by K. L. Lewis
Who? Another group of militants? Not too surprising given his mother’s warning from earlier. He knew better than to interrupt and ask the man who, but he always wanted to be prepared when it came to hearing hints of bad news. Then again, he didn’t hear of anything on the news about such a group, and Detroit was supposed to be one of the most heavily fortified places in the country. What militants would dare strike here?
He tapped on his OmniMorph, logging into to the Terranet for any stories that might’ve had a clue. There was nothing new on any militant attacks in the country, except for the one in Old Houston that was dealt with months earlier. Elsewhere, there were mentions of the HDF operating in South America, but those were mostly rumors, nothing from official sources. He returned to the main page and searched for more details, but his screen never made it off the first page and gave him no response. Logging off, he noticed the blinking words “No Signal” at the corner of his screen before it frizzled and went blank.
He unfolded and pressed every button in a fit to turn it back on before noticing everyone else around having the same problem, everyone except his mother’s OmniMorph, which was glitchy, but working. “The hell?” she cursed. “Someone’s jamming the local signals.”
Their Gentili made frantic caws above, as if warning them of something. Then a shockwave shook the ground behind them, a ball of fire swelling in the streets and spewing a tower of smoke. A crowd scattered in a panic while others scurried to those injured from the blast. DeMarcus froze at the sight until his mother snatched him up and leapt over the buildings, just as two rockets came howling through the air. The rockets slammed into the nearby aircars, small shards of glass and shrapnel flung in the air cutting into anyone below.
Landing on the other end of the street, Sekhmet hurried him away until the fleeing crowd broke them apart. “DeMarcus!” she cried, reaching out to him.
Plowing through the crowd toward a stone ridge, DeMarcus watched his mother bound into the air and run atop a freight truck while their Gentili circled overhead. He climbed upon the ridge and waved at them, his stomach jumping as high as the people flung from the next explosion behind him.
“Mom, over here!” he shouted, jumping and waving.
The Gentili flew to him, guiding Sekhmet over the cars she leapt off as she scooped him up and carried him along. DeMarcus saw the shock in his mother’s eyes as if she had a flashback of the Solar War, squinting away as everyone ran for their lives.
“Mom, they need help!” DeMarcus said.
His mother kept pace over the cars, eyes scanning the ground as she bounded up to the rooftops nearby. Dozens of airships, police cruisers, ambulances, and fire apparatuses flew by with drones guiding people away and ferrying the wounded in stretches. DeMarcus tensed as his mother held him tight and dropped to the ground. The rush of gravity yanking them down made his body tense and freeze as they landed behind the cruisers.
He didn’t want to let go after the fright of falling made his blood rush. But his mother sat him down and flashed her Iuvian Military ID to the officers, who saluted her as she issued commands. “I saw two rockets fly from the buildings,” she pointed. “The militants involved appear to be heavily armed. I’m going in to guide the people away, but I need two of you to watch over my son and call in all available forces for assistance.”
The officers carried out her orders, and DeMarcus warned her to be careful before she launched back into the chaos. “Don’t worry,” his mother assured him, “I’ve been through worse. Just stay where it’s safe.”
His mother flung herself over the police cruisers, her Gentili following behind as they soared over the drones and firefighters dousing the flames. Bounding off the cars onto a statue, she shouted out to the panicking crowd, directing them away from the fires, and the congested streets slowly thinned. All seemed well, until DeMarcus noticed the human man he overheard earlier reach the cruisers, his back staining red as he dropped to his knees. The officers protecting DeMarcus guided him away as the medics and androids rushed to help the human.
The human kept panting, “They…they’re here…” he groaned into his earpiece.
Who’s here? What happened to him? The questions flew out of his mind as a loud thunk hit the nearby aircars that suddenly exploded.
Metal and glass fragments flew from the blast, peppering the streets with sharp sparkles. The officers ducked DeMarcus behind a cruiser as the blast faded and fogged the area with grey smoke, all of it blown aside as SWAT crafts and military transports dove onto the scene. Troops dropped from the hatch, and more Gentilis soared into the air as the soldiers dispersed.
“DeMarcus!” Sekhmet shouted. Jumping through the smoke and landing by the cruisers, Sekhmet embraced him. “You okay?”
DeMarcus nodded, his stunned face still staring at the streets as his mother dismissed the officers. He followed his mother tugging him through the ravaged streets until an explosion boomed above. Her Gentili was smashed by an airship’s tailfin dropping upon it, and in a heartbeat, Sekhmet shoved DeMarcus away from the hurdling wreck.
Her strong push sent him tumbling as the cruiser skidded the ground and crashed into the cars. DeMarcus massaged his rattling head and picked himself up. “Mom?” he called out.
He heard her weak, pained groans from behind the crashed tailfin. “Over here!”
DeMarcus ran around the debris and gasped, his heart sinking as he saw his mother lay bleeding under a large chunk of the cruiser. He tensed at the glass and metal cutting her as she climbed out from under the cruiser and staggered onto her feet. She smiled at him, but she barely held herself up and collapsed to her knees, clenching her arm in a struggle to stay conscious.
DeMarcus reached for her. “Don’t worry, Mom,” he said. “I’ve got you!”
He lifted her onto his shoulders and limped to the sidewalk. She was heavier than he thought as he heaved her along, her blood staining his shirt. But he didn’t care. He was more concerned of her body quivering, and he cringed at every painful grunt she made. Never had he seen her this wounded, but she had been through worse, right?
She groaned in her struggle to speak. “DeMarcus…DeMarcus…set me down for a bit.”
“It’s okay!” DeMarcus said. “We’re getting out of here!”
His mother began to slide off his shoulder. “DeMarcus…listen!” she shouted. “I can barely…move right now. Just…just set me down. Let me rest a bit.”
He paused in worry of the pain on her face. He didn’t know what to do and had no choice but to comply, moving to the closest building where she slid off his shoulders and leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes and took a breath, then looked back at him, her face and arm dripping with blood. DeMarcus clenched his head in a panic as he paced around her.
“DeMarcus…calm down,” she said, a pained smile growing on her face. “I’ll be fine…I’ll heal.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Her chuckling betrayed her condition. She groaned and gritted from her wounds, adding to DeMarcus’s worries as she kept her eyes on him. “You worry too much. Just like your father,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Give me a moment…I’ll be back on my feet…we’ll head home after this.”
He hoped so. If only they had help—the streets, baren and deserted, were filled with debris crackling with dancing orange flames and black smoke spewing into the skies. DeMarcus paced in wonder of what to do as he stayed near his mother laying against the walls. Her eyes were closed, but she was still alive, breathing as if she were asleep. How long would it take for her to get back up?
A voice spoke in the distance. “Area clear. No sign of the targets.”
It came from behind the debris. Someone else here? Running to the source of the voice, across the wreckages and debris, DeMarcus stopped as a figure came through the wall of black smoke. It was a woman, clad in a white and yellow full body exo-suit with four red eyes piercing through the fog. Her rifle held at rest as she stood in the open, her gaze turned to DeMa
rcus, and she immediately pointed and fired.
The shot sliced across his shoulder, and DeMarcus fell back and tumbled on the ground. Rolling back on his feet and running back to his mother, he looked back at the woman leaping over the debris, taking aim for another shot. He leapt out of the way, the shot piercing into the ground while a second hit him in his side. The white-hot wound seared under the skin, the pain locking him to the ground as the woman dropped down and approached him.
“Mom!” He yelled, grunting in pain.
Her ears twitched, and her head made a slow turn. Her eyes opened, widening at the sight of him and the woman standing over him. After that came a blur—she launched herself at the woman, tackling her to the ground with her hands on her neck. Propping himself up on his elbows, DeMarcus watched as the woman thrashed and struggled in his mother’s grip, then came a slow crack, and the woman’s arms went limp.
Rolling over to his knees, it was a struggle to lift himself as his body throbbed in pain. Sekhmet kneeled and laid him over her leg, lifting his shirt to blood seeping from a large cut. “Good, there’s no bullet inside,” she said.
Good? It still hurt like hell!
She pulled out a wide blue patch from her pocket and stuck it over his wound. There was an icy sting, then cool relief as the pain subsided. His whole body grew chilly, and he huddled in his mother’s arms as she cradled him. “It’ll be alright,” she said.
Or so she thought. “Mom, behind you,” DeMarcus grunted.
It was another woman, clad in the same exo-suit and four eyed helmet, rising over the wreckage. Sekhmet turned her head over her shoulder, and quickly pulled out a pistol and fired at the woman. Every shot missed as the woman dropped to the ground and leapt behind the debris.
After nine shots, the pistol clicked empty. Sekhmet pocketed the gun and lifted DeMarcus in her arms in a mad dash toward a nearby alley. The strange woman peeked from her cover and fired, a spray of shots pelting the walls around the alley, a few hitting Sekhmet in the back and shoulder that led to her dropping him as she stumbled on her feet.
The woman behind them gave chase, squeezing another shot before pausing as the gun refused to fire. The woman tossed the gun aside, pulled out a knife and pounced them. Sekhmet caught the woman at the edge of the alley, keeping her at bay while DeMarcus climbed back on his feet.
Seeing her in a struggle, DeMarcus ran back to his mother, only for her to kick him away. “No! Run!” She shouted.
“But—”
“NOW!” Sekhmet roared. He jumped at her voice hammering his face, then did as he was told, backing away and rushing into the alleyway. He made one glance back, then continued at the corner. She’ll be fine…right?
CHAPTER 5 – INTO THE FIRE
A human vaulted through a murky forest, soaring over a river and zipping past trees like a cheetah on the hunt. Dressed in a blue and red exo-suit and a hood covering her short black hair, she clenched her rifle tight as she joined up with several humans and parahumans in white lab coats running ahead. Gunshots popped from above, the bullets splashing mini geysers of water from the floor and cutting the bark from the trees. The woman paused and fired back into the foliage, then she made a mad dash toward the parahuman catching her breath by a tree, zigzagging from the bullets zipping where she was.
“Come on! We we’re almost to extraction!” the human said, tugging the parahuman along.
More shots splashed water near their feet, and they sprung through the forest. A trio of militants rushing from the trees joined them, each in the same blue and red exo-suit as the human. The militants fired up into the trees at their pursuers—women in yellow and brown exo-suits and helmets dotted with four red eyes. The women split away from the militants’ barrage of bullets, only to resume their pursuit seconds later.
“Captain! How far are we?” a militant asked the human.
Before an answer was given, one of the militants, a parahuman, took a hit in the side and fell. He stood up and turned back to return fire but got shot in his leg and collapsed to the ground.
Everyone paused and ran back for him, but the injured militant objected. “Leave me! Keep running!”
A hail of bullets scattered the group, and the human dove into a massive bush as the pursuers above closed in on their fallen comrade limping to a tree. Two pursuers continued after the parahuman in lab coat who continued her sprint through the forest, while three of them dropped to the ground and made their way to the injured militant.
Watching through the leaves at the militant raising his gun at the approaching pursuers, the human pulled her hood over her head and pressed her OmniMorph, turning her whole body invisible except her eyes. She crept out of the bush and aimed at the leading pursuer standing before the militant, watching the pursuer’s suit change from brown to white as she held her gun at the militant’s head. “Where is Fara Torres?” the pursuer demanded.
The injured militant smiled as two loud cracks sounded through the air. The two pursuers in the back fell, leaving the lead pursuer spooked as two more militants appeared out of the air over the hills.
Then the human’s invisibility wore off and revealed her to the pursuer. But the tables turned in her favor. “Looking for me?” She quipped. “I suggest you drop your gun, now!”
But the pursuer turned her gun at her, and Fara shot her down.
Sliding down to the wounded parahuman, the militants heaved him on his feet. “Easy there. Can you walk?” Fara asked.
“A bit,” said the parahuman. “But I won’t make it to extraction.”
Fara pulled out a large blue gel pad from a pouch and strapped it onto the militant’s leg, sealing his wounds. “That’ll stop the bleeding.”
She ordered three gunmen to watch over the parahuman, then continued through the forest. Leaping over branches and streams, she pressed on her earpiece and spoke, “E-2, this is A-1, en route to the extraction. Over.”
“Roger that,” responded the receiver. “Look alive. More hostiles up ahead.”
Boxy airships zoomed over the trees, descending toward the scientists and the militants ducked behind rocks as they gave their all at their pursuers. A flash grenade burst into a blinding white light over the rocks, and a militant got nailed in her chest. Fara rushed out and blasted the closest pursuer, spooking the rest into the trees as her group arrived. The transports touched down, the gust of wind from their engines rocking the plants around as they opened their hatches. “Everyone, get in!” Fara ordered.
The militants and scientists rushed for the transports, their gunmen covering the rear of the group as they go onboard. Fara entered the transport and aimed out into the trees. But as the last militant jumped into the transport, he got sniped in his chest. “I’m…I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said before falling limp to the transport’s floor.
Fara growled out at their pursuers as her gun snarled out into the trees where their masked enemy hid. Then another stray shot hit a scientist in his side, with everyone scrambling to patch the wound. The transport’s machine guns made another spray into the trees, suppressing the hostiles as they lifted into the air.
“Pilot, we have wounded in the forest,” said Fara.
“Understood.” The transports continued over the trees, and an alert blared in the transports as a missile came soaring toward them. Glowing white spheres launched from the transports and flew at the missiles, detonating them before they reached the ships. The transports sped toward the location of the other four gunmen and extracted them before their pursuers reached them.
“Head south for the city,” Fara ordered. “We’ll RV with the forward team based there.”
She breathed a sigh of relief as they rose over the trees and accelerated for the city leaving their pursuers behind at a large river. While her militants rested in their seats, she moved toward the cockpit where the pilot steered them toward the city of Grand Detroit, its domes and spires growing as they approached the outskirts. At first a welcoming view, but one that was short-lived a
s they caught black smoke towering between the buildings as they rose over the horizon. No telling from who or when this happened, nor why it did, but she knew they weren’t out of the fire just yet.
“Where do we touch down?” the pilot asked.
There was a ping on her OmniMorph, a message from someone within the city. “They’re…they’re here…” a voice groaned on speaker.
Fara’s face tensed as she looked back at the rising smoke. “Keep us airborne for a bit,” she said. “No telling what’s going on down below.”
CHAPTER 6 – PURSUED
DeMarcus’s chest pounded as hard as the thunder rumbling in the skies after several blocks of running. Raindrops sprinkled on his skin and the glazed roadways as he came to a stop, catching his breath before spotting a small store ahead. Resuming his sprint, he heard voices shouting from an alley nearby.
“And why the hell did you shoot rockets into the crowd?” one of them questioned. “Someone could have traced it back if you hadn’t moved away in time!”
“Well, our sniper was elsewhere,” the other defended. “We had to do something to take them out!”
Peeking from around the corner, more women in the pale exo-suits and four-eyed masks stood around each other. They must be a new group of militants—they weren’t Fronties given the tails of two parahumans among them, but they couldn’t be with the Amalgam Concord either.
“At least we got one of them,” said one of the parahumans. “But Shari’s gonna be pissed that we couldn’t find Red Phoenix.”
That name, Red Phoenix—DeMarcus remembered it a while ago, something his mother said he’d get in a lot of trouble over. But it looked like she was in danger herself! And if these women were looking for it, then he had to find her now!
But having encountered two of these militants from earlier, he waited as they ventured further into the alley to make a break for the store. “We’ll search for the others later,” one of them said, “but we’ve got to regroup and lay low for now.”