Broker-Chapter 194

It was like facing her teacher for the first time in a spar. One moment he was at a distance, the next he was inches away, his hand already moving forward to spear her with those long metallic fingers. He’d wedged them together into a spear point, a brutal tool to deliver a quick and painful death. Crusader’s training saved her life, though, power rushing through her legs as she kicked off the ground, cycling her internal energy as she managed a foot of distance before he struck. Her weapon raised to block the blow. She felt Alphonse separate from her shoulder with a cry, his wings glowing as he darted away to get some distance of his own.

Steel struck steel and sparks flew. Her feet hit the ground and she pushed forward with a grunt, trying to throw him off his feet. He laughed and dropped like a puppet without strings just as Harbinger entered the fray, swinging her hammer through the empty space where his head had been. He whipped his body around and she jumped, anticipating a maneuver like the ones that Sonya liked to use to knock the legs out from under her opponents. Instead, a line of pain lanced up the side of her face and her eyes went wide with surprise. A feint! He sneered at her as his uppercut passed her and he flipped forward, throwing himself behind her. A kick snapping out to catch her in the small of her back.

She gasped and staggered forward, catching BLF’s eye as he pivoted, she knew that pose. She spun on her heel and brandished her weapon as Rivet dove at her, needle-point fingers extended. She dropped just at the last moment and he barked out a laugh, his eyes fixed on her as twelve feet of stretchy scaled leg entered his trajectory. Rivet’s eyes went wide for just a moment before he crossed his arms in front of his chest, he took the blow and was thrown backwards and into the nearest building, crashing through the concrete wall like it was paper mache.

“AGI Formation!” Crusader shouted, the blood dripping from the side of her face slowed and stopped as gold light burned on the cut, “Snow!”

Behind her, Snow waved her hands and sauntered backwards, vanishing as if she’d never been there. Harbinger darted to Crusader’s right, positioning herself to be just outside of swinging reach from Crusader. BLF moved to stand at the front and between the two of them, his gleaming scales spreading further across his skin. He raised his fists, his newest toys from ASTA on full display. Hand guards equipped with segmented claws. They waited a full three heartbeats before Rivet climbed out of the hole he’d made. Uninjured save for his damaged sleeves. He hopped out of the hole and looked down at his ruined coat, shaking his head before tearing both sleeves off and revealing arms coated in metal.

“I liked that shirt,” he said in disgust. His eyes flicked between the three of them before settling back on Crusader. She took a step and raised her broadsword up in a ready pose. His lip twitched and he shifted his feet in Harbinger’s direction before vanishing again. An instant later he collided with BLF’s suddenly extended arm, the scaled limb wrapping around his torso. BLF grunted and spun hard, swinging with all his might to throw the man at Harbinger who was already ready with a swing. Rivet’s eyes went wide and he barked out a wild laugh. “Oho! Yeah that’s the stuff! Do it!”

With loud bang, Harbinger’s mighty swing collided with Rivet, sending him flying again. He howled with laughter as he flipped end over end, careening towards the roof of a building. He threw his hands down and dug them into the concrete, catching himself on the high ground. He stood up straight and rolled his shoulders languidly, it was like he didn’t have bones. He was so flexible. He bounced on his feet in excitement and Crusader got a bad feeling in her gut as a surge of mana drew towards him. “Incoming!” she shouted just as a shout of pain rang out from Harbinger’s direction. Crusader whipped her head towards Harbinger on instinct and saw a metal spike poking out of her comrade’s shoulder.

Where’d it come-

Warning exploded in Crusader’s mind and she whipped her head back from a metal spike that launched up to pierce through her chin.

Is he making them? She thought frantically, spreading her senses out to catch the creation of objects. Nothing. No surge of matter taking shape only… threads.

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“Traps! Watch your feet!” she shouted as she felt movement in her direction again, she threw herself forward instead of back this time, moving into his oncoming attack. She met his manic gaze with her own stony glare and drove her shoulder forward. He planted a hand on her shoulder instead and flipped over her, dodging a whip kick from BLF.

“Spoilers aren’t cool, you know!” He shouted, spinning like a gymnast in the air. He nearly touched his landing only for the ground beneath his feet to turn to ice with a hiss of static. He blinked, genuinely surprised for the first time as he nearly slipped. Harbinger already charging in his direction with her hammer mid swing. He frowned and threw his arm up, catching the blow and crumpling under the force of it, hurtling in a new direction and hitting the ground hard. He skipped once, twice, three times before stopping and getting to his feet with an annoyed grunt.

He panned his gaze around, “That wasn’t real ice,” he spat in time to see Harbinger already closing in for another blow. He leaped up into the air and planted a hand on the hammer, pushing off and throwing himself higher. He spun and Crusader watched him sweep his gaze around the surrounding area. Oh no you don’t!

“Snow! Change position!” she shouted before darting towards where he looked to be landing, she drew on her power and pushed it out, following the instincts that had been growing in her ever since the beginning of her time in the training camp, “Al!”

Rivet laughed as he neared the ground, turning to her and pointing a long finger in her direction only for a streak of golden flame to lance past him from above. He grunted with pain and pulled his hand back, “What the fu-”

“FIRST STEP!” Crusader bellowed and planted her foot hard ahead of her swing. She consumed the momentum she’d built and threw it into the attack. He looked away from his injured arm towards the broadsword that ignited as it traveled in his direction. He didn’t have a moment to react as her sword collided with his chest and threw him back and towards the archway that marked the route into the Kato Ward. He hit the arch, hard, and slid down to land on his feet, swaying once before turning a cold expression on Crusader.

He popped his neck, a trickle of blood dripping down from his temple, “Okay,” he said, bloodlust boiling off of him in waves. He threw his hands down and another surge of mana poured towards him before being refined and released as those threads again. Dozens of them this time.

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“Spikes!” Crusader shouted and threw her arms out to her sides as she jumped backwards. Flames exploded from her arms to collide with Harbinger and BLF, healing flames wrapping around them as a storm of metal flew in all directions. Red hot spots of pain burst into being across her body, too many to avoid as she twisted and turned, swinging her sword now and then to block ones aimed at her vitals. When she landed she felt like a pincushion, blades poking out of her arms and legs. The only thing keeping the agony at bay was the golden flames already rising up to soothe her. Even so, she felt her right leg tremble and nearly go limp along with her arms. Grunting, she twisted her wrist to lock the gauntlet holding her sword.

Every instinct screamed at her to check on her friends but she didn’t dare peel her gaze away from Rivet as he stalked forward, long fingers flexing open and closed.

“You first,” he hissed, his eyes landing on Crusader only to narrow in consternation as static filled the air and several illusory copies of Crusader took shape. All injured. She could sense a veil around herself and struggled to get to her feet, reaching for the spike in her leg that was restricting her movement. She grit her teeth and yanked it out, pouring healing flames into the wound as Rivet made a decision, “On second thought, I’m getting the brat.”

She whipped her head towards him just as he vanished, Snow! She turned frantically, grabbing more spikes, “Where is he?” she shouted at the others.

“I don’t see him!” BLF shouted back.

“No visual!” Harbinger confirmed.

“Al!” Crusader called, “I need eyes on him, now!”

Gunshots rang out before her avian familiar could respond. She turned in that direction, hastily checking her leg with a step before bolting forwards. A shape darted out from an alley followed by several more. A dozen Snows spreading out through the area with Rivet close behind. He raised his hand and drew mana again, his smile gone. “Al!” Crusader shouted as she charged forward, Harbinger and BLF moving at the same time. A screech of fury came from above as Alphonse darted down once more, engulfed in gold flames. Rivet snarled at the approaching hawk and with an almost callous ease, swatted Al right out of the air before he hit. “AL!”

Rivet sneered and flexed his fingers, two spikes coming up out of the ground and impaling Al’s wings, her familiar letting out a noisy screech of pain.

Shock turned into rage as Crusader barreled forwards with a scream. He tilted his head as she closed in towards him, “Oh come on, smells like a familiar, you can just-”

“MARCH OF-”

“Oh no you don’t,” Rivet shouted back and whipped his arm in her direction, his limb… extended and long thin nails drove into her shoulder and chest before she could even process what happened. She felt the fingers bend inside of her body, locking in place before he retracted his limb. It sounded like metal cord retracting on a spool. An instant later her nose was an inch from his, his breath a mix of mint and alcohol. He grinned at her, “Surprise! Didn’t think your stretchy friend was the only one, did you?” He laughed before another spike of pain erupted in her gut. Lillian coughed, her vision going fuzzy for a moment as something large dug into her abdomen.

She let out a croak of pain.

“Whaaaat?” he asked playfully, “I thought you were some kinda brave knight? Come on, where’s that tough girl face?” he asked as her strength started to leave her.

A flare of static filled the air and dozens of pop-ups and emojis burst into being in his face, scraping noises and shrieks pummeled him, discordant sounds that caused even a man like Rivet to pause in confusion. He staggered back, shaking his head and released his grip on Crusader, “The fuck are all these?” he shouted, swatting at them with blood soaked claws. “Fucking illusionist!”

A large arm caught Crusader as she fell to the ground, a dark shape hurtling over her with a growling hiss. Crusader’s vision went dark for a moment, her head swimming as she saw something huge rise up into the air before crashing down on the spot that Rivet occupied. The air filled with mist as BLF engaged. She blinked, trying to get her mind to focus as her skin began to feel clammy. I’m losing blood, she realized.

“Crusader! Heal yourself!” Harbinger’s voice came from far away.

Crusader squinted up at her for several seconds before the words processed. She took in a sharp breath and let her golden flames engulf her, pain and weakness giving way to clarity. Clarity became anger that was tempered into focus. She poured as much internal energy as she dared into the healing, speeding it up. “Just need a minute,” she coughed as Harbinger set her down.

“I can do a minute,” Harbinger nodded and raced over to join BLF.

Crusader lay her head down, she couldn’t hold it up anymore. All of her energy was going into healing. Faster. Come on. Faster. She urged herself as static filled her ears. Her lips formed a line, “I’m okay,” she said before Snow could ask, “Focus on them,” she panted, “He’s sensitive to sounds, he didn’t like whatever you did earlier.”

The static faded without a word and instead Rivet let out an angry shriek of annoyance before a loud bang proceeded him getting launched once again and into yet another building. She turned her head enough to see him stagger out, arms hanging, face pinched in frustration. “Fuckin’ Halloway was right! You pricks are a problem!” he shouted, “Fuck this!”

He whipped his head towards the path leading into the Kato ward as Harbinger and BLF charged at him. With her powers focused on closing the hole in her gut she couldn’t sense whatever he did, but an instant later there was a loud explosion further down the path followed by a column of smoke. What?

That was when something shrieked. Something horrible.

He turned a sneer on them and raised a pair of needle fingers to his brow, “You kids have fun,” he said, “I’m out.”

“LIKE HELL!” Harbinger bellowed and put on a burst of speed, swinging with all of her might. Crusader blinked when she saw the tip of Harbinger’s hammer flicker once. Rivet spun to kick the blow away only for his eyes to go wide as the blow tore through his knee, obliterating it. His entire leg shattering into scraps as he let out a scream of pain. He hit the ground and Harbinger raised her hammer to crush him just as a sound that could only be described as ‘stampede’ drew close enough to be heard.

The ground shook. Harbinger looked up in surprise and Crusader could do nothing as Rivet took the opportunity to throw his extendable arm up towards a nearby building. He pulled himself up, sneering at BLF who threw his own stretchy punch in his direction. He laughed as Harbinger turned back, a scream of frustration rising from her throat.

“You got bigger problems!” He shouted down at them as he disappeared over the side of the roof he’d grabbed on to. “I’ll get you back for my leg, Cass!”

Crusader rolled onto her side, pushing herself up to her knees as Snow appeared next to her, an arm reaching down to help her up. She took it gratefully and staggered to her feet, patting herself down to make sure the hole was gone. She panted and nodded at Snow, “All healed up,” she said, tired. She flicked her gaze up towards the oncoming storm of movement. A cloud of dust and debris was charging towards them.

A furious Harbinger and BLF hurried to join them. BLF cradling Al in his arms. He handed the exhausted and injured bird over to Crusader who held him close, pouring a little healing in to soothe his injuries. “You did good, buddy, get some rest,” she said before looking up at the incoming danger with a frown.

“Might want to go find another spotting location,” Crusader said to Snow and hefted her sword onto her shoulder. The dust cloud began to dissipate, “We’re just getting started.”