Brockton Bay's Marvelous Mage - Chapter 103

Despite my sudden revelation of what my new strategy was going to be, there wasn't much of a change in the moment. I wrote down a few topics I could consider investing in to help with my new plan of building an Endbringer-killing army, but I intended to let the plan settle a little in my mind for a while. I had another day to think on it, after all, and since the angle of my approach had shifted so much, I would use every second.

Time passed, and eventually the group sat down to have dinner, the sun beginning to descend. As Olivia and I ate, Smokey, Piper, and the other team of guardians made their way back to base, where we discussed our overarching plan.

The goal of the two guardian teams was a rapid strike, where they would take down any thugs present and destroy anything that was used to help the Empire. When they were done, they would teleport away before they could get caught up in reinforcements. Goons and thugs weren't really a concern for them, but I was worried that if too many capes showed up, they might be overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, we would be pushing deeper into Empire territory in the hopes that we could catch Hookwolf from the rest of his friends, making him much easier to take down.

About ten minutes into our conversation, we hit a rather large stumbling block. We had no idea what we would do about all of the poor dogs that the Nazi bastards had been abusing. While we were hoping to catch Hookwolf, we were not prepared to take on the whole Empire at once, which meant we didn't have a whole lot of time before we needed to leave the place behind. We could trash the facilities, but I couldn't burn the place down with the dogs still inside. On top of that, we couldn't just release them, since not only would they end up in the streets, suffering and causing more problems down the road, but plenty of them, most of them in fact, would likely be too dangerous for the public. 

Dogs bred and trained to fight in such a horrific way were often impossible to reintegrate into society cleanly. Those that could be required intense work and resources that were not available around here, not the least of which was a facility to hold them all. 

That was when we received a rather welcome surprise.

"Let Kali take care of them." 

Alya, Olivia, and I both whipped around to see Kali, inhabiting her golem form, standing by the lounge. For a moment, I thought maybe we had misheard, before she continued talking. 

"Kali will take them into the forest and keep them safe, teach them, and guide them away from humans until they are ready," she said, her voice soft and quiet. 

"Kali! You can talk!" I said happily, standing up to hug her, feeling her weight pulling up to surround me, even as I held her golem form. "Congratulations, this is an amazing step!"

"Thank you, William-Father," she said softly, raising her arms up to hug me in return. "Kali must admit, Kali could talk for a few days now, Kali just… did not wish to." 

"That's absolutely fine, Kali," I said, pulling back lightly and patting her shoulder. "You don't have to push yourself to do anything. But it is good to hear your voice."

"Are you sure you can take care of them, Kali?" Alya asked, tilting her head as she watched from her seat. "There were around twenty dogs there."

"I am sure, Alya-Sister," She confirmed, before looking at me. "As long as William-Father can assist Kali with feeding them, Kali will watch over them." 

"I… could probably make some sort of plant with enough proteins… I would have to do some research on what dogs need… maybe get some fruit and vegetable samples…" I said, scratching my cheek, nodding in agreement. "I could handle it. In the meantime, the ring itself should have food, so we can steal that. Shouldn't take me more than a few days to figure everything out, so it should be fine."

"Thank you, William-Father," Kali said with a nod and a smile. "For trusting Kali."

"Of course I trust you, Kali,"  I said, returning her smile. "Just because you haven't been able to talk doesn't mean you haven't been earning my trust. You've been around here, helping out with rituals and the garden, keeping everything clean and fresh, all while keeping the wards tuned and in place."

I could feel her rising happiness, several bunches of flowers blooming around us as she smiled widely. I invited her to sit with us as we talked, and she happily sat next to me, listening to the conversation but mostly keeping to herself. With a solution to our canine conundrum, the planning continued to progress until each team had a solid outline. Such detailed planning was only possible due to Alya's presence and detailed descriptions of each building.

As we finished the planning, Olivia looked over at Kali with a teasing smile. 

"So, Father, hmm?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What's that about?" 

Unfortunately for her, her question, which was clearly aimed at teasing us, washed over us easily. I had no issue with Kali calling me her father, if that's what she wanted, and she clearly did.

"Kali was created in part by William-Father's blood," She explained. "What else would Kali be than his daughter, Olivia-Friend?" 

"Like how you used my blood in my cloak and boots?" Olivia asked after a slight pause, looking down at her partially revealed costume. "These aren't going to start talking to me, are they?" 

"No, they won't, and no, it's not," I explained, shaking my head. "I permanently sacrificed a small part of my blood to the ritual I used to make her.  It gave her a decent-sized boost and helped give her a more relatable, human connection. Of course, I'm down around three hundred millilitres of blood permanently, meaning one, I can't do it again, and two, if I start bleeding, it's not going to take much until I start feeling the effects."

"What?!" Olivia asked, her eyes wide. "So it just doesn't come back? Has the blood I gave you-"

"The blood you gave me was used very differently," I assured her. "I gave mine up as a way to send a ritual several magnitudes higher than I normally would have been able to, especially considering how long ago I performed the ritual. Yours was just used as a link to tie you to the items I made for you." 

"Right… still sounds kind of rough," She said, before her eyes suddenly turned slightly, and she turned quickly to Kali. "Not that I'm not glad you're here, Kali." 

"It is fine, Olivia-Friend," Kali responded, reaching out and patting her shoulder. "Kali understands what you meant. Kali, too, wishes that William-Father did not need to sacrifice to create Kali, though Kali enjoys being alive."

We talked for a little longer as the sun sank lower, until eventually, it was time. All three teams teleported away, the two guardian teams finding cover as close to their target as they could safely get, while I teleported my team on the roof of a building just across the street from the dog-fighting ring.

The building was a warehouse with three main sections. According to Alya, the central section, also the largest, was where the fighting ring and the stands were located. The second largest side building was where the dogs were kept, and lastly, the smallest third room was the "employee" area. Once we were settled, Alya spread out around us, giving us our first bit of good news. 

"Hookwolf is here, as is Cricket," She whispered into our ears. "There are also a lot of marked gang members, as well as a few dozen people, who I think are civilians just there to watch." 

"Dammit… I really wish we could trust the police around here to arrest these people," I said, shaking my head. "The idea that we bust into a dog fighting ring and nobody who is watching gets punished because they own the police is horrific." 

"How do we really break up the E88 if they own the cops?" Crow asked, looking over the edge of the building, just enough to peek at our target. "If they have a perpetual get out of jail free card…"

"By starving them of money, they lose the ability to bribe people," I explained with a frown. "That doesn't do much for those who believe in the ideology, but those who are crooked for cash aren't going to keep it up once the money dries up. Hopefully, that's enough to let the force recover."

"You really think that's going to work?"

"... honestly? Probably not," I admitted,  looking at her. "I gotta hope it does, but if it doesn't… we will figure something out. Maybe find the people who aren't corrupt and help them clean out the rest. But that's a problem for another day. For now, we need to focus on getting the capes off the streets. Everything else is pointless until they are gone." 

We waited a few more minutes before confirming everyone else was in place. When we were ready, we jumped into action. With Alya directing us, both Crow and I teleported to the roof of the target building, spreading out while Alya then guided the golems through the front door, smashing through them noisily. Once we heard the sound of property damage and shouting, Crow and I nodded to each other before jumping through the glass skylights of the large building. 

Each of us dropped out of sight. Crow had smashed through into the dog kennel area, where, according to Alya, Cricket was working on grabbing the night's first victims. Meanwhile, I dropped into the main room, where Hookwolf was stirring up the crowd for the night's first fight. As I fell, I aimed my staff downward, focused my magic, and yelled out. 

"ZAP!" 

One of the spell-storing crystals went dim, and my previously most powerful lighting spell slammed downward, tearing chunks out of the concrete below me until I could aim it and hit Hookwolf. The changer was already starting to transform, his focus on the golems that had just smashed through the front door. Little did he know that they were the distraction, and would be focusing on taking down the goons and thugs.

Hookwold was my target.

My powerful spell slammed into the Nazi, cutting across his legs and chest, lifting him off his feet and into the cage walls hard enough to dent them. 

The shouting and screaming echoed through the building, gunshots too, though those quickly dropped as Alya directed the golems to take anyone armed down brutally and rapidly. The civilians ran, heading towards whatever exit they could find.

I finally landed, my feet cracking into the concrete floor hard enough to send chunks skittering across the caged area. Meanwhile, Hookwolf began to get to his feet, still smoking from my opening attack. He was an older man, shirtless and greasy, wearing a metal wolf mask and torn-up jeans.

"So you're the little bitch Arcanum, huh?" He asked, his voice excited, like I had handed him the lottery. "You've got some shitty luck, you know that? The big boss told me I couldn't go hunting you down, and then you drop out of the ceiling into my lap. He can't exactly blame me for that." 

Rather than respond, I cast a low-level spark at him to test his reflexes, only for the electricity to sizzle through him. He laughed, his form, his skin rippling and stretching, before he erupted into an explosion of metal. In seconds, it formed into a whipping, spinning death trap in the shape of a wolf. The only thing that stayed the same was his eyes.

"Time to die!" the wolf shouted, its voice sounding like it was gargling razors and sawblades, its claws digging into the concrete floor as it charged. 

He was halfway across the cage when I lowered my staff, holding it with both hands like a spear. Then, as Hookwolf leaped at me, clearly expecting to shred me to bits, I shouted. 

"Lightning!" 

One of the crystals on the staff dimmed and released a spell that took nearly a minute to cast, the most powerful lighting spell I had in my arsenal. It was one I designed myself, taking inspiration from what I already knew to design something potent.

As the spell fired off, my staff kicked back as I aimed it, the energy firing off too powerful to bleed off all the recoil. Where my previous most powerful spell imitated a coiled blast of lightning, this was a lightning bolt, or at least, a minor one. The bolt of energy, diffused until it was as thick as his torso, slammed into Hookwolf and exploded, sending shards of metal in all directions, sparking off the floor and the metal cage that surrounded the fight ring. Several pieces hit me, but none of them broke through my jacket's protective barrier. 

The central mass of Hookwolf was tossed back like a punted tin can, slamming into the cage wall and punching through. The smoking form then slammed into a stack of stands behind them, hard enough to break a few benches. 

I calmly lowered my staff and made my way to the other side of the cage, jumping through the hole the now battered Nazi had made with his body. 

By all reports, Hookwolf was a potent brute and had survived everything from having buildings dropped on him to being covered in fire. Nothing had really stopped him yet, so I felt relatively comfortable starting the fight off with the big guns, rather than taking it slow like I had with his compatriots previously. 

By the time I reached the stands, the brute was starting to get to his feet again, a good chunk of his body glowing red, sizzling as it touched the plastic of the benches. I raised my staff again, the movement catching Hookwolf's attention. 

"You son of a-"

"Lightning." 

Again, a bolt of lightning erupted from my staff, slamming into the broken, partially glowing wolf. In an instant, he was slammed back into the stands again, more of the structure buckling. Another explosion of metal chunks erupted, scattering across the stands, many of them red hot. The light had barely faded when I followed it up with two more casts of ZAP and a final lightning bolt, pouring an ungodly amount of electricity into him, watching as it sparked and melted his frame. 

When I stopped, I used a blast of wind to clear the smoke, revealing the damage I had done. Hookwolf was long gone, replaced by a metallic core not much smaller than my torso, sitting at the bottom of a glowing, smoking hole punched through the stands. 

"Alya, if they are done, get one of the golems to drag Hookwolf out of this hole," I said quietly, shaking my head and climbing down the now structurally unsound seats. "How is Crow doing?"

"She has already won," Alya reported. "She managed to catch Cricket by surprise and disarm her, before wearing her down slowly."

"Great, have her drag Cricket here so I can start clearing the dogs for teleport," I said, already looking around for the exit. "We have a very short time window now, and it is already shrinking."