Agony blotted out the world, as bricks and debris rained down from the crumbling interior. The bike had fallen on top of Mark, pinning his shoulder and broken arm underneath it. Breathing came in agonizing rasps and it had taken everything he had not to pass out.
If his Resistance wasn’t as high as it was, and he hadn’t protected himself with the barrier, he would have been turned into a red smear along the pavement. Mark's mind reeled, but his passive [Regeneration] kicked in allowing him a single conscious thought, in which he directed his Prana to his ribs and spine. Several bones had punctured through vital organs and even with his Resistance, Mark had minutes before his internal bleed became too great.
Before darkness claimed him, Mark hit himself with [Invigorate] several times over, and energy surged into his extremities. Prana rushed to his wounds closing them at incredible speeds.
Wrapping a new construct around himself, Mark pushed the bike to the side. Climbing to his feet, vertigo hit and blood streamed down his arm, soaking into his clothes and armor. The sickening sound of bone and muscles realigning could be heard as his twisted limb snapped back into place at an alarming rate, the protruding bone plunging back into the flesh, which knitted back together in seconds. Mark's chest cavity and collapsed ribcage had rebuilt themselves by the time he was on his feet.
The pain receded, and with it came mental clarity, then rage. Mark took steps toward the opening, brushing aside obstructions. His [Sculpt Mana] drank in the energy and rapidly became opaque as the small construct condensed into a thick armor, obscuring his form. By the time he reached the opening, he was entirely healed and wreathed in purple light.
What he saw beyond was four bikes and their riders already pulling off. Mel had climbed on the back of one of their bikes and they were already a good distance away. No more than a couple of seconds had passed outside, and the area was still chaos.
Mark looked around to see if his people were hurt, some still on the ground where he’d pushed them, but none looked injured. Donny, Brian, and several of their men were currently chasing after the group but they couldn’t keep up with the bikes.
Mel was laughing happily as she looked back in Mark's direction. Her relaxed smile dropped, morphing into a serious expression the moment she saw him.
Mark took to the air at full speed, the resulting force causing the unstable building behind him to further shake.
At first, he was keeping pace with the bikes, but then they were rapidly gaining distance, even at Mark's top speed.
A construct wouldn’t reach in time but [Telekinesis] would, pushing the spell Mark created a wave of force and sent it forward. By now they were at the edge of his range and when the wave hit it disrupted the streets, pushing abandoned cars aside, bending trees, and sending large amounts of debris and rubbish scattering through the area. But the bikes seemed to almost resist the outside force, and though the riders jolted and became unsteady, the bikes themselves never did. In moments they stabilized and were off once more, pulling out of Mark's range.
Mel stood on the back of one of the mechanical monsters and drew her whip, like some circus performer. Sending it forward with a crack of thunder. A spark of Aura arced through the space towards Mark. Making the last-minute deceleration reduced much of the impact and his construct absorbed the rest, but by then they were already too far out.
Seeing he could not keep up with their speed Mark abandoned the chase and turned back to check how everyone was.
Upon arriving, he saw everyone had recovered and gathered up.
Donny was doting on Abby but when he looked up, Mark could see he was pissed.
Metayo sounded worried as he watched Mark.
“This doesn’t make any sense. She shouldn’t be here.”
Everyone broke out into questions and murmurs.
Mark quietened them and shook his head, speaking to all of them.
“Enough. Form up, and let's move. We can’t be out here like this. Let's get back to base and we’ll figure it out from there. I’m going to run overwatch, the rest of you stay ready.”
He rose above his group and tried to keep an eye on all directions as they traveled.
Mark was fuming, they had expected a reaction from the Firestarters, but nothing like this. At first, he thought this was retaliation for accepting their ex-members, but the more he thought about it, the more that didn’t make sense.
The logistics department had recorded no more than twenty people who were originally from the Firestarters, and all of them had already publicly left the faction. The Firestarter’s attack was completely unwarranted.
This felt like a spur-of-the-moment decision, but for what reason?
The trip back was tense and far too slow for Mark's liking, but they got there eventually. He had Brian bring the motorbike back with them so that they could figure out what the deal with these things was.
The moment they got there he told them to get a check-up and then flew straight up the side of their building, coming in through the large window on the penthouse floor.
The room was like a kicked anthill. People were moving hastily through the space. Whatever was happening was not isolated to just Mark's group. He moved to the other room and found Ethel, Karter, Daphne, Sam, Jonathan, and Chloe all gathered around a document with grim faces. By the looks of it all of them had seen combat this evening.
The moment they saw him coming in, relief washed through the group. Sam approached him.
“Thank goodness. We thought you were one of the captured- Fuck, that’s a lot of blood!”
Daphne rushed Mark and wrapped him in a hug. Mark pulled her in, keeping his attention on the room.
“Don’t worry it just looks bad, I’m fine. What's going on? Did you say captured?”
Sam grimaced at his change of topic, but let it be. Mark couldn’t deal with how close to death he had been, not right now. People needed him first. Picking up his hesitation, Sam just launched right into an explanation.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Well, as luck would have it, someone was recording us yesterday during my address to the crowd.”
She pushed a tablet forward pressing play. A familiar scene came into view of their people standing in the middle of the road, vigilantly watching their surroundings. The clip was taken from the second floor, so it was harder to make out details, but the camera focused on the three of them in the front. Then Sam’s voice shook the surrounding area, and the message became clear. All were welcome.
“Someone must have recognized me because they tagged both mine and Jonathan's accounts, so the post is getting a lot of traction.”
Mark nodded at this. They had expected this when Sam had made that announcement, but the video had accelerated things much faster than intended.
“It would seem that along with word of mouth, the video started a chain reaction within the Firestarters. We’ve been getting a constant stream of sign-ups since this morning. It must have reached an impasse a short while ago because minutes after a large group arrived, the Firestarters hit us from multiple directions.”
Jonathan handed Mark the document they had been pouring over.
“This came in ten minutes after the attack. They are using hit-and-run tactics and with the sudden nature of the strike, they caused a lot of damage before we could drive them off”
The letter was composed hastily, not more than a few paragraphs long.
It stated that they would not stand for their order ‘abducting’ people out from under them, and to even the score they had taken captives of their own. One hundred and four to be exact. Their faction was to halt their territory expansion immediately, or they could not guarantee their people's safety. It also went on to say they needed to provide a daily ransom to ensure their people's continued care.
The page had several signatures on it. Mark noticed someone had timidly scribbled something near one of the corners of the page, probably added at the last minute.
It read “The rat.”
Mark finished reading the demands and looked up as Jonathan continued.
“Jude was seen leaving this at the edge of our territory, he retreated before our people could act”
Mark looked to Karter.
“How do we respond in this situation?”
They were in a tough spot now, the Firestarters had made a blitz play. The surprise attack had wounded them and in the same breath, they had kidnapped any non-combatant they had come across. Hostages limited their responses.
Chloe did say that this had to be a last-minute thing by the Firestarters, or it wouldn’t have come as such a surprise to her. Which had a silver lining, because it meant they didn’t have a plan going forward.
It also meant it had taken the Firestarter a full day to notice the change going on in their own faction. What Metayo said held some weight, their members were so unhappy they were willing to jump ship at the first chance.
They were still discussing options, but something bothered Mark about the last sentence on the page. It felt like he was missing something.
Mark figured it out when he saw the handwriting and Jude’s signature were the same.
Reaching into his inventory, Mark pulled out the little clockwork rat Jude had given him. The moment he did, its little eyes began to flash and a second later a hesitant voice came from the little creature.
“Um… Hello? Mark, are you there? I’m sorry if this surprised you, but we need to speak. Please come in.”
Everyone had stopped speaking in favor of looking at the little device, Mark was the first to speak
“... Jude, this is Mark.”
Either, he didn’t detect the delay in Mark’s voice or he didn’t care, but Jude sounded relieved as he rushed to respond.
“I'm so sorry Mark, I couldn’t stop him-”
Mark felt his temper rise but remained calm, interrupting Jude firmly.
“Jude… You attacked us, people were hurt, sorry isn’t going to cut it here.”
The sound from the other end paused and Jude responded with a shaky voice.
“I know, I never wanted any of this. People had been leaving all day and when Mel found that video, Kenny lost it and just took off.”
Once more Mark had to interrupt him.
“What are you thinking by contacting us right now Jude? What’s done is done. I was warned you guys might try something, but I hoped for the best, and look where that got us. Whatever happens now is entirely your guy's fault.”
Mark couldn’t help the aggression from entering his voice.
Jude didn’t answer for a couple of seconds.
“I really am sorr- I want to make this right. Something has started here that can’t be stopped. Kenny’s losing ground and he’s becoming desperate. He will hurt people, so I want to make a deal. I can give you the location of your people.”
Mark fell silent but Jonathan didn’t hesitate.
“And how do we know you aren't stringing us along”
Jude sounded surprised when Jonathan spoke but answered the question.
“Because there are good people in this faction. I don't want them to be collateral damage in some territorial dispute. I’ll bring those loyal to me and we’ll protect your people until you get here. In exchange, you offer us protection from the Firestarters when this is all over.”
Everyone glanced at one another around the room, and Jude continued.
“As a sign of trust, I will tell you our bikes are similar to system items, but they don’t provide attributes, instead we use reinforced materials to improve the machine's performance.”
Sam's voice was the first to break the silence.
“You are willing the betray your faction for this?”
Jude’s reply came back surprisingly firm.
“They betrayed us first. There are quite a few of us who don’t agree with this course of action but we’re outnumbered and outgunned. Let me help you. We can always discuss what happens after this.”
Mark looked to Karter once more.
This man was their best strategist in these circumstances, if he thought they could make use of this opportunity he would defer to him, after a pause, Karter looked up at Mark and nodded.
Mark picked up the little rat and spoke into it directly.
“Alright, Jude we have a deal. But, you have one thing wrong about this situation. After we’re done, you won’t need our protection from the Firestarters, because they won't exist.”
Evidently, their missing people were being kept in an underground parking lot twenty minutes away from the Firestarter's main building. Jude would secretly move his people there, and if anything happened they would protect them. He told them it would take him about an hour to get them in place. They were only about three hundred of the eight hundred Firestarter’s fighters, and a vast majority of them were not high-leveled, so Jude wanted them to get there as soon as they were able. When they had hashed out the details, Mark stashed the rat back in his inventory.
Sam was the one to ask the question.
“Can we trust this guy?”
Karter's response was firm.
“That remains to be seen. Until then, we should operate as if this is going to go sideways. We will attempt a rescue mission and a full frontal assault within the hour. We’ll use our number advantage to divide and conquer. They will regret attacking us.”
The next hour was a blur of activity as they began to assemble their forces. George had taken a look at the bike Mark brought back, and although first impressions were shallow he was able to tell that Jude had not lied to them, at least on a surface level.
Since arriving in the city they had yet to gather their full force like this. Over these last few days, it had seen marginal growth, their numbers sitting at one thousand three hundred people. They left the injured and a force of two hundred fighters behind, gathering just over on thousand fighters.
It had been an argument, but eventually, Ethel and Chloe had been relegated to staying behind to coordinate things from there.
Jonathan, Sam, Daphne, Karter, and Mark took up the lead and their people gathered up behind them. Moving through the sparsely lit streets, they set out in the direction of the Firestarter’s home base.
Mark didn’t know how tonight would end but he steeled himself for what was to come.
They were going to war.