Triple Strength

300. Squad Leader: Wiremu

From the racket coming from the officer's quarters, something has gone wrong for Tabitha. All the slave bonds suddenly disappeared, so she got the Taskmaster first. The trouble is she is early. The gas hasn’t even started in one of the barracks.

Then, one of the rear barracks flared up as a trap was triggered. That is early, too. It looks like we are all go. I walked toward the fire at a brisk pace, getting into the Roleplay of Squad Leader to match my uniform. I could sense the panic in the barrack as people started to rush for the second exit. They almost filled that pit before that door flashed into flame, and there were no clear exits. Several rushed out the flaming door to end up in the lava pit. They weren’t thinking straight, which was the Phantasm Venom Cloud at work.

One smart trooper dove out a window. I pointed to her, “There is a fire, trooper. Sound the alarm!” I shouted, sending her to the trap there. She sprinted off.

Some got out coughing and looking around. I moved through them, talking in a caring way and helping them sit to recover. They will never get up again. I will definitely get a level in my Assassin Class from this. Maybe more than one.

Other barracks were flaring up now, and this was repeating for all of them. I rushed outside the barrack that was not triggered and yelled, “Fire! Fire! Everybody out!” There was a scramble and rush for the doors, triggering the traps.

I kept moving and ‘helping’ those I could. Of the fifty in each barrack, the traps and fire were getting 10-15. I had accounted for 30 or so, accounting for 90-100 troopers. The ones that were out were under the effect of the Phantasm Venom Cloud, and more of that was spreading across the area.

I saw a group that looked reasonably with it, “Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Get the buckets at the well! Go! Go!” and off they went to trigger that trap.

Then, there was a great crash at the gates, and the gate alarm bell started ringing, so I started rounding up troops. “Form up, you scum bags. We have an emergency at the gates. Where are your weapons?” Only about half of them escaped the fires with weapons. “Those without weapons to the armoury on the double! The rest of you form up over here.” Half of them ran off to the armoury.

It was going so well when a commanding voice said, “Squad Leader Report!” A Force Leader was marching toward me, looking very angry.

“Yes, Sir! The Barracks were attacked by assassins, Sir! These Troopers are forming up to reinforce the gate, Sir!”

“Where are the other troopers going?”

“To get weapons from the armoury, Sir.”

“Well done, Squaddie. I will take these troopers to the gate. You get to the armoury and follow with the others.”

“Yes, Sir!”

I ran toward the armoury as the Force Leader doubled-timed his troopers down my trapped road. As soon as the Force Leader was out of sight, I changed direction to ‘help’ others with the fire. Shortly thereafter, there was a massive explosion at the armoury. Those mining explosives were more potent than I had thought. That was a bit of overkill.

Then, there was a second explosion at the kennels. A second overkill. I won't have to worry about dogs.

My good luck had to end. “Report, Squaddie!” The base commander was marching toward me flanked by a Force Leader, another Squaddie and two experienced Troopers.

“Yes, Sir! Assassins attacked the barracks, Sir!”

“Yes, we are hunting the assassin. I don’t recognise you. What is the daily watchword.”

“Yes, Sir!” and then I flicked a Lava dart at him and drew the sword that came with the uniform. “You found him, Sir!” I finished as I charged.

The Commander was only nicked by the dart, and the troopers tried to flank me as I fainted at the commander and engaged the squaddie next to him. I sliced him enough to make him withdraw, and I had to duck out of range and fight a retreat. The remaining four were good.

I threw a Phantasm Dart at a heavy trooper, and he just took it in the shoulder, thinking it wasn’t going to harm him. That suited me because he became sloppier in his fighting. This was a losing battle, so I shook things up with a massive Granite Quake. In a Granite Quarry, all my Granite Skills seem easier.

The Commander and the Force Leader lost their footing, but the Troopers covered for them, and I couldn’t get a killing blow in. What did work was stacking Hunters Mark on the trooper with the dart in him and pulling hard to slow him down momentarily. I got a good cut in before the second Trooper bashed me from behind. The two troopers were better fighters than the officers. The Trooper didn’t have a shield for the manoeuvre, so it wasn’t as effective as usual. He was surprised I only moved a few steps before elbowing him in the face. I am a lot heavier than I look.

It gave enough time for the Commander and the Force Leader to get back into the fight, and the trooper must have activated a self-heal skill as the blood stopped flowing very quickly. I blasted them with super-heated Granite Sand and gave the Trooper something that he would not self-heal from using my Power Strike. I got a stab into the Force Leader as well before they recovered, but it wasn’t fatal, and the bleeding stopped quickly. I had Imbued Venom in that, so that should reduce his healing.

The Squaddie was returning to the fight, so I was now facing four with two wounded. The moon went behind a cloud, and the flickering fires were the main light. I had been manoeuvring around as I was pushed back. I blocked a strike, twisted away and turned it into a kick against the Force Leader. I used Power Strike in the kick, and it took him in the chest, staggering him back into one of my lava pits. Try self-healing flaming and melting legs.

Now, there were three. Suddenly, the commander’s neck started spraying blood everywhere, and the Trooper was held in shadows. I slammed Granite Spikes through the Trooper's feet as I stabbed the squaddie in the heart. When I turned back, the Trooper was dead with a Blacksteel Knife in the brain.

I nodded to the shadow that was Tabitha as she pulled her knife out and wiped it on his shirt. “Thanks. I am done here. How is the gate going?”

“I don’t know. I have been hunting down officers. There are still a couple around.”

“I will head to the gate. There is at least one Force Leader there.”

“You had better lose the Uniform, Ruku’s Sonar won’t distinguish beyond the surface.”

“Good point,” then I got a better look at Tabitha, “Wait, are you fighting naked?”

She disappeared into shadow, and I heard, “Just following your example,” as she moved off.

What the…? I really want to hear that story. How on earth did she end up naked? Sure, she was covered in shadow, but it didn’t hide anything. She was wearing her leather armour earlier in the night. How? Just … how? Why? I have got to hear this one.

I did strip off the Squaddie jacket and moved toward the gate. I avoided the main paths as there could be unsprung traps there. I wouldn’t want them to go to waste. I could hear fighting and Težka’ roaring. I hope Modrica is having a good fight. She has been grumpy for weeks.

Težka was surrounded. Modrica was on one side, and Ruku was on the other. I could tell they were holding position just inside the gate, mostly defending. Modrica or Težka would swat the occasional trooper, but they were being a distraction and stopping most for running out the gate. I did see one person slip past and sprint away while I looked. I wonder how many others slipped through.

Before the runner was out of my sensing range, they were covered with a swarm of wasps and went down and lay still. That was a bad way to go. Dusk will be annoyed if nobody makes it through for her to run down. Dusk isn’t bloodthirsty like Težka, but she does love a good run.

It was time to end the distraction and finish the fight. The sky was lightening, and dawn was not far off. The biggest opposition was the Force leader in the way he organised the troopers and reinforced their line. I reached for my bow to take him out before remembering the string was broken.

I had taken off my Squaddie jacked, but I still had it, so I put it back on and ran up behind the fighting.

The Force Leader saw me and smiled, “My favourite Squaddie! Where are the reinforcements?”

“The assassin blew them up with the armoury, sir. The commander was fighting the assassin.” I am taking a page out of Tabitha’s book about half-truths. It is a way to get around Truth Sensing Skills.

The Force Leader’s smile vanished. “Well, son, you take the left, and I will go right. One of the two controls the beast, and we need to remove the control and show it the way out the gate.”

That was a good plan from the knowledge he had. “Yes, sir!” I said, stepping forward to go to the left. He turned to the right, and I stabbed him in the back. My stone knife went through his leather and into the heart. I spiked his brain to make sure he was dead.

Ruku must have seen me take out the Force leader as he gave a yell, “Charge!”

Težka immediately started forward, bashing aside the troopers in his way. Ruku moved away from Težka’s side as he also went on the offensive, but that was nothing to Modrica’s reaction. She stepped forward, ignoring the strikes hitting her armoured Skin, and switched out her mace with her flail. She had one with a longer chain and a large spiked head. She started spinning that and moving forward as the near troopers went flying, and the ones behind started running. The faster runners ran straight into her Earthspikes, the others managing to stop in time. Then Modrica was among them.

Ruku was moving through his side like a wave. He had his Whirlpool Shield running and was using his Water Manipulation to create whips of Poisoned water spinning with his Whirlpool. The whips were moving so fast they were cutting flesh and letting poison in. His spear was redundant until he came to a trooper with heavy armour. Then his Piercing Strike went through the softer parts, dismantling the trooper.

Težka was doing his own thing, and I just sat and watched. I saw Tāoke watching from the roof of the prisoner's hut. He was in his large form. I couldn’t sense the prisoners from here, but I could imagine they were staying well away from him.

I saw several troopers run out the gate and reached for my bow. I have to carry extra strings. This is pathetic. Wasps descended, but only one went down. The others ran even faster. Maybe they thought they could outrun the wasps? I don’t know. I guess I would run faster as well.

I settled back down against a wall and checked my Status. I gained two levels in Assassin. I was stacking up the attributes. It is time to explore some higher-tiered skills. These, like Telescopic Sight, had requirements of other skills at the Journeyman level. I started to think about my Journeyman Level Skills and how I used them when I sensed Lee approaching.

I dropped Camouflage, “Over here,” I called.

She looked over, startled and then came over, “Why are you just sitting here? Are you injured?”

“No, just watching that nothing goes wrong.”

“I almost attacked you when I saw the jacket.”

Whoops. I removed it. “I need your help with a couple of tortured prisoners. I gave them a potion, but one was still unconscious when I left them. Umreti’s First Aid might help.”

She nodded, “What about this?”

“They will be finished soon, and Tāoke and Umreti are keeping an eye on it. This way.” I figured bringing a female with me would help calm Lilian. Well, a smallish lady. Bringing Modrica would not have helped. I am pretty sure bringing a naked Tabitha would not have helped, either.

We moved off into the Quarry.