! What in tarnation!” Janie yelled over the wind. She was standing about thirty yards from us. She was in her thick full length coat, and had a scarf around her neck. She glared at me under the brim of her hat. In her hands, held ready was a lever action rifle.

“What?” I said the words on reflex. Basically stalling for time.

“Must be the language barrier. Let me try again in north-midwestern!” Janie called. She took a deep breath, and then instantly flitted across the distance. She then shouted in my face, her southern accent gone, “What the FUCK are you doing?!” She all but instantly flitted back about ten feet.

“Criminal… justice,’ I replied almost sheepishly.

“Doug, don’t trifle with me right now.” Janie said coldly, her accent back in full effect.

“Madigan organized a murder. I can’t just let him stay free after that. He might try that again. I have people to look after now. This isn’t ideal but it's necessary,” I explained. I could tell I didn’t sound convincing.

“Janie, get Sunit and the rest of the heavy hitters!” Madigan yelled.

Rachel tipped him face first into the snow. “Quiet.”

“They have an army on our doorstep! They are going to kill us!” Madigan shouted.

“Hush, Madigan!” Janie scolded. She kept her eyes on me. “He is an ass but he is one of my people. Those boys too. I ain’t gonna just let you kill ‘em.”

“I know Madigan ordered the killing,” I explained calmly. The soldiers looked to be gearing up for a fight. I spared a glance to Rachel and shook my head. I felt Spine duck and activate one of his stealth skills. “I detected it through a perception check.” I didn’t want a fight. “We can talk this out.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I could see the slight glazing of Janie’s eyes as she read a prompt. She scowled, “That doesn’t give you the right to just take people.”

“I didn’t. Lola approved this. Her followers brought Madigan here on her orders,” I sounded like a weasel. I was leaning on technicalities. The odd bit was knowing that didn’t change my mind.

“So what? Now you’re gonna kill these guys?” Janie pressed me.

“No, a trial.” I answered.

Janie scoffed.

“You are welcome to watch,” I offered.

“Get the rest of the heavy hitters you dumb tramp!” Madigan shouted.

Rachel frowned, before turning to Janie, “He could slip on the ice.”

“No!” I cut in. “ The trial is happening.”

“Doug, give me a reason that is going to stop the small army of pissed off, thick-necked plug-uglies from coming over here to start a fight.” Janie spat. Literally she spat on the snow. I thought that was just a saying.

That is when the screaming and the gunfire started. Strangely enough no one around me was causing the problem. They also didn’t take the opportunity to cause trouble.

“Keep them here. Keep them safe. No trial, No pact,” I told Rachel. “Talk to you in a moment Janie.”

Sprint check… Successful

The prompt was familiar but the result was different. The gunfire was happening about half a mile from us on the west side of camp. The goblins were trying to fend something off. I wasn’t slow before, but now with titanic speed I was able to cross that half mile distance in fifteen seconds. That averaged out to 120 mph. My acceleration was simply unreal.

What was happening became apparent instantly. A Megaleo had forced its way into the camp. The massive brute had tipped a truck and was mauling an unlucky goblin. The goblin was quiet and strangely still. I think the first attack from the creature had killed them.

I focused on what I could do now for everyone still alive.

I hit it like a wrecking ball. My fist slammed into the thing's head. The impact rattled my bones. I felt something in my hand tear and mend instantly. The force of the collision sent the solid ton of predator flying. Just before it was out of reach, the umbral claws of my spell tore a good chunk out of it.

Attack Successful x2. Megaleo takes 191 points of damage.

Megaleo is knocked back 44 yards.

Megaleo is now bleeding.

I had to skidded to a halt and turned to line up my next attack. Deceleration was still a skill issue. I took a moment to manifest a layer of Ablative Shell.

Attack from White Shadow Successful.

You phased through the attack. No damage taken.

That was not helpful. There were probably three of them. I needed to do something dumb and something that would hopefully turn out to be smart.

You are no longer ignoring the Gore Soaked condition.

Craft check… Successful.

“Here, Kitty-kitty,” I called out. The Craft check was the real important bit. I shaped the top layer of the ice into a thin and taut skin. It was fragile and destined to break like a sheet of glass. Titanic Magic extended the radius I could reach from 24 to 44 yards. That was huge. The area of effect of my Craft skill had quadrupled.

Notice Check… Successful.

Crack! Crunch! Click!

I heard all three of them. One was directly behind me. Another was in front of me but behind the toppled truck. The last was to my right preparing to pounce.

Expend Free action? Yes/No

Note: you must select the total number of seconds spent before activating.

I mentally selected ten before punching the yes button.

The thrum of a time stop triggered. Everything went quiet. The wind stilled. I spun and stuck the closest White Shadow. I said once and I will say it again: Fuck snow lions in general and that one in particular.

Possible Exploit detected… Ticket submitted

Please wait…

Standard Time Stop attack resolution will be implemented.

Attacks will not hit at relativistic speed. Damage will be normal. Targets able to act during time stops will be entitled to all normal responses.

Exploit resolved

Of course the Narrators were going to try and mess with me. Although come to think of it an impact at relativistic speed would do… okay I -the Titan- didn’t pay attention enough in physics class to know what that would do. Probably something that would hurt me.

No sense dwelling on it.

I brought my fist down on the thing's head, then hit it with a jab, before kicking it to the side. The umbral claws ripped and tore without mercy. The creature barely even flinched as it was dismantled.

Attack successful x6. White Shadow A takes 479 damage

White Shadow A is slain.

7 seconds remaining

No time to waste. I had to burn a second to get to the second cat. I pounced on it. The shadow claws tore gouges out of its flesh. I hammered its back with my fists. I felt the thing’s spine break as it simply stood completely still unable to respond to my attacks.

Attack successful x6. White Shadow B takes 476 damage

White Shadow B is slain.

3 seconds remaining

I jumped over the truck and landed feet first on the third ninja cat. The ground cracked from the impact and the claws rendered flesh. I all but instinctively wailed on it.

Attack successful x6. White Shadow C takes 471 damage

White Shadow C is slain.

Free Actions complete

Time resumed. The wind surged, and the White Shadows… ruptured. Ew! That had to look crazy from the outside.

Attack from Megaleo Successful.

You phased through the attack. No damage taken.

The biggun was back in the mix.

We glared at each other for a long moment. It was when I manifested the second layer of Ablative Shell the Megaleo charged.

Attack from Megaleo blocked.

Counter-attack successful x2. Megaleo takes 155 damage.

The tremendous feline bore down on me. It raised a paw bigger than a bear’s and brought it down. I stepped into the blow, and blocked with my left. Force verses force, the impact sent ice flying everywhere. Somehow, I was the stronger of the two of us. The Megaleo’s attack didn’t even knock me off balance. Seizing the moment, I hit it again with an uppercut. The blow lifted the beast onto its back feet.

Then the Claws of Darkness tore its stomach open. Blood poured out of it like a broken barrel.

There was no more gunfire. Just the people shouting, and the whistling of the wind.

This wasn’t done yet.

“I know you’re out there!” I called swirling snow.

The smile of the Cait Sith materialized in my vision. The rest of the beast sauntered out of the snow behind it. It stopped about fifty yards away, and leered.

“Come on,” I muttered. My hands were shaking. Outside a domain, this thing probably couldn’t kill me. That said I had one stack of the Extreme Agony condition being ignored already.

I was afraid of the pain this thing could inflict. I didn’t approach it.

Its grin widened into that impossible rictus. Then the monster stepped back and faded into the storm.

Shit. Shit! Did I just let it get away? That thing was going to kill… it would be my fault.

Was this my existence now? Kill, suffer, kill while the people around me got picked off by the monsters I didn’t destroy in time.

“Doug… did you just solo four Heroic scale mobs?” Janie asked. She hadn’t quite kept up with me, but she clearly saw some of the fight.

“I spent a lot of my time thinking, how I would kill them. I don’t care for snow lions,” I couldn’t find the Cait Sith. I let the spells go. It was an odd sensation. It felt like I could breathe again. That said I could tell the evil creature was waiting for an opportunity.

“So this trial is gonna happen, huh?” Janie phrased it like a question, but it wasn’t. She sounded resigned.

“It is going to be a fair trial,” I said. It was almost an affirmation to myself.

“There are two types of leadership, inspirational and coercive. I don’t feel inspired, Doug.” she shot back.

“I’m not a tyrant,” I insisted.

“My mistake. The kidnapping confused me,” Janie wasn’t convinced.

“You are welcome to attend the trial. Make sure it is fair, speak out if it isn’t,” I offered again.

“As much fun as walking alone into someone else’s kangaroo court sounds, pass,” she shook her head.

“You can bring whoever you want, so long as they will respect peace,” I said.

“When’s the trial?” She asked.

“Sunset,” I turned to the goblins around us, “Do you have this under control?”

“Yes warlord,” the tallest said with a salute. He shuffled closer, “I think it would be best if you found Phillip. You being seen here alone… it may not look good to some.”

Janie and I went back to the Chimera soldiers. We moved at a leisurely pace that took us a good two minutes to get there. I am not going to lie, being fast is great.

We got back to the Chimera Corps to find a strange scene. Grimset and about 500 goblins were eyeing Rachel, and her prisoners.

Rachel was glaring back. Just once I would love for reason and understanding to win out.

“Marvin, what are you up to?” I called.

Grimset considered for a long moment, “These are killers, should be in our custody.” he called.

Oh good, someone got a bad idea. Was Grimset just fucking with me? “I thought we agreed to have a trial.” I said stepping between the goblins and the Chimera Soldiers.

“High minded ideas are all well and good, but we don’t have time and resources to waste on prisoners,” Grimset said. “Let me handle this.”

“No.” I waited for Grimset to make a move.

He glared at me, “You may have the title of warlord, but you aren’t our leader yet.”

“Grimset, let’s be rational here. Our goals aren’t opposed. We both want justice. Give me the time to do this right,” I almost pleaded.

“Fine, but if anything funny happens my men will attack these humans,” Grimset said.

“Fine,” I said. That wasn’t so hard. I smiled.

Notice check… Successful.

The Cait Sith was behind Grimset. It leered at me as it raised glowing claws.

I should have killed it. I was too far away to stop it.