by Chad Kunego
Chapter 33
Rick felt himself drifting weightlessly. Opening his eyes, he looked around and found himself in a white nothingness.
“What the…? Where am I?”
“That depends… Where do you want to be?”
The sudden voice behind him made him jump. He tried spinning around but realized there was nothing to push against. Disoriented, he realized he couldn’t sense anything, no ground, no air, no nothing. Stretching his awareness out to the limits of his ability, he could detect nothing, like he was in a featureless void.
“Hello…?”
The warm feminine voice close behind him made him jump again.
“Hello.”
“Who are you? Why can’t I move?”
“I am called Inanna. Why do you believe you aren’t moving?”
“I can’t turn to see you.”
Without warning, a woman blinked into existence in front of him, giving the impression like she’d always been there and he’d just never noticed. He hadn’t felt any movement, she just seemed to appear when he blinked.
“Is this better?”
“Uh… yeah.”
Rick examined the woman in front of him. She looked back with a mischievous look on her face. He couldn’t quite pin down her ethnicity, but felt she resembled someone of middle eastern. Oddly, her long black hair floated around her head like she was submerged in water, an effect that was slightly disconcerting since, as far as his extra senses were concerned, she wasn’t there. The only way he knew she was there was through his five senses. When she moved slightly, he got a hint of jasmine floating past him.
“I can’t sense you.”
“Does that make me any less real?”
The question caught him by surprise.
“Am I dead?”
“Would that be so bad?”
Rick started to answer, but then really paused to consider the question.
“Actually, yes. It would be.”
“Why? You saved everyone. You’ve done more than anyone could expect from you. And you have no surviving family…”
Rick heard the words, but it felt like there was something she wasn’t saying, some undercurrent he felt but could identify.
“I’m not so sure about the surviving family bit since Hal might have uploaded to another body.”
He paused, considering his next words while she watched him, a bemused expression on her face.
“Honestly? I’ve spent the last couple of decades hiding from the world. Instead of living, I’ve just been surviving. I think I’m ready to start living again. Is that even an option though?”
A slow smile started tugging at the corners of her mouth. Gliding forward, she stretched her hand out.
“Life is always an option. You just have to reach for it strongly enough.”
At her touch, he felt a warmth spread through his body, causing him to become drowsy. Drifting off, he heard her voice trail after him.
“Go back and become my avatar. Protect and cherish life, for that’s what matters.”
As the world of light faded away, a thought stuck with him. He still had no clue who she was.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Rick eyes snapped open. Disoriented, he struggled to get his bearings. Sensory information rushed in at him like a tsunami, but instead of being overwhelmed, he easily processed it. He could feel the outer edge of his aura skimming through a rapidly thinning atmosphere, allowing him to slide effortlessly higher. Without thinking, he instantly stopped his upward motion. Hovering motionlessly, he looking around in wonder. The sky above him was nearly solid black while the stars were sharp pin-pricks of light, without any of the twinkling he normally saw. Stretching his senses outward, he realized the only breathable air he had was contained in the bubble contained by his kinetic field. Before panic could set in, his field changed, drawing in the surrounding rarefied air and replenishing his reserve. Looking back down, he could spot the tiny reddish-orange dot of light from the newly formed volcano he accidentally created.
How am I able to survive this far up?
A memory stirred through his mind.
My avatar…
Without warning, he sensed Kaitlyn and her team in trouble, surrounded by the remnants of Reaper’s forces from the base. How he could tell it was them was a question for another time. Willing himself downward, he accelerated faster than he ever thought possible, the thin atmosphere igniting around him when he passed reentry velocities.
Hang on, I’m coming!
§§§§§§§§§§§§
All the ash and dust in the air was making it hard to breathe. It had started falling when they’d gotten around a mile away from the base, but now coated everything in a dull gray film. By the time they’d managed to get almost three miles away, a wave of soldiers finally caught up to them. From there, it’d been a running firefight.
Kaitlyn had a sinking feeling part of the enemy forces had gotten ahead of them, forcing her team to take up a defensive position in an old, dried up stream bed. It was only a matter of time before they were overrun, unless she was severely overestimating their numbers. Based off the amount of incoming fire they’d been taking, she suspected she was actually underestimating their numbers.
“Glaizia! I need ice walls there, there, and there! Our only chance is to funnel them through limited entry points.”
“Understood! I’ll see what I can do!”
Kaitlyn couldn’t help but notice how slowly the icy giant of a woman was moving, how slow her entire team was moving. They were all tired and having problems breathing due to the falling ash, but Kaitlyn knew Glaizia was on the edge of complete exhaustion. The amount of energy she used to escape the base, then reform her arm, had to be near her limit.
Glaizia started forming a wall of ice before collapsing to the ground. The ice wall collapsed, then vanished.
“Thunderclap! Glaizia’s down! We need a bulwark, now! Otherwise, we’re not going to make it!”
He nodded tiredly. Rearing back, he slammed his mace into the ground in front of him, causing the earth to rupture upward in a ragged mound nearly ten feet high. Dropping his weapon, he scrambled over, grabbing Glaizia and carrying her over to the crater he’d just created. Tiny streams of water starting trickling out from where the water table had been exposed. After setting her down, he called his weapon back, before launching it outward, flying through several strands of trees and blasting their trunks apart. His mace circled through the air around them, continuing to knock more and more trees over before returning to its owner.
“That’s the best I can do ma’am. It might not be much, but hopefully it’ll slow them down some.”
Kaitlyn nodded, carrying Scattershot over to the newly formed depression. He groaned as she propped him up against the wall of the crater.
“Ge ow o’ hr boss,” he slurred. “Ther’s no senth awl of us dyin.”
“Stow it Scattershot. I’m not leaving anyone behind. We either all make it, or we don’t. No one gets left behind.”
A sudden pulse of light shot past her, causing a trail of steam to rise from the damp dirt behind her.
“Take cover! Jetlag, we need air support!”
“I’ll try, but all this crap in the air’s going to slow me down.”
“Do the best you can! Go!”
She watched her rocket upward into the haze, disappearing from sight.
“Everyone! Get behind me!”
When everyone had scrambled behind her, she spread her hands out, spraying huge gouts of fire over a wide arc in front of her. The landscape burst into flames as the brush caught fire.
“Hopefully that’ll buy us some time.”
The giant hand on her shoulder startled her, but she quickly regained her composure. She looked up as Thunderclap leaned down close to her ear.
“It’s been an honor working with you ma’am. Much as I wish otherwise, I don’t think we’re going to make it. At least we stopped Reaper.”
She rested her hand on top of his.
“It’s the little things that count.”
Thunderclap’s deep laughter caused her to smile.
“Major, you do have a way with words. Let’s make these bastards pay dearly for their transgressions.”
“I like that plan. Let’s do some damage.”
Hunkering down behind the lip of the crater, she glanced over the lip, trying to catch a glimpse of the coming assault. She noticed the haze above them starting to get brighter. Glancing up, she slumped back against the dirt, defeated. She could barely make out what looked like a giant fireball rapidly approaching their location.
“Well, it looks like they’re not going to get us after all,” she said, pointing toward the approaching glow.
She noticed the giant man’s shoulders slump.
“Well, looks like we’re going out in a blaze of glory…”
Before it hit, it came to a sudden stop, hovering about forty feet above them. The flames rippled for a few seconds before going out. She inhaled sharply when she realized what she was seeing.
“Hopefully I’m not too late to the party…”
Chapter 34
“NEWTON!”
Rick smiled, drifting lower. His new, enhanced senses allowed him to detect all the soldiers surrounding the team.
“In the flesh. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”
“How…? Never mind, but did you really have to destroy the base with a volcano?”
“Well, I had to improvise. It was either that or level a good portion of the existing mountain range, most likely vaporizing ya’ll in the process.”
“In that case, I guess creating a volcano wasn’t so bad after all.”
Landing, he sighed before responding.
“Yeah, there was just too much energy to dissipate harmlessly. Probably by a factor of WTF.”
The crack of a rifle shot echoed through the area. Before the sound even reached them, Rick felt the projectile approaching them. Again without understanding how his abilities had increased so much, he pulled all the latent energy out of the air between them and the shooter, causing the air to harden into an invisible shield. The bullet smacked into the solid mass, mushrooming out in empty space before hanging motionless in the behind them.
“Guess I should deal with these guys before we continue our conversation. Excuse me.”
Without waiting for a reply, he effortlessly drifted back up into the air above them. Amplifying his voice, he called out to the enemy soldiers.
“Lay down your weapons and leave. I have no interest in destroying you, but I will if you leave me no option. It’s ya’ll choice.”
Another shot rang out as he floated motionlessly. Shaking his head, he caught the bullet, allowing it to orbit him twice, gathering speed before he launched it back toward the shooter. The sudden scream of pain as the gun disintegrated told him he’d hit his mark.
“Strike one!”
He sensed another soldier getting ready to fire some sort of rocket at him. Trying to short out the electronics like he had with Reaper, he couldn’t quite reach it. Before he could say anything, he heard a muted whump before the rocket streaked toward him. This time, he encased the rocket in a solid ball of air, allowing it to detonate in front of him harmlessly.
“Strike two!”
Gathering his energy, he sent out a pulse bubble like he had back at the base. He’d assumed that it would just push all the ash in the air away from him dramatically. Instead, his energy rippled outward in a bubble, pushing the air in front of it like a shockwave. The blast spread outward explosively, moving away from him, tearing up the ground around them. In effect, it created a secondary crater wall around them, leaving the team on a newly formed pedestal of earth. Continuing to expand, the energy wave expanded slammed into all the fallen trees Thunderclap had knocked down, shoving them forcefully away. Several flew into the air and sailed nearly a mile away. When the dust settled, edge of the crater now surrounding them stretched out in a distance nearly a football field across. Recovering from his surprise, he yelled one more time.
“Care to see what happens if you get to strike three?”
Absolutely silence settled across the area. Slowly at first, but then gaining speed, he could sense them throwing their weapons down and taking off. The sounds of guns clattering on the ground as people retreated started drifting across the landscape. Drifting back down, he landed next to Kaitlyn.
“I guess that’s a no.”
“Holy shit!”
Rick nodded in agreement. His powers were boosted way beyond anything he’d have thought possible. It was only now that he noticed he didn’t have any migraine, either. Whatever had happened to him, he suspected it was only the beginning.
“Well, now that that’s over, ya’ll ready to head on home?”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Rick was still trying to get his head around another ability he seemed to have developed. At first, he only planned on carrying the injured across the ground like he had when they’d assaulted the base, leaving the rest of the team to follow along beside him. However, when he enveloped them in his field, he didn’t feel any strain like before.
As a test, he tried pulling all of them into his field. When even that didn’t make a noticeable impact, he decided to try something he knew wouldn’t be possible before his powers had been amplified. With a thought, he lifted them up above the tree tops before heading back toward the base, again without effort.
Instead, he found he could now draw kinetic energy directly out of the air itself, pulling a fraction of energy from every molecule his field came in contact with, In fact, he could even track each individual particle he pulled the energy from just by concentrating. It was just one more thing he’d never been able to do before.
Once he realized he wasn’t going to run out of energy, he had decided to see what he could really do if he pushed himself. After circling back to collect Jetlag due to her being unable to keep up with them, he accelerated back toward the west coast, nearly hitting hypersonic velocities before, dialing it back. He wasn’t sure how stable his new abilities were, so he decided to play it safe.
As it was, what had taken them nearly three hours to cover on the way out only took around forty-five minutes on the return trip. If the attack jets hadn’t tried to intercept and shoot them down, he probably could have made it even faster. He’d rapidly had to decelerate so their comms would work properly, allowing them to call off the fighters. From there, they’d taken a more gradual approach to the base before touching down in their hanger.
Now he was wandering aimlessly trying to come to grips on what he’d experienced over the past few days. If this was permanent, he was almost scared to consider what he might be capable of now.
“Hey! Slow down!”
He paused before turning around, waiting while Kaitlyn jogged up to him.
“So what’s the word?”
She fell into step with him as he started walking again.
“From all our readings, you managed to pull all that energy back to the base. Other than some unusual readings coming from where the focusing equipment was, it looks like there’s not going to be any lingering effects.”
Rick let out a small sigh of relief. At least there wasn’t another rupture to deal with.
“Were we able to get any intelligence from the base before I leveled it?”
She shook her head slightly.
“Not much. Just the location of another small base and a few satellites they were using to, for lack of a better word, target locations with that weapon. We’re already scrambling assets to neutralize them as we speak. That only leaves the rupture to deal with for now. At least now we know of another organization we need to keep an eye out for.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s better than nothing.”
He noticed her giving him an odd look out of the corner of his eye.
“What?”
She slowed down before coming to a
stop. She looked like she was going to say something but stopped. He waited while she seemed to be thinking something over. Finally, she spoke again.
“So, uh. What are your plans from here?”
So there it was, the question he’d been dreading. After all this time, he’d been forced to kill again. Now someone he’d actually come to respect was going to try talking him into becoming a part of a life he’d been running from for years.
“Honestly, I think I’m going ta do some soul searching, maybe catch up on actually living for a change, rather than hiding from the world. I’ve had my life on hold so long, I think it’d be nice to actually get out there and do some of the things I always wanted to do.”
“You could always come work for—”
He held up his hand, cutting her off.
“The whole reason I went into hiding was to get away from this life. I’m tired of killing people who made the mistake of working for people who used me to kill innocent people.”
He paused, rubbing the back of his neck while he considered his next words.
“Don’t get me wrong, I really respect what ya’ll do, but I just want to live my life without having to some day end someone else’s.”
He watched her quietly while she considered his response.
“Fair enough. If you ever change your mind, we’d be more than happy to have you on our side. I think you could do a lot of good with us, helping protect a lot of those innocent people you’re talking about. No pressure though. Who knows, maybe you might decide to come back as a consultant or contractor if you ever get tired of living your life. See you around.”
With that, she turned around and strode rapidly away.
Chapter 35
After going home and getting cleaned up, Rick headed back out. It’d been nearly a day since he’d eaten, so he decided to head over to the Krusty Kettle. Opening the door, he was caught off-guard by the sudden shout.