by Gentry Race
I walked to the ledge, crouched down, and fell forward just enough to angle my body for the right trajectory. When I was almost inverted and falling, I pushed off from the building and shot down to the beach.
I slammed into the bar, breaking the bottles and the structure. Blasting hot red energy, I cut the structure and smashed it away to get a clear picture. A scrawny villainess was running toward me on all fours, foaming at the mouth as she jumped. I caught her with ease and threw her into the ocean. I immediately looked at Hera, who gave me a look approval for not outright murdering the woman.
Hey, I was trying.
Hera darted to my side and pointed in the direction of the Queenpin. She was making her way to the stage, surrounded by a horde of clawing and hissing villainesses in bathing suits. Partygoers were hiding behind tables and chairs. The Queenpin grabbed a few of them, dragging them out by the hair. Their bodies hit each stair as she pulled them up onstage.
She grabbed the microphone, which gave a squeal of feedback, and then she spoke into it. “We take Miami from the corrupt, the rich, the oppressors of villainy who have kept you down with myths of opportunity, and we give the city back to you — the people. Miami is yours. None shall interfere, do as you please.”
I made my way out of the wreckage. Hera was next to me, standing with her head held high.
“Wait till you get a load of us,” I yelled out over the crowd.
The Queenpin squeezed her thick, Italian eyebrows together and hissed for the villainesses to attack.
Aulani and Gemini came in quick, flip kicking any vile vixens that tried to harm us. Then they landed on either side of us, reinforcing our position and adding to the team.
I could tell our target recognized me. Her face looked as if she was fed up with the legend.
“Oh, you think the Greyness is your ally? He merely adopted the villainy,” the Queenpin sneered. “I was born into it, molded by it. I didn’t see the good until I was already a woman; by then, it was nothing to me but weakness!”
I ignored her monologue, charging my eyes with burning red that wafted in the hot, humid, salty air.
“You have a choice,” Hera yelled out. “Join us and cleanse your villainy, or…”
She looked to me for reassurance, and I nodded. She finished, “Or die.”
The Queenpin laughed. “The Greyness betrays you and your harem of heroes and villainesses. The villainesses in this town belong to me. I have nothing to fear. I will show you where I have made my home, then I will break you.”
Villains and villainesses talk too much, I thought to myself again.
I shot my energy at her. Her minions jumped in front of the beam, disintegrating in the process. My blast got through, and I felt it hit the Queenpin directly in the chest.
She slid back a few feet, but was able to hold herself upright, and she took the energy in like a shower. She pushed closer to me, smiling as she received the heat.
My eyes widened in surprise, killing the beam.
Having taken in all the energy I’d sent her way, she was a hot, fiery crimson. The Queenpin was shaking with the spent energy inside. She raised both her arms and bellowed out her large belly, sending the energy back at us. We all dove out of the way. The energy was so hot, the sand turned to glass in its wake, and tables, chairs, and tents caught on fire.
“You idiot,” she yelled out. “Should have done your homework.”
Hera crawled over to me frantically. “What the fuck was that?”
“I’m an absorber,” the Queenpin finally yelled out.
CRASH!
From behind us, the stage began to collapse. Queenpin and what villainesses she had around her immediately fell backward. My team shot to their feet, and we found Blitz and Ari running up. They ripped their shredded garbs from their bodies, exposing Ari’s lizard-like flesh and Blitz’s large, boar-like body.
“I’m the Gator, and we are with him,” Ari yelled out in a guarded stance, flicking his forked tongue.
“Get out of there,” I yelled to him. “She can—”
The ground began to shake. Ari and Blitz looked down to feel the sand beneath them giving away. The energy the Queenpin created by falling backward was causing the ground to open.
“Hera, get them out of there!”
The ground continued to shake. Hera bolted away from me in a flash. Hera grabbed each one by their arms. Ari and Blitz was hit hard by Hera pulling them out of the now forming pit. They hit the sand a few feet away, safe.
The shaking stopped. We saw no movement from the wreckage of the stage. Aulani and Gem immediately got up and ran to it to inspect. I picked myself up, watching carefully for any movement.
BOOM!
From out of the ground shot the Queenpin, her large body now made of sand, beer bottles, and party paraphernalia. She kicked out at us and flung debris in all directions. Aulani blocked a piece of wood with ease, her metal skin protecting her. Gemini shrieked toward Queenpin, but her sound waves were blocked by the oncoming force of the wooden debris. With the absorber's each sand-filled step, we could feel the ground shake.
Aulani instinctively charged her palm with her violet telekinetic energy, then looked at me with concern. I shook my head. We would have to go at this strategically if we were to sidestep Queenpin’s absorbing ability and take her down.
My eyes quickly scanned over my team. Which one of us can help? Which ability would be the most beneficial? Shit.
I couldn’t think fast enough. And then I felt the sand turning to glass. Maybe we could melt the sand under her and force her to the ground. Then Ari, Hera, and Blitz could make the move after that.
“Aulani,” I called into my mic as she was stepping back with Gemini. “Blast your energy into the ground. Not at her.”
I spoke into the comms and told Ari, Hera and Blitz their part.
The stomping was getting closer, and the large marge was getting bigger by the moment, accumulating more sand into her volume. As she took another step, I waited for the sand to set.
“Now!” I yelled out.
Aulani fired hot, purple energy beneath the creature. Gemini screamed, forcing the vibrating molecules to shake violently. I blasted my crimson energy, igniting a plume of smoke under the creature. As it teetered back and forth, I watched a cunning lizard man spring into the air.
“Ari, not yet!” I screamed.
The sandy Queenpin caught him in one hand. She then brought her other hand over and gripped Ari’s upper body. With one yank, she pulled him apart and threw his body down each way on the beach.
Blitzkrieg shrieked and charged the sand creature with her tusks. We blasted more energy in her direction, almost enough to make her fall back. The sand creature reached down and slammed her sandy fist onto Blitz, pounding her into the sand. Hera tried to dig her out, but she was too deep.
BOOM!
The Queenpin reeled backward, pushing sand outward in a gushing burst. I extinguished my beam, cueing the rest of the team to stop. I motioned for Gem to get Ari, then I ran toward the beast, hardening my fist, ready to pulverize this villainess once and for all.
As I took another step, the large behemoth creature disappeared into the ground. The cries of frustration knocked me back to reality and I dashed to help Hera. I fell to my knees, digging desperately for Blitzkrieg. A tusk could be seen. And then a snort. Hera’s arms were moving as fast as she ran as she dug around. We reached Blitzkrieg’s head and then shoulder. Hera and I pulled her out of the sandy pit.
She was busted up bad, but might recover. As for my best friend? I looked to see Gemini dragging only half of a reptilian body. She held a strained face in the midst of the carnage.
“We need to find his other half,” Gem said, looking in the other direction of where the Queenpin tunneled away.
I stood up, and looking in the same direction. South. For a moment I thought I saw the beach sand in front of me rolling away and Ari’s top half of his body. He couldn’t be dead. He had survived so
much to get to get this point.
I will rebuild him.
Afterword
This book was so much fun to write. I really hope you enjoyed the adventure I had concocted. I have been to Reno, Miami and a lot of the places the book takes place. And to be able to draw from those experiences and use them here has been a dream come true.
Finally, thank you for reading and please leave an honest review on Amazon about you thought. You can even email or contact me on social media if you have suggestions of where I should take the new team.
Peace fellow humans.
About the Author
Gentry Race has worked as a VFX artist at DreamWorks, Laika and Evil Eye Pictures. He continues to follow his passion telling wild stories and exploring the creative aspects of life by any medium that allows him to.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jen McDonnell, Jamie Hawke, Jesus Villarreal, Tristan Evans, Cherise Wilson, Eric Sanchez, Leo Roars, Patrick Louie, James Pina, Simon Lutrin, Form & Fiction, Chris Fox, John L. Monk, Kali & Matt Rubio, Tracy Neal, All the beta readers from Reddit, Laika, Eddie Tang, and Jordan Neal.
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Also by Gentry Race
ARTIFEX: Book 1 of the Cyberratum Series
Space Marine Fantasy
Psychonauts: A Gamelit Space Fantasy
Shattered Dimensions: Seppukarian Anthology
Co-authored with Chucho Jones
Lunacy on Omega Station: Book 0 of The Shattered Cosmos
Invaders of Tomorrow’s Sky: Book 1 of the Shattered Cosmos
The World Ahead: Book 2 of The Shattered Cosmos
Coming soon
Harem Adventure
Annulus: Book 2 of the Cyberratum Series
Supervillain, Æ: Book 3 of Supervira series