James continued staring at Alison and the gun. Even in the anger and hatred swirling through his body and mind, something was screaming for him to notice. He finally did. The Fortis agent had leaned forward, and the tip of his weapon had disappeared into the back of Alison’s head.
It’s a fucking trick.
The realization didn’t kill the waves of anger radiating through his body. Whispy had always been that good at keeping that kind of thing going.
Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy.
Fuck it. I was gonna do it anyway. Let’s go the next step.
The remainder of his armor appeared, along with his claws and helmet, his expanded vision coming in a moment later. The Fortis agents let out a startled gasp, except for the lead agent, who still hadn’t realized his error. His face wore a smug grin, the mask of a too-confident fool.
James pointed a blade at the agent. “You made a big mistake, asshole,” he growled. “You shouldn’t have tried to fool me with a fake Alison. You die first, and you die painfully.”
The lead agent sighed and looked down at this gun. “Oh, shit. Whatever. I’m tired of this. Use the blast pistols. We can still study the corpse.”
The image of Alison disappeared, and he raised his weapon.
Blue beams lit up the night and buzzed as shot after shot after shot struck him, the beam dissipating across his armor.
Near maximum adaptation already achieved against attack type, Whispy reported, disappointment filtering in with the thought.
James had no idea when he’d run into plasma beams before, nor did he care. He still had a fucker to kill. With a roar, he launched himself into the air and raised his blade.
The Fortis agents continued firing, but their shots weren’t doing anything more than scraping a thin layer off the armor. James brought his blade down and sliced the lead agent in half. The man’s blood splattered and coated the agents near him.
As the man’s body split into pieces, James growled, “Told you that you’d die first.”
He charged another man and decapitated him before ripping out a man’s throat with his claws. The two agents with the rifles backed away as James carved through the rest of the agents with ease. Neither had fired. Both were furiously tapping on some sort of keypads on the sides of the weapons.
Huh. Should have had that shit ready. Why is this crap so locked down?
One of the riflemen turned and rushed down the hill toward the cars. The other raised his weapon, his body shaking.
Warning: unusual resonance detected, Whispy reported. Caution recommended.
Caution? Since when the fuck are you worried about an attack? You always want new adaptations. Don’t suddenly become a pussy.
James let out a long low growl as he stalked toward the fleeing agent.
The man raised his gun and fired. James’ left arm disappeared in a cloud of purple lilac-scented smoke. He was too surprised for the pain to set in before he sliced the man and weapon in half.
Yesssssss, Whispy sent. Then, as if realizing the situation added, Extreme damage detected. Regeneration in progress. Adaptation in progress. Prioritizing adaptation.
James bellowed a mix of rage and pain and pointed his blade at the line of cars. Green light formed over the blade as he sent an energy attack at the vehicles, the pain continuing to cloud his mind.
The green beam blasted from his blade-cannon and raked the street, slicing through the cars and carving a thin path through the asphalt. Several of the cars exploded, and the rest collapsed into pieces.
The fleeing agent spun, his eyes wide with terror as an extremely pissed, one-armed, fully armored Vax advanced on him.
The rifle flashed, and the top layer of James’ armor turned to soft feathers and flaked off with the breeze.
Primary adaptation achieved, Whispy reported. Rebalancing regeneration and adaptation.
“No, this is impossible,” the surviving Fortis agent shouted as he fired again. “Nothing’s immune to this thing. That was why they stashed them around to begin with.”
The space around James’ armor shimmered for a second, a thin layer of gummy bears appeared and fell to the ground.
James raised his remaining arm. “There’s always a defense,” he snarled.
“You can’t still be alive,” the agent complained.
James stabbed the man through the heart and the agent coughed up blood, blinking in surprise before his head slumped forward. The bounty hunter yanked his blade out, and the dead agent pitched backward and rolled down the hill, his weapon at James’ feet. A few hacks with the blade shredded the weapon.
The pain on James’ side started to ebb slightly as symbiont tendrils extended to his wound to form a scaffold for a new arm.
What the fuck was that? James sent, his side throbbing, and his heart pounding, his anger and hatred fueling a desire to kill more enemies even though everyone in the area was dead.
Molecular-scale rearrangement. Transformation mechanism unknown.
You can adapt to something without even knowing what it is?
Yes. Recommend external healing via supplemental means for rapid regeneration of missing limb.
James growled and walked over to another Fortis body. He stabbed it a few more times, the blows jostling his body and increasing his pain. He marched down toward the truck. He had a few healing potions hidden inside. He had no idea how long it’d take to grow back an arm without the help of a potion.
No pity lingered in his heart for the men he’d just killed. He spared a glance for the dead man on the porch.
James’ only regret was that he hadn’t killed the agents before they’d gunned the man down.
Fucking Fortis.
15
“I need to know that she’s okay,” James shouted into the phone.
“I assure you, Mr. Brownstone,” Headmistress Mara Berens explained over the phone, “Alison is fine. More than fine. No one has penetrated the school’s defenses, and she’s safe and sound. There’s not even a hint that an enemy has penetrated the school grounds in recent weeks.”
How can she be safe when Fortis is around? That might have been a trick, but going after her does make sense. They might already be on their way.
“Why can’t I get her on her phone?” James rumbled. “I tried calling, and it just keeps going to voicemail. How do you know they didn’t snatch her?”
“I just used a spell to verify that she’s in her room,” the woman replied with a soft sigh. “I understand your concern, but we’re always changing our wards,” the headmistress explained. “It’s one of the reasons we don’t recommend students bring phones; they can fail at a moment’s notice, and in some cases, they might represent a way to get through our defenses as a magical anchor. We’re considering banning them, to be honest, but as I said, she’s currently in her room. I can summon her to the phone if you want. The last thing we want is a worried parent, especially you.”
James sighed, a little of his concern fading. Even though he knew the Alison he’d just seen was a fake, the anger and concern had lingered. He still wished there were more agents to kill.
Fuckers didn’t study me hard enough if they thought that shit was going to go down the way they hoped.
“Nah,” James offered. “If I make her come to the phone, she’ll just worry. Thanks for letting me know, and sorry to bother you so late at night. Just, stuff happens in my line of work, and I saw something that got me worried about her.”
“It’s no problem.” Headmistress Berens cleared her throat. “Let me ask you one thing, Mr. Brownstone. The trouble you’re concerned about; is it magical in nature? We can handle it regardless of its nature, but the more we know about any potential threats to the school, the easier we can customize our response.”
“No, the assholes I’m dealing with use technology. Advanced technology. Probably more advanced than you’re used to, but there’s nothing magical about it.”
Mara let out a sigh of relief. “Then I can
assure you that they won’t get anywhere near her. Magic does have certain advantages, even over the most advanced technology. There are more than a few frustrated government agents who both envy and fear our school’s defenses.”
Yeah, I bet you some of those asshole work for Fortis, too.
“Thanks,” James replied. “Like I said, sorry to bother you. Don’t tell Alison. She doesn’t need to worry about something she can’t fix, and I’ll make sure this problem is over soon.”
“It’s no bother, and I’ll keep this between us. I agree that stressing out Alison wouldn’t do either of you any good. Is there anything else, Mr. Brownstone?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Try to have a good night.” With that, Mara hung up.
James grunted.
Yeah, I was having a good night until CIA assholes came and tried to kill Shay and me. It’s been the same for a long time, all the way back to the Harriken. I’m minding my own business, and those fuckers can’t leave me alone. They have to come blow my arm off and get in my face.
James shook out his new left arm. He’d lost a hand before and regenerated it, but he’d never lost a full arm. He was impressed. No pain, and it felt just like the old one. At first glance, it looked identical, but he hadn’t carefully inspected any of the patterns or looked to see if the old scars were still there.
It didn’t really matter. All he cared about was whether he’d be able to use it when he needed to in a fight.
Whispy had gone into quiescent mode as he continued the background regeneration work.
Fuck. How much of me could get blown away and fixed? Does he have a backup of my brain if it gets taken out, or would it just be him calling the shots in a mindless body?
James checked his mirrors again to be sure. No one was following him.
He was on his way to Warehouse Five to rendezvous with Shay. He’d collected the blast pistols and fragments of the rifles to store in her vault there. There was no reason to leave it around for the government, good agents or bad, to collect. Fortis had tried to kill him, so he claimed their weapons as a bonus.
“James, can you talk now?” Heather asked through his ear receiver.
He’d requested that she not talk to him for a few minutes when he’d first gotten back in his truck, even though the jamming had cleared when he destroyed the SUVs. The whole process of regenerating his limb wasn’t as comfortable as he would have liked, and he didn’t feel like explaining it to her.
“Yeah,” James rumbled. “I’m good. What’s up?”
Heather sighed. “Sorry about not being more help back there. Those bastards were using pretty powerful jamming, even optical. I couldn’t even see what was happening with hacked remote drones. In some ways, what these guys did was more impressive than what Erin North pulled off.”
Humans outperforming aliens; I’m impressed. Maybe Earth does have a chance against the Alliance. They probably stole that shit from some other aliens, but they got it working.
James grunted. “They’ve got access to some fancy-ass tech. Doesn’t matter. They’re all dead now. All their fancy tech didn’t do shit to save them in the end. If anything, it’s the reason they’re dead. They pulled stuff they shouldn’t have to fuck with me. Between the dead guys who went after Shay and the guys I killed, they lost a lot of men tonight.”
The steering wheel creaked under his grip, the memory of the image of the beaten Alison flickering through his mind. If the Fortis agents hadn’t gotten him so pissed, he might not have been able to transform into extended advanced mode and survive the super-rifle attacks, even with his basic adaptation ability.
How angry is a true Vax Forerunner?
“Some other CIA-looking guys showed up, and new jamming started up a few minutes after you left,” Heather explained, “Peyton contacted me right before and said not to worry about it.”
“I’m betting they’re with that Daniel guy.” James sighed. “This shit is annoying. I don’t care if he’s supposed to be a good guy. He’s still a government spy. He should have kept these assholes away from us. I don’t ask other people to clean up my messes, and I don’t like having to clean up theirs.”
“Peyton and I are continuing to coordinate,” Heather explained. “We’re both on high alert and watching the systems. I’m assuming these guys will come at you again in different ways. Now that we know who is behind everything, we can make sure they don’t win on the cyber front. If we can deal with an alien hacker, we can handle humans, no matter what fancy tech they are using.”
James nodded. “Thanks. You two watch our asses online. Shay and I will handle the rest.”
Shay ran her fingers over James’ bicep, her eyebrows raised. “It feels the same. I should know, I touch it enough. You regenerated a whole new limb in a few minutes? Damn! That’s impressive, even for extended advanced mode. You’re getting more ridiculous with each passing month.”
James lowered his arm and shrugged. “I was pretty pissed off, and I still needed the healing potion to do it that quickly. Who knows how long it would have taken otherwise? And I still had to win the fight. If the guy had been able to shoot straight, I might be dead.”
“You’re still alive, and they’re all dead. I wouldn’t underestimate how useful this will be.” Shay laughed. “And the point is, it would have still grow back. Say it took a couple of days; that wouldn’t be the end of the world, and it’s still a step up. It takes major healing magic to regenerate limbs.” She nodded at the pile of rifle parts. “I’m guessing Daniel’s people will eventually ask for all that crap back. I have no idea if they know about the warehouses. I want to say no, but I can’t be sure.”
“I don’t give a shit if they want them back. Finders-fucking-keepers, especially when the finding involves some asshole vaporizing my arm into smelly purple smoke.” James growled. “If they wanted to get their hands on this shit, they should have done a better job of keeping Fortis off our asses to begin with.”
Shay folded her arms over her chest and nodded. “If we do the Professor’s vimana job, this might not be the end of it. Daniel and his friends are going to do what they can, but as tonight proved, they can’t always protect us. I’m sure we’ll run into more of these guys.”
James picked up a piece of the rifle barrel. “We don’t need protection. After tonight’s bullshit, there’s no fucking way I’m walking away. Fuck Fortis with their weird-ass guns and fake Alisons.” He tossed the piece back on the table. “But I don’t trust Daniel either. He’s another government spy running around trying to hide shit from people, and I don’t like that he knows everything about you now. He might try to use that shit against you.”
“True,” Shay replied, “but I don’t care. Plenty of people know the truth, including Maria. Even if I did have the ambush under control, it was helpful to have him there, and more to the point, we now know a lot about him, too. And this isn’t the first time he’s helped me.” She shrugged. “Not saying I trust him, just he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who will murder some man on his porch. And now that you’ve adapted to some of the fancier alien tech, who knows if they even have a way to stop you?”
James grunted. “You’re saying they won’t fuck with you because they’re afraid of me?”
“If they’re not stupid, they won’t, but there are a lot of stupid people in the world, so we can’t be sure.” Shay picked up one of the blast pistols. “Daniel had one of these too, but I don’t think I want to use anything I don’t know how to easily recharge. It doesn’t hurt to have a few of them in the vault, though. You never know when it might come in handy to kill an alien or two.”
James slammed his fist on the table, and the fragments bounced. “Not letting those fuckers get that map. I’d do it for free after that bullshit. I hope they come after us so I can kill more of them. Maybe they will learn the fucking lesson I tried to teach the Harriken.”
Shay nodded. “Looks like we’re taking a trip to the Indian Ocean, then.”
“You gonna bring Lily?” James uncurled his fist. “Not saying you shouldn’t, but this is more serious than usual, and it’s got a lot of baggage.”
Shay shook her head. “It’s not that she can’t handle herself in danger—she’s more than proven that at this point—but you’re right. This government conspiracy crap is more trouble than she needs when her life has just started to become stable. We’ll help the Professor get his flying castle, and if we get lucky, we’ll take out a few murderous assholes in the process.”
16
Shit. This is just another reason to be pissed at Fortis.
The motorized skiff hit another stiff wave, and James’ stomach churned. As much as he hated planes, he’d forgotten there was one thing he hated even worse: boats. The sun beat down on him as their tiny boat took them from the east coast of Tanzania to their target, a small island long since abandoned by most of civilization. The island held the ruins of a fallen sultanate.
James peered at the white-capped waves around them and grunted.
Fucking ocean. Can’t even drink the water. How do you have all that water and you can’t drink it? That’s the greatest bullshit in the world.
Cool monsters to fight in the ocean, though, I’ll give it that. I can fight a shark, but it would be hard to fight a dragon without having wings.
Another wave attacked James’ stomach, and he wondered if a Vax invasion of Earth would fail because of all the water.
Their boat driver gave James’ a thumbs-up. “I can see the island now, boss.” His accent colored the words and somehow made them easier for James to understand despite the loud roar of the engine. The man gave him a toothy grin but kept his hands on the wheel. “If you need to throw up, try and do it into the ocean. The fish could use it, and it saves me the trouble of cleaning the boat.” When he smiled, the creases in his weathered dark skin looked even more pronounced.
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