Evolution

by R S Penney

  Jena landed.

  She jumped and kicked him between the shoulder blades, sending him careening toward his partner. Hopefully, the woman was still… A small, dark figure came flying over Flagg's head.

  Two shoes slammed into Jena's chest, and then she was knocked off her feet. She landed on her ass in the middle of the rooftop, skidding across the rooftop and wheezing as pain filled her body.

  Valeth was standing with one knee raised, one hand above her head in some kind of stance that almost certainly belonged to one of the strange martial art forms to arise from this planet. The woman broke into a spring.

  Curling her legs up against her chest, Jena sprang off the ground and landed on her feet. She brought both fists up in a boxer's stance just before her opponent drew near.

  Valeth threw a punch.

  Jena leaned back, catching the woman's wrist in one hand. The other fist came at her quickly, but Jena caught that too. A little effort, and she was able to fling the woman's arms apart, leaving her open.

  Jena punched her in the nose, drawing blood on impact. She stepped forward and delivered an uppercut to Valeth's stomach, one that landed with enough force to lift the woman off her feet.

  With a growl, Jena seized her enemy's shirt and pulled her close. A surge of power went through her as she called upon her Nassai to twist the gravity field around Valeth's body. Then she flung the woman sideways.

  Valeth went flying toward the edge of the rooftop, where – if there was any justice in this universe – she would topple over and fall ten stories to her bloody death. There was a twisting sensation that suggested gravity had been warped again. Valeth landed in a crouch near the ledge.

  Something was wrong-

  Jena spun around just in time to see Flagg towering over her and delivering a hard jab that took her right between the eyes. Everything went dark for half a moment, but it was all the man needed.

  Another punch hit her nose, and she was forced to bend over. A fist came down against her spine, and she was thrown onto her belly, stretched out like a worm in the dirt. It hurt so damn much!

  In her confusion, she barely noticed the man pacing a small circle around her. He kicked her square in the ribs, and then she was rolling across the rooftop, hissing and growling as the hard concrete scraped her skin.

  She collided with the stairwell door.

  It was the only thing that prevented her from going right over the edge, but that did nothing to ease the pain of the impact. Jena rolled onto her stomach, then pushed herself up on extended arms. “Come on!” she said. “Get up!”

  They were coming toward her, side by side, moving in for the kill together. Thus far, she had been able to keep them off balance, force them to attack her one at a time, but now…Just as she figured; this wasn't going to go well for her.

  Bullets flew through the shattered windows of the cop car, whistling as they zipped past and slammed into the side of the blue van that the first set of Slade's thugs had used. Everyone on her side of the cruiser stayed low.

  Anna closed her eyes, breathing deeply to clear her mind. “All right,” she said with a nod. “Raynar, pay attention to the stunned prisoners! You sense even the slightest bit of consciousness, shoot em!”

  “Yes, ma'am!”

  “Can you do that and prepare a surprise for our friends over there?”

  In her mind's eye, he was smiling down at the ground, shaking his head with joyful amusement. “You really underestimate me, don't you, Anna?” he said. “One rather nasty surprise coming right up!”

  Just like that, she noticed that bullets were no longer pelting the cop car or coming through the windows. Instead, they were scarring the front walls of houses on either side of the street. Anna hissed with a spike of alarm. Raynar had claimed this neighbourhood had been evacuated, but there was always a small chance that someone might be taking refuge in one of those homes.

  She popped up to peek through the window and found two men standing on either side of the black van, firing desperately at houses. Whatever it was that Raynar had made them see, it did the job. “Now!” she growled.

  On her right, Pedro and two of his men popped up to fire over the hood of the cop car. On her left, Gabi and Aamani did the same over the trunk. Anna took aim through the windows, sighting one man with her pistol.

  She fired.

  A bullet to the side of his neck made him spasm and drop his rifle. He collapsed to the ground mere moments later. Another stun-round took the man next to him, but Anna couldn't say who had fired it.

  “There are more!” Raynar warned. “Taking cover behind the van!”

  “Nobody moves!” Anna said. “We let them come to us, we don't-”

  “Sweet Mercy above,” Raynar hissed from behind her, and before she could even think to ask what had spooked him, he came up and seized her shoulder with one hand. “Something is coming…Something that isn't human!”

  “What?”

  “I can't describe it, but-”

  Suddenly, a figure appeared, rising up from behind the black van to land perched on the vehicle's surface. And just like that, the shooting stopped. This newcomer was a short and slender woman in cargo pants and a sports bra.

  She leaped before anyone could blink and flipped through the air to land in the “no man's land” between the van and the cruisers. Straightening, she took all of three seconds to survey her surroundings, and that gave Anna a chance to confirm her suspicions.

  A petite woman with a delicate frame, the ziarogat had some kind of panel between her breasts, bulging from under the fabric of her sports bra. The only visible hair on her body came in the form of two thin eyebrows that were even paler than her milky-white skin. Jack named the one he killed, Anna thought, remembering her apprehension from just a few days ago, her concern that she was becoming to accustomed to violence. Thus far, the only blood on her hands belonged to Wesley Pennfield, and if she had to add to that tally, she wouldn't do it lightly. Okay, Blanche…If you really want a fight.

  The ziarogat charged forward.

  She leaped and somersaulted over the cruisers, uncurling to land with her back to them. “Keep the others off me!” Anna shouted. “This one's mine!”

  Blanche spun around.

  Anna charged at her, bent over, like a bull trying to run down a matador. She leaped and stretched both arms out, catching Blanche's shoulders and forcing the woman down onto her back.

  Anna rose into a handstand.

  A touch of Bent Gravity allowed her to push off the other woman and she flipped upright to land on the roof of the blue van that had belonged to the first squad of Slade's goons that Jena had taken down.

  Anna jumped off, landing crouched in the middle of the street. Take the bait, she thought, shaking her head. Come on! Why waste your energy on a bunch of rabbits when you can hunt a gorgeous doe like me.

  Blanche didn't disappoint. The ziarogat landed hard on the roof of the van, pausing for a moment to take stock of the situation with lips pressed into a tight frown. She thrust one fist out, aiming the gun that was built into her gauntlet.

  Anna twisted around, raising one hand to shield herself, and just like that a Bending snapped into place. The image of Blanche became a smear of bright colours just before a bullet hit the patch of warped space-time and veered off to Anna's left.

  The ziarogat dropped from the van to land beside her.

  Anna rose and spun to face the other woman with fists raised into a boxer's stance, strands of red hair falling over her face.

  Blanche raised her weapon.

  With a thought, Anna threw up a time bubble just before a bullet erupted from the tube on Blanche's gauntlet. A small lead slug that spiraled as it made its way toward the barrier between Anna's time-frame and the rest of the world. Its master shimmered and wobbled as if seen through a curtain of falling water. Anna took one step to the right and let the bubble drop.

  She kicked Blanche's wrist, knocking the weapon askew, then spun for a hook-kick. He
r foot swung around to clip Blanche across the chin. A blow that would have knocked teeth out of any normal person's mouth. The ziarogat staggered.

  Anna whirled around to face her.

  She jumped and kicked out with both feet, planting two gray sneaker's in Blanche's chest with enough force to crack that panel. The other woman went stumbling backward, but if destruction of that panel did anything, Blanche didn't show it.

  Quick as a cat, Anna charged forward and gave a shove, augmenting the blow with a touch of Bent Gravity. Blanche went flying backward toward the houses at the side of the street. She crashed through an arch-shaped front window and landed sprawled out in some guy's living room. The Bleakness take her impulsiveness! That was a dumb move! She was fairly certain that this neighbourhood had been evacuated, but if she was wrong, it could mean some innocent person's life. Worse yet, her skin was on fire with a million little pinpricks. Seth was getting tired.

  Anna closed her eyes, sweat oozing from her pores. She mopped a hand over her face by instinct. “Come on, Lenai,” she hissed, fighting through the wooziness that came from the overuse of her powers. “Let's go.”

  She pulled her own pistol from its holster.

  Blanche appeared in the hole that had once been a window, thrusting her arm out to point a fist at Anna. Despite Seth's protests, Anna threw up another time bubble and took one step to the left.

  She let the bubble drop, then raised her weapons and fired. A screen of white static appeared before Blanche, covering the entirety of the window. Bullets bounced uselessly off the force-field.

  “EMP!” Anna growled.

  The LEDs on her gun turned white.

  She fired and sent a series of white tracers flying over the road, up the house's front lawn and through the window. The force-field flickered, then vanished as they went right through it, and Blanche stumbled backward.

  The ziarogat seemed completely unfazed by the damage. Instead of collapsing to the floor in pain, she raised her arm to aim her weapon.

  Anna dove, landing hard on her belly while a stream of bullets flew over her back. She raised her weapon and fired once again. White tracers sped toward the open window where Blanche tried to adjust her aim.

  They punched through the ziarogat's chest, causing her to spasm while current that would kill a normal human being arced through her body. Silver blood splashed outward from the wound, but Blanche recovered quickly.

  Anna's body was aching, her head spinning. In the back of her mind, she felt Seth's terror at the knowledge that he could do nothing to help her. Crafting yet another Bending was out of the question.

  Blanche raised her weapon…and nothing happened.

  Instead of firing, the ziarogat just stood in the window with one arm outstretched, frozen in place like a computer that just wouldn't respond. The expression on her face was perfectly neutral. What…

  Anna looked over her shoulder.

  Raynar stood with one hand pressed to the side of the van, bent over and gasping with every breath. Sweat made his face glisten. “Kill her!” he panted. “Do it! I can't hold her still forever!”

  Anna raised her weapon with arms that ached from the strain. Keeping her hands from shaking required quite a bit of effort. “Standard ammo!” she growled. The LEDs on her pistol went dark.

  She fired.

  A hole appeared in Blanche's forehead, and silver blood sprayed out behind her, landing on the carpet of that otherwise pristine living room. The ziarogat dropped to her knees, then fell face down in the window.

  Raynar let out a soft sigh.

  Baring her teeth in a snarl, Anna winced. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. “The others?” she asked in a voice thick with anger. “Have we subdued the rest of Slade's minions?”

  Pressing his lips together, Raynar closed his eyes. He nodded once in confirmation. “Two of Pedro's officers got shot,” he mumbled. “One of Slade's men is dead as well. The rest are stunned.”

  “Good,” she said. Getting to her feet required so much effort! Her muscles felt like they had been turned to jelly. That was the price of overworking your Nassai. “Get them loaded up, and let's get out of here. We'll take both of the vans if we can manage it, but I want us back at the police station.”

  “And Jena?”

  A shiver went through Anna when she considered that question. “If Jena's alive, she will find her way back on her own.”

  Jena got to her feet, then doubled over with a hand on her stomach, heaving out a gasp. “You two,” she said, shaking her head. “You're just not gonna give up until I smack the stupid right out of you.”

  Just ten paces away, Flagg and Valeth came toward her side by side. The man wore a nasty rictus smile that made his intentions clear and left her skin crawling. Valeth, on the other hand, was all business. An executioner on her way to throw the switch. Taking them on together would be next to impossible. But the mark of a good tactician was to turn the impossible into the doable.

  Jena ran at them.

  She threw up a time bubble when she got within a few feet. Or…Well, more of a “time-tube.” A perfect sphere was the easiest type of bubble to create, but other shapes were possible. This one was more of a curved tube that twisted around Flagg so that she could stand at his side.

  Jena took position, and through the shimmering curtain of refracted light, she saw a blurry Flagg in profile. Less than one hundredth of a second would have passed for him. If he even sensed the bubble, he would not have reacted to it. Her skin was tingling now; this had to end soon.

  She let the bubble drop.

  Jena kicked the back of Flagg's knee, making him stumble. She spun for a back-hand strike, one fist whirling around to strike the back of his head. That knocked him off balance and sent him careening toward the stairwell door.

  Valeth came at her.

  The woman threw a punch.

  Jena leaned back, one hand coming up to slap the blow away. She used the other to slam her open palm into Valeth's nose. Blood leaked from her opponent's nostrils.

  Flagg had recovered.

  Jena grabbed Valeth's shirt with both hands, then flung her sideways, sending her stumbling toward her partner. The pair of them collided in a tangle, then Valeth bounced off and landed sprawled out on her side.

  Flagg shook his head as he tried to get his bearings. “You're one clever little bitch, aren't you?” he growled, striding toward her. “You'll be a lot more respectful once I teach you your pla-”

  Jena leaped and kicked high, the tip of her shoe striking his nose with enough force to make his head snap backward. “You talk too much!” she hissed, landing right in front of him. Now to finish this.

  Jena charged at him.

  She slammed her shoulder into his chest, driving him backward with the strength of a Justice Keeper. And then she kept on pushing. Flagg recovered his wits quickly enough and threw his arms around her. That did nothing to slow her momentum, but it would be a problem in just a few seconds.

  Bit by bit, she pushed him back toward the ledge, and her dazed opponent seemed to be unaware of her intentions. He squeezed her as if he meant to crush the life from her body, and though it was painful, she held on. Just a few more paces!

  At long last, Flagg managed to figure out her plan. She could tell by the way he planted his feet firmly and braced himself like a concrete dam trying to hold back the full force of a raging river. So, she pulled out the last trick in her bag.

  Bent Gravity.

  Jena applied it to both of them, power surging through her body as her symbiont twisted the fabric of space-time. They were yanked over the edge of the rooftop, hurled across the empty street below like a pair of leaves blown by a hurricane.

  In that brief moment of stunned confusion, Jena threw her arms up to break free of her opponent's embrace. She reversed the Bending on herself, changing the direction of gravity's pull so that she was yanked back toward the rooftop. Of course, this required her to create a gravitational field that was tw
ice as powerful as the one that had taken her out into the street. It was the only way to overpower the velocity she had gained. Her skin felt as if it had been set on fire!

  For a few glorious seconds, she was treated to the exquisite sight of Flagg staring open-mouthed as he plummeted ten stories to the street below. Then she was pulled back to the rooftop.

  Jena landed on her side, rolling like a log across the concrete surface. With a grunt, she pushed herself up, but her muscles ached. The simple act of standing up required an enormous amount of concentration.

  She turned.

  Valeth stood in the middle of the rooftop with her fists raised, watching Jena with a stunned expression. “How…” the woman sputtered. “You can't…You can't…”

  Her limbs felt as if they were made out of rubber, and in truth, Jena knew that she would collapse from exhaustion any moment now. She was in no condition to fight, but if she could pull off a bluff…

  “Go,” Jena hissed. “Tell Slade about what you saw here. Tell him it's not enough for me to just kill him. I'm going to humiliate him.”

  The other woman turned and ran for the ledge, leaping from the rooftop as if she preferred suicide to another skirmish with Jena. Not a bad day for the old ego, but it wasn't over. No, she had to finish the job.

  Jena sank to her knees, burying her face in her hands. “Oh, that was stupid.” She looked up, blinking at the sky. “On your feet, woman. Rest is for people who intend to live to a ripe old age.”

  She forced herself up, and made her way to the fire-escape.

  Flagg was lying in the middle of an empty street, groaning from the pain of two broken legs. His face was red and streaked with tears. Damn it, the man should be dead, but Jena's luck wasn't that good.

  She stepped into the road. “You just don't know when to die, do you?” she asked, shaking her head. “Some people just stick around long past the point where you want them to leave.”

  Flagg looked up at her, tears glistening on his cheeks. He tried to blink them away. “I thought I was done for,” he said through a fit of laughter. “Leave it to a Keeper to save her worst enemy.”