Two mechanical limbs appeared in the clearing, initially transparent and growing more 'solid' as they moved forward. Then two more limbs followed - these ones armored with heavy artillery.The four-legged mech towered over the forest around. It was easily twice the size of a house, and equipped with firepower to match. Its exterior shell was covered in shifting glass-plating, making it hard to see from a distance.In front of it stood a trio of equally threatening power-armors. A winged suit stood at the center, flanked by one with a greatsword on its back and another with a shifting mechanical halo floating above. Saint, flanked by Mags and Dobrynja respectively.The large mech belonged to Toybox. It hadn't come here using invisibility tech, rather it had phased in from the pocket dimension the rest of Toybox was hiding in.Around the Toybox mech, a number of armored individuals began to appear. Each wore a wooden mask with an 'S' carved into it. Bastard Son's minions.Bastard Son was a Master who, like Teacher, could give powers to other people. The ones who gained those powers were then subject to Bastard Son's will, unable to resist.The big difference was that Bastard Son could only give combat Thinker abilities - focused on specific objects - but at the same time his power was an order of magnitude stronger than Teacher's. Both in the strength of the power he gave, and in the degree of control he had over the minions. The fact that they were there, together with Toybox, meant that the Tinker merchant group had fully sided with the Elite.Which made what was to follow much easier."Show us." A voice spoke from within the mech. Commanding.Saint nodded and stepped forward, placing a circular steel case on the ground. One of Bastard Son's minions stepped forward and connected a cable from the case to a laptop, checking something on the screen. He turned to the large mech and nodded."This is Arsenal's combat algorithm?""An older version," Saint answered. "We were cut off from more recent updates after the last Simurgh attack.""We're in position," a voice spoke into my ear, which was my signal to begin.I activated Shatterbird's power, sending a sonic wave cutting across the forest to reach the clearing. The power bounced inside the steel case and laptop and tore away at their internals, but couldn't get a grip on the Dragonslayers' suits or Toybox's mech."We're under attack! She's here!" Saint shouted as one of the wings on his back swung upward and created multiple force fields all around.They were prepared for me. For Shatterbird's power.I couldn't help but notice that the tech counteracting Shatterbird's power was the very same that I had given to Dragon back in Brockton Bay, many months ago.Arsenal and Legend appeared over the sky. The former immediately landed on the ground, sending waves of electricity over the Dragonslayers as he wielded his spear. Legend shot out multiple concussive blasts, knocking out a number of Bastard Son's minions.I ran forward from my hiding spot, red lightning crackling across my body as I landed on top of the Toybox mech. My fingers dug into the glass exterior, ripping the armored plating away as I made my way inside.The moment I dropped down, a cone of fire overwhelmed me from the side. Only to be quickly countered by me releasing a very tiny section of Cariddi's power, smothering the flames. As the smoke dissipated, I saw the Tinker beyond, still wielding his flamethrower.His name was Pyrotechnical, and as one could guess from his title he specialized in fire-based equipment.He hesitated for a second before pushing his finger to the trigger of the flamethrower again. But that moment's hesitation was enough for me to rush forward and grip the nozzle of the gun, crushing it: the mechanism inside still went off, causing a small explosion of flames within the mech's hallway. I used my own body to protect the Tinker, and then delivered a quick shock to his neck, sending him unconscious. I still wasn't sure why Toybox had decided to work for the Elite, but no matter the reason most of them - Pyrotechnical included - were rather young.My scanners finished taking stock of the interior of the mech, highlighting the piece of tech I was after. A car-sized device, rectangular in shape, not connected to anything. The dimensional key to Toybox's home.I checked on Pyrotechnical, making sure that he was fine, then unsheathed my blade. The nanothorns created a fine mist around the edge. With a firm slash, I cut away at the flooring beneath me, carving my way to the dimensional key.Outside, Arsenal had engaged the Dragonslayers in close combat. His own nanothorns spear clashed against Mags' greatsword, the latter glowing a bright red as the heat burnt away the nanothorns.Dobrynja's halo grew wider and floated upwards, bombarding the ground below with a constant barrage of deadly artillery. Dobrynja himself aimed and shot the various cannons mounted on his arms and shoulders. Arsenal needed to carefully watch his step to avoid the most dangerous of the attacks, while matching strike for strike with Mags. It was obvious that the Dragonslayers, too, had access to Arsenal's combat algorithm and were using it to fight back.Saint himself floated in the sky, creating multiple forcefields to block Legend's shots. He was not nearly fast enough to keep up with the Triumvirate hero, but the combat algorithm allowed him to predict and counter Legend's attacks before they even formed. Below, the Toybox mech was providing supporting fire by blanketing the sky in artillery, trying to blind Legend rather than hurting him.They were trying to buy time for more heavy hitters to arrive.As I cut away at the last of the walls, I found the dimensional device. It was one of the most complex tinkertech devices I had seen, on the same scale as Haywire's tech or String Theory's cannons. I took a step forward, continuing to analyze the device.It was likely because of my fascination with the device that I lowered my guard as something to my side whirred to life. A hidden bomb exploded, enveloping me in a strange radiation that quickly blinded all of my senses and pierced deep into my skin, beyond multiple layers of Cariddi's power.I was in pure darkness, unable to breathe or move. I recognized the weapon and tech that had been used: Bauble, another member of Toybox, was known to create tech that could transmute material to glass. I was likely a frozen glass statue at that moment.It took merely a thought from me to quickly increase the intensity of Cariddi's power, breaking the outermost layer of my body as the glass cracked and broke off.All around me were now many of Bastard Son's minions, wielding a wide variety of weapons. Most of them were strange choices, ranging from a coin to a wrench. Bastard Son didn't get to choose which object his gifted Thinker power would focus on, after all.They didn't seem alarmed as I broke free of the trap, and instead all lunged towards me. They wore very basic Tinker armor, just enough to insulate them from my favourite strategy of shocking them unconscious.But they were outmatched.Their weapons all hit me as they performed feats of incredible dexterity, striking at my eyes, neck and chest, with enough strength and precision that a regular human would have died on the spot. Even most brutes would have been immediately crippled by their tactics. But I simply brushed it off Cariddi's power.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Anytime one of Bastard Son's minions would get too close, I would simply strike them to the side of the head with a powerful jab, knocking them out. Within a minute all of them had fallen unconscious as I continued to walk towards the device.Outside, Arsenal's spear broke through Dobrynja's halo and tore it apart, destroying his main means of attack. The Dragonslayers' combat algorithm was outdated, after all.I unsheathed my black knife and cut away at the air, creating a large enough portal for me to grab the dimensional key device and shunt it away to a safe dimension.As the gateway closed, I heard a cry of alarm from outside. The glass bomb had deactivated my comms, so I was too late to react as something struck Legend out of the sky, forcing him down to the ground as a crater formed where he crashlanded. A hypergravity field formed around him, forcing him to the ground as he struggled to get up. Not even turning into his breaker form was enough for him to free himself.A sonic blast hit Arsenal from the side, knocking him off-balance just enough for Mags to slash away with her greatsword, sending Arsenal flying back as a large gash formed on his power armor. The crystal and metal melted under the intense heat of Mags' weapon.I repaired my comms system and spoke out loud, warning my companions of the new arrivals:"Upperhand and Speaker."Upperhand was a Trump/Blaster who could copy the output of nearby Blasters, and similarly had his own output - a hypergravity field - that grew with the strength of the strongest Blaster around him. A good counter to Legend.Speaker was a Shaker, often put side by side with Upperhand. She had the power to disorient people who heard her speak, to the point of knocking them unconscious. A good counter against Thinkers and Tinkers who kept track of a lot of data around them.Legend looked around for Upperhand. I highlighted the Elite member to his visor, and his head immediately snapped in that direction.Saint formed multiple forcefields around Legend, blocking off any attack that he could launch.I simply slashed around me with the nanothorn blade, cutting the Toybox mech in half. I leapt outside and towards Mags who was walking towards Arsenal to finish him off. She immediately reacted with her blade, but instead of using the nanothorn katana, I met the greatsword with the black knife: it cleanly cut through Mags' weapon.She immediately pivoted into aiming her armcannon towards me, but I simply grabbed her wrist and pulled away at her armor, crushing the cannon and her wrist with it. Mags screamed in agony as her bones cracked, ..but a shock through her now exposed arm ended it"Mags!" Saint shouted as his wings flickered with power. A set of artillery pointed towards me and he almost fired, but he stopped as I was too close to Mags for him to freely do so.Instead, I pointed my hand upwards and activated Cariddi's power: two supersonic jets of extremely pressurized water slashed through Saint's wings, knocking him out of the sky."YOU FUCKING MACHINE!" Dobrynja screamed from behind me, opening fire with all of his weapons. Uncaring for Mags who stood below me. It mattered little, as I slashed at the air with my black knife and shunted all of his attacks to a far-off Earth. He couldn't react in time as I shot forward and struck the center of his power armor with my knee, breaking the layers of metal and exposing his chest. A simple shock knocked him out as well.With Saint gone, Legend managed to find the perfect angle to shoot towards Upperhand and Speaker: his concussive ray bent around the trees and struck the ground next to them. Speaker was immediately knocked unconscious, while Upperhand seemingly resisted the effect. Did his power include a protection against other powers?It didn't matter, as with Speaker silenced, Arsenal immediately stood up and took aim with his spear, shooting a tranquilizing dart that struck Upperhand in the neck and made him fall over.The distant sound of the incoming PRT vehicles signaled the end of the fight.
■
I sat on a nearby hill, watching from a distance as the Elite members were rounded up and put into the PRT vans. Upperhand was placed in a complicated mechanism, restrained and blindfolded. Meanwhile I analyzed Toybox's dimensional device, hoping that it could be a solution to our problem. Maybe even give us access to Jack's pocket dimension."It won't work," Contessa informed me from the side, appearing from a rectangle of light. "We can keep it open once they show their hand, but we can't brute force our way into Labyrinth's own domain."I sighed. "I thought as much. Can you predict when they'll next show up?""No." She shook her head. "It changes. Based on elements I cannot predict. Endbringers attacks. Scion movements. Your and Eidolon's actions. But I know where. Brockton Bay."A strange choice. Was Jack aiming for Noelle?"What about the other use I'm planning? The shelters.""That looks to be successful. Expensive, but money is no object. I've already instructed most of our field agents to prepare for the new shelter design."I already was planning to use Toybox's pocket dimensions to be shelters, strewn all across the world and filled with safe caches to protect against the End of the World. And having the confirmation that it would work was a relief.A swarm of bugs moved weirdly around us. Weaver, never too distant from Contessa. I faintly remembered being the one who arranged for it to be so, but before I could recall more, I got distracted by another train of thought."With Saint taken down, we will have more leverage on Teacher. And the Birdcage as a whole.""Doctor Mother agrees. Now, with every high-ranked Protectorate member in the fold, we should be able to establish a meeting with all of the powerhouses of the world. That includes the Elite.""I don't see the CUI or the Elite agreeing to help against the End of the World. Forget about dedicating their resources to helping against the next Endbringer attack.""They won't. But we need the rest of the world to see that."Their unwillingness to help would give everyone a reason destroy them, after we survived the End of the World. Even as we fought to survive against the Endbringers, Contessa's Path to Victory prepared for what would come after. How optimistic."Very well." I stood up and threw a remote I'd quickly improvised to Contessa. A rough dimensional key, something that would give her access to Toybox's dimensional pocket if she found it. Or rather, when she found it. "Use that to clean up their base and get the rest of the tech. Bastard Son's keeping some of them hostage, isn't he?""He is. Dodge, the dimensional Tinker, is barely twelve, and Bastard Son is using his mother as leverage to make him work for the Elite. Weaver and I will be enough to take care of it.""Good. After that, get things started for the meeting with all the major players. We'll see who is willing to stand for humanity."