Trump Card Pt 26 (Patreon)

Taylor

Behind my goggles, my eyes opened wide. “Oh, crap,” I muttered. “Not again.”

L33t didn't seem to notice, being taken up with an examination of Pyrotechnical's wares, but Über looked around at me. “Something the matter?”

“Yeah,” I said. At that one word, I saw his expression go from curious to worried. “It's Alibi.”

“Fuck,” he said softly. “What's happened now?”

I grimaced. “Lung. He just stopped a bus full of kids. He wants me. Do I run or go with him?”

By now, L33t had apparently realised that something was up. He backtracked, his expression already changing to match Über's. “What's up?”

Pulling the two of them away from the main group, I lowered my voice. “Lung's about to kidnap Alibi. I guess Coil's little stunt got out, and Lung's decided that I know who Hax is.”

“Fuck.” L33t gritted his teeth. “What are we gonna do?”

Über looked over at where Dodge was still exhibiting his tech, then met my eyes. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

“Yeah.” I nodded toward the young Tinker, wishing that I had more time to figure out new applications for his power. “Get the one with the most bells and whistles. We're gonna need to bring the van. Come on, L33t.”

L33t wasn't quite up to speed yet. “Where are we going?”

“To the van.” I was already moving toward the doors. “I'm gonna need to get my armour back together, and two Tinkers are better than one.”

“Uh, I guess?” L33t hurried to catch up with me. “But what's the plan?”

“Alibi's gonna stall 'em, and then I'm gonna jump in and kick another nine shades of shit out of Lung,” I said grimly.

“Wait.” He stopped.

I took another few steps along the pavement, then looked around impatiently. “What? We're burning seconds here. Seriously.”

“Sending you in isn't the best idea.”

It took me a couple of seconds to register what he was saying. “What the hell do you mean? Alibi needs rescuing! If we don't get back there as fast as possible, she's -”

“Hold up.” He patted the air in a settle-down motion. “I'm as worried about her as you are, but think about this for a second.”

I pointed at the van. “Can you tell me while we run? My armour still needs a little work.”

“Sure.” He caught up with me. “You're starting to think like a hammer.”

Without stopping, I stared at him. “Is this a Tinker thing?”

“No.” His expression was as serious as I had ever seen him. “Well, yes but no. Have you ever heard the saying, 'to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail'?”

I shook my head and refocused on the van. “Yeah, I've heard it. So what?”

“So, if you keep jumping in and saving the day, you'll make it clear to anyone who's paying attention that she's important to you.” His voice trailed behind me as he tried and failed to keep up with my flat sprint. “And by proxy, your dad. You want to paint a bullseye on his back, too?”

I stopped dead and turned to wait for him, frustration welling up inside me. “Okay, fine, what the fuck do I do then?” I asked, restraining myself from shouting by only the barest of margins. “You're talking like you've got all the answers. How do I save her without saving her?”

So he told me.

<><>

Lung

"Where is Taylor Hebert?" asked Lung again, scanning the faces that he could see. "Bring her to me, now. You know who I am. You do not want to make me angry." He made sure to enunciate the English words correctly, so that there would be no misunderstandings.

Almost as if his words were the catalyst for action, there was a scuffle toward the back of the bus. Lung moved forward, advancing down the aisle. A tall gangly girl was fighting her way out of a window seat, pulling away from the half-hearted grasp of the boy who was sitting on the aisle.

She gained her freedom and stood between the seats, panting heavily, her drab clothing dishevelled. Lung expected a token show of defiance before she gave herself up, or perhaps she would surrender immediately for fear of his anger. But instead, on seeing his advance, she gave a squeak of terror and bolted toward the back of the bus.

"There is no place to run to, girl." He continued his measured stride in pursuit. After all, she was trapped in the bus with him; there would be no last-minute escape. Even if she somehow slipped past him, his men were right outside the bus doors.

For a moment, he considered telling her that he only wanted to ask her some questions about Hax of Pwnage – not that he would ever utter that name out loud – but he decided not to. For one thing, Lung never explained himself. He gave orders, and others followed them. That was the natural way of things. For another, the girl was at least peripherally associated with the cape who had so thoroughly earned his mortal enmity, and may well refuse to answer his questions without sufficient inducements. And of course there was the fact that any mention of Hax's name would almost certainly get back to the cape in question and put her on guard, whereas this way she would have no idea that Lung was looking for her.

The Hebert girl reached the back of the bus, but didn't stop. Those seated in the last row dived to either side as she seized the emergency-exit handles and heaved. Exhibiting a level of panicked strength that Lung would not have credited her with, she popped the rear window open.

As it clattered to the asphalt outside, he lunged forward, trying to get hold of her. You're not getting away that easily. Glancing over her shoulder, she screamed and launched herself through the now-open window. His reaching hand missed the heel of her shoe by mere inches; she dropped to the street outside, rolled awkwardly, scrambled to her feet, and bolted. The whole time, she didn't stop screaming except to draw breath.

This was becoming more and more irritating by the second. Scrambling out through the rear window – he was somewhat taller and bulkier than the girl, so it wasn't as easy for him – he dropped to the ground and gave chase. Around the bus, his men were reacting; some were turning the vehicles around while others joined in the chase.

As he closed in on his prey – she was fleeing like a frightened rabbit, but her incessant shrieking had to be using up precious oxygen – he briefly considered the potential backlash that such a public abduction was going to have on the ABB, and on him personally. Nobody could prove that this was about Hax; for all anyone knew, the Hebert girl was a cape in her own right, and this was a 'recruitment' mission. It had happened before, and it would happen again.

In any case, it was too late to abort the mission. Not only was the Hebert girl alerted to his interest in her now, but to do so would be to show himself as weak and indecisive. Besides, he had put too much effort into getting his hands on her to give up now. No matter what, he had to follow through; otherwise, it would be all for nothing. He had to learn what she knew. Hax had to die. His pride demanded it.

Not only was he a big man, but his power ensured that he never got tired. Despite her best efforts, his longer legs ate up the distance between them. The girl glanced over her shoulder, screamed yet again, and tried to dodge between two parked cars. She stumbled, then fell headlong. He caught up as she tried desperately to scramble under one of the cars.

Bending down, he took hold of her ankle and began to drag her out from under the car. She writhed and kicked and screamed in what sounded like unbridled panic, striving ineffectually to free herself from his grasp. Behind his mask, his lips skinned back from his teeth; her terror was almost palpable. Jaku niku kyō shoku. Whatever else she was, she certainly was incapable of standing up to him.

“Be quiet!” he shouted at her, but she continued to struggle and scream. “Shut up!” If anything, she writhed even more desperately in his grip. Drawing back his arm, he slapped her across the face; not as hard as he might have done, but definitely hard enough to get her attention.

It didn't work; by now, she seemed to be gripped by a hysterical panic. He couldn't take his attention off her for a moment; twice, she almost managed to wriggle free from his grip. How can I explain that I'm not going to hurt her in a way that she'll believe and that won't make me look weak?

In the end, it wasn't going to matter. He would get the information he needed, one way or another. If the little bitch didn't want to give it up voluntarily, he would take it from her. Hax wasgoing to die at his hand. That part was never in doubt.

Making sure to pin her arms to her sides, he tucked her under his own arm like a sack of flour and started back toward the bus. She never stopped screaming and struggling the whole way. By the time he was about halfway there, her voice had hit a particularly high note that went through his skull like a bandsaw. He gritted his teeth and clamped his hand over her mouth, ignoring her attempts to bite his fingers, and kept walking.

<><>

Velocity

“Cooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttttttttttttttttrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-”

With a sigh, Robin slowed down until his personal time rate was somewhere close to that of the rest of the world. He'd spoken to Armsmaster about this problem. The Tinker had assured him that it wasn't a problem with the helmet radio receiver, but more to do with the speaker. He was working on a solution, but until he figured it out, Robin would be stuck with a long, low mooing sound every time someone wanted to get into contact.

“-rol to Velocity. Urgent. Come in, Velocity.”

“Velocity here,” he replied, stopping on a street corner and reflexively looking around. “What's the problem, over?”

“We have a report that Lung has held up a school bus and is taking prisoners. Armsmaster is five minutes out. Where are you?”

A cold chill shot down his spine. Schoolchildren. Christ. “West and Ward. Where's the bus?”

“It's on the corner of Kilmer and O'Donnell. That's -”

“I know where it is. ETA thirty seconds. Velocity, out.”

Contrary to popular belief, the city didn't go by in the blink of an eye when he pushed himself to his top speed. Instead, it slowed down to a crawl. To everyone else, he raced past in a barely seen blur; from his point of view, he jogged casually along with everything around him moving at a fraction of its normal speed.

The worst part about it was the boredom. To run from one end of the city to the other took time. Even if his body only required food and sleep to the schedule of the real world, it still took him forever and a day to get anywhere.

It took him about forty-five minutes to get to where the action was going down. Slowing to a gentle stroll, he let himself cool down while he looked around.

School bus, check. Bullet-holes in tyres and mud-guards, check. ABB assholes in cars, check. And … there's Lung himself. Kidnapping a schoolgirl, no less. Or if he wasn't, Robin couldn't think of another reason for having the girl slung under his arm. With the way she seemed to be kicking and screaming – as best as Robin could tell from the near-frozen tableau – she definitely wasn't going willingly.

Taking his camera out, he walked around the leader of the ABB, taking photos from different angles. He made sure to capture what he could see of the girl's expression around Lung's massive hand, as well as her wildly flailing legs. Fight that one in court.

Taking a deep breath, he slowed himself back down to Lung's timeframe, standing directly between the ABB leader and the vehicle he'd been headed for. With his thumb, he pressed the button to send away the photos to the PRT servers, then slid the camera back into its pouch. “Gonna have to ask you to put the girl down and surrender, Lung,” he said bluntly. “I've got reinforcements on the way, and you can't fight all of us.”

“No.” Lung's English wasn't the best, but even he could make himself understood with a single word. “Step out of the way or get hurt.”

Robin glanced around to make sure that nobody was about to shoot him in the back. “You can't even begin to touch me,” he assured Lung. “But seriously, kidnapping kids off the bus in broad daylight? That'll get you the Birdcage or a kill order. You know that.”

Lung chuckled deeply. “You're assuming that I don't already know.”

“Know what?” Robin wasn't sure where he was going with this.

“I have enough strikes that if I am captured, I already go to the Birdcage.” Lung's voice held a perverse pride. “You cannot threaten me with that.”

“Kill orders are also a thing.” Robin knew that it probably wouldn't work, but he had to try.

Lung shook his head. “Kill orders are for the Endbringers and the Nine. Not for me. Now, stand out of the way.”

Stubbornly, Robin stood his ground. “No. I'm not letting you take her.”

The tattooed man's sigh was more of a growl. “She will be released unharmed, once I get what I want.”

Robin felt a sharp twist in his guts as he looked at Lung and then the girl. “She's only a kid, for God's sake.”

It took Lung a few seconds to get his meaning, then he shook his head. “That's not what I need her for. Now, step out of the way.”

Another glance around let Robin know that guns were starting to angle in his direction, but he stood fast anyway. “No. I don't know what you want her for, but I'm not letting you take her.”

“Step out of the way, or I will order my men to shoot into the bus.” Lung's tone was implacable. “You know I will.”

Robin gritted his teeth. “Why is she so important to you?”

“She can tell you when she has been released. I will not tell you to step aside again.” Lung raised his voice. “Aim at the bus!”

Every ABB man that Robin could see raised his weapon. Aiming at him would be pointless, if he could see them. But there would be no way he could protect the kids in that bus.

He said she won't be harmed. Anguish twisted inside him. It felt as though he was abandoning the girl, even as he tried to convince himself that he wasn't. He wouldn't bother saying something like that if he wasn't going to follow through.

From what he could see, he had no choice. Pushing into his Breaker state, he watched the world slow down around him. He didn't know what Lung wanted the girl for, and it haunted him.

Moving away from the leader of the ABB, he entered the bus, navigating the aisle with the ease of long experience. Nobody seemed to be injured. There were no pools of blood, nobody apparently asleep or dead. I can't save everyone. If they open fire, this'll be a charnel house.

It was then, as he started to leave the bus, that his radio crackled to life. “Hax calling Velocity. How's things?”

He froze. The voice had come in at normal speed, with none of the long, low mooing that he associated with radio calls when he was in his accelerated time state. It was a female voice, teenage and confident, and oddly familiar. However, while he'd watched the latest Pwnage clips – the one with the dragon fighting Lung was amazing – he still couldn't be certain that this was indeed Hax.

“Who's talking, and how are you doing this?” he snapped.

There was no immediate answer, which ticked off several possibilities for him. Whoever this is, they're not running at my time rate. But they've got a frequency adjuster that allows them to speed their speech up to my level. How they knew the ratio to tune it to wasn't hard to figure out; his upper limit of speed had been common knowledge for a few years. What was more concerning was the fact that they'd tuned into his comms frequency and broken the encryption. That's a Tinker, right there. Which is making it look even more like it's Hax. So what does she want?

He left the bus once more, and was halfway over to Lung when his radio finally responded. “This is Hax, like I said. I've got a tracer on Miss Hebert. Let 'em go. They can't get away.”

If her previous statement had caused him to freeze, this put a splash of ice water directly down his back. How the hell did they know about this? Then the name registered on him, and he moved closer to Lung's captive. The big man's hand covered most of her face, but the hair was familiar, as was the lankiness of her body. That's Taylor Hebert, all right. But she is Hax. I've seen her do her trick. How the hell can that be Taylor Hebert when Hax is talking to me over the damn radio?

Nonetheless, Hax's true identity was one of the more closely-held secrets in the PRT ENE; only those capes who had directly encountered her powers were in on it. Although Director Piggot was determined to prove that she was Taylor Hebert, the prohibition against revealing her identity was ironclad. Which made Robin all the more confused; unless the Hebert girl was playing some sort of weird double-bluff, Hax was somewhere else right now.

Whatever. This is way above my pay grade. Time to kick this upstairs.

Sometimes, when he turned his power off, it felt like he was allowing the rest of the world to speed up, not that he was slowing down again. This was his experience now; Lung began to move, more and more quickly, as he turned his head to follow Robin's movements.

“I'm stepping aside,” the speedster told the ABB leader. “It's not like I can stop you, anyway. But I am going to report this in.”

“Report what you will,” Lung said. “But if you follow us, people are going to die.” He took the final few steps toward the nearest vehicle and shoved his struggling burden toward the open door. “Take her. Tie her up.” His hand came off of her mouth, and her high-pitched screams filled the air. “And fucking gag her before I kill her myself.”

Robin's hands clenched hard enough to make his gloves creak; only his inside knowledge of Taylor Hebert's true nature let him keep control of his impulse to dash in. I really, really hope that Hax knows what she's doing.

Lung hadn't told him to not look at the cars, so he moved to try to get a view of the license plates. They were taped over; he was tempted to try to remove the tape, but being able to move at an effective speed of over five hundred miles an hour was not the same as being invisible. While he'd probably – make that 'definitely' – succeed before any of them reacted, this would probably cause them to react badly, and a bus full of kids was an extremely pressing argument against provoking them just yet.

Returning to normal speed, he stood near the bus, watching as the ABB goons climbed into the cars. They had tinted windows, he noted. Once they left his sight for any time at all, he would no longer be certain which vehicle held the teenage girl.

Not that he intended to totally abandon her to whatever fate Lung had planned for her. It was heartening that Hax seemed to be on the case, and had a tracker on the girl. Neither was he going to leave it all to Hax; he himself was backed up by the awesome power of the PRT and the Protectorate … which reminded him. He had yet to check in.

<><>

Director Piggot

Emily Piggot's desk phone rang. She punched the answer button, leaving the handset on the cradle. “Piggot.”

“Ma'am, this is Lieutenant Janssen in Control. I have Velocity on the line. You're going to want to hear this.”

She didn't hesitate. “Put him through.”

There was a moment of dead air as the handshake protocol went through, then she heard the faint background crackle of a radio. “Velocity here. Director Piggot, are you aware of the ABB attack on the school bus?”

“Only that it's happened. I got a heads-up thirty seconds ago.” As she spoke, her mind flicked through the possibilities. He's not such a glory hound that he'd ask to be put through to me just to report a victory. Nor is he reporting a failure; I'd hear it in his voice. No, there's something else going on. Something odd or bizarre. “You've got something new to tell me.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Velocity's voice held respect. “Lung is on site. There is damage to the bus, but nobody has been hurt or killed. They've only grabbed one person. I've identified her as Taylor Hebert. They've stated that she will be released unharmed.”

Emily blinked. “Please say again that name.”

“I say again, the only person being abducted is Taylor Hebert.”

“And you're positive about this.”

“I got a good look at her.” And when Velocity got a 'good look' at someone, it generally meant that he spent several subjective minutes staring at them. “It's her, all right.”

“They said they'll be releasing her unharmed?”

“That's what Lung said.”

“And you believe him?”

“I think so. But that's not the complication.”

Now we get to it. “Keep talking.”

“I received a radio call, while I was in high Breaker state, from a certain person who has a connection to this case. I am not at liberty to divulge the name over an unsecured link.”

That didn't matter. Emily was well able to connect the dots. While Velocity was disconnected from the real world by a time ratio of a hundred or so to one, someone had contacted him by radio, and apparently been able to communicate meaningfully with him. Given his careful wording, it seemed certain that this person had been … Hax?

Emily Piggot had been present on the last occasion when Hax had shown the ability to be in two places at once. She knew that Hax was Taylor Hebert; the trouble lay in proving it, especially when the girl pulled off a stunt like this. Twice.

Also, it means that Hax has penetrated our radio encryption. Fucking Tinkers. How did she even do something like that?

Irritably, she shelved the question for later. “Understood. Was the person asking for help?”

“No. The impression I got was of someone in charge of the situation.”

Emily's eyes closed, and she thumped her head gently against the back-rest of her chair. Of course it was. If I don't get an ulcer out of this, I will be mildly surprised. How did Hax find out in the first place? She's allied with Über and L33t, and while Über's a Thinker, he's not that kind of Thinker.

“Thank you, Velocity. What's the current status of the ABB?”

“Just leaving now, ma'am.”

“Can you slow them down?”

“I've been informed that if I interfere, they will fire into the bus.”

Emily grimaced. She hated hostage situations. “Understood. Use your best judgement. Piggot, out.”

“Roger that, ma'am.” The call cut out.

Piggot spoke sharply. “Control.”

“Yes, ma'am?”

“Who's closest to Velocity?”

“Armsmaster is about three minutes away. Assault and Battery aren't far behind him.”

“Good. Once Velocity is clear to leave that site, have him report here at once. I want to hear what he knows, in person.” I want to know what Hax said to him.

“Yes, ma'am.”

She hit the button on the phone and leaned back in her chair, venting a gusty sigh. Lung just kidnapped Hax. He can't know that it's her, or he would've killed her on the spot. Of that she had zero doubt. But why would he kidnap Taylor Hebert? For her connection to Hax? Is he setting a trap for her?

“No,” she said out loud to the empty office. “That's not his style.”

Spinning her chair around, she stared out through the Tinkertech glass at the sprawl of Brockton Bay. It didn't take her long to arrive at her answer. “Information. That's what he's after. Information about Hax. Where she's based from. So he can pin her down and kill her.”

Slowly, a grin spread across her face. It wasn't a pleasant grin. I don't much like Hax, but I like Lung even less. And she's got a plan.

This should be good.

<><>

Taylor

As we neared the van, L33t pulled out the key fob and bip-bipped the vehicle open. I was careful not to touch it before the lights flashed, mindful of the anti-theft device that L33t had in place. However, the sliding door opened without any problems, and I climbed in.

“How can I help?” asked L33t as he got into the van as well and closed the door.

She/I struggled in Lung's grip. A red blur announced the arrival of Velocity on the scene.

“I'm going to need a vocal frequency stepper unit that I can use while I'm in my armour,” I told him. “Recording, speeding things up or slowing them down by a factor of a hundred. Ever made anything like that before?”

It was a valid question; with any other Tinker, I'd be asking it to make sure that he'd done something like that. With L33t, I wanted to make sure that he hadn't.

“Pretty sure I haven't,” he assured me. “Give me about one minute.”

I grinned; it was so damn good to have people at my back that I could absolutely depend on. Even if they were villains. Even if I had to become a villain to get that backup.

Grabbing my tools, I began to feverishly reassemble my armour. Beside me, L33t dug into the bins of parts – with effectively two Tinkers on board, of course we'd brought parts – and started to kit-bash together the device I'd requested. In the back of my mind, I followed the conversation between Lung and Velocity. My racing mind hit the next step in my plan, and I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Dropping it on to the worktable, I speed-dialled a number and put it on speaker.

By the time I got an answer, I was closing up my armour, and L33t was putting the finishing touches on his project as well.

“Hey, Hax.” It was Tattletale's voice. “Enjoying your road trip?”

Without pausing in my work, I rolled my eyes and allowed myself a grin. She just has to do that. I'd been inside her head; I knew how she thought. “Yeah, but there's a complication. I'm gonna need the encryption key for the Protectorate field comms.”

“Oh, I thought you wanted something difficult,” she retorted teasingly. “Sending it through in a second.”

A moment later, my phone chimed, announcing an incoming message. I ignored it while I attached the last section of armour plate. “L33t, how's it going?”

“And … we're … done.” He gave me a brilliant grin of his own. “This work for you?” On the bench was something that looked half-finished. Or it would have if I didn't have my light-spot on him.

“Looks good,” I assured him. “Tattletale, you still there?”

“Surely am. What's going down?”

“Gonna put Lung out of commission once and for all. Want in?”

She made a rude noise. “It's a Hax plan. Of course, I want in.”

“Okay, I'm on the clock, but I'll fill you in later.” I cut the call, then addressed L33t. “Okay, give me a hand with this.”

Together, we wrestled the armour back on to its feet. It was cramped inside the van, but I was able to turn around and get in the right position. Taking a deep breath, I announced, “Armsmaster is a dick.”

It seemed to me that my armour was responding faster than ever; no matter that there wasn't much room in the confines of the van, it wrapped around me with remarkable ease. I watched the HUD pop up in the goggles, running through a diagnostic, streams of green numerals stating that all was well.

She/I struggled against Lung's unbreakable grip. Lung was still talking to Velocity, but I figured that the face-off was coming to an end.

Picking up the phone, I called up the message that Tattletale had sent me. Using my HUD to image the data string, I entered it into the onboard computer memory. Then I opened the faceplate – an option I hadn't had before my fight with Lung – and put L33t's device over my mouth. “Hax calling Velocity,” I said cheerfully. “How's things?” The touch of a button compressed it to a fraction-of-a-second zip-squeal.

Velocity blurred away, into the bus.

I pressed the button to send the message. Almost instantly, a zip-squeal came out of my radio, to be automatically translated by the L33t device. “Who's talking, and how are you doing this?”

Suppressing a sigh, I answered. “This is Hax, like I said. I've got a tracer on Miss Hebert. Let 'em go. They can't get away.” He knows who I really am, but this should make him wonder. He didn't answer me, but I was pretty sure that he'd gotten the message.

Velocity blurred back into solidity and spoke to Lung. “It's not like I can stop you, anyway. But I am going to report this in.”

That was all I needed to know. He was going to talk to the Director, which was exactly what I wanted him to do. Piggot had been on my case since day one, but she was also invested in my well-being, so I knew the PRT wasn't about to hang me out to dry. In the unlikely event that they tried, I had other options.

I didn't think I'd be needing the frequency-stepper, so I clipped it into a compartment at my waist. My face-plate slid back into place, letting me bring my speakers – and voice modulators – into play, should I need them. “Bring the van,” I told L33t. “I'm going back to help Über with the pocket dimension generator.”

“Gonna build one of those into your armour as well?” joked L33t as I opened the sliding door. There was a hip-holster, Robocop style, for the wireless taser; almost by reflex, I grabbed the weapon and slid it into place. I could've taken the stun rifle instead, but that would've been a little obvious … well, a little more obvious.

“Maybe,” I answered half-jokingly. “Mind you, I am running out of places to put things.” Perhaps I should find some way to spend time with Armsmaster. He's really good at miniaturising components.

Sliding the side door shut again, I slapped the side of the vehicle. Not waiting for L33t to get into the front seat, I started off back down the road again toward the convention centre. As I jogged along, I called up one of the less warlike appearances from my assortment of holocloak options. In moments, I had the outer appearance of a statuesque woman clad in urban camo. Her long red hair flowed in the breeze, and a matching red bandanna covered the lower half of her face. A pistol rode in a holster at her hip, directly over where I had the wireless taser. The nametag on the camo read HAX, of course.

Door security looked me over as I jogged up to the main entrance. Their weapons of choice had been designed by Glace and Pyrotechnical respectively, so aggressors had the option of being fried or frozen. Of course, the other Tinkertech gear they were carrying easily clued them in to the fact that I wasn't exactly as I appeared.

“Hold up a moment,” the one on the left said. She rested the pyro-rifle on her hip and looked me over. “Hax. You've already been in?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I'm with Über and L33t. Über's already inside, buying something. Can I go back in?”

“You're wearing powered armour,” the other one said. Ostentatiously, he didn't quite point his freeze-gun at me. “There a reason for that?”

“It's got no built-in weaponry,” I advised them. “But like I said, Über's buying stuff, and I suited up so I could help carry it.” I leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of the Thinker. “Can I go in and see what's going on with him?”

“No aggression against the stall-holders,” the woman with the Pyrotechnical weapon warned. “You do that, we're authorised to go S-class on your armoured butt.”

“Roger that. I'm here to buy, not steal.” I stepped forward; the guards moved out of the way.

<><>

Über

“Fourteen twenty-five.” Über restrained the urge to grit his teeth. He had already bid far too much on the pocket dimension generator.

“Fourteen fifty.” Right on cue. That was the three-piece suit guy on the left. His bodyguard, the Brute, sneered at Über, then went back to scanning the crowd.

Über knew what was going on; he would have known it even if he wasn't so skilled at reading people. For some reason, the two suited guys had decided that they weren't letting him buy the generator from Dodge, so every time he offered a price, one of them topped it. It wasn't that they had come to any formal agreement, but apparently their mutual disdain for Pwnage had overcome their animosity toward one another.

While Über was all for people working together toward a common goal, he could think of far worthier times and places for this to take place. For example, any time and place other than here and now. Normally, he would have conceded defeat and walked away; however, they needed the generator to get back to Brockton Bay and save Alibi.

As far as he could tell, Dodge wasn't in on it. He would be the one to profit in the end, of course, unless the men decided to simply walk away after pushing Über out of the bidding. But for now, the boy was just watching as the bidding went to ludicrous heights over his device.

I have to keep trying. “Fourteen seventy-five.”

There was a pause, and for just a moment, Über thought that they'd tired of their game. Then, just as Dodge was opening his mouth to say something, the other man chimed in. “One point five million.”

Fuck. He opened his mouth to bid again. Pwnage had reserves that could cover that and a bit more, but they'd be resource poor for a while. Still, Hax is depending on me.

Just at that moment, Hax herself strolled into the convention centre. Über felt a flicker of hope; this time around, the teenage girl was clad in her armour, which was itself concealed behind a holocloak. Turning his attention back to Dodge, he raised his hand just as Dodge turned to the man who had just spoken. “Wait a minute. I haven't finished bidding.”

“You may as well drop out,” the suited man told him. “This is too rich for your blood.”

“Fifteen twenty-five,” Über replied doggedly.

“Oh, why don't you just fuck off,” the other bidder told him irritably. “You're a fucking loser, and it's embarrassing to see someone like you at a place like this.” He made a motion with his hand, and the Brute bodyguard stepped forward to wrap his oversized hand around Über's upper arm. “Escort him somewhere else, will you?”

“What the fuck?” blurted Über. “Let go of me, you asshole.” He considered his chances against the man in hand to hand combat, and decided that they were somewhere between 'poor' and 'non-existent'. Being the ultimate martial artist wasn't much of a help when your opponent was immune to most of your attacks. “Hey! Security! Over here!”

“They're not here for you,” the suited guy informed him smugly. “They're here to protect him.” He hooked his thumb at Dodge.

“Works for me,” said Hax, from just behind the Brute. An arm snaked around the big guy's neck and locked into place; at the same time, he heard the warble of the wireless taser. The other suited guy's bodyguard collapsed, his eyes rolling back up into his head.

In his struggles to get free, the Brute released Über's arm; Über turned to the Brute's boss. “Come here, fucker.”

“S-stay away!” The man reached inside his jacket; Über closed the distance in two quick strides and slammed a fist into the man's solar plexus. He struck something hard and unyielding, so he followed up with a palm strike to the nose and a side-kick to the knee. Cartilage crackled and the man screamed; he crumpled to the floor with blood spurting from his shattered nose and his leg bending at quite the wrong angle. A small pistol fell from his hand and skidded across the floor.

The other man who had been bidding against Über looked at him, then at where Hax was just lowering the Brute to the floor. Über took a step toward him, and he fled.

“Okay, what's going on here? Dodge, are you all right?” Two security guards shouldered their way through the growing crowd, Tinkertech weapons at the ready.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Dodge pointed at the guy that Über had laid out. “He started it. Told that guy,” indicating Über himself, “to go away and stop bidding, then he tried to make his goon force him to do it. Then the woman in the urban camo put the goon down.”

“Gun there, by the way,” Über pointed out helpfully. “That guy there pulled it before I put him down.”

One security guard shook his head, while the other checked the men on the ground. “God dammit. There's always one or two.” He leaned down and retrieved the pistol, then looked at the other bodyguard, who was just starting to recover. “What happened to him?”

“Wireless taser,” Hax supplied. “I didn't want to have to be holding him off while I choked out this guy.” She drew the weapon, the holocloak making it look as though she was pulling it from the holster, and showed it to the guard. “Non-lethal, low-powered.”

“That's fine, put it away.” The guard waved dismissively at the taser. “I'm more worried about the gun.”

“What about when he told his guy to escort me away?” Über was, understandably, still a little pissed. “Isn't that kind of against the rules here?”

The guard shrugged. “We know what sort of person comes here. By definition, you're kind of supposed to be able to take care of yourselves. A few normals with Tinkertech rifles aren't going to make much of a difference. So we take care of the stall-holders, and let you guys police yourselves.” He pointed at the unconscious Brute. “Like so.”

“Okay, fine,” Über said. “So, can we get back to the business of actually doing business?”

“Sure,” the guard agreed. “Knock yourselves out.”

“Great.” Über turned to Dodge. “Now, before those assholes started bidding me up, I believe I offered a certain amount for your device. You were about to accept before we were interrupted. Is that price still on the table?”

“Um …” began Dodge.

Hax stepped up alongside Über. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. In the armour, with the holocloak on, she stood over six feet tall. He didn't know she was using his power to bump up her skill of silent intimidation, but she was certainly managing to loom ominously without moving a muscle.

Dodge evidently came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be wise to try to insist on the artificially inflated price. “Sure,” he agreed. “Cash, card or wire transfer?”

Über grinned. The generator was theirs. Soon, they'd be on the way back to Brockton Bay.

It was time to take the dragon down, once and for all. 

Part 27