by Simon Archer
She smiled at us as she opened the door to the back. “After all, the hero who saves your team might not be you, but the gosh-darn awesome friend you made along the way!”
Every student there glanced warily at the other teams. Trust wasn’t exactly common right now. For Osata and Krona, they couldn’t afford to share even a single point if they wanted any chance to make it to the nemesis round, what with only the top four schools being allowed entry. We certainly didn’t trust Carter, and it was honestly a little hard to want to throw in with the Brand either, even if Akemi was looking at me longingly from across the group. Speaking of the Brand, they were definitely still smarting from their loss to Carter, and I had a feeling they were more in the business of retribution against them than cooperation with them.
The one exception was the Kai-lao Academy girls. As the other teams filtered off towards their locker rooms, White Lioness led her rainbow cat squadron over towards us. I held a hand up to pause our little cadre and nodded to the golden-skinned woman. In absolute precision, the ladies spread out into a color-coded line-up and bowed deeply to us.
“Uh, I don’t know if that’s necessary,” Matt grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. Andie snickered at that and clapped him on the back.
“I dunno, wolfie,” she said with a grin. “I think it’s absolutely adorable.”
“And amazingly cool!” Eric chimed in. “Kaitsu the Kung-Fu Kat would be proud of such precision!”
As the Kai-lao students snapped back up to a standing position, their leader blushed a bit as she smiled. “I am honored by your knowledge of our revered mascot, Mr. Meyers.” Her feline eyes snapped up to me. “Nicholas, esteemed heroes of Valcav Academy, my teammates and I have discussed potential strategy for the battle ahead, and we wish to offer our allegiance to you and your team.”
I blinked at that. “I hope this doesn’t come off as rude, Lioness, but that doesn’t quite sound like you’re just asking to fight alongside us as, well, friendly competitors.”
“Yeah,” Kara chimed in as she bit her lip, “that more sounds like you want to, well, I don’t know. Fight to make sure we win?”
A giggle ran up and down the line of multi-colored students and a smattering of murmurs in their native tongue, but they stopped with Lioness raised a white-gloved hand.
“I know this must seem strange to you Alexandrians,” she said thoughtfully, “but you not only have defeated us in honorable battle but you also represent the best hope for the World’s Finest to be won by true heroes.” Lioness glanced past us as the last of the teams filtered into the back, her eyes focusing on the Brand team. “We know of the Carter Academy’s shadowy tactics thanks to you and the Brand… Lord Inferno’s agents cannot be trusted. Valcav is our true hope for an honorable victor, and we of Kai-lao must ensure that it comes to pass.”
I frankly wasn’t sure what to make of it. Not that I doubted their honesty. No, I was certain Lioness and her team meant what she said, but still…
I wasn’t alone in my confusion. Kara blinked beside me, the Barburs seemed cautious about the whole thing, and Andie rubbed her chin in thought. Eric bounced on his toes, about to say something before stopping himself with a frown.
The exception was Aylin. With only a moment’s hesitation, she floated past us and bowed in a near-perfect imitation of Lioness.
“I understand completely, White Lioness,” she said with a regal tone that she must have cultivated in her time as a princess, “and I know I speak for my comrades when I humbly accept your allegiance. Together, we will ensure our honorable victory.” Then Aylin stiffened for a moment and turned to look back at me, blushing a deep purple. “Uh, if it is what you would wish, Starlight. I, uh, did not mean to usurp your or Matthew Barbur’s role as captains.”
I glanced over at Matt, who just shrugged helplessly, then turned back to her and the Kai-lao team. “Yeah, let’s do this, Lioness. Glad to have you aboard!”
22
The last bit of time before the start of the defense event slipped by in what seemed like moments, even though it was over half an hour. I was thankful for that, to be honest. Who wanted this to drag out? Best to get in there, kick ass, and get it done with.
Each of the six teams remaining was stationed at a start gate evenly spaced around the oval arena, with no clue exactly where the other teams were starting from. Still, it wouldn’t be hard to hook up with the Kai-lao Academy girls as we had wisely swapped comm channels once we had made our decision to work together. As the minute timer to the start came on a digital display above the imposing steel door to the fake city, I glanced back at the rest of my friends arrayed behind me.
“Remember, we’re going for rescue priority. Save lives, get them to the safe zones, but don’t hesitate to take down Androsaurs or save landmarks on the way.” I scanned over each and every face, all eager and ready for the battle ahead. “And most importantly, we’re diving into this pool with the buddy system. Nobody goes off alone, not without another hero with you, be it us, Kai-lao, or, hell, anybody.”
“Except for those Carter dicks,” Andie chimed in as she stretched herself out, which for her meant literally touching the twenty foot high ceilings as she did so. “Triton might not want us to pry, but it’s obvious he doesn’t trust them, and neither does Gemma.”
“Agreed,” Matt growled as I nodded as well. “There’s just something about their scent that makes me think that half of what they say is a lie.”
Thirty seconds now.
“Right, now, let’s focus,” I said as I turned back to the door and stretched out a little myself. With thirty minutes on the clock, I’d have to pick my moment to unleash my power just right to maximize our chances to win, so that meant I’d have to rely on my training and preparation to make a difference. “It’s almost time.”
Matt leaned forward in an almost predatory manner as Kristen produced a fresh set of her metal spheres and charged them. Kara clicked on her anti-gravity cape and floated up to flank Aylin, while Eric and Andie stepped up to either side of me, elastic limbs and lightning at the ready.
That’s when the buzzer hit. There was no announcer, at least not that we could hear, and the doors slid open with amazing speed to reveal the copycat city in all its glory. Regardless of what I expected from our brief little tour of it with Patty, it didn’t quite prepare me or anyone else for what was actually going on now that the event was live.
What lay before us was a city under siege. Men, women, and children were screaming and running for cover as Androsaurs of all shapes and sizes smashed cars, shattered windows, chased after civilians, and generally acted like pillaging marauders. Fires were already blossoming up as far as I could see, and some of the people were already strewn about in pools of blood… hopefully simulated. Not that it mattered, because unlike the rescue targets in Alexandria who were fairly ho-hum about the affair, these people were amazing actors, and their cries of pain and terror cut right through to my heart and soul.
“Triage mode, guys,” I called into the comms as I ran toward the nearest people in peril, a young woman with a baby with a raptor-like lizardman on her heels. “Stabilize this block, then our fliers will get people to a safe zone while we press on!”
The momentary shock faded from my friends as my words sank in, and their training kicked in. I couldn’t blame them, nothing could have prepared any of them for this, not even Fulgurite’s attack on Alexandria. Leave it to Dad to put on the most realistic mock-up of a monster invasion. As Aylin and Kara zoomed past me overhead, angling to save a group of citizens huddled behind a shattered police barricade, Andie curled into a spring and launched herself upward to where a family was screaming for help in a burning building. Lightning from Eric’s fingertips raked the center of the nearest pack of lizard-droids as I stepped up an overturned car and leapt off it and right on top of the raptor man.
Before the Androsaur could take a bite out of the mother, I slammed a hard punch right into its jaw. Its head snapped back a
s two fangs broke free from the impact. My landing interposed myself between the dino and the innocents, and as the raptor turned to snap at me, its snout met a haymaker blow that sent it to the pavement. Not one to take any chances, I snapped off a punt kick to its scaly temple that seemed to put the thing down for the count.
In the few seconds it had taken me to save those two, Kristen had pulled all the nearby metal wreckage together and began twisting it into a defensive wall with a man-sized gap that Matt stood in front of, slashing down lizard things. Excellent, just what we needed.
“Thank you so much for saving us!” the woman cried as she cradled her baby close. I still wasn’t sure how much of this was simulated and how much was real, but I could tell that the baby at least was fake, no matter how well she sold it. “But what do we do now? These things are everywhere!”
“Get behind the barricade with my team, ma’am,” I called over my shoulder as I snapped up a broken metal strut from one of the wrecked cars. It had a good heft and would serve me well as a monster whacking club. “We know of a safe zone, and we’ll get you there once we’ve secured the block.”
That was more than enough for the lady, and she was gone before I even finished my words. I squared my shoulders, hefted my new weapon, and charged towards the next scream for help, Eric sprinting to catch up to me.
“Aylin, Kara, keep sweeping ahead,” I commanded as a four-armed Gila monster man took a lightning blast in the chest. I kneecapped the jittering creature to take it down, then finished it off with a blow to the back of its head. “Between her raw power and your technological flexibility, you two are the best pair to deal with distant problems.”
“What about me, Nick?” Andie spoke up.
I took a quick back glance after directing Eric to check on the bleeding man huddled on the ground a few feet away with a point of my finger. Andie had ferried the first family down out of the fire, but with how it was spreading, there had to be more innocents trapped in the higher floors all around here.
“Keep getting people out of those fires,” I replied as I turned back to the task at hand. “Your new uniform should keep you safe from the fire, and if you need help, Kristen can levitate up on a piece of iron to help. Matt, great job holding our ranks! Keep it up!”
Even though I didn’t have time to look back as I knelt to check on the injured with Eric, I could tell from the weird pause on the comms that Matt had to take a moment to process my compliment.
“Thanks, Nick,” he eventually growled back as the sounds of his claws tearing through artificial scales and flesh echoed in the background. “Just don’t fuck anything up, okay? We’ve got to save these people!”
I grinned as I helped a younger man to his feet. His injuries weren’t real, of course, but the make-up was more than realistic enough for me to realize he wouldn’t have been bad off in real life. Good enough to move.
“You got it, co-captain,” I replied over the comms. “You heard it, people. No fucking anything up.” Then I turned to the man I’d rescued and pointed toward our bulwark. “I think you’re safe now. Get there, and we’ll get you out of here in a few minutes.”
The young man nodded gratefully and began to limp off, while I had to help Eric with his own ‘injured’ civilian, who was made up to be far worse off. I opened up my comm unit to the Kai-lao channel as well, then looped my arms under the innocent’s armpits. Eric grabbed his legs, and as we moved to carry him to safety, I called out over the channel.
“Hey, Lioness,” I began, “any clue where you guys are?” I did a quick glance at the buildings around us as we made for Kristen’s metal wall. “I think we’re on the south-east side of the arena.”
There was a loud roar of, well, a lioness in my ear, then the ear-splitting sound of rending metal. A split-second later, White Lioness’s voice finally came over the comm.
“Nicholas, I am glad to hear your team is safe,” she said, her voice measured and stoic. “This is… not what we were expecting, and I most humbly apologize for not--”
“Not to be rude, but stow that for later,” I joked as best I could in this situation. Reptilian hisses and alien roars mixed with the sounds of explosions and combat from all around. It was like a real warzone, and honestly, it might as well have been. “I’m sure you have a handful there, but once you get your bearings, secure your immediate area, and we’ll start fighting and rescuing towards each other. Sounds good?”
“Most excellent, Nicholas.” A loud thwack and a heavy thudding sound cut her off for a moment as we got our victim back safety, but she came back on as Eric and I turned to rescue some more. “We will not let you and Valcav down.”
“And we won’t let you and Kai-lao down,” I answered. “Over and out.”
From there, the next ten minutes was a knock-down drag-out march as we pushed our way through the first couple of blocks towards where Kai-lao Academy had entered the battle. Kristen moved our forward wall forward as we rescued more civilians, gradually adding more and more metal until it was something akin to a turtle’s dome of shaped steel and iron almost the width of the main streets. Matt kept pace as she moved it from point to point, more than a match for any of the Androsaurs that were dumb enough to try to take it. The rest of us kept a constant sweep around that rally point, with Aylin and Kara checking in periodically from their overwatch to deposit more outlying victims while Andie, Eric, and I patrolled the street level.
Once we had a good number of rescues sheltered, I had Aylin tear a hover-truck bed off from the rest of its chassis. We loaded up our victims as gently as we could, then our flying duo raced them to safety. It might have seemed to be slow going, but the constant sounds of heavy battle and shouts from the other academy teams told me that no one was having an easy time of it.
The bright spot was at around the eight-minute mark when the rainbow shapeshifting squad tore through a pack of lizard men, White Lioness in the lead. With our numbers doubled, we broke into even pairs: Matt and Kristen stayed together to maximize their ability to power share, as did Kara and Aylin to maximize their skill set. Meanwhile, I paired up with White Lioness, Andie with their co-captain, Black Tigress, and Eric begged to team up with Blue Mouse.
“We match!” was his only explanation as he pointed at his blue-streaked hair, and that was enough for me.
The remaining four Kai-lao girls stuck in their formation, and with our bolstered numbers, we weren’t just holding our own in a slow and steady march. We were pushing back hard now as, despite how fearsome their appearance was, these first Androsaur packs didn’t seem much more dangerous than a typical battle ‘bot, something I could handle without my powers. Still, I had a feeling that things were going to get worse soon. We hadn’t seen any of the big ones, like the hexaped lizard centaurs or any of the pterosaur-like fliers, yet.
“Don’t get cocky,” I reminded everyone through the comms. “We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.”
“But I do not see any ice at all, Starlight,” Aylin chirped back as she laid out a dino-man down the block from me. “I did not think any of these extinct lizard species breathed cold…?”
“It’s just an expression, blackberry,” Andie called back as she bounded down from a corner deli, its top floor caved in, with her arms shaped into a large rubber bowl filled with three frightened store workers. “It means that it’s going to get a lot harder soon.”
That was when the tenth minute ticked over. A booming voice echoed across the arena then, though I couldn’t see any hint of a speaker system.
“Teams, your first ten minutes have passed. Moving to threat level two.”
Lioness and I, back to back as we fought a cluster of pint-sized fangy dino-men that barely came up to my waist, caught what followed at nearly the same time. Almost as one, we spun towards were a nearby office building blew outward, floor by floor starting from the ground up. A massive cloud of debris blew down the street and over us, accompanied by a tremendous whump that was echoed by several more from acros
s the cityscape.
“Somebody get eyes on whatever just did that,” I coughed out as I covered my mouth and nose from the dust and crap in the air. “Aylin, Kara, somebody who can fly, get above this and--”
“I am already on you!” Aylin yelled back over the last echoes of the explosion.
I didn’t bother to correct her as one of the little toothy bastards lunged out of the dust to try to eat my face. As I slipped to the side and out of the way of those fanged jaws, Lioness spun past me and lashed out with a hand that shifted into a lion’s paw in mid-swipe. The micro-biter’s neck was neatly severed, black ichor and sparks flying in its wake.
Of course, another one tried to take advantage of her moving out of position, so I returned the favor as it tried to pounce on top of her with all four sets of talons. Before it could land, I neatly speared it out of the air with a thrust of my makeshift club, the torn metal on the end serving me well as an impromptu spear.
The white-haired girl flashed a thankful smile at me, and I gave her one back. That was when Aylin came back over the comm… but no one heard what she said at first as a screeching roar, louder than a hover-transport’s jets, tore through the air. The intensity of that roar was so strong that it blew the dust and debris along with it as it made my teeth rattle in my jaw.
“... the biggest ormalu I’ve ever seen!” Aylin finished yelling, fear and awe in her voice. I wasn’t sure what an ormalu was, but I didn’t need to… because I had a nice, clear view of what had wrecked the building, and it wasn’t alone.
The main one, the big one was truly gigantic, at least fifteen stories tall, just a little smaller than the building it had toppled, and while the Androsaurs so far had been clearly hybrids of man and dinosaur, this one was pure, unadulterated dino-monster. It wasn’t any one kind, combining the most terrifying features of a tyrannosaurus rex, an allosaurus, a velociraptor, and an ankylosaurus all rolled into one. It had even scales of a dull, blood red color to maximize its intimidation factor. Massive jaws, scythe-like talons, thick armored plating running, and a massive, knobbed barb on its tail, every inch of the titanic beast was a weapon.