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Chapter 3: Worries of Wendy
Arthur sighs with a smile, “Just for the record, she always thinks I’m cute, pom poms or not. And don’t worry, I think you got the energy out of her, she was long overdue some rest” he picks her up, shoulders on one arm and knees bent around the other. Carefully pulling out a couple of syringes, he passes them to Reign, “Fast heals, they tire you out but supercharge the healing process, your friends might need some from the whipping, sorry about that, if I thought there was real danger, she would have stopped” he offers a soft smile, “Get them healed up and I’ll walk you to a cafe to have a break, it’s near the next text and on my way to the castle to drop Fi off”
Reign doesn’t hesitate to sprint over to the party, quickly giving them their jabs. The process takes a few minutes but by the end of it, both the wounded are healed up, if a bit winded, Brodee flashes a smile, “Just that easy… can we agree that whips are off limits? Don’t need to get hit like that again” he offers a small chuckle, standing tall while still taking deep breaths. Del gets to her feet, heavily breathing herself, “I agree, the whip was a bad idea, at least the shield seemed to help?” Reign gives an eager nod, “Shield works” they look to their arm where the shield was, “Hard to reverse” they wander back to Arthur, party behind them. “Let’s go” and with those words, Arthur leads on. “So…” Arthur starts, “… Why are you doing this? I mean, you just took down Fiona so I presume there’s a good reason”
Reign softly chuckles, “I want milk” Seeing the look on the prince’s face, they decided to elaborate, “Asshole took it” this seemed to be enough for the prince, “Going to be honest, kinda crazy that you’ve come this far just to get some milk back, h-how did you even get multiple people on board with this? Well I guess you really put your heart into things so I bet people just follow, wouldn’t be the first group I’ve seen. If you make it past the members of the A team, you better get your milk back, I heard Rainbow Bright tried but he was stopped due to not having the evidence, that’s what Fi was dealing with all night. And if someone has done something to make her upset, you know the whole team will be behind you” in response to full support, Reign… hid their face, turning their head away, their heart rate increasing. “Oh urr… did I say something wrong?!” Arthur appeared panicked that his words didn’t have the intended effect.
Brodee put arms around both chatter’s shoulders, “Prince, you didn’t do anything wrong, Reign’s just… themselves, that was a good speech, would have probably worked on most people” their tone is a cheerful one, “And Reign, we’ve got your back, we’re not gonna make you do it alone, lighten up if you can, I’m happy to shoulder everything with you” at these words, they both visibly relax. His point made, Brodee slows down a bit behind the leaders, walking next to Del once again.
Arthur speaks up again, “So anyone outside of your party that you’d do anything for? Clearly I don’t need to ask about who you’re traveling with” Reign thinks for a few moments, shaking their head, “Brodee’s my friend” they smile, a warm, lost in thought, smile “He’s the best” their words are much more warm and less deadpan than usual, “He’s… always there” Arthur is extremely clear with his facial expression that he wasn’t expecting that answer, “Well… glad to hear you’ve got someone firmly in your corner” he looks down to Fiona, a warm smile on his own face.
He soon stops, producing out a card for Reign to take, “Just show this in the cafe, they’ll get you whatever you want, and don’t worry, they do a good English breakfast if that’s your kind of thing” after passing the card, he points over to a building labeled ‘Rainbow Cafe’, “Please take the time to plan your next fights, Wendy and Rainbow Bright are literally made for fighting, they’re not going to make a possibly dangerous journey easy to start. And have a good stay, aside from the local guard attacking you, you are all honoured guests here” he does his best to bow before walking on, being gentle with the woman in his arms. The party bow in response before heading their way towards the cafe.
They quickly find a table and look over the menu, the specials on the menu named after the group they’ve been fighting all morning. Brodee grins, “So, what are we having? I’m looking at the Chi special myself” Reign is next to speak up, “Fiona special please” and finally Del “One set of small cheese twists and one set of small bacon twists please” her eyes light up bright at the idea of mini pastries. Brodee takes the prince’s card, going up to the counter.
Del smiles to Reign, “So, it seems like we might have similar interests, have you ever tinkered with electronics?” Reign thinks for a moment before nodding, “What do you do for work and stuff?” Reign once again thinks, “Developer for corp” they lightly frown, looking down. “If you’re not feeling good about it, how about you come work for me? I think I’m going to need an extra pair of hands, developer, good with precise movements and has at least tinkered with electronics. It’ll be on site but I can arrange transport for you. I won’t push you on it, but I’d rather have you than some rando off the street” she starts frantically writing down on a napkin, “It won’t be too high stakes unless we really mess up and have to put a bot down” she finishes writing and slides it over to Reign.
“Delta Co R&D assistant
In this role you may be required to do the following tasks:
- Assist in the development of cutting edge Delta Co technology
- Ensure the facility is up to date and operating correctly
- Report to the R&D lead (Currently Del)
- Assist the R&D lead in tasks asked of you relating to the operation of their role or the facility, including administration work
The following benefits will be provided:
- Healthcare (full coverage)
- Personal ownership of tools and developments at the discretion of the R&D lead
- Personal transport to and from the job site
- R&D site events
- Bonus may be provided at completion of a successful product development
Salary: $175,000 per annum”
Reign’s jaw drops, “………….. Think about it” they carefully put the napkin in their pocket, “Seems like pressure” they feel their teeth scraping at the side of their mouth, “and big change” Del responds with a nod and a smile.
Brodee returns with drinks, “I had to take a punt but I hope you like what I got!” A decaf iced coffee for Reign, a sports energy drink for himself, and a peach energy drink for Del. Reign gives a thumbs up while Del… takes a moment before she gives it a sip, then going for a chug and giving her own thumbs up. Brodee gives a small sigh of relief to himself, sipping at his own drink, “So, today has been tough, I think we can agree” he looks to Del who has her can of drink turned upside down and chugging it as fast as gravity will allow her. Eyes then moving to Reign, they don’t look peachy keen on a good day but they clearly will sleep for a couple of days when this is all over. “… So, how about we actually discuss what we’re doing? I know you guys aren’t too fond of sports but strategy is the key to winning, we’ve done pretty well just swarming and doing things on the fly but we need to know what we’re dealing with and what we can do to counter them, we got the info and the three of us can put our heads together” a bright spark lights up behind his eyes, a grin on his face, for the first time all day, he’s felt truly in his element.
Del shakes her can over her mouth, the last few drips of drink falling onto her tongue before laying the can on the table, “Right, that’s me! So our next opponent will be Wendy, I think we may need to make sure our medical information is up to date” after a few moments, Brodee gives a go on gesture, “Oh right, so she punches hard, very very hard, like she accidentally broke one of my titanium training bots, she put Rainbow in the hospital when they had a serious fight. The only thing she has outside of a hand to hand fighter is she can do a short range hard light style energy projection, usually using it for movement or to double up on attacks. Her fighting style is slower but she can give and take a good punch, simple but very effective” she looks down, her hands are shaking, “She’s nice but I don’t know if she knows how to hold back” she holds her hands to the table to stop them from shaking.
Reign sighs, “So, let’s plan” they take a sketchpad out, writing “WENDY” at the top of the page, “Any ideas?” The trio relax just a little bit, getting themselves ready for the next step, enjoying their meals and enjoying a few drinks they didn’t have to pay for.
The trio eventually make their way to a training lab, a touch underground, a few stairs below the boring, regular training lab. Inside a woman with flowing, blonde hair facing away from the door. As they enter, 3 metallic training dummies spring up from the floor, the woman rapidly destroys them with one punch each, shattering the dummies, which quickly sink back into the floor. “As much as it’s good seeing the fighters around, this blockade idea is dumb as hell so don’t expect to remember how you leave”
Brodee bursts out laughing, “Are you serious with that? Did you stand there for like an hour waiting for your dramatic speech?” He struggles to stand, even Reign gives a small chuckle. “So, you gonna fight or just give us another speech on the pointlessness of doing this?” He revs himself up, bouncing his fresh basketball around, starting with a bit of basic up and down but quickly progressing to bouncing it between his legs. Reign and Del give action poses as well, Reign popping out their mini crossbow and pointing it forward and Del giving a strongman pose with power fists around her hands.
Wendy turns, eyes locked on Brodee like a predator locking onto prey, both of them tuning into what the other is going to do and charging forward. Wendy goes for a direct punch to the face while Brodee mirrors the attack with his ball in his hand, both dodging at the last moment with the ball being launched. Wall bounce, wall bounce… it hits the back of her head! “W-was that it?!” She sounds more perplexed than angry as she pulls back, looking towards the ball and it’s user, wordlessly kicking back as if to give an infant back their toy. He appears to ignore the possible taunting and starts bouncing the ball again to regain his flow, giving Reign a flick of a thumbs up as he rapidly bounces that ball around like no one will ever bounce it again!
Reign starts rapid firing trickshots, off the walls, off the ceiling, even one off of Del, who creates a shield to deflect the shot. Brodee uses the bolts surrounding Wendy to charge in for a slam dunk with a path clear in front without the danger of bolts getting him in the back. Knees bending down he launches, ball overhead, he was ready to take a punch or kick if it meant the bolts would hit.
Wendy takes in the scene, sporty guy, Brodee, looking like he’s completely opened himself up with an overhead smash, pure attack but he’s easily countered. Around her, 8 bolts coming from all angles outside of dead ahead, moving at speed so it doesn’t look like the hooded one, Reign, is holding back at all, either they’re charging into everything full force or Del warned them about her. Speaking of Del, she’s just… standing there, not seeming to be doing much, she’s reported to be supporting but right now all she’s doing is standing, did she give the info and that’s it? Wendy, for the split second ponders that she may be missing something, but runs out of time and has to act. She spins, a blue aura emanating from her fist as she knocks as many bolts off course as possible, finishing the spin, her fist launches into Brodee’s gut, after a beat, a burst of energy follows her fist, launching him away towards his party. Two bolts made us through the deflection, one landing in her left shoulder and the other landing in her lower right side back, there’s a small flinch as they dig into her flesh but nothing to indicate pain.
Reign and Del run to get their buddy out of the crack in the wall he ended up making when he was punched away, needing a bit of a tug from them both to get the guy out. Brodee rubs his head as he gets to his feet, ball casually rolling up to him like some form of pet, “Alright, she hits real hard, get me some of that power gel, I’m going to need a boost” without hesitation, a bottle of tough gel is thrown to him.
Brodee uses t-gel, attack and defence increased!
“Gonna be honest, not sure why you have this much of this stuff but heck, it works in a pinch” he chuckles, charging right back into the fight, “Cover sides!” He calls out behind, Reign loads a set of bolts and starts firing again, as instructed, the bolts only go to the side. As soon as he’s in the right place, he launches his ball off the back wall again, this time at such a speed that it leaves a crack in the walls and rebounds to Wendy’s body.
Wendy again takes in the scene around her, she’s only really got time for the bolts or whatever the guy was doing, not both, and in her experience, crossbow bolts hurt a bit more than a punch and a bit of a knock from a ball. Her arms swing around her sides, deflecting all the bolts. One thing sticks in her mind, she hasn’t seen Del do anything at all, just watch, hasn’t made a move, hasn’t pulled out some over the top gadget to attack, just watch it unfold. The attack comes, one hard blow to the upper back from the ball and one devastating gut punch at the front, the air is thrown from her lungs from the force of his punch, she keeps her footing but just barely. She gasps deep for air before her knee launches up, smashing into his jaw and launching him a full metre in the air, she stands stall, knee launching into his lower back while a fist meets in the middle as it launches to his chest.
Brodee has taken a fatal hit!
The crack that comes out of Brodee’s body freezes the air in the room, he falls to the floor, knocked out. Wendy looks at him with a look of pity in her eye, “He has promise” her eyes instantly shift to Del, “But… What are you doing? You’ve done nothing but watch the fight, no tool? No… gadget to launch at me?” her voice comes with a harsh serving of annoyance, her eyes glaring holes into the technomancer. She goes to take a step forward but her legs are fixed in places she struggles but she can’t lift them at all!
“Incorrect” Del starts with a soft smile coming onto her face, “I have been launching gadgets the whole time, the bolts, the ball, even Brodee’s fist were laced with nanobots, nanobots I currently have magnetically pulling towards these Delta-tech tiles” she snaps her fingers and suddenly Wendy is finding it hard to stand, “Apologies, I was mostly making sure that the bots found their target, my friends are great at delivering them” she provides a bright smile, snapping her fingers again, Wendy is brought to her knees.
Wendy does her very best to push herself up, but the moment she drags her body up, a tile from the wall snaps off, smashing her face and knocking her back down. Then another, then another, a pile of tiles raining down onto her struggling body until the pile stops moving. One last snap of Del’s fingers and the pile relaxes, lucky for Brodee, the pile ends just before his knocked out body.
In the next chapter!
“…am I going to need to practice CPR?”
Reign sits in a park, blushing and looking away, hiding their face quickly
“Please don’t tell Reign about this…”
Haloes delivers a heavy punch to Brodee’s gut
“All for one”
“…something other than ‘he’ this or that”
Haloes delivers a back of the neck chop to Del
“It happened again, didn’t it?”
Multiple projectiles explode on a rather casual standing Haloes
“… One for all”
Next time in Chapter 4: Last Hero Standing
Chapter 4 →
Credits
- Colour Printer – Writing & Cover art
Thanks
- Molrcore – Giving the push to see this through
