Author: linkmaxwell
517 Views
2 Comments
|
As Darkpool checked his body armor for damage, Krygon filled him in on what was happening.
"It seems like the 5th are taking a serious beating. We've encountered more and more of these Council creeps and seen fewer and fewer Column. Looks like the leadership is bugging out, too. We have confirmed that Vandal and Nosferatu, along with a good 90 percent of the archons. The guys left in Column uniforms are just trying to make it through today. This thing will most likely come to a head today..."
Darkpool didn't even look up from his repairs, but merely nodded as Krygon continued.
"Now, for some bad news. It seems like Thermablaze has disappeared."
This got Darkpool's attention. He quickly faced the rock man.
"Do they know where she went?"
"No, but the City Rep who told me also said that she was seen leaving in the company of a giant humanoid robot that had been anxious to see the mayor."
This was bad. The 5th Column was infamous for their use of mechanized soldiers in combat. Nobody knew how advanced the plans of Vandal and his assitants were, but Darkpool was among those who thought that the MekMen were among the least advanced of the units in the Column labs. Now that Vandal had switched sides, the Council would be able to bring out the heavy robots to destroy its parent organization- and any heroes foolish enough, or narcissistic enough, to be caught in the crossfire. Darkpool had helped train Thermablaze, along with the rest of the group, and knew that she often let her desire for fame get in the way of her better judgement. Still, she was a strong hero, so hopefully she would be able to work her way out of anything bad that happened...
=======================
The young actress known as Thermablaze had been following the strange robot, Experiment 409, for the better part of an hour. The normal route from Atlas Park to King's Row over the Yellow Line tram was shut down, and Thermablaze could see large segments of the above-ground track that had been sabotaged by one of the roving bands of villains. It would take several days after this chaos to get the trains running again, but Paragon City could count on the help of superheroes to get back up on its feet...
Still, it would be a daunting task at best. Thermablaze had never considered King's Row to be one of the nicest-looking zones of the city, but compared to how it looked now, it used to be like Atlas Park.
Rubble from damaged buildings littered the streets, making vehicular movement impossible. A small raiding party of Clockwork soldiers were busy dismantling a squad of destroyed MekMen bearing the Council's logo. The strange little automatons fled back into the darkness of the shadows inbetween two buildings as the two heroes passed. Still, Thermablaze could almost feel the little eyes watching her movements, and the Clockwork King's behind them. The Triumphant Heroes had taken him down once, and he had vowed revenge one day. These scavengers were far too weak to pose a threat, and their King knew it. The day would come, though, when the Triumphant Heroes again defeated the mad psychic King.
Though the fighting had already moved through this area, she could still hear distant explosions coming from the direction of the old clothing factory near the Independence Port tunnel. Beyond those noises of distant battle, the streets were quiet. The citizens had all gone to the city's massive underground shelters, built after the Rikti war to protect the regular people in such an emergency situation as they were in right now.
Meanwhile, the big robot she was with hadn't said much after their initial encounter. Although it had put up some initial resistance at leaving City Hall, Thermablaze had managed to convince it that she would be strong enough to handle anything that would be at the hacker's location. This had seemed to satisfy the android, and now it was acting as her guide, leading her through the streets, seeming to know exactly where the fighting was heaviest and how to avoid it. When she had questioned it about that, 409 had seemingly ignored Thermablaze's query, and she didn't feel like pressing the issue. After all, she was going to be famous after busting this place up. Well... more famous than she already was...
=======================
The young female, who had identified herself as "Liz," was currently inspecting Alchemist's wounds. He had been injured badly during the robots' assault, and still couldn't see anything but darkness. As the girl took off his shirt, he heard the Cajun spit out what sounded like a French curse.
"What?" asked Alchemist, frightened that he was going to hear even worse news.
"Yeah, I'm curious as well, Legrasse," added the girl, "What's up?"
"Liz, slowly back away from that... man."
"Legrasse, what's wrong? You're not making any sense."
"Liz, he has the mark of Hastur on his chest, as well as the twelve signs of Azatoth and the names of the children of Shub-Niggurath. This man is a beacon for dark magical energy!"
==========================
Darkpool finished repairing his equipment in a few minutes, and was soon dressed for battle once again.
"Krygon," he called out of the tent, "Go get Brid and tell her I'm good to go when she is. I want to find Alchemist ASAP."
There was no reply from his teammate. Worried, he ran out of the tent as fast as he could, ignoring the dulled pain from his broken bones. Krygon was right outside, and put his hand on Darkpool's shoulder to keep him from going any further. The ninja looked up and saw Krygon's pained expression.
"Krygon," asked Darkpool in a voice so serious that it was almost frightening, "Where is Brid? What happened?"
"Look, Darkpool, I hate to be the one..."
Krygon didn't have time to react before Darkpool used a Tsoo escape maneuver that broke Krygon's grip and allowed Darkpool to race towards the spot where several heroes had already set up watch.
The scene that greeted Darkpool was something that he had prayed he would never have to confront again. In the middle of the heroes was a figure underneath a white blanket. Luke almost fell to his knees there and then, but managed the inner will to approach the figure and lift the sheet. One of the heroes tried to stop him, but Krygon simply shook his head and the hero went back to his vigil.
The sight underneath the blanket confirmed his worst fears. Darkpool was looking down at the cold, lifeless face of his friend, Brid.
|
