Heroine Creation: All My Summons Are Custom Made

In the bastion city known as State X, a Penitentiary transport vehicle barrelled down a discreet road.

Inside the prisoners chamber, Caelem sat with his back against the wall and his hands locked in Gracebreakers.

He looked like a ghost of his past, handsome self. Months inside the last base had already stripped weight from his body. His shoulders were still broad, but his uniform hung looser now, and the white hair that once fell cleanly around his face had grown rough and uneven.

Muskard sat opposite him.

The red mutation around his right arm had faded to a dull stain beneath the Gracebreakers. Without access to his Cursed Spirits, he looked thinner than ever. His cheek carried an old bruise that had yellowed around the edges, and one lens of his glasses had been replaced with cheap glass.

Linzley was on the floor between them with her knees pulled to her chest.

Her multicolored hair had lost its shape months ago. The pigtails were gone, leaving tangled strands around a face marked by small cuts and fading swelling. She had been quiet for most of the journey, tracing circles against the floor with one finger.

None of their Summons were with them.

Big Foot, Lycan Lord, Bathsheba, Enenra, Sunshine, Mummy and the rest had all been untethered before they entered the Penitentiary.

It had been the most painful experience any of them had ever had and the trauma stuck on to their minds every moment they stayed silent.

Caelem pulled once against the Gracebreakers. The chain answered with a hard rattle.

”The Serpent Society will get what’s coming to them. Framing us like this. I’ll kill them all!”

Muskard sighed beside him. ”There’s nothing we can do, Caelem. We’re just as weak as Unawakened humans, even weaker with how we barely eat. Just give it up.”

Caelem scowled, glaring at the iron floor. ”It’s all Lancet’s fault.”

Muskard shut his eyes. He had heard the same sentence every few days for months.

”No,” he said.

Caelem looked at him. ”He humiliated us.”

”We attacked him and tried to force him into the Society.”

”He ruined our reputation. I can accept being in chains but to be disgraced like that!”

Muskard leaned forward as far as the chain allowed..”Lancet did nothing to us that we had not already tried to do to him.”

Caelem’s silver-grey eyes hardened, then he turned his face away.

Muskard sat back against the wall. ”The Serpent Society promised us membership and security. They gave us assignments and then they framed us the moment we became inconvenient. They are the reason we were expelled. They are the reason we ended up in the Penitentiary.”

Caelem’s jaw tightened. ”I know! I hate them too but— ugh!”

The transport struck a rut. Linzley’s shoulder bumped the wall, but she did not react.

Muskard looked down at her. ”Are you alright?”

”I miss Sunshine.” Her voice came small and dry.

Caelem glanced toward her and she continued tracing the circle.

”And Mummy. I miss all of them. Do you think they still remember me?”

Neither man answered. Linzley pressed her finger harder against the metal until the nail bent. ”They really hated me in there.”

Muskard looked away. Everyone hated them everywhere.

Without their Summons, the Terrible Three had become three young prisoners with no protection and too much pride.

Caelem had fought often. Muskard had learned when not to. Linzley had stopped laughing.

The vehicle suddenly slowed. All three looked toward the sealed rear door.

”Are we there?” Caelem asked.

Muskard listened.

The wheels were still moving, but the engine had dropped into a lower hum. Boots crossed the roof above them. A guard shouted something from the front, too muffled to understand.

”Hey!”

Boom! Blast!

Linzley sat up immediately. ”What the...”

They heard a small blast, then the sound of metal striking metal outside.

A sharp scrape ran along the vehicle’s side and the vehicle lurched. Linzley grabbed the chain between her cuffs.

”What the hell was that?”

Muskard stood as far as the floor restraint allowed and tried to reach the window. He could not see much, only branches sliding past the narrow strip of reinforced glass.

A whistle cut through the air outside.

Something punched through the front section of the vehicle with enough force to shake the entire compartment.

A guard screamed and the transport swerved hard.

Caelem hit the wall shoulder-first. Muskard lost his footing and dropped to one knee while Linzley slid across the floor until her chain snapped tight.

BANG! THRASH!

The vehicle crashed against something solid. A rock, a tree, another vehicle? None of the Terribles knew.

The rear lifted before slamming back onto the road. Metal buckled. One of the ceiling lights shattered and rained glass over the floor.

Linzley, Caelem and Muskard laid down on the floor, silent, hearts beating rapidly.

What the hell was going on?!!

They heard sudden gunfire and magic erupting outside. The Penitentiary guards shouted commands over one another.

”Defensive line!”

”Protect the transport!”

”Contact on both sides!”

A second whistle came through the trees. This one ended with a wet impact and a man screaming as he was pulled out of sight.

Muskard dragged himself closer to the rear door. ”I’ll try to get a look!”

Caelem was on it already as he pressed one eye to the lowest gap. He saw boots crossing the road, black coats and masks shaped like serpent heads.

One of the Penitentiary guards raised a Graceblaster and fired. The shot struck a tree as the masked attacker twisted aside. A chain tipped with a narrow spearhead flew from the man’s sleeve, wrapped around the guard’s chest and snapped tight.

The attacker jerked his arm and the guard left the ground. He crossed the road fast enough to lose his helmet, then slammed into the attacker’s waiting blade. The weapon went through him below the ribs.

”Holy fucking shit!”

Another guard rushed from the side.

A second masked man caught his face with a gauntleted hand and drove him head-first into the transport wall. The first impact stunned him. The next split the back of his skull against the iron plate.

Linzley crawled closer. ”Who are they?”

Muskard saw the serpent badge sewn beneath one attacker’s shoulder.

His stomach tightened. ”It’s the Serpent Society.”

Caelem looked at him.

Outside, the last guards tried to regroup near the front of the wreck. One formed a barrier while another dragged an injured man behind it.

Three serpent chains flew at once.

The first wrapped around the barrier Mage’s ankle and pulled his feet from under him. The second punched through the barrier before it stabilized and entered his shoulder. The third caught the wounded guard around the throat.

The Extractors pulled in different directions and the barrier collapsed.

The remaining guards died in the opening.

Silence followed, broken only by the damaged engine and someone choking near the road.

Inside the transport, the three prisoners stared at one another.

Caelem’s breathing quickened. ”They came for us.”

Muskard did not answer him.

The rear lock turned. Linzley moved behind Caelem as far as her chain allowed.

The doors opened.

Daylight entered the compartment, harsh after hours under the dim ceiling lamps. Two masked Extractors stood outside among the bodies. Blood marked their coats, but neither appeared injured.

One stepped into the vehicle.

Caelem looked at the badge on his chest and frowned with confusion. He and Muskard shared a glance.

”So they didn’t betray us?”

Linzley’s eyes brightened. ”Yeah!”

She pushed herself upright. ”Everything I said about you people before was a joke. I was just upset.”

The Extractor stopped. Linzley hurried toward him, dragging her floor chain behind her.

”We knew you’d come back.”

She reached the open doors and jumped down from the vehicle.

But just as she was about to wrap her arms around him, his fist struck her mouth.

Linzley’s head snapped back.

Caelem’s eyes widened.

The man punched her again across her cheek, sending blood spraying over the side of the transport.

Linzley tried to raise her cuffed hands, but the third strike broke through them and crushed into her nose. The fourth sent her to the road.

She collapsed without a sound.

Muskard froze.

Caelem surged against his Gracebreakers so hard the chain cut into his wrists. ”What are you doing?”

The Extractor bent, unlocked Linzley’s Gracebreakers, grabbed her by the back of her ruined uniform and lifted her over one shoulder.

Blood ran from her face down the back of his coat. He turned toward the second vehicle hidden beyond the trees.

The other Extractor pointed into the transport. ”You two. Get down.”

Caelem stared at Linzley’s hanging arm. Muskard moved closer to him.

”I don’t think they’re here to help us, Caelem.”

The Extractor raised his hand and the serpent chain threatened to shoot out. ”Get down. Now.”

Caelem and Muskard still stayed inside. ”Fuck you, Serpents! And fuck Noctis Dyingbird!”

The serpent chain shot forward immediately, but it never reached the vehicle. A thin whir suddenly crossed the road right at that moment.

Something struck the Extractor from the side with such force that he vanished from the doorway.

The chain snapped loose in the air.

Everyone stopped.

A body tore through a tree to the left, broke it at the middle and continued into another tree. The man hit hard enough to spread across the trunk before what remained of him dropped into the brush.

The Extractor carrying Linzley turned. Muskard and Caelem froze solid.

Everyone in the road stood silent.

The other man searched the trees while the one carrying Linzley lowered her.

”What was that?” he demanded, preparing his serpent chains. ”Who’s there?”

The whir came again and his head turned just in time to see what it was. A giant hammer covered with lightning.

It struck his face.

BLAST! SPLAT!

Bone, mask and teeth burst into pulp under the impact. The hammer sped on as his body slumped to the ground.

It rose high into the air, carried by bolts of lightning until it stopped inside the open hand of Thor Stormchild.

The Valkyrie hovered above the road.

Wind pushed her pale hair behind her. Her armor caught the sun gathering across the sky, and electricity moved along her arm into the hammer’s head.

The Extractors farther down the road looked up.

One shouted, ”Get her!”

Another ran for the trees. ”Run!”

Caelem and Muskard leaned through the open doors and stared. ”She’s helping us...?” Caelem whispered.

Thor looked down at the bodies, then at Linzley lying beside the vehicle. Her grip tightened around the hammer.

”Astensia,” she said under her breath, ”you will have to forgive me.”

Lightning gathered around her hammer.

”But these men deserve no punishment except death.”