Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 80
Hopewing was torn between staying and enjoying the show and going to help the others who were in much more danger. Devil clearly had the fight under control, and she did love watching him work, but the others could use her barrier. Devil needed her for just another moment. Well, he could still pull off his plan if she wasn’t around, but then everyone would be cranky with her—which would make Devil cranky with everyone for a few days.
The biggest problem with that wasn’t that the others would withhold anything from Devil, but that he would be too upset with them to feel very amorous. The five of them had kept him fairly busy the two weeks since she’d reunited with her demon. A dry spell of even a couple of days sounded like something she would rather Devil not suffer through. He had gotten used to a certain standard of living, after all.
‘Kitsune and Mind Witch, get the Changed to the door,’ Devil ordered in his Captain’s voice. Without pausing, he delivered a smooth cross to the jaw that caused Atlas to stumble back a couple of steps before continuing, ‘Tinker, bring the Osprey in as close as you can. They don’t have anything that can hurt it. Hopewing and I will wrap this up shortly and move to neutralize the shooters.’
‘Yes, Captain,’ Mind Witch replied.
He knew she was well aware of the importance of his continued use of that voice.
‘You’re doing well, although no one is so concerned that they need the comfort of a commanding voice,’ Mind Witch sent in a personal message. “You are correct that it is still a good practice to keep up, though, especially since we are a family instead of a simple team.’
He sent his thanks as he ducked another wide hook and then demonstrated the proper form by driving his big red fist into Atlas’s ribs.
‘Already on the way, Captain,’ Tinker added.
Devil had time to dodge a slow jab to drive a three-strike combination, two to the chest and one to the chin, into a visibly fuming Atlas in the time it took her to land the Osprey as close as she could get to the door. ‘Landed, dropping the ramp and… Oh! Taking a few pulse bolts, but they aren’t even scratching the paint.’
Devil glanced over his shoulder to see Crystallize finally sitting up and glaring at him. Hopewing had been following their standard practice of staying behind him and to one side, but she shuffled in a little closer in response to the request he sent along their Bond. Devil ducked another wild left hook and brought an uppercut into his opponent’s chin. The big demon’s punch picked Atlas up with the force of it and sent him sprawling onto his back.
Devil listened for the tinkling sound and as soon as he heard it, he sent over their mental comms, ‘Shield at six o’clock.’
A golden glow lit his back, casting a faint shadow near his feet, and he heard dozens of crystal shards break upon it. Devil glanced over his shoulder as Atlas climbed back to his feet at where Hopewing’s golden barrier covered most of the ballroom.
‘Much smaller, just enough to cover us,’ he ordered.
Hopewing’s shield shrank, but was still too large.
‘A bit more… there, good.’ Devil nodded to himself. ‘This will take another moment.’
The big demon turned back to Atlas as the man charged forward, stepping into him. Devil reached up to grip the man’s stone pauldrons, sinking his crimson talons into the material that was much too mailable to be real rock. Since he had gotten his arms inside of his opponent’s to keep the man’s hands away from his throat, Atlas grabbed at Devil’s shoulders.
Tinker’s gear stood up much better than whatever Atlas’s suit had been made from and he struggled to find purchase as his fingers slid over the polished plates.
Devil wanted to make this a memorable experience for the big man who used his strength to beat Changed children to death, so he locked gazes with the beady-eyed Powered Criminal and grinned his most vicious grin. The big demon then pushed his Black Flame into his everything, which now included his crimson horns—purely for the visual effect. Devil shot his wings wide open, providing massive, darkly burning targets for the woman who summoned and controlled razor-sharp crystal shards.
Predictably, she took the opportunity to do some damage.
He was prepared to retract his dark fire from his wings but didn’t need to. Crystallize’s power must summon or create real matter, because energy constructs wouldn’t have shredded Devil’s wings so effectively—not while his Black Flame burned along them.
“If you hurt anyone ever again, I’ll come back,” Devil growled as he collected all the pain of having his rather sensitive wings sliced to ribbons and shards of bone. He felt as Hopewing’s dismay blended with understanding before turning to begrudging acceptance as he reached out with his Mental Domination and drove a tether through Atlas’s nonexistent mental defenses.
‘We’ve made it to the door and are secure for the moment,’ Mind Witch reported over their mental comms.
“Ha!” Atlas let out a laugh. “The fuck you will. I’m not the one being cut to ribbons, smart guy.”
Devil leaned in a little closer, his vicious grin unchanged by the pain he wasn’t feeling. If his opponent was smarter, the big demon might have waited for a flicker of realization to sink in. But if he did that, he risked standing around all day. Instead, he growled, “You’ve been warned.”
Then, he dumped all of the pain he should have felt from having his wings shredded down the tether into Atlas—which his power amplified fivefold on the way out. To make sure that the warning was taken seriously, Devil split the tether on his end and hooked Atlas up to his fear fortress.
The none-too-bright scumbag who’d masqueraded as a Hero for a few years opened his mouth to respond. Instead, a primordial yell that blended terror, horror, and pain escaped him.
“Fuc-ARRRGGGhhh,” he screamed with such force that he must have torn his vocal cords because his voice descended into a wheeze just before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he flopped over, limp in Devil’s grip.
Devil retracted his wings and golden warmth filled him before he could even request healing. His tattered wings returned to their scarlet and black glory in seconds. He smiled over his shoulder at his angel’s cute pout. She understood why he let himself get hurt sometimes, but she didn’t like it.
“Thank you,” he told her. “Now let’s wrap this up.”
Devil shifted his grip on the criminal and used the straps that held the stone-mimicking plates to the man’s broad frame to hoist his unconscious form up onto one shoulder. After judging the angle, Devil took a step back and shot-put the man who had to weigh over four hundred pounds at the lone remaining threat.
“Ah… shit.”
At least he got close enough that she had to jump out of the way of the heavy bulk as it crashed through the stage. Crystallize looked from her unconscious partner to the golden barrier that stood between her and the big demon that had just made Atlas scream like a banshee.
“What did you do to him?!” she demanded more than asked.
Now, that wasn’t the proper mentality at all.
“Would you like to find out?” Devil asked. He made his response more of a promise than a question. It was only right to balance things out, after all.
“Fuck no, I surrender,” she responded promptly, her mentality having rapidly adjusted to reality.
She really was the brains of the pair. Hopefully, Mind Witch could pick up something useful out of that brain.
“Okay.” Devil shrugged his shoulder, reaching for one of Tinker’s new additions to his equipment. “Face the other way, raise your hands up over your head, and drop to your knees.”
“Alright.”
Crystallize turned around and did as she was told. At least the literal glass cannon knew better than to fight without her meat shield. Devil lobbed his little inventor’s recent contribution about as softly as it could, watching its smooth arch.
“But aren’t I supposed to lace my fingers behind my—oof!” the former Hero started to say.
The apple-sized obsidian orb caught her right in the back of the head and shattered in a small burst of sand. Devil liked this one much better than her more lethal projectiles. The shell was calibrated to be just a touch more fragile than the average child’s skull.
The sand filling made it heavy enough to impart force but spread that energy enough to hopefully avoid causing lethal damage. The fact that its shell was obsidian was to deal with those who had energy-based resistance that Devil’s Black Flame could overcome.
They certainly worked, knocking Crystallize the fuck out in nothing flat.
She fell face first in an unmoving heap. If they were lucky, her unconscious collision with the floor broke her nose. As it was, the clear material of her armor magnified the rear she left sticking up in the air in a hilarious pose.
He eyed the pair as he cautiously moved forward to leap up on the ruined stage, Atlas had ended up with his upper half sticking through it and had destroyed another section with his initial leap. Devil knew to always check and ensure his foe was unconscious. As he did, he pulled out the restraints Tinker had given him. They wouldn’t restrain a full-strength A-ranked like Atlas, but they would certainly contain Crystallize and should be enough to temporarily restrain the big idiot.
‘Hopewing,’ Devil ordered, ‘follow Mindy’s instructions to get to where they are with the Changed and be prepared to shield them with your barriers on my mark. I’m going to restrain these two and then drag them to a corner of the building where I can get a better read on what has the others pinned down. Once I have better situational awareness, I’ll…’
He trailed off as he felt a spike of panic over one of his bonds.
‘Problem!’ Tinker cried over the mental connection. ‘I tried to stop her, but Laura ran down the ramp and—Wahh! They’re shooting at her! Activating standard comms!’
Dammit! What the hell was Laura doing?!
Devil heard a click as the comms device in his ear activated. “Laura,” he demanded, “what the hell do you think you are doing?”
His growl sounded dangerous, even to him. He had agreed to let her come after she had argued that there was a strong chance that the Ascended might utilize a drug or another chemical compound to immobilize or otherwise control the Changed. And while Hopewing could heal the physiological effects of the situation, the trauma specialist had correctly predicted that her Power would not remove what was causing it. Laura would likely be able to identify and neutralize whatever had been used—which might help end any suffering they were experiencing quickly.
Devil wholeheartedly agreed with the concept, but only when it involved the completely untrained for field work and very squishy woman staying in the not-as-squishy and fast moving Osprey. At no point were the words ‘Laura’ and ‘they’re shooting at her!’ meant to be used in the same sentence.
“I’m helping!” Her sharp reply didn’t sound nearly frightened enough for a civilian running under fire—especially one running toward the shooters.
“Besides,” she continued, “I’ve already made it into the building. They were all crappy shots and barely got close. Now that I am with the kids, I can get them moving under their own power. It will make the run back to the Osprey much safer. We’ll all be able to zip back in just a moment.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Devil growled just as firmly. “Hopewing, you have your orders. Kitsune, Mind Witch, sit tight. Tinker, highlight your location and the doorway where the others are on the map and send it to my circlet. Silver, no change to your current orders to corral the runners… but be ready for a call for backup if we need you.”
Chapter 26
Devil waited a moment for two dots to appear on his HUD.
“Alright,” Devil continued after a moment, “I want Tinker to send a drone with the restraints to the northeast corner of the building. I’ll drag the temporarily restrained and unconscious Powereds there and ensure Atlas if fully restrained before I take out the immediate threat.”
As he rattled off the orders, Devil snapped the Powered restraints on Crystallize. If Laura hadn’t mucked things up, he would have grinned when he rolled the slim woman over and saw that she had indeed busted her nose and her lip when she’d hit the floor. Pulling out three more of the braided wire devices Tinker had given him, the big demon soon had the unconscious Atlas trussed up like a hog-tied calf.
Testing his still operable tether to the mass of muscle, Devil sent another wave of terror down it just in case he wasn’t having a nightmare already. He dragged the man back to the floor of the ballroom by his ankles before doing the same to Crytallize. At a jog, he pulled the two unconscious Powered behind him as he used one of the impromptu exits Atlas had made in the wall at ground level to quickly get out of the building.
Using his HUD to orient himself, Devil wasted no time in dragging the two trussed lumps behind him to the northeast corner of the building. There, he found Tinker’s drone with the much larger set of restraints it carried and used them to fully secure Atlas—not that he expected the rock-head to wake up before they could wrap this up. There wasn’t anything the man’s A-ranked strength could do about it now, even if he did regain consciousness.
If he’d had S-Ranked strength it would be a different matter, Tinker only rated these for use on high A-Ranked. Portable restraints to hold someone like Devil and Silver were hard to come by and Silver’s hair had not been tested enough to trust in the field just yet. But as it was, Devil had no concerns about leaving the two unconscious Powereds at the corner of the building and focusing on the scene he found before him. He noted several positions firing occasionally at a door at the rear of the building.
As he made his plan, Devil prepared to take out the first set of what were relatively limited—at least to him—threats in about twenty seconds. And when he did, he wasn’t sure who would face more of his ire, the trauma specialist or the men dumb enough to shoot at her.
His eyes, despite their recent change, were still sharp and he quickly found the doorway his loves, Laura, and the Changed were at. It was easy to spot for three reasons. The first was a zig-zagging trail of divots blasted into the otherwise pristine lawn that led up to the door. The second was that it was the only open door. And the third was because Kitsune, or one of her duplicates, was carefully peeking around the corner of it.
Devil sensed a strange sense of concern coming down his Bond from his fox-featured love, but it wasn’t about anyone’s safety. A similar emotion streamed from Hopewing, Silver, and even Tinker. It was about the anger they felt pouring off him.
His fiery love was worried that the trauma specialist had just blown any shot she had at joining their family. Kitsune’s sentiment was shared by each of his loves, though to differing degrees. Each was unsettled by the strength of an emotion he typically reserved for his enemies being directed at one of their team.
Laura wasn’t his enemy; she was potentially something worse.
Enemies are predictable; they aimed to harm you. By anticipating that they would take every opportunity to do so, surprises were few and far between. However, unpredictable allies pose an even greater danger. Their well-intentioned aid could inadvertently spiral into catastrophe.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Devil pushed his anger down and analyzed the tactical situation. Based on the size of the divots the weapons had blasted into the ground, Devil estimated that they were rated to address C-Ranked threats. Taking one to the wing in flight would cause him to wobble or even tumble, but he could soak up their fire as long as he had a stable footing.
“Get ready to set your barriers, Hopewing… on my mark. Two overlapping barriers should cover you to the Osprey. Remove one and set the other when you are ten feet from the end of your first barrier,” he ordered.
“Acknowledged,” Hopewing replied.
There were men in three different windows on that face of the building, leaning out of them to get an angle on the doorway below them. They couldn’t get shots through the open door but had a clear line of fire on the ground between it and the Osprey’s ramp. With his plan set, Devil launched himself into the air and ensured he had the shooters’ attention before calling out, “Mark!”
A few of the concentrated bursts of high-energy plasma burned fiery orange lines through the air near him, but none of the shooters were skilled enough of a shot to hit a target moving as quickly as he did over the seconds it took him to reach a height of fifty feet off the ground before zipping forward in a dive.
Devil’s wings flared at the last moment, just enough to pull his feet up and land in a crouch with his wings held out in front of himself to form a defensive barrier. He felt the pulses slamming into the leathery outer surface as dull thuds—about what a standard human would feel if struck by a wiffle ball thrown at a moderate speed. After a moment, Devil dropped his wings and scanned the face of the building where most of the shots had come from.
He quickly located the three shooters by drawing their fire as her sprinted towards them and traced their fire back to their locations. Two were mostly landing shots near him instead of on him, but one was consistently hitting his center of mass—for what little good it was doing him. The bursts of high-energy plasma washed over Devil’s skin but left no damage in their wake.
They needed bigger guns if they wanted to do more than irritate him.
Two of the shooters were on the third and highest floor, with another one—the most accurate of the three—on the second floor. He had to give them some credit, as each was well away from the others. Each appeared to be dressed in what looked like a white security guard’s uniform with gold buttons and other accents.
Brave men. Devil wondered how much loyalty like that had cost the Ascended.
Devil took his time lining up his shots and over the course of three seconds, he lobbed three of Tinker’s disabling ‘billy’ balls. As he did, part of him snorted at the mouthful of a name. Though he knew she’d named the non-lethal devices after non-powered officer’s billy clubs, he thought they needed a better designation.
