Surreptitiously, one of the shutters had opened, and MacNeil had pointed his open palm into that opening. A stream of Psionic fire billowed from it, into the street behind the safehouse. It hit one of the Marcovi goons full force, prompting an enormous scream of pain as he didn’t defend in time. The fire spread quickly in a wave, consuming two of the Sinachro goons as well and destroying a laser cutter. The crooks tried to shoot back at the opening, but Ramirez was prepared. His shield sprang into being, blocking the enemy shots while letting MacNeil’s attack through.
The enemy wasn’t planning on lying down and dying, however. One of the Marcovi goons struck out with his palm, unleashing a shockwave of energy that shattered Ramirez’s shield. MacNeil gave a cry as his hand was hit by one of the enemy’s blaster bolts, and the Pioneers were forced to close the shutters hastily. But MacNeil had done good damage, and the Pioneer counterattack wasn’t done yet. They opened another set of shutters and threw as many grenades and live bombs out of it as they could. The subsequent litany of explosions caused chaos amongst the enemy, but one criminal was ready for this exact moment. The wiry man seized on the opening to throw a Psionic grenade right through one of the open shutters. Jordan felt his heart seize with fear as he watched the grenade sail into the close confines of the safehouse, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop it. All he could do was raise his rifle and try to contribute to the attack.
Jordan managed to pick another Sinachro man off, before being forced to retreat by a Psionic missile shot by one of the Marcovi goons. Jordan repositioned, dashing off a message to O’Riley while on the run: “Status?”
O’Riley got back to him pretty quickly: “All clear.”
Unbeknownst to Jordan, the men inside the safehouse had been saved by Gon’s quick thinking. The Dunid had activated his Capacity and dived on the grenade, sheltering the others from the explosive. Gon was the only person injured by the bomb, and even then, his fur was only mildly scorched. Putting that good news aside, the Pioneers were still very much in trouble. With Jordan repositioning, the criminals had begun cutting through the armor’s surface again. The Sinachro had brought an extra laser cutter, so two of their men had started cutting under the watchful eye of seven remaining guards. The Pioneers tried to unleash more abilities and grenades, but the crooks had a better understanding of the shutter locations now. They fought back, throwing their abilities straight at the shutters the moment they opened. The Pioneers were forced to retreat, failing to meaningfully damage the attackers.
Jordan continued to harass the enemy, drawing injuries but no deaths from this hardened and prepared enemy. He watched helplessly as the crooks neared the halfway point of their man-sized cut. As he did, however, an idea sprang to mind. Jordan made his way to the side of the safehouse, knocking on one of the shutters and typing: “Open up.”
Ramirez opened it, allowing Jordan to teleport inside, where he called out: “Give me more bombs!”
The safehouse had come stocked with a substantial amount of explosives and supplies. The men had been pulling up crates of the munitions since the start of the fight, and Jordan’s eyes soon lit upon an open crate, roughly half full of grenades. He reached into it, storing as many of the bombs as he could, before turning around and teleporting back into a building adjacent to the safehouse. Running up some stairs, he made his way up to the second floor of the building and teleported to the fourth floor of the building just behind the safehouse. The Pioneers within the house were still trying to disrupt the criminals’ cutting, but now it was mostly about just distracting the enemy from Jordan’s plan.
Jordan positioned himself just above the crooks then popped the pins on four grenades. After waiting for just a heartbeat, he dropped the bombs and summoned another four. The first grenades detonated right after he dropped this second round, and he smiled as he summoned a third. The criminals had just reached the two thirds point when the explosives started hitting them. The symphony of bombs sent them staggering once again and they didn’t have much time to recover before being hit by the second round. Jordan watched as the wiry man’s head snapped up to look at him, but it was too late.
The other Pioneers were quick to jump on this chance. MacNeil’s fire came billowing out from one end of the building while Stan and O’Riley fired out through another set of holes on the other end. Jordan’s grenades had taken out one of the laser cutter men and even heavily wounded one of the Marcovi. He’d ducked out of the way after dropping the third round of explosives, but the attacks from the rest of the Pioneers finished things off. When the dust cleared, one more Sinachro goon had gone down alongside two of the Marcovi men, whittling the enemy down to just five. Jordan watched as the wiry man, the remaining laser cutter, and their three bodyguards beat a hasty retreat back toward their vehicles, pumping his fist as they did. The crooks had proven far more resilient than he could have ever expected, but the Pioneers’ tactical advantage had won them the day.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Jordan believed that, right up until he saw the second van.
It flew to the same place the first one had, and Jordan watched with horror as the group of criminals came marching right back across the street. This time, they were eleven strong, with six more Marcovi thugs added on top of the surviving gangsters, and Jordan knew in his heart he wouldn’t be able to stop them.
Jordan had barely had the chance to realize this before one of the thugs caught his eye. It was one of the newer Marcovi fighters, and as the thugs were crossing the street, Jordan noticed that the man’s eyes were glowing with power. Those eyes suddenly locked on his position, and Jordan felt the chill of danger run down his spine. He threw himself backwards as a Psionic grenade exploded just outside the room he’d been staying in. Jordan heard the patter of claws on concrete and glass just behind him, and he took off without hesitation. Stealth had been Jordan’s ally, surprise his only real advantage. Now, the hunter became the hunted as the enemy had finally found a man with a scanning ability. Jordan heard the enemy smashing through the walls behind him as he dashed through the corridors of the abandoned building. He made it to the other side in time, teleporting to the building across the way and chancing a glance back at his pursuers.
Jordan caught the glowing purple eyes of the Marcovi thug, as well as the angry black eyes of the Sinachro commander, before a massive purple fist smashed through the opposing building’s windows. Another grenade came flying right after it, crashing through a window near Jordan’s head. Only a last second teleportation kept Jordan alive, but he could feel the heat of the explosion as the room behind him was reduced to atoms.
Meanwhile, the other crooks were also on the move. They reached the back of the safehouse quickly, now that they had little obstruction. The remaining Sinachro laser cutter began finishing the cut, and though the Pioneers were trying to fight back, it was hard to be as effective without their man on the outside. To make matters worse, their munitions were starting to run low thanks to their extravagant usage. O’Riley made a quick judgement call, telling the men to hold their fire and move back. They took up defensive positions further back from the wall, aiming their guns at the piece of wall the enemy was trying to breach. They held their breath as the green laser sliced through the last bits of armor holding things together.
The second after the cut was finished, the compromised armor was blown inward by a Psionic shockwave. O’Riley had anticipated that and had positioned his men on two sides with a gap between them. The compromised armor flew harmlessly through that gap, and the Pioneer’s didn’t hesitate to pour on their fire into the opening. Ramirez had thrown up a shield in anticipation of enemy fire, but the enemy was prepared and had thrown up shields of their own. Explosives and blaster fire collided with Psionic shielding on both sides, lighting up the inside of the safehouse in a shimmer of green, orange, and purple. Cracks formed on both sides, yet the situation was crystal clear. The Pioneers were outmatched.
O’Riley’s only warning before everything went sideways was Ramirez’s desperate cry. The Pioneers retreated as the barrier melted away, admitting a couple of stun grenades as well as a half dozen normal grenades. Gon stepped in front of the blast taking much of its brunt, but MacNeil yelled as he caught an armful of shrapnel. Contrary to O’Riley’s expectations, the young man gnashed his teeth in anger and shot out a jet of Psionic fire with his good arm right at the opening. Blaster fire poured through it in answer, but the enemy couldn’t see much through the flames. O’Riley unleashed his own ability on the enemy shielding as well, watching as it finally broke down as well. All hell was truly unleashed in close confines as the Pioneers tried to rally and repel the invaders.
Up above, the enemy was gaining on Jordan. He’d been fighting back, throwing grenades of his own, but the Marcovi goon’s big purple hands had little trouble shielding himself and his comrade. The wiry man hadn’t thrown many more Psionic grenades, apparently low on mental energy, but he’d used his claws to shred through a lot of the obstacles in the duo’s way. Jordan had hit him with a blaster bolt, a small triumph, yet the injury hadn’t slowed the enemy much. It was the Marcovi goon who finally got to him. The man’s purple fist came through the wall of a corridor Jordan was running down, catching him in the right side of his body. It sent him hurtling into an adjacent room, crashing through a table and tumbling across the floor.
Even as the world spun around him, Jordan engaged Hypersight, trying to scramble to his feet and find a place to teleport away to. His ability saved his life, as it allowed him to see the blaster bolt hurtling toward his heart. Jordan flinched, taking the shot on his shoulder, but the pain sent him staggering. Looking around, he saw that the room was a dead end, without any windows to speak of. He narrowly dodged another blaster bolt, probably from the wiry man, but couldn’t do anything to stop the lumbering Marcovi goon from stalking into the room. The large man locked onto Jordan, reaching out as if to unleash another purple hand on the Pioneer. In slow motion, Jordan watched as the man hesitated, then frowned, his glowing eyes turning toward the wall.
No one had time to react before a glowing yellow sword came straight through the wall and took the man on the chest.
