As I went further into the building, something caught my attention over the gunfire and roars from down below. It was the sound of someone shouting. I followed the source of the noise, doing my best to remain as quiet as possible, until I found the room where it was coming from.
I could hear Plaything’s frantic voice practically screeching behind the door, which had barely survived the explosion. I crouched against the wall, attempting to listen in to what he was saying.
“This is not what you said would happen!” he shouted. There was a pause, but I couldn’t hear the response. “I didn’t fuck up! I did my part and the henchmen did theirs. It’s on you for not properly planning this!”
After another silence, waiting for a response from someone who wasn’t there, he continued speaking, “...I’m sorry, sir. I just got overwhelmed. I had to break most of my toys just to save myself, and I’m not sure how safe I am here. Polymeniac just left me here with his phone, and I don’t know where to go to find anyone else. If it wasn’t for his phone being left behind, I wouldn’t have a way to contact you.”
I had heard enough of Plaything’s voice. With one shoulder charge, I easily tore down the door. Plaything jumped in surprise, his skin turning pale white as he yelped, phone still pressed to his ear. But, as I soon found out, he wasn’t actually alone.
Before I could raise my gun and start firing, I was tackled from the side. I barely managed to hold onto my semi-automatic as I was restrained to the floor. The fires around the room illuminated the human-sized Betty Spaghetty doll that was currently grappling me.
Her fists were oversized hunks of plastic holding me down. In contrast, her arms were extremely flexible, trying their best to wrap around me. Her bulbous painted eyes stared into my soul, her head wagging as we fought.
I smashed my forehead against hers, instinctively moving to get her off. That headbutt was a horrible idea, and it let her grip on me tighten. I had to strain my muscles, using every inch of give that [Brute Force] gave me, just to move my arms.
After a few seconds of struggling, I managed to aim my gun at her head. I held the trigger down, bullets spraying out. Each shot left cracks on her head, quickly growing until a large chunk went flying out.
Betty screamed, her plastic limbs writhing around in what could only be pain. I used that moment to pull myself free, throwing her off of me. She tried to get back up, shakily pushing her plastic hands against the floor.
I pulled out the sawed-off shotgun I had kept inside my suit jacket. I was already running low on weapons, and Reload still wasn’t providing me with spare ammo. She tried to lunge at me, but I fired a slug right through her skull before she made contact.
The now inert piece of plastic fell to the ground, and I looked around for Plaything. I could see a door thrown wide open on the side of the room. I let out a sigh as I gave chase, with no intention of letting him escape from me.
The building’s condition was quickly deteriorating, and it was becoming difficult just to navigate through the halls. Rapidly spreading fire sent chunks of flaming wood and plaster to the ground, blocking off multiple passages. There was a good chance that the building would go down in just a matter of minutes.
After a few minutes of running, I finally caught him. Plaything flinched as I entered the room, his expression panicked and afraid. There were only two doors into this room, one blocked off by flaming rubble and the one I just entered from. I saw his hands were charred, likely a desperate attempt to dig his way to the exit.
He frantically looked around for anything to defend himself with as I walked towards him, shotgun aimed at his chest. His clothes, and whatever weapons he once had, were destroyed in the explosion. Plaything was defenseless.
“Hey, no, don’t do this,” he begged, collapsing onto the ground. “I don’t even work for the Disciples, I was just trying to make some money. This isn’t what I’m like, you don’t need to kill me.”
“Are you really this pathetic?” I stopped a few steps away from him.
“Please, you don’t need to do this.” He clasped his hands together, pleading. “I can pay you! I.. I can tell you everything that I know! And I promise that you’ll never see me again.”
“Stop crying, I’m not going to kill you. You’ve done a lot of bad, but I refuse to be like you. If I killed you, then I would be just as bad as you are.”
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His eyes teared up, a confused smile sprawling across his face. “...Really?”
I raised the shotgun to his forehead, firing a bullet through his skull. “Of course not.”
His brain splattered against the wall behind him, his naked body falling to the floor. I threw away the sawed-off, having used up all of its remaining ammo. I pulled out my pistol, the last loaded gun that I had.
Plaything had already given me all the information that I needed. If Polymeniac was out of here, then that meant we could overwhelm Quarry as a group. I started running back, headed to the stairwell. But on my way there, I received a message from Reload.
A violent burst shook the ground beneath me, interrupting my attempt to send a response to Reload. The building began to shift, and I lost my footing. As I tumbled across the floor, I managed to grab onto a jutting piece of rebar.
My fingers clinged on for dear life as the building continued to shake. Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind began to push past me. I looked down to see that I was headed straight for the street below.
The crash was violent, pieces of wreckage flying across the street. I felt chunks of concrete and rebar smash against my body, until everything eventually settled. When I opened my eyes again, I could still see the night sky.
My muscles ached as I climbed out of the rubble. When I looked at where the building once was, I saw the upper half of it had been blown off. And the rest of it was quickly following suit, collapsing in on itself.
I looked around, searching for any other signs of life. Small fires had started to spread through the street, barely illuminating my surroundings. I could spot some movement, but I wasn’t certain where everyone was.
God Dammit. Reload being out of the fight was an issue, and it wasn’t one that I could just ignore. I started looking for him, ignoring the pain I felt coursing through my body. While I did so, I messaged Tóxica.
She didn’t bother answering my question, but I heard an aggressive roar tear through the sky in the distance. I decided to just take that as a sign that she was okay. I walked down the street, getting closer to the main body of the collapsed building. If Reload was on the third floor stairwell, then he couldn’t be that far.
As I walked, I heard gunfire start up once again. It didn’t seem to be aimed at me, rather that people all over started getting into sudden gunfights. My only guess was that Surge had arrived for backup, but that didn’t seem likely. Either way, if something was causing the henches to keep fighting after that explosion, then it would probably be my problem soon anyways.
The street was absolutely wrecked with rubble, hunks of metal scattered like sand. In-between the remains of the building were the bodies of the henchmen we were just fighting. If I focused, I could see countless corpses surrounding me.
I had hoped that our previous attacks would’ve limited how many people would die in this fight, but I was wrong. Even if the minor villains had brought along their henchmen, these numbers were still past anything I had planned for. Something was up.
But there wasn’t any point in mulling over why so many people were marching towards their death. In the grand scheme of things, their lives didn’t matter in this fight. All that mattered was which group of supers would still be standing by the end of the day.
I barely caught the movement in my peripheral vision, someone running straight at me. I spun around, aiming my pistol at the idiot with a deathwish. But I paused, seeing that the henchman was unarmed and now screaming.
When he got close enough, he shouted, “Help! Dear fuck, please help us!”
“You know I’m the one you guys are fighting, right?” I asked, keeping my gun aimed at him.
“I don’t care, man! We have to work together, this shit is more than just us,” he cried out. Getting a closer look at him, he didn’t seem to be injured in any way.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Those fucking toys that they made us work with! The ones that didn’t blow are freaking out, man. They’re tearing us all apart!”
That was a surprise. I had assumed that the toys would’ve just stopped working after killing Plaything. But supers that summon creatures to fight for them were rare, and it was even rarer for them to die during a fight. So I had no idea what would happen.
“Just keep running, the toys can’t be everywhere. I won’t help you, but I will be working on killing those toys.”
“What, aren’t you a super? You can’t just leave me to die, dude.”
I took a step forward, keeping my pistol focused on his forehead. “I could just kill you instead. Save the toys the trouble.”
“You know what, thank you for all your help,” He nervously laughed, slowly taking a few steps back. Once there was enough space, he turned and continued to run.
I could understand why he wanted my help. Those toys were a nightmare to deal with, and it would be nearly impossible for an unarmed ordinary to fight them off. But we were still enemies, so why should I care if his life is in danger?
The gunfire surrounding me continued to grow in intensity. If the toys were tearing people apart, then Reload could also be attacked. My left leg cried out with each step, but I forced myself to run. None of us were allowed to die today.