“So I assume everyone else is just as bored then?” I asked, walking along the top of one of the stationary trains that hadn’t been knocked off of its tracks.
“Completely. No one even tried to take either the six or 8AM token from Freak and he was already complaining that he didn’t have his “warm up droids” to beat down when he left the base this morning,” Jon replied with a laugh as he finally toned it down just a bit before he got Angie going.
“Hey I didn’t say anything!” she complained.
The trainyard hadn’t exactly been awash with activity the last time I had come through here… hell it was one of the last times I had bumped into Hydramental before he had so clearly lost the rest of his mind, but the place was a shadow of its former self. Train cars were on their sides, several of them ripped completely in half and bits of beam and random scrap metal littered the area.The sun had risen only an hour earlier and while I hadn’t necessarily expected Hydramental to show up at the break of dawn, I did feel a little insulted that he hadn’t been chomping at the bits to meet my challenge.
“And I’m a little insulted that you don’t even dignify my complaint with a response!” Angie complained again.
“I’m surprised you’re pushing back on it,” I said, looking up toward one of the nearby buildings overlooking the trainyard where I knew Swansong was watching thanks to my mini-map. The sun was glinting off the glass of the buildings and I lifted a hand to block the sudden flash.
“A girl’s got to have her limits. I’ve toned it down a lot, thank you very much! Granted that’s because you have friends now and I can never get a word in edgewise but like-”
“Hey Angie, is this rant going to go somewhere?” I asked, cutting her off before she let out a sound that felt like someone just smashed their hand on the keyboard and decided to leave it in the manuscript.
“AOSIFJASIGFJ! THAT! That’s where it’s going! I’ve “calmed” down with the jokes that I know you found funny even if you refused to admit it. I’ve been more helpful! But you’re still leaving me shut off in the back of my head or with only Mr. Blue Eyes and his gang of Merry P.A.I.s to chat with. I wasn’t made to talk to them, I was made to talk to and help you! Will you stop treating me like I’m a plague you want to get rid of?”
My eyes finally settled on Swansong, her legs kicking lightly as she sat on the edge of a building. She noticed me looking at her and gave me a quick wave.
“Okay, okay. I promise Angie. You can start chiming in again, is that better?”
“Yes, yes it is,” she said, her attitude changing on a dime. “Now if only I could get you or Codex to tell me what you keep going into those Dead Zones for.”
I rolled my eyes and spun on my heel, turning to walk back up the train once again. There was a sudden flash of light that caused me to jump, catching myself with my Gravitational Field before I could fall off the side. Had there been some sonic boom or a burst of fire, I might have been worried I was under attack. What it actually was, was a bit on the annoying side of things.
“Are you kidding me?” I muttered, staring at the Ascension Token spinning atop the side of a derailed train car.
“Heh… well that might get him to come a little bit faster,” Jon said, though I just shook my head.
“Please. If I pick that up, Tempest’s Wrath is going to show up a minute and a half later, why would I risk that?”
“I mean, you know I can see your Time Bank, you haven’t actually seen that happen you know.”
“Yeah but she’s been seen all over Manhattan. Why the hell would I risk it when I know that she’s specifically come here to fight me?”
“Maybe I should grab it then and fly off somewhere?” Swansong asked, though that idea didn’t sit well with me either.
“How far away is Freak? Any chance he could get here or could Dusk portal him over quick enough?”
Things had worked out this morning, with the first token of the day appearing in the middle of Times Square and the second appearing over in Brooklyn. By the time he had fully claimed the 8AM token, we had had only fifteen minutes until this new one would spawn. I hadn’t necessarily considered the chances of a token spawning literally right where I had taunted Hydramental to meet me at, but it wasn’t out of the question either and I was mentally cursing myself for overthinking the possibility.
“He’s over by Pinky now. I gave him a heads up that you have eyes on the token and he’s standing by. Dusk is with them and can start portalling him over but… well do you think Hydramental might back off if someone does scoop the token up and it’s not you?”
“That’s… that’s a good point,” I said, stopping and placing my hand against my chin as I thought about it. “Okay, tell them to–”
“Crime Alert! Riled-Up Rhinos! A small stampede of Rhinos was just seen destroying the subway exit on 50th street! Stop them before they can destroy more of the city! Reward: You will receive an A:Tier loot box and 1000 Credits.”
“Shit… okay it looks like we have some movement,” I said, lifting up and into the air, though I hesitated to shoot up too high. “Can you get Duskbreaker to start moving Freak over to 50th?”
“Yeah uh… so about that…” he said, immediately before I heard the low rumble of an explosion off in the distance. “The egg is hatching…”
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“Of course it–”
A figure coated in fire came crashing down and into the trainyard, directly next to the still spinning token. A cloud of dust burst up and around him as several balls of light crashed through the smoke, disappearing in a blink. There was another flash of light before the smoke started to swirl, rapidly streaming up and away in a controlled cyclone leaving behind two forms staring my way.
“Well look at you, not gonna go help your friends? Or how about those droids? How much of 50th do you think they are going to destroy?”
“Really? This is your plan? To try to get me to run away to beat down more of your droids, come on Hydramental, I thought you wanted to beat me,” I said, my eyes rapidly scanning the color band on his jacket and counting… shit… only three extra colors. Including the one with a now green jacket still branched off of him and the grey crystal that Miss Mist was still monitoring, that still put us shy by two of the forms. “I’m disappointed, I thought I told you to bring your all and you’ve decided to leave behind what, Electricity and… you know, I never did figure out what that purple color of yours is for, want to fill me in?”
“Please, you think I’m stupid? Those two have better things to do, I don’t need them to end this,” he snarled and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. "And I don't want to just beat you... I want to destroy you and everything you love."
“Wow you really have gone full on super villain," I said, though it might have come off a bit more sorrowful than I had intended. I tried to shake the feeling off as I looked him in the eye. "Dude, you’re literally like, what, zero and three in fights with me?”
“Hey that rhymed!” Angie chirped and I stifled a laugh. "Although, I think you're selling yourself short... My count is five wins for you I think."
“Why not call them back? You and I could have a real throw down with stakes on the line,” I said, my hands flexing as I set myself down on the ground just shy of twenty feet away from him.
There was another rumble that moved through the ground followed by another explosion that echoed across the city. This one happened just to the north, three… maybe four blocks up. I felt my brow furrow as I tried to figure out what was going on. I was absolutely expecting distractions but this seemed like a veritable onslaught.
I had only briefly looked to the side when a ball of fire was sent roaring my way. I activated Echo Step, jumping behind the group of Hydramentals before I threw a punch as hard as I could. As soon as my arm was fully extended, I activated Mass Driver, pouring a literal ton of Stamina into the attack to try and end things as fast as possible. In the fraction of a second between my activation and the attack going off, all three of the bodies turned to light and went darting to the side, dodging my attack completely as the wave of pressure hit nothing.
I flashed backwards by ten seconds, this time dodging to the side before the torrent of fire could hit me. I rolled as I dove, activating my flight as I moved to dodge another set of fireballs that were thrown my way. I managed to get out of the way of three more waves before I was struck in the back with a large chunk of cement, sending me sprawling to the ground as my health took a massive hit. Just as I moved to get up, a powerful gust of wind struck me in my side, a chorus of taunts coming from the duplicated Hydramental. Things were already going to hell and I made a snap decision, activating Timekeeper’s Control and rewinding as far back as I could.
I was back on top of the train, walking forward and away from where the token was about to spawn when I snapped back and I looked around, trying to place just how much time we had. I took a deep breath in before I slowed time down. It wasn’t a perfect slowdown by any means, but it did still give me ten times as much time to think and I sure as hell was going to take it.
I hadn’t gotten anywhere near the end of the train yet, so I hadn’t looked up to see Swansong. Jon probably hadn’t interrupted the silence just yet, though if I kept my mouth shut for a little bit longer, I was sure he’d be talking about high noon and tumbleweeds in no time. It was frightening just how much had happened in such a short time if this was how far back I had managed to rewind but that gave me more than enough time to try to get things into motion.
I hadn’t even completed taking another step when I let go of the skill, letting time return to normal.
“Codex, time is limited, the egg is going to hatch about twenty-five, maybe thirty seconds after the top of the hour when the token spawns… which is going to be here in the train yards. Pretty much right after the token spawns, there’s going to be a group of rhinos on 50th street, that’s going to be a problem but I’m not sure how we are going to handle it unless we have Dusk portal Freak over. That’s going to leave Pinky alone if we do that, but hell, maybe she’d prefer the chance to fight the new chicken on her own,” I rattled off as quickly as I could, trying to pull up a clock to figure out how much time we had. While I was at it, I opened a chat window, and typed a message out to Miss Mist as I continued, alerting her early of the crystal’s… awakening? I hadn’t exactly gotten a lot of information out of her when it had happened but there wasn’t exactly a lot that I could get out of her either.
“Swan, start looking around. They have to be watching from somewhere close by… shit maybe they were waiting for the token for all I know, but the timing is too coincidental. Regardless, Hydramental is going to come in guns blazing right around the same time. He didn’t bring his electric or purple forms with, so we’ve got to figure out what the hell he’s up to with those. I’ve got the nuclear option if it’s absolutely necessary and if I have to use it… well I’ll use it, but unless we have eyes on all of his forms, that's not a guaranteed way to stop him either. Codex, set a timer for right now.”
“Well shit, guess people aren’t gonna be bitching about being bored any longer,” Jon said with a laugh. “Okay, I’ll get things in motion, we got… two minutes until the top of the hour. What are we doing about the token?”
“I literally couldn’t care less. I think pretty much everything we thought they might do has been put on the table. There was at least one bomb that went off. It’s like the goal is to overwhelm us with action,” I said, lifting off the train and moving up into the air as I started to scan the rooftops. “That last explosion couldn’t have been too far away…”
“Codex, keep an eye on Mist. The grey form is awake and she’s trying to get close to see if she can eavesdrop on him,” I said, my gut turning as I continued to sweep my attention around.
Maybe it was luck, maybe it was instinct, maybe it was the slight shift in air that tried to move me while I was still holding myself with my gravity based flight that didn’t care how strong the wind was blowing. More than likely it was a combination of all of that and more but I activated Echo Step just before a barrage of fireballs managed to collide with me.
I caught myself before I could fall too far, the damage briefly interrupting my movement ability and I scrambled in mid air as I searched for the source. It didn’t take long before I found it.
Standing atop a building across the street from the south side of the trainyard, I found three of Hydramental’s forms standing on the ledge, a ball of fire casually being tossed up and down. My desire to taunt him didn’t crop up quite so quickly this time as I considered my options. Obviously things had changed, but I wasn’t sure why he would launch and attack before–
“Crime Alert! Digzone Mayham! Several Clockwork Gophers have been spotted emerging from new tunnels all across the street along 48th and 9th! More than a few abandoned cars have already collapsed down and into the sewers. Stop them before they destroy more of the infrastructure! Reward: You will receive your choice of an A:Tier personal or squad base loot box upon completion of this alert.”
I came up short before I could float any closer to Hydramental. I couldn’t help myself as I looked up toward the north. 48th and 9th was only a block and a half away from the apartment…
“Umm… something’s different,” I said, looking back just in time to catch as an almost deranged smile crept over all of the Hydramental’s faces and when they spoke next, I felt a chill rush down my spine.
“Well Loophole? What’s the move this time? Is this street worth protecting?”
Happy Friday! If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a Rate, Review, or Comment!
So I did some light editing on the chapter from Wednesday, including making some adjustments to the Augmentation he selected. Huge shout out to those of you in the comments that threw out suggestions for polishing it. The poll from last Friday with the names is going to stay open probably until the end of the weekend, though there does seem to be a clear favorite.
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