Her thermal vision once again activated, turned the images in front of her into blue-and-orange blotches of color. Jazz’s thermal signature revealed his presence. He stood at the side of the tractor trailer, his head turned toward EVE as she was about to run past the truck. One of his hands held a large disk-shaped object; he was waiting for EVE to get close enough to throw it and unaware that Chloe was here. One of the many benefits of being able to freely reduce your mass is that your footsteps make very little noise.
She briefly considered putting him down right then, but he had helped her deal with that Hashmedai commander aboard the command ship years ago. As much as she didn’t like him, his friends, or his objectives, she wouldn’t be alive today without his help. Chloe’s rifle rose up toward his head, and three warning shots left her rifle, missing Jazz’s head by inches. It got his attention, promoting him to form a defensive stance with his plasma katana now glowing green with its superheated energy. His cloak, now deactivated, revealed his black trench coat, blowing in the air much like Chloe’s brown hair. Both of them were ready for a fight.
Jazz was him surprised to see her and paused for a moment, staring Chloe down as she held her rifle toward him. Made sense—like Chloe, Jazz probably thought she would never make it off the command ship before it was nuked.
“You,” Jazz finally said.
“Nice to see you too, Johnson,” said Chloe.
“Came here to finish what we started at Cedars-Sinai?”
“I won that fight, but if you want get your ass beat by a woman again. Be my guest,” Chloe said. “I see your alien masters have upgraded you.”
He grinned. “Speak for yourself.”
“At last, we have found you Emelia,” a female voice said from behind Chloe.
Goddamn it, not now! Stay focused!
Jazz took advantage of her dismayed state and fired a dozen shots from his plasma rifle. None of the heated bolts of plasma hit Chloe; rather, they shot upward, wreaking havoc on the shields of her transport as it hovered above the two. He leaped away, landing on top of a nearby car of an unsuspecting driver.
“You guys all right?” Chloe transmitted.
“We’re fine, but tha’ plasma hit us hard. Shields took a whopper of a hit,” Jacob replied over her communicator.
Chloe peeked down toward where Jazz escaped; her thermal vision saw nothing out of the ordinary—that is, until she saw the door to the truck they stood on top of swing open. The driver of the truck was tossed screaming in fear as his body smashed onto the highway outside. This was Jazz’s doing; it had to be. He was hijacking the truck.
… … …
A pileup of cars and trucks caused Destiny along with Tetsuya to stop their escape. The roadway leading to the rest of the highway was blocked, as vehicle upon vehicle was stacked up high on top of one another. Destiny looked upward as another car hovered above the pileup; telekinesis was in use. Dollon’s brainjacked body floated in the distance, while the passengers from the cars used to build the makeshift blockade fled away, screaming.
“Well…fuck,” Tetsuya said, gawking at the wall of cars.
Destiny about-faced toward the traffic they had just passed before hitting the blockade. A number of cars came to a stop with their operators and passengers fleeing in the same manner as everyone else. EVE calmly walked past the fleeing people toward Destiny, Tetsuya, and an invisible Veloshira.
Destiny shut her eyes briefly and took a few deep breathes. There were too many emotions clouding her thoughts, hampering her ability to make a judgment call on the situation. Her zombie husband above, the android controlling his body, and now their escape route blocked. And Jazz, what became of him?
“Aw fuck!” she yelled. Get you head together, Rina, survival first. “Tetsuya, keep moving!” If Dollon’s controlled mind got hold of him or her by remaining still too long, it’s over.
EVE stepped closer and calmly spoke. “This will be your final warning, please surrender.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Destiny exclaimed as her eRifle sprayed bullets against EVE’s shields.
Tetsuya’s rifle did the same all the while the two remained mobile with what limited movement space they had. Neither of them was flung into the skies—good sign—Dollon couldn’t get a lock on them. Now the hard part began, as expected, EVE commanded Dollon to drop bursts of white fireballs down toward the two of them since telekinesis was not an option.
Tetsuya and Destiny’s feet continued to move them out of harm’s way as bright exploding fireballs impacting the road blinded their sight. Their shields took a few hits from the searing heat that erupted from the flames. Heat waves blurred Destiny’s vision; she didn’t realize how close EVE had gotten to the two of them, nor did she realize that EVE triggered one of Veloshira’s mines. A stasis net held EVE perfectly still, but not her processing powers, as Dollon’s possessed body continued float and shoot a hellfire toward them.
“Tetsuya, on me!” Destiny ordered as she ran next toward EVE.
Tetsuya complied and ran over while white flames exploded behind him with every footstep. One meter to go, she thought. Whether he would make it was another story. The heat from the fire was slamming into his back. The resulting violent explosions caused heavy ripples of blue to flow across his shields. Destiny moved her body behind EVE as Tetsuya got into position to do the same.
All Destiny saw next were flames and burning pieces of the roadway debris shooting upward. Tetsuya’s and her shields shattered as the chaos encircled them along with EVE’s. The hellfire barrage instantly stopped, and EVE knew she was putting herself at risk by ordering Dollon to continue. Destiny considered her next move. She and Tetsuya had lost their shield, but so had EVE. A quick bullet to the head was all it would take to end this. Who would be the one taking the bullet was the question that needed to be answered—EVE or Dollon.
… … …
A sharp and sudden turn of the truck caused it and the tractor trailer it was hauling to jackknife. Vehicles next it slammed on their brakes, adding to the pileup of cars. The force of the jackknifing truck launched Chloe into the air and into the chaotic roadway ahead. The mass reduction field of her suit kicked in just in time, reducing the impact of her fall as she tumbled uncontrollably across the pavement.
“Major!”
“Uh, I’m fine,” Chloe transmitted back to the transport. “Get out of here; regroup with EVE. This is just a distraction!”
“Chloe.”
“Don’t let those terrorists escape!” she said while extending her rifle forward. “I got this.”
There were still no signs of Jazz’s thermal signature as Chloe scanned the area. Only fleeing commuters could be as they ran in the opposite directions of the traffic. Rainwater continued to pour down, repelling off Chloe’s shields as she stood holding her rifle with a heightened sense of awareness.
Jazz’s cloak shut down and slashed his plasma katana across Chloe’s shields. She spun to counter, and he did the same, always keeping his body away from her direct line of sight while his blade chipped away at her shield power. Her shields shattered seconds later as his hands rapidly stowed his blade away and then reached for her rifle. A tug of war between the two ensured, Chloe using all her strength to keep her weapon in her hands, and Jazz using all of his to disarm the former US marine.
He pulled and pulled, but as much as Chloe tried to fight back, he was too strong. Jazz spun while still holding on to the barrel of the rifle, and the force caused Chloe to be flung along with it. Her back crashed into the side of a car. She kneed him hard in the gut, the force from the hit knocked him backward just enough for her to regain dominance of her weapon. Not that it mattered, as a well-timed kick from Jazz sent the rifle out of her hands away from the two. Close-quarters combat it is, she thought, as her hand pulled out a long-bladed combat dagger from a slot on the side of her armored leg.
Round two it is... bitch, she thought.
… … …
A blue streak of light carri
ed Dollon from the skies to a stop directly behind Destiny and Tetsuya; they both began to rise upward instantly afterward. Telekinesis was at work as their idle stance behind EVE made them a target. Unable to move, unable to shoot, unable to breathe, EVE commanded Dollon to hold them high in the air, his glowing orange cybernetic arm raised upward toward. The white fireball that will shoot out from it will be fully charged unlike the quick charged ones from earlier.
Destiny looked down at the face of her husband, Dollon, a face of man being controlled. Whatever bit of life was left in him started to show. There was sadness in his eyes, terror in his face, and his mouth wanted to scream, “Please stop this!” He was seconds away from vaporizing his wife and friend with one shot.
Veloshira’s translucent body stepped out from the shadows, her glowing plasma daggers plunged toward the back of Dollon’s psionic shields, creating astounding display of green-and-purple lights colliding against each other. Veloshira’s combo of strikes were enough for Dollon’s grip to loosen, and the glow from his arm to cease. His psionic strength all went toward powering his shields rather than finishing off Destiny and Tetsuya as they fell down from the skies. Veloshira’s savagery continued, resulting in Dollon’s jump port carrying his body back to the skies via a blue streak of light. Veloshira countered, holstering her daggers and unholstering her plasma rifle that continued the flashy show of combat, green flashes and purple ripples, until his psionic shield shattered.
Destiny watched the action unfold as her sore body rose up from the ground. The speed at which a Hashmedai moved was absolutely mind-blowing, despite having witnessed it an uncountable number of times. EVE broke free from her stasis net and charged toward Veloshira before the assassin could finish off her husband. Destiny was conflicted, happy to see her husband not get vaporized, yet upset that he was still a threat.
Veloshira’s Hashmedai swiftness forced her body to spin and face EVE as the android’s fist hurled toward her at incredible speed. Veloshira’s footwork placed her behind EVE, and then her nimble hands once again possessed a pair of plasma daggers that made sure EVE would never throw a punch again. Two severed android arms hit the ground, sending electric sparks out from the shoulders were EVE’s arms were once connected.
Veloshira hesitated, petrified at learning that EVE wasn’t human—thus giving the android an advantage; she didn’t need arms to fight. A turn and a swift roundhouse kick pushed Veloshira ten feet backward. Her plasma rifle fell to the ground during her massive knock back. All the while, Dollon’s floating body once again began to conjure a white fireball. One of the two adversaries needed to go, and it needed to happen now. Veloshira’s two daggers left her hands, and spun rapidly toward EVE. One blade sunk into EVE’s chest, while the other landed between her eyes. EVE staggered and collapsed.
But the nightmare wasn’t over.
Dollon was still possessed; EVE’s processor was still partly active.
… … …
Both Jazz and Chloe continued to conflict among the abandoned and mangled cars. Chloe’s mass-reduced body in combination with her suit’s jets made it relatively easy to avoid every slash from Jazz’s plasma augmented blade. She merely leaped backward two meters each time he got too close. Chloe was slowly inching her way toward her rifle that rested in a growing puddle of rainwater.
Jazz stepped up his aggression after realizing the mistake he made; he started to charge toward Chloe, ready to tackle her if necessary to prevent her from rearming herself. Her bullets posed no threat to his life, but they were still capable of putting him out for a few minutes, long enough to get captured, or worse. The dagger she held was long enough to cut his head off if she was bold enough to go that far. Shooting her with his rifle was out of the question; he needed to conserve power in case of a long-term cloak. Even using the katana was risky in terms of power drain at this point.
Their bodies slammed into each other as she was about to reach for her weapon. The brawl entered the second round, a wrestling bout on the roadway, rolling around with each other, splashing in and out of puddles in the process. Chloe ended up on top as their rolling ended, she held her dagger high up, ready to plunge it down into Jazz’s face.
An eerie feeling gripped tightly around Chloe’s mind, so tight she felt her limbs, hands, feet, and her whole body become numb. She couldn’t move, only think. Jazz found himself in a similar spot; it was as if someone hit pause on their lives.
The two of them saw the surrounding highway melt away. The highway, the Vancouver skyline, everything—all of it replaced with the dark expanse of space. Except for Chloe and Jazz, they remained in their battle stance, hovering, unaffected by the newfound environment.
A woman appeared behind Jazz, her appearance was similar to the Hashmedaian princess, just more humanlike, and she spoke softly toward Chloe. “Aviuheart.”
Aviuheart, the woman in question, moved away from Chloe. From the corner of her eye, if Chloe didn’t know any better, it looked more like she was inside Chloe and crawled out of her as if her body was some kind of vessel.
“You switched hosts,” said Aviuheart.
“As did you, my sister,” replied Emelia.
“It was necessary,” said Aviuheart. “The Chloe had the will, the drive needed to get this close to your new host.”
“And it was necessary for me to take this human male as my host,” Emelia said, looking at Jazz from head to toe. “He is…different, stronger than the Kroshka, my former host.”
“The Kroshka is necessary,” Aviuheart said.
“Yes, and will remain so. The Jazz however, he can travel to places the Kroshka cannot. The Jazz is important to the seer as well. He’s known her since she was a child; he will protect her until she completes her tasks.”
“I see.”
“Return to your previous host, and inform Nivrui I have the matter under control. The Jazz will succeed.”
“The Jazz has antagonists; the Jazz will need assistance,” Aviuheart said. “I shall remain here; The Chloe will be my new host. She is stronger than the Ella, and more stable than the Gavin.”
Emelia stared at Chloe in the same manner she had with Jazz seconds ago. “The Chloe wishes to walk a different path, one she doesn’t know of, one with the Fiesei. We will have to change it.”
“It is done, then,” Aviuheart said. “I will heal the Chloe as you heal the Jazz.”
“Yes, the seer is the key to the gates. We will unlock them. It is only a matter of time.”
There was a bright flash of light. The paralyzing grip released its hold around Chloe and Jazz as they found themselves back in the AO, back in Vancouver, back on top of each other in the soaking rain shower. Only this time, neither of them wanted to fight, and somewhat regretted brawling in the first place.
“What the fuck was that?” the two shouted at the same time.
… … …
Destiny saw Veloshira’s weakened body slowly get up from the ground. That kick must have done a number on her, she thought. If EVE’s link to Dollon could be severed, then he could break free, and there would be a chance he could recover. As much as Destiny wanted to hold on to that glimmer of hope, the situation she saw unfold before her revealed the awful truth.
Tetsuya wasn’t moving, he was either dead or knocked out from the fall, Destiny was still struggling to get to her feet much like Veloshira. EVE, lying on the ground, needed to be shot up good in order in ensure her processor was damaged. There was no way Destiny or Veloshira would be able to get up in time, limp over to EVE, and finish her off. Even then where exactly was EVE’s processor located? It could take them several minutes before they finally locate and destroy it.
It was minutes they didn’t have. Dollon’s fireball would ensure that. The fireball was coming—and this time none of them could do anything that would result in Dollon’s life being saved along with theirs. Destiny’s trembling hands aimed her ePistol toward Dollon’s head.
The trigger was pulled—three times.
&n
bsp; Her tears fell to the road like rain from the skies.
Chapter 18
►► Imperial Palace, Paryo
► Uemaesce System
Crimson light from the morning sunrise on Paryo lit up Kroshka’s chambers while she bathed in frigid water. Her dripping-wet head popped up from the water, as her long platinum-blond hair drifted to the top of the water’s surface. Two servants stood next to her private bathing area. One held a robe; the other held a towel and awaited their young princess to summon them as usual when she was finished. Today shall be…different, she though as her head tilted toward the entrance.
“You two,” she called out toward the loyal servants. “Please leave, take the rest of the day off. Inform the others to do the same.”
“Let us dry your body at least.”
“No, I will be fine today. Please leave the towel and robe where you stand,” Kroshka requested. “Visit your families today.”
“You are too kind, Your Majesty,” one of the servants said with an elegant bow and then did exactly what was requested.
She waited a few minutes longer, before exiting and brushed her slender arms across the top of the water, making rippling waves in the process. She then shut her eyes, and relaxed her body. This was the first time since she’d returned from Earth that she was able to bathe with nobody present. It was a strange concept at first, bathing alone. She had spent her whole life having at least one other person present while she bathed. It was typically servants standing outside or her mother joining her—oh, and that one time four years ago when she invited a male servant to join her when she had an itch.
The time she spent on Earth, posing as human, however, forced her to bathe the way most humans did, alone. Jazz, after all, was hesitant to join her despite multiple requests from her to do so. She began to fantasize about what it would be like if Jazz showed up right now and dipped in with her. She imagined what his strong hands would feel like as they cupped her perky breasts as they lay in these waters together.
Uprising of the Exiled (Splintered Galaxy Book 2) Page 26