1.14 Slaughter Part 7

Aquiline dodges to the side and Gears’ handgun automatically ejects the empty magazine. Most of the Renders miss, but three hit Aquiline despite his abnormally quick reflexes.

Aquiline’s words about his suit being both bullet and explosion proof are proven correct as the Renders fail to hurt him with neither its kinetic force nor its explosive power. Aquiline laughs loudly as he twirls both of his blades again.

Where is Necromantress?

Yes, where indeed?

Probably off to create more undead.

Then we need to finish off Aquiline and Murderiser and hunt her down.

Along with the rest of the Seven and Sinister Man.

If Sinister Man isn’t a member of their group.

Oh he is.

“Well, this has been fun, but I have to go,” says Aquiline with a mock bow, “Personally, I don’t want to get involved in this anymore than I have to. It is my teammates that want to tangle with you guys to be honest. So I figured why not let them find out first-hand how dangerous the Guardsmen are? If they survived, they’ll come out more educated for it. If they don’t, then we’re better off without them.”

Meanwhile Gears has reloaded his handgun with another type of bullets, Blasters, as he listens to Aquiline talk. Blasters contained high explosives with a lot of power. Designed purely to blow apart their targets.

As Aquiline dashes down the alley, Gears opens fire with his handgun. Five of the six shots hit Aquiline and while they don’t penetrate his clothing, they do stagger him. As the Aquiline stumbles, Gears fires off his KEPs and slams into the monster in human form.

Shouldn’t there be more people about?

Yes, there should be.

With the Seven about, the implications of such a thing are disturbing.

Indeed, we should eliminate Aquiline as quickly as we can so we can evaluated the situation.

Both Gears and Aquiline go tumbling into the road, Gears losing hold of his weapons in the process. As Gears get to his feet, he spots one of Aquiline’s silver swords lying within reach. He looks up to see Aquiline preparing to strike him with the other sword, where it is has currently lodged itself into the road.

With a snarl, Gears rolls out the way and grabs the other sword. Aquiline yanks his own sword out of the road and swings it at the vigilante. Gears whips his stolen sword around, meeting Aquiline’s in a clang and burst of sparks.

Gears is rewarded with a momentarily stunned look on the Aquiline’s face, just there for a spilt-second to the one point somebody would need inhumanly quick reaction time to even notice it.

And I think that was a bit of fear in that look as well.

Growling at Aquiline, Gears’ fist slams into Aquiline’s gut, already in mid swing when the swords made contact. Winded, Aquiline stumbles backwards and Gears presses his attack. He swipes his sword at Aquiline and the serial killer raises his own.

As the flat side of Gears’ sword hits the sharp side of Aquiline’s, Gears watches as his sword snaps into two.

Dammit it!

We still have two of our own molecular daggers.

Plus Aquiline’s blade must be losing its sharpness as well.

Indeed. Aquiline might be more skilled, but we have more options and gadgets available to us even if we are equally skilled physically.

I just wish we knew his power set.

As Gears hops back and prepares for Aquiline’s next attack, both he and his foe turn to look at Murderiser as the mass murder crawls rapidly along the side of the wall. Protector quickly follows him out of the alley at ground level.

Gears and Protector make eye contact.

“Don’t let Murderiser get away,” says Gears, using the comms in their armour, before turning his attention back to Aquiline, “I got this one.”

“As you say,” replies Protector as he activates his KEPs and flies off after Murderiser.

It appears wall crawling is one of Murderiser’s powers.

And did you notice that his arm was healed from the damage we inflicted earlier?

Yeah, I did.

It is not good news.

Indeed, Murderiser must have some form of powerful healing or regeneration.

That is definitely not good news.

Aquiline charges forward, swing his sword at Gears. Gears fires up his KEPs and takes off into the air, out of Aquiline’s reach.

“So where is the rest of the Slaughter Seven?” inquires Gears in an angry voice.

“Dealing with the local heroes,” replies Aquiline in what is supposed to be a causal tone, but is too tight for that, “Friend and some of our lackeys are dealing with the local heroes while Demonica, Hackjob and Murder Wolf are taking care of those ridiculously powerful Fowlers. Necromantress is doing her thing.”

Joan.

We must deal with this monster and go to her aid.

We can’t just let Aquiline go and he shows no signs going down anytime soon.

Then we send Jaylyn to aid Joan.

“Sentinel,” says Gears as he switches to a private channel and turns off his external speakers, “Go and help your mother. Demonica, Hackjob and Murder Wolf are going after her and the rest of her family.”

“Understood Father,” replies Jaylyn in less than a split-second, “I will use your spare suits of armour.”

“Good girl,” mutters Gears under his breath as he turns his external speakers back on, “Let us finish this Aquiline.”

“Then come down and fight,” sneers Aquiline as he points his remaining sword at Gears.

“Actually,” says a deep, distorted feminine voice, “Why don’t you go and help some others in need of aid Boh. I will deal with this Tokkik.”

I know that voice…

This is wondrous news!

Indeed!

Excellent!

Brilliant!

Praise be God!

“Guardian,” says both Gears and Aquiline at the same time, but in two very different voices.

1.14 Slaughter Part 6

“Well Gears,” says a haughty male voice, “Despite what my compatriots thought of you, you have fulfilled all my expectations.”

“Aquiline,” hisses Gears as he recognises the voice of the sociopath.

Glancing at Protector as his fellow Guardsman fights the bloodied and beaten zombies, Gears turns to see Aquiline at the other end of the alley.

The black haired man smirks at Gears as he twirls a silver sword in each hand. A stunning, lithe woman in a black dress with a low V-neck is standing on Aquiline’s right. On his left, Gears can spot the heat signature of a fit, lean and bald human.

Aquiline, Necromantress and Murderiser.

We can take Aquiline and Necromantress. Murderiser might be more troublesome if he does have extra powers like some witnesses claim.

Especially if the rumours of his ability to charge objects with explosive power are correct.

Aquiline is an extremely skilled Bellator as well and we don’t know the full extent of his powers.

Necromantress is the weakest unless there human corpses about. Beyond her power to create undead, she is only an Aphrodite.

At A Class mind you.

We should never underestimate this group. Between them, they have killed almost a half million people in under four months.

And they weren’t even trying their hardest. They treat what they do as a game.

Perhaps that is what it is to them.

These are some of the few people I am just going to do my best to kill.

Agreed.

So what do we do?

Protector is still busy with those two undead.

We should buy time until he is done, then engage these three as a group.

Jaylyn should also be receiving data from our armour and passing it onto the authorities.

They’ll probably be having their hands full dealing with the other four members of the Slaughter Seven.

Do think Sinister Man is a member?

As a replacement for one of the Seven or as a lackey?

The latter.

I wouldn’t put it past for Sinister Man to be a replacement member. With their body count, the Slaughter Seven have a turnover rate as high as one would expect.

“Do really think your swords and armour can hold up against my gadgets?” inquires Gears as he cocks his head at Aquiline, “We all know your fear of technology, but how can you hope to beat me without it or any powers?”

“Don’t you remember that little gadgeteer girl down in Georgia?” replies Aquiline in a surprisingly calm and polite voice, “Called herself Armoury? Local hero to her precious town? Figured she could actually take us on singlehanded?”

“Let me guess, you killed her and everybody else in the town before stealing her gadgets?” replies Gears, his voice hardening in anger.

“Oh, dear little Armoury wishes she was dead I’m sure,” replies Aquiline with a sneer, “But while Necromantress’ undead can still use their powers, it doesn’t include non-physical mental powers such as thinkers, tinkers and gadgeteers. So I let Hackjob deal with Armour instead.”

Good Lord…

What is Armoury going through?

Let’s hope we can save her.

Or at the very least, end her suffering.

“You’re a monster,” snarls Gears as he receives a message from Jaylyn.

All local authorities notified as well as all state authorities in Michigan and the neighbouring states. All national authorities are also notified.

“So I’m told,” laughs Aquiline, “But what do I care? Anyway, I got some nano-sharp swords that can hurt even somebody with A Class invulnerability while this bodysuit is pretty much immune to bullets, explosions, energy blasts, fire and other elements.”

With that new knowledge, Gears takes another look at Aquiline’s full bodysuit. He thought it was some kind of black leather, but if what Aquiline says is true…

Here comes Protector.

Time to get this party started.

About time.

Gears throws one of his molecular daggers at Necromantress before moving his hand to draw one of the custom handguns that he brought with him from his belt. As Aquiline moves strike the dagger out of the air with one his swords, Murderiser strikes forward at inhuman speeds with a jagged knife in each hand.

Gears twists to the side as Murderiser stabs at his shoulder. An explosive force ripples off of his armour as Gears aims his semi-automatic pistol at Murderiser. While he doesn’t have time to aim it, Gears has a very strong and steady aim with the assistance of his power armour and he is firing at near point blank range.

The bullets that come out of Gears’ handgun are also customised made by him. An explosive core with a delayed charge while the Gardium outer shell pierces the target’s defences before exploding.

Gears calls them Renders, one of the severals sets of bullets that he has designed.

Of the four shots that Gears fired, the first two hit Murderiser in the shoulder, tearing into the flesh before detonating. The last two Renders explode in the wall as blood and gore splatters Gears.

As Protector swings a fist into Murderiser’s face, Gears turns his attention back to Aquiline and Necromantress.

Duck!

Glimpsing one of the silver swords coming at him from the corner of his vision, Gears follows Lion’s advice and ducks. As the first sword slashes through the air of his head, Gears spots the second stabbing at his side.

He positions his molecular dagger upwards in a position that it blocks the silver blade from his body. 

There are several sparks as the two molecular blades connect with each other. Gears fires the rest of bullets in his twelve-bullet magazine at the sociopathic serial killer. 

1.14 Slaughter Part 5

Gears glances over his shoulder at Protector. Both of them are in their armour and are out looking for Sinister Man.

“Thanks for coming Protector,” says Gears as they fly through the air, “It means a lot to have somebody at my back. Especially after this morning incidents.”

“Don’t worry about it,” replies Protector before his deep voices turns solemn, “I know what it is like to have a supervillain break into your home.”

Aquiline broke into Cain’s house the day he manifested.

He had it worse than we did.      

Aye, no powers, his family at home and multiple supervillains.

“You had it worse,” points out Gears.

“Guardian saved us,” replies Protector with a slight shrug, “Plus Aquiline has been staying away from up here.”

Gears thinks about the first supervillain that he and Guardian fought together. Assumed dead, Aquiline revealed himself to be alive once Guardian’s “death” became known to the public.

Since then, Aquiline has formed himself a team of superpowered psychotic serial killers known as the Slaughter Seven. Aquiline ditched his old teammates of Krystal and Techni-Hurt.

Now he has Demonica, an Abnormal with “Dark Magic” alongside several other powers, as his second-in-command.

Murder Wolf, a vicious teleporting wolfman, and Murderiser, an invisible Bellator, are his main combatants while Hackjob and Necromantress form support. Hackjob is a gadgeteer specialising in biology while Necromantress can bring back the dead as different types of “Undead”.

Friend is the last member of the group and is able to convince those around him that he is a friend or ally.

And all of them are A Class with the exception of Aquiline, who is unrated with his exact powers still an unknown.

And let’s not forget all of those lackeys who follow them around. Slaughter ‘Seven’ my arse. There is about twenty to thirty of them.

At least Aquiline has drawn most of the country’s powered pyschos to him.

Now remind me, is that a good or bad thing?

But while the Slaughter Seven have been terrorising the rest of the country, they have left the states around Lake Michigan alone.

“Guardian certainly made a lasting impression on Aquiline,” notes Leo.

Not only has Aquiline waited until Guardian’s death before revealing himself and is still avoiding the area around Guardian’s territory, but Aquiline has completely geared himself to counter Guardian.  The sociopath has completely eschewed electronic devices as well as devices with any sort mechanisms such as guns.

Even the public has picked up on Aquiline’s fear of Guardian. Several news reporters and bloggers have mentioned it. Not it has done anything helpful, but it has increased Guardian’s reputation due to massive kill count that Aquiline and his Slaughter Seven have been racking up.

“So what sort of powers does the Sinister Man have again,” asks Protector.

“Are you still watching the video?” replies Gears.

“Oh yeah,” says Protector, “Now I’m not. I’m starting to remember him better.”

Due to his adaptive ability, Leo figured that Cain would slowly become immune to Sinister Man’s memory forgetting ability, become more resistance each time it happens. And it has proved correct as Protector is able to remember Sinister Man after watching the video of the parahuman a multitude of times.

Cain’s adaptive ability has made him quite powerful as the power alters his body like the Enhanced power does rather than gain new powers. And in the months since he manifested, Cain has been training his ability every day.

In fact, Cain is now a D Class to D+ Class in most physical abilities with his regeneration being somewhere between D+ Class and C- Class.

I wonder how strong Cain will get.

Perhaps there is an upper limit on how strong he can get?

He would be so overpowered if he weren’t.

Yes, he is already half-immune to power nullification due to the nature of his adaptations.

I’m just glad he is one of the good guys with such a versatile power set.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gears spots a blur momentarily, the motion being highlighted by his HUD.

“Do you see that?” asks Protector as they reach one of the nastier parts of town.

“I think so,” replies Gears as he looks down at where something skirted into an alleyway, “Let’s investigate further. Cover me.”

Gears flies downward, landing with a gentle thud as Protector drops to the ground behind him. The sight awaiting them causing Gears to take a step back as he draws two of his four molecular daggers.

The beast is crouched over a pair of human corpses, both mangled and bloody. The creature itself is roughly three metres long and looks like a hairless and earless cat. Its stitched leathery hide looks hard and tough while the four eyes across its face look just plain out of place.

“What on Earth is that thing?!” exclaims Protector as the creature bares its fang filled maw at them.

“This is bad,” says Gears as the two corpses begin to get up.

They look as dead as ever, but they move as if they were alive, one even picking his gun back up.

“What are those things?” demands Protector as the two corpses march towards him and Gears.

Do I seriously have to deal with-

“Zombies,” replies Gears in a dry voice, “And yes, I’m calling them that. What’s next? Vampires? Werewolves?”

That said, they do seem to be more revenants than zombies.

Who cares?

Just a thought.

“So who dances with whom?” inquires Protector as the cat-beast unleashes its massive claws

.

“I’ll take the beast, you take the zombies,” replies Gears as the beast pounces at him.

Firing up his KEPs, Gears meets the beast mid-air as he hears gun shots below. The beast howls in frustration as Gears stabs one of his molecular blades through the elbow of its front legs.

The joint is sliced open, cutting the nerves that let it control its lower leg. With one leg neutralised, Gear quickly takes out the other front leg in the same matter before tossing the creature into the alley below.

As the beast crashes into the ground, Gears ground pounds his boot into its head. He feels the skull break under his boot and the brain go squish. But despite losing its head, the beast’s body is still squirming, trying to fight Gears.

Now that is creepy.

Should we finish it off?

Once the area is secure.

Aye, we should only waste time or resources finishing it off once all other threats are dealt with.

As he turns to see Protector still fighting with the two zombies, Gears hears a slow clap from behind him.

1.13 Quest Part 2

Legacy walks Leo with Allison and Cain behind her as their group follows the goblin scouts back to their camp.

The camp is in the middle of a local forest and Legacy grins as the sun rays break through the tree coverage. Jaylyn made the world a very beautiful one, a testimony to the skill of her niece.

“We’re almost there,” says Leo as he draws his steel halberd.

Despite initial using a sword, Leo has grown to favour the halberd, gaining a fondness for the weapon. Allison has been using a long sword while Cain is using a battle axe. Legacy on the other hand, is sticking to Gord’Ang as she is able to summon it within the game.

Which means I have a ridiculously overpowered weapon that can take on even the strongest enemies in the game.

“How large is this camp?” asks Cain, “We have half-a-dozen scouts here so it must be pretty large.”

“I’ll tell you once we get in sight of it,” replies Leo.

“I’ll go ahead,” says Legacy as she parkours up into a tree.

One of the good things about being able to access the skills and memories of the past Guardians is that Legacy has picked up plenty of hard to learn, but very useful skills. Now not only can she free-run through urban environment like most practitioners of the art, but also natural ones as well.

She gracefully leaps across the tree tops before coming to a halt in one of the trees overlooking a clearing. The goblin raiding party has made camp within the clearing.

There are the six goblin scouts they have been tracking in addition to the five others that Legacy can see. There are is also the more troublesome problem of ten goblin warriors.

While the goblin scouts have light leather armour, short bows and short swords, the goblin warriors are both better fighters and better equipped. They have crude copper chainmail armour and plate helmets in addition to wielding bronze shields and assorted iron weaponry.

Not only that, but the goblin warriors have better stats with significantly higher health. Legacy would trouble dealing with five goblin warriors on her own let alone ten.

Good thing I’m not on my own.

She makes her way back to the others and drops down from the leafy branches in front of her teammates.

“I found the goblin camp ahead,” says Legacy, “It is in a clearing.”

“How many enemies are there?” asks Leo.

“I spotted eleven scouts and ten warrior,” answers Legacy.

Both Cain and Allison cringe while Leo snorts.

“That isn’t so bad,” says Leo.

“Says the guy who has more levels than the rest of us combined,” retorts Allison.

“Okay, you got a point there,” admits Leo, “So how do we do this?”

“You take point of course,” says Cain.

“That is a given,” replies Leo, “So I take point with you and Allison supporting me?”

“Sounds good,” says Allison.

“I’ll take the rear and try and get around the flanks,” says Legacy.

“Good idea Legacy,” replies Leo, “So we all know the plan? Good.”

Legacy lets the others take the lead before following as the rearguard.

“Just remember, there may be more than just what I spotted,” says Legacy.

“We know,” replies Cain.

“A group this large should have more scouts and at least one spellcaster,” says Leo, “Trust me, Jaylyn and I were the ones to program encounters like this.”

“They’ll have a mage?” says Allison, “Crap.”

“I can take their spellcaster,” replies Leo, “Plus with our weapons and armour forged by yours truly, we should be near impossible to be killed by the goblins even if they have ten warriors and a spellcaster.”

“Good point,” says Allison, “We shouldn’t get sloppy though.”

“Yeah, always expect the enemy to have something capable of taking you down,” agrees Leo, “That applies to the real world as well.”

“We’re almost there,” says Legacy, “Just past these trees.”

As they get past the trees, the four Guardsmen reach the clearing full of tents, equipment and goblins.

“Charge!” yells Leo as he breaks into a charge, his shield in his right hand while his halberd is in his left.

Allison and Cain both follow him as he slashes the closest goblin scout with his halberd. The single attack inflicts significant damage with the scout’s floating health bar drops by almost two thirds from the green into the orange.

As Leo finishes off his opponent with a swipe of his halberd, Cain swings his halberd at another goblin scout. It dodges out of the way and Cain’s battle axe slams into the ground, but Allison follows up with an attack of her own.

She uses a ‘Skill’, special martial attacks that deal extra damage, but have to be done in a certain way to work. They also use up Stamina, which matters little in short battles, but can be very important in prolonged engagements.

Her Skill Prepared Stab is already at Level 6 and the goblin scout’s health bar drains to zero as Allison runs it through with her long sword. The scout screams before shattering into shards of red digital light.

As her three companions engage the bulk of the goblin forces, Legacy heads around the right side to take on two goblin scouts that are apart from the main group.

She stabs at the closest, Gord’Ang going past the scout’s own crude metal blade and into the shoulder. Its health bar drops by about a third into the mix between the orange and yellow and the goblin scout staggers backwards.

The other goblin scout as darted around Legacy and she realises her mistake too late as it slashes her with its short sword.

1.13 Quest Part 1

“So how have you guys been enjoying Eldrim?” asks Legacy as she, Leo, Cain and Allison meet at one of the in-game taverns of the virtual reality game that she, Leo, Jaylyn and Ceta have invented.

The virtual game is a Fantasy MMORPG as requested by Joan and runs off of a mixture of servers in the Guardsmen base and Ceta’s cyber world. She and Ceta mainly handled the physics and gameplay while Leo and Jaylyn did the setting and plots.

Overall, Legacy feels they have done a good job as the game feels real. It isn’t completely real as three days in-game is only one hour out of game and the damage suffered are marked by a red lines rather than realistic effects to make it kid-friendly according to Leo.

The name of the game is Eldrim and is set on a continent containing three different civilisations. The Clans of Mirgard inhabit the chilly north while the Empire of Augustia dominates the sunny plains of the east. At the moment, they are gathered within the Kingdom of Highrim, the nation that rules the hills and rivers of the west.

“I like this place,” says Allison as she leans back in her wooden chair, “It feels very realistic.”

Legacy notes that Allison isn’t using her real name as her username, but rather has chosen username Defender after her superhero name. Both Leo and Cain have done the same while Legacy has called herself Guardian Legacy.

The other three also have inbuilt masks to their virtual characters that protect their identities. These masks are purely cosmetic and have no impact on gameplay to the point that those with them can’t see them, even the one they are wearing.

Legacy has declined one of her own as she has no problem displaying her real face. She hasn’t exactly got a secret identity like her fellow Guardsmen.

“It is a fun world to play in,” agrees Cain as the NPC waitress brings them their drinks, “I have spent my time boosting my skills and stats against local thugs.”

“And yet you are a lower level than me,” says Allison, “I have spent my time completely quests.”

“I have better stats,” points out Cain.

“I have better abilities and skills,” counters Allison.

“Leo has the best character out of all of us,” cuts in Legacy, “He could take us all on.”

“I have spent the most time playing the game with all my play testing,” says Leo with a grin on his face, “Be thankful because you wouldn’t have all that gear I made for you otherwise.”

“He has a point,” mutters Cain and Legacy internally agrees.

While they have all got equipment from creature drops and quest rewards, Leo, with his level 27 Blacksmithing and his level 24 Enchanting, has provided all of them with relatively high level equipment of high quality.

“So why are you playing as a Rogue?” asks Allison, “I thought you told me you were playing as a Warrior the other day.”

“I was, but then you all chose to be Warriors as well and since my character was extremely powerful, I decided to start a new one,” answers Legacy.

“I suppose variety is good,” says Allison, “So what are we going to do next?”

“Well,” says Leo, “I have told by the local guards that there is a camp of goblin raiders nearby. I was thinking that we could work together to take them out.”

“Sounds good,” replies Allison with a grin, “So when do we head off?”

“Since we all have my latest equipment,” replies Leo, “I feel we should set out once we’re done with our drinks. Unless any of you have anything you want to do in town beforehand?”

“No,” says Legacy.

“Nah,” says Allison.

“I’m waiting until I get more kills to my record, then I’m going to join the local warrior’s guild,” says Cain, “So I’m fine with heading out once we’re done with our drinks.”

“Should I pay or should we split the cost between us?” inquires Leo.

“I only have a single gold coin plus twenty three coppers,” answers Cain.

“I have five gold plus some silvers and coppers,” says Allison.

“I have two gold coins, fifty six silver coins and thirty four copper coins,” states Legacy.

“Well, since I have over a hundred gold coins, I’ll pay the bill,” says Leo with a smug grin.

“How on Earth did you get that many coins?” demands Allison.

“I’m Level 27,” replies Leo, “And I have been selling some of my crafts off as well.”

“Well, the rest of us should share your share of the loot between us,” says Allison.

“I won’t contest that,” replies Leo with a slight chuckle.

“So are we all done with our drinks yet?” asks Cain.

“Yeah,” replies Leo as he looks around, “I’ll go and pay the bartender now.”

As he gets up and goes, Legacy looks at Leo. He, along with Cain and Allison, is wearing a set of chainmail armour with some plate armour helmets, arm pieces, gauntlets and breastplates on top. As with all of their equipment, it has been forged and enchanted by Leo.

Legacy is wearing leather armour. It lacks the Protection of the plate and mail armour that the others use, but it is lighter and more flexible, giving her increased mobility over them. And with her abilities, its Protection level is increased by half of its original value, putting on par with any normal plate and mail.

1.9 Harbinger Part 6

As cheers go up from her fellow fighters in the city, Guardian activates her KEPs only to realise that the majority of them are broken with the few remaining not enough to grant her flight capabilities.

Can we repair them? Using my power?

Not now. Not enough time. Armageddon would kill us while we’ve halfway through.

Dancore!

The cheers die down all of sudden as Armageddon begins to get up. Guardian darts away.

“Guardian,” says Gears over her comm.

The connection isn’t very good as damage to her armour has left it fuzzy and shaky with Gears’ voice containing some static to it.

“Here,” replies Guardian as she puts ground between her and the Harbinger.

“I’m here with Protector and Defender,” says Gears as another orange ray beam hits Armageddon, “Darkness has also shown up to help. I think seeing his twin sister get taken out motivated him to help.”

“Many have fallen today,” replies Guardian quietly and solemnly.

“Then let us make their sacrifices worth something,” says Gears with a determined voice.

“Try to take out his other eye,” Guardian tells Gears.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Gears assures Guardian.

Guardian glances at Armageddon as he gets to his feet. Whips of black and white energy lash out at the Harbinger, but Guardian doesn’t see the result before a building obscures Armageddon from view.

Guardian comes to a halt as she spots a pair of bodies in the ground.

Too late to save them.

We can’t save everybody...

But that doesn’t mean we should try to. I know. How do I know that anyway?

It is good advice that has been passed on.

Okay.

“Guardian!” yells Defender as she lands a short distance in front of her, “Over here!”

As Defender and Guardian runs towards each other, Protector lands behind the former.

“Nice work so far,” says Protector.

Both are wearing the same type of power armour as Guardian and Gears, but where Guardian is black and Gears’ is grey, Protector’s armour is a dark forest green whilst Defender is a deep shade of blue.

“My armour is no longer capable of flight,” Guardian informs them, “It has also sustained serious damage on the front.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” replies Defender, “So what do we do?”

“You two engage Armageddon while I conduct emergency repairs to my armour so I can get flight capabilities,” says Guardian, “Remember he is fast and intelligent in addition to being one of the toughest creatures out there.”

“We got it,” replies Protector as he shares a look with Defender, “You just keep safe. We can’t afford to lose you.”

Then it is rather ironic that I am the most expendable of the Guardsmen, both the least missed and the most easily replaced.

“We can’t afford to lose anybody,” says Defender.

“I have no intention of dying this day,” Guardian reassures them, “And I am not that easily killed. Not even by a Harbinger of the End Times.”

“See ya back at base later,” replies Defender as she and Protector off, “Take of yourself.”

“I-” Guardian starts to reply when Armageddon comes crashing through the building.

Protector and Defender both dart off as Guardian runs for it. She gets a few metres before the ground erupts and twists around her.

Dodge left!

Doing as Ceta says, Guardian jumps to the side. She is barely in time to dodge one of Armageddon’s energy attacks and still gets hit in the side of the right arm. The majority of her power armour is burned away on the outer side of her right arm and Guardian feels spikes of burning hot pain across the affected flesh.

As Guardian staggers to the side, something grabs a hold of her and her surroundings suddenly blur.

“I got you!” says a blurred voice as Guardian is sped away.

Guardian stumbles on her feet as her rescuer drops her off a couple of blocks away. A military tank retreats as several soldiers run alongside it on foot.

She looks around at the four people around her. Of them, Guardian only recognises Pathfinder. One is a good looking male wearing a red and white racing jumpsuit while the other is an Adonis in orange and black spandex. The last is another Bellator girl wearing armour made of ice. All seem rather young and Guardian would guess they are all in their teens.

Ice? How is that possible? And why isn’t it melting?

She must have created them using her power.

Like with the not-technology?

Yes. A variant of the power that allows for things that are physically impossible to be made.

“Hello Guardian,” says Pathfinder.

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” says the Adonis boy, “Good work against the kaiju.”

“His name is Armageddon,” replies Guardian as she looks at the damage to her right arm.

All of the armour except for a few scraps have been burned away while the flesh is blacken and raw.

“Well Guardian, I am Rush, speedster and leader of the Grand Rapids Junior Heroes,” says the boy in red and white, “That is Sulphur and Iceforge and you’ve already met Pathfinder.”

“So what is the plan?” asks the Adonis boy who Guardian assumes is Sulphur.

“We hit Armageddon while it is distracted and Guardian can hit it with that fancy sword of hers,” replies Pathfinder, “My power says that is the best course of action.”

“You can hurt it right?” Rush asks Guardian.

“Yes,” answers Guardian “I have already taken out one of his eyes and removed a little finger.”

“Glad to know we can hurt that thing,” growls Iceforge.

“Okay, so we-” starts Rush when Pathfinder cries out and spikes erupt from the ground.

Rush, Sulphur and Pathfinder all manage to get away from the spikes while one tears through Iceforge’s lower right leg. She cries out in pain even as Guardian feels a sudden surge of pain in her abdomen.

She looks down to see a large spike made from pavement and earth piercing her abdomen, tearing through both her armour and her flesh.

That hurts.

I’m sorry Legacy. It has been an honour.

Huh?

Hor segg yoinn sor.

As she slumps to the ground, Guardian looks over at the others just in time to see Rush and Sulphur get here by one of Armageddon’s energy blast. Sulphur’s mangled corpse topples over while Rush is reduced to a blacked, burning skeleton by a direct hit.

Guardian hears somebody calling her name before she is consumed by Armageddon’s ugly, hot energy.

***

Purr arnn lin Ordic?

What?

Peace or battle Guardian?

Do I have choice?

Yes.

Then battle. Lin. I won’t abandon my friends or family.

Then I shall inform Jaylyn that you will return.