Chapter 39: Friends Like These

When in mortal peril, chaos is your ally and there is no time for doubt.

I had just enough time to identify Dum’s massive silhouette falling from the hole in the ceiling. “Get ‘em!” I roared. My demons charged, and the first still surprised fell beneath a wave of claws and teeth. “Looks like you’re stuck in here with me, Arlo!”

“Don’t just stand there, lackwits!” Arlo flicked his wrist.

I ducked as a trio of cards spiraled over my head, and they thunked into wooden supports behind me.

Unfortunately, he rallied the rest of his goons before the fight could snowball in my favor, and they came loaded for demons. I summoned a second wave, bigger demons taking up the space I’d gained. “Hem them towards the door.” My skills pinged as they ensured my orders were heard. “Don’t let them spread out.”

“On it!” Electra took a step forward, lightning-wreathed fist shrieking as it caved in a man’s cuirass. With a vanguard of gryphons, Electra held the left side down on her own. Meanwhile, Dum and a slight figure that could only be my Relia alongside him hemmed in the left.

Who else would be so willing to disobey my direct orders, not that I was in a position to complain.

I took a few steps back from the scrum, instructing my weaker hobblefiends to harry the flanks instead of just charging in blindly. I winced as the Tarnished chopped one of my gryphons to bits.

The from before stepped forward, spear glowing as he cut into the middle of my horde. I sighed. As always, I was at my best in commanding from the rear, where both my skills and intelligence could shine. But of course, if you want something done right…

I jogged two steps forward just as another glowing spear thrust skewered another gryphon. I ducked around its disintegrating body. “Remember me?”

He jerked back, but this close, the length of his spear was a liability. He bumped into the man behind him, and I stepped in close and swung. The man blocked my fist with his haft. The wood held, grain burning a bright blue.

He grunted, arm lashing out.

I blocked. Despite my servos, the blow nearly pushed my arm back into my face. This close, he couldn’t slip back, and I snagged his weapon.

He jerked to the side. I dug in my feet.

“Little help here!”

A hobblefiend clambered up my armor. I saw the ’s grey eyes widen when the little demon threw itself at his face. He killed it with a punch.

I spun, flipping the spear in my grip. The servos in my armor snapped the wood, and I jumped back just in time to avoid getting clubbed in the face with what was left of his spear.

“” My lone offensive skill shot from my fingers in a black lance.

The man ducked. Of course, that only meant my attack hit the Tarnished standing behind him.

One more demon for the horde.

I cackled, firing off another dozen shots with my dwindling reserves. Many were blocked, but each one that hit a target was a surefire kill. “What’s a matter, Arlo? I thought this was an ambush!”

The man pulled back up the stairs, watching as Electra and Rel picked apart anyone my demons managed to separate while I distracted the rest from the front. Maybe if it was just Electra and I alone, he could have cut through and killed me in time, but with two more people on my side to pick up the slack, the situation was quickly tilting in my favor.

He swore. “Damn the cannons.”

I stiffened as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a golden vial.

“Electra, shiny!”

Her head snapped up as he stoppered it. “Hey, asshole!”

Our friendly neighborhood tackled her into the ground just in time for Arlo to take a deep snort of the golden dust inside of the glass vial.

I pinched my nose. “Always some random fantasy bullshit.”

The fighting slowed when Arlo started laughing maniacally. As a villainess of some renown, I rated it a solid 6/10, losing points because of the moment.

Oh and the glowing gold eyes, very cliché, not impressing the expert judge.

“Damn,” he said, “that’s the good stuff.” He rolled his wrist, and a brace of cards flew from his sleeve, spiraling lazily around his forearm. They glowed the same color as his eyes.

I should have just killed him when I had the chance back at the stupid inn. He didn’t even get into a fight with the city guard for me. What a fucking joke.

I glanced over as Electra slipped over to my side. “Looks like a trump card.”

She was talking about Hero slang for last minute powerups that all supers kept in their pockets. A trump card like Arlo’s was something external that would probably wear off if given enough time.

“He has more of it, though.”

“Bait and hook?” she suggested.

Arlo started to walk down the stairs, cards snaking out of his sleeves.

“Sounds like our best bet.” I waved my demons forward.

Arlo responded by launching the cards circling his arm in a shotgun blast.

“Duck.” I stepped forward, catching the first barrage on my armor.

My demons didn’t have anything like that. Half of them died, leaving room for the rest of the Tarnished to spread out. I glanced at my forearms before turning my glare back to Arlo. “You scratched my armor! Piece of shit, do you know how hard this stuff is to buff out?”

“Ah, course, course.” Whatever magic drug he was on, it chilled him way the fuck out, which was a problem. “Next time I’ll aim for your face.”

I shifted my stance. “Big strong man, scarring up a pretty woman like me.” I flicked my eyes to the side. “Rel, Dum. Over here, bring your friend.”

Arlo laughed again. “Just paying you back for before.”

“Need you all to buy me some time,” I whispered to my remaining demons. Then I raised my voice. “You mean when I beat your ass like a drum?”

His face twitched. There we go.

The last gryphon cut him off with a screech. It leapt, spreading its black wings wide. Oh sure, it died a second later, but in the meantime, the rest of the hobblefiends managed to get one more of Arlo’s boys, and I could see the irritation plain on his face as the last of my demons finally dissipated back into the ether.

I inched back towards the open tunnel, pulling the rest of my team along with me. I tapped Dum, nodding my head at the support right next to him.

“That’s enough running away.” Arlo’s voice lost its playful edge as he started forward. “I see you made friends with the Knight Captain. Thanks for saving me the trouble of running her down after.”

I glanced over at the woman hanging from Dum’s grip. She looked battered, but her armor did match the rest of the city guard. “Well, you know how it goes. I’m great at making friends.”

“Dammit, Arlo—” The woman started. Dum put a hand over her mouth.

“Don’t worry your little head, Mary. I was gonna kill you anyway.” His smile turned nasty. “Even if yah didn’t switch sides.”

“Not that this cliché bit of dialogue doesn’t make for some lovely worldbuilding,” I cut in, “but we have places to be. Now!”

With a roar, Dum turned, punching out the wooden support at the mouth of the tunnel. Electra blew out the matching support with a burst of lightning. We ran as the ceiling started to groan before…stopping.

I slowed to a stop when the tunnel didn’t collapse behind us. When I looked back, Arlo had moved to the mouth of the tunnel, an insufferable smirk on his face. “Was that supposed to do something, love?”

“Ruin my dramatic timing.” I reared back my fist, punching the wall hard enough to shatter stone. The tunnel groaned again, cracks spreading up to the ceiling. While everyone else ran, I took a second to smirk at Arlo. “Bye, bye, birdie!”

His face twisted into a glower. “No you don’t!”

I raced down the tunnel as Arlo blasted after me, cards boosting him through the air.

I could hear chunks of rock falling from the ceiling behind us.

The light cut out almost immediately, but I just kept sprinting into the darkness even as the crashing stone on stone raced up behind me. A wave of dust blew past me, landing heavy on my tongue. Fuck.

I staggered, coughing, before throwing myself forward in one last desperate lunge. I hit Dee—no one else had such a massive back—and he caught me with one massive mitt, dragging me farther.

Someone screamed.

Then the rumbling stopped.

I lifted my head, coughing again as I breathed in more rock dust. “Nobody—” I gagged, spitting to the side. “Nobody move,” I whispered. “Don’t want to bring the rest of the tunnel down.”

Someone swore violently. I recognized the voice.

“Arlo, that you, old boy?”

The stream of profanity continued until Electra summoned an actinic blue ball of light over her palm. I quickly cast my eyes around the remains of the tunnel, quickly picking out Rel, Electra, Dum, and our other passenger, the guardswoman. All of them were unharmed, just caked in dust and breathing heavily.

When I turned, I saw Arlo was much less fortunate.

“Took a nasty fall there, huh, old man?”

Arlo hissed and spit at me, fingers scrabbling at the dirt. Meanwhile, both of his legs were crushed beneath the collapsed remains of the tunnel. Apparently whatever benefits he got from that golden dust didn’t protect him from several hundred tons of rock.

“I’ll kill you for this.” His eyes flickered weakly between their normal brown and a dull gold.

“No.” I knelt on his wrist, catching the other one in my hand. “You won’t.”

The man glowered silently at me as his blood began to pool over the rocks.

“We’ve had this coming for a long time, haven’t we, Arlo?”

He struggled once more, but his fading strength wasn’t a match for my power armor. After a moment, the man slumped, and the gold faded from his eyes. “Fucking depths. Thought I really had you this time.”

“Fool me once, shame on you, and fool me twice, shame on me,” I said. “But I’m not giving you a third chance.” I reached down, gripping him tightly beneath the chin.

“Heh, fair e—”

I twisted my wrist with a sharp crack.

Arlo slumped.

I let out a breath. Then I reached into the front of his shirt, pulling the thin glass phial from his shirt. The dust glowed gently in the darkness of the tunnel, still three-quarters full when I tucked it into my utility belt.

Then I stood and faced my retinue. “Now,” I said, “We have a fight to finish.”