Black Dawn

by Andrew Dobell

  ‘Jaysis, gimme a break,’ she yelped.

  One of her Multitasking minds sent out a wave of force at the three troops that hit them like a speeding car, knocking them flying. The serpents head swung back in with a howl, clearly wanting to bite her in half. She’d been ready for it, though and delivered a powerful spinning kick to the things jaw with a grunt of effort and a snap of Magical energy.

  The head veered away from her as her Magical attacks from her Multitasking minds pummelled the Aegis of the thing, breaking it down quicker than the Scion could repair it. The creature backed up for a moment, coiling it’s neck like a snake ready to strike. Amanda faced it, and lowered herself into a crouch, one hand on the floor as she stared at the thing.

  ‘Come on then Nessie, I’m ready for yeh,’ she muttered to herself. Part of her hated violence, but she knew it often became a necessary evil, and when it got your adrenaline pumping, there were times that she never felt more alive and vital. It was a strange thing to realise, wrong almost, but it was also the truth.

  The things head snapped out, lunging at her with incredible speed, but it’s jaws snapped on empty air as Amanda sprang up and over the serpents head to land just behind it’s skull, straddling the things neck like a horse rider and punching hard with an Essentia strike that shattered the things Aegis. She followed it up with a powerful Kinetic blast to its head while another of her minds reached into the serpent's brain and with a tiny tweak, sent the beast to sleep. The body went suddenly limp and dropped to the sandy ground with Amanda still riding it.

  ‘That’s beauty one, beast zero,’ she quipped to no one before jumping off and patting it on its head. ‘Night night,’ she said as she turned to stride towards the fight ahead of her. The three troops who had opened fire at her were scrambling to their feet as she approached, fractions of a second before the first brought his weapon to bare, she’d shot forward and pushed the weapon to one side and delivered a knockout punch to the man’s face. Next to her the female of the three lifted her gun only for Amanda to take it and continue its momentum on past its intended target, she twisted the weapon and the women’s arm until she heard bone crack, breaking one in her forearm. She screamed as Amanda swept her leg through where the woman stood, dropping her to the sand. The soldier had let go of her gun, so still holding its barrel, Amanda swung it like a club, hitting through the third man’s face and spinning him like a top as he fell to the floor unconscious.

  Wanting only to help her friends, she dropped the gun and ran forward, paying the three downed troops no more mind.

  She ran towards Liz who had ended up facing the tentacled thing alone as Gentle Water had found himself entangled fighting one of the Magi.

  As she closed the gap, the Old One, as she believed they were known, pressed its attack on Liz and managed to wrap one of its long fast moving prehensile tentacles around Liz’s ankle and quickly lifted her off the ground with a scream from Amanda’s apprentice. The Old One quickly started to reach for her, its mouth gaping wide with rows of shark-like teeth only for Liz to kick out with her free foot and deliver a powerful Essentia strike against the things head, knocking a few teeth flying in the process.

  Amanda smiled in pride at her apprentices’ actions as she reached the creature and jumped, putting strength and energy into a punch against the tentacle holding up Liz. It spasmed and dropped Liz, just as Amanda hoped it would. Amanda landed her jump just in front of her apprentice.

  ‘Lovecraft called, he wants you back in Arkham don’t yeh know,’ she said as the thing backed off for a moment and seemed to look at, and weigh up this new foe.

  ‘Sarcastic little bitch are we?’ the thing growled at her.

  ‘I bet it’s an awful tough job doing your makeup in the morning with no eyes,’ Amanda said. ‘The lipstick must go everywhere.’

  ‘I see well enough,’ it roared as it lunged, its tentacles sweeping around as it wound up its taloned right arm to slash at Amanda who jumped and spun, kicking the thing in the face and causing it to stagger and flail about to keep its balance.

  ‘Oooh, my bad, I thought you were a girl wearing that there dress,’ she joked. Amanda’s mind reached out and pulled on the Essentia around her again to bring a powerful kinetic slam down on top of the thing. The Old One got crushed into the floor by the Magical attack and howled in pain.

  Amanda glanced at Liz just behind her. ‘Go help Gentle Water, I’ll finish this one,’ she said. Liz nodded and sprinted off towards Gentle Water as Amanda looked back at the Old One, who rose up from the ground.

  ‘Finish me will you?’ it rumbled.

  Amanda just smiled and, having gathered Essentia to her as she spoke with Liz, released it in a focused blast at the Scion, causing it to fall backwards in a mass of flailing tentacles and crash into one of the work lights behind it. Another of Amanda’s minds took hold of the Electricity in the light and brought its power right up, causing the other lights in the row connected to it to glow brightly for a moment before exploding while electrocuting the Old One. The thing went into a violent fit from the shock as the electricity coursed through its body while the rest of Amanda’s Multitasking effects hammered the Scions Aegis, breaking it down.

  Somehow the thing managed to heave itself off the broken light and backed off away from Amanda. Its Aegis destroyed, it looked at Amanda in fear, and after a moment of thought, turned and moved away, quickly heading off down the beach and away from the fight before Porting away altogether.

  Satisfied with that result, Amanda turned back to the rest of the fight, to see Liz holding her own very well against a number of gun-wielding Initiated. Close by, Orion and Xain were fighting four Scions and looked to be only just holding them off and making little headway with them. Seeing as Liz appeared to be okay now and didn’t look like she needed any help, Amanda turned to the Scion fight and ran towards a huge Were Tiger that fought the boys. Walking on two digitigrade feet, it looked like a massive powerfully built man, covered in Tiger fur, with human arms but animalistic legs. The Scion’s head looked entirely Tiger-like though and roared at Orion as he fought one of the Werewolves.

  Flanking the Were-Tiger, her show-off flying spin-kick took the Scion by surprise and spun the creature back with a cat like yelp and roar.

  Nearby, Orion and Xain continued to fight, jumping and flipping about while firing guns and swinging swords.

  Amanda focused on the Were-Tiger and stood ready with her knees bent and arms wide. ‘Let’s get it on fluffy,’ she said.

  The tiger smiled, which looked very disconcerting. Seeing a human level of intelligence behind those predatory eyes looked damn freaky.

  Feeling a little more concerned suddenly, Amanda fed a little more Essentia into her Aegis, just to be sure.

  The Scion leapt forward. The move wasn’t careless or negligent but carefully considered as he brought his huge furry hand in, to slash at her with its wicked looking black claws. Amanda blocked the Scions attacks as best she could, her superior strength holding off the beasts claws despite the Were Creature being taller and heavier than her by at least half as much again. Keeping her primary mind focused on not being hit by those claws, her Multitasking minds worked overtime to send daggers of Essentia against the Scion’s Aegis, trying her hardest to break through and get to the creature beneath.

  Getting nowhere fast, she used one of her minds to throw a blast of kinetic energy at the Scion, hitting it hard. Forced back and away from her, it held onto the floor with an iron grip and resisted the worst of the Magic as its Aegis spat and flared from the Magic.

  Within a heartbeat, the Scion rose back up and feinted another slash, catching Amanda off guard and knocking her over and onto her back. She’d barely registered the result of the Tigers attack when he suddenly leapt on top of her with a roar, claws out to cut her in half.

  About the only thing she could do in time was to catch the wrists of the Scion before he raked her with his talons, grunting with the effort of holding him off.

/>   ‘Not so flippant now are we?’ the Scion said rhetorically, before lunging in for a bite. Amanda dodged to the side as the Tigers maw snapped shut just beside her head.

  ‘I don’t go to second base on the first date,’ she said, and using her legs, and a helping blast of telekinetic energy flipped the Scion off of her and over her head.

  Amanda flipped sideways into a crouch to face the Scion as it righted itself in a similar way, growling at her.

  ‘And I’m not a fan of threesomes…’ it said confusingly.

  Something large and powerful went into the side of her like a speeding train and knocked her flying. She landed in the sand, rolling over a couple of times before she stopped and the huge Were Spider Woman pounced on top of her.

  ‘…but in this case, I’ll make an exception,’ the Were-Tiger said, it’s comment suddenly making sense

  Amanda looked up in shock at the hideous looking thing that hissed at her. The main body of the creature looked like a giant spider, two or three meters long with eight large, powerful legs, but from where the Spiders head would have been, a human woman’s torso grew. The coarse hair that covered the spider extended up from where the head would be, over the female hips before thinning to nothing. The woman’s body was otherwise naked and human apart from the huge black claws on her fingers and her curiously mutated head framed by a mane of black hair. She had eight inky black eyes, including the two that were otherwise human, the remaining six extending up over her forehead, pushing her hairline way back on her scalp. The Scions mouth looked to be filled with needle-like teeth, while its two large fang housings, normally found on the front of a spider's face, sat on either side of the woman’s mouth with huge black fangs dripping with venom extending from the bottom of them. They clawed the air looking for something to stab.

  One of the front spider legs knocked Amanda’s blocking hand away while the woman’s human hand slashed at her face, the Essentia laced claws momentarily breaking through her Aegis and cutting her cheek open. Amanda yelped and punched up at the Scion, hitting her square in the face. The Spider woman hissed and went in for another attack, but Amanda was ready for it and caught one, then the other of her human arms before they could hurt her, only for the two front Spider legs to suddenly go crazy and start scratching and tearing at her chest and stomach, ripping her shirt and skin, drawing more blood.

  Chancing a glance above her, she saw the Tiger Scion walking over to her. She needed to get out from under the Spider or the Were-Tiger would tear her head off. Lifting her legs up, she kicked out with both at the same time, knocking the Spider Woman back a few feet, the Essentia strike from her feet clearly hurting the Scion.

  Amanda sat herself up and got one leg under her before the Spider had invaded her personal space again, but the thing had been careless and left an opening that Amanda exploited and punched the thing hard in the chest, feeling at least a rib or two crack beneath her fist.

  The Spider jumped back and squealed in pain once more. ‘You bitch, you’ll pay for that,’ the Spider woman said in a hiss filled inhuman voice.

  Amanda knew the Were-Tiger was close and turned to look behind her, just in time for the Scion to rake its claws at her, breaking through her Aegis to cut into her upper arm and leave a quartet of deep slashes behind. Amanda hissed in pain at the attack, feeling more pressed to stay on her toes and defend herself today than at any time since the fight with Lucian.

  Pulling her arm away, she span and continued the momentum, delivering a spiralling kick to the Were Tigers face, knocking him into a drunken stagger as the Spider Woman charged in screaming at her. Feeling suddenly calm and in control, Amanda continued the spin, dodging out of the way and grasping two of the woman’s Spider legs. Putting more strength and speed into the spin, she hoisted the Spider Scion up off the ground, spun once more and threw the thing at the Tiger. The huge Spider-woman hit the dazed Were-Tiger full in the chest and both went down in a mess of limbs, screams and roars as they kicked up sand all about them in their confusion.

  As she watched, Orion and Xain finished off their Werewolf opponents, and turned to look at Amanda and the remaining two Scions.

  ‘Kicking ass and taking names Amanda,’ Xain said as he drew his sword from his back and walked towards the Spider and the Tiger. Orion nodded to her and followed his partner in crime, reloading his guns.

  Amanda put her hands on her knees and took a few seconds to catch her breath before she noticed the pain from the cuts on her body and face. Her arm stung the most, the Tigers claws had bitten deep and rivulets of blood ran down her skin. She looked about her to see Gentle Water, Liz and Maria fighting against Angel and three other Magi, while Maya, Yoh, Orion and Xain all fought against the remaining three Scions and two other Magi. The fight wasn’t over yet, and she still hadn’t seen Mr Black or the other Magi woman, Echo was it?

  A wall of kinetic force and explosive fire hit Amanda out of nowhere, driving her back and into the sand with a strength and power that frightened her. Her Aegis held, keeping her from the worst of it, but she could feel the Shield buckle slightly from the attack. She looked up in the direction that attack came from in time to see Echo step from a large doorway in the side of the huge rock in the middle of the island. Behind her, stood in that doorway, Mr Black watched her with a stony expression.

  Barely a fraction of a second after opening her eyes and seeing Echo and Mr Black, Magic flared from Echo again, smashing into her like a wrecking ball and knocking the wind out of her. As she tried to breathe, she focused all of her minds on bolstering her defences, trying to fend off the attacks. She’d barely started trying to defend herself when she found she’d been lifted into the air and then pounded into the floor, somewhat closer to Echo now.

  ‘No quips?’ Echo said, as a series of Magical strikes hit her about the head, each one making bells ring in her mind and twisting her neck in painful ways.

  ‘No jokes Amanda?’ Echo added as a lightning bolt flew from her hand and struck Amanda in the chest, slamming her into the ground again and causing her body to spasm in shock from the electricity while her Aegis tried in vain to keep it at bay.

  ‘I’m disappointed in you. I thought you’d be a more worthy opponent, she said as more Magic crashed into Amanda.

  Amanda needed to fight back, she needed to defend herself. The next Magical strike rolled her over the ground. Quickly, she stopped herself and sent a blast of energy at Echo, but with a casual flick of her hand, the attack flew to Echo’s side and missed its target entirely.

  ‘Hah, is that all you’ve got?’ Echo said. Amanda jumped up to run at Echo, only to have another of Echo’s attacks get through her counter effects, sweep her legs from under her, and throw her to the floor. ‘You’re not worthy to have Mr Black as your father or me as your sister.’

  Sister? Had she said sister, thought Amanda through the haze of pain that clouded her mind?

  ‘I’m sorry Amanda,’ Mr Black said from maybe ten meters away. ‘But I simply cannot let you ruin my plans. I have invested too much in this to see it fail now,’ he said.

  Amanda moved to get up and walk forward, her feet feeling wobbly and unsteady. She had aches and pains calling for attention from every part of her body, her mind swam with pain as she struggled to get a grip on reality and what was happening to her. Echo’s Magic and power had turned out to be way beyond hers. This was a powerful and dangerous woman and Amanda had no idea if she could go the distance with her. Her Aegis still remained intact, she could defend herself for a little while longer yet, but something needed to change, otherwise… well, Amanda didn’t want to think what the consequences might be if they couldn’t stand against Mr Black's plans.

  A sustained and powerful Essentia and Kinetic Strike from Echo collided with Amanda’s Aegis and forced her back. Amanda leant into it, resisting its relentless force as her Aegis and the Magic from Echo that surged into it glowed and flared with sparks and Magical fire.

  Nearby, Amanda watched as Gentle Wa
ter, Liz and Maria struggled against the forces of Mr Black, Liz hung back looking hurt and nursing a limp arm with Maria defending her while Gentle Water held off two skilled Martial Artist Magi who were causing him some problems.

  This did not look good. Amanda could feel her Aegis slipping away beneath the raging torrent of Magic that hammered against it, she couldn’t hold this for much longer. She looked over to Liz and Maria again, saw Liz look at her in desperation and saw how worried she looked as Maria did her best.

  Amanda closed her eyes and focused hard on resisting this torrent of power and energy, holding her Aegis against it, forcing as much Essentia into her shield as she could, but feeling the inevitable cracks forming and the Aegis starting to weaken and break, falling steadily away.

  She didn’t want to die like this, she couldn’t let it end like this. She had just discovered her father, even if he was an old psychopathic and seemingly insane man with a daughter that Amanda sensed some hostility from. She had started to question whether she would invite Echo to any family gatherings.

  She laughed a little to herself, finding humour here in the darkest of moments.

  Then something changed, suddenly the attacks from the Magi that her friends were fighting faltered, and after a moment of confusion, Maria and Gentle Water were winning. Looking to see what was happening, she saw Angel had backed off, and then attacked her own allies. She had flanked Mr Blacks Magi enforcers and delivered powerful Aegis destroying attacks against them, and as Gentle Water and Maria took the upper hand, Angel turned and ran into the palm trees and foliage around the rock.

  Suddenly another source of Magic, a good way beyond Echo and above them flared up, powerful and dangerous and ripped into Echo’s Aegis.