Chapter 25: Goblin Hunting

SainthoodSaint14 - First off, the irony of your name amuses me. Secondly, that's a good idea, but I'm not sure about that considering I literally just had them talk about Dragon not replacing her mother. Still a good idea though, so it might be in the cards.

Geokit - Wait, I made a reference?! Where?! When?!

Also gore and bugs doing bug things, just to let ye know. 8, nearly 9k words of combat.

[Dragon's POV]

Picking up a magnitude 6 earthquake would've surprised me had it happened any other day, but considering I'd been forewarned to expect the seismic event, I took it in stride... Well, as well as anyone can considering it was a literal earthquake. (Thankfully, he limited the output and location.) It was incredible to get the readings of an earthquake striking only one specific area, instead of branching out as they usually did.

Though, knowing it would pass soon, I looked through the western station's cameras, and looked at the teens I'd taken under my wings. The form 'Cabrakan' was known to me, but seeing it in action was another thing... As well as the unholy Swarm gathered above and around the western station. Taylor was a wonderful woman, but by god did she need to have that many bugs?!

They couldn't even do anything to me, but the thought of being covered in all those insects made my scales shiver.

My kids aside, I drifted towards Colin... My fangs lightly biting into my lips as I looked at the man. Things between us had been somewhat... Stagnant, for a while now. Ever since the incident with Shadow Stalker, Colin had been throwing himself into his Tinkering, listening to my advice less and less as he did the absolute minimum to care for himself.

It was... Difficult, trying to care for someone who blatantly ignores your advice, opting to do the same thing that got him in his current position in the first place. I used to admire Colin's drive, thinking it to be one of his best qualities... But seeing the result of his 'Drive', and knowing Taylor, I didn't need her to share her Trigger to know it had been her, the diary may have removed her name, but I knew who Taylor was, I grew more and more conflicted with my feelings for him.

Armsmaster was a great Hero and Tinker, a formerly respected member of the PRT and Hero community in general... But that had been before.

Before his failures as a Team Leader had been brought to light.

Before I had meet a pair of teenagers I recognized I was getting attached too, and who were attaching themselves to me.

Before I had a new pair of people to call family.

I had to analyze my feelings on the matter, and ask myself a question I didn't think I was ever going to ask myself.

'Is Colin worth alienating them?'

I wasn't naive, Taylor was highly dissatisfied, and even antagonistic towards Colin. I knew her advice was biased, I may not have known how she knew I was attracted to him, but I knew she would've preferred to not be with him if it was possible. (Another thing we're going to need to talk about when they come home.) I paused at the word, recognizing that I was truly starting to see the mountain base as home.

Out of all of my instances, The Taskmistress was the one who had the most interaction with the duo, and I recognized that they treated her, and myself via proxy, as an actual person. They both knew she was me, a separate part of me, but still connected to me at the end of the day, and they still treated her like anyone else. It was... Amazing, and I didn't want to lose that.

I didn't want to lose the people who were giving me new experiences in life...

So it eventually came down to 'Can I let go of Colin?'

It was... A difficult query. Even after taking months worth of time to think about it, I was still reluctant to lose him... But the idea was there, and only time would tell if it was necessary.

That aside, I kept my eyes glued onto the forms of my kids, and wa...- One of the motion sensors we'd installed in the forest surrounding our home went off, and I turned an eye to the source. A feed came up, we'd installed very high definition cameras into the mountain top, overseeing the forest and range with a perfect vantage point... The feed opened, and I began seeing... Mercenaries? The armor seemed familiar, but I didn't immediately recognize it.

I frowned, eyes narrowing at the squad of people entering the mountain range... And I felt my eyes constrict into slits as the mercenaries began unloading Tinker Tech that seemed designed for excavation. (Well then, it seems someone is testing my patience.) Pinging The Taskmistress, I diverted the feed to her, and left the plan of action up to her.

While that happened, I was going to watch over Phoenix and Taylor. This was their first Guild mission, and large scale deployment, and I was not going to miss it.

[Phoenix's POV]

Letting the earthquake go on for a bit, I waited for it to reach a minute, having a highly capable girlfriend count down was nice, then nodded as I slammed my other arm into the earth, a counter force that did its job as the earthquake started to die down. The tremors weakening until they eventually stopped all together.

With that done, I turned to 'Look' over my shoulder, and at my girlfriend. "Time to traumatize the locals."

She snorted, Amusement coming from her, and I felt it through my Earth Sense, the stampede of insects that flowed over the building, and fell like a waterfall into the city. Felt as bugs ran through the streets, dug into the crevices that my earthquake made, bodies following newly created tunnels as they sank into the earth, and Swarmed the buildings in front of them. It was an experience really, 'Seeing' every single land bound bug doing their thing as I listened to the flyers buzz like a marching army. Wildmutt would be able to 'See' it all, probably getting some form of sensory overload with all the sounds going out, but having a small sample size of 3, I was including the Ultimate', didn't do the sight justice.

It was fucking terrifying. But since it was my girlfriend doing it, it was awesome.

That aside, I reached for the dial, and tapped it, a flash going off as the sheer power I had in that form ebbed away, and I regained my eyes. Tapping it again, I turned back into myself, cracking my neck as I grinned at my Other Half. "Race?"

I could practically see her narrow her eyes. "You'd already be in the lead."

"Loser talk right there." Annoyance flickered from her, and I pressed further. "Loser buys lunch and dinner for a week."

She hummed, Contemplation pulsing through the Bond. "How much do the Royal Guards count for?"

Ah... That was a good question... "Fuck if I know." She rolled her eyes at me, I was idly proud of myself for being able to tell considering the mask was on. "Switch it to more Royal kills?"

She hummed, and I felt the Agreement. "Deal."

Barking out a laugh, I raised my hand to the Ultimatrix, and popped the dial up. With a quick press, I was back as Armodrillo, but a tap turned me into Diamondhead. "Try not to fall behind." That said, I dashed into the city, my Other Half letting out an Amused scoff from behind me.

|Don't be surprised when I win.| Big words for her, but that just made it more Exciting.

Aside from being a walking tank, there was a reason I picked Diamondhead. Thanks to the earthquake, the ground beneath my feet was uneven, cracked, and all around horrible to stand on. That meant I'd probably trip over a crack or something in my normal form, but as a Petrosapien, I'd probably break the brittle ground against my feet instead of tripping.

|You know what's annoying?| I hummed, vocally and mentally, my eyes landing on one of the shorter Goblins as it crawled out of some rubble. |When my partner destabilizes the majority of my perches.| I snorted, crystals growing on my knuckles as I aimed at the creature in front of me... Only for a Pulse Round to ring out, the head of Goblin in front of me popping like a grape. My head turning to see my girlfriend on top of one of the more stable buildings. |This one still works though.|

I deadpanned at her, then paused as I felt her relaying her Minimap to me. She'd expanded it, the max distance it covered was 5 miles, and since she had Multitasking EX, she could handle it. I took in the hundreds, going up to thousand of red dots on the map, and nodded, turning back to the street in front of me and rushing towards the nearest hostiles. [Any sign of Cinder or Ella?]

|No. Don't know where they are, but you'll know when I see them.| I hummed, and came across a squad of Goblins. The lead one was one of the older ones, some kind of leather covered his junk, while the spear in his grip seemed like it was made out of bone. Human or Goblin, I had no idea, nor did I care.

The rest of the Goblins were of the weaker kind, so I ignored them, focusing on the leader. We locked eyes, and I grinned as he snarled. "DEATH TO INVADERS!"

The fucker and his squad charged at me, and I laughed. "Let's rumble!" Turning my left hand into a blade, and the other into a clawed gauntlet, I rushed at the Goblins. One of the smaller ones jumped at me, aiming to land on my shoulder, but a Pulse Round caught it, making it a non issue as the closest midget lunged forwards with a snarl. I let the stone axe clash harmlessly against my skin, and swung down, my blade tearing through its skull before it got stuck in its spine.

With one arm temporarily occupied, the leader stabbed at me, aiming at my armpit, but I spun a bit and let the spear hit my gauntlet, the bone shattering as I continued my spin and sent the corpse of the smaller Goblin at the leader. The big guy ducked under it as the last weaker mob tried to slam its club into my back, but another Pulse Round stopped that from happening, though the splash of blood against my back was a little Annoying.

Seeing the last of his squad die, the bigger Goblin snarled and jumped back on all fours, like a cat. Too bad jumping away doesn't get it out of my range. Raising my gauntlet clad hand, crystals grew from my claws, and shot off like bullets. Unsurprisingly, the Goblin wasn't expecting surprise bullets, and they tore into its body like tissue paper. Though, the fucker managed to glare at me as it died, which earned maybe just a tiny bit of Respect. Seeing the last dot go out on the mental Minimap, I hummed, and flicked my left blade, the blood, bone, and brain matter flinging off.

I was about to take a step forward, there was a gathering of 11 Goblins nearby, when a blip went down and I felt a small bit of Revulsion. [You okay?]

There was silence for a moment, but then she responded. |Yeah... A Goblin just got squashed by a loose wall.|

Humming at that, the sentence was a funny one, I asked an important question. [Are you going to be ok?]

More silence met me as I heard the Swarm buzz a bit louder, a cloud of black and yellow death flying overhead and splitting into 4 squads of atleast 200 each. |I will be.| That made me nod, and I tapped the dial, turning into Spider Monkey. An interesting fact was that the Arachnichimp was more monkey then spider, so even though I could feel a connection to my Other Half, it wasn't to the level of Big Chill.

If Taylor said she'd be fine, then she would be. I believed in her, and she believed in me. It was simple as that.

So, jumping towards a nearby building, I stuck to the side, and started climbing. [Kay! Happy hunting Mi Reina!]

Reaching the top, I surveyed the nearest Goblins, she'd used a squad of Wasps to take out the ones I wanted to go for, and I needed new targets. |You too Mi Corazon.|

Grinning, my tail flicked towards another building, and I jumped, webbing coming out and reaching the ledge as I swung. "Nanananana SPIDER MONKEY!" Amusement pulsed from her, and I laughed monkey laughs, flipping through the air as bugs buzzed through the air. I resisted the urge to snap a Dragonfly out of the air and nom on it, and zoned in on a trio of unlucky weak Goblins. Two of them were trying to pry a third out of the rubble of a building, but they'd snapped to see me when they heard me shout. Locking eyes with the both of them, the third was unconscious, I laughed and shot towards them. "BANZAI!"

The pair saw me coming, but unfortunately for them, I was just better. Landed in front of them with my bottom arms on the ground, I quickly pushed myself up to jump over the small Goblin, using my tail to wrap around its throat as I was right over it. As soon as my paws hit the ground, I brought my tail overhead, and slammed the Goblin into the ground headfirst, getting a crack for my efforts. "Hehe, might want to talk to a c...-" A loud screech rang out besides me, and I unwrapped my tail from the first Goblin so I could twist out of the way of a dagger like sword. "Whoa! You could poke someone's eye out with that!" The other Goblin Didn't seem to like me, lunging as it frothed at the mouth like a rabid animal.

I watched it come closer, and right when it was in my range, I shot out my bottom set of arms, grabbing the creature and holding it in place as I smashed the top pair into its face. "A tap, A tap, A tap," I let go of its free hand and punched it with double monkey might. "Forward smash!" The little bastard went flying, crashing into a wall that wasn't durable enough to handle the force of a small Goblin being hit into it, collapsing on the creature... Though, I was only looking at that with a single eye, the rest of them were focused on the knife wielding limb in my grasp... "I want to say it... I want to say it so badly..." I couldn't resist, and looked in the general direction of my girlfriend, holding up the severed limb. [I guess you could say, I disarmed it!]

The instant Exasperation was like a balm to my soul, as was the minor but still there Humor I felt. |... How do I put up with you?|

That was a simple answer. [By being an infinitely loving and understanding girlfriend?]

|... Why was that a question?|

4 of my eyes blinked. [Uh... Oh look, Gobli...-] A Pulse Round fired and obliterated the head of a coming Goblin... [I love you?] To sell it, I threw some Love and Affection at her. That would work!

Even without being there, I could tell she sighed. |Just get going you goof.|

Saluting with one of my unoccupied arms, I nodded. [Aye aye, captain!] Fond Exasperation flowed from her, and I grinned. She loved me.

Throwing the severed arm away, and hearing something groan as I did, I blinked, and turned to the source... "Ah, forgot about you." Hopping towards the downed and seemingly stirring Goblin, I brought a pair of fists back, and swung down. "Down smash!" My fists cracked its skull, going into the brain... "Ewww." Shaking it off, I changed back into myself, and checked my Minimap. (Let's see, 7 over yonder... 5, 2...) Another Pulse Round went off, the last blips in that specific spot going with it. (And guess those guys are dead.) Looking around for more, and ignoring the platoon of bugs heading somewhere, I found a group of 30 or so.

Grinning, I activated my Speed Mode, and gripped my AR. It was time to shoot some Goblins! "FOR THE GOBLIN SLAYER!"

[Taylor's POV]

"FOR THE GOBLIN SLAYER!" Looking at the feed that showed my boyfriend, I sighed and watched as he ran off, R-301 in his hands and Eager Anticipation burning like a fire.

My boyfriend was... Something, but it was fine. With the Ultimatrix on his wrist, he wasn't in any danger. Even in his base form, he had the Crysis Spider Suit, what we settled on calling our suits, which was durable enough to handle anything short of a tank shell. And even then, it'd probably handle it without an issue in Shield Mode. (Though, I'd like it if he took this at least a little seriously.) Granted, if it got serious, I knew he'd step up and put the threat down with extreme, prejudice.

My Other Half being a child aside, my eyes roamed the area, searching for another stable building. He was pushing further into Ellisburg, and I wasn't about to be left behind, so when I found a seemingly intact building a bit away, I hopped onto the ledge of the one I was already on, and tensed my legs. Activating the Strength Mode, I waited for the fibers to charge, then kicked off the roof when I was ready. I soared through the air, and at my apex, I raised an arm, the grappling line shooting out and landing onto the roof of the building I wanted to land on, and I used it to pull myself towards it.

Changing back to Standard Mode, I landed onto the roof, reeling the line back into my wrist. After I did that, I had to take a second to just recognize that I did that, and internally squealed. (That was awesome!) I was so doing that more often. Sure, flying and running were amazing, but that just felt... Right.

Shaking off my fangirling, I brought my Sentinel back out, and searched for the nearest group of Goblins. My Other Half had started engaging the group he'd ran after earlier, and I noticed another group of 30 or so Goblins coming out of another tunnel. Frowning, I went down to a knee, gathering a Swarm of 2,000 or so bugs towards that location as I looked through the scope. My bugs gathered at the area, and I took a breath. (In, hold, aim...) I locked onto the head of the lead Goblin, and adjusted a bit lower seeing as it was one of the older Goblins. I held the breath for a second, then breathed out. (And shoot.) The Pulse Round left the chamber like a clap of thunder, and I watched as it soared into the creature's eye, the organ exploding as 30 million concentrated volts of energy surged into its body, frying its brain and killing it instantly.

With the lead Goblin dead, the others panicked, fear filling their faces as my bugs surged towards them. The ground units distracted them by lunging at their legs, crawling onto their bodies and causing their panic to grow, while my aerial units waited for the right moments... Then dove towards their throats. I didn't care about the losses I'd felt, and directed the Wasps and Hornets to sting their throats, while the smaller insects crawled up the downed Goblins ears, and burrowed towards their brains.

While that group was being taken care of, I found a few stragglers that were in my range, and aimed my sights at them, I noticed a few Goblins going towards Gully and Armsmaster, so I directed a small part of my Swarm to crawl out of the earth to provide support, and took a breath. Like before, I held the breath, then released and fired. My target was a weaker Goblin, so its head exploded in a show of gore.

Its partner froze in fear, but ended up joining it a moment later as another round left my gun, giving the second Goblin the same treatment.

With them both dead, and the group of 30 something following suit, I took my time to breath and stare at the corpses for a bit. Over the week of training, I'd gone with my boyfriend's suggestion of treating the simulations as real, but this was reality. There were differences between the two, and seeing REAL corpses was Repulsing... But, I couldn't be squeamish now. Couldn't let it bother me even though it kind of did.

So I pushed those feelings into the Swarm. I'd handle it later, probably with my Other Half over movies or while we were in bed, and I'd get over it then.

Now, now I had to keep my eye on the prize. (Said prize is some old Villain that turned a city into his own little kingdom, but it's whatever.)

The V.I notified me my bugs had mapped out the underground, which had been fast, but since I'd been tasking the majority of my Swarm with scouting out the tunnels beneath the city, many of which were collapsed from the earthquake that rocked Ellisburg, it made sense.

Pulling up my Minimap, I used the Enhanced Mapping that my suit had, for this exact situation, and brought up the map, idly keeping track of my Other Half and our partners. At the moment, I had 20% of the underground mapped out, I could get more but I'd need to move further in so my bugs could reach deeper into the area. Humming at what I saw, and marking as many live Goblins they saw, the decision was clear. |Linking up.|

My boyfriend pulsed with Acceptance, and stopped moving. Putting some of the feeds away, I kept 6 open, a pair devoted to watching Gully, and... Armsmaster, fucker that he was, as they made their way through the city, another on my partner, and the last 3 were dealing with the nearest Goblins. As I hopped off the roof, I kept an eye on the feed of Armsmaster, watching as the Tinker weaved around a pair of older Goblins and fought them off with his halberd. I could see the skill he had, how he seamlessly fought and dispatched them, and felt a small bit of Respect...

Then I huffed and shunted that into the Swarm as I ran towards my Other Half, remembering that he was atleast partially responsible for the shitshow that was Sophia. He may have been skilled, and had experience as a Cape for nearly as long as I was alive, but he was still a shit person. [Mhm, shitty person he is, failure as a man and.]

Blinking, I looked at my boyfriend, noting that he was mid reload as he turned to me, and stared at him. "Really? Star Wars?"

He snorted, Amusement coming from him. "Yes. Problem?"

Sighing, I put my Sentinel onto my back, and brought out my Hawkmoon. "Time and place goof." That, and I was pretty sure he fucked that up.

"1:47Pm, Ellisburg." I twitched. "Not wrong."

Taking a breath out, I resisted the urge to pinch my nose, and just looked away. He was insufferab...- A swaft of my Swarm suddenly disappeared, and I whipped my head in the direction of the source. A torrent of fire was the cause, and searching for a feed from one of the Overwatch squads, I saw who I was expecting. Cinder, the Blaster of the Royal Guards... But she wasn't alone, and Surprisingly, she wasn't with Ella. (Well shit... That's not one we know.)

With Cinder was a spindly looking creature, 6ft tall at the minimum, skin as pasty as bone, a faceless head with no features aside from a closed mouth, and long branch like fingers that raked across the pavement. The thing had no genitalia, thank god, and no defining features to determine its gender... All in all, it was a fleshy Mannequin, and I didn't like it.

A flash of green went off, and by my side, Spider Monkey appeared. The monkey looked at me, and grinned before tapping the dial, another flash going off as the armored form of Wildmutt showed up, a roar coming from him as he slammed his paws against the ground. Anticipation came from him, and I got the idea. So, straddling my boyfriend's form, and thankful that our thoughts were muted, I grabbed the reigns with one hand, tightening the grip on my Hawkmoon with the other, and braced as my Other Half barked with Eager Excitement and ran.

He knew where to go, his range being enough to find them, and my bugs quieting down enough to keep him from going 'Blind.'

With his speed, it didn't take long for us to reach the street they were on. Seeing the pair, I aimed at the unknown, firing at its face. The shot missed thanks to the thing moving faster then I expected, and I had to make sure I didn't fall off when a stream of fire was launched by Cinder. My boyfriend/mount jumped over the stream, and I took aim at Cinder.

Annoyingly, she also dodged, her speed seemingly faster then the white thing, but I put that away and braced as we landed down the street from the two. [Off.] I nodded, and dismounted, holstering my Hawkmoon, putting my grenades in my inventory, and withdrawing my AR as I did.

The four of us looked at the other, the 'Blind' combatants facing each other while Cinder glared at me, fire dancing around her form. The white creature flexed its claws as my boyfriend stamped and dragged his claws against the ground, while I aimed my QSS. |Plan?|

[Win.] Wonderful.

I didn't have time to think some form of sarcasm, since Cinder's fire surged, and a wave of death surged forwards. "DIE!"

My partner and I charged forwards, I activated my Shield Mode and ran towards the flames, while Wildmutt growled and jumped above the fire. I made it through without an issue, losing a percentage of my charge at worst, and aimed my rifle at the Blaster. The first rounds went off, though Cinder was smart enough to dodge out of the way and avoided the first volley.

The Goblin used her natural speed and fire to propel herself away, shooting off retaliatory fireballs as she did her best to avoid my rounds. I did my best to roll out of the fireball's paths, managing to only take a percentage from the glancing heat. I got back up as soon as I cou...- A Surprised yelp distracted me, and I got a flash impression of some guy with disembodied hands on his bo...- I spun to avoid a lance of fire, and growled as I fired towards Cinder, subconsciously noting the flash of green that went on behind me, and my Hybrid Polymorph form being available. "Goop!"

The Goblin most likely hadn't expected me to be paying attention since I was looking at my partner, but Multitasking was part of my Power, so I noticed the constructs and managed to use her surprise to clip her in the arm. "You insufferable human! BURN!" Another wave of fire shot towards me, but like before, I trusted my Shield Mode to take it and charged forwards.

As I did, I gathered a Swarm, "Drown you shitty Slender Man!" Hundreds of bugs instantly answering my call as they rushed the Goblin, who shrieked in surprise. Sure, she incinerated them in an instant, but the moment of inattention was all I needed as I burst from the flames, my QSS raised at center mass as I pulled the trigger. Pulse Rounds ripped through the air, blurring towards the Blaster... Who burned brighter, her 'Dress' turning white for a moment, the temperature rising as she tried to defend herself.

Too bad it didn't matter and her dress shield was torn to pieces as my Pulse Rounds ripped through it and her. Emptying the clip for good measure, I watched and saw as her flesh was blasted off of her skin, and watched as the flames around her died down. Really, it was a good idea, it just failed against superior firepower... (I hate Spider Monkey.) Shaking that aside, I turned to my partner, and blinked as I took in what my eyes were seeing. His UFO, I knew that wasn't what it was called but didn't actually care, was hovering above the white creature, while his body was enveloping it, melting it down to its bones... Until it was all gone.

Huh...

Anyway. His UFO zipped away, and he reformed in front of me. We looked at each other, then I saw him shift an eye to his shoulder, looking to my side. "You gonna... Finish that?" Looking over my shoulder, I noticed Cinder was still alive.

Her dress was gone, exposing her nude form, more specifically the massive hole in her chest. Pulse Rounds seemed anathema to Goblins for some reason, so they took massive amounts of damage. To Cinder, that meant a majority of her chest had been frayed off of her body, which included a breast funnily enough, exposing muscle and bone. I was pretty sure I saw a bit of rib poking out, but that was eh. The simulation had shown me worse, but the look in the Goblin's eyes made me pause. There was a desperation in them that I understood, the plea to not kill her being easily understood...

I looked at her, biting my lip as I did. She wasn't Human, but she lived and breathed and thought like one.

She was a creature born from a Master, but one that had her own life.

Staring at Cinder, I closed my eyes, and took a breath. I'd killed Goblins already, popped their heads like balloons, and suffocated them with insects. This was no different, it wasn't.

So, opening my eyes, I holstered my QSS, and brought out my Hawkmoon. Raising the pistol to the Goblin's head, I steeled myself, ignored the whimpers coming from the Goblin, and fired. The Pulse Round ripped through her head, the top of her skull exploding in blood and gore.

That done, I took a moment to calm myself, this was just another Goblin, so I shouldn't have felt bad about it... But I did. (Why?) That was... A loaded thought. But I knew what I meant.

I felt bad because the fear of death was a universal thing, and the look Cinder had been giving me was so... Human, that I couldn't help but see that as something else.

As an execution...

Letting out a shaky breath, I was about to shunt away the Dread and Disgust that thought brought, when a pair of slimy arms wrapped around my shoulders. Blinking, I looked over to my Other Half, and saw the Understanding in his eyes. "Do you want a break?"

Warmth pulsed from me at that, and I smiled. "No. No, I'll be fine." And I would be. I wasn't alone, I'd never be alone, so I'd get over it.

Sure, I'd probably have a small breakdown when we talked about this later, but we'd deal with it together.

My Other Half nodded, retracting his arms and stepping back. Giving me a once over, he nodded, and brought down his UFO, tapping the top where the dial was. A flash of green went off, and I recognized the form of Wildmutt coming back... Though, I noticed a part of his uncovered fur seemed to be brighter then it should've been. He most likely knew I was looking, and grunted, a clip from something being displayed in my mind. [Shigaraki. Fucker could decay anything he touched with all 5 fingers. The Slender Man touched me with one, but it was slow. Hurt, felt like being burned, but slow.] Frowning, I was about to check him over, but an Annoyed huff stopped that. [I'm fine. Just get on.] I kept my frown for a bit, but shook my head after and got onto his back anyway.

When I was secure, he barked, and took off.

My moral dilemma and fussing over my partner could come later, we had a job to do now.

[Phoenix's POV]

Running through the streets, I kept my senses focused on any Goblin's I could find, while also looking at the Minimap my Mate projected into my mind. The tunnels were shit, a majority of them were destabilized thanks to my earthquake, but the ones that weren't were teaming with Goblins. The wounded were being brought away in one direction, while the dead were being brought another way. (So, there might be a healer. Fucking great.) I noticed I was coming up on a small pack of Goblins, 4 smaller and weaker ones, and 3 bigger and stronger ones.

Growling a bit, I slowed down and stalked into an alley. [Can the building handle my weight?]

My Mate looked between the two buildings, her eyes scanning the walls, then nodded. |Go slow just in case.| I grunted in reply, then dug my claws into the wall. Climbing was instinctive as a Vulpimancer, so it came as no surprise that I reached the roof in a few moments, even when I took it slowly. Touching down, I threw an Inquisitive look at my Mate, and she shook her head. |Not a good perch.| I nodded, the building we were on was a small one floor shop, too small to be useful for anything other then a quick ambush spot.

That confirmed, I looked at our query, senses zoning onto one of the weaker ones. My instincts wanted me to jump and land onto a small one, my weight would be enough to smash its head into the ground and splatter its brain into the earth, but I reigned those in. If I did that, I'd be surrounded easily, and despite how good my Mate was, she couldn't High Noon them into oblivion [Nade?] My Mate hummed, her free hand opening up as she tasked the V.I to provide her a grenade. [Get the bigger ones, take them out of play long enough for me to cull the weak, and finish them when they're all dead.] My Mate pulsed in Agreement, and I padded over to the ledge.

Tensing my limbs, I watched as my Mate primed the grenade, and waited for my moment. |3. 2. 1. Mark.| The grenade left her hand, and I focused on it and tracked its flight. When I saw it land in front of the bigger Goblins, and enveloping them in an erupting blast of Pulse Energy, I shot off the ledge with a roar.

The weaker Goblin was not prepared for a Vulpimancer to land on its body, my paw slamming its head into the ground and making its head burst from the force. The squeals of surprise and fear made me grin, and I turned to the nearest Goblin, tossing the corpse of the dead weakling at it. The creature froze, the corpse slamming into it and sending it flying as ano...- A Pulse Round from my Mate's Hawkmoon killed one of the other weaklings, making me turn to the last little Goblin. The creature shook as it stared at us, and I barked as I lunged at the terrified morsel in front of me.

The creature didn't move, and my jaws clamped down onto its throat. The resistance only lasted a moment, my jaws crushing the morsel's throat as its blood flowed into my mou...- I threw the dying Goblin out of my mouth as I choked and spat it out. (Oh fuck, why does it taste like sanitizer?!)

I coughed and spat out as much of the cursed fluid as I could, my Mate radiating Confused Worry as her Hawkmoon rang out, the head of a bigger Goblin bursting from the round. |What happened?!| Whimpering, I projected a bottle of hand sanitizer at her, making her pause on my back. |I... Seriously?| Spitting out the last of the, I huffed and barked out in Annoyance. |Yeah yeah, I got it.|

Another huff, and I turned to the last pair of Goblins, still wreathing on the ground. Knowing where I was looking, my Mate raised her Hawkmoon and fired at one, while I lunged towards the other, claws ready to tear into its flesh. Unsurprisingly, my claws found purchase in the bigger Goblin's skull, piercing flesh and bone.

Its death was quick, and I looked around, searching for any stragglers or survivors... Then I noticed the weaker Goblin I threw a corpse at was still alive. Before I could go and rectify that, a few ants started marching towards it, and I let out a Confused bark. |They'll pick it's brain apart.| Good enough for me.

Nodding, I took off, the hunt resuming as I did.

Over the next few minutes, my Mate and I came across a few more stragglers, easily ending them and moving on until eventually, no more Goblins breached the surface. Instead, they seemed to be gathering underground, what seemed to be 1,000 Goblins at the least, all gathered in one massive chamber.

Seeing that there were a distinct lack of any surface Goblins, my Mate decided to patch into the communications channel for this mission, asking around for orders. While she did that, I searched around, focusing on the nearest cluster of Goblins. There were 50 or so of them going through a tunnel, and seemed to be carrying a bunch of weapons. (Annoying. Too many to deal with without a pack, Mate could potentially kill them all with a few grenades, but that'd cut down on her total. Set* could probably handle them all, the camouflage would be invaluable... But 10 minutes wouldn't be enough to tear through the nest... Well, not as Set.) Humming, I tapped the dial, turning into "Wildvine!"

The Unamused gaze of my girlfriend landed on me, and I blinked. She took her fingers off the side of her head, an unnecessary gesture, and sighed. "Why?"

"... Tradition?" Really, what else did she want me to say?

Shaking her head, she sighed. "You do remember that The Goblin King uses biomass to make his Goblins, right?" I blinked again, brow furrowing as I wondered why that ma... Looking at the seeds growing on my shoulders, I got it. "Mhm."

Tapping the dial again, I turned back into myself. "Plan?"

A pulse of Annoyance ran through her, and she scoffed. "They want us to fall back." I blinked, wondering if they were serious. "We've taken out a pair of Royal Guards, North Squad ran into Tweedle and Dee, no sign of Dum, and killed them. So either he's dead from old age, or the earthquake took him out." I was going to pretend I did it, since that'd put me in the lead. "The Southern squad ended up running into another pair of Royals though, some kind of Breaker made of corrosive silver or something," Well that sounded bad. "And a Mover that dropped it on the 'Leader' of South Squad." That just sounded even worse. "At the moment, their leader, some Cape name Leonid," No idea who the fuck that was. "Managed to avoid the worst of it by using his own Mover Power, but they're down a member and the Royals escaped. They retreated back to base to get medical attention."

I clicked my tongue at that. "And East?"

Taylor felt Angry and Somber at that, and I had an idea of why. "East lost 3 members."

"... Fuckin, how?!" Seriously, these Goblins were weak as shit. Even when I was in my base form, I could handle them. Sure, I had superior technology and guns, but still.

My girlfriend huffed, her foot tapping the ground being a tell of her Annoyance. "We don't know." My eye twitched. "The survivor said one minute everything was fine, they were killing Goblins as they were supposed too, then one of the Capes suddenly died when they weren't looking. It didn't help that they were being swar...-" Alarm burst from her and she whipped her head towards somewhere. "XLR8! Now!" Not questioning it, I popped the dial, and turned back into Wildvine. Tapping the dial, I turned into the Kineceleran, my visor clamping down as I saw Taylor shift into her Hybrid form.

My Other Half ran off in a burst of speed, but I easily followed after her. [What happened?]

|Gully.| All I needed to know.

We ran across the city, ignoring the corpses of any Goblins in our way. Thanks to our speed, we reached our destination in only a few moments, just fast enough to see... Something. Some small fucker, like a foot tall, was climbing up the Ogre chick's arms, and she wasn't moving for some reason... No, she was, her eyes were moving between the fucker and the sharp looking knife in its hands, then they snapped to us.

My Other Half shot towards the small gray skinned creature, lunging at it with her claws out. Not expecting the arrival of a speedster, the little shit didn't have the chance to react before my Other Half wrapped her claws around its throat and ripped it off of our ally. The little bastard screamed for a second, but Taylor fell back to the street, and slammed it into the ground... Then stopped moving. Her Surprise and Fear made me blur forwards, stopping in front of my girlfriend and the creature, then turn into Diamondhead. I idly took in the fact she didn't change with me, but focused on making and shooting a crystal at the downed creature.

The moment the first crystal tore into its skull, my Other Half snapped out of the thing's ability, her form changing to accommodate the swap between Kineceleran and Petrosapien. She grew a foot, a pair of 2ft long crystals sprouted from her back but were being covered by fibers, and her hair gained a crystal sheen. Underneath the suit, she gained the same rocky armor I had, while her knuckles grew sharp dagger like growths.

That aside, with the thing dead, my girlfriend threw it away, and turned to the Ogre girl. "Gully, are you okay?"

Said girl blinked, took a second to take in our forms, or the fact we were taller now, then nodded. "Yeah. That thing just got the drop on me." She looked at the dead little bastard, then shook her head and looked at the both of us. "Thanks... Really. I don't... Don't want to think about what would've happened."

My Other Half nodded, while I accepted the thanks with a hum. "Death." Both women whipped their heads at me. "Probably through the eyes. Or ears. Either or." The GLARE I was getting from my girlfriend, I could FEEL it through the mask, made me laugh.

Exasperated Annoyance pulsed from her, and she huffed, turning to the Ogre woman. "Ignore him, he's special."

Looking at her, I stopped laughing for a bit, settling for a smirk. "And you love me for it. What's that say about you?"

Taylor turned back to me, and just stared. "That Stockholm Syndrome is one hell of a drug." I choked, getting a spike of Vindictive Amusement as I did. "Anyway," Turning back to look at the other woman, and ignoring the way I was slamming a fist against my chest, she went on. "You going to head back to base?"

Despite currently dying, I still noticed the confused but sort of amused look on the shovel wielding woman's face. "Yeah, the order came at a good time to be honest."

Taylor hummed, and I finished securing my life. "Want us," I raised a brow at that, not wanting to be involved. Knowing my thought, probably because of an emotional response or because she just knew me, my partner spoke. "Me, to escort you back?"

The shovel wielder gently shook her head, and smiled at Khepri. "No, I've got it from here."

My Other Half nodded. "Alr...-" She paused, another shot of Alarm running through her. And seeing the sudden widening of the Ogre woman's eyes, she probably knew what happened. I wasn't kept in suspense for long when my girlfriend told me what was going on. "The Goblins are marching East. We need to get there NOW!"

Frowning, I nodded, tapping the dial and turning back into XLR8. I dropped my visor, and got into stance, my Other Half mirroring my actions. Without so much as a word, we ran, leaving the Cape behind as Taylor ordered her Swarm into action.

When we got to the scene, and perched atop a stable building a few miles out as my Other Half gathered her Swarm, I was Surprised at the red and gray tidal wave coming towards us... Especially at what was leading them. "Love?"

"Yes goof?"

"... Tweedle is supposed to be dead... Right?"

"Mhm. Very."

"... So what the fuck am I seeing?" Leading a horde of Goblins was a massive earth brown Goliath that carried a pillar like it was a fucking Conkeldurr or something. It didn't help that the fucker looked as built as a brick shit house.

Sharing my Confusion, my girlfriend's mind churned, then she shook her head. "Maybe his son?"

I whipped my head at her, opening my visor so she could see my face. "With who?!" As if the universe was responding to me, the ground shook, and the earth erupted. A massive hand rose from the ground, vomit orange flesh tensing as the rest of the figure showed itself.

A fucking UNIT of a Goblin pulled itself from the ground, the earth falling off of its body as an abomination that now that I could see more, was apparently made of a fuckton of corpses if the occasional face or body part said anything. The face had lines similar to Blitzwolfer, so it probably opened up to scream or let out a breath or something along those lines.

Though, what took the cake was the seemingly flesh platform on the crown of its head. Using my visor, I zoomed in... And blinked when I saw a pair of chairs, thrones really, right next to each other. A man sitting in the left one, his clothes looking like a clown got drunk and tripped into Wonderland, a scepter bouncing around in his hands.

The other seat was occupied by a female Goblin, regal robes and a staff with two snakes winding around the base. (Of course the Queen is a healer.) Frowning, I looked at the horde, and then my girlfriend. "How much of this city is 'Acceptable damage?'"

My Other Half hummed, then shrugged. "Assume all of it." I grinned, my tail thrashing in Excitement. I hadn't really gotten to let loose, and I wanted too. "You're going to destroy so much of this city, aren't you?"

I snorted. "Was that an actual question?"

Bemused Exasperation pulsed from her, and she scoffed. "Go have your fun. I'll let you know when the Swarm is ready."

Nodding, I grinned a feral grin, and jumped off of the building, palming the dial as I did. The flash went off, power surged through me, and as I slammed into the ground, I couldn't, nor wouldn't, stop the roar that made its way out of my throat. "HUMUNGOUSAUR!" The dust I kicked up cleared from my roar, a small shake going through the ground... Which had the bonus of destabilizing some of it, making cracks appear through the street... A street that was already praying to god for nothing to happen after an earthquake and all these fucking Goblins started flooding it...

But a multi ton dinosaur alien was the last fucking straw.

So when the ground fucking opened up and swallowed me, expanding into a giant sinkhole that enveloped everything, I wasn't surprised, just Exasperated. (God fucking dammit.)

And so we fell.

I crashed tail first into the ground, a pain equal to stubbing my toe shot up my spine, and I groaned in Agony. Sure, it would pass in moments, but FUCK did it hurt.

A jolt of Surprised Worry ran through me, and I grumbled, pressing my left arm against the ground as I did my best to get up and look around. There was still a massive dust cloud all around us, but thanks to the Bond, I knew where my Other Half was, and turned to her. She was covered by dust, but I could make out the glittering barrier of her Shield Mode. [I'm good. Landed on my tail.]

Sympathy came from he...- Something started crawling on my leg, and I slapped it like a mosquito. Bringing my hand back, I noticed the squished form of a Goblin in my palm, and grunted. |3!| Without looking, I backhanded in the general direction, whacking a big thing of debris out of the air.

Growling, I got back up, and swat the dust away with my hands and tail.

Clearing it out, I saw we were in some underground city thing, hundreds and thousands of Goblins on the ground in front of me. The smaller and weaker ones all seemed to be sporting wounds like broken legs or arms, or outright dead depending on how they landed, while the older ones seemed to be better off.

Then there were the special ones.

THE big bitch seemed to be fine, I idly felt a small itch on my back and felt as my Other Half started zooming towards me, no wounds or exploitable weaknesses suddenly appearing. Though somehow, the King and Queen seemed to still be on their thrones.

As for the bigger Tweedle, it also seemed to be fine, which just sucked. Though, it was taking time to get back up, so this was good.

I couldn't tell if there were other Royals or their offspring around, but it was whatever. [So, ideas?]

My Other Half landed on my shoulder, and I watched as she brought out her Sentinel. |Well firstly, I'm going to commit regicide.| I snorted. |Then I'm going to do it again.| I almost audibly laughed. The rifle thrummed to life, and she took a knee on my shoulder. Keeping still, I let my eyes roam the area around me, making sure nothing got too close or bothered me. A bunch of the older Goblins had gotten up enough to star rushing me, but I'd gotten used to the feeling of bugs crawling on me, Taylor liked to be cute and scare the shit out of me when I 'Deserved' it, so they didn't bother me.

While that happened, the first Pulse Round tore through the air, sounding like thunder in my ears as I watched the round fly, and hit the Goblin King. I couldn't see where it landed exactly, but the way his head exploded, which Surprised me since I was sure the intensity of the gun shouldn't have done that unless it had been raised, told me it was lethal. For a moment, Disgust and Fear coursed through her, but she shunted them away without a second thought. (Well, that's going to be a conversation.)

Shooing the thought away, I wa...- "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The combined screams of every Goblin in the area rang out, piercing our ears with how loud they were.

When it was finally over, I managed to take a look at my surroundings... And saw all of the still living Goblins looking fucking feral... "Well then," Rolling my shoulders, I slammed my tail into the ground. "Time to fight." With that, said, I charged, a black sea of insects flying/falling into the sinkhole above me as I did.

It was boss battle time, and I was all for it.

Ultimate Wildmutt/Sett - I love Ink Tank's rendition of the Ultimate, so he'll be based on that. But like I mentioned there, his powerset will be a little different, a difference or two but still a difference. I'll explain it when I use it.