The Lesser One Arc 2 Chapter 21: Fourth Law

 

Fourth Law

The lights in the audience turn on with sudden brilliance. Wreck, wearing riot armor fitted for his huge size, rumbles onto the stage. Deeve walks behind him, arms folded behind his back. He picks up the object on the cart, examines it, and then puts it back down. The whole audience is holding their breath.

Deeve taps the microphone.

“Oh, sure, uh …” The auctioneer backs away.

Deeve grins. “Hello. We are a terrorist organization known simply as The Group. We are here to steal everything that is going to be auctioned today. If you cooperate, you will not be killed. Probably.”

Two people leap from the audience, one covered in flames, the other morphing into a wolf.

Wreck grabs the wolf man with his huge hand and smashes the wolf’s head against the concrete stage. Blood flies everywhere, ad teeth clatter against the floor.

Deeve lifts his eyepatch and the fire user is hit with a beam of pure ionizing radiation—which I can see thanks to my anima vision. The fire user screams in pain and rolls on the floor, covered in huge radiation burns.

“Anyone else have anything to say?” Deeve taps his feet on the stage. “Good then. We’ll be—”

At that moment, black balls, originating in the stomachs of the two people on stage, grow to swallow both Deeve and Wreck. The aura is blinding, causing everyone in the audience to look away, except for me.

Well, that worked.

But it doesn’t. The balls crack, shudder, and then shatter. Deeve and Wreck burst out of their prisons and begin throwing their powers all over the room. Deeve’s laser eye sweeps across the audience, burning a path in its wake. Wreck shoots lightning that fills the entire room. I duck underneath a sheet of Rearden Metal that I formed in the instant and pull Chris under with me.

At least two dozen government security adventurers burst into the room with weapons blazing. The whole place is a mess of chaos. Bullets ping off of my Rearden Metal shielding.

Wreck screams with enough volume to shake the ground.

“The Fourth Law.” Chris’s eyes are alert. “They’ve invoked the Fourth Law.”

“What?” I don’t get it. “Why … How …”

“It appears your government friends have accidentally discovered the technology to harvest consciousness.”

“Is that …” Bullets continue to ping against my shield. “Is that what happened to you? You were trapped in an antimatter cage?”

“Do you know this?” Chris’s eyes are very serious. “Faster than light travel requires burning consciousness.”

I am stupefied. “Um …” A large explosion rocks the room. “So they’re not sentient any longer?”

“No more than the monsters you fight in the dungeons that appear through portals.”

A government soldier knocks on my shield. “Markus Red?”

I let down part of the shield. “Yes?”

“I’ve been ordered to bring you to headquarters. You won’t believe what’s happening out there. We need all the S-class adventurers we can get.”

I look at Chris, and we both nod. I notice the object I bought lying on the floor about two yards away. I dart out from the shield, grab it, and then follow the government soldier out of the underground auction house. Wreck’s lighting bolts fly over my head, and one almost hits me before I deflect it with a hastily constructed lightning rod.

We reach the emergency exit. The government soldier opens it, pushes us through, and then closes it. He is breathing heavily. “The stairs lead up to the ground floor. Be careful. The whole city is in chaos.”

“Do you know what happened?”

The solder shakes his head. “We used the antimatter cages as ordered, but something went wrong.”

“You idiots.” Chris’s eyes are ice cold. “You did not tell me that this antimatter was actually black ice.”

I am astonished. “Wait, what?”

Chris starts running up the stairs. “Any one of my people could have told you that using black ice in that manner would be dangerous. Especially on those people.”

“So, your world had faster than light travel?” I run beside Chris.

Chris picks up the pace. “My translator magic is not perfect. I do not know the exact connotation of what I described to you. The concept as phrased in my own language is---” here Chris said something that was a mixture between Bach and calculus. “Do you get it?”

“No. Thank god for translation magic.”

We reach the ground floor, and everything is on fire. The whole building is filled with screaming people. Everyone is running for the exit.

Gall leaps off one of the gigantic spiral staircases and lands with a crash in front of Chris and I. He flicks his finger and the solider who was with us collapses to the ground in three parts. Blood spurts everywhere.

Chris takes up a defensive stance. Fire forms in both of her palms. The ground beneath her feet pools into magma.

Gall whips two lashes of air at Chris and I. Chris blocks it with her rapier and I block with a shield of Rearden Metal. I conjure a bow and knock an arrow.

Gall approaches us with his hands held out. When he gets close enough a sword of swirling currents forms in his hand. He engages Chris in a series of blows and parries. I can only stand back and watch in helplessness.

Sebastian runs into the building and sees us. He holds out his hands and a spray of smoke covers the space between me and the fight. He grabs me by the arm and pulls me away. “Let her handle this.”

I try to stop him. “No. I have to help her! I think she’s outmatched.”

“Then summon someone to help!”

I reach into my personal dimension and summon two devils who were on call at the moment. They both appear out of an instant portal.

“Rar, at your service.” Rar is a young looking devil with short hair and a thin waist. Her eyes are bright green.

The other devil is a fat man with a huge belly. He tries his best to bow, but is hindered by his weight. “Gor.”

I point to where Chris is fighting Gall. “Go. Help her.”

Rar and Gor move surprisingly quickly to the place where the fight is happening, both of them boosting their speed with their special abilities. In only a couple of moves, they corner Gall. Chris lops his head off with a single strike.

“That was …” I am awestruck.

“Let’s go. Gall isn’t a Dark Silverbone for nothing.”

Sebastian pulls me towards the door. Chris runs up beside me. Gor and Rar face back and hold the line.

Gall’s head reattaches to its body. His arms form into eldritch abominations and he screeches, rushing at me. He is stopped by Gor and Rar.

“Hold the line!” Sebastian drags me and Chris out of the building. Several civilians run past us. Sebastian waves them through. “Hold the line!”

A helicopter comes out from between two buildings and lands right in front of me. Inside of it is Barley, wearing full SWAT gear. He extends his hand. “Come on! We need to tell you what’s going on!”

I get on, followed by Chris. I look to Sebastian, but he shakes his head. “Sir, I will be holding the line. Go and help those who need it.”

The helicopter rises into the sky and I watch the London streets recede.

I try to speak over the sound of the rotor blades. “What’s going on?”

Barley points to his mouth, and then hands me a helmet with a comm system. “Looks like our plan failed. We misjudged our tolerances or something. The scientists tried to explain it to me but I don’t get it.”

“Chris knows a lot more about this.”

Barley looks at Chris. “Really. She’s going to have to give me the full story when we land.” Barley returns his gaze to me. “The whole city is in chaos. After we tried to capture the Darks, they went ballistic and started destroying everything. We’re passing this off as a portal prolapse for now, but we don’t know how much longer we can keep that up. There are at least five high-level bogies who are rampaging through the city right now.”

I hang on to the handle above the door. “What do you want me to do?”

“You’re going to join up with the members of several adventuring groups, as well as members of Wagner’s Right of Way who have arrived recently.”

I look at Chris and she shakes her head. Looks like we won’t be revealing our connection to them anytime soon. At least not now.

“Then let’s go!”

I watch the city scroll beneath me, with pillars of smoke and flame in the distance.

Barley holds his hand to his mic. He nods. “Markus. Someone named Mandrake is asking for you. He’s got some pretty high clearance.”

I adjust my mic. “Put him through.”

Mandrake’s voice comes in through the headset. “You tried, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Well, I can’t fault you for doing your best. But you made a mess and now it’s time to clean it up. I’ve got Elina with me and we need to talk. But we’ll do it later. For the moment, go with the government and we’ll meet with you where you are.” The headset cuts off.

We land a few minutes later inside of a small park surrounded by tenements. It appears to be one of the rallying points for adventurer patrols. Mandrake pushes through the crowd and approaches me. Elina is behind him.

“There was a lot of internal politics in this one.” Mandrake hands me a small flash drive. “Keep it safe.”

A group of elves are gathered in the center of the park. They are obviously portal beings from the Wales Portal. The one who appears to be the leader approaches me.

“Mr. Red. It’s the first time I have had the pleasure to meet you.” He extends his hand. His hair is long, blonde, and fair. His eyes are bright yellow, and he is wearing modern day body armor as well as traditional leather greaves and bracelets.

I shake his hand.

The elf nods once. “My name is Tam. Please direct us as you see fit.”

I look around the rallying point. It appears we are getting ready to strike back. “Just follow orders from the person in charge.” I test the strength of my bow. “I’m going to follow orders as well.”

Someone with the badge of the Blue Dryads approaches me. “You’re Markus Red?”

I nod.

“I’m Ryan Bulls. An officer with the Blue Dryads. I’ll be your direct supervisor this time.” Ryan had bulging muscles, and a huge great sword hung over his back. He was also wearing a kilt and had a distinct Scottish accent. “We’re going to be taking on the bogey known as Snake.”

“I think I know him.”

“You do? How?”

I catch myself. “I think. I’ve heard legends about these terrorists.”

“Then you’re well suited to fighting them. Let’s go.” Ryan collects the rest of the Blue Dryads who are there and we prepare to move out.