章 2591: 16
Chapter Sixteen—Travels Through the Coun
Chapter Sixteen—Travels Through a Countryside
AN: Okay, here it is, Taylor's first cape fight. Enjoy.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Taylor got while the going was good. Before Trish's words had finished echoing in her mind, she was already traveling directly away at Mach four point seven, the top speed of her armor, her force fields angled for minimum air resistance. Behind her, the Simurgh followed.
Still, Taylor managed to open up a gap of nearly a thousand yards before her pursuer first matched her speed, then began to slowly creep up on her.
"JARVIS! Plot me a course that keeps me away from occupied areas. I'm going to gain some altitude as well. No reason to give her access to rocks and trees to throw at me."
"Sensible." Two seconds later, he continued, "The course is on your HUD, Miss."
Taylor glanced at her HUD, quickly noting the course JARVIS had laid out for her, glowing purple. One good thing about Australia was that it was thinly populated. So long as she followed the purple line, she would avoid any population centers by at least twenty kilometers. Decision made, Taylor took off on the new course, heading upward as well.
Within seconds, Taylor had gained nearly three thousand feet of altitude, while the Simurgh following her continued to stay low. It must be trying to gather up more ammunition for its debris cloud. Time to nix that in the bud.
"JARVIS! I need you to aim for me while I fly! I'll be firing five seconds bursts from both particle cannons."
"I am on top of it, Miss. Firing solution in ten seconds. I've also taken the liberty of taking charge of all four drones and am following you with them as quickly as possible."
Taylor didn't bother to acknowledge him, but instead, waited. It was an odd sensation as her wrists slowly adjusted without any input from herself, angling her flight at a more vertical angle. At least that was the direction she wanted to go. Taylor launched her attack as soon as the "FIRE" icon on her HUD lit up.
Incredibly, both shots scored, blasting into the Simurgh's white flesh, although the resulting craters were smaller than those from her initial salvo. Tag, you're it, Taylor thought gleefully, right before the hand of God smashed into her.
The surge of force that struck her completely shattered her force field, popping it as if it were no more substantial than a soap bubble. The force field's generator shrieked, before it burned out, the feedback shattering its linkages.
The faint smell of burning filled Taylor nose as she was sent tumbling in three dimensions, her arms and legs flailing around helplessly. She lost nearly five hundred feet of altitude before her internal gyros righted her and she was again headed up and away. Fortunately, the next force field slid into place flawlessly, allowing her to immediately configure it for maximum speed.
"JARVIS! What the hell was that?" Taylor shouted, somehow managing to avoid vomiting despite the way her head spun and her stomach roiled. Inertial compensator or not, she'd felt that hit at a visceral level.
"Miss, I cannot be certain, but I believe it was a wave of telekinetic force."
"I didn't think she was supposed to be able to do that." From everything that Taylor had read up on the Simurgh, she should not have been able to tag her from such a distance and with such force. That hit had simply blown through her force field as if it didn't exist, which didn't make sense. Based upon every bit of data Taylor had managed to get her hands on, not even Behemoth was that strong. Her force fields should have been able to withstand multiple attacks from the Simurgh. Certainly, they shouldn't have failed after just one.
Temporarily dismissing the thought, Taylor quickly checked her enemy's position, noting that the two of them were on a roughly parallel course with her about eight hundred feet above and another two thousand ahead. The Simurgh was slowly closing the distance between them, moving higher and narrowing the gap between them. Taylor quickly decided to hit the Simurgh again. Maybe she could slow the bitch down.
"Line it up, JARVIS!"
This time, Taylor was going to hit her for a full ten seconds. Might as well let the Simurgh know she'd been struck.
When the FIRE icon lit up, Taylor did the same thing with the Simurgh. Unfortunately, her shot was blocked after approximately five seconds by several large pieces of what used to be a building. The resulting explosions of dust as the concrete and steel were pulverized temporarily obscured the Simurgh's shape. It was then that Taylor found out how a golf ball felt when it was hit by a driver as she was pounded from beneath by another strike.
This time her force field didn't completely short out, but it was stuttering badly enough that Taylor went ahead and rotated the next one into place. That is, she did so once her world finally stopped spinning. Which was a good thing, as three seconds later she was just clipped by another blast of telekinetic force that knocked her off course, although this time she was at least able to avoid tumbling.
Taylor had just managed to get herself lined back up more or less on her former course, when she heard a familiar voice over her communications net. "Iron Man, Tattletale here. Listen to me! Don't fire again! The Simurgh can't see you!"
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
"What the hell is going on?" Legend shouted his question, his voice thundering through Operations. He had just returned from a quick search for Alexandria when he'd stumbled into utter chaos. There were all kinds of rumors floating around, apparently driven by some comm chatter from one of the later waves who'd seen something odd happening.
Legend couldn't make heads or tails from either the chatter or the rumors, so he'd come to Operations to try to figure things out. Only to find that things there weren't much better, as a dozen people spoke at once, all trying to get more information.
Then he spotted a familiar figure and immediately headed that way. "Chevalier! Report!"
There was a look of relief the part of the man's face Legend could see as he said, "Legend. Good to see you. Look, the only thing we've been able to figure out so far is that the Simurgh is moving. Fast. Apparently in pursuit of a cape."
The Simurgh was doing what? The behavior was so atypical that for a few seconds, Legend's brain simply couldn't process the information. Finally, he ground out, "What cape?"
Chevalier glanced at a notepad he was holding. "Some new cape called Iron Man. I don't know the whys, though."
"I have more information."
The quiet voice from behind both men made them turn around to regard its source. A female cape wearing a form fitting blue costume covered with a series of what appeared to be white clock hands pointing just shy of straight up met their gazes. Eleventh Hour continued once she appeared certain of their undivided attention, "I just finished communicating with Alexandria. She has conferred with the capes on the scene who were direct witnesses to the events that occurred. They said that this Iron Man struck the Simurgh directly with two powerful beams from directed energy weapons, likely particle cannons. They damaged her, although no one knows how badly. Another beam struck the device which she was working on, destroying it."
Hiding a sense of relief over the news of Alexandria's safety as well as the destruction of the Simurgh's device, Legend immediately questioned the validity of the data. "We've never managed to hit her so easily. How was this new cape able to? Does he have some kind of predictive software that somehow defeated her precognition? Or possibly a native ability along with his Tinker skills?"
Chevalier chipped in, "I checked Iron Man in when he arrived. His armor was cutting edge. Armsmaster alerted Dragon that the armor's energy outputs were over thirty gigawatts. It sounds like enough to hurt the Simurgh, but not to draw this kind of reaction. Certainly he shouldn't be able to destroy or even seriously threaten her."
"Do we have communications with Iron Man?"
Chevalier stated, "Unfortunately, he is not currently responding to attempts to communicate. Also, when I tried to ping the limpet I attached to him earlier to get his location, I couldn't locate it on the network. So it must be malfunctioning."
Eleventh Hour said, "I can't comment on the why's, so instead, I'll just tell you the facts. Fact one: Iron Man somehow managed to directly hit the Simurgh, apparently defeating her precognition. Fact two: The Simurgh reacted atypically by pursuing Iron Man, suggesting some emotional reaction. Possible a feeling of being threatened. Fact three: We have a cape that is being pursued by possibly the most dangerous Endbringer in existence. What I would suggest is that we get him some back up."
Legend grunted his agreement. He immediately started towards the exit. As soon as he cleared Ops, he lifted off, while speaking on his communicator. "Eidolon. Legend here. I am leaving in pursuit of the Simurgh. Follow with Alexandria as soon as you can. Legend out."
Once he heard the affirmative response, Legend turned to light and sped quickly towards the east.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Tattletale watched the monitor, striving to glean information of the Endbringer pictured there as Taylor slowly approached it. She pushed her ability harder as Taylor zoomed the screen in for a closer view of the Simurgh. Finally, Tattletale began to glean some things.
She noted the cuts and abrasions covering the Simurgh's torso from which a sluggish fluid bled.
Steady blood flow from small wounds, asynchronous movement; has blood but no comprehensive cardiac system
Tattletale also noticed that there was no obvious difference between how the cuts and tears were spaced. No attempt to shield any part of her anatomy, not even her head.
No cardiac system; mouth, nose, and ears nonfunctional; nonstandard nervous system.
Simurgh, nonstandard cardiac, nervous systems; irregular biology. No standard organs or weak points. No brain, heart or center of operations for rest of her body.
Irregular biology, no vulnerable organs: body divided into layers, extending down to hyperdurable core body, each layer down is slightly more than twice as durable as previous. Exterior skin is hard as aluminum alloy, but flexible, lets her move. 3% deeper in toward core of arms, legs, wings, or .5% in toward core of head, trunk, neck, tissues are hard as steel. 6% in toward core of extremities or 1% toward core of main body/head, tissues strong as tungsten. 9% toward core of extremities, 1.5% toward core of main body, head, tissues strong as bor-
Tattletale managed to reign herself in, not wasting more time on superfluous information. She briefly surveyed the rest of the Simurgh to see if there was any other information to be gleaned.
Feathers, superhardened crystalline material, can scratch diamond; surface surpasses nanocrystalline diamond aggregates in hardness.
All very interesting, but nothing there that would help Taylor. Then Tattletale saw how the Simurgh reacted to Taylor as she approached. Or rather, didn't react at all, completely ignoring her.
Based upon her own knowledge of Taylor's weapons, Tattletale didn't believe that she could seriously injure the Simurgh. At least, not as configured. Still, that amount of sheer confidence was surprising. And not in line with previous data on the Simurgh.
Then Taylor fired and hit the Simurgh, utterly destroying the Tinker device she was creating. Tattletale nearly screamed from the release of tension as something was finally happening. Half a minute passed without event. Then the dust began to clear and Tattletale could see how the Simurgh's attention was completely on Taylor.
It wasn't just her ability that made her yell at Taylor to run. Instead, it was some visceral sense in her hindbrain, likely left over from some reptilian ancestor. It read a predator and somehow knew that what it was going to do.
The running battle that continued over the next few minutes was terrifying. Not that Taylor appeared afraid, hitting the Simurgh twice more, although each time she drew a savage response, that left her and the view on the monitor spinning madly.
Tattletale was close. If she could just-
Simurgh holds back in battle; fights just strong enough to cause damage and a certain number of cape deaths; in reality, much more powerful telekinetic ability.
She shivered, but couldn't stop her analysis. That's when it hit Tattletale. The Simurgh-
No standard vision; eyes are nonfunctional. Use of alternate form of vision to perceive surroundings
Cannot see Taylor, responds to her attack on same vector, extrapolated for distance, roughly five second lag involved. Overall pursuit based upon reading intensity and direction of wake created by supersonic flight; same five second lag involved
It was then that she called Taylor. "Iron Man, Tattletale here. Listen to me! Don't fire again! The Simurgh can't see you!"
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
"What the fuck just happened?"
Adamant heard Feral's shouted question as he squinted through eyes tearing from the sudden glare. Bright afterimages danced in his vision as he blinked away tears.
The blast had been both deafening and bright enough to blind the unprotected. A combination of the force field drone and the Simurgh's own debris field had kept his group alive and functioning. There had been several hits against the drone's force field from pieces of that same debris field. Adamant thought those had been caused by the brilliant explosion rather than the Simurgh herself attacking.
Around him, his temporary teammates seemed to be in roughly the same boat as himself, all except Faust, whose oversized goggles seemed to have worked the best to cut the glare. Even as Adamant watched, Faust finished conjuring a fourth red flying demon, before sending them up and around the force field, then forward into battle.
Unfortunately, none of them got to see if Faust's demons would affect the Simurgh, as she suddenly took off in pursuit of Iron Man, who was heading out like a bush bash on steroids. "Where the hell are they going?" Faust asked, his tone showing utter bewilderment.
Fighting a sense of relief to still be alive when he'd been ready to die, Adamant shook his head. "I don't know. But the Simurgh appears to be chasing Iron Man. We need to let someone in Operations know what's going on."
"He's just running! The fucking coward!"
Adamant turned and pinned Majestic with a cold stare. "And what the fuck would you be doing if that crazy Sheila was chasing you? Yeah, that's what I thought." He pressed the button on his armor's arm, saying, "I need to speak to someone in Operations. It's urgent!"
They all heard the voice that came from behind them. "I'll communicate with Operations, just as soon as one of you tells me exactly what happened."
Adamant spun around in mid air, almost losing control of his armor when he saw who was speaking. Floating in front of him in her trademark black costume and cape, was Alexandria, one of the Triumvirate, looking she'd come a gutser. He managed to stammer out, "We're G Wave. We split up to attack the Simurgh with all of us here, while our last teammate, Iron Man, hit her from the other side. The plan was for Iron Man to hit her first, then the rest of us were going to do the same. We were to focus on destroying her Tinker device, while he engaged her directly."
Alexandria's mouth sat in a stern line as she listened. "I take it things didn't go as planned?"
"Iron Man shot her... actually, he blew the hell out of her. I think the Tinker device exploded from his attack as well. As soon as the air cleared, we went to attack, but the Simurgh was already leaving."
Alexandria's brow furrowed. "Leaving? Where was she going?"
"She was chasing Iron Man." Feral finally spoke, her apparent awe of running into Alexandria finally fading.
"What? The Simurgh is chasing a cape? Are you certain about what you saw?" Alexandria spoke in a forceful tone, drawing an immediate response from Adamant.
Adamant nodded vigorously. "Yes. After he attacked her, she took off after him. They both disappeared heading east."
"All right. I'll handle it from here." With that, Alexandria sped off towards their base camp.
Adamant stared off at the departing Alexandria, when the force field drone which had so adroitly shielded them, suddenly took off in the same direction as Iron Man and the Simurgh.
A few seconds later, Feral headed off after the drone. Adamant tapped his communicator to address her. "Feral, where are you going?"
"I'm going after them. Iron Man's going to have his hands full with the Simurgh. He's going to need our help."
Adamant floated in place for just a moment, thinking, before he decided to follow as well. "Wait for me." Turning to the rest of their wave, he said, "Feral and I are going after Iron Man and the Simurgh. Anyone who wants to help, follow me."
He immediately took off, not waiting to see if anyone else was joining him. Still, when he caught up to where Feral was waiting for him, Adamant gave a quick glance behind him to see that everyone except Majestic was there. It gave him a warm feeling, one that almost overpowered the fear that still lurked inside of him. He exchanged a quick grin with a slightly deranged looking Feral.
"Okay, everyone, follow me!" Taking off as quickly as the slowest cape in their wave could fly, they all headed east in pursuit of the Simurgh.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
"Tattletale, what do you mean by the Simurgh not being able to see me?" Taylor's voice was tense as she spoke. She had just passed the edge of the coast and was now out over the ocean, still heading east at max speed.
Over her internal speakers, Taylor listened to Trish's quick explanation. The gist of it was that the Simurgh didn't have eyes, and whatever sense she was using to track Taylor couldn't see her. Instead, she was responding to where she was shooting from. Apparently, she was able to track Taylor somewhat, likely from the disturbance that her supersonic flight created in the air. But only when she fired was the Simurgh able to pinpoint her location precisely enough to respond.
It was a huge tactical advantage, as was something else that her friend had just said. Her voice full of excitement, Taylor requested, "Tattletale, please confirm that five second lag."
"Five second lag confirmed, Iron Man. Keep your shots shorter than five seconds, and she'll have a hard time tracking you."
"Roger. Iron Man ou-."
"Wait. One more thing. I think the Simurgh's been holding back all this time. Not really trying in her fights against us. Parahumans, I mean. She was always capable of much more. That's what she's using against you, Iron Man. You need to avoid taking any more hits. She can destroy you. Pleas-"
Taylor interrupted her. "Understood. Iron Man out."
Taylor wondered if the same thing that made her unreadable by Trish was also protecting her from the Simurgh. It was quite a reach to come to that conclusion. Deciding to get a second opinion, Taylor said, "JARVIS, can you confirm Tattletale's theories?"
"Miss, all of the facts so far fit Tattletale's first theory. However, may I point out that we have insufficient information to be certain. I would suggest you go through a series of course changes as an experiment. As regards her second theory, the force of the Simurgh's attacks seem to suggest that the intensity of her attacks is greater than any she has been recorded using before."
Taylor muttered, "Great. Yay me." If the Simurgh was holding back against Parahumans, keeping so much of her ability in reserve for her own reasons, that was definitely a problem. The information needed to be disseminated.
JARVIS' voice was extremely dry as he said, "I would suggest you not get hit again, Miss."
Rolling her eyes, Taylor said, "Thanks, JARVIS."
Now to the test Tattletale's first theory. Taylor immediately rolled over in a fast turn to the south, simultaneously climbing another three thousand feet. Watching her rear on a split screen view over her HUD, she was rewarded by the appearance of the Simurgh following her movement approximately five seconds later.
Taylor repeated the experiment another half dozen times before heading back to her eastern course. Tattletale was right, she decided. "JARVIS, did you see that? The Simurgh really can't see me."
"It appears so, Miss. With the lag before she matches your course changes, you can now outdistance her and get clear."
For just a moment, Taylor considered doing just that. But what was to prevent the Simurgh from returning and continuing her own attack? Taylor couldn't see anything that would stop her. On the other hand, a few more of those ridiculously powerful attacks and she'd be toast.
Still, Taylor couldn't leave her teammates in the lurch, temporary though they'd been. So, no to retreat. Instead, she quipped, "You want me to run away? Hell no, JARVIS. I'm going on the attack. I want you to plan a series of three second bursts. Use maximum power from the capacitor network and channel it through both the particle cannons and my hand repulsors. I want to hit her as hard as possible for as long as I can get away with."
JARVIS' tone was sharp as he responded, "Miss, using the hand repulsor will cause a reduction in velocity of approximately twenty-eight percent for the duration of the firing. I believe it is unwise to allow the Simurgh to close any quicker."
"JARVIS, you big scaredy-cat, it'll be fine."
JARVIS' tone had gone from dry to actually sarcastic as he said, "Yes, I believe that's what General Custer said at Little Big Horn. Famous last words. If I might make one suggestion. If the Simurgh is tracking you primarily through your attacks, I believe it would behoove you to make immediate course changes each time you fire so as to throw off any response."
Taylor silently whistled. Okay, she should have thought of that. It made complete sense to her memories. It also highlighted the difference between having the memories of combat and actually having experienced combat on a personal level.
Appreciation colored her tone as she said, "Good suggestion. Along those lines, let's set an attack cycle of every ten seconds. That should give me time to clear her response envelope. Thanks, JARVIS."
"You're quite welcome, Miss. I will have your firing solution prepared in a moment."
Taylor waited until the firing icon was lit up on her HUD, then launched her attack. As soon as the three seconds passed, she spun off in a random direction, this time heading down and north. With her current speed, Taylor traveled more than thirty-five hundred feet before the Simurgh could plan any response.
Then she fired again and again, each time taking off on a new heading. After a two dozen attacks with all four weapons, Taylor said, "Enough, JARVIS. Let's evaluate."
With that, Taylor headed north. Silently, she congratulated herself on an effective tactic. Now to see the results of the attack. Magnifying the view through her HUD, Taylor was disappointed by the lack of any real damage to the Simurgh. Although literally dozens of craters peppered her torso and her wings were battered and blackened, the Simurgh appeared relatively undamaged. Certainly, Taylor's attack hadn't slowed her down any.
Taylor was getting ready for another attack when she was again hammered aside by overwhelming force. Spinning end over end in the same direction she'd been flying, it took several seconds for Taylor to right herself and continue on. It also cost her yet another force field. Suddenly having six force fields didn't seem that redundant.
"JARVIS, what happened? How did the Simurgh hit me?"
"Miss, it appears that the Simurgh is no longer content to respond to your attacks. I would surmise that she is extrapolating your movements through your wake as Tattletale suggested. I would-"
Whatever JARVIS had been about to say was lost as Taylor was hammered yet again. The sea and sky exchanged place dozens of times over her HUD as she spun from the hit. Frantically, Taylor tried to right herself. Finally, she started to make progress. By the time Taylor was flying straight and true, she lost nearly two thousand feet of altitude and the Simurgh had closed to within five hundred yards.
Taylor could taste blood where she'd bitten her tongue. She shook her head trying to throw off the ringing in her ears. Every inch of her body hurt from being battered, even within her armor with its powerful inertial dampeners. That spoke of just how hard she'd been hit.
Worse, there were two orange lights blinking on her HUD. Before she viewed the damage, Taylor took evasive action, zigzagging as randomly as possible to prevent another successful hit. Setting up a four second timer on her HUD, she made a course change every time it flashed. After five of those without another strike, Taylor began to relax.
Now to check the damage, she thought. The first light was minor, a blown relay in her capacitor system. Secondary circuits would take over its task. Taylor quickly shut it off, then dismissed the damage light. The second was far more serious. She'd lost another force field, its power relays fried by the last hit.
That left her with only one set of fully functional force fields and the one damaged force field. Not good. Not good at all.
"JARVIS, I've got a problem."
"I noticed, Miss. Might I suggest you begin to disengage before something else happens?"
Taylor bit back a pithy response. "Fine. I-"
Just then, a rattling began in her armor. Taylor struggled to maintain a straight line of flight. When she changed direction, it was all she could do not to start tumbling. As the vibration grew worse, another orange light blinked into place on her HUD. Taylor snarled, "Now what?"
JARVIS quickly responded. "Miss, there is damage to the right boot repulsor. I am reducing thrust to the left to compensate."
Slowly, the vibration grew smaller, although it was still present. Taylor also noted that her speed had reduced itself to well under Mach three. "JARVIS, is the boot repulsor repairable?"
"I'm sorry, Miss, but not in the field. We need the laboratory's manufacturing facility for this repair. I am sure that you have already noted your reduction in speed. Even with the lag that the Simurgh is experiencing in adapting to your course changes, you can no longer outrun her. I fear that you are going to have to come up with another plan to evade her."
Taylor continued on, making course corrections almost automatically, the Simurgh slowly closing the distance between them. She'd turned around and was now flying west, back towards Australia. Back towards her drones. The seed of an idea slowly germinated in her mind. Suddenly, Taylor asked, "JARVIS, how close are you and the drones from me?"
"Miss, we are currently at two hundred and forty kilometers and closing. We'll intersect you in approximately four minutes and twenty-eight seconds at the current rate of closure. I need to point out that the Simurgh will be less than two hundred meters away when we arrive."
"Yeah, I noticed. Bring the drones into point blank contact range when you can. However, I want you to maintain at least a one point six kilometer distance between your server and the Simurgh, understood?" The last thing Taylor wanted to do was risk JARVIS. She'd need him later for her plan to work.
"Understood, Miss. What is your plan?"
Taylor grew contemplative for just a moment before a frown furrowed her brow. After all, not even Tony Stark had managed to destroy his first suit of armor on its first deployment. She wasn't sure if that was a record she wanted to hold.
"Miss?" JARVIS' voice prompted her to action.
Suppressing a sigh of exasperation, Taylor ordered, "JARVIS, be prepared to execute Plan Götterdämmerung."
JARVIS' voice lacked any vestige of irony as he said, "Please confirm that, Miss Hebert."
"Confirm Plan Götterdämmerung . Execute on my mark."
Just as Taylor was about to speak again, she was struck by a wave of telekinetic force so intense it crushed her last set of fully functioning shields. As the world spun around her, something in her armor shorted, and the burning scent of plastic insulation filled her nostrils.
Taylor was just starting to right herself, when another hammer struck her, blowing out her last partial force field and striking the left side of her armor. Agonizing pain struck her. For just a moment, seductive blackness beckoned, but Taylor fought it off. It was then that a horrific sound assaulted her ears, like a thin, high scream that never stopped.
The world outside is tinted red, Taylor thought hysterically, then realized it was just a thin coating of blood over her HUD, likely from a bloody nose. With that damn sound tearing at her mind, she could barely think. Sluggishly, she tried to right her armor, wincing at the pain of what felt like broken ribs. Then again, she'd know how that felt, remembering a time that had happened a few years ago.
As she struggled with the pain, Taylor suddenly realized that her repulsors weren't responding. Nothing was responding. Then her HUD went black. As the Simurgh's Scream echoed in her head, Taylor, in a dead suit of armor, tumbled towards the water, eight thousand feet below.
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
Australian slang:
Come a gutser: make a bad mistake, have an accident
Bush bash: long competitive motorcar race through the bush
~~~Memories of Iron~~~
AN: Sorry for the cliffie, but I ran out of juice, so decided to stop here. Next time: Agonizing death (joking).
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