For God's sake, can I just get five minutes?!" I yelled up at the heavens before turning to look towards the border. Sure enough there were a few trails of smoke leading up into the sky. I then glanced back at my captive. "Friends of yours?"
Cheshire was looking in the direction of the smoke as well, and for once she looked concerned. "I wouldn't count on it..."
I frowned. Again, I couldn't take her at face value, but… I looked back at the officer. "Can you all handle this?"
Officer Sung's face was a picture of controlled panic. "If this is more of the War Dogs, then no. We were expecting them at much more critical border points, not here. We don't have the special assets or fire power here to repel them."
A small growl escaped my throat. I knew what was going to happen, I just did. But if this was another War Dog and was as tough as the last two, I was the only one here that could stop them before they did too much damage. I looked at the two soldiers closest to me. "If she escapes while I handle this, I'm going to be very cross with both of you." I said as I moved Cheshire towards them. I released my hold as soon as they had a firm grip on her, and she was swiftly put into cuffs.
Officer Sung stepped up. "You can't cross the border!" He said quickly. "Only fight them if they try to cross the bridge, otherwise it might cause an incident! Judging by the fire, I would say this is Bulgae, he has strength, invulnerability, and the ability to emit flames. Lately he has been seen partnered with Chollima, though her abilities are not well known, she is difficult to track. Be careful."
I nodded in assent before I took off, heading towards the bridge. As I did I called Ted. "Ted, we've got new bad guys coming in from the North. Please tell me that you and everyone else is safe."
"Yeah, about that…" Ted's tone over the comm was dry. "We're all fine now, but I would have appreciated if you had stuck around for a bit longer. Turns out a few of the South Rhelasian soldiers are on someone else's payroll. I caught them trying to abscond with Serling out the back of the building after you took off after the operative."
"What?!" I yelled, both in panic and in anger at myself. God damn it, this is why I hated working alone! "Where is she? Is she alright?"
"She's fine, I managed to stop them. I did say I had a few tricks up my sleeve," Ted trailed off for a moment, and I was reminded that while he hadn't taken up the mantle quite yet, Ted Kord was still the Blue Beetle at heart. He then continued "Serling is… she's stressed, but I'm sure she'll be fine. What about that other operative you chased out, do we still have to worry about them?"
"I captured her and handed her over to Sung, but she wasn't part of the Coup forces Ted. She was a League of Shadows agent. It's clear they're trying to kidnap Serling again."
"Wait, you mean Serling was right?!" He exclaimed before there was a lot of muffled voices on the other side. After a moment his voice came back. "Then, what do the Coup forces have to do with this? Why did they go after you on the way back to the border?"
"Look, I don't really understand what's happening either. But you need to get Serling and the rest of your people out of here now. I don't care how you do it or where you go, but this place is not safe. Get out now."
In short order I was standing in front of the bridge leading to the North, a number of South Rhelasian soldiers hunkered down behind nearby barricades and looking north warily. I slowly started to walk forward to get a better view, but there wasn't much to see from the bridge. I could see several Northern soldiers and a tank running to the closest pillar of smoke, but the source was nowhere in sight. Still, from the looks of things the trail of destruction was getting closer.
I stopped just short of the center of the bridge, glancing to the side to look at the river about 20 meters below. I briefly wondered if I should be looking out for someone trying to stealthily cross beneath, but I got the impression Bulgae wasn't the stealthy sort.
Sure enough, is was only a few seconds later that I saw something arc through the air, slamming into the bridge like a burning meteor. Straightening up from his landing was a massive Rhelasian man stripped to the waist, heat and flame pouring off of his body in bursts. The veins under his skin burned and flowed with molten red light, A few bullets pelted him from both sides of the bridge, but they didn't even make a scratch on his muscular frame.
The man stopped and looked me up and down before a grin formed on his face. He said something in Rhelasian as he started to walk towards me with an easy stride. I sighed before interrupting him. "Look, if you're giving me your villain speech, you need to do it in English, because I'm not going to understand it otherwise."
This actually caused him stop and look at me in confusion for a few moments before he shrugged. When he spoke again, this time it was in heavily accented English. "The woman. The scientist. You are her protector, correct?"
"Mayhaps."
"Good."
The man surged forwards, his feet leaving craters in the asphalt as he charged at me. One of my arms formed into a sonic cannon and fired at the ground in front of him, tearing up the surface of the bridge. The man stumbled and slowed over the sudden rough terrain, though he didn't stop. Still, it gave me enough time to finish forming my other arm into a much heavier sonic cannon and open fire on him directly. The man, having lost his forward momentum, was forced to a stop by the waves of sound. His face twisted as he tried to push himself forward, but the concrete beneath him crumbled from the combined force of his legs and my attack. It only took a few seconds of this before the bridge let out a groan, and that entire section collapsed underneath him, sending the man plummeting to the water below.
If only it were that easy, I thought to myself, my arms shifting back to normal as I glanced down at the now boiling water. That wouldn't be enough to take the man down. I was going to have to keep him off balance if I wanted to maintain control of the-
Suddenly, I realized there was someone standing off to my side on the guardrail of the bridge. The lithe figure was a woman, dressed in similar tactical gear as the ones I had faced earlier. I noticed that this one had a number of blades strapped to her person, as well as arm and shin guards made of some kind of white metal. She was also perfectly still, it didn't even seem like she was breathing as she stared at me behind her mask.
Chollima, I presumed. My head tilted to the side a little. "Ok, I've already dealt with a femme fatale assassin type today, so if you could just-"
The movement was so fast I could barely track it. The woman's form blurred as she darted forward in a zigzag pattern, bouncing off a nearby lamppost before coming straight at me. I stepped to the side as fast as I could, but the blade in her hand still managed to slice through part of my neck as she moved past me.
I keep my eye on her as she slid to a stop, surprised at how she had managed to do anything to me with what looked like a simple knife. My neck wasn't particularly well armored, but even without the kinetic dampeners… actually, I had felt an odd fluctuation in them the moment the knife had had contact.
The woman was also surprised, if for a different reason. She held the blade that had cut me up to her face and found it warped and dulled. She muttered something I couldn't make out before she tossed the weapon aside and drew another.
A speedster? Something like that, but there's more to it, I thought as my neck healed itself. Going to have to be careful with this one, if she has something a bit longer than a knife she might just start going for my limbs.
Of course it was at that moment I felt the bridge start to rumble beneath my feet, and I threw myself forward just in time to avoid Bulgae erupting from the spot I just occupied. "Dirty trick." He snarled, the air around him wavering from the heat pouring off of him as pulled himself up. He let out a growl before he charged me again.
I brought my arm up with the intent of blasting the ground at his feet again, but before I finished the motion the woman blurred across my front and knocked my arm aside. I was forced to dodge back to avoid the wide swing from Bulgae, and I tried again. But each time I tried to get my footing the woman sped in and struck one of my limbs, not enough to really hurt me, but always knocking me off balance, keeping me from attacking before Bulgae was on me. I was forced to keep stumbling back until I got to the end of the bridge. At that point, I changed my tactics.
As I came to a stop, I made a show of focusing on the large man bearing down on me, but I was still paying attention to the woman with my blindsight to my left. I was getting a handle of when she liked to attack, just before I made any large action. Sure enough as I pulled my right arm back her form blurred again, but at the same instant I activated the Psion shield emitter I had formed on my left arm. Chollima bounced off the large pane of energy that covered my left flank, giving me time to plant my feet and finish forming the piston driver with my right arm.
With speed that surprised Bulgae, I swung my arm forward. The piston fired at the moment of impact, slamming into his face with shattering force.
The man barely slowed down.
"…ah, sh-" was as far as I managed to get before his fist came around and slammed me in the chest, cracking my chest plate and sending me flying backwards through the concrete wall of a building behind me. I tumbled through several tables before I slammed into the opposite wall. It took me a second to pull myself to my feet, and I winced as the burned nanites from the fist impact flaked off my chest.
I existed in a surprisingly sparse middle ground when it came to physical strength, at least practically speaking. It meant that most of the time when I faced off against someone with superhuman strength, I could either just physically overpower them or be overpowered in turn. Trying to boost my strength beyond what I could use in my standard combat form was possible, but it made me far bulkier and slower as I dedicated most of my mass to the task. Definitely not worth in in this scenario. I ran back toward the hole I had made in time to see Bulgae running towards me, and I readied myself to redirect his momentum.
Before he could reach me though, something large and fiery slammed into his chest, sending him flying back and tearing up the ground as he tumbled. A moment later the fiery mane flipped to the side so that the one responsible could give me an exasperated expression. "I'm starting to wonder if you are a magnet for trouble," Starfire said. "It seems you can't go a week without getting involved in some conflict or another."
The black and white blur then come at us, but was stopped short as several bolts of energy fell from the sky and impacted the ground between us. A familiar red and grey trike dropped out of the air next to me. [I am sure that the Prime is merely using conflict as a means to collect data.] Rommie said.
"I swear I'm not doing it intentionally," I replied, relieved that Ted did in fact call in the reinforcements I had asked. I looked around before looking back at Starfire, "Is it just you two?"
Her attention was focused on the brute of a man pulling himself to his feet, but she replied "Yes. The rest of our team are engaged in… other activities."
I suppose that was to be expected. Kaldur was back in Atlantis, and M'gann and Connor (the boy finally picked the name, which meant I didn't have to keep catching myself from calling him that) were infiltrating a prison at the moment. And the rest were in school. "What about the rest of the League?"
"They are aware of the situation, but are holding at the border. They are making sure that the situation does not spill into civilian populations."
"That needs to change, the League of Shadows are here too. They tried to kidnap Serling again. And these guys want her too." The man finished pulling himself out of the shallow crater that Starfire put him in, looking at us warily. I rolled my shoulders and after a moment's consideration I said. "You take this guy. There's a speedster running around who was able to cut me, and she might be able to hurt you too. I'll handle her, but be on your guard."
Starfire nodded and shot forward, her fist colliding with her opponent's as she matched his charge. There was a massive crash and the ground cratered beneath both of them, but neither gave up ground. The man was surprised for an instant (likely the first time anyone had ever matched his strength), but his expression quickly changed to a blood thirsty grin.
There's one in every assassin squad, I guess.
I left Starfire to her own fight as I honed back in the more nimble assassin, only to find her ducking out of sight around the corner of nearby building. Oh for god's sake not again, I thought before I yelled to Rommie "Cut her off, try to restrict her movements!"
The trike beeped in confirmation before taking off into the air. I then followed after the speedster, resigning myself to another chase. Except, the moment I turned the corner I threw myself to the ground in response to the woman suddenly turning about and launching herself at me. Her blade scraped across my chest, a shallow gouge carving into my chest as both fiery and electric sparks flaked off.
She always moves in straight line movements when accelerating, I noted as she once again bounced off another wall to launch herself at me, pulling yet another knife as she did so. She wasn't running from me, she was trying to take me out. And to that end, I needed to keep dodging, give her the impression that she was a threat to me. If she knew otherwise she would start to either focus on disabling me or just run away. And quite frankly I wanted to handle this as soon as possible.
Rommie flew in low and strafed from above, more energy bolts raining down on the operative's position. The woman was too fast though, simply dancing away in a series of quick steps. Have to restrict her movements, I thought, and I stepped back out into an open space as I formed a freeze cannon. I swept my arm out and froze the ground in an arc around me, watching my target's movement's carefully. I was then caught off guard when she didn't hesitate to come at me, making hard turns on the icy dirt as if it wasn't there. She went for knees this time, but I was starting to get used to her movements and managed to twist away before she made contact. I know that would have worked on Kid Flash, I thought. She's manipulating her momentum directly somehow.
My assailant then paused her motion for a few seconds, her head snapping between me and the oncoming Rommie. She then reached into one of her pouches and tossed out a handful of pellets which, predictably, caused a massive cloud of smoke to burst out and form around us. My vision was blocked, so I simply turned up the power of my blindsight to compensate, with a wider range of frequencies. When the next attack came from my left I was ready for it. But as I stepped back out of the way I noticed that the attack missed by a surprisingly wide margin.
I froze where I was, considering things. It could have been that the smoke reduced her accuracy as much as mine, but I highly doubted that the assassin didn't know how to fight blind. Which meant… hmm. I never had the chance to test using my sonic weaponry's disabling potential against human targets (instead of throwing them around), but if that reaction was what it looked like, now was good time to try.
[Rommie, harry her around me so that she's forced to come at my back.] I signaled to the flying trike, dialing back my blindsight in that moment. [I mean to take her by surprise.]
[Forthwith!] she replied, and a moment later she made good on it by sweeping in front of me and letting loose a barrage of bolts. Chollima danced away from the fire and out of sight, but I had a sense of where Rommie was moving to. I made a show of looking around while the structure of my back changed slightly.
I only had to wait a few seconds before Rommie forced the woman into position behind me, and sure enough she made another attack at me. And at that moment I turned up my blindsight power and activated the shield emitter I had formed on my back. And, sure enough, she slammed into me and bounced off.
I turned to face her, and I immediately opened fire with my sonic cannon. Unlike when I normally used the weapon though, this time I had it configured to emit in the ultrasound range with a toned down amplitude. The woman stumbled as she gripped her head, convulsing a little as I was sure she tried to keep her lunch down. She tried to dash away, but she only made it a few strides before she tumbled to the ground, skidding across the dirt before she come to a stop. I quickly retrained my aim on her and advanced, reaching the woman before she could get to her feet.
My other hand reached out and grabbed her, channeling electricity into her body. She didn't drop immediately, to my surprise, instead her body starting to blur and vibrate underneath my grip. She was doing something to absorb the electricity and convert it into movement. Still, my grip held firm, and I persisted as I held the sonic cannon closer to her head. She held on for a few more seconds before she couldn't focus anymore and the vibration cut out. The electricity coursed through her and she went slack in my grip.
I cut off the cannon and slung Chollima over my shoulder, looking around for someone to hand her off to. Unfortunately, it seemed that my sonic attack wasn't as focused as I might have wished, as the closest people were stumbling due to vertigo. I frowned, and then walked up to a nearby concrete wall of a building, punching my hand into it in search of rebar. A minute later I was walking away from the assassin, tied up with rebar and affixed to a wall. One down, one to go.
Before I could do anything else, Starfire suddenly slammed into the wall next to me, the concrete cracking from the impact. I could tell that the only reason that she didn't go through it entirely was that she managed to slow herself down first, but she still staggered a little as she pulled herself off the wall. I then noticed the tears and burns on her uniform, and the small amount of blood running down the side of her head. "Starfire!" I rushed over and pulled her to her feet.
She pulled herself up straight, keeping her eyes firmly on the burning man walking towards us. "This one is… difficult. More than I anticipated." She said. "He is stronger than Superboy, and is resistant to my starbolts."
I turned more fully to regard the enemy operative, my mind going through the options available. This was going to be tricky, but with both Starfire and I (and Rommie), I was sure that we could take him down.
Bulgae actually stopped about ten meters away from us, his expression twisting into a scowl when he saw me. "You defeated Chollima?" He scoffed. "Useless. Like the others."
I took a few steps forward. "Guess you found where I left your colleagues already, huh?" Damn, I had hoped that the South Rhelasians could-
"Found and dealt with."
That caused me to stop, and I felt Starfire go still next to me. "Dealt with?" she asked, her tone tense. "What do you mean?"
Bulgae gave a vicious grin. "No place for weakness among us. Failures are disposed of."
Starfire froze in a mix of surprise and shock… but a moment later the flames that flowed off her hair increased in volume. A low growl came from her throat before she moved, kicking off the ground with an explosion of dirt. "How dare you?!"
"It was-"The man was cut off as her fist collided with the arm he raised to block her attack. Clearly, after they had matched strength a minute earlier, he had expected to win the exchange. Or at least hold her back.
I heard a sharp crack, and his limb bent the wrong way slightly.
It was easy to forget with Koriand'r, but Tamaranian tempers could run pretty hot when provoked. And the strength increase from that anger was a lot more than you'd expect. At the moment, if my guess was correct, Starfire could have given Wonder Woman some trouble.
The man stumbled back in shock, or at least tried to. Starfire quickly grabbed the arm she just broke and wrenched, the man screaming as the pain intensified. As his jaw opened though, Starfire's other arm came around and slapped itself over his open mouth. I saw green light flare between her fingers before there was a muffled blast, and Bulgae choked on plasma as he was rocked backwards.
Starfire stalked after him as he tried to keep his footing, her entire hair now a blazing inferno. The man took a swing as she got back into range, but she merely smashed the limb aside before punching him in the chest. She rained blow after blow down on him, pushing him back even further until she jumped up in the air a short ways before coming back down with a scream, her hands clasped together in a vicious hammer blow.
The ground cratered, dust kicking up and exploding out in every direction. When it cleared a few seconds later it revealed Bulgae on his back a few feet down, and Starfire standing over him. "W-wait!" The man said, holding up his non-broken arm. "I surrender! I-" He was cut off as her foot came down on the limb, slamming it into the ground with shattering force. She didn't stop there, continuing to pummel him even more into the ground with her fists.
I had hung back, because it hardly looked like she needed my help. But after the first ten seconds of her assault I was starting to get a little concerned… and after twenty seconds unabated I got more concerned.
Wondering if I was risking getting throttled myself, I swiftly moved up next to Starfire and grabbed her arm as she pulled it back. "Starfire, I think he's done."
Her head snapped back towards me, fury still in her eyes. I made a small motion with my head, and her gaze turning to see all of the soldiers moving up to secure the operative. She then looked back down at the source of her fury, bloody, broken and barely conscious beneath her. She hesitated for a moment longer before she out a long breath and got to her feet, briskly walking away from the crater. It looked like she needed to cool off a bit. The last time I had seen her that angry… well, technically I hadn't 'seen' her, but I clearly remembered how she reduced several of the Psions to smears on the wall.
I caught up to her as she stopped and walked in front of her, my arm already turning in a medical scanner to take stock of her injuries. She tried to wave me off. "Stop, I am fin-"
She was cut off as I stepped in close and my free hand pressed itself over her mouth. She was confused for a moment before she let out an exasperated groan (muffled as it was from my hand). Still, she did seem to be calming down. I took that time to give her a quick scan, and to my relief she was mostly fine. A few cuts and burns, and one of her ribs was slightly bruised, but she could heal from that pretty quick.
"You're fussing." She said softly after pulling my hand away.
"As is my right as both your medic and boyfriend." I replied in the same tone before looking her in the eyes. "Now, want to tell me what that was about?"
"I am-" She started before she noticed my free hand slowly start to make its back up again. She gave me a flat look for a long moment before she reached up and gently pulled my hand down again. "Jacob," she said reproachfully. "I am not apologizing for my actions. The man was horrid, and someone who would betray their own teammate like that cannot be trusted. Such a man would continue to resist if he were merely subdued as well. The only way to beat him was to crush him completely. It was not something I did out of a loss of control of myself." As she said this she squeezed my hand a little.
I stared at her for a long moment, gauging her as she looked firmly back at me. Eventually, I squeezed her hand back before dropping my arm. "Alright." She… seemed to be sincere. This was far from the first time I had seen her so aggressive in combat, it was just a bit unsettling to see her take it so far this time. I suppose some mercurialness was to be expected from the Tamaranian. "Have you contacted the League, told them about the Shadows?"
She shook her head. "No, I was too focused on my own battles."
"Same," I said with a sigh. There was just too much happening too quickly, and I was having trouble dealing with it. I was always the type of person to focus on one thing at a time and prioritize, it was how I worked best. Giving me multiple things I had to do at once usually resulted in me neglecting something.
You'd think being made out of a distributed swarm would fix that, I thought as I switched my comm to the secure Justice League frequency. "This is Machina, priority two. Cheshire has just been captured trying to kidnap Serling Roquette at the South Rhelasian boarder outpost we tried to cross. In addition, several South Rhelaisan soldiers tried to kidnap her shortly after that. Cheshire's in custody, but there is a lot evidence that there are more personnel at this base compromised by the League of Shadows. Please advise."
I waited for a response-
Suddenly there was a flash of green in front of me. I was halfway into turning my arm into a cannon before I realized what, or more accurately who, I was looking at. "Well, this is a bit more of a direct response than I was expecting. And immediate."
Lantern Jordan gave me a small nod, floating in the air a few feet in front of me. "I was already on my way to provide assistance. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner." He glanced around at the destruction around us. "Though I suppose you managed on your own."
I rolled my eyes, but I gave him a quick debrief on everything that had happened since that morning, Starfire filling in with what she had experienced as well. The Green Lantern listened to us with a growing frown, and when we stopped he let out a groan. "Man, I miss the days when it was just beat up the bad guy and go home. The League is going to have to investigate this for sure." He then swept his ring hand in an arc in front of him, no doubt scanning the area. His eyes lingered on the broken and battered form of Bulgae for a moment, the man being secured in heavy restraints by soldiers. He turned back to me. "Well, the situation here is secure. You… did a good job. I'll take over from here."
I arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Because things are kind of crazy at the moment, and if it's just you…"
The man kept his expression neutral, but he did hesitate for a few seconds. "I can handle things at this outpost, including the Cheshire." He eventually said. "However… you do have a point. You said she was after Dr. Roquette, right?"
I nodded. "As well as the Coup forces. That guy confirmed it." I said, gesturing over my shoulder.
The Green Lantern nodded again. "Right, you and Starfire keep her safe, get her out of the country. The League will handle the situation with Shadows." And with that he turned and floated away, heading right for Officer Sung.
I looked after him for a moment before shrugging to myself. That whole conversation felt a bit stilted for some reason, but I didn't feel like calling him out on it. I had been trying to get out of there ever since this whole incident started anyway, and I had been planning on keeping Serling safe no matter what he told me.
Thankfully, there were no more explosions when we tried to leave.
Jeongsin City, the South Rhelasian capital, was similar to its counterpart from my world in that it was less than fifty miles from the northern border. As such it was only a few hours later that I found myself in the main office for Kord Tech's South Rhelasian branch, staring out the window as Ted talked on the phone behind me. The building was located at the norther edge of the city along the river, giving me a clear view towards the north. Not that there was much to see at the moment, but I still felt like I had to keep my eye on it.
"Wonderful, thank you," I heard Ted say before he hung up the phone. "Alright, the plane's booked and leaving tonight. It was a bit of a mess considering all the flights were grounded at the start of all this, but I was able to finagle something."
I grunted. "Good to know," I said. I wondered if that meant Kori and Rommie could head back to the Mountain, but I decided against it. Lantern Jordan said my job was to keep Serling safe, and I wasn't going to consider that done until we were all back in the States. Beside, Kori preferred to be out and about whenever possible, so her being on overwatch around the city at the moment was likely fine for her.
Ted titled his head a bit. "So… can you give me a status report of how things are going? I know you're hooked into the League's network, and I would appreciate no more surprises."
"Things have settled down, at least a little," I said, pacing in front of the tall window. "The fighting has stopped for the moment and everyone has settled into defensive positions to lick their wounds. While the Coup forces have some territory, the North Rhelasian government is still in control of the country."
Ted sat down on the edge of his desk wearily. Now that I was looking at him fully, I could make out a number of things hidden on his person. The faint impression of some kind of mesh underneath his clothes, a belt that was too large and had a number of creases indicating compartments. And the outline of a small shoulder holster under his dress shirt. "This is going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?"
I hesitated. "Maybe… but maybe not. All the data I could get my hands on showed that the Coup forces really don't have the manpower or gear for a prolonged campaign. That's probably why they went after Serling. They needed something more to press their advantage after the initial surprise assault."
Ted hummed, and we both fell into an awkward silence at the mention of the elephant in the room. The man glanced back at the computer on the desk and frowned at what the video feed on it showed him. "She's still working…"
The instant we had gotten back to the city, Serling had locked herself in a lab and refused to come out. The entire time she had been typing away on her laptop, programming whatever had captured her interest since that experiment in the tent. "You're sure that there's nothing in that lab she can turn into something terrifying?" The last thing we needed was for her to make another Fog in a fit of panic.
"For the last time, yes. That lab only has workstations and some biometric equipment. And I guess her luggage. Nothing even close to nanotech."
I sighed. "I need to talk to her. I had hoped that she would calm down by now, but I've already waited longer than I'm comfortable with. With both the League of Shadows and the War Dogs after her, I want to take her back through the Zeta Tubes as soon as possible. In fact, I'm willing to drag her through one if it comes down to it."
Ted frowned, but nodded. "That's.. probably for the best. If we go talk to her together, I think we might have a better shot of convincing her of doing it of her own accord. Though…" he paused for a long moment, an uncommon expression of doubt crossing his features as he looked off to the side.
"What?" I asked.
He turned to look at me for a long moment before he asked "Jacob, are you romantically interested in Serling?"
I blinked, completely taken off guard by the non-sequitur. "Ah… no. No, I'm actually dating Starfire." I paused. "Why, are you?"
I was only half surprised when the man said "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? She's beautiful, has a wonderfully sharp tongue, and so brilliant that when we argue she's actually right some of the time. I know this is an odd time to ask, but I imagine that our conversation with Serling is going to get emotionally charged. I just want all the context possible before that happens."
"Ah, alright." I said awkwardly. After a few seconds curiosity got the better of me and I asked "If that's the case, timing notwithstanding, why haven't you asked her out yet? I think you might have better luck than you seem to be assuming."
Ted gave a small grimace. "Ah, I feel that I worked against myself in that regard by working with her so closely. At the moment we have a good professional relationship, and while I am willing to attempt mixing in a personal one, I'm worried about how she'll see it. Can you imagine how badly she would take it if she thought I was putting up with her work because I wanted her physically? Or worse, that I was seducing her in order to steal her work away from her?"
"…she probably would think that last one was worse." I muttered.
Ted gestured vaguely. "In any case, before I can do anything I need to convince Serling that both my professional and personal interest in her are separate and equally important." He sighed. "It is a particularly difficult problem."
I snorted. "Well that's one you're going to have to solve on your own. I got lucky with a woman who's very straightforward and emotionally open." I glanced back out the window to see if Kori was in view, but she was elsewhere at the moment. "In any case, right now we need to-"
I only noticed it because I happened to be looking at the river, a certain symmetry of waves on both shores. And I only saw it at this distance due to my superhuman vision. For the first instant I wondered if it was an odd coincidence, but then I saw the effect continue to propagate down the river towards me. And it was getting more pronounced. It took me a few seconds to realize what this reminded me of: the edge of a ship's wake.
"…oh, come on."
Ahead of this wake a bulge started to form in the middle of the river, getting more and more pronounced as it picked up speed.
"Oh come on!"
Right as the disturbance reached the closest point in the river to our building, the bulge exploded upwards. Launching itself out of the water was a massive dark green shape, looking like a flat cylinder with the front end wider than the back. At the top of its arc the thing unfolded outwards, arms and legs taking shape from the main body. The mech landed on the shoreline with a crash I felt from where I was, and as it reared up numerous weapons folded out of its torso and arms. Its head was mostly recessed into its torso, but it still arched back and let out a mechanical scream.
I stared at this for a long moment before I facepalmed. "Maybe I am a magnet for trouble…"
=====A=====
A/N: Koriand'r has a bit of a thing when it comes to betrayal...