by Naomi Lucas
He was grinning at her.
“I’m just doing my job, Ms. Larkswest. I can’t really call this mission a success if my employer doesn’t come out of it alive.”
His words stung despite the light teasing in his tone. She didn’t like that, not at all. I don’t want to be just a job. “If you say so,” she teased back.
He abruptly stepped toward her and reached out his hand. His long fingers opened up as if waiting to be accepted. “Alive, healthy, and very happy with a job well done. Take my hand.”
“Why?” she asked while accepting it suspiciously. Her fingers curled around his much larger ones and the heat they gave off rushed through her. His hand twisted until he intertwined their fingers, locking them together.
She tugged gently, and his hold on her tightened. Her gut clenched.
He pulled her close. “If I wasn’t built the way I am,” he breathed directly into her ear, “I wouldn’t know that you tossed and turned for hours last night, that you didn’t get to sleep until after midnight, that you kicked your blankets off your bed midway through.”
She swallowed twice before she remembered what words were. “There’s a monster in my backyard.” It wasn’t what she wanted to say, but it’s what came out. She swallowed again.
Moss pulled away from her, his smile dimming. “Yes, there is. It’s time I get rid of it.”
“Yes…”
He released her hand and turned away.
Lucy stood numbly, watching him walk out of the room and in the direction of the veranda. If he turns around…
If he looks back at me, he’ll know…
Moss Johann would know he’d left nothing but a puddle of feminine nerves where a flesh and blood woman once stood.
7
M oss placed his hands on his hips and looked out over the pool. He could see the creature in all its monstrous glory without the help of infrared glasses. Although a masculine pair had been provided to him from Lucy.
In fact, she’d offered the use of anything he might need stored in the estate’s armory.
Which, upon review of it earlier that morning, had everything a Cyborg such as himself would ever need to defend the entirety of Loxuria from outside invaders. There’d even been a suicidal battlebot in stasis. The kind of military tech that should never be in the hands of a citizen.
With every second that passed, he liked Lucy Larkswest and her family more and more.
But none of that mattered. He needed nothing but the strength of his body and the wiles he’d cultivated from years of stealth missions during the war.
Lucy was going to see him in all his beastly glory soon enough, and when that happened, she may never be able to look at him again without becoming nauseous.
Or insanely curious.
Moss peeled off his EPED jacket and folded it over a nearby chair. She’s watching me. He grinned and proceeded to slowly—very slowly—take off his boots, his shirt, his pants, until nothing left clothed his frame except his nanotech biosuit. The suit left nothing to the imagination, including what he was packing between his legs.
He heard Lucy’s unsteady footsteps coming from behind him long before she appeared. She seemed to be taking her time approaching him.
The glass door opened and closed and he turned to face her. “You should remain inside. It’s not safe out here. There’s more than one monster who’d love to taste your flesh.”
“There’s two of them now?” she asked, her voice rising.
Moss laughed. “Like I said, it’s not safe.”
Her pretty brown eyes darted over him and the grounds wildly. “Are you going to be safe? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. I don’t want you to get hurt. I’ve seen what that thing has done to my androids. There’s nothing left but-but parts. You didn’t even take anything from the armory and I can very clearly see you don’t have space to be hiding an artillery battery inside that suit.”
“Worried about me now?” He liked that.
“I’ve been worried from the beginning! You just took off all your armor and now this all seems like insanity. Maybe we should try the bazookas again.” Lucy turned and moved away from him. “Maybe now that you’re here the house will let me power up the fighter jet and we can take it down from above. There are other ways—less personal, up close, and uh, personal ways.”
Moss rushed ahead and inserted himself in front of her. She stopped abruptly, nearly colliding into him. “Lucy, it’s alright. I’ve dealt with far worse than this.”
“Worse than swimming in an alien pool with a monster that wants to eat you? That’s ten times your size? You’re practically naked!”
“Worse than flying through open space without a spacesuit.” He gripped her shoulders, leveling her a look. “My kind has survived many battles and will survive many more.”
Her face scrunched up, brows furrowing and all. He wanted to lean in and smooth her skin with kisses.
“Cyborgs?”
Moss shrugged. “Sure, they could survive an apocalypse, but someone like me, well… I’m pretty awesome. Grade A awesome. I’m good for about six apocalypses at the same time.” He released her shoulders with a squeeze.
Lucy continued to look at him wearily, her worry diminishing as her gaze left his face to scan the rest of his body. He didn’t need tech to know that she was affected by it. He reached up and tugged a strand of her pink and black hair. “Let me be the multi-million dollar pool boy you hired.”
Her lips rose into a small smile. He knew he’d won.
“If you’re certain…” She stepped back.
It was harder for him to let her back away than to do what came next. He desperately wanted to kiss her silly.
“I’m more than certain.”
Lucy turned away when her back hit the glass door. “The second I think that certainty is gone, Mr. Johann, I’ll be wielding those Star Blasters like a mad woman. Don’t underestimate my protective instincts.” She was through the door and fidgeting on the other side before he could answer.
He turned back to the problem at hand, unable to hide the wide grin on his face.
“If you have to throw some missiles into the mix, try to make sure they detonate under the water. I enjoy a good bubble bath.”
8
He stepped into the water, feeling more than one set of eyes watching his every move.
Moss flexed his muscles and cracked his neck for show. His choice of weapon was his body and the single twelve-inch blade strapped to his thigh. It was more than he’d need in this fight but he couldn’t face off with the beast without a weapon.
Not when his employer cared so much for his well-being.
Lucy cared too much for someone like him.
He disregarded the thought. He wasn’t staying here longer than necessary. And he wasn’t one for keeping secrets just to get what he wanted.
Moss followed the edge of the pool until the water deepened to his waist. Beyond, barely a yard away was the beginning of the monster’s nest, where the repulsive green and brown vines slowly expanded outward from their place of origin somewhere deep within the middle. Where the body of the beast lurked in wait.
Already, its tentacles slithered through the water toward him.
He looked back to find Lucy’s gaze far back behind the shielding of her house. He flashed her a reassuring smile. She stamped her foot in obvious frustration and Moss restrained his laughter. Everything about her made him want to incite even more reaction, to see how far he could push her, to see that spark of fire in her blaze in her eyes.
Something brushed up against his leg and he turned back to the task at hand.
It’s tasting me. The viney thing was camouflaged against human eyes, but its heat signature was not. In his peripheral vision, he counted a dozen more feelers heading his way.
Moss unsheathed his knife and stabbed straight through the one feeling up his leg.
It jerked away, vanishing in the murkier deep, and leaving a green mess of fluids behind. He fl
icked his blade and waited.
The other tentacles stilled, poised to strike, blending further within the cloudy waters. They waited for him as much as he waited for them. A standoff.
Moss sighed, knowing he’d have to do more to draw out the central mass.
He placed his blade on the edge of the pool and moved away, heading for the center of the pool where the last android had been ripped to pieces.
Each of the feelers’ tips turned to follow his direction. Creepy fucking thing.
An evening of watching his prey had garnered him two key pieces of information: one being that it was highly territorial, and second, its intelligence only went so far as protecting its space. He’d gone up against creatures that understood the concept of time, of memory, creatures that could even plan, but this thing wasn’t evolved enough for any of that.
That meant the only trap he was walking into was the one he knew about—big monster, small hole.
I’m a creepy fucking thing too. But only one of them could be considered cute.
He stopped right before where the android had vanished below, the footage—downloaded by the house’s feeds—replayed over once more in his head. His foot hit a cluster of broken metal parts.
The feelers sloshed quietly toward him, making a half-moon arch around his frame. Moss inhaled and stepped into the monster’s territory.
And was immediately dragged beneath the water. His body pulled taut and tight from head to toe as the creature tried with all its might to tear him from limb from limb. His nanosuit shifted, expanding to zap and fight it off.
Distantly, distorted by the water, he heard Lucy scream bloody murder. As his suit fought off the increasingly thick stranglehold, he seeded into the house’s intercom systems.
“Lucy, I swear to your endless amount of wealth, get your fine ass back inside!” Lucky for him, it stopped her from trying to help him. She’d be pulverized faster than he could save her if she got close enough. The horror of that thought flooded his byways.
He felt the crushing force of his enemy, sensed its predatory urge to destroy every single thing about him for trespassing on its space. A mother’s anger. Moss gritted his teeth as his nanosuit became trapped within the hold.
One more second.
Just one more.
There was no more light. The monster’s tentacles wrapped completely around his head, obscuring his vision.
Now!
Moss turned into the creature he truly was. The grade A awesome bastard that was built to withstand everything.
His limbs went first, shrinking into his body yet thickening at the same time, the excess metal plates joining his growing middle mass until he had eight arms and legs. His nanosuit shifted with him, allowing his body to grow…and grow…and expand, until his head vanished into a mass of even more metal, protecting his body deep within.
He tore through the beast’s tentacles as he continued to shift into a form that was utterly, and completely indestructible. Small and large feelers fell around him like dead weight, torn apart from the pressure, to create a pile of carnage in the pool.
Moss extended his claws and shredded the rest of the tentacles away just as a roar filled his ears. The foundation of the grounds shook, the remaining ceramic of the pool beneath him shattered like ice, and he was finally, completely free.
The giant flower-like beast rose up from the depths before him, having dragged him through the thick foliage of the alien wildlife to face off with him. It’s blue-green and clear petals—perfectly blended in with the scenery around it—expanded and snapped like the jaws of a beast. Poison filled the space on every side of it, seeping into what was left of the azurian blues and filling the muddy brown water to paralyze him.
“You’ll need more than that to beat me,” Moss taunted through his giant metal mouth, pulling back his large lips to bare his pointy teeth. “I’m fucking invincible, motherfucker!”
The flower reared up, its petals sharpening to points before slamming straight down over his entire tardigrade-form to swallow him whole. The last thing he heard was the blast of a missile being fired.
Lucky for him, he was ravenous for plant viscera.
O h my lord. Oh no. What the hell? Oh god.
Her breaths came out rapid and shallow as her fingers practically clawed at the reinforced windows. She’d had many panic attacks in the past, but she’d never hyperventilated before.
Her eyes widened as the monster rose up from deep within the lagoon to tower over Moss. Moss, who no longer looked like a man, but was some huge, bulbous metal creature possessing several short arms with long claws protruding from each one. Lucy didn’t know what he was but she knew it was him.
I have to help him.
She rushed to open the door but found it locked. “Open it!” she yelled at the house.
“Your safety comes first, mistress.”
“I don’t care. He’s about to be eaten! Open it,” she demanded louder. “That is a direct order.”
“Your parents would not want us to jeopardize your safety, mistress.” The house was patronizing her without knowing it was doing so. She felt her cheeks flush red.
“My parents are dead. I will spend the rest of my life finding out a way to override your ass if you don’t open this door! You know I will,” she threatened, watching the giant, roaring flower’s petals spear into points, all aimed at Moss. Lucy flinched, unable to watch him die despite the creature he’d become midway through the fight. She turned the knob again and the door gave way to her, opening wide.
“Damned house,” she seethed as she scrambled to her rocket launcher. With the help of several androids, she had the weapon locked and loaded within seconds. The flower rammed its head down over Moss as she aimed and fired.
“Please, please, please.” She wasn’t hoping for a death shot, just for a distraction.
The head reared back up, but Moss was gone.
“No!” Lucy dropped the large gun with a scream. “Moss!”
Moss didn’t re-emerge. The monster flailed about, splattering green ooze every which way. She clutched the railing and dropped to her knees, tears beading her eyelashes.
Lucy clenched her fingers over the marble and pushed herself back up to her feet, sucking in her sniffles. The flower rose with her as if watching her from afar. Her eyes narrowed with menace. “You just ate a galactic treasure, you filthy piece of pond scum. You’ll rue the day you took up residence in my pool!”
A sharp snap filled her ears. She spun about, searching for the source as it continued to grow louder with each passing second. When she looked back at the monster, it vibrated rapidly from side to side, its petals sharpening and drooping simultaneously.
Lucy braced against the railing, her stomach in her throat.
Time stood still as the snapping continued, and with each rising shredded sound that followed, the beast shook harder. A petal fell off, and then another, and another. The remaining tentacles pulled toward its body to wind around the stem of the creature, tearing at what could only be its neck.
“Please,” she whispered, leaning over the edge slightly, hopeful.
Suddenly, the neck tore in two and a cascade of innards exploded outward. Lucy’s hand shot to her mouth and she gagged as a terrible, sour smell blasted across the grounds and filled her nostrils. She managed to hold the contents of her stomach in.
“Lucy, I told you to stay inside.”
She flinched at the familiar voice and turned her gaze to find Moss, dripping wet, striding toward her through the mess of her ruined oasis. He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever laid her eyes upon.
“You’re alive! Oh my goodness, you’re alive.” She stumbled down the long, ornately sculpted and rounded stairway toward him.
“Don’t,” he said, holding a hand up to stop her. His eyes glinted with anger. “It’s not safe.”
She pulled her foot back and strived to wait for him. When he moved into range, she threw herself into his arms. He caught her
up in a tight embrace.
“I didn’t like that. I didn’t like what happened at all. How could you do that to me? I was so worried.” Water and whatnot soaked through her clothes but she didn’t care. All she cared about was his strong arms around her. “How could you be so reckless?”
He patted her back gently, playing with the ends of her hair. “There’s nothing reckless about me. I knew exactly what I was up against. And you should’ve stayed inside!”
“Inside where? My estate?” she sniffled, rubbing her face against his nanosuit, feeling his ridiculously honed chest against her cheek. “Technically I never left it. I’m still inside it right now.”
“You know what I mean,” he grunted above her.
“Is it dead? Gone? Forever?”
“Almost…”
She pulled away. “Almost?”
“Follow me.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I have something to show you.”
Moss led her back around the pool, stopping briefly to pick up his knife. He held her hand firmly in the other, cutting a path for them through the alien landscape.
Lucy closed her eyes and pretended they were no longer within the estate, that she and Moss had met hundreds of years ago when Loxuria was first discovered and they explored the tropical eden alone. A glistening waterfall would be just beyond the trees.
He squeezed her fingers gently, disturbing her fantasy. She quickened her pace.
Bit and pieces of plant-like gristle were scattered about but there was nothing left alive of the monster that could hurt them. Although a few of the wayward feelers seized restlessly now and again.
Too soon the spired trees and the giant flowers of the grounds blocked out their view of the house.
He stopped them at a shallow, muddy den, where the back foundation of the pool had eroded away. The only thing remaining of the monster was the impression it had left behind, where its petals had shielded it from any eyes that may happen upon it.
Moss stepped aside and kneeled. “Look.”
Lucy moved up beside him, using his arm to balance. Silence filled the space between them.