Amelia, Ch 210- Lily
"So, four against a dozen?" I asked. "We're really doing this on the say so of that girl?"
"Doubt they'd bring all of them," Vicky spoke, lazing easily against a tree. "Besides, they're all a bunch of b-listers. If you're scared, I can fight them all myself. Don't worry, I'll let you take a couple selfies next to them after. Y'know, so you can impress your girlfriend."
"Says you," I couldn't help but smile. The girl's confidence was infectious. "You can take all the credit you want. I'm the only one here with 'Endslayer' on the resume. I don't need to prove shit. I'm the biggest badass in any room I choose to be in."
"Says the girl with the rope marks across half her body," Vicky countered. Theo chose to fake a cough and look away, and all I could do was thank my armor for hiding my blushing. Damn it, Vicky. Why would you even say that? "Yeah, that's what I thought," she teased.
"Oh, go fuck yourself. Sideways. With a cactus."
"Wow," she replied easily. "You really are into the rough stuff. Speaking of, I think our guests are arriving."
She gestured toward the cars coming from the west. "Only three," I observed. "They could have piled everyone in."
"Most of them are gonna be normals," Vicky answered. "My combat sense is entirely unimpressed, except by the second car. That's the threat."
"They keep all their capes in the same vehicle?" I asked. "That seems kinda fucking stupid, to be honest."
She shrugged. "Hey, they're probably expecting us to handle the fighting. They're here for mop up and maybe trying to steal a captive or two from us, if they're particularly stupid. They think this is an alliance. And until they say otherwise, we'll keep treating it as such. Pantheon doesn't start fights, we just finish them."
I nodded my agreement. Good line, I'll have to say that one to Sabah. It'd put her mind at rest about things like the missions last week. She was upset by the idea that we were going on the offensive so much. When she joined, it was with the promise that Pantheon was in support of rogues like her, that this wasn't a military organization like the Protectorate. And yet here we were, kicking down doors and doing so much of the same shit that defined what she hated about cape culture.
I was still thinking about the issues in my relationship when the cars pulled up. The men with the guns were negligible. They'd run out of ammo before they scratched me or Horus. Victoria might be in danger, if she wasn't capable of all the insane shit she was capable of. I kept my eyes on the capes. Three men, two women. My suit's auto highlight system lit them up in order as Riley announced the details.
"Cage," he was a bigger man. Clearly older, with gray hair, but still in pretty good shape. "Creates invisible bubble forcefields. Can make them selectively permiable in either direction, giving him a barrier he or his friends can shoot through, or a trap to hold enemies. Upper durability limit, fifty tons of force. Approximately a vehicular collision at 30mph." He's not a problem for me.
The light jumped to the next. "Shockwave. Allegedly Cage's son. Generates fields that explode like landmines. Similar destructive power as his father's defensive one." Okay, so he might be a problem.
"Deadweight," the third highlight settled on a petite brunette. Smaller than Sabah, even, though not quite as little as Missy or Riley. Is this gonna be one of the ones that contribute to little kids having more power stereotypes? "She creates powerful localized gravity up to nine times Earth's normal. Thirty foot radius centered on herself. Isn't influenced by her own power. " Oh, well, that's not so bad. Lots you could do with that, though.
"Arc," the last guy was highlighted. "Electric blaster. Lower power than a police taser, but long range and can jump from target to target without power loss.
The last highlight was the older woman. Twenties or thirties, probably. "Playmate, you already know about." With long black hair, olive toned skin and an imposing six foot tall figure, she looked the name.
"Don't be too impressed," Vicky snarked over the com. "She's got more artificial parts than Clarice."
Well, there are worse ways to spend money, I thought.
Cage approached us. "So, you found your serial killer?"
"We did," Vicky agreed easily. "We found something else that's really interesting as well. A lot of somethings, actually. Let's just say that in that building is the key to destroying your entire crime family. Of course, you probably figured that much out the moment you saw the place. In case you're wondering? Yeah, we'll be using it."
"A double cross?" Cage growled.
"Not at all," Vicky answered. "You're free to leave and we won't stop you. Or you can start a fight, and we're okay with that. We were willing to accept your help fighting criminals. We're not willing to let you kill the captives or destroy the evidence we've found."
"Doesn't give us much choice, does it?" he asked.
"Well, I'd go with 'stop being a bunch of scumbags', if I were you," Vicky shrugged. "There's also accepting our offer to let you go so you can prepare for when we come after you for real. Maybe grab what you can and run like cowards. Surrender. All nice options."
"Or destroy what you have in there," he added. "We'll be doing that. Playmate's already made sure you can't hurt us. Offensive powers can't be used here. Defensive ones work just fine." Bubbles of swirling light formed around us.
"Okay, I lose," Vicky replied, instantly vanishing. Cage didn't have time to react before there was a crackle pop and a scream. Vicky was standing next to a now very unconscious Playmate. "Turns out, her power doesn't work on herself."
I infused my power through my armor and let the wings snap out, shattering Cage's barrier with no effort at all. With my superhuman accuracy and Azrael's computer targeting systems, dozens of bolts fired from the wings. Striking every gun the goons held. The bolts sank into the metal thanks to the precision use of my power. The weapons would never be usable again except as maybe clubs.
"That could have just as easily been your hands," I informed them, allowing the armor's voice enhancement to carry my words. Azrael's wings fanned to their widest span, and then folded slightly inward, pointing at the crooks.
Arc decided to try to be a hero, and blasted me with the full charge of his power. The energy jumped away from my body and through the wings before jumping back to my body. Other than my armor registering a 2% increase in battery charge, there was no effect. Two could play at that game. I altered the bolts and then fired a full volley straight at him. He didn't even have a chance to scream before the bolts passed right through him and turned the car behind him into so much scrap metal.
Then he screamed, falling to his knees in shock and terror, yet physically unharmed. Others around him shouted and cursed, retreating from the swiss cheesed sedan. Let them wonder how I fired my shots through the kid without touching him only to annihilate the vehicle.
"Okay!" Cage shouted. "You've made your fucking point. We're leaving."
"Not so fast," Vicky answered, tossing the limp Playmate over her shoulder. "Walking away was your option before you started this fight. Now you're our captives. Cops'll be here in a little while. Horus, would you mind going into the house and seeing if there's a pair of pants available for the big bad supervillain? Also, you're a witness that I was right and Atropos owes me fifty dollars."
Really? That is both awesome and disgusting. Best fifty bucks I ever spent.
....
"I must say, Pantheon does fantastic work," Director Nicholas was all smiles and praise. "The murders solved, two of their most powerful capes, and enough evidence to break their entire crime family. Incredible."
My hands clenched in the suit as I watched out the window. It was well past midnight, now, though the lights of a city this size turned the late autumn cloud cover into a deep bronze haze in the sky.
"I must admit," Brain spoke up. "I was a little put off by your methods, but I can't argue with the results."
"All in a day's work," Victoria answered calmly. "Sorry for getting you out of bed at this hour."
"No, that's perfectly fine," he answered it. "As much sleep as they've cost me over the years, I can afford a little more."
"So, if you don't mind answering a question," Vicky replied. "Was it worth it?"
His smile faltered some. "Was what worth it?" he asked.
"Your career," she answered. "We figured out what you did. Covering up one crime with another. Mutilating corpses. Fabricating evidence. Buncha other shit I'm not gonna bother naming because the cops will take care of that for us later."
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he answered. It didn't take our tech to know he was lying.
"Sir?" Brain looked at his boss. "Is this true?"
"Of course it isn't!" the man insisted. Ah, the wonders of redundant blinking lights in front of my face, telling me things I already know.
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Vicky responded. She leaned over the man's desk pressed a button just moment after it started to beep. "Sorry for the late call, Chief Director."
"I'm accustomed to it," she replied. "Director Nicholas, do yourself the dignity of not trying to lie to me. What we say will remain confidential, right Victoria? Completely off the record, legally speaking."
"We already know the score," she replied. "We don't need his confession to bury him. Have your chat."
"Thank you," she replied. "Nicholas. The truth, as they say, will set you free."
He sighed. "We discovered the bodies of the Fallen when they were somehow dropped in one of our smaller conference rooms, along with a note and some minor physical evidence tying them to the Capello crime family."
"Fits what we know so far," Victoria informed.
"And from there, what happened," Costa-Brown prompted.
"We knew it wasn't enough," he explained. "To say nothing of evidence tampering simply by dropping the bodies there like that. At best, it would be yet another unsolved case. A waste of Protectorate time and resources." He looked toward all of us before his eyes went back to the viewscreen which I assumed the Chief Director was watching from. "After the events in Houston and other areas to the south, I took a gamble. Doctoring a crime scene that would point evidence to the gang it belonged on, while baiting Pantheon here in response to it. I expected them to come in force and deal with the problem for us."
"And that worked wonderfully for you," the Chief Director replied dryly. "Next time you want to do something this stupid? Don't."
Next time? I thought.
"Next time?" Victoria asked.
"Ignoring this one poor decision, Director Nicholas has been an excellent employee and a significant asset to the PRT," the voice over the phone was calm and commanding. "In addition, word of this could... muddy... legal actions against the villains you've worked so hard to put away tonight."
"And the PRT's reputation," I added angrily. The fuck?
"Now," she continued, ignoring my comment. "I would like to believe the PRT has been more than generous in how we've handled of the criminal history of some of Pantheon's members." Oh fuck. "Is it too much to ask you for a similar accommodation, now? After all, the Director's actions here were, if gruesome and poorly thought out, ultimately victimless. In fact, I do believe they've resulted in a net gain for Pantheon. A gain that could easily be lost if this situation became public knowledge."
Oh fuck you, I thought.
"You make a good point," Victoria gritted her teeth. My lie detector continued telling me things I already knew. I would have turned it off, but my newest armor 'upgrade' meant that I couldn't. "But it's not my call to make. I'll talk to my sister in the morning and see how she feels about all of this."
"Very well," Costa Brown answered. Her tone didn't change in the slightest and yet, somehow, she sounded painfully pleased with herself. "I believe in the time I've worked with your sister and her partner, I've come to know them well enough. I anticipate no future problems will arise from this incident. Now, if you please, may I talk with Director Nicholas in private?"
"Yes," Victoria agreed, standing and turning away. I quickly followed after her. How the fuck do I explain this to Sabah?
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A/N- Vat ah tweest!
(yes I ship that)
