I suppose if Trickster were to look up from his rifle and could see Crawler approaching Grue and Ballistic, he could also move Crawler away from them. Replace him with part of a building or something.

Part four of the plan?  Avoid direct confrontation.

Ah, yeah. Direct confrontations haven’t gone great so far.

“Trickster,” Grue said, the one word buzzing over the walkie-talkies.

Oh hey, looks like I was onto something!

Crawler disappeared, and an empty pickup truck toppled from the edge of the roof to the ground.

Nice.

Crawler was back in the vicinity of the other Nine, not far from Sundancer’s burning orb.  Blocks away from Grue and Ballistic.

I would imagine he’s immune to intense heat by now, so at least it probably isn’t going to make him stronger.

The monster lunged after Grue and Ballistic again, and was supported this time by Shatterbird, who conjured up a storm of glass shards to pelt the pair.  Ballistic retaliated by firing a warhead at Shatterbird, who prematurely detonated the explosive with a thick cluster of glass, shielding herself against the worst of the blast with another wall.

This would look awesome in motion.

She drew more walls around herself and maintained her assault.

And here I thought Assault was Battery’s.

I glanced at Sundancer and she gave me a grim nod.

Crawler had reached Grue and was scaling the side of the building with surprising speed.  I’d taken him for a quadruped, but apparently his joints were modular.  His proportions were more simian, now, and he was climbing up the side of the building twice as fast as I could have run it if it were laid out horizontally.

Wouldn’t he be at least a hexaped anyway, depending how you count?

Part three of the plan had been to hit them as hard as we could.  Trickster was using his rifle to take shots at Mannequin, but I couldn’t see if it was having any effect.

I highly doubt it.

Ballistic finally decided to contribute, and fired a warhead at Mannequin.  Then he reached into the box he and Grue had unloaded from Sirius’s harness and grabbed two more.

That might be a bit more effective.

I suppose it makes sense that he’d have an easier time attacking someone as obviously inhuman as Mannequin.

He fired them into the smoke cloud that had expanded around Mannequin.

Smoke? Is that from the first warhead’s impact, or does he have a new trick that’s less explosive?

I could see Crawler reaching the edge of the roof, not twenty feet from Grue and Ballistic.

Just before reading this, it occurred to me that we haven’t gotten much contribution from Grue either after the initial commander role.

At least the darkness may be good for dealing with Crawler. Crawler is immune to most attacks and grows stronger from the ones he isn’t immune to, so attacking him isn’t the solution. With the darkness, Grue can instead make escape easier, as long as Crawler doesn’t have special senses.

“Sundancer just hit Jack, Hatchet Face and Bonesaw.”

“Where are the rest?”

“Crawler heading for Grue and Ballistic, Mannequin running down Tillman in Regent and Trickster’s general direction.

Regent may not be able to do much against Mannequin, but Trickster may have some tricks up his sleeves.

Shatterbird’s going for the bird’s-eye view.  I don’t think she’s seen any of us except Grue and Ballistic.”

Seems like that’s true for them all so far.

“Siberian?”

“Missing.”

Last we saw, she seemed to be jumping into a miniature sun, though it was a little ambiguous which way was considered “forwards”, so I’m not sure. It would make a lot more sense for her to have bolted into a building or something.

“Shit.  Assume they’re all alive, then.  Sundancer’s power still in that area?”

Yeah, that’s a good thing to keep in mind. If this is actually killing them, it’s going too well.

I especially don’t think Cherish is dead.

Alive?  “It is.”

“Then keep it there!”

Tattle may have figured out that Bonesaw’s protections are there.

“Don’t have line of sight to Jack!” Trickster reported.

Well, that’s a problem. Can’t teleport him without line of sight.

“Hit the others,” I told Sundancer.

“You mean kill them,” her voice was quiet, her fists clenched at her sides.

Yes. Can you do it?

“Kill them, then.”  I could see the sun growing as it flew.  It was maybe eighteen feet in diameter now.

Oh fuck, that’s way bigger than we’ve seen it before, or at least way bigger than I imagined it before. The idea that it could get bigger than maybe a single foot or so in diameter never occurred to me.

“Just… just tell me there aren’t any civilians there, no bystanders.”

Tattletale?

I suppose Skitter could use her bugs, but I’m not sure the target zone is quite within range? It should be around the edge, unless they’ve gotten closer.

I looked through my binoculars.  The remainder of the Nine were making a break for it.  Mannequin and Siberian stood still, watching Grue and Ballistic, Crawler was barreling towards them, and Shatterbird had taken to the air.

Not so fun when you’re the targets, is it, guys?

It looks like big trouble’s heading towards Grue and Ballistic.

Heh, Big Trouble sounds like a nickname for Crawler.

Jack and Bonesaw were taking cover around a corner to stay out of Grue and Ballistic’s line of fire.

It seems like the Nine haven’t taken notice of the other two squads, including Trickster. They’ve heard the gunshot, but they don’t know where it came from, so they focus on the enemies they’ve spotted.

Sundancer sent her sun soaring around to the Nine, taking the long route so it could cut them off.

Here we fucking go.

Hey, Nine, did you remember to wear sunscreen today?

In that same moment, Trickster pointed a sniper rifle at a corpse on the street and swapped Cherish’s position with it.

That’s a really good use of the power. It can be used to put Cherish in a position that is easier to hit with the sniper rifle while at the same time surprising and disorienting her so she won’t have time to get out of the way.

Now it’s just a matter of whether a sniper rifle can actually incapacitate or kill her with Bonesaw’s protections in place.

Part two of the plan, after finding them and getting into our positions, was to remove Cherish as fast as humanly possible.  If we accomplished nothing else, our goal was to do that and then make a run for it.  It would pave the way for future attacks and it would slow them down.

Solid tactic. When she’s actually working towards the Nine’s best interests, she’s super important both as a scout/radar and as a defense against close attackers. She’s got one of the most dangerous powers on the team.

We’d left that task to Ballistic, with the idea that Trickster would take care of Jack.  Ballistic decided he didn’t have it in him at the worst possible moment, forcing us to shift roles.

Ahh, I see.

Damn him.

I mean, yes, it was poorly timed, but are you sure you wouldn’t have similar qualms when it came down to it?

Cherish was struck by Trickster’s shot, blood spattering the pavement.  Her teammates left her behind.

That’s probably because they’re running ahead to get out of the ambush, but from just this bit on its own, it kind of sounds like they’re completely oblivious/uncaring about the fact that right in the middle of their group, one of them was suddenly replaced by a random corpse right before a gunshot could (probably) be heard. 😛

Regent sounded remarkably calm given the situation.

“She’s my sister.  If anyone has a right to get sentimental, it’s me, and I’m saying it’s okay to off her,” he finished.

That really does say a lot. If there’s anyone here who’s gonna know what she’s like, it’s Regent.

“I-”  Ballistic broke off.

I shifted my attention to the Nine.  Jack, Siberian and Bonesaw were moving past the yellow lines.  And Cherish… Cherish was turning to look in Grue and Ballistic’s direction.

“Are you gonna off me or not?”

I could see her almost bounce in place as she got her feet under her and started sprinting, her mouth opening.

Oh, so she really did only just notice?

Or did she only just realize she was the first target?

It’s entirely possible that Ballistic’s sentimentality is the whole reason she just noticed him.

“Cover blown!” I shouted into the walkie-talkie.  Taking my finger off the button, I called out,  “Trickster, Sundancer!”

It’s go time!