Smoke drifted across the area, covering everything in a haze.

A figure walked up to me.

Edgar Curry had a fearsome scowl. A scowl that promised retribution, punishment, and all manner of dire consider for whatever wrongdoing you were guilty of.

It was out in full force now, and even talking up to a ten foot tall battlesuit, he seemed completely unfazed.

"Where. Is. She."

"Who?"

"Don't play games with me, boy. I know who you brought to this dance."

"Do you now," I drawled.

"That terrorist has no place in my city."

"That 'terrorist', as you call her, just saved your life. And the lives of all the troops here."

"We had it under control, didn't we?"

"No, we didn't," I snapped. "The Carnotaur has an ability called Harden that reduces damage done by shells to a quarter. Something we didn't know earlier. It can use the ability once every fifty seconds, for five seconds at a time. So we'd have needed, what? Twenty-five hits to kill it. We got nine by surprise, and three when it was distracted by the pain."

"Surprises on the battlefield aren't new. We adapt, we overcome, we don't break the law."

"We are ultrahumans, General Curry.” A memory came to me, of words spoken by a better man. “All feuds, disputes and arguments are to be left outside the Stratospheric Guard compound. That's our law."

Curry inhaled a sharp breath. "You want to quote law to me? You're harboring an international terrorist."

"General. I don't tell you how to run armies. Don't tell me how to lead ultras."

Curry seemed taken aback. Finally, he nodded. "You say you're in command of the ultras?"

"Yes."

"Then you take responsibility for anything they do. Is. That. Clear."

"Crystal. Now I suggest we plan our next move."

"The two Carnotaurs in Richmond Park."

"No." I shook my head. "They're the distraction. The real threat is Bushy Park. And the thousands of aliens there."

"... You want to push forward to Bushy Park? The Carnotaurs will swing back and tear through any assualt formation."

"I don't need a lot of troops for this, General."

The General cocked his head. "You already have a plan."

"Yes. I need two Travelers."

"Then use them. As you said, you're in charge of the ultras." Curry walked off.

… what?

Nanocloud: You did say you were in charge just now.

Belessar: I meant of the ultras here. The seven of us.

Nanocloud: Yeah, that wasn't exactly clear. And by the way, about a hundred soldiers just saw you declare yourself supreme commander of ultrahuman forces, so you'd better live up to that.

Belessar: Curry was being stubborn.

Nanocloud: I can see him right now. He's telling Howe that he let his temper get the better of him. Howe is saying you can't unscramble eggs, so best to keep moving forward.

FOR HARBORING AN INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST, YOU LOSE REPUTATION WITH THE FORCES OF LAW.

IMPACT REDUCED BY LAWBREAKER TITLE.

-100 ETHICS.

FOR STICKING WITH AN ALLY IN A TIME OF NEED, YOU GAIN RESPECT AND TRUST.

+50 ETHICS.

RELATIONSHIP WITH AGNI INCREASES. AGNI IS NOW TRUSTED FRIEND (7).

Agni walked up to me, chuckling. "Where to now, Supreme Commander?"

"Don't call me that."

"Hey," interrupted Unity. "You're her, aren't you? Agni? The pyromaniac?"

Agni cocked her head at the Herculean. "I've been called worse. You are?"

"Unity. Herculean from Southampton. I've heard you killed half a million people."

"Two hundred thousand. I'm looking to match the number in aliens."

"Well that's just bloody fantastic. You seriously think there are that many?"

"If not today, then in the next round. This isn't my first alien defence, and I don't intend it to be the last." Agni giggled. "I had too much fun killing that thing."

Chequers stared at Agni as if she'd grown a second head. "Fun?" His voice crackled. "That was a kaiju! They've killed thousands!"

"Closer to millions. That's what makes it fun." Agni flexed her fingers. "Killing the easy ones isn't as entertaining. Still, quantity is a quality all its own…"

"Enough with the chitchat," I said. "Shamrock. Can you control the speed of your flaming potatoes?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you make them roll along the ground? Slip under a shield?"

Shamrock nodded eagerly. "That I can do."

"Agni. Shamrock will roll burning potatoes under the Shield Tower boundaries outside Bushy Park. Can you pick it up from there?"

"Absolutely. How hot do you want to make it?"

I smiled a nasty smile. "Shields can keep out the yield of a nuke. Don't burn the towers. Chequers?"

"Here."

"You predict the exact time when Agni should let loose. Once the burning potatoes are inside."

Chequers swallowed. "I don't know exactly how her power works."

"I burn things," Agni commented. "It's pretty straightforward."

"Unity, you're close guard. For us and the Travelers."

"What Travelers?"

"The seven of us will be teleporting to the edges of Bushy Park," I explained. "Shamrock rolls potatoes through the shield, Agni sets fire to them and starts burning the troops."

"There are multiple overlapping shields," protested Shamrock.

"Which is what the Travelers are for. We'll have to move fast."

"And the Carnotaurs?"

"Another reason to move fast."

LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 14.

+1 ATTRIBUTE BOOST AVAILABLE.

I ticked off the notification absently. Third level up today, and we weren't even halfway through the enemy.

I'd need more AP today, so Perception it was.

+1 PER. My AP shot up to 380. PP, CP and Psydef also rose.

And I was currently only about 5000 XP short of the next level, and another attribute boost…..

: Anne, point me to some Raptors. About eleven.

: You're in luck. There's a bunch of them crawling around the park, preparing for a counterattack.

: I'll leave a few for you, but I want to test out the Nanospikes.

: Just point in their direction.

Five minutes later, I stood over the smoking remains of a Raptor patrol.

Fourteen Raptors versus me, my freshly reloaded Mass Driver Rifle, and a willingness to swing the Lightning Hammer in Deadly Blows? And with Nanocloud ‘testing’ her Nanospikes while we were at it?

Hardly a contest.

LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 15.

1 ATTRIBUTE BOOST AVAILABLE.

I need more AP.

+1 PERCEPTION.

400 AP, enough for eight Javelin Strikes in quick succession.

Still not enough to kill the Greater Carnotaur. Which, according to Nanocloud, was still lazing around in the middle of the park, snacking on the massive plate of grey octopus-like flesh and sipping drinks the size of beer barrels.

Standing over the corpses of the dead Raptors, I glanced through the descriptions of the new blueprints killing the Carnotaur had unlocked:

NANOTHORN KUKRI:

POWERED BY A CLOUD OF CUTTING FULLERSTEEL NANOPARTICLES, CHARGED BY LIGHTNING THIS EDGED WEAPON INFLICTS CUTTING DAMAGE AGAINST A FOE.

DAMAGE: 2,000 DAMAGE / HIT.

CONSUMES 25 MP/SECOND WHILE ACTIVE.

REQUIREMENTS: LEVEL 15, 20 DEXTERITY, 20 STRENGTH, LIGHTNING STRIKE LEVEL 2.

COST: 1 COMBAT KUKRI + 1 KG CONTROLLED NANOPARTICLE SWARM + 1 FOCUSING CRYSTAL + 3 GRAVITIC CONTROL ARRAYS + 3 COMPUTERS + 600 MP.

NANOBLADE JAVELIN:

THE FULLERSTEEL JAVELIN HAS BEEN MODIFIED TO CARRY A NANOSCALE CUTTING EDGE.

DAMAGE: 1,000 DAMAGE / HIT.

REQUIREMENTS: 20 DEXTERITY, 20 PERCEPTION.

COST: 1 FULLERSTEEL JAVELIN + 0.05 KG CONTROLLED NANOPARTICLE SWARM + 500 MP.

Powerful weapons, and major upgrades over my current armory.

I could hear the steps of people approaching. Daisy. Maria. Tucker. Nanocloud.

And Doyle.

I turned.

Doyle stood ramrod straight and snapped off a salute. “Sir.”

“I should be calling you that.”

A hint of a smile cracked across Doyle’s face. “General Curry informed us that he had a bit of an argument with you. These things happen, he says, between peers. He’s willing to offer what support you need to crack Bushy Park.”

“... Peers?”

“I believe you are in charge of all ultrahuman forces in London right now. Sir. That makes you a general, at least.”

“Don’t you need to, you know, have some experience to become a general?”

“I used to be a lieutenant once upon a time. Someone said becoming major-general wasn’t such a big deal.”

“Fine, you got me. I have no idea if the ultras will follow me, though.”

“And I had no idea if the colonels, majors, and brigadiers around here would follow me, either. We all learn as we go along. Sir. Now, what are your orders?”

“Are the Travelers I asked for here?”

Three men in grey suits made their way to the front. One was clutching a broken arm. “Drivers Thirteen, Twenty-Two, and Ninety-Four reporting in, Belessar. Capacities sixty-four, thirty-seven, and forty-three tons….”

“How quickly can you form portals?”

“Thirty seconds.”

I turned to Chequers. “Will your disrupters work on Hierarchy shield towers?”

The battlecognitive shook his head. “Too strong. We’d need a much bigger disrupter to take them down.”

“How much bigger?”

“These ones are fifty gigajoules. To take down a tower shield, Razorback said he needs about a hundred terajoules.”

Numbers flashed through my head. Including the fun fact that a one kiloton nuke is roughly four terajoules…

“So, we do this the old-fashioned way. Here's what we're going to do...”