“Jace!” Isaac called out, dismissing his minions. “Guys, hold your fire, we’re just making him stronger!”
“Explain.” Tenshi and her clones lowered their rifles.
“Earlier, he said he “had enough damaged stored.” I think that means he’s a Pugilist!” Isaac explained. “He can store up whatever damage he blocks, and then add it to the damage he deals, so unless you can get through his defenses, you’re just feeding him!”
“Okay, new plan, then.” Charles planted his feet wide, gripping his shield. “Marie, grab on! I need some extra weight!”
“On it!” Marie left off her barrage of stones, leaping over to grab him by the waist.
“Get ready,” Charles warned, flicking his shield’s power dial to “max” and hitting the switch.
With an electrical hum, Charles’ shield came to life, drawing not just the Chief towards him, but also Vibe_Czech’s sentry gun, Tenshi’s broken pod, and everything metal in the nearby vicinity.
“Kurva!” the Chief swore, and he was dragged along by his gauntlets with the wave of metal objects, tumbling headlong into Charles and Marie.
“Gotcha!” Marie was the first on her feet, driving an elbow into the man’s rock-hard neck. Upon seeing the lack of damage, she repeated the motion again and again, until her elbow was red with her own blood.
“Are you about finished?” He stood up, gripping her by the leg in one vice-like hand and flinging her across the room, where she hit the wall with a thud, lying still.
“Marie!” Charles yelled, struggling to his feet.
“Oh, don’t worry about her, you’re next.”
The Chief swung a right hook at Charles’ head, iron spikes leading.
“ENDURE!”
Charles shield rose to meet it, even as the spikes gouged holes right through it, destroying the electromagnet behind it with a shower of sparks, and Charles’ arm along with it.
But he didn’t fall. His health remaining at 1 thanks to his ability, he drew his dagger, the blade glowing orange like hellfire.
“Thanks for that, bastard.” Charles grinned through the pain. “Hope you're ready to get f’ed in the A with a whole bag of D’s.”
“Now that might be just a little bad,” the Chief admitted, quickly backtracking out of Charles’ range. “Alright then, fair enough, I’ll leave you for last. It’s not like you’ll be going anywhere with those injuries.”
“I don’t need to!”
Flicking his arm, Charles launched his dagger at the Chief, sending it streaking through the air like a burning comet.
“Whoops.”
The chief ducked back, as the dagger soared right over him, sinking hilt-deep into the stones on the far wall.
“Well, that wasn’t too smart now, was it?” He smirked. “That was your last chance to kill me, kid. Well, now that you’re safely disarmed…” He turned to face the still-incapacitated Jason. “I think I’ll finish with that one, first.”
“Heh, go ahead then, kill me!” Jason called out to him. “I am an assassin, I walk hand-in-hand with death! From the day I first dawned the mantle of a killer, my heart has been ready to accept my fate. Do your worst.”
The Chief stopped in his tracks. “Oh, so you’re an assassin, eh?” He stroked his chin. “A real toughened killer. Alright, I can respect that. So how many folks’ve you killed, kid?”
“How many? Psh.” Jason scoffed. “You want me to start with your men, and work my way down?”
“Oh, no no no, you’re misunderstanding me.” The Chief laughed. “I meant how many people have you actually killed.”
“W-wait, what? you mean like… in real life?”
“Well, of course.” The Chief grinned toothily. “I mean, you’re an assassin, right? Surely you must know what it’s like to grip a man by the throat, and squeeze and squeeze the life out of him, to see his eyes pop, the veins bulge on his neck, the spit froth at his mouth, y’know? Or maybe you’ve seen a man dying from a bullet wound, body twitching, his pants soiled, his eyes filming over as he sobs for his mommy, staring far, far off into the void of death… Ah…” He sighed, smacking his lips. “You’ve seen all that, right, “Assassin”?” He started approaching Jason again.
“Dude, I dunno what the hell you’re talking about!” Jason struggled vainly to move his unresponsive body, his assassin’s persona broken. “Damnit guys, don’t leave me like this! Help me!”
“You know, I’m a pretty mild man,” the Chief continued. “It takes a lot to get under my skin. But if there’s one thing that just… ooh… rubs me the wrong way,” he shuddered, "it’s little brats like you, who think they’re hot shit.”
“JACE!” Isaac screamed, blindly fanning his revolver at the bandit chief, as his bullets pinged harmlessly off the man’s armour.
“Nighty night, kid.” The Chief raised his fist.
”FLUX!”
Marie had been on the move since the Chief started approaching Jason. Ignoring her bruises and lacerations, she had made her way towards the boss, moving slowly to avoid catching his attention. But all time for caution had past. Sprinting as fast as she could move her bleeding limbs, she activated her ability, dropping to the ground. Sliding underneath the legs of the chief in slow motion, feeling the agony of the rough stone floor grating against her skin in painful detail, she collided with the back of his shins.
Centimeter by centimeter, she saw the Chief topple backwards overtop of her. Reaching out her hand towards the panic-eyed Jason, she rolled to her feet, slipping his arm across her shoulder while the bandit Chief collided with the ground, back first.
Putting one foot in front of the other in agonizingly slow motion, a long glance over her shoulder told her that the Chief was already back on his feet, staggering after her far faster than she’d like. Her head pounding from the effects of FLUX, she squeezed one last ounce of speed out of herself, shoving Jason forward into the arms of the waiting Tenshi, as time whip-cracked back to normal.
“Alllll up to you, Ch’as,” she slurred, faceplanting onto the ground, unconscious.
“To je píčovina!” the Chief swore, as Tenshi carefully administered healing to Marie via her Pods. “Well, no matter. As long as you’re all in one place…” He raised his arms above his head in a double-fist, breaking into a run and leaping into the air. “EARTH-RIPPER!” he bellowed, soaring towards the party.
“NO. YOU. DON’T!” Charles bellowed, empty healing potions dropping from his grasp as he ran to meet the Chief’s attack, his battered shield tightly gripped in front of him with both hands.
*Click*
The Chief’s blow struck Charles like a force of nature, tearing through his shield, his arms and his armoured body like paper, as the bandit carried on into the stone floor, hitting it like a stray meteorite. Beneath his fists, the ground buckled and surged like a stormy sea, as the rest of the party were thrown screaming towards the ceiling, only to fall back down to the jagged floor that awaited them.
Or at least, that’s what should’ve happened.
Instead, the Chief’s gauntlets met Charles’ shield head on, and with a sound like a massive bell tolling, he was blown backwards into the remnants of the couch.
Barely daring to open his eyes, Charles was greeted not with a vision of death, but rather a menu pop-up simply reading “Ability unlocked: BASTION.”
“Huh…?!” he gasped out, his knees giving way beneath him. He… had survived?
Quickly opening his menu, he skimmed his eyes over the alert, and the brief summary of his new ability. It wasn’t perfect, but it was exactly what they needed right now. Charles smiled in spite of himself. This wasn’t over, not yet.
“Charles, that was awesome!” Isaac breathed. “How did y…”
“Isaac, grab the rest and head for the hallway!” Charles barked at him, in a voice that brooked no questions.
“G-got it!” Isaac slung the wounded Jason over his shoulder, while Tenshi covered their retreat, her clones ferrying the unconscious Marie along.
“Call me old fashioned,” the Chief rose to his feet, cracking his neck. “But I really hate video games. It’s a hell of a lot easier to knock off some brats in reality.”
“Real or virtual world, I think I’d give you a run for your money,” Charles gave a lopsided grin.
“Big words for a disarmed kid.” The Chief cranked his arm in preparation. “HELLION RUSH!” he yelled, flying towards Charles, right fist leading.
*BONG!*
He struck Charles’ shield head on, staggering back as the recoil sent him reeling.
“Well damn, that’s a bit much,” he muttered, standing straight again and eyeing the immobile knight. Stepping a little closer, he swung a tentative left-hook behind Charles’ shield, aiming for his head.
*BONG!*
His fist collided with solid air, as a thin crimson bubble of energy flickered around Charles, neatly wrapping about his body.
“No openings, huh.” The Chief scratched his head. “Well then, why the hell are you still making that dumb pose?”
“Oh, uh, it’s heroic!” Charles bluffed, legs bowed, his shield clutched in front of him.
“Oh, I get it.” He smirked. “You can’t move while you’re blocking, can you?”
Charles flinched.
“Okay then, wise guy. I’ll leave you for last. Maybe I’ll put some molds up, pour a little concrete around you, and make you a part of the base, wouldn’t you like that?” He rapped his knuckles off Charles’ helmet. “But for now, I think I’ll get to work on those kids…”
“Don’t you dare!” Charles yelled out, swinging his shield at the man’s head.
“Wow, you are dumb as a bag of hammers, aren’t you?” The Chief lashed out with his right hand, denting Charles’ chestplate and fracturing a rib or two. “You didn’t think I was just waiting for you to drop your guard?”
“Charles!” Isaac called out from the doorway. “Get over here!”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Charles tapped a button on his menu, then lunged at the Chief, locking one of his arms in a hold, then gripping his shield with both hands.
“Real smart.” The Chief knocked a hand against Charles’ head, testing to confirm BASTION was activated. “Your big plan is to hold me in place while they escape?”
“Not entirely.”
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
The Chief looked down to see a pile of primed explosives at Charles’ feet, each showing less than a minute on their clocks.
“I was going to use these as part of our escape, but this’ll have to do.” Charles laughed at the rage in the bandit Chief’s face. “What’s the matter, don’t think your defense will hold?”
“Let go of me, damnit!” The Chief tugged wildly at Charles, but the knight was completely immobile, latched onto the bandit’s left gauntlet. The Chief's eyes flashing to the explosives, he couldn’t miss the red LED countdown.
27…
26…
25…
“Charles!” Isaac screamed.
“Better run, Isaac.” Charles laughed. “And good luck, guys.”
“This isn't over, Charles,” the Chief growled, unbuckling his gauntlet and slipping his hand out, as the time reached the single digits. With no escape left, he threw himself over the edge of the couch, pulling it over top of him.
“Well, it was a good plan at least.” Charles smirked at the empty gauntlet in his arms.
3…
2…
1…
And then, everything went white.
ns216.73.216.48da2
