The pencil-sized spikes exploded out of Captain Stick-Up-His-Ass’s body with such force that it showered the surroundings with blood and gore. Still, since I had expected this outcome, I swiftly erected another Geo-Wall to give myself enough cover so that I stayed free of gooey particulates.
Then, with a wave of my hand, I collapsed the wall and turned to face Clive.
"Now then, HammerTime, how about you be a good guy and tell me what is going on," I said with a smile that wasn’t really a smile, causing the hulking behemoth of a man to tremble in fear.
"Wh…what do you want to know, Mr.Nexus? I don’t know much about our plan because only the squad leaders were informed, but I know some stuffs." With a slight stutter in his voice, Clive, who was on his knees, shot ramrod straight, almost as if at attention.
"For starters, how about a head count? How many squads are there." Walking over, I placed a hand on the big guy’s shoulder to build a rapport of friendliness between us so that he would be more keen not to lie to me.
Sure, I could have easily read his mind, and frankly, it would have been a lot faster, but what can I say? I got caught up in my role as an Anti-Hero. And since the tag "Hero" is still in the title, that means I’m not supposed to brainwash people and act willy-nilly…right?
"Well, seven squads of 10 were teleported to the school alongside us; our job was to secure the roof and move down toward the ground level."
(LB, POPS, seven squads of 10 remaining, be on the lookout. I’ve eliminated the first, but all appear to have a strength of around low to mid-Alpha, with the goon in charge being High Alpha)
(Copy that OB; I’m dealing with one right now, six unaccounted for…over)
(I read you, OB; we have two here forming the roadblock I mentioned; they are engaging local law enforcement along with SWAT in a firefight. 4 unaccounted for, over.)
’Four unaccounted-for squads, that’s another 40 people roaming around in this chaos…’ I thought while scanning my surroundings from the rooftop, but I still sensed nothing, not a single trace of particles, even in the case of HammerTime.
It was like he was invisible, and it wasn’t until I placed my hand on him that I was able to judge the full extent of his power.
The exception was when I unleashed my Racial Domination alongside my Aura; instinctively, the other members of HammerTime’s group brought up their defenses and gave me a peek at their strength.
Before that, I used a combination of my gut and past experiences to guess how strong they were.
(Sensing particles is unreliable; these guys have a manner of masking their presence and particle signature, so be careful and keep your heads on a swivel.) with that, I dropped my right hand from my ear and glanced at Clive.
"How are you guys masking your Signatures? I can’t sense an ounce of Particle radiation on you or anyone else from the group."
"That’s the cause of this thingy, do bobby," Raising up his left hand, Clive showed me an obsidian glass bracelet snuggly positioned on his wrist, causing me to raise my upper lip in a snarl of disgust subconsciously.
(Marek, JaxRett, all restrictions off, enter full combat mode, ELIMINATE ALL THE SQUADS, We are dealing with those fucking cultists from Partaevian, they are up to some no doubt insane shit, and if we don’t curb it now, everything is going to get annoyingly messy.)
(Fuck, code names are gone now, Got it; Marek on the move,)
(JaxRett deploying and engaging.)
(Nexus, taking point, providing support and investigating.)
At the drop of a hat, the call signs were tossed out the window, as we all assumed our Hero Identities, or in my case, Anti-Hero; with that, I didn’t doubt that Brenden and my father Shed their cover, Brenden his cloak, and my father the SWAT uniform and immediately rushed into battle.
Without hesitation, I made a judgment call, one that I knew would cause some issues in the immediate future. Still, if we were dealing with the Radical Extremists from Partaevian, it was better to come out in full force than fuck around and find ourselves on the tail end of a much larger issue.
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(Marek, you are to link up with the two heroes and inform them of the situation. Columbine High School is no longer the primary focus; with Partaevian in the mix, we know they must be targeting the town of Littleton as a whole and using the School as the Catalyst of a much larger plan.)
(JaxRett, Break that blockade and inform Law Enforcement that the entire area needs to be evacuated. If they refuse to listen, give them a DOF, *Display of Force*)
"Sigh…now what am I going to do about you? You are clearly too simple-minded to actually be a member of Partaevian, yet you are working with them, maybe a pickup and brainwash or something…no, I know better than anyone that you can’t Brainwash the mentally slow; it doesn’t take because of one or more mental deficiencies.
Even with the introduction of Particles and potions, there were still some things that couldn’t be fixed, for example, my compulsions or other psychological issues. In the case of the big oaf kneeling before me, I knew that he was basically a tool used by those Crazies from the Cult.
And I don’t use that word lightly; I may be borderline insane and even considered crazy, but my level of insanity couldn’t hold a candle to some of the disgusting shit that Partaevian had done in the Origin Timeline.
Now, some of you may be asking how I knew it was them; I mean, obsidian glass isn’t exactly rare, and the answer is simple: if the bracelet Clive was wearing was naturally occurring obsidian glass, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash, but that wasn’t the case.
Unlike a normal braceless which will dangle, the Partaevian Jewelry, which came in different sizes depending on the Rank of the Individual in the Cult, was a type of semi-living organism, and it would infuse itself with its host in a symbiotic manner.