AP5, Ch. 31 & 32 (Patreon)

Chapter 31

Time until next Challenge: 9 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes

Vince reoriented himself in the air, getting his legs in between himself and the wall of the school to absorb the impact, then turned the momentum into a diving roll that brought him back to his feet. The hit itself wasn’t dangerous to him, and even if many of our melee defenders wouldn’t have handled it with such grace, it’s doubtful that many would have suffered serious injury from the impact alone.

The real danger was the other Titans leaping, running, and oozing their way onto the battlefield. Being hit into a building was no big deal, but even Vince would have problems if he was sent flying into the amorphous body of the Titan that resembled a gargantuan slime, though it lacked its smaller counterparts’ singular weak point. If that happened, he’d have to hope that Micah and the other casters could burn it down quickly without hurting him. 

Hamlet had timed this wave well, with almost half of his Titans arriving within seconds of each other. The flyers we’d sent out had delayed four Titans significantly, but the remaining eight they’d tried to slow had been only marginal successes and would arrive in the next minute. 

Twenty-two Titans, I thought. We’ll be dealing with ten different varieties, since the illusionist is delayed. No: eleven varieties, twenty-three Titans. That’s clearly a laser tower forming right on top of us.

We’d used our prep time as best we could, and I mentally snatched the wide pane of a bathroom mirror, uninstalled and resting in the parking lot for easy access.

Even though I’d noticed the Titan before it was fully formed, I barely got a mirror in place before it fired its first shot. Ideally, I would have angled it perfectly back toward the monster, ruining its ability to shoot more such blasts, but even with Analyze I couldn’t quite predict the proper angle. The mirror overheated and shattered in less than a second, and the laser punched through the debris to fry the shoulder of an axe-wielding man. At least I tugged him mostly aside during that first second, I thought. That would have been his head. Frantically, I grabbed the three largest shards and moved them as close as possible as I scrambled to grab another large mirror. The first one had done more than buy a second: a charred furrow in the side of the Titan’s head made it clear that reflecting its attacks was an effective way to damage it.

Just need to be on-target next time, I thought, but then I noticed other mirrors zipping into position. Other telekinetics are on it, for now. I dropped my tiny shards and left them to it, surveying the rest of the battle.

In my three seconds of distraction, a lot had happened. Two electric Titans had arrived, but thankfully the plethora of lightning rods we’d installed were grounding their attacks. Two of the three Titans with gas attacks had arrived, and I could see the third in the distance. Our flyers and crafters had tried to clog or block the gas they emitted, but their success had been limited. The froglike Titan basically farted out the sleeping gas, and the one that made hallucinogens breathed it out. Both had bedsheets affixed to them with Adhesive, but the sheets were in ragged, sopping tatters. It was clear that some of the gas was condensing on the fabric and dripping to the ground, but plenty was still pouring out in clouds around the edges. The poison Titan, who most closely resembled a headless turtle, instead emitted gas from a series of spouts on its shell. We’d been more successful there, with more than two-thirds of the spigots covered with pots or bowls, but there was still gas leaking out, with faintly colored mists from all three beginning to fill the battlefield. 

The two remaining acid hippos had also arrived. One was doing almost nothing, the bucket slung over its nose doing an admirable job of neutralizing it, but the other was a problem. It was marching up the southern approach to the school and the acid rain was already hitting some of my allies. 

We’d made dozens of the chain-and-bucket devices, not knowing how many acid hippos we’d have to face. I mentally grabbed a spare.

Ariel, where exactly is its, uh, squirt gun organ? I’m going to need to Paralyze that briefly to have any chance of getting the bucket in place.

<It has more than one. A series of organs accelerate the liquid as it moves from the reservoir in its torso to its proboscis.>

I frowned and sent a short-range Announcement to Marie instead. Find someone with Paralyze. I need them to freeze the south acid hippo for a second.

Marie lifted a hand to show that she’d heard me, since our earplugs made verbal communication impossible. The earplugs didn’t fully block the screams of the bonefurs, but I was feeling only queasiness rather than complete debilitation. I watched Marie with my rearview eyes while I focused on the hippo, keeping the device hovering right above its head until Marie flashed me a thumbs-up. I hooked the bucket over the thing’s nose just as the geyser of acid began to ebb and got the chain back behind its cranium just in time. The backspray of acid didn’t seem to cause the hippo any harm, but it hampered its ability to see and drastically lowered its lethality.

I’d been splitting my attention during the battle, trying to process everything and give a shove here or a tug there to save lives and limbs when I got the opportunity, flagging targets for focused attacks, but there was more happening than even my boosted brain could process.

Gigantic furry mounds were stampeding toward the school as road snakes churned up the ground. The fast purple Titans dashed around almost too quick to see, sending defenders flying unpredictably with their Knockback ability. Fire, ice, and electric abilities were focused on the two semi-transparent slime Titans that oozed across the battlefield, completely impervious to physical damage. Gas masks and surgical masks seemed to be protecting my allies from the toxic mists for now, but I was confident that wouldn’t last, and the rising mists were adding to the confusion, making it difficult to see.

There were some bright points: whether by skill or luck, one of the other Telekinetics had managed a perfectly-targeted reflection of the laser Titan’s next shot. The Titan was still standing, but the strange organ it used to fire its blasts was a half-charred mess, and the light it was emitting now was far more diffuse. It had gone from “death beam” to “tactical flashlight.”

Cleaning chemicals had been dumped into the open spigots on the poison-tortoise’s back, a mimicry of my successful attack on a gasylosaur in the Challenge so many weeks before. While the chemicals hadn’t killed the Titan, they had stopped the poison gas almost completely, with only a few thin trickles escaping, traveling only a few feet before dissipating.

Vince and the other melee had been working hard as well, taking down one of the purple Titans and a road snake, and dealing serious injuries to several more of our opponents.

That unfortunately left eight Titans still fully capable. Plus, even if we’d neutralized most of the more terrifying attacks from the rest of the Titans, they were still ginormous monsters heavier and larger than any land animal on Earth.

The tower was trembling beneath my feet as one after another rammed the building.

Ariel, how’s the group fighting the legoliath doing?

<Exceeding simulations. Threat nearly neutralized. ETA: 93 seconds.>

And the group from the caves?

<Slowed by encounters with Titans. ETA: 120 seconds.>

Good news, arguably, but… not good enough. A road snake was grinding its way through the exterior wall of the school. The building had been reinforced by supernatural abilities, but determined onslaught by multiple Titans was more than it could resist. I flagged the road snake attacking the wall.

Marie, tell our allies to hurry. Anything they can do. I don’t know if we’ll last until they get here. Tell melee to focus the snake that’s on us!

Another purple Titan went down. 

Our elementalists took down a slime Titan.

The fur on one side of a big fur pile had been burned away, and the dedicated attacks of our physical damage dealers chipped away at its internals until they hit something vital, making the Titan vanish.

The road snake that had been grinding away at the school’s wall went down, but the other dove at the spot it had weakened, crashing through the thinned wall and through the less-robust internal walls of the school.

The tower I was standing on lurched, the floor tilting at an angle.

Our bastion of safety was no longer safe.

Gavin! Grab your siblings! Everyone, get clear! The tower’s going down!

My close-range Announcement may not have been necessary. One of my bodyguards had been moving even before I spoke, his arm looping around my torso as he threw himself onto the sagging school roof, then down onto the ground below. I would have resisted if I hadn’t seen Gavin’s tail snaking around his siblings as he followed.

Life Sense was a curse as much as a blessing at times like these: I could feel human lives within the school winking out, vulnerable people who’d been too slow or too scared to leave, lives we’d failed to protect.

I could also feel the Titans around me clearly, even with the rising mists obscuring them from my eyes.

A super-powered Knockback hit our group, flinging me against the rubble of the wall. I got my arm out to Parry the impact, which softened it slightly, but the crumbling bricks still hit my back hard. Analyze helpfully let me know the impact had broken two ribs; I wasn’t as resilient as my husband.

My kids got thrown in the opposite direction, right under the massive bulk of the furry mountain, which had reared up on its hind legs. Gavin had lost his grip on his siblings, but my heart leapt to my mouth as he stood over them and the monster slammed itself down… only to have the pavement buckle beneath my son, who stood tall and proud as he blocked the Titan’s falling paw from reaching his siblings.

Invulnerability, I realized. Thank God.

I pulled myself to my feet and raced toward them, only for my limbs to stop responding to me, my body crumpling to the ground in a graceless heap.

I blasted out an Announcement over the whole area as I tried to figure out what was going on with me: Vince! The kids! They need you! The fur pile! Arrow!

My Basic Hologram highlighted the Titan in question as I struggled ineffectually to move.

This isn’t any of the poison gases. My gas mask is sealed and working fine. What the hell?

The thought hadn’t truly been a question, but Ariel responded anyway: <The safety of my Linked Users is paramount.>

Those are my kids! Let me go!

The monster reared up again, slamming itself down once more, only for Micah to come to his knees and repeat his brother’s heroic action. Gavin grabbed Cassie’s Summoned Shell and wrapped his tail around his brother, readying himself to pull the three of them clear. One of my bodyguards grabbed my limp body, throwing me over his shoulder and turning to jog away.

Let me go! That’s an order! Direct order!

My arms and legs continued to dangle limply.

The moment Micah’s Invulnerability broke, Gavin yanked him clear and began to run. 

For a moment, I thought my beautiful kids had done it.

Then a fast purple Titan raced around the bulk of its mammoth cousin and hit my kids with a Knockback, sending them straight back underneath.

Chapter 32

Time until next Challenge: 9 days, 22 hours, 48 minutes

Let me go!! I screamed mentally. 

<I am not physically restraining you.>

Direct. Order. Stop restricting my movements!

The paw of the huge Titan, as big around as a dumpster, slammed toward my kids.

<I am not restricting your movement.>

Micah materialized a stack of Force Shields above them, slowing the foot just long enough for Gavin to drag them clear. 

Cassie was still inside her Summoned Shell, but her cloudcar transport fuzzed into being around them, absorbing a hit from the purple Titan before shattering.

My kids! My kids! Someone save my kids!

I threw a giant arrow in the air over 

I would have hit my bodyguard to try to get him to turn around if I could have controlled my motions. He didn’t stop, continuing his run away from the battlefield.

Gavin grabbed his siblings once more and ran out from underneath the Titan a third time, dodging to the left as he tried to get around the Knockback Titan. They were sent flying once more, but this time into the side of the large Titan’s fur rather than underneath it.

The distance was too short for Gavin to reorient himself, and while he was able to keep his siblings from hitting the ground, he bounced off the large Titan and slammed his face into the pavement. He was up on his elbows immediately, shaking his head in disorientation, just in time for the purple Titan’s jaws to clamp down, severing my son’s torso  in two just below the shoulders, letting his head and arms fall to the ground.

Gavin!!!

<Reminder: Contestant Gavin Moretti has the Restoration Specialty.>

My bodyguard reached the edge of the parking lot, but didn’t stop, running across the fields beyond toward the center of the city. I caught the sense of Vince’s presence for the barest moment before my kids disappeared from my Life Sense and vanished within the toxic mists. Gavin had still been alive when I’d left him, but his body hadn’t been returned yet. Would his Specialty function? I prayed it would, but the image of his broken body was impossible to put out of my mind.

Stop.

Stop!

Stop!

“Sorry, ma’am. I’ve got my orders. We’re heading to meet up with the other groups. They’re real close.” The man carrying me sounded miserable, but he didn’t slow. I considered Paralyzing him, but that would only slow him briefly, not bring me back to my family, and I could see the Titans turning to follow me. Letting him get more distance might be the best thing I could do to help them, until I could figure out what the hell was wrong with me.

I reviewed Eidetic memory, particularly Ariel’s communications. She’d initially acted like she was responsible, claiming that my safety was paramount, but she’d then denied having done anything and hadn’t responded to direct orders. And now, here I was, as trapped as I’d been when I’d first woken up from-

Suddenly it all came together.

Ariel, you fucking bitch, keep your information transfer away from my motor control centers and never use those sections again, direct order.

<Acknowledged.>

My hands balled themselves into fists. I pounded my bodyguard’s back and tried to squirm free. “Let me go!”

The man carrying me stumbled at my unexpected movement but caught himself easily. “Our allies are just ahead, ma’am. I’ll set you down in five seconds.”

“My kids are in danger! My son might be dead!”

I felt his muscles tense, but he didn’t respond or release me.

Slung over his back, I hadn’t been able to see ahead of us, but Life Sense let me know we’d reached our allies. They streamed around us as the man carrying me slowed to a stop. “Setting down Ms. Moretti. She’s been trying to run back to the fight, so be ready to stop her.”

“My kids need me!”

“Understood,” said Andy. For a moment, my heart leapt, but then he continued. “Gibbs, Stetson, restrain her. Squad B, guard her. Squad A, everyone else, follow me in.”

Two people locked their hands around my shoulders, an imposing man and a woman an inch shorter than me. Despite her height, her grip was just as solid as the man’s: she’d clearly been taking physical augments.

Their hands might as well have been manacles. No, it was worse than that: I could probably break most handcuffs with my own enhanced strength, even if it paled compared to theirs. I tried Paralyzing their fingers, which let me pull myself free… but they were also faster than I, and easily brought their other hands around to grab me.

The woman shook her head. “Ma’am, I understand your frustration, but if you persist in this I will need to contact Commander Flip and have her direct your other bodyguards back to you.”

That would put my family in more danger.

I stopped trying to fight free, slumping in their grip, relentlessly quizzing Ariel on the number of Titans still alive and the state of my family. Gavin had miraculously survived, thanks to his Restoration Specialty, but Ariel confirmed that the Specialty was still on cooldown, as was his Invulnerability. If he or his siblings got into a bad situation again…

Helpless.

The thought, the feeling, kept echoing. I hated this. I hated not being able to help them. I hated being restrained. I’d been doing well to box away the memories of the psychological torture Ariel had inadvertently put me through, but my careful compartmentalization was crumbling away.

It didn’t help that, this time, Ariel had done this to me on purpose.

<Safety of Linked User Meghan Moretti must be maintained.>

Oh, and you’re permitted to do whatever you like to your Linked Users? Take away our autonomy?

Ariel didn’t respond. 

I mentally snarled. Yeah. Didn’t think so. If you could do it, you would have had tools to do it. You wouldn’t have used that janked up workaround. There’s a reason Overminds aren’t allowed to, you know. All the abuse you’re put under? The fact that the Commonwealth doesn’t give you any rights? This is why. This shit, right here. 

<Linked User Meghan Moretti, will you no longer support my autonomy, following the Maffiyir?>

I scowled, but didn’t respond. If I told her I wouldn’t support her autonomy, what would she do then? We were still relying on her. At the same time, how could I do anything for this soulless death machine?

<Contestant Gavin Moretti is still alive.>

Fucking lucky for you! If he dies, there’s no chance I’d support you getting any freedom ever, and I’m still doubting myself.

<Your skills and abilities were not conducive to your children’s rescue from that situation. Had you charged in, you would have been one more body for Gavin to protect.>

I had Invulnerability!

<You have one second of Invulnerability, and no capability to swiftly end the life of either Titan. Your presence would likely have increased the danger to them, while further imperiling your own life.>

Hah. And that’s what you were thinking? I would have been endangering my kids? Don’t lie. You were thinking about “me,” and by that I mean you were thinking about yourself. You were just scared.

There was a pause while I marshalled myself for my next invective, but before the thought could fully form, Ariel responded: <Acknowledged. Analysis of internal processes suggests close analogue to human emotion “fear.”>

Ariel’s guileless confession caught me by surprise. I’d expected her to deny it, and I’d been all fired up to continue tearing into her. Her honesty didn’t temper the inferno of fury inside me, but it did trip me up and break my rhythm.

I was quiet for a few seconds, then I shook my head. Just don’t fucking talk to me unless you’ve got news I need to hear. I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.

<Acknowledged.>

It might have just been me hearing what I wanted to hear, but Ariel’s response seemed quieter than usual.