Project Northwoods

by Jonathan Charles Bruce

  Once again upright, Zombress slammed her hands together, shattering the sigils. Her hands glowed as she pulled them apart, a flickering three-foot bar of energy between them. Her left foot dug into the gravel and right thumb flicked across her nose as she assumed a batter’s stance. Thanatos fell into her line of sight and she swung, cracking the bar of energy against the mercenary and shattering it in a display of sparks. Her opponent rag-dolled on impact, the slumped form thrown through the air. The speeding body collided with Athena, and the two splattered to the roof.

  “Assume I made a clever remark about reaching third base with your sorry ass,” she shouted, turning on her heel and sprinting toward Agent Mast as the search drone wobbled overhead. She dove into her compatriot as the machine opened fire. Mast in tow, she sprinted over the rooftop, armor piercing rounds slamming just behind her. Zombress leapt and spun in the air, carving the symbols necessary for her shield. “Elder Sign!” she shouted, summoning the barrier. Bullets slammed into it, sending shards evaporating into the night.

  Mast rolled out of her grasp and Zombress repositioned herself into a kneel, carving more symbols to reinforce the disintegrating structure. “Thanks,” Mast said. “This really got out of hand,” she observed dryly.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Zombress grunted.

  Her ears prickled at the sound below her, an escalating argument. “We need to help them!” shouted a male voice impatiently.

  “We need to keep sweeping the Guild for intruders,” came a smooth voice which immediately made Zombress angry: Archetype, his cadence made all the more vile by implicit violence. “It would be a shame if someone were to get the drop on you.” She doubted his companion noticed the threat, but it wasn’t lost on her.

  Bullets continued to smash on the shield when she looked at Mast. “I need to get inside! Archetype is planning something!”

  Mast nodded as the bullets slowed and then stopped. Zombress dropped the shield and watched as the search drone was pelted by something above it. A second drone was chasing a news helicopter as it dove, seemingly impervious to harm as it barrel rolled impossibly through the storm of bullets. The stream, however, did not divert around the drone below it, slamming into the fuselage with enough force to cause it to wobble and vomit smoke from damaged components. The helicopter pulled out of the dive and flew off, its pursuing search drone adjusting course.

  The damaged drone floated lazily in place, stabilized, and fired a rocket at the two on the roof. Free to focus, Zombress carved a symbol into the air and leapt through it, time slowing to a crawl as she intercepted the rocket, grabbed hold of it, and swung on top of it. She carved a few glowing runes in the air and swept her hands through them.

  Reaching down and grasping the warhead, she pitched her body forward, her hands working as a pivot as her augmented momentum diverted the missile’s path back toward the search drone. With a clank, she was once again on top of the projectile. Time sped up, and her unorthodox transportation blasted above the weapon platform. She carved another sigil into the air, halting the rocket in its path, grabbing it, and spiking it downward into the machine.

  The blow made the drone wobble as Zombress landed on top of it, the rocket’s engine sputtering. “All out of juice already?” she asked, rearing back with one hand as she summoned another sigil with the other. Her arced hand glowed purple, and she swung it forward, detonating the embedded missile.

  The top of the search drone erupted in a brilliant fireball as Zombress backflipped off it, landing on the roof as whatever remained of the electronic brain fought, in vain, to keep the weapon afloat. It spun, throwing smoke into the air in a whirl, before crashing into the roof. She looked back at Mast.

  “I thought you were holding back!” she shouted, silhouetted by the downed drone.

  “I am,” came the response. The agent waved her on and, in a puff of black miasma, she was running into the Guild.

  “One down, boy!” Cleese shouted at the fireball on the roof.

  “Let’s just hope no one’s in any of these buildings getting shot up!” Marsh shouted as another barrel roll made him almost drop his gun.

  “You worry too much!” Cleese barked as he took another pull from his bottle of sherry. He pulled the helicopter up into a climb, a move matched by his pursuer. “Persistent bugger, aren’t you?”

  “Can you get behind it again?” Marsh asked, finally just pulling himself to the cockpit.

  Jack smiled at him. “There isn’t a machine created better at flying than Spitfire.”

  Zealot batted an Enforcer aside as he penetrated the line of fighters. Aquaria had prepared for him and tossed a globe of water. The attack was telegraphed and slow, allowing for a quick sidestep and lunge, closing the distance. He was on her, grasping her by the neck. His pulse quickened in excitement as she grasped at his hand, no doubt wondering why she couldn’t use her ability to free herself.

  An Enforcer leapt at him, but Zealot merely straight punched him in the face, feeling his skull shatter from the impact. “What do you hope to accomplish here?” He squeezed, watching Aquaria’s face blanch. “The annihilation of all your allies?” Her hands were twitching, motioning to something. His eyes fell to the ground, to the water which was now pooling at his feet and… It’s climbing my suit. How could she focus? “What?” he shouted, his voice surging.

  Aquaria’s eyes flicked to her right, and Zealot followed her gaze. A vision from his past, Elisa Brown… no, her daughter, Ariana… running toward him. Only this time, a stun baton was sparking, trailing blue through the air as she cocked her arm and threw the weapon, sending it into the water at his feet.

  He threw the traitor into the fountain, her head slamming against the central pillar as soon as the electricity ripped its way into his body. Zealot convulsed and dropped to one knee as the baton expended its charge. He twitched, the suit steaming and smoking from the blow. How could this have happened?

  As soon as his legs responded to him, he rose and charged at Ariana, snatching her by the neck and lifting her into the air with his left hand. His body stopped spasming, a fact he greeted by whipping the girl around like a toy. “Like daughter, like mother, eh?” he mocked as the woman kicked weakly at him. “Don’t be like that,” he said. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed her downward, the impact dislocating her shoulder and making her cry out. “Oops.”

  Mast turned away from the fallen search drone. Shaking and clutching her bloodied throat, Siren pulled herself upright. She grimaced at Mast, held her hand out, and summoned a burst of feedback in Mast’s ears, but faltered. The agent leveled her pistol at the SERAPHIM…

  … When the air exploded with a scream, bowling over Siren and tossing Thanatos about. Immediately, the air felt pressurized, as though under a foreign power. Athena rose to her feet, rage pulsing off of her. Her head snapped up, eyes white. “I. Will. End! You!” Her hands flashed up, and something screeched behind Mast in response. The agent turned to see the fallen helicopter’s blades struggling against their bearings and popping their brackets. A final shriek of metal and they ripped free, levitating and twirling faster and faster before flinging themselves at Mast.

  She hit the ground as they sailed overhead, arced upward, and swept down toward the rooftop. Mast scrambled upright and ran.

  Enforcers were trying to distract Zealot from Ariana, but nothing fazed the metal giant. If any of them got close enough to register a hit, he would pound them aside and stride toward Ariana, smashing her through the air with a boot to her gut. “Revenge gets such a bad reputation,” Zealot mused as Ariana landed with a crunch on her already damaged shoulder. “I blame villains for that.”

  She tried to crawl away, get some distance between them. Despite the punishment she was receiving, she wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of seeing her cry or beg. With a cough, blood spattered on the pavement as she struggled to get away.

  Zealot grabbed her by the back of the neck and flipped her over, pinning her beneath his hand. He raised
the other into the air and showed her his palm. “Do you see this? This is the true legacy of your father. Not some Tier One bimbo. Not your mother’s death. But the means to make me whole again.” Blue liquid filled the bubble in his hand, and he squeezed her throat tight enough for her to feel something rupture. “This fixes everything… makes me feel…”

  Something exploded over him with enough force to throw him off Ariana. Immediately, she gasped in air and started choking on the blood trickling down her throat. Water cascaded over her as Morgan went after Zealot, spears and arrows of liquid smashing into his armor as she ran toward him with a bat of water in her hands.

  Mast dove to the right as the vertical helicopter blades whipped by, nearly hitting the rooftop. Again, the things hurled themselves up in the air for another pass. She turned toward Athena and sprinted, only to stop when her eardrums erupted with discordant chaos. Siren was stumbling toward her, hands outstretched, her neck uncovered and bleeding. She turned to Athena. “Get her now!”

  Mast turned and ran, fighting through the pain her own footsteps were causing. Siren turned back to face her, surprised by the agent’s escape. The SERAPHIM braced for impact, digging her heels into the rooftop. Even through the distortion of Siren’s power, Mast knew the blades were closing in. Near enough, she leapt at her opponent, landing a foot on the woman’s knee. She leapt up and backflipped, smashing Siren’s face with her boot.

  The mercenary went down as Mast got enough height to propel herself above the blades as they sailed beneath her. She reached the height of her jump and fired her gun, the bullet smashing into Siren’s skull. The agent hit the ground gracelessly on her stomach, and was immediately kicked upright by Thanatos. She landed on her feet, stumbling backward as the hero moved toward her.

  “You fucking cunt!” she screamed as she grabbed Mast and punched her straight in the face. Tendrils of agony washed over her as Thanatos grappled her. Mast dropped her gun in her effort to extricate herself.

  Zealot wheeled about with a wide haymaker smash, but missed as Morgan darted to the side, slamming her weapon down on the back of his helmet. She carried through the blow, giving him the opportunity to shoulder-ram her backward. The heroine hit the ground and rolled to a stop. She looked up, blood dribbling from a broken lip. He took two bounding steps as he reached out to grab her. Morgan’s hand weakly stretched out but faltered as he wrapped his hand around her head and lifted her into the air. She sneered at his unflinching mask.

  “Your mother was a useless whore,” he growled. He let go and smashed her in the head with his other hand, sending her flying. He took a breath. “Where was I?” Turning back to Ariana, he found the girl still crawling away. He stretched out his hands. “Come back here, dearest Elisa…”

  “Get ready, Marsh!” Cleese shouted just before jerking the helicopter around in a sharp arc.

  The search drone shot past much too close for comfort as Marsh leaned out of the moving chopper. It would only be a moment before the drone pivoted to face them, but a moment was all he needed.

  “Insert heroic cliché here,” he yelled, squeezing the trigger.

  Ariana flipped onto her back just as a fireball lit up the sky, distracting Zealot. In the orange light, she saw that the palm containing the blue liquid had cracked somehow. Maybe Morgan tried to pull it out of there, she thought, seeing the medicine and then… feeling its presence. Even though Zealot’s suit fucked with her head, she concentrated on it, willing it to change.

  Zealot turned back to her. “Fireworks for the conclusion,” he cooed. With a hiss, the former medical cocktail entered his blood stream. “Now, it’s time…” he stopped. He twitched for a moment, then fell to his knees. His arm spasmed, and he unleashed a bloodcurdling roar. “What’s… happening?” he screamed at her.

  She struggled to get to her feet as the man in the metal suit grabbed the offending gauntlet and ripped it off his body, bloody wires trailing behind it.

  Mast kicked at Thanatos, shoving the two combatants away from each other as the helicopter blades pinwheeled between them. The second it was clear, they leapt once more at each other, the agent taking the mercenary down. They exchanged body blows before Thanatos yanked Mast upright. The woman in white cocked her arm back to strike, but her attention diverted to something approaching them from behind.

  Thanatos released Mast and they dove to the right, dodging the blades in a roll. The two rose, and Mast connected with an uppercut, staggering Thanatos before she leapt in with a right cross, stunning her further. While she was stumbling backward, Mast planted a kick onto the mercenary’s kneecap, sending her to the ground. She knelt down and yanked Thanatos upright, slipped around to her back and held her in a half-nelson. It didn’t take long to hear the whirling blades approaching.

  Mast whipped around, bringing Thanatos in front of the horizontally flying blades. She released the SERAPHIM, leapt into the air, and kicked her opponent into the path of Athena’s vengeance as she fell to the rooftop. The slick, meaty noise of a body being split in two was followed by a metallic crash as the blades lost their momentum.

  The agent stood up and turned to the aghast Athena. Mast removed her final gun from its holster and strode toward the mercenary.

  Athena screamed, long, sharp, and piercing. Mast was buffeted backward and nearly sent to her back. The rooftop erupted, gravel, ventilation systems, and shell casings whirling upwards. A shield of detritus swirled around Athena as she gestured outwards, blowing shrapnel at Mast. Stones bit into her face as the agent continued forward, fighting against the unnatural gale.

  Zealot was tearing at his mask and armor, ripping chunks of metal off himself. Patches of pale skin in one spot contrasted with the nasty blackish-red lines working their way toward his heart. He roared in confused agony. “Pitiful bitch!” he cried, clawing at his face as Ariana grew closer. With startling speed, he got to his feet and tackled her, pinning one arm beneath her body. “I won’t die by the likes of you!” he hissed, thick rivulets of saliva gushing down his chin.

  He was choking her, pressing his handless arm against her neck. “How do you like it?” she gasped, reaching up to his exposed neck and digging her nails in. He gurgled and pressed harder in response to her nails suddenly slick with blood. Ariana’s world was starting to go black.

  His blood… she was acutely aware of his blood for the first time. Flowing out of his neck, down her hands. As the tacky gore slimed over her palm, she knew it, truly knew it, how it functioned… down to the plasma, blood’s mostly-water core. And as coffee dissolved into his system, cells exploding and dying at the introduction of this new, toxic element, she knew she could help the process along.

  She wrested her other hand from beneath her body and jammed a thumb into his eye, Zealot screamed and staggered off of her to bring his stump to his face. Ariana scrambled backward, trying to free herself of the effects of his armor. Zealot recovered and leapt at her, but she darted backward and planted a kick on his nose, shattering it and sending a gush of blood onto the pavement.

  A chunk of the helicopter whipped at Mast, and she rolled to the side. The wind was too strong to run or see clearly in, forcing the agent to move slowly through the smaller debris, arm up to protect her eyes as gravel tore into exposed skin. An air conditioning unit was the next impromptu missile to sail toward her. She dodged, only to be hit by the door to the roof access stairwell. The blow staggered her before she resumed her path.

  One right after the other, the bodies of her agents snapped toward her. She dodged the first by rolling to the right, the second by leaping over it in a barrel roll. The next she had to collapse to her back and jump back up, only to be struck by the fourth. The fifth and final corpse she simply batted out of the way.

  From behind the shrinking shield, Athena sneered and waved over the remains of the search drone, hurling it at Mast. It was too big to dodge around, but the hole in the middle from Zombress’s attack was a tempting alternative. The agent stepped to the side, braced hersel
f, then leapt forward in a dive, clipping her head and raking her back against the jagged edge of the sparking husk as she did so. She got to her feet and continued forward with her gun up.

  She fired once, twice, three times, and each time, something deflected her bullets. Athena smiled and sent another chunk of the helicopter sailing toward her.

  Ariana scrambled upright as Zealot got to his knees, looking at her. Blood streamed down his face as he smiled, teeth pink. “This… this won’t bring any of them back…” He laughed, coughing up something. “All who walk the path of villainy… die like fucking dogs… like your mother… like Tim…” He licked his lips. “Like weak, impotent…”

  With a scream, Ariana reared back and held her hands toward him, willing the rest of his blood to transmute into coffee. Zealot’s eyes went wide and he gurgled, going lax as he twitched before his body simply stopped moving. Tears rolled down her face as she looked at him, face frozen, almost peaceful in its permanent shock.

  She was on him, beating his head over and over again with one functional fist, crying. “Bring him back! Bring him back, you motherfucker!”

  Someone wrapped their arms around her and pulled her away. She fought against them, reaching toward the corpse if only to punish it more. “It’s over,” Morgan whispered, pulling her away from the man who had taken her life away.