The Second Archon War, Interlude 2 (Patreon)

Interlude 2: Broken Strings

The streets of the small town were quiet. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound save for the patter of rain, and the soft tread of boots. Swallowing, Lady shined her flashlight into the broken glass of the dollar store window, seeing only the cardboard cutout of a grinning deer in a suit looking back at her. She shuddered, playing her light over the scattered merchandise on the floor. There was something missing though: food. The shelves where cookies or candy should have been were completely bare.

Did the residents fort up and hide in a shelter somewhere? she thought to herself. She shivered in the cold rain, and kept looking.

Lady and her PRT assault team had been called to the small town of Ellisburg when all communication from the town had stopped. Camera drones sent in showed nothing, and the county sheriff who’d come to investigate had vanished, along with a dozen police officers. At this point, it was clear there was a serious problem, and the PRT had a good idea of who was responsible. One James Rinke.

The man had been a quiet investment banker, until he’d started a series of robberies. There had been other strange occurrences, pets going missing in the preceding days, odd creatures sighted. It was suspected Rinke had become a Changer, and was shifting his form. How he’d caused the blackout was unknown, but there was probably some Trump power involved as well. So far, no contact had been made with the town, but now a team of capes from PRT Toronto were there, along with three assault squads. Their orders were simple: find Rinke, and stop him. Dead preferred over alive.

The PRT team continued to make their way through the empty town, with not so much a moth or fly moving. It was earlier, and everyone was spooked. No one had heard anything out of Ellisburg in days. “Holler, anything on Thermals?”

“It’s cold. Rain isn’t helping. I’m not getting- wait. There’s movement! Three tangos, moving fast across the rooftops!”

“Rinke?” Lady asked, her pulse pounding as she raised her rifle.

“Not sure, he’s a Changer, but who the other two are- CONTACT!”

The PRT team opened fire as the shadows flipped off a rooftop. The foremost one suddenly split into a dozen different dark figures, and Lady swore, firing wildly, but it was no use. The figures moved faster than the human eye could track, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground, a blade at her throat.

“Could you do me a favor and not move? I’m really too tired for all of this…it’s past my bedtime,” a female voice said, then finished with a loud yawn.

Blinking, Lady looked past the giant sword at her throat to see the shadowy outline above her. It was the size of a child, though the weapon was one of the largest that Lady had ever seen. A Brute of some sort?

“We are not your enemies,” another voice, this one also female said, though this time with an accent that sounded Asian to Lady. “This place is dangerous. We seek a god. Do you too seek the Lord of Anemo?”

“Fuck off, we’re PRT. Who the hell are you?” the captain growled, then swore when the dark shape above him pressed a sword closer to his throat. “Shit, lady, how did you cut through this armor?”

“All you need know is that we too seek James Rinke. If we find him, we shall end him. We may work together in this,” the second voice said again.

“Can we just get this over with?” the little girl with the sword to Lady’s throat whined. “How am I ever supposed to grow if I keep staying up so late?”

“Who are you? Rogue capes?” Lady demanded, trying to get a clear look, but unable to in the darkness, the rain further obscuring her vision.

There was a sudden green glow at her attacker’s waist, and the scene was illuminated. Three figures, a tall woman, a bulky man, and the girl with the giant sword, had knocked down the entire PRT squad, though no one appeared seriously injured. The three capes, they had to be capes, were dressed in dark clothing all, and they looked like-

“Ninjas?” Lady blurted. “We got hit by fucking ninjas?”

She couldn’t see the face of the girl with the giant sword, but by the way she tilted her head, she was smirking. “Yep. So you better watch out, ‘cause I know Spin-jitsu!”

The girl was dressed in what looked like dark brown ninja robes, a mask obscuring her face and a hood over her head. The hood, however, looked like a raccoon, with cute little ears hand sewed on, and two felt eyes that looked sleepily down at Lady. There was even a raccoon tail poking out of the seat of her trousers, and a cute raccoon charm hung from her belt along with a glowing green gem.

“Vision,” Lady breathed. “The new kind. Shit.”

They’d been briefed on these ‘Wind Visions’ that had been popping up in the past week or so, though not much was known beyond that appeared to have some striking similarities to the purple electrical ones, though there were enough differences that the nerds were still arguing over the whole thing. What mattered was this girl likely had a broad powerset that was Wind based, and that she was freakishly strong thanks to the Vision.

“Stand down, team,” the captain said, then glared at the tall woman. “I know you. Kokusho, also known as Black Kaze. The fuck are the Japs doing here?”

“That is not your concern. Will you work with us or not, American?” Kokusho demanded, her katana still at the captain’s throat. Her ninja costume was the stereotypical black, though her hood had a black dragon’s head on it, with glowing purple eyes.

“We’ll work with you. Though why the fuck do you want Rinke dead? All the same to me if he bites it, I have a feeling he did some nasty stuff here,” the captain grunted.

Kokusho waited a moment, glancing at the last member of her team. The man was broad-shouldered and muscular, with a bow he had trained on the other members of the squad. His outfit was a dark blue, with a shark fin and teeth painted on the mask and hood. He nodded and said something in Japanese.

At his word, Kokusho lifted her blade away and sheathed it, while the Vision Holder lifted her giant sword. “That’s good, I didn’t want to have to kill PRT troopers. You’re basically good guys.”

Lady slowly stood, then glared down at the little girl, who was leaning on her weapon. “Didn’t you mean ninjitsu?”

“Nah. That’s boring! I’m working on a brand-new martial art! I’ve only had my Vision for a few days, but I’m already super awesome!” As if to demonstrate, she suddenly curled into a ball, and her sword vanished. She then proceeded to zip around the group by rolling in what looked like a hamster ball made out of green energy.

“Tanuki! Still yourself,” Kokusho barked.

The little girl popped up out of her ball, though she had to wave her arms wildly to steady herself. “Fine. This place is creepy though. Can we go already?”

“Our mission is yet unfinished. We-”

There was the sudden roar of gunfire from across town, and heads whipped around in that direction. The radio crackled to life, filled with static and more gunfire. “Hostiles! Multiple Hostiles!”

In a blink, Kokusho was gone, a trail of shadowy figures behind her, blade already drawn.

Lady looked to her captain, weapon at the ready. This was going to go south, fast.

“Enemy. There,” the male ninja said, pointing his bow. A figure was lurching towards them, a tall, massive shape that emitted the faint tingling of bells. Lady turned her flashlight on the figure, and the grotesque sight that greeted her made her blanch in horror. The thing was dressed in motley, with loud colors in a chequered pattern. The mask it wore had a rictus grin on it, and dark holes were where eyes should have been. The thing turned towards them, and Lady could see it was dragging a heavy sack made of what looked like pale leather. She nearly vomited. She’d seen enough horror movies to know what the likely source of the leather was.

“Light it up!” the captain roared, and the entire squad opened fire. An arrow sprouted from the thing's head, jerking it back, and then forward like a jack-in-the-box. Lady made sure to spray down the thing’s feet with foam, then lobbed an incendiary grenade at it, enveloping the horror in flame. That was the protocol for Changers, and she was taking no chances.

“Spin-jitsu!” With a flash, the girl spun forward, around Rinke, right into the flames. Lady cried out in shock, surprising herself. She typically hated capes, but this one was a kid. A kid who’d put a sword to her throat, yes, but still a kid. Then she watched in shock as the green wheel caught on fire, then summoned up a swirling vortex of flames around Rinke. He gurgled and hissed, and the smell of cooking pork filled the air.

Then the girl spun away, popping out of her burning wheel, the flames and wind vanishing. She stumbled to the side, and vomited. “S-sorry, sensei. It’s not the spinning, it’s just…”

The big man went over and crouched down, rubbing the girl’s back as she spat up more bile and wiped her mouth. He said more in Japanese, which made her sigh.

“Arigatōgozaimasu. I just… I never helped kill anyone before, you know?” she moaned.

The captain lifted his radio and spoke. “Blue team, what’s your status? Over!”

The gunfire was sporadic now, and a relieved voice spoke. “You’ll never believe this, but a goddamn ninja just showed up and saved our asses! There was this horde of zombie…things…that swarmed us! Thought we were all dead, Calvert went down, probably bought the farm. But then I swear to fucking God, Black Kaze came and is killing them all! It’s like there’s a thousand of her! Fuck, I don’t think Mover 7, Striker 8 is high enough for her! Over!”

“Oh hell,” the captain breathed. He slammed the button on his radio. “We have a Master Bio Tinker! Out! Everyone out! Fighting retreat! Get the choppers in!”

There was a shuffling sound from the dollar store, then the tinkle of broken glass. Lady looked as more horrors advanced on them, some at a run, others at a shuffle. They were all shapes and sizes, from grinning dwarves the size of children to beasts with lolling tongues and sharp claws to more bloated horrors like the first.

“Shit!” Lady shrieked and fired off an incendiary grenade as she hastily backed away.

“Hey, lady! Light me up!”

Lady turned at her callsign to see the Vision holder girl, no longer vomiting, once more form that whirling green ball. Realizing what was needed, she fired her last incendiary at the girl. The round exploded in the green vortex, and once more it turned into a ball of fire. The girl raced around like, well, like Sonic the Hedgehog if Lady was being honest, only if Sonic was a pyromaniac. Great circles of flame formed around the team as they hastened back, keeping off the horde of oncoming horrors.

“My pets! My creations! What are you doing to my children!?”

Lady turned to see none other than Rinke himself, hopping from foot to foot, a cloth crown flopping atop his head. A bow snapped, and an arrow struck the madman, then pinged away harmlessly. The big ninja swore under his breath in Japanese and put another arrow to the string. This one crackled with lightning, but when it hit Rinke, had no more effect than the first, or the shots that the team fired.

“You think you can slay me so easily!?” Rinke cackled. “I am a god!”

A black shadow with a raised sword appeared behind Rinke. “Then you are the one I have come to slay.”

“Wha-”

Rinke didn’t even have time to turn before six more clones of Kokusho formed around him. All began to hack away with their blades. He wailed and flailed about, and the horde of creatures turned, all going to defend their master. Whatever armor he had though gave way. It might have resisted arrows and bullets, and even the first few blows of the Black Wind’s blade, but her sword trailed smoke and shadow and began to carve through Rinke’s costume. He screamed one final time, then went down in a spray of blood.

“BURN HIM!” the captain bellowed, and all the remaining incendiaries were launched at Rinke as he moaned on the ground. He let out a gurgling scream as the flames licked at him, then went silent.

Beside Lady, the big ninja suddenly screamed as the horde turned back on them, a giant spine sprouting from his chest. He fell with a gurgle, and a moment later, the captain shrieked as acid bit at him. Then a little creature with spider-like legs but an all too human face latched onto Lady’s back and began to bite at her. There were too many! She-

Black Kaze was there, carving through the horde, ripping the monster off of Lady. There were dozens of her clones, hundreds, all striking with fury. Then a chopper appeared above them, hosing down the area with gunfire.

“I got you, I got you!”

Lady looked up, dazed, as Tanuki appeared at her side, hands glowing green. “Winds, bring healing!”

A strong breeze wrapped around Lady, and she gasped as her wounds were knitted together. She managed to stagger up, looking around in a daze. The captain was up too, supporting the big ninja on his shoulder as he fired.

“Come on, we gotta get out of here!” Tanuki urged, and they struggled towards the chopper, which had dropped a rope ladder nearby. Lady was barely able to haul herself up it, before collapsing, panting on the metal floor. Moments later, the rest of her team was there, as were Tanuki and the big ninja.

“We’re out of here!” the captain bellowed. “Rinke’s dead! We’ll need to send in the heavy hitters to wipe this place out!”

The chopper turned, then roared away. Lady managed to sit up, taking off her helmet and sucking in a breath of cold air. Beside her, Tanuki curled up, clutching her tail and shuddering as she quietly cried.

Hesitantly, Lady reached out a hand, then rubbed the girl’s back. “You did good, kid. Thanks.”

Tanuki sniffled, then nodded. “I…all those people. They were already dead, weren’t they?”

“Yes,” Lady nodded solemnly, feeling sick herself. “The whole town. Five thousand people.”

“Lady Raiden watch over them,” Tanuki whispered, closing her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks. She really was just a kid, no more than middle school-aged. “Never thought my first mission would be so bad…are they all like that, Miss?”

“Call me Emily,” Lady said with a sad smile. “No, that was definitely the worst I’ve been on. But bad? Yeah. They’re all bad. The world is full of twisted, evil monsters.”

Still sniffling, Tanuki sat up, and leaned against Lady to her surprise. “W-well, it’s the Shuumatsuban’s job to stop them then, I guess.”

“That’s what you call yourself?” Lady asked, filing the information away. There was going to be a very interesting debrief back at base.

“Uh, can you forget I said that, please?” Tanuku snuggled even closer to Lady. “I’m going to take a nap now. Wake me up when we land…”

Then, to Lady’s shock, the girl started snoring. Slowly, Lady reached over and lowered the girl’s mask. So young. Hard to imagine that a kid like this had just saved Lady’s life, and the Captain’s too. She accepted a space blanket from one of her squad and draped it over Tanuki’s shoulders. Despite herself, she smiled.

Maybe not all capes were that bad.

Author’s Note

Technically, Nilbog should have triggered in January 2001, but I’m going to say enough has changed that he triggered nine months later. Additionally, yes, Black Kaze’s powers work differently. Raiden “fixed” her, much like she did for Lung. She now knows Shadow Clone no-jutsu. Probably because Raiden has been reading Naruto.

For those wondering, that is indeed Sayu. She’s Japanese by birth, but raised in America, which is why she mostly speaks English at this point. She received her vision when her family moved back to Japan following Raiden’s reforms, and she gained her ambition of growing taller, as well as the loss of all her friends from America.

Now let the poor traumatized baby sleep.