by H D Forth
Chapter One Hundred Forty-Five
The legends talked about getting your enemy angry. At least all the fantasy legends I’d read talk about getting angry, then making mistakes. I should be excellent at this task.
“This!” I called, raising the club in my left hand towards Leric. “Is called Fuck You!”
That actually caused him to stop for a moment. “And Fuck You is here to wreck your beast-bitten ass across the floor.”
Leric narrowed his eyes and started walking again. Those were some terrifyingly big steps, he would be on me at any moment.
“This one.” I raised the other club, while lowering Fuck You into a ready position. “Is called…”
Regrets,I thought, but obviously didn’t say out loud, I’m not stupid. “Fuck You Also.” Regrets, for I have many.
The name caused a beat of stunned silence. My genius had completely flabbergasted them, even Leric had stopped.
Though it might appear my magnificently clever brain had outwitted him to the point, that he was no longer getting mad…
“Are you sure that’s what you’re going to go with?” Leric asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Well, Regrets is no better, I thought raising Fuck You Also in his direction. It took him a moment, but he got it. “Of course I’m going with it. It’s godsdamned brilliant.” I really don’t have a gift with words.
He let out an snort of laughter, and closed the distance to around two meters, just beyond my reach with the clubs. “You know I would’ve gone with Fuck You and Screw You.”
“…”
I dashed forwards slamming Fuck You at him as hard as I could. He quickly raised one arm to take the blow, his forearm catching the strike without him showing any signs of pain. Though I could see that I had drawn blood with the strike, as I had hit with the very edge of the club.
I swung wildly for his face with Fuck You Also, or wait was Fuck You Also the one in my left hand? Didn’t matter, he dodged out of the way instead of taking the strike.
We both looked at his bloodied forearm. Maybe bloodied was too strong a word, scratched was probably better. This guy was tougher than beast hide. I thought, noticing that the wound had already stopped bleeding.
No, he couldn't have… I thought, stepping back. I watched as the wound slowly closed over the course of maybe ten seconds. Mother fucker has enhanced regeneration.
That changed things. That turned the fight from one of speed and reflexes into one of attrition, unless I could knock him out.
I dashed to the side. I had never been especially athletic, it showed the way I threw things—either too hard or not hard enough. It also used to show in other ways, the way I moved, my posture and my looks. Some of those had been change as a simple factor of my new body. One of those things had been changed by all the damned running a hero did.
I had gotten good at speedy movements, especially when I was pulling heavily on my power core, like I was currently. It was dropping precipitously, but in an instant, I was behind Leric instead of in front of him.
Another benefit of the lighter frame was, how fast I could turn. I slipped around the much larger man, not in a blur of fantastical movement, no matter how much I wanted it to be that, but I still did it much faster than any human could manage.
That meant I was already swinging for his head, when he started turning around.
I managed to catch a glimpse of startlement on Leric’s brutish face as it met my club.
The strike took him directly on the cheek bone. I heard the hard smack of metal against flesh and bone, and the strike forced Leric down on one knee. I might be lighter than most men my size, but I still had plenty of momentum when I had been running, this meant that I was unable to immediately follow up, since I slid out of range.
When I finally got turned around and jumped for the large man again, he had already started to shake off the first blow. Luckily for me, he hadn't been fast enough.
My second strike took him on the temple, once more jerking his head away and down towards the ground. I followed up, since this time I wasn't filled with momentum. I struck out with Fuck You, hitting him in the jaw. The blow sent his head reeling in the opposite direction, hopefully jostling his brain and sending him further on the road to unconsciousness..
I followed those with three more strikes directly to his face, before he started swaying in his kneeling position.
I had him, or at least I thought so. Until in a desperate roar, he launched himself towards me, tackling me and sending us both to the ground in a tumbling rush. The sudden speed and power he displayed sent us both flying in different directions.
This meant that while he managed to get out from under my blows, he hadn't manged to get into a physical position to overpower me. The sensors in my frame hadn't been made to handle this kind of stress and for just a few moments, everything seemed out of order.
The world was spinning, buzzing sounds was all that registered in my head, and I could feel fuzz underneath me. Then a moment later, my Nerve Module—which had been made to handle an assortment of things, including fights, took over. Suddenly, the world clarified, everything returned to straight lines, normal sounds and sensations. I struggled onto my feet, losing some grace as I went for speed.
Leric was still only just getting up, but while I had bloodied his face with every blow, he clearly wasn't out of the fight. He stared at me as lifted himself from a kneeling position, a curtain of blood was hanging over his face.
Most of the blows I had landed on him had been at high speeds with and they had all cracked skin. Blood flowed from at least two scalp wounds, one of them even blinding his eye.
He had another cut on his cheek bone, and one on his eyebrow. Another was sitting nicely on his jaw line, but he simply growled at me and forced himself towards me.
That was fine, I thought. I can do this all… before I could finished the thought, I checked my battery stores. 56%, I could do this maybe once more, before I would be running low power mode and he could kill me at his leisure.
I had to find another way. Even as I slowly backed away, trying to come up with a better idea, I saw Leric recover further and further with every step. By the time we had moved four or five meters, he wasn't even swaying anymore, but walking as confidently as he had when he stepped off his recliner throne.
I remembered the weird pustule on his arm, if that didn’t spell out weakness, then I didn’t know what did. Maybe it came from something he had taken into himself, and that’s where he got his power from, maybe it was just an old wound or sickness. It didn’t matter, because it was a text book example of a weakness.
If I contained my bursts of speed, then I be far better able to manage the battery, which meant I would be less likely to run out prematurely.
I send a burst of power towards my legs, listening as the ventilation in my chest whined and spat out hot air. I could hear the venting system in my frame blowing and sucking in the air around me as I moved. The powerful engines that moved my joints whirred slightly as I sprinted towards Leric.
Swiftly, I closed the distance and swung a distracting blow for his face with Fuck You Also, or whatever I had called the right one.
He easily blocked it with his forearm, exposing the nasty green pustule to me. The metallic green vines that grew out from it was clearly burrowing into his skin as he stood flexing my attack away with his forearm. Then I slammed my other club into the pustule, ringing out in a metal on metal clanging.
Leric let loose an inhuman shriek as Fuck You struck. The vines that had seated themselves into Leric’s forearm writhed and twisted so hard, they tore through his skin, leaving long tracks of torn skin and blood. Leric bellowed a scream of such power and magnitude, that made it clear his power was more than just skin deep. Every single muscle he had was powerful.
For a moment the sheer noise overwhelmed my microphones, completely cutting off noise. I cautiously stepped back, not wanting to get caught in his pained flailing. He continued screaming
and flailing for another fifteen or so seconds.
When he finally stopped, he was a heaving and crying mess on the floor. I took one step towards him, unsure if I should check if he was okay or fight him. The sound caught his attention and he looked at me with bloodshot eyes.
He bellowed and charged me, going from a full-stop crouch to complete sprint in seconds. I hit him in a scissor strike, both clubs coming in from the side. He simply shrugged it off, before laying into me with a hay maker that shattered the world around it.
I blasted through his throne, before finally slamming into something that was harder than I was fast. With a cracking groan I fell onto the floor. Multiple messages of integrity damage to my frame popped up in my peripheral vision. It could all easily be summed up into a single message. You fucked up.
Pain. The first sensation that came to me was pain. Electric hot and burning through my every artificial nerve.
I blinked as my sight processors managed to bring everything into order again. I was looking at the wreckage of Leric’s Recliner throne. His strike had thrown me clean through and into the wall behind it.
Half of my vision flickered. I slowly reached up to tap at my face with one hand. My skull was not okay. My left eye flickered again, then died out completely. I blinked a few times, as tried to reboot it, but it was dead.
I used my hands to push myself off the ground, even as it spun around me. Staying up was relatively easy when I had the wall behind me. A few moments later, my balance kicked back in and I stopped swaying. One of my heels had slammed into the wall at full speed, and most of my foot was lying as metal scraps around me on the floor.
Pain bloomed up my leg from the shattered heel, even as I used the pad of my feet to stand on. Pain too flared seemingly randomly form my back, though it didn't seem too severely damaged. I could still easily move it a little bit, though full range of motion was impossible.
More importantly, I hadn’t had anything other than of my eyes in my head.
I clenched empty hands, I had lost my clubs at some point during the flight. MY body, my frame groaned with protest when I took a step forwards.
I’m fucked. I realized, watching Leric sway slightly on his feet. He turned towards me. His left eye was no longer just bloodshot, it was completely ringed in red. My battery was less than 30%, I hadn't got any weapons, except the for the screwdriver than had been punched into the back of my thigh. I wished Kani’s gift would’ve gotten some real use before I died.
“Van? Are you okay?” Her voice suddenly crackled over my mask. Luckily she had installed it on the right side, her exact reason being. ‘Most people are right handed, meaning in a fight they’re gonna hit you primarily on the left side’.
“I need your help Kani?” I whispered in returned. The mask hummed slightly whenever she spoke through it. The mask had clearly sustained as much damage as my skull itself.
“Of course you do.” She said. She obviously tried to sound cheerful, but was failing somewhat.
Chapter One Hundred Forty-Six
Val was awoken from her sleep, by the ringing of her phone. She slapped about for a moment, before remembering that she could just use voice commands and speakers.
“Who is it?” She asked, turning slightly towards the phone. Her voice was thick with sleep, but somehow the phone still recognized the words.
“Kani Masterson.” It replied.
“Answer.” She said. She fought her way into a sitting position, wrapping her blankets around herself as tightly as she could.
"Hey Val, it's me," Kani said, immediately. Her tone was clearly alarmed. Though she sounded tired, Val could quite clearly hear her working on something at her computer on the other side. "Vanys has been here."
For a moment, Val thought he might have done something to Kani. Then the tone of voice that Kani was using finally registered fully on her. “What’s the situation?” She asked.
“I’m missing most of my bolt cutter, though signs show that he may have torn it in two. I am also missing the armored skin attachment I was making for him.” As Kani spoke, Val reluctantly threw off her covers, pulling on some pajamas.
"You think he's readying for a fight," Val asked.
“I know he is.” She said, quietly. “I can see him fighting right now.”
“Is he fighting Leric again?” Val asked. Val was already pulling on a pair of shoes and her jacket, as Kani was speaking.
"I don't know," Kani said, sounding worried. "I can't get a proper signal, the picture's keep fussing, but I think he might've taken some serious damage. Will Leric leave him alive again?"
“Unlikely." Val said, closing the door behind her. "If Leric gets angry enough or Vanys insults him enough then he might not have a choice. He will have to be strong in front of his gang, or they will try to kill him."
There was a loud roar on the other side of the phone. It sends chills down Val’s spine. “Kani.” She said, her tone now urgent. “I thought Leric was human, that doesn’t sound like a human scream, what’s happening? Quickly Kani! Report!”
“Uhm… okay.” Kani said, obviously stumbling over her words. Her hesitation agitating Val, causing her to hit the elevator button to the ground floor too hard. It sounded out with a loud popping sound it hadn't ever made before. “Leric is… Vanys hit him in the green thing on his arm. I don't actually think it’s sick skin, there looks to be some sort of green metal underneath it.”
Green metal? It couldn’t be… Val thought, listening to description and desperately hoping she was wrong. If so then that could explain…
“After Vanys hit him there, Leric got really furious and strong. He also started changing.”
“Changing how?” Val asked, wanting to kick the elevator door open, though she knew it wouldn’t help. “Is he changing? Descriptions Kani! Quickly!”
“Sorta, I don't know.” She sounded even more nervous now, her voice shakier. “He’s a little bigger is all. Maybe a little grayer too.” Kani sounded scared now. “Val, what’s going on?”
"Thanks, Kani, focus on helping Vanys as best you can," Val said, as calmly as she could into the phone, before hanging up.
Val growled to herself. If this was what she thought it was, then there was no happy ending for Vanys now. She had to save him, she had to do something.
She paced up and down the street, she had to make a decision. All the while, the throbbing in her blood grew more intense. She could feel her Foundation pulsing as Velenthrix tried to escape.
She dove deep into herself. Bringing up a small wooden cottage in a forest inside her mind.
There was no electricity, no power, the stove was heated with wood fire. There was a beautiful thick homespun carpet covering the living room. A rocking chair sat by the hearth, a fire blazing cozily.
In the other end of the room was a door that led to her parent's bedroom, she wasn't allowed to go in there. Not after the accidentally catching attempting to give her a brother.
She almost let out a giggle, if not for the sudden pulse that bulged all the walls in the room. Another light made itself apparent in the little house. A trap door was hiding in one corner. If not for the vibrant purple glow that splashed out of it, casting the everything in the room with an eerie light, it would’ve almost been unnoticeable.
She could go over there, dip in and take the power. The rest would be a cake walk. In an instant she could be over there, take care of Grave Pace and save Vanys. Then they would all be hers, she would be able to have whatever she wanted. It was hers for the taking, just beyond the trap door. Power beyond what any hero would ever see in their lifetime. At. Her. Fingertips.
No.
She pulled away from the trapdoor, strengthened the walls, the floor, and especially the trapdoor with her will before she left. She couldn't do it. Letting such power out onto the world would spell out disaster. No one would willingly hand a child nuclear device, especially not her.
There was only one other option. And Val didn’t like what she was
realizing. She pulled out her phone again. She hesitated for a moment, before entering a number memorized long ago.
"Yes." The manly baritone on the other side deliberately pitched to sound soothing and relaxing.
“Gav,” She said. “This is Maeve.”
There was a beat of silence. Then in a barely controlled voice, “Why are you calling?”
“I think I might’ve found Grave Pace.”
“Grave Pace?” He asked, now he sounded more confident, in his comfort zone. How do you know?”
“Do you know the new hero in Ëndib Tower?” Val asked.
“The one who was following me the other day?” He asked.
“Probably.” She said, letting out a sigh. “I don't keep absolute track of him. He’s been going after a gang leader. The Tenners. His name is Leric. I just got good intel that he has a green piece of metal in his arm.”
