“Gideon, watch out!” Veronique shouted.
The floor on the other side of the room started to give way, the building crumbling from the right side. I wanted to respond, dammit, to do something, but Dorian had moved over to me, and in that time, she’d placed a hand on my arm.
Dorian, Stella and I vanished away in a purple flash.
Away from the madness.
Chapter Thirty: Rooftops
Dorian, Stella and I appeared on a rooftop that overlooked the island, the apartment building we had just come from was beneath us and to our right.
“I have to go back for the others,” Dorian started to say.
An explosion below caught our attention. We raced to the edge of the building to find the albino shifter floating in the air, a cosmic energy ring around her body as she destroyed more of the building that we had just been in.
As Dorian flashed away, I focused all my energy on trying to telekinetically toss the woman aside, only to realize that I wasn’t that powerful, that I didn’t have that kind of range.
“I can do something,” Stella said, now using me for support.
“We have to stop her; they’re still in there!”
“No, they’re not,” she told me, and in that moment I felt the channels open, which I ignored, keeping Veronique’s metal manipulation ability on deck.
“Veronique is there; Angel and Smiley too.” Stella pointed at a crumbled structure near the beach. Sure enough, I saw metal rising into the air, dust and debris flying as Angel tried to wrangle Smiley.
“And there’s Tulip!” I said, watching as the monster burst out of the collapsing building, Grace and Chloe not far behind, protected by a nearly invisible sphere of power.
Dorian reappeared just as I got my phone out.
“And Michelle?” I asked. Last I saw, she had knifed the invisible woman.
“I don’t know,” Dorian said, exasperated. “I really don’t know where she is.”
“Okay,” I told Dorian as I pressed my thumb against the Cherry Blossom app. “Let’s get this under control. First, bring Grace here, leave Chloe to fight.”
“Got it.”
“More enemies will be coming too,” I said as I pulled up Stella’s stats on my phone.
“They’ve already started,” said Stella, pointing at blips of white energy blasting down from one of the rooftops, Tulip leaping to avoid them.
“Okay, so Tokyo is here,” I said, referring to the Asian woman who worked for Natalie, and apparently, Damon Lord. “We have to stop her from amplifying anyone’s powers, especially Smiley... So let’s keep her on the rooftop using Chloe. I need Grace here. And if anyone sees Damon Lord, we avoid him until we can hit him with all of our powers combined.”
“Got it!” Dorian said as she spotted Grace and Chloe landing on a small, grassy hill that led down to the beach.
It was that fast.
One purple puff later, and she was standing there with Grace, who still looked a little worse for wear now in her Scandinavian beauty form, but was better off than Stella.
Not able to do two things at once, especially with all the intensity, I quickly relayed to Grace what was happening, and what she needed to transmit to the others.
She nodded, giving everyone the instructions.
And like clockwork, I saw Chloe fly back into the air, making a beeline toward Tokyo. I returned my focus to Stella’s stats, my hand trembling as I scrolled through them:
Main: Vector Manipulation
Kinetic Energy Manipulation: 8
Quantum Manipulation: 1
Vibration Emission: 7
Inertia Negation: 3
Telekinetic Regeneration: 5
Tactile Telekinesis: 5
Deflection: 6
Velocity Manipulation: 4
Aversion Field Creation: 7
Overcharge: 3
I immediately turned up her Telekinetic Regeneration to just about as high as I could get it, her overcharge swelling until I brought down her Aversion Field Creation, thought twice about doing this because it was basically our shield, and subsequently brought down her Vibration Emission instead.
“Feeling any better?” I asked her.
“Wow,” she said, the color returning to her face.
“I tried to heal you as best I could, but you have a natural regeneration ability, so I kicked that one up. Once you are ready to get down there, I can readjust everything.” I nodded, ready to manage this fight. “Okay, Grace, send out a message for Michelle to join us on this rooftop. Dorian, see what you can do to our albino shifter to throw her off guard. No, I have a better idea, switch places with Chloe, and bring Chloe to me. The only way we’re going to do something here is through a big distraction. And everyone keep an eye out for Damon Lord.”
Grace nodded, now in her true form as she looked over the rooftop. “I will also run some support for Veronique.”
“Good.”
“I’m ready do something too!” Stella said.
“Give us a shield,” I told her as I looked back at her stats, “and make sure you’re able to shield any of them down there if need be.”
Stella nodded and it was then that a portal opened up on the beach, Damon Lord stepping out, Natalie to his right, and Bae, the portal caster, on his left. The black-haired man wore a sleeveless overcoat, Bae a black MercSecure-like outfit, and Natalie military fatigues.
“Change of plans,” I told the group. “Stop Damon from using his power. Put a shield around him. Fuck. That won’t work, or maybe… No, let’s just focus on what we know. Let’s get the albino down first. Grace, it’s time for some Nightmare Sight.”
Quickly thumbing up to her stats, I brought her Clairsentience down to one, kicking up her Nightmare Sight to ten.
“I will get her closer,” Dorian said.
Grace shook her head. “No need, I should be able to do it from here.”
Grace turned to me and I saw that her eyes had gone from white to black, cracked, blackened veins appearing around them. It was absolutely terrifying, and it caused me to pause for a moment.
“Increase my Quantum Manipulation ability,” Stella said, interrupting my sudden shock.
“We haven’t tested that yet!”
“I know what it does, Gideon, I’ve used it before. Increase it.”
“Maybe. Let’s take Smiley out of the equation first,” I said, returning my focus to my phone. “Dorian, I’m increasing your Banishment power. Let’s send that fucker to the middle of the ocean somewhere.”
“Which direction?”
“That direction,” I said, nodding away from Nagasaki, even though it was far enough on the horizon that we couldn’t actually see the city.
I was just finishing up adjusting Dorian’s stats, with an eye on her Overcharge, when I saw something come over the edge of the rooftop. Michelle appeared with…
Whoa.
“You brought her?” Grace asked, her eyes still black orbs, her voice slightly deeper.
“How did you even get her up?” I asked.
“I…” Michelle took a deep breath in as she dropped the passed out, formerly invisible woman on the rooftop. “I ran up the side of the building, zigzagging, dragging her up and dropping her, catching her to bring her even higher. Dang, that was hard!”
“Why?” Stella demanded.
“I thought that’s what we do here,” Michelle said, throwing her hands out.
“I will handle her,” Grace said, turning her palm toward the woman who was the spitting image of Veronique, even down to the blond bob. “Contain the albino for a moment, Stella.”
The woman started to writhe in pain and shriek as Grace’s power took effect.
“Dorian, it’s time,” I said, glancing down to Smiley, who was still managing to take on both Angel and Veronique, Tulip on the perimeter, looking to get a swipe in. “Michelle, don’t leave.”
“But…”
“No exceptions, stay here!”
I watched as V
eronique yanked a giant metal post from the ground using her power. She pulled her arm back and threw it forward, the metal pole torpedoing in the air toward Smiley, wrapping around his body.
She hit him with another pole that did the same thing, Smiley’s muscles bulging, his face turning red as he tried to break free. The tattooed smile on his face made his struggle even stranger, making him look like he was enjoying it from a distance.
“Ready?” I asked Dorian.
She nodded. “And Grace, she’s already down, focus your attention on the albino.” Grace approached to my right, looking out at the albino shifter, who was still floating. The woman charged up a burst of cosmic energy with Chloe’s name on it, even if Stella was trying to take her down with blasts of kinetic energy.
The lady went down hard once the nightmare set in, smashing into the rubble, the ball of energy she was forming still exploding and causing more debris.
I turned to the battle against Smiley just in time to see Dorian appear behind him, slap her hand onto his back, and disappear in a purply poof.
“Fuck yes!” I said, watching as Chloe fired off a vibrating energy blast toward the building that Tokyo stood on, bringing down the corner, Tokyo getting buried in the detritus, a cloud of smoke now obscuring both of them.
“Gideon!” Michelle collided with me.
I slammed into Grace, both of us hitting the top of the building just in time to avoid an explosion of crystal energy from Damon Lord.
The crystal began spreading; I scooted away from it, watching as it stopped just inches from the visible woman’s body.
“Fuck,” said Stella, who was clear of the attack. Another burst of liquid crystal came flying over the side of the roof, only to be blocked by Stella this time, who cast a dome that protected all of us, the crystal hitting our shield and crackling as it hardened.
“We’ve got to put a stop to that. I think it’s time we focus all firepower on Damon…” I turned to Michelle. “And thank you. Dammit, you are amazing!”
“Thanks, Gideon!”
“The shield is still up,” Stella said, nodding me toward the side of the roof. “You’re safe to move to the edge.”
As we moved to the edge, Grace and I purposefully avoided the crystal now on the rooftop, just in case it was contagious. We saw Angel bent over below, catching his breath, Veronique standing next to him, wiping blood from her forehead.
Dorian flashed into existence behind us and we turned once she made her presence known.
“He’s gone,” she said, slightly out of breath.
“Where did you send Smiley?” Michelle asked.
“As far away in the ocean as I could get him. Who knows if he will make it to land or not. Doesn’t matter. If I’d had more time…” Dorian wiped her dark bangs out of her face. “I would have found an active volcano to put him in.”
“We have a problem,” Stella said, still looking down at the battle.
“Dammit,” I said as soon as I followed her finger to what she was pointing at.
Oblivious to just how dangerous it was, Tulip was charging toward Damon Lord, the evil fucker conjuring up an incredibly large blast of liquid crystal to deal with the seething monster.
“Dorian, Stella, go!” I shouted.
They disappeared in a puff of purple energy, appearing between Tulip and Damon Lord at the very last moment.
I gasped.
The action was faster than my eyes could process, and I was only able to breathe after I saw that Stella had protected Tulip using one of her vector shields, liquid crystal spiraling down the dome and starting to crack.
I turned to my right to see Chloe zipping through the air toward them, her speed creating a bubble of light around her.
Shit!
Our rooftop gave way as a blast of cosmic energy slammed into the side of the building, everything coming at us at once as we tumbled forward, Grace, Michelle, the passed out now-visible woman, and one crazy ass writer were caught up in the avalanche.
In the end, I was protected by a telekinetic bubble, Michelle able to actually run up the crumbling rubble, find a vantage point, and then scale down to the ground. For all I knew, the now-visible woman was buried, dust all around us, my only focus now on getting to the others, doing what I could to protect them.
“Let’s get to Veronique,” Grace said, her eyes alternating between white and black. “She’s closest; and then the others.”
“How is she closest?” I looked back up toward the building that had just collapsed, the one we had just been standing on, and tried to get a sense of the distance we had fallen.
It had happened so fast that all I could remember was the building coming down, then quickly being lowered onto the crumbled brick. Now all I could see was a huge cloud of dust.
But there was no time to figure out the nuts and bolts of how this was happening.
If we didn’t act quickly, things were about to get a helluva lot worse for the CBGs.
Chapter Thirty-One: BFE?
We needed a distraction; we also needed to stop the albino woman from attacking us again.
Luckily, Veronique was already on that task, pelting the woman with bits of metal from the pouches on her belt. I saw what had happened to the metal she wrapped around her arms earlier, how it had formed two giant spikes, and even as the woman tried to block Veronique’s attack, the metal vampire was already gearing up for her next plan.
The long distance drain.
She had done it before, and it was a killer way to bring down an opponent. Plus, it had the bonus of giving her more energy.
“Grace, pull a large bubble of water from the ocean; Chloe, use your Sonoluminescence power once she has formed it.”
“Will do!” Chloe said with a nod. Her cheeks were red, and her uniform was covered in scratches, but she looked better off than some of the others. “I’ve done it before. It’s quite powerful.”
“I only wish I’d seen it, and…”
I shook my head. I was overthinking things.
Focus, Writer Gideon.
Thank you, I thought back to Grace.
What mattered now was getting everyone together, and distracting Damon Lord. We had agreed that we would go after him, but it was equally important for us to be able to leave in a hurry.
We’d got the two people we had come here for, and while I wanted to finish Damon Lord off as much as the others, I knew that regrouping and recalibrating our attack would lead to less of a pyrrhic victory.
Tulip roared, beating his fists against the front of Stella’s shield.
“I can calm Tulip!” Michelle volunteered as Grace turned her attention to the water.
“Good, but do it quickly, and watch out,” I told the young speedster. “Be extra careful!”
“Will do, Pastor!” she said as she zipped away.
Pastor? I shook my head and smiled. Of all the times to use codenames…
“What do I need to do?” Dorian asked after she flashed into existence next to me.
“Start getting ready to move the others away; we can teleport back to the mainland, and then back to Ueno as planned.”
We both looked left to see the bubble of water lifted from the ocean, Chloe levitating a few feet off the ground as her throat started to glow.
“I will get Veronique,” Dorian said as she flashed away.
She appeared next to Veronique in a matter of moments, letting Veronique finish up on the albino woman, the woman now a shriveled mess on the ground, her skin deep shades of blue.
The two vanished in a flash of purple.
“Come on… Come on…” I whispered as I watched something take shape in the center of the large bubble. Ingrid had just begun morphing into her beast armor, Tulip’s grizzled facial features fading away, when a blast of white energy took Stella off her feet.
Stella hit the ground hard, still maintaining her shield, a strained look on her face.
Tokyo popped up on the inside of our shield, conjuring up another
white blast of energy.
WHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
An absolutely earth-shattering explosion to my left signaled that Chloe’s Sonoluminescence skill had worked, the burst of light and energy causing a giant wave to rise from the ocean.
My fuck did the wave hit hard.
The tidal wave sent us scattering, Stella pushed backward into me and latching onto my arm as I tried to push to the surface.
It lifted us high enough to deposit us on a building near the shoreline, a two-story affair that housed God-knows-what.
I got to my feet as the water settled, feeling a terrible pain in my lower back.
Our landing had hurt, but I had managed to help Stella some, the vector manipulator having been so focused on her shield that she didn’t see the wave coming.
I wasn’t the only one on the new rooftop. Angel was there, as was Ingrid, who had taken a knee, which looked utterly insane considering the size of her beast armor. She was breathing heavily, her dark hair in her face.
The sun caused a corona of light before me, its beautiful rays reflecting off the tumultuous waves below.
And in that moment, I felt both blessed and fucked to be alive.
“I will get the others,” Dorian said, flashing next to me and away again after both of us spotted Chloe and Grace.
“Michelle… Where’s Michelle?”
“Here,” she said, not at all wet. True to form, she had been fast enough to see the wave coming, jump, and run along its crest.
“Have you seen where Dorian is taking the others?” I asked, still catching my breath.
Michelle nodded. “To the other side of the island. I can run there!”
“Good, run,” I told her, watching more of the water retreat, looking for Damon Lord and Natalie. They were nowhere in sight, and once the water had completely retreated, it was clear that they were gone, or at the very least, they were outside of our visual spectrum.
“So that’s it?” Angel asked, wincing, his hand still on his side. He still looked like he’d gone through a meat grinder twice, but I could tell he had already started healing, evident in the color that had returned to his face.
Cherry Blossom Girls International Page 24
