Grunt Work

Hostile Takeover

Mr Huggles wasn't used to having extra people on board, but it was just for a little bit. He'd been given a ride in Kaptain Kraken's submersible until he was about an hour away from San Francisco, at which point my team and I met up with him and the others. There was no big speech. Not by the Kaptain - which was odd, because he likes a good motivational speech, but I was told he was resting his instrument. I wasn't sure which instrument, or why it needed a rest, until Katya took me aside and told me it meant his voice. Not even Winnie gave a speech, just a brief briefing.

'You all did such a good job yesterday,' she said, pointing at Team Beastcoast, and then to the other squads, 'that we only really have a few places to hit. Once the initial wave hits, we just need to keep control of them.'

'What sort of resistance should we expect?' asked Jeff, who was heading up his own squad.

'Minimal resistance,' Winnie replied. 'The police force is in our pockets, and I and the other henchlings will keep any National Guard forces tied up until we're done.'

'What about...other forces?' someone I didn't recognise asked nervously.

Winnie shook her head. 'Hiéroe won't enter another Elemental's territory without permission. And while Ka 'Ili'ili is technically also operational within the US territory, he's on holiday at the moment so no need to worry about the Pebble. And while San Francisco has its own band of minor supers, I don't want you to concern yourselves with them. Just hunker down and report their positions and we'll take care of them, just like in the simulations. Any more questions?'

We didn't have any, and so Winnie laid out the plan.

I wish I had asked why I was in the first wave, then, because as Mr Huggles burst out of the water and landed onto the piers in Fisherman's Wharf I wondered if I really wanted to be the focus point of the invasion.

'We're just the distraction,' Katya said, and I wondered again if she was psychic.

'Nah,' Johnnie said, 'you just talk to yourself a lot.'

I do? I don't think I talk to myself a lot. I was about to ask when a car screeched to a halt besides Mr Huggles, gently bumping into him.

'Hey! Hey you!' I yelled to the driver. 'Can I borrow your car for a second?' but the driver got out and ran away before giving me an answer. 'Thanks! I just need it to do a thing,' I told Mr Huggles to pick up a couple more parked cars as we made our way inland and he waved them above his head, letting out a loud screech that drowned out the yells of the civvies. I saw some police cars block our way and, remembering that they were on our side, told the others to not shoot at them, but once we passed them I gave them the okay to start shooting at anything they wanted. 'Not people though,' I reminded them. 'We just want to make a lot of noise.'

'Sure thing, boss,' said Manish, and him calling me that surprised me. I wasn't their boss, I was just the one driving. He and Johnnie took careful aim with their rifles, taking out tires of cars still driving so that they would stop and clog up the roads, while taking a few potshots at those parked so that their alarms would go off. Katya and Theo, meanwhile, shot at the buildings we passed and occasionally hit them.

I got a little bit turned round so took a random left and found myself on Mason Street and saw, in the distance inland - I think, it's a little bit hard to judge with a city this size - a tall building, and directed Mr Huggles towards it. It probably wasn't the skyscraper I was supposed to hit but I don't think the Kaptain or Winnie would mind too much. But as we trudged up the long, long, long hill, I saw it looked to be a residential looking building and I began to have second thoughts. Time was getting on, though, and I had to cause a big ruckus for the others, so had Mr Huggles lob his collection of cars at it, smashing into the high rise apartments in an explosion of glass. I felt a bit guilty at that, but it had the intended effect, because somewhere in the maze of streets a loud horn sounded. It wasn't an alarm, or a siren, but an actual horn.

Police cars started showing up and surrounded as so that we couldn't leave, but that was okay since they didn't shoot, though why they would shoot at a giant Kraken was anyone's guess. But behind them stepped out a giant man who rode on the back of an elk. He blew into a horn as his ride jumped over the police cars and stopped in front of us.

'You there! Scum of the earth! Halt!' he yelled at us.

'Hey, no need to be rude like that,' I called down to him. 'We have feelings, you know.'

'You have attacked my city!' he continued, not apologising. 'And I will have my vengeance for your skullduggery! For I am-'

I didn't learn his name because when he called me a skulldugger - whatever that is, but it sounds bad - I had Mr Huggles swat at him with one of his tentacles, and the super went flying into the pretty whitewashed houses at the intersection. He didn't come back out.

The police started shouting something, but I ignored them as I looked around. I realised that I had messed up. This whole area looked to be residential, and I should have been further downtown. 'Hey! Hey you, officer! 'Can you tell me where Van Ness Avenue is?'

The police officer who was yelling into his mic stopped to look at me, then look at one of his colleagues, then back to me. He didn't say anything, but just pointed in the direction that I took to be south west.

'Much obliged!' I said, giving him a thumbs-up, then headed off in that direction. Team Beastcoast let off a few rounds in the air.

It was a long, long trek. New Zealand feels pretty large, but it's a small place when compared to America, and I don't understand how the people who live here can stand to walk everywhere. Anyhoo, Mr Huggles picked up a few more cars along the way, and eventually we made it to Twitter HQ, which was a tall - not skyscraper tall, just impressively tall - stone white building. It looked like some of our forces had already reached it, so Mr Huggles settled for putting a few holes in the side of the nearby City Hall with his collection of cars, and settled in for the wait.

We weren't waiting long, though. Our phones came to life in our pockets. Not just ours, but the police officers who surrounded us paused their threats to look at theirs. From every phone, every devide in the entire city came one voice:

'Hello San Francisco,' said the Kaptain.