by Jamie Hawke
“She’s really so bad?” I asked.
Andromida returned at that point, and the look she gave me made me wish I hadn’t asked that question. She stared at me for a long moment, not even allowing her eyes to move when the distant sounds of explosions and fighting starting up again. “Think of the worst person you’ve ever known. Who was it?”
I frowned. “That’s not—come on. I mean—”
“You’re right, it’s not a fair question. No matter how you answer, that person won’t have shit on Muerta. They might have killed more in their time, but even before my people were wiped out, I knew about her. I’d heard about the way she’d toy with people, keeping them on the edge of death as she made them witness their own body parts being removed right in front of their eyes.”
“There’s no need to get into the details, here,” Shimmer said, looking sick.
“Even you know the stories?” I asked.
She nodded. “Muerta was said to be about to make a move on our planet, coming for us at Plague’s call when they already had us all but beaten, so I looked her up. I had to know what we were fighting, what we needed to be ready for. Let’s just say it was a good fucking thing that never happened.”
I caught on then, glancing at Twitch. “To be clear, making sure I have this straight and all that, if Twitch hadn’t accidentally sent the planet into the black hole thing—which we now know wasn’t exactly a black hole at all—there would’ve been much more death and destruction? Much more suffering?”
“Huh,” Charm said, then laughed. “Fuck, our boy is right. All those people on your planet, Shimmer, who’re blaming Twitch for their problems? They should be on their knees sucking her cock in gratitude.”
“To be clear, she doesn’t have one,” I pointed out.
“Yours then, by proxy. Or eating her ass, if she’s into that—”
“Not particularly,” Twitch said, although she was grinning.
“Point being, if we ever go back there, those sons of bitches owe her an apology and some major fucking appreciation.”
Shimmer was frowning, but nodded. “That… actually, yeah, that’s true.” She turned to Twitch, smiled wide, and said, “So… proxy, or asshole? Which’ll it be?”
Twitch laughed and waved her off. “How about we finish our job here first, then discuss how you can show your gratitude?”
I had to admit, as I watched Shimmer nod and take up her offensive position at the doorway next to Twitch, the two of them ready to lead us back out on the assault, I couldn’t help but imagine the two of them nude, Shimmer’s face buried deep in Twitch’s ass. An interesting thought, but I agreed—it was one best kept for after the rest of the fighting.
And on that note, it was time we got back into the fray.
4
By this point it seemed the local groups had figured out who was on which side. There was at least a lull in the action, presumably because each side was planning how to take out the other. Given the fact that they were on a ticking clock, the peace wouldn’t last long.
We sure as hell didn’t plan on letting it, if the peace got in the way of us and Muerta. Each step through this place was like movement through a minefield. Based on the fact that she managed to lob the exploding corpse at us fairly accurately earlier, she had to know where we were. She’d used her proximity to us to activate some sort of powers, and was likely continuing to try and stick to a plan of staying close. That, or run like crazy.
Her ultimate goal was to go after Orion Corp, a goal we now shared. If not for the fact that she was a supervillain and the apparent enemy of everyone on my team, I would’ve thought trying to work together might not be too horrible an idea. At least, temporarily.
We turned into a room where there were a lot of tables and chairs. I thought it looked more like a meeting room than a dining hall. Twitch held out a hand to let us know there was trouble ahead.
“Is it her?” Andromida asked, anger flaring.
I had my scanner up and shook my head before Twitch could answer. “Someone named Tarantula, and it looks like he’s within range to work his powers.”
“Never heard of him,” Twitch said. “But yeah, I’m seeing him and a small group of men with him, likely thugs.”
Nobody else chimed in, but Charm had scrunched up her face, avoiding eye contact. I wondered what she knew about him. First deal with Tarantula, then ask.
Shimmer was the first one out, with illusions set up to make it look like we had a small army charging in. Immediately, enemies dropped from the ceiling and popped up from behind overturned tables. Twitch threw buffers around us all, as Andromida sent tables flying back at the enemies. Gale and I were no slouches either, as we sent out a barrage of blasts. Charm took up the final attack by uncloaking and finishing off a couple of the stragglers. The enemy didn’t stand a chance.
Except for one man with eight glowing eyes, who had a small team around him. He was in the middle of it all, protected by some sort of light-barrier that now faded. When he stood, he looked confident, ready to take us on… but then his eyes moved to Charm and he hesitated, confused.
“You…?” Tarantula eyed her for a moment, wondering. He laughed. “What the fuck are you doing way out here, little fox?”
I thought Charm was about to lose her shit, but she actually took a step back. What the hell was going on here? This wasn’t like her.
The man took it as a sign of his moment to take charge, apparently, because he stepped over to her and grinned, about to say something else stupid—but I’d had enough. Slamming my hand into the floor, I traveled through it and came up in front of him with an uppercut that threw him back and off of his feet. My strength and speed at level twenty-nine were enough to cause some serious damage, which was why it caught me off guard that he didn’t go down like I’d thought he would. Instead, he landed with thick, hairy spider legs emerging from his back to catch him. He recovered and scurried over to me. Webbing surrounded his fists as he struck, the blows leaving thick, sticky restraints that nearly had me.
His little squad had moved up at this point. I suddenly registered two more supers among them. One had a shelter power that must’ve been keeping me from seeing them until they got closer. The other had elemental powers. No more fucking around—I let my tempest explode out of me, bursts of lightning destroying the webbing and coursing through Tarantula first, and then his buddies.
The one with elemental powers laughed and replied with his own blast of lighting. Gale leaped in front of it with an equal strike. The two looked like magicians from classic movies, battling it out with their strikes in continuous energy flows.
And then Charm was back to her old self, leaping through the air and hitting Tarantula with a punch that knocked him on his ass. A whip-like strike from her tail threw his guard off, and then a clawed attack left his throat dripping blood. Where it should’ve been completely torn out, webbing had formed and was stitching him back together. Creepy, but kind of cool.
He sneered, revealing long, dripping teeth, and went for her. His spider legs allowed him to move up the wall and then leap. I caught him halfway there, though, with another tempest strike that was fully focused on him. It sent him flying back into the wall with a thud. A glance back showed that Shimmer was creating illusions of fiery demons to scare off the thugs while she shot at them with her blaster, and Andromida had torn right through the elemental and was about to move in on the thugs and finish them off.
Meanwhile, Twitch was pumping up our stats and defenses with temporary boosts, but I could see that she was also searching the walls. She saw my look and said, “She’s close. Muerta.”
“I see why she needed the help, at least,” Tarantula said, body smoking as he pushed himself up. “You and your new friends—tough cookies.”
“A trap?” I asked, more to myself than anything.
“Distraction,” he replied with a grin. Turning to Charm, he added, “If you survive this and ever see the guild again, tell them I went out wit
h a bang.”
Then, before anyone could get another word in, his eyes glowed gold and he screamed, a couple of his fallen comrades glowing at the same time. The explosion that rocked us a moment later hurt like a bitch, and if not for the boosted shields and defense points from Twitch, I had to imagine we would’ve all ended up as stains on the walls.
Andromida showed us what a valuable ally she was in more ways than one, because she’d also had the quick reflexes and quick thinking to throw metal up and around the explosives as best she could. While that protected us, the explosions were more powerful than even she could’ve imagined, and resulted in shrapnel tearing through us. I now had streaks of blood on my arms and torso, and even a cold feeling on my right ear, along with the ringing and bright spots.
I focused on trying just a hint of Heavenly Light and it worked, clearing my head. Since the enemy was down and I felt pretty useless in my current state, I pulled up my screen, scanning, and was relieved to see I still hadn’t used my latest skill point—the one from turning level twenty-nine. Now seemed like a good time, and with the paladin upgrade and my current state, I knew the perfect skill to get. I quickly selected that power Redemption, which I figured ahd a healing effect, though I wasn’t sure how it worked yet.
Moaning came from nearby and I turned to see Shimmer crawling toward me, half of her face covered in blood. My heart went out to her. I tried using my new skill, but an error appeared on my screen, saying no enemies were nearby. I cursed, not understanding. It was supposed to heal, right? How did enemies have anything to do with that?
Again I tried, and at the same time processed that a breach in the far wall had just filled with forms of more enemies about to attack. Fuck it. I glanced their way to mentally select them after focusing on Shimmer again.
The first fell to her knees, hands to her head as she screamed. There was a visible flash of forest green energy that escaped her and flew into Shimmer.
I’d taken part of her life force, giving it to my teammate! That was a horrifying realization—it was also amazing. I tried again, this time trying to direct the healing toward Charm, but the second enemy just staggered, with only a small stream of green going from him in a flash of light. Apparently, this new power had diminishing returns on its initial level and likely needed a recharge. Or maybe it was related to how much damage had been dealt from that enemy? The thought almost blew my mind, but considering that it was related to my paladin skills, the checks and balances sort of made sense.
Fine. We’d kick their asses, then try again.
Now healed, Shimmer was up and charging them. The enemy whose life force I’d used to heal her looked up, and I saw that she had burn marks on the side of her face where the blood had been on Shimmer’s. She was clearly confused, and took the first shot from Shimmer as illusionary foes—copies of me and my team that weren’t really there—fell all around our opponents, drawing their attacks while Shimmer finished off another, and Gale blasted the last.
“Where’s Muerta?” Andromida shouted, spinning and tearing down walls with her power. She shot through one in a burst of blue light, then reappeared, tearing a man in half before moving on again.
“Poor fuckers,” Charm said, wiping blood from her lower lip and grinning before limping off to join the fight, more thugs having been discovered—much to their surprise—behind one of the walls.
“Shit… Andromida!” Twitch had several screens up and projected a map across the ceiling—a bleep moving away from where it seemed we were. “There, making a run for it!” she shrieked.
Andromida was off in a flurry of metal and blue light, while we threw attacks and shots at the remaining thugs as we rushed to join her.
Several shots pinged off nearby walls as the enemy attempted to return fire, but they were no match for us and fell to Shimmer and Gale, who were sending a final wave of attacks at them.
“Move it!” Twitch called back to the ladies. I hit the nearby wall to travel up alongside Andromida, or as close as I dared get when she was in this state.
Shimmer passed, grinning and holding a massive rifle she’d apparently gotten off of one of our opponents. One of the guard’s rifles, I presumed, but had no idea what need the guards would’ve had with a rifle like that.
“On our left, ahead,” I said, seeing Muerta with my scanner now.
Andromida gave me a nod of thanks, changing the course—only to be met with an explosion of gold from the path we’d been on. It only stalled us though, because a moment later we were up and running again, moving up and down stairs. Andromida threw metal and the wall opened up to reveal a form in the distance, outdoors, seemingly vanishing into the ground.
I glanced over to see how Andromida would react to that, but couldn’t see her at all. All I saw was darkness there, and when I turned forward again, darkness there, too. Everywhere, darkness… I froze, realizing the sounds of fighting and explosions were gone, replaced with a heavy breathing, a distant crying.
This motherfucking Demise bastard was starting to piss me off. A thought hit me—I was still injured and could use some healing. Applying my new Redemption skill at the same time as Heavenly Light in my attempt to tear this fucker a new asshole, my mind opened in ways I’d never realized it could.
A shout came from Andromida, but it was quickly drowned out by another, one that sounded like a little boy. The darkness vanished and there he was, this man who stared at me one moment, was replaced with the image of a terrified boy the next, then shriveled up until he was nothing but green energy that floated into me.
I felt refreshed, totally healed… and freaked the fuck out. These powers were awesome, but they’d take some getting used to.
“What…what’d you do?” Andromida asked, staring at me with the blue of her skin fading in and out. She stood on the floor, powers fluctuating between working and not, like the last time she’d been caught in my Heavenly Light.
“Finished off Demise, I think.” I saw the others kneeling in various spots behind me, all blinking, recovering. He’d likely had them in the same state of darkness I’d found myself in, and while robbing Andromida of her powers momentarily sucked, I was certain there had been no other choice.
“Well, good job.” She clenched her jaw, clearly feeling conflicted over the whole thing, then turned and sprinted in the direction where we’d just seen Muerta vanish.
The others were up then, all but Shimmer and myself still in various states of hurt from the earlier explosions. I made a note to heal them when I had a chance. Twitch was already doing what she could, but her adjustments to our stats were more like temporary fixes that affected the symptoms rather than dealing with the underlying problems.
We exited the building and found another group—some armed, but none showing signs of having superpowers, even as close as they were to us. I was about to attack, but the lead person held up his hands and took a step back, eyeing us with worry. When none of the others attacked and most of my team had already moved on, so did I, but not before noting the look of amazement on his face as he watched Charm. Probably normies, and the first time he’d seen anyone with ears and a tail.
“Can’t you make them not see us?” I asked Shimmer.
She scoffed. “Only when I know which direction to target my illusions, and it helps if I know who I’m targeting.”
“Damn.”
Reaching the point where Muerta had vanished, Andromida froze, glanced around, and cursed.
“Tunnel,” I suggested, having clearly seen our prey descend into the ground. It was either a tunnel, or some other unknown superpower of hers. Since she’d likely been out of range and only had limited powers in the Quencher zones, I was betting on the former.
“Let’s find out.” Andromida held out her hands. The sound of metal crunching was almost deafening. She stumbled, collapsed to her knees, and let out a grunt before letting her hands fall to her sides.
We all looked at each other in confusion, and then Twitch—the closest to her—
put a hand on her shoulder, kneeling before her. “What was that?”
“It’s… it’s like the whole planet is made of metal. All connected…” Andromida frowned, held out one hand and tentatively twitched a finger. Again the sound, but more of a screeching this time. She nodded. “What… the… fuck.”
Twitch stood, pulling up a screen and analyzing the planet. She frowned. “She’s right. It’s like… Whoa.”
“Like whoa?” I chuckled. “Meaning?”
“I’m seeing…” Twitch looked up at me and rolled her eyes. “Have a look, dummy.”
I joined her, still not as good at all this code stuff as her, but understanding some of it. With my troubleshooter skill now pretty much running in passive, always-on mode, I could catch a lot of it. What I was seeing was insane—not merely a planet or a ball of metal, but glass, chemicals, life forms… and not just human life forms.
“What’ve we stumbled upon here?” I asked.
“More of Orion Corp. and their evil ways,” Andromida replied, standing now and glancing around again, likely looking for anything else out of place. “I’m guessing this place is about one hundred times more fucked up than you could imagine.”
“I can imagine a lot,” I countered. “But you might be right.”
“Here,” Charm said, having found a copper line in a nearby building that ran down, and looked recently tampered with. She reached up to check it out, when I noticed the faint, golden glow from the back of the line. It almost looked like a reflection of the nearby lights, but based on our recent experience with corpses that had glowing golden eyes, I shouted, “Wait!”
Too late.
Or it would’ve been, if not for Charm’s great hearing and reflexes. The explosion hit, but she threw herself back into a back handspring, then landed in a crouch with her tail singed.
“Fuck, that has got to stop happening to me!” she said.
“But you found the way,” Gale said, pulling on the wind to clear out the debris, revealing part of a tunnel below.