One More Trigger Pt 17 (Patreon)

They came out on to the catwalk in close formation; Aerodyne had her shield ramped up as hard as she could manage. Pistol fire broke out from every angle; sparks flew from the catwalk as ricochets or actual misses struck the metal grating. Those shots which did strike the shield caused small dimples to appear momentarily on the surface of the bubble, but these were erased instants later.

Ladybug used this as an opportunity to bring more bugs into action; shouts and screams arose, joining those of Rogers, as bugs bit, clung, and injected venom.

The closest soldiers were now within twenty feet.

“Need a hole,” Sparx snapped.

Aerodyne didn’t answer, but a small aperture opened up, directly above Sparx’s head. Her hair flowed up through the gap, then turned at ninety degrees. The tendrils extended farther and farther, until they reached the closest of Coil’s mercenaries.

Those soldiers that had exposed skin, she wrapped her tendrils around and exerted her power just a little; the men jerked and convulsed as electricity flowed through them. The ones that were more completely covered up, she grabbed and dragged over the safety rail, to drop twenty-five feet to the concrete below. Either way, they were out of the fight for the time being.

"Vista! Doors!" snapped Sparx.

The Wards liaison, recalling her part in this, exerted her power. Every doorway around the periphery of the open space abruptly shrank, leaving the men in the main area cut off from their reinforcements.

***

Luke was still pulling his costume on when Trickster and Sundancer hurried back into the Travellers' quarters. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"Bunch of capes attacking the base," Trickster supplied. "Jess, you set up to rock and roll?"

"Will be in a moment," grunted the fourth member of the Travellers. She was in the process of transferring herself to her wheelchair. No-one moved to assist her; she was fiercely independent in that matter.

"So what's our game plan?" asked Sundancer. "I'm not sure about using my power underground. I don't want to bring the roof down on us."

"Let Coil's mercs take the edge off them, then we hit 'em hard and fast," Trickster decided.

"So who is it?" asked Oliver. "And what can I do?"

"He never got around to telling me," Trickster confessed.

"Or you never remembered to ask," Ballistic pointed out.

They all jumped at the sharp report of the Barret, echoing through the room.

"Well, that's useful," Jess told him sarcastically, getting her legs settled. "Going against unknown capes. Joy."

"Well, they won't know we're here either," Trickster defended himself. "So we'll have the element of surprise."

"Francis!" shouted Oliver, over the gunfire that started up outside. "What do I do?"

"See if you can get downstairs!" Trickster shouted back. "Try to keep Noelle calm!"

"Out in that?" demanded Oliver, hooking a thumb at the continuing sounds of gunfire.

"Do what you can," urged Sundancer, putting a hand on his arm. "If she breaks free ..."

"And besides," added Trickster encouragingly, "it's our side that's got the guns, not them. No-one's going to be shooting at you."

"How do you know that?" demanded Oliver. "They could be anyone. They could be the PRT. The PRT carry guns."

"But you're a civilian and a non-combatant," Trickster reminded him. "The PRT won't be shooting at you."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine," he grumbled. "I'm going."

He headed out into the branch corridor that linked their section of the base to the main area. Seconds later, he was back.

Trickster looked around from where he was fitting his top hat to the correct angle. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Forget something?"

Oliver shook his head. "The doorway."

"What doorway?"

"The one out to the main area."

"Well, what about it?" asked Luke, putting his square mask on.

"It's not there any more."

***

Universe A

The last door closed behind him, and then there were only the stairs ahead, which led to a parking garage under a building that he owned – in another name, of course.

All he had to do was get up those stairs with Dinah and her paraphernalia, climb into the waiting van, and disappear. Losing this base would be a blow to his plans, of course, but he had other bases, and he could rebuild everything.

I would have succeeded, if it wasn’t for - Forcibly, he prevented himself from completing that thought. No villain who said that ever ended up winning the day.

He considered dropping the other timeline, but held off. All was not lost, not quite, and he had learned from bitter experience to never drop a timeline until he was absolutely certain that it could not be salvaged.

A gesture from him sent the guards up the stairs first to secure the parking garage; it was only a formality, but he was big on formalities. Accompanied by Pitter and the other guard, he began climbing the stairs himself.

***

Universe B

“No, damn it! No, no, no!” Coil slammed his fist on the desk, staring at the monitor, urging it to show some other image. But there it was.

Every doorway on both levels was … closed. Contracted to a fraction of its width. His men had broken into the armoury at last, but it would do them little good, as the concrete walls would hold them as well as any purpose-built prison, tricked-out assault rifles or no. The lasers were great for cutting many things, but concrete was not one of them.

He panned back to the intruding group. Now, he had a proper count, and could identify them all. He groaned. Why did it have to be them?

Sparx, Aerodyne, Ladybug, he knew of. The up-and-coming independent team which had won both its public battles. Just teens, but teens with a lot of training under their belts. He paused to ponder their origins. Who was backing them? Were they really that good, or were they just lucky?

It didn’t matter. They now had Vista with them, from the Protectorate. They also had Tattletale, apparently free and unrestrained. The treacherous bitch has betrayed me.

Once again, he did not even spare a thought about how he had ‘recruited’ her to his cause in the first place.

Worst of all was the last pair of girls in the expanded Samaritans lineup. Panacea and Glory Girl. While Panacea was a well-known healer, one whose presence here he found mildly puzzling, Glory Girl was an equally well-known brick. Her durability was reputed to be on the same scale as Alexandria’s, and her strength was apparently quite effective as well.

He swore again as he watched sparks fly from the metal walkway all around the girls. They were closely packed together, and he could not understand why the massed pistol fire from his men – his remaining men, he amended bitterly, as another was tossed screaming over the rail – was not affecting them.

Then he saw the vague outline around them, and understood. Force field. They’ve got a fucking force field. They must have a Tinker working for them too. Fucking Tinkers.

As he watched, more of his men were disabled, as the Samaritans moved around the periphery of his base. They showed discipline and purpose, never stepping outside the protective bubble of the force field, even as their ranged attackers did their work from within it.

***

Both Universes

“What do you mean, it’s not there any more?”

Trickster didn’t wait on an answer for his question; he darted past Oliver, and down the corridor.

Only to come up short before a solid wall of concrete.

Oliver had been wrong, but only technically so. The doorway was still there. It was present as a slot, barely half an inch across, in the bare wall. Through it, the sound of gunfire still echoed.

He was still staring at it as the others arrived.

“What the fuck?” asked Ballistic. “Where did the doorway go?”

“There,” Trickster pointed. He wedged his finger in the slot. “It’s right fucking there.”

Ballistic frowned. “How the fuck -?”

“Someone made the concrete grow over the door, is my best guess,” Trickster snarled. “The question is, how do we get past this? Noelle’s out there.”

“If she gets loose,” Marissa ventured, “it might be safer for us in here.”

Trickster rounded on her. “No! She needs me there. With her. We need to figure out a way past this.”

Oliver had his eye to the slot. “It looks … maybe three feet deep. We need to be able to break through three feet of concrete.”

“Reinforced concrete,” added Trickster. “Sorry, Mars. Didn’t mean to snap.”

“It’s all right,” Marissa acknowledged. She frowned. “Luke, do you think you could smash through this?”

Ballistic shook his head. “The shrapnel would be a killer. Jess?”

Something that looked like a four-armed ape knuckled its way in from the other room. They made way for it; it punched the wall. Dust fell. Nothing else much happened.

“We could wait for her to form something more capable of breaking through,” suggested Marissa.

The ape-thing shook its head. “No matter what I make,” it stated in a gravelly tone, “it would still take too long. Mars, it’s up to you.”

Marissa bit her lip. “I hate it when you say that.” She looked around. “Everyone’s going to need to get in the shower, even Jess. It’s going to get very hot in here.”

***

Universe A

Coil stepped out of the concealed doorway into the parking garage, with Pitter and the guard at his heels.

The first thing he saw were his other three soldiers, down on the ground, being secured with zip-ties.

The second thing he saw were the PRT soldiers surrounding the area, all pointing guns at him and the other two. Laser sights cut through the dusty air. Quite a few of them terminated at his chest.

Very slowly, he raised his hands.

***

Universe B

“Fuck!”

Coil growled out the expletive, and reached for his keyboard. He had a third way out, but first he was going to free his pet monster. Even if the Samaritans found a way past her and the Travellers, the base would then explode around them.

A wave of bugs poured from the air vent; they covered the monitor, and then the keyboard, in a glittering tide of chitin.

“Uh uh,” a voice spoke, and he realised that it was the bugs themselves, buzzing and humming and chirping in unison. Ladybug.

“Don’t go doing that, now,” the bugs went on. “I don’t know what allergies you have, but I’ll risk it if I have to.”

He recoiled. Bugs he could handle. Bugs that could mimic human speech; that was creepy on a level that he just did not like.

But he had to get to the keyboard, or the mouse. Access to his secret escape passage was controlled by his computer. If he couldn't get to either one, he was trapped here.

With a snarled curse, he spun to the wall, where a fire extinguisher was mounted. The white powder would be hell on his lungs, but hopefully it would clear the intruding bugs from his desk for long enough.

Yanking the pin out, he pointed the nozzle of the extinguisher at the bug-covered keyboard and squeezed the activation lever.

***

Both Universes

Sparx shocked another soldier into insensibility, then looked around. The amount of incoming fire had dropped away to nothing. Screaming could be heard as Ladybug’s insectile minions did their work, but no-one was shooting at them.

“Glory Girl,” she ordered. “Secure them, find any hold-outs. Make sure no-one’s playing possum. Once you’re done, Panacea can start making sure no-one’s gonna die.”

“All right,” exulted the white-clad hero, accelerating through the air-shield. She landed beside the first soldier, and set about her task with a certain amount of enthusiasm.

“Temperatures are going up,” warned Ladybug.

“Where?” asked Sparx.

Ladybug pointed. Across the far side of the open area, one of the doorways Vista had closed off was being opened once more. A patch of concrete was turning black, and smoke was starting to pour from the slot where a door had once been.

“It’s Sundancer.” That was Tattletale.

“Those are their quarters,” Ladybug agreed. “I just lost my last bugs in that area. I think they’re all in the shower or something.”

And then the fireball burned its way through the last of the reinforced concrete and drifted out into the open area. Temperatures, as Ladybug had mentioned, immediately began to rise dramatically.

Behind it followed Sundancer, and then Trickster and Ballistic. Both of the male members of the Travellers were soaking wet, whereas she was bone dry.

“Can you do something about that thing, Vista?” asked Aerodyne. “Make it smaller, maybe?”

Vista nodded, and concentrated on the sun-ball. It immediately began to shrink dramatically, ending up half the size of a basketball.

“Excellent,” muttered Aerodyne, and dropped the force field. Almost instantly, another field formed into place around the sun-ball.

“Trickster needs line of sight,” Tattletale said warningly.

Ladybug didn’t need to be told twice; almost instantly, a cloud of bugs began to harass the Travellers, forcing them to shield their faces. And then Aerodyne held up her hand, fingers spread. A moment later, she closed it, and the sun-ball went out.

“Nice,” Panacea congratulated her. “How did you do that?”

“Starved it of air,” Aerodyne told her tersely. “Now shush; I need to concentrate. Ballistic’s a big hitter.”

A moment later, Ladybug was gone, and Ballistic was in her place; Trickster had finally managed to get the line of sight he was after.

***

Universe A

“Well, you’ve got me,” Coil conceded smoothly. He watched as uniformed medics relieved Mr Pitter and the guard of the unconscious Dinah. “I suppose you’ll be taking me in for questioning?”

“We already know most of the details we need to know about you,” snapped Armsmaster, stepping forward. “We need you to come back into your base with us.”

“Back ... into the base?” repeated Coil.

This was not what he had planned for. He had set up the self-destruct. It would go off in a matter of minutes. It would also go off if anyone tampered with his computer in that time. Also, if anyone tried to open one of the several heavy doors between the main complex and this escape route.

“Yes,” replied Armsmaster. “And we’d best hurry, don’t you think?”

He levelled his halberd; far from the high-tech wonder that most people saw it as, right now, to Coil, it just looked like a long, sharp weapon of war. One that was pointed at him.

Without any options left to him, he started back down the steps.

***

Universe B

Teeth bared under his mask, Coil sprayed the desk liberally with the white powder. Bugs were swept away with the force of the blast, and the small office quickly began to resemble the aftermath of a snowstorm, or an explosion of talcum powder.

He inhaled, and coughed, then coughed again. This stuff got everywhere, even through the cloth that made up his whole-body costume. The bugs, he hoped, would also be suffering.

But he’d cleared the keyboard, which was what he wanted. Giving the desk one last spray, he bent over the desk, and used his hand to swipe away the accumulation of white powder from the keyboard. When that didn’t get the results he wanted, he picked the keyboard up and held it upside down, shaking the powder off of it.

It was still liberally coated in the stuff afterward, which wasn’t surprising; the very air in his office was thick with the powder, just hanging there. He coughed again.

This time, when he wiped the keys off, he could just barely make out the letters through the haze of dust. His costume was so coated with the powder that the snake on it was virtually invisible.

The screen was also coated in powder, of course. But that didn’t matter. He didn’t need it for this.

He typed in a password that would not show up anywhere on the screen; it was intended to open an inconspicuous door at the back of the office. Turning his head, he did not see any such door opening. He moved over to where it should be. The wall stayed obdurately closed.

Going back to the keyboard, he thought quickly. It was possible that he’d mistyped the password; the powder on the keys made such things tricky. He typed it again, taking his time to identify each key correctly.

Again, there was no corresponding secret passage.

He swiped irritably at the powder coating the screen, to see what was happening on the computer. There wasn’t any operating mode in which that password couldn’t happen, of course, but maybe he could work out what was going wrong by checking the screen.

It was dark and blank, as best as he could tell.

He swiped again. Yes, it was blank.

He checked the power light.

It was on.

He checked the power light on the computer tower.

It was on as well.

Dropping to his knees, coughing at the clouds of white powder kicked up by this action, he pulled the tower out from its compartment, pulled the side off.

Bugs were in there. Bugs in their hundreds, their thousands, their tens of thousands for all he could tell. All industriously chomping away at the connections, the chips, the motherboard ... everything.

Fuck.

***

Both Universes

Trickster and Ballistic had pulled this little stunt before. Ballistic could send opponents flying away, but he needed to touch them. Trickster could put him in among them, but of course this put an enemy in among them. With the opposition all being teenage girls, they needed a fairly bulky one to swap with Ballistic; Ladybug was tall, and her costume added a bit of bulk to her.

The fact that his ability to launch them at the speed of sound would invariably end in fatalities did not factor into this; they were literally fighting for their home, here. Fighting to defend Noelle.

Opponents they pulled this on were invariably caught by surprise, giving Trickster and Sundancer the chance to disable the enemy in their camp, and Ballistic the chance to wreak havoc in the enemy’s group.

They had never tried this before on the Samaritans.

***

While the fertile imagination of the Dad Brigade had never gone so far as to imagine a team member being swapped for an enemy, they had practised the concept of a team member suddenly changing sides; Masters were a fact, after all.

So when Ballistic appeared in their midst, Sparx reacted almost without thinking. Her hair whipped out to push the others away from the intruder. He took a step forward, reaching for her hair. She let him grab it; the shock sent him flying over the rail, to land on the hard concrete below.

Across the other side of the open area, Ladybug reacted just as quickly. Reaching up, she jammed Trickster’s hat down over his eyes, dislodging his mask as she did so. Ignoring Sundancer, she dived over the rail, shouting “Glory Girl!” as she did so.

She fell exactly fifteen feet before there was a soft impact, and she was being borne away on a pair of strong arms.

Moments later, she was being set down with the Samaritans once more.

“See?” Victoria told Sparx smugly. “I can do teamwork.” And she was gone again.

Sparx gave her retreating form a measured nod of approval, then turned to scan the area.

“Where’s Coil and the girl?” she asked.

***

Trickster pulled his hat up once more; a flying white form landed in front of him. The fist that clocked him on the jaw looked delicate, but hit like a Mack truck. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Glory Girl turned to look at Sundancer.

“So,” she asked. “We gonna go?”

Slowly and reluctantly, Sundancer shook her head.

***

Universe A

“Tried to do a runner,” reported Ladybug. “He’s being escorted back by Armsmaster and some Protectorate soldiers. Dinah’s being treated by their medics.”

“Wait, what?” asked Sparx. “The Protectorate? When?” She stared at Tattletale and Vista. “Did you know about this?”

“I knew,” Tattletale confirmed. “Vista didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t, but I wish I had now,” Vista agreed. “Which exit is it? Let me know, so I can open it.”

***

Universe B

“He’s trapped in his office,” reported Ladybug. “I’ve killed his computer, and now he’s attacking a section of wall with a piece of his chair. He’s also got a gun.”

“Let’s go relieve him of that responsibility,” Sparx decided.

“Oh, and Armsmaster is leading some PRT troops in via another entrance,” added Ladybug.

Sparx’s head whipped around. “What?” She glared at Tattletale and Vista. “Did either of you know about this?”

“I knew,” Tattletale confirmed. “Vista didn’t.”

“No, I didn’t, but I wish I had now,” Vista agreed. “Which way are they coming in? Let me know, so I can open it.”

***

Both Universes

“That one, there,” Tattletale told her, pointing. “Uh, we might have a problem.”

All the Samaritans went on to high alert.

“What?” asked Sparx.

“There’s another member of the Travellers.”

"We know. The changer. Genesis."

“No, that’s not the one I mean. That one’ll be coming out that door any second now, though.”

***

“Look out behind.”

Glory Girl spun around at the buzzed warning.

A sinuous draconic form slithered out from the scorched doorway; she backed away, taking to the air.

“Your friends are down,” she yelled. “Give it up!”

The dragon belched flames at her; she yelped and evaded.

And then suddenly, it shrank. In moments, it was the size of a small dog; Glory Girl flew in and smashed it with one brutal blow.

***

Across the way, Vista grinned and dusted off her hands.

“What one do you mean?” asked Sparx carefully.

Tattletale pointed at the large vault door on the bottom level. A young man, who had slipped down there in the confusion, was talking into an intercom.

“She’s in there.”

***

Universe A

When they came to the first locked door, Armsmaster looked meaningfully at Coil. They had relieved him of his gun, but they had only cuffed his hands in front of him. So he had free access to the keypad.

He knew quite well that since he had activated the self-destruct, any wrong attempt at entry would cause a devastating series of explosions to rip through the entire base. So he had to do this right.

Reaching up to the keypad, he carefully typed in seven, one, zero, three.

Just as carefully, he pressed Enter ...

***

Universe B

Coil had one corner of the secret door open, and was levering it farther with the arm of the chair, when the concrete blocking the doorway opened up again. He turned fast, snatching up the gun from the floor and snapping off a shot. It struck Glory Girl dead centre, doing her no appreciable harm. He never got a chance for a second shot, because she broke his arm in three places. Her second punch broke his jaw and knocked him out.

***

Universe A

Coil gritted his teeth and collapsed the other timeline. He immediately opened another one, but it didn’t seem as though it was going to do him much good.

They came to another door. He opened that, too.

***

There was a girl in a wheelchair, still in the remains of the Travellers’ quarters; she introduced herself as Jess. She allowed herself to be conveyed, along with Sundancer and the unconscious (and secured) Trickster and Ballistic, to the vault door.

The young man, who had distractedly identified himself as Oliver, was speaking soothingly into the intercom as they approached.

“She’s not happy,” he told them. “She heard some of the shooting, and now she wants to know what’s going on.”

“Who’s not happy?” asked Sparx. “What’s going on here?”

“She’s a Case 53,” Tattletale told Sparx. “She’s monstrous. Really big. Dangerous. She’s killed people. Gone out of control. They came here because Coil promised them a cure.”

Sundancer was staring at her. “She’s my friend!” insisted the Traveller girl. “Her name is Noelle Meinhardt, and she was my best friend before all this started.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I just want to go home, get away from all this.”

“Coil lied to you,” Tattletale stated quietly but firmly. “He was never going to give her a cure, even if he could get one for her. A team of loyal capes, willing to do dirty work and not ask many questions? It’s a dream come true.” She nodded at the vault door. “Noelle was his leverage over you.”

Jess shook her head. “No!” she insisted. “He told us that he was close to a cure!”

“And how long had he been telling you that?” asked Tattletale softly. “Had anyone actually come in, taken samples, even looked at her? Tried something that didn’t work?”

Their silence was a more compelling answer than any they could have given.

“Okay.” Sundancer’s voice was soft, broken. “What do we do now?”

“You can surrender to lawful custody.”

The voice came from the catwalk overhead. Armsmaster stood there, with a contingent of PRT troops. More were entering from the way that the Samaritans had come in by.

“Unless, of course,” he went on, “you’ve decided to surrender to the Samaritans. But that gets old, very fast.”

Keeping a firm grip on Coil, Armsmaster descended the stairs to the lower level.

“Well done,” he congratulated the teen heroes. “And you as well,” he added to Tattletale. “You seem to have picked the right side.”

Tattletale stared at Coil.

“Oh, shit,” she muttered, then raised her voice, speaking frantically. “Shut him up! Don’t let him speak!”

***

Universe A

“Noelle!” Coil shouted. “I’m a prisoner! I’ll never find a cure now! And it’s all –“

Sparx reacted faster than Armsmaster; her hair uncoiled, reaching out, wrapping around his head, his face, muffling his voice, gagging him.

Armsmaster pressed his halberd up against Coil’s back. “One more word,” he growled, “and you’ll wish she’d tased you.”

But it was too late.

Noelle had heard.

***

Universe C

Sparx whipped her hair out, coiling around his face, his mouth, muffling him. But he said nothing, did not struggle.

Armsmaster pressed his halberd up against Coil’s back. “One word,” he growled, “and you’ll wish she’d tased you.”

Coil shrugged lightly, as if to say, Not saying a word.

And he smiled, under the gag, under the cloth of his mask.

***

Universe A

Coil smiled, under the gag, under the cloth of his mask.

Because he had heard what everyone else had heard.

THOOOM.

Part 18