The Terrorist Attack on the First Station

The First Lawmen Station of the Plate, Government Commune A: Daytime

The darkness that swallowed the space between the rocky ceiling and the paved floors was no different here at the heart of Plate governance, but the fiery lamps glowed brighter, whiter, and cut darker shadows into the few alleyways and dips of buildings that were not lit by their radiance.

Those pits of shadow were blasted with light by passing Lawmen, each and every one of them vigilant and wary for any sign of terrorist activity. They swooped low on occasion, their glittering armor the only notes of color in the darkness above, and their watch was noted by the tapping of their weapons together. Each such contact created flashes of light that permitted a brief, revealing glance into the darkness below. Their visors never found wandering Plate civilians in these secret places; it was a **** sentence to be this near when a general alert had been raised all around the Plate. This danger meant that the rest of the buildings in the government commune were unattended and dark, leaving nearly a square mile of buildings inert for the sake of security. Any sign of movement from one not wearing the Lawman garb, then, would be answered with eager executions.

It was that eagerness that Miles wanted to punish so. She had witnessed the brutality first, second, and third-hand; she had been beaten to pulps in ugly brawls, watched young men and women, barely more than children, smashed against the floor in brutal executions, and heard ever worse from the rest of the terrified Plate citizens. In truth, the Bitter Nines could not be terrorists to their fellows down here; there was only one true source of terror for locals, and it was found in the arc of a Lawman’s mace. She waited in one of those crevices of shadow, an alleyway between a government-only restaurant and some petty bureaucrat’s home, and just one block away from the First Station proper. She was escorted by none of her fellows… or at least, none of the Bitter Nines.

Somewhere else in the district, creeping in the shadows, was a coterie of the joint operation: from the Bitter Nines therein stalked Hurk, Cidi, Kitok, and Golgon, the last of them casting a cloaking rune to hide their group; they were joined by Rosa, Tara, and Yulie, the latter only introduced as part of John’s batch of summons called to bolster the operation. (Miles had hoped for a more formal introduction to Yulie the “suck-you-bus,” but time did not permit it.)

From the Humans, only John, Tricia, Rave, and Travolta had gone out of the hideout to support the operation, and all but John had remained just outside the Government Commune with Zalla as their local guide. Escorted as they were and cloaked in rags, they wouldn’t need to move in unless John asked them to through his ****. John had gone ahead with two more beauties (the man seemed keen on collecting plainly female humanoids, Miles noted), named Fairy and Alysha, each of whom had given Miles no attention, either. There was only one of John’s “summons” that had been sent to join Miles, and while Miles might normally like the company…

“I can also tell you don’t bathe because of your ears. I can taste them on the air. They’re disgusting.”

… the creature known as Tita was a mixed bag. Somehow nightmarish and fuckable at the same time, Tita confounded Miles. The tentacled horror was troubling to look upon at first, as if something in Miles’ mind screamed that she was wrong, that it was wrong for existing… but Miles had managed to extinguish the sensation with a bit of effort. That was the kind of attitude that nearly got her killed when others held it, after all; and now that she had spent a few minutes with the derisive creature, Miles could feel something like a bond forming between them.

“I can tell you want this cock by how badly your little pussy-grabbers are trembling and dripping; I don’t even need my good eye to see that.” A bond of a sort.

Tita, for her part, was grateful for relief from her earlier task. So soon after damning her to nursing thousands of mistakes for the rest of her days, he had suddenly summoned her and given her stringent instructions on how to “escort” Miles the Human, how to “defend” her and herself, and what she was not permitted to do to innocents (followed by a long-winded expansion of what Tita would call “innocent”). As foul as it was to be next to this human—she couldn’t perceive why her master or anyone else thought Miles was “Dorani” or anything besides human—it was a welcome reprieve. Tita turned her eight gold-blue irises and midnight-black pupils up to the skies and counted the enemies nearby.

Miles continued the moment in silence. She wanted to get started already with her part of the “distraction”: killing Lawmen indiscriminately, and doing so on their home turf. The only thing she loathed nearly as much as the floating targets above was that singular, holding request by John: to wait until he found some way into the First Station without being noticed. “What could be taking him?”

“Please, spare the air your fetid breath and note the enemies… are they not drawing nearer? We should relocate.

Miles pressed her back to the alley wall as she glanced sidelong at the tentacles of the Moon Elf. Miles had heard those English instructions, too… and a tempting “mistake” began to brew in her mind. “You have to follow your master’s orders, right?”

“Absolutely,” Tita tersely whispered.

“He didn’t tell you to spare anyone you had to fight, right?” Miles knew the answer to that: between the Bitter Nines and the rationale of that cute little blonde that followed him around, John had been motivated down from senseless mercy to “minimal” bloodshed.

As for Tita, John understood what she was: a monster, an engine of destruction and pain, and a creature without real ability to neutralize an enemy safely, yet effectively. But Tita was not in the mood to explain all that, nor was she under orders to do so, so she replied simply, “No, he did not.”

That was enough for Miles. Miles permitted herself a grin as she peeked from the mouth of the alleyway. A pair of Lawmen were, in fact, nearing her; they might spot her soon if she and Tita “forgot” to move.

Notably, she wasn’t moving. “He’s running out of time…”

“We should go deeper into the alleys.”

Could being discovered by the patrol really hurt their plans? Miles’ conviction barely vacillated under that danger... and it froze in place as she noticed a splattered bit of color on the Hammer’s mace…

[MM = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BbvCC0VI0]

… blue. The blood of a young Dorani or Dorbin. It was bright, almost neon in its hue, though it would quickly dry to a dull brown… which meant this splatter was fresh. So someone had wandered into the no-man’s land, by mistake or by need, and had already been found by this Lawman. Miles hadn’t even heard the confrontation; they must have done it quickly… mercilessly…

… viciously. What if Miles had not bothered with this wait, this farce of an ****? Would that poor, random stranger be alive now? There was no shame or hesitation in the Lawman’s flight. Indeed, she didn’t even seem interested in cleaning her weapon off. Miles was not surprised by this; Lawmen never felt the burden of their repeated sins. They flew guiltless… even as their weapons dripped with violations of life and…

The drying blood took on a red tinge that only Miles could see. All the world joined it around Miles, and the music swelled with the pumping blood in her veins. Her hair flickered until most of its stream ranged from yellow to crimson. Tita could perceive none of this… but a violent urge welled inside her all the same. The Lawmen hesitated, but could not perceive a reason to not investigate that particular, shadowed alleyway. Something like anger bubbled inside them, too, but it was barely perceptible until it was too late.

Miles shook her head and whispered through clenched teeth, “No…”

ROUND ONE!

“Noooo no no… we’re already in it, you and I.” Miles bent her legs, braced for her leap… and lunged into the sky just as the Lawmen beat their maces together for light.

FIGHT!

Elsewhere in the Government Commune

John had told a small, white lie, if only to try and prevent a bloodbath.

Yes, he did need time to infiltrate the base safely with his iris-sized portals. If some Lawman flew accidentally into them, then their flight would be disrupted or the portal, due to its size, would wink out of existence. Either way, their guard would be up from there. So he did need to get in carefully, as he had described in the final briefing before everyone who was moving out did so… but what he failed to mention was how he had absolutely no intention of letting Miles meet her **** trying to fight the Purifier again.

So he wasn’t going to head directly into the First Station; that could wait, after all. First, he had to find the Purifier and remove him from the equation altogether.

“He’s got to be around here,” John muttered as he continued to wink portals all over the rocky ceiling of the world. From there he could fixate his Eye on every passing Lawman in his search for that one particular threat… except he wasn’t finding the man no matter where he looked. John leaned against the wall where he was sitting in a solemn alley.

Neither he nor his escorts—Fairy, Alysha and, as a last-minute addition, Durr the Wise—had bothered with disguises; this part of the city would be barren, after all, and anyone who approached them had to be taken out quickly and quietly. The massive ogre more than passed for some kind of rough Dorbin and did well to obstruct anyone’s view from the alley’s mouth; any Lawmen who approached would think it was an idiot laborer instead of, say, a coterie of dangerous, magic-wielding foreigners. Fairy, meanwhile, was just shooting scornful looks past the ogre and to the skies to anyone who dared pass within viewing distance. If not for the shadows, they’d have been revealed long ago.

“The air here is poisoned,” Durr suddenly whispered in his graveled tone. “It is so faint as to miss it… but no impurity can miss my tongue.”

“It’s probably the Violet,” John whispered back, “but we’ve survived so far… and no one has any negative status from it, yet.”

“You don’t even know what it does,” Fairy scoffed.

“I’ve been told what it does.” John caught sight of a weird guest in the skies: a shapely Dorani suit of armor not unlike Zalla’s old, stronger suit. The Eye revealed it was a male Keeper, but not his Purifier.

“Yeah, by ignorant yokels who worship knuckle-dragging humans of yesteryear,” Fairy yawned. “For all you know, the stuff is harmless or only harmful after they weaponized it, and they’re just doing a solid fucking job of keeping people up here with bullshit.”

“Well, finding out isn’t high on my priority list.” A horrible idea suddenly came to John… “… But maybe it should be…” He just had to find the biggest threat quickly-

<Master, we’re under attack,> came the calm voice of Tita into John’s mind.

Shit, already?! I told you guys to hide!

<We did, Master, but this bumbling trash human called Miles very obviously did her best to be spotted. I suspect they might’ve even nearly missed her… ah… I am defending myself.>

Remember, nothing that could hurt our allies-!

Tita casts Entropic Touch on Lawman Hammer, dealing 618 necrotic damage to her.
Tita has slain the Lawman Hammer!

<I remember my orders just fine, Master,> Tita calmly replied.

So John had taken a life in this place… the first of many, if this was the pace of it. He wasn’t permitted a moment to contemplate its importance; lives—lives he had to protect above all else, lives he had put into this danger—were now at stake. Christ. Everyone! We’re engaging the enemies, so be ready to defend…!

John’s thoughts trailed off as his right eye, the one not buried in small tunnels, caught a glimmer above. Massive, white-glowing flares had been fired into the sky, some dozens of them at strategic points all around the government zone. Zalla had warned of this: seeing-flares, expensive to craft but key to control in what was effectively a subterranean battlefield.

But it was meant for riots, or dire battles; in another moment, the arc of their flights stopped as they exploded into orbs of eye-searing radiance, each glowing bright enough to excise every strip of shadow that had protected John and his summons until now. That they fired them this soon, and so thoroughly seeded them over the air of the government block…!

Alright, we’re in phase two! Carry out your orders and report any sightings of the Purifier I described!

Brief confirmations rained into his mind as his minions acted. Meanwhile, four Hammers and a Brave, already overhead when the light show began, were now diving towards John and his clutch.

“Deal with them! I have to get into the First Station now-!”

“Like we were going to hesitate!” Fairy shot back before she shot upwards and then veered westward. Chains exploded from her body, each wreathed in flame, as they struck two of the Hammers before wrapping their wings and eventually converting their flights into falls.

The other Hammers moved to save their comrades, but Alysha had already begun her move towards them. She kicked against opposing sides of the alley until she too was airborne. She flung dual sprays of web at them both, blinding their visors and binding their weapons to their own chests as she twisted in the air to land on the nearest roof. “Yet another call to neutralize a small army of incompetent creatures…”

The Brave, still diving down, quickly reported the enemies into the Network as he tried to pick the larger threat between the two girls… and then Durr the Wise made the choice quite simple. A second later, the Lawman’s visor was filled with the massive, gray body of the ogre. Giant hands wrapped around the bicep and forearm of the Brave’s left arm and, with an echoing crunch, rent the armor until the flesh inside twisted and popped in opposite directions. “How foolish,” Durr lectured as he kept his grip and fell towards the ceiling below, “to come so near to me and be so soft.”

The damage reports filled John’s screen as the squad was torn apart, as did the other reports from his other minions, but for now, he couldn’t be bothered to join their fight. He had to get into the First Station, neutralize the Warden, and complete the mission… all as quickly as possible. If they couldn’t hit the Purifier first, then at least he could get everyone to safety before the bastard surprised any of them. Thank God I made the others stay outside of this mess…

On the Border of the Government Commune

“Well that was fast,” Rave groaned.

The ceiling over their heads glittered with the flashing lights of the six nearest seeing-flares. The light didn’t fade; the flares were enchanted to continue to burn until an hour passed, or else until a Keeper came and deactivated them. For Rave, Tricia, and Travolta, what had been a tense task of sitting at a round table in a public square, with their faces covered and mouths shut, had finally come to its end. Now the sparse population that had even bothered to appear there had been sent scrambling away from the melee that was about to take place, each one terrified that they might be labeled a criminal and executed if they dared to stay even this close to the forbidden areas.

“Fucking finally,” Travolta spat, “I hated waiting around to see if we got caught here.”

Tricia shook her head as her voice spoke evenly. “No, this is not according to plan… unless John already found the treasure?”

“The fighting has begun,” Zalla reported in a tense voice, “and my master has not yet even entered the First Station.”

“Alright,” Rave said as she stretched, “so we’re on to Plan B: create a distraction, knock some heads loose, and we all do it at the same time so none of us gets into trouble, right?”

“That’s not our job, Rave,” Travolta pointedly replied, “and you know it isn’t. We’re just here for backup in case someone gets into trouble.”

“I think them turning night into day down here is a pretty good sign of trouble,” Rave shot back.

“Engaging the enemy may create problems for John; we shouldn’t unless we need to,” Tricia added.

Zalla studied the sky a bit longer… and her eyes went wide as she realized the trio of Braves that were now rushing at them from further outside the government perimeter. It now became clear why John likely couldn’t find the Purifier: he, on Zalla’s honest belief, had expected he would patrol the First Station skies, ready to snuff out resistance the moment it showed its face.

But Zalla’s report, though she could not have guessed it, had indeed reached the Lawmen Network, reached the ear of the Warden, and then reached the suspicions and bloodthirst of the Lawman Purifier. His patrol now ventured far to the edges of the Plate… and only now was he returning to find his greatest charge under threat. His piercing gaze was enchanted to ignore the runic protections cast by Golgon the Fool or any other runecaster, and he might’ve discovered the Bitter Nines further inside the warzone too… had he not found something more peculiar: a table of humanoids not fleeing the flares.

Zalla had only seen that black suit of armor once during an introductory briefing… and the gleaming face of the Purifier could not pass her notice now. Her mouth almost sighed his name, “Daedro.”

The humans turned to follow her gaze… and found the clutch of Lawmen flying low to investigate them.

Meanwhile, further inside…

“Then it is time for the distraction, yes?” Hurk asked, his smile never leaving as his giant red fists prepared to raise above Golgon’s cloak and launch him into the sky.

“Don’t be hasty, you idiot!” Cidi chided as she began to draw runes into the dirt.

Hurk thought to how Cidi had decided they would attack John at their first meeting, but said nothing as he continued to smile.

“Carajo, we should’ve had someone able to hide others with every party,” Rosa sighed, “the Master’s preference be damned.”

“I can’t believe I got dragged into this shit,” Tara grumbled as she prepared to summon her sprites.

“You can’t?” Yulie scoffed scornfully. “I should be tempting fools to bed in a German pub, not dirtying my hands in an outright fight!”

“Are you three done groaning?” Cidi demanded, joined by Kitok’s chittering in agreement.

“Now now,” Golgon counseled, “we have prepared for this, haven’t we?” Until now, a translucent blue cloth, like water, had hung over their heads… but Golgon released the rune now that a Keeper had clearly spotted and pointed them out. Some nineteen Lawmen in total were en route to finally kill the Bitter Nines… as Golgon had expected. As he had secretly hoped.

Golgon nodded to Hurk and Cidi before barking in his shrill, commanding voice, “To arms, until the traitors have all fallen silent!”

John’s summons had no interest in doing anything besides, and so the whole unit moved as one: Hurk grabbed the edge of a building and launched himself into the air with such velocity that the nearing Keeper couldn’t avoid him. Clubs smashed almost uselessly against the massive forearms that reached and grabbed the Keeper and dragged him down as Hurk held on. With one hand wrapping up the Keeper’s legs and the other rearing back to punch, the Keeper could barely report his pleas for reinforcements before his entire world became a single, crimson fist.

Cidi remained on the ground and joined Tara as both called flaming bolts from the ground into the sky. The Dorani’s expression was silent as she finished the runes and cast the lights upward; Tara simply stomped her foot with determination to call hers into being. The Vantage native’s bolts flamed up and struck, one after the other, into the **** neck plating of a Brave until, with the third one to so strike, they breached flaming metal into the tender flesh below. Tara’s bolts proved to be something more as they leapt on the two nearest Hammers; these bolts grew arms and legs and began to crawl on the parts of the Lawmen’s backsides and helmet that they couldn’t swat or reach with their weapons or hands. With sadistic glee, the sprites began to burn their way into the metal, each one eager to eat the fuel hiding inside these golden cans.

Rosa, for all her shortcomings as a hedge mage in the Order’s world, had the time and notice to prepare for this occasion. The dirt here was poisoned, so she did not dare call it up as smoke; there were no insects in the ground, perhaps for the same reason, and so she could not call a carrion swarm to blind them. All those little tricks she was ready to employ against the Order before they were shunted into this world seemed inapplicable in so alien a place…

… but she was no longer barred from killing. The Sword of the North, then. She spun on her left heel as her right shoe cut a rough circle beneath her. That was enough; the real circle was a mental construct she had prepared hours ago, and now it flashed into existence at her feet in trembling lines of blue light. More straight lines intersected within, none touching her anchoring ankle as they crossed in a seemingly chaotic pattern; the stars in their crossings flashed black, and a single spoke of white appeared on the circle’s edge where three lines intersected. “Difda al Auwel, Hastorang, Fomalhaut, Northern Tower: I call for your light.” With the circle cast, she threw her palms heavensward as two Hammers began their dive towards her.

Golgon answered their charge by leaping to the sky and, with a flash on his bangle, pointed his open palm to stop them. “Begone.” A tornado of flames and wind swept the Lawmen away, melting their armored joints, bending their wings, and launching their burning bodies into an arc that ended through the window of a far-off café. The show of **** had signaled to everyone the location of the real danger, Golgon thought with confidence…

… and then a nova of flames exploded to the east. Golgon focused his powerful vision on the scene a few blocks away from his own and watched as a great ball of orange erupted in the sky… and then suddenly withdrew into one of the three Lawmen caught in the blast. The two still sparkled with flames left over from the attack, but the poor soul chosen to absorb the heat of that cataclysm barely managed his panicked shriek before his body exploded into cinders and ruined bok.

From the middle of that explosion fell, on graceful, extended tentacles, the minion known as Tita… and her grace was juxtaposed by the follow-up from Miles. The after-image of her flaming hair left a trail from some alleyway to where she leapt towards the panicked, half-burned Lawman. Savagely, she plunged her fist through his charred armor and chest, leaving the remaining Lawman backing up into the sky as he waited for reinforcements. “Ah… well then,” Golgon nervously laughed.

Rosa tore a loosened bit of her cloak away and, as it draped over her fingers, watched as it began to burn up in heatless flames. “With this sacrifice, I call for your guidance.”

Tara focused a ball of hellfire into being between her outstretched fingers… and, with an angry cry, reared back and pitched it into a clutch of three Hammers who were trying to help their sprite-infested friends. The Lawmen gracefully dodged her attack… except it wasn’t meant to explode on contact. Between them, then, the ball detonated in vermilion flames, engulfing both soldiers as it tore through them with the radiant hate of Hell itself.

Kitok, whose role was never that of a fighter, could only cower as she hid among the flaming bits of ruin and combat that rained all around her. She was meant to carry or sneak or steal; this was a war, and she could do no better than hold onto her bok knife and pray it would protect her if she got cornered.

Yulie, true to her claim, could do little but handle a single Lawman at a time… at least, on the open battlefield. Her infectious gaze and dominating magic failed to move the already-enslaved Lawmen; as John had expected, their minds were beyond the control of others while they remained under the Peak’s command. So the scantily clad succubus, airborne on black, bat-like wings, had to rely on less… graceful tools.

Her hand had ripped through the crotch guard of the female Lawman and shoved clawed fingers through tender cloth and flesh, digging into the soft groin and drinking, through invading digits and black magic, the life she found there. The female Lawman spasmed and screamed as pain and infernal pleasure burned through her nerves, all while Yulie cooed, “It’s nothing personal, dear, really: this is the only way I can feed!”

Another Lawman came by and, with all his might, smashed his club into Yulie’s head… and said target only barely jolted from the ****. Yulie’s head turned as her newly absorbed health took all the damage for her, and she winked at the stunned Lawman. “Please wait your turn, dear; this particular love is…” The Lawwoman finally gasped one final orgasm… before she passed, shriveled, and blackened inside her armor. “… too intimate for threesomes.” True to her word, she turned her love on the newcomer and spread her black wings to encompass him.

Rosa tapped the ground with her heel once. “Once do I call you.”

Hurk peeled the helmet away and, with a sickening crunch, twisted the revealed Dorani’s head until the Lawman ceased moving. Another Keeper and his Braves descended upon the massive man, each eager to still the infamous giant that killed so many of their brethren.

Rosa tapped the ground twice. “Twice do I call you.”

Golgon threw three spears of heated, liquid earth into two more Lawmen, killing them and also draining his mana to dangerously low levels. He hadn’t expected this many in the skies this quickly; had some been hiding between the buildings, waiting to attack? But as if to answer, they had only just begun the attack on the Bitter Nines: another dozen Lawmen erupted from the ceiling of the First Station, each fresh and ready for the fight.

Rosa tapped the ground thrice in quick succession and closed her eyes as she encircled the blue flames in between her clenching hands. “Thrice are you called, and so I pray: thrice with your blade, thrice with your dance, and thrice are my wishes.”

The dozen split into two: six for the Bitter Nines, and six just for Miles and the tentacled horror they mistook for the Bitter Nines’ newest weapon. Golgon struggled between being grateful and worried; moreover, where was the Purifier?

The circle at Rosa’s feet suddenly shrunk and snapped into the base of the white spoke; the entire structure of light began to extend and take a hardened form. Rosa kept her eyes closed as she finished the incantation. “Light of the Northern Star, Watcher of Three, Blade of Kings: manifest... and dance for my enemies! Dance for my life!”

As her spell commanded, the light finally took its form: a massive broadsword, eight feet in length and four inches wide, floated into being with a bared tang. Its wielder was not of the world, and so it needed no hilt; it was an edge and nothing more… because nothing more was wished for. Rosa opened her eyes, still glowing as the last of her mana was spent through her gaze and her final, thrice-whispered wish. “Dance.”

The blade sung the joined voices of a far-off choir as it cut air… and continued its throaty song as it twisted and spun to slice the spine of one of the Braves nearing Hurk. Tara and Cidi both watched in surprise as the disembodied blade did indeed dance: with purposeful swings and errorless dragging of edge on bok and then flesh, it began to cut wounds and deaths into the ranks of converging Lawmen. A Keeper parried the blade once as it tried to kill her; she was struck on the arm for the second blow, the blade sliced the offending arm off entirely with a third swing… and then stopped. Thrice was its cut; it could not finish this foe, and so went on to the next, leaving the terribly wounded Keeper to retreat in hopes of stemming the blood flow from the dismemberment… only to meet Yulie as the latter made her own opening in this ruined suit of armor.

Rosa collapsed onto her knees as she panted wildly. As long as the blade existed, her well of power was spent… but the blade would not wander too far, answering every Lawman that threatened her… at least, for as long as she had managed to call it. Some minutes more? Seconds? She couldn’t be sure; not this far from the northern star proper… not this far from Earth. Dios mio, Master… but you better be done soon…