Chương 75: R&R2 Ch. 14 — Into the Maw

Nicholas dismissed Book back to the soul space as Jasmine summoned Quicksilver.

"Decided to bring em out?" Nicholas asked as Jasmine had Quicksilver form around her hammer, increasing its power.

"Yeah, I can use this function without draining my power more unlike Book, and I figured you would need to rest at least a little bit," Jasmine said to explain. Nicholas nodded; it was the correct read of the situation, and he wasn't going to disparage some extra help. They certainly needed it if they wanted to pull this off. At least one of the random demons had been equal to them in power. There would likely be more of them and stronger as they got closer to the source.

Which meant Nicholas had to do something that really irritated him.

"Hold up," Nicholas said, pulling out the communicator and putting it on. Jasmine looked at him and then groaned before nodding her agreement. It was the right thing to do, even if neither of them really wanted to do it. Once the city was in the loop for what was going on, they promised that they would contact them if they found themselves out of their depth. Which made it so that they had to wait for new drones to arrive that would follow them besides the drones that the train had sent.

All of them were nearly invisible, so it wasn't like they were that bothersome, but the wait was annoying. They were supposed to be superheroes and could go out and save the day right away. And if things were going badly, they would have. And while Nicholas and Jasmine could detect more demons, they weren't moving nor could they feel any abilities being thrown about. So it was fine to wait. At least if it meant they could have backup if they needed it.

Once they got the signal that everything was in the clear, the two of them set out flying low to not draw attention as they followed their senses. Nicholas was more familiar with their signature, having fought them so long in such proximity, but Jasmine could feel farther out. It ended up with them more or less the same, reaching conclusions at the same time. They were being led to a museum that was currently being fixed up after a battle from a few weeks ago.

They had only known that because they had originally planned to go.

"Creepy idol spawning demons?" Nicholas asked, taking a guess as to what could be causing the problem.

"Crazy Beyonder cultist that is mutating mice." Jasmine disagreed.

"Hard and fast?" Nicholas asked as they looked at the museum.

"No, that's going to be a lot of money. If we destroy it, we should go in stealthily and see if we can take him out." Jasmine said, disagreeing. She was right, and they both knew it. Even if they would be okay if they did break some things, it still would be pricey and it wouldn't look great either.

"Do you want to change?" Nicholas asked. None of Jasmine's armors were particularly stealthy, but there were stealthier ones than her current one.

"No, the gun will be even worse. I'll work on my edgelord assassin build next, I guess," Jasmine said, sticking her tongue out in amusement. Nicholas couldn't see Jasmine as some kind of edglord type, but that wasn't for him to decide, and the armor and weapon would be useful. They landed on the roof of the building. Jasmine checked the door while Nicholas gathered power." Ping" Nicholas froze as he processed the information flooding his mind.

This was going to be far more difficult than they had originally suspected.

"Several demons as strong or stronger than the guy that burned me," Nicholas said, parsing through it all.

"Together we should be able to handle them a lot easier, especially if we know not to use fire powers," Jasmine said, brushing the information off.

"At least one confirmed super I can't make heads or tails of their rank either E or D, not positive," Nicholas continued. There was still more to process. Jasmine winced at that.

"That's not great for us, but what's the last bit?"

"Definitely something that feels similar to one of your items but warped," Nicholas said, wishing he was wrong, or that he hadn't felt it. The rage that rippled across their bond fed the disgust he was feeling about the situation, but he forced himself to project calm through their bond. This wasn't a situation where they could storm in and just swing their dicks around; what they needed to do was focus, and that meant not going around half-cocked.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm good," Jasmine said, not sounding or feeling good at all. Nicholas pursed his lips, thinking. He was going to have to get Jasmine to focus on literally anything else, so how was he going to do that. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Hey Retribution?" Nicholas asked aloud instead of using telepathy.

"Yes?" she asked, jerking her head towards him. It wasn't like they actually talked much in the field, so it was probably a surprise as much as anything else, even if it wasn't intense enough for Nicholas's purposes. Was he really going to do this for his friend? Yes, he didn't actually mind, and he needed both of them to be at their absolute best for what was to come.

"How about whoever gets more takedowns down there gets one reward from the other, no questions asked? We have to do it for one another, no matter what. Sound like a deal?" Nicholas asked. Jasmine stared at him, blinking stupidly.

"Anything."

"Anything, so let's get a move on. I have a prize to win," Nicholas said, moving to the door. Jasmine followed him before quickly taking the lead. He let out a sigh of relief; she was still pissed and disgusted in that miasma of emotions. But she was focused now.

"Sorry about that," Nicholas said, switching back to telepathy.

"What are you sorry about?"

"That I gave you bad news."

"It's fine, so I have to ask: did you actually mean it?" Nicholas rolled his eyes as they stalked down the stairs. Jasmine's gravity manipulation making it unlikely either of them makes a sound.

"Yeah, I meant it. I wanted you to get out of your own head. So that's the deal."

"And here I thought you had done it just for the cameras to increase our marketability," Jasmine said, her mental voice tinged with amusement. Nicholas hadn't thought about it, but he vaguely remembered some of their classes that had said hero couples were a great way to gain belief faster since it was more exciting. He had completely forgotten about that part.

"I can promise you I would never have done something like that."

"I can't wait to see the fanart," Jasmine said before coming to a halt at the door.

"Something is on the other side." Nicholas prepared his working. The plan was to go fast, but most importantly, he needed to conserve energy for the bigger fights. It wasn't ideal, but he was working with an emptier battery and wasn't suited for this. Especially if being resistant or having superior fire magic is a trend among them.

"Next time we fight, we should do it somewhere where I don't feel bad about using Playroom," Nicholas grumbled as Jasmine opened the door. It revealed a trio of imps doing who knows what. Jasmine pulled them to her hammer already brought back." Barrage" Three bolts of power slammed into the imps, stunning them as Jasmine's hammer came down, killing them. It hadn't been silent, but it had been fast.

"Any idea where they are?" Jasmine hissed. Why she bothered when they were communicating telepathically was something Nicholas would ask about later." Ping" Nicholas didn't love this role of playing hard support and helping Jasmine; it hadn't bothered him initially. He had been happy to do it. But now? Now Nicholas had a taste of what it was like to be the star of the show, the hero, and it had affected him. He wasn't sure how that was supposed to work. It was the right thing to do, and he loved doing things right?

He needed to get over himself. They had toolbox powers, but they were fundamentally different. She had the stronger power for any moment so long as she made sure she had something prepared for it. He had power for every situation, but even with Book he wouldn't be able to surpass the power Jasmine could use in a situation. So he needed to get over himself. Once Nicholas had parsed through the information, he rolled his shoulders. This was going to be a pain, and with more information from stronger use.

He had a better idea of what was going on and how strong the enemy was. It was a pain, but Nicholas relayed the information to Jasmine through images, words, and feelings through telepathy, and their bond as he sized out the area. It would fit. And not be too expensive." Playroom" Jasmine didn't say anything about the change in plan. She had come to the same conclusion he had, and if they wanted to hold out as long as they could, they would need them at their best.

In the effort for that Book came out to bolster Nicholas and Jasmine opened the door to her soul forge. They weren't soul crafted but several weapons flew out for Nicholas to use. It wouldn't be the battlefield itself turning on the enemy, but it was still better than him constantly risking burnout." Maximize alright, let's head out carefully now, and I am trusting you to warn me if anything comes up," Jasmine said, flashing him a grin.

Through telepathy and their bond, it was easy for Nicholas to feed information to Jasmine as they worked their way through the museum. While taking longer, they both knew it would be better if they took out all the stragglers first. One by one they took each group now, and it didn't take a genius with detection-based powers to know that the enemy knew they were there and taking down their minions.

They had found them in larger and larger groups as well as seeing them less often; it wasn't the massive leap of logic some would think. But they did have a detection ability, and they could feel the enemy down below gathering, at least Nicholas could. And with the current circumstances, there was barely a difference. There was only one question they had to ask.

Darlene sipped her tea as she watched her granddaughter prepare for battle. It had taken her more than one favor to set up this situation for them, but it was already paying off. She could see the moment the children were confronted with their own inadequacies and they had to decide if they would grow past them or cut away what made them weak. She wasn't sure what they would pick, and that was the exciting part. She also wasn't sure if they would succeed.

It had been a bit of a disappointment that they had called it in. Even if it was protocol. It made her concerned that they lacked the hunger she was looking for. Sense could be taught, but the drive was something they either had or they didn't. The odds they had the hunger she wanted them to have and the sense to follow the rules? At their ages? Drunk off a recent advancement? Unlikely. Darlene wouldn't say impossible. Nothing was impossible in this world; she had lived long enough to confirm that. But unlikely.

Ben had already become a Pinnacle just a while ago. It would likely be another fifty years before a new contender made themselves known. Though that meant Jasmine and Nichola could still prove her wrong, even if she suspected they were too cautious. While for her it was a blink of an eye, for the two kids it would be a lifetime. And much could change in a lifetime. As they prepared to breach the barrier, Darlene settled into her chair, drink in hand.

There were few things more enjoyable than watching a trap get successfully sprung. Even if the target of it was your current favorite candidate to be a successor. If Jasmine fell here, it would mean she was just another failure.