Summus Proelium

There was no time to react, either on my part or Whamline’s. Even as my brain was processing what Amber being there meant, she vanished. But she reappeared for just an instant, long enough for her fist to slam into the side of his ski mask-covered face. Which she apparently used as physical contact in order to transport him, because both of them disappeared again immediately. Which left me in that hallway with the other four Fell-Touched. But on the plus side, Whamline disappearing meant his energy coils weren't holding me off the floor anymore. I dropped back down, stumbling to my feet just in time to see Box and the three Scions candidates all turn to face me once more. Great, Amber had taken away one of these assholes, but I couldn’t chase after her to help with that traitorous murdering bastard, because I still had these guys in front of me. And I was still outnumbered.

Or was I? Even as I had that thought, and started to renew the paint on myself to prepare for Round Two, several energy forms suddenly came flying in through the ceiling and quickly resolved into physical bodies. It was Carousel, Wobble, and those two kids, Yeet and Facs.

More importantly, the nearby door was slammed inward so hard it came off its hinges, as Twinkletoes, in full gorilla mode, came bounding through, followed quickly by Holiday the panther-lizard, with Pack herself bringing up the rear.

Yeah, suddenly these guys didn't look as confident as they had a moment earlier. The three wannabes looked toward Box, who reached into his pocket while announcing, “Yeah, good luck, you're on your own!” Then he produced what had to be a teleportation device. Even as I saw that, my hand was rising to shoot red paint at it. Holiday and Twinkletoes bounded that way too, their snarls filling the hallway. And I saw both Wobble and Carousel reacting. But we were all too late.

On the other hand, so was he. Before he could push the button, and before any of us could reach him, someone plucked the remote right out of his hand. Someone who had been there the whole time (well, since the others had shown up anyway), but whose powers made us ignore her up until that point.

“That,” Grandstand snapped after taking his remote from him, “is just about enough of that.” Only belatedly did I realize that she also had a pistol tucked up under his chin right against the man's throat. “Unless you want to see if a new orb manifests itself to give you the ability to grow your brains back in the next second or two, I'd surrender.”

“That goes for everyone here, I'd say.” That was Wobble, who seemed to be moving a bit stiffly and painfully, his armor dented a bit. It looked like he had been pretty roughed up, just like Amber. Carousel, beside him, wasn't visibly injured, but that could've been because her costume and mask covered so much. She definitely wasn’t moving fast, at least. All these guys looked like they were barely functional at this point. Which made me even more scared for Izzy and the others who weren’t here.

“Yeah, dudes,” Yeet put in while holding one of her golden eggs threateningly. “Because if any of you still wanna make any trouble, you can go for a really quick ride. And I promise you won't like the landing.”

Seeing Box under control and how surrounded they were, the three candidates reluctantly followed that advice, giving up without fighting back anymore. I was pretty sure Pack wasn't happy about them surrendering so easily. It felt like she really wanted them to press the issue so she could let her lizards eat the fuckers. Instead, they sat down and allowed themselves to be secured with cuffs from my special bag, which I tossed to Yeet and Facs to use. I was too busy breathing hard and trying to recover from the past couple minutes of frantic fighting. But only one thing mattered right then. “Raindrop, is she--and the rest of them, are they--” Giving away just how frantic I was about Raindrop probably wouldn’t do my secret identity much favors. Not that I gave much of a shit in that moment, but still. I was trying not to assume the worst, just because Izzy and the others weren’t down here with these guys.

“They’re… um… okay,” Facs quickly assured me with a nod. “They’re upstairs still, they--it’s alright, I think.”

His hesitation through that made me want to press him. But we had to deal with this first. And apparently Box wasn’t quite ready to give up entirely. Not even after the three candidates surrendered and with the pistol still pressed against him. Keeping his head very still and his hands visibly open so we would see that he wasn’t forming any balls of energy, the man spoke carefully. “Hey, hey, I know when I’m completely beaten. Unfortunately for you, this isn’t one of those times. But maybe it is time to negotiate.”

Clearly breathing hard, Wobble gave me a brief look, nodding his thanks before speaking up. “I don’t think you’re… in the best position for that, buddy. Pretty sure the only reason those bullets are still in the gun and not lodged somewhere a couple ceilings above us along with your brain matter is because she thinks you might still be useful.” There was an edge to his tone that made me doubt that the words were entirely a bluff.

“Well that and executing a prisoner felt like a bad way to continue our temporary alliance,” Grandstand pointed out while pressing the pistol even tighter against the man’s throat, basically choking him with it. “But I really don’t mind calling an end to that if he doesn’t cooperate.”

“Or maybe we can just let Holiday eat one of his legs,” Pack put in. She was clearly favoring one of her own legs, using a hand against the wall to keep herself upright. “She’s pretty hungry.”

“I’m basically on board for either of those options at this point,” Wobble muttered before seeming to realize that he needed to set a better example as part of the Minority. He and Carousel exchanged a brief glance. “But we need him alive. He’s the best chance we’ve got at finding a way through the shield the rest of the Scions are using over at the apartment.”

“You’re right,” Box agreed, “I am. But you won’t get any information from me. In fact, your best bet right now is to let me go, along with my friends there. Do that and we can all walk away without further problems.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Pack snapped. “Maybe you should just shoot him. He’s clearly completely brain-dead anyway, if he thinks he’s got any chance of getting out of this.”

Shaking his head in faux disappointment, Box slyly replied, “Well, you can’t say I didn’t try. Show them what they’re in for!”

His words made all of us tense up. But nothing happened. There was a long pause during which the short, thin man with the black cloth mask over the bottom half of his face and sunglasses over the top seemed completely confident. At least at first. Then the confidence waned as he tersely repeated, “I said, show them what they’re in for.”

“Oh, sorry.” That was a new voice. Only it wasn’t new, it was very familiar, at least for me. It was the voice Paige used as Poise. She was right there in the doorway that Twinkletoes had burst through. “I assume that was some sort of signal to the gang of heavily armed thugs you had arranged around this place as backup? Yeah they’re not gonna be any help to you. We sort of ahh, stopped them. I mean, not just us. A bunch of Ten Towers and La Casa people showed up to help too. They work pretty well together with proper motivation considering we’re all supposed to be on opposite sides. You okay, Paintball?”

“Peachy,” I managed before pivoting toward Carousel and Wobble. “But the others, you said they’re okay? All of them? And where the fuck is Jennica? Tell me she’s not about to jump out at us.” My brain was still reeling from all this. Not to mention my body. The whole frantic rush to get here, followed by the absolutely insane fight just to survive those few minutes alone, had done a number on me. But I still had to know Izzy and Eits weren’t… weren’t too hurt. I had to know they were safe, and it was all I could do in that moment not to abandon everyone in this hall to rush up there.

“Jennica’s not here,” Wobble noted in a suspicious grunt as he looked around. “She was. She had some of those control and pain stones on us. They were obviously going to use them. But she left to do something and then the stones just… fell off. She’s not here anymore. Maybe she saw everything going down and flew the coop. As for the others--”

“Unconscious upstairs, in the cell of theirs,” Carousel put in. “All drugged in a heap. But why did Way take a leap?”

“What?” That made Pack give a double-take, apparently just realizing that the Minority girl wasn’t here. “Where the hell did she go?! And where the fuck is that prick that--oh damn it.”

Grimacing, I hesitated. No way did I want to expose too much about Amber’s identity in front of everyone, or the fact that I knew it. Instead, I carefully replied, “It was Whamline. He said something about killing her dad, and she--”

“What?!” That was Wobble, who suddenly seemed to dismiss his own injuries and pain. The tall boy had been leaning against the wall, barely keeping himself somewhat upright. But when I said that, he abruptly pivoted and sprinted out of the building, passing everyone else as his shout echoed back toward us. “Way! Way where are you?!” Belatedly I realized he was using some sort of short range communicator. I knew Raindrop had one too. Carousel, repeating the boy’s demand in her own rhyme (give us your location, we’ll help with the castration), was right behind him. And Pack wasn’t far behind. All three of them vanished out the door.

Part of me wanted to go right behind them to help Way deal with… all that. But I had to make sure Izzy was okay first. To that end, I snapped toward Poise. “Help them, send Alloy! We’ve got this!” Then I used a bit of red paint to throw myself up through the hole that I had made in the floor above with my pink paint to get down here in the first place. I didn't care how it looked for me to be visibly worried. It couldn't give away my connection to Raindrop just like that. After all, she wasn't the only one in there. And yet, even if it had exposed me, I didn't think I would have cared. Not enough to stop me, anyway.

Something else did stop me once I got there, however. A figure stood where the shield generator had been before I knocked it over. The generator was gone entirely now, and the figure was standing in the open doorway into the storage room where the Scions had been keeping their prisoners.

“Hey!” I blurted, only to belatedly realize who I was looking at. It wasn’t one of the Scions. It was my brother. Around him were several unconscious (or possibly dead) Prevs who had apparently intended to grab the prisoners and take them.

Simon was dressed the same way he had been when he’d intervened with Murphy and me while we were trying to catch Luciano. He had the same designer jeans, gleaming silver shirt, red leather jacket, and gloves. Unlike that time, however, he wore a mask over his face. Which confused me a little bit. Why wasn’t he using one of the illusion devices like every other time? Why would he be using a physical mask right now instead? Something tickled at the back of my brain when it came to that, but I didn't have time to focus on it. Instead, I stopped short, taking in his presence. Izzy. He was there to save Izzy, just like me. He had obviously been worried about her. Worried enough to actually show up here now, exposing himself to… well, all this. That prompted a whole bunch of thoughts that I couldn't exactly speak right then. Not without giving too much away.

Head tilting behind that mask as he looked over his shoulder at me, Simon paused. I could almost see him calculating the best way to proceed. In the end, he straightened up and gestured into the storage room. “The Ministry thanks you for your assistance. Sincerely. This situation would have been a hell of a lot worse without you. And without your trust. It looks like the ones in there were drugged by something intended to mimic some of the effects of that bio-attack. But it’s not the same thing. When the medics show up, give them this.” His closed hand extended toward me with a piece of paper in it. “There’s a formula on there for a cure to help them. Get them that, and they’ll be fine.”

I hesitated slightly, before accepting the folded paper from him. If nothing else, I trusted that Simon cared about Izzy enough to not be screwing around with this. “You know if I let them take Eits and Broadway, the authorities will want to charge them, even with this going on.”

“That’s why we won’t let that happen.” The response didn't come from Simon. Instead, it came from behind me. I pivoted to see Blackjack standing there in his normal costume of black slacks, polished leather shoes, a black shirt with a matching bolo tie that had a red gem at the collar, and a white duster coat that reached his ankles. His face, as always, was covered by a golden mask shaped like a face that undoubtedly didn’t match his own at all. He was accompanied by two of his subordinates. The first was Cardsharp in her white pants, black turtleneck, purple leather jacket, and white mask with purple lenses. And the other was Spades, who wore a dark chauffeur’s uniform with a simple white facemask.

Once he had given me a second to register them, Blackjack spoke again. ”Before the authorities get here, we’ll be taking our people and leaving. But thank you for the help.”

I started to say something about Simon being there, only to glance over my shoulder and see that he wasn't. He had vanished in that time, and it didn't look like the La Casa people were going to acknowledge his previous presence at all. If they’d even seen him. After all, he had been partially inside the doorway to the storage room, and at the angle Blackjack and the others were in… maybe they had seen him and maybe they hadn’t.

So, I simply opened the paper and held it up. “You'll need this if you want to wake them up, apparently.” Glancing at the contents, I saw a bunch of equations and utterly indecipherable medical jargon that had been scrawled on it.

“Ahem,” I made a twirling motion with my finger at Spades. “Would you mind?”

The man looked uncertain, but a nod from Blackjack made him turn around. I touched my hand against his back, and immediately copied everything from the paper onto his chauffeur's jacket in white paint so they could read it. Then I gestured toward the storage room. “You better hurry. I don't think you'll be alone for much longer.”

“Yes, we wouldn’t want to push our own alliance with Caishen further than absolutely necessary,” Blackjack agreed. He sent Cardsharp and Spades in to grab Eits and Broadway, before focusing on me. “My thanks a moment ago was not meant to be flippant. You truly have my gratitude, boy. Without your aid here…”

“I just did what needed to be done,” I insisted while shaking my head. “It’s no big deal. Just--just make sure they’re okay.”

He nodded, and the La Casa people vanished back through the doorway with their unconscious companions. Seeing Eits completely limp like that, held loosely in Cardsharp’s arms, made me want to chase after them to check on him. But no, I had to trust that they could handle it and wake him and Broadway up, with the… whatever this information Simon had provided was.

Yeah, I still wanted to know why only these guys had been drugged with whatever it was. Maybe they were testing it and hadn’t gotten as far as the others? Or maybe they only had so much of it. Whatever the answer, with those guys gone, I was left to check on the others by myself.

So, I immediately dashed into the storage room, my eyes snapping around until I spotted several figures lying near a corner. Three of them weren’t entirely physical. Syndicate. All four of his bodies were here, only one of which could be totally solid at a time. But they were all unconscious. That… that seemed odd, and hard to pull off.

And yet, Izzy was the one I focused on. Seeing her lying there, I dropped to my knees and touched the side of her face through the mirrored mask. I could see my own damaged helmet in the reflection there, which was broken enough to reveal some of the mask underneath. Yeah, I had definitely been through the ringer. But I didn't care. I just had to make sure she was okay. Her breathing seemed even, to my relief. She was just… asleep. We had to get her to the hospital and let the doctors see this paper, though I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to say I’d gotten it. Hell, for that matter, I wasn’t sure why Simon had it in the first place.

Just as I went to pick her up, the sound of footsteps made me turn around. It was Paige, together with Linesight and several uniformed security troops from Ten Towers. Those guys immediately took over, lifting up Raindrop and the physical Syndicate before carrying them out. Now this whole building was full of Ten Towers people. Hell, from the sound of things, the entire neighborhood was swarming with authorities, while Grandstand had understandably vanished.

“The others?” I asked Paige.

“Waiting outside, trying not to get in the way,” she replied, her gaze laser-focused on me. “Are you…”

“I’m fine,” I insisted, ignoring the pain and exhaustion throughout my body. “What about Alloy? Did she go after Wobble and Carousel? Did they find Way and… and that fucker?”

Her head shook. “Not yet. They’re all still looking. You said… you said he killed her dad?”

Swallowing, I nodded. “That’s what he said. And now we have no idea where she took him or what they’re doing.

“Whatever she does with Whamline is up to her now.”