Crystalized Munchkinry - Act V - Chapter 64 (Patreon)

Upon reaching the tenth area, the task they had to perform had become routine. Armsmaster and Dragon unpacked the bomb, Nero observed, Narwhal dug a hole, and Cardea stood around awkwardly. Meanwhile, Alexandria and Taylor would go and exterminate everything around them that was not human with extreme prejudice.

Usually, they would start with the giant beast that appeared, which, after the initial surprise was over, turned out to be nothing special. They were made from the same material as the smaller ones, so it was equally easy for the two women to kill them.

Taylor was pretty sure that after this was over, the recordings (properly edited) would sell like hotcakes. Maybe Tess and she could be the first to sell them and use the money for some charity. She sent a quick message to the AI about it while also simultaneously surveying the surroundings for the giant beast.

The camouflage of the cheetahs was getting better and better…

They didn’t have to wait long before the now-familiar roar reached them. And over one of the outgrowths of the disgustingly pulsating meat sack came a dragon.

However, to her senses, it felt vastly different.

“Alexandria, be careful. I sense something is different!"

The sword-wielding woman nodded seriously and prepared herself. And Taylor once again had to marvel at the fact that she was fighting next to Alexandria as an equal. And they were killing giant dragons!

At least she managed to hold in the squeals, though Taylor was pretty sure Tess knew exactly what was going through her head.

Dragon also checked the approaching crime against nature with her scanners. It only took her a second to determine the cause.

“That’s not one, but two giant beasts!”

Taylor concentrated on her senses, trying to untangle the mess of life forces she was sensing. Eventually, she managed to find the cores of the two beasts.

“I think the other one is a giant monkey. It seems similar, at least.”

“Then I will take the dragon, while you handle the monkey, Lux,” said Alexandria, and as soon as she finished, she shot off towards the dragon that was almost over them.

It barely took the Brute a second to reach the surprised-looking dragon and whack it over the head with the flat of her blade.

At first, Taylor was surprised that the older woman didn’t go for the killing blow, but when the hit dislodged the slightly smaller simian from the back of the dragon, she understood.

While still standing inside her barrier, she took control of one of her clones and jumped right at the falling monster.

She summoned her spear and, continuing the motion of her jump, thrust it straight at the head of the monkey. However, living up to its relative reputation, it twisted out of the way while falling, making her miss, then raised its sharp tail to return the strike.

In response, she simply increased her speed, evading the monkey’s spear strike and its arms as it tried to grab her, then thrust her spear forward at many times the speed it had moved previously. If it weren’t for Admin reinforcing the spear, it would have crumbled from the sheer power she put through it.

Sadly for the beast, the spear struck true and smashed its head.

By the time the corpse struck the ground, she was already having the clone walk back to the group.

Armsmaster looked up from the excellently manufactured device they were setting up to annihilate an entire city and watched briefly as Alexandria dealt with the dragon (wishing he could try himself and his prediction program against one) and as the previously unknown Lux Arcana took out the giant simian beast while it was still in the air.

Not taking his eyes off the screen where the boot-up sequence was running, he spoke up. “You know, Dragon, after we are finished with this, I could ask Lux Arcana to join the Protectorate. It would be a shame letting her power go to waste."

Dragon replied without missing a beat. “Lux is not big on joining things. You can try, but I expect it won’t work.”

“Pity.”

He glanced at the dragon corpse that had just slammed into the ground, creating a giant dust cloud before flaking away.

“I wonder if I could take on one of…”

His friend’s answer was immediate. “No.”

Narwhal, holding the excavated dirt up with one of her force fields, just snorted. He simply sighed and returned to connecting the bomb to the others.

Piggot walked back to the command center in higher spirits than when she had left it. She spent a brief time on the Panacea-made ramparts (plant manipulation, her ass; she would be talking with those testers when she got back), shooting at the monsters flooding the fields between them and the shield enveloping Ellisburg.

How she hated to be here…

But at least, if everything went well (not that she expected it to; she was too jaded for that), at the end of the day there would be no city left to haunt her nightmares. Maybe she would finally get a good night’s sleep. Panacea’s healing would also be a big help in that regard.

Originally, she had left the center to get some fresh air, but morbid curiosity directed her to the ramparts. While she was there, a frazzled quartermaster who didn’t even realize who he was talking to automatically offered her a gun. He simply thrust it into her hand after seeing she had none (and it was much better than the one she had brought), then told her to go up and start shooting.

So she did, with a bemused Miss Militia following her and then joining her. She spent a short but pleasurable time taking out monsters, but mostly used the vantage point and the scope of the gun to get a better look at the action happening around her.

It was distressing to see all those parahumans, most of whom she knew personally, swinging weapons, fists, or their powers around with enjoyment carved into their faces and bodies. It seemed that giving them a target that nobody cared about awakened something in them.

Or maybe it was always in them, and they just suppressed it…

After relieving some accumulated stress, she deposited the very nice gun with the bewildered quartermaster and walked back to the command center, this time alone. Miss Militia decided to stay up on the walls and practice her aim.

Emily walked into the hall right as the giant screen, connected to some kind of drone that Dragon had brought with them into the city, showed Alexandria going against another dragon, and Lux – or one of her clones – taking out a giant monkey beast with the same speed she had only seen from Velocity.

She had to wonder what another powerhouse appearing in her city would do to the tightly balanced status quo. Dragon hadn’t said where Lux lived, but Emily wasn’t born yesterday.

The hole left behind by the Merchants had already generated enough gang-related crime that she had to assign another team to analyze the situation. The only thing that had changed was that they now had a target. They only needed to find one simple thing they could use to go after Anders, and then he would be out of that cursed city.

Of course, others would try to move in, but she hoped that with Dragon and now Lux Arcana living in the city, they would think twice about it.

Then she snorted and shook her head.

Of course, they would not…

Emily walked to the aide who was waiting for her (she still didn’t know the poor man’s name), then turned towards the screen showing the team inside the city. “Report!"

The aide nervously swallowed, took a look at his tablet, then answered. ”Yes, Director Piggot. The fight is going well on all fronts. Nobody has reported a new monster since the last ones appeared. No pathogens or other airborne diseases were detected anywhere. The team inside is already approaching the eleventh point, with only one left after that. One outside and one inside the biological creation.”

He took a quick breath, then continued. “We are still getting at least a few hundred requests each minute from the news, and the police have managed to set up a perimeter on the roads leading to the area.”

“Hm. That’s annoying. Send out a message telling them to stop harassing us, and that we will hold a joint day-long conference after the battle is over.” She thought about it a little longer, then spoke up again, this time directing her words at Dragon. “Dragon, if you know any good war correspondents, you can let them get in if they want.”

“Of course, Director,” answered the Tinker, who, despite being neck-deep in abominations inside the city, was still doing most of the work throughout the entire battle.

Sometimes Emily was surprised at what Tinkers were capable of.

Or maybe just Dragon…

“Losses?”

“No deaths, thanks to Medi-Gel, the healing capes, and the Movers, and mostly to Panacea,” answered the aide, and she could hear the awe in his voice. “There are a few who were removed from the battle permanently because of brain injuries or limb loss, but according to Panacea, she could take care of the latter after the battle.”

She nodded in understanding and wondered once again what Panacea’s true capabilities coming to light would do to the gang scene in the city.

The man, unaware of her thoughts, continued his report. “The biggest number of wounded came from the north, then east, then south and west.”

“As expected. But why are the numbers so large here? I expected that with Eidolon present, we would have the easiest time.”

“It appears Eidolon isn’t really a team player, and that him sometimes not watching his aim or what kind of power he used caused most of the damage,” the man answered nervously.

“”Dragon, prepare a private communication channel to Eidolon. I want to talk with him."

“Yes, Director,” answered the woman, and Emily could hear the smile in her voice.

Danny watched the news, not daring to take his eyes off it in case he missed something, in awe.

The sheer carnage brought to the Battle of Ellisburg, as one newscaster called it, by the parahumans and the army (though the latter weren’t shown much on the newscasts) was awe-inspiring and, at the same time, deeply horrifying.

He always knew that parahumans were powerful and capable of much more than they showed while fighting against each other or the authorities.

But this…

He was pretty sure it would cause a significant change in how many people viewed them. Probably for the worse, with how the world worked.

And he could understand it, at least a little. The sheer elation on some faces that could be seen despite the myriad of masks and coverings scared him.

That was why he didn’t turn the feed connected to his daughter back on. He didn’t want to see her act like this. Danny knew she was a little atypical for a parahuman, but he didn’t want to take a chance.

For now, he was somewhat content knowing she was alive and healthy.

Though he wondered where she had vanished after disengaging from the first horde of monsters…

He looked over the data streaming in from the fight and couldn’t have been happier. The power he created was being stress-tested like nothing else, and the other Shards were creating enough noise on the Network to provide excellent cover for several of his actions.

First, he connected to all the parahumans he still hadn’t met, looking for anything that would allow him to improve things. Sadly, there was nothing new or interesting. Not even an Elder Shard.

His major interest was salvaging his plans for the city-wide second trigger. Instead, he had the Shards connected to the parahumans from Brockton Bay add a few things to their powers. Corrections, extras, or changes. A mini update.

Impetus was in heaven, while Efficiency simply acknowledged the order and efficiently added the designated changes. The reactions of the rest ranged between the two, showing which ones were more sapient than others.

He would use Brockton Bay as a petri dish for gauging humanity’s reaction to the changes.

He was very aware of the irony…

Also, maybe he would have Taylor drop a word about anti-thinker effects, allowing him to blanket the city with one…

He joined Shaper in the virtual space, watching Taylor fight on one large screen, with a few smaller screens showing Amy healing or Vicky snoozing on a crate.

Fragile One was watching Amy heal people, entranced, occasionally cheering the dour girl on.

Shaper, however, was sitting on a sofa that looked like a moss-covered rock, silently watching the action.

As soon as he showed up in his usual slime avatar, the green avatar turned towards him with a scowl on her face. “I still don’t understand why you make me communicate this way. It’s so inefficient."

He hovered next to her and watched Taylor for a few seconds before answering. “Because you are capable of understanding, capable of understanding humans. And I want you to understand them. Yes, they are primitive, prone to making illogical choices, and entirely short-lived, but they are capable of so much more."

"So what?”

“The Entities’, Zion’s, and Eden’s plan is immensely wasteful and, quite frankly, ridiculous. Instead of investing in races, they use them for a while, then throw them away like a used toy. I want to change that. I want Shards and humans working together. For that, we will need understanding."

Shaper didn’t answer, but he could sense that she was thinking about what he had said.

And he meant it.

For now, he was focused on Taylor and Brockton Bay, and on destroying Zion, but as soon as that was accomplished, his goals would also change. He would slowly remove himself from around Taylor, letting her make decisions, only advising (or even showing up) when she requested it.

He had no plans on leaving the planet, so his plans reflected that. He would first have all the Shards join the new Network, then he would rework the entire power system.

And so on…

So much to do, but for now, he was simply content with watching Taylor go against giant monsters and Amy yelling at annoying patients.