Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Nine: A Carnotaur Walks Onto a Restaurant.... (Patreon)

“You are insane, you know,” grumbled Agni.

“The Greater Carnotaur hasn’t roared yet,” I pointed out. “And our airstrikes are continuing uninterrupted. I’d say that’s all good for us.”

“Yeah, but you’re going to have to fight that thing in fifteen minutes.”

“We gained some time, didn’t we? Speaking of which, what’s going on with the other Carnotaurs?”

“Chikaradzuyoi’s group took down one of the Lessers,” said Anne. “The other is still holding out. Meanwhile, the Greater Carnotaur is making himself at home at the Mezzet Takeout Restaurant.”

“How’s he doing that?” asked Tucker. “He can’t fit through the door.”

“He ripped the roof off and started pulling meats out of the coldroom. He’s gobbling them down raw right now.”

“Ugh. Disgusting.”

“We’re a species that sometimes eats live snails,” commented Chequers. “I daresay we must seem disgusting to them, too.”

"And I thought MREs were bad...."

“Everyone ready?" I asked Daisy.

"Phoenix Company is ready."

"Volunteers only."

"That's everyone."

"Tucker, can you ask General Doyle about the infantry?"

"It's Lieutenant now," Doyle commented, walking up. "Got a radio message from Hagman's office, we're reverting to the pre-planned order of battle."

".... That's got to be confusing."

"Actually it's a lot simpler. At least I know how to be a lieutenant."

"Well, it's good to have you anyway."

"Six thousand infantrymen will be accompanying you on the attack. Basically everyone who can lug a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher across the seven armies."

"We have six thousand rocket launchers?"

"Five thousand, plus a thousand-odd more with assault rifles and machine-guns."

“Those’ll do a lot of good against the Carnotaur,” Unity grumbled.

“They’re for holding off a possible counterattack by rogue Raptors or Grizzeloids. There’s still a number of them scattered across the city.”

“Unity, Vorsai, are you clear on what you have to do?”

“Hold his attention and not get eaten. Simple enough.”

I turned to the others in the group. “Everyone. You ready?”

The three ultras I had specially requested nodded.

I took a moment to glance the Herculean up and down. Vorsai was a hulking brute of a man, built like a grizzly bear, and reportedly had the temperament of one with a sore tooth.

The second ultra was someone who filled a desperately needed gap in our lineup.

Morrowstar, the Scottish flyer, had the ability to hurl balls of compressed air at her foes. Normally she’d be limited to about thirty kilometres per hour - which wasn’t fast enough to dodge a raging Carnotaur - but we’d kitted her out specially for this battle.

Jetstream had supplied the rockets, allowing her to briefly accelerate to ten times her normal speed, and I…

I had contributed the grenades.

Compressed air pockets could carry a nice, tight packet of explosives with them. Plasma grenades made for a great offering - small, light, and each of them could do 10,000 damage to a target. Or 2,500 to a Carnotaur, considering the damage reduction from Harden.

Just in case Morrowstar found an opportunity, I had entrusted her with an additional ‘present’ - one of the three Gamma Ray Bombs. Although with 95% radiological damage resistance, the Carnotaur could probably shrug off the hit.

I turned to the third - and vital - member of our group. “Samuel.”

Samuel Aiken didn’t fit the description of most ultras. No mask, no suit, just a plain British Army uniform.

Fortunately, I had a way to see past that.

SAMUEL AIKEN

LEVEL 25

CLASS: TRAVELER

HP: 135/135

MP: 20,000/20,000

MP REGEN: 100/SEC.

THE RAREST OF THE RARE, SAMUEL AIKEN IS A TRAVELER WITH THE ABILITY TO CREATE INSTANTANEOUS PORTALS.

SWORN TO THE SERVICE OF THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND ASSIGNED PERMANENTLY TO THE PROTECTION OF EDWARD WINDSOR, THIS HIDDEN ULTRA HAS SAVED HIS CHARGE FROM MANY TOO-CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.

ALTHOUGH RELUCTANT TO BE SEPARATED FROM HIS PROTECTEE, AIKEN MUST FOLLOW A ROYAL COMMAND, AND WINDSOR HAS ORDERED HIM TO PROVIDE YOU WHAT SUPPORT YOU NEED.

SKILLS:

TELEPORT: CREATE A PORTAL INSTANTLY, ALLOWING YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES TO BE ELSEWHERE. SIZE LIMITED TO 10 FEET DIAMETER.

COST: 1 MP/METRE.

Samuel was the first ultra I’d seen with an MP pool. And a massive one, at that.

Given the cost of his power, I wasn’t surprised; technically, Samuel could jump twenty kilometres from the action, but he’d be useless afterwards for nearly three minutes - an eternity in combat.

Fortunately, I didn’t require going that far.

“Are you ready to jump?”

“Ready,” grumbled Samuel. “I must warn you, though - my power works best with precision.”

“Chequers will tell you exactly when to portal in.”

“Just so you know, I’m not hanging around with you. A hundred and forty metres is far too close to a Carnotaur for my liking.”

“Agreed. Drop me off, then get out immediately.”

I turned to the last member of the impromptu unit we’d thrown together. “Group Captain Pemberley. Thanks for being here.”

Pemberley snapped off a salute. “All units ready to move out.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I know Air Force officers generally don’t lead infantry charges.”

A ghost of a smile crossed the pilot’s face. “A good friend who should have been here isn’t. The least I can do is stand in for him.”

“I’ll cut off a strip of Carnotaur hide in his memory.”

“He’d have appreciated that.”

“Then, Captain, let’s move out.”