Chapter 16: Fall

Torpedo and I slipped away from the camp with the stars still twinkling overhead. It was not an uncommon sight for Brockton anymore.

"We'll hit them while they're sleeping," Shadow Stalker had said.

If we were attacking someone else, we might have chosen to leave a bit earlier, but the Merchants didn't strike me as the type to sleep early.

I felt Torpedo's knees bend a little as he hugged my waist tight from behind and I braced myself for launch. We had practiced this a few times now, but it still felt...weird. I had a few ideas how Torpedo and I could synergize, and this was at the top of that list. We needed now more than ever to cover our biggest weakness: mobility.

"Direction?" he asked. I pointed with my finger and-

I felt the roar of his sound waves ripple out as I was tugged skywards at an angle. My hands reached out, an instinct born from repetition, and I forced the waves back towards us, muting it in effect. After all, our surprise attack wouldn't be much of one if we woke up half the city before we got there.

The ruins of northern Brockton passed beneath us quickly and soon, the Merchant's base was in sight. It was a five story apartment building that had somehow survived Behemoth. There were six guards awake, two on the roof and four by the entrance. Surprising that the Merchants had sense enough to set up a night watch.

I felt Torpedo's power stop abruptly as gravity reestablished its dominance over our forms. I manipulated the vibrations in the air to gently nudge us on our freefall, just so we'd land beside the building with a mural of Scion where Shadow Stalker said to meet. From up high, I could see she was already there.

She wasn't alone.

I frowned, but kept it out of my mind and focused on the landing. I redistributed the force behind our fall before the impact could kill us, creating a cushion of air. It was more for Torpedo's sake than mine. My powers actually tried to keep me alive.

Stalker's companion stared at us. Dressed in his golden suit and lion helm, he looked like a champion gladiator come to life. Triumph - he looked his name.

"Glad you could make it for joint patrols, Resonance, Torpedo," he said, sticking out a hand. "I don't think we've met before. I'm Triumph."

Joint patrols? What now?

I stepped forward to shake it. "Nice to meet you," I said, before raising a brow at Stalker. What was he doing here? What the hell was he talking about?

She tilted her head ever so slightly to the side. Go with it. Trust me.

Torpedo turned to observe the graffitti on the wall. "Hmm."

"So you can fly now?" Triumph asked. "That's neat. The others never mentioned that."

"It's a new development. I had to get around the city somehow."

"Most people walk."

"Walking takes time." Time I might not have. Time not protecting my people. Time which could have saved Dad. "It's inefficient."

Triumph cracked a smile. "No wonder Armsmaster likes you."

Armsmaster talked about me?

"So," Triumph continued, "I'm not too familiar with this neighborhood. The Protectorate hasn't had any patrols in this area since Behemoth. We should stick together just in case."

"We'd cover more ground if we went in pairs," Stalker said, tapping her earpiece. Seems like the PRT had some tech working now. "As long as we keep in contact and aren't too far apart it should be fine."

"I agree with Shadow Stalker. We've got a lot of area to cover. Pairs is better," I said.

Triumph seemed uncertain still. "What do you think, Torpedo?"

"Resonance speaks for me," he said, looking away from the face of Scion at last.

"I'll go with Resonance," Shadow Stalker said, loading a bolt into her crossbow and pointing towards the base of the Merchants some five blocks away. "We'll go that way."

"Then we will go the other way," Torpedo said. "Scion preserve."

As the boys walked away, I heard Torpedo say to Triumph, "Have you heard of the Gospel of Scion, my friend?"

"Pardon?"

Well, that was one way of distracting someone. A soundproof barrier went up around us. "What was that?" I hissed at Stalker as we moved through the alley at a brisk pace.

"I needed an excuse to slip out of the Rig, so I fed Ms. Militia this story of how I'd convinced you to share a patrol with us. Y'know, in the spirit of cooperation and shit, try to convince you of joining the Wards."

"I thought you didn't want me joining?"

"I don't. Chill girl. They do this all the time for recruits and you're not committed to anything. It's all just playing nice," she said.

"And you couldn't ditch Triumph on the way here?" She'd done it before, more times than one if I had to guess.

"And give away the game too early?" Stalker said. "No way. We finally have a chance to hit the Merchants. I wasn't going to jeopardize that by risking getting grounded in camp because I snuck off too early." Her eyes gleamed of something wild and vivid. "You gotta be patient about these things."

We paused behind a building within eyeshot of the Merchant's base. "So what now?" I asked, letting a mental blueprint of the building piece itself together in real time.

"You can mute sounds right?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Then it's simple. Sneak in, wait, react, escalate." A smirk grew on her lips. "And if anyone asks, they shot first."

We could call in Triumph and Torpedo then, maybe feed them a story about how we were investigating when we were attacked by Merchants. "You want plausible deniability," I realized.

"What I want is to take down as many of those bastards down as I can before I get taken down," she said. "Can't do that if Armsmaster or Director Piggot decide to stick me in a cell."

"You make being a Ward sound like a prisoner."

She snorted. "You have no idea. Found where the capes are at?"

I closed my eyes to concentrate. "Scrapyard, Doser and Mush are on the third floor. Squealer and Skirmark are on the fourth." Wait, but where was- "Trainwreck isn't here." Trainwreck isn't here! That son of a-

Stalker's fist lashed out in a jab and my head snapped back, the taste of copper fresh on my tongue.

"Are you calm now?" she asked. "Because you're little earthquake was about to give us away."

"There are only five of them. We're just going to let Trainwreck get away?" I growled.

"It'd have been better if he was there too, but it makes the fight easier for us. Five out of six is still a good haul. As for Trainwreck, well…"

"We can hunt that bastard down some other day," I finished.

"Now you're getting it." She paused. "You know how we can get in? Security at the entrance looks tight."

I frowned at her. "Can't you phase through walls in that shadow state of yours?"

She was quiet for a while, as if thinking something through. Finally, she answered, "No, not if there's wiring or electricity between the walls." Stalker's gaze turned sharp. "You tell anyone about that and I'll make you a pincushion for my bolts."

Stalker struck me as the type who followed up on their threats. "Noted."

Trying to break through the walls with my powers…no, that might risk giving us away by any number of means. I hadn't tested how effective my waves would be at demolishing a building, or if I could control it well enough to only breakdown a segment of it.

I could just crush all the Merchants this way. It would make things easier, but the PRT would be after me and Trainwreck was still out there. No, I couldn't afford that, not until all of them were put away.

"We could go through the roof," I said, the shallow outline of a plan coming together in my head.

"The roof? We'd never make that jump," she said.

I made my way inside the building we were hiding behind. The stairs to the roof were thankfully still good enough to use. "I have an idea."

"You sure this will work?" she asked, standing on the ledge's edge as I verbalized my thoughts.

"Probably." I placed both my hands on her back, feeling the waves around me, feeling the potential converge at the tips of my fingers. Then potential became reality, power rippling out and propelling Shadow Stalker forward. Then Stalker became shadow, the momentum carrying her dark form -practically invisible against the predawn sky- farther than any human jump could take her, bridging the gap between the buildings.

I reached out before she landed, willing all sound and noise obey, to remain unheard outside of the roof, and the waves obeyed.

Stalker turned solid, slamming into the first of the two guards and sending the woman sprawling. She brought her crossbow up, aimed and fired before the other could react, sending a quarrel through his arm. Another shot followed, punching through the soft flesh and muscle of the thigh. His screams, while loud, were pointless and short. Stalker knocked both of them out with a solid punch each to the face.

My tongue licked my lips of its own volition, still tasting the blood lingering where she had jabbed me. The girl could throw a mean punch.

Breathe in. I took a few steps back, gathering the waves to the soles of my feet.

Breathe out. I ran and I leapt. A leap of faith, Torpedo called it. Faith in the powers Scion had granted me. Whether he had or he hadn't didn't matter. My powers obeyed, bursts of force -as much as I could manage- ricocheting between feet and floor, and I jumped far enough to be an Olympic medalist.

And I realized in midair, it was not far enough. Just a bit more, just a step farther, I might have managed. I reached out with my hands, desperate to grab something, anything, but found nothing- and I felt myself fall-

Stalker grabbed my arm. "Don't move," she grunted. Her grip was firm, never slipping as she hoisted me up.

"Do you work out?" I asked.

She shrugged, dragging the female guard to the other and cuffing their arms together. "Things get boring at the Rig."

"How many more of those cuffs do you have?"

We walked over to the door. "One person on the other side," I said. "He's got a gun."

She nodded. "Cut the sound."

"Go."

She phased through the wall, barely registering to my vibrations.

"The fuck!" Thunder rang against the metal door as he emptied his pistol at the incorporeal girl. The moment he had to reload, it was all over.

The door creaked open and I stepped inside, reaching out with my senses again to get a clearer map of the building's interior. "We need to take out Squealer first," I said. "There are a few guards between us and her." They'd be easy enough to deal with with my vibrations and Stalker's shadow state.

Squealer was some sort of vehicular tinker and the reason why the Merchants had enjoyed the level of influence they had for the past two weeks. Having working cars before anyone else meant they could cover and claim much more ground.

"Right. Gotta cut off their escape. No point to all this if they get away," Stalker said, reloading her weapon.

"I should lead," I said. "I know the building better." I felt the muscles on her face form into a frown, but she didn't protest.

We picked our way through the base, ignoring the sleeping and drug-addled scum polluting the place.

Finally, we were in front of Skidmark and Squealer's room. The two were an item apparently. I couldn't understand why any woman would want Skidmark. The logical conclusion was that Squealer's tastes were absolute shit.

Both were sleeping and naked. Gross.

Squealer was a tinker and tinkers were fucking bullshit. Thankfully, tinkers were also useless in a straight up fight without her toys. Skidmark was a bit of a problem. He had a force field power of some sort. He was asleep though and based on his current...disposition, was probably not prepared for any sort of fight.

I whispered to Stalker as much.

"Fucking white trash," she muttered. "We can't go through the door, that might wake them up."

"Not a problem," I said, placing a hand against the wall. One moment, it was resolute against me; in the next, the stone seemed to part from my touch.

Stalker starred. "You can copy powers."

"I told you before I was a trump."

"Seeing it is different," she said, before nodding. "Okay, let's do this."

I silenced the room.

We entered and oh-god-naked-Skidmark why?! I was torn between keeping my eyes closed - because this was torture fitting for that special place in hell - and getting the job done. In the end, the job won. The things I did for the greater good.

Deftly, Stalker cuffed both their arms and legs, then just to be sure they couldn't leave we cuffed their legs to the bed. They didn't even stir, whether because they were on a drug high or because of other reasons I didn't want to know.

"Hold up. Triumph's calling," she said. "Shadow Stalker here. We're busy right now."

"Merchants."

"Well, they shot first. We're just defending ourselves."

"Too late for that." She pressed a finger to the device, shutting it off. "We need to hurry up. He's calling the PRT in. They'll track us with this."

"We should hurry then." Hopefully, Torpedo could buy us some more time by stalling Triumph.

Now came the hard part: Doser and Scrapyard. They looked like the capes with the strongest powers among the Merchants now, if only they weren't so stupid with them. Like Lung, Doser was a brute that escalated. Unlike Lung, he needed dope to fuel that escalation and he had a hard limit. Panacea had proved Doser could still OD. The best way to beat him was making sure he never got near his stash. Capes are like magicians. At the end of the day, they're just human with fancy tricks. If you know where to look, they become much less impressive.

Scrapyard had a strong magnetism power, but I could fight him. I could beat him if it came to that. My powers even boosted by his were nothing close to his level of control, but it would be enough to mess with him, enough to make him hurt himself.

As for Mush, he was a distraction at best. His powers were defensive, making a trash hardshell for himself. It wouldn't protect him from Stalker's shots.

We stepped into Mush's room and then Dozer charged right through the wall, slamming me against the wall. I barely had time to disperse the blow and I felt that hit. Mush was right behind him and Scrapyard further back, scraps of metal circling his body.

"Dumb fucking bitches," Scrapyard said. "I can sense metal, you fucks!" Not very well if it took him this long to react to us.

Doser pulled me forward and pushed me back up against the wall. I felt it crack, felt my control slip a little and-

"RESONANCE!" Doser screeched with a voice of grated metal. My sound barrier shattered before the sound, probably waking the entire compound too.

So much for subtlety.

A bolt from Stalker struck Doser in the face, annoying but not hurting the cape. Doser ignored it, his clawed metal hands squeezing harder, threatening to break me in half.

My powers were no match for his. I'd learned my lesson from before. My body vibrated, resonated, phased into a state he couldn't touch and he stared dumbly as I slipped through his body. Stalker continued to flit in and out of my vibration sense, switching forms at a dime to dodge blows and fire back as she began a projectile duel with Scrapyard that moved to the hallway.

I rushed towards Mush, feeling as Doser snarled at my back, sensing the familiar tension in his legs before he charged. Air displaced and I was ready for it, phasing before he reached me and slamming into a surprised Mush with nothing but a half-formed trash heap to save him.

"Fu-"

Mush went flying. He looked down to me, possibly concussed. Less work for me to do.

"How's the eye, Doser," I said and he growled in reply. On the very edge of my senses, I could feel people scurrying away like rats of a sinking ship. The Merchants were cowards in the end. You could put a gun in every hand, but that didn't mean they'd have the balls to stay in a fight they were losing.

And they were losing. Scrapyard was cornered on the hallway, his back against a wall as he tried to ward off Stalker. Mush was out cold. Skidmark and Squealer were squirming against their restraints.

Their time will come. No Merchant would ever walk free, not in this city, not while I lived.

Doser had to go down and while Stalker's power helped me dodge him, it didn't help hurt him. Scrapyard's would though.

Move! my vibrations seemed to scream at me as Doser blurred from sight, crossing the room. I jumped to the side too late, his claws leaving deep gashes across my back, flinging me against the wall. Hitting the wall itself didn't hurt much more compared to that,

I stood quickly, pointing with both palms against Doser, watching as he licked the blood of his hands with a manic smile.

"Fuck you," I snarled. Power surged to the fore as steel bended before me. I ordered and it obeyed.

Metal screeched as it curled backwards, taking bloody chunks with it. "RAGHHH!" Doser roared, thrashing from side to side, struggling against the hold of my borrowed magnetism. His tail darted here and there, too wild to be tamed, carving up the ground.

My eyes widened. He was trying to cut through the-

He dropped out of sight, falling to the floor below. I could sense him moving below me, my grip on him slipping as he grabbed onto something plastic. Smack I realized. I could feel his smirk as he ripped open the packet of white and snorting the powder like a man possessed. The metal on his skin doubled, his tail grew spiked and vicious, his one good eye gained a steely hue.

Get out- he jumped faster than I could follow, crashing through cement like it was but air.

I could barely lift my hands and suddenly I was flying again. I landed on my back and he was on top of me, murder in his eyes and his tail around my neck, closing in, breathe- need- escape!

And suddenly I could breathe again and I was staring at dust fall from a ceiling. I had phased through the floor. Then I felt Doser fall over to his side.

I counted to three before standing, wincing as the adrenaline deserted me. Channeling my shockwaves to my feet let me jump up to the other floor easily.

It was fascinating, watching Doser turn bluer than blue. I could feel the air squeezed out of him as he suffocated on his own mistakes and I relished in it.

I could save him, maybe, if I called for the PRT to hurry, if I tried CPR.

Instead, I closed the door. Instead, I watched.

Instead, I waited.