747One More Trigger
Part Thirty-Seven: Pushback
[A/N 1: Due to significant discussion regarding Purity in the last chapter, I've decided to put up the next chapter for this fic early.]
[A/N 2: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Purity
"Here you are, folks." The cabbie pulled up in the taxi drop-off zone outside the Medhall building. If he was a little abrupt with the braking, Kayden didn't mind. Even on their best behaviour, Geoff and Dorothy were more than a little creepy, and he'd spent the majority of the trip glancing in the rearview mirror.
"Thanks." She paid the fare displayed on the meter, then handed him an extra twenty for a tip. He could've decided 'to hell with the fare' and kicked them out somewhere along the way, but he hadn't, which was a good thing. She probably would have had to argue them into not killing him, risking Max's displeasure at the delay. "Have a good day."
"You too, lady." Now that the trip was over and they were getting out of his vehicle, the taxi driver seemed to be relaxing slightly. "Thanks for the tip." But he still took off the moment the doors were shut, not even waiting for an appropriately large gap between cars. A few horns blew and brakes squealed, but he made it into the flow of traffic unscathed.
Kayden drew a deep breath, then let it out as she turned to the other two. "Okay, I need to talk to you about what we're going to be doing."
"Going to the PRT building," Geoff said immediately.
"Ensuring that the PRT can't interrogate Othala, Crusader or Victor," Dorothy added.
"I could go in through the air vents," Geoff offered. "No extraction required. They would just die. The PRT can't interrogate dead people."
"No!" She belatedly realised that her voice had been sharp enough to draw attention, which was the last thing she wanted to do, so she deliberately moderated her tone. "No. We are not going to be killing them. We are breaking them out of holding. Getting them out alive."
Dorothy tilted her head. "Killing them would be easier and quicker."
For a moment, Kayden wondered if this had been Max's plan all along; asking her to help break Othala out, then 'suggesting' that Night and Fog attend as well. He knew their bloodthirsty tendencies all too well. That sort of thing could be useful when up against adversaries who needed to die now, but she was trying to be a goddamn hero, and heroes didn't just murder innocents, or friends.
There was another mental jolt as she recalled that acceding to this … expedition? Excursion? Mission? Whatever the hell it was, once her unmistakeable power signature was seen to be part of the Empire attack on the PRT building, all the work she'd put into being a hero would be gone. The world would forever see her as a villain again.
Fuck you, Max. Why do you keep doing this to me?
The answer, after a few seconds of reflection, was simple. Because he can. Max Anders delighted in sticking his fingers into other people's lives and bending them to his personal whims.
"No killing," she said. "We're here to get them out, not to kill them."
Geoff smiled, a thoroughly unsettling expression. "Then we will kill everyone else, yes? It is an unavoidable circumstance. We either kill them, or the PRT guards holding them."
"No," she said again, prompted by the last dying echoes of her desire to be a hero. "We don't kill the guards, either. We can stop them without killing them."
"The PRT will be trying to kill us," Dorothy said in the same tone as someone else might say, 'the opposing team will be trying to score points'. "We should kill them first."
Kayden had been worried about this. "If we do that, then there's a good chance we'll all get kill orders." She didn't think that would really happen, but God only knew how the PRT would actually react to a bloodbath inside one of their own buildings.
Geoff, predictably, had an answer to that one too. "Not if there are no witnesses."
Kayden pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering if she should've simply dumped her entire life down the drain and gone on the run with Aster instead of participating in this venture. Her common sense kicked in a moment later, reminding her that an adult with an infant was far more conspicuous than one without. Her bank accounts would either be drained or frozen in short order, and very young children had a vast range of health and nutritional needs that simply could not be ignored. From that moment on, her choices would range between committing crimes just to eat (and to feed Aster), crawling back to Brockton Bay (and Max) with her tail between her legs, and turning herself in to the untender mercies of the PRT: none of which appealed.
Every time she'd tried contacting the PRT with the information that she was turning to the hero side and would they please stop shooting at her, she either got no response at all or a curt directive to hand herself over for arrest and trial with no special treatment. From this, she figured that telling them about Aster would be a mistake of the highest degree, and that even if she went to another city, the Director there would back Piggot up. That was how law enforcement operated, after all.
"No. We do not kill the guards," she said, trying again to get through to them. "We do not kill any witnesses. Is that understood?"
"That is understood," Geoff said, echoed a moment later by Dorothy.
Kayden had her doubts, but she figured that was the best she would get. Turning, she led the way up the steps to the front entrance of the Medhall building.
Entirely unnoticed by all three of them, tiny bugs settled on their clothing and changed colour immediately to blend in.
Aerodyne
The first Madison knew about anything amiss was when a fly came buzzing around her face. That wasn't particularly unusual, except when her teammate—who could control insects—was in the same classroom. Then Taylor put up her hand and cleared her throat. "Mr Gladly? I need to go to the washroom, bad."
He frowned, which wasn't totally surprising. Mr Gladly seemed to think of his classes as exhibitions of how to teach properly, and he didn't want his students to miss any part of the experience. "Are you sure you can't hold it, Taylor?"
"I'm certain, Mr Gladly." Taylor put on a grimace of her own. "It's, uh, girl problems."
He visibly flinched. "Ah, right. Go, go. You're, uh, alright? You have, uh, supplies?"
That was Madison's cue. "I've got some, Mr Gladly. I'll take her there and make sure she's okay."
"Yeah, thanks, Madison." Taylor threw in a wince as she got up from her desk. "I really appreciate it."
Before he could change his mind about Madison also missing out on his sublime teaching skills, they were out the door and heading up the stairs toward the girls' washroom. They'd made it up one flight of stairs before Madison decided to make sure of her suspicions, and glanced at Taylor. "You don't really need, uh, supplies, do you? Because I don't actually have any."
"Nope," Taylor confirmed briskly. "I'm all good on that front. But I need to make an urgent phone call, and I'm pretty sure Gladly would've noticed that. You know, eventually."
Madison snorted. Mr Gladly did have a talent for becoming engrossed in his own awesomeness as a teacher. "So, what's the big problem?"
"Second Star Wars movie." Taylor kept moving. Her long legs gave her a totally unfair advantage, making Madison work twice as hard just to keep up with her. Fortunately, the ongoing cardio training under the Dad Brigade was exactly what she needed for that.
All the same, they hit the top of the steps before Madison figured out what Taylor actually meant with her cryptic statement. All three of them had decided unanimously that the prequel trilogy wasn't 'real' Star Wars, which meant Taylor was referring to … "Shit, the Empire's doing something?"
"That's my understanding. Do me a favour and keep a lookout?" Taylor ducked into the washroom with Madison right behind her, then pulled out her phone.
"What about Emma?" asked Madison. "She needs to know about this too."
"I texted her and Dad before I put my hand up. If you can call your dad to come pick us up, that'd be great." Taylor called up a number on her phone, then put the phone to her ear. "Hi, this is Ladybug of the Samaritans. I need to speak to Director Piggot, please. Yes, it's urgent. Yes, I can wait."
Director's Office, PRT ENE
Up until now, the Samaritans' unofficial spokesperson had apparently been Sparx, so when Emily was informed that a phone call was coming in from Ladybug, it was the first indication that something untoward was happening. Still, despite her differences with the team—mainly to do with their (possibly) accidental poaching of at least one of her Wards—they were still nominally heroes. More to the point, they were very good at what they did, as demonstrated by the cutting-out expedition that had extracted Oni Lee from within what had remained of ABB territory. So, she was definitely interested in hearing what Ladybug had to say.
"Director's office, you have Director Piggot. I'm speaking to Ladybug?"
"That's correct." It sounded like what she knew of Ladybug's voice. "Director Piggot, you've got a big problem. Right now, we're putting together a response, but we're going to be necessarily delayed. The Empire knows you've got Victor, Othala and Crusader, and from what we're able to discern, they're prepping to hit you very soon to take their teammates back."
Emily didn't bother taking notes; the phone call was already being recorded as a matter of course. "I have questions. First: how do they know? Second, how do you know? Third, how do you know what they're doing?"
Ladybug didn't miss a beat. "Victor has moles inside your building—"
"Wait," Emily interrupted. "How many? What are their names? How do you know this?"
"Sorry, don't know how many or what their names are, just that Krieg contacted them this morning and pieced together enough information to determine that Victor and the others were in your custody. We already knew about it because we're just that good. As for the third question, they had a meeting last night in a sub-basement of the Medhall building—the entire company's an Empire front, by the way—"
"Yes. We're aware of that." Emily took sour satisfaction in spoiling the big reveal.
"Oh. Good. One more thing we don't have to fill you in on. Anyway, they're meeting there right now, but they've called in three more people who weren't there last night. I don't know for certain, but from general appearance and the fact that they went straight down to the meeting area, I would guess that they're Purity, Night and Fog. As we speak, they're all looking over a floor plan of the PRT building, and Kaiser is giving instructions."
That said exactly one thing to Emily: the Empire was planning a full-on assault of the PRT building. Pulling out her second desk drawer, she eyed the row of three rectangular buttons on the panel within. Currently, the green one was glowing steadily, but when she pushed the yellow one, it clicked in and lit up in turn. Discreet alarms would be sounding throughout the building, and the exterior doors would be no longer opening to admit visitors. 'Red' threat posture would lock the building down and bring all personnel to immediate high alert.
"Thank you for the warning, but if you were spying on their meeting last night and you knew who they were then, why haven't you yet come to us with that information? Why are you only talking to us now?"
Ladybug didn't seem fazed by the implied accusation. "We wanted to make sure we could verify everything before we handed them over to you. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Yes. Were you the ones who captured Victor, Othala, and Crusader and gift-wrapped them for us?" Ladybug had dodged the question before, and Emily couldn't see how they might have done it even with that diverse set of powers. However, she could add two and two with the best of them, and the Samaritans seemed to add up to a big fat 'four'.
"As I said, Director, we're just that good." The call ended on that ambiguous note, but Emily was no longer interested in pursuing a more definitive answer.
Reaching over to her desk intercom panel, she hit the all-units address button. "Attention. This is the Director speaking. You will have no doubt noted the yellow alert. All off-duty troopers are to armour up and report for duty. All administrative staff are to close down their workstations and evacuate the building now. Lobby guards are to usher all visitors out of the building and enact full lockdown. As soon as all non-essential personnel are offsite, we will be transitioning to alert status red. This is not a drill. I say again, this is not a drill. Piggot, out."
Fully aware that she'd just kicked the anthill, for which she would be probably called to account later on, she took up her phone and speed-dialled a particular number.
"Director?" responded Armsmaster. "What's the situation? Does this have to do with our recently acquired prisoners?"
"It does." She took a moment to appreciate the fact that he'd thought things through that far. "I just got a phone call from Ladybug of the Samaritans, warning us of an assault in force from the Empire Eighty-Eight, most likely to break their comrades free. Purity, Night, and Fog are also strongly suspected to be in on this. They were still in the planning stage as of thirty seconds ago, which means we've got at least the travel time between the Medhall building—that connection is confirmed, by the way—and here to prepare."
"Understood." There was no trepidation in his voice. "Are the Samaritans likely to be assisting?"
"The implication was that they are, but they were also caught on the back foot. Sparx usually handles these calls. They might not get here before the Empire does." She took a deep breath. "Ladybug also positively stated that we have Empire moles in the building, run by Victor. I want you to devote all your resources toward cracking his phone and identifying them before the Empire gets here. The last thing we want is a mole opening a sealed door or tossing a grenade in the wrong direction. Find them, and take them out of play."
"Understood, ma'am."
"Good. Piggot, out." She ended the call and took a deep breath before moving to the next item on her mental checklist. Another number was called up on the phone. "Major Lorimar. What is the status of the special-situation prisoners?"
"Prisoner Oscar is currently in interrogation, ma'am. Eyeball checks indicate that the other two are present and in good health. What are your orders?"
"Foam them. Fill the cells. Once Oscar is returned to your level, foam her into her cell too. Then set up a defensive perimeter in the detention level. I will be instituting full lockdown in short order. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am. Entirely understood." If he was dubious about his orders, she didn't hear it in his voice. "Was there anything else, ma'am?"
"No, Major. Carry out your orders. Piggot, out." She ended the call, then called up Miss Militia's number. Getting her ducks in a row was often an arduous task, but it was worth it in the end.
Computer Studies Class
Sparx
The message from Taylor was short and to the point. Prob w E88. Contacting Dads.
Emma knew what this meant. Covertly, she slid her notebook into her backpack and began to clear her computer desktop, saving her work as she went. She was almost done when the expected call came over the antiquated PA system. "Emma Barnes … please report to the principal's office. Emma Barnes … please report to the principal's office."
"Ooh," murmured one of the other girls, Laura someone. "You're in trou-ble …"
Ignoring her, Emma finished clearing the desktop and shut the computer down. She swung her backpack onto her shoulder and gave Mrs Knott a bright smile. "I'm sure it's nothing serious."
This didn't wholly convince the teacher. "It's probably a good idea not to keep them waiting, dear."
"I'm going, I'm going." Emma slipped out through the door and closed it behind her. The call for Taylor came when she was halfway to the office, and the one for Madison when she got there. It wasn't a perfect system, but with any luck people wouldn't connect the three calls to the office with each other, or with the Samaritans.
"Ms Barnes," the principal's secretary said once she got there, "we received a call from your father. It appears there's a family situation, and he needs to take you out of the school today."
"Oh, no!" She was very good at feigning distress, even if she did say so herself. "Did he say what's happened?"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't privy to that information." Giving her a smile of faked sympathy, the woman gestured to the industrial-grade uncomfortable plastic chairs that lined the wall of the office. "You can wait there until he arrives."
Emma's return smile was equally fake, but looked much more genuine; she'd worked at making it so. "I've got a better idea. I'll wait out at the front."
Before the secretary could muster an objection, she left the office again, heading for the front steps. From that point on, it was just a waiting game.
Ladybug
Madison and I ducked back into Mr Gladly's classroom just ahead of the announcement calling me to the office (not that he knew it was coming). I shot him a grateful smile and slid back into my desk. Leaning across to the person in the next row, Shane someone, I asked quietly, "So, what'd I miss?"
"Wow, you actually came back?" He seemed honestly surprised. "If I was a chick, I'd use that excuse to ditch class for the rest of the day. Maybe the rest of the week."
"Trust me, the thought crossed my mind." I angled my head toward the blackboard. "What's happening now?"
"Uh, the economic aftereffects of Behemoth's attack on Jakarta in 'ninety-four, and how it made the trade thing even worse than it should have."
"Oh, right." Just as the PA system crackled, I opened my textbook. I pretended not to hear my name the first time around, then I looked up and frowned. "Is that for me? Really? Did someone see me going to the washroom and report me or something?"
"Well, if they did, I'm next," quipped Madison as I closed my textbook.
Mr Gladly looked pained at the interruption. "If we can have some quiet, please, Ms Clements?"
"Sorry, Mr G. It won't happen again."
"See that it doesn't. Ms Hebert, you may as well take your books with you. Whatever they need you for, I doubt you'll be back before lunch."
"Sorry about this, Mr Gladly." I slid my textbook into my bag as I stood up again. "I guess this just isn't my day." Without waiting for his response, I escaped from the classroom and headed off down the corridor. I may have outwardly seemed to be just another normal teen making her way to the principal's office, but mentally I was very busy indeed.
From the moment I'd picked up on the new threat, I'd been mustering bugs from all over the city into two gigantic (if covert) swarms. The first was going to be focused around the Medhall building, while the second was converging on the PRT building. I already had booster bugs around Medhall, but they were less important than the ketamine bugs that I still only had a few hives of, and none anywhere near Downtown.
Leaving only the breeding females behind, I'd emptied those hives of every bug that could fly and deliver a payload, and set them off on their trek across town. They couldn't fly all that way, not in the timeframe I needed them to, so Dad was going to have to play bug chauffeur again. I just hoped we could get there in time for it to do any good.
As for the booster bugs around Medhall, they picked up the timely arrival of Velocity, who seemed to be conducting his patrol in the very close vicinity of that building. It was good to see that the PRT was actually taking my warning seriously. If Director Piggot had chosen to ignore me, events would be taking a distinct downturn in the very near future.
I had no guarantee that they wouldn't anyway, but at least we were doing something about it.
Medhall Sub-Basement
Purity
"So, you all know your roles?" Max looked around the room at the members of his team. Kayden got the impression that it was a rhetorical question. The subtext was that after that presentation, nobody should be in any doubt about where they were going and what they were doing. "Bradley, how's it going with gathering the troops?"
"Fine." Hookwolf tilted his head slightly. "I've got 'em converging on the PRT building, but keeping things quiet until we get there. We bust in the front doors and our guys will swamp the guards in the lobby before they know what hit 'em."
"We have a problem." That was Krieg. "One of Victor's moles just reported in. Piggot's called a Yellow Alert, and she's getting all non-essentials out of the building. I think they know we're coming."
All eyes turned to Max; he shook his head confidently. "That's impossible. There's no way they can know what we're doing."
"They have got three of our own," Stormtiger reminded him, just before Kayden would've said the same thing.
Max looked like he was suppressing the impulse to pinch the bridge of his nose. This wasn't surprising; he hated being contradicted. "I'm aware of that, Lars, thank you very much. But it doesn't matter. It wouldn't matter even if they'd broken Victor and he was singing like a goddamn canary. They don't know what we're doing here, because he doesn't know what we're doing here. All he knows, all any of them know, is that we were making plans last night for dealing with the Samaritans. Nothing more."
"Was it in this room, too?" Kayden looked around. "Just checking."
That earned her an aggravated sigh from Max. "Yes, it was, but let's be realistic here. Even if Victor told them exactly where this room was, there is no conceivable way on Earth that they could've gotten any kind of surveillance device in here in the meantime. More to the point, if they knew where we were, they would've hit us as soon as we came down here today. So, they don't know. Understood?"
"Okay, I'll bite," Alabaster said flippantly. "If they aren't listening in on our every word, why are they going to Yellow Alert?"
"Drill." Rune had a coin with her energy signature inscribed on it, and now she made it spin in front of her. "It's gotta be, yeah? They've captured our guys before—okay, mainly Hookwolf, but he still counts—and they never locked down for them. This is probably Piggot keeping everyone on their toes by making them jump through a few hoops, make sure they don't get too confident, just because they've captured three members of the Empire." She rolled her eyes for emphasis.
"Exactly." Max pointed at her. "Well done, Tammi. You've hit the nail on the head. That's almost certainly what's going on. And in fact, it's likely to work in our favour."
Hookwolf leaned back in his chair. "How's that?"
Max frowned, like he expected everyone to have read his mind. This was one of his more annoying habits, especially when coupled with the tendency to act on his own decisions and expecting everyone around him to keep up. "It's simple. Drills disrupt everything. Nobody's going to be watching cameras, everyone's going to be running around pretending there's an emergency. And once they've finished their drill, there'll be a window where everyone's out of place and nobody knows what's going on. We can make use of that."
Kayden had to admit, his logic made sense. Of course, his logic always made sense, even when it didn't. It was one of his gifts as an orator. He could stand up in front of a crowd and say absolutely nothing for fifteen minutes straight, and they would applaud him like he'd just unveiled the secrets of the universe to them.
"Alright then," she said, when nobody else spoke up. "What's the plan for getting there?" The Empire usually did big movements at night. An assault like this was likely to be a lot more obvious in the light of day, and she couldn't help feeling that a drill could easily pivot to being the real thing if the PRT saw them coming.
"Fleet vehicles." He was actually proud of this idea, she saw, like it was a tactic worthy of Rommel. "I've already had the license plates removed. We can literally drive up to the building, decamp from the cars, and hit them before they know we're there."
"What about the Samaritans?" asked Menja. "I mean, you said this had to be their doing, somehow."
"She's got a point," Fenja added. "What if they're listening somehow, and talking to the PRT? Or waiting to ambush us?"
Max shook his head. "No. I already told you, it doesn't add up. Whatever it was the Samaritans did, they got lucky once. If they did pull a fast one on us, they've utterly failed to capitalise on it. Now that we know they're targeting us, they're going to have to be lucky all the time. We'll just keep up the bug spray until we've taken them down once and for all. Also, need I remind you that there's a reason we're doing this, and every minute we delay is a minute closer to the dissolution of the Empire Eighty-Eight?" He paused to survey the table. "Does anyone have any relevant questions?"
Kayden had many, but she suspected his idea of 'relevant' didn't match with hers, so she kept her mouth shut.
It was easier that way, around him.
A Little Earlier
Danny
"Kurt, I have to go." Danny was already putting on his coat.
Kurt looked up from his desk. "Ah, sure, but why?"
Danny hated to lie, especially to one of his oldest friends, but it was best Kurt didn't know about this side of his life. "The school called, about Taylor. They weren't too clear about what's going on, so I'm heading over there now."
Kurt sighed and nodded. "Fucking schools, man. Okay, I got your back. Say hi to Taylor for me."
"Will do." Danny headed out to where the car was parked. Getting in, he started the engine and headed out of the parking lot. He paused at the entrance to fasten his seatbelt, then he peeled out of there.
It was standard operating procedure in the Samaritans for people who'd been out of the loop to pick things up as they went along, once they got into the loop. All Danny knew was that the Empire was planning something, and that Taylor needed him to ferry a bunch of bugs across to the Medhall building and the PRT building. The latter destination gave him a strong clue as to what the Empire was planning, but he didn't know how she knew that, or what she planned to do about it.
Fortunately, that wasn't his problem. A plan had been made, and was being executed, and his part in that plan was to move a bunch of bugs from point A to point B as quickly as possible, in between picking up his other passengers. He trusted Taylor and the others to have thought the plan through, so the bugs would be moved.
"So, where am I going?" he asked out loud. He knew there were booster bugs living in the car, able to hear his voice and make sense out of it, which meant Taylor could hear him and respond.
Moments later, he had his reply. Taylor's bugs could be incredibly useful for giving directions, even if it was a bit creepy to have beetles crawling over the inside of the windshield to tell him where to go. As he'd expected, they formed an H shape, which he knew meant 'go home', so that was where he went.
When he pulled up outside the house, Lisa and Riley were waiting for him. Each had a bulky bag slung over one shoulder. "Girls," he said as they climbed in; Lisa got into the front seat, while Riley got in the back. "I assume you've been filled in?"
"Yup." Lisa looked pleased with herself, but that was her usual expression. After she closed the door, she opened the backpack she was carrying to reveal Taylor's Ladybug costume. "Alpha said he'd pick up the girls."
"What about the bugs?" he asked. "I was told there'd be bugs."
"Bugs, we have." Riley opened her bag, and the glittering swarm poured out of it to pool over the seat and footwell next to her. "All the eff-you the Empire will ever need."
"Wow, I'm proud of you." Lisa reached back to ruffle her hair. "That was almost a swear word. Keep it up, you'll get there one day."
Danny grinned as Riley batted her hand away, but he was already pulling out onto the road.
It wouldn't take them all that long to get to Downtown, but it should be long enough to fill him in on the rest of the plan.
Ladybug
Mr Barnes pulled up in his car, and we all piled in. He was already moving off as we put on our seatbelts. "Danny and Rod?" he asked.
I held on as he took a corner at speed. "Dad's on the way with Lisa, Riley, and a bunch of ketamine bugs. Mr Clements is heading to Arcadia to pick up Flechette, Vista and Panacea. Dad's got my costume." Mine was the bulkiest. Emma and Madison usually carried their costumes with them, at the bottom of their backpacks. Fortune, as they say, favours the prepared mind.
"What about the Empire?" He didn't look around as he asked the question, concentrating entirely on driving.
"Prepping to move out." I grimaced. "I've got a ton of bugs coming on scene, but they're in an underground garage and I just can't get enough through to bother them. Also, it looks like they'll be travelling to the PRT building in a bunch of closed vehicles."
"I have to ask, why is Riley coming along on this?" asked Emma. "She doesn't have any powers, and I'm not totally sure why we're bringing her into a supervillain-facing situation."
"We're likely to need Lisa's insights," I pointed out. "And Riley needs Lisa's encouragement to keep on being Riley and not Bonesaw, powers or no powers."
Emma nodded. "Okay, fair point."
"How about the PRT itself?" asked Mr Barnes. "Are they preparing?"
"They are," I confirmed. "They've contacted New Wave. Velocity's watching Medhall and Assault, Battery, Dauntless and Triumph are on their way to the PRT building. Pretty sure Armsmaster and Miss Militia are already there."
Madison shook her head. "I still can't believe the Empire's actually going to attack the PRT building so blatantly like this. Do they want a mass kill order?"
"One," I said. "Kaiser's arrogant as fuck. Two, they don't know their secret is already out, so they're going all-out to keep it hidden. Three, they think they can."
"Well, shit." Madison shook her head. "This is gonna be a shitshow. I can just tell."
Emma chuckled darkly. "Ya think?"
Kaiser
Max began growing his armour on the way to the PRT building, though he held off on the spiked crown for after he got out. "Look alive, people," he said over the two-way radio that he held carefully in his metal-gauntleted hand. "When we get there, we're going to be fighting hard from the minute we leave the vehicles to when we get past the guards and pull our people out of there. Not one step back, do you hear me? We don't retreat until we get what we're here for. Hookwolf, status on your troops?"
Hookwolf's voice came over the radio loud and clear. "Got two hundred coming in, armed and ready."
"Excellent." Max checked the dashboard clock display. They were about two minutes away. "Tell them to attack now. Get into the building, any way they can. Subdue the guards, take their weapons."
"Roger that. Ordering attack now."
Leaning back in his seat as much as he could, Max smiled coldly. It was good to be the man in charge.
Director Piggot
Looking out her office window at the city below, Emily felt the faintest nigglings of doubt. It all looked so peaceful—well, as peaceful as Brockton Bay ever got—and the warning she'd gotten was starting to feel farther and farther out of left field. Since then, she'd gotten a text from Ladybug's number—E88 coming your way in black SUVs—and that was it. While black SUVs were not exactly a dime a dozen, they weren't vanishingly rare either.
Still, she'd put the building on full Red Alert posture from that moment; she herself was armed with an assault rifle and clad in body armour in case someone like Rune decided to burst in through her office window. They would fucking regret it, she promised silently. The doubts infected her mind once more. If they're coming at all …
Her phone rang, interrupting her dark thoughts. She snatched it up from her desk, noting that it was Armsmaster calling. "Piggot."
"I've got them, ma'am. I just cracked Victor's phone, with a little assistance. I've pinpointed each phone call made to a number within this building, and I know who owns those phones. Most of them are admin staff, but two are troopers."
She wanted to throw the phone at the window, but she restrained herself. Goddamn it, traitors in my building! "Excellent work. Notify their commanding officers, then go join the defensive perimeter."
"Ma'am." He ended the call, and she slid the phone into a pouch. If she had to leave the office, she'd need it.
A moment later, in the silence, she heard the distant crackling of gunfire, filtering in through the polycarbonate windows. Who's shooting? Going as close up to the window as she could and peering downward, she saw people surging across the street. Her eyesight wasn't as good as it had once been, but she was pretty sure she saw weapons in their hands, and a whole lot of shaven heads.
Motherfuckers. They're sending in the cannon fodder first.
Ladybug
"Shit!" I blurted the word without thinking.
Madison, half-changed into her costume, looked at me curiously. "What's the matter?"
"There's Empire rank and file, mobbing the building from all sides. I'm pretty sure some of them have explosives. Breaching charges." I concentrated on the bugs on Dad's windshield. He was close, but maintaining a safe speed in traffic. The bugs formed arrows, as I made them lift their wing cases to show their red wings. Go faster.
My regular bugs were descending on the Empire mooks, but they were fired up now and a few ant bites and bee-stings weren't going to cut it. While it was true that a good defensive position was horrifically difficult to overrun, it seemed that the Empire was willing to spend their men (and women) to do just that. The PRT troopers and on-site heroes, as well-situated as they were, were still badly outnumbered by the Empire attackers … and the villains hadn't even shown up yet.
I had to even the odds somehow; fortunately, I had anticipated the need, and the 'somehow' was approaching rapidly. Except that my swarm had picked up on the sound of gunfire, and I did not want Dad getting shot.
Danny
Riley tilted her head. "Is it just me, or does that sound like …"
"Shots!" Lisa confirmed, just as the bugs formed a red octagon on the windshield.
Danny immediately jammed on the brakes, slewing the car to the side of the road. The PRT building was just up the street, but there were people moving toward it with grim purpose. Not all of them held guns, but they all had something in their hands.
As more shots rang out, echoing down the street, the bug swarm flowed into the air. Lisa hastily lowered the window and they poured out through the opening. The cloud they formed moved steadily toward the attackers, spreading out as it went. While the people on the street had cloths tied over their faces to protect against tear gas, it was almost impossible to cover every last inch of skin, and the ketamine bugs found that skin. One by one, in a slowly toppling wave, the people assaulting the PRT building slumped to the ground.
Danny let out a long gusty sigh. "Is it done?"
Lisa shook her head. "Not yet. The shooting is, though. Now it's just the capes."
Oh, great.
Purity
Kayden wasn't sure if it had been Max's decision or hers for Dorothy and Geoff to ride with her, but it was probably for the best. Tammi's choice to ride with the three of them had been more of a matter of being too slow to pick a spot in another car. Krieg was driving the lead car, with Max in the passenger seat and Fenja and Menja in the back, while Alabaster drove the last one, with Hookwolf riding shotgun and Stormtiger and Cricket in the back.
She didn't know anyone except maybe Alabaster who would let Geoff or Dorothy behind the wheel of a car, so she drove. By unspoken agreement, Dorothy sat in the front passenger seat, while Tammi shared the back seat with Geoff. Nobody wanted the assortment of animated blades that was Dorothy's unseen form suddenly erupting behind the driver.
The first indication that not everything was going precisely to plan came when they rounded the corner to find the mob that had been intended to overwhelm the defenses of the PRT building, all lying unconscious in the street. The lead car pulled to a halt, probably more because Max wasn't sure what was going on than due to any particular regard for the sanctity of human life. Kayden pulled up alongside him, and Hookwolf's vehicle alongside them.
"What the shit?" demanded Tammi from the back seat. "That wasn't supposed to happen! How did they do that? Knockout gas?"
"I … have no idea." Kayden pressed the button on the A/C panel that recycled cabin air, for what it was worth. "I've never heard of them using that sort of thing. It's usually containment foam."
"What happened?" demanded Max over the radio. "Why are they all unconscious?"
"Got a better question," Hookwolf retorted. "Why's there a barricade inside the front doors?"
Kayden looked in that direction, and saw he was correct. Despite the noonday glare, she was almost certain she could see black helmets behind it. "They knew we were coming," she said over the radio. "And they knew we were going to mob the building. They were listening to us the whole time."
"That's impossible!" Max was almost screaming over the radio. "Hookwolf! One of your people must have talked! That's the only plausible explanation!"
"Bullshit. My guys are staunch. They wouldn't say shit about shit."
"Well, someone betrayed us! The evidence is right there!"
"I thought we were attacking," Geoff commented. "Why aren't we attacking?"
"Can we even attack now?" asked Rune. "I mean, they're ready for us, and they did something to knock out all those guys."
"Well, whatever's happened has fucking happened. Your call, boss-man. Which way are we jumping on this one?"
If they retreated now, Kayden knew, it would be an admission of defeat.
Lying out there on the street was almost the entire rank and file of the Empire's footsoldiers. Absent cape interference, it would be a walk in the park for the PRT to secure them all and hand them into the custody of the BBPD. The biggest hassle would be figuring out a place to house them all while awaiting trial.
Worse, they would be deprived in one fell swoop of all their useful minions; at least, those who had been willing to pick up a weapon and come to the party. And that wasn't even mentioning what they were here to do in the first place. Pulling back would essentially guarantee the end of the Empire Eighty-Eight in any meaningful form.
Kayden knew this, and she was sure Max did too.
"Shut up." Even over the radio, he sounded like he was talking through gritted teeth. "I'm thinking."
"Dearest?" said Geoff. "Should we?"
"Yes," Dorothy agreed. "We should."
And they opened their respective doors and got out of the car.
On Top of the PRT Building
Lady Photon
"What the hell was that?" asked Neil, leaning over the edge and shading his eyes. "Did they all just … fall over?"
Shielding herself appropriately and trusting Carol to keep an eye out for approaching fliers, Sarah looked over the edge of the roof as well. The unruly mob below, which had just moments before been surging toward the building with weapons in hand, all lay on the road in attitudes suggesting that they'd just lain down to sleep where they were. There'd been no explosion or energy signature from a power, not that she'd seen anyway.
"That is odd," she agreed. "Do you think Armsmaster or Kid Win are testing some kind of new knockout munition?"
"I'm pretty sure they would've mentioned it if they had something this effective." Neil sounded dubious. "That's got to be a hundred and fifty, maybe two hundred people, out like a light."
"Wait a minute." Vicky pointed down the street. "Didn't Ladybug's message say something about black SUVs?"
Sarah looked. Sure enough, three vehicles of that description were just rolling to a stop. "Do you think it's really them?"
"I bet it is." Vicky sounded positively eager. "I can go down there and pancake them if you want."
"You will do nothing of the sort." Carol's tone was definitive. "It might not be them. And if it is, I don't want you getting too close to them."
Neil frowned. "They're just sitting there. What are they up to?"
Carol snorted. "Well, wouldn't you? They've shown up to join the attack, and there's no attack to join, no human wave to hide behind. Right now, they've got to be asking themselves what they've gotten into, and trying to figure out a way out of it."
That engendered a thoughtful silence among the members of New Wave on the rooftop.
"Think they'll give up and go away?" Eric peered down at the vehicles.
Crystal shook her head and spoke authoritatively. "They can't, not and stay afloat as a gang. That's their people down there. If they leave them to be arrested and charged, the Empire loses all credibility. Also, with nobody to collect protection payments, sell the drugs, and stuff like that, they're going to lose money hand over fist."
Sarah slowly nodded her head, noting that her daughter had summed up the situation masterfully. "Well put. So they're probably going to do something—"
She'd been just about to say the word 'stupid' when Vicky pointed and shouted. "Look! Someone's getting out!"
Sure enough, both doors on one side of the middle SUV were opening, and Night and Fog emerged, fully costumed up. As soon as Fog was clear of the vehicle, he dissolved into a cloud of mist, and rolled over the top of Night. Sarah knew what that meant: no matter how deadly Fog's cloud was normally, it had just become even more so.
As if Night and Fog's actions had been a signal, all the other doors on the SUVs burst open and the rest of the Empire Eighty-Eight leaped out, ready for battle. Growing taller as Sarah watched, Menja reared back and hurled her now-gigantic spear at the closed and barricaded doors of the PRT building. With a shattering noise that Sarah heard even from where she was, it punched through.
As soon as entry had been gained, Hookwolf charged forward, razor-sharp metal covering his body from head to toe. The cloud of mist that was Fog also rolled in the direction of the breached entrance, presumably covering Night in her monster form.
Vicky lofted into the air. "I'm going—"
"Wait!" Neil grabbed her by the arm. "We're here to hold the high ground. If Purity comes up here, she could core out this building right down to ground level."
"Or from side to side." Sarah pointed at where Purity had just lit off her powers and was climbing skyward. "Kids!"
Together with her, Crystal and Eric formed the strongest field they could over the top of the building, then fired off lasers in her direction. It was hard to focus on her—spots formed in Sarah's vision each time she tried—but at least they were keeping her at a distance. Down below, the sound of shattering polycarbonate indicated that other members of the Empire were also attacking the building from the outside, until it suddenly stopped.
Ladybug
Mr Barnes' car screeched to a halt behind Dad's. I knew Mr Clements wasn't far behind, but we needed to do something now. Purity was up above the roof of the PRT building, dodging lasers from the New Wave capes but not firing back, probably because there was an impressive-looking force-field dome in the way.
Or maybe she was just keeping their attention while Stormtiger and Rune smashed holes in the side of the building, courtesy of Stormtiger's air-claws and the car that he and Rune weren't currently using as their own personal flying carpet. Either way, Purity was too high and moving around too much for my remaining ketamine bugs (they were all alive, but only a few still had a payload of venom on board) to get to her. The other two were another matter altogether.
"Madison?" I asked, inclining my head toward the flying SUVs.
She grinned, pretending to crack her knuckles. "On it."
I couldn't see her power in action, but all my bugs felt the subtle change in air currents. It was a lot less subtle about ten storeys up, as both vehicles sheered away from the building, and Stormtiger's explosive air-claws dissipated before they could hit their target, much less explode. Rune swooped the SUVs back toward the building, but Vicky came down like a bolt from the blue, grabbing the unattended one and shoving it away.
With that assistance, Madison was able to get them to where she needed them; over a spot where the SUVs wouldn't kill any of the unconscious gang members if they fell. Rune had no defense against my ketamine bugs, and Stormtiger's had been suppressed to the point that when the vehicle fell out from under him, I was able to nail him on my first try. With more of Vicky's assistance, Madison lowered them both to the ground, avoiding the wreckage of the SUVs.
But then my bugs picked up a commotion on the rooftop.
Laserdream
Crystal didn't pay any attention when the roof door opened and two PRT troopers emerged. While she wasn't sure exactly what they hoped to achieve through the force field, the Director probably had her reasons. Turning her attention back to the swooping, diving sun-bright flare in the sky, she took another pot-shot, and missed again.
Uncle Mark turned his head and went to say something to one of the troopers, but there was a crackling pop and he went down. Crystal spun around, looking for the origin of the new attack, but she was too late. The second taser, wielded by the other trooper, struck her dead centre and she felt every muscle convulse in a tsunami of agony.
Her part of the force field bubble dissipated as she collapsed, unable to control her twitching muscles. The trooper who had tased her grabbed Eric around the neck from behind and shoved a pistol up under his ear, while his buddy aimed an assault rifle at her. "Drop the force fields now!" bellowed the first one. "Do it, or the kids get it!"
"Mom!" screamed Eric. "Dad! Help!"
"Don't even think about it, kid," growled the trooper. "I see even a hint of a laser, I put a bullet in your head. Force fields! Down! Now!"
The force fields wavered, then vanished. "Don't hurt my babies!" Crystal's mother held out her hands pleadingly. "Please! They're just kids!"
"Shouldn't've brought 'em into a war zone, then." The faux trooper raised his voice. "Now, Purity! Blast 'em!"
Purity came to a hover, or at least the sun-bright glare steadied in the corner of Crystal's vision. But when she spoke, she said just one word.
"No."
End of Part Thirty-Seven
[A/N: Evil cliffhanger is evil. Mwahahaha.]