* * *
John and Sera made quick time down the hallway. He led the way, rifle out. Even though Brumby had told them that they should have a straight shot, John was more than a little skeptical. He got that the Thulians were terminally foolhardy, convinced of their own superiority to the point of well-earned hubris. But to not have any sort of security guarding a vital component of their base of operations? Even if they never expected anyone to get this deep inside of their ship, it still didn’t make sense; you have security and redundancies for shit you didn’t expect to happen. He had tried scanning the area with the Overwatch rig, and his own heightened senses were on high alert, but the psychic thrum of the ship itself was almost deafening. The alien ship’s energy felt like the mental equivalent of a nest of red ants, crawling against the base of his skull. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore it.
“We’re here,” he whispered when they reached the door. “I don’t want to be that guy, darlin’, but doesn’t this feel a little too easy to you?”
Sera frowned. “I…cannot tell. All I can hear is pain.” She shook her head. “Even my battle-sense is sluggish. But you are right, and we must expect trouble.”
“Okay,” he nodded. “Here we go.” He paused for a moment.
“What is wrong?” Sera asked, watching him hesitate.
John turned to her, grinning lopsidedly. “Just wanted to say that I love ya, darlin’. No matter what happens today.”
She didn’t answer in words, but laid her hand along his cheek and looked deeply into his eyes. For one intoxicating moment, all he felt was her love. Then she gently removed her hand, and the universe returned to “normal.” Or as normal as it was ever going to get for the two of them.
“Now I’m ready.” John keyed the pad next to the door; it slid open silently, revealing the dark storage room beyond. Quiet as a whisper, John entered the room, sweeping the area with his rifle. Sera followed behind him, moving to the side. There were a few bare shelving units against the walls, and some crates on the far side of the room near the door that would take them to their destination. The room itself…was odd. There was something about it that made John think immediately of that organic entrance room. And yet, there was no sign of such defenses, only smoothly paneled, white walls. Nevertheless, John knew something was off.
Before either of them could react, the door closed and locked itself with a resounding clank of its mechanism. On the far side of the room, a large figure stepped out from behind the crates. He was wearing resplendent power armor, gold and sparkling even in the low light of the warehouse, with ornate engravings interwoven with the workings of the armor’s machinery. The figure held a matching helmet under one arm: a stylized eagle’s head. The man was smiling, and looking directly at John. And from outside the door came the muffled, repeated blats of what must have been an alarm. For their presence? Or had the assault begun outside the ship?
“Welcome, Murdock,” Ubermensch said with a crisp German accent, the smile never leaving his face. His brilliant blue eyes shone with a crazed light; he looked nearly unhinged. “I have been waiting a very long time to kill you.” In a single fluid motion, John slung his rifle while simultaneously firing off a blast of fire from his right hand. Ubermensch casually lifted the helmet in front of his face, deflecting the blast of fire into the wall and ceiling. Before John could fire again, Ubermensch had already donned the helmet, securing it to his armor. “Your reflexes continue to impress, but I think you will find them inadequate today.”
Darlin’, get airborne. This creep is strong as hell, but it doesn’t look like he has that energy sword any longer. Better if we attack him from two different angles.
Sera looked up at the ceiling dubiously, but nodded. She got herself into the air, but only managed to get about ten feet off the floor. The fire spear appeared in her hands. John ignited his fires, spreading them over his hands and forearms. Time to get movin’, Murdock. He began circling to the right; the more distance he could put between himself and Sera, the more that Ubermensch would have to split his attention.
“You shamed me once. And you and your woman have been…inconveniencing us for some time. But that ends today.” Even through the speaker in the helmet, John had no trouble hearing the mirth in Ubermensch’s voice. “Your militaries are gathered outside, and are attacking the ship with their pitiful weapons. We’ve been tracking them—and you, of course—for some time. Just as before, you have walked right into a trap.” He marched towards them, lifting his arms to shoulder level, palms up. “You thought that you could destroy all of this? Destroy them? Destroy me?” He dropped his arms, and his voice went dangerously low. There was none of the previous glee in his words this time. “I will kill you today. But first, I will kill your woman, and make you watch. Then I will destroy you, rip you to pieces, smash you into nothing! Your friends are probably dying now. After today, the world is ours, John Murdock.” Fucking hell, this guy likes the sound of his own voice.
John reached out telempathically to Sera. They easily fell into sync, using their connection to use the battle-sense they had developed. This time…something was wrong. The normal avenues and paths were twisted and convoluted in a way that John had never before seen. The only things he could see clearly was that the room itself was dangerous, and that Ubermensch was about to attack.
Contract the view to merest seconds, beloved. All else is confused. As at the beginning, we need only to anticipate the next blows, nothing more.
John slowed his breathing, concentrating; the Futures flared, then shrank down to something much clearer. Ubermensch touched a small box attached to the waist of his armor; time seemed to slow for John as the battle-sense lit up. John’s body reacted before he was even fully conscious of the danger, rolling away from the wall and coming up in a fighting crouch; Sera dropped away from the ceiling at the same moment as several of the metal panels fell away. Dozens of fat orange and gray tentacles dropped from the exposed area and groped after her. At least half of them were mottled with spots that looked like decay, and moved sluggishly.
John sent a wash of flame at the ones nearest to him, and then snapped his attention to Ubermensch. He ran, full tilt, straight at John, as Sera flared her own fires at the appendages, causing them to retreat. Big an’ strong, but I’m still faster. John allowed the fires to build in his hands for a split second before releasing a powerful beam directly at Ubermensch’s chest; it ricocheted wildly off of the armor, carving a flaming trough in the floor ahead of him. The Thulian was almost upon John; reaching through the battle-sense, he understood what to do instantly. He charged right for the hulking meta, eliciting a roar of triumph from Ubermensch. Just before they would have collided, John kicked off the floor and launched into the air on a plume of fire, the sound of his fires erupting almost deafening in the enclosed space. With the extra speed, he veered hard to the right, slipping just out of Ubermensch’s reach. The wall loomed in front of him; another panel crashed to the ground, revealing a writhing pile of tentacles waiting for him. The more lively ones snapped towards him; in an instant, they had hardened into terribly dangerous-looking spikes. John flipped in the air, putting a burst of energy into the fires at his feet; though his stomach lurched, he was able to kill his forward momentum before he would have impaled himself on the spikes.
“Is something wrong with you, Supreme Man?” Sera mocked. “You seem unable to coordinate your actions or yourself. Have you been ingesting too much alcohol? Perhaps you should go lie down and call Valkyria to take your place.” She punctuated each of her sentences by flinging spears of fire at him. “Perhaps all the enhancement you have been attempting has begun to degrade. I expect to see your face fall off next. Or will it be what is left of your manhood?”
“Silence, damn you!” Ubermensch spun around to face Sera. He squatted down, and then jumped in a beeline for her. In the blink of an eye, he had cleared over forty feet with his leap.
The German meta’s problem was, Sera wasn’t stuck with a
straight trajectory the way he was. She eluded him easily; instead of ending in his seizing her in midair, his jump ended with crashing shoulder-first into the wall, crushing the panel into the waiting tentacles behind it. As he dropped to the floor, whatever it was behind that panel shoved the ruined plate off, sloughed off the dead and fluid-dripping tentacles to the floor, and began growing new ones. Just for good measure, Sera threw two more fire-spears at Ubermensch as he tumbled heavily to the floor.
My turn, darlin’. Gotta give you some space from him. His fires weren’t even making a dent in the armor; seemed like even the Thulians could learn, and Ubermensch had upgraded his armor. This won’t hurt him, but it might buy some time anyways. John unslung his rifle, brought it to his shoulder, and flicked off the safety. He poured the entire magazine of suppressed rounds into Ubermensch’s helmet and upper shoulders to zero effect, save for the meta turning to face him.
“Unworthy of you, Affenschwein. I—” Ubermensch’s words were cut off by an intense blast of plasma that collided with his helmet’s speaker.
“You talk too much,” John said as he keyed his enhancements. Ubermensch leapt for John from a standstill; John had anticipated the attack, and had already manifested a claymore of Celestial fire. As fast as Ubermensch could jump with all of his strength, John was still quicker. He sidestepped Ubermensch easily, ducking down and to the left just out of reach. He held the claymore out and to the right, bracing it with all of his strength. Ubermensch’s midsection hammered against the tip of the blade as he flew past, almost tearing the sword from John’s grasp. Once again, the Thulian hit the wall, crunching against the wall panels like they were made out of tinfoil. When he turned around, John saw that there was a small gash in one of the power armor’s sections. Okay, we can hurt him…but damn if it doesn’t take a lot of force to do so. Not sure I’ll be able to pull that trick off again. Ubermensch tracked John’s eyes, then looked down to his own armor. His head snapped up suddenly, and John could feel the hatred and frustration radiating off of the Thulian. Ubermensch slammed his palm against the device on his hip, then charged at John.
The orange tentacles went absolutely insane; more sprouted from the walls, and all of them started flailing wildly…and growing longer. The nearest ones were already reaching for John. Huh. Not good! With his enhancements already up and running, John was off like a shot, with Uber trailing behind him. He kept his sword manifested, chopping as he ran; left and right, it felt like the walls were closing in. Well, they were, he supposed. A bit of tentacle almost snagged his ankle before he cleaved through it with his sword, leaving the smoking stump to writhe behind him; Ubermensch crushed it under his boot as he stomped after John. It took everything he had to keep from getting entangled; between reading the battle-sense, cutting at the ever-closer tentacles, and running from Ubermensch, John was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He couldn’t fly; the tentacles on the ceiling were hanging so low that he could almost brush them with the tip of his fingers if he jumped.
The ceiling…Sera!
John frantically scanned the room. He could feel her through their connection, but he couldn’t see her. He was about to call out to her when one of the tentacles clipped his knee. He felt the nanoweave stiffen under the jolt; it was probably the only thing that kept him from being hamstrung. At the speed he was moving, even that small stumble was enough to bring him sprawling to the ground. His sword extinguished, as did the fires surrounding his hands. Stupid! He felt Ubermensch coming after him through the floor vibrations as much as through his battle-sense. He rolled out of the way of the Thulian’s boot right before it would have crushed his spine and rib cage; in his haste, he almost ran straight into a waiting nest of tentacles. John knew that if he didn’t get off the ground and moving again, he would be as good as dead. Uber was too damned close, and John was only at half speed with the battle-sense; it was only a matter of time before the big German bastard got him.
John flipped over onto his hands and knees; a blur of movement was nearly all the warning he had, throwing his hands in front of his face. The toe of Ubermensch’s armored boot only grazed his forearm, but it was enough to turn the nanoweave as hard as granite and send John cartwheeling through the air. He landed on the ground, hard, and felt a tentacle coil around his left hand. His sword materialized in his right hand, and he brought it down on the tentacle. Uber was already stalking over to him, and there was no time left.
Suddenly, a wall of tentacles erupted from the floor between him and Ubermensch, so fast the floor plates were hurled into the air, scattering like playing cards from an overturned table. At the same time, the tentacles grabbing for him slithered back, and he sensed Sera behind him. He turned to see her emerging from a wall full of receding tentacles, fires extinguished. She offered him a hand.
The ship is alive. And I have made friends with it.
John was on his feet in a flash; he realized that his mouth was open, and shut it, clicking his teeth together. They still had a threat to deal with.
Let our friend help us first, Sera said. It has been craving a chance to strike at its enslavers for…a very long time.
The wall of tentacles between them and Ubermensch fell away. John drew his sword back into a high guard, readying himself. His jaw almost dropped for a second time at what he saw. Ubermensch was completely wrapped in tentacles, squirming in their grasp. Some of them were torn away from their moorings by his struggles, but more replaced them. Even with all of his strength, it wasn’t enough to deal with all of the combined might of the room’s defenses.
“He’s got no leverage,” John said, still keeping his sword at hand.
The tentacles began to strip parts of Ubermensch’s armor off, letting the discarded pieces fall to the ground. Soon, he was completely out of the power armor; his bare chest heaved with rage, and he looked like a terrible—if impotent—demigod. All that strength…and he can’t use it. Uber didn’t say anything; John could feel that the man was completely consumed with anger…and more than a little fear. He couldn’t comprehend how this had happened to him.
“John,” Sera said aloud, her voice dark with emotion. “There is no saving this man. He will not be turned, and he will murder everything that stands in the way of conquest. I wish it were not so, but…even were I a full Seraphym, I could not have turned him.”
“Honestly, darlin’, I’m not too broken up ’bout this one.” He inclined his head towards Ubermensch. “Together?”
She nodded, and manifested her spear again. They both rushed forward, bringing the sword and the spear down into Ubermensch’s chest at the same time.
There was a sudden psychic jolt as their weapons hit him, as if something connecting him to a distant anchor had snapped.
The insane malevolence never left the Thulian’s eyes, even after the light had gone out of them. The tentacles that had been restraining him slowly released their hold, and his body slumped to the ground. John did a final telempathic scan of the Thulian; he did not want to have to deal with this bastard again. Satisfied that the man was well and truly dead, he extinguished his sword, letting the last licks of flame dissipate into the air over Ubermensch.
“So,” he said, turning to Sera. “You’re savin’ my ass yet again, darlin’. Ugly habit to develop.”
She only rested her forehead against his. “I think the score is even,” she said. The muted Klaxons in the distance brought both of them back to the present. “Now…we must go and speak directly to our new friend. Come.”
She left his side and moved to the far side of the room, where a door in the seemingly featureless wall opened. She turned and beckoned to him to follow. With a grin, he set off after her.
* * *
“Our contact has an urgent message for you, Belladonna.”
Although Eight had addressed Miz Bella, his voice must have been in all their ears, since Miz Vickie’s lips thinned and her jaw tightened, and Penny could hear it too.
“Go ahead, Eight,” Miz Bella said quiet
ly.
“I have been told to inform you that the Thulian warrior replication chamber has been activated, on its ‘maximum speed’ setting. Minimal instructions are being downloaded to the warriors.”
“Okay,” Bella replied. “So what, they’re replacing their army every couple of days now? We—”
“No, Belladonna. Every twenty minutes.”
Miz Bella said things that would have had Mama washing Penny’s mouth out with laundry soap, then locking her in the closet for a while.
“How is that even possible?” Miz Bella finished. “Never mind—”
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy,” Vickie interrupted grimly. “Penny? Any of your new friends know the way to the replication chamber for making Thulian thugs?”
“I think so?” Mistuh Stone stayed close to Miz Mel, and Penny glanced back at her mentor. He inclined his head in what she figured was a yes, so she bobbed her head to relay the message. “Yes. Yes, ma’am. I think there’s—”
A streak of silver edged in ice blue zipped around the corner, then stopped in a burst of smoke next to Mistuh Stone. The wisps came together to form a lanky figure in a jumpsuit. The new ghost looked young, not much older than Miz Bella and definitely younger than Miz Mel. He hooked his thumbs in the toolbelt around his hips and grinned at her.
Penny gulped. He looked like one of those singing actors from the old-time movies. When he talked, he definitely didn’t sound old. Well, finally. I gotta say, I didn’t expect to ever find myself in the middle of such beauty ever again. Jacob Stone, you sly dog.
Mistuh Stone laughed and shook his head. Corsair, this is my student. Penny, this is the finest mechanic you’d ever hope to meet in the air or on the ground. One of the only combat fighters to take down a squadron without firing a single shot.
Avalanche: Book Five in the Secret World Chronicle Page 64