“Dad!” Maigo shouts, and for a moment I worry she’s already been hurt somehow. But then she shouts, “Get out of here!”
Hyperion grabs the spikes on the big Kaiju’s back and pulls. The already off-balance monster stumbles around, facing Lovecraft. The bulbous squid face turns toward the action, regarding it with curiosity, but nothing more. Its goal is the city, no matter what.
Karkinos is on his own.
But Maigo isn’t abiding by those unspoken rules. She’s taking them both on, whether they want to or not. She lunges up onto Karkinos’s back and points those big blades at the two massive membranes on the sides of the Kaiju’s lower neck. She’s also fighting dirty.
“Up!” I shout to Woodstock. “Up!”
The world beneath us shrinks as we rocket straight up. There’s a spark of orange and then a flash of light. The explosion bursts out from Karkinos and sweeps over Lovecraft. The big white Kaiju’s wings wrap around it, shielding it from the heat, but the force is still powerful enough to knock it off its feet.
“Pressure wave incoming,” Woodstock says. “Hold on.”
We’re hit a moment later, the wave slamming into Future Betty and then moving past us. The moment we’re in the clear, Woodstock drops us back toward the action.
A charred and stunned Lovecraft is down, but already getting up. Karkinos has two drained membranes and is smoldering a bit, but he isn’t hurt. Like Nemesis, he’s built to sustain blasts like that. Hyperion is still on his back though, driving those six blades deeper into the neck.
Karkinos flings its mass back, clearly intending to pin Hyperion beneath its weight, but the robot bounds away. Karkinos lands on its massive spines, but rolls back to its feet in a way the monster couldn’t have pulled off when we first saw it. It’s got a pilot now, I think, remembering the Aeros pulled out of Prime’s head. A pilot with a bone to pick with Hyperion.
Hyperion squares off with the big Kaiju again, and Maigo’s voice fills my ears. “I can handle this, Dad. You’re not doing any good, just watching.” The second ring on Hyperion’s chest flashes red. The blades are replaced by six long prongs, electricity arcing between them.
“Say it,” Lilly says, speaking up for the first time since we reached Portland. “Say it.”
“It doesn’t even make sense,” Maigo complains.
“You’re in a robot, facing a monster!”
“There’s no ‘her,’” Maigo says.
“Are you two seriously arguing right now?” I ask.
“‘Get away from her, you bitch,’” Maigo says, completely deadpan, and her poor delivery deflates Lilly’s excitement.
“Barf,” Lilly says. “Let’s go.”
As we pull away toward Portland, Hyperion charges Karkinos. They collide on the horizon and then fade from view. We pass Lovecraft, who’s continuing forward undaunted, and catch up to Giger a minute later, already on the outskirts of Portland’s suburbs.
“Take us to the Luminox,” I say to Woodstock and then say, “Alessi, you there?”
“Here,” she says.
“ETA on my delivery?”
“Ten minutes,” she says. “But are you sure?”
I share her apprehension, but drastic times and all that. “I’d rather have it and not need it.”
“Incoming,” Watson says again. “It’s Nemesis...but she doesn’t look so good.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, confused about how the Kaiju could look anything other than horrifying.
“She looks...tired.”
That shouldn’t be a surprise. The creature just swam thousands of miles at a pace that’s hard to comprehend. She’s a killing machine from another world, but she has limits. And if she’s already reaching them, that doesn’t bode well for this battle’s outcome. All the more reason for us to get creative.
I look at Lilly and ask, “You wanna get nuts?”
She smiles, recognizing the quote. If there’s anyone who can match her pop culture references, it’s me. “Let’s get nuts.”
38
Exhaustion from physical exertion was a new experience for Nemesis. She had felt the sting of battle, and the need to rest as a result, spending motionless months on the ocean floor. But this was different. Her encounters with the ancient enemy, and the Gestorumque, hadn’t left her with any significant wounds. Her legs felt weak beneath her as she swept out of the ocean and onto the shore, which compacted beneath her weight. Her instinct told her she was under attack. She growled and snapped her jaws, but there were no enemies present. Nothing to attack.
The voice of Endo rose up through the chaos. He understood the feeling. Identified it. Revealed how to overcome it.
Slow down, he urged. Rushing into battle will not serve us well.
The Kaiju slowed her pace, and stopped. Leaning forward, she took a long, slow breath.
Another, he said. Breathe.
She acquiesced, but her patience wore thin. Limitations of the flesh enraged her. The idea that she bore similarities to humans revolted her. She was not small, or fragile or weak.
She stepped forward again, and again, her pulse beat faster and harder, fueled by rage that did more for her than breathing deeply. But Endo had known that all along. He wasn’t urging her to rest, he was lighting a fire and fanning the flames of a goddess.
When Nemesis broke into a run, Endo spurred her forward, neither of them paying attention to the destruction being wrought on the world around them. The enemy lay ahead, their congregated presence like a twisting coil of loathing that dwarfed what she felt from humanity.
These were the destroyers of worlds.
Endo’s world.
Nemesis’s world.
And the people they cared for.
A bright blue flash of light lit up the horizon. It was followed by an angry and familiar roar.
Karkinos, Endo thought. But how?
There were times his voice felt frustration at the limitations of their knowledge. He craved information. This was often offset by the constant stream of emotional information she received, and what could be inferred from it. But not knowing how something like Karkinos’s resurrection was possible angered him. Nemesis did not care about the how. She simply felt. She knew Karkinos was her enemy, even more so now that she sensed its Voice.
She had no name for it, but she understood it had once been a part of her ancient self. And before that, her torturer. Here was the being responsible for breaking her, for molding her into a goddess of vengeance, and for controlling her former self straight to its violent end at the hands of Hyperion, who was now airborne and tumbling toward Nemesis.
Nemesis stopped among a hilly throng of trees, digging her claws into the earth, while bracing with her tail. Moving in fluid and practiced ways provided by Endo, Nemesis reached out and caught the falling robot. The force of the impact sent the big Kaiju sliding backward, her claws digging troughs into the ground, but they came to a stop, still upright. She placed the machine back on its feet. She could feel its Voice, familiar and friendly. Maigo. The first human she felt a kinship with, but strangely not the last. The man, whose name she now knew was Jon Hudson, was the second. She sensed him nearby, as well.
Probably about to do something stupid, Endo thought, but she felt his confused affection for the man as well. They would help him if they could. But first...
Hyperion stepped away and turned toward Nemesis. There was no threat in the action, but a question. Are you ready?
For the first time, Nemesis performed a human gesture. It felt odd, and wrong, but the slight nod conveyed everything that it needed to. That they were allies. That she was ready to fight. And that they would fight together.
They charged ahead, side by side, and Nemesis felt something new. Exhilaration. She had felt the passion of battle, and the angry glory it provided, but this was different. Fighting alongside an ally felt...good.
Karkinos was on the horizon, moving fast despite its absolutely massive size. The Kaiju was nearing the city limits
, following the path of destruction wrought by the others. They weren’t here to destroy the city, or eat its occupants, of whom there were few. Nemesis felt small numbers of occupants in the city ahead, but they didn’t feel right...didn’t feel human.
With a burst of speed, Hyperion took the lead, its mechanical limbs unable to feel tired. Nemesis felt the burn of competition, another new emotion, and part of her wanted to turn on her new ally, but Endo cautioned against it. Maigo was their friend. And she was smart. This was confirmed when just a half mile from Karkinos, Hyperion came to a stop, turned around and reached out its large hands.
Nemesis saw an attack, but Endo understood and showed Nemesis what to do. If the large goddess of vengeance was capable of smiling, she would have.
Upon reaching Hyperion, Nemesis jumped, surging forward and up into Hyperion’s powerful arms. And then, flung forward by the robot, she was airborne.
39
During Maigo’s life—her second life anyway—she had known Nemesis as a monster she was a part of, and a monster viewed from the outside, like everyone else. But in all that time, Nemesis had never been her enemy. Since being separated from the Kaiju, and becoming her own person again, she had never dreamed that she would once again wield the power she’d felt as Nemesis, nor considered the idea of fighting alongside her. But here she was, charging toward Karkinos with Nemesis by her side.
The monster’s integration with Endo was clear. She moved differently, fought differently and that subtle nod she’d given had sent chills through Maigo’s body. But how much control did Endo really have? Would Nemesis recognize and respond to human tactics or improvised fighting techniques on the fly? Better to find out now, she thought, and she instructed Hyperion to turn on the speed. The extra effort kept the robot from reaching a Level Three charge, but they wouldn’t reach that stage in time to help against Karkinos anyway.
When the massive Kaiju showed signs of hearing her approach, she skidded to a halt, carving a deep divot into the soft land, and turned to face Nemesis. Maigo raised Hyperion’s arms out to perform a move that she and Lilly had practiced, and implemented against Cole’s Ferox form, but it was also fairly self-explanatory. For a moment, she thought Nemesis, lost in bloodlust, might just plow through her to get at Karkinos, but the Kaiju leapt into her hands and allowed all of Hyperion’s power to launch her skyward at Karkinos’s back.
Maigo let out a mental laugh that only Hyperion’s AI could hear. Nemesis rose through the air, her arms open wide, her legs coiled up and her tail poised to strike. It looked like a practiced move, like something Endo would do.
This is a humorous situation? Hyperion asked.
“You don’t find ninja Nemesis funny?” Maigo replied.
I do not find anything funny, but I am capable of determining the lethality of an adversary and Nemesis is—
“Not an adversary,” Maigo said. She felt Hyperion in her memories, replaying her death, rebirth, growth and transition from Nemesis to human again.
She is us, Hyperion said, attempting to logically explain the complex relationship. We are her.
“Part of her, part of us,” Maigo replied. “Like sisters.”
My appearance is masculine, Hyperion noted. As is Nemesis’s Voice.
“Family, then,” Maigo said.
An acceptable term.
“Glad you approve,” Maigo said, and watched as Nemesis fell toward Karkinos.
The bigger Kaiju swept its tail out hard enough to send Nemesis sprawling, but she was falling from above, not approaching from behind. Karkinos twisted around in time to catch Nemesis. But it was not a friendly embrace. Karkinos wrapped its massive arms around Nemesis’s back and squeezed. Nemesis roared in pain, but quickly recovered, leaned into the embrace and buried her teeth into the flesh of Karkinos’s neck.
The big Kaiju strained away from Nemesis’s bite, which was burying into the neck, freeing gouts of blood. After a few gnarly moments, Karkinos released Nemesis and threw her to the side. Nemesis rolled back to her feet and struck out with a tail strike, but Karkinos seemed prepared for the attack, catching the trident-tipped tail between his gargantuan claws and yanking Nemesis off her feet. With a spin and a thrust of arms, Nemesis was thrown further into the suburbs surrounding Portland. She rolled through three neighborhood blocks, flattening countless homes before coming to a stop in the ruins of a middle school.
Karkinos then turned to face Hyperion, and Maigo had a thought. Karkinos is just a distraction, meant to keep us from reaching Lovecraft and Giger in time to stop them...from what?
“Scan the city ahead,” Maigo said, although the interaction was closer to the AI sharing her thoughts. She felt Hyperion reaching out with its sensors while she focused her attention on Karkinos.
Maigo tried to run around the monster, but it moved to intercept her, confirming her suspicions. “Karkinos is just here to run interference.”
Agreed, the AI said. Energy signatures within the city of Portland suggest the presence of not yet functional, but advanced Ferox technology, currently surrounded by a non-human force.
“That’s what they’re after,” Maigo said.
As Nemesis got back to her feet behind Karkinos, Hyperion raised a hand and waved the monster onward. C’mon, Endo, Maigo thought. You know what it means.
Nemesis took one step toward Karkinos and stopped. She appeared torn for a moment, but then looked back toward Portland, where the Aeros Gestorumque were heading, if they hadn’t yet already reached the city. Then she turned and ran, unleashing her impressive speed. For the first time in her existence, she ran away from a fight.
Maigo saw a flicker of indecision in Karkinos, as Nemesis made a break for it. The monster, and its Voice, were no doubt wondering if it should chase the more fleet-footed Nemesis. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Maigo drove Hyperion inside Karkinos’s reach, and extended the three blades from the left arm and the voltage amplifier electrodes from the right.
Before the large Kaiju could react, she plunged the blades into its side, where there were no orange membranes. The AI reported a momentary resistance and then a temperature increase indicating the oozing warmth of Kaiju blood. With Hyperion’s left hand, Maigo punched the metal prongs at Karkinos’s head. But instead of stabbing the metal into the monster’s face and frying its brain—or its Voice—powerful jaws snapped down on the prongs. The jolt of electricity only tightened Karkinos’s grip, and the electrodes quickly snapped, becoming useless.
The voltage amplifier system snapped back inside the forearm, where it would heal over time, but not soon enough.
Karkinos grabbed hold of Hyperion’s shoulders, gouging them, but the attack came from behind. The Kaiju’s barbed tail pierced Hyperion’s side, and as it pulled away, it caught hold and lifted the robot away before thrashing it on the ground.
Hyperion warned of severe damage to multiple systems, but nothing irreparable—yet. The AI recommended retreat, but Maigo was defiant and angry.
She is still part of you, the AI observed, and Maigo knew it was referring to Nemesis. It was an observation she had long suspected, that she was still a monster. The idea of turning into Nemesis again, or even something like General Gordon had become, was the stuff of her nightmares.
“You think I’m a monster,” Maigo said.
It was not meant to be an insult.
Hyperion, lying on his back, shuffled away from Karkinos. The Kaiju closed the distance, looming huge over the fallen robot.
“How could it not be an insult?”
It means you are powerful, the AI said. It means you are resilient. Defiant. An unceasing force. Like her. Like Nemesis. Whose...soul resides in you, the way yours once did in her. I believe, given current circumstances, that your potential for...violence, is a beneficial trait.
“So,” Maigo said, “you’re saying I should embrace my inner monster?”
With haste.
Maigo saw Karkinos above her, looking down with keenly intelligent eyes, now gu
ided by a voice and lacking the pure, unadulterated rage granted to the goddess of vengeance.
As Maigo’s emotions boiled to the surface, Hyperion’s eyes blazed brighter, casting Karkinos in a red glow, which bloomed even brighter as the third and final ring on the robot’s chest lit up.
Level Three weapons now available.
Hyperion leaned up suddenly, plunging all six blades extending from its forearms into Karkinos’s gut, piercing several of the orange membranes, while simultaneously plugging the gaps.
Maigo glared up at the face of Karkinos, which showed a measure of pain, but also a look of smug assurance. He thinks I’m beat, Maigo thought, and then she issued her order to Hyperion with a single word: “Pull!”
Hyperion’s forearms spun with a sudden mad frenzy, tearing through the monster’s flesh like oversized blenders. Then the blades retracted and Hyperion winked from existence.
40
“Put us down right on top of them,” I say, looking down at the people atop the unfinished Luminox building. While there is scaffolding around the bottom of the building, which still looks unfinished, the roof looks solid, and changing. Two futuristic cannons have risen from the roof and are turning toward the twitching Giger, still making its way to us. “But be ready for a quick pickup.”
As we descend, I say, “Let them see us.” The last thing we need is to squash someone while we’re landing.
A moment later, everyone bustling about on the roof can see the X-35’s mirrored surface. And yet, not one person gives it a second look. Because they’re not human, I tell myself. For all we know there’s a whole fleet of Future Bettys in the city.
The familiar figure of a bulbous, well dressed man steps from a stairwell door and onto the roof. He gives a casual wave at the landing X-35, knowing we’re watching him. I have a tendency to want to punch things that annoy me, and often try with mixed results. As the hatch opens, though, I head for Cole, and I remind myself that decking the man will do no good, and will likely break my hand.
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