Keeping a large operation secret was impossible, which was why it was important that we act before the wrong information got to the wrong people. There were pitfalls with a rushed approach as well, but that was what the people that had super thinking skills were for. Personally, I just needed an overarching plan and I would try to go with it. Then when things went horribly wrong, I’d deal with it. Honestly, when everything went according to plan people should get nervous.

  We were moving in separate teams, launching attacks from different angles. We were aware of a significant number of entrances to the general area, though probably not all of them. There were too many of us to attack from just one entrance anyway.

  I was with Great Girl’s squad. Well, with Great Girl and Grasp. Mono would be watching some of the entrances, and Map obviously wouldn’t be there in person. Zeb and her companions were also with us, but Midnight was with the Celmothians for reasons of planetary solidarity. They had proper translations to English now, so they didn’t need him for that. Finally, we had Calculator.

  Great Girl and I both had prior conflicts with the gang that was currently called Darkness Rising and would hopefully soon become Yesterday’s News. We would be primary contributors and also targets, so having one of the executives with us was appropriate. And the Mod Squad was likely still angry at both of us for that thing where we removed Iron Shell’s head from everything else.

  Magnet Man was on standby, because he would be far less effective against Darkness Rising members than the others. He needed to be called in once we managed to assess which targets were defending certain areas.

  The base was underground, obviously. A few entrances went through the sewers, but the angle of attack our squad was taking involved a fake dumpster. The thing about fake dumpsters was that people would still throw real trash into them even if they shouldn’t. Nobody had gone through this particular entrance recently, so we had to clear it out.

  “Ugh,” Great Girl said as we looked at several broken trash bags. “I can’t pick up the dumpster since it’s fused into the ground.”

  Fortunately, Grasp was able to take care of it. She formed variable sized hands of energy. It seemed like a weakness to have tangible form, but maybe it was easier to visualize- and it was just how her power worked anyway. She probably didn’t choose it.

  She shook her head. “At least I don’t have to feel it.”

  Great Girl made a face. “And you can probably barely smell it.”

  “It’s pretty bad,” Grasp said. “But…”

  Great Girl was a werewolf. Even without transforming, her senses were heightened to some extent. That wasn’t always pleasant.

  The moment we reached the bottom of the stairs beneath the dumpster, we were being shot at… by a cheese ray. Specifically me, as I was in front. Fortunately my Force Armor took the brunt of the damage, leaving a layer of defense in front of me for a moment. Then the attack stopped even as the cheese sort of flopped to the ground. It wasn’t structurally sound and it hadn’t covered me enough to be anchored anywhere.

  “Ugh, squirrels?” a voice complained.

  “Hey Swarm,” I said.

  “... How could you tell.”

  “Posture. Your voice. And you just confirmed it.” Currently, he had a rat mask on. Rodentia must have upped the pay to get him working for her again. Grasp was already forming hands behind him that would take him down if he started firing again. “Pass a message to Rodentia for me, would you? Tell her the Bunvorixian leaders maliciously wiped out their squirrel population and they suck. Also…”

  I cast Gift. I had to manually direct the flow of mana for most of it since I didn’t have time for chanting and my hands weren’t free, but I wasn’t going to not go in armed. My other hand had the cheese.

  “Tell her there’s more where that came from if she stays out of this.”

  Swarm looked down at his hand, confused. He tossed it away.

  “It’s not a bomb,” I said. “It’s just cheese.”

  It was a good thing it was still wrapped. It should be fine.

  “... Why were you holding a wedge of cheese? Why was I holding it?” he asked.

  “So you could deliver it, obviously,” I said. How convenient that Swarm was here. “Have you contacted Rodentia yet?”

  “She says she wants proof,” Swarm commented. His gun was dangling by his side, which indicated some level of serious agreement. Or maybe his weapon ran out of charge.

  I could see some robo rats gathering further into the tunnels.

  “One sec,” I said, turning to Calculator. “What did we prepare?”

  “We’ve got a short link,” Calculator commented. “She can check it out. You ready to repeat the information?”

  “... sure,” Swarm said, defeated. Clearly, he wasn’t planning to be a messenger… but he should just be glad we weren’t shooting him. I didn’t know if his bodies felt pain, but it was probably still more convenient not to be attacked.

  Calculator gave a short website url. “It has both Celmothian and Bunvorixian sources, plus translations. Obviously, copied from the original. We don’t have access to their local nets.”

  Probably not even the Celmothian embassy had constant access. It couldn’t be cheap to connect things constantly. Even just short blips of information requesting teleportation access weren’t cheap.

  We couldn’t afford to wait too long negotiating here. Swarm would kind of be accomplishing his purpose simply by delaying us. But the possibility of removing Rodentia from the equation was worth the risk. It seemed to take forever but probably wasn’t even a minute before he continued. “Alright. What are your demands?”

  “We just want Rodentia to stay out of the fighting. She can pick through the base after things are over.”

  “She says you’d probably take everything good. She wants to pick through before you. Also, she says to stay out of her way as she takes down those filthy mutts.”

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, I would like to remind her that the rank-and-file individuals had no idea what was happening. But if there are any commanders they would be part of the conspiracy.”

  “She says she will take your nuance into advisement when setting the lethality levels of her armaments.” His eyes shifted. “And also that I am to deliver her all of the cheese you have.”

  I nodded. “You can pick it up.”

  As he did, I began pulling more cheese out of Storage. It was in a couple nice large bags. This was foreign imported stuff, not the sort of thing you’d find at a typical grocery store. Then again, New Bay had a lot of grocery stores. Obviously some weren’t typical. Hopefully for their sake she wouldn’t think about the branding, which was why we swapped bags to something generic.

  Swarm took one bag, dropping the cheese into it. Then he dropped in his gun. Huh, I kind of thought it was a copy. Maybe he couldn’t do that? It was super tech, so that might also be a limitation. It might just be real.

  Then he was walking off. The rats had already begun to slink away.

  “I am always surprised,” Calculator said. “At how situations unfold with you around.”

  I tilted my head. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t know whether to expect instant violence or something like that.”

  “We did plan to negotiate,” I pointed out. “And Swarm is…” I looked around, confirming that it was just Power Brigade people with us. “A totally fine guy.”

  I’d still capture him for the bounty on his head if we ended up in a real conflict, but there was a decent chance that Swarm’s real body wasn’t here today. Or that he could swap which one was ‘real’, which kind of meant as long as he wasn’t an idiot he’d never actually get caught.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Calculator had relayed the agreement to the rest of the assault forces, so that we wouldn’t end up in conflict with Rodentia. The Celmothians might have some concerns, but Midnight could explain to them. They’d probably be happy not to have to fight as much. They weren’t bloodthirsty.

  Somewhere under a pile of squirrels was Zeb. “I hope she doesn’t hurt anyone nice,” Zeb commented. “It’s a good thing you told her most of us don’t know.”

  “Most likely they’ll end up with a little bit of trauma,” I commented. Her weapons were usually… safeish. That said, Rodentia probably could disintegrate people if she wanted to. She made heat rays, after all, and the only excuse she had for her rat theming was that it came from rat eyes.

  Sounds of fighting echoed through the corridors. We were moving at a quick walk, following instructions from Map to approach from an optimal route.

  “There’s just one door in the way,” Map said. “I don’t know if it has a code or-”

  Great Girl grew as tall as the hallway we were in. Taller, since she was hunched over and wolfing out. Her claws sunk into surrounding brick and concrete, getting a hold and tearing. Normally I would have criticized whoever was responsible for the construction for making the walls weaker than the door, but the walls were probably pre-existing… and she might have done just as much damage to the door itself.

  “Done,” Great Girl growled.

  We came face to face with some members of the Mod Squad. It was obvious, as they were decked out in cybernetics. Fluffy charged towards them. The smart ones ran away. Fluffy wasn’t the sort of predator that cared about chasing down food, so he went for the closest ones. People would get functional arm replacements once they were in captivity, so I didn’t feel too bad for them.

  The other people were either lucky or had heard reports of his previous encounters with their gang.

  Of course, Fluffy wasn’t enough on his own. However, dozens of squirrels crawling along the walls and dropping down from the ceilings certainly caused trouble for them. Grasp grabbed random objects- and enemies- to use as barriers against their attacks. Great Girl and Calculator were quick to rush into close range.

  I was pretty sure Calculator was wielding… an automatic screwdriver? He avoided incoming beams by moving in ways that I wasn’t sure I could replicate on my first attempt. It wasn’t just flexibility, but a specific series of movements carried out with precision. I knew he was watching their eyes and postures to determine how they would attack, but I still marveled at how well he managed to process all that. And I was pretty sure he was probably simultaneously listening to the entire operation’s comms, too.

  I didn’t have much to do. We didn’t need me adding bullet holes in Mod Squad members, so I used my staff- with the enchantments temporarily off- to clean up the few members I could actually reach. If they were smart they’d surrender, otherwise I would trip them and crack them over the head.

  Normally, it was a risk to try to cuff people in battle. However, we had a couple extra hands for that. Well, not quite hands. But there were tons of squirrels.

  “Rotate out!” Zeb commanded some of them. “Anyone with burns come to me for ointment! Visit Miss Flutter for the cuffs bag!”

  I had cast Energy Ward on Zeb and her companions, of course, but it wasn’t an endless source of protection. There was some limit to the total damage that could be absorbed, which was probably good for conservation of energy. It hadn’t come up with Midnight and myself which indicated that there was some sort of efficiency that worked on at least two or three. Even Sorority seemed to get maximum effects with three to five of her- though she was the same person which was different from having a lot of companions.

  In the next room, we found a guy I recognized… or at least I thought I did. However, I was pretty sure that Titan didn’t have metal legs. This guy did, though. And it was unlikely that there was another very big guy who was so angry. Maybe he’d just wanted an upgrade. No wait, he probably needed replacements after that thing with Izzy. Had I missed the notification he had been broken out, or did people not know?

  Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was dealing with him now. I had the perfect spell as he charged towards me with some sort of laser axe. Was that Bunvorixian made?

  I gathered mana and focused on him. Yeah, I wanted to get the axe too so… I just emphasized slipperiness and stickiness.

  Contradictory features? Kind of. But also kind of not. That was how Grease worked. And in this case I targeted Titan and not the ground beneath him. I did make sure to intentionally avoid the safety features that would prevent it from screwing up his grip or his stride.

  Great Girl was fighting like a half dozen people or she probably would have taken the charge, but it was honestly a better result that she was occupied. I finished my spell with Titan three of his very large steps away. His weapon fell right out of his grip and… I stepped to the side. He hit the wall hard enough to shake the room, which was impressive.

  “No, Fluffy! Don’t eat that!”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “You think a rust mole would get sick from a little grease? This will just disappear in a moment anyway.”

  “Oh,” Zeb nodded. “Fluffy, eat that if you want!”

  It was a good thing she gave him permission, because Titan’s new cyborg legs had send out spikes and he was starting to stand. It felt like they were pushing the boundaries of powered cybernetics, but I could be wrong. They were thick, after all, so they could probably fit a lot of hydraulics and stuff in there.

  Titan was a jerk, so Fluffy only managed to bite through the back of one of his knees before he punched Fluffy in the head. “Swarm friends! Get that guy!” Zeb yelled.

  Fluffy looked slightly annoyed. Was Titan very strong? Absolutely yes. Magically so. But he didn’t have good footing or a good angle, and he was very covered in magic grease. Some of the impact went into the rust mole’s thick skull, and the rest sort of slid off of him.

  I wasn’t going to tell Zeb to call off her attackers, though. Even if the squirrels hated it, they still bit into his grease covered skin- or they targeted other areas I hadn’t covered. With my focus on his hands and feet, most of his back and his head were perfectly fine.

  “I’ll kill mmmph-!”

  He got a mouthful of fur as he yelled. I thought I heard an angry squirrel squeak as he bit down, but fortunately he wasn’t one of the teeth barbarian. He was more of a fists and weapons kinda guy.

  I sure hoped he had a lot of blood in that oversized body, because he had tons of small holes. He was probably impervious to the bites of normal squirrels, despite their sharp teeth, but these were enhanced Beastmaster pets. I wasn’t quite sure how Zeb was keeping up with all of them, but they could at least break skin as he flailed widely.

  Soon both of his legs were disabled- Fluffy seemed to have prioritized that before turning it into snacktime. Titan’s legs didn’t shoot any lasers or anything, so they probably ended up just being regular cybernetics. His legs weren’t that bad last time, were they?

  Then I felt it.

  “They’re coming!” I called. “Our targets! Gloom, Spot, Darkstargirl!”

  I vaguely felt Iron Shell and Flasher fighting elsewhere. There was a whole lot of power being released down here.

  I barely had enough time to use Multicasting to cast Energy Ward for Darkstargirl. I’d already applied Mental Freedom to our group earlier, because Gloom could show up out of nowhere and potentially incapacitate us otherwise.

  As it was, Zeb’s companions bolted. It was the right call whether any fear they felt was supernatural or not. Meanwhile, Great Girl charged headfirst into them. “You all suck!”

  While it did seem like a maneuver of little tactical value, quick reactions were important. Great Girl was confident in her natural durability and my buffs, so giving them little time to strategize was for the best.

  Calculator went straight for Gloom. I was a bit concerned about that, because if he was affected by that power… it might be devastating. Or maybe he’d be immune. But a thousand tracks of mental despair would be extremely difficult to fix.

  Gloom swiped at him, but even with barely more than a vague outline and spooky eyes visible… Calculator dodged the hand. She lunged, trying to fly through him. I heard spooky whispers.

  I figured I had better double up on his Mental Freedom as I took shots at Darkstargirl. My gun was set to cold. It seemed like a good counter for her spooky nighttime fire, and I couldn’t get that specific. If I could, it would be like… underground ice seeing the sun for the first time? But I got cold, and I was mostly trying to keep her off balance while Great Girl pummeled her.

  I reloaded my clip, finally casting my next spell after reinforcing Calculator’s defenses. I couldn’t get as specific as I wanted with the enchantments on my gun, but I could do it. Specifically, with Summon Elemental. With the addition of more fanatics pouring into the room, I figured evening the numbers would help. Ignis took a moment to appear, holding a block of ice. I didn’t go for something that had just spotted the first traces of the morning sun… just shiny ice. And whatever elemental planes Ignis was from, the elemental always seemed to be able to grab something that fit my needs. He also had his hat and moustache, since this was the Major form of him.

  I swapped my gun to fire and took a few shots at Gloom. It shouldn’t hurt, and I had a good angle at the moment. Calculator was able to see me, among other things. The bullets mostly went through Gloom, but I could pretend that she slowed slightly.

  Zeb was barking at Spot. “You’re a bad person! You chose to work with bad people and you like it!”

  “And you’re a weak fool who can do nothing alone.”

  I should have shot him instead. Though, his suit would probably have protected him better than Darkstargirl’s powers protected her, it probably would have been similar to Gloom.

  Spot was a bad dog. In the pejorative sense. I didn’t quite realize what he was doing until his spell was cast. He’d used the same spell on me previously… but I was higher level than Zeb.

  Necrotic energy struck our golden furred companion. Francois’ work probably stopped some of the spell, but Zeb still slumped to the floor- bits of her fur whitening instantly.

  At least a hundred squirrels cried out in rage as they began pouring back into the room. But if they intended to tear Spot to pieces, they were going to have to get in line. And I wasn’t just talking about the robo-rats that were falling from the ceiling.

  Maybe I could kick him through a Gate straight into a star. He wouldn’t have time to get back on his own. Sadly, that would probably destroy Earth and I might not even be able to create the portal. So I’d have to settle for shocking him with enough lightning to light up the empire state building.