Roxy didn't even pause to allow my brother to speak. As soon as Belle had teleported her into our home area, she sprung forward. Even without knowing the full story, a glance at the state of the area would be enough to set the volcano off.

I had a broken arm. Our house was half blown up. The fates of Clara and Warlock unknown. What was supposed to be the most sacred and safe space in the world for us was under attack. This anger was valid. Unbridled.

Chevalier lifted his arms to defend himself, but even as a walking tank, the collision set him several feet backwards. Roxy grappled him, her body bursting into flame as her forearms turned to lava.

"What a surprise," the knight growled. His metal joints shuddered and groaned as the super forced his limbs apart. "I'd hoped to kill all of you together, but you're the biggest fish."

Roxy didn't even acknowledge him. The ground beneath their feet cracked from the pressure, the air around her wavering as she super-heated the area. It looked as though she planned to tear his arms off. It was only thanks to his dense power armor he wasn't currently two dozen charred chunks of super soldier.

Rather than succumb to her attack, Chevalier seemed rather calm. As his suit strained against her strength, several ports opened up in his armor alongside the edges of his chest. A cloud of green-tinted gas sprayed out, enveloping the super. She was close enough that she wouldn't have been able to avoid taking at least one inadvertent breath of it.

Still, one of my pouches had something to negate poisons, if I could...

The flames around her flickered and diminished. She stumbled backward, releasing her grip. Lava powers faded away as she coughed. As Chevalier went to strike her, I hit him with a Triple Foam shot across his chest and shoulders.

It was enough to clog up the vents expelling the gas, as well as heavily restricting his movement. The punch aimed at the super became more of a weak push. Even so, she staggered even further away from him.

"All you can do is delay," he said. "Time is working against you."

Roxy may have teleported here with the last of Belle's strength, but the Captain could be here in seconds… unless they were staying to protect Kingston. I could imagine Roxy convincing them that she alone would be enough to quell any problems back home. With our communications being restricted here, we had no way of telling the others we could use a hand.

Maybe a tactical nuke.

"Asshole," Roxy seethed as she tried to find her footing. "What did you… why am I…?"

Chevalier chuckled. Flexed his arms together to split the chunks of solid foam away from his chest. "An anti-super bullet is one thing, but rather basic. Ground finely enough, it wasn't difficult to create an aerosolized version. Something that lingers."

One breath had been enough for her to inhale some of the powdered metal. It now drained her superpowers and couldn't be so easily removed.

I hit Chevalier with an Incendiary shell, igniting the grease I had fired on him earlier. Flame washed over his helmet and down his back, but he didn't even react.

"To think it would be this easy," the knight continued. "All the years the Government wrung their hands together. They just needed little old me. Some action."

Roxy growled and launched herself toward him. Right fist cocked, she punched forward, striking his chest with a clang. He didn't flinch. With a punch of his own, a hefty uppercut knocked the confused super into the air, and she rolled across the ground to stop beside me.

"Your family fucking sucks," she snarled, before spitting blood onto the dry ground.

[Imagine my knack for not dying, plus an unchallenged ego that thrived on combat superiority.]

Roxy just gave me a dull glare, her eyes devoid of the usual flame behind them. Seeing them so bland and normal caused my stomach to turn. In a game of rock-paper-scissors, she was supposed to be the larger rock that could turn Chevalier into small enough chunks for my shears to split. Now we were both paper thin.

"Fitting that you both die together." The knight shrugged. "Or something. I don't put much stock in sentimental garbage like that. It was enough that I ended my brother, so any super along the way was just a bonus. You need to have hobbies in life, right?"

"Holy shit, he talks so much," Roxy complained. She pushed herself up and rolled her neck. "Here I thought I was obnoxious."

[Bragging does imply a lack of self-confidence. He must be insecure if doing the job efficiently is not enough for him to be content.]

While I couldn't see Chevalier's facial expression, I was sure I could hear him grinding his teeth. My memories of him were still hazy, but there were enough numbers for me to paint and imagine the fuller picture. He was the type to talk loudly and wield a big stick. To revel in violence and to succeed over those he deemed weaker. His knightly name missed the mark, as he was more like a cruel brigand. A bandit king.

"Enough chatter," he said. "Now you die."

This man had killed superheroes before. It was what we were created to do, of course. His thick armor and variety of gadgets were evidence of his experience and bloodstained knowledge. My main offensive power was shoot gun, and Roxy was now neutered to an unknown degree. If the deck was stacked against us any heavier, I'd wake up with the imprint of a queen on my face.

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Oh, I should try to work that line in once Roxy was less occupied. I still had it.

Chevalier burst forward, blowing up clouds of dust from his position. Roxy dodged to the side, blocking the first attack with both forearms. As she slid across the gravel, I came in and grabbed the knight's arm to stop his follow-up.

My metal fingers scraped against plating, slowing him enough to the point that the super could avoid his delayed attack. Chevalier turned his attention back to me, swinging around with his other fist. Smoke shot hit his arm as I let go and rolled away. I knew he could see me through the dense fog, but it was enough of a distraction to avoid having my head caved in.

Roxy roared and distracted him again. I loaded up a Triple shot of Grease shells. My lens struggled to pick up his outline as my tech flickered with white lines. There was a dull thud followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the Meteor. Sounded just like mine had.

I fired, adding some literal fuel to the fire. Chevalier lit up like a bonfire, flames illuminating him within the gray smoke. With a hiss—just like in the Arena—he blew away the surrounding cloud, dissipating it to reveal himself fully. While the flames flickered, he remained alight. The glowing red visor in his helmet turned to look at me.

"Fool. I am essentially fireproof. You achieved nothing."

[When will you learn?]

"When will you die?" In addition to his question, he stapled on an addendum in the form of a heavy boot to my torso.

Again, my rib cage shuddered, almost buckling under the force as I was sent away. I rolled from the gravel and onto the soft gravel of our garden. Charred sections of wood lay beside me, as fire ate away at the remnants of the house behind me.

I tried to rack my brain for the list of experimental shells I had read through only earlier today. Felt like weeks ago, and with a totally different brain. Clara hadn't even loaded the most war-crime worthy ones into the loader mechanism, but most of those wouldn't be useful against this walking chunk of metal. If it hadn't been for that mission yesterday, I would have had a handful of anti-tank shells at the ready. There was something to be said about saving consumables for the sequel after all.

My synapses burned, but I ignored the pain. It was just one of many things currently on fire. A fitting end for one who had been avoiding the sins of his past for far too long. I wasn't ready for hell just yet, though. Not without a fight. Triple shot loaded awkwardly.

While Chevalier gloated over the kick that had sent me flying, Roxy jumped up onto his back. The grease fire enveloping him wrapped around her own body. The knight grunted and tried to shake her off, but his plated arms didn't have the dexterity to reach back and grab her.

There was an odd juxtaposition in seeing the large, muscled woman cling to him like a child might to its parent. Worse, considering the wounds I'd never seen on her before. Blood ran from the side of her head. Her teeth were clenched as she held on with all her remaining might. Without her powers, the flames burned on her skin.

Chevalier gave up trying to oust her that way. "This isn't my first rodeo."

He hunched forward slightly. Metal spikes snapped out of his back, several of them piercing through Roxy. One through her left thigh, another through her right arm. I couldn't see the others, but the blood running in between the flames eating away at her body told me there were several more.

The fact that she was still clutched to the knight was a surprise for both of us. She didn't even express any pain. A focused expression darkened her pained face as she bled and burned.

Even knowing her pretty well, I had no idea what she was going for. But she wasn't the sort to do things for no reason. I trusted the process and raised my arm to buy her time.

Foam shot after Foam shot. After the third one bloomed around his elbow, Chevalier turned to me and glared. It was nothing but an annoyance. He could break the expanded material with a strained flex, but I could hit him with another at the exact same pace. The super was nothing but a human cape at this point, but her constant presence was trying the knight's patience.

"I should have realized you'd turn this into a song and dance, Bard," he growled.

[On the contrary, we are just meeting you at your level.]

His right arm shook with anger. No doubt about to produce another gadget or missile to stop my mouth from speaking. Figuratively. Or that might have been the case, but I struck his arm with a Triple shot of Foam. My synapses were constantly screaming in my ears, but I ignored it. This was… almost amusing, in a twisted way.

Sure, Clara could be dead. Roxy was weak and injured. One overexertion too many and I'd pass out. Chevalier was getting close to either exploding in rage or teleporting away to try again in a round three. Things were direr than they'd ever been. The knight hadn't taken us seriously enough, thinking he could rip and tear us to pieces with his bare plated hands. Now we were making a mockery of his overconfidence.

We remained in this stalemate for what felt like an hour, but it was probably barely a minute. Every time he stepped toward me, I stepped back and slowed his advance. Any time he reached for Roxy, I hit him with a Triple, draining my energy. Perhaps he was willing to wait this out and just endure until the super and I keeled over from exhaustion. We certainly weren't gaining any ground in expelling him from our home.

That was until several things all happened at once.

To start with, my gun-arm failed to load another Foam shell. I had used up the remaining stockpile. With Roxy so close, I didn't know if it was safe for me to bring out anything more destructive. Not in her current state. Before I could make a decision, the second thing popped into my mind.

A message in my lens.

//I've hacked the system and reversed polarity, Gunquake. //We only have restricted local one-way comms on this emergency network. //But Chevalier is now unable to teleport away. //Destroy him for me. That is an order.

Clara must have made it to the basement in time. Any relief that washed through me was quickly replaced by concern as the third act of this event played out.

Roxy pushed herself off the back of Chevalier and stumbled back away. Her skin and super suit were dark from burning, and blood soaked through most of her front. It wasn't this damage that held my attention, however.

She gasped, hands on knees as she hunched over. With a deep retching sound, she then coughed and choked. Flickering lava left her mouth and pooled out onto the ground like viscous vomit as she continued to hack and heave.

Chevalier took a step back so that he could get an angle to watch both of us. I could tell that he had just realized his electronics were compromised as well. It was the only reason he hadn't taken the opportunity to crack Roxy's head open like a watermelon.

"A momentary abatement, but leaving isn't a priority," he hissed. "I will break you both and find that little runt and tear her fucking arms off."

Roxy stood up straight and coughed out one last mouthful of dust. She tilted her head from side to side, clicking her neck.

"That's where you're wrong, motherfucker." The super got into a fighting stance.

I lifted my left arm. Focusing my magical energy into healing it had been difficult and exhausting. Hairline fractures remained. The awkward standoff had given me the opportunity to make it functional again without being distracted by my imminent demise. I pulled my knife from its sheath and racked the chamber on my gun-arm.

Roxy grinned, and I would have done the same, now knowing what she had done.

Her eyes glowed with fire as her forearms ran with fresh lava once more.

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