Last Orders (Part 2) by Astrodragon

And so the mission begins. Foreshadowing says they've probably been spotted and just don't know it yet. Olrun is sounding like the type of villain who inspires loyalty through fear. Good if you accomplish results. Not so good if things go sideways.

Morgana and Thulia are getting 'real' combat uniforms. Unless I miss the mark, they're going for a record shortest time (for Cecilia) from crafting to battle testing. After all, combat uniforms aren't the sort of thing you just carry home - particularly if your wore your old version to the shop.
All the specs sound like a reasonable starting point for a uniform when you don't know for certain what you'll need.
And Thulia just made the Cecilia's day with an interesting project.
Drat - a week lead time. Well, I guess the upside is that they'll have had another battle with the starter uniforms to figure out just what modifications will be needed.

Morgana and Thulia joking about snacks. The snacks won't stand a chance (unless the dragon girls get sidetracked)

Those mercs don't know what they're dealing with.

And the signal jamming tips off the girls that there's a problem. At least they're smart enough to assume the worst (I suppose Morgana did have the previous incident as a practice run). Let's see how off the rails things go.

5 minutes until running the ambush. Will they actually be where you expect them to be?

The locals going for cover at the first sign of trouble. Yep, it's just another Sunday. It's not like this isn't the second such incident (That we know of) in the current school year.

And Whateley is on alert (and possibly even in position). Let's see if they can guess what the stich is. Wilson, Denton, Grimes and Robert Turner. Fairly balanced set of skills on first blush.
And Mazarin isn't beating around the bush on scoping things out. I'm almost surprised there isn't a satellite in geosynchronous orbit over the school. Probably a fairly 'hot' chunk of space.

And the school is going on lockdown. If the mercs had actually tried to hit the school, they would have run into every devisor special on campus.

Interesting that this incident had a much stronger response than the assassination attempt on Bianca. Perhaps we just didn't see that side of things when it happened. To be fair, that group didn't try jamming things IIRC. Comms jamming always ups the ante.

Bianca and Erica doing a head count and coming up with the targets. Always nice to know that Erica thinks the Green Cross is single minded, not bat-shit crazy. The tales to tell when everyone gets back together.

Hadrian - I don't recognize the name, but there are portions of Gen2 I haven't followed. I'm curious what the senior project is going to end up being. An underground garden complex could make the campus more survivable if it gets hit by a(nother) mythos caused blizzard.

Mercs are already going down - I wonder who is taking them down. And the raid boss thinks everything is going to plan. To be fair, Whateley security hasn't reached him yet, but he's certainly burning time. Let's see how good (or bad) Olrun's timing is.

And the main security team is rolling out. Brace for impact. Taking out the recon drone is a no-win situation for the mercs. Take it out, you blind security but tip off your capabilities. Don't take it out, and they see what you've got ready.

Cecilia taking out two of the mercs. I think she may have watched Jade's (or more accurately Shoud's) combat finals at some point. I suspect there's a few other supers who have taken offense to the incursion.

Thulia and Morgana both in their combat uniforms. And a fireball tips them off to who's at work. As long as Morgana doesn't lock up, they're in a much better place than the mercs (or the order) think they are.
Two weeks (give or take?) into an S&R focused team tactics course. Let's see if the lessons will pay off. Good idea trying to conserve essence, but the need to speed-cast a shield is a problem. And that grade of weapon definitely isn't playing around.
That spear is a brutal weapon. I'm also starting to wonder if Morgana doesn't have a touch of precog or ESP, given her accurate take on the situation (and how the tarot cards read).

Granny Hitton ambushing with cookies. These mercs (obviously) aren't local, or they'd know just how offended the locals are about town invasions. Nice moment of light humor.

Acheron the Black discounting the efforts of the mercenaries. Bit of a case of confirmation bias in his conclusion. Interesting set of toys summoned.
I don't like that purple glow either. Liquifying asphalt. Not a bad way to slow down trouble (just need to freeze it, but Morgana might not have that wand on her).
Arrows doing little damage, with the amount of draw strength that Thulia has. Those are some serious golems. And Thulia wants more damaging ammo. I fear for the collateral damage if she gets it.
Loosing the bow - not good, but hopefully it can/will be recovered. Close combat does seem to be the right trick, though Thulia is burning essence at a dangerous rate. Probably want an essence battery or two in the holdouts.

Morgana dispatching the moving pile of rocks, but the purple glow again when fire essence is used. I have the sneaking suspicion that the order is trying to fuel something (the portal?) with the captured essence.

How much firepower did the mercs bring if the Whateley team is reporting that much opposition?
And the Whateley team runs into the capture/kill box before Thulia and Morgana get to it. So much for that arm of the capture team, though I suspect Olrun elected to make the strategic reverse advance.
The Whateley team definitely seems well oiled. Overkill on the part of Mrs. Grimes, but there will be others to question. And the Order won't like the results.

Morgana and Thulia low on essence. No surprise there - and probably why the combat unfolded the way it did.
And this merc is a mutant level martial artist. Probably going to be a brutal debrief for those two once they get back. Divide and conquer might not be the best path, but I understand why they split focus when the robot got in position.

Morgana assuming a primarily defensive stance. Not a bad plan as help is nearby, though it's nearly impossible to block everything. Possibly bad move on the merc's part spilling the beans that they're planning a capture.

Well, it was a decent plan on Thulia's part, though the claymore wasn't fun. Do you use the emergency heal now, or save it for a possibly greater need?
And the martial artist goes for Morgana's knee when Thulia is distracted. Intentional decision on his part. I get the vibe they're trying to slow down the dragon girls for the kidnapping, but they're burning a lot of resources for the effort.
And another super down.  Good news, one less chess piece on the field. Bad news, it'll be harder to tie the attack to the source.

And Olrun goes for his 'I am invincible' move. It goes about as well as it does in the movies. I think the takedown was the right move on Thulia's part (beware of dragons, as you are crunchy and go good with ketchup), but it does obscure the link to the origin. Unfortunately for the Order, it also means that Olrun can't put forth the claim that he was acting on his own. And the portal is still open.
Ouch - I missed that the final battle literally cost Morgana an arm (or at least a hand). Both those girls are going to be spending some quality time in Doyle, and I forsee a few battle scars as a result.
Thulia is in shock, between the blood loss and what happened to her leman.
Certain parties are not going to be happy.

Sunday, Jan 29th, Dunwich, Early Morning.

The mercenaries have arrived and are setting up camp in preparation for the ambush. I hope the two men in costume they brought get taught a lesson in not underestimating the opposition. No radio traffic, from Dunwich, is strange considering the Whateley Radio station in the area. Bwahaha, they still think Whateley is only a school.

His team wasn’t equipped to notice the high-frequency high volume data traffic from the devisors at the school, after all.

They know it is a school for mutants and didn't come prepared to detect that, now that is just poor planning imo.

Sunday Jan 29th, Dunwich, Late Morning.

Morgana and Thulia are in town, already at Cecilia Roger's Fabric Boutique. Both cloaks in 20 minutes, Cecilia's powers combined with her experience are simply that impressive. Oh, good, always chat with trusted seniors at the school before having an expensive costume made. Hehe, I wonder how long Cecilia will keep looking so young.

Heat build-up causing sweat build-up, ouch. Thulia has a very good reason to get a costume like Morgana's, that combat final was terrifying. Dark red for Thulia's colors and Morgana has a picture of Thulia in that swimsuit, I knew she couldn't resist. HUD for the eye lens, a smart move, all fliers should have one. Retractable tail and wings, that has got Cecilia excited for the fun challenge.

“So you’ll be adding spell effects yourselves? I’ll need to know the size of the spell diagrams to make sure they fit.”

“Yes ma’am. We could work out which ones we want to add, then bring them in on paper when we come for the final fittings?”

This is why Cecilia is the best in the business, always planning ahead for her customer's needs. Next Sunday, ack, if only they had come in last week to get these made. Hehe, Cecilia's machine for scanning measurements is so accurate I wouldn't be surprised if the military has more than once tried to buy it off her. $15,000 for both costumes, that is a deal, it includes repairs and adjustments for life. Email in a day or two, she is going to get a late reply.

Cecilia is who the pros go to for costumes, I wouldn't be surprised if some presidents or royalty have gone to her for outfits that protect but look like normal suits, etc. Treats including cakes, with your metabolisms I doubt you could ever get fat unless you eat more than 20k calories a day regularly.

Crap, the girls are being watched. The mercenary calls Cecilia's shop a dinky dress shop showing how little these creeps know about those who live in the area. 2 minutes until they attack, no one had better die or they will suffer as few ever do.

Thulia notes Google Maps not working, Morgana someone is jamming the signal.

Morgana shook her phone, just in case that made a difference. “Nope. If someone doesn’t want us to call the school, we could be in trouble. I think we’d better assume we are in trouble, better safe than sorry.”

If only they could both fly fast enough to get away. Good, get away from the town, don't let them use anyone as hostages.

Raid boss, seriously, the mercenary leader gave himself that as his callsign. Told not to worry about Whateley by an arrogant and brash fool who needs a very harsh lesson.

No point in taking unnecessary chances and getting a crew of rent-a-mobs who had delusions of being proper security people running around like headless chickens would be a nuisance.

Bwahaha, Whateley security could teach a lot of military security some lessons. Your plan is good, but it is based on highly flawed intel.

Oh, good, Thulia keeping an eye on the sky, in a world with advanced technology and superhumans I can't believe anyone wouldn't do that as a matter of habit. Yes, make the ambush force think you are focused on Morgana and won't notice them, let them make a mistake first.

Oddly, some of the men noted that instead of the assumed panic reaction, the locals moved smoothly into hiding. But then the mercenaries didn’t know about the unusual environment around Dunwich. Which was slightly annoying, as they had intended the panic to make their operation easier by slowing down their targets. Instead, they slipped away from them with the ease of long practice.

A sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere, they didn't do any more than the minimum intel on Dunwich, that is a huge blunder.

Combat alert that close to school, Mazarin is going to have these fools destroyed for their hubris.

In the meantime, the school locked down and the students and non-combatants moved into sheltered locations, while combat-rated staff and security started to equip themselves on the assumption of a direct attack.

Check who is outside of Whateley grounds right now, Mazarin.

Falcon, Wilson, Windhammer, and Grimes are ready, and the recon team is almost at Dunwich. Hehe, no mercy, but a prisoner or two to question, I like his response. Oh boy, he doesn't know who is in Dunwich today out of the students or he would have all hands charging there right now.

There was some seriously heavy firepower being made available to him – the school defences had been upgraded over the last 10 years - but he couldn’t make plans for it until he knew more about the situation.

Darn it, jamming signals was the smartest thing the mercenaries could have done except get more intel on Dunwich and Whateley first. ARC informed, but holding, welp, Orlun has ensured the brutal deaths of everyone involved in this fiasco.

The warning system and message, they updated a lot since the nightmare of Halloween 2006. Sealing the lab rats in their labs, this time I don't pity any idiot who dares to break in, they take their fate into their own hands.

Erica, few would, but Orlun is a special kind of desperate, arrogant, and seems to think he is destined for greatness and thus can't fail. Oh crud, one of them remembered where Morgana and Thulia were going today and wonders if they are involved as targets of the attack.

“Oh, I’m sure they aren’t. They’re both sensible enough to find somewhere safe and stay in it untill it’s all clear. What worries me is who’d be crazy enough to arrange an attack so close to the school. None of the organisations I know are stupid enough to try. Not even my crazy cousins are that crazy!”

Trust me, Erica, there are crazier and more arrogant people in the world than your crazy cousins.

Hadrian, poor guy almost had a flashback when the sirens started, luckily recognized it wasn't a tornado warning. Diverted around a construction area, I wonder what they are working on down in the tunnels right now.

Presumably, that was the rumoured underground garden complex they were working on as this year's legacy project, certainly a few large holes in the walls and piles of dirt supported that conclusion. He wondered what they were going to do with all the dirt.

Good legacy project, Whateley can never have enough food sources.

The raid boss lost some of his men, good! They still think Thulia and Morgana are being herded by them, I hope they get a nasty surprise from the girls.

Make sure we destroy any evidence we can't take with us, there is no point in giving away more information than we need.

That won't help with Whateley's psychic and mystic departments involved.

Heavy mob crammed into a customized humveee, no roof but a substantial force field generator. Clark Clauser preparing another two humvees with an 8-man team, Wilson with his signature weapon, I don't think the mercenaries stand a chance. Combat drones run by Everheart, Ms. Grimes has her familiar at panther-size right now! Recon drone was taken out by an anti-aircraft missile, which was foolish of the mercenaries.

Ah, so the tone of the sirens indicates if a class X is involved or not, everyone in Dunwich has probably memorized the difference by now.

Once the two had gone past, she opened her shop door slightly as a bolt of cloth and something that looked like fabric-covered wires slithered their way onto the street behind the men.

I just knew Cecilia had some weaponized cloth in her shop, those soldiers might not live to regret coming to Dunwich. One suffocated and the other his head cut through by titan wire inside the cloth, both dead, Cecilia can be scary when defending her home.

The girls hear gunfire and hope since it isn't aimed at them it means forces from the school have become involved. Darn, Thulia spotted the Whateley drone, but they saw it shot down. Morgana, think what kind of idiot would target specific students this close to Whateley and do so on limited intel because they are arrogant. Their worry is confirmed that the Order is involved when a fireball bursts from a street in front of them.

Uh oh, Morgana looks sick, scared the Order is trying to capture her again. Thulia is in combat mode, something very bad is about to happen for her to get as severely injured as we saw in the future. Darn, the drone being shot down makes flying out a no-go, hide and wait for the Whateley backup to arrive. These mercenaries were told they want Morgana alive, but the moment Thulia and her pop into view they open fire!

Mil-spec weapons, Thulia's shield won't last for long, they need help and fast. One of the mercs killed by a firebolt from Thulia, they are going to react badly to this. That spellspear thrown by Morgana is brutal, a more direct hit, and the merc would be dead in an instant. After this incident and all similar past incidents, all students leaving campus must be kitted out for combat even if not expecting any!

Outside Granny Hittons Old Bakeshop, Dunwich

Granny Hitton, oh, that poor merc is in for a world of pain before he dies. Eats one of her cookies and turns into a frog, at least he seems to have retained his mind if not for his ability to communicate, the loss of both would have been too much for me. In a little town like this, magic is known in the world, and yet he doesn't suspect the little old lady is a witch, fools and idiots, the lot of them.

Acheron the Black, I hope you are Thulia and Morgana's next kill. Importance of the cause, they are mercenaries hired for money, they don't care about your cause, you fanatical lunatic. Summon monsters stored in crystals before being brought forth, a giant scorpion-centipede-thing after Thulia and what sounds like an earth elemental after Morgana.

Great, the pseudo-scorpion has a magic barrier to protect it from magic and an armored carapace. A purple glow surrounds the stinger, Acheron sure likes to buff his summons. Melted asphalt to slow the creature down, great use of the environment, Thulia. Yikes! Thulia has to leap over a massive claw that drove in a storefront with no difficulty, that is one powerful creature.

Bow and arrow, no effect on the head, pierces on the segments but so many of them the creature hasn't even slowed down, this is a tough battle. More damaging arrows, ones that set off spells after piercing to get past spell resistance would be a good idea. *eyes bug out* Thulia dodges the stinger, but it takes out the building she was on! Drops her bow, and uses her claws to cling to the next building, this foe seems designed to deal with her.

Leapt onto its back, and avoids harm from the stinger as she leaps into the air while summoning her spear. Charged with power, she aims for the head, using weight and motion to ram it in and force the flaming spear deeper. Gah! So glad they have hearing protection, finally, the monster is dead.

Morgana has been hit once by the earth elemental, pain in her abdomen, this is bad.

She danced behind a building, and the monster showed how strong it was by casually demolishing part of the ground floor with a backhand blow.

Okay, Acheron the Black is a powerful summoner to bring forth creatures like these. Morana makes a great move and climbs onto what she believes is its back using her claws. Attacks with her spear to drive it in as deep as possible, but the stone menace is just annoyed, gulp.

Morgana channels fire through her spear, heating up the stone creature more and more.

Despite the pain of channelling so much fire through her, she clung on as the pile of rocks finally collapsed into a red-hot pile of rubble and lava as she pulled her spear back. Whatever had animated the walking rockery, she seemed to have dealt with it, at least for the moment.

Orlun seriously underestimated Thulia and Morgana, he didn't even know she had the spellspear now.

Whateley's combat team is closer and has a better idea of the forces they are facing in Dunwich. Blocked by a group of mercenaries, one of the supers who is either clad in metal or made of metal, and a man in robes with creatures surrounding him. Grimes says they are generic hellhounds, which still makes them dangerous. Grimes and her familiar are ready, and the other three are ready to block attacks on Grimes or each other. This is why the students at Whateley should never try to fight the teachers or experienced security team members, that was brutal and quick.

Grimes did have to call the cat back from enjoying himself to finish the hellhound off.

Aww, no time to play today. Figured the mage would run for it after seeing that happen. The mercenaries think the steelman can take them, overconfident fools are in abundance today. Ms. Dennon advanced on the steelman, I almost pity him.

With no intel on the teachers, Ms. Dennon's PK shield deals with the mercs' gunfire easily. Taken out by Sergeant Wilson for attacking first, a lot of clean-up is needed after today. Steel guy and Ms. Dennon grapple as Grimes begins to cast a spell. Based on what is happening and the spell she is holding back, that is to summon lightning from the sky. Welp, he made a mistake by tossing Ms. Dennon away, Grimes lets the lightning loose and all that seems left of him is a pool of melted metal in a crater in the pavement.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to question him now, Elyzia.”

Grimes look at Falcon and just shrugged. “It happens.”

He joined a group knowing they were trying to abduct a Whateley kid, he fucked around and found out.

The fight between Thulia and the pseudo-scorpion hadn't been subtle, Grimes just pointed in the direction as they moved out.

The girls are at nearly the final exit to the town, and two men stand in their way.

Well, one man and what looked like a small ambulatory robot on tracks. The man was wearing a supersuit in grey and black, and was smiling at them.

Hhm, the controller might be in the area, what if the man is the controller and has either technopathic abilities or a devise that allows him to mentally control the robot? Ranged weapons on the robot, Thulia is running low on essence, shit. Morgana is low on essence too, they need a hero!

Oops, seems the man is a trained martial artist with the way he moves so probably not the controller of the robot. A mostly invisible weapon the girls can barely perceive, this martial artist is dangerous. To make Morgana's spear glow bright yellow from contact, is he wielding a freaking lightsaber or similar plasma blade? No, Morgana, don't tell Thullia to deal with the robot while you keep the martial artist busy. This plan is based on hope and after one incident with Thulia dealing with a robot, I'm very worried right now.

She had no idea what it actually was, only that she could see what looked like a hilt in his hand, even though all she could see of the blade was a hazy image of a sword rising from the hilt with an edge glowing black.

Okay, that is worse than a lightsaber or plasma blade, don't let that thing connect with you! Defend and retreat, he is going to try and force her into the kill zone.

"You can’t fall back forever, girl, even if I’ve been told not to kill you.”

He has a big mouth for a hired supervillain.

The one at the Weapons Fair was easy compared to this robot. Long-range weapons, rotating antenna to lock on, who knows how many missiles. A lightning bolt, but the robot has failsafes, drat. All those missiles overwhelm her forcefield, and no forcefield left for the next attack.

Some sort of high-tech claymore mine exploded right at her, sending sharp high-velocity fragments tearing into her legs, and she screamed as blood spurted from the wounds. Not, fortunately, enough to stop her but her legs were in agony from the flesh wounds, blood running down her legs, as the robot gave a final despairing clank and shuddered to a final halt.

Good lord, does she have any essence left to heal herself with?

The martial artist was told not to kill Morgana but was cutting her up as she was bleeding from several new wounds. Darn it! Morgana's forcefield can't stop his weapon, what the hell is it? Thulia joins the fight but slowed down by the injuries to her legs the MA can keep up with them. Coward! Goes for an attack on Morgana, but it is a feint, strikes Morgana in the knee, and uses the distraction to go for a fatal attack on Thulia.

No! Morgana tries to block the blow with her arm, but it is cut off, it deflects the blow enough to hit Thulia in the shoulder instead of being a killing blow. A leg sweep by Morgana makes the MA fall to the floor, but Morgana is barely hanging on to consciousness. Thulia is enraged and strikes with enough force to disarm the MA this time. The two-handed grip on her staff, and the MA thinks he can just surrender now after what he did.

Thulia stared down at the man lying prone on his back in front of her. Behind her, she could hear Morgana’s agonised whimpers as she tried to cope with her own injuries, as she bent down slowly to pick up a large piece of concrete rubble.

“Hey, I surrender, hero.”

The man looked up at her with a smug expression. “I give up, you can take me in, no need to keep attacking me, right?” He flung his arms even wider, obviously trying to show he wasn’t a threat. For some reason, he seemed to think that now she would stop attacking him. She didn’t care about his fantasies.

No, after what he did to Morgana all for a paycheck for a cult I would do the same as Thulia.

“I’m not a hero. They spare people like you rather than dealing with them.”

Tries to murder Thulia, mutilates Morgana, and thinks he can just surrender to the 'hero' and be spared. I hate villains like that.

Thulia uses some of the last of her essence to stop Morgana's bleeding, please say Whateley can restore her arm, please. They are about to leave when some fool speaks up. A spell to surround Thulia in a circle of blue-white flames, oh brother.

“So, demon, you are powerless now. I would recruit you to my service, but you don’t seem obedient enough for my taste. A shame, you would have been acceptable in my bed.”

Well, he just asked for the 'painful death' option. Thulia shifts into full-combat form, her injuries not healed, but too furious right now to care.

Layers of magical defenses, he came prepared for a demoness, not a dragoness. Idiot thinks he can banish her back to Hell for a long, long time, the lack of proper research on potential threats to their plans is staggering. Ouch, a blow to her already injured shoulder that makes it worse, but she is too fueled by anger to care.

He gaped, looking at her, then at the mace. “Why didn’t it...?”

She finally stood close in front of him. “Because, idiot, I’m not a demon.”

It startled him long enough for her to make her strike, as she rammed one clawed hand into his chest, tearing his mundane body armour apart like so much cardboard, as she felt her talon close around his heart.

“I’m a dragon...” Then she closed her fist, and with a wet tearing noise yanked the bloody remains of his heart out of his shattered chest as his blood sprayed all over her, her claws crushing it completely, and letting the pulped flesh fall to the stony ground.

I saw this coming the second they thought she was a demon, poor research when dealing with magical and supernatural beings and forces will get you killed.

The combat team arrived too late to help but had a good view of the way things ended.

Ms Grimes looked upset at the extremely bloody end to the Archmage, but Ms Dennon merely gave a carnivore-like grin. “I knew there was a reason I liked that kid...”

Grimes, he set up a small army to capture Morgana and kill anyone who got in their way including Thulia, Orlun deserved to die that way. Now that it is over Thulia is freaking out, telling how they tried to kill her, what Morgana did to save her, and how they took Morgana's hand.

Grimes nodded as she held her hand out slowly and calmly, trying to reassure the girl. “Let me help her, we have to get her to Doyle as fast as possible. It’s her best chance.”

Thulia looked up at her, her immediate reaction being to hang on to Morgana and not let her go, but Grime’s soft words finally got through to her and she nodded. “You promise?”

“On my word as a mage, we’ll do everything possible.”

Please let her get her hand back, even if she has to take physical therapy to learn how to use it again due to the damage, please.

Falcon flying Morgana back to Doyle as fast as possible, thank you. Thulia is a major mess, they fought for their lives and won.

She turned to the plastic bag Wilson was offering her, wincing at the sight of Morgana’s bloody hand inside it. “Let's get this frozen.” She wrapped the piece of arm in a protective wrap to stop it getting frostbitten, then muttered some words and ice and snow fell into the open bag until the arm was hard to see under the white coating that was slowly turning red. “Hopefully that will preserve it and give Olivia some better options.”

Please let that be enough for Olivia to be able to restore Morgana's hand.