Ignition

With my insight into Victor's plans, I knew the attack would be coming just after dark. I had managed to keep my night vision a secret, and it was still early enough in the year that the patrols of my neighbourhood would take me well past sundown. The recent influx of people following the opening of my first apartment blocks and the gang war south of the boardwalk meant that I was starting to deal with actual crime, rather than people using the mostly uninhabited neighbourhood as a good place to deal drugs.

Still, my crackdown meant I wasn't entirely sure where the attack was coming from. Victor's plan hinged on tracking me by seeing where Empire dealers were being taken out and ambushing me. They were banking on Alabaster and Fenja and Menja to deal with me, but Victor and Kreig would remain close by for ranged support.

Apparently, the remainder of the Empire was on hand to handle the PRT when they came to pick them up. Shame that we had finally managed to get the go-ahead to drop them off in Boston.

Unfortunately, we had encountered something of an issue. While the CS gas had arrived last night, The Empire had decided that, as a last resort, they would also be including several chlorine gas grenades. All three members of the attack would be wearing gas masks and Victor had the grenades, effectively shelling us to keep the advantage.

So, as I wrapped up for today, I checked in with everyone to make sure they were all ready to go. Faultline had provided a van for those of us who couldn't fly, while Genesis would be remaining here at the clinic at the heart of our territory, where she would be able to reach us anywhere in Gibtown.

I twirled my carbon rod as I continued west, towards Empire Territory. The Travellers had done a good job over the last few days, establishing themselves in what used to be Merchant territory within the docks, acting like a parahuman gang moving in to take over the land freed up by the Merchants.

The dealers being forced into North Bay were causing enough problems that even without the Empire, I'd be charting my routes in this direction. That said, it did happen to be the part of Gibtown that I hadn't really begun developing left, which left behind the husks of buildings being stripped of asbestos since I wanted to do some higher-end housing. No detached homes just yet, Gibtown wasn't quite prosperous enough for that, and while the prices were going up, the land a little west of what I had right now would be better for that sort of residential area anyways.

I was careful to trip the Empire's traps as we went along, using my Mark on Victor to keep an eye on which dealers he was tracking in order to give them a sense of my route. From what I could guess, there were only so many places they could go after me, but of the ambush locations, I had done my best to make a few more appealing for them. A few narrow streets with some of the older colonial-era stone housing that would let them 'pen' us in, a small area where a few big box stores had set up with higher vantage points for Victor to set himself up on.

Even a couple of parks if they wanted open spaces.

Our first sign of an attack came when the lights went down.

The streetlights weren't the best here, but that was mostly just the bulbs not being replaced.

When the entire street went dark, we knew it was because an 'accident' had been arranged to take out power to this part of town.

I paused, looking around even as my other lane listened in to Victor directing the others towards me. My Eye scanned over the alleys as I continued to move in, quietly mouthing along to my thoughts as I checked in with the others.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as a Glory Girl, Crystal and Shielder touched down on a roof in the distance.

I heard the sound of heels stepping out onto the street.

"Halcyon."

I smiled. "It's about time."

As I launched forward, I heard the pop in the distance of compressed air launching a grenade into the air. My mask floated out of my costume, folding onto my face as I touched down, slipping under Fenja's guard as my fist slammed into Menja's thigh. Alabaster tried to attack me, but I grabbed his fist, stunning him even as I bodily threw him at one of the giants.

In the distance, I heard gunfire roar into existence for a second before echoing into silence the impacts peppering the street around me before sunlight filled the streets.

The silhouettes of the Travellers, now dressed in their new armoured costumes stood out over the rooftops as Victor had Kreig launch him onto another roof so he could call for backup. He realised his mistake as Trickster shouldered the machine gun they had turned against us not that long ago. Without his shaker to protect him, he threw himself off the roof, only for Trickster to laugh and toss aside the rifle.

Kreig cornered without ranged support himself was too boxed in by Sundancer to notice Genesis lift Balistic and Perdition into the air, out over the cloud of gas.

I laughed as l grabbed Fenja's fist and threw her into the air. Luke tagged the shining armour and sent her slamming back into her sister. Alabaster shuddered as the ground shook, cracks forming in the asphalt as the towering twins tumbled down the street.

I laughed as Alabaster attempted to stab me with his knife, obviously intended to make holes in any chemical protection I had. But I simply smiled as I caught his hand, the blade uselessly sliding across the leather-like armour of my costume.

I dropped him in shock as his arm exploded in blood, my other lane zeroing in on the bloodied form of Victor wielding a pistol in the broken window.

I quickly called into the Travellers as the glowing forms of New Wave few overhead, Shielder air-dropped by his sisters onto the sprawled forms of Fenja and Menja. Alabaster reformed under me, rolling away to make some distance as he tried to figure out a better way to attack me with the other members tied up like this.

Tapping into Victor's phone again, I heard him yelling over the phone and a gruff voice yelling back at them.

I shrugged as I extracted the handle of my 'stun gun' out of my jacket and lined it up with Victor, whose eyes widened at the first sign of movement, dropping prone behind the concrete even as Alabaster tried to attack me, careful to avoid my arms.

He was surprisingly effective, even if he couldn't do much against me. He couldn't achieve the same bursts of speed I could with my telekinesis augmenting my movement, but his motions were smooth and practised, letting him slip between my fingers as he continued to swing wildly at my face.

I heard Victor yell at Krieg as he tried to get into a good position, warning that the others were only a couple of minutes out.

I took a moment to not react to Alabaster's attack, swinging at him to force him to step back before my telekinesis sent him flying back, tumbling head over heel as I called out to the travellers overhead to keep him busy, launching myself forward to catch up with where New Wave was facing off against Fenja and Menja.

"Can I help?"

Crystal looked at me, "Can you get those bloody shields off of them?"

I looked at the mirrored bucklers that the women wielded, "Those work?"

Crystal shrugged, "I don't understand why either, but yeah, they work on my lasers."

I nodded, swinging in behind Glory Girl as she went in for an attack run against the giant girls, careful to let them focus as I 'missed and slipped behind them dodging under the mace swinging towards Glory Girl, turning on a dime to grab the edge of the silver shield.

The metal squealed as it twisted in Fenja's grip the handle tearing apart before bucking and throwing the shield at me. I let myself be launched away as I tossed the shield away to one side.

The roar of an engine filled my ears, and gunfire filled my field of view as A burly man on a motorbike squealed down the street. A horn blared out for a moment before, barely long enough for me to react, a mass of blades was thrown at me by Menja.

Still, I was able to toss him to one side with my telekinesis, but only after the whirling blades were able to cut a gash in my hand.

I clenched my fist, but the damage was done. Hookwolf stood up from where he pulled himself out of the wall. "So you do bleed. Nice to know race traitor."

I agonised over the decision for a moment before deciding to simply numb the area instead of healing myself. The wound was shallow enough that it wouldn't hamper me, and I would be able to heal it later. Or even let Amy heal it.

My thoughts were disturbed however as the remainder of the Empire floated into the frame. Kaiser stood there atop one of Rune's platforms, even as Crusader, Stormtiger and Cricket climbed out of a car down on street level.

In my head, I heard Oliver report that Othalla had turned up in the alley, racing into the building to recover Victor as Krieg had pulled the other Travellers to give chase towards us.

"Halcyon, I see you have been expecting us."

I shook my head, "Dramatic whore aren't you Kaiser?" I laughed bitterly as the two sides formed up. "But no, predicting small-minded idiots like the Empire is easy enough to do. It was a little harder to figure out what your plan was, but I suppose it wasn't too hard to figure out that the Nazis would go for gas."

I flipped the carbon rod between my fingers, a bubble of force shimmering around me as it made the air shift strangely. But despite my relaxed posture, my mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour as every lane scoured Kaiser's power I watched as energy flowed through the systems, various mechanisms primed and steel began flowing from the reserve.

Next to Fenja and Menja two spears of steel grew into existence, shining tower shields forming on their other sides.

And then I found the targeting system. Just a range. About four hundred feet.

I made the first move, throwing myself forward, but Kaiser was quick to react, a blade of steel spearing out towards me. I had to throw myself to the side when I realised that the growth wasn't affected by my telekinesis, the steel flowing in only coming within range as it formed, making it impossible for me to do anything about it. But I could still move quickly enough to dodge past it. My fist launched Kaiser off his feet, but Rune was there to catch him even as I had to roll myself off the suddenly moving stone in order to dodge Menja's spear even as I deflected a surge of air pressure from Stormtiger.

The others on my side sprung into action, New Wave going after Kaiser even as Faultline's crew burst into action, taking Stormtiger down with a surprise attack from Newter as Gregor rammed into Cricket.

Hookwolf launched himself off of Fenja's spear as the Giantess brought up her shield against Sundancer's star, throwing himself at me, but I was prepared this time. Launching the changer at his leader.

I left Rune to Genesis, Perdition and Balistic as I headed towards Kaiser. We needed to have flyers on him to counter his power.

But even as we did, I watched his power. I needed to be able to counter it, and my current shields weren't able to do it.

Oliver's voice in my head let me know that Victor and Othalla had been ambushed by Labyrinth and trickster, the two effortlessly disorienting the skill-thief and splitting up the couple.

As I fell into formation with New Wave, it was clear that Kaiser wasn't leading the Empire for no reason, a forest of blades was already filling the space between us as he picked himself the man shedding his dented armour to form new pieces.

I carefully watched the blades from within his power, examining his power as he picked himself up. Shielder was quick to act, moving as quickly as he could as he bowled down as much of the forest as he could.

I was quick on the uptake, Even as I studied my opponent, I used my powers to foil his plans, ripping apart the battleground to force him to reach further if he wanted to attack us.

His new armour was shiny, his experience fighting New Wave already showing.

But I had been watching, and I decided to experiment a bit.

Turning my powers to magnetism, I reached out to newly forming steel and induced a current.

I watched Kaiser wince and grab at his helmet, and my mouth twisted into a wicked curve, teeth bared as I watched the electricity interfere with the part of his power that projected it into this world.

"Oh, Kai~ser~" I sang out as I raced towards him. He tried to retaliate, but there was nothing he could do. Every time he tried to reach out, I sent electricity back at his power, sending him reeling as he dealt with the new and unfamiliar pain. My lanes refined the effect, exploring different electromagnetic geometries instead of the overwhelming induction and static.

Still, I didn't have much before I was able to grab Kaiser and drag him into the air. I chuckled as the stunned Kaiser stared at me, the air around us going chillier and windier as we left the ground far below.

A blue streak made its way up from below, and eventually, Shielder hovered next to me. "That was easier than expected?"

I laughed, "Turns out that he couldn't keep an eye on so much happening at once. I was able to get him by surprise."

"I've got him from here. Just keep him far enough away from the ground."

"About five hundred feet is what PHO has on him." I nod, before looking down, "I'm about to go after Hookwolf, it looks like he's giving your sisters a hard time."

He nodded, a blue platform appearing under the leader of the Empire as I dropped from the sky.

The sound of clashing metal screeched through the air as Glory Girl pelted Hookwolf with pieces of the ruined battlefield in an effort to handle the enraged changer.

I was already at work dissecting his power, quickly spotting the presence of a central control core. My Cord unwound from my wrists, the thin lengths of wire coming to life under my telekinesis as I raced towards the changer.

"Ladies, If you would help the Travellers deal with Fenja and Menja, I've got this!" I yelled, a rumbling excitement filling my voice. The two other capes nodded, heading back towards the thick of the fighting behind us.

Despite what I said, Hookwolf was canny, his blades proving surprising dextrous as they deflected the wire I lashed out with. He even tried slipping closer to me, seeing if his blades could break through my barrier like Kaiser's, but the two effects were very different.

And I was getting better faster. With my friends keeping the rest of the Empire busy, My lanes could watch out for Hookwolf's attacks, guiding my powers as I attempted to burrow my way through his defences. Even his eyes were well protected, the rapidly moving metal proving perfectly capable of deflecting my probing attacks.

I tried to wrap him up, but his shape wasn't nearly as fixed as he made it seem. The wolf-like mass of blades easily split and flowed around the wires as I tried to tangle him up.

Still, it wasn't like I needed the wires. As he flowed around my attacks, I moved close enough to get him within the primary range of my Projector, finally getting him in there to toss him into the air.

Without the ground to leverage off of, I could get a grip on him more easily, keeping him in the air with my telekinesis. But he wasn't done. Shedding the wolf form entire, he twisted himself into a massive serpent, throwing himself at me, and I was forced to play more of my hand than I intended. Under my command, the Cord began to heat up, beginning to glow as I went on the offensive once more.

The wire worked better this time, the focused heat melting and giving purchase where the smooth metal previously deflected the attacks.

In the distance, I heard the fight begin to slow down, the thuds of Fenja and Menja falling as they succumbed to Newter's toxin.

It wasn't long before Hookwolf joined their number, flagging as the Cord tangled up the metal he extruded and I used the wires as an excuse to begin heating him up. He couldn't keep it up for much longer, and eventually, he collapsed, only the sound of Balistic shelling Rune to pin down the last and most mobile member of the Empire echoing into the night.

And even that, after a while came to a close. All that was left was the long flight to Boston to drop these people off.