The bases that Hydramental had claimed were only “a few blocks away,” were in fact quite a few more than just a few blocks away. Since we were staying on the ground and moving slowly to minimize our Stamina usage, it took us a good twenty minutes to navigate to the bases. We had to backtrack all the way back past the trainyards before we turned up 12th Avenue and jogged along the Hudson River until we were up and into Hell’s Kitchen.
I had seen these random warehouses just off the coast before because, well, who hadn’t after living in the neighborhood for long enough? Most people just assumed they were filled with random goods, though even back before I was Augmented I could remember hearing random rumors of criminal activity taking place “down near the docks.” I doubt the rumors ever included “droid storage for an evil Augment” but I think the gossipers would at least appreciate knowing they were technically right.
Even knowing that, it felt wrong looking at the three nearly identical buildings all situated on the same corner just across the street from the river. I was only a few blocks away from my own apartment at this point, and I did everything in my power to stop myself from looking over in its direction. While Hydramental obviously knew I was from Hell’s Kitchen, I didn’t want to give away any possible indicator as to where… just in case.
It was a bit surprising that the three buildings were each counted as a separate base, but it must have been due to the fact that, well they were in fact three separate buildings. It probably had something to do with how the Miscreant bases were formed that I’d be unlikely to find out from Angie.
“That’s because I don’t know it, thank you very much,” she piped up and I rolled my eyes.
“So what’s the bet?” Freakenstein asked before I could get sucked in to bantering with Angie. Much of the metal that had been fused to his body had fallen off on our jog over, gradually decreasing the stack of five shield bars he had gathered until only one remained. Jon had spent much of the time that we were traveling idly murmuring about what Freakenstein's powerset actually was and I was sure he'd be doing it for as long as we were seeing the large Augment keep doing new things.
“The bet?” Hydramental asked, slightly confused.
“Yeah, you said you wanted to have a race right? So what do you guys wanna bet?” Freakenstein asked, a wide grin spreading over his face as he lifted a hand into the air. In a flash of light, an Ascension Token materialized into it. “I know you just picked one of these up, how bout we each put one up. You still have one of the ones you picked up, right Loopie?”
“Umm…” I said, almost a bit sheepishly as I reached up and rubbed the back of my head. “We turned ours in before lunch, kinda have just been doing it as we go,” I explained.
“Well that at least explains some of those points that have you so far out in the lead right now,” Freakenstein replied curiously before looking over at Hydramental who looked over at him incredulously.
“Why would I wager one of mine if he’s got nothing that I could take when I do win?”
“Sounds like you’re more concerned with losing yours to him if he somehow beats yah,” Freakenstein shot back.
“Please,” Hydramental scoffed. “I just don’t think it’s worth it to let someone who isn’t wagering anything have a chance. I have no issue with it just being between the two of us.”
“I actually agree with Hydramental here,” I said, hoping to just move past it. “There’s nothing really equal in value that I can wager, though that’s not to say I won’t get this done faster than you two.”
“Heh, real class act Loopie,” Freakenstein said, tilting his head until there was a loud crack before he smacked his hands together and rubbed them in anticipation. “Okay, then you and me Hydrahomie, faster one gets the other's token. Who’s taking which building?”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me Hydrahomie?”
“Sheesh, loosen up and get the stick outta your ass bud,” Freakenstein said and I heard Jon snicker in the back of my head. I couldn’t remember for sure, but I was relatively positive that Jon had referred to Hydramental’s attitude much the same way when he first saw me dealing with him.
Had I not been looking at him, I might have missed as his face contorted just slightly, only stopping from turning fully into a sneer when he realized that it wasn’t being hidden. Hydramental’s head snapped to the side as he turned his attention to Freakenstein.
“Okay fine, whatever. It’s not like you can beat me anyway, might as well get the free token,” he snapped back, his tone just a bit harsher than he probably meant it to be.
“That’s the spirit,” Freakenstein said, his broad smile returning. “So, who’s taking which one?”
“They’re literally all the same,” Hydramental groaned and I stepped forward, walking past and between the two.
“How bout I take the one in the middle and you two can take the ones that you’re already on the sides of? Make it easy for everyone. Sound good?” I offered.
“Works for me,” Freakenstein said, turning his attention to the warehouse on the left.
“Fine,” Hydramental said. “First to finish wins. Ready? Go!"
Neither of them waited longer than that as both went sprinting toward their respective warehouses. The sudden rush almost caught me off guard and I resisted the urge to rewind just to launch myself at the same time. I was already finding myself naturally wanting to lean on that and while in a fight I had no issue using it to dodge, rewinding time for something as silly as a race that really didn’t matter seemed… excessive.
Especially when all I had to do was jump into the air and push my speed as hard as I could with Personal Gravity Laws. Sure enough, it only took me a second to get ahead of them as we all rushed across the street, splitting in three directions across the abandoned road toward the various entrances. Hydramental’s red and blue forms were tossed out ahead of him as one went bursting through the air on torrents of flames being emitted from his hands and the other sliding along a wave of ice that solidified out of nowhere.
I was the first one to the pair of double doors leading into my warehouse. Instead of bursting in, I came to a stop, setting my feet down and letting Area Sense rush outward. I wanted to see just what I was rushing into, though a loud CRASH off to my left told me that Freakenstein was taking a more… direct assault plan. I blotted the sound from my mind as I focused on my area sense.
There were several stacks of boxes lining the walls on either side of the door and, surprisingly, a 60% Positive Zone in the corner on the side closer to Hydramental’s target. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do with it, but I decided to anchor the zone, knowing it would at least remove any positive effects that the droids would get if they were in the area. As much random clutter as I did feel actually occupying the space, there didn’t seem to be anything actually moving within the zone. Given that Clockwork Tyrant mostly used droids, I certainly knew that they could be on standby until I came through the door, but that was also something that, thanks to my growing powerset, I knew wasn’t happening.
Since I still had the Mechanical Specialty variant to my Area Sense on my passive bar, the only “mechanical” related objects that I could make out were the pieces that actually built the building and what felt like a single box filled with screws. Tentatively, I reached out and opened the door, slipping my way into the building and looking around as Silver Droid Forge flashed across the location panel I mostly ignored in the bottom corner of my vision.
Much like the last two bases, this one’s insides barely matched up with its outer shell. It stretched out nearly a football field in length and I could see several racks with inactive droids nearly halfway down the large, open, windowless room.
I slowly started to walk forward slowly, waiting for something to happen. I kept my eyes on the droids, what looked like more of the Clockwork Gorillas that had been a staple of Tyrant’s forces, though I still did my best to sweep my attention across the room as I went. I didn’t want to miss something hiding in the shadows, though the general quiet felt… off.
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“You guys finding anything?” I asked internally.
I waited a few seconds without a response before looking back at the door nervously, only taking a moment before I remembered that the internal chat feature was attached to my squad. Given that the last few times I had been in larger groups it had been Raid Groups instead of a Temporary Team-Up, it was easy to forget that the internal chat was connected to my Squad.
“Wait… can they not hear me right now?” I asked, just wanting to verify.
“Doesn’t seem like it,” Jon said with a murmur. “But… I remember you being able to talk to Duskbreaker and even Hydramental when you guys fought at the Guggenheim… hmmm, Angie, you got anything for us?”
“It’s in the Squad related notes if you read all the fine print! Temporary Team-Ups that take place in the same neighborhood as at least a part of your squad will have partial access to your internal chat features! If you form a Temporary Team with people without an extra member of your squad in the same neighborhood, you will create a Neighborhood Temporary Team. This team will not have access to those internal chats, something I assumed Loophole knew since they had all just been yelling at each other in that last base.”
“Thank you, Angie.”
“You’re welcome, Loophole!”
I quickly opened up a chat window as I walked a bit further into the warehouse, still surprised that nothing was jumping out to attack me.
“Guess these places are just storage, Freak is already fighting. Not even gonna bother to check on Hydramental,” I announced to Jon. I was still letting my caution over the possibility of a trap lead me to move slowly, even with my initial boast to beat the other two.
Just like with hesitating when Hydramental and Freakenstein had both taken off, I briefly considered rewinding just to give myself that advantage on speed but decided against it, knowing I had already burned through just over seven of my fifteen minutes for the day between the various fights I had already been in and rewinding just for bragging rights was just a bit asinine, even if Freakenstein’s general attitude made me want to compete against him.
Putting my worries to the side, I focused on the droids. I needed to test if they were like the droids in the last base or not, because if I couldn’t land a strike on them, I was going to need to adapt and find a new way to deal some damage. Much like when I moved to catch up, I jumped into the air and ramped up my flight speed, rushing right for the droids at the center of the warehouse.
I was just shy of ten feet away from them when a click sounded and each of the droids fell from their racks, coming to life midfall. I barely slowed myself as I threw the first punch, adding a 10% Gravity Punch to it just to test.
Not only did the droid not react to my strike by letting its body separate to catch my arm, the strike practically tore through the droid like it was made of the cheapest of materials. The gorilla’s feet had barely hit the ground before my relatively weak ability blew a hole right through the center of it. The ease in which I had destroyed the droid took me by surprise and I disabled my flight, dropping to the ground and rolling as my momentum carried me over the quickly collapsing droid.
I carried myself through the roll, springing back up to my feet in a motion that I never would have attempted before I had been Augmented. I spun on my heels, meeting four more gorillas that had paid no mind to their fallen comrade. With a quick move, I threw out another punch, activating Quantum EchoStrike just before throwing a 15% Gravity Punch.
The leading gorilla’s entire shoulder was torn from its side before the damage echoed outward, smacking into each of the other three droids. Their metal breastplates seemed to crush inward as they all collapsed into heaps and slid across the ground. I was just about to revel in the relatively easy victory, thankful that being inside of the base kept their self-detonation features off, when I heard a chorus of thuds one after another.
“Of course it’s not that simple,” I muttered under my breath, turning to take in at least two dozen more Clockwork Gorillas as they dropped off their racks.
“Let’s hope they all go down so easily,” Jon said, clicking along on his keys. “Hey, can you message Swansong? She turned off my access to see her POV when she went into the hospital because she apparently respects the idea of patient privacy, which, well I guess I can understand that, but she didn’t respond when I checked in on her a few minutes ago.”
“Sure thing,” I said.
I cracked my knuckles, waiting for a response as the group of gorillas powered up and started to move my way. It felt oddly nice to be able to tear through them as easily as I was, though I knew with this amount of droids to handle, even if a weaker Gravity Punch could destroy them with a single attack, I wouldn’t have nearly enough Stamina take each one of the droids down one at a time. Luckily for me, Quantum EchoStrike didn’t have a crazy long cooldown and as long as I threw enough power behind the strike, it would hopefully do enough to take out large swathes of them in single attacks.
“Hmm, can you see her on the minimap at all?” I asked, rushing forward to meet the pack of gorillas.
“Nope, but I can’t do that when she goes into her Safe House either. Just not sure if I missed something while focusing on the area around you,” Jon replied as I threw my first punch.
“I’ll head right to the hospital after this,” I said, keeping my momentum up.
I kept my strikes down to regular blows, discovering my base attacks took out somewhere around 25% of their health. I peppered the first few droids, activating Float Like a Butterfly and dodging through the group, landing as many attacks as I could as I weaved my way through the army. The less health they had, the more of them I could take out with a single echoed Gravity Punch and I was pretty sure that at least a few of them had already fallen from the passive version of Sting Like a Bee proccing.
I had just reached the far side of the entire group of Clockwork Gorillas, preparing to throw my combo when there was a loud BOOM shook the building. I couldn’t tell for sure, but the roar of the sound seemed to come from the side that I was pretty sure Hydramental had attacked. The gorillas were just about to turn on me when a pair of new notifications flashed across my vision, nearly tripping me up entirely.
“Hydramental has left the Neighborhood Temporary Team.”
“Hydramental has been removed from your Friend’s List.”
I felt my gut clench as I waved the notification away, trying to keep my focus on the task at hand. I threw out my punch, once again using Quantum EchoStrike in unison with a 25% Gravity Punch at the closest of the gorillas. I didn’t even stop to see if it took out the entire group before I jumped into the air and began to rush toward the doors, reopening my chat window with Freakenstein as I cranked up the speed.
I was just about to message him back when everything across my vision went grey and the chat window closed unceremoniously. At the same time, just as I was about halfway back to the doors, my flight gave out completely and I went plummeting the few feet down and to the ground. With my speed still high, I hit the ground hard and went rolling over it, feeling every impact as I skidded across the hard cement.
There was the sound of metal scrapping all around me, though I felt as if I had been hit by a car and I struggled to pick myself up. I could feel a wetness on the side of my face and as I pushed myself up, I placed a few fingers against my cheek, pulling them away to find a bit of blood on the tips.
It hurt. In a way that it hadn’t since I had been Augmented, struggling to get to my feet actually hurt, though I still did it anyway. I sat up slowly, feeling my muscles ache and groan as I looked over toward the metallic pile that had been the Clockwork Army I had to tear through before looking back at the doors I had entered the building through.
“What… what the fuck?” The overhead lights were still illuminating the space, and the double doors were now covered by a metallic shutter that had slammed down and into the ground. My breathing began to pick up and I scanned my HUD, seeing that everything on it was dull and I couldn’t activate anything. “Codex? Angie?” I asked, unfortunately already knowing that I wouldn’t get a response.
My mind was racing and I felt my anger rising and it was almost entirely directed at myself. Because even though I thought I could handle a trap if I walked into one, here I was in a Dead Zone, unable to rewind even a second.
“Shit.”
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