Tattletale, Weld and I hurried to back away as he began to climb to his feet, Tattletale recovering her lightning gun.   I could see her debate striking him again, but she seemed to decide it would be better to keep her distance and hold on to it.

Is it still functional?

I could see Shadow Stalker materialize behind Weld, with Bitch approaching from the other end of the hallway.  One of the dogs, the setter whose name I couldn’t quite remember, had climbed to her feet to join Bitch.  Grue was still out of action.

Plot twist, the setter’s name is Aisha.

Weld started laughing, the noise just a little off, coming from someone who I suspected didn’t even have to breathe.

Having fun?

Tattletale caught some meaning in his laughter a second before Regent did.  Tattletale, Regent and Shadow Stalker all simultaneously turned toward the front of the building.  Regent and his puppet uttered a whispered “Oh shit” in unison.

…

The floodwater and moisture were stirred into an whirlwind flurry around the metal frame by turbines and jets, pushing water and debris a distance away as it set down.

Why’s it always gotta be water…

As the engines turned off, the water slopped back into place, lapping around four metal legs.

Reinforcements have arrived… and the Undersiders were having enough trouble with Weld alone.

It was squat, the frame low to the ground, with a snakelike head, and a segmented, sinous body.  It had four legs and a long tail that trailed on the ground in a zig-zagging shape, segmented much as the body had been.

Wait, what? A salamander bot, or something like that?

These reinforcements are taking a very different form than I had expected.

Also if this thing has a lot of exposed metal, try to get it to collide with Weld.

A short distance from us, Regent fell to one knee, grunting slightly.  A backfire?  Or something else?

…can he feel what happens to Shadow Stalker?

More out of an attempt to minimize the damage to Shadow Stalker than actually being bowled over, Weld fell.  I did as Tattletale had done before, and struck Weld with the metal of my gun’s barrel.

Well, guess we’re not seeing any more shots from that gun, then.

As I’d hoped, he was still hot enough that the gun bonded to the metal of his body, I could help to hamper his movements.

That’s not how that works, but it’s a reasonable assumption.

Rather than hit him in the face, I struck him across one arm, so the gun made contact with both his forearm, where the hook-hand started, and his bicep.  My hope was that it would limit his range of movement. 

Nice!

I raised the gun that had nearly knocked the door off its hinges and pulled the trigger, aiming it at both Weld and Grue.  Nothing.  Whether it was due to a lack of charge, a malfunction, or whatever, it just didn’t work.

Dang it.

Weld began to charge us, and he was nearly to us when Imp stepped in his way and tried to fire.

Tried to?

“Don’t-” Tattletale started.

As with my gun, the flamethrower didn’t work.  Weld clobbered her just as she was beginning to utter a swear word, catching her with both hands to fling her aside.  She tumbled into a sign.  That put him only a few paces from me.

IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME

Shadow Stalker was already running toward us.  She entered her shadow state to leap forward, interjecting herself between us and him before going solid.  There was no grace in her movement as she threw herself at him, no particular technique she employed.

All about getting her there ASAP.

They slammed into one another, and she went limp, her body getting tangled up in his legs as he trampled her to the ground.

Ouch.

Tattletale backed up one step, and I took that as my cue to back up three. This guy could hit hard, and none of us was capable of going toe-to-toe with him.

Yeah, this could be an issue.

There was no need to worry, as the lightning gun’s effects added up and Weld collapsed to the ground before he got halfway to us.  

Oh. Alright!

Tattletale stopped firing, and I could see that the metal of Weld’s body was glowing with the heat he’d absorbed.

Ahhh, I see. He’s immune to electricity, but he can only take so much heat.

She stepped closer and swung her gun at him, smacking him across the face with the barrel.  It stuck, and she swiftly backed up.  I wouldn’t have thought he was that hot, that the metal would bond.

Hehe. I wonder if Tattle knew that would happen? It doesn’t sound like it, since she did just lose her weapon.

Weld staggered to his feet and tore the gun away with both hands, leaving a melted mess that extended from his cheekbone to his forehead on one side of his face.

A barely conscious Kid Win, internally: “Aww, I spent so much time on that gun.”

Gun removed, he started reforming his hands into sticks, four feet long, with the ends curved into blunted hooks.

Every so often, we see some parallels between Weld’s power and Hookwolf’s. I kinda like that, honestly.

Weld stood beside Grue, binding a length of cord around our leader.  The way he was positioned, Bitch wasn’t able to get by, and I could only assume that Regent had Shadow Stalker there because Bitch lacked the means to defend herself solo.  The elevator, naturally, wasn’t running.

Hm, yeah, this is unfortunate.

I lifted the heavy gun, then aimed it at Weld and Grue.

I suppose Weld does qualify as a “bigger foe”, or at least a heavier one. But he’s also practically got Grue as a hostage… then again, I suppose the gun wouldn’t harm Grue while he’s still time-stopped. 

“Where did you get those guns?” Weld asked, squaring his shoulders as he turned to face us.

They knocked out Kid before going in, right? It doesn’t sound like he’s back up yet, but I do wonder if he’s conscious enough to see this.

“Borrowed ’em,” Tattletale smirked.  Then she fired the gun she was carrying.  An arc of electricity crackled between the nozzle of her gun and Weld.

Heh, I suppose that’s what happens when you’re made of metal. I wonder if it acts as a weakness of his? That would make him the third person in this arc to have that as a weakness.

Also, if Weld plays cleverly enough, he could try to put Shadow Stalker between Tattletale and himself. He knows that if she gets zapped, it’ll disrupt Regent’s control of her.

Seemingly unconcerned, he started running towards us, metal feet pounding on the tile.

I guess it’s more an immunity than a weakness, then.

To reach the hallway where Grue and the elevator were, we had to head out past the gift shop and around the front desk.

Hey, might as well grab a souvenir of the mission while you’re here. Little figurines of the people whose asses you just kicked, perhaps.

Everyone we’d left behind was still there, friend and foe, but things hadn’t gone well in our absence.

Seriously, why did Regent not notify them that the fighting had started back up until it was going bad?

Or is all of it because of Weld, who I suppose wasn’t technically down yet when they went in?

We found Bitch and Shadow Stalker backed against the elevator at the far end of the hallway.  The three dogs were spread out between them and Weld, limp and unmoving.  They’d shrunk down almost to their normal size.  I had to watch for a few seconds before I could see the rise and fall of Sirius’ chest and verify he was alive.

Welp.

She practically pushed me down the stairs, and I caught a glimpse of her covering her ears, shutting her eyes.

…flashbang?

Despite the fact that I was on the verge of landing face first on the landing of the stairwell, I didn’t use my hands to stop myself.  I turned to take the impact with my shoulder, tucked my chin to my chest and covered my ears.  Regent jumped out of my way as I landed, his arms pressed against the sides of his head.

Ow.

It had to have been a grenade.  The blast ripped through the upstairs hallway, and left me gasping even from inside the stairwell.  Tattletale was up before I was, hauling me to my feet and up the stairs, Regent followed just behind us.

Ouch. How is that nonlethal?

Could it be that we’re not up against the PRT? It’s an unfounded theory so far, but it’s possible that one of the other villain groups noticed the ongoing debacle at the Wards HQ somehow and decided to take advantage.

The grenade had been of the nonlethal variety, but not quite a flashbang.  The gathered soldiers were reeling, stunned, and Imp was crouched by the only one who was still conscious.

Huh. I guess maybe it wasn’t all that strong compared to lethal grenades?

But… the soldiers are down too. Did one of them throw the grenade, and they got taken down by Imp, or is there a third party doing it?

Or was it Imp who threw it? Seems kinda unlikely.

She drew a taser from her sleeve, tagged him, then stood.  She had one of the PRT’s grenade launchers slung over one shoulder, the flamethrower-thing in one hand, and the taser in the other.

…alrighty then. Let’s update that from “unlikely” to “reckless”.

She handed off the grenade launcher to Regent, then put the taser away, holding the flamethrower. 

I suppose it’s possible she took the launcher from one of the PRT guys after the grenade was launched? Either way,  I’m more comfortable with Regent having that.

We found Imp at the top of the stairs, aiming the spearlike gun.  The blue flame poured out, melting a large hole in the fiberglass.

Nice. 🙂

We crouched in the stairwell as Imp opened the door.  I was so distracted by the sight of the PRT uniforms waiting for us in the hallway that I didn’t see where Imp went.

Where who went?

The reaction wasn’t as strong or immediate as I would have expected, given the burst of flame and the door opening.  A side effect of Imp being the one to carry it out?

“Someone burst through the door with fire a second ago? I don’t remember that.”

One person shouted and alerted the others.  Regent used his power on the one closest to him, causing him to stumble sideways into his comrades. Their ranks descended into chaos.

Nice work! Just don’t overexert yourself again.

I readied the few bugs I had on my person, then hefted my borrowed gun.  I backed down a stair as I asked Tattletale, “This thing is nonlethal, right?”

It… should be, but we don’t know if it’s been approved, and Kid has been known to skirt the rules a little, with the Tiro Finale.

She didn’t have an answer for me.  Instead, she yelped out, “Back!”

That’s not very comforting.

“Tattletale!” I called out.  “We got through!”

By the time Tattletale reached us, Regent and I had brought the door down.  The lock was still extending from the handle to the frame, but we’d taken the door off its hinges, and we were free to pull the door open from the other side.  We hurried into the stairwell and began heading back upstairs.

Nice.

“Fight upstairs is going south, we need to step in, fast,” Regent spoke.

Shit. Wait, it’s a fight again? Seems like something you should’ve mentioned before.

I felt out with my bugs to get a sense of where each of the combatants were, then nodded a hasty agreement.  I began taking the stairs two at a time, though the gun I carried had to weigh a good thirty or forty pounds.

I suppose the gun could still come in handy upstairs. Probably worth it to bring it.

We were halfway up when we came across a pair of unconscious PRT officers.  I looked at Tattletale.

“Imp did this,” she told Regent and me.  “She went ahead, remember?”

“Who’s Imp?”

So is Tattletale actually immune, then?

It took me a few seconds to realize who she meant.  Damn it, having to keep track of Imp and having her power throwing me off my stride was getting to be annoying.

Hehe.

The team prior to now had a kind of synergy, with the way my bugs and Tattletale’s power let us deal with Grue’s darkness, and how the dogs could smell opponents through it.

Yeah, it’s been a rather well-oiled machine. Imp’s power, on the other hand, is not well suited for teamwork in combat – it ends up more like the rest of the team is doing their thing and some mysterious horned girl shows up out of nowhere once in a while to accomplish the same goal.

She could do well as a solo cape compared to some of the other Undersiders, for that matter.

Then Dragon shut off the monitors, plunging us into absolute darkness.

I suppose she realized that the monitors were making things a little easier for the Undersiders.

I left the weapon with Imp and hurried over to the other guns, using the few bugs I had with me to ‘feel’ my way, sensing their locations and identifying anything I might trip over.  The second gun, though it had looked more complete than any of the others, had two triggers on the front and two by the handle.  I tried various combinations and got nowhere.

Huh. Dud, I guess, unless it’s just too complicated to use without knowing how.

The last gun was heavy.  I hefted it with both hands, then told Regent and Imp to move aside as I aimed it at the door.

“against bigger foes”… no telling what the hell this might do.

Didn’t want to waste any first shots if this was going to take forever to recharge as well.  The gun vibrated, rattled, and shuddered for a full five seconds before it fired.  The shot didn’t cast any light, but it struck the door with enough force that the entire door buckled outward.

Damn, nice.

I hit the door with my shoulder, and the upper hinge came free.  There was a light in the stairwell, shedding some meager light on us.

*backwards hacker voice*

“We’re out.”

Well, out of that room, anyway. I’m sure Dragon has control over more than that.