Cap, Aquila, and Kasumi sat on the deck of Daiki’s house drinking coffee and tea and watched the army march towards the wall in the distance, the morning sun glinting off their polearms. In the end, it had taken most of the afternoon to finish drawing the defences before Aquila looked at the sketches to bring them to life. Now three lines of walls stretched around the village, one crossing the view from the deck. Cap sighed, staring into the distance, barely noticing any of it.

    “Well, it’s still mostly a good view,” Aquila said. “I suppose I’ll have to take the walls down again once this is all over.”

    “Probably,” Kasumi said.

    “How long do you suppose Daiki and Athena will be gone?” Aquila wondered.

    Cap shrugged, still staring into the distance. “How long does it take anybody to meet with royalty and discuss a battle plan based on defences that didn’t exist before yesterday?”

    Cap felt Aquila’s gaze on him. He didn’t turn to look at her. “What is it?” he asked.

    “You’re distracted,” she replied. “What is it?”

    Cap took a deep breath and looked at her. “I’m going to have to break my promise tomorrow.”

    “Ah,” Aquila said, leaning forward. “They already have the sturdy walls and defences that you designed. You’ve done your part. You could just stay out of it.”

    Cap shook his head. “They’re going to need both of us out there.”

    “So do what you normally do,” Aquila said. “Knock them out instead of killing them.”

    Cap shook his head again. “A battle like this doesn’t work that way. Anybody you don’t kill can get back up and take out somebody on your side. No holding back or trying to incapacitate – every attack is to kill as fast as possible and then move on to the next target. I’m the only one who is bulletproof, so taking out siege equipment before they can get it close enough to the walls will be my problem. I’m going to kill a lot of people tomorrow. We both are.”

    Aquila nodded. “I know. I’m not looking forward to it.”

    “Have you ever been in a fight like this before?”

    Aquila shook her head. “At most it’s been three-on-one.”

    “Do everything at range and stay behind the safety of the walls,” Cap said. “Let me worry about anything beyond them. This is a numbers game. The more we kill and the faster we kill them, the sooner the battle is over and the Devil King comes to the table.”

    Aquila glared at him. “You know, I have protected myself against bullets. Back in my war, I had to fight against two mechs, both of which were firing explosive high-velocity rounds. None of them even came close to touching me.”

    “That’s two targets,” Cap stated. “Tomorrow you’ll be up against ten thousand.”

    Aquila opened her mouth to protest, but then Kasumi took her hand in hers. Aquila sighed and nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to let you handle anything too far beyond the wall.” She looked at Kasumi and muttered, “I’m not fragile, you know.”

    Daiki and Athena sat at the table. “Is the coffee still any good?” Daiki asked.

    Cap shrugged. “It’s passable.”

    “I’ll take it,” Daiki said, pouring himself a cup. “Not much left, I guess.” He took a sip and made a face. “On second thought, I think I’ll have tea.”

    “So, how did it go?” Aquila asked.

    “Pretty well, all things considered,” Athena said. “The new walls took them by surprise, but they already knew how best to use them. We had to explain the barbed wire, though.”

    “Wait, why aren’t you drinking the coffee?” Daiki said, staring at Aquila’s cup. “That’s tea in there.”

    Aquila pointed at Cap. “He’s the only one stupid enough to drink two-day old-coffee. Well, other than you, I guess.”

    Cap shrugged. “I’m bulletproof. I’m also slightly–gone-off-coffee-proof.”

    “What happened to drinking it all before it went bad?” Daiki asked.

    Aquila swallowed, looking slightly pale. “I tried.”

    Athena blinked. “So all that commotion last night with that new bathroom you gave us was...”

    Kasumi nodded. “...what happens when somebody drinks almost two litres of day-and-a-half-old coffee at once.”

    Athena patted Daiki on the shoulder. “I’ll go make us some tea.”

    “They’re going to be occupying the positions today and ranging their weapons,” Daiki said. “Not much for us to do but wait.”

    “And what did they think of your plan to get the Devil King to sit down and talk?” Cap asked.

    “They are skeptical, but willing to try,” Athena replied. “Before the invasion, they wouldn’t have considered it, but now...let’s just say that the first battles at the border didn’t go very well.”

    “Maybe we should have given them machine guns,” Kasumi mused. “I could have drawn them.”

    Cap shook his head. “No point. Without months of training, they’re better off with the weapons they have.”

    Athena returned with two cups of steaming hot tea and sat down. “We had to talk them out of trying to conscript Kasumi, by the way,” she said. “They wanted her to create new walls across the kingdom.”

    Aquila chuckled. “Just let them try.”

    “How did you talk them out of it?” Kasumi asked.

    “We showed them the hill Aquila destroyed,” Daiki replied. “And pointed out that if they conscripted her girlfriend, she probably wouldn’t be on their side anymore.”

    “Have they decided where we’re going to be on the wall?” Cap asked.

    Daiki nodded. “I’ll show you after lunch.”

    Athena smiled. “And we’re far away from the other idiots.”

    “We’re going to need to know where the aid and casualty clearing stations are too,” Cap stated.

    “They should have those set up by this afternoon,” Daiki said.

    Kasumi took a deep breath. “What am I supposed to do?”

    Aquila looked at her and smiled. “Stay out of danger and wait for the battle to be over.”

    “But, surely I can help out,” Kasumi said. “I can–”

    Aquila put her hand on Kasumi’s. “As much as you need to not have to worry about me, I need to not be worrying about you. I can’t fight them properly and protect you at the same time.”

    Cap gave her a smile and hoped it would help. “I’ll have her back.”

    Kasumi glared at him. “You take care of her, superhero.”

    “I will. No Magnificent Seven on my watch.”

    Beside him, Cap heard Daiki take a deep breath.

    “So one way or another,” Daiki said, “the war ends tomorrow.”

NEXT: “Battle”