The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material)

by Nicole Grotepas

  Suddenly there was a tiny gun in his hands and he was aiming it at her. She hit the floor just as a small ripple of violet aether surged past her.

  “Not so helpless, are we,” Holly said, rising and yanking on the whip again, trying to hold the tension tight so that it didn’t let go of him. But the whip’s hold on his legs was already too loose. Holly hurried to recover what she’d lost. She relaxed the whip and pulled it back to her, then flicked it up quickly, aiming at disarming her opponent. The tip snapped against the man’s hand. His tiny gun went flying as he shouted in rage.

  Holly lassoed him around the legs once more as he was trying to scramble to his feet. She pulled him toward her again feeling fairly pleased about how her battle was going so far.

  “You there, Drake? Sorry to interrupt.” It was Darius in her ear, over the new comms.

  “I’m in the middle of something. What is it?”

  She glanced around to see what was going on with the others. Odeon and Charly had gathered a good sized pile of moaning bodies around them as the lower Shadow Coalition minions fell beneath Odeon’s brutal Ousaba blows and Charly’s deadly fists. Iain had been holding a perimeter around the central battle area by shooting at anyone foolish enough to come out from behind the remaining stacks of crates. And Shiro had injured the male knife-wielder and was in the middle of sparring with the remaining female.

  A delivery truck entered the warehouse and Holly groaned. Fresh fighters? Just when she thought they were nearly done. A figure exited the passenger side. They wore a mask. The hair on the back of Holly’s bristled in recognition. Was it the individual from Mining Base #4? Was it Xadrian? It could be Xadrian. Although, as she considered it, the figure wasn’t bulky enough to be a male.

  Darius laughed. He didn’t sound like he thought it was funny, however. “Oh, yeah, that looks like real fun. Well, I hate to interrupt, but it looks like you’re at a good stopping point. Time for a break, maybe?”

  “Hardly,” Holly said. “Just say what you need to say. We just got company. I need to take care of this.”

  “HD, did you recover Jamie’s item?” It was Xadrian.

  Xadrian.

  27

  “Xadrian? How’d you get on this channel?” Holly asked. She finished pulling her opponent close to her. “Wait a second, don’t answer that, Xadrian. Iain, help me, please.” Was Xadrian here? Was he cutting into their channel somehow?

  Iain sidestepped close to her and removed his medic kit and dropped it at her feet, while keeping his gun pointed toward the remaining Shadow Coalition members, who had taken cover. “Did you see the mask?”

  “Yes. Looks familiar,” Holly said continuing to jerk her opponent toward her and prevent him from untangling himself. His black clothes were covered in dust as he got closer. “I have to keep this guy busy. Can you grab the thingies.”

  “Thingies, Holly?” Iain asked, crouching and opening the kit. He removed a pair of cuffs. He cussed and put his gun down, and put his knee in the back of Holly’s opponent. “Should have knocked him out. These cuffs aren’t going to hold him.”

  “Cuffs, right. Put some on his legs too.”

  Iain nodded. “I will, but can’t you just knock him out?”

  “Hello, I’m right here,” the de factor leader said. “Do I get a say in it?”

  “No,” both Iain and Holly said, firmly.

  “Well, I promise not to try to run away or kill you when you’re not looking.”

  “I somehow don’t believe him. You should knock him out, Iain.”

  Iain laughed, trying to get cuffs around the man’s legs, who fought to keep them free, though they were still bound by the whip. This was stupid. Holly pulled her boot knife out and conked the man on the head, hard. The sickening feeling raced up her arm, and she worried she’d killed him. Iain finished putting the cuffs on his legs and took his pulse.

  “Still alive. Don’t worry yourself.” Iain grabbed his gun and pointed the barrel out at the SC thugs who were still in cover. The masked individual had the gall to simply stand there, arms crossed, hip cocked. There was something very feminine about the body, but Holly still felt it could be a male. She still wondered if it was Xadrian.

  “Are you here, Xadrian? Is that how you’re on this channel?” Holly asked. This was the time to figure it all out. Xadrian and Dave had to finally own up to what they were doing—rebuilding the Shadow Coalition. Why? She hadn’t figured that out yet.

  “Oh dear, HD, is that what’s been bothering you? You think it’s me who’s been screwing up everything?” He laughed. “I’m actually right here in your little club. So, unless I can be in two places at once, well, I apologize. That masked individual, however, I can see them through your video feed on Darius’s screen—looks female to me. Tell Holly I’m with you, Darius. Back me up.”

  “It’s true, Drake. He’s here,” Darius said, sighing. “He showed up today, looking for you.”

  “That’s so unlike Xadrian,” Holly said. “Then it’s Dave. In the mask.” She knew she sounded stubborn, childish, petulant. So many things.

  Xadrian laughed. “Dear HD. I’m sorry. That is not anyone I know. I can patch Dave through, to prove it.”

  “Please do.”

  Xadrian and Darius exchanged words as Xadrian got Dave on the line. This was all being cast to the earpieces of her crew, so they knew what was happening. Did she look inept? Maybe. But none of them had solved it either.

  “Put him on a private line, Darius, if you indeed get him,” Holly said, noticing that much of the fighting had stopped as the masked figure fearlessly stood in the center of the warehouse.

  “Yes, Holly. What is it?”

  “So, you’re not here, in this warehouse with me?”

  “No, I’m afraid I’m not. Did you find what I asked you to find?”

  “I haven’t,” she said. “Sorry. Been a bit busy. All right, if you’re all there and not here leading these idiots, then who the hell are we fighting?” Holly watched the masked figure. The fighting had stopped. Holly’s crew slowly formed up behind her, squaring off, facing the masked figure who didn’t seem frightened of them at all.

  Silence settled over the room. Holly squinted into the dusty light of the warehouse. Even in the middle of the day it was hazy and gloomy in there. The figure was decidedly feminine as she stared at it.

  So many things had happened. The figure showing up at the mining base. The reemergence of the Shadow Coalition. Their comms being hacked and frozen. And here, the masked form again.

  Could it be?

  “I know it’s you, Voss,” Holly called.

  “Who else, Holly Drake?” The figure removed the mask and shook her hair out. Blonde hair. An enigmatic, beautiful face.

  Shiro gasped. “It can’t be.”

  “What are you doing, Voss? What’s this game you’re playing?”

  “Not a game, Holly. I’m picking up the pieces and making something worthwhile.”

  “You will lose,” Holly said. “I never liked you, just so you know. And now I know why. I must have been a better judge of character than even I knew.”

  “I knew. It was obvious.” Voss said.

  “I liked you, Ms. Voss. Clearly I was mistaken about the caliber of your character.”

  “Ah, Jace. Shiro. My admirer. You were too easy to play, my friend. I didn’t like breaking your heart.”

  “I think she’s lying, Shiro,” Charly said. “She doesn’t care about the hearts of her victims.”

  “You and your little ‘crew,’ Holly Drake. You haven’t seen the bigger picture yet. Maybe when you see it, you’ll understand what’s going on. Right now, you’ve all got tunnel vision.”

  “Maybe so. But right now, you’re finished, Voss. This is over. I think it’s safe to say you’re little twisted scheme is done for.”

  Voss laughed. She laughed and laughed. Holly exchanged looks with her crew, wondering what was going on.

  And then just like that, Voss turned and ran.
>
  Holly sighed. “Damn. Alright. You guys clean up here. I’ll go after her.”

  28

  Holly raced through the back of the warehouse to the hole in the wall they’d made a few days earlier with the aether gun. Voss used it as her escape route, and Holly followed suit.

  Voss turned and picked a similar route through the neighborhood that Holly had take days earlier. It was the path of least resistance, Holly saw now. To go another direction meant heading back toward the more populated areas outside the small warehouse district. It also meant going uphill. Voss chose her path by going downhill.

  She tipped crates and boxes into Holly’s path when she could, which actually worked to slow Holly down. Holly jumped over them when she could, or went around them when she couldn’t.

  They ran through neighborhoods with children playing in the street. Voss took her up the to the tip of the bluff overlooking the bay near Clio’s cafe and followed the street that curved around the point and continued up the hill. Voss began to lag. Holly kept her eyes on her goal—the maddening woman who had somehow always managed to remain a thorn in Holly’s side. Voss glanced over her shoulder and then in some kind of defeat, slowed to a jog.

  “What do you want from me?” the breathless Voss called back at Holly.

  “To stop you from putting the Shadow Coalition back together!”

  “Well, you can forget that! It’s already done!”

  “Why not do something useful with your life? Become a doctor or a musician?” It was a joke, but, well, did it have to be? What could the path Voss appeared to be on possibly lead to? Enslaving the masses? Hurting others?

  Voss laughed. “You mean accept mediocrity?”

  “If the shoe fits,” Holly shouted. “You are mediocre. We all are!”

  “Don’t fool yourself about me, Holly Drake. My life is on a much greater path. Greatness is my birthright!” She continued to maintain a pace that kept her just out of Holly’s reach as she guided the two of them up the hill.

  Holly sighed. It was so obvious that Voss was an egomaniac. It had been clear from the first time Holly met her—she believed she was above everyone. Not that it was wrong to think that, simply that it caused someone to believe that others were either beneath them or tools to be used to further their own ends.

  As though Voss had tired of running, she suddenly dodged behind a stone fence that separated an estate from the winding road. Holly slowed and took cover behind a small shrub growing near the fence. She hadn’t thought this far ahead. In fact, she hadn’t considered what she would do if she caught Voss at this point. Voss had a gun, and Holly was armed with only her whip or one of several knives.

  She’d make do.

  She switched on the whip and waited for Voss to peek out at her.

  Holly saw a fringe of Voss’s hair. Holly flicked her whip in that direction, standing up and blowing her cover to do it.

  Voss cried out. The whip hadn’t got Voss’s gun, but it sounded like perhaps it stung her head. Good.

  “You think you’ll just walk into my life, screw up my plans, and walk back out? Hardly. At this point, Holly Drake, I won’t let anything stop me.”

  Autos passed by slowly. They were on a cliff that overlooked the bay. The homes around them were likely owned by extremely wealthy Centaus. Holly worried that if Aimee began taking shots, some innocent bystander would get hit.

  As though her thoughts created it, Holly looked up the road and saw a convertible driving slowly down the hill. It was a family of humans, their heads exposed in the convertible, laughing and talking.

  Holly left her cover altogether and stomped up the hill to where Voss had taken cover.

  She cracked her whip. She put on her most menacing look.

  Voss peeked around the fence. Holly saw a trickle of blood on Voss’s forehead. Oh, the beautiful, vain woman would be so irritated about that.

  Holly slashed her whip through the air, wanting to end this battle before the collateral damage ballooned. The car loaded with children got closer. Holly sent her whip flying again at Voss, angling her arm to flick it sideways in a more horizontal approach. This time the whip coiled around some part of Voss, or so it seemed. The whip caught on something, anyway. Holly jerked the whip back toward herself, pulling and pulling until the other woman was forced out of her cover.

  Voss resisted but was forced against her will to moved toward Holly in fits and starts. A grimace of pain covered the woman’s face as she was jerked in the direction Holly wanted—toward Holly. As Voss got closer, Holly realized that the whip was around Voss’s neck, not her shoulders like Holly had originally believed.

  Oh shit. Holly thought, aware that the convertible was almost upon them. Aimee’s fingers clutched at the whip, which was clearly strangling her. Her face was turning blue. Holly couldn’t very well murder the woman in front of the family.

  She loosened the tension on the whip, flicked it gently a few times, until it relaxed around the Voss’s neck.

  After that, everything happened at once.

  The auto was right there, passing them. Every head in the vehicle was turned toward Holly and Voss, expressions of confusion and shock plastered on their faces. As Holly began to pull the whip slowly back to herself, free of Voss’s neck, Voss swung the arm up holding her aether gun, aimed it at Holly.

  And shot her.

  29

  “Holly!” A voice shouted from behind her. It sounded like Iain, Holly thought as she fell backwards from the force of the aether projectile. Her mind moved slowly, and strangely, so did the rest of the world.

  The fiery ripping sound of an aether gun exploding came from behind her. Please be retaliatory fire at Voss and not another shot at me, Holly thought as she fell. As she continued to fall, she saw Voss’s body jerk as she received an aether projectile.

  She deserves it! Holly thought, her thoughts irrational as the pain shook through her from her the aether eating at her shoulder.

  The family in the auto stopped. The last thing Holly heard before everything went black, was the frightened cries of the children.

  * * *

  Holly woke and tried to sit up. A bolt of pain sent sparks through her, forcing her back down. She sighed in resignation and searched the room, still feeling the specter of danger hovering over her.

  No, it was Iain. He was sitting beside her. No danger.

  He reached over and touched her arm, then stood, coming closer to her. She flinched on instinct, though it wasn’t the wounded arm that his fingers settled upon. Once she realized his touch was safe, the sensation of his warmth calmed her long enough for her to realize that she was in a beautiful room. Tropical plants fanned out in one corner. Thick rugs covered tiled floors. Paintings on walls, tall vases positioned next to ornate furniture, and small statues resting on credenzas oozed expensive luxury. Was this the rental house?

  “Where am I?”

  “Odeon’s parents. It’s their house. Er, hotel. Resort. Whatever,” Iain said. He sat down on the bed beside her.

  “Why aren’t we at the rental house?” Holly asked. The dull pain of her shoulder wound became a presence in her mind. She suddenly felt tired despite the fact that she’d just woken up. “How’d I get here? And why aren’t we at the rental house?”

  “I guess this is when I remind you how that area is still crawling with the Shadow Coalition members that we couldn’t stop. You were wounded and we saw this as the safest place at the moment. Should I elaborate?”

  “That might be nice,” Holly said. “I just want to hear your voice. It’ll distract me from this.” She flicked her eyes toward her shoulder as best she could. She could see the edges of a bandage and the singed edges of her white shirt. Her jacket had been removed.

  “Let me finish taking care of your injury. Stop talking,” Iain said, with a faint smile. He placed one hand over her lips for a moment as he touched the edges of her bandage. He smelled of sanitizing solution. “Also, I gave you some drugs to deal with the pai
n. You might feel a bit strange.”

  “No more strange than normal,” Holly said, but now that he mentioned it, her words sounded a bit slurred. “Thanks for saving me.” She inhaled sharply as he tugged on the tape holding the bandage down. “I guess that medicine isn’t working so well.”

  Iain chuckled. “Oh Holly, I didn’t save you. You saved yourself. Don’t worry, I’ve got more medicine if you need it, thanks to that creepy friend of yours, Shig Soliss.”

  “Ha—first of all, Shig isn’t my friend. He’s a store, I mean,” she waited for the right word to materialize out of the fog in her brain, “a resource? I mean a resource. He gives me the creeps. I’d rather you tell me you were my knight in shining armor.” She gasped as Iain muttered an apology and pulled the bloodied bandage away, the tape tugging at the ragged edges of the injury, and took it into the bathroom. She watched him through the doorway as he dropped it in the sink. When he returned, he took a new, clean bandage from his kit. There was something important she needed to find out, but it kept wriggling away from her as soon as it came to her mind. She suddenly recalled it and blurted the question out before it could get away. “What happened to Voss?”

  “I shot her in the shoulder right before she ran off—you guys have matching injuries. So symmetrical, isn’t it?” He tore strips of medical tape and fixed them to edge of the bandage where he’d laid it on the surface of the desk he’d wiped down with alcohol. He glanced at her as he worked, his blue eyes intense. The muscles in his jaw flexed as though he were clenching his jaw. “Anyway, I didn’t care about Voss, I let her go. I was worried about you, Holly Drake. Stopping that woman from shooting you again was my primary concern.”

  The look in his eyes made her second guess the response that came naturally to her mind. Was he angry at her? “So you did save me, then. See?”

  “It was hardly saving. There was a family in an auto who drove us back down the hill, and then here, to the resort. They wanted to take you to the hospital. But I told them I’m a medic and this would be better.”