Tabitha leapt into the half-formed giant mech, still manipulating the individual mechs forming a protective ring around her ride, and landed in the seat formed by the folded body of one of the mechs.
The top of the cabin sealed under her command, then four more mechs climbed on and attached themselves to the monster mech’s sides, giving Tabitha twenty tentacles on each side to play with.
Satisfied it was going to work, Tabitha rolled the program out to the rest of her mechs. Two by two, the mechs added themselves to the giant mech until the outside was a writhing mass of metal tentacles.
Tabitha searched and found herself able to “see” through the sensor equipment. The connection gave her everything in scrolling code her brain was somehow turning into visual data she could plug into her HUD.
“Fuck my life,” she breathed, borrowing her niece’s favorite phrase for situations out of her depth. “This is beyond cool!”
The final step complete, Tabitha flexed her hands and set the whole thing moving. She set the mech dancing on a looping, destructive path through the Ookens. She continued to feed the mech instructions in the image-based method she’d created to form it. One leg lifted and smooshed the Ooken beneath it into a gooey paste.
Tabitha whooped. “Not so tough under my heel, are you, you skanky bastards?”
The Ookens’ attempts to gain purchase on the mech were met by a million and more whirring, serrated teeth. The monster mech chewed the Ookens up and discarded the meat as it continued its progress around the arena.
Tabitha realized she was being targeted specifically when a quartet of Guardians rushed in and was ignored by her attackers. She frowned as yet more Ookens spilled in over the arena walls.
“Get out of here!” she yelled to the Guardians. “They want me.”
Unaware of Tabitha’s worry, they shifted and dashed in to attack the Ooken nearest them.
Tabitha groaned as the Ooken shook them off with a flick of its tentacle. “They’re going to get their furry asses killed for nothing.” Her hope that their Marines would show up and drag them out of there was nothing but wishful thinking. Seeing that the Guardians weren’t able to hear her, she thanked providence that Lillian had insisted on taking Todd to the Helena for the week and sent an SOS to Peter. Call your Guardians off, or I’m gonna end up killing them by mistake.
A few moments later, an ear-splitting howl tore the air, announcing Peter’s impending arrival.
Peter arrived in the next minute, pounding through the arena doors at full speed. He took in the Guardians, the Ookens, and Tabitha’s metal monster, and raised a clawed hand to point at the exit. “Get out of here,” he ordered the Guardians. “Go protect the civilians.”
The Guardians backed away at the command from their Alpha.
Peter noted what Tabitha had the moment before as they dipped their wolf heads and loped out the way they’d come. “Don’t let me see you without your Marines again!” he roared after them.
Tabitha had larger concerns. The number of Ookens in the arena was reaching the exploding point. She had to figure out where they were coming from and cut them off at the source.
She narrowed her eyes at the information scrolling in her HUD. “I wonder…”
With the thought, her vision switched. The arena vanished, and the Ookens and Peter became blurred outlines.
Tabitha’s jaw dropped. “No. Freaking. Way. I guess our brains are really just computers we have no freaking clue how to use.” She opened her mind to Peter. Hey, babe. Guess what? I’ve got Etheric vision.
You’ve got what, now? Peter asked. He moved toward the monster mech, confused by the lack of attention he was receiving from the Ookens. What’s up with these Ookens?
Some idiot decided to have them all target me. Tabitha grinned as she had the inside of the cabin shift to include a seat for Peter. Come on up. I’ll explain while we find the place these bastards are coming from. I don’t know who they think they are to turn up here without an invitation, but I’m sure as shit going to enjoy kicking them back through whatever door they came out of.
Without pausing in the havoc she was wreaking on the Ookens, Tabitha disengaged the teeth on one of the mech’s tentacles and sent it snaking toward Peter.
Peter hopped on and was lifted up to the top of the mech’s cabin, which opened to let him in.
Tabitha looked up and winced. “You want to shift back?”
Peter released his Pricolici form. “Sure thing, honey. Soon as my ass isn’t hanging out where the Ookens can take a bite out of it.” He slid in and pulled an atmosuit from a pouch on his utility belt. “Nice toy, babe,” he told her with a grin.
Tabitha returned his grin with a wink. “Shame you have to cover up before you get snagged on the mech.”
Peter rolled his eyes as he fastened the atmosuit. “You didn’t exactly give me time to armor up. I was out in the plaza, fighting the Ookens out there. They’re all over First City.”
Tabitha’s eyes widened. “Shit. Who’s there now?”
Peter smirked. “In the plaza? Nickie. She’s living it up out there. I saw John heading for the bazaar on my way in here.”
Tabitha snickered. “I’d feel sorry for the Ookens, except for they’re Ookens and don’t deserve pity.” She pressed her lips together. “We need to take care of these before we go out there to help. There’s no way I’m going to be the Pied Piper who leads them into First City.”
Peter shrugged. “So kill ’em all. It’s not like you’re gonna kiss and make friends.”
Tabitha grinned as she flexed her hands to throw out the mech’s tentacles and gather up the Ookens nearest to them. “You always have the best ideas. I’m gonna hug them to death.”
Peter watched Tabitha in amazement as she manipulated the mech.
Tabitha forgot Peter was there for a moment. She fell back into the zone, merging fully with the mech. Her entire body twitched as she drove the mech to perform its bloody ballet.
Eventually, there were no more Ookens to kill. Tabitha had the mech climb to the top of the arena wall to find the open door into the Etheric.
“Etheric vision,” she explained to Peter. “You see I’m operating this thing without eyes on the outside, right?” She smiled at his nod. “Well, that’s because my upgrade gave me the ability to be one with whatever code I’m near. I can manipulate it and overwrite it with a thought.”
Peter’s mouth fell open. “Tabbie, that’s…”
“Every hacker’s wet dream, right?” Tabitha enthused, wiggling her eyebrows. “Anyone can throw an energy ball. Who else can take control of any machine they come across?”
“Are you still completely organic?” Peter asked, picturing her insides being replaced with connective technology reminiscent of some old B-movie she’d made him watch while they were dating.
Tabitha snickered, tilting her head as the same thought occurred to her. “Are any of us completely organic anymore? We all have technology inside our bodies.”
“Yeah.” Peter frowned, eyeing her. “How are you doing all of this?”
“You know, I don’t know.” Tabitha hadn’t taken time to investigate what changes the Vid-doc had made. She split her efforts with the mech and opened her self-diagnostic. “Oh. Wi-fi, apparently.”
Peter met her amused gaze with utter awe. “So, what? You’re using the Hexagon’s router to do all this?”
Tabitha shook her head. “Babe, I am the router. The Vid-doc implanted graphite circuitry throughout my body, meaning I can get into anything that can be connected to. Tech is my bitch.”
Peter’s eyes narrowed. “So, you’re a cyborg?”
Tabitha dismissed the description. “No. Um, yes? I don’t know. We’ll figure it out when we’re not in the middle of being attacked. So anyway, I’m communicating with all of these mechs to bind them into one unit. Not just that, I’m seeing what they see.”
Peter was lost. “How? I didn’t see any eyes, just the ungodly amount of tentacles this thing has
.” He turned in his seat to check behind him. “Are there cameras?”
Tabitha shook her head. “No. They work with environmental sensors. The first batch of mechs I had made had cameras, but the Bakas were so focused on taking out their ‘eyes’ that I found it worked better to have them fitted with sensor suites when the next generation went into production.” She waved a hand to indicate the cabin. “This shouldn’t be possible. Neither should this.”
She shared a brief flash of the sensor data, and Peter’s incredulity grew.
He shook his head in amazement. “That’s amazing. How are you translating all that?”
Tabitha lifted her hands. “Mine is not to reason why. Did you see that bright patch in the bazaar? Let me see if I can fix something up for you so you get a steady view outside this thing.”
Peter received a notification in his internal HUD, which when opened gave him a feed showing a fuzzy green-black view of the world beyond the cabin. He saw the bright spot Tabitha had pointed out. “What is it?”
“I’m going to take a guess and say that it’s whoever is controlling the Ookens.” Tabitha instructed the mech to dismount on the other side of the arena wall, then set it running through the city toward the bright spot. “This is a little like infrared, except I’m reading Etheric energy expenditure instead of body-heat loss.”
The bazaar was steeped in chaos. Produce and nonperishable goods alike were strewn all over the narrow walkways, trampled unnoticed by people running for their lives from the Ookens that were ravaging everything they laid their tentacles on.
The appearance of the monster mech caught the attention of the Ookens, who all abandoned their destruction of the bazaar to come at Tabitha and Peter.
Tabitha shared an angry glance with Peter as she had the mech take out the Ookens. “What the hell is going on here? You think maybe they can read the energy expenditure like I’m doing?”
Peter growled. “I don’t know. Maybe? It doesn’t matter. Even if the people survive, this is their livelihoods being ruined on the whim of these mindless fucksticks. We have to make it stop.”
Social responsibility aside, both of them felt rising anger at the trespass against the peaceful way of life everyone in the city had pulled together to create.
“You don’t take war to the civilians,” Tabitha growled as she directed the mech to target the Ookens running amok in the streets. “What coward attacks people just going about their daily lives?”
Peter couldn’t agree more. “There are supposed to be rules the Kurtherians follow. They’ve never dared to attack us in the open before.” He got to his feet. “I want to get out there. Do something.”
Tabitha shook her head. “I don’t know, Pete. There’s a Kurtherian here somewhere. We need to stick together.”
All the air went out of Peter. “I’m thinking about Todd. My every instinct tells me to get out there and fight to clear his home of these aberrations.”
Tabitha frowned. “Check your feed. We’re doing that just fine. Save your energy for the Kurtherian.”
Peter looked at the feed and fought the urge to shift and go bowling for Ookens. “I’m not gonna go on the rampage.”
Tabitha leaned over and pulled him into a kiss. She released him, breathless, and gave him her most wicked smile. “No rampage? Shame. I was looking forward to that part.”
15
Devon, First City, Bazaar
John was locked in the battle of his life. This, however, was not a battle he could win with his fists. Not just his fists, anyway. He had figured out how to shield his mind at the moment the armored alien had attacked his psyche.
He was glad Nickie was around somewhere. The pressing issue of Ookens running amok in the bazaar had fallen to the side in the face of this new and dangerous form of combat. She would have to take care of them while he took care of this ass-munch.
John’s brow furrowed, sweat running freely and unnoticed from every pore in his body as he fought to retain his sanity. He didn’t have the foggiest idea how BA did shit like this on a regular basis.
The Kurtherian dug at John’s mind, trying to force entry, but without success.
To do what, John didn’t know. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to lose to a fucking Kurtherian.
John’s nascent ability wasn’t anything to be sniffed at. He was dealing as much damage as he was having to heal, and the bug-faced fuck-farmer knew he was in danger.
He caught a disturbance in his peripheral vision, but he was disciplined enough to let it go unless it came his way. He intended to take this Kurtherian’s body back for dissection, and he made sure the bastard knew it.
It wasn’t too difficult for John to plant the image of his opponent being sliced open on a slab in Eve’s lab in his alien mind.
The revulsion John felt from the Kurtherian when Eve flashed through his mind brought a small smile to his lips. What don’t you like about Eve? That she’s an android? Don’t sweat it. She’ll take good care of you—each and every sample I give her to work with.
No reply, just another bolt of muted pain as the Kurtherian tried and failed to get past his mental defenses.
John found he was enjoying himself. His counterattack was costing him energy, but handily he appeared to be drawing exactly what he needed from the Etheric as easy as breathing. Oh, I forgot. You’re too good to talk to the likes of me, right?
It’s funny, really. He continued to needle the Kurtherian in a conversational tone that belied the strain he was under. You arrogant little dicksplats go on and on about how superior you are, but you sure hogtie yourselves. I mean, look how easy it was to distract you.
John laughed as the Kurtherian struggled to pull free of the mental chokehold he had on his mind. Now I’m in your head, and you haven’t got a chance. Don’t you know the definition of stubborn is a Grimes with their heart set on something? You are destined to be slide sushi.
A quick scan showed John that the Ookens were much less effective without the Kurtherian controlling them. Another flash of movement, and this time John saw it was metallic. He also sensed the proximity of Tabitha and Peter, which told him the people were safe and he could cut his attention from anything besides his fight with the Kurtherian.
The Kurtherian had no such assurances. He faltered as the ten-foot-tall mechanical Ooken climbed the wall and leapt with its tentacles extended along one side.
John cursed inwardly. “Tabitha! No!”
Too late, the tentacled monstrosity completed what the physics of the universe intended for all objects falling at the bottom of a gravity well. The mech elbow-dropped onto the Kurtherian with a resounding crunch.
Tabitha emerged from the top of the mech with a whoop. “How d’you like that?” she crowed. “Street pizza! Come and get your street pizza!”
Peter climbed out after her. Unlike Tabitha, he stopped to look at John. “Yeah, babe. I don’t know if this is something to celebrate. You crushed the shit out of it.”
“Him,” John corrected. “One of Gödel’s flunkies. Called himself ‘Chosen.’ Have you ever heard anything so stupid?”
“Gödel?” Peter asked, nonplussed at the strange name.
“Yeah,” John told him. “Michael’s theory about there being one Kurtherian running the show for the Seven was spot on. I got a ton of information.” He turned a disapproving look on Tabitha. “Can you imagine what Michael would have gotten out of him?”
Tabitha waved her mech into action. “My bad. Let me get Noodles here out of the way, and we can see what’s left to take back with us.”
John shook his head as the mech flowed to what he assumed was its feet. “What in the hell is that thing?”
Tabitha grinned. “It’s an Ooken. Just, well, more Lovecraftian.” She waved a hand impatiently. “Y’know, mind-numbing horror, designed to frighten your enemies out of their damn skulls?”
John folded his arms over his chest as the smear on the pavement that used to be a Kurtherian was revealed. “Except I was
doing just fine at that part until you jumped in like it was 1990 and you were trying out for WWF.”
“Didn’t they change that to WWE?” Peter asked.
“You know, I think it was a lawsuit with some pandas,” John admitted.
Tabitha lifted her hands apologetically. “What do you want me to do? Done can’t be undone. Quit bitching, and let’s get what’s left of him scraped up and get our asses back to the Hexagon.”
Devon, The Hexagon
The battle was all but done, but that didn’t mean all of the Ookens knew it.
Ashur dodged and dived through the battle in the lab, his focus on reaching the room where the cats were trapped. He’d heard Demon’s cries of pain and assumed the worst. Despite their natural enmity, he wasn’t going to see Demon die when he could do something to save her.
The few humans Ashur passed barely noticed him streaking toward the back of the underground complex. The Ookens they were fighting appeared to only see the humans with Etheric capabilities. They ignored Ashur entirely, which gave him the chance he needed to get through to the side corridor he’d zeroed in on as the location of the cries for help that echoed through the mindspace.
Ashur found the door to the cats’ room lying flat in the corridor some distance from the room it was supposed to be attached to, and an Ooken doing its damnedest to get inside.
Someone was there, preventing the Ooken from getting to Demon, who was clearly in distress, judging by the pained mews she was emitting. He saw the Ooken being knocked back by shots from inside.
Getting closer, he heard Sabine cursing as she fired ceaselessly to defend the cats.
Ashur knew there was nothing she could do once she ran out of ammunition for her Jean Dukes Specials. He threw himself under the Ooken’s tentacles, taking a glancing blow to his left flank as he forced his way through at a fast slide.
Sabine’s face fell when she saw it was Ashur who had arrived. “My friend, you chose an awkward time to pay a visit.”
The Valkyrie Returns (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 7) Page 15
