The Battle Majestic (Round 4 - Magpie Skies)

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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With all the problems already on her plate, Liss was less than thrilled to receive yet another call.

"It's Bartleby, ma'am! He just suddenly dropped dead right in front of me! I've got no idea what happened..."

"Thank you, Francis. I think I know how to handle it."

The invisible intruder. Why had he chosen to strike? Bartleby was an unlikely assassination target, and she saw no reason for the intruder to give away his position...

Unless he was trying to draw attention away from an associate elsewhere.

"Well. Now we can narrow down our cloaked intruder's position. We'll send in a squad of sentinels to track him down. And I want increased security in every high-value area. We don't know what these humans are after, but I don't want to take any chances."

She paused.

"As for the raptor... Bring it in alive if at all possible. The one thing we know is that the humans want it dead, and that means we need to know why before we decide what to do with it."

Her subordinates leapt to work.

***

Make it rain? Lionel mused. I like the way this satyr thinks. But before that, I'll need an umbrella.

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud yells of a Yagg running towards him.

"Human! Stop!"

Ah, of course. He's not covering me any more. Well, that's a minor inconvenience...

For just a moment, Lionel turned his attention to the other part of his mind.

Blitz, my boy, there's a bad man coming after us. Would you like Daddy to take care of him?

The mental reply was that of a frightened child.

Yes, D-Daddy... don't- don't let him hurt me...

Don't worry, son. Daddy's here. Daddy will keep you safe.

The Yagg charged. Lionel blasted it with a bolt; it groaned with pain, but continued its charge. Nonetheless, a few more blasts downed the brute easily.

Lionel smirked.

"That was almost interesting," he said.

It's all right, Blitz. The bad man can't hurt you now. But there are other bad men who still want to hurt you.

Will... Will you stop them, Daddy?

Of course. I won't let anybody hurt my precious baby boy.

And so Lionel went looking for more bad men to stop. For Blitz's sake, of course.

***

"Another human?" Liss hissed angrily. "And he can shoot lightning from his hand?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the Dejaan on the other end. "At least, that's what it looked like to me. I was lucky to get out, he took down three Yaggs and a sentinel!"

"How many humans are there in this facility?" Liss growled as she slammed down the receiver. "When this is dealt with, we will have a full review of security procedures! I want to know how a breach on this scale happened and what we're going to do about it!"

***

Lionel was beginning to grow bored. The Yaggs had no real sense of tactics, and the robotic sentinels weren't designed to take in as much electricity as he could send out.

Perhaps it was time to focus on the battle he'd been brought here for.

Blitz. There are more like Vex. Brought here with us to fight until only one survives.

He paused.

They'll try to kill us, Blitz. They have to.

I... I don't wanna die, Daddy!

I can stop them, Blitz. I can make sure they won't hurt you. Will you let me?

Yes! Yes! Save me, Daddy!

Anything for you, my boy.