by Kipjo Ewers
Despite her injuries, Cyclone had to think fast to give aid to her team.
“Merge, you there?”
“Of course, I’m here! What do you want?”
She gave her harsh response as she blindsided an electrical class Apollo with a midair lariat while being chased by an eight-man airborne team looking to bring her down. Her fatigued hit wasn’t enough to lay him out, as he recovered mid-fall and joined the hunt.
“Nitro, you there?” Cyclone asked ignoring her hostility.
“Of course, I’m here woman!”
He was in the middle of setting two boosted Titans ablaze after stopping their incoming bullets with a thermo-kinetic wall of flames.
“I see you, think your flames can reach the fourth floor of this building?”
“Of course!”
“Then move one yard out, and five steps to your left,” she instructed, “Merge find Nitro right now, and come through what’s left of the window on the fourth floor right over him.”
“Say what?” she screamed.
“You know how to do it!” Cyclone shot back with a stern tone. “So, do it!”
Merge muttered a curse as she hit the throttle strafing and maneuvering in Nitro’s direction with the pack at her heels. As she aimed for the window, she canceled out Blitz’s power switching to her brother’s taking a metal form as she smashed through the window tucking into a violent tumble roll.
Cyclone seeing that she was clear stepping in front of the window extending her hand as she clutched her ribs.
“This is really going to hurt. Nitro now!”
At the same time, she unleashed a massive tornado blast, Nitro roared aiming upward to fire a thermo-kinetic attack into her stream creating a flaming tornado that engulfed all eight incoming Apollos and anyone else unlucky enough to be in range charring them out of the sky.
A semi-exhausted Merge walked over standing next to her nodding her head reasonably impressed.
“That was hot.”
“Thank you,” Cyclone groaned.
The response to their spectacular, larger-than-life tornado flamethrower was another barrage of RPGs.
This time, they launched twenty of them.
Once again as they neared their target, they each broke apart into smaller faster projectiles.
“Oh, come on!” Nitro screamed.
“Not good,” Cyclone swallowed.
“Ya think?” Merged yelled.
Merge didn’t think twice as she scooped Cyclone up in her arms putting it in gear to run as fast as possible, while Nitro focused his thermo-kinetic energy through his hands to produce thrusters taking him airborne.
The area became an Earth-shaking inferno with what was left of the factory taking the brunt of the hit.
An additional fifty-five percent of the building gave way as the floor went out under Merge’s feet. Both women screamed as they clung to each other for dear life as they fell into the smoking rubble below.
Nitro hovered high over the destruction searching for his teammates.
“Cyclone! Merge! Come in! Do you hear me? Oh shit!”
Nitro was forced to go aerial blasting away as another pack flew in to attack him.
“Dammit! I’m not a flyer!”
Back within the building heavy coughing came from two voices. Merge still held onto Cyclone as she managed to keep her feet under her during the fall.
“What …the …fuck,” Merge hacked up.
Cyclone groaned also coughing and spitting as if ravaged with a case of emphysema.
“Seven ...against an army,” she choked. “If I ever meet …Whedon or Snyder …I’m gonna chop them both …in their fucking throats.”
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Merge, and Cyclone weren’t the only ones affected by the latest barrage of RPG attacks.
The Sarge and Sister Sledge were both caked with smoke and debris.
Their regenerative healing removed their superficial burns as their coughing dissipated.
“We can’t take another hit like this,” Sister Sledge turned to Rogers.
“Every time we gain the upper hand, they rain down hell on us,” Rogers said while spitting murky saliva on the ground. “They’re sending waves of attacks to wear us down. We need to regroup and take the fight to them.”
“We need to regroup first, and then we need more firepower.”
Rogers opened up his bracer pulling up a GPS tracking grid of all his teammates.
“Heavy Element is closer to us,” Rogers gestured. “Let’s get him first before this smoke clears, and they try to hit us again.”
Sister Sledge nodded as she followed him to Heavy Element’s position. As they drew closer, they heard the sound of combat and a struggle. Heavy Element on his back in open guard position held the head of a humanoid metal lion attempting to bite his face off.
With both their bodies made of the same hardened material it was a definite stalemate. Rogers stooped down to examine the situation.
“Oh, hey Sarge,” Heavy Element groaned. “How are you doing this fine day?”
“Pretty good, who’s your buddy?”
“I think he’s from Spanish Town …or Ochi…he’s got an interesting power set. You wouldn’t happen to have a thermal on you.”
“What do you need it for?”
“Cram it down this son of a bitch’s throat.”
Rogers checked his harness as Heavy Element, and the boosted Elemental continued to struggle and thrash about the floor. He came up with a black circular sphere the size of a ping-pong ball. Rogers stood on top of the gangster grabbing the upper part of his mouth, while Heavy Element latched onto his lower using their combined strength to pry it open.
Rogers pushed a button on the thermal grenade causing a blue light to flash around it. He then dropped it down the Red Rum boosters throat. Heavy Element and the Sarge slammed his mouth shut and held him as the grenade made a high-pitched whining noise before exploding.
Blood poured from the gangster’s eyes, nose, and ears as he went limp. Heavy Element tossed him off before rolling to his feet dusting himself off.
“Let’s get the rest of our team,” Rogers said while pointing and checking his GPS locator. “Merge and Cyclone are thirty-five yards, that way. Nitro and Blitz are both airborne and still in combat with hostiles.”
“Rogers! Rogers! Do you read! Rogers!”
The Sarge grasped his earpiece to the sound of a familiar voice.
“Erica? What’s your position?”
“I am less than three minutes out from you and coming in hard,” she announced. “I’m currently tracking you and the team, and mapping out the hostiles in the area.”
“They’ve kept their main forces back sending them in waves while slamming us with RPGs and Apollo firepower every time we take an offensive,” Rogers informed her. “Blitz and now Nitro is currently engaging them.”
“I got a remedy for that.”
“Bring the rain then while we regroup,” Rogers ordered before switching channels,” Merge and Cyclone respond.”
“We’re still breathing Sarge,” Merge announced.
“Remain at your location, we’re coming to you.”
“Roger that.”
He switched channels one more time.
“Blitz and Nitro talk to me.”
“We’re holding our own, but could need some help real quick Sarge!” Blitz informed him, “I got power to burn, but Nitro is getting kind of winded.”
“He’s not exaggerating sir!” Nitro interjected over the channel.
“Erica is coming in hot in less than a minute.”
“I see her!” Blitz answered.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Within the central cockpit of the Tornado, Erica with its weapons primed finalized the targeting of multiple hostiles below.
“Time to scatter the cucar
achas.”
She fired four missiles. Those four rockets nearing their destination broke apart into mini projectiles which increased in speed. This time it was the opposing forces of superhuman gangsters and mobsters that were forced to run and flee as she turned their location into one massive exploding inferno.
“Time to go to work kids!”
The locking mechanisms attached to Sam released allowing him to get up and stand ready in front of the rear hatch about to open. Maxine with her double rifles came from the central cockpit to join him followed by her other two sisters. Uploaded into their Armageddon bodies which were designed for nuclear threats or higher, the sisters appeared more robotic as the parts of their bodies that had an organic appearance had grey grid circuit patterns that looked like tattoos. Their cybernetic pieces seemed to be denser with the lights emulating their power sources glowing brighter due to the quadruple EMP resistant power core each of them housed.
Angie toting two larger rifles quickly moved in front of Jennifer getting face to face with her.
Jennifer narrowed her eyes and was about to tell her it was not the time for another confrontation.
Angie got to the point with a soft voice.
“You don’t deserve him.”
“I know.”
Her head fell as she said it.
“Then you better be the first one by his side when we hit the ground,” Angie warned. “Or I will be.”
A still heartbroken Angie turned to quickly join her other two siblings as Jennifer stood there for a moment unsure what to say or do. Her glowing lavender eyes emitted a brighter hue as she got her head in the game and reached into her back which opened up allowing her to pull out her dual katana swords.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
The back of the Tornado opened up as the android sisters followed by Sam leaped out descending to the ground to join the battle below.
“Looks like the cavalry has arrived!” Nitro grinned.
Both Maxine and Angie locked onto targets opening fire before they hit the ground, while a blade-wielding Jennifer straightened herself into an arrow allowing herself to fall faster. She latched onto a male Titan as she extended her swords running him threw as she slammed into him. She then struck him with a piston dropkick to the chest slamming him back first into a wall while performing a cartwheel flip in midair making sure to decapitate a stunned Apollo Class EVO before she landed on her feet.
Sam, unlike his sisters, hit the ground with juggernaut brute force punching, swatting, kicking, and stomping anything in its path. A male boosted Italian mobster unleashed a blast of blue plasma flames engulfing him.
“How you like dat ya two-ton Hasbro piece of shit?”
He eased up his flame attack long enough for a Titan from the Russian mafia to slam right into him attempting to take him off his feet. Sam, however, adjusted his footing digging into the ground. Using his left hand, Sam grabbed the gangster around his waist picking him up and then struck him twice with two thunderous rights.
“Oh, shit!” gasped the mobster.
Sam threw the gangster he held in his hand at the flaming wielding mobster whose head smacked violently into the concrete from the force of being struck by a Titan. He was not able to scream as Sam leaped into the air, and came down treating him like a cockroach as he crushed him under his foot.
“Stupid gangsters,” Sam growled.
Rogers with a rare smirk on his face made his way over to Maxine in the middle of the battle.
“Took her long enough to figure it out.”
“The Miss already knew something was afoul the second communications went down,” Maxine replied in her defense. “She will be here shortly to provide additional support.”
“Additional support?” Rogers asked with a furrowed brow.
A bellowing sound caused Rogers and everyone else to look up minus the android sisters and Sam as something big launched from out of the rear of the Tornado. All hostiles began to scatter screaming in disbelief as Lady Tech in a form-fitting fully armored suit sat magnetically attached to Buster’s back soared through the air via the propulsion thrusters on different parts of its body and the massive mechanized wings it deployed.
Coming in for a run, it unleashing a fierce ion blast from its mouth taking out some of the ground forces, while Lady Tech manned the dual plasma cannons which opened within its lower back picking off additional targets with the aid of her holographic HUD display.
“Take us down Buster.”
On her command, it swooped down and landed sending dust and debris flying. Its wings retracted back onto the housings within its body as it stomped over to Rogers, while her faceplate cracked open coming up.
“Reporting for duty sir!” She fiercely saluted.
“Should I be expecting a Dothraki horde to be charging this way?”
“Ha …ha …juw so funny …” Lady Tech fired back in Latin slang laced with sarcasm.
“You’re not concerned about another possible EMP attack?” Rogers asked.
“After Peace’s attack on the base, I went to work building backup bodies for the girls designed to absorb EMP type attacks on her level,” Erica answered with confidence. “Sam and Buster have been outfitted with the new tech. I didn’t get around to upgrading the Tornados with it yet, provided that’s what brought the first one down. I sent number two away, so we don’t lose another ship, which means we’re going to have to battle our way back to its location if it comes to that.”
Rogers looked at her with stern fatherly narrow eyes expecting her to answer his next question.
“Are you up for this?”
Erica’s eyes tapered as her face displayed an intensity he had never seen before in her.
“Sir, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. Let’s show the assholes who they’re messing with.”
A proud smirk formed on Rogers’s face as he nodded in agreement.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Two miles away from the battle zone, the man in black with the red and black kabuki mask from the Castillo incident stood with his three associates behind him.
“For the love of god,” he shook his head. “Is nothing fucking sacred?”
His henchmen looked at one another as he clasped his hands behind his back.
“It’s time we turn it up a notch and see what our serum can really do.”
With those words, the red lights on different parts of his mask especially the eyes began to light up.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
At the same time, the Red Rum boosted that were still alive, and standing demeanors changed as they all turned with incredible intensity in their eyes refocusing their attention on the Regulators.
“Uh …guys,” Nitro swallowed. “Are you seeing …what I am seeing?”
“Why do they look ultra-woke?” Cyclone swallowed.
The remaining boosted organized criminal army moved in unison to converge on them.
“More like switched on,” Rogers growled. “Get ready to engage!”
Every member of the team picked their target and attacked. It did not take long for them to determine what was different. The Red Rum boosters got better at fighting, much better.
Boosted Apollos were flying faster, evading gunfire and energy attacks from even Blitz. They returned fire with extreme near deadly precision.
Titans that were getting shot either evaded or rolled with the hits they took to lessen their blows as they returned fire while allowing their regenerative healing to take care of the minimal damage done.
Mercurians took no hits. The only two factors that kept them from overrunning the team were Blitz, Sam, Buster, and the android sisters whose tracking systems were capable of keeping them at bay.
“What the fuck is going on?” Heavy Element snarled. “How the hel
l did they get stronger?”
“They’re not stronger or faster!” Lady Tech informed them. “They’re brain synapsis has suddenly gone on overload! It’s allowing them each to naturally utilize their current abilities to the most maximum potential!”
“How is that possible?” Sister Sledge yelled her question.
“It’s like Rogers said!” Lady Tech yelled. “Someone switched them on!”
“That means there must be a signal, right?” Merge asked in metal form returning fire with both her side arms. “Someone transmitting from somewhere to activate them!”
“Already on it! The transmission came from Northwest about two miles out! Zeroing in!”
Lady Tech’s helmet lit up as she attempted to track the source of the signal. An unknown force reeled her head back almost knocking her off Buster’s back.
“Whoa girl!” Sister Sledge quickly turned to her. “You alright?”
“I’m fine …” Lady Tech shivered. “One mile into tracking I got hit with feedback that almost fried my systems.”
The Apollos became more savage. Sam threw his massive body in front of a still injured Cyclone shielding her from the brunt of brutal, raw energy attacks that she was not fast enough to defend against.
“We need to fall back!” Rogers roared.
Nitro’s eyes widened as he caught what no one else saw.
One of the boosted Apollo types hands glowed spitting red with sparks as he focused them downward toward the ground. His training knew what was to come next.
“Magma wielder! Move! Move!”
Those that could fly took to the air scattering, while those with two legs hauled it away before the ground erupted as several hot searing pillars of lava shot into the air. Sam snatched Cyclone taking her up in the air with him.
The boosted Red Rum broke off into packs hunting a Regulator, purposely keeping them separated from one another as they tried to kill them.
“They’re trying to pick us off one by one!” Rogers yelled over his earpiece to his team. “Fight your way back to the factory to regroup!”
