Gunmetal Crusade 6: Inter-Effort (Patreon)

Gunmetal Crusade
Chapter 6: Inter-Effort

-VB-

Dragon frowned as she looked at the map of North America. Currently in a meeting with many high profile individuals of said continent, she couldn’t help but wonder if this level of attention was too little. 

Many would say that the combination of the Canadian Minister of National Defence Bill Graham, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Parahuman Response Team Boston Department Director Daniel Armstrong, Parahuman Response Team Brockton Bay Department Director Emily Piggot, and Associate Director Timothy P. Murphy was a force to reckon with. The political and institutional power each of these people wielded commanded people in the tens of thousands at the least and over a million armed and trained personnel combined, never mind the regional and national parahuman forces.

And yet, they looked tired and forlorn because despite their strengths, they were held behind by none other than bureaucracy. 

Ever since Marshal’s abrupt accusation against Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown and the confirmed revelation of Thomas Calvert’s alternate persona, the entire continent had been thrown into chaos. It was a manageable chaos, which allowed these powerful people to meet without being swamped by work. 

The purpose of this meeting?

How to handle the “Purification Arsenal.”

“There isn’t anyone connected to the PA,” Piggot grumbled out loud. “No work, no family, no private property, no identity, or anything else.”

“A ghost in the system?” Armstrong hummed. “Could he be a Stranger or have employed a Stranger before?”

Chertoff scoffed. “If there was a Stranger that could so easily infiltrate the government despite all of the Anti-Stranger protocols, then we have a bigger issue than this Marshal,” he replied. “But it’s unlikely for a Stranger to exist. I believe it’s more likely that this Marshall is an illegal immigrant.”

“Even with his Los Angeles accent?” Piggot asked.

“Accents do not give someone citizenship. Besides, this terrorist gave it up even if he had one after declaring the government defunct.” 

Dragon grumbled mentally as she remembered the scandal caused by the Marshal’s declaration that the current government of the USA was no longer providing the security it was meant to provide. That, along with the declaration that the USA itself had set a precedent for independence with a minority of its population supporting it, caused many other copycat groups to try their hands at securing their own fiefdoms across America.

The Congress passed a new law lightning fast, and forced the PRT to work together with the military to put down terrorists, secessionists, and separatists as quickly as possible. 

This law alone caused controversies that Dragon did not want to think about, but it was the impact this law had upon the populace that scared many; it angered too many people. 

There was already an accusation that the government was under a shadow group’s control, and this kind of law, one that would have been unilaterally opposed before the rise of the PRT, made that accusation seem very likely. 

She was already in charge of keeping track of five different organizations spread throughout the USA that could pose a risk to the unity of the union, and she was allowed to do this because parahumans were involved.

And all of this didn’t consider the fact that the Marshall and his Purification Arsenal was a military might of their own. In everything but name, he took over Brockton Bay and Boston and became its warlord.

It was a blow to everyone in the military, PRT, and police that they allowed a warlord to take American territory when even the likes of the Japanese Empire and Nazi Germany couldn’t do that. 

Hope was not lost, however. While the USA was currently in chaos, there were many heroes, parahuman and normal, who saw the hostile takeover over a large portion of New England as an attack upon their country, and rose to fight the Purification Arsenal. While these grassroot organizations were weak and could barely break into Purification Arsenal’s territory, they would in time become stronger and kick the Marshal and his Arsenal off of America. 

Hoped, yes, but she also knew that without direct support from either the federal government of the USA or other powerful organizations, these grassroot fighters would lose; they just didn’t have the manpower to fight the Purification Arsenal one-on-one.

Already, the Purification Arsenal moved into Portland, Maine, and had wiped out the underground elements. Before that, they swept through Boston, and the city suffered heavily during May, causing Accord and his Ambassadors to flee Boston, unable to fight against an endless tide of killers. From there, they pushed north into Canada. 

Eidolon couldn’t help because he was implicated in the on-going investigation for his ties with the former Chief Director and whatever shadow organization held the government in a vice grip. That and - what truly made him complicit in the eyes of the people - he had disappeared at the same time that the former Chief Director had. 

Armstrong’s phone rang in the middle of the meeting. He pulled the phone out to mute it, but stopped when he saw the caller on the screen. He quickly answered the phone, standing up to take the conversation aside.

But he stopped.

He woodenly turned towards the rest, and at that moment, Dragon received her own alert. She “paled” and quickly pulled up another screen.

“Leviathan is heading towards the Northeast coast. He’s heading for Boston.”

-VB-

“Marshal”

Leviathan was coming. The Endbringer Sirens rang with certainty, and the message was going out to everyone. 

The gunfire of our latest engagement came to an abrupt halt, and even the hardened criminals and villains who had been fighting against me and mine with gusto and courage looked pale at the siren call.

As the greatest challenge came, I did what was only right.

All across New England, we converged. Clone troops stationed in Brockton Bay moved. Clone troops stationed near Concord moved. Clone troops who had been fighting against last remnants of Maine’s villainy abandoned the fight for the great battle.

And as we converged on the city of Boston, we shouted our battlecry. From Providence, Rhode Island to Montreal, Quebec, we shouted thus:

“Bring the Arsenal to bear!”