by Jason Luthor
“I’ll fight with you, if it’s that bad. I wasn’t lying when I said we’re not just blindly following orders. Sure, I owe the general . . . everything, really. Him and his father helped make me who I am. But I’m not fighting for him. I’m not even fighting for me, if you want it straight. I’m fighting because I want everyone to have a better life than all this.”
I bow my head for a second, taking another heave of air. “If you know anyone else that feels the same way . . .”
“I do.”
“Good. Just, put some plans together. Wait to hear from me. I’ll let you know what I find out and if we have to move.”
“How will I contact you?”
“You won’t. I’ll contact you.”
Jackie’s Recording 28
It’s not my first time seeing a Creep colony.
But, it’s my first time seeing it like this.
A Creep colony can stretch over a few square miles of endless infestation. Every building is alive, every street is throbbing, and the air above is just washed in black. After all that, you’ve got the . . . organs that start forming. Eyes the size of a building staring up from the ground. Tendrils as thick as towers and as tall as them too, stretching up into the sky and swiping at the air. All along the ground, you’ll see Stilts, Bulgas, and Basilisks swarming through the streets. It’s not what you’d like to call home.
What I see when I arrive at the site is nothing like that. It’s as if everything’s been burned. The Creep that would normally be merged with the surrounding buildings is smoking and sloshing off, like it’s dying. On the street, all the saliva and muscle tissue is withdrawing, the pavement becoming visible. The skies are clearing of the Darkness, a sure sign that the Creep’s disappearing. At the center of it all though, I can see a huge, gaping crater. The infestation was heaviest there, that much is obvious. There’s still lots of tendrils grasping at the air, but they look weak and half alive.
Of course, right in the center of that mess, I’m getting a signal out of Pocket Space. The second the alert flashes across my visor, I waste zero time flying into the middle of all that mess, my feet coming down hard on the springy tissue covering the ground. My heart’s pounding as I’m flying above it all, racing like I’m in a fight, and my chest feels like it’s being squeezed. “What happened here?” I whisper, even if I feel like screaming. “What the hell happened here?”
The crater’s at least a hundred feet deep, and from where I land, the city towers look even taller than normal. I don’t waste much time thinking about the view as my suit tunes into Mike’s frequency, still broadcasting from Pocket Space. “Mike. Tell me you figured some way out of this mess,” I mumble to myself while the suit locks onto the signal. A second later, a portal’s opening up, light cutting through reality as a window opens. Inside, hovering in the colliding waves of blue energy, there’s a small pouch. There’s barely a delay between when I see it and when I snatch it out. “Don’t do this to me, Mike,” I whisper as the portal closes behind me. My fingers almost rip the top off as I get it open, but when I do, it feels like my heart stops.
It’s Mike’s cross and a single data chip.
“No, no, no,” I whisper as I clutch the small piece of jewelry and slide the chip into a slot on my gauntlet. “Not this way.” I shake my head. “Not this way.”
A video box opens across my visor, revealing one thing. Mike, smiling, as he looks into the camera. “What’s up there, Jacko. Don’t got much time, so I wanted to record this for you and everyone back home. To say goodbye and all.”
“Mike.”
“Probably thinking to yourself that I’m being dramatic. Always used to be, when we were back in the Tower. I remember us sitting side by side in the library, talking about nothing. Just wanting to escape and get out of there. See what the world’s like. Made our dreams come true, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, we did,” I say back to the recording, as if he can hear me. “We made it, Mike.”
“Life got rough at the end of the Tower. You were always there though. Always supported me, even when it made you feel miserable. When things turned bad, you kept trying to hold everyone up. You’re good, Jacko, even if you feel like you’re not. I know you’re doing this whole Dark Angel shtick right now, but I know who you are. Jackie Coleman. Smartest girl I knew, brains like her mom and dad. Basketball and baseball star who just keeps thinking she’s not good enough for anyone. But you are. So, since this is the last time I get to tell you anything, then I just want to say one thing. You don’t have to try and be good enough for anyone. You spent a whole life thinking nobody liked you. And, you’ve grown. You’re a hero to thousands of people, but you still don’t feel like you belong anywhere. Thing is, you do. With Tommy, and Dodger, and Cynthia and Mandy, and all the people from Central. So, last piece of advice I want to give you is to stop thinking you have to earn everyone’s acceptance. I love you, Jacko, and I know everyone else back home does too. People who matter already accept you for who you are.”
I can feel my breath shuddering out of my throat as I watch the camera view shift. It’s pointed above Mike for a second, to a ceiling of Creep that rises hundreds of feet over his head but looks like it’s convulsing. The camera shifts back to him, and he points a thumb up. “Now, there’s two files on here. One’s a recording of what the device Yousef sent me here actually did. Other file’s a recording, for Cynthia. If you could get that to her . . . That’s the last thing I can ask. Well, one other thing, actually. When I started the device Yousef gave me, it vanished into Pocket Space and kept broadcasting from there. Pretty sure it was supposed to trigger the Creep into swarming. They would have taken out everyone alive for a hundred miles around. Raiders, colonists, you name it. Maybe even gone after Central at some point. But, I don’t know for sure how bad it would have gotten. All I know’s that when it went off, things got violent. Best I could do was bunker down here, but the second I started trying to hold back the Creep, I knew I could either escape or do something that kept the Creep from killing people. Keep it from maybe wiping out Central. Guess I decided it was better to take this piece off the board than let myself die for nothing and let Yousef take control of the city. Not sure anything could stop him if he does that. So, when I close this, that’s what I’m going to do. Release all my energy, all at once, right here where the Creep is controlled and wipe it out. Give you a fighting chance to take out the general.”
I nod, watching as the scene shifts and Mike gets off the ground. “Anyway, guess it’s my time to shine. Tell Tommy and Dodger I love them and sorry I couldn’t record anything for them. Kind of running out of time here.” He looks up at the ceiling, and I can see energy trailing along his skin, running up his neck and flashing through his eyes. His hair is drifting into the air as the light saturates his body and starts floating up toward the Creep above him. “Time to put this into Pocket Space. Never thought it’d end this way, but . . . can’t say I regret doing this for the people I love. Until Tower’s end . . . Keep your head up, Jacko. I love you. Always.”
The screen cuts out, and I’m left staring across a crater of dying Creep, my chest just rising and falling as I’m trying to understand what I just watched. For a second, I can feel my hand shaking, trembling as I’m standing there. Then my legs start to shake, until the tremors are running through my whole body. It reaches up through my guts, and I feel my stomach muscles locking up, squeezing until I feel sick. I breathe in hard as I gasp for air, doubling over as I feel everything concentrating in my belly. Then I look up at the red sky . . . and I just scream. I scream so hard, I can feel my throat burning. My cheeks are hot, and I can feel streams running down them until they run pass my jaw. I just feel like . . . I’ve got nothing left. The emptiness eating me up inside feels like a pain so intense that I fall to the ground, my knees slamming into what’s left of the Creep and my hands planting on the floor, and I just keep screaming, until my lungs have nothing left and all I can do is cry.
Everything’s
quiet for a long time. The only noise that I can really hear is the sick sound of the Creep sliding around, dying tendrils slipping along the floor. The air’s quiet otherwise, as I sit there in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of nothing. I can’t even lift my head, and all I see in front of me is the ground. I’m shaking, and in the back of my head, I can feel those flashes. Those impulses. The burning inside of me that I’ve avoided for so long. The muscles in my arm start to bulge, and I can feel my jaws distorting even as I’m trying to hold on. Even my fingers are starting to warp, the skin along my fingertips starting to slide back. Honestly, I’m a half second from losing complete control when I feel a hand on my shoulder.
“Hello again. I hope I musn’t remind you that this isn’t a road you’ll find pleasant. I’ll only warn you this once.”
Suddenly, I can feel my senses coming back to me and my body returning to normal. I look over my shoulder and stare behind me, to the lovely young woman standing there in a beautiful sundress, her long dark hair falling to the back of her knees. “Anne?”
“It’s sweet of you to call me by that name—” she says.
“But we haven’t gone by those names in quite some time,” another voice finishes. I turn to the side to see Johnny standing there, his face like it was five hundred years ago, before the Creep, but his body still wrapped in a long, hooded cloak. “Judge and Sally will do quite nicely.”
“I should say so,” she tells him.
“Judge and Sally. It’s like a show you’d watch on the telly,” he tells her.
“Oh, perhaps a comedy, then?” She pauses and looks over at me. “I’m sorry. We’re doing it again, aren’t we?”
I don’t say anything for a second as I take a deep breath. “Why are you here?”
“The same reason we always come,” she begins.
“Because you called us,” he finishes.
“You are the only one who can summon us, after all.”
“A consequence of your blood and ours being the same.”
I shake my head as I look away. “Mike’s dead.” That gets a sad look from both of them as I struggle to get back onto my feet. “At least, I think he is. Do you guys . . . Do you know? You can tell, right?”
Sally hesitates as she takes a deep breath. “Are you certain this is what you want?”
“I just need to know for sure.”
“Very well, then.” She glances over at Judge, and the two nod at each other before closing their eyes for a second. When they open their eyes again, Sally’s eyes fall to the floor. “I’m sorry, dear.”
Judge crosses his arms. “If it’s any consolation, he has the peace only a person of his power could find in the Creep. He’s not trapped in the long nightmare. None of those terrible hallucinations that others experience from time to time when they’re absorbed.”
I shake my head. “So, the Creep did kill him.”
“Well, I believe a more accurate way to describe it would be to say he released his psychic self into the Creep and caused it to collapse from inside.” He looks over to Sally. “Wouldn’t you say so?”
“I would say so, indeed. His body was absorbed into the Creep entirely. His ‘spirit,’ for lack of a better word, was already gone,” she says as she steps toward me. “Jackie, I understand we’re not human, but I remember what it was to lose someone. We shared that, remember?”
“Yeah,” I say as I wipe at my face. “Your dad, and Johnny. Well, Judge.”
“Then you know I share your pain. You shared mine so intimately, after all.”
“It’s just . . . he was my best friend for forever. I don’t . . . I don’t know what to do.”
“Jackie, you have the blood of a Judge in you now,” she says.
“And in the history of the Tower, there has never been anything like the wrath of a Judge,” he finishes.
All I can do is shake my head for a second. “So, what do I do? Go after anyone who’s responsible for this? Sally, you just stopped me from turning a second ago.”
“I would never want you to be that monstrosity we became,” she says.
He says, “But that doesn’t mean we don’t want you to be the righteous infliction of retribution that only you can be.”
“Injustice must always be judged. You’re simply better at it than the both of us ever were.”
“You’ve kept your composure where the both of us lost ourselves to the fury.”
“So, do what you must, within reason.”
It takes me a second to digest it before I step away from them. “I called you two, huh?”
Sally smiles. “You always do, whenever you feel you need permission to do what you must.”
Judge nods. “And you’ll call us again, the next time you feel you’ve crossed a line.”
“Unless you’ve forgotten the last time you called us. That day at Highpoint Waystation.”
My helmet materializes over my head as I turn away from them. “I haven’t, and hopefully, I won’t be calling again anytime soon. But I guess we’ll find out. Talk to you soon,” I tell them as the thrusters in my back ignite to life and send me flying through the air. All I know when I leave is that I need to find out what’s happening in Central. The twist is that I’m all out of ammunition.
Jackie’s Recording 29
I know something’s wrong the second I land on the roof of the Skyline Center building back in Central. It’s not just the energy and the vibe I’m feeling. The skies are full of armed Vertwings going between buildings, their spotlights trained on the streets and rooftops. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out they’re searching for someone.
Me.
The thought’s barely crossed my mind before the ground around me lights up, a Vertwing pulling up from beneath the roofline, its spotlights burning a halo of light around me. The second I’m in its sights, the forward miniguns start ringing out, bullets dancing their way up to my feet. I’ve barely realized what’s happening before I’m forced to go running, my legs taking me at high speed to the opposite end of the building.
“Highpoint, patch me into the local patrol feed,” I demand between clenched teeth, my already exhausted body propelling forward while bullets chew up the ground behind me. I come to the edge of the roof just as another Vertwing soars up above the roofline, its guns firing off within seconds. I go rolling out of the way and back onto my feet, the muscles in my thighs burning as I shift into another sprint. The rear camera in my visor is showing both Verts soaring after me, my ear filling up with local chatter.
“Seeker Seven to command, Dark Angel spotted, Skyline Center on 6th.”
“Seeker Five to command, supporting Seeker Seven in pursuit.”
“Seeker Five, Seeker Seven, continue pursuit. Reinforcements inbound.”
I hit the edge of the rooftop and barely even think about what happens next as I go diving over the side, my thrusters firing off as I go rocketing downward into the depths of the city. I angle away as a skybridge connecting two buildings rushes at me, my body pitching away to safety before slamming hard to the right. The air behind me ignites in my fire as I go hurtling between buildings, my mind racing with ideas about what to do.
“The apartment,” I whisper. “Maybe if I can lose them, I can talk to Tommy about what’s happening.”
The thought’s barely crossed my mind before I hear another endless stream of bullets, my body slammed and thrown sideways while my thrusters send me out of control into a groundward spiral. I see another skybridge racing at me, but I fire my repulsors and push away at the last second, my body compressing with the force of the rapid change in angle. I can feel my stomach twisting as I turn downward again, the jets at my back sending me flying even closer to the ground. Bullets are singing past my ears, the Vertwings in full nose dives as they race to catch up. With everything that’s happening, I’m barely able to suck in a heavy breath as I see a web of skybridges coming my way, my fists clenching as I purposely streak toward them. My body rolls left as one walkway almost gra
zes my shoulder, then I tilt hard at another angle and barely avoid colliding with a second bridge. I’m rolling left and right as I cut between floor after floor of bridges and walkways that connect this part of the city, the fire behind me curling in waves I roar into the darkness.
“Seeker Twelve to command, visual contact lost at 13th and 2nd, beneath the East River District commercial center.”
“Acknowledged, Seeker Twelve, diverting forces to intercept.”
My visor’s giving me all sorts of warnings about what’s happening on street level. There’s more than a dozen signals flashing in my view as I’m closing beneath 50 stories to ground level, and it doesn’t take me more than a second to realize they’re all power armored troops. I take myself out of my drop and start flying forward again, just as energy blasts are cutting upward into the air. They slice past me, barely missing as I’m streaking by. Overhead, lights are flashing down on me from above as more air patrols roar out of the side streets, their guns erupting as they angle toward me.
I rock back and forth as I fly through, dodging one burst of fire only to get caught by another. Bullets streak across my back, and the air around me erupts as one of the repulsor arms mounted to my armor explodes into fire and electrical sparks. For a second, I acknowledge that I’m not going to be as maneuverable as normal, but the thought vanishes as a burst of laser fire catches me in the chest. The energy dampeners in the suit were already down, and I feel the heat of the blasts as they soak into my chest, my body going into a freefall as another rain of bullet fire bounces off my body.