I climbed the steps to St. Peter's Basilica. So late in the night visitors hours had long since finished, but there still were tourists here and there enjoying the view.It didn't take long for the few members of the Swiss Guard outside to recognize me and sound the alarm. I stood there, on the steps, waiting.Dropping from the sky, Julius catapulted towards me, hand outstretched. I dipped into my speedware.CRASHDust rose from where he landed, even as the stone beneath turned to bronze for a single instant, before becoming stone once again. Julius did not seem bothered by the landing as he immediately lunged towards me. Much faster than the average person, just by virtue of not having to worry about his body's limits.Bronze is much more sturdy than flesh.Still, it was far from enough.I took a step towards him, making sure that his fingers didn't graze me. My hand shot toward his ear, ripping it off, and an earpiece with it."I would prefer not to be overheard."My comment didn't stop him from taking another swing at my head, while also moving his left arm to catch me. A single touch from his hand could likely turn me to bronze - if not in my entirety, a significant enough part of my implants that I would need to escape.I wasn't worried.A red lightning crackled through my right arm, starting from the shoulder and ending in the knuckle. I struck him right in the chest, sending him flying backwards toward the steps: I hit him hard enough that he bounced off the stone, coming to a stop some further meters behind. Pieces of Julius' bronze body fell to the ground, while the rest of him was covered in cracks.For just a second.Then every crack mended.He glared at me with anger in his eyes."The Pope is dead."Julius did not believe me for even a second. I could see it on his face."You are involved in the death of at least fifty innocents. Stop fighting and turn yourself in Blackwall."From the basilica behind me, another figure began to run towards me. Another member of the Swiss Guard parahumans. He wielded a large medieval broadsword, the hilt decorated with the double-headed roman eagle.Aquila. Capable of creating energy blasts with his movement.He swung the broadsword in the air, vertically. From the edge, an energy projection of the blade appeared and shot towards me, carving into the stone below. Julius jumped up to his feet and threw himself in my direction. To try and catch me while I dodged Aquila's attack.The blade Aquila held was a tinkertech device meant to enhance his already strong power. Without it he was able to carve through solid steel. With it, there was no official report on the strength behind the blast.I let the blast of power hit me.It sent me flying backwards, up in the air. But instead of falling I froze in the sky, then reoriented myself to look at Julius and Aquila. The latter was taken aback, while the former was already jumping in the air, creating small bronze footholds with his power to jump higher and higher.I was flying thanks to Shatterbird's own power. While it was Manton Limited, I just figured out at which point an implant didn't count as part of "myself" anymore and applied it that way.The world slowed down around me as I activated half of my speedware. I was surprised to see that Julius frowned in response. Did his power have a secondary effect that enhanced his reaction speed? It didn't matter. I simply sped past him.A sonic boom followed me as I dove towards Aquila and struck him in his gut, sending him back towards the basilica. Stone and marble flew all around as he crashed straight into one of the front pillars. He groaned in pain, but he was still conscious. Looking behind me, I once again spoke up loudly enough so that Julius could hear me:"You are smart enough to know that I was set up. Didn't you find it odd that as soon as someone interested in the Blasphemies shows up in Rome, she immediately follows it up with a massacre?"Julius did not let up as he quickly spun in the air and dived for me."It is odd. But you were there, and if you know something about what happened you must share it with us." His voice was even as he landed and began swinging his arms towards me. Fighting didn't tire him at all."Even if the problem comes from within?""I don't believe that!" Julius shouted, putting more and more effort in his attempts to catch me. With his left hand he turned the air into bronze, making a chain from nothing and throwing it around my leg. For a moment I had to once again activate my speedware to jump back to safety.Julius again did not relent as he dashed towards me, increasing in speed. By using his power rapidly and precisely beneath his feet he created small pressure pockets that sent him flying forwards.I side-stepped his lunge and hit him in the side with my knee, before striking him in the face. He was sent tumbling down the square once more.Aquila finally recovered from his daze. Just in time for their reinforcement to arrive.A mass of black metal shot down from the sky like a falling star, hitting me right in the chest and pushing me back against the stone floor. At the same time, from the other side of St. Peter's square I saw a tall inhuman silhouette rushing towards me, running on all fours. Covered in black fur, the 'demonic' creature's hands ended in hooks instead of fingers, as it scraped at the ground with every stride. The creature wasn't fully 'here', not fully solid. That was Scarm, in his Breaker form.In the sky, Malacoda was kept aloft by her telekinetic metal. A portion of the metal continued to strike at me after the first hit had barely done any damage.Suddenly I felt a sort of pull around me, like a stretching. The air grew thin and my hair began to move as though a strong wind was blowing against me. But as soon as I began to resist, the feeling ceased."She's too heavy! Can't move her!" A female voice screamed from Scarm's back. I recognized it as 'Farfa', another member of the Blackbranch, capable of forcefully teleporting other people as long as they either consented or were under her weight."MOVE ME." Scarm's inhuman voice asked her, and the beastly figure suddenly appeared exactly half meters behind me. That was another limitation of Farfa's power, she couldn't 'telefrag' people with it, and she couldn't teleport anyone too closely to other people. The Manton effect restricted Farfa more than the average Mover.Scarm began clawing with his hook-fingers towards me, while Malacoda's metal formed into a solid block and surrounded my leg.I unsheathed my blade and cut Scarm in half horizontally, in a single motion. A thick, black sludge spurted out of the wound, before the monster disappeared and Scarm's human form reappeared on the ground, hands wrapped around his midsection and groaning in pain. Wounds didn't transfer between his two forms, and he automatically changed if he was inflicted with a fatal injury while in the Breaker state. But the pain lingered.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.Being cut in two was not pleasant.Farfa teleported Scarm back, then moved both Aquila and Malacoda on either side of me. Aquila used his sword more like a bat than a sharp weapon, creating small shockwaves that managed to graze me and send small warnings through my systems. Malacoda on the other side continued to shape her black metal into chains, blocks and restraints, trying to slow me down while Julius recovered.The only problem with Malacoda's tactic was that even though her metal was almost indestructible while so close to her, the stone below wasn't. Anytime she managed to chain me to the stone floor I simply tore myself free, chains and all.Aquila yelped in panic as I closed the gap between us and struck him on the side of the neck. A strong electric shock passed through my fingers and spread through his body. It wasn't enough to knock him out, though it left him spasming on the ground.Malacoda grit her teeth and focused hard. The black mass she controlled suddenly swelled in size, becoming a whirlwind of tendrils, each tipped with a sharp spear. I raised my blade to parry the ones I could, but a few managed to graze the side of my arms and left cuts along the skin and armor. I had underestimated her offensive power."It's too similar to be a coincidence," I spoke out loud, making sure Malacoda could hear. "What do you know about the Puppeteer?" I could barely eke out my sentences between sidestepping her attacks."I know only that you killed fifty innocent people. You and the PRT cannot be trusted."Ah.So that was it.As much as she tried to hide her expression behind the mask, body language alone told me enough.Malacoda knew the Master. She wasn't the one behind all of this… and she knew that I wasn't the culprit behind those deaths. Rather… She didn't really care about those deaths. There was no strong emotion in her voice as she spoke of my 'crimes'. I almost asked her another question, but she acted first:"Now!" She shouted towards her teammates.Julius suddenly appeared next to me, just as I got knocked off balance by one of Malacoda's attacks. He lunged again, faster than before. I raised an arm to grab him by the wrist, but just as I did so multiple hooks appeared over my shoulder and pulled me back. Scarm had recovered, and while Farfa could not teleport anyone too close to me, Scarm's transformation was instant and allowed him to increase his range all of a sudden.Aquila reached for my ankles, grabbing one and gripping it tight. I could feel the metal groaning underneath the pressure of his grip.A black tendril of metal wrapped around my other leg and chained it together with my sword-wielding arm.They managed to immobilize me. Freeing myself would take a precious second, more than enough for Julius to reach me and turn me to bronze.Unfortunate.Something shot out of the sky.A blue line appeared in between me and Julius.Followed by the sonic boom created by the bullet.All of us were suddenly devoured by the blue fire of the Amaterasu, knocking everyone back and leaving nasty burns on Aquila. Scarm tumbled back, still in his Breaker form, while Malacoda groaned in pain as the surface of her black metal melted.Only I was left standing, clothes singed. Glancing up I checked on the javelin: steam escaped the weapon as it rapidly cooled off.I had incorporated the Amaterasu rifle into both of the javelins, but neither could support sustained fire. Still, usually a single shot was enough.I sheathed my blade and looked back at Julius. He was the one that had taken the brunt of the attack: his body laid in a heap at the edge of the crater. Only his chest and head remained, every limb had either been torn off or been melted by the heat. His skin glowed a bright orange as the bronze slowly emanated heat.He tried to talk, but his jaw just melted off once he opened his mouth.In the distance Farfa extended her hand and teleported to safety her teammates, then Aquila. Before she could reach for Julius I stepped towards him and placed my foot over his chest, covering her line of sight. Farfa could only teleport people she could see.I crouched down, making sure that only he could hear what I was about to say."Cariddi is very close to the city. The Pope is a corpse. The Blasphemies…"Just as I mentioned them, something stirred in the sky. The moon disappeared. A trio of humanoid silhouettes began to cast their shadows upon the night.My time was up."Please. Let us talk. I'll find you." I said to Julius.Even if he could not speak I understood the look in his eyes: among frustration and anger there was a hint of fear. Of recognition. He had seen the Blasphemy, had seen that they had appeared in reaction to my words. Julius weakly nodded to my words, even as his body continued to melt.I glanced back towards the Blackbranch members, glaring at Malacoda in particular.She glared back from beyond her glass visor.We both knew.My hand went to the blade at my side. It would be easy to kill her right there and… Or would it?The Blasphemies lingered in the sky.The risk was not worth it.I turned around and engaged the optical camouflage, dashing away before my luck ran out.
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"You went easy on them." Weaver commented as I rejoined her in our safehouse. She had kept tabs on the whole fight, alerting me of nearby parahuman activity. The rest of the Blackbranch was about to join in fighting me, and I wasn't sure I could handle them. Though the real reason why I had left the fight was to avoid the Master taking control of innocent people to use against me."I did not. I underestimated them. Another mistake would have cost me dearly.""I know for a fact that you can do much more than that."I glanced at her. Taylor had always fought as the underdog. Biting and clawing her way to victory. She didn't fully understand what it meant to fight from an advantageous position."Using that would have resulted in casualties. The specs of this body are meant for S-Class threats, not mundane heroes.""Mundane?" She asked, sarcasm evident in her expression."Mundane when compared to the Endbringers or the Blasphemies.""Or Cariddi.""...or Cariddi."Weaver sighed, then leaned back on the couch."It's getting messy. I think at this point it's pretty clear that Malacoda is in on it, but is the rest of the Blackbranch?"I raised an eyebrow. I had not shared my suspicion regarding Malacoda."How do you figure that?""About Malacoda? Her power is too close to be a coincidence. In fact… I think it's a Grab-Bag situation."Mh. Malacoda did have two sisters that she was living with during Cariddi's first attack… Two sisters that went missing and never turned up. They had been counted among the casualties but maybe…It did fit. It would explain why Malacoda seemingly lacked any Trump-aspect to her power. Even though her trigger event involved another parahuman.A question answered. Progress.