The Council member jerked to the side, and James missed, his blade slicing through a support beam instead.
James fell to the ground, landing with a loud thud. He stood, turned, and sought his foe. The crack of gunshots filled the air as his friends continued their assault. A distant corner of his mind remembered they had anti-magic bullets, and he couldn’t understand why He Who Hunts wasn’t bleeding.
The mist entity spun toward the bounty hunters and blasted several heat bolts their way, forcing them to scatter for cover. James took advantage of his distraction to leap again, this time getting closer to the enemy but still missing his flying foe. Jumping, even super-jumping, wasn’t a match for true flight.
He crashed into a turn in the tracks, bending the metal. With a grunt, he stood, glaring at He Who Hunts
“You fucking cockroach,” James screamed. “Stop running.”
His amulet’s euphoria filled the back of his mind as he drank in his anger and hatred.
He concentrated for a moment. Green light flowed and twisted over the blades, his energy cannons charging with a crackle and hiss. A few seconds later, he shot two blasts. The rays narrowly missed the quick-moving Council member, but they blew through a track on the other side, incinerating it.
His friends stopped firing to watch in stunned silence but he ignored them, charging and firing again and again at the juking He Who Hunts. None of his blasts landed, but several carved through support beams or the tracks of the roller coaster, which now groaned and shuddered under its weight.
Warning, Whispy Doom reported, some of his euphoria fading, power level may be insufficient for continued energy attacks.
You wanted me pissed and angry. Now I fucking am. I’ll shoot as much as I fucking want.
James leapt to the highest point on the tracks, taking another shot while he was in the air, but his beams blasted into the ground, sending up a cloud of dirt and rock but still not wounding his enemy. He let out a loud growl.
He Who Hunts cut to the side and zigzagged toward James, firing several bright red bolts. James hissed, ready to take the shots, realizing too late that his enemy wasn’t firing at him but at the support structures below him.
The blasts vaporized the already weakened and strained structure, and the metal screeched and groaned before a loud crack echoed around James. The support beams snapped in succession, the entirety of the elevated tracks dropping. James stumbled, falling straight down without anywhere to push off. He tumbled to the ground, taking his last few seconds to fire another blast at He Who Hunts.
This shit’s not gonna stop me.
One of the rays nailed the creature’s side, an unearthly dissonant buzz filled the air, and a shower of green ichor rained from He Who Hunts’ wound. The Council member fell straight toward the ground.
James’ mix of rage and satisfaction disappeared as he slammed into a pile of wood. Despite falling hundreds of feet and landing hard, he barely felt the impact. Whatever pain should have accompanied such an epic trip was blocked by his armor and his rage. He rolled onto his back just in time to be buried under a multi-ton shower of wood and steel.
Darkness swallowed his vision and he thrashed, unable to move.
No. I need to make sure he’s dead. No!
James’ arms were pinned, and he grunted and strained to move them to no avail. He let out a loud growl and fired a single energy blast, clearing some of the rubble near his right arm. This allowed him to change his arm’s direction and shoot in front of him. Other rubble collapsed on top of him, but now a few rays of light cut through the darkness.
Warning. Power levels may be insufficient for sustained energy attacks.
Almost all the amulet’s euphoria had vanished.
His rage-clouded mind ignored the amulet as he managed to get his arm pointing forward and fired another blast. Bits of metal and dirt rained down on him, but now he could clearly see his path to the surface. With a yell, he yanked out his other arm and began shoving and slicing obstacles on his way out of the remains of the rollercoaster.
He needed to get to the target. He needed to kill the target. James emerged from the pile of rubble and looked around, seeking the wounded He Who Hunts.
The Council member floated only a foot above a small pool of glowing green ichor, a semi-translucent dome surrounding him. A few smashed bullets in front of him proved the team had already tried to shoot him while James was digging himself out.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” James roared.
At the edge of his vision, Shay was gesturing to the others to pull back. They did so, splitting their attention between James and his enemy.
Three ribbons of solid crimson energy like tears in space itself appeared within the dome. Red mist began pouring out of the tears and flowing into He Who Hunts. He began to inflate, his body rapidly filling the dome, which vanished a second later. No more ichor dripped from his side, and soon he was gargantuan, an evil storm cloud, his terrible eyes like twin red suns. Dozens of misty tendrils now extended from the red mass.
The Brownstone team opened fire again, but their bullets didn’t do any damage.
James leapt away from his would-be grave and landed a few yards from his enemy. He let out a long, low growl. “Just fucking die already.”
He Who Hunts let out a hollow laugh and a spinning red crystal appeared above him, wisps and arcs of energy surrounding and connecting to his tendrils.
“It’s time, Brownstone,” He Who Hunts announced. “Now that you’ve finally reached a proper state, you will become a slave to chaos. You will become my tool.”
“I will fucking rip you apart,” James howled. He snapped his arms up and prepared to fire again. At this range, there was no way he could miss something that large.
A few seconds passed before he realized his mind was too quiet. Even when Whispy Doom wasn’t saying anything. The amulet’s feelings, particularly his bloodlust, were always there, seeping into James’ mind, but now there was nothing. His thoughts were as quiet as when he wasn’t bonded.
Pain spiked through James’ head, and he shook it. The pain intensified, and he fell to his knees. The rage in his mind twisted in on itself in a loop, but his thoughts started blanking. He couldn’t remember who he was fighting or why.
He Who Hunts floated closer. Energy arced from the red crystal into the armor. “You’ve not reached your true potential. I can taste it. You’ve not reached it by far. Crude. Weak, because of your pathetic mind. Your pathetic soul. I will wield you as the weapon you were meant to be.”
Whispy? Can’t…think. Do…something. Where…am…I?
No response.
He Who Hunts glowed brighter. “You’re a dull blade, Brownstone. You will be sharpened, and I will use you to cut through the feeble lies of this planet. The false order. Rejoice! You are about to be repurposed into something far more useful.”
His mind gone, James was distantly aware of Shay screaming and charging in, her tachi raised.
What? Shay…no.
“There’s only one person who gets to tell him what to do, you evil piece of cloud shit,” Shay shouted. “And that’s me.” She swung her sword into the mist. It sliced through, spilling ichor, the blade untouched.
A tendril slammed into Shay, and a white field flashed around her. She flew back, slamming into the ground and rolling several times, her sword clattering away from her hand.
NO!
James bellowed a bone-shaking roar. The new anger blasted through his mind like a cleansing fire.
Link reestablished, Whispy announced. Initiating thought filter. Extended advanced mode power-up achieved. Kill the enemy.
James rushed toward He Who Hunts. A tendril whipped at him, and he slashed with his blade. The tendril burst into millions of tiny floating particles and a wave of green energy accompanied the hit, shooting right through the massive red cloud forming He Who Hunts’ body and showering James in his enemy’s glowing ichor.
He Who Hunts glowed brighte
r. Several heat bolts and spheres shot from the masses of tendrils and pelted James, but they didn’t do much more than scorch the armor.
Near-maximum adaptation achieved against attack type, the amulet whispered. Enemy no longer useful. Kill enemy. Grow stronger. Achieve primary directive.
James threw himself into the red mist, slashing and slicing, each movement summoning another energy blast. Huge chunks of the cloud blew off, holes appearing. A steady drift of red particles floated into the sky almost like red smoke. The green ichor continued to rain down, now forming glowing puddles. The red crystal remained floating above the pool.
Kill, kill, kill, Whispy chanted.
“I…may…die,” He Who Hunts rasped. “But…it…doesn’t…matter. You…will…become…He Who Destroys. I…sacrifice…myself…to…chaos.”
Rage and hatred overtook James. He kept swinging his new energy blades, his body moving itself. Pure instinct maybe, or Whispy Doom controlling him directly—he didn’t know. Didn’t care. All he cared about was destroying the Council member before him. The thing that had hurt his dog. The thing that had dared wound his woman. James kept hacking for a good minute even after all the red mist was gone and only a sizzling pool of green ichor remained. The red crystal crackled with even more energy.
He let out another roar and started stabbing the pool. It wasn’t good enough. The enemy hadn’t suffered enough. He would destroy him, erase every particle of the bastard that still existed.
Kill, kill, kill. Yessssss. Yes. No. No. No. Warning. Thought filter failing. Initiat—
Agony shot through James’ head, and he fell to his knees. Images of Father Thomas, Leeroy, Shay, and Alison dead flashed through his head like a horrific slideshow. He saw Shorty dead, then Trey and others, the darkness circling in his mind.
A presence sank into his mind, whispering unintelligibly like his amulet had once done, but the words were cold, distant, and ancient. Wrong, like even hearing them seared his soul. A spinning vortex of red filled his imagination.
“James,” someone called, familiar but distant.
He let out another roar, now alternating his blades and splashing the liquid remains of the Council member all over the area, the agony in his head growing.
The dark images kept repeating, speeding up. He saw himself killing his friends and loved ones. He saw them killing him.
“James,” the voice called again, insistent. “Come back to me. You won. Damn it, you won. I’m here for you, and I love you. Whatever the fuck is going on, fight it! You only get to lose to me, and no one fucking else, you understand me?”
He spun toward the voice, ready to destroy another foe. Shay stood there, a huge hole burned through her shirt, but her wounds were gone. His dog stood beside her, his head cocked to the side in confusion.
No, no, NO!
James growled and turned. The red crystal pulsed now, each pulse bringing new pain.
He leapt into the air and brought one of his blades down on it. His blade sliced through and the crystal exploded, the fireball engulfing him and blowing a hole in his chest armor. He crashed into the ground, every part of his body hurting, but at least the pain in his head and the dark images were gone.
Link reestablished, Whispy sent. Severe damage sustained. Time needed for adaptation and regeneration. Recommend external healing. Entering quiescence to preserve function.
The armor retracted and James groaned, barely able to keep his eyes open.
Shay rushed over to him, the dog at her side. The dog licked James’ face as his girlfriend knelt beside him and pulled out his last healing potion.
“Cutting it kind of close,” Shay muttered. She opened his mouth and poured the potion down his throat. “Trying to be dramatic now to impress me?”
James could only manage a groan in response.
Shay held his head as the other bounty hunters rushed to surround him. The dog kept licking his face and whimpering.
The pain ebbed and James sat up, rubbing his head. “Fuck. That shit hurt.”
Shay blew out a sigh of relief. Maria and the men all grinned.
James looked at the splattered pools of ichor all over the place. “At least this time I got the fucker.” He blinked at the dog. “And he’s okay?”
Trey stepped forward. “Wasn’t sure if a healing potion would work on a dog, but it seems like it did.” He shrugged. “Who knew?”
James grunted. Zoe needed to make special potions for him, but normal potions would work for both humans and dogs? Did that make him better or worse than a dog?
He chuckled and scratched behind his dog’s ears. “You’re just like me, boy. You run toward trouble no matter how fucking stupid it is.”
The dog barked and wagged his tail.
24
An hour later police swarmed the entire park, along with FBI and even a few PDA agents. Although the cops were keeping the media out, they couldn’t do much about the news drones and helicopters flying overhead, all getting clear pictures of the piles of dead monsters or occasional deceased wizard in the amusement park. The previous battles against the Council had been hidden from the eyes of the public, but now the deadly group’s efforts would be all over the internet with shocking photos.
Sergeant Weber shook his head as he looked at the remains of the rollercoaster and frowned at James. “The FBI and the PDA are going to have a lot of questions, but I think they want to finish up their initial investigation before they bother you. They’re definitely going to come knocking in the next few days. If this was just about you taking down a few Council monsters, that’s one thing, but…” He sighed and gestured to the ruins of the rollercoaster. “You destroyed a multi-million dollar rollercoaster in the process, and you didn’t immediately contact the police when you knew of the threat. Some people might accuse you of caring more about the bounty than people’s safety.”
James shrugged. “Don’t give a shit what people think. I did what I had to.”
Maria stepped forward and glared at Weber, and he winced. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? He told you what happened. His informant put her life on the line.” She gestured to a pile of dead rippers. “And even though Council monsters were flooding this park, there wasn’t a single civilian death. That’s better than even AET can achieve most of the time in situations nowhere near as bad.”
Sergeant Weber put up his hands. “I’m not saying I believe that, Lieutena—”
“Maria,” she corrected. “I’m not a cop anymore, and I don’t have any rank. I’m just a bounty hunter with the Brownstone Agency.”
Sergeant Weber sighed and shrugged. “I’m just telling you what some people think. It’ll be hard to clear James entirely without his informant coming forward. People will have questions.”
Maria frowned but didn’t say anything else.
Shay snorted and rolled her eyes. She leaned down to pet the dog. “Yeah, that will do wonders for not getting her killed.”
James grunted and shook his head. “I don’t care what anyone fucking thinks. We ended the Council for good and no one who didn’t have it coming died. Sounds like a fucking win to me. If the FBI and the PDA want to bust my balls, fine. I don’t give a shit, and I’ll just call Senator Johnston. He owes me, and he can probably get them off my back. As for the damage…” He rubbed his chin and looked at the rollercoaster debris. A group of PDA agents and CSI were inspecting the ichor pools and collecting samples. “Fuck it.”
Sergeant Weber blinked. “Fuck it?”
Shay grinned. Maria nodded.
James shrugged. “This ain’t barbeque or some struggling mom-and-pop restaurant. This is a major amusement park, and I’m sure they have insurance for a class-six bounty hunter taking on a magical mist monster. If I hadn’t shown up a lot of people would have gotten hurt, so I’m not fucking apologizing for doing what I had to do.”
Sergeant Weber rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Look, Brownstone, I’m on your side. I’m just saying the optics of this are bad, and y
ou have to think of the public relations angles and stuff.”
Maria sighed and groaned. “I hate to say it, but Weber’s right, even though it pisses me off that we even have to be talking about something like this. Depending on how the brass at the LAPD and the local politicians react, they could really make trouble for you. This isn’t you busting through the walls at a dust house.”
James grunted. “Fine. I’ll donate half my bounty money to the park as a goodwill gesture, but not the whole thing. We earned that fucking money.”
Sergeant Weber nodded. “Okay, like I said, I’m on your side. At least the brass will be happy. I’ve got to go check with the CSIs and the FBI liaisons. Seriously, though, good work, Brownstone. No matter what you think, I’m on your side.” He gave James a nod and walked off.
The dog barked a few times and wagged his tail.
Trey wandered over from where he’d been chatting with the other bounty hunters. “Lachlan told me those kids are all okay. Their parents have picked them up. A few scratches, but nothing serious.”
“That’ll be some good PR at least,” Maria muttered. She glanced Weber’s way before leaning toward James. “I knew you had some badass artifacts,” she murmured, “but you really let yourself off the chain that time. Damn, Brownstone.”
Shay pursed her lips and said nothing.
Trey nodded his eager agreement. “She’s right. That shit was crazy, James. We were going to town on that motherfucker with anti-magic bullets and they weren’t scratching him, but you were fucking him up like nothing else.” He pointed this thumb over his shoulder. “Overheard some PDA motherfuckers talking about He Who Hunts having sucked out a bunch of people’s life forces to make himself stronger over the last few weeks or some shit like that.”
James grunted. That at least explained why the military had been able to wound him but his team hadn’t scratched him.
He glanced toward one of the ichor pools. “Wasn’t strong enough.”
The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus Page 115