4 Conflict

"Before we take these vials, I have a proposal."

Everyone rapidly turned to focus on Burns. Clearly, Donovan wasn't the only one who was anxious. Burns savored the atmosphere even as he continued. "As we all know, the Elixir of Bonding would ensure that any lifeform who drank it would be bound to work in concert with others who'd drunk from the same batch. Thing is, there're too many loopholes that've been left open. First, can we confirm that this is in fact the Elixir of Bonding? We'd need to know it's the Elixir in every vial too. Secondly, while there's no known magic that can overcome the effects of the elixir, there are ways around it if it's being used as a trap. For instance, even if someone who's been bound by the elixir is compelled to aid others through the bond, if that person were disabled the compulsion would be useless. Anyway, my point is that even the Elixir of Bonding isn't good enough on its own. You said it yourself earlier Donovan, 'we lie, cheat, betray, and commit all kinds of foul deeds regularly.' This is exactly the kind of plot a Jack would think up. So here's my idea: we need to layer multiple effects like the elixir together. I have one such method that could achieve similar results myself. If everyone here is actually sincere about this, let's go all out."

Donovan remained silent even as the others began to agree and discuss additional methods that could be employed. Burns watched a bead of sweat roll down the side of the man's head. Then the precog hit him and he knew.

Burns activated his helmet and shouted "Watch out" even as he dived left, bursting from his seat. Just as he barreled straight through the room's closed door he was sent flying to the ground by an explosion.

The power armor protected him from the shrapnel and absorbed most of the impact, allowing Burns to stand back up almost instantly. He'd been thrown out into the safe house's backyard, which was now lit with flames. The entire house had been leveled and debris was still falling from the sky. Two giant snakes began to uncoil in the center of the safe house's foundation, hissing to each other as they stared down Donovan. The Steam Jack stood fully armored exactly where'd been when the explosion had gone off; he'd relied on his armor to tank the blast.

From the house's ashes, Elizabeth rose, her badly burned face healing at a visible rate. She'd be fully recovered in seconds. As for Hayashi, he seemed to have vanished entirely.

Donovan didn't hesitate to unleash his External Magic, sending a steam gale flying towards Elizabeth with one outstretched hand. With the other he targeted the Diego brothers' lungs, transforming the air in their bodies into steam. Even as the snakes began to writhe he turned towards the Erratic. Then Donovan's head snapped back as Burns shot him in the face three times with his Onyx Flood's teardrop projectiles. The black beads failed to penetrate despite their force, causing them to fly back into the power armor. Even as they did, Burns formed two blades from his wrists out of the armor's black metal and rushed forwards.

Rather than allowing Burns to gain momentum, Donovan allowed the impacts on his faceplate to send him falling. Before he could hit the ground, two bursts of steam exploded out from his feet, rocketing him backwards. From the Steam Jack's back, two shoulder turrets unfurled and launched dazzling rays of destructive magic towards Burns.

That was when Burns felt his own External Magic kick in. He maintained his right arm's blade while preparing a larger projectile with his left, allowing Donovan's attacks to close in unchecked. Even as they hit him he kept charging towards Donovan, closing the distance.

Then the turrets' attacks bounced back with even greater speed, leaving Burns unharmed. Donovan crouched instantly, dodging the return fire while directing the turrets to target the Diego brothers who were already rising, having survived the Jack's initial attacks.

While Donovan raised his fists, balls of swirling steam gathering around them, Burns punched his left hand forward, launching a much larger bullet than before. This shot hit Donovan's shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards without penetrating the Stalwart's sturdy defenses. Then Burns swung his right hand blade down, slashing into Donovan's armor. Sparks sheared off of the onyx blade but a white line was the only damage left behind.

Donovan didn't hesitate to abuse Burn's failed attack, unleashing a flurry of blows with both fists. He used powerful bursts of steam from various locations along his armor to generate superhuman strength and speed. Burns felt the waves of hot air from each punch through his armor even as he dodged the attacks, twisting, ducking, and weaving. Donovan mixed in uppercuts, jabs, and hooks with increasing speed, maintaining a non-stop flurry of strikes. Burns continued dodging but clearly felt himself losing initiative. Donovan was only speeding up; his own momentum rising to the point Burns couldn't afford to launch a counterattack.

Mid-swing, a beam of white light shot into the Steam Jack from behind, burning a hole right through his Stalwart power armor. Burns could smell Donovan's flesh cooking as Elizabeth stepped forwards, from behind Donovan. One of her yellow gauntlets dimmed as the white light it had just emitted faded away.

Although his power armor remained standing, Donovan had fainted within his metal shell. Rather than relax now that Donovan had been incapacitated, Burns only concentrated even more. Aiming slightly above and to the right of Elizabeth's right shoulder, he launched another bullet. It would have seemed to have been a meaningless shot to the Pure Jack if she hadn't felt the warm, invisible blood splash on her face.

All around the Jacks countless red-eyed people were revealed, a few well-preserved, others rotting. In the distance one of the Diego brothers had already slaughtered dozens of the creatures, using his tail like a flail to smash the fragile enemies. Burns didn't bother attacking the now visible enemies as they remained stationary and his precognition wasn't triggering. He was more focused on the corpse he'd just made.

Looking at it in detail, although the top half of the corpse's head had been blown off, Burns could still see the head's sharp fangs. Elizabeth saw what he was looking at and said "Perhaps a vampire of some kind?"

Burns nodded and replied "I would suspect so."

Turning around to the sound of footsteps and wheezing, Burns saw the Diego brothers approaching in their human forms. They'd donned fresh clothes at some point, a magician-level trick he idly thought. Gabriel nodded in greeting but neither brother spoke, although Burns doubted if they'd be able to even if that was their intention.

Not far behind them Hayashi made his way towards the other Jacks, dragging a body behind him with one hand. He dropped the badly damaged corpse beside the one Burns had killed.

"This ambush was no fault of Donovan. This man," he pointed towards the corpse he'd dragged over, "was the Puppet Jack. He had mind controlled Donovan and Horde Jack Anderson, this vampire, a day ago. He was gathering Jacks hired by Aceron with the intent to kill or dominate them. Apparently, the Northeastern Union is offering a sizable bounty for confirmed kills on anyone working with Aceron. Most interestingly, I learned that Donovan wasn't actually lying about possessing the elixir, although the vials we were offered contained a type of liquid curse."

Burns nodded and said "I knew something was up with Donovan, especially after fighting him. I saw him actually fighting once, a few years back. Not only does he not use hand gestures to manipulate the steam he generates, his ability to multitask is outstanding."

Elizabeth shook her head and said "While I agree we should discuss this, this isn't the place to do it."

Burns agreed "If everyone here is willing to show a little faith we could go to one of my bunkers. They have teleportation arrays that are set-up with an IFF system. I could give everyone here an ID for the system and then we'd be able to port to a safe location. It wouldn't take a minute."

Upon receiving confirmation from the other Jacks, Burns vanished.