My smashing through the door of the Gershwin Theatre, Battlehammer in hand, was probably not the worst breakthrough in Broadway. I’d put it as close, though.

It wasn’t helped by the Sarnak on the stairs opening fire.

Plasma blasts hit left and right, as I used Bodycharge to propel me towards the alien. The impact knocked him down, leaving me the chance to smash his jaw in with a Deadly blow. I followed it up with a Lightning Strike for good measure, and then pummeled him with another hammerblow.

CRITICAL HIT! SARNAK TROOPER -174 HP. SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED, +500 XP.

A plasma bolt slammed into the banister next to me. I turned.

RAPTOR GUARD

LEVEL 10

HP 300/300

WEAPON: PLASMA RIFLE, +200 DAMAGE/HIT.

I reflexively hurled a Fullersteel Pilum at the lizardlike alien.

RAPTOR GUARD DEFEATED! +400 XP.

The platoon was following hard on my heels, as Doyle and Tucker and the rest broke in firing. Another Sarnak emerged from the hall and found himself at the receiving end of the platoon’s fire. The alien roared, swung his plasma cannon towards the platoon - only to be knocked back by another Fullersteel Pilum as it slammed into his chest.

A well-placed grenade and more bullets turned the Sarnak into charred paste.

SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED BY ALLIES! +500 XP.

I grabbed my Adrenaline Serum from inventory. “I need two seconds,” I shouted to Tucker.

He nodded, covering me. I unequipped my helmet, gulped down the Serum, and had the helmet back on in that time.

Banner flinched. “Did your helmet just - dematerialize and rematerialize?”

“Powers,” I explained. “What’s in the next room?”

“Aliens,” growled Tucker, “and they’re shooting at us.”

I nodded. “Time to do my part.”

I raced through the doors and charged into the mezzanine of the Gershwin.

If you’ve ever been to the Gershwin, understand that it’s huge. The theatre seats almost two thousand people when playing. With the lights off, it’s also an impressively dark space.

Now add to that at least a dozen aliens firing plasma blasts, soldiers screaming and charging, and one gung-ho ultra tripping over the seats?

Confusion.

Not helped at all by Furniture Destroyer, which was tearing apart any chair I so much as bumped into.

The good thing about fighting aliens in the dark?

Plasma weapons glow.

Every alien’s position was essentially advertised. I took advantage of this and launched three Fullersteel Pilums.

JAVELIN STRIKE! SARNAK TROOPER -320 HP!

JAVELIN STRIKE! RAPTOR GUARD -320 HP! RAPTOR GUARD DEFEATED! +400 XP!

JAVELIN STRIKE! RAPTOR CAPTAIN -320 HP!

… what the hell is a Raptor Captain?

I could figure that out later. Instead I focused on where I thought the Sarnak Trooper stood and chucked a Fuel Bomb at him

SARNAK TROOPER -288 HP! SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED! +500 XP!

That was lucky, Fuel Bombs didn’t usually get anywhere near full damage on an alien.

Now for the Raptor Captain ….

A plasma bolt slammed into me.

PLASMA BOLT! 200 DAMAGE TO ARMOR! ARMOR 80/400.

Dammit. Had to swap...

I rolled under some seats. The furniture collapsed on top of me.

RAPTOR CAPTAIN THINKS YOU ARE DEAD!

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY USED FURNITURE DESTROYER TO DECEIVE AN ENEMY IN COMBAT. FOR CREATIVE THINKING UNDER FIRE, +1 WISDOM!

Thanks, power.

I swapped out my damaged armor pieces into Inventory and donned the spare set.

Then I dropped the damaged armor pieces. There was very little time now before my Weightlifter’s Boon ran out - I didn’t want to get an AP penalty while in mid-battle.

The thump of the armor pieces hitting the ground made little difference in a theatre riven by blasts, gunfire, and screams.

I needed to locate the Raptor Captain. Preferably hit him with something before he shot back at me…

And that’s when I remembered Mindstrike. It didn’t require line of sight to the target. Or any sight, really.

I had enough MP to give the Captain a really bad headache.

I focused for a second on the skill. MP spilled out of my forehead as dark purple ribbons of lightning, and lanced across the theatre, hammering at a corner I hadn’t noticed before.

RAPTOR CAPTAIN -10 HP! RAPTOR CAPTAIN IS DISORIENTED FROM MINDSTRIKE: -2 INT!

I had him.

I let loose with Lightning Strike.

Electricity arced across the theatre, hammering the Raptor Captain. Like before, I kept pumping my MP into Strike after Strike.

The Captain screamed.

The smell of charring meat began to fill the theatre, as bolt after bolt slammed into the Raptor Captain.

Doyle barked, “Fire at that corner!”

The rat-a-tat-a-tat of assault rifles marked bullets slamming into the corner, piercing the Raptor Captain.

A grenade sailed through the air, exploding right next to the Gershwin’s mezzanine overhang. The light briefly illuminated the Raptor Captain, a lean, lizard-faced creature writhing in pain as fire, electricity and bullets slammed into his body.

RAPTOR CAPTAIN DEFEATED! +1000 XP.

QUEST ALERT: HONOR OF THE CLANS. DESTABILIZE AND DESTROY THE RAPTOR CLAN GUTHNAR BY DEFEATING THEIR SCIONS AND THE CLANLORD. SCIONS DEFEATED: 1 OF 4. REWARD: +20,000 XP + NEW SKILLS + NEW BLUEPRINTS.

…. What the hell did I just stumble into?

A plasma bolt struck one of the soldiers, killing him instantly. The battle was not yet over.

A flare arced into the theatre, illuminating the area in an eerie glow.

In the light, our foes stood revealed - six of those called Raptor Guards.

I hurled lightning.

Tucker, Banner, and the rest of the soldiers opened fire on the Raptors. Bullets slammed into them as the forty-strong platoon faced off against the six remaining aliens.

I used Bodycharge to close with one of the Raptors, laid into it with the Battlehammer, and finished it off with a Critical Hit.

Another Raptor fired at me from the orchestra floor. I ducked and chucked a Fuel Bomb at it.

The blast set fire to the Raptor, a grand piano, and a massive cello.

A soldier chucked a grenade at the Raptor. The resulting explosion tore apart what was left of the musical instruments, and put the burning Raptor out of its misery for good.

I blasted another Raptor with lightning, as the platoon pressed the charge. Bullets, plasma, electricity and grenades were putting on a very different show from the Gershwin’s normal fare. Another blast, another scream, another +400 XP notification…

“Clear!” yelled one of the soldiers.

The gunfire slackened.

“Clear!” “Clear!”

“Hold fire!” yelled Doyle.

I paused my latest lightning strike - in part because I couldn’t see a target either.

Another flare went up.

No living aliens. Oh, and the curtains were on fire….

“Secure the perimeter!” ordered Doyle. “Second squad, firefighting duty!”

The squad grabbed fire extinguishers from the walls and hosed down the curtains, as the rest of the platoon swept the theatre with brutal efficiency.

Tucker was at my side. “You okay?”

“Just a bit winded,” I muttered. “Did we get them all?”

“Seem to have,” replied Tucker. “You did good, ultra.”

“Thanks.” I took a moment to view the notification that had just popped up.

HIERARCHY LORE ADVANCES TO LEVEL 3. YOU HAVE LEARNT ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THE RAPTORS AND MARKED YOURSELF AS A FOE TO ONE OF THEIR CLANS. HOW DIPLOMATIC OF YOU.

And as usual, my power chose to mock me in the middle of a firefight….