+ Reid +

  He found himself, once again, immensely impressed with his friend. It had only taken Win five hours to go from identifying the potential of an insect attack, to rallying what felt like the entire mine to her call. She'd just as quickly established roles, groups, and areas of responsibility. Reid viewed Marlene as a good strategist back in Sanctuary. An... effective leader. It was true - the woman had been talented in it, but watching Win work was broadening his understanding of what talent looked like. It was a qualitative difference - like watching a dominating high school athlete, then seeing a real pro at the sport. He knew from her various roles that she was something of a leader in the Warren's social structure, but this was something else entirely.

  People weren't just following her orders or fulfilling a role - she'd managed to make the tasks feel rich with purpose to the miners. There was a general sense that they were all working towards a grand conclusion and outcome, and that each one of them was personally making sure they wouldn't just survive, but best the beasts. It lit everyone with a fervent energy that overwhelmed most doubt. People were sulking or hiding or disagreeing, of course, but most jumped into their requested roles with pride.

  Reid had seen the massing swarms of monsters lurking in the depths - and he wasn't so naive to think he could fight them all alone. He expected he could decimate a great number of them, absolutely - but Reid's stamina and energy weren't limitless, and he wasn't about to let his secrets slip when he'd just spent so much effort to seem normal with the enforcer. So Reid agreed with Win on his initial work - and his role in the fight to come. He rolled his shoulder as another batch of G-grade, bone crafted weapons was carted away. Reid also had some deja-vu that was playing with his emotions and influencing his actions - though he wouldn't admit it aloud.

  The idea of a fight on its way, a group of people with crafted weapons and mismatched armor, struggling to survive against a group of beasts... It was too similar for him. When he wasn't moving or crafting, Reid's hand shook. He took a deep breath through his nose, and told himself the situation was different. These were beasts they could kill. A fight it would be easier to win. He wasn't the first and last line of defense here. There was no corrupted skill for Reid to sacrifice himself on. Win and Lycra would also come out of this fine. They were tough. He was tough. This was just another fight. Just a bigger fight.

  Still - the bustle and motion of it all put his brain back in Sanctuary, and told him something worse was on its way. Something he wouldn't be able to handle.

  Reid held out a hand and crafted. He shoved those thoughts as far down as he could. The crafting only took a portion of his focus, so he set the rest on frivolous ideas. Win had promised him a raised platform and solid stock of projectiles, which meant he would spend the fight launching projectiles with his one good arm. It wasn't the first time throwing stuff was a primary strategy, but he didn't have a good nickname for it. Artiller-Reid? Or, no - in the mines it would be Roc. Maybe Roc-it Launcher? Sling-Roc. Scorpiroc. Rocannon. Rocapult. MeteoRoc.

  The train of asinine ideas continued as Reid churned out high G-grade osteal works.

  ||+|| Win ||+||

  When she first realized the danger, Win had paused and debated her next actions - and she hated herself for that. Dendura's threats had forced her to keep her history and abilities secret for so long that it was her default mentality to let herself think through whether she could recover from losing Reid and Lycra. She didn't want to know the answer. More than that - she didn't just want to protect her friends - she wanted to protect Reid's secrets. To help him help himself.

  The only way to guarantee Reid kept his secrecy and stop him from trying to take on the whole problem himself was to reveal secrets of her own. The people here already knew she had some combat prowess. They understood she was capable of forming and leading small groups like the clinic. But they had no concept of the depths of her experience and ability. Her mind went to the weapons Reid crafted for her, and her resolve hardened. She still wasn't going to reveal her healing skills, but couldn't stand by or give anything less than her actual best.

  For Reid and Lycra, she would become just a little more of her real self again.

  #

  Gathering everyone had been the hardest part of her rallying calls. As soon as the situation and her idea for a response was explained, most people started falling into line. There were few questions, and fewer complaints. Having the dead corpse of the vicipod certainly helped make the point that they needed to prepare and fight - but Win credited the unlikely support as the real gamechanger. The growing merchant 'faction' had made more than a few plays at power, but enough of their members were involved fighting the first bug to realize that they were in for a dire situation. Between the unlikely supporters and her own set of leaders in the groups she'd established, Win had all the influence of the Warrens on her side.

  If Win was wrong, and no enemy stormed their gates - well, a few naysayers would be right and she'd be happy.

  Power tools and proper mining equipment roared a deafening, reverberating tune. It was the first time most of the equipment had ever been touched.

  They'd all been at it for several hours straight now - and they needed to keep it up for hours more.

  Reid and Lycra had disliked the idea of separating to prepare, but she figured Reid probably wasn't going to like the plan, no matter what. If he fought in melee, Win was confident someone would start to figure out his secrets. And, this wasn't about running out and taking on a single powerful enemy, it was about fighting a horde. That meant she didn't need singular strength and she didn't need to put him at risk of exposing himself - she needed general improvements to capability and favorable adjustments to the field. She hadn't been kidding when she'd told him powerful people locked good smiths away for their ability. She wished they didn't so badly need Reid's osteomancy - but it was an unavoidable truth.

  A cart full of G-grade ivory spears and swords rolled past. It was the third one this hour, and part of Win's mind hoped Reid was giving himself enough time to rest between batches. But she knew he wasn't - and she was thankful for it. Win just hoped he kept enough energy in his tank to play the role she asked him to for the battle itself. If his beaming smile was any indication, Reid was at least well content with supporting the frontline at range.

  Just like she hadn't known how to control her energy at a suppressed level, most of the people here didn't know how to properly fight or use their skills while suppressed. The only hope she and they had of lasting against a larger force was to arm as many of them as possible. Pickaxes weren't enough. Makeshift weapons weren't enough. They needed the real deal, real weaponry - and they were getting it from Reid. His spears had already been tested against the vicipod corpse - and it was clear they would be a massive advantage in the fight to come.

  As members of the different teams rotated into 'rest' periods, Win used the time to drill them with some crash-course training. It was an awful excuse for proper teaching, but properly aligned thrusts and swings could make all the difference in the middle of a fight. She wished she had enough time to drill them into muscle-memory - but time wasn't a friend today. Instead, she tailored the lessons and forms to try and use the same sort of motions they would know from mining.

  One of the few groups she didn't need to train or supervise were the medics. Her fellow clinic volunteers were more than eager to be tapped for rapid injury response. A small group of minecarts sat in wait - full of bedding to soften the ride from battle back to medical care.

  Staccato explosions preceded a wave of dust and debris from one of the side tunnels, and drew her attention away from the medical carts.

  Win's main demolition force was handling the biggest thoroughfare - and that left the secondary forces and Lycra free to collapse all of the smaller side tunnels. There was no telling where some of those tunnels eventually led, and no one wanted to have enemies pop up at their back. The group assigned to assist Lycra were some of the most trustworthy people in the warrens - and she expected them to stay tight-lipped about the specifics around any explosive creations they saw. For everyone else, that team was simply using the Warrens' limited and so-far-untouched stock of mining charges extremely effectively.

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  She idly rubbed on her recently-repaired shoulder. It was risky, but she'd chosen to heal herself and Reid back fully. Selling a lie about recovery would be a far better alternative to getting hurt - or worse - because you weren't at top form.

  Another large portion of rock fell in the main tunnel, and Win watched the group reposition it.

  Lycra and his team may have been sealing tunnels, but the main tunnel group wasn't trying to seal the main tunnel off. Not completely.

  They wanted to make it appetizing enough that the creatures didn't start burrowing alternative paths into the main cavern. This far away from the hive mother that the vicipods should be single-minded enough to stay in the main, known path. Probably.

  The things would still get through a few at a time, but that would be manageable. The miners could last against a few at a time. Probably.

  A cart full of grass-weave armor squeaked by, followed closely by one that contained framing and supports made out of an acorn-like substance.

  Reid wasn't the only one with a skill that could craft. Most of the suppressed prisoners were unable to effectively use their skills, but there had been a few G-grades capable of production. She set them all on armor, supplemental weapons, and fortifications.

  Win took pride in the groups. They were a set of disparate people, brought together by common enemies and circumstance - but they rallied at her calls.

  A stream of volunteers flowed between the processors and the ration machines. She was having them buy out as much stock as possible before they sent out a request for help. Notes sprawled on paper, crystal, and metal slabs sat in front of Win. This would either get them assistance, or it would cripple their ability to stay fed and hydrated. It would be pretty shit to live through a vicipod attack just to starve to death. The literal piles of rations and water were already higher than her head.

  Another minecart came in from a different direction, pushed by a sweat-drenched Bartholomew. Win gave the goat a thankful nod. Even using power tools, mining black stone out of the hot tunnel was strenuous work. Bart didn't even know what it was for, and he still volunteered to take on the job - maybe as thanks for de-escalating the earlier situation at the processor. Maybe it was guilt, or a show of deference. No matter what, he'd taken on a job she needed done.

  He stopped in front of her, and she inspected a few of the pieces. Bart panted out a question.

  "Been meaning to ask. Why this size?"

  Win curled her fingers and made a throwing motion. "Did you hear the story about how Roc got his first mole kill?" She didn't wait for a response. "Took one of these and hurled it straight through a whole mole. Not into one - but through it. Chest to flank." She tossed the rock back into the cart, and looked to where the other two black-stone minecarts waited. "Man's as close as we have to living artillery, and that means every one of these you bring back is a dead bug. We have enough, we might just survive."

  Bart nodded, and let out a pursed breath as he moved the cart next to the others, then grabbed an empty one to fill.

  Win watched the work, trained people when she could, and interceded when necessary. Her own words played back in her mind on loop for a while before she realized they were actually her father's phrase. 'If everyone does enough, and everyone pulls together, then we survive'.

  #

  The phrase was fresh in her mind as she surveyed the gathered fighters. Lycra and Reid sat on a raised platform above and behind her - ready to rain down thrown projectiles as soon as the bugs started to overwhelm the fighters.

  Scouts had given the awaited report - the enemy was on their way. Machinery rumbled with the efforts of last-minute work and alterations. Win had offered to have them all come back, but two crews were adamant about working up to the last possible moments.

  As she surveyed the crowd, Win could practically smell the stale air in the tent where she'd first heard her father use the cherished phrase. She remembered herself, parroting the same words to her own forces just before her first battle - and her second, and nearly every time after that. The threat of the vicipods has seen old skills and habits return to her - and the assembled people, weaponry, armor, battlements, and traps were all evidence to that.

  Her tail twitched. How long had it been since her last real battle?

  She pushed energy into herself as she spoke, and her voice carried.

  "Less than two days ago, I gathered you all and told you what was coming for us. You answered with the unshakable resolve I'd expect from any of us that survives down here. I am proud of you all. You've worked hard, and I thank you for that." Win gave the gathered forces a bow. "The fight is here, and it will be damn tough. But if everyone does enough, and everyone pulls together, then we'll survive." She waited a few seconds to let the words sink in. "That's it - the whole speech. Now help me kick some ass."

  Saying the words aloud sent a twinge of nostalgic pride surging through Win. She hopped off the acorn-crafted battlement, and strode through a surprised but parting crowd. They wore a mixed assembly of grass weaves, simple bone plate, or salvaged armor. Win had taken some scavenged mole den items out from her storage ring to help equip the miners - and from the large number of people wearing metal armor, she hadn't been alone in hiding a few pieces of scavenged equipment. A final line of fighters separated and revealed the main tunnel's opening.

  This was where their survival would be decided.

  Win had seen the vast expanse of churning insects. If they had to go toe to toe with all of the things, they would lose. There were simply too many. Even now, they needed to pull out nearly all their potential advantages to try and beat the things back. Hive mothers always started a nest assault with an exploratory vanguard strike. If they beat the initial force, the hive mother might not send a second. If it did, and enough bugs died, there was a good chance the hive mother would consider it a lost cause, and search for easier nests to conquer.

  Reid's crafting had given Win a good excuse to retrieve her ivory equipment from her storage ring, and pass it off as 'freshly made' equipment. The bone armor seemed to gleam in the artificial light. Her eyes traced over a few of the false scales, and her hand tightened around her spear.

  Her focus narrowed to herself, and she allowed herself to simply feel the moment.

  She wielded Ascheron's Ascendance in her hands. She had Augestin's Scales to protect her.

  She took a deep breath. In - and out.

  Some of the miners gave her concerned looks - or no, that was wrong. These people volunteered to fight after Win told them there would be a hellish battle - she would consider them warriors. But she understood the looks she received.

  Generals and leaders rarely fought from the vanguard - and if Win was anything to this group, she was the general in charge.

  But across centuries of defense and conquest, Win had never been one to sit at the back of the fight. It was one of the best traits she'd picked up from her father.

  Another breath cycled through her, and she activated a self-empowerment technique. It would've stayed unavailable to her, in her suppressed state, if not for Nyx's teachings. She'd need it now, for the fight to come. The energy seeping through her muscles made her stand just a bit taller.

  Screeching and chittering echoed up and out of the hole, and a dozen workers dropped tools as they sprinted out of the opening and back past the warriors. Brave - Win thought. They'd continued the work far longer than she'd dared to hope. The crowd parted to let them pass, then closed up again. The gathered forces and their poorly arranged formation would've made her professors at the war college weep.

  But formation wouldn't be the deciding factor. Not today. Grit. Will. Blood. Ferocity. Those were the items of substance left when everything else went sideways.

  This wasn't the worst group she'd ever led into a fight. And jumping into battle with one 'workable' arm? She'd done something like that before.

  She'd lost a few fights. She'd been bested in some games of wit and subterfuge. Outdone in one devious political plot. But none had ever managed to truly best her - nor her forces - on the battlefield.

  That wasn't about to change now.

  Her nostrils flared, and she slammed the butt of her spear on the ground as she activated a long-untouched skill.

  Rallying Cry [Epic]

  Scales with Level. Grants nearby allies bonuses to health and increases attacking power. Reduces allies' stress, fatigue, and fear.

  To these people, she was a leader. To Reid and Lycra, a healer. To her patients at the clinic, an apothecary.

  But Win's truth was far more complex.

  She let another habit return to her. Her recital would hold no power at G-grade, but she chanted the harsh guttural words anyway, confident the system wouldn't translate her mother tongue to the gathered forces. These words were for her alone. She continued to drum her spear on the ground as she shouted towards the tunnel - and her foes.

  "I am slow to anger, but first to action."

  Thump... Thump... Thump...

  "I am the steward and the striking spear."

  Approaching beasts were just visible in the distant, fractured light of the mostly-collapsed tunnel.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  Feet and spears joined the accelerating beat. Win lifted her weapon high above her head, and pulsed her one 'good' arm with the growing chorus.

  "My heart beats with the will of an empire."

  Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump.

  The enemy was closing in. She ground her teeth and roared out the next words. The gathered crowd echoed her roar as the tempo continued to climb.

  "My magics blaze supreme."

  Thump thump thump thump.

  Heat rose in her chest.

  "I am Auluwin the Indomitable."

  Thump-thump-thump-thump.

  Time seemed to slow as the first vicipod emerged.

  Her spear flashed forward and tore two holes in its main body, then broke three legs in half. It let out a screech as her weapon plunged into one of its eyes. She used it like a lever and slammed the bug to the ground, then tore a long channel-like cut towards its top. Legs spasmed and curled as the kill notification popped into her view. She tore her weapon free of the dead beast as she finished.

  "So long as I stand, Ascheron knows no defeat."

  nearly identical to the original version in her character notes. (Striking sword vs striking spear was the most notable change)

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