Take Aim

by Charles Case

  Talons raked across his body, and he felt Leela pulling huge amounts of power from their well to keep the armor intact. Each raking motion caused pain, but he blocked it from his mind like she had taught him to do and fought on. Eventually, he gave up on pushing individuals away with the gravity ability and focused on his new strength.

  He reached out with quick hands, grabbing arms and heads, and with a small burst of power crushed them to dust in his steely grip. Soon, there were golems that had lost both arms trying to retreat to let their able-bodied replacements get close. When they turned their backs on him, he quickly shoved his hands through their torsos, trying to pull the controllers out or crush them inside their bodies.

  At first, he only hit about one in five, but he quickly found that every golem was identical in their makeup aside from the particular rocks used. Each stood the exact same height, had the same-sized head and torso, but most importantly, the controllers were in the exact same spot in each one.

  He soon disabled half with quick jabs and a quick squeeze of the hand, creating large piles of rock that surrounded him. So much so that the enemy had to climb up, then come down the hill of rock.

  Not wanting to be trapped in an avalanche of stone golems, Corbin altered his gravitational orientation and blasted forward, crossing his arms in front of his face. His body acted like a cannonball, blowing a wide furrow through the piled stone and taking out a few of the golems along with it.

  He quickly let the power go and slid to a stop, his hands up in a fighting pose, but the golems didn't attack. Instead, they turned and loped away to reform the circle of protection around the three of them.

  Corbin stood, flexing his sore hands. He might be extremely tough, but punching rock still stung. He quickly took stock and found that the full-on assault had cost him nearly half of his well’s power, and most of that had been used by Leela to fend off the talons.

  Turning cautiously, Corbin saw that Tis and Seena were watching him. Neither had moved, and still stood facing one another, but the look on Tis’s face was one of grudging respect.

  “Come.” Tis’s voice boomed out over the surrounding sounds of battle to reach his ears. “You are distracting my daughter with your fighting. She worries so, that I can not even hold a conversation with her.”

  “Are you all right?” Seena asked over the comm.

  Corbin nodded. “I’ll be fine. They were really more annoying than anything.”

  Seena’s falcon visage raised the corner of its mouth in a tight smile, then she turned back to Tis and put her hands on her hips. “Explain yourself, mother. What do you think this will accomplish? Letting that thing loose will kill us all.” At that, she pointed past Corbin. “You might as well let the Kubla do it and save the trouble.”

  Corbin turned and got his first look inside the structure. What he saw made his jaw drop.

  Standing no less than two hundred feet tall was a metal construct. It had a vaguely human shape but with arms that were far too thick for a human, and the head was only a humping protrusion of the upper torso, leaving the thing with no neck. The torso was basically an inverted triangle that attached to thick legs that ended without feet.

  At first, he thought it was constructed of steel, but he realized that was because it was in shadow. He now saw that it was shiny and very silver. It was made of the same metal as Leela and Gert.

  “There are more people than those in this system to consider, my child.” Tis sounded like a scolding mother.

  “Don’t give me that line of bullshit,” Seena shouted, taking a step forward. “We can fight them. This thing is a last resort.”

  “The Colossus is a guarantee,” Tis retorted. “I hoped you would see that.”

  “If you were going to release this thing anyway, then why did you want me to come? You might as well have killed me yourself when you left me alone all those years ago.”

  Corbin heard the hurt in Seena's voice, but her jaw was set and anger radiated from her expression. Tis saw that anger, too, and softened ever so slightly.

  “My dear child.” Tis floated down toward Seena, her arms outstretched, but stopped when Seena took a step away from her, staying just out of reach. “I left because I needed to find a solution to the coming Kubla threat. I tried everything I could. I gained powers beyond anything anyone has ever seen. I raised an army of golems from Kubla tech left on one of the moons around the inner planets. I even contacted the Citadel after years of searching for outside help, but they only sent an observer. In the end, this was the only option. It was always the only option.”

  “Then evacuate the VRC,” Seena shouted, frustration making her voice crack with emotion. “There are billions of people here that don't need to die. We have the ability to get them out.”

  Tis’s face fell, and she looked down at her hands. “Unfortunately, there is no more time. The Kubla are breaking free of Nhi’s gravity well as we speak. They will be unleashed from their prison of time within the hour. I waited as long as I could. I really did, but we have to stop them before they spread across the galaxy like a plague of locusts. I don't do this easily, know that. But it must be done.”

  Several dropships shot overhead, making Corbin look up at their sudden appearance, then the clap of sonic booms nearly drove him to his knees.

  Tis was suddenly gone, the ground blasting up and away with clumps of dirt and rock. Seena blurred, and in the blink of an eye was standing next to him, her super speed getting her clear of the flying debris.

  “What the hell was that?” she yelled over the sound of dropship engines kicking on their afterburners and climbing away.

  “I think something fell on her,” Corbin guessed, watching the earth rain down around them and noting the large hole in the ground.

  The sky was full of dropping bodies, and it took Corbin a second to understand that they were supers that had jumped from the passing dropships. One by one they slammed into groups of golems, sending bodies flying in all directions. At least two dozen supers had been air-dropped right into the middle of the fight.

  “Who the fuck are they?” Corbin shouted, pointing out a black-clad female super that ripped the arm off a golem and smashed it into another, before leaping onto a third and smashing a fist into its head. Her eyes were wild and bloodshot with madness, as she foamed at the mouth like a ravenous dog.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Seena groaned.

  A man stood in the hole where Tis had been only a moment before.

  “William?” Corbin could hardly believe his eyes. The man was without a doubt William Lieu, but he had been… Modified was the only word Corbin could think of to describe him.

  Instead of the man with an average build and cool demeanor that Corbin had fought only a week or so before, there stood a hard-faced behemoth. His torso was swollen with muscle that the sleeveless black uniform couldn't hide. His eyes were red and irritated as if he hadn’t slept in days, but the biggest changes were his arms. They were big and well-defined, but also completely made of metal. He had replaced his flesh and blood with essence-infused metals.

  William reached down into the hole and pulled Tis up by her throat. He held her there in one hand, grinning manically. “Tis. I thought I might find you here.” He shook her violently, showing off a strength that would have killed Corbin in their first fight if he’d posessed it then. “Trying to take from me what I have rightfully built? Didn’t I tell you I would surpass you? Pathetic!”

  With a violence that stood out even on a battlefield, William slammed Tis to the ground before lifting her again to repeat the process. “Weak!” he screamed before slamming her once again.

  This time when he lifted her, Corbin saw a smile on Tis’s face. William, however, didn't see anything but red, Corbin guessed. Before he could slam her one more time she casually blasted him in the chest with a beam from her palm.

  William roared and was thrown back and out of the hole they stood in. In a flash, he was back on his feet and charging Ti
s. Corbin was surprised at his speed. It wasn't anywhere near as fast as Seena, but it was far beyond anything a human could achieve. He tackled her, both of them rolling across the ground.

  William ended up on top, and began to slam fist after fist into her face, all the while screaming that she would never take what was his.

  For a second, it seemed like William was going to do some real damage, but before he could finish her off he was tackled off her by a golem. The two rolled away, giving Tis enough time to get back to her feet. A small amount of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, but otherwise she seemed fine.

  William tore the golem in half and launched himself at Tis once again. This time he didn't even come close. She sent a beam of energy into his chest, knocking him back. Before he could stand, five golems descended on him and began raking with their talons. Sparks flew when they hit his metal arms, but eventually, they reached flesh and small cuts soon crisscrossed his body.

  “Do we help him?” Corbin asked, not knowing who to fight anymore.

  “I’ll help him.” She pointed to Tis, who was flying toward the Colossus. “You go after her.”

  28

  Corbin narrowed his eyes, focusing on Tis arcing overhead. He pulled a large amount of power from his well and increased her personal gravity toward Rush.

  She dipped toward the ground and fought to keep airborne. For a second, she was able to overpower his effect, but he increased his flow and muscled her down with sheer will. Her face turned red from strain and she growled through gritted teeth.

  Either he overpowered her or she gave up, but the result was the same. Her form crumpled, and she slammed into the ground, her body creating a divot as she was forced down into the earth.

  Corbin sprinted to where she lay, her body pinned and slowly sinking deeper into the soil. Standing over her, he saw that she was still fighting to get away. To his surprise, she was able to lift a hand toward him. The amount of strength that move had to take was incredible, but she was able to do it as she stared daggers at him.

  The palm of her hand began to glow, and Corbin only had a split second to dive to the side before the energy beam tore through the space where he had just been.

  In a moment of panic, he dumped a larger portion of his well into the gravity ability. Her arm was instantly pulled down and her head lolled to the side, her teeth clenched.

  Corbin was surprised that he could hold her at all after the displays of power he had seen from her. However, he knew he was using far too much power keeping her down for this stalemate to last long. He needed a plan.

  A chorus of roars made him glance to his left. A group of ten or more golems had pulled away from the super they had been fighting, her body broken and bloody at their feet, and were charging him. Evidently, Tis had put out the call for help.

  Not having a choice, Corbin pulled his power back from holding Tis down and redirected most of it to his body. Planting his feet, he readied himself. A blur of silver and red flashed next to him as Tis took the opportunity to get away. Corbin gritted his teeth, fighting against the urge to grab her. He wouldn't be able to handle both her and the golems.

  A second later he was at the bottom of a pile of slashing stone giants, and thoughts of anything other than survival fled his mind.

  Seena sipped power from her well and took off at superhuman speed. She needed to clear the golems from William before they could do too much damage, although a part of her thought she wouldn't mind if he didn't make it after everything he had done to her and Corbin.

  She decided she needed something to use as a weapon. She could move fast, and her body was stronger in general, but the golems were still made of rock and her hands couldn't take the beating.

  She spotted a long piece of rebar jutting from a destroyed wall. Juking to the left, she slid to a stop, taking the inch-thick bar in both hands and pulling it from the rubble. She saw that the end still had a large chunk of concrete attached to it. It was like a four foot long mace.

  “This should do nicely.”

  Turning back to William, she saw that he had taken out two of the golems on his own but three more headed toward him, loping on all fours at times as they navigated the piles of rock that had been their comrades.

  Seena shot forward, everything around her slowing to just above a crawl to her perceptions. In three running leaps she closed on William and the three remaining golems. She took aim at the closest one’s back and swung the improvised mace like a baseball bat. The concrete somehow took the impact without shattering. The back of the golem crumpled, then cracked from the force before completely imploding and sending stone chips blasting from its chest.

  She must have hit the controller because the golem’s form began to crumble as the mace passed through it. She pivoted on one foot and swung the rebar back the other way in a sweeping motion, toward the second golem’s chest.

  Her second swing was not quite as accurate, contacting the slowly-turning golem in the upper chest and shoulder. The heavy end of the mace smashed the stone to dust, severing the right arm and about a third of its chest. The damaged golem spun away from the force of the blow, out of the fight for at least a few seconds but not down.

  She saw that William was taking care of the third golem with his enhanced strength, and was out of immediate danger.

  Seena gripped the end of the rebar and spun around, building up speed with each revolution. On her third turn, she let go and the four foot rebar spun away at incredible speed directly at the three charging golems. The makeshift mace was moving far too fast for them to dodge, and it cleanly sliced the golem in the lead in half at the waist, then smashed into the one right behind it, taking out its legs at the thigh. Somehow, the third was able to leap over the spinning rod, barely able to tuck its legs up enough to not lose a foot.

  Seena didn't hesitate. She rushed forward, charging the airborne golem, but dropped to her knees at the last second and slid under the stone monster. She scooped up the rebar, which had finally lost its chunk of concrete, and spun to face the golem’s back. She held the rebar in both hands like a spear and kicked off, sending a spray of dirt and grass out behind her. She closed the distance before the creature hit the ground and speared it through the back, right were the controller was located.

  The rebar punched through the rock with ease at her speed, hit the controller and shattered it to a thousand pieces that sprayed out of the golem’s chest.

  Now that she had stopped moving, the world around her finally sped back up to normal speed, and the golem crumbled to loose stone around her makeshift spear.

  She stood and found William looming over the dismembered golem she had left for him, his breathing fast and shallow, and eyes wide with battle lust. His head jerked up, eyes narrowing on her. He was covered in blood from the thin cuts that covered his body and face. Seena got the feeling he was fighting to not attack her on sight.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Tis shoot up from the ground beside Corbin, who was setting himself for a fight right before he was enveloped in a large group of golems that completely covered him from view.

  “Corbin!” she shouted, and started to take a step his way.

  William cut her off, his hands up and the wild look in his eyes faded somewhat. She was taken aback by his bloody visage up close. The hundreds of thin cuts oozed blood, coating his skin in a red sheen and making him look more like a demon than a man.

  “Seena.” His voice was wrong. Deeper than she remembered. “What are you doing here? This is between me and that woman.” He nearly growled the last part.

  Anger boiled up inside her. “You have no clue what is happening here. Once again, you have made everything about you.” She jabbed a finger at the Colossus. “We can’t let her activate that thing. It will destroy everything.”

  William turned and seemed to see the huge structure dug out of the ground for the first time. “What is it?”

  Seena saw that Tis was nearly to the giant. She didn’t know the
process of waking it up, but she bet it wasn’t a long one. “That is a construct built by the people that lived here before us. It’s a doomsday device that will be indestructible if awakened, and Mother plans to release it on us all.” Seena decided that she needed to use her father’s obvious obsession with beating Tis to her advantage. “Tis said she will destroy everything you ever created because you are weak. Because you deserve it. You need to stop her. I can't get to her while she’s in the air, but I’m betting that you can.”

  She saw his jaw clench at her words, and he balled his metal hands into fists. She couldn't believe what he had done to himself. He was barely human at this point. She felt a sudden emptiness. Her father was no more, she realized. Even if she could somehow make him see sense, after what he had done to himself in the labs, the man she once knew as her father was nothing more than a true monster, now. She guessed that with as much metal as he had introduced to his system the shock would eventually kill him, but not until after he had gone truly mad.

  She felt tears on her cheeks but didn't wipe them away. She would have time to mourn the loss of her parents later. At that moment, she realized that both her parents were gone, even if their bodies were still there in front of her.

  “She will never take what’s mine,” William roared.

  He bunched his legs and with an incredible show of power leaped after Tis. He soared up and over several groups of golems fighting with his supers. He landed and was instantly in the air again, closing with Tis at a frightening speed, but Seena could see that it wasn't going to be fast enough. She just hoped he would be able to distract her long enough for her to save Corbin, and go after her on her own.

  She funneled power into herself, and took off toward the writhing mass of golems piled on her lover. She hefted the rebar like a bat once again, and charged in.