Chương 33: R&R Ch. 33 — Prepare the Stage

LongShot stared at the duo his senses told him would eventually lead the city to victory in this wave. It was subtle, but it was there. These two would change the tide somehow. It had been a shock when his senses had told him that a duo should lead the rookies, even more so when it was a duo. The final kick in the teeth had been one of them was the meek rookie he had taken a liking to during the party. And his research had shown someone entirely different.

He had been played like a fool his senses and this experience today had confirmed that the confident and brazen version of Retort was the real one. The kid had it in spades, and his partner was no slouch either. And the fight was shaping up just how he had expected it to, his own little reminder to Retort that he shouldn't mess with people stronger than him, unaware.

Though the kid was taking it like a champ, his peers probably wouldn't be able to tell the air of uncaring boredom was strong, but with the difference he could pick out the details now that he was looking for it. Retort was excited for what was to come. Tempestuous Blade made as good a sacrificial lamb as any. That Retort and Retribution were so important to the wave was cause for celebration since they had no standout rookie Es. And the actually skilled ones were needed elsewhere.

It was why he had taken a liking to Retort in the first place. He had figured they were all going to die so they could use support for the time they could have it. LongShot's biggest question was how the duo were communicating. They clearly were, but he couldn't hear anything and neither had registered mental abilities. It was also a tragedy his teammates wouldn't gamble with him on who would win, both of them betting on the duo, and while LongShot loved the long odds, he wasn't that dumb.

Once LongShot felt the tension rise to a fever pitch, he raised his hand.

"And fight!" Retribution crackling with green energy flew off, spinning around the room, though not before a ripple of power covered the ground around Retort to seemingly no effect, as Tempest watched Retort carefully. Odd in most of LongShot's predictions, Retribution always landed the final blow." Maximize" Retort mumbled under his breath, reality warping around him.

"Perfection!" Retort yelled, striking a dramatic pose.

"With the powers of being the perfect hero, I don't even need to try and beat you!" he called dramatically, still posing as he thrust a finger at Tempest.

"The fuck?" Tempest snarled, stalking forward. For how mad he had been earlier, it was impressive he wasn't just charging forward.

"Don't you understand how my power works?" Retort mocked lying through his teeth.

"I have become perfection and with my perfected memory and body you can't lay a finger on me. Because I remember you, Sparky! A social media hero most well known for his rank-up debut stream, including getting beat up by a gaggle of F-ranks." Tempest screamed, closing the distance with the speed of a rank three body augmented even farther by lightning imbuement. Retort damn near danced away as he stepped on a glowing green rune that let him move to the side the extra distance his body wouldn't allow him to.

"If you want to dance so bad, let me show you the moves. You can try and hit me while my partner pelts the area with stones. Hit me and dodge her, pretty simple game, right?" Retort taunted. Tempest crackled with more lightning as he raced forward, forming a second blade of lightning. Retort dodged perfectly each step, going farther than it ever could have normally with the help of the runes Retribution had left earlier, letting him dodge.

The stones raining down from Retribution's attacks never came close to hitting her teammate while constantly annoying Tempest. LongShot knew she could hit way harder, so why were the attacks so light? That question lasted as Retort bounced into the air, dodging an upward slash before pushing off one rock in the air that held a green rune, once again letting him embarrass his opponent.

"You ever think that maybe you're bad at this?" Retort asked as he used the head of his opponent as a handspring to flip over a lunge.

"I mean, really, you're a full stage above me and you can't even land a blow on me." Tempest roared, his sword flashing through the light. LongShot knew that Retort wouldn't be able to dodge this attack." Impact" A fist met the blade of living lightning. And the fist won the blade, exploding in a flash of sparks.

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't catch lightning swords," Retort acknowledged, leaping away with far less grace. He was injured, but that wouldn't explain the complete drop in his capability. Tempest snarled as he brought up the other lightning blade.

"I bet you can't do that again," If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"No, but I don't need to. Unlike you, I'm aware of what I can't do," Retort taunted." Playroom" The stones Retort had been using to dodge floated into the air as Retribution's power flared. Emerald meteors crashed into the rank three with enough force to crash a car. Each exploded, exploding with Retribution's power as Retort slammed them into their opponent. As weak as Tempest was, he was still E, and one who had a lot of resources poured into him. He weathered the storm as he built up more and more power.

LongShot watched as the odds shifted out of the duo's favor. For some reason, they had decided to play a game of endurance. Would their combination attack break Tempest's concentration before he could explode? Lightning thundered as Retort flew through the air, smoking from the bolt of electricity that had struck him squarely in the stomach.

"Any last words?" Tempest snarled, limping towards Retort, blade of lightning dim but still blazing with rage.

"Yeah, I have one." Retort said, pulling himself to his feet, grinning like a madman.

"Fuck!" he said, flipping the other super the bird. It was as if the world paused as everyone tried to figure out what kind of working was supposed to happen from such an action.

"Crap, I think I meant duck?" Retort chuckled, scratching the back of his head. With the force of a hurricane, Retribution's hammer slammed home against Tempest from behind rings of emerald energy expanding before blasting the rank three super towards LongShot and his team. Damn brats. Aviex caught the unconscious E as Retort and Retribution clapped hands.

"That worked exactly how you planned it, too," Retribution complimented.

"I could have done with being a little bit wrong, honestly," Retort laughed as he rubbed his chest.

"Your suggestions were excellent. I hadn't realized your aim was that good."

"That's cause it only works with the hammer, you've seen my target practice with the gun," Retribution giggled. LongShot stepped forward, using his own domain to amplify his voice.

"Does anyone else have issue with the duo Retort and Retribution leading your forces?" The gazes that looked back were strong. More than that, they believed in the people that were to lead them. ***" Recover" Jasmine was glad that the warm energy from his healing word covered her and not just himself. The lightning had still hit her even if it had mostly hit him. She knew he was probably going to be okay; his defense rings were full so it could take a full-powered hit from an E-rank pretty well, but still!

She just watched her best friend fly away with a bolt of lightning. More than that, he was terrifying. The plan had worked, and through it all Nicholas looked as if he was barely trying, dancing from one move to the next without problem. Part of her still wondered why he had told her to land the finishing blow, but regardless, everyone was seemingly impressed, and she and Nicholas were now being led by the experienced heroes to learn more of the leadership stuff, whatever that meant.

"You two did well. Do you think either of you could take an E on your own?" Aviex asked conversationally. Jasmine tilted her hand from side to side while Nicholas shrugged.

"With the right matchup?"

"Yes, consistently no." The three heroes nodded.

"With you two being in charge, you're going to be read in on all of your peers' abilities. This is a right usually reserved for Cs with an excellent track record and have the desire to be mentors." LongShot said as they were led into a fancy conference room. It even had a bowl of snacks on the table.

"So read it all and then figure out patrol routes and when to have people going?" Nicholas asked, sitting down.

"Yes, and if any of this leaks out, we're going to believe it came from you," LongShot explained, handing both of them a small laptop. Jasmine internally groaned. Research was not her favorite thing. She was good at it, and her grandma had made sure she had the skill set needed to lead a city defense against a wave, but still this was going to be a lot of work.

"Because you two are duo leadership, you have to get the other's approval for any decisions, so please play nice. And don't give your friends the safest jobs. We aren't strong enough for that." The woman said. Jasmine was pretty sure her name was Simulacrum, but she wasn't one hundred percent sure. Nicholas was silent as he began to read.

"The computers stay here, and they have our numbers if you want any advice call us. This wave is objectively terrible for you all and you'll need all the help you can get," LongShot said before the heroes said their goodbyes. The moment they were gone, Nicholas slumped his head, thudding into the table audibly.

"This is a pain."

"Yeah."

"Sorry for this."

"It would have happened anyway. LongShot or someone else was always going to pick us," Jasmine assured him.

"How do you figure?"

"Either my Grandma would have set this up so I can fail and learn, or someone would think I would have the training for all of this and I should be in charge."

"The wave or you being in charge?"

"Me being in charge, not even my grandma can cause a wave. At least I don't think so?" Jasmine said, thinking. Could her grandma do that? She didn't think so, but what was stopping her from doing that? It wasn't like Pinnacles had rules, did they?

"Do you actually have training for this?"

"I know the basics." Nicholas nodded.

"We'll do the best we can, and if we fail, then it was knowing we did everything we could."

"We won't know that if we die," Jasmine pointed out.

"I will if I die it's because I spent every moment fighting the wave with everything I could before bottoming out." Jasmine considered that for a moment before nodding. It was a good point. And she felt the same.

"We should also discuss if there's anyone who we can force a rank up for, ourselves included. The karma one is probably a no go but we might be able to get the power understanding?" Nicholas suggested.

"Didn't you say you weren't going to do that because it ripped your soul apart?" Jasmine asked, swatting him on the arm.

"Yeah, but we need to come up with something. If Sparky McSparkface is the average of the Es we are working with, it's doomed. Unless I can manage something," Nicholas mumbled.

"What kind of something?" Jasmine asked curious.

"Normally I can't do two workings at once, the exception is things charged or permanent changes, right?"

"Yeah, that's why you have two modes for Maximize: either buff me up and keep it going or give it a huge boost and then have at it, trusting me to figure out when it ends."

"Well, I discovered today it applied to impact. So, what if I did the charge version on both of us? Then I drop my biggest working I can to soften them up, and then you clean up with your boosted power?" Nicholas suggested. Jasmine thought about it for a second. Beyonders scaled very differently with the ranks. Durability wise that would probably let them crush a lot of them quickly if they didn't have a power to stop it.

"Wouldn't that bottom you out completely?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Jasmine didn't.