Warslave

Chapter 5: Food and Shelter

The Viper

If he hadn't been in direct telepathic contact with his brother, Viper would have said the ruse had been played out perfectly. The noise and chaos around him were a great sign. Well, not for the people in the convoy, but for the plan itself. They'd been ambushed as soon as they had taken a more accessible road.

Sadly, he knew Wolf was also fighting as he surveyed his own situation. It must have looked quite strange to observers. While Swordpoint's personnel were trying their hardest to take cover behind their vehicles and return fire at the surrounding buildings and the men moving from cover to cover along the road, Viper was looking around at an almost leisure pace, only occasionally speeding up to deflect a bullet or catch a thrown vehicle or piece of rubble.

His swords were already turning liquid, the metal moving to his right hand to reshape into his spear. He took a moment to appreciate the weapon, something he found himself doing quite often. The spearhead was longer than was typical, to enable him to also cut with the weapon. It wouldn't cut as well as a sword, but he liked to have the option, just in case. And besides, 'wouldn't cut as well as a sword' wasn't usually a concern when inhuman strength and skill were involved.

He scanned the surrounding area again, trying to locate targets by hearing, before throwing his weapon at the position of the one that seemed most likely to be the enemy leader. He was almost happy to learn that the man dodged his throw, even if he only barely managed.

Before his target had recovered from the movement, Viper was already on him, a claw digging into his side, ripping it open. He couldn't trail the blood as impressively as his brother did, but he had his own means of inflicting shock and awe.

The man's veins visibly turned black from the poison that coated Viper's claws. He grasped for air, falling to the ground writhing in pain. It was enough for those that could see it to panic. Most of them surrendered, those were the ones Viper considered beneath his notice. The ones that put up a fight were another story. Viper was all too happy to respond to their continued aggression. A thought saw his spear back in his hand, another one saw him standing across from a new target.

He was quick about it, leaving the theatrics behind for simple efficiency, stabbing the man in the throat before moving on. Another's arm was severed, leaving him unable to put up a fight. A last one saw his ribs crushed by a simple kick, before the rest decided to surrender.

The shooting stopped, a moment of calm and silence descended on the convoy and the surrounding buildings. Viper hated that. It meant the others were dropping their guard to catch a breath.

It made them vulnerable.

Which was exactly what their enemies had been counting on. Viper counted twelve superhumans, tearing into the convoy. Some killing, others just disabling, each of them enough of a threat that even when the convoy's guardians aimed their guns at them, they stood little chance.

Some of the men around him that had surrendered considered going for their weapons, to rejoin the fight. As soon as Viper pointed his spear at them, they changed their minds. No one wanted to try the creature.

Viper jumped back out, catching the first superhuman in the chest with his spear, twisting the weapon and smiling as the runes on the weapon lit up green. His enemies couldn't see his expression, of course. The mask and targeting optics, combined with the hood gave off the impression that he had no face at all, instead presenting the remaining enemies with cold metal where an expression should be.

Before they could react to his sudden attack, he took a step back into the shadow of a building, melting into it to escape detection. He appeared from another shadow, before placing his hand on another target's face and dousing it in enough flames to melt him down to his bones. He crushed the skull in his hand before turning to the rest.