by Jamie Hawke
“Fuck, the hills are crawling with them,” she said, turning to see Sakurai strike, the dragon light nearly taking down the bike.
This biker woman veered left and let out a spray of fire from the flamethrower on her back, so that Threed nearly went up in smoke. She was quick enough to throw herself back, however, so that only the ends of her pink hair were singed, along with one eyebrow. It gave her quite a punk look and was somewhat hot, even though I was certain she wasn’t going to like the blackish pink her hair now was when she next looked in a mirror.
As the bike spun around, the rider saw that her companions were down and hesitated, which was all the time I needed to pump her full of lead. The bike exploded with my fourth shot, and meanwhile Navani had taken to higher ground and was shooting at the hills.
“We’ve got them on the run!” she called out, and we scrambled up to see for ourselves. Indeed, we could see the silhouettes of several moving, and more by the light of the moons. They were actually in retreat! Half a dozen disappeared into the cave at the base of the hill, and we gave chase.
At the bottom of the hill we spread out to keep ourselves covered. Two came out from nearby rocks, but Threed dealt with the first while Nyoka took down the second, and then we entered the cave.
We pursued them through the tunnels, shooting and certain we had this in the bag. Turning down a passage that led us into an area that—thanks to Sacrada’s light—we could see was a dead end, we grinned. Only, Sakurai let out a yelp and I turned to see there was now a wall behind us.
In front, the enemy kept going, but had slowed, turning to face us, and now they simply grinned. All but one faded, and she took a step back, closed her eyes… and iron bars slammed shut between us and them.
We charged, but before we’d taken two steps the bars were gone—another stone wall appeared in its place, rising all the way up to the ceiling so that we were trapped.
Our first action was to charge the wall, pounding on it. Since there had been bars a second ago, it didn’t make sense that this stone was actually there. But as far as my aching fists could tell, it was legit.
Sacrada pulled me back and said, “It’s about to get hot in here,” before opening up with solar bursts that did nothing but turn the rock wall black. Explosives and shots from my new awesome rifle didn’t do any more good, and neither did Threed’s attempts at having her replicas search every inch of the walls to see if there was a way out. We were stuck.
We still didn’t give up yet, but after trying again and again, there simply seemed nothing we could do. Navani hypothesized that we’d come across a powerful illusionist, maybe a team that could also create changes in their surroundings, such as this rock wall. We might be able to get out eventually, but it would be like blowing our way out of the inside of an actual mountain. I leaned up against one of the other walls, eyes closed, and focused on my breathing to calm myself. When I opened them again, I noticed Nyoka was looking at me, eyes flickering back and forth between snake eyes and regular.
“Looks like we’re stuck,” I said, taking a seat next to her.
“For now. We’ll find out a way out, though.”
“I like your confidence.”
“It’s a rare thing for me, but knowing we have the Blue Lady—sorry, Andromida—on our side, even if she is temporarily somewhere else… I don’t know, it gives me hope.”
“You really hold her in high esteem, huh?”
She grinned, then looked away. “I’ve heard about what she’s done, how powerful she is. That, and one of the supervillains she killed had it out for me and mine, so I owe her.”
“And…?” I asked, sensing there was more she wanted to say.
“And I’d love to fuck her brains out,” she replied with a laugh, then put a hand over her mouth as if to remember to not be too loud.
“I get the feeling she’d be all about that,” I said.
“Really?” She looked up in thought, then shrugged. “I don’t, but doesn’t mean I’ll stop idolizing her. If we can work together and I can be part of her mission. Hell, that’s second place but I’ll take it.”
“And your world?”
“Maybe I’ll go back, maybe not. Does it matter?”
“I honestly have no idea. Where you come from… it’s always like that?”
She scoffed. “What you saw is the version when we’re not being slaughtered and enslaved. Imagine always living like that, enslaved or fighting. Not something many would want to go back to.”
“Yeah, but your loved ones. Friends, family.” I was going to go on, but the look on her face told me not to. “Oh, shit, sorry.”
“It’s what happens in a place like that,” she replied, waving the whole thing off. “You lose everyone you love, and eventually learn to stop loving.”
“But… Andromida?”
“Ah, see—power. The fact that she’s unlikely to die changes the equation. Which is ironic, considering how often she puts herself in harm’s way.”
I got her, nodding and losing myself in silence as I stared at the wall, trying to rack my brains for ideas to get out of that prison. Her story felt familiar. It had been like that for me in the Marines, but without the love angle. Always striving to be part of the elite force, in love with the idea of being one of them, you could say. When it had actually happened, I felt I could fly. Then it turned out to be pretty much the same as before, except for being surrounded by even bigger, more arrogant assholes.
But none of that needed to find Nyoka’s ears. Andromida seemed okay, in her special way.
“Everyone alert,” Navani said, jumping up and taking a defensive stance, glowing eyes focused on the rock wall to my right. “Enemy incoming.”
Well, at least we were going to find out what was going on and maybe get a chance to fight back. Worst case scenario, we’d all die and at least wouldn’t have to be stuck in a prison on an alien world in another dimension.
17
“There’s someone else here,” Navani said, scanning the prison walls.
“The leader?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’m seeing a female shape, but… something’s strange.”
“Like the vampire things?”
“No, like this one has ears and a tail.”
I laughed, then stopped myself and put my hand to my mouth as realization hit me. “No, you don’t think…?”
“Impossible,” Navani said, but then considered it. “However, in the images we saw them going into a portal of some sort.”
“Meaning my brother might actually be here.”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up yet.” Navani stepped over, reaching out as if to take my hand, but then changing her mind. “There could be numerous of her kind. Oram causes mutations that give us our powers, but often those mutations are replicated—which explains the many elemental powers that match. There could be thousands or even millions of animal-hybrids.”
“Right, well… Regardless, we need to get out of here and find out who this one is.”
“We might not have to,” Navani said. “She’s coming this way, and fast.”
I glanced around at the walls, lost as to how anyone could get in to help us. My answer came soon enough, however, as one of the walls faded and was replaced with a series of bars and a gate sliding open. On the other side, the animal woman we’d seen with my brother in the pictures stood there, frowning at us and sniffing.
“You all don’t smell like Nihlists,” she said. “You were the ones fighting them?”
“How…?” I started, but Navani stepped forward, cutting me off.
“Charm, right?” she said.
Charm, as the animal woman was apparently called, stepped back and looked at her skeptically. “Yes.”
“We’re here to find someone, as well as fight the Nihilists. I take it you’re here to do the same?”
Charm hesitated, then grinned. “I’m here to break you out, and am hoping you have a way to get us out of here.”
“I t
hink that can happen,” Navani replied, and then gestured to me. “He’s the key. All we need is one of the Nihilists, and we think we can set up a portal out of here. But we don’t want to use it until we’ve done what we came for.”
I wasn’t sure why she didn’t mention specifics, or that Andromida had disappeared, but felt it was best to follow her lead.
The stranger was looking at me now, and then motioned to her right. A moment later, one of the Nihilist’s stumbled toward her, stopping a couple paces away.
“First, we have one,” Charm said, turning to blow a breath of purple into the creature’s face. “As long as I keep him under my charm. Second, who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Drew,” I said. “Chad’s brother.”
“Chad?” Her grin suddenly turned to a look of shock. “Holy fuck-ticks, you mean Breaker? You’re Breaker’s brother? Here?”
I nodded, waiting for her to offer to shake my hand or give me a hug or something. Instead, she walked in past the gate and punched me across the face. In a flash, Threed and her replicas had Charm slammed up against the bars, the real Threed with a blade at Charm’s throat. Sakurai and Sacrada were ready, but Navani cleared her throat and they calmed down.
“What the hell was that for?” I asked.
“You let your brother take the fall,” Charm spat in my direction. “They accused him of murdering that guy at the bank. He told me all about it! He was being bussed off to face the death penalty, thanks to you.”
“Lady, can I call you lady, or do you prefer cat or fox or—”
BAM! She caught me with another punch, having broken free from Threed and charged me so fast, I didn’t even register it.
“Lady will do just fine,” she said, and then was tackled to the ground by Threed again. This time, Sakurai joined in with her sword at Charm’s throat.
“Stop,” I said. “Let her up.” As they did, I held up my hands to show I didn’t want trouble. “Listen, Charm… Navani here took me from the bank, okay? I didn’t get a chance to be there, to follow it, to intervene in any way. Whatever happened, it seems to have worked out for the best, right?”
Charm frowned, but nodded. “I guess… I guess I never would’ve met him if not for all of this.”
“Exactly. And you are happy you met him, right?”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m trying to get back to him right now… with all my heart.”
“Well, there you go. And since I was here, can you agree there’s nothing I could have done? That I’m not at fault?”
This time she stared at me, sniffed, and then nodded. “You seem legit.”
I laughed, looking around at my team who were all on edge. “We’re on the same side, Charm. If this goes well, we’ll all be together at the Citadel. I hope we can be friends.”
“On that note, we have to live if we want that to happen,” Nyoka said, and nodded to Navani. “Might want to scan to make sure, but my sight’s saying we have trouble if we stay here longer than another minute.”
“Right, follow me,” Charm said, leading us back out.
We passed the weird Nihilist, a male in his dark robes with eyes that were black and gray, but with a shade of purple to them that matched the breath Charm had blown on him.
“He’s mine, for now,” Charm said. “Don’t worry about him. Oh, and yeah, you can use him for the portal thing.”
“We’ll need an extra power source,” Navani said. “Like the dais of the Citadel was used to get here.”
I gave her a surprised glance. “You never mentioned that before coming here. You’re saying we could be stranded if we don’t find said power source?”
She hesitated, then said, “That’s right.”
“What the fuck,” Sakurai hissed, but we were all too focused on getting out of there at the moment to get into the debate. Hell, we were already in this crazy world. It wasn’t like we could undo that. She led us past other cells, including a few with crazed vampires and some with rock walls like ours had on the other side of the bars—walls I assumed were all illusions of some sort created by a super.
“Wait, so you’re really with Chad?” I asked after our third or fourth turn.
“Breaker, we call him,” she replied with a grin. “And yeah, you could say that.”
There was no doubting that the way she said it meant they were together together. “Is he here?”
Her grin faded to a look of worry, and she shook her head. “We were in a world between here and ours, when the Nihilists brought me here. I’m still not sure it was on purpose, but the minute I got here, I managed to escape. Problem is, escaping doesn’t mean shit if there’s nowhere to escape to. Only, as I was running I picked up your scent and honestly thought it was Breaker, for a bit. It was only when I got close that I realized it wasn’t, but by then I was already here, so, yeah.”
“Well thanks for breaking us out,” Navani said.
Charm’s smile returned. “You’re welcome. I know you from somewhere, don’t I? I’ve been trying to place it since I barged in on you all, but can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Navani replied, eyes darting over to me.
“Must be one of those faces,” I said, instantly feeling like an idiot. With Navani’s purplish-silver hair and glowing blue eyes, she definitely did not have ‘one of those faces.’
“I highly doubt that,” Charm said, then pushed up against the wall and motioned for us to do the same. “Their scent… they’re close. Didn’t one of you say you had the sight?”
“Two of them,” I said, and glanced back to Navani, who was closest. Her blue eyes took in the surrounding walls.
“Ten Nihilists coming from the right, more a few walls ahead,” Navani said. “Left looks clear.”
“Problem is, I came from the right,” Charm said. “No idea where the passage to the left goes.”
“Ten?” Sacrada said, leaning forward as if she’d be able to see like that. “We can take ten.”
Charm turned to me, then Navani. “I’m up for it if you are. The best I can do is capture them like this one, but then they’ll fight for me—it wears off and I have a limited supply, but we might be able to capture ourselves a few of them.”
“Fucking A,” I said, liking the plan. “We aren’t the kind to slink away and hide in the shadows when there’s a fight to be had, and it’s been a while since I had a pet.”
Charm laughed, then her tail twitched. “To be clear, you’re talking about the captured Nihilists, right? Not me?”
“Fuck.” I shook my head, quickly. “Not you, especially not after the way you hit me back there.”
“Sorry about that,” she said, but seemed proud of what she’d done.
“Let’s take them down,” Sakurai said, and she gripped her sword, light already starting to form around its blade.
“They have hoods and cloaks,” Charm said, holding up a hand for caution. “Meaning they might be the type that can get into your head.”
“There are different types?” I asked, kind of not wanting to know.
“It seems that way,” she replied. “I’ve been snooping, trying to learn what I can while staying out of sight,” for a moment she cloaked, then uncloaked with a grin, “I’m thinking there are at least three or four main types of them, or maybe some were picked up along the way.”
Navani nodded along, “Right, that fits. There are these ones, the gray ones Drew refers to as vampires, the women who trapped us—”
“Illusionists,” Charm said. “Yeah. They have another type that seems more like regular citizens, I guess you could say—they move shadows and light in strange ways, like supers that have been distorted.”
“And then these ones,” Navani finished, indicating the robed Nihilists again. “The only ones we knew about back home, the ones who can get into your mind as well as create black holes.”
“I don’t think that’s part of their power, exactly,” Charm noted.
“No?”
; “When they pulled me here, it didn’t seem like it was on purpose. One of them made contact, and then it just sort of happened. They didn’t have anything waiting for me, and when I immediately cloaked, the Nihilist with me didn’t even look around to see where I’d gone. I think he didn’t realize I’d come back with him.”
“I can’t wait to get to the bottom of all this,” Sacrada said, pointing at the enemy. “But right now, they’re moving.”
“We might find some answers in the fortress,” Navani said, her eyes showing excitement. “But you’re right, for now let’s ensure we can actually make it to the fortress.”
Our group moved forward, slowly at first, until one of the Nihilist’s cloaked heads suddenly turned toward us. I was the first up and shooting, the others following close behind. Only, after three steps one of them reached out and I felt it in my mind, darkness, flashes of red eyes and a grin full of pointed teeth. It took all of my focus to keep firing, to keep charging. Three steps in and my foot hit an uneven part of the rock beneath and I went flying, slamming into the stones.
The power in my mind was too much, and I had to remind myself to never get this close to one of these bastards again, if I could help it. More darkness hit, my eyes completely not working. All I could see was images of death, blood splattering in flashes of light—the eyes hollow as Navani’s head rolled in front of me, her corpse falling behind.
“No!” I shouted, refusing to accept that. I focused on the moments I’d enjoyed with her—holding her hand, her belly… on the baby possibly growing within her. I focused on the sound of her breathing next to me, the thwump of her gun as it went off. She was as alive as I was. At least for now, we all were, though that might not last if I couldn’t pull myself together.
With that thought, by focusing on her and the moments we shared, I was able to see a flicker of my reality. Black cloaks fluttered around us, those sons of bitches moving in, not flying, but jumping. Long blades trailed their arms and the first landed, spinning to slice me open like a can of tuna.