Scene 13 - November 6th

Exterior Training Grounds, Continuous

Holly Koval

“Shit,” I swore as the announcement came to me through Simone’s magical earpiece. I hadn’t had a choice there - Sequoia was necessary to get the flag. He had sworn up and down that he could get away from Starling without help, and I had let him try, but the arrival of Canaveral had made it impossible. Still, he hadn’t called for Simone - I had had to send her in at the last second, and had lost her for it. Things would get a lot more difficult from here out, without her to move us all around.

It would be tricky for me to get off the building, for one thing.

I decided to figure that out later, and instead did some quick thinking. “Sequoia: turn back,” I ordered. “Assist Quinn against Starling. He won’t be expecting you to rejoin the battle, and Canaveral won’t be able to get back to you two for at least a minute. Take him out before he can. Newton: Sequoia is coming to help you. Maneuver Starling so that the two of you will be flanking him, if you can.”

I nervously watched as Sequoia moved back to the pitched battle. As I had asked, Quinn managed to shift their fight such that Sequoia came from behind - not so that Starling would be surprised, as he had omnidirectional sight and his hearing was far too good to sneak up on him anyway - but so that it would be harder to respond to attacks on both fronts.

Fortunately, it seemed to be working. Between blows that he had to dodge or be knocked out at once on one side, and death-of-a-thousand-cuts on the other, Starling wasn’t doing terribly well. By the time Canaveral had pinned down his location and started moving back towards the battle, Starling had been taken out.

I breathed out for the first time in what felt like a while. Losing Simone was more of a blow to the Journeymen than losing Starling was to the New Champions - the benefits of having a teleporter couldn’t be overstated - but it was still a good feeling to strike back.

“Broadcast: here’s an update for you all,” I said, moving to the edge of the building and seeing that there was a fire escape. As I began descending, I told the team, “The enemy’s flag has been located, but it’s iced over so that only Sequoia can break through to it, and Vulcan is guarding it. Out best bet is to either gang up on him - which requires taking out the rest of the Champions first so we don’t get flanked - or draw him away - which is risky, to say the least. Headcount-wise, they’ve lost Starling, but we’ve lost Journey.”

“Not great odds,” Hypnos observed. “What can I do?”

“No, not really,” I agreed. “Your new trick might end up getting used after all, but first I want to thin the herd a little more, if we can.” I took a moment to check on Canaveral’s position, then said, “Newton: you couldn’t do much against Anima, correct?”

“No, not really. With her aura up she was too fast for me, and then she made a golem and I was outnumbered.”

“I understand. You couldn’t risk a hit, and fighting on two fronts isn’t easy.” Hell, we had just used that same trick against Starling. But... it didn’t work well against someone who could just ignore one of the sides. “I want you to draw Canaveral away from Anima, then - to your left, right now,” I told Quinn. “He should be in your sight in about fifteen seconds.”

“Already in the radius of my presence,” they confirmed.

“Don’t fight him if you can help it, just keep him chasing you.” I watched on one of my screens as they nodded, then bounced into action. One paintbrush shot towards Canaveral, attracting his attention, then returned to Quinn as they ran, and Canaveral pursued - away from Anima. Good.

“Sequoia:” I continued, “Anima is two blocks behind you and three to your right. Your left, now,” I added as he turned around. “Take her out. I’m coming down the building and will be near you to assist if I can.” I wouldn’t be able to use a shockwave against Anima herself, but I could easily destroy any golems she animated from the terrain in this artificial city - between that and Sequoia’s own durability, her golems should be neutralized. I would have to get closer to do it, though.

“What about me?” Hypnos asked.

I glanced at his position - his invisibility hadn’t broken yet, which was a good sign, and I suspected that the Champions had forgotten him entirely. It was easy to overlook the poor guy given his 0-ranked powers, although I had a feeling that that would be changing after his new trick was revealed. “Start moving towards the flag,” I decided. “It’s... five blocks to your left and one ahead of you. Don’t engage yet, but I want you nearby it.”

“Understood.”