Peter had become like a son to him after they took him in. Even after Michael had defended his festering belligerence and racism by reiterating the story of how Peter’s parents were killed, she still did not care. Not in the least.
Peter heard her whisper. “What was that?” he asked.
“Thank you for your time, Executor.” She turned and walked down the stairs of the capital.
“A helmet!” the Executor shouted to the men behind him. One threw his to Peter, who put it on and pushed the button on it that brought the half-breed aura screening technology online.
“It’s going to get rough,” Vern said into her mic. She continued to walk down the stairs at a casual pace.
“Roger that,” came the voice from the other end.
Peter could now see the auras of all half-breeds within his field of vision on a screen within his helmet. Any color other than white signified a possible half-breed. Vern’s aura was green.
“She’s a half-breed! Men shoot on my...” the Executor said.
A small red arrow appeared on his screen and directed his attention across the street to additional half-breed threats. Myriads of colors moved inside the building directly across from the capitol.
“Men tap into my current target and hit it with phase rockets. It’s crawling with demon scum,” he said with his eyes on Vern.
She turned to look at him.
“I need your confirmation, Vern. Do I take the shot?” Eyes asked.
Vern looked at the Executor’s men who had already taken aim at the building. It’s more important for them to remain alive than for this asshole to die.
“Evac. Now,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Eyes said. “Eyes, out.”
“Fire,” the Executor said.
“I think not,” Vern said. Her hands emitted a green light. Her dresses leaves whirled around her and reassembled themselves into a form fitting green body suit. She threw her glowing hands above her head.
Concrete in front of her lifted up in a wave as the Executor’s men fired their rockets. The remaining press fanned out. Some ran to their vans parked on the side of the road, others moved to what they thought would be a safe distance away from the action.
The sudden lurch of the ground caused some of the soldiers to off shoot their rockets, few managed to keep their aim level. When the rockets reached the wave of concrete they flew straight through it.
Even the misfired rockets recalibrated themselves in the air. All of the rockets flew over her head for their intended target.
“Damn it,” she swore and lifted her hands again. A second wave of concrete flung the recovering soldiers into the air again.
Let’s see how he handles this then, she thought.
Vern turned completely to the building and struggled to lift both hands up over her head. She concentrated on the ground beneath the building. It bubbled in response.
Waves of concrete surged above the building and hardened, forming a protective dome around it. She conducted wave after wave with her hands, thickening the dome.
“Shoot her,” came the Executor’s voice from behind. Gunfire answered his request.
Vern caused wind to gust around her in an effort to throw off the bullets, a couple grazed her. She fell to her knees.
“Unphase them when they reach imminent collision distance,” Peter said. “Your effort was pointless. The missiles can penetrate any solid matter.”
Vern landed on the ground and faced the soldiers. “If I can’t save them none of you are leaving here alive.” She closed her eyes, and the green glow from her hands seeped over her whole body. The ground in front of her rumbled.
“Kill her.” The Executor watched the rockets get closer and closer to the building and smiled. A white flash blinded him and they exploded.
“What the...”
A singular multi-colored aura filled his screen and faded. When it did the Executor saw that the building had not been damaged.
“Eyes, come in,” Vern whispered.
“We’re here, ma’am. Somehow the explosion didn’t even scathe us. We...”
“I’ll contact you later,” Vern interrupted him. “I have negotiating to attend to.”
“Right. Eyes out.”
“Kill her! Kill her!” the Executor yelled. Bullets tore through the air into Vern, who still emitted green light. The projectiles bounced off and left her unharmed.
Ahead of her the ground trembled violently and liquefied.
“Cycle through your ammo, something has to punch through whatever shield that is!”
The soldiers continued their barrage. Vern was unperturbed.
“Use rockets!” the Executor yelled at them.
Peter watched Vern’s aura closely as the rockets exploded around her. Smoke and debris clouded the area in front of the capitol. Peter could see her aura plainly on his screen. It flickered and faded.
“What a waste of ammo.” He chuckled. Then, his front visual was encompassed by only green. “What the hell is this?”
A low groan from the cloud escalated to a scream, a concrete giant in the likeness of Vern stepped from it. Vern herself knelt behind it, unharmed and still glowing.
“Go my avatar!” she commanded. “Wipe the ground with them!”
Her giant roared and charged the soldiers.
Peter turned and looked at them. Most of them were reloading. “Scramble!” he yelled. He pushed a button on his helmet. His business suit became like TV static and faded into his suit of combat armor. He pushed another button. His armor at his neck liquefied and covered his helmet, excluding his visor. The armor hardened. His men did the same and used their jet packs to scatter into the air. Peter turned back around to see the giant coming straight for him.
“Of course she would come for me first,” he grumbled. It lumbered closer.
“I need a weapon...” the Executor said, he looked and saw some men had left their guns. “Attack her!” he yelled. “Kill her and this giant should disappear!”
“I need to...” the Executor was cut off by the giant’s punch. He spiraled through the air and into the capitol.
“Good thing this armor’s tough.”
He tried to stand up but stumbled. The blow had knocked the air out of his lungs. Vern’s giant dashed for him. Peter rolled onto his hands and knees.
“Activate jet pack on my mark.”
“Awaiting your mark,” the calm, female voice of his computer said.
When Peter was within reach, the giant attempted to smash him into the ground.
“Now.”
Peter’s jetpack catapulted beneath the giant’s descending fist. All the while he kept his eyes on two weapons near the end of the capitol’s porch and tried to keep himself level, so he could make a grab at them.
Vern’s giant threw out her right arm to backhand him as he flew past. Her glancing blow sent the Executor into a barrel roll. His head bounced off the marble floor, but he kept himself in a straight line. Peter reached out for both weapons as he passed over them and grabbed one of them.
“Here! Come at me!” he yelled at the giant as he flew out from under the entrance area of the capital. He landed on the ground some distance away and stole a glance at Vern.
The weapons aren’t doing a thing to her, the Executor frowned.
Peter turned to see the giant jump from the capitol at him.
“Here she comes.” The Executor checked his ammo. “Next to no bullets. Some rockets. This is going to be interesting,” He looked on the bottom left hand corner of his screen to see what ammo was loaded into the gun. He took aim at the giant’s chest and fired. Chunks of concrete exploded on impact. She fell on her back, and the tremors shook Peter from his feet.
“Damn.” He activated his jet pack and launched himself over the giant and took several more shots at her before she could get up. “They seem to be affecting it.”
“Sir! Sir!” Suchi’s voice said through the speakers within the helmet.
; “Yes, is that you captain?” the Executor asked, as he fired at the giant.
“We’re seein’ red, sir! Bona fide blood! It’s a bullet orgy out here, sir. We’re poundin’ her hard. Hittin’ it deep...” he said.
“You’re going to rehab ASAP, Suchi. Christ.”
The Executor zoomed in on Vern and noticed several fresh abrasions on her chest and head.
“Could it be?”
Vern’s giant sprung up and searched for her opponent.
“Suchi are you still there?” the Executor asked as he used his jet pack to hover above the giant.
“Always here, sir. Always!” Suchi said.
“Alright. I’m gonna test something. Whoa!” The giant jumped at the Executor who barely dodged its palms by jetting out of the way. “Load phase rockets!” he yelled into his helmet.
“Rockets loaded,” the computer said.
Peter jetted for the giant while she was in the air. The Executor fired two phase rockets and increased the speed of his jet pack beyond safe parameters and caught up with his rockets. They passed into his body.
“Unphase in five seconds,” he whispered. He kept an eye on his jet pack’s temperature. It was in the red zone. He could feel the heat through his suit and grimaced.
“Rockets will unphase in t-minus five seconds,” his helmet answered. A countdown appeared on his screen.
The giant saw him and stretched out her arms to catch him.
When the Executor neared the giant’s reach he pulled up.
His rockets unphased. The first blew both of the giant’s hands off at the wrist and threw her arms out at her sides. A large portion of its chest and lower face turned to rubble instantly. She fell back onto the ground, roared and moaned.
“Report, solider,” the Executor said as the giant crumbled to dust before him.
“It’s her time of the month!” Suchi said. “Heavy bleeding. Down comes her shield! She’s out! Start the count men! 1, 2, 3, 4...”
“Suchi!” Peter cut in.
“Sir, sir!”
“I have two orders. First order a cease fire. Secondly, shut your damn mouth. I’m coming to finish her myself.”
“See you soon, sir!”
His soldiers had already surrounded her by the time he arrived. Peter landed in front of her. She was on her back. Peter pushed a button to clear the tint from his visor so Vern could see his face. She tried to say something to him but could only cough.
“Awake I see. We’ll find the rest of them. It’s only a matter of time.”
“What the hell are you trying to prove!” she coughed out.
“If you have nothing helpful to say then you are no use to me,” the Executor leveled his gun at her head.
“Ignorant fool,” Vern said. “My death will only rally the most powerful half-breed collaboration to fight against you. My husband should have left you to die on the street.”
“Your husband?”
He looked at her and recognized her as Michael’s wife, as his surrogate mother. Memories of happy times with them filled his head and were quickly juxtaposed by recollections of heated arguments about him. His action’s ramifications struck him and broke him. He seized, accidentally pulled the trigger to his gun several times and killed five soldiers before he dropped it.
Suchi landed next to Peter and pulled a syringe from his combat belt, prepped it and injected it into Peter’s suit.
His seizure stopped. His vision sharpened.
“Sir! Sir!”
“Stop screaming, you idiot. I’m fine. What happened.”
His suit alerted him to a new half-breed threat above.
“Spread out!”
They jetted into the air.
“I came as soon as I could, mother!” came a voice from above Vern.
“Xoe, no...” Vern coughed, she looked up at her.
Her daughter floated down from the sky and landed by her mother. Even though she weighed a little over 95 pounds and wore a bright pink soccer uniform she managed to look imposing enough for Peter to feel uneasy before hugging her mom.
“That girl looks familiar too. Open fire.”
Xoe encased herself and her mom in a green shield before the bullets reached them.
Peter watched the soldiers as they continued to unleash their barrage on the two half-breeds.
The concrete around the mother and daughter bubbled.
“Xoe. you shouldn’t be...” Vern coughed and couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Mom, don’t worry. I’m just going to hold them off while Drean gets the rest of the compound evacuated. He won’t let any of them help.”
“Who?” she asked.
“You’ll meet him later. He’s really cute.”
Vern couldn’t help but laugh. She went into a coughing fit.
“Try to calm down mom,” Xoe said. “Save your strength so you can heal.”
Xoe closed her eyes. They glowed beneath her lids as she concentrated. A green leaf pinned in her hair grew a long stem and it fettered her hair into a tight bun.
Flocks of concrete birds burst from the liquid around them. They crashed into the soldiers and circled back around. Some of the soldiers fell out of the sky after the second pass.
After the birds slammed into several soldiers the concrete animals fell out of the sky due to disrepair. When the concrete hit the ground it reverted to liquid, seeped back into the ring around Xoe and Vern and produced a new bird.
Contusions darkened Xoe’s visible skin.
“You’re using too much of your Inner,” Vern protested.
“We just need to hold them off,” Xoe said as she concentrated on her distraction.
Some of the birds made a pass at the Executor, who shot them out of the sky with ease.
“Evasive action, men. Use motion tracking shells.”
Soldiers left in the air tried to fly away from the birds while their ammo changed.
“Peter is commanding them.” Vern pointed up at him.
“That bastard,” Xoe swore. I’m going to kick your ass, brother.”
“Your language, Xoe.” Vern coughed.
“Now isn’t the time, Mom,” she snapped.
Soldiers opened fire at the birds. When the bullets made contact the birds liquefied and hung in the air.
Peter zoomed in on Xoe.
No injuries other than those bruises. It’s because those birds aren’t really being destroyed, that’s why. She’s good.
“Let’s see how they do without their Executor,” Xoe said.
All the birds in the air liquefied and the concrete around Xoe and Vern normalized.
Peter’s soldiers regarded the suspended concrete with confusion.
“Sir. I’m starting to think rehab is a good idea,” Suchi said to the Executor.
“That is the smartest thing you’ve ever said,” Peter replied. “But, you’re not hallucinating. She’s planning something. Stay on guard.”
“Roger, roger,” Suchi said.
Xoe converged the liquid concrete into one large blob. When the last of the liquid entered it changed and solidified into a gargantuan bird. It released a piercing cry into the sky.
“Hold fire, men. This one is mine,” the Executor said. He smiled at the bird. “Load phase rockets, keep them unphased.”
“Phase rockets loaded, unphased,” his helmet said.
Peter took aim as the bird bore down on him and squeezed the trigger.
When the rocket came within a few inches of the bird it became a thin sheet of liquid concrete. It flew straight through and hit a group of soldiers instead.
Peter tried to jet upward but the liquid concrete moved with him and surrounded him. It closed around him, solidified and fell to the ground.
“Good job, Xoe,” Vern said, chuckling at the sight.
“Thanks, Mom,” Xoe passed out.
Vern felt her weight against her and panicked.
“Xoe!”
She’s just exhausted. What are we going to do now?
I don’t have enough Inner to hold these assholes off.
When Xoe passed out the green shield around them disappeared.
The men held their weapons on the two but did not fire.
The Inner in the concrete must be blocking that dog’s orders, Vern thought and glanced at the sphere of concrete embedded in the ground. I still don’t have enough energy to get us both out of here.
A phase rocket popped out of the sphere. She sighed.
“I knew it wouldn’t hold him long.”
It exploded a small distance away from the concrete ball: the shock wave cracked it.
Another came out, exploded inches away from Peter’s prison and blew it apart. Peter stepped out of it encased in a green shield.
“How has he learned what took me decades to perfect in a matter of minutes?” Vern asked herself.
Peter pushed some buttons on his wrist and the shield went down. He jetted over to her.
“The technology is how.”
He even has heightened senses because of that armor... she thought.
He smiled at her amazement.
“Your kind will meet their end soon enough,” the Executor said.
“So you say,” Vern said. “Two of us have made a mockery of your soldiers.”
“Men, open fire on them when I’m out of the way. Use regular bullets,” he said, “Save the rest of your energy for tougher fights. These two aren’t worth the waste.”
“You’ll be out of a job when my husband comes back, you charlatan of a man,” Vern said.
The Executor remembered her again, but only her hatred for him: for his hopes, his goals, and his beliefs. He had to kill them both. His men would question him otherwise. He needed their loyalty to continue his campaign. The more he thought about it the more she deserved it anyway. She didn’t give a shit about his parents’ death and hated him instead of trying to help him become a better man. It was not his fault. It was hers.
He spat on her face and jetted away.
“Coward! I saved you! I saved you!” Vern yelled after him.
He only heard her first word, coward. He intended to prove that he was not.
Peter’s men opened fire as soon as their leader was out of the way.
Peter’s screen notified for him to turn around. A new half-breed threat had presented itself.
From Heaven To Earth (The Faith of the Fallen) Page 34
