Two Minutes Earlier
The night-shift had been novel and a little mysterious for Gadreel as she and Obsidian Wraith did their rounds together that night. It was harder to spot people on the ground as they flew overhead and there was significantly less activity to get distracted by, but not much else was different from her afternoon, and occasionally morning, patrols.
The fight Dispatch had alerted them to had been almost sub-standard as well, which would have set-off alarm bells in her head had Gadreel been more experienced. Luckily for her Obsidian Wraith was experienced enough to warn her to keep on guard. So, as they approached the slightly dented and scorched area the two Supers were fighting in Gadreel kept her guard up as she approached the blaster while Obsidian Wraith went after the one currently rolling around in a ball the size of a small car.
Unluckily for Gadreel she had no chance of evading the trail of smoke that lanced out towards her, as fast as thought, and completely enveloped her as they dropped onto the scene. A split-second before the silvery smoke completely obscured her vision she saw Obsidian Wraith hurriedly throw a hail of shards towards the source of the smoke, but she was too late.
The transition was blessedly quick, not even imparting slight disorientation as Gadreel crashed feet-first into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt, the transition through space seemingly taking only a second.
Gadreel quickly looked up and her panicked eyes locked onto an overweight man wearing a ski-mask, who’s wide eyes gave away his surprise by her entrance despite the mask, and with red energy crackling at his fingertips.
Gadreel brought her arms up just in time to block a bolt aimed at her head. That single bolt turned into a continuous stream that gradually pushed her back even as she ramped up her defense.
‘Must have some kind of kinetic property.’ Gadreel franticly thought as the beam barely even singed her costume but pushed her back despite her significant strength, she planned to use her flight to quickly close the distance and disable this new threat. Just before she did, however, Gadreel took a glance at his eyes once more. A decision that saved her life as she saw the man’s focus wasn’t on her, but on something behind her.
In one motion Gadreel twisted and threw herself to the side in the same instance that she felt something effortlessly cut threw her costume, slicing three long lacerations along her shoulder blade and side. Acting quickly, instinct drilled into her from the HCP that anyone strong enough to hurt her so effortlessly needed to go down quickly, Gadreel lashed out with a practiced back-fist, combining the motion of her dodge with the strike to give it even more momentum while putting more power into her strength.
The pain that flared up from the wound at her side was quickly overwhelmed by the sudden dread that enveloped her as Gadreel felt her fist smash through something that felt like it had all the durability of papier-mâché.
She backed up rapidly as she felt something wet and slimy cover her gloved fist and finally took a look around herself. Gadreel saw that she’d been dropped in a desolate part of one of the local parks, a copse of trees to their west shielding them from view of nearby apartment buildings. The man with the ski mask had hurriedly backed up several steps, the whites of his eyes visible as they bulged through the eye holes of his mask. There was also a woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes that had serpentine vermillion blades for arms of to her right; she hadn’t backpedaled, just stood there, her face a morbid mix of shock, sorrow, and horror. Then Gadreel looked at the person she’d… neutralized.
The side of his skull was completely caved in and partially exposed, clumps of brain matter and bloody blonde hair scattered about and soaking into the dark grass. Gadreel did her best not to look at his glazed over blue eyes, even as one dangled out from the impact, and refocused her attention on the two Supers and her own condition. She’d been taking rapid shallow breaths and favoring her right side due to her injury, she quickly composed herself and stood up straighter but the damage had been done. The two criminal Supers had seen her moment of weakness and she could see the resolve harden in the man’s eyes. Gadreel was also surprised to see that the blonde woman now had tears in her eyes, teeth bared in something that definitely was not a smile; But after remembering the man on the ground also had blonde hair and blue eyes, combined with the bladed injury he’d inflicted, she made the unfortunate but logical conclusion. And considering that Supers within the same family tended to have abilities with similar affects, then that meant she was still in danger.
Gadreel saw that she only had a few seconds before things got ugly again, her near innumerable series of combat trials in the HCP making her uncannily good at reading the flow of a fight. In lieu of that she knew she needed to compartmentalize this new situation, stall for time, and get an advantage if she wanted to keep this from turning into any more of a shit-show than it already was.
The plan was surprisingly simple.
“Three assailants.” Gadreel said suddenly, making the two Supers flinch. “One already mortally wounded. The others are a male Standard Class blaster and a female Shifter with arm-blades capable of negating my defenses. How do I proceed?” She finished as she felt blood trail down the inside of her suit and kept from showing her discomfort, lamenting the fact that her energy did not at all help with healing.
<Acknowledged.> Dispatch’s ever calm voice responded from her earpiece. <Due to your proximity to occupied buildings, ongoing conflict at the shipyard, and the lethality of their attacks the lives of aggressors would be considered a low-priority.>
“You heard her, push past it and get the job done.” Obsidian Wraith’s voice suddenly sounded out, as her mentor she was privy to every conversation she had with Dispatch regardless of comm configuration, her voice calm despite the explosions and rumbles Gadreel could hear coming from her end.
Gadreel wondered why it had taken her mentor this long to speak before realizing the initial scuffle had only lasted a few seconds at best but didn’t hesitate to immediately start speaking again to maintain her momentum. “Acknowledged. The lives of aggressors are low priority in lieu of other threats.” She locked gazes with both the man and woman that were quickly getting their nerve back and said. “Last chance to surrender. You’ll be entitled to healing if you don’t force me to incapacitate you.”
The man ignored her words and raised a hand to line up another shot, but she was ready this time.
With a burst of speed Gadreel rushed over to the blonde Super, almost within arm’s reach, putting herself directly between the two of them. The man in the ski-mask hesitated to take such a risky shot, as expected, while the woman’s tear-streaked face quickly turned from surprised to enraged once more as she lunged forward with everything she had, blade arm lengthening quickly and aimed directly at the tall Heroines chest. Only for Gadreel to nimbly twist out of the way and the blade instead cut deep into her compatriot’s shoulder, definitely hitting bone, sending him to the ground with a scream.
Gadreel took advantage of the woman’s momentary shock to close the gap between them once more and swept her legs, hitting hard enough to break the first and seriously fracture the other.
Then she swiftly flew toward the man and slammed a fist into the side of his knee, dislocating it completely. The shoulder cut would have taken enough of his concentration to disable his power, but she need to make sure he couldn’t run away either.
With that done she scanned the area for more threats… but found this section of the park to be eerily silent now that the fighting was over, save for the groans and whimpers from the two living figures at her feet. The limbs of the trees around her creaking in the slight wind as the clouds shifted overhead and allowed a little more moonlight to shine onto the field, easing the intern’s nerves slightly. She opened her mouth to report the fight then nearly jumped out of her skin as Dispatch’s voice suddenly came through again.
<Gadreel. Spectrum has asked for a team connection through the comms, do you accept?> Dispatch requested.
“I accept.” Gadreel breathed.
“Gadreel, report.” Spectrum ordered.
“… It’s been handled.” She said, the calmness of her voice strange even to her own ears. “I was transported to the local park and three Supers were lying in wait. They’re all down, one dead and two disabled. I’ve also been lightly injured but I can still fight. Just need to find my way back to the shipyard.”
“Alright, pair back up with Obsidian Wraith as soon as you can.”
“Yes, sir.” Gadreel replied, then the connection ended.
She briefly looked down at her two opponents; the man had passed out completely while the woman just sobbed as she laid back on the ground, sorrow evident in her voice and definitely not solely due to her broken legs.
With a firm shake of her head after attempting to look at the corpse on the ground Gadreel took off into the air as fast as she could and rocketed towards the shipyard.