Rebirth (Game of the Gods Book 1)

by L. Fergus

  The truck floated into the air and Cotton guided it through the garage to the entrance. A Verisom guard approached the cab.

  “Your Highness,” he said in surprise.

  “I figured the old clunker needed a spin around the block,” she said as she motioned for him to open the gate.

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but Tet-Sec has ordered no one is to leave without an escort. I can call your escort if you wish.”

  “I’m kind of in a hurry, and they’ll only slow me down. Sorry, Th’s’s, this isn’t your fault.” Cotton revved the engine and smashed the barricade. The truck pulled out into the acceleration lane. Once the truck was up to speed, she joined traffic high above the petal floor.

  “How far?” said Kita.

  “We’re in Petal Six. Mauler and Dallas are docked in Petal Three. It’s a long ways,” said Zentix.

  “Then tell Zak to get a group over to Dallas and arrest Auggy. He’s not to touch or do anything.”

  “Damn, that was fast,” Cotton muttered. “Kita, we’ve got company. Three Tet-Sec cruisers coming up fast behind us and two more descending from above.”

  “How are they going to stop us?”

  “They’ll harpoon us and take control. Once they do that, it’s over.”

  “All right, I’ll keep them busy.”

  “Kita, don’t kill them,” said Hali. “It’ll only make us look bad.”

  “Yeah, I’m worried about my reputation,” Kita muttered. “Open the back! Jess, Cross, Hawke, shoot at them and try to scare them away.”

  “If you’re going out, so am I,” said Defiance.

  “You can barely fly.”

  “I don’t mind getting tossed into the deep end.”

  “I’m going too,” said Valor. “I’ll keep an eye on her. You go do what you’ve got to do.”

  “You’re no better,” said Kita.

  “I have a VI that can do my flying for me.” Valor’s skin hardened in a mixture of red and blue.

  “Follow me then.” Kita sprinted down the cargo bed and jumped into the airborne traffic. She kept her wings in close, playing chicken with a Tet-Sec cruiser. The cruiser jerked upward. She flared her wings and slashed at one of the undercarriage fans with Dusk. The cruiser coughed and sputtered and sank out of the sky.

  Defiance followed Valor toward another cruiser.

  “Case, fling some ice at that other cruiser. Give them one more thing to think about. I’m going to take care of this one.” Valor landed hard on the cruiser’s roof. She punched into the engine compartment. A high-voltage discharge killed the engine. She dove underneath the vehicle and guided it into a garage, where it made a hard landing.

  A cruiser came up behind the truck and opened a weapons bay. A harpoon glistened in the early morning light. The bullets and ice didn’t detour the determined pilot. The harpoon fired, but bounced off Onyx as she landed on the cruiser. The cruiser nosed over and tumbled in the air. Onyx slammed her fist into the windshield, trying to maintain a grip. Kita and Valor came to her rescue. Kita grabbed the raging Graniite, while Valor pushed the cruiser into a hard landing in a rooftop garden.

  The two remaining cruisers moved in from above, lining up shots on the truck.

  “Jess, get the one on the right.” Kita said to Onyx, “You ready to fly, big girl?” She spun in the air and launched Onyx upward. She grabbed the undercarriage and ripped one of the fans from the cruiser. The vehicle entered a flat spin and fell from the sky.

  A gray bubble appeared around the cab of the cruiser. It shrank a few inches and Kita guided the bubble to a neighboring rooftop. Kita opened her fist and dropped the Tet-Sec officers into a swimming pool. She dove after Onyx. The Graniite plunged through another layer of traffic. Kita followed, dodging a truck and a car as she went, sending the pair swerving through the air. She caught Onyx, just before she landed on a pedestrian bridge between two buildings.

  “Gotcha,” said Kita.

  “I never had a doubt,” said Onyx.

  Kita laughed, as she turned skyward to catch up with the others.

  Valor fired a volley of shocker rounds into the engine of the last cruiser just as it fired its harpoon at the truck. Valor lurched sideways and caught the harpoon. A blast of arctic air went up the cruiser’s engine intake. It coughed and sputtered, and the engine stalled. Valor and Defiance moved to catch the cruiser. Together they dropped it into a parking garage and hurried to catch up.

  Valor and Defiance arrived just as Kita dropped Onyx onto the roof of the truck.

  “Are you girls all right?” said Kita.

  “We’re ok,” said Valor with a thumbs up.

  “I think I need a little practice,” said Defiance.

  “We’ll work on it,” said Kita. “We need to keep a lookout for any more. Cotton, where are we?”

  “We’re just about out of Petal Six and will be entering Petal Five.”

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?” said Valor.

  “It’s a delivery truck, not a gunship.”

  “We need to find a happy medium,” said Kita. “I can’t keep playing Red Rover with Onyx.”

  “Kita,” called Zentix.

  “Yeah?”

  “Mauler is dispatching two of its fast attack gunboats to give us cover. Their ETA is fifteen minutes.”

  “Ok. We can hold out that long. Hali, any word on getting them to cease and desist?”

  “No. I’ve only managed on getting myself added to the list of fugitives. My Embassy has lodged a formal complaint, but that won’t be resolved in the next fifteen minutes.”

  “Let me guess, not until after the summit.”

  “Something like that,” Hali grumbled. “The Verisom Embassy and mine have lodged formal complaints on the procedures Tet-Sec has used in apprehending us.”

  “How about something useful and like, right now?” said Valor.

  “Then, no.”

  “Hawke, give Hali your pistol,” said Kita. “She might have better luck being useful that way.”

  I hope you're embarrassed and feel like an ass, you gorgeous bitch.

  There was a loud bang, and the truck shook violently.

  “What was that?” said Defiance.

  “Someone’s shooting at us,” said Kita looking out the back.

  “There,” said Valor.

  “What are those?” said Defiance.

  “Something that flies with guns,” said Onyx.

  “Those are armored attack vehicles!” said Hali from halfway out the window of the truck.

  “Get back inside before we take another round,” Kita ordered.

  “I was a special operations operative, Kita. I haven’t forgotten what I’m doing.”

  “I bet you didn’t do it wearing that dress,” said Defiance.

  “Thanks for the intel,” said Kita. “Get back inside, or I’ll have Zen pull you in.”

  Hali did as instructed with a dejected frown.

  “Can we kill them?” said Onyx.

  “They don’t have Tet-Sec markings, just Diamock, which means they’re operating illegally. So, yes,” said Cotton.

  Another shell exploded overhead.

  “Kita, I’m getting orders to halt, or the next shot won’t be a warning shot.”

  “I’ve never been one to take orders all that well. Keep going. We’ll bang them out of the sky.”

  “Oh, goodie,” said Onyx.

  Another round shook the truck from another direction.

  “Let’s go,” said Kita.

  “Look!” said Valor. Two more vehicles were coming in from above, and four were trying to come alongside.

  “Onyx, keep those on the right off the truck. Girls, let’s knock them out of the sky,” said Kita. She opened her wings and took off with the other Angels behind her. She pointed the Angels to the vehicles on the left and went after the pair coming from above.

  Kita rushed the closer vehicle head on. She spun to one side and stuck out Dusk and Dawn, angling Dusk upward. Her swords
glowed red hot as they sliced into the lower section of the vehicle. After the vehicle had passed her, a triangular section fell out, while the rest rolled over and plunged toward the ground below.

  “Damn,” said Hawke. “Did you see that?” he said to Cross. “I knew those things were sharp, but holy hell.”

  The teenager fired off another burst at the incoming armored vehicle. “I’m busy, Sarge.”

  “Right, I guess I’d better get busy too. As soon as those things close drop back toward the rear and guard Raph and the cab.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Up top. We’re going to need more firepower than these things,” he said, holding up his rifle. “Hey, big girl, you mind creating me a hole?” he yelled at the roof.

  Onyx’s giant fist crashed through the cargo roof. Hawke grabbed her hand, and the Graniite lifted him out. She thumped him down hard on the roof. Hawke transformed, and his armor extended. He fired a salvo of missiles at one of the armored vehicles pulling alongside the truck.

  The vehicle fired a pair of shots at Hawke. The rounds struck his armor and spun him sideways. His back legs slipped off the side of the truck, dragging the bear over. He dug his massive front claws into the metal roof of the truck as he slid. The second armored vehicle came alongside and fired a shell into his middle. Hawke swung upward, allowing him to dig in his back claws.

  With a roar, he leaped from the truck and landed on the front of the armored vehicle. He grabbed the cannon in his jaws and bent the metal barrel. He pulled back and forth until the turret ripped from its coupling. Hawke let the turret go. With minimal effort, he tore open the troop hatch, stuck his head in, and roared. Sticking his paw inside, he yanked the Diamocks out one-by-one, throwing them over the side. He repeated the process at the driver’s hatch. As the uncontrolled vehicle rolled over, he jumped back to the roof of the truck.

  Onyx slammed her giant fist into the top of the second armored vehicle. It dropped twenty feet in altitude. Onyx stuck her head over the side of the truck, and a hail of gunfire peppered her face. The Graniite ignored the bullets. She reached down and swatted a trio of soldiers off the top of the rising vehicle. She grabbed the vehicle by the troop hatch and pulled the roof from the armored vehicle. She punched the front, sending it into a series of wild front flips as it plummeted downward.

  “Is this all the squishes got?” Onyx yelled.

  Hawke roared as he fired a salvo of anti-armor missiles at the armored vehicle Defiance was trying to slow down.

  “Damn, they make this look easy,” Defiance said to herself as she watched the others. She ducked and dodged bullets as blood leaked from two non-threatening wounds. The armored vehicle’s turret turned toward the truck. She raised her hand and covered the barrel in a thick encasing of ice. The turret fired and exploded. Hawke’s missiles arrived, and the vehicle disappeared in a cloud of smoke and fire. The vehicle pushed through the smoke, shaking badly. Defiance flew around the back of the vehicle and covered it with a thick layer of ice. She slammed the back of the vehicle with a heavy downward wind causing it to flip over backward. She iced over the protected engine fans. A loud pop came from the vehicle, and it fell from the sky.

  Valor darted around her armored vehicle. Her armament didn’t have the same heavy punch that Hawke’s did, but her new VI picked out weak spots in the vehicle’s armor. She fired missiles and cannon blasts at the points the VI identified. The vehicle fired its main cannon at the truck. Valor took aim at the shell with her minigun and fired. Her rounds found the larger shell and it burst a few feet from the truck. She landed on top of the vehicle and aimed her cannon down the length of the turret barrel. She fired twice. Inside, an explosion ripped apart the vehicle. Valor jumped back into the sky as it fell.

  Kita flew in front of her second armored vehicle as its turret rotated toward the truck. She grabbed the barrel and bent it backward. She plunged Dawn through the driver’s hatch several times until the vehicle listed to one side and slowed. She somersaulted over the side and gave it a push, sending it crashing into a building.

  “Does anyone see any more?” she said.

  “It looks clear from here,” said Cotton.

  Kita flapped her wings hard to catch up with the speeding truck. Valor and Defiance fell in behind her. An explosion ripped through the middle of the truck’s cargo area. Onyx and Hawke fell from the roof. The truck’s frame twisted and buckled.

  Kita pointed Valor and Defiance to go after Hawke and Onyx. She increased her speed to catch up with the truck. “Cotton, are you ok?”

  “The truck’s falling apart and so are—”

  The truck groaned and tore in half. Kita dove after the cab.

  “Where’s Raph and Cross?” Kita yelled.

  “We’ve got them, but hurry,” said Hali.

  Kita landed on the front of the truck, grabbed the bumper, and flared her wings. The cab slowed, but it wasn’t enough to keep it from falling. Inside, she saw Hali and Zentix holding onto Raph and Cross. The bumper came off in her hands. Kita shot upward as the truck returned to plunging toward the ground, Cross falling ahead of it. She dove after him.

  “Kita, I can carry Hali if you can get Zen and Raph,” said Cotton.

  “I’ve got to get Cross!” said Kita.

  “You’ll never get to him in time.”

  “I’ve got to try.”

  “Then you lose three of us.”

  NO! I have to get him. I promised to keep him safe. I… Every instinct told her to go after Cross. He doesn’t deserve to die this way. He’s innocent. ‘You can’t save them all,’ a voice said in the back of her head, ‘Can you justify two innocents for the price of one?’

  With tears in her eyes, Kita pulled up and went back to the cab. She ripped off the door and helped Zentix pull Raph through the hole in the cab. The teenager was unconscious. She grabbed both and jumped back into the rushing air. Below her, she watched as Cotton’s jump jets struggled to slow their descent.

  “Hang on!” said Kita. She dove after Cotton. “Grab my feet!”

  “I can do it,” said Cotton.

  “You’re going to crater. Grab my feet. Together we can create enough drag to land.”

  Hali reached out and wrapped her arms around Kita’s legs. Kita flared her wings, trying to use them as a parachute. The armor around Cotton’s jets glowed white-hot from the long burn. I hope she’s well insulated.

  “We’re not going to do it!” said Kita, calculating speed, time, and distance.

  A loud whoop came from above. Valor swooped down and grabbed Kita around the waist. The tiny Angel opened her wings and fired her own jets. The group slowed. As they neared the surface, an explosion to their left blew the group apart. They fell and rolled to a stop on a grassy knoll.

  “Go, go!” said Kita, trying to get everyone up and away from the incoming fire. She ran to Hali and scooped the unresponsive woman up, feeling something wet coming from her lower back.

  Valor picked up Raph and took off in a different direction.

  “It’s a damn attack sloop,” Cotton snarled. “We don’t stand a chance against one of those.”

  “It’s not allowed in petal airspace,” said Zentix.

  “Are you going to tell them that?”

  Above them, the sounds of more guns firing echoed through the morning air.

  “It’s Mauler’s gunboats!” said Zentix.

  “Mauler gunboats, this is Princess Cotton, do you copy?” she called as more shells from the sloop landed around them.

  “Get under cover,” Kita ordered the pair.

  Cotton and Zentix dashed for a drainage culvert. Kita took to the air, searching for a medical station for Hali. Valor and Raph were moving out of the area. Unsuccessful at finding a medical facility, Kita went to the culvert.

  “She’s hurt,” Kita told them. Zentix motioned for Kita to lay her down. They rolled her over and spotted a large piece of shrapnel in the woman’s back. Zentix took out a trauma bandage from her armor and pl
aced it on the wound. Seeing Hali was in good hands, Kita went to Cotton.

  “I’m in contact with the gunboats,” said Cotton. “They don’t have the firepower to match the sloop, but one can keep it busy while the other picks us up.”

  “How are you still getting Raph’s signal?” said Kita. All she had was dead air.

  “I’m expected to run an entire invasion fleet from this suit. I could talk to the humans’ god if I wanted to. Ok, the boat’s coming to get us, then we’ll grab the others.” She pointed. “Here it comes.”

  The boat reversed its engines and stopped gently in front of them. Kita helped Zentix move Hali aboard.

  “Captain,” a senior Diamock sergeant said, saluting.

  Kita returned it. “Good work, Sergeant. We need to shake that thing and get back to Mauler.”

  “No problem, Captain. We can outrun that sloop. Mauler has left the dock and is moving toward us. Once we’re out of the atmosphere, it can pick us up.”

  “Excellent. We need to make sure the Grand Ambassador gets the treatment she needs.”

  The Sergeant nodded and motioned that the medic was already working on her.

  “Kita, we’re moving to pick up the others. Everyone, make room,” said Cotton.

  The gunboat took off, the acceleration throwing those not accustomed to it backward. They zoomed across the concrete jungle that made up the bottom of the petal. Not even slowing as Valor and Raph landed inside.

  “Hell, yeah, that was fun!” Valor yelled when she gave Raph over to the medic.

  “We’re not done yet,” said Kita.

  A pair of shells exploded behind them.

  “Should I go take care of them?” said Valor.

  “That’s an armored warship. Even though it’s small, it’ll take more power than we have to punch through its armor,” said Cotton.

  Kita looked over the edge and spotted a crater. Defiance and Hawke took cover behind Onyx as they waited. The boat stopped just long enough to get the three aboard. She noticed the boat didn’t move quite as fast with Onyx onboard. The boat turned skyward and took off to rendezvous with Mauler.