by Jacob Holo
“Oh no,” Nicole whispered, turning on her heel. “You’re here, too. Where are you? Show yourself!”
I am not that stupid.
Nicole walked through the frozen reavers and eyed the surrounding mansion walls.
“You’re somewhere inside. I can feel it.”
You are only human. Eventually, you will fall asleep, and I will kill you.
There, Nicole thought, facing a section of the mansion no different than any other. She wiped a sweaty hand on her hoodie, pulled out two knives and walked towards the nearest door.
Come then, to your death. I await inside.
“Is killing humans all you reavers care about?”
You think our only goal is killing? You understand nothing.
Nicole walked up a short flight of stone steps to a richly carved double door. She eased the handle open and peeked into a foyer with green and yellow striped walls and paintings of men in heroic poses. No Mantis, though. She slipped into the foyer and let the door close softly at her back.
We would never kill off such a useful resource.
“A resource?”
You feast on our dead to fuel your pathetic machines. Did you not think the reverse might be true?
Somewhere to the right, Nicole thought, walking into another room. This one had thick red drapes over the walls, chairs with red velvet cushions, and two brightly-refracting chandeliers. She walked on, through one room after another, each as extravagantly gaudy as the last. She took a stone staircase two flights up and continued through the mansion.
Pyrokinesis, telekinesis, time shifting. All these powers and more course through your disgusting blood.
Nicole walked into a white oblong room with six chandeliers hanging from a ceiling painted like the sky.
We will learn to extract or replicate your powers. We shall improve ourselves with the knowledge we gain by studying you, and we shall be stronger for it.
Nicole heard the bass rumble of a reaver exhaling behind a nearby wall.
With this power, my army will be unstoppable, and my enemies will scatter before its might. Your world is not my first conquest, and it will not be my last.
“Well, I’ve got something to tell you,” Nicole said, backing away from the wall.
And what is that?
“I can hear you breathing!” Nicole shouted. She threw all her kinetic strength at the wall, blasting it apart. High speed debris showered the next room and punched through two more walls before stopping.
Nicole ran up to the hole and looked in. No Mantis and no reaver parts.
“But I heard— damn it! Where are you?”
Pieces of the broken wall flowed back together. On the edge of thinking, Nicole sensed mild amusement and satisfaction.
The Mantis burst through the wall behind her, plaster and wood cascading off its slender metal body. It charged forward, scythe arms swinging for her head.
Nicole dropped to her knees and threw one of her knives. The blade sped towards the Mantis and sliced its shoulder. One of its scythe arms flew off. The appendage twirled over her head, embedding itself in the reforming wall behind her.
Nicole scrambled to her feet and sprinted for the nearest door. The Mantis let out a high-pitched screech. Thick, glowing fluid spurted from its stump. It swung at her and missed, tearing through a wall.
I will rip you apart!
The Mantis charged after her, bursting through any walls and furniture in its path. Nicole raced past the rooms to a long, white hallway lined with exquisitely carved chairs and ornate plinths holding statues and vases. She took a sharp turn down it, her soles skidding on the hardwood floor.
The Mantis charged after her, gaining.
Nicole looked behind and threw her second knife. The Mantis ducked behind the corner. Her knife blasted its way out of the mansion. Nicole sprinted on, feeling in her hoodie for another knife. She was out.
“Damn it!”
Nicole stopped at the end of the hall. She hit the walls and ceiling with kinetic force and pulled the debris into a tight bundle. The Mantis rounded the corner into the hall and stopped.
“Take this!” she shouted, launching the debris.
The Mantis sidestepped out of sight, letting the debris blow a gaping hole in the mansion exterior.
Nicole collected another bundle of broken vases, chair legs and arms, candle stands, and chunks of plaster. They floated lazily in front of her. She waited for the Mantis to turn into the hallway again.
“Come on…” Nicole whispered, heart racing.
The floor behind Nicole exploded upward. The Mantis reached up through the hole and slashed at her with its remaining scythe. Nicole turned on her heels and tried to pull her leg back. The bladed tip cut into the meat of her thigh. She fell back from the Mantis and hit the hardwood floor. Blood soaked into her torn pant leg.
The Mantis rose through the hole, standing tall for once in this confined environment. Satisfaction radiated from its mind. It grabbed her leg with a short arm, snakelike digits wrapping around her wound and constricting.
“Gah!” Nicole cried.
I will enjoy this.
The Mantis dragged her closer and raised its scythe.
Nicole slammed a fist into the floorboards, blasting them apart. On the floor below, the fragmented ceiling pounded through the Mantis’ leg like buckshot, blowing it off. It screamed, collapsing and pulling Nicole down one floor. She landed in another hallway on a long blue and gold carpet. Ribs cracked and her head spun with stars.
The Mantis glared at her, eight ruby eyes burning with fury. The digits around her leg tightened painfully. It raised its scythe once more.
Nicole thrust a hand towards the ceiling, tearing it to pieces. She clenched her fist and jerked it down, pummeling the Mantis with debris from above. She hit the walls to either side with kinetic force and crossed her arms. Heavy pieces of statues, glass, and metalwork pounded the Mantis, some punching through its body. Pus leaked from dozens of wounds.
The Mantis collapsed to the ground, reaver blood pooling underneath it. Its digits loosened around her leg.
Nicole scrambled away. She tried standing up, but sharp pain exploded in her thigh. She collapsed onto her butt.
The Mantis let out a rumbling exhale, steaming fluid sputtering from its mouth. The ceiling and walls reformed around it. It reached forward with a slender arm and pulled itself towards her.
I cannot fail my queen… I will kill you…
Nicole reached towards the ceiling.
“You’re going to fail! And you know what else?”
What, human?
“I’m not afraid of you anymore!” Nicole shouted. She brought the ceiling down on the Mantis and crushed it completely.
Blackness replaced the world.
* * *
The world came alive with light, color, and the gaping maws of a dozen reavers. Nicole gasped and crumpled to the ground next to Daniel.
The charging reavers slowed and stopped. Hundreds of eyes on dozens of heads swiveled around seemingly at random. One of the sentinels pointed its head to the sky and screamed.
BREEEIIIIIGH!!!
Nicole wasn’t sure, but she thought she could feel the creature’s terror. It turned and fled over the roof.
Another sentinel cried out and followed the first. A juggernaut turned and ran, crashing through the mansion. Hive lords leaped onto the borehole walls and began climbing. Creepers and drones disappeared from sight. Reavers of all shapes and sizes fled from the tau guards.
“What the hell?” Daniel said.
“I’m not complaining,” Shoko said. “But, yeah. What just happened?”
“I killed the Mantis,” Nicole said. “I don’t think they like being leaderless.”
“Huh?” Daniel said. “Did you say— Ohmygod-you’re-bleeding!”
“Scheiße! Hold still!” Melanie said, setting her crossbow down and leaning over Nicole.
Melanie put her hands on Nicole’s thigh.
“Ah!”
“Hold still… Dis vill only take a moment.”
The blood soaking her jeans retreated back into the wound, feeling like a warm rush. Pain melted into wonderful bliss.
“Oh, that’s nice…”
“Dere. Now let me check de rest of you.”
Melanie put a splayed hand over Nicole’s legs, hips, stomach, chest, arms, neck, and head. She held her hand for a few moments at each position, reversing injuries Nicole didn’t even know she had. With a sharp jerk, two ribs moved back into place.
“Ah!”
“All done. Good as new.”
Nicole stood up. She shook out her leg and patted her chest.
“Wow, thanks,” Nicole said. “Are any of those reavers coming back?”
“No,” Daniel said, watching the borehole walls. “So, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. The reavers were all coming at us and suddenly I felt ice water down my spine. Next thing I knew, the only ones moving were me and the Mantis. I killed it and then reset back here.”
“Tau double-prime,” Rüdiger said. “A freeze within a freeze.”
“You mean other people can do that?”
“Some,” Rüdiger said. “They mainly use it for scouting to locate the reavers. I always thought it was a purely defensive ability since the reavers are also frozen. I never thought you could pull a Mantis into tau double-prime and fight it.”
“Okay, enough chit chat!” Shoko said. “Who votes we use the juggernaut corpse to fuel the flyer and head home right now?”
“You’re awfully happy,” Daniel said.
“Baka! It’s good to be alive!”
Chapter 20
Triple-C
The flyer descended through the final borehole lock, which irised closed above them. From the dome’s edge, Viktor glowered at them with crossed arms. His assassins stood as far back from the center as possible. Reaver parts filled the dome’s hollowed-out bowl.
“Yes, Nicole,” Shoko said. “I know it seems strange, but as far as we can tell, they just used the flyers for heavy lifting. They never actually went anywhere in them.”
“So how many of these things are there?”
“Four that still work, including this one. There are dozens stored in the Egyptian City, but we could never get the broken ones to function. I’m working on it, though. All this old tech is kind of a part time job for me. I’ve gotten some of the really simple devices to work again… for a few minutes, anyway. Then they start to fizzle and blue smoke pours out.”
“Well, you have to start somewhere.”
Daniel waved to the Overwatch assassins. “Hey, guys! Miss us?”
“Mne nravilos tvoe pricutctvie poka bila vozmozjnost,” the white-haired woman next to Viktor said.
“That’s right!” Daniel said. “All hail the returning conquerors!”
Rüdiger cleared his throat. “That’s not what she said.”
Shoko sat the flyer down on the outer walkway, since her original landing platform was covered by a giant reaver jaw.
Viktor walked to the flyer. “Report.”
“We came! We saw!” Daniel said. “We kicked their metal asses!”
Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Well, actually Nicole did.”
“Hello,” Nicole said, waving meekly.
“You succeeded in killing the Mantis?” Viktor asked.
“Single-handedly!” Daniel said.
“While the rest of you did what?”
“Stood around uselessly,” Rüdiger said. “She also sent a whole reaver army running for their lives and killed a juggernaut.”
“Now that’s not true,” Nicole said. “The juggernaut was a group effort.”
“The killing blow gets the credit,” Rüdiger said with a wink.
“You might want to check the Greek Wall,” Daniel said. “I have a feeling you won’t find any reavers attacking for a very long time.”
Viktor grunted noncommittally. He turned and exited the dome. His assassins followed. Viktor shouted something in Russian, and they all took off at a run, some vanishing in a haze of speed.
“You’re welcome!” Daniel said.
“It’s just human nature,” Rüdiger said. “He needs to see proof with his own eyes.”
“So what now?” Nicole asked.
“Well, we are late for our shift on the wall,” Daniel said.
“You have got to be kidding,” Shoko said.
“No, seriously. We’re really late.”
“Mein Gott im Himmel. Someone save us from dis madman.”
“You can go stand on the wall with your communist buddies,” Rüdiger said. “I’m going to find some alcohol and drink until I pass out with a smile on my face.”
They walked out of the borehole dome. Sunlight gleamed off the inner city domes.
“So, do you think we actually won?” Nicole asked. “I mean, what if there’s more than one Mantis commanding the reavers or if the second borehole is too far along to repair or—”
Daniel put an arm around her shoulders and smiled at her.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Nicole said.
“Try not to let it worry you,” Daniel said. “Come on. I want to see what’s happening at the wall. We might find your answer there.”
Shoko led the way, opening shortcuts through the slaughterhouse and the Egyptian Wall with the press of a hand. At their leisurely pace, it took almost half an hour to reach the outer city.
“I don’t hear any explosions from the wall,” Rüdiger said, exiting the Egyptian Wall.
“And I don’t hear any reaver cries either,” Daniel said. “Always a good sign. Except when they’re setting an ambush.”
“Hey, quit it!” Nicole said.
“I’m just saying quiet reavers are not always a good thing.”
They walked through the outer city, following the main thoroughfare past Daniel’s house and towards the outer wall. It seemed almost like a different place without the sounds of distant combat.
The only sound she heard…
“Does anyone else hear that?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah,” Daniel said. “Sounds like a lot of people talking at once.”
They followed the road, turned left, and caught a clear sight of the wall for the first time. Tau guards lined the top, many of them talking excitedly. Several pointed when Nicole and the others came into view. Word spread, swiftly turning them into the center of attention.
“What are they all doing?” Daniel said.
“They’re staring at us,” Rüdiger said. “And they seem to be in quite a good mood.”
“Are we in trouble?” Shoko asked.
“We’d better not be,” Nicole said.
From the bottom of the wall, Viktor started clapping. His assassins followed his lead and soon the entire wall was clapping and whistling and cheering.
“Is all this for us?” Nicole asked.
“Actually,” Daniel said. “I think it’s for you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Just a guess. Here, let’s find out.”
Daniel shoved her forward.
“Hey!”
The crowd cheered even louder. Nicole looked across the wall, cheeks burning. Viktor stepped forward and raised her unresisting arm.
“What’s all this about?” Nicole asked.
“The wall was under attack while you were gone,” Viktor said. “The loss of their Mantis had an immediate and crippling effect. Many reavers turned and ran. One sentinel actually curled into a ball like a pill bug and sat there getting blasted. A juggernaut attacking the wall just gave up, hunched down, and pulled its legs into its shell. Now smile and wave.”
Nicole smiled and waved with all her heart, eyes tearing up.
“I have already sent scouting parties into the tunnels to gain a better picture of the situation. If they report back favorably, and I believe they will, I will begin sending kill teams in to reclaim t
he tunnel network.”
“What about the new borehole?”
“Naturally, that is a high priority. I have a team of two hundred tau guards preparing for the trip as we speak.”
“That was fast.”
“When the tide of battle turns, you seize the opportunity. The reavers are clearly in disarray. We must repair what damage we can while they remain in this state. Now come, you have another important duty to perform. There are some men and women who wish to be seen with you today.”
“Oh? Who’s that?”
“Everyone, actually,” Viktor said. “But this will be the seven members of the Chronopolis Central Council. I have already sent a runner to report this current development to them. Knowing my superiors, they will be here very soon.”
Nicole turned to her companions.
“Not even an official tau guard and already meeting the council,” Daniel said. “Wow, you’re moving up in the world.”
“I think it’s about time someone made your position official,” Shoko said.
“Yes, we will rectify that very soon,” Viktor said.
Rüdiger stood back from the rest. For a moment, Nicole thought he might not approve, but he surprised her with a grin and a nod.
After a brief wait, the seven members of triple-C arrived. The cheering crowd became much more subdued in their presence. They weren’t what Nicole had expected at all, which were seven crusty Russian men. In fact, three of them looked younger than thirty. Five of the council members were Russians, three men and two women. The last two were a wizened Asian woman with a tight bun of gray hair and a huge African American man (or perhaps African, Nicole wasn’t sure) that towered over everyone, even Viktor. They all wore somber black uniforms with brief highlights of red.
One by one, they congratulated Nicole and the others, either in heavily accented English or their own languages. The crowd’s enthusiasm slowly returned. Viktor led them up the wall, where Nicole lost count of how many hands she shook. They were from so many nationalities and ethnicities. Some of them actually planted kisses on her cheeks.
“Where did the council go?” Nicole asked once the excitement had ebbed. Most of the tau guards had left the wall. At its base, several teams prepped for combat in the tunnels.
“Probably back to their bunker,” Rüdiger said. “They’re an obscenely cautious bunch.”
