RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

  “So what are you going to do?” Jessica asked.

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Hick told her. “For now, I reckon I’ll help stop a meteor.” He cut off the small spot on his finger that had changed, leaving a black spot in its place. “That’s better. You just remember our little talk. People like us gotta stick together, right?”

  Hick didn’t even wait for a response. He just re-sheathed the knife and left the room, whistling a tune as if nothing strange had just happened.

  Jessica looked back at the spot he’d cut her then quickly stuck her arm back in the water as tears began welling in her eyes.

  Chapter 14

  The garage was full of crates and canvas-covered items. Riot recognized a few of the shapes from previous missions years ago. She also knew that the majority of the items would be of little use to them in their current mission.

  “This used to be an active parking garage,” Axel started. “But so many agents work remotely, now. There just hasn’t been a need for its original purpose.”

  Riot raised her cyber arm. “Kinda like outdated tech, huh?”

  “Exactly,” Axel said before catching himself. “Oh, sorry.”

  Riot shook her head, letting it slide. “Where’s the rest of my team?”

  She took note of Lino, standing silently next to her, and Carlos checking and re-checking his gear. She could tell he wanted little to do with the freak show of a team. That she got her people back after five years only rubbed salt in the wound of having just lost his team.

  Jessica finally jogged through the garage, zipping her fatigues up as though everything was normal.

  “Fall in, Jessica!” Riot shouted. “Where’s Hick?”

  “I don’t know, sir. Last I saw him was…He left shortly after you did.”

  “How are you feeling?” Axel asked Jessica.

  “Better, thank you, Agent Lynch.”

  Axel chuckled. “I get enough of being called Lynch out of her.” He pointed to Riot. “You can call me Axel.”

  Lino turned down the length of the garage. “Scanning.”

  “Scanning what?” Riot asked.

  “Hick is approaching at approximately zero-point-three miles an hour.”

  “He always take that long before a mission?” Carlos asked, irritated.

  “He moves when he has to,” Riot told him.

  “We got a meteor heading our way and he doesn’t think this is a moment when he has to?”

  Riot gritted her teeth. She didn’t like Carlos telling her how to run her team but he was also right. “Move your ass, Hick!” she shouted.

  “Y’know, you really should try this lifestyle, Sarge!” Hick shouted as he finally came into Riot’s view. He had changed his uniform, dressing and arming himself like the others.“It’s got a real nice calming effect. Like I got no cares in the world.” His gaze turned to Jessica. “Like nothing can hurt me.”

  Riot had no time for his cryptic remarks. She studied her team, pleased to see that even Lino wore a uniform. Though his was short sleeved and he carried no weapons on him.

  Riot figured being the walking weapon that he was, there was little reason for her android teammate to be weighed down by guns.

  “We’re all here,” Riot said.

  “Okay. Here’s the situation kiddos,” Axel started. “We have a Space Druid meteor coming our way. The rest of the population doesn’t yet know about it and I want it to stay that way. So we are sending you up there to take care of the problem.”

  “So, it’s just like the Russian border?” Riot asked.

  “Not exactly,” Axel told her. “As you all know, failure is not an option. Especially in this case. But we all know the realities of situations like this. The See-SID doesn’t want you to blow this thing up. We’ll handle that. What we need from you is to execute anything that’s inside the tower. Once that’s complete, the barrier should come down and we’ll take the rest out with a precision assault.”

  “Why can’t you just do that in the first place?” Jessica asked.

  “Unfortunately, that barrier is of the magic variety. Nothing gets in or out. It’s a completely impenetrable defense. Something inside is generating the barrier.”

  “The Doc mentioned eradication. Why can’t we just blow the tower like before?” Carlos asked.

  “Doctor Nobu’s team has reported that the citadel is part of the meteor. That means even if you did blow the tower, you wouldn’t necessarily fix the problem. If that meteor hits the Earth or slows down, tower or no, whatever is inside will be free to move about the planet.”

  “Nobody else is gonna ask what a Space Druid is?” Hick chimed in.

  “Magic inter-dimensional uglies in hoods,” Riot said, getting straight to the point. “And this sounds like a suicide run, Lynch.”

  “Sounds kinda familiar, wouldn’t you say, Sarge?” Hick asked.

  Riot shot him a menacing glare. She noticed the similarities, too, but tried to push them out of her mind.

  “So, we take a rocket to space and space walk to the meteor?” Jessica asked.

  “Negative,” Axel told her. There was a slight shake to his voice. As though there were words he desperately did not want to say.

  “Then the most logical course of action would be to teleport to the target,” Lino said.

  Riot closed her eyes and her breathing went shallow. She tightened her real fist, trying to shut out the thoughts that had taken a front row seat in her mind.

  “That is also a negative, Lino,” Axel said. “Since we can’t get past the barrier, we can’t put a receiver on the other end.”

  “If you could have done that, you would have taken care of the problem without us,” Carlos added.

  “Exactly. Um…” Axel scratched the back of his head. Riot knew it wasn’t because of an itch.

  Carlos glanced at Riot but she ignored him. “You got athlete’s foot or something?” he asked.

  Realizing she was nervously shifting her feet, she went still. “No,” Riot replied, curtly. She looked around the room, searching for anything that might aid them in their transportation to the meteor. But Axel’s stance between them and one covered item in particular told her there was only one way they were traveling.

  “The sheet, Lynch,” Riot said, not making eye contact with the agent.

  “Yeah,” Axel said, affirmatively but with obvious trepidation.

  “Sheet?” Carlos asked. “What, See-SID has some kind of magic carpet? What do you mean the sheet?”

  Hick started to giggle, like he was in on a joke that Carlos didn’t know. It was too bad that Riot knew why he was giggling.

  “Stop,” Jessica said.

  “Knock it off,” Riot ordered.

  “Sorry, Sarge,” Hick replied, still smiling.

  “I do not understand,” Lino reported. “My scanners read nothing special about the sheet. There are no enchantments or technological hardware woven into it.”

  “They wouldn’t,” Riot said. “You weren’t there, then.”

  “To when are you referring, Sergeant Dawn?”

  “What’s under the sheet, Lynch?” Riot asked, knowing the answer.

  “Riot, there wasn’t another way.”

  “What’s. Under. The sheet.”

  Axel swallowed and nodded his head. They were going to find out either way. He grabbed the sheet and pulled.

  As the cover slid off, Riot found herself staring face to face with her own reflection in the Soul Slide.

  Chapter 15

  Riot’s cyber arm slammed against one of the concrete pillars in the garage. Axel felt the pieces of chipped off stone hit him in the back of the neck. It was just the reaction he’d hoped to avoid. But there was no avoiding the reason behind her anger.

  He took note of her arm as it remained against the pillar. It was her way of separating him from the others. Not that they would have come to his aid had he called for help.

  “I can understand where you’re coming from,” he said.
/>   “You ever go through one of those things?” she asked.

  “No but—”

  “Then you can’t understand. I lost all three of them cuz of that mirror. You’re outta your mind if you think I’m going through that again.”

  “That was five years ago, Riot. We’ve made some advances on Soul Slide use.”

  Riot finally dropped her arm, grinding off more concrete from the sizable hole she’d put in the column. Her change of position was a relief for Axel.

  “Doctor Nobu and his team have made substantial strides to ensure that what happened to you and your team can never be repeated.”

  “Spare me the sales pitch.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been hooked up to some kind of stabilizer. The Doc says it’s all above my clearance level but I know enough about atomic structure to know that it will work as intended.”

  “Find another way.” Riot turned back to her team.

  “There is no other way, Riot.” He stepped around her, blocking her path. “Believe me, if there was, you would already be in that tower, blasting away at who knows what. Hell, you might already be Tethering back.”

  “Why can’t we just Tether there? Why do I have to put my people through that again?”

  “You know Tethers are extraction only. Besides, even if we could reverse the direction, there’s not enough time and the target is moving. We might miss it entirely.”

  “You’re telling me that with all the Tethers, teleporters, Spectral Nets and advanced flight engines the See-SID has—” She pointed at the Soul Slide. “—that damn thing is the only way to get there?”

  “I understand if you don’t want to go. You can sit this one out and Diaz can assume command of the team.”

  Her eyes sharpened like daggers. “Command of my team? He’s never dealt with walking through his own reflection. How well do you think that’s going to go?”

  “It’s gonna go fine. You just have to trust—”

  “I’ve trusted the See-SID enough. I appreciate that you were able to conjure whatever it was to bring my people back. I really do. But unless you figure out another way to get us there, find another team.”

  “There is no other team, Riot. And there is no other way.” Axel stepped up to her and placed both hands on her shoulders. It was a risky move considering the way Riot glared at him for doing so. She obviously wanted nothing more than to crack his skull with her own.

  “Since these Space Druids made themselves known, we have never had a single team member come back. Now you’re on board and it feels like we actually have a chance.”

  “I lost the others under my command.”

  “But you came back and Carlos made it through, following your command. No one else has done that. The Hell Egg incident would have been avoided if it hadn’t been for the Soul Slide. But that was before we fixed it.” He dropped his arms from her shoulders. “We send someone else, maybe they succeed, maybe they don’t. But a meteor from inter-dimensional beings is heading toward us. We’re talking about an extinction level event, here. Is that really a risk you want to put in someone else’s hands?”

  “I can’t lose them, again.”

  Axel took a long look at her team. Carlos stood well away from the others while Lino remained stock still, awaiting instruction. Hick whispered something to Jessica that got him shoved away from her. They looked entirely unready and dysfunctional but he knew it was those traits that helped them with so many other missions.

  “Look, let’s say— hypothetically— that the mirror doesn’t work. That none of what Nobu did had any effect on it. You all go through. Hick and Jessica were brought back from the dead. And after the hits he took from Lino and the way he shrugged them off, I don’t know that those two are entirely human anymore. And Lino? That guy is all machine. Sure it might be his memories and some of his personality but at the end of the day, it’s a computer in an android body. It’s probably got dozens of backdoors and security redundancies, there’s no way he could lose it from some magic attack. The only ones to worry about are you and Diaz. That reminds me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a talisman.

  Riot scowled. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

  “Take it. You went through that once and came out fine. Carlos Diaz is about as stubborn as you are so I’m sure he’ll be fine, too, but just in case, take this.” He offered her the talisman.

  “What’s it do?”

  “It’s like a personal barrier. It wards off psychic attacks. It’s got a few other offensive enchantments, too.”

  Riot looked at the rune-etched disk. In its center was a white stone full of a clear liquid. She took a closer look at it and tilted the object. The liquid moved like lava.

  “It has a small mana store, so, use sparingly,” Axel said.

  “Didn’t know you cared.”

  “I just want to be sure that you come back and that there’s a world to come back to.”

  Riot glanced back at her team. Carlos held out both arms to his side.

  “What’s the hold up?” Carlos called out.

  “You only got one of these things?” Riot asked, holding up the talisman.

  “That’s all I could sneak away. The Enchantments Department is real picky about what goes out.”

  “Good. Worst case scenario, I have Lino hold Diaz while the rest of us sweep the tower.”

  Axel smiled at the jab in Carlos’s direction.

  Riot stepped directly in front of the mirror and noticed something was different about it. The relief carvings on the frame weren’t moving as they had five years ago. She took note of her reflection and saw that her real arm was in place of the cyber one. “What the—”

  “Y’know, the last time I saw this thing,” Hick interrupted. “You know what I saw? Nothing. Kinda explains a lot, now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Carlos asked. “What’s so special about a reflection?”

  “You see yours?” Riot asked.

  “Yeah, just like every other mirror.”

  “Nothing different?”

  “How many mirrors show you something different?” Carlos snapped.

  “Lino?” Riot asked.

  “As Sergeant Diaz has observed. I see only my reflection. Curious, I do not see that of anyone else.”

  “That’s how it works,” Axel said. “No matter how many are in front of it, each individual can only see themselves. So, if you’re all done admiring yourselves, your objective is to clear out the tower and Tether back. Once you’re back, we’ll take out the meteor.”

  “Explosions going off in outer space. Gonna be a hell of a news-day,” Carlos said.

  “We’ll worry about that, too.”

  “Already got a story ready to go out, eh?” Hick asked.

  “Enough,” Riot said. “Everyone fall in line.”

  She looked back over her team for what she hoped would not be the last time. Her real hand gripped the talisman till she could feel it digging into her flesh. “On my mark.” She turned to face the mirror. “Mark.”

  Riot stepped though the mirror, the others just behind her.

  The inside of the tower looked nearly identical to the one at the Russia-Georgia boarder. From the seven floors above them to the dim green glow of the lights on the stone wall. Carlos stepped into the first floor, gun already raised. He had no desire to be caught off guard by another monster as they had been before.

  “Sensors detecting numerous anomalies,” Lino said.

  “Where?” Jessica asked.

  “Sergeant?” Lino asked.

  Riot had dropped to her knees, clutching her head. “It’s not there anymore! It’s not! I can’t feel it!”

  Chapter 16

  “Sarge!” Jessica shouted, crouching next to Riot. “Sarge, what is it?”

  Carlos started forward as Riot’s metal arm shot out, striking Jessica in the chest and knocking her to her back. The afflicted woman then dove for her team member but Carlos and Hick grabbed her fir
st.

  “What the Hell is wrong with you?” Carlos asked, digging his fingers into her real upper arm.

  “It’s not there! Give it back! Give it back!” Riot shouted, fighting against both men.

  Her cyber arm easily tore from Hick’s grasp. It reached out for Jessica as she rose back to her feet, fear and instinct moving her hand to her side arm.

  “Snap out of it, Dawn!” Carlos yelled, still holding her real arm as hard as he could.

  The metal arm swung at him but was immediately caught by Lino.

  “Sergeant Diaz, please step aside,” Lino said.

  Carlos did as asked while Lino held Riot out at arm’s length. His robotics had little trouble keeping her at bay. Riot kicked at Lino, doing little to injure the android. All the while she continued to spout nonsensical words and phrases.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Jessica asked.

  No one answered. No one knew. But Carlos saw Hick bite his lower lip, barely hiding a sadistic sort of smile. He couldn’t possibly understand what was going on any more than the others but he still seemed to derive some strange joy out of the confusion and violence.

  “Activating sonic disruptor,” Lino said as his free arm transformed.

  Watching the android, Carlos put Hick out of his mind. Lino’s fingers spread apart then split down the sides. The front of his hand swung down where the thumb and pinky locked onto each other. Then both parts of his hand formed a directional cone. “Firing,” Lino said. A ripple coursed out from his hand, cascading directly onto Riot and forcing her to the ground.

  The former Marine Sergeant gritted her teeth as the high-pitched sound washed over her. It was a sound that could have shattered glass and Riot heard it directly inside her head. At it rippled through her, her fury and desperation faded. She realized she still clutched the talisman tightly in her real hand.

  Finally, she held her hand up, signaling a halt to Lino’s weapon. Lino quickly deactivated it, his hand returning to normal.