Tekgrrl

by A. J. Menden

  “Do you ever feel like this team is cursed?” I asked. “Maybe Simon’s right. First Lainey and Wesley are part of some ancient prophecy that might destroy the world and has the Dragon going after Lainey. And now…”

  “It wasn’t Lainey’s fault she was targeted by the Dragon. And what’s happening here isn’t your fault. They violated you and stole part of you to make him. You had no control over that. It’s not your responsibility.”

  “It’s not my DNA running rampant out there?” I asked.

  “Well, not just yours. Something else’s too,” he said. Trying to cheer me up he added, “That’s how it works. You need me to explain Biology 101 to you?”

  “But if it wasn’t for me—”

  “It would have been someone else who was violated.”

  “Then the Vyqang wouldn’t be coming here,” I pointed out.

  “But they like to conquer worlds. Murder and rape and ruin, right?” At my nod, Paul continued. “We can stop them, Mindy. Maybe this battle is all that stands in the way of them running rampant and conquering whole galaxies. Your foster brother is here to help you. If it had been someone else, maybe the Vyqang would never be stopped.”

  I gave him half a smile. “Interesting way of looking at it.”

  “I’m a scientist. I look at things in interesting ways.” He gave me a reassuring smile.

  Wanting to change the subject, I motioned around us. “Is your lab the same?”

  He nodded. “Pretty much. Simon has cost us a lot.”

  “We should send him the bill.”

  “We should,” he agreed.

  “Is everyone else getting settled in?”

  “I think everyone’s glad to be back in their own beds,” Paul remarked.

  “Except Cyrus, who didn’t live here.”

  “Yeah, well, we still need him, so while he’s freelance working for us, he’s living with us,” Paul said. “I’m thinking of turning my lab into a bedroom. Have a cot set up or something.”

  “For Cyrus?”

  “No, I gave him the spare room I was staying in while Kate and I were splitting up,” Paul said. “And I’m not bunking up with him, so don’t ask. We might kill each other.”

  “You’re not staying with me?” I said.

  He looked shy. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to.”

  “Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

  “I know you said you were in this for the long haul, but with us coming back home and the Vyqang—”

  “Nothing’s changed for me, Paul. Nothing.” Now I was nervous. “Has something changed for you? I understand that you were shaky about kids in the EHJ anyway, and this revelation isn’t helping, I’m sure.”

  “You think I don’t like kids or something?”

  “You said once that Wesley and Lainey were crazy to have a kid in our environment,” I reminded him. “And now that we see what my DNA mixes into, I can understand if that makes you not want to chance anything.”

  He shook his head, frustrated. “Like I said, this Vyqang leader isn’t your fault. And yes, I did say that about Wesley and Lainey, but I also understand why they are crazy enough to do it.” He smiled. “I could see having a child someday…with the right person. If you’re suggesting Emily should have a playmate in the EHJ family.”

  For a moment I could see a child with Paul’s smile and my eyes. “Not anytime soon,” I quickly amended. “But someday. Since we’re getting all of our relationship expectations out in the open. Wow,” I realized. “That’s the quickest way to scare off a guy, huh? Talking about future babies.”

  “Well, I think a more permanent relationship is called for first.” Paul sounded hesitant, nervous again. But also more than a little hopeful. “Maybe a little bit of paperwork, too. In the form of a license.”

  Was he suggesting what I thought? “I’m not opposed to it,” I admitted. I didn’t want to overreact.

  He scratched his head. “Are you being serious, or are you just teasing?”

  “I’m serious—but remember I’m a cold-blooded scientist. If you’re cool with a little ceremony in front of a judge, just the two of us, then you’ve got yourself a deal.”

  His face broke into a bright smile. “You’re completely serious?”

  “Yes, I’m completely serious! What do I have to do to prove I’m saying yes to your unasked question? Yes, Paul, if you decide to ask me to marry you, I’ll say yes. If that’s what you’re coyly tap-dancing around.”

  “It’s not because you think something bad’s going to happen with this invasion and you won’t have to follow through?” He was teasing; I could tell by the tone of his voice.

  “I’ll run out and get the license now, if that’s what you want.” I shook my head. “And I thought Wesley asking Lainey to marry him in an elevator moments before a possible world-ending battle was weird. I think this is probably the weirdest proposal in the history of proposals. But what can you expect from us, right?”

  “How about if I phrase it better after we stop the invading aliens? Now, how about a distraction from the craziness of today?” He held out a hand.

  I took it. “That sounds fabulous.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “Are you sure you can do this?”

  I frowned as we went over the plan again. Logistics might have changed a bit, but we were still solid. “Yes, Paul. I’m fine.” I glanced over at Fantazia. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  She shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”

  I looked at Wesley. “Now I’m not so sure.”

  “She’s just being…” Wesley gave Fantazia a dark look. “She’s just being herself. She can do this without any trouble.”

  Fantazia snorted. “It’s so easy? You try working a teleportation spell to an alien ship miles above the Earth’s atmosphere, then the subjects mucking around a bit up there and then turning around and transporting back. Oh, wait! You don’t have the power to do that anymore.” She gave him an equally dark look. “So it looks like you should be quiet.”

  I looked at my foster brother. “Assuming she can even transport us up there, what guarantee do we have that he won’t just blow us away?”

  “None,” interrupted Paul. “Which is why I’ve been working on this all night.” He tossed me a small device that looked like a garage door opener. “It’s a personal shield. I can’t factor in for all of the alien weapons they might throw at you, but it is calibrated to deflect everything I know.”

  “And when exactly did you make this?” I turned the device over in my hand, admiring the workmanship.

  “After you fell asleep.”

  “You didn’t sleep?”

  “Sleep is for people that don’t have access to intravenous caffeine drips,” Paul said.

  “Thanks, babe,” I replied, leaning in and giving him a kiss.

  Toby groaned and looked away. “No making out in the war room.”

  “What about the people risking their lives but not sleeping with you?” Fantazia grumbled.

  “As long as you’re standing close, the shield should protect you,” Paul said.

  Fantazia snorted. “I love how you say should.”

  “You can cast a shield on yourself,” Paul pointed out. “I’ve seen Lainey and Wesley cast them.”

  Fantazia threw up her hands. “Do you people think I have an unlimited supply of magic? Because I don’t!”

  “Can you take some of mine?” Lainey asked. “Since I’m staying here with Emily, I don’t need much.”

  “You need some,” Wesley pointed out. “No way am I leaving you in the midst of a possible invasion powerless.”

  “Not exactly powerless,” Lainey retorted. “And I’m in a pretty heavily guarded fortress.”

  “Which the Dragon tore through last time,” Wesley said.

  “We’re fighting aliens this time, not magic users.”

  Fantazia actually gave Lainey a small smile. “Thanks for offering, Lainey, but I’ll be okay, I�
��m sure. I’ll just take a very long vacation afterward.”

  “Okay. How’s the decoding, Cyrus?” Wesley asked.

  “Won’t be able to tell until they get here,” the Virus replied, not looking up from his computer. “But so long as the information our alien friends have provided is remotely correct, with a few minor tweaks I should be able to upload this program to disable their defense systems in a short amount of time.”

  “Time that we’ll spend fighting them,” Paul said.

  “Better hope it takes effect pretty quick,” Cyrus muttered. “Just like in the movies.”

  “Like anything works like it does in the movies,” Luke said.

  “That’s why the military is on standby to nuke their alien butts,” Toby said.

  “And that’s why we had better hope our plan works,” Paul added. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I get worried anytime anyone mentions the words nuclear and government in the same sentence.”

  “I must go prepare my people,” Dyvinsher said. “We are getting reports that the Vyqang are nearing.”

  “I’ll relay that to the military,” Wesley said. “They’ll be the next line of defense should the Vyqang punch their way through yours and into the atmosphere.”

  “If they do, ready your ground troops,” Dyvinsher said. “They waste no time in transporting down.”

  Paul nodded. “Wesley and I will be leading the forces below.”

  I hugged Dyvinsher. “Good luck.”

  He hugged me back. “To you as well, Man-dei.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself as he took a few steps backward and transported himself away. Now we would have to watch as the Kalybri attempted to keep the Vyqang from reaching us. I had a feeling that it would only be a matter of time before a few of the enemy’s ships slipped through and they made their way forward. Once the battle started on the ground, we only had a limited amount of time for our plan to work: Cyrus taking out their defense systems and Fantazia and I trying to take out their leader…or convince him to go away peacefully before the military stepped in.

  Paul stepped up behind and wrapped his arms around me.

  I sighed. “There’s nothing we can do now, is there?”

  “Not yet,” he agreed. “We don’t have spaceships equipped with the appropriate weapons yet.”

  “Maybe we should invent some.”

  “I’ll get right on that.” He noticed how tense my body was. “What about you? Is he talking to you?”

  “All’s very silent,” I reported. “I get the sense that he’s here, and if I push I can almost make out some words, but I’m afraid. Because if I can hear him, he can likely hear me, and I don’t want him getting an inkling of our thoughts.”

  “Good idea,” Paul said. “And probably similar to what he’s thinking.”

  Wesley waved his hand from the side of the room, where he was monitoring the communications from the Kalybri ships. “It’s starting.”

  Selena burst into the war room with Simon trailing after her. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stall him anymore.”

  “What are you doing here, Simon?” Paul growled.

  “Look, I know things are a little tense between our two teams…” Simon held up his hands as if to ward off blows.

  “’A little tense’?” Paul shook his head. “That’s like saying we might have a little problem if the Vyqang make their way through the Kalybri defenses.”

  “Exactly,” Simon said. “My people and I, we just want to help.”

  “Your remaining people, you mean—and ‘try to save face’ is more like it,” Kate spat. “You helped start this mess.”

  “Well, maybe I want to try to help clean it up,” Simon blasted. “But you won’t let me.”

  “You made the government believe we were practically villains while you were inadvertently working with the real villains. Again,” Wesley said. “Pardon us for not trusting you with our plan. But if you want to help, we’ll put you on the front line should the time come.”

  “I’m going to head down there,” Paul spoke up. “Gather the teams already assembling down there and start coming up with a plan of attack. You’re welcome to join me,” he said to Simon.

  “I’ll head down as well,” Kate said.

  “Everyone make sure you keep a communicator on at all times,” Wesley ordered, tossing one to each of us. The devices were some of the inventions that had survived the fire sale. “We need to maintain contact.”

  “I’m here on babysitting duty and manning home base,” Lainey said. “I’ll be helping coordinate everyone once Wesley heads down.”

  “When I show up, it pretty much means things have gone south with the Kalybri,” Wesley pointed out. “I’d like for each of us to head up an assault team of the other heroes who have volunteered, so Lainey knows where each of those teams is at all times.”

  “Does that include me?” Simon asked. “Do I get to lead one?”

  “Don’t push it,” Paul said.

  “I used to be a member of this team,” Simon sniffed.

  “’Used to’ being the operative words.”

  “Bicker later,” Wesley said. “Get down there.”

  Paul stepped over and took me by the shoulders. “Be careful up there,” he said.

  “You be careful down there.” My heart was pounding. Neither of our courses was safe. It was likely that one or both of us could die. I suddenly felt the urge to grab hold of him and never let go.

  He must have been feeling the same, for he pulled me close, hugging me tight and burying his face in my hair. “I love you so much,” he whispered.

  “I love you too.” I kissed him hard, pouring everything I had in that one kiss—in case it was our last. How unfair that we had found each other so late. “Please come back to me.”

  “I’ll try my best. You do the same.” He kissed my lips and then turned away quickly, changing from my Paul to our hardened leader. “Let’s go, people.” He strode off, at the head of Simon, Kate, Selena and Toby. They were going into battle.

  I shivered, hoping that wasn’t the last sight I’d ever have of him. And then I noticed the light seemed to dim outside, like the day had gotten suddenly cloudy. And I had an uncomfortable flashback to my last day back on Kalybri.

  “They’re here,” I whispered. “It’s one of their ships. One of them must have gotten through the Kalybri’s defenses. They’ve hit atmosphere.”

  Just as the alarms screamed to life and everybody jumped to action, the almost whispering voice in the back of my mind turned into a bone-jarring shriek. I could vaguely hear Lainey calling out orders to the teams as Wesley scrambled to help others. Cyrus’s fingers flew across the keyboard of his laptop…and someone pushed against my brain.

  Mindy, the voice roared in my head. The voice of the Vyqang leader, my son. Come out and watch the destruction of your planet.

  Why don’t you be a man and face me yourself, you big coward? I thought back at him. This is between us, not the rest of the people on Earth.

  No, but it will hurt you to see them destroyed.

  Don’t you want to see that pain yourself? You’ll have to face me to do that.

  So you can try to destroy me? I don’t think so.

  Don’t you want to see me? Your own mother?

  We are the Vyqang. We spring from the loins of our battleships, not from feeble female bodies. He sounded affronted.

  Fantazia had walked over to me, sensed my interaction. “Concentrate, Mindy,” she said, placing her hands on either side of my head. “Show me where he is.”

  I tried to zero in on him, my son, on a ship hovering over our planet, overseeing this battle, his dark blue eyes glittering in the darkness.

  What are you doing? he hissed. I can feel you pressing against my mind. What are you doing?

  “Got it!” Fantazia crowed, and she threw powder into the air and began the teleportation spell.

  Luke stepped up and handed me my weapons belt. “Let’s do this,” he said.


  I could hear Fantazia’s chanted Italian and my nerves felt raw with fear and adrenaline.

  I’m coming to visit, Dunvyn, I said, his name suddenly coming to mind. Why had it not come earlier?

  Fantazia’s hand clamped down on my arm and Luke’s. The familiar surroundings of the Elite Hands of Justice headquarters disappeared.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  We appeared in shiny steel corridors similar to the memories-slash-nightmares of my past. Strange Klaxons blared, and the air felt strange, cool and clammy. Almost thick.

  “Should we be breathing this in?” Luke asked.

  “I did before, so you should be fine,” I said. I prayed I was right.

  The ship shuddered under our feet and we all swayed; it had clearly taken a hit from a Kalybri craft. We heard the Vyqang ship return fire. Growling language sounded over the intercom, and though I couldn’t translate, my link with my child told me what it meant. More of our enemy were transporting down to the Earth’s surface.

  My mind was buzzing like a beehive. He was here. He was close by. Dunvyn.

  Apparently, he was experiencing similar thoughts, because the door opened and four large Vyqang armed with some sort of blasters came barreling forward.

  Fantazia immediately sprang into action, snapping something in Italian and pointing a finger at the guards. Their guns became useless, and they looked nonplussed as they pulled the triggers to no effect. Luke took advantage of the momentary confusion to attack, screaming and charging forward. The Vyqang stumbled back, horror crossing their faces as Fantazia followed her previous spell with lightning bolts.

  “I hope Cyrus is doing his job,” she snapped, ducking as a guard swung at her. “Go, Mindy!”

  “Let’s show them how Earth defends itself,” Luke was snarling, attacking the disarmed guards, who were now going for the blades attached to their sides and backs. Before they could reach them, Luke snatched them away in a blur of agility.

  I shocked the closest guard with the small disk in my palm, but gasped as more foes appeared from the far door. “Fantazia!” I focused my emotions and energy into a small concussive telekinetic blast. It worked! Two went flying into the wall, hard, and I thought I could hear the sounds of their necks breaking. The remaining guard swiveled his gun. I had no time to react except for Paul’s shield.