Striking Back

We came back to base and sat around once more to figure out what we could do against these types of attacks.

Mary was the first one to comment, "Those weapons, they're of the same type that the New Imperium used right?"

I nodded my head. So he continued, "Was it the remnants of the New Imperium then?"

I shook my head, "I don't think that anyone who survived my attack would ever think of attacking me ever again. Other than that I recognized none of their faces."

"I made sure to remember the face of some of the stragglers if they ever rose up once again. I recognized no one in that crowd. Must be new recruits."

Wilbur said, "Didn't you say you killed all their mechanics how are outfitting their new recruits?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I killed all the mechanics they sent with them, maybe they have a few still left back in Torres."

Dustin spoke up, "I did a spell to check the age of the weapons, they are new made only around 3 days ago. There must be someone still making guns."

I sighed, "Ok so we still have the remnants of the New Imperium to deal with along with these 3 bandits. I thought that the police had reclaimed Torres after my attack."

Mary nodded, "Yes, they have. But what I saw through the portal was not a city but what seemed to be an underground base. They might have set up outside of Torres inside of a cave."

"So," I said, "Now our 2 biggest enemies have teamed up with each other and we have no way to find them?"

This time Katy spoke up, "I think we might though. I have been in talks with a refugee, she seems to have an ability that allows her to track people so long as they are close enough and she has something linked to them."

I focused on her, "Really? We saved the hand of electrokinetic for just such a purpose. Do you think that you can convince her to join us?"

Katy said, "Maybe, she was a refugee from Torres. I think the New Imperium killed her family, so she respects you immensely already for dealing with them."

"If she hears that she can be part of the operation that deals with them I think she might be willing to join us."

I nodded, "Ok, tell me as soon as you get her to agree I want all of us ready to attack as soon as we get her to go ahead."

"Ian and Katy you will be the ones following me to this attack. Dustin, Micheal, Mary you have to stay here just in case they attack again."

Mary said, "I think I'm not needed here. Considering that she summoned the portal in the exact same place as last time despite it not being optimal I think she has some limitations."

"I think she can only summon portals to where she has been and she has only been around that part of the city."

"I don't think my surveillance is needed right now and could much better serve to help you find and defeat them."

I thought about it for a moment she did bring up a good point. Even if they do come the cameras set up all around us by Wilbur should make it easy to spot them.

I said, "Ok you can join us."

She smiled and then we adjourned the meeting. The next day another inclusion was done in a similar position as last time, seeming to confirm Mary's theory.

They were more grunts sent through and even 2 war machines but I quickly dealt with them. The poison this time was invisible so was tougher to get rid of.

There were again no casualties. This attack seemed to make up the mind of the refugee, Harriet, and she agreed to join our organization and track down the perpetrators.

So at dawn, the next day Katy, Mary, Ian, Harriet, and I left the city heading towards Torres city to deal with this gang once and for all.

Harriet seemed to have the Diviner Attunement from Arcane Ascension at Sunstone level which was pretty good.

It allowed her to enhance her sense, track people from a distance, turn her memory into a crystal that others can use, and see magic.

That was not all but it was the basic gist of it. With her current level, she said that she could track someone from around 10 km away.

With me carrying Ian, Harriet and Mary we should be able to reach Torres in 5 hours. Katy wasn't even slowing me down, her wind magic synergizing well with the Chop-Chop fruit allowing her to travel surprisingly quickly.

Once we reached there it was around 11 am and I carried Mary and Harriet with me after 6 hours of me wandering around the outskirts, Harriet got a signal.

I was an old abandoned coal shaft that was quite far away from the city. I landed and brought us close enough for Mary to scout the area with her enhanced bugs.

She said, "This is the place. I see a massive factory down here. There seem to be around 200 men down here, 50 are mechanics and the rest seem to be grunts."

"The electrokinetic seems to be being tended by some of the mechanics, I can see them replacing part of her body with cybernetics including her missing hand."

"The sorcerer also seems hurt. There is a massive across the left side of her body. That laser you shot in there must have dealt some serious damage."

"The poison specialist, he is own his own concocting some deadly poisons. He seemed to periodically dose some of the guards as well with it, I guess to make them immune."

I nodded. That amount of mechanics all specialized in seeming the same thing is way too suspicious. They must have some way to train up new mechanics incredibly quickly.

I put that thought into the back of my head before fetching Ian and Katy. I asked Mary, "Do you think that all the guards are immune to the poison?"

She shook her head, "He hasn't managed to get to all of them yet may only 50 out of the 150 men are immune. The rest are just as vulnerable as the rest of us."

I nodded, "Ok here's the plan, Mary will use her bugs to break the vial containing the poison and try to spread it as far as possible. We will drink the poison resistance potions we have and charge in."

"I will throw the wind grenade from Wilbur to kill the majority of the rest of them then you guys try to deal with the rest of them. Mary and Harriet stay here."

They all nodded and the plan commenced. We immediately did the plans and we could see that once the poison vial broke and began to spread in the enclosed space we had basically won.

I immediately saw the sorcerer grabbing the electrokinetic despite the fact she was still being operated on and ditching this place, abandoning her comrade.

The next steps went as planned we entered the base and the wind grenade managed to kill many of the grunts and a few of the mechanics.

Ian and Katy dealt with the rest of them pretty easily. I looked at the mechanics who didn't seem to be dying of the poison despite the fact they weren't immunized.

I ignored them and walked to the room where the poisoner was. He just walked out of the room to see what happened when I shot him with my laser rifle, blasting him into little pieces.

We gathered the remaining mechanic as I had ordered. I needed more mechanics so I had ordered Katy and Ian to spare as much as possible.

Looking at them I realized why they hadn't died of the poison. I had thought that they had been wearing a mask but no that hunk of metal was not on their face but their actual face.

They had replaced their face with cybernetics. Looking closer I saw the hallmarks of them being tech priests from Warhammer 40k.

I asked, "Who among you is the leader of this congregation."

A hole started to appear in the crowd as and small decrepit tech priest was revealed. Despite him mostly being cybernetics I could see the wrinkles from ages and hard life.

I asked, "Are you the leader of the New Imperium."

He sighed, "What is left of it."

I nodded and asked, "How did you manage to train up so many tech priests so quickly? Keep in mind I will kill you if you don't answer honestly."

He croaked out, "During my last mission I got my hands on a skill that allowed me to build machines that could work on the brain allowing me to transfer my own memories."

I raised my brows. This was a very interesting find. With that skill, I could see how he could get an army of mechanics so quickly and managed to basically found the New Imperium by himself.

I asked, "What was your affiliation with the sorcerer that just escaped."

He said, "She came to us soon after you destroyed our army. She promised that she would get rid of you and help us keep Torres. I guess she lied on both counts."

I agreed. I said, "You have incredibly useful skills, as respect to that I will allow you to surrender. Swear to join my organization and I will allow you to live."

He nodded and along with the rest of his mechanics they all said, "We surrender. May our new leader Marcus Fulbright judge us fairly and kindly."

I said, "Don't worry your skills will be appreciated."

With that battle done, we began the trip back home in vehicles as there were too many mechanics for me to carry. It did not go as smoothly as I expected.