by Jamie Hawke
“Get some,” I said, trying to sound like the guys in my games, but instantly laughing at how stupid I sounded. Instead I switched to, “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” as I blasted enemy fighters and, when I got the chance of a shot, enemy supers.
Shouts of worried allies sounded in the comms as one ship larger than the others entered the battle. It was blowing ours out of the sky, tearing through our troops. Fighter after fighter went after it, and I even saw bolts of lightning from the direction of Gale, along with all manner of other powered attacks going for it, but its shields were too strong.
When it was close enough, I joined in the assault. I didn’t care how strong something was, enough firepower would eventually break through. Only, in this case we were dealing with supers.
“Twitch, are you seeing this?” I asked through the comms.
“I’ve been trying to break through,” she replied. “Seeing if I can dismantle the shield with code, but—oh, shit, why didn’t I think of that?!”
“Exactly,” I said, knowing she was referring to working with me on it. “I’ll look for a weakness on my side—the troubleshooter will show if anything’s breaking down, in theory so it could be fixed. But we’ll do just the opposite.”
“A great lover and a genius,” she replied, relief apparently making her silly. “Do it.”
I grinned and pulled up my screen, selecting the ship and scrolling through code. As the shots hit it, nothing seemed to cause damage. Nothing, that is, until an explosion of a rocky hill it was passing caused debris to fly up and hit it, passing right through the shield.
“No fucking way,” I said.
“What is it?”
“Get supers to leverage rocks, boulders, whatever they can that’s not your typical weapon,” I said, trying to figure out how I could contribute to this. In moments like these it’s always chaotic, hard for me to focus on what powers I might have—especially as they were always changing.
However, I remembered that my travel skill could be altered to attack through materials. I ducked down behind the rocks and pulled up my screen, quickly made the adjustments, and considered the best line of attack. Others were already starting to use winds and blasts, explosions, some using their super-strength to heave boulders, and it was working! Whatever that shield was, it was super-powered and the maker hadn’t taken into account natural objects.
I had to laugh. Then again, they couldn’t have anticipated my power to be able to see weaknesses, and the explosion at the hill was just plain old-fashioned luck. I’d still take it.
“Fuck you,” I said under my breath, and then slammed my hands down on the nearest stone. The surge of energy went through me and burst forth, moving through the rocks like a wave of energy. It exploded out, sending a huge boulder up through the sky at the exact moment the large ship was passing.
CRACK!
The shield wavered. Others saw it and increased their assault, many sacrificing themselves to attack while ignoring their defense. But it worked. The shield flashed, then shattered.
Now that the shield was down, we went all-out with our barrage of attacks against the ship. Holding its grips with both hands I turned the massive gun on its swivel, took aim again, and let loose. Others were firing as well, so it was hard to say who made the critical hit—but I like to think it was me who shot it down. Riddled with holes, fire and smoke streaming from it, the ship crashed through several of its side’s smaller ships on its way down, wrecking them also.
Supers below did their best to get others to safety and slow the fall of the ship, but it inevitably hit, exploding as it dug up everything in its path. A flash went off, a glimmer from the window, and a shadow appeared at my side.
I spun in time to see Tarupis there—the teleporting super who’d given us such a hard time before. He wore his tan military uniform, but where he’d lost a foot thanks to yours truly, he now had a mechanical one. As his attack came at me in the form of long blades, I saw that they were extended from his arms. One of his eyes had also been augmented. He was in full-on cyborg mode now and looked a thousand times more intimidating than he had before.
“Breaker, huh?” he said, his robotic, green eye adjusting as it scanned me. “A.K.A., Chad Bostwick? From… impossible. Earth?”
“The one and only,” I said, giving him a slight bow. “And you’re Tarupis, A.K.A. big fucking asshole. Your point?”
“I simply wanted to know who it was I was about to slaughter,” he said with a grin, and then vanished, about to reappear any second, I knew, and possibly catch me off guard… possibly end my life.
4
Tarupis reappeared at my side with a slash that had no chance of hitting me, as I’d already sidestepped.
“You’ll have to work on being less predictable,” I said, only to suddenly have to spin around as he reappeared for another strike.
“Don’t worry.” He grinned, this time stepping onto a rock and leering down at me. “I plan on collecting flesh from you as payment for my foot. As I valued that foot quite a lot, you might not survive the procedure.”
I shot, expecting him to teleport. To my surprise, he simply grinned and let his shield take it. Fighting continued all around us, our allies making a strong comeback now, but he and I were focused solely on each other. His robotic foot lifted into the air and then he pounced, landing nearby on that foot so that it sent out a shockwave that threw me into a rockface. When I fell to my knees, I went with it and slammed my hands onto the ground, sending the same energy at him that I’d used to hurl the rock against his ship.
Even as I looked up to see if I’d made contact, he vanished.
Spinning around, I looked around for any sight of him. That power was too predictable, I decided, so I pulled back to the shadows as I adjusted my powers, giving up that ability and replacing it with my camo power so that I could travel through my surroundings.
“Move your asses,” Twitch called through the comms. “Time to hit the skies.”
“Not yet,” I hissed into my comms, cautiously walking among the rocks and watching for him to appear. My cloaking was in full effect, but I was very aware of the fact that ripples could still show up, along with my shadow. “Tarupis is here.”
“The teleporter?”
Her answer came in the form of a grunt as Tarupis appeared over me, coming down hard with a strike that would’ve ended me if not for my suit’s shield. I fell as the shield flashed out. Movement told me it was time to roll, so I did as a blade dove into the earth where my head had been.
This time I was ready, and the son of a bitch didn’t have a clue how powered up I was right now. When I stood I noticed the cloaking power was off, but it didn’t matter at this point. We squared off again. This time I attempted to travel through the stones and surprise him, the two of us taking turns at this game—every time I’d pop up, he’d teleport, and vice-versa.
Finally, I found a pattern with him invariably going for the left, so I countered with a tempest blast that sent electricity out in various directions that way. He appeared but vanished instantly, reappearing on the opposite side with a trail of smoke coming from his burnt hair.
“Not okay,” he said, and this time actually threw one of his blades. I traveled out of the way, but when I came up he’d predicted my move this time and I found him grabbing me by the throat, blade moving for my gut.
Not sure what to do, I transformed into a giant werewolf—in looks only. He actually did hesitate, eyes going wide, before trying to continue with the strike. That moment’s hesitation was enough, though, for me to get my blaster in and shoot. The shot went through his arm and the blade dropped as he staggered back, staring at his arm in shock.
Another shot went off, but not from me. It came from behind Tarupis, hitting him in the shoulder. He glanced down, confused, and then another shot came—only this time he was gone and it nearly hit me instead. I ducked, and when I came up I saw Renowt and Wendlor there, the latter with his rifle smoking, the other scanning the
nearby area.
“You thought we’d leave you hanging?” Renowt said, gesturing in the direction of the ship. “Now move it.”
“Get out of here—” I started, cut off by the sight of Tarupis reappearing briefly to snatch up his blade, his other hand flashing. Again he was gone, but then he reappeared between the two old friends, blades slicing.
Wendlor’s head went flying. It rolled through the air, blood trailing, and landed at my feet. Shocked, my gut seized, bile heavy in my mouth, and I charged as I saw another strike open up Renowt’s gut. The man wasn’t helpless, though, as he used the opportunity to get off another round.
Tarupis vanished, but reappeared only two feet over, clutching the side of his throat. I wanted to get to Renowt and check on him but knew this son of a bitch had to be taken out first. Using my combo power of traveling through materials that I touched, I slammed my hand to the ground and shot through the stones. Emerging from the ground I grabbed him by his robotic foot, then rolled.
Still shocked at what had just happened my head was spinning, but I wasn’t going to allow even a split-second for recovery. Instead I put everything I had into a wave of electricity, which coursed through him, knocking him to the ground. He tried to teleport, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. Before he could even blink I had my hands on his face, thumbs digging into his eyes. Well, one eye, anyway—the other one was his cyborg overlay, and that was my target. Whatever benefits this thing gave him, it also required a direct link to his brain via some sort of waves, and I was about to provide a replacement in the form of more electricity than his brain could handle.
My tempest ball formed between my hands like a fog encasing his head, and then the bolts of electricity started. Each shock sent him into spasms so hard I was nearly thrown clear, but I kept sending them. At one point the stench was like burnt egg-yokes wrapped in bacon, disgusting and yet it was made worse by the fact that it was almost enticing. His body shook and I was tempted to stop then, but no, there wasn’t a chance I’d let him go, not after what that bastard had just done to Wendlor and his lifelong buddy.
A strong power tried to thrust me sideways and his body seemed to vanish, but I didn’t let go and so he wasn’t able to teleport, his body reappearing and jolting like a distorted show on television before returning to normal. Finally, his body went limp.
No more movement, no more fighting back.
The green in his electronic eye faded and then was gone. His other was just a mush of blood. There was no question, he was dead.
“This… this FUCKER!” Renowt screamed, his eyes crazed. Holding one hand over his wound, he picked up one of Tarupis’ blades, turned, and ran off sounding a wild battle cry. There was no stopping him.
“He’s down,” I panted into my comms as I turned to look at the head of Wendlor and then stare off in the direction Renowt had gone. This son of a bitch might have cost us the mission, as Wendlor was the one who’d spoken about how to find the pyramids. His plan was simple, but I’d believed he knew more than he let on, and that he wanted to keep it secret so that we’d need him.
So much for that, and so much for Renowt coming on the mission. I’d seen that look in his eyes before, when looking into the Blue Lady’s eyes. He would tear through the enemy until so many were dead he’d collapse, never feeling fulfilled in his quest for revenge.
“Repeat?” Twitch came in, glitching.
“Tarupis,” I repeated. “He’s dead. Gone from this life.”
“Then all of you get your pretty little asses back to the ship, NOW!” Twitch shouted.
“My ass is anything but little,” Gale replied, earning some chuckles. Gunshots sounded through the comms, reminding us this was not the place for levity.
Still, Charm chimed in with, “I’ll carry one cheek if someone else can get the other.”
A couple more chuckles, and then panting as comms stopped. They were all on their way, but I paused, seeing something. At the base of the battlefield, toward the back of the fighting, a hole had opened up in the ground and several troops charged out. It took me a moment to see what was happening, but then I gave out a whoop of excitement. They were firing on the enemy!
More holes were opening up and massive drill-like machines emerged, followed by more troops, some in mechs and others with craft that took off for the sky—mostly small fighters—and suddenly I’d come to understand where the majority of this planet was. They’d gone into hiding below the surface, building up and preparing for this day.
Now here they were, ready to take their planet back.
Fuck yeah, I thought as I punched air and ran back over to the huge gun, taking aim and blasting a path for the newcomers. They charged in like a wave crashing against the enemy, and suddenly Twitch was shouting, “Where are you all? It’s time to go, now!”
I cursed, wanting to stay and watch the inevitable slaughter and help any way I could. It certainly wasn’t a sure thing, but the odds were now much more in our favor. With us there, even more so. But we’d agreed that the plan was to use this moment to get out of there without anyone from Ranger’s side noticing or being able to notify him. We needed to find the pyramids and reach them before him for the best chance of success, so that’s what we’d do. I charged down the hill, working my way around back where we’d stashed the ship. Not far off, Charm and Gale were sprinting to join us.
“A bit longer!” Shimmer was protesting at the ramp of the ship as I rounded the rocks. “We can make a difference!”
“We have,” Twitch replied, out on the ramp to help us in. “And we will, but in a different way.”
“I can’t leave these people like this,” Shimmer protested. “It’s like they’re my own”
“You don’t have to,” Twitch replied, rounding on her. Without even acknowledging my presence, she added, “Stay if you have to, but it’s time. We stick to the plan.”
Finally, Twitch turned her eyes my way. “Renowt? Wendlor?”
I shook my head. “Wendlor didn’t make it. Renowt… We’re safe to go on without him.”
She frowned, scrunched her nose, and then stomped the rest of the way up the ramp before vanishing within the ship.
“Breaker,” Shimmer said, biting her lip, eyes wide and pleading.
I took her hugged her, and said, “Protect them if you have to. I understand.”
When I pulled back, she looked like she was being torn apart inside. I turned to go, hoping to make this easier on her, but suddenly a flash of white and gold darted past me, and all I saw was her cute little ass as she disappeared into the ship. Apparently, she was coming with us.
Charm came bounding up next, her pink hair flapping and her eyes full of mischievous excitement, while Gale was blasting flurries at enemy ships in the distance.
The moment the ship took off, it was like all of the chaos had stopped—at least, according to our eyes. Sounds of combat still rang out loud, but we’d lost all sight of it and, according to Shimmer, they’d lost sight of us. The only way we could even still tell where the enemy fought was by the red blips on the display in front of Twitch.
Reports back to their bosses would say that Breaker and his team had been here, but weren’t anymore. They would either assume we were dead or go on a fruitless search. In the meantime, we didn’t even know how long it would take Ranger to reach this galaxy or how far we’d be gone by the time he did.
What mattered, as we flew out of there, was that we’d left explosives at our previous location. Twitch hit the trigger when we were out of range, and we watched on her display as the red dots in that area vanished in flames As it faded, so did our image of the planet.
I turned to Shimmer and took her hand as our ship took us off to our destiny, leaving these people to theirs. My gut clenched at the look of worry in her eyes, and I hoped to God she’d made the right choice in going after the bigger picture.
5
Hurtling through space was starting to feel comfortable, and that kind of freaked me out. Ther
e was a time in my life when I’d sit back, playing my simulations and having a blast shooting up alien scum on my games, wondering what my brother was up to with the Marines in space. It felt so wrong to me back then, like he’d chosen to eat cement for the rest of his life instead of digestible food.
And yet, there I was, sitting back in my seat as I scrolled through my skill trees, trying to figure everything out. We’d spent some time grieving for Renowt and Wendlor, had a moment of silence, but then it was time to focus on the mission at hand. Twitch agreed that she’d hoped the two men would’ve been able to give her more to go with, but meanwhile, she set up a code to have the ship work with the signals from the Citadel to scan the galaxy as best it could for large-scale troop movements.
It had gone over the battles near the Citadel, but she dismissed those. Not likely. Next, she found one near the outskirts of a district, but Gale had pointed out an old civil war there that was likely the cause. While the system scanned for our next best bet, we took some downtime.
I had slept a bit, and now was analyzing my best strategy for skills, and my skill points. Moving around the screens was cool, but the options were limited to where I actually wanted to progress long term, and in what order I wanted them. Since I had the illusion powers, I wouldn’t need the order with Twitch and Charm that allowed for my forms of illusions like I’d used on the prison ship. Instead, I could partner Charm’s with Gale’s, and I came up with several powers that seemed to be a combination of wind from Gale—for projectile—and powers similar to Charm’s breaths.
Meaning, while she had a charm that could make people turn against each other and others that made you sleepy or aggressive, combining them with Gale’s ranged attack gave them a bit of an aggressive tone. Indeed, one of my options further down was an acid wind. Like acid rain, but blowing out horizontally. Some along the way were quite boring, but I saw one labeled Terror, another labeled Insanity.