Tekgrrl

  The blast hit the shield, and it held, but there was some feedback in the form of heat. It felt like getting a burn from the door of hot oven. I winced but knew it was better than the alternative. I didn’t particularly want to be in the oven itself.

  “I see them!” Fantazia quick-fired some Italian, and these guards too lost their guns.

  But not before one of them got a shot off. The laser caught Luke in the back. I screamed in horror.

  “Just…go…” he grunted, ripping a dagger off the belt of a Vyqang and immediately stabbing the blade up into the alien’s stomach.

  “Take out the leader one way or another, Mindy,” Fantazia ordered, before hissing some Italian. The guards blocking the door were instantly thrown backward and into the wall.

  I ran at full speed at the door and punched the button with my mind. The doors swung open and then closed just after I dove through, leaving my friends to battle alone behind me. And…I was face-to-face with my son.

  The guards sitting around the captain’s chair immediately pointed their guns at me. I stood immobile, arms up, trying to act like I meant no harm.

  “Drop your weapons,” a familiar voice said in English. I fumbled to drop my belt to the floor. “Kick them over this way.” I did so. Dunvyn growled something to his men and they stood down, going back to watching the battles outside and on Earth on the myriad screens around the room.

  I was struck by how human he seemed. Dark hair, those dark blue eyes, and weirdly enough, he looked a bit like my father, which hit me like a knife to my gut. That similarity made everything all the more real. But there were also alien features when you looked hard enough. His eyes were just a little too blue, his fingers were too long, and the way he moved was just a little too fast, almost like his joints weren’t proper.

  “So, you’re her,” he said in heavily accented English, surveying me. “So weak. So frail. So…human.”

  “You’re a bit human yourself,” I retorted.

  He frowned. “We all have our problems. I have paid for the weakness in my bloodline for years. I have fought and struggled to get to where I am today.” He spread his arms wide. “And now I am a leader among my people. I could take a seat of power amongst our kind. But first I must make a display of power, show that I am willing to eradicate my past forever.”

  “And that means destroying the Earth,” I said.

  “Not even the Kalybri and your people can stop us,” he agreed.

  “The Kalybri stopped your people before,” I mentioned.

  “The Kalybri never faced me,” he replied. “Now…Mother.” He spat the last word. “Should I make you watch your world’s destruction before you face your own?”

  “Dunvyn, I’m here to give you a chance, and I suggest you take it,” I said. “The humans have great weapons that they have pointed at your ships. They will destroy you, there’s no question about it. Unless you turn around and leave. Never return.”

  Dunvyn looked at the rest of the Vyqang and laughed. He growled something to them in their language and then turned to me. “Do you know what I just said? Did our mind link translate for you?”

  I nodded. “You said for them to prepare to launch the spear, but I don’t know what that means.”

  The ship vibrated so violently I thought it was going to blow up. I wasn’t sure if that wasn’t a good thing.

  “The spear will drill down to your planet’s core. It will rip through your world and knock it out of its proper orbit. The Earth will smash into neighboring planets and eventually your sun, destroying everything. Of course, we will first have taken what we need—probably not much of anything.”

  “Dunvyn, you don’t have to do this,” I said. “Take your people and just go peacefully.”

  He laughed. “No. We are Vyqang. We never ‘go peacefully.’”

  A sudden turmoil sounded. “Sir, our defense systems have just crashed!” one of the Vyqang said in his language.

  “Go Cyrus,” I breathed.

  Dunvyn whirled. “What have you done?” he snarled.

  “Spear is launched, but its guidance systems are off as well,” another Vyqang spoke up.

  “Weapons systems are down to fifty percent,” added another. “And the Kalybri are still out there!”

  “And human attack satellites as well.”

  “It doesn’t have to be this way,” I said. “You’ve only known the Vyqang way of life, all destruction and chaos. I know that, but you…” My stomach roiled, but I continued. “You’re part of me too. Part human. And humans create and explore. You’re more than just a Vyqang.”

  He glared at me. “There is nothing more than Vyqang. You are lesser. And we will win no matter what.”

  “No,” I said softly. “No, you won’t. And if only you’d—”

  Any other words were cut off by what felt like an electric sword stabbing through my brain. Dunvyn glared at me. “I’m going to melt your brain inside your skull, bitch!”

  I fought back with my telekinesis, as hard as I could, trying to push him away even as I could feel him dig deeper, almost like with razor-sharp nails. I pushed with everything I had in me; every thought, every emotion, every feeling inside I channeled into one thought directed at him.

  Stop this.

  It wasn’t enough. He was stronger than me. I could tell, even as I struggled against him. He had more power than me. He was genetically modified to be the perfect soldier, to be stronger than anyone. As much as I struggled, I was going to weaken. And then, he would win.

  “Sir, kill her quickly. We need to get off this ship,” one of the other Vyqang said. “We’re losing stability.”

  “So go,” Dunvyn snarled. “Take the transport over to the Draken.” His men took him at his word and hurried off, heading out another door at the back. Dunvyn looked down at me, where I was kneeling on the floor in agony. “You see, Mindy, the Kalybri might blow up this ship eventually, with you still on it, your brains fried,” he growled. “But you seriously don’t think we build our ships without escape pods, do you? I’ll escape, and I’ll bring back more men and more weapons and your planet will be incinerated. It will never end until I succeed!”

  “You…talk…too…much,” I managed.

  The door to the chamber opened. Fantazia stood there, a hand at her side, blood running down her black dress to drip on the floor. It was making a puddle at her feet. “Mindy, aumento la tua potenza di mille volte.”

  Power hummed through me. Fantazia had worked her magic, my brain was no longer going to liquefy in my skull and it now burned with power. It leaked off of me and into the nearby machinery, short-circuiting everything and setting it on fire. Dunvyn actually jumped.

  Once again, I focused all of my thoughts; every emotion, every feeling inside I channeled into one blast directed at him.

  I’ll do to you what you threatened to do to me.

  Dunvyn grabbed his head and started screaming. It was a bloodcurdling scream and it went on what seemed like forever. It seemed like it would never stop until I went insane.

  I reached out, then, feeling not only his mind but every Vyqang in the attack force, and maybe even others. I poured his pain and anguish into every one of them. It felt like my mind would split apart from the strain of it all, and their screams were terrifying. But I reminded myself that they had come to do far worse.

  Dunvyn staggered and fell. I looked down at the shell he had become, limply writhing in agony. “It didn’t have to be like this. You could have just left,” I whispered.

  Fantazia stumbled up to me, looking weak and in pain. “You need to finish it.”

  I looked down into Dunvyn’s eyes, eyes that were eerily like mine. I saw a man who looked like a twisted version of my father. Dunvyn was a creature who had come to destroy the Earth and everything on it. He was the leader of an evil people, sprung from my DNA. But there was one crucial difference between us. I wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer.

  “He’s not going to hurt anyone anymore,” I said. �
��He’ll probably not even be able to feed himself after this.” The ship rocked again. “And I don’t think this ship will take many more hits from the Kalybri. Let’s go.”

  Fantazia sighed. “As much as I appreciate your youthful optimism…” She picked up a nearby Vyqang dagger and without so much as an eyeblink plunged it into Dunvyn’s chest. He shuddered, his breathing went shallow and then stopped. The light died in his eyes.

  I stared at the Reincarnist’s daughter in horror. “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “When you live as long as I have, you learn that sometimes you’ve got to get your hands dirty to make sure they won’t come back for you,” she said. “This is one of those moments.”

  I stood and stared for a moment, caught by inexplicable grief. He had been evil, but I couldn’t deny that he had been a part of me.

  Fantazia grabbed my arm. “Come on.”

  I regained control of myself. “Wait. Along a similar vein…” I reached out with my mind as far as I could, far into the deepest reaches of space. I felt other Vyqang waiting. If I pushed just hard enough, I could reach them, I could tell them:

  Your…leader…is…dead.

  Each word was torn out of me. I felt blood start running out my nose and knew I was using too much power after a fight that had already taken too much out of me. But thinking of Luke and Paul, Lainey and Wesley and their baby and the EHJ and my parents, and all the rest of the people I loved or had vowed to protect: The Earth…is protected. We will not take any attacks lightly. Do…not…bother…us…again.

  “You’re burning out,” Fantazia shrieked, shaking me. “You’re going to kill yourself. Stop!”

  My head felt strange. I sank back in Fantazia’s arms, knowing all of my energy was drained.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said, dragging me back the way we came. I lunged for my belt of gadgets that lay forgotten on the floor and didn’t think I’d be able to right myself; my head was really that messed up. I was beginning to wonder if I had some permanent brain damage from that fight. From the way Fantazia was breathing, I could tell she was in distress, too.

  “W-where’s Luke?” I managed. “Is he dead?”

  “I patched him up as best as I could, but we’ve got to get back now before this ship gets blown up by either the Kalybri or the Earth military.” She helped me past the bodies of the dead guards and collapsed next to one of them. No, not one of them; Luke. I was relieved to see he was still breathing.

  “I used up too much power boosting yours,” Fantazia admitted. “I don’t think I can transport all three of us to the ground.”

  I reached into one of my pouches and fished out three small patch devices. I slapped one onto each of our bodies, pushed tiny buttons on them to set coordinates. “These are transporters. Boost the power to them and we should make it,” I said.

  “I’m not a techno mage.”

  She was right, but it was our only chance. I wanted to get back to Paul and the world. “Just do it, Fantazia!”

  “All right!”

  As she spoke words in Italian, I took one of her hands and then Luke’s. “Pray to God this works,” I muttered.

  “If it works, I’ll start praying to him again,” Fantazia replied.

  I clicked the button. My world was torn apart.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  I woke to the noise of machines beeping and my head pounding, which is not exactly the way anyone wants to wake up. I tried to raise my head and look around, but felt like a sledgehammer had struck me between the eyes. I groaned and raised a hand to my forehead.

  “You’re awake!”

  “I’m kind of wishing I weren’t,” I said, trying to rise up to see Paul, who reached over and took my hand. “How long was I out?”

  “A few days. Your parents have been here almost constantly, worried sick. I just convinced them to go home and get some sleep.”

  My parents? That was a fence I was going to have to work on mending. They had never forgiven themselves for what had happened to me, I realized, and had done what they could at the time to help. All those feelings of rebellion I’d aimed at them…Well, I’d now seen firsthand how much pain could be caused by a child seeking to destroy everything you believe in. My parents and I needed to sit down and work through the problems of the past. It wouldn’t be easy, but we could do it. I had faith.

  “They’re going to be thrilled I hooked up with a scientist,” I laughed, sitting up in bed. But I could now see him sitting next to me, in a chair drawn up to one of the beds in the EHJ infirmary. And that wasn’t the only thing I noticed. “Oh my God, what happened to you?”

  Paul wasn’t sitting in a chair; he was in a wheelchair. He had one arm and one leg in multiple bandages and slings. That whole side was pretty much bandages.

  “Everyone got pretty banged up. I’m one of the lucky ones. Simon and the rest of his team…not so much.”

  I blanched. “They’re dead?”

  He nodded. “Led an assault team against a group of the Vyqang. They may have died, but they died taking those Vyqang with them. They died brave heroes. A lot of people did. We succeeded. We saved the world.”

  “But at a pretty high price.”

  He nodded again. “But the Vyqang are gone, Mindy. We haven’t seen a trace of them even several solar systems away, and the Kalybri are checking even further. They’re going to stay in touch, they said. To keep us informed. You are to be their official contact.”

  “Good. Is…” I cleared my throat, feeling unshed tears stick in my throat at the fate of our comrades in arms. “Is the rest of our team okay?”

  “Kate pulled out some scary goddess powers no one even knew she had. Sent a bunch of the Vyqang screaming in terror.” He glanced pointedly at me. “I could have told you she could do that. Anyway, she wished us luck and said she’s really happy for us. I think she was being genuine. She’s gone to visit her ‘brothers and sisters’—the other gods and goddesses—to regroup.”

  “I think the fact that we became serious took her a bit unawares.”

  “Yeah, I think so too.” He squeezed my hand but looked unconcerned.

  “Luke?”

  “We patched him up. He’s still recovering in the hospital. He’s also talking about taking some time off—to recenter himself, he said.”

  Poor Luke. I actually did feel bad for how emotionally messed up he was. “What about Fantazia?”

  “She ran home to her pocket universe as soon as this was over. Wesley doesn’t seem too concerned, so I guess neither are the rest of us. But she’s an official reserve member of the Elite Hands of Justice now.” He frowned. “So is Cyrus, actually. We can’t get rid of him. He’s taken to hanging out at headquarters. Wesley doesn’t seem upset by it. Wesley came through relatively unscathed, and so did Selena.”

  I studied Paul. “So, what happened with you?”

  “The Vyqang shot off some sort of missile. The Kalybri called it a spear.”

  I nodded and then winced. “I was on the ship that was getting ready to detonate it.”

  “I think Cyrus’s program interfered with the trajectory, but it was still going crash into the Earth. Wesley was going to let the military blow it up, but I didn’t want to chance fallout radiation from their weapons. I led a team to fly up to the outer atmosphere to dismantle it just in time. It exploded, and we got hit with the shrapnel. My whole left side.”

  “Babe, are you going to be okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, they dug out most of it.” Seeing the look on my face, he hurried on. “Don’t worry about me, Mindy. The doctors are saying there will be some scarring, but I’ll pull through. I’m indestructible!”

  “Not unless you gained a new power while I was out,” I growled.

  “Yeah, um, speaking of powers.” He looked worried. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but your telekinetic powers are gone. Fantazia told us what happened with Dunvyn and the telepathic message you sent to the rest of the Vyqang. I don’t w
ant to scare you, but you did suffer a bit of brain damage in that fight. Sending that message further cemented it: You’ve burnt out all access to those powers.”

  I tested. He was right. There was no power to tap. There was also nothing in there anymore, no more voice. No more Dunvyn. I couldn’t say I was sorry. How many of our heroes had died stopping his people from tearing apart our world?

  “So, will I be okay?” I asked.

  “We’ll run some tests now that you’re awake again, but we think it was just the section of your brain that had controlled those new powers. The section the aliens tinkered with.”

  “So I’m probably just your average superintelligent girl now.”

  “We’ll test to make sure…but probably.”

  I sat up in bed. “So, Paul. We did it. We survived, not completely uninjured, but we survived! Now what are we going to do?”

  “The team will rebuild. Yes, we’re short a few members, but we’ve also gained some reservists. We’ll try to get back out there as soon as possible, to reassure the people that we’re still around, making things safer. The government has apologized profusely, and Forrest has been named the new Presidential Secretary of Heroes, so he’ll be there to make sure things run smoothly on that end. Life will go on.”

  “And what about us?” I pushed.

  He smiled. “Well, I was thinking about that. There was some discussion before all of this about what we’d do after. Licenses were involved.”

  “I’m still up for it if you are,” I said. My heart was pounding.

  He leaned over to kiss me. “You bet I am.”

  As I kissed him back, I realized he was right: Life did go on. We would mourn our fallen heroes and then we would get back to business, which was saving the world. It was all in a day’s work, and before we were healed up or prepared there would be another day’s work, another threat we’d have to face. That’s who we were: heroes. We saved people not for fame and fortune, but because it’s who we are. And if you can do it with the man you love at your side—as I now can—well, that’s a bonus.