Tidal 1.17

Miss Militia's voice crackled from a fallen earpiece, blood pooling around it.Nearby, Flechette was desperately crawling towards her scattered weapons. Darts. The side of her face was slick with blood, an ear missing. The attack had been aimed at her head, meant to kill her. She'd survived it only due to her enhanced senses.A shadow fell over her. Then a boot crashed onto her back, pushing down, pinning her. Flechette groaned in pain unable to move any longer.Hookwolf's expression was hidden behind his mask, but it didn't take much to guess that he was smiling.A large crowd of white supremacists, spear-headed by Hookwolf himself, were gathering in the open street nearby. Their faces covered in white paint, shaped like a wolf. Some had torches, their lights flickering across the darkness of the night. They were not subtle in their inspiration.Parian's creations were fighting back against Menja and Victor, trying to keep them at bay. The Chosen had decided they'd had enough of the 'independent' rogue. They wanted more. Starting with her people, to be forced to work for them, or be turned into slaves, to be sold to the highest bidder off-shore."Why are you here, little Ward?" Hookwolf spoke over Flechette's groans of pain. "We figured you all were busy with the Travelers. Did they send a kid thinking she was enough? Or maybe…"Steel blades began spreading across his chest, crawling down toward his right arm and fusing into a massive claw of tangled chains, hooks, and metal. Flechette struggled beneath his boot, fingers stretching toward her darts."...maybe they thought I wouldn't kill a kid, the fucking moron-"CRACKMy fist drove into his chest, interrupting his monologue. The crunching of his ribcage echoed off the walls. Hookwolf flew backward and rolled to a stop on the ground, his body folded wrong. A normal man would have died.I crouched closer to Flechette, checking her for wounds. She didn't understand I was an ally, and her state of mind wasn't fully lucid, but aside from the missing ear she had no serious wounds. Possibly some cracked ribs, but nothing broken. I picked up her earpiece and placed it in her other ear. Hearing Miss Militia's voice immediately calmed her down."You need to get immediate medical attention. Go. I'll take care of this."Groaning in pain, Flecchette attempted to protest and argue, but she couldn't form any words."I'll keep Parian safe. I promise." I stood and turned away.Towards the shifting form of Hookwolf.The man made of flesh and blood was gone, now a beast of metal chains and blade had taken his place. His eyes burned with fury, hidden beneath the churning mass of metal that was forming into a large wolf. He roared in anger and lunged for me.I was faster.My fist crashed into his head, shattering metal and pushing him back. Another strike pushed him further out of the alleyway, into the open street.As I followed him, someone else tried to join the fight.I took a step forward to easily dodge Stormtiger's slash, then unsheathed my blade."The Travelers have tracked down one of our supply warehouses." Miss Militia spoke through the comms, this time only to the Protectorate members. And me. "Battery and Assault are engaged there, trying to make sure they aren't able to run off with critical resources. Triumph and I are approaching Parian's territory on a vehicle, trying to get there as quickly as possible. Can you manage alone in the meanwhile, Blackwall?""Yes." I simply answered, spotting Menja's gigantic silhouette in the distance. She was fighting against a very large stuffed rabbit.My approach was quickly noticed by the remaining chosen. Most turned to look in my direction."Blackwall!" Hookwolf roared, voice made inhuman by his transformation, his size increasing even more.I had already taken care of the Chosen when I was still lacking in weaponry. Now I was prepared.Two javelins drifted out of the darkness of the alleyway behind me, floating and taking position by my side . Each was longer than I was tall and thick as my forearm. The shafts were made of a black metal alloy, double-tipped at both ends. No thruster, no exhaust, no visible means of keeping them aloft.After all, they were floating only thanks to Shatterbird's power.The tips of each javelin began turning into a deeper red as they gathered heat, thermal blades turning on.Indirect access to Shatterbird's power had proved to be a great boon. Without it, these weapons would have demanded many more complex mechanisms, like anti-gravitation anchors and self-guiding programs. No, Shatterbird's parasite was doing most of the work, and I was merely hijacking the way it interacted with the physical world.One of the javelins shot forward, leaving behind a red streak in the night sky. Stormtiger shot back multiple bursts of air, trying to block the javelin from reaching him. Each burst managed to deviate its trajectory slightly, but each time it took me less than a heartbeat for me to adjust it once again.Luckily for him I still found it in bad taste to go for a lethal approach.The javelin whizzed past Stormtiger, instead stabbing into the ground beneath. A section of the weapon shifted, rotating and snapping back: Stormtiger leapt in alarm and barely dodged the sudden electrical pulse that radiated from the javelin. Most of the Chosen around him had no such luck, being directly hit by the current and falling to the ground. Unconscious.Hookwolf charged, knocking down cars and slicing through the asphalt below. I raised the point of my katana at the incoming mass of metal, but did not yet move.The other javelin shot in another direction, towards Menja. She was not aware of the incoming attack, and so didn't even try to dodge the javelin. But I had underestimated her power: her flesh burnt under the heat, but the point of the weapon was not able to dig deeper than the skin. Menja screeched in pain and swatted at the javelin with her shield, knocking it away.Hookwolf reached me. His transformation had reached a point where only the sound of steel came out of his maw. Though I imagined he was cursing at me in a variety of ways.At the same time I began feeling something pulling at my senses. Very subtle, and annoying. Victor. Using his powers on me. He had picked up a larger rifle from one of the other men and was rushing in my direction. He wouldn't be able to hurt me, but neither could I touch him. He had been made invulnerable by Othala's power. Speaking of, I hadn't yet found the healer.It was easy getting distracted amidst this battle, especially as Hookwolf was proving to be rather slow.He swiped at me with a large metallic claw, carving through the ground and sending debris flying across the street. I rotated my wrist and parried the following attack with the edge of my katana: Hookwolf's metal arm shredded itself against the thermal blade. I took a step forward, within his guard, and then slashed horizontally. There was no resistance. He was bisected at the waist, split in two. The great metal beast fell on his hind legs, struggling to move.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Hookwolf had survived being torn in two by Leviathan, so I wasn't worried about killing him.Menja had wrongly assumed that she had dealt with my javelin. She turned her back to it to focus on Parian's constructs once again. A mistake, as the javelin spun back to life, stopping in the air before shooting towards her thigh, burning her skin once again. But this time instead of merely stabbing, the javelin began spinning, drilling through Menja's enhanced resistance. Her screams of pain reached quite far, enhanced by her larger form. She decided she'd had enough and turned around, looking in my direction. Her mad dash towards me made the ground below quake, and her movement sent the javelin flying away.Victor's shots struck me in the side of the head multiple times, in the same exact spot. To little effect. He frowned then yelled for 'the bag'. One of the Chosen threw a large duffel bag in his direction, which he quickly opened, revealing a long sniper rifle he began to assemble. Victor finished assembling it within a few seconds and then took aim towards me. It probably was not enough to pierce my subdermal armor, but I didn't want to take any risks.I began using Hookwolf's large form to break line of sight between me and Victor. Suddenly the air pressure around me shifted. I raised my arm in time to stop an attack from reaching my eyes, but Stormtiger was already circling, sending slashes from multiple angles. Some of the attacks sliced through his own unconscious men, looping off limbs and leaving long gashes.Right, these were terrible people.The rest of the Chosen had been fighting with Parian all the while. Her creations wouldn't last much longer. I needed to put an end to this."It's over Blackwall, back the fuck down!" Stormtiger shouted from behind Hookwolf's form, continuing to send slashes at me."Chosen-"A loud gunshot cut me off. I didn't even glance in that direction as I slashed at the air, cutting the bullet in two. One half punched through a nearby car, while the other bit into the asphalt below.Mh. The bullet would have not gone through the armor, but it would still have done a significant amount of damage. I glanced back towards Victor. The rifle was specialized, something that should not be available even on the black market.He wouldn't interrupt me a second time."Chosen of Fenrir. Slavers." I let the words hang in the air for a moment, getting their full attention. "You hunt down innocent people and tear them from their homes. You sell them into slave labour. You are a tumor to this city, to this world."Victor was taking aim again, waiting for the right moment. Stormtiger was gathering his power, ready to cut through me at a moment's notice. Hookwolf was almost done reforming his body.Menja began lunging with her spears, roaring. I recalled both javelins."Either leave, put aside your criminal identities and atone for your crimes by helping in Endbringer fights, or turn yourself in. There is no other option."Hookwolf hit me full force, steel grinding against the road. Stormtiger's focused slash caught me in the chest and pushed me back, boots skidding across the asphaltI had my answer, it seemed.The first javelins flew became a red and black blur in the night sky. Victor tried to leap back and run away, but he was still limited by human reflexes and agility. The javelin took him square in the chest and began carrying him the full length of my range, far away.The second javelin drove down through Hookwolf from above, pinning him in place. The very same instant, I activated all of my speedware: air thickened, resisting against my immense speed.Stormtiger had frozen by the sight of Hookwolf speared through, and barely reacted as I reached him. He tried swiping at me with his free hand, sending a blade of air, but I easily side-stepped it and got within reach. A firm blow to his jaw knocked him out.Hookwolf tore himself free from the javelin, letting metal fall away before reforming into a metal monster. I unholstered the Burya and took aim:The first shot was strong enough to throw his metallic form back, sending him rolling down the flooded street. The second shot melted away all the metal that he was trying to repair. I made sure to aim away from his head, not because a bullet there would kill him, but because I wanted him to hear my words:"Other heroes are on the way. They already have the coordinates of each of your unconscious lackeys-" another bullet, stopping Hookwolf from getting back up. The metal covering him was a shimmering orange, superheated by the Burya's blue fire. He was reforming slower, now."I'm giving you a second chance. This time turning yourself in is the only option you have. I will not stop shooting until you disengage your transformation." Another bullet struck him down again. Two left before I needed to reload.Menja lunged towards me, driving her spear towards my chest. I turned around and met the metal shaft of her weapon with my katana, easily cutting through. Then, with a forward leap, I swept at her ankles, slashing through her achilles tendons. She fell to her knees while screaming in agony, and couldn't do much more than crawl as I put distance between us and aimed back at Hookwolf's recovering form."Otherwise… I can see your regeneration slowing down. I know your power has limits. But I don't know what those limits are. I will kill you if you don't surrender." I shot again. Blue fire spread from his form, melting all the metal that Hookwolf attempted to recreate.The javelin carrying Victor away came to a sudden stop, at the edge of my range. But the momentum carried him further, sending Victor flying across the street and hitting the asphalt right in front of the PRT truck with Miss Militia sitting in the passenger seat. Victor was covered in containment foam before he could even realize where he was.I pointed the Burya straight at Hookwolf. Ready to shoot again. This would be the last bullet. If he didn't surrender after that I would have no mercy.The metal began to pull back. Hookwolf's human form reappeared, on his knees. Eyes once full of fury were now giving way to fear. Menja pained moans echoed in the street. Every other Chosen broke and tried to desperately run away. My javelins made quick work of them, flying above the crowds and sending multiple electrical pulses that knocked them out.Within a few minutes the street became quiet. Only I stood amidst the wrecked cars and broken asphalt, every Chosen laying down on the ground either unconscious or reeling in pain.PRT vehicles rolled in just as I holstered my Burya.At that precise moment, a message popped up in my HUD. From Tattletale.'34. D. B'34 minutes ago. Downtown. Bunker.