I glanced behind us, where Weld was standing with excruciating slowness.  He was already cooling off.  The dog by Bitch’s side was growling, now.

The good news: Sticking metal to him will still work.

Seriously, do try to get Dragon and Weld to collide.

Tattletale continued, “The bad news is that the Protectorate is about a minute away, Grue’s still out of action, and there’s pretty much no chance we’re going to get out of here before then.”

Well, fuck.

As I was saying: Weld was trouble enough.

I looked at the weapons that bristled from Dragon’s shoulders.  If I didn’t know Tattletale’s power, I wasn’t sure I’d believe her.

Dragon does seem to know how to intimidate. Then again, I don’t think that means those weapons aren’t fully functional.

“Well, that’s good,” Regent replied, “Except it can still totally kick our asses.”

Yeah, that’s the bad news.

Tattletale didn’t disagree.  “Best tinker in the world?  Probably.”

Yep, Dragon really knows her stuff.

That explained why Dragon had been so quiet.  When she’d talked about reinforcements, Dragon had been talking about herself.

…right.

I’m not convinced that she’s actually inside that, but she’s presumably controlling it remotely.

Then again, I can’t rule out that she is this thing, in a sense. I mean, if she’s actually some sort of AI or otherwise virtual in nature, she can have a hivemind of mechanical bodies that she controls directly. But that’s more of a possibility that I can’t rule out than something I actually believe is the case.

“Okay,” Tattletale spoke as she backed up, moving her gun to point it at Weld, then Dragon and then back to Weld again.  “Good news, that’s a model Dragon designed for speed, meant to get places fast.  Like, say, if she wanted to get an armored suit from Toronto to Brockton Bay to personally take a hand in dealing with a group of teenage villains.  It’s not really that serious a combat model.”

It’s armed to the teeth it may or may not have… if that’s not either meant for intimidation or a serious combat feature, then wow the serious ones must be chock full. No wonder the Dragonslayers are so effective with only a little bit of Dragon tech.

It would have been intimidating enough on its own, but the four engines that were mounted on its upper body, extending out of each of its shoulders in two places, were some combination of a weapons array and a propulsion system.

Hm. Maybe it’s less like a salamander and more like a… dragon.

They bristled with turrets and missiles.  It opened its mouth briefly to vent off some vapor and I could see more weapons contained within.  Foremost among them was some kind of massive cannon.

Evidently this thing comes prepared, whatever it is.

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.