19 Restoration

I took a moment to take in the damage our brief confrontation had inflicted on the area. I still couldn't believe that Uber and Leet were presenting themselves as a serious threat. I also was shocked that they'd signed on to something as monstrous as this plan. Before this I think their lowest point was that Grand Theft Auto stunt, the one where they decided to beat up prostitutes. That was awful, but still a far cry from hunting teenagers in a trapped arena with conscripted minions in fear for their lives.

It was a grim thought, but the increase in effectiveness and the brutality of their actions were probably related. Even though I was holding back, there were closer calls in that fight than I would have ever expected. There's a chance that spinning pile driver could have knocked me out, and that special attack was probably the most dangerous thing I'd ever seen them bring to bear. Suddenly they weren't afraid of equipment failure. Without that thinker's help it's possible this attack could have fallen apart when the entrance hologram fried, and I had the sense that the feedback from any of those pieces of gear crapping out would have been thoroughly unpleasant.

It seemed like Uber and Leet had signed on to this mess for the chance to take center stage. With the new thinker they could bring all their best equipment out of retirement. That kind of loadout would unquestionably make them serious threats. The only thing it cost them was a permanent association with one of the most hideous acts of cape brutality outside the Slaughterhouse Nine. Did they even understand what they had been signing up for? Somehow I doubted it. The pair always seemed like the kind who acted before thinking, taking an idea that could have been fun and cool and running with it to the point where everyone was uncomfortable or disgusted. I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't given a second thought to what was happening here, instead focusing on showmanship and the chance to use their best gear. A large portion of which was scattered on the ground around us.

As much as I wanted to get a look at the discarded equipment the options weren't exactly appealing. The invincibility star had a six foot glowing patch around it that was sending rainbow smoke into the sky. Glancing over the remains of the zombies showed no obvious sign of the disks that were animating them, meaning they would probably be a trial to reverse engineer. The shoes Uber had used were blurred and twitching so fast they seemed to be half inside the ground, and there was no way I was touching those wrestling briefs.

Depending on how this mess played out I might be able to cycle back for some salvage later, but right now we were on a time limit. I checked my omni-tool's link to my drones. The pack had just arrived at the courtyard, to the considerable displeasure of Bakuda. Actually, was pack the right word? What was the collective noun for a group of drones? Swarm? Flock? Gaggle?

From the ABB's reaction it seemed like it was probably a 'profanity' of drones. The worst of the dust from my motoroid's initial strike had settled and the state of the ABB forces was coming into focus. I don't know if it was an actual shift in leadership or just the general chaos but the focus of the group had shifted. Instead of being entirely guided by Bakuda they were more dependent on the professional gang members. To be fair, I had given them a problem they couldn't exactly throw soccer moms with kitchen knives at and hope for the best. As such the serious members of the ABB were working to coordinate the more competent looking conscripts, to varying levels of success.

They were actually splitting out the conscripts with ranged weapons from those with random blunt or sharp objects. They began taking pot shots at my drones while other gang members tried to coordinate a press ganging of conscripts into managing the heavier equipment. Well, tried to various levels of success. They didn't have access to Bakuda's mystery detonator and the tinker in question was too busy trying to figure out a way to counter my latest move.

I watched one young ABB member, probably still in high school, unsuccessfully try to harass an older man in coveralls away from tending to a group of injured conscripts. The aftermath of one of the missed grenades. Thankfully the injuries were conventional, but that didn't mean much to the wounded. The teenager seemed to consider if he should call the man's possibly-not-a-bluff and interrupt Bakuda, then gave up, running off to find someone else to haul cases of rockets.

The Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Size constellation as I noticed Taylor glancing at my display.

"We should have some time before they can get mobilized." I killed the feed of the wounded conscripts back at the courtyard. "Any injuries before we move on?"

She shook her head. "Just a bit out of breath. Is there a limit? On how much you can heal, I mean."

"Sort of." If I harvested my nanites it would hamstring my ability to heal until they were replaced. It looked like getting distracted from that particular project had some advantages. "None I'm likely to run into tonight."

She nodded and indicated a row of lockers. "Tattletale's down there. It's... It's not pretty."

I steeled myself and checked my omni-tool scanner. "Looks like they trapped the area, probably hoping to catch anyone who stumbled in."

On that note, I remembered that I was walking around a mine field without my Force Field formula up. It was time to correct that. I dug out the reagents, a dram of grease and a piece of iron, and combined them. The mixture glowed and settled over my body in a protective, though ablative, barrier.

"What was that?"

"Force Field. Kind of like Glory Girl's, but only good for one shot. Uber burst mine the first time he hit with that spinning dive thing."

"That's the 'high energy chemistry' thing you were talking about? The stuff that let you fight Oni Lee?"

"That was a different effect, but yeah."

A handful of the remaining alchemical insects swarmed next to Taylor. "Same for these?"

"That's right. They're kind of like projections, or energy constructs. To be honest I wasn't sure you would be able to direct them."

I could see Taylor squinting through her goggles. "It's not easy. Normal insects have minds and instincts, all this software that tells me what they are and what they can do. These things, it's like they're blank slates. Their senses are all messed up and I'm pretty sure they're not flying properly. I mean, not using aerodynamics."

She looked off into the distance as the conjured insects slowed in their rotation around her. Seeing them clearly made me realize they didn't really look like actual animals. There was no subtle movement of the legs or body and the wings seemed to be flickering in a manner that was completely unrelated to how they flowed through the air.

She shook her head and seemed to come back to the moment. "How did you make these? I thought you like, reinforced things with that stuff. But you can shoot fire? Lightning? Make insects?"

I really didn't want to get into the insanity of Evermore Alchemy right now. Partially because it was a distraction from a serious situation and partially because there was no real explanation at this point that didn't get into the concept of magic. Capes who claimed they were using magic always put people on edge and I didn't need that now.

"It's really complicated. Tinkering works down some weird avenues, and mine is a bit more out there than most."

Taylor's eyes drew over the roofs of the lockers where the shape of one of my drones was just visible, shooting an electric discharge before veering out of the way of a rocket launched up from the courtyard.

"You don't say." Her voice was flat.

I looked at Taylor and the vulnerability of her situation suddenly hit me full force. The obsessive protectionism I'd been working under had been dampened lately. Mostly that was due to my passenger restraining his reactions following my near melt down after the incident with Aegis getting slashed apart.

You know, I needed a better name for that moment, if just to quantify the point where things had gone totally wrong. The Aegis slash? Aegislash? Eh, I'll come up with something.

The point is, nothing about the situation that dragged me into this mess had changed. I was just reacting less strongly because my passenger wasn't hammering things home with the same level of intensity. It was a sign of just how much my passenger had been influencing me, and I wasn't too thrilled about that.

I'd been willing to draw out a fight with dangerous, experienced capes leaving Taylor at risk in the hopes of drawing out some information about the new thinker. Grant it, the capes were Uber and Leet, so even with Taylor's warnings I was kind of expecting them to trip over their own feet into a pile of failure. The pairs history as failures and internet jokes coupled with my passenger not recognizing them as threats had even cause me to mentally separate them from the horrific aspects of this nightmare. They were as accountable for the forced conscripts and civilian casualties as Bakuda, but I just hadn't made the connection at the time.

The situation was harrowing. Was I willing to risk the future of the world just because I had stopped being constantly reminded of its importance? It felt like I was being simultaneously enabled and obscured by my passenger's 'assistance'.

I needed to start managing these things myself rather than relying on my passenger, my implanted military experience, or my power to do the thinking for me. The first step would be taking the sensible precaution I should have put in place ages ago.

"Hold on." I called to Taylor. "This should help." She gave me a confused look as I mixed the reagents and the glowing energy flowed over her. Afterwards she kept checking her costume to see what I'd done.

"Force Field formula."

"You can do that for other people?" I could see her eyes widen through her lenses.

"Generally yes. Some applications are more restricted, but this one works. The field will negate a single hit."

"Seriously? You just handed out a Glory Girl force field?" The shocked tone more than made up for not being able to see her expression. "Just like that?"

"It's only good for one shot. Doesn't matter if it's a howitzer or a bb gun, one hit will bring it down. Also, I only have the materials prepared for two more of those, so be careful. Still, it should protect you from a surprise attack or something you can't avoid."

"Like one of the bombs?" She asked hopefully.

"A lot of the bombs, but not all of them." I clarified for her. "Some of these effects don't count as damage for the purpose of that field. Also any ongoing effect is going to burn right through it. You're not invincible, but it should help."

She nodded grimly and looked towards Tattletale's location. We didn't say anything else as we covered the last of the short distance to the storage locker. Two of the traps I was able to disarm remotely, but the final one on the door was positioned such that I couldn't access the triggering mechanism. I ended up needing to use my diagnostic tools get a reading and my omni-tool to burrow through the door and manipulate it remotely. It was inconvenient, but not really much of a technical challenge.

It seemed my level of technical knowledge could counter anything but Bakuda's 'A-game'. That infuriatingly complex deadman's switch was the best example of what she was really capable of. For the rest of this stuff it looked like she had emptied her workshop of whatever had been thrown together in the time since her Cornell bombing. It meant I could deal with most of what she was throwing at me for the moment, but also meant if I didn't get a handle on this situation soon I would be facing nothing but her 'A-game' devices.

With a few quick adjustments the trigger, simply attached to the door of all things, was disabled and the bomb was rendered harmless. I was able to enter the storage locker and see the results of personally pissing off Bakuda.

It wasn't pretty.

I did my best to block Taylor's view of the interior, but the girl pushed past to check on her friend. When she saw what was inside I was afraid she was going to bolt, break down, or even vomit. Instead she went dead still with only the movements of her cloud of insects letting me know she was still present.

"What happened?" She spoke quietly, but still clearly audible over the shallow labored breathing coming from the far side of the locker.

I took in the unpleasant sight. With a deep breath I pushed forward with the most technical explanation I could manage. "Most likely material phasing. Possibly an effect derived from Shadow Stalkers power. Probably a more even and controlled fusion than what happens with her, which is why none of it's been lethal, no airway's cut off or blood flow blocked. Still impeded based on her breathing and the paleness of her skin." Eyes darted towards me from the mess in the locker, a mix of panic and hope.

"Can you..." Taylor swallowed audibly. "How bad is it? Is... Is she going to be okay?"

I walked into the locker and crouched down. "Probably not."

Taylor tensed. "You can't help her?"

"Oh, no. I can totally fix this." I replied flippantly. "There's no problem there."

"What?"

"Yeah," I glanced back at her. "She's just going to owe me so much money."

Taylor gaped at me and Tattletales eyes had gone from desperate to frustrated. Really, anything that broke the previous mood was a good thing and I was going to milk it for all it was worth.

"Money?" Taylor asked.

"Crippling medical debt." Tattletale squinted at me. "The deal was market rate for any medical care. Well, do you know how expensive it would be to get a team of doctors to try to do this?"

I put a hand on part of Tattletale's costume that wasn't fused with the wall, floor, or contents of the locker. Glowing lines extended from my glove across her body as nanites flowed forth. Unlike Taylor's patch job this was serious healing, but still within my capabilities. I was leaning heavily on the innate medical abilities of my nanite control power. That was because the breadth of knowledge from my other powers was pretty light in terms of health care. I knew a bit of medieval chirurgery and some cybernetics with almost nothing in between. It was a good thing that a person's understanding of the healing process was completely irrelevant to this power.

Despite the fact that the power was working on autopilot I still got a guided tour of the damage that had been inflicted. I was right. Bakuda had designed this to be non-lethal, at least initially. The portions of Tattletales body that had merged with her surroundings took precedence over the other materials upon fusion. Even part of a chair embedded in her torso hadn't caused any organ damage, only a solidification of the tissue surrounding them and the integration of new matter.

It was a disgusting process, but I kept pushing through. These nanites could handle significantly more dramatic mutations than this. Bit by bit they worked away at the intermingled matter and flesh, processing it back into a normal human body. The horrific hybridization of wood, concrete, or metal with body tissue was broken down and rebuilt completely fresh and unmarred.

Externally the process looked much cleaner, and advantage of not having your awareness swimming through someone's intestines. All that appeared to be happening was a set of blue lines spreading across Tattletale's costume, briefly creeping up the objects merged with her, and then cleanly separating them. One by one the attached material either dropped off or, in the case of the wall and floor, opened a cavity to free the captive cape.

The process was smooth, but took an intense amount of focus and more time than any act of healing I'd attempted so far. When Tattletale finally fell to the floor of the locker, complete and unharmed, I felt a wave of mental exhaustion. Taylor rushed to support the panting girl as I tried to collect myself.

Nanite control was direct and personal. I was basically extending my will into the machines and directing their actions. Because of that I had felt every moment of the healing like it was my own hand. I knew exactly how bad that condition was and how impossible it would have been to fix. With the amount of incursion in the central nervous system I doubt even Panacea would have been able to patch things up. Actually, that disruption of her motor functions probably prevented her from hurting herself in a panic, so small mercies.

As Taylor tried to help Tattletale to her feet I looked over the aftermath. It seemed that she had been shoved into a pile of junk, probably the contents of the locker, before the bomb was set off. Now the various items had smooth cutouts anywhere they had fused with Tattletale, along with a few depressions in the wall and floor.

The girl was finally upright, though showing some damage from the encounter with Bakuda's device. Anywhere the material had been separated it had taken a portion of her costume with it. Thankfully her outfit was still decent, but she was missing large patches around her neck, pretty much the entire right arm, the left leg from mid-thigh to ankle and the calf of the other leg. The rest of the jumpsuit had erratic gaps and missing portions, including a bare midriff.

The thinker took a few deep breaths then gently pushed Taylor aside to check her balance. After steadying herself she turned and glared at me.

"Medical debt?"

I shrugged. "Figured it would help get your mind off things." With a more serious tone I asked. "How is it? Any lingering problems or effects?"

The girl closed her eyes for a moment then opened them slowly. "No, I think I'm alright. Thank god." She did a quick pat down, seemingly checking that everything was where it was supposed to be, or just enjoying having range of motion and mobility once again.

While Tattletale pulled herself together I felt the Celestial Forge connect to a mote from the Crafting constellation. Like with a lot of my other powers it contained a gigantic amount of information, this time centered on the construction of armor. Despite the staggering volume of the data, for once there wasn't any disorientation or difficulty processing the information. That was because unlike every other power that had dropped knowledge into my head, this one was actually intended to be dropped into someone's head.

I was looking at an actual mental database, and I'm not using that term metaphorically. It had an index. It had a glossary. It had a God damn search function. This was a mental schema that had been carefully designed to give someone the abilities of a Master Armourer. Unlike everything else I'd been struggling with this thing was actually engineered to be as user friendly as possible. It didn't even rely on previous knowledge. I'm pretty sure this could have been dumped into the head of an illiterate cave man and he'd be able to start churning out advanced protective equipment without any trouble.

The volume of information contained in the database was staggering, encompassing thousands of years from a population of billions. It covered everything from basic hammered plate mail to insanely advanced power armor that needed three layers of infrastructure to even attempt construction. The technical details behind the assembly was irrelevant. This was focused on the process of crafting and as such was completely devoid of any theory or principle behind the armor.

There was one other shocking detail. Similar to how I could tell the connection between the Master Builder and Science! powers there was a similar link between Armourer and my Laboratorium. I probably could have figured that out from the designs of the armor. I couldn't quite build the kinds of suits depicted in the mural of that group of men with the winged woman, but I could see the stylistic similarities.

I had a feeling that with this power I was tapping into something similar to the robot civilization of Master Builder. There were clearly thousands of years of history connected to this ability, and while I didn't have larger context there were hints of the culture. Details like the designs of the armor, the assembly methods, or the types of infrastructure needed painted a detailed, if incomplete picture. Skulls and religious iconography were very common stylistic choices, as if I wouldn't have been able to figure that out from my Laboratorium.

There was also a massive inconsistency in the level of technology. Some of the suits of armor were advanced even by my standards, while others were basic in the extreme. There was a discordant fusion between them, where basic and advanced components were mashed together in a manner that kind of worked, providing you didn't change anything or look at it too hard. Whatever design process went into this seemed to have a deadly fear of innovation and, while the works weren't precisely dated, there seemed to be a distinct downward trend in complexity.

It was something I could deal with later. I had a database I would be able to plunder for technology and material designs, but that was no help with the current situation. Turning back to Tattletale she seemed finally satisfied that her body was fully intact.

The girl paused when she ran her hands through her hair, then turned to me. "You can fix hair but not clothing?"

I couldn't tell if she was actually back to her old self, or just putting up a good front. Regardless, I doubted she wanted me to dig into the issue.

"You didn't negotiate for tailoring. I can cut you a deal if you want? Decent rates and minimal rush charges."

She took a moment to check the integrity of her costume. Despite the missing portions it was still serviceable and you saw less coverage from the average Boardwalk patron.

"I think I'm good." She reached down to her boot, thankfully both were mostly saved from the fusion effect, and pulled out my stiletto from a well concealed sheath and looked over the design. "Don't think I'm quite ready to embrace your stylistic initiatives."

I noticed both of them glance over my costume at that statement. I couldn't tell if that was a dig at my fashion sense or just a comment about her own tastes. Regardless, I let it go. If she wanted to head out in battle damage mode I wasn't going to stop her. Also, from her posture she seemed a bit more defensive than usual.

Yeah, this was definitely affecting her. I'm not sure if she had the kind of thinker power that would help her deal with something like this, or the type that would make it worse. Still, as long as she could hold it together through the rest of this encounter I could manage.

Taylor looked between me and Tattletale, who was carefully sheathing the knife. "So, what next?"

"Well, I could use some context here. You were kind of brief on the phone and Bakuda wasn't exactly forthcoming."

Tattletale nodded. "I could hear your side of the conversation from here. At least from the point where you started using that speaker." Her eyes drifted between me and Taylor and there was something there I couldn't place.

"Well, we probably have a minute. Care to fill me in on how this mess started?"

After one last glance at Taylor Tattletale began her explanation. "It started with Bitch. She missed a check in and we decided to follow up on her. Bakuda had this whole place set up waiting for us. It's her big debut, an Uber and Leet broadcast with extra coverage showing her taking down capes that messed with the ABB."

"That does seem like her style." The woman liked an audience for her ranting. Seriously, it was like she was trying to over play the mad tinker stereotype.

"Once we got here they split us up and started hunting us down. It was..." Her eyes went vacant for a moment before she seemed to pull herself together. Taylor also stiffened at the mention of the event. "It was about showing off, not stopping us. She wanted everyone to know what she was capable of, the kinds of bombs she made, her technology. She was drawing it out, even endangering her own people for more chances to show off."

I nodded grimly. "I saw the effects of that."

Tattletale swallowed and glanced at the back of the locker. "When she cornered me I tried to throw her off, get at her insecurities. I figured she wouldn't do her finisher if it wasn't something she could broadcast and gloat over."

"I did wonder why you decided to start taunting the bomb tinker." I tried to keep my tone neutral, but it clearly got to Tattletale more than I intended.

"Yeah, well it looks like I wasn't the only one who pissed her off to the point she decided to retort with an explosive." Her tone was defensive as she gestured at the cracked walls of the locker and the shattered ground outside.

Taylor made an awkward cough and I tried to look innocent.

"What?" She kept glancing back and forth between the two of us and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. "No..."

"In my defense, it did prove to be an excellent distraction." I pulled up a view of the courtyard on my omni-tool.

If I described Taylor as giving the device a hungry look when she first saw it then Tattletale was salivating like a starving man who wandered into a cruise ship buffet. She started reaching towards the glowing orange holograms before restraining herself, instead gluing her eyes to the display.

Despite the greater forces deployed against them the ABB had managed to impose some level of order. Heavier weapons were being distributed to the people in full gang colors and groups of conscripts were beginning to push out of the courtyard. The heavier firepower meant Fleet and Survey were harder pressed to keep the forces contained, as demonstrated when my motoroid buzzed a group of conscripts preparing to move out, only to have to pull up as a trio of rockets launched its way. Still that was an impressive improvement in aerial maneuverability over the 'launch and fall' tactic I began the battle with. I was proud of how Fleet was developing.

Tattletale's eyes widened at the site of my motoroid, then further at my reaction to it. Whatever processing difficulties she was having weren't made any better when Taylor leaned in and helpfully offered "He built it on Friday."

The thinker rubbed her forehead for a moment before taking a breath and turning to Taylor. Before she could say anything her eyes fell on one of the remaining alchemical insects that were being kept in a slow orbit. She looked from the artificial creation, to Taylor, to me, then flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Uh, we probably don't have that much time before we're swimming in gang members and forced recruits. Do you have a location for the other Undersiders?"

Taylor gave Tattletale a concerned glance before nodding. "Grue is closest. Should be closest. Not sure about a safe route."

Tattletale forced her eyes open and took a breath. "I can probably spot most of the bombs and find us a safe..." She cut herself off as I shifted my omni-tool's display to a map of the area, highlighting detected power sources picked up by the scanning suite.

I swear the girl was actually drooling.

"Look's manageable. Ready to go?"

With what seemed like a colossal effort she dragged her eyes away from the device on my forearm. "Uh, yeah." There was a pause as she looked at the door and suppressed a flinch at the sound of a distant explosion. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. "I'm ready. Let's go."

I took point as we moved out of the locker and started picking our way towards the next member of the Undersiders. Given the state we found Tattletale in I was dreading what was waiting for us. My nanites could fix anything that wasn't based on a complete disregard of conventional physics, but there was a difference between fixing something and making it better.

Despite her efforts to hide it I could see that Tattletale was struggling. She would freeze up for a fraction of a second every time the sound of one of Bakuda's bombs echoed across the facility. The first time I spotted a bomb she didn't move or take a breath until I confirmed it was disabled. I could see the amount of effort she was putting into presenting the image of someone who was unaffected by this mess, especially to Taylor, but I had some concerns for how long she could hold it up.

She also seemed to be exerting nearly as much effort to keep from tearing into me about my technology. After the second time I disabled a bomb she was giving my omni-tool a look that was nearly predatory in its intensity. When one of my drones briefly appeared over the rooftops Tattletale physically bit her tongue and seemed to swallow a rant of questions. I couldn't tell if Taylor was amused or concerned by the thinker's reactions, but it was better than dwelling on the events of the night.

As we worked through the facility the Celestial Forge connected to a small mote from the Knowledge constellation. It was just called Engineering and provided yet another increase to my mechanical skills. This power did have a focus on robotics and other technological devices rather than mundane applications. It also had another aspect that none of my other powers had specifically focused on. This power provided actual hacking skills.

Really, I was already an effective hacker. My computer knowledge was extraordinary, particularly after Master Builder and its related powers. Military engineers ran ECM on a level that put most conventional hacking to shame, and enough of my other powers provided some level of computer knowledge that included some understanding of how to exploit systems. However, it was always a side application, never a direct effect of the power. This was the first time I had gotten an ability specifically dedicated to subverting other systems.

Also, unlike the arrays of powers I'd been receiving there was a chance that this could make a difference in the current situation. I pulled up Survey's analysis of Bakuda's deadman's signal. It was still monstrously complex, but I could pick apart some of the surface layers more effectively. Depressingly that only served to reveal the nightmarish mesh of exotic effects and contingencies that lay beneath it.

It also seemed to be the thing that finally broke through Tattletale's resolve. "What's that?"

The girl was hovering near my omni-tool display. I pulled up a summary of the parts of the signal I'd been able to decipher. "Bakuda's deadman's signal. If I can crack it we can end this madness in one sweep."

Tattletale looked over the readouts and flinched at the complexity. While she was focused on my display Taylor turned towards me.

"You mean kill her?"

I glanced between them before answering. "If it will end this and stop things from getting worse, then yes, I would."

I was leaning into my military mindset for the assurance again, which let me make the statement with confidence. Tattletale glanced up from the display and quirked an eyebrow while Taylor looked conflicted. The thinker broke in before she could say anything.

"What she's done here pretty much guarantees a kill order. Of course, until that order's approved it's still murder." She gave me a hard look, but there wasn't any malice or disapproval in it. "Probably could be plead down to self-defense, but the courts are prickly about that when parahumans are involved."

"Why wouldn't they issue a kill order? I mean, this is just..." Taylor struggled to find the words before just gesturing at our surroundings.

"Kill orders bring out the crazies. You can have a dozen warrants on you and still walk into a PRT headquarters to collect on a kill order, and they have to let you walk out again. People have made arguments that the collateral damage from issuing a kill order is worse than the cape they're designed to put down. It's why you only see them for serious threats rather than every villain thug with three strikes to his name." Once more acting as the dispenser of wisdom seemed to help Lisa center herself.

"So the Protectorate is still going to come after the person who puts her down? Even after all of this?"

Tattletale made a nebulous gesture. "Odds are they'll come up with some excuse for not pursuing the case. Likely keep it in reserve if they need leverage later, but pretend nothing happened, that the problem just sorted itself out."

Taylor looked particularly unhappy about hearing that detail. I wasn't sure what the context was there.

Tattletale looked back at my display and shook her head. "She's really gone the extra mile here. There's stuff embedded in the code that was randomly determined, and properly random, not one of those crackable patterns. It's designed to block attempts to decipher based on her behavior."

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure she's using more exotic effects than radio communication, though she could be piggybacking on other signals to prevent premature detonation based on interference." I sighed. "I don't think I'm going to be breaking this tonight."

There was a complicated glance shared between Taylor and Tattletale that I couldn't decipher. I put it out of my mind and pushed on.

"What about her control system? How's she detonating the bombs?"

Taylor tensed and glanced away. "She said it's mental control. That she can trigger the bombs just by thinking."

I let out a dry laugh, which drew a sharp look from the girl. "I doubt it."

"What do you mean?"

"My neural interface is the size of a refrigerator. I seriously doubt Bakuda's managed to shrink one down to the point that it can fit in her mask. Implants are even less likely. That's specialized work and hard to do on yourself. If she could pull it off we'd be seeing an entirely different class of bombs out here."

"He's right." Tattletale was giving me another serious look. "No external hardware and too much of a control freak to mess with her brain directly."

"Could be a souped up EEG, though getting that calibrated for someone like her would be a trial." I noticed her expression. "Unless you know what she's doing and are waiting for an opportunity to show how smart you are?"

I put a sarcastic edge to my voice, but Tattletale smiled her fox-like grin, the first time I'd seen that expression since we pulled her from the locker.

"Toe rings."

"Toe rings?" Taylor asked

I sighed. "Toe rings."

"Target system in the goggles and she crosses the rings to select what to detonate. All for the sake of appearances. It makes her look like she got complete control." She was making and effort at her usual smug posture but there was a brittle edge to it I hadn't seen before.

"Well, that's..." I struggled for the right word. "Disappointing."

"What?"

"I mean, compared to the deadman's signal it's practically caveman tech. You could build that without being a tinker." I shook my head. "Still, not easy to knock out. I can't risk an Overload with the pacemaker system there. Best bet is to find some way of incapacitating her without giving her a chance to react, because I bet she's petty enough to have some kind of shaped charge or personal explosive on her body."

"Oh, she definitely is. Too much pride. She'll take a mutual loss over letting someone beat her."

The chance to flex her thinker muscles seemed to have improved Tattletale's mental state. By the time we reached Grue's location she was a lot more composed. I'm not sure how much of that was just show, but even being able to put up a front was a sign of improvement.

Unlike when we found Tattletale this locker wasn't excessively trapped. In fact, it looked something like a staging ground. It seemed Bakuda had dealt with Tattletale where she had found her, but Grue had probably been brought to this location. That didn't bode well.

I dropped into a lower stance as I approached the door and signaled for Taylor and Tattletale to hold position. They picked up on my intention, though Tattletale gave me a concerned look. Slowly I approached the door and performed a final scan. This close I could hear breathing from inside, labored but in a different way from how Tattletale's had sounded. With a final breath I steeled myself and pushed into the room.

This was one of the larger lockers and had clearly been a headquarters for the early part of the arena. There were still bits of equipment, duffle bags, and scattered personal effects around the room. In the center was a large table that had probably been used for planning.

That was not what it was being used for anymore.

I was grateful for Grue's powers. They did an excellent job of obscuring the details of the twisted shadowy mess on display. There were still ill fitting parts of his costume spread out across the form, but everywhere flesh would have been visible was instead sheathed in darkness.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

My pistol was in my hand and pointed at the source of the metallic voice within a single heartbeat. It was emanating from a camera setup in the corner, one of two within the room. They were more advanced than standard models, so probably part of Uber and Leet's broadcast kit.

"It's certainly striking." There was a sound from Grue that I tried not to think about, possibly a groan or an attempt to speak with deformed vocal chords.

"I think you mean ground breaking. I emulated Vista's power with a reversed Manton effect. Only living flesh gets warped, everything else stays the same. And you live through the whole process, feeling every moment." She broke into a manic laugh over the speakers. I holstered my pistol after checking my omni-tool for other threats.

"So it's nothing but pointless cruelty?"

"Cruelty is the point. It's about power and fear. The entire world saw what I accomplished here. Who's going to stand against me in the face of that?"

I faced towards the camera and opened my arms, earning a metallic scoff from the device.

"And what has that got you? You saw what happened to that mouthy bitch. Bet you didn't expect that? Thought you could just swing in here and save everyone? How's that working out for you? You've got one out of three intact, and not likely to stay that way for long."

She didn't know I'd healed Tattletale. I hoped to God for once that girl would have the sense to keep her mouth shut. We didn't need to give up one of our few advantages just so she could show somebody up.

There was also the hint of something bad coming, and I had a guess on what it could be. A glance at my omni-tool showed what she was planning. I started keying commands to Survey through the haptic interface as I kept talking.

"What can I say? I keep my commitments, and unlike some people I don't make deals with damaged merchandise."

"I can guarantee you'll regret not taking that deal before the night is..." There was a pause and I turned to see Taylor in the doorway, standing stock still as her swarm buzzed around her. "Whatever. Bug girl gets a brief reunion with her team leader, and the two of you can continue your little tour of what's waiting for you at the end of this."

"I wouldn't count on it. Lovely conversation, but I think I'll have to cut this short."

Before she could finish the first metallic word of her reply I activated my omni-tool and fried both cameras. Survey still hadn't tracked the broadcast. Leet's streaming encryption went back to the early days of the pair when they were putting out top tier tech on a regular basis. It wasn't on the level of the deadman's signal, but there was a reason it hadn't blown their operation in years and years of heists. Just confirming the presence of a transmission was a challenge.

Tattletale followed Taylor into the room and looked from the burnt out cameras to the shadowy form on the table.

"Can you..." She swallowed, then pushed on. "I mean, I know you can probably, but will you be able to..."

"Yes, I can totally add this to your bill." The thinker glared at me. "Bigger problem though. Bakuda's got mortars in the courtyard. We're in for a bombardment."

Taylor shifted focus. "I'm guessing those are the tube things they're setting up now?"

I nodded. "Can you do anything about them?" She'd made some impressive claims about her range and control, but I wasn't sure if she could handle this.

"Not with the bugs I have out there." She looked apprehensively at the alchemical insects she'd been keeping in a close orbit. In the time since I conjured them they had slowed down and gotten somehow less distinct, but still had something of a dangerous edge to them. With a breath Taylor sent them flying out the door. "Can you make any more of those?"

Tattletale was looking at me very intently.

"Not with what I have prepared. I'd have to break down and rebuild some formulas, and we don't have time for that." I pulled up my omni-tool display as I approached the table. "My drones should be able to intercept anything that's launched, but I'd rather not push our luck."

Tattletale clustered near my display as I laid a gloved hand on an overly thin and spindly limb. The Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Quality constellation as I focused on my nanites. The spread of glowing circuitry lines across Grue's body briefly banished the field of darkness. The effect provided a nauseating outline of the extent of Bakuda's damage. The cloud quickly settled back, obscuring the warped form from sight but not from my awareness. Like when I had treated Tattletale I received a highly detailed picture of the extent of the damage.

Brian's body had been warped and stretched. This might have initially been due to spatial effects, but once that passed the cells had settled in their new configuration. Parts had been stretched, folded, bent, or just horribly distorted. I tried to put it out of my mind as I focused on the work of restoring him to a human form, but the very nature of the process prevented that. I was acutely aware of every distortion, every warped bone and altered blood vessel. The morbid tapestry was spread before me as I worked.

I tried to split focus with my omni-tool in an attempt to coordinate our defense, but it was a token effort at best. The healing just required too much of my attention. I was limited to nothing more than an observation of the situation.

From my drone's perspective I could see nearly a dozen mortars set up in the courtyard. Some seemed to have been pulled from the remains of the jeeps while others had been brought in with the new equipment. Bakuda was barking targeting instructions at the operators, who were clearly struggling with the unfamiliar equipment. I didn't doubt that she would be able to target them with pinpoint precision, but you couldn't just grab someone from a random office job, hand them a mortar, and expect them to know how to use it.

Taylor elected to wait until the last moment before striking. The remaining manifestations of my Sting formula flew down on the gunners in a single cloud. There were barely more insects than mortars and they were reaching the end of their useful existence. Sting was a direct damage formula, never intended to hang around for this long. It was also a mid-range formula. Even if I had direct line of site I doubted I would be able to target the effect across this kind of distance. This was pushing the formula to its limit and I didn't know how it would impact the effectiveness of the conjured creatures.

The primary result seemed to be a substantial drop in damage output. Insect stings that had been able to blow through the head of a creature of animated concrete when freshly summoned were barely able to dent the launching equipment. Still, the disorder sowed from the coordinated strike bought us more time than I could have hoped for. I focused on pulling Brian's body back into sane proportions as I watched the aftermath or Taylor's attack on my display.

When handling Bakuda-level ordinance it didn't take much to send people into a panic. The sparking impact of the alchemical insects sent the gunners and most of the conscripts diving for cover. It looked like maybe a third of the mortars had taken enough damage to somewhat impede their operation, usually from strikes to the barrel or firing assembly.

One mortar began to spark, causing its panicked operator to hurl it into the crater my motoroid had created. For a moment it seemed like a false alarm, then there was a blast of wind immediately followed by a trio of tornados trying to aggressively drill into the center of the crater.

That could have been bad enough, but in shock one of the operators accidently discharged his mortar, sending a shell arcing directly towards Bakuda.

Everyone in the courtyard froze stock still, even in the dust choked wind of the constrained tornados. Thankfully it seemed Bakuda had designed some kind of identify friend or foe system for her bombs, stopping them from detonating on top of her. Thus miraculously, the misfire did not result in a karmically appropriate death for Bakuda followed immediately by a tragic death for everyone else. The only tragic death was the poor operator responsible for the misfire.

Bakuda seemed to be yelling something I couldn't make out, and then the unfortunate gunner began to scream. There wasn't a dramatic explosion, he just kind of fell to pieces. It was like a dozen invisible blades had swept through where he was standing. All that was left was a gruesome pile, including the scrapped remains of the mortar he was holding.

The tornados finally faded, leaving only a haze of dust hanging in the air. Bakuda started yelling orders, or gesturing like she was yelling orders since I didn't have the audio to confirm it. She also pointed directly towards the video feed of my drone and suddenly the view got a lot less stable on account of all the dodging of rockets.

I doubled my focus in an attempt to speed up Brian's healing. It didn't actually make a difference, but things were getting down to the wire. At least he had reached the point where he could be mistaken for human rather than a creation from a John Carpenter film. If it came down to it he could probably be safely moved without snapping like a twig in three places.

The last few moments of healing seemed to take forever and weren't helped by Brian trying to flail as soon as he had the capacity to do so. I needed to call over Taylor and Tattletale to hold him down and keep him calm while I finished repairing the last of the damage.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Brian sat up on the table, whole and under his own power.

He then promptly bent over the side and vomited on Tattletale's shoes.

Taylor lurched to support his weight as Tattletale jumped back on reflex. "He alright?"

"Physically he's fully back to normal. Mentally? There's no brain damage, but some disorientation can probably be expected." I checked a notification from my omni-tool. "But we need to go."

"Is it safe to move him?" Taylor tried to help him off the table.

"Doesn't matter. Bakuda just picked off one of my drones." There was another beep. "Two of my drones. She using larger ordinance. Detonating it when they try to pick it out of the air. The blast is large enough to take out the drone. We have three more intercepts before bombs start raining on us." I checked my omni-tool again. "Make that two more intercepts."

Brian was not an easy person to move. We were roughly the same height but he was built like a body builder where I had what could generously be called a 'runner's build'. Even the boosts from my accelerated life fiber training only upgraded the task to 'arduous' from 'downright impossible'. Taylor and Tattletale couldn't provide more than token assistance so mostly made a point of grabbing the salvageable pieces of Grue's costume.

Fortunately his faculties seemed to be returning fairly quickly and moving him rapidly transitioned from 'sack of potatoes' to 'drunken roommate who can't be trusted to make his way back to the dorm'. Even that eventually transitioned to 'friend with twisted ankle' and then basically a token oversight to make sure he was steady enough to walk under his own power.

We made it out with little time to spare. Bakuda had managed to impose enough order to send a barrage of shots flying but, in a move by Survey that I was particularly proud of, the last two drones sacrificed themselves in a manner that caught all the launched shells in the blast radius. It was a truly impressive show of coordination and foresight.

Unfortunately it meant the follow-up barrage was totally unimpeded. By that point we had put enough distance between us and the staging room that it was little more than a light show, though some of those effects were things I wasn't comfortable being three rows of lockers away from. Honestly the worst of them I wouldn't to want share an area code with.

Rather than spread out the shots over the area in case she had missed us Bakuda seemed content to excessively pummel the same cluster of lockers beyond all rational sense. The reference to 'rational sense' was probably what explained her actions. At least it kept her occupied while we led a gradually more coherent Brian away from the blast site. Eventually we found a quiet corner where we could prop him up and watch the fireworks.

Taylor went to check on him and I pulled up the scanning data on my omni-tool, once again with Tattletale floating nearby and watching the output eagerly. Brian was able to stand on his own, but was maintaining that cloud of darkness across his skin.

"Are you..." Taylor turned towards me. "Is he alright? Under that?"

"...mm fine." Came an echoy slur.

Taylor watched as the shadows slowly dissipated revealing a fully intact Brian. Physically intact. His expression looked like what would happen if someone with a thousand yard stare was hit by a bout of severe nausea. Still, I could see the effort he was exerting to pull himself together. After a few moments he had a somewhat brittle smile and slightly more confident stance.

"Thank god." Taylor's voice was barely a whisper and she seemed unsure of what to do with herself.

Brian put on a brave front and turned to face me. "Thanks for coming for us. We really owe you for this."

"Oh, you have no idea." I grinned at Tattletale who seemed reluctant to meet my eyes.

Brian glanced between us. "What?"

I smiled and left Tattletale to explain while I started sorting reagents. If I'd known what I was getting into or been aware of Taylor's synergy with the Sting formula I would have come better prepared. Instead I would have to break apart reagents sets to try to cobble together more useable formulas.

"Uh, this isn't a goodwill rescue. I kind of hired him."

Brian's eyes widened and it looked like a fresh batch of nausea was hitting him. "How?"

I wasn't sure who he was addressing, so I decided to jump in. "Remember that medical coverage deal I told you about? She decided to call it in, reported injuries and all that."

The only reason I had Sting prepared was a completionist desire to have everything on hand, just in case. While I only had one set of reagents prepared there were other formulas I probably wouldn't need that I could raid for components.

Brian looked around at the shattered facility, the assorted destruction, and the still raining mortars a short distance away. "This counts as medical coverage?"

I smiled. "It does if you include house call and hazard pay charges."

Taking apart my prepared formulas for Acid Rain, Double Drain, and Regrowth would yield enough reagents for two more Sting formulas. I'd have enough left over for a Super Heal as well, one of the stronger healing formulas.

Brian swallowed. "When you said 'incredibly cheap medical coverage', how cheap are we talking?"

Lisa broke in before I could. "Market rate. Whatever the normal cost of the medical bills would be."

I finished sorting the reagents and packed them away. "That's right. No worse than you'd get from any hospital. Plus the cost to get the doctors out into a parahuman war zone." I smiled at them. "Don't worry, I'm running a tab. Now let's go and expand that crippling medical debt."

Brian seemed to be having trouble figuring out if he should be concerned or amused and Tattletale was unable to clarify things for him. As long as he wasn't dwelling on his experience with Bakuda then I was happy. Instead I turned to Taylor who had been sorting the salvaged parts of Grue's costume.

"Do you have a line on Regent or Bitch?"

She nodded and handed the helmet off to Brian. "Regent's closest. He's not doing well. Not like..." she glanced at Tattletale and Brian before deciding to refrain from mentioning recent events. "I don't have a good sense of what happened, but I can pick up stuff through my bugs. It smells burnt."

That was a grim thought. Horrible in an entirely different way and more concerningly something that could rapidly prove fatal. Bakuda may have wanted her victims alive during her little show, but I doubted she was that concerned with their long term survival.

The Alchemy constellation passed by without connection as I turned back to Brian and Tattletale, who seemed to be debating the price of experimental surgery and how serious I was being about hazard pay.

"Taylor's found Regent. We should move while Bakuda's still occupied with that." I gestured behind me at the sustained bombardment, which chose that exact moment to peter out to nothing. Well, nothing but a concerning column of smoke, crystal, exotic lights, and what looked like a crack in space with fire bleeding through it.

I glanced back, sighed, and then looked at the Undersiders. "Can I get a 'fuck this' on the current situation?"

"I'll second that." Tattletale replied in a monotone.

"Yeah, double for me." Brian pulled on his helmet and the salvaged pieces of costume, which seemed to steady him somewhat. He left black smoke bleeding through the tears and missing pieces, creating a seriously impressive image for someone wearing salvaged jeans and leather.

"I'll raise you to 'fuck this shit' with a side of 'screw that bitch sideways' thank you very much."

The other two Undersiders looked to Taylor with shock but no hint of disapproval.

Tattletale turned to me. "Is your robot..."

"Robot?"

"...going to be able to give us enough cover without your drones..."

"Drones?"

"...backing it up?"

I shook my head. "No, it's flight..."

"Flight? Excuse me?"

"...isn't that maneuverable. It was never more than a distraction, and they're too coordinated for that to work."

"So can your scanner..."

"What scanner?"

"...find us a path clear of the bombs?"

"You can detect the bombs?" Brian turned to Taylor. "Can someone please fill me in here?"

"Possibly, but I should get some more drones in the air."

"Again, what drones?"

"You can do that?"

"Sure." I raised my omni-tool and triggered the drone fabrication. Five glowing celestial spheres the size of beach balls appeared above me and launched themselves into the air. I pulled up my display showing a live feed of the action across the facility.

Brian was making vague confused gestures. Taylor just put a hand on his shoulder and guided him with the group as we moved towards Regent's location.

I may have been taking a little too much pleasure in keeping the Undersiders off balance, but it actually served a purpose beyond my own amusement. What they had gone through was nightmarish. I had no doubt it was going to catch up to them in a bad way later on. My main goal was to keep that 'later on' as later as possible. A breakdown in this environment would be lethal. I would rather have them calling bullshit on my abilities than dwelling on what had happened to them.

There was less distance to cover on the path to Regent, but the situation was becoming more complex. Small teams of ABB had started picking their way through the rows, still mostly confined to the area around the courtyard but slowly working their way outward. I wasn't worried about the conscripts with their light caliber handguns and improvised weapons, but every squad had a professional member carrying either a rocket launcher or set of grenades.

There were also the mortars to contend with. Bakuda was maintaining an iron grip on the teams operating them and I had little doubt that the first sighting of us would be followed by a shower of shells. I knew it would come regardless of how many of her own people would be caught in the blast. It put stealth as a higher priority than I would have preferred.

My only hope was that Bakuda was still confirming the kill rather than taking offensive action. Otherwise she could just set to bombard the locations of the last two Undersiders. Then again, she clearly wanted to rub in the consequences of crossing the ABB, so would possibly hold off until after the shock value of finding another injured Undersider.

I turned to Tattletale as we worked through the rows.

"Any idea on Bakuda's next move?"

There was a slight flinch at the bomb tinker's name, but she pushed through and forced an answer. "She's running on pride. You pretty much stole her big moment out from under her. In her mind that's probably the worst thing that could have happened. She doesn't just want to win, she has to prove herself."

"Prove to who?"

The girl shrugged. "To the ABB? To the Protectorate? To the cape community in general? To the people watching at home? To us? To you? To herself?" She took a breath. "Bakuda has her wires crossed. This manic stuff, it isn't an act. She's running hot and it makes her hard to predict."

"Like the new ABB thinker?"

She shook her head. "This is just an excess of variables, not some active effect. I can't get anything on the new thinker."

I nodded. "Me either."

She clenched her teeth. "I was afraid of that. At least Bakuda doesn't seem to be using her guidance anymore."

"In the courtyard one of the gang members mentioned something about the timing they'd been given being shot. Any idea what that means?"

She considered. "Maybe? I'll have to look into it. Assuming we get out of here."

Taylor moved forward from where she'd been walking with Grue. "We're getting close. Can we make it without tipping anyone off?"

I checked the display again. Tattletale had been glued to my side watching every readout and video feed. I'd seen children in a toy aisle at Christmas who were more subtle about their longing. I pulled up the local section of the map with Tattletale watching every twitch of my haptic interface.

"No way to avoid this bomb, and I don't want to risk spoofing the trigger. No telling what the detection mechanism is from here." I indicated another section of lockers. "If we slip over the roofs here we should be able to bypass it without triggering anything. Can you handle the climb?"

Tattletale shook her head glumly. "My shoulder..." She trailed off, then shot a hand up to her shoulder. "My shoulder is fine!"

"Uh, congratulations?"

"No, I mean, Glory Girl dislocated it. It was a mess. I've been on painkillers since Thursday."

"Well, that's a... shame?"

"You fixed my shoulder!" She exclaimed.

I was starting to have my doubts regarding my passenger's regard for the strength of Tattletale's thinker ability.

"Yesss....?" I left the word hanging.

"Oh. Uh, thanks for that? For fixing my shoulder?"

"You're welcome?" It was weird. I'm guessing being saved from horrific merger with a storage locker was a lot more abstract than fixing the damage of a dislocated shoulder. Small things were more personal than giant nightmare problems.

"My stitches too." Taylor was running a hand over a portion of her arm. "Thanks for that."

I just nodded awkwardly and the focus kind of shifted to Brian by default. "I'm just going to go with a blanket thank you until we get out of this and can figure out exactly how much we owe you."

I nodded and we pressed forward towards the hopefully-not-dying Regent. I mounted the roof first, checked that it was clear, and then signaled for the rest to follow me. Once again Tattletale was giving me a strange look as I helped her over the row of lockers, but didn't pursue it any further.

Brian took point with me as we approached the locker that Taylor and Tattletale assured us contained Alec. I had been smelling smoke from the moment we entered the row. It was accompanied by the concerning stink of other incendiary chemicals. Unlike the previous lockers there was no presentation and no booby-traps. The door wasn't even fully closed.

I pried up the shutter, casting light on the collapsed form of Alec. All I'm going to say on the matter of his condition is 'badly burned'. I can say that any hint of guilt over my use of fire on Uber and Bakuda was completely out the window. If anything those attacks had been two degrees too mild.

I was leaning very heavily on my military engineer mindset to push through this. It was different from the carnival horrors unleashed on Brian and Tattletale. This was just a set of awful and clearly hideously painful injuries. As a veteran I knew how to handle it. As a civilian I would probably be as paralyzed by the sight as Brian.

I guess that's another quarter for the jar. Why does it feel like I'm selling my soul two bits at a time?

"Watch the door. I'll deal with this." Brian responded to my tone more than anything and turned, ostensibly to keep watch but mostly he was specifically positioning himself to block Taylor's view inside the locker.

She wasn't keen to peer around him.

I rested a hand on unburnt flesh, eliciting a flinch despite my best efforts. Really, I just wanted to throw a healing formula at him, but since that didn't address scarring it was not an option. I focused and nanites flowed into Alec's body, casting the locker interior in a pale blue light.

Compared to Tattletale and Brian this wasn't a difficult healing. There was some flesh that needed to be rebuilt, but even the deepest burns didn't go far below the skin. There wasn't even that much to repair. It was limited to a portion on one side of his body. It was just that the injuries were horrible and I got an inside look as they were rolled back. Every monstrous aspect of them, all played in reverse to an incredible level of detail.

When I was done Regent was sitting with his back to the cinderblock wall of the locker staring off into space. A large portion of his shirt was missing along with one pant leg and part of his mask. I would have preferred to get him out of the room, but Tattletale advised against it and I was willing to trust her judgement on this. The rest of the group had clustered in, seemingly at as much of a loss for how to handle this as I was.

I was about ready to try something, anything, when he finally spoke.

"We're going to kill her."

"What?" Brian was the first to interject.

"Bakuda. We're going to kill her."

"Eventually." The eyes of the group shifted to me, though with no real opposition to the statement. Even Taylor only looked briefly conflicted before nodding.

"Eventually?" Alec's voice was deeply sarcastic. "Why not sooner?"

"Deadman's switch." Tattletale offered. "She goes down and she takes the conscripts and probably a good chunk of the city with her." He didn't look entirely opposed to the idea.

"Means we need to keep her heart beating. Everything else..." I made a dismissive gesture.

It was a horrific concept, but that seemed to be the theme of the night. I wasn't going to limit myself when it came to options that could end this nightmare a moment sooner.

Regent's lips quirked in a cruel smile. "I think I can get behind that." He climbed slowly to his feed and seemed to be really present for the first time since I healed him. He took in the room like he was seeing it for the first time. "Where's Bitch?"

"She's the next pickup." Brian seemed to be settling back into his leadership role, possibly out of habit, possibly as a welcome distraction from what had happened.

I pulled up my omni-tool map, drawing a whistle from Regent. Taylor pointed to a location near the back of the facility, not that far from us.

"Bitch is there. She doesn't seem to be that badly hurt, but she's pissed off. Really, really pissed off."

"Sounds like Bitch alright." I was a little concerned about how quickly Alec seemed to bounce back. Either he was unusually resilient or was very good at pretending he was. That introduced the concerning possibility of how much of his personality was actually an act.

I checked my omni-tool and the reports from Survey. "Mostly clear at the moment. If we hurry we can probably get there before this search closes any tighter." Once we were spotted or they figured out what we were doing we could expect rains of mortars and swarms of panicked conscripts. I accepted the likelihood of the night ending up there at some point, but I quite reasonably wanted to put it off as long as possible.

As we moved out I felt the Celestial Forge make a connection to a mid-sized note from the Vehicles constellation. It was another cluster, this one with four equally sized motes in it. The power was called Valuable Memories and was something of a conundrum. I could tell the first mote was about vehicles, the third mote was seriously about vehicles. The fourth motes was about something at least on the scale of vehicles. I connected to the second mote. Do you want to know what the second mote was about?

The nature of memories.

I had just received the technology and knowledge necessary for memory manipulation on a shocking scale. And I got it from the Vehicles constellation. I swear, the Celestial Forge makes less sense every day.

And this was serious memory tech. It was basically everything you could want. Download, upload, copy, edit, delete, the works. With the cloning technology I could already manage this kind of thing had some terrifying potential applications. And once again it was of no help to the current situation, which seemed to be a consistent theme. Life or death situation gets you all these wonderful powers, you just have to survive the mess to be able to use them.

"What's so funny?"

I turned to Regent and considered my answer. "Nothing. I just... remembered something." Tattletale seemed to twig to something being up, but didn't say anything. Regent just nodded along.

"So how'd you get roped into this mess?"

"Tattletale wanted to go into a staggering amount of debt. I decided to oblige her." The thinker gave me a sour look much to Alec's amusement. "Are you... You holding up alright?"

I wasn't sure how to press this issue, but the speed at which he turned from despondent to a facsimile of his old self was disturbing.

The boy just shrugged. "I'm managing. After they grabbed me things weren't too bad, at first. I was cornered by gas mask girl and her two thug-boys. All banter and lightheartedness to start." His tone lost a lot of its levity. "People like that are lots of fun until the exact moment they aren't. Decided they liked me enough not to try anything special, just the fire stuff." His fist clenched so hard it shook, then he forced himself to release it.

I considered something. "Career ABB? About a hair under six feet? One with a neck tattoo and the other with the side of his head shaved?"

He nodded. "I see you've met them."

"Yeah, I sort of set them on fire."

Alec perked up. "Seriously?"

"I'm sorry, when was this?"

I turned to Tattletale. "Back when the initial negotiations went to hell."

"Wasn't that risky?" Taylor called up from where she was following with Brian.

"Not really. It's a controlled enough effect that there was no chance it was lethal. Actually, hold on." I started working my omni-tool, pulling up records from my previous drone. Once again Tattletale watched every motion and output of the device like a hawk, but this time she was joined by the rest of the Undersiders. A video feed began to play showing the sparks of my Flash formula wheeling towards Bakuda and her lackeys, including the failed dodge attempt, and the burning impact of the formula across them.

Regent burst into laughter while the rest for the Undersiders were amused but more restrained.

"Wow. No wonder she's pissed."

"Grue, she was already pissed. This is karma." Alec suddenly stood bolt upright. "Holy shit. I need to start going to church."

"What?" The word was echoed by most of those present. Alec just gestured at the screen.

"A prayer gets answered that quickly and specifically then you can't not take it as a sign." He turned to Brian. "Grue you must know a good church. Hook me up."

"I really hope that's not a race thing."

"Oh, maybe I'll join the choir. Won't that be fun?"

"Regent." Tattletale spoke slowly. "When's the last time you were up before noon on a Sunday? How often do you get up before noon in general, barring mission obligations?"

Clearly a man of sophistication and taste.

"Don't disparage my faith!"

A signal from my omni-tool chirped and I pulled up the grim report. "We're going to have to move."

"What's wrong?"

I angled my omni-tool towards Brian, much to Tattletale's annoyance. "Looks like a full mobilization. They're emptying the courtyard." The screen showed squads of ABB working their way through the maze of lockers.

"Are they coming this way?"

"Some of them, but look." I pointed out the approximate directions of some of the farther squads headed towards where we found Tattletale and some more towards Alec's former locker. "Looks like they're checking up on where you are supposed to be. They confirm you as missing..."

"Then they might start dropping mortars on Bitch on principle." He looked between me and Taylor. "I was pretty out of it, but you had something that held them off before, right?"

"The formula?" Taylor asked.

"Two sets salvaged from other reagents. Though from this range... Well, I'm not sure if it'll do more than annoy them. The drones can buy us some time, but not that much."

Grue nodded. "Can we make it?"

I pulled up another map. "We'll have to jump two... no three roofs, but we should be able to get there while avoiding the bombs with enough time to spare."

Alec leaned in and looked at the screen. "I think I might love that thing half as much as Tattletale, and that's only because my feelings don't extend to the biblical sense." The thinker abruptly pulled back at the comment, but looked conflicted about it. "So three roofs. No problem." He turned to Brian. "And you said that my parkour hobby was a waste of time."

"It was a waste of time because you never did anything." Brian answered as the group began to move at double time. "Filming yourself jumping down a flight of stairs is not parkour."

The banter dropped off, though with a focus on covering the distance rather than dwelling on the situation. I had a feeling Tattletale was aware of how I was trying to manage group morale and at least supported it on a surface level. Distractions, confusion, or banter were all better than sudden breakdowns or collapsing into despair. The problems weren't solved, I could clearly see that, but everyone seemed to have at least reached a functional place.

We managed to cross the roofs with varying levels of grace. Alec had very clearly not done parkour to any measurable degree. Meanwhile climbing an obstacle of this height was trivial with my new experiences and mild physical enhancements. It was clear that Tattletale was noticing something about that, but she hadn't said anything yet. Assuming we got out of this in one piece I was probably in for another conversation.

At least this time I'd have some leverage.

As we moved the Celestial Forge made another connection to the Crafting constellation. This was a smaller mote called Fingers of the North Star. In addition to increasing my mechanical talents the power was specialized for projectile weapons. It would let me disassemble, analyze, and reassemble absolutely any projectile weapon I encountered as well as easily upgrade existing weapons. It also helped me design new and unique weapons based on more esoteric technologies.

I wasn't exactly short on esoteric technologies.

It was another upgrade, design and refinement power. Once I got out of here I would need to completely rework pretty much my entire kit. That task was overdue anyway. I had been too focused on big idea projects rather than building up the equipment that would let me properly function in the field. Things had been holding together, but they were slapdash and relied too much on luck for my tastes.

Taylor led us to Bitch's location. Rather than another locker of varying size it was a service room on the edge of the facility. I could hear grunts and profanity coming from inside. Once again I took point with Brian backing me up. I quickly picked the lock, something I could literally do one-handed without looking at this point, and we burst into the room.

I had been preparing myself for the worst. Never in my life have I been so happy to only find a tied up and beaten teenage girl. It really says something about my night when that was the high point. My relief was not shared by Rachel.

"What do you want you motherfucker? Back for more? Well fuck you!"

Her reaction briefly confused me until I realized she had only seen me in costume once before, for a brief period, and about three design revisions ago.

"It's okay," I checked the room for threats, then raised my hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "I'm here to help."

"What the fuck... Grue?"

I let Brian move into the room to help Rachel out of her bindings. I followed after so as not to spook her any further. She had taken a bad beating, but compared to the horrors of the other Undersiders it was easy to fix and easy to stomach.

As soon as Brian had untied her Rachel franticly rushed to a corner of the room. When I saw what she was panicking over I immediately reevaluated my assessment of this being the least horrible rescue of the night.

"Well... shit." Regent's voice came from the door.

"Angelica." Brian's voice was a whisper as he spotted the dog. "Can't you..." He turned towards Tattletale. "Can't she heal her dogs?"

The blond girl shook her head. "They have to be conscious. Otherwise the power doesn't connect."

"Hey, don't worry." Alec loudly clapped me on the shoulder, then winced and shook some feeling back into his hand. "Tattletale called in some medical help. New guy can handle this."

Rachel looked up from the barely breathing terrier she was cradling. I glanced at Alec before approaching. "It's Apeiron, actually."

"Right. Well, A Pie Run will help you out. Apparently we're all in medical debt now. Might as well join us."

I crouched down to Rachel and, with some conflict, she raised the dog towards me. It probably says something bad about my mentality, but seeing something like this happen to a dog affected me to a greater degree than all the casual violence I'd blown through tonight. Maybe it was because my military mindset wasn't helping with it. Maybe because it somehow seemed personal. Maybe I just liked dogs more than people, which I understood wasn't that uncommon of a stance.

Anger warred with grief and desperation on Rachel's face. "Please. Whatever it costs. Save her."

I smiled under my mask and reached out to rest a hand on the terrier's fur. "Please. That deal was for the Undersiders. Your dogs can pay their own medical bills."

Rachel gaped at me, but it kept her from reacting as the blue circuitry lines spread across the animal's fur.

"You, what, expect Angelica to pay you?" The confusion was clear in her voice.

"Oh, no. Everyone knows dogs are horrible with money. I fully expect she'll welch on the bill." I focused as the nanites rebuilt damaged muscles and organs, mended broken bones, and fixed a hundred small wounds that I didn't even want to think about being inflicted. I grimaced and pushed on with false joviality. "Tragic really. It'll destroy her credit rating. She'll never be able to buy a house or a boat. Probably be reduced to offering back-alley belly rubs to get by."

"That's his cute way of saying he's not charging you." Tattletale clarified for Rachel as Angelica began to stir in her lap. Tension melted out of the big girl at the sight of it and she held the dog closer.

"Do you want me to fix the eye and ear as well?"

She gave me a confused look with a hard edge to it. "You think I want my dog hurt?"

"I think your dog has had one eye for a long time. I don't know how she'll react to suddenly getting that vision back. That's why I'm checking with you."

Rachel looked at me and slowly nodded. "Do it."

I focused and my nanites began rebuilding the missing and destroyed sections of the dog's body. The ear reformed in a sheath of blue light followed by a ruined eye socket slowly restoring itself. Across her body dozens of old scars vanished and were replaced by fresh fur. Even before the events of tonight it was clear this dog had endured a hard life.

I finished my healing and pulled my hand away. The terrier opened one eye, then the other. She blinked them out of sequence, tilting her head before realizing that action wasn't necessary anymore, then trying again out of habit. It was an adorable action from a dog I'd last seen trying to chew my wrist off.

I held a hand out to Rachel. "You're next."

"I'm fine." She said dismissively.

"The hell you are." Brian interjected, drawing her eyes away from the dog in her lap. She tried to look defiant, which wasn't helped by the fact that twisting to face him caused her to wince in pain. "Take the damn healing while you have the chance."

She glared at him for a moment, then nodded to me. Rachel was comparatively easy to heal. Roughly the same level as what I'd had to manage with Taylor. Contusions, scrapes, and a few small cuts. They told a nasty story, but not on the level I had to deal with from the rest of the Undersiders. When I finished Rachel climbed to her feet with a look of clear relief on her face.

"Alright," I turned to face the team of villains. "Now let's get out of here."

Instead of enthusiasm I was greeted by a row of blank faces. Brian was the first to speak.

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, time to leave?" I pulled up my omni-tool's map, earning a surprised glance from Rachel. I pointed to the various gaps in the outer wall, including one close to the maintenance room. "Get out while the getting's good?"

"Yeah, fuck that." Regent's voice was uncompromising. "Gas-mask-girl is going to pay."

"Not arguing with that," I made a placating gesture. "But a customized murder arena with half the ABB plus conscripts as back up isn't the place for it."

"Not an option." Brian stepped forward. "Bakuda picked us apart tonight and broadcast it for the world. Reputation is everything in this business. If we don't hit back here the Undersiders are finished as a team."

I wasn't really seeing the downside to that, but bringing up that perspective probably wouldn't help my case. Instead I looked across the team trying to find anyone who could see the sense of this.

One glance at Rachel was enough to inform me of her opinion. "They hurt my dog." She spoke with an iron conviction that brokered no disagreement. I could understand where she was coming from, but it wasn't the right time for this. Instead I looked to Taylor.

"We can't let this go on." She looked out into the facility and put a hand on the hilt of her knife. "We lose the chance to stop her here and there's no telling what could happen. When are we going to get another opportunity?"

"At any other time? In any other location? Preferably when I've had more than eight minutes to prepare? Hell, we could fall back and hit her when she tries to leave."

"Too risky." Tattletale spoke. "Not with Leet backing her up. Could be looking at cloaking, teleportation, phasing, or any number of tricks he was afraid to use before."

"Then we track her to her base and launch a proper strike. I'll do it myself if I have to."

"What if they've sprung Lung by then? You going to charge into a tinker's workshop when she's backed up by him, Oni Lee, and the mystery thinker? Oh, plus whatever Leet has on hand? Are you prepared for that?"

I wanted to say I could be, but there wasn't a guarantee, not with my passenger's silence on this new thinker. Plus, if I had to go in heavy there's a chance Bakuda could be caught in the cross fire, which would just turn things into a prolonged version of taking the kill shot here and now.

Tattletale seemed to pick up on my train of thought. "We wouldn't have been able to leave even if we wanted to. Angelica can't carry the entire team and there's no way we'd get away on foot."

I sighed. "I could have carried a couple of people on my motorcycle. That would have freed up enough for Bitch to manage the rest."

"Great idea." Regent quipped. "But where's the bike?"

I checked my Omni-tool. "Right now it's dodging a rocket barrage above the west side of the courtyard." Things weren't looking good. The ABB seemed to have seriously gotten their act together and there were still the mortars to worry about. At the very least we needed to get out of this room.

"Wait, wait, wait. You have a flying motorcycle?"

"Well, it doesn't fly in motorcycle mode." I switched over to the perspective of one of the drones and showed Regent the motoroid swooping down to buzz the courtyard, leaving a cloud of dust and a set of disoriented mortar crews in its wake.

His eyes lit up like Christmas morning.

I watched the crews fight through the dust to try to reorient the equipment in a distinctly this-way direction. Fuck. Either they had confirmed the other Undersiders were missing or they were going to bombard this place on principle. Either way we needed to move.

"Mortars are being aimed this way." The group tensed. There wasn't really a choice in this. If Taylor was here then I would be staying. It was an obligation I couldn't get away from. "I'll back you up on this."

Grue nodded. "We appreciate that."

"Hey, gotta protect my debtors, right?" Tattletale was less than pleased with that joke. "Conditions though."

"What are they?" Taylor asked as the group filed out of the room. I entered a redeployment command to my motoroid and drones as we moved.

"Keep things nonlethal, at least for the conscripts. I'm not going to make my debut as a cape with a dozen kids chewed up in the crossfire. This is probably still being broadcast, so keep things as contained as possible. We don't want another Aegislash." Regent's beamed at that while Taylor dropped her head at the reference. "Shouldn't need to say this, but don't kill Bakuda." That one was mostly aimed at Bitch, who looked indignant until Tattletale whispered an explanation to her. "Finally, we still bail if things go to hell. I'll take that raid on ABB headquarters over a last stand for the sake of your reputation."

"We can agree to that." Brian looked over the chaos of the storage facility as he spoke.

"No argument from me." Regent added. "Plus I want my stuff back."

"Same here." Bitch growled. Angela was starting to grow, sprouting spikes and bone plates as she walked.

"Likewise." Taylor nodded, drawing her weapons.

Tattletale grinned. "Looks like everyone's on board."

"Great." I checked the status of my motoroid and drones as the Celestial Forge missed a connection to the Size constellation. The mortars were back on target and the dust had cleared enough that they probably were ready to fire. We had sulked around long enough. Time to make our presence known. "Mind if I announce us?"

"Be my guest." Brian made a gesture towards the courtyard.

I smiled as I entered the commands. My motoroid pulled out of a low run and launched into the sky. The rising robot was clearly visible from our position. When it reached the peak of its ascent it flipped and powered its turbines to maximum.

Brian craned his neck upward. "What is it..."

"Everyone, away from the walls. Get near the center of the rows. Low stances. Watch out for debris." Tattletale shouted the warnings before I could give them. Taylor had already put the pieces together. Alec and Rachel may not have known, but they could see the panicked reactions from the ABB and their conscripts. Those included a few desperately launched and poorly aimed rockets attempting to stop the motoroid's descent

They knew what was coming. Trauma does have a wonderful way of making things stick in the mind.

I hadn't followed up on my opening attack, mostly because I didn't think this facility could take it. I didn't want to accidentally collapse it on top of Taylor or the other Undersiders. The most my motoroid had done was take a few light swipes with the tonfas during its flybys. Now it was setting for a proper follow up, a strike on par with the initial, earth shattering assault.

I watched my robot dive towards the courtyard with a smile on my face. It was time to go to war.

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Armourer (Light of Terra DLC 5 A Sky Filled With Steel - Warhammer 40,000) 300:

A mental database containing information on the most common types of armour found in the Necromunda Hive and how to build, repair and maintain them. While this doesn't sound impressive, it is worth pointing out there are countless billions of people dwelling within the hive, and they have been here for millenia - the list of things counted as common at one time or another ranges from Power Armour in the distant past to the more common hammered metal plates made by local Gangers to the standard Imperial Guard Carapace Armour. Don't expect to start churning out Adetus Astartes Power Armour the second you get this though - the infrastructure to build the infrastructure to build the infrastructure to build the armour was lost to ruin a long time ago. There's a reason the Space Marines use suits thousands of years old.

Engineering (Teen Titans) 100:

You're a master mechanic and an expert at building robots and other technological devices. You also have a fair bit of knowledge about hacking into computers.

Valuable Memories: the nature of memories (Big O) 300:

You have knowledge related to any particular concept-the construction of Megadei, the nature of memories, Bigs, or the creation of chimeras. Paradigm will have a vested interest in you, and will protect you and provide you with funds if you work for them.

Fingers of the North Star (Cave Story) 200:

You have a natural talent with machinery, and this extends to firearms creation. You can disassemble, analyze, and reassemble any projectile weapon you come across, and you have the ability to create unique, one of a kind guns that utilizes odd and esoteric technology. You also gain a free 'stamp' you can apply to any weapon you create, to show it's your work. Upgrading existing weapons is a breeze as well.