Becoming Monsters: In The Mirror 2, Chapter 61

This is still a story of the Becoming Monsters universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the exceedingly cute creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

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Chapter 61: Finding Out

The circle of enemies around us suddenly got much more menacing once I figured out who they were. Each person here had come close to killing me at least once, some more than others. George… didn’t realize that. Not yet. “Kithkin? Mind explaining things?”

“Some introductions are in order, yes.” I coughed politely, praying that whatever increases to Charisma I had would be enough to keep this calm until my team could get into position. I nodded at Paul first. “Paul Mann, formerly Office of Public Protection and SWAT. Gunslinger, I estimate level twelve or fourteen, Tetra spec. I thought he was dead, so did my healer, but apparently we were wrong. Big guy to his left, with the hammer, is Ryan Daniels. You may recognize him from Camp, last I checked I severed his spine with a Flame Ray fairly publicly but seems to have gotten better. Troll Warrior, usually a tank but seems to be on a two-handed hammer spec now. The slender woman who is up next is Julia Aster, the Black Cat. Hexxer, pretty strong. She put me in the hospital last time we met, watch out for dark waves. Presently under order of ostracism with contagion from the Guild Hall, which says all kinds of interesting things about the rest of these folks. The short guy trying to hide his horns is Marcus Graves, Imp Wizard with a necromantic focus. Last around the circle with the wings and greatsword, I suspect, is a Mr. Aaron Christiansen. Lesser Angel Paladin, not sure of his spec but he tried to smite me a second ago and has really bad taste in goons when he isn’t singing at his father’s church.” I looked around the circle. “And to you all, may I introduce George Godfrey, the main tank of Golden Age and here because his family owns the shipping you’re trying to interfere with. This is your last chance to back off before things get hairy. I’ve told each of you this individually but repeating it for the group: you decide to step in it now and you don’t get to walk away cleanly.”

Those words were particularly audacious coming from me, considering I was likely the weakest individual present and on the side that was outnumbered two to five. My mind was racing at a million miles an hour, if they decided to take objection to the fact that I was here… a fact that was looking increasingly likely… then my odds were not good regardless of if George managed to carry the fight alone afterwards.

They knew it, too. Ryan, the giant Troll, laughed deep from his belly. “You barely took me on alone last time, and I’m better equipped now.”

“Perhaps, but I’d also like to note one more thing. Were any of you watching the news yesterday? News out of Harvardtown? The milk in this shipment belongs to the woman who won that fight. I’d be willing to bet some of it came from one of her wives’ teats personally. You think that someone who can do that is going to take kindly to you five doing this? She won’t be crying over spilled milk, but I can guarantee you will.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed, but Marcus was the one to respond. “That won’t be the first Herald the people who hired us have dealt with. I’ll make the same offer as last time. Surrender, then I’ll both make your deaths quick and raise fairly strong undead with your corpses. Take it as a compliment, you’re the first to get the offer twice.”

“Gray was never my favorite color, Marcus, but given that it’s my own skin I’d rather keep it for myself.” I gripped my Guild Leader’s Saber tightly to send instructions to George, but realized abruptly that it didn’t work. It would only function with the seven ladies of my own Guild. I could only hope that when the chips were down and this came to a fight, he’d have the same idea I did. The chances were good, we had similar roles and training, but there were a lot of factors to consider so anything was possible.

Julia the Black Cat hissed. “Why are we wasting time with banter when we could be putting this man in the ground instead?”

George turned to face her, a motion which let him slowly look around our enemies. “Because you know what the odds look like. You might win, you might lose, but this guy’s beaten each of you and he has non-negligible backup. Chances are that he won’t be aiming to leave you alive this time around. Delver to Delver, I think it was a mistake to let you keep breathing the first time around, but I’m not his boss. Then again, he’s not mine, either, and I don’t feel like holding back.”

While he gave his little speech, I called upon power of my own. Shapeshifting was often thought of as dramatic, given what most used it for, but I couldn’t set them off early. This time around, I was hardening my internals and some planes of my skin for impact. It didn’t look like I’d be getting out of this one unscathed. I had to carefully judge my mana pool. One way or another this would be short and brutal. “Aaron, how about you? Haven’t been within arms reach of you since that thing at the bank, how did Pastor Ibrahim react to having to bail his son out of jail?”

Bingo. Aaron was many things, but thick-skinned was not one of them. He didn’t bother responding verbally, instead dashing in with hate in his heart and murder in his eyes. His problem was that this carried him directly past George’s sword, completely open, and with a resounding clang George took the opportunity. It didn’t pierce Aaron’s armor, but the strike landed hard enough to drive him back a few steps despite the fact that it was Aaron who was charging. Like a gunshot at the start of a race, that seemed to be the signal for the other four to attack.

Paul opened fire, again stopped by my Shield before I tossed a Lightning Net to my right, interrupting the Imp Wizard before he could finish his next spell. A clang sounded behind me as George intercepted the Black Cat’s claw with his own shield, allowing me to charge at the Troll and force him to defend instead of trying to smash us. His hammer might be hideously dangerous if he got to use it unopposed, but it was bad for defending against an agile foe. Two more gunshots rang out, though where they went I don’t know. Overhead, the Gun Drones opened fire as Paul tried to back up for a clear angle, the noise from this distracting the Black Cat again for just long enough to let George get a good slash in. This time, it penetrated armor, and Julia’s blood was the first to mark the concrete at our feet. Not a lethal blow, but enough to get her to back off.

My own attempt to press the advantage and get her out of the fight was interrupted by another snapping sound as yet another pentagram formed under my feet halfway there. As it turned out, Marcus was a bit of a one-trick Imp when he wasn’t calling undead minions. Problem being that he was both very good at it and also taking the opportunity to begin a summoning spell. A reflexive Disenchant failed to even make the barrier flicker. I keyed my radio, getting nothing but static. I couldn’t feel their emotions, so I knew my Aura wouldn’t reach them. “George! Imp’s summoning!”

George couldn’t answer and couldn’t get away. Both Aaron and Ryan were making his life miserable on the other side of this battlefield, if he attempted to disengage them at least one of his enemies would have a clear shot at his back. Even the gunner drones were busy evading the return fire from Paul, drawing his attention but putting them out of position to intervene. If that spell completed, we were about to lose by attrition.

“I have you this time, Kithkin!” The glow of his hands got brighter as his spell neared its end.

“You forgot about me.” Paige, thankfully, had other ideas. She descended from the skies, both hands crackling with electricity as she held the Destructive Slash she had learned from Whitney. A crack of her whips and a boom of thunder, and the Imp suddenly had better things to do than summon. Things like bleeding out of his ears and nose as he lay still on the concrete. She looked upon the wreckage of his body, shocked that the man who had been seemingly invincible for so much of her life was laid low, but couldn’t take time to celebrate. I was still trapped, and with an enormous crash George’s luck and skill met their limits on the face of Ryan’s enormous hammer. He flew dozens of feet, striking a container with enough force to dent it before falling in a heap near me. He lay still, though I could just make out that he was still breathing.

A snarling yowl interrupted the thought as Julia Aster attacked Paige. Alone, and Paige could probably handle it. Ryan and Aaron would be joining soon, though, and though Paul was getting dogpiled by ranged attacks those wouldn’t last long. He effectively could not be harmed by them, but the dodging was occupying his time and sapping his stamina. I had to get out of my prison, and fast, but thankfully it wasn’t being actively sustained anymore. With an effort of will, I once again called upon Combat Disenchant. This time, I got loose. Which meant that I had a rampaging Troll and a slightly-less-rampaging Paladin to deal with.

For reference, not my idea of fun.

Aaron reached me first, our swords chiming off of each other three times before I got my Shield between myself and the next one. That, in turn, gave me the half-second I needed to spin out of the way of a wild overhead smash. I tried to confuse him with a Double Team again like last time, but Ryan was wise to the trick. My double met his hammer within seconds, and my double came in second place from the meeting. Then, reinforcements arrived. Whitney dropped from the sky, divebombing the Troll with a force that could crater magically reinforced titanium. The strike shattered his helmet, but either Ryan’s head was just that hard or (more likely) the shattering was ablative. Before she could get her feet on the ground, the giant Troll leveled an enormous punch at her gut, one that sent her flying in a much less controlled manner.

That’s all I had time to observe before Aaron was on top of me again. “I know you are guilty, Kithkin, and I will Smite you for it!” Aaron was not a small guy, and that was not a small weapon, but he was swinging it fast enough to either qualify for some anime or else tap out the Morse Code of the expletives I was muttering under my breath. Every arc it traveled left a glowing trail of white, actively trying to draw my eyes away from the exceedingly dangerous sword he was trying to plant in my skull. I couldn’t assist as Whitney nearly landed on Paige, both of them activating Shield Charms and defending themselves just in time to intercept another Dark Wave from Julia.

The Charms were enough to dissipate a lot of the force before it got to them. Their armor was enough to keep them alive afterwards. This of course meant that their clothing practically disintegrated. Julia the Black Cat face-pawed. “Chainmail BIKINIS? REALLY?”

Paul had finally managed to disable the gun drones harassing him and get to where the longer-ranged combatants didn’t have good line of sight. I saw him calmly reload, shaking his head at the sight of the two chainmail (ish) clad women. He took steady aim as I desperately defended myself from Aaron, unable to dodge. This shot wouldn’t miss. His face was contorted with glee as he prepared to take the shot he’d been waiting for.

The glee left his face, to be replaced by confusion, as the blade of a dagger emerged from his chest. Behind him was Leah the Assassin, having appeared without a whisper to execute judgment on those who would try to kill her allies.

“No!” Julia’s next blast wasn’t her terrifying primary attack, but it was plenty to keep my two strikers down for the count. Two shots rang out, and as Paul fell he took Leah with him. I could still feel her emotions, she would probably live, but if the Cleric didn’t get to her soon that could be in doubt. That… was really, really bad. They were all still breathing, but despite all progress it was now two against one. Three, now, Julia seemed to have gotten her bleeding under control and facing me. Here I was already having a hard time with just one of them, and two out of three had positive win records against me to begin with.

A thunder of footfalls heralded the arrival of reinforcements from behind me. Nibbles was in his large form, empowered by Gloria, and on his back was a face I didn’t expect to see. Tan scales were his armor, particularly thick along his back and upper arms, and his hunched posture belied the power in his limbs. The axe along his back was plenty to show how serious he was, though, and his badge showed a six-pointed star in blue and white with a golden pomegranate centered. His name was Simon Shapiro, another Mirror like me (if slightly more traditional) and the brother of the Marshal. Nibbles dropped him off next to me, looked around, and ran back into the maze of containers. Simon looked at the three remaining threats. “You really don’t know how to pick small fights, do you Kithkin?”

“Believe me when I say I would love to figure it out.”

I saw a glitter in his eyes that had nothing to do with tears. He had just Scanned them, enormously faster and more efficiently than I could hope to. “I’ll handle Ryan and Julia. I know their style, they’re mine. You get the Paladin. You have any good buffs to share?”

I activated Sapphire Radiance again. “One that won’t take activating. Enjoy some Berserker Regen for the moment, my mana can sustain it.”

“Appreciated.” He drew his axe and held it ready, and I saw its edge glow red. Ryan charged in heedlessly, but Simon was ready with a pulse of kinetic energy that threw his foe backwards despite his size. As the Troll stood, Simon leveled his axe at him and said two words: “Ruby Ray.”

A column of red light blasted forward, engulfing Ryan. The screams were immediate and intense. Ruby Ray was the second of the three Gemstone powers the Mirror class offered, following Sapphire Radiance, expending every bit of mana you had to strike a target with immense force. It would select from every acquired technique you had to apply every disabling effect it could on the target, and for someone who built for it that could be a mind-boggling number of magical hindrances. It even kicked our native mana regeneration into high gear for a minute or two, not quite enough to make up for all you spent but plenty to make sure you weren’t helpless. Ryan went back down and stayed there.

Simon looked over at Julia with a grin. “Here, kitty kitty kitty.”

She didn’t wait to try her luck against the same attack, launching a Darkwave at him. To this, he stuck out his left hand and activated the third ability of the Gemstone Array: Diamond Palm. A bright glitter touched the blast as it came to him, and in the space of a blink it vanished.

“Quit pussyfooting around.” Simon dove in at his foe, but that left me with mine.

Aaron knew if he didn’t help his ally, she was doomed. Simon was one of the strongest Mirrors on Earth, an accomplished duelist besides, and still had who-knows-how-many more tricks that he hadn’t shown yet. That meant he had to get through me, and this time he wasn’t watching out for allies. I caught six attacks between shield and sword in the time it took me to analyze his intention. A problem presented itself: I could not get an attack in without risking getting cleaved in two by his Smite-charged strikes, but eventually I’d make a mistake playing defense. He only had to succeed once. As his attacks started getting closer and closer to drawing blood, I made my decision.

I waited for a strike to come at me from my left. He was much faster than me and racing him from an even start would only result in my death, but if he was coming at my Shield that meant my sword was available for a split second. In that moment, I thrust forward, aiming for his center of gravity. He saw the opening, and within the amount of time it took me to complete the motion his own sword came in a wild arc at my head.

Both attacks connected.

As his greatsword touched my cheek, the light winked out. The blade stopped as suddenly as if someone had frozen time. One single drop of my blood fell from the shallow cut onto the ground. Aaron looked down in shock at where his heart used to be. My sword had pierced him to the hilt, emerging from between his wings, covered in his blood. “H… how…?”

“You assumed that Smiting the Guilty would work. Perhaps a day or two ago it would have, but I have come to terms with my past. May your Maker judge you according to your deeds, Aaron, I have paid you the wages of what you earned in this life.” With a clatter, he dropped his greatsword from fingers that suddenly lacked the strength to hold it. I withdrew my sword from his chest, and he fell beside it.

The fight wasn’t over, I could mourn later. Julia was still standing. I turned to assist Simon in time to see Marcus struggle to his feet. The Necromancer took aim at Simon’s unprotected back and began to cast one last spell. A shot rang out, and Marcus was no more. The bullet hit him squarely in the temple, scattering his blood and brains over an arc of the concrete. Looking up for the source, I saw Amber holding a still-smoking carbine. She was officially no longer in danger of him reentering her life. The woman formerly enslaved by the Wish she had given him had stopped him in the end.

With a few more thuds, Simon laid Julia out on the concrete. It was suddenly shockingly quiet, though with some groans George, Whitney, and Paige started standing back up. I keyed up my handset. “I need our healer and escort to the site of the fight, we have injured and dead to deal with.”

“Justin here. I’m on my way with Keith.” I realized that I had never bothered asking the Cleric’s name as we set up.

“Thank you. Chaske, Misun, did you get a recording of the fight?”

Chaske responded. “We did, boss. At least one camera was on the main group starting from when they threw the fireball at you.”

“Good. You two keep an eye out. Iniki, stay on patrol until we give the all clear. Check the undersides of the ship and the dock support. Anita, stay alert for calls, we don’t know if that’s everyone. Talonaxe and Wilhemina, stay where you are and ready.” I withdrew my power from Simon, he would be fine. Instead, I spread it to George, Leah, Whitney, and Paige. They were the ones who needed help. “Simon! If you have any healing powers, Leah needs help.” He shook his head no. Drat. “George, how are you holding up?”

The knight was standing again, though a bit shakily. “I’ll live, but I might miss the Delve on Friday.”

My handset crackled. “Jason and Raymond here, from Wild Hunt. We caught four more of their hirelings while you were taking care of the big guys, they’ve been stripped of their gear and stuffed in the same crate as the others.”

“Good. One of you needs to stay near it if you can, the last thing we want is our guests leaving early.”

I saw George get off the phone. “Alright. The workers will be back shortly, to continue the load. Time sensitive. Police will be here to take reports and evidence as soon as they can get people out. They should have an ambulance or two with them in case our own healing isn’t enough. The police just asked me to keep the workers away from this area.”

My blood suddenly ran cold. “Did… did you give them my name?”

George did not catch my tone. “Yes, of course. You are a Major Guild Leader and the senior person present, plus you knew the information about these five.”

And just like that, my fate was sealed. I could not run, I could not hide. The Seattle Police Department had wanted to bring me in for questioning for over a month, and only the fact that they hadn’t managed to get a warrant to do so… and that Lucy had spotted one illegally Scanning me… prevented it. A lot had happened since then, to say the least. One of the three corpses in front of me belonged to a former police officer who had been one of the people angling to bring me in. The literally-Angelic choir boy pastor’s son whose blood was on my sword was not going to help my case.

Keith the Cleric finally got to us and got to the work of stabilizing the living. Leah needed the most help by far, but everyone still breathing other than Simon, Ryan, and I needed help. He was professional about it, too, other than an initial double-take he barely looked at my bikini-clad strikers with lust at all. I’d have to make sure to commend him to Guild Leader Smith when I got the chance.

Before too much longer several of the fellows in Crate 3825 woke up. They weren’t particularly pleased to be stacked up in a crate, especially since the twelve of them took up significant room. Doubly so because they’d been stripped of their weapons, armor, and all identification before being locked in by the Shaper literally turning the door into a solid sheet of metal. He made sure to poke air holes in the top for them. The complaints were silenced by the Dwarf revving up his weapon once or twice, the lights along its barrel shining menacingly.

It was about fifteen more minutes until the police showed up. Lights flashing, sirens blaring, and quite a few more than a solved situation should have warranted. Including the SWAT vehicle. That could only mean one thing, and I sighed with the thought of it. “Gloria?”

“Yes?” The Mexican demoness recognized that this one wouldn’t be casual conversation. Both she and Nibbles had escaped unharmed, thankfully. I’d need her to do the next part independently.

“I am very unlikely to be able to come home with the rest of you tonight. Let Lucy and the others know, please.” I made sure to straighten my gear as I was talking. Chain mail settled, badge on and cleaned off until it shone, sword in its scabbard now that I had wiped off the blood. I put most of what I had in my extradimensional pockets, plus my Shield Gauntlet once I emptied it into my mana pool. No sense risking it being lost. I only kept identification where it would be easily accessible.

“Jay? What do you mean by that?”

I didn’t answer. Standing tall despite my fatigue, despite muscles complaining at their abuse, despite the hits I’d taken, I walked forward. Into the ring of headlights shining on me. Into the plain view of the police in the vehicles. They streamed out, fully armored and ready. Pistols, rifles, shotguns, and at least one heavier weapon I could see were pointed at one target. Me. One of them was a familiar, older man. One with deeply tanned skin and a shock of white hair.

I brought my hands out where the officers could see them, careful to not make a move that could possibly be misconstrued as hostile. “Lieutenant Richards! I’m glad you brought enough people. There are fourteen detainees here who attempted to attack this dock, the workers and shipment in it, and my team. Three more are dead, and my group has injuries resulting from hostile use of Status abilities which we defended ourselves from.”

“We will be the judge of events.” His voice was just as powerfully deep as I remembered. Three officers with shotguns were approaching me, one holding handcuffs that shone with enchantments. “Jeremiah Kithkin, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”