We marched down the Westminster road without incident, at first.

: there’s a squad of Sarnak up ahead, five - no, seven

: they’re just scouting, not trying to hide - randomly firing into buildings

She must have told Duncan the same thing, because Doyle started issuing orders to his troops a second later.

“Aliens up ahead,” Tucker told me.

“Nanocloud let me know,” I replied, pulling out my Laser Rifle. “Sarnak, seven in number. Lumina!”

“What is it, Belessar?” came an exasperated voice.

“Seven aliens up ahead. Sarnak.”

“Sar-what?”

“The big lizard-headed ones. A patrol.”

Lumina nodded in acknowledgement. Then she and Viking sprinted forward.

“Are they charging?” I asked in disbelief. “From this range? They’ll exhaust themselves.”

Tucker shrugged. “We grunts don’t question the wisdom of ultrahumans.”

I shook my head.

Doyle barked an order, and the troops moved forward in a fast trot. The sound of explosions reached us - Lumina and Viking had closed with the enemy.

I saw the first Sarnak at the same time as he saw me.

In a second, I had let loose with the laser.

SARNAK TROOPER -40 HP! LASER BURN!

The Sarnak screamed.

Bullets hammered into it, forty soldiers firing at the same time.

SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED BY ALLIES! +500 XP!

“Well, that went easier than expected,” I muttered.

Three Sarnak troopers burst onto the scene, firing plasma at our position.

PFC Ritter screamed as a plasma burst hit him.

Instinctively, I triggered Heal.

Ritter’s burns vanished as the golden light struck him. The soldier gasped and got to his feet.

The sound of rapid assault rifle fire thundered through the street, as bullets slammed into the Sarnak.

I grabbed my newest explosive and aimed.

“Is that a rifle grenade?” Tucker yelled over the din.

“Yes!” I screamed back and fired.

SARNAK TROOPER -437 HP! SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED!

SARNAK TROOPER -374 HP!

SARNAK TROOPER -422 HP!

2 SARNAK TROOPERS DEFEATED BY ALLIES!

“I got all three in the blast,” I grinned. “Works beautifully.”

“I’d say you can’t launch a rifle grenade from a laser,” grumbled Tucker, “but can’t argue with the results.”

I smirked. “Tucker, with superpowers anything is possible.”

“Lord help me but I’m starting to actually believe that.”

The platoon moved forward at a fast trot. Viking was battling a Sarnak, hammering him into the walls, while Lumina boxed with two others.

They were too close for the troops to fire safely - but not too close for Mindstrike.

SARNAK TROOPER -20HP!

SARNAK TROOPER -20HP!

SARNAK TROOPER -20HP!

The effects of the Mindstrike showed immediately, as the two Sarnak fighting Lumina let their concentration slip. In a fraction of a second, she’d crushed the throat of one and shattered the other’s ribs.

Viking picked up his opponent and smashed him on the road for the last time. The Sarnak’s skull shattered, leaving its blood oozing on the asphalt.

3 SARNAK TROOPERS DEFEATED BY ALLIES. +500 XP X 3.

Neat. So I got XP if I contributed to the kill, even a little bit. Maybe I could gain a lot by piggybacking?

Then I thought of the three hundred aliens at the stadium - and god only knew where else.

No, I’d have to pull my own weight in this one.

“Belessar,” Doyle pointed. “There.”

One of the Sarnak had dropped their rifle on the ground. Even now, it was sparking.

God bless you, Doyle. I invoked Reverse Engineering.

YOU HAVE REVERSE ENGINEERED A PLASMA RIFLE DROPPED BY AN ENEMY MERE SECONDS AGO.

AS A SECURITY MEASURE, ALIEN PLASMA RIFLES ARE LOCKED TO THEIR USERS AND AUTOMATICALLY DEGRADE WHEN THE USER IS KILLED. TO REVERSE ENGINEER A WORKING MODEL, DO SO WHILE THE USER IS STILL ALIVE.

Great. What did my power expect me to do, use Reverse Engineering while in active combat?

…. Wait. That was what was expected, wasn’t it?

YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF ELECTRONIC ARTS ADVANCES BY 1 LEVEL. NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: ALIEN HACK.

ALIEN HACK LEVEL 1: YOU CAN HACK SIMPLE ALIEN DEVICES, SUCH AS DOORS. COST: 300 MP / USE. REQUIREMENTS: HIERARCHY LORE LEVEL 5, ELECTRONIC ARTS LEVEL 12.

… all right, so I got a new skill out of this at least.

“Anything?” asked Doyle.

“Useful,” I replied, “but in the next fight I’m going to close with the enemy.”

“No objection from me,” Doyle commented, “as long as you don’t get in the line of fire.”

: another Sarnak patrol coming up, six of them

“Heads up!” I yelled. “Sarnak incoming!”

The troops raced into firing positions. I jogged ahead and pulled out the Lightning Hammer.

As the aliens marched into view, I raced forward.

BOAR CHARGE ACTIVATED!

SARNAK TROOPER -205 HP!

As the Sarnak staggered back, I swung with the Lightning Hammer, aiming at his arm.

SARNAK TROOPER -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK TROOPER -40 HP!

CONDITION INFLICTED: SHATTERED ARM!

The Sarnak screamed in pain, dropping his rifle.

Exactly as I’d intended.

I grabbed the plasma rifle in one hand and Powerjumped back.

A thirty foot jump back wasn’t much, but it bought enough distance for me to chuck a Stun Grenade at the Sarnak.

The alien reeled back, staggering under the effect.

I hastily pulled my MP together.

PLASMA RIFLE REVERSE ENGINEERED.

QUEST COMPLETED: PLASMA WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY UNLOCKED.

BLUEPRINTS UNLOCKED: TERRAN PLASMA RIFLE, PLASMA GRENADE.

A roar from the Sarnak reminded me that the fight was not over.

The Sarnak slammed into me. Which would have hurt - in any other armor.

Boar Armor, however, was sterner stuff. The impact of the Sarnak slamming into me was - negated.

I remembered the Sarnak’s barehand punch - 30 damage per hit, as much as a bullet - and Boar Armor’s damage negation.

I smiled. My turn now.

I hit him with the Lightning Hammer.

SARNAK TROOPER -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK TROOPER -40 HP!

And again.

SARNAK TROOPER -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK TROOPER -40 HP!

SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED! +500 XP!

I turned to see the others.

Soundwave, Viking and Lady Lumina were each engaged with an opponent, while two more lay dead.

I hadn’t gotten XP from the two already killed. Made sense - I had to contribute to the fight to gain from it, right?

I targeted Soundwave’s opponent and used Boar Charge.

BOAR CHARGE ACTIVATED!

SARNAK TROOPER -205 HP!

The Sarnak’s bones cracked under the impact. It collapsed in a wail.

I slammed into its skull with the Lightning Hammer.

SARNAK TROOPER -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK TROOPER -40 HP!

SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED! +500 XP!

“Thanks,” rumbled Soundwave.

“No problem,” I replied, turning to check on the others. Viking was slamming a Sarnak up and down, best not to interrupt, Lumina - was face-to-face with another. Which left its back unprotected, perfect.

BOAR CHARGE ACTIVATED!

SARNAK TROOPER -205 HP! SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED, +500 XP!

The Sarnak crunched under the impact of my armor.

Lumina gave me a hard stare. “Don’t do that again.”

“What? I helped.”

“Don’t interrupt my fights. If I need help I’ll ask.” She stalked off.

What was her problem?

Doyle had brought his troops up. “More enemies up ahead,” he commented. “Raptor Guards.”

“Raptor Guards?” inquired Soundwave.

“New nomenclature for different types of enemy troops. These are Sarnak Troopers,” Doyle pointed at the dead aliens, “and the ones we’re about to hit are Raptor Guards. Oh, and Belessar? They’ve got a Raptor Sniper in one of these buildings. You know what to do.”

“With pleasure,” I grinned.

: four buildings down, sending you the coordinates

Twenty minutes later, we had cut our way through three Raptor Guard patrols and two Heavy Sniper positions.

Raptor Heavy Snipers might be lethal if they caught you unguarded, but with Nanocloud to scout and me to unleash Javelin Strikes?

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Nonetheless, I sighed in relief as the last kill pushed me over the 15,000 XP threshold.

LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 10.

1 ATTRIBUTE BOOST AVAILABLE.

HP REGEN RATE DOUBLED. HP REGEN NOW 0.26 PER SECOND.

Without thinking, I pushed the attribute boost into INT. My MP jumped to 600 and MP regen to 24/second.

Come to think of it, I should probably do something to boost AP too… Javelin Strikes were incredibly useful. Ah well. At least I would be less dependent on Hypercaffeine now.

We passed a board reading SANDHILLS LANE.

: did you get any XP?

: no

: doesn’t matter, i think it’s more meaningful for you than for me anyway

: also, there's an invisible vehicle headed your way

"What?"

: saw a vehicle with a big cannon mounted on top on the next street.

: and it just turned invisible

: so watch out

“Invisible enemy vehicle incoming!” I yelled.

Lumina gave me a sceptical look. “If it’s invisible, how do you know it’s coming?”

“Nanocloud spotted it on the next street,” I explained. “It has a vehicle-mounted cannon and turned invisible.”

“I hate masking tech,” grumbled Viking.

Lumina turned to Soundwave. “Can you spot it?”

“I can track something coming,” muttered the inventor, “and tag it with echolocation. But it’s iffy.”

“Do your best,” Lumina said. She turned back to me. “We’ll need to pin it down and hit it with something hard.”

: it’s on the street

I spotted the movement because I was looking for it. A ripple in the air, as the masked vehicle came up Bankhall Lane onto Sandhill.

: making the vehicle visible for you guys

Suddenly, a big red X appeared where the air was rippling.

“Fire on the X!” I yelled, whipping out my Rifle Grenade.

The platoon responded instantly. Bullets flew through the air, hammering into the side of the vehicle.

Under the effect of dozens of hits, the masking tech failed. The alien vehicle shimmered into view.

My first impression was that it looked like a dun-coloured jeep. A jeep the size of a tank….

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER

LEVEL 30

HP: 8,000 / 8,000

CREW: 4

WEAPONS: PLASMA CANNON +2000 DAMAGE/HIT

PLASMA MACHINE GUN +150 DAMAGE/HIT

DAMAGE NEGATION: 50

Crap. This was a metric ton of pain, if it got loose amongst the infantry….

: uh…. I didn’t realize it was that big

“Close air support needed!” Tucker yelled. “Get to cover!”

The alien vehicle turned its cannon towards us and fired.

The plasma blast scorched overhead and crashed into a storefront. In less than a second, the entire store was on fire.

A soldier stood up, hefting what looked like a rocket launcher. A projectile streaked towards the tank.

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -500 HP!

The men cheered as the vehicle was hit.

I wasn't so sanguine. It would take fifteen more hits to wreck the vehicle… unless…

I raced towards the rover. The gunners saw me coming and turned the smaller gun towards me.

Plasma blasts rocked the road. Fortunately, they missed.

I activated Powerjump.

In a second, I was soaring through the air. The gunners were taken aback, and the fire fizzled out as they tried to track me.

No time.

My feet crunched onto the tank's surface, right next to the plasma machine gun.

Hammer time.

The first strike smashed the gun barrel.

LYNIXAN STEALTH ROVER -99 HP! ELECTRIC RESISTANCE: NO ELECTRIC SHOCK EFFECT!

Well. No matter. I was on the surface of the tank, and the close range weapon - the machine gun - was disabled. At least it looked disabled.

Now for the big gun.

I activated Deadly Strike and smashed the Lightning Hammer into the cannon barrel.

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -495 HP!

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -495 HP!

TANK BARREL DISABLED!

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -495 HP!

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -495 HP!

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -495 HP!

I had to stop at that point - AP was dangerously low. Cursing, I switched to normal strikes, hammering away at the turret, the side armor, the engine block - everything I could reach.

Mindstrike didn't even let me target the vehicle. Lightning - the rover was electrically insulated so no luck.

: Doyle says, get the treads… and explosives

Right. I jumped off the tank and smashed the treads with my hammer. Very little effect…. I dropped several Fuel Bombs in the treads and Powerjumped back out of range.

The blast was spectacular.

MULTIPLE FUEL BOMBS DETONATED SIMULTANEOUSLY. CONGRATULATIONS.

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER -857 HP.

TITLE GAINED: THE BAY WAY

The treads on the alien vehicle splintered.

"Good job, Belessar," yelled Banner as I retreated to position.

"It's still at half health," I grumbled.

"Yeah, but it's pinned. Now watch our superpower," the ex-tanker smirked.

A whistling sound screeched through the air.

Something slammed into the Lynxian vehicle. Something hard, fast and - explosive.

The alien rover blew up.

One second it was there, the next second there were pieces of alien metal flying through the air.

"Precision artillery," Banner noted with pride. "Can hit a flea on a camel's back with enough punch to kill a battleship. Provided, of course, the target is standing relatively still."

LYNXIAN STEALTH ROVER DEFEATED BY ALLIES!

+2500 XP.

I nodded, impressed. "That's … powerful stuff. Where's the artillery located?"

Banner's grin widened. "The HMS Resolute is parked in the Liverpool creek."

"We're getting fire support from a warship?"

"Oh yeah."

"Damn. That gives new meaning to the term 'firepower'."

"Let's move out," ordered Doyle. "The remaining aliens aren't going to kill themselves."

Soundwave limped towards me. "Belessar…. that was…"

"Awesome, right?" I grinned.

"Insane." Soundwave sighed. "Yes, also awesome. My ears are still ringing, and my sensors are all fried…"

"But we're alive," I replied. "And you can fix those."

"Eventually, yes. But I may have to bow out. The weapon your friends used basically toasted the armor."

"Huh?"

"My gear is ultrasensitive to sound. The actuators are wrecked. The armor's basically half dead until I overhaul the entire thing." Soundwave sighed again. "I'm heading back. Stay safe."

“If you feel that’s best.”

Lumina had, meanwhile, walked up to Doyle. I could see them arguing about something.

“... too close,” Lumina was saying, “what if the next shell hits one of us?”

“Ma’am, we consider all these factors while targeting,” Doyle replied. “Also, the nature of fire support is decided by the engagement commander, not by us on the ground.”

“I want to speak to the engagement commander.”

“May I suggest we do that afterwards? This is still an active combat zone.”

“Fine, but you’ve not heard the last of this,” growled Lumina as she stormed off.

“What was that about?” I asked Doyle.

The officer shook his head. “Your fellow ultra feels we should have taken her clearance before firing an artillery shell this close to her.”

“While there’s an enemy tank that can turn invisible, shooting at us?”

Doyle grinned. “I think she believes she could have taken it herself. What was that thing anyway?”

“Lynxian stealth rover,” I quickly gave Doyle the figures I’d gleaned. “I think Fraser would be interested in the numbers.”

“He mentioned it,” replied Doyle. “Any new enemies you observe, we’re to send the details to him on an express basis. Also told me you needed to eat an enemy rifle.”

“I didn’t eat it.”

“Well, he said consume. And given what you actually did, it seems a fair description. Do I want to know what that was about?”

“Can we just chalk it up to powers related stuff?”

“Understood. Let’s move out.”