Other than a couple of rips in Bobby’s armored jumpsuit from when things got really hairy, I emerge from the Dungeon untouched and a lot more confident about leveraging all my skills in combat with my new Attributes. It’s going to take a lot more practice to fully bed them in, but I’m feeling confident that I must have at least the equivalent of a high Tier Minor physical Power or maybe even a low Tier Major one.

  “You find any more of those Feral Skeletal Rats, Calrik?” Brockil asks as I make sure he sees me on my way to Bobby so he knows I’m done.

  “A couple,” I agree with a nod. “Dungeon is cleared out now, though. Hopefully no more of them show up and you can keep the danger levels appropriate.”

  “Thanks Calrik, that’s appreciated.” I wave and rejoin Bobby, who escorts me out to the HoverPad that’s already waiting and zips us up to the ship. I had him back all his weapons and the armored jumpsuit, then get dressed and look right to the flight controls.

  “Back to Saint Marianne’s?” I suggest.

  “Once you’re in the PowerSuit,” he says. I raise my eyebrow at him.

  “Seems like overkill Bobby. It’s only a few minutes.”

  “Maybe…” he allows. “But you’re going to do it anyway, right?”

  Bobby’s been good to me and I appreciate getting this chance, so I climb into the PowerSuit to humor him. We fly the short distance back to Saint Marianne’s and we descend to the street in front of the hospice on the HoverPad together.

  “Hope you got what you wanted out of the trip,” he offers as I climb out of the PowerSuit and hop off the HoverPad to the road.

  “Thanks - say hi to Kate and Brad for me?”

  Bobby doesn’t say anything so I glance at him, but he’s focused on something else. I look to where his attention is focused and see Officer Pike striding out of the gates, a serious expression on her face and a glint in her eyes. She’s accompanied by three other officers and Bart, who’s staring right at me with a burning, confident intensity.

  From on top of the HoverPad, Bobby is practically radiating danger as he looks around. Near us, several cars open and half a dozen intimidating men and women dressed in corporate attire that look ex-military step out and begin walking toward us without even bothering to close their car doors. I pull information from one of them

  Tim Renoof (Negotiator)

  Level: 77

  Redux: 10%

  Power: Restraint (Tier 2 Minor)

  Conditions: Oathbound

  Oathbound… does that mean The Barrister is involved in this somehow? Auntie V said Eddie was tied up with a Supervillain. I quickly pull the Statuses of all of them, and they’re all Oathbound Negotiators. The Barristers people. I look back to Officer Pike again, not sure what to do. Do I make a run for it? Race past them into Saint Marianne’s? I’m needed with Auntie V.

  Lena Pike (Detective)

  Level: 69

  Redux: 2%

  Power: Circumstantial Evidence (Tier 1 Major)

  Conditions: On The Hunt, Oathbound

  She’s being Enhanced by something, or someone, and those Conditions don’t bode well for me. Bobby shifts to my side of the HoverPad within arm’s reach, his movement unmistakable in the tension that fills the air. The Negotiators pick up their pace a bit and the officers with Officer Pike all put their hands on tasers and batons. I wonder if they know that if those are standard issue, they’re not going to do anything to Bobby. I can probably shrug them off too, even if they all hit me together. Even Bart looks like he’s spoiling for a fight, fists clenched. I’m wary of his physical prowess, I’ve seen it first hand and he’s likely on par with me.

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  “Stand down, trooper!” snaps Officer Pike as she closes to a few meters from me and keeps going. Bobby halts his movement, but he also doesn’t back off. It’s not the EDF’s place to interfere in police business and they’re held to strict rules and codes, but he is a powerful Hero in his own right and a high Ranked EDF officer with instructions from Vitalis.

  Quite a few people are now closing on the HoverPad and I decide to hold my ground unless someone looks like they’re going to take a shot.

  Officer Pike gets right in my space and glares right up into my eyes, then brings a hand up and slaps a piece of paper against my chest at her head height.

  “This is a warrant for your arrest, Calrik Corvin. You’re coming with us.”

  I look down at her, angry and unsure what to do, then she leans in and stretches up to say something so only I can hear. Her voice is low and threatening, and full of victory.

  “Eddie says hi, punk. You’re going down!”

  It’s so stereotypical and so absurd that I want to lash out. I want to knock her block off, but Heroes and innocent people don’t assault police officers. I could so easily crush her, even without the PowerSuit on.

  Instead, I tense as she grabs my left forearm and pulls it toward her while tucking the warrant back in her pocket and pulling a pair of handcuffs from her belt.

  “Officer…” warns Bobby as she slaps the handcuff on my wrist. I’m now essentially surrounded by police and The Barrister’s goons. Bart hovers not far away.

  “You can’t take him!” rings out the voice of Vitalis as she strides through the courtyard. “He must stay with me!” She’s somehow mustered the strength to get dressed, red hair also flowing as she rushes purposefully with a vitality I haven’t seen in my time with her, practically radiating authority and power. It’s the Vitalis of years ago. Fabian and Lucy are with her, trailing a few feet behind.

  “She can’t save you,” Officer Pike growls at me, and grabs at my free arm to snap the other handcuff on, but I hold my arm back and with my enhanced Strength, she doesn’t have the strength to move it. Frustration boils over in her eyes and she releases my arm, but holds on to the handcuffs, then turns to address Auntie V, who is almost at the gate.

  “Stay out of police business, Veronica Corvin!” Officer Pike practically shouts the warning and everyone starts shifting their positions around me. I think about making a break for it, but what’s that going to accomplish?

  “You’re wrong, Officer Pike!” she storms back as the officers start grabbing me and lift me up to start moving me to a vehicle. I glance up at Bobby, but he seems frozen, trapped in duty and without the authority to intervene.

  “I said - you can’t take him!” Auntie V’s voice, now fully Vitalis, booms through the air. My eyes pop open and my jaw drops as she actually starts to run out to confront us directly, to stop me from being taken away. A lot of hands are on weapons, but nobody wants to draw first or fire on a Legendary Hero.

  “No! Vitalis!” shouts Bobby as Auntie V crosses the Saint Marianne shield threshold to confront Officer Pike, stern anger in her expression.

  All hell breaks loose.

  Lasers, destructive beams, and projectiles rain down from the sky in a hail of ammunition that chews up everything around us. Auntie V is holding my arm as everyone around us is blasted apart and shredded by the onslaught, and I can feel her healing power, focused so strongly on the two of us, repairing the damage as fast as it comes.

  Bobby somehow has sealed himself in Brad’s suit and flashes into the corner of my vision. He’s slammed from the side, but manages to grab Auntie V and I and throw us back behind the gate where Lucy’s shields cover us for a moment and then the shield dome over Saint Marianne’s activates.

  Outside the shield is carnage and Bobby tries to take off, but two of the winged alien invaders rocket into him at a full dive. Their bodies break and crumple against his PowerSuit, but it keeps him on the ground for a split second as more firepower pours onto the shield and the area right in front of the gate. Auntie V releases me and Lucy’s shields disappear and I leap up to charge up to the shield.

  “Bart!” Fabian shouts, but I can’t even see him in the chaos.

  “Bobby!” I yell, but I’m way too late to warn him and the EDF troops who are stationed all around swarm in, pumping counterfire at everything trying to hit us as the occasional slavering, feral alien slams against the shield in vain, trying to get to Auntie V, who simply stands in the gate, tall and strong, and feeds our allies healing energy.

  I’ve been in such shock from the attempted arrest from Officer Pike that’s turned into an ambush and killing ground that I’ve missed Reclaiming some of the Soul Sparks and now I start, pulling them toward me so they infuse me with warmth.

  The battle is short, but vicious and over a few seconds later. Bobby and the EDF troopers are all alive, if a bit battered, outside of Saint Marianne’s shield perimeter. It would be hard to even find something to identify Officer Pike and the people who accompanied her. Maybe some managed to make it to safety, it’s almost impossible to say.

  I look back at Auntie V, ready to thank her, and my words are caught in my throat as I see her swooning, black pulsing veins down her hands and up her neck, right to her jawline. I rush to her and pick her up.

  “Room 300, Cal,” she struggles to say as I hold her close. I don’t think Fabian and Lucy have seen it; they’re still looking out at the carnage. Without any hesitation I sprint back into Saint Marianne’s, Auntie V in my arms.