RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

Hick smiled at her in his snarky way. “I just came back to life and you’re already giving orders. Like I said, nothing new under the sun.”

  “Is this meteor the reason we’re back, Sarge?” Jessica asked.

  Riot didn’t want to burden them with talk of missions and threats against the Earth but there wasn’t going to be enough time to treat them with kid gloves. Resurrected or not, they were soldiers. They had a mission. There would be plenty of time to tell them all the details after they’d succeeded.

  “That and something the See-SID is calling Space Druids,” Riot said.

  “Their official name is—”

  “Too long to say, Doctor Nobu,” Axel interrupted.

  “Space Druids?” Hick asked before erupting into laughter.

  “You went after a Hell Egg five years ago but draw the line at Space Druids?” Carlos asked.

  “Relax, Diaz,” Riot said. “That’s just his sense of humor.”

  “Yeah, Diaz,” Hick added. “You gotta be able to laugh in this line of work.”

  “The Space Druids want to merge their world with ours. We have to stop them,” Riot went on.

  “So this meteor is full of Space Druids?” Jessica asked.

  “Unknown,” Nobu said. “You are to infiltrate the tower on the meteor and eradicate anything inside of it.”

  Hick slammed his fist into his open palm. “From the deepest depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of space.”

  “The meteor is on this side of the moon,” Riot told him.

  “I guess there’s no time for astronaut school then. Too bad. I always wanted to do some G-force training.”

  “Succeed in this and you may get your wish,” Axel said.

  “Until then,” Nobu walked to Lino. “I think it’s time you all reacquaint yourselves with your other teammate.” He operated a control panel inside Lino’s holding and a humming sound came from the android.

  Both arms moved up and down with just a hint of jerking. It was really the only tell that it wasn’t human. Except for the eyes which had been replaced with a visor. On that visor was a green light that went from its left side to its right like a heart rate monitor.

  “Run diagnostics,” Nobu said to the android.

  “Internal memory updated,” the android said. It was definitely Lino’s voice but it spoke as if stringing words was not a natural act for it. As though he spoke English as a secondary language. “Weapons systems, all green. Range of motion—” The android stepped out of its holding space and moved fully, bending and twisting as a normal human would. “—full. All security measures and basic functions, normal.”

  “Your directive?” Nobu asked.

  “Primary directive: to annihilate all forms of sorcery.” The green eye changed to red and Lino raised his arm, pointing it at Jessica. The fingers bent unnaturally backwards and hooked into the forearm as the palm folded inward leaving a hole clear through the wrist. “Weapon charging.” An orange glow formed from inside the hole in Lino’s hand.

  Chapter 12

  Yellow strands of light flowed into Lino’s hand as his forearm suddenly opened vents on the sides. Smoke billowed out from the new openings and the orange light grew brighter.

  “Survival rate: seven percent,” Lino said. “Be advised, those not of sorcery, please vacate the premises. Firing in three…”

  Riot sprang forward. She had barely had time to rest after the last mission and already she was jumping back into the fray. By the time Lino got to one, her cyber arm had clamped onto the barrel of Lino’s.

  “Firing,” Lino said.

  Whatever the energy projectile was, it crackled as it fired from Lino’s hand. It slammed into Riot’s cyber arm. She could hear the metal sizzling and even feel the radiant heat as her whole arm rapidly warmed.

  The energy fizzled out and the android Lino jerked its gun arm back, pulling Riot closer.

  “Secondary weapons activating,” Lino said. His other arm morphed into an electrified baton and he swung it at Riot.

  Normally a melee weapon was an easy block or deflection for her. But the cyber arm against an electrical attack, that spelled bad news for her. She had only one option. She released the cannon and ducked, letting the baton go over her head.

  While crouched, she took a swing at the android’s leg with her cyber arm. The strike sounded odd. Not like metal on metal but more like metal on plastic.

  Her hit dented Lino’s leg but the little imperfection quickly popped back out, good as new. And it definitely didn’t have the desired effect of putting the android on the floor.

  The baton came back around, ready to crash down on her but Hick jumped in at the last second, throwing his whole body onto Lino’s arm. He pulled the baton away from Riot and the electrical tendrils danced all around him, singeing his clothes and skin.

  “Hick!” Riot shouted.

  Hick only laughed while Lino tried to shake the resurrected man off. Their quarrel gave Riot time to get clear of them before Lino slammed Hick into her.

  Riot watched as Hick continued to be burned by the electricity. But he held his grip on the baton. He even shifted it to compensate for Lino’s wild movements. His muscles should have been locked up by the current but except for the shaking, he seemed to be doing fine.

  Finally, Lino’s cannon arm morphed back into a hand and it grabbed Hick, prying him from his other side. Riot dashed back in to help but Lino brought Hick overhead and tossed him back toward the tanks. Riot could swear she heard Hick laughing the whole time, stopping only when he hit the ground.

  “Target reacquired,” Lino said, making his way on foot toward Jessica.

  “Sarge!” Jessica yelled, backing away.

  “Shut that thing down, Doc!” Axel yelled.

  Carlos fired on Lino but the bullets were ineffective. Even a head shot didn’t work against whatever surface materials were covering the android.

  Nobu tapped in orders on the control panel in the case but nothing was working. The panel flashed a red bar. “He is jamming the remote signal.”

  “That’s impossible!” Axel shouted, joining Carlos in firing on the approaching android. “It’s a robot.”

  “You stuck a real personality in a robot!” Carlos yelled. “Did you think that wouldn’t cause some problems with programming?”

  “But the system is built to—”

  “Doesn’t matter!” Riot yelled, stepping in Lino’s path. She pushed back against the android as it marched toward a fleeing Jessica. “Snap out of it, Lino. If you’ve got any memory in there then you still know how to follow orders.” Her boots skidded across the floor, only slowing Lino’s approach but not stopping it. “Remember that one time when Weaver turned you into a bull? You could hear me then. This is the same thing so listen up!” Her words fell on deaf ears. She tried to dig in to stop Lino but her actions barely slowed the android.

  “You are obstructing CSID mission parameters. Desist or I will be forced to eradicate you.”

  “That’s kinda harsh, don’t you think?” Hick asked, rising to his feet, burned but very much alive.

  “I just got all of you back,” Riot muttered. “I’m not losing you again.” She took three steps back then rushed at Lino. “Even if I have to beat it into your head!”

  Riot leaped up, using Lino’s shoulder to vault herself higher. As she came down, her cyber arm met with the top of Lino’s head.

  She dropped to the ground and the android finally stopped its forward approach. It turned toward Riot. Its eye turned silver and slowed its travel from one side to the other.

  “Lino?” Riot asked.

  “Running diagnostics. A protocol was left activated upon my recent testing,” Lino said.

  “Then turn it off,” Riot told him.

  “Deactivating.” Lino’s silver eye changed back to green. “All functions normal. Operating in Down mode. Thank you, Sarge.”

  “You recognize me?”

  “Of course. How could I forget?”

  No
w it was Riot’s turn to hug someone. She wrapped her arms around the android who returned the gesture. Even though it was a robotic version of Lino, Riot still almost cried.

  “So everyone’s getting hugs but me?” Hick asked.

  “How are you still alive after that?” Riot asked.

  “I don’t know,” Hick told her, brushing at some of the charred areas of gray skin. “I guess I’m invincible.”

  “Is that normal?” Carlos asked Axel.

  “You’re guess is as good as mine. I just found out the See-SID could even do resurrections.”

  “I’ll bet that means the same for you, Jessica,” Hick went on. “We should test it out. Hey, Lino.”

  “Hello, Hick. How have you been?”

  “Better than ever. Shoot that thing at Jessica.”

  “Stop it!” Jessica shouted.

  “That’s enough,” Riot ordered. “Lino, do you know what happened to you? What you are?”

  “I am fully aware of my present state, yes. But I am me.”

  Riot smiled. “Then that’ll just have to do.”

  Axel watched the group as they joined together. There was something that spoke of family with the four of them. Clearly dysfunctional but family none-the-less. It was a combination, he could tell, that was the reason behind their successful missions. Unlike most units that followed orders, this one questioned them. Even Riot’s orders. In a normal battle situation, it wouldn’t have been the best quality but for the strange things they’d gone up against, it was perfect. Sometimes improvising was the best course of action.

  “While I hate to break up the reunion,” Carlos said. “We still have a mission.”

  “Looks like we’re agreeing more and more on matters, Diaz,” Riot said.

  “All of you rest up.” Axel glanced at Hick, Jessica and Lino. “Or do whatever it is you need to prepare. We all meet in the storage garage in seven hours. Riot, I suggest you and Carlos get some sleep.”

  “Will do.” She smiled at her team again. “We’ve got a meteor to stop.”

  Chapter 13

  Bioluminescent water cast a calming blue light on Jessica's skin. The recently resurrected woman lay in a steel bathtub, pulling the water up along her arms and her face. The color of her skin was already returning to its pre-decayed state. And the gunshot wound from five years ago had filled in.

  Jessica sighed. As her normal skin tone returned, she started to feel like her old self.

  She didn’t question how the strange water restored her. The CSID had so many magics and devices at their disposal. And in the five years since her death, there was no telling how much more they had acquired. Since the waters seemed to have no negative side effects as far as she experienced, questioning how it worked seemed a moot point. All that mattered was that it did work.

  “Look at you.”

  Jessica's calm was immediately shattered and she quickly sat up, bringing her knees to her chest. “Hick?”

  Hick popped up off the door frame of the room and stepped inside the bathing chamber. “As pretty as the day you died.”

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Don’t worry. I wasn’t close enough to see the good parts.” He looked down his own pants. “Mine are still there so I assume—”

  “Why do you still look like that?” she asked, referring to his gray color and withered look.

  Hick admired his arms. They weren’t exactly bony but they did look malnourished. “I dunno. I kinda like it. It’s a nice reminder of what can happen on the job.”

  “You should get in here.”

  “With you?” Hick asked, obviously pleased with the idea. “Well, I’ll be right there.”

  “No,” Jessica said. “After me.”

  “Nah. I already had that offer. Besides—” He approached the tub with a scheming look in his eyes. “—something tells me whatever that stuff is doing, it won’t last long.” He knelt beside the steel tub and glanced at the water in front of Jessica. “What is it, anyway?”

  “I don’t know but it works,” Jessica said, holding up one of her hands. “Just look.”

  Hick looked at her normalized skin then glanced back at his own decayed color. He stuck one finger in the water. It took a few seconds but a single spot on his finger changed color from gray to a pinkish hue. Hick snarled at it as though disgusted by the sight.

  “You think you can be like them, again?” he asked, barely above a whisper.

  “We are like them, Hick. We’re alive.”

  Hick stared at her, his eyes narrowed. Hick had always been a little wilder than the others and far more impulsive but the look Jessica saw was closer to that of a more calculated mind. Someone with a plan. It made her uncomfortable. Not only because she didn’t know what he was thinking but also because it was Hick doing the thinking. There was no telling what might be going on in his scheming mind.

  The mohawked man brushed at a black spot on his uniform from where Lino’s electricity had burned it. “I got shot and electrocuted today. Then I got thrown across a room. But I’m okay. I’d say I’m more than alive. And I’m willing to bet you’re more, too.”

  “Hick, what are you talking about?”

  “You and me are the same now, Jessica. We gotta stick together.”

  “Of course, we’re the same. We’re the same as everyone else, too.”

  Hick slowly shook his head. “No. No, we’re not. We’re special now. We can’t be hurt.” He drew a combat knife.

  Jessica finally noticed the rips in his sleeve. They hadn’t been there before Lino went on a rampage. “What happened to your shirt?”

  “Let me show you.” Using the knife, he cut off the rest of the sleeve, exposing his forearm. There were four cuts going along the arm. “At first, I thought it was a fluke. Just some weird effect of coming back. But then I tried it again and again. And the most interesting things kept happening.” He placed the blade on his arm and pushed down.

  “Don’t,” Jessica said. “What are you..?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question,” Hick said, dragging the blade across his arm. “What. Are. You.” The knife opened a ghastly cut in him. Hick barely seemed to register it as his arm started bleeding.

  Jessica watched the blood start a normal red color but quickly congeal into a crusty black line along the cut. It was as if immediately scabbed over. “How?”

  “You see, now?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Kind of like how I don’t understand the way that water works.” Suddenly, Hick grabbed her arm.

  Jessica pulled back but Hick’s grip was too strong.

  “Let go!” she demanded.

  “Exactly,” he said, keeping a firm grip on her arm. “Just let go. We’re not like them, anymore. Why pretend?”

  “Stop it, Hick!”

  “We’re the same and I’m gonna prove it to you.” He placed the knife on her skin.

  Panic ran through her. “Hick, please. Don’t.”

  “You won’t even feel it.” He sliced her arm.

  Jessica winced and finally jerked her arm away. But her brow furrowed when she realized her reaction was one of expectation rather than actual pain. She stared at the wound. It was a shallower cut than his own self-inflicted injuries. “It doesn’t…It doesn’t hurt.”

  They both watched the thin line of blood change colors, leaving a black mark on her bare skin.

  “Sarge has a robot arm and Lino was turned into a robot,” Hick said. “And who knows what really happened to Weaver? That means you and me gotta stick together. We’re the only two of our kind.”

  “Our kind?” Jessica asked, uncomfortable with the idea he was proposing.

  “I’ll let you come up with a name for whatever we are,” Hick said with a smile. “But now you know, you ain’t like them. Not anymore.”

  Jessica dropped her arm in the water, hoping it would affect the cut. Another sigh of relief escaped her lungs as the water took the black mark away, he
aling the new wound.

  Hick frowned. The change was apparently frustrating to him. “And what happens when you’re not in your little bath? You can’t sit in that water for the rest of your life. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to accept what we are.”

  “You can accept it,” Jessica shot back.

  Hick took the knife and placed the tip in his hand. He twisted the blade, drilling a small hole in his palm. “Believe me, I have. You might even say I’ve embraced it. Funny how invulnerability changes you.”

  “Are you sure it changed you?” Jessica asked. Her words were meant to be a blast to his psychology. But he only smiled.

  “What’s going on here?” Riot asked, stepping into the room. She glanced down at the twisting knife. Hick had turned his palm inward, trying to hide the bloody hole. But she’d seen it and it chilled her.

  “Nothing, Sarge,” Hick said. “Jessica, here, was just extolling the virtues of bath taking. I told her I was a shower man, myself. Even offered a demonstration of my considerable shower taking abilities. Sadly, she turned me down.”

  Riot didn’t buy the explanation for a minute. She knew Hick too well and while she may have had five years to change, he just woke up after being dead for the same amount of time. As far as Hick and Jessica were concerned, it was just yesterday that they were in the Marianas Trench with the Hell Egg.

  “Why do you still look like that?” Riot asked, taking in the areas of decay on his skin.

  “Just thought I’d try something a little different. You know, see how the other half lived. The undead half ya know?”

  Riot’s glance shifted to Jessica. The look in her eyes hinted at things being very wrong. “Get some new fatigues on and meet me in the garage in twenty minutes. Both of you.”

  Jessica and Hick watched Riot walk out of the room. Hick waited several moments before turning back to Jessica. He’d seen the look on Riot’s face. She may not have known what he was up to but she knew him well enough to know something was up. And he wanted to be sure that she hadn’t stuck around to listen in.