The fifth time her fist penetrated the reinforced door. Once she had leverage, she pulled the plates apart like cotton candy, opening a hole in the center she could squeeze through. As soon as her torso emerged, gunfire erupted in the room. A hundred bullets peppered her as the agents fired their weapons.
It was all far too loud for her to try and tell them to stop; instead she finished pulling herself through. Once it was clear their guns weren’t working, they tried gas. As one they pulled on masks then threw grenades at her.
Gas was a problem. She took a deep breath and held it. While it wouldn’t affect her eyes like it would a normal person, it could hurt her lungs. The first grenade bounced off her chest. She reached down, picked it up, and threw it as hard as she could at the ceiling above her.
The ceiling exploded as the projectile tore through it, blasting a hole up to the roof. She moved as fast as she could to avoid the other grenades. This was where her slowness infuriated her. No matter how strong, dense, or hard she was, she could barely move faster than a slow jog when she massed up.
“Is he here yet?” She heard one of the agents say. Her hearing was slowly returning—the ringing in her ears faded as she jogged through the room, shaking the floor and knocking people off their feet just by her footfalls.
He who?
The outside window exploded inward, showering the room with glass and forcing the agents to take cover.
Tia wasn’t familiar with the supers of America, beyond the Protectors anyway. She didn’t know his name, or who he was—she’d never seen him or heard of him. He wore a dark red costume with a stylized black shield and a yellow outline on his chest.
Milton’s voice chimed in her ear. “His name is Ultra; he’s one of the new heroes on the scene since the reorganization of the super teams. He’s an F5, though not in the same league as Carlos. He’s strong, fast, incredibly tough, and—”
“Babe, you just made a huge mistake.”
“—cheeky as well,” Milton finished.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone. There’s an assassin named Massacre here. He’s going to kill my team and I have to stop him,” she said as she made her way to the holding cell. She might already be too late, and it burned in her gut that she had taken too long already.
“Nu-uh,” Ultra said. In a blink of an eye he was in front of her, hovering a foot off the ground and towering over her. He looked the part of a strong-man, including the bulging muscles and lean body. He also had the smirk of someone who thought they were in the superior position.
“I’m going to give you one chance to surrender. Power down, let them stun you, and you can walk out of this with most of your teeth,” he said.
Tia sighed. She opened her mouth to reply when he hit her. She didn’t see him move, he just hit her.
The blow struck her temple, spinning her around and sending her stumbling, crashing through a desk then an office wall before landing on her butt. The world was blurry. She shook her head trying to clear it.
He hits like a train!
She’d fought F5s before, but none had ever hit her that hard. “Are you sure he’s not in Carlos’ league?” she asked Milton.
“Not even close, mum.”
She struggled to her feet as he landed in front of her. “I did say most of your teeth, now, on your knees and hands up.”
Her eyes narrowed. She hated when men said that to her. Her nostrils flared as she let the faucet open wide.
“Let’s try that agai—”
He hit her again, harder than before. The wall behind her exploded as she crashed through it and across the street to slam into the adjacent building. Rubble collapsed on her for a heart stopping second, burying her.
It took her a moment to lift the concrete support beam off her and regain her feet. Her head pounded and every part of her hurt. Something warm and wet filled her mouth; she realized it was blood.
“Mum, you may want to run. He is more powerful than the database listed—you may not be able to take him.”
She shook her head, spitting the blood out onto the rubble. “He made a mistake Milton. I’m not leaving when I’m about to win,” she said. She made her way to the entry hole and leaped out to the ground three stories below. The concrete cracked where she hit, her feet digging in a good inch before stopping.
Ultra landed in front of her, a pompous smug expression on his face. Even if he wasn’t flying, he would tower over her. But as she always told people, superpowers and size have nothing to do with each other. She let the faucet open wide. The air around her condensed and the ground cracked further as she massed up.
“I’m asking you for the last time, Ultra. Let me save my friends, I don’t want to hurt you.” She forced herself to relax. It was hard, considering how powerful the man was.
“That’s funny,” he said as he swung. The air exploded in a shockwave as his fist hit her. The power behind the blow was unbelievable. The rubble around her pulverized from the shockwave, she stumbled backward, biting back a scream from the pain.
Come on, girl. You can do this.
Internally, she ramped her powers, opening the faucet as wide as she ever had. The weight and mass piled on as she went past her limit. She felt the strain go too far—too much mass and weight—but she had no choice.
He hit her again. Another shockwave rolled out. This time she only took a step backward. The third time he hit her, the blast was deafening.
The fourth time, she didn’t move.
He reached back to swing again. With some effort she raised her hand and caught his fist with her open palm. The blow was like a small bomb detonating. The building behind her collapsed in a shower of rubble and broken glass, obscuring her vision.
When the debris cleared, Ultra kneeled in front of her, holding his hand and howling in pain. She took one step forward and kicked him. She was so far past what she had ever massed that she had no way of knowing if it would kill him or not.
As he sailed out of view over a building she hoped he lived, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t given him a chance.
TWENTY-FOUR
Each step was accompanied by a wave of agony as she forced her mass down. Reversing what she had accomplished was no mean feat. The power that flowed through her always wanted to flow through her, making it stop, then reversing it was nearly as exhausting as the fight itself.
By the time she was back across the street, she had her mass down to a more manageable level, letting her move considerably faster than her prior slow walk.
Tia made her way back up to the third floor, trying to ignore the massive structural damage that she had done to the building. Sirens rang from outside as first responders arrived on the scene of the collapsed building.
I didn’t do this. I tried to stop them.
She had, too. Ultra and the agents in the building were the ones who’d insisted on escalating the problem. All she wanted to do was save her friends.
The third floor was a mess of broken furniture and blasted out walls. The first blow Ultra had landed on her had devastated the room.
“Milton, are you there?” she asked. Finally, the incessant high-pitched whine that dominated her hearing had faded and she could hear again.
“Yes, mum,” he answered.
“Where are they?”
“Back wall, the metal door.”
Tia rushed to the back, passing the downed agents as she made her way, trying not to think about them but hoping none of them were seriously injured... or dead.
The holding cell door was electronically locked using a magnetic system. While she wasn’t nearly as heavy as when she was fighting Ultra, she still had the mass of a car. She reached back and slammed her fist into the door as hard as she could. The door exploded off its hinges, flying inward to smash against the far wall.
“Teddy!” she screamed.
The cell doors were large, solid, metal vaults with no windows and probably sound proof. Massacre-Tessa had torn Teddy’s cell door wide open and was rep
eatedly bashing the large black man head first into a beam.
“Why won’t you die!” she yelled as she slammed him once more.
Either it was luck or fate, but Massacre-Tessa chose the wrong Protector to start with. Despite the tremendous amount of blood on the wall and covering Teddy, the good doctor was alive and conscious. Grinning weakly, he laughed at Tessa as she continued to hit him against the wall with her telekinesis.
“Massacre,” Tia yelled, “put him down.”
Tessa turned her head to look but it was Massacre’s evil countenance, not that of her friend. It infuriated her that he had taken possession of Tessa. Despite them only knowing each other a short time, Tia found herself really liking the rough talking ex-con. They were friends, maybe even best friends, and now this maniac was using her against her will to try and kill their friends.
Worse, Tia had no idea how to force him out of her. In the past, Massacre had to inhabit a person for twelve hours once he jumped in them. Once he was in, he was there for the full twelve hours, now though… Tia had no idea.
Massacre swore, twisting Tessa’s pretty face into an expression of rage. “You dumb whore. How are you still alive?”
Tia charged forward, trying to take him by surprise, if she could lay a hand on him maybe she could figure something out. Instead, she slammed into an invisible wedge-like wall, sending her flying to the side and into a cell door with a thump.
“You can’t stop me, cop. I never miss a contract. You of all people should know that.” He picked Teddy up and flung him at Tia.
Tia tried to go limp but wasn’t fast enough. Teddy hit her with a loud crack as several of his bones broke and he screamed in pain as he fell.
“Teddy!”
He put a hand on her shoulder, his eyes frantic with pain. The broken bones within him mended almost instantly but it hurt him bad. “Tia, he’s... not... a... ghost..., you can touch him.” The pain overwhelmed the man and he fell unconscious. She was amazed he’d hung in that long. She effortlessly picked him up and tossed him out the cell door into the destroyed office to keep him out of harms way.
“Milton, make sure you’re recording all of this,” she ordered.
“Of course, mum.”
“Massacre, who are you working for?” she asked as she turned to face her foe.
“Like I’m going to tell you? No, I’m just going to complete the contract, kill your friends, and then maybe inhabit you and have you kill this chick and then your armored friend. Yeah, I think that will just about satisfy my revenge.”
Tia shook her head. There had to be a way to defeat him. What had Teddy said… he wasn’t a ghost?
Tessa lashed out, slamming Tia against the wall as she had Teddy. Tessa’s powers were like an invisible wall slamming into her, but there wasn’t anything to push back against. Then the wall shifted, wrapping around her neck and compressing. Blackness crowded her vision as her air was cut off.
Exhausted, beaten, and bruised, Tia neared the absolute limits of what she could do. The only way she could think of to beat Massacre would be to kill Tessa. And she was so exhausted from her fight with Ultra she wasn’t sure she could mass up enough to even break free before she choked out.
The band around her throat tightened more, cutting off her air entirely.
Air... when we were in Costa Rica her shield protected us from the flame but not the heat... she can’t stop air!
Tia closed her eyes, reached down and dug deep for one last push. This time, though, it wasn’t like opening the faucet and massing up, it was more like tediously trying to put toothpaste back in the bottle.
She struggled to relax, letting her hands drop to her side as she focused the last of her energy on reducing her mass, and therefore her density.
Her lungs screamed for air; her entire body seized as she started the short spiral to black out. Irrational panic filled her, and she had to fight it with all her considerable will power, ignoring her body screaming at her that she was about to die.
As her throat closed and no more air entered her system she spasmed uncontrollably. In her mind, though, she forced more toothpaste back in the bottle until...
She fell to the ground gasping for breath as her head swam from the suffocation.
“How?” she heard Massacre shout distantly.
The wall behind her thudded with impacts as he used Tessa’s powers to throw debris at her. She took a moment before she could stand, holding her throat and inhaling rapidly. When she did, she looked at Massacre-Tessa with a smile.
This was the most she had ever de-massed. It wasn’t easy on her—not like increasing mass which felt natural. This was different. The world looked different. Particles in the air floated lazily about; she could see the individual dust motes. Sound came distantly, as if through a long tunnel.
Her skin buzzed as she moved, she could see through herself, as if she were intangible.
That’s because you are, she thought. She ‘walked’ forward toward Tessa as the man inhabiting her slammed more debris at her, desperately using Tessa’s powers in a last attempt to stop Tia.
With her new perception she could see new things. While the world seemed hollow, so did people. As if she were now able to see through and move between the molecules that bound people together.
She saw something else—a faint outline, a wrongness inside Tessa. She focused her vision as best she could and realized what she was seeing.
Massacre. She could see his body inside Tessa. His powers were more like Tia’s than a telepath’s. She reached out and passed her hand through Tessa. Her fingers grasped at something as she pulled them out, but she wasn’t able to hold it. She was still too close together… too dense.
She had no choice; she had to spread herself thinner, reduce her mass and density until she could grab him and pull him out.
She reached into Tessa with both her hands, feeling for him while triggering her powers to lower her density even farther.
It hurt. Pain spread through her like a fire as the molecular bonds that held her together decreased in strength. She felt like someone was pulling her apart from every direction at once.
Just when she could take it no longer, her hands found purchase. Massacre’s form was solid to her; they were on the same frequency. She grabbed him and pulled with all her might.
Tessa screamed, her eyes rolling up in her head as Tia forcefully wrenched the entity known as Massacre from her. Tia pulled and pulled, taking a step back with each grunt. The thin form of the assassin grew from Tessa as she pulled him free. Tessa’s contralto scream turned into Massacres alto howl of pain.
Then the bond holding him to Tessa snapped. Tia stumbled backward and flung him against the far wall. The moment he left her grip, his density snapped back to that of a human and he hit the wall, hard.
Tia stumbled, her mind fogged over from the pain her powers were inflicting on her and the effort she had put into reducing her mass. She had to stop it now, though, put it in reverse and regain her normal density before it was too late. Her legs shook and she fell to her knees, but she didn’t hit the ground. Instead she began to sink slowly into the concrete, as if the very floor had turned to quicksand.
∆ ∆ ∆
Tessa blinked and her mind cleared. At first she was confused; as that faded, fury filled her. Massacre had violated her in a way she hadn’t thought possible. He’d told her exactly what he planned; that he was going to use her power to kill all her friends, then herself. He had used her like a puppet and she had been helpless, forced to watch..
Rage flooded through her as she picked herself up from the floor. Massacre stirred in the corner, his chest rising and falling slowly as he tried to move. She took a step toward him, intent on ripping his head off, when she saw Tia.
“Tia?”
The blonde was half sunk into the floor, her body nothing more than a see-through outline, a ghost of herself. Her mouth moved but Tessa didn’t hear anything. She dropped to her knees next to her friend
and reached out but her hands passed right through the ex-cop.
Tia looked up at her, eyes wide and pleading as she sank farther into the floor, her body spreading out like a mist on the wind.
Tessa screamed in frustration. She grabbed at her, desperately trying to hold her together.
“Don’t go,” she said. Her eyes filled with tears as her friend slowly vanished. Tessa focused her power on Tia and tried to use her telekinesis to hold her friend together.
Dust swirled on the ground where her powers passed through. Tia’s image was almost invisible; the girl held one indistinct hand up to Tessa’s face, pressing it against her wet cheeks... then she was gone.
Tessa blinked several times, holding her own face where Tia had touched her. Her chest burned as tears flowed freely down her face. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Then he coughed as he woke.
All the rage, all the despair, all the loss bubbled up in her and she screamed. Every window in the building exploded outward as she unleashed her power, fueled by a near infinite well of wrath.
Tessa stood, holding up her hand and crushing it into a fist. All the cell doors ripped off their hinges, colliding into one massive lump which she then compressed into a paper-thin sheet. The heat of the friction raised the temperature in the room by thirty degrees in seconds. Sweat poured off her, mixing with her tears as she pushed her powers far beyond her ability.
“What are you doing?” Massacre whispered as he tried to stand. He looked weak; his face was gaunt and his legs wobbly.
“You used me,” Tessa said. She held her hand out like a knife and slashed it downward. The sheet of metal shot out, slicing through Massacre in a blur of speed. He screamed as his arm came off, blood splattering against the wall. “You killed her!” she yelled. She slashed her hand again and his other arm fell to the floor.
“Tessa!” Fleet yelled as he blurred to a stop in front of her. “Stop, he’s finished—” she used her power to slap him aside. Not enough to hurt him but enough to move him.
Ancient Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero Book 7) Page 12
