Her full-face helmet was well-seated, so she leaned forward to use the air to guide her in the direction she wanted to go. Her planned landing spot was easily four kilometers from the location where she was expecting to find the Seven.
Or at least answers.
When she was a thousand feet up the antigrav kicked in, and she grunted as the deceleration increased. At one hundred feet she felt her stomach tell her to go fuck herself, and it stayed behind as the antigrav went into overdrive to handle the extra weight of her armor and supplies.
By the time she touched the ground, it was as if she had jumped from five feet. She reached to her chest and unlocked the extra power pack, and tossed it up.
It zipped up into the atmosphere so Shinigami could grab it. The ships robots would place it back in the charging queue.
She unhooked her rolled-up bag and pulled out the trench coat. After making sure all the internal pockets were closed, she put it on.
“Not very fashionable with a helmet,” she murmured to herself.
A hole you can reach through in your head isn’t much of a fashion accessory either, TOM replied.
Do you always have to give me shit? she asked, annoyed.
When you aren’t thinking properly, yes.
If you loved me— she started.
TOM interrupted, I do love you and your pain-in-the-ass alter-ego, or I would have done something logical like stopping you from leaving Leath.
Fucker, she mumbled, but he was right.
Can we just kill these sonsabitches so we can go home? TOM asked.
Home? she mused, and started walking towards the path Shinigami had identified to get down from this little escarpment. I am your home.
At the moment you are my domicile, he answered, but didn’t provide any more explanation when she asked him.
It took her another two hours to safely get to where she wanted to be, and during that time the local sun had set and darkness had arrived. She used the advanced optics of her helmet to look as closely as she could at her target. I got nothing, she grumped, then reached into the coat and pulled out three balls.
>>You are too far away to use those at the moment.<<
She ignored his comment and thought the commands to program the little spheres. Watch and learn, young Padawan.
She stood still for a moment, then pulled her arm back and threw the three balls as hard as she could towards the little castle-like building before she dropped back down.
>>Okay, that was unexpected. Tabitha doesn’t do that. Well, at least not that I am aware of.<<
Tabitha is usually inside when she needs them. I’m pretty damn far away. She watched her HUD as the three spheres sped towards the building. “Damn, a little short.” As she said the words the antigrav kicked in, and instead of slamming into the ground the three spheres used their momentum to continue their forward motion. “Nice programming.”
You are welcome, TOM said.
Wait, you programmed them? she asked.
Yes. I could see what you wanted, so if you failed to throw them far enough they would use the momentum to move forward, saving the energy for the antigrav.
She thought for a moment as the three video-in feeds displayed on her HUD. “Well, nice job.” She watched the information flow across her screen for a moment, then said, “This is bullshit.”
The other data the sensors were pulling soon confirmed her thoughts. “This is a setup. See if we have any traffic—something like a ping.”
They waited there another forty-seven minutes before ADAM gave her the news over her helmet system. “Rigged with explosives.”
“Huh?” she asked. She had rolled onto her back in a shallow depression, changed her ambient temperature to match the surrounding area’s, and closed her eyes for a few minutes so it took her a moment.
“The place is rigged to blow. I suspect they are using a negative-return switch,” he told her.
“Which means what, exactly?” She looked at the video feed. The left one was showing what looked like a fuck-ton of blow-up shit. “That would have been a hell of a way to earn a new asshole.”
“Not sure there would be enough ass to create a new hole,” ADAM replied. “This would have shredded you into enough parts to vaporize you. It goes off at a positive signal, or lack of a negative signal.”
“So we plug in a signal block and boom?”
“Yes.”
She thought about it for a second. “We have any idea where they are?”
“Not yet,” ADAM replied.
“Block it,” she told him.
“How?”
She was momentarily surprised. “No capabilities in those spheres?”
“No.”
“Well, shit.” She chewed on her cheek while she tried to think up a few options.
TOM offered, “Could we fake you walking in there using the spheres, perhaps?”
“Uhhh, have them hit the ground? Audio or shockwave sensors?” she asked. “What if they have video?”
“No transmissions, and I have not seen anything on the video intake,” ADAM replied.
“Well, ok - do it.” She shrugged. “I’m not going in there, we aren’t getting those spheres back, and …”
The video intake on her HUD disappeared as she felt the dirt tremble under her. She quickly rolled to her stomach and lifted her head to see dirt and building parts shooting up into the air.
“Fuckkkkk…meee…” she whispered.
“Several new assholes,” quipped ADAM
She watched some of the larger chunks of the old building crash to the ground. “I hate effective enemies who don’t underestimate you.”
“We have movement,” ADAM told her. Her HUD showed a few dots of movement coming out of the hills on the other side of the destroyed building. “Shinigami has the video to show their origination point.”
“Have to love a plan that comes together.” She calculated the distance. “This is going to be a bit of a pain to go through the Etheric with all this damned new metal derivitives armor and shit. It’s going to suck up my reserves like an elephant at a waterhole,” she grumped.
TOM spoke up. “You will have time to rest unless they use vehicles, and at the moment they aren’t doing so.”
“Wonder if they mined the areas around the building?” she mused. “That would have ruined my night as well.
The operations center was a hive of excited whispering. The primary client contact, who was sitting in the back of the room, towered over most of the mercenaries. Between him and the now-destroyed building were well over a hundred fighters.
Not that it had mattered before when they had thousands of Leath military. Zill, Fourth of what had started as the Eight, dropped to Seven, went back to Eight and then back to Seven a second time crossed his arms and paid attention to the sensors arrayed in the cave system and outside.
The team slowly making their way to the trap were making sure they stepped carefully.
He suspected they would be his second helping of bait. First of the Seven Levelot wanted to use this body as her own Avatar, but Zill would be taking that option if he had a chance. There was no way the math could work out to allow such a dangerous enemy the opportunity to escape on the way back.
At least, that was how his math worked out.
He glanced at the screens which showed the fourteen different trap locations the Witch would have to pass to get to the Operations center.
Zill had been meticulous in his placement of the traps, as well as in putting expendable mercenaries between himself and Death, who was coming for the bait.
Him.
Etheric Dimension.
Baba Yaga was breathing hard, lying on the ground trying to pull more energy in, while the white swirled above her. “I suggest we just take off all this armor and do it the old-fashioned way.”
Which is what? TOM asked.
“Naked with swords and guns,” she whispered.
And if they use explosives with ball bearings o
r something similar?
“I get peppered?”
And if one of them hits me?
“You can’t regenerate?”
To some level, but if they damage my body enough I’m a goner.
She heaved a heavy sigh. “Well, fuck. You know, you come with a lot of baggage—just like a boyfriend.”
I do a lot of good, and I am handy with math.
“Just like a boyfriend.” She got up started walking towards where she suspected the enemy was located. “Well, some of them,” she qualified. “But if they weren’t good with math, they were usually good with engines.”
>>Keep it up,<< ADAM shot to TOM. >> She needs to focus on the past.<<
I’m working on it! TOM shot back. It’s not like I’m her boyfriend or something.
>>Well, you are with her all the time, you say stuff at the most inopportune times, you curse like a sailor, and she puts you in the doghouse.<<
You are right, I am her fucking boyfriend, TOM sighed. When Michael came on board with this other human, I should have paid more attention to who I was putting myself into.
>>Which also sounds just like a boyfriend.<< ADAM smirked, sending the equivalent of a chuckle to TOM.
“What are you two talking about?” Baba Yaga asked.
Can I admit I don’t want to talk about it?
“Of course. Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
No.
“So fucking do it anyway,” she growled.
Fine! TOM sighed. We were talking about when Michael first brought you onto my ship.
“Brought Bethany Anne on the ship,” she clarified, and repeated the mantra in her mind: One foot in front of the other! One foot in front of the other!
Just make the damned changes to the story in your own mind. I didn’t want to talk about this anyway! TOM grumped.
“Fine,” she huffed. “What were you thinking before you jumped aboard?”
I was thinking this was the perfect opportunity to engage with a viable candidate, so long as they checked out.
“Bethany Anne checked out,” she said once more.
Who-the-fuck-EVER checked out! TOM practically yelled. Who is telling this story? Do you want to know or not? I’m happy to shut up now. Just give me the word.
“Fine, keep going.” She dropped to her knees and slowly moved her head forward to look back into her dimension before sharply jerking it back. “SHIT!” she cried as she threw her body backward and put her arms out to stop her roll.
Almost get a face full of vehicle? TOM asked. He hadn’t paid attention to her visual for one damned moment.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mercenary Third Lead Gellhern yelled at the new recruit who was in front of him. He was waving as if he had a poisonous insect problem.
The raw recruit, otherwise known as “Mine Minions” to Gellhern, stepped ahead of him, then turned back to look at Gellhern with his eyes open in surprise. He turned back to the front and then back to Gellhern before shaking his head. “Nothing, sir!”
“Damn right, nothing!” He twirled his hand. “Back around, or you might step on a mine and have your blown-off foot kick your own ass.”
“Why don’t we have these damned mines mapped better?” another voice called.
Gellhern yelled, “You die yet, Kellmien?”
“No.”
“Then we have them mapped just fine,” was Gellhern’s reply.
What happened? TOM asked.
“Just about got a face full of face,” Baba Yaga answered. “Was a bit of a surprise.”
>>Then we are on the right path,<< ADAM told her. >>Let’s keep going.<<
“Fuck this.” She rolled over and stood up tiredly, stripping her boots off.
Oh goody, TOM commented as she kept unbuckling different pieces of her armor. We are all going to blow up and die.
“You are a pitiful excuse for a superhero,” she told him.
That the best you got? TOM sniffed. You should drop and give me fifty.
“When I get most of this shit off me, I’ll be able to give you fifty with one arm and use the other one to flip you the fuck off,” she hissed.
Soon she wore only black leggings. Baba Yaga went on to remove the armor from her arms, but she left the vest part of her chest armor on.
She dropped the helmet to the side.
She left the Ranger coat full of shit behind too, as well as the M1911A and its rounds.
Nice pile of metal you have there, TOM commented.
“Too much for too far,” she replied. “I’m feeling better already.”
Does this mean I don’t have to talk about my first experience with you?
“Yes. Keep that shit to yourself,” she replied, adding one of her swords to the pile. She started to leave, but then turned back and rifled through the coat.
A minute later she started jogging in the right direction.
Zill noticed the movement. “What’s going on?” He removed his arm from his sleeve, pointing it towards the mercenary who waved his hand in front of his face before turning to speak with the leader behind him.
“Unknown,” the communications specialist answered. “I’m reviewing the communication now.”
Zill reached up and scratched his tusk, then realized what he had just done and grunted.
It was time for him to try a different body. He was acclimating too well to this skin.
He watched for another hour before telling the group in the Operations Center, “Bring the soldiers back here. She is on her way.”
Mercenary Prime Lead Boll turned her head. “Why? We don’t know she wasn’t blown up.”
“If she was blown up, then…”
Baba Yaga cocked her head and listened. It had taken her a while to find the cave system, and even longer to work her way through it to this operations room.
“If she was blown up, then we will find remains in the morning. I have a feeling she will come for us here,” the Leath said as Baba Yaga slipped back into the Etheric.
“Fifteen of them, one of me. Kill the Leath, and he just moves to another body. Armor too fucking far away,” she mused. “I hate myself.”
She reached down and opened a metal case, which held five spheres. “Say hello, you fucking bastards, to my little friends,” she hissed. “Blow me up?” She continued her running commentary as she closed the empty case and tossed it to the side. “Let me return the favor.”
She peeked back into the room and nodded to herself, then took five steps to the side. She revved up her speed and slid into the room, slung the five spheres around the room, pushed the Leath into the Etheric, and then stepped back into the dimension herself.
She flinched when she got back, thinking of the destruction she had left behind.
The Leath had rolled over and was already standing some fifteen feet away from her in a defensive position.
“Ah, the Witch,” he commented, looking around. “You have moved us into the Etheric.”
Baba Yaga said nothing, but moved to her right. The Kurtherian in the Leath’s body started moving to his own right, maintaining the distance between them.
Throwing a Kurtherian into the Etheric might not be a great strategy, TOM told her.
Why? she asked. Can all of you guys use the realm?
Her voice was gravelly. “Do I call you something base, or do you have a name?”
“Like what?” he replied.
“Orc-faced leg-humping cluster-fucking ass-munch, maybe?” she answered. He frowned, but stayed quiet.
She tried again. “Dried-out senile mental midget?”
There was just the tiniest of pauses. “It’s ‘Zill,’” he answered, spitting to the side. “Just because you’re going to die,” he went on, “does not mean you need to be rude.”
This time Baba Yaga shrugged her indifference. “I’ve run out of fucks to give when it comes to you Kurtherians.”
“Come to me and I will make your future meaningful,” he told her.
TOM,
did he just try to manipulate my mind?
Uh, no.
Seriously?
We would know if he had tried.
She thought about it a moment. “You are a strange one, but, I will play along. Why don’t you lay down and stab yourself?”
His eyes narrowed. “Why would I do that?”
“It would save me the effort.” Baba Yaga cackled.
They continued their slow circling.
“We could do this forever,” he told her, “or I could go ahead and—”
The Witch palmed her Jean Dukes and quickly aimed, pulling the trigger five times before most humans could have blinked once.
The Leath was still moving circling with her. “Oohhh, fuck,” she whispered. She looked behind her to make sure no one was sneaking up.
TOM! she called in alarm. Any ideas here?
Yes.
Tell me! she asked urgently.
Get him the fuck out of the Etheric, TOM told her. He is manipulating the metal in here.
You can manipulate metal in here?
Well, that’s what I said!
Is that a guess, or do you know?
It is a logical guess, unless you have a clue? Anne does some cool shit in here.
Baba Yaga swung her left pistol to the side, then had to dodge as one of the rounds she had just shot flew back at her.
I’m seeing it, she admitted, but I’m not believing it. A moment later she ducked as another of her rounds flew past where she had just been.
“It is so lovely to be here,” Zill informed her. “Do you wish me to give you an example of real power?”
Her eyes squeezed shut in pain as the rail gun projectile slammed into her back, shattering itself against her armor.
FUCKING HELL! she thought, and jumped up. She took an Etheric step back and increased the distance between the two of them by a hundred yards.
The Leath waited a moment before he called, “I can find you anywhere!”
“Oh my God, this isn’t good.” She started sprinting back the way she had come.
He will figure out your armor is metal soon enough.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set Three: Books 15-21, Never Submit, Never Surrender, Forever Defend, Might Makes Right, Ahead Full, Capture Death, Life Goes On (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 130