James is right. Love is hard.
Shay sneaked a glance at him. He wasn’t smiling or frowning. Instead, he kept his attention on the road, his brow furrowed as if he was deep in thought.
Maybe this shit has nothing to do with me at all. Even if that Aiyn bitch had it coming and was going psycho anyway, he might still have let her get in his head, or he’s worried about that Vanguard crap. I need to make sure he doesn’t need to worry about it and let him know I’ll always have his back no matter what.
Shay licked her lips. “Hey, we should talk.”
James nodded. “You’re right. I do want to make sure you understood that I want to eat at least two meals at Jessie Rae’s tomorrow. Maybe three, depending on how hungry I am, and I’ve noticed I’m always really hungry after I’ve gone through a lot of regeneration. The fight the other day involved a lot of it. Aiyn got in some good hits, I’ll give her that.”
“You want to eat a lot of barbeque? Is that seriously what you’ve been thinking about for the last hour?”
James nodded. “Thinking about all the different kinds I want to have. I want to go all-out. Really go to town.”
“Fine.” Shay chuckled. “That’s fine, James. You earned it. I don’t hate barbeque, you know. I just want to mix things up a little more than you do. As much as I love pizza, I couldn’t eat it as often as you eat barbeque, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”
“Sure, okay. What did you want to talk about? Alison’s summer plans?”
“Not yet. It’s about you. You never told me if you’re okay.” Shay gave him a warm smile. “I know you’re the baddest Vax in the whole damned town and all that, but I still wanted to make sure. You know you can always talk to me.”
James grunted. “I’m fine. Like I said, she got some good hits in, but I can’t find any cuts or anything. Whispy’s doing his thing, but he also didn’t try and stop me when I pulled him off. I didn’t need a healing potion either. I will say all this improved regeneration’s gonna save me money. Shit piles up, you know. I won’t always be in extended or extended advanced, but it’s still gonna help.”
“I’m… Okay, that’s good. I mean, it’s good that you’ve regenerated and aren’t seriously hurt.” Shay gave him an exasperated sigh. “But that’s not the shit I was talking about. I meant your feelings. Your mind, and all that. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t sliding into a Brownstone brood.”
The confused expression James gave her almost made her laugh in his face, but she called on her self-control to stop herself. That would only complicate things. The last thing she needed to do was make James question being honest about his feelings.
“My feelings?” James rumbled. “I feel good. I fucking got that bitch off our backs, and I’m going to Jessie Rae’s with you. What’s to feel bad about? I’m sure Mack will work out that bounty shit, so I’m not worried about any of…” His hands tightened around the wheel. “Son of a bitch!”
“James? What’s going on?”
“I might just be seeing things, but after today, I damned well want to be sure.” His gaze cut between the side and rearview mirrors. “Look behind us and tell me what you see. If it’s nothing, then we’ll continue to have a good night. If not, time for some more ass-kicking.”
Shay’s stomach tightened, and she turned her head.
The highway lacked lights, but the truck’s taillights were on, keeping the area behind them from being totally dark—and that was where the problem lay. Complete blackness would have been more comforting, in a way.
The slight illumination of the taillights highlighted the bare shadow of a large form floating about twenty feet off the ground. Some of the light bent in wrong ways, outlining something much larger than the truck and roughly triangular. If she hadn’t been looking for it explicitly, she might not have noticed.
“I see it,” Shay breathed. “Damn it. Come on, already.”
“Exactly.” James pulled off the highway and slammed on the brakes. The strange optical phenomenon disappeared, but the entire truck rattled and shook as if a huge train was passing right over them.
Shay checked her gun in her holster and sighed. “Sometimes it’s just luck, you know? But if it’s Aiyn again, she has to be weaker than the last time. Much weaker.”
“I don’t think it’s her. Call it my gut instinct.” James reached into his shirt and yanked off the spacer behind his amulet. He grimaced as the bonding took place. “Fuck luck, and fuck whatever’s after us. I wanted some time off with you, and I wanted my fucking barbeque.”
They both stepped out of the truck. Nothing but scrubland and shrubs around them that they could see, but the plants fluttered at the touch of a hot wind seemingly coming from above with no obvious source.
What the fuck is that?
James and Shay craned their necks upwards. Again, the stray light reaching above them from the truck highlighted a huge spectral form in the darkness.
The form shimmered for a few seconds and a thin silver triangular aircraft revealed itself, utterly silent despite the obvious blue-white gases coming out of the bottom.
What was with the rumble earlier? Were they fucking with us on purpose?
Shay’s stomach tightened as she stared up at the bottom of the ship. She pointed at some familiar symbols on the bottom. “They aren’t exactly the same as the thing on your amulet, but they are very damned similar, plus similar to some other alien symbols I’ve found in my research.”
“What are you saying? It’s the Vax? If it’s them, I’m gonna fucking beat their asses all the way to the center of the Earth.”
Shay shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“No, it’s not them.” James snorted. “Thanks to Aiyn, I know it’s not them.”
“Huh? What do you mean? How do you know?”
James pointed above. “She ranted about it. The Vax use some sort of portals, it sounded like, rather than ships. Technological portals rather than magic. Sounded like the Alliance didn’t really understand them.”
“Huh. I was kind of wondering why similar symbols popped up in different contexts. Maybe it’s more like a common alphabet or something? That would explain a lot.” Shay smiled for a few seconds before wincing.
I’m getting lost in cool archaeology and linguistics when there’s most likely an alien ship right above us, and I doubt they’re tourists looking for the nearest barbeque joint.
James laughed. “No. I know exactly who these assholes are. Don’t bother pulling a gun. Bet you your phone has no signal all of a sudden. I should have expected this shit.”
“Yeah, once I realized there was a ship above us, I kind of got that a handgun wouldn’t be helpful.” Shay pulled out her phone to check.
No signal. Even if this part of the highway wasn’t great for reception, she tended to at least get some bars.
Shay groaned. “They’ve got us locked down. Fuck.”
“No, fuck them.” James slapped his chest. “Fuck you, Nine Systems Alliance. You want to kill me, then go ahead and do it, because all I want to do is go get some fucking barbeque with my girlfriend because your psycho shepherd was about to nuke half of Los Angeles because she was pissed about something I didn’t even do to her. Oh, and that’s after she murdered a bunch of people and fucked up my friends and the cops after some weird nanite bonding shit. Is this what you do?” He shook his fist. “You’re so damned worried about protecting Earth from alien invasions. How the fuck was what went down not an alien invasion? So, you hear that? My Vax Forerunner ass just stopped an alien invasion by the Nine Systems alliance. So either fucking kill me or get the hell out of our way so I can get to Vegas, get some sleep, and get some damned barbeque after having fun with Shay.”
Glad to see he’s got solid priorities.
“Okay… That’s not the way I would have handled this, but I doubt they can hear you up the—” The triangular craft began to descend. “Or maybe they can.”
James and Shay exchanged lo
oks, and he shrugged.
Shay laughed. “I can’t believe this shit is happening. You’re either the unluckiest bastard on the planet or the luckiest.”
Despite the fact they might be about to face multiple Aiyns, Shay found herself more fascinated than afraid. After months of worrying about the elusive alien huntress and finally finding relief after her defeat, she just couldn’t bring herself to worry at that moment. Also, James’ arrogant defiance was inspiring in its own way.
Nothing was more Brownstone than him yelling at an alien ship about his right to eat barbeque and have sex with his girlfriend.
The ship landed to the side of the road, and the engines cut out. They scorched the ground.
“It’s a close encounter now,” Shay muttered. “Assholes should watch it so they don’t start a fire.”
James stomped toward the ship, and Shay fell in behind him, still more curious than worried.
White light bathed the body of the ship, illuminating the entire area. The ship wasn’t huge, close to the size of an average Learjet. There were no obvious weapons, but Shay couldn’t even begin to figure out what she might be looking for, given some of the technology and abilities displayed by Aiyn.
As the Silver Ghost, she could fire energy blasts from her arms. The ship might have all sorts of hidden projectors or gun ports or an expanding energy field that blasted from the body.
The side of the ship slid open, and a metal ramp extended quickly from the nearly open doorway to the ground with a quiet whir.
James stopped about five yards away and crossed his arms over his chest, scowling at the opening in the ship.
I’m honestly not sure if he’s more pissed about us potentially being attacked or his barbeque run getting fucked up.
A single blue-skinned yellow-eyed humanoid male emerged from the ship clad in a loose blue-white uniform, a wide belt with several pouches hanging around his waist.
Shay narrowed her eyes at an obvious sidearm in a holster, and some worry crept in.
Well, maybe it’s not a sidearm. Maybe it’s his space stapler, and he’s a space accountant who just wants to talk to us about term life insurance.
The alien held up his hands in an obvious gesture of de-escalation. He cleared his throat. “You are James Brownstone and Shay Carson?”
His accent was odd, but that wasn’t surprising, given the situation. Shay was just happy he had the technology or the ability to speak a language she could understand. For all she knew, Aiyn spent fifty years studying Earth languages before arriving.
James frowned. “Yeah, I’m James Brownstone. You’re the same species as, let’s see, Sentry 7921, Shepherd 2nd Class Aiyn Noraz Hal. If you’re here to try to arrest me or whatever, fuck off. I stand by everything I said and did. She was the one fucking with me, and plenty of humans too.”
The alien stared at James, a puzzled expression on his face. At least that was how Shay interpreted it, but she couldn’t be certain if he was close enough to human in psychology that his facial expressions implied the same mental states.
“And you killed her,” the alien man stated. There was no accusation in the flat tone.
“I defended myself after months of her hounding the people I care about and me.” James dropped his arms and fisted his hands. “If you want to get in line for a beat down, go ahead. I’m damned pissed now, and I could use the exercise.”
Shay watched in silence, awed by James’ continued defiance, given the situation. If the alien had any sort of weapons on his ship, they might not be able to counter them. Even a good old Earth fighter plane could destroy the truck with ease from miles away with a missile.
“Aiyn…” the alien began. “There are problems with things that have occurred. Some of this was our fault. We underestimated how certain things would progress, given the information we had available.”
James didn’t say anything, but he did unclench his hands.
The alien gestured to James. “Our policy of minimal interference except in defense against other advanced species has become…strained because of the complicated nature of Earth and Oriceran. Obviously, Aiyn has said and done a lot to further complicate this particular situation. We were worried she might try something abrupt since she recently cut off contact with us, and audits of certain datastreams indicated she was doing things she shouldn’t. We came as soon as possible, but…”
“But what?” Shay asked.
“James Brownstone, you are a Vax Forerunner, are you not?”
James shrugged. “Among other things. It’s kinda down on the list after bounty hunter and barbeque enthusiast.”
“Prince of Pec-town,” Shay added.
James gave her an odd look, and she smirked back. Something about the situation was too strange to not have a little fun. If she was about to be killed by some alien, she at least wanted to have a fun time with her man for the last few minutes.
This alien seems more confused than we are.
The alien looked at James and Shay. His expression suggested he didn’t understand a single thing either of them had just said. “You’re an anomaly, Mr. Brownstone. You shouldn’t exist, and that makes it hard to decide how to proceed.”
James ripped open his shirt to reveal the bonded amulet. The alien stepped back, his gaze locked on his chest.
“It doesn’t control me,” James explained. “I control it. I don’t feel like I should have to give you my life story, but my parents died making sure I didn’t have to become a Vax Forerunner and join in their wars. I grew up on Earth, and consider it my home. I use my abilities to take down bounties and other assholes who come after my friends and me. If your shepherd had left me alone, she’d still be alive and running her charity, but she couldn’t stop herself.”
“We tracked her energy signature and observed the last portion of your fight.” The alien continued to stare at James’ chest, tension lining his blue face. “We understand that our shepherd had become unstable even before her illegal and dangerous nanobonding procedure, but you still have to understand this from our perspective. You are an incredibly dangerous being, both individually and as a potential summoner of your species.”
“Meaning what?”
The alien’s gaze flicked to the ship. “The fact that you’re a bonded Vax with free will is interesting, but I’m not certain the Alliance can allow you to stay on this planet—not to mention the potential value that could come from studying you.”
James shook his head. “I’m not leaving Earth.”
“To be clear, I’m trying to be polite, but I’m also not suggesting you have much choice in the matter.”
Shay stepped in front of James and glared at the alien. “I don’t care if you’re the Emperor of the Nine Systems or whatever. You’re not coming to our planet and our country and kidnapping one of our people. Fuck off.”
“But he’s not one of your people. He’s a Vax.” The alien blinked, the light reflecting from his yellow eyes. “He’s as inhuman as a gnome or a Kilomea. Even more so, really, because at least those species have some connection to your world’s history and people.”
James’ mouth twisted into a hungry grin and his hands twitched. “What are you going to do? Aiyn did all that, as you called it, ‘illegal nanobonding shit,’ and she still didn’t win. I’ve already adapted to all sorts of attacks from your technology. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me if I got serious.”
The alien shook his head. “I doubt you could survive an anti-matter torpedo at point-blank range, Mr. Brownstone, and there aren’t any other humans around for a long distance to be at risk.”
Fuck. This is going south in a big way. We need to do something.
Shay swallowed, wondering if there were any more aliens on the ship. Without the nanite procedure, she doubted the alien could last more than a few seconds against her and James, but if he had backup, that’d just bring on an attack, and they’d still end up dust in a crater just like Aiyn.
An odd hum filled the air, and t
hey all turned toward the source. A small dot appeared and expanded into a portal. Then another appeared, and another.
What now?
The alien spun to each portal as it opened, confusion on his face.
James looked more annoyed than confused. “I can’t wait until this fucking night is over.”
Twelve portals appeared. A moment later a US Army soldier in an exoskeleton and AR goggles holding a railgun emerged from the first. Others poured out of the rest of the portals with different weapons—railguns, rifles, and rocket launchers.
Two portals joined to form a larger portal, and a few seconds later a tank rolled out.
A roar sounded overhead as something screamed by; fighter planes from the sound of them.
“What the ever-loving fuck is going on?” James yelled.
Shay took in all the new arrivals, not sure if having the military here was a good thing or bad thing.
The alien stood rigidly and locked his attention on James.
Worried he’s going to go all Forerunner on your ass? You should be.
The military deployment took under a minute, by the end, sixty heavily-armed men surrounded James, Shay, and the alien, supplemented by four tanks and an unknown number of planes flying nearby. A small group of wizards and witches emerged from the portal, their wands pointed at the alien.
The portals closed one by one, with a final one lingering. A suited and familiar old man stepped out: Senator Johnston. He walked toward James.
“I’m glad this showdown happened in the United States,” the senator offered with a quick glance at the alien. “Things could have gotten dicey otherwise, son. I’m just going to get this out of the way. We’ve been spying on you magically for the last few hours. Be pissed all you want, but in this case, I think it helps us both.”
James looked down at his exposed bonded amulet. So much for his big secret from the government.
The senator looked at James and the alien. “So, James, now I understand a little more about you, though to be honest, we’d already pretty much figured out you weren’t from around here after the Council incident.” He turned toward the alien. “And Miss Carson’s right. Mr. Brownstone, regardless of what planet he was born on, is legally a United States citizen. I don’t know how you run things in your—what was it called?—Nine Systems Alliance, but in America, we don’t take kindly to foreigners kidnapping our citizens. It makes us rather angry, in fact.”
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