by Kipjo Ewers
The Draugr answered his mighty blow with a forearm backhand knocking him clear across the street. The strike buried him into the side of a building.
With Adrian clear through unconventional means, Rogers let off two more rounds, which the Draugr blocked by digging in while folding his arms across his body and tucking his head to tank the shots.
Hard-On groaned as he pulled himself out of the imprint he made in the building dropping to the ground. He quickly snatched up an abandoned New York Taxi cab hurling it at the Draugr. He cackled as he sliced it in half as if it was a grapefruit. The front half of the vehicle crashed into a parked Mercedes, while the rear half shattered the storefront of a restaurant.
“Ideas?” Adrian turned to Abe.
“Keep flanking him,” muttered Rogers, “the head is the weakness. We either have to cut or blow it off.”
“Easier said than done,” Hard-On returned.
“You got anything else better to do?” Abe asked him.
“Nope,” he shrugged.
The Draugr took the offensive this time charging like a mindless bull going for Abe. As he shook the streets of New York with each stomp Rogers opened fired with three more rounds from his rifle, before ducking and rolling for cover himself as the Draugr howled taking a wide swing with his axe hoping to slice him in half.
The only thing his weapon ended up slicing was the storefront of the building Abe stood his ground. Before he could wrench his blade from the concrete he imbedded it in, Hard-On leapt onto his back and began to rifle his helmeted skull with repeated shots. He was about to rip the helmet off when the Draugr spun around and threw himself backwards into the building he slashed pancaking him in between it.
Adrian held on as the Draugr, who showed great agility for a man so massive, executed a tumble roll to steamroll him into the concrete. Adrian refused to be bucked off, until the mountain of a man simply reached up and ripped him from his back hurling him into the concrete. Hard-On had seconds to cover up as the Draugr brought a boot down on top of him driving him further into the street.
Abe drove the monster from off of his teammate with two well places rifle shots to the chest and skull.
Erica finally stepped off a broken Ghoul palming his upper torso and pulling him out of the crater she created. The large palm of her armor shifted and cracked open allowing a malleable device to wrap around his upper torso locking into place. He began to groan as the device glowed and hummed. Erica released him allowing the device to take off with the Ghoul into the skies of Manhattan back to the Tornado.
“Nerve Hammer sends a pulse of electric shock straight to his nervous system causing a seizure and paralysis.” Erica referred to the device. “Won’t kill him due to his regenerative healing. The same power creates an electromagnetic propulsion taking him back up to the Tornado. Maxine will lock him into one of the cyropods till we’re done.”
“Good,” Oliver powered up taking to the air again. “Now let’s take care of the rest of this damn freak show.”
“Anchimayen, my boy,” Revenant motioned, “fetch Jiang Shi, before that nasty machine decides to take her away from me. I still have need of her, and while you’re at it, come close as well.”
Obedient Anchimayen climbed to his feet standing on top of the police outpost. With an extended hand, the cloaked child deployed the power of telekinesis to lift his downed team member quickly pulling her over to the roof of the outpost they stood upon laying her at Revenant’s feet. He then scurried over standing next to the sinister looking man.
“Wendigo, my love,” Revenant smiled, “time to go play.”
Wendigo’s eyes grew as wide as a full moon the second Revenant removed the leash from her collar. She quickly rose to her feet and strolled forward while holding down the volume button to her iPod pumping the sound way up in her headphones. She took a step off the roof of the police outpost causing the whole area to tremble as she hovered in midair.
“Miss, detecting a massive energy reading from the woman in front of us,” emitted Maxine from the inside of Erica’s cockpit, “on a sonic level.”
“How massive?” Erica asked.
“1,000 MHz and rising,” indicated Maxine.
“Full shields up now!” Lady Tech screamed frantically. “Patch me into everyone! Guys! Run or fly you’ve got to get out of the area now!”
“We’re kind a busy here getting our ass kicked!” yelled Adrian. “Ooof!!”
Hard-On groaned as he took a full axe swing to the chest taking him off his feet and knocking him into a parked car. The impact sent him and the parked car into a nearby storefront. Before the Draugr could advance on a downed Adrian, an airborne Blitz stopped in his tracks with a staggering electrical blast.
“Guys I’m telling you, you have to leave now!” Erica screamed.
Rosann still using the Ghoul’s speed easily sidestepped a charging Nachzehrer. She grabbed and slammed her face first into a parked car before spinning her around and launching her skull first into a brick wall of a building.
“What’s the problem?” Rosann asked, finally patching in.
“In about five seconds we’re about to witness death by stereo,” Lady Tech frantically responded.
“What, Ms. Cue ball floating over there?” Rosann scoffed. “ I can…”
“No you can’t Rosann!” Erica forcefully yelled. “Run! Run like you have never ran before! Run!”
Erica miscalculated by two seconds.
Pulsating through the woman’s headphones was “Inbred Evil” by the rapper Boondox. Wendigo extended her left hand and opened her mouth, unleashing an attack that emitted throughout the entire city. Blitz without hesitation dove down into the streets at break neck speed swooping in and snatching up Rosann frozen with shock and fear taking her into the skies with him. Though Oliver was fast enough to evade the initial blast, he was unable to outmatch the aftershock while holding Rosann. It clipped him in midair separating both him and her. Blitz spiraled out of control flying into an office where he smashed through several rows of cubicles, while Rosann knocked several blocks across fell helplessly to the streets below. She cursed as she had no choice but to try her best to maneuver in mid freefall and cover up as she came crashing down on top of an SUV obliterating it on impact. She laid there writhing in pain saved by the Ghoul’s slightly dense physiology and regenerative healing repairing her injuries.
Rosann, Blitz, and those not in the blast zone vicinity were the lucky ones. Those not of a superhuman level or wearing high-powered armor were killed instantly. The force of the blast sent both Rogers and a recovered Hard-On flying through several buildings, even Nachzehrer felt the wrath of her own teammate sending her sailing from the sonic blast. Anything not bolted down was sent flying, whole sides of building where blown off raining glass and rubble everywhere. The only ones left standing aside from Wendigo were Revenant and Anchimayen who stood behind her in a strange purple energy dome shield generated by the sadistic leader, the Draugr now bleeding from both his ears and nose, and Lady Tech in her high powered S.A.M. armor.
“Shields withstood near point blank blast,” Maxine reported, “holding at forty percent, power reserves at eighty percent. Miss, you’re bleeding from your nose and ears, scans show your vitals are elevated drastically.”
“Prepare to retaliate,” Lady Tech panted, “weapons set to deadly force… full power to weapons…”
“Miss… even with the S.A.M. armor you cannot withstand…” Maxine cautioned.
“Stop arguing with me Maxine and do it,” ordered a frustrated Erica.
“Weapons on full power…” Maxine obeyed. “Miss Incoming at three o’clock!”
“Say what?” Erica turned to the sound of a war cry.
She raised a block in time to deflect a savage blow from the Draugr’s recovered sword sending sparks flying against its dark metal armor.
“You got to be freaking kidding me!” Erica screamed.
Lady Tech retaliated with a devastating left hook sta
ggering him. He, however, quickly recovered swinging his battle-ax, which also sparked across Lady Tech’s armor; she does not even bother blocking as she followed through caving in the mad Titan’s chest with a right haymaker lifting him off his feet and through the window of a nearby Duane Reade.
She would find no breathing room, now back on the defensive as she barely dodged and evaded Wendigo’s vicious sonic attacks backed by energy strikes from a now airborne Revenant joining the battle. She returned fire unleashing powerful ionic plasma rounds from the gauntlets of her S.A.M.
Revenant grinned as he evaded two of the volleys and swatted the third one away with the help of the protective purple energy shielding that looked like an aura bathing him. He returned fire, which Erica tanked with her own shielding and armor. However, each hit she took weakened her own energy shield.
“Magnetic deflector shielding at eight percent,” relayed Maxine, “power levels at…”
“Maxine, I love you, but I need you to shut the hell up!” Lady Tech yelled. “Just keep the display up and let me fight!”
“Incoming vehicle at nine o’clock!” Maxine blurted out.
Erica spun around quick enough to punch a flying squad car in two, only for the monstrous Draugr to tackle her lifting Lady Tech off her feet and slamming her into the street. He followed up by raining down thunderous blows eager to crack the armor shell protecting her. Inside Erica rattled back and forth in her seat by the earthquake like blows.
“Get this son of a bitch off me!” she screamed.
“Yes ma’am,” complied Maxine. “S.A.M take over and protect her at all costs.”
The S.A.M. armor emitted an animal like growl as it took over its body. It coiled its legs and fired them like twin pistons kicking the Draugr in the midsection sending him through a building on the other side of the street. It sprung back to its feet as a shaken Erica fought to get keep it together.
Within the cockpit she sat in waist-deep blood with the severed heads of her fellow teammates floating around her while snakes hung about the place. The psychological work of the one named Anchimayen attempting to break her will.
“Get out of my head you little shit,” Lady Tech ordered.
“You know you’re going to die here,” Anchimayen hissed, “you and your friends are all going to die… and waiting for you in hell are an infinite number of demons and beasts waiting to…”
“The only thing waiting for me is the chance to put my foot up your scrawny little nasty ass,” responded Lady Tech, “and cram a bar of soap down that filthy little mouth of yours. Now get the fuck out of my head!”
Pushing her mental abilities to the max, she was able to force him out of her psyche, removing the disturbing illusions.
“Incoming attacks from all sides, unable to evade,” Maxine dictated.
Fighting to defend its creator, the S.A.M began to map out the best plan of attack to deal with the incoming threats, while inside a battered, bloodied, and drained Erica recovered from the exhausting mental battle.
The shoulder compartments of the S.A.M opened up unleashing a barrage of mini concussion missiles targeting both Wendigo and Revenant. They were not enough to knock them out of the sky, but they drove them backwards scattering them.
It gave it breathing room to deal with the Draugr and Nachzehrer attacking from the front and back like mountain lions pouncing on a kill.
It waited for the last second to move performing a spinning technique evading and ringing the Draugr’s bell with a spinning hammer fist sending him crashing to the ground. Nachzehrer was able to jump onto the S.A.M’s back, but in one single motion it jumped backwards falling on its back crushing her in between it and the concrete.
She screamed letting go as it rolled back to its feet. Painfully she rolled to her hands and knees as it now stood over her. Taking aiming, its right forearm opened up firing another version of the Nerve Hammer hitting Nachzehrer in the back at point blank range pounding her again into the concrete.
Four sides of the disk device popped open revealing four malleable mechanical limbs that locked around her back and torso.
As she attempted to rise again a needle from the disk pierced her back touching her spinal column. The disk lit up and it channeled several thousand volts of current through her nervous system sending Nachzehrer into eye rolling writhing pain.
Once again it activated its electromagnetic propulsion whisking her away into the skies toward the hovering Tornado.
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Fourteen blocks up from 42nd Street, Adrian finally came to with a groan on top of an abandon Nissan Maxima he had totaled on impact. He pulled himself off it and staggered to his feet still in his metal form, which saved his life. He now stood within the upper West Side that was now a ghost town. Not a soul was on the streets. The innocent either fled for their lives or hid from the hell happening in Times Square that might come their way. The only things around him were abandoned vehicles.
He could hear the fighting still taking place, and had to get back to his teammates fast.
He looked around and found an abandoned red and black Ducati Monster 696.
“Maxine,” Adrian walked over pulling up the bike. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Adrian,” Maxine answered from his headset. “The Miss is currently in battle with the members of the Zombie Nation by herself.”
“I’m on my way,” he said hopping on the bike, “Can you hotwire this bike for me?”
Without answering Maxine patched into the bike’s computer turning it on. Hard-On revved up and gunned the bike down the Avenue of the America’s making a quick right on 53rd street to take Seventh Avenue back to Times Square.
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Abe came to clutching the M1 Ballistics rifle still in his grip. He stood up on instinct aiming and scanning his surroundings, which appeared to be the inside of a Broadway theater.
He shot up to his feet looking for the exit.
“Maxine,” he barked. “What’s the situation?”
“Sir, Miss is currently in combat with three remaining members of the Zombie Nation,” Maxine relayed. “Hard-On is enroute, no response from Rosann or Blitz.”
Rogers smashed through the steel exit door of the theatre triple timing it back to the heart of Times Square on foot.
“I’m on my way,” he huffed.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Back at Times Square, Erica was far from safe as Revenant evaded, destroyed, and tanked her missile attack with a purple and black energy shielding. He came back using the same energy as an offensive weapon firing volleys at her.
The S.A.M. spun, ducked, and dodged the barrages that tore chunks into the streets and buildings in Times Square.
“EVO is firing dark matter energy,” Maxine confirmed. “Shielding will not hold if hit by such an energy attack. S.A.M. employing evasive maneuvers.”
The feet and back thrusters of the S.A.M ignited launching it into the air. It rolled and strafed between the buildings to evade his attacks. Able to maneuver above him, it opened fired with a full ion plasma stream from both the its gauntlets.
It put Revenant back on the defensive throwing up another circular energy shielding to block the attack.
The S.A.M. prepared to unleash another salvo of missiles upon him when it was viciously rattled from a long range sonic attack from Wendigo.
“Shielding down to five percent…” Maxine indicated.
Before the S.A.M. could attempt to recover from the sonic blast, it was struck from a powerful direct hit from Revenant knocking it into a tailspin out of the sky.
“Shields disabled… unable recover… impact is imminent…” Maxine relayed.
Lady Tech hit the streets of New York hard sending rubble flying everywhere. Her crash landing p
roduced another large crater where she came to a rest. Red lights went off in the cabin as Erica sat barely conscious in her seat.
“Come on big boy… get up and shake it off,” she commanded.
Obeying her orders, her armor fought back to its feet where it found no breathing room as the Draugr came crashing down on top of it driving it further into the crater. The S.A.M. swung for the hills, but a faster Draugr caught its right haymaker holding it in his grip while using his right boot to pin its left arm. He drooled under his cracked helmet as he reached for the chest plate of the S.A.M. armor and proceeded to pull.
“Draugr attempting to breach hull, integrity of armor being compromised,” reported Maxine, “S.A.M. attempting to power Ion chest cannon.”
Erica braced herself for the worst, tears ran down her eyes as she fought not to cry nor scream; faced with meeting a most gruesome end she wanted Rogers to know that she did not run, she did not beg for mercy, that she was a soldier.
“Extremely high energy source inbound to our location!” Maxine responded.
“Blitz?” Erica screamed.
“Negative,” Maxine answered. “Something much more powerful.”
Lady Tech rolled her eyes wondering what next as a thunderous noise took over the creaking sound of the Draugr trying to breach her cockpit. The monstrous behemoth paused his dismantling of her mech just in time to receive a hit to the face with what appeared to be a golden staff charged with an unknown power source. The blow was deafening on impact forcing Erica to cover her ears as it launched the blood driven juggernaut into the air, through several buildings sailing over the Hudson River. He crash landed into a small Yacht on the New Jersey side.
Erica slowly opened her eyes getting a visual of her savior.
“Oh my god…” she stammered.
That is what she believed stood before her, Egyptian to be more specific. His armor shined a bright silver and gold with blood red accents as he looked like an amalgamation of an Egyptian Pharaoh and a character from the 1994 Stargate movie. The long snakehead staff with an emblem of the sun shining behind it that he held in his hand matched the gold and blood red parts of his armor. A bladed crescent moon capped off the end of his staff. Erica also noticed that the back of his headdress had a long golden scorpion tail that hung like a braid.