Tattoos & Rail Guns Chapter 11: New Boys, Old Armor

A gargoyle touched down just within visual range of the farm and set up a camera with a tripod. The slaughter would be filmed.

Kev appeared carrying a rail cannon and his usual rifle. He looked at the incoming target. "That is a really big demon."

The black demon charging through the forest towards them was ten meters tall. Shadow emanated from it, obscuring all of its real form save only its thin arms. Two bits of red shone through the shadow, presumably the hateful thing's eyes. It didn't walk towards them so much as glide across the forest floor.

It was moments away from the farm. A series of blue bolts hit it as Samuels and Walker popped up and started firing. All of this was absorbed by the darkness, so they had no way to tell if they were doing any damage. Rodriguez was wishing he had brought a bigger dog. A much bigger dog.

Kev smiled as he decided on a plan of action. He tapped four tattoos before grabbing the stake gun: He tapped the honey-eater tattoo and a colorful bird flowed from his body; he sent the small songbird to attack the demon. He tapped his tiger claw and it flowed over his hand, preparing him for close combat. He tapped a flaming boomerang and tucked the summoned item in his belt. Lastly, he tapped a knight in ancient plate mail and his body was wrapped in a blue field.

He then brought the rail cannon to bear. A virtual stream of metal spikes hit the demon. The stream of angry iron got its attention but barely slowed it. This gave the bird a chance to dive in. The bird attacked it with vigor, as its beak and claws leaving behind glowing white marks. The shade jumped away from the songbird, accidentally hitting it and thus killing it; Kev winced from the pain the death inflicted on him as the bird returned to its place.

The demon continued to charge. Kev tossed down the rail cannon; it was empty anyway and he wanted to try something else. He grabbed and tossed his summoned boomerang; it hit the demon squarely in the head and seemed to have some effect. As he prepared for another toss, he shouted to the wizard behind him, "Douglas, can you summon any kind of flame?" The wizard nodded; Kev pointed at the shade.

"On it." Douglas performed a hand gesture and invoked a word of power; a ball of flame flew towards the shade and engulfed it. "I'll keep it up as long as I can!" He fired off another fireball.

The soldiers all had the shade in their sights. Even Rodriguez had finally gotten into the act with his own machine gun. The shade shuddered and fell. It simply faded as if it had never existed.

The gargoyle picked up the camera and tripod, packed them up, and flew off. Its masters would not be pleased about the shade's death, but the information it had recorded was priceless. It may even save him.

As everyone was cleaning weapons, Lieutenant Sawyer appraised the amount of ammunition remaining. She was somewhat surprised to see that they had only used about half their ammunition; this meant that Douglas had actually helped them tremendously. Considering that the encounter against the fetch had cost almost their entire supply, that made the mage a valuable asset. She also needed to see if they could get upgrades on their weapons; other squads had access to rail cannons, like Kev had used, but they were pretty rare. She needed to see if Rodriguez could take a serious look at Kev's; that thing packed a serious punch.

There was just one thing bothering her: "Hey, Douglas: How did you know when that thing was going to attack?"

Douglas was wiping down the machine guns. "Easy: It hit the wards I set up."

"Your wards? Are they really that easy to set up?"

He paused. "When I'm in the zone, it's almost like it's part of me. I'm linked to the local mana and can see the eddies and swirls of the energy that make it up. When something big is happening, like a portal opening up or a mana storm, it's hard to miss. But I can also use that energy for a variety of effects, such as setting up wards. When that demon came in, a massive area cleared around the area was needed to create a portal. With that in mind, it was easy to see we were about to be attacked. When it hit my wards, I could give more specific information."

"Sort of a neat trick. Could you detect something that was attempting to sneak up on us?"

"It depends if the target has any inherent mana itself. If I focus I can sort of 'ping' the area, send some mana into the area around me and see if it bounces off anything. I can only get a general idea of how powerful the overall source was. That is, a really powerful demon and a group of small ones would feel the same. But keep in mind that it only applies to anyone who uses mana; wizards, demons, magical beasts."

He put the rag in a pocket and jumped down so he could go to the next. "But Kev there creates a problem. He puts out so much energy that I can't really ping if he's in the area." He jumped up to the other machine gun. "The ping just ain't effective with him around." He pulled out his rag and started wiping down the machine gun.

"I'll need to keep that in mind. Thanks for the information."

"No prob."

She walked over to Kev. "So, we apparently need to have a conversation."

He didn't even bother putting his weapon down. "Sure. What about?"

She sat down. "We need to come up with a better system than just 'need help, come running!'. That's great for us, but I'm not sure how that works for you."

Kev smiled. "For now, it works. While sometimes I do engage in activities that I would prefer not to be interrupted by your summons that is part of the service. I took that on when I volunteered to take on the ring tattoo." He became very serious. "Trust me when I say that my culture has allowed for this very specific situation."

She rose. "Okay. But let's revisit at some point, okay?"

"That sounds like a very good plan." He returned to cleaning his weapon.

She walked over to Rodriguez. "So, think you can get a look at Kev's rail cannon before he heads out?"

He lowered his head so he could look her straight in the eye. "I've been having the beagle analyze that monster since the end of combat. That thing's at least fifty years ahead of anything we have."

She was taken aback. "Interesting."

He smiled. "The problem isn't just the design; the issues are all material-related. The beagle doesn't even recognize some of the materials used."

She smiled. "I'll keep that in mind when we head home. How much longer until the weapons are ready?"

"For a field cleaning, we're good. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to test that new strategy."

"Definitely. But finding out a little more about both his and Douglas' abilities were well worth the trip alone."

"For sure. We need to seriously explore what Douglas can do; if that kid is an example of those affected by the zone. We seriously need to start recruiting those with his abilities."

"Granted. He's doing more damage than our weapons, and his personal shields are almost as good as some of our lower-tier armors." She paused to think. "I think I have an idea." She tapped her mike, sending it to a private subvocal channel. "Hey, Jule; you awake?"

"Sure am. What's up?"

"You're nearest the radio. Can you ask Base if we have a power suit about to be decommissioned? I need one."

"Sure. Thanks to their overuse, they usually have something about to die. I'll check; give me a minute." Lieutenant Sawyer was able to grab something to drink during the wait. "Yeah; they have one."

"Outstanding." She smiled. "Can they deliver it for me?"

"Maybe." Lieutenant Prowse was getting suspicious. "What's up?"

She smiled mischievously. "Oh, you're going to love this."

* * * * *

The squad drove to a place bordering the zone. Waiting for them there was a large truck, a powered armor suit, and a soldier with a requisition waiting for a signature. Lieutenant Sawyer signed it, but told the soldier to wait; he may be needed to drive the suit back to Fort Solace. The soldier shrugged his shoulders and took the completed form back to the truck.

She looked to her fellow officer. "Lieutenant Prowse, think you can run this thing?"

Lieutenant Prowse inspected at the suit as everyone waited for her response. The powered armor suit was an older models; about three meters tall and a little bulky, it didn't have the refinements that more current suits had. This one was actually about to be recycled; it was lucky to have lasted this long. However, the suit could be of service one last time.

She finally stepped over to Lieutenant Sawyer. "A Kronus PAS-29. Two cannons, a missile rack, albeit no ammunition, and able to lift approximately two tonnes. Good for tactical support and labor assistance." She stepped a little closer, an evil grin spreading on her face. "Oh, yeah."

Lieutenant Sawyer smiled. "Good." She turned to face the squad. "Kev, Douglas: This is an impromptu training session. Well, more of a test, really; I need to get a better idea of what the two of you can do, and this should give me that insight. Please note that we are just inside the border of the zone; this means that you two should have access to the full range of your abilities. I'm going to give each of you two minutes to see what you can do to the Kronus; keep in mind that the pilot is not going to hold back." She looked at Lieutenant Prowse. "Correct?"

Lieutenant Prowse was in full evil grin. "Oh, definitely correct."

She turned back to the guys. "So decide who's going first and we'll get going." She backed down and sidled next to Rodriguez. "Make sure that the beagle is recording full-spectrum." Rodriguez gave a curt nod.

Lieutenant Prowse quickly mounted the powered armor suit. She ran a few basic tests; satisfied, she gave Lieutenant Sawyer Sawyer the thumbs up. Meanwhile, Kev and Douglas did a quick tossing of rock-paper-scissors; Douglas won the toss and decided to go first.

"Kev, you had best take this thing down after I wear it down a little for you."

"I shall endeavor to do my best."

Douglas walked over to Lieutenant Sawyer. "Okay, looks like I get to play with it first." She nodded and directed him to a space away from the group and about 200 metres in front of the Kronus.

Douglas looked at the Kronus. He signaled to Lieutenant Sawyer that he was beginning; she nodded and started her stopwatch. He let the hulking monstrosity come to him and opted to cast a spell on himself; his shield became a little darker. He then fired a fireball at the suit. The suit walked right through the flames and punched Douglas.

Douglas flew for a good hundred meters.

Everyone was startled. Everyone was frozen; they didn't know if they should stop the fight or make funeral arrangements.

Then Douglas rose up. "That hurt."

Everyone cheered. Lieutenant Prowse was happy; this was now a contest.

Douglas then cast a pyrotechnics spell at the Kronus; its sensors were blinded by the dazzling display of lights right in front of it. Douglas then telekinetically jumped right up to it and then jumped on its head; his fist was covered in electricity as he punched the suit with all of his effort.

The punch actually managed to chip some of the armor off.

For the next minute he did nothing but dodge the clumsy attempts of the Kronus to knock him off its head while he kept waling on it;. Then a whistle was heard. The armor was definitely looking worse for wear

Douglas stopped mid-punch, then jumped down. He walked by Kev. "Destroy it.'

Kev nodded. "I accept your challenge."

Kev walked to where Douglas had started and then motioned for the suit to charge him in classic Hong Kong style. As it did, his fingers danced over his torso. He triggered the heart covered in roses from earlier, then a suit of futuristic armor, and finally his tiger claws. The first covered him in a fine network of vines that quickly dissipated. The second covered his skin with a skin-tight metallic skin. The last caused his fist to be covered in a metal glove with claws coming out of the knuckles.

He then leaped the intervening 20 meters of the remaining space.

Lieutenant Prowse was ready for him and swung. Kev caught the punch as he landed and tossed the suit to the ground.

He then began tearing into the armor, taking it apart with his tiger's claws. A mere thirty seconds later, he was able to grab Lieutenant Prowse and pull her out of the armor.

Chits passed from a shocked Samuels to a smiling Walker.

Douglas clapped Kev on the back. "Nice job

"Thank you. Good job yourself."

Lieutenant Sawyer conferred with Rodriguez. "That was just scary. Glad they're on our side."

"Definitely." He checked his glasses. "I'll have the data available for you when by the time we get back to the base." She nodded.

She walked over to the vanquishing heroes. "That was pretty good, guys. Just one thing left." She pointed to the suit. "I need that in the truck."

Douglas' shoulders fell as Kev shrugged. Everyone else grinned. The truck left about five minutes later, its bed full of metal scrap. Lieutenant Sawyers was smiling. Yeah, my life just got a little easier.

[The last chapter can be found here. The next chapter can be found here.]