"Err, okay. By the way, if we
are
attacked, hold your breath immediately, and run outside - try to find a guy with a long rifle and beat him up. A sniper rifle shouldn't hurt you, and if he hits you with a gas attack holding your breath will keep you from inhaling it."
"How long do you think I can hold my breath?"
"Ten minutes, maybe more. Just do it and hold it as long as you can, okay?"
"Okay."
I followed her back into the house and waited while she put on a bathing suit. I had difficulty not staring at her when she came out of the closet in a pink bikini.
She said, "Strange that it is so snug, but doesn't feel overly tight."
I coughed and said, "Yeah, your body armor should keep you from feeling that."
She shrugged and walked back out to the deck to lie down.
I sat in another chair and focused on the sounds of the neighborhood. The occasional vehicle drove through the area, the sound of the mower a few houses down and the wind were among the few noises.
She asked me what it was like to be a super, or a brick while we relaxed out in the sun. I kept a close eye on the surrounding houses as I described roughly what I’d done up until this point.
My phone beeped with an incoming message. I glanced at it.
From Hellshock, 'Quiet here, camped out at mowing guy's house.'
I responded, 'Same here, on back deck, keeping watch.'
I sent a text to Stephanie as well, 'Hoping you are OK, working with H.E.R.O.s to try to capture the mercs kidnapping others.'
We spent the next few hours sitting out there and chatting. It was hard not to be distracted by Daphne lying in the sun.
My phone beeped again around 11:30 a.m. I glanced at the message.
From Hellshock, 'Two vans heading down street, be alert.'
I strained my hearing listening for any sound in the area. I thought I heard the side door of a van open and slide, but wasn't sure. If it was a van it was done quietly.
I barely caught the sound of a voice coming over tiny speakers. The image of the guys that attacked Lance and I came to mind with their headgear. It came from both to my left and far right. They were approaching from around the outside of the house.
A voice whispered, "Now." It echoed through multiple speakers.
A flash lit up the bushes from the corner house behind Daphne's, and I was knocked off the chair from a sniper round to the chest.
Movement came from both the right and left as men in military type garb ran toward us. Daphne stared at me and I pointed toward the flash and yelled, "Go there, get him NOW!"
She sucked in a large breathe just before a barrage of paint balls struck both of us, bursting and causing fumes to rise from the liquid contained inside. She ran to the edge of the deck and leapt, she didn't fall to the ground as her body flew in a straight line at the sniper.
Two other men fired needler pistols at full automatic - both were aiming solely at me. I kipped to my feet and saw a bola flying at me. My familiar jolt hit and I appeared on the other side of it. Heavy machine gun fire went off from another pair of mercs as they tried to burn me down.
I heard a loud metallic crash from the front side of the house and assumed that Gatecrasher was busy there.
In a moment I was off the deck and in front of the left group of mercs. A line of needler darts pelted me across my chest, and two heavy machine gun shots hit my back.
A side kick into one of the men with a machine gun threw him away from me. My tentacles hooked into the other heavy gun and jerked it away from the merc.
I heard the men on the other side of the deck running around it to get a clear shot.
The man to my right landed a paint ball shot to my left cheek. The smell of the gas was strong from the liquid the ball contained.
I glanced at him and my right tentacle stabbed him in the right side of the chest, and then flung him into the air a few dozen feet.
The needler pistol clicked a few times and that merc dropped the gun. He started lifting one of the taser bola crossbows when I swept his feet out from under him with my leg and punched him into the ground before he hit it on his own.
The sound of a bullet passing near my left ear told me the other team had moved into position. I turned around to face them when electricity crackled from behind them and surrounded two of the men. Both fell with barely a sound.
The heavy gunner was the remaining merc on that side, and he spun and aimed at Hellshock's head.
I leapt toward him and the jolt struck. I appeared right by him, still in a slightly crouched position. I slammed my hand down on the barrel of the gun and bit his upper arm, tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
A knife popped out of a forearm sheath and he stabbed toward me. I bent over backward while my tentacles drove their spikes into his shoulders. He cried out in pain and his arms went limp. A line of lightning came from my right and I yanked out my tentacle spikes as Hellshock brought him down.
I spit out the flesh from the man's arm and looked toward the sniper position. Hovering about twenty feet in the air was Daphne, with a merc hanging from her left hand.
She yelled, "I can fly!" She suddenly shook her head, and her chin fell to her chest. Her body fell from the sky a moment later and crashed to the ground along with the sniper.
Hellshock and I ran up to her. She was still breathing.
I said, "I've got her." I picked her up and brought her back to her deck. Hellshock followed behind me with the sniper.
Heavy footsteps from the side of the house told me that Gatecrasher was coming to the back yard. I glanced back to be certain and saw him jog around the corner.
He saw all the mercs on the ground and said, "Damn, you guys didn't save me any back here? Are any of them still awake?"
I said, "I'll check the other side, there are three of them there." I jogged around the deck and found two of the men unconscious. The third, the one I'd stabbed in the chest, was still awake but apparently in great pain.
The sight of the needler pistol on the ground made me look at my costume. I had several lines of them on me, along with several of the paintball hits.
Strange, I don't even feel tired or sluggish this time.
I wiped some of the paintball liquid from my cheek onto my knuckle and smelled it. Nothing occurred. I shrugged, whatever it did didn't affect me anymore.
I hooked the claws of one hand into the torso belts of two unconscious men, and dragged the one still barely awake over to the others. Gatecrasher was putting his phone away as I reached them.
He said, "Nicely done, guys - what did they hit you with, Black Tiger?"
He pointed at my face and chest.
"Knockout darts and gas pellets I think."
"You think?"
"Well, I used to get sluggish and tired when they hit me with them. I don't anymore."
Hellshock stepped over to me and wiped some of the liquid onto his finger and smelled it. He immediately stumbled back and shook his head before Gatecrasher grabbed his arm.
He led the lightning blaster up to the deck and set him on a chair. Hellshock was shaking his head a lot. He looked like he was trying to overcome the effects, but failing.
Gatecrasher called down to me, "Use a hose and wash that crap off yourself."
I looked around for the hose. I changed it to the pressure wash setting and blasted the goo off myself, avoiding the heavy gunshot wounds.
He looked at Daphne, "Did they hurt her, or just knock her out?"
"Knockout gas. She was hit by a bunch of the paint balls they hit me with. She held her breath until after the fight, and then just had to breathe in before washing off. Silly girl."
"Why isn't it affecting you?"
"The needler darts used to. I'm not sure why they aren't any more. This is the first time I've been hit by the gas, unless they had that in something at the cells."
"Cells?"
"Where they brought Spartan and I last night. They've got gas masks over all the bricks, and IVs on everyone else."
"Potent stuff if that little bit affects Hellshock like this."
"Yeah. It's made to take down supers. Hmm, I better wash her off too, or other people might get near her and keel over too."
I picked her back up. I realized I was being very careful, and yet with a brick I doubt she'd feel it if I banged her head on the deck railing.
I brought her down to the hose and washed her off, and then carried her back up to the deck and laid her on a long chair.
Gatecrasher spent some time studying the weaponry of the mercs. He said, “Stop staring at her and come here. What do each of these do?”
I pointed to the needler pistol, “That shoots a rapid fire string of tiny darts that contain some kind of knockout poison.”
The bola was next, “This crossbow fires the bola. When the ends hit they do a massive shock between them. Psystar and I both have been hit by it so far. It killed a merc I was touching when it hit me the other day.”
Gatecrasher interrupted me, “Hit me with it. Fire it.”
I shrugged, moved back ten feet or so, aimed it and fired at him. The bola wrapped around his waist and crackled with electricity. He stared at it a moment, then peeled it off and dropped it on the grass.
I said, “Nice.”
He nodded, “Good. Don’t have to worry about that one.” He walked around until he found a few of the needles that had missed me. He gently poked his arm with the darts. “Shoot me with that as well.”
I picked up the one that still had ammunition in it and fired a burst at him. They struck him in the chest. Most fell to the ground, although a few stuck in his costume.
“Good again. Two weapons gone.”
I picked up the paintball rifle. “This is a rapid fire paintball shooter. You saw what they do on impact, they burst and leave a liquid on you that emits a gas. When you breathe it, you’re out.”
“You aren’t, but I’ll believe that one without testing. The young lady is already unconscious over there, and Hellshock is proof that it doesn’t take much to disorient one of us. I do have the face mask, however.”
I nodded. “How long can you hold your breath?”
“About an hour if I’m active.”
“Wow, really? What the hell, do all bricks have super lungs?”
He nodded. “I’ll simply hold my breath through the fight. How about the last rifle, and the pistol?”
“The rifle is just a large caliber rifle. Want me to hit you with a slug?”
He motioned ‘bring it’ with his right hand. I held the rifle up to my shoulder, aimed at his chest and fired. The bullet made a loud thud as it struck his chest and fell to the ground. He smiled.
“Rock on, dude. Lemme test the last pistol on you. I haven’t seen them fire this.”
I popped off the safety and fired once at him. He looked down at the bullet. “It’s a standard pistol. No danger. This is good news for our big attack.”
Just after that police and ambulance vehicles pulled up to the house. Gatecrasher moved to the front of the house to greet them.