[Part 4]
Herald the Strangers
Time: Present Day - MorningBefore they knew it, morning turned to noon. Terra Firma, Alchemyst, and Pantheon spent the better part of an hour attacking the other two towers. They fought as the Hounds struggled to hold each position, but together they succeeded just as easily as their first tower takedown, and with most of the trio not much worse for wear.
With all of the outer relay towers disabled and destroyed, they decided that it was time to take the fight to the main forces, to take down the main tower. No doubt the remaining Hounds knew about the loss of their towers, but the lack of a retreat or response was worrying. So far the Hound’s weapons had been ineffective against the three of them, logically one would run or at least abandon their current plans in the face of such overwhelming power, but so far nothing had happened.
The final beacon was set up outside along with the others, it wasn’t hard to miss considering the odd structure stuck out like a sore thumb, and the fact that the Hound’s were consolidating the rest of their forces there. The time to attack was now, Terra Firma, Alchemyst, and Pantheon wouldn’t waste anymore time flying around the campus.
“
Same strategy as the other three then, it’s been working out just fine so far?” David asked, he worried that things were a little too easy, but that’s probably because he was bullet proof.
“
The same strategy it is, then.”
With all the Hounds present in one place, he figured he would have no harder a time than before. He began right where he left off, two Hounds had their arms broken in a matter of seconds but then there was a smoke bomb and a rattling sense of pain that froze him on the spot.
Charlie came up behind Terra Firma and Pantheon wrestling with all the ire and passion she had previously. Focused, their final goal in sights. Breaking the visor on the Hound she had in front of her, he brandished his assault rifle haphazardly. With a scribbled formula across her palm she slapped her hand on his armour vest deconstructing the carbon, unweaving the kevlar. It took some experimenting previously at the other beacons to figure out how to remove their armour, when it finally fell apart in her hands she scribbled the deconstruction alchemical formula across her hand.
With her enemy vulnerable Charlie dealt rib breaking blows, battering her opponent ruthlessly. When one fell, another stepped up taking his place.
A smoke screen dropped visibility, Charlie reached out attempting to dissipate it. One loud gunshot, Pantheon’s stillness through the smoke, and the sound had frozen the Alchemyst’s hand.
A loud booming voice through a megaphone began to speak. Behind it was average looking man, in spite of the armour and strange looking rifle hanging off his shoulder. He wore reflective aviators, sported some sideburns and a dark five o’clock shadow over his jaw.
“Woah now! Woah! Shit, you guys have been hitting us at full tilt. Why don’t we take a break?” Lawrence's voice, now familiar. Unfazed by their accomplishments. “Feeling it yet, freaks?”
The final beacon’s power was unleashed it hit Terra Firma and Pantheon first then it finally hit the Alchemyst, the beacon’s high pitched shrill filled the air. She clasped her hands over her ears falling to her knees, the pain excruciating, tears squeezed out. It was unlike anything she had felt before.
Lawrence kept the beacon on, then relented on the power. He cackled across the megaphone pleased to see even the powerful metas meet a terrible pause. “Now, ya’see I feel like you see this as the final boss. Like a game. As if I wouldn’t hesitate to blow each of your brains out across the grass with this fancy bit of tech. You three represent
everything that is wrong with you magic and meta freaks. We’re paving the way for regaining power for humanity, to stand on our own again without the crutch you freaks and monsters provide.” He grew angrier with every word, shouting into the megaphone. “Fuck your idealistic morals, we will defend ourselves. Firstly removing the infestation of you and yours.” Lawrence certainly didn’t feel the need to pass up the opportunity to brag.
David collapsed onto his knees, sound had been his biggest enemy ever since he arrived in Lost Haven, in every single one of his biggest fights so far sound was a powerful weapon, and now that sentiment seemed to ring true even here. Struggling and groaning against the pain David tried to block the sound by covering the sides of his head, if it helped he didn’t notice, he still felt as if he’d be ripped to shreds by the pain alone.
Whatever this contraption was, Pantheon had felt no pain near the intensity it was causing within him; much like his peers, he was soon on both knees, hands clutching the sides of his ears! It felt like his atoms themselves were being torn asunder, and this Lawrence fellow gloated as if he had already won the day. These Hounds were so
arrogant to presume he had ideals, to presume he cared for their insensible desires of ridding the world of metas and magic; if anything, the former and latter were the future, humanity was the past. It was
humans who required the metas and the magic folk to save them from their own stupidity, anyway! When he was free of this pestilence, he would make them pay.
David struggled to keep himself from collapsing, his powered body could probably withstand this for a little longer, but his mind was still that of his normal human self, and he was finding it harder and harder to not give in to the pain. He was a scholar long before he was a hero, and his mind was not accustomed to dealing with anything like this. But before he was a scholar, he was a proud father, his mind wandered onto his family, his wife, and his daughter.
I can’t die here, I’ll be damned if I let some asshole kill me, stop me from seeing my family again. David angrily thought to himself, pain from the device pounded on his body and his mind, but anger presented itself as a barrier. David raised himself up with the help of his sword, he tried to imagine what he was going to do, but he had nothing. Nothing except for his anger at Lawrence, and his blatant ignorance.
“
You idiot we’re not anyone’s crutch, we’re a chance to break the mold! A chance for humanity to rise above itself, show that it’s changed!” David painfully and angrily said as if talking through the grit of his teeth.
“
You don’t speak for humanity, but I speak for the Earth! And the Earth says fuck off!” David shouted, and threw one of the stone swords he had been holding ever since the first tower fight. The tower was still on, and it’s effects were constantly building on top of each other. David collapsed back onto his knee, if this doesn’t work, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
The sword came dangerously close to the tower, it skimmed the edge of the satellite dish knocking it off its course, the tower itself paused its operations warning errors popping up red on the screen. The dish needed readjusting.
The sound came to an abrupt stop, the tower operators panicking as they desperately tried to orientate it. Bypassing the errors, software lagging at the unexpected disturbance.
Charlie gasped, her vision was blurred, ears ringing, but the relief from the pain was immediate. Using her staff to drag herself back up to stand. Shakey, straining herself to move. She blinked hard, sweaty skin tugging at the edge of her goggles.
The more she breathed, the clearer her eyes became, she moved slowly toward the two pained forms of her temporary allies. She dug the butt of her staff into Pantheon’s side, trying to prod him into moving, finding it was the equivalent to leaning into a brick. There was no give. “
Come on! Move! Before they get that tower fixed!”
Desperately she shouted, prodding him more, “
I said move!”
The pain had stopped briefly; it was enough for him to gather his wit--it took a push from another to spring him into action. Without their toy, the Hounds were just men in fancy black dress; an ironic color, because black was the choice of these humans at their funerals. It took but a few seconds for him to close the gap between himself and the pack of Hounds who circled around the tower; he pummeled his fist into the center of the nearest Hound’s chestplate; the loud crack which ensued was not only indicative of sundering his armor but also the concaving of his solar plexus. Once the first Hound fell to his knees, Pantheon punted his head backwards and sent him careening into a brick wall, he turned to face his next victim.
There were two who stepped up to take the dead one’s place, Pantheon grabbed them both by their legs and promptly crushed their steel toe boots
into the metatarsals of both of the Hounds feet. The subsequent crunch akin to that of metal into a grindstone. He ragdolled both men head first into the ground with enough brute force to crack their skulls against their helmets; blood filled the plastic black visors of both men as Pantheon released his hold on the two lifeless bodies.
There was a third who apparently had not learned from the fates of his other comrades; Pantheon dealt with him swiftly as well. He grabbed the third Hound by the shoulder and applied pressure. First, one could hear the muscles and the tendons cave against the bone, before the flesh compressed against the snapping of his shoulder joint in total. His body armor did nothing to stave grotesque popping and cracking that resulted from the literal shattering of his shoulder. With a boot to the chest, Pantheon sent the third Hound flying into those who stood behind him.
“
I told you I was a man who kept my word, Lawerence,” Pantheon said as he strode forward, “
and to think, you could have spared yourself by simply adhering to my demands. Hah! In my many existences, one constant has not seemed to change with you humans: you all believe you are Gods--until you meet a real one and find that you are indeed insignificant.”
Pantheon meandered onward. There was no more mercy to be had.
David nodded in approval, it wasn’t his best work, but it still worked. He had hoped his throw would have hit the tower straight on, but he was lucky he was able to hit it at all, especially considering his arm was never that good. He had dropped onto all fours, supporting himself with his fists planted firmly into the ground, his chest rose up and down as he caught his ‘breath’. He wasn’t done yet, he couldn’t forgive these Hounds for attacking a school, and for their own incredibly arrogant ideals. He promptly stood up, and rushed straight at the nearest Hound.
“
I think this party’s gone on long enough, wouldn’t you agree?” David asked as he grabbed the man by his vest and swung him into a group of his friends. David dashed around, moving far too quickly for the Hounds to handle, the energy from his body left a momentary trail behind him as the tossed around his enemies.
As he jumped back and forth he remembered a move he tried, back underground against the Moloids, a people have to investigate more at a later time. David motioned his arms forward and yanked them both back quickly, the ground underneath a group Hounds swiftly flew to the side, like yanking a tablecloth. Except instead of the plates staying still, they all fell over, David swiftly brought back the layer of earth he had moved, and changed it into dozens of thin tentacle like appendages wrapping up Hound members attempting to get back up.
David slowed down a little as the sound of more vans caught his attention. The Hounds not currently in a fight were running, sprinting off into vans, seemingly desperate to run.
“
No, no, no, you guys can’t run away. You started this, so stick around to see how it ends!” David shouted to them as he extended his arms out with his palms and fingers upwards, suddenly brown and grey spikes burst from the ground, depending on whether a van was parked over cement or dirt, he then quickly brought his hands back, and closed his fists tightly.
Each spike shifted, then wrapped themselves around a vehicle, crushing them, leaving the metal boxes as nothing more than crumpled pieces of paper, and preventing the Hounds from escaping.
“I meant what I said about spreading your brains across the grass, I don’t care who you freaks are, but I keep my promises too!” Lawrence shouted as he waved a small group of Hounds from inside the building.
“You guys wanna keep playing, huh? Fine, say hello to my little friend!” The man shouted and opened fire with his gun, the weapon made a low thudding sound, followed by a low humming as the barrel flashed.
David got a little suspicious when the man walked out with more guns, they had proven to be beyond useless against him and Pantheon, while the Alchemyst took cover behind David’s stone walls. As such, David was a little less than nervous to see them, he had mostly overcome his human born instinct of ducking bullets, and so he only flinched enough to move his head in response to the gunfire. But he would pay for his arrogance a moment later, as he would find out that these were not bullets.
The blasts struck across his chest and hit his shoulder, as each shot collided spurts of white energy particles jumped from his body, drawing a pained shout from him, causing him to dive out of the way, erecting a thick stone wall as temporary cover for himself. For a few moments longer white embers continued to slowly fly out, disappearing only seconds after leaving his body, until finally they stopped and his body sealed itself up.
“You like?” Lawrence taunted, without any vocal order his men split up to attack Pantheon and Alchemyst, while only a few stayed with him, spouting off gunfire every now and then at David’s wall to keep him back.
“It’s a prototype version of these towers we’ve been setting up. It’s a shame you shut them all down before we could finish our testing, so you’ll just have to settle for these!”
Charlie had recovered enough to move quickly with the new onslaught, her head still swimming with disorientation. Running to the new wall forming up out of the ground she touched her hand to the wall, taking the extra second to block away the noise of gunfire, pressing her forehead to the cement. It was going to take one last push, some adrenaline. She changed the otherside into spikes forcing the rushing Hounds to a quick stop. In another blink she turned those very same spikes into dust clouds crumbling with unnatural speed. She climbed with footholds into the wall, then dropping from above using her weight against one of the men, swinging the heavy butt of her staff against his head.
The second Hound was prepared he whipped his baton free then rushed her through the cloud. Charlie turned to block the attack both hands holding her staff across her body, deflecting the attacks. Stepping back out of his reach only for him to cover that ground easily, he swung wildly. Charlie waited for her opening, balancing the weight in her staff again. He brought his baton above his head with full strength cracked it over her collarbone on the right side missing her head. He followed up with a vicious kick square on her chest, a heavy boot knocking her to the ground. Charlie coughed violently - sharp gasps. She brought her staff up in time to stop him from stomping on her neck, arms straining under his full weight. Her shoulder failing, her left arm holding him up at an angle. Had it not been reinforced with metal, it would have surely snapped.
Quickly grabbing his pistol off his hip, the click of a safety being released, the barrel aimed directly at her brow. “You’ve caused enough shit for a lifetime, now die.”
Pain only infuriated him more, he was hit with several of the prototype beams the Hounds had prepared. For what it was worth, Pantheon could admire these Hounds mettle. In the face of overwhelming odds, they began again--regardless of the futility of their actions. Anger continued to build with each bullet which hit him. As he twisted his body in order to fling another of the Hounds through a building, he saw the Alchemyst in a rather compromised position. It took but a second for him to collapse the distance between himself and Alchemyst’s aggressor. There was an odd tearing sound and a scream, and the Hound was next seen implanted into a parked car across the street. Pantheon offered his hand.
”You do know you are just a human. Be more careful, hm?”Charlie reached for his hand with her left, quickly
painfully hauled to her feet. A new wall of stone appeared cutting her view off of what Pantheon zoomed off to do next. She tried to catch her breath leaning into the wall, the heavy throb throughout her shoulder and the surely broken ribs. She felt better on her feet but didn’t dare to move.
“
Fuh-fuck.”
The effects of these energy beams took hold with pristine intensity. Pantheon was sent to a knee with a single arm for support. His multi-colored iris’ swirled as the mystical energies which held him together were tampered with in ways unbeknownst to him. Any lacerations present in his frame healed within mere seconds, but he had been hit enough that he was once more immobilized. A frontal assault would not be out of the question necessarily, but it had become foolhardy with this new technology the Hounds as just unveiled. He had to improvise; and there were more than enough weapons at his disposal to help him do so--strange humans, placing steel weapons in the same places upon which they walk to and fro their destinations.
With another burst of speed, he made his way to a light pole. Once he got both hands around it, Pantheon tore it from the concrete and hoisted it up.
“OH, I LOVE BASEBALL!” Hassan reared himself again,
Pantheon wound up, light pole in hand. . .
THWACKTHWACKTHWACKBack and forth he smacked the large crowd of Hounds, clearing their already dwindling numbers as they attempted to replenish them.
David zoomed by, moving behind his own walls, and providing new ones for Alchemyst as he flew closer. But before he could jump back into the fight a voice stopped David right in his tracks, and he watched in an unfamiliar mix of disgust and surprise. Earlier he allowed it, even agreed with it, but now he felt himself becoming increasingly bothered by it.
“[color=red]To shout something like that out loud, this man isn’t right in the head.[/red]” David mumbled under his breath, he flew up behind Pantheon, and grabbed his pole before he could swing it into another group.
“
I agreed with you before when you said fair is fair, but this is obsessive, and in fact, with that little outburst just now, I’m not sure you’ve got all your marbles.”
Tentatively the Alchemyst peeked out from the wall, the Hounds were distracted trying to defend themselves and the tower. Charlie saw openings, a mad dash would be all it took to get there. Trying to control her breathing but felt every broken rib as she did. Slowly she felt around her torso, noting two were broken while there was going to be some heavy bruising. To say nothing of her collarbone, while it was swollen and incredibly painful she wasn’t sure if it was broken.
Charlie knew as soon as her hands were on that tower it’d be over. The Hounds wouldn’t have much left to fight for beyond their escape. “
I’m not staying here.” She muttered to herself for a second time today.
Pulling her backpack off, she dug out her water bottle full of gasoline. She had used the majority of her supplies on the other towers, what little she had left limited her options. She had used a little bit earlier to make crude napalm, now though she dug in her sweater pocket for her sharpie. Breaking down the gasoline, changing the oily substance to something a bit slicker the colour of it darkened quite heavily to something dark brown, completely opaque when held up to the sunlight. She unscrewed the bottle, dumping it in a gross line a few feet long. She hoped it’d be enough to carry her to the tower.
She hobbled several feet away from the oily patch, thinking how painful this attempt would be. She pushed herself into an uncoordinated dash, hopped then with the momentum of her run slid right into the oil carrying her past the feet of some Hounds, and zipping by Terra Firma and Pantheon she screeched “
SHIT!” The oil ran dry, she rolled right into the base of the tower’s wheels with a thud.
Using her staff to lift herself, grunting, cursing her way back up to stand.
Leaning heavily onto the console, the tower itself was more advanced controls than the others. She used her screwdriver once again, bending down to the panelled board beneath the console’s screens. It was dented in several areas, she attempted to straighten it out but the steel in the panel door reacted strangely crumpling into an accordion shape instead of flattening out like she wanted. She stared, was she really at her limit? She reached into the jungle of wires.
Charlie spent a few minutes pulling loose wires knitting them into bows, in a similar style to the other towers, stranger reactions as her alchemy failed in more bizarre ways. Precious metal beads turning into spikes, plastic imploding into gaseous fumes. Her hand visibly shook with strain.
Lawrence watched from the safety of his men, shouting orders to change tactics. Moving to keep the likes of Pantheon and Terra Firma away from himself. He landed some satisfactory hits upon the metahumans directly but it seemed to only anger them and force them into defensive positions. He watched the woman in the sweater clear her way to the tower, he roared for all their forces to train their sights back on the tower.
“I don’t give a shit, you lazy fucks defend that tower! The girl is there now!” Lawrence shouted his order.
Lawrence himself sprung into action, ordering the line of men around him to move forward laying down a wave of gunfire, followed by himself with their sonic rifles coming up behind the bullets. They aimed directly at the tower-base. Others tossed some grenades landing shy of a new wall brought up by Terra Firma. The explosion decimated the wall, causing the likes of the Alchemyst to flinch away from her work.
Charlie pushed herself to concentrate, moving up to the visual boards tearing them open searching for her golden chip.
”Obsessive? Do not be a hypocrite--look around. What we have done to them is not obsessive, what has happened to them is justice. You cannot see? They have murdered innocent people for the sake of an experiment, and yet you have the nerve to call this retribution obsessive. Maybe this is the problem with you humans, you treat every life as equal when your fellow man does not even believe your own life is worth preserving. Some men do deserve death, Terra Firma; the hands by which it happens do not matter in the slightest.”“
It does matter, the people wronged here will need enact justice the right way, these men need to be alive so that the people who died here can get that justice. How would you feel if some overbearing stranger snatched retribution right up from you? These men might die anyways at a later time, and that’s fine, but that part shouldn’t be up to us.”
”Passivity is the reason you humans have wallowed as your oppressors do as they wish with your lives. Do not act as though the kin of the people who died here today have the means to enact justice. They do not. If they did, their idiotic morals would hamper them from taking vengeance into their own hands. For all your optimism in your justice system, your policemen were not the ones who stopped these dogs--we were, and it makes no difference if your institutions of law are given some arbitrary authority to enforce peace when they are ineffectual at doing the lone thing they were put in place to do.”Pantheon had no real reason to turn his ire on Firma, he had expended enough valuable energy on human affairs for one day and cared not to anger another who rivaled him in might--though not in ferocity. Amidst his diatribe, Pantheon had turned his sights on Lawrence and his advancing garrison. Much as he wanted to string Lawrence’s spine through his kidneys, their anti-magic weaponry were pestilences great enough for him to re-think his next plan of action. All it would take was Charlie shutting off those towers before he could make his move.
Charlie’s hands paused Pantheon and Terra Firma’s words sunk in, quite vividly the bodies of all the dead students and staff came to mind. Her own violent actions today, using napalm against normal people… Something she promised herself to never use. Was it really only a couple hours ago she thought of the Hounds as humans and not monsters? Pain flaring across her chest, mind swimming with exhaustion. It all just fanned the flames of discontent and anger. “
This isn’t about justice or brutality. It’s about survival!” She shouted in response, returning to the work. “
If these assholes had their way, we’d have been dead if we weren’t as lucky as we were today! Fuck ‘em!”
“
We’d be dead if we didn’t have our powers, and our powers are what made these people, they’re scared as hell and acting out in anger. That’s why it’s up to us to stop them here.”
Charlie snarled, “
We didn’t do anything to them! This is a university! I don’t give a single rats ass about how angry they are, or who they lost to some superhero, I lost my dad when some stupid supe knocked over a building, you don’t see me shooting up a fucking school!”
“
Good, you’re not using your powers to hold up a school, or shake down some joint. That’s the difference between us and them. We’ve been given gifts, and it’s our responsibility to use them right.” David replied back, not anywhere near as passionately as her, but he too, was talking from his heart.
Charlie gritted her teeth, tearing a wire free. “
The difference is that I’m trying to live my life and survive the day! If it means my life or theirs, then - I’m choosing my life every time!” Charlie had finally drawn a line for herself, there was no grey area.
Before Pantheon could act again, the Hounds had turned their weapons on him. It was as if they too had grown tired of being treated as playthings and at once released a barrage of their energy disrupting beams his way. From head to toe his body was torched; not only was his body immobilized as before, but one could see the magic tethers seeping from his being. Blood slid down his ears, nose, and mouth. His multi-colored iris’ swirled and changed colors at a rapid rate; the howl which pierced the air could nigh-shatter windows. This was not distress, this was not annoyance, irritation, or peeve--this was agony.
For Pantheon, the effect of the weapons was dual--not only did it shred his insides, it momentarily severed his connection with Hassan.
David raised an arm into the air and a thick earthen wall rose up at the same time, giving Pantheon and himself some cover. However, the hounds on the other side did not relent on their weaponry and continued to blast in Pantheon’s direction, the blasts peppered the stone wall, turning portions of it into nothing more than dust, and leaving indents marking their damage. David motioned his arm forward and the wall began to quickly slide forward, then slammed into the hounds, blowing them back, and clearing a path to Lawrence.
David waved his arms up again, chunks of stone, and cement flew up into the air. As they rose up around David they began to flatten and smooth out, then the pieces flew right onto his body, coating him in a makeshift armor. With the most of the other Hounds out of the way or incapacitated David took this chance to dash at Lawrence, so he raised his arms up defensively and charged.
Lawrence obviously saw this and opened fire, determined not to let him close in, the blasts slammed against David’s armored form, turning the affected parts into dust. Although he was granted some reprieve, parts of his armor were already lost, allowing Lawrence a chance at his target. Jets of white particles shot out from David’s arms, and his chest. It was every bit as painful as last time, but he was only giving Lawrence a short window, so he did his best to soldier through.
David shouted from the pit of his stomach, pushing aside his pain and anger for only a moment as he closed the distance. The whole scene lasted mere moments as David’s body slammed into Lawrence, knocking away his weapon in the process.
Lawrence rolled, the majority of his armour taking the brunt of the blow. The full force of Terra Firma knocked the wind right out of him leaving him defenseless. He sprung up to his feet, stumbling a little from imbalance.
“So- two against one? Hardly fair. We spent the day here getting to know you lot. I thought you types had some sort of honour code as disgusting as your existence is. Really, I’m hurt.” Lawrence’s tone hardly wavered from the cool confidence from before.
David grabbed Lawrence and slammed him into the ground, not enough to squish him, but definitely enough to bruise him. “
Because of you and your men, the young men and women here had to see something nobody ever should. You brought slaughter, and murder to a place of learning. I could let my friends tear you apart, like they did earlier.” David said in an angry low voice. The ground underneath Lawrence began to lose solidity, turning into mud, and then David began to slowly push him downwards.
“
Or I could put you six feet under, literally, and let you slowly rot.”
Lawrence struggled, his expression no longer cool but collapsing into full blown panic his arms pulled then stuck again through the encroaching mud. By Terra Firma’s will he sunk deeper, chest disappearing into the ground. A screech of terror ripped out of him, he begged for his life right up until the mud began filling his mouth then nose.
David heard his pleas, his pitiful begging as he continued to dip him further in. He remembered the faces of those he couldn’t save, Alchemyst’s own angry words, and he knew there was merit in letting him die. But he couldn’t betray his own feelings anymore, he couldn’t betray the smiles of his family, and he felt that the day had seen enough death.
He slowly pulled up Lawrence, just enough to free his nose and mouth, then solidified the ground again, careful not to leave mud chunks in the man’s body. “
You might be right, some of us may be monsters.” David said, looking at the fallen Hounds scattered about, and then to Pantheon.
Pantheon’s frame began to knit itself back together as the energies faded from his body and the magic which tethered his being congealed once more. His iris’ steadied to their normal multi-colored palettes. Once he had retained himself, he rolled his neck around--a mild stretch needed after the intensity of several battles over this several hour escapade. A detached gaze flared Firma’s direction.
“
But that’s not all of us, when you look yourself in the mirror later, I want you to remember this. I want you to remember what could have happened, and what did.”
Lawrence spat a wad of mud from his mouth, “So fucking arrogant.”
“
You looked better crying.” David said as he flicked his finger at Lawrence, in an instant a large chunk of mud came straight back at Lawrence’s mouth, and attached itself around his head, preventing him from speaking.
As Lawrence was dealt with the Alchemyst finished her work, rooting through what was effectively the tower’s guts she pulled free the chip - memory chip housing the audio file they were projecting as a weapon. She stared hard at it, slipping it into her pocket. There was no telling who would use this, she decided it was safer with her before it was safe in the hands of the police. A final touch on the tower, much like its counterparts it too soon fell to rapid age crumpling under it’s own weight.
The Hounds around them scrambled into a hasty retreat, the LHPD making a break through the retreating lines. The police were successful in capturing some, while a few Hounds escaped through on the heels of their last heavy weaponry. A few vans fled chased by the police. Emergency crews flooded the area rushing into the University hoping to reach survivors. In one final dust cloud created by the Alchemyst, they slipped away.
